An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge Analysis

Jacob Wilson 14 February 2013 Professor Horan The Bold Farquhar Ambrose Bierce allows the reader to have a glimpse of Peyton Farquhar’s character, while he is on a bridge being prepared to hang by Union soldiers. Farquhar is portrayed as a wealthy, high-class planation owner who is receiving punishment for attempting to destroy the Owl Creek Bridge. While Farquhar does not have an actual affiliation with the Confederate Army due to his high social rank, he does have a prideful obsession with pursuing glory; he only desires the praise that comes with differentiating himself from the rest.Peyton Farquhar is illustrated as a â€Å"well-to-do planter, of an old and highly respected Alabama family. † All of the joys associated with wealth, property, and political power are his, thus he yearns to be recognized as going the extra mile. The simple phrase â€Å"opportunity for distinction† summarizes the meaning behind his quest for even more fame. Peyton will use all res ources available to accomplish this desire. When the â€Å"larger than life† soldier, Peyton Farquhar, is sitting with his wife on his property, an exciting opportunity presents itself following a conversation with a Confederate soldier in disguise.Farquhar is tempted to pursue an honorable act, and that he does. After the soldier explains the situation, Farquhar smiles as he ponders the opportunity, â€Å"Suppose a man—a civilian and student of hanging – should elude the picket post and perhaps get the better of the sentinel . . . what could he accomplish? † The chance of delaying the northern troops is too great a temptation for Peyton to resist. The conceited politician reveals his true pursuit: glory and honor. The wealthy civilian immediately decides to burn the bridge.Farquhar may have better protected his livelihood had he not been so enthused to destroy the bridge. As it turns out, â€Å"That opportunity, he felt, would come, as it comes to all i n war time. Meanwhile he did what he could. No service was too humble for him to perform in aid of the South, no adventure too perilous for him to undertake if consistent with the character of a civilian who was at heart a soldier†. So great was his devotion to the South and his chase for prominence that nothing could get in his way. Armed with a plethora of pride and a fearless spirit, Farquhar is apprehended while attempting to destroy the bridge.The reader is continually reminded of Farquhar’s bravado. He perceives himself well in every aspect that defines a superior human. During the period Farquhar constructs from imagination his escape, while he in is the creek, he praises his accurate shooting. While his method is very sly, upon further investigation it is also very boastful. â€Å"He observed that it was a grey eye and remembered having read that grey eyes were keenest, and that all famous marksmen had them. Nevertheless, this one had missed. † Early in t he story Bierce specifically recognizes that Farquhar has grey eyes.Though it be discreet, it is yet another charge in favor of his selfish pride. The physical features of a man in his mid-thirties are not expected to be pristine, although Farquhar would qualify as an exception. Specific detail is added in two paragraphs deciphering every aspect of his superiority. It is comical that Farquhar is simply experiencing a daydream. Nonetheless, minute details are thought up in his head. â€Å"He was now in full possession of his physical senses. They were, indeed, preternaturally keen and alert.Something in the awful disturbance of his organic system had so exalted and refined them that they made record of things never before perceived. He felt ripples upon the face . . . saw the individual trees, the leaves and veining of each leaf—saw the very insects upon them . . . The humming of the knats that danced above the eddies. † The details may have been so easily described due to a mass of emotions rushing through the brain of the one to be executed, but a large piece of boastfulness again presents itself by the confidence and belief Farquhar still possesses at this point.

Hospice and Palliative Care Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 6

Hospice and Palliative Care - Essay Example According to the discussion the data was collected, taking into consideration what would be applicable for the client ´s care in a delicate manner. It was collected at the Hospice of Central Ohio and at the Palliative Care of Central Ohio. The information was gathered from the centers. The objectives of these organizations are to work closely with the death processes and all of those involved with it. The target audience is everyone that is involved with the dying processes.From this paper it is clear that the services rendered by these organizations are covered by Medicaid and Medicare benefits and most of them provide insurance. These two organizations are non-profit organizations. These services are related to the course because they provides help and they want to improve the society by informing it of death issues, services and ways in which they are able to assist their dying loved one and ways in which they are able to overcome the death loss. The strengths of these organizat ions are that they provide support to the client and their families, such as, how to cope with illnesses. They also ensure that the clients and their famillies are receiving the best possible care. The possible weaknesses are that they may not be available during their entire grieving process. They may, however, be referred to other specialists that may help them for a longer period of time.  On an overall basis, the assessment of these services are positive. There are 200 trained volunteers.  

Analysis of Marketing Mix Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words - 1

Analysis of Marketing Mix - Research Paper Example The marketing strategy of a business organization is seen to be embedded in its marketing mix decisions. The marketing mix is a set of marketing tools that the firm uses to pursue its objectives in the target market. McCarthy classified these four broad groups that he called the four Ps of marketing: product, price, promotion, and place (Kotler 2003). Qantas (an acronym for Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Services) is the world's second oldest continuously running independent and Australia's largest airline. The firm traces its roots in November 1920 when it operated air mail services subsidized by the Australian government. Through the years, the airline has significantly developed and evolved into an international carrier. With its fleet of 200 aircraft, Qantas flies to more than 80 destinations in about 40 countries and to some 20 cities in Australia (Qantas 2006). During the fiscal year ended June 2005, the company reported $9,632.1 million in total revenue representing double-digit annual growth of 23.0%. Out of this huge revenue, profits realized $579.5 net profit. The airline currently employs 38,000 employees to man its various business operations. It should be noted that the number of employees has increased by 12.2% from the previous year. This significantly indicates Qantas' aggressive expansion (Hoover 2006). Currently, Qantas continues to be one of the market leaders in the global air transportation industry. Its main international hubs are Sydney Kingsford-Smith airport and Melbourne International Airport, followed by Singapore Changi Airport. However, Qantas operates a significant amount of international flights into and out of Los Angeles International Airport, London Heathrow, Brisbane International Airport, Tokyo Narita Airport, and Perth International Airport. Its domestic hubs are Sydney, Melbourne, and Brisbane airports, but the company also has a strong presence in Perth, Adelaide, Cairns and Canberra Airports (Qantas 2006). This impressive performance of Qantas, which makes it the world's leading long distance airline and one of Australia's strongest brands, can be directly attributed to its well-laid marketing strategy. Included in these are the crucial decisions on product, price, promotion, and place. Qantas, as an airline, is primarily involved in offering passenger transportation and air freight to its market. However, we can see that the product portfolio of Qantas also includes other associated business operations like in-flight catering, and holiday and travel operations (Qantas website 2006).

The concept of Deterrence Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

The concept of Deterrence - Essay Example There are a number of hindrances to deterrence, for example, the level of literacy to the group being deterred can cause a major challenge. Another challenge as Bunn put it that, deterrence to a certain extent towards the non-state actors/terrorists could be seen as an oxymoron, because of their suicidal nature (Bunn, p.4). Looking back at the situation during the cold war deterrence was not a very useful strategy. Evidenced by Almog in his article, US and Soviet Union both used deterrence against each other but failed to prevent the Korean War and Vietnam War (5). He further goes ahead and explains that deterrence can work against non-state actors. For example he gives the situation in Israel where deterrence has worked for over 50yrs and still practiced successfully (6). Almog suggest that for the war on deterrence to be effective it requires: inducements that turn emerging terrorists away from their vicious impulses (6).It is possible to deter rogue states and groups since their l eadership is dedicated to staying in power. Group assessment on specific actors has to be carried in order to provide information and analysis to be used in tailoring deterrence on each actor. To deter the enemy must perceive the ally as having the capability and will to carry out the threatened actions (Bunn 5). This is why the US is putting place strategies to strengthen its credibility across the spectrum and a series of deterrence options to act against its adversaries.This statement indeed applies to the modern strategic environment.... Group assessment on specific actors has to be carried in order to provide information and analysis to be used in tailoring deterrence on each actor. To deter the enemy must perceive the ally as having the capability and will to carry out the threatened actions (Bunn 5). This is why the US is putting place strategies to strengthen its credibility across the spectrum and a series of deterrence options to act against its adversaries. Conclusion Looking at the article in this essay it is evident that as much as terrorist group may have beliefs that encourage suicide and martyrdom, it is still possible to investigate and target what such groups value most and tailor make an effective deterrence strategy, just as Bunn put it (1). Therefore we can conclude that deterrence can be used against non-state actors as a military strategy although it faces some limitations. War termination Introduction Davis Hanson exposes the modern wars â€Å"messy, confused, and non-traditional, but from his po int of view, â€Å"victory† is a timeless military reality of making an enemy concede through force and diplomacy to your political objectives.†Ã‚   (National Review Online, 22 September 2010). This statement indeed applies to the modern strategic environment. Why the concept of victory is less relevant in today’s strategic environment The earlier concept of ‘victory’ as historian Davis Hanson put it that â€Å"†¦is a timeless military reality of making enemies concede through force and diplomacy to your political objectives.†Ã‚   (National Review Online, 22 September 2010).  For example ever since World War I, the disintegration of empires has produced over one hundred new states in the international system, and with this has come more turmoil. Additionally, at

Trading decisions of individual investors Evidence of psychological Essay

Trading decisions of individual investors Evidence of psychological biases - Essay Example The Common Stock Investment Performance of Individual Investors†, Barber and Odean (2000). Barber and Odean (2000) studied data of stock market transactions undertaken by 78,000 households, from January 1991 to December 1996. Under the overconfidence model, investors who are overconfident about executing a profitable trade will trade more frequently in the market, and because much of their market action will be based on emotion (overconfidence) rather than deliberate and pragmatic study, their trades will be of lower expected utility. The resulting net return of households with high turnover will be inferior to those less frequently traded accounts. By comparison, the rational expectation framework of Grossman and Stiglitz posit that when investors trade, it is because they perceive that the marginal benefit they will realize is greater than the marginal cost they will incur. Since such investors trade only when such opportunity presents itself, which probably will be as often as not, then the rational investor transacts less frequently, incurring a lower aggregate transaction cost. The study discovered that households that have lower turnover (and thus traded less frequently) had larger accounts that those households that had higher turnover. This may be explained by the fact that investors who trade less frequently are longer-term investors whose objective in entering the market is for capital appreciation rather than the â€Å"quick buck†. They will tend to select stocks of â€Å"blue chip†, investor, quality, and to maintain that position for years. The earlier investigation done by Odean (1998) sought to discover whether or not individual investors tended to maintain a losing position too long and, conversely, close out on their gaining stocks too soon. This has direct bearing on the Prospect Theory by Kahneman and Tversky (1979), originally conceived as a

Basic Economics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Basic Economics - Essay Example The next step of the decision making model is to explore alternative options or solutions. Decision makers always face some challenges at the time of taking decisions. Decision makers are required to have some alternatives, which influences their decisions. The forth step of the decision making model is to make prediction for the future consequences. Prediction is important for decision makers to be prepared for the future. The fifth step is to prepare and make a selection of all the outcomes of the model and last and very important is to execute a sensitivity analysis for ensuring that decisions are made on the basis of analysis. For instance, absence of any step in the procedure of decision making will be accountable for inappropriate analysis of a situation, which will be accountable for making unsuitable decision by managers leading to losses in businesses (Samuelson and Marks 7-14). Marginal analysis is an important factor in managerial economics for the managerial decision making. There are several advantages of marginal analysis in the business as well as individual life. Marginal analysis helps to maintain the balances among the desire of individual needs and business needs. A firm is benefited from marginal analysis in the procedure of decision making, so that business operations can be conducted systematically. Additionally, marginal analysis aids policy makers of firms for managing the resources in a proper manner (Samuelson and Marks 29-75). The marginal cost is the additional cost, which occurs at the time of production. Marginal cost includes the extra cost of labour and materials cost. On the other hand, marginal revenue is the additional profits earn by a firm at the time of surplus sale of products. Marginal revenue aids a company in performing business operations in a better competitive nature. Marginal analysis is mainly calculated at the time of additional turnover. In this

Ethical Problems in Mass Media Essay Example for Free

Ethical Problems in Mass Media Essay Virtuous decisions of photographers Publishing photographs that show personal tragedy and are questionable in their moral standards with those concerning privacy and those about inflicting additional harm on victims can be supported by Aristotles Virtue Ethics. This should be supported because, as a news organization, photographing what is seen shows the magnitude of the situation and documents as it happened. The publication of graphic material such as was seen in the Bakersfield Californian. Photographer John Harte snapped eight frames after he responded to a all on the police scanner reporting a drowning. He arrived at a lake northeast of Bakersfield, California to the scene of divers still looking for a drowning victim. When the body of five-year-old Edward Romero was brought to shore a few minutes later, Harte went against what most of the other photojournalists and television crew did, which was opt out, and took photographs of the body while the family members, who were on the lake shore, began to grieve. His editor, Robert Bentley, made the decision to run the photograph. The ethical question that surfaced when the public reacted to he photograph was to run personal tragedy photographs and exposing more grief on family members of the boy. Aristotles cardinal virtues of Justice, prudence, temperance and courage support what Harte and Bentley did when they ran the photograph of the boy. Hartes decision to take the photograph shows courage because he did it to the best of his own moral standing. This isnt the first time photographs that have been graphic and showing personal tragedy have been published. In A State of Emergency, photojournalist Gabriele Stabile took photographs in March 2009. That month, a wave of spring thunderstorms flooded Gazas unpaved streets and blew down relief tents for families displaced by Cast Lead (2011). The reason why the photographs were published and defended through the virtue theory is because people from everywhere can relate to this: seeing a grown man crying is always heartbreaking, especially if its someone whose daily challenges are far tougher than the ones we experience (2011). Furthermore, not only is the media used in newspapers but in courtrooms as well, which documents graphic scenes of the crime scene and victims as well. Although the use of such imagery has become the norm, the prejudicial nature of this evidence continues to be a contested issue in courtrooms across America. Criminal defense attorneys routinely submit motions in limine to restrict or exclude crime scene photos on the grounds they put undue focus on the victim and generate sympathy. Civil defense attorneys submit similar motions, positing that such evidence, which may be relevant for determining damages, has an improper impact on Jurors assessments of liability. Under both circumstances, Judges exercise their discretion nd usually allow the Jury to see some, if not all, of the images (2009). This shows that the Judges using the virtue theory have to decide whether it is 0K to show published photographs of the crime scene and victims that have been harmed, or it they avoid snowing it at all because ot the lawyers arguments tor or against it. Most of the time, the Judge will choose to show some, if not all, of the images. This example is included because Judges are like photographers in that they want the whole story shown and they want to be the communicator in getting Justice r awareness out to the population, no matter how graphic the material is. Counterarguments/refutation People have disagreed in that they take the utilitarianism theory approach which states that it minimizes harm and reduces suffering. Many would argue that publishing photographs that are graphic have caused the family more harm and increased their suffering by having their grief made public. An example of this would be when Ki-Sak Han was pushed in front of subway train and when his body was brought back onto the platform, many photographers started snapping pictures of the body. Many photo takers have been desensitized by watching the traditional news media do unseemly things, such as stick a microphone in the face of a distraught person to probe their feelings. In the case of subway victim Han, many people would be morally offended that others snapped pictures Just after his death (2012). The reason why people get offended with personal tragedy photographs is, We think, What if that were someone in my family? (2012). It causes more pain on the family from a utilitarianism point of view. Not only is it personal tragedy photographs that raises peoples hackles but hotographs that are graphic in the case of photographer Sandy Felsenthal who was a former photographer for The Commercial Appeal. Felsenthal exhibited 35 photographs on the newspaper lobby walls before nine non-news employees objected to the display as trash. The photographs that were labeled offensive included two male bikers kissing, a Ku Klux Klan rally, an interracial couple, a punk rockers throat in action and semi-nude dancers with their backs turned (1983). The photographs were graphic and not directly dealing with personal tragedy but more aboo practices in those times. It can be argued from a virtuous standpoint that he was capturing everyone to document in the news but the utilitarianism standpoint would counter-argue that he had caused suffering to those he photographed by exposing them and to those that had seen his photographs displayed before it was taken down. The best way to sum this up comes from Ralph Beddard who states: It is therefore the use to which the photographic image may be put which should concern civil liberty activists. Human rights violations are likely to arise where the use is not the ne originally envisaged. Everyone, in the liberty of private life, should be allowed to act in any way which he or she chooses provided that this is within the law and the tenets of public morality. If such conduct is captured on a photograph which is publicized to the world at large, or to any particular named person, it could well prove to be humiliating or embarrassing. Whilst it is important to be oversensitive to the fleeting inhibitions or vanities of the individual, it is essential that such technology should not be used to rob any person of the sense of personal integrity nd security for which rights of privacy are framed. The value and utility which the photograph adds to the freedom and security of society as a whole must always be measured against the encroachment on the security ot litestyle ot the law-abiding person. In short, we must be aware of the inhibiting role of surveillance. The comment that the camera only sees what the human eye could see, even if correct, is not a satisfactory response. One does not want everyone to see what one is doing all the time (1995). What this is saying is that capturing someones grief for the world to see is nvading their privacy and although the photographer can see exactly what is happening, it does not mean that everyone wants to see someone suffering or graphic photographs of a child drowned or a man hit by a subway. It also states that the value and utility must be measured against whether it causes an encroachment on the family members left behind by the tragedy that have to deal with the world knowing of their personal loss. The virtue theory defends photographers and their editors decision to publish photographs, that are often graphic, of personal tragedy. This is based on their good ntentions to record the truth as to what they see and to also bring about awareness to situations through capturing moments for the population to see. The utilitarian would argue that publishing such photographs would not help the families or people suffering from personal tragedy but cause them more harm in broadcasting to the world of their loss and causing more suffering on them that has now been published for the world to see. Although both arguments are valid, the virtue theory is one that most photographers would follow because it is not them trying to cause more suffering to he people suffering from a personal tragedy but more for them to bring awareness to the community.