Marine back from Deployment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Marine back from Deployment - Essay Example Normally, soldiers defend their nations and their people. The great sense of duty and patriotism remains the major driving force for their actions in the field or against known enemy. The person’s experience in Afghanistan was an eye opener for him. There was only mistrust amongst the people of Afghanistan and general public was suspicious and fearful. The environment of uncertainty was most discouraging and was inclined to foster subtle aggressiveness and simmering violence both amongst the marines and people. This was a dangerous situation where innocent people often used to become the scapegoat and target of army and terrorists both. All during his stay, marine was even wary of the intentions of even the innocent children! The life of marine in overseas deployment, especially in unknown terrain that is strife ridden, is full of risks. Their long absence from home not only makes them homesick but often contributes in developing doubts and distrust in human

Analysis of Business Groups in China Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Analysis of Business Groups in China - Essay Example Research has uncovered that business groups are so successful in China due to the fact that they provide influence in changing the infrastructure for capital procurement, such as building incentive for lenders to assist business growth, and also giving the country the ability to effectively compete against traditionally-structured conglomerates internationally. Utilising two specific examples of successful business groups in China, this report recommends that China continue to embrace business groups as a key competitive advantage over other nations across the world. Findings indicate that Chinese business groups improve social welfare and also enhance the economic strength of a developing Eastern economy. There is no evidence provided showing a detriment for ongoing operations of important Chinese business groups. An analysis of business groups in China Introduction Business groups are found virtually everywhere in Asian nations. Business groups are defined as â€Å"a group of lega lly independent firms, which operate in many different markets, bound together by enduring formal and informal connections† (Khanna and Yafeh 2005, p.332). There are typically three different types of business groups: vertically-controlled groups (or pyramidal in design), horizontally-controlled groups and informally-bounded groups that are connected with a common social tie or a singular sense of business mission or identity. Business groups in China differ substantially from the traditional conglomerate business structure commonly found in Westernised nations. Whilst the conglomerate business structure is rather standardised, meaning a typical combination of two or more established companies operating under a single parent company, the business group structure involves a group of independent companies sharing a singular managerial relationship (Khanna and Yafeh 2005). Business groups have accounted for approximately 60 percent of China’s total industrial, national out put (China Statistical Yearbook 2000). Hence, there is ample evidence that business groups have been monumentally important in creating new and self-sufficient markets, established industrial and supply infrastructures and also raised beneficial capital necessary to build an industrial and commercial empire in the country. Based on all research findings, business groups in China are highly advantageous economically, commercially and socially and should continue to be adopted by this developing nation. The development of business groups in China Between the 1970s and 1990s, emergence of Chinese business groups continued to escalate. In a country where the government plays a significant role in regulating and controlling business practices, Chinese government officials realised that the country was not advancing, in terms of competitive business output, to the rest of the developed world. In response, the government began to evolve its industrial policies in an effort to support incre asing global business competition. The end result of this liberalisation in governmental business regulation established many different, large business groups that were formed, primarily, through the inheritance of large industrial plants carried over from the previous command economy (Nolan 2001). It was through governmental policy changes that large business groups were formed, sustaining adequate capital and production resources that began to put China on the proverbial map toward becoming a powerhouse of international competition. Why is the intervention of the government between the 1970s and 1990s important to understanding the potential benefits of Chinese business groups? China maintains, as a developing nation, a very feeble and under-developed legal system and a rather

Barack Obama Essay Example for Free

Barack Obama Essay There is no doubt that President Barack Hussein Obama II has received much attention and interest from not only the United States, but international. He is not only praised because of his skin color, but because of the values he believes in and what he stands for. He represents something the country has needed for a long time. During his 2008 campaign for US president, he embodied the very meaning of the word â€Å"hope†. Obama’s election was truly revolutionary. His story can been considered a huge milestone in the United States’ history. The very fact that Barack Obama was voted in, and by a very large margin, shows proof that the country has abandoned its usual ideas on who is â€Å"fit† to run in high office. Barack’s multi-cultural background serves to represent the melting pot America is. He was born in Honolulu, Hawaii to a Kenyan father, Barack Obama Sr., and Stanley Ann Dunham, a Caucasian woman from Wichita, Kansas. He has gone through many hurdles and has climbed his way up a focused political ambition ladder. Being the first president of African American descent to the illustrious United States and also his many achievements have made him a person of much respect and high admiration. Obama’s presidency has gone through a series of success and accomplishments. After being elected, he successfully passed many legislations, such as the healthcare bill. The bill aimed for offering tremendous coverage while providing an affordable healthcare. Barrack’s presidency is also branded by other victories such as the $787 billion Stimulus Bill. The passing of this bill took place one month later after succeeding the presidency from George W. Bush. The stimulus bill helped boost the staggering economy. Two years later, he passed the Wall Street Reform to regain control of the economy after its practices which caused the Great Recession. This law tightens capital requirements on large banks and other financial institutions, requires that large banks provide â€Å"living wills† to avoid hectic bankruptcies, limits their ability to trade with customers’ money for their own profit, and creates the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to catch abusive lending products and companies. He was heavily praised for ending the War in Iraq. All U.S. military forces were ordered out of the country, with the last troops leaving on December 18, 2011. With new policies, diplomacy, and rhetoric, he reversed a sharp decline in world opinion toward the U.S. during the Bush years. From 2008 to 2011, favorable opinion toward the United States rose in ten of fifteen countries surveyed by the Pew Global Attitudes Project, with an average increase of 26 percent. To summarize, Obama, with his qualities accompanied with key factors such as human approach, empathy, positive attitude, courage to take risk, and bravery to face challenges is a great leader, particularly for the US and generally for the world. His background and experiences in life, united with vibrant qualities of a good leader, make him a wonderful role model and universally acceptable. References: Glastris, Paul, Ryan Cooper, and Siyu Hu. Obama’s Top 50 Accomplishments. The Washington Monthly. N.p., Mar.-Apr. 2012. Web. 28 Aug. 2013. Barack Obama. Organizing for Action. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Aug. 2013. http://www.barackobama.com/about/barack-obama?source=footer-nav

The strategy of teamwork

The strategy of teamwork INTRODUCTION For many years now, the strategy of teamwork has been widely used in many organizations. One of its motives is to translate organizational values into specific rules of conduct created by team members, thereby, allowing the creation of self-managed identification with organizational goals (Webb, 2006). Many contemporary theorists believe that working in teams tends to solve most if not all challenges faced by organizations. It tends to end the bureaucratic form of control, improving efficiency and productivity while providing employees an avenue for socialization, self-actualization and participative management (Johnson and Johnson 1987). It is important to organize work around teams in some cases. For instance, in other to ensure the successful outcome of the National Health Service (NHS) project in the UK, general practitioners, IT experts, project managers and other professionals would need to collaborate and work together. However, behind this seemly pleasant style of work lie certain undesirable traits and characteristics. The essay begins by presenting popular understanding of teams and some positive ideologies that support the use of teamwork. It then goes further by critically analyzing these ideologies and identifying some unproductive characteristics exhibited by teams. The premise of this essay is not trying to be cynical about the benefits that teamwork offers but rather expose some traits which reveals that it does not ‘always benefit organizations, and particularly, its members. This would profit us by having a broader understanding about its strengths, shortcomings and implication about its use. WHAT ARE TEAMS? Teamwork as an approach to how work is organized is not new but rather historic; probably older than the phenomenon ‘formal organization (Benders and Van Hootegem, 1999). Management literature began sensing its benefits in the 1920s (Wilson, 2004). Studies reveal many companies using teamwork as a way of organizing work (Cully et al. 1998; Cohen et al., 1996). Today, ‘team player skills usually needs to shown be potential employers to stand a chance of employment. A team is a small number of people with complementary skills, committed to a common purpose, having set of performance goals, and approach for which they hold themselves mutually accountable (Katzenbach and Smith, 1993, p113). Teams are thought to be ‘special form of groups because members have a more shared focus in all regards as opposed to seeking individual goals. Teams develop direction, commitment, and momentum by working to shape a meaningful purpose (Wilson, 2004, p206). There are some teams regarded as self-managing teams because they have more authority to self-regulate throughout the task (Cohen et al., 1996). Teamwork has been popularized to be a remedy for solving inflexible structures to work and alleged inefficient bureaucratic control, and enhancing employee higher-order ‘growth and ‘relatedness needs by job enrichment and empowerment (Bratton el at., 2007, p313). Socialtechnical theorists claim that teamwork improves employee discretion, thereby leading to commitment, motivation and satisfaction (Wilson, 2004). Teams enhance organizational dimensions by providing flexibility, motivation and learning (Knights and Willmott, 2007). Effective teams has also been framed as always task-oriented with confluence, having participative and shared form of leadership and tending to overcome the subversive forces of power, conflict and emotion (Sinclair, 1992). CRITICAL ANALYSIS ABOUT TEAMWORK In reality, teams are not always composed of the clearly perfect picture that ideologists and management gurus claim it to be. Team members are still humans and could exhibit their sense of individuality and purpose, which at certain times could be conflicting. Some views about teamwork are unitary (Burrell and Morgan, 1979; Storey, 1995) which only assumes cohesion not conflicts between members thereby writing off teams that actually exhibits tension and strife as not ‘real teams. In addition, the focus is centrally on achieving greater productivity with little emphasis to feelings, personal reflections or experience of team members (Metcalf and Linstead, 2003; Wilsons, 2004). To claim that teamwork is always beneficiary to the organization and its members, certain measures are required to ascertain its effectiveness. Does teamwork always produce remarkable results? Are team members always satisfied with the environment set for them to operate in and create themselves? Are they always willing to continue contributing? Do organizations always have control in channeling team outcomes? It appears that from the enjoyable and seemly pleasant surface of teamwork lie a murky side. Rhetoric of exploitation by working harder Teamwork is a sleeker form of oppressing labour to suck out optimal performance. It allows employees work ‘harder and smarter (Parker and Slaughter, 1988), intensifying labour from workers (Knights and Willmott, 2007; Wilson, 2004). Teamworks goal is to cultivate organizational values into members by making them more participative and giving them a bit of autonomy, thereby instilling in them passion to thrive and work further even outside their contracted job schedule without being paid. Moreover, team members in addition to their tasks have to supervise other colleagues ensuring they do their work. Teams have huge responsibility in ensuring delivery of tasks despite varying situations such as absenteeism, slackness or even change of members. These places profound burden on the rest of the team (not the organization) as additional efforts is required to nullify them as seen in the NUMMI case (Parker and Slaughter, 1988; Knights and Willmott 2007). Team members embrace self-dign ity by striving harder to ensure the teams success work not minding additional labour. While this benefits organizations who are obviously looking for maximum labour at minimum cost, it does not for team members because stress levels, tension and pressure are heightened as work is intensified and could lead to negative effects on employees well-being (Wilson, 2004). Concertive control and surveillance The strategy of teamwork is an effort to improve the traditional bureaucratic control. However, a tighter form of control, ‘concertive control tends to exists within team-based work (Barker, 1993). Similar ethnographic study by Kunda (1992) showed similar control used to gain unstinting commitment from employees. Traditionally, management was responsible for setting rules and regulations for employees. With teamwork, members set their own rules possibly forming stricter punishment for defaulters (as seen in Barkers case at ISE). Team members monitor actions ensuring total conformity with norms, meting out punishment to defaulters (Sewell, 1998). Employees feel additional pressure knowing that they are under surveillance from other team members, which may pose unhygienic to working environments. It appears that the freedom that teamwork promises seems contradictory to its reality. As Barker (1993, p435) rightfully argues that powerful combination of peer pressure and rational rules forms tighter form of cages as opposed to contemporary claims. It is worthy to note that teams are not truly effective if they get the job done but self-destructs or burns everyone out (Roberts and Corbett, 2009, p150). Conflicts of power and leadership traits Many contemporary theorists believe that groups that do not have conflicts over power or authority and have good interpersonal relations pass as real or working teams. However, studies show that groups do experience various forms power (French and Raven, 1959) which is not equally distributed (Fiorelli, 1988). The most influential or powerful individuals could maneuver the team efforts to possibly suit their own interests rather than the teams. Janis (1985) notes that political factors due to autocratic leaders cause high decision-making errors. Less powerful members have no choice but to concede to the opinions of these elite members despite the fact of their convictions about its failure. Decisions readily accepted unanimously without contests, weakens the efficiency of teams (Sinclair, 1992). ‘Groupthink (Janis, 1972) existence is likely in teams that try to reduce conflicts by cohesiveness and consensus without critical analysis and evaluation. The output of work in this case is not thorough and lacks excellence since further evaluation and alternatives may not be considered. An illustration is the famous NASA Shuttle Challenger case in 1986 where the engineers had to concede to launch the shuttle despite their concerns about its safety resulting into tragedy. It is difficult to eradicate the concept of leadership in teams, as they are important to their efficiency (Sinclair, 1992; Roberts and Corbett, 2009). Wilson (2004) argues that there difficulties in recruiting team leaders because the perception about their qualities varies. Bad leaders not being able to steer the team in its right course often lead to counterproductive results. Emotional conflicts and Resistance Teams are prone in displaying certain emotions during tasks that deters its efficiency (Ashkanasy el at., 2000). In the findings by Alan (2005), emotions are positive at the start of the project but tend to be negative as the project grows affecting the overall team process. McKinlay and Taylor (1996), Ezzamel and Wilmott (1998) shows emotional conflicts arise from unfairness and inequalities of peer evaluation system such as attaching benefits to individuals and variations in pay. Others causes include the need for belonging or frustrations having to conform, ‘social loafing or too much dominance by some members. All these negative emotions can produce actions that restrain team members towards putting in their best thereby impeding teamwork results. In the pyramid case, the system of peer review was a disciplinary mechanism by management to encourage individual performance and prevent free riding in the team but employees opinion that all team members should get equal benefits since the overall output was a team effort disrupted managements strategy. Contrary to ‘hegemony theory that management always exercises dominant influence over teams, it does not always appear so. In some teamwork cases, elements of conflicts and contention causes member to demand more control over their work process than what is available to them leading to renegotiation of managerial authority boundaries (Vallas, 2003). His study shows evidences of organizational tensions, contradictions and solidarity among workers restricted managements hegemonic control over their culture. This might frustrate managements strategy of imbibing their agenda into teams. Present managers might also frustrate organizations plight for teams because it might render them no longer necessary. Teamwork draws employees to micro-management of tasks (Milkman, 1998) and Peters (1987, p296) argues that because teams become self-managing, they tend to eliminate first-line supervisory jobs. This means that their services might become redundant or hinder their chances of promotion as seen in the traditional era of management (Sims, 1995). Time efficiency issues Meetings are places where teams spend lot of work time discussing issues and arriving at decisions (Briggs, 1997). In a research conducted by Olson and Olson (1999) on educators in the U.S., team members indicated weaknesses in effectiveness of meetings and timelines. From experience, being in team meetings could take a huge amount of time giving little time for the actual task. Covey et al. (1994) highlights the importance for strategies to help groups maximize time indicating the possibility of getting too engrossed in fruitless meetings. CONCLUSION There are some instances whereby individual performance is preferred to teamwork. Teamwork at times lead to frustration and ultimate failure when there are senses of hidden agendas, lack of understanding, poor leadership, wrong mix of team members and unhealthy team environment such as stress and unrealistic expectations (Yeung and Bailey, 1999). There is no single experience of teamwork as Knights and McCabe (2000) finding shows three classes of peoples experience as bewildered, bothered or bewitched. It is therefore inappropriate to claim teamwork is always beneficial to its members. In addition, team systems may open up possibilities beyond those which management intends (Derber and Schwartz, 1983). It is clear as some research suggests (e.g. Wall et al., 1986) that teamwork increases productivity. However, we need to understand when the concept of teamwork holds true. By just applying the framework of teams without properly exploiting those grey areas, it might tend to hamper rather than nourish organizational performance as some cases also show that ‘teamwork do not necessarily lead to organizational performance (Bratton, 2007). As Katzenbach and Smith (1993), rightly points that it is important for organizations, in other to make better decisions, know when teams can be encouraged and used. To add further, they must also be aware of those negative traits found in teamwork so as not feel disappointed in unanticipated outcomes. REFERENCES Ashkanasy, N. M., HÃÆ' ¤rtel, C.E. J. and Zerbe, W. J. (2000). Emotions in the workplace: research, theory, and practice. Westport: Greenwood Publishing group, Inc. Alan, P.R. (2005). Emotions and team projects and processes. Team Performance Management, 11(7-8), pp. 251-262. Barker, J. (1993). Tightening the iron cage: Concertive control in self managing teams. Administrative Science Quarterly, 38(3): 408-437. Belbin, R.M. (2000). Beyond the Team. Oxford: Butterworth-Heinemann. Benders, J., and Van Hootegem, G. (1999). Teams and the Context: Moving the Team Discussion beyond Existing Dichotomies. Journal of Management Studies, 36(5), pp. 609-628. Bratton, J., Callinan, M., Forshaw, C., Sawchuk, P. (2007). Work and Organizationl Behaviour: Understand the Workplace. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. Briggs, M.H. (1997). Building early intervention teams: Working together for children and families. Gaithersburg, MD: Aspen. Burrell, G., and G. Morgan (1979). Sociological paradigms and organisational analysis. London: Heinemann. Cohen, S., Ledford, G., and Spreitzer, G. (1996). A Predictive Model of Self-Managing Work Team Effectiveness. Human Relations, 49(5), pp. 643-676. Covey, S. R., Merrill, A. R. and Merrill, R.R. (1994). First things first. New York: Simon and Schuster. Cully, M., Woodland, S., OReilly, A., Dix, G., Millward, N., Bryson, A., Forth, J. (1998). The 1998 Workplace Employee Relations Survey: First Findings, London: DTI. Derber, C. and Schwartz, W. (1983). Toward a Theory of Worker Participation. Sociological Inquiry 53, pp. 61-78. Ezzamel, M. and Wilmott, H. (1998). Accounting for teamwork: A critical study of group based system of organizational control. Administrative Science Quarterly, 43(2), pp. 358-396. Fiorelli, J. (1988). Power in work groups: team members perspectives. Human Relations, 41(1), pp. 1-12. French, J.R.P., Raven, B. (1959). The bases of social power, in D. Cartwright (ed.) Studies in Social Power. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press. Sam* French and Raven (1958) Janis, I. (1972). Victims of groupthink. Boston: Houghton-Mifflin. Janis, I. (1985). Sources of error in strategic decision-making in Organizational strategy and change. J. M. Pennings, ed., pp. 157-197. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. Johnson, D.W., and Johnson F.P. (1987). Joining together: group theory and group skills. New Jersey: Prentice-Hall. Katzenbach, J.R., and Smith, D.K. (1993). The Wisdom of Teams: Creating the High Performance Organization. Boston: Harvard Business School Press. Knights, D. and McCabe, D. (2000). Bewitched, bothered and bewildered: The meaning and experience of teamworking for employees in an automobile company. Human Relations 53(11), pp. 1481-1517. Knights D. and Willmott H. (2007). Introducing organizational behaviour and management. London: Thomson Learning. Kunda, G. (1992). Engineering Culture: Control and Commitment in a High-Tech Corporation. Philadelphia: Temple University Press. McKinlay, A. and Taylor, P. (1996). Power, surveillance and resistance: Inside the â€Å"Factory of the Future†, in Ackers, P., Smith, C., and Smith P, eds. The New Workplace and Trade Unionism. London: Routledge, pp. 279-300. Metcalf, B., and Linstead, A. (2003). Gendering Teamwork: Rewriting the Feminine. Gender, Work and Employment, 10(1), pp. 94-119. Milkman, R. (1998). ‘The new American workplace: high road or low road?, in P. Thompson and C.Warhurst, eds. Workplaces of the Future. Basingstoke: Macmillian- now Palgrave Macmillan. Olson, J. and Olson, P.D. (1999). Teamwork strengths and weaknesses: Perceptions of practicing educators. Academy of Educational Leadership Journal, 3(1), pp. 9-15. Parker, M. and Slaughter, J. (1998). Choosing Sides: Unions and the Team Concept. Boston: South End Press. Peters, T. (1987). Thriving on Chaos. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. Inc. Peters, T. (1998). Thriving on Chaos: Handbook for a Management Revolution. London: Pan Books. Pfeffer, J. (1998). The human equation: Building profits by putting people first. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press. Roberts, A. and Corbett M. (2009). Understanding Organisational Behaviour. New York: McGraw-Hill Custom Publishing. Sewell, G. (1998). The Discipline of Teams: The Control of Team-Based Industrial Work through Electronic and Peer Surveillance. Administrative Science Quarterly, 43, pp. 397-428. Sims, H. P. (1995). Challenged to implementing self-managing teams. The Journal for Quality and Participation, 18(2), pp. 24-31. Sinclair, A. (1992). The tyranny of team ideology. Organization Studies, 13(4), pp. 611-625. Storey, J., ed. (1995). Human Resource Management: A Critical Text. London: Routledge. Vallas, S.P. (2003). The Adventures of Managerial Hegemony: Teamwork, Ideology, and Worker Resistance. Social Problems 50(2): 204-225. Wall, T.D., Kemp, N.J., Jackson, P.R. and Clegg, C.W. (1986). Outcomes of autonomous workgroups: A long term field experiment. Academy of Management Journal 29, pp. 280-304. Webb J. (2006). Organisations, identities and the self. New York: Palgrave macmillan. Wilson F.M (2004). Organizational Behaviour and Work: A critical introduction. 2nd ed. New York: Oxford University Press Inc. Yeung, R. and Bailey, S. (1999). Get It Together. Accountancy, June 1999.

Essay --

1. Principios Bà ¡sicos 2. Espectro Polà ­tico al que Pertenece Considerando el espectro polà ­tico Derecha-Izquierda, Movimiento Ciudadano es un partido polà ­tico que, de acuerdo a su ordenamiento, pertenece a la izquierda ya que sus valores y creencias està ¡n enfocados en proteger a los dà ©biles, promoviendo la igualdad y la equidad, la libertad asà ­ como la autonomà ­a, el pluralismo y la defensa de los derechos fundamentales del ser humano. Con relacià ³n a la participacià ³n del gobierno en la economà ­a, Movimiento Ciudadano acepta el sistema de libre mercado como la mejor manera de organizar la produccià ³n de bienes y servicios requeridos para la satisfaccià ³n de necesidades materiales, pero al mismo tiempo tiene como objetivo fundamental la intervencià ³n del Estado para asegurar que los beneficios y dividendos sean producidos y distribuidos de una manera que se asegure una vida cabal y plena para toda la sociedad. En lo que concierne a su participacià ³n, Movimiento Ciudadano es partidario del cambio y cree que la sociedad es dà ³cil. Responde a un mundo globalizado y progresista, ya que busca la ...

Chechnya and its People Essay examples -- War Europe Essays

Chechnya and its People The ongoing civil war between the semi-autonomous republic of Chechnya and Russia has dramatically caught the attention of the world – a world that perceives the conflict primarily through the distorted lens of Russian propaganda, and the contradicting images of Chechen suffering on the independent media. If the West seems impartial or even indifferent to the Chechen conflict, it is because there is little understanding of this people, of their struggle, or of the vast complexities of the greater North Caucasian region in which the Chechens are a part. This lack of understanding extends to the hazy Western perception of the role of Islam in Chechen society. The broad generalizations that have been made by those in the media, by aid organizations, by the Russians, by Islamic groups, and by those in the American government are all politicized oversimplifications which seek to bring the core of the conflict to its lowest common denominator. Many of the claims revolve around Islam ; yet, few bother to take into account the greater character of Chechen society, or of the broader historical scope of change that Islam has followed in Chechnya. Often, Islam has changed in response to a Russian stimulus, but many of the Russian actions and reasons in this conflict are well documented. This study aims to analyze the Chechen role in the civil war – and the role of Islam in Chechnya – as opposed to the Russian role, which has been analyzed many times over. The North Caucasus It is difficult for Englishmen to take an intelligent interest in the internal affairs of Russia, owing to the vast number of problems involved, all of which depend upon varying local circumstances, and because comparatively few of us, ev... ...i International Magazine. 16 Oct. 2003 18. Menon, Rajan. â€Å"After Empire: Russia and the Southern ‘Near Abroad.’† The New Russian Foreign Policy. Ed. Micheal Mandelbaum. New York: Council on Foreign Relations, 1998. 100-167 19. Chechnya : Tombstone of Russian Power 20. Islam in Chechnya. 13 March 1998 Univ. of California, Berkeley. 15 Oct. 2003 21. Kagarlitsky, Boris. Russia Under Yeltsin and Putin. London: Pluto Press, 2002. 22. Russia Under Yeltsin and Putin 23. Russia : Islamic Countries Unlikely to Help Chechnya. 19 Nov. 1999 Radio Free Europe, 19 Oct. 2003 24. Kagarlitsky, Boris. Russia Under Yeltsin and Putin. London: Pluto Press, 2002.

A Spirit in the Mix: an Analysis of “I Used to Live Here Once”

13 September 2009 A Spirit in the Mix: An Analysis of â€Å"I Used to Live Here Once† For the story, â€Å"I Used to Live Here Once† by Jean Rhys, we could argue that the story is about a woman who moved away from her homeland to go to a new place and now returns home for a reason not stated. The two children who are playing outside the woman’s old house in the sunshine ignore her. It may be possible that the two children ignore the woman because she left the West Indies to live somewhere else and therefore they believe that she does not exist. Is this what is going on? I believe there is a bigger picture here. The speaker tells us in paragraph three that â€Å"that the sky had a glassy look†¦. † This may be because the woman visitor does not see with her own eyes any more, or it could be that she does see with her own eyes and can see the true nature of the sky. The speaker tells us in paragraph five that the woman sees two children outside her home playing. The woman calls to them but â€Å"they didn’t answer†¦Ã¢â‚¬  her. In the next two paragraphs, the speaker tells us that the woman calls out to the children two more times but still they did not reply. We can assume that the children ignore the woman because the children do not know her, or because the woman left her home and has not returned until now. In paragraph eight, the storyteller tells us that the woman is near the two children and they get a sudden chill. This changes the argument that the woman was ignored because she left her home. The woman is ignored not because she left the West Indies, but rather because she does not exist. The woman existed at one point or another, but now she is not at the home that she used to live in physically, meaning she is a spirit, a ghost. She is supernatural. The woman traveler is visiting the West Indies and her home for the last time. She has unfinished duties to perform before she moves on to her next destination. She visits the home because she will depart from there never to return. It may be that visiting her home was her unfinished task. I believe that the woman is a spirit because of the following evidence. The first evidence is, â€Å"The only thing was that the sky had a glassy look that she didn’t remember,† implying that she no longer sees it with physical eyes. The second evidence is, â€Å"There were two children under the mango tree, a boy and a little girl, and she waved to them and called ’Hello’ but they didn’t answer her or turn their heads,† as if they are not able to hear her. The last evidence is the detail that the children have a sudden chill. The boy says, â€Å"Hasn’t it gone cold all of a sudden. † In all the books that I have read dealing with the supernatural, it is common for people get a sudden chill when a spirit is in the mix. All of this evidence points to the fact that the woman is a supernatural being.