A Closer Look at Alice Munros Short Story Runaway

A Closer Look at Alice Munros Short Story Runaway Runaway,  by the Nobel Prize-winning Canadian author Alice Munro, tells the story of a young woman who refuses a chance to escape a bad marriage. The story debuted in the August 11, 2003,  issue of The New Yorker. It also appeared in Munros 2004 collection by the same name. You can ​read the story for free on The New Yorkers website. Multiple Runaways Runaway people, animals, and emotions abound in the story. The wife, Carla, is twice a runaway. When she was 18 and college-bound, she ran off to marry her husband, Clark, against her parents  wishes and has been estranged from them since. And now, getting on a bus to Toronto, she runs away a second time- this time from Clark. Carlas beloved white goat, Flora, also appears to be a runaway, having inexplicably disappeared shortly before the start of the story. (By the end of the story, though, it seems likely that Clark has been trying to get rid of the goat all along.) If we think of runaway  as meaning out of control  (as in runaway train),  other examples come to mind in the story. First, there is Sylvia Jamiesons runaway emotional attachment to Carla (what Sylvias friends describe dismissively as an inevitable crush on a girl). There is also Sylvias runaway involvement in Carlas life, pushing her along a path that Sylvia imagines is best for Carla, but which she is, perhaps, not ready for or doesnt really want. Clark and Carlas marriage seems to be following a runaway trajectory. Finally, there is Clarks runaway temper, carefully documented early in the story, that threatens to become truly dangerous when he goes to Sylvias house in the night to confront her about encouraging Carlas departure. Parallels Between Goat and Girl Munro describes the goats behavior in ways that mirror Carlas relationship with Clark. She writes: At first she had been Clark’s pet entirely, following him everywhere, dancing for his attention. She was as quick and graceful and provocative as a kitten, and her resemblance to a guileless girl in love had made them both laugh. When Carla first left home, she behaved much in the starry-eyed manner of the goat. She was filled with giddy delight  in her pursuit of a more authentic kind of life  with Clark. She was impressed by his good looks, his colorful employment history, and everything about him that ignored her. Clarks repeated suggestion that Flora might have just gone off to find herself a billy  obviously parallels Carlas running away from her parents to marry Clark. Whats especially troubling about this parallel is that the first time Flora disappears, she is lost but still alive. The second time she disappears, it seems almost certain that Clark has killed her. This suggests that Carla is going to be in a much more dangerous position for having returned to Clark. As the goat matured, she changed alliances. Munro writes, But as she grew older she seemed to attach herself to Carla, and in this attachment, she was suddenly much wiser, less skittish- she seemed capable, instead, of a subdued and ironic sort of humor. If Clark has, in fact, killed the goat (and it seems likely he has),  it is symbolic of his commitment to killing off any of Carlas impulses to think or act independently- to be anything but the guileless girl in love  who married him. Carla’s Responsibility Though Clark is clearly presented as a murderous, stultifying force, the story also places some of the responsibility for Carlas situation on Carla herself. Consider the way Flora allows Clark to pet her, even though he may have been responsible for her original disappearance and is probably about to kill her. When Sylvia tries to pet her, Flora puts her head down as if to butt. Goats are unpredictable,  Clark tells Sylvia. They can seem tame but they’re not really. Not after they grow up.  His words seem to apply to Carla, as well. She has behaved unpredictably, siding with Clark, who was causing her distress, and butting  Sylvia by exiting the bus and forgoing the escape Sylvia has offered. For Sylvia, Carla is a girl who needs guidance and saving, and it is hard for her to imagine that Carlas choice to return to Clark was the choice of an adult woman. Is she grown up?  Sylvia asks Clark about the goat. She looks so small. Clarks answer is ambiguous: She’s as big as she’s ever going to get.  This suggests that Carlas being grown up  might not look like Sylvias definition of grown up.  Eventually, Sylvia comes to see Clarks point. Her letter of apology to Carla even explains that she made the mistake of thinking somehow that Carlas freedom and happiness were the same thing. Clarks Pet Entirely On first reading, you might expect that just as the goat shifted alliances from Clark to Carla, Carla, too, might have changed alliances, believing more in herself and less in Clark. Its certainly what Sylvia Jamieson believes. And its what common sense would dictate, given the way Clark treats Carla. But Carla defines herself entirely in terms of Clark. Munro writes: While she was running away from him- now- Clark still kept his place in her life. But when she was finished running away, when she just went on, what would she put in his place? What else- who else- could ever be so vivid a challenge? And it is this challenge that Carla preserves by holding out against the temptation  to walk to the edge of the woods- to the place where she saw the buzzards- and confirm that Flora was killed there. She doesnt want to know.

How to Write an Amazon Book Description That SELLS

How to Write an Amazon Book Description That SELLS How to Write an Amazon Book Description That Sells Selling books is a result of two factors: traffic and conversion. While the Amazon book description won't affect traffic (i.e., discoverability), it's one of the most important conversion factors (along with the cover, the reviews, and the "look-inside").For example, author Alessandra Torre self-published her first book on Amazon in 2012, and for the first three months of the release, she sold between five and fifteen copies a day. Then, on a whim, she changed the blurb on her Amazon page and saw her daily sales jump to 300 overnight. Her sales kept doubling to the point where she was selling 2,000 copies a day!What does this tell us? That optimizing your book description for online retailers is critical if you want to actually move copies. In this post on how to write a book description, we’ve condensed the process - for both fiction and non-fiction authors - into three steps:1. The Headline: Hook readers inAmazon only displays the first few lines of your product description, meaning you have very limited space to capture a reader’s attention enough to click on your book and find out more. That’s the role of the headline: if a reader’s attention isn’t grabbed straight off the bat, then you’ve already lost them.Having an effusive and descriptive pull quote for your first line is really effective, and you’ll see the technique used time and again by bestsellers and newcomers alike. Whether your reviews are editorial or reader reviews from Amazon or Goodreads, add them into your description. Word-of-mouth recommendations are great conversion tools.However, if you don’t have any suitable reviews or sales stats to speak of (yet), make sure that your first sentence fea tures a snappy, irresistible hook. The key to a good headline is to include keywords that people on the hunt for their next read will immediately recognize. This could be:GenreMajor themesA series nameAwardsBrands or celebrities involvedTIPS FOR FICTION†¦Here’s an example of a self-publishing author using social validation to hook readers in. â€Å"The million-selling series starts here,† it says, letting readers know that these books are really popular.Sincero’s description uses slightly more formal language for the previous sections of the Amazon page, while she’s still laying the groundwork for acquiring reader trust. She closes the deal by speaking more directly and causally to the reader, and appealing to emotion. They reiterate what readers will get out of the book and invite you to dive in.Tip for optimizing your wrap-up for Amazon: Don’t wait for people to leave reviews on your Amazon page - put them right in the book description your self. The wrap-up is a great place to include them, and if you already have a relationship with some of your reviewers, you can always ask them if you can amend their review slightly to include any keywords you haven’t hit yet. The three steps for writing an Amazon book description that sells. #pubtips And there you have it! Work on your attention-grabbing headline, your enticing blurb, your final selling points and you’ve got yourself an ace book description in the making. It might take a few tries to get it right, but it's more than worth the investment.Of course, if you find that your book is still underperforming even after revising your description, consider working with a professional who specializes in blurb and metadata optimization. These experts understand all the trends and techniques that go into a perfect description and can really help maximize your book's potential! When it comes to Amazon, your blurb and metadata are so important that you don't want to take a chance - so when in doubt, go pro.Have you picked up any of your own tricks for an effective Amazon book description? Leave any questions or thoughts in the comments below!

Ethnicity Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Ethnicity - Essay Example These problems when studied under scientific observation can help in countering the problem. The ethnic groups are so diverse and widely distributed; this diversity leads to various ethnic conflicts and problems. Today, Ethnic conflict is recognized as one of the major social conflicts internationally. In order to address the problem properly and dig out its solution there is a need of clear understanding of theories and concepts that can solve the conflict. This paper observes the contemporary conceptual and theoretical debates that are related to the ethnic clash. It shows some advantages and disadvantages of the disputes that have prevailed in the recent times in the ethnic conflict analysis. Social sciences scholars view the concept in different ways; some of them consider it an entity that is objective and has its own characteristic boundaries, while other social science scholars view it from subjective aspect vulnerable to change. (Hussein) Viewed from the objective perspective, ethnic group is a category of the population of humans that shares some attributes as common. These attributes can be in common in the form of language, culture, origin etc. this common entity also proves as distinguished characteristic based on one common entity. Subjective perspective sees these groups as a flexible and changing phenomenon which can be doomed to the alteration through the interaction of an ethnic group. The prevailing circumstances determine the information and symbol of an ethnic group which is socially constructed as fluid identity. Another issue that makes the understanding of the concept difficult is the issue of having different derivatives for the same meaning. The world race, ethnicity and culture and their various derivatives are very familiar. People tend to confuse these terms with each other. In the absence of appropriate analytical vocabulary it is not able to

Emails Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Emails - Essay Example Use professional signatures, not elaborate ones. Signatures should contain information about yourself in relation to your position and department, and how you can be contacted (your cellphone number, extension number or direct line). Reply promptly and accordingly to messages that need a reply. This is to inform the sender that you have read and understood the message he has sent. However, be cautious when replying. Do not use the reply-to-all button if the information you are sending is for the sender only. Business e-mail addresses include the name of our company. Your signatures contain the name of our company. Be careful in sending out e-mails to people outside of your department and our company since our e-mail address is connected to the reputation of our company. You carry the name of your department and our company when sending out e-mails. You carry our reputation through sent messages. And it is important that we protect our company’s name so that our business will go on according to our mission, vision and goal. E-mails are part of doing our business. It is important that each one of us uses it with care and responsibility since it shows a glimpse of the policies and the communication style we have in our company. This policy serves as a reminder for everyone using e-mails. I hope that this would be a start of creating a new and more professional way of writing, sending out and replying to our e-mails. If you have any questions or clarifications, please do not hesitate to send back a reply. Emphasizing the importance of professionalism in using e-mails is the focal point of the policy. Since the e-mail is used as a major form of communication in companies, it is important to emphasize that it should be used with care. It is important to consider the reader and how he will react to an e-mail message by determining the appropriate language (Jerz & Bauer, 2008). Quality is

Measuring and Managing Customer Relationships Essay Example for Free

Measuring and Managing Customer Relationships Essay Some companies have highly sophisticated analytic systems that allow them to estimate these parameters based on the demographic characteristics of a potential or newly-acquired customer. The analytics help guide the companies’ promotion strategies and campaigns to attract customers with the highest expected lifetime value. For example, RBC Financial Group in Canada uses an analytic model of a customer’s future profitability based on age, tenure with the bank, number of products and services already used at the bank, and the customer’s potential to purchase additional products and services, grow account balances, and generate fee-based income. 1 The bank assigns a personal account representative to its estimated high lifetime value customers, ensures that their phone calls get picked up quickly, and provides them with ready access to credit at attractive terms. 6-31The net promoter score is likely to have the greatest predictive power for repeat purchases and growth in business-to-customer settings where customers have frequent interactions with companies. The score is likely to have the least predictive power in business-to-business settings where purchasing decisions are made by highly sophisticated professionals. In this case, it is better to ask, â€Å"How likely is it that you will continue to purchases products or services from Company X? † CASES 6-32The responses below are based on â€Å"Survival Strategies: After Cost Cutting, Companies Turn Toward Price Increases,† by Timothy Aeppel, The Wall Street Journal (September 18, 2002, p. A1). (a)Jergens’ president based the price on what he determined to be the cost of producing the order of 10 odd-sized fasteners from scratch. The cost included setup for the odd size and overtime labor. The company actually produced the odd-sized fasteners by producing full-size fasteners and then shortening 10. This method was less costly than setting up the equipment to run a small batch of the required odd size. (b)Goodyear had been rewarding its sales force based on volume, providing an incentive for the sales force to deeply discount prices to large distributors. The discounts were so substantial that the large distributors could resell the tires to smaller distributors (even with transportation costs to other regions), reducing Goodyear’s sales at higher prices to smaller distributors. Goodyear responded by cutting the discounts to large distributors, removing discount approval authority from the sales force and transferring it to a â€Å"tactical pricing group† that determines whether Goodyear can profitably match a competitor’s prices. Goodyear also modified its sales force bonus scheme to include a â€Å"revenue per tire† metric. (c)Emerson discovered that customers were willing to pay about 20% more than Emerson’s initially proposed cost-based price of $2,650 for a new compact sensor. Emerson priced the sensor at $3,150. Note that the article does not provide information on how Emerson determined product costs that it used as a basis for its markups. A traditional cost system is more likely to undercost a low-volume or customized product because it allocates manufacturing support costs to products based on unit-level drivers. An activity-based costing system more accurately assigns costs based on resource usage. (d)Wildeck, â€Å"a maker of metal guard rails, mezzanines and material lifts for factories and warehouses,† promoted packages that included installing its products. The installations bring higher profit than parts catalog sales. Wildeck responded to a competitor’s lower-priced storage-rack protector by developing its own â€Å"lite† version and pricing it much lower than the competitor’s price. When customers called about purchasing the lite version, they were informed of the benefits of the original version, and most of these customers bought the original version. An accurate costing system, such as a good activity-based costing system that includes both manufacturing and nonmanufacturing costs of providing goods and services to customers, provides reasonably precise information to managers for making decisions about the mix of products and services to offer to customers and prices to charge in order to generate the desired level of profitability. (e)Union Pacific introduced a minimum price that was higher than a third of its customers paid. The company was not concerned if it lost these customers because customers who were paying higher prices would fill up the newly free space. Dropping unprofitable customers will not lead to an immediate increase in profit if the associated capacity-related costs are committed costs and the resources cannot be put to other profitable use.

English Language and Literature in the Middle ages Essay -- essays pap

English Language and Literature in the Middle ages English Society of the Middle Ages saw many developments and new trends, but none so plainly as the developments witnessed in the Language and Literature of that time. It began with the Norman Conquest: eloquent french words substituted for the â€Å"harsh† saxon equivalents, primarily in the upper levels of society. Literature began to reflect these changes in the language, and continued to evolve throughout the Renissance. Together, these aspects helped define the Middle Ages. The Norman Conquest took place in 1066 with the death of King Edward. William of Normandy, later to be reffered to as â€Å"The Conquerer†, fought King Harold in order to claim the crown in Britian. Succeeding, William integrated Norman life into the Old English culture, concentrating in the higher courts and plitical scene. This integration of the Norman culture then filtered down to the underclass. The developmental trends of the English Language can be clearly seen in the literature of the time. Geoffrery Chaucer, who’s works were a precursor to t...

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These programs cover the range of management issues from traditional MBA functional areas to the development of strategic visioning skills. Other sources of management development activities include raining vendors, consultants, and professional associations. The principal advantages of externally based programs are as follows: They expose managers to the current thinking and theory in management. They remove organizational constraints in exploring new approaches. They allow interchange of ideas among managers from different organizational backgrounds.They cost less per person than internally developed programs. The benefits of the two types of development actives per the notes from week SIS'S lecture that would affect employee performance within a management training program are as follows: Job rotation Helps employee development by perhaps providing an alternative career path Gives employees diverse skills, and increases their flexibility within the organization Higher productivity , greater creativity, and an energize work force are all possible outcomes.Team Building Improves group effectiveness Improve decision making Improves interaction with others The two effects of employee development from the scenario are increased productivity and employee retention. XX, B. B. A. , HARM â€Å"Managers' Development† Please respond to the following: Identify two to three typical roles and / or characteristics that set managers apart from rank, ND-file staff. Then, develop one or two instructional strategies to address the identified roles / characteristics within comprehensive management training.Predict two trends in management education training, and analyze their potential effects on the overall training and development field. According to text quoted directly from the course material on chapter 11 pages 411-412, the two types of characteristics that set managers apart from rank and file staff are as follows: CONCEPTUAL KNOWLEDGE AND SKILLS conceptual knowled ge and skills are the mental abilities required to analyze and diagnose complex situations and sake correct decisions. They are essential and common to all (or nearly all) management positions.The following requirements are most frequently cited: Planning and Decision Making Being aware Of decision-making alternatives and being skilled in their use Setting priorities Forecasting events Integrating organizational policies, procedures, and objectives Adapting to legal, social, and political environments Organizing Developing appropriate organizational structures Coordinating separate but interrelated activities Scheduling activities to reach time, efficiency, and quality goals Allocating sources to maximize return on investment.Controlling Knowing how to apply various control systems Developing control systems Developing and supporting initiatives Developing policy, procedures, and objectives INTERPERSONAL KNOWLEDGE AND SKILLS Interpersonal knowledge and skills, often called â€Å"hu man† skills, refer to the ability to work with, understand, and motivate others, both individually and in groups. As Midwinter's research indicates, managers spend most Of their time interacting with others. It is primarily the managers interpersonal skills and knowledge of human behavior that determine her success in influencing others and developing information networks.Examples of knowledge and skill elements in this category include the following: Understanding individual differences Motivating subordinates Developing subordinates Building a work team and providing team leadership Managing conflict constructively Adjusting behavior to fit situational demands (behavioral flexibility) Presenting a position in a compelling fashion (persuasion) Listening effectively Showing awareness of social cues Maintaining objectivity in social situations Globalization may enable more leadership programsSome employers have global aspect in its leadership development strategies, but many or ganizations find they must remain competitive or lose out in an increasingly integrated, ruthless global marketplace. Organizations will embrace development and training to enable workforce loyalty. Organizations are taking on the challenge of employee turnover and with this, senior leadership will look for HER groups to form a strategic relationship with high quality better performing employee and embrace training and development as a source to better engagement and retention. Compensating Expatriates† Please respond to the following:Analyze the issues and considerations that impact expatriate compensation to determine the single biggest challenge in setting compensation. Provide specific examples to support your response. From the e-Activity, determine which cultural characteristics should be considered when establishing a compensation program for a U. S. Company planning to locate in the country you researched. Provide specific examples to support your response. Use the Int ernet or the Strayed Library to research a foreign country of your choice (excluding Canada), with a focus on that country cultural characteristics.Be prepared to discuss. According to the course material, expatriates are U. S. Citizens employed in U. S. Companies with work assignments outside the United States. Selection of Expatriates There is inflated cost to employers wishing to hire expatriates that can have an overall effect to their bottom line. It would be essential from a business perspective, especially considering the fact that my organization would be investing thousands of dollars On relocating an expatriate and their family temporarily. Expatriates can be screened mentally for mental competence to adapt in a foreign culture.An expatriates failed assignment in another country can be as high as $250,000. 00 and the failure rate can be high due to inability to the works family to adjust, the worker's motivation Of an international assignment, unrealistic expectation, rese ntment or lack of support from home internationals. Compensation Compensation and other forms of pay would be something that employers HER teams would have to also consider. Compensation does not only mean direct salary for work performed. Of course tax equalization systems so that income can be comparable to what pay would be in the home country.A worker relocating to a country for long term assignment of two years would want to be compensated because they will have to relearn customs, cultures in addition to being away from friends and loved ones. Workers returning to their home country with old positions and status may not be the same as their assignments in other countries. This could cause hardship for the expatriate returning back to the US. From the e-Activity the foreign country that researched was the United Kingdom. The cultural characteristics that should be considered when establishing compensation programs for a U.S many planning to locate to the UK are as follows: Cons umer Prices Consumer prices in goods and services are about 33% higher than in the united States which can cause a significant impact on an organizations bottom dollar. For example, an average basic monthly utility bill for electricity, heating, water and garbage for a two bedroom flat in the UK will be about $248. 39 USED or 148. 38 GAP, verses in the US which it would be an average of $1 61. 88 which is up 53. 52%. This is something that organizations will have to consider. Pay and Benefits Outside the united States† Please respond to the following:Analyze the differences between minimum pay regulations and retirement systems in the U. S. And the other countries discussed in this chapter to determine how these differences affects the ability of U. S. Companies to compete worldwide. Provide specific examples to support your response. Select the minimum pay and retirement practices of one of the countries discussed in Chapter 15. Then, determine the likely result if those prac tices were adopted by the U. S. Provide your rationale. Minimum Wage According to the course material chapter 1 5, page 367, France does have a minimum wage.The minimum wage applies to all salaried workers, including those working in both the public and private businesses of an industrial or commercial nature. The minimum wage applies to workers in commercial and industrial professions, agricultural professions utilizing salaried workers as defined in the Rural Code, liberal professions, home workers, domestic workers, doormen, nursery school assistants, union personnel, personnel in insurance companies and social security companies that are not public bodies, and personnel in associations or organizations governed by private law regardless Of their makeup or objectives.In 2008, the wage was set at EURO 8. 71 per hour ($LSI 2. 25, approximately). Retirement Effective August 21, 2003, the government mandated that employees must work longer before they may receive full government pens ion. The increase from 40 to 41 years will take effect by 2012. Retirees will also be prohibited from receiving their pensions while working on a part-time basis because the pension amount is set at a generous level (I. E. , 85 percent of annual earnings prior to retirement). This differs from the US North America where minimum wage laws apply to all workers employed by and employer.As far as retirement, in order to qualify for social security the age of 65 has to be reached. As disused in chapter 15, page 362, the minimum wage is 49. 50 to 52. 30 pesos depending on the geographical area which is equivalent to $3. 83 to $4. 04 per hour in the US. The likely result of such a mediocre minimum wage being implemented in the IIS during these times would be economic catastrophe, and the rebirth of another great depression. If US workers were paid only $3. 83 an hour, then every minimum wage worker would be considered in a category of extreme poverty. Food stamps, welfare, Medicaid,WICK, d epartment of public housing organizations and other forms of government public assistance would see an astronomical inflation of qualifying applicants who work full time. This will of course cause more Of a deficit in our national debt which could cause a rise in taxes. In addition, there would be a spike in crimes like robbery, larceny, fraud, and embezzlement which will require more government resources as far as law enforcement and medical personnel. Great post! You and share some of the same thoughts in regards to the two types of development activities that would affect employee performance thin a management training program.In fact, think it would be great for employee performance overall. When I think of job rotation, think of a working world of variety and high morale. I think that this method of training should be something that many employers should adopt in order to empower their workforce, and remain competitive in the business market. I agree with you that the effects o f employee development are return on investment and improved employee performance. In addition to improving employee performance it would also benefit the organization in which they worked for. XX, ABA HARM Awesome post! Ere with you when you state a distinction exists between those who have the authors ¶/ to devise, implement and control strategic and operational policies (top and middle managers) and those whose task is simply to ensure that such policies are carried out by the rank-and-file employees of an organization (first level managers/supervisors). I think that every level of management has an importance within the business market. In addition you're rational of trends in education being multimedia is dead on. I think multimedia is the new generation of training and development.. Jennifer, Another great post!I defiantly agree that the biggest challenge for expatriates having to leave their families for an extended amount of time to do an assignment in another country. Jus t to add to what you were mentioned in your post about expatriates leave causing stress and strain to their family members, I think this is especially true for the our US military. Say this because many Of our soldiers are placed into hazardous and dangerous territories and war zones such as many parts of the Middle East. You and I both researched the Europe. I picked the I-J because have always considered living there.On part includes that fact the UK is an Americanizes entry. Although the laws and culture is different, they speak English just like Americans, but with an accent. Overseas assignment in my opinion is unaided for married people of ones with close net families as it causes emotional hardships. Lisa, Great Post! I agree with you that other countries minimum pay regulations and retirement systems it will not affect the ability of U. S. Companies. Think that minimum wage will always be an issue, and it will be considered mediocre forever because it will never reach the le vel of inflation or cost of living.