How Do Maya Angelou and Grace Nichols Communicate What It Means to Be a Black Woman in Today’s Society Essay

How do Maya Angelou and Grace Nichols communicate what it means to be a black woman in today’s society? In this essay I will compare two poems. The two poems I will compare is Maya Angelou’s ‘Still I rise’ to Grace Nichols’ ‘Of course when they ask for poems about the ‘realities’ of Black women’. I think Maya Angelou’s ‘Still in rise’ has a rather different message to Grace Nichols’ poem. I think they are interesting to compare because Maya Angelo is lively and spirited about writing a poem about how strong black women are and how it is to be a black woman in today’s society. Whereas, Grace Nichols is more disgruntled and irritated about writing her poem. The first poem I will scrutinize is Maya Angelo’s ‘Still I rise’. The title ‘Still I rise’ shows strength and optimism as it is a short but strong meaning title. It means that Maya Angelou will always defend herself. It makes you feel no matter what you do to Maya Angelou she will just get back up again. This makes you believe that Maya Angelou is a strong person. In the first verse, Maya Angelou starts off using an accusatory tone when she says ‘you may write me down in history with you bitter, twisted lies’. This gives the impression that she is talking to white people when she says this. I think this means she doesn’t like what white people have wrote in their history books about black people’s past as it is over exaggerated and a lot of lies. Near the end of the first verse, she uses the simile ‘but still like dust, I’ll rise’. This is once again reinforcing the idea that she is a strong black woman. By using this simile she is also comparing herself and her race to dust and this suggests that you can’t get rid of black people and that they are everywhere you go, as dust is hard to get rid of and it is everywhere as you can’t control or capture it. In the second verse, Maya Angelou is more lively and spirited when she says ‘Does my sassiness upset you? ’ This suggests that she is getting more confident as she progresses through the poem. She also uses two rhetorical questions to grip the reader’s attention ‘why are you beset with gloom? Also, in the second verse she shows more confidence when she uses the phrase ‘‘cause I walk like I’ve got oil wells pumping in my living room. ’ The use of informal language ‘cause’ shows this. This phrase also makes me think that she feels powerful, rich and important. In the third stanza, she uses a lot of similes such as ‘Just like moons and like suns’ I think she has put this simile in because it is natural imagery and she wants black people to be described as this because it is not only a part of nature but the sun and moon are beautiful; vital to the world. In the next line she continues with the natural imagery by saying ‘With certainty of tides’. This is also natural imagery as she is comparing the black race with tides. I think she chose to use the natural imagery of tides here because not only is it once again vital to the world but it also creates a sense of power as tides and waves are incontrollable, powerful and constant and waves always come back so I think maybe she was also trying to reinforce the idea that she and her race are strong. However in the fourth verse, she stops using natural imagery and changes into an interrogative mode when she says ‘did you want to see me broken? Bowed head and lowered eyes? ’ Here she uses negative lexis such as ‘broken’ to create an image of a typical slave to the reader. I think she does this here as she wants to show people that herself and her race are not slaves and that you should not dwell on their past and think of them as slaves. In the fifth stanza, it’s more about her culture when she uses the simile ‘cause I laugh like I’ve got gold mines’ I think she is implying here that she is not rich in wealth but she is rich in culture and in spirit. I think this changes the atmosphere to a more relaxed mood as she is embracing her culture. Also, when she says ‘diggin in my own back yard’ it gives you a sense of black soulful language and reinforces the fact that she embraces her culture and language. However, in stanza six, it is a more harsh verse as she uses an accusatory tone once again. She creates an atmosphere of fury and annoyance by using onomatopoeia and harsh sounds such as ‘cut’ and ‘kill’. I think this was put in so people would remember the way white people treated slaves and how violent they were towards them. I think she is trying to give an insight of how it must have felt to be a slave and make people feel guilty for treating them so unfairly. At the end of this verse, she repeats herself ‘But still, like air, I’ll rise’. I think she does this to not only make people believe she is a strong, black woman, but to also make the poem memorable for the reader and make it stand out. Also, when she uses the simile ‘like air’ it makes you think that you can’t hurt her because she is ‘like air’ and you can’t cut or hurt air. I think air was a good simile to use here because air rises and I think Angelou was implying that she will rise above all expectations people have for her, black women and black men. Also, by using the word air Maya Angelou is trying to indicate that herself and the black race are now free as black people are now free from slavery. In the seventh stanza, the atmosphere changes and you can see Angelou’s pride in her culture and race. I think Maya Angelou is trying to create a different image for black women as she says ‘does my sexiness up set you? . This suggests that she is trying to make a new image for black women that is sexy and more elegant because before they were seen as only slaves. In the third and fourth line of this verse, she says ‘that I dance like I’ve got diamonds, at the meeting of my thighs’. By using the word diamond she is implying that black women are rare, precious and tough as those are the main characteristics of a diamond. I t hink she is suggesting black women should be treasured and kept safe as they are too precious to lose. In the last stanza, Angelou breaks free from the previous set structure of the quatrains and it’s a more symbolic structure; it does not have a pattern to it. I think this is because it is supposed to imitate the slaves breaking free. Also, it has a random lay out and I think this is reinforcing the idea that you can’t capture black people like slaves anymore and that black people shouldn’t be treated unfairly anymore. The last verse also has more energy to it as it speeds up more. I think this is because when black people broke free from slavery they were lively and more spirited and had more pride in their culture and race. Also, in the last verse, Angelou uses metaphors instead of similes now such as ‘I’m a black ocean, leaping and wide’. I think she changes from similes to metaphors in this verse because she has gained more confidence and pride. It has also become a more happier, lively verse again as she uses more positive lexis such as ‘daybreak’ and ‘wondrously clear’. This is because she is happy and proud of being black and wants black women and men to be perceived as happy and lively. She has not only broken free from the quatrains in this last verse, but she has also broken free from the AB rhyming sentences and is now using rhyming couplets as well as repetition of the words ‘I rise, I rise, I rise’ to show confidence, power and pride of what it means to be a black woman. Overall, throughout the whole of the poem, I believe that Maya Angelou was trying to change the perception of black women and make black women feel as confident and as proud as Angelou does of being black. Throughout the poem Angelou’s tone differs. As in the beginning, although she started with an accusatory tone, she went on and used positive lexis such as ‘hopes springing high’ this then changed from a interrogative mood to a more lively and spirited atmosphere. However, as the poem continues she starts to use negative lexis again and the interrogative mode re-appears making the poem seem more harsh to the reader, although, when you read on the poem ends in a more lively and happier tone as she uses more absolute phrases and starts to use metaphors rather than similes now; ‘I’m a black ocean, leaping and wide’. Angelou’s use of sound imagery is interesting as she makes the reader imagine not only pretty, natural images, but harsh, cruel images as well. For instance, ‘Just like moons and like suns’ and ‘Shoulders falling down like teardrops’. I think she does this so we all can see what she wants black people to be perceived as and also what black people used to be perceived as. Overall, I think Maya Angelou wrote this poem to change the perception of black women in today’s society. The second poem I will analyse is Grace Nichols ‘Of course when they ask for poems about the ‘realities’ of black women’. This is a poem with a slightly different message. Whereas, Maya Angelou’s poem was overall lively and spirited, Grace Nichols poem takes on a more sarcastic side of what it’s like to be a black woman, compared to a white woman, in today’s society and how she feels about being asked to write a poem on what it’s like to be a black woman. The heading of Grace Nichols poem’ Of course when they ask for poems about the ‘realities’ of black women’ shows a sarcastic side as she has put realities in inverted commas. This gives you the impression that she doesn’t want to write this poem as black women are no different from white women or any other race. The first verse of the poem starts with ‘what they really want at times is a specimen whose heart is in the dust’. When she uses the word they in the beginning I think she is talking about white people, racists and those that misunderstand her race. Also, when she says the word specimen it makes you think of a different species; something that needs to be studied. I think this is what she feels racists think of the black race. When she refers to ‘whose heart is in the dust’ this makes the reader believe she thinks people pity her race. When she says ‘a mother-of-sufferer’ she is referring to ancestors of slaves and this then links to ‘trampled/oppressed’ which is the typical slave image. She’s is saying here that ‘they’, meaning white people or people that misunderstand her race, want a slave to write a poem about how it is to be a black person living in today’s society. Grace Nichols then moves on and says ‘they want a little black blood undressed and validation for the abused stereotype already in their heads’. This means that racists want a black, vulnerable person to be proof for the typical slave image, that’s a black stereotype, in their minds. When she says ‘black blood’ she is implying that black people are completely different to any other race and even have different blood, even though black people are no different from white people. She is also implying, when she says ‘For the abused stereotype already in their head’, that the stereotype has been put into people’s heads by white, biased history books. When she says, in the next verse, ‘a perfect song’ she is referring to someone that is proud of their race and would like to write a poem about being black, for example Maya Angelou. Within the next few lines, Grace Nichols talks more about how not all black women are the same and how they can’t be categorised. When she says’ I say I can write no poem big enough to hold the essence’. This means she can’t write one poem for black people or any other race as there are too many personalities and individuals to put them all into one category. When she says ‘of a black woman or a white woman or a green woman’ she is then showing her sarcasm again when she says ‘green woman’ as you can’t have green women and what she is trying to say is that we are all equal . ‘And there are Black women and Black women’ this is once again reinforcing the idea that there is not just ‘the’ black woman. There are different types of black women and they are not all the same and are individuals. In the next line she uses a very good simile when she says ‘like a contrasting sky of rainbow spectrum’. I love this simile as she is saying that there isn’t only one colour black and that when you put all the different colours together it makes something beautiful, such as a rainbow. She is also using natural imagery here and it makes you think of how special black people are to this world. As you go on in the poem, she uses the well known phrase ‘don’t judge a book by its cover’ very well as she says ‘touch a black woman you mistake for a rock and feel her melting down to fudge’. I think this is implying the phrase ‘don’t judge a book by its cover’ as it is saying if you insult a black woman when you think she has ‘thick skin’ she could really be vulnerable inside. In her poem, she does not only talk about different types of people and race, but she also introduces the fact of the different types of language. ‘If need be we’ll trade a piece-a-pussy’. Here she uses her own language of Creole and mixes Caribbean English with English to create a sense of her own Caribbean culture and how proud she is to be black and have her own, unique culture. Also, during her poem, Grace Nichols refers to some famous black women as she says ‘and there are black women so dangerous in South Africa they prison them away’. Here she is talking about Winnie Mandela, Nelson Mandela’s wife. She also refers to Maya Angelou throughout her poem as she says’ and there are black women strong and eloquent and focused’. Here she talks about Maya Angelou and how proud she is of her race. However, at the end of the poem, she ends on a positive note as she says’ the twisted self-negating history we’ve inherited’. I think this means even though they see their history as twisted and cruel, she wants black people to focus on the present and make their history better than that of the ancestors that were slaves. She also says ‘crushing out with each dancing step’. This shows me that she wants to crush out their past history and therefore ends on a positive note. Overall, throughout the poem, I think Grace Nichols was trying to make black women proud of their culture and race and that they are no more different than white people or any other race. I think Grace Nichols didn’t have a set structure for the poem as it is sporadic and a random layout. I think she did this because there is not a set pattern for black women and that the layout represents this. Also, the layout is random and unique and that’s what she wants black women to be perceived as instead as being in a set pattern and categorised. Grace Nichols repeats several thing throughout her poem. ‘of a black woman or a white woman or a green woman’ is repeated a lot to emphasize the point that all races are equal and it doesn’t depend on colour for how we are treated. She also repeats the phrase ‘crushing out with each dancing step’ to make her point that you shouldn’t judge people by their past and that you should forget about you and your ancestors history and create new history. I think Grace Nichols used Creole to emphasize how she is proud of her culture and that black women should be proud as well and celebrate their own culture. I think these poems differ in messages and tones as Maya Angelou’s poem ‘still I rise’ her message is that black women should be proud about their culture and to be black and that Maya Angelou wants to change the perception of black women so that it is not the typical lave image but it is more sexy and elegant. Also, I think Maya Angelou was lively and spirited throughout most of her poem, although she had some accusatory tone and interrogative mode. However, Grace Nichols’s message was different from Maya Angelou’s as Grace Nichols wanted black women to be treated fairly and equally as any other race are and that she doesn’t think its right to define black women all in one category. Also, she didn’t think it was right to be asked to write a poem about how black women feel living in today’s society as it is no different from any other race woman. Grace Nichols’s tone throughout was mainly accusatory and angry. In some ways the two poems are similar as they both feel that their race should not be treated as slave just because some of their ancestors were in captivity as slaves in past history. Also, they both feel that their race should now think about the present and not focus on the past and believe you should forget about slavery and the past. They both also want black people to celebrate their culture. I think Grace Nichols’s poem portrays the black race better as Maya Angelou categorises the black race even though they are all individuals and can’t be put into just one category. Whereas, Grace Nichols says all the way through her poem that black people are individuals and all unique and you can’t categorise them. Also, I think Grace Nichols write not just about the good things about being a black woman, but she also write about the bad things, whereas, Maya Angelou doesn’t.

Problems and Aspirations of Youth Essay

INTRODUCTION: Trying hands on contemporary writing and then reigning over hearts of millions is not that easy as has been proved by one of the prominent writers of the day – Chetan Bhagat. Very few authors have managed to reach out to such a wide audience as Chetan Bhagat. There is originality of content in his writings and when he writes people feel as if it is their story. He is a phenomenon that has affected everybody, touched everybody’s life. Indian Publishing shall now be divided into pre and post Chetan Bhagat. He has created those kinds of landmarks. Chetan Bhagat projects his readers’ viewpoint in his writings. According to him,† A writer’s first job is to strike a chord, and not to please elitist circles,† He does it by caring for his readers and listening to them,† It can’t be just the language, as it is simply the common language of the people. It is more about what is being said and communicated that strikes a chord.† Chetan s trongly believes that the language should be colloquial- a popular fiction has to be a dialogue with the people on the streets. CHETAN BHAGAT:- A BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH Chetan Bhagat (born on 22 April,1974) is a contemporary Indian author who has written four novels namely :- â€Å" Five Point Someone- What not to do at IIT†, â€Å" One Night @ The Call Center†, â€Å"The 3 Mistakes of My Life† and â€Å"2 States: The Story of My Marriage†, respectively. He grew up in Delhi in a Punjabi family in an uncertain home environment where his parents used to fight a lot. His father, an army officer, was very strict and he wasn’t allowed to watch television or films. So, Chetan and his brother used to make up movie stories and perhaps that’s where this tact of writing all sprang up. Bhagat attended Army Public School (1978-1991), Dhaula Kuan, New Delhi. He studied Mechanical Engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Delhi (1991-1995), and then studied at the Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Ahmadabad (1995-1997), where he was named â€Å"The Best Outgoing Student† He fell in love with his IIM Ahmadabad classmate Anusha and they eventually got married. His novel â€Å"2 States: The Story of My Marriage†, is a fictional version of his love story. After graduating from IIT and IIM, he joined Peregrine, a financial service company in Hong-Kong. It shut down in six months but Chetan stayed on in Hong-Kong for eleven years, moving to Goldman Sachs. It was to spite his boss that he started writing his first novel. No doubt it was a great moment for Bhagat but he was in a bank and dissatisfied. His boss was very bad. So to take revenge on him. He started writing in office. CHETAN BHAGAT’S WRITING STYLE AND CHARACTERS The secret to Chetan Bhagat’s success is he writes in ordinary English – and it is reassuring for young people to know someone knows what they are going through. In other words, Bhagat’s writing style tends to be simple with linear narratives and vivid storytelling. His protagonists tend to be named after avatars of Hindu deity Vishnu, like Hari, Shyam, Govind or Krishna. All his books have a number in the title (e.g. ‘five’ in the first, ‘one’ in the second, ‘three in the third and ‘two’ in the fourth book.) When asked about this, Bhagat replied that he is a banker and he can’t get numbers out of his head. Bhagat, 35, is the first to admit that he is no Arundhati Roy, the Indian Booker Prize winning author and says he knows critics feel his books are shallow. But Bhagat, who enjoys a rock-star like popularity among his readers, aged mainly 13 to 30, said he has the ultimate riposte—â€Å"My books sell.† Bhagat says that he writes for ‘ordinary young people’ who feel suffocated by their parents’ desire for them to become doctors, lawyers, or engineers. According to Bhagat- Indian youngsters live under pressure-cooker conditions to succeed. There is cut-throat competition to win places in India’s elite universities with youngsters compelled to score highly from primary to high school. Entrance to top universities often requires ninety percent- plus averages and most children have afterschool tutoring to attain such marks. A paragon of this philosophy can be seen in his novel â€Å" One Night @ The Call Center†, where the hero, who answers the phone calls from clueless Americans about their cooking appliances, remarks,† Every cousin of mine is becoming a doctor or engineer,†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.You can say I am the black sheep of my family.† Bhagat believes that India tends to have an academic and social revolution to prevent young people simply regurgitating what they learn without thinking. He wants to convey this message across to the Indian youth- even if they don’t get stratospheric marks, they are still entitled to a happy life; and it’s not the end of the world if they fail. He generally talks about youngsters’ worries, their anxieties and all those things which preoccupy them, by means of his writings. His writing subjects include parental academic pressure along with pre-marital sex, drinking and other topics taboo in socially conservative India. CHETAN BHAGAT’S NOVELS 1. FIVE POINT SOMEONE- WHAT NOT TO DO AT IIT! â€Å"Five Point Someone†¦.† was his first book which adopted a breezy, ironic tone to explore the lives of exam-oppressed students who cram to get into the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi and then rebel against the stultifying atmosphere of academic competition. It features soft-drugs, binge- drinking, and an affair between a student and his professor’s daughter. To be clear, the story of â€Å"Five Point Someone†¦Ã¢â‚¬  revolves around three studentsHari, Ryan and Alok who come from three different backgrounds. The book is about their years in IIT Delhi and how they cope with the pressure of studies, family and relationships. The book was well received by the public, especially among the younger generation, and brought Bhagat a large following. It was adapted into a play by the theatre group ‘Madras Players’ and also by ‘Evam’. This book was adapted into a movie called ‘3 Idiots’, though Bhagat has stated that he was not involved in the scriptwriting in anyway, and was involved in a controversy with the director and the producer of the movie over crediting his contribution to the script. Directed by Raj Kumar Hirani, and starring Aamir Khan, R. Madhvan, Sharman Joshi, Kareena Kapoor, and Boman Irani in pivotal roles, it was released on 25 December, 2009. About a week after the release of the movie, ‘3 Idiots’, Chetan Bhagat claimed for the credit for the story and this credit row became a national issue. On January 1, 2010, Star News channel got Chetan Bhagat, Aamir khan and Abhijat Joshi- the so-called script writer, switched to each other at their respective places through Star News correspondents. During this programme, Chetan Bhagat claimed that before the release of the movie ‘3 Idiots’, neither he had been shown the preview of the movie nor given any participation in the script writing. At that time he was told that the adaptation of ‘Five Point Someone†¦.’ to ‘3 Idiots’, was just two to three percent or at the most just five percent and rest of the plot was different, but when the movie released and hit the Box Office as the biggest hit of the time, Chetan felt bad, because the story was not just five percent from his book rather it was seventy to eighty percent of his book. He kept mum for a week but when his fans and readers kept on asking him why he didn’t take any action or show any reaction against the makers, at that point of time Bhagat sought the shelter of the media and came into the lime-light with his credit claim. On the other hand Aamir khan in one of his interviews made it clear that there was no similarity between the movie and ‘Five Point Someone†¦.’ and also as Aamir had not read Bhagat’s novel, Bhagat prohibited him to go through ‘Five Point Someone’, saying that both the movie and the novel were quite different from each other in story as well as plot. And now after the release of the movie, seeing it to be a big hit Chetan Bhagat is claiming for credit? It is quite wrong on his part because he wants to snatch the credit of Abhijat Joshi- the actual script writer of ‘3 Idiots’, who worked on the story along with Raj Kumar Hirani – the director. Aamir also interrogated Chetan Bhagat saying that Raju Hirani had directed ‘Munna Bhai MBBS’ and its sequel ‘Lage Raho Munna Bhai’, so Chetan Bhagat would claim that these two movies were also his creations! Aamir labeled Chetan Bhagat as publicity hungry writer. Chetan Bhagat defended himself by saying that the producer Vidhu Vinod Chopra had told him that there was hardly any similarity between the movie and the novel apart from the five percent of loose inspiration. He added that he relied upon Vidhu and said so to Aamir prohibiting him going through ‘Five Point Someone’. It was only after the release of ‘3 Idiots’ that Chetan Bhagat realized that he had been duped as Vidhu kept him in dark by lying and that was why he claimed for credit. He said that as per contract signed between him and Vidhu, he had been promised full justice by displaying his name among the main star-cast, but his name was given towards the end among assistants’ names in the rolling cast. This really pinched him. At one occasion during the promotion of the movie ‘3 Idiots’, interacting with the media persons in a press conference when a press reporter asked Raju Hirani, Aamir and Vidhu Vinod about the authenticity of the story whether it was an original one or taken from Chetan Bhagat’s ‘Five Point Someone†¦.’, Vidhu Vinod lost his temper. He raised his finger at that press reporter and asked him to shut up. This act of Vidhu further added oil to fire and the matter turned from bad to worst. All the news channels repeatedly telecasted Vidhu raising finger and saying ‘SHUT UP’. No doubt, the next day, somehow, Vidhu realized his mistake and openly apologized labeling himself a ‘BEAST’ and his action of raising finger and saying ‘shut up’- an insane or uncivilized act. When asked about Vidhu’s ill-mannerism from Chetan Bhagat, the later showed his gratitude to the media for bringing forth Vidhu’s real per sonality, as it would have been quite difficult for him to do so at his own level. A few days after this incident another interview with Chetan Bhagat was telecasted on news channel where he disclosed that Abhijat Joshi had threatened him to send a legal notice in his name if he ever claimed for the credit for the story again. Chetan Bhagat subsided for some time. It was a great shock to the fan-readers of Bhagat when a video clip of Bhagat’s interview on 24-12-2009 was telecasted on another news channel. It showed Bhagat in very high spirits saying that he had given his book ‘Five Point Someone†¦.’ to the makers of ‘3 Idiots’ just like a daughter and after watching the premier of the movie ‘3 Idiots’, it seemed to him that his simple daughter turned into a bridal-look, so he would definitely give five out of five points to the movie. Chetan Bhagat also appreciated the adaptation of ‘Five Point Someone†¦.’ to ‘3 Idiots’ and confessed that he couldn’t have done this if asked for as Raju and Vidhu have done and added that his family is quite happy over this. Bollywood News channel Lehren depicted this incident of credit claim row and Vidhu’s misbehavior mere a pre-planned drama to benefit both the movie as well as the book. 2. ONE NIGHT @ THE CALL CENTER It was released in India in October 2005 also to popular demand. This book was about six people who work at a call center and about a night when they receive a call from God. Noted Bollywood film director Rohan Sippy bought the rights from Bhagat, but later Sippy let the rights pass on to director Atul Agnihotri, brother-in-law of Arbaaz Khan. The movie version of the novel is titled as ‘HELLO’ starring Salman Khan, Sohail Khan, Amrita Arora, Esha Koppikar, Gul Panag, and Sharman Joshi. Bhagat worked directly on the script of the movie, moulding it to fit the silver screen. However, the film did not succeeed commercially. ‘One Night @ The Call Center’ is a romantic comedy set in an office where bored young Indians try to resolve the mindless inquiries of Midwestern American Technophobes. The story is a comedy of romance and crossed lines. There are three main themes: – ex-girlfriend, bad-boss, and God. The story revolves around six friends who are selling home appliances to the US from a call center in India. Each one has an issue with love. Call agent Sam works right beside the girl who has just duped him. He is dating someone he can’t stand just to get over her. Esha is just short of becoming a model. Two inches, to be precise. Vroom wants to change the world. Radhika is trying to manage her mother-in-law, and hold down her job. Tonight is Thanksgiving in America, and customers are queuing up to complain about white goods going wrong. On this night of a thousand phone calls, when life couldn’t look more dismal, one unique caller got on the line- God: and that call is going to change everything†¦.A romantic comedy of six friends kicking against the system, against their boss, and against each other. The fact that ‘One Night @ The Call Center’, was an enormous success in India is very strange or unusual and troubling. Although it may seem a feel-good story about Indian empowerment in a globalized world, but Bhagat finds no other way to reach a happy end but through a ridiculous and an unexpected event saving a seemingly hopeless situation and a series of morally reprehensible acts. One might be able to forgive him invoking God- the ultimate fall-back guy when nothing else works: but the mean-spirited and outrageous means he chooses for his characters to find happiness and satisfaction is beyond contempt. In the opening page, we are asked to do a task- think about something you fear, that makes you angry and one thing you don’t like about yourself. After a deep pondering, one may come up with an idea and plod on with the reading. When you reach the end of the novel you find yourself thinking about what you said in the beginning and viewing it in a different way- clever stuff, actually Bhagat’s writing style is so easy that you are soon swept along with the narrative. The novel has a prologue, in which author- Chetan Bhagat encounters a beautiful woman on a train-trip. She offers to tell him a story- but will do so only on one condition that he uses it for his next book. It is set at a call center, describing the events of a single night shift†¦..and she warns him (as well as the readers) to expect at least one unusual occurrence: â€Å"it was the night†¦.it was the night there was a phone call from God.† That’s a lot of pressure to put on a book- and since the phone call comes on page241, that’s also an awful lot of suspense to leave the reader in for a very long time. The story is narrated by Shyam Mehra, who works at the Connections Call Center. Here Indians man the phones all night, fielding calls from American consumers who are having troubles with their electronic goods. The company is kept afloat by its account with Western Computers and Appliances, but isn’t doing spectacularly well (â€Å"call volumes are at an all time low†¦.Connections is doomed†) and there is talk of â€Å"rightsizing† i.e. downsizing. Shyam works in the WASG bay which stands for the Western Appliances Strategic Group, handling home appliance issues i.e. people having trouble with their refrigerators, ovens, and vacuum cleaners. The novel focuses on Shyam and handful of his colleagues- a motley crew of Indians who, for a variety of reasons, have wound up in the same job. For quite a while ‘One Night @ The Call Center’ is fairly predictable; the characters and their personal stories are introduced, the bad boss is shown being bad, the American callers are unlucky. Bhagat does not do any of this particularly well, but it’s modestly engaging and there seem to be some possibilities. Priyanka’s sudden engagement to a Microsoft-man she has never seen, stirs the things up, and each of the characters has his or her own story which Bhagat at least offers a glimpse of. He is at his best in describing the workplace- silliness, dealing with customers and bosses, though not particularly creative or imaginative. Bhagat has a self-righteous and important streak that undermines much of his possibly valid social criticism. Claims of intellectual superiority hardly mask the pathetic inferiority complex they all seem to suffer from. At Connections they are taught: – â€Å"the brain and IQ of a thirty-five-year-old American is the same as the brain of a ten-year-old Indian. This will help you understand your clients. You need to be as patient with them as you are when dealing with a child. Americans are stupid, just accept it.† It was quite surprising that the novel ‘One Night @ The Call Center’ was getting an American release, as Americans aren’t exactly shown in a flattering light here. The thirty five is equal to ten rule just makes one stunned. The Indian call center teaches all the agents that a thirty five year old American is as intelligent as a ten year old Indian child!! One would wonder how Americans will take this saying. Perhaps one sort of has to insult the people who call all night long to complain about idiotic problems now and then to stay sane and not end up screaming at them after one stupid question too many. The author does acknowledge that in spite of the vast intelligence Indians have, the country is plagued by corruption and thus very behind America. In a nutshell, it can be said that Bhagat raises valid issues and concerns- but does not take them in the least seriously, offering neither reasonable descriptions of the issues, nor any sensible way of dealing with them. The characters one finds working in these places like call-centers, the cross-cultural issues (some of which he even manages to begin to convey), the different faces of modernizing India, the family pressures especially on women; Bhagat even lays a decent foundation. But in going completely overboard like God! Operation Yankee fears! ; He undoes all of the promise of the book, and with his morally defective happy end, sends such a wrong message that one has to condemn the whole exercise. 3. THE THREE MISTAKES OF MY LIFE It is Bhagat’s third book, about cricket, religious politics and rebellious love. About how three friends get caught in a tangle to earn some money and fame, and how they sort it out. The book was published in May 2008 and had an initial print –run of 200,000 copies. The novel follows the story of three friends and is based in the city of Ahmadabad in western India where the author had begun his independent life and so this city is quite close to his heart. Farhan Akhtar’s Excel Entertainment has bought the rights for making a movie based on this, and it will be directed by Abhishek Kapoor of ‘ROCK ON!’ fame. The book has fiction: – sentiment, romance, social message, business, life, relations, religion and of course cricket. It’s the story about three friends Omi, Govind and Ish who are struggling to decide their goal. The story is presented through Govind’s eye; he is a brilliant student of mathematics. He has an aptitude and penchant for business and it’s his three mistakes of life that are presented along. Govind is a true Gujarati, interested in coming up on his own in life through business. Ishaan or Ish- a failure in studies but a great cricketer (obviously great in the local school team), has a passion in playing, teaching and watching cricket. Omi comes from a family of priests with no inclination of becoming a priest and just moves along with his two friends. The journey of these simple people in life, how their lives get affected by the worst disasters in Gujarat’s history is portrayed in a simple yet efficient way by Chetan Bhagat. This book also teaches you how your dreams crash into pieces by unexpected events but how with the support from people around, you get back on track, focus and rebuild your dreams. Vidya, Ishaan’s sister, a teenager with her eyes on Govind, represents typically homely Indian girls trying to lose their virginity and so-called boys feeling shy and guilty after having sex with them†¦. as Neha in ‘Five Point Someone’ and here Vidya in this novel. Ali, a gifted batsman and son of a local Muslim politician, plays a prominent role in the story. It’s the story of how Govind, Ishaan and Omi come up with a sports store in their area and how they achieve success in it by clubbing it with Math’s tuitions and cricket coaching classes. The writer has thrown in the angle of Ali a gifted batsman who is in need of coaching and as Ishaan is an avid cricket player whose passion lies in playing, teaching and watching cricket, comes in as Ali’s savior because he does not want a brilliant talent to be wasted. Then there is a love angle of Vidya and Govind thrown in. And to top it all Chetan Bhagat has placed the novel in the era when Ahmadabad suffered with a nightmare of an earthquake and riots. The book traces the lives of these characters and their trials and tribulations. This novel especially comes at a time when people only want to come up with excuses to show or feel how different they are rather than see the common aspects and bring oneness which can keep us together and achieve our common goal of growth, peace and prosperity. The language is simple, it connects well with the youth of India and the narration has improved as compared to the earlier novels. Chetan Bhagat has again proved that to be best novelist you don’t need fabulous vocabulary or you don’t need awesome critics review, all you need is a thread to connect to the plain minds of people. Truly this novel teaches you- life will have many setbacks. People close to you will hurt you, but you don’t break it off, you don’t hurt them more. You try to heal it. It is a lesson not only you, but our country needs to learn. The story involves some of the major headlines of early 2000 like the Gujarat earthquake, India-Australia test series, the 9/11 WTC attack and not to forget the Godhra train mishap. Apart from cricket, business and religion it also has the mesmerizing love story between Govind and Vidya the story is good, since the events are from recent past and it’s easy to connect with it. It can be completed in one sitting. But there are not many surprises as it has not gone away from Bhagat’s typical style of writing. It is less on humor content as well. Chetan has been very clever by stating ‘3 mistakes’ and you keep flipping the pages for knowing the other two mistakes as the first mistake you will come to know quite soon. It is a book with nice ingredients of real events and fiction perfectly cooked for a delicious dish. No mistake in giving it a read. 4. 2 STATES: THE STORY OF MY MARRIAGE This book is about how love marriages work in India and is again typical of him in the first person. It is like his first book ‘Five Point Someone’, expected to be inspired by his own life. The book is funny and completely different from his previous novels; perhaps this time Bhagat did not want to write about friends any more. ‘2 States†¦.’ is about Krish and Ananya, who are from two different states of India. They are deeply in love and want to get married. But their parents do not agree. To convert a love story into a wedding, the couple has a tough fight ahead of them. Perhaps it is no secret that Chetan, a Punjabi and Anusha, a Tamilian, had to work hard to have both sets of parents agree to their relationship and subsequently their marriage. To provide a further glimpse into their personal story, Chetan decided to take up penning this book after leaving his banking job and having decided to become a full-time writer. While Anusha emphasizes that when Chetan announced to her for the first time this book would heavily lean on their life story, she indeed was a little wary. In fact Anusha also stresses that before writing the book, both Chetan and she spoke to their parents assuring them that it was not about them. While Chetan accepts that a lot of portions of the book have been dramatized at the insistence of his wife, he credits his fans for conceptualizing this book. When Anusha read the book, she loved the female lead, who is modern, liberated and educated. India is opening up and parents are learning to accept love marriages despite prejudices about caste. Bhagat has dedicated this book to his in-laws and it would be for the first time any Indian writer has dedicated a book to his in-laws. In fact Chetan Bhagat admits that one of the biggest challenges would be to make sure that his in-laws still want to talk to him after reading this book. He surprises us by saying that he hopes that his wife’s parents will still be his in-laws. But, interestingly, Anusha’s parents had actually flown down from kolkata to attend the launch of the book ‘2 States†¦Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ There is no second opinion about this that Indian love marriages are not easy. It’s just the boy and the girl who fall in love, but everyone- i.e. both their clans, have to fall in love too. In the end, the boy and the girl start questioning whether there’s anything more left to it and even fight. But it’s important to know what parents think of your marriage. Parents still have the remote control when it comes to emotions. According to Bhagat- however independent you are, getting married without parents’ approval is not good for the relationship. No doubt parents’ protesting against children marrying outside caste or religion is archaic today, still there are some honour-killing incidents in the recent times. Bhagat inspires by saying that if all else fails, the parents should do it for the sake of country. ‘2 States†¦.’ we all know well, is the story of Bhagat’s own love marriage to a Tamil Brahmin. Bhagat found that his own marriage had scope for humor because this Punjabi-Tamil is a continuous thing and a lot of Indians can relate to it. The story is fictionalized but the feelings that Bhagat had gone through, are the same as what the characters experience. And of course it was difficult for him to convince his own parents to accept his Tamilian wife – Anusha, who was also a banker. So, there are jokes about Punjabis and Tamilians in this book. More importantly, Bhagat used it to address to his strained relationship with his father. Speaking about ‘2 States†¦.’, Bhagat says that the story is not a memoir, it was nice, the feeling of suspension of disbelief, but as it involves his own family, so he wants to make it clear that it is a work of fiction. That is why there are character changes and the dramatization is higher. Calling it a fluffy novel, Bhagat says that it is personal and treats the complex issue of inter-community marriages, the fun way. And sends home a bigger message of homogeneous society. According to Bhagat, homogeneity is important for a country to move forward. Today’s youth are traveling to different cities for studies and work, and they will meet someone; but parents are still rooted in prejudices that have to be addressed. To take his stand point firmly, Bhagat cites the success stories of Korea, Taiwan and China that have seen progress from a developing country by adopting homogeneity. Chetan Bhagat believes to do what your heart says. Knowing what you want and sticking to your decision is most important. And he himself did just that. He fell in love, knew what he was doing and followed his heart. And so, a book happened. Bhagat feels that his best stories are those drawn from his own life and experiences. The more personal the book, the more unusual and funny it becomes for him. People relate to it better because they know him, his wife and his twin sons. He strongly believes that the function of literature is to reflect society and by means of his novels he is causing some change in a large part of India, which is far more satisfying. AS A COLUMNIST Bhagat has an open-ended column in Dainik Bhaskar, a large Hindi newspaper and another at The Times of India, English daily. He says,†the main purpose of the books and films is to entertain, but the columns allow me to give my views on how the nation should be run.† His articles are written in simple English to achieve mass appeal. He also visits Educational Institutions in India to give motivational talks. ON TELEVISION Bhagat was a judge on a reality show by Star News called ‘Star Anchor Hunt’ AWARDS Chetan Bhagat has been honoured with ‘Society Young Achiever’s Award’ in 2004 and ‘Publisher’s Recognition Award’ in 2005.

Comparison Tom and Gatsby in “The Great Gatsby” Essay

In â€Å"The Great Gatsby,† written by Scott Fitzgerald, Tom Buchanan and Jay Gatsby are two characters that struggle with the idea of losing their shared love interest, Daisy. Tom and Gatsby’s attachment to Daisy is differently justified due to their contrasting views, personalities, attitudes, actions, backgrounds, and other factors, some of which they do share and concur in. Fitzgerald did a great thing here. He created two purposefully different characters- one that is easily despised, the other that although not perfect, is likable- and united them in their love for money, the power that comes with it , and their haunt for the ultimate prize – Daisy. In this essay, we will analyze Tom and Gatsby’s differences and similarities in several areas, and decide whether or not they are perfect foils of each other like they are commonly perceived to be. To describe who Tom and Gatsby are, we must first analyze where they come from. In this area, Tom Buchannan and Jay Gatsby couldn’t be more different. Tom comes from an old and wealthy Chicago family, hence his residence in East Egg where the old aristocracy of the country’s richest families reside. Tom symbolizes the idea of being born into a golden crib, a prestigious family name, and into old money. Tom is one of those privileged few who never had to work for anything in his life, but is â€Å"privileged† the right description for him? Fitzgerald says in the story, â€Å"They were careless people, Tom and Daisy—they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness, or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made.† Tom’s past never allowed him to learn how to own up to his mistakes, accept fault, and deal with difficult situations, but rather made him unable to adapt to the real world. Because of this, I use the term â€Å"privileged† loosely when describing Tom. On the other hand, Jay Gatsby was born into what some of us call â€Å"the other side of the tracks.† Gatsby faced an impecunious childhood in rural North Dakota, but was an ambitious small town boy with big dreams who thought himself to be superior to the farming life, and simply rejected the lot he had been dealt in life. Gatsby’s father says to the narrator, Nick, â€Å"Jimmy was bound to get ahead†¦ Do you notice what he’s got about improving his mind? He was always great for that†, and that is exactly what Gatsby did.  Gatsby left his home town and set out to find his fortune, and although some of his actions were not too admirable, James Gatz, the poor farm boy, used his ingenuity to reinvent himself and become Jay Gatsby, the self-made millionaire. Fitzgerald makes Gatsby’s residence in West Egg, where the newly rich reside, a place for a class of vulgar and ostentatious people who will always lack the social grace and taste that the r esidents of East Egg possess, and can only be achieved from birth. Although the green light in Daisy’s garden is symbolic for hope, I think it also symbolizes the â€Å"green-eyed monster†. It symbolizes the envy and frustration Gatsby must feel through the realization that even though he achieved an incredible amount of wealth, he will never be an East Egger. Gatsby’s impoverished past makes him unacceptable to this socially elite East Egg society that Tom was born into, and is naturally an accepted part of. Now that we know about their contrasting pasts, let us take a look at their personalities. Tom is an overpowering, large man who uses his presence to intimidate people. It says in the book , â€Å"two shining, arrogant eyes had established dominance over his face and gave him the appearance of always leaning aggressively forward. Not even the effeminate swank of his riding clothes could hide the enormous power of that body†¦it was a body capable of enormous leverage†¦a cruel body.† On the other hand, Gatsby seems to be shy and reserved to the point where he is not even acknowledged at his own parties. In my opinion, Gatsby did not do so well when attempting to pull off a defying front during his confrontation with Tom. Tom also comes off as a racist bigot who fears that the Black race will eventually submerge the White race, a sexist, and an abusive, insensitive, â€Å"brute†, like Daisy calls him. Gatsby’s open house parties which contain very colorful characters, on the other hand, seem to show little prejudice or judgment in his persona. Gatsby’s action of waiting outside the Buchannan’s home all night just to make sure Tom would not physically harm Daisy, show just how sensitive Gatsby is to Daisy’s well being. Tom seems to be very blunt and crude, while Gatsby’s distinguishing feature is the enigma that is his life. Jay Gatsby holds himself to high expectations and lived his life chasing a single dream, while Tom Buchanan seems to have no direction, goals, or dreams, other than to waste away his wealth, and please his selfish needs. In my opinion, the fundamental difference between Tom and Gatsby is how Fitzgerald  decided that justice would be served to each concerning part. Tom is the definition of selfishness, arrogance, cruelty, and ultimately, the ugly side of inherited wealth. Despite all his faults, Gatsby is more good than he is bad, and is a clear rags-to-riches success story. However, Tom ends up getting away scot free, never facing any consequences for his actions or immorality, while Gatsby ends up killed for a crime he did not commit, to save a women who did not love him back. As always, the poor man gets the short end of the stick. Now that we stated some clear differences between Tom and Gatsby, lets look at some of their similarities. Tom and Gatsby are both dishonest and deeply flawed men who commit consistent shows of indiscretions. For example, Tom condemns Daisy’s affair, but does not have the decency to be discreet about his own. Gatsby’s shady business dealings with Wolfsheim and illicit ways of acquiring wealth can, without a doubt, compare to Tom’s unscrupulous character. Both Tom and Gatsby lie and cheat, but Tom does it for the sole purpose of self-indulgence, while Gatsby does what he does in pursuance of his dream. Tom and Gatsby both have controlling personalities, and will do what they can to get what they want, regardless of the consequences. Another similarity between Tom and Gatsby is that both men seem to be playing a role when every they’re in public, by putting on a facade for others to see. With his good looks, education, horses, polo shirts, riding pants, and boots, Tom tries to impress and dissemble others, while hiding the monster he really is. On the same token, the ostentatious parties, mysterious past, and made up stories are all used by Gatsby to hide his hum ble beginnings, and corrupt ways of attaining his wealth. Without a doubt, Gatsby and Tom’s most obvious connection is their link to Daisy. Beautiful, educated, and well groomed, Daisy is the personification of feminism in the 1920’s, and women of an elite social class. Although Daisy is the object of their affection, or better yet, desire, I do not think that either Tom or Gatsby are in love with her. Tom is so pompous, that he married Daisy not because he loved her, but because everyone else wanted her. Tom wants to keep Daisy now because he knows how socially unacceptable divorce would have been, and she looks good under his arm. Gatsby is not so much in love with her, as much as he is with the idea of her. Gatsby places Daisy on this pedestal, and wants her to live up to expectations that she neither can, wants, or deserves. In a way, both Tom and Gatsby see Daisy as  a highly desirable prize that will attest to their own self-worth. In conclusion, because Tom and Gatsby do share some characteristics with each other they may not be â€Å"perfect† foils, but looking at the big picture, they are like oil and water. Tom is a despicable character who embodies everything that is wrong with society, and flies through life unpunished. Gatsby is a man who came from humble beginnings, and made something out of himself for the sole purpose of recuperating the one thing that ever made him feel alive – Daisy. Gatsby lied, cheated, and took part in organized crime, so what can possibly him great, you may ask. Well, in my opinion, Gatsby’s never-ending optimism, simplicity of heart, and power to make his dreams into reality is what makes him â€Å"Great†. In reality, Gatsby never cared for the glamorous parties, the nice clothes, or the fast cars. Acquiring these luxuries were only important to him because he felt like they were necessary for him to accomplish his ultimate goal- winning Daisy’s heart back. Daisy embodied Gatsby’s American dream, and unfortunately for him, his search for her was somewhat more of a fatally romantic idealism that seemed to be best suited in a world of fairy tails and happy endings. I agree with Nick when he tells Gatsby, â€Å"They’re a rotten crowd†¦ you’re worth the whole damn bunch put together.†

Societal Impact of Nonprofit Organizations Essay

Societal Impact of Nonprofit Organizations - Essay Example This is essential because these people have been sidelined for very long due to their color and backgrounds. Philanthropists are persons who the heart and the will to help the less fortunate in the society. Most of the known philanthropists are known to have a lot of money hence opting to the carry out activities in the society aimed at developing the community. My favorite philanthropist is Ben Carson because of his inspirational teachings and stake in community based projects that he funds in many countries of the world. Nonprofit organizations play vital roles in the societies since they fight for the rights of the minority and the oppressed in the society. In most cases, they focus on provision of basic services to the less fortunate people in the society. These include the poor and the sick in the community. These organizations ensure that these people get proper medical services and food commodities. The level of U.S. exports to Mexico is influenced by factors such as exchange rates and capital flow within the two countries. It is also the affected by comparative advantage of products and prices of U. S. goods relative to other players in the market. Finally, government legislations play key roles in this trade, as well. The level of U.S. imports from Mexico is influenced by factors such as exchange rates and capital flow within the two countries. It is also affected by comparative advantage of products and prices of Mexican goods relative to other players in the market.

HR Professionals Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3250 words

HR Professionals - Case Study Example as the report declares the primary need for J. & S Air Conditioning is to create a HR department. This department will help to provide a more dynamic picture of the actual nature of strategic management and stresses the need for HRM to be present at all levels of decision-making. Likewise, one which operates only at the administrative level will be seen to provide an incomplete service for the strategic business needs of the company. Although the model is developed from a national base, it is considered useful as a tool for analyzing the role of HRM in providing value-added in an international context. According to the report findings HR professionals do not have to fulfill all four roles themselves. Depending on the processes designed to reach the goal, the work may be shared by line managers, outside consultants, employees, technology, or other delivery mechanisms for HR activities. The tasks of the department will be to develop HR programs, implement thee programs, measure their success and introduce necessary changes in HRM. J. & S Air Conditioning can use traditional techniques of HR development but it should take into account strategic goals and tasks of the management. Recruitment and selection programs will help J. & S Air Conditioning to ensure adequate supply of staff and their performance. Effective recruitment and selection of employees for the core workforce that provides the organization with stability and continuity has become essential for organizational survival and presents another set of challenges. There is already intense competition for workers who are talente d enough to be a part of the core, and this is predicted to become even fiercer. Following Bohlander et al (2004) each member of the core is expected to perform multiple "jobs" and handle multiple responsibilities, as well as to maintain long-term loyalty to the organization. Thus, organizations need to attract and select workers who won't jump ship but who can swim from ship to shore (or ship to ship) as needed, and who can keep their bearings when pushed (Bohlander et al 2004). Online recruitment Online recruitment is one of the innovative solutions to effective and fast recruitment. One of the critical differences among Internet recruiters is the method by which their service matches candidates with jobs. So called bulletin boards, such as Monster Board and Career Mosaic have served primarily as on-line job posting and resume listing services whose main

Ethical Claims of Body Shop Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Ethical Claims of Body Shop - Essay Example In this study, it has been discussed that how Body Shop has implied different ethical issues in the organization and how it is focused on long term sustainability. This report also focuses on the issues that can make a clear doubt on the Body Shop’s claim about their ethical business practice. This analysis is discussing the positive issues and also negative issues relating to the Body Shop’s ethical claim. Introduction Ethics is the moral of any individual’s life. The same principle is applied for the organization. Ethics means doing things in the right way, for that someone needs to distinguish between the right and wrong things and then it is important to choose the right things. Following the child labour issues by not involving a child into a work is a kind of ethical behaviour of the organizations. Business ethics aims at imposing the sense of the business responsibility within the company’s employees. ... Now the study will discuss whether the companies will be able to gain any profit? What is the basic objective of the business? The objective for any business is to ensure the profit of the shareholders but the securities of the stakeholders also need to be ensured. The stakeholders are the persons who have directly or indirectly interest in the business. The Stakeholders are the employees, the shareholders, the government, the Media, the NGOs, everyone around the company. For example, if a factory is polluting the society through its wastage it is actually hampering the health of the people staying in the society. Though the organization is not directly related with the society but indirectly it is affecting the society. There the ethics come, what is the way to deal with certain problems, how to reduce the ill effect of the organization to ensure the social and human security. Each organization has its own parameter to fix up the specific code of conduct of the business. It’s always true that only ethical firm can do the corporate social responsibility, corporate responsibility can be done by anyone, it is the contribution and taking more responsibility towards society. But, all the firms doing social responsibility are not ethical always (Randall, 2001, p.56). There is no certain proof that the firm have done all the things in the right way. Discussion In the light of the discussion of â€Å"ethics and corporate social responsibility† the â€Å"Body Shop† ethical journey will be explained. The Body Shop international PLC has 24000 stores all over the world. It is a beauty product Cosmetics Company founded in England in the year of 1976. The founder of Body Shop, Anita Roddick, visited

Professional practice and ethics real estate Essay

Professional practice and ethics real estate - Essay Example This study focuses attention on real estate academics and practitioners, process to identify important real estate topics. First, while we explore the natural descriptions and definitions of various terms, we aim to interpret and describe a specific case study raising concerns on professional ethics. Then, in the second phase, the full list of potential solution, responses are collated from different perspectives and for the benefit of various stakeholders - clients, public and the real estate associate.The primary focus here is to be reflective about values, ethics and professionalism in daily practice of real estate. This article not only considers the development of national and international standards for valuers, it also examines briefly the variations and differences in market practice arising from variations in law, culture and custom while acknowledging the general acceptance internationally of the prevalent meaning of market value and ethics by global standards.While urban d evelopment is always political and about values, power is present in all decisions, which might be productive or otherwise and the general assumption in terms of democracy that a public good can be achieved.There is a conscious effort to conceptualise the meaning of ethics and values in real estate, and debate what would constitute ethical practice in a variety of ethical dilemmas; appreciate the meaning of professionalism and ethics to deeply understand the implicit and explicit expectations and responsibilities placed upon professionals in real estate and finally to acknowledge the specific duties owed by professionals to clients, customers and the wider community and understand the concept of professional liability in the context of all the related and relevant laws. The attempt ideally should be to acknowledge and respect social diversity, and critically understand how planning and real estate practice impacts upon different groups in society. Primarily, seeking other counsel; working through informal networks; exposing assumptions; bargain for information; being doubly sure, and negotiate for more clarity should be defined purpose of every ethical attempt in a profession. Code of Ethics in the profession of Real Estate It is very important to recognize that the interests of the nation and its citizens require the highest and best use of the land and the widest distribution of land ownership, upon which depend the survival and growth of free institutions. They require the creation of adequate housing, the building of functioning cities, the development of productive industries and farms, and the preservation of a healthful environment. Such varied interests impose obligations beyond those of ordinary commerce and deals. They evoke serious social responsibility and a duty to which real estate associates should dedicate themselves, appropriately well prepared. In recognition and appreciation of their obligations to clients, customers, the public, the real estate associates continuously strive and aim to remain informed on issues affecting real estate. They should identify and take steps, through enforcement of Code of Ethics and by assisting appropriate regulatory bodies, to eliminate practices which may damage the public or which might discredit or bring dishonor to the real estate

Fingerprinting Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Fingerprinting - Essay Example The use of fingerprints is primarily important in identification of criminals in forensic sciences who has to have their fingerprints saved in the criminals database, but the drawback is the crime's scene prints distortion and difficulty in retrieval. Fingerprints are also an important asset to highly secure companies and banking systems. Such identifications with many others such as eye scan and voice recognition are used to verify a person's identity and cross-reference him. Finger Identification can be used on a more sophisticated level of security as mentioned by Tom Gillespie 2005; a fingerprint reader used as a switch, a standalone lock that uses a fingerprint instead of a keypad and a security case opened by a fingerprint reader. It is also was a suggested to use those identification marks present on the finger prints to help track kids when they are lost, though some parents do not agree on the principle of using the same technology used for criminals identification. This must not be an issue when the safety of the children is the main concern of all parents. (Lisa P. White) Many scientists came across finger prints discussing their presence and describing them in different manners, and some describing the patterns of them, but it was not till 1880 that Faulds had described their importance as personal identification marks through his studies and research. On 1882 Thompson was the first U.S citizen that has printed his thumb print to ensure ethnicity of a paper. And on 1883 Mark Twain identified the first criminal using fingerprint identification. Types & methods of obtaining finger prints According to Eric Brown, 1990, there are three types of finger prints; visible (also called patent prints), impression (also called plastic prints), and latent prints. All can be obtained but in different methods. Visible can be photographed directly, impression need special lightning to make it visible, latent need special methods to become visible by physical , chemical, and instrumental techniques. Latent finger prints are composed mainly of sweat and other organic compounds like amino acids, glucose, lactic acid, peptides, ammonia, riboflavin, and isoagglutinogens as well as inorganic chemicals like potassium, sodium, carbon trioxide, and chlorine. It is those chemicals that react by one of those techniques to help make the latent finger prints visible. (Eric Brown, 1990) A person with no prints Researchers recently unraveled two diseases that can actually cause a person to be finger print-less. The two diseases are Naegeli syndrome and dermatopathia pigmentosa reticularis (DPR) both caused by a defect in the keratin protein number 14. "The defect induces the body to mark cells in the upper layers of the skin for death. As a result, people with these afflictions lack fingerprints.." Those results were published in the American Journal of Human Genetics. (Scientists Unravel Mystery of People with No Fingerprints) Where does finger printing stand in the forensic sciences Finger printing left its impressions in forensic sciences over the years to be a helpful aid to humanity in many aspects. Many crime scene investigators start with this basic information collection as a start to help them have an initial starting point to their investigations. Finger printing was the first to

Creative brief Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 1

Creative brief - Essay Example The information is equally vital in determining emerging lifestyles, habits, and way of thinking because the creative design team finds relevance with the single parent. Evaluation of the psychographic information, on the other hand, helps the team in designing both interesting and smart products that appeal to the single parent who prefers IKEA products. A single parent in the above case is in her late 30s, uses modern communication platforms such as emails, Facebook, and Twitter, and prefers e-commerce delivery systems. Consequently, it is upon the creative design team to assess new marketing tools that match the customer’s tastes and preferences while targeting the wider market segment. That suggests that advertising attracts clients similar to the single parent with the need to expand the business in terms of increased profits (Sutherland 156). The message, thus, is to add more people through innovative ways that do not interfere with the overall operation of the business. As a result, audiences would believe this message because it resonates with their desires and contemporary ways of conducting

Discourse Analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Discourse Analysis - Essay Example These advertisements promote an ideal way of life and manipulate the audience into accepting those ideals as their reality. This analysis intends to break down how agencies have reformed the idea of beauty through countless magazine articles, billboards and other media. They do this by enforcing the stereotype that those beauty products are a better way of life. They send the message that youth is beauty, and that beauty is very important yet they set the bar for beauty so high that clients would always depend on their products. The people behind these advertisements have found ways of controlling peoples’ minds using language in the advertisements. The focus on this study is print advertisements done by Nivea, a company synonymous with the manufacture of beauty products allover the world. They portray a message that they care deeply about the real people and their beauty through their advertisements. Introduction â€Å"Discourse refers to the codes, rules and systems that un der-gird a particular message and thus shapes its meaning and interpretation†. Language is all around us whether written or spoken. It is a core part of our day to day activities and has a profound effect on people and how they behave. This influence is seen in the field of advertising and marketing. Language is employed in these two fields to relay certain messages to the public. Language is used as a tool to not only pass on information about a product but also convince and influence the product choice of the customers. The competition for consumers is very high among product manufacturers. This has led to the revolution of how advertisements are designed. They use not only words but color, pictures and lighting to appeal to the consumer. It is the use of such tools as visual and linguistic means to persuade their audience that has led many a scholar to argue that, â€Å"advertising is the most influential institution of socialization in modern society† (Jhally, 1995) . Cook (2001) points out that advertisements inform, persuade, remind, influence and perhaps change opinions, emotions and attitudes. It is used to emphasize the uniqueness of a product and give reasons why a person should consider it over others already in the market. Advertising can be seen on food packages, billboards, newspapers, magazines, on buses and the Internet just to list a few. This kind of aggressive advertising ensures the audience is aware of a product at all times and remembers it. Advertising is â€Å"any type of form of public announcement intended to direct people’s attention to the availability, qualities and/or cost of specific commodities or services† (Fairclough, 2001). The stakeholders of the products are responsible for what we see in these advertisements. They reserve the power to use advertising to further their goals, good or otherwise. They pick advertising media according to their target audience. Magazines are popular with the youth and a slightly older demographic. The Internet on the other hand is popular with the younger generation. The language and depictions used in advertisements is also influenced by the target population. Advertisements have evolved from direct methods being shouted by mouth to the public in open spaces to being transferred indirectly form of print, videos, audio messages in the radio or sound and video together.

History of Art Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

History of Art - Essay Example Starry night is one of the masterpieces by Vangogh, and it depicts a sky at night filled with blazing stars, swirling clouds, a bright crescent moon and a morning star as centre point. The features of this painting is bit exaggerated, but it reflects a feeling of ease and comfort in human being. This starry sky makes the viewer’s eye gazing all around the painting. The dots of the stars and swirls of cloud keep the viewer hold on to the painting as well as engaged. Below the sky there is a hill and close to the horizon lies a village. The cool colors of the painting bring in nostalgic memories to the viewers about their childhood years. Guitar’s by Picasso was a breakthrough in the world of sculpturing, as it was an epitome of human experimentation and creativity. First this work was done in cardboard and later it was reconstructed in metal. The antiquity of the work is that it was not constructed from traditional materials like wood, marble or bronze but from sheet met al. Here the guitar is being portrayed in a unique form where the lower half of the guitar projects outwards instead of receding. Picasso with this art explored the cubism and presented a different form of guitar to the world. This guitar in paper was the most influential art work of Picasso in the 20th century. The starry night has a theme of serenity, as a person viewing it feels calm and peace both emotionally and physically. The prominent blue color of the painting cools down the senses and relaxes a person entirely. Watching a starry sky at night have always been an act of pleasure. It is definite that Vangogh while painting this work had been intensely calm and at peace. The massive dark structure on the left hand side of the painting evokes a feeling of isolation .This art work remarks about the sense of serenity a person feels while watching a starry sky at night in isolation while weather is cool. The paining also connects a person immensely to the nature. The art work has a core message of the significant impact nature has on human beings. Even when the times changed, the affect of a star studded night on a person is enormous. In this age of technology, people find less time to appreciate nature and its characteristics. If we find some quality time to observe sky at night, we could dream away in its beauty. It could make us see what Vangogh has seen and additionally

The effects of power Essay Example for Free

The effects of power Essay The power of union and the management although different in nature both affects the outcome of a negotiation.   The power of the union is based on numbers whereas power exercised by management is power conferred upon it by the nature of the business.   In negotiations, there is always a point of equilibrium where both parties are going to benefit from the exchange and which is the most profitable point for both parties.   However, this point of equilibrium can be manipulated into moving towards either side by the power the two parties possess.   The effects of the power exercised management and the power exercised by the union during negotiations differ as to the situation or the environment, when the company is involved in a business that requires highly technical employees, the union will probably have a stronger bargaining power than the management especially since the workers are under short supply.   In cases where the management is required to face-off with a union that is composed of low-skilled employees and the situs of the company is abundant on such resource, then management will be able to steer the negotiations towards the direction that is most favorable to it. Balancing of power   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Balancing of power can be equated as the power of both parties negating each other and thus ending in a state of equilibrium wherein both parties have reached the best possible solution to their problems.   Balancing of power can only be achieved if both parties â€Å"assume that mutual gains are possible, and should not assume that one party must suffer for the other to benefit† (McCarthy, 1991).   Balancing of power is important because it is in this state that both parties are benefited without sacrificing too much of their demands.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   There are several ways to maintain this balance of power and prevent its abuse.   One tactic is to understand others’ interests, another is to analyze the sources of power available to all parties – but not being paralyzed by it, another tactic is to consider other options making your position flexible thus reducing the risk of the other party easily influencing or manipulating you, and also, you must understand your personal style, your own strengths and weaknesses to know what you are capable of and protect oneself from the other party’s bluffs (Kochan, 2005). Power over employment status   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Power that is normally exercised by management is the power over the employment status of an employee.   Although several state policies and internal company policies are aimed to prevent the abuse of this power when dealing with individual workers, it is still commonplace that management easily manipulates the lowly worker into succumbing to its wishes under the pressures of losing his or her job.   It is because of this power that there can be no effective communication between a worker and management in conflict situations.   When entering into conflict negotiations, the ideal state is that the parties are on equal footing, however, there can be no equality when the other party has control over your livelihood.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Regardless of this power that management holds, the lowly worker can seek redress from the courts on grounds of equity.   Courts knowing the imbalance between the two parties are more inclined to rule in favor of the lowly worker given there is sufficient basis.   Because of this fear of litigation and the prospect of losing more money in the long run, most companies are now shifting towards justice and fairness in conflict resolutions.   As a matter of fact, â€Å"Eighty-three percent of corporate executives report the fear of a lawsuit affects their decisions† (Hubert, 1998) and tend to do what is equitable. References Hubert, Denise V.M. (1998). The First Step in Alternative Dispute Resolution: Fact-Finding. Retrieved January 27, 2008, from http://www.management-advantage.com/newsletr/jul98.htm Kochan, Tom (2005). Negotiations and Conflict Management Basic Concepts: Theory and Practice. Retrieved January 27, 2008, from http://ocw.mit.edu/NR/rdonlyres/Sloan-School-of-Management/15-668Fall-2005/F06D4B27-6A22-4FDD-9449-B2664318C7C4/0/lecture_12.pdf McCarthy, William (1991). The Role of Power and Principle in Getting to Yes. Retrieved January 27, 2008, from http://www.colorado.edu/conflict/peace/problem/mcca7535.htm

Factors That Influence the Loyalty of a Hotel Customer

Factors That Influence the Loyalty of a Hotel Customer Kandampully (2000) defines tourism as a unique product as it is composite in nature, an amalgam of the tangible and intangible which includes everything that tourists experience. Tourism is a fast-growing industry, which now had become one of the industries that playing an important role in financial status of a country. The number of the tourist is growing from year to years. According to Inskeep(1996), Tourism is a fast expanding sector, which brings an important contribution to the foreign exchange earnings of some country nowadays. Tourism industry not only related with government, but public and non government sector also playing a rarely important role in it. The figure above shows that the country and the total international tourism receipts for the countries from year 2006 to year 2008. As we can see from the figure, the income of the tourism sector of the country is increasing from time to time. Tourism is particularly adapted to highlight the nature of the upheavals implied by the development of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in service activities. With roughly 11 % of the world total employment or Gross Domestic Product (GDP), tourism is often presented as the first worldwide industry. Europe is by far the first tourist continent. This economic strength of tourism, associated to a strong potential of growth, has induced deep competitive processes and significant industrial reorganization. Information Communication Technologies (ICTs) have been changing the global tourism industry rapidly. The implications of the Internet and other growing interactive multimedia platforms for tourism promotion are far reaching and alter the structure of the industry.The tourism does not follow the usual rules of economic theory, or of any other theory; besides, many authors are used to make reference about the indiscipline of tourism (Leiper, 2000, Tribe, 1997, Tremblay, 1 999). Tourism is not just a great industry to work in, but it is also a key for a countrys economy. The tourism industry in the UK is more than 4 % of the UKs Gross Domestic Product, which is worth around  £76 billion. It employs 2.1 million people, or almost 7.5% of the working population and approximately 1 in 5 of all new jobs created will be in tourism industry. So the government for UK had invested a huge budget available for tourism promotion and quality development. Tourism industry not only affects public sector management, but also influences business of private sector and it is an income creation for a company. Tourist can be people from oversea and it can be people from this country as well, but they does not intend to stay permanently. Tourist taking time to visit the places that they dont normally see.Tourism gathers all the activities dedicated to the satisfaction of the needs of the tourists, and borrows to a multitude of other activities. Tourist products are complex and heterogeneous products, combination of elements separated in time and space (Caccomo and Solonandrasana, 2001). Tourist products also often pre-defined packages assembling interrelated products and services (transport, accommodation services, leisure services). Contrary to the traditional good sectors, tourists have to go to the resources where resources are transformed to be delivered to the customers: whatever their intrinsic qualities, the resources acquire an economic value only with the organization of the traveling of the tourists and development of the activity (Spizzichino, 1991). Tourist products and services are often experience goods, the quality or utility are not known ex ante by the consumers; a system of advices and critics is thus necessary to the formalization of choices (Gensollen, 2003). The World Tourism Organization predicts that by 2020 tourist arrivals around the world would increase over 200%. Tourism has become a highly competitive business for tourism destination over the world. Competitive advantage in tourism industry it no longer depends only to what we provide to the customer, but it is now increasingly driven by science, information technology and innovation. The volatility of changes in the external and international environment also influences the performance of other business in tourism industry, such as hotel business, restaurant business and many more. An economic upswing or downturn will have an almost immediate impact on its performance. Tourism industry in Malaysia Service sector had become an important sector in Malaysia where it contributes approximately 50% of the nations real Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Tourism industry had been paying enough attention by the government since the Tourism Development Corporation (TDC) was established in year 1972. The Tourism Development Corporation is build to further expand the tourism through its marketing program and publicity campaigns to both locally and abroad. But the TDC only stand for 20 years and then replaced by Malaysian Tourism Promotion Board with the objective to stimulate and entice the number of visitor and tourist that visit to the country. The growth of total amount world tourism and Malaysia is one of the potential tourism destinations. It had contributed to the changes and focus in the tourism sector in the country. To enhance the tourism industry in Malaysia, the VMY campaign had been introduced. The fist Visit Malaysia Year (VMY) campaign was launch by year 1990 and tourism industry had become Malaysias third major foreign income exchange earner. But theres was some downturn in worldwide travel in year 1991 because of the Gulf War and this had causes the number of tourist had decreased moderately. The second Visit Malaysia Year (VMY) campaign was launch on year 1994. The growth rate remained far behind the first campaign despite of an increase of tourist in Malaysia about 10.7% in year 1994. The overall of the tourism industry in Malaysia showed an upward trend until the happening of the global financial crisis in year 1997. The total amount of the tourism receipts in year 1995 amounting to Ringgit Malaysia (RM) 9.2 billion had surpassed the target for the year 2000 in the National Tourism Plan which in about RM8.36 billion. Therefore, the investment approved for hotel and tourism-related projects has increased from RM8.801 billion to spur the growth of the tourism industry during the Sixth Malaysian Plan period to RM18.2 billion during the Seventh Malaysia Plan period (Economic Planning Unit, 2001). In an effort to succeed the tourism industry, Tourism Malaysia had signed a  £2 million deal with Manchester United in an effort to promote the visit Malaysia Year 2007 in September 2006. Besides that, Tourism Malaysia also signs a deal with Chelsea Football Club to promote the tourism industry in Malaysia and to succeed the VMY plan. Hospitality Industry Hospitality industry is major service sector in world economy and the industry encompasses an extensive variety of service such as food service, tourism and hotels. The hospitality industry can be divided into two parts. One is entertainment part like bar, pub, clubs; another one is accommodation such as resorts, public house, hotels, motels, inn, apartment and motels. Tourism support commercial activities such as travel agents and airline cabin staff are included in hospitality as well. Hotel Industry The early evidence of the existence of hotels and the hospitality industry has been recorded as far back as biblical times when Mary and Joseph arrived in Bethlehem during the census, which is during 4 Before Christ (B.C.) of the Julian calendar, where Joseph went to Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David (Luke 2:1-4). People have start traveled for religion, family, needs, immigration, commerce, education, health, and recreation, since the beginning of time. As a result, hotels and inns had begun catering to the pleasure traveler in an effort to encourage visitors with the influence of the Roman Empire. It was recorded that the first inn located in America was in the year 1607. It leads the way with many other firsts in the hospitality industry (searchandgo.com). The first modern hotel (the Tremont) opened in Boston in year 1809. The first ever publicly held hotel (the City Hotel) was opened in New York in year 1792 and the first business hotel (the Buffalo Stat ler) opened in year 1908. Following that, a surge of hotels flooded America and the rest of the world with prominent names such as Radisson, Marriot and Hilton. According to the precious previous research, hotels, which also mean home away from home for the travelers and tourist, provide four types of service and product which had accommodation, foods, drinks, leisure or entertainment (Wood, 1997; Knowles, 1998). The hospitality industry is one of the fastest growing industries in the worldwide. The hospitality industry began to utilize information technology (IT) more than three decades ago (Berchiolly, 1997; Hensdill, 1998), well before many other industries. Hotels nowadays are much more than just a place to sleep, as many tourists view them as an integral part of a getaway experience. Spiffed-up budget properties, and novelty accommodations, travelers can choose a hotel that is as much a selling point as the destination itself with the recent boom of boutique hotels (Yashroy, 2008). The industry surge with expansions and new entrants in times of economic growth, with the tourism sector is growing as well. The hospitality industry was thus as early as the 1960s and 1970s in adopting operational information systems where a room management application was installed at the New York Hilton in 1963 (Sayles, 1963) and a property management system was installed at the Waikiki Sheraton in 1970. But according to Worcester (1997), he found that the main drawback of hospitality information systems was lack of accurate and timely information caused by the need to rekey information from various reports, instead of having access to integrated information managed in one consolidated database. The statement was support by Hensdill (1998), saying that the experts believe that in terms of IT the hospitality industry is about 2 years behind other industries. To survive in competitive advantage among the hotels, there are some factors that playing a fairly important role in it, such as brand image of the hotel, through the promotions and many more. Brand image plays a very important role in retaining customer loyalty and fulfill customers satisfaction in hotel industry to repurchasing the service again. According to the previous research by Zeithaml and Bitner (1996), image is also considered as a factor that can influence customers perception of the services and goods that been provide and also requires the ability to be communicated effectively and consistently to consumers. As a result, information and useful data such as the importance of maintaining a good image to retain loyal customers and also increase the corporate profit will be provide to hotel organization. As mentioned by Chaudhuri and Holbrook (2001), higher customer loyalty entails a higher market share and an ability to demand relatively higher prices compared to competitors. Consequently, the hotel organization would need to focus on customer loyalty in order for hotel organizations to survive. The statement is similar with the previous research by Aaker (1997) . With reference to Aaker (1997), increased customer loyalty has many advantages such as reduce marketing costs, solicit more customers, and successfully operate trading leverage. Hence, with factors involving Zeithaml et al. (1996), loyalty factors are crucial to an organization as it is the most reliable success indicators. Besides that, a favorable and famous brand image also helps to reduce the uncertainty of the products quality and increase the probability of consumers decision to purchase the product. According to Dick and Basu (1994), loyal customers encourage positive word-of-mouth promotion and challenge their competitors strategies. Thus, in regards to Fornell and Wernerfelt (1998) and Reichheld et al. (1996), increased customer loyalty will result in generating higher corporate profits. Strong brands are important to the hospitality industry. There are several issues in developing a brand, one of them is customers trust. And it has been suggested that service quality has a direct effect on organizations profits since it is positively related with customer retention and customer loyalty (Baker and Crompton, 2000; Zeithaml and Britner, 2000). Product or individuals public perception will be evaluating through market research to stresses the importance of modern public relations. After collect the data and challenges are identified, the process of counting and solution will be presented will be presented in a campaign strategy to met goals. Though techniques may different from campaign to campaign but theres some standard tools used are implemented in forms of press releases, press kits, satellite feeds, pod casts, web casts, wire service distribution of information and internet placement. Besides the technique mention above, other technique which include entertainment product placement (television, events, celebrity), product launches, press conferences, media seminars, producing events, speechwriting, establishing partnerships and more is often required, in which the perception obtain from the public through such means will result in positive views as a goal. Most of the hotels have different facilities for their customer. According to the research by Bauer et. Al (1993), he examined that the tourist from Asian and Non-Asian countries have different demand and differences for the facilities in hotel. Asian travelers appeared to looking for more entertainment facilities, such as karaoke, while for the Non-Asian travelers, they looking for more concern in health facilities, such as gym and swimming pool. And with the references to previous research, facilities are one of the factors that influence the satisfaction of the customer. Research Question Most of the hotel customers decide on which hotel to stay based on the reason below. Many customers repurchase the service after experience it and satisfied with the service they provide. Other factors such as brand image, service quality, public relations perception, service innovation and facilities also should take into consideration before making their decision. Thus, the main research problem of this study is to examine the factors that influence the loyalty of a hotel customer in Malaysia. To accomplish the study purpose, the following questions need to be responded: What are the critical factors that influence the loyalty of the hotel customer in Malaysia? Are there any interaction between the critical factors and hotel customer in Malaysia? How does the critical factor have an affect on the loyalty of hotel customer in Malaysia? Objectives of Study The overall goal or the general objectives of this research is determined and identify the critical factors that influence the loyalty of a hotel customer in Malaysia. The following specific objectives are established to aid accomplishing the goal of this research: To determine the critical factors (brand image, service quality, public relations perception, service innovation and facilities) that influences the loyalty of the hotel customer in Malaysia. To examine interaction between the critical factors (brand image, service quality, public relations perception, service innovation and facilities) and hotel customer in Malaysia To determine the critical factor (brand image, service quality, public relations perception, service innovation and facilities) have an affect on the loyalty of hotel customer in Malaysia. Scope of Study The focus of this study is in hotel industry. This is because the tourism sector had been increase highly and playing an important role in the financial status in a country nowadays. And the number of tourist is increasing from years to years and tourism industry had becoming one of the major industries in Malaysia. The research will be done by the tourist, especially which is having a visit in Malaysia currently. This study is going to be focused on customers both male and female who patronize hotels in Malacca. The age range would be targeted on customers ranging from the age of 20 until 50. The mentioned age group was chosen as a majority as they are the ones who have a stable job and earn their own income. They are the category of customers who are able to afford to patronize hotels and hold a valuable link to the study. A questionnaire was handed out to the customers to obtain their opinions and views regarding issues that influence their loyalty and satisfaction towards certain hotel brands. The study also focuses on the perceptive viewpoint of the aforementioned age group in which, their loyalty and awareness towards the particular line of hotel brand is measured to determine the effectiveness of brand advertising and public relation media. Definition of Terms Customer Satisfaction: A customers emotional response react after the usage of a product or service (Oliver 1981). Customer satisfaction is more likely complex human process that involves the cognitive and affective processes and it also involve other psychological and physiological influence (Oh and Parks, 1997). Customer Loyalty: The loyalty business model assumes the philosophical validity of pursuit of self-interest. True customer loyalty can be defined as customers resistance to competitors offerings (Gundlach et al., 1995) and the persuasive tactics to attract new customers (Dick and Basu, 1994). Service Quality: Parasuraman et al. (1985) that views quality as the customers perception of service excellence, i.e. quality is defined by the customers impression of the service provided. Brand Image: Brand image is considered to have the ability to influence customers perceptions of the goods and services offered (Zeithaml and Bitner, 1996). Public Relations Perception: Cultip et al., (1985) definition of public relations perception is the management function that identifies, establishes and maintains mutually beneficial relationships between an organization and the various public on whom its successes or failure depends. Structure of Project The present study is organized into five chapters. Chapter 1: Introduction This chapter shows and details the intention and reason for the carrying out of this research. This chapter also consists of sub-topics such as research background, research questions, research objectives, importance of study, scope of study and definition of terms which are aimed to increase readers understanding of this whole research. Chapter 2: Literature Review This chapter contains more detailed information on the e-commerce and tourism industry. This chapter also detailed information about evaluation of the relationship of service quality, brand image and public relations perception on customer loyalty. The early and present day history of hotel organizations is also included in this chapter. Besides that, this chapter also contains the discussion on the various variables and its validity which will be tested in this study. The findings of previous researchers on these variables are also taken into account. Chapter 3: Methodology This chapter entails the methods and approaches that are selected for the testing of variables in this study. This chapter also consists of further discussion on sub-topics such as sources of data, questionnaire design, measurement, sampling method, sample size, data analysis techniques and unit of analysis. The findings from previous studies are also considered in the further understanding of the approaches used. Chapter 4: Data Analysis This chapter involves the incorporation of the interpretation of the collected data from respondents via quantitative method. The determination of the acceptance or rejection of the stated hypotheses will also be tested. A software called Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) will be used in this research to measure the results. Chapter 5: Discussions and Conclusions This chapter explains the outcomes of the testing of the hypotheses determined from Chapter 4: Data Analysis. The acceptance or rejection of the hypothesis is discussed as well. Additionally, the concluded results of the hypothesis testing from this study are compared with results from previous researches to identify the differences and similarities. Chapter 2: Literature Review Introduction The purpose of this research is to determined and to identify the critical factors that influence the loyalty of a hotel customer in Malaysia. Due to an increase in travel expenditure, the tourism industry has also seen an evident growth over the recent years. Goeldner and Ritchie (2003) have predicted that by 2011, global travel and tourism are expected to generate US$7.0 trillion in economic activity and offer 260 million jobs. Ongoing globalization, in addition to permeable borders and easier transfers between countries has promoted a growth in tourism. They have more varieties of services to choose from In line with the abundant services offered to customers. Therefore, competition among competitors to provide the best services possible is created among the tourism organizations. Hotel Industry in Malaysia The hotel nowadays is not only just a place for travelers to sleep, but an integral part of a getaway experience. According to Yashroy(2008), travelers can choose a hotel that is a much a selling point as the destination itself, With the recent boom of boutique hotels, spiffed-up budget properties, and novelty accommodations. As tourism industry is playing an important role in financial status of a country, the hospitality industry in Malaysia too has seen an increase in contributing to the countrys GDP. The example of the Genting Group which represented Malaysia in the hotel, restaurants and leisure industry and was ranked at 1198th position in the Forbes Global 2000 ranking in 2008 (The Global 2000, Forbes) has shown to the public that the hospitality industry is beginning to emerge as one of the important service sub-sectors in Malaysia. The table above illustrates the contribution of various sectors to Malaysias GDP from year 2002 to 2007. As we can see from the table, the private service industrys GDP had increased from 44.7% in year 2002 to 46.4% in year 2007. The private service sector which includes restaurant, hotels, wholesale and retail trade, finance, insurance, real estates and business services sub-sectors. This shows that the services industry is one of the sectors concentrated by the government for improvement as it is gradually contributing a big portion to the countrys GDP. Besides that, Malaysian Association of Hotels (MAH) (hotels.org.my), has recorded that there has been evident growth in the hospitality sector, with average hotel occupancy rates having risen throughout 2007, from the mid-60% range at the beginning of the year to over 70% in 3Q 2007. The hotel industry nowadays has been recognized as a global industry since the development in the industry had been growing rapidly and steadily. The different lifestyle and culture of the customer have changed over time and the facilities in the hotel such as gym, swimming pool, and restaurant are no longer counted as luxuries but an essential component of their lifestyle. Tourism is a largest global export industry and due to the increasing growth of it, the number of hotels around the world had been increased as well. This had caused the intense competition among the hotels in the marketplace. Strong competition had been faces by the hotel organization to differentiate their organization from others by improve their service and facilities, increased choices, value for their money and also superior levels of service. As a result, service quality, brand image, public relation perceptions, and innovation of information technology as well as the improvement of the facilities in the hotel are important in catering to customers needs and as a strategy to retain them. Customer Loyalty According to Dick and Basu (1994), the forces of attitude and behavior had been assumed as factors that can influence the customers loyalty. Oliver (1999, p.35) had defined customer loyalty as: a deeply held commitment to re-buy or re-patronize a preferred product or service consistently in the future, thereby causing repetitive same-brand set or same brand-set purchasing despite situational influences and marketing efforts having potential to cause switching behavior. Although there are many variations about the definition of customer loyalty, but seems theres to be no unanimously agreed of definition for it, according to Jacoby and Chestnut (1978); Dick and Basu (1994); Oliver, (1999). However, there are instead three popular concepts about customer loyalty as below: Loyalty as primarily an attitude that sometimes leads to a relationship with the brand, Loyalty mainly expressed in terms of revealed behavior (i.e. the pattern of past purchases); and Buying moderated by the individuals own characteristics, circumstances, and/or the purchase situation. Many authors also had stressed the existence of a relationship between customer loyalty and business performance (Reichheld and Sasser, 1990; Reichheld, 1993; Sheth and Parvatiyar, 1995) and Barroso Castro and Martin Armario (1999) supported the statement by stated that loyal customers is not only increase the value of the business, but it is also an evident in enable the businesses to maintain the costs lower than those related with attracting new customers. Loyal customers not only help to encourage positive word-of-mouth promotion, challenge competitors strategies (Dick and Basu, 1994), but also generate higher corporate profits (Fornell and Wernerfelt, 1988; Reichheld et al., 2000). Besides that, the increasing of customer loyalty entails an increase in the market share and enables the companies to have the ability to demand relatively higher prices for their products or services than their competitors (Chaudhuri and Holbrook, 2001). This statement is supported by Aaker (1997) by stating that the company with higher customer loyalty can help the companies lower their marketing costs while seek more customers as well as successfully operate trading leverage in the same time. De Ruyter et al. (1998) stated that early customer loyalty studies also solely focused on the behavioral aspect but later shifted to an attitudinal approach. It was added that the latter approach can be studied by means of dimensions such as word of mouth, complaining behavior and purchase intention. There has also been some disagreement between researchers regarding to the attitudinal aspect of loyalty. The conflict focused on the argument was that the needed to be strong attitudinal commitment to a brand in order for true loyalty to exist (Day, 1969; Jacoby and Chestnut, 1978; Foxall and Goldsmith, 1994; Mellens et al., 1996; Reichheld, 1996). Dick and Basu (1994) have explained that these attitudes is measured on maybe by questioning people on how much they like a brand, how much of confidence they have commitment to it, will they recommend it to others, and having positive beliefs and feeling about it, as in comparison to other competing brands. Other than that, the five-item scale which was adapted by Zeithaml et al. (1996) had been used to measure as customer loyalty by earlier researches. However, Bernà © (1997) has mentioned that loyalty was measured indirectly by using an attitude scale in another research. He also pointed out that it is the most generally used system of measurement as a result of the complexity that is involved in attaining sequential information about repurchase intentions. In line with this, a seven-point, Likert scale was used in that particular research to measure customer loyalty. Service Quality Service quality is defined from the marketing fields which give the values to human interaction between a business and its customers. Service is important in business because services not only help the company to remain its customers loyalty, but also to enhance the firms image in the marketplace. In tourism sector, service quality is an important aspect that customers will look into before they decided to engage in purchasing the service. Therefore, those tourism organizations such as hotel organizations face an intense and fierce competition from their competitors to provide the best service and product to their customers. The term service has been defined in several ways. Service had been defined by Grà ¶nroos (2002, p.58) as: A service is an activity or a series of activities of a more or less intangible nature that normally, but not necessarily, takes place in the interaction between the customer and service employees and/or physical resources or foods and/or systems of the service provider, which are provided as solutions to customer problems. A definition also adopted by Zeithaml and Britner (1996), which stated by Quinn et al. (1987) whom defined services as: all economic activities whose output is not a physical product or construction, is generally consumed at the time of it is produced, and provides added value in forms (such as convenience, amusement, timeliness, comfort or health) that are essentially intangible concerns of its first purchaser. On the other hand, Horovitz (1986) had identified the three distinctive characteristics of service quality: the consumer will perceive all limitations in quality because most of the services are consumed at the same time as they are produced; a service is made up of a set of benefits, but it is predominantly an experience; and a fundamental aspect of service quality is derived from the quality of relationship between the service provider and the consumer. Parasuraman et al. (1988) defined service quality as a global judgment or attitude relating to the overall excellence or superiority of the service. Although there are many definitions about service quality, but theres one common definition that accepted by most researchers is the traditional notion provided by Parasuraman et al. (1985). He stated that views quality as the customers perception of service excellence, as quality is defined by the customers impression of the service provided. However, Bergman and Klefsjà ¶ (2003) stated service quality as the quality is often related with satisfied or preferably delighted customers. Service quality is important in retaining customer loyalty. Heskett et al. (1994) considered customer loyalty as behavior for increasing the profits and growth of a business. Quality is also the general impression of the relative inferiority or superiority of the organization and its services, according to Bitner and Hubbert (1994). Moreover, when looked at from a tourism organizations perspective, the functional aspects of services for example, is how they are offered, and has a much higher probability in influencing customers emotional feelings, than the technical aspects, for example, what is offered. Besides this, service literature also claims that the major issue of customer satisfaction is perceived quality (Parasuraman et al., 1988; Bitner, 1990; Carman, 1990). However, there are also some authors that giving the opposite relationship, stated that perceived quality is considered an antecedent of customer satisfaction (Cronin and Taylor, 1992; Anderson and Sullivan, 1993). Althou