A & P - John Updike :: essays research papers

Sammy vs. the Grocery Store In the story, â€Å"A & P†, John Updike differentiates the views of Sammy and the store with many eye-catching techniques. By presenting the store as the antagonist, the reader gains Sammy sense of view about things through his close detail and humor of situations. Well before the dramatic opportunity presents itself for Sammy to quit his job, his narrative voice has established his individualism, imagination and his subversive sense of humor that already set him at odds with his jobs dull routine. The three girls entering the store in bathing suits and â€Å"walking against the usual traffic† coming down the aisle symbolize Sammy’s individualism. Because of the girl’s different appearance from the usual shoppers in A & P, Sammy couldn’t help but stare. This type of dress was not part of the â€Å"A & P policy† especially since â€Å"the women generally put on a shirt or shorts or something before they get out of the car into the street†. An example of Sammy’s imagination is exemplified through his description of the other shoppers in A & P. Sammy refers to the shoppers as â€Å"sheep† twice in the story. Once as he views the customers continuing to push their carts down the aisle only glancing slightly at the girls and continuing to shop. Sammy â€Å"bets you could set off dynamite in an A & P and the people would by large keep reaching and checking oatmeal off their lists and muttering†¦Ã¢â‚¬  The second time is when the girls go to the check out lane and Lengel starts to explain the policy. â€Å"All this while, the customers had been showing up with their carts but, you know sheep, seeing a scene, they had all bunched up on Stokesie†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Sammy’s narration of the lady at the front counter presents an example of his defiant sense of humor. The phrases â€Å"a witch about fifty† and â€Å"if she’d been born at the right time they would have burned her over in Salem† demonstrates the intolerance Sammy has developed toward the â€Å"A & P policy†. The song Sammy hears by the register as he rings up a purchase represents his oddity from his jobs dull routine. A & P - John Updike :: essays research papers Sammy vs. the Grocery Store In the story, â€Å"A & P†, John Updike differentiates the views of Sammy and the store with many eye-catching techniques. By presenting the store as the antagonist, the reader gains Sammy sense of view about things through his close detail and humor of situations. Well before the dramatic opportunity presents itself for Sammy to quit his job, his narrative voice has established his individualism, imagination and his subversive sense of humor that already set him at odds with his jobs dull routine. The three girls entering the store in bathing suits and â€Å"walking against the usual traffic† coming down the aisle symbolize Sammy’s individualism. Because of the girl’s different appearance from the usual shoppers in A & P, Sammy couldn’t help but stare. This type of dress was not part of the â€Å"A & P policy† especially since â€Å"the women generally put on a shirt or shorts or something before they get out of the car into the street†. An example of Sammy’s imagination is exemplified through his description of the other shoppers in A & P. Sammy refers to the shoppers as â€Å"sheep† twice in the story. Once as he views the customers continuing to push their carts down the aisle only glancing slightly at the girls and continuing to shop. Sammy â€Å"bets you could set off dynamite in an A & P and the people would by large keep reaching and checking oatmeal off their lists and muttering†¦Ã¢â‚¬  The second time is when the girls go to the check out lane and Lengel starts to explain the policy. â€Å"All this while, the customers had been showing up with their carts but, you know sheep, seeing a scene, they had all bunched up on Stokesie†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Sammy’s narration of the lady at the front counter presents an example of his defiant sense of humor. The phrases â€Å"a witch about fifty† and â€Å"if she’d been born at the right time they would have burned her over in Salem† demonstrates the intolerance Sammy has developed toward the â€Å"A & P policy†. The song Sammy hears by the register as he rings up a purchase represents his oddity from his jobs dull routine.

Dostoevsky as Performer Essay -- Russian Literature Christianity Relig

Dostoevsky as Performer Storytelling and reading aloud played a valuable part in young Fyodor's life, influencing his own later successful writing endeavors as well as his performance of literature. His nanny and wet nurse introduced the Dostoevsky children to folklore and lives of the saints through the stories they told. Nanny Alyona Frolovna "told the children stories of ancient Russia, of Saint Sergey of Moscow subduing a bear by the power of his holiness, of heroes and legends and folk tales, Christianity and Russian myth intertwined"; the stories were so vivid and frightening that the children had trouble sleeping (Gunn 10). During the winter their former wet nurses would make a ceremonial visit to the Dostoevsky family, staying two or three days and spending the afternoons telling stories. Such is the power of the spoken word that these women, according to Leonid Grossman, "awakened the boy's interest in the oral poetry of his people and at the same time fostered the development of that beautiful lan guage--freeflowing, emotionally charged, profoundly Russian and memorably expressive--in which, in time, his worldfamous books would be written" (10). Joseph Frank attributes these storytellers' tales of the saints with feeding "Dostoevsky's unshakable conviction that the soul of the Russian peasant was imbued with the Christian ethos of love and selfsacrifice" (1976, 49). The Dostoevsky children were also entertained and educated with oral readings by their parents, especially during the long evenings of the Russian winter. As the family gathered in the parlor, the physician father would read aloud before dinner when he was not occupied with his patients, and the children often went to sleep with the sound of one of th... ...Indianapolis and New York: BobbsMerrill, 1975. Gunn, Judith. Dostoyevsky: Dreamer and Prophet. Oxford: Lion, 1990. Hingley, Ronald. Dostoyevsky; His Life and Work. London: Paul Elek, 1978. Kjetsaa, Geir. Fyodor Dostoyevsky, A Writer's Life. Trans. Siri Hustvedt and David McDuff. New York: Viking, 1987. Levin, Iurii. "Dostoevskii and Shakespeare." Dostoevskii and Britain. Ed. W.J. Leatherbarrow. Oxford and Providence, RI: Berg, 1995. 3981. Magarshack, David. Dostoevsky. New York: Harcourt, Brace, & World, 1963. Miller, Robin Feuer. "Dostoevskii and the Tale of Terror." Dostoevskii and Britain. Ed. W.J. Leatherbarrow. Oxford and Providence, RI: Berg, 1995. 13958. Mochulsky, Konstantin. Dostoevsky; His Life and Work. Trans. Michael A. Minihan. Princeton, NJ: Princeton UP, 1967. Seduro, Vladimir. Dostoyevski in Russian Literary Criticism

Assumptions on Cost-Volume-Profit Analysis

Cost-volume-profit (CVP) analysis is used to expand and update the information obtained from breakeven analysis. It is necessary to underline that the critical part of the analysis is defined as the point where total costs equal total revenues or, in other words, when fixed and variable costs equal total revenues. Actually, at this point the company is claimed not to experiences losses and gains. This breakeven point is an initial examination and CVP analysis follows it.Cost-volume-profit analysis shares similar important assumptions as breakeven analysis. These assumes are: †¢ The behavior of revenues and costs is claimed to be in linear throughout the relevant activity range. It means that the concept of volume discounts on either sales or purchased materials. †¢ The only factor affecting the costs is considered changes in activities. †¢ Costs are classified as variable and fixed and such classification is precise. †¢ No ending finished goods inventories are obs erved as all produced units are sold.†¢ The sales mix is constant when the company is selling more than one production line and sales mix is defined as the ration of each production line to total sales. One more essential assumption is that in case a unit is produced in a particular year, it should be sold this year as unsold units are distorting the analysis. Unsold products are marked in books and defined as finished goods inventory. Further, such units are re-classified as assets and they are transferred to the next year.However, the risk that these goods won’t be salable the next year because of deterioration and obsolescence is very high. CVP can be also used to develop probability distributions in manufacturing firms and in restaurant industry. CVP analysis is rather simple and it is often used too explore the potential profit and pricing decisions. References Caldwell, Ch. W. , & Welch, J. K. (1989). Applications of Cost-Profit-Volume Analysis in the Governmental Environment. Government Accountants Journal, Summer, 3–8. .

Jones Electrical Essay

As we can see from the figures and the information given in the present case, the company is very profitable due to the ambition and well management done by its owner Mr. Jones. In this regard, we can see in â€Å"Table 2 in the spreadsheet†, that the company is taking advantage of the 2% discount offered by suppliers saving around $75,000. 00 per year. We have to pay especial attention to the agreement reached with the former Co-owner of the company, Mr. Verden. This agreement is affecting the cash flow of the company since the interest expenses raises by around $12,000. 0 more per year, this together the financial interest of the Metropolitan’s Bank loan makes that the company needs a larger amount to finance its debts, that by the way regarding the agreement with Verden should not being paid by the company but by Jones personal income since this agreement was not reached between the company and Verden but between Verden and Jones. Furthermore, we are assuming that the company is paying this agreement since the Metropolitan’s interest rate if not will be of 12,45% per year which it seems to be very high for a bank of this kind. See Table 3 On the other hand, we have see that other and perhaps the most important factor making the company running out of cash is the fact that Jones uses to pay the invoices within 10 days so he can take advantage of the 2% discount instead of waiting the net payment due in 30 days while his accounts receivables are paid in average every 42 days. It is not necessary to explain what paying around hundred suppliers every 10 days represent to cash flows if the company is receiving payments every 42 days, this means that the company pays 4 times at 1 time receiving. This is, for sure, the main reason why the company is losing liquidity and need to borrow money to banks. See Table 5. Furthermore, we can see that the average rotation on accounts payables is 22 days as we can see from Table 10, this breaks the balance between the account receivables and accounts payables, this means that the company need to finance the difference (in this case 20 days approx. ) of working capital and the only way to finance it is through the company’s operations, by shareholders or with external resources which in the present case is through a bank loan. It would be also interesting to see what it the company’s financing policy on accounts receivables, this means what discount the company gives to its buyers and compare it with the discounts it receives from suppliers. Finally in order to overcome this situation the company need to review its financing policy and reduce the finance it gives to its clients so the rotation in accounts receivables period approaches to the rotation on accounts payables and thus correct the difference of approximately 20 days that is making the company look for further financing in external sources. . – Is Jones’s estimated that a $350,000. 00 line of credit is sufficient for 2007 accurate? From my point of view it seems to be accurate for the year of 2007. This answer is based of the calculation on working capital (see Table 8) and even stressing the methods used to calculate it, such as through the net operating working capital, which takes only into account the ways that the company has to generate cash and it most liquid debts, it means inventory, account receivables and account payables, we found that the figures were much better. See Table 11) On the other hand, if we take a look to the liquidity ratio (see Table 9) we found that the company’s ratio is above minimum relation required which is 1:1, this means that the company is producing enough cash to pay its debts. Nevertheless, as we said before, there a disparity in the financing policy of the company regarding the recovery period (account receivables) and the rotation on payables accounts that makes that the company requires external financing despite of having excellent numbers on the paper. Finally, I consider that the new credit line will be enough to pay the former credit with Metropolitan bank and there will still be $100 thousands dollars available that can be used by the company along the year since the restriction imposed by the bank are meet as we can see in Table 4 besides the company will be receiving payments during the year that will allow it to cover its debts and take advantage of the supplier discounts. Nevertheless, I insist in the fact that the company should revise its financing policy and the rotation of account receivables. . – What will happen to Jones’s financing needs beyond 2007? The financial needs of Jones Electrical will increase unless they change their policy on financing buyers while paying faster to their suppliers. This in deed is what is making that the company requires additional founds. On the other hand, the company has been growing constantly. In deed, according to the net income estimation for 2007 (see Table 7) the com pany increases its profits $25 thousand dollars more than the previous year. This is an evidence of how the company is been management and of its willing to grow year after year. Nevertheless, the first quarter of 2007 the working capital only has increased by $7 thousand dollars, which is the difference between the current assets and current liabilities but the importance of this is that according to the rotation on receivables and payable accounts, shown in Table 5 and 10, leads us to the conclusion that the company will have to pay its suppliers twice before it enters a single dime from its buyers. This clearly is the only reason and explanation to the question arose at the beginning of this analysis: â€Å"Why this profitable company needs a bank loan? † and the answer is found in tables 5 and 10, which is traduced into â€Å"an inadequate financing policy regarding receivables and payables accounts†. Finally, as a conclusion we can say that the company will still be needing more and more external resources to finance its buyers purchases due a inadequate financing policy that provoke unbalance in the requirements of working capital.

Destruction of the Old Order in King Lear Act I

In the first act of King Lear Shakespeare turns the order of world of the play upside down. By the end of the first act virtually every character's station in life has been changed significantly. Lear has given away his power, he has destroyed his family by disowning one daughter and angered another, and he has banished his most trusted advisor. When the play begins, Lear is King of England. He has long ruled and apparently has done so competently. He holds all power in England. Although Lear has advisers, notably Kent and Gloucester, it is clear that Lear is in charge and he keeps his own counsel and makes his own decisions. The play opens with his two advisers, the Earls of Kent and Gloucester being surprised that Lear no longer appears to prefer Goneril's husband the Duke of Albany over Regan's husband Duke of Cornwall. â€Å"I thought the King had more affected the Duke of Albany than Cornwall† (I.i.1-2). Due to his failure to keep his advisers involved in the decision making process, he at times makes rash decisions such as the disowning of Cordelia (I.i.113-116), the dividing of his kingdom between Goneril and Regan (I.i.127-138), and the banishing of his best and most loyal advisor Kent (I.i.173-178). By the end of Act I Lear seems impotent. He is no longer the powerful King of England. He is no longer recognized as King. Goneril has instructed her servant Oswald to â€Å"[p]ut on what weary negligence you please† (I.iii.12) toward Lear. When the once powerful Lear asks Oswald â€Å"Who am I, sir?† (I.iv.78) the servant insolently replies â€Å"My lady's father† (I.iv.79) enraging Lear that a servant should treat him not as king, but as the father of the servant's lady. His power, status, and social standing have collapsed. As a father Lear doesn't fare much better than he did as king. At the play's beginning he is an all-powerful patriarch and expects everyone to completely agree with and cater to his every whim. In many ways he is like a spoiled child. He seeks and demands constant, undivided attention. Lear solicits affection from his daughters â€Å"[w]hich of you shall we say doth love us most,† (I.i.51). When the attention is positive and according to his wishes he exhibits an almost childlike happiness. Although it is evident Goneril and Regan are engaging in hyperbole, Lear is pleased and rewards his two elder daughters with one third of England each. When he asks his favorite daughter Cordelia how much she loves him he is disappointed with her answer and throws a tantrum, â€Å"[h]ere I disclaim all my paternal care† (I.i.113). By the end of the first act Lear's demands have not changed. When Goneril argues with him and complains about the behavior of his knights, Lear has another fit of anger and runs away from Goneril to Regan as if he were a schoolboy running away from home. He no longer is the proud father of three daughters, but has banished Cordelia, angered and run away from Goneril, and pins his hopes on his middle daughter Regan. When Act I ends Lear is no longer the center of social attention. When he first appears on stage the stage directions indicate that a flourish is sounded and Lear enters with his three daughters, his two sons-in-law and an unspecified number of attendants. In the final scene his presence is not announced with a flourish. His daughters and sons-in-law are not present. Lear's only attendants are the banished Kent (disguised as Caius) and Lear's jester known only as â€Å"Fool.† Lear is not alone in his foolish behavior toward his children. Gloucester behaves similarly to Lear. He is used to his power and makes rash, unwise decisions. When the play opens Gloucester appears to be somewhat ashamed of his second son, Edmund who is a bastard for he keeps him away from court, â€Å"he hath been out nine years, and away he shall again† (I.i.32-33). Gloucester's older son Edgar is clearly his favorite. Yet he is quick to believe Edmund when Edmund plots against Gloucester. Edgar clearly mirrors Goneril, as Gloucester is quick to believe the false accusations made by Edmund and force Edgar into hiding. Edgar also mirrors Kent in that he returns in Act II dressed as Poor Tom of Bedlam. As Tom Edgar accompanies his father and helps him just as Kent helps Lear. Cordelia's status changes greatly in the first act. Initially she was Lear's favorite daughter. She went from a highly sought after bride-to-be with a large dowry to a woman with no dowry who is refused by the Duke Burgundy and accepted, without dowry by the King of France. When she refuses to kowtow to Lear with false praise her status is destroyed. Although she clear loves her father she is banished and forced to leave England. By the end of Act I Lear is no longer the proud, powerful King of England. By his own hand he has destroyed his kingdom and his family. Shakespeare has stripped Lear of his armor and has exposed Lear with all of his vulnerabilities and foibles. By removing the old order in the first act, Shakespeare provides a vehicle for the readers and members of the audience to explore the real nature of the characters behind the facades each character displays in public life when the play begins. Each of the characters will reveal his or her true nature throughout the remainder of the play. These revelations provide the tension and the interest of King Lear. Works Cited The Tragedy of King Lear. The Riverside Shakespeare. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co. 1974. 1255-1295.   

Marxist Critique of Desiree’s Baby Essay

The Antebellum south, or merely the word plantation, conjures images of white, columned manses shaded by ancient oaks bowed beneath the weight of Spanish moss and centuries. Somehow these monuments of Greek revivalist architecture sparkle in their ivory-coated siding, even while the trunks of their aged arboreal neighbors hide under layer upon soggy layer of dense, green lichen. The white house is a reflection of the inhabitants, its cleanliness in the damp, soiled environment standing as a stark reminder of the hegemony governing the lives of those living not in the house, but hidden nearby. L’Abri, the plantation home of the Aubigny family in Chopin’s Desirà ©e’s Baby, is yellow and has a foreboding black roof made more sinister by the gloomy shadows cast by its requisite antiquated greenery. L’Abri is not unlike any other antebellum mansion of the pre-Civil War era; it represents its inhabitants. The mansion is excellently presented as an example of how little authority color truly wields without an underlying power structure to give it substance. While race figures prominently in Desirà ©e’s Baby, the story is an exemplary specimen for the application of Marxist criticism. Marxist criticism is the recognition of â€Å"inequalities in power between characters† (Gardner 146). It purposes to â€Å"expose the inequalities that underlie all societies† (Gardner 146). These inequalities can have multiple sources, though often the main source is race. But is race a biological reality? Miles posits that races are imagined, in that they â€Å"have no real biological foundation† (26). Miles further observes that differentiations between groups are â€Å"simultaneously inclusive and exclusive† (27) as the characteristics describing one group stand in contrast to another group. The destructive nature of racial categorization is in the claims that biolo gical types determine â€Å"the endowment and behavior of individuals† (Miles 28) depending on their race, and that conflict between them is the â€Å"consequence of their biological constitution† (Miles 28). Furthermore, race can be used to argue that there exists a natural hierarchy that determines positions of inferiority, and by extension, superiority (Miles 28). These assertions give credence to the ownership of slaves and the race-based denial of rights, and are foundational to the idea that the mixing of races is unnatural and even destructive. But race mixing is not mixing if race does not exist as a biological category. While science can find ways to assign race, those categories are blurred as races blend and eventually they will disappear. As a danger to the idea of race, blending is anathema to the superior category. Plantation life was a microcosmic picture of the idea of a need for segregation, wherein each category was given â€Å"its own territory within which its distinctive capacity for ‘civilization’ can be realized† (Miles 30). But Chopin gives an excellent (and perhaps accurate) portrayal of the lack of any real biological basis for what constituted race in Antebellum Louisiana. Chopin describes Armand as dark (402), and Desirà ©e points out to Armand that she is fair-skinned and whiter than he is (403). The baby is â€Å"their child† (Chopin 403) when Armand reveals the ‘truth’ to Desirà ©e, but is Desirà ©e’s child alone only four paragraphs later as she decides to leave (Chopin 404), notwithstanding the actual biological basis upon which the child’s parentage is based. Desirà ©e walks away with the â€Å"golden gleam† (Chopin 404) of the sunlight in her brown hair, taking nothing with her, as befitting her new-found but false identity. She does not take the beaten path, but instead walks through the newly-harvested October fields (Chopin 404), again behaving in a way that befits the new category with which she now identifies. Desirà ©e’s biology belies the reality that she now accepts as â€Å"the stubble bruised her tender feet† (Chopin 404), and she does not know to walk where the branches will not shred her delicate clothing. If Desirà ©e were actually black in the Antebellum south, she would know these things from early childhood. Desirà ©e disappears â€Å"among the reeds and willows that grew thick along the bank of the deep sluggish bayou; and she did not come back again† (404). Desirà ©e’s disappearance is not only her physical departure from L’Abri; it is the disappearance of the white woman that was Desirà ©e. And none of these circumstances is decided by biology, but by what Marxists refer to as a â€Å"struggle for power between different social classes† (Gardner 145). Chopin is delivering a message that power transcends race. What sets Desirà ©e apart in terms of her subjugation by Armand? It is not race, but the lack thereof. Desirà ©e is unable to hide anything about herself because her origins are unknown (Chopin 401). She is a willing captive to Armand as a result of her love and her marriage, but she is not an unwilling captive to race; she is an unwilling captive to her otherness. She does not have doubts about her race, but must live with the reality that â€Å"Armand has told me I am not white† (Chopin 404). Because her origins are unknown and she does not have a name, she must acquiesce to the whims of Armand, who had at first decided to be unconcerned about â€Å"the girl’s obscure origins† (Chopin 401). Armand is the power here. He makes all of the decisions regarding the lives of those within his circle of power, and he does so because he is allowed to do so. Madam Valmondà © has even decided to be unconcerned about Armand’s questionable origins. It is interesting that Desirà ©e’s mother perceives evidence of the baby’s blackness (Chopin 402), but does not explore the possibility that Armand’s blood is the cause. Madam Valmondà © is part of the power structure and victimizes her own daughter, whom she claims to love deeply and sees as a gift from â€Å"a beneficent Providence to be the child of her affection, seeing as she was without child of the flesh† (Chopin 401). Had Desirà ©e been a child of the flesh of Madam Valmondà ©, she would have been accepted, and Madam Valmondà © could have exercised her superiority over Armand and the unanswered questions of his origins. It is remarkable that no one questions Armand’s pedigree even though his mother lived and died in France (Chopin 401). Armand’s mother is perhaps one of the more interesting subjects of Marxist study in the story. One cannot help but wonder why Chopin portrays Monsieur Aubigny as â€Å"easy-going and indulgentâ⠂¬  (Chopin 403). He is a slave owner who married a woman of a different race overseas and asserted his white superiority over her, which is evident in her letter at the end of the story (Chopin 405). She credits God with having given her the ability to hide the reality of her inferiority from her son (Chopin 405). She is lost in the shame of her otherness. She has been so fully convinced by her perceived superiors of her inferiority that she sees the ability to hide her true nature as a gift from her creator. To Monsieur Aubigny’s hidden wife, this is as much a gift as Madam Valmondà ©Ã¢â‚¬â„¢s child of affection. One must question why Aubigny moved to France to marry this woman. And what was the arrangement that allowed her to stay hidden? Did she commit suicide? Is the letter that Armand is reading a final word from her before taking her own life? Note that this was only â€Å"part of an old letter† (Chopin 405), which leaves the true nature of her death unknown. This is power beyond ownership of chattels or social superiority; this power is God-like. Aubigny has happy slaves and is an indulgent tyrant, but to what dark magic has he subjected his French wife? Even if she is dying from something natural at the writing of the letter, it is remarkable that she perceives such powerlessness in herself. Armand is not as devoted as his mother to God. He finds that God has â€Å"dealt cruelly and unjustly with him† (Chopin 404) when he discovers that all is not as it seemed. Armand has a beautiful wife who â€Å"loved him desperately† (Chopin 402) and â€Å"asked no greater blessing of God† (Chopin 402) when he smiled. He has inherited a plantation and slaves to work it. He is rich and possesses the legacy of a good name. Yet in unmitigated spite of all that he has been given, Armand finds God unjust. His world has been suddenly and completely turned on its head because he has reason to believe that his child has inherited inferiority, never guessing that he himself is the source in more ways than one. Armand is a name similar to Adam, and Chopin seems to model him in part after the biblical first man. With the expulsion of Desirà ©e, L’Abri is reminiscent of the biblical garden east of Eden, with the exception that Armand remains. The Mosaic account of the creation of man includes a guideline for marriage, with the command that â€Å"they shall become one flesh† (NASB, Genesis 2.24). A married couple in this sense should be regarded in the same manner as a child and parent – inseparable by nature, regardless of wounds or emotions. This is a picture that does not give place to the other as each partner is regarded equally. It should be noted here that the name Desirà ©e is a French articulation of desire, and it was Adam’s desire that inspired God to give him a mate (NASB, Genesis 2.20). But Adam failed to regard his wife as equal to himself, standing by as she was tempted and choosing not to intervene (NASB, Genesis 3.6). In witnessing her deception and choosing not to intervene, Adam has made Eve the other. He has separated himself from her. Armand allegorically models the actions of Adam, but he gives himself the God-like power to expel his Eve from the garden, while choosing to ignore his own nature. Adam was Armand’s example in choosing to act in spite of all that he had been given, and in Adam’s attempt to fool God into believing that he had been blameless (NASB, Genesis 3.11), he set up a struggle for power. Armand falls easily into this struggle. It is not a stretch to believe that he has doubts about his own race. Exiling Desirà ©e is a tactic that Armand uses to maintain his hegemony. He does not have a foundation of support apart from the societal acceptance of slavery and white superiority. Desirà ©e and Madam Valmondà © are victimized by the very system that they tacitly support. They support it both by their participation as landowners and probable slave-holders and by their acceptance of it even when it forces them to accept inferiority. The superstructure of power in their society is so strong that it can be enforced with nothing more than words, even when those words have no basis in biological fact. It is not the taint of the wrong skin color that makes Desirà ©e a tragic figure; it is her support of a tainted system from which she benefitted until it turned on her. Skin color is a biological reality, but it has been manipulated in support of hegemony. The Antebellum south stood as a physical representation of the realities of race. Large, sparkling, white houses stood proudly fronting the large plantation estates of the white owners therein, while the dark-skinned slaves abode in small, mean cottages hidden in the rear. Kate Chopin depicts a plantation mansion in her short story Desirà ©e’s Baby with a paint color that is darker than the standard, modeling the color of the inhabitants. Nonetheless, the Aubigny family is powerful, benefitting from a superstructure that assigns power by the perception, rather than the reality, of skin color. While race is an important feature of the story, Chopin has written a work that is perfect for a Marxist critique. Works Cited Chopin, Kate. â€Å"Desirà ©e’s Baby.† Anthology of the American Short Story. Ed. James Nagel. Boston, New York: Houghton Mifflin, 2008. 121-135. Print. ISBN: 978-0-618-73220-3 Gardner, James. Writing about Literature: A Portable Guide. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2009. Print. ISBN: 978-0-312-60757-9 Miles, Robert. â€Å"Recent Marxist Theories of Nationalism and the Issue of Racism.† The British Journal of Sociology 38.1 (1987): 24-43. Web. 9 Jun. 2012. New American Standard Bible. Trans. The Lockman Foundation. New York: Oxford UP, 1971. Print.

A Perfect Couple - What remains for Amy

The play A Perfect Couple by Brooke Berman focuses on themes of friendship, love, and betrayal among friends Amy, Isaac, and Emma. The title itself is an ironic representation of the plot where the relationship comes crashing down because of a secret that should or should not have been divulged. Amy, (Dana Eskelson) and Isaac (James Waterston) are engaged to be married after a long and rather rocky relationship as the couple dated precariously that lasted for fifteen years until decided to tie the knot. They decided to have an informal gathering at Isaac’s inherited house, just to talk about redefining their lives and enjoying their friendship. Amy, the bossy and assertive fiancà © discovers a diary in the house, which used to belong to Isaac’s eccentric grandmother, a diary that changes their whole relationship with each other. When Amy discovered this she immediately berates Isaac for not having to tell her, though Isaac does not know of the diary’s existence. Amy is then torn by two nagging issues – that his fiancà © once loved Emma (Annie McNanamara), her long time college friend, and that Emma had visited Isaac in his upstate home. Naturally, after dating on and off for a long time, Amy felt furious as she shouted trying to vent out her frustration. She kept waving the diary in Isaac’s oblivious face, trying to search for an answer that was never going to come. During the early parts of the play, Amy and Emma were talking about their college days, and how Amy met Isaac, how their careers blossomed leading to their desired lifestyles and eventually marriage.   During their conversation, as an audience, one could surmise that the three friends had a strong relationship. Emma was a witness between Amy and Isaac’s relation and she chose to say nothing that would otherwise destroy the couple. Indeed, the friends trusted each other and their relationship seemed unbreakable. Amy advises the single Emma to settle down and have a family rather than enjoying one-time relationships with random men. During the course of the play, Amy’s own thoughts and advice turns her paranoid and convinces herself that Emma chooses to remain single because Isaac. Their conversation is on a mature scale even though it defies sense logic but their continued arguments force them to show their different personalities and principles in life. The common ground between their conversation and arguments is the friend’s belief in love. During the play’s finer points, Amy is devastated of Isaac and Emma’s secret relationship. She leave the house without any pretence and runs to their next-door neighbour’s house. Josh (Elan Moss-Bachrach) neighbor and recent college grad student, was there to comfort the suffering Amy. Leaning on Josh’s shoulder she poured her heart out, she was at a loss on what to do. The one-act play was straightforward and direct to the point. Amy’s act is worth mentioning since Eskelson perfectly suits the role, finding easily to produce a comic and quirky character while maintaining her sensible and somewhat secretive character. Her voice was crisp, audible and understandable that could have been otherwise hard to determine her role in the plot. Her performance espoused what her role is, her plight despite the smiles and laughs she had among her closest friends. During a point in the play where Emma was having a conversation with Amy about their happy college experiences, her voice was high- spirited and cheery as though she was relieving her college days right then and there. Her character is also flexible as presented during their argument with regard the diary. Her character, after an uncertain emotional status, becomes angry and frail, fed up of trying to mending and maintaining relationships after many years. In addition, her episode at Josh’s house, she became cool, as though she had already decided what to do. Already bordered by uncertainty, Amy’s fun and quirky character transforms into a distressed and enraged fiancà © into a hopeless yet purposeful woman in the end. There is already a hint of emotional imbalance that can be derived from her rocky dating life with Isaac. But when Isaac had proposed to her, she was finally convinced that it was already the real thing and gave her enough reason to believe that Isaac wanted the marriage to. She had affirmed herself of their relationship and thus have settled for happiness that she thought would not be destroyed. But the diary changed everything and her emotional stability, already hanging by a thread, comes crashing down. In the end, she breaks down emotionally, and settles for the consolation of their next door neighbour. Amy intensely showed most of five stages of psychological grief shock, anger, negotiation, depression, and acceptance. Ms. Eskelson’s acting was precise and she was clearly in character as she portrayed her character’s suffering from emotional grief.   At first, she experienced natural shock from the diary’s contents. But this did not cause her denial, instead she sought the truth from Isaac. When he did not give an answer, she was forced to take the diary seriously even though it mean that Isaac’s stepmother was either lying or twisting the truth. She relied too much on the diary, but this is justified because of her paranoia, coming from her assurances that her relationship with Isaac was going to be perfect because of their engagement. When Amy knew, she needed someone to support her since her two friends lied to their face. She had no choice but to express her feelings to Josh. Naturally, this level of betrayal unhinges her and goes into depression, hurt by the two people she trusted most. Finally she accepts her situation. In the end, she decides to break up with Isaac and leave his house. When Emma asked how theirI thoroughly enjoyed the whole performance for the issues that revolved around the story can certainly be found in normal relationships: the love triangle among the three friends, issues on betraying friendships, heartbreaks and a nagging uncertainty of the future in the end. Also, the diary also played an essential role for the whole plot. From the unproven entries of Isaac’s grandmother, claiming that Isaac really loved Emma, is a modern day interpretation of Pandora’s box. It is a secret that hovers on exposing truth or concealing it, as one consequence would be the destruction of their unique friendship, and, for Amy and Isaac, their marriage that took 15 years in the making. On the other hand, the diary’s concealment would forever torture the three friends as Amy lives in a blind happiness, unknown to the secret relationship Emma and Isaac had. It was indeed a test on their friendship. The performance moved me and inspired me to think about what has the greater importance, whether friendship or love. The play also empathizes with audiences on how to confront or overcome unexpected problems in a middle of a relationship and friendship.   I sympathized with Amy’s situation. Her dilemma was beyond that of Isaac and Emma. If Isaac had told Amy about their brief experience at his house, she would have not been upset that much. She would have been better off knowing the truth rather than living knowing nothing. But they hid the truth whether or not it was intentional, but as a good friend it would have better for Amy. The truth is people get hurt by telling the truth but the greatest hurt comes from friends who decide it is better to lie rather than betraying them with the truth.