Arthur Miller Essay Example for Free

Arthur Miller Essay The Crucible Many different parts form together to make up the society we see in The Crucible, written by Arthur Miller. Whether it be religion, government, or social roles; they all play some sort of impacting part to the characters we met while watching The Crucible. Who knew that religion and government could change a person’s life in a matter of minutes like it did so many times throughout the movie. The characters like Abigail Williams and John Proctor both knew the risks of going against these roles and what it would do to their everyday lives, but both characters chose to do it in more ways than one. Religion played a huge role throughout The Crucible and all of the characters were expected to show some sort of respect towards their religion. John Proctor is one of the characters who face this double standard. He feels as if he showed enough support towards the church before Reverend Parris took over that there is no way that him and his family could ever be questioned for associating themselves with the devil. However, after Abigail Williams tells the church that she saw Goody Proctor with the devil they had to question her. What originally was a trip to warn the Proctor family and ask a few questions turned into a rather defensive and disappointing ending. Reverend Hale had asked John Proctor three interesting questions: why his youngest child had not been baptized, why he and his family had not been to church in such a long time, and to state his ten commandments. John Proctor had a response to the first two that seemed reasonable to him, but not to the rest of the church. To the first question he responded with: â€Å"I like it not that Mr. Paris should lay his hand upon my baby. I see no light of God in that man. I’ll no conceal it.† and to the second he responded with â€Å"I nailed the roof upon the church, I hung the door†. Both responses sounded like reasonable excuses to John Proctor because he felt as if Reverend Parris was more worried about the money and the less important things than God himself, but Reverend Parris was ordained and no matter how you felt he was the reverend. If someone chose to go against him it was equal to going against God and in those days going against God meant you were somehow associated with the devil. The last question that Reverend Hale asked John Proctor was to state the Ten Commandments. After looking like he had just been insulted he began to recite the first nine but struggled on the tenth, adultery. Whether it was because he couldn’t remember the tenth commandment under pressure or he was anxious to say it because of the incident between Abigail Williams and himself. Finally, his wife stated the tenth commandment and Reveren d Hale looked a little shocked that he couldn’t have finished all ten himself. Knowing all ten of these commandments was a way to show your faith in God and John Proctor only stated nine of the ten which signaled a red flag that their household had been touched by the devil in one way or another. Political values played hand in hand with religion. All court hearings and anything else referring to some sort of government were always held through the reverend. In the movie The Crucible you see many scenes of hearings and trials all with the reverend standing in front of them. The reverend was in charge of making the final decision on what was in store for the accused’s life. If the reverend felt as if a person was associated with witchcraft or the devil and that person would not confess they would be hung, however, if that person did confess then they would be put in jail for a while or let go in return to be saved by God. In the movie, The Crucible, Abigail Williams confessed by saying â€Å"I want the light of God, I want the sweet love of Jesus! I danced for the Devil; I saw him†. Abigail knew if she was to confess to Reverend Hale she would simply get a less harsh punishment compared to if she was to be accused of being associated with the devil and denied eve r coming in contact with the devil. If the Reverend believed you had partaken with the devil and had denied it then you would be hung. As a viewer you can tell that religion and politics are very similar in that time period and that they go hand in hand because of how similar they really are. Social roles also played a huge factor into the lives of many within the society from The Crucible. People had roles that they knew they could not disobey because these roles played such an influence within their lives. Abigail Williams, for example, was helping the Proctor family out around the house when Goody Proctor had suspicions of adultery between Abigail and her husband. Once these suspicions became a reality Abigail was let go from helping their family. A viewer can tell that once a person disobeyed their social role they were considered as an â€Å"outcast†. Another way I noticed social roles playing a part within The Crucible’s society was when John Proctor was about to sign his name off to be free with his wife but ended up ripping the paper into shreds because he could not bring himself to ruin his name. John said â€Å"because it is my name! Because I cannot have another in my life† shows how important having a good reputation towards a person’s name really is. In those days, a peb rson’s name was all that had. If that person tarnished their name that was it, there was nothing left to be worthy for. Both John Proctor and Abigail Williams knew this and that is why John ripped that paper to shreds and why when Abigail was asked why she no longer worked for the Proctor’s she did not state the real reason. These social roles impacted the everyday lives of the characters from The Crucible, anything from making one’s day better to ruinin g a person’s life could have happened because of these roles. I noticed a lot of different ways that The Crucible could have been connected to our readings from our textbook, Concise Anthology of American Literature. Whether it is from having similar attributes of characters to representing the same faith within their religion there were multiple similarities I could identify. The first comparison that jumped right out at me was between The Crucible and Anne Bradstreet’s story. As I was reading her story I noticed almost immediately the role that women were to play in her time period. Women were there solely to cook, clean, and raise the children. I noticed almost the same thing with watching The Crucible but with some variation. The women’s role from both the story and the movie was solely in the home to cook and clean, however, with The Crucible I noticed the women were aloud a bit more freedom compared to what I understood from the story of Anne Bradstreet’s. The second comparison I made was between The Crucible and one of the letters from the Correspondence. The letter I noticed the comparison was written by Benjamin Banneker to Thomas Jefferson asking to bring an end to slavery. There were scenes of slavery within The Crucible that led me to draw out this comparison. In The Crucible there is a character named Tituba who is considered to be a slave, however, she had more freedom compared to the slaves from the time period of when the letter was written. If someone from that time period was caught running around in the woods at night without permission from whoever was in charge they would have been in serious trouble, a lot more trouble than Tituba was showed to have been in. The last comparison I made was between The Crucible and the journal entries of Byrd II. In his journal entries he speaks very highly of religion within every single one of them. Both the movie and the journal entries have very similar ways to show their faith to God because religion played such a huge role for everyone within those time periods. Within the journal entries he shows his faith to God by saying his prayers, reading his Hebrew, and thanking God for his blessing everyday while in The Crucible a person would show their faith to God by going to church every Sunday. Y ou can see that religion plays a huge role in both Byrd II and the characters from The Crucible but they each show it in different ways. Throughout The Crucible and all of the readings from our textbook I have noticed many different types of societies that these people live in. Religion made up pretty much the entire story line of how the characters from The Crucible lived their lives and you can see where some of the stories we read also represented how important religion was to them. Also playing a role within everyone’s lives that we have either watched or read about were politics and social roles. It’s crazy that such little factor’s from our world today pretty much made up the society’s that form those time periods that we read and watch about.

Early American Literature :: essays research papers

Early American literature consisted mainly of diaries, journals, short stories, and Indian creation stories. Since some of the language used was of older English and other languages, early American literature was difficult to read.The first story I read was Spanish Explorers in the New World. This story was a journal of Cabeza de Vaca’s travels and discoveries in the New World. After having a shipwreck, he and his fellow sailors were made slaves of the Indians. They walked barefoot, bleeding and ate raw meat for food. He also described how one tribe took over land. De Vaca gave detailed accounts on how the Indians lived which I found interesting. The males lived in the estufas, while women lived in the house. For a proposal, the male would weave a blanket and place it before the female. Spanish Explorers In The New World was interesting because of the detail with the Indians as opposed to other stories which involve no action.The second piece of early American literature I read was The General History. The Jamestown colony as plagued from the beginning by unfortunate circumstances. While out exploring, John Smith was captured by the Indians. After being brought to many chiefs, John Smith was brought to the emperor of the Pamaunkee. The emperor had planned to kill John Smith at first by placing his head against a rock and bashing it in. Then Pocahontas, the emperor’s daughter, threw her head in the way and prevented his death. The emperor then decided to let Smith live and to have him as a slave. This story also had more action than some other which I read which does make it interesting, but every once in a while it is difficult to understand due to the Old English. This story was insightful into the lives of one tribe of Indians near Jamestown.The third passage I read was an excerpt from The Bay Psalm Book. In this the Puritans had re-edited the Bible and tried to simplify its words. Their version was modified to rhyme and to have what the Puritans referred to as "plainness.

California Pizza Kitchen Essay

A company’s strategic choices shape how that firm will operate and react to the use of its own resources as well as the affects of external factors. These choices are typically broken down into one of our distinct strategies (cost leadership, differentiation, niche focus, and first mover’s advantage) and applied as management sees fit. In studying California Pizza Kitchen (CPK) literature, one can easily decipher that their main strategy is differentiation with portions of first mover’s advantage tied in. CPK is very open about the approach as menu innovation is one of their key values. Having identified this strategy this paper looks to review this strategy against recently performed SWAT analysis to see how it is affecting CPK’s strategic choices. It will discuss whether those strategic choices remaining in line with its differentiation strategy. Additionally, this case study will determine whether the differentiation strategy and CPK’s strategic choices create competitive advantages or are they creating weakness that need to be addressed and countered with some of CPK’s strengths. Finally, a brief discussion on CPK’s mission and vision will be incorporated against the findings to determine what CPK is doing right and what they could possibly change to improve is competitive position. Corporate Strategy Porter tells us that firm’s position themselves by leveraging their strength’s. He argued that strengths ultimately fall into one of two headings: cost advantage and differentiation (Quickmba). CPK chooses and specifically points out differentiation as its main strategy. In its 2009 financial report, CPK states, â€Å"We believe that our concept, attractive price-value relationship and quality of food and service enable us to differentiate ourselves from our competitors†. Differentiation is a competitive business strategy whereby firms attempt to gain a competitive advantage by increasing the perceived value of their products and/or services relative to the perceived value of other firm’s products and services. Implementation of differentiation strategy means that the value is provided to customers through unique features and characteristics of the company’s products as opposed to the lowest price. A successful differentiation strategy will create customer value that is perceived as such by its customers. Differentiated goods and services satisfy the needs of customers through a sustainable competitive advantage. CPK differentiates itself through product quality through the use of quality ingredients, menu design and innovation, and expanded services and offerings beyond their main dining experience. This all falls under subcategory of differentiation known as â€Å"Quality Strategy†, which sets CPK apart from its competitors. As a result of this quality, CPK has branded itself through a very loyal customer base that consistently markets for the company through rave reviews and word of mouth advertising. Firms that succeed in differentiation strategy often have the following internal strengths (QuickMBA): †¢ Access to leading scientific research †¢ Highly skilled and creative product development team †¢ Strong sales team with the ability to successfully communicate the perceived strengths of the product †¢ Corporate reputation for quality and innovation Due to high levels of rivalry in the food industry there is always an incentive to be innovative and continuously improve. There is also always the chance that any differentiation could be copied by competitors. Therefore, innovation remains a huge part of CPK’s differentiation strategy as well as one of its core values. As proof of this, CPK literature is littered with the idea of menu innovation, expansion of service options such as the new items, smaller express stores and growth/development in the frozen and fresh foods market in grocery stores. This philosophy is not just talk however. CPK backs this concept with action through the continuous research and evaluation of various food ingredients, products and supplies for consistency and food safety. This research is compared to detailed specifications developed by CPK’s products teams ultimately leading to high food quality standards. As mentioned in this author’s previous studies, this research provides intellectual capital as well as contributes to the innovation capability as CPK remains at the forefront of and often dictates market changes (Haas1). This capability or competitive advantage is what also gives CPK some of its â€Å"First Mover† advantage. CPK operates as one of the pioneers of premium pizza (a niche market). Therefore they were one of the first to develop the products creating benchmark and standards for the market. This provides them with the advantage of potential lower costs (Golder & Teller) from intellectual capital and development experience as well as creates potential barriers for other competitors to switch products. It also gives them early recognition and consumer preference (QuickMBA) reducing the risk of the threat of ubstitution. This further increases the strategy of differentiation as well in that customer’s become attached to CPK’s differentiating attributes. Additionally, because CPK focuses its main products on a niche market (premium pizza), it has been able to continue to sell its products at a more premium price and better absorb the economic upturn of inflation. Strategic Choices The state of the economy, the downsizing of disposable income and the high unemployment have all posed large threats to the full service dining industry. The current economic environment has particularly played into CPK’s strategic choices recently as they have had to compete to maintain revenue, reduce costs and keep customers who are more and more turning to substitutes such as fast food or home cooked meals in an attempt to save money. This has not deterred CPK completely from its differentiation strategy. In fact, Rick Rosenfield (CPK, Co- CEO) stated the company was working to reverse declining sales by offering a new menu (LATimes), again playing on their strength of innovation. However, it has forced CPK to consider other approaches in the way that the attack the market and expand their business. This gives CPK an opportunity to address one of its major weaknesses at the same time. CPK has over 40% of its stores located in California. This has created a lack of geographical diversification. Therefore CPK is looking to expand beyond California and has even looked to go outside the US as it believes its full-service restaurants will continue to represent the majority of revenue growth in the near term. This expansion plays into CPK’s innovative approach to business. For the most part CPK’s management has looked to expand revenues through new markets and menu options. However, the economic downturn has forced CPK to look internally to reduce cost as a means to maintain or increase revenue. Therefore, CPK has decide to not only look at foreign markets as a way to diversify its revenue stream but it will also leverage its brand name and reputation through is expanding in existing markets to consolidate marketing, human resource and supply chain costs. These choices are a good start, however CPK’s sales have been down and the diversity of the market has not helped CPK to recover its losses. Because CPK works with higher quality ingredients and unique menu items which change regularly there is less room for supply chain cost reduction. The innovative approach that makes CPK unique and differentiates it from its competitors could also potentially be preventing it from reducing costs and improving operational efficiencies. It acts almost as a â€Å"Catch 22† if you will. Further, CPK run the potential pitfalls of risk listed below (Openlearningworld. com): †¢ Customers may decide cost of uniqueness is too high †¢ Means of differentiation no longer provides value to customers †¢ Customers learning may reduce customer’s perception of company’s differentiation †¢ Counterfeit goods convey the same differentiation at a discounted price Ultimately this forces CPK to continue to increase value to customers by means of reducing prices, adding product features without raising prices or developing better efficiency in its value chain. Mission and Vision As described in previous research (Haas2), CPK does not formally identify its mission and vision by these names, therefore some interpretation is required for anyone looking for such designation. CPK intends to be the leader in authentic California-style cuisine and to be widely known for its innovative menu items. To achieve this, CPK intends to provide a range of creative dishes, from signature California-style hearth baked pizzas, creative salads, pastas, soups and sandwiches to extensive beer and wine lists with a full bar. In Part 1, Item 1, Business of the 2009 annual report readily identifies the company’s objectives, as: â€Å"To extend our leadership position in the restaurant and premium pizza market by selling innovative, high quality pizzas in addition to creative salads, distinctive pastas and related products and by providing exceptional customer service, thereby building a high degree of customer loyalty, brand awareness and superior returns for our stockholders† To reach these objectives, We (CPK) plan to increase our market share by expanding our restaurant base in new and existing markets, leveraging our partnerships in non-traditional and retail channels and offering innovative menu item. † Reviewing these statements reaffirm that CPK has a solid mission and vision that incorporate its corporate strategy very well. Innovation and quality are the cornerstones of CPK’s mission which are fundamental factors in a strong differentiation strategy. However, CPK must be care not to become so focused on its current strategy that is forgets to measure pressures of external forces as well as the need for cost reduction that are weighing heavily in its business and profits. Without careful consideration of competitors, economic factors and internal stresses CPK may be forced to look elsewhere for funding which it has considered recently in its attempt to shop the company to new external buyers. It is suggested that CPK look carefully at its current strategy as compared to that of its competitors to see if it can better leverage its internal strengths and potential for operational efficiencies because price may be the ultimate downfall as many competitors are finding ways to incentivize customer value through lower prices, additional options or more product for the same price to maintain customer base. This could be a battle that CPK could fail at if it does not keep pace or find a way to show consumers its value.

Process Analysis in Richard Selzers Essay The Knife

An accomplished surgeon and a professor of surgery, Richard Selzer is also one of Americas most celebrated essayists. When I put down the scalpel and picked up a pen, he once wrote, I reveled in letting go. The following paragraphs from The Knife, an essay in Selzers first collection, Mortal Lessons: Notes on the Art of Surgery  (1976), vividly describe the process of the laying open of the body of a human being. Selzer calls the pen the distant cousin of the knife. He once said to author and artist Peter Josyph, Blood and ink, at least in my hands, have a certain similarity. When you use a scalpel, blood is shed; when you use a pen, ink is spilled. Something is let in each of these acts (Letters to a Best Friend  by Richard Selzer, 2009). from "The Knife"* by Richard Selzer A stillness settles in my heart and is carried to my hand. It is the quietude of resolve layered over fear. And it is this resolve that lowers us, my knife and me, deeper and deeper into the person beneath. It is an entry into the body that is nothing like a caress; still, it is among the gentlest of acts. Then stroke and stroke again, and we are joined by other instruments, hemostats and forceps, until the wound blooms with strange flowers whose looped handles fall to the sides in steely array. There is sound, the tight click of clamps fixing teeth into severed blood vessels, the snuffle and gargle of the suction machine clearing the field of blood for the next stroke, the litany of monosyllables with which one prays his way down and in: clamp, sponge, suture, tie, cut. And there is color. The green of the cloth, the white of the sponges, the red and yellow of the body. Beneath the fat lies the fascia, the tough fibrous sheet encasing the muscles. It must be sliced and the red beef of the muscles separated. Now there are retractors to hold apart the wound. Hands move together, part, weave. We are fully engaged, like children absorbed in a game or the craftsmen of some place like Damascus. Deeper still. The peritoneum, pink and gleaming and membranous, bulges into the wound. It is grasped with forceps, and opened. For the first time we can see into the cavity of the abdomen. Such a primitive place. One expects to find drawings of buffalo on the walls. The sense of trespassing is keener now, heightened by the worlds light illuminating the organs, their secret colors revealed--maroon and salmon and yellow. The vista is sweetly vulnerable at this moment, a kind of welcoming. An arc of the liver shines high and on the right, like a dark sun. It laps over the pink sweep of the stomach, from whose lower border the gauzy omentum is draped, and through which veil one sees, sinuous, slow as just-fed snakes, the indolent coils of the intestine. You turn aside to wash your gloves. It is a ritual cleansing. One enters this temple doubly washed. Here is man as microcosm, representing in all his parts the earth, perhaps the universe.    * The Knife, by Richard Selzer, appears in the essay collection Mortal Lessons: Notes on the Art of Surgery, originally published by Simon Schuster in 1976, reprinted by Harcourt in 1996.