The International Business Culture Business Essay

The International Business Culture Business Essay What is meant by the culture of a society, and why it is important for international managers to understand it. Do you notice cultural differences among your classmates. How do those differences affect the class environment or your group projects? Society mean by culture is a set of shared values, assumptions and beliefs that are learnt through membership in a group, and that influence the attitudes and behaviours of group members.   Culture is not innate it can be learned, and it may varies tremendously from society to society. We begin learning our culture from the moment were born, as the people who raise us encourage certain behaviours and teach their version of right and wrong. It is important for the international managers to understand it, to know how to respect towards one countrys culture. Once culture may not work well for the other country and can be interpreted as an insult. Thats why, it is really important to raise the awareness of cultural issues to the international managers to ensure efficiency and effectiveness. Some cultures are difficult to observe and measure; basically managers should be keen and knowledgeable  about it. Managers must develop cultural sensitivity to anticipate and accommodate behavioural differences in various societies. As part of that sensitivity, they must avoid parochialism-an attitude that assumes ones own management techniques are best in any situation or location and that other people should follow ones patterns of behaviour. The managers should know how to adjust and able to cope up with in a diverse cultural differences. Managers can use research results and personal observations to develop a character sketch, or cultural profile, of a country. This profile can help managers anticipate how to motivate people and coordinate work processes in a particular international context. And some cultures may put more emphasis on universal commitments while others put more weight on loyalty to particular people or relationships. Dealing with national culture differences requires not only knowledge adequate behaviours but also more importantly, an understanding of deeper level assumptions and values that explain why certain behaviours are more appropriate than others.   Time effort, reputation and even contracts can be lost to an international manager because of cultural ignorance. Yes I notice cultural differences among my classmates. It can affect group projects and as well class environments. It can affect the group projects in a positive and negative way. Negative: In any group activities we were not being able to express and communicate well. Theres a language barrier that hinders once idea or we cannot easily express what we feel. Different accents, different words having different meanings and connotation that somehow misinterpret. Some of us feel there is a Social Groups and Social Alienation inside the classroom, as each of us has a different culture towards beliefs values and common interests. We dont share similarities; some of my classmates feel isolated from the others. That somehow these dissimilarities create tension in the classroom discouraging them to be more aware and be tolerant to others. Positive: We allow ourselves to accept and adopt a culture. We gain different ideas and nurture these differences that each one of us has. These things can help us in the near future in dealing with various people who have a different culture.   We became knowledgeable in diverse language and culture. We students faced in a diverse classroom and we learn different cultures constantly. We became curious and may ask questions to classmates and we are encouraged to learn another language and culture. Question 2 Critically assess the types of operational conflicts that could occur in an international context because of differences in attitudes towards time, change, material factors, and individualism. Give examples to specific countries. Owners of a company and managing foreign stakeholders who has cultural differences may create managerial challenges.   Companys employing/recruiting people from other culture may arise in operational conflicts because of their differences.   Below are the examples to specific countries where operational conflicts occur in an international context: Time Timeliness in Appointments In US and most of the first world countries really value the time. Scheduled appointments are often treated like a general guideline and to some countries it should be strictly abide by. Failure to come on time may lead to conflict and misunderstanding. Some cultures are more time conscious than others. Punctuality really matters for European countries, as time for them is wealth.   In addition, whether you are in France or in China, your business partners will appreciate your efforts to make good impression if you arrived on time. But failure to do so may feel unlikely not interested or unwell prepared to attend the occasion and business meeting. In New Zealand, they are strict in the number of hours you can work, as they dont want to stress and let the employee feel that they are overworked. They provide certain amount of working time. Filipinos has the manana habit or attitude, instead doing a project/task as early before the deadline comes, they prefer to do it the day before the deadline or in a rush. The habit of saying/doing there will still tomorrow to finish a task.   Change Western Culture considers change as a positive business opportunity. Innovation comes to different type of business in Westernise countries. Business landscape for them is rapidly evolving, changing and transforming which used as a strategy to survive in a never ending changing business trends. Change for them is a good thing as this start of a new business opportunity, start of wealth and new product to market.   Meanwhile, Muslim culture is passive to change due to effect on the gender role and religious practice. They see that a man reflects a dominance of tough, values such as achievement, assertiveness, competition and material success. Religion is something to do with faith that changes are not applicable. That it was written in a book a long time ago and should be abided. In the Philippines or any countries, which Muslim resides, men provide food and work for the family. Muslim wives have nothing to do with it, men are over powered and overwhelmed that results to a conflict.   As well failing to acknowledge the status of Muslim within a business/work or to greet them without respect can leave a bad impression. Material Factors US are considered as materialistic culture. They tend to spend lots of money and invest on material products that sometimes affects to a certain  business opportunities. They are overwhelmed with the money that they have earned and spend it. Lifestyle is very different.   On the other hand, Asian culture valued their natural resources (air, sea, land) sometimes it was misused that result to a conflict.  They give value on natural environment and make new services or products with the natural sources they possess. Individualism Western Culture is highly individualistic like US, Sweden, UK and Germany. They are very confident, independent, have recognition of personal initiative and achievement. Conflicts that UK experience, that they maintain loose social structure, they cant control a person, they more likely to be aggressive and tend to have their own way. While Asian culture  promotes cooperation and teamwork that sometimes they are very dependent to one another. Relying to each other to finish a certain task or project. In the Philippines, conflicts arise when people tend to pass their work and rely to the help of their subordinates or co-workers that results to delayed of a certain task. Without knowing the operational conflicts in an international context may result in some costly blunders in business marketing and management, it also can affect seriously the success of international business negotiations. Question 3 A.) Jo Barnes and Monsieur Hulot are both managers of Port Philip Pharmaceuticals are based in two different countries. Jo Barnes is an Australian International manager who oversees the operation in France under the management if Monsieur Hulot, a French national. Describe and Compare how each of these managers deals separately with the management issue that is affecting the operation of  Port Philip Pharmaceuticals? Jo Barnes is an Austrailan International manager, shes educated, confident, independent woman. Jo Barnes belongs to a country of an individualistic culture,  culture that shows a relative preference for the individual in a contrast to the group. This social structure are characterised by independence, the importance of individuals rights and recognition of personal initiative and achievement. The first approach of Jo was very self-centred that it became obvious that any idea of her running the training programs in testing techniques and quality control was not likely to be well received.   Meanwhile, Monsieur Hulot is a French Manager, which has an element of specialisation, unity of command, and unity of direction, with a hierarchical line of authority, initiative, and esprit de corps. All of the characteristics describes a Collectivist culture, these culture clearly distinguish between in-groups and out groups and expected to subordinate their individual interests for the benefit of their in- groups.   Two countries with different culture, one has been overpowered by being independent and educated (Jo) and the other focused on the benefit of all his subordinates (M. Hulot). They were not able to deal immediately the issues but Jo Barnes was able to adjust to the French culture that makes M.   Hulot be proud of her. B.) One of the challenges of international business in different countries is the different forces of International environment that impacts the role of management of multinational organisations. Evaluate any of the international forces that have affected Port Philip Pharmaceuticals in their operation and its management in France? International force that affects  Port Philip Pharmaceuticals in their operation and its management in France are the following: P3 in France are members of a collectivist, in whom they clearly distinguish between in groups and out groups and are expected to subordinate their individual interests for the  benefit of their in-groups like family and organisation. And value the overall good of loyalty to the group. They became dependent on each other, and trust everyone in their respective work that sometimes not well, as they rely on each other. With a relatively high power distance (uneven distribution of power). Hand in hand with a focus on individual rights and personal achievement. They are concern about their status differences and show proper respect to their superiors. This status difference exist within P3 may be based on age, social class or family role. P3 employees had high opinion for themselves and have professional knowledge. Power distance exists based on education and wealth too. P3 also possess high uncertainty avoidance, they prefer structure and predictability that results in explicit rules of behaviours and strict laws. They do not want changes. Not risk takers. They limit themselves into new ideas or innovation.   Language barrier was also became an international force to P3s management and operation. One of the hindrances that they encounter dealing that not most of them cannot speak English. Translations as well can have different meanings or connotations.   C.) A multinational company like Port Philip Pharmaceuticals deals with many constituents. Evaluate the management approach of Jo Barnes in dealing her constituents in Philippines and France. Jos management approach in the Philippines just worked very well. Filipinos were known to be hospitable. She doesnt find any hard time in dealing with them. As Filipinos knows how to respect and deal with different kinds of people. Filipinos with a high degree of Power Distance tends to accept and give importance of a cultures position (Australia) along a certain cultural dimension. They know how to accept and adopt once culture. Jo was taken out for a dinner in a wonderful restaurant, every day and night she was entertained, wined and dined. While during working hours Filipinos had listened respectfully to Jos suggestions for improvements. On the other hand, when shes in France her situation was different from the Philippines. Her first approach just failed as she tends to be an individualistic (independent, self-centred, personal initiative and  achievement) person, she was informed that her qualifications to be inadequate. As a result of this approach, the French chemists had high opinions of themselves and their professional knowledge was not prepared. It became obvious that any idea of her running training programs in testing techniques and quality control was not likely to be well received. On the next day, Jo remembered how Filipinos treated her. Jo adopted a new strategy. She made a little speech thanking M. Hulot for his courtesy in inviting her to visit the company and congratulated everybody on its fine reputation, back home on Brisbane, for the high quality of its products and the creative innovations it had made to the pharmaceutical industry. And compliment how proud she is to have French Connection.   Jo Barnes, knew already to adjust and adapt to the French Culture (new sense of respect and able to know French commitment to their areas of specialization) She was able to cope up with them. She was able to put smiles on their faces and was able to start her training with everyones listening. She set aside first her educational background, her status in Australia and her personal achievement. Instead she extends her hand to help French P3. She was able to impress everyone. She showed that she was part of the group (Collectivist) person. They have one objective and goal as a group. Thats the time brainstorm arose, with everybody contributing ideas.  Everything just went well. A solution to the problem had been found and she was confident it would be implemented without a delay.   Question 4 Today, international business people must think globally about production and sales opportunities. Many global managers will eventually find themselves living and working in cultures altogether different from their own. Many entrepreneurs will find themselves booking flights to places they had never heard of. What do you think companies can do now to prepare their managers for these new markets? What can entrepreneurs and small business with limited resource do? In order for the companies prepare their manager for the upcoming new markets. They should act global and should practice globalism. Creating a closer ties or bond to other countries by way of exchange of goods and services. Through globalisation managers may increase their interdependency and may bridge between two countries. It can also innovate ideas and can easily be implemented.   The company must start to train their managers by involving themselves in the movements of ideas, information images and people. Company should provide remuneration and rewards. Provides health and safety insurance. Treating employees as assets of the company. International managers should pay attention to trends in the global industry. Able to predict globally hot topics, products and services that the new market will be interested. Managers should develop niche expertise; their skills, knowledge and abilities should be nurtured and embraced through training. The international business environment influences how firms conduct their operations in both indirect and direct ways. Managers of globalization are causing the flows of trade, investment, and capital to grow and  become more entwined-often causing firms to search simultaneously for production bases and new markets.   Companies today must keep their finger on the pulse of the international business environment to see how it may affect their business activities Each national business environment is composed of unique cultural, political, legal, and economic characteristics that define business activity within that nations borders. This set of national characteristics can differ greatly from country to country. But, as nations open up and embrace globalization, their business environments are being transformed. Globalization can cause powerful synergies and enormous tensions to arise within and across various elements of a society. Company managers must be attentive to such degrees, adapting their products and practices as needed. International firm management is vastly different from managing a purely domestic business. Companies must abide by the rules in every market in which they choose to operate. Therefore, the context of international business management is defined by the characteristics of national business environments. Because of widely dispersed production and marketing activities today, firms commonly interact with people in distant locations within the international business environment. Finally, managers and their firms are compelled to be knowledgeable about the nations in which they operate because of the integrating power of globalization. Businesses should try to anticipate events and forces that can affect their operations by closely monitoring globalization, national business environments, and the international business environment Know how to market. The concept of personal branding that suggests individuals should think of them as a brand and market their skills.  For the entrepreneurs and small business with limited resources can do is to expand their business with new target market and customers that are not too costly. They would be able to identify their local and global potential markets. Able to determine their needs and desires. Not only discover the prospects want, but why and how they want it. It is crucial, but they should meet their wants and needs. International trade specialists can help small businesses locate and use federal, state, local, and private-sector programs. They are also an excellent source of market research, trade leads, financing, and trade events. The Trade and Development Agency also helps small and medium-sized firms obtain financing for international projects. Even if you have small business yet you think BIG that would be their competitive advantage. Making sure that their business takes the maximum advantage of those areas represent their strengths of small companies. Create a constant improvement and listen to the customers. Market driven. Listen. Act. Respond to customers needs. Maximise employee productivity. Question 5 What are the claims of those who say globalisation eliminates jobs, lower wages, and exploits workers? Some societies find globalisation as a dominating concept. That it may affect their lifestyle. A country has a complex cultural conditions such as they see exploiting people on the ground of race, gender or class, people will really try to get rid such society or country. People in a certain country feel they are being over powered with foreign workers. Just like in the views of developing countries, globalisation increase phobia of inequality. It eliminates jobs from local nationality; they somehow prioritise foreign workers because they were paid at a lower wages or labour fee. Or they have lots of job opportunities but then the wages were too low, claims are they see the potential of the foreign worker or a country that offers a cheap labour. Conflicts arise and instability.   A country can outsource cheap labour and sell it on their country in a higher price. Local manufacturers feel that they are dominated by imported products. Lots of subcontracting that reduces job opportunities.   Competition became higher and risky for local workers and labourers as international dominate their working environment.   They criticize the practice of sending good-paying manufacturing jobs abroad to developing countries where wages are a fraction of the cost for international firms. It is argued that a label reading Made in China translates to Not Made Here. Although critics admit that importing products from China (or another low-wage nation) lowers consumer prices for televisions, sporting goods, and so on, they say this is little consolation for workers who lose their jobs. When a manufacturing job is lost in a wealthy nation, the new job (assuming new work is found) pays less than the previous one. Some evidence does suggest that a displaced manufacturing worker, especially an older one, receives lower pay in a subsequent job. Those opposed to globalization say this decreases employee loyalty, employee morale, and job security. They say this causes people to fear globalization and any additional lowering of trade barriers. Because of these claims above mentioned, it may cause  issues like chauvinism, fundamentalism, and religion, ethnic and racial hatred in controversy. Question 6 A.) One strategy Yahoo! Could use to deal with the Chinese government is to allow its local joint venture partner, Beijing Founder Electronics, to deal with the government. What are the benefits and risks of doing so? The benefits of Beijing Founder Electronics (joint venture partner of Yahoo!) in dealing with Chinese government, it can produce mutual gains and clear distinction of operational freedom. It is legalise and recognised by the authority. The process of hiring and remuneration will be authenticated. There will be a secure patent and copyright protection supported by the government.   The risks/influences that the government implies to Beijing Founder Electronics: There will be levels of taxation and restrictions on profit repatriation. Have controls on risks limits and observance of professional standards. Some rules to be followed and should abide. There will be labour union rules to obey. Foreign firms should regulate it.   In such way there will be benefits and risks to consider in a local joint venture of two organizations. There might be an effect and impact but still its necessarily to address it in a legal way. B.) How does a strategic alliance differ from a joint venture? Explain the pluses and minuses of such alliances? Strategic alliance (called in a government perspective) is a form of collaboration between two or more companies that can take on many forms such as: Technology transfer, Purchasing and distribution agreements, Marketing and promotional collaboration and Joint product development While Joint Venture (called in a business man perspective) involves a potentially long term of investment of funds, facilities and resources by two or more companies to a combined venture which benefits all companies. All involved will have an equity stake in the new venture. It may be formed to: Run production facilities in another country, establish a marketing distribution presence, use complementary technologies held by each participant and Joint venture can also be used to get around country trade barriers.   Advantages or Pluses of these alliances: Forming a business relationship with a partner, or partners, may provide you with a number of advantages. You may be able to access technologies or patented processes owned by the other partner. You may be able to access their distribution network. Enable firms to share costs and risks of the research and development of new products and process. International alliances serve to avoid import barriers (Free flow of goods). Licensing requirements and other protection legislation. Disadvantage or Minuses of these alliances: Global alliances are usually slow in the making, but in a highly competitive they present a faster and less risky route of globalisation. It is not easy to negotiate and finalise an argument, but if both parties have approved the agreement everything will be fast. Problems and challenges that alliance may encounter:   Shared ownership (risks of shared assets), differences in national cultures (cultural differences; national and organisational culture), difficulties with integration of different structure and systems, distribution of power (may dominate one partner when it comes to process/ideas/outcome), competition within partners, conflicts between relative centres of decision and control. Disclose confidentiality of information, usage of patented technology or intellectual property rights, difficulty on collaborative efforts that lead to mistrust and secrecy. All the advantages and disadvantages mentioned above are inevitable in having alliances. Alliances may work and may not work well. So alliances, should consider their strengths and weaknesses. Ideal partnership takes advantage in their both core competencies that will strengthen weaker areas of a company business.   Question 7 A.) Evaluate the management strategy used by Brandon in order to finalise the deal of the Yokohama parts with Mr. Kumatsu and how it led to success or failure of the deal? The management strategy used by Brandon to finalise the deal of the Yokohama parts with newly appointed Japanese executive, Mr. Kumatsu was based on direct coordination which decision making is based on the merits of the individual situation. It should not treated that way as Japanese have a high uncertainty avoidance which pertains to dislike of any changes (resistance to change) and want the process in a prefer structure and predictable as Japanese company always look for a long-term goal. It also give least common approach that gives more pressure to Yokohama parts and able not to coordinate well. From the above mentioned strategy Brandon used, it led him to be unsuccessful with the deal. The complexity and interdependence of both parties decrease the needs to think parallel and drawn up to a contract. B.) Design an effective management strategy for Brandon to successfully achieve a good international dealing with their companys suppliers in Japan. For Brandon to successfully achieve a good intetrnational dealing with their company suppliers in Japan, the effective management strategy should be managing resistance to change. This strategy will change raises anxiety over fear of the following: Economic loss, basically Japanese company look after their economic status if the deal/opportunity is worthy to grab and if it will be beneficial to the company as well to the country. Inconvenience, they want to reduce the cause of trouble or problem. They more likely want to have an easy access. They want to be more convenient and efficiency. Uncertainty, basically Brandon must prove that theres no doubt in their business negotiations and be certain enough. Break in status-quo, Brandon must prove that it will be a breaking through deal, that he will have no fear in making it through a good negotiation and provide a quality service for Mr. Kumatsu. In using the above management strategy, it would be a successful deal as it leverages distinctive mix of orientations and strategies. It is global technological competence with unique product development. It also focuses on quality and leveraging of foreign distributor competencies. Brandon should also adapt to the demands of its new environment and culture as it remains the most effective way of maintaining a lasting competitive advantage. http://www.prenhall.com/behindthebook/0131746170/pdf/Deresky_CH03.pdf http://money.usnews.com/money/blogs/outside-voices-careers/2012/09/19/3-things-to-do-now-to-prepare-for-the-new-job-market http://catalogue.pearsoned.co.uk/assets/hip/gb/hip_gb_pearsonhighered/samplechapter/0273752634.pdf International Strategic Management (Strategic Formulation and Implementation) Hodgetts, Luthans and Doh, International Management: Culture, Strategy and Behaviour, 6th Edition (New York: McGraw-Hill Irwin, 2006)

Captain John Smith Is Successful Than John Rolfe :: essays research papers

  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Captain John smith was more important to the success of Virginia by 1630 then John Rolfe.. Like many famous heroes, John Smith was feisty, abrasive, self-promoting, and ambitious. He was an experienced soldier and adventurer, the man who boldly went out and got things done. If not for him, the colony may have failed at the start.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  John Rolfe is best successful for having introduced tobacco as a commercial crop to Virginia colonists. The production of this valuable commodity shaped the future development of the colony and provided an economic incentive for future expansion and settlement of the New World. Rolfe is best remembered of his marriage to Pocahontas. This marriage brought a much-need period of peace between the Indian and the colonists until Powhatan’s death. But John Smith was more successful then John Rolfe because of the myths he himself created. Smith promoted the Virginia company’s interests in the New World and he provided the leadership necessary to save the colonists during the early years of the settlement. Although many of his narratives seem boastful and swashbuckling, his accounts were intended to lure adventurous new settlers to Virginia.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  When the colonist suffered harsh winter, lack of fresh water, and the spread of disease made in Jamestown difficult for the settlers. Attacks by the native Indians, hoping that the settlers would give up and leave, raided their camps, stealing pistols, gunpowder, and other necessary supplies. Captain John Smith stepped forward as the leader of the colony when it became apparent that the council of seven was ineffective. He led expeditions into the interior and traded with the Indians for corn. In 1607, Smith and several other colonists left the fort to explore the local area. Unfortunately they ran into an Indian hunting party and were promptly captured by the Indians. Smith was treated kindly and a great feast was prepared in his honor. When Smith was not well received in Jamestown, Captain Christopher Newport and Gabriel Archer had assumed leadership during Smith’s absence and the colonists still suffered from a lack of food and proper shelter. Smith soon escaped from the tension of the fort and proceeded to explore the Potomac and Rappahannock rivers and the Chesapeake Bay during the summer of 1608. His explorations of Virginia were later complied in his Map of Virginia.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Due to bed government, Smith was eventually elected president of the local council in September 1608.

Anaysis of the Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman

http://www. sparknotes. com/lit/yellowwallpaper/context. html The Yellow Wallpaper, Charlotte Perkins Gilman Table of Contents Context Plot Overview Character List Analysis of Major Characters Themes, Motifs, and Symbols Important Quotations Explained Key Facts How to Cite This SparkNote Context Charlotte Perkins Gilman was best known in her time as a crusading journalist and feminist intellectual, a follower of such pioneering women’s rights advocates as Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and Harriet Beecher Stowe, Gilman’s great-aunt.Gilman was concerned with political inequality and social justice in general, but the primary focus of her writing was the unequal status of women within the institution of marriage. In such works as Concerning Children(1900), The Home (1904), and Human Work (1904), Gilman argued that women’s obligation to remain in the domestic sphere robbed them of the expression of their full powers of creativity and intelligence, while s imultaneously robbing society of women whose abilities suited them for professional and public life.An essential part of her analysis was that the traditional power structure of the family made no one happy—not the woman who was made into an unpaid servant, not the husband who was made into a master, and not the children who were subject to both. Her most ambitious work, Women and Economics (1898), analyzed the hidden value of women’s labor within the capitalist economy and argued, as Gilman did throughout her works, that financial independence for women could only benefit society as a whole.Today, Gilman is primarily known for one remarkable story, â€Å"The Yellow Wallpaper,† which was considered almost unprintably shocking in its time and which unnerves readers to this day. This short work of fiction, which deals with an unequal marriage and a woman destroyed by her unfulfilled desire for self-expression, deals with the same concerns and ideas as Gilmanâ€⠄¢s nonfiction but in a much more personal mode. Indeed, â€Å"The Yellow Wallpaper† draws heavily on a particularly painful episode in Gilman’s own life.In 1886, early in her first marriage and not long after the birth of her daughter, Charlotte Perkins Stetson (as she was then known) was stricken with a severe case of depression. In her 1935 autobiography, The Living of Charlotte Perkins Gilman, she describes her â€Å"utter prostration† byâ€Å"unbearable inner misery† and â€Å"ceaseless tears,† a condition only made worse by the presence of her husband and her baby. She was referred to Dr. S. Weir Mitchell, then the country’s leading specialist in nervous disorders, whose treatment in such cases was a â€Å"rest cure† of forced inactivity.Especially in the case of his female patients, Mitchell believed that depression was brought on by too much mental activity and not enough attention to domestic affairs. For Gilman, this course of treatment was a disaster. Prevented from working, she soon had a nervous breakdown. At her worst, she was reduced to crawling into closets and under beds, clutching a rag doll. Once she abandoned Mitchell’s rest cure, Gilman’s condition improved, though she claimed to feel the effects of the ordeal for the rest of her life.Leaving behind her husband and child, a scandalous decision, Charlotte Perkins Stetson (she took the name Gilman after a second marriage, to her cousin) embarked on a successful career as a journalist, lecturer, and publisher. She wrote â€Å"The Yellow Wallpaper† soon after her move to California, and in it she uses her personal experience to create a tale that is both a chilling description of one woman’s fall into madness and a potent symbolic narrative of the fate of creative women stifled by a paternalistic culture.In purely literary terms, â€Å"The Yellow Wallpaper† looks back to the tradition of the psychological horro r tale as practiced by Edgar Allan Poe. For example, Poe’sâ€Å"The Tell-Tale Heart† is also told from the point of view of an insane narrator. Going further back, Gilman also draws on the tradition of the Gothic romances of the late eighteenth century, which often featured spooky old mansions and young heroines determined to uncover their secrets.Gilman’s story is also forward-looking, however, and her moment-by-moment reporting of the narrator’s thoughts is clearly a move in the direction of the sort of stream-of-consciousness narration used by such twentieth-century writers as Virginia Woolf, James Joyce, and William Faulkner. Plot Overview The narrator begins her journal by marveling at the grandeur of the house and grounds her husband has taken for their summer vacation. She describes it in romantic terms as an aristocratic estate or even a haunted house and wonders how they were able to afford it, and why the house had been empty for so long.Her fee ling that there is â€Å"something queer† about the situation leads her into a discussion of her illness—she is suffering from â€Å"nervous depression†Ã¢â‚¬â€and of her marriage. She complains that her husband John, who is also her doctor, belittles both her illness and her thoughts and concerns in general. She contrasts his practical, rationalistic manner with her own imaginative, sensitive ways. Her treatment requires that she do almost nothing active, and she is especially forbidden from working and writing.She feels that activity, freedom, and interesting work would help her condition and reveals that she has begun her secret journal in order to â€Å"relieve her mind. † In an attempt to do so, the narrator begins describing the house. Her description is mostly positive, but disturbing elements such as the â€Å"rings and things† in the bedroom walls, and the bars on the windows, keep showing up. She is particularly disturbed by the yellow wa llpaper in the bedroom, with its strange, formless pattern, and describes it as â€Å"revolting. † Soon, however, her thoughts are interrupted by John’s approach, and she is forced to stop writing.As the first few weeks of the summer pass, the narrator becomes good at hiding her journal, and thus hiding her true thoughts from John. She continues to long for more stimulating company and activity, and she complains again about John’s patronizing, controlling ways—although she immediately returns to the wallpaper, which begins to seem not only ugly, but oddly menacing. She mentions that John is worried about her becoming fixated on it, and that he has even refused to repaper the room so as not to give in to her neurotic worries.The narrator’s imagination, however, has been aroused. She mentions that she enjoys picturing people on the walkways around the house and that John always discourages such fantasies. She also thinks back to her childhood, when she was able to work herself into a terror by imagining things in the dark. As she describes the bedroom, which she says must have been a nursery for young children, she points out that the paper is torn off the wall in spots, there are scratches and gouges in the floor, and the furniture is heavy and fixed in place.Just as she begins to see a strange sub-pattern behind the main design of the wallpaper, her writing is interrupted again, this time by John’s sister, Jennie, who is acting as housekeeper and nurse for the narrator. As the Fourth of July passes, the narrator reports that her family has just visited, leaving her more tired than ever. John threatens to send her to Weir Mitchell, the real-life physician under whose care Gilman had a nervous breakdown. The narrator is alone most of the time and says that she has become almost fond of the wallpaper and that attempting to figure out its pattern has become her primary entertainment.As her obsession grows, the sub-pattern of the wallpaper becomes clearer. It begins to resemble a woman â€Å"stooping down and creeping† behind the main pattern, which looks like the bars of a cage. Whenever the narrator tries to discuss leaving the house, John makes light of her concerns, effectively silencing her. Each time he does so, her disgusted fascination with the paper grows. Soon the wallpaper dominates the narrator’s imagination. She becomes possessive and secretive, hiding her interest in the paper and making sure no one else examines it so that she can â€Å"find it out† on her own.At one point, she startles Jennie, who had been touching the wallpaper and who mentions that she had found yellow stains on their clothes. Mistaking the narrator’s fixation for tranquility, John thinks she is improving. But she sleeps less and less and is convinced that she can smell the paper all over the house, even outside. She discovers a strange smudge mark on the paper, running all around the roo m, as if it had been rubbed by someone crawling against the wall. The sub-pattern now clearly resembles a woman who is trying to get out from behind the main pattern.The narrator sees her shaking the bars at night and creeping around during the day, when the woman is able to escape briefly. The narrator mentions that she, too, creeps around at times. She suspects that John and Jennie are aware of her obsession, and she resolves to destroy the paper once and for all, peeling much of it off during the night. The next day she manages to be alone and goes into something of a frenzy, biting and tearing at the paper in order to free the trapped woman, whom she sees struggling from inside the pattern.By the end, the narrator is hopelessly insane, convinced that there are many creeping women around and that she herself has come out of the wallpaper—that she herself is the trapped woman. She creeps endlessly around the room, smudging the wallpaper as she goes. When John breaks into th e locked room and sees the full horror of the situation, he faints in the doorway, so that the narrator has â€Å"to creep over him every time! † Character List The Narrator – A young, upper-middle-class woman, newly married and a mother, who is undergoing care for depression.The narrator—whose name may or may not be Jane—is highly imaginative and a natural storyteller, though her doctors believe she has a â€Å"slight hysterical tendency. † The story is told in the form of her secret diary, in which she records her thoughts as her obsession with the wallpaper grows. Read an in-depth analysis of The Narrator. John – The narrator’s husband and her physician. John restricts her behavior as part of her treatment. Unlike his imaginative wife, John is extremely practical, preferring facts and figures to â€Å"fancy,† at which he â€Å"scoffs openly. He seems to love his wife, but he does not understand the negative effect his treat ment has on her. Read an in-depth analysis of John. Jennie – John’s sister. Jennie acts as housekeeper for the couple. Her presence and her contentment with a domestic role intensify the narrator’s feelings of guilt over her own inability to act as a traditional wife and mother. Jennie seems, at times, to suspect that the narrator is more troubled than she lets on. Analysis of Major Characters The NarratorThe narrator of â€Å"The Yellow Wallpaper† is a paradox: as she loses touch with the outer world, she comes to a greater understanding of the inner reality of her life. This inner/outer split is crucial to understanding the nature of the narrator’s suffering. At every point, she is faced with relationships, objects, and situations that seem innocent and natural but that are actually quite bizarre and even oppressive. In a sense, the plot of â€Å"The Yellow Wallpaper† is the narrator’s attempt to avoid acknowledging the extent to wh ich her external situation stifles her inner impulses.From the beginning, we see that the narrator is an imaginative, highly expressive woman. She remembers terrifying herself with imaginary nighttime monsters as a child, and she enjoys the notion that the house they have taken is haunted. Yet as part of her â€Å"cure,† her husband forbids her to exercise her imagination in any way. Both her reason and her emotions rebel at this treatment, and she turns her imagination onto seemingly neutral objects—the house and the wallpaper—in an attempt to ignore her growing frustration.Her negative feelings color her description of her surroundings, making them seem uncanny and sinister, and she becomes fixated on the wallpaper. As the narrator sinks further into her inner fascination with the wallpaper, she becomes progressively more dissociated from her day-to-day life. This process of dissociation begins when the story does, at the very moment she decides to keep a secr et diary as â€Å"a relief to her mind. † From that point, her true thoughts are hidden from the outer world, and the narrator begins to slip into a fantasy world in which the nature of â€Å"her situation† is made clear in symbolic terms.Gilman shows us this division in the narrator’s consciousness by having the narrator puzzle over effects in the world that she herself has caused. For example, the narrator doesn’t immediately understand that the yellow stains on her clothing and the long â€Å"smootch† on the wallpaper are connected. Similarly, the narrator fights the realization that the predicament of the woman in the wallpaper is a symbolic version of her own situation. At first she even disapproves of the woman’s efforts to escape and intends to â€Å"tie her up. †When the narrator finally identifies herself with the woman trapped in the wallpaper, she is able to see that other women are forced to creep and hide behind the domes tic â€Å"patterns† of their lives, and that she herself is the one in need of rescue. The horror of this story is that the narrator must lose herself to understand herself. She has untangled the pattern of her life, but she has torn herself apart in getting free of it. An odd detail at the end of the story reveals how much the narrator has sacrificed. During her final split from reality, the narrator says, â€Å"I’ve got out at last, in spite of you and Jane. Who is this Jane? Some critics claim â€Å"Jane† is a misprint for â€Å"Jennie,†the sister-in-law. It is more likely, however, that â€Å"Jane† is the name of the unnamed narrator, who has been a stranger to herself and her jailers. Now she is horribly â€Å"free† of the constraints of her marriage, her society, and her own efforts to repress her mind. John Though John seems like the obvious villain of â€Å"The Yellow Wallpaper,† the story does not allow us to see him as whol ly evil. John’s treatment of the narrator’s depression goes terribly wrong, but in all likelihood he was trying to help her, not make her worse.The real problem with John is the all-encompassing authority he has in his combined role as the narrator’s husband and doctor. John is so sure that he knows what’s best for his wife that he disregards her own opinion of the matter, forcing her to hide her true feelings. He consistently patronizes her. He calls her â€Å"a blessed little goose† and vetoes her smallest wishes, such as when he refuses to switch bedrooms so as not to overindulge her â€Å"fancies. † Further, his dry, clinical rationality renders him uniquely unsuited to understand his imaginative wife.He does not intend to harm her, but his ignorance about what she really needs ultimately proves dangerous. John knows his wife only superficially. He sees the â€Å"outer pattern† but misses the trapped, struggling woman inside. This ignorance is why John is no mere cardboard villain. He cares for his wife, but the unequal relationship in which they find themselves prevents him from truly understanding her and her problems. By treating her as a â€Å"case† or a â€Å"wife† and not as a person with a will of her own, he helps destroy her, which is the last thing he wants.That John has been destroyed by this imprisoning relationship is made clear by the story’s chilling finale. After breaking in on his insane wife, John faints in shock and goes unrecognized by his wife, who calls him â€Å"that man† and complains about having to â€Å"creep over him† as she makes her way along the wall. Themes, Motifs, and Symbols Themes The Subordination of Women in Marriage In â€Å"The Yellow Wallpaper,† Gilman uses the conventions of the psychological horror tale to critique the position of women within the institution of marriage, especially as practiced by the â€Å"respectableâ₠¬ classes of her time.When the story was first published, most readers took it as a scary tale about a woman in an extreme state of consciousness—a gripping, disturbing entertainment, but little more. After its rediscovery in the twentieth century, however, readings of the story have become more complex. For Gilman, the conventional nineteenth-century middle-class marriage, with its rigid distinction between the â€Å"domestic† functions of the female and the â€Å"active† work of the male, ensured that women remained second-class citizens.The story reveals that this gender division had the effect of keeping women in a childish state of ignorance and preventing their full development. John’s assumption of his own superior wisdom and maturity leads him to misjudge, patronize, and dominate his wife, all in the name of â€Å"helping† her. The narrator is reduced to acting like a cross, petulant child, unable to stand up for herself without seeming un reasonable or disloyal. The narrator has no say in even the smallest details of her life, and she retreats into her obsessive fantasy, the only place she can retain some control and exercise the power of her mind.The Importance of Self-Expression [pic] The mental constraints placed upon the narrator, even more so than the physical ones, are what ultimately drive her insane. She is forced to hide her anxieties and fears in order to preserve the facade of a happy marriage and to make it seem as though she is winning the fight against her depression. From the beginning, the most intolerable aspect of her treatment is the compulsory silence and idleness of the â€Å"resting cure. † She is forced to become completely passive, forbidden from exercising her mind in any way.Writing is especially off limits, and John warns her several times that she must use her self-control to rein in her imagination, which he fears will run away with her. Of course, the narrator’s eventual in sanity is a product of the repression of her imaginative power, not the expression of it. She is constantly longing for an emotional and intellectual outlet, even going so far as to keep a secret journal, which she describes more than once as a â€Å"relief† to her mind. For Gilman, a mind that is kept in a state of forced inactivity is doomed to self-destruction.The Evils of the â€Å"Resting Cure† As someone who almost was destroyed by S. Weir Mitchell’s â€Å"resting cure† for depression, it is not surprising that Gilman structured her story as an attack on this ineffective and cruel course of treatment. â€Å"The Yellow Wallpaper† is an illustration of the way a mind that is already plagued with anxiety can deteriorate and begin to prey on itself when it is forced into inactivity and kept from healthy work. To his credit, Mitchell, who is mentioned by name in the story, took Gilman’s criticism to heart and abandoned the â€Å"resting cu re. Beyond the specific technique described in the story, Gilman means to criticize any form of medical care that ignores the concerns of the patient, considering her only as a passive object of treatment. The connection between a woman’s subordination in the home and her subordination in a doctor/patient relationship is clear—John is, after all, the narrator’s husband and doctor. Gilman implies that both forms of authority can be easily abused, even when the husband or doctor means to help.All too often, the women who are the silent subjects of this authority are infantilized, or worse. Motifs Irony Almost every aspect of â€Å"The Yellow Wallpaper† is ironic in some way. Irony is a way of using words to convey multiple levels of meaning that contrast with or complicate one another. In verbal irony, words are frequently used to convey the exact opposite of their literal meaning, such as when one person responds to another’s mistake by saying †Å"nice work. † (Sarcasm—which this example embodies—is a form of verbal irony. In her journal, the narrator uses verbal irony often, especially in reference to her husband: â€Å"John laughs at me, of course, but one expects that in marriage. † Obviously, one expects no such thing, at least not in a healthy marriage. Later, she says, â€Å"I am glad my case is not serious,† at a point when it is clear that she is concerned that her case is very serious indeed. Dramatic irony occurs when there is a contrast between the reader’s knowledge and the knowledge of the characters in the work.Dramatic irony is used extensively in â€Å"The Yellow Wallpaper. † For example, when the narrator first describes the bedroom John has chosen for them, she attributes the room’s bizarre features—the â€Å"rings and things† in the walls, the nailed-down furniture, the bars on the windows, and the torn wallpaper—to the fact that it must have once been used as a nursery. Even this early in the story, the reader sees that there is an equally plausible explanation for these details: the room had been used to house an insane person.Another example is when the narrator assumes that Jennie shares her interest in the wallpaper, while it is clear that Jennie is only now noticing the source of the yellow stains on their clothing. The effect intensifies toward the end of the story, as the narrator sinks further into her fantasy and the reader remains able to see her actions from theâ€Å"outside. † By the time the narrator fully identifies with the trapped woman she sees in the wallpaper, the reader can appreciate the narrator’s experience from her point of view as well as John’s shock at what he sees when he breaks down the door to the bedroom.Situational irony refers to moments when a character’s actions have the opposite of their intended effect. For example, John’s course of tre atment backfires, worsening the depression he was trying to cure and actually driving his wife insane. Similarly, there is a deep irony in the way the narrator’s fate develops. She gains a kind of power and insight only by losing what we would call her self-control and reason. The Journal An â€Å"epistolary† work of fiction takes the form of letters between characters. â€Å"The Yellow Wallpaper† is a kind of epistolary story, in which the narrator writes to herself.Gilman uses this technique to show the narrator’s descent into madness both subjectively and objectively—that is, from both the inside and the outside. Had Gilman told her story in traditional first-person narration, reporting events from inside the narrator’s head, the reader would never know exactly what to think: a woman inside the wallpaper might seem to actually exist. Had Gilman told the story from an objective, third-person point of view, without revealing the narratorâ⠂¬â„¢s thoughts, the social and political symbolism of the story would have been obscured.As it is, the reader must decipher the ambiguity of the story, just as the narrator must attempt to decipher the bewildering story of her life and the bizarre patterns of the wallpaper. Gilman also uses the journal to give the story an intense intimacy and immediacy, especially in those moments when the narrative is interrupted by the approach of John or Jennie. These interruptions perfectly illustrate the constraints placed on the narrator by authority figures who urge her not to think about herâ€Å"condition. † Symbols The Wallpaper The Yellow Wallpaper† is driven by the narrator’s sense that the wallpaper is a text she must interpret, that it symbolizes something that affects her directly. Accordingly, the wallpaper develops its symbolism throughout the story. At first it seems merely unpleasant: it is ripped, soiled, and an â€Å"unclean yellow. † The worst part is the ostensibly formless pattern, which fascinates the narrator as she attempts to figure out how it is organized. After staring at the paper for hours, she sees a ghostly sub-pattern behind the main pattern, visible only in certain light.Eventually, the sub-pattern comes into focus as a desperate woman, constantly crawling and stooping, looking for an escape from behind the main pattern, which has come to resemble the bars of a cage. The narrator sees this cage as festooned with the heads of many women, all of whom were strangled as they tried to escape. Clearly, the wallpaper represents the structure of family, medicine, and tradition in which the narrator finds herself trapped. Wallpaper is domestic and humble, and Gilman skillfully uses this nightmarish, hideous paper as a symbol of the domestic life that traps so many women.Important Quotations Explained 1. If a physician of high standing, and one’s own husband, assures friends and relatives that there is really nothin g the matter with one but temporary nervous depression—a slight hysterical tendency—what is one to do? . . . So I take phosphates or phosphites—whichever it is, and tonics, and journeys, and air, and exercise, and am absolutely forbidden to â€Å"work† until I am well again. Personally, I disagree with their ideas . . . Explanation for Quotation 1 >> In this passage, which appears near the beginning of the story, the main elements of the narrator’s dilemma are present.The powerful, authoritative voices of her husband, her family, and the medical establishment urge her to be passive. Her own conviction, however, is that what she needs is precisely the opposite—activity and stimulation. From the outset, her opinions carry little weight. â€Å"Personally,† she disagrees with her treatment, but she has no power to change the situation. Gilman also begins to characterize the narrator here. The confusion over â€Å"phosphates or phosphites † is in character for someone who is not particularly interested in factual accuracy.And the choppy rhythm of the sentences, often broken into one-line paragraphs, helps evoke the hurried writing of the narrator in her secret journal, as well as the agitated state of her mind. Close 2. I sometimes fancy that in my condition if I had less opposition and more society and stimulus—but John says the very worst thing I can do is think about my condition, and I confess it always makes me feel bad. So I will let it alone and talk about the house. Explanation for Quotation 2 >>This section appears near the beginning of the story, and it helps characterize both the narrator’s dilemma and the narrator herself. Notably, the narrator interrupts her own train of thought by recalling John’s instructions. Gilman shows how the narrator has internalized her husband’s authority to the point that she practically hears his voice in her head, telling her what to think. Even so, she cannot help but feel the way she does, and so the move she makes at the end—focusing on the house instead of her situation—marks the beginning of her slide into obsession and madness.This mental struggle, this desperate attempt not to think about her unhappiness, makes her project her feelings onto her surroundings, especially the wallpaper, which becomes a symbolic image of â€Å"her condition. †The play on words here is typical of Gilman’s consistent use of irony throughout the story. She feels bad whenever she thinks about herâ€Å"condition,† that is, about both her depression and her condition in general within her oppressive marriage. Close 3. There are things in that paper which nobody knows but me, or ever will. Behind that outside pattern the dim shapes get clearer every day.It is always the same shape, only very numerous. And it is like a woman stooping down and creeping about behind that pattern. I don’t like it a bit . I wonder—I begin to think—I wish John would take me away from here! Explanation for Quotation 3 >> About halfway through the story, the sub-pattern of the wallpaper finally comes into focus. The narrator is being drawn further and further into her fantasy, which contains a disturbing truth about her life. Gilman’s irony is actively at work here: the â€Å"things† in the paper are both the ghostly women the narrator sees and the disturbing ideas she is coming to understand.She is simultaneously jealous of the secret (â€Å"nobody knows but me†) and frightened of what it seems to imply. Again the narrator tries to deny her growing insight (â€Å"the dim shapes get clearer every day†), but she is powerless to extricate herself. Small wonder that the woman she sees is always â€Å"stooping down and creeping about. † Like the narrator herself, she is trapped within a suffocating domestic â€Å"pattern† from which no escape is poss ible. Close 4. Life is very much more exciting now than it used to be. Explanation for Quotation 4 >>This comment comes just after the scene in which the narrator catches Jennie touching the paper and resolves that no one else is allowed to figure out the pattern. It captures one of the most distinctive qualities of â€Å"The Yellow Wallpaper†: Gilman’s bitter, sarcastic sense of humor. Now that the narrator has become hopelessly obsessed with the pattern, spending all day and all night thinking about it, life has become more interesting and she is no longer bored. Gilman manages to combine humor and dread in such moments. The comment is funny, but the reader knows that someone who would make such a joke is not well.Indeed, in the section that follows, the narrator casually mentions that she considered burning the house down in order to eliminate the smell of the wallpaper. Close 5. I don’t like to look out of the windows even—there are so many of those c reeping women, and they creep so fast. I wonder if they all come out of that wall-paper as I did? Explanation for Quotation 5 >> Important Quotations Explained 1. If a physician of high standing, and one’s own husband, assures friends and relatives that there is really nothing the matter with one but temporary nervous depression—a slight hysterical tendency—what is one to do? . . So I take phosphates or phosphites—whichever it is, and tonics, and journeys, and air, and exercise, and am absolutely forbidden to â€Å"work† until I am well again. Personally, I disagree with their ideas . . . Explanation for Quotation 1 >> In this passage, which appears near the beginning of the story, the main elements of the narrator’s dilemma are present. The powerful, authoritative voices of her husband, her family, and the medical establishment urge her to be passive. Her own conviction, however, is that what she needs is precisely the opposite—activ ity and stimulation.From the outset, her opinions carry little weight. â€Å"Personally,† she disagrees with her treatment, but she has no power to change the situation. Gilman also begins to characterize the narrator here. The confusion over â€Å"phosphates or phosphites† is in character for someone who is not particularly interested in factual accuracy. And the choppy rhythm of the sentences, often broken into one-line paragraphs, helps evoke the hurried writing of the narrator in her secret journal, as well as the agitated state of her mind. Close . I sometimes fancy that in my condition if I had less opposition and more society and stimulus—but John says the very worst thing I can do is think about my condition, and I confess it always makes me feel bad. So I will let it alone and talk about the house. Explanation for Quotation 2 >> This section appears near the beginning of the story, and it helps characterize both the narrator’s dilemma and the nar rator herself. Notably, the narrator interrupts her own train of thought by recalling John’s instructions.Gilman shows how the narrator has internalized her husband’s authority to the point that she practically hears his voice in her head, telling her what to think. Even so, she cannot help but feel the way she does, and so the move she makes at the end—focusing on the house instead of her situation—marks the beginning of her slide into obsession and madness. This mental struggle, this desperate attempt not to think about her unhappiness, makes her project her feelings onto her surroundings, especially the wallpaper, which becomes a symbolic image of â€Å"her condition. The play on words here is typical of Gilman’s consistent use of irony throughout the story. She feels bad whenever she thinks about herâ€Å"condition,† that is, about both her depression and her condition in general within her oppressive marriage. Close 3. There are things in that paper which nobody knows but me, or ever will. Behind that outside pattern the dim shapes get clearer every day. It is always the same shape, only very numerous. And it is like a woman stooping down and creeping about behind that pattern. I don’t like it a bit. I wonder—I begin to think—I wish John would take me away from here! Explanation for Quotation 3 >>About halfway through the story, the sub-pattern of the wallpaper finally comes into focus. The narrator is being drawn further and further into her fantasy, which contains a disturbing truth about her life. Gilman’s irony is actively at work here: the â€Å"things† in the paper are both the ghostly women the narrator sees and the disturbing ideas she is coming to understand. She is simultaneously jealous of the secret (â€Å"nobody knows but me†) and frightened of what it seems to imply. Again the narrator tries to deny her growing insight (â€Å"the dim shapes get clearer ever y day†), but she is powerless to extricate herself.Small wonder that the woman she sees is always â€Å"stooping down and creeping about. † Like the narrator herself, she is trapped within a suffocating domestic â€Å"pattern† from which no escape is possible. Close 4. Life is very much more exciting now than it used to be. Explanation for Quotation 4 >> This comment comes just after the scene in which the narrator catches Jennie touching the paper and resolves that no one else is allowed to figure out the pattern. It captures one of the most distinctive qualities of â€Å"The Yellow Wallpaper†: Gilman’s bitter, sarcastic sense of humor.Now that the narrator has become hopelessly obsessed with the pattern, spending all day and all night thinking about it, life has become more interesting and she is no longer bored. Gilman manages to combine humor and dread in such moments. The comment is funny, but the reader knows that someone who would make such a joke is not well. Indeed, in the section that follows, the narrator casually mentions that she considered burning the house down in order to eliminate the smell of the wallpaper. Close 5. I don’t like to look out of the windows even—there are so many of those creeping women, and they creep so fast.I wonder if they all come out of that wall-paper as I did? Explanation for Quotation 5 >> In the story’s final scene, just before John finally breaks into her room, the narrator has finished tearing off enough of the wallpaper that the woman she saw inside is now free—and the two women have become one. This passage is the exact moment of full identification, when the narrator finally makes the connection she has been avoiding, a connection that the reader has made already. The woman behind the pattern was an image of herself—she has been the one â€Å"stooping and creeping. Further, she knows that there are many women just like her, so many that she is afraid to look at them. The question she asks is poignant and complex: did they all have to struggle the way I did? Were they trapped within homes that were really prisons? Did they all have to tear their lives up at the roots in order to be free? The narrator, unable to answer these questions, leaves them for another woman—or the reader—to ponder. Key Facts title  · â€Å"The Yellow Wallpaper† author  · Charlotte Perkins Gilman type of work  · Short story genre  · Gothic horror tale; character study; socio-political allegory language  · English ime and place written  · 1892, California date of first publication  · May, 1892 publisher  · The New England Magazine narrator  · A mentally troubled young woman, possibly named Jane point of view  · As the main character’s fictional journal, the story is told in strict first-person narration, focusing exclusively on her own thoughts, feelings, and perceptions. Everything that we learn or see in the story is filtered through the narrator’s shifting consciousness, and since the narrator goes insane over the course of the story, her perception of reality is often completely at odds with that of the other characters. one  · The narrator is in a state of anxiety for much of the story, with flashes of sarcasm, anger, and desperation—a tone Gilman wants the reader to share. tense  · The story stays close to the narrator’s thoughts at the moment and is thus mostly in the present tense. setting (time)  · Late nineteenth century setting (place)  · America, in a large summer home (or possibly an old asylum), primarily in one bedroom within the house. rotagonist  · The narrator, a young upper-middle-class woman who is suffering from what is most likely postpartum depression and whose illness gives her insight into her (and other women’s) situation in society and in marriage, even as the treatment she undergoes robs her of her sanity. major conf lict  · The struggle between the narrator and her husband, who is also her doctor, over the nature and treatment of her illness leads to a conflict within the narrator’s mind between her growing understanding of her own powerlessness and her desire to repress this awareness. ising action  · The narrator decides to keep a secret journal, in which she describes her forced passivity and expresses her dislike for her bedroom wallpaper, a dislike that gradually intensifies into obsession. climax  · The narrator completely identifies herself with the woman imprisoned in the wallpaper. falling action  · The narrator, now completely identified with the woman in the wallpaper,spends her time crawling on all fours around the room. Her husband discovers her and collapses in shock, and she keeps crawling, right over his fallen body. hemes  · The subordination of women in marriage; the importance of self-expression; the evils of the â€Å"Resting Cure† motifs  · Irony; the journal symbols  · The wallpaper foreshadowing  · The discovery of the teeth marks on the bedstead foreshadows the narrator’s own insanity and suggests the narrator is not revealing everything about her behavior; the first use of the word â€Å"creepy† foreshadows the increasing desperation of the narrator’s situation and her own eventualâ€Å"creeping. † How to Cite This SparkNote Full Bibliographic Citation MLA: SparkNotes Editors. â€Å"SparkNote on The Yellow Wallpaper. † SparkNotes. com. SparkNotes LLC. 2006. Web. 2 Apr. 2013. The Chicago Manual of Style: SparkNotes Editors. â€Å"SparkNote on The Yellow Wallpaper. † SparkNotes LLC. 2006. http://www. sparknotes. com/lit/yellowwallpaper/ (accessed April 12, 2013). APA: SparkNotes Editors. (2006). SparkNote on The Yellow Wallpaper. Retrieved April 12, 2013, from http://www. sparknotes. com/lit/yellowwallpaper/ In Text Citation MLA: â€Å"Their conversation is awkward, especially when she mentions Wickham, a subject Darcy clearly wishes to avoid† (SparkNotes Editors). APA: â€Å"Their conversation is awkward, especially when she mentions Wickham, a subject Darcy clearly wishes to avoid† (SparkNotes Editors, 2006).Footnote The Chicago Manual of Style: Chicago requires the use of footnotes, rather than parenthetical citations, in conjunction with a list of works cited when dealing with literature. 1 SparkNotes Editors. â€Å"SparkNote on The Yellow Wallpaper. † SparkNotes LLC. 2006. http://www. sparknotes. com/lit/yellowwallpaper/ (accessed April 12, 2013). [pic] Please be sure to cite your sources. For more information about what plagiarism is and how to avoid it, please read our article on The Plagiarism Plague. If you have any questions regarding how to use or include references to SparkNotes in your work, please tell us.

Importance of Teamwork in Events Industry - 1121 Words

Discuss the Importance of Teams, Their Characteristics and Their Development to the Successful Delivery of Events The purpose of this essay is to explain the importance of teams within the event industry. It will go into depth explaining the different theories behind the importance of teams within events. Team work is a collaboration between individuals with different skills. It is key element in decentralized organization. Teams exist for efficiency and also because humans need continual motivation and emotional support which sustains work-flow and adds creativity to work. There are two types of team work groups: Formal groups, which are structured to pursue a specific task, and Informal groups, which occur naturally in response to†¦show more content†¦Stage 1, or forming, Is where there is a high dependence on a leader for guidance and direction. There is little agreement on team aims other than those received from the leader. Individual roles and responsibilities are unclear. During Intensive week this stage occurred when the group was first formed. Stage 2, or storming, Is where decisions dont come easily within group. The team members fight for position as they attempt to establish themselves in relation to other team members and the leader. Cliques and factions form and there may be power struggles. The team needs to be focused on its goals to avoid becoming distracted by relationships and emotional issues. Compromises may be required to enable progress. The storming stage occurred during intensive week when an initial idea for an event was initially discussed. Stage 3, norming, Is where an agreement and consensus largely forms among the team who respond well to directions given by a leader. The roles and responsibilities are now clear and accepted. Big decisions are made by group agreement. Smaller decisions may be delegated to individuals or small teams within group. The team may engage in fun and social activities. There is general respect for the leader and some of leadership is more shared by the team. This stage occurred during intensive week after the idea for an agreement was made for anShow MoreRelatedImproving The Team s Collective Knowledge814 Words   |  4 Pagesaccountable as well as supported. If the provision of individual mentors is not possible, you can organise regular team boosting events with interesting guest speakers. Motivational speakers from industry experts or social behaviour experts can help build up teamwork and trust. Secret 15: Set challenges to the team Development doesn’t always have to relate to the specific industry the team is working on. In fact, the management should also challenge the team regularly with problems that don’t relate toRead MoreCompliance and Governance631 Words   |  3 Pageshelp improve governance compliance and operations by promoting teamwork and accountability among staff throughout the entire organization. Structure is vital in shared governance where expertise and knowledge serve as guides to actions. It requires a commitment to the organizational mission and the profession of the organization. The practices must be structured within the rules of the employer and the laws that govern the industry. It also requires consistency in definitions, standardization,Read MoreDogs636 Words   |  3 Pagesresearch. I learned that Goldman Sachs Group is a leader of the global financial services industry, and, according to the firm’s webpage, provide â€Å"investment banking, securities and investment management services to a substantial and diversified client base that includes corporations, financial institutions, governments and high-net-worth individuals† (1). The main competitors in Goldman Sachs Group’s industry are JPMorgan, Morgan Stanley, Citi Group Global Markets, and many more (3). Goldman SachsRead MoreResume [Utp Template]1448 Words   |  6 PagesMuhammad ‘Ammar bin Kassim B. Eng (Hons) Mechanical Engineering [Majoring in Material] Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS (UTP) 7th August 2010 Dear Sir/Madam, APPLICATION FOR CAREER OPPORTUNITY Your company’s milestone and achievement in the industry really impresses me, and your philosophy of encouraging career professional development is something I value. Thus, I am writing to apply for a career opportunity in your reputable company. I am currently in my final semester and will be graduating on DecemberRead MoreGeo Proposal Example1035 Words   |  5 Pagesincluding: professional networking events, academic networking events, outreach opportunities, community service, and academic enhancement. Goals Our goals for the following academic year are as follows: †¢ Increase student attendance at professional networking events, such as the geo-institute and CalGeo events. †¢ Attend the CalGeo annual conference †¢ Compete in the GeoWall competition †¢ Mentor elementary and middle school students through our outreach events †¢ Improve the community through volunteerRead MoreAccountability in the Healthcare Industry1180 Words   |  5 Pagesaccountability and constant improvement. Understanding the importance of accountability for excellent health care, experts and organizations are planning and implementing a Just Culture. Just Culture understands that to err is human, involves an organizations entire hierarchy and encourages every member to constantly improve health care through team effort. Analysis Why Accountability Is Important In the Health Care Industry The Health Care Industry is complex and is responsible for the health of theRead MoreWhat Company Do You Work For?1331 Words   |  6 Pagesdifferences, women are generally under-represented in high-tech industries around the world. We take our responsibility as a leading player in the technology industry seriously and support initiatives to get women more interested in technology. In April, we took part in the Dutch national Girls’ Day. We wanted to show that technology is fun, and to trigger an interest in scientific professions. ASML volunteers, mostly women, ran the event in Veldhoven, and around 700 mothers and their daughters, agedRead MoreConvergys Code of Business Conduct1397 Words   |  6 Pagesimprovements, focused business insight, and extraordinary added value. Purpose: Convergys promotes a shared responsibility amongst all employees to continue the tradition of excellence, integrity, innovation, and corporate citizenship in the industry of relationship management. Managing these relationships, fostering their improvement, and adding value to them is how Convergys enables organizations worldwide to improve their business performance. To guide the operations of Convergys’ businessRead MoreMidterm Patient Quality And Safety Paper1603 Words   |  7 PagesMidterm Patient Quality and Safety Paper Over time the health care industry has become more complex. Health care is rapidly evolving and continuing to complicate our delivery of care, which in turn has the same effect on quality of care. This steady evolution and change results in nursing shortages and an increase in the prevalence of errors being made. In hopes of preventing these errors and creating safe and high quality patient care, with the focus on new and improved ways of thinking, The QualityRead MoreApplication Of Quality Improvement Methodologies1732 Words   |  7 Pagesprocess control (SPC), four Lean and one Lean Six Sigma with 20 studies from the USA. The most common objectives of the papers were to improve outcomes, reduce infections and delays in care. Quality improvement methodologies from the manufacturing industry could be the key to improving the quality of care in surgery and reducing costs. The Lean methods have been applied to different aspects of healthcare successfully but the processes that are re petitive and can be standardized benefit the most. Many