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In 1943, IKEA was created in Sweden by Ingvar Kamprad at the age of 17, the word IKEA was an acronym of his name with his first and last name initials, the name of his family’s farm which was Elmtaryd and the nearby village named Agunnaryd (Pg. 572). Kamprad anticipated that there would be a rise in consumerism among the rebuilding boom that followed the war so he moved quickly to provide low-cost furniture for families through the convenience of catalog sales (Pg. 572). In 1947, IKEA issued its first original mail-order catalog, within which the newly invented ballpoint pen was added to the assortment of products Kamprad was offering. Then in 1950, Kamprad set the foundation for the future direction of IKEA by adding furniture and home furnishings to the mail-order line. A year later, an expanded version of the IKEA catalog became available. In 1952, the stability of home furnishings in the IKEA product line was strengthened when Kamprad took his items to the St. Eric’s Fair in Stockholm and won over customers with the high-quality, low-priced furniture items in his line (“Welcome Inside Our Company”). In 1953, IKEA had an opening of the company’s first showroom which demonstrated how Kamprad created a model of vertical integration, uniting a variety of suppliers under the IKEA umbrella, coordinating long-run production schedules, and controlling distribution. In 1955, an IKEA employee discovered the company’s “flat-box” approach which was to sell their furniture unassembled (Pg. 572). In 1964, the introduction of the first warehouse store allowed IKEA to eliminate an entire step in product distribution by allowing warehouse container pick-up by the customers (Pg. 572). Practical solutions and a low-cost promise created a new formula for IKEA of “knock-down” furniture, flat-box storage and shipping, and assembly by the consumers armed with IKEA-developed tools and visual instructions. This formula allowed families to save money and create a new furniture experience. IKEA revolutionized the home-furnishings industry.
Get original essayCurrently, IKEA is a private limited company that is owned by an organization controlled by the Kamprad family. It has grown to be one of the largest global furniture retailers by cooperating with more than 1,500 suppliers around the world, which is around 50 countries in designing their own furniture and by trading internationally, they have 341 stores in 38 countries including: Germany, United States, France, Italy, United Kingdom, Sweden, Spain, Canada, Russia, China and others. IKEA’s business idea is to “offer a wide range of well-designed, functional home furnishing products at prices so low that as many people as possible will be able to afford them” (“Welcome inside Our Company”).
Their vision is “to create a better everyday life for the many people. Our business idea supports this vision by offering a wide range of well-designed, functional home furnishing products at prices so low that as many people as possible will be able to afford them” (“Welcome Inside Our Company”). The IKEA guides the company in every aspect of our business, from design idea and production, through to the stores, customers and beyond. They work hard as a team to offer quality products at affordable prices for our customers. This involves optimization of the entire value chain, building long-term supplier relations, investing in new technologies, creating efficient production techniques and producing large volumes “Our vision goes beyond home furnishings – we want to create a better every day for all people touched by our business” (Yearly Summary FY15, 2015).
For 30 years, Mikael Ohlsson was the president of the company who was replaced by Peter Agnefjall in 2013, he states that “One of the main reasons why I joined IKEA is that it is a truly values-based company that wants to have a positive impact on people and communities. This is why sustainability is an integrated part in everything we do. Sustainability should not be a luxury but affordable to the many people” (“Peter Agnefjäll…”, 2013). IKEA sells good quality design in low price furniture, bathroom, kitchen and accessories around the world. IKEA states that “by responding quickly to our customers’ dreams and needs for a better life at home, we will continue to grow our business. We still have a lot to learn about our customers, so we constantly challenge ourselves to be even more relevant by creating high quality, affordable home furnishings and make long-term investments in our business, people and planet” (Yearly Summary FY15, 2015). IKEA’s new store formats and services make it easier for customers to visit IKEA by public transport, collect products near their homes, or have them delivered so that they are accessible to people whenever and wherever they want. Because IKEA wants to make a positive impact on the planet they want to produce as much energy from renewable sources so they invested in wind farms and solar panels to generate energy that does not come from fossil fuels. Their entire lighting range is LED which is good news for the planet and for customers’ wallets, because LED light bulbs use up to 85% less energy than traditional incandescent bulbs, and last up to 20 years. All the cotton used for the products, from soft furnishings and bedding, to towels and rugs, now comes from more sustainable sources and they reached our goal to source 50% of wood from more sustainable sources two years ahead of schedule. They are constantly offering more products and services that enable customers to save energy, water and waste at home (Yearly Summary FY15, 2015)
IKEA’s strategy is to provide a large range of home furnishing items of good design at excellent quality and durability, at prices so low that the majority of people can afford to purchase these items. The innovation strategy was to design furniture that was easy and inexpensive to build, receive it disassembled at stores, and display it on the showroom floor with detailed explanation tags, making a salesperson unnecessary. This is one of the main reason why customers tend to spend more time in the store than compared to the time they would in a competitor’s location. The company made sure to distinguish itself from competition by the way it organizes its stores. For example, shopping in IKEA is an experience because they are built for browsing. The furniture was laid out and showcased in the stores as it would be in a home but employees are always available for questions. IKEA identifies their customer as half producers and half consumers because most products have to be self-assembled and they also have the ability to choose, order, pickup, and transportation. Their operation has to cope with a high volume because their products can be substituted. The degree of customer contact is very low, which is why they focus on low cost, while their competition will focus on higher cost due to low volume, high variety but high in customer contact. IKEA has released a shopping app for iOS to complement their current catalog. The start screen shows a number of offers that will capture the attention of consumers using the application. It is very easy to operate, people can just touch items to view more details and lookup other products by area, which makes it very simple to navigate. When they touch an item they can see they item’s availability by location and it will tell you exactly where the item is located in store by aisle.
IKEA focuses on three objectives when trying to measure their performance, which are quality, speed, dependability, flexibility and cost. The company wants to achieve quality advantage over competition by doing everything they need to do the correct way. Products are made to fit their customer’s’ exact needs. The stores itself are designed in unique and clean layout, which is matched with their brand identity. The customers perceive the products and services with a very high value. They also achieve speed by doing things fast. Customers can locate the store fast from the bright yellow and blue identity. The store is designed with a warehouse and parking facilities, which allow customers to park their cars without spending extra time finding parking close by. They also have supporting facilities such as childcare and self-service restaurants, which allows customers to also leave their children to the play area so that they can concentrate on their purchase. The products have flat-packs with code numbers that help customers to easily pick up what they may need from the warehouse. IKEA also has a large ramped conveyor belt that transports items through the cashier, which allows customers to get through checkout as fast as possible. The company also strives to do things in time. An example would be the reordering system keeping up with goods out of stock and making sure they are kept to a minimum. IKEA tries their best to accelerate the arrival of new stock if stock-outs occur and reorder quantities in case the ales pattern does change. They also obtain reasonable queuing time and ensure that there is constant availability of items. The operation of IKEA allows products and service flexibility as they have ability to introduce new products and services. They are more responsive to the customers’ wants and needs through the global sourcing strategy. The company leaves much of the design up to their suppliers and it is beneficial to the fast introduction of new products. IKEA also allows mixed flexibility and is able to provide a wide mixture of products and services. The range of products are wide from home furniture to office furniture and accessories, from childcare to self-service restaurant. The idea of mix and match is successful in offering mix flexibility. The company is able to change its level of outputs. In the stores, it is up to individual store management teams to determine stock levels of each product, which means they are more responsive to the change of demand at that specific location. IKEA also follows a specific cost objective, which is to do things cheaply as possible. High quality reduces cost and time to re-do things. Fast operations reduces inventory and improve flow of customers, which helps to increase sales. The company being dependable increases predictability and efficiency. Also, the company being flexible allows them to adapt to change and can adjust operations to respond to customers’ needs and wants without the extra costs.
In this industry the threat of new entrants is very high. There are barely any entry barriers but competition is very intense for new entrants. In order to compete effectively, competitors must invest a great amount, develop long-standing relationships with clients, and select suitable locations for outlets. It is very difficult to establish in major cities and gain the reputation of IKEA, establishing a vast supply chain and creating a unique brand name. IKEA has succeeded in managing and maintaining long and well established relationships with current suppliers. They have been recorded to have at least 1300 suppliers in 54 countries and 21% of them are located in China. IKEA also possesses their own manufacturing company, which is called Swedwood Manufacturer and is used to develop their own designs. Suppliers in this situation have a very low bargaining power and can be compelled to be on the same terms with IKEA rather than against them for any reason. There are many direct competitors who are also importing from China, which is why consumers are faced with many alternatives and a very large bargaining power. IKEA needs to update their latest trends in order to avoid losing their name for style. They are able to follow any new style fairly well and rapidly due to their simplicity of design and innovative technology. The demand for basic furniture has remained relatively constant, which makes it very hard for substitutes to take over. The industry is very competitive, which is why IKEA has wisely attempted to compete by entering China and Japan markets and will allow them to obtain a competitive advantage (Perepu, 2008).
IKEA faces many political factors such as government attitude towards the brand and political stability. In 2012, IKEA had to admit that the company used prison labor in East Germany in 1970s and 1980s to produce its products. Although they offered formal public apology, the incident caused a huge controversy. There were allegations that the founder, Ingvar Kamprad was an active Nazi member, which brought about controversy with negative effects on the brand image. IKEA also received negative attentive related to their doll called Lufsig, which is Swedish for clumsy. But when translated in Cantonese dialect it sounds very similar to an insulting term. In 2013 there was an incident where a protester threw Lufsig toy at Hong Kong’s chief executive causing the toy to gain a symbolic role among Cantonese people dissatisfied with the government in Hong Kong.
Macroeconomic situation and consumer spending power are two main economic factors that affect the performance of IKEA and the performance of any business entity. The global economic and financial crisis that took place in 2007-2009 is a great example of the impact of external economic factors affecting the business. IKEA had to eliminate around 5,000 jobs, the volume of sales dropped by 1% by the second quarter of 2009. The company is also directly affected by exchange rate fluctuations between Europe and United States and other major currencies due to the global scale of business operations. Other factors include interest rates, tax rates, and the level of unemployment and fluctuations of costs of raw materials.
There are social factors that have direct and indirect effects on IKEA. The increase of concern toward environmental issues in the society threatens IKEA’s long-term growth prospects, which are people becoming increasingly concerned with deforestation issues, water depletion, and global warming. The company is one of the world’s largest consumers of wood and this may damage the brand image due to social change associated with concern towards environmental problems. Another issue would be the shift to online programs and applications to complete a wide range of personal and professional tasks. Less consumers may switch to electronic versions of books, which will then decrease the demand for bookshelves. Other social factors that can highly affect IKEA are demographic changes, changes in consumer attitudes and opinions towards furniture and home appliances, media perception of the brand and health and welfare of the target customer segment.
The competition of IKEA is mainly local retailers, who try to copy the idea or counterfeit the goods that IKEA can provide. In the United States, the company my face competition from Target, Ashley Furniture, Walmart, La-Z-Boy, JCPenney, and Ethan Allen. In the United Kingdom the competition would be from Tesco, Next. In Sri Lanka, the main competitor would be Damro. Globally, Walmart would be considered the main competitor because of styles and functions, even though prices are lower at IKEA. Walmart is classified as less stylish compared to the products sold at IKEA. Ethan Allen targets a more exclusive market compared to IKEA’s target market. IKEA has proved to be more successful in delivering high quality at a less price compared to their competitors (Jain, 2012).
IKEA has many strengths since they are the largest furniture retailer in the world. Since IKEA is a global brand with a strong image, it is a major strength because everyone around the world is able to recognize them as a company. A very big strength that they have is that they are very sustainable with everything that they do as a company and with the products and services they offer to customers. They are different from their competitors which makes consumers want to purchase their products even more. They offer a wide product range that appeals to all target groups instead of targeting one target group, this is also an outstanding strength because not all companies are able to appeal to the mass market. Since they are able to offer a variety of products to a variety of people, they are able to produce many different products instead of having to limit themselves.
A major weakness they encounter is not being easily accessible. IKEA stores are scattered around the United States in only some states and when they are in the state a consumer lives in, they have to travel far to get to the IKEA. The stores aren’t offered everywhere because of how big the warehouse has to be and so it is easier for them to just have one location in a state. Another weakness is the consumer’s perception on cost vs. quality. Consumers might not think that the quality of the product they want to purchase is worth how much it is offered or vice versa. If they think vice versa then it is also bad for IKEA because customers could think if the product is priced low then maybe the quality is also low.
A huge opportunity for IKEA is online sales because now that consumers are able to purchase products online and have it delivered to them, it will generate more sales for them instead of relying on receiving sales from the actual stores. Since the stores are not easily accessible it is more convenient for customers to purchase online and have it delivered. The only problem is if the product does not look or appear to be the same as it was online. There is more demand in today’s economy for low priced products and for companies to be more environmentally aware which gives IKEA the opportunity to gain even more sales because consumers nowadays are sensitive about prices and sustainability.
Because of economic slowdown, IKEA’s store traffic has decreased. Even though they offer low prices, the prices could still be too much for some consumers especially in today’s economy. Furniture might not be everyone’s first priority right now unless someone has bought a new place to live. Even then, it has been very expensive to buy a place to live or to move so that could be another reason why store traffic has decreased. The biggest threat IKEA has is the barriers to enter certain profitable markets because they do not adjust to other country’s cultures, needs, or wants. This makes it hard for IKEA to gain sales globally if they do adapt quickly.
IKEA differentiates themselves from their competitors by their cost leadership and the shopping experience. In order to be the leader within cost compared to their competitors, IKEA survey’s the competition to establish a benchmark and then sets its own price point 30-50% lower than the competitors. Cost is so important that first a price point is established, and then the manufacturer, materials and design are chosen. They save money for consumers and for themselves in the long run.
The shopping experience within IKEA is not like any other company. The products they sell are displayed in room-like settings so customers don’t need a decorator to help them imagine how to put the pieces together. Customers would move along a predetermined path where they are guided through a maze of rooms by arrows that are placed on the ground. Their in house Swedish restaurant is as popular as its furniture and allows consumers to use their products while eating at the restaurant. At the restaurant, IKEA uses their own plates, bowls, utensils, cups, etc. they also offer a special drink that only they offer in-stores that is made from Lingonberries.
IKEA focuses on a couple of different factors when segmenting their market. The basic market segmentation bases that they use are income level, age, family life cycle, lifestyles, and benefit seeking. Because IKEA offers high quality products at an affordable price, they want to be able to appeal all target markets. IKEA is bases their stores strategy around attracting young, lower income individuals. College students and young adults, who tend to be in the low-income category, are a big target market for IKEA because these are the individuals are looking to buy furniture for the first time. Since it’s their first time buying furniture, they do not want to spend too much money on it because they don’t know what will happen in the future. College students and young adults are looking for good, cheap furniture that will work for the time being.
The other big demographic that IKEA focuses on is family life cycle. New families need furniture to fill their new homes, but don’t have a lot of money to do so because they’ve already spent most of it on the new house. IKEA’s product really cater to these types of young families far beyond their product selection and cheap prices. IKEA’s stores are also very kid friendly, they have supervised play areas where parents can check their kids into so the parents can shop in peace while the kids play, clean changing rooms are provided, and they offer a cafeteria where parents can bring the kids for a bite to eat after the shopping. The restaurant also offers a special menu just for the kids.
IKEA’s products are focused on having a low price with high quality. Looking at their competition’s prices, “IKEA sets their own prices at a price 30-50% lower than competitors” (Sonwane, 2014). The product is what brings the customers in. They want customers to see the high-quality materials. Therefore, they put the furniture surfaces where it is visible. Customers see displays where they can touch, feel and sit on the furniture to observe it well. IKEA uses flat packaged boxes to make shopping easier, “Flat packages boxes to make it easier for consumers to transport the furniture home and save shipping cost” (Sonwane, 2014). They are able to transport these boxes into cars or trucks which saves money on shipping.
IKEA promotes their products in all of the countries they are located in. They change the language of the ads so that the consumers are able to understand them. They use different IMC (integrated marketing communication) tools including public relations, direct marketing, advertising, sales promotion, and digital marketing. Within public relations, they offer events within certain stores like buffets offered for families during the holidays and they also utilize the press. Within direct marketing, they offer catalogs annually online and printed. The catalogs are produced in different editions and languages and are printed on totally chlorine-free paper and contain at least 10-15% post-consumer waste. Within advertising, they create print ads that are shown online and in stores, they also create video advertisements that are used for the internet and TV. Within sales promotion, they offer discounts and coupons that can be used in-store and online. Within digital advertising, they use Facebook, Youtube, Twitter, Pinterest, Google+, Instagram, and they have an app for consumers to download and shop from.
IKEA distributes products nationally and internationally by digital distribution and in stores. Mattel is all over the world including North America, South America, Europe, Russia, Australia and Asia. At IKEA, distribution is all about making the route from the manufacturer to the customer as short as possible. They distribute their products in large volumes and in flat packages which saves money for them and the consumers. As of 2015, 328 IKEA group stores are located in 28 countries and there are 978 suppliers in 50 countries (Yearly Summary FY15, 2015).
The company’s management strategy can be described as flat box, “organization structure resembles the IKEA flat box, with only four layer separating the CEO and the cashier on the sales floor” (Griffin, 2016). A flat box organizational structure can also be described as a horizontal structure, “flatter structures are flexible and better able to adapt to changes” (Griffin, 2016). “Flat structures have fewer management levels, with each level controlling a broad area or group” (Griffin, 2016). IKEA separates its team based on who has similar knowledge and expertise to a particular skill. Figure 1 shows the four levels of IKEA. Advantages to this style of management is the communication and coordination. The higher ups are able to help and make decisions. A disadvantage with the flat box is the workload, “faster communication makes for quicker decisions, but managers may end up with a heavier workload” (Griffin, 2016).
Their supply chain starts with they build with their suppliers. IKEA is able to negotiate prices with suppliers like no other company. Since they are able to make agreements that are going to affect the company positively, it becomes a long-term business relationship. With long-term business relationship comes long-term contracts. “Having customer select the furniture and retrieve the packages themselves is an inventory management tactic called ‘cost-per-touch’” (“What Is Logistics?”).
Sourcing materials close to the supply chain reduces transport costs. By directly delivering products from the supplier to the IKEA stores, the company is able to reduce prices for both them and the consumers because it slashes handling costs, reduces road miles, and lowers the carbon footprint they create. They also save money by attaching the warehouse to the retail stores. They reduce one step within the supply chain process by doing this because the consumers are able to retrieve the product themselves in the warehouse.
Looking more into the material IKEA uses, their resources are also being saved based on hollow furniture, “IKEA saves on resources by using hollow leg furniture” (Roy, 2015). Their supply chain strategy is to benefit their sustainability, “by using high strength steel in its products, IKEA has realized that it can improve the ergonomic and safety aspects of its design, while reducing the weight of the products decreases the cost and helps the environment” (Roy, 2015).
Managers inside IKEA have responsibilities for inventory. This begins with the ordering process and logistics. “Logistics is defined as a business planning framework for the management of material, service, information and capital flows” (Lu, 2016). After all inventory is checked, delivery notices are sorted also. According to logistics world IKEA’s supply chain includes raw materials, manufacturing, distribution, retailer and consumer. The inventory flows from the supplier to the manufacturer which then flows to both the distribution center and the retail outlets and customers are able to retrieve the product from both locations.
IKEA has had problems with adapting to other country’s cultures. They tried implementing the same business model they were using when they expanded to China and the United States. They realized they made a mistake doing this because of how different consumers are around the world. For example, American customers demand bigger beds and bigger closets. IKEA had to change their business model in all the countries they expanded to so that they were able to appeal to all of the consumers.
When IKEA expanded into China, they didn’t research how different the country and the consumers were. The main problem were the prices because they were considered low in Europe and North America but in China they were considered higher than average. They also had to adjust its marketing strategy because of how they use catalogs as a major tool. Since they offered catalogs, other competitors within China were able to replicate IKEA’s designs and sell it at a cheaper price because they had access to cheaper labor and raw materials.
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Get custom essayThere’s not much IKEA should change about how they are as a company because what they’re doing currently makes them very successful. They should continue to differentiate themselves from the competitors by continuing to offer stylish and affordable products. One of the things they should change are increasing customer interactions between the employees and the consumers in the stores. Another thing they should consider doing is more research when expanding into new locations so that they’re able to appeal to as many people as possible. If they change some of the styles they provide according to demographics, they would be able to see an increase in sales.
Illegal drug use and prostitution among women have been a problem for several years in developing nations. These practices expose them to health conditions such as malnutrition, HIV/AIDS, hepatitis, and high blood pressure. Despite knowledge of these effects, most victims assert that it is difficult to avoid stop these activities due to high unemployment rates, poverty, and improper family ties. There is a close connection between illegal drug use and prostitution with some asserting that prostitutes are highly susceptible to the use of illegal substances because their trade encompasses continuous interaction with criminals. On the other hand, substance abuse forces women to engage in prostitution to get funds to purchases these substances. In this regard, it is evident that illegal drug use and prostitution among women in developing countries is still high.
Get original essaySubstance abuse among women in developing nations such as Kenya and Iran was significantly lower than that of men. However, these figures have risen significantly over the recent years due to poor education, increased poverty levels, and lack of employment. In some cases, the women engaging in the sale of trade comprise those from vulnerable groups. Khan et al. (2010) mention that increased poverty levels among the Pakistan women force them to engage in the illegal trade to meet their family needs as well as pay bills. They often camp along busy streets late in the night since the trade is illegal in the country.
Additionally, women engaging in the sale of sex to move up the socioeconomic ladder and this trade provides the fastest and easiest alternative to their goals and objectives. Monroe (2005) also shares similar findings mentioning that materialism has contributed to the increased sex trade in developing countries. Some of their colleagues lead expensive lifestyles and attribute their success to the trade. With such conversations taking center stage in these societies, it is difficult to make these groups of people conceptualize that there are alternative approaches to success, and one should not demean herself through such activities.
Lack of education also contributes to the increased prevalence of prostitution and drug abuse among women in developing countries. Monroe (2005) asserts that the lack of improper education frameworks undermines the efforts to increase the number of women to acquire skills and knowledge that will enable them to engage in moral and ethical activities to earn a living. Additionally, the lack of adequate education undermines their conceptualization of the long and short-term implications of drug abuse to their bodies and their families as a whole. These women are easily tricked into the use and sale of illegal drugs as they assume that drugs will assist in reducing their stress levels as well as curing some of their chronic illnesses. By the time they know it, they are buried in the trade.
Moreover, Khajedaluee, Dadgarmoghaddam, Erfanian, Alipourtabrizi, and Khadem-Rezaiyan, (2015) assert that the lack of sex education in Arab countries such as Iran renders children susceptible to the practice. Teachers and parents avoid discussing the topic as they believe it is a taboo. From their findings, the authors established that children as young as 12 years old engage in the trade due to lack of guidance and counsel from their parents and teachers. Upon entry, they discover that the trade exposes them to great risks.
Furthermore, the lack of employment opportunities has forced women to engage in prostitution. Recent studies have shown that Ghana has the highest unemployment rates in Africa. With this trends, there has been a sharp rise in the rats of prostitution and illegal drug and substance abuse in the country. To both the young and old women, these practices offer an alternative approach to meeting their daily needs such as rent, food, and health services. Additionally, young girls are easily lured into the trade upon completion of school because they are promised that they will earn huge returns from the trade. In some cases, some needy parents force their children into the business by encouraging them to solicit for sex from sugar daddies who will give them money to support their family. Thus, it is evident that the decrease in employment opportunities in developing countries made illegal substance use and trade as well as prostitution the alternative approach to meeting their daily needs.
Prostitution and illegal drug use among women have social implications on the society. The sex trade in the community undermines gender equality and balance by encouraging the objectification of women. In the recent years, the government of Iran fosters the implementation of policies that encourage the provision of equal opportunities to women. However, with the continued rise in prostitution activities, men who buy these services begin to view women as objects of sexual satisfaction and not human beings. This attitude and perception of women explain the increased cases of violence and murder at the workplace. For instance, in Ghana, there has been a sharp rise in the violation of women rights and privileges due to their objectification by men. In this regard, it is evident that increased prostitution in developing countries encourages the oppression of women in the society.
Besides, illegal drug use and prostitution promote criminal activities in the society. Women posing as traders play a significant role in the sale, distribution, and use of illegal substances. Crimes such as robbery with violence, money laundering, and the sale of drugs thrive in areas where the sex trade is high. Derefinko, Bursac, Mejia, Milich, and Lynam, (2017) mention that brothels act as delivery and pick up points for potential clients. In most cases, the sale of drugs is conducted in close quarters, and the brothel acts as the face of the business. Without addressing such issues, more young girls will be attracted by these activities owing to its substantial financial returns. Thus, illegal drug use and prostitution among women in developing countries encourage the prevalence of crime because the addicts will be forced to look for alternative approaches to raise money and purchase the drugs.
Furthermore, increased infections of HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases among women and men are promoted by prostitution and drug and substance abuse. Initially, only young girls took part in these activities due to peer pressure and materialism. However, the number of old and married women attracted to this trade has risen significantly owing to the reduced unemployment rates and the high cost of leaving. Most of them are young mothers without jobs and deem the sale of sex appropriate. In the long run, these multiple sex partners infect them with sexually transmitted diseases and infection that they later pass on to their spouses. These practices explain the growing rise in the number of orphans due to the death of their parents from sexually transmitted infections. At the same time, while administering these abused substances, the addicts use injections. With this approach, the risk of infection from various ailments is significantly high as one comes into contact with blood that may contain viruses leading to illness. In this regard, it is vivid, that illegal drug abuse and prostitution have resulted in the increased spread of HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted infections among households.
Developing nations face numerous challenges due to the rise in the sex trade and substance abuse among women. It is essential for governments to develop and implement strategies that will curb these practices. The empowerment of women will assist in improving their socioeconomic status as they will have more access to employment and business opportunities. Companies and organizations should provide training and education to women especially from marginalized communities to enhance their competitiveness in the job market. Studies have shown that women can play a pivotal role in a country’s economic growth by fostering innovation and growth through the inclusion of their ideas and perspective in the decision-making process. It also enhances their conceptualization of the adverse implications of such practices to their health and families. Therefore, empowering women will assist in decreasing illegal drug use and prostitution among women as it will reduce their vulnerability to these practices.
In addition, the implementation of stringent rules and regulations by the governments in developing countries will make women avoid crime. Most women are unaware of the implications of illegal drug use and prostitution. Others are not afraid of being caught in the act because they believe that they will pay the imposed penalty and go back to the business. However, when these regulations are revised, it will be easy to arrest and charge individuals engaging in these activities, translating to low crime rates in the society. Thus, it is evident that the implementation of stringent regulations and las is pivotal in the fight against prostitution and illegal substance abuse because the law is critical in maintaining order and ethical practices in the community.
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Get custom essayTo sum up, illegal drug abuse and prostitution among women in developing countries has had adverse implications on social and economic growth and development. The number of women participating in the trade has risen sharply due to increased poverty levels, the lack of employment, and inadequate education. Despite being aware of the implications of these practices, they view that it offers a fast solution to solving their financial and family demands. Prostitution has contributed to increased drug abuse, criminal activities, and gender inequity. Men are the countries despise women as the trade has made them to view them as sexual objects and not human beings. The implementation of the strategies mentioned above and approaches will improve the socioeconomic status of women and decrease their susceptibility to indulging in these illegal and immoral activities. Through increased training and education, they can secure employment and tend to the needs of their households. Thus, developing countries should strive to curb the prevalence of substance abuse and prostitution among women to realize high social and economic growth rates.
The resent research indicates that illegal Immigration population is declining for the first time in the last ten years, as the nation undergoes a tough economy period discourages people from sneaking into the USA”. Illegal immigration has been on an all-time rise for the last 6 to 10 years, as the economy of the nation struggles to stay out of a depression.
Get original essayI strongly believe that illegal immigration is having an adverse negative impact to our economic growth. It costs billions of dollars to tackle problems that come with illegal. With illegal immigration, there is a lot smuggling of drugs and other illegal things across our borders. The second issues issue is overstretching of our healthcare facilities. Many illegal immigrants may be suffering from diseases and this will forces hospitals to care for them but unfortunately, these medical expenses will be financed by USA taxpayers. Also, with the state of the economy of the nation, the government does not have the money to spend on deporting immigrants to their natal counties on trying to stop the immigrants in the United States. Another unique problem is that illegal immigrants agree to work for peanut wage and these are lead to greedy employers preferring to hire them. This has led to the increased rate of employment for U.S. citizens who want to work for better pay per day.
The number of illegal immigrants has reduced after the downfall of our economy and the recession. The reason for this will be associated with our county not having the economic glory it held in the past years and is becoming less opportunistic and motivating to immigrants. Also, it is becoming harder for an immigrant to get the job due to increased rates of unemployment. Hence immigrants are no longer motivated and are realizing that lives in their counties are also becoming better and better
Looking for money creates a serious problem that makes them do break many laws in order to get them and this is why a persisted immigration problem exists. From every aspect of illegal immigration, there is always money from the cost of illegal immigration to our country to the amount of money the illegal immigrants can earn once they get into our country. To stop illegal immigrant we have to educate them to strengthen the economies of their countries money.
Phoebe grew up dancing for countless of hours at her local dance studio, a place she called her second home. Anyone watching her could see how passionate she was about moving and expressing her emotions through graceful choreography. It was at this very studio on a day in the middle of March 2017 while she had been teaching the next generation of dancers that she became fully aware of how persistently exhausted she was and how alarmingly quickly her appetite had decreased the past couple days. After a blood test and a very urgent call from her doctor to get to the hospital immediately, Phoebe was cast away in an ambulance to be diagnosed with the rare Philadelphia chromosome-positive acute myeloid leukemia.
Get original essayIn the beginning of my dance career, I admired Phoebe for her readiness to accept the physical and mental challenge of competing several solo dances each competition season. I remember seeing her cry due to frustration and muscle pain in the middle of her daily four hour rehearsal sessions, wondering how she could still pick herself up and make her movements so fluid, the pain masked by her seamless effortlessness and grace. Finally, when I grew older, I had the honor to be trained by her, my dance inspiration. She eventually became my inspiration beyond dance. Seeing her balance teaching, being part of a college dance team, commuting, and taking care of her family, she became a strong figure in my life. It was crushing to see the tough Phoebe I knew crumble under the malignant, abnormal growth of white blood cells that is leukemia. The leukemia Phoebe was diagnosed with was a special case. In the history of cancer, the study of the chronic version of this leukemia allowed for the discovery that unique, specific mutations existed in distinct forms of cancer. The discovery and foundation of the leukemia she had, as stated by Siddhartha Mukherjee in his novel The Emperor of All Maladies was due to a “genetic event termed a translocation—the flip-flop transposition of two pieces of chromosome” (2011, p. 366). This caused Phoebe’s bone marrow blood cells to multiply uncontrollably, disrupting her blood count. Thus, it was decided that the hospital needed to find her a bone marrow donor and in the meanwhile she would have to undergo chemotherapy intravenously to destroy her leukemia cells and keep it within boundaries.
Phoebe outwardly took in her diagnosis and treatment with the grace and strength she had always presented herself with. Her fearlessness throughout her journey allowed me at times to blindly and joyously think about and discuss with her the adventures we were going to have when she was out of City of Hope Hospital, when her leukemia would be in remission. However, Phoebe’s journey with battling leukemia was not an upward linear progression as my naivety allowed me to hope for and believe in. Her journey of living with an illness consisted of high jumps with hard landings, falls out of pirouettes when we thought she was going to stick the landing, and sashays that travelled her back and forth from the edges of health to the depths of sickness.
The first round of chemotherapy made her nauseous and her legs and hands swelled up after hours of lying in bed, as she was unable to walk around without feeling the need to throw up. There were times Phoebe would decline my family’s visits due to her throbbing headaches that were a result of oxygen deprivation caused by the treatment. Chemotherapy affected her bone marrow’s ability to produce a sufficient supply of blood cells; therefore, as Mukherjee reveals happens in leukemia patients, her “red cell count had dipped so low that her blood was unable to carry its full supply of oxygen” (2011, p. 18). The second round of chemotherapy made her beautiful, black, long hair fall which was also due to the chemotherapy which targets leukemia cells but interferes with other fast-growing cells like those in the hair. When I saw her, I could not help but feel my heart drop as I recalled how just a couple weeks ago we were discussing how her long hair that curled perfectly was her favorite asset, and how she was planning to dye it blonde again. But Phoebe did not seem devastated by the loss of her hair. She exclaimed that she was going to shave it to rock a new look.
I could see that Phoebe had adjusted to disregard the things that no longer held as much weight in importance, focusing on the most essential things that mattered to her just as professor of neurology, Oliver Sacks, did when he was diagnosed with ocular melanoma, which he reveals in his article “My Own Life” when he says, “[he felt] a sudden clear focus and perspective. There [was] no time for anything inessential” (2015). There was no doubt that Phoebe struggled with finding what mattered to her and how to plan her life around the illness that had caused her to stop in her tracks of living life very abruptly. She began to reconstruct her life by making a couple of phone calls to her college. It was decided that she would return to her studies in a year when hopefully, the malignant growth of cells in her blood would be successfully stopped.
There was a darker side to Phoebe’s illness experience. Phoebe struggled just as Paul Kalanithi explained in his novel When Breath Becomes Air, he “struggled, while facing [his] own death, to rebuild [his] old life—or perhaps find a new one” (2016, p. 139). Recognizing that she would not be able to give into the physical demands of dance as her body fought to stay alive, she informed her college dance team that she would no longer be part of the team. Even more heartbreaking was when she asked the director to inform her students, the ones she had been training since they were toddlers, that she would no longer be teaching them. With these decisions, Phoebe often battled with the same questions Kalanithi pondered upon, “who would I be, going forward, and for how long? …Who could, or should, I be?” (2016, p. 147). After weeks of restlessness while being stuck in the hospital, Phoebe settled with the idea of possibly finding a job where she would be allowed to work from home, which her doctor promised to allow her to return to for longer than a few weeks after her blood count reached a normal amount following the third round of chemotherapy.
Towards the end of the summer of 2017, her blood count numbers finally did reach normal standards and a relieved Phoebe moved back home, only returning to City of Hope for routine checkups to make sure the leukemia cells were not spreading. Phoebe planned a small gathering to celebrate with her dearest friends and family members. I distinctly remember Phoebe dressed in black, wearing a surgical face mask from the hospital to prevent from contracting infections, and having to screen the food that was being served to make sure it fit the diet regulations her oncologist gave her. During the celebration, Phoebe announced that the doctors at last, had found her a bone marrow match and she would soon begin to have bone marrow transplants. This was one of the high jumps of Phoebe’s journey.
It was rapidly followed by a hard fall. Phoebe underwent four bone marrow transplants, and each was rejected by her body. Her body deteriorated swiftly after each failed transplant and she was transferred to the ICU to be put on life support. Instead of informing us of her downfall and nearing death, Phoebe sent each of my family members a letter that spoke of the next joyful reunion we would have with her. Phoebe wanted us to still feel the hope of her getting through and surviving the battle with leukemia. She wanted us to continue feeling the joy that she had lost as she was informed again and again that the transplants failed.
Phoebe died on January 7, 2018, the day before my first day of college. In the letter she wrote to me, she asked for me to promise I would swipe her into the dining hall. Why did she promise us the creation of future memories with her if she knew she was running out of time? Every word that she had written served a purpose, and I wonder what went through her mind that prompted her to keep our hopes alive as hers died. I believe she pondered upon the same question Kalanithi repeatedly asked himself, “the question of what makes human life meaningful, even in the face of death” (2016, p. 42). I realized that perhaps she found the last days of her life meaningful by instilling a hope in her loved ones that she would live and that we would see her again to form more memories with her. Perhaps that was the only thing she could do or perhaps that’s all she wanted to do for the ones dearest to her: say the words that would ease our hearts and pain to allow us to imagine what could be. I think it was brave and noble of her to do this for us despite her losing hope for herself. She wanted to leave this world silently, living in the minds of the those who loved her, and in the memories we were imagining would happen, the ones she promised us, the ones she told us she was looking forward to. In her last days of life, she chose to instill joy and to leave a trail of hope.
As the narrator of Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Fall of the House of Usher” thinks to himself when he is unnerved by the sight of the story’s titular house, “while, beyond doubt, there are combinations of very simple natural objects which have the power of thus affecting us, still the analysis of this power lies among considerations beyond our depth” (Poe 200). While his story’s narrator is unable to describe what about the house specifically bothers him so, Poe himself does not seem to believe that such considerations are truly “beyond our depth,” and even wrote a humorous essay titled “The Philosophy of Furniture” to describe the effects of different interior arrangements. Though the essay was written to make fun of the tone of contemporary philosophy essays, its claims seem to be reflected in some of Poe’s stories such as “Ligeia” and “The Fall of the House of Usher.” Comparison of the interior spaces in those stories to Poe’s concept of an “ideal room” in his essay can illuminate Poe’s process and explain why he made specific choices in his detailed descriptions of rooms and furniture.
Get original essayOne of the most noticeable things about the mansion the narrator of “The Fall of the House of Usher” visits is its pervading darkness and gloom. The narrator speaks of the “ebon blackness of the floors” he walks over on the way to his old friend’s room, and there, he finds a “black oaken floor” (202). Without the context of the essay, this description already begins to create a feeling that there is something sinister or depressing about the house. There may, however, be more to Poe’s choice to include a dark wooden floor in the house. In his essay, when discussing the use of carpets, he says “A carpet is the soul of the apartment,” and the floor seen by the narrator so far has no carpeting. If, according to Poe, the carpet is an apartment’s soul, then not only does the House of Usher seem to be without a soul, but there is a deep darkness in the empty place where the soul should be, a suggestion that may also have implications about the nature of the characters. Previously in the story, the narrator says the “House of Usher” is an “appellation which seemed to include, in the minds of the peasantry who used it, both the family and the family mansion” (201). If the physical House of Usher is without a soul, this may imply that the House of Usher as a lineage is also soulless. Though it is difficult to determine how serious Poe meant “The Philosophy of Furniture” to be, and if something apparently insignificant like the lack of a carpet is truly meant to imply something so grave as the lack of a soul, this grim implication would not be out of line with the House’s decline throughout the story.
Aside from the just the carpet, the interior of the rooms of the House of Usher differ from Poe’s ideal room in various ways. Poe says that in the ideal room, “Two large sofas of rosewood and crimson silk… form the only seats, with the exception of two light conversation chairs.” In Roderick Usher’s room, the “general furniture” is described only as being “profuse, comfortless, antique, and tattered” (202), making it safe to assume that the amount of furniture in the room far exceeds the amount Poe deems ideal. Poe also describes the owner of the ideal room as being “asleep on a sofa,” which should imply that the sofas in the room are comfortable enough for the owner to choose to sleep on instead of a bed, which is also not the case in Roderick’s room. A profusion of uncomfortable furniture seems wasteful, while Poe’s ideal room appears to be more efficient. The windows also clash with Poe’s ideal vision. He states that in this ideal room there are “but two windows” which are “large, reaching down to the floor,” whose panes are “of a crimson tinted-glass.” The windows in Roderick’s room are “long, narrow, and pointed, and at so vast a distance from the black oaken floor as to be altogether inaccessible from within” (202). While they do allow “feeble gleams of encrimsoned light” to enter the room, they are the wrong size and in the wrong position, so high that for maintenance purposes they may seem impractical. While none of these other discrepancies between Roderick’s room and the “ideal room” seem to have any implications so grave as the carpet, each difference seems to be another way for Poe to suggest that there is something wrong with the room, the house, and the characters for allowing themselves to live in such a place.
In his essay, Poe emphasizes the superiority of architecture and decoration in England. “In the internal decoration,” he says, “the English are supreme.” Interestingly, the bridal chamber in the English abbey the narrator of “Ligeia” buys is much more bizarre and outlandish than the house described in “The Fall of the House of Usher.” The narrator, in fact, commits the error Poe most often ascribes to his fellow Americans which he believes significantly flaws their sense of interior decoration. “In America,” he says, “dollars being the supreme insignia of aristocracy, their display may be said, in general terms, to be the sole means of the aristocratic distinction; and the populace, looking up for models, are insensibly led to confound the two entirely separate ideas of magnificence and beauty.” The narrator himself seems to be conscious of this flaw, saying he “gave way, with a child-like perversity… to a display of more than regal magnificence within” the abbey (166). He refers to the “gorgeous and fantastic draperies… the solemn carvings of Egypt,” and “the Bedlam patterns of the carpets of tufted gold” as “follies.” Poe, in his essay, goes as far as saying that people who decorate their homes with carpets of “huge, sprawling, and radiating devices” are “children of Baal and worshippers of Mammon,” once again seeming to use a character’s carpets to suggest something sinister about him; this time, that he is a worshipper of demons, reflected by the “Bedlam” patterns. While this line in his essay was likely an exaggeration meant for humorous purposes, what it suggests does not seem too far off from the tone of his story.
It is the story’s bridal chamber, though, that deviates from Poe’s ideals the most dramatically. Firstly, the narrator describes the room as “pentagonal in shape, and of capacious size” (167). Poe states that his ideal room “is oblong — some thirty feet in length and twenty-five in breadth — a shape affording the best (ordinary) opportunities for the adjustment of furniture.” There is no question that the room has only four sides. He does not feel the need to clarify explicitly that this is the best shape for a room. The shape of the bridal chamber, then, is otherworldly, dramatically different than anything he describes in his essay, not allowed any of the “best (ordinary)” furniture arrangements due to the different angles. For each of the ideal room’s corners, Poe ascribes “large and gorgeous Sevres vases, in which bloom a profusion of sweet and vivid flowers.” However, in the bridal chamber, each corner is instead occupied by “a gigantic sarcophagus of black granite, from the tombs of the kinds over against Luxor” (168). Without the context of the essay, the presence of ancient and ornate coffins used as decoration already does much to evoke a sense of something sinister. The sense is heightened by the contrast between the two rooms. The corners of the bridal chamber are decorated with death when they should ideally be decorated with life and vibrancy, and the increased number of corners in the room allows for even more death than there is for life in the ideal room.
The drapery of the room seems partially in line with Poe’s ideal, having the “arabesque” designs he recommends. However, the narrator says “these figures partook of the true character of the arabesque only when regarded from a single point of view,” but as one moves about the room, “he [sees] himself surrounded by an endless succession of the ghastly forms which belong to the superstition of the Norman, or arise in the guilty slumbers of the monk” (168). Poe’s essay emphasizes that decorative patterns on carpets or tapestry should be “of no meaning,” and while the drapery initially seems to follow this rule, the narrator ascribes meaning to it when he perceives the patterns to change shape. This also fits with the story’s consistent emphasis of the narrator’s abuse of opium which possibly causes him to go mad.
The room’s lighting is also in opposition to Poe’s ideal, and the clash between the two light sources can be seen as a parallel to the story’s plot. In terms of lighting, Poe praises the “tempered and uniform moonlight rays” of plain ground-glass shades and scorns the “harsh and unsteady light” of gas lamps, and the “unequal, broken and painful” light of cut-glass shades which disenchants female beauty “beneath its evil eye.” In the bridal chamber, however, light enters from the sole window, “tinted of a leaden hue,” occupying the entirety of one of the walls, falling with a “ghastly lustre” (167). Hanging from the ceiling is a “huge censer” with “many perforations so contrived that there writhed in and out of them, as if endued with a serpent vitality, a continual succession of particolored fires” (167-8). Neither light source is in line with Poe’s ideal. The light from the censer, emitting from various perforations, probably resembles the “broken” light of cut-glass shades he criticizes. Like the shape of the room, the possibility of two different kinds of light sources is not something Poe brought up in his essay, suggesting again that there is something wrong with the room and its inhabitants. He may have wanted to suggest that the relationship between the light sources was a parallel with the relationship between the story’s two women, Ligeia and Lady Rowena Trevanion. Rowena, who grows ill and dies, would resemble the “ghastly” light that is being taken over by the stronger light of the flames hanging over it, representing Ligeia and her apparent possession of Rowena’s corpse. The unequal light, similar to that of the cut-glass shades, is not necessarily “disenchanting” female beauty “beneath its evil eye,” but is definitely corrupting it.
Poe frequently uses detailed description of character’s faces using the principles of phrenology, “a popular pseudo-science of the time” (161, footnote) in order to suggest things about the characters. His detailed descriptions of the interior settings of his stories also suggest many things, and the rules with which to read these descriptions to see what they may really be hinting seem to be held in his essay “The Philosophy of Furniture.” The contrasts between his ideal room and the sinister rooms of his stories suggest that, while the essay was written for satirical purposes, it contains his true, if exaggerated, beliefs on interior decorating which he used to characterize the spaces in his stories.
Works Cited
Poe, Edgar Allan. "The Fall of the House of Usher." The Selected Writings of Edgar Allan Poe. Ed. G.R. Thompson. New York: Norton, 2004. 199-216. Print.
Poe, Edgar Allan. "Ligeia." The Selected Writings of Edgar Allan Poe. Ed. G.R. Thompson. New York: Norton, 2004. 159-173. Print.
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Get custom essayPoe, Edgar Allan. “The Philosophy of Furniture.” The Edgar Allan Poe Society of Baltimore. Web. 23 July 2015
In Madame Bovary, Gustave Flaubert attacks all sorts of vice and virtue; his targets include adultery, romance, religion, science, and politics. The characters are almost universally detestable; those who are not are merely pathetic. But the negativity throughout the book, always in contrast with impossible happiness, is not as black as it appears. Or if the characters truly do face bleak situations, they do so out of an inability to accept a reality that was perhaps less than what they wanted, but better than they let it become.
Get original essayMadame Bovary is foremost a novel about romance, and it is reasonable that marriage should come under attack. Charles' first marriage is arranged by his mother to Madame Dubuc, an ugly, domineering woman thrice Charles' age, who is supposed to be rich. Charles' wedded life is miserable, and yet when his wife finally dies, he reflects that "she had loved him, after all" (42). Thus Dubuc, who claimed that "if [Charles] hovered near her, it was surely in order to see her die" (35) becomes the novel's first and only loving wife. Charles' mother, faced with an adulterous and spendthrift husband, "stifle[s] her rage" (30); the only other wife in the story, Madame Homais, seems to get along with her husband, but her feelings are not addressed. The single loving husband besides Charles is Monsieur Rouault, Emma's father, but his wife died several years before the action of the book begins, and we never meet her.
The reality of marriage contrasts with Emma's ideas of love. In the beginning of their marriage, Emma and Charles are "happy and without a care in the world" (53). Charles devotes himself to his wife, yet for Emma, "the happiness that should have resulted from this love had not come" (55). Her expectations of life outside the farm: "gloomy forests, romantic woes, oaths, sobs" (57) etc. are nowhere to be found in marriage, and indeed Charles' happiness consists of the opposite: Emma's "comb, her rings, her shawl" (55), mundane pleasures. The Bovary's marriage begins well, but Emma's ideas of wedded bliss fall short of reality and doom her life with Charles. Marriage is not perfect, but not every married character is unhappy.
Emma's efforts to attain happiness within her marriage are misguided, the result of fantasy. She thinks that by being a good wife she will raise her existence closer to an ideal. When she falls in love with Léon, she perceives a chance to overcome temptation and transform her life into a moral exemplum. Emma begins to raise her own child, to attend church, to worry about Charles; she tells herself "I am virtuous" (118) and in short becomes the unattainable woman of her courtly love stories. There is no reason why this should make her happier, and Emma's fantasy soon clashes with the reality of her surroundings; "[Charles'] conviction that he was making her happy seemed an imbecilic insult....For whom then was she being virtuous?" (118). In the same measure that her marriage is less than her ideals, Emma becomes a less than ideal wife. The blame for this lies in equal measure with reality, for Charles really is dull and boring, and Yonville able to bore the strongest constitution, and with Emma herself.
For example, a later attempt of Emma's to perfect her life is her encouraging Charles to operate on the clubfoot of Hippolyte, a stableboy at the local inn. For Homais and Emma to think the procedure has a chance of working is sheer fantasy, rooted in ambition for success. "Emma had no reason to think [Charles] wasn't a capable doctor" (173) except for her disgust at his obtuseness, a thought she puts aside, for it conflicts with her fantasy that Charles could "increase his reputation and his fortune" (173). Charles, who is a health officer, not a doctor, attempts a new procedure in a magazine and operates on a perfectly healthy patient. Emma's ideals to do Hippolyte just what they are doing to her marriage; the boy's leg has to be amputated. The situation appalls Canivet, a real doctor. Medical science is just as bad as marriage, that is, it can work (Homais may be a crank, but Canivet is not), but it is fallible and even disastrous when embarked upon without reason but with absurd expectations. Furthermore, when its practitioners ignore warning signs, such as Hipployte's swelling and convulsing foot, a parallel to Emma's restlessness and crying spells, the situation gets worse; in their disgust and optimism, Charles and Homais continue their procedure when stopping could have saved their victim's foot.
Religion suffers the same failures as science, for the same reasons. The local priest is to souls what Charles is to bodies, and in respect to Emma the curé is, like Charles, completely out of his depth. "'I am suffering'", Emma tells him; "'these first hot spells weaken one terribly'" (121), is his response. The priest is full of concern for the cold and the hungry, but he cannot understand why Emma would be upset. Whenever Emma turns to religion, she expects miracles; she visits the church "prepared for any act of devotion as long as she could give up her soul there and make her entire existence disappear" (120). No wonder she is so annoyed by books like "The Man of the World at Mary's Feet, by Monsieur de ____, Holder of Several Decorations" (208), she cannot accept that religion is usually prosaic in its daily operation. When Emma "address[es] to the Lord the same fond words she had formerly murdered to her lover in the ecstasies of adultery" (208), she is trying another fantasy world that proves itself grounded in reality. Religion is like adultery for Emma, and she finds "in adultery all the banalities of marriage" (272).
Most of Emma's disillusionments do, in fact, involve adultery. Her meeting with Rodolphe at the Agricultural Show vividly reveals the extent to which she is insulated by her illusions. As Rodolphe offers such alluring sentiments irresistable to Emma as "I bury myself, in my sadness" (143) and "our duty is to discern the great and cherish the beautiful" (148) they are interrupted by men carrying chairs and announcers offering prizes for best manure. According to Homais, Yonville "believed itself transported to the heart of an Arabian Nights dream" (156) at the Show, but Emma does not notice the disparagement of her fantasies. Rodolphe, her first lover, is pragmatic and manipulative, not the romantic she imagines him. They plan to go away, or rather Emma plans to and Rodolphe does not contradict her. In the end, Rodolphe backs out, and Emma contemplates suicide and falls into catatonia. Rodolphe, who has had many other lovers, does not understand that Emma loves him more than other women have. "Emma resembled all his old mistresses....This man, who was so experienced in love, could not distinguish the dissimilarity in the emotions behind the similarity of expressions" (188). He considers Emma an entirely typical lover, while she, as is her wont, dreams of traveling with him to "some splendid city with domes, bridges, cathedrals, ships, forests" (192). Emma is once more disappointed because she expects the affair to be more than it is.
Emma's affair with Léon is worse than her affair with Rodolphe, if only in respect to the debt she incurs during it. Money feeds Emma's fantasy life, and the more she spends to be with her lovers, ignoring reality, the further she drives her family into ruin. Her delight with Léon begins to pale when he is unable to make a rondezvous because Homais has pinned him down; from this insignifigant slight and tiny flaw in perfection comes the destruction of her love. Léon is falliable, and therefore Emma "detest[s] him....One must not touch idols; the gilt rubs off on one's hands" (265). At this point, the reader is more dismayed by this turn of events than Emma is. Emma Bovary, romantic and idealist, has, à la Dorian Gray, become ever more corrupt as the trappings of her life have increased in opulence. While visiting Léon, Emma would "laugh loudly and dissolutely when the champagne froth spilled over the fragile glass onto the rings on her fingers" (251), and Léon finds her "the amoreuse in every novel, the heroine of every drama...an angel" (251). She has transformed herself into her ideal, at least to her lover. But she pays for the rings and the champagne with her daughter's inheritance and her husband's present; she can only grasp her fantasy at reality's expense. "One evening she did not go back to Yonville [from a visit to her lover in Rouen]. Charles was out of his mind with worry, and little Berthe, who did not want to go to bed without seeing her mama, sobbed as if her heart were breaking" (260). It is emphatically Emma who creates this situation, Emma who ruins her daughter's life, who makes her own deathbed, rushed into on account of debt. When "lying [becomes] a need, a mania, a pleasure" (256) for her, when she runs to Rodolphe for money, "prostituting herself" (283), or when she suggests to Léon that he embezzle from his employer to pay her debts, Emma is being far worse than mundane. She sacrifices her life, her family's life, and her morals to fantasy.
After Emma's suicide, Charles is possessed by her spirit, but in a way it inhabited him throughout his marriage. It is only the content of his fantasies that changes. Charles assumed Emma was happy; he loved her, and he thought she loved him back. He was the only person in Yonville who did not suspect Emma of having an affair. "Maybe [Emma and Rodolphe] loved each other platonically" (316) he thinks, upon finding Rodolphe's farewell letter. Charles did all he could to make Emma happy, but when it came to her affairs and her spending, he lived in a fantasy world. When his mother protested Emma's power of attorney, "Charles, rebelling for the first time in his life, took his wife's part" (259). Any force that could make Charles contradict Madame Bovary senior would have to be powerful indeed. As long as he could believe that Emma was his, Charles was content, and he never dared recognize that she is disloyal. He cared about her, spending over a month at her bedside when she fell ill, but at the same time she fit into his dream of a perfect bourgeois life; her accomplishments in entertaining and running the house made him think "all the more highly of himself for possessing such a wife" (61). So instead of addressing Emma's unhappiness, Charles ended up unwittingly abetting her adulteries, suggesting that she visit Léon and paying for her fictional music lessons in Rouen. And if Charles is not responsible for Emma's death, he is for his own. He dies having learned of his wife's affairs and one day after his meeting with Rodolphe. Charles is killed by sheer disillusionment--Canivet "performed an autopsy but found nothing" (322). Charles' failure to recognize Emma's imperfections not only kills him but orphans Berthe, who is forced into poverty and labor in a cotton mill. Combined with Emma's spending, Charles' death dooms his hope of sending Berthe to boarding school and marrying her off to "some fine young man with a solid business who would make her happy" (192), for it "would be expensive" (191). Charles has only vauge ideas of how to finance his idea, such as purchasing "stock somewhere, it didn't matter where" (191. His dreams, unlike Emma's, could have been realized if he had been willing to accept reality: his wife's faithlessness, her disgust of him, and her massive spending. Even Emma could have been content, albeit with unrealized dreams, had she recognized the unlikelihood of her ever finding "the heart of a poet in the shape of an angel" (267). Happiness is not impossible for those whose goals, unlike Emma's, are reasonable and limited, and unlike Charles', are sought with open eyes.
Lheureux and Homais, devoted to the pursuit of realistic, if mundane, goals (monopolizing Yonville's businesses, receiving the Legion of Honor), live without illusions, except for Homais' conviction that he is not an idiot, a belief that grants him obstinacy. Besides, when confronted with the fact that he cannot earn his goal, Homais does not seek solace in the idealized Church or in redoubling his efforts for science, rather "he [sells] himself; he prostitute[s] himself" (320) by courting the powerful. He tries unlikely methods, such as the operation on Hippolyte's clubfoot, only when he can weasel out of the blame. Lheureux does not scruple to practically blackmail Emma into entering his debt nor to have his friend Vinçart play the bad creditor for him so as not to "appear a bloodsucker before his fellow townspeople" (282). Both Lheureux and Homais do well, and apparently money can buy happiness; Lheureux (whose name means "fortunate") sets up his business and does not, as far as the reader knows, suffer from unquiet sleep; Homais gains his medal, and moreover his children's accomplishments make him "the happiest of fathers, the most fortunate of men" (320).
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Get custom essayTo Lheurex and Homais, the world is not such a bad place. While they do have to act immorally to get what they want, they show that Emma Bovary is wrong; it is possible to be happy. The means and even the ends do not involve ideals, things that Emma's novels present as beautiful, like romantic love, but they exist all the same. Happiness is intimately connected to wealth, as Emma learns, and to be happy one must be able to deal with the minutiae of bills that confuse her and make her retreat into fantasy. Emma and Charles cannot build their dreams on dreams of money, but the money is there to be had.
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald and Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? by Edward Albee explore the idea of illusion and reality in people’s lives. Fitzgerald’s novel was written during the height of the Roaring Twenties in 1924, where people led lives filled with extravagence but also illusion as a way of recovering from the damage of the First World War. Albee’s play is set during the Cold War, at a time ruled by tension people often turned to illusion as a way to forget what was going on around them currently. Both writers explore the question of whether it’s appropriate to be living life hiding behind a facade or whether you should face reality.
Get original essayThe idea of a ‘perfect American family’ as a key to successfully achieving ‘The American Dream’ is an idea that is linked closely to the texts Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? and The Great Gatsby. In both texts numerous characters are affected by this social pressure and it is an important part of many of their downfalls. In Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? George and Martha create a fictitious child in hope of living up to society’s expectations as well as fixing their own problems between them. They base their lives around this illusion which ultimately does more harm than good as we see when George and Martha use this child as a weapon against each other such as when Martha accuses George of not being ‘completely sure it’s his own kid’. By referring to their kid as ’it’ in this sentence they foreshadow the confirmation of the child not being real. Albee himself said on The South Bank Show that the child ‘became so real that it was corrupting their relationship.’ The idea that something George and Martha created with such detail, going as far as to describe even the smallest things such as the ‘antique bassinet from Austria’ shows just how important children were to them as well as the pressure society has put on them to form the perfect American family. The death of the child being the climax of the play could also show how far gone George and Martha, particularly Martha was in their illusions and how they needed to break out of it if they wanted to live in a well lived, fully immersed life which would not be dictated by society’s false ideals of a perfect American family and the American Dream. In The Great Gatsby, Tom and Daisy have perfected the image of their family however in reality their relationship is crippled. Tom is described as not being able to ‘stand the person he’s married to’ and they are rarely seen with their daughter, who is often being cared for by the staff. Daisy refers to her daughter as ‘a beautiful little fool’ which reveals a lot about her character and how its most important to her that her daughter fits in with society's expectations of a woman (being docile and submissive) helping them to continue the image of a perfect American family. The difference between The Great Gatsby and WAOVW? is that Tom and Daisy revert back to their old ways after the book’s events deciding to lean even further into their illusion that they are the perfect American Family whereas George and Martha realise its not a realistic ideal to have and realise they need to change.
The American Dream promises of happiness and wealth in return for dedication and passion. However, for many of the characters in The Great Gatsby and Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? this is not reality. In Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? George and Martha had a lot of hope as a young couple to get far in life. George was expected to ‘take over the History Department’ and then even ‘take over the college’. George did become the head of the History Department during the war however Martha’s Dad decided he ‘didn’t have it in him’. George seems dedicated and passionate about his job and yet doesn’t get anything in return. Instead he is burdened with being a failure in the eyes of society, the same society that worships these promises. George is the only person who seems content with his position at work, he believes the most important part of his job is educating young people not the status of it, and yet Martha’s resentment towards him for not succeeding in the way she and society wanted him to is a much more prominent theme in the play than George’s own content which I believe perfectly displays the true nature of the American Dream . The Great Gatsby also shows Gatsby as a victim of the American Dream. Nick mentions ‘what preyed on Gatsby’ as a reason for his horrific end. The word ‘preyed’ makes Gatsby seem small and helpless, a contrast to how we see him for much of the book. Critic Matthew J. Bruccoli describes him as someone who was ‘betrayed by the promises of America’. I agree with this as Gatsby who devoted his life to becoming wealthy and successful suffered one of the most tragic fates in the book. He embodies the American Dream by demonstrating his passion and resilience towards achieving his goal of success and wealth (Nick describes him as having ‘the resourcefulness of movement that is so peculiarly American’), and as a consequence, is betrayed by it. I believe this quote also applies to George Wilson. We are first introduced to George in the Valley of the Ashes - a place that represents the moral decay and corruption of a capitalist and materialistic society (a result of the American Dream). This tells us a lot about George’s position in society. Although George has ambition he is not from the right class or background to succeed in the American Dream.
Albee decided to name George and Martha after the first President and First Lady of the United States. Because of this the audience may have imagined them as being representative of typical American values such as optimism or hope. Except George and Martha are the opposite of that. They are loud and abrasive and argumentative such as when Martha screams ‘screw you!’ to George just as Nick and Honey arrive, however they do still represent America, but in a different light, a more realistic one where the ideals that are representative of America like unrealistic success, wealth and even happiness are not sustainable. In The Great Gatsby, the setting is used to show this unsustainable lifestyle. The contrast between East Egg and West Egg and the Valley of the Ashes represents this false idealism. The name ‘ashes’ has connotations of death and creates an extremely solemn setting. Further descriptions such as ‘grotesque gardens’ and ‘dumping ground’ emphasise this further. It shows the consequences of unsustainable living which is caused by the American Dream. ‘The eyes of Doctor T.J Eckleburg’ looks over the Valley of the Ashes in the form of an advertisement board, overseeing the consequences of the new America. It may have been in the form of advertisement to also represent the new America, where advertisements were becoming more popular. Both texts present the American Dream as being unsustainable as well as an illusion.
Marriage in Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? is depicted in a pessimistic light. Nick and Honey, who are originally presented as the picture perfect couple do not seem to have such a loving marriage. It is revealed by Nick that the only reason he married Honey was ‘because she was pregnant’. Couples during this time often would get married if the woman became pregnant as to not be shunned by society. As this was the situation Nick and Honey found themselves in, they used marriage to solve their problem. Nick also states how there was never any ‘particular passion’ between them and so it gives the impression that they are stuck in their marriage. We see the marriage unravel as the play goes on, with Nick committing infidelity and also the revelation of Honey’s lack of want for children of her own and Nick marrying her for money, however we never really see any real consequence become of it. They go back to how they were, pretending to be a perfect couple to the rest of society. In TGG, we also see this illusion of marriage with George and Myrtle. Whilst they are definitely not presented as a loving couple like Nick and Honey, Myrtle did marry George because she thought he was wealthy, one of the reasons she thought this was because George ‘borrowed somebody’s best suit to get married in’. Myrtle desperately wants to escape her social class which is made evident through the use of her ‘crowded’ apartment which she attempts to make a place of luxury with ‘furniture entirely too large for it’ but instead does the opposite and makes it feel chaotic and overcrowded symbolising that she can never escape her social class. She thought marrying George would solve this problem before finding out the truth. This may be why she started her affair with Tom as when she sees him for the first time he is wearing ‘a dress suit and patent-leather shoes’ - clothes which greatly connote wealth. To Myrtle, Tom represents promises of wealth and a new life.
Both writers present marriage as being imperfect behind closed doors. In TGG Tom and Daisy cheat on each other during the book and they do so with little guilt. With the obvious signs of a flawed and imperfect marriage, they still care for each other. After Myrtle’s death Nick sees them ‘conspiring together’ with an ‘unmistakable air of natural intimacy’. This shows that even through everything they have put each other through they still care deeply for one another, the phrase ‘natural intimacy’ shows this as it displays how even though their marriage may not be as perfect as they pretend, they still have a deep connection. Another example of this is the fact that Daisy could not say she ‘never loved’ Tom as it wasn’t true. Albee presents marriage similarly through George and Martha. They are seen continuously arguing through the entirety of the play which could be seen as an example of the Theatre of the Absurd, a core element of this was taking a tragic theme, in this case a seemingly failing marriage, and making it comedic, such as Martha saying very childishly ‘Poor Georgie-porgie’ in a condescending manner in the midst of an argument. This is far from what audiences may have expected a typical American couple to be portrayed like on stage, adding to the effect. However, just like Tom and Daisy they have some loving moments between them. At the end of the play George comforts Martha by putting ‘his hand gently on her shoulder’. After the chaos that had previously ensued and knowing the secrets we didn’t know at the beginning of the play it is arguably more sincere than any of Tom and Daisy’s interactions as we know they have no ulterior motive (Tom and Daisy had stability and social status to think about) whereas George and Martha have hit rock bottom together, they can only rise back up with the help from one another. The tender gestures we see between George and Martha, and Tom and Daisy, gives up hope that the illusion they are hidden behind could become reality.
In TGG it is made evident from the beginning that Tom and Daisy do not have a stable relationship, although they would like everyone else, even themselves to think so. This is evident when Tom’s ‘woman in New York’ calls. This seems to be popular gossip and Daisy is aware of Tom’s infidelity yet she chooses to pretend she isn’t as she doesn’t want to face the harsh truth and the reality of it. This causes her to feel trapped in the marriage, creating even more tension. Another example of their toxic relationship is when Tom is accused by Daisy of having bruised her knuckle and he doesn’t deny it. In Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? George and Martha also have a lot of tension in their marriage, however this has been built up over time, by this point they seem to be tolerating each other more than anything. This is easy to see by the way they treat each other and order each other about, particularly Martha, such as when she says ‘Go answer the door’. At the beginning of the play they have yet to directly acknowledge it. It is when George exclaims that he ‘can’t stand it’ that they seem to address it for the first time as it leads to one of their biggest downfalls as a couple. Both couples do not seem happy together but instead of facing reality they choose to ignore the problem.
Albee and Fitzgerald both raise some questions regarding morality on living life as an illusion. One of which is: Is it okay to ignore reality and live in an illusion? Albee stated on The South Bank Show that ‘the people who waste it, waste consciousness’ are wasting ‘one of the most valuable things you could possibly have’. Albee makes this quite evident by the destruction of his characters while they live their life in illusion. George is the one most ready to lose the illusion and is the driving force of the play initiating the game of ‘bringing up baby’. He realises it's not okay to live as they are and that it is important to change before it’s too late. Gatsby, however, does not realise this in time and is met with a tragic end. I believe Fitzgerald was also communicating the idea that it is not okay to live like this otherwise the same fate will await as consequence.
Both texts explore another important question concerning morality and living in illusion instead of truth: Is there hope people can change their lives? The ending of Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? has a small, but significant element of hope towards the end. The final line of Martha saying ‘I am’ to the title question ‘Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?’ demonstrates that Martha is taking one step forward in her life to improve it and live out her life fully. In the 1966 film adaptation, George turns off all the lamps in their house and the couple turn to face out the window. This symbolises how they are erasing all the false or artificial truths in their life and turning to look out into the real world. It provides a glimmer of hope which is essential in conveying the message to the audience that it is possible to change, it’s possible for the audience to change. Albee held existentialist beliefs and hoped to use theatre to better people's lives so an optimistic ending would be a key way of doing this. However, TGG explores this question in a much more pessimistic point of view. As a modernist novel, the ending contains many tragic or unjustified ends, demonstrating how if you change too late, your fate is unavoidable. It sets out more to scare the reader into change than give hope to the audience, like Albee’s play.
The American Dream is said to be accomplished with perseverance and the right attitude but both texts make it important to establish it as an illusion. It raises the question: Is it right to give up morals for the the American Dream, even if it is only an illusion? In Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Nick states how part of his plan to advance his career is to ‘plough a few pertinent wives’, and later he commits infidelity which takes him one step closer to achieving The American Dream. The pressure of achieving makes him commit an immoral act, and yet, we have George who is an outsider to the American Dream. He’s smarter than Nick and chooses to not follow the ideals and pressures of society and proves you can still withstand your morals in a society dictated by the illusion of The American Dream. TGG shows the opposite of this. Myrtle is an outsider of The American Dream and is not able to escape it so dies as a consequence. It is interesting that it's Daisy who kills her, as she is someone who very much lives in comfort of American ideals. The American Dream is presented in both texts as a grand illusion and yet the characters are driven by immoral acts to achieve it, even though it is not real which shows the moral compass of many of the characters such as Gatsby, Tom and Daisy and Nick in Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? They all repeatedly commit acts of infidelity and in the case of Gatsby, criminal activities. These make you question whether the characters even deserve to achieve such a dream if it does exist and may be what leads to their demise. Fitzgerald demonstrates how it's almost impossible to live a life outside of the immoral pressures of the illusion that is The American Dream.
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Get custom essayIn conclusion, both F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby and Edward Albee’s “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” illustrate the importance of living life without illusion and hope the readers or audience will be influenced by their work to do the same. They convey that no matter how far into your illusion you may be, there is still hope to live a life driven by reality as seen when the characters from their respective texts are met with the reality they were hiding from, when this happens they have no choice but to face the truth. With both texts being written in times so strongly influenced by superficial aspirations it was an important time to convey these ideas and show society that there is still hope.
“A picture is worth a thousand words.” This timeless saying embodies the ability of imagery to convey multiple messages and themes in an overarching structure. Through detailed nuance, the playwright Tennessee Williams utilizes the imagery found in his characters’ actions and settings to surpass the limitations of explicit narration. His technique is especially useful for depictions that are multifaceted in nature and require subtle progression. When portraying the human psyche, such techniques give remarkable depth to characters and their development throughout a story. Through recurring patterns in scenes, dialogue, and the general tendencies of his characters, Williams is able to outline a psychological breakdown that not only avoids being superficial, but is also stimulating to the audience. In A Streetcar Named Desire, Williams uses music, lights, and dialogue to illustrate Blanche DuBois’ dependence on illusion and her descent into madness.
Get original essayOften, music is used as a relief to trauma. Williams contradicts this tendency by using music to usher in tense scenes. In one scene, Blanche DuBois reveals the importance of a recurring tune – the Varsouviana: “The ‘Varsouviana’! The polka tune they were playing when Allan – Wait! [A distant revolver shot is heard. Blanche seems relieved.] There now, the shot! It always stops after that.” (Williams 141). The Varsouviana signals moments of discomfort, despair, and anxiety for DuBois. It is the prodromal tie to DuBois’ deteriorating mental state. As mentioned, this polka was playing when Allan Grey committed suicide. DuBois feels immense guilt in regard to her late husband’s death. Because of this, the tune indicates death and impending disaster. The polka music acts as a foundation for DuBois’ relationship to tragedy and skewed mental state. Music also represents Blanche’s dysfunctional need for reassurance. While Stella and Stanley are arguing, Blanche, completely oblivious, sings during a habitual bath:
BLANCHE [singing blithely]: “Say, it’s only a paper moon, Sailing over a cardboard sea – But it wouldn’t be make-believe If you believed in me…It’s a Barnum and Bailey world, Just as phony as it can be – But it wouldn’t be make-believe If you believed in me…”
“Without your love,
It’s a honky-tonk parade!
Without your love,
It’s a melody played In a penny arcade…” (Williams 120-121)
Williams’ choice of the song “It’s Only a Paper Moon” is not accidental. Although Blanche sings the lyrics with lightheartedness, her lyrical choice and purposeful omission shows her emphasis on staying in her fantasy world. Further, to remain in her delusion, Blanche needs to feel some sense of adoration from others. The “honky-tonk parade” and the “penny arcade” represent DuBois’ view of her own reality; it is cheap, tacky, and gaudy. Williams purposely omits some lyrics and left only those necessary to convey the delusion. Williams uses music as a canvas and vehicle to illustrate Blanche DuBois’ psychosis.
Another recurring pattern in A Streetcar Named Desire is DuBois’ avoidance of bright lights. In one scene, DuBois demands the cessation of the light in order to protect her image: “And turn that over-light off! Turn that off! I won’t be looked at in this merciless glare” (Williams 120). For DuBois, light eradicates the darkness of her illusion. Light represents inescapable truth and figuratively illuminates DuBois’ reality. When threatened with her unsavory situation, DuBois retreats into darkness and thus fantasy. In essence, she cannot handle or cope with the truth. The reason for this weakness is revealed when Blanche discusses the repercussions of her late husband death: “And then the searchlight which had been turned on the world was turned off again and never for one moment since has there been any light that’s stronger than this – kitchen – candle.” (Williams 115). When Allan dies, something in Blanche dies as well. She ties her loss to the loss of light. Thus, she hides from lights, not only because they expose the truth, but because she no longer has a light, internally or externally, that is comparable. Her aversion comes to a climax when Mitch threatens to turn on the lights: “And if that is sinful, then let me be damned for it! – Don’t turn the light on! […He turns the light on…she cries out and covers her face.]” (Williams 145). This shows DuBois’ extreme aversion to light. In her statement, she refers to her tendency to lie and argues that she has no regrets in doing so. Her avoidance of light and truth shows DuBois’ dependence on denial and deception. Blanche has descended so far into her fantasy word that she cannot bear any representation of truth, in this case, light. For Blanche DuBois, light present a clarification of her world and this, she cannot handle.
For many, living in a fantasy world offers a false sense of security. For DuBois, her delusion poses a crutch that she relies on to walk through her life. Early in the play, DuBois hints at her tendency to obscure the truth: “I can’t stand a naked light bulb, any more than I can a rude remark or a vulgar action.” (Williams 60). To DuBois, truth is an insult or “put-down.”; it literally disgusts her. Due to her particular associations with light, Blanche treats luminous objects with contempt. When exposed to light, DuBois’ sense of self-worth and security is dismantled. Truth without embellishment is derisive. To maintain her coping, rather than make an internal change, Blanche alters the external appearance of things in a way that makes them more palatable. Despite the consistency of her lies, when cornered Blanche DuBois reveals that, on some level, she is quite aware of truth and her tendency to deceive: “I don’t want realism. I want magic…I try to give that to people…I don’t tell the truth, I tell what ought to be truth.” (Williams 145) DuBois needs the option of fantasy. She needs to believe that the world is kinder and prettier than it is actually. Through her alterations of the truth, Blanche forces the world to be as beautiful as she wants it to be. This particular relationship foreshadows Blanche’s inevitable descent into madness when those securities are removed. She cannot live in fantasy forever. When DuBois is led away by the doctor, her mental state is completely dissolved and she succumbs to her own madness: “Whoever you are – I have always depended on the kindness of strangers.” (Williams 178). When faced with the choice of embracing reality or remaining in fantasy, DuBois chooses the latter and her mental state degenerates. In this scene, DuBois is forced to acknowledge her circumstances and as a result, declines. Her impending placement into a mental institution simply reinforces the sanctuary of her mind. She fully submits into her delusions. She now finds herself in a world where reality and illusion are one.
In A Streetcar Named Desire, Tennessee Williams’ use of music, lights, and dialogue illustrate Blanche DuBois’ addiction to illusion and her fall into madness. In the play, music provides both a background to DuBois’ trauma, develops the scenic mood, and reveals much of the protagonist’s coping mechanism. Its antithesis – bright lights – attempts to expose those things in life that DuBois desires to conceal. In response, DuBois actively lives in shadows of illusion through her clouded perception. With each obstacle, Blanche’s need for fantasy increases to the point where she no longer can perceive the difference between fantasy and reality.
What qualifies me to say I’m an entertainer? A entertainer is someone that entertains. There are so many different ways to say what a entertainer does. There are some that get paid for movies, while others are there to make you laugh at comic shows, and some to brighten up someone’s day. I am a fun and happy person. I love making people laugh. When in a work environment people would rather have a thoughtful, funny person to work with than someone that is stuck up. Since I am versatile, I can joke, be sarcastic, or just plain funny in my mannerisms. People in the world need other people who they can joke with and someone that has an open heart. I’m open to have an conversation and when someone is having a bad day i cheer them up.
Get original essayI feel that I am an entertainer because I like to make people feel better, people love how funny I am and how I can take their minds away from the things they go through when no one else is there for them. I can lighten up anyone's day. For some, this is a chore; however, for me, it is a God given gift. When I notice that one of my friend’s is upset, I make light of the situation and before long, they forgot why they were upset and we end up laughing hysterically about something else. I never thought much about it until this assignment, but it takes a special person to bring out the best in others, instead of allowing them to wallow in their problems. Not all entertainers are singers are singers, dancers or comedians.
You can make someone’s day just by making people laugh. It don't take a lot to just make one persons day. Anything can make someone’s day even if you think that it’s small if you can put a smile on someone's face it's a big deal. I have the type of personality where i don't like to see people sad and i don't like to see people upset so i go out of my way to make them feel better. When I get a job people will love to work with me because i'm easy to talk to, I’m understanding, caring, and im fun to be around . I joke and play and im nice so of course people love that about me.
When I was little girl I was always a talker. I could talk to anyone about anything i always wanted to know why was this and why was that I was always a good listener and could hold a conversation about anything with anyone and that has really helped me out in my everyday life I used to talk to little kids and adults four times my age because of how good of a talker I was. When talking come naturally you tend to talk about anything and talk just to talk most of the time people would like to talk to people that can hold a conversation. My mom says that I talk just to hear myself talk, but I really be saying some interesting things. When I was three, I had the opportunity to fly to California to audition as a model. My Uncle Lloyd went on stage with me and he was supposed to tell them my name. Well, when they asked my name, I spoke up, with my hand on my hip and said, I am Asya. All of the judges were impressed that a three year old was bold enough to stand in a room of people and entertain them with a sassy walk. The career never developed because my mom didn’t want to continue to pay the fees without seeing any residual income. Even then, thirteen years ago, I was an entertainer.
I am glad that I have an entertainer personality. If not, I would probably be considered as a boring person or at least be bored all the time. When I look at my mom and sister who are nowhere near being entertainers, they seem to be bored majority of the time. But when I enter the room, I brighten up both of their days. I joke and play with them and all I see are smiles on their faces. Hopefully, this gift will never cease because I love making other people smile and laugh.
One of the initial signs of degradation of a concrete surface is cracks. Cracks may develop in the walls of the building due to many reasons such as seasonal changes and poor quality of materials. In this research both image processing techniques as well as deep learning algorithm have been combined for crack detection and classification. Deep learning algorithm has been adopted in the proposed methodology because of the accurate results and less time taken when compared with other algorithms such as support vector machine and k nearest neighbor algorithm. The computational complexity is also less in the proposed methodology. Two of the preprocessing methods such as filtering and edge detection have been compared and the best methods in terms of Peak signal to Noise ratio and accuracy have been implemented in the proposed methodology. The proposed methodology has been chosen after the comparison of filtering and edge detection methods and those efficient methods have been merged with deep learning algorithm because of its accuracy.
Get original essayThe process of detecting cracks in the building walls and also in concrete surfaces is known as crack detection. Destructive testing and non-destructive testing are the two ways to perform crack detection. After the cracks have been detected the dimensions of the cracks should be measured. Human inspection has got many drawbacks such as time consuming and it will be slower than automatic crack detection methods. Accuracy is the main reason behind the adoption of image processing techniques and deep learning algorithm in crack detection. Cracks in building walls or concrete surfaces have been analyzed as an important reference factor of safety evaluation. Thus crack detection in concrete surface plays a very vital role in the maintenance of concrete structures. By using automatic crack detection technology we will be able to overcome the subjectivity of the traditional manual methods.
Crack detection has got some steps associated with it. They are preprocessing, detection and classification. Literature states that smoothing and filtering methods were used for pre-processing and the phase of detection has been carried out by many methods such as Otsu method, statistical approach, threshold method etc. In our proposed methodology classification has been done using deep learning algorithm called convolutional deep learning algorithm because of accurate results.
Image acquisition is a crucial method in visual inspection. Different types of techniques are employed for capturing high intention facsimile. The high resolution pictures may be procured using high resolution scanning. A high resolution camera of great spatial exactitude and color fedility could be preferable for this type of image acquisition, where the sample capturing should be done on altered resolutions and their consistent greyscale image.
This is the primary step of any image processing technique, during this stage, we tend to create the input image compatible for process. There are innumerable distractions that af? ict the input image like illumination variations, noise, backgrounds, variations in image sizes etc. So the ? rst processing phase in external fault detection is noise removal, input image enhancement, which is completed in the preprocessing phase. Also the process of external fault recognition take grey scale image instead of color image, therefore a conversion from color to greyscale is needed for the process, which is done in the preprocessing stage. Images are systemized for further processing in the preprocessing stage
The procedure of segregating an image into its essential areas or objects is called image segmentation. The inputs of segmentation are image but unlike other image processing methods, the outputs of segmentation are attributes i.e. natural qualitative extracted from those images. Also the segmentation process should be stopped as soon as the objects or regions of interest are detected. Different types of segmentation techniques are used for external fault recognition like thresholding, template matching, boundary detection texture matching and so on.
Feature extraction involves reducing the quantity of resources needed to describe large set of information, it can be transferred in to a reduced set of features. Classification algorithms aim at finding similarities in patterns of empirical information. The classification process is based on the features extracted, it classifies the features and makes result. The most commonly used classifiers are neural network classifier, SVM, Bayesian etc.
Deep learning algorithms have been investigated for solving many challenging problems in image processing and classification. In our proposed methodology cracks have been detected and classification has been done using image processing methods such as filtering and canny edge detection. Those results have been integrated with the deep learning algorithm known as convolutional deep learning algorithm. Also a comparison has been done on two of the filtering methods , they were average filter and median filter. Edge detection techniques such as canny edge detection and sobel edge detection were also compared in terms of accuracy and time taken.
In order to ensure the safety and durability of a concrete structure the crack assessment has to be done on a regular basis. Many researchers have studied the automated concrete crack detection method. Some researchers like Abdel-Qader et al. (2003) have acquired the data from structures by using CCTV, laser scanner etc. Several methods have been proposed by the researchers, some of them were, Brilakis et al. (2011) have proposed image processing using edge detection techniques. Deason, J. P et al. (1998) have proposed histogram matching, image filtering and change detection methods. Another method called automatic thresholding valley-emphasis method?a revised version of the Otsu method for detecting small to large defects was introduced by Goedert et al. (2005). Sinha et al. (2006) have analysed classification through neuro-fuzzy network and Khanfar et al. (2003) have proposed the concrete structure defects through fuzzy logic techniques. In addition to their method, neural network and genetic algorithm have been used. In many papers, the inspection methods vary widely from data acquisition to classification and these shows that many algorithms could be used for detecting surface defects.
Researchers have found that it is difficult to apply the inspection algorithm to the structures that are exposed to various weather conditions. If the inspection algorithm is influenced by external conditions, a system engineer should participate in the inspection of structures, because parameter tuning requires expert’s knowledge.
There are many deep learning algorithms that can be used for classification. Some of the deep learning algorithms are back propagation, fuzzy logic controlled deep neural network algorithm, Fuzzy neural network training algorithm and convolutional neural network algorithm.
Machine learning algorithms have been divided in two, they are supervised learning and unsupervised learning. Supervised learning algorithms are being further divided into classification and regression and unsupervised has been further divided as clustering algorithms. Classification algorithms have been divided into neural networks algorithm, nearest neighbor algorithm, Support Vector Machine algorithm etc.
The main objective of Back Propagation method is adapting synaptic weights in order to minimize an error function. The approach most commonly used for the minimization of the error function is based on the gradient method. Leo et al. (2017) has recommended that fine tuning is a strategy that is commonly found in deep learning. It can be used to greatly improve the performance of stacked auto-encoders. As the back propagation algorithm which is based on descent gradient technique can be extended to apply for an arbitrary number of layers, back propagation algorithm can be used on stacked auto- encoders of arbitrary depth. In their work, to adopt the connections weights were adopted in order to obtain minimal difference between the network output and the desired output. The algorithm is very simple and the output of neural network is evaluated against desired output. Connection between layers will be modified and the process is repeated again until error is small enough if the results are not satisfactory.
Leoet al. (2017) has proposed a fuzzy logic management technique which may be helpful in representing human information in a very specific domain of application and in reasoning there with information to create helpful inferences or actions. A symbolic logic system consists of 4 parts. A fuzzifier converts knowledge into fuzzy knowledge or Membership Functions (MFs). The fuzzy rule base contains the relations between the input and output. The fuzzy illation method combines MFs with the management rules to derive the fuzzy output, and therefore the deffuzifier converts the fuzzy numbers back to a crisp worth. There are two reasons that symbolic logic systems are preferred: fuzzy systems are appropriate for unsure or approximate reasoning and that they permit higher cognitive process with calculable values underneath incomplete or unsure data. By using a fuzzy system to adaptively change the training parameters of the neural network in keeping with the MSE error, it is possible to cut back the chance of overshooting throughout the training method and facilitate the network to get out of an area minimum. There are four parameters accustomed to produce the principles for the symbolic logic management system; the relative error (RE), amendment in relative error (CRE), sign amendment in error (SC) and accumulative total of sign amendment in error (CSC).
L. Zhang et al. (2016) has given that deep multi-layer neural networks have several levels of non- dimensionality permitting them to succinctly represent extremely non- linear and extremely variable functions. The coaching section of deep neural network contains two major steps of parameter data format and fine standardization. The data format step is vital in deep learning. A stronger robust data format strategy might facilitate the neural network to converge to a good local minimum more efficiently. The fine standardization step permits to exactly adjust the parameters within the neural network in a much supervised way to enhance the discriminate ability of the ultimate feature.
In our proposed methodology convolutional algorithm has been used for detection and classification of cracks.
L. Zhang et al. (2016) have proved that Crack detection is an important application of neural networks. Steps for detection and classification of cracks were suggested by them were
a) Data preparation
The preparation of the data has to be done first for the process of crack detection.
b) Design and train the convolutional neural network
A deep learning algorithm could be designed to have many layers. Second step that has to take place is designing and training of the convolutional neural network.
c) Evaluate the performance of the convolutional neural network
After that the performance of the convolutional neural network has to be evaluated. The convolutional neural networks could be compared with the Support Vector Machine and other methods such as K nearest neighbor algorithm. The convolutional neural network requires less training and it has got the ability to detect complex relationships between the dependent and independent variables.
The motivation to take up crack detection as the research area was because in the current scenario we did not have an appropriate maintenance policy for the safety of buildings and concrete surfaces and as a consequence the quality of the building degrades which in turn causes threat to the security of humans. In order to improve the safety and security of humans crack detection of concrete surfaces have been selected as the research area.
Crack detection in infrastructure building walls using Convolutional Deep Learning Algorithm.
The first hypothesis of this research is to do a comparison on two of the efficient filtering methods and two of the best edge detection methods. They are average filter and median filter for filtering and Canny and Sobel for edge detection. In other words, the methods that could present a clear outline of the crack with less noise will be used in the later phases of crack detection.
The second hypothesis is to apply Convolutional Deep Learning Algorithm for the crack detection.
The third hypothesis is to compare the results of Convolutional Deep Learning algorithms with other algorithms such as Support Vector Machine and K Nearest Neighbor Algorithm to find out the accuracy.
This study provides a new crack detection method to detect cracks based on high resolution pictures. This method is more efficient and effective than the traditional method. The crack detection model is a fundamental process for the Visual Pattern Recognition (VPR) model.
This crack detection model could greatly reduce the computing cost for crack detection and it would save time and money while evaluating cracks in building walls and other concrete surfaces.
Though Deep Learning algorithms achieve promising performance in multiple fields, there are many challenges still exist in this field. The two major challenges are,
a) Time complexity
Keep in mind:
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Get custom essayb) Theoretical understanding.