Mademoiselle Magazine: a Christmas Memory Essay

â€Å"A Christmas Memory†, which was written by Truman Capote and originally published in Mademoiselle Magazine in December 1956, is a meaningful and emotional story about family. In which, the characters of a family are defined especially:† Family is not only a shelter but also a safe place to care, share memories, sacrifice, and love. † There are many definitions about family. One of them is â€Å"A family consists of two or more people (one of whom is the householder) related by birth, marriage, or adoption residing in the same housing unit â€Å"(US Census Bureau. Its main functions are to produce and reproduce persons, biologically and/or socially; share material substances (such as food, shelter. ) However, two family members (Buddy and his cousin) in â€Å"A Christmas Memory† are connected with each other not only by consanguinity but also by love and friendship. The story employs a first-person narrator who is called Buddy –a seven-year-old boy, but it is not his real name. It was given by his distant cousin who is â€Å"sixty-something† and is described as â€Å"still a child. Though it is so sad that the more Buddy grows up, the older his friend is. His friend used to realize: â€Å"†¦ I guess I hate to see you grow up. When you’re grown up, will we still be friends? † But, their innocence keeps them be best friends despite age. Besides, both of them are poor and lonely. They are considered outsiders by their family. â€Å"Other people inhabit the house, relatives; and though they have power over us, and frequently make us cry, we are not, on the whole, too much aware of them. † (â€Å"A Christmas Memory†, p. ) Throughout the story, other family members did not appear too much except for two occasions: One is when the Buddy’s friend let Buddy drink the leftover whiskey, the relatives yelled at her and brought up cousins and uncles who were involved in scandals and humiliated the family. This hurts Buddy’s friend and makes she cried all night. Another is on the Christmas morning when they gave Buddy gifts which made him angry: hand-me-downs, a church shirt, and a subscription to a religious magazine. Both of these appearances only bring sadness, tears and disappointment instead of charm or love. Moreover, they do not know about Buddy’s needs and desire: a bicycle. An interesting detail is: Buddy and his friend are very poor but why do they save every penny to make fruitcakes every year? Instead of selling fruitcakes to have some money or keeping them for themselves, Buddy and his cousin give these fruitcakes away to strangers: President Roosevelt, a knife grinder who comes through town twice a year, a driver of the six o’clock bus from Mobile who exchanges waves with them every day, a California couple whose car one afternoon broke down outside the house and chatted with them on the porch. Especially, although Mr. Haha Johnes is described as a â€Å"giant with razor scars across his cheeks† and never smiles, when Buddy and his cousin purchase whiskey for their fruitcakes from him, he gives it for free with a smile that means there is good in all people. People cannot be judged on their appearance. Sadly, these warm gestures are given to Buddy and his cousin by outsiders instead of their family. They are lonely and need love; especially at Christmas – a season for giving and reunite. It is a wonderful time of greetings, gifts, joy, care and sharing that their relatives never give them. Family is also where members sacrifice for each other. The story is a bittersweet reminiscence beginning with† Imagine a morning in later November. A coming of winter morning more than twenty years ago. Consider the kitchen of a spreading old house in a country town. † (â€Å"A Christmas Memory†, p. 1) This places the story during the Great Depression- a time of great poverty which then results in many emotional details. The way Buddy and his cousin hide their money is so impressive:† These money we keep hidden in an ancient bead purse under a loose board under the floor under a chamber pot under my friend’s bed. (â€Å"A Christmas Memory,† p. 6) This purse seems very important and valuable with them and the women saves money and keep it carefully. She has never traveled more than five miles from homes and eaten in a restaurant. She still gives Buddy a dime to watch the movie show every Saturday. Even when Buddy is in military school, in every letter she also encloses a dime wadded in toilet paper. She wants to enhance Buddy’s skills. Buddy likes her eyes to describe the world outside for her. She is strong with morals and purity- innocent and trusts in the Lord. Moreover, she is charming like a mother or grandmother. Family is where people share happiness and sadness which become the most beautiful memories in their lives. Buddy and his friends have many unforgettable Christmas holidays together. They save money by selling fruits and flowers, killing flies, holding their own shows with pictures and a three-legged biddy chicken. And when the â€Å"fruitcake weather† comes, they buy ingredients to make fruitcakes and present it to their neighbors, friends or also strangers. Next, they venture into the woods and cut down a majestic tree. When a â€Å"rich mill owner’s lazy wife† offers to buy it, Buddy’s friend insists on refusing. They respect the Christmas spirit. It is much more valuable than money. Then, they decorate the tree with homemade ornaments and odds and ends found in the attic. Finally, they create gifts for their relatives. Buddy wishes he could give his friend a knife, a radio, and the chocolate-covered cherries she craves. His cousin wants to give Buddy a new bicycle. However, they embarrass to confess that they only have kites for each other like the previous Christmas. Despite that, Buddy and his friend are happy with their kites rather than what their relatives gave them. They spend Christmas day happily watching their homemade kites soar in the breeze. Buddy soon forgets disappointed gifts from his relatives and is excited â€Å"†¦as if we’d already won the fifty-thousand-dollar Grand Prize in that coffee-naming contest† while his friend happy as if she could see the Lord. (â€Å"A Christmas Memory, p. 20†). It is their last perfect Christmas together. â€Å"Those who Know Best† – the adults who do not care much about Buddy’s life as well as his dream- send Buddy to a military school where he is separated from his friend forever. Although Buddy has a new home, in his mind:† Home is where my friend is, and there I never go. † (â€Å"A Christmas Memory,† p. 21) Home is not defined as a shelter. It is where he can find love and safety. Another meaningful in this story is the kite which is a symbol of freedom, heart, friendship, and dream to fly up high to touch the sky. Kites are also memories of their beautiful days together. Memories are something passing by our life that we cannot touch them again except for remembering them sometimes. However, they are important parts in our heart eternally. Thus, even when Buddy is far from his house, his childhood’s memories about his lovely friend, his dog- Queenie, Christmas holidays, and the kites always alive in his soul that make him strong and keep forward. That is why when his friend dies, Buddy feels as if he lost an irreplaceable part and while walking across the campus on December morning- Christmas time, Buddy still searches the sky with hope to see a pair of kites- his unforgettable memories about his lovely friend. â€Å"A Christmas Memory† is a vivid picture of family and lovely friendship of Buddy and his cousin that leaves a message for the reader: Family likes a house which has the base built by love  , four walls connected by care, the roof made by share  and the furniture inside are sacrifice.

Legalities related to sexual harassment policies for the workplace Research Paper

Legalities related to sexual harassment policies for the workplace - Research Paper Example Before filing a case against the offender, a victim must remember the place, date, and time of the sexual harassment besides any witness if possible. The harasser needs to be blatantly made clear by the victim to behave and mend ways. If there is no sign of amending ways, a warning needs to be made of the repercussions in legal terms through filing a case at EEOC (Equal Employment Opportunity Commotion), which can help the victim. An employer cannot be held responsible if no such policy is in practice at the workplace to tame the bad conduct but once a complaint has been made, taking action against the offender becomes mandatory for the employer to save the employer’s skin (Bhatnagar, 2007). Employees at state and federal level are also protected under the sexual harassment law. Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 under the federal law provides remedy for workplace harassment. This law is applicable to firms with fifteen or more employees. Where employee strength is less than fifteen the state anti-discrimination law comes to the aid of discriminated employees. Regarding single-gender harassment, there is provision to file a case against the employer whereas there is no unanimity over single-gender harassment in state laws (Larson, 2003). Basically, there are two simple types of workplace sexual harassment, Quid Pro Quo Harassment and Hostile Work Environment Harassment. In Quid Pro Quo type, the employee has to bear the gender based discrimination to remain in the job, avail routine benefit, salary hike or promotion. A hostile work environment affects the job performance of the employee by making the environment abusive. For inquiring into the workplace environment, we need to analyze the factors responsible for the conduct of the offender. It is crucial to confirm whether the offender’s behavior is verbally or physically wrong, how random the occurrence of the offence is, whether the behavior is just unfriendly or undoubtedly objectionable , what is the rank of the offender, whether the offence is committed taking along others by the offender in the league of perpetuators’ aiming at the victim singularly or including others as targets (Larson, 2003). Sexual harassment of verbal type can be judged on the overall happenings, depending on factors such as: The type, frequency, context, and specific aim of the remarks; Whether the comments were unfriendly and mean; Whether the alleged harasser pointed towards the victim while making a hostile comment; Whether the victim reacted by participated through return comments; and The level of kinship between the victim and the alleged harasser. To initiate action for sexual harassment, the plaintiff must prove that: 1. The plaintiff found the behavior to be hostile, abusive or offensive; and 2. Any person of balanced attitude in the same situation would consider the behavior hostile, abusive or offensive. It is to be noted that the plaintiff need not be necessarily a victim of the ordeal to file a claim against workplace sexual harassment. As stated above the federal cases can be filed with the EEOC, but it first requires case filing against the behavior of an administrative agency; state and local bodies also listen to such complaints under the state law. There is possibility that a state

Supports or argues Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words - 1

Supports or argues - Essay Example Therefore, Wade Allison’s contributions in the support of the massive use of nuclear power should be disregarded since no one knows when the use of such nuclear power may be uncontrolled. Allison clearly states notes the health concerns of nuclear radiation; however, he diminishes this fact and narrows it down to small quantity of admission like in the case of X-ray examinations. It is true that small amounts of absorption of radiation into the body are less harmful to the body. Nonetheless, he must have considered that erection of the nuclear power plants may emit such small radiation, but constantly. In other words, medically administered radiations are usually monitored and controlled and are never continuous; thus, they have minimal effect to the human health (Jha and Boseley 02). For instance, examining internal tumors in the body or cracked bones among other internal organs may only subject a person to the radiation once after sometimes. On the other hand, nuclear power plants will subject the environment and the humanity to a constant dose of radiation thereby increasing health risks related to the radiation. Additionally, imagining of a situation where such nuclear power plants are erected about ten to twenty in every nation. What is the amount of the nuclear related radiation will be submitted into the atmosphere? Nonetheless, it is worth noting that small amount of radiation is never highly dangerous to humanity and the environment, but cumulative small amounts per power plant will lead to enormous amounts of nuclear particles into the environment that cannot be tolerated by the human body thereby leading to devastating global health problems (Jha and Boseley 02). Reading from the Allison’s understanding of the history of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, he should have noted that massive emission of nuclear related particles or radiation into the environment usually have long and dangerous effects to the present and generation

Students need to produce an industry report, (BMW) highlighting their Essay

Students need to produce an industry report, (BMW) highlighting their research on the industry, the main players, their understanding of trends and their suitability - Essay Example activity vehicles; and innovative features such as, dynamic stability control or the integrated driving system introduced by BMW, known as the I-Drive (Fleischmann, Ferber and Henrich, 2006). The growing demands of customers for individual configuration specifically in premium cars have made automobile companies like, BMW, to come up with creative ideas so as to stand apart in this fierce competition and gain significant competitive advantage. Alongside the classical markets in North America, Europe and Japan, newer markets such as, China and the Eastern Europe, are also emerging. The product life cycle in emerging markets are supposed to be dissimilar from the one that is witnessed in already developed markets. This provides big opportunities for companies like, BMW, to sell models, which have been discontinued in the established markets, in these relatively newer markets. BMW has been implementing effective strategies in order to set up their production sites throughout the globe for bringing their production closer to markets and thus, satisfy growing needs and demands of the customer base. This has enabled them to accrue benefits by attaining country specific advantages. Example of such advantages attained by the company include incentives for investments and accessibility to cheap labour that they have obtained by gaining entry into emerging markets such as, India and China (Fleischmann, Ferber and Henrich, 2006). This study involves a thorough analysis of BMW’s strategic management. The following sections will discuss BMW’s strategic planning aspects and their business model will be subsequently explained. Thereafter, the company’s understanding of current trend in the industry will be explained. The report will also include Porter’s five forces analysis of the automobile manufacturer and lastly, a recommendation will be provided. The BMW Group headquartered in Munich, Germany, is primarily engaged in the manufacturing and sales of BMW, Rolls Royce

Media Campaign analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Media Campaign analysis - Essay Example Don’t Smoke†, the health media campaign against cigarette smoking. Various aspects of smoking in relation to health of youth in the community will be discussed. Phillip Morris’ youth smoking prevention â€Å"Think. Don’t Smoke† (Morris, 2001) campaign which was widely publicised by media, is available online for school children and youth at SchoolTube (2009). The short video encourages children and young people to stop wasting their time and their life in smoking, and urges them to stop and The main reasons for searching for the online anti-smoking health campaign â€Å"Think. Don’t Smoke† was to address the issue of child and youth smokers in the community. Keen interest in helping the community overcome important hurdles is the reason for undertaking investigation and identification of this major addictive behavior among young people. The dangerous habit of smoking calls for strong preventive measures. Personally, as a non-smoker and firm believer in abstinence from smoking, one considers it imperative that the most susceptible age group should be educated and encouraged to refrain from smoking. Moreover, the untimely passing away of grandparents due to lung cancer has been a close and sorrowful encounter with the devastating outcomes of smoking. Hence, there is a keen interest in reaching out to the maximum number of people possible, to help save them from a downward health spiral. The SchoolTube (2009) anti-smoking campaign â€Å"Think. Don’t Smoke† is simply presented, with a number of people voicing their opinions against smoking, in a brief, effective manner. It can be easily understood and retained even by young children. A far-reaching and strong anti-smoking campaign through posters to be put up at schools and public places, will include the link to the SchoolTube (2009) campaign, for online access by school children and young people. This will be a large-scale community venture, with motivating speeches to be delivered at

Issues in Internet Sales Law Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Issues in Internet Sales Law - Essay Example ld there be a contract and the case goes before the courts, according to the freedom on contract set forth in article 6 will not only enforce it but also to specific trade terms commonly used in international commercial transactions, such as Incoterms. (Butler, 2007) However in the absence of an agreement the CSIG provides for the passing of risk from the seller to the buyer with reference to the price ask or payment of the goods, due to loss or damage, as set forth in Part III Chapter IV: Passing or Risk, Articles 66-70 (Butler, 2007). Should Pretel contemplated not going to court, her lawyer would advise her otherwise because according to Butler (2007), Article 66 states; â€Å"Loss of damage to the goods after the risk has passed to the buyer does not discharge him from his obligation to pay the price, unless the loss or damage is due to an act of omission of the seller.† For the most part according to Steingold (2005), the same legal rules apply when one does business online as when one sells brick and mortar to a customer or by mail (Steingold F.S., 2005). This is possible the attorney went on to say, as long as the federal and state statutes and regulations are not violated. However, a look at the condition of sale on Cheryl’s website as well as the condition British received the goods, will set the stage for the arguments and case studies to be mentioned. Cheryl’s website advertised to prospective sellers read, â€Å"all our toys are boxed in good condition for their age.† It went on further to inform that, â€Å"all goods are sold as seen and although we will wrap up goods, we cannot be held responsible for any loss in transit.† After winning the auction for Death Star and Tie Fighter, the toys arrived damaged and in badly battered packaging at Pritesh address, and promptly requested a refund. The case comes to life because the seller, Cheryl, refused to honor the request for a refund, saying that the risk had rest with the buyer. It seemed that Cheryl

THE CAUSAL LINK BETWEEN GERD AND CHRONIC COUGH Essay

THE CAUSAL LINK BETWEEN GERD AND CHRONIC COUGH - Essay Example Fortunately, the many studies and publications on the relationship between GERD and chronic cough have helped pediatrics to treat and mange GERD-related chronic cough better. However, there are still debates on the causal links between GERD and chronic cough, prompting the writing of this state of the science paper, which seeks to explore the already researched and published findings on the subject. Objectives: To assess the GERD treatment on chronic cough in adults and children with prolonged cough and GERD that is not interrelated to an underlying respiratory illness (for example, nonspecific chronic cough). Literatures and study findings reviews will highlight the causal link between these conditions so that the management and treatment of infants, children, and adolescents with GERD and GERD-related chronic cough could be made more accessible and effective. In this state of the science paper, different types of literatures will be reviewed, among them books, magazines, electronic and print articles from public and institutional libraries. The paper will focus on the various issues on the topic on which medical experts agree and disagree, mentioning any gaps therein. Specifically, the causal link between GERD and chronic cough in pediatric patients will be explored. ... State of Science Paper Topical Outline I. Introduction Gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) and chronic cough are examples of the many diseases that pediatricians encounter in their professional interaction with infants and children. GERD is a condition characterized by food (solid or liquid) already in the stomach being thrown back into the esophagus, causing irritation and the commonest and most obvious symptom of GERD, heartburn (Benich & Carek, 2011). Statistics show complications that result from GERD include asthma, Barrett's esophagus, and chronic cough or hoarseness. Research supports that chronic cough, though an indication of underlying disease is a major cause of health facility visits among infants and children. Among the causes of cough are sinus infections, allergic rhinitis, asthma, and esophageal reflux of stomach contents. Even with a recommendation and research support, the ever-changing definition of GERD, insufficient equipment, and lack of randomized controlled trials also make it rather difficult to establish the causal links between chronic cough and GERD (Fishwick & Barber, 2008). Consequent to these difficulties in ascertaining the causal and effect links between cough and GERD, opinions greatly vary between respiratory and gastroenterology stakeholders on the link between these conditions. Background Information: This will be used to establish the context and depth of the problem and will provide a foundation to explore a number of chronic cough prevention and management guidelines that have been designed with some having more positive effects on patients. Information will include the following: 1. Statistics of chronic cough in patients with gastroesophageal reflux 2. Supportive research and