Celies Pain in Alice Walkers Color Purple Essay -- Color Purple Essa

Celie's Pain in The Color Purple Molestation is a topic that is painful to think about, and even more difficult to write about. Yet Alice Walker chose this as the central theme of her novel The Color Purple. Walker's work centers around a poor African American girl Celie. Celie keeps a diary, and the first section of the novel is an excerpt from her diary. After reading the excerpt, the reader comes to realize that Celie is a fourteen-year-old girl who has been molested by her father. Through this, she has lost her innocence as well as her self-worth, evident when the reader sees that the diary's words have been altered to say "I have always been a good girl" as opposed to "I am a good girl." From the moment her father molested her, Celie ceased to see herself as a good person. The events following the molestation only serve to lower Celie's confidence and hurt her relationship with her father. Her sister Nettie attempts to protect her, Nettie being the closest thing to a best friend that Celie has at this point. Nettie is the only person in Celie's life who cares enough about her to stand up to their father. "The first time I got big Pa took me out of school. He never care that I love it. He say 'You too dumb to keep going to school'. But Pa, Nettie say, crying, Celie smart too. Even Miss Beasley say so." Nettie gets Miss Beasley to go to the house to convince 'Pa' "She see how tight my dress is, she stop talking and go" The way Celie writes in her Diary reflects her lack of education and class status. She writes in the most basic and colloquial language that she would use when speaking. She spells many words incorrectly such as "git" and "Naw". She also uses her words in the wrong tense saying " I say" instea... ...Purple." PMLA 106 (1991): 1106-15. Berlant, Lauren. "Race, Gender, and Nation in The Color Purple." Critical Inquiry 14 (1988): 831-59. Bobo, Jacqueline. "Sifting through the Controversy: Reading The Color Purple." Callaloo 12 (1989): 332-42. Butler-Evans, Elliott. Race, Gender, and Desire: Narrative Strategies in the Fiction of Toni Cade Bambara, Toni Morrison, and Alice Walker. Philadelphia: Temple UP, 1989. Froula, Christine, "The Daughter's Seduction: Sexual Violence and Feminist Theory." Signs 2 (1986): 621-44. Hooks, bell. "Writing the Subject: Reading The Color Purple." Reading Black, Reading Feminist. Ed. Henry Louis Gates, Jr. New York: Meridian, 1990. 454-70. Shelton, Frank W. "Alienation and Integration in Alice Walker's The Color Purple." CLA Journal 28 (1985): 382-92. Walker, Alice. The Color Purple. New York: Harcourt, 1982.

Psychological Definitions of Abnormal Behavior Essay

According to the science of psychology one’s behavior needs to follow a certain criteria in order to be deemed â€Å"normal†. If one’s behavior does not match the criteria, their behavior is seen as undesirable and wrong (requires change). For this physiologists need to be able to view a person’s behavior and be able to tell the difference between normal and abnormal. Whilst defining the â€Å"normality† of ones behavior physiologists need to be careful to remain objective and as free of any bias as possible, furthermore their experiment to determine ones behavior needs to be repeatable and reliable. In order to do this psychologists often consults the characteristics of ideal mental health proposed by Marie Jahoda in 1958. Marie Jahoda proposed 6 different characteristics for ideal mental health after surveying different doctors and psychologists; this is the list she came up with: * Positive self esteem and a strong sense of identity * Personal growth and development * Ability to cope with stressful situations (integration) * Autonomy and independence * Accurate perception of reality * Successful mastery of the environment, particularly relationships. Jahoda argued that if one does not meet these criteria then ones behavior can be deemed abnormal as a result of an existing problem. This in my opinion provides a strong applicable foundation for the determination of ones â€Å"normality† of behavior. However the problem with Jahoda’s ideal mental health scheme is the fact that the results obtained rely solely on the observer’s judgment, therefore presenting a inevitable bias not to mention the fact that no person can truly ever meet all of the suggested criteria. This mean that according to Jahoda every person is abnormal. Another way to look for abnormal behavior for psychologists is to find deviation form the social norm (majority). This is done by observing ones actions in public and seeing how normal it is. For example if you see someone wearing a bikini/swim trunks whilst walking around a supermarket, his or her behavior would be deemed as abnormal. The limitations of observing behavior in this manor lay in the fact that different cultures have different norms. Not to mention the fact that in any given culture norms evolve. What may have once been acceptable in the 80’s is not necessarily acceptable today. Abnormality of one’s behavior can also be monitored by looking at its statistical frequency. Meaning how common ones behavior is when compared to the rest of the public. If one’s behavior is shared by many it is deemed common and therefore â€Å"normal†, however if ones behavior is uncommon or rare, it is deemed abnormal. For example one may say that an individual who has an IQ below or above the average level of IQ in society is abnormal. The problem with this system is the fact that, it does not account for the desirability of the given behavior. In other words this system claims that both low and high IQ’s are an abnormality that need to be treated. Physiologists and others interested in â€Å"normality†, look over at ones behavior to see how well they can function. If one is unable to function adequately they are deemed abnormal. In order to determine how well one functions, psychologists consult Rosenhan and Seligman’s list of characteristics that define abnormality (1989). Rosenhan and Seligman argued that in order to classify someone as â€Å"inadequate in life† they must meet several of the characteristics as a pose to only one. This is their list: * Suffering * Maladaptiveness (danger to self) * Vividness & unconventionality (stands out) * Unpredictably & loss of control * Irrationality/incomprehensibility * Causes observer discomfort * Violates moral/social standards The possible limitation to Rosenhan and Seligman’s list of characteristics is the fact that â€Å"normal† people engage in activates which are potentially harmful like drinking or smoking, these people are not classed as abnormal. It is very difficult to classify behavior as to date no scheme to do so exists, which is perfect. Physiologists must tread carefully when labeling one with a disorder. Bias will always be present in one form or another, however the results can be deemed reliable if practicing psychologists consult multiple schemes in order to have a better chance of an accurate diagnosis. Bibliography * Class handout â€Å"abnormal?† Mrs campion. * â€Å"DefiningAbnormality.† AS Psychology /. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 Oct. 2012. . * â€Å"Abnormal Psychology.† Abnormal Psychology. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 Oct. 2012. .

Principle of Marketing Essay using SWOT Example

Principle of Marketing Essay using SWOT Example Principle of Marketing Essay using SWOT – Essay Example 1-Develop a SWOT for this new product. Make sure to have at least two items under each section. Strengths: Advantages from new design proprietary know-how First mover advantages Weaknesses: High business start-up costs Untested market demand Opportunities New product attracts investors who can boost your cash flow, production capacity, and marketing budget and so on. You can surprise competitors Threats Vulnerable to reactive attack by major competitors Emergence of substitute products 2. After you complete the SWOT, what two additional forms of research should you do, and why? a) Porter’s five forces analysis: This will help you analyze the kite-making industry so that you can be able to stake out a position that is more profitable and less vulnerable to attack from competitors (Porter, 2008). b) Value chain analysis: This helps the firm identify its core competencies and the activities in the value chain that it can do to create a sustainable competitive advantage either through cost advantage or differentiation. 3. Based on your SWOT, who might two target audiences be for your new kite? Advertising firms that use kites as moving billboards Traditional kite consumers 4. What would be two marketing objectives you develop for your plan? To build a customer database of at least 200,000 in the next 12 months. To achieve a return on investments (ROI) of at least 20 % 5. Define and explain the four elements of the marketing mix that you would suggest for this new product. Base your answers to 1, 2, 3, and 4 above. a) Product: The product is the tangible kite that will be offered for sale. Kites are generally multi-shaped and multi-colored thus we shall give a provision for mass customization of the kites based on customer taste. We shall accommodate for common shapes for small orders and be more flexible for larger orders so as to maximize on economies of scale. b) Price: This determines the products profit margins. We shall commence with a skimming price strategy so as to maximize on profit margins before competitors come up with substitute products. We shall give discounts for large purchases and for advertising firms so that they can increase the buzz about our product. c) Promotion: this determines how we shall spread the word about our product to increase consumer interest and eventual sales and market share. Our first strategy would be to issue discounts to advertising firms so that they use our kites as mobile billboards. We shall also participate in town fairs, festivals and set up spots around parks and beaches to gain both visibility and sales. d) Place: this determines where we shall make the kites and how we shall distribute them to the final consumer. In this case, we shall only have one manufacturing site and utilize the internet as a retail store. We shall partner with a courier service to deliver orders around the country. We shall not venture abroad in the first few months to reduce logistics costs. 6. Explain two ways you can evaluate the success of your plan (based on your objectives). After 12 months we will look at the number of customers we have in our database. If the number slightly exceeds 200,000 then we have succeeded. If the numbers have exceeded by 100,000 or more then we had done poor evaluations. If the number of customers is less than 200,000 then we have failed in our plan. We will use a similar criterion to the one above to evaluate our success based on the ROI. 7. It has been one year, and you are finally making a few dollars. You realize that an important part of your marketing plan is going to include corporate social responsibility. Keeping in mind your product, give at least two specific examples of what you can do, and two specific reasons why your company would benefit. a) Firstly, we will sponsor an event named â€Å"Keep kids outdoors†. This will be an outdoor summer festival for children where they will compete on designing, making and flying kites and other outdoor activities. This will benefit our company in three ways: (1) encouraging kids to play outside will increase the demand for our kites; (2) promoting a healthy lifestyle will increase our brand image in the minds of the purchasers who are mostly parents and guardians; and (3) the more healthy kids there are the bigger the market for our products. b) Secondly, we will start producing kites made of bio-degradable materials. The benefits of this will be: (1) we get lee-way to charge a premium price for our products, and (2) we improve our brand image as an eco-friendly brand. 8. It has been three years, and you are a success! You decide to expand beyond the US. Discuss two marketing issues you would need to address if you decide to sell your kite globally, and how you could avoid them. a) In marketing abroad the two major issues will be product and distribution. In product certain cultures abroad may abhor how we are currently packaging or presenting our products e.g. a culture may prohibit flying of black kites. To tackle this we will engage a marketing consultancy with a regional strength to give us guidance on the cultural norms of the new target market. b) On the other hand, distribution will also be a challenge because the costs of production and dispatch across the seas may be either too costly or take too long before the product arrives at the destination. However, since ours is still a proprietary technology we will partner with a local manufacturer who will be issued with pre-packed materials so that all that they do is to assemble the kite into the desired shape. 9. You become a huge success selling directly to consumers. You are approached by WindWing, an international kite manufacturer. They would like to purchase your kites to resell as part of their kite line. What will be the similarities and differences between selling to WindWing (an organizational buyer) and directly to the ultimate consumer? Name at least two similarities and two differences. Similarities: In both instances we have to provide excellent after sales service and customer support. They both require well-crafted, targeted marketing that will communicate our companies value-proposition eloquently. Differences In selling directly to consumers we simplify the buying process to a single step while in selling to WindWing the process may have several steps to accommodate for credit facilities, reverse-auctions and so on. In selling directly to customer we maximize on the value of the transaction since it may be one-time whereas in selling to WindWing we maximize on the value of the relationship so as to make it long-term. References Porter, M. E. (2008). The Five competitive forces that shape strategy. Harvard Business Review Online, R0801E, 1-18.