Heart Of Darkness By Conrad Essays (1063 words) - Congo Free State

Heart Of Darkness By Conrad Heart of Darkness, written by Joseph Conrad, holds thematically a wide range of references to problems of politics, morality and social order. It was written in a period when European exploitation of Africa was at a gruesome height. Conrad uses double oblique narration. A flame narrator reports the story as told by Marlow, assigned to the command of a river steamboat scheduled to transport an exploring expedition. Kurtz is a first-agent at an important trading post of ivory, located in the interior of the Congo. Both Marlow and Kertz found the reality through their work in Africa. Marlow felt great indignation with people in the sepulchral city after his journey to the Congo region because he discovered, through his work, the reality of the universe, such as the great virtue of efficiency, the darkness in society and individuals and the surface reality. When Kurtz found himself on his deathbed and he said gThe horror, The horror referring to his life in inner Africa, which caused him disintegration. Marlow emphasized the virtue of gefficiencyh throughout the story because he thought of it as the only way to survive in the wilderness. After seeing the dying natives in the forest of the outer station, Marlow described them as ginefficient.h Under gthe devotion to efficiency,h incompetent people were excluded from society. Only efficient people can survive. For example, since Kurtz was the most efficient agent, with regards to producing ivory, his employers respected his achievement and regarded him as an essential person. However, once he fell into disintegration, he was considered no more the than dying natives and thus was treated as if he were dead. He was then buried in the darkness. The symbol of inefficiency was the color green. Marlow illustrated a picture of dying natives, when he said, g[They were] black shadows of disease and starvation lying confusedly in the greenish gloomh(20). Another example of inefficiency is shown in the description of the body of Marlowfs predecessor as gThe grass growing through his ribs was tall enough to hide his bonesh(13). Marlow realized the real darkness did not existed in Africa but in Europe, and not in Africans but in Europeans who engaged in colonial exploitation, including Kurtz. Due to the nativesf physical features and customs like cannibalism, Marlow defined Africans as the darkness. On the other hand, he considered Europeans as the light because of his illusions of civilization. After witnessing the evil practices of the colonizers in the Congo, Marlow discovered the moral darkness in whites. European invaders in Africa dehumanized natives under the name of enlightenment for the sake of profit. They practiced no moral laws and inflicted callous and barbaric cruelty on indigenous people. Marlowfs description of the Companyfs offices in Paris revealed his discovery: A narrow and deserted street in deep shadow, high houses, innumerable windows with venetian blinds, a dead silence, grass sprouting between the stones, imposing carriage archways right and left, immense double doors standing ponderously ajarh(13). Moreover, the older woman at the offices was like a gatekeeper of gDarkness.h These descriptions indicated that the real darkness was in greedy whites, who were without moral sense, thus dark-skinned natives were victims of darkness of whites. Through his work in the Congo, Marlow found only gsurface truths,h which had been adulterated and concealed by European culture, not core truths. The reason why gthe meaning of episode [for him is] not inside like a kernel but outsideh(9) was that Marlowfs viewpoint was trapped in these surface truths. He could not touch the inside of the kernel because he did not go deep enough. Furthermore, he just watched and judged things from the outside. Marlow expressed, htruth stripped of its cloak of time c -the man knows and can look on without a wink. But he must meet at least be as much as of a man as these on the shore. He must meet that truth with his own true stuff-with his own inborn strengthh(38). Not only did he have a fear of natives, but also he refused to be like them. Since natives were, for Marlow, savage and mean-spirited fellows, he would not debase himself. Marlow used work as a pretext. Mowever, he acquired gsurface truthsh in the Congo region by handling the steamboat in the gfiendish row.h On the other hand, Kurts went to natives and found the heart of darkness in him, which was the primal reality of a deeper region of his mind. Kurtz brought moral ideas to the wilderness. He said early in his work, gEach station should

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buy custom Target essay Target Corporation is United States based second largest discount retailer. The Corporation controls 1681 stores in 41 countries, of which 239 Super Targets deal with the grocery products and also general merchandise. The company deals with wide range of products including shoes, clothes, health and beauty products, electronics, household goods, and hardware supplies. Furthermore, the corporation deals with licensed brands products and private label branded products, which are from local and international dealers. In its operations, the company includes online marketing, which handle credit and card services throughout its stores. The company provides a good basis for the study on the economic ideas. The corporation has an outstanding reputation of being an industry leader and top performer in financial matters. Its brand recognition stands at 96% due to the good history in innovation and financial services. The company is also one of the few companies, which have embraced, corporate blogging strategy, to boost their economy muscle (Gaughan, 2010). One of Targets great ideas is to use of the corporate blog to enhance its financial strengths. Corporate blogging enables the company to meet the demands of the customers, and provide favorable marketing environment for the companys sales. The corporate blogging straegy will enable the company to produce dedicated staff to their work thus meeting the employees needs. This strategy will also necessitate the consumers to freely interact with the management team and the employees, thus providing the company with reliable feedback concerning their products and the upcoming market trends. The corporate blogging will enable the company to serve the community as it has the corporate responsibility. The company will be able to make the tangible experience with their customers to be more personal, thus adding another financial benefit to their company (Vandome, 2010). The other big idea within the company is the philanthropic nature of the company. This is an idea, which has enabled the company to maintain good relationship with the community it operates. The company ranks as one of the most philanthropic companys in the United States. The company donates 5% of its pre-tax operating benefits, which amount to over $ 3million a week, to communities within its area of operations. The company also donates cash and other educational materials to schools across the United States. Further, it donates medicines and equipments to hospitals and denominations such as the Salvation Army. The philanthropic nature of the company has boosted the companys financial aspects to greater heights (Gaughan, 2010). The companys financial health has been the best as compared to its competitors, such as the Wal-Mart. It posts market capitalization of about 43.2 billion dollars, thus making it to be stable financially. The company has been in good position to line up its investment with its strategies to produce increased sales in its stores across the country. The companys subsidiaries have become very successful and companys online services have provided the company with significant percentage in their overall revenue. The company has been able to expand its market territory by accommodating both the slightly more up-market and more price-insensitive customer base, which provided more consumers thus increasing the sales (Vandome, 2010). The company has been affected by the United States Fiscal policy, which the federal government has used due to worlds economy recession, which is due to the US weak economy and the weakening dollar. The federal government wants to stabilize the situation by increasing the spending by the companies. The fiscal policy has compelled the Target Company to increase prices in its products thus making the consumers to deep more on their wallets. The impact of the fiscal policy has also made the company to reduce the number of employees in their stores by reducing the retirement age (Vandome, 2010). Buy custom Target essay

Policy of Mandatory Marriage Research Proposal Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Policy of Mandatory Marriage - Research Proposal Example However, marriage requires more than just love between partners, and if this is not considered it is likely that after a few years of marriage the seeds of divorce germinate and take root (Jasper 54). The topic aims at, firstly, establishing the various causes of divorce. Secondly, it shows that through educating couples on the essence of marriage then they will respect and uphold it as an institution. Thirdly, it aims at showing that couples who have understood the essence of marriage through marriage education would avoid incidences of divorce through; biding their time, not rushing into marriage until they find the right person or going into marriage when they have armed themselves with weapons that would counter any divorce triggers (Jasper 94). Plan of fulfilling the topic The topic will start with a discussion of; the importance of marriage, misconceptions about marriage, the reasons for divorce and the negativity and pain that come with divorce. The topic will also address the way in which the media has portrayed marriage.

The Racial negative and positive dynamics coming from supervisors Essay

The Racial negative and positive dynamics coming from supervisors - Essay Example First, there is a likelihood of the supervisor falling in favor with some workers in the work place. Being a racist supervisor, there is a likelihood that one will be in good books with others while one may not be in goods with others. In case one is favored by a majority of the workers, there is a likelihood that they are likely to influence a positive relationship within the dyad and the higher the chances of having work done on time. (Priest, 1994) Being a racist supervisor, there is a likelihood of having a loyal following of employees who are favored. This means that as a supervisor, one is likely to have an "underground intelligence force" in the work place which might one gather a lot of information about what is happening. The supervisor will therefore be able to monitor and come up with formidable solution to situation before they happen. For example, if workers might be planning a boycott of duties, the supervisor will have first hand information on it even before it materializes. In this regard, the likelihood of a boycott happening in the work place is reduced in a number of ways. Hence as a worker if you are favored by your supervisor, you are likely to get things done the way you want. This means that as a worker you will be favored by supervisor in allocation of duties and other aspects of work. First the supervisor employs what can be termed as a political policy of "divide and rule" tactics. This ensures that the supervisor have a part of loyal supporters who are favored in return while the rest of the workers may be against. The concept at work here is that there is no unity among the workers since they cannot speak on one term. This makes it difficult to plan any kind of work boycott. As a worker, this division among the workers can give you an undue advantage over the rests since the supervisor will be referring to you on most matters. Second, with the underground intelligence gathered by the loyal workers, other workers who are not "loyal" to the supervisor may find it difficult to integrate with the 'loyal" workers and hence such a plan cannot work. Hence as a worker you may be in a position to act as a spy for the supervisor which gives you an upper hand in the work place since those who are not favored by the supervisor cannot be given such a task. (Reynolds et al., 2002) Hence being favored by a racial supervisor will give the worker an advantage over the rest. But this will depend on the number of workers in the work place who are favored by the supervisor against the number that is not favored by the supervisor. In this regard if majority are favored by the supervisor, they may be likely to have an advantage over the rest but if they are the minority, they will have no advantage over the rest. At the same time there are a number of negative aspects that are associated with being a worker under a racist supervisor at the work place. First, it may affect the relationship within the dyad such that it becomes difficult for the supervisor to implement their duties effectively and the workers to perform their tasks effectively. This is because practicing racism among the worker brings about division among them such that it becomes difficult for the worker to work as a team. It kills the spirit of team work. Once workers are divided, they

Promoting autonomy of oneself and others Essay Example for Free

Promoting autonomy of oneself and others Essay Introduction                     Autonomy is the ability to have the capacity for self-governance or have self- determination. This is a concept which comes out through various arenas. For example, the moral autonomy is usually governed by the moral laws ( Deci, 2010). Therefore, personal autonomy can be said to be the capacity of a person to pursue actions based on moral content. This paper will compare the philosophical work by Nietzsche and MacIntyre and determine who offers the best tool of promoting autonomy. Over the past centuries, the teachings of Friedrich Nietzsche have transformed and penetrated every realm of social culture in the Western world. In his essays, he examines the significance of people’s ability to make promises. He states that to hold to the promises made requires both confidence about the future and very powerful memory that will ensure that certain issues are not forgotten. According to Nietzsche confidence requires one to be predictable or calculable and, therefore, he or she must share common sets of customs and laws that govern his or her behaviour (Risse, 2001). The society and morality play an important part of making a person predictable, therefore, giving the person ability to make promises. This process according to Nietzsche is complicated as it ends up in the ‘sovereign person’ who can make decisions, not only because the person in question is bounded by social mores but because he or she is the master of his or her own free will. The sovereign of an individual is characterised by tremendous responsibilities of one being free to make claims in regard to his or her future. This sense of responsibility according to Nietzsche is called conscience (Risse, 2001). Nietzsche defines the concept of ‘bad conscience and guiltiness using German words for ‘debt’ and ‘guilt. He suggested that, originally, there were no relationship between guilt and accountability or immorality. Punishments were meted on the basis of reprisal and not on the basis of guilt. If a person failed to honour promises, then they were considered to be in debt the person they failed. The debt could then be balanced by punishing or torturing the person. This happened to a person say the creditor who had no interest of getting his money back from the debtor. Thus, the memory of making promises during this time was burdened and the punishments and cruelty ensured that the debtor does not forget his promises next time (Risse, 2001). Macintyre’s in his book, ‘After Virtue (1981)’ explains his long ethical project. The book diagnoses the rising issues in the society such as ‘culture of emotivism’ where the moral language pragmatically manipulates decisions, attitude and decision. According to the book, those moral cultures are said to be a theatre of illusion where the objectives of moral rhetoric masks the decisions. The books examine the part of the community in making the judgments about the truth or falsity. The work by MacIntyre also examines the reasons why human beings need virtues through investigating the social debts and needs of human agents and the part which they were playing in the formation of an independent practical person who can reason (Borden, 2007). The philosophy by Maclntyre’s is very important especially to the fields of communitarian politics and the virtues of ethics. He points out the insignificance of conventional business ethic as an application of the modern moral concepts in decision making. His work in philosophy has lead tremendous renewal of values over the last decades. For example, in his works his discusses the moral condemnation of Stalinism. His presentation of this concept draws two important conclusions related to morality, one is the fact of the people’s solidarity in discovering what people want in their moral life (Borden, 2007).. According to MacIntyre morality organises life of the community. As he concludes his book, he says that the concepts of morality are neither historical nor timeless and, therefore, the understanding the developments of historical, ethical concepts can liberate people from any falsity claims (Borden, 2007). MacIntyre’s Aristotelian offers the best tool of promoting autonomy of one self and others compared to Nietzsche because he examines the habits that humans should develop in order to make judgement and act efficiently in the pursuit of the true choices which have a worthy end. His examination has a very rich account on the deliberate activities by human that encompass moral formation and society life. He also accounts why humans have practical wisdom to do what is right based on the freedom of morality. References Borden, S. L. (2007). Journalism as practice: MacIntyre, virtue ethics and the press. Ashgate Publishing, Ltd.. Deci, E. L., Ryan, R. M. (2010). The support of autonomy and the control of behavior. Journal of personality and social psychology, 53(6), 1024.Risse, M. (2001). The Second Treatise in In the Genealogy of Morality: Nietzsche on the Origin of the Bad Conscience. European Journal of Philosophy, 9(1), 55-81. Source document

Monticello :: essays research papers

Monticello "I am as happy nowhere else and in no other society, and all my wishes end, where I hope my days will end, at Monticello," wrote Thomas Jefferson the great architect of his home, Monticello. His home of 54 years was named Monticello which means "little mountain" in Italian. Many still question the reasoning for the name "Monticello." The only reasoning that was come up with was that Jefferson wanted to build his home on his mountain located in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia near Charlottesville. He wanted a place that was private and away from civilization and the commotion of politics. Thomas Jefferson became his own master builder on this land that he inherited from his father, Peter Jefferson. When his father died he left five thousand acres and more than twenty slaves to Thomas and his younger brother Randolph. The land would include the little 867 foot wooded mountain that would one day be called "Monticello." In 1767 Jefferson did the unheard thing to do in colonial America, he decided to build his dream home on the mountaintop. There were no highways or rivers on the land he built his home and people thought he was crazy and unpractical for doing this. Architecture, as a profession, did not exist in colonial America. Only the wealthy men of the South were to have some knowledge of architectural styles. Finally gentlemen farmers and merchants were able to create plans and pictures of their dream houses by combining their skills. They were then able to become what was known as amateur architects. Jefferson started his construction of Monticello by leveling his mountaintop and setting down on paper sketchy visions of the house. He then prepared the mechanical working drawings, which he taught himself to do. The materials needed to construct Monticello were found in the area. He used his own trees for timber and took stone blocks for the foundation out of his mountain. The bricks were even fired in Monticello's own mountaintop kiln. He studied P2 the crafts of stonecutting, brick making and carpentry to carry out the work of construction. The only things he had to get elsewhere were the intricate fittings like brass locks and doorknobs or glass. Slowly but surely Jefferson finished a small brick building, which was the south pavilion, in 1770. Later the north pavilion was finished and served as a study for his son-in-law.

Kite Runner Essay

Khaheld Hosseine, in his novel The Kite Runner, suggests that the causes of the vicious cycle of lies are trying to forget the past and push the guilt away and leads to guilt, problems, and the relationship between Amir and Hassan; only when Amir tells the truth, humbles himself, and changes his hierarchy/status quo and only then can the vicious cycle of lies be broken. Amir has said many lies to Baba and some of them were about Hassan steeling his things and blaming that Hassan took them to get Hassan in trouble and by doing this it adds to Amir’s guilt and makes Hassan and Amir more separated. One of the main reasons Amir was so guilty was the scene in Kite Runner when Hassan was getting bullied and eventually raped by Assef. While this was happening Amir was watching and did not know what to do because he was so scared and â€Å"in the end I ran† (77) and for not defending Hassan Amir was a coward. If Amir would have gotten help from Baba or Ali, or just become brave and put a stop to the madness all of this would not happen. Kite Runner would have not been the book it is today without Hassan’s rape, this caused Amir to have guilt and all the other terrible things happen to him later in the book. A great surprise in the book were that Amir and Hassan were half brothers and had the same father and that Baba was keeping this secret from them all of these years and leading to Amir finding out and getting angry why Baba did not tell this to him, and Rahim Khan explained that no one but himself, Baba, Ali, and Sanaubar had known about the matter in order to preserve their honor. Hassan never found out. Amir was furious at all of them for keeping the secret. He screamed at Rahim Khan and left the apartment. Amir thinks that if he knew Hassan was his brother he would have treated him better and probably would have not died and they would not have been separated in the first place. All of these thoughts in Amirs mind were making Amir have so much guilt and by breaking theses cycles he would have to tell someone. At the end of the book the general asks why Amir brought a Hazara boy to America and Amir replys â€Å"†You will never again refer to him as ‘Hazara boy’ in my presence. He has a name and its Sohrab† (25). Amir breaks a cycle of lies by defending a Hazara in front of the general. To finish it all of Amir and Sorab are flying the kite and Amir was the kite runner. The think significant about Amir being the kite runner was that only Hazars are kite runners and Amir asks if he should run Sorabs kite for him, Amir thinks he sees a nod and then says â€Å"For you, a thousand times over† (25) and Amir put himself to that level like Hassan and finally broke the vicious cycle of lies and truths. .