Arjie’s Journey in Shyam Selvadurai’s Funny Boy Essay -- Funny Boy Ess

Arjie’s Journey in Shyam Selvadurai’s Funny Boy Growing up during a time of violent political upheaval in Sri Lanka, Arjie travels an especially bittersweet journey into maturation in Shyam Selvadurai’s Funny Boy. The adults in Arjie’s extended family mostly belong to an older, more conservative generation that attempts to fit Arjie into society’s norms. The adults that Arjie meets in the community through his family are individuals who prompt him to see past the confines of his childhood, and it is Arjie’s peers who give him the extra push to understanding himself. With guidance from his extended family, his adult friends, and his peers, Arjie is able to discover his identity through understanding the impact of race and gender on his life. Although spend-the-day occurs but once a month, Ammachi has a commanding presence in Arjie’s life. While Appachi hides behind his newspapers, Ammachi is â€Å"enthroned in big reclining chairs† (Selvadurai, 2), her canes inspiring awe in her grandchildren. When Arjie is caught dressed in a sari while playing bride-bride, Ammachi decides that manual labour will teach him to be more masculine. This is the first time Arjie is embarrassed about his â€Å"funniness†, though he does not understand why. It is also at his grandparents’ house that Arjie first learns about the tension between the Tamils and the Sinhalese. Afraid that people will talk, Ammachi forbids Radha Aunty to receive rides from Anil Jayasinghe, a Sinhalese. Arjie does not comprehend why Ammachi is upset, for he is in a Sinhala class at school and his friends are Sinhalese. His parents’ best friends and servant are Sinhalese too. Nevertheless, Ammachi sends Radha Aunty to Jaffna for a month, hoping that ... ...hehan allows Arjie to reach a new level of understanding about his place in a world where race and gender are of utmost importance. Directly and indirectly, the family and friends of Arjie all impress upon the boy their views on race and gender. The familial love of Arjie’s extended family is at times hurtful and confusing, but it nevertheless serves to guide Arjie through the growing up process. The lives of family friends merge with Arjie’s for only short periods of time, yet the values that these friends cherish linger on in Arjie’s conscience. Arjie’s peers grow up with him seeing the world through eyes that are near in age, thus their views on race and gender truly open Arjie’s eyes during his journey into maturation in Selvadurai’s Funny Boy. Works Cited Selvadurai, Shyam. Funny Boy. Toronto, Ontario: McClelland & Stewart Inc., 1994. Arjie’s Journey in Shyam Selvadurai’s Funny Boy Essay -- Funny Boy Ess Arjie’s Journey in Shyam Selvadurai’s Funny Boy Growing up during a time of violent political upheaval in Sri Lanka, Arjie travels an especially bittersweet journey into maturation in Shyam Selvadurai’s Funny Boy. The adults in Arjie’s extended family mostly belong to an older, more conservative generation that attempts to fit Arjie into society’s norms. The adults that Arjie meets in the community through his family are individuals who prompt him to see past the confines of his childhood, and it is Arjie’s peers who give him the extra push to understanding himself. With guidance from his extended family, his adult friends, and his peers, Arjie is able to discover his identity through understanding the impact of race and gender on his life. Although spend-the-day occurs but once a month, Ammachi has a commanding presence in Arjie’s life. While Appachi hides behind his newspapers, Ammachi is â€Å"enthroned in big reclining chairs† (Selvadurai, 2), her canes inspiring awe in her grandchildren. When Arjie is caught dressed in a sari while playing bride-bride, Ammachi decides that manual labour will teach him to be more masculine. This is the first time Arjie is embarrassed about his â€Å"funniness†, though he does not understand why. It is also at his grandparents’ house that Arjie first learns about the tension between the Tamils and the Sinhalese. Afraid that people will talk, Ammachi forbids Radha Aunty to receive rides from Anil Jayasinghe, a Sinhalese. Arjie does not comprehend why Ammachi is upset, for he is in a Sinhala class at school and his friends are Sinhalese. His parents’ best friends and servant are Sinhalese too. Nevertheless, Ammachi sends Radha Aunty to Jaffna for a month, hoping that ... ...hehan allows Arjie to reach a new level of understanding about his place in a world where race and gender are of utmost importance. Directly and indirectly, the family and friends of Arjie all impress upon the boy their views on race and gender. The familial love of Arjie’s extended family is at times hurtful and confusing, but it nevertheless serves to guide Arjie through the growing up process. The lives of family friends merge with Arjie’s for only short periods of time, yet the values that these friends cherish linger on in Arjie’s conscience. Arjie’s peers grow up with him seeing the world through eyes that are near in age, thus their views on race and gender truly open Arjie’s eyes during his journey into maturation in Selvadurai’s Funny Boy. Works Cited Selvadurai, Shyam. Funny Boy. Toronto, Ontario: McClelland & Stewart Inc., 1994.

Unemployment Rates in the United States

Unemployment Rates in the United States According to the most recent report put out by the United States Department of Labor, in the month of February, 49 states saw a decrease in nonfarm employment while Louisiana was the only one where they had seen an increase in nonfarm employment. California had a decrease in jobs since January by 116,000 with Florida in second with 49,500 jobs lost. While Alaska seen the smallest decease in unemployment by just 100. And again Louisiana is the only state to see an increase in employment since January by +0. percent. Louisiana seems right now in this economic bad time has no effect on the job level. Since last February, Louisiana has seen an increase in jobs by +0. 3 percent. Louisiana along other states (Wyoming, Alaska, and North Dakota) have seen an increase in jobs with Wyoming leading the way with a +1. 6% increase. Let take a different take on unemployment by breaking it down by regions. Which region would you think would have the biggest l ost in jobs? Was it the Northeast, the south, Midwest or the West. Well in fact it was the West (9. 2) and The Midwest (8. 6%). This really don’t surprise me since most of the automobile manufactories are based out in these areas with the trouble they have been having with the ill stated economy we are in right now. While the Northeast seen the lowest unemployment rate at a 7. 7%. While all of the four regions reported a jobless rate increases from February 2008 until February 2009, the largest increase in the unemployment rate was the West at a +3. %. The one state that has suffered the most in the state unemployment stat was again Michigan at an astonishing 12. 0%. While Wyoming had the lowest at 3. 9% unemployment rate, while Louisiana had an unemployment rate of 5. 7%. Louisiana has seen an increase in unemployment since February 2008 until now by 1. 9%. Michigan on the other hand has seen an increase by nearly 5% from one year ago. The unemployment rates in the United States have seen a drastic change since 2008 and so on. Many because of the tough economic times we are in. Most job losses came from the manufacturing area because of great fear of the economy and the cut backs that companies have to make due to the hard times. Although some states haven’t been hit as hard as others, like for example Louisiana, we have actually seen an increase in jobs from January 2009 until now, while others have lost more than 100,000+ jobs like in Michigan. Works Cited

Koss management Case Essay

1. Why might Koss management have placed so much trust in Sachdeva, along with minimal supervision and monitoring? Koss management might have placed so much trust in Sachdeva because she was is such a high position. She worked in the company as Vice President, when you are that high on the totem pole, you are given trust that you know what you are doing and that you want what is best for the company. Companies don’t hand out positions to people that have no clue as to what they are doing as well as someone that they believe will ruin the company. The same thing goes along with having minimal supervision and monitoring. She was a Vice President, someone that was supposed to be trusted, someone who was a leader, someone who was supposed to set an example. It just goes to show you that it is not always the person on the bottom of chain that needs to be watched. It is easier for higher up management and owners to sneak money away than the one who have minimal access to records and bank statements. 2. What was Grant Thornton’s obligation to uncover the fraud? Grant Thornton was Koss’s internal auditor. An internal auditor is defined as â€Å"An independent, objective assurance and consulting activity designed to add value and improve an organization’s operations. It helps an organization accomplish its objectives by bringing a systematic, disciplined approach to evaluate and improve the effectiveness of risk management, control and governance processes.† (p. 23-24) As the auditor for this business, Grant was supposed to make sure that every piece of financial information was in its right place as well as wrote and calculated right. Clearly Thornton did not do his job the right way. By looking at the numbers provided, any auditor could see that something is not right in the company. After seeing it, the auditor would address the issue and deal with it the proper way. I have a feeling he knew all along what was going on but was too afraid to open his mouth. 3. Why should Sachdeva’s lavish lifestyle have raised suspicions? Why might it have been ignored or explained away by her professional colleagues? Sachdeva’s lavish lifestyle should have raised red flags soon after it started to happen. It should  because most people that work in a company roughly know how much each person makes. After seeing her spend the money she was someone should have investigated a little more. I mean it is possible for a Vice President of a company to be rich, but for a life style to go to the extreme as spending $1.4 million on a shopping spree is questionable. One of the number one ways to detect fraud is by a change in lifestyles. Her new lifestyle could have been ignored because of her job title. No one wants to question their boss, let alone someone higher up in management. By doing that, all you are asking for is to get fired. In the book it says that people assumed she used family money or her husbands, but not one person questioned her about it. (p. 116) No one wanted to be the one that was questioning the boss. It is much easier to turn and look the other way than stand up in what you b elieve. 4. How could management, the audit committee, and the auditors have been more professionally skeptical in this situation? The audit committee and the auditors could have checked financial more often than what they did. When they noticed that the income was dropping quite a bit each year, they should have started looking at documents more closely as well as more often. The audit committee is supposed to speak with management on their findings. Well instead of talking to the President and Vice President, they should have only talked to the President. There was really no communication in this business when it came down to financials. It was basically whatever Sachdeva said was right. No one stepped up to double check her work and no one questioned it. Being a bigger company, more than one person should have defiantly doubled checked the financial statement. 5. What was the audit committee’s responsibility to notice that something looked amiss in the financial statements? The audit committee’s responsibility was to look over the accounting and financial reporting process as well as the financial statement audits; appoint, compensate and oversee the external auditor; and to ensure that the company has a whistleblower program. (p. 52) At first glance the committee could notice that something was not right with the company’s financial records. But nothing was done and nothing was said. 6. Sachdeva paid for her purchases using corporate credit cards. What internal controls could the company have used to prevent inappropriate use of the credit cards? One thing internal controls could have done was make Sachdeva turn in receipts along with a credit card statement at the end of each  month. By doing this, every dollar spent on company card can be accounted for. You can see not only where the money is going but what the money is spent on as well as the date and time it was spent. This is just one simple way to keep fraud down. Many companies require this every month with their employees. For every transaction where a receipt cannot be present is deducted from their pay check. Another thing the company could have done is set a limit on the card. By setting a limit, you can make sure amounts are not being spent that shouldn’t be. 7. Some reports have described Sachdeva as having a very dominating personality, and revelations were made about the fact that she would often be verbally abusive of her subordinates in front of top level managers at Koss. How should top-level managers have responded to this behavior? What actions could the subordinates have taken to respond to this behavior? Top-level management should have put a stop to it right at the start. By allowing it to happen, shows her that it was ok. If they would have stated something in writing and verbally, she may have either stopped or possibly could have be let go. Also by allowing this to happen, shows other employees that it is completely ok to act the way to other employees as well as people above her. Some actions that defiantly should have been taken would be to sit her down and just talk to her and let her know that it is not acceptable in the company, especially to her bosses. The next action would be like I said to have something in writing and have her sign it. Not only does this cover the company’s butt, but you have the proof that you said something to her. By doing this, she cannot come back and say that she wasn’t aware she was verbally abusing anyone and that nothing was brought up to her. References Rittenburg, Larry. Johnstone, Karla. Gramling, Audrey. (2012) Auditing: A Business Risk Approach 8e. Mason: South-Western, Cengage Learning.

Explain what Jean-Paul Sartre meant by the statement “Man is condemned to be free”. Essay

Jean-Paul Sartre was a French existentialist philosopher and was one of the leading figures in 20th century French philosophy. His major philosophical work, â€Å"Being and Nothingness† and his famous talk, â€Å"Existentialism is a Humanism†, is where he emphasised the statement â€Å"Man is condemned to be free†. The statement appears to be a juxtaposition of language because ‘freedom’ often has positive connotations while ‘condemned’ provides the opposite feeling. Sartre used the term ‘condemned’ as he believed we have no choice in the matter of being free, and being free (even if against our will) means we are responsible for all our actions. Being responsible for our actions – without having a choice about being free to choose – is a form of condemnation. Us having to accept full responsibility for our actions includes us not being able to blame those around us – such as family, teachers and the gov ernment – for our situation. In summary, man is condemned because â€Å"he did not create himself, yet is nevertheless at liberty, and from the moment that he is thrown into this world he is responsible for everything he does† (Kaufmann). In the face of this responsibility, many humans turn to religion. This allows us to feel answerable to a higher being. However, Sartre was not a believer in God; this could be because of the atrocities he witnessed first-hand during the Second World War while serving in the French army. His experiences taught him that â€Å"God is silent in the face of absurdity and horror. Because of this we are condemned to face life alone and with this comes absolute freedom and the chilling responsibility that comes with it.† If God truly doesn’t exist then our actions aren’t really limited by His prophecies, commandments and morals; God cannot legitimise our behaviour, or justify it, or cause it. We are ultimately responsible for our actions with no one to answe r because we have chosen them on our own, out of our freedom. Traditionally, freedom is seen as ‘good’. Sartre on the other hand describes freedom to be a kind of  burden because as God does not exist we are â€Å"without excuse† and we â€Å"can’t find anything to depend on†. Sartre illustrates his belief using the example of the paper cutter. When considering a paper cutter, we would assume that the creator had a plan (an essence) for it. Due to there being no creator of humans, we have no essence. This means that our actions and behaviour cannot be explained by referencing human nature, instead we are necessarily fully responsible for our actions. The essence or nature of a paper cutter is to cut paper; this is the purpose the maker of it had in mind. However, there was no maker or creator of human beings so we can’t refer to what we are meant to do. There is only what we choose to do. â€Å"We are left alone, without excuse.† To decide whether we are or are not â€Å"condemned to be free† it makes sense to decide whether our actions are truly free or if they may in fact be determined. Psychologists such as Sigmund Freud believe our early years have an impact on our future actions. Freud claimed that our moral actions are often caused by repressed or subconscious memories or feelings stemming from childhood. Also, B.F. Skinner said that we cannot be held morally responsible for behaviour determined by our psychological makeup because we could not have chosen to behave differently. Other thinkers, including Thomas Sowell, argue that our actions are in line with our social conditioning. We then follow a sociologically determined path set by our upbringing, education and social groups etc. Libertarianism has the major flaw of not taking into account our experiences when making decisions and when forming our morality. For instance, it is arguable that Sartre believed what he did because of the experiences he had during the war, not because of his freedom. Another valid argument is that genetics determine physical and behavioural aspects of humanity. All of these viewpoints state that humans are not free to choose and our lives and personalities are already determined (by our past experiences, psychological makeup, socialisation and genetics). There is truth in these theories and so they take credit away from Sartre’s belief that â€Å"man is condemned to be free† because they show that there are aspects of our lives where we aren’t free to choose. This means, in addition, that our responsibility is lessened somewhat as some of our actions are already determined for us. On the other hand, Sartre’s ideas are potentially credible. We have all had experiences where the need to choose between multiple actions has caused us emotional turmoil. It is  unlikely that in these s ituations we can avoid having to come to a decision. Although we are free to make this choice, we are in a way forced to make it. So, Sartre’s claim of humans being condemned or damned to be free does not appear so ludicrous. Even when we ask someone for assistance with an ethical dilemma it is not their answer that determines our solution and consequent action. It is our choice to ask them in the first place and usually we already know what they are going to say; we then decide whether to follow their advice. This again shows the extent of our freedom of choice and the lack of determining factors to suppress this ‘condemning’ freedom. In conclusion, Sartre examined the daunting nature of decision making and unlimited freedom. The moral responsibility we have in the case of absolute freedom is crippling and causes great despair. However, this approach could be incorrect because there are aspects of our lives and makeup that influence our behaviour. If an action is determined by factors outside our control, we may no t have the moral responsibility for it. From this viewpoint we are not condemned to freedom but it instead allows us some input into our behaviour and therefore our lives.

Finance and Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Finance and Management - Essay Example Product cost involves the determination of the cost incurred in the manufacturing of goods or provision of services. Manufacturing organizations, just as Worplestrop Partnership has to determine their products costs for two reasons. First is for decision-making and for the reason of external reporting. In manufacturing their products, Worplestrop Partnership would incur material costs, labor costs and other overhead costs that are associated with the manufacturing of the products (Hansen, Mowen & Guan, 2009). In determining the product cots for decision purposes, an organization will only use relevant costs to arrive at the cost of a product. This form of costing method is referred to as direct costing method. In this case, only the variable costs will be included since they are the ones that can influence the management decisions. Management has control on the costs and can formulate and implement decisions that can reduce the cost elements and increase the returns of the company (B aginski & Hassell, 2003). On the other hand, Worplestrop Partnership has to determine the product costs for the purposes of external reporting. Here product costs are determined to help arrive at the best price to charge for the manufactured products. All the costs that are incurred by the company including the overhead costs and other fixed costs are apportioned in order to charge them on the consumers’ of the manufacturing company’s products. This form of costing is referred to as absorption costing or total costing in which all costs direct and indirect, sunk, and future costs are used in settling at the selling price of the products. Absorption costing has the advantage of considering all the costs incurred by the business since even the fixed costs are incurred for the purposes of manufacturing (2002). Worplestrop Partnership should therefore calculate the product costs using the two approaches for the realization of the two different objectives i.e. management us e and external decisions. for the purpose of setting the product prices, Worplestrop should use absorption costing because it incorporates all the costs incurred by the business hence elaborate. Apart from the two costing methods, Worplestrop partnership could also use the activity based costing method or throughput method. In activity-based method, the organization will charge the overhead costs to the departments depending on the level of activity and the cost drivers. Here, Worplestrop would determine all the activity that increase the costs and determine the factors that increases the costs of the activities. From there, the management will allocate the overhead costs to the centers. This method will make managers control the costs and eliminate the unnecessary activities that do not add value to the business hence increasing the efficiency and effectiveness of the business (Hansen, Mowen & Guan, 2009). The method has widely been used by many organizations despite the fact that it is complex. The last accounting method is the throughput method in which the product price is determined by adding only the material costs used in the manufacturing of the products. All the other costs are expensed and are not included in the calculation of the final price. This method is easy to simple to use. However, the method is not recommended by the generally accepted accounting principles and should therefore not be employed. This

The Primary Benefits of Telenursing Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

The Primary Benefits of Telenursing - Assignment Example The e-health practice is applicable in various avenues such as remote monitoring and patient consultations (Kumar & Snooks, 2011). Ethics is a core concept in nursing because of the sensitivity of the practice. Almost all nursing institutions incorporate the study of ethics in their curriculum in order to enable learners to practice fairly and efficiently in the field. The ethical principals in nursing entail caring, communication and relations between the nurses and the patients. These ethical principals provide guidelines to telenurses in an ethical dilemma situation. Telenursing has various ethical dilemmas like in cases where a third party person (relative) calls the telenurse on behalf of the patient. In this case, the ethical dilemma entails a conflict between the relative’s and patient’s autonomy as well as the telenurse’s desire to help (Kumar & Snooks, 2011). In addition, telenursing has other ethical issues such as confidentiality of the information because the patients rely on different methods of communication to explain their condition. Additionally, the information provided to the nurses may lack credibility especially in situations where the patient is a minor, and they cannot comprehend their condition effectively. Ethical principles such as listening and communication abilities enable the telenurses to establish a particular condition in a patient effectively. The nurses also apply various ethical principles to resolve a situation where the interests of the concerned parties’ conflict during a telenursing process (Kumar & Snooks).

Controlling at UPS Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Controlling at UPS - Essay Example As the report declares UPS has a firmly entrenched management development process that begins the first day of hire for a manager. This managerial development process is UPS’ method to instill effective planning within its daily operations as well as its overall strategy in response to constant innovation in its industry. Again, it’s one derived from the founder’s philosophy of â€Å"constructive dissatisfaction† which stipulates that management should never be content because operations are working, but should continually search for ways to improve on the positive. This paper stresses that when management is ingrained with this type of corporate culture it learns to plan as a matter of practice. UPS could not effectively be the company it is if each individual manager at each level treated his or her own area of responsibility as a fiefdom since each department relies on the functions of so many others. To institute this structured management training and to instill in employees that sense of responsibility and trust in the training of others to perform in the same manner, UPS has traditionally instituted all training in a classroom environment. Because UPS daily moves 6% of the Nation’s GDP, operates the 11th largest airline in the world, has the largest private wireless network, and operates the largest DB2 database outside of government. UPS has begun to incorporate its training and indoctrination programs into its corporate technology infrastructure: â€Å"The information services side of UPS recently transitioned much of its learni ng to an e-learning format†¦Ã¢â‚¬ .