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The idea of equality of the sexes in Latin America is a relatively new phenomen ...

The idea of equality of the sexes in Latin America is a relatively new phenomena. Until the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century, the time period of Love in the Time of Cholera, women were predominantly treated as the inferior sex. Therefore, women were also often excluded from taking part in public life like their male counterparts in areas such as those pertaining to politics, economics, and education. Although women of the time period do not enjoy the same social freedom of their male counterparts, Gabriel García Márquez in his novel Love in the Time of Cholera does not portray women as oppressed. Rather, Márquez portrays several of his female characters as strong, resourceful, and independent individuals. This is particularly evident in how the novel presents Fermina Daza in her marriage to Dr. Juvenal Urbino as a strong, independent woman who is the intellectual equal of her husband.

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Despite not having received the same level of education as her husband, Fermina demonstrates that she is still the intellectual equal of her husband by outsmarting his rules. Unlike Fermina, who never finishes her studies nor receives her baccalaureate degree, Urbino "had completed advanced studies in medicine and surgery" to the point that "none of his contemporaries seemed as rigorous and as learned as he in his science" (Márquez 105). Yet, Urbino comes to appreciate his wife's abundant domestic knowledge and skills after she becomes "tired of his lack of understanding" and "asked him for an unusual birthday gift: that for one day he would take care of the domestic chores" (Márquez 222). Through the course of her birthday, Urbino demonstrates himself to be completely helpless regarding domestic knowledge and skills so that Fermina must resume command of the house prior to lunch. Regardless of his claims that Fermina would equally struggle to cure the sick, both Urbino and Fermina learn from this experience that each must appreciate the other's unique knowledge and skills. Similarly, after discovering a discrepancy in Urbino's proclamation that "nothing that does not speak will come into [their] house", resourcefully Fermina discovers and then buys a royal Paramaribo parrot, who speaks in a voice seemingly human (Márquez 23). Thus, Urbino "bowed to the ingenuity of his wife" and recognizes that she is capable of outsmarting him and his rules (Márquez 23). Therefore, by outsmarting Urbino's rules Fermina demonstrates that despite her lacking as advanced tutelage as her husband received, she is still his intellectual equal and he should appreciate her as such.

Fermina's strong character and resolve is most evident in her determination and refusal to let others, particularly her husband, influence her choices or make decisions for her. This is clearly seen when she decides to leave and go live with her cousin Hildebranda after she becomes aware that Urbino is having an affair. Since Urbino "knew the strength of her character very well", he simply "accepted her decision with humility" (Márquez 235). However, this does not prevent Urbino from seeking to persuade Fermina in her decisions, especially using the intervention of religious authority figures. However, instead of swaying her in favor of Urbino and his ideas, the involvement of religious authority figures in Urbino's and Fermina's relationship makes her even more adamant in her own opinions and choices. This is particularly evident prior to their courtship, when Urbino's last resort in wooing Fermina "was the mediation of Sister Franca de la Luz, Superior of the Academy" (Márquez 125). Since Fermina hates her, she becomes outraged and becomes increasingly more vehement in her refusal to speak with Urbino. Similarly, this occurs when Urbino sends the Bishop of Riohacha "on a pastoral visit" to Fermina while she is living with Hildebranda in order to convince her to return home to him (Márquez 236). Rather than give Urbino the satisfaction of her giving in to his request, Fermina "refused in an amiable but firm manner" when the Bishop asks to hear her confession "with the explicit argument that she had nothing to repent of" (Márquez 236). She does not allow her decision to be influenced by the Bishop, but does leave with Urbino when he visits only because "she would be happy to leave with him" (Márquez 254). This can also be seen during their honeymoon in how, although Fermina wanted to turn on the light in their suite, "she wanted to be the one to do it, without anyone's ordering her to, and she had her way" (Márquez 158). Overall, Fermina is a strong character who does not allow others, especially her husband, to persuade her or make decisions for her, instead choosing what she wants or what is most beneficial to her.

Although Fermina Daza is dependent upon her husband like most women of her time, her husband is equally if not more dependent upon her. This is particularly evident after their golden wedding anniversary, when both "were not capable of living for an instant without the other... and that capacity diminished as their age increased" (Márquez 26). However, neither Fermina nor Urbino "could have said if their mutual dependence was based on love or convenience" (Márquez 26). Urbino's dependence on Fermina is best illustrated through his need for her to care for him in his old age. Since Urbino is ten years older than Fermina, as he grows older he continually becomes weaker leaving Fermina as the strongest of the pair. At first, Fermina simply assists her husband with tasks such as bathing and dressing out of love, but for the last five years of Urbino's life "she had been obliged to do it regardless of the reason because he could not dress himself" (Márquez 26). As Urbino declines in health with his increasing age, he increasingly comes to depend upon Fermina in order to live. Basically, Urbino depends on Fermina more than Fermina depends on him.

Despite Fermina's seeming dependence on Urbino for stability and companionship, she is still very independent minded. Unlike many other women of her time, she is independent in how she does not necessarily rely on her husband for a place to live. This can be seen in how Fermina "threatened to move back to her father's old house, which still belonged to her" during the escalating argument between herself & Urbino over whether or not there is any soap in the bath (Márquez 29). This is also demonstrated when she leaves and goes to live with her cousin Hildebranda after she becomes aware that Urbino is having an affair. However, her independence is most clearly illustrated in how Fermina continues living after Urbino's sudden death. Despite his fear of any possible pain associated with death, "what worried Dr. Urbino most about dying was the solitary life Fermina Daza would lead without him" (Márquez 45). However, Urbino's fear is unfounded because "from her first moment as a widow, it was obvious that Fermina Daza was not as helpless as her husband had feared" (Márquez 46). When Fermina's son suggests his wife should accompany her on her riverboat journey, Fermina says that she is "too big to have anyone take care of [her]" (Márquez 325). Unlike her husband, Fermina is independent and does not need anyone to take care of nor provide for her.

Fermina's marriage to Urbino reveals that she is a strong, independent woman who is the intellectual equal of her husband. Urbino depends on Fermina more than Fermina depends on him since she does not need anyone to take care of nor provide for her. Despite her lack of as advanced tutelage as her husband received, by outsmarting Urbino's rules Fermina demonstrates she is still his intellectual equal and that he should appreciate her as such. In addition, Fermina is a strong character since she does not allow others, especially her husband, to persuade her or make decisions for her, instead choosing what she wants or what is most beneficial to her. Overall, by presenting Fermina Daza in her marriage to Dr. Juvenal Urbino as a strong, independent woman who is the intellectual equal of her husband, Márquez in his novel Love in the Time of Cholera does not portray women as oppressed but rather as quite equal to their male counterparts.


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Table of contentsNature of the BusinessVision/Mission/ObjectivesCulture and Mana ...

Table of contents

  1. Nature of the Business
  2. Vision/Mission/ObjectivesCulture and Management StyleRelevant Background/HistoryStructureAn Organisation chart/ The Structure of your Department/ The Reporting StructureThe Title of Those With Whom You WorkYour ResponsibilitiesAny Relationships With Government/ Political AspectsThe marketplace / Market share / CompetitorsThe Legal PositionCollaborations / Joint ventures global company? Local versus international

Nature of the Business

Established in 1832 Fernite have built up a world-class notoriety as a maker of machine blades. Fernite of Sheffield Limited are machine knife manufacturers and steel stockholders selling Spring steel strip and specialising in supplying small quantities of steel to small and medium sized businesses. Fernite is involved in the food, printing, packaging, plastics and recycling industries, supplying world leading brands with high quality products. There are four divisions of the company, Print Blade, Fernite machine knives, BSS Spring Steel Strip and AF Whiteley Granulator blades.

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Machine knives are used in production processes which involve any form of cutting operation. Granulator blades are used in the recycling and plastics industries for size reduction, doctor blades are used in industrial printing machinery.

Spring steel strip is used in a variety of applications including tool making, spring forming, cutlery making and medical tools.

Vision/Mission/Objectives

Fernite of Sheffield Limited believe in building a great UK manufacturing business. They aim to be the favourite supplier of their customers but also they believe in manufacturing great products with friendly and reliable service. To do so, they put a lot of effort into customer support so that the customers get the best service when it comes to reliability and also problem-solving, responding to the issues the customers’ experience. Another thing that the company aims for is building a great place to work for its employees so that they can enjoy working in the environment that surrounds them. Also, the company invests in new technology and it aims to continue doing that and even investing in upgrading the existing technology. Fernite are proud of what they do, because the manufacture only quality products that make them reflect the other companies in the industry.

Fernite’s vision statement is: "We believe in building a great UK manufacturing business, recognized as our customers’ favorite supplier, manufacturing great quality products with a friendly, reliable service. Fernite will be a great place to work for great employees, generating a sustainable profit"

Culture and Management Style

Fernite of Sheffield Limited is an exporting company that serves markets all over the world including, Europe, United States of America, Asia, Australia and many more. They have a problem-solving culture which means that if a customer has a problem with a blade, they will do their best to solve it – whether that is a problem with cutting performance, lead time or durability.

Fernite is a passionate company that has belief, energy and enthusiasm to be the best in everything the company does. The company invests not only in technology but also in its team. Recently Fernite expanded its team with four new roles which are ‘Group Operations Manager’, ‘Group Technical Manager’, ‘Production Engineer’ and ‘Marketing Executive’.

When it comes to technology Fernite has recently invested in two new machines. One of them is a packing machine for the warehouse which has made dispatching products quicker and cheaper. The other new machine is XYZ 1020 VMC which is CNC Vertical Machining Center. The vertically oriented spindles of that machine approach mounted on their table pieces. Because the machine was solid build it can cut heavy and faster with higher precision. It is similar to some of the older machines in the factory but it is newer upgraded version of them, also it has a user friendly interface which makes the machine easy to use for the operaters.

Fernite invests in its employees and engages them with the values and objectives of the company. Team leaders are trained in team management and are given responsibility and freedom to run their own departments.

Relevant Background/History

The City of Sheffield’s proud relationship with cutlery making started in the fifteenth century and this is the time when Sheffield first received its charter. In the centuries that followed, the impressive reputation of the city continued to flourish. By the middle 1600s, the city's notoriety for producing the finest cutlery in England was great to the point that Chaucer even alludes to it in 'The Canterbury Tales'.

What enabled Sheffield to become plainly a world pioneer in the steel industry was its capacity to exploit progressive advances in metallurgy. From the mid-eighteenth century onwards, these prompted incredible advances in the cutlery creation forms utilized as a part of the city.

The invention of the Bessemer convertor and the Huntsman’s technique were two of the main reasons that caused Sheffield to turn from a small town into one of the leading industrial cities in Europe.

Before the creation of the open hearth furnace the Bessemer convertor was known to be the first cheap industrial way for the massive production of steel from pig iron. Being blown through the molten iron by oxidation with air, the impurities were removed from the iron which is the most important principle.

Furnace fired from coke capable of reaching 1,600 degrees Celsius was used by the Huntsmen’s technique. This furnace had room for twelve pots or so called clay crucibles and each of that pots was able to hold fifteen kilograms of iron. Before cooling, a crystal structure was produced from the completed melting of the steel, which after cooling gave increased strength and hardness of the steel compared to the other steel that has been made at that time.

Cauldron steel and silver plating made immense measures of riches here - at any rate for the prosperous steel producers. Then again, conditions for most working individuals were poor, with congestion, uncontrolled contamination from processing plants and foundries, and illness.

Fernite of Sheffield Limited is one of the oldest producers of machine knives in the world. It was founded in 1832 under the name Fearnehough and Sons Limited by Joseph Fearnehough.

Under the heading of Joseph and his family the company advanced through variety of changes such as changing its name to ‘Fernite’ which was actually derived from the surname of its founder. Fernite is a trademark which speaks for the genuine Sheffield quality in the making of machine knives. The organization moved to Darnall in 1969 which is its present site and in 1996 the Fearnehough and Sons Ltd. organization changed its name to the brand Fernite. The 'Made in Sheffield' marque is respected throughout the UK and across the world for excellence in manufacturing, and Fernite of Sheffield Limited carries that marque because each Fernite item is made in Sheffield. Fernite has a fine legacy, impeccable notoriety and developing relationships with clients around the world, which gladly keeps on being thrived and maintained by the organization.

Structure

Fernite is a private limited company, owned by the Managing Director. The company has 37 employees.

The structure of the company Fernite of Sheffield Limited is based on teams. The teams are as follow:

  • Team Dispatch
  • Team Production
  • Team Sales
  • Technical Team
  • Operations Team
  • Management Team

Each team is headed up by a team leader, who is responsible for running their section of the business. Team leaders have been trained in people management, and organizing their departments to run efficiently.

Overall my opinion is that the company has clear vision and objectives about that what they want to achieve. This combined with their history and the way they value and appreciate their customers will help them grow in future.

An Organisation chart/ The Structure of your Department/ The Reporting Structure

The members of the shop floor teams ‘Dispatch’ and the two ‘Production’ teams report to their team leaders. Then the team leaders give reports to the ‘Operations manager’ who later on reports to the ‘Managing Director’.

The people under the job titles ‘Accounts’ and ‘Steel Sales’ together with the ‘Marketing Executive’, ‘Senior Customer Service Executive’ and the ‘Customer Service Executive’ report to the ‘Sales Manager’. Then the ‘Sales Manager reports to the ‘Managing Director’.

The people under the job titles ‘Technical Sales Engineer’, ‘Production Engineer’ together with the people under the job title ‘Maintenance Technician’ report to the ‘Technical Manager’ who reports to the ‘Managing Director’.

The Title of Those With Whom You Work

My role in the business is Software Developer. My job involves working closely with the Managing Director of Fernite of Sheffield Limited and the management team. The members of the management team have the following titles:

  • Managing Director, who has overall responsibility for the running of the business and its strategy.
  • Group Sales Manager who is responsible for the sales team, developing relationships with customers and exploring new markets in the UK and overseas in order to expand the company’s reach.
  • Group Operations Manager responsible for the running of the factory and managing Fernite’s operations.
  • Group Technical Manager responsible for optimizing Fernite’s processes, cutting production lead times and taking care for the best use of the technology on the shop floor.

My job often involves working with the Senior Customer Service Executive, Steel Sales Engineer, Warehouse Team Leader and Production Team Leader. The tasks you have to carry out/ How they relate to the overall objectives of the organization.

As part of the Fernite team my job involves designing and developing software helping Fernite to automate some of its processes. So far I have created two software applications.

One of those two applications is involved in Fernite’s sales department, and it is used by the sales team.

Its purpose is to increase the sales of Laser Cut parts by speeding up the sales process of those type of jobs, enabling the sales executives to come up with a price for the customer regarding his query a lot faster than before. By filling just a small amount of detail using the software, the sales executive will have the chance to form an enquiry just with a couple of buttons because the software itself has the logic needed for the creation of such enquiry build in it. This means that once the required information is provided the software will generate the enquiry automatically instead of the sales executive doing it manually.

The software is created with VisualBasic.NET programming language and is WindowsForm application with a user-friendly design and easy to navigate between the different windows or so-called forms. The windows application provides you with two options either to use a specific type of text file sent by the customer or manually fill couple boxes with information provided by the customer over the phone in case he does not have the needed file. In order to achieve that, the software does a lot of interacting with the databases of the company. That means that there is a lot of queries such as ‘Insert’, ‘Update’ and ‘Select’ queries. Such queries are use to either store, update or export data.

The other piece of software is related to the managing the priority jobs on the shop floor. I was set the task of developing a piece of software that would display a list of urgent tasks for each operation in the factory, to improve flow of work through the factory and ensure orders are completed on time.

It is a table containing information about the open and active jobs on the shop floor. The application is exporting accurate data from the live database using SQL queries and it is displaying the jobs for each work centre location on the shop floor sorted by the date they are due to be out. Not only this, but also it is prioritizing the jobs so that the team at each location knows which operation to start first. This means that if a job has a higher priority set to it, the row of the table containing information about that job will change its colour. This will point that it is urgent this job to be finished and I should be started as soon as possible. Since the application is WindowsForm based application created with VisualBasic.Net. The extracted data is displayed in customized DataGridView available from the Toolbox located in the designer tab.

This is going to help Fernite manage its orders better without any delays, which means that number of late jobs is going to decrease drastically leading to the company keeping to its deadlines and reducing lead times for customers.

Your Responsibilities

My responsibilities involve updating and providing support for the existing software of the company which means that every time a software fails either with the exporting data from the database or something else it is my responsibilities to clear the error and make sure it does not appear again. Another responsibility I have to carry out is taking care for the databases so that are not interrupted by fault data and also designing new databases.

Also, another responsibility of mine on a daily basis is providing IT support for the computer technology around the factory. This means that that if there is a problem with one of the printers in the office or with the computers it is my responsibility to take care of the issue. I have assisted with installation of new PCs and configuring them when new members of staff have joined the company.

Common enquiries I deal with include network connection problems, hardware troubleshooting and maintenance, assisting colleagues with software enquiries, cable management and assistance with the accessing information from the company databases.

Any Relationships With Government/ Political Aspects

Fernite is an exporting business that is reporting sales and exporting to the government.

Political aspects include payment of necessary tariffs and duties on imports and exports set by Governments. The country’s custom authorities collect those type of payments called import duties on the imports and on some exports, usually based on the value of the imported goods.

Fernite is a member of the local chamber of commerce, a network of businesses which provides support, advice and a voice for business in the region. The Chamber of Commerce interacts with local, regional and national Governments on behalf of its members.

The managing director must also report statistics to the UK Government. This allows Government statisticians to calculate the growth in the economy and individual sectors.

With the use of commodity codes which are codes that refer to the Harmonized System which is the Harmonized Commodity Description and Coding system, the Governments and organisations that are not governmental monitor controlled products. Also for tax purposes thanks to the commodity codes they are able to identify goods. Another thing that the commodity codes are used for is implementation of the price and quota regulations on exports and imports.

The company is an ISO 9001 accredited company, which means they comply with internationally recognised standards. The main purpose of using this standard is to increase the satisfaction of the customers when quality products are delivered.

The marketplace / Market share / Competitors

Machine knives are used in production lines and industrial machinery to perform cutting operations.

Fernite serves markets all over the world including Europe, United States of America, Asia, Australia and many more. There are four divisions of the company and they are:

  • Print Blade takes care of the production of doctor blades.
  • Fernite is a machine knives manufacturer.
  • BSS is a steel stockholder of Spring Steel Strip.
  • AF Whiteley takes care for the granulator blades.

With the four divisions of the company covering different aspects of the steel industry, Fernite is able to specialise and compete in different markets.

Most of the Print Blade’s customers are foreign companies mainly located in Europe and Asia, while most of the AF Whiteley’s customers are United Kingdom companies. When it comes to Fernite and BSS they are very well known with customers all over the world.

Fernite as manufacturer of a quality products is more concerned to strengthen its position on the quality markets rather than the quantity ones.

As China and other Asian countries have captured the cheaper end of the global steel market, Sheffield and UK companies have focused on producing higher value products which require precision or advanced engineering.

Fernite manufactures in the UK using high quality European steel. This means their products are marketed on quality rather than competing on price and many of Fernite’s competitors are UK or European based companies as well.

The Legal Position

Fernite of Sheffield Ltd is a private limited company. This means the company is a legal entity in itself and the owners have limited liability - - meaning they are not personally liable for its debts.

Limited Companies have certain restrictions on its ownership while its shareholders have legal protection. The restrictions are preventing any hostile takeover attempts and usually they are defined in the bylaws or regulations of the company. The following are some of the major ownership restrictions:

  • Without offering their shares to the other shareholders, a shareholder cannot sell his shares.
  • Shares cannot be offered over stock exchange to the public by its shareholder
  • There is a fixed figure for shareholders which cannot be exceeded.

Collaborations / Joint ventures global company? Local versus international

Fernite had worked with market researchers and export specialists at the UK Government’s Department of International Trade. This department helps businesses grow and export into global markets by giving support and advice on that how the amount of services sold overseas could be increased or to start exporting.

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Fernite operate through distribution networks across the world, with distributors identifying new customers and supplying them with Fernite products.


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Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman is a story about the futility of self-decept ...

Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman is a story about the futility of self-deception, but it also examines the definition of "success" in post-WWII America and the danger of suppressing one's own inclinations to meet the expectations of others. Willy Loman's dismal failure results from delusions and a false sense of entitlement, but those are symptoms of a deeper problem: his desperate attempt to be something he's not. His collapse is balanced by Biff's self-awakening, which questions the strict definitions of success that led to Willy's downfall. In the end, it might be Biff who is the most important character, the only one capable of change. In Biff's willingness to face himself and pursue an alternative to the conventional American Dream, we see the freedom and self-fulfillment that people obsessed with social status can rarely achieve.

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In post-WWII America, people were buying the advertiser's claims that everyone deserved a new car, fancy appliances, and a big house with a white picket fence. The definition of success was being whittled down into a rigid set of parameters. To Willy Loman and his ilk, success wore a business suit and carried a briefcase. Owning a nicer car or house or refrigerator than the neighbors was of paramount importance. Willy embraces these material goals, believing that good looks, luck, and charisma are all it takes to "end with diamonds" (160). Like many contemporary Americans, he lives beyond his means in order to project an illusion of success. Wealth and upward mobility, or at least the appearance of them, are what he is conditioned to pursue.

Despite Willy's grandiose claims, there's a sense that he doesn't belong in the business world: he confesses that "people don't seem to take to me" (116), that people laugh at him, that he talks too much or makes too many jokes. Running beneath all of this are hints of Willy's talent for working with his hands. He puts up a ceiling, installs plumbing, builds a porch and garage and extra bathroom. As Charley comments after the funeral, "he was a happy man with a batch of cement" (206). Biff probably summarizes the situation correctly when he proclaims, "we don't belong in this nuthouse of a city. We should be mixing cement on some open plain, or -- or carpenters. A carpenter is allowed to whistle!" (138). Unfortunately, working with his hands doesn't fit Willy's vision of success. He tells Biff that even his grandfather was better than a carpenter. Willy is so trapped in his desire to impress others, to achieve social status and be "well-liked," that he has suppressed his own natural inclinations and forced himself into a mold that doesn't quite fit. He beats his head against the door of corporate America, scorning the idea of working on a farm, but a glimpse of some inner contradiction is had when he promises Linda, "we're gonna get a little place out in the country, and I'll raise some vegetables, a couple of chickens..." (148). After Willy's funeral, Biff says quietly, "there's more of him in that front stoop than in all the sales he ever made" (106).

Biff's epiphany, near the end of the play, comments strongly on one-size-fits-all notions of the American Dream. After trying to squeeze himself into his father's (and America's) definition of briefcase-carrying success, Biff finally admits that he "don't fit in business" (138), that he's "just what I am, that's all" (201), that the sky and "the work and the food and the time to sit and smoke" (201) are what he loves. He realizes that "all I want is out there, waiting for me the minute I say I know who I am!" (201). He is happiest working as a ranch hand; accepting this fact gives him peace. Perhaps Willy would have found the same peace if he'd traded his suit and shoeshine for a job that utilized his real talents.

Ultimately, Death of a Salesman exposes the pitfalls of conforming to someone else's definition of success. Willy tries so hard to be something he's not that he can no longer face -- or even see -- himself. He totters through a world of lies, permanently lost behind a façade. Biff, however, breaks through the deceptions and restraints to find happiness waiting. His enlightenment forces the audience to contemplate alternative paths to happiness and see that wealth accumulation is not the only marker of success. It gives permission to the Biffs of this world to be Biffs and not Bernards and, most importantly, not to regret it.


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I went to see Fiddler on the Roof presented by El Dorado High School on Saturday ...

I went to see Fiddler on the Roof presented by El Dorado High School on Saturday November 7th at 7:00 pm. The playwright is Sheldon Harnick, the composer is Jerry Bock, and the performance was authorized by Music Theatre International. The play was directed by Katie Banks-Todd who also directed the music. The choreographer was Joshua Larson. The stage construction was by Matt, Guthrie, Evan Unruh, and the EHS Drama Crew. The lighting designer was Arthur Reece. The light board operator was Adam Haines. The costumes were designed by Sharon Funk and Madeline Sammons. The stage manager was Riley Provo. The dance captain was Kylie Gregg.The spot light operators were Erica Sparks and Cherokee Reagan. The lights are accredited to Adam Haines and Nicholas Heilman. The sound is accredited to Evan Unruh and Ridge Towner. The musicians were two pianists, Sharon Bell and Linda Montgomery, a percussionist, Wade Burtchett, and a student violinist, Alli Bieberle.

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The theatre architecture was a wide open stage with a large house that could rotate and open and close. This served as the main setting for the majority of the play. The main characters included Tevye, the father of the family, Golde, Tevye’s wife, Tzeitel, the oldest daughter, Hodel, the second daughter, Chava, the third daughter, Motel, the poor tailor, Lazar Wolf, the butcher, Perchik, the student teacher, and Fyedka, a Russian soldier. The cast includes Clay Voisin as Tevye, Emma Staats as Golde, Abby Staats as Tzeitel, Mary Gomez as Hodel, Ryan Sherman as Chava, Seth Knowles as Motel, Colton Goodon as Lazar Wolf, Matt Heideman as Perchik, and Joey Jones as Fyedka. It was in a musical style with a genre of seriousness and politics. It is structured in two acts each with nine scenes lasting a total of two and a half hours unincluding the intermission. The basis of the story is that Tevye is a father who is a strong upholder of traditions, but has to face the conflicts of his three daughters straying from the path. The setting is the little Russian town of Anatevka in which the Jewish community lives in fear of the Russian military.

The overall themes are still very relatable to a modern day audience. The overarching theme begins with a strong belief in religion. The characters all show great devotion to God, including Tevye, who is constantly shown monologuing a humorous prayer showing his inner turmoil. The second main theme is adhere to tradition and whether or not we should allows follow what has always been done before. For instance, why marry a man you hardly know when you could stray from tradition and marry your best friend? This is relevant to modern day especially with children growing into adult and deciding if they want to continue to live the way their parents taught them to live or if they want to diverge from the path and try something new. The third theme involves family and love. Even when they were forced to leave their village, what family remained tried to protect one another and keep together. In terms of love, there is a scene in which Tevye questions whether love can arise from an arranged marriage such as his own, and in its own way, it did.

The show begins with Tevye and his milk wagon introducing the town and its traditions to the audience. After delivering his wares he meets a young student, Perchik, who is a foreigner with very different views from him. Even so he finds favor with Tevye and Tevye offers him room and board in exchange for teaching his daughters. He returns home to find his wife nagging about how he should visit Lazar Wolf, of whom he is not very fond of. Nevertheless he agrees to visit him later. As they prepare dinner, Tzeitel’s friend Motel arrives after which Tzeitel tries to persuade Motel to ask her dad for permission to marry her. Motel isn’t very fond of this idea just yet but follows along anyway. Motel tries but is too consumed with preparing the Sabbath.

The next scene is a musical number called Sabbath Prayer in which all the family members, Motel, and Perchik, stand around the table and pray. The music grew very mysterious in the way that a church organ fills an entire church but still sounds hollow. The music in Fiddler on the Roof constantly switches between major and minor tonality and this song was no exception. The voices of Tevye and Golde, played by Clay and Emma, really drew me in and for a moment I forgot that I was sitting in the audience and felt as if I was in the scene with them. The atmosphere was really unsettling to the point that you could focus on nothing else but their song. As the piece neared its ending, the other villagers entered the stage holding candles with real flames allowing for the flickering of shadows that added to the atmosphere.

Next Tevye visits Lazar Wolf, who asks him if he could marry his daughter Tzeitel. Tevye, surprised by his misunderstanding, agrees and they both go to celebrate at the local bar. This next scene is my favorite in the film and the live production did it justice. The scene was laid out with two major tables with the Russian soldiers on one side and Tevye and Lazar wolf on the other side. The Russians were sitting on the table and dancing and one of them bumps into Tevye initiating the dance number. The clothing of the Russian soldiers contrasted greatly with the townspeople. The townspeople wore very loosely held together pieces of fabric while the soldiers wore a single piece suit with boots. The soldiers were very fit and athletic, they were doing floor kicks and cartwheels and somersaults.

The soldiers did not speak but communicated through their dance. When Tevye bumped into the star soldier, he began a dance solo and then extended out his hand to Tevye. After taking it, both danced as a pair and moved in a circle around stage. Others joined in creating a multilayer ring system moving in different directions. The soldiers climbed on the table and jumped down and danced towards the townspeople, in which the townspeople walked towards them. In response the soldiers walked backwards and both teams swayed back and forth in this manner multiple times. The scene seemed like it went on for a very long time. I kept expecting it to end but it would just continue until Tevye and Lazar Wolf sounded very drunk.

After learning that she was engaged to Lazar Wolf, Tzeitel revealed her love for Motel in Tevye reluctantly agreed to allow them both to marry. To convince his wife to agree, he devised a dream in which his Grandma prophesied that Tzeitel should marry “the poor tailor Motel Kamzoil.” This scene was the greatest spectacle of the entire show. It included his Grandmother on a tall staircase being spun around and proclaiming to the world that Tzeitel and Lazar Wolf were not meant to be. She had long grey hair and bright white long flowing robes. She almost appeared to play the part of an angry witch much like in the Wizard of Oz. Tevye awoke very started but when his wife went back to sleep he appeared to smile revealing the true nature of the dream.

The next scene that really caught my attention was the Wedding scene in which men and women cannot be on the same side of the room. After much dancing, the men’s side began the famous Bottle Dance but the overall spectacle of it was lacking since they were lacking proper musical suspense and had very little choreography. What really caught my attention was when Perchik crossed into the other side of the room and danced with Hodel. Again Tevye reluctantly agrees stating it would not be pleasant to turn down a dance at this daughter’s wedding. He even tricks the Rabbi into dancing with his daughter went everyone exchanges partners. Eventually there are many pairs of men and women dancing together while the young children on the right protest with appalled faces. Again there was an interweaving of dancers going different directions and spinning and changing partners. It seemed all very festive until the Russian military raids the party and destroys their precious wedding gifts bringing everyone back to reality.

The piano accompanist were both excellent considering the small instrumentation. The percussionist only played the drum set but he was able to heighten the tension with constant bass drum beats or cymbal crashes. The violinist was very young and awfully out of tune. When she played her solo emulating the violin player onstage, she was atleast a whole note away from the pitch of the pianos. It made each of her songs sound very dissonant and unsettling.

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My favorite actor had to be Tevye. With his hair grown out and his very realistic beard, he really lived inside of his part. He looked up to “God” with pain in his eyes as each of his daughters went against his will. His character was very condescending in his prayer monologues often stating the ironic. One of my favorite quotes of his well written wit is that if money is a curse than let God smite me with it. He is the most faithful of the cast often quoting from “the Good Book,” even when he gets the names mixed up. The way that his character feels really resonates with the audience. All of his hardships feel real in a way that makes the audience feel like they are him. His actor, Clay Voisin, portrayed his mixed feelings of love for his daughters and belief in tradition very well. The play lasted a long time, but its overall production value was high enough that I would want to see it a second time. I left the theatre feeling very different about life than when I entered which goes to show just how well the cast was able to portray Tevye and his three daughters’ struggles.


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Since FIFA 19 is about to release, it’s high time we should start figuring out ...

Since FIFA 19 is about to release, it’s high time we should start figuring out which players EA could have considered to be on top-of-the-line. Not to forget, EA has been disappointing us for a long time with its ratings, which are primarily based on reputation instead of skills, and if you’re a fan of Real Madrid, Barcelona, Paris Saint German, you must be aware of how EA plays the rating game. For instance, Kylian Mbappé gained 6 points from FIFA 17 to FIFA 18; mainly, due to his reputation and his transfer to Paris Saint German for extreme money. Respectively, after analyzing all the facts and figures, we have shortlisted Top 5 Overrated Players EA is going to feature in FIFA 19. Let’s have a look:

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Undoubtedly, Luiz Suárez is one of the finest players who has often been featured in headlines. However, the headlines were not always effective. His Football career has been a quick race, following to many incidents, but they all diminished with his incredible performances.

The Uruguayan has played 110 games for Ajax and Liverpool and subsequently scored 81 and 69 goals. That’s some rare stuff, but here comes a curve when he allied with Barcelona where he played 110 games and was only able to score 130 goals. This is unbelievable, and following to that, the goal return ratio continued to fall and then 2018 arrives and we find his legs are working not as good as they used to be couple of years ago.

Therefore, his career seems to be on a declining scale, and respectively EA should reconsider his rating and lower it down from 92 to somewhat below 88 or 89.

It is true Raheem has exceptional speed potential, but this has been much exaggerated for the last 5 years. During his journey for Liverpool, his potential got uncovered and received much media attention. Since then, Raheem moved to Manchester City following the fame, which actually lowered his improvement rate.

Moreover, it’s just recently he has improved his game, and likewise he might add few more goals to his game, but still he’s got much room for improvement. He is good but not the best among all the major Premier League wingers like Wilfried Zaha, Eden Hazard, Sadio Mane, and Leroy Sane. Additionally, his WC performance was admirable but it could’ve been much better if he had taken better decisions.

Therefore, in the light of his past performances, he should not be rated above 85 in the EA FIFA 19.

The Manchester United start Paul Pogba has undoubtedly helped France win 2018 FIFA World Cup, but still he is one of the most overrated players. After the recent performances, his rating seems to jump from 88 to 90 or maybe 91; however, considering his inconsistency in the recent season, he should be rated around 85.

He is similar to Mario Balotelli, and can even outplay anyone on his day, but that day does not come very often. Basically, he is the perfect example of many footballers who are just after money, fame, and Instagram. He is sometimes extraordinary but he is found to be ineffective when compared with center midfield teammates Kevin De Bruyne, Luka Modri?, N'Golo Kanté, and Christian Eriksen. He has all the aspects of being the best but his inconsistency remains prevalent.

Manuel Neuer has indeed been the best goal keeper for the last 5 years, but as of now his performances have declined to a larger extent. The primary reasons behind his downfall are the terrible mistakes he made for the Bayern Munich and Germany. Also, he was undramatic throughout the FIFA 18 Word Cup in which he played 3 games and could only win 1 for his team; therefore, he is no more the best goalkeeper and his rating should be lowered in EA FIFA 19.

Yes, it is happening. The status of being among the best players of the world is gradually diminishing for Lionel Messi. He surely had a great time with Barcelona, for which he scored 34 goals in 36 matches. This is an incredible play and worth all the appreciation, but it is observed that Messi had hardly been effective for the national team, Argentina. He consistently showed up for Barcelona but when it comes to Argentina, he rarely repeats his performances.

Therefore, in FIFA 19 his rating should not be higher than 90 because it would be unfair to other effective players like Mohammad Salah and Kylian Mbappe who are currently in a good position to replace the title of greatest players of the world.


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Table of contentsWhat is a Fifth Wheel Rv?Structure, ChassisConstruction;Size, W ...

Table of contents

  1. What is a Fifth Wheel Rv?
  2. Structure, ChassisConstruction;Size, Weight, Height, LengthTypes of useBest ClimatePros & ConsConsTop 5 Models/brands
  3. Summary

What is a Fifth Wheel Rv?

Fifth wheel can suggest an excellent option that is at the realm of trailers, it alludes to a sort of RV that gives you similar advantages of a bigger model without being an out and out house on wheels. In case you're considering going toward this path and have the privilege towing vehicle like a pickup truck a fifth wheel. If you love going out, away from your own house for some time and still get the convenience to experience your homely features, a great Fifth Wheel Rv can be the best option you have.

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Fifth-wheel units are a prevalent decision in the movement trailer advertise. They get the name from their hitch plan and how it interfaces with the towing vehicle. You require a pickup to pull these trailers to your destination. Also, its most extreme suggested towing weight ought to surpass that of your trailer. Hard core purchaser trucks are evaluated to tow up to 9,000 pounds. You can go a notch higher on the off chance that you get a discretionary towing bundle, which incorporates a transmission and oil cooler

In the event that you are anticipating to purchase a recreational Fifth wheel Rv, it is critical for you to comprehend that the genuine cost of proprietorship goes a long ways past what you pay when you buy one.

It is hard to talk about the budgetary parts of mentor proprietorship in light of the fact that there are unlimited mixes of issues engaged with it. While you may believe it's anything but difficult to decide by and large costs, hence what one individual pays to claim a RV can contrast altogether from what another person pays. Along these lines it's critical for you to take a gander at every class and make sense of where you stand monetarily before you choose to make an order. Basic essential RV possession costs by and large fall into seven classifications:

  • Actual Buying detail costs
  • Tow vehicle costs
  • Upkeep/ Maintenance and repairs budget
  • Side/ Additional unbudgeted costs
  • Lifestyle costs
  • Travel budgets
  • Depreciated selling prices in case of sale

Fifth Wheel Rv Features

Structure, Chassis

Each Luxe has a Wall Construction of a 3" thick Super Composite welded aluminum confine dividers with 2.5 graphite implanted shut cell protection. This gives the unit a more private development approach and in addition a sidewall that will stand the trial of time. Multiplex lighting and delicate touch sidewalls are standard on the Luxe. The Luxe 5/8 tongue and depression ground surface and 3/8 pressed wood roof come standard with hand laid tile flooring, blending superior and sturdiness all through to accomplish a level of extravagance over the rest.

Construction;

  • Divider Construction: 3" Super Composite welded aluminum confine dividers with 2.5 graphite mixed shut cell protection
  • 12" Forged Steel Powder Coated I-Beam Reinforced w/2x2" Stackable Box Tube
  • 14" Outriggers
  • Multiplied Outriggers Around Slide-Outs
  • 3.25" Thick Floors - Welded 16" on Center
  • 5/8" Tongue and Groove Plywood Flooring
  • 16" on Center Welded Roof Trusses
  • 3/8" Plywood Roofing
  • Delicate Touch Sidewalls - Exclusive to ARV
  • SoftTouch Ceilings - Including Slide-Out Ceiling
  • Strengthened 3/8" Plywood for Fresh, Gray, and Black Tanks for expansion support
  • Consistent 1 Piece Dicore Roofing Material - 12 Year Warranty
  • Frameless Thermopane Windows
  • Warm Pack Insulation Throughout (Roofing, Sidewalls, Flooring, Chassis Underbelly)
  • Private Fiberglass Insulation Throughout (Roofing, Sidewalls, Flooring, Chassis Underbelly)
  • Constrained Furnace Air into Enclosed Underbelly

Size, Weight, Height, Length

All in all, a truck or other vehicle that promotes it can tow 7,200 pounds (3,250 kilos) is sufficient for towing most trailers under 24 feet. Length averages from 12’ in length to 40’ in length. The tallness of the fifth wheel is estimated from the tractor edge to the highest point of the fifth wheel top plate with the best plate level. The general trailer tallness ought not to surpass 13 feet 6 inches. Beyond any doubt consider tire tallness likewise while choosing the stature of the fifth wheel, as you don't need the trailer to hit the tires when it is completely stacked.

Types of use

The Fifth Wheel were mainly made for outdoors and excursions. In case you're hoping to purchase another trailer or RV for more agreeable summer excursions, outdoors, and get-aways, think about fifth wheels for your new home out and about.

Best Climate

Fifth Wheel RVs that are the vehicles that can overcome underneath solidifying temperatures, frosty breezes, and even blanketed conditions. Regardless of whether you live in a domain where the climate is regularly sharply cool or you need to spend your winters in your RV as opposed to keeping it away, these vehicles are made for you.

Pros & Cons

Pros

  • Has ample sufficient space for a whole family with some equipped with open floor plans.
  • More efficient and safer when it comes to east towing than the usual travel trailers.
  • Easier to back up than travel trailers.
  • Offers more than enough interior space/ length foot than travel trailers since it isn’t equipped with a driving or engine compartments.
  • Has ample sufficient space for a whole family with some equipped with open floor plans.
  • It’s a wonderful travel enhancement as tow vehicle is utilizes as the local transport.
  • Has ample sufficient space for a whole family with some equipped with open floor plans.

Cons

  • Limited to the tow truck with fifth wheel hitch incorporated.
  • Separate living and driving compartments. Access while moving is limited.
  • May encounter rough maneuvers in little spaces when dealing with larger models..
  • Most models have large storage area specifications and requirements when not in use.

Top 5 Models/brands

In the event that strength and solace are your best needs in a RV, look no more remote than fifth wheels. These solid campers give the best moving and are very open and rich. Read on and investigate the 5 main best fifth wheel RV brands.

  1. Redwood RV Redwood Fifth Wheel
  2. DRV Luxury Suites Mobile Suites Fifth Wheel
  3. Coachmen Chaparral Fifth Wheel
  4. Forest River Cardinal Fifth Wheel
  5. Coachmen Brookstone Fifth Wheel

Summary

With all these amazing features, Fifth wheels have the numerous solaces of RVs however are regularly more extensive, helpful, and less expensive with regards to support and fuel utilize. When you're settling on trailers and RVs, think about these extraordinary advantages to owning a fifth-wheel trailer.


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Chuck Palahniuk’s Fight Club is an anarchic, pessimistic novel that portrays t ...

Chuck Palahniuk’s Fight Club is an anarchic, pessimistic novel that portrays the need for identity in life and Palahniuk explains, through the narrator’s personality disorder, that the desire for meaning is the sole internal motivation of civilization. In the narrator’s speech throughout the novel, Palahniuk describes how a death without identity is the worst possible death. First in Fight Club, and later in Project Mayhem, the character of Tyler Durden shows how the ultimate motivation will come from a person’s necessity to own a place in history. The author explains that the path to finding one’s meaning is not easy, and can in fact develop into a desperate, indecisive struggle, as it does in the narrator’s case. Fight Club shares a modern perspective on the meaning of life, and portrays how desire can influence the lives of men and women throughout the world.

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Palahniuk provides his first perspective on the desire for meaning in life through the narrator’s action. The narrator is living a life with no meaning, and he realizes that a death without identity would be a waste of his time on earth. His insomnia makes this even worse. In the beginning of the book he feels like a space monkey, and states, “You do the little job you’re trained to do. Pull a lever. Push a button. You don’t understand any of it, and then you just die” (pg. 12). This comment introduces the reader to the intense need for meaning in society. Most people find meaning in materialistic goods, but the narrator, after losing all he owns in the explosion in his condominium, perceives that the real meaning of his life will be in what he accomplishes. The narrator’s search for meaning ultimately results in the formation of Tyler Durden, his alter ego. Tyler is everything the narrator would ever want to be. He is the prime example of what the narrator wants in life. As the novel progresses, the narrator becomes more and more like Tyler. He develops into the person he wants to become, and this derives from the motivation in his search for meaning. This evolution depends on fight club, which he created to provide an outlet from society. In fight club the narrator is free. He states, “After fight club you’re so relaxed you just cannot care” (pg. 139). This relaxation allows the narrator to focus on his life, and to influence the lives of other men. Without this ability, the narrator would be just another space monkey. The author explains how lack of identity provides motivation, and this is exemplified in Tyler and the narrator.

In fight club and Project Mayhem Tyler Durden shows how the ultimate motivation will come from a person’s necessity to own a place in history. Tyler creates fight club based on this principle. Fight club provides an outlet for everyone tired of their job. Fight club is an outlet for any person having problems in their life. When their problems are placed aside, the men at fight club will have more time to focus on making their mark on the world. When they are ready to do this, Tyler creates Project Mayhem. Tyler stirs motivation from the men by making them wait outside the house on Paper Street for three days. The narrator states, “Tyler didn’t care if other people got hurt or not. The goal was to teach each man in the project that he had the power to control history” (pg.122). Tyler motivates the men by focusing on their desire to control their own history. He uses this motivation to turn them into his own form of space monkeys, and these men turn into Tyler’s force to make his mark on the world. Tyler tells the men, “You are not a beautiful and unique snowflake. You are the same decaying organic matter as everyone else, and we are all part of the same compost pile” (pg. 134). By utilizing the power of the men’s motivation for individuality in Project Mayhem, Tyler allows each individual to make their identity known. The men of Project Mayhem are not even recognized by a name. The narrator states, “Only in death will we have our own names since only in death are we no longer part of the effort. In death we become heroes (pg. 178).” This motivates the men to perform to their fullest in the efforts of Project Mayhem. In death they will be honored as heroes, and their lifelong goal for an identity will be complete. Tyler states, when threatening the commissioner who wants to shut down fight club:

“The people you’re trying to step on, we’re everyone you depend on. We’re the people who do your laundry and cook your food and serve your dinner. We make your bed. We guard you while you’re asleep. We drive the ambulances. We direct your call. We are cooks and taxi drivers and we know everything about you. We process your insurance claims and credit card charges. We control every part of your life” (pg. 166).

The most important men in society find their motivation in Tyler’s projects, and these men continue working for Tyler, knowing that they can complete their quest for identity. Through Tyler’s work with these men in Project Mayhem, men who work the jobs necessary for the survival of the world, Palahniuk does an outstanding job of portraying how the desire for meaning provides the self-motivation in world civilization.

The path to finding meaning in life is not an easy one, and the author displays this in the struggles, faults, and the eventual personal transformation of the narrator. His insomnia makes his path an even harder one to follow. The narrator states, “This is how it is with insomnia. Everything is so far away, a copy of a copy of a copy. The insomnia distance of everything, you can’t touch anything and nothing can touch you” (pg. 21). His insomnia makes him incapable to tell dreams from reality, and this makes the character of Tyler highly influential in his life. As the novel progresses, the narrator relies more on what Tyler would do. He has struggled to get to this point, and morally wonders if he is doing the right thing. This is made clear in the end of the novel. The narrator states, “The world is going crazy. My boss is dead. My home is gone. My job is gone. And I’m responsible for it all” (pg. 193). The narrator continues his development into Tyler, and in an argument with Marla, they say:

“‘Why should I believe any of this?’

It happens that fast.

I say, because I think I like you.

Marla says, ‘Not love?’

This is a cheesy enough moment, I say. Don’t push it.” (pg. 197)

At this moment, the narrator has regained emotion. He is no longer controlled by Tyler. The narrator notices that he can be an individual and still make a difference. This is how he ends up on top of the Parker Morris building. His development into individuality was completely emotional, and he realizes how many lives he has destroyed. Towards the end of the book he states, “This is like a total epiphany moment for me. I’m not killing myself, I yell. I’m killing Tyler. I am Joe’s Hard Drive. I remember everything” (pg. 204). He kills himself to get rid of the demons in his life that Tyler had created. The author proves that a search for individuality will not always end in happiness, but it will end up in something better. In the last chapter the narrator states:

“This was better than real life.

And your one perfect moment won’t last forever.

Everything in heaven is white on white.

Faker.

Everything in heaven is quiet, rubber soled shoes.

I can sleep in heaven.” (pg. 206).

The narrator ends the novel as a better person, mainly because of his experience with Tyler. Through the narrator’s motivational search for individuality, Palahniuk brings significance to the importance of learning from life, no matter how significant or insignificant a person is in the world.

When the narrator rids himself of Tyler, the author proves that desire can have an extreme influence on a man’s life. The influence of Tyler is gone, but through Tyler’s desire to own a place in history, the narrator has learned about himself. In the end of the novel, his views have changed. He says:

I look at God behind his desk, taking notes on a pad, but God’s got this all wrong.

We are not special.

We are not crap or trash, either.

We just are.

We just are, and what happens just happens.

And God says, ‘No, that’s not right.’

Yeah. Well. Whatever. You can’t teach God anything.

God asks me what I remember.

I remember everything.

The bullet out of Tyler’s gun, it tore out my other cheek to give me a jagged smile from ear to ear. Yeah, just like an angry Halloween pumpkin. Japanese demon. Dragon of Avarice.

Marla’s still on Earth, and she writes to me. Someday, she says, they’ll bring me back.

And if there were a telephone in Heaven, I would call Marla from Heaven and the moment she says, ‘hello,’ I wouldn’t hang up. I’d say, ‘Hi. What’s happening? Tell me every little thing’” (pg. 207).

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Tyler Durden has essentially disappeared, and the narrator is a new man. In the end, the narrator proves that he never was the same person as Tyler Durden. Despite the influences of fight club, Project Mayhem, Marla, and society in general, the narrator is not Tyler Durden. He is something better.

Works Cited

  1. Palahniuk, C. (1996). Fight Club. W. W. Norton & Company.
  2. Bignell, J. (2011). Postmodernism: A Guide for the Perplexed. Bloomsbury Publishing.
  3. Prothero, S. R. (2001). Chuck Palahniuk and the rise of the nihilistic novel. Critique: Studies in Contemporary Fiction, 42(2), 133-151.
  4. Voller, J. G. (2011). Fictional Individuals: Narrator, Character, and Identity in Chuck Palahniuk's Fight Club. Style, 45(1), 69-89.
  5. Halldorson, S. J. (2008). Reframing the fictions of postmodernity: Character, narration, and cinematic history in Fight Club. Narrative, 16(2), 165-183.
  6. Ignatow, G. (2005). In Your Face: Chuck Palahniuk and the Postmodern Ethic. Journal of American Culture, 28(1), 42-52.
  7. Palmer, A. (2011). Chuck Palahniuk: Fight Club, Invisible Monsters, Choke. Macmillan International Higher Education.
  8. Kavadlo, J. (2013). Chuck Palahniuk: Fight Club, Invisible Monsters, and Diary. Routledge.
  9. Sim, S. (2007). Review: Fight Club. The Journal of Popular Culture, 40(1), 196-198.
  10. McHale, B. (2001). Postmodernist fiction. Routledge.

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Initially founded by Sigmund Freud in the late nineteenth century, psychoanalysi ...

Initially founded by Sigmund Freud in the late nineteenth century, psychoanalysis introduced a whole new perception of the human mind, forming both ground-breaking and controversial theories. In his thesis, ‘Beyond the Pleasure Principle,’ Freud illustrates psychoanalysis as ‘the first and foremost art of interpretation.’ Which is concealed within the ‘unconscious’ of the human mind. Freud states that human behavior is a creation of an inner conflict taking place within the ‘unconscious,’ which is ‘the belief of ‘repressed desires, feelings, memories, and instinctual drives’. To understand the theory of id, ego, superego, this essay analyzes the main protagonists of David Fincher’s film adaptation of Chuck Palahniuk’s Fight Club (1998). I will examine character as well as explore the society that beholds it and its origins. To get a more in-depth assessment I will also be drawing on the concepts of Carl Gustav Jung and Jacques Lacan in this investigation.

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Firstly, the essence of the narrator’s disappointment with life stems from a sense of emptiness and futility. His mundane job, living situation, and his ‘single-serving’ life, compound the overriding feeling of meaninglessness. Ultimately, this triggers him to hope for liberation; liberty he feels can be attained through death in a plane crash. It seems that the narrator’s cynicism can be related with the miss-sold American Dream. The forever out-of-reach ideal that every young, white, male American of his age had been led to imagine was his due; the high-powered job, the apartment, the money, the girls, the clothes — the film-star lifestyle, had all been reneged upon. As Tyler declares, ‘we’ve all been raised on television to believe that one day we’d all be millionaires. His feelings of estrangement and aloneness add to the inadequate, unbridled consumerist society that has failed him. He deliberates ‘what dining table defines me as a person?’ as he flicks through the ‘pornography’ of his Ikea collection. He directs his anger to the multi-national and corporate giants, who have ‘shrink-wrapped’ and sold him the dream. The ‘Ikea nesting instinct’ is suggestive of the shifting culture that has stripped the younger American male of his ‘manliness’. In an interview with Gavin Smith, Fincher claims ‘We’re designed to be hunters and we’re in a society of shopping’. The same opinion is expressed in Tyler’s words, ‘We’re consumers. We are by-products of a lifestyle obsession. Murder, crime, poverty, these things don’t concern me’. This gender role question is further examined in the acknowledgment that the perfect nuclear family has transformed in the structure; Tyler states that it is ‘a generation of men raised by women.’

Now applying psychoanalytic theory to these characters and themes, I will be considering their function and general impact on the text. To start, I’d like to go back to the narrator’s battle for self, whilst concentrating on Freud’s view of the unconscious drives. In the ‘Ego and the Id,’ Freud claims that the human psyche is divided into three distinct parts: the id, the ego, and the superego. These three components function together and when in proper balance, create a complete and rounded individual. The id is the power of the mind, made up of impulses and instincts that constantly demand gratification. Freud separates the id’s principal drives into two groups, life and death instincts. Life instincts focus mainly on pleasing survival, such as thirst, hunger, and erotic urges, while death instincts seek to replicate the earliest, pre-life experience of dormancy. It is our seemingly unconscious yearning for self-destruction and death. It might be argued that Tyler is a depiction of the id as his life is not motivated by society; he ‘let the chips fall where they may’. It is through his longing and will to crush society, that Project Mayhem is founded. Shorn Of Tyler, the narrator would have endured being a slave to the Ikea-nesting instinct - He might still be hunting for meaning in Scandinavian furniture. Subsequently coming to terms with his single-serving life, and material existence, the unconscious reservoir is flooded with repressed anger, and it is through his aggression that Tyler is born. Indeed, before Tyler even officially appears on the plane, the narrator is vaguely aware of the ‘death-drive,’ when he toys with the notion of ending his depressing existence by death in an air crash.

The ego is the developed part of the conscious and is created from a reality principle. Freud assumed that the ego represents ‘what may be called reason and common sense, in contrast to the id, which contains the passion’ as it stifles the id’s yearnings and urges, maintaining control. In Fight Club, the ego takes the shape of the narrator. As mentioned, the narrator is an estranged individual, experiencing insomnia. When he begins to make remarks such as; ‘this is your life, and it’s ending one minute at a time,’ it indicates the presence of the death drive, which could be interpreted as the initial stages of the narrator’s id taking control. It is notable, that all through his job and self-sufficiency, the narrator was formerly a well-functioning individual. However, evidently, a change has taken place and disturbed the balance between the id and the ego.

In some of his earlier works, namely ‘The Interpretation of Dreams,’ Freud argued that dreams were products of ‘wish-fulfillment.’ He uses the term ‘day residue’ to explain the idea that the base of the dream is rooted in the events of the previous day. Children demonstrate this concept clearly, but the dream substance of adults is less clear cut and warped by dream notions buried in the unconscious. Thus, the meaning is sometimes partly hidden. This has bearing on the narrator’s condition as much his insomnia renders him unable to discharge his repressed desire in the dream state. According to Freud, the third element of personality to develop is the superego and this starts to emerge at the age of five. It is fundamentally our sense of right and wrong and is the code by which civilized society operates. It also covers our perceptions of conscience and feelings of guilt and repentance. The superego acts to suppress the urges of the id. In effect, the ego is stuck in the middle of a battle between the angel (superego) and the devil (id). In Fight Club, the superego is depicted as the actual world of the narrative. The narrator (ego) is unhappy and alienated from this world and consequently has little resistance when Tyler (id) asserts himself and tries to destroy the world that has suffocated all sense of self and emasculated him. This sets up a battle between id and superego and can be seen in the jobs Tyler has. He incorporates hidden sex images into family films, and he soils restaurant food with bodily fluids. In Fight Club he builds an underground patriarchal locale that would seem to encourage gratuitous violence. He then embarks upon a montage of capitalist rebellion, which originally takes the shape of vandalism of civic buildings, which escalates to the creation of Project Mayhem.

Drawing on Freud’s theories of classification of the human personality, it is possible to comprehend how the id and ego are powerful oppositional forces. Libido (id) struggles with the need of the ego to repress desire. Freud defines five stages of psychosexual development in the human infant; oral, anal, phallic, latency, and genital. Balanced individuals have negotiated these with ego suppressing the more deplorable desires of the id. In this context, it is suitable to note the oedipal complex in male infants, as its impact can be seen to echo throughout the film. The male infant’s developing sexuality includes the desire for his mother, but this is curbed by the fear of his father’s power, especially the power to castrate him. In an ideal world, he stifles his longing and replaces it with surrender to his father’s power, whilst still holding the affection of his mother. In theory, the boy’s masculinity would be strengthened by his deep relationship with his father. Freud insists that where the father is not present (as in the case of the narrator) or is a weak role model, the Oedipus complex is not solved, and obsessions arise. The narrator is so affected and when id (Tyler) breaks out, they manifest in rampant libido; (the sex with Marla), brutality (sadomasochistic interaction in Fight Club), and ultimately, an effort to destroy the culture that has robbed his masculinity. The anxiety of castration as the ultimate punishment is persistent throughout and it confronts us strongly in the early scene at the support group, ‘Remaining Men Together.’ These men are emasculated substantially and mentally and demonstrate the desperate need to assert: ‘We are still men,’ even as they cry. In numerous situations, castration is offered as the ultimate punishment; Indeed, members of Project Mayhem face the narrator himself near the end of the film, as his ego strengthens sufficiently to deny them. The importance given to this apparatus is extremely apparent in an unforgettable speech by Tyler in the bar after the narrator loses everything in the condominium explosion: ‘you know, it could be worse; a woman could cut off your penis and toss it out of a car.’

If we look at the theories of other Psychoanalytic theorists, such as Jung and Lacan, we’re capable of gaining a different understanding of the narrator’s neurotic behavior. The opinions of Carl Gustav Jung were originally affiliated with those of Freud; however, Jung came to consider that Freud paid too little interest to spirit and religion in his analysis of human psychology. Jung studied the theory that every personality has two conflicting elements, which he called ‘Ego’ and ‘Shadow.’ Comparable to Freud, Jung believed that Ego stayed in control until something dislocates, in the case of the narrator, the trigger is his insomnia and the shadow comes to power. We can also apply Jung’s concept of ‘physical inheritance’ (collective unconscious) and its content of archetypes,’ to other characters within the film. For example, Marla could be interpreted as the ‘anima,’ that is, ‘the female soul image of a man,’ as she replaces the initial childlike form of the narrator’s ‘power animal,’ and her relationship with him is mainly controlled by Tyler. There’s also a possible Mana Personality archetype in the character of Bob. As previously discussed, it is through Bob’s emasculated life and turmoil that the narrator is able to feel emotional and relate. Jung believed that ‘the Mana-personality is a dominant of the collective unconscious, the well-known archetype of the mighty man in the form of hero, chief, magician, medicine-man, saint, the ruler of men and spirits, the friend of God.’ The narrator describes Bob’s ‘bitch tits,’ as ‘enormous the way you’d think of God’s as big,’ and the place where he fits, perhaps showing an awareness of his psychodrama. This all offers a possible explanation to the narrator’s tendency to refer to himself in the third person, initially in the voice of body parts and later, emotions. On numerous occasions he makes comments like ‘I am Jack’s cold sweat’ and ‘I am Jack’s complete lack of surprise.’ This behavior suggests a regression back to an infantile stage (pre-mirror stage), in which the narrator loses the terms of ‘I’ and ‘you.’ As he no longer feels whole, it could be argued that he wishes to return to the state in which demands were just needs and repeat the sensation of imaginary wholeness once again.

Lacan’s later work presented a layered conception of the human personality; the notions of the imaginary, (the unconscious) the symbolic (conscious formulated through language and society), and the real (that which resists representation). According to Lacan, a functioning personality relies on these layers, which are kept in check by the Law of the Father. Lacan believed that this Law was the acceptance of castration and the father’s authority. It presented itself through the structure of language itself. When applying a Lacanian perspective to the character of Tyler Durden, he takes on a different meaning. Instead of representing the image of a rampant id, he becomes an occupant of the ‘imaginary order.’ He is, as mentioned before, everything the narrator wishes to be. In this way, he could be described as the perfectionist Ikea model of manhood; a projection of the narrator’s ideal self, which fits in with modern society’s perception of the handsome, muscular, sexually promiscuous modern-male ideal. In drawing together the work of Freud, Jung, and Lacan, it is conceivable to see a broad agreement in the assumptions of the first two, but a more complicated linguistic component in the work of the latter. Freud, as a mentor, understandably influenced the early work of Jung, and consequently, there is a similarity in the ideas of id/ego and shadow/ego. Differences arise in their individual perception of libido and religion. While Lacan also applies and Freudian theory in his interdisciplinary work, he then reformulates it, introducing language and structuralism into the continuum of psychoanalytic critique.

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In this essay, I have attempted to apply the theories of several established twentieth-century psychoanalytic theorists to David Fincher’s film adaptation of a piece of contemporary American literature. In the narrator, we have seen a post-modernistic Everyman who acted as the ideal vehicle to demonstrate the modern neuroses; meaninglessness and emptiness. It also introduces the specter that in the post-feminist revolution, the male of the species still hasn’t got a role that gives him satisfaction. While being able to comprehend the narrator’s psychodrama to an extent, the film’s ending raises ambiguities. In many ways, the conclusion of Palahniuk’s book portrays a more appropriate ending, in which the narrator, after freeing himself of Tyler Durden, is imprisoned in a psychiatric hospital. He imagines that he has died and gone to heaven, saying he has discussions with a God that ‘cannot be taught anything.’ This ending appears to shelve the focus on consumerism, drawing more on the absence of a father figure. While this appears to be a more logical ending, it also shows the narrator’s battle to function without Tyler (his id), and his alienation from the society (superego).

Bibliography:

  1. Freud, Sigmund, translated by Joyce Crick, with an introduction and notes by Ritchie Robertson., (1999) The interpretation of dreams Oxford University Press P.231
  2. Freud, Sigmund, ‘The Essentials of Psychoanalysis’ Th Ego and the id, (1986) P. 450
  3. Freud, Sigmund, ‘Beyond the Pleasure Principle’ Chapter III, P.16
  4. Freud, Sigmund, ‘Beyond the Pleasure Principle’

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In his novel Farah tries to culminate the exploitation of the patriarchy and the ...

In his novel Farah tries to culminate the exploitation of the patriarchy and the sustainment of women liberation by the state. Under the administration of Barre Government, the life of women and the quest for individuality among Somali women is hegemonized. The central character in this novel is Medina. Her character is portrayed very lucidly and vehemently. She had a bold resolution of fighting against the oppression of the state dictatorship and she fulminates the patriarchy.

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“Medina was as strong –minded as she was unbending in her decisions, and she guarded her secrets jealously. She was, in a manner, like her father Barkhadle .She was confident as a patriarch in the rightness of all her decisions”.

Medina is a woman who does not surrender and bow down to the illegal and unjust activities by the state dictatorial administration run by Syad Barre for which she is dismissed from the government services. This act of not surrendering to the government which is selfish and promoting illegal activities symbolizes her bold attitude to resist and daring attitude to grapple against powerful structures that has been established by the patriarchal system.

She repelled towards the patriarchal society and the government in order to find a room of her own in to establish a unique role among the male dominated country. Farah intensely narrates that her repudiation towards government’s orders had a purpose on her mind which would benefit the feeble creature in the society as designated by the patriarchal society: “A room of one’s own. A country of one’s own in which one was not a guest. A country in which one was not a guest. A room in which one was not a guest”.

Medina, not only violated the rules imposed by the government, but also she refused to accept the words of her husband, Samater and her mother in law, Idil. Medina’s husband and her mother-in-law are intending to circumcise medina’s daughter, Ubax. But Medina refuses this act of crime and she is against this ritual of infibulation which is practiced on women of her society. According to Medina, this ritual which victimizes women should not be practiced all over the country and has wanted to put an end to it.

She wanted to save her daughter along with other women from being circumcised and to create a space to live happily. She wanted her daughter to get prevented and relieved from the pain that Medina was inflicted to when she was a child. Medina wanted to bring change inside of her family and that would reflect outside to the world. So she started the change from her home.

Medina has undergone this cruel ritual of female circumcision and she had experienced the pain. This act degrades the status of women in a society. Many novelists including Farah touched this sensible issue of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) and they discussed in their novels in various situations. This practice of FGM is considered to be the suppression of women in Somali society. This inhuman ritual is condemned by various social activists and feminists in the modern Somalia. Medina’s point of view on women being circumcised is entailed with the description that,

If they mutilate you at eight or nine, they open you up with a rusty knife the night they marry you off, then when you give birth to a baby you are cut open and re-stitched. Life for a circumcised woman is a series of deflowering pains, delivery pains and re-stitching pains.

Medina is an intellectual woman with the spirit of revolution. She works for the liberation of a woman. She is fighting for the survival of the women like herself and others by refusing the ideologies that has been followed by Idil as a ritual and by opposing Syad Barre’s regime. The elements like marginalization and victimization of women in a society made her to respond to it and to bring a change in this society she strives to interrupt and struggle to attain an identity as a woman by aggressively demolishing them.

Medina believes that her struggle for women liberation in the society will change the whole cultural set up of her country. Medina struggles along with her daughter so that her daughter can lead her life in peace without any interruption of the government or male dominated system. She took a huge step to reconstruct the society and rehabilitate them with the changed cultural set up. Her process of reconstruction states that:

She reconstructed the story from the beginning. She worked it into a set of pyramids which served as foundations for one another. Out of this, she erected a construction of great solidity and strength. She then built mansions on top of it all, mansions large as her imagination and with lots of chambers that led off corridors in which she lost herself but which led her finally, when she chose to follow, to a secret back door in another wing of the building .She stood at a distance; she breathed deeply and took her time. She admired the result.

Medina’s direct opposition on the regime by Syad Barre is figured out in this novel and she prepares her daughter by instilling her with the ideology of resistance. The rebellious nature of Medina was inherited by her daughter. According to Medina, her daughter should decide for herself, she gets rid dependency over others.

Medina is not allowed to join Government schools like other kids of her age. Ubax asks about her schooling in these lines: “Why don’t you let me go to school like the other children then?” Medina purposefully tells her, “Because schools teach you nothing but songs of sycophancy and the praise names of the General. And because I can teach you better than they. I can teach you things that will be of use to you later in life.”

Those schools chant and praise the government who destroys the country without the knowledge of the people. The government betrays its own people. Medina prevents her daughter from playing with her friends because her language seems to change when she has the conversation with her friends and this was not liked by her mother.

At some point Ubax gets irritated by the action of her mother and asks her, “why don?t you let me go and play with Abucar, Omar and Sofia?” For which she replies, “When you come home, your language suffers from lack of originality. You keep repeating yourself, saying the same thing. I want you to speak like an enlightened child.”

Medina is a strong minded woman who thinks of her own to save her from the punishable offences created by the patriarchal system. To liberate her future generation, Medina inculcates in the mind of Ubax the ideology of resistance, independence, and the philosophy of freedom to live her life with confidence and independence. She also helps her to develop Ubax’s creative mind.


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America. The land of the free. This country’s foundation was built on individu ...

America. The land of the free. This country’s foundation was built on individuality, on autonomy, and on the ability to “pull oneself up by one’s bootstraps” and begin again. Today, however, this individualistic spirit has manifested itself as selfishness and egocentricity in many North Americans. Max Brooks’ World War Z is about combating the loss of individuality; when the American characters fight the zombies, they are also indirectly fighting the mindless consumers they themselves have become. In order to fight both the real zombies and the “zombie within”, the citizens of America have to abandon their materialistic lifestyle, acclimate to the global reversal of social order, adapt to their new world, and accept that their lives will never be the same again.

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Many North Americans today can be defined as mindless consumers. Every obscure self-definition fits into a category that can be easily marketed. Whether you are a punk or a nerd or a princess, that label can be bought and sold. Our identity is defined by purchases: whether one has a Macintosh computer or a PC, a Blackberry or an iPhone. In this culture, opportunities for distinction are rare. It is not hard to see the resemblance this definition has to a zombie. Many American’s lives can be equated with that of Mary Jo Miller’s prewar experience (63 - 66). Married with two children and living in suburbia, her main concerns included car payments, celebrity gossip, the retirement portfolio, and the general stress of family life (64). This kind of materialistic existence is an example of how the individuality supported by America can turn into self-centeredness. That is, until America collapses with the zombie war. Civilians learn quickly that they have to work together in order to survive. This means that across America, people have to abandon their “comfortable, disposable consumer lifestyle” (140), and to learn new trades, grow their own food, and make their own supplies. “No one needs a contract reviewed or a deal brokered [anymore]. What it does need is toilets fixed.... For some, this was scarier than the living dead” (140). Once this new way of life was accepted, many civilians discovered that they were more satisfied than they had been, and perhaps how shallow their lifestyles were before (141).

‘You see those shoes, I made them,’ ‘That sweater, that’s my sheep’s wool,’ ‘Like the corn? My garden.’ That was the upshot of a more localized system. It gave people the opportunity to see the fruits of their labour, it gave them a sense of individual pride to know they were making a clear, concrete contribution to victory (141).

Brooks is making a statement about western culture: perhaps we all need to reduce our amount of consuming and give something back to our countries.

As the zombies begin to control most of the globe, there is a reversal of social order around the world. Refugees from America try to float to Cuba on whatever makeshift rafts they can find (229). While living in Cuba, the refugees “would do the jobs Cubanos no longer wanted - day labourers, dish washers, and street cleaners” (231). Eventually Cuba becomes a “thriving, capitalist economy” (232). Post-war Tibet has not only been freed, but is the most populous city in the world and is celebrating a free election (12). As the situations of many other counties are inverted, Brooks implies that perhaps the zombies produce a kind of geopolitical justice. One UN delegate went so far as to suggest that “by keeping the ‘white hegemony’ distracted with their own problems, the undead invasion might allow the rest of the world to develop ‘without imperialist intervention’” (266). A similar class-inversion occurs inside America on a smaller scale with regard to the job market. In the old world the highest paid jobs included casting directors, stock traders and advertising agencies (140-1). During the war, however, the services needed the most were hands-on labour, including plumbing, farming, manufacturing clothes, and building tools (141). This situation induces a reversal of social order. Former corporate billionaires are now being instructed by their ex-maids, mechanics and plumbers, which was hard for many to adjust to (140-1). A similar reversal occurs in the reality TV compound described by bodyguard T. Sean Collins. The celebrities broadcasting their experiences in their war shelters are no longer revered and respected but trampled and beaten by others, desperate for the protection of their bunkers (86-8). The zombies may bring about more than devastation. They may also bring about a leveling, or even a reversal, of our accepted class structure.

The main reason that the humans win World War Z is their ability to adapt to a new life, however reluctant they may be to embrace it. As mentioned above, supplies and food must be manufactured within a country’s own borders, forcing many North Americans to remodel their consumeristic lives; however, the need for adaptation goes beyond that. For example, the suburbs occupied by Mary Jo Miller and others like her are far different after the war than before it began. Brooks describes a fortress; the neighbourhood is surrounded by a “reinforced concrete wall,” and each house is built on stilts with a “retractable staircase” and “solar cell roofs” (64). This is the new suburbia, where safety is the main goal, not luxury or comfort. Similar changes are evident in the military. Look at The Battle of Yonkers, one of the earliest battles of the war (92). The infantrymen are dressed in hot, heavy radioactive-protectant suits that only hindered their fighting. The army relies heavily on technology, such as bombs, machine guns, air missiles, tanks and radar, all of which are useless against the living dead (94-5). Much of it appears to be a show for the press. “...There must have been at least one reporter for every two or three uniforms.... I don’t know how many new choppers must have been circling... you’d think with so many they’d spare a few to try and rescue people from Manhattan” (95). The leaders who assumed they would win this battle were incompetent to say the least. Yonkers is a cataclysmic failure of everything the American military knows to be effective in war for one reason: they are up against a new enemy, one who is not slowed by injury or scared of death. The army has to rethink all their strategies before attempting another offense. Their adaptation to the new kind of battlefield is evident in the Battle of Hope. Elaborate technology is forgone. Replacing them are ‘lobotomizers’, a “double-bladed battle-axe” (146), and Standard Infantry Rifles, a simple gun with wood furniture that never jammed (274). Light, comfortable, bite-proof suits replace the heavy rubber uniforms of Yonkers (274). The soldiers form a basic square formation, firing on ‘Zack’ from all sides. One of the biggest differences is in how the military picks their soldiers. Physical build and stamina is put aside for psychological fitness. Todd Wainios explains how the new soldiers “could have been from anywhere: your neighbour, your aunt, that geeky substitute teacher, or that fat, lazy slob at the DMV” (275). All that mattered was whether they could stand the test of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. The ability to adapt to their surroundings in the name of survival is something the zombies will never be able to do, and it was the humans’ most effective weapon against the living dead, ensuring their victory.

Max Brooks’ zombie war teaches the American characters many lessons. First, they must stop senselessly consuming and instead learn to give back to their country. Second, they must relinquish their pride and work with their ex-servants.Third, they must adapt to their new world to survive. They must accept that the old world is lost forever. In doing these things, they are fighting the zombies, and indirectly fighting the mindless consumers they themselves had become.

Works Cited

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Brooks, Max.  World War Z.  New York: Three Rivers Press, 2006.  Print.


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