White Noise by Don DeLillo Essay Example for Free

White Noise by Don DeLillo Essay White Noise is Don DeLillo’s breakout novel that won the National Book Award in 1985, catapulting the author into the elite circle of well-known postmodern writers. It deals with the main protagonists’ fear of death amidst the superficial consumerism that overwhelms America during the late 20th century. The novel follows the life of Jack Gladney, a college professor in a school known as The-College-on-the Hill. He teaches Hitler studies, a discipline he invented himself, and lives happily with his fifth wife, Babette, and his four children from different women. During this period, America is undergoing transformation wherein the nation develops strong attachment to materialistic values brought by the inevitable modernization. Jack and his wife are caught in the web of industrialization that brings complications into their lives instead of comfort. The machines, televisions, supermarket and traffic noises creates an irritating sound that continuously hums in their head, compounded by the incessant whining of consumerism. The momentary luxury they get from many various products is replaced by emptiness that lingers with them for a long time, and during this period, the protagonists develop a peculiar fear of dying. In this early part of the book, Chapters 1-14, Jack’s fear of death is gradually revealed; it has been lurking in his mind as he observes that his life seems going too fast for him. Here, Jack’s fear of dying is seen as not a because of the physical pain brought by death or the terror of being thrown into the eternal flame of hell; rather, he is afraid to die because he cannot leave everything behind. He earned his success. He worked hard to establish a prestigious status in his school, even going as far as doing silly things, like wearing elaborate robes in the school campus, just to solidify his credibility. He cannot allow a mere dying to cut him from the glory he is enjoying on earth. Besides, he has a loving wife and healthy children that he is sincerely proud of. The first fourteen chapters do not show the entirety of the book, but they are enough to portray the patience of Jack as a father to his children and his dedication as Babette’s husband, despite his previous four marriages to different women. All these cause him to dread death even more. This paranoia becomes a disturbing spectre that influences his judgments and rendering him inefficient at times. He tries to find strength in Babette, who Jack describes as ample and reliable woman. In fact, Jack favors Babette over his previous wives because of her strong character. However, it turns out that Babette, too, is afraid of dying. Suddenly, their marriage is consumed by the spectre of death. They often talk about it over dinner and in almost every occasion. The question of who is going to die first is prevalent in most of their conversations, and soon enough, the topic becomes a part of their daily interaction. The issue has been looming in their thought all along, and when it is brought into open, things change between them and in their family. They become more preoccupied with the thought of death than with the welfare of their children. Thier anxiety over the issue dominates most of their waking hours that they tend to set everything aside. This novel is significant to the readers. It gives a moral lesson that death is a phenomenon that should not be feared about. It has been a part of human existence and must be accepted as such. One must not dwell too much on the thought of dying. It must be understood that it happens to everyone, regardless of race, age, sex or status. Every human life ends in death and nobody can change it. Instead of focusing much on the thought of death, which gives nothing but worries and anxiety that can ruin happiness, the best thing to do is to enjoy life to the fullest. Another revelation of the story is that no material things in the world can mask the gloomy effect of death. Latest technology, impressive packaging of products and the flashiness of popular culture give momentary comfort, but they cannot conceal the terror of death. Work Cited: DeLillio, Don. White Noise. Penguin (Non-Classics), January 7, 1986.

Multiple Themes of One Hundred Years of Solitude :: One Hundred Years of Solitude

Multiple Themes of One Hundred Years of Solitude      How the theme of the novel is developed and enhanced by plot, character and setting.      This novel seems to have multiple themes. One important theme is that every action causes a reaction, and one person’s doing can result in something unpredicted. Similarly, it also seems to say that fate is bound to happen, no matter what is done to try to change it. In this novel, when Jose Arcadio Buendia marries his cousin Ursula, they are cursed to have a child with the tail of a pig. I believe that this is just a way of saying that they are destined for downfall and failure. They are afraid and tired of people whispering and pointing, so after Jose kills a townsman, they decide to retreat into the jungles of South America. With the help of other settlers, they found their own little town, named Macondo, in hope of escaping the wrath of fate.   Their family lives through one hundred years in this manner, before their destiny is fulfilled.   This novel is about how a family is able to survive, for a time, in solitude. So, it is appropriate that the setting is a newly settled village, which is deep in the jungle, away from the world that has condemned them. One Hundred Years of Solitude is an almost magical story where the past, present and future seem to merge into one. It tells the story of a family, rather than an individual, and how two people’s mistake results in their descendant’s downfall. If the setting was in an urban environment, the story would have made no sense, or at least lost a bit of its effect. Instead, these people start from scratch and build up their own civilization. Over the course of a century, civil wars occur, along with tragedies, angels appearing, and family members losing their sanity.     The novel is written in decades, with each one exploring a main character and with the other characters lives, the book tangles itself up, until everything blends together, to return to the book’s beginning, as Macondo continues towards its inevitable self-destruction.

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

Financial analysis of the performance of burberry Free Essay Example, 2500 words

Additionally, the company is buoyed by the platforms in the emerging countries to drive their earnings both in growth and volume. We will base our strategic analysis of the company on four distinct factors. These are; the existing strengths, the existing weaknesses, the existing opportunities and the existing threat. From a review of the previous performance of the company, the focus that is currently being given to the distribution on licensing in countries like Japan, Spain and the United States has left the company with a low gearing ratio (Proctor, 2012). However, through the current strategy of expansion of sales of Burberry brand and the seizure of opportunities aimed at capturing a greater share of the brand value chain presents numerous opportunities enhancing future value creation. To this end, it would be worth noting that the business model employed by the company possess characteristics of both retail and luxury goods companies. Table of Contents Cover Executive Summary Introduction Section 1 – Identifying the vision and strategy of the organization Section 2 – Balanced Score Card (BSC) Diagrammatic Representation of Balanced Score Card Section 3 – Strategy Map Section 4 – Recommendation Section 5 – Critical discussion and evaluation of the Use of Balanced Scorecard References Appendices 1 2 4 5 5 7 8 9 8 9 13 14 Introduction Created in 1956, Burberry Group plc continues to be a global luxury fashion brand and boasts of a history of 158 years. We will write a custom essay sample on Financial analysis of the performance of burberry or any topic specifically for you Only $17.96 $11.86/pageorder now The company specializes in manufacturing a wide variety of products which include accessories, beauty for men, luxury apparel, with men and children being a major business item of the company. The market for the company’s products is spread out to regions including Americas, Asia pacific and Europe with its stock being listed on the London Stock Exchange with the principle business being investment. This report will be applying the appropriate accounting techniques to critically analyzing financial data in the context of a variety of business decision making instances while at the same time making informal judgments from such accounting analyses. Section 1 – Identifying the Vision and Strategy of the Organization The vision of Burberry from its financial statements is; â€Å"To be the leading company that is fully digital across the globe† (Burberry Plc ‘Annual Report 2012/2013). The group strategy of Burberry is marked by a combination of both leading market position and a strong franchise in the established countries in addition to employing the use the platforms from the emerging countries in order to drive earnings both in the form of growth and volumes.