Roll of thunder hear my cry Essay Example for Free

Roll of thunder hear my cry Essay Mildred Taylor writes about lots of families, some are successful and some are not. She writes about poverty families have to endure, discipline that they inflict on their children, loyalties, love and care. She contrasts poor families and rich families very well. She writes about poverty mainly in the black families although she does mention poverty in white families but very briefly. The Logans are good disciplinarians and know when to discipline their children and when not to and when they have been promised a beating, they will get it. An example of this, is when the Logan children go to the Wallaces store. As they had been warned not to go there, they got their beating. Even if it was a little late in the coming. We should have known better. Papa never forgot anything. She writes the book in the first person from the point of view of the nine-year-old girl Cassie, who in some ways is quite mature for her age but is still learning about racism and the unfairness of life. The only thing that she is sure about, is her absolute loyalty to her family, which remains constant throughout the book. The Averys a not very successful family, are one of the poorest black families. Mr and Mrs Avery have many children and not enough money. They sharecrop on the Grangers land and as they do not have much money, they also do not have money to spend on medicine, which as a result means that Mr and Mrs Avery remain in a constant state of illness. This of course does not help matters and contributes to the lack of discipline in their childrens lives. TJ one of their sons is a perfect example of this, they should have taught him the difference between and wrong and they should have taught him respect. Taylor attributes many of his problems to weak parenting, a thought expressed by mama when she says, Its just that the boys gotten out of hand and doesnt seem like anybodys doing anything about it. When he looses his friendship with the Logan children he finds friendship in RW and Melvin Simms. They are not ideal friends and laugh at TJ behind his back. As a result of this friendship he indirectly sends the whole Avery family into turmoil. Together the three boys conspire to rob the mercantile belonging to the Barnetts. The Simms brothers managing to outwit TJ, blame the whole affair on him and thus bringing the most of the white, black hating community to the Averys house. There, they assault Mr and Mrs Avery and TJ ends up in jail. RW and Melvin Simms are the eldest of the Simms children. All the Simms share the view that white people are better then black people. The exception is Jeremy Simms who doesnt really like his siblings, he also does not share the same views that they hold and he is the outcast. He even sleeps in a tree house, to get away from his family, which proves his alienation from them. I just climbs in my tree and its like going into another world. He is friends with the Logan children and walks with them on the way to school, the only white boy to do so. For being nice to the Logans and generally liking black people he gets a beating from his sister Lillian Jean who is just like the rest of her siblings and father. Maybe because of the fact that there is no mother figure to guide them that they feel they should follow their father in every way. But whatever the reason they are quite a dysfunctional family. The Jamisons are partly to blame for TJ not finding himself killed. Mr Jamison is a lawyer and has strong family roots in the community. They have no children and are completely not racist. They are the minority who genuinely care about people. They are comfortable and they hold quite an important place in society mainly because Mr Jamison is a lawyer. They become ostracized when Mr Jamison tries his best from preventing TJ from getting murdered even at risk to his own life. we just likely to take care of ourselves a nigger lover too tonight. The Logans are successful as a family because they are very strong family unit. They are completely loyal to each other and they all love and care for each other. This love for family and holding family as a priority has been instilled in the children quite clearly. They are just about the only black family to have any type of collateral whatsoever. This is because they are the only black family to own their own land. And most other white landowners resented that. Harlan resents the fact that you wont sell it. Because of their collateral they also have a lot of independence that the others do not have. Even though the Logans are poor, they are not desperate like the Averys who can barely afford to buy their clothes. But they have had to branch out of Mississippi to get enough money to pay the bills and even then its a struggle. Papa has to work on a railroad and Uncle hammer has moved to the north where he earns a good living. Even Uncle Hammer knows and understands the values that say that family comes first. This is demonstrated when the mortgage has to paid off and Papa finds himself short of money. What goods a car? you cant raise four fine babies on it. Big Ma plays the roll of the head of the household. She adds to the stability of the environment in the home and increases the awareness of the Logan family history. She also knows each of the family members inside out. All together I think in order to have a successful family it is necessary to support, love, trust and care for the people in your family. There should be a certain loyalty and a need for one another. To be able to depend on a family member is a virtue not to be ungrateful for and in the end even Uncle Hammer showed this. He fought for what was right. Show preview only The above preview is unformatted text This student written piece of work is one of many that can be found in our GCSE Mildred Taylor section.

The Tatler and the Spectator :: Tatler and the Spectator Essays

During the early part of the 1700's Joseph Addison, the Tatler and Sir Richard Steele, the Spectator, came together to write The Tatler and the Spectator. Through their hardships of life they came about understanding what others were feeling and the actions that they took. They documented five hundred and fifty-five essays that were depicted from the world around them. They used the feeling of  Ã‚   love to show about human nature and what it did to achieve its goals. Through stories, such as "Jilts and their Victims", "Country Festival", "For Whom the Bell Tolls", "Knowledge and Time", and "Reasons" Addison and Steele show what they know about life and the power they had publishing it.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The two men met at a young age at the Charter House School in England where from their they became the best of friends. Through their hardships they ended up going separate ways. Addison went into politics where he became a popular figure in society.(World Book Addison) Steele went to the military where he later got knighted. In 1710 they were united when Steele asked Addison to join him in writing in the "Spectator".(World Book Steele) Addison gladly excepted and the two men would go out and view the world around them. The two men would write about any occasion, but whenever they wrote they were really in depth of their feelings and thoughts. Their was one   topic in particular that fashioned their writings and that was the topic of love. Love was portrayed as being good and bad throughout the writings.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Love was used repetitively due to it is a constant in every bodies life and they could easily relate to the characters. Allowing others to relate to their writings helped make them popular. Addison and Steele gave love a good and bad side to show the readers that love is not cracked up to what it really can be. It was good in the way that it showed people having a good time together and enjoying the presence of   another. It also demonstrated those relationships that everyone dreads getting into. Love is bad in a way that in a way that it could be used as a possession, or a gold-digger. Steele himself was a god-digger and in his two marriages he had never dealt with the true meaning of love.

Economics Oligopoly

Main economic features of an Oligopoly and key economic theories of price fixing. This part of the coursework aims to identify and explain the main economic features of an Oligopoly and also the key economic theories which influence the price of a product or service. This part deals with the theoretical aspects of Oligopoly and the later part emphasizes on the practical applications of the theories and oligopoly features.According to Pass et al (2000), â€Å"Oligopoly, a type of market structure is characterised by a few firms and many buyers, where the bulk of market supply is in the control of relatively few large firms who in turn sell to many small buyers†. To describe the degree of oligopoly, concentration ratio is often utilized. Concentration ratio is the measure of the market share of the largest four firms in the industry expressed as a percentage. A low concentration ratio suggests a high level of competition and vice versa for.As there are few players dominating the industry, each player or an oligopolist is said or likely to be aware of others course of actions. The decision taken by one player seems to affect the decision taken by others and strategic planning by the firms needs to take into account the likely response of other participants (Wikipedia, 2010). For example, a proper game of chess depends on how well you read your opponent’s moves, similarly in oligopoly; strategies are devised based on the moves of competing market firms.The reason for existence oligopoly as stated by Maunder et al (1991) is for the achievement of economies of scale. Firms tend to reduce their average cost of production by increasing their scale of operation and since the small firms have higher average costs, they tend to go out of business or be absorbed by the larger ones. The features of oligopoly are:- a. Number of Firms:-The very important feature of an oligopoly is the number of firms. Even though there are a large number of firms operating in a particular industry, only a handful of firms hold the major share between them. . Interdependence: – A very distinctive feature of an oligopoly is interdependence. When a very few large firms operate in a particular industry, their activities or strategy cannot be independent of each other. Unlike monopoly, where the monopolist need not worry about the reaction of its rivals as there are none, an oligopolist takes into consideration the possible reactions of all rival firms. For example, a company considering a price reduction of its products may wish to estimate the chances of price reduction by the rival company and hence starting a price war. . Profit Maximization Condition: – The firms in an oligopoly generally agree to co-operate and act as one monopolist as it generates high profits (Begg and Ward 2007). This kind of formal collusive agreement is called a cartel. An oligopoly maximises profits where the marginal revenue equals the marginal cost. This is also know n as profit maximization condition. Price ELASTIC UNIT ELASTIC P MC, AC PROFIT MAXIMIZING OUTPUT O MR Quantity (Source: Begg and Ward 2007) d.Perfect Knowledge: – Oligopolists are said to have a perfect knowledge about their cost and demand functions but a lesser information about other firms (Wikipedia, 2010). e. Entry Barrier: – One of the main important features of oligopoly also is the entry barrier. There are high entry barriers that restrain a new firm from entering a market. For example, the barriers can be the economies of scale, access to expensive and complex technology, lower costs for an established firm, brand loyalty, patented production process and strategic action by incumbent firms etc.The table below gives the market concentration in different industries. As discussed earlier, the large few firms form a cartel and set a price. Once the members of the cartel agree on the price, they compete against each other using non price competition in order to gai n the maximum revenue. There are other various ways in which the firms fix the price. One of them being tacit collusion, where the firms agree on a price set by an established leader. This is also known as dominant firm price leadership as the price setting firm is the dominant firm in the industry.The other way is the barometric firm price leadership, where the price leader is the one whose prices reflect the market conditions in the most stable form (Sloman et al, 2010). To fix prices, the producers must be able to control the market supply. The other forms of price fixing in tacit collusion is average cost pricing, where producers add a certain percentage of profit on top of average costs and price benchmarking, where firms raise the price only up to a benchmark already set.Price fixing is achieved by the competing firms coming together on a platform where they can agree on a common pricing and production strategy thus acting in a manner in which a monopoly operates. This kind of collusion is known as cartelisation. Cartels although banned in many countries, is difficult for the enforcement agencies to gather evidence and penalise the participants. The quantity for the cartel and the individual firm will not be the same as one firm individually will have the scope for further increase in productivity to achieve a situation where the marginal cost equals the marginal revenue.In such cases firms may decide to go ahead with excess supply which can lead to a price war and inconsistent revenues to the industry. Even without overt collusion firms in an oligopoly are able to reach a point of profit maximisation when they behave in a manner reflected in â€Å"Nash Equilibrium† (Begg and Ward 2007). 2B) Direct to Home (DTH) television industry in India acting as an oligopoly. India has a total television population of about 135 million of which about 108 million have an access to cable and satellite television (Plugged in, 2010).The total DTH sub base at the end of first quarter in the year 2010 was 23 million (Dish TV India Ltd, 2010) which was about just 1 million in the year 2006. Indian DTH industry has seen a flurry of activities in the recent years after a monopolistic reign by Dish TV for a couple of years. It is currently in a state of Oligopoly with the top four operators controlling nearly 80% of the total market. The major players in the market are Dish TV by Zee group, TataSky- a joint venture by Tata and Star TV, Big TV by Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group, Digital TV by Bharati Telemedia and SUN Direct from Sun TV.Since there are only 3 major players in the DTH market, Indian DTH industry is an oligopoly. (Indiadth, 2010) The product offering by the rival firms are more or less similar in nature with little or no product differentiation. Amongst all the players, Sun Direct has essentially remained a regional operator who made a late debut in the national scene. The content or the channels are same with all the operators barring few omissions and additions. The DTH industry market share is as follows. BRAND| MARKET SHARE| Dish TV| 30%|TataSky| 22%| Sun Direct| 25%| Big Tv| 13%| Airtel| 8%| D2H| 2%| (Source: http://www. pluggd. in/dth-industry-in-india-analysis-297/) From the data above we can see that Dish TV, TataSky and Sun Direct together hold the maximum market share with over 75%. (Source: http://www. slideshare. net/) To confirm the oligopoly, we can use the Herfindahl-Hirschman index or the HHI. It measures the size of the firms in relation to the industry and also indicates the amount of competition between them. Mathematically, (Adapted from Pass et al, 2000)Here Si = market share of firm i in the market and N is the number of firms. Hence H = 302 + 222 + 252 + 132 + 82 + 22 H = 2246. With this value of H we can conclude that this industry is an oligopoly. Although there is no indication of an overt collusion in the industry, a closer look at their price plan (fig 1. 1) can lead us to a strategic o r tacit understanding between the players. The market is abuzz with marketing drives to garner market share and the customer is currently loaded with freebies like free installation, free channels and the like.Going by the level of investment and infrastructure the operators need to garner as much subscriber base as possible to be in a profitable proposition. They are however aware of the competition and are refraining from a price war. Such behaviour of the operators is characteristic of a non-price competition in Oligopoly. This is due to the interdependency of firms in the oligopoly and the strategic behaviour can also be referred to the â€Å"Nash Equilibrium† (Begg and Ward 2007). (Source: Slideshare. net/researchonIndia) Brand Name| PricePlan(inINR)/month| Dish TV| 135. 0| TataSky| 150. 00| Sun Direct| 115. 00| Videocon| 136. 00| Fig: 1. 1 (Source: Company websites, 2010) Now as in any oligopoly, it has to be supported by entry barriers, both endogenous and exogenous. T he natural barrier of entry in this particular industry is primarily associated with government licensing and also the intensity of capital investment required. Given that all the DTH operators are already established players in related sectors such as telecom, media it gives them a strategic advantage in terms of distribution and content.For any new entrant it could pose as a strategic entry barrier. Indian DTH market has constantly been attracting different players over the years given the increasing number of television subscribers. Although there have been entry barriers, companies like Videocon along with its cutting edge technology entered into the market in the presence of established players. The cutting edge technology proved to be a barrier breaker. Videocon managed to build television sets with set top boxes which helped it develop its own customer base.References Begg, D. , and Ward, D. (2007). Economics for Business, 2nd edition. Berkshire: McGraw Hill Publication. Chri stopher Pass, Bryan Lowes and Leslie Davies (2000). Economics, 3rd edition. HarperCollins Publishers. DTH, (2010). http://www. pluggd. in/dth-industry-in-india-analysis-297/ [Accessed 21/11/2010] Dish TV, (2010). http://www. dishtv. in/packages. aspx [Accessed 21/11/2010] Indiadth, (2010). http://www. indiadth. in/ [Accessed 22/11/2010] Maunder, P. , Myers, D. , Wall, N. , and Miller, R. L. 1991) Economics Explained, 2nd edition. Collins Educational. Sloman, J. , and Hinde, K. (2007). Economics for business, 4th edition. Essex: Pearson Education Limited. Sun Direct, (2010). http://www. sundirect. com/packages. php [Accessed 22/11/2010] Tata Sky, (2010). http://www. tatasky. com/channel-packages. html [Accessed 22/11/2010] Videocon, (2010). http://www. videocond2h. com/wsc/packages. html [Accessed 22/11/2010] Wikipedia, (2010). Oligopoly. http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Oligopoly [Accessed 21/11/2010)]

Understanding the Convergence of Media Systems and...

Understanding the Convergence of Media Systems and Political Communication in the U.S. and Western Europe A powerful trend is clearly underway in the direction of greater similarity in the way the public sphere is structured across the world. In their products, in their professional practices and cultures, in their systems of relationships with other political and social institutions, media systems across the world are becoming increasingly alike. Political systems, meanwile, are becoming increasingly similar in the patterns of communication they incorporate. We will explore this trend toward global homogenization of media systems and the public sphere, focusing particularly on the relations†¦show more content†¦Schiller, 1969, 1976; Boyd-Barret, 1977). It saw homogenization as a result of cultural domination. The global expansion of mass media industries based in advanced capitalist countries and particularly in the United States resulted in the destruction of local cultures and their replacement by a single, standardized set of cultural forms tied to consumer capitalism and American political hegemony. Europe occupied an ambiguous middle position in this literature. European media were seen as part of the dominant Western cultural influence on developing countries; at the same time, the early cultural imperialism literature also raised the issue of U.S. influence over European culture. The idea that media system change can be understood as a process of Americanization is still very much alive, and there is obviously much truth to it. American programming still dominates many media markets, in some industries--film for example--perhaps as much now as ever before. 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