Thursday, September 3, 2020

Difficulties of Codifying Commercial Law

Question: Examine about the Difficulties of Codifying Commercial Law. Answer: Presentation: Sir Royston Miles Roy Goode was conceived in 1933, and rehearsed as business legal advisor in the United Kingdom. In 1972, he got the honor for OBE and in 1994 for CBE. Afterward, in 2000 he knighted for offering types of assistance to scholastic law. Community for Commercial Law Studies was established by Roy Goode at Queen Mary, University of London[1]. In this paper, we will talk about the announcement made by Roy Goode that is the situation for a business code as unanswerable, and furthermore express the supposition on this announcement. In this way the paper is closing with the concise end. Codification of business law: Precisely when procedure of codification of law was begun in England was not sure, and it was expected that this procedure was begun when this bit of enactment was established in the Canute of Denmark (1017-1035). Afterward, in eighteenth Century others started the procedure of codification of law and this methodology was created by utilitarian scholar Jeremy Bentham. In 1873, Joseph Dixon said by tending to the Glasgow Juridical Society in his entitled The Codification of the Law: Interest for codification of law was started with the methodology of Bentham, and this interest was proceeded and leaves impacts on the psyche of individuals on account of which they request the plan identified with codification of law[2]. In 1961, Rupert Cross said that he can only with significant effort accept that codification of English law won't become an issue in next fifty years. The presumption made by Rupert Cross was correct and Law Commission presented a law which expressed that it was the obligation of the Law Commission to audit the instituted law with a view to deliberate advancement of law and this survey likewise lead to codification of ordered law[3][4]. Need of codification of law: Need to classify the law is the issue which have broadened answers. Codification of law settle numerous things, for example, it rearranged the importance of law, and makes the law increasingly available and furthermore progressively ascertainable. While systematizing the law, all the standards and standards of law are gathered at one spot, and this methodology of codification of law helps in distinguishing the shortcoming in the existed law. It likewise assists with empowering the law to be increasingly modernized by embracing the regulation to practice and expel the ambiguities and irregularities which are raised in light of the fact that resolutions are drafted by various number of individuals at various occasions, and these drafted rules are not quite the same as the other statutes[5]. Codification of business law-business law directs the business exchanges and business exchanges, and this law can be considered as part of common law. Business law manages both private law just as open law, and it incorporates number of titles, for example, head and operator, carriage via land and ocean, dealer delivery, and association and so on there are number of nations which received the common codes that contain complete explanation identified with their business law. The principle motivation behind business law is to distinguish the courses through which business men can work together as such in which they need to do it. The idea of business law was created from most recent couple of years and there are number of difficulties for the business contract law which are recognized in 21st century. There are number of advantages of codification of business law which are characterized beneath: Business and business exchanges were directed all the more productively. Lawful standards which are made to satisfy business goals can be see without any problem. Time which was expended in burrowing the particles of business law and after that gathering them was spared. Order of any law requires time, exertion and cash, and Roy Goode accepts codification is the thing which must be done in such a manner in this way, that great item is accomplished with proficient utilization of assets. Codification of business law gives approach of incorporated corpus under which different branches are connected by regular ideas, those attributes which are impractical to accomplish in any different codification of legal and it additionally creates reasonable way of thinking. In government locale a code covers the total nation either as administrative law or state law, and it additionally orchestrates the business law of different ward frameworks and gives office of interstate exchange. Without such harmonization the weight of directing the exchange of the business at national level is troublesome. Codification help in improving the law as well as spares parcel of time, endeavors and cash which are spend in understanding the law, prompting on the law and furthermore by following it. In this manner, it is astonishing particularly in America that legislature doesn't show a lot of enthusiasm for the codification of law. The explanation for this was the opposition from representative and attorneys who fear change. In the event that change happened, at that point attorney who was master in law needs to begin again[6]. Extent of codification of law: Business law for the most part covers normal agreements, deal contracts, contract which are related with carriage, warehousing agreements, and protection exchanges and money related exchanges. In present time, the point of view of business law is more extensive, which incorporates renting of types of gear, receivables financing, frameworks identified with installment, security of individual property, rights identified with venture of protections, and furthermore those business exchanges which are not gotten from agreement of offer. Convenience with new innovation is likewise obligatory for business law in this cutting edge time particularly in the field of transmission of exchange and information identified with monetary exchanges. It additionally required new framework for clearing the dealings identified with cash, items and protections. Along these lines, inclusion of exchanges by business law is rely upon two focuses that are:[7]. First point expresses that business law isn't reflection, however it is the device for its clients. The requirements of clients are changing all around according to its national practices, level of business, and sort of business and budgetary foundations. It isn't feasible for each nation that they duplicate the model spoke to by American Uniform Commercial Code which was intended for very nearly fifty locales, and for somewhere in the range of 200 million legal counselors. Second point expresses that in the event that when business network systematized the use of exchange then enactment gets both superfluous and unhelpful. We can comprehend this with the assistance of model, for example, codification of law identified with narrative credits was required with a perspective on reception of the Uniform Customs and Practice around the law. Finally, we can say that due to the accessibility of specialists, opportunity of the code that artist draft from the drafting customs and limitations of enactment, codification additionally give offices of finding and interpretative guides which are not found in the rules of ordinary nature. For instance, Uniform Commercial Code contains at the underlying phase of each article the meaning of general significance identified with that article, and furthermore list which shows the meaning of different words identified with this article are found. Every single segment of the law must incorporate authority remark which expresses the earlier legal source. It additionally incorporates the progressions that were made in the old law and remark on the motivation behind that change and new issue which is the aftereffect of that change, clarification of each area or sub segment, references of different areas and cross references which is definitional. It additionally expresses the meaning of wat chwords utilized in the article[8]. The official content of any resolution which is common contains just table which state areas, revisions, repeals, yet it doesn't contain history, any itemized proclamation expressed motivation behind the segment or some other clarification. Then again inward cross-references are intended to express the connection between two legal arrangements. The individual who peruses the customary rule normally thinks that its hard to comprehend the fundamental idea of the arrangement or arrangement of the issue which individual needs to determine, as a result of which he needs to invest parcel of energy to comprehend that law and resolve his concern through that rule. It is likewise hard for the individual to comprehend the significance of rule and furthermore the motivation behind why this rule was at that place. Along these lines, it is essential that administration must concentrate on the codification of law. End: In the wake of talking about the above realities, unmistakably individual who peruses the uniform business code can't comprehend the general perspective on business code, motivation behind the business code. On the off chance that codification of law isn't there, at that point it gets hard for the individual who peruses the law to comprehend the goal of the council, and this disarray prompts botches by the individual. t last, we presume that I concur with the announcement of Roy Goode that case for a business code as unanswerable in light of the fact that codification assists with imparting the genuine goal of the governing body. Book reference CISG, Sir Roy Goode, https://www.cisgac.com/sir-roy-goode/. Halson, a typical legal counselors point of view on basic codes, 2011 https://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/89802/3/Halson%20paper%2024%20March%20RH%20Final%20to%20Jers%20Law%20Rev%20(1).pdf. Roy Goode, Commercial Law in the Next Millennium https://socialsciences.exeter.ac.uk/media/universityofexeter/schoolofhumanitiesandsocialsciences/law/pdfs/Commercial_law_in_the_next_Millennium.pdf. Award Gilmore, On the Difficulties of Codifying Commercial Law, first January 1948 https://digitalcommons.law.yale.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3646context=fss_papers. Roy Goode, The Concept of Good Faith in English Law, walk 1992 https://www.cisg.law.pace.edu/cisg/biblio/goode1.html. Roy Goode, THE CODIFICATION OF COMMERCIAL LAW, https://www.austlii.edu.au/au/diaries/MonashULawRw/1988/5.pd

Wednesday, August 26, 2020

Ap Us History Essay Example for Free

Ap Us History Essay Theory Sentence: The lives of the Plains Indians in the second 50% of the nineteenth century were influenced by mechanical turns of events and government activities strategically, monetarily, strictly, socially, mentally, and geologically. Body Paragraph #2 Foundation Paragraph How the Indians were treated before the second 50% of the nineteenth Century. Body Paragraph #3 The innovative turns of events and government activities influenced the Indians in the second 50% of the nineteenth Century politically on the grounds that: †¢ They didn't have a state in government especially despite the fact that they were more â€Å"civilized† Body Paragraph #4 The mechanical turns of events and government activities influenced the Indians in the second 50% of the nineteenth Century financially in light of the fact that: †¢ Transcontinental Railroad Indians lost their food sources, for example, buffalo, because of the fast developments of structures and mechanical things that didn't let the buffalo wander aimlessly Loads of buffalo caused chasing - they nearly went wiped out Body Paragraph #5 The innovative turns of events and government activities influenced the Indians in the second 50% of the nineteenth Century strictly in light of the fact that: †¢ Indians that changed left their way of life and otherworldly practices behind Became Christians †just a couple Were permitted in houses of worship †¢ Indians that didn't changed were being compelled to change Body Paragraph #6 The innovative turns of events and government activities influenced the Indians in the second 50% of the nineteenth Century socially on the grounds that: †¢ Indians who changed left their practices and turned out to be more â€Å"civilized† as indicated by the white Americans They were more acknowledged than the non-changed Indians Body Paragraph #7 The mechanical turns of events and government activities influenced the Indians in the second 50% of the nineteenth Century mentally on the grounds that: †¢ Indians who changed got similar training white Americans did Went to better schools †¢ Indians who didn't change were not also instructed as different Indians †¢ All Indians were better prepared when it came to chasing in light of the fact that they had firearms rather than bows n’ bolts Passing rate while chasing went down Body Paragraph #8 The innovative turns of events and government activities influenced the Indians in the second 50% of the nineteenth Century geologically in light of the fact that: †¢ Were given horrible land Were kicked out of them when the Americans discovered that there was gold here Property Act/Dawes Act End: During the second 50% of the nineteenth Century, the Indians were influenced by the innovative turns of events and government activities from numerous points of view mutiple. They were as yet not acknowledged strategically. They lost a great deal of efficient assets during the time spent the innovative movement. The Indians had to change their religion to Christianity so as to become â€Å"civilized† according to the white Americans. They were socially acknowledged somehow or another by the white Americans on the off chance that they changed over to Christianity. The Indians turned out to be mentally more intelligent when they got a handle on new mechanical improvements like the weapon (new for them) with the goal that they could chase appropriately. Be that as it may, they lost a great deal of land to the white Americans topographically. The second 50% of the nineteenth Century gave the Indians a greater number of issues than joy.

Saturday, August 22, 2020

An oral Expose, on how does war create peace in The Things They Carried by Tim OBrien.

An oral Expose, on how wars make harmony in The Things They Carried by Tim OBrien. How wars makes harmony in The Things They CarriedWe will have tranquility regardless of whether we need to battle for it. ~Dwight D. EisenhowerThis what Eisenhower accepts, this what the legislature accepts, they accept that you need to shed blood to make harmony. Everybody comprehends that there is no war for harmony anyway there is war for force and eagerness. The administration consistently begins to battle or starts any sort of contention when issues start. War is by all accounts a simpler issue solver than harmony. In any case, how does the administration makes his society battle if war is a logical inconsistency for opportunity? The stunt is that it says that the war for harmony. In Tim O'Brien's book The things they conveyed, which is expounded on the youthful warriors drafted to Vietnam war, makes a harmony inside, he doesn't expound just on the mercilessness of war, he likewise compose that they never felt more at peace.Randy BernardTim O'Brien makes harmony inside his book or war by indicating the specific story of Mary Anne, by utilizing his style in depicting that war wasn't just about slaughtering, by demonstrating that those troopers just feel settled during the war and by arriving at death they additionally arrived at endless peace.The best case of a person that discovered harmony during the war, during every one of those battles is Marry Anne. She came to Vietnam as a serene young lady, she didn't have as a primary concern to battle and she should, she went to that spot of damnation for affection for her sweetheart, so they wouldn't be separated any longer. It was obvious that when she came there she was sending beams of honesty. I vow to God, man, she has on...

Contingency Theory of Management Accounting †MyAssignmenthelp.com

Question: Examine about the Contingency Theory of Management Accounting. Answer: Presentation: On the off chance that the organization acknowledges the proposal for extra 20,000 units, the misfortune per unit will be $ 0.08. The organization at present sells the item at $ 2.20 units. Along these lines, the absolute benefit of the organization will be $ 530,364.37 if the requests for extra 20000 units are acknowledged when contrasted with the past benefit of $ 532,000. Consequently, the benefit will be diminished by $ 1,635.63 and the offer will not be acknowledged. The bookkeeping staff will assess the request proposition and will be defended the reality whether to dismiss or acknowledge the offer. Variables to be considered are as per the following Acknowledgment of unique request one-time extraordinary request for the most part incorporates huge quality items at explicit rate. Before tolerating the proposition the related steady income with exceptional request will be examined. The steady cost must be lower than the gradual income (Otley 2016). As the fixed expense is now contemplated for past creation, the variable expense is simply to be considered for showing up at the benefit. Inert limit fro defending the extraordinary request, the organization must have the extra limit with respect to satisfying the request. For maintaining a strategic distance from the disturbance of the customary creation the organization must have abundance limit as to the hardware and work force under the creation line. In the event that the organization is as of now working in full limit, it won't be in a situation to acknowledge new request. Evaluating of extraordinary request as the exceptional request is the one-time request, it shows the estimating choice over the transient time frame. The base conceivable cost at which the request can be acknowledged will be assessed. While the inert limit is there and the business levels are low, the request can be acknowledged for new requests (Messner 2016). Assembling of extraordinary espresso mug Points of interest Per unit cost All out expense Direct material $ 0.60 $ 240,000.00 Direct work $ 0.20 $ 80,000.00 Variable overhead $ 0.10 $ 40,000.00 Fixed overhead $ 0.15 $ 60,000.00 All out expense $ 1.05 $ 420,000.00 Selling cost $ 1.20 $ 480,000.00 Benefit $ 0.15 $ 60,000.00 From the above estimation, it is uncovered that the benefit per unit for espresso mug will be $ 0.15, though, the benefit per unit for canisters is $ 0.70. In this manner, Playdough Company will not buy the canisters from Canisters Company and begin fabricating the espresso cups as it will diminish their benefit level. Variables to be thought of while settling on buy and production The buy or assembling choice is picking among the assembling the item under in-house creation or buying the item from outside provider. The most essential components to be viewed as are the quantitative investigation like related expense for creation or the limit of the organization to deliver at the necessary level. Buy versus fabricate cost under the production cost the costs like upkeep cost; material cost, work cost and overhead expenses will be thought of. Further, capacity prerequisites and extra space of capacity will be thought of. In actuality, for buying the costs identified with cost of the item, bringing in expenses, delivering cost, deals charge charges will be thought of. Aside from this, the costs as to capacity of bought item, work cost related with item getting work will likewise be thought of (Bianchi et al. 2016). Nature of item if the fabricated item is of better quality when contrasted with the bought item, at that point the item should be delivered in-hose. In any case, on the off chance that the organization isn't master in the item type, at that point the claim to fame provider will be chosen for buying the item. Amount the volume of the item required by the organization has an impact on the choice of the organization. In the event that the organization requires extremely little amount of item, at that point it won't be practical to create the item. In any case, on the off chance that the necessary quality is enormous, at that point it might be savvy for in-house creation for the item (Rodrigues, Leichsenring and Winkelmann 2014). Reference Bianchi, A., Barnett, J., Dempsey, W., Giachinta, M., Hugenberg, M. what's more, Talley, A., 2016. Applying Value-Focused Thinking to a Make Versus Buy Decision.Industrial and Systems Engineering Review,4(2), pp.171-177. Fullerton, R.R., Kennedy, F.A. what's more, Widener, S.K., 2014. Lean assembling and firm execution: The gradual commitment of lean administration bookkeeping practices.Journal of Operations Management,32(7), pp.414-428. Messner, M., 2016. Does industry make a difference? How industry setting shapes the executives bookkeeping practice.Management Accounting Research,31, pp.103-111. Otley, D., 2016. The possibility hypothesis of the executives bookkeeping and control: 19802014.Management bookkeeping research,31, pp.45-62. Rodrigues, R., Leichsenring, K. what's more, Winkelmann, J., 2014. The Make or BuyDecision in Long-term Care: Lessons for Policy. Report appointed by the Swedish Ministry of Health and Social Affairs.

Friday, August 21, 2020

Tecting shile drtiving Essay examples

Tecting shile drtiving Essay models Tecting shile drtiving Essay models Zhichen Wang HIST 2 14 March 2014 Savage or Culturally Advanced? In fifteenth century, when INCA EMPIRE was all the while possessing an enormous zones of Latin Americas and Indians were as yet a puzzle to European journeys and illustrious family units. What in heaven's name is going on that mistery land ?No one can furnished an immediate response. Was that a domain which is high cultivated with very much evolved culture, or it was only a gathering of brute lives there with outrageous numbness and barbarity? The elevation showed by Cobo towards the indigenous occupants of Peru and the height showed by Hernan Cortes was absolutely different.In this paper, We going to talk about the concealed purposes for the data.Though both of their sentiments are sensible, however,I think the difference were brought about by two reasons. In Hernan’s letter to Charles V, 1520. He believe that the city of Tenochtitlan , which is the capital of Inca Empire, was an extraordinary city. He depicts this city(nowadays Mexicanï ¼â€°as a high socialized city with sa nctuaries, squares and distinctive stores.He gave heaps of minor insights regarding that city and attempts to portrays that city also organized and composed. â€Å"In respect to the local arrangements of Moctezuma, and the brilliant loftiness and express that he keeps up, there is such a great amount to be told, that I guarantee your Excellency I know not where to start my connection, to be finish to have the option to finsh a piece of it† This was refered to by the letter, we can see that how envious the creator feel when he previously observed a structure worked with golds and silvers.Thus, it gave us a dream of that each working there was as radiant as residential arrangements of Moctezuma. Indeed, each and every thing composed by Hernan Cortes were hallucinations. He referenced the stores in the city. â€Å"There are a wide range of green vegetables, particularly onions, leeks, garlic,watercresses, nasturtium, borage, tawny, artichokes, and brilliant thistle,fruits etc.à ¢â‚¬  Hs was so stunned by the sells of the organic product, fish , vegetables and various porcelains and silks sold in the stores.It is genuine that all the sells in the city is valid however that was on the grounds that the place that is known for American is inexhaustible. Contrasted with terrain of European, in light of the fact that the absences of efficiency of corps and natural products, Europeans looks this as a straightforward of rich and wealth.On the other hand , Latin America was brimming with silvers and golds, as a result.Hernan Cortes was befuddled by those hallucinations and think this as a rich incredible â€Å"land†.Moreover , the spot he portrayed and lauded most is the spot identified with the religion and the focal point of power, he was smart quieted where ordinary residents of Inca realm lives. In my point , when we discusses a countries , we can’t contended by a bit of square however the whole city. Henan Cortes can’t be a numb-skull to have this uneven sentiment, what he did is to keep in touch with Charles V and discusses how affluent the Inca was so as to attack and triumph the city.As an outcome, he can plunder the silvers and golds in Inca and get the consents to do this.This is one of fundamental explanation Hernan misdescribed the city of Temixtitlan. As per the second record â€Å"The History of the Inca Empire†,

An Agile Guide to Integrating Customer Feedback

An Agile Guide to Integrating Customer Feedback This guide to customer feedback is part of our Agile project management series. To access more lessons, strategies and expert advice, download our free white paper, Staying Agile: 5 Best Practices in Software Project Management. Developing a product thats valued by your customer is pretty much the bread and butter of Agile project management. To achieve this, you  need to be sharing project progression and prototypes with your stakeholders (and end-users, if separate) at every iteration of your project.   The Importance of Customer Feedback in Agile Projects   Whether you’re producing a ground-breaking app for digital natives or a new CRM for your client’s operations team, preferences over accessibility and functionality will vary hugely. As a result, it’s essential that throughout your project, preferably after every Sprint, you share new features with your customers to determine whether: Features are actively providing value and not simply convoluting the product Features are accessible in terms of design and functionality for your stakeholders and importantly, your end-users. By inviting this customer feedback before the final product is launched, your team can save time and money on pushing unnecessary features forward. What’s more, you’ll end up with a more valuable and refined product, accurately tailored to your target audience. Did you know that a whopping 98% of respondents to the VersionOne 2016 State of Agile Report shared that their organization had realized success from taking an Agile approach to projects? As the first Agile principle, customer satisfaction and feedback are central to that success. 3 Strategies for Integrating Customer Feedback   Accessing and integrating user feedback without overburdening your project with an endless list of features can be a challenge. Fortunately, there are a number of strategies you can take to gather feedback effectively while preventing your project from over-extending. Staying Agile5 Best Practices in Software Project Management Download Free White Paper 1. Access Regular Customer Feedback Before you’re able to integrate user feedback, you first need to access it.  To do this, project management strategists  suggest taking a three-step approach to accessing feedback from stakeholders: Access: First, teams must find and identify a set of target customers that can be relied upon to provide accurate and timely insight, for example in the form of a well-maintained customer panel or advisory board.   Listen: Once a customer panel or advisory board has been secured, teams must build skills to actively listen to them. This should go beyond a single focus group or survey and should feature regular interaction, throughout the project, either in person or via online collaboration tools. Customers should be probed on their real needs, pain points, desires, and objective feedback on early designs and prototypes. This will also help to cut back on unnecessary features. Communicate: Ensure that what is learned through this listening process is clearly converted into prioritized use cases that explain the value of each feature, by communicating user insights to the entire project team. 2. Integrate Customer Feedback with Sprints The customer feedback collected should then be integrated at every project Sprint, alongside stakeholder feedback (if separate to the end-user group.)   One way to achieve this is by taking a Scrum approach to Agile project management.  If youre new to Scrum, the approach involves a Product Owner who communicates evolving business goals and customer feedback to the development teams.   In Scrum, the Product Owner retains a bird’s-eye view of the project and meets with the development team and ‘Scrum Master’ on a daily basis, to share customer feedback and insight.  Customer feedback, alongside stakeholder goals and needs, will then form each project Sprint. Following each Sprint, Scrum teams hold a Sprint Review, to present on what’s been completed to stakeholders. This process pushes team accountability and ensures that each Sprint’s completed tasks align with the project’s customer goals. 3. Allow Stakeholders to Manage Feature Prioritization While integrating customer feedback, it’s vital that the product doesnt go overboard with every feature requested by your customers. A key way to do so is by utilizing a workflow that puts your stakeholders in the driving seat for feature prioritization. This can either be done via a physical scrum wallboard or via an online collaboration tool. Staying Agile5 Best Practices in Software Project Management Download Free White Paper Creating a Physical Scrum Wallboard In order to manage feature prioritization collaboratively with their stakeholders, Jonathan Roger, Operations Director and Certified Scrum Master at software development company AndPlus, explains that they create a physical board for their Scrum task cards: “One way that we keep track of scope with our clients is by using different colored task cards on our project management wallboard to represent items that were added after a release plan was created,” Roger shares. “This makes it visually easy (for both us and the client) to identify items or features that were added after the initial project scope, so need to be traded with another feature of equivalent development hours in order to stay within budget, or postponed to a later release.” This allows AndPlus to put feature prioritization in the hands of their clients while keeping the project from growing beyond its scope and budget. Integrating via an Online Collaboration Tool Software development team Praxent  also takes a visual approach to scope management and have developed their own online collaboration tool to share with clients. CEO and Founder, Tim Hamilton, shares that the Praxent team developed a custom reporting and analytics dashboard, to place feature management in the hands of their clients: “Our dashboard provides a play-by-play on feature development progress, allowing clients to see the impact it would have on production should they decide to shift direction or re-prioritize” Hamilton shares. “Additionally, we provide them with data on how far their budget dollars will stretch, allowing them to control feature scope as they choose to add or swap in new features.” While not all Agile teams will have their own custom-made dashboard to play with, there are many online collaboration tools available, allowing teams to take a similar transparent approach to Kanban project management. Limit the number of tasks allowed within each Sprint Look for a tool that allows you to share your project roadmap with your client transparently, then limit the number of features created within each Sprint. By laying out all tasks in a project Sprint, including time estimates for how long you expect each task to take, and sharing this roadmap with your client, you can define a limit on the number of feature tasks per Sprint. This way, you can provide your client with the ability to manage feature prioritization, as they can swap features in and out of each Sprint. This will  enable transparency over how the changes will impact on the budget and schedule.   Staying Agile5 Best Practices in Software Project Management Download Free White Paper Although regularly embracing customer feedback can feel like a daunting prospect to some software teams, with these simple strategies, it doesn’t have to be.   For further strategies and advice on taking an Agile approach to project management, download our free white paper, Staying Agile: 5 Best Practices in Software Project Management. Do you have any experience in engaging customer feedback within Agile project management? We’d love to hear your thoughts and questions below! MeisterTaskAgile Task Management Made Simple ! !

Tuesday, June 9, 2020

The Bell Jar and the Sexual Politics in the American 1950s - Literature Essay Samples

Sylvia Plaths novel, The Bell Jar (1963), is conspicuously autobiographical. The story follows the fictional character, Esther Greenwood, during her summer spent in New York City working for a prestigious fashion magazine and back in Massachusetts struggling with her severe depression at home, and the months spent in a mental institution. It is obvious that the materials of the book are derived from the life of young Plath herself. Upon return from a strenuous stay in New York City where she had been a guest editor at the Mademoiselle Magazine, Plath almost succeeded in killing herself with sleeping pills, which led her to a difficult period of recovery involving electroconvulsive shock treatment and psychotherapy. However, apart from being a record of the writers traumatic experiences in her own life, the book also gives a vivid account of the heroines dilemma as woman living in the American 1950s, when heterosexuality was highly predominant as the social norm. In other words, Plaths novel is not only a female writers autobiography but also a text which offers one part of the American sexual politics genealogy. My aim in what follows, then, is to read The Bell Jar in its social-historical context. Before examining the novel, a few general remarks about female life in the American 1950s seem appropriate. During the World War II, when munitions industries were suffering from the shortage of hands, a great deal of American women were urged to help their country with its military jobs. But no sooner had men come back from the front than they drove away women from the labor market. Accordingly, women had to submit to becoming housewives. The result was that the average marriage age of women in America dropped to 20 . . . by the end of the decade after the war and girls went to college to get a husband (Friedan 16). Of course, there existed women who were discontented with such status as housewives. Yet the political repression of the McCarthy era did n ot allow them to hanker for individual rights nor to organize an independent network which would secure womans work place in the civil society. In the name of protecting the nation from communist infiltration, the federal government manipulated their people to embrace social conformity, and so far as women were concerned, they went back home so as to retain their family members happiness. Turning now to The Bell Jar, we can easily perceive that the author, Sylvia Plath, too, was one of those American women whose mentality was nurtured in the 1950s. Her alter ego, Esther Greenwood, feels in New York City that she is in danger of being seduced by nonheterosexual relationships which are apparently a taboo for a woman who is waiting for the right person as her lifes partner. To give an example, Esther is dissatisfied with the Amazon Hotel where she shared her New York adventures with other eleven student editors. She regards a proper hotel as a place where there are both men and women mixed about here and there on the same floor; that only the twelve girls are put into the same wing on the same floor in single rooms (4) means to Esther that they are cut off from the heterosexual world. Also, Doreen from a society girls college down South, Esther confesses, becomes one of [her] troubles (4) since Doreen has a great charm for both man and woman. That the Southern girl has an amused and mysterious sneer, as if all the people around her were pretty silly (5) denotes the fact that she embodies the legend of the Southern belle. In order to sustain the once-flourished agricultural Southern society founded on the basis of noblesse oblige, the women living in the male-dominated traditional community are required to be cultivated and attractive in appearance but to be obedient and chaste enough at the same time. To sum up, Doreens odd sneer symbolizes the double standard forced on the Southern belle who sacrifices herself to gratify the Southern ideal of perf ect womanhood. Because she is in company with Doreen wearing a strapless white lace dress zipped up over a snug corset affair that curved her in at the middle and bulged her out again spectacularly above and below (8), Esther can have a drink with such a well-known disc jockey as Lenny Shepherd; besides, Esther herself is attracted to the female friend like a magnet owing to a whole life of marvellous, elaborate decadence (5) Doreen displays. The double standard existing within Doreen makes it possible to captivate both Lenny and Esther; the latter, needless to say, is allured by the refined part lurking in the bottom of the Southern belles heart. Hence to defend herself from the trouble, namely, not to be involved with the Southern belle too much, Esther defiantly rejects helping Doreen who groans in her drunkenness:I felt if I carried Doreen across the threshold into my room and helped her on to my bed I would never get rid of her again. . . . I decided the only thing to do was to dump her on the carpet and shut and lock my door and go back to bed. (23)Here, Esther, who is too conscious of her heterosexual habitude, tries not to ruin herself by a close relationship to a female friend, that is, by nonheterosexuality. The attitude towards the Amazon Hotel and Doreen which Esther projects in this manner is the authors, too. Plath felt uneasy about being unmarried: to remain single meant a nonheterosexual tendency in the American 1950s common sense. Both her journals and letters in her single days disclose her tremendous concern about dating, boyfriends, and future marriage. And one scene from The Bell Jar serves as an evidence of this obsession with becoming a desirable woman. Plaths alter ego mentions the impact a Yale students invitation letter to a Prom gives upon her and the other female students around her:After Buddy had gone I opened the letter. It was a letter inviting me to the Yale Junior Prom. . . . I found myself hugging the senior on watch.When she heard I was going to the Yale Junior Prom she treated me with amazement and respect. . . . The seniors on my floor started speaking to me. . . . (62-3)In the heterosexual world which moves around men like Buddy Willard, female students status in dormitories is eventually dependent on whether they are going out with some nice guy. Their own academic or personal abilities are never valued after all. To be paired mattered a great deal to young women.In actuality, when she married a toward-be-ideal-partner, Ted Hughes, Plath triumphantly began having a sharp tongue. One of her poems written in the year of her marriage describes a single woman:. . . . Turned bitterAnd sallow as any lemon,The other [i.e. a single woman], wry virgin to the last, Goes graveward with flesh laid waste,Worm-husbanded, yet no woman. (Two Sisters of Persephone)From a heterosexual viewpoint which occupied Plaths mind, to get married‹and in consequence, to bear a child‹was the ultima te purpose of being female; an unmarried woman was no more than the scum of society. Yet what is to the point is that young Plath, who was extraordinarily talented in writing and therefore ambitious of fame, was also doubtful of the norm prevalent in her age. To put it another way, she was torn between her desires of becoming an ordinary housewife and winning fame as a writer. The way she represents the execution of the Rosenbergs in the opening section of The Bell Jar is helpful to understand this point:It was a queer, sultry summer, the summer they electrocuted the Rosenbergs, and I didnt know what I was doing in New York. . . . The idea of being electrocuted makes me sick, and thats all there was to read about in the papers‹goggled-eyed headlines staring up at me on every subway. It had nothing to do with me, but I couldnt help wondering what it would be like, being burned alive all along your nerves. (1)Esther knows very well that there is no relation between her and the couple executed for espionage in Sing Sing prisons electric chair. Just the same, Esther is obsessed by the news about the RosenbergsÅCwherein we find the authors tremendous interest in the Rosenbergs death. Also in the only journal written down during her stay in New York City, the news of the young married couples execution calls Plaths attention. It is important to investigate the reason why Plath was so intrigued by the news.The key to examine the question lies behind the procedure of the Rosenbergs Trail, especially, the one of Ethel Rosenberg. Ethel, unlike her husband, Julius, was executed not only for espionage but for her inadequacy as mother. The minor details about the trial itself is unnecessary in this study, but explicitly, the U. S. government sentenced her death because she failed in achieving the female role as a mother.Ethel Rosenberg was originally arrested as a means to make her husband, Julius, open his mouth on his connection to the espionage work for the Soviet Union of which the U. S. government was convinced. The then head of the FBI, J. Edgar Hoover, urged his Bureau employees to aggressively attempt to build a triable case against Ethel, going on to say if Julius Rosenberg would furnish details of his extensive espionage activities, it would be possible to proceed against other individuals . . . proceeding against his wife might serve as a lever in this matter (Radosh and Milton 99). However, in the case of Julius with an unyielding will, his wifes threatened prosecution unexpectedly strengthened his determination not to cooperate with the FBI: the lever did not work. As a result, the authorities were obliged to commit themselves to prosecute Ethel as an accomplice in the espionage conspiracy, and to dodge public reproach against such an inhuman conclusion prepared for a young mother, they had to frame up a story that Ethel was a bad mother. In the 1950s, as mentioned earlier, the pressure on women to marry and raise c hildren was paramount: many young women abandoned their careers or studies one after another to perform their stereotyped sex-role. Ethel Rosenberg, who got married when she was twenty-four, was a proper woman from the 1950s point of view. Still, the problem was that she was greatly active in political causes and thereby she was regarded negligent in raising children. After finishing school, she worked at a shipping company for four years until she quit the job to become an organizer of a strike of women workers; she joined the Young Communist League; and she eventually became a member of the American Communist Party. Though she gave up participating political activities after her marriage owing to her physical weakness, her activism during her single life constructed her image as a deviant woman. One of the juries who insisted her guiltiness condemned Ethel from the 1950s ideology concerning sexual politics: I had two daughters at the time, and it bothered me how they would su bject their children to such a thing. I just couldnt understand it (qtd. in Brennan 59). S/he completely believed the accused, Ethel, to be a bad mother, controlled by the demagogic image the authorities made up. And of the final judgement by Judge Irving Kaufman, the same may be said. He proclaimed at the court: Love for their [Julius and Ethel Rosenbergs] cause dominated their lives‹it was even greater than their love for their children (Nizer 367). Ethel was electrocuted as she failed in furnishing her children with a good home. Evidently, the image of Ethel as a bad mother did work as a lever to persuade the public to believe that she deserved death. Now it is evident that Plath found her double in Ethel Rosenberg, because of which she was glued to the news to such an extent that she [was] sick at the stomach (Journals 82). Being single at that time, Plath had been quite anxious if she would be able to find a befitting mate to marry and to have a child. Though a widow, her mother, whom Plath followed as a reasonable female role model, had successfully married her professor and had two excellent children. And Plaths hometown seemed to have a woman who became the model for Mrs Willard (the mother of Esthers boyfriend) in the novel, and she had also married her professor, raised superior children, and even owned her own sexual policy: What a man is is an arrow into the future and what a woman is is the place the arrow shoots off from (74). Surrounded by these older women, who were typically successful women from the viewpoint of the sexual politics in the American 1950s, Plath must have been upset, or felt herself deficient as a woman.Under such conditions, a woman, who had already been married but was presumed to have failed in caring for her children, was killed. It is plausible that Plaths apprehensions for future as woman increased suddenly. Furthermore, despite the differences in their background, both Ethel Rosenberg and Sylvia Plat h were similar to each other on the point that they were being true to their respective goal in their life: the former committed herself to political causes, and the latter, to the writing. Having sacrificed her family life for her own interest, according to the authorities, Ethel Rosenberg was to be electrocuted. The likeness between the two readily frightened young Plath. If she had chosen marriage, she would not be able to live a family life which would satisfy the norm the American society expected of her; if she had chosen to become a writer or to become both a writer and a mother, the choices signified extinction, namely, death, in the 1950s American ideology as the Rosenberg case had shown. Accordingly, Plath was farther perplexed if she should choose to marry or to become a writer, and inevitably began to feel there was no way out. And various ambitions young Plath had imagined rapidly tumbled down in New York City once she witnessed through mass media a capital punishm ent passed on to Ethel Rosenberg, a bad mother.Plaths double in the novel, Esther, delineates the sign of emotional changes in her by using the metaphor of figs:From the top of every branch, like a fat purple fig, a wonderful future beckoned and winked. One fig was a husband and a happy home and children, and another fig was a famous poet . . . and beyond and above these figs were many more figs I couldnt quite make out. (80)A central image of the book, the fig tree bearing ripe figs, to quote Wagner-Martin, depicts the female dilemma of the 1950s (185). It may well be that the dilemma which has been enclosed within Esther/Plath is revealed by the death of Ethel Rosenberg.Needless to say, not every woman felt in a similar way as Esther/Plath did. There was a young woman like Hilda, who is one of the twelve guest editors in The Bell Jar. Esther and Hilda exchanges words on the Rosenbergs death which end in a cross-purposed misunderstanding:. . . I said, Isnt it awful about the R osenbergs?The Rosenbergs were to be electrocuted late that night. Yes! Hilda said, and at last I felt I had touched a human string in the cats cradle of her heart. It was only as the two of us waited for the others in the tomb-like morning gloom of the conference room that Hilda amplified that Yes of hers.Its awful such people should be alive. (105)To apprehend Hildas statement as a mere political declaration would be quite superficial. For the issue brought up in this passage includes more than a simply political one. As her way of moving like a mannequin (104) implies, Hilda is totally passive in doing anything. It is inconceivable for her to doubt the ideas flooding around her. The government says the Rosenbergs are spies who tried to put the U. S. trouble; so Hilda is so glad theyre going to die (104). The episode of Ethel Rosenbergs failure in raising her children also has the backing of the American public; so Hilda also adapts herself to the major way of thinking. Un like Esther/Plath, Hilda never troubles herself by associating herself with a strange condemned criminal. While Hilda, who seems to be too simpleminded, successfully adjust herself to the 1950s American code with regard to the sexual politics, an educated woman like Esther/Plath is doomed to self-destruction. Thus, in the American society in the 1950s which regarded heterosexuality as natural, Esther/Plath gradually lost herself. One of the letters to Plaths mother from New York City suggests her affliction: . . . Life happens so hard and fast I sometimes wonder who is me . . . (Letters Home 116). Wavering between heterosexuality and nonheterosexuality, Esther/Plath was deeply distressed when arriving home in Massachusetts; the agony of choices between heterosexuality and nonheterosexuality continues after the summer, too. Failing in killing herself at home, the authors alter ego, Esther, is first sent to a local hospital and next to a private one. It is in that private hospita l that she happens to encounter her old rival in love, who is named Joan. Joan Gilling, from the same town with Esther, was a big wheel‹president of her class and physics major and the college hockey champion (61), and more than that, one of Buddy Willards closest friends. In that respect, Joan is a nuisance for Ethel who is trying to win Buddy as her husband. Either Joan or Ethel is supposed to get married to the Yale student. But now, the old rival in love is offensive to Esthers eyes in a different meaning: Joan is nonheterosexual and seduces Esther to a nonheterosexual circle. In the conversation with Esther, Joan frankly reveals that she did not like Buddy but his family‹especially, Mrs Willard. And to Esthers surprise, Joan has an affair in the ward with another patient called DeeDee, and finally announces that she likes Esther better than Buddy, against which Esther coldly resists:I like you.Thats tough, Joan, I said, picking up my book. Because I dont like you. You make me puke, if you want to know.And I walked out of the room, leaving Joan lying, lumpy as an old horse, across my bed. (232-3)For Esther, who makes an effort to adjust herself to the ideology of the American 1950s, a woman like Joan is nothing but a dangerous character: she lures Esther into the nonheterosexual tendency. Ironically, however, it is the nonheterosexual world that extends to Esther a helping hand after her suicidal attempt. Indeed, her mother, who lives on a small salary, is financially helpless; what she can afford might be to throw her daughter into a big state hospital in the country (196) that would hardly offer careful nursing. But in place of her mother, Esthers benefactor, Philomena Guinea, whose books [earn] . . . millions and millions of dollars (42), rescues her and takes her to an excellent private hospital. Although it is unclear whether the female benefactor is nonheterosexual, what her support shows is her tenderness toward a sick college g irl. Is there a boy in the case ? (196): Mrs Guinea asks Esthers mother when reading about Esthers suicide attempt in a Boston paper. As Esther herself acknowledges, if there was a boy in the case, Mrs Guinea couldnt, of course, have anything to do with it (196). Then, it is no exaggeration to say that Philomena Guinea is firmly determined to aiding woman in finding a way out of trouble. The rich benefactor lays stress upon bonds between females, namely, nonheterosexual ties.The chief doctor Esther meets after a male one, Dr. Gordon, who has given her an awful electroconvulsive shock treatment, is Dr. Nolan, and the relationship between the patient and the doctor should not be overlooked, either. In the first place, Esther cannot help but hide her surprise when she is told that her doctor is a female:When I enrolled in the main building of the hospital, a slim young woman had come up and introduced herself. ÅeMy name is Doctor Nolan. I am to be Esthers doctor.I was sur prised to have a woman. I didnt think they had woman psychiatrists. . . . She wore a white blouse and a full skirt gathered at the waist by a wide leather belt, and stylish, crescent-shaped spectacles. (197)In the American 1950s, the number of female doctors must have been very small. Despite the fact, the private hospital has some female doctors. Esther confronts here a new community freed from the heterosexual norm which controls the American society. And she becomes a patient of Doctor Nolan, who looks like an ordinary woman‹not a prim woman with professionalism‹unlike another female psychiatrist, Doctor Quinn, with an abstract quality that . . . [gives her] the polar chills (236). Because of the comfortable nonheterosexual bonds she finds to Doctor Nolan, Esther can leave the hospital earlier than expected. Not to speak of her way of curing, Doctor Nolans way of exiting itself cured Ethels depression beyond the heterosexual limitations. Lastly but most importa ntly, the observation of the influence of Joans suicide upon Esther should not be omitted. The book does not make it explicit why Joan commits suicide, but such a reason is insignificant here. More noteworthy is the fact that Esther recovers from her depression, stimulated by the tragic death of her friend, Joan. On the day of Joans funeral, Esther does not hesitate to attend the ceremony nor mourn her friends death. On the contrary, she gets back her lost self during the ceremony: I took a deep breath and listened to the old brag of my heart. I am, I am, I am (256). Joans death, though the suicide itself is no solution at all, throws a light on at least Esthers wavering mind. For Joan is nonheterosexual. Esther is convinced that nonheterosexuality brings death to woman: so far as she lives in the heterosexual world, her life is saved. Hence the protagonists sexual anguish comes to end. She decides to go back to the world regulated by the heterosexual disciplines. The ev ents in the private hospital, as well as other incidents depicted in The Bell Jar, are thoroughly based on Plaths own experiences. At McLean Hospital in Belmont where a famous novelist, Olive Higgins Prouty, recommended, she met Dr. Beuscher, and a nonheterosexual relationship between the two women smoothly remedied her depression. As Esther does in the book, Plath received electroconvulsive shock treatments several times with her own consent, which accelerated her recovery. As for a friend like Joan in the novel, there seems to be no record.2 It is plausible that Plath made up a Joan-figure from scattered events she heard, saw, or experienced herself. But reading the story about Joan in view of the construction of the novel, her suicide is emblematic enough to let Esther recover from her disease. Esther/Plath, whose depression was caused by her sexual confusion, rediscovers herself in the nonheterosexual circleby giving up a nonheterosexual inclination. Now one final point sho uld be made about the bell jar. Esther/Plath talks to herself: . . . I wasnt sure. I wasnt sure at all. How did I know that someday‹at college, in Europe, somewhere, anywhere‹the bell jar, with its stifling distortions, wouldnt descend again? (254) Before leaving the hospital, she certainly gets herself back. Why does she have to be scared of the bell jar which seems to suffocate her? A key to answer this question resides in the electrocution of Ethel Rosenberg again. Even after having revived in the nonheterosexual safety and decided to go back to the heterosexual circle, Esther/Plath is still worried if she should be incidentally allured by the nonheterosexual circle and in danger of being annihilated‹like Ethel Rosenberg. She is after all a woman living in the American society of the 1950s, who is threatened by the norm of the sexual politics of her days, that is, the bell jar.Reportedly, Ethel Rosenberg died twice: while her husband, Julius, died immediately at the first volts of electricity, she needed more jolts after the first one. This information is quite symbolic, because Esther/Plath also goes through a similar experience. Unable to adjust herself completely to the sexual politics of the 1950s, she is electroshocked. But the first therapy failed, and she needs more shocks to recover from depression‹depression caused by her torment concerning the choice between heterosexuality and nonheterosexuality. And unlike the nonheterosexual Joan, who is destined to be extinguished, Esther/Plath can fortunately be freed from death and the mental institution this time. But the bell jar incessantly tries to cover and suffocate the women who are likely to be close to nonheterosexuality; among those is Esther/Plath herself. It is necessary for her, then, to take great care not to be assaulted by the bell jar again. The story of The Bell Jar, in short, ends without a guarantee that the sexual politics will never afflict another Esther/ Plath. The problem brought by the sexual politics in the American 1950s remains unsolved within the protagonist and the author.In this way, Plath reveals in the novel The Bell Jar her own difficulty in living in the American 1950s, when heterosexuality was considered to be normal. She was not a lesbian; but at the same time, she was not thoroughly against building up relationships among the females. Such an obscure attitude towards the sexual politics, however, was inexcusable in the conservative society that demanded heterosexuality of people. It can be concluded, in that sense, that Plaths alter ego, Esther, is one example of the 1950s American women who endeavored to prove their own heterosexual tendencies. Using her own tragic experience, Plath translated in The Bell Jar one of the female problems begotten by the sexual politics that thrived in the American 1950s. Notes:1 Adrienne Rich contends in her Compulsory Heterosexuality and Lesbian Existence that the failure to exam ine heterosexuality as an institution is like failing to admit that the economic system called capitalism or the caste system of racism is maintained by a variety forces, including both physical violence and false consciousness (216), and discusses that heterosexuality is problematic. What is meant by heterosexuality, according to this radical feminist, is not only a physical impulse but a social institution which tries to suppress woman. I hardly share this opinion. For Richs view of compulsive heterosexuality indicates that private heterosexual relationships should be totally denied and that the relationships are to be replaced by homosexuality. It is too far-fetched to demand all women that they become lesbians. Therefore, to evade misunderstanding, I use the term nonheterosexual(ity), instead of homosexual(ity), when implying the relationships characterized by a tendency to direct either emotional or physical desire toward the same sex. It has to be noted nonheterosexualit y does not necessarily imply homosexuality, an exclusive activity with another of the same sex. The term nonheterosexuality in this study signifies solid relationships among the same sex (between females, in particular).2 Neither of the fairly recent autobiographies by Linda Wagner-Martin and Anne Stevenson refers to this point. Works CitedBrennan, Sheila M. Popular Images of American Women in the 1950s and Their Impact on Ethel Rosenbergs Trial and Conviction. Womens Rights Law Reporter 14 (1992): 41-67.Friedan, Betty. The Feminine Mystique. Twentieth Anniversary Edition. 1963. New York: Norton, 1983.Nizer, Louis. The Implosion Conspiracy. New York: Doubelday, 1973.Plath, Sylvia. The Bell Jar. 1963. London: Faber, 1966.. The Journals of Sylvia Plath. Ed. Ted Hughes and Frances McCullough. 1982. London: Anchor-Doubleday, 1998.. Letters Home: Correspondence 1950-1963. Ed. Aurelia Schober Plath. 1975. London: Faber, 1999.. Two Sisters of Persephone. Collected Poems. Ed. Ted Hughes. 1981. London: Faber, 1989. 31-2.Radosh, Ronald, and Joyce Milton, eds. The Rosenberg File: A Search for the Truth. 1983. New Haven: Yale UP, 1997.Rich, Adrienne. Compulsory Heterosexuality and Lesbian Existence. Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society 5 (1980): 631-60. Rep. In Adrienne Richs Poetry and Prose. Ed. Barbara Charlesworth Gelpi and Albert Gelpi. New York: Norton, 1993. 203-24.Wagner-Martin, Linda. Sylvia Plath: A Biography. New York: Simon, 1987.Works ConsultedAxelrod, Steven Gould. Sylvia Plath: The Wound and the Cure of Words. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins UP, 1990.Bronfen, Elizabeth. Sylvia Plath. Writers and Their Work. Plymouth, UK: Northcote, 1998.Evans, Sara M. Born for Liberty: A History of Women in America. New York: Free-Simon, 1989.Garber, Marjorie, and Rebecca L. Walkowitz, eds. Secret Agents: The Rosenberg Case, McCarthyism, and Fifties America. New York: Routledge, 1995.Schrecker, Ellen. The Impact of McCarthyism. 19 95. Black Listed: An Audio Drama about the Hollywood Blacklist. Online. Spencer W. Wisbroth Esq. 5 June, 1999.Steiner, Nancy Hunter. A Closer Look at Ariel: A Memory of Sylvia Plath. London: Faber, 1974.Stevenson, Anne. Bitter Fame: A Life of Sylvia Plath. London: Viking-Penguin, 1989.Wagner-Martin, Linda. The Bell Jar: A Novel of the Fifties. Twaynes Masterworks Studies 98. New York: Twayne, 1992.