The Escape Analysis Essay Example

The Escape Analysis Paper Analysis of the story â€Å"The Escape† by Somerset Maugham. Sometimes men cannot say â€Å"No† to women, although they want it, and that’s why they have to make up some situations to make women say them â€Å"No†. The short story â€Å"The Escape† written by Somerset Maugham is exactly about this case, about the conflict between man and woman, and this escape is the main theme of the text. The idea of the story is that one should put on his thinking and act very carefully, as sometimes procrastination can give better results than haste. The message of the story is that a woman can be sly and scheming, but a man can make it his way also. This story makes the reader think about life and relationships and it is not surprising, because S. Maugham became known as a master of human soul, a wise man who not only knows how to depict, the hypocrisy and brutality of bourgeois society, but also has the ability to portray different characters in clear and natural Manner. The text â€Å"The Escape† under consideration begins with a key sentence which contains the whole content of the story in the folded form. We will write a custom essay sample on The Escape Analysis specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on The Escape Analysis specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on The Escape Analysis specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer Maugham writes about the relationship between Roger Charing and Ruth Barlow. Roger’s friend describes everything, whose name we don’t know. Roger Charing is a young man, who has a lot of money. And he falls in love with Ruth Barlow – an unhappy woman, who was twice a widow. They were happy together and they decided to marry. Then suddenly Roger fell out of love with Ruth, and he found the way, how to make Ruth release him. He told her that they would marry, when they would find the perfect house for both of them. However time passed away and Roger rejected all the orders of the agents offering a new house. At last Ruth lost her patience and left Roger herself. The title of the text is one word that consist the definite article ‘the’ and the noun ‘escape’. The definite article ‘the’ is here not accidentally – it claims that text is about exactly this escape and not any in the world. The story begins with the narrator’s introduction of the problem that if a woman wants to marry a man, it’s a man’s hazard and he has to find the way out of the situation. This is the exposition of the story. The exposition is written in the ironic tone. Such epithets as instant flight, inevitable loom, the narrator’s note â€Å"with a tooth brush for all his luggage, so conscious was he of his danger and the necessity for immediate action† make this effect. Then comes the inciting moment, in which both Roger Charing and Ruth Barlow are introduced. It is said that Ruth was twice a widow and it is said ironic, because the reader can think that Roger is the next victim, through the simile â€Å"He went down like a row of ninepins†. He also gives a direct description of Ruth’s eyes using the epithets â€Å"splendid†, â€Å"moving†, â€Å"big and lovely†, a detached epithet â€Å"poor dear† – all in the ironic way. The modal verb must, exclamatory sentence, parallel constructions â€Å"if she married a husband beat her, if she employed a broker he cheated her, if she engaged a cook she drank†, the allusion â€Å"She never had a little lamb but it was sure to die† make a humorous effect. We can recognize now completely that all the narrator’s words were ironic, because his epithets towards Ruth are like that, and also â€Å"stupid† and a simile â€Å"as hard as nails†. Then there comes an explanation of why he has such an attitude towards the poor widow. Going further, we come across an anticlimax. The tense is growing, but then Roger â€Å"on a sudden, fell out of love†. This is a bit unexpected. Ruth’s â€Å"pathetic (a repeated epithet) look ceased to wring Roger’s heart-strings† (a metaphor). But Roger â€Å"swore a solemn oath† (a metaphor) not to jilt Ruth, moreover, she was able to â€Å"assess her wounded feelings at an immoderately high figure† (an extended metaphor). And here begins the real climax with its growing tense. The author uses repetitions â€Å"they†¦ they†, â€Å"sometimes†¦ sometimes†, â€Å"they looked, they inspected, they climbed†. After the main heroes’ reasoning in direct speech, their proceeded searching for a house looks like a repetition, too. Yet, the author uses an antonomasia here, calling Roger an angel, though we know he is not – an irony. Their further reasoning in the direct speech appears to be the climax: â€Å"do you want to marry me or do you not? † Roger kept standing on his position epithets â€Å"assiduous and gallant†. Their letters are resolution of the text.

Compare and contrast the ways in which the writers of The Tempest and Translations have dramatically presented the links between language and power Essay Example

Compare and contrast the ways in which the writers of The Tempest and Translations have dramatically presented the links between language and power Essay Example Compare and contrast the ways in which the writers of The Tempest and Translations have dramatically presented the links between language and power Essay Compare and contrast the ways in which the writers of The Tempest and Translations have dramatically presented the links between language and power Essay Essay Topic: A Long Way Gone Girl in Translation Hilarious Medea Metamorphoses Mythologies The Secret Life Of Bees The Tempest A2 English Literature Holiday Homework Assignment: for Mr Majewski: The Tempest by William Shakespeare and Translations by Brian Friel Compare and contrast the ways in which the writers of The Tempest and Translations have dramatically presented the links between language and power. The modern linguist Norman Fairclough said, Language is power, implying that if you want to control a person or people, an event or series of events, or indeed the entire world, and have power over it or them, you must first control language. Controlling language is the key to both the initial act of gaining power, and then maintaining that power. We find examples of this throughout The Tempest and Translations, which share common themes and elements. To tackle a question which requires suggesting how the writers link language and power, it is necessary to look at the plays in just such a thematic way. The first and most obvious area in The Tempest where language is linked with power is the way in which prose and verse is used by different characters to different effect. Most notably, and especially for its irony, Calibans use of verse when Stephano and Trinculo talk in prose reverts the old ideas of rank, whereby people of higher status, (here supposedly the Kings butler and the jester) spoke in verse, and lower classes (the uncivilised Caliban) spoke in prose. Style shift refers to a method of speaking where a person changes their accent or mode of speech depending on whom they are speaking to and how they wish to be perceived by that other person. Consider: STEPHANO Mooncalf, speak once in thy life, if thou beest a good mooncalf. CALIBAN How does thy honour? Let me lick thy shoe. Ill not serve him; he is not valiant. TRINCULO Thou liest, most ignorant monster! I am in case to justle a constable This may well be a statement by Shakespeare that Caliban is not as sa(l)vage as he seems, and indeed, there are other indicators of this in the play, for example, the goodly old man Gonzalos speech in II.1.150-173 echoing de Montaignes essay Of Canibals, especially the Florio translation of 1603. It is probable Shakespeare read this essay, which essentially decries colonialism, and there is a copy of the essay in the British Museum, which appears to have his signature on it. The point of this is that Shakespeare, despite popular opinion that Caliban is the inferior of the trio, gives Caliban power over his superiors through language, and not only that, but power which is clear for any reader to see, sowing the seeds of our suspicions of Stephano and Trinculo the lesser of the three. They are finally confirmed as such in their drunken activities of IV.1, and their ignoring Calibans warnings of: What do you mean To dote thus on luggage? Lett alone, And do the murder first. If he awake, From toe to crown hell fill our skins with pinches, Make us strange stuff. (ll.230-234) As we know, Caliban is proved right, and all three suffer the consequences of their actions in their plot again Prospero. Also in The Tempest, Prospero illustrates his power over Caliban in teaching him how to speak. This once again brings in the idea of colonialism, a theme found in both plays, and one of great significance, because the colonised were often educated or civilised by being taught the colonisers language. We witness this in both plays. In The Tempest, Caliban intelligently recognises the damage being taught Italian has done to him; he says, The red plague rid you | For learning me your language! (I.2.364-5) However, Caliban uses the language he does have as a weapon against Prospero, to hurl insults at him; again, he says You taught me language, and my profit ont | Is, I know how to curse. (I.1.363-4). It is in this way that Caliban tries to regain some power over Prospero through the use of language. In Translations, Manus is the main voice of dissent against the English. In II.1, Manus purposefully talks to Yolland in Irish, when he knows English, in order to exert his authority or a power over him, and illustrate his resistance to the changes which are taking places courtesy of His Majestys government (I.1). Knowing Irish or rather knowing English but not using it is Manus weapon against the English, in the same way that Caliban swearing is his weapon against Prospero. And again, Manus intelligently recognises the damage which is being done to his country and his people through the colonisation, and that soon they will be subjects; but the difference here is that, some 300 years after Shakespeare was writing, Yolland too is able to recognise that Something is being eroded (II.2). Nevertheless, in the time Translations was set (early 1800s), British colonisation and the British Empire were still the pride of the country, as they were beginning to be in Shakespeares day, and were set to remain so for at least another 100 years. It is this that makes Shakespeares quiet, almost hidden voice of disapproval over colonialism through Caliban and Gonzalo dangerous, especially since The Tempest was shown before James Is court. Manus open voice of disapproval is also dangerous; for the English, it casts suspicion on him and implicates him in a crime at the end of the play in which he had no part. Unlike Shakespeare, and thankfully for Friel first publishing in 1981, the power of his characters disapproval through language could remain overt. Moving on, names are very important both in The Tempest and Translations in order to express power. The name Prospero, for example, comes from the Latin verb prosper meaning, to cause to succeed, while the suffix o is the pronoun I. This is a fitting name and since Prospero is the all-powerful wizard of the play, it is appropriate that his name should translate to I cause to succeed. In fact, not only he succeeds in his goal of regaining his dukedom, but also his daughter and Ferdinand succeed in their goal of marriage. Miranda means admired or to be wondered at, thus, on telling Ferdinand her name, he exclaims Admired Miranda! have connotations for the bearer and degrees of power appropriate to the language of their names. In Translations, names are patronymic, that is, characters are called their first name, then the name of their father, for example Doalty Dan Doaltys middle name is his fathers name, and his last name (the same as his first name) is that of his grandfather. The etymology of the name Manus is thought to be Magnus, meaning big, great, hand; Manus is after all his father Hughs right-hand man. Ironically, Manus is not as big or great as he would like; he consistently wishes to take over his fathers classes and get a better job. In this case then, Manus name is not empowering, but rather, making an ironic statement, much like Calibans name (so we have another comparison between the pair here!). Doalty means, I deny, oppose, refuse and renounce! This is a very powerful name and is suitable to Doaltys character; though his resistance to the English is mainly harmless and passive in the first act, and he does not appear in the second, the third act illustrates just how much knowledge has given Doalty power; his friendship with the Doalty twins implicates him in their illegal activities and makes him, like his name, deny, oppose, refuse and renounce the English. Captain Lanceys name and actions, especially in Act Three, reminds us of the powerful lance, a weapon of war and an instrument of death; while the peaceful and endearing Lieutenant Yolland is a combination of old and land, since he loves Ireland, and Yola, the name of the first wave of English settlers in Ireland, who, appropriately, gradually merged with the Irish, adopting Irish language and customs as Yolland does. Indeed, Yolland, undoubtedly unknowingly, adopts through convergence patterns of speech which fit in more closely with those of Owens, Hughs and Maires, seeking to show solidarity and gain approval in his dealings with these others whom he looks up to. For example, he preserves the Irish place names, and in order to woo Maire speaks the Irish place names which he loves and has learnt off by heart. However, when Yolland tries to do this to Manus, it backfires, as he perceives it as patronising (II.1). Lancey retains his authority exactly through opposing this, by emphasi sing the difference between himself and the community. It is this which gives him power. In Act Three for example, he makes Owen translate the Irish place names into English. This is known as maintenance. Both convergence and maintenance are aspects of socio-linguistics which refer to the identify the use of a name affords a place or a person. In addition to this, Lancey and Yolland show us how symmetrical and a-symmetrical systems of address or introductions occur. For example, in I.1., Captain Lancey is introduced as such to make the characters feel his authority, but then addressed by Yolland as George to illustrate the degree of familiarity between the pair. This has wider connotations with perception of social rank and stature for all the characters Im sure they couldnt fail to feel their inferiority, both to a captain, and to a lieutenant who is able to call a captain George. Owens name is perhaps the most important because it gets so confused by the English. Manus exclaims in Act One They call you Roland! They both call you Roland! And Owen, echoing Juliets That which we call a rose, | By any other name would smell as sweet (Romeo and Juliet II.2.) replies Its only a name. Its the same me isnt it? Well, isnt it? At first, even Manus agrees Indeed it is. Its the same Owen but by II.1, just a few days later, and during a process in the play through which Owen changes to become more pro-Irish and anti-English than he was before, he decides that his name is important and explodes at Yolland, demanding to be called by his proper name. Though they both find this absurd at the time and laugh hilariously (an effect of the poteen), implicit in their reaction is a mocking of the name book thereafter, a clear lack of respect for their work, and a cessation of viewing it as important or even necessary. This shows the power of language; it has the ability to change meaning and identities through something seemingly as simple as a name, things which have great effect both on individual and place. The fact remains that renaming the Irish people and places on the part of the English is a powerful resource for a dominant group which wishes to dominate and marginalize their inferiors. This is also a demonstration in the play of multi-faceted identity. Owen faces a crisis of identity when he realise his role in destroying the identity of Baile Baeg (incidentally, this means little home), and wishes to change it. This shift is, again, displayed through the language he uses, and the way he is so much more disrespectful to Lancey at the end of the play than at the start. Though this is all very well, we have no way of actually knowing if the characters know themselves what their names mean; Prospero almost certainly does, because of his vast knowledge and reading, and Manus, Hugh, and Jimmy Jack Cassey or the Infant Prodigy have such a good awareness of Greek and Latin that they almost certainly do as well. This may empower them more than a character like Lancey who may make no connections between his power over the Irish and his name. Additionally, naming and naming practises are a recurrent theme especially in Translations, showing how loss of language is powerful and can be viewed as loss of cultural identity. This has wider implications for social (the marriages), ethical (are Lancey/Prospero justified in their actions at the end of the plays?), political (who is truly Lord over the lands?) and national identities. The writers of The Tempest and Translations also present links between language and power through speeches and rhetoric in the plays. These give power to the speaker through their audiences attention to their words or language. Take the example of Prosperos many speeches in The Tempest. He clearly has a way with words, having, as Miranda puts it, a tale that would cure deafness (I.1.106). Becoming a demagogue means not only that people listen to you when you speak, because of your authority, but also that they actively seek out opportunities of listening to you, and are enraptured when they do. Interestingly though, Prosperos longest speech is a soliloquy in V.1. where he borrows Goldings 1567 translation of the sorceress Medeas speech in the 7th book of Ovids Metamorphoses (particularly lines 265-77). This is even more interesting because it is here, in this speech, that Shakespeare reveals the limitations of his power; that his magic is of the rough variety (I.1.50). This has been hinted at before when we learn that Prospero had to wait for the influences of A most auspicious star (I.1.182) in order to be able to draw the court to the Island and have them under his influences. The non-repentance of Antonio, Sebastian, Stephano and Trinculo also all measure the extent of Prosperos power. While he is able to drive them to distraction, he is unable to make them repent form their sins; he does not truly forgive his brother when he says I do forgive | Thy rankest fault all of them (V.1.131-2), but simply ignores his actions because he cannot do anything about it. Antonio has not changed and Prospero knows it. Given a second chance his brother would do the same. As C. S. Lewis puts it in The Problem of Pain (Chapter VIII: Hell; page 97; published Fount 1968): To condone an evil is simply to ignore it, as if it were true. But forgiveness needs to be accepted as well as offered if it is to be complete: and a man who admits no guilt can accept no forgiveness. In this way, Antonio cannot be forgiven, even if Prospero truly wanted to. Here then is Prosperos failure. It is the point at which his art stops short (The New Penguin Shakespeare, Introduction, p.29, by T. J. B. Spencer), and language is powerless to help him. The point of all this is that his name, which empowers him, his language, which empowers him, and all else, is not the ultimate source of his power; his magic is; and because it is limited, so he is limited. Here then, the writer of The Tempest has presented the links between language and power, but has weakened them through he involvement of another force magic. Importantly though, it is only through language that we learn the involvement of this greater force, and its restrictions. However, it is significant that this is revealed to us in a speech which no one else can hear. It is as if he is keeping it a secret; if no one else knows, or hears, it cannot be generally known. Therefore, he ironically retains the full extent of his power, though admitting its weaknesses, exactly because he chooses to deliver it in a subtle and discrete way in the language he uses, and at a time where no one will remember. He almost slips it in where no one will notice, not even readers who read and re-read The Tempest again and again. The great demagogue in Translations is Hugh. We know he is important even before he enters because the other characters speak about him so much; no fewer than 11 times in effect. His speeches serve a rather different purpose to Prosperos; Hughs speeches, which are altogether shorter, serve as the philosophising force behind the play. Examples include him discussing the nature of Irish: [to Yolland] Youll find, sir, that certain cultures expend on their vocabularies and syntax acquisitive energies and ostentations entirely lacking in their material lives. I suppose you could call us a spiritual people. And again; it us a rich language, lieutenant, full of the mythologies of fantasy and hope and self-deception a syntax opulent with tomorrows. It is our response to mud cabins and a diet of potatoes; our only method of replying to inevitabilities. (Both II.1.) Friel is not original in his ideas however. Irish novelist James Joyce presents similar ideas to Hugh in A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (1916), where the main character, Stephen Dedalus, thinks about how English has replaced Irish in Ireland, but of how the Irish people and writers have learned to master it. Many other Irish literati have taken this theme also in fact, Nobel prize-winning poet Seamus Heaney wrote a poem where he meets the ghost of James Joyce who advises him on art and language (Station Island part XII, pub. Faber Faber, 1984). Clearly then, language for the Irish is a national preoccupation; and it is these cultural-linguistic aspects of language that involve Hugh. The sense he speaks gives him the authority power to be listened to and respected by Yolland, even if he is not completely understood. This is quite an evident link between language and power for Friel, and for us. Eventually, everybody but Lancey realises that by changing the place names from English to Irish and we have already shown how names are so important, because of their meanings they are losing their identities and histories. Yolland insists on Tobair Vree retaining its name, even though indeed, because Owen still knows the story behind it and how it got its name. Following on from the power afforded language through speeches, power is also afforded the speaker through language when they use persuasive discourse. The clearest example of this is the difference between Ariel and Caliban in The Tempest. These two characters share the common interest of their freedom but go about trying to get it in different ways. Most notably, Ariel is sycophantic to Prospero, trying to win his freedom by using subtly persuasive language. For example: All hail, great master! Grave hail, sir! I come To answer thy best pleasure, bet to fly, To swim, to dive in the fire, to ride On curled clouds. To thy strong bidding task Ariel and all his quality. (I.2.189-194) This gains him/her a lot. It makes him/her Prosperos bird, sweet thing and brave spirit, and gets him/her the promise from him that: Do [thy spriting gently] and after two days but from actions, admittedly; but the actions towards Caliban, such as locking him in a rock (I.2.343 ; 361), or making him gather wood in the desert (I.2.366), come from thoughts vocalized in language, used against him. The love scenes in The Tempest and Translations present another type of power through language emotional power. In The Tempest, the love scene is between Miranda and Ferdinand in III.1.. In Translations, the love scene occurs between Maire and Yolland in II.2., and there are some obvious parallels between it and The Tempest. Most obviously perhaps, they are both meetings of two different people from two different cultures. In The Tempest, though Miranda and Ferdinand have no barrier of language such as there is in Translations, because of their shared Italian heritage, they are still from different cultures. Miranda has been brought up in solitude on an island away from all civilisation apart from her father. It has to be explained to her by her father that Ferdinand is not a spirit (I.2.412-7). Meanwhile, the not only civilised but also sophisticated court has surrounded Ferdinand all his life. Despite this he still considers Miranda as the most beautiful and virtuous creature he has ever met. His language bears this out, and has the power to make Miranda fall in love with him Full many a lady I have eyed with best regard, and may a time Thharmony of their tongues hath into bondage Brought my too diligent ear But you, O you, So perfect and so peerless, are created Of every creatures best. (III.1.39-42 ; 46-8) However, language is again not the only power that is at work, and magic contributes as well as language to make Ferdinand and Miranda fall in love Prospero confesses to us that It goes on, I see, | As my soul prompts it. (I.2.420-1) In Translations meanwhile the discrepancies between the cultures of Maire and Yolland are even huger one from the civilised and sophisticated Britain, in a professional job for a decent wage, and the other a poor peasant girl speaking a backward language. In both of these cases though, this difference in their culture only unifies the two people more overcoming their differences is something of the power of their love. The second obvious similarity here is that of their profession of love. Compare Yollands I could tell you how I spend my days either thinking of you or gazing up at your house in the hope that youll appear even for a second to Ferdinands reply to Mirandas now farewell of Maires are particularly powerful because Yolland does not understand them. Indeed, ironically, and sadly since it gives us a hint of the tragic parting that is to come in the Third Act of the play, Maire wants a different thing to Yolland she wishes to go away with him, to England, or to anywhere. Yolland meanwhile wishes to live here, or stay put in Ireland. The power of their language for us as an audience is clear; except, despite that in both plays there are disapproving parties (Lancey, Manus and the Donnelly twins in Translations, and Prospero (supposedly) in The Tempest), the final effect in Translations is for worse, with death, heartbreak and destruction, whereas in The Tempest, it ends in a marriage, and thus becomes at once lighter. Power through language has various effects then, especially in this emotional power context. In Translations, there is a great deal of exploitation of language through translation. The translator is powerful because they have control, and the opportunity, whether used maliciously or otherwise, to change the meaning of the word or speech that they are translating through language. Friel makes quite an unconcealed link between power and language through this in Translations. The clearest example is Owens translation of Lanceys introduction in Act One. He visibly does not translate what Lancey says, sweetening his words so as to not worry the village-people and make the English operation seem more legitimate. Thus: LANCEY [The job is being done] so that the entire basis of land valuation can be reassessed for the purposes of more equitable taxation. OWEN This new map will take the place of the estate-agents map so that from now on you will know exactly what is yours in law. And the disagreement between Manus and his brother that: MANUS You werent saying what Lancey was saying! OWEN Uncertainty in meaning is incipient poetry who said that? MANUS There was nothing uncertain about what Lancey was said: its a bloody military operation, Owen! Finally, it is necessary to discuss the different forms of language and how the playwrights have used them to illustrate dramatically the links between language and power. The sociolinguistic aspects of language have already been mentioned when the importance of names in presenting links between language and power was discussed, so we need not go into any more detail of that here. Language, Society and Power (ed. Thomas and Wavering) suggests 5 main aspects of language excluding socio-linguistics. The first aspect is cultural-linguistics. This refers to the aspects of language which are cultural, such as names of places which are specific, and certain turns of phrase which would not be found elsewhere. In Act three, Hugh wisely recapitulates that: It is not the literal past, the facts of history, that shape us, but the images of the past embodied in language We must never cease renewing those images; because once we do, we fossilise. Though seeming to advocate the actions of the English here, Hugh is actually just confirming that every culture will have a different language because they have different pasts, and the past is captured in language. He explains why language has power in every culture because it makes the culture evolve it is the images of the past embodied in language that shape us and stop us from fossilising. Also, the person controlling the language, controls the culture, and thus the people, and the history as well and that is a lot of power! In The Tempest, Prospero too involves himself in the cultural linguistic aspects of language when he teaches Caliban his language. Though this may be excusable because a noble-man of those times would have known no better than that their language was superior, he is never the less, by stripping Caliban of his own language which has its own meanings and past, stripping him of his identity; and here then is his power. Perhaps he would agree that We must never cease renewing those images; because once we do, we fossilise. Perhaps the question here needs to be, what is wrong with fossilising? The second aspect is aesthetics. In Translations, the Infant Prodigy is the character most interested in the aesthetics of language, or how language sounds, and the beauty of language. He is not interested in language as a form of communication, and is therefore not really interested in the Anglicisation going on around him. It will not affect him because he probably will not be around long enough to see it! This is a type of power and he is completely untroubled and unsuspecting at all time, because he appreciates language for what it is, as a poetry, rather than as a weapon in the way Manus or Lancey is using it. Yolland is the other character in Translations who loves the poetry of the language, except he prefers Irish to Greek and Latin. In II.1. he repeats the Irish places after Owen, allowing their sound to wash over him like a yogic mantra. This empowers him to speak with Maire and gives them common ground during the love-scene. In The Tempest, it is the spirits who most clearly use language for its beauty and its sound. Apart from Ariels common speech, the masque (IV.1.) is an amazing example of saying nothing in endless sentences and making it sound pretty (F. R. Leavis commentary on Henry James comes to mind)! Essentially, the plot of the masque is very simple but it is drawn out to show off special effects and elaborate costumes which were the delight of the court in James Is time. The New Penguin Shakespeare Commentary on The Tempest (p.167) explains: The verse of the masque is set off from the that of the play proper by its formality and deliberate artifice. It is filled with archaic or uncommon words and invokes a deliberately unreal, remote, mythological world [much like Jimmy Jack]. At the same time, it contrives to admit glimpses of a genuine English countryside [just as Jimmy compares ancient Greek goddesses to the Irish parish girls], and to maintain a delicate balance between those ideas of warmth and increase appropriate to a betrothal ceremony. The third aspect is communication. Language is the most important element in communication, not only what we say, but how we say it, in what tone of voice and what context. In Translations, Sarah embodies communication. After learning to speak when manus was there, she knows that language wont come back to her once hes gone because the lines of communication between the English and the Irish have broken down. This is shown most clearly in Act Three. Owen tries to persuade her otherwise but Sarah is quite accepting and shakes her head, slowly, emphatically, and smiles at Owen. The she leaves. (Stage directions). Being not able to speak is in some ways even more powerful than being able to speak. Precisely because Sarah is so quiet we notice her by her absence; she is conspicuous by her silent presence. It is a powerful symbol that communication should be silent for most of the time. Interestingly, Sarah is dominated by everyone in the play, Manus, Owen, and then Lancey who is very dem anding of her. In The Tempest, there is more than one example of broken communication; between Caliban and Prospero/Miranda, and Prospero and Antonio. The hostilities between these characters are clear throughout the play and illustrate the power of hate and jealousy. It isolates Caliban and turns his frustrations outwards to plotting against Prospero, and it makes Sebastian plot against his own brother in the same way Antonio did against his. This is expressed through language and action: Prospero says of Caliban that he is: A devil, a born devil, on whose nature Nurture can never stick; on whom my pains, Humanely taken, all, all lost, quite lost. And as with age his body uglier grows, So his mind cankers. I will plague them all Even to roaring. (IV.1.189-193) The fourth aspect is non-verbal communication (NVC), opposed to linguistic communication as above. Often, body language can show us things that speech hides, and can give off contrary signals, and what cant be done through language can be done through physical appearance and action. Both Friel and Shakespeare keep tight reigns on their characters movements through stage directions. Friel describes his characters through from what they wear, to how old they are, what type of hair they have, what their characters are, as well as foibles such as reacts physically when embarrassed or pleased [referring to Doalty]. Yolland and Maire present the clearest example of NVC in II.2. where they cannot speak each others language and therefore must rely on their actions. Here, the author has the power through language to make his characters whatever he wills. The Tempest meanwhile is Shakespeares most heavily directed play, perhaps because it was first in the Folio of 1623 and needed to give a good impression to someone picking up a book. The New Penguin Shakespeare Account of the Text (p.179) confirms: The result, neatly and intelligently divided into Acts and scenes, equipped list with a of characters and meticulously punctuated throughout, stands as perhaps the cleanest of Shakespeares texts. The fifth and final aspect is miscommunication, or the potential for it. In Translations, Owen clearly mistranslates Lanceys speech at the end of Act One, so that the people (except those who understand English such as Manus and Hugh) are unaware that the English are performing a bloody military operation. This reinforces the power he yields through his use of language. In II.2., Maire thinks she may have said something rude when Yollands reaction to her perfect recitation of In Norfolk we be sport ourselves around the Maypole is shock, and this shows the power language has when we use it and do not know what we are saying. It also shows the importance of audience; much of what we say, no matter our intentions, is perceived differently than how we anticipated. And finally, there is a potential for miscommunication in changing the place names so that they loose their meaning. In The Tempest meanwhile, there is miscommunication in the comical scene in III.2 when an invisible Ariel enters and causes havoc for poor Trinculo who is accused of reproaching Caliban for lying when really it is not him at all! Enter Ariel, invisible CALIBAN As I told thee before, I am subject to a tyrant, a sorcerer, that by his cunning hath cheated me of the island. ARIEL Thou liest. CALIBAN (to Trinculo) Thou liest, thou jesting monkey, thou I would my valiant master would destroy thee! I do not lie. STEPHANO Trinculo, if you trouble him anymore ins tale, by this hand, I will supplant some of your teeth. TRINCULO Why, I said nothing. (III.3.41-50) This is particularly good for a demonstration of language and power because this misunderstanding, though disguised because of humour, shows how violent Stephano can get towards one of his best friends, threatening first to hang him from the next tree (l.36), then later to knock out his teeth (using, appropriately, the word supplant, like he wished to overtake the island), and then, later still, threatens to cut him open (l.70) and then he actually hits him (l.77). There are many ways in which the writers of The Tempest and Translations have dramatically presented the links between language and power; through use of prose and verse by different characters, through education and colonisation, through use of names and renaming, through speeches and rhetoric, through persuasive language and through love scenes, through translation and through the six different forms of language. All these just begin to show the varied and skilled ways in which William Shakespeare and Brian Friel, in their own ages and in their different plays, share common elements and themes which make their works comparable in just such a thematic way.

Support Immigrants are the Best Way to Strengthen a Country Essay

Support Immigrants are the Best Way to Strengthen a Country - Essay Example The entrepreneurial activities are always important due to the taxation levied on such businesses by the government (Fleegler, 32). Big entrepreneurial ventures always give the government large amounts of money through taxation. This is important in strengthening the country in many ways. The government can always use such money collected from taxation to pay its laborers. This leads to a very strong nation. In addition, the entrepreneurial activities also contribute greatly towards strengthening of the economy of a nation. It is of crucial significance to note that entrepreneurial ventures initiated by the immigrants always create job opportunities to a large number of populations in the country. This is important in strengthening the economy of such a nation. This makes the government become strong. In addition, the government also taxes the employees thereby contributing to the government’s economic growth, thus strengthening the nation.It is of crucial significance to note that most immigrants contribute to several key government sectors involving technological sector, industrial as well as infrastructure. This leads to strengthening of the government. Most immigrants are always very innovative and inventive (Fleegler, 37). As such, they always come up with several technologies that aid in ensuring effective and efficient sectoral operations. It is important to note that the role of technology in ensuring a strong government is inevitable. One of the major causes behind such exploitation of professional influence.

Regulatory Frameworks of the Equity Markets of Australia and the USA Essay

Regulatory Frameworks of the Equity Markets of Australia and the USA - Essay Example The structure of organized exchanges and the trading policies imposed by regulatory bodies continue to influence the turnover of physical shares, price formation of equities and trading costs, while generally exerting pressure on the behavior of market participants and the overall competitiveness of securities markets. This report will discuss the structures and regulatory frameworks of the equity markets of Australia and the United States of America. As a reference point, the major exchanges in both countries will be compared, where the NYSE is used as the benchmark for the exchange activities of ASX and Nasdaq. Also, the report will include a rundown of equity-funding alternatives for a listed US corporation, as required. The equity market of Australia is operated largely by its organized stock exchange, the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX). Trade of ASX stocks takes place on a fully competitive and automated order-driven trading system, known as the Stock Exchange Automated Trading System (SEATS) (Elvis Jarnecic, June 1999). Trading is facilitated through the placement of a purchase order by a market participant with a broker, either by way of telephone or online through the internet, on regular trading days. In contrast, the New York Stock Exchange or NYSE operates under a hybrid market structure. Kaj Hedvall (CEFA, 2006) defines hybrid markets as a specialists market and the NYSE as an order-driven, floor-based, continuous market with specialists. Also known as an auction market; these specialists converge on the floor of NYSE to facilitate the reporting of bids and asks, execute the trade and maintain order on the floor.   NASDAQ, on the other hand, is a quote-driven, dealer market. At present, there are over 500 dealers-also called market-makers, composed of large investment companies, who buys and sells shares of stocks through a personal inventory of NASDAQ-listed stocks to earn a profit from a regulated bid/ask spread.   NASDAQ is the largest scree n-based market in the United States. Screen-based means that there is no physical location, but trading is based on computers and other communication mediums (Block, S et al, 2002). Thus, NASDAQ market makers conduct the exchange not through a physical trading floor, but by way of an electronic network. While each security under Nasdaq has an average of 14 market makers competing against each other, only one specialist is designated to every NYSE-listed stock. It can be observed that Australia operates a purely order-driven market while the major exchanges of the USA, conduct trading in a purely quote-driven market for NASDAQ and a cross between the two pure market models, the hybrid market, a structure of the NYSE.   The advantage of an order-driven market is the inherent transparency of the system since all buy and sell orders of participants are posted on the market, providing information on which prices investors are willing to buy or sell shares. This is not an attribute of a quote-driven market where only the bid and ask offers of market makers are displayed.

Citibank Budgeting Essay Example for Free

Citibank Budgeting Essay 1. Analysis of Budget Process at Citibank Direction and control of Citibank’s international branches are conducted via two formal management processes. Each year, top management sets sovereign risk limits for its independent branches based on proposals by country managers. Country managers may choose to operate with self-imposed limits below this upper guideline. Following, there is the budget setting process, where headquarters only provides administrative guidelines but not specific targets, with operating managers being responsible for budgets for the following year. Indonesia often set their targets above these long-term goals. Performance is measured and compared against the budget each month, and a new forecast, which will be reviewed by the division manager, is drawn up each quarter for the remainder of the year. This structure of bottom-up budgeting is appropriate for a decentralized firm like Citibank. This is evident from the freedom Mr Mistri has over Indonesia’s operations and the different business segments and divisions, as shown in Exhibit 2 3. Such a participative process is likely to increase management commitment to achieve the targets since country managers are responsible for influencing their own targets. More importantly, country managers know the local business environment and culture better than group managers, therefore their targets are likely to be more accurate and realistic. Furthermore, bottom-up budgeting is a form of action control while the frequent reviews of the budgets serves as preaction review. Both facilitate information sharing within the organisation, with long-term strategic goals of the firm being communicated downwards and local business potentials and risks conveyed upwards via the budgets and forecasts. They also encourage managers to think further ahead about what they want to achieve in the near future. However, Citibank’s budgeting process appears to have an imbalanced focus with most of the emphasis placed only on financial measures. Although these measures can be easily obtained and are inexpensive because they are by-products of the accounting system, it does not fully represent all aspects of the organization’s strategies and goals. Instead, the budget could be restructured to include other non-financial aspects such as customer satisfaction and employee morale to obtain a balance, which will be vital towards the long term success of Citibank. None of Citibank’s budget items extend beyond the next year; instead there is an emphasis on a fixed short horizon. This can result in managers developing a myopic focus instead of measuring the fulfilment of Citibank’s long-term goals or the local government’s societal expectations. Myopia is aggravated by the monthly performance reviews which reveals the focus on short term goals. Citibank should look at its budget with a longer horizon. Moreover, the budgeting process in Citibank appears to be tedious and too time-consuming. The requirement for operating managers to conduct discussions and forecast all the line items shown on the submission form seems to take up significant time and effort. Such a process could be costly for the firm in terms of opportunity costs related to unnecessary time and resources spent. The benefits of such a tedious budgeting process must be high enough to justify the related costs. Also, there seems to be no connection and a mismatch between the two management processes. It is only reasonable that these two processes should go hand in hand as higher returns may only be possible with a higher risk appetite. However, increase in profit goals is not matched by an increase in risk tolerance (sovereign risk limit). Moreover, sovereign risk limits is set yearly but not adjusted when budgets are revised each quarter. Citibank should consider allowing country/division managers to adjust risk limits to match any revisions in budgets during the year. Use of the Budget for Performance Evaluation of Managers Performance is monitored every month against budgets, and incentive compensation for managers were linked to budget-related performance. Incentive compensation could range up to approximately 70% of base salary although awards of 30-35% were more typical. Assignment of bonuses were based approximately 30% on corporate performance and 70% on individual performance, primarily performance related to forecast. This emphasizes results accountability as it involves rewarding the managers for generating good results that are aligned to the budgets. As such, it influences actions because it causes employees to be concerned about the consequences of the actions they take. However, the contradiction in this is that while these managers will not be constrained in what actions they can take to achieve their goals, they are also empowered to take whatever actions they believe will best produce these desired results. Hence, it is highly dependent on personnel controls with regards to the managers hired. Provided that budgets were adequately set with appropriately extent of goal difficulty, these budgets act as results controls and affects a manager’s motivation since the targets are linked to performance evaluations and compensation. Furthermore, it is beneficial that manager’s compensation is tied directly to both individual(70%) and corporate performance(30%), allowing a larger perspective to be considered. Differentiation of base earnings from extraordinary earnings for which managers are not held accountable for is in line with the controllability principle. This is vital because setting performance targets to attain for each measure allows the managers to assess their performance and also get rewarded, encouraging behaviors that lead to desired results. As such, this will promise manager rewards that provide the most powerful motivational effects in the most cost effective ways possible. However, performance evaluations based on budgeted information is backward looking (extrapolating past trends) while it is best that the evaluations be forward looking. It should be evaluated based on the future cash flow/profits that can be brought to the firm instead of historical performance to promote a higher performance in the future. Furthermore, as their compensation is tied to meeting targets, it might promote game-playing and politics. As for Citibank, their culture encourages aggressive mark-ups to budget with managers constantly setting challenging budgets. For Mr Mistri, he will feel the extra pressure since the aggressive targets can barely be met with the deteriorating conditions in Indonesia. In conclusion, the current budget and performance evaluation system, which is mainly bottom up with top down guidance, matches the decentralized structure of Citibank. Although there seems to be trade-offs and problems with Citibank’s current bottom up budgeting system, there is no perfect budget system to optimally serve all the different purposes of budgeting. What Citibank can do is to put in place measures to minimize some of these shortcomings. 2. Are managers at Citibank committed to achieving budget targets? Yes, managers are committed as a result of their freedom to set their own budgets subject to guidelines provided by top management. Mr Mistri can choose to operate with a self imposed sovereign risk limit which is lower than the one approved by the New York Headquarter if he thinks that the one set by the top management is too aggressive. The fact that he has control over this means that he will be less pressurised to set unrealistic goals or engage in budget slacks. These will garner higher commitment from managers since the budgets set are not restrictive and offer flexibility to managers according to the business conditions. The commitment to achieve targets is augmented as incentive compensation for managers is linked to budget-related performance. Thus they will work towards getting more incentives for themselves through surpassing the budgeted forecast. On the other hand, the amount of commitment may be limited by the constant revision of budgets each quarter. Managers may be less motivated to hit their budget target if they know that those targets can be revised lower in the next quarter if performance was unsatisfactory. In addition, the frequent changes may make managers unfocused and reduce their motivation to work towards the goals set. If so, are the budget targets too challenging? The targets may prove to be too challenging. This can be shown by the fact that although incentive compensation could range up to 70% of base salary, awards of 30-35% were more typical, implying that it may be difficult to surpass the budgeted levels. Furthermore, Mr Mistri felt that the increased profit goal by $500K to $1mil set by Mr Gibson is too much as the budget he submitted is already very aggressive, judging by the bleak short term outlook due to the decrease in oil prices. This is supported by the self-imposed sovereign risk limit that Mr Mistri is operating at in order to minimise his exposure which will reduce the likelihood of the firm achieving higher returns due to the lower risk. We also doubt the achievability of the budget set. Though the forecasts and budgets are set by the operating managers themselves, we have to take into consideration Citibank’s risk-taking culture. While challenging targets induce motivation, the aggressive year-on-year increase in targets might prove to be detrimental to the achievement of the firm’s strategic objectives. Firstly, this is especially so when targets are not adjusted in times of bad macroeconomic conditions. With the incentive compensation for managers linked to budget-related performance, it seems that managers might be motivated to set unrealistic targets and employ excessively risky methods to accomplish them. Such a system would eventually serve to promote short-term gains at the expense of long-term losses for the organisation. In addition, the practice of comparing actual performance to budgeted amount monthly is too short termed and may render managers to become myopic. This may encourage managers to engage in gamesmanship such as earnings management, manipulating data to receive additional bonuses especially towards the end of a quarter. Is there any evidence of budget gaming? Yes, there is evidence of budget gaming. The main reason Mr Mistri used to justify his less than ideal budget (as compared to Mr Gibson’s) is likely to be false and there are unhealthy motivations for him to engage in such behaviour. Mr Mistri justified his budget by claiming that the Indonesian economy had slipped into a recession when oil prices decreased significantly. This is supported by the fact that Citibank’s Indonesian operations growth paralleled that of the Indonesian economy. However, evidence in Exhibit 4 suggests otherwise, revealing both the net and inflation-adjusted GDP of Indonesia to be increasing steadily over time. Even in 1983, GDP increased 5%. Moreover, a fall in oil prices will not necessarily lead to a recession. As such, Mr Mistri’s concerns are unlikely to be true and a simple check by the group managers would have allowed this to be uncovered. Moreover, even though Indonesia’s economy is highly dependent on oil prices, a fall in oil prices is also likely to affect Citibank’s other operations in different regions. The group managers will probably have considered this effect when setting the $4mil profit goal for South East Asia. In our opinion, Mr Mistri is likely to be acting as a Sandbagger. By presenting less ambitious budgets, there will be higher likelihood of positive variances in actual performance. Given that compensation is tied to budget-related performance, such gaming behavior will probably increase Mr Mistri’s bonuses and salary. Another motive for budget gaming could be to cover up the ongoing high staff turnover problem with the bad economic conditions. Mr Mistri just lost his chief of staff and two senior officers, and is concerned with constraints to growth due to his lack of experienced staff. This could in turn affect his bonus and salary. Since managers are not accountable for extraordinary earnings or losses at Citibank, by blaming the external economy (recession) for a less aggressive budget rather than on internal problems, his bonuses will not be affected. Furthermore, Mr Minstri has the freedom to operate at a sovereign risk limit lower than the group’s since country managers are given substantial autonomy in deciding their country’s budget and risk limits. He is likely to be able to get away with a less than optimal budget if his group manager trusts him. This way, his budget gaming behavior will escape the suspicions of Mr Gibson and other group/division managers.

Why are computers important in todays world :: Computer Science Technology

In todays world computers are very useful because there is weather forcasting and many other things. People can forcast weather by this process by computers . Advertising is one of the most progressive field these days . Computer animation is the art of creating moving images by this use of computers . We can use use internation network (internet) to check mail, play games, find other's addresses , etc. Scientists also use computers for their experiments . There are some documents to type. For example MS Word , MS Exel , etc . We can do our school project also by using computers. There is one thing which is very conveinient for us it is that we can talk or chat with people who are in another country by using google talk , yahoo messenger , etc . It is not at all expensive . It is better than using a telephone or a mobile . We can also send voicemails through google talk , yahoo messenger , etc . We can play many games using a computer . For example pinball , soltaire , spider soltair e , etc . Believe it or not, but the age of computers is upon us. I believe Computers are not only here to stay, but in my opinion computers are the wave of the future. Only a device like the computer can change the way we work, live, and think. I see computers taking us places where no man has gone before. students can receive an education from their own home Taking classes online is an option that a growing number of students are taking advantage of. These classes are making a college education available for students who are not able to attend a traditional university or college. Computers are taking us places where a lot of us thought was not possible. Truly it is my belief and opinion, the computer is one of the most incredible inventions of this time period or any other.

Piaget and Vygotsky: compare and contrast Essay

Everyday life is characterized by conscious purpose. From reaching for food to designing an experiment, our actions are directed at goals. This purpose reveals itself partly in our conscious awareness and partly in the organization of our thoughts and actions. Cognition, as defined as â€Å"†¦ the activity of knowing and the processes through which knowledge is acquired† (Shaffer et al., 2002), is the process involved in thinking and mental activity, such as attention, memory and problem solving. Much past and present theory has emphasized the parallels between the articulated prepositional structure of language and the structure of an internal code or ‘language of thought’. In this paper I will discuss language and cognition and two famous theorists who were both influential in forming a more scientific approach to analyzing the process of cognitive development: Jean Piaget and Lev Vygotsky. Jean Piaget was known for his establishment of the four major perio ds of cognitive development. Lev Vygotsky was the complement to Piaget’s theory with his sociocultural perspective on cognitive development. Both were keenly interested in the relationship of thinking and language learning. Jean Jacques Piaget was born in Neuchà ¢tel, Switzerland on August 9, 1896. His father, Arthur Piaget, was a professor in Medieval Literature. His mother, Rebecca Jackson, was an intelligent woman but Jean found her a little bit  neurotic. When he was in his late youth he had a faith crisis. His mother encouraged him to attend church to only found it foolish. So he had decided to focus less on philosophy and more on psychology (Smith, L.). Piaget attended the University of Neuchà ¢tel. There he studied natural sciences. He then attended the University of Zà ¼rich were he gained an interest in psychoanalysis. In 1919, he went to Paris, France where he met Dr. Simon at the Binet Laboratory. While in Paris, Piaget planned and administered many reading tests to school children and became interested not in their correct answers, but in their incorrect answers. He wanted to explore the reasoning process that children have. By 1921 he began to publish his research findings. He developed a new way of questioning the children; it was a psychiatric method of question and response. It is called the methode clinique or the clinical method. The clinical method is a type of interview in which a participant’s response to each successive question (or problem) determines what the investigator will ask (Shaffer et al., 2002). Piaget was interested in learning the differences between a child’s acquisitions of knowledge compared to an adult’s. He formed the theory that the growth of knowledge is a progressive construction of logically embedded structures superseding one another by a process of inclusion of lower less powerful logical means into higher and more powerful ones up to adulthood. Therefore, children’s logic and modes of thinking are initially entirely different from those of adults† (Smith, L.). By the time Piaget died in Geneva in 1980, he had written over 300 papers, book chapters and introductions as well as thirty boo ks on cognitive development. Piaget’s idea was that children had learned through action. He believed that children are born with and acquire schemas, or concepts for how to act and respond to the world. As children explore their world, they form and reform ideas in their minds. The more actively involved children are, the more knowledge is gained. McGee and Richgels (1996) note, â€Å"Because children construct their own knowledge, this knowledge does not come fully developed and is often quite different from that of an adult† (p.7). Accordingly, the Piagetian perspective of literacy acquisition emphasizes a child’s stages of development and reflects â€Å"concepts of reading and writing as the child has constructed them,† state McGee and Richgels (1996, p. 10). They add,  Ã¢â‚¬Å"Children ‘s concepts of reading and writing are shaped more by what they accomplished in preceding developmental stages than by their simply imitating adults’ behavior or following adultsâ€⠄¢ directions† (p. 10). Piaget believed that children are born with the innate tendency to try to organize the way in which they think about their environment, that is, to make sense out of it. He believed that human beings organize the material about the environment in different ways as they mature. These mental changes are related to an interaction between age and environment. Piaget further believed that his theory was universal, that the stages of development he outlined would exist in all societies. He viewed the development of the child’s cognitive ability as a four-stage process. Children would move up through the stages in a fixed order. He assigned estimations of age for each of the four stages, but did not see the process as connected to specific ages. Piaget’s theory identifies four developmental stages and the processes by which children progress through them. The four stages are as follows: Sensorimotor stage (birth – 2 years old)–The child, through physical interaction with his or her environment, builds a set of concepts about reality and how it works. This is the stage where a child does not know that physical objects remain in existence even when out of sight (object permanence). Preoperational stage (ages 2-7)–The child is not yet able to conceptualize abstractly and needs concrete physical situations. Concrete operations (ages 7-11)–As physical experience accumulates, the child starts to conceptualize, creating logical structures that explain his or her physical experiences. Abstract problem solving is also possible at this stage. For example, arithmetic equations can be solved with numbers, not just with objects. Formal operations (beginning at ages 11-15)–By this point, the child’s cognitive structures are like those of an adult and include conceptual reasoning (Shaffer et al., 2002). While Piaget did not conduct cross-cultural research, his research in Switzerland was comprehensive. As the text points out, Piaget’s original observations and hypotheses were based on his observations of his own three children. He then tested his theories by designing experiments for children to perform. These experiments were passed on to teachers being trained at  the institute. Over the years, Piaget and these teachers have conducted an estimated 20,000 of his various experiments. For example, if one child had been taken on trips around the world, spent much time in museums, and read many books, she might be prepared to move up to the next stage at an earlier age than a child who spent his time playing video games and watching TV all day (Driscoll, 1994). Piaget accounted for varying levels of preparedness by explaining that each child possessed a schema, and that a child could not move to the next stage until his or her schema was at a threshold level. Schemata were expanded through what Piaget termed as assimilation (adding to prior knowledge) and accommodation (changing prior knowledge to fit new information). In this manner, children adapt to situations in response to their need for equilibrium (solving dilemmas; mastering skills). A soccer player who wishes to be a scorer, but lacks aiming skills, may practice at shooting at the goal until she assimilates knowledge of which angle to shoot from and how hard to kick the ball. When she adjusts her tactic (via accommodation) and score a goal, she moves from disequilibrium to equilibrium. Physical maturation, activities and socializing with peers to learn from them are all factors that can or do promote growth in schema (Driscoll, 1994). Piaget believed that children who speak aloud in the presence of others will sometimes adapt their speech to take into consideration the hearer(s) but at other times would direct their remarks to no-one in particular and there would be no evidence that the child was attempting to take into account the knowledge or interests of a specific listener. Piaget called this egocentric speech – the inability of the child to separate their own perspective from those of other people. Piaget saw egocentric speech as being the reflection of thought processes of the young child, and he investigated this in detail. He saw egocentric speech as having no apparent function in the child’s behaviour, so it would have no reason to survive, eventually fading away as the child became more aware of the distinctions between themselves and others (Piaget, 1955). Lev Semyonovich Vygotsky was born in the U.S.S.R. in 1896, the same year  Piaget was born. His active career as a psychologist was only around 10 years long. He graduated with a law degree at the Moscow University. After graduation, he started teaching at various institutions. Vygotsky’s first big research project was in 1925 with his Psychology of Art. A few years later, he pursued a career as a psychologist working with Alexander Luria and Alexei Leontiev. Together, they began the Vygotskian approach to psychology. Vygotsky had no formal training in psychology but it showed that he was fascinated by it. After his death of tuberculosis in 1934, his ideas were repudiated by the government; however, his ideas were kept alive by his students. While agreeing with Piaget that the child is an active learner, Vygotsky placed more emphasis on the child’s interaction with the social environment. Whereas Piaget visualizes the young child as a natural scientist, experimenting with the environment, Vygotsky sees the child as needing assistance at a critical point; he refers to the range of skills that a child can exercise with assistance but cannot perform independently as the zone of proximal development. With guidance or assistance from parents, adults, or even older children, the child is able to master a more difficult task or concept. In contrast to Piaget, Vygotsky believed that the child requires more socialization for cognitive development. While recognizing that maturation is important in cognitive development, he placed less emphasis on it. Language and cognition emerge in development at about the same time and are intertwined. Children build new concepts by interacting with others who either provide feedback for their hypotheses or help them accomplish a task (McGee & Richgels, 1996). Vygotsky suggested that learning is a matter of internalizing the language and actions of others. According to McGee and Richgels (1996), â€Å"Vygotsky believed that children need to be able to talk about a new problem or a new concept in order to understand it and use it† (p. 8). As the child discusses a problem or task with an adult, the adult supplies language to assist the child in solving the problem; the child gradually internalizes the language until the task can be completed independently (McGee & Richgels, 1996). The instructional technique in which  the teacher models the desired learning strategy or task and then gradually shifts responsibility to the students is called scaffolding. Vygotsky perceived the process of cognitive development as less segmented and rigid than Piaget had. He believed that children learned from in two ways: from tools and from more capable peers and adults. Tools could be anything in the environment that children use to help them advance intellectually (e.g., the internet, cultural artifacts). He advocated that children be placed in learning contexts which were raised just slightly above their existing ability so that they would step up to reach the next level. For Vygotsky, learning was a social process from the beginning. Children learned only by interacting with adults, not with peers who were at there level of cognition. The adult provides the child with assisted learning and scaffolding until the zone of proximal development has been removed. An example of this might involve a mother teaching her child how to drink from a cup. The mother could model the action for the child; the mother could then hold the cup up to the childâ€℠¢s mouth; following that, the child could attempt to raise the cup to her own mouth; finally, the mother would help the child coordinate the activity until the child she has acquired the skill. A main area Piaget and Vygotsky are both concerned about is the relationship between language and thought. This is the concept in which they show great dissimilarity. As preschoolers go through their daily activities, they frequently talk out loudly to themselves as they play and explore the environment. Piaget called these utterances egocentric speech, a term expressing his belief that they reflect the preoperational child’s inability to imagine the perspectives of others (Piaget, 1955). Piaget believed that egocentric speech reflects an inability to take the perspective of others, and plays no useful role in development. Vygotsky believed that a child’s use of private speech – talking to himself/herself – is not an example of egocentrism but rather is pre-social conversation. Vygotsky placed a high value on private speech because it enables the child not only to practice talking but also to plan activities. Some modern investigators have suggested that private speech is a process of  planning out loud – for example, when you are going to a new place, you verbalize the instructions for getting there aloud to yourself. It is an important developmental phenomenon, which helps children to organise and regulate thinking. As the Western world has more time to assimilate Vygotsky’s ideas, we may discover other contributions that are important in the cognitive development of young children (Vygotsky, 1962). There are two cases of Piaget and Vygotsky’s differences that stand out the most in their world. First, Vygotsky was critical of Piaget’s assumption that developmental growth was independent of experience and based on a universal characteristic. Vygotsky asserted that development is complex and is effected by social and cultural contexts. Biological and cultural development are interrelated and do not develop in isolation. Vygotsky believed that intellectual development was continually evolving without an end point. Second, the other conflict between Vygotsky and Piaget was the latter’s explanation of development as the notion that concepts should not be taught until children are in the appropriate developmental stage. This conflicts with Vygotsky’s zone of proximal development (ZPD) and developmental theories. Vygotsky noted that instruction that is oriented toward development is ineffective concerning the child’s overall development. Both Vygotsky and Piaget were exceptional men with theories that have helped shaped the world of psychology. Piaget believed the universal acquisition of knowledge occurs within a four stage process. The Vygotskian perspective of cognitive development emphasizes social interaction but places less emphasis on stages of behavior. Although both theories had conflicted with one another, it is true to believe that Vygotsky had built his educational theories on the strengths of Piaget’s. References: Driscoll, M. P. (1994). Psychology of learning for instruction. Boston: Allyn and Bacon. Evans, R. (1973). Jean Piaget: The Man and His Ideas. New York: E. P. Dutton & Co., Inc. Hall, Wayne and Drinnin, Beverly. Instructor’s Resources for Discovering Psychology. New York: Worth Publishers, 2000, p. 254. McGee, L.M., & Richgels, D.J. (1996). Literacy’s beginnings: Supporting young readers and writers (2nd ed.). Boston: Allyn and Bacon. Moll, Louis C. (1994). Vygotsky and Education: Instructional implications and applications of sociohistorical psychology. New York: Cambridge University Press. Piaget, J. (1955). The language and thought of the child. New York: Meridian Books. Shaffer, D. R., Wood, E., & Willoughby, T. (2002). Developmental Psychology: Childhood and Adolescence, First Canadian Edition. Toronto: Thomson/Nelson. Smith, L. (1997). Jean Piaget. In N. Sheehy, A. Chapman. W.Conroy (eds). Biographical Dictionary of Psychology. London: Routledge. Vygotsky, L. S. (1962). Thought and Language. Cambridge: MIT Press.