ShantanuT01/DACTYL-Pretraining huggingface dataset:
Halloween is yearly celebrated on October 31st, with the tradition originating with the ancient pagan Celtic festival called Samhain, during which the Celts would create bonfires and clothe themselves in costumes to scare ghosts away (Butler 67). The Celts celebrated the start of winter on November 1st, and this period was often associated with dying. There was a belief that the night before the beginning of winter, the limits between the dead and the living blurred, and ghosts returned to haunt. Lighting bonfires and wearing costumes made from animal fur and heads were believed to deter the spirits from entering the human world. In the eighth century, Pope Gregory III made November 1st the day for honoring all saints, with the All Saints Day incorporating the tradition of wearing costumes from the Samhain celebration (“Halloween 2020”). Similar to Samhain, people lit large bonfires and dressed in the costumes of saints, either angels or devils. This furthers the idea that many Christian traditions intertwine with pagan beliefs and customs. The evening before the first day of November was called All Hallows Eve, and the name later transformed into ‘Halloween’ (“Halloween 2020”). As time passed, the holiday acquired new traditions and activities such as trick-or-treating, carving pumpkins, eating treats, and creating complicated costumes and decorations (McGinnis). Recently, some of the costumes have been criticized for enabling gender stereotyping as well as the pressure to abide by gender roles within the expectations of costume choices (Sullivan et al. 60). Despite the scrutiny, modern Halloween is a celebration of friendship and longstanding tradition even though its roots are what make the day exciting but also scary due to the ancient myths. Works Cited Butler, Jenny. “Neo-Pagan Celebrations of Samhain.” Trick or Treat? Halloween in a Globalizing World , edited by Malcolm Foley and Hugh O’Donnell, Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2009, pp. 67-83. McGinnis, Brit. “How Halloween Has Changed in the Past 100 Years.” Stacker, 2020. Sullivan, Jacqueline, et al. “Female Disempowerment Disguised as a Halloween Costume.” The Open Family Studies Journal , vol. 9, 2017, pp. 60-75. “Halloween 2020.” History, 2020.
In her novel “The Secret Life of Bees”, Sue Monk Kidd resorts to the classical method of characterization – that is, the novel’s main character acts as the protagonist. This allows an author to emphasize her story’s autobiographical overtones, thus adding a documentary value to “The Secret Life of Bees”. Also, Kidd’s method of characterization prompts readers to adopt Lily’s point of view on a variety of different issues as their own, because by assessing the objective reality through Lily’s eyes, readers become emotionally attached to the novel’s protagonist, even even though her way of responding to life’s challenges can hardly be referred to as altogether faultless. We can say that in her novel, Kidd strives to entitle Lily with the subtleties of three-dimensional character, by revealing the full scope of her psychological anxieties (this could only be done within the context of application a protagonist method of characterization), thus allowing readers to get an insight on the very essence of what causes novel’s main character to act in one way or another: “I lay back and closed my eyes. In my dream, I was back on the peach farm, sitting out behind the tractor shed, and even though it was broad daylight, I could see a huge, round moon in the sky. It looked so perfect up there” (Kidd 23). The fact that Kidd utilizes Lily as the channel to express her socio-political ideas helps us to get a better understanding of driving motifs, behind woman’s willingness to be closely associated with an ideology of feminism. In its turn, this increases the degree of the novel’s overall plausibility. This is the reason why literary critics consider “The Secret Life of Bees” as something so much more than simply a story of fourteen years old girls dealing with different existential challenges when the Civil Rights movement was gaining momentum. In fact, by reading “The Secret Life of Bees”, we come to the idea that the variety of philosophical doctrines that became especially popular in recent years, such as New Age, with which Kidd continues to remain strongly affiliated, cannot be discussed outside of mental deviation, on the part of those who promote these doctrines. The plot of this particular Kidd novel cannot be referred to as overly complex. Structurally, it consists of three main parts: intrigue (premise), culmination (climax), and resolution, even though, throughout the story, the author continues to provide us with flashbacks into Lily’s memory, which somewhat undermines the novel’s structural integrity. At the beginning of the novel, we learn of Lily’s psychological anxiety (her subconscious longing for the motherly figure), which eventually prompts Lily to leave T.Ray in the search of her true self, then the story proceeds to describe the rising tension between Black Madonna Sisters, White racists and Lily itself, which is being eventually resolved d
Some words comprise of action or movement but the real definition of these words is not conversant. This is the same case with modernism and postmodernism. However, modernism has something to do with drama, music, literature, visual and performing arts while postmodernism are scientific perception away from art. At the dawn of 20 th century, superb literary critics and writers embarked in modernism literature leading to the century’s modernism. According to literature understandings, modernism is an art of subjectivism and impressionism. Stories created under modernism based their mood in third-person narration. Furthermore, writers wanted a clear distinction between different genres while in poetry poems were just documentaries. Modernism came into limelight when sentiments, logic and power of vision borrowed heavily from schools of thought like positivism and naturalism. Century writers wrote materials unleashing new life styles. This is because, these writers wanted to bring in new vigor into a new century, because, the former century was marred by copying western cultures and scary activities. The desire to move out of the era of modernism to postmodernism was desirable. On the other hand, postmodernism will comprise of new visions that empower people to think on their own and act by themselves. Unlike modernism, the evolution into postmodernism saw humanity adored and technology advance. The papers will examine how modernism evolved into postmodernism. Of great importance to note is the change in writing, analyzing and thoughts. Instead of positivism and naturalism as schools of thought, modernistic schools portray the true nature of postmodernism. (Madsen Para.1-2). Modernism is of great importance. In fact, without modernism, postmodernism is a dream never come true. From evolution to Christianity to science and technology, modernism played a big role. Therefore, modernity of yesterdays is modernism while today’s modernism is postmodernism. Something that only changes between these two periods is perceptions. Writers, politicians under pressure to restore sanity, sought to think and act so that postmodernism becomes a reality. (Rachel Para. 6-9). The First World War depicted a society full of chaos and disarrays in social norms. Modernist authors like Elliot, Pound and Yeats capitalized this situation to shed light on the dangers of continuing to abhor past tenets. Egalitarian societal norms from western culture and disgusting chaos forced these authors to adopt elitism as a new thinking style. However, elitism evolved to critical thinking in postmodernism. For example, on science matters, literary critics teased readers with strong sentiments that invoke their power of logic and reason. Though modernism seems to be fragmentation of ideas, at least, there is an art vision. The changed perceptions were leading people and nations towards postmodernism. (Hoffman Para. 1-11). Indeed, there are differences between modernism and postmodernism. Nevertheless, these problems arose due to discarding old dogmas and adopting new and outstanding pe
In recent years, environmental degradation and pollution become an issue of the day in Canada. The main problem is that international regimes do not pay much attention to the conservation of engendered species and forests affected in many parts of Canada. The main task of the global community is to persuade the global South to join in environmental protection regimes and reduce pollution. As aboriginals sought control over their resources and fairer prices, they turned to intertribal cooperation (Assembly of First Nations 2008). Many tribes in the northern plains created a natural resources federation that dealt with minerals, water, and agriculture. Water rights have remained a vital subject for both aboriginals and whites. The basic issues changed little after the late 1990s. In the absence of general legislation defining Indian water rights, Indians believed that the international doctrine and other case law entitled them to sufficient water for their irrigable land and additional quantities for other types of development. “Following the Marshall decision, Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) initiated a process to provide the 34 First Nations affected by the decision with increased access to the commercial fisher” (Aboriginal fisheries 2007). Human-induced climate change such as global warming represents another example of the decisive shift in both the intensity and extent of contemporary environmental problems. Nature is considered a ‘resource’ to be used instrumentally to fulfill human desires. The most extreme manifestation of this anthropocentric paradigm is reflected in the dominant values and beliefs of consumerism. The dominated culture industry seeks to convince its global audience that the meaning and chief value of life can be found in the limitless accumulation of material possessions (INAC Land Claim Maps 2004). At the dawn of the 21st century, however, it has become impossible to ignore the fact that people everywhere on this planet are inextricably linked to each other through the air they breathe, the climate they depend upon, the food they eat, and the water they drink. Despite this obvious lesson of interdependence, our planet’s ecosystems are subjected to continuous human assault in order to secure wasteful lifestyles. Granted, some of the major environmental challenges the world faces today are problems that afflicted civilizations even in ancient times. Two of the major concerns relate to uncontrolled population growth and lavish consumption patterns in the global South. Since farming economies first came into existence, the global South has exploded a thousand-fold. With the possible exception of some rodent species, humans are now the most numerous mammals on Earth. In Canada, pollution causes environmental degradation problems in aboriginal areas affected by fishing and forestry. The global impact of humans on the environment is as much a function of per capita consumption as it is of overall population
Introduction With the recession and global downsizing across the world, the issue of compensation paid to the Chief Executive Officer – CEO has received widespread condemnation. Public view and the media outcry against the exorbitant compensation given to CEOs had received much criticism, especially for failed banking and financial institutions where the top executives received millions of dollars even when the organizations failed miserably. While such a criticism is expected in these hard times, the paper examines different aspects of the issue and presents a ‘for and counter’ argument on the issue of CEO pay. How much are CEOs paid Gropper (2005) points out that the pay of CEOS in Fortune 100 companies CEOs of US-based companies have relatively much higher salaries when compared to CEOs of other companies. The compensation for CEOs has risen by about 106 % over the last five years, while wages for other employees across different levels have risen at an average of 32 %. The author reports that considering the financial returns of skilled and unskilled labor, the amount of money paid to a CEO in a year is much more than what an average US worker would earn in his whole working life. The following table gives a brief snapshot of compensation paid to US CEOs. Figure 1.1. CEO Pay Statistics (Gropper, 2005) As seen in the above figure, CEO annual compensation means salary was about 695,293 thousand USD, and the mean CEO salary plus bonus was about 2.72 million USD. Considering the other options that were paid to the CEOs, the mean CEO total compensation was around 13.29 million USD. The figure also shows the minimum and the maximum values, and it can be seen that the maximum CEO total compensation was in the range of 37.7 million USD. The figure also gives values for the revenues for the company, and while the mean values for 22, 109.2 million USD, the maximum revenues was 191.329 million USD. As seen in the above figure, the compensation given to CEOs is very high when one considers the number of wages for workers and other employees who receive wages ranging from 35 to 50 USD per hour. Criticism against the high pay and Golden Parachutes Duprey (October 8, 2008) has come down heavily in the often-exorbitant pay given out to CEOs and top executives of a number of failed organizations. He argues that due to the skillful laws and covenants that the intelligent CEOs build into their contracts, people such as Daniel Mudd, who was the CEO of the failed bank Fannie Mae, and Richard Syron, who managed Freddie Mac, would have a severance pay of 25 million dollars even though the banks they have managed have crashed. The author mentions that the CEO of the failed Washington Mutual bank got a golden parachute compensation of 44 million USD, and the failed banks such as Lehman Brothers and AIG have paid about 1.4 billion USD as compensation. The author also notes that companies such as Merrill Lynch, Bear Sterns, and M
Introduction Verbal language is a very important factor of our daily lives. It is by far the most used means of communication between people. It is used to transmit direct and indirect messages form one source to, at least, one recipient . This essay focuses on why the metaphor is used in political language and how is it used. Is this something that is related to the very nature of language so politicians cannot avoid it? I will provide some examples of metaphoric use of language in politics and the consequences of this form of language in politics. The nature of language: descriptive and imaginative “Of all forms of culture, it seems that language is that one which develops its fundamental patterns with relatively the most complete detachment from other types of cultural patterning.” (Sapir, 1929:211). Of what nature are the meanings of the language messages that are transmitted every day of our lives? The focus will be especially on the “hidden” meaning of the message. Hidden meaning that make possible for one word, or phrase, to have different meanings and uses. That is the projection of our inner personal world to the outside social world. As Marcel Danesi says, “we come to understand the world through our imaginative use of language, especially as it manifests itself in the use of metaphor.” (2008:14). The various contexts of the language use can be political, religious, cultural, economic, social, etc. but first, let start by answering the first question: what is language itself? Language itself is that set of symbolic expressions known only to the homo sapiens. Most authors believe that culture is the most important factor that makes humans what they are and distinguishes them from the animal world. And inside culture, language, some pretend, is the most important factor influencing men’s life (Sapir, 1949:3). It is it that was the written usage of language that set the civilization to evolve at its heights. But a very impressive and arguably one of the most important features of language is its multi-meanings that one word, even phrase, can have according to the circumstances somebody use it. Its interpretation, also, is related to the situation this word, or phrase, is used. The nature of language can be approached by different perspectives and motivated by different worries. Many modern and post-modern authors (like Ferdinand de Sossyr, Michael Fauchault, Noam Chomsky, etc.) do believe that language is the basis for the construction of power relations in our society. Chomsky argues that there are determinate semantic relations and analytic sentences if one thinks about certain sentences that have a relational structure and involve intentional and
Introduction & Company Overview The fielding farm in New Zealand operated by the family members represents a profitable multimillion-dollar business. The Guy family, who owned the farm, concentrated their activities on dairy production, which, throughout the last decades, increased its export. Besides, this family farm is a part of a huge cooperative and operates within the industry that makes up about 25% of the country’s profits from export. It indicates that the business within this industry should keep up with innovation, respond to emerging trends, and, what is crucial, maintain positive internal culture. However, family business always implies emotions and not always positive ones. The farm that is operated by close relatives, each of whom becomes a shareholder, can face serious threats and dangers for the company’s image, reputation, organizational structure, and operations. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the situation within the fielding farm owned by Bryan Guy and observe possible solutions and alternatives for further successful development. The Guy farm is a part of the cooperative Fonterra that is owned by more than 10,000 farmers involved in dairy production. Thus, the mission and vision of this fielding farm would align with the ones of Fonterra. The company focuses on producing the best quality products and focuses on innovation. The mission of Fonterra suggests that the organization is sticking to high standards and aspires to maintain leadership within the industry (“Our Ambitions and Values”). Also, the company aims to “bring the best of dairy to our customers around the world and the best returns to our business” (“Our Ambitions and Values”). One of the essential things relevant to the studied case is that Fonterra highlights the importance of its employees and their sharing of shared values and practices. Thus, one can see that the Guy family farm is a part of New Zealand’s dairy industry leader that holds favorable views on the operations and the company’s culture. Problem Statement The fielding farm belongs to Bryan Guy, and the business continues to expand its territories, purchases more lands to respond to the growing dairy products’ demand, and, consequently, requires more labor. Thus, the subject farm grew into becoming a family business, in which Scott Guy and Ewen Macdonald were the shareholders. The increased number of shareholders can create issues of control and power and can raise the question of who is the one in charge and who gets what. Personal jealousy and the arguments about which person will stand at the helm raise disputes and make a hostile atmosphere within the organization. One of the most critical issues that the Guy fielding farm is facing is the organizational structure of the company. A clear organizational structure is essential because it outlines the division of responsibilities, the hierarchy of the employees, and sets the performance standards. The case discusses severe disagreements between the shareholders Scott and Ewen, which imposes a burden on the successful job performance and lays extra weight on the main shareholder of the company, Bryan. Als
Introduction Death penalty has been a serious debate issue both in the United States of America and other parts of the world. There have been those who champion for the abolition of death penalty and there have also been those who want the death penalty to be maintained citing that some criminals cannot be tolerated within the society. So many nations in the world have been reported to have abandoned the death penalty yet others have continued to use it. It is crucial to mention that death penalty has been used constitutionally by some states to punish political dissidents hence raising the main objectives of the capital punishment in terms of containing felony and other forms of criminal activities all over the world. Similarities between the two articles The first similarity that is very conspicuous between the two articles is that they both address the issue of death penalty both within the United States of America and other parts of the world. The two articles are cognizant of the fact there are some states within the United States of America that have actually abolished death penalty as a capital punishment; however, they also recognize that of these states have not abolished the corporal punishment and still apply it in punishing specific class of criminals (Bole pp.1-3 and Hartnett pp. 1-2). Again, the two articles examine the different modes of meting death penalty in the United States and other parts of the world. Amongst the mode of meting death penalty discussed by the articles are electrocutions through electric chair, lethal injection, gas chambers and firing by hidden prison warders. It is important to note that these articles distinguish these death penalty modes into both historic and current; they also cite technological advancements utilized in the process (Bole pp.1-3 and Hartnett pp. 1-2). It is also important to mention that the two articles are cognizant of the fact that the execution of those sentenced to state execution have slowed down over the past several years. They both explain that it has been highly possible that innocent people have mistakenly been executed only to be realized letter that they were innocent people. The slow down has been informed by the fact that there is need for thorough investigations to be conducted before carrying out executions. In the case of the United States of America, the slow down in the execution has been explained by the decision of the Supreme Court to stop the execution until repeals are conclusive on a particular case for which an inmate has been sentenced to death. Both articles have also addressed the fact that some governments have considered abolishing the death penalty (Bole pp.1-3 and Hartnett pp. 1-2). For instance, one article states that a good number of states are considering putting a stop to death as a capital penalty within their jurisdictions. Besides, another article reveals that the governor of the state of Illinois, George Ryan made of declaration of a suspension on death penalty and further appointed a commission and cha