Mrs Beast Essay

One construction of feminism in the poem is female dominance over men. The Beast is shown as the weaker of the male culture due to his unappealing image â€Å"ugly as sin†. The Beast sees the narrators seeming interest in him as a miracle and is portrayed as desperate to keep her attention even it means living with her neglect. Here we see that the there is a reversal of gender stereotype as the Beast takes on the supportive female role and the narrator takes on the stereotypically-dominant male role. The Beast is also described as submissive to the narrator, â€Å"fell to his knee’s at the door† which is stereotypically a female trait and shows the power Mrs Beast has over him. Traditionally men are known for being the most powerful in relationships as they are looked up to by women as the more protective, confident and in-control gender because are often known to be the sex that induces a relationship (asking to court/ asking for marriage). Another male trait shown by ‘Mrs Beast’ is the control she has over the Beast such as during sex, â€Å"The lady says Do this. Harder. The lady says Do that. Faster. The lady says That’s not where I meant. † The imperatives used show that Mrs Beast is the most dominant in their relationship which goes against gender stereotypes as men are traditional seen as the most powerful in a relationship. In the poem Mrs Beast shows that she controls when the couple have sex â€Å"The pig in my bed Was invited† which suggests that man has become a sexual object to Mrs Beast rather than a lover, as she shows no emotional attachment to him other than to use him to please her, which supports the feminist view of female dominance. Men are also known to be the most confident in sex and it’s usually the submissive woman that is known to conform to pleasuring the man rather than vice versa. Second construction of feminism in the poem is where the women take on masculine characteristics and traits. Peukert wrote that Carol Ann Duffy shows a â€Å"reverse of the traditional hierarchical gender constructions, where the female is now presented as a superior and dominating figure† in her poem. Many critics argue whether this reversal is seen as positive or negative as in some areas of her poem, the narrator seems to be losing her female traits and manifesting into the feminist viewpoint of a man. In the poem, Mrs Beast shows male characteristics such as where she uses contemporary taboo language when referring to ‘Princes’ as â€Å"bastards†. This is often a male trait because women are stereotypically known to be more well-spoken and polite than men. Another example of a male trait Mrs Beast portrays is when she boasts of her possessions and independence, â€Å"My own gold †¦ My own black horse†. This is often seen as a stereotypical male trait as men are considered my independent than women who often depend on men to provide for them and their family. Also, to boast about one’s possessions and power, shows competitiveness which is a common male characteristic also. Competiveness is also shown in the poker game between the â€Å"Serious ladies†, a game that is considered ‘a man’s game’. Traditionally, women playing poker/gambling was seen as improper because of its known bad influence to cause obsession which would be unacceptable as women were seen as pure/untouchable against all evil/illegal things such as drinking or smoking. Duffy’s use of the semantic field of the poker game, â€Å"bluff†, â€Å"Aces† and â€Å"shuffle and deal† the women are now in roles of control which is a typical masculine trait. (The game could also show that the relationships are like a game. ) Gender role reversal is also shown in the way the Beast is described. When the Beast meets the narrator at the beginning, he is said to show â€Å"tears in his bloodshot eyes, That he knew he was blessed†. Showing emotion is not usually associated with men as the female gender are often stereotypically portrayed as the more emotionally gender and for men to show emotion is seen as a humiliating weakness. An earlier example of this would be in Stokers novel, Dracula, when Holmwood breaks down in front of Mina, which many Victorian male readers would find shameful and weak. This could support Antony Rowland’s view that â€Å"men and masculinity are attacked constantly by more abrasive female narrators† throughout Duffys poems in ‘The Worlds Wife’. In the poem, Duffy exposes men for the ‘†bastards† that they are and mocks them in comparison to the ‘Beast’, â€Å"The sex is better†, â€Å"his erection ,Size of a mules – best†. Here Duffy teases the men (‘Princes’) by comparing physical manhood which is stereotypically known as a ‘mans pride of pleasure’. Another construction of feminism is the discriminating or degrading of the male gender. The Beast in the poem is often compared to a â€Å"mongrel† and â€Å"a dog† all animals which are known for evolving from â€Å"wolfs† to household pets. This suggests that the Beast is mere property to Mrs Beast and perhaps at both times a comfort and a burden to have to keep, which links to the feminist theme that men are sexual objects and nothing more. Dogs are known to have short-life span and are often replaced by another which again could be considered a stereotypically a masculine view, that women can be replaced after they’ve outdid their usage, as there are ‘plenty more fish in the sea’. Other animals the Beast is compared to is a â€Å"mule†, â€Å"donkey† and â€Å"horse† which are all animals that humans use for transport. We could suggest that this could be a sexual reference as Mrs Beast ‘rides’ the Beast and is control during sex, as a rider is in control of a horse. There is also a phrase in the poem where animals mentioned seem to drop down in evolution, â€Å"An ape, a wolf †¦ dragon, dinosaur. † Humans are believed to have evolved from apes, so to describe the Beast as a ape and then a dinosaur could suggest that Carol Ann Duffy is implying that men are perhaps less evolved than women and that in the presence of a woman (Mrs Beast) men lose their humanity/ intelligence. Another construction of feminism in the poem is the theme of homosexuality. At the end of the poker, the â€Å"drop-dead gorgeous Bride of the Bearded Lesbian didn’t Bluff† and ends up winning the game. Some critics believe that Duffy is intentionally putting out her support for homosexuality by letting the ‘Lesbian’ be the winner of the poker game. This could also be a biased consideration of the stereotypical viewpoint that most feminist are homosexual for example Duffy herself has been rumoured to have had a relationship with (Not sure how to develop ) Duffy lists, throughout the poem, various women both from history, â€Å"Marilyn Monroe†, â€Å"Bluebeard’s wives, Henry VIII’s†, â€Å"Diana, Princess of Wales† and from fairytales, â€Å"Little Mermaid†, â€Å"Rapunzel†, â€Å"Ashputtel†. Here Mrs Beast and her acquaintances pay tribute to these women, of whom Duffy suggests, were mistreated by their â€Å"Prince† such as â€Å"Diana†. Her marriage to Prince Charles was frowned on by the Royal family and eventually came to an end when he husband was rumoured to have had an affair behind her back. From this reference, Duffy is implying that even the most presumed perfect man on the outside (Prince Charles both a member of the Royal family and a Catholic) can still be a â€Å"bastard† inside. The reference to â€Å"Bluebeard’s wives† also shows the false image, shown by men who seem perfect. In the fairytale Bluebeard marries again, after a numerous times before, to a beautiful woman who in the ends find out that Bluebeards has killed his previous wife’s and hung them up in a room, she informs others and has him killed. Duffy refers to this fairytale because it negatively implies that men are destroyers of women and only seek to harm/manipulate them like Bluebeard who kills his wife’s and strings them up like trophies/ prizes of his conquests. A additional reference to another â€Å"tragic girl† is â€Å"the tears of Mary† where Duffy personifies the beads of the rosary as the Virgin Mary’s tears. Here Duffy makes a controversial example of the suffering of Mary, whose vital suffering is considered insignificant in comparison to the suffering of Jesus on the cross. Although this is could be a exceptional argument supporting feminist we must consider the context because the discrimination is purely down to the culture during the time period the Bible was wrote; women were seen as the ‘weaker sex’.

To what extent did Thatcher achieve her aims in foreign policy?

When Margaret Thatcher first came to power in 1979 she had little interest in foreign policy but focussing mainly on economic and domestic policy. However, it was an area where she left a huge impact on. One of Thatcher’s aims was to increase the defence for Britain as she believed the USSR was a massive threat militarily. This meant improving relations with the USA. Her views on Communism helped with this as her and Ronald Reagan both shared the same ideas. She also believed NATO was vital to British and European defence and so to strengthen this relationship was important. She supported NATO’s decision to deploy US nuclear cruise and Pershing missiles in Western Europe and permitted the US to station more than 160 cruise missiles at RAF Greenham Common, even though she knew it would trigger mass protests by the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament. Relations improved with the US when Thatcher permitted US F-111s to use Royal Air Force bases for the bombing of Libya in retaliation for their apparent bombing of a Berlin nightclub; this decision wasn’t very popular with the British citizens. Another one of Margaret Thatcher’s aims was to reassert Britain’s position as a major power. Many people will say she achieved this because of the Falklands War. In April 1982, Argentina ordered the invasion of the Falkland Islands and South Georgia which were under British control at the time. She successfully retook the islands back by setting up a War Cabinet and dispatching a naval task force against them which in June they surrendered. Even though 255 British soldiers died and the attack on an Argentinian cruiser which sunk and killed everyone on board, people were far more distracted by the victory which took place. This helped her win the 1983 elections. However, she was strongly criticised as to why she didn’t pay attention to the Falklands’ defence that led to the war, in which she could have stopped happening. This in turn would have saved the lives of the British soldiers and the people on the Argentinian cruiser. Some people may disagree that Thatcher achieved the aim to raise Britain’s status entirely because of the Grenada incident. On October 1983, the USA attacked Grenada; a member of the Commonwealth, without consulting Britain to take-over a Marxist organisation. This was an embarrassment for Thatcher because it showed her weakness to defend countries which were once members of the Commonwealth who felt they still needed to be defended. Thatcher also wanted to see the defeat of Communism, which some people argue was achieved and that her role played an important part. She was able to build a working relationship with Mikhail Gorbachev who came to power in the Soviet Union in 1985. This placed Britain in a good position to be the peace-maker between the US and the Soviet Union. They ended up meeting a couple of times which led to the agreement to scrap all intermediate-range missiles from Europe, the elimination of tactical and battlefield nuclear weapons and conventional forces. After that many countries in Eastern Europe experienced their own revolution which led to domestic changes and an end to the Soviet domination over them. This was a victory for Britain and all the other NATO countries. Although this aim was achieved, Thatcher feared that because many changes were happening across Eastern Europe, Germany would start to reunify and become strong again which would affect the European balance of power and Thatcher didn’t like this. After discussing the aims of Margaret Thatcher in Foreign Policy, I believe on the whole she achieved them. She managed to reassert Britain’s position as a superpower because of the Falklands war. It was a massive turning point for Thatcher and a defining moment in her premiership which helped her stay in power by winning the 1983 election. Even though many people died during the Falkland’s War, she was considered a highly talented and committed war leader by many people. She also helped defeat Communism by building a relationship with the Soviet leader and making discussions between the US and the Soviet Union easier. This led to nuclear disarmament which helped with Britain’s fear of Russia attacking them.

Electrolux Case Summary Essay

As the largest domestic products manufacturer in the world, Electrolux has about 70000 employees all around the world in about 150 countries, making 14 billion euros in sales in 2005. However, an acquisition case from its main competitor, Whirlpool, is challenging the ? rst place of Electrolux, at the time Electrolux has just decided to divest its outdoor division. A huge decrease in sales in the following years is expected. Starting from 1920s, Electrolux has been famous for its expertise in industrial design on products such as vacuum cleaner and refrigeration. The products quickly got popular not only in its home country in Sweden, but in other western countries such as Germany, France, USA and UK, due to the homogeneous culture of these countries. A major growth in demand after World War II contributed a lot to its growth. With a large amount of accumulated cash of the past decades, Electrolux decided to expand quickly through a number of acquisitions for more market share and diversi? cation. In late 20th century, Electrolux discovered new markets in developing countries when the market in western countries was already very mature and was even showing a sign of going down. It also went through a phase of restructuring the segmentations of products as well as abandoned some less important activities. Up until 2006, the company has addressed its new strategies mainly on functional level to correspond to the challenges. To maximize the pro? t, the production would be outsourced to developing countries with lower labor costs. More ef? ient logistics has made the globalization more feasible and cost-saving. On the product market level, due to the market polarization, a more distinguishing product segmentation would be applied. While keeping the basic low-price products, Electrolux is launching a series of products with higher prices to satisfy the high-end market. On the other hand, 2% of sales would be put in R&D to keep a high rate of new products launches. The supply chain management has always been vital when it comes to consumer goods industry. When Electrolux is outsourcing more of the productions, it is also hifting the strategy of distribution channels. Instead of traditional dealers, big chains with large volume and high geographical coverage are brought up front because of lower serving cost. Above all these, the company keeps making efforts on brand-building by investing at least 2% of the sales every year. With more products are sold under Electrolux’s name, the company is also improving its brand image by stressing more on their culture through internal and external relations among employees, suppliers and retailers, etc.

Case Study Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 5

Case Study - Research Paper Example According to this company, their peanuts butter and jelly pockets are enclosed using crimping method and they do not include the outer hard part of the bread. However, the U.S. Patent and Trademark office rejected the company’s request by claiming that the same method was being for making pie crust, which has been use since 1980s. The Smucker’s argument is unjustifiable because they bought the idea from other people and other producers of similar products had already established their companies in the same industry. According to Greenhalgh & Rogers, (2010), since the company already has an exclusive authority to produce peanut butter and Jelly sandwich, it would be unfair for them to protect the method they use to produce their own products. The U.S. patent system claims that granting Smucker company absolute right to process and sell the Uncrustables will disadvantage the buyers because it will create monopoly in the sale of those products (Matthew, 2011). This is true because these are essential commodities and Smucker already has patent for production of peanut butter and jelly sandwich. By limiting the processes used in manufacturing will discourage other interested investors from exploiting the available opportunities in the market. According to those who were in favor of Smucker idea to acquire protection against duplication of the production of Uncrustables, excusive right encourages inventions and economic advancement. This is because it offers incentives to those people with unique ideas. However, the patenting department f United States claimed that most of the ideas are not inventive but just modifications of the existing ideas (Matthew, 2011). It is obvious that even the J.M. Smucker had purchased the idea from Len Kretchman and David Geske who were the initial owners of the invention. Therefore, this argument is somewhat invalid because such a move will limit economic advancement. According to

The Judeo-Christian Ethic is Ruining Our Environment Essay

The Judeo-Christian Ethic is Ruining Our Environment - Essay Example Another part of the damaging equation lies in the Christian belief that we are to go forth and multiply, therefore there is ban on contraceptives instituted by the Catholic church. This is another part of the Judeo-Christian belief that is damaging to our environment, and this belief is perhaps most damaging at all. This essay will examine the man-made causes of global warming, and the effects of global warming. This essay will also examine the way that we treat our animals, which is a part of the equation that would be inherent in White's essay. Finally, this essay will look at the effects of overpopulation, which, if it gets much more out of hand, will be the effective end of environment. All of these problems can be directly traced to Christian ethos of dominion over the environment, animals, and the command for the human race to go forth and multiply. The Bible and Animals White's argument centered around the fact that the Bible has been used by humans to justify treating nature and our environment in a way that shows that animals and natural resources were put on this earth simply to save man. He approved of the way that St. Francis of Assisi saw the animals – St. Francis of Assisi thought of the animals as being God's creatures, with souls, and that they were put on this earth not to serve man, but because God created them the same way that he created us. This meant that St. Francis respected the animals as sentient beings with souls. This is clearly not the way that man thinks of animals, if one considers factory farms. For instance, the ethicist Peter Singer, who believes the way that St. Francis did, that animals were not put on this earth to serve us, but they were created in their own right, details how humans treat animals. For instance, he states, in his book The Meat and Milk Factories: The Ethics of How We Eat (2006) that pigs are kept in a crate that is so small that they cannot turn around. Without even hay to sleep on, this is all these pigs know – this tiny crate. The breeding sows are kept in tiny crates that are only a foot longer than their bodies, while being forced to have litter after litter. Male pigs are castrated with an anesthetic. Cows are not treated much better. For instance, the veal cow is put into a dark crate for 16 weeks. During this time, it has a tied neck and is basically starved of iron, so that it becomes anemic. Therefore, it is certain that man believes that animals are simply on this earth to be exploited by humans. Otherwise, there would be a greater outcry about how our animals are treated. Instead, the issue is mostly swept under the rug. In the recent United States Presidential election, the issue of animal rights and factory farms did not come up. Once. That is because of the belief that man has dominion over the animals. Because animals do not have soul, and because man is supposed to have dominion over them, that means that we can treat them any way that we want to treat th em, and forget that they have feelings and can sense pain and fear. But the fact that factory farms are cruel is just one part of the equation. The other part is that they are bad for the environment. Thus, the factory farming lends credence to Smith's overall thesis, which is that the Judeo-Christian ethic is bad for the environment. Michael Pollan explains why this is so. According to Pollan (2008), factory farms harm the environment because the animal waste is in such abundance, because meat in general is in such abundance, that it is no longer fertilizer, but a pollutant. The reason for this is because the

How does hip hop articulate black marginality in ways that are both Essay

How does hip hop articulate black marginality in ways that are both new to the contemporary city and consistent with African Ame - Essay Example To decode, audience members resort to values, norms and beliefs – root metaphors – tat they, the audience, and hold in order to make sense of the information communicated and their response is not only based on the intent of the communicator but also on the values in which the audience have also been socialised, (Hill, Simona, and Ramsaran, 2009, p. 17) The notion of bardic television is adapted and applied to the entire media hence the framing of the natural order of things in the world by providing a set of images so the audience members can locate themselves in the social stratification system. This is made so by providing justifications for the system of inequality, and by perpetuating images that reinforces the dominant culture/ideology while the exploration of the issues of race, class and gender is rooted in the historical development of the society. It considers the values and images that are important for the contemporary social stratification. Hiphop as well a s the media play a role in the reinforcement of these images that result in the perpetuation of the poser of the privileged. Many of the images that have been brought into the mainstream reinforce the old controlling images of minorities, women and the poor thus serving to perpetuate the system of domination and it fits well into the overall colour-blind ideology promoted to justify contemporary notions such as discrimination and inequality. In the 1980s, cultural and commercial forces united to forge an enduring place for hip hop within the African American popular culture as Tricia Rose (1994) argues that this point effectively as she observes that at the beginning of the urban hip hop, the rap stories continue to articulate the shifting terms of the black marginality in the contemporary American culture. On the one hand, some aspects of hip hop culture can challenge some marginalised ideologies such as racism and sexist stereotypes; however, those images sold by corporate America in hip hop culture increasingly reinforce many of the fundamental factors that further the entrenchment of marginality in America. The contradictory nature of the black male image that is brought into the mainstream culture by the highly commercialised hiphop culture challenges the system of traditions that were associated with racism, polite brutality and poverty while at the same time articulate the contemporary hegemonic values of the oversexed, violent black male. The very images that are now brought into the mainstream about black men can be traced to the ancient forged realities of the North American slavery periods. Black males are portrayed as violent, a threat to the society, and having an uncontrolled appetite for sex particularly with white women as the gangster and thug life perpetuated by the hip hop culture serves to portray those negative stereotypes of black males and despite the negative social impact, contemporary capitalism, with the use of the media, can market dimensions of thug life associated with the gear and mannerisms to suburban white youth for profit so that the youth can experience the other digitally. The performance of the rap artists becomes a vicarious and demonstrative event that captures supposed reality and reinforces

Historical Homes in Natchez Mississippi Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Historical Homes in Natchez Mississippi - Essay Example Natchez is one of Mississippi’s oldest cities and was founded in 1716. It is also famous as the southern terminus of the National Trace Parkway, located along the River Mississippi. Due to its strategic location, the city became famous in American history for the role it played in the development of the Old South West. Lorenz, Karl G. (2000). Natchez is the county seat (National Association of Counties. 2008) of and the largest and only incorporated city within Adams County, Mississippi, in the United States. According to a census taken in 2000, Natchez has a population of about 18, 464 people. According to archaeological findings, the original site of Natchez was the chief ceremonial village that was occupied by an Indian tribe since the 8th century. The society of Natchez was segregated according to matrilineal descent into nobles and commoners and their chief was called the â€Å"Great Sun.† At Natchez, the Grand Village of the Natchez Indians is well preserved as a great National Historic Landmark, and is maintained by the Mississippi Department of Archives and History. Natchez Mississippi is very famous for some of the most interesting historical landmarks in the world. Our study would also cover this aspect of investigating the different important historical landmarks and make a detailed study of each one of them. Some of these important landmarks include Natchez National Historical Park, Fort Rosalie and many other interesting landmarks. Natchez National Historical Park celebrates the rich and interesting cultural history of Natchez, Mississippi and gives us an interpretation of the pivotal role that the city exhibited in the settlement of the Old Southwest, the Cotton Kingdom and the Antebellum South. The Park comprised of three different units and Fort Rosalie is the location of an 18th Century fortification built by the French which was