A Christmas Carol Essay Example for Free

A Christmas Carol Essay Charles Dickens writing has had a colossal influence on millions of people by using what Victorian London and major cities of time were like. Through his novels he campaigned for the poor. Charles Dickens childhood was blighted by his fathers financial problems but by the end he was lecturing about his works to large and enthusiastic audiences. Driven by a need to separate himself from early poverty and by a desire to help those children who were as poor as he had been. Charles Dickens was born on Friday, February 7th 1812 at No. 1 Mile End Terrace, Landport; when the Industrial Revolution was gathering pace. As Charles Dickens grew up many large family groups living in villages were breaking up and moving to towns either singly or as nuclear families. Perhaps Dickens had a fear of the breaking up of the family group in the changing times. The bond of the family is shown for example when the Cratchits gather at Christmas; phrases like Bob hugged his daughter to his hearts content. are used. At age of 12 Dickens was removed from school and sent to work in a boot-blacking factory earning six shillings a week to help support the family. Charles considered the period to be the most terrible time in his life and would later write that he wondered how I could have been so easily cast away at such an age despair in his tone. This childhood poverty could have been an enormous influence on Dickens later views on social reform and the world he created through his novels. Dickens emphasised the big difference between family life and those who lived alone. He seems to try and show that happy people live in families for example this is shown when Mrs. Crachit greets Martha with obverse joy. Why bless your heart alive, my dear, how late you are. He suggests that sad people live alone. He starts the book A Christmas Carol with death Marley was dead. This is a grim start. He shows Scrooge as the sole executor, administrator, assign, legatee, friend and mourner. He also adds about the death of Hamlets father to increase the gloom. The book starts by pouring on the solitude and gloom of scrooges situation with the absence of a families love. Charles Dickens chose the Christmas time of year because it is a family time where many families split up by work join together to see and rejoice with one another. In the novel the Christmas season and children the families are linked to one another. The first cheerful words are from the Christmas greetings from Scrooges nephew cried a cheerful voice. This is followed by an argument of the value of Christmas between the Nephew and Scrooge. Scrooge talks of boiling people who like Christmas in their own pudding. Scrooges nephew then argues how much a good thing Christmas is I believe that it has done me good Scrooges nephew believes Christmas even though an expensive time for the rich is a good time for the poor families in the major cities of the time and gives Scrooges nephew a happy feeling of what goes on at Christmas. A few pages deeper into stave 2 Scrooge is taken back to his childhood by the Ghost of Christmas Past and sees all of his childhood friends and remembers the road they are on. The Ghost asks if Scrooge recollects where they are and Scrooges reply is a surprise I could walk it blindfold said Scrooge strange to have forgotten it for so many years! Replied the Spirit Scrooge had blocked out his childhood because it was a sad and poor time for him. Scrooge was seeing these boys were in great spirits. This implies that children represent joy and have appreciation for life making everything happy. Scrooge was thinking that he had watched these boys but had never been one himself. He was the solitary child, neglected by his friends. The importance and affection of families is shown when his sister takes him home. Also the joy of children is shown. As she is bending down to laugh she talks of, home being quote homes like heaven. An important figure in the story is his sister a child who Scrooge has affection for in his memory, this laughter pops up again. To hear Scrooge expending all the earnestness of his nature would have been a surprise to his business friends. Suddenly emotions are pouring out of Scrooge and he is excited because his inner child has had a slight play. Skipping to stave 3 and Tiny Tim who is a small boy with the power of delivering the message of Jesus. God bless us everyone. The picture of Tiny Tim greatly affects Scrooge who now sees the prejudice in his opinions. When the Crachit family celebrates Christmas they revel in each others company love and appreciate the things they have. They are unlike the stereotypical Victorian image of the working class commonly held at this period of time. Alas Tiny Tim he bore a little crutch his limbs supported by an Iron Frame Tiny Tim, their small crippled son will die with out the treatment needed. He is a small symbol of society failing to provide for the poor. The picture of Tiny Tim greatly affects Scrooge and he begins to realize how prejudice his opinions really are. The irony of his own words, spoken to him by the Ghost of Christmas Present if he is to die, he had better do it, and decrease the surplus population. Children are yet again used to show social problems in society. A boy and girl called Ignorance and Want are used to show the problems they were wretched, abject, frightful, hideous, miserable Scrooge is also shocked by the sight of Ignorance and Want, two children so named because of the treatment they received from society. Dickens is speaking to the reader at this point. Society is ignorant of the peoples needs. People are in want of basic supplies of food and drink, clothing and shelter. One example of this change in Scrooge is when he realises Tiny Tim has died. Tell me what man that was whom we saw lying dead? This then leads to a demonstration by the spirit of Christmas yet to come of Scrooges own death, this part of the text increases Scrooges realization of the significance of Tiny Tims death. Throughout the story, Scrooge has numerous warnings of his future from the people he meets, his nephew, Marley, the spirits, Belle etc. Although from the beginning of his acquaintance with the first Ghost, Scrooges gradual change is clearly perceptible, it is the spectacle of his own death, which makes him realize he must change his ways. On Christmas morning Scrooge wakes up and is cheerful. I am as happy as an angel Scrooge has Christmas fever and acts as if he was a child, he becomes generous sending Bob Crachit the prized turkey and promising the boy half a crown for buying the turkey. Does this show the sort of attitude Dickenss wants in society? The end of the novel contrasts well with the beginning. The story has a very typical fairy tale ending and a clear moral to the story. Scrooge has under gone a metamorphosis. Does Scrooges change symbolize the change in society that Dickens wanted?. Tiny Tim will live and so will everyone else, happily ever after. By Thomas Bailey 10CHB English Coursework 5/8/2007.

Kitchen by Banana Yoshimoto Essay -- English Literature Kitchen Essays

Kitchen by Banana Yoshimoto The path of life is not easy. It is scattered with struggles and hurdles which we must overcome. A rose plant is a good metaphor of life; the flower is soft with a pleasant fragrance but the thorns are prickly and hurt us. Likewise, life has good things like laughter, happiness, hope but it also has some things that hurt us, obstruct us. In Banana Yoshimoto’s novella Kitchen, Mikage Sakurai faces quandaries in her life which hinder her. However, she fights them back with hope and determination. She is aided by the Tanabe’s who help her to fight her dilemmas and struggles. Each character displays a sense of optimism, a hope for survival and the determination to fight back. In a greater sense, this rendering gives the reader a moral teaching that despair does not necessarily result in annihilation. They try to tell us that we must not give up in our lives, come what may. They appear as teachers giving us a lesson how to lead our lives. This rendering makes us feel close to them and think of them as our own friends. This makes them interesting and moving. Mikage is a loner. Throughout her life, she has felt separated from others and feels solitude. She says that despite all the love that surrounds us, we are separated by others physically and mentally which makes each one of us separate, alone. She has suffered great losses; she has lost all her family members. However, after moving into the Tanabe’s apartment, she becomes hopeful for a better life. Mikage wonders â€Å"Wrapped in blankets†¦.in the future† on page 16, that maybe she hadn’t wished for all the loneliness, maybe she had been hoping to think about the future. Here, Mikage reveals the fact that she had completely ignored... ...he darkest of moments and in our moments of despair, we must try to laugh and cheer ourselves. It is a way to become optimistic. In conclusion, this story is of great value to any reader because it portrays a real life story. The characters appear very real to us because of their simplicity and unusualness. This makes us endearing to these characters, we feel attached to them, sympathy towards them. Each character contributes to a greater understanding of the definition of life and the way to live. Each character is determined that they would not fail, they would not give up; they would continue to fight on despite any barrier, any resistance. They teach us that death is not the end of despair, there are several others way to live on despite being clouded by darkness and uncertainty. This makes the reader respect the characters and feel close to them.

Nutrition Company Business Plan Essay

Executive summary: Bharat Food Science Nutritionals is a company which is in the market for 30 years and has been providing the highest quality formulations in Nutritional Supplement Industry for both human and animal needs. Main objective is to provide Humans with required nutritional supplements and make them healthier and more productive. It is known that low socio-economics groups just eat enough to survive. Our objective is to include these people to improve their health and make them fit. Our Mission is Nutritious Nation. Our company is committed to providing nutrition to promote maximum fitness and overall better health Our Vision includes in next 10 years is to provide a Healthy India. Helping as many people as we can. â€Å"There should be no selling of a girl due to lack of food.† Our products are so reliable which has lead us to good profits. Now we are developing new strategies to include low socio-economic people. Company summary: Bharat Food Science Nutritionals, for over 30 years our company has provided the highest quality formulations in the Nutritional Supplement Industry for both human and animal needs. We do research, develop, manufacture and distribute a variety of dietary supplements, protein bars, soups, meals, fiber drinks and fortified beverages. Our company has a base of products for the Vitamin/Nutrition, and Pharmaceutical industries. The diverse product line contains many â€Å"value-added† granulations and custom formulations. Baby foods formulated to supplement your baby’s diet. Our patented, GRAS-designated ingredients are designed for the nutritional supplement, functional food and beverage, cosmetic and animal nutrition market. Our employees are dedicated to an unmatched commitment of quality and service for every product we produce. High level of supervision goes into the production process. Our products provide the most effective dietary supplements to promote maximum fitness and overall better health. WHO recognizes that poverty, social inequality and the lack of education are the root causes of malnutrition and stresses that improvements in human welfare, including nutritional well-being, must be at the center of social and economic development efforts. To help low socio economic groups, we have determined to work together to eliminate hunger and all forms of malnutrition. Main objectives include * Famine and famine-related deaths; * Starvation and nutritional deficiency diseases in communities affected by natural and man-made disasters; * Iodine and vitamin A deficiencies; * Water supply for irrigation. We also pledged to reduce substantially: * Starvation and widespread chronic hunger; * Under nutrition, especially among children, women and the aged; * Other important micronutrient deficiencies, including iron; * Diet-related communicable and non-communicable diseases; * Social and other impediments to optimal breast-feeding; * Inadequate sanitation and poor hygiene, including unsafe drinking water. We took a large portion of our profit to start these programs. Selected volunteers will educate the people about the importance of nutrition and proper food intake. Pregnant ladies are supervised and informed about their special nutrition requirements; we provide free samples of iron, iodine and vitamins for this category of females. Explaining the importance of breast feeding will encourage the children feeding on breast milk to be immune to diseases in a natural way. Saving the rain water is very much important for irrigation. Amartyasen , a well-known Economist who needs no introduction says that â€Å"There is enough food available for everyone but the ability to buy food is lacking† Hence we also want to create opportunities to raise their income. As most of the rural people are based on agriculture, we focus on development of agriculture as well. Teaching villagers the techniques to save rain water and usage of optimal ground water will help them in agricultural purposes. Our company has tie-ups with Agro-seeds Company. They provide high yielding variety of seeds. We will provide these seeds at subsidized rates to the farmers so that they can get high yielding crops and good income. â€Å"JEENA† is the name of the program in which we have included all these activities. Jeena basically focuses on improving the health and fitness of low socio-economic individuals and thereby improving their wellbeing. Customer identification is the primary setup. Since urban people are now being educated and know the importance of nutrition, our products are gaining importance. We market our products to all locations. And especially to doctors, they prescribe the drugs to the required people. But in rural areas and people with low income it is difficult to find customers. Hence by giving our products at subsidized rates will encourage the low income individuals to take nutrition supplements. Creating the awareness about the problems faced because of malnutrition will encourage everyone to consume the nutritious diet. There are many questions which are unaddressed in regard to the approach. They can be potential risks involved in the business. Risks may be categorized as Threats, this can be from political view or catastrophic (e.g. Natural disaster or critical public infrastructure failures) or climate changes. Other risk is it can be vulnerable i.e. chances of undesirable outcome. Though our products are approved by FDA, few people with other diseases may not find it suitable for them, especially animal products. Finding sufficient number of volunteers to go and create awareness is another challenge. To see the Change it takes cost and time as the variables. In places like Ramnad, water lords may restrict our activities. People may not behave as expected and it is difficult to judge their behavior. As per poor economics, low income individuals are not willing to spend more on food even if their salary increases. Such unpredictable human nature may hinder the plan. To mitigate the risk, our risk management system is aiming to address the uncertainty in the market place. They create controls and countermeasures to minimize or eliminate the disruption, loss or damage to business operations and shorten recovery time from unwanted event and thereby reducing its impact on business. Taking the help of surveys and questionnaires will help us to know the loopholes in our process. Educating people will solve most of the unwanted probability of our program being successful. Marketing our products to the remote locations will increase its demand and it will be easily accepted by low socio economic groups. To avoid the side effects, we do preliminary health diagnosis of the person and give the appropriate supplements. Making profit is not our motto but we do have profits. We have huge profits in the commercial business. A big portion of it goes to help the low socio-economic people. Apart from that we follow a scheme in which we made all our customers and people in villages who are being benefitted by us to involve in a scheme under â€Å"Jeena†, in which each person pays a small token of money. All this money is in turn used for their own benefit. People taking nutritious food indicates that they are more tall and healthy who have more production. More productivity leads to higher profits. There are few short-term and long-term plans in our plan. But our program of â€Å"Jeena† will definitely make big difference in near future.

Discover Amazing Manta Ray Facts

Manta rays are the largest rays in the world. There are at least two species of mantas. Manta birostris is the giant oceanic manta and Manta alfredi is the reef manta. Their appearance is similar and the range of the two species overlaps, but the giant manta is more often found on the open ocean while the reef manta visits shallower, coastal waters. Fast Facts: Manta Ray Scientific Name: Manta sp.Other Names: Devil ray, Giant manta, Mobula sp.Distinguishing Features: Massive ray with a triangular shape, cavernous mouth, and paddle-shaped lobes in front of its mouthAverage Size: 7 meters (M. birostris); 5.5 m (M. alfredi)Diet: Carnivorous filter feederLifespan: Up to 50 yearsHabitat: Tropical and subtropical oceans worldwideConservation Status: Vulnerable (Population Decreasing)Kingdom: AnimaliaPhylum: ChordataClass: ChondrichthyesSubclass: ElasmobranchiiOrder: MyliobatiformesFamily: MobulidaeFun Fact: Mantas regularly visit reef cleaning stations to have external parasites removed. Description The name manta means mantle or cloak, which is an accurate description of the animals form. Manta rays have triangular pectoral fins, broad heads, and gill slits on their ventral surfaces. Their horn-shaped cephalic fins have earned them the nickname devil ray. Both species of ray have small, square teeth. The species differ in the structure of their dermal denticles, color patterns, and tooth patterns. Most mantas are black or dark-colored on top with marked shoulders and pale undersides. The ventral surface may have distinctive dark marks. All-black animals also occur. M. birostris has a spine near its dorsal fin, but it is incapable of stinging. M. birostris reaches 7 m (23 ft) in width, while M. alfredi reaches 5.5 m (18 ft) in width. A large manta can weight up to 1350 kg (2980 lb). Manta rays must move forward to pass oxygenated water over their gills. The fish swim basically by flapping their pectoral fins and flying underwater. Despite their large size, mantas frequently breach into air. The fish have one of the highest brain-to-body mass ratios and are believed to be highly intelligent. Manta rays must swim forward to breathe. Gregory Sweeney / Getty Images Distribution Manta rays live in the tropical and subtropical oceans around the world. They have been seen as far north as North Carolina in the United States (31Â °N)Â  and as far south as New Zealand (36Â °S), although they only venture into temperate seas when the water temperature is at least 20 Â °C (68 Â °F). Both species are pelagic, found mainly in the open ocean. They are common in coastal waters from spring to fall. They migrate as far as 1000 km (620 mi) and occur at depths ranging from sea level down to 1000 m (3300 ft). During the day, manta rays swim near the surface. At night, they venture deeper. Manta ray distribution. maplab Diet Manta rays are carnivorous filter feeders that prey upon zooplankton, including krill, shrimp, and crab larvae. Mantas hunt by sight and smell. A manta herds its prey by swimming around it so the current collects the plankton. Then, the ray speeds through the ball of food with a wide-open mouth. The cephalic fins channel particles into the mouth, while the gill arches collect them. Predators Killer whales and large sharks prey upon mantas. Cookie cutter sharks, which take round cookie-shaped bites from their prey, can inflict potentially fatal damage. Rays are susceptible to a variety of parasites. They routinely visit reef cleaning stations for wound cleaning and ectoparasite removal. The ability of each fish to revisit cleaning stations is considered evidence manta rays construct mental maps of their surroundings. Reproduction Mating occurs at different times of the year and depends on the mantas geographic location. Courtship appears to involve fish swimming in trains, often during the full moon. During mating, the male almost always grasps the females left pectoral fin. He then turns so the two are belly-to-belly and inserts a clasper into her cloaca. Gestation is believed to take 12 to 13 months. The egg cases hatch inside the female. Eventually, one to two pups emerge. Females usually give birth every two years. Males mature when they are younger and smaller than females. Females usually mature around 8 to 10 years of age. Mantas may live up to 50 years in the wild. Manta Rays and Humans Historically, manta rays were worshipped or feared. It wasnt until 1978 that divers demonstrated the animals were gentle and would interact with humans. Today, some of the best success protecting manta rays has come from ecotourism. Fishing a manta for its meat, skin, or for gill rakers for Chinese traditional medicine can earn hundred of dollars. However, each ray can bring in $1 million in tourism dollars over its lifetime. Scuba divers are most likely to encounter the great fish, but tourism in the Bahamas, Hawaii, Indonesia, Australia, Spain, and other countries makes it possible for anyone to view mantas. While the rays are not aggressive, care must be taken to avoid touching the fish because disrupting its mucous layer makes it susceptible to injury and infection. Mantas are not aggressive toward humans. James R.D. Scott / Getty Images Conservation Status The IUCN Red List classifies both M. alfredi and M. birostris as vulnerable with an elevated risk of extinction. While mantas are protected by many countries, their numbers are declining because of migration through unprotected waters, overfishing, bycatch, entanglement in fishing gear, ingestion of microplastics, water pollution, boat collisions, and climate change. Local populations face a severe threat because there is little interaction between subpopulations. Because of the fishs low reproductive rate, its unlikely mantas in unprotected areas can recover, particularly from overfishing. However, a few public aquariums are large enough to house manta rays. These include the Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta, the Atlantis Resort in the Bahamas, and the Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium in Japan. The aquarium in Okinawa has successfully birthed manta rays in captivity. Sources Ebert, David A. (2003). Sharks, Rays, and Chimaeras of California. University of California Press. ISBN 978-0-520-23484-0.Marshall, A. D.; Bennett, M. B. (2010). Reproductive ecology of the reef manta ray Manta alfredi in southern Mozambique. Journal of Fish Biology. 77 (1): 185–186. doi:10.1111/j.1095-8649.2010.02669.xParsons, Ray (2006). Sharks, Skates, and Rays of the Gulf of Mexico: A Field Guide. Univ. Press of Mississippi. ISBN 978-1-60473-766-0.White, W. T.; Giles, J.; Dharmadi; Potter, I. (2006). Data on the bycatch fishery and reproductive biology of mobulid rays (Myliobatiformes) in Indonesia. Fisheries Research. 82 (1–3): 65–73. doi:10.1016/j.fishres.2006.08.008