Financial Performance Analysis of Fuller Smith and Turner Plc Group Essay

Financial Performance Analysis of Fuller Smith and Turner Plc Group - Essay Example It is of great significance that the ratios must be benchmarked against a standard in order for them to possess a meaning. Keeping that into account, the comparison is usually conducted between companies portraying same business and financial risks, between industries and between different time periods of the same company. The company under consideration is Fuller Smith and Turner Plc Group and in this report analysis of the financial performance of the company over two years has been conducted in order to draw attention to various financial trends and significant changes over the period. The analysis is divided into three main categorize namely Profitability, Liquidity and Gearing. Profitability ratios identify how efficiently and effectively a company is utilizing its resources and how successful it has been in generating a desired rate of return for its shareholders and investors. Liquidity ratios measure the ability of the company to quickly convert its asset into liquid cash to settle its short term liabilities. Whereas, the Gearing ratios identifies the extent to which the company is financed through debt and to what degree the operations are being conducted from the finance raised through raising equity capital or otherwise. Profitability Ratios    2010 2009    Profitability Ratios Gross profit margin 67.85% 67.48% Net profit margin 14.14% 9.90% ROCE 15.54% 10.56% Gross profit margin is an analyzing tool which assists in identifying how effectively and efficiently the company is utilizing its raw materials [1], variable cost related to labor and fixed costs such as rent and depreciation of property plant and equipment. The ratio is calculated by dividing the sales revenue by the gross profit for the year. If we analyze the gross profit margin of financial year 2010 we can only see a marginal increase in the ratio as compared to the financial year 2009. During 2010 the revenue of Fuller Smith and Turner Plc has increased by 8.428% but connectively has also increased by 7.174% thus resulting in only marginal increase in the gross profit margin. Maintenance of gross profit ratio is quite commendable as the companies usually are not able to maintain such ratio due to price fluctuation in the raw materials and other factors related to production cost. Increase in revenue can be described due to several factors such as increase in per unit sales price, increase in customer base and increase in overall sales volume due to higher demand in the market. Net profit margin, on the other hand analyzes the profitability of the company before deducting the taxation and finance charges from the earnings [2]. The ratio is calculated by dividing the profit before interest and tax with the sales revenue of the current financial period. The ratio highlights how well the company is managing its selling and administrative expenses it also highlights the other income generated by the company during the course of its operations. The net profit margin of the company has shown considerable improvement as it has increased by 4.24% during the current financial year. The distribution and other administrative ex

Physical health Essay Example for Free

Physical health Essay 1. Discuss the meanings Steve now places on health and physical activity. Steve doesn’t put much meaning on his health, either mentally, physically, emotionally or socially. He hasn’t got his family to encourage him to get out and participate in sport, so he let himself go and does not get motivated. From his point of view his health is good and is living the â€Å"good life† because he hasn’t got support to get his life back to what he was. The â€Å"good life† from his view is to go out every weekend or night and party out late. He drinks alcohol and smokes so he is ruining his health every day, but he doesn’t see it is a problem. He might not have got taught the right health ways and think he can do whatever he want because he is young and free. This will affect him later in life but he doesn’t seem to care as he is living how he has wanted to, his family were the ones encouraging him to do this, and without them around he doesn’t feel the need to do it. 2. Demonstrate how Steve’s lifestyle choices could be affecting his physical health. List any possible future problems. Steve’s lifestyle choices are affecting all areas of his health but one in particular that could affect his life span and that is his physical health. He started smoking and drinking. His dating life could also be a problem. His job can cause problems to his health. They are all decreasing his physical health. Every time he smokes he is increasing his chance of getting lung cancer. His drinking is going to affect him heavily later as he will end up with all sorts of problems, example- he could once turn up to work drunk and do everything wrong, resulting in him having no job. His dating life could result in somehow contracting a sexually transmitted infection. His job is affecting his health, as his job doesn’t require much; he just sits down all day, he could end up with bad pains all through his body. They all cause future problems to Steve an d by doing all these things he is decreasing his life expectancy, giving him a shorter life than expected. 3. List the changes in his social circumstances that have influenced the changes in Steve’s health and physical activity levels. Steve social circumstances have changed affecting the way he lives now, causing him to change. He has changed as he has moved out of home, leaving his family out of his life without them pushing him to do his best he found new friends who do what he is doing. His job has changed his social circumstances as he can have a night out and do what he needs to, his work friends should be encouraging him that he needs to take more pride in his job. When he finished school he might have lost all of his friends that were impacting him in a good way with the training and playing of different sports. His social circumstances have changed his life because he left school and not having family made him think he could live however he wants and not care. 4. Describe the possible outcomes for Steve’s emotional health is he continues with his current lifestyle. Emotional health refers to the ability to express emotions when they are appropriate and control them when they are not. If Steve continues with his behaviour he may not be able to control his emotions, his self-esteem will be very low. He won’t be able to see him as he is, he will see his self-image as worse than it actually it because of his low emotional health and low self-esteem. His late night partying will put down his emotional health is he keeps going with his routine, he will continue to think girls will fall for him but sometimes they will not, possibly causing his emotional health to deteriorate. His health on the health continuum will be very low, as he isn’t being able to control all of his health especially the physical and emotional health. If he picks up more exercise and does committee to his job he will have better emotional health stabili ty, meaning he will be able to control his emotions and express them accordingly to the situation. 5. Identify the 5 action areas of the Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion and describe what each area means in your own words. Developing personal skills: is about improving the individuals skills, developing a better understand for the individual to help them better their health. It helps the individual find ways to help better their health, giving them more confidence about their health. Creating supportive environments: is about the environment and making it better. It’s about creating a better environment for a person to be able to do what they want. It’s got both physical and social aspects, like a park for exercising or close friends supporting you in a big sporting event. Strengthening community action: is about getting the community involved to better the health of those within the community. The ideas from the community are called ‘bottom-up’ meaning the community comes up with the ideas and tries to get help to impose them in the areas, and a ‘top-down’ is when the ideas are coming from the government on what they think will better the health of those in that community. Reorientating health services: is about trying to invest more money into prevention rather than a cure. They believe if they can put more money into prevention then they will save more money. It doesn’t dismiss the importance on health care, as you can still get diseases genetically, but this is about trying to prevent those who get diseases that they can prevent by choosing better lifestyles. Building healthy public policy: is about the rules, laws and legislations. It is about the government and organisations that work towards better health, emplacing rules and laws, example- restricted smoking location within public places, or in schools where they have the ‘no hat, no play’ policy. 6. Recommend ways Steve can improve his health by following at least 2 of the 5 action areas of the Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion. Give specific examples. Steve can improve his health in any of the five action areas, but the two that he should increase in are developing personal skills and creating supportive environments. Those two areas will help build up his health again. Developing personal skills is all about the individual and what they can do better for their health. Creating supportive environments is all about physical and social sides. It is increasing the family/friends bond for them to support you. Steve can develop his personal skills by going back to do some vigorous exercise. He needs to go and get help, and see if sleeping with different women can cause him to have a sexually transmitted infection. With him developing his personal skills, he can change his life around, making it better for him to live. Steve can create a supportive environment with his friends and family by getting them to help him change out of his bad habits. With his family by his side it can help him to make the right decisions. The physical side of a supportive environment can be getting his friends or family to go out and exercise with him. The two action areas developing personal skills and creating supportive environments can change his life around for the better, bettering his life expectancy, he then will put a better look on his health instead of wanting to always live the â€Å"good life,† he can go out sometimes but always going out is not good for his health. If his family and friends help him to go and see a doctor they can help him change his life around.

English in the British Colonies: ASEAN

English in the British Colonies: ASEAN English in the British Colonies: ASEAN The British Empire was the dominant global power, with many colonies and a lot of outposts all over the world. It has a lot of reasons why the British Empire had to colonize other countries such as industrialization, world market, political motive, rise in population, etc. To illustrate, for the industrialization, the rise of demand in England, they had the new technology like steam power and harvesting machines that increased the production more and more. In contrast, it is the cause of needed more resources in England, so to meet the rise in demand, England started to find the resources from other place. Moreover, it is also about the political motives that like a war between England and France or other European countries. They wanted to make themselves be an impressive and strong political nation, so it is like a competition that they competed each other to reign the land. During the 1500s and 1600s, international trade of Asia was controlled by the European countries as they can get many advantages from this trade to their own countries. As a consequence, the European countries became stronger; on the other hand, Asian countries and monarchy system became weaker. About 1800s, the European countries started to establish their power above the Asia, especially in the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia. The British colonization in Southeast Asia, British had colonized four countries in Southeast Asia that is ‘Burma’, ‘Malaysia’, ‘Singapore’, and ‘Brunei Darussalam’. So, when the British come to occupy, they also bring many things to the colonized countries such as knowledge, culture, and also language. Burma (Myanmar) The British conquered Burma is not like other colonies which keep up their ethnic identity; Burma was a province of British India. Therefore, Burmese had two set of ruler: the top is British and Indians in the middle. In 1935, the British separated Burma from India, and it was effective in two years later or in 1937. In 1948, Burma was able to arrange its dependence from Great Britain. Nowadays, Myanmar or Burma has the primary language of instruction that is Burmese; moreover, English is the second language that was taught. To illustrate, English was the first language of instruction in higher education in the past as when Gen Ne Win reformed educational system to ‘Burmanize’. English language was used by educated people and the national government. Burmese English Burmese English is similar to Indian English because of the historical ties to India during British colonization. The system of spelling in Burmese English is based on the British English; in contrast, American spellings have become popular as the first Burmese-English dictionary was created by Adoniram Judson who is an American. For example, color, check, encyclopedia. Many Standard English words were borrowed to Burmese English and may words use in a different situation. For example, ‘pavement’ (British English) or ‘sidewalk’ (American English) is usually called ‘platform’ in Burmese English. Furthermore, many words were pronounced with the British accent, such asvitamin/ˈvÉ ªtÉâ„ ¢mÉ ªn/. In Burmese pronunciation, consonants are unaspirated such as the k, p, and t because of the general rule like in Indian English. Between Burmese English and Standard English, there are some pronunciation differences. Burmese English Standard English Remarks ur(e.g.further,Burma) /à ¡/ Pronounced with a high tone (drawn-out vowel), as in Burmese ow(e.g.now,brow) /à ¡uÉ ´/ Pronounced with a nasal final instead of an open vowel ie(e.g.pie,lie) /aiÉ ´/ Pronounced with a nasal final instead of an open vowel tu(e.g.tuba,tuba) /tɆ¢u/ e.g. tuition, commonly pronounced[tɆ¢Ãƒ ¹ÃƒÅ Ã†â€™Ãƒ ¬Ãƒâ€°Ã‚ ´] sk(e.g.ski) /sÉâ„ ¢k-/ Pronounced as 2 syllables st(e.g.star) /sÉâ„ ¢t-/ Pronounced as 2 syllables pl(e.g.plug) /pÉâ„ ¢l/ Pronounced as 2 syllables v(e.g.vine) /b/ -nk(e.g.think) /à ¡Ã‚ ¸Ã‚ ­Ãƒâ€°Ã‚ ´/ Pronounced with a short, creaky tone (short vowel) -ng(e.g.thing) /iÉ ´/ Pronounced as a nasal final consonantal finals (.e.g.stop) /-ʆ/ Pronounced as a glottal stop (as in written Burmese, where consonantal finals are pronounced as a stop) Singapore During World War II, Singapore was occupied by Japanese Empire from 1943 to 1945. Finally, Singapore reverted to British Control when the war ended. And Singapore became an independent republic on 9 August 1965 because of the separation from Malaysia. Singaporean English or Singlish Singaporean English or Singlish is the English language spoken in Singapore which was influenced by Chinese and Malay. There are two main forms that are Standard Singapore English (SSE) and Singapore Colloquial English. Standard Singapore English’s roots derived from the country’s 146 years (1819 to 1965) under British colonial rule. British colonial government used English as the official language. Moreover, in 1959 when Singapore obtained self-government and got the independence in 1965, the Singaporean government keeps English as the official language because of the economic prosperity. The use English in Singapore have many advantages; for example, decreasing the gap between the diverse ethnic group, being the first language use of the nation, or helping Singapore development and integration into the global economy. There are many difference rules between Standard English and Singlish. For example, in term of Morphology, Singlish has a lot of grammatical endings that is not necessary in Standard English and speakers have to take into conversation. Furthermore, Plurals and past tenses are not needed. For example, English Standard Singlish What happened yesterday? What happen yesterday? Where do you go? You go where? So the bicycle went first. Then bicycle go first ah. Moreover, the main difference from Standard English is the frequent repetition of words that was used to emphasis and intensity and auxiliary verbs are missing. In contrast, Standard English is not used repetition, even for intensity: the word is only said one time. For example, English Standard Singlish Don’t ask who! Don’t ask who lah! Why do you ask? Why you ask ask ask? How smart you are. How smart you. Brunei Darussalam Brunei Darussalam became a British protectorate in 1888 and in 1906 Brunei Darussalam also was assigned to be a colonial manager of British Resident in 1906. In 1952 a new constitution was written after the occupation during World War II by Japanese Empire. Moreover, in 1962 the monarchy was ended by a small armed rebellion that was help by the British. Brunei got its dependence from the United Kingdom on 1st January 1984. Brunei is a country that has many languages regional such as Malay, English, Chinese, Arabic, Nepali, etc. The official language is Standard Malay, but Brunei English is very popular and it is widely spoken as it is spoken by the most of the population. English has been an important language of education in Brunei since the inception of public education. Learning both English and Malay in Brunei tend to get squeezed out the minority language such as Tutong and Dusun. In addition, people who attend the top school of the nation usually have an excellent foundation in English; in contrast, people who attend to lower schools often have a little skill in English. Brunei English Brunei English are different from Standard English in some points such as pronunciation, grammar, vocabulary, etc. These are some of remarkable features of Brunei English’s pronunciation. The consonant at the start word ‘th’ like ‘thin’ and ‘thank’ tends to be pronounced as [t] rather than [ÃŽ ¸]. The vowel in function words such as ‘of’ and ‘that’ tends to be a full vowel rather than [Éâ„ ¢]. One current change that seems to be taking place is that Brunei English is becoming rhotic, partly influenced by American English and partly influenced by the rhoticity of Brunei Malay. Next, there are a few examples of remarkable features of Brunei English grammar. Plural nouns are added –s suffix, even they are uncountable nouns in other varieties of English. For example, ‘equipments’, ‘infrastructures’, and ‘jewelleries’ Adding suffix ‘-s’ on verbs to indicate a 3rd person singular subject is variable. ‘would’ is often used to indicate something that is not definite. The last is about the vocabulary in Brunei English.Many words from Malay are borrowed into Brunei English. For example, the words ‘titah’ (a Sultan’s speech), ‘sabda’ (another Royal family’s speech), ‘tudong’ (a head-dress worn by women), and ‘puasa’ (‘fasting’). The words from local food usually loan from Malay, such as ‘kuih’ (a local cake), as in ‘A variety of Malay kuih and sliced fruit will also be served’. Malaysia In the 1800s, the British East India Company partly controlled India. At that time, they interested in a base in Malaya. In 1786, the British under Francis Light occupied Penang and established Georgetown and they took Province Wellesley in 1800. Malaysian English Malaysia has two types of English: Malaysian Colloquial English (MySE), and Malaysian English (MyE). Malaysian Colloquial English is known as‘Manglish’. It is aportmanteau wordof the ‘Street English’. It is common to speak with friend, but it is forbidden in school. Malaysian English (MyE) is a form of language that used and spoken as a second language in Malaysia. It originates from British English because of British rule. In addition, its vocabulary, pronunciation, and grammar have composed by many languages such as American English, Malay, Chinese, Indian languages, etc. Malaysian English uses the same pronunciation system like British English; however, most of Malaysian people speak with a distinctive accent. The accent of Malaysian people get an influenced from American TV programs; moreover, many people study higher education in the United States and American companies in Malaysia that employed English speakers in cities. These are some feature of Malaysian English. Generally, Malaysian English is non-rhonic, all [r] are pronounced in Malay. Malaysian English employs a broad an accent, such as the words like ‘cab’ and ‘tab’ appear with [É‘Ë ] rather than [à ¦]. The [t] in words like ‘butter’ is usually not flapped (as in some forms of American English) or realized as a glottal stop (as in many forms of British English, including Cockney). There is no h-dropping in words like ‘head’. Malaysian English does not have English consonant-cluster reductions after [n], [t], and [d]. For example, ‘new’, ‘tune’ and ‘dune’ are pronounced [ˈnjuË ], [ˈtjuË n], and [ˈdjuË n]. Fricatives th ([ÃŽ ¸] and [à °]) are pronounced [t] for [ÃŽ ¸] and [d] for [à °]. L is generally clear. Diphthongs ow ([Éâ„ ¢ÃƒÅ Ã…  ] or [oÊÅ  ]) are just [o] and ay ([eÉ ª]) is just [e]. Comparing the words has different meaning between British English and Malaysian English. Word/ Phrase Malaysian meaning British/ American Meaning parking lot parking space parking garage (US) flat low-cost apartment apartment (US) apartment medium-cost apartment flat (UK) condominium high-cost apartment Common hold (UK) to revert to come back (reply) to someone to return to a previous state to send to take someone somewhere to cause something to go somewhere without accompanying it Moreover, Malaysian also has the words that were used only in Malaysia. It comes from a variety of influences. Sometimes, the words are also representing the influence of some continuums of Singapore Standard English. In the media, literature, and formal speech used, any words of Malay origin that have made into standard from Malaysian English. Malaysian British / American handphone (often abbreviated to HP) mobile phone or cell phone public telephone or public phone payphone Malaysian Chinese, Malaysian Indian Chinese Malaysian, Indian Malaysian keep in view (often abbreviated to KIV) kept on file, held for further consideration MC (medical certificate) sick note, aegrotat mee (fromHokkienwordmi) noodles bank in (cheque) deposit a cheque References History of colonialism. 2014. History of colonialism. Wikipedia.http://en/wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_colonialsm (accessed Feb 19, 2014). British Empire. n.d. British Empire. Wikipedia.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Empire#Britain.27s_imperial_century_.281815.E2.8 0.931914.29 (accessed Febr 19, 2014). British Empire. n.d. British Empire. Wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Empire (accessed Feb 19, 2014). Language of Burma.n.d. Language of Burma. Wikipedia.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Languages_of_Burma (accessed Feb 19, 2014). Burmese language.n.d. Burmese language. Wikipedia.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burmese_language (accessed Feb 19, 2014). Burmese English. n.d. Burmese English. Wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burmese_English (accessed Feb 19, 2014). History of Singapore. n.d. History of Singapore. Wikipedia.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Singapore (accessed Feb 19, 2014). Richard Nordquist. n.d. Singapore English. About.http://grammar.about.com/od/rs/g/SingaporeEnglishterm.htm (accessed Feb 19, 2014). Singapore English. n.d. Singapore English. Wikipedia.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Singapore_English (accessed Feb 19, 2014). Singlish. n.d. Singlish. Wikipedia.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Singlish (accessed Feb 19, 2014). Brunei.n.d. Brunei. Wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brunei (accessed Feb 20, 2014). Tincan. 2005. Brunei Darussalam Overview. Minorityrights.http://www.minorityrights.org/?lid=3899 (accessed Febr 20, 2014). David Deterding. 2014. Language in Brunei. http://brunei-linguistics.blogspot.com(accessed Feb 20, 2014). Languages of Brunei. n.d. Languages of Brunei. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Languages_of_Brunei (accessed Feb 20, 2014). Brunei. n.d. Negara Brunei Darussalam. Nationsonline.http://www.nat ionsonline.org/oneworld/brunei.htm (accessed Feb 20, 2014). Gloria Poedjosoedarmo. 2014. English in Brunei Darussalam: Portrait of a Vital Language with an Elusive Role. RELC journal. http://rel.sagepub.com/content/35/3/359.short (accessed Feb 20, 2014). Brunei English. n.d. Brunei English. Wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brunei_English (accessed Feb 20, 2014). Tim Lambert. 2012. A BRIEF HISTORY OF MALAYSIA. Localhistory.http://www.localhistories.org/malaysia.html (accessed Feb 20, 2014). Malaysian English. n.d. Malaysian English. Wikipedia.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malaysian_English (accessed Feb 20, 2014).

Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor E. Frankl Essay -- concentration ca

The concentration camps that were run by the Nazis during World War II can easily be labeled as one of the most grotesque examples of cruelty in the entire world. The people that were sent to these concentration camps were treated as less than human by the power hungry leaders of the camp. As we have all learned in history classes throughout our lives, the conditions of these camps were blatantly abhorrent, and it is a surprise that people made it out of these camps alive. In his book, Man’s Search for Meaning, Viktor E. Frankl uses his experiences in a concentration camp as an example to his readers that life holds a potential meaning no matter what condition a person is in. In the two parts of his book he analyzes his experiences and the experiences of his comrades in the concentration camps, and then he discusses his personal psychological theory of logotherepy. Together these two sections make up a novel that gives insight to the idea that â€Å"man can preserve a vestige of spiritual freedom, of independence of mind, even in such terrible conditions of psychic and physical stress† (65). In the first section of his book, he describes his experiences in the concentration camps by breaking up the incident into three separate stages that deal with the inmates’ mental reactions to the concentration camps. The first stage inevitably describes the mental reactions that occur immediately after being admitted to the camp. When a first person entered they were either immediately killed by a gas chamber or incinerator, or they were stripped of their every possession, besides their body, and forced into appalling living conditions. According to Frankl, all of the people in the camp felt two initial emotions while entering the camps- humor a... ...t impetus. He proves this idea by saying "a man who becomes conscious of the responsibility he bears [†¦] will never be able to throw away his life† (127). This statement emphasizes the idea that as long as a person has a will to meaning in their life, something to live for, that they will never be so hopeless that they will give up on life. Finally, Frankl’s last main point of logotherapy is that every person has the freedom to find a meaning for their life and then change their life according to this will to meaning. Frankl makes it known that a person can find their meaning by performing an endeavor, being subjected to a value, or by suffering. Overall, Frankl’s theory of logotherapy can be used to help a person overcome the anxiety associated with finding a meaning to their life. Works Cited Frankl, Viktor. Man’s Search for Meaning. Boston: Beacon Press, 2006.

George Frederic Handel :: essays research papers

George Frideric Handel   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  George Frideric Handel was one of the greatest composers of the late baroque period (1700-1750) and, during his lifetime, perhaps the most internationally famous of all musicians. Handel was born February 24, 1685, in Halle, Germany, to a family of no musical background. His own musical talent, however, began to show before his tenth birthday. He received lessons from a local organist, the only musical instruction he would ever have. His first job was as church organist in Halle. In 1703 he traveled to Hamburg, Germany. It was here, in 1704, he composed his first opera, Almira. After achieving great success he soon felt the urge to move on to Italy, the birthplace of operatic style. He first stopped at Florence in the fall of 1706. Later on in the spring and summer of 1707 and 1708 he went to Rome, and in the late spring of 1707 he made a trip to Naples. In Italy Handel composed operas, oratorios, and many secular cantatas; he ended his Italian trip with the spectacular success of his fifth opera, Agrippina (1709), in Venice. Other Composers of George Frideric Handel’s Time Bach was a German organist and composer of the baroque era, one of the greatest and most productive geniuses in the history of Western music. In 1756 Mozart was born in Salzburg, Austria. One of the greatest composers in Western music tradition, Mozart began composing at age five. By the time he was 13, he had written sonatas, operettas, and symphonies. His works include The Marriage of Figaro , Don Giovanni, and The Magic Flute. Beethoven was one of the world's greatest composers was born in Bonn, Germany, in 1770, Beethoven began to lose his hearing in 1802. By 1817 he was totally deaf. Beethoven wrote classical pieces greater than anyone else of his time like his third Symphony, Eroica and his Ninth Symphony. The Ninth Symphony, composed in 1824, begins with â€Å"void music† which may have originated in the silence and gloom of Beethoven's own deafness, but the symphony then explodes with a wonderful array of sounds. One of the most beautiful pieces of music ever composed. Arts and Architecture The Taj Mahal in India was completed in 1648.

Conformity in Fahrenheit 451 Essay

Mindless and Obeying Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 features a fictional and futuristic firefighter named Guy Montag. As a firefighter, Montag does not put out fires. Instead, he starts them in order to burn books and, basically, knowledge to the human race. He does not have any second thoughts about his responsibility until he meets seventeen-year-old Clarisse McClellan. She reveals many wonders of the world to Montag and causes him to rethink what he is doing in burning books. After his talks with her, the society’s obedience to the law that bans knowledge, thinking, and creativity also increasingly distresses him. In Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury shows conformity in the futuristic America through schooling, leisure, and fright. The children in the society are never actually taught during school hours. Captain Beatty, another firefighter, tells Montag that the schools † Cram them full of non-combustible data, chock them so damned full of â€Å"facts† they feel stuffed, but absolutely â€Å"brilliant† with information† (61). The â€Å"teachers† (actually film) stuff the students with â€Å"knowledge†, making them feel smart, but they are never taught to question any of the information or form their own opinion on matters. Clarisse says, â€Å"Do you know, we never ask questions, or at least most don’t; they just run the answers at you, bing, bing, bing, and us sitting there for four more hours of film-teacher† (29). In being taught not to question anything, including the law, education supports conformity. In a similar way, entertainment encourages obedience as well. In the culture that Montag lives in, it is expected in everyone to participate in the civilization’s entertainment sources: mindless television, the â€Å"shell†, and violent games. Television (a.k.a. parlor walls) are made up of a flat screen on a wall; sometimes it fills all of the walls instead of just one, and is made up of fast-moving, mindless flashing images of people known as the â€Å"family†. Every second they are on, they are screaming nonsense. Faber, Montag’s mentor, says, â€Å"The televisor is â€Å"real†. It is immediate, it as dimension. It tells you what to think and blasts it in. It must be right, it seems to be right. It rushes you on so quickly to its own conclusions your mind hasn’t time to protest† (109).The residents  are provided with too much â€Å"excitement† at one time and do not have enough time or space in their minds to think. The walls are addicting. Therefore, more people take more time to sit down and watch the â€Å"family† rather than focusing on developing their own creativity and thinking. Whenever citizens are off the parlor walls, they listen to the â€Å"shell† which is based on the same concept of the parlor walls: to limit thoughts. The only difference between the two is that the shell is far more compact. Otherwise, the two are similar. In limiting access to time for feelings, television and the â€Å"shell† promotes conformity to the law. Games in the society work in a comparable way as the parlor walls and the â€Å"shell†. They show aggression and gore in every single one of them; whether or not it is a real life game or a video game. Seeing so much violence numbs their minds to all of the happenings around them. Clarisse mentions, â€Å"I’m afraid of children my own age. They kill each other. Did it always used to be that way? My uncle says no. Six of my friends have been shot in the last year alone. Ten of them died in car wrecks† (30). Even if mass genocide were happening around them, they would brush it away like shooing away fly. Being apathetic, they would not question anything happening around them, which encourages conformity to the government. Reinforcing entertainment and education, fear produces a foolproof obedience in the society. Even though most citizens are brainwashed by their schooling and leisure, some, like Montag, Faber, and Clarisse still rebel against the law. Therefore, the government creates severe punishments to be dealt out to generate fear in the rebels so that rebellions would not be staged. One of these punishments is to burn down the rebel’s house and put the resident in a crazy asylum. Another, the one Montag fears most, is the mechanical hound. It is made to force support from the citizens using the fear that the mechanical hound produces. Conformity is depicted in Fahrenheit 451 through tutelage, entertainment, and terror. The people should have access to knowledge and should think with their own minds. The book shows that having creativity and opinions, like Clarisse, is better than just being, quite literally, a robot. Fahrenheit  451 shows the citizens in the fictional society being controlled by foolish teachings, mind-jumbling amusement, and forced fear. Being mindless and obeying is not a choice. Everybody has to have a viewpoint of his or her own in life.

Analysis of the Rocking Horse Winner Essay

A literary analysis of ‘The Rocking Horse Winner’ by D H Lawrence cannot fail to mention the strong metaphor of the toy rocking horse itself. Other strong metaphors include the race horses and the idea of gambling in general.. The image of a boy rocking himself to illness and death on a toy horse suggests a powerful and upsetting metaphor for a child’s burning ambition and distress, and to understand the metaphor we must look more closely at the story itself. In â€Å"The Rocking-Horse Winner,† short story by D H Lawrence, a child gets the feeling that circumstances in his family are deteriorating financially and feels utterly powerless to improve the situation. He sees the bitterness of his mother’s discontent and tries to improve her lot, although she seems to pay him little regard. All her attention seems concentrated on a husband who, despite his efforts, can never provide enough for her insatiable appetite for material things. Horses in general, gambling on their races and in particular, the rocking horse itself become metaphors for the child’s ambition, and the driven quality of his determination to succeed – at all costs. The child, Paul, decides that there will never be means to support his family unless he assumes some sort of control himself. Paul decides to resolve the financial crisis through luck, chance, fate and gambling on horses. He thinks that he can divine winning horses in races by riding his own toy rocking horse. The horse metaphors suggest the themes of ambition in life turning to a blinkered disregard for the costs and consequences in a narrow given area, a drive bordering on obsession. Either by luck or by judgement, Paul actually starts to win money and hopes it will make his mother happy. What he doesn’t realise is that she is the sort of person whose appetite will simply grow and whose discontent is of her own making. The need for money just balloons out of control and family members start to put pressure on him. The strain of duty, loyalty, responsibility, guilt, repression and denial of affection and reward becomes so unbearable that he rides his rocking horse so madly that he gets sick and collapses as his chosen horse is about to win a famous race. D H Lawrence’s own relationship with his mother – one of love, but also of control – is relevant to the story too. In his drive to succeed, Paul echoes the need of the young Lawrence to please his own mother – and of course, highlights another form of ambition, that of her hopes and dreams for a gifted young son in avoiding the pit life and aiming for something arguably higher and more academic. The horse metaphor it seems, has deep roots in Lawrence’s own childhood.