Cady and Brutus Essay Example for Free

Cady and Brutus Essay Brutus and Cady emerge as the most complex characters in Julius Caesar and Mean Girls respectively. They are each stories tragic heroes. In each of their soliloquies, the audience gains insight into the complexities of their motives. Brutus is a powerful public figure, but he appears also as a husband, a master to his servants, a dignified military leader, and a loving friend. Cady starts off as virtually nothing, but eventually becomes a direct parallel in terms of Brutus’s power. The conflicting value systems that battle with each other in the play as a whole are enacted on incredibly small level in Brutus’s mind. Even after Brutus has committed the assassination with the other members of the conspiracy, questions remain as to whether, in light of his friendship with Caesar, the murder was a noble, decidedly selfless act or proof of a truly evil callousness, a gross indifference to the ties of friendship and a failure to be moved by the power of a truly great man. Brutus’s rigid idealism is both his greatest virtue and his most deadly flaw. In the world of the play, where self-serving ambition seems to dominate all other motivations, Brutus lives up to Antony’s elegiac description of him as â€Å"the noblest of Romans.† However, his commitment to principle repeatedly leads him to make mistakes that cost him much: wanting to curtail violence, he ignores Cassius’s suggestion that the conspirators kill Antony as well as Caesar. In another moment of rampant idealism, he again ignores Cassius’s advice and allows Antony to speak a funeral oration over Caesar’s body. As a result, Brutus forfeits the authority of having the last word on the murder and thus allows Antony to incite the shocked Roman crowd to riot against Brutus and the other conspirators. This is similar to when Regina George incites the entire school into chaos using the â€Å"burn book.† Brutus later endangers his good relationship with Cassius by self-righteously condemning what he sees as dishonorable fund-raising tactics on Cassius’s part. This is similar to how Cady views Regina, with respect and with friendship, but also with contempt. In all of these episodes, Brutus acts out of a desire to limit the self-serving aspects of his actions; ironically, however, in each incident he dooms the very cause that he seeks to promote, thus serving no one at all. The changes that shape Brutus and Cady are very interesting because they correlate so well. These changes occur because of the spurring of other characters. In Julius Caesar, Brutus is spurred on by Cassius and his conspirator band. In Mean Girls, Cady is spurred on by Janice (who is Cassius’s parallel). This spurring directly influences the characters actions and thoughts. Brutus probably wouldn’t ever have acted on this plot if it wasn’t for Cassius’s flattering comments. Cady wouldn’t have followed her path if she didn’t befriend or follow Janice’s ideas. Brutus and Cady develop along the same line in their respective stories, which is to be expected as they are the same character in similar settings.

Drug Abuse Essays -- Substance Abuse Essays

Drug abuse dates as far back as the Biblical era, so it is not a new phenomenon. â€Å"The emotional and social damage and the devastation linked to drugs and their use is immeasurable.† The ripple of subversive and detrimental consequences from alcoholism, drug addictions, and addictive behavior is appalling. Among the long list of effects is lost productivity, anxiety, depression, increased crime rate, probable incarceration, frequent illness, and premature death. The limitless consequences include the destruction to personal development, relationships, and families (Henderson 1-2). â€Å"Understandably, Americans consider drug abuse to be one of the most serious problems† in the fabric of society. And although â€Å"addiction is the result of voluntary drug use, addiction is no longer voluntary behavior, it’s uncontrollable behavior,† says Alan Leshner, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse (Torr 12-13).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Addiction is a progressive, chronic, and ultimately a fatal disease. It is progressive in the sense that if it is left untreated it will get worse. Chronic means long term. Once one becomes dependent, it is like diabetes, in that diabetes is an incurable disease that can only be controlled. Long-term addictions have the high potential to lead to death through overdose, AIDs, suicide, or an accident (Aronson 17). The cycle of addiction tends to follow a pattern.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  People first take drugs for many different reasons. Early on, drug experimentation can stem from curiosity, peer pressure and influence, or because of the environment people live in (Nagle 17). For example, in the East Side of downtown it is apparent that drug dealing and drug usage is prevalent. The police recently arrested 54 individuals from the East Side. Unfortunately it was just one block out of approximately 50 more on that side of town.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Next comes the social use stage. This is the stage where most individuals tend to stop or control their usage. People will try it and occasionally use drugs to â€Å"cut loose†, party, and have a good time, generally if, and only if, everyone else around them is doing it. Otherwise they could either take it or leave it and don’t necessarily seek out illegal drugs.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  However, as a tolerance to the substances begins to build and the social group changes from friends in the same peer group to primarily drug users and abusers, that is when the drug... ...er says, that â€Å"eventually, the drugs decrease the person’s ability to experience pleasure without a drug† (Torr 13).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Enfin, one of the most browbeating and frustrating things in the world is the disease of addiction. It is a progressive, chronic, and often fatal disease that takes control of life away from people. However, â€Å"drugs are here to stay, and...we have no choice but to learn how to live with them so that they cause the least possible harm† (Torr 116). Unfortunately, ten percent of all eighth graders and twenty percent of all tenth graders are using marijuana at least once a month (Torr 38). Works Cited Aronson, Virginia. "Junior Drug Awareness." Philadelphia: Chelsea House, 2011. â€Å"Dopamine System May Be the Key to Addiction.† News Briefs. Nature Magazine. May-June 2012. National Drug Strategy Network. Web. 20 Apr. 2015 http://www.ndsn.org/newbriefs.html Henderson, Elizabeth Connell. Understanding Addiction. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 2013. Nagle, Jeanne. Everything You Need to Know About Drug Addiction. New York: The Rosen Publishing Group, 2012. Torr, James D. Drug Abuse: Opposing Viewpoints. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 2014.

Miss Julie” by August Strindberg and “Death In Venice” by Thomas Mann Essay

The presentation of the theme and the main characters of â€Å"Miss Julie† by August Strindberg and â€Å"Death In Venice† by Thomas Mann. The comparative study will examine the theme of lust and love, and the similarities between the two main characters from the play â€Å"Miss Julie† by August Strindberg and the Novel † Death in Venice† by Thomas Mann. The main characters from each story come from a higher class, and they are expected to act noble, but somehow they both fail because of their desires for love and lust. August Strindberg wishes to portray a high class family that have certain standards and values, that Miss Julie; the daughter of the family, fails to fulfill. Miss Julie flirts with the servant and looses her virginity to him, her â€Å"curiosity† for the servant results in her being dishonored by people around her. Her lust for the servant makes her weak and in the end she commits suicide because she was provoked by the servant called Jean. In Thomas Mann’s novel on the other hand, the main character is a man called Gustav von Aschenbach, who comes off as a conservative and somewhat â€Å"religious† man. He is a known author that travels to Venice and comes across a boy that fascinates him, his fascination makes him follow the young boy called Tadzio around Venice. Even at a young age Tadzio is well aware of his beauty, and he uses it to capture Aschenbachs attention and his curiosity. Aschenbach too, dies because of his love for Tadzio. Aschenbach gets poisoned by the cholera epidemic in Venice. He dies while watching Tadzio on the beach, he dies in his chair. Miss Julie is a daughter of a count and therefore she is wealthy, and has a full staff of servants. Miss Julie seems like a very extroverted person, she approaches the staff and talks to them. One in particular, the servant called Jean. One midsummer night Miss Julie grabs Jean and dances with him, but it was not a subtle dance, Jean describes it while talking to his fiancà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ Christine. Jean: † I took the count to the station, and when I came back by the barn, I went in and had a dance and there I saw a young lady leading the dance with the gamekeeper. But when she caught sight of me, she rushed right up to me and asked me to dance the ladies waltz with her. And ever since she’s been waltzing like – well, I never saw the like of it. She’s crazy.†1 This is an example of how Miss Julie approaches people, in a confident way. When you read the dialogue between Jean and Miss Julie throughout the book, it is noticeable that Jean is doing all the talking, and â€Å"philosophizing†, Miss Julie sits with him alone in the kitchen and listens carefully. Their situation is a problematic one, because even though Jean is Miss Julie’s servant he is also a man, and because of the time the story takes place, the man is above the woman. Miss Julie looses her virginity to Jean in the kitchen, and after Jean has sexual intercourse with Miss Julie he realizes that she has no honor or money herself. She realizes what her lust for him has made her do, she will now become dishonored by her dad and everyone around her. Jean disrespects her, even though he was the one who just slept with her, and Miss Julie doesn’t know what to do with herself? Julie: Help me, help me! Tell me only what I am to do – where I am to turn? Jean: O lord, if only I knew myself! Julie: I have been exasperated, I have been mad, but there ought to be some way of saving myself. Jean: Stay right here and keep quiet, Nobody knows anything. Julie: Impossible! The people know, and Christine knows. Jean: They don’t know, and they would never believe it possible. Julie: (hesitating) But – it might happen again. 2 This dialogue is a clear example of their relationship, Miss Julie seemed confident in the start, but because of her developing feelings for Jean she becomes insecure, and starts to ask Jean what do to. The play ends with Miss Julie following Jean’s advice and committing suicide, so she would not have to confront her mistakes. She looses all her power, and nobility by sleeping with the servant. In the end it is obvious to observe that Miss Julie simply just wanted a man that could take care of her, and her lusts took over her common sense. Miss Julie’s dilemma is very controversial, because what she was doing was very common amongst the male aristocrats. This is a typical example of inequality between sexes! Thomas Mann’s controversial novel portrays a man called Gustav von Aschenbach who is an author that travels to Venice alone on a trip. When he arrives in Venice he is very observant, and he notices different people around him, acting silly and he almost gets appalled by their behavior. He saw an elderly man with a mask on, entertaining some younger people. â€Å"They seemed to be tolerating his presence among them as something habitual and to taken for granted, they treated him as an equal, reciprocated without embarrassment when he teasingly poked them in the ribs. How was this possible?† 3 This is why Aschenbach is a very conservative man, who does not see beyond his own black and white world. This is one thing that changes on his trip, after checking in to his hotel, he notices a Polish family, amongst them there is a young boy who startles Aschenbach, his beauty startles him and the boy called Tadzio catches Aschenbach’s full attention. Aschenbach’s love and desire for the boy persuades himself to make up an excuse to stay in Venice, even though he was about to leave because of his bad health condition. His weeks in Venice result in him sitting by the beach and observing Tadzio. One day, Tadzio turns around and looks directly at Aschenbach, he stares at him in a cocky way, as if he is self aware of his beauty and how Aschenbach feels about him. Aschenbach merely convinces himself that he only has an â€Å"abstract and artistic interest.† Though it is obvious that he has gotten a serious obsession for him, and started to almost love him. The city of Venice was infected with a bad cholera epidemic, Aschenbach can smell how bad it had gotten, but instead of leaving or staying inside he continues to walk around, as if it is a sense of redemption for what he is thinking. Aschenbach knows himself that what he is doing, and thinking is wrong. His fascination for the boy has taken over his common sense. He does not approach Tadzio but he follows him around Venice, and he dreams about him, and discovers his sexual lusts. One afternoon he goes to the lobby and finds out that the Polish family is leaving, then even in his ill condition he goes to the beach to watch Tadzio for the last time. Tadzio is standing unsupervised by the beach and looking out at the water, he looks back at his admirer, Aschenbach tries to get up but falls back in his chair and dies. Miss Julie was written in 1888, and Death in Venice was written in 1912. There are not many similarities between the authors, and the styles these two stories were written in. Yet they do have similar themes and similar characters. Lust and love, was what drove both main characters to act differently, and controversial to what they are use to. They both die because of there actions, which were made because of their desires. Both the stories are tragedies but expressed in very different ways, one through a play another through a novel. Miss Julie and Gustav Von Aschenbach have both suffered, suffered what they normally would believe was a good thing, love. It was forbidden love and lust. Bibliography Strindberg, August. Miss Julie. New York: Dover Publications, 1992. Print. Thomas, Mann,. Death in Venice and other stories. London: Vintage, 1998. Print. 1 Miss Julie, August Strindberg P.2 2 Miss Julie, August Strindberg P.25 3 Death in Venice, Thomas Mann P.211

Essay on the Impact of Employee Involvement in Workplace

Essay on the Impact of Employee Involvement in Workplace Introduction One of the main management challenges involves implementation of effective strategies of through which the workplace performance can be enhanced. Due to the continued effort by organizations to ensure that the employees make a significant impact in the workplace, human resource management studies have increasingly emphasized on the approaches such as reward management, team empowerment, job satisfaction, strategic planning, and participative management. In this essay, a comprehensive evaluation is carried out with an aim of determining whether the employee involvement and participation has a significant impact in the workplace. The arguments developed in this article are based on the understanding that the modern trend of incorporating the employees in the decision making is reasonable and undisputable in every organizational setting (Gospel Pendleton 2010). Many organizations are still ravaging in the stressing conditions whereby the departments of human resource management have to prove their increasing value through performance in these organizations. However, these leaders continue to battle in the effort to justify that their existence in the organization is fertile. William et al. (2011) argue that maybe one of the reasons for the straining routine in the management activities by these human resource managers has been based on the fact that they have failed to express their performance in the economic terms. However, it is hard to deny the fact that through a study of the best approaches in employee involvement, the organization can be able to induce a significant impact to its improvement and progress as this article proves Discussion In many instances, managers clinging to the participation human relation hypothesis are convinced that the simple involvement is just for the sake of involvement. Their main argument is attached to the perception that as long as there is a feeling of participation by the subordinates coupled with being consulted, there will be a satisfaction of their egoistic needs. In addition, the managers are drawn to the assumption that this trend will also eventually result in cooperation of these employees (Lashley 2001). Employee involvement and job satisfaction are some of the issues that have continuously received persistent attention from organizational and industrial psychologists, sociologists, and management scientists. By the time that the initial study was undertaken by Locke in 1976, there were numerous studies that had already been carried out on the relationship between the employee participation and the overall impact to the organizational success (Anne et al. 2008). Employee participation According to Anne et al., (2008), employee involvement or participation is perceived to be the process that results in sharing of the influence between the management and subordinates that are otherwise not equal in the organizational hierarchy. Through participatory management, the manager’s involvement is balanced with those of subordinates when it comes to processing of the information and the endeavors of making critical decisions. The initial study of the employee participation and its impact on the workplace success can be traced back to the French and Coch in the year 1945 (Anne et al. 2008). In their study, these authors initiated a rationale of efficiency and productivity. This rationale was developed with the assumption of existence of a strong connection between the employee participation in the decision making and the outcome in the workplace. These outcomes were detailed to include increased productivity and job satisfaction. Cindy and Roberts (2011) support this argument by explaining that through the decision making participation, the job performance is improved as well as the motivation to the employees. This perception on the employee involvement has however been ignored until the recent past that has been characterized with the emergence of major works on employee involvement. These major works have as a result significantly impacted the academic and most importantly; the business environments. In a different but similar approach to the participatory management, Taylor (2005) has focused on the evaluation of the approach and how it affects the outcomes in the organization such as the work outcomes and the organization’s performance. The impacts have been cited by Murray et al. (2002) to include job satisfaction, product quality, and productivity, together with the development of advanced and superior relationships with the employees (Murray et al. 2002; Dickens and Niel 2006). Ackers et al. (2006) add that the best way to enhance an improvement in the productivity would be through the striving for the managers and employees shared goals. By ensuring that the workers are incorporated in the effort develop the mission of the organization together with development of the procedure and policies, there is a high likelihood of the workers improving on the communication coupled with increasing the satisfaction and morale. Job satisfaction has been emphasized as an approach that is in line with employee participation research. In the previous studies, the employee participation has been portrayed to have a positive relationship with the productivity, satisfaction, and performance Daniels (2006). Anne et al. (2008) on the other side perceives the profit distribution to effectively be enhanced when combined with the participation of the employee in the process of management. In the study on the new workplace evolution, Brown et al. (2009) observes that high involvement of the employees in the workplace ensures a high likelihood of developing the positive attitudes and beliefs connected to the employee involvement. Brown et al. (2009) adds that these practices are renowned for generating the category of decretory behavior through which the increased performance is enhanced. In the simple terms, the employee conception, designing, and implementation of the workplace processes should be drawn towards the employee involvedness. Brown and colleagues hence argue the critical importance of the employee involvement in the contemporary business world. For instance, Gallop organization embarked on the engagement study in the business units of 35 organizations. As the result, it observed a positive association between the employee involvement and performance in various sections that included the productivity, profitability, and satisfaction to the customers. The em ployee involvement breadth was observed to be substantial based on the fact that more than half of the organizations units had a score that was above median when it came to the performance (Konrad 2006). According to Konrad (2006), the employee involvement is observed to incorporate three interconnected components: the emotional, cognitive and the behavioral aspect. The cognitive dimension of the employee involvement is observed to mainly entail the employee perception and belief on the organization, the organizational and working conditions. The emotional component is mainly drawn towards addressing the issue on the feelings of the employees towards the three factors coupled with evaluation of whether their attitudes towards the leaders and organizations are positive or negative. The employee involvement behavioral aspect is mainly perceived to be drawn towards understanding the value added aspect for the organization. This aspect is mainly perceived to incorporate the flexible effort that the employees employ to their work in the form of the brainpower, extra time and the energy allocated towards the firm and the task. The impact of job satisfaction in the workplace According to Veersma and Swinkels (2005), job satisfaction is perceived to be a positive or pleasurable state that results from the job or experience. Alternatively, Cindy and Robert (2011) perceive job satisfaction as the difference between what is valued by the employees and what is provided by the situation. Cindy and Robert’s (2011) perception is based on the understanding of job satisfaction as a feelings to a certain situation facets. As Veersma and Swinkels (2005) observe, these explanations unfolds the understanding of the job satisfaction as the efficient orientation of the employee towards the duties that are occupied in the workplace. Historically, the employee involvement and job satisfaction have mainly focused on the significance of coordinating the human relationship in the workplace in the effort to ensure that productivity is enhanced coupled with human capital development. Emphasizing on the importance of human motivation and its effect on the productivity an d satisfaction in the workplace, Veersma and colleague most importantly praise employee participation as the approach through which influence can be shared among the individuals that would otherwise be perceived as unequal hierarchically (Veersma and Swinkels 2005). In their article on employee empowerment law, Lewis and colleagues (2011) uphold the importance of employee satisfaction in the workplace. However, they are highly concerned by the lack of enough practices to prioritize on the job satisfaction. This is mainly due to the fact that they have hardly been able to understand the important opening ahead. As a result of the employees being satisfied, there impact will be realized through increased productivity, creativity, and commitment to the employers. The high employee participation in the workplace Various studies have targeted development of the numerous management practices through which the high employee involvement and performance in the workplace is enhanced. For instance, William et al (2011) explains that selection of the right management practices range from selection of the appropriate employees for the specific roles, embarking on the appropriate skills and training development, embarking on the organizations that are team-based, payment on the incentive basis, and job security. In every generalized category, there are various particular practices that are developed. For instance, the payment on the basis on the incentive can be in the form of programs on gain-sharing, contingent-performance payment to the employees or even employee ownership. The development of the training program can target the existing and future skills development, interpersonal and technical skills, experienced employees, and fresh hires. These choices enhance the development of high employee pa rticipation in a coherent set that is steady across the organization coupled with reinforcement which is perceived to be a management major challenge. In the effort to clearly unfold the understanding of the employee involvement, Konrad (2006) has identified the interconnected principles that ensure the effectiveness in the workplace. These principles are inclusive of information, power, rewards, and knowledge (Cohen, 2006). Cohen (2006) starts by explaining the power as the employees’ entitlement and ability to make the critical decisions in relation to the performance and their working lives quality. With the power, the employees are capable of working under little level of influence. Therefore, to maximize on the employee participation, this power has to be pushed down to the employees that are capable of carrying out the critical decisions. Konrad (2006) insists that effectiveness can be enhanced when the forums are created for the employees development and sharing ideas in an approach that enhances improvement of the firm performance. However, this approach has to ensure best ideas are utilized from the employees. For instance, an employee suggestion in a large Midwest US manufacturing plant is described as influential and beneficial to the overall organizational success. This organization has a unionized labor force amounting to more than 1000 workers. Through the power system, the organization was able to generate various resourceful ideas from the employees. These suggestions and recommendations were in return able to save this organization US$8 million within the first four years of employee involvement (Konrad 2006). This implementation was enhanced by the review board that jointly involved the managers and the employees in the assessment of the every suggestions and detailing of recommendations (Konrad 2006). Information is another principle in which enhances evaluation of the business output quality, profitability, revenues together with the customer responses. To the managers, the main challenge involves creation of an information system through which the employees are fed with the timely and relevant data to their specific work processes. Through this data, these employees are hence able to manipulate the personality either through withholding or expending effort. If the managers are able to make the firms operations more transparent, then there is a high likelihood of the effective employees making a contribution to its success. Windbichler (2005) upholds transparency as an important aspect that enhances the development of the connection between employees performance and their actions; a move that enhances the development of the engagement cognitive aspect. Therefore, transparency is perceived to be essential when the employees have to see what they have been doing. Based on the comme nts generated by Ricardo Semler; a CEO in charge of a 900-employee organization in the Brazil, high employee involvement matters a lot in any organization. The information from the employees is thus able to generate frequent, frank, and brief reports on the progress of the firm. Knowledge is another principle of employee involvement that is perceived to enhance decision making by the employees. Through improvement of the employees’ knowledge, Osteroh and Frey (2006) cite a commitment to the training and growth. For the high involvement approaches, training is perceived to be an important aspect. This is based on the fact that as the employees make significant decisions, they importantly need to have the abilities and skills through which they can be able to make the right decisions. For instance, in the Saturn plant of the General Motors, the employees are approximately exposed to 500 hours of orientation training. In the same organization, an organization wide objective is established detailing the need for each employee to receive approximately 100 hours of additional training on annual basis. On average, the employees in this firm have continuously been exposed to 146 training hours; a trend that dates back to 1991. The reason for heavy reliance on training in this branch has mainly been based on the fact that the designing of the work process is heavily reliant on the use of the skills and knowledge of the employees. The skills and knowledge is utilized in the competitive building of the cars in the United States either through reducing the costs or by raising the organizational productivity as a way through which the differences can be portrayed. The only way through which this difference can be made has been through the mobilization of the knowledge, commitment, and skills in the workforce. In addition, this difference from the competitors has been enhanced through designing of organization and work systems in ways through which the increased productivity and quality can be enhanced. After understanding the principles detailed above, it should importantly be noted that the reward aspect of the employee involvement equation imply ensuring that the employees are rewarded for expending the discretionary effort in enhancing the improved performance of the organization. As a major element of the equation of the employee involvement, the rewards on the performance ensure the employees utilization of information, power, and knowledge in the development of a successful firm. The connection of these principles is perceived to be important when it comes to ensuring that the employee involvement yield positive benefits. For instance, one plant implemented the gain sharing approach to ensure that the employees earned $4.000 bonus over a period of four years for the suggestion that resulted in saving the firm US$10 million. This bonus as a result inspired considerable effort in the employees. According to the suggestions by the managers and supervisors in the plant, many improvements were being implemented with the employee initiating the changes with an aim of reaping the benefits that resulted from the consequent cost savings. In the Semler firm, the employees benefited from the distribution of the after-tax profits (23 percent) that was realized from every division. Based on the fact that the employers make a substantial gain on the business unit performance rewards, extra efforts tends to be employed in learning the multiple tasks and meeting the targets. In addition, these employees are basically eager to see the results of the efforts from the monthly revenue statements. On the other side, the base compensation in Saturn is tied to between 90 and 96 percent of the average in the industry. The difference can be made up by the employees through achievement of a target approximated at 90 training hours annually for every employee. In addition, the achievement of the negotiated targets for cost, quality, schedule, volume, and profitability qualifies the workers to receiving the bonuses. By the year 2005, these bonuses were approximated at $2,000 on annual basis for every employee (Konrad 2006). Conclusion This article has detailed the importance of the high employee involvement to ensure impact is enhanced in their workplace. Through training, the skills and knowledge are built in these employees to be implemented in the effective decision making process in the firm. By having a comprehensive knowledge of the effect of their actions on the business performance and rewarding of the employees contribution to the firm performance, the result is a win-win scenario for the management and employees. This is based on the perception that as these employees continually enjoy working in highly involving working environment, the managers on the other side continue to reap the benefits. From this essay, it is openly observed that the high employee participation system will require collaboration between the employees and management with an aim of virtually remaking the whole organization.