Feminine Transformation In Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper” Essay Example for Free

Feminine Transformation In Gilman’s â€Å"The Yellow Wallpaper† Essay Fiction is often used as a vehicle to convey radical ideas to readers. These ideas are usually reflected in the themes of the stories so that the clarity of expression is more apparent. The theme of Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s â€Å"The Yellow Wallpaper† is quite unique in that it expresses feministic ideas in a seemingly ordinary situation. â€Å"The Yellow Wallpaper† is a story that reveals various truths about the woman and chronicles the feministic transformation of this woman towards modern womanhood. Gilman employs the first person perspective in her story to allow her unnamed protagonist to reveal elements of her emotions that would otherwise be concealed from the audience. The protagonist, along with her physician husband and a certain Jenny move into a huge house for the purpose of her recovery from an illness; in the house the husband assigns a room for the both of them which is a large room with distinctive yellow wallpaper all over the walls. The protagonist is then disturbed by the wallpaper and begins to derive images from it which in turn is used as a metaphor for her feministic transformation. The earlier part of the tale reveals much about how the traditional woman actually is. The very first aspect of the traditional woman that one would easily notice from the text is a submissive personality. The lines, â€Å"But John says if I feel so, I shall neglect proper self-control; so I take pains to control myself before him, at least, and that makes me very tired. † (Gilman) illustrate how the protagonist neglects her own feelings before her husband and this implies that if she prioritizes what her husband felt over what she felt, she was quite likely to do the same with other more menial things making her exceptionally submissive. Another aspect of the woman revealed in earlier parts of the tale is the feminine view on marriage. In the lines, â€Å"John laughs at me, of course, but one expects that in marriage. † (Gilman) the protagonist describes how her husband reacts to her when she complains about something weird in the house they were moving into. When the husband laughs, the protagonist concludes that this is normal when two people are married. In effect, the protagonist views marriage as an excuse for ridicule and the fact that she is married to someone requires that she accept that ridicule as part of being married. This is a strange perception on the part of the protagonist but because of the submissive attitude of this main character it is not surprising that she should think this way. Other than this, her submission even affects her desire to write as she conceals her writing, hence, the protagonist admits, â€Å"I did write for a while in spite of them; but it does exhaust me a good deal† (Gilman) because she had to write despite contradictions from her husband as this made her feel better. The decision of the protagonist to write expresses the protagonist’s, â€Å"struggle to throw off the constraints of patriarchal society in order to be able to write. † (Thomas) So, in these first few parts, the author describes the current state of the protagonist, where â€Å"Women were cast as emotional servants whose lives were dedicated to the welfare of home and family in the perservence of social stability†. (Thomas) In a way, the author even discreetly refers to the sexual inadequacies of the relationship by referring to a â€Å"nailed-down bed† in the lines, â€Å"I lie here on this great immovable bed it is nailed down, I believe†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Gilman) Eventually, as the protagonist focuses her attention on the yellow wallpaper and the fact that her husband insists that they do not change it despite pleas from the protagonist, she begins to see the wallpaper as something else reflecting the bondage that she experienced from being isolated and treated inappropriately by her husband. This is quite clear in the lines, â€Å"Behind that outside pattern†¦a woman stooping down and creeping about behind that pattern. † (Gilman) Here, the protagonist initially describes a woman apparently caged behind the wallpaper patterns. While this could be images within the protagonist’s mind, it definitely reflects how she feels being in the room and in her situation. This image of bondage is further amplified by the lines, â€Å"At night in any kind of light†¦worst of all by moonlight, it becomes bars! The outside pattern I mean, and the woman behind it is as plain as can be. † (Gilman) It is at this point that the protagonist expresses an intrinsic feeling of bondage because she is not able to express it outwardly, and so, projects the feeling unto the wallpaper. This particular incident, â€Å"is a reaction to the lack of free agency that women had in the late 1800’s . (Gilbert) Soon, days before the last day the couple was to spend in the mansion, the protagonist breaks free and becomes a new, more liberal woman. This is implied in the lines, â€Å"I pulled and she shook, I shook and she pulled, and before morning we had peeled off yards of that paper;† (Gilman) which the protagonist used to describe her peeling off the paper. During the motions she admits to helping the woman behind the patterns but indirectly, this implies that the woman she was helping was herself. The act, therefore, of tearing the wallpaper was parallel to freeing the woman behind the patterns, and so, freeing herself from her personal bondage. (Garcia) The protagonist, hence, went from being a traditional woman to a liberated woman in her feminist transformation, even when the conclusions of the story seemed to imply that the protagonist had lost her mind because of the isolation, hence, the lines, â€Å"Ive got out at last, said I, in spite of you and Jane. And Ive pulled off most of the paper, so you cant put me back! (Gilman) where she had finally fused her own persona with the persona of the woman behind the patterns. Quite obviously, the textual evidence in this tale consistently describe the struggles of a woman from being the kind enslaved by a patriarchal society to someone who was able to express her own individuality, albeit, unconventionally. The story very clearly describes how one woman transformed gradually from being traditional to being the new or modern woman. ? Works Cited Garcia, Viola. Charlotte Perkins Gilmans The Yellow Wallpaper. fgcu. edu. N. p. , 2009. Web. 1 Aug. 2010. http://itech. fgcu. edu/faculty/wohlpart/alra/gilman. htm. Gilbert, Kelly. The Yellow Wallpaper: An Autobiography of Emotions by Charlotte Perkins Gilman . fgcu. edu. N. p. , 2009. Web. 1 Aug. 2010. http://itech. fgcu. edu/faculty/wohlpart/alra/gilman. htm. Gilman, Charlotte Perkins. The Yellow Wallpaper. EastoftheWeb. com. N. p. , 2006. Web. 1 Aug. 2010. http://www. eastoftheweb. com/short-stories/UBooks/YelWal. shtml. Thomas, Deborah. The Changing Role of Womanhood: From True Woman to New Woman in Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s â€Å"The Yellow Wallpaper†. fgcu. edu. N. p. , 2009. Web. 1 Aug. 2010. http://itech. fgcu. edu/faculty/wohlpart/alra/gilman. htm.

A Guard on Religious Freedom Essay examples -- essays research papers

Persuasive Essay #1   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  A Guard on Religious Freedom In the eyes of our founding fathers, few things seemed as important as the separation of church and state. The first amendment grants all Americans the freedom to subscribe to any religion they wish and promises that the government will not promote any religion above any other. Although the separation of church and state and the freedom of religion are firmly and concretely secured in the Constitution of the United States, events in the recent past bring to question whether this ideal is under threat of losing its place as an American standard. A recent controversy that brings to light the threat of the separation of church and state is the debate over the words â€Å"one nation under God† in the pledge of allegiance. A review of current event programs when the offense first unfolded showed few other stories as important as an attack on our separation of church and state. Although maintaining a critical eye on our rights and assuring that no true threats develop on one of the cornerstones of the country, it is important to also keep in perspective whether a true infraction has taken place. On several American artifacts you can find a reference to God. However, taking offense to these references is counterproductive and overly sensitive. First, the God mentioned on these American artifacts is a generic God and only means that the collective A...

Pro Clean

Company overview/ Statement of Problem Pro Clean LLC is an old-timer carpet cleaning business. It was owned and managed by Kevin Wilson and located in Knoxville, Tennessee. Wilson had to manage almost all functions of Pro Clean daily activities. In this industry, the problems Pro Clean faced are how to stay competitive and still make above average returns with one of his main competitor the King Rug. King Rug has a resolute business structure and is able to charge its customers with high prices which make King Rug much more profitable than Pro Clean. Another problem that Pro Clean has to face is the rapid expansion process.At the onset of the expansion, the business had started to churn cash as a result of the increased payroll expenses and the lease payments for the company’s vehicles. Wilson’s return on investment was dismal. Cash flow quickly became a problem and Wilson resorted to using his business and personal credit cards to finance his business. Environmental Sc anning/ Stakeholder Analysis Demographics of Pro Clean are composed mostly of customers from Knoxville, TN. Being located in the Suburban district and close to Condominiums near the City Center; most of its customers come from single-income families, above $250,000 annually.Most of these homes had pets/ young children. 20% of the business made up of the regular customers. Economically, Pro Clean is doing fine with its source of Revenue made up of cleaning carpet (77%), upholstery cleaning (9%), area rug cleaning (5%), tile and grout cleaning (5%), carpet and fabric protection (3%), and drapery cleaning for (1%). The culture of the customers of Pro Clean is those of frequent use. Average Pro Clean customers had their carpets cleaned every 12 months.Technologically, Pro Clean had improved from stuffing envelopes with direct mail material, answering phone calls and giving estimates to setting up a webpage so customers can easily and instantly know about the company’s profile and service. Pro Clean is just a local business thus it is not thinking about expanding to another country, however, it sought to expand locally with much difficulty Industry Analysis Pro Clean’s NAICS code is 339994. According to the United Census Bureau, a 339994 is a â€Å"Broom, Brush and Mop Manufacturing† Pro Clean conducts a pure competition in where there are many other competitors selling similar ervice in the industry. Its main competitors are D-Clean, King Rug, Green Clean, Right Clean and Kleen Clean. The industry is a growing market. The market grew approximately 5 percent per year, which was what Wilson’s business averaged as well. Currently, Pro Clean had built up a respectable 5 percent market share in Knoxville Now for Porter’s five forces model of Pro Clean, they are very weak to withstand the threat of new entrants because a number of national janitorial cleaning and carpet cleaning chains were advertising aggressively to establish new fra nchises in the city.The bargaining power of supplier of Pro Clean is rather weak. For a cleaning company, Pro Clean can pretty much buy their source of cleaning products pretty much from different suppliers and switch products without hurting the company’s balance sheet. The bargaining power of buyers of Pro Clean is rather weak also, because the customer can switch to another cleaner company in town where it might have a service which Pro Clean doesn’t have. In addition, there are approximately 60 cleaners in town competing in the same industry as Pro Clean. Substitute products are a huge disadvantage for Pro Clean.Some new customers who are not used to carpet cleaners preferred to buy the cleaning products and do the cleaning by them. The commercial cleaning market was serviced by janitorial service providers that offered a one-stop service to commercial businesses which Pro Clean does not offer. The intensity among the companies is cut throat. The market is very com petitive because the firms have similar service and almost equal status among buyers. The other companies are killing each other to differentiate themselves from their competitors by conducting additional source of revenue.For example, King Rug derives a substantive portion of its revenue from rug cleaning at its place of business and did well with cross selling and up-selling. Pro Clean however, did not successfully up-sell Company Analysis Pro Clean vision is to be the number one carpet and rug cleaners and â€Å"ready to take on even the best in Knoxville† Pro Clean’s mission to accomplish this vision is to â€Å"stay in touch with all its customers by sending out quarterly newsletters. † The current goal of Pro Clean is to organize their organizational structure where it had inaccurately expand too fast and thus hurting company’s current cash flow.To achieve this goal, Wilson had to lay off one of his cleaning technicians. He temporarily transformed t he cleaning technician position to that of sales and office administration. Wilson had to spend his personal time trying to develop the business as well as dealing with administrative and clerical tasks. SWOT ANALYSIS Strength: 1. Pro Clean has 5% overall market share of Knoxville carpet cleaning market 2. Its market shares grows at 5% annually 3. Their business venue is located in the city northeast residential district (most of its customers are residential people) 4.It has loyal customers which generates 60% of its income Weakness: 1. It has a poor organizational structures 2. Lower price charged to its customers making it to have difficulty covering overhead costs 3. It expanded too quickly, making a small return on investment. Opportunities: 1. Pro Clean might be able to target not only residential areas but also commercial as its main competitors do not target commercial areas 2. Pro Clean continue charging a lower price than its main competitor in the rug cleaning business Th reats: . Pro Clean competes in a highly competitive market 2. Other companies might crush Pro Clean by offering a cheaper service fee 3. Any frequent-customers who suddenly become unsatisfied might turn its revenue down. Pro Clean’s philosophy is that â€Å"each and every client is the most important facet of our company†. Pro Clean’s core competency is its ability to make on-site estimate visits, while other competitors gave approximate estimates over the phone and followed up with a detailed price once they were on site to clean.Porter’s value chain of Pro Clean is important to the health of the company. Their network (existing customers, technology and follow ups) are the most crucial in the relation of its income statement. They must keep on doing whatever they do best not to lose any existing customers otherwise the company’s operating income will suffer. STRATEGIC ANALYSIS The corporate strategy of Pro Clean is at a low level because it does not conduct any other form of business other than cleaning services.It has a cost-leadership business strategy as compared to its main competitors; it charged the least fee for cleaning services. Pro Clean ability to keep its existing customers is certainly a positive effect on the company’s image and it also can give a positive â€Å"free advertisement† to these customers’ relatives. The culture of Pro Clean is that the human resource works as a close knit team. While Wilson is out, his employees will routinely visit real estate agents and other referral sources for half of the day while others spent the remainder of the day in the office. ALTERNATIVE/SOLUTIONThe two main problems mention above is the significantly low pricing which makes it unable to cover its overhead costs while its main competitor can; and the other problem is the wrong decision of the expansion which was rather too soon for the company to handle. The main opportunity which Pro Clean might be able to consider is that it should aim for not only residential area carpet cleaning but also commercial area as it will hugely increase the number in their sales. Also, I believe that the expansion has already happened but it produces a little, if any, a positive return on investment.The way I would take advantage of this is to either sell the extra capacity/ plant or to maximize its ability to produce different product/services which might be able to generate more revenue for Pro Clean. For example, not only they do the cleaning business, but they also manufacture their own brand of Pro Clean cleaning products. I believe that Pro Clean can survive if these problems were to be exploited. With additional capital and better company strategies implications, Pro Clean will be able to dominate the cleaning industry locally. End Note Page

How to Write a Science Fair Project Report

Writing a science fair project report may seem like a challenging task, but it is not as difficult as it first appears. This is a format that you may use to write a science project report. If your project included animals, humans, hazardous materials, or regulated substances, you can attach an appendix that describes any special activities your project required. Also, some reports may benefit from additional sections, such as abstracts and bibliographies. You may find it helpful to fill out the science fair lab report template to prepare your report. Important: Some science fairs have guidelines put forth by the science fair committee or an instructor. If your science fair has these guidelines, be sure to follow them. Title:  For a science fair, you probably want a catchy, clever title. Otherwise, try to make it an accurate description of the project. For example, I could entitle a project, Determining Minimum NaCl Concentration That Can Be Tasted in Water.  Avoid unnecessary words, while covering the essential purpose of the project. Whatever title you come up with, get it critiqued by friends, family, or teachers.Introduction and Purpose:  Sometimes this section is called background. Whatever its name, this section introduces the topic of the project, notes any information already available, explains why you are interested in the project, and states the purpose of the project. If you are going to state references in your report, this is where most of the citations are likely to be, with the actual references listed at the end of the entire report in the form of a bibliography or reference section.The Hypothesis or Question:  Explicitly state your hypothesis or question.Materials and Meth ods:  List the materials you used in your project and describe the procedure that you used to perform the project. If you have a photo or diagram of your project, this is a good place to include it.Data and Results:  Data and results are not the same things. Some reports will require that they be in separate sections, so make sure you understand the difference between the concepts. Data refers to the actual numbers or other information you obtained in your project. Data can be presented in tables or charts, if appropriate. The results section is where the data is manipulated or the hypothesis is tested. Sometimes this analysis will yield tables, graphs, or charts, too. For example, a table listing the minimum concentration of salt that I can taste in water, with each line in the table being a separate test or trial, would be data. If I average the data or perform a statistical test of a null hypothesis, the information would be the results of the project.Conclusion:  The concl usion focuses on the hypothesis or  question as it compares to the data and results. What was the answer to the question? Was the hypothesis supported (keep in mind a hypothesis cannot be proved, only disproved)? What did you find out from the experiment? Answer these questions first. Then, depending on your answers, you may wish to explain the ways in which the project might be improved or introduce new questions that have come up as a result of the project. This section is judged not only by what you were able to conclude  but also by your recognition of areas where you could not draw valid conclusions based on your data. Appearances Matter Neatness counts, spelling counts, grammar counts. Take the time to make the report look nice. Pay attention to margins, avoid fonts that are difficult to read or are too small or too large, use clean paper, and make print the report cleanly on as good a printer or copier as you can.