The Art of Sacrifice Essay Example for Free

The Art of Sacrifice Essay Sacrifice, the concept of giving up something valuable as a means of gaining more desirable things or preventing evil, is a fascinating art that has long intrigued humankind. In particular, two American texts have captured the essence of it , The Great Gatsby by F.S. Fitzgerald and the 1999 movie American Beauty directed by Sam Mendes. Both texts closely explore the responsibility of an individuals relationship with his or her society for the sacrifices the individual makes; from the disillusionment of the American Dream to how the characters are affected or destroyed by it. In the world of Jay Gatsby and Lester Burnham, ideals and values are defined by their society. More specifically, theirs is a consumer-driven society, resulting in false values which place importance on materialism and hedonism, disregarding morality and spirituality. In The Great Gatsby, these values are embodied through the juxtaposition and repetition of West and East. The Mid-West of America and West Egg, where Nick and Gatsby originate and inhabit, represent moral integrity, spirituality and innocence in contrast to the East Coast of America and East Egg, where the Buchanans live, which are full of self-indulgence, material wealth and moral decadence. The function of the characters is to enhance these values depending on where they come from, Mid-Western Nick for an example is a self-described moral person (I am one of the few honest people that I have ever known) but Tom Buchanan from the East is portrayed as a ruthless, racist womanizer who is careless in using and letting other people clean up the mess [he] had made. Similarly, the opening scene in American Beauty is of a high-angle pan across a picturesque suburb and then a cut to an equally picturesque large house with a neat lawn and beautiful rose beds. This quickly highlights the concept of a social ideal to strive for, as Lester Burnhams house is portrayed as the epitome of American homes with its perfect white walls and bright red door, and it is promptly linked to consumerism through the means of his wife Carolyn, who is a competitive real estate agent she sells this American Dream, leading to the social notion that if you have money, then you can have anything. All the se techniques are used to emphasize the major role of society in defining social values and aspirations. Therefore the individual, in an attempt to gain happiness and fulfillment, will strive for the values that society imposes. They adopt the social ideals and then make sacrifices in order to achieve them. Since the first glimpse of Carolyn cultivating a perfect red rose in American Beauty, it has become the symbol for her. Like the outwardly perfect rose, she is seen as the modern-age successful businesswoman who has it all the perfect family, the perfect house, the perfect job, all reflecting her philosophy of in order to be successful, one must maintain an image of success at all times. However, like these perfect roses, she has no scent thus no soul, and instead she uses the roses as a substitute for genuine emotion and affection. The starkest example is found in the first Burnham dinner scene where the closest thing to warmth comes from the scarlet color of the centerpiece roses as everything else in the frame, Carolyns family included, are cold and sombre due to the predominance of shadows, blue hues and lack of friendly conversation. In this way, she sacrifices real feelings for surface appearances. This makes her similar to Daisy in The Great Gatsby who, in choosing Tom over Gatsby twice, makes the sacrifice of love for social status and material possession. She endures Toms blatant infidelities to achieve the comfort and respectability that the consumer-driven and superficial society demands and like Carolyn, places emphasis on outwards appearance with her wish that her daughter would be a fool thats the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little fool. Even Gatsbys sense of ideal is no more or no less than which his society can offer him. Everything about Jay Gatsby is based on what James Gatz believes that society would find attractive as he does not enjoy his own wild parties, which shows that he does this for the sake of a socially accepted image rather than personal taste, that he is the advertisement of a man not the actual man himself. Indeed Gatsby adopts societys false values and he uses other mens desires as his standard of value a reason why he found Daisy so appealing in the first place, many men had already loved Daisy it increased her value in his eyes. However it must be noted that not all characters are like the aforementioned in their sacrifices, as no matter what the society dictates the ability to choose still lies in the power of the individual. While society may have itsb  guidelines of social acceptability, it is up to the individual whether or not to follow the guidelines. Nick, the voice of The Great Gatsby, is initially attracted to the wealth and glamor of the East but upon realizing that it creates a frantic, aimless lifestyle without substance nor spirituality, rejects it in the end. This milestone is marked by Nicks return to the Mid-West, which is symbolic of his rejection of the superficiality, materialism and amoral disposition of the East and his embracement of the traditional, wholesome values of the Mid-West. In American Beauty, Lesters encounter and resultant obsession with Angela makes him realize the emptiness of his life and he remembers the things he wants again, I feel like Ive been in a coma for about twenty years, and Im just waking up. He then sacrifices and rejects social expectations for his own happiness as he sees the illusion of the American Dream and how his family has lost their way in attempting to follow it. One of the ways Lester tries to capture the remembered joy of his youth is through the purchase of a sports car, a 1970 Pontiac Firebird. The car that I always wanted and now I have it. I rule! The Firebird is a symbol of his rebellion against suburban expectations and also one of power at the beginning of the film, Carolyn drives Lester everywhere, conveying his lack of drive, but with the Firebird, he drives himself to places he is in control of his own life once more. This echoes the power that all individuals have in making their own choices in life. Yet the choices that an individual makes reflect the relationship between him or her and their society. How the individual perceives the nature of their society is displayed in their choice of sacrifice, and it is also synonymous with the amount of control left in themselves that is not handed over to society. Carolyn, who is the embodiment of American materialism, has literally sold her soul for it, that is given up all her power and individuality to social expectations. She sacrifices morality and principle for success, and is preoccupied with maintaining this image of success with her expensive house and immaculate rose garden. Indeed, in the midst of an intimate moment with Lester, she stops it because of her fear of spilling beer on a four thousand dollar sofa upholstered in Italian silk which shows the extent to which she esteems materialism and societys values over her own  desires. In contrast, her daughter Jane is able to see what is truly important and rejects the society she lives in, as evident in her choice of unattractive clothes which are predominantly black the color of teenage rebellion. Hence she sacrifices the values of her family for her own values and she maintains her uniqueness and inner beauty. This is seen first dinner scene where Janes face in lit up by the candles whilst her parents faces are in the shadows. The light implies a halo around Jane and makes her a spiritually more worthy character than her parents, a beauty that the boy-next-door Ricky does not miss. In the The Great Gatsby, Gatsby unwittingly entraps himself to an endless pattern of imitation for he has allowed society to take over him, stripping him bare of individuality apart from his dream. Therefore, because he finds social acceptance so vital in winning the approval of Daisy, he sacrifices anything undesirable which is everything about poor Jimmy Gatz. He turns himself into the wealthy Jay Gatsby, a Platonic conception of himself and in fabricating his personal history and constructing an ideal image out of magazines, Gatsby loses his real self. While his dream may be pure and redeemable, he bases it on social superficial values and materialism which means that when the dream is destroyed and he fails to attain Daisy, he is already spiritually dead for all his superficiality becomes insignificant and pointless. In the final moments of his life, Nick envisions Gatsby realizing the hollowness of his life, his lack of true self, having lost along the path to his dream, a new world, material without being real, where poor ghosts, breathing dreams like air. The word choice of ghosts is significant for that is what Gatsby really has become, for he is simply an actor with no true body or identity of his own, having lived his life according to societys values not his own. Therefore the relationship between an individual and society is an important determent in the extent of sacrifices they make. In the end, it is the relationship between the individual and his or her society which is ultimately responsible for the sacrifices he or she makes. Separately, the society and individual make up only two influences, and are not the actual causes of the sacrifice the society defines values and dreams, of which the individual has the choice to try and strive for. Rather it is the complex dynamics between the two that triggers the sacrifice.  Individuals who adhere to and revere social standards will make the greatest sacrifices to achieve socially orientated goals. If the goals are unworthy or false, the individual may however lose themselves spiritually along the way. But individuals who rebel against society and oppose social values will consider those goals as undeserving and their sacrifices for it will be little to none. Indeed, these individuals will sacrifice social expectations for personal happiness and values instead. Through the characters in The Great Gatsby and American Beauty, Sam Mendes and F.S. Fitzgerald seem to imply that this latter way is better and yields more fruitful results. Bibliography: Commager, Henry Steele. The American Mind: An Interpretation of American Thought and Character Since the 1880s. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1950. The Great Gatsby. New York: Scribners, 1925; New York: Cambridge UP, 1991. Novel.

Computer Piracy in The Music Industry Essay -- mp3 file sharing music

Computer Piracy (The Music Industry) The music industry has had problems with computer piracy for many years now. There have been many programs devoted to giving out free music. Many of these programs are well know, but still very hard to stop. Napster, Kazaa, and the newest program, myTunes Redux are the most popular programs for music sharing. This essay will explain all about these main programs which allow free music to be shared all over the world. File-sharing became big right around the time the Napster file-sharing program came out. Napster is an online service which was invented by an 18-year-old college student that allows a user to see song files residing on the hard drives of other users, and to download copies of any of those songs. (DLC.org) Napster started off at a slow pace, becoming popular at colleges and then it just exploded. Everyone was using this program within a year of its creation. (DLC.org) However, it eventually got busted and the idea of free music was shutdown, or so the music industry thought. Napster continues to be around today, but with a legal persona. After Napster was told to stop there illegal program there were many other programs in the making. Programs even more advanced then Napster. The next program to come along which caused a big stir was a program known as Kazaa. Kazaa took file sharing to the next level by also allowing movie and picture files to be shared rather than just music files. The Kazaa protocol is the brainchild of the Scandinavians Niklas Zennstrà ¶m and Janus Friis and was introduced in March 2001 by their Dutch company Consumer Empowerment. (Wikipedia.org) Like the creators of Napster, Kazaa's owners have been taken to court by m... ...l and is the biggest file sharing program since Napster and Kazaa. There will most likely be a final resolution to this new program by next year. Basically, file sharing programs will always be around. They even are able to avoid law suits by explaining that it is the user who is breaking the law. The world of the music industry needs to understand that there is nothing they can do to stop it. All they can do is try to find ways to work around it. Besides, if someone really enjoys a band, they would go out and support them by buying their cd. In the end, file sharing is part of the world around us and will remain here for many years to come. Works Cited http://www.dlc.org/print.cfm?contentid=646 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kazaa http://news.com.com/MyTunes+returns+for+iTunes+song+sharing/2100-1027_3- 5349272.html

Financial Analysis and Forecast of Sweet Dreams Inc Essay

Sweet Dream Incorporated (SDI) is a manufacturing company focused on mattress and box spring production for large retailers and hotel chains. With two facilities at their disposal, SDI manufactures over 20 different styles of bedding for their consumers. SDI’s founder and president, Douglas May, has contacted our consulting firm with regards to current financial problems between himself and SDI’s bank, First International Bank. Due to the spike in bank failures in the early 1990’s First National has become extremely sensitive to problem loans (loans which show ratio performances below the industry standard). Unfortunately, SDI has had poor liquidity and debt ratios for the past three years which has caught the banks attention. After a phone call from the bank Doug has realized that SDI is in even worse trouble than the bank thinks. He has just signed a 9.5 million dollar contract to expand the business which was allegedly being loaned from the bank. Seeing as how the bank is debating closing Doug down it doesn’t look likely that they would want to front him another 9.5 million. Following a brief meeting with his senior managers, Doug and his team decided that this 9.5 million dollar loan from the bank is the only way to keep their business alive. They have decided to reverse their current policy of aggressive price drops and easy credit, reduce their administrative, selling and miscellaneous expenses, not acquire any new fixed assets or sell common stock, decrease accounts payable, stop paying dividends, and freeze executive salaries. All this is an attempt to prove to the bank that Sweet Dreams Inc. is taking their financial situation very seriously and that the bank should strongly consider giving SDI the 9.5 million dollar loan. Doug has asked us to verify the bank’s evaluation of his company, predict the expected performance of Sweet Dreams Inc. for 1996 and 1997, and prepare a list of SDI’s strengths an d weaknesses. All of these requests will be used to influence the bank to grant a 9.5 million dollar short-term loan to SDI as well as not forcing the bank to demand immediate re-payment of their loans. Sweet Dreams Incorporated (SDI) is struggling currently. With a current ratio of 1.9, SDI looks good up front. However the company’s inventory occupies close to 60 percent of its current assets. The quick ratio better shows SDI’s performance. With a ratio of .77, SDI cannot pay their short-term liabilities as they come due. This shows the first problem of Sweet Dreams Inc; Inventory Management. Also in Doug’s efforts to spin his recent losses he has decided to change his traditional dividend payout from 25% to 0. This symptom cuts to the core problem that SDI’s bottom line has suffered in the past years, partly because of economic downturns and partly because of management’s response to the economic downturn. Finally SDI’s Z score poses a problem with the banks’ standards. An Altman’s Z score is calculated by combining five different ratios of a company. First National claims that a Z score below the industry standard shows weakness in a firm and increases the likelihood of default. SDI’s Altman score is 3.07 which is not enough to worry the bank, but enough to put increased pressure on Sweet Dreams Inc. Therefore the problem here lies at minimizing costs and increasing revenues. To solve these problems SDI would need to focus their efforts on inventory management, company decisions, and effectiveness and efficiency. Regarding inventory SDI can lower the current level of mattress production to let inventory deplete to an acceptable percentage of current assets. As for company decisions when the economy is hurting companies should focus on cutting wages or hours to minimize costs, not reducing prices to increase sales. Finally the company needs to work on improving their ratios. Strong ratios come from more selling and less spending which in turn will lead to a better Altman’s Z score. 2) After finding the results of Question one, it is evident that SDI has more weaknesses than strengths as of 1995. If you look at the common size statements, Table 3, it shows that inventory increased as a percentage of sales, which indicates that a smaller percentage is being sold. All current liabilities increased as a percentage of total liabilities, which indicates that SDI is facing more debt. Figure one also clearly shows many of the weaknesses of SDI. Both liquidity ratios are below the industry average. Although the debt ratio appears to be above the industry average, it is actually a weakness because it indicates that SDI has more debt than equity. The only asset management ratio that is above industry average is the fixed asset turnover ratio, the rest are either equal to, or beneath their industry average. However, it’s not all bad; Figure one also shows that SDI has managed to hold a payout ratio on dividends that is 5 percent above the industry average. 3) Based on our analysis of historical data, I do not believe that the bank should lend the requested money to SDI. We believe SDI is unfit for the loan because they are below the industry average in a majority of financial ratios used to measure overall success in the company. These include liquidity ratios, leverage ratios, asset management ratios and profitability ratios, all shown in Table six. The fact that SDI Is facing decreased demand resulting from the recent depression also adds to their adversity they are facing to be a successful retailer. The current financial situation they are in makes them very sensitive to any unexpected economic event, making the risk of lending to them even greater. We firmly believe that it would not be beneficial to the bank to grant SDI this loan. 5) SDI has determined that its optimal cash balance will be 5 percent of total sales. In addition, all excess funds of this amount will be invested in marketable securities, which in turn will earn a 5 percent interest rate. Based on the forecasted financial statements, we have determined that SDI will be able to invest in marketable securities in 1996 and 1997. As shown in Table two, net sales for 1996 and 1997 are $330,386,000 and $371,684,000 respectively. Table one shows that in 1996, SKI had $55,276,000 in cash and marketable securities. With the optimal cash balance at 5 percent, only $16,519,300 of this amount will be in cash. The remaining $38,756,700 will go towards marketable securities. Likewise the figures in 1997, which exceeds $18,584,200, the 5 percent optimal cash balance. Therefore, SDI was able to invest $56,183,800 in marketable securities. A potential problem that our financial forecasts reveal is that we are investing a considerably larger amount of money into the marketable securities than we are holding in cash. While this money is earning interest, it may cause a future problem seeing as how there are so many loans that require cash to be paid off. With cash being the most liquid of all assets, it may be essential to keep more on hand in order to successfully pay off short and long term loans that will accumulate as a result of the $9,500,000 increase in capital from the plant expansion. 6) On the basis of previously developed forecasts, it does not appear that SDI will be able to retire all of its outstanding short-term loans by December 31, 1996. At this date, SDI’s short term SDI has on hand at this time is only $16,519,300, as the rest of their cash will be invested in marketable securities as a result of the 5 percent optimal cash balance. 7) Should the bank decide to withdraw the entire line of credit and demand payment immediately, a few alternative options would be available to Sweet Dreams Inc. The first option is that Sweet Dreams Inc. would immediately file for bankruptcy. Along with this they will file for protection under Chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Act. This will allow Sweet Dreams Inc. to run as a firm and raise new money under restricted circumstances. Sweet Dreams Inc. will also be able to sell off any liquid assets in order to cover operation expenses and legal fees involved in this process. However, filing for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy is not a n easy way out because more often than not the bank is unable to recover its initial investment. Along with this, employee productivity and morale descends, and the company will begin to have difficulty obtaining credit in the future because of their soiled credit history today. Another option is that Sweet Dreams Inc. would sell current assets at market value to pay off the requested amount from the bank. Their short-term bank loan is equal to $26,610,000 and their long-term bank loan is equal to $16,248,000 in 1995. Combined, this will equal a total of $42,858,000. This amount will need to be paid off as soon as possible. Due to the fact that they cannot sell total assets, Sweet Dreams Inc. needs to sell their current assets first at market value. For this example, we will use 28% as a fair market value. At 28% of face value, the $127,028,000 worth of current assets would be worth $91,460,160 to the creditors. First, Sweet Dreams Inc. would pay back the bank because they are requesting those funds immediately. After the loans are fully paid off, Sweet Dreams Inc. would be left with $48,602,160. The next action would be to pay off the stockholders who are still entitled to money. This amount would total to $2,660,000, with 7million shares valued at $.38. This would leave Since Sweet Dreams Inc. with $45,942,160. Although they still have money, Sweet Dreams Inc. took a major financial hit and will most likely need to default regardless. 8. There are several circumstances that would affect the validity of the comparative ratio analysis. For example the text quotes, â€Å"SDI’s problems began with the recession of the early 1990’s, which caused a drastic decrease in demand from its retail and hotel customers,† When outside sources such as a recession or an inflation occurs one can expect that the forecast would be altered. Unforeseeable events such as natural disasters can also affect the normality of the forecast, as these can affect potential sales. Also, if one makes a mistake in a forecast, and adds incorrectly or uses the wrong formula then the comparative ratio will be thrown off. When forecasting, one can only trust the facts of the past. For example, in this case study, SDI managers saw a decrease in demand from this recession. This caused many retail and hotel customers to steer away from purchasing new bedding. Although the sales from new homeowners were still there, hotels were not being built in the Southeast. Even though SDI responded by lowering prices and increasing production, people were still not buying and sales never increased. Hence, the management forecast was not accurate, and sales hardly improved. In most cases, forecasting is a very effective tool in predicting what will occur in the future, but there must be some room for managers to be flexible in order to account for discrepancies in the data or unknown events. 10) Based on the Altman’s Z-Score table we are confident that if a company is within 25% of expected sales they will still be close to the minimum Altman score of 3.2. Therefore the company would have strong enough ratios to not be flagged by the bank for, â€Å"Problem Loans.† Also Cost of Goods Sold as a percent of sales and the Altman Z score are inversely related. This shows that the end results are sensitive to Cost of Goods Sold. 11) While looking at the pro-forma financial statements, we believe Ingrid should give Sweet Dreams Inc. the 9.5 million dollar loan. All of the ratios are above the industry averages which hold strong signs for the future of the company. That being said SDI’s pro forma statements are of course, speculative. Ingrid should implement certain prevention systems to monitor SDI’s statements. For instance the bank should state in part of their indenture that SDI must keep 20% of their revenue in a savings account that the bank has access too. This serves the bank by holding 20% of their assets, but more importantly it lets the bank see how much money the company is making proportionately. The bank also has the right to use said assets as collateral until SDI is able to pay the bank back. With this contingency plan installed we believe that Ingrid would be justified in giving the loan to Sweet Dreams Incorporated.

Whats the Meaning and Usage of the French Word Coquin

The French word coquin can be an adjective or a noun. Here are some examples of how to use it. Definitions and Examples coquin (adjective): mischievous, malicious (for kids) Les enfants sont toujours coquins.Kids are always mischievous. coquin  (adjective): risquà ©, racy (for things)Ne raconte pas cette histoire coquine !Dont tell that racy story! un coquin (noun, masculine): a mischievous or malicious person Tu es un coquin ! You are a scoundrel! Pronunciation The word coquin is pronounced  [ko ka(n)].