Symbolism In Heart Of Darkness Essay -- essays research papers

Submitting to Symbolism   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Every great author posses the ability to create a novel deeply woven in symbolism and subliminal messages. Underneath the literal journey encountered in Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness lies a tale saturated with subtle, yet, significant imagery that brings forth the true meaning of the novella. Throughout Heart of Darkness Conrad uses a plethora of simple colors, objects, and places to convey multifaceted images and ideas. His fine execution of the tools of the English language allows him to quickly lure the reader aboard the Nellie and not release him until the horror is over. Although the interpretation of symbols in the Heart of Darkness is elaborate, due to their simplicity they are often overlooked.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  An overriding series of symbols in Heart of Darkness is the ongoing contrast of white and black, dark and light, and respectively holding representations of good and evil. Amongst most literature white/light relates to a civilized community and black/dark denotes savagery. However, Conrad often depicts many things usually associated with light to be dark in coincidence with the glittering light shed on dark images. Conrad illustrates the wrath of Europe, â€Å"And this also has been one of the darkest places of the earth.† (Conrad 18) Furthermore, Conrad's frequent symbolic combination of life and death is a parallel to light and dark, echoing the fact that the two must exist simultaneously - there cannot be without the other.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Blatant, but often passed over is the symbolism of the number three in Heart of Darkness. First, notice that the book is divided into three chapters. From there Conrad only lets Marlow break from the story three times to let the unnamed narrator speak. As the journey through the Congo progresses it halts its journey at three stations-Outer, Central, and Inner. The triads do not end here, but persist through the characters in the novella. Though they play an integral role in Heart of Darkness only three women are mentioned principally-the intended, Marlow’s Aunt, and Kurtz’s mistress. Contrasting the women is the trio of Kurtz, Marlow, and the narrator. The triplet that binds the book is the various views of Africa from the adventure, economic, and religious standpoints.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The start of the book is ... ...oy him. Towards the close of Heart of Darkness he finds himself amidst a swarm of small flies. The diminishing size of the insects is a representation of the growth in Marlow’s character as his journey progresses. Symbolism as such is one of the great examples of Conrad’s intelligence   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Heart of Darkness overflows with symbolism and is by far one of the greatest novels of the twenty century. Conrad employs the literary tricks as he unwraps more than just the quest of a man and his trip through the Congo. Looking between the lines helps convey the true meaning in Heart of Darkness and enhance the reader’s enjoyment of the novel. Not to forget that Conrad closes the book with classic symbolism of Marlow in the lotus position closing his spiritual journey. â€Å"Marlow ceased, and sat apart, indistinct and silent, in the pose of a meditating Buddha. Nobody moved fro a time. ‘We have lost the first of the ebb,’ said the director suddenly. I raised my head. The offing was barred by a black bank of clouds, and the tranquil leading to the uttermost ends of the earth flowed somber under overcast sky-seemed to lead into the heart of an immense darkness.† (Conrad 125)

Freedom of Contract in English Law

In earlier days, agreement was built on a very classic and simple basis: it is concluded at the moment that the acceptance of an offer takes place and that is all. In consequence, equal parties were non-existent and stronger parties had the possibility to impose unfair and domineering conditions upon those who were weak and vulnerable. It is in this context that both legislations and courts agreed that State action was indispensable to ensure fairness among individual parties, in an era where the exercise of law of freedom were extremely restricted.In today’s English law, freedom of contract is one the foundation of contract law. The existence of freedom of contract requires three main considerations: the freedom to contract or not to contract, the freedom to choose with whom to contract, and the freedom to decide the terms of the contract. Thus parties are totally free to engage or not to engage in agreements. However, freedom of contract can fail to have the desired or expec ted effect in contracts where power relations are not equal. The stronger party can impose its â€Å"will† to the weaker party.In order to deal with any potential conflict that can arise from this matter, English legal systems has set up rules ensuring the effective and fair exercise of freedom of contract. This essay will discuss and examine those rules in question, established by the English law in order to effectively balance freedom of contract and fairness between the contracting parties as well as fair contractual terms. And also on the other hand limits of freedom of contract will be exposed. Freedom of contract, as its appellation suggests, has a strong relationship with contract.In order to identify this relationship, it is important to understand what is meant by â€Å"contract† and the rules governing it. In English law, a contract is a legally binding agreement reached on a set of promises (or obligations) and specific terms. The validity of any contract re quires 4 main features: an offer, acceptance, consideration and intention to create legal relations. Thus, when one party (the offeror) makes an offer which the other (offeree) accepts, then agreement is concluded.However, the mere fact of an agreement is insufficient for a contract to be completely valid. This implies that a party must promise to give or do something for the other. This idea of exchanging promises is known as â€Å"consideration† and is an essential requisite of any valid contract. In Currie v Misa(1875) it (consideration) was held to constitute a benefit to one party or a detriment to the other. For instance, when a bottle of wine is bought from a shop, the benefit received is the bottle of wine, and the detriment is the money paid to the shop.Yet it is important to take into concern the rules governing consideration. First of all, consideration must not be in the past(as mentioned in the a. This rule suggests that if one party willingly performs an act, an d the other party then makes a promise the consideration said to be in the past. Therefore past consideration is regarded as no consideration at all. For instance, a pregnant woman named Julie, knowing that her neighbour, Lucy, is concerned about her health, offers to do the housework for her.This takes Lucy tremendous amount of time to do, and Julie is so content with the result that she promises to pay Lucy ? 30 for her effort. If Julie fails to pay, Lucy will not have the possibility to sue for breach of contract as Julie's promise to pay was after the completion of the work. The fact of this case is supported by the case of Re McArdle(1951,CA) in which it was held that no valid contract existed since the home improvements were past consideration; they had been carried out before any promise to pay had been made.Another rule is that consideration must move from the promisee which is very similar to the concept of law of privity. So for instance if A makes a promises to B, the pro mise will only be enforceable if B can equally show that he has provided consideration for A’s promise. This rule clearly demonstrates the fairness (among parties) of the doctrine of consideration. Finally, consideration must be sufficient but need not to be adequate. This rule stipulates that a good consideration must be of some value but there is not necessity for a bargain to be of adequate value.For example, if someone is willing to sell his Ferrari for ? 1, the contract will not be in vain due to lack of consideration and therefore will be sufficient. In this case, Courts will not measure the adequacy of the consideration (the fact that a Ferrari is offered to be sold at only ? 1) as it is up to one party to decide whether or not he agrees with the other party promises. The contract in English law enhances principle of freedom of contract.Indeed, the terms of the contract is freely determined and agreed by the parties. However, there are various circumstances in which ad ditional terms may be implied into the agreement. The aim of implied terms is often to provide a supplement to a contractual agreement in the interest of making bargain more effective, to achieve fairness between the parties and to alleviate hardship. Term may be implied by custom. Here it is suggested that a contract must always be examined in the light of its surrounding commercial context.So the parties automatically assume that sometimes their contract will be subject to the customs of a particular locality or trade and therefore do not deal specifically with the matter in their contract. One of the cases illustrating this is Hutton v Warren(1836). A term may equally be implied into a contract y Act of Parliament in the form of statutes. Under the Sale of Goods Act 1979, ss 12-15 for instance, a seller automatically assumes certain obligations to the buyer as a result of terms which are automatically implied in every contract regulated by the Act.The seller is required by statut e to promise that he has lawful authority to transfer ownership of the goods(s12)(the seller would for example break this term if it turns out that the goods were stolen);that the goods being sold will match the description he provided the buyer(s13)(for instance a shirt described as 100 per cent cotton should not contain man-made fibres); that the quality of the goods being sold will satisfy the buyer(s14(2)); that the good will be suitable for any purpose specified by the buyer(s 14(3)); and that the goods being sold will match any sample shown to the buyer prior to the contract being made(s 15).Breach of any of these terms will put the buyer in a strong position and be given the option to be discharged from the contract or alternatively carry on with the contract and claim damages for the breach. This will lead us to the concept of remedies mentioned in the following part. In English contract law, a crucial aspect of the contractual relationship is the enforcement of the contract , as the obligation that pact must be kept firmly by parties is considered as the backbone of any contractual relationship.However, a problem can occur if a contract is not adequately performed and one of the parties renounces to perform its obligations. This is where the concept of non-performance and the remedies available to the injured party become applicable. Breach of contract arises from the non-respect of the pact (or terms) agreed between parties. The aggrieved party is then given the common law right to claim for a remedy resulting from any quantifiable loss or harm suffered. Damage (financial compensation) is the most basic remedy available to the innocent party.In today business environment, it is not rare for the parties to agree in advance the damages that will be payable in the occurrence of a breach of contract. These damages are referred to as liquidated damages. An illustration of liquidated damages is the charges imposed for cancelling a flight or the booking of a hotel room. But sometimes, there is a temptation for a party with stronger trading power to try imposing a penalty clause (punitive payment for the non-performance of a term or condition) as demonstrated in Wilson v. Love (1896) case.Other remedies such as quantum damages and injunction may be granted at the discretion of the court as part of its equitable jurisdiction. So, as mentioned above, remedies is all about compensating the aggrieved party for causing him loss or harm. This can be avoided by the consideration of the prevailing rules of freedom of contract. In other words, Freedom of contract allowing individual parties to freely contract or not to, and no one being forced to do it , whoever therefore who gives a contractual promise must then keep it.Or on the contrary case, as described in earlier parts can be constrained by legal authorities to honour its commitment or compensate the other party. However, performance of a contract becomes sometimes impossible due to the ci rcumstances beyond the control of either of the parties and not due to their fault. The legal term referring to this situation is frustration. An example of this unforeseen event is illustrated in the case of Taylor v Caldwell (1863) in which it was held that contract was impossible to perform due to an external and unforeseen event.Consequences are that the contract is killed and parties discharged from further liability. This limits the exercise of freedom of contract in a sense that the agreement formed by the parties is nullified, regardless individual parties will. Another limitation of freedom of contract is that the choice of other contracting party is not always free. For example, an employer is not totally free to hire the person of his choice. The fact that insurance contracts are sometimes made obligatory by parties equally render the exercise of freedom of contract limited, as concerned parties did not freely choose to contract with an insurance company.So far, this pap er has been about the relationship between the exercise of freedom of contract and law of contract. However not only is freedom of contract concerned with contract law but also with another component of the English private law, which is tort law. A tort is a civil wrong. In other words, it refers to the liability of a person who causes harm to another with the obligation to repair the damages suffered by the victim. An example of tort is damage to commercial interests, e. g. inducement of breach of contract.Also known as tortious interference, inducement of breach of contract arise where the wrongdoer convinces a party to breach the contract against the claimant, or where the wrongdoer prevents one party from performing his obligations(agreed with the other party), thus stopping the claimant from receiving the performance promised. Furthermore, after mentioning the existence of a duty of care, which is an element required making negligence claim (concerned with a wrongdoer’s careless conduct which cause damage or loss to the defendant), the claimant (the injured party) can prove that this duty has been broken by the defendant (the other party).Hence the close relationship between duty of care and the requisites of freedom of contract in the sense that if parties freely agree to contract (including the terms of it), then, it is suggested, that they owe a duty of care to each other because the careless conduct (which can affect the contract) of one party can prevent the other one from receiving the performance promised, regardless to the external factor that caused the misconduct of the blamed party. This fact is supported by the case of Garret v.Taylor (1620) in which the court upheld a judgment for the claimant. To conclude, the purpose of this essay has been to describe and make a connection between law of contract as well as law of torts and freedom of contract. Thus, English legal systems have established multiple rules of conduct from different part ies to a contract in order to ensure fairness between them. Henceforth, contracting parties are given freedom to contract with whoever they want, including the terms of the contracts.Also, thanks to rules such as of duty of care, or of doctrine of remedies, an injured party is now given the possibility to claim for compensation of loss or harm caused by the blamed party, who will be then obliged by legal authorities to repair the damages caused to the aggrieved party due to non-respect of the rules established. In the end, it must be acknowledge that English Law has stroke an appropriate balance between freedom of contract and fairness. References:Currie v Misa (1875) LR 10 Ex 153; (1875-76) LR 1 App Cas 554:Definition of consideration Garret v. Taylor, 79 Eng. Rep. 485 (K. B. 1620): Tortious interference Hutton v Warren (1836) 1 M;W 460:Implied terms Re McArdle(1951,CA ):Past consideration being unacceptable Sale of Goods Act 1979, ss 12-15 : Statutory implied terms Taylor v Caldwe ll (1863) 3 B ; S 826; 122 ER 309; [1863] EWHC QB J1: impossibility of performance of contract Wilson v. Love (1896) : Liquidated damages

Rewarding and Punishing the Same Behavior

In this report, the reasons are explained with examples that lead managers of organization toward an unethical decision. People believe that deep unethicality distorts ethical decision making. But according to Ann Tenbrunsel and her colleague David Messick, the top level management of an organization often takes such unethical decisions out of thinking business purely rather than considering morality. The phenomenon is named as â€Å"Ethical Fading†. Sometimes leader’s ill-conceived goals lead employees to involve in unethical activities. For example management wants employees to maximize sales rather than profit. As a result employees force customers to sell their product and sometimes they become ridiculous. Also sometimes they overcharge for the unexpected service which the customer doesn’t want actually. Leader’s setting goal should take the perspective of those whose behavior they are trying to influence and think through their potential responses. This will help head off unintended consequences and prevent employees from overlooking alternative goals. People ignore some information which can affect their interest can termed as motivated blindness. For example some rating agencies rate organizations positively since the agencies are paid by those organizations. So people fail to judge organizations due to due to serious violation of ethical practices by the agencies. Bazerman and Harvard Business School Professor Francesca Gino explored to a situation termed as slow emergence of unethical behavior. This slow poisoning is often overlooked by the management which led to ultimate failure to hold the objective of the organization. For this managers should be heightened alert for even trivial-seeming infractions and address them immediately. Another common practice in corporate world is to overvaluing outcomes. Like rewarding unethical decision for its good outcomes and punishing ethical decisions for bad outcomes is a recipe for disaster in the long run. Managers should beware this bias; examine the behaviors that drive good outcomes and reward quality decisions, not just results. Companies are trying to improve the ethicality of employees according to Bezerman and Tenbrunsel. But this ethical practice should not be forced. Management should create such environment or make structure where employees willingly accept ethical practices and work accordingly. Above all, a leader should should be concern about his own blind spots, which may permit or even encourage, the unethical behaviors that he is trying to extinguish.

Night †Devotion to God Essay

Under certain circumstances, one’s perspective towards their faith in God may change, which is demonstrated in the memoir Night. Wiesel’s initial devotion to God and his faith undergoes a radical transformation in the face of his horrendous experiences, resulting in apparently soils and cynical atheism, but his faith survives to some degree in spite of overwhelming odds, and in subsequent years move have revived enough to motivate this memoir. At the age of twelve, Wiesel began to question God and analyze the cabbala with his fellow friend Moche, and together there faith became stronger than before. Then, under circumstances, Moche was sent away, and returned as a different man. The motif of his eyes demonstrated his loss in the faith of God. He cried to the people to believe that the horrific experiences he said was true, but no one could pull themselves together to believe. Moche’s faith was gone, and that only made Wiesel’s faith stronger. Wiesel’s devotion never disappeared as he stated, â€Å"I continued to devote myself to my studies. By day, Talmud, at night, the cabbala† (18). Yet, his faith began to take a turn when the Germans took over the life of the Jews. He described his experiences as hell, describing that god was trying to say that hell wasn’t any worse than the experiences they were going through. Wiesel kept thinking of god, thanking him for every joyful moment that he came across. Wiesel’s faith became then weakened when he came across a rabbi. â€Å"Here came the Rabbi, his back bent, his face shaved, his pack on his back. His mere presence among the deportees added added a touch of unreality to the scene† (26), Wiesel faith weakened because seeing this rabbi left him in shock, making it so surreal. After the rabbi experience, Wiesel’s faith went downhill from there. When the night came along no one prayed, out of fear of the next day. Wiesel came across horrific experiences, making him question god. He saw babies and humans being burned, for no apparent reason. Angered, Wiesel came to a solution by stating â€Å"Why should i bless His name? † (42). At times, Wiesel’s faith was totally gone because he was angered towards how people were treated, and why God didn’t do anything about it. Wiesel’s relationship with God remained as he believed that God was out there, just hidden saying â€Å"I did not deny God’s existence, but I doubted His absolute justice. † (53). Then time passes and Wiesel’s relationship with God is then questioned when he is influenced by the people around him. One day he came across three victims being killed, and listening to to people saying â€Å"Where is He? † (72). Wiesel was also influenced by Akiba Drummer, as the motif in his eyes showed that he lost total faith in God. Wiesel no longer blessed God because he realized that there was no point of blessing God when he allowed so many horrid things to happen. Wiesel also stopped praying, since he had no time to do so. All this resulted to an extent of Wiesel being spiritually dead. Wiesel lost total faith and spirit in God, because of the horrid experiences he went through, which changed his perspective on certain things. After the concentration camp, Wiesel’s spirit and faith revive. Looking back at his experiences, as he writes his memoir, he realizes how harsh he was to God. Wiesel acted bitter towards God, as he lost faith, not because he chose to, it was because of the circumstances he was under. Wiesel’s faith and spirit was probably gained as he slowly began to realize that God had nothing to do with the repulsive experiences he went through. The reason he lost faith in God was because he needed someone to blame, someone to take his anger out to, and that was probably understood a while after he was rescued. Overall, Wiesel’s perspective towards faith in God changes, which is demonstrated in the memoir Night. To conclude, Wiesel’s initial devotion to God and his faith undergoes a radical transformation in the face of his horrendous experiences, resulting in apparently soils and cynical atheism, but his faith survives to some degree in spite of overwhelming odds, and in subsequent years move have revived enough to motivate this memoir. In certain situations, one’s relationship with God can take a change, for the better or worse.

High performance work systems are effective for the performance of Essay - 1

High performance work systems are effective for the performance of organizations but are not very good for employees Critically discuss - Essay Example entally distinct approach for managing the human resource groups as compared to the traditional hierarchical approach of human resource and performance management which are commonly used in mass production and scientific management (Forth and Millward 2004). The core concept of the high performance work system is based on the development of an employer and employee relationship which is radically different from the Tailorysm management techniques of human resource and performance management in which a controlling and dictating approach is taken up (Armstrong 2006). This work system aims at developing high involvement through the development of an adequate degree of commitment among all levels of human resources working in the organization (Forth and Millward, 2004). The notion of the high performance work system are supported by claims that this system of work practices lead to the creation of superior performance at the individual as well as organizational levels (Wright et. al, 2005). However, it can be argued that the system of high performance work systems often makes an organization shift from the conventional and eclectic selection of the best practices employed in human resource management which ensures the creation of higher organizational performance outcomes but does not necessarily add to the performance outcomes of individual employees in an organization (Armstrong 2006). Developing the work on these lines of analysis, this essay is prepared with the objective of critically discussing the role of high performance work systems in organizational and individual performances (Godard 2004). Various researchers across diverse fields of study like industrial relations labor economics, organizational behavior, and strategic human resource management and operations management who have presented varied views regarding the effectiveness of the high performance work systems in the contemporary business organizations (Evans and Davis 2005). As per the views of

The Problem of Evil Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

The Problem of Evil - Essay Example There are people with numerous doubts, but others hold on to their faith in God. The paper establishes a discussion of the topic though a description, analysis and evaluation of arguments by various philosophers, and it will also establish the stance of the paper concerning the topic. Emmanuel Levinas is one of the philosophers who asserts that evil influences people into doing the wrong things; thus, he seeks to develop a discussion that accounts for evil. In fact, his argument is based on the role of rationality through the propagation of evil, which seems to be underestimated (Katz, 2005). Moreover, he argues that evil is infused in everyday transformation of temptations that are forbidden concerning impulse of good. Furthermore, his approach to the problem of evil is based on the discount of the conventional perception of theodicy that is considered a justification or rationalization of evil along with suffering inflicted on people. The other philosopher is Morilyn McCord Adams w ith an argument that the problem of evil relates to problem of reconciling existence of horrendous evils with God’s existence, which is suitable for people. In fact, Adams offers proposals as solutions of the problems, whereby she appeals to various forms of intimacy with God. Furthermore, this intimacy is focused on participants of horrendous evils (Earl, 2011). ... However, Kant fails to clarify the propensity of evil; thus, there is need to focus on interpretation of the propensity of evil and association with claims of evil of humanity (Duncan, 2011). Nevertheless, there are features that distinguish interpretation of the issue, whereby there are commentators who have ignorance of the issue. Moreover, there is serious analogy drawn by Kant concerning the propensity of evil and addiction. In this case, Kant has plausible argument regarding the assertion of human race, and it is reasonable. 2. Description and analysis of philosophers' views Levinas's views offer a chance of creating a perception of evil in a different light, whereby he considers evil as a disregard of acts and not a destruction of life, and he considered the source of evil to be inability of attuning to other. In fact, this form of evil offers a capacity of detachment from humanity, whereby people fail to see their responsibility. Therefore, this leads to an assertion that ther e is a precondition of other forms of evil. On the other hand, Levinas raises claims that indicate that evil makes people stand suffering, whereby one may seek to invert the relationship between suffering and evil. Furthermore, he poses a rejection of the conception of suffering, whereby he considers suffering to be a substantial component of the meaning of human life. Adams focuses on worry associated with respect to horrendous evil concerning the way God would defeat horrendous evil, which is in the context of participant’s lifetime. In fact, she argues that God would be supporting good people suffering from horrendous evil, thereby allowing their lives to subdue to evil (Swinburne, 2012). Therefore, her

Humanities Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Humanities - Essay Example tarts with a statement ‘it is a truth acknowledged, universally, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife† (Austen 1813, pg. 3). This statement clearly tells us that this desire that is universally recognized. It is, however, a desire that is not inward. Not everyone who has a wealth wants to marry, if one ends up marrying and yet his desire is not to be married then it means he ends up living unauthentic life. Far from, your own true desires. You are not genuine in short. Community policies seem to dictate our lives. Most of these social rules and policies have to do with class and position in the society. If you are rich, a governor you end up relating with people of your own class and caliber. This is despite your desire to talk to the law in the society. Socially it is not accepted, and you end up being ridiculed (Austen 1813, pg. 8). The Benet family is connected to people who are in the trade. Therefore, they cannot associate with people who have inherited titles and wealth. If they do, it causes tension among aristocrats such as Lady Catherine de Bourgh. This book also shows the â€Å"polite† policies which the people engage in through the novel. For example, civilized people are expected to behave by the unspoken rules of the community. The rules are automatic. They do not show the real desires of an individual. This shows the effect of peoples beliefs. When Elizabeth is engaged to dance with Mr. Collins during the ball at Netherï ¬ eld, for example, she feels chagrin at his enforcing that request despite her obvious lack of desire for his company. Honestly, the set code of conduct as required by the society make people do things if they had a choice to refuse they would do without a blink. Nevertheless, the repercussions of refusing to act as required leave you with no other choice but to act (Austen 1813, pg. 15). Austen examines the numerous strains sandwiched between desires and â€Å"unanimously approved† like