SABIC Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

SABIC - Essay Example Production has steadily grown from a modest 35metric tones in 2001 to 68.5 million metric tons in 2013, painting the picture of a company on the path to global dominance. With a vision to be the most respected market leader in chemicals and a mission to responsibly offer quality products with the help of innovation and seamless operational procedures, SABIC is without doubt, headed to the apex in the global petrochemical industry. Presently, the company has a lean product line of; ethylene glycol, methanol, polythene and engineering plastics (sabic.com). With such a product line, the following four key factors have immense influence on the company’s overall well-being and these are; environmental, economic, technological and innovation issues. The largest strategic business unit at this company is chemicals, which accounts for 60% of the company’s total production and revenue. For this reason, it will by my area of focus. To continue this steady growth path, there must be sustained innovation to optimize operational processes and reduce the impact of the company’s operations to the environment. Presently, SABIC has technology and innovation centers in half a dozen countries from its homeland in Saudi Arabia, to Europe, China and India, just to mention a few. The huge investment in state of the art technology has enabled the company to develop more than 150 products annually, the main reason behind SABIC’s 8000 global patents. It is important to report that the journey towards sustainable operations in the chemicals division has been dotted with important milestones and in 2008, the Safety, Health and Environmental Performance Index (SHEPI) of the company and its affiliates was 0.74, a figure below the ceiling for that year (sabic.com). The company in its massive operations recorded a marginal two injuries, showing massive

Ethical dilemmas Essay Example for Free

Ethical dilemmas Essay Ethical dilemmas in the society have posted a major challenge to humanity since historical times. This has been contributed by the threats and immediate uncertainty that acts and reacts to kill the will and desire to do that which is good. Ethical dilemmas comprises of direct wrong acts in the society even when the correct acts are clear. However, the good actions are mostly never committed as they require dire commitment and are often interpreted in the wrong mode by the immediate peers and/ or work mates (Cyndi, 2008). In colleges, students are faced with major challenges related to their peers and the administration too. Ethics dictate that the students should not cheat in the exam rooms. Again, students are not supposed to steal others properties or sneak out of the school compound. The ethical thing to do in such a situation is reporting the case to the administration for disciplinary actions against the culprits. However, students do not report and remain silent in majority of the cases and therefore encourage repetition of the same acts. It is usually very hard to gather evidence since cases like those of cheating cannot have exhibits. Besides, there are long procedures to follow in filing such cases and therefore it appears as a waste of time by the students. Finally, it appears as a sabotage and betrayal of ones peers and therefore one risks being segregated. Therefore, majority of the students though willing never acts ethically as they are torn between acting correctly or maintaining the demands of the immediate associations (James Dean, 2008). Lawyers on the other hand are trusted with ensuring that the most ethical discourses are followed in the justice system. However, rarely does it happen as they defend their clients even when they are aware that he/she is on the wrong side. As a professional lawyer, bringing charges against another lawyer is hard even after clearly knowing that he/she has been on the wrong side (Scott Ronald, 2008). This is because it demands involvement in terms of time and vast resources to effectively defend the case. Besides, one keeps off as the peer dislike people who go against one their ideologies in the societies. Like the students case, one may be left alone and therefore unable to operate in the profession which requires strong cooperation. As indicated earlier, lawyers know how to cover what is bad with good and lots of evidence may be required to win particular cases against them. Lawyers Johnnie Cochran and F. Lee Bailey defended O J. Simpson in his murder case with little challenges from other lawyers of their firms even understanding their client had committed the crime (Cyndi, 2008). Besides, accountants have also been strongly involved in unethical deeds where they inflate or deflate the books of accounts in solidarity with their partners to ensure that they make a company or project fail in favor of another one. In such cases, though there is enough evidence to launch major complains, the rewards are generally hefty and the members commit never to reveal it and exposing the deal would lead to threats by other members. This has been highly unethical as it may lead to loss of jobs and investments for innocent people (James Dean 2008). An honor system application and use in the society has had many advantages to the immediate users and the society at large. It is cost effective as it is run by trust and enhancing efficiency is easy as it emanates from the individuals goodwill. For instance buses and trains can operate easily without waiting for routine tickets checking. Besides, it brings the groups together and promotes the spirit of team work in an organization or institutions thereby raising the efficiency of immediate operations. However, in the society where there is great tendency to do the wrong things than the correct one major businesses are bound to fail due to solidarity of the employees and staff. As a result, it promotes laziness and bad behavior as the employees act in solidarity to cover up their colleagues on the wrong sides in the organization or institutions (Scott Ronald, 2008). This system breeds the major dilemmas and acts to kill the good people in the society by pushing them into the major peer cocoons. Conclusion. Ethical dilemmas have posted some of the major threats in the society to humanity and the production systems. They have far reaching impacts to the society especially if they are amongst the peers in institutions and other management units. To add to that, these dilemmas operates at all levels from school to high professionals and administration management realms therefore posing major risks to the whole society. To address the situation, institutions require embarking on strong campaigns to fight the unethical behaviors in the society. Cooperation and communication based on mutual trust and low coercion in organizations and schools should be established. Besides, the leaders should act as the major role models for all the people in their organizations or institutions. Reference list. Cyndi, B. (2008). Criminal Justice Ethics: Theory and Practice. New York: Sage Publishers. James, L. Dean, B. (2008). Decision-making Near the End-of-life: Recent Developments and Future Directions. New York: CRC Press. Scott, A. Ronald, R. (2008). Executive Ethics: Ethical Dilemmas and Challenges for the C- Suite. New Jersey: IAP.

Marketing Strategies Used By Nokia

Marketing Strategies Used By Nokia In order to execute the project on hand I have select Nokia. Nokia was founded by Fredrik Idestamin in 1865 as public limited company. Nokia is leading the cellular phone industry with around 38% of the market share, while Motorola, which is American based is having 12% of total market share. Nokia used be a diversified conglomerate up till 1980 with business includes pulp, rubber tire production, paper, telecommunication equipment, cable manufacturing, and consumer electronics. The geographic target market of Nokia was mainly limited to Scandinavia (70% market share) and US (33% market share) (123helpme, 2010). It should be noted that Nokia had never enjoy monopoly in any market including Finland and the company share is due to its competitive marketing strategy, state of the art product designing and manufacturing, pricing strategies and creative marketing campaigns. The company has constant record of launching new product that either low costs or cutting-edge technology, and flair have not yet been stopped. These two characteristics of the firm are giving it competitive advantage and the company is still the most profitable company of the mobile-phone manufacturing industry (Kumar, Banthia, Sharma, 2010). Nokia headquarter in situated in Espoo, Finland. The Research and Development wings of the company are situated in 10 countries around the globe. The device manufacturing factories of the company are located in nine countries while the company transacts its business in more than 150 countries of the world. In this paper we going to investigate that how does a Finnish organization become a world leader in the highly sophisticated cutting-edge industry from the marketing viewpoint? Importance and the use of Information in their Marketing Strategies of Nokia: In the decade 1990s the telecommunication industry around the globe experience three significant positive changes that sets the foundation for future growth. These three trends were increase in the use of internet, deregulations of the market that led to easy access for new competitor and the advent and popularization of wireless services. Nokia then adapted the three strategies in its marketing program. This was a mega turn in the history of Nokia. In order to get the exploit the opportunities provided by the environmental factors and decrease the potential demerits of changes that might have impact on the business, Nokia initiated an information system project. It has decided to install an information system that will facilitate decision maker across the organization in its various functional departments. For this sake Nokia takes advantage of Management Information System (MIS), Decision Support System (DSS), Executive Information System, Transaction Processing System (TPS) etc. Through the use of these systems the organization not only was able to manage the organization effectively and efficiently but was also able to coordinate its different RD departments (that are situated in 10 countries), its manufacturing facilities (that are situated in 9 different countries) and its distribution networks that situated in 150 countries. Organizational Marketing Strategy Used by Nokia: Organizational Strategy: Nokia historical logo was three arrows that were created in 1966, the company then devise its presently used organizational slogan connecting people. This slogan was design by Ove Strandberg. The company is the world 6th most loved and fastest growing brand of the world. All this was possible due to Nokia consistent organization wide supportive culture, shared values and vision. The vision statement of Nokia is our vision is a world where everyone is connected, and its promise is Our promise is to help people feel close to what is important to them. The approach the company used for to achieve this objective is Trusted consumer relationships, Best mobile devices everywhere, and Context enriched services (Nokia, 2010). Marketing Strategy: In order to achieve its organizational objectives, the marketing wing of the Nokia is doing remarkable job. In the following we explored different aspects of the marketing strategy used by Nokia. Market Segmentation: Geographic: Both Rural and Urban areas Demographic: Male and Female Age: 22-50 (almost 80% of the sales comes from this segment Consumer Segments: All the three types of users including high-users, medium users and light-users. (Kumar, Banthia, Sharma, 2010) Product Strategy: The focus of the marketing efforts of Nokia is mostly on handset manufacturing only. The company is constantly enhancing its product portfolio by inventing constantly new models. The mobile phones that are manufactured by Nokia have two diverse focuses: either low costs or cutting-edge technology. The products of the company are adopted as per the specific markets situation. For example handsets distributed in Middle East have an Arabic language function, while in France the language is tailored as French. Branding Strategy: Nokia use two types of branding strategies. It is due to the fact that its target market consumer consists of two types of customers: Upscale buyers and Economy seeker. For upscale buyer the company built its brand with high-end multimedia handsets, while for economy seeker in emerging markets its branding strategy focuses on providing economical handsets (123helpme, 2010). Pricing Strategies: The pricing strategies used by Nokia vary from situation to situation and from product to product. For cutting-edge technological products that are newly designed by the company RD, the company use first the skimming marketing strategy, and then decrease the price. While for cost-effective products that focus on economy, the company use penetrating pricing strategy. Promotion Strategy: The company success can be traced to the excellent promotion activities carried out by the organization. The company use integrated marketing communication to promote its various products in different region of the world. The promotion activities are directed toward replacement Place Strategy: The company distribution network is situated in 150 countries, and the company is still using its aggressive marketing strategy to boost its network, and market development strategy to target new markets from around the world. Nokia has come up with new place strategy by opening of the retail outlets known as Nokia Priority. Nokia: in the Global Context: Nokia has successfully used its marketing strategy to target diverse customers from around the world. Its products are equally used by rural as well as people belong to the urban areas. The company is using the right blend of standardization and adaptation. By studying the global market strategy of Nokia one can argue that Nokia standardized its products when possible and customize its products when needed. For example Nokia introduced its dust-resistant mobile phone with anti-slip grip and flash light in less developed markets including India, Pakistan, Bangladesh etc. the product was customized according to the needs and wants of the rural market of the people living in these countries. Such sort of commitment to the needs and wants satisfaction of the target market by Nokia shows Nokia genuine commitment towards the local customers needs. The competition in the global market for Nokia is increasing with the passage of time. As the market for cellular phone is passing through the growth stage of product life cycle, constant entrance of new cellular phone manufacture is continued. The competition for Nokia includes: Motorola, Sony Ericson, Samsung, Siemens, Panasonic, NEG, Toplux and Sagem and many more. In order to keep its share in the international market Nokia must continue to exploit its competitive advantage to get ahead of competitors. It needs to have more focused marketing strategy. Nokia late arrival of can-bar phone and missed design trends like clamshell phones are some of the factors that has led to decrease in the market share of the company (Kiley, 2007). Nokia market share was 66% in 1999, which now stood at 38% (2009), it means that although in terms of sales its revenue is increasing with the passage of time, but in terms of market share, competitors are capturing niche from Nokia. Nokia is using aggressive marketing strategy in the global market. Since 1997, the company has acquired 37 companies around the world. The acquisition includes, Cellity a mobile software company, OZ Communications of Canada, Navteq which is a U.S. base supplier for a price of $8.1 billion, and Enpocket supplier of mobile advertising technology and many more (Kumar, Banthia, Sharma, 2010). These acquisitions have strengthened the market standing of Nokia, and help the company to boost its competitive advantage. The global sales of Nokia are increasing and the organization is constantly using four types of strategies to increase its sales in the global market. Nokia is increasing its sales in its existing market of already available products through increase strong positioning strategy, promotion activities, and competitive pricing strategies, and thus company is able to increase the sales for its products. The company has constant record of launching new product that is either low costs (that target low-income group) or cutting-edge technology (that target upper-upper and upper-middle class of the market), and flair have not yet been stopped. New market offer exciting opportunities to Nokia and the company is continuing to explore new market in the world. Currently the distribution network of the company has been established in 150 countries in all the continents of the world. The company now developed multifunctional cell phones, and continued to put up its business in significant on the rise markets such as India, China, Middle East and Indonesia where the target market are still looking for reliable hardware. The strategy is working for Nokia and over the year it has been able to launch series of new version in the global market. And Nokia is now looking to target 200 million middle class population of China for whom the company has developed customized products that costs under 63$ (Kiley, 2007). On the other hand, the situation in US is quite different. Thats why the company is using different strategy to target that market. In US market growth is tough because the market is driven by cell-service provider. For example Verizon Communication sell phone to customer at subsidized rate to its target market. Nokias relations in US with cell phone operator are not as strong as those of competitors that are why the company is suffering in this front. To tackle this trend, Nokia have reportedly spends $5.4 million in 2007 and $2 million in 2008 on lobbying in the U.S. market to hold its market share. The strategy was very successful for the firm, as it resulted in favorable political environment for the company. Had the company adopted the same strategy in before the results for the company must have been quite different and it must have not lost its market share in the US market? On the other hand the condition is quite change as compared to condition in US and the consumers can buy the cell-phone of ones own choice, and then shop for their service. In order to take advantage of favorable market conditions Nokia has joined hands with Siemens Networks and formed a joint venture in 2006. Nokia Siemens Networks services are available in 150 countries around the world. Both the companies have merged their fixed line and mobile phone network equipment business to create the worlds biggest network. This has resulted in 1.5 billion Euros for Nokia in year 2009. Nokia e-Business Strategy: For Nokia e-business is not just limited to web presence to make easy buying selling. Nokia is exploiting the collective power of the internet and IT to vitally convert its strategic business strategies and business processes. Nokia is one of the successful ventures of the world that is using the e-commerce and e-business solution in its flair to build successful relation with its target market. Nokia e-business is known as Nokia Payment Solution that was initiated in 2001 (Nokia, 2010). The Nokia Payment Solution is unique program that enables payment service providers to mediate payments between three parties including financial institutions, distributor and consumers. This platform allow Nokia to collect, manage and clear payment initiated from mobile phone and other web-enabled terminals all the way through different payments methods including debit cards, credit cards, operators prepaid and postpaid system. Nokia provides Nokia Signet Server that serves the purpose of verification and payment transaction of non-repudiation through digital signatures. The verification and digital signature connecting the client and server are satisfied using the wireless Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) technology. On the other hand Nokia is using its e-Business strategy to successfully integrate its various divisions across the world. Nokia factories are situated in 10 countries, and its RD wings are situated in 9 countries. E-business provides an opportunity to Nokia to cut its costs dramatically through e-procurement, which is as a way for Nokia to better track and manage their purchasing. Nokia also provides various blogs in an effort to know its target market. This e-chat provides Nokia a form of technical and customer support is an excellent example of its customer focused e-business strategy. This e-business strategy that supplement Nokia traditional phone support is a system that saves precious time for Nokia while providing opportunities to know its customer more deeply. Nokia e-business strategy has helped the marketing strategist to better plan their product offerings, keeping in view the latest trends of the market. The products are designed and manufactured keeping in view the needs and wants of its target market. Through the use of e-business the marketing department is able to develop and retain its valued customers. Nokia website provides online support to its valued customer in the form of free download (music, video, themes, etc), software solution, and integration of different task related to products. . This had helped the company not only in creation long-lasting, and satisfied customer creation but also helped the company to prolong the product life cycle of its various products. On the other hand Nokia has formed strategic partnership with Facebook. Facebook is a social network website that connects people and work as link between them. This had provided remarkable opportunity to Nokia, because the Facebook application for Nokia is available for download in more than 150 countries. Nokia is the only mobile company of the world whose handsets can be connected to Facebook. This has created a world of opportunities for both Nokia and Facebook. (Nokia, 2010) Conclusion: Over the last two decades the mobile-phone market has gone through tremendous changes, with unbelievable products and rapid growth in the market. The growth of the market is still continued. Nokia is using its creative marketing strategies to hold its market share through strong positioning and competitive strategy in order to beat the competition. The company sales performance has been increase dramatically in the past few years, although it has lost a portion of its market share to new rivals in the market. If the company continue to tailor its marketing strategies according to the needs and wants of the target market, its chances for success in the market will increase even more.

Paul Simon?s The Sound of Silence :: essays research papers

Paul Simon’s The Sound of Silence A poem, like all other works of art, may appear as an inter-subjective truth, an intricate thread of images, a surreal yet realistic expression, and as a â€Å"creative fact† according to Virginia Woolf. In canon literature, a good poem is usually that which has fine structure, imagery, meaning and relevance; an art, which has sprung out not only of personal necessities but out of socio-cultural quagmires. Paul Simon’s The Sound of Silence transcends the mediocre. It creates a bombarding mood that runs through the whole text, thus, transforming the readers to a reality it is presenting. The poem starts with the use of a device called apostrophe (a figure of speech where one talks to or addresses an inanimate object). Here the â€Å"I† persona talks to his â€Å"old friend.† Hello darkness my old friend I’ve come to talk with you again Because a vision softly creeping Left its seeds while I was sleeping And the vision that was planted in my brain, still remains Within the Sound of Silence Apparently, this is not the first time that the speaker talks with his â€Å"old friend,† darkness. He had had â€Å"talks† with it since a time unspecified, suggesting a perpetual moments of seclusion by the speaker. Talking with silence would mean solitude, loneliness if not ennui. The reason for this resort to solitude was a vision that keeps on bothering him. He was looking for solace which he found being alone; no one seems to understand Him. Here we can see him regressing—a defensive reaction of the human psyche to flounce away, by retreating to earlier stages of life, a threatening stimuli, which in this case is the vision. The â€Å"seeds† that was bequeathed to him while unaware symbolize a burgeoning message that will soon sprout in the â€Å"fullness of time† (Gal. 4:4). Nevertheless, it was still imprisoned â€Å"within the sound of silence.† In restless dreams I walked alone Narrow streets of cobblestones Beneath a halo of a street lamp I turned my collar to the cold and damp When my eyes were stabbed by the flash of a neon light, That split the night And touched the Sound of Silence. The speaker dreams of escape from this listless weariness brought about by the creeping vision. He walked the â€Å"narrow streets of cobblestones,† symbolizing oppression as was suggested by the narrowness of a street made up of cobblestones, indicative of it’s ancientness, or the â€Å"old ways.

A Streetcar Named Desire and Top Girl Essay

â€Å"Man†¦cannot learn to forget, but hangs on to the past: however far or fast he runs that chain runs with him.†- Friedrich Nietzsche (German-Swiss philosopher and writer). In the light of Nietzsche’s opinion, compare and contrast the presentation of the past as a limiting factor to the identities of the female protagonists in ‘A Streetcar named Desire’ and ‘Top Girls’ Williams and Churchill present the past as a haunting spectre that threatens the characters progress in their future life. Both playwrights construct the past as an emerging chain that, parasitic like, has clinged onto the protagonists’ present and immobilised the characters ability to function and progress. The retroactive structure of Top Girls reinforces this. Marlene attempts to escape her working class roots in the city office, but the chain of her past, her daughter Angie, imprisons her in this very environment she seeks to flee. Blanche Dubois seeks refuge in her sister’s world in an attempt to release herself from the chains of her past; presenting herself as a ‘Southern Belle’ in search of a gentleman and holding on to Old Southern traditional values: she is always incongruous to New Orleans and the future America. Initially, both playwrights present the past as a route of future imprisonment for the characters. The initial exposition of Blanche’s marriage and widowing is demonstrated through the constant symbolic sound of the traditional polish Polka; also revealing Blanche’s extreme sensitivity as a woman, to her past and vulnerability as how ‘man cannot forget’. Blanche is glued to her past suffering, and deliberately forces herself to believe that her previous experiences no longer i ntimidates her, but deep down, her remembrances haunt her, infiltrating in her present and future through the subtle sound of the disruptive Polka music, slowly becoming more and more frequent, leading up to the climax point towards the end, where Blanche reaches her tragic ‘self-destruction’, where her brother in law rapes her. The texture of the polka music creates an enhanced contextual setting of the play, where the audience gains a clearer perspective of how the past reflects on the construction of each characters psyche. Blanche ‘cannot forget’ her past, but chooses to ‘hang on to it’. Her choice of constantly remembering the sound of the Polka, is a reflection of her hesitation of wanting to progress; Blanche is her own enemy, therefore being her own barrier to overcome past dilemmas. NOT SURE WHAT ELSE TO ADD Churchill presents lies as a means of liberation for Blanche. When speaking to Stella, she laughs at â€Å"myself, myself for being such a liar. I’m writing to Shep.† Blanche unambiguously admits that she in fact, is a liar; the repetition of the personal pronoun â€Å"myself† emphasises the irony in her statement; Blanche is very well aware of her past, and so chooses to lie to avoid any future consequences through exposing the truth. â€Å"†¦neurotic and corrupted, hiding from herself behind artificial illusions.† as described by Christopher Innes in John Russel Brown (ed.) 1995: 422 Blanche is face to face with Stella, she is desperate for some Alcohol and compulsively searches Stella’s house for some liquor, â€Å"I know you must have some liquor on the place!† Blanche evidently seems to feel no shame of having a â€Å"drink† near Stella but â€Å"nervously† tamps her â€Å"cigarette† however, suddenly, further in the scene, Blanche negates a drink, when stanley arrives home from work, â€Å"No, I – rarely touch it.† and lies to Stanley as â€Å"(He holds the bottle to the light to observe its depletion.)† as he has noticed that someone has drunk some liquor. Blanche clearly feels intimidated and ashamed in having â€Å"some liquor† in the presence of the Alpha male, Stanley Kowalski, and denies the drink; however, Stanley has already seen through Blanche’s pretence and comments, â€Å"some people rarely touch it, but it touches them often†. Blanche is fully aware that the first impressions are the ones that stay, especially as she has a necessity to impress men, so she knows that if she accepts the drink and has it near Stanley, her reputation as a â€Å"Southern Belle† will be destroyed. However, Blanche seems to be quite flattered to have Stanley’s attention; and without a doubt, realises that Stanley is flirting with her, and automatically switches to her ‘past’ seductive self which she initially tried to cover up. The promptness in which Blanche reacts and gives in to Stanleys’ seductive methods, clearly shows how she cannot resist being a ‘fake’ but, cannot help but giving in to her old, past desires. Critic JJ Thompson argues that Blanche is â€Å"trapped by the sins of her past,† which to an extent is true as Blanche may not have needed to create a fake past if she had not done anything wrong. She is desperate to conceal the truth about her previous record of prostitution and promiscuity. However, it is not in fact her sins that trap her, but her desire to hold on to the values of the old south, as society demands spinsters to be the â€Å"visible manifestation of the Southern gentility and purity†¦Ã¢â‚¬  We have no clear trace of Stanley’s past, or what leads him into acting in such an manipulative manner, however, in contrast with Blanche, he does not show any signs of being ‘chained’ to his previous experiences, but shows some sort of complexity in his character, as he intimidates Blanche causing some sort of disruption in her care-free lies. This complexion could be the fact that Stanley’s apparent broken character is simply a male instinct of power possession and pride as a man. Critic Londrà © argues that Williams â€Å"intended a balance of power between Blanche and Stanley, to show that both are complex figures whose wants and behaviours must be understood in the context of what is at stake for them.† Felicia H. Londrà © in M.C. Rouande 1997: 50. At stake for both is something essentially selfish- escape for Blanche, sexual satisfaction and dominance for Stanley. Equally in Top Girls, Marlene’s sister Joyce clings on to her past. She still criticises Marlene’s judgement by accusing her that â€Å"I don’t know how you could leave your own child†. By referring still to Angie as Marlene’s child, suggests that Joyce has not accepted the past and this leads to the growth of her resentment and bitterness, and these sentiments are articulated through the monosyllabic tone of the language. Joyce seems to be imprisoned by her past as she has no means of prospering. The womanly domestic environment becomes Joyce’s biggest limitation and the ending, implies that she is enduringly trapped in the past, leaving her with no hope for the future. The stage direction â€Å"Marlene goes. Joyce goes on sitting,† allows the audience to perceive the visual impact the past has created between the mother-daughter relationship, and once again referring back to the post-feminist criticism of Feminist abandoning their concept of sisterhood and embracing a more materialistic society, who care ab out the individual, much like Margret Thatcher’s ideology. Blanche however, uses the figure of Shep Huntleigh to re-establish him as a potential date instead of recalling the past and classifying him as a failed lover in her life. Even though, this can be seen as a weakness of Blanche, she has not released â€Å"the chain† of her past but simply ‘covering the dirt up with the carpet’. Blanche feels enlightened through her ‘untrue’ past which is obvious as she laughs at herself. The tragic protagonist is all too aware of her lies, and seems to be gaining some sort of pleasure through her fake truths, which shows that Blanche is ultimately â€Å"just as phony as can be†. She cannot let go from her desire to be a delicate southern belle, who relies on the â€Å"kindness of strangers† like poor old Mitch, Stanley’s friend (not sure on how I can build on it without losing my point); rather than face her reality of being an ageing, penniless prostitute with a corrupt reputation. Blanche is far from being trapped by her sins; she is trapped by her desires, not for sexual satisfaction but for the past. Churchill also illustrates how the past can set the characters ‘free’. In Act 1, the protagonist Marlene gathers women who suffer with their past together, to feel liberated through sharing their experiences. This is an uncommon part of the play and though we do not know exactly where and when it takes place, we are aware that all the women in this scene are from the past of literature, art and history. Marlene’s story is ironically told through the historical character of Patient Griselda implying her promotion at work, Pope Joan taking over a male role as Marlene had in the office, Dull Gret fighting men, Isabella Bird leaving home and her family behind to independently travel and the historic character from Japan, Lady Nijo, who grew in an imperial court, as one that has her motherhood nature, debilitated due to her three traumas with child abduction; â€Å" taken the child† from the own father, the Emperor, â€Å"I saw my daughter once.† Marlene, the protagonist hosts a dinner party for her friends, where here, all the six women have the chance to share their ‘past’ experiences. When Nijo begins to recall her tragic history, her speech becomes more fragmented and the characters interrupt less while she talks about her past, â€Å"it hurts to remember the past† admits Lady Nijo. By gathering these persistent women in a celebration of Marlene’s job promotion, transmits a message that for the present to be fully valued, the past has to be reviewed. If Lady Nijo had not gone through her losses with her children, she had not learnt the value of being a mother, an independent woman and bearing children, leading her into being a Buddhist monk and living her life completely please herself and benefit her well-being. Marlene says, â€Å"how far we’ve all come†. This comment switches the past form regret to thankfulness of emerging from prejudice against women. The use of the pronoun â€Å"we† demonstrates that this progression is one that all women make together, supporting a feminist reading of the play as one which would argue that women build on successes of women of the past to achieve in future. Churchill presents women in Thatcherite Britain who are trying to establish a future focus, a new society where women were able to be in power. Blanche is too afraid to embrace this attitude to the past; it was essential in 1947 as America needed to establish a forward focus following the war, where the suffering past that women once went through, no longer hindered them in taking a stand. Alternatively, it can be argued that the past actually limits the female protagonists in both Top Girls and A Streetcar Named Desire. The structure of Top Girls reinforces this argument as the retroactive structure implies the past of these characters keep chasing after again and again, being unable to look towards the future, being barred by their past. Protagonist, Marlene ends up in her working class, domestic space and the past- which is ironic as she defines her success against her capacity to escape these things, which suggests that her success is not as valid as it might seem. Streetcar on the contrary, uses a linear structure where the action escalates towards the vertex, yet the characters such as Blanche cannot progress but tragically end up disheartened, owed to the past that limits her. Blanche does not accept the new world and holds on to her old world values of the past. Both playwrights therefore present unlike perceptions on the role of the past; Williams sees it as a form of escape and to move forward from, whereas Churchill insists on evaluating the impact it has on the present, as we end up re-examining Marlene’s success, rather than looking to the future.

How to Format Reader-Friendly Headlines

How to Format Reader-Friendly Headlines How to Format Reader-Friendly Headlines How to Format Reader-Friendly Headlines By Mark Nichol The headline of a piece of content is the reader’s invitation, so make it inviting in form as well as content. Using all capital letters is overbearing; choose between headline style (capitalizing initial letters only in words representing major parts of speech) or sentence style (initial caps only for the first word and proper nouns). Using uppercase initial letters in every word is not advisable, because words of one to three letters can look awkward when formatted that way. Headlines should be noticeably larger than the running text (the main body of copy) and other headings but not so large that they are out of proportion to them. (A range of two to five times the size of the running text is best.) Notice how newspapers and magazines use especially large headlines only for highly significant or catastrophic events. The headline font should be different than that of the running text, and I recommend reversing the serif/sans serif (â€Å"no serif†) style as well. (Serifs are appendages that extend the strokes on some letters; the headline and running-text font on this site has almost no serifs only the letter t has a â€Å"foot† while the lettering in the site’s text ads, resembling the type in most newspapers, is serif.) Notice also how the headline type’s color differs from the black type of the running text and matches the site’s color scheme. For an organization’s publications (reports, print and email newsletters, etc.) or for organizational or individual websites, it’s best to create a template in which headlines are always the same font, font style, and color. Various articles can have headlines with different point sizes (generally, the larger the article, and the higher it appears on the page, the larger the headline’s point size should be), but if every issue of your newsletter or every page on your website has the same layout, maintain consistency across iterations. Print publications have traditionally utilized one of three approaches for wording headlines to draw readers in: what I call the statement headline, the phrase headline, and the concept headline. The statement headline, employed in news articles and on many content websites, is formatted like a sentence and straightforwardly tells readers what to expect (â€Å"Grammar Guru Offers Advice on Formatting Headlines†). The second style, also used widely in print and online journalism (especially editorials, features, and how-to articles) and on the Internet, is an incomplete sentence that nevertheless conveys the gist of the content to follow (â€Å"How to Format Reader-Friendly Headlines†). The third format uses wordplay to evoke the subject of the material below the headline while entertaining the reader (â€Å"Tips for Top Type†). It’s the most creative alternative, and therefore my favorite, but it should be used with caution in creating online headlines because it’s not as search friendly as the other methods (though my example does include two keywords). It’s fine to mix and match these styles in one publication or on one website, but keep the content type and the tone of the piece in mind when choosing from among them. For more tips on how to craft headlines, go to this post. Read this post instead for general advice on creating inviting Web sites. I’ll follow up with a piece about other display type (subheads and captions) next week. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Style category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:Is She a "Lady" or a "Woman"?List of 50 Great Word Games for Kids and AdultsKn- Words in English