The Importance Of Symbolism In Three Short Stories Essay Example for Free

The Importance Of Symbolism In Three Short Stories Essay Symbolism is an integral part of literature.   It allows the writer to create for the reader multiple layers of meaning in an indirect manner, almost at an unconscious level.   At its most basic, this representation can be an almost one-for-one transposition, but the most skilful and enthralling literature allows for multiple possible readings, making it possible for every reader to take away their own personal interpretation, a message that can seem tailor-made for that person alone. These three short stories are famous pieces of literature, and rightly so: they have rich symbolic imagery that has captivated readers ever since their first publication.    That they are famous works is indisputable, but the reason for this enduring fame seems to be that each story’s symbolism speaks to a fundamental and enduring critique of humankind’s most elemental darker impulses, and the outcome of each reflects an uglier side of human nature than we prefer to own.   For this reason, these short stories have endured, and added both their message and the writer who composed it to the annals of literature. In Shirley Jackson’s â€Å"The Lottery† (268-273), a village assembles in the town center for the drawing of their annual lottery.   At first, the reader can be forgiven for believing that this is a festive rite in the life of the town, but as the tale moves along, a darker, more sinister shadow is cast over the proceedings, culminating in the ritual murder of the ostensible winner of the lottery by the whole village, including her family. The lottery itself seems to be a symbolic representation of the dangers of blindly following ‘traditional’ customs once the original meaning and purpose of the ritual has been forgotten, and only the ritual itself remains.   In this case, custom dictates that a member of the community be selected by lottery to be ritually stoned to death each year, and though no-one can remember why this must be so, they adhere to the custom, despite the fact that they know that other villages have abandoned the practice, and many of their own community are uncomfortable with continuing it. There are, however, other layers to the story.   It was once said that, â€Å"All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.†Ã‚   The acquiescence of the community to the practice of ritual murder is disquieting, all the more so because not all the villagers are convinced of the necessity or the morality of the lottery. Those who are uneasy with the practice murmur their disquiet, but are quickly silenced by the voices of those who uphold the established custom as an integral part of their community and its identity, with no moral or practical justification provided.   Despite the fact that they do not seem any more convinced of the necessity or the morality of the lottery than they had before they spoke, the dissenters quickly fall silent, and do nothing as the inevitable outcome takes place.   Nay, they take their crime one step further; not only do they do nothing to prevent the murder, they actively participate in it. More conventional tales, such as Arthur Miller’s The Crucible, show a similar dilemma for a moral character, and the conventional ending is that the moral character takes a stand against the evil, whatever the personal cost.   In The Crucible, the character John Proctor has a choice: to stay silent about his extra-marital affair that has left his scorned lover with a motive when a witch hunt gives her the opportunity to call for the death of his wife, or to own his misdeed, own his dishonor, and save the reputation and life of his innocent wife.   He heroically chooses the righteous path, and dies to expose the injustice of the witch hunt. In â€Å"The Lottery†, however, those who have the ability to see the injustice see it, and do nothing, overthrowing both the conventional ending of such tales and the conventional belief that people have an intrinsic tendency to good over evil.   Even if this conventional belief is unjustified, we are accustomed to our fiction providing us with this more psychologically comfortable outcome, and people were enraged at the subversion of this convention in this particular short story.   It exposes an ugly side of human nature, the unwillingness to risk self even in the cause of justice, and people were, and are, uncomfortable with this reflection of themselves. In Guy De Maupassant’s â€Å"The Necklace† (4-11), once again, we are confronted with a darker side of the human psyche.   Written in the tone of a parable, the story recounts the tale of a vain and proud young wife who believes herself born for better things. Her selfish ambition leads her to borrow a necklace from a rich friend in order to feign the appearance of a woman of higher affluence and social standing than she in fact possesses at a high society event.   She loses the necklace, and she and her husband work in abject poverty for 10 years in order to replace the necklace without revealing the wife’s folly to the friend.   At the end of the 10 years, the vain and foolish wife has lost her coveted beauty, and upon meeting the former friend by chance, learns that the necklace she worked so hard to replace had been an imitation, and the labors that had robbed her of her youth and beauty had been for nothing. This tale is almost Biblical in its ‘pride goes before a fall’ message.   The necklace symbolizes the wife’s pride, vanity and imprudence.   It can also be taken to represent the belief that the social success that the wife covets and yearns for is as false a worthy aspiration as the gems in the necklace.   Reading audiences can be satisfied with the conventional ending, but it is an almost vengeful outcome for the character, with no chance of her redemption or salvation.   It too is a reflection of the darker side of human nature, and almost as troubling as the ugly side of the character that is revealed is the ugly side of the reader’s own grim satisfaction with her poetic justice. In Flannery O’Connor’s â€Å"A Good Man Is Hard to Find† (636-646), a family sets off on vacation.   The seemingly innocuous beginning leads to murder and mayhem when they have a car accident, and are waylaid in this predicament by an escaped murderer, who kills them all.   This dark little short story uses the journey to symbolize the path that the family is on in their lives.   The car wreck is a pretty accurate representation of where their lives were headed: the individual flaws and pettinesses of each member of the family are illustrated along the way. The children are rude, unruly and unmanageable; the parents do not lead by virtuous example, not bothering to discipline their misbehaving children; and the grandmother is manipulative and self-righteous.   Along the way, they stop for lunch, and the grandmother commiserates with the owner of the rest stop over their belief that good people are becoming scarce.   The irony of this is that the grandmother and the owner blame others for their own folly, and refuse to take responsibility for others taking advantage of that folly.   It is also ironic that not a single character in the story demonstrates any morality or compassion, it is their frailties that they betray. It is a combination of their follies that causes the accident, the abrupt end of the journey (symbolizing the end of their lives), and once the murderer arrives on the scene, he kills them, one by one, subverting the conventional salvation ending with their symbolic damnation. It is a very strongly religious message from a self-professed Catholic writer.   Whether the killer (The Misfit) represents God or Satan (one could argue either way), he symbolically represents judge, jury and executioner, and even the grandmother (who we are led to believe has made some kind of connection with The Misfit, and may therefore survive the incident) betrays her self-serving motives, and is killed.   The moral of the story seems to be that we all have a dark side, though there may be degrees of evil, but all evil will eventually be discovered and punished. Each of these three short stories’ use of symbolism is extremely evocative and effective.   This rich symbolism, combined with subversive plot outcomes, has made for a fascinating insight into humankind’s inherent darker impulses, and the outcome of each of these stories reflects the ugly side of human nature with an unsettling degree of accuracy. WORKS CITED Jackson, Shirley. â€Å"The Lottery.† Literature: An Introduction to Reading and Writing. Eds. Edgar V. Roberts and Henry Jacobs. Sixth edition. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, 2001. 268-273. Maupassant, Guy De. â€Å"The Necklace.† Literature: An Introduction to Reading and Writing. Eds. Edgar V. Roberts and Henry Jacobs. Sixth edition. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, 2001. 4-11. O’Connor, Flannery. â€Å"A Good Man is Hard to Find.† Literature: An Introduction to Reading and Writing. Eds. Edgar V. Roberts and Henry Jacobs. Sixth edition. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, 2001. 636-646.

Thomas Hobbes Essay Example for Free

Thomas Hobbes Essay The philosophy of Thomas Hobbes, especially that of his major work, Leviathan, is designed to understand the motives of human nature and, from these, seek the surest way to civil peace. This is one of the earliest examples of a â€Å"scientific† method of understanding political science in that the commonwealth was to be built on a handful of axioms, all deriving from what Hobbes considered facts of human nature (cf. Matthews, 118). The nature of these axioms leading to civil peace is the purpose of this present essay. The primary understanding of human nature that, if applied properly, would lead to social peace is that human beings desire power. This is nearly identical to Machiavelli’s approach to politics. It seems that in both Hobbes and Machiavelli, human beings desire power, and hence, develop â€Å"moral† systems that justify the present holding or seeking of power (Morgan, 528-530, and 581-582). But the nature of this axiom is that people are naturally programmed to seek power and no matter of moral suasion will stop this. Hobbes wants to begin from a single concept and build upon it rather than attempt to suppress it, since any attempt at suppression itself proves the axiom correct. If human nature is taken seriously rather than covered over with metaphysical theories, then peace might be the consequent: human beings must be taken as they are, not as one might want them to be. If the above axiom is true, that is, people desire power, than many other axioms follow from it. The first axiom that follows from the first is that reason is a slave to the passions (Morgan, 641). Reason, in other words, cannot provide ends, but merely means, and significantly, justifications after the fact. Appealing to reason is hence, not appropriate with such a view of humanity, and only the appeal to passion will work here. Passion is nothing that can be suppressed, but it can be controlled. Passion is the engine of human nature in a similar sense that hunks of matter in a vacuum will continue in constant morion unless acted upon by another force. This is an exact parallel to Hobbes here, and the only opposing force to passionate human motion is other human beings, and hence, the problem: humans are constantly, following from this, in a state of war. What makes this state of war particularly harsh is that the abilities of human beings as individuals, or organizing into groups, are roughly equal (Morgan, 591). This means that the war of all against all will continue constantly, with no clear winner. Any â€Å"winner† will be only a temporary winner, and will soon be dethroned by another faction. The fact of equality is not something here taken from observation, but from a deduction from â€Å"atomic† theory (or at least, the theories of matter current at the time), where atoms, in their basic structure, are all the same. Matter is matter, energy is energy, humans are humans. From the above, it follows that human beings are determined. Free will, to an extent, is rejected in Hobbes. For him, liberty is the ability to do what one wills without outside opposition (Morgan, 621). This is consistent with determinism in that the will must have a reason, that is, a cause, for having the desire it has and bringing it to fruition. Hence, man is determined, but since he does what he wants, he is thus free. This just underscores the fact that reason is impotent to being about peace, only the passions can be appealed to in that the constant clashing of wills and the frustration of one’s freedom as Hobbes describes it is constant warfare. From the above, Hobbes deduces that humanity is egocentric, power hungry and willful, and as a result, without some countervailing power, is in a constant state of warfare. The nature of this countervailing power is the real centerpiece of the Leviathan. The general point is that if humanity can be reduced to a few, simple, clear axioms that follow logically from one another, as any good scientific theory should do, then the state, the countervailing power that keeps these human â€Å"atoms† in line relative to one another, should also be simple, unified and follow logically from the axioms about human nature. Hence, Hobbes is seeking to be completely scientific and a â€Å"realist† about both humanity and the state that they will live under in order to reach peace. At this point in the logical progression, it seems impossible to live in a state of peace. Human beings are depicted as lustful, egocentric and equal beings constantly in a state of motion and hence, clashing with all other peoples, essentially hunks of matter in motion, connected to an almost arbitrary engine of passion. But it is the Leviathan that will bring this peace, and it is passion that it will use to justify itself and bring peace to the commonwealth. Hobbes describes humanity prior to all law and custom, that is, the â€Å"law of nature. † The primary motive force of humanity is power, considered generally. But if warfare is a constant feature of the â€Å"state of nature,† then the drive for power for each and all is constantly being frustrated. It seems logical to hold that eventually, these egocentric people will constantly see their designs thwarted and their purposes constantly harmed y others. From this, all those that seek power, that is, everyone, will be forced to come to some agreement, a â€Å"covenant† among themselves that will provide a measure of peace so that the power struggle can continue in more peaceful channels. This is the nature of the covenant (Morgan, 594). This agreement comes not about through reason, but through the constant frustration of passion. Reason is a means to an end, and power is always that end. But power cannot be had in the state of nature given its constantly shifting nature, and therefore, reason then acts as a slave to passion and demands some kind of agreement, a contract that will bring peace. The nature of this covenant must follow from the facts of human nature outlined above. Hence, it cannot really be a parliamentary democracy because that merely leaves the state of nature intact, one faction constantly unseating another, leading to the same chaos as before. The kind of state that is agreed upon is basically a dictatorship of a party that must act equally between individuals and factions within the society. All power is hence transferred to the state, the dictatorship, and in return, this power is used to keep the warring factions from destroying each other. The only real demand laid on the state is that of objectivity in judging among the factions, and hence, the state must ultimately be a monarchy (of sorts), equidistant from all centers of power in society and hence, able to judge among them fairly (Morgan, 613). Putting this differently, if power is the desire of all individuals and factions, then it follows that the state exists solely for security (Morgan, 606). If humanity is described in axiomatic terms all following one from another, and the state is itself part of this logical progression, then it also follows that the nature of the state’s action also must follow from the above. This means that the state is unitary, dedicated to one purpose and based on a rule of law that is simple and dedicated entirely to security and, according to the contract, treats all individuals and factions as morally equal to one another (Morgan, 641). The logical structure of the Leviathan comes down to working out contradictions in the axiomatic description of human beings. If human beings desire power and cannot get it in the state of nature, then a powerful state must be crated that permits humanity to live and seek after power through peaceful means. But since no faction will permit one group to rule at the expense of all others, the state must be single, focused and based on an agreed upon set of laws (a â€Å"constitution†) that enshrines this concept of political equality. Only then can all factions agree to give up their violent ways to the central authority. Since human beings are egocentric and passionate, the state based on the rule of law agreed to by all factions beforehand follows logically. The terms â€Å"peace† and â€Å"justice† are used here in highly technical and scientific ways that part radically with previous attempts to define and justify these words. Peace, according to Hobbes, is merely the absence of war (Morgan, 592). It simply is a state of affairs that permits power hungry individuals to pursue their designs in a peaceful manner. Any breach of this peace will, ideally, lead to swift and harsh action from the state that they have empowered to keep watch over their actions. Justice is similar in that it is based on knowledge. The early parts of the Leviathan are based on a scientific method, a means of coming to know human nature as generally and simply as possible. Justice just flows from this. Ultimately, justice derives from science, which is the knowledge of good and evil (Morgan, 603). In practice, this merely means that humans are attracted by the same set of things, and recoil from the same set of things. If power and what it implies are seen in the former, then the frustration of their liberty (as defined above) is what repels them. This knowledge alone allows one to see the basis and ultimate justice of the state. Hence, justice is defined accordingly, as the ability of the person, or, at last, the state, to control the passions of the population when they threaten to disrupt the precarious balance of peace in the commonwealth (Morgan, 599-600). But this is understood by all who are punished by the state in that they have agreed to this on the basis that their own liberty is endlessly obstructed by others in the state of nature. But, as a final thought, this is the very nature of one’s civic duty–to eliminate all private desires and to follow the laws as laid down by the sovereign and agreed upon by those who have demanded these laws (Morgan, 610-611). Duty is not something that is arrived at through reason, but through the passionate desire for power. It is frustrated in the state of nature, but permitted to function freely under the rule of law. There is no â€Å"thick† view of civic duty here, but rather, the control over one’s passions in the interest of those same passions, to permit them to develop in peace. The desire for peace derives from the identical desire for power, except that this desire is frustrated in a state of war. This is what makes Hobbes compelling: the approach to politics could not be simpler. The concept of civic duty is summed up by Hobbes as the act of giving up â€Å"governing oneself† (Morgan, 608), and permitting the more violent elements of one’s passion to be governed by the state only. What is left to the person is the peaceful pursuit of his passionate desires. Politically speaking, the commonwealth is that entity that exists for the sake of peace and security by the efficient control of the private desires of the people involved. In its place, the public will as expressed by the laws of the sovereign so far as they do not violate the very simple terms of the contract. In conclusion, the nature of peace and civic duty for Hobbes are two sides of the same coin. The public persona of the person in the commonwealth is as a public entity, a person dedicated to civic peace and dedicated to the elimination of all personal desires relative to other members of the community. The final end, according to Hobbes’ own description is the pursuit of power by peaceful means, engaging in commerce, etc. The sovereign is the public persona and serves to maintain this persona within the personalities of all involved.

Types of nonverbal Communication

Types of nonverbal Communication Nonverbal Communication The definition of nonverbal communication can be as short or as elaborate and specific as one wants to make it. In general the nonverbal communication describes any and all communication that occurs outside the realm of written or spoken words and is expressed by generation of either intentional or subconscious cues and their recognition. Commonly, nonverbal communication is divided into subcategories describing individual areas that transmit communication cues. These areas, among others, include kinesics, paralanguage, proxemics, haptics, oculesics, and physical appearance. Understanding and effective application of nonverbal communication skills is becoming increasingly important in the modern world. Also, do these nonverbal cues have the same meaning all over the world? Are these nonverbal cues just modified to fit cultural ideals? I will be explaining the different types of nonverbal communication, the importance of them, and how its used throughout different parts of the world. There are different types of nonverbal communication. The first is kinesics which is the study of body language, facial expression, and gestures. Movement is strongly connected to communication style. For example, Knapp Hall notice that movement is related to interaction synchrony, the matching and meshing behaviors that accompany conversations and discussions between two or more people. Matching and meshing usually connote a sense of pleasure with the conversation and can indicate feelings of rapport. Matching can occur through postural congruence and mirroring the persons body language. Also, motor mimicry is a form of matching, such as when a person places her hand on her heart to connote sympathy during another persons sad story. Knapp Hall state that emotional contagion usually occurs in conjunction with mimicry in conversations, meaning that the conversation partners are sharing their feelings and interacting in empathetic ways. Knapp Hall describe two fundamental types of p hysical gestures, those that accompany speech and those that do not. Gestures in general are movements made by the body or some part of it. Speech-independent gestures can include anything from a shake of the head to the finger to wrinkling the nose. These non-verbal gestures often mean different things in different contexts or in different cultures. No gesture is absolutely universal although many are commonly recognized, at least throughout the same cultural context. Some personal examples of speech-independent gestures include the thumbs-up that means everything is good†. For example, in Brazil and in Denmark the American Ok hand sign is a gesture of vulgarity, and in France the same sign signifies zero and in Japan that sign means money. Cultural differences in kinesic behaviors are as significant and complex as cultural differences in verbal language. Factors like attractiveness, appearance, gesture, movement, face, eye, and vocal behaviors differ from place to place. An understanding of cultural differences and basic awareness of those differences when communicating with persons from other cultures can enormously improve cross-cultural relationships and eliminate misunderstandings. Another among these is paralanguage. This is the study of the nonverbal cues of the voice. Various acoustic properties such as tone, pitch, and accent, collectively known as prosody, can all give off nonverbal cues. George L. Trager developed different classifications in paralanguage. The first is voice set, which is the context in which the speaker is speaking. This can include the situation, mood, age and persons culture. Another is voice qualities. These are the volumes of your tone, pitch, tempo, rhythm, and accent. This is very important in getting certain points across in conversation. Vocalization consists of three subsections: characterizers, qualifiers and segregates. Characterizers are emotions expressed while speaking, such as laughing, crying, and yawning. A voice qualifier is the style of delivering a message for example, yelling Hey stop that!, as opposed to whispering Hey stop that. Vocal segregates such as uh-huh notify the speaker that the listener is listening. The se cues define in general the point you are trying to get across in conversations. Study of space as a part of nonverbal communication referred to as proxemics further analyses physical and psychological space between individuals in the interaction. Proxemics could be divided into the elements of territory and personal space. Territory refers to the general area in which the interaction occurs, while personal space is just that a space immediately around a person. One of the most important elements of proxemics is the study of haptics or in more conventional terms, touch. According to various researches, touch â€Å"enhances ones interpersonal involvement, positive affect, social attachment, intimacy, and overall liking†. The persuasive power of touch is further evident in the findings of Patterson et al, stating that people tend to associate positive characteristics with the individual who touched them. That is either speaking in terms of being friendly or intimate. For example, friendliness would be more described with handshakes. A more intimate example w ould be a kiss. But in some cultures, greeting with touch can be disrespectful in some ways. For example, in parts of Africa, trying to shake ones hand with your left is considered disrespectful. For the most part, touch of one another shows comfort and respect in America. Sign language is another aspect of nonverbal communication. The written history of sign language began in the 17th century in Spain. In 1620, Juan Pablo Bonet published Reduccià ³n de las letras y arte para enseà ±ar a hablar a los mudos ‘Reduction of letters and art for teaching mute people to speak in Madrid. It is considered the first modern treatise of Phonetics and Logopedia, setting out a method of oral education for the deaf people by means of the use of manual signs, in form of a manual alphabet to improve the communication of the mute or deaf people. Sign language is a language which, instead of acoustically conveyed sound patterns, uses visually transmitted sign patterns such as manual communication, body language and lip patterns to convey meaning, simultaneously combining hand shapes, orientation and movement of the hands, arms or body, and facial expressions to fluidly express a speakers thoughts. The last aspect of nonverbal communication discussed in this research is physical appearance. Although, in the greater sense, attractiveness describes characteristics that go beyond the physical appearance alone, physically attractive people are perceived as â€Å"more persuasive, successful in changing attitudes, and are perceived to be warmer, more poised, and more socially skilled than less attractive people. According to Peterson and argyle, the way one dresses is also an important element of physical appearance as a source of nonverbal cues, in big part because a person has much more control over his or her clothes, as opposed to the features of the face or the body size. An example of this is the casual business clothing. It is considered distinguishing and positive status. But if you see someone in rags on the streets, you can presume that one is of lower and poorer status. Even though you cant always judge a book by its cover, physical appearance can sometimes depict who som eone is. In addition to the benefits of nonverbal communication, some problems exist as well. As the research suggests, little correlation exists between ones self-rated accuracy of decoding of the nonverbal cues and the actual performance. Some individuals also tend to concentrate more on their strongest areas of nonverbal communication while neglecting the other aspects. As in the example presented by Diane Arthur, the kinesic cues, contradictory to other verbal and nonverbal behavior, significantly undermined the credibility and effectiveness of the presenter. Another problem area within the realm of nonverbal communication is the ambiguity of generated and transmitted cues. Since the appropriate meaning and interpretation of nonverbal cues are highly contextual in nature, the same gestures, facial expressions or posture can and do mean different things in different interaction environment and settings. Often, perceivers tend to venture farther than available context allows and interpret t he signals according to their mental map, or to put it in other word their previous knowledge, experience, stereotypes and others perceptual filters. Problem is further escalated due to the natural tendency of humans to be overly confident of the purely subjective judgments reached according personally-relevant information. This idea develops into yet another obstacle in the interpretation of body language. Differences in cultural backgrounds of those involved in the interaction may interfere with correct decoding the encoded message. Most common cultural differences would probably be in kinesics. For example, a nod in the United States, as well as in many other cultures, signifies understanding or agreement. However, in the Middle East, a single nod represents disagreement or rejection. Similarly, other commonly used gestures or other aspects of nonverbal communication may have completely different meanings in various cultures. With this said, one must realize that the term cultur e does not refer to the various ethnic and geographical groups exclusively. Culture can describe anything from sex to interorganizational culture. Therefore, in order to correctly decode the nonverbal cues one must not only analyze the ones that are relative to the context of what is being communicated, but also to attempt to interpret them in light of the decoders cultural background. The task of understanding nonverbal cues clearly is extremely complex and misunderstandings are common. In conclusion, nonverbal communication is very important in depicting the message you are trying to deliver. The different kinds of communication are effective in so many ways. Some gestures are universal in meaning and some are not. But they do give a message. Without this, verbal language would show no meaning and be dull. Ones gestures and movements do bring life to conversation. Types Of Nonverbal Communication Types Of Nonverbal Communication Non-verbal communication or most commonly known as body language is the unspoken language of the body which is shown through our bodies to show our true intentions and hints of our feelings to the people whom we are conversing with. When we are conversing with others verbally our bodies simultaneously give out and receive signals which are transmitted by our bodies. This signals consists of the gestures we make, how we sit, the intonation and speed of how we talk, the distance we stand when talking and the amount of eye-contact we make while conversing. All this transmits vital non-verbal messages of oneself to another. These non-verbal messages still get across to the people around even when we are silent. The verbal message and body language very frequently contradicts which leaves the listener to choose which one to believe. Usually they will choose the body language. This is the reason why our body language should send a message which is congruent to what we are saying verbally. It is one of the biggest misconceptions to think that what is being said is more important than how it is being said. In reality only 7% of information is sent through words, the remaining 93% of communication is non-verbal. If you fail to read and de-code non-verbal messages, you set yourself up for constant misunderstandings and various communication problems. (Arina Nikitina, 2009) Sometimes the amount of attention we give towards the person who is talking can also be portrayed by our body language. The listener will increase their trust when our body language matches what we are saying but if it doesnt, the listeners will begin to develop tension, mistrust and be confused. In order to enhance what we are saying verbally, we have to be conscious of our body language to prevent sending out a wrong non-verbal message which might misinterpret what we are saying. For example, I had a classmate in secondary school which had problems catching up with his lessons in class. This was because he was suffering from some sort of mental retardation which affects his academic performance. When teacher questions him, he would apologize but the teacher would get even more furious with him and will not accept his apology. At first I thought the teacher was insensitive but then I realized that my classmate was at fault too. This is because he did not apologize in the proper mann er. His arms will be folded and while looking somewhere else he would apologize. In this case, the boy was apologizing but because of his improper body language the message he wanted to send across to the teacher was misinterpreted and the teacher thought that my classmate was being arrogant. In this scenario, the most appropriate way for my classmate to express his apology to the teacher is by looking into the teachers eyes with his arms down and saying sorry with a tone full of remorse. This real life example which happened in front of my eyes clearly demonstrates the importance of body language. This also clearly demonstrates the importance of nonverbal communication. Nonverbal communication can play five roles in speech: -Repetition -Contradiction -Substitution -Complementing -Accenting Source: The Importance of Effective Communication, Edward G. Wertheim, Ph.D. The Seven Known Types of Nonverbal Communication Facial expressions Although people come from different parts of the world with different cultures, they all still have the same facial expressions for happiness, sadness, anger, surprise, fear, and disgust. These expressions are almost universal. For instance, if one was to attend a wedding ceremony with a sulky face, this clearly shows that he or she is unhappy with the ceremony or simply just had a bad day. Body movements and posture The perceptions of us from others are affected by how we sit, talk, stand or even by shaking or holding their hand. For example, when a person is in an interview with the human resource executive and starts fidgeting with his or her fingers or an object, this clearly sends a body language to the human resource executive showing that the candidate is feeling restless and in secured with his or her given credentials. This will make the human resource executive think twice before hiring this candidate. Gestures Gestures are practically incorporated into our daily lives. Some gestures occur during our subconscious state of thought. However gestures vary from each culture to another. We must heed to the listeners cultural norms to avoid misinterpretation. In some cultures, the gesture of pointing the finger at a person is disrespectful but to another culture is perfectly fine. Eye contact The human eyes can portray someones interest, affection, hostility or attraction towards the opposite sex. Eye contact is also another tool to show clarity of the speaker. Touch An example of touch as a form of nonverbal communication is a handshake. A handshake is used to convey a mutual agreement or when someone meets a new person. Besides that a warm hug is used to convey affection toward the particular person is being hugged. A pat on the back or shoulder is used for encouragement or to acknowledge someones presence. Space The distance the speaker is standing or seating towards the listener can be used to indicate the type of relationship they are having. According to Wikipedia there are four different levels of distance: intimate distance, personal distance, social distance and public distance. Intimate distance is the space for embracing each other, touching and whispering. Whereas, personal distance is the space for interactions among friends and family. On the other hand, social distance is the space for acquaintances or people whom you meet randomly or even mutual friends. The public distance is for public speakers who deliver their message to the masses to convey their thoughts and ideology. For example, politicians and professor who is giving a lecture in front of a huge number of students in an auditorium. Voice Saying something doesnt really make a great impact but instead the way you say something really has the potential to captivate your audiences. For example pauses can be used to show power and superiority. On the other hand, the intonation n rate of speech and enhance the understanding of the listener. For example, if one was to speak really fast I am sure that the listener would only manage to understand the gist of what the speaker was saying. This is the reason one should say what he intends to say by saying it with the proper intonation, pauses and tone to deliver his message clearly to the listener in order for him or her to understand what the speaker is saying. The Common Misconception Some people feel assume that they can fake body language to hide their feelings. This is a total failure; this is because the more a person tries to fake their body language the more obvious it will look completely unnatural. This will definitely portray a sense of insecurity towards the person whom he or she is conversing with. The truth, body language is the bodily reaction towards a feeling felt by the body of a person and its completely natural. This is why one cannot successfully fake his or her body language. What is said by the person runs congruently with the body language of the person. This is another well-known reason behind why nonverbal communication is just as equally important as verbal communication. The Basic Importance of Nonverbal Communication Nonverbal communication can be used to gain trust from the people whom you converse with. This is because, through the body language projected, one can simply read it and if you are lying or saying the truth. Instead, if you manage to portray a confident body language, this will automatically tell the person whom you are conversing with that you are a trustworthy and honest person telling the truth. When you have gained their trust, the message which you would like to send across would be successful. Businessmen who are well of this are very successful in their courier simply because they have gained the trust of the buyer. Relationships sometimes fail because the partner is able to read the body language of his or her other half. When a person cheats on his or her partner they tend to lack eye contact frequently and appear tense and agitated as in always fidgeting with their hands. But if one wasnt cheating but its simply his or her character to act in such a way then it will send a wrong message across to the partner. This is another importance of the knowledge of nonverbal communication in daily live. Conclusion Nonverbal communication is clearly as important as verbal communication. Basically, if everyone had more knowledge about the importance or simply just the context of nonverbal communication I am sure that the world we live in would be a more understanding and peaceful place to live in. This is the reason why institutions should promote the importance of nonverbal communication to their student to create some sort of awareness among the students and to understand the importance of nonverbal communication.

Washington Irving And His Works Essay -- essays research papers

Washington Irving and His Works Washington Irving was born on April 3, 1783 in Tarrytown, New York. His father was a merchant and owned an import business. Irving had literary influences early in his life. He was friends with Edgar Allen Poe, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Charles Dickens. Washington Irving had no formal schooling. Instead, he taught himself by reading as many books as possible. Washington Irving had other interests than just writing. Irving was an inventor. He invented ice drinks and the dumb waiter. Irving was also an entrepreneur. "Early in his life Irving planned to follow his father's footsteps in the family business." (p. 187) Irving had many writings in his literary career. His works include The Sketchbook, A History of New York, The Devil and Tom Walker, and Rip Van Winkle. Despite all of these well known works, Irving never won any awards. Irving's short stories are The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and The Devil and Tom Walker. The first semblance in The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and The Devil and Tom Walker is that nature proves to be a problem to the characters. In The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, the hollow is the setting for fear in Icabod's tall tales. Irving reflected on the dark setting many times in this story. "The swamp was thickly grown with great gloomy pines and hemlocks." (Washington Irving. p. 57) In The Devil a...

Essay --

Although when we think of the history of cell phones we think of the small handheld devices we use daily not years ago that were in briefcases and were connected to the cigarette lighter in cars. Then in the 1980’s they lost the case, but were still twice the size the size of the cellphones we see today. The cell phones of today are more portable, smaller, and lighter than ever before. If this is the present, imagine the future of the cellular phones, but as we look into the future of cellphones we also need to take a look back in time to the cellphones of the past. Firstly in 1908, Professor Albert Jahnke developed the first wireless telephones, which lead to the testing of wireless telephones on German military trains in 1918. Although Jahnke was suspected of fraud it didn’t seem to hurt his ideas, as they continued to grow through the early 1930’s. This is when the public telephone trial began on a train from Berlin to Hamburg. Although Albert Jahnke did not invent the first cellular phone, he did get the ideas flowing for the man who did. Hardly a household name but the influence of Martin Cooper, or â€Å"The Father of the Cell Phone†, as stated in the economist, has been seen and heard around the world. â€Å"Marty is the most influential person no one has ever heard of,† says Robert McDowell, a commissioner with the Federal Communications Commission. Cooper, the engineer for Motorola that looked at car phones in the 1970’s and thought that these devices should be small enough to be portab le. He’s ideas and inventiveness led to the first prototype in 1973, and the first commercial cell phone in 19830. The first commercial cell phone call was placed using a Motorola DynaTAC mobile phone, the precurso... ...ds with calling, radio, and data technology available at your touch. I do believe, by looking at we have in the works with technology, that these armbands will be equip with a facetime application. This application will allow the user to connect with another, and a hologram of the user will appear in front of you, just as if you were talking face to face. With these future cellphone I do believe we will develop a fifth generation digital phone with more bandwidth and video capability. As you know and can see cell phones are huge part of today’s society and will only grow to be more and more important in the future, but these phones of today and of tomorrow wouldn’t be possible if not for the past. So while you’re sitting there daydreaming about those smartphones of tomorrow you need to think about all the work, and people who have advanced technology this far.

The Impact of Women in The Iliad Essays -- Role of Women in the Trojan

Women have always been recognized for their strong influence on the actions of men. Because of his love for Delia, Samson told his secret of his power and ended up losing it. In Shakespeare's Macbeth, Lady Macbeth urged Macbeth to commit murder. More recently, Eleanor Roosevelt strongly influenced the decisions that Franklin D. Roosevelt made. Women of Homer's epic, The Iliad, were considered primary instigators of the Trojan war. The characteristics attributed to women in ancient Greek mythology may have been key to the outbreak of the war. But many ask why Homer would choose to reflect so deeply on the feminine roles of this war fought by men. Although the beginning of the war was not spoken of in The Iliad, the origin of the war is traced back to jealous goddesses. The gods and goddesses were feasting together to celebrate the marriage of Peleus and Thetis. Eris, the goddess of discord, had not been invited. She came, however, and threw among the guests a golden apple, on which was inscribed "For the fairest." Three goddesses claimed the apple. They were Hera, wif...

Commercial Transactions (Contracts) Essay

Abstract This week’s individual project will be in the form of an executive summary. The summary will be based on a series of questions concerning 1) the city of Bigtown’s advertising campaign (courtesy of the mayor), 2) possible similarities of this promotion to a court decision and 3) possible repercussions that could be encountered if not executed with caution. The court decision concerning John D.R. Leonard vs. PepsiCo is the basis of my summary. My conclusion will be an alternative suggestion to be decided on by Bigtown’s counsel. Unit 3 – Commercial Transactions (Contracts) Although Bigtown has devised creative advertising campaigns, our recent efforts to stimulate tourism have been unsuccessful. I am moved to address our current proposal to auction our fine city of Bigtown on eBay. Although this is sure to turn the heads of most WebCrawler’s our intentions are strictly fictitious (and should be displayed as such). Minimizing the potential of a frequent eBay auctioneer taking this â€Å"mock advertisement† seriously smacks of the â€Å"Pepsistuff†/Harrier jet incident that took place in 1996. If not for the ruling in1999 for reasons stated below, PepsiCo would have been the brunt of the deal of the century; advertising to sell a 23 million dollar government-owned fighter jet for a mere 7 hundred thousand dollars. (1)Some of the reasons the deal was not finalized was the contract was not valid. The buyer desired to buy the fighter jet and made an offer to PepsiCo. PepsiCo did not accept the offer (for obvious reasons) whereas the agreement is not mutual. When the buyer (John D.R. Leonard) did not see the Harrier Jet he desired on the ordering form to purchase the so-called â€Å"Pepsistuff†, this presents itself of not being a bargaining item, which means considering it is not valid. Being that the buyer did not consider the obvious humor PepsiCo was presenting in this advertisement leads one to think of the buyer’s capacity to reason sensibly. Which brings me to the final reason the contract was invalid; a Harrier Jet (much like Bigtown) is property of the U.S. government, property that is not considered a lawful object to be sold commercially, or in our case, in a web-based auction. These are the four elements that made this contract invalid (Cheeseman, 2006). (2)Let’s look closer at the case of PepsiCo and our proposed business suggestion. A soft drink company (though very large and quite successful) not affiliated with the United States Marine Corp in any way (except maybe to supply our troops with refreshing beverages) is giving away a fighter jet in a promotion; a promotion that would sell the jet for 3.04% of the government paid for it. Surely, this is an offer made in jest; the way the jet is presented in the commercial along with the seven million Pepsi points to be considered. No one with a sane sense of reason would consider this to be factual, which puts the contract void under the objective theory (Cheeseman, 2006). (3)Other reasons the court found the Pepsi agreement invalid; * The advertisement was not specific beyond the shadow of a doubt of the ways and means to obtain the item in question (if it were, that would be the exception to the rule). * The obvious limitation of the offer was not stated in the advertisement (how many of these jets could PepsiCo possibly have to offer?) * In the commercial, a student traveled to school in the Harrier jet. This premise alone makes the offer fantasy (PDF, 1997). (4)Advertisement are not offers, they are more like invitations. Think of our city of Bigtown as a bakery; the smell of fresh breads and pastries being blown on the street by an exhaust fan would surly attract the passersby. However, once they inspect where the heavenly scents are coming from is where the offers begin. The advertisement is use to attract the customer; by law, it does not have to do anything with what is being offered. Once the invitation is accepted, then the negations can begin (think of the sports cars with the blonde buxom bikini model; where are they when you by the sports car?). (5)If this were in fact a reward contract (unilateral), there would have been 1) some sort of promise that PepsiCo would have agreed to satisfy, such as promising to exchange the Harrier jet for the 7 hundred thousand dollars (which there was not) and 2) The conditions of his transaction were based on a loophole that the buyer concocted. The seller (PepsiCo) has to make the offer, accept the conditions, and commit to oblige the buyer’s payment. This never took place after John Leonard proposal with check and order form. Unilateral only requires that one side make a promise to (â€Å"If you do this, I promise to pay you _____†). In this instance a contract was never finalized, so the offer never existed (void contract). In a bilateral situation (â€Å"I promise to pay me_____, I promise to give you____†), the contract would have been valid. Unfortunately, this was also not the case; both sides would have had to agree (Wikipedia, 2010). In conclusion, it is obvious to see that if we are to consider this whole â€Å"Bigtown on eBay† campaign, the necessary measures to be implemented alerting the general public this is strictly humorous and should be taken in jest. Boosting the tourist of Bigtown is an issue that demands the corporation of our whole city council. Hopefully, the examples and suggestions given above will help us to avoid any legal entanglement. (Cheeseman, 2006) References Cheeseman, H. (2006). Contemporary business and online commerce law, fifth edition. Prentice Hall. Chapter 8: Nature of traditional and online contracts. Pgs. 171-179. Retrieved on February 26, 2010 from https://mycampus.aiu-online.com/controls/eBookFileServer.ashx?id=171 Contract (2010). Bilateral vs. Unilateral. Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Retrieved on February 26, 2010 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contract John D.R. Leonard v PepsiCo Inc. (1997). Enforcing promises (PDF). Retrieved on February 27, 2010 from http://www.law.gmu.edu/assets/files/academics/schedule/2009/fall/ZYWICKI_ContractsI-Handout.pdf