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Literary Analysis of The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan

Literary Analysis of Amy Tan’s The Joy Luck Club

The Joy Luck Club is a compilation of eight women’s personal stories—four pairs of mothers and daughters—about their lives and the relationships they must learn to navigate across various cultures. These accounts are conveyed through the eyes of the women, based on the perspective of the mothers and daughters. The plot begins not long after the death of Suyuan Woo, a founding member of the social and investment club. Jing-mei is supposed to take her mother’s position in the club as a way to attain a balance. The most essential concepts discussed in this book are tradition and culture. The two groups of women addressed in the narrative are diametrically opposed in terms of how they see the world, one focused on the past through tradition and norms, and the other unaware of their cultural past and fully assimilated into the American way of life. As a consequence of their cultural and traditional roots, they must make a concerted effort to guarantee that their girls are exposed to the same things they were, thus creating a rift in their relationships and later bridging the cultural and traditional gaps amongst them.

Despite seeming to adjust well to their new circumstances, the mothers never entirely integrate their Chinese culture, rituals, expectations, or norms into their new American life as compared to their Americanized daughters. The mothers never get complete command of the English language, abandon their families’ traditions and habits, or forget that they were born in China. Their English-speaking daughters, on the other hand, were born, raised, and educated to consider themselves fully American, in a culture that is “too full to swallow any sorrow” (17). Their storylines concentrate around generational tensions, cultural misinterpretations, and other identity difficulties. Their mothers seem to be living in the past, according to their daughters. The daughters make no effort to hide their displeasure with their mothers’ tales about life in China because they are both outraged and afraid of their parents’ judgment. The mothers want the daughters to have the best termed as “swallowing more Coca-Cola than sorrow” (17). The mothers are seeking to educate their daughters about Chinese culture, but the girls are finding it difficult to balance their lives in America, particularly their jobs, with their mothers’ lofty and perplexing ambitions. As a consequence, moms and daughters have a sense of alienation from one another, leading to silence. A generational, sociological, and cultural status discrepancy that is difficult to overcome exacerbates the situation. The cultural boundaries between the women will not be broken until the daughters learn to listen to their moms’ experiences and understand how they relate to their own lives. Despite the fact that the ladies come from all cultures and have different ways of doing things, this is true.

Despite the fact that each tale in the novel has a distinct narrator, they all show how past events, traditions, cultures, or the relationship with any of these factors may influence the present. This supports the notion that a person’s traditions, past, background, and upbringing has a substantial impact on their cultural identity and worldview. Each narrator has a “moment when her identity becomes fixed forever” (64). Ying-ying’s life was formed by difficult childhoods, war, poverty, starvation, and, in her case, a single act of awful conduct as a youngster. She was the lone kid in a happy family where she grew up. Furthermore, three of the mothers married when still in their teenage years. Three of them were married to men who didn’t love them, and one of them married a great man who died in the war. One of the ladies had children with one of the dads from a prior marriage. Individual histories of the mothers are advantageous to their attempts to construct new lives in the United States to a greater or lesser degree. Each narrative is a powerful example of how past events continue to influence the present and to form a new culture that is fully founded on traditions and expectations. From a Chinese-American perspective, Lindo Jong admits that “these two things do not mix” in reference to American and Chinese cultures (254). Each mother’s Chinese ethnicity has an influence on her current life in the United States. Childhood has a tremendous influence on each daughter’s adult life, just as each mother’s past has on her daughter’s current, complicating the matter even further.

All of the parents’ stories had a few things in common: vivid recollections of growing up as a girl and young woman in China, perplexing tales about raising children in the United States, and almost terrifyingly high expectations for their daughters due to their cultural differences and expectations. Similarly, the daughters’ tales focus on how they failed to meet their moms’ expectations, how they were concerned about how Chinese culture would fit into their very American life, and how they had no clue of their mothers’ inner energy or deepest secrets. Several of the narrators highlight the difficulties they have while seeking to communicate their ideas and emotions with people from completely diverse backgrounds. Ying-ying feels like the separation of mother and daughter is too great, “I have watched her as though from another shore” (274). Because none of the daughters understand the language, no one in the family, including the daughters and parents, has any awareness of the culture. Furthermore, there are occasions when moms and daughters are unable to communicate with one another, making it difficult for both sides to understand the other’s perspective. Even if both the girls and their moms speak a little English and a little Chinese, communication will be challenging at times due to the need to translate words with very different intended and accepted meanings. There may be a few small misunderstandings as a result of this.

When the mothers relate to their daughters on the basis of their own lives, they are well aware that their insights are met with silence due to the differences in culture and upbringing. They continue to converse in the hopes that one of their words or ideas would strike a chord with one of their daughters, who will remember it and pass it on to her own daughter. Lindo Jong gives Waverly friendly parental advise despite acknowledging that fact that Waverly may “not understand where she comes from in a double cultural heritage” (49). Daughters are given their mothers’ tales as real gifts, soul sacrifices, and talismans in order to help the younger women tackle their challenges with the support of their mothers. These stories were hand-picked from the mothers’ immense archives of recollections. The mothers often conduct mental dialogues with their daughters, in which they develop questions, thoughts, and sentiments that they are unable to express orally owing to the cultural and generational differences.

In conclusion, the novel is a depiction of how culture, traditions, general gaps, and other features of an inter-generational relationship mesh together and diverge at the same time. The girls consider their moms to be dumb since they speak improper English. The moms, on the other hand, are furious with their daughters because they do not understand the cultural nuances of their language and have no plans to teach their own children about their Chinese ancestry. Throughout the story, characters repeatedly bring up Chinese concepts, only to learn the hard way that they must understand Chinese culture to appreciate its value. In a society where daughters and mothers have divergent life ideas, culture and tradition continue to clash.

Literacy has a rich background stemming from over 3000 years ago

Literacy has a rich background stemming from over 3000 years ago. It began, in its most basic form, as an oral form of expression growing into using written symbols to share information. Generally, literacy is defined as the ability to read and write (Hobbs). Literacy is however more complex than just reading and writing. It involves taking up -not a general source of knowledge as is commonly thought- but rather assimilating and creating one’s own culturally and societally available knowledge. From this definition, literacy becomes awfully situation-specific thereby derogating any power ascribed to attaining the knowledge of a specific culture and placing all cultures -and hence identities- on a singular plane. Although ideal, what is ideal? this is far from the reality in our greatly diverse yet paradoxically integrated society. Power, within this context, refers to the ability to influence and have authority over others whereas identity is the inherent and socially constructed view of oneself (Menge). Since identity is a social construct, it is greatly amenable to the environment one is exposed to. Due to numerous shifting and widening social constructs, certain cultures, and hence identities have developed a false but seemingly innate sense of a position of power as opposed to others. 

The three writers who? Full intros needed. express the correlation between literacy, identity and power in both divergent and convergent ways, from the perspective of minorities in a society. Finn doesn’t fit that description. Their views are not only relevant to the western world but to any society that experiences power inequalities due to ethnic and socio-economic status differences. It is clear from the three discourses essays, articles, texts, etc. a discourse is a larger entity. that literacy, power and identity are correlated with each one of them having an influence on the other. Literacy and identity are both victims of circumstance and causes of power imbalance in societies. Their relationship is hardly ever linear and easily solvable? Why do we want to solve a relationship? by a singular solution. Understanding their relationship from the unique perspectives of those most affected by it could help develop a multifaceted view and approach when solving the resultant inequalities in society.nice final point. Is that what the essays do? If so, say so.Right from the start, Mellix and Anzaldúa come out very strongly in expressing how their distinct dialects affect power relations both within and outside their own linguistic dialects. Good topic sentence.Mellix, an American woman of African descent, was forced through societal pressure to adopt the use of different dialects of English (Black English and Standard English) depending on who she was associating with (Mellixpage # not author name needed). In the essay, Mellix demonstrates the underlying power implications involved in the situational use of either dialect. She says that the use of Standard English served two purposes: when addressing white people, it served to show their knowledge of their language -to assert a sense of equality between their two cultures due to their knowledge of this “dominant dialect”. On the other hand, standard-English speaking blacks used “proper” English to show that they were better than black English speaking blacks whenever they were around them but resorted to a mix of the two in the absence of the black English speaking blacks (Mellix 262).

Anzaldúa, a south Texan Latina, laments about the tension Chicano speaking Latinas find themselves in where they not only have to prove the worth of their dialect to North-Americans but to fellow Latinas. Chicano Spanish, which evolved from other languages, is considered less than other dialects. The Chicanas, therefore, end up facing an identity crisis that is compounded even within their dialect.  In another instance, Anzaldúa noted that despite the Spanish community being the largest minority group in the USA, French rather than Spanish was advocated for teaching in schools due to its higher social status within society.

Evidently, the social status of different languages is a manmade construct that if unchecked resembles a consequence of natureyou are making many really strong points about these issues and this is one of them. Nice! . Logically speaking, no dialect on its own has more importance than the other since in and of itself it serves its purpose: conveying information, knowledge and ideas within a community. However, outside influences such as politics and economic factors place a false value on language bearing damaging consequences to minority groups in societies.

Both Mellix and Anzaldúa express how their dialects offered them a sense of family, belonging and a distinct identity. Mellix felt distanced when forced within the bounds of Standard English; which felt foreign as opposed to Black English (Mellix 261). It took her years of formal school training and mental restructuring in order to be able to express her whole self in a language she never considered her own but necessary to course through life.

Anzaldúa, described her people attaining their identity only when they had a name and a language that was wholly theirs (Anzaldúa 43). According to Finn’s review, one’s family has a direct bearing on which education system one eventually attends and consequently their future occupation –hence influence on society. Not only this, the education system which one attends ends up shaping their future identity. For example, in the essay, children in the working class schools ended up developing a rebellious streak as part of their identity (Finn 12).

A diverging point between the two essays, Anzaldúa feels ambivalent towards her own language and her culture whereas Mellix feels ambivalent towards the Standard English. Anzaldúa explains that despite feeling great pride and having a solidified sense of identity when she saw her language and its variants published, in films and in movies, she, together with other educated Chicanas, felt shame and alienated (Anzaldúa 41). She felt as if the two cultures within herself cancelled each other out leaving her null. One can sense that Anzaldúa is still battling it out within herself to find space for her identity within a society that shames her for it. On the other hand Mellix feels ambivalent towards Standard English. She senses that she both needs and dislikes it despite the power it accords her (Mellix 260).

People of minority groups within any society always have to go out of their way to accommodate the groups with societal power. A study by Steele et al. assessing how stereotypes affect performance of African Americans showed that African Americans performed poorer when under the threat of possible stereotyping (Claude Steele 123). Minority groups existing in environments where the actions of others directly or indirectly insinuate their inferiority with regards to their ethnic background may end up having a skewed identity of themselves or low intrinsic self-worth. This trickles down to how they respond to people in authority and how authority itself responds to them and their needs.

The two authors, Mellix and Finn, present two different ideas concerning identity and power that end up converging on the impact of the school systems. Teachers in Mellix’s school, which was a predominantly black school, taught Standard English using Black English. The irony of it all was not lost on Mellix. Teachers would reprimand black-English speakers with the thought that they would not be able to get jobs speaking Black-English.

On the other hand, Finn introduces the idea of social class and its influence within the school systems, identity and power. Finn reviews a study by Anyon that showed that the school system, and hence quality of education received, differed among different social structures. He demonstrated the far reaching effects of the school system and its influence on the path children take in the future. Children from higher social class families attended school that primed them to be leaders of the future (bear power) whereas those from, say, working class school who are disadvantaged because of either poverty or cultural reasons attend schools that prime them to work routine jobs. Finn indirectly presents the facts that oppose a common notion that children from poor backgrounds are less literate. We could now argue that children from poor backgrounds attend sub-standard schools as compared to children from affluent families. This goes to show that the problem is systemic rather than natural. To a lesser extent, Anzaldúa’s essay addresses the impact of the school system on literacy, power and identity. She points out that Chicano students within the USA were offered speech classes in order to get rid of their accents

 

Whereas Finn uses persuasive writing style both Mellix’s and Anzaldúa’s essays read like descriptive essays. Finn’s persuasive writing uses the existing body of knowledge concerning the influences of social class on the school systems to demonstrate the consequent inequity in literacy levels, power and the impact on identity. Mellix gives us an account of her story as in a memoir. This makes her story resonate with the reader because of the personalized approach it uses. Although Anzaldúa also uses a descriptive style, the essay is routinely punctuated with poetry in efforts of describing the importance of diversity in dialect and the current plights encountered.

Mellix takes the reader through a tumultuous journey of finding her voice within a language that is not inherently hers. She explores how her identity was intertwined with her form of expression and what it took for her to find a new identity and use it in developing literacy in forthcoming generations. Anzaldúa’s use of poetry and Chicano Spanish is like pungent garlic within her prose narrative. It makes the point her story is trying to describe. Anzaldúa refuses to conform to the societies powerful and accommodate the majority groups in her writing. She forcefully takes the power that has been elusive to many like her by, using her own words, using her wild tongue. Finn talks as if to a reader seeking to understand the disparity between the various school systems in the USA. He presents the case and gives suitable evidence in order to convince the reader that social classes do indeed impact school systems.

Literacy, identity and power do not lie on a linear relationship within societies. They are all affected and affect each other with the aid of other outside influences. Having more voices from society that have felt their impact, rise up and speak up will be off benefit in determining their intricate interrelatedness and making meaningful steps towards reducing inequities in society.

Strong draft, Tashae. The middle is the strongest and is where the points are most specific and best integrated w/ documentation. These last paragraphs lack that, but this is a draft, so revision can easily fix that. In the first paragraphs, things can get pretty vague and wordy. Revise to make your excellent perspective more direct and thus more powerful. Let me know if you have any questions or wish to talk.

Literacy Habits

Literacy Habits

Student’s name

Institution of affiliation

Instructor

Course

Date

Literacy Habits

Compare and contrast your literacy habits with your peers, family members, or other person or group you are very familiar with.

As Nicholas Carr argues in his book, people in the present world are indeed moving away from book reading and newspaper reading which need a lot f brain energy to process and understand. This kind f lifestyle, even though perfect for a person who is in a hurry, Carr states that it is not all utterly healthy as people do not realize what they are getting themselves in but rather get themselves into it because of the ease of the ability to enhance a person’s knowledge beyond the mere reading (Carr, 2020). Therefore, with this kind of technology at the service of most people, it becomes challenging for them to retreat to books which are mainly considered only fashion in the current society. This paper discusses the distinction between the two types of intelligence obtained either through the internet or through books using my example and my sister.

In the book ‘The Shallows,’ Carr focuses on discussing two types of intelligence, which brings out a clear comparison between the age of computers and the age of print media. He states that during the period of print media, life was more productive and healthier. These can be attributed to the fact that people used to read in-depth stories and books during print media. Through this reading, the ability to conceptualize a situation and understand concepts was achievable. Therefore, he suggests even though the present-day presents itself with new technology, it is not the best method of studying anything which needs a person’s total concentration and complete comprehension of what is required to be understood.

The new technology of the internet and computers presents itself with brevity which at times is not healthy for a person to read since the deep concepts which are found in books are removed when it comes to the internet because of speed and the ability to read something is what is needed most in the current world (Carr, 2020). However, in the desire to be perfect and brief, the real meaning of intelligence is lost. This is the exact argument I have had with my younger sister for an extended period. She thinks that she can find everything there and read because she has a smartphone and a tablet. However, my perspective is different since I have interacted with the gadgets, and I would support Carr in his argument that the devices we now own are taking so much away from us. I tried studying using a tablet, and I thought the information I was getting was perfect for a long time. However, with time I realized how much I was losing.

The intelligence deficiency came from remembering how my dad read me bedtime stories and encouraged me to read novels. I had connected with these stories to a deep level. When I began using my tablet to study, I realized that the stories and the news and the information I read from the internet did not have a deep connection or information I needed. Therefore, I shifted towards print media for studies. This has been one of my most outstanding achievements since my brain is fully involved, and I can fully relate to the issues presented in a hardcopy book. My sister continues to boast of how good she is at the internet and how it helps her study better since she can quickly google content that she does not know. However, even though our literacy habits are opposed, I have lived both paths, and I am hoping she will come around with time.

Reference

Carr, N. (2020). The shallows: What the Internet is doing to our brains. WW Norton & Company.

Litchfield Corporation

Litchfield Corporation

Student’s name

Instructor

Affiliation

Course

Date

Litchfield Corporation makes sales within US and plans to diversify and make exports to UK. Hence a fully owned subsidiary in the UK is ideal. The production cost of Litchfield products is $ 15 per unit and the prospected price shall be $25 per unit making a profit of $10.when the corporation decides to sell to UK subsidiary thee same price as production, it will not make any profit in the US and therefore it will not have any income tax. However in UK, the sales will earn a $10 of profit. UK has lower tax rate and the corporation opts to pay the rate here compared to the US as it is lower thus Income tax in UK is 28% which is less with 7% compared to US. Any small consideration given to tax issues, will offer Litchfield Corporation as the US exporter the opportunity to reduce the income tax liability and positively helping them to sidestep foreign income tax liability.

Litchfield Corporation should consider the tax issues that relate to UK foreign country income taxation, state income taxation and US federal income taxation. In this case Litchfield Corporation is a US exporter and its exports sales to the foreign buyers is made through subsidiaries in United Kingdom. The IRS demands a sales pricing made by any US exporter to the related party. Therefore the exporters cannot invade income taxation of their profits but can defer it by establishing a subsidiary. When the Litchfield corporation decides to have a subsidiary, it splits its export profits into two thus; the first one, export profit from their sales in the US which is US federal income tax and the second one, export profits from the subsidiary’s sales to the foreign buyers which can only be a subject to US federal tax after it has been distributed in form of dividend.

In addition this corporation can exempt a part of its export profits form the US federal income taxation when it establishes a foreign sales corporation (FSC). The exemption will enable Litchfield Corporation that are FSC shareholders to successfully lower the US federal income tax rate that applies alongside their merged export profits.

References

Ault, H. J., & Bradford, D. F. (1990). Taxing international income: An analysis of the US system

And its economic premises. In Taxation in the global economy (pp. 11-52). University of Chicago Press.

Income tax regulations: Including proposed regulations as of May 1, 2008. (2008). Chicago, IL:

CCH.

Larkins, E. R. (2004). International applications of U.S. income tax law: Inbound and outbound

Transactions. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.

List of Values

List of Values

Abundance

Acceptance

Accessibility

Accomplishment

Accountability

Accuracy

Achievement

Acknowledgement

Activeness

Adaptability

Adoration

Adroitness

Advancement

Adventure

Affection

Affluence

Aggressiveness

Agility

Alertness

Altruism

Amazement

Ambition

Amusement

Anticipation

Appreciation

Approachability

Approval

Art

Articulacy

Artistry

Assertiveness

Assurance

Attentiveness

Attractiveness

Audacity

Availability

Awareness

Awe

Balance

Beauty

Being the best

Belonging

Benevolence

Bliss

Boldness

Bravery

Brilliance

Buoyancy

Calmness

Camaraderie

Candor

Capability

Care

Carefulness

Celebrity

Certainty

Challenge

Change

Charity

Charm

Chastity

Cheerfulness

Clarity

Cleanliness

Clear-mindedness

Cleverness

Closeness

Comfort

Commitment

Community

Compassion

Competence

Competition

Completion

Composure

Concentration

Confidence

Conformity

Congruency

Connection

Consciousness

Conservation

Consistency

Contentment

Continuity

Contribution

Control

Conviction

Conviviality

Coolness

Cooperation

Cordiality

Correctness

Country

Courage

Courtesy

Craftiness

Creativity

Credibility

Cunning

Curiosity

Daring

Decisiveness

Decorum

Deference

Delight

Dependability

Depth

Desire

Determination

Devotion

Devoutness

Dexterity

Dignity

Diligence

Direction

Directness

Discipline

Discovery

Discretion

Diversity

Dominance

Dreaming

Drive

Duty

Dynamism

Eagerness

Ease

Economy

Ecstasy

Education

Effectiveness

Efficiency

Elation

Elegance

Empathy

Encouragement

Endurance

Energy

Enjoyment

Entertainment

Enthusiasm

Environmentalism

Ethics

Euphoria

Excellence

Excitement

Exhilaration

Expectancy

Expediency

Experience

Expertise

Exploration

Expressiveness

Extravagance

Extroversion

Exuberance

Fairness

Faith

Fame

Family

Fascination

Fashion

Fearlessness

Ferocity

Fidelity

Fierceness

Financial independence

Firmness

Fitness

Flexibility

Flow

Fluency

Focus

Fortitude

Frankness

Freedom

Friendliness

Friendship

Frugality

Fun

Gallantry

Generosity

Gentility

Giving

Grace

Gratitude

Gregariousness

Growth

Guidance

Happiness

Harmony

Health

Heart

Helpfulness

Heroism

Holiness

Honesty

Honor

Hopefulness

Hospitality

Humility

Humor

Hygiene

Imagination

Impact

Impartiality

Independence

Individuality

Industry

Influence

Ingenuity

Inquisitiveness

Insightfulness

Inspiration

Integrity

Intellect

Intelligence

Intensity

Intimacy

Intrepidness

Introspection

Introversion

Intuition

Intuitiveness

Inventiveness

Investing

Involvement

Joy

Judiciousness

Justice

Keenness

Kindness

Knowledge

Leadership

Learning

Liberation

Liberty

Lightness

Liveliness

Logic

Longevity

Love

Loyalty

Majesty

Making a difference

Marriage

Mastery

Maturity

Meaning

Meekness

Mellowness

Meticulousness

Mindfulness

Modesty

Motivation

Mysteriousness

Nature

Neatness

Nerve

NoncomformityObedience

Open-mindedness

Openness

Optimism

Order

Organization

Originality

Outdoors

Outlandishness

Outrageousness

Partnership

Patience

Passion

Peace

Perceptiveness

Perfection

Perkiness

Perseverance

Persistence

Persuasiveness

Philanthropy

Piety

Playfulness

Pleasantness

Pleasure

Poise

Polish

Popularity

Potency

Power

Practicality

Pragmatism

Precision

Preparedness

Presence

Pride

Privacy

Proactivity

Professionalism

Prosperity

Prudence

Punctuality

Purity

Rationality

Realism

Reason

Reasonableness

Recognition

Recreation

Refinement

Reflection

Relaxation

Reliability

Relief

Religiousness

Reputation

Resilience

Resolution

Resolve

Resourcefulness

Respect

Responsibility

Rest

Restraint

Reverence

Richness

Rigor

Sacredness

Sacrifice

Sagacity

Saintliness

Sanguinity

Satisfaction

Science

Security

Self-control

Selflessness

Self-reliance

Self-respect

Sensitivity

Sensuality

Serenity

Service

Sexiness

Sexuality

Sharing

Shrewdness

Significance

Silence

Silliness

Simplicity

Sincerity

Skillfulness

Solidarity

Solitude

Sophistication

Soundness

Speed

Spirit

Spirituality

Spontaneity

Spunk

Stability

Status

Stealth

Stillness

Strength

Structure

Success

Support

Supremacy

Surprise

Sympathy

Synergy

Teaching

Teamwork

Temperance

Thankfulness

Thoroughness

Thoughtfulness

Thrift

Tidiness

Timeliness

Traditionalism

Tranquility

Transcendence

Trust

Trustworthiness

Truth

Understanding

Unflappability

Uniqueness

Unity

Usefulness

Utility

Valor

Variety

Victory

Vigor

Virtue

Vision

Vitality

Vivacity

Volunteering

WarmheartednessWarmth

Watchfulness

Wealth

Willfulness

Willingness

Winning

Wisdom

Wittiness

Wonder

Worthiness

Youthfulness

Zeal

List of References

List of References

Annotated Bibliography

Bahrani, T. &. (2012, October). Turkish Online Journal of Educational Technology. Retrieved from http://www.eric.ed.gov/E.

Comas-Quin, A. (2009). ReCall Journal. Retrieved from

http://utdr.utoledo.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2714&context=theses-dissertations.

Dulay, H. &. (2017, July 26). Creative Education. Retrieved from http://www.scirp.org/(S(351jmbntvnsjt1aadkposzje))/reference/ReferencesPapers.aspx?ReferenceID=2083917.

Fernández-López, Á. R.-F.-A.-S. (2013). Computers & Education. Retrieved from http://www.karsenti.ca/ipad/pdf/iPad_report_Karsenti-Fievez_EN.pdf.

Finn, J. D. (1997). Handbook of research on student engagement. Retrieved from https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1121524.pdf.

Fishman, J. A. (1991). Reversing Language Shift. Theoretical and Empirical Assistance to Threatened Languages. Retrieved from www.cebip.com/download.asp?file=/elementi/www/esp021_06_siguan.pdf.

Harmon, J. (2012). Learning and Leading with Technology. Retrieved from http://utdr.utoledo.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2714&context=theses-dissertations

Khaddage, F. .. (2013). Proceedings of Society for Information Technology & Teacher Education International Conference 2013. Retrieved from http://www.karsenti.ca/ipad/iPad_report_Karsenti-Fievez_EN.pdf.

Krashen, S. (1982). Principles and practices in second language acquisition. In M. Saville-Troike, Introducing Second Language Acquisition. Cambridge Introductions to Language and Linguistic.

Piaget, J. (1962). Comments on Vygotsky’s critical remarks concerning the language and thought of the child, and judgment and reasoning in the child. Cambridge Introductions to Language and Linguistic

List of groups that are relevant to me

List of groups that are relevant to me

Sports teams

Unions

Asian American

Science

Politics

Entertainment

Women

Climate activism

Environmental clubs

Cat lovers

Athlete

When I was kid, I had trouble understanding politics. about nations and democracy. I found it incomprehensible that strangers and haphazard individuals set the rules for my existence. I was unable to comprehend why regulations had to be set in the first place. Why would individuals assert that this is a land of freedom when there are laws and directives to be obeyed?

Most significantly, I gained a certain amount of interest about the enigmatic decision-making strangers. I learnt and comprehended a lot. I am now of voting age, I see the benefits of becoming exposed to politics. But I’ve discovered that among folks my generation, this isn’t the norm; contrary, there are lot of individuals who just “don’t care”.

Some years, a fight broke out between one of my classmates and a teacher about this. He had a very limited understanding of politics, and she (the instructor) was furious that he was not ready to learn more. Since she judged his IQ based on his grasp of politics, he became enraged. Personally, I think they were both mistaken, but that is not the topic at hand. Because I had never before considered the issue, “Why must we care about politics?” specifically as teenagers?

The solution is straightforward: We are in control of your life as much as we proactively are concerned about politics.

I really think that perhaps the time we begin to distance ourselves from politics; we begin to lose control over our lives. It’s the point at which we give those in authority all the tools necessary to steal our lives and change them anyway they like. When we actually don’t care about politics, that’s when control is lost.

Somebody may think this is over the top, and perhaps it is, but I’d like you to realize how important this is. We have to stick up for what we believe in, particularly as youth. Politics must worry us since we are the ones who are most affected by them.

The crucial job of a transformational leader is to increase employee confidence in their capacity to do a certain task, subject to the impression-managing techniques employed by the staff. I practice these every day to build and enhance my self-efficacy. In order to further my leadership goals, I use social media platforms to carry out self-presentation strategies, which predominately involve individualized techniques.

List and describe the three major R & D approaches for implementing strategies

List and describe the three major R & D approaches for implementing strategies

Introduction

Research and Development (R & D) is an important tool in the business strategy implementation process aimed at not only growing but improving a business as well. It is basically a venture in technology and future capabilities, and entails researching a given market and customer needs in order to create not only new but improved products, processes and services to match customer needs. As highlighted by David (2000, p.99), there are three major R & D approaches for implementing strategies. In view of this therefore, this paper intends to discuss the three approaches for implementing strategies.

Being the First Business Organization to Market Technological Products

One of the three major R & D approaches for implementing strategies is to actually be the first organization to market new technological products. According to Porter & Cunningham (2004, p.6), this particular approach is and has been a significant factor in enabling many business organizations to establish their dominant positions within a number of advanced markets. As an approach for implementing business strategies, working at being the first organization to market technological products often blows away any serious competition. As a result; other business organizations simply find it difficult to keep up. David (2012, p.122) however highlights that as much as it is glamorous and exciting approach, it may also be a dangerous one. This is in view of the fact that many companies, for instance, the famous General Electric, have succeeded using this particular approach, with many other pioneering companies failing as well.

Being a Creative or Innovative Imitator of Flourishing Products

A second major approach for implementing strategies is to be a creative and innovative imitator of thriving products. According to David (2012,p.124), this approach is often helpful in terms of enabling business organizations minimize not only risks but costs involved in start-ups.This particular approach often entails letting a given pioneer business organization to develop the original version of a given product and demonstrating that a market for the product indeed exists. Once this is done, laggard business organizations come up (develop) such similar products. The strategy, however, requires excellent research and development personnel alongside an outstanding marketing department.

Being a Low-Cost Manufacturer or Producer of Related Products but Less Costly Products

A third major approach for implementing strategies is to be a low-cost manufacturer or producer by mass-producing of related products but less costly products that are recently produced within a given market. As new products become accepted by customers, prices often become increasingly significant in the customers’ buying decision. This strategy however requires significant investment in terms of plant and equipments but fewer costs in research and development compared to the other aforementioned approaches. As highlighted by David (2012,p.127), one of the most recently noted trends relating to this particular approach is relaxing the secrecy veil whereby business companies, even key competitors, are joining forces to create new products, hence securing low-cost production. Collaboration among business companies is thus on the increase owing to rising competitive pressures, rising regulatory-related issues, increasing research costs as well as accelerated product development schedules.

Conclusion

As highlighted, it is evidently clear that research and development (R & D) is a significant means through which any business organization can achieve future growth through the initiating the development of new products/services or processes aimed at not only improving but also expanding their operations. The paper has generally listed and provided a discussion of the three major R & D approaches for implementing strategies.

Work Cited

David, Fred. Strategic Management Concepts: A Competitive Advantage Approach, Prentice Hall PTR, Pp.116-127, 2012

David, Fred. Instructors Resource Manual, Prentice Hall PTR, Pp.99-101, 2000

Porter, Alan & Cunningham, Scott. Tech Mining: Exploiting New Technologies for Competitive Advantage, John Wiley & Sons, Pp.6, 2004

Liquid oxygen

Liquid oxygen

Name

Institution

Liquid oxygen

Liquid oxygen reacts with many materials such as wood, leather and asphalt. It has a strong mechanical impact with these materials. Mechanic impact represents potential for ignition between two materials when they strike each other during an operation. The process involves generation of heat through transfer of kinetic energy and creation of strain energy due to transfer of the momentum of one materials mass to another material. For mechanical impact to occur, the masses of the material involved must be large and must strike each other during service. Mechanical impact is common in gases and liquid oxygen as well as porous hydrocarbons such as asphalt.

Properties of oxygen make this possible. Oxygen is the only gas that supports combustion of combustible materials. Oxygen reacts violently with organic component such as asphalt. Oxygen saturated environment such as liquid oxygen can have explosive reaction with asphalt (Meyer, 2010). Asphalt is organic since it contains hydrocarbons. Therefore, mechanical impact occurs when liquid oxygen and organic asphalt contained in asphalt pavement come in contact.

The mechanical impact is strongly influenced by mechanical heat energy, which is kinetic energy or molecular motion energy. Friction between surfaces also results in mechanical heat energy. Compressing gas into a liquid also result in heat energy. This is notable in diesel engines where ignition sparking is negated by heat of compression, which relies on heat production through compressing air and mixing it with petroleum. Exothermic reactions occur when kinetic energy is transformed into molecular motion leading to a violent explosion. It this kind of reaction that occurs when liquid oxygen spill on asphalt pavements. If explosions do not occur immediately dropping something such as a hammer in the area of spill triggers the explosion.

For these reason, it is always important to cordon off area of liquid oxygen spill, avoid walking on such surfaces s or dropping anything on them until they are cleaned. Liquid oxygen is frequently used by patients in hospital and at home. It is important for the users to be taught safety measure and how to handle spill especially when they have asphalt floors.

Reference

Meyer, E. (2010). Chemistry of hazardous materials (5th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.

Linking Assignment Part 1

Linking Assignment

Linking Assignment Part 1

Abdullah EssaPOSC 100, Dr. Wright

Date: 5/29/14

689 TEMPLE AVE, LONG BEACH, CA, 90814

U.S Congressperson: Doris O. Matsui

District: California-District 6

Party Affiliation: Democrat

Length of Service: Since March 8, 2005.

Previous Work Experience:

1998-2005-Colleen, Shannon, Scott Director of Government Relations

1992-1998- White House Staff

California State Senator: Ricardo Lara

District: 33

Party Affiliation: Democrat

Length of Service in this office: 2012 to date

Previous Work Experience: Served as California State Assembly Member between 2010-2012

California State Assemblyperson: Frank Bigelow

District: 05

Party Affiliation: Republican (Bigelow Web)

Length of service in this office: Since June 5, 2012

Previous Work Experience:

Since 1973 Ponderosa Telephone Company/ Volunteer fire fighter and owner of Bigelow Farms

Linking Assignment Part 2

Senator Ricardo Lara.

Weapon Ban

My View: Assault weapons should not be banned from the public because it will not actually bring to an end the gun violence in America. There is no clear relationship between gun control and reduction of gun violence in the country, as presumed by the senator and other proponents (“Votesmart.org” Web). The issue of gun violence should be geared towards pragmatic, bi-partisan solutions instead of focusing on political divisiveness as well as ineffective legislation as it is currently done by politicians. Attacking the rights of legal gun owners cannot offer the solution that is currently needed in reducing gun violence through wholesale prohibition of whole categories of firearms. Existing laws should just be reformed such as evaluating the mental health of people buying the guns instead of taking guns from people.

Senator Ricardo Lara’s stance on the issue

Public Statement

Senator Ricardo Lara highlights several gun violence cases in the state such as children killing children with guns as the reason for prohibiting the manufacture and possession of military style assault weapons as well as establishing licensing and record of sale requirements for gun ownership (“Votesmart.org” Web).

Senator Ricardo Lara supports the assault weapons ban legislation, which intends to stop the sale, transfer, importation, and manufacturing of military-style weapons, handguns and short-guns as well as a ban on weapons that can hold a magazine with a greater than 10 round capacity. Senator Ricardo Lara voted YES on the legislation that introduced banning of high-capacity magazines of over 10 bullets and even sponsored a gun control proposal that would see gun owners obtaining license as a way of keeping handguns and semiautomatic firearms away from people who can misuse them in killing people such as criminals.

Some of the relevant interest groups in the issue of gun control include the National Rifle Association (NRA) that which is against a tighter regulation of firearms. Gun control is absolutely one of the hotly debatable issues in America and the battle has been waged intensively through the media campaigns to assert pressure on policy makers of which NRA and the pro-gun rights voices tend to win the debate. The group has a great influence on the public something that makes it impose a great threat to the gun control policy.

Ban on Funding Abortion

Abortion is a serious issue that touches on the life of both the mother and the fetus. Funding abortion should however not encourage the act to be conducted irresponsibly especially as a birth control mechanism because that is not what it is fit to do. Most teenagers would always resort to abortion as a way of doing away with unwanted pregnancy (“Votesmart.org” Web).

a. Senator Ricardo Lara’s stance on the issue is that funding abortion should be encouraged and he supports the idea of using taxpayer funding for the project and strongly opposed bans on the practice of partial birth abortion.

Lara has demonstrated that he does not support law that allows third trimester’s abortion unless the mother’s life is in danger and has since opposed attempts to remove abortion coverage from plans covering abortion.

Planned Parenthood is one of the interest groups that actively lobby on the pro-choice side especially the right of women to have access to all reproductive healthcare options. The interest group has a huge influence on the public and has greatly invested on the abortion issue.

Linking Assignment Part 3

Name:

Address:

Senator Ricardo Lara

State Capitol, Room 5050 Sacramento, CA 95814-4900

Dear Senator,

I beg to disagree with you on the issue of gun control. Gun ownership greatly helps in self-defense among the citizens. Proponents of gun ownership argue that the idea that guns are used in criminal activities is misleading since these activities are believed to have existed even before the guns came into existence. Guns may play a major role in reducing crime rates, since the criminals may fear being attacked by their target who own guns. Ownership of guns may imply that the government is no longer responsible in providing security, and this may discourage tourists from visiting the country.

Gun control does not deter criminals from their activities but instead provides guarantee that they will not face any armed resistance from the civilians. Prohibition of guns may lead to increase of black market that may impose serious threat to the citizens. It is apparent that there is no clear relationship between gun control and reduction of gun violence in the country, as presumed by the senator and other proponents. The issue of gun violence should be geared towards pragmatic, bi-partisan solutions instead of focusing on political divisiveness as well as ineffective legislation as it is currently done by politicians. Attacking the rights of legal gun owners cannot offer the solution that is currently needed in reducing gun violence through wholesale prohibition of whole categories of firearms. Existing laws should just be reformed such as evaluating the mental health of people buying the guns instead of taking guns from people. Kindly reconsider your stance on the issue of gun control based on the facts I have provided.

Sincerely,

Name

Signature

Name:

Address:

Frank Bigelow

Address:

Dear Assemblyman,

Your support for owing a gun is a great boost to not only the district you represent but also to the country at large (Bigelow Web). The most important thing is peaceful coexistence that comprises love, trust and forgiveness amongst individuals would be better than gun control law. Gun control have not completely solved the issue of insecurity. This is evident from the numerous failures such as various shootouts that have been experienced in various parts of America. It is therefore important to note that gun control cannot solve the issues of insecurity by making others safer, yet these zones, whether on college campuses or at the city or country level, have not disarmed criminals (Bigelow Web). It may be assumed that the law only target innocent citizens who are the most law-abiding citizens hence exposing them to risk while making criminals lives easy because they cannot be easily disarmed.

In rural homes, riffles are widely used in hunting and therefore illegalizing them may deny a citizen’s right to hunt. Moreover, banning guns may lead to rising of black market that will even impose more threat to the citizens with criminals even earning a lot more from the gun business. Civilians’ contribution towards the companies selling guns cannot be denied. The companies’ sale increases thus getting enough money to make weapons that are even more sophisticated. Additionally, there are deadlier weapons used in mass destruction apart from guns. For instance, citizens owning guns did not contribute the 9/11. People have used knives in killing others and other simple things such as pens that are turned into weapons by their users. The people of America may also use the guns against a dictatorial government.

Sincerely,

Name

Signature

Name:

Address:

Doris O. Matsui

Address:

Dear Congresswoman,

Following your NO stand from in prohibiting taxpayer funded abortion, you have shown the public that you strongly care about the right of a woman and mothers across America (“Open Congress” Web). Funding abortion is absolutely one of the ways mothers can escape death that could have otherwise occurred without carrying out abortion. Mothers across the country and in the 5th district are actually relieved and they feel that they have a leader who fully represents them.

However, there are cases where the act of abortion is misused and even treated as a birth control system. Parents take their teenage girls to abortions to get rid of unwanted pregnancy yet that is not the main purpose of the act. You should therefore lead the campaign that can stop the misuse of abortion so that the funds provided can be effectively and efficiently used. Public awareness and introduction of legislation that deters the misuse of abortion may greatly help. Kindly do something in your capacity to make sure that mothers are safe and that public funds are not misappropriated.

Works Cited

“California State Senate.” Senators, 2013. Web. 22 May 2014. <http://senate.ca.gov/senators>.

“Open Congress.” On Passage: H R 1797 District of Columbia Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act, 18 June 2013. Web. 22 May 2014.

“Votesmart.org.” Ricardo Lara’s Biography, 2014. Web. 29 May 2014. <http://votesmart.org/candidate/biography/104399/ricardo-lara#.U4bjra6Ipdi>.

Bigelow, Frank. Issue Policy Positions: Frank Bigelow for Assembly 2012. Web. 22 May 2014. <http://frankbigelow.com/policies.html>.