The Christian Explanation of Samuel Becketts Waiting for Godot :: Waiting for Godot Essays

The Christian Explanation of Waiting for Godot    "The human predicament described in Beckett's first play is that of man living on the Saturday after the Friday of the crucifixion, and not really knowing if all hope is dead or if the next day will bring the life which has been promised."  Ã‚   --William R. Mueller  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   In the five decades since Waiting for Godot's publication, many of the countless attempts to explain the play have relied on some variation of this religious motif proposed by William Mueller. Though Beckett's open text invites the reader to hunt for an interpretation, statements as decisive as this one overstep the search and leave little room for any other possibility. His idea has a compelling textual basis, but its finality violates the spirit of the play. Kenneth Tynan suggests that "Beckett's Waiting for Godot is a dramatic vacuum...It has no plot, no climax, no denouement; no beginning, no middle, and no end." Such an idea forces any analyst of this enigmatic masterpiece to tread lightly and makes definite criticism nearly impossible. Before examining an explanation as conclusive as Mueller's we must acknowledge that we cannot hope to determine "the meaning" of this play. Neither the text nor its author makes a claim to any intrinsic meaning, yet a new meaning is born each tim e a reader or viewer partakes of the play.   Ã‚  Ã‚   With such cautions in mind, we can now approach Mueller's religious hypothesis with a safe detachment. The first utterance of Godot phonetically brings God to mind, and evidence throughout the play assures the reader that this path is a valid one to follow. On the most mundane level, Vladimir supports Mueller's premise with his guess at the timeframe of the play: "He said it was Saturday. I think"(10). We discover, however, that even this statement hides beneath the uncertainty as Estragon challenges, "But what Saturday? And is it Saturday? Is it not rather Sunday? Or Monday? Or Friday?" (11). His questioning reasserts that this work defies explanation and reminds us that we are following only one possible solution to an unsolvable problem.      Ã‚  Ã‚   If we read this drama with the intention of fitting Mueller's theory to the play (or perhaps the play to his theory), a vast number of previously unnoticed interpretive opportunities arise. Though the nondescript tree can be universally symbolic, when viewed from a religious standpoint it conjures an image of Christ's cross.

Affects of Westernization on Youth and Culture Essay

Youth are the back bone to a nation. The young generation occupies a special place in a society. They can change the future of the society with their spirited behavior. In a broader sense, the future of any society depends on the youth. The youth are ready to adapt changes because they are young, in search of truth and they are open to different ideas. Young people have better concentrating span contrary to old ones and that is how changes are brought in a society. All societies pay special attention to the youth. The youth acts as the motivating force of revolution. No revolution can be successful without the efforts of youth in a course of action. Their youthful energy enables them to perform great in every field and enables them to be innovative and skillful. Culture is the complete range of learned human behavior patterns. It includes a set of Customs, beliefs, and traditions. Culture is also shaped by Religion, language, festivals, dress, arts and craft. Culture is passed down from generation to generation. Youth of a society preserves its culture. All Cultures are naturally prone to change and, at the same time, to resist change. There are three general sources of influence that are responsible for both change and resistance to it: Forces at work within a society, Contact between societies and Changes in the natural environment. Within a society, processes leading to change include invention and culture loss. Inventions may be either technological or ideological. Technological inventions include new tools, energy sources, and transportation methods. Culture loss is an unavoidable result of old cultural patterns being replaced by new ones. For example, not many Pakistanis today know how to care for a horse. A century ago, this was common knowledge among many people because buggies and horse-riding were the only means of transportation. Since then, vehicles with internal combustion engines have replaced horses and horse care knowledge lost its importance. As a result, children are rarely taught these skills. Instead, they are trained in the use of the new technologies of automobiles, televisions, cellular phones, computers, and iPods. The processes leading to change that occur as a result of contact between societies are diffusion, acculturation and transculturation. Diffusion is the movement of things and ideas from one culture to another. When diffusion occurs, the form of a trait may move from one society to another but not its original cultural meaning. Acculturation is what happens to an entire culture when unfamiliar traits diffuse in on a large scale and significantly replace traditional cultural patterns. Transculturation is what happens to an individual when he or she moves to another society and adopts its culture. The word westernization is defined as â€Å"The social process of becoming familiar with or converting to the customs and practices of Western civilization†. The youth of Pakistan is talented and dedicated. Unfortunately, the youth today is involved in activities which are neither useful to them nor the nation. All that keeps them busy during the day are games, TV shows, movies and socializing with their peers which these days, is commonly called â€Å"hanging out†. At night, they’re busy chatting on the internet, listening to music, attending late night parties and some are even involved in illegal activities like smoking and drinking. They have no vision and instead of improving themselves or doing something productive, they choose to waste their time. All this is because of westernization of youth in Pakistan. Over the past decade, the youth of Pakistan has been adversely affected by western culture. A significant change has been observed in the culture of Pakistan. Many regional rituals have either been forgotten or replaced by western rituals; young people prefer western attire over national dress, fast food is preferred over regional food, family values are not practiced the way they used to, dating has become very common and violent behavior has become a trend among youngsters. In such a situation, culture cannot be passed on in its original form; it would rather be modified or to be more specific, westernized.

Perrier Research

Perrier Synopsis Perrier, French mineral water, made apperance in a unique source with a long history. The Legend dates back to 218 B. C. , Hannibal and his army set up camp on the site now known as â€Å"Les Bouillens† (French for bubbling), while on their way to Rome after the Spanish campaign. The Romans came later and were also the first to build baths at the site of the spring. Towards the end of the 18th century, Dr. Perrier took over the estate of Les Bouillens, which the Granier family had equipped with a bottling plant for mineral water earlier that century.Perrier was a respected physician and he wrote countless articles about the benefits of this mineral water, which he also prescribed to many of his patients. Oddly enough, it was an Englishman called Harmsworth who made Perrier world famous. He was also responsible for the development of the new distinctive bottle in 1903, the design of which was inspired by the Indian exercise clubs he used to stay in shape. Becau se of his acute business sense and good connections, Harmsworth managed to become the supplier to the British army in the then colony of India. This enabled him to reach many British subjects in due course.This success was followed by similar successes in England where Perrier even became the preferred water at Buckingham Palace. The Perrier source is complicated from a geological point of view. The source is situated to the north of the small town of Vergeze on the way to Nimes and is surrounded by limestone. The carbon dioxide used in Perrier does not come from the same borehole as the Perrier water; the two are combined at a later stage of the process. Case Analysis Strengths †¢ Well-know and positive reputation. †¢ Reliability †¢ Competent Research and development †¢ Good-looking Image in consumer’s eyes. Weaknesses Higher price than other firms’ bottled water. †¢ Perrier’s bottles are not so handy to the buyers in a hurry. †¢ T oo many label for each bottled product could make consumer confused. Opportunities †¢ Constant growth of health-conscious consumers. †¢ Asian market is challenging to give a try. †¢ Advertising could play more role than ever if Perrier can be able to come up with new one. Threats †¢ Other companies with cheaper bottled water are main challenge. †¢ Local companies’ products would always be a first option for local buyers over Perrier. †¢ Loyalty of buyers could change anytime if other companies can offer better price and so on.The Five Force Framework The Threat of Potential Entrants Barriers to entry are relatively high since brand recognition is incredibly important. Additionally, larger firms experience significant benefits from economies of scope and scale, making it difficult for new entrants to match their operational efficiencies. Independent brands are able to find success in niche and local markets. Bargaining Power of Buyers Depending on their buyer, buyer power can range from low to medium. Perrier represent roughly 20% of sparkling bottled water segment. However, these relationships are contractual so few changes can be made.Beyond this, other buyers of other products have low power because they are in their own market and strong brand names grant them pricing power in most markets. Bargaining power of suppliers Supplier power for Perrier is medium. I believe that since there are several competitors in this market, suppliers can be persuaded by alluring proposition from other peer competitors. If the competitors can offer more interesting proposition than Perrier could, the situation could be changed dramatically. As a result, Perrier should has its own contract suppliers to supply products.Threat of  Substitutes The threat of substitutes is medium to high. If we consider solely on Perrier’s market , there are many competitive firms trying hard to be the market leader despite Perrier’s largest mar ket share. The competition in this market is filled with emerging companies every year, so we can conclude that if Perrier perishes, no one cares. Substitute products are all over the market as much as consumers grow. Threat of Competitive Rivals Apart from the main competitors of Perrier, Khisu has seized the market share in some cities in United States.Thus, There are many competitors powerful enough to challenge Perrier in this market. So Perrier should be aware and alert of any move from the other companies so as to be ready to take immediate action if the others start moving. Conclusion From the above analysis, Perrier has the very famed brand recognition in consumers’ eyes but nothing lasts long since there are still a lot of competitors ready to replace the number one rank in this market. With Kishu’s in effort to make a foothold in the market, it is not easy for Perrier to thrive greatly in the market.Thus, it is still a long way to go for Perrier on its way ah ead. Furthermore, its new advertisement, as we know it, would still need a lot of improvement in order to catch consumers’ eyes since it looks less unlikely to succeed. As a result, Perrier needs to be careful with everything it’s dealing with right now; advertisement, slight loss in market share and so on. Question Q. Should the advertising agency’s idea be accepted? As far as I’m concerned, the commercial idea from the agency have not impressed consumer to satisfactory degree since the tone and mood of the commercial did not match people lifestyle.The idea of beautiful sleeping woman being bitten by Dracula and the following line â€Å"†¦it’s good, but it’s not Perrier† do not convey much essence of why Perrier is better than blood. The idea is to be a metaphor that blood is as necessary for life as Perrier water, but the way people thinking about it would be a joke. Don’t forget that Perrier’s look is considered a high-end product, but the commercial give us a picture of fun thought rather than premium product. Q. How should Perrier be promoted at this stage in its life? Perrier should come up with something more incisive, majestic and premium look in terms of TV commercial.Additionally, Perrier can make use of other advertising approaches such as holding up luxurious events occasionally to remain a noble look in consumers’ eyes, but somehow tie in its story with the events. To sum up, In this life stage of Perrier, it does not need too many unimportant commercials since it does not need to get consumer out of its target, but what it needs to do is try to keep the brand as premium as possible and to keep old customer to remain loyal for long time. ———————– Potential Entrants Buyers Suppliers Substitutes Competitive Rival

Comparison between the weeders and harvesters essays

Comparison between the weeders and harvesters essays Jules Bretons The Weeders and Pieter Brueghel the Elders The Harvesters are landscape paintings that depict the countryside. They share many similarities and differences through the artists use of color, light, organization, technique, lines, and space to illustrates simple peasant life in the countryside. In The Weeders and The Harvesters, the artists sought to depict the serenity and powerful beauty of the countryside and its relationship with simple peasant life. The dominant subject matter in both paintings is peasant life and its relationship to nature. However, a major difference between the two paintings is its organization. In The Harvesters the scene is more complex. There are several scenes taking place at the same time, and there are people scattered all over the place. This creates unbalance, and is emphasized by the use of cropping on all sides of the painting. The scene takes place during the daytime, and it is a more active scene. The only exception is the people in the foreground who are resting under the shade of a tree. There are many empty spaces, and this is used to make the landscape look vast. In The Weeders there are six women, and all but one are on the ground picking weeds. The painting is more symmetrical, balanced, and uncropped. This landscape depicts only one scene, and is not as detailed as The Harvesters. The women are more calm and somber. They are tired, but convey movement and energy because they a re busy tending to the fields. The only woman that is standing up stands out from the rest. She is in profile view, and is standing firmly straight gazing out into the sun. Even though the organization of the two paintings are very different, they both convey a sense of simplicity, pleasantness, and humbleness to peasant life. Both artists use the nature of the countryside to integrate it with the people and their everyday life. Both artists have a close conne...

Speeding Up the Germination Process

Speeding Up the Germination Process Imagine you are the owner of a greenhouse which produces bedding plants. A customer orders 100 flats of begonia seedlings and wants to pick them up in a month. You begin to panic, as begonia seeds are sometimes slow to germinate and occasionally germinate unevenly. What Is Seed Priming? Your answer may be to obtain primed seeds. Seed priming is used by seed producers and growers to control germination. Mainly, seed priming is used to shorten germination time, which, as in the case of the begonias, is often desirable. The various seed priming processes have been carefully designed to allow for some of the early germination processes to take place, but not for the completion of full germination. Therefore, a grower can plant primed seed which has much of the germination process completed and expect early emergence. The process can also allow for more uniform, even germination of the treated seeds. It can also increase germination over a wider temperature range, and reduce disease incidence in seeds. In some plant species, priming is necessary, rather than merely desirable, in order to overcome seed dormancy. How Does Seed Priming Work? Seed priming allows for the regulation of the water content in the seed, either by soaking the seeds in water or in a solute; or, by exposing the seeds to water vapor. The seeds imbibe water for a predetermined time interval. After the time interval, the process is halted right before the first root, called the radicle, emerges from the seed. A high amount of water is needed for radicle emergence, so the priming process is ceased to prevent full germination from occurring. The primed seeds can then be dried and sown when ready. You may be wondering why the seed doesnt dry out during the priming process and become unable to germinate. If the process is properly controlled, the hydration treatment is stopped before the desiccation tolerance is lost. There is a limit for each plant species as to when the line between priming and pre-germination is crossed. Safe limits have been calculated as to the maximum length of time for which seeds can be primed. If the maximum length is exceeded, it can lead to seedling damage. Seed Priming Methods There are four common methods utilized for priming seeds: hydropriming, osmotic priming, solid matrix priming, and drum priming. Other methods are proprietary, which means they are trade secrets or patented, so someone would have to pay to use those methods! Hydropriming- Hydropriming is the simple soaking of seeds in water, although aerated distilled water is preferred. This process is especially useful in economically disadvantaged, arid crop growing areas.Osmotic priming- Osmotic priming, also called osmopriming or osmoconditioning, is the soaking of seeds in solutions containing chemicals such as mannitol, potassium nitrate (KNO3), potassium chloride (KCl), polyethylene glycol (PEG), or sodium chloride (NaCl). Plant hormones, which control or affect various stages of seed germination, or beneficial microorganisms (which help control fungal and bacterial disease) can be added to the osmopriming solutions.Solid matrix priming- Solid matrix priming involves the incubation of seeds in a solid, insoluble matrix, such as vermiculite, diatomaceous earth, or another highly water-absorbent polymer, with a limited amount of water, allowing for slow imbibition.Drum priming- Seeds are hydrated by placing them in a rotating drum into which a cont rolled level of water vapor is released. Who Benefits From Seed Priming? Seed priming is most often used for high-value crop seeds, but the steeping process of hydropriming has been used in arid countries to help overcome soil deficiencies and improve crop production. The disadvantages to seed priming include the fact that primed seeds are difficult to store in some cases, as they need cool storage temperatures- not to mention the fact that the process is a sometimes time-consuming extra bit of effort. However, in most cases, seed can be primed overnight, surface-dried, and sown the very next day. In cases such as the one involving begonias, outlined at the beginning of this article, seed priming can be a necessary and even simple part of growing plants.

Starting a Business in Aqua-Pure Company Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Starting a Business in Aqua-Pure Company - Essay Example Another source of financing I may utilize is borrowings from my relatives or friends who would be willing to lend me some money, which I could repay once the business is making a profit. Moreover, I may seek potential business partners who have the financial capability to answer the capital needs of the small company. As such, they may become co-owners, thus, be entitled to receive a portion of the earnings of the business. Aside from these, I may also utilize external financing sources to address my capital requirements. In this regard, I can resort to borrowing funds from banks and other financial institutions2 that specialize in dealing with business entities and implement special lending schemes for start-up enterprises. In addition, I can borrow from specific government development agencies that support small-scale industries or apply in organizations that give out business grants for creative entrepreneurs3. It should be noted that borrowing, deemed as a long-term loan, from external sources entails risk exposure, therefore, this option is usually a major decision for small businesses. Given this, I should ensure that the company has the ability to service this loan including interest and that the loan terms are not burdensome to meet for small business owners like me. It would also be used for the construction of a small water treatment facility and purchasing or leasing the land where this would be located. Moreover, the capital would be allocated for the company's pre-operating expenses like promotions and launching as well as initial operating expenditures including salary, power, water expenses and other fees. 4. Government agencies and regulations to be dealt with by business owner As a small business engaged in the man the manufacturing and selling of bottled mineral water, I, as the business owner, would have to initially deal with the Food & Drug Administration (FDA), particularly the Compliance Department. This is because this agency would first have to ensure that I am complying with their regulations. For instance, the FDA would inspect my equipment and products to find out the bottled water to be sold meets the standard set in the Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act. Â  

The Morality of Euthanasia Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

The Morality of Euthanasia - Case Study Example She now lies in her ICU bed surviving the travails of her illness with the hospital's modern life support mechanisms. Both the physician and the priest knew that very soon their Mom will inevitably leave them. Meanwhile, the enormous hospital bills and other medical expenses are understandably being shouldered by the elder one, but with much difficulty as he has five children enrolled in the university and his wife is likewise sickly and could no longer work. The physician, an agnostic and a non-believer in any type of faith or religion, and who does not have any moral scruples, tells his younger brother, the priest, that perhaps it is only practical and it is also high time that they accept the fact that it was needless for their Mom to be in the expensive care of the ICU. Even whilst she is able to survive, it appears that with the other health complications, their Mom would most likely lead a vegetable life afterwards. The doctor also tells his brother that he can no longer afford to continue supporting their Mom and that for all practical purposes it is perhaps timely to give her the rest that she finally needs. The priest in a most calm spirit, reacts by way of directly asking his elder brother if what he meant was using euthanasia to end the sufferings of ... When the elder brother silently nodded yes, some little tears started to fall on both their saddened faces.From all vantage points of view, it would seem that it was the most practical thing that could be done for someone so dearly loved to end all physical pain. However, the priest reflecting on such an inhumane and morally unacceptable act tells his brother that in the book he often reads To Live in Jesus Christ, it is extensively discussed that under the doctrines of the Church, the Ten Commandments most specifically, it is so provided in the 5th commandment that "Thou shalt not kill" (Santos 143), and to commit such an act is to commit a mortal sin. This book further discusses that "Human life is sacred, (explains the Catechism of the Catholic Church), because from its beginning it involves the creative action of God and it remains forever in a special relationship with the Creator, who is its sole end. God alone is the Lord of life from its beginning until its end: no one can un der any circumstance claim for himself the right directly to destroy an innocent human being" (144). Hence, the priest tells his brother that it is for him a condemnable and unthinkable act.The physician, basically an unbeliever, reasons that the treatment and the preservation of life is imperative only if the quality of life can be sustained. However, if for medical reasons, it is taken as a given that a patient can no longer continue to live a normal life, despite all the