The Shawshank Redemption Essays - English-language Films, Films

The Shawshank Redemption "The Shawshank Redemption" is a unique movie which involves many different personalities and underlying themes. The personalities of the inmates are very interesting and when combined they create a fascinating plot, which gives a different perspective of prison life. The main characters are Andy Dufrense (Tim Robbins) and Eliss "Red" Redding (Morgan Freeman). Additional characters such as the wise and simple old man, Brooks (James Whitmore), and the evil warden help to enrich the movie, giving it unequaled depth into the psychological aspects of prison life. The personalities of the Shawshank prison combine to form a community of sorts. This movie shows prisons not only as a place where murderers and thieves live, but also as a commune of people who have had problems and who are attempting to rehabilitate themselves. The story revolves around Andy who is convicted of murdering his wife and her lover in 1946, and who is then sentenced to life in prison. He is sent to the Shawshank prison, the state prison in Maine, which is known for its harshness. One does not know if it is Andy who committed the murder of his wife and her lover. What is learned though, is that he is not ready for prison and honestly doesn't seem like a man who would survive. His thinking going into prison is just to survive and blend in. He's a wise man who competently deals with what the justice system has served him. He is normal on the outside but emotionally tormented on the inside. Andy is a very complex character who displays introverted tendencies, keeping his feelings to himself and never allowing anyone beyond his stoic exterior except for Red. Andy's friendship with Red begins in a most peculiar manner. Andy asks for a rock hammer, which Red dutifully gets for him. Red, knowing that Andy is vulnerable, gets him on tar duty and takes him under his wing. The friendship is very unique and they both are energetic with emotion. Bill Dupre of the News and Observer writes of their emotion together, "This is a graceful, quiet characterization, and Robbins' scenes with Freeman are wrought with depth, delicacy, and precision." This is where the opportunistic side of Andy begins to be evident. After overhearing the guards talking, he almost risks his life to tell the guard that he will help him keep the $30,000 that he inherited. This shows that Andy had guts and that he wanted to survive. In return for his favor of helping the guard, he gets his fellow workers ice cold beers on the last day. It is ironic because he has quit drinking himself. Andy then begins to work in the library because the warden hears of his talents in finance. This is where Andy first meets Brooks. He use this opportunity to ask the state for more money to build a larger library. And finally, the way Andy escapes is almost genius. Knowing that he is on the good side of the warden, he devises a very interesting and successful plan of escape. Overall, Andy blends in with the prison community through the good times and the bad (the sisters, a group of homosexual rapists). His personality is one of a person who makes the most of what he has. But he never loses hope that he will be free one day. Red is a very unique character in his own right. The prison's sole black inmate, he is the man who smuggles contraband into the prison. He is also a "lifer" and he says that he is the only man in the prison who is guilty. He has accepted his fate and is dealing with the prison as his life but still tries to make his life on the inside the best he can. Red really doesn't think much about being paroled (he is rejected several times during the movie). He just takes one day at a time. He is determined not to let the jail system get to him. His friendship with Andy becomes stronger throughout the movie from when they first meet until Red joins Andy in Mexico. Red is a man who knows the rights and wrongs of the

Epicyon - Facts and Figures

Epicyon - Facts and Figures Name: Epicyon (Greek for more than a dog); pronounced EPP-ih-SIGH-on Habitat: Plains of North America Historical Epoch: Middle-Late Miocene (15-5 million years ago) Size and Weight: About five feet long and 200-300 pounds Diet: Meat Distinguishing Characteristics: Large size; quadrupedal posture; big-cat-like head About Epicyon Possibly the largest prehistoric dog that ever lived, Epicyon was a true canid, belonging to the same general family as wolves, hyenas and modern dogs- and was thus a different beast altogether from the non-canid creodont mammals (typified by the giant Sarkastodon) that ruled the North American plains for millions of years before the Miocene epoch. The largest species of Epicyon weighed in the neighborhood of 200 to 300 pounds- as much as, or more than, a full-grown humanand it possessed unusually powerful jaws and teeth, which made its head look more like that of a big cat than a dog or wolf. However, paleontologists dont know much about Epicyons feeding habits:  this megafauna mammal  may have hunted alone or in packs, and it may even have subsisted exclusively on already-dead carcasses, like  a modern hyena. Epicyon is known by three species, all of which were discovered in western North America in the course of the 19th and 20th centuries. The lightest variant, Epicyon saevus, was named by the famous American paleontologist Joseph Leidy, and for a time was classified as a species of Aelurodon; adults only weighed about 100 pounds fully grown. E. haydeni was also named by Leidy, and has been synonymized not only with Aelurodon, but with the even more obscure Osteoborus and Tephrocyon as well; this was the largest Epicyon species, weighing more than 300 pounds. The most recent addition to the Epicyon family, E. aelurodontoides, was discovered in Kansas in 1999; you can tell by its species name that it was also close kin to Aelurodon!

Theory of Extreme Capital Structure Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Theory of Extreme Capital Structure - Essay Example Therefore, capital structure can be defined as the arrangement of capital. In order to analyse capital structure, we need to highlight the difference between capital structure and financial structure. The terms are interchanged in some circles to mean the same, but they are not quite the same. Financial structure is the sum of all the means the firm uses to fund its activities. Therefore, financial structure comprises of net worth and liabilities of the company i.e. short and long term. The capital structure on the other hand is financial structure excluding short term borrowing. Capital structure has already been seen as two-fold, with the finance and asset structure. The source of capital is what determines what asset will be purchased. The structure of capital is categorised as follows: 1. According to sources: The structure may either be simple or complex. A simple structure consists of a single source while the complex is where the sources are more than one. (Although retained e arnings is not considered an additional source). This mode is only possible under the fund concept because it is rare for a firm to have one asset, invalidating the asset concept. 2. According to sources This is broadly categorised into internal and external sources. Internal sources comprise of share capital (bonus issue), capital reserve, and reserve and surplus. On the hand the external sources include share capital (bonus issue excluded), share premium, forfeited shares, long term and short-term liabilities and debentures. 3. According to ownership This is either ownership capital or creditorship (debt) capital. Ownership capital includes equity share capital and retained earnings while creditorship comprises of debentures, long-term and short-term liabilities. It is agreed by all accountants where preference shares should be grouped as they have the both elements of ownership and debt. 4. According to cost behaviour This classifies the assets as either fixed cost or variable co st, depending on their expense implications. The fixed cost capital include preference share, long term debt and debentures whereas variable cost capital include equity share and short term liabilities. Firms have different capital structures depending on industry, company type, and proportion of capital contribution. The theories of capital structure try to ask the pertinent questions in leveraging, valuation, and financial balance. This involves evaluating how a firm can affect its total valuation factoring debt and equity, how debt affects the firm’s position. This is by use of accounting ratios 1  Where  is the firm’s debt yield, assuming the element of perpetuity of debt 2.  [E=EBIT-I] Where we assume 100% dividend payout and the firms earning are constant with no element of growth. Therefore, the earnings/price ratio gives the market discount rate, which equals the present value of the series of expected future dividends at the existing market value of the share. 3.  Where  is the firm’s overall capitalisation rate. It computation is normally the weighting of the cost of capital as shown below + The theories of capital structure try to explain the relationship between capital, leverage and the firm’s value. What we want to know is what happens to , and when the degree of leverage (D/V) increases or how is the value of capital

The Cold War and U.S. Diplomacy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 9

The Cold War and U.S. Diplomacy - Essay Example the United States was in no way susceptible, but it had the task of defending its partners as well as bring to a stop the development of nuclear armaments (Ambrose, 1989). President Nixon had the same ideas and he based his goals in ensuring world peace is maintained. After his election into office, there was an increase from American citizens for American troops to be sent back home from foreign missions. Nixon promised American citizens that he will support American allies with resources but not man power. However, the process was delayed as protests became a daily scene in the streets on the United States. In providing a specific case scenario, the number of American troops who died in Vietnam reached 500, 000 (Dallek, 2007). This made citizens even more irritated by Nixon’s regime. Nixon however, launched vietnamisation which was a strategy to pull out American troops in the region, help build a Vietnamese military squad and provide them with weapons and financial resources. He succeeded in this particular quest as he was applauded for successfully ensuring peace in Vietnam and getting American troops back home. Nixon took over American during a time when the nations had a lot of enemies in terms of diplomatic relations. However, the nations also had significant allies Nixon was keen to retain (Ambrose, 1989). On many occasions involving warfare, Nixon was forced to use diplomatic efforts to be able to come up with lasting solutions. For instance, during the invasion of Arab countries in Israel, Nixon realized the significance of having good diplomatic relationships with the Arab countries (Dallek, 2007). Nixon was able to negotiate with Egypt and he convinced them to pull out in the war against Israel. Additionally, Nixon also used diplomatic efforts to solve the China-Pakistan war. In this occasion, Pakistan is an American ally and China a great ally to the Soviet. According to Parmet (1990) the diplomatic relationship between the Soviet and the United

How to win the cold war Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

How to win the cold war - Essay Example If there was any doubt in the hearts and minds of the American people as to rather or not they were able to face the struggles ahead those fears were squashed under the triumph of Johnson’s words. Johnson presented what he felt was key to the success of the U.S. in the cold war. He wanted the nation to get back to work and called for the production industries to beef up their rate of production. Johnson felt that the nation needed to be prepared. The preparations that they were to make would serve to ensure that not only America stayed supplied, but any allies. Johnson wanted the nation to be ready to help any allies who happened to run low due to the costs of the war be supplied with the materials they would need to fight the war and win. He said, â€Å"America’s production machine must grow-and grow rapidly† Clearly there was not doubt in Johnson’s mind that American would be successful. President Johnson also had special desires for Texas and the American West. He had confidence in all of the country but he felt that these areas should be delegated special responsibility. Johnson felt that it was in the west that the expansion should take place. He said that it is in the west that America found its strength and that this area, although having become America’s backbone in a sense, has not been fully utilized. There was a great bounty of resources in the west, according to Johnson, that could be used to help America and her allies sustain themselves during the heat of a war. Therefore Johnson encouraged the western Americans to take courage and be prepared to work hard and give of their natural resourced to come to the aid off their country who would need them in the midst of the war. Therefore much of the responsibility of increasing production fell on companies in the west. Some of these surely were glad for the increased business. Johnson was ready to lead the country into a bold victory. He was not going

Unfair Dismissal Legislation

Unfair Dismissal Legislation In this paper we will examine the tension between unfair (employee) dismissal legislation and the autonomy of managers to run their departments as they see fit. Interestingly, the question refers to managers right to manage their employees: It should be stated at the outset, unlike the rights afforded to employees by legislation and the common law, which are enforceable rights per se; there is no such right enshrined in the law to protect the autonomy of managers. It is also interesting to note that the question does not ask us to d iscuss the degree to which unfair dismissal legislation takes away managers right to manage their employees effectively or well, or ask us to comment upon whether or not the suppression of managers autonomy is a good or a bad thing for the development of a healthy and effective commercial workplace. We will argue in this essay that such an assessment is central to the question of this paper. After all, for example, the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984, which seeks (inter alia) to regulate the conduct of Police Officers, might well be seen to take away rights of the police to arrest citizens, but only does so to protect the citizen from unconstitutional and unacceptable authoritarian practices. Likewise, in the case of unfair dismissal legislation, if the effect is to prevent poor management practice, then this cannot be seen as a negative thing. The worry is that such legislation will interfere with good management, by creating expectations in the minds of employees regarding the standard acceptable processes which govern their employment and as such, might prevent managers from taking the initiative to be creative and progressive in their management approach. The question therefore boils down to whether or not the current unfair dismissal legislation in the UK is sufficiently flexible to allow management creativity to blossom to the advantage of all stakeholders in the employee-management-employer relationship. Unfair dismissal of employees is governed by Part X of the Employment Rights Act 1996, as amended by Part 3 of the Employment Act 2002. The right to not be unfairly dismissed is defined is s94 of the 1996 Act, and s95 of the same act outlines the circumstances which are capable of giving rise to a breach of this employment right. Hepple and Morris (2002) p255 comment upon the amendments to the unfair dismissal legislation introduced by the Employment Act 2002: â€Å"[T]he new statutory standard and modified disciplinary procedures, broad in conception but minimalist in their requirements, ‘are so rudimentary in nature that they afford little protection to employees[and] ‘fall significantly short of the requirements of the current ACAS Code and of the standards of reasonableness developed by tribunals†. This would seem to suggest that this legislation has had little impact upon curtailing the right of managers to manage their employees, especially in light of the fact that there is no significant deterrent effect arising from the remedy contained in s34(6) of the 2002 Act, which only entitles an unfairly dismissed employee to four weeks pay compensation. It also seems apparent that s34(2) of the Employment Act 2002 has reversed the case law decision of Polkey v A. E. Dayton Services [1988] in which it was decided that employers (and, more importantly, their managers) should be reasonable in their choice and use of employee dismissal procedures. S34(2) of the Employment Act 2002 introduced s98A into the Employment Act 1996, subsection 2 of which states: â€Å"[F]ailure by an employer to follow a procedure in relation to the dismissal of an employee shall not be regarded for the purposes of section 98(4)(a) as by itself making the employers action unreasonable if he shows that he would have decided to dismiss the employee if he had followed the procedure.† Again, there is nothing in this section which would suggest that managers rights to employ their own styles of disciplinary procedure have been curtailed: As long as the procedures employed lead to a decision identical to that which would have been generated through adherence to the standard dismissal procedures contained in the UK Employment Acts. It might be argued that that this procedural latitude will not be enforced to its full extent, and therefore that employers and their managers cannot rely upon its provisions to escape liability for nonprocedural conforman ce, but, as Collins (2004) reports: â€Å"The potential width of this exception should not be underestimated†. In regards to this amendment and also to the introduction of the ACAS code under the Employment Act 2002, Smith and Morton (2006) write: â€Å"In spite of government declarations, it is not clear how the ACAS Code and case law can impose a higher procedural standard than the statutory procedures in an unfair dismissal claim, although the test of a reasonable employer (whose action will fall within the range of reasonable responses) remains. Henceforth an employer defending a dismissal may argue that adherence to a procedure above the statutory minimum or the ACAS Code would not have led to a different outcome.† It would therefore seem that, under the new unfair dismissal regime, employers have even more latitude to escape liability for unfair dismissal by procedural unfairness and therefore, even less reason to reign in their managers by insisting on extra training or standard management practices. It should also be noted that under the Employment Tribunals (Constitution and Rules of Procedure) Regulations 2001, the maximum award available to an employer from an employee who unsuccessfully brings a claim in the employment tribunal has been substantially increased as it now, by virtue of the Employment Tribunal Regulations 2004, can also include non-legal preparation costs. This must serve as a deterrent to employees from making frivolous and/or poorly constructed claims for unfair dismissal. Ans so, our analysis of the UK legislative framework on unfair dismissal all point to a conclusion that this regime does not have any significant effect upon the right of managers to manage their employees, so long as the procedures utilized are synonymous by result. However, there is often a big difference between the legal impact of legislation and its cultural effect. Let us now perform a literature review of several key sources in the field of employee management to see if the practical and real effect of the amended unfair dismissal legislation has been to curtail the creativity of managers or otherwise interfere with their right to manage their employees, effectively or otherwise. The first point which can be identified from the literature is that the legislation on unfair dismissal has had different effects on different sized of business. Whilst the research is relatively out of date, it seems clear that the small business sector has been the least affected by the formal dismissal regime. As Harrison et al (1998) write: â€Å"The major studies (e.g. Dickens et al., 1985) are now dated and there have been few attempts to up-date earlier assessments of the impact of unfair dismissal legislation on small firms (e.g. Clifton and Tatton-Brown, 1979; Daniel and Stilgoe, 1978; Evans et al., 1985). This research and the periodic WIRS surveys (Millward et al., 1992) indicated that small businesses were less likely to have formal disciplinary procedures than larger businesses. This would suggest that small business managers autonomy to manage in their own way has not been significantly ‘taken away by the UKs unfair dismissal legislation and its enshrined standar d procedures. This is confirmed by the findings of a case study analysis by Harrison et al (1998) who found that: â€Å"The presence of a formal written disciplinary procedure does not, of itself, ensure that it is applied/observed by all managers, nor that common disciplinary standards will be applied to all employees, or even to all employees in the same occupation, grade, etc. For example, two instances were found where the senior site manager in multi-site companies in the catering sector was not familiar with the requirements of their companies written procedures. Harrison et al (1998) also found, from their interviews, that managers in this sector took a flexible approach to disciplinary action. The problem with this is that the approach is likely to differ from manager to manager with the result that the only way companies can maintain consistency is not to change, remove or replace senior managers: â€Å"[T]here was evidence from many of the interviews of a â€Å"flexible approach† being taken to disciplinary actionThis â€Å"flexibility† plainly has its strengths, but it inevitably also raises issues of perceived consistency or inconsistency among employees of actions taken by different managers [I]ts potential effect on both employee morale and on potential unfair dismissal claims and outcomes, was a principal reason why many organizations have restricted the right to dismiss to senior managers.† Interestingly however, the interviews conducted across multi-site organizations revealed that â€Å"managers were able to draw on the wider resources of their organizations, including the advice and expertise of HR/personnel specialists. In some cases these specialists became involved in helping line managers to handle disciplinary cases, usually with the effect of avoiding major discrepancies.† This would suggest that the UK unfair dismissal legislation has had a noticeable impact upon the rights of managers in larger organizations to manage their employees, the procedures clearly being taken seriously if outside help is being drafted in regularly. In pages 457-458, Harrison et al (1998) discuss the effect of unfair dismissal legislation on ‘management style. They confirm our earlier conclusion that Managers are still acting autonomously despite the unfair dismissal legislation: â€Å"There are acknowledged difficulties in attempting to categorise management styles in organisations, not least because they may vary from one manager to another, and from one situation to another.† McCabe and Rabil (2001) write convincingly on the rights of employees and the impact of these rights on employers and their managers. At page 34 they write: â€Å"‘[T]he most critical right of employees is the right to due process (Velasquez, 1982, p. 327)[D]ue process involves a system of checks and balances, it increases the objectivity of decisions‘the topic of due process in work organizations calls for much greater conceptual development, practical experimentation, and systematic research (Aram and Salipante, Jr., 1981, p. 198). Prima facie, these respective statements seem to conflict with one another: On the one hand, McCabe and Rabil talk of ‘objective decision making, and yet on the other, they talk of the need for ‘practical experimentation. However, I would argue that, rather than being mutually exclusive, these observations demonstrate the ability for fair management autonomy to co-exist with principles of due process, if not necessarily consisten cy. Managers can implement their own style of disciplinary procedures into a workplace as long as these implementations are perceived as subscribing to the princinple of due process and the end effects of these implementations are consistent with the outcomes which would have been reached under the statutory procedures. This confirms what we postulated earlier in this essay; namely, that the unfair dismissal legislation does not significantly impede effective and fair management autonomy, but simply prevents managers from managing their employees in ways which are inappropriate or do not follow the principle of ‘due process. As McCabe and Rabil (2001) write: â€Å"Not all managers know how to manage their work force effectively, nor do they all treat their employees fairly. A good due process system cannot make managers manage more fairly. It may provide a strong incentive for them to do that, but if they don t know how, the process itself will not teach them. In conclusion, I would argue that since the inception of the Employment Act 2002, which amended the unfair dismissal legislation contained in the Employment Rights Act 1996, the UKs legislation on the unfair dismissal of employees is sufficiently flexible to allow employers and their managers the autonomy to create and implement their own employee management procedures, so long as these procedures are capable of yielding fair and equitable decisions. Thus, in response to the specific question, to what degree has the unfair dismissal legislation taken away managers right to manage their employees? I would argue that it has significantly taken away this ‘right. However, in relation to the more important question, to what degree has the unfair dismissal legislation taken away managers right to manage their employees fairly and effectively? I would argue that it has not taken away this right significantly.

Tourism in Thailand :: Papers

Tourism in Thailand As we enter a new millenium the post-colonial nations in the world are still searching for ways to compete in an increasingly globalized, consumption driven economic environment. Many developing countries have speculated that Tourism is an effective catalyst for development as well as increased international understanding. Thailand, who has embraced tourism as the key to its modernization strategy, has been hailed by many as a paradigm for success. Over the past twenty years Thailand has enjoyed one of the fastest economic growth rates of any developing country. This rapid progress has allowed Thailand to emerge as an economic leader in the Third world. The $4 billion a year in tourism revenue is the core support of the Thai economy (Bishop, p. VI). Thai officials have attributed the success of the tourism industry to the "many attractions located in various parts of the country" as well as "the uniqueness of the Thai people" --- "their friendliness and hospitality (Bishop, p. 6 7)." However the Thai government has failed to recognize the contributions of sex tourism which is estimated to generate about $1.5 billion every year, according to Professor Krikiat Phiapatserithan of Thammasat University (World congress, regional profiles, p. 3). Thailand's failure to recognize the sex tourism is reflective of the discourse used by the worldwide tourism industry to analyze the industry's success. From the standpoint of the tourism industry the success of tourism is directly related only to economic factors, anything else is seen as unnecessary. It is in the best interest of tourism corporations and the countries that are dependent on tourism to discourage the circulation of information regarding any of the potential negative effects related to tourism. The censorship of information by these entities has caused much of the general public to be ignorant of the adverse consequences of the mass tourist industry in Thailand. The purpose of this paper is to give an overview of the sex tourism, using Thailand as the basis of my investigation. I will begin by shedding light on the complex social and economic factors that has formed the modern sex industry of Thailand. Then I will link the damaging effects to the Thailand's cultural values and quality of life to the emergence of child sex tourism, which in recent years has immerged as a significant contributor of tourist revenue.