The Influence of Beat Culture an Example of the Topic Psychology Essays by

The Influence of Beat Culture What is Beat Culture? The Beat Culture, also known as the Beat Movement, originated in the 1950s as a literary movement among a few New York City writers (mtholyoke.edu, 2006). These writers emulated many of the ideals of the Bohemia of 19th Century Paris. The original beat writers, Allen Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac, and William Burroughs, were a tight knit group of friends who went against the ideals of mainstream culture, both in lifestyle and literature (Burgard). Only later did the beats become known as a movement during the 1960s era of radical change and revolution. The 1960s were known for powerfully outspoken women, blacks, students, and homosexuals; but all the seeds of these movements were planted the decade before with the beats. Need essay sample on "The Influence of Beat Culture" topic? We will write a custom essay sample specifically for you Proceed Our Customers Frequently Tell EssayLab professionals: Who wants to write essay for me? Essay writer professionals advise: Here Is Your Life Vest! Collage Papers For Sale Pay Someone To Write My Paper Cheap Cheap Reliable Essay Writing Service Write My Essay For Me Cheap The original beats wrote in reaction to the materialistic and conformist America that was developing in the 1940s. The 1940s were also characterized by World War II, the Holocaust, and the atomic bomb. Mainly the beats used their art to . . . both escape from their world and suggest a solution to what they believed ailed that world. . . (mtholyoke.edu, 2006). The beats were associated with drug usage, sexual freedom, and a wandering lifestyle. The beats basically made a lifestyle out of mocking and rejecting the bourgeoisie. As the Beat Movement matured in the 1950s, a community of artists, writers, musicians, filmmakers, and actors formed in the caf scene of Greenwich Village in New York.Although rejected by dominant culture, the beat writers completely changed the face of American poetry and prose. The term Beat was coined in the late 1940s by Herbert Huncke, an original beat member, in a New York Times article (Burgard). Huncke, a drug addict and petty thief, defined the Beat Generation as poor, deadbeat, sad, and used (wikipedia, 2006). However later, this definition was argued that the Beat Movement was religious with beat' meaning beatitude, not beat up. During the 1950s, many of the beat writers and painters questioned whether . . . spiritual belief can exist in a world that permits humans to play God through the use of measures such as the atomic bomb. . . (Burgard). The arts of assemblage and collage became particularly associated with the Beat Culture. These arts were fueled by postwar urban renewal that provided raw materials for artwork critiquing that process. The transformation of so called garbage into art also provided implicit criticism and rejection of consumerism excess. The Beat Movement spread from New York to Los Angeles and San Francisco in the late 1950s and early 1960s. The west coast provided many participants seeking an alternative culture scene and new forms of expression. The San Francisco Renaissance is characterized by the cross pollination of the New York beat movement with San Francisco writers. During this time, Allen Ginsbergs poem Howl appeared and is now considered one of the most defining and popular works of the Beat Movement. Beat Culture Impact on America The Beat Culture was perhaps the most politically engaged cultural movement in American History. Although the Beat generation is viewed predominantly as a literary movement, the generation also produced art that incorporated words and texts, that essentially created a new language of cultural involvement (Burgard). Broadly, the Beat Culture was the first subculture to be found in the United States. The beats were the first to question leadership and traditional values which produced a break with mainstream culture, an idea people still identify with today. The beats produced a great deal of interest in lifestyle experimentation, notably with sex and drugs; had an influence in the intellectual questioning of authority; and popularized Zen Buddhism in the West (wikipedia, 2006). Some essential long-term effects of the Beat Generation are (wikipedia, 2006): Spiritual liberation: gay, black, and feminine liberation Demystification of drugs such as marijuana Evolution of rhythm and blues into rock and roll as an art form Spread of ecological consciousness Opposition to military-industrial machine civilization Liberation from censorship The Beat Culture laid the major foundation for the 1960s Hippie era. The major transition from Beatnik to Hippie occurred in 1967 after the Human Be-In at San Franciscos Golden Gate Park and after the 1968 Democratic Convention (wikipedia, 2006). The transition to Hippie was mainly characterized by increased experimental drug usage by many that started with the Beat Generation. The experimental drug usage can be seen all the way through the 1970s as a universal theme among many developing subcultures of the time. Drugs were important because claims of increased creativity, productivity, and insight were common and believed to be the key influence on the social events of the time. The Beats were a manifestation of the anti-war undercurrent. As the Vietnam War and Watergate gained strength in the 1970s anti-war protests were large and fueled by early Beat Culture sentiments. The Beats popularized the questioning of authority and many people later did so at large political protest rallies for decades to come. The Beats were also responsible for calling for spontaneity and an end to psychological repression. Jazz music was a great influence on many original beats, especially the bop form of jazz. This musical influence was translated into literature by the beat writers. The jazz influence also led many beats to dress similarly to jazz artists such as Dizzy Gillespie; sporting horn-rimmed glasses, goatees, and berets; now the look of the stereotypical beatnik (wikipedia, 2006). What is known today as Generation X could be substituted for Beat Generation back then. The Generation X subculture begs the question Why dont these kids grow up and fit in? this is the same question many asked of the Beat Generation years ago. The Beat Culture laid the foundation for modern subcultures that will forever be the driving undercurrent in the United States with a . . . keen awareness that things are often not what they seem. . . (Shakespeare). The Beat spirit is still significant today and offers young men and women a dream of living a creative life and finding truths for themselves. The largest influence the Beat Culture had was on the literary world. Poetry and literature were forever changed by the original beats that dared to question other mainstream writers. One such literary phenomenon is Action Poetry. The essence of Action Poetry is speed, spontaneity, and responsiveness to others (Thurman, 2006). Action Poetry includes haikus, poems, and experimental prose that are prominent aspects of literature today. Without the influence of the Beat Culture, much of the creativity with words and pictures in current literature would probably not be present. The Beat Culture was the first subcultures to develop in the United States. The Beat Movement was the foundation for the more popular Hippie movement of the 1960s and 1970s. Although the original Beat Culture members only numbered three, the influence their thoughts, actions, and literature had on American culture has been immense. From current generations, to the current debates on experimental drug use, to modern literature; the Beat Culture has been very influential on American Culture. References Burgard, T. Rebels With a Cause: Beat Culture and the New America 1950-1965. Whitney Museum of American Art. Accessed from http://www.spress.de/beatland/scene/the_arts/beatcult/intro.htm on December 11, 2006. Mtholyoke.edu. 2006. Beat Culture: A Later Manifestation of Bohemia. Accessed from http://www.mtholyoke.edu/courses/rschwart/hist255-s01/boheme/beat.html on December 11, 2006. Shakespeare, J.C. Ashcan Rantings and Kind King Light of Mind: Why the Beats Still Matter. Accessed from http://www.altx.com/io/beatgeneration.html on December 11, 2006. Thurman, C. 2006. Action Poetry. Accessed from http://www.litkicks.com/BeatPages/poetry.jsp on December 11, 2006. Wikipedia.org, 2006. Beat Generation. Accessed from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beat_Generation on December 11, 2006.

Information Technology vs Industrial Clusters The WritePass Journal

Information Technology vs Industrial Clusters Background and Introduction: Information Technology vs Industrial Clusters Background and Introduction:Discussion:Conclusion:  ReferencesRelated Background and Introduction: Information Technology (IT) has been an important force transforming human life on planet earth. It has changed the foundations of business, social, economic, financial, technological dimensions of human life. It has fostered the pace of life as well as changed the lifestyle and speed of human life. Now with the advent of internet, the speed of life has become an important determinant of keeping pace in different dimensions of life. The very meaning of markets and boundaries defining the markets and business domains have undergone a complete change because of the internet and fostering technological change that it brought in its wake. While corporate business world has taken full advantage of the internet, it has still I the early phases of realizing full support and potential of the internet. IT speculators suggested huge benefits from the internet which meant relocation and complete physical freedom from the customers, competitors and physical boundaries of the market which earlier defined the very limits of any industry. By early twentieth century, the markets were tended to be defined at local level, at city level and at the national levels. There was little mention of the international or global markets. This was because of limited progress achieved in the means of communications and transportations. Most markets were considered as physical definitions or definitions in terms of physical presence of the buyers and sellers. Each place where buyers and sellers could be physically present were defined as local markets. Where ever the buyers and sellers could gather together from a national scale were the national markets. The limited advancements in the means of transport and communications were a natural barrier on the market definition. Discussion: As the industrialization process grew and the means of transport and communications also grew with them. The beginning of the railways system and the telegraphs and telephone brought about some relaxations in the definition of the markets and the markets definitions also included the areas from far off here there were customers of any product or service where transport means such as railways and communication means such as telephone and telegraphs had access. Therefore the means of transport and communications have served as a key factor defining the geographical boundaries of markets. The definitions of the market boundaries has moved hand in hand with the advancements of the transportation and communications. The second half of the twentieth century has brought a technological revolution especially in the IT sector. The computer is the most fascinating invention of the twentieth century. It has transformed the speed and accuracy levels of the information processing. It has also promised and delivered transparency and merit. In the last fifty or sixty years the world has witnessed the rise of internet which has impacted the communications in an un-precedent manner. The rise of the internet has defined and redefined the basics of communications in every nook and corner of the world. The business markets and each industry and segment is deeply affected by the growth and usefulness of internet. Amongst the key benefits envisaged by the IT experts, the Internet was thought to redefine the markets as well. In several sectors such as services banking and retailing and IT, it was thought that the internet would introduce branchless services virtually eliminating the physical presence of the branches in every area of the country. But despite the wide spread use of the internet in every office and production factories and manufacturing area, it is noted that companies still prefer to be located near their competitors and outsourcers. Why? This is the primary question that we need to answer in this essay. In the conventional approach to networking, most industries in retailing services and banking followed an level headed approach with their competitors. In every area, Mcdonalds and KFC and Burger King have their outlets almost next to each other or as near as possible. Banks also tend to have their branches next to each other in every area regardless of the volume of business they can get. They go for prominence and presence as much as for their market share ion every area. The reasons are simple and straight forward. Despite the use of internet, physical presence through an outlet is thought as important as the market share and sales through that area. Secondly the most important characteristics are discussed as follows: In the banking sector concept of branchless banking was envisaged with the rise of internet. Despite after wide spread use and years of practice and websites each bank has launched and online services uploaded on their websites, the online services used by the clients, customers and banks is hindered by some plain truths. The mal practices, internet frauds, site hacking and other practices that put the online security of information under question mark, has caused clients, customers and banks to shy away from using the online services with full confidence. The use of the online services is limited and transactional volumes of the online services are still limited because of the limited trust and confidence earned by the online services because of security of online information. Most companies and clients and individual customers deem online data to be vulnerable and prone to theft. This causes the use of online services to be used in limited volume and thus limiting the concept of br anchless banking. Secondly, the traditional and conventional banking practices call for a physical presence of the ban k outlets in each area so that the customers may see and visit the bank they trust and deal with. This is owing to the fact that customers pledge their trust more with a bank physically present than with the one which has a presence only on the web. The so called ‘human element’ is still more important than the technologically advanced services such as online banking.   A modern customer does not have the luxury of time and his time is money. He wants to invest his time as much cautiously as money. He knows that if he mismanages his time, he will loose money, therefore time is money. The ebanking is an answer to many of his needs on this perspective. He can perform many of his jobs and day to day banking activities which ate into his precious time, He can deal with all financial activities by means of ebanking. A modern customer is an ebanker. He prefers not to visit a bank branch as long as he can meet his banking need via one of the available ebanking means and ways. Therefore, ebanking is considered as an answer to many of the problems of the customer of modern day baking market. â€Å"Challenges remain even in Latin America. In locations not served by banks most users open an account primarily to access welfare payments, or because their employer deposits their salary directly into their account. Apart from withdrawals, the most frequent use of the accounts is for making utility bill payments.† http://economictimes.indiatimes.com â€Å"The power of cellular phones has been tremendous in the country, and the branchless banking program would target cell phone users with little or no access to banks, he said.†(www.thejakartapost-banking-start-bali.html) Telebanking is also considered as part of the internet banking. In the telebanking services by dialing the given Telebanking number from anywhere, the customer can access their accounts and by following the user-friendly menu, entire banking set up can be conducted through Interactive Voice Response (IVR) system which is purpose built and designed to serve the customer. There are sufficient numbers of hunting lines available with this system and the customer calls never fail or go un attended. The system is built around in several local languages and acts to the usage ability of the customer. The modern day organization is highly interactive and dependent on the ebanking services. The accounts department is functional on ebanking system and it can check its daily cash balance and issue checks and make payments and transfer the funds through ebanking and tele-banking services alone. It saves on the time and effort of the organisation. Branchless Banking has potential as stated by Time s of India â€Å"Branchless banking has a huge potential to reach the unbanked and underserved segment of the population, he said and added that the branchless banking certainly will help people to take better advantage of the banking facilities at affordable cost† (http://timesofpakistan.pk) The cultural factors that tie and define business values for a specific locality also define the brand equity and market share in specific pockets of a market forcing companies to locate themselves in each area close to their competitors and outsourcers. This forces most banks and retailing companies like Mc donalds, KFC, Burgar King to stretch out and make their branches available in the local vicinity of their competitors. If a competitor in retailing will have an outlet in one area, he may well get the touch and feel of the local buyers more intimate touch and feel of the local buyers. He can respond to their needs more sharply and meaningfully than if he is not there. Same goes for the banking sector as well. Each branch manager has to perform as part of his duties a heavy job of personal banking and personal relation building with his clients in each pocket of the market to make its customers feel at home with their bank. â€Å"  Branchless banking is very useful and helpful in both urban and rural areas† states (http://telecomnewspk.com) With the rise of IT and internet services, the cluster formation or geographical concentration of competing companies is maintained because of the customers increasing demand for ‘Customization‘ in the products and services areas.   This forces most companies to locate themselves close to their competitors so that they may learn about the local taste and preferences. Each retailing outlets tries to serve the customers in a customized fashion in terms of local taste and preferences. Same is true for the banking sector as well. Most banks open their branches close to their competitors because they want to make sure that they meet the needs of their customers in a superior fashion to their competitors. With the rise of IT and internet services, the cluster formation or geographical concentration of industrial units is maintained because of the production economies and tax holidays offered by certain states. The competitors tend to have their industrial units in the same areas because they want to keep pace with the tax holidays that are earned by their competitors. It affects their cost of production and thus the cost of sales of their products and service. Therefore, the competing companies tend to locate themselves close to their competitors and outsourcers as it may be caused by the tax benefits and tax holidays earned by the companies in certain industries. This leads to the cluster formation or geographical concentration of industrial units despite the widespread used of the internet and IT services. With the rise of IT and internet services, the cluster formation or geographical concentration of industrial units is maintained because of the fact that many companies tend to maintain their outreach to the market and access-to-market at the same level as their competitors’. This factor is important in the case of many products and services such as foam and bedding industry which is a heavy produce to carry and it needs to be located near the market and thus in order to maintain a competitive edge with the competitors on ‘outreach’ to the market, the companies tend to locate their industrial units close to their competitors. This is also why with the rise of IT and internet services, the cluster formation or geographical concentration of industrial units is still maintained. The cost of transportation as part of production cost is an important determinant of the choice of location for companies for their industrial units. Companies tend to locate their industrial units near their competitors because they want their transportation cost to be the same as of their competitors.   This is also a reason why despite the rise of IT and internet services, the cluster formation or geographical concentration of industrial units is still maintained. Companies tend to locate themselves close their competitors because of the fact that they want to maintain their edge with their competitors in terms of getting the market feedback. They want to maintain an equal closeness and proximity to their clients or customer base or target market with their competitors and ear the title of caring and respect for the customer in the eyes of the customers. Therefore even with the rise of IT and internet services, the tendencies of concentration of industrial units is still maintained.   Industrial clusters develop â€Å"Industrial clusters develop in places where a business can develop links with other firms (and universities, government bodies and so on) to boost its performance† (cogentsi.com) Lastly, companies tend to locate themselves close their competitors because they want to conduct market intelligence and collect information about their competitors activities and utilize that information in their business plans. This leads to industrial clusters and concentration of industrial clusters within geographical areas, despite the increasing use of information technology and internet services. In so doing companies maintain their edge with their competitors in terms of market intelligence. They want to maintain a close eye on their competitors and thus even with the rise of IT and internet services, the tendencies of concentration of industrial units is still maintained. Conclusion: From the foregoing discussion, it is difficult to escape the conclusion that despite the rise of internet and wider spread use of information technology, companies tend to concentrate their locations within close geographical locations. The use of internet and information technology has certainly increased the efficiency and functional performance of the companies at a mass level, the potential benefits accruing from branch-less services and reducing the geographical concentration are still far from reality.   Most of the companies tend to be located near their competitors and the outsourcers because of the cost advantages and strategic reasons that hold, sway and largely dictate the strategic decisions of companies such as locating industrial units.   References http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/opinion/branchless-banking-in-india/articleshow/3386737.cms thejakartapost.com/news/2011/03/01/branchless-banking-start-bali.html http://timesofpakistan.pk/business/2011-01-21/branchless-banking-is-future-of-financial-sector-shahid-kardar/22094/ cogentsi.com/industrial-clusters.htm http://telecomnewspk.com/2011/03/formal-branchless-banking-in-pakistan/ http://mobile-financial.com/node/14211/Marketing-Branchless-Banking

Best Analysis Love and Relationships in The Great Gatsby

Best Analysis Love and Relationships in The Great Gatsby SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips Love, desire, and sex are a major motivators for nearly every character in The Great Gatsby. However, none of Gatsby’s five major relationships is depicted as healthy or stable. So what can we make of this? Is Fitzgerald arguing that love itself is unstable, or is it just that experiencing love and desire the way the characters do is problematic? Gatsby’s portrayal of love and desire is complex. So we will explore and analyze each of Gatsby’s five major relationships: Daisy/Tom, George/Myrtle, Gatsby/Daisy, Tom/Myrtle, and Jordan/Nick. We will also note how eachrelationship develops through the story, thepower dynamics involved, and what each particular relationship seems to say about Fitzgerald’s depiction of love. We will also include analysis of important quotes for each of the five major couples. Finally, we will go over some common essay questions about love, desire, and relationships to help you with class assignments. Keep reading for the ultimate guide to love in the time of Gatsby! Roadmap Analyzing the characters via the major relationships (including key quotes) Marriages Tom/Daisy George/Myrtle Relationships/Affairs Daisy/Gatsby Tom/Myrtle Nick/Jordan Common Essay Prompts/Discussion Topics Quick Note on Our Citations Our citation format in this guide is (chapter.paragraph). We're using this system since there are many editions of Gatsby, so using page numbers would only work for students with our copy of the book. To find a quotation we cite via chapter and paragraph in your book, you can either eyeball it (Paragraph 1-50: beginning of chapter; 50-100: middle of chapter; 100-on: end of chapter), or use the search function if you're using an online or eReader version of the text. Analyzing The Great GatsbyRelationships We will discuss the romantic pairings in the novel first through the lens of marriage. Then we will turn our attention to relationships that occur outside of marriage. Marriage 1:Daisy and Tom Buchanan Tom and Daisy Buchanan were married in 1919, three years before the start of the novel.They both come from incredibly wealthy families, and live on fashionable East Egg, marking them as members of the â€Å"old money† class. Daisy and Tom MarriageDescription As Jordan relates in a flashback, Daisy almost changed her mind about marrying Tom after receiving a letter from Gatsby (an earlier relationship of hers, discussed below), but eventually went through with the ceremony â€Å"without so much as a shiver† (4.142). Daisy appeared quite in love when they first got married, but the realities of the marriage, including Tom’s multiple affairs, have worn on her. Tom even cheated on her soon after their honeymoon, according to Jordan: â€Å"It was touching to see them together- it made you laugh in a hushed, fascinated way. That was in August. A week after I left Santa Barbara Tom ran into a wagon on the Ventura road one night and ripped a front wheel off his car. The girl who was with him got into the papers too because her arm was broken- she was one of the chambermaids in the Santa Barbara Hotel† (1.143). So what makes the Buchanans tick? Why has their marriage survived multiple affairs and even a hit-and-run? Find out through our analysis of key quotes from the novel. Daisy and Tom Marriage Quotes Why they came east I don't know. They had spent a year in France, for no particular reason, and then drifted here and there unrestfully wherever people played polo and were rich together. (1.17) Nick introduces Tom and Daisy as restless, rich, and as a singular unit: they. Despite all of the revelations about the affairs and other unhappiness in their marriage, and the events of the novel, it’s important to note our first and last descriptions of Tom and Daisy describe them as a close, if bored, couple. In fact, Nick only doubles down on this observation later in Chapter 1. Well, she was less than an hour old and Tom was God knows where. I woke up out of the ether with an utterly abandoned feeling and asked the nurse right away if it was a boy or a girl. She told me it was a girl, and so I turned my head away and wept. 'All right,' I said, 'I'm glad it's a girl. And I hope she'll be a fool- that's the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little fool." "You see I think everything's terrible anyhow," she went on in a convinced way. "Everybody thinks so- the most advanced people. And I know. I've been everywhere and seen everything and done everything." Her eyes flashed around her in a defiant way, rather like Tom's, and she laughed with thrilling scorn. "Sophisticated- God, I'm sophisticated!" "The instant her voice broke off, ceasing to compel my attention, my belief, I felt the basic insincerity of what she had said. It made me uneasy, as though the whole evening had been a trick of some sort to exact a contributory emotion from me. I waited, and sure enough, in a moment she looked at me with an absolute smirk on her lovely face as if she had asserted her membership in a rather distinguished secret society to which she and Tom belonged." (1.8-120) In this passage, Daisy pulls Nick aside in Chapter 1 and claims, despite her outward happiness and luxurious lifestyle, she’s quite depressed by her current situation. At first, it seems Daisy is revealing the cracks in her marriage – Tom was â€Å"God knows where† at the birth of their daughter, Pammy – as well as a general malaise about society in general (â€Å"everything’s terrible anyhow†). However, right after this confession, Nick doubts her sincerity. And indeed, she follows up her apparently serious complaint with â€Å"an absolute smirk.† What’s going on here? Well, Nick goes on to observe that the smirk â€Å"asserted her membership in a rather distinguished secret society to which she and Tom belonged.† In other words, despite Daisy’s performance, she seems content to remain with Tom, part of the â€Å"secret society† of the ultra-rich. So the question is: can anyone – or anything – lift Daisy out of her complacency? "I never loved him," she said, with perceptible reluctance. "Not at Kapiolani?" demanded Tom suddenly. "No." From the ballroom beneath, muffled and suffocating chords were drifting up on hot waves of air. "Not that day I carried you down from the Punch Bowl to keep your shoes dry?" There was a husky tenderness in his tone. ". . . Daisy?" (7.258-62) Over the course of the novel, both Tom and Daisy enter or continue affairs, pulling away from each other instead of confronting the problems in their marriage. However, Gatsby forces them to confront their feelings in the Plaza Hotel when he demands Daisy say she never loved Tom. Although she gets the words out, she immediately rescinds them – â€Å"I did love [Tom] once but I loved you too!† – after Tom questions her. Here, Tom – usually presented as a swaggering, brutish, and unkind – breaks down, speaking with â€Å"husky tenderness† and recalling some of the few happy moments in his and Daisy’s marriage. This is a key moment because it shows despite the dysfunction of their marriage, Tom and Daisy seem to both seek solace in happy early memories. Between those few happy memories and the fact that they both come from the same social class, their marriage ends up weathering multiple affairs. Daisy and Tom were sitting opposite each other at the kitchen table with a plate of cold fried chicken between them and two bottles of ale. He was talking intently across the table at her and in his earnestness his hand had fallen upon and covered her own. Once in a while she looked up at him and nodded in agreement. They weren't happy, and neither of them had touched the chicken or the ale- and yet they weren't unhappy either. There was an unmistakable air of natural intimacy about the picture and anybody would have said that they were conspiring together. (7.409-10) They were careless people, Tom and Daisy- they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made. . . . (9.146) By the end of the novel, after Daisy’s murder of Myrtle as well as Gatsby’s death, she and Tom are firmly back together, â€Å"conspiring† and â€Å"careless† once again, despite the deaths of their lovers. As Nick notes, they â€Å"weren’t happy†¦and yet they weren’t unhappy either.† Their marriage is important to both of them, since it reassures their status as old money aristocracy and brings stability to their lives. So the novel ends with them once again described as a unit, a â€Å"they,† perhaps even more strongly bonded since they’ve survived not only another round of affairs but murder, as well. Daisy and Tom MarriageAnalysis Neither Myrtle’s infatuation with Tom or Gatsby’s deep longing for Daisy can drive a wedge between the couple. Despite the lying, cheating, and murdering that occurs during the summer, Tom and Daisy end the novel just like they began it: careless, restless, and yet, firmly united. The stubborn closeness of Tom and Daisy’s marriage, despite Daisy’s exaggerated unhappiness and Tom’s philandering, reinforces the dominance of the old money class over the world of Gatsby. Despite so many troubles, for Tom and Daisy, their marriage guarantees their continued membership in the exclusive world of the old money rich. In other words, class is a much stronger bond than love in the novel. Tom and Daisy somehow end the novel with a stronger marriage! Want to get better grades and test scores? We can help. PrepScholar Tutors is the world's best tutoring service. We combine world-class expert tutors with our proprietary teaching techniques. Our students have gotten A's on thousands of classes, perfect 5's on AP tests, and ludicrously high SAT Subject Test scores. Whether you need help with science, math, English, social science, or more, we've got you covered. Get better grades today with PrepScholar Tutors. Marriage 2: Myrtle and George Wilson In contrast to Tom and Daisy, Myrtle and George were married 12 years before the start of the novel. You might think that since they’ve been married for four times as long, their marriage is more stable. In fact, in contrast from Tom and Daisy’s unified front, Myrtle and George’s marriage appears fractured from the beginning. Myrtle and George Marriage Description Although Myrtle was taken with George at first, she overestimated his money and â€Å"breeding† and found herself married to a mechanic and living over a garage in Queens, a situation she’s apparently unhappy with (2.2). However, divorce was uncommon in the 1920s, and furthermore, the working-class Myrtle doesn’t have access to wealthy family members or any other real options, so she stays married – perhaps because George is quite devoted and even in some ways subservient to her. A few months before the beginning of the novel in 1922, she begins an affair with Tom Buchanan, her first affair (2.7). She sees the affair as a way out of her marriage, but Tom sees her as just another disposable mistress, leaving her desperate and vulnerable once George finds out about the affair. Myrtle and George MarriageQuotes I heard footsteps on a stairs and in a moment the thickish figure of a woman blocked out the light from the office door. She was in the middle thirties, and faintly stout, but she carried her surplus flesh sensuously as some women can. Her face, above a spotted dress of dark blue crepe-de-chine, contained no facet or gleam of beauty but there was an immediately perceptible vitality about her as if the nerves of her body were continually smouldering. She smiled slowly and walking through her husband as if he were a ghost shook hands with Tom, looking him flush in the eye. Then she wet her lips and without turning around spoke to her husband in a soft, coarse voice: "Get some chairs, why don't you, so somebody can sit down." "Oh, sure," agreed Wilson hurriedly and went toward the little office, mingling immediately with the cement color of the walls. A white ashen dust veiled his dark suit and his pale hair as it veiled everything in the vicinity- except his wife, who moved close to Tom. (2.15-17) As we discuss in our article on the symbolic valley of ashes, George is coated by the dust of despairand thus seems mired in the hopelessness and depression of that bleak place, while Myrtle is alluring and full of vitality. Her first action is to order her husband to get chairs, and the second is to move away from him, closer to Tom. In contrast to Tom and Daisy, who are initially presented as a unit, our first introduction to George and Myrtle shows them fractured, with vastly different personalities and motivations. We get the sense right away that their marriage is in trouble, and conflict between the two is imminent. "I married him because I thought he was a gentleman," she said finally. "I thought he knew something about breeding, but he wasn't fit to lick my shoe." "You were crazy about him for a while," said Catherine. "Crazy about him!" cried Myrtle incredulously. "Who said I was crazy about him? I never was any more crazy about him than I was about that man there." (2.2-4) Here we get a bit of back-story about George and Myrtle’s marriage: like Daisy, Myrtle was crazy about her husband at first but the marriage has since soured. But while Daisy doesn’t have any real desire to leave Tom, here we see Myrtle eager to leave, and very dismissive of her husband. Myrtle seems to suggest that even having her husband wait on her is unacceptable – it’s clear she thinks she is finally headed for bigger and better things. Generally he was one of these worn-out men: when he wasn't working he sat on a chair in the doorway and stared at the people and the cars that passed along the road. When any one spoke to him he invariably laughed in an agreeable, colorless way. He was his wife's man and not his own. (7.312) Again, in contrast to the strangely unshakeable partnership of Tom and Daisy, the co-conspirators, Michaelis (briefly taking over narrator duties) observes that George â€Å"was his wife’s man,† â€Å"worn out.† Obviously, this situation gets turned on its head when George locks Myrtle up when he discovers the affair, but Michaelis’s observation speaks to instability in the Wilson’s marriage, in which each fights for control over the other. Rather than face the world as a unified front, the Wilsons each struggle for dominance within the marriage. "Beat me!" he heard her cry. "Throw me down and beat me, you dirty little coward!" A moment later she rushed out into the dusk, waving her hands and shouting; before he could move from his door the business was over. (7.314-5) We don’t know what happened in the fight before this crucial moment, but we do know George locked Myrtle in a room once he figured out she was having an affair. So despite the outward appearance of being ruled by his wife, he does, in fact, have the ability to physically control her. However, he apparently doesn’t hit her, the way Tom does, and Myrtle taunts him for it – perhaps insinuating he’s less a man than Tom. This outbreak of both physical violence (George locking up Myrtle) and emotional abuse (probably on both sides) fulfills the earlier sense of the marriage being headed for conflict. Still, it’s disturbing to witness the last few minutes of this fractured, unstable partnership. Myrtle and George MarriageAnalysis While Tom and Daisy’s marriage ends up being oddly stable thanks to their money, despite multiple affairs, Myrtle and George’s marriage goes from strained to violent after just one. In other words, Tom and Daisy can patch things up over and over by retreating into their status and money, while Myrtle and George don’t have that luxury. While George wants to retreat out west, he doesn’t have the money, leaving him and Myrtle in Queens and vulnerable to the dangerous antics of the other characters. The instability of their marriage thus seems to come from the instability of their financial situation, as well as the fact that Myrtle is more ambitious than George. Fitzgerald seems to be arguing that anyone who is not wealthy is much more vulnerable to tragedy and strife. As a song sung in Chapter 5 goes, â€Å"The rich get richer and the poor get- children† – the rich get richer and the poor can’t escape their poverty, or tragedy (5.150). The contrasting marriages of the Buchanans and the Wilsons help illustrate the novel’s critique of the wealthy, old-money class. Myrtle and George are a very slow burn that eventually explodes. Relationship 1: Daisy Buchanan and Jay Gatsby The relationship at the very heart of The Great Gatsby is, of course, Gatsby and Daisy, or more specifically, Gatsby’s tragic love of (or obsession with) Daisy, a love that drives the novel’s plot. So how did this ill-fated love story begin? Daisy and Gatsby Relationship Description Five years before the start of the novel, Jay Gatsby (who had learned from Dan Cody how to act like one of thewealthy) was stationed in Louisville before goingto fight in WWI. In Louisville, he met Daisy Fay, a beautiful young heiress (10 years his junior), who tookhim for someone of her social class. Gatsby maintained the lie, which allowed their relationship to progress. Gatsby fell in love with Daisy and the wealth she represents, and she with him (though apparently not to the same excessive extent), but he had to leave for the war and by the time he returned to the US in 1919, Daisy has married Tom Buchanan. Determined to get her back, Gatsby falls in with Meyer Wolfshiem, a gangster, and gets into bootlegging and other criminal enterprises to make enough money to finally be able to provide for her. By the beginning of the novel, he is ready to try and win her back over, ignoring the fact she has been married to Tom for three years and has a child. So does this genius plan turn out the way Gatsby hopes? Can he repeat the past? Not exactly. Daisy and Gatsby RelationshipQuotes "You must know Gatsby." "Gatsby?" demanded Daisy. "What Gatsby?" (1.60-1) In the first chapter, we get a few mentions and glimpses of Gatsby, but one of the most interesting is Daisy immediately perking up at his name. She obviously still remembers him and perhaps even thinks about him, but her surprise suggests that she thinks he’s long gone, buried deep in her past. This is in sharp contrast to the image we get of Gatsby himself at the end of the Chapter, reaching actively across the bay to Daisy’s house (1.152). While Daisy views Gatsby as a memory, Daisy is Gatsby’s past, present, and future. It’s clear even in Chapter 1 that Gatsby’s love for Daisy is much more intense than her love for him. "Gatsby bought that house so that Daisy would be just across the bay." Then it had not been merely the stars to which he had aspired on that June night. He came alive to me, delivered suddenly from the womb of his purposeless splendor. (4.151-2) In Chapter 4, we learn Daisy and Gatsby’s story from Jordan: specifically, how they dated in Louisville but it ended when Gatsby went to the front. She also explains how Daisy threatened to call off her marriage to Tom after receiving a letter from Gatsby, but of course ended up marrying him anyway (4.140). Here we also learn that Gatsby’s primary motivation is to get Daisy back, while Daisy is of course in the dark about all of this. This sets the stage for their affair being on unequal footing: while each has love and affection for the other, Gatsby has thought of little else but Daisy for five years while Daisy has created a whole other life for herself. "We haven't met for many years," said Daisy, her voice as matter-of-fact as it could ever be. "Five years next November." (5.69-70) Daisy and Gatsby finally reunite in Chapter 5, the book’s mid-point. The entire chapter is obviously important for understanding the Daisy/Gatsby relationship, since we actually see them interact for the first time.But this initial dialogue is fascinating, because we see that Daisy's memories of Gatsby are more abstract and clouded, while Gatsby has been so obsessed with her he knows the exact month they parted and has clearly been counting down the days until their reunion. They were sitting at either end of the couch looking at each other as if some question had been asked or was in the air, and every vestige of embarrassment was gone. Daisy's face was smeared with tears and when I came in she jumped up and began wiping at it with her handkerchief before a mirror. But there was a change in Gatsby that was simply confounding. He literally glowed; without a word or a gesture of exultation a new well-being radiated from him and filled the little room. (5.87) After the initially awkward re-introduction, Nick leaves Daisy and Gatsby alone and comes back to find them talking candidly and emotionally. Gatsby has transformed – he is radiant and glowing. In contrast, we don’t see Daisy as radically transformed except for her tears. Although our narrator, Nick, pays much closer attention to Gatsby than Daisy, these different reactions suggest Gatsby is much more intensely invested in the relationship. "They're such beautiful shirts," she sobbed, her voice muffled in the thick folds. "It makes me sad because I've never seen such- such beautiful shirts before." (5.8). Gatsby gets the chance to show off his mansion and enormous wealthy to Daisy, and she breaks down after a very conspicuous display of Gatsby’s wealth, through his many-colored shirts. In Daisy’s tears, you might sense a bit of guilt – that Gatsby attained so much just for her – or perhaps regret, that she might have been able to be with him had she had the strength to walk away from her marriage with Tom. Still, unlike Gatsby, whose motivations are laid bare, it’s hard to know what Daisy is thinking and how invested she is in their relationship, despite how openly emotional she is during this reunion. Perhaps she’s just overcome with emotion due to reliving the emotions of their first encounters. His heart beat faster and faster as Daisy's white face came up to his own. He knew that when he kissed this girl, and forever wed his unutterable visions to her perishable breath, his mind would never romp again like the mind of God. So he waited, listening for a moment longer to the tuning fork that had been struck upon a star. Then he kissed her. At his lips' touch she blossomed for him like a flower and the incarnation was complete. (6.134) In flashback, we hear about Daisy and Gatsby’s first kiss, through Gatsby’s point of view. We see explicitly in this scene that, for Gatsby, Daisy has come to represent all of his larger hopes and dreams about wealth and a better life – she is literally the incarnation of his dreams. There is no analogous passage on Daisy’s behalf, because we actually don’t know that much of Daisy’s inner life, or certainly not much compared to Gatsby. So we see, again, the relationship is very uneven – Gatsby has literally poured his heart and soul into it, while Daisy, though she obviously has love and affection for Gatsby, hasn’t idolized him in the same way. It becomes clear here that Daisy – who is human and fallible – can never live up to Gatsby’s huge projection of her. "Oh, you want too much!" she cried to Gatsby. "I love you now- isn't that enough? I can't help what's past." She began to sob helplessly. "I did love him once- but I loved you too." Gatsby's eyes opened and closed. "You loved me too?" he repeated. (7.264-66) Here we finally get a glimpse at Daisy’s real feelings – she loved Gatsby, but also Tom, and to her those were equal loves. She hasn’t put that initial love with Gatsby on a pedestal the way Gatsby has. Gatsby’s obsession with her appears shockingly one-sided at this point, and it’s clear to the reader she will not leave Tom for him. You can also see why this confession is such a blow to Gatsby: he’s been dreaming about Daisy for years and sees her as his one true love, while she can’t even rank her love for Gatsby above her love for Tom. "Was Daisy driving?" "Yes," he said after a moment, "but of course I'll say I was." (7.397-8) Despite Daisy’s rejection of Gatsby back at the Plaza Hotel, he refuses to believe that it was real and is sure that he can still get her back. His devotion is so intense he doesn’t think twice about covering for her and taking the blame for Myrtle’s death. In fact, his obsession is so strong he barely seems to register that there’s been a death, or to feel any guilt at all. This moment further underscores how much Daisy means to Gatsby, and how comparatively little he means to her. She was the first "nice" girl he had ever known. In various unrevealed capacities he had come in contact with such people but always with indiscernible barbed wire between. He found her excitingly desirable. He went to her house, at first with other officers from Camp Taylor, then alone. It amazed him- he had never been in such a beautiful house before. But what gave it an air of breathless intensity was that Daisy lived there- it was as casual a thing to her as his tent out at camp was to him. There was a ripe mystery about it, a hint of bedrooms upstairs more beautiful and cool than other bedrooms, of gay and radiant activities taking place through its corridors and of romances that were not musty and laid away already in lavender but fresh and breathing and redolent of this year's shining motor cars and of dances whose flowers were scarcely withered. It excited him too that many men had already loved Daisy- it increased her value in his eyes. He felt their presence all about the h ouse, pervading the air with the shades and echoes of still vibrant emotions. (8.10, emphasis added) In Chapter 8, when we get the rest of Gatsby’s backstory, we learn more about what drew him to Daisy – her wealth, and specifically the world that opened up to Gatsby as he got to know her. Interestingly, we also learn that her â€Å"value increased† in Gatsby’s eyes when it became clear that many other men had also loved her. We see then how Daisy got all tied up in Gatsby’s ambitions for a better, wealthier life. You also know, as a reader, that Daisy obviously is human and fallible and can never realistically live up to Gatsby’s inflated images of her and what she represents to him. So in these last pages, before Gatsby’s death as we learn the rest of Gatsby’s story, we sense that his obsessive longing for Daisy was as much about his longing for another, better life, than it was about a single woman. Gatsby and Daisy RelationshipAnalysis Daisy and Gatsby’s relationship is definitely lopsided. There is an uneven degree oflove on both sides (Gatsby seems much more obsessively in love with Daisy than Daisy is with him). We also have difficulty decipheringboth sides of the relationship, since we know far more about Gatsby, his past, and his internal life than about Daisy. Because of this, it’s hard to criticize Daisy for not choosing Gatsby over Tom – as an actual, flesh-and-blood person, she never could have fulfilled Gatsby’s rose-tinted memory of her and all she represents. Furthermore, during her brief introduction into Gatsby’s world in Chapter 6, she seemed pretty unhappy. â€Å"She was appalled by West Egg, this unprecedented "place" that Broadway had begotten upon a Long Island fishing village- appalled by its raw vigor that chafed under the old euphemisms and by the too obtrusive fate that herded its inhabitants along a short cut from nothing to nothing. She saw something awful in the very simplicity she failed to understand† (6.96). So could Daisy have really been happy if she ran off with Gatsby? Unlikely. Many people tie Gatsby’s obsessive pursuit of Daisy to the American Dreamitself – the dream is as alluring as Daisy but as ultimately elusive and even deadly. Their relationship is also a meditation on change – as much as Gatsby wants to repeat the past, he can’t. Daisy has moved on and he can never return to that beautiful, perfect moment when he kissed her for the first time and wedded all her hopes and dreams to her. Gatsby's problem is seeing time as circular rather than linear. Relationship 2: Tom Buchananand Myrtle Wilson In contrast to Gatsby and Daisy’s long history, the novel’s other affair began much more recently: Tom and Myrtle start their relationship a few months before the novel opens. Tom and Myrtle Relationship Description Myrtle sees the affair as romantic and a ticket out of her marriage, while Tom sees it as just another affair, and Myrtle as one of a string of mistresses. The pair has undeniable physical chemistry and attraction to each other, perhaps more than any other pairing in the book. Perhaps due to Myrtle’s tragic and unexpected death, Tom does display some emotional attachment to her, which complicates a reading of him as a purely antagonistic figure – or of their relationship as purely physical. So what drives this affair? What does it reveal about Tom and Myrtle? Let’s find out. Tom and Myrtle RelationshipQuotes "I think it's cute," said Mrs. Wilson enthusiastically. "How much is it?" "That dog?" He looked at it admiringly. "That dog will cost you ten dollars." The airedale- undoubtedly there was an airedale concerned in it somewhere though its feet were startlingly white- changed hands and settled down into Mrs. Wilson's lap, where she fondled the weather-proof coat with rapture. "Is it a boy or a girl?" she asked delicately. "That dog? That dog's a boy." "It's a bitch," said Tom decisively. "Here's your money. Go and buy ten more dogs with it." (2.38-43) This passage is great because it neatly displays Tom and Myrtle’s different attitudes toward the affair. Myrtle thinks that Tom is spoiling her specifically, and that he cares about her more than he really does – after all, he stops to buy her a dog just because she says it’s cute and insists she wants one on a whim. But to Tom, the money isn’t a big deal. He casually throws away the 10 dollars, aware he’s being scammed but notcaring, since he has so much money at his disposal. He also insists that he knows more than the dog seller and Myrtle, showing how he looks down at people below his own class – but Myrtle misses this because she’s infatuated with both the new puppy and Tom himself. Myrtle pulled her chair close to mine, and suddenly her warm breath poured over me the story of her first meeting with Tom. "It was on the two little seats facing each other that are always the last ones left on the train. I was going up to New York to see my sister and spend the night. He had on a dress suit and patent leather shoes and I couldn't keep my eyes off him but every time he looked at me I had to pretend to be looking at the advertisement over his head. When we came into the station he was next to me and his white shirt-front pressed against my arm- and so I told him I'd have to call a policeman, but he knew I lied. I was so excited that when I got into a taxi with him I didn't hardly know I wasn't getting into a subway train. All I kept thinking about, over and over, was 'You can't live forever, you can't live forever.' " (2.9-20) Myrtle, twelve years into a marriage she’s unhappy in, sees her affair with Tom as a romantic escape. She tells the story of how she and Tom met like it’s the beginning of a love story. In reality, it’s pretty creepy – Tom sees a woman he finds attractive on a train and immediately goes and presses up to her like and convinces her to go sleep with him immediately. Not exactly the stuff of classic romance! Combined with the fact Myrtle believes Daisy’s Catholicism (a lie) is what keeps her and Tom apart, you see that despite Myrtle’s pretensions of worldliness, she actually knows very little about Tom or the upper classes, and is a poor judge of character. She is an easy person for Tom to take advantage of. Some time toward midnight Tom Buchanan and Mrs. Wilson stood face to face discussing in impassioned voices whether Mrs. Wilson had any right to mention Daisy's name. "Daisy! Daisy! Daisy!" shouted Mrs. Wilson. "I'll say it whenever I want to! Daisy! Dai- - " Making a short deft movement Tom Buchanan broke her nose with his open hand. (2.124-6) In case the reader was still wondering that perhaps Myrtle’s take on the relationship had some basis in truth, this is a cold hard dose of reality. Tom’s vicioustreatment of Myrtle reminds the reader of his brutality and the fact that, to him, Myrtle is just another affair, and he would never in a million years leave Daisy for her. Despite the violence of this scene, the affair continues. Myrtle is either so desperate to escape her marriage or so self-deluded about what Tom thinks of her (or both) that she stays with Tom after this ugly scene. There is no confusion like the confusion of a simple mind, and as we drove away Tom was feeling the hot whips of panic. His wife and his mistress, until an hour ago secure and inviolate, were slipping precipitately from his control. (7.164) Chapter 2 gives us lots of insight into Myrtle’s character and how she sees her affair with Tom. But other than Tom’s physical attraction to Myrtle, we don’t get as clear of a view of his motivations until later on. In Chapter 7, Tom panics once he finds out George knows about his wife’s affair. We learn here that control is incredibly important to Tom – control of his wife, control of his mistress, and control of society more generally (see his rant in Chapter 1 about the â€Å"Rise of the Colored Empires†). So just as he passionately rants and raves against the â€Å"colored races,† he also gets panicked and angry when he sees that he is losing control both over Myrtle and Daisy. This speaks to Tom’s entitlement – both as a wealthy person, as a man, and as a white person – and shows how his relationship with Myrtle is just another display of power. It has very little to do with his feelings for Myrtle herself. So as the relationship begins to slip from his fingers, he panics – not because he’s scared of losing Myrtle, but because he’s scared of losing a possession. "And if you think I didn't have my share of suffering- look here, when I went to give up that flat and saw that damn box of dog biscuits sitting there on the sideboard I sat down and cried like a baby. By God it was awful- - " (9.145) Despite Tom’s abhorrent behavior throughout the novel, at the very end, Nick leaves us with an image of Tom confessing to crying over Myrtle. This complicates the reader’s desire to see Tom as a straightforward villain. This confession of emotion certainly doesn’t redeem Tom, but it does prevent you from seeing him as a complete monster. Tom and Myrtle RelationshipAnalysis Just as George and Myrtle’s marriage serves as a foil to Tom and Daisy’s, Tom and Myrtle’s affair is a foil for Daisy and Gatsby’s. While Daisy and Gatsby have history, Tom and Myrtle got together recently. And while their relationship seems to be driven by physical attraction, Gatsby is attracted to Daisy’s wealth and status. The tragic end to this affair, as well as Daisy and Gatsby’s, reinforces the idea that class is an enormous, insurmountable barrier, and that when people try to circumvent the barrier by dating across classes, they end up endangering themselves. Tom and Myrtle’s affair also speaks to the unfair advantages that Tom has as a wealthy, white man. Even though for a moment he felt himself losing control over his life, he quickly got it back and was able to hide in his money while Gatsby, Myrtle, and George all ended up dead thanks to their connection to the Buchanans. In short, Tom and Myrtle’s relationship allows Fitzgerald to sharply critique the world of the wealthy, old-money class in 1920s New York. By showing Tom’s affair with a working-class woman, Nick reveals Tom’s ugliest behavior as well as the cruelty of class divisions during the roaring twenties. Tom's subtlety in dealing with Myrtle. Want to get better grades and test scores? We can help. PrepScholar Tutors is the world's best tutoring service. We combine world-class expert tutors with our proprietary teaching techniques. Our students have gotten A's on thousands of classes, perfect 5's on AP tests, and ludicrously high SAT Subject Test scores. Whether you need help with science, math, English, social science, or more, we've got you covered. Get better grades today with PrepScholar Tutors. Relationship 3: Nick Carraway and Jordan Baker We’ve covered the novel’s two married couples – the Buchanans and the Wilsons – as well as the affairs of three out of four of those married parties. But there is one more relationship in the novel, one that is a bit disconnected to the others. I’m talking, of course, about Nick and Jordan. Nick and Jordan Relationship Description Nick and Jordan are the only couple without any prior contact before the novel begins (aside from Nick apparently seeing her photo once in a magazine and hearing about her attempt to cheat). Jordan is a friend of Daisy’s who is staying with her, and Nick meets Jordan when he goes to have dinner with the Buchanans. We can observe their relationship most closely in Chapters 3 and 4, as Nick gets closer to Jordandespite needing to break off his relationship back home first. However, their relationship takes a back seat in the middle and end of the novel as the drama of Daisy’s affair with Gatsby, and Tom’s with Myrtle, plays out. So by the end of the novel, Nick sees Jordan is just as self-centered and immoral as Tom and Daisy, and his earlier infatuation fades to disgust. She, in turn, calls him out for not being as honest and careful as he presents himself as. So what’s the story with Nick and Jordan? Why include their relationship at all? Let’s dig into what sparks the relationship and the insights they give us into the other characters. Nick and Jordan RelationshipQuotes I enjoyed looking at her. She was a slender, small-breasted girl, with an erect carriage which she accentuated by throwing her body backward at the shoulders like a young cadet. Her grey sun-strained eyes looked back at me with polite reciprocal curiosity out of a wan, charming discontented face. It occurred to me now that I had seen her, or a picture of her, somewhere before. (1.57) As Nick eyes Jordan in Chapter 1, we see his immediate physical attraction to her, though it’s not as potent as Tom’s to Myrtle. And similarly to Gatsby’s attraction to Daisy being to her money and voice, Nick is pulled in by Jordan’s posture, her â€Å"wan, charming discontented face† – her attitude and status are more alluring than her looks alone. So Nick’s attraction to Jordan gives us a bit of insight both in how Tom sees Myrtle and how Gatsby sees Daisy. "Good night, Mr. Carraway. See you anon." "Of course you will," confirmed Daisy. "In fact I think I'll arrange a marriage. Come over often, Nick, and I'll sort of- oh- fling you together. You know- lock you up accidentally in linen closets and push you out to sea in a boat, and all that sort of thing- - " (1.131-2) Throughout the novel, we see Nick avoiding getting caught up in relationships – the woman he mentions back home, the woman he dates briefly in his office, Myrtle’s sister – though he doesn’t protest to being â€Å"flung together† with Jordan. Perhaps this is because Jordan would be a step up for Nick in terms of money and class, which speaks to Nick’s ambition and class-consciousness, despite the way he paints himself as an everyman. Furthermore, unlike these other women, Jordan isn’t clingy – she lets Nick come to her. Nick sees attracted to how detached and cool she is. "You're a rotten driver," I protested. "Either you ought to be more careful or you oughtn't to drive at all." "I am careful." "No, you're not." "Well, other people are," she said lightly. "What's that got to do with it?" "They'll keep out of my way," she insisted. "It takes two to make an accident." "Suppose you met somebody just as careless as yourself." "I hope I never will," she answered. "I hate careless people. That's why I like you." Her grey, sun-strained eyes stared straight ahead, but she had deliberately shifted our relations, and for a moment I thought I loved her. (3.162-70) Here, Nick is attracted to Jordan’s blasà © attitude and her confidence that others will avoid her careless behavior – an attitude she can afford because of her money. In other words, Nick seems fascinated by the world of the super-wealthy and the privilege it grants its members. So just as Gatsby falls in love with Daisy and her wealthy status, Nick also seems attracted to Jordan for similar reasons. However, this conversation not only foreshadows the tragic car accident later in the novel, but it also hints at what Nick will come to find repulsive about Jordan: her callous disregard for everyone but herself. It was dark now, and as we dipped under a little bridge I put my arm around Jordan's golden shoulder and drew her toward me and asked her to dinner. Suddenly I wasn't thinking of Daisy and Gatsby any more but of this clean, hard, limited person who dealt in universal skepticism and who leaned back jauntily just within the circle of my arm. A phrase began to beat in my ears with a sort of heady excitement: "There are only the pursued, the pursuing, the busy and the tired." (4.164) Nick, again with Jordan, seems exhilarated to be with someone who is a step above him in terms of social class, exhilarated to be a â€Å"pursuing† person, rather than just busy or tired. Seeing the usually level-headed Nick this enthralled gives us some insight into Gatsby’s infatuation with Daisy, and also allows us to glimpse Nick-the-person, rather than Nick-the-narrator. And again, we get a sense of what attracts him to Jordan – her clean, hard, limited self, her skepticism, and jaunty attitude. It’s interesting to see these qualities become repulsive to Nick just a few chapters later. Just before noon the phone woke me and I started up with sweat breaking out on my forehead. It was Jordan Baker; she often called me up at this hour because the uncertainty of her own movements between hotels and clubs and private houses made her hard to find in any other way. Usually her voice came over the wire as something fresh and cool as if a divot from a green golf links had come sailing in at the office window but this morning it seemed harsh and dry. "I've left Daisy's house," she said. "I'm at Hempstead and I'm going down to Southampton this afternoon." Probably it had been tactful to leave Daisy's house, but the act annoyed me and her next remark made me rigid. "You weren't so nice to me last night." "How could it have mattered then?" (8.49-53) Later in the novel, after Myrtle’s tragic death, Jordan’s casual, devil-may-care attitude is no longer cute – in fact, Nick finds it disgusting. How can Jordan care so little about the fact that someone died, and instead be most concerned with Nick acting cold and distant right after the accident? In this brief phone conversation, we thus see Nick’s infatuation with Jordan ending, replaced with the realization that Jordan’s casual attitude is indicative of everything Nick hates about the rich, old money group. So by extension, Nick’s relationship with Jordan represents how his feelings about the wealthy have evolved – at first he was drawn in by their cool, detached attitudes, but eventually found himself repulsed by their carelessness and cruelty. She was dressed to play golf and I remember thinking she looked like a good illustration, her chin raised a little, jauntily, her hair the color of an autumn leaf, her face the same brown tint as the fingerless glove on her knee. When I had finished she told me without comment that she was engaged to another man. I doubted that though there were several she could have married at a nod of her head but I pretended to be surprised. For just a minute I wondered if I wasn't making a mistake, then I thought it all over again quickly and got up to say goodbye. "Nevertheless you did throw me over," said Jordan suddenly. "You threw me over on the telephone. I don't give a damn about you now but it was a new experience for me and I felt a little dizzy for a while." We shook hands. "Oh, and do you remember- " she added, "- - a conversation we had once about driving a car?" "Why- not exactly." "You said a bad driver was only safe until she met another bad driver? Well, I met another bad driver, didn't I? I mean it was careless of me to make such a wrong guess. I thought you were rather an honest, straightforward person. I thought it was your secret pride." "I'm thirty," I said. "I'm five years too old to lie to myself and call it honor." (9.129-135) In their official break-up, Jordan calls out Nick for claiming to be honest and straightforward but in fact being prone to lying himself. So even as Nick is disappointed in Jordan’s behavior, Jordan is disappointed to find just another â€Å"bad driver† in Nick, and both seem to mutually agree they would never work as a couple. It’s interesting to see Nick called out for dishonest behavior for once. For all of his judging of others, he’s clearly not a paragon of virtue, and Jordan clearly recognizes that. This break-up is also interesting because it’s the only time we see a relationship end because the two members choose to walk away from each other – all the other failed relationships (Daisy/Gatsby, Tom/Myrtle, Myrtle/George) ended because one or both members died. So perhaps there is a safe way out of a bad relationship in Gatsby – to walk away early, even if it’s difficult and you’re still â€Å"half in love† with the other person (9.136). If only Gatsby could have realized the same thing. Nick and Jordan RelationshipAnalysis Nick and Jordan’s relationship is interesting, because it’s the only straightforward dating we see in the novel (it’s neithera marriage nor an illicit affair), and it doesn’t serve as an obvious foil to the other relationships. But it does echo Daisy and Gatsby’s relationship, in that a poorer man desires a richer girl, and for that reason gives us additional insight into Gatsby’s love for Daisy. But it also quietly echoes Tom’s relationship with Myrtle, since we Nick seems physically drawn to Jordan as well. The relationship also is one of the ways we get insight into Nick. For instance, he only really admits to his situation with the woman back at home when he’s talking about being attracted to Jordan. â€Å"I'd been writing letters once a week and signing them: "Love, Nick," and all I could think of was how, when that certain girl played tennis, a faint mustache of perspiration appeared on her upper lip. Nevertheless there was a vague understanding that had to be tactfully broken off before I was free† (3.170). Through Jordan, we actually see Nick experience exhilaration and love and attraction. Finally, through his relationship with Jordan, we can easily see Nick’s evolving attitude toward the wealthy elite. While he allows himself to be charmed at first by this fast-moving, wealthy, and careless world, he eventually becomes disgusted by the utter lack of morality or compassion for others. It's shocking that calmly saying goodbye is a rarity in this world. More often? Breakup by violent death. Discussion and Essay Topics on Love inThe Great Gatsby These are a few typical essay topics surrounding issues of love, desire, and relationships you should be prepared to write about. Some of them give you the opportunity to zoom in on just one couple, while others have you analyze the relationships in the book more generally. As always, it will be important to close-read, find key lines to use as evidence, and argue your point with a clearly-organized essay. (You can read more of our essay writing tips in our Character Analysis article.) So let’s take a look at a few common love and relationships prompts to see this analysis in action! Is there any couple in The Great Gatsby that has true love? For any essay topic that asks if characters in a book represent some kind of virtue (whether that’s true love, honesty, morality, or anything else), you should start by coming up with a definition of the value. For example, in this case, you should give a definition of â€Å"true love,† since how you define true love will affect who you choose and how you make your argument. For example, if you argue that true love comes down to stability, you could potentially argue Tom and Daisy have true love, since they actually remain together, unlike any of the other couples. But if you argue true love is based on strong emotion, you might say Gatsby’s love for Daisy is the truest. So however you define true love, make sure to clearly state that definition, since it will shape your argument! Remember it’s also possible in a prompt like this to argue that no one in the book has true love. You would still start by defining true love, but then you would explain why each of the major couples does not have real love, and perhaps briefly explain what element each couple is missing. Is The Great Gatsby a love story or a satire? Some essays have you zoom way out and consider what The Great Gatsby’s overall genre (or type) is. The most common argument is that, while Gatsby is a tragic love story on the surface (the love of Gatsby and Daisy), it’s really more of a satire of wealthy New York society, or a broader critique of the American Dream. This is because the themes of money, society and class, and the American Dreamare pretty constant, while the relationships are more of a vehicle to examine those themes. To argue which genre Gatsby is (whether you say â€Å"it’s more of a love story† or â€Å"it’s more of a satire†), define your chosen genre and explain why Gatsby fits the definition. Make sure to include some evidence from the novel’s final chapter, no matter what you argue. Endings are important, so make sure you link Gatsby’s ending to the genre you believe it is. For example, if you’re arguing â€Å"Gatsby is a love story,† you could emphasize the more hopeful, optimistic parts of Nick’s final lines. But if you argue â€Å"Gatsby is satire,† you would look at the sad, harsh details of the final chapter – Gatsby’s sparsely-attended funeral, the crude word scrawled against his back steps, etc. Also, be sure to check out our post on the novel's ending for more analysis. Is what Gatsby feels for Daisy love, obsession, affection, or accumulation/objectification? What is Fitzgerald’s message here? A really common essay topic/topic of discussion is the question of Gatsby’s love for Daisy (and sometimes, Daisy’s love for Gatsby): is it real, is it a symbol for something else, and what does it reveal about both Daisy and Gatsby’s characters? As we discussed above, Gatsby’s love for Daisy is definitely more intense than Daisy’s love for Gatsby, and furthermore, Gatsby’s love for Daisy seems tied up in an obsession with her wealth and the status she represents. From there, it’s up to you how you argue how you see Gatsby’s love for Daisy – whether it’s primarily an obsession with wealth, whether Daisy is just an object to be collected, or whether you think Gatsby actually loves Daisy the person, not just Daisy the golden girl. Analyze the nature of male-female relationships in the novel. This is a zoomed-out prompt that wants you to talk about the nature of relationships in general in the novel. Still, even though we have clearly identified the five major relationships, it might be complicated for you to try and talk about every single one in depth in just one essay. Instead, it will be more manageable for you to use evidence from two to three of the couples to make your point. You could explore how the relationships expose that America is in fact a classist society. After all,the only relationship that lasts (Tom and Daisy’s) lasts because of the security of being in the same class, while the others fail either due to cross-class dating or one member (Myrtle) desperately trying to break out of her given class. You could also talk about how the power dynamics within the relationships vary wildly, but only the couple that seems to have a stable relationship is also described as â€Å"conspiratorial† and often as a â€Å"they† – that is, Tom and Daisy Buchanan. So perhaps Fitzgerald does envision a sort of lasting partnership being possible, if certain conditions (like both members being happy with the amount of money in the marriage) are met. This prompt and ones like it give you a lot of freedom, but make sure not to bite off more than you chew! What’s Next? Wondering how else you can pair these characters in an essay? Check out our article on comparing and contrasting the most common character pairings in The Great Gatsby. Why is money so crucial in the world of the novel? Read more about money and materialism in Gatsbyto find out. Need to get the events of the book straight? Check out our chapter summaries to get a handle on the various parties, liaisons, flashbacks, and deaths. Get started with our book summary here! Want to improve your SAT score by 160 points or your ACT score by 4 points?We've written a guide for each test about the top 5 strategies you must be using to have a shot at improving your score. Download it for free now:

Econ Excel hw Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Econ Excel hw - Assignment Example he cross price elasticity measured the degree of responsiveness of demand of a give commodity due to the change of price in substitute or complementary goods. In this case, ey,z = → where (ÃŽ ´u/ÃŽ ´pz) x ÃŽ ´y/ÃŽ ´u but u=Y, →. ey,z = [PZ-1.4/( PY-1.9PZ-1.4m1.2)] x [-1.4PZ-2.4( PY-1.9PZ-1.4m1.2)] → PZ-1.4 x -1.4Pz-2.4 therefore ey,z = -1.4Pz-3.8. On the other side income elasticity of demand is normally used to elucidate how the buyers’ income swings the demand factor for commodities; the equation will be differentiated in respect m therefore em= but u = Y → em = 1.2m1.4 (PY-1.9PZ-1.4) The product Y and Z are complementary goods; actually, positive cross price elasticity designates that two commodities are substitutes since the price of one commodity and demand of the other commodity positively vary. In the proviso that whenever the price of good â€Å"Y† upsurges, quantity of good â€Å"Z† also increases. On the other side a negative price elasticity of demand happens for complementary goods which do happen in the reverse direction. In this case inverse relationship between price and quantity demanded exist in the equation identified ey,z = -1.4Pz-3.8. Form a typical look on the demand function; Y = PY-1.9PZ-1.4m1.2 of product Y, it is clearly identified as a non- linear demand or curvilinear which changes all along the curve. It yields a demand curve instead of a demand line. Generally, it takes a form of power functions which graphically a rectangular hyperbola in shape. The powers of the price variable in a non-linear function indicate the coefficient of price elasticity of demand, which is normally constant. And the equation shows that consumers expenditure â€Å"Y† will increase with the price py-1.9 if its demand is relatively inelastic. This indicates that the income elasticity of product â€Å"Y†Ã¢â‚¬â„¢s demand is positive. This consequently, shows an increase in consumer’s income leads s /he to purchase more of good â€Å"Y†. In this respect good

Surgical Sites Infection Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Surgical Sites Infection - Research Paper Example Surgical infections were a very common eventuality from the early 19th Century. Evidently, the sheer magnitude of the risk imposed by SSIs to both the medical practitioners and, in particular, patients cannot be overlooked. Its impact on the healthcare system is truly innate-costs, mortality, and morbidity. In the year 1992, the Center for Disease Control (CDC) renamed all infections related to operation procedures from surgical wound infections to surgical site infections for a wider coverage and more accurate representation of related infections. The close relationship between healthcare practice, mortality, morbidity, and the cost element associated with the aforementioned shall constitute the crux of the case for greater innovation for effective SSIs management. It is possible that majority of SSIs are preventable. To this end several bodies are tasked with the responsibilities of policy formulation (guidelines and recommendations) that are aimed towards largely preventing and co ntrolling surgical site infections by all healthcare professionals. Although there has been much improvements in surgical site infections prevention, hospital acquired infections continue to increase globally (Alvarado, 2000). Most contamination by SSIs occurs through contamination of the incision by microorganisms from the body of the patient during surgery. Consequently it is prudent that in light of this mechanism of infection that substantial reduction of SSI infections can be undertaken in essentially one of three stages: Pre-operation phase, intra-operation phase, and post-operation phase. In the pre-operation phase, I observe how surgical practices influence patient-infection right before undergoing the surgical procedure itself. The larger working area in surgical operations is the skin. Various types of bacteria inhabit the skin with up to 50% being staphylococcus. The primary source of wound infection during surgical operation has been found to be the skin. Evidence from a research done on the effects of body disinfection on intra-operation wound infection shows that by washing the skin where the incision is to be made with a pre-operation wash having chlorhexidine reduces the bacteria add up on the skin by eighty to ninety percent, and as such a reduction in the wound infection (Bryne, Cuschieri, Napier, & Phillips, 2003). A ten year research on 62,939 wounds determine whether or not the removal of hair from the skin to be operated on (shaving) and its timing could be contributive to surgical site infections. It was established that infection risk amplifies with the increase in duration of the time spent between shaving and conduction of the actual operation. Surgical sites that were shaved two hours before surgery were found to have a clean wound infection rate of 2.3% (Cruse & Foord, 2000).Where the body hair was clipped instead of being shaven recorded a clean wound infection rate of 1.7%. Where the body hair was neither shaved nor clipped, the w ound infection rate was seen to drop to a mere 0.9%.The study concluded that where shaving is essential before surgery, then it should be done as closest to the commencement of the surgery as possible. Perhaps the most successful method of combating surgical site infections was seen through the pioneering use of antiseptic surgery by Ignaz

Need for collaborative projects in business courses Essay Example for Free

Need for collaborative projects in business courses Essay Group projects are integral to the business curriculum and can be useful in developing students skills and abilities as managers. However, faculty encounter several problems with group projects, including assessing students efforts, aiding good communication and coordination among members, and making sure the project is a truly collaborative effort. Technology may aid in addressing these problems; electronic discussion boards and chat rooms, for example, can help faculty and students enhance collaboration and increase the accountability of group members. Keywords: Discussion boards, chat rooms, collaborative learning, student projects INCREASED GLOBAL COMPETITION and other changes in the business environment over the last several years have led organizations to restructure themselves. One aspect of that restructuring is a shifting of responsibility and decision making downward and a movement toward self-directed work teams (Cohen, 1993). To prepare students to thrive in this environment, we obviously need to teach them effective teamwork and communication skills. This article describes two tools that can help accomplish this task, the electronic discussion board and the chat room. These can foster interdependence in group projects and deeper, active learning. First, we discuss the need for and benefits of collaborative projects, the problems of group work, and the role of technology in such projects. We then provide recommendations for incorporating these electronic tools in business communication classes. Need for Collaborative Projects in Business Courses. As many researchers have noted, the structural shift towards teams occurring in many organizations should be reflected in the classroom (Bobbitt, Inks, Kemp, Mayo, 2000). Using groups in class thus prepares students to work collaboratively in the business environment while promoting collaborative learning in the classroom itself. The first benefit of group work in the classroom is that it teaches students how to work collaboratively in the business environment. Business organizations repeatedly indicate that the increased use of teams in the real world has increased students need for exposure and experience with teams (Buckenmyer, 2000). Companies that use teams creatively spend many hours and dollars training individuals to work in teams and training managers to manage teams. Through working in groups, students can enhance their abilities in setting goals, delegating work, and dealing with conflict (Colbeck, Campbell, Bjorklund, 2000). They can also improve their communication, leadership, problem solving, and technical skills. All of these skills are highly rated by recruiters and employers and will help graduates meet the demands and rigors of the workplace (McNally, 1994). The second benefit of group work is that these projects promote collaborative learning. University educators have embraced cooperative learning methods as ways to engage students and to foster cooperation (Ravenscroft, 1997). Researchers have found that the values of Generation X are highly individualistic, visually-oriented, and aligned with information technology, not with the sharing of information (Buckenmyer, 2000). Thus, group course projects, with proper guidance, can help these students learn to deal effectively with others. Group work learning can be an excellent way of encouraging the development of higher cognitive skills in students (Thorley Gregory, 1994) and can be effective even for relatively quiet group members. When groups work well, students consistently fare better in class, on tests, and in attitudes towards the instructor and each other (Jones Brickner, 1996). The quality of learning is improved by peer support, with students gaining experience in communication, negotiation, organization, and task management. Cooperative methods have been recognized as effective ways to motivate students to become actively involved in learning. The collaborative group project creates a forum that allows students to take an active approach towards their own education. The security of working within a group provides an excellent entree into the progression to independent and autonomous learning (Maguire Edmondson, 2001). Problems with Group Projects The many benefits of collaborative projects, however, are often offset by problems. First, a common problem is the failure of the group to work together effectively. Students may exert an individual effort but are unable to coordinate their efforts effectively with their group members to achieve any kind of synergistic benefits (Tullar, Kaiser, Balthazard, 1998). Group members need to be contributing their ideas, questioning and learning from each other, and building on the efforts of the other members. For collaborative learning to occur, students must coordinate the diverse skills and abilities of their group members to address a complex task (Tullar et al. , 1998). A second problem is that often group members simply divide a project so that each individual writes a portion. Then, just before the project is due, the students bring in their disks and combine files without coordinating their efforts or talents effectively. Third, group work often leads to unequal contributions of members, resulting in hitchhikers and workhorses (Cottell Millis, 1993). These hitchhikers, also called free riders and social loafers, can cause problems in the workflow of the group, as they do not do their fair share. Members of the group have difficulty addressing the free-rider problem and documenting the problem and their efforts to solve it (Gremler, Hoffman, Keaveney, Wright, 2000). The issue becomes one students word against anothers as the teacher tries to determine fair individual grades. Finally, group projects are often assigned without the allocation of class time for groups to develop cooperative skills or to become cohesive (Michaelsen, 1992). There is limited time in class to discuss both the needed topics and the mechanics of group management. In many cases, groups meet on evenings and weekends when faculty members are not available for assistance. Additionally, many group members are geographically and temporally dispersed, which makes organizing face-to-face group meetings difficult. The Role of Technology in Enhancing Collaborative Learning Active and cooperative learning approaches will be counterproductive unless they are thoughtfully implemented and well supported. Communication tools like discussion boards and chat rooms can be effective in inter-team collaboration as well as in faculty-student communication. These tools can help ease the problems discussed in the previous section. By solving these problems with technology, faculty can address three learning goals: empowering students, improving their communication skills, and developing their ability to work collaboratively. Finally, these technological communication tools offer teaching opportunities by allowing faculty to be more accessible to students and to track students efforts better. Addressing Group Project Problems Internet-based tools can be a tremendous help in coordinating team efforts, particularly when the team is geographically (whether by a few miles or a few thousand miles) or temporally dispersed (Kaiser, Tullar, McKowen, 2000). With technology, groups can meet either synchronously, using chat rooms, or asynchronously, using threaded discussion boards, in which group members contribute to the group discussion at times convenient to their schedules over a defined time period. These tools enable everyone in the group to talk at the same time or at their convenience by typing their comments into the forum that instantly distributes their comments. Additionally, strong personalities have greater difficulty dominating the group as everyone has equal access to the floor. Students may feel more comfortable presenting ideas this way than in a face-to-face meeting, and the quality and professionalism of their ideas may be higher, knowing that their participation is being monitored. The discussion forum also gives all students ample time for reflection so students responses are often more thoughtful than those in face-to-face situations. Studies have illustrated this level of increased and more evenly distributed participation from students in computer-supported groups (Tullar et al. , 1998). Addressing Learning Goals Projects provide opportunities for experiential learning, that is, students apply what they have learned to real-world situations and thus develop decision-making skills. But in doing so, projects often produce anxiety as students struggle to determine what answer the instructor wants. However, with these projects, whether it be a case, a report of a business issue, or a business plan, faculty are typically not searching for one right answer, but rather are concerned with the process that students use in solving problems. Teaching students to ask the right questions is thought to be more important than giving students the right answers. In the real world, there is neither one right answer nor is there a sage on a stage that can direct students to the right answer. Students need to learn how to find and to support the answers for themselves. The use of electronic discussion boards and chat rooms can aid student learning in the struggle through the project process. Thus, three learning goals can be addressed through the use of electronic discussion boards and chat rooms with experiential group projects: (1) empowering students to become active participants in their learning, (2) increasing students communication skills in describing and solving problems, and (3) enhancing students abilities to collaborate and work with others in developing their own resources in solving problems. To achieve these goals, education must involve interactivity among instructors, students, and the materials, and electronic discussion boards and chat rooms can enrich that interactivity. Providing Additional Teaching Opportunities Another advantage of these tools is the opportunity for faculty to participate in the discussions and e-mails. Faculty can use these tools to demonstrate concern for students and to provide additional accessibility and feedback. In fact, the transactional distance encourages faculty to maintain a facilitative role rather than an authoritative role (Moore, 1993). Finally, these tools make it easier for faculty and students to keep track of what everyone has said as there is a written record (Kaiser et al. , 2000). Students have the opportunity to reorganize and reshape their understanding of course content. The Web-based tools allow thoughts to be captured for future examination, elaboration, and extension. The end result is usually more robust and thoughtful discussions. In fact, threaded discussions can extend the time that both instructors and students invest in the course (Bruce Hwang, 2001). Recommendations for Using These Tools Many universities are starting to use various computer course tools or platforms to promote online learning. These platforms, such as BlackBoard or WebCT, can be used to design either Web-based or Web-assisted courses. For several years, we have used discussion groups and chat rooms in Web-based classes but have also found that communication can be enhanced in traditional classes through use of these tools. Since more business organizations are using electronic tools, such as Lotus Notes, to facilitate group meetings, using them in the classroom helps students further prepare for their careers. However, the wise faculty member will be advised that these tools should be used judiciously. Therefore, based on our experience, the following suggestions are made to faculty who are considering the use of Web-based tools. Discussion Boards Instructors and students can compose and post messages electronically on electronic discussion boards. Both public and private discussion forums can be implemented. With many computing platforms, such as WebCT, faculty can set up public forums to start threaded discussions for the class to which the students can respond electronically. Students can use these public forums to post questions to which the entire class can respond, such as for help in finding information for the project. A project normally seems easier when the instructor is discussing it in class and few questions arise. However, students questions occasionally occur after class or on weekends. The discussion board allows the opportunity for students to post problems asynchronously and to receive input from the class. The burden is no longer on the instructor to solve every problem as it occurs but is on the students to work with each other as well as with the instructor in solving problems. This is a tremendous lesson for students to learn to deal with problem solving in the real world. When an employer gives an employee a project or task to do, he/she expects the employee to do it on his/her own and not ask for assistance from the employer every step of the way. Students have to learn to be problem solvers on their own, and the use of electronic discussion boards helps develop that skill. The professors role is to help get the conversation started. For example, the instructor can post a question on the public project discussion board asking at which sites people are having success finding information for the project. The students can then respond. Those students who respond in a useful manner will be rewarded, such as with a participation grade. Those students or groups who do not respond can be asked on the discussion board for their input. When students see the progress other students are making, they may be spurred to work harder. Additionally, the faculty need to check the discussion board frequently to see if any misinformation is being spread, to ensure netiquette is being practiced, and to restart the conversation as needed. Finally, faculty can take questions that the students ask individually and request that the students post them on the discussion board. In that way the instructor only has to respond once, and similar inquiries can then be referred to that response. This will eve ntually build a culture in the class where the instructor is not seen as the sole source for information, and the students learn to work with each other in solving problems. Additionally, instructors can create private forums to be used to divide students into groups for class exercises or for the use of asynchronous coordination of group projects in which group members cannot all meet at the same time. The instructor can visit these public and private forums to track group progress, to encourage students to help each other to solve problems, and to provide assistance as needed after the students have tried first on their own. In the private group forums, the students are encouraged to use the board to organize group meetings, to post their research findings, and to post drafts of their work for their group members to see and make comments. The professor can encourage individual group members to post their contributions to the paper to the private forum for the other members to see and post suggestions. This would increase group collaboration in a manner that can be documented. After the group has collaborated on a draft of the project, the instructor can offer suggestions. Finally, instructors should consider requiring the groups to post progress reports on their efforts periodically during the term. These progress reports describe what the group has accomplished, what the groups plans are, if there are any problems, and if there are, how they are being addressed. The instructor should provide guidelines as to what the groups should have accomplished by the progress report dates so the students can determine if they are on track. While these reports could be submitted on paper, doing it through the discussion board makes it easier for group members to be aware of what has been submitted. Chat Rooms. With chat rooms, students can meet electronically at the same time no matter where they are, as long as they have Internet access. Each group can have its own chat room, with the instructor joining in from home or office in one of several ways. The group can meet first and then have a designated time when the instructor logs in to answer questions. The instructor can leave when the questions are answered or give the group time to discuss among themselves and then check back later. For project work, it is important that instructors periodically meet with student groups to answer questions, address problems, and provide guidance. The chat room may be a useful tool in meeting with students out of class. The students can meet with the instructor for a practice chat to get the students comfortable with the technology. The instructor can request that the groups meet with him/her several times during the term to discuss their progress. These meetings can be either in the office during office hours or during designated chat office hours, such as on Sunday nights when the instructor is at home. With traditional classes, groups should have the option to meet in person with the professor, particularly early on in the project. For those students who cannot come during office hours, the chat room provides an excellent way to interact, although instructors may want to set clear boundaries or specific hours for when they are willing to meet in the chat room. When the instructor is meeting with groups via chat, patience is needed. It can be confusing when everyone is typing in questions. While the instructor prepares an answer to one question, several more students questions can appear. The instructor needs to make it clear that he/she will discuss questions in the order in which they appear. On the other hand, there may be times when the chat room is silent while the students are preparing their questions. The instructor may want to prompt to see if there are any other questions but should give the students some time if needed. Finally, no one should log off until everyone has finished. Someone may be in the middle of preparing something to post and the silence is seen as the end of the session, or someone may have left the room for a minute and has come back to find an empty chat room. Therefore, a practice chat session may be helpful with these issues. Grading Student Use of Discussion Boards and Chat Rooms Grading student responses in both the discussion forum and chat room can present challenges. Many times there may be a group grade for a project that is then adjusted for the individual students grade base on his/her contribution to the groups project. Additionally, students may be individually graded for their participation in the course. Some students will initially shy away from using the discussion board, as they would prefer to do things the way they always have and do not want to learn a new technology. Other students, particularly those who are too shy to speak up in class, may welcome this new opportunity. It is up to the instructor to provide the incentive to become involved. While a positive attitude may help the instructor in encouraging students, making posts part of their grade, such as a portion of their participation grade, probably ensures the best results. Instructor can grade the posting on several issues: clarity of thought/grammer, quality of comments/critical thinking, and usefulness/participation in responding to other posts. In evaluating the group projects to determine individual grades, instructors often have students submit group evaluations. The information on these evaluations can be substantiated or compared to what has occurred on the groups private discussion forum and what has been documented in the progress posts. If a group member is not contribution, it is the responsibility of the group to communicate this the instructor and to attempt to deal with the problem before the final project is submitted. The use of the discussion board and chat room can be a tremendous help in tracking a groups activities. This puts more responsibility on the students to document and address the issues before it is too late. It also aids instructors in making fairer assessments of individual efforts. To better manage the communication tools, instructors should set up clear guidelines for grading, such as describing how many new posts and response posts are required per week, as well as how often the students are expected to check the discussion board. For example, the professor may want each group to submit a bi-weekly progress report on its project. The instructor may also want to review netiquette as well as set limits as to how many posts students can make on public forums to avoid overwhelming the discussion board. The instructor needs to stress that it is the quality of the posts and not the quantity that counts and provide students with feedback to encourage its proper use. Finally, the instructor can also utilize student management tools that are included in the computing platforms like WebCT to determine when and how many posts the students are making. Additionally, search commands can be used to find all the posts one student has made in order to track an individual students progress. Conclusion Teamwork and group meetings are entrenched elements of an increasingly global environment. As a result, business faculty must prepare their students, as future managers, to collaborate with groups effectively. Electronic meeting tools, such as discussion boards and chat rooms, can play a key role in that training. These tools can enhance and empower student learning and collaboration as well as increase communication and problem solving skills. By collaborating more effectively in school, students will be better prepared to collaborate effectively in the workplace (Kaiser et al. , 2000). These tools also offer additional teaching benefits. They are very useful in documenting student effort and accountability for fair contribution. They also provide a means for faculty to be conveniently accessible and to provide feedback outside of class time. Additionally, electronic tools help students learn to develop their own resources. These tools then can be a tremendous aid for faculty to address group project problems, to help their students achieve learning goals, and to provide additional teaching opportunities to interact with their students. Thus, by using electronic discussion boards and chat rooms, such as with group projects, faculty can effectively enhance their students collaborative learning. References Bobbitt, L. M. , Inks, S. A. , Kemp, K. J. , Mayo, D. T. (2000). Integrating marketing courses to enhance team-based experiential learning. Journal of Marketing Education, 22(1), 15-24. Bruce, S. M. , Hwang, T. T. (2001). Web-based teacher preparation in visual impairment: Course development, teaching, learning and quality assurance. Journal of Visual Impairment Blindness, 95(10), 609-622. Buckenmyer, J. A. (2000). Using teams for class activities: Making course/classroom teams work. Journal of Education for Business, 76(2), 98-107. Cohen, G. (1993). New approaches to teams and teamwork. In J. R. Galbraith E. E. Lawler, III (Eds. ). Organizing for the future (pp. 194-226). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. Colbeck, C. L. , Campbell, S. E. , Bjorklund, S. A. (2000, January/February). Grouping in the dark: What college students learn from group projects. The Journal of Higher Education, 71(1), 60-83. Cottell, P. G. Millis, B. (1993, Spring). Cooperative learning structures in the instruction of accounting. Issues in Accounting Education, 8, 40-59. Gremler, D. D. , Hoffman, K. D. , Keaveney, S. M. , Wright, L. K. (2000). Experiential learning exercises in services marketing courses. Journal of Marketing Education, 22(1), 35-44. Jones, J. D. , Brickner, D. (1996). Implementation of cooperative learning in a large-enrollment basic mechanics class. ASEE Annual Conference Proceedings [CD-Rom]. Kaiser, P. R. , Tuller, W. L, McKowen, D. (2000). Student team projects by Internet. Business Communication Quarterly, 63(4), 75-82. Maguire, S. , Edmondson, S. (2001). Student evaluation and assessment of group projects. Journal of Geography in Higher Education, 25(2), 209-217. McNally, J. (1994). Working in groups and teams. In L. Thorley R. Gregory (Eds. ). Using group-based learning in higher education (pp. 113-120). London: Kogan Page. Michaelsen, L. K. (1992). Team learning: A comprehensive approach for harnessing the power of small groups in higher education. To Improve the Academy, 11, 107-122. Moore, M. (1993). Theory of transactional distance. In D. Keegan (Ed. ). Theoretical principles of distance education (pp. 22-38). New York: Rutledge. Ravenscroft, S. P. (1997). In support of cooperative learning. Issues in Accounting Education, 12(1), 187-190. Reeves, T. (1996). Relevant readings. Technology in teacher education: From electronic tutor to cognitive tool. Action in Teacher Education, 27(4), 74-78. Thorley, L. , Gregory, R. (Eds. ) (1994). Using Group-based Learning in Higher Education. London: Kogan Page. Tullar, W. L. , Kaiser, P. R. , Balthazard, P. A. (1998). Group work and electronic meeting systems: From boardroom to classroom. Business Communication Quarterly, 61(4), 53-65. Address correspondence to Jacqueline K. Eastman, Department of Marketing/Economics, College of Business Administration, Valdosta State University, Valdosta GA 31698 (e-mail: [emailprotected] edu).