Does Suffering Lead to Wisdom Includes Discus Thrower the School and the Yellow Wallpaper

Diltej Singh Does Suffering lead to wisdom? Through life if there is one thing that everyone sees, it’s suffering. We all have seen it, if you haven’t you will in time. Even the short stories that we have read this year we have also seen it in them. It’s hard to see people go through that suffering, but do people gain any wisdom from that suffering. Through the short stories that we have read this year, we have seen on many occasions that it did not.One of those times is in the short story ‘The Discus Thrower’ we see that the man is in much pain, and clearly is suffering and yet he is mean to the nurse and makes them do things that they shouldn’t have to do. Another story that had suffering was ‘The Yellow Wallpaper’ we see her suffer and not once do we see her stop and think about what she is doing why. We just see her going crazy. The last story we see suffering is in ‘The School’, we see that theirs is constant dea th in the story they don’t know what to do after so they keep buy and getting new things to replace the feelings they had they had for the animals, people, and plants.So they aren’t gaining anything The man in the Discus thrower is clearly suffering he his â€Å"skin is not brown from the sun. It rusted, rather, in the last stage of containing the vile repose within. And the blue eyes are frosted, looking inward like the windows of snowbound cottage. He is blind. The man is also legless; his right leg was missing from the mid-thigh down and left from below the knee. † With all these disabilities, he is still is asks the doctor to get his shoes â€Å"with the least amount of irony. † You wonder why he asking for them even though he has no feet.He makes the nurse clean eggs that he threw at the wall and he does this every single day. You expect someone in this situation to be more caring, looking at life in different perspectives, think about something diff erent they should have done and maybe things would have turned out in a different way. But instead we see him act different then we would see anyone else in his place. Then we see the nurse cheering and then we find out that he died. He leaves behind nothing but bad experience and memories for the nurses. He created nothing but a bad experience for himself. Throughout this whole story we don’t see any form of wisdom once.The women from yellow wallpaper might not be suffering physically but is suffering mentally. She’s told that she can’t do anything creative or fun. All she can do is lay in bed. Slowly she is suffering, she is mentally warring down. She we see her going mentally insane. She starts staring at the wall and see shapes and then eventually she sees a figure in the wall. At the end of the story she goes crazy by locking the door and tells her husband that the key is at the front door. And when he comes and he faints and she tore as much wallpaper as s he could and she herself was on the on ground crawling’s.As we see that she goes insane and she gets no wisdom. We ended of her crawling over him so we know anything can happen after that. We see that in the school they clearly have lost many things to death and they don’t try to figure out why everything is dying but keep replacing them with other things just to get the emotions and feelings back. In the story trees, salamander, tropical fish, Edgar, moms and dads, Matthew and Tiny die for one reason or another, they one time the students ask where all died things go he says I don’t know. Then they say is death that which gives meaning to life.They go into a serious conversation and then they hear a knock on the door and a gerbil walks in, the children cheer wildly. We see that children don’t gain anything from these deaths. As we in none of these characters get and wisdom after they have been see suffering. Most people now don’t even get wisdom f rom when they suffer. They live life going through pain like the man from the discus thrower; go crazy like the women did from the yellow wallpaper. Or go through life not realizing, or simple try to keep what they might lose, like the kids in the short story school.

Using Literature as a Gateway to Critical Thinking

Sometimes, the groans can be heard clear across a campus, and they resonate in memory for years. When a professor assigns a text for reading, anything from the poem â€Å"Just to say† by William Carlos Williams to Herman Melville’s â€Å"Moby Dick,† the students are rapid to react as if they have been handed a death sentence. In some cases, this is because they have so much their reading on their plates that they just feel overwhelmed, but many times, it is a matter of their previous failures to grasp anything meaningful from a literature assignment. This later is the primary point of importance in continuing to distribute the literature. Many university students lack a fundamental grasp on the tools they require to read and write critically, which in turns leaves them without the ability to think and reason in logical and critical terms. The influence of critical thinking on the success of a student at the university level is undeniable.   It will influence how well they comprehend the texts in front of them. It will affect the way in which they can relate one text to another across classroom and semester borders. It will also have a great effect in the way in which they can communicate their ideas to both their peers and their instructors. The way in which a student learns to read and produce written work will be the fundamental core of their language and communication abilities without regard to area of specialization. This learning begins very early in childhood. Learning to read as a child one develops a sense that the author is the beginning and end of the page, and the words used are there for the sole purpose of the surface story. Once a student is capable of surpassing this stage and he or she begins to consider the works on a deeper philosophical level the real learning begins. The student will begin reading for more than simple content and an entire new world will open up full of possibilities. Many students will never learn to recognize the deeper or more subtle meaning in many of the texts unless they are first exposed to it in literature.   Poetry is exceptionally useful for this purpose. The allusions, worked in through metaphor, simile, and symbolism, give a deeper insight to the position of the author from the outset. The famous lines of â€Å"This is Just to Say† by William Carlos Williams provides an excellent example for this type of inquiry: I have eaten the plums that were in the icebox and which you were probably saving for breakfast Forgive me they were delicious so sweet and so cold If five students are asked what the narrator is really speaking about, the instructor will likely get five, or more, differing opinions. The poem may be about real plums.   The poem may be about the consumption of personal space or time.   The poem may be speaking on the conceit that obtaining forgiveness for acting may be earier to obtain than permission. These tools allow the student to understand there is a greater depth to the approach than the simple words on the page as a literal expression of a real object, place, or person. At the same time, these keys offer a new light on the author’s angle of approach. Knowing where the author is coming from helps to weed out fallacious arguments, personal vendettas, and even suppositions masquerading as facts. While others ideas can help a reader to formulate their own intellectually sound opinions, those ideas will only be as firmly grounded as the foundation of facts they are based on. The number of times that something is presented as a fact, only to turn out to be an opinion may really shock and surprise many of the students who are used to opening a text for a class and consuming what is before them for regurgitation. This technique is particularly well suited to high schools where the teacher to student ratio often precludes discussion. When the students then have to begin seeking out secondary sources and turn to the internet for information they will have to confront decisions on what is ‘good information’ versus ‘bad information.’ They will not even be able to be certain that newspaper articles and TV shows presented as news are giving them the honest facts. Looking at headlines on the internet, with a tool such as Google News, you can instantly see how word choices affect the entire tone of a story and change meaning dramatically even when reporting on the same incident. By giving students the tools they need to think critically, through the exploration of literature, the universities will begin to overcome the most common objections to much of the assigned reading. These students will begin, and continue, to question even those facts and ideas that appeal to them. This will give them the ability to construct strong and fair opinions of their own. It will lead them to be more cautious when writing papers for any number of disciplines. Not only will they have the moral stamina to stand up for their opinions, they will be certain that their opinions and statements are both fully realized and backed up with good documentation. The trouble with literature in the classrooms is not in the amount of time spent on literature itself, but on the lack of time spent on discussing the literature to bring about these changes to the culpabilities of the students as critical thinkers. Just reading it is not good enough.   In order to derive a benefit which will deepen the experience of education, and therefore contribute more effectively to the community, the time must be taken to teach explication as well as construct. Defining the importance of literature for the students and then perusing the matter if educating with it as a matter of common course is imperative to the end result of a well educated individual. These individuals will return more to society than what they take from it. In order the continue to chip away at the disparity between classes, races, and even genders, it is important to continue to train students who will think and reason in logical and critical terms through the ability to read and write critically. Literature is as imperative as resource as the air they breathe.

Using Play Activities to Increase Comprehension

For my undertaking I wanted to concentrate on an country that involved some kind of pupil play/interaction. I teach Pre-K so most of what my pupils do is through geographic expedition utilizing haptic procedures. My pupils truly bask books and I can state when I ‘m reading that they are wholly engaged in what ‘s to come. Through observation of my pupils I besides know that they enjoy moving out assorted things while they are at centres. Since some of my childs seem to hold problem with comprehension and retrieving cardinal information from the book I thought that conveying the book to life might be helpful for those fighting.Background/Class Information:I teach at SGA Elementary School in Sardis, GA which is located in Burke County. This school has grades Pre-K through 5th. There is 1 principal, 1 frailty principal, 1 instructional coordinator, 1 counsellor, 1 medical helper, 1 office director and 2 office forces. The school is comprised of 33 schoolrooms, including the r esources: art, physical instruction, and music. Grades Pre-K through 3rd all have a paraprofessional in each room and 4th and 5th portion a drifting paraprofessional between the grades/classes. This school is in a really rural portion of the county. Income degrees are really low and most parents suffer from high unemployment. If parents do work it is for a low paying/minimum pay occupation. Because of this factor all pupils are served a free breakfast and tiffin everyday at school. Pre-k besides receives a bite at the terminal of the twenty-four hours that is provided by our lunchroom. At this school there are 401 entire pupils. There are a sum of 186 females with the cultural dislocation including: 3 Hispanic, 4 multi-racial, 71 White, and 108 Black. For the males, there are a sum of 215 including: 4 Hispanic, 4 Multi-racial, 77 White, and 130 Black. Since we do hold several households in our school that are Latino the school recognizes that there is a linguistic communication barrier. We have a transcriber who can be used in order to assist do communicating easier for them every bit good as ourselves. Most households have household members who can assist and they will come to events in order to help them. In my schoolroom I have 1 Latino pupil. She began the twelvemonth talking broken English and has now progressed, but still gets hung up on a few thoughts. Her male parent speaks really small English with a strong speech pattern and her female parent speaks no English at all. When he needs to talk to me or I need to talk to him about his kid they prefer to utiliz e their girl to assist with interlingual rendition. The parents said that made them more comfy to utilize her so I have ne'er had to use the services of our transcriber, but the linguistic communication barrier truly has n't been excessively large of an issue. In my schoolroom I have 20 pupils. It consists of 11 misss and 9 male childs. For the misss I have 3 White, 7 Black, and 1 Hispanic. I have 6 White male childs and 3 Black male childs. In my schoolroom it is myself and a paraprofessional. She has been in a Pre-K schoolroom for 5 old ages. We reasonably much have an equal distribution as to what we do, how we do it, and how things get accomplished. I teach the bulk of the clip, but there are times in which she will learn calendar. She ever assists when we are in a big group puting and making an activity during that clip. We portion a joint function in carry oning little group. I have created groups based on degree. We decide what needs the pupils have and seek to come up with activities to assist them pattern so they can get down acquiring better at them. This is the country in which I can see the pupils profiting from the most because they are able to acquire our one-on-one attending and we, in bend, are able to truly concentrate on them and assist them where they struggle. Or if we see that they can make a undertaking with easiness we give them something to dispute them. Needs are tweaked harmonizing to the groups .Action Research Question:The focal point of my undertaking was based on the inquiry: if after reading narratives aloud to my pupils I give them different avenues to research the narratives during centre clip will this assist them develop a better apprehension for what is read? As I mentioned earlier, I knew this was the country I needed to concentrate on since some of my pupils had problem with comprehension. I do n't cognize really many childs who do n't bask playing either so integrating it with something active seemed best. Even while carry oning my research I did n't hold any countries of my inquiry that needed to be changed.Supporting Datas:Description:Students ‘ chief exposure to books in a pre-k schoolroom is to nursery rimes and authoritative narratives. Nursery rhymes present the footing for a narrative: a character, an event and an stoping ( GSU, 2008 ) . Students besides gain understanding through the beat and repeat. With authoritative narratives, pupils are able to larn the difference between fact and phantasy every bit good as understanding the construction of a book ( GSU, 2008 ) . This manner, there is a clear beginning, center and terminal for the pupils. A instructor should learn one rime a hebdomad, highlight one a month, integrate a rime into a unit and promote kids to move out the narrative or rime by supplying chances at big group and/or centre clip ( GSU, 2008 ) . To advance narrative comprehension and enjoyment, pulling and treatment are widely practiced and accepted in simple schools, but a 3rd less frequently adept manner to follow up reading to kids is dramatic drama ( Galda, 1982 ) . Children connect books to play by actively seeking for book-related playthings and props in order to back up comprehension through set uping a more concrete appreciation on thoughts. Book-related make-believe drama represents a richer method of supervising pupils ‘ apprehension of narratives, traveling beyond the typical inquiries and simpl e retellings ( Welsch, 2008 ) . A focal point on drama around familiar narratives and literature capitalizes on the plot lines that define pretend strategies ( Welsch, 2008 ) . Literacy related activities allow kids to polish their turning constructs of the maps of written linguistic communication and supply valuable, extremely meaningful pattern with emergent reading and authorship ( Christie, 1991 ) . Within an early childhood schoolroom, book-related make-believe drama could be considered an equal chance experience, in which every pupil can set on the chapeau, pick up the fork, travel in the house, and enter the universe of the narrative ( Welsch, 2008 ) . Recognizing that a kid acquires linguistic communication through active engagement and that literature provides rich linguistic communication theoretical accounts, storytelling and retellings is an first-class technique for furthering growing in linguistic communication and increasing comprehension ( Biegler, 1998 ) .Implementa tion Ideas:â€Å" Preschool and kindergarten schoolrooms, even those specifically designed as intercessions for kids at hazard of reading troubles, must be designed to back up cognitive, linguistic communication, and societal development, including exciting verbal interaction and enriching kids ‘s vocabularies. Play affords kids chances to develop physical, societal, and cognitive abilities that will function them subsequently in non-play state of affairss † ( Christensen and Kelly, 2003 ) . There are a figure of things that can be done in a schoolroom to increase a pupil ‘s comprehension. The chief manner is through dramatic drama. Using props and other stuffs makes the narratives come to life. Teachers can first supply a assortment of rereading experiences: spouse reading, Readers Theatre, echo reading, choral reading, shared reading, single reading ( Hicks, 2009-2010 ) . All of these things help with eloquence and increase comprehension. Play activities are the centre of immature pupils ‘ zones of proximal development, where new cognition is gained through societal interactions with more competent participants and, while feigning, pupils translate their perceptual experiences of the existent universe into the actions that create and define the universe of drama ( Welsch, 2008 ) . On their ain and by their ain choosing, pupils may utilize this type of drama to research the most cardinal intent of literacy, the building of significance ( Welsch, 2008 ) . High-level drama is widely recognized as an instructional scheme that builds linguistic communication, vocabulary, and underlying cognitive accomplishments necessary for kids to go successful readers and authors ( Christensen and Kelly, 2003 ) . Children pattern verbal and narrative accomplishments that are of import to the development of reading comprehension and instructors can help the linguistic communication and literacy development through high-ranking drama in the undermentione d ways: 1. ) triping or developing kids ‘s background cognition for the drama scene, 2. ) scaffolding the building of scenarios and retellings, 3. ) going involved in drama scenes to steer the kids ‘s attending and larning through mold and interaction, 4. ) supplying the appropriate sum of unequivocal and narrative props, and 5. ) supplying clip and infinite for high-ranking drama ( Christensen and Kelly, 2003 ) . Research has demonstrated that use of the schoolroom drama environment through physical agreement of drama centres, inclusion of literacy-related stuffs ( pencils, paper, typewriter, etc. ) , and dramatic drama props can impact the quality and assortment of a kid ‘s unwritten linguistic communication usage, battle in literacy behaviours, and narrative comprehension ( Monson and Nielsen, 1996 ) . Some narratives lend themselves to the usage of marionettes, felt-boards and still others can be developed as prop narratives which make storytelling semen alive, exciting the imaginativeness and affecting the hearer ( Biegler, 1998 ) .Research Findingss:Assorted surveies have been done as to whether or non these signifiers of active engagement work. Analysiss of cases where drama was related to the significances of the books the kids had read indicated that each case of book-related dramatic drama could be described in footings of six belongingss including ( a ) the range of drama, ( B ) the type of connexion constructed between books and drama books, ( degree Celsius ) kids ‘s intents for drama, ( vitamin D ) the position or point of position explored, ( vitamin E ) the mark systems used and their relation to book reading events, and ( degree Fahrenheit ) the sorts of societal interaction involved ( Rowe, 1998 ) . Rowe ( 1998 ) besides noted that analyses demonstrated that the kids created direct linkages between their book and drama experiences. Children ‘s book-to-play connexions involved: linking books to the universe of obj ects by turn uping and keeping book-related playthings and props, personal response to books through dramatic passages of feelings and actions, take parting in book-reading events through the character of a make-believe character, aesthetic reenactments of book events, screening out the writer ‘s significances through drama, character surveies and utilizing book subjects and characters as springboards for personal enquiries about the universe ( Roskos and Christie, 2000 ) . Authors Pellegrini and Galda noted the importance of the equal interaction and the good facets of make-believe as lending to pupils ‘ increased ability to understand the narrative ( Welsch, 2008 ) . The Committee on the Prevention of Reading Difficulties in Young Children clearly saw high-ranking drama as an instructional scheme that Fosters literacy development and future reading success in which kids reflect on state of affairss through dramatisation ( Christensen and Kelly, 2003 ) . In a survey don e by Deborah Rowe she suggested that there are a figure of features of the drama observed in her survey that may hold provided both motive and chance for the immature kids ‘s literacy acquisition: connexion, ownership, flexibleness, openness, multiple mark systems, transmediation and community ( Rowe, 1998 ) . The consequences from Bieglers ‘ survey was that kids exhibited greater comprehension and narrative memory by utilizing dramatic narrative reenactment than those who reconstructed narratives in instructor led direction and art activities and narrative related comprehension was most efficaciously facilitated by prosecuting in fantasy drama and retellings ( Biegler, 1998 ) . Jodi Welsch wrote an article in 2008 entitled, Playing within and beyond the narrative: encouraging book-related make-believe drama. In this article there are many good points covering with pupils playing and groking information. Welsch ( 2008 ) stated that kids connect books to play by actively seeking for book-related playthings and props in order to back up comprehension through set uping a more concrete appreciation on thoughts. Book-related make-believe drama represents a richer method of supervising pupils ‘ apprehension of narratives, traveling beyond the typical inquiries and simple retellings because a focal point on drama around familiar narratives and literature capitalizes on the plot lines that define pretend strategies ( Welsch, 2008 ) . Two writers, Pellegrini and Galda are quoted in Welsch ( 2008 ) observing the importance of the equal interaction and the good facets of make-believe drama as lending to pupils ‘ increased ability to understand the narrative . Play activities are the centre of immature pupils ‘ zones of proximal development, where new cognition is gained through societal interactions with more competent participants and, while feigning, pupils translate their perceptual experiences of the existent universe into the actions that create and define the universe of drama ( Welsch, 2008 ) . On their ain and by their ain choosing, pupils may utilize this type of drama to research the most cardinal intent of literacy, the building of significance ( Welsch, 2008 ) .Plan and Timeline:Execution of this scheme took topographic point over a 10 twenty-four hours span in my schoolroom from February 1st through the 12th. I taught a unit on nursery rimes one hebdomad and faery tales/tall narratives during the other hebdomad. I eased my category into the alterations during our unit clip as we discussed the narratives. The manner it was introduced to my pupils and carried out is as follows: -Monday ( 2/1 ) : The unit for the hebdomad is Nursery Rhymes. I introduced what a baby's room rime was, elements that it contained, and talked about riming words. -Tuesday ( 2/2 ) : I read â€Å" Humpty Dumpty † to my category. We talked about all the words that sounded likewise in the verse form. They so did an activity where they drew what Humpty Dumpty might ‘ve been if he had n't fallen off of the wall. I added this felt board narrative to our marionette centre in the loft. -Wednesday ( 2/3 ) : Today we talked about â€Å" Mary had a Small Lamb. † I foremost played the vocal and most of the childs recognized it and sang along. I so read it to them and added the book and music to the hearing centre. -Thursday ( 2/4 ) : I talked about the baby's room rime, â€Å" Jack be Agile. † I had a little taper holder with a taper in it and I had my childs take bends stating the rime and jumping over the candle stick. After the lesson was over I put the candle holder in our dramatic drama country. -Friday ( 2.5 ) : The concluding baby's room rime we covered was â€Å" 5 Small Ducks. † We discussed how this utilised math and numbering backwards/down. As we read the narrative I had 5 pupils keeping a duck and each clip one went off I had the pupil sit down. I besides played this on a Cadmium and the pupils took turns moving it out with the ducks. The Cadmium was added to the music centre. Five ducks were placed in music as props and the other ducks were placed in math as manipulatives. -Monday ( 2/8 ) : This started the hebdomad in which I introduced fairy narratives and tall narratives. I started out by giving different scenarios and the pupils had to assist me calculate out if it was the truth or a story. I so explained the elements of these types of narratives and had the pupils create one of their ain through a drawing. My paraprofessional and myself dictated their responses. -Tuesday ( 2/9 ) : I started by reading Cinderella. I wanted pupils to assist me foretell what would go on following since I figured this was a familiar narrative to them. I added a Cinderella costume and a suit coat to the dramatic drama country. -Wednesday ( 2/10 ) : Today I read â€Å" The Elvess and the Shoemaker. † After discoursing the book I had pupils pull what they would make to assist people if they were charming elves. My paraprofessional and myself dictated their responses. -Thursday ( 2/11 ) : â€Å" Small Red Riding Hood † was discussed today. I talked about aliens and asked pupils if they thought this could truly go on. The book and tape for this narrative was placed in the hearing centre. -Friday ( 2/12 ) : To stop the hebdomad I read â€Å" The 3 Small Pigs. † I had the pupils help me foretell what would go on to each house and each hog as we went through the book. I added gum elastic hog noses to the dramatic drama country every bit good as the felt board narrative to the marionette centre in the loft. -*All books from both hebdomads were kept out on my bookcase so pupils could utilize them during independent clip or if they chose the reading centre.Consequences:During this procedure I monitored pupils as I read and as they chose centres. While watching them as I read I looked to see if they were reacting to voices, certain parts of the book and if they were replying the inquiries I asked at different points throughout reading. This helped me cognize right off the chiropteran if they were groking or non. This besides helped me do note of who I could watch during centres to see if they utilized any of the points I placed around the room after reading the books. I was surprised because the bulk of those that seemed lost during me reading the book frequently selected reading or hearing and selected those books we had talked about. I could hear them reading out loud and utilizing the images in the book to assist steer them so they could state what was go oning. They would acquire excit ed when they would acknowledge that was something I had shared with them and it seemed to intend more to them than merely picking a book at random. It was amusing to watch pupils at the hearing centre excessively because they would hold their earphones on and be in the quiet zone, but all of a sudden you would hear them get down stating the narrative out loud. In the dramatic drama country all of the props and costumes were the first things anyone grabbed. There were a few who would set on the Cinderella costume and say that she was a princess and drama in it, but there were others who would have on it and truly acquire into moving out the narrative. I do n't hold many male childs that go to the dramatic drama country because aside from dress-up apparels it is largely used by the misss as the housekeeping country. There was one male child that struggles to grok narratives and he selected dramatic drama everyday after we read Cinderella and he would travel over at that place and set on the suit and feign to be Prince Charming. He did a great occupation at reciting assorted things that happened so he truly benefited from the excess support. The last country I added things in was our marionette centre in the loft. The pupils truly enjoyed the felt board narratives. I have had felt board stories up at that place all twelvemonth and I can merely remember two times in which they have been used. After reading the narratives and adding them to that centre everyone that went up at that place used the pieces to recite the narratives. It was incredible to me since it had seldom been used in the yesteryear that they would utilize it every bit much as they did and every bit efficaciously as they did. One thing that truly stood out to me was pupils who would choose the authorship and art centres. While in these centres about all of the pupils over the two hebdomad span brought me something they had created and told me it was a certain portion from one of the books we had di scussed. I thought that was neat because even though I had n't added anything new for them to utilize they still utilized the stuffs they had to demo their enjoyment and comprehension of the narratives.Artifacts:Throughout this procedure I did several things in order to roll up informations and do observations. As I mentioned in the subdivision above, I foremost watched the pupils as I read/introduced the book and made a mental note of who I was most funny to watch during halfway clip. Then during centre clip I circulated the room and listened to student treatments as they played. The bulk of them, at least for a part of the clip exhausted playing, related in some manner to the books we had discussed. If I saw pupils dressed up as a character, stating a felt board narrative or listening/reading one of the books we had talked about I would acquire my camera and snarl some images. I video recorded several pupils reciting nursery rhymes on the felt board every bit good as a group in dr amatic drama re-enacting the ball from â€Å" Cinderella. †Decision:I feel that this procedure was an utmost success and thoroughly replies a resonant yes to my research inquiry. I was really pleased at the overpowering response by my pupils to the props that were accessible to them. The chief intent of my end was to see if this helped more with comprehension and I can state that it truly did. I have several pupils who ca n't state me anything about a narrative after it is read and those are some of the 1s I focused on watching. They all, at some point or another, chose a centre and selected an activity within that centre entirely because they recognized it from our readings. All of them were able to state at least a portion of the narrative, if non all of a narrative, when utilizing the props. This is decidedly something that I will go on to make every bit much as possible in order to go on to assist those pupils who struggle to grok. For those that can grok good it will go on to function as added support for their content cognition.

Feminist and Womanist Criticism of African Literature: a Bibliography

Feminist and Womanist Criticism of African Literature: A Bibliography By Sharon Verba July 20, 1997 Those women who struggle without giving up hope, herald the impending change†¦ : change in attitude for both men and women as they evaluate and re-evaluate their social roles†¦. -Rosemary Moyana, â€Å"Men & Women† Rereading, willful misreading, and de- and re-coding are tools used in African literature and womanist or feminist discourse to challenge â€Å"canonized ‘literature'† that tends to black out Black and blanch out Woman. -Kofi Owusu, â€Å"Canons Under Siege† T]he collective effort has to emerge from the ranks of those whose life is theorized. -Sisi Maqagi, â€Å"Who Theorizes† Feminist criticism of African literatures is a steadily growing field. The following bibliography includes articles and essays in English and French which examine African literatures (fiction, poetry, drama and oral literature) from a feminist or womanist per spective. It does not include, unfortunately, criticism in other languages — such as Wolof, Xhosa, Zulu, Portuguese, German, or Arabic — due to my own inability to read those languages.Also, authors whose works are originally written in languages other than French or English, such as Ngugi wa Thiongo's plays and the novel, Devil on the Cross, and Nawal al Sa'dawi's works, may be under-represented in this bibliography, as criticism often tends to be written in the language of the work being addressed. The first sections of this essay will present overviews on two key issues for those interested in both feminism and African literatures: the current ebate over the role of feminist criticisms in addressing African literatures, and an examination of the changes which have developed over the past decade in the ways feminist criticism approaches African literatures. This examination will trace these changes from 1985-1996 by considering articles which represent the ongoing ev olution of feminist criticism in this field. Finally, this essay also includes a section which explains my methodology and sources in compiling the bibliography, and a section offering hints for future searches, especially of online indexes. Feminist Criticism and African LiteratureMany issues of concern to feminist/womanist thought are raised and addressed in these articles. (1) Among the issues taken up in the state of feminist theory and criticism are the importance of feminism as a literary critical method; the representation and mis-representation of women in literary texts; the education of women; the access of women to the economic means of survival; motherhood; women in the domestic sphere; women as part of their communities; women's role in politics and revolution; sexuality; and the direct treatment of women by men, and men by women.Underlying this array of specific interests are questions of gender in representation and of the reality or realities of life for women in Afr ica–past, present, and future. The arguments found in the articles in this bibliography present a multiplicity of views, a few of which may even be anti-feminist, but all of which make gender a basis of discussion, and all of which offer much for the consideration of feminist thought with respect to African literatures.The state of feminist literary criticism/thought in Africa â€Å"now† is the direct focus of several of the articles, although all of the articles could be said in some degree or another to be a part of this particular debate. I put â€Å"now† in quotations, because these articles cover a broad range of time–1980-1996– and those which focus on this particular topic present an evolving discourse. Two collections of essays in particular are noteworthy for their presentation of a range of ideas on feminism and literary criticism in Africa: Ngambika: Studies of Women in African Literature (1986) and South African Feminisms: Writing, Theo ry and Criticism 990-1994 (1995). Ngambika includes twenty articles which focus on the representation of women in African literature. Taken together the articles provide an invaluable overview of the types of feminist criticism being applied to African literatures in the mid 1980s, although most do not focus on the issue of feminism as a critical method. One essay in this collection proves a notable exception. In the collection's introductory essay Carole Boyce Davies(2) does write of the tension found in the works of many critics of African literatures, especially female critics.These critics, she says, work out of a growing awareness of the requirement to balance both â€Å"the need to liberate African peoples from neo-colonialism and other forms of race and class oppression, coupled with a respect for certain features of traditional African cultures,† and â€Å"the recognition that a feminist consciousness is necessary in examining the position of women in African societi es† (1).Davies then outlines the issues of women writers in Africa (including the relatively small number of women writers) and the presentation of women in fiction written by African men, as well as the development of an African feminist criticism. In her treatment of the latter concern, she lists four major areas which African feminist critics tend to address: the development of the canon of African women writers, the examination of stereotyped images of women in African literature, the study of African women writers and the development of an African female aesthetic, and the examination of women and the oral tradition (13-14).While Davies acknowledges the objections African women writers and critics have to the term â€Å"feminist† and discusses womanist theory, she focuses on the idea of a developing African feminist theory which will not only perform the balancing act mentioned at the beginning, but continue to address the major issues she has outlined. Seven years later, in the 1993 publication A History of Twentieth-Century African Literatures, Davies and Elaine Savory Fido contributed a chapter entitled â€Å"African Women Writers: A Literary History. In it, they examine African women writers and their writings, focusing especially on the styles and genres used by these writers. Included is a brief segment on â€Å"Feminism and African Women Writers† as well as a separate section on â€Å"Criticism and African Women's Writing. † In the section on feminism, they note the continued reluctance of many African women writers and critics to be labeled as feminists because of the overtones of westernization the term carries, but they also point out that most African women writers are committed, in the words of Omolara Ogundipe-Leslie, â€Å"as a writer, as a woman and as a third world person† (339).This triple commitment encompasses much of the politics of African feminism, as well as womanism, whether the labels are accepte d or not. Fido and Davies conclude: â€Å"The role and history of feminist politics or activism on women's rights in Africa is a discourse which African women are studying and clarifying for themselves† (339). One of the places in which this discourse can be seen is South African Feminisms: Writing, Theory and Criticism 1990-1994.South African Feminisms presents a collection of articles on feminist literature and criticism, including and expanding the debate on feminist criticism of African literatures which was part of the special issue Current Writing: Text and Reception in Southern Africa 2 (1990). M. J. Daymond's introduction gives a good overview of the issues raised in the collection, including the debate over feminist criticism and the development of an African feminist theory.The section â€Å"Theory and Context† includes eight articles originally published from 1990-1993. Taken together, these articles constitute an excellent sampling of some of the issues and trends in African feminist criticism, including Sisi Maqagi's â€Å"Who Theorizes? † in which she questions the ability of white critics, African or non-African, female or male, to develop a theory which will adequately address the issues of black African women, rather than appropriating those issues, and the voices which raise them.Jill Arnott, in an article entitled â€Å"French Feminism in a South Africa? Gayatri Spivak and the Problem of Representation in South African Feminism,† contends that difference, which can often lead to misrepresentation, can also at times lead to accurate and insightful work: â€Å"to power a genuinely dialectical interaction between two vigilantly foregrounded subject-positions,† but only with an awareness of the position of ifference and a consciousness of the act of representation (87). Desiree Lewis, in â€Å"The Politics of Feminism in South Africa,† counters that such a conscious and effective use of difference may we ll be impossible, as long as there is a political climate in which white female academics are attempting to hold on to their power within the academy, at the expense of black women.In the same article she also points out that unless black working class women can make their statements about the current â€Å"oppressive orthodoxies† and do so without creating, as she argues Western feminism has, another oppressive orthodoxy, there may be no way out of the current impasse. Changes in Feminist Criticism of African Literature Although some of the articles included in this bibliography, like those above, examine feminist literary criticism as a topic, most focus on literary concerns: texts, authors, or issues.In the seventeen years this bibliography spans there are shifts in the coverage these concerns are given. Critical analyses of individual authors naturally both broaden and deepen over the years, especially as an individual author's body of work grows or is reclaimed from obsc urity. In general, in the 1990s there are fewer works of criticism that examine several authors and more which focus on individuals and their work than there were in the 1980s. Also, the topics focused upon subtly shift over the years. Images of women in the works of†¦. † could be the subtitle for many of the articles written in the 1980s as feminist critics examined representations, or misrepresentations, of African women in literary texts. At the same time these critics raised the question of the role of African authors, male and female, in expanding and/or correcting such representations. These concerns are still addressed; indeed, the feminist criticism on these topics is, like the criticism of specific authors, expanding and deepening.To highlight these changes, I shall examine here some of the collections and representative individual articles which have been produced over the years, beginning with the landmark collection Ngambika, which was published in 1986, follo wed by Women in African Literature Today in 1987, articles by Kofi Owusu and Elleke Boehmer in 1990, the 1990 issue of Current Writing: Text and Reception in Southern Africa, Essays on African Writing 2: Contemporary Literature published in 1995 and The Marabout and the Muse: New Approaches to Islam in African Literature in 1996.All of the articles in the first section of Ngambika overtly tackle the issue of the representations of women in the works of African authors. Carole Boyce Davies writes one of these articles: â€Å"Maidens, Mistresses, and Matrons: Feminine Images in Selected Soyinka Works. † In it, she argues that Soyinka often offers only stereotyped images of women which fall into one of three categories: the foolish virgin in rural settings, the femme fatale in urban settings, and the masculinized matron.Those characters which fall in the latter category, in Davies' opinion, come closest to being non-stereotypes, but even they are drawn with â€Å"no depth† (81). The â€Å"foolish virgins† and the â€Å"femme fatales,† Davies argues, fill only the roles of stereotypes and symbols, possessions or trophies to be won away from Western influences by African traditions, or, more threateningly, these women are seen as dangers which can distract and destroy.Davies acknowledges that Soyinka sometimes shows women briefly in a positive light but notes that â€Å"throughout Soyinka's works one finds the kernel of positive portrayal of the female image which is never fully realized† (85). Davies concludes with the argument â€Å"that the artist has the power to create new realities;†¦ women as neither victors nor victims but partners in struggle† (86). Davies' article is representative of the criticism which examines the image of women in African literatures. That is, she carefully addresses the concerns of the author (i. e. he need for recognizable symbols) as she argues against the relegation of women solely to symbolic roles, asking for characterizations which do not â€Å"[reinforce] a negative perception of self to the female viewer/reader and, concomitantly, a condescension in the appraisal of women on the part of the male† (78). In the years following the publishing of Ngambika, several journals and monograph series devoted to African literatures published issues on women as authors of or characters in African literatures. One of the first was the Women in African Literature Today issue of African Literature Today (Vol. 5). Like Ngambika, this issue contains many excellent articles, almost all of which are written from a feminist perspective. I would like to discuss two of these articles as representative not merely of this particular collection, but of the feminist criticism on African literatures being published at this time. In â€Å"Feminist Issues in the Fiction of Kenya's Women Writers† Jean F. O'Barr list three main categories of feminist concerns in the fiction of Kenyan woman writers: â€Å"how female children become women; †¦ what marriage means for women;†¦ here women's work fits into their lives† (57). O'Barr notes that the women authors she analyzes â€Å"all write from the woman's point of view, sharply underscoring the idea that the female perspective †¦. may be different from the male perspective on the same topic† (58). O'Barr analyzes the works of Kenya's female authors from a sociological approach, hoping to establish a stronger image of the social lives of Kenya's women than is possible from the works of male authors. She concludes that Kenya's women find themselves in a quadruple bind: â€Å"they see themselves performing traditional roles†¦ ithout traditional resources†¦ while at the same time they are undertaking modern activities†¦ while being denied access to modern support systems† (69). While O'Barr looks at the fiction of Kenyan women in order to locate the reality of w omen's lives, Katherine Frank attempts in the controversial article â€Å"Women without Men: The Feminist Novel in Africa† to find a radically feminist future for African women. Frank endeavors to place African women writers into the Western feminist mold by speaking of their work as a more radical extension of the Western feminist tradition.In speaking of â€Å"the contemporary British or American novel† she claims â€Å"our heroine slams the door on her domestic prison, journeys out into the great world, slays the dragon of her patriarchal society, and triumphantly discovers the grail of feminism by ‘finding herself,'† (14). She argues that in comparison African novels by women go far beyond their Western counterparts, refusing to â€Å"dabble in daydreaming about enlightened heroes or reformed, non-sexist societies,† (15). Frank finds that the â€Å"feminist† writers of Africa portray women not only as taking on active and shared roles wit h men, but as finding â€Å"a destiny of their own. †¦ destiny with a vengeance,† (15). Frank contends that Mariama Ba, Flora Nwapa, Buchi Emecheta and Ama Ata Aidoo's novels are, in their feminisms, â€Å"more radical, even more militant, than [their] Western counterpart[s]† (15). But Frank's interpretations place African heroines on a path which is not different, but rather the same, if more intense, than the one taken by the British and American heroines she notes above. Frank stresses that in these novels women find only pain and degradation in their relationships with men, but on their own and in their relationships with other women they find â€Å"female solidarity, power, independence† (33).In her interpretation, Barr neglects to note examples in which the future is shared by men and women. For example, when she speaks of Mariama Ba's So Long a Letter, she focuses on Ramatoulaye and Aissatou's friendship and the â€Å"world they create apart from me n,† (20). While this in itself glosses over the complex (and by no means completely negative) relationships these women have with the men in their lives, she also does not speak of Ramatoulaye's daughter and son-in-law, and the hope Ramatoulaye finds in their relationship.In this article, Frank does not acknowledge a difference between demonstrating that a woman's worth is not inextricable from her relationship with men, that a woman can take care of herself, as Ramatoulaye discovers, and an actual desire to live a life without men. However, controversial as some of her interpretations are, her essay effectively outlines the some of the subtle feminisms of African women novelists.Katherine Frank's stance is one which falls into the category of â€Å"radical, feminist-separatist ideology† which Kofi Owusu defines and rejects in his article in Callaloo entitled â€Å"Canons Under Siege: Blackness, Femaleness, and Ama Ata Aidoo's Our Sister Killjoy†(1990). While Fra nk sees Aidoo's character Sissie as moving towards an autonomous, self-determining life without men (Frank 32), Owusu finds Aidoo to be â€Å"in tune with the ‘old' (Achebe's ‘vast corpus of African traditional stories') and the ‘new' (‘modern feminist theory') (357).Owusu sees Aidoo, and other female writers, not as bridging a gap between Western and African thought but creating something new out of both and challenging the canons that would ignore either black or female concerns. Much of Owusu's article analyzes â€Å"the discontinuities as well as continuities between womanist-feminist perspectives, on the one hand, and African literature, on the other† (342), allowing Owusu to regard Aidoo's work as one which â€Å"give[s] a sense of structural and linguistic irony which is functional. †¦ signify[ing] a couple of things: the need for, and very process of, revamping† (361).Here, the canons need to be reformed in recognition of both race and gender, not one or the other, or one without the other. While Kofi Owusu focused on Aidoo's linguistic and textual manipulations, the question of the image of women in African literature continues to be a highly examined topic. Elleke Boehmer explores the construction of women as mothers, whores, representations of national pride, or finally, as spiritual advisors and supporters, but not as individuals actively and crucially involved in political activity.In â€Å"Of Goddesses and Stories: Gender and a New Politics in Achebe's Anthills of the Savannah,† Boehmer analyzes Chinua Achebe's efforts to include women in his re-vision of the future and questions whether women remain a â€Å"vehicle† of transformation rather than actual women with an active role in the future of the country, that is, whether â€Å"woman is the ground of change or discursive displacement but not the subject of transformation† (102).She concludes that Achebe has still idealized women but that his creation of a female character with an important yet undefined role for the future has opened up space for women to have active and involved roles, side by side with men, in the building of the future. Like Davies' article on Soyinka from Ngambika discussed earlier, Boehmer's work recognizes Achebe's literary prowess and commends his willingness to make women positive symbols, but in the end laments the lack of depth in his female characters.Although South African Feminisms was published in 1996, many of the articles in it come from the 1990 issue of Current Writing: Text and Reception in Southern Africa, which was dedicated to â€Å"Feminism and Writing. † This issue continued the trend of publishing articles debating not only the appropriateness of feminism in an African context but also the challenges of applying it to African literatures, as well as articles focusing on women writers or women's images in literature.In â€Å"A Correspondence Without Theory: T sitsi Dangarembga's Nervous Conditions,† Brenda Bosman addresses the psychological dislocation forced upon the women of the heroine's family by â€Å"Englishness,† the term used by her mother to describe the process of assimilation which various members of the family undergo. However, one of the most interesting aspects of the article is Bosman's explicit attempt to find a position from which to speak, as a white South African woman, to –not for, or of– Dangarembga.She writes her article in the form of a letter to Dangarembga, and acknowledges that she might not have succeeded in finding a legitimate position: â€Å"you may find†¦ despite all my conscious efforts, I have nonetheless submitted to the voice of my education†(311). Considering the problematics of education in Nervous Conditions, this could be seen as a double entendre, but her article shows a conscious attempt to find a place from which to speak comfortably, an increasingly difficu lt matter for some African feminists.The last two articles I will discuss reveal change in the field of feminist criticism of Africa on two levels: both are located in collections of essays on African literature which can be considered â€Å"general,† and both are examples of the further increase in variety in the forms of feminist criticism of African literature. Although very good collections of critical essays focusing exclusively on women and African literature are published, it is important to note that few, if any â€Å"general† collections are now being published without the inclusion of at least one, if not several essays which address feminist concerns.In Essays on African Writing 2: Contemporary Literature (1995), there are three articles which are written from a feminist perspective. One of these is Belinda Jack's â€Å"Strategies of Transgression in the Writings of Assia Djebar. † In it she explores the means by which Djebar writes for Arabic women o f Algeria in the language of the colonizer.Jack distinguishes Djebar's writings by arguing that her â€Å"texts are not written in the French language but a French language† a language which no longer belongs to the colonizers because of the deliberate shifts Djebar makes (23). Jack also notes that Djebar also transgresses against Islam in her choices of subject matter, especially sexuality, again firm in the knowledge that while such speech may be a transgression, it is only a transgression because with speech (or writing) comes power.The last article I wish to discuss also focuses on Assia Djebar and her concerns with Islam. The Marabout and the Muse: New Approaches to Islam in African Literature (1996) contains four articles which approach literature from a distinctly feminist perspective: one on Somali women's Sittaat (songs sung for and to notable women in Islamic history), one on the tradition of female Islamic writers in Nigeria, and two which examine Djebar's Loin de Medine.In â€Å"Daughters of Hagar: Daughters of Muhammad† Sonia Lee argues that through her early fictional exploration of women in Islam, Djebar is attempting to make a space for Islamic women â€Å"to reclaim the true law of God† (60). Lee finds that Djebar's historical training combined with her literary skills allow her to â€Å"[oscillate] between the actual and the probable, thus underlying the real subject matter of the novel, †¦. the problematic of Islamic collective memory with regard to women† (51). The above articles typify the growing expansion of feminist approaches to African literatures.While feminist criticisms continue to broaden the literary canon by bringing literature by African women to critical attention and continue to address the representation of African women in literatures, the methods used by such criticism in relation to African literatures continue to evolve. As feminist critics, both African and non-African, use sociological, linguistic, psychoanalytic, historical and other approaches to broaden the examination of African literatures, at least some Western feminist critics are also trying to incorporate a heightened awareness of their own positions with regards to the authors and literatures they discuss.Methodology This bibliography is, in every sense of the word, selective. African authors were included if an article (in English or French) could be located which discussed him or her from the angle of feminism, womanism, or the treatment of gender. Authors were not excluded or included on any other basis, including race and gender. Interviews were included for many of the female writers because such interviews often are a main source of feminist thought (their own) on their works.The sources I used to find these articles were the bibliographies of African literature located in the journal Callaloo (1987-89 and 1990-93), the MLA Bibliography, the African studies bibliographies for the years 1995-96, the CD-Rom resource Women's Resources International, 1972-August 1996, as well as various library catalogs for monographs, whether collections or single-authored. In addition, I scanned the bibliographies of articles and books to find other relevant citations.There are several good bibliographies which focus, at least in part, on feminist criticism of African literatures from the 1970s through the mid 1980s. Brenda Berrian's Bibliography of African Women Writers and Journalists, Carole Boyce Davies' â€Å"A Bibliography of Criticism and Related Works† in Ngambika, and Barbara Fister's bibliography on criticism in Third World Women's Literature in combination cover this earlier period very thoroughly.I did not use these bibliographies to compile this one; to avoid excess duplication, I have focused on criticism published from 1980 on and simply cite these earlier bibliographies at the end of this one, although I am sure some duplication has occurred. This bibliography is organize d by authors and also includes a section on general works, which is organized first by those which cover African literatures without focusing on a specific country, region or author, then by region, and then individual countries.Works of criticism are placed in this section if they refer to several authors/works from the continent, a particular region, or country. If an article focuses on four or fewer authors, it is included under the name of each author. The bibliography includes articles on eighty-seven individual authors, as well as general articles on Africa, East Africa, North Africa, West Africa, Algeria, Egypt, Kenya, Nigeria, Senegal, Somali, South Africa, and Zimbabwe; it cites more than four hundred articles and monographs.It is interesting to compare the authors found in this bibliography with the ninety-five authors found in the biography section of Hans Zell's A New Reader's Guide to African Fiction (1st ed. , 1971; 2nd rev. ed. ,1983). The authors in Zell's work are o ften considered the early canon of African literatures. Only twenty-five authors appear in both the current bibliography and Hans Zell's Guide. There may be several reasons for this difference. Many of the authors included in my bibliography were not then considered a part of the canon of African literature; and a few had not even published at the time Zell's work appeared.Carole Boyce Davies also offers an insight which may explain the lack of overlap. She notes in her introduction to Ngambika that one of the priorities of African feminist literary criticism is â€Å"the development of a canon of African women writers and a parallel canon of critical works with the final aim of expanding the African literary canon† (14). The Guides were compiled in the early years of this expansion, and it is quite possible that today the lists would be more reflective of each other.At the same time, many African women writers actively rebuke attempts to place African men on the defensive, a rguing that a critical approach to literature (as well as other social, political, and cultural expressions) must explore the strengths of both African women and African men. While feminist criticism does focus on male authors, it more often strives to bring to the forefront of literary discussions the works of female African authors and the strong, individualistic portrayals of women they offer.Future Search Hints The issues discussed above make feminist criticism of African fiction an exciting and dynamic field. They also make it a very complex field to research. There are several issues to keep in mind when beginning research in this area. One of the most difficult to overcome is the lack of coverage of this area in mainstream indexing sources, such as the MLA, especially when one looks for early works, which were often carried in journals not then indexed by the MLA.Other sources which do cover these journals, such as the excellent bibliographies periodically offered by Callaloo on studies of African literature, do not offer separate sections for feminist criticism, and it is necessary to assess which ones are relevant by the titles or, at times, the authors, of the articles. For my own part it should be noted that it is entirely possible that I have missed articles which should appear in this bibliography.Many of the best sources are only available in print, such as International African Bibliography, Current Bibliography of African Affairs, and Cahiers d'etudes africaines, which are more time-consuming to search, but well worth the effort. As the discussion above indicates, the term â€Å"feminism† can be extremely limiting when it is being used as a descriptor in either online or print indexes. For this reason, it is advisable to keep other terms in mind when searching for articles, whether in print or electronic resources, such as the keywords/descriptors â€Å"Gender† and â€Å"Womanism/Womanist†.It is important, as well, not to l imit searches to the term â€Å"African. † While some articles are indexed with this descriptor, those articles which deal with a specific author may be listed under that author's country instead, as of course are those which deal with the literatures of a specific region or country. Finally, especially when searching for articles in online indexes, it is useful to keep in mind specific topics, such as â€Å"sexuality,† â€Å"motherhood,† and â€Å"politics† combined with â€Å"women† or â€Å"female. â€Å"

Motivation and how management can use it for a better, more Essay

Motivation and how management can use it for a better, more profitable, effecient workplace - Essay Example A. As the workplace structure and workers themselves change, management faces the problem of how to motivate employees (Gerstner, 2002). Gerstner (2002) poses the questions of â€Å"How do you pull the levers of motivation to change the attitudes, behavior, and thinking of a population? Different people are motivated by different things that may include money, career advancement, and recognition† (Gerstner, 2002). Effectively changing the attitudes, behavior, and thinking of workers demands that a manager knows what levers of motivation to pull in the first place. B. A global executive should provide leadership and direction to management levels according to business goals, mission, and vision. Global leaders and executives have certain characteristics and skills in order to succeed in the globalize world of business (Gregersen, Morrison, & Black, 1998). C. Knowing how to motivate well will enable managers to realize the full potential of each employee. Much literature about theories of motivation and work relate to the subject of inspiring employees to be their best (Gagne & Deci, 2005). D. This report will discuss motivation and how managers can use it for a better, more profitable, efficient workplace. This report will also explore the different theories, concepts, and practices managers can use to motivate employees. E. A leader is a visionary who has the end goal in mind and can see the big picture. A leader is a motivator of his/her followers. There are a variety of leadership styles a leader may holds; what separate a leader from the rest are the traits they posses to succeed and the various background assumptions held true by the . Some of these traits may include intelligence, self-confidence, determination, integrity, and sociability (Cox, 2001). F. Executives are motivated by the goal and fits in the business component. S/he reacts rationally to external conditions and

Entrepreneurship and Innovation assignment Essay

Entrepreneurship and Innovation assignment - Essay Example Taking the customers to the sky is not easy. Security of the customers is the primary concern of the business. Dinner in the Sky will use a crane to elevate the furniture, crew, food and 22 to 350 diners as high as 180 ft up. The structure of the eatery will be portable and will need a space of almost 1500 sq.ft, hence can be held anywhere (sea side, public place, historical sites and fields etc), (Dinnerinthesky.com, 2010). The company's suspended table measures 26 ft x 19 ft (8m x 6m) and weighs approximately 17,600 (7983.25 kg) lbs fully loaded (11,000 lbs (4989.6kg)unloaded). Eight cables, connected at points on all four sides, bind the table to a crane. The company has planned to work with safety agencies before introducing the concept to the public. During inspection, seats will be overloaded with weights of more than 330 lbs (150 kg) each. Diners will be locked into their chairs by six-point seat belts that operate from the back side of the seat so they cannot disconnect thems elves. The company will certify its system for safety by European-based testing agency (Mills et al, 2003). The restaurant industry of the UK is known to be growing at a steady rate despite the economic crisis. Studies and research show that because of the credit crunch, the restaurant industry has remained strong. ... h their families and partners and prefer to visit those places which offer good food at reasonable prices and a comfortable seating arrangement so as not to cause any inconvenience (Franck, 2005; Duffill, 1993). Dinner in the Sky offers a unique experience to the market and brings about an innovative idea to take the customers to the sky and give them the ultimate dining experience. The size of the Target Market which the company will be specifically catering to would be the 10% of the population of the city who belong to the Social Economic Class A and B. The lower middle class and the middle class would also be welcomed through trade promotions and discounts to leverage the revenues of its business later in the business cycle of Dinner in The Sky. Part B 1. Financial Requirements The company is seeking loan guaranty for $142,000 with a 7% interest rate, which will approximately come up to ?10,000 per annum. The company is investing ?441,000 of its own capital. Its start-up costs co me to ?583,000 which is mostly expensed equipment, furniture, painting, reconstruction, rent, start-up labor, liquor license, six months operating cash, and legal and consulting costs associated with opening its restaurant. According to the financial projection the company will require ?583,000 as start-up expenditure. The company shall generate ?780,000 in sales by the end of the first year and produce net profits over and above its break-even of 312 customers. As it is shown in the Annexure, the business will initially face cash flow problems as it will take a while for it to generate a strong customer base. However, the business will generate enough cash inflows so as to give the owner the payback of the invested amount. 2. Market Segmentation Dinner in the Sky Restaurant will intend to

News Story Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

News Story - Assignment Example Marisol Franken, an administration coordinator for community services targeting Australians over the age of 55 corroborated McKay’s statements. Speaking to the media at the same event, Mr Franken most people turned up for physical fitness in the evenings and over the weekend. He, however, urged people to take physical fitness seriously, especially the Australian elderly. â€Å"We need to have a nation that is physically fit,† he averred. The report also showed that most Australians were not physically active. 34.1% of the people interviewed did not participate in any sporting activity or physical fitness program while 6.3% only participated â€Å"occasionally†. Only 29% of the research sample engaged in sports more than twice a week. Noting that physical fitness was key to the general health of an individual, McKay termed the findings as â€Å"grim reality†. He, however, stated that the research identified various constraints that hindered people from participating in sports of physical fitness programs. Some participants cited age as a major constraint where they stated that they were too old to take part in sports. Others were afraid of the occasional injuries that people sustained in sports whereas others were simply not interested. There are some who cited heavy responsibility at home or at the work-place while others put the blame on financial challenges. In light of these findings, it is important that relevant authorities take up the challenge and work towards a better, healthier and physically fit Australia. There is need to put appropriate measures into place to encourage Australians to participate in sports and physical fitness programs. Moreover, every Australian has a responsibility of his or her health. It is a high time Australians came out of their cocoons and took sports and physical fitness seriously. The level of physical fitness in Australia is very low. A large number of Australians do not participate in sports