The Top Job

A vast empire. An empire of widespread globalization with profitable dominance. A transfixed figure stands on the 56th floor of his own tower, gazing at the stretched New York City skyline, a feeling of self satisfaction and accomplishment runs through his body like the shiver down fear's victim's spine. He smirks, and then swallows some of his manly pride, while turning to the attention of other white collared men. However unlike his contemporaries, who are content for a ‘major minor' role, he knows there are none in this room, none down the hall and none in this building could ever challenge his job, what job? The ‘top job.' Two floors down, amongst the hustle and bustle of productive workplace, a young man stares almost blankly but in awe at his computer screen whilst in the secrecy of his office. ‘PARKER: HE CAME, HE SAW, HE OWNS ALL' reads the truthful headline, and with swift disgust he turns away. Head in his hands, tired, he sighs violently, then looks out his office window for some consultation or consolation. Coming towards his office a tall, olive skinned figure of beauty and purity may be the provider of both. ‘Tough night for you?' she inquires sarcastically as she enters the room with poise. ‘Give me a break Tara, how can I sleep with this tyrant steals my limelight?' he says with disgust but caution. ‘Come on Brad, take a look at yourself, and look around this office, this floor. You're better than this. You deserve more than this. Not even a spot on the board of directors? Instead they give you this and look at yourself†¦.I'd like to see Sonny Parker lying in the gutter with†¦.' ‘Enough Tara!' Brad exclaimed with anger but disappointment. ‘Sonny has been a good friend to me, how can you say these things. Sure he got promoted and since then he's taken everything I've ever wanted to achieve†¦. (Sigh)†¦ He deserves it Tara' he mellowed, while slumping back into his chair. Upon hearing this Tara began to proceed to the door, but after a second of though, she violently grabbed Brad by his puffed cheeks. ‘Listen to me you poor excuse for a man!' she screamed with vection. ‘You deserve more than this, you are so much better than this. Think what we could achieve together if we destroyed Parker and took is place, we could†¦' ‘Destroy him†¦Take his place?†¦.' he pondered this in confusion but also with deep curiosity. He was an ambitious man, but was this time to act? ‘Yes Brad, we can achieve this together. You can be the man with the top job, the quarterback, the coach, all in one†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.And maybe we can be together?' she slowly suggested while she moved her hands ever so gently, Brad tingled. He then stared into her radiant eyes and confidently mumbled, ‘Ok Tara, let's put this bastard to the sword, take his job, his money and his undeserving credit. Then let's share our fortunes together and†¦' Before he could outline the tale of his plans, Tara embraced him passionately and sexually, then she slowly but gracefully left the office with a feeling of satisfaction and achievement. Brad resumed his slumped position but grinned under the cover of his still innocent hands. The bell dinged while the dark screen became illuminated with the number '56'. Four people walked out after the doors reluctantly slid open. The first three walked away in ignorance just aware that they were in the presence of other white collared individuals like themselves, working for the good of the company. Tara though walked with great confidence and in a manner of personal pursuit. She wasn't like the others, contempt for a spot on the payroll, she wanted a role of power. To her there was no good or evil, there was only power and the weak. As she strode with convection towards the end of the floor to a waiting secretary, she was the attention of many males, but she marvelled in this, as men were now only ‘playthings' to her. ‘I have an appointment with Mr. Parker' she instructed to the simple secretary. ‘Oh yes, Ms. Banks, Mr. Parker will see you now, please proceed inside to his office.' Tara half ignoring her, swooped into the office like the vulture stalking its prey. Sonny, sitting, like the king on his throne welcomed her. ‘Mr. Parkes, an honour to see you again.' ‘Please Ms Banks, the pleasure is all mine. Why a woman of stature and beauty, the honour is all mine. Tell me my darling, what brings you here?' She then in a movement of precision came towards him and sat in his ‘excited' lap. ‘Sonny, I've lured our friend Brad James into thinking he can take you down. He thinks he can destroy you and take control of the company. Act now honey; confront him before he grows stronger in confidence and self assurance. With him gone we can run this company together, the power, the money, the lot.' Beneath the cover of countless irrelevant folders in a drawer Sonny reached for a dark, rigid, hard item. ‘It will be done Tara, we have no more threats to fear.' ‘Click Click' The pistol locked into its fateful position. Brad examined it saw it as the tool to success. His fate and destiny was locked away inside the trigger, now he was the puppet master and pulling this string would bring about the final curtain on his destiny. A thump on the door, one like the landlord seeking his late payments, awakened Brad from his transfixed state. The entrance was unexpected and unprecedented as Sonny entered with determination. Brad was unsure of the visit and questions began to arise. ‘Nice to see you Mr. Parker once again' Brad opened with limited enthusiasm. ‘The pleasure is mine Brad' Sonny responded with even less convection. Both became mute as they gazed into open air. The tension rose like the morning sun. Two adversaries driven by the temptation of beauty stared each off like two lone rangers at high noon. Brad moved his hand away from the radar of Sonny and reached for the reassurance of his pistol. ‘I'm sure gonna miss working with you Sonny' Brad whimpered falsely. With these lying words Sonny found refuge in the corner of his pocket with the cold grip of steel. ‘You have no idea Brad, no idea how much this is going to hurt me' ‘Ms Banks, the media is waiting for you mam' ‘Thanks Miss O'Neal' Tara smiled then took one more glance at the headline. TWO XON INSURNACE BOSSES DIE IN SHOOT OUT, TARA BANKS TAKES CONTROL OF COMPANY. She had prevailed, and with this feeling of relief and heartless satisfaction she turned to face her new audience, the press.

Crossing Essay

Since the beginning of human life, fathers from around the world have played a vital role in their sons’ lives, whom they have had to learn to fish, hunt and survive in general. It has been crucial for fathers to hand over their knowledge to their sons. Concurrently with the development of human life and its foundation, it has been possible to form a social stratum given that it has been facilitated for some people to make more money than other people have. Furthermore, this evolution was an influence on the family relationship, were the man became the new capital in society, and thus became more important than the woman. As the men were working, the women became responsible for the children and therefore had an enormous impact on the behaviour and upbringing of the children. Mark Slouka’s short story, ‘Crossing’, from 2009 shows a number of these important themes, such as the father/son-relationship and man vs. nature. The protagonist in the short story is the father, an unnamed man somewhere between 30-50 years old. The father finds himself in a small depression: †He hadn’t been happy in a while.† 1. Recently, the father was divorced from the mother of his son, which is shown in his thoughts about whether he had missed his wife or not. â€Å"†¦he hadn’t wanted her back, hadn’t wanted much of anything really† 2. Even though the main character has a guilty conscience, and it seems that he is the one to blame for the divorce – he feels a desire to make things work again – both his relationship to his ex-wife and most important of all, the relationship to his son. â€Å"When he looked at her she shook her head and looked away and at that moment he thought, maybe — maybe he could make this right.† 3. The father comes across as an honest, caring and loving father to his son, and quickly we consolidate sympathy with him as a reader. â€Å"†¦when the boy came running into the living room he threw him over his shoulder, careful not to hit his head on the corner of the TV†¦Ã¢â‚¬  4. The protagonist takes his son on a trip to make up for the divorce and to improve their relationship. The father wants to share some of his childhood memories he had as a young boy with his dad. The main character used to go on this exact trip; therefore, he repeats the same rituals and traditions to give his son the same experience. †This is it, kid, the old man would say whenever they turned off the main road, you excited? Every year †¦Ã¢â‚¬ Almost there,† he said to the little boy next to him. â€Å"You excited?†Ã¢â‚¬  5. As the main character sees  the river for the first time in many years, he is considering calling of the trip – the river is much greater than he had expected from it. Yet, he believes that there is no way out – he cannot turn around. There is nowhere else to go, which could symbolize him being in the middle of something – with no turning back. †For a moment he considered pulling out, explaining †¦ but there was nowhere else to go.† 6. During the short story, the father gives his thoughts and some comments on the things happening, which builds up a thrill in the story. The protagonist points out repeatedly that what they are about to do is dangerous. He knows that he is putting himself and his son into danger, but he wants to convince himself and his son about the fact that he is a good father. â€Å"People in a hurry get in trouble.† 7. â€Å"†So what do you do if you fall? He remembered asking once †¦ – and the old man calling back of his shoulder, â€Å"Do not fuckin ‘fall.† 8. The solicitude of the father reappears as he tries to calm down the boy as he stumbles in the river on their way back. The father knows that they are in a bad situation but he remains calm for the boy’s sake. In fact, the father himself is very scared and afraid of what is going to happened – at this point he has lost hope. Even though, he wants to appear brave and to show himself from his best side, when all he wants is to be a good father. â€Å"He could hear himself, breathing hard. †I’m okay, kiddo. I’m okay. That was not good, but we’re fine. â€Å"They were fine. 9. Since we do not have access to the boy’s thoughts and feelings, Mark Slouka draws a picture of him with descriptions through the father’s mind of the boy. We get the picture of a little fragile boy, who needs to be taken care of by his father. This makes us sympathize with the boy and especially the father, who needs to take care of him throughout their trip in the wilderness. †He tried not to look at the boy sitting where he’d left him on the opposite shore because there was something about the smallness of him in his blue shorts against the bank of stones he didn’t like†¦Ã¢â‚¬  10. There is a third person narrator in the short story, which is attached to the father since we get to know his inner feeling and memories. â€Å"You never see it, he thought.† 11. Slouka places the point of view with the father in order to show us how he experiences the situation of having been divorced, and how he now tries to regain order and meaning in his difficult life. The short story is arranged in chronological sequences, but with flashbacks. The time jumps from the present to the past. The present is in the wilderness at the river, and the past is when the father picks up the boy at his moms, and when he thinks back on his own childhood. The amount of energy used to build up the tension in the story is great. From start to finish, the reader is given a feeling of discomfort, and that something bad will happen. The author achieves this suspense by using the environment and the mood of the story. From the beginning the mood ominous and menacing. Rain, fog and emptiness dominate the description of the environment they find themselves in. In this way, the thrill is build up just as slowly, and as a reader, you are waiting for something terrible to hap pen. †It was raining†¦ [†¦] A black road†¦ [†¦] The line of the open sky in the east was razor sharp†¦ [†¦] The empty road†¦Ã¢â‚¬  12. The river is the main environment in which the story takes place, in and around. The river is larger and more violent than the main character remembers it: â€Å"The river was bigger than he remembered it, stronger.† 13. The river itself show some ominous signs as well which helps building excitement in the story. You always have the feeling that something bad is going to happen. When standing in front of the river, they sees something in the river that looks dead, something that has been shot. As a reader you are left with the question whether they survive the river or not. Furthermore, the ending points in the direction of death. †He wanted to scream for help. There was no one – just the rushing plain of the river, the trees†¦Everything had come together. He couldn’t move. He was barely holding on. There was no way.† 14. In addition, the title â€Å"Crossing† points in the direction of death. When you use the phrase â€Å"crossing over† it is usually associated with death. You will go to the other side. It is a bridge between life and death. The river becomes the tunnel – the question is if they reach the light or survives from it. The ending might seem unfair, tragic and unreasonable. However, the open ending gives the reader a choice of life and death – The author puts the characters destiny into our hands. Even though the story ends up in a bad way to the father and son, the trip has been a journey that has brought the two characters even closer. In fact, the father gets the perfect opportunity to perform the action of being a good parent. The most important thing in the father’s life ended up being the last. The short story shows how little and insignificant man is in relation to Mother Nature.

Environmental studies Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Environmental studies - Essay Example A region’s environment and climatic conditions will usually determine its adaptations do handling of the environmental problems that arise. Ideally, at their core, the environmental problems faced and the available solutions are culturally and organizationally rooted in the society (Howard-Grenville, 2007). In this topical discussion, Michael Maniates points out that it is the environmental imaginations of people that are too narrow or egocentric in offering solutions that can deal responsibly with environmental problems. Furthermore, James Speth notes that the lack of a new consciousness in the society has also led to the deep embeddedness of the environmental problems in the worldview. However, Lynn White Jr. clearly spells this out when he recognizes that there is a cultural aspect in the creation and provision of viable environmental solutions, and that non-reliance on technological, scientific and economic solutions should not be at the expense of the culture. In all thes e aspects, I would like to take a stance and agree with these ideologies and state that solutions to environmental problems cannot be sought through the same worldviews that caused them. The world’s biggest problem environmentally is to overlook the social dimensions regarding environmental problems and concentrate on the economic and technological aspects. In essence, the provision of the solutions should be based on totally different cultural perspectives. First, there is an urgent need for control of the population growth in most countries. Nearly everyone relies on the environmental resources for survival and in cases of overpopulation the available resources become strained thus, adverse effects on the environment. Coupled with unsustainable development, the results on the environment are usually adverse and if not corrected, may lead to environmental degradation (Johnston, 2012). Second, it is true that the economical and technological activities too have a direct impac t on the degradation of environmental conditions. However, the core causes are personal beliefs, cultural norms and societal institutions. In line with the personal beliefs, an environmentalist or environmental program manager will have to ensure that the way people act and think towards the environment is changed for them to be able to appreciate its benefits. For instance, if a person constantly thinks about cutting of trees and dumping of garbage without considerate thoughts, bringing that person into accepting the benefits of maintaining environment will begin by culturally transforming his thoughts and acts. Finally, the solutions to the environmental problems need to be based on the addressing of the lack of attention that has been propagated towards the achievement of improved environmental sustainability. This can be possible when a consideration for the full scope that cultural shift presents in the real world today is critically analyzed and idealized. Consequently, the va rious forms of individual and organizational barriers towards environmental preservation need to be enhanced as only through these can the causative effects become easily mitigated upon. Better still, there needs to be an informed understanding of the available strategies that can be applied towards the overcoming of organizational barriers that hinder environmental preservation and restoration activities. Some of these strategies can be applied based on the societal understanding of

Historical accuracies and inaccuracies of the William Wallace From the Essay

Historical accuracies and inaccuracies of the William Wallace From the movie Braveheart - Essay Example The movie portrays the life of William Wallace. The film premiered in July 1995 and became a spontaneous Box office success. As a film, the developers of the film employed specific film production techniques in order to earn it the reception it acquired soon after its release (Brown, 2007). The film portrayed the Scottish warrior in different perspectives often omitting some fundamental features of his life in an attempt of earning the film an appropriate adaptation. As a brave Scottish warrior, William Wallace led the scots against their first war of independence against the oppressive King Edward the first. The producers set the film in an early Scottish society, it is 1920 and King Edward the first invades Scotland soon after the death of Alexandra the third of Scotland. In the invasion, Wallace witnesses the Longshanks commit atrocities in the inversion. He survives the murder to his mother father and brothers and therefore travels to Rome with the help of his uncle Argyle. After several years, Wallace returns to Scotland as a young man and immediately falls in love with his childhood friend, Murron MacClannough. However, the society is different following the application of King Edward’s selfish legislations (McArthur, 2003). Among the most controversial of the legislations is that granting the English Lord the authority to have sexual relations with all the women in the kingdom on the eve of their wedding night. In oorder to avoid the king sleeping with his fiancee, Wallace and Murron marry in secrecy. Later, Wallace rescues Murron from eminent rape by English soldiers. The soldiers arrest and execute Murron in public. In a revenge attack, Wallace attacks and kills English soldiers. The following is a series of conflicts between Wallace and the English authorities as Edward orders his son Edward the second to use every means possible to stop Wallace. Even in death, Wallace maintains a bold personality and refuses to beg for mercy from the English a uthorities. While facing a public execution, the magistrate pleads with Wallace to beg for mercy from the government and therefore have a quick and painless life. Instead of begging for his life, Wallace shouts freedom to the jubilation of the Scottish people who view him as a hero. As the film ends, a setting in the 1934 Scotland, Robert who is now the king of Scotland leads his army into a fight against the English in the memory of Wallace. The war finds the English unprepared and the scots earn their first freedom from the English rule. The developers of the film employ various film production features including both the setting and the plot in order to earn the story relevance from its contemporary audience. In doing this, the developers either omitted or added specific details to both the characters and the actions. In doing so, the producers foster some accuracies and inaccuracies about Wallace’s life and the society in which he lived. Key among the lacking details in t he film is his background. The producers of the film provide a brief recap of his childhood. The film begins with the English inversion of Scotland with the young Wallace witnessing the murder of his parents and the atrocities the English lord commits. Such are scanty details that do not help build an effective understanding of the legendary Sir William Wallace. However, the scanty details are in line with the information known about his family, Wallace came from a less noble family. Historians do not provide a detailed information about his family. Blind Harry in his poem posits that Wallace’s father was known as Sir Malcom of Elderslie. The discovery of a letter written by Wallace himself and contained his seal provides Wallace’

Principal Structural and Demographic Changes That Characterized the Essay

Principal Structural and Demographic Changes That Characterized the Period From 1865 to 1892 - Essay Example Changes occur where the democrats broke down the policies that the Republicans have imposed. The Democrats rewrites the constitution and the social programs. They also lower taxes and cut the state budgets. They impose various laws meant to curb the tenants and sharecroppers rights with the aim of ensuring a black labor force. One of these laws forces the debtors to work in the land until they settle their debts. The following is a discussion of the movements that manifest these changes that occur during this period. During this period, the United States experiences reconstruction, industrialization, and immigration. The state experiences rapid economic growth and emerges as the world’s dominant, agricultural, economic, and industrial power center. The annual income of workers after inflation grows by 75% between 1865 and 1900. It later recorded a growth of 33% by the year 1918. After the victory in the Civil War, the state emerges as a powerful and united nation characterized by a strong government. Reconstruction ends slavery and the slaves acquire citizenship in the United States. The European immigration brings 2.5 million new arrivals between 1865 and 1918. The arrivals provide the required labor force to expand agriculture and industry. They also provide the population base for the urban America that is fast growing. The country took part in two fundamental wars. The US entered a war with the German military. The industrial growth fuels efforts to bring the country back into alignment with an American definition of freedom. Availability of abundant resources, cheap energy, new technology, fast transport, and availability of labor and capital made an outstanding contribution towards the success. Livestock mines and forests provide raw materials for most of the industries in the country. Local-level political machines A political machine is an organization that has control over sufficient votes to maintain administrative and political control of the society. In the United States, the rapid growth of towns and cities creates problems for the government responsible for the cities. These city governments are unable to provide services due to poor organization. Politicians offer favors by offering patronage housing and jobs and thus win support. Despite that, the machines help to restructure the city governments; they result in poor service, aggravation of ethnic and racial hostilities, and corruption. The Irish and Democratic party dominates in politics until elections and civil service brings about its demise. The Irish is among the first immigrant group in the American cities that are large and capable of challenging leadership. The Democratic Party makes a substantial contribution court, the urban immigrants, hence acquiring the power for local bosses. As the number of immigrants grows, the cities become ethnically diverse, and the newcomers dominate the largest population. Efforts at middle-class reforms People like Lincoln ca me up with Freedman’s Bureau to aid the slaves with education, employment, and healthcare. The Radical plan of reconstruction allows the coalition of Freedmen to take control of the southern state government. This gives the federal courts power to deal with justice at a state level. The state passed the Civil Rights in 1875 to give people rights to access public facilities without considering their race or servitude. The state passed

Luxury brand towards chinese girls around 18-30 Essay

Luxury brand towards chinese girls around 18-30 - Essay Example Literature review begins with a detailed analysis of the luxury brands and goods. It comprises of characteristics, brand identity and awareness and aesthetic attributes of luxury goods. For conceptualising the preference towards the luxury goods various comparative literatures between the luxury and ordinary brands has also been nurtured. It focuses on new affluent and endurance of the Western and Eastern brands in China. Even the unique features of Chinese have also been highlighted to make out the consumption level, taste and priorities of Chinese consumer. The scope and motto of the study is not only to stick to the consumer behaviour and preference towards the luxury brands, it also concentrates on the distinctions and similarities of the Western and Eastern luxury brands. Apart from reviews of literatures it also deliberates to the qualitative approaches to find the real scenario. Interviews have been conducted of 15 ladies and girls of four main cities of China. Those are Beiji ng, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Nanjing. The ultimate conclusion is that the luxury brand satiates the intrinsic desire of Chinese women for showing strong affinity towards the foreign based brand. Affection towards luxury brands and increasing consumption level of it is possible due to three prime reason, overall economic growth of China, escalating empowerment of women and one child policy. China has experienced a persistent surge in the consumer buying behaviour from the year 1990. The Chinese consumer has become wealthier and welcomes the western retail formats which pave the way for luxury retailers. Basically luxury is subjective and constantly evolving concept. This word can be defined as the inessential but desirable item of extreme comfort. What differ luxury brands from others is its command of a premium without mentioning clear functional advantages over the other counter parts. Instead of this consumers are ready to pay high amount because

Informative Speech Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 2

Informative Speech - Essay Example It is reported that during the time, over million people gathered at the Square in protest of the Hosni Mubarak’s government (Mohyeldin, 2011). Even though the uprising was generally a non-violent protest, there were numerous instances of violence and it is reported that around 800 have been and 6000 have been injured. Often there were clashes seen between the protestors and pro-Mubarak demonstrators. This revolution was termed as the victory of the youth who took part in great numbers in the protest. Finally, after 18 days on 11 February 2011 President Hosni Mubarak was ousted after 30 years in power (Parks, 2011). The revolution achieved what intended to achieve what baffles many is that such a revolution occurred in Egypt. Governments, academics, pundits accept that none had expected a revolution of such scale and magnitude in Egypt. This is best summed by the statement from Hillary Clinton, US Secretary of State, on the day protests began: â€Å"Our assessment is that the Egyptian government is stable and is looking for ways to respond to the legitimate needs and interests of the Egyptian people.† (Sowers, 2012). This is because Hosni Mubarak’s regime was a good example of durable authoritarianism and its rulers were smart authoritarians. Media was not controlled and relatively free; civic associations, parties and elections were allowed; the government smartly managed the country as compared to other autocratic rules in the region or anywhere else. But then they were ousted in 18 days (Sowers, 2012). There are 3 explanations that have been put forward to make sense of the situation. First is technology. Technology played a great role in the uprising. For the first time young people participated in the protest in great numbers employed new mediums made available by technology to keep the protest alive. Mediums like Twitter and Facebook were greatly utilized to gather crowds and spread the word about what