Thursday, January 9, 2020
Dahalokely - Facts and Figures
Name: Dahalokely (Malagasy for small bandit); pronounced DAH-hah-LOW-keh-lee Habitat: Woodlands of Madagascar Historical Period: Mid-Late Cretaceous (90 million years ago) Size and Weight: About 12 feet long and 300-500 pounds Diet: Meat Distinguishing Characteristics: Moderate size; bipedal posture; distinctively shaped vertebrae About Dahalokely Like many regions of the earth, the Indian Ocean island of Madagascar (off the eastern coast of Africa) harbors a huge gap in its fossil record, stretching all the way from the late Jurassic to the late Cretaceous periods. The importance of Dahalokely (which was announced to the world in 2013) is that this meat-eating dinosaur lived 90 million years ago, shaving about 20 million years off the far end of Madagascars almost 100-million-year fossil gap. (Its important to bear in mind that Madagascar wasnt always an island; a couple of million years after Dahalokely lived, this landmass split off from the Indian subcontinent, which itself had yet to collide with the underside of Eurasia.) What does the provenance of Dahalokely, combined with the history of Madagascar, tell us about the distribution of theropod dinosaurs in during late Cretaceous period? Since Dahalokely has been tentatively classified as a modestly sized abelisaur--a breed of meat-eating predator ultimately descended from the South American Abelisaurus--this may be a hint that it was ancestral to Indian and Madagascan theropods of the later Cretaceous, like Masiakasaurus and Rajasaurus. However, given the scarcity of Dahalokelys fossil remains--all we have for now is the partial skeleton of a subadult specimen, lacking the skull--more evidence will be needed to conclusively establish this link.
Wednesday, January 1, 2020
The U.S. Occupation of Haiti From 1915-1934
Responding to near-anarchy in the Republic of Haiti, the United States occupied the nation from 1915 to 1934. During this time, they installed puppet governments, ran the economy, military and police, and for all intents and purposes were in absolute control of the country. Although this rule was relatively benign, it was unpopular with both the Haitians and the citizens of the United States and American troops and personnel were withdrawn in 1934. Haitiââ¬â¢s Troubled Background Since gaining independence from France in a bloody rebellion in 1804, Haiti had gone through a succession of dictators. By the early twentieth century, the population was uneducated, poor and hungry. The only cash crop was coffee, grown on some sparse bushes in the mountains. In 1908, the country totally broke down. Regional warlords and militias known as cacos fought in the streets. Between 1908 and 1915 no less than seven men seized the presidency and most of them met some sort of gruesome end: one was hacked to pieces in the street, another killed by a bomb and yet another was probably poisoned. The United States and the Caribbean Meanwhile, the United States was expanding its sphere of influence in the Caribbean. In 1898, it had won Cuba and Puerto Rico from Spain in the Spanish-American War: Cuba was granted freedom but Puerto Rico was not. The Panama Canalà opened in 1914: the United States had invested heavily in building it and had even gone to great pains to separate Panama from Colombia in order to be able to administer it. The strategic value of the canal, both economically and militarily, was enormous. In 1914, the United States had also been meddling in the Dominican Republic, which shares the island of Hispaniola with Haiti. Haiti in 1915 Europe was at war and Germany was faring well. President Woodrow Wilson feared that Germany might invade Haiti in order to establish a military base there: a base that would be very close to the precious Canal. He had a right to worry: there were many German settlers in Haiti who had financed the rampaging ââ¬â¹cacos with loans that would never be repaid and they were begging Germany to invade and restore order. In February of 1915, pro-US strongman Jean Vilbrun Guillaume Sam seized power and for a while, it seemed that he would be able to look after US military and economic interests. The US Seizes Control In July of 1915, however, Sam ordered a massacre of 167 political prisoners and he was himself lynched by an angry mob that broke into the French Embassy to get at him. Fearing that anti-US caco leader Rosalvo Bobo might take over, Wilson ordered an invasion. The invasion came as no surprise: American warships had been in Haitian waters for most of 1914 and 1915 and American Admiral William B. Caperton had been keeping a close eye on events. The marines that stormed the shores of Haiti were met with relief rather than resistance and an interim government was soon set up. Haiti Under US Control Americans were put in charge of public works, agriculture, health, customs and the police. General Philippe Sudre Dartiguenave was made president in spite of popular support for Bobo. A new Constitution, prepared in the United States, was pushed through a reluctant Congress: according to a debated report, the author of the document was none other than a young Assistant Secretary of the Navy named Franklin Delano Roosevelt. The most interesting inclusion in the constitution was the right of whites to own land, which had not been permitted since the days of French colonial rule. Unhappy Haiti Although the violence had ceased and order had been restored, most Haitians did not approve of the occupation. They wanted Bobo as president, resented the Americansââ¬â¢ high-handed attitude towards the reforms and were indignant about a Constitution that was not written by Haitians. The Americans managed to irk every social class in Haiti: the poor were forced to work building roads, the patriotic middle class resented the foreigners and the elite upper class was mad that the Americans did away with the corruption in government spending that had previously made them rich. The Americans Depart Meanwhile, back in the United States, the Great Depression hit and citizens began wondering why the government was spending so much money to occupy an unhappy Haiti. In 1930, President Hoover sent a delegation to meet with President Louis Borno (who had succeeded Sudre Dartiguenave in 1922). It was decided to hold new elections and begin the process of withdrawing American forces and administrators. Stà ©nio Vincent was elected president and the removal of the Americans began. The last of the American Marines left in 1934. A small American delegation remained in Haiti until 1941 to defend American economic interests. Legacy of the American Occupation For a while, the order established by the Americans lasted in Haiti. The capable Vincent remained in power until 1941, when he resigned and left Elie Lescot in power. By 1946 Lescot was overthrown. This marked the return to chaos for Haiti until 1957 when they tyrannical Franà §ois Duvalier took over, beginning a decades-long reign of terror. Although the Haitians resented their presence, the Americans accomplished quite a bit in Haiti during their 19-year occupation, including many new schools, roads, lighthouses, piers, irrigation and agricultural projects and more. The Americans also trained the Garde DHaiti, a national police force that became an important political force once the Americans left. (Source: Herring, Hubert. A History of Latin America From the Beginnings to the Present.New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1962.)
Tuesday, December 24, 2019
Ib Economics Commentary 1 - Microeconomics Essay - 807 Words
Commentary #1 Syllabus Section: Section 1: Microeconomics Word Count: 749 Date commentary was written: October 26, 2012 Date article was published: May 20, 2012 Rebecca Bundhun, (October 19, 2012) Cost of summer getaways hit as air ticket prices rise, The National, http://www.thenational.ae/thenationalconversation/industry-insights/tourism/cost-of-summer-getaways-hit-as-air-ticket-prices-rise The cost of an airline ticket can fluctuate tremendously based on a number of factors. The goal of airlines is to maximize their capacity by having the greatest number of passengers on all trips. This may however be difficult, as airlines pricing is not only dictated by their own operating costs and profit margins required but they have toâ⬠¦show more contentâ⬠¦Although prices tend to be set by supply and demand, they are also exposed to externalities. An externality occurs when the actions of consumers or producers give rise to positive or negative side effects on other people, who are not part of these actions and whose interests are not taken into consideration. A perfect example of a negative externality is the rise of jet fuel. As a barrel of oil rises, the price of jet fuel also rises and consequently the price of an airline ticket also rises. Externalities can create a positive or negative demand or effect on a product or service. Price elasticity of demand is a term that helps us understand the measure of the responsiveness of the quantity demanded to changes in price. In general, if there is a large responsiveness of the quantity demanded, the demand is referred to as being elastic, if there is a small responsiveness, demand is inelastic. Airlines take advantage of the existence of inelasticity. Mr. Dââ¬â¢Souza states in the article, ââ¬Å"People are still flying. People traditionally plan these breaks, and regardless of the price, they fly. The demand is very, very high.â⬠On the contrary, airlines understand price elasticity and use this well. They know that fare prices can be considered both elastic and inelastic based on the circumstance the traveler finds themselves in. Airlines study their client base, theirShow MoreRelatedEconomics IA: Microeconomics Commentary on Heathrow Slams Price Cap Put On Airline Fees Word count:700 Words à |à 3 PagesEconomics IA: Microeconomics Commentary on Heathrow Slams Price Cap Put On Airline Fees Word count: 746 Michael Lee The article is about the government trying to control price of airlines of Heathrow Airport. CAA has set a price cap on the fee Heathrow Airport charges the airline firms, wishing that this will lead to lower price in the flights for consumers. Maximum price, also referred as price ceiling, is usually set by government to limit the seller pricing system to ensure a fair and reasonableRead MoreIb Economics Notes Grade 113816 Words à |à 16 Pagessame rate as P. If %âËâ Plt;%âËâ Q, this good is called relatively elastic. If %âËâ Pgt;%âËâ Q, this good is called relatively inelastic. If %âËâ P=%âËâ Q, this good is called unit elastic. Determinants of the PED -gt;Things that tell us what the PED is originally. 1) availability of substitutes ââ¬âthe more substitutes a good has, the easier it is for consumers to switch products if the price changes EX: if one brand of T-shirt is more expensive, choose another brand. In other words, for T-shirts, a relatively smallRead MorePMCN Case Study3324 Words à |à 14 PagesThe theory of economics does not furnish a body of settled conclusions immediately applicable to policy. It is a method rather than a doctrine, an apparatus of the mind, a technique for thinking, which helps the possessor to draw correct conclusions. The ideas of economists and politicians, both when they are right and when they are wrong, are more powerful than is commonly understood. Indeed the world is ruled by little else. Practical men, who believe themselves to be quite exempt from any intellectual
Monday, December 16, 2019
Business Related Articles Free Essays
What does the network layer do? Where does it sit in relationship to the other four layers of our simplified network model? Network layer is the third layer of the OSI model. It performs switching andà routing by creating logical paths, known asà virtual circuits, for transferring data fromà one node to another node. Routing and forwarding are the major functions of this layer. We will write a custom essay sample on Business Related Articles or any similar topic only for you Order Now It also performs other operations such asà addressing, internetworking, error handling,à congestion,à control and packet sequencing. It maintains the quality of service requested by the transportation layer. It determines how data are transferred between network devices. It Routes packets according to unique network device addresses and Provides flow and congestion control to prevent network resource depletion. The network layer provides the functional and procedural means of transferring variable lengthà data sequences from a source to a destination host via one or more networks while maintaining theà quality of serviceà andà error control functions. At this layer, the computer system engages in a dialogue with the network to specify the destination address and to request certain network facilities, such as priority à Network Layer consists of three sub layers: Sub network Access: This layer considers protocols that deal with the interface to networks, such as X. 25. Sub network Dependent Convergence: This layer is necessary to bring the level of a transit network up to the level of networks on either side. Sub network Independent Convergence: It handles transfer across multiple networks. The major Functions of the network layer are: Routing: The most outstanding function of network layer is routing which includes Moving data across a series of interconnected networks the network layer. At the network layer, the devices and software routines handles incoming packets from various sources, determines their final destination, and then transfers the data to their destination. Logical Addressing: Every communication device in a network of an logical address, which is also called as ââ¬Å"layer three addressâ⬠. Theà Internet Protocol (IP) is the network layer protocol which is the best known example of network layer and every machine consists of its own IP address. It manages the connectionless transfer of data one hop at a time, from end system to ingress router, to router to router, and from egress router to destination end system. It is not responsible for reliable delivery to a next hop, but only for the detection of eroded packets so they may be removed. Connection model: The OSI Network Layer protocol can be either connection-oriented, or connectionless. In general, theà TCP/IP Internet Layer supports only the connectionless Internet Protocol (IP). Message forwarding: This is the most important function of network layer. Since many networks are partitioned into sub networks and connect to other networks for wide-area communications, networks use specialized hosts, called gateways orà routers to forward packets between networks. Datagram Encapsulation: Network layer performs encapsulation of messages received from higher layers by placing them intoà datagramsà which are also referred to as packets with a network layer header. Fragmentation and Reassembly: The major function of the network layer is transmitting messages down to the data link layer. Some data link layer technologies consist of certain limitations on the length of any message that can be sent. If the packet that the network layer wants to send is too large, the network layer has to fragment the packet before transmitting it to data link layer. It transmits each piece to the data link layer. The fragmented pieces are then reassembled once they arrive at the network layer on the destination machine. Handling and Diagnostics: At the network layer Special protocols are used to allow devices that are logically connected, or that are trying to route traffic, to exchange information about the status of hosts on the network or the devices themselves. How to cite Business Related Articles, Papers
Saturday, December 7, 2019
Progress And Movement In America Essay Example For Students
Progress And Movement In America Essay Websters Collegiate Dictionary defines progress as to develop to a higher, better, or more advanced stage. In todays society, there are many views on the educational and economic progress of African Americans. They have encountered many stages during the civil rights movement such as Jim Crow Laws; and are now entrepreneurs; middle-class Americans, and some attend college. Despite this, presently, African American achievement has not been as significant since. The question at hand is that in modern times, is it progress or just purely movement? (Morrison) The Civil Rights Movement was a political, legal, and social struggle to gain full citizenship rights for black Americans and to achieve racial equality. The civil rights movement was first and foremost a challenge to segregation, the system of laws and customs separating blacks and whites that whites used to control blacks after slavery was abolished in the 1860s. During the civil rights movement, individuals and civil rights organizations challenged segregation and discrimination with a variety of activities, including protest marches, boycotts, and refusal to abide by segregation laws. Many believe that the movement began with the Montgomery bus boycott in 1955 and ended with the Voting Rights Act of 1965, though there is debate about when it began and whether it has ended yet. The civil rights movement has also been called the Black Freedom Movement, the Negro Revolution, and the Second Reconstruction. (Encarta) Generally put, it was an effort to ensure African American entry into the White Society. Some of the most important goals of African American leaders during the civil rights movement were to gain voting rights, and to gain the right to be able to go to any institution they so chose without being denied service. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., President of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, felt that black people could prosper economically and educationally in the White Mans World if allowed the same opportunities as White Americans. Through events such as the Montgomery Bus Boycott, the march from Selma, Alabama to Montgomery and the Woolworth Student Sit-In, African American rights has been almost totally acquired in modern times. Since the Civil War, much of the concern over civil rights in the United States has focused on efforts to extend said rights fully to African Americans. The first legislative attempts to assure African Americans an equal political and legal status were the Civil Rights Acts of 1866, 1870, 1871, and 1875. Those acts gave African Americans such freedoms as the right to sue and be sued, to give evidence, and to hold real and personal property. The 1866 act was not active, and was reenacted in 1870 only after the passage of the Fourteenth Amendment. The fourth Civil Rights Act attempted to guarantee to the African Americans those social rights that were still withheld. It penalized innkeepers, proprietors of public establishments, and owners of public conveyances for discriminating against African Americans in accommodations, but was invalidated by the Supreme Court in 1883 on the ground that these were not properly civil rights and hence not a field for federal legislation. The 20th-century struggle to expand civil rights for African Americans has involved the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, the Congress of Racial Equality, the Urban League, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, and others. Another struggle now is that the Voting Rights Act of 1965 is indeed an act; not law. African Americans must indeed struggle to keep this right in the future. However, the 20th-century generation is lazy because a lot has been accomplished for us, and now we simply take a back seat for it all. Other views on this represent that African Americans now focus on accomplishing the miniscule things in life like fixing up the ride with dubs and a system. (Barnor) African Americans have achieved a lot since the Civil War. Unfortunately, the progress can be compared to an S curve, or a Learning Curve. At first, acceptance is slow. Fahrenheit 451 compared to the movie The Power of Essay It is then tested to make modifications. After a period, critical growth occurs; until the mature stage, where it is essential and mainstream. Has African American progress reached its mature stage? .
Saturday, November 30, 2019
Yahoo Case Management Essay Example
Yahoo Case Management Essay Yahoo! is a digital media company that delivers digital content across the World Wide Web. Yahoo! operates across the globe reaching to the Americas, EMEA, and the Asia Pacific. They are headquartered in Sunnyvale, CA and currently employees 13,600 people at the end of the FY2010 year. Yahoo! ââ¬â¢s current mission is to connect people to their passions, their communities, and the worldââ¬â¢s knowledge. Yahoo! rovide many different services to their users and a one stop place to browse the web, check email, look at the news, check current finances, and much more. They have a place for small businesses to keep track of emails and websites. Yahoo! gets most of their revenue through selling display and search advertising. Some of their current objectives and strategies are to provide their users with the most update and efficient information possible. They want their users to be happy and continue using their site to satisfy their needs. There are eleven people within Yahoo! s top management. Ross B. Levinsohn was named CEO after Scott Thompson resigned from his position as CEO. Thompson had fraudulent information on his resume and one of Yahoo! ââ¬â¢s third party member found it. Yahoo was in the process of suing Facebook for supposedly stealing patents from Yahoo!. Facebook is now countersuing Yahoo! , saying that Yahoo! was the one who stole the patents. Yahoo! ââ¬â¢s demographics stated that more men viewed Yahoo! than women. No matter what someoneââ¬â¢s income was wasnââ¬â¢t a determinant of whether or not they used the site. The political and legal segments of the firm refer to the laws and regulations of companies that react in industries with competitor companies. These rules and regulations may be set within the firm by the Board of Directors or outside of the firm by government policies. Yahoo! ââ¬â¢s Board of Directors are the ones responsible for setting the standards for the companyââ¬â¢s officers, directors, and employees. Yahoo! has a very strong competitive environment. Some of Yahoo! ââ¬â¢s direct competitors include: AOL Inc. , Google Inc. , Microsoft, Face book Inc. All of these companies compete in the Internet Service Providers industries. We will write a custom essay sample on Yahoo Case Management specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Yahoo Case Management specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Yahoo Case Management specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer Each one of these companies may be in a similar industry but they each have different company beliefs. The threat of new entrants is relatively weak. Although the Internet does provide ease for anyone at any time to create their own website, for them to actually be compatible with Yahoo! there many entry barriers they would have to consider. Some of the opportunities that we found for this company included: increased mobile content consumption, increasing digital advertising, merging positions with AOL Inc. , a distribution strategy centered on using the popularity of social networks. Some of the threats included: the intense competition, decline in market share, increased dependence on advertising revenues exposed Yahoo! to business cycles. The number of users that access Yahoo! ââ¬â¢s many different applications is one of the biggest strengths that they have. This large customer base attracts many different companies looking to advertise on Yahoo! ââ¬â¢s websites. In the United States alone, Yahoo! attracts 187 million users. That is more that Google (176 million), Facebook (154 million), and AOL (114 million). Its company leads in 12 different online categories with Yahoo! Finance being one of the biggest ones. HISTORY Yahoo was found by David Filo and Jerry Yang, PhD candidate in electrical engineering at Stanford University, in February of 1994. It started as a hobby that began a new way that people communicated across the globe. They started making lists of their favorite links and spending more time on that than on their doctoral dissertations. Yahoo! is an acronym for ââ¬Å"Yet Another Hierarchical Officious Oracleâ⬠, but they both said they chose the name because of the definition of Yahoo! : ââ¬Å"rude, unsophisticated, uncouth. â⬠(Yahoo! History, 2012)Yahoo! had its first million hit in 1994. They knew they had a fast growing business, due to the heavy flow of traffic on their site. They met with many venture capitalists, until the met Sequoia Capital which is a ââ¬Å"well regarded firm who has had many successful investments such as, Apple Computer, Atari, Oracle and Cisco Systemsâ⬠. (Yahoo! History, 2012)Sequoia Capital agreed to invest in yahoo in April of 1995 and invested nearly $2 million in them. Once things began to look up they started look for a management team. Tim Koogle was their first hire and CEO. He was a veteran of Motorola and he was also an alumnus of Stanford University also with a degree in engineering. In April of 1996 they had a success IPO launch and had 49 employees to their company. Yahoo! is currently the leading global internet communications provider. It offers a broad network to over 345 million people worldwide. www. Yahoo!. com reaches out to audiences all across the globe; it is the No. 1 internet brand across the globe as well. Yahoo! is currently headquartered in Sunnyvale, CA with other offices in countries like Asia, Europe, Australia, and Latin America. During the year end of 2010 Yahoo! had a 2. 1% decrease in revenues compared to 2009. Yahoo! ââ¬â¢s operating profits had a 99. 8% increase over year 2009. Yahoo! ââ¬â¢s net profit for 2010 was $1,231. 7 million compared to $598 million in 2009. MISSION/OBJECTIVES/STRATEGIES Yahoo! ââ¬â¢s vision is to ââ¬Å"deliver your world, your way. â⬠They do that by using technology, insights, and intuition to create deeply personal digital experience that keep more than half a billion people connected to what matters most to them. Their mission is to connect people to their passions, their communities, and the worldââ¬â¢s knowledge. Yahoo! s objective for their business to survive is to provide maximum services and quality to their users to be able to find what they are searching for on their site. Yahoo! needs to increase the amount of users that use their search engine and be able to provide quick services to their users. Yahoo! needs to focus on the important applications and be able to provide for the users who use their services. Yahoo! ââ¬â¢s strategies are to increase the number of sharing of content and services to be able to ensure their users are happy with their services. Yahoo! should also provide services for their users all across the globe. Industries/Products/Competition Yahoo! ââ¬â¢s main industry is internet information providers. They provide the world with a one stop place to be able to search the World Wide Web and keep a check with the latest news and finances. ââ¬Å"Yahoo! ââ¬â¢s offerings include Yahoo! Mail, Yahoo! Messenger, Yahoo! groups, Yahoo! Answers, Flickr, and Connected TV. â⬠(Business Discription, 2012) These provide a wide variety of communication and social services to users and small businesses. Yahoo! ââ¬â¢s key products and services include News, Email, Music, Video, TV, search services, local advertising, social networking and mobile applications. Most Yahoo! ââ¬â¢s services are free of charge but some of their offers do cost a small fee. Yahoo! ââ¬â¢s revenue is based off of their offerings. Yahoo! ââ¬â¢s free email is available so you can keep in touch with friends and family across the globe. Yahoo! offers a lot of services to different types of people globally. They have a place for your small business to be able to create and maintain a domain, an email, a website, and lastly a place where you can sell your products and services online to customers across the globe. Yahoo! is a great one stop shop for the latest news and weather. Yahoo! ââ¬â¢s top competitors are Google, MSN, and AOL. They have to keep up with the latest trends to be able to be the best. Unlike Google, Yahoo! offers many different services right on their homepage. You donââ¬â¢t have to search for the weather or news its right there on their homepage. Yahoo! is a great site to use when you just want the latest on whatââ¬â¢s going on. Top Management There are seven employees on board for the top management position of the company Yahoo! Inc. The Interim Chief Executive Officer, Executive Vice President and Head of Global Media are Ross B. Levinsohn. Levinsohn is accountable for all of the companyââ¬â¢s digital media business, which include the strategy, partnerships, vision, engineering, and content structure for all of Yahoo! ââ¬â¢s properties and global experience. Michael J. Callahan is the Executive Vice President, Secretary and General Counsel. In 2007, he became the executive vice president. Before he took on the role as the executive vice president he was served as the senior vice president. Callahan is in charge of the public policy and worldwide legal affairs. Callahan advises Yahoo! ââ¬â¢s board of directors on corporate and strategic governance issues. David Dibble also serves as one of the Executive Vice President and is also over the Central Technology Organization. Dibble job requirements is making sure Yahoo! up and running efficiently all over the world. He has to be make sure that the basic technology, information security and application management are running smoothing as well. He is also responsible for charting a clear transportation roadmap for Yahoo! maps and directions. Dibble is also required to make sure the performance of the site is running up-to-date too. David Filo is the co-founder and chief at Yahoo! Inc. Filo is from Louisiana and co-founded Yahoo! Inc. in 1994. He job requirements is to direct the industrial operations behind Yahoo! Inc. and is the key technologist. Filo takes credit for helping construct Yahoo! into the most vastly trafficked website and a popular name brand. Timothy R. Morse is the Chief Financial Officer and Executive Vice President. Morse manages Yahoo! ââ¬â¢s finances, mergers and acquisitions and investor relations. Rich Riley became the American Executive Vice President in April of 2012. He handles all of the operations for consumers, partners, and advertisers in the American regions and all the go to market activities. Riley has been with the company for thirteen years and he was the created of the toolbar that we still use today. In 2009 he became the Senior Vice president and the Managing Director in Europe. Riley help Yahoo! back on track when it was down in the weakest region. Rose Tsou was the general manager in 2000 and got a promotion in April of 2007 to where she was is now as the Senior Vice President of the APAC region. Tsou duties are to manage Hong Kong, Southeast Asia, Korea, India, and Taiwan. Tsou is on the board in New Zealand and Australia for the joint venture operations. In 2001, she help productively formed the internet brand with Taiwan. She helped with the formation of Wretch which is now one of the hottest blog and photo site. David Windley is the Chief Human Resources officer and the Executive Vice President. He is the team leader of the global human resource team. Windley is responsible for motivating the companyââ¬â¢s global strategies with talent and culture and organization efficiency. Mark Morrissey is Senior Vice President of Core Platforms. He looks after the foundational platforms, technology and research to allow customers products and leverage of Yahoo! s data store. He is accountable for our display advertising, information and analytical platforms, consumer and global platforms, and the Yahoo! labs. Christophe Parcot is the Senior Vice President and Managing Director of Yahoo! EMEA. He oversees all the go-to-market behavior and operations for consumers, partners, and advertisers in the EMEA area. He is responsible for all the sale s operations too. Shashi Seth is the Senior Vice President, Connections of business. He is responsible for all the company interactions with all of its 700 million users. The connections group is he responsible for Yahoo! Search, Mail, Flickr, IntoNow, Messenger, Answers, Groups, and the social bar. Current Issues One major issue involved with Yahoo! Inc. is dealing with the resigning of the Chief Executive Officer, Scott Thompson. He stepped down from his position on May 13, 2012 after only being the CEO for a short four month period. Thompson exaggerated his credentials he received from Stone Hill College. Thompson was the former PayPal president and was hired by Yahoo! in January of 2011. He was hired because Yahoo! as hoping that Thompson would help end the Web portal from struggling. On May 3, 2012, a principal shareholder with 5. 8% stake in Yahoo! , Daniel Loeb revealed that Thompsonââ¬â¢s degree had fraudulent information. Loeb stated that Thompson had only received his accounting degree but not his computer science. Thompson leaving will be very costly for the company. Thompson will receive his annual base salary of $1 million, his hiring bonus of $1. 5 million in cash money and also $5. 5 million in stock. According to regulatory filings, he will also get an incentive equity award that is valued at $5 million. He is also entitled to compensation two times the amount of his annual salary. After the resigning of Thompson, this is the third CEO to be discharged from Yahoo! within the last eight months. Yahoo! Inc. might suffer a negative impact on its shareholderââ¬â¢s trust. Yahoo! is one of the biggest brand names out there but it has not been performing up to par. Even though Yahoo! is a big name brand, it is performing very inadequately within the last few years. Some of the biggest social networking sites have been taking over Yahoo! ââ¬â¢s market share. Yahoo! Inc. market share is dropping. It went down 2% points just since September. In September 2011 Yahoo! had about a 15. 5% market share of searches in the United States and now in the month of May 2012 it has dropped to 13. 5%. Since the market share has been declining for Yahoo! , Google and Bing have been gaining in market share. With the new CEO in office hopefully there will be some new changes into getting Yahoo! market share value back up to where it should be. With all the new changes Yahoo! is going through and Levinsohn is in office as the interim chief executive officer, he is faced with a big crisis. Levinsohn has to make the choice to sell some of the stake in Alibaba back to the internet company for seven billion dollars but Daniel Loeb will approve the transaction. Alibaba is one the largest internet based company where you can trade with other companies, shop, and it has a search engine based in China. Yahoo! China and Alibaba formed together in 2005. Some reports found that Yahoo! the companyââ¬â¢s performance and graphics have been going downhill the past eight years. The companyââ¬â¢s management problems are not helping. The internet traffic site has gone down . 7% within a year. The market cap is falling too. In the year of 2006 it a value at $54. 9 billion and now in 2012 it is $17. 26. In April of 2012 it was $18. 8. Yahoo! ââ¬â¢s revenue growth has been falling as low as -13. 20%. The expenses at Yahoo! keep rising and is over $1 billion where as it was just in the millions a couple of years back. Hopefully with all the new changes taking place Yahoo! Inc. can get back on its feet and get back where it use to be. Also another major issue going on with the company Yahoo! is their lawsuit with Facebook. Yahoo! is claiming that Facebook has stolen ten patent ideas from Yahoo!. The patents that Yahoo! s claiming that Facebook stole from them are: â⬠¢Ã¢â¬Å"U. S. Patent No. 6,907,566 Method and system for optimum placement of advertisements on a webpage, â⬠¢U. S. Patent No. 7,100,111 Method and system for optimum placement of advertisements on a webpage, â⬠¢U. S. Patent No. 7,373,599 Method and system for optimum placement of advertisements on a webpage, â⬠¢U. S. Patent N o. 7,668,861System and method to determine the validity of an interaction on a network, â⬠¢U. S. Patent No. 7,269,590Method and system for customizing views of information associated with a social network user, â⬠¢U. S. Patent No. 7,599,935 Control for enabling a user to preview display of selected content based on another users authorization level, â⬠¢U. S. Patent No. 7,454,509 Online playback system with community bias, â⬠¢U. S. Patent No. 5,983,227 Dynamic page generator, â⬠¢U. S. Patent No. 7,747,468 Contents consignment sale system and method for networking broadcasting, â⬠¢U. S. Patent No. 7,406,501 System and method for instant messaging using an e-mail protocolâ⬠. (Yahoos 10 patents that it claims Facebook infringed, 2012) Now Facebook is in the process of countersuing Yahoo!. Facebook is claiming that Yahoo! is infringing on their patents. Sociocultural Sociocultural is defined as ââ¬Å"the concern with a societyââ¬â¢s attitudes and cultural valueâ⬠. (Hitt, 2009) Yahoo! ââ¬â¢s value shapes the culture and defines the character the company. The value and culture is at the heart of what they do and who the company is. The value that Yahoo! is committed to is achieving integrity. Leadership is earned and should never be taking lightly. Yahoo! aims to have a faultless implementation and does it best to achieve the quality. (Yahoo Investor Relations, 2012) Changes in social trends may impact the demand for a companyââ¬â¢s product and availability as well as the business production and marketing activities. These trends can also affect individualââ¬â¢s willingness to work. The sociocultural environment influences individualââ¬â¢s expectations, attitudes, achievements, and responsibilities of the company and its management. Management firms take into consideration several external elements when doing an external assessment of the business. Political factors dissect the legal, political, and governmental aspects of a business and include such things as: government-driven tax laws, trade agreements, regulated prices, incentives, and manufacturing requirements. Political stability is an important consideration. Social factors are another key element which includes the way Americans work, live, produce, and consume. With the aging society of America, billions of people who are outside the US may be in market for American products. Demographics The demographics for Yahoo! Inc. by age and gender that look at Yahoo! on a daily basis are compared to the population of the users on the internet in general: Yahoo! : Internet Users: Below 24- Men 13%, Women 12%Men 9%, Women 37% 25 to 34- Men 15%, Women 10%Men 9%, Women 8% 35 to 44- Men 11%, Women 8%Men 8%, Women 7% 5 to 54- Men 9%, Women 6%Men 7%, Women 4% 55 to 64- Men 6%, Women 5%Men 4%, Women 3% Above 65- Men 4%, Women 1%. Men 3%, Women 1% From this distribution of the ages and gender, Men look at Yahoo! Inc. or use the internet more than women do. This is probably true because Yahoo! offers more for the male gender with the Yahoo! Sports and Finance tabs. When looking at the location for the United States, Massachusetts rank number one in the st ate that visited Yahoo! the most. California was second and Texas ranked third. Then you have Georgia, Washington, New York, Virginia, Illinois, Florida, and then Indiana. It is very close for race for the states coming in fourth through tenth. When looking at the global distribution the United States ranks number one for the most use out of the websites. The Philippines, Indonesia, Egypt, Romania, Malaysia, Hong Kong, India, United Kingdom, and Taiwan are in a close tie with what global country uses the website the most. Yahoo! Inc. leads its rivalââ¬â¢s with the amount of user traffic. Yahoo! ââ¬â¢s website is clicked on globally with over 2. 4 billion page views though out its 25 international website and the 13 languages you can choose. Yahoo! lso attracts more the 627 million visitors a month. This reaches about 47. 4% of the global population. Yahoo! Inc. headquarters in Sunnyvale, California but has offices all the world including India, Latin America, and China. Yahoo! Inc income distribution levels are closely similar to each other no matter the income of the house hold. The users whose average income ranges from $0-$30k, $30-60k, $60-$1 00k and $100k-+ are similar to the general population. The households where the income is $100k and more looks at Yahoo! closely the same as the households where the income is $0-$30k. The ethnic mixes of the web searchers for Yahoo! are the African, African American, Asian, Caucasian, Hispanic, Middle Eastern, and other. The African Americansââ¬â¢ spend more time searching with the website Yahoo! then the Middle Eastern. The Asians and Caucasians spend more time on the website than any other race. The Hispanic and Africans are viewing the site about the same percentage. Economic Environment The economic environment includes the consumer price index, gross domestic product, and the strength of todayââ¬â¢s dollar. Yahoo! Inc. needs to have correct information about our economy. Yahoo! ââ¬â¢s expenditures by their advertisers have a tendency to have a recurring cycle, reflecting overall economic environment and budgeting and buying patterns. Yahoo! Inc. gets most of their revenues from the advertising. If any advertising decreases then that can result in the revenue for the company. Yahoo! Inc is very dependent on their brand and a mishap on the brand name can result in cost-effective conduct could hurt the business operating cycle. The earnings of Yahoo! depend on the customers and how much the advertisers are spending on their websites. This year the decision was made to ramp up election coverage by partnering with ABC news, a new web show ââ¬Å"Remake Americaâ⬠and a new blog ââ¬Å"The Signalâ⬠. Wayne Powers, Yahoo! ââ¬â¢s SVP of North America sales, stated that the company sees this as a real opportunity and focus for the year. He also stated that Cox Digital Solutions will be the exclusive company for the political issues and advocacy advertising. Powers explained how Cox would be focusing campaign money specific to issues that deal with jobs and health care while Yahoo! ââ¬â¢s sales team would be working with advertisers that wanted their messages tied into the high-traffic election issues. Yahoo! ââ¬â¢s outgoing CEO Thompson had stated that data will attribute to the companyââ¬â¢s turnaround and play a major role in the multiplatform political advertising capabilities. Political/Legal Environment The political and legal segments of the firm include all of the external issues and benefits relating to the firm. First off we would like to mention the privacy bill of rights as one of the major trends under the political and legal environment. This bill has a purpose of protecting consumerââ¬â¢s privacy from the data collected online. This bill of rights is said to be voluntary but as of right now we know that Yahoo! Google, AOL, and MSN have agreed to become a part of this. The pushing of this bill requires search engine sites to add a ââ¬Å"Do Not Trackâ⬠device to the website. If the consumer chooses this device, said to be represented by blue triangle icons on the edges of some digital ads, then a direct indication will be sent to the companies that colle ct this records for advertising purposes. The indication will let the companies know that the user does not want to be tracked. Currently there are many lawsuits between the companies of Yahoo! and Facebook. Yahoo! irst eluded that Facebook was responsible for stealing ten patents from the company. This statement from an article explains more, ââ¬Å"Yahoo Inc sued Facebook Inc over 10 patents that include methods and systems for advertising on the Web, opening the first major legal battle among big technology companies in social media. â⬠(Yahoo sues Facebook for infringing 10 patents, 2012) Through reading this article we saw that Yahoo! had not decided to take their issues to legal term until after the announcement of Facebookââ¬â¢s public offering that could have resulted in Facebook being valued at $100 billion dollars. Many people know of the financial duress Yahoo! has incurred over the past couple of year and wonder if this is a means of acquiring capital. A spokesperson of Facebook, Jonathan Thaw says,â⬠Were disappointed that Yahoo, a longtime business partner of Facebook and a company that has substantially benefited from its association with Facebook, has decided to resort to litigation. â⬠(Yahoo sues Facebook for infringing 10 patents, 2012) Many people also feel that this could not have been a smart move on Yahoo! ââ¬â¢s behalf, since Facebook was responsible for many of Yahoo! s benefits. We now know that Facebook has retaliated and now has a pending lawsuit against Yahoo!. There recently have been many new partnership made on Yahoo! ââ¬â¢s behalf. Some of these partnerships include Yahoo! merging with ABC News and LG Electronics. Yahoo! has also introduced Genome, which was created by Yahoo! this year in hopes of bettering online marketing campaigns. We feel that politica lly Yahoo! will benefit from the Genome. One of the main reasons for creating such a program for Yahoo! was to increase their ROIs. Genome was designed to help marketers organize campaigns to help meet their objectives and build brand value. The News segment of Yahoo! is revolving daily touches on subjects of U. S. news, local news, business news, entertainment news, sports, politics, technology, health, travel, sciences and opinion news. Yahoo! conducts annual business human rights webcasts. The new partnership with ABC is based on using mobile devices to directly channel users through apps. The users can enter to win prizes after watching their favorite shows. The application is title Yahoo! IntoNow mobile application. By using the IntoNow application viewers can chat about their favorite shows through Twitter and Facebook. Technological Environment As we know that Yahoo! is a digital media company, and an Internet Web based company, the technological environment is very important to the growth of this company. In todayââ¬â¢s society digital media is one of the fastest growing industries and also one of the fastest growing industries the world has ever seen. Yahoo! has a developer network called Yahoo! Geo Technologies. This section of Yahoo! lets users create individual portfolios and share them via Internet. Not only does Yahoo! Inc. ave a private technologies section where you can find the latest information on all of the upcoming technologies; you can blog about it, and read technologies news headlines as fast as they are put online. Yahoo! has made itself available through all of the ââ¬Å"smartâ⬠technology, purchasing itself an ââ¬Å"appâ⬠where you may access this portal thro ugh any smart device such as cell phones. Competitive Environment Yahoo! has a very strong competitive environment. Some of Yahoo! ââ¬â¢s direct competitors include: AOL Inc. , Google Inc. , Microsoft, Face book Inc. All of these companies compete in the Internet Service Providers industries. Each one of these companies may be in a similar industry but they each have different company beliefs. The mission statement of Yahoo! says,â⬠to connect people to their passion, their communities, and the wordââ¬â¢s knowledgeâ⬠. Google provides the largest catalog of web sites and other material, and makes this material available to anyone who can get an internet connection for free. Googleââ¬â¢s automatic search technology helps consumers find instant access to significant information from their online catalog. Microsoftââ¬â¢s mission ââ¬Å"our missions and values are to help people and businesses throughout the world realize their full potential. About Microsoft, 2012)â⬠AOL is just an internet service provider who combines the influence of the Internet with its own standard services. Industry Analysis First, the threat of new entrants is relatively weak. Although the Internet does provide ease for anyone at any time to create their own website, for them t o actually be compatible with Yahoo! there many entry barriers they would have to consider. For this reason many people could argue that the threat of new entrants would be high because of the ease of creating new websites but in no way would the enter being a direct competitor of Yahoo! hat would take much time. Since we know that Yahoo! was established and has been successful for many years, we can also conclude that this company has faced many issues in getting the business brand where it is today. Some of the barriers to entry include: capital investments, economies of scale, switching cost, loyalty of the brand, and an absolute cost advantage. For a company to measure up to the level of success that Yahoo! is it would need a substantial amount of monetary funds. Millions in fact of dollars would be necessary for the development and startup of a site like Yahoo!. In many instances it takes an extended amount of time for a company to build its name/reputation and even longer to attract users. Start up Internet providers would not be smart in trying to compete on the level that this company does. The information mentioned earlier about the ease of new entrants into making their own websites is still very relevant to the success of Yahoo!. Although these companies are not direct threats in the beginning it is always necessary to watch the growth rate of these little companies. Yahoo! has to continually find new attractions, that competitors dont have, and ways to keep their customers loyal. The threat of new entrants in search engine market is moderately low because competitors, Google Facebook Inc. , have many servers all over the world that captures so much information about user behavior, a new entrant would have to provide more sufficient search results at faster speed. These new competitors would also be forced to present information from different sources in a more integrated and customized way. Since the turn of the 20th century in this competitive market, the new entrants have to have an absolute cost advantage comparing to others. The new entrants must come up with a better, cheaper and more efficient plan to collect information from diverse parties and allocate the information from itself. Also new entrants have lower cost of producing the services compared with Yahoo!. This brand loyalty is a harsh entry barrier to overcome unless the rival product offering is of primarily and considerably greater worth than what Yahoo! is contributing. Secondly the bargaining power of the buyers/customers is high because of the availability of substitutes, switching cost and the undifferentiated services. Because there are so many search engines in this industry other that Yahoo! users can switch to other engines if they want to with great ease. For this to happen the other engines must prove that they have a substantial amount of performance over Yahoo!. This means that there are absolutely no switching costs for Yahoo! users to switch to Google, AOL Inc. , or Microsoft. One of the main goals of Yahoo! is to get their users on the website and maintain their interest for multiple hours. Through this idea they hoped to attract many people with many different ages at all points and times during the day. Through research we conclude that the advertisers are another of the buyers of Yahoo! Inc. Yahoo! must strive hard to keep their eye popping ads so maintain the continuation of their advertisers. The services that Yahoo! offers are diverse from any other competing internet server. At the home page of Yahoo! you can find any and everything in the entertainment division without have to do numerous searches. The services that Yahoo! ââ¬â¢s rivals carry is much undifferentiated from theirs. Third, the barg
Tuesday, November 26, 2019
Jane Austen and Convention of the Gothic
Jane Austen and Convention of the Gothic Introduction The novel Northanger Abbey adversely mentions gothic literature; it even influences the main charactersââ¬â¢ actions and decisions. However, the use of this genre is done to mock and trivialise the genre.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Jane Austen and Convention of the Gothic specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More How Jane Austen challenges conventions of gothic novels As one reads the novel, one comes across a series of gothic titles throughout the narration. The characters talk about and reference various pieces in the book. Catherine meets with Isabella at the beginning of her adventure at Bath. Their main topic of conversation is gothic literature. These two ladies especially mention the Mysteries of Udolpho, by Ann Radcliffe, but their fondness for the books makes them appear one -dimensional and detached from reality. Jane Austen also mocks gothic literature by selecting a very unconventional heroine . Gothic novels usually feature beautiful young women as main characters. Catherine is average-looking at best; sometimes, Austen leads readers to believe that her main character is even unattractive. The first page states that Catherine had ââ¬Å"an awkward figure, sallow skin colour, dark lank hair and strong featuresâ⬠(Austen 1817, p.1). In eighteenth century Britain, strong features and sallow skin were undesirable traits. Jane Austen wanted to defy conventional expectations of gothic literature by choosing an individual who had little physical appeal. Furthermore, Catherineââ¬â¢s social background was nothing extraordinary. She came from a large middle income household, yet most gothic novels either focused on incredibly poor or exceptionally wealthy heroines (Rose 1993). Furthermore, Catherine was not talented in the conventional ways of English society at the time. She could not draw or paint, and neither could she write. Even Austen remarks that she was ââ¬Å"a st range and unaccountable characterâ⬠(Austen 1817, p.6). Catherine appears to have challenges with social interactions as well. She does not seem to understand people; yet this is a predominant quality in most gothic books. Catherine did not know about Isabellaââ¬â¢s true intentions until the situation had gone overboard. She could not hide her suspicions about Henryââ¬â¢s father from him. Furthermore, she fails to realise that she was leading-on John Thorpe. Catherine lacks social experience, which was a quality that was hard to miss in the gothic genre. In choosing such a heroine, the author wanted to challenge stereotypes of women in romantic literature, of which gothic novels belong (Summers 1964). In the narration, the main character appears to grow and learn about the workings of English society. This was not initially true at the beginning. In fact, one detects Catherineââ¬â¢s naivety when she first visits Bath. She seems to have an overblown imagination about th e way the world works. Catherine looks at the world through the eyes of the characters in gothic novels (Glock 1978).Advertising Looking for essay on british literature? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More In these books, seemingly ordinary events can lead to terrible occurrences in the future. The main character thinks of Mrs. Tilneyââ¬â¢s death as one such tale, but later realises that she had distorted reality. Jane Austen wanted to demonstrate how gothic novels can feed the mind with unrealistic and fantastic expectations. For instance, when Henry drives her out to Northanger Abbey, he indulges her imagination: ââ¬Å"In one perhaps there may be a dagger, in another a few drops of blood, and in a third the remains of some instrument of torture; â⬠¦ your lamp being nearly exhausted, you will return towards your own apartment. In passing through the small vaulted room, however, your eyes will be attracted toward s a large, old-fashioned cabinet of ebony and gold, which, though narrowly examining the furniture before, you had passed unnoticed.â⬠(Austen 1817, p. 144) Catherine is quite gullible at this point because she expects nothing short of gothic mystery in the place. She is deeply disappointed when she realises that Henryââ¬â¢s home is quite ordinary. The house possesses none of those concealed spaces that she read about in the gothic tales. Clearly, Catherine is deluded by these readings; the author wanted to show that such exaggerations can impede oneââ¬â¢s functioning in society. Catherine paid a heavy price for these wild imaginations when Henry discovered that she thought that someone has murdered his father. Some critics summarise this depiction through the following summary ââ¬Å"Again and again we see the kind of malediction novels confer on Catherine, teaching her to talk in inflated and stilted clichà ©s, training her to expect impossibly villainous or virtuous b ehaviour from people whose motives are more complex than she suspects, binding her to the mundane selfishness of her contemporaries (Gilber and Gubar, 2000, 132). Although Austen satirises gothic novels through Catherineââ¬â¢s extreme indulgences, one must realise that the main character still sensed the pretentiousness of the people around her. She was right about questioning General Tilneyââ¬â¢s character, because he turned out to be mean spirited and elitist. The author of the book wanted to show that gothic elements can skew oneââ¬â¢s reality, but may lead to unconscious revelations about such people. As such, Austen did not completely write-off gothic fiction. She wanted to satirise its flaws, but also acknowledge that it did possess some insights. The writer defied conventions of gothic novels by starting with a naive character, and then developed and nurtured her to the woman that she becomes at the end of the novel.Advertising We will write a custom essay sa mple on Jane Austen and Convention of the Gothic specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More In most gothic works, the heroines of the narrations are highly perceptive. They are well experienced in the world, and know what to expect from people. These are all qualities that Catherine lacks at the beginning of the book (St.Clair 2004). Catherine is not the only character in the novel to defy conventional gothic depictions: General Tilney also signifies this indifference to the status quo. At the time when Austen wrote her novel, most gothic novels had villains that were forceful, violent or even murderous. However, Northanger Abbey has none of this; in fact, the villain does not seem to possess the typical traits of such a character (Sadlier, 1944). Nonetheless, Austen depicts his undesirability through his intentions and interests. The General is overly concerned about Catherineââ¬â¢s wealth regardless of her admirable qualities as a person. A woman ââ¬â¢s social status is so important to the ââ¬Ëvillainââ¬â¢ that he is willing to ruin his relationship with his son for it. Henry Tilney chooses to defy his father rather than abide by his dictatorial rules. One can perceive that Jane Austen wanted to speak out against the ills of male patriarchy in her society (Varma 1966). She, therefore, preferred to use this role in order to advance her themes rather than to advance her plot, unlike the case is in eighteenth century gothic literature. Perhaps even the treatment of General Tilney as an antagonist is misguided in this analysis. He comes off as a man who cares too much about money and reality. The General is so concerned about maintaining his status that he meddles into the affairs of his children. Austen opted to mock gothic books by having a character that takes the shape of villain, but is not really one. Sometimes gothic pieces focused on manââ¬â¢s weaknesses and his inability to control his surrounding. Rarely di d they caricature societyââ¬â¢s flaws (Levine 1999). Northanger Abbey was the exact opposite of this propensity. It satirises societyââ¬â¢s obsessions with power and wealth through its plot as well as its characters. One such individual was Isabella who claims to care for nothing more than love. However, she gets very frustrated at her fiancà ©e when she realises that he is not as wealthy as she had presumed. She causes James great anguish when he realises that she was flirting with another man. Additionally, General Tilney is quite hospitable to Catherine when he thinks that she comes from a wealthy family. However, he kicks her out when John tells him otherwise. These people were all depictions of what society can become when it places too much emphasis on wealth. Jane Austen challenges conventions of gothic literature by going in this direction. One should note that most females in the late eighteenth century had minimal economic or social options. Writing was one of the f ew professions that individuals could use in order to earn a decent living (Kate 1993).Advertising Looking for essay on british literature? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More They were not politicians or property owners, but they had an opinion and needed to express it somewhere (Todd 1980). The author of the novel chose to mock societal practices through the use of a common literary genre, that is: the gothic novel. While the main character of the book is unattractive, Isabella is beautiful and charming. The author used conventional qualities of protagonists in gothic literature to satirise Isabellaââ¬â¢s obsession with material wealth (Monaghan 1981). This choice in character traits may seem unintentional, but it reaffirms the fact that the book is indeed a parody of gothic work. In order to mock certain elements of fiction, some authors may choose to mirror the stylistic devices of their parodied work in order to achieve this objective (Dentith 2000). Likewise, Jane Austen does the same thing with her novel. She integrates gothic elements in her piece in a manner that satirizes them rather than validates them. Most gothic novels have an air of myst ery about them. They tend to cause suspense by leaving out vital pieces of information. Readers often read on in order to discover what will happen to the main character. Austen uses mystery in her novel as well, but this achieves different objectives. For instance at some point, Henry describes Abbey exaggeratedly to Catherine. Of course she realises that Henry is fooling around. However when she finds a manuscript, she presumes that she can uncover some proof about her suspicions. However, darkness engulfs her and she hears receding footsteps and the closing of a distant doorâ⬠(Austen, 155). She cannot validate the significance of this piece of paper until morning. When morning comes, she soon appreciates that it was nothing but a laundry list. The passage about the dark room may fill a reader with suspense. Nonetheless, when one discovers the reason behind her fear, one realises that there was no mystery behind it. Jane Austin employs gothic tactics to satirise the genre by showing that all the mystery was created in the mind of the protagonist. Most gothic novels often focus on oppressed individuals. These situations may elevate readersââ¬â¢ perceptions of the main characters after they triumph over their adversaries. Usually, such heroines will scream and act in terror. Sometimes them may cry and faint over an issue. Others may appear overly emotional or too sentimental (Mandal 1999). It is through their sorrow and anger that the readers get to connect with them. In Northanger Abbey, Jane Austen also uses sentimentality as a trait, but only as a mechanism to defy the oppressed-heroine stereotype. In one instance Catherine seems to have lost it all; her potential father in law sends her out of his house. It is almost as if her whole world has been shattered, although John Thorpe was partly to blame for this occurrence. Regardless of these circumstances, the reader does not necessarily think of Catherine as a damsel in distress. Furthermore, things change for the better when Henry pays her a visit in her hometown (ART 2008. General Tinley eventually consents to the marriage, so she ceases to be the oppressed victim. In another scenario, the death of Mrs. Tilney preoccupies Catherineââ¬â¢s mind when she suspects that her husband killed her. However, little proof exists for her to validate this statement. She seems deeply disturbed by these issues, and one may even assume that she is living in a dangerous place. Later on, she realises that there was nothing to these suspicions. ââ¬Å"The absurdity of her curiosity and her fears could they ever be forgotten? She hated herself more than she could expressâ⬠(Austen 1817, p.183). Austen mocks this aspect of victimisation in gothic literature by dismissing off ââ¬Ëdangerous situationsââ¬â¢ as misguided thoughts or delusions. Conclusion Jane Austen satirises gothic literature by using unconventional characters in her novel. The protagonist is not a damsel in distress, unattractive or even talented, yet one cannot miss these qualities in the gothic genre. Additionally, the villain does not fit conventional gothic depictions because he commits no explicit wicked acts. The author also uses her characters to mock societyââ¬â¢s obsession with wealth; an uncommon trait in gothic work. Even the stylistic devices she borrows from the latter genre are designed to dismiss such works as remote from reality. References ART, 2008, ââ¬ËNorthanger Abbey and Persuasionââ¬â¢, Quarterly Review, vol. 24 no. 3, pp. 48. Austen, J, 1817, Northanger Abbey, John Murray, London. Dentith, S, 2000, Parody, Routledge, London. Gilbert, S Guber, S, 2000, The madwoman in the attic, Yale University Press, New Haven. Glock, W, 1978, Catherine Morlandââ¬â¢s gothic delusions: A defence of Northanger Abbeyââ¬â¢, Rocky Mountain Review of Language and Literature, vol. 32 no. 1, pp 33-46 Kate, F, 1993, The woman reader, Oxford University Press, Oxford. Levine, G, 1999, Translating the monstrous: Northanger Abbey, McMillan, London. Mandal, A, 1999, The gothic heroine. Web. Monaghan, D, 1981, Jane Austen in a social context, Barnes Noble, Totowa. Rose, M, 1993, Parody: Ancient, modern and post modern, Cambridge University press, Cambridge. Sadlier, M, 1944, Things past, Constable, London. Summers, M, 1964, The Gothic quest, Russell, New York. Todd, J, 1980, Gender and Literary voice, Holmes and Meier, New York. St.Clair, W, 2004, The reading nations in the romantic period, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. Varma, D, 1966, The Gothic flame, Russell, New York.
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