Analysis of Paranoia by Shirley Jackson.

Analysis of Paranoia by Shirley Jackson. Shirley Jackson is an American author most remembered for her chilling and controversial short story The Lottery, about a violent undercurrent in a small American town. Paranoia was first published in the August 5, 2013, issue of The New Yorker, long after the authors death in 1965. Jacksons children found the story in her papers in the Library of Congress. If you missed the story on the newsstand, it is available for free on The New Yorkers website. And of course, you can very likely find a copy at your local library. Plot Mr. Halloran Beresford, a businessman in New York, leaves his office quite pleased with himself for remembering his wifes birthday. He stops to buy chocolates on the way home and plans to take his wife to dinner and a show. But his commute home becomes fraught with panic and danger as he realizes someone is stalking him. No matter where he turns, the stalker is there. In the end, he does make it home, but after a brief moment of relief, the reader realizes Mr. Beresford still might not be safe after all. Real or Imagined? Your opinion of this story will depend almost entirely on what you make of the title, Paranoia. On first reading, I felt the title seemed to dismiss Mr. Beresfords troubles as nothing but a fantasy. I also felt it over-explained the story and left no room for interpretation. But on further reflection, I realized I hadnt given Jackson enough credit. Shes not offering any easy answers. Almost every frightening incident in the story can be explained as both a real threat and an imagined one, which creates a constant sense of uncertainty. For example, when an unusually aggressive shopkeeper tries to block Mr. Beresfords exit from his store, its hard to say whether hes up to something sinister or just wants to make a sale. When a bus driver refuses to stop at the appropriate stops, instead just saying, Report me, he could be plotting against Mr. Beresford, or he could simply be lousy at his job. The story leaves the reader on the fence about whether Mr. Beresfords paranoia is justified, thus leaving the reader - rather poetically - a bit paranoid herself. Some Historical Context According to Jacksons son, Laurence Jackson Hyman, in an interview with The New Yorker, the story was most likely written in the early 1940s, during World War II. So there would have been a constant sense of danger and distrust in the air, both in relation to foreign countries and in relation to the U.S. governments attempts to uncover espionage at home. This sense of distrust is obvious as Mr. Beresford scans the other passengers on the bus, looking for someone who might help him. He sees a man who looks as though he might be a foreigner. Foreigner, Mr. Beresford thought, while he looked at the man, foreigner, foreign plot, spies. Better not rely on any foreigner †¦ In a completely different vein, its hard not to read Jacksons story without thinking of Sloan Wilsons 1955 novel about conformity, The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit, which was later made into a movie starring Gregory Peck. Jackson writes: There were twenty small-size gray suits like Mr. Beresfords on every New York block, fifty men still clean-shaven and pressed after a day in an air-cooled office, a hundred small men, perhaps, pleased with themselves for remembering their wives birthdays. Though the stalker is distinguished by a small mustache (as opposed to the standard clean-shaven faces that surround Mr. Beresford) and a light hat (which must have been unusual enough to grab Mr. Beresfords attention), Mr. Beresford rarely seems to get a clear view of him after the initial sighting. This raises the possibility that Mr. Beresford is not seeing the same man over and over, but rather different men all dressed similarly. Though Mr. Beresford seems happy with his life, I think it would be possible to develop an interpretation of this story in which it is the sameness all around him that is what actually unnerves him. Entertainment Value Lest I wring all the life out of this story by over-analyzing it, let me finish by saying that no matter how you interpret the story, it is a heart-pumping, mind-bending, terrific read. If you believe Mr. Beresford is being stalked, youll fear his stalker - and in fact, like Mr. Beresford, youll fear everybody else, too. If you believe the stalking is all in Mr. Beresfords head, youll fear whatever misguided action hes about to take in response to the perceived stalking.

US healthcare system Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

US healthcare system - Essay Example The Fee-for-Service plan is grounded on offering of defined traditional insurance service to cover the cost of services rendered to the consumer. FFS plan creates the least limitations for both the provider and consumer. Due to this minimal restraints resulting from it, the FFS plan has higher costs per degree of protection to the consumers. The Preferred Provider Organizations is similar to the IPA but is mostly predicated upon selecting a subset of all available providers and making contractual agreements with them, which are dependent on price. This plan ensures that â€Å"preferred providers† have patients directed towards them by the PPO insurance plan in exchange for a lower price. This makes the PPO plan attracts a greater patient base that the PPO can apply to negotiate with providers. The Point of Service plan (HMOs without walls) implies a capitation arrangement with providers for their enrollees, even though the doctors are distributed in their offices as in IPA or IPA. Additionally, the compensation for providers is per patient per year and not FFS. Also, patients have strong financial incentives to use POS plan doctors. All the four plans ensure that both the consumers and the providers are not at any disadvantage in terms of provision and reception of healthcare services. Additionally, all the four programs are crafted to ensure each and every citizen gets access to quality affordable healthcare. 2. What roles have state and local health departments played in the delivery of health care services? Are these roles, in your view, appropriate and suitable in ensuring the protection of the public’s welfare? Should they be changed? The state and the local health departments play crucial roles in the delivery of healthcare services to the American citizens. The government’s main role in the healthcare is licensing (Jonas et.al., 2007). The government permits both practitioners and institutions that provide Medicare. Licensing ensures that

For this essay, choose someone who serves you, write an essay that

For this , choose someone who serves you, write an that analyzes their service to you - Essay Example As I accept his support of my own college education, I marvel at his feat of having worked his way through college and being the first person from his family to graduate successfully. I am determined to emulate his hard work and focus on academics and adopt his tactics of time management but, at the same time, I hope to make my own attempt to utilize the extra-curricular opportunities that a college education offers. My father has always emphasized the importance of academic excellence, and he is a living testament to the power of education to change one’s life. Even when at High School, he realized that it was only academic excellence which would see him through school and college, as he was dependent on a merit scholarship for financial support. He chuckles as he recalls burning the midnight oil on several occasions, and his brother’s horrified exclamation, ‘He’s gone bonkers!’ when he declined to join him for late-night movies. Throughout his college years, my father adhered strictly to his maxim of â€Å"Study first† (Name, personal communication, February 19, 2009). I hope to retain this focus on academics during my own years at college, for the basic purpose of a college education is the assimilation of academic skills. As my father strove to maintain the grades he needed to retain his scholarship, he also juggled a part-time job at the local pharmacy after school hours. This helped pay for his personal expenses. He says, â€Å"That’s when I discovered the secret of time management: scheduling!† (Name, personal communication, February 19, 2009). His secret entailed writing out a ‘time table’ for the following day, in which he drew columns and assigned tasks for each hour. I do believe I have inherited my habit of writing a ‘to-do list’ every night from this trait of my father’s! Time management will definitely be one of the tools I employ as I set out to make the most of my college days. Perhaps on account of his financial

The Role of the HR Function Regarding the Management of People Within Assignment - 1

The Role of the HR Function Regarding the Management of People Within an Organization - Assignment Example All of these functions fall into the domain of management. First line managers in an organization are the most directly related to the workers as compared to top managers and middle managers. Quality of work is reflected in the performance of workers that are practically involved in the work, and work at the lowest level. It is the duty of first-line managers to manage their assigned groups of such lowest level workers. First line managers check the workers’ attendance, arrange transport for them, arrange for their lunch, and such other aspects. By fulfilling their responsibility of managing workers directly involved in the work, first line managers play a cardinal role in the management of people. The Director of Human Resources ensures the implementation of all HR policies and practices within an organization. The DHR provides expert advice over several matters related to HRM that include but are not limited to managing workers’ issues, developing and implementing HR policies and practices, facilitating the hiring of talented candidates, identifying training needs and taking measures to address them. Being the Director of HR, he assumes the prime responsibility of getting the HR policies and practices implemented. The DHR gets the job done by assigning specific tasks to particular Human Resources Managers (HRM) all of which make part of the implementation process of HR policies and practices. The Human Resource Manager (HRM) is responsible for the performance of employees within an organization. The process of performance management of employees comprises planning of the goals for individual employees and establishing expectations for them, supervising employee performance, improving their job conditions, reviewing and commenting on their performance, rewarding them for display of good performance and penalizing them for display of poor performance (Vitez). All of these functions fall in the domain of performance management of  employees.

Classical Music From 1760 To 1810

Classical Music From 1760 To 1810 Why is the music of 1760-1810 described as classical. Explain the meaning of the term and how it relates to the music of that time. Refer to specific composers and works. In musical context, the term classical refers to the classical period which falls between the Baroque and Romantic period. I am going to be looking at the most well known composers of this era (J. Haydn, W.A. Mozart L.V Beethoven) and analyse how their music differentiates from that of the Baroque period and how it led into the Romantic era. Starting from c.1760, the first composer I will be looking at is Haydn. At the time when the influence of church on music development was diminishing, Haydn was lucky enough to be employed by one rich family of the Austrian Empire. This proved rewarding, as it gave him the freedom to explore many different aspects of music, which led to his crucial role in the establishment of the key classical forms (such as the Symphony, the String Quartet, the Sonata and the Concerto). Although versions of all these existed, Haydn standardized these into well established musical forms and promoted them. Due to the many operas in which he wrote before this period, Haydn was well acquainted with the sinfonia form. However he was not content with adhering to this Italian model and the striving for originality (which led to the success of his career) became apparent in his works from 1761. He added two oboes, two horns to his first symphony. The wind parts show nothing unexpected, while the oboes often double the strings. The horns play fan-far like figures. The melody is divided between the violins (treated as if the work were a trio sonata) although often they play in unison. The lower strings are bound together almost entirely as their function is to provide harmony while maintaining a forward driving rhythm. There are many baroque features, as to be expected. When Haydn ran the Esterhazy orchestra during the 1760s he had the opportunity to experiment with symphonic writing, and it was during this decade there where he produced his first great symphonies. Over these 10 years, he wrote approximately 40 symphonies, around half of which followed a four-movement form with an added minuet as the third movement. He also composed a long list of works in other genres, including operas, oratorios and choral works. Specifically referring to his first set of symphonies , (No.6 Le Matin, 7 Le Midi, and 8 Le Soir), Haydn used a variety of stylistic influences. The most evident quality of these works is their added richness (compared to the first symphony he wrote), which is not from the use of novel or unexpected instruments, but from the utilization of the concerto principle within the symphonic framework. In some movements the strings are scored as ripieno with a concertino of two violins and a cello. In almost all movements the wind players depart from the role of sustaining harmonies to become soloists. In all three symphonies, the trio of the minuet movement contains a prominent part for the double bass recalling baroque practices in the concerto grosso; yet Haydn, using the standard combination of flutes, oboes, bassoons, horns, and strings, creates a modern orchestra which are retained and used by him in his later symphonies. Haydns main intention at this time seemed to be the virtuosity of his musicians, as each of these three symphonies abounds prominent solos from almost every section. Haydns efforts to standardize the type of symphony proved successful and for that must be credited with the far-reaching innovation of adding one of the Dance forms as a separate movement (most commonly a Minuet although only used from the third symphony and thereafter). This was the most consistent design for a scholastic and artistic style of the Symphony. By the early 1770s, Haydn was well known throughout Europe and in 1781 his symphonies were published in England for the first time. One problem that Haydn gave his immediate attention to was that of unifying thematic material, it is out of such attempts his great innovation of the 1780s were evolved. Sometimes Haydn would base a whole movement upon a single melodic fragment; more often, when decided harmonic contrasts exist between theme groups, the second theme is derived from the first. Haydn seems to have not appreciated, in these early works, the importance that he would later be attached to just the element he tried to expunge, namely, the element of thematic contrast or conflict. Even in his later works the contrasts were seldom as clearly established as in the compositions of Mozart and early Beethoven. Thematic contrast is missing almost entirely in Symphonies No.3-42 (1759-1771), and lyric themes, such as occur in Mozart repeatedly, are equally rare. Haydn was well known throughout Europe when Mozart was a child. His six string quartets (often referred to as the Sun quartets) were written in 1772 and are said to be the inspiration for the six string quartets that Mozart wrote during his 1773 visit to Vienna. Haydn developed the polyphonic techniques he had gathered from the previous era to provide structural coherence capable of holding together his melodic ideas. During this time, Mozart developed an enthusiasm for violin concertos, producing a series of five which increase in their musical sophistication and technical difficulty. In 1776, he turned his efforts to piano concertos and in early 1777 his E-flat concerto was so popular, it is now considered to be his breakthrough work. It was around 1783-84 that Mozart met Haydn in Vienna when Mozarts reputation was on the rise. His opera the abduction from the seraglio had premiered with great success in Vienna and was in the process of being performed in many other cities. Mozarts Haydn quartets were written during the early years of their friendship and were published in 1785. These works are thought to be stylistically influenced by Haydns Opus 33 series which were released in 1781. This series was Haydns next important breakthrough, where melodic and harmonic roles segue among the instruments and often it is unclear what is melody and what is harmony. While Haydn spent much of his working life as a court composer, Mozart wanted public success in the concert life. This meant opera, in a virtuoso style. Moreover, Mozart also had a taste for chromatic harmony (and greater contrasts in harmonic language generally). In Mozart, Haydn found a greater range of instrumentation, dramatic effect and melodic writing. Their learning relationship worked both ways. Mozarts works, like Haydns stand as an archetype of the classical period. He was a versatile composer, and wrote in every major genre (symphony, opera, solo concerto, chamber music and the piano sonata). These forms had been well established by Haydn, but Mozart advanced the technical sophistication and emotional reach of them all. He almost solely developed and popularized the Classical piano concerto. The main features of the classical style are all present in Mozarts music. Clarity, balanced phrases, and transparency are the hallmarks of his works, but any simplistic notion of delicacy masks the exception power and force of his finest masterpieces, such as his Piano Concerto No.24 in C minor, his Symphony No.40 in G minor and the opera Don Giovanni. During Mozarts last decade as a composer, he exploited the use of chromatic harmony with remarkable confidence, which was rare at the time, but with great effect. At the peak of the classical period, composers were faced with a dilemma: enlarging the classical forms or simply abandoning them for a new musical paradigm. The political and social context around this time was calling for a major reshape of musical expression. When the age of revolutions began in 1789, the growing role of middle-class saw an increasing involvement by a new generation of artists and composers and this was reflected in the music that they wrote. Amongst this new generation of composers was Beethoven, who was the most crucial figure in this transitional period between the Classical and Romantic period, specifically his early years, which is known as his heroical period (up to 1812). From Beethovens first set of three piano trios, some of Mozarts techniques are evident such as avoiding the expected cadence. Haydn and Mozart were his strongest influences, but he explored new directions and gradually expended the ambition in his works. He did this through a number of techniques: a downward shift in melodies, increasing durations of movements, and the shift from vocal writing to pianistic writing. Also the increasing importance of varying accompanying figures to bring texture forward as an element in music became evident in his Symphonies. Slowly, direct influences of the Baroque period continued to fade: the figured bass grew less prominent as a means of holding performance together. The late classical period was demanding music that was internally more complex. The growth of concert societies and orchestras, marking the importance of music as a part of the middle class lifestyle, contributed to a booming market for pianos, piano music, and virtuosi. Furthermore, due to the growing number of performances where the composer was not present, it led to increased detail and specificity in scores. The transition became apparent with Beethovens 3rd Symphony (written in 1804), given the name Eroica which s Italian for Heroic. As with Stravinskys Rite of Spring, it may not have been the first in all f its innovations, but its aggressive use of every part of the classical style set it apart from its contemporary works: in length, ambition, and harmonic resources. Conclusion During the Vienna years, when Mozart was influenced by Swieten to take up the study of Baroque counterpoint, Haydn loaned him his personal copy of a textbook by Fux, a copy which was heaFux, a copy which was heavily covered with Haydns personal annotations.

Essay --

Using Xervmon for planning and provisioning redundancy across multiple availability zones The cost of downtime Downtime costs enterprises money, in fact a great deal of money. The actual cost depends on the industry, but on average the revenue losses amount to between $84,000 and $108,000 for every hour of unplanned downtime. That isn’t the only loss; on to that you need to add the intangible costs of the impact of downtime on reputation and loyalty. Managing downtime There is a big difference between scheduled and unscheduled downtime. Scheduled downtime is necessary in order to perform maintenance such as software patches, system configuration changes and database and hardware maintenance. Unscheduled downtime occurs typically as the result of hardware or software failure or an event such as a power cut or environmental catastrophe. High availability Designing a system for high availability is problematic. Increasing system complexity increases the number of possible failure points. Simply installing internal hardware redundancy isn’t an answer as it means that the whole system must be taken down for maintenance. It is necessary so design the system so that it can be maintained without affecting service availability. Such a management tool needs to satisfy three criteria: high availability, fault tolerance and scalability. High availability implies that the uptime of an application is 99.9999%, which is often termed â€Å"five nines†. It equates to a maximum downtime of 5.26 minutes a year which includes both planned and unplanned outages or downtime. Of course the ultimate goal is an application that has no downtime at all and is always available. Xervmon Solution: Users can now unleash the power of visualized deployments with ... ... have been restored. ELB and Auto Scaling combine ideally: ELB gives a single DNS name for addressing and auto scaling ensures there is always the right number of healthy Amazon EC2 instances to accept requests. Fault Tolerance Building fault-tolerant applications on Amazon EC2 requires that the best practices are followed, for instance: †¢ Commission replacement instances rapidly †¢ Amazon EBS should be used for persistent storage †¢ Multiple Availability Zones along with elastic IP addresses. Multi AZ architecture By distributing applications geographically one can achieve greater fault tolerance. As the Amazon EC2 commitment is 99.95% availability for every EC2 Region, it is essential to deploy applications across multiple AZs. Redundant instances are placed in distinct AZs and ELB will automatically balance traffic across multiple instances and multiple AZs.

Characters in Hamlet and Claudius Essay

* Themes: * Certainty and Uncertainty * Because of all the deceit and theme of appearance and reality, every character is uncertain of who they are and who others are really like. No one knows for sure and is certain who anyone is anymore. * The audience is confused and not sure of the character Hamlet, Gertrude, Ophelia etc are anymore- there are so many attitudes and situations in the play that make these characters uncertain. * Hamlet and his antic disposition- he pretended to be mad but towards the end it also seemed as if he actually went mad. * It is uncertain that Gertrude is a queen blinded by Claudius and Hamlet or a person who doesn’t care about what happened to King Hamlet and just wants to stay in power. She can also be viewed as an incestuous woman. No one knows for sure anymore. * Ophelia starts out as a distraught girl who is in love with hamlet but then goes crazy when she finds out he ‘doesn’t love her’. It is not certain who Ophelia really is as her character is ambiguous in general. * Appearance and reality * King Claudius appears to be good man but in reality he is the murderer of the King Hamlet. Deceitfully and criminally took the throne for himself. * Polonius seems like a loving father but in reality he is a manipulative and deceitful man. * Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are two twins who appear to be hamlets friends but in reality they are spies working for Claudius. * Struggle for power * Claudius murdered King Hamlet to gain power (the throne) * Polonius lies to Ophelia in order to gain a good eye in the favour of the king Claudius- hoping to gain some power. Soliloquies: * Act III Scene 1 * The soliloquy â€Å"to be or not to be† is an important one to note as hamlet here ponders on the topic of death. It could possibly be because he feels guilty and angry at what he has done or said up to this point- antic disposition (pretending to be mad and try to kill Claudius in the mean time etc). * He has a powerful and tense relationship with the thought of death and life. * Act IV Scene IV * In this soliloquy hamlet questions his own courage and his worth as a man, if he confines to be unwilling to act. He compares his lack of action to Fortinbras and his army who are willing to risk all. * The issue of Hamlet acting too late in killing Claudius ponders hamlets mind, thinking whether it was good to wait or bad to wait or whether it was worth it. Characters: * Hamlet * Main character, antic disposition, madness, falseness, anger * Ophelia * Hamlets lover, goes insane when she finds out that Hamlet doesn’t love her- even though it was a lie and he does. * Claudius * Uncle of Hamlet, brother of King Hamlet and murderer of King Hamlet. Remarried Queen Gertrude and gained power to the throne. Hamlets enemy and target on getting revenge on. * Gertrude * Mother of hamlet and newly remarried wife of her brother in law King Claudius. Viewed as incestuous. Finds it hard to believe or understand her son Hamlet throughout the play. * Guildenstern and Rosencrantz * Twins who were Hamlets childhood friends but turned out to be spies for Claudius. * Polonius * Appears to be a loving father to Ophelia and Laertes but really is a manipulative and deceitful man. Yearns to have power like Claudius thus he tries to get on his ‘good’ side. * Laertes * Son of Polonius and brother of Ophelia. Does not like the fact that Ophelia loves Hamlet. Quotes: * Polonius: â€Å"and borrowing dulls the edge of husbandry. This above all: to thine own self be true, and it must follow, as the night the day, thou canst not then be false to any man. Farewell; my blessing season in thee!† he gives Laertes a blessing to go away, he sends a spy to follow him and keep an eye on him lack of trust in people. * Rosencrantz and Guildenstern: â€Å"A dream is but a shadow† and â€Å"tis as easy as lying; govern these vantages with your finger and thumb, give it breath with your mouth†. In these Acts hamlet can see they are lying and spying on him. * Claudius: â€Å"though yet of Hamlet our dear brother death/ the memory be green, and that it us befitted/ to bear our hearts in grief, and our whole kingdom/ to be contracted in one brow of woe.† Here he speaks kindly only to give the appearance of a loving brother, even though in reality he cares little for the old king. * Hamlet: â€Å" I am but mad north-north- west: when the wind/is southerly I know a hawk from a handsaw† hamlet here is very convincing actor for even his own mother. * Gertrude : â€Å" Alas, He’s mad† * Hamlet and Ophelia : â€Å"you should not have believ’d me/I lov’d you not†