Lust Caution by Eileen Chang Essay

In the novel Lust, Caution by Eileen Chang, there are debates of the reason why Wang Jiazhi made the decision to warn Yi and to let him go, which is not only a betrayal to her mission but also a suicidal action which eventually led to her death. This action of hers involves multiple psychological origins from Wang’s childhood memory and family structure through out her experience of being a student with her peers to her subtle relationship with Yi during her spying mission. Such experiences formed significant psychological defenses within her according to the psychoanalysis of Freud. The movie Lust, Caution provides a much fuller explanation and details about what the author of book did not offer thoroughly, which is the family background of Wang Jiazhi. There is a scene in the movie that Wang is sitting in a shabby room and trying to organize her word for the wedding greetings to her father who moved oversea years ago with her little brother when she was a child. The experience of her father’s leaving at her young age leads to her fear of abandonment after she grows up, the unshakable belief that her friends and loved ones cannot be trusted. The fact that her father brought her little brother with him but left her at home creates a further belief that she is less worthy than other people and, therefore, does not deserve attention, love, or any other life’s rewards, which is called low self-esteem in the psychoanalysis. Her fear of abandonment and low self-esteem add together and form her most essential mental defense: fear of intimacy, the chronic and overpowering feeling that emotional closeness will seriously hurt or destroy her and that she can remain emotionally safe only remaining at an emotional distance from others at all times. These mental defenses of Wang appear in different areas in her personal and social life, and largely affect Wang in her processes of decision making. In Wang’s social life, the main part of the cause of her solitude does not come from her peers but rather from her prejudice to herself and hatred of her own life and identity. Within a patriotism student division, the members of the division are supposed to have an extremely strong and tight emotional bond. However, as the key factor of this operation, Wang and her view of her peers and coworkers are strangely biased and distanced. When she thinks  about them, she sees the â€Å"detestable eyes† and â€Å"meaningful smile† appear on her friends’ face. Her belief of how her friends in fact hate her and laugh at her at behind reflects on the definition of fear of abandonment in the theory of the psychoanalysis. During her spying mission, Wang’s interaction with Yi, a married â€Å"short man in his forties or fifties† according the description in the novel, revealed another psychological defense of Wang: oedipal fixation, a dysfunctional bond with a parent of the opposite sex that she does not outgrow in adulthood and that does not allow her to develop mature relationship with her peers. Despite the fact that Wang’s relationship with Yi is based on a conspiracy, Wang has certainly developed some kind of emotion that is beyond her position as a spy toward her role and her target, Mr. Yi. Although the fact that Yi is in his forties or fifties may impair his charm in many ways, for Wang the age of Yi provides her a sense of fatherhood, which has been absent from her life since she was a young girl. Also, having a love affair with a married man gives her the feeling of competing with another woman, which reflects her being influenced by her father’s marriage. Being chosen to play the role of the mistress of Yi, Wang Jiazhi not only is an extremely skilled actress, but also has putted her full passion and dedication into her character even beyond the expectation of her job. Such a strong emotional attachment to her target and her life as Wang, the character, contributed largely to her excellence at the job; however at the same time, made it very hard for her to distinguish her own life as a spy and the life as Wang Jiazhi, who lives a luxury life and has no relation with the life of her own, the life filled with confusion, self doubt, and fear of betrayal. Wang’s small actions unconsciously depict a strong sense of hatred to her own life. She hates her family, her friends, and most importantly, herself. Her life is pointless except â€Å"when she is with Yi, she finds the meaning and purpose of living.† Wang feels truly alive only when she is acting as someone else, someone who could be anyone but herself. Therefore, Wang becomes so attached to her character that has forgotten that the original intention of this mission is to end it. When she is in the jewelry store with Yi, she realizes that this is her final plot of being  Wang Jiazhi. However, she can still control her ending pose. Wang chooses to warn Yi and to release him. As the result of her decision, she dies, and the Wang Jiazhi the character leaves the stage, but the play continues without Wang Jiazhi. In this way she does not have to return to her own life which she thinks is not worth of living. She, as an actress, has devoted her life for acting and has chosen to end her life as Wang Jiazhi for her stage and her own masterpiece. Her death has no direct relation with her affection to Yi. She has lived in her art and she died for her acting.

“Higher Learning” Reaction Paper

The film â€Å"Higher Learning† portrays the many prejudices and race issues that existed in America around 1995, when the movie premiered. The movie takes place at Columbus University, which serves as a fictional university undergoing the transition of America being a more diverse, free nation. From the time when America began its struggle with race and culture boundaries, people of the United States have shown their true beliefs towards other people who may look differently than they do; and the movie â€Å"Higher Learning† is a good example of the type of prejudices. Before the movie even starts, the title of the movie already promotes a message that lies in the title, â€Å"Higher Learning. † The title may suggest that, not only are students attending a university to gain more knowledge needed for the career they choose to pursue, but rather, obtain greater knowledge about life and living freely amongst one another without having race or culture boundaries. Students that are entering college are about to embark on a journey that will prepare them for real life adulthood. The title â€Å"Higher Learning† implies that being enrolled in college is not only for your academic development but also your social evolution. At the current time in the movie, when there were many race and culture boundaries that created conflict between people of different backgrounds; students, especially minorities, were being tested for real life situations by entering college. The way Singleton implements group of students of the same background around campus symbolizes the cultural divide between many different ethnic groups. The racial-ethnic groups that were all the minorities on campus were always seen together and rarely separated. Throughout the movie, many groups of students from different ethnic backgrounds often experienced altercations with each other. Two of the main groups that clashed throughout the movie were the African American students; some of whom involved themselves in the Black Panther organization, and the white supremacist group who recruited Remy from the university. Throughout the film we notice the extreme change of two students, Malik and Remy. Malik who is a gifted track athlete, attending the school on a cholarship, is a African American freshman whose views of different race and cultures are mature, whereas his attitude towards himself being a black track star are immature. We do not see him stereotype other students in the very beginning of the movie; however, we do notice that other students who were not African American acted differently toward Malik and they showed fear an d also hatred towards him. One person who builds hatred toward Malik is Remy. Remy is a white freshman student who is enrolled in the university and is not involved in anything. Remy is placed with an African American roommate and in the beginning of the movie. Remy quickly develops hatred towards the perceived ignorance of his roommates and his friends. Remy then distances himself from his own room and falls into the arms of a group of white supremacist who would like to have him join the group. Shortly, Remy is brainwashed into the group’s ideology that the group of white males promotes. The group of white supremacist displays their ethnocentrism of white people. Malik and Remy are caught in altercations throughout the movie, in which Singleton uses to cause rising action towards a climax that ultimately causes the belief that students have to change. Also, Malik, being involved in these situations, develops some frustration towards the beliefs and acts of Remy and the white supremacist. I believe that Singleton uses these rising actions as a symbol of the way that our environment can influence us and can sway our thoughts on issues. For example, Remy is vulnerable when he becomes an outcast after been known for saying things out of the ordinary. However, he is approached by skinheads that mold him into their group beliefs and values. At first Remy is uncertain when he witnesses his new friends beating up people on Halloween but he is reassured by Scott, who is the noticeable leader of the group, that what they are doing is good and making society cleaner. From there on Remy grows into a skinhead himself that has determination to get rid of the minorities. Malik also undergoes a similar change, where he develops into an individual who shows hate towards white people. Malik also begins to stereotype and he exemplifies this when we notice him dodging his close friend who is his roommate and even tells him that they can’t be seen together. Singleton’s also portrays the different cultures that each group shares. As a group, members enjoy practicing their culture and enjoying the freedom that they have to follow through with their practices. For example, the African American students enjoy listening to their rap, hip-hop, and R & B, and when they play their music in front of people from a different background, more importantly, the white skinheads; they scold the African American students and seek to get rid of them. I believe that Singleton uses this act of other cultures displaying their values to symbolize that America is a free nation where everyone is free to their own beliefs and values; however, many prejudices exist and many people have trouble accepting a more diverse society. Over time, America has come a long way from when segregation of minorities was protested. Being a minority is more accepted in today’s society. Also, even in younger generations, I am beginning to notice that, now, we do not see the color of a persons skin at first. Stereotypes still exist, and it seems almost common nature for one to stereotype a person, but in today’s society, these concepts are more thought about and held back in respect for one another. As a college student, I do not walk around campus and see only groups that consist of only one type of race. When I see groups of people, many of them are more diverse than ever. You can still notice that many of the different races still cling together almost by instinct, however even sometimes these groups interact with each other and are more socially accepting of one another. The racial divide no longer seems to exist as much as it did from the movie. There still are some people out there that still practice ethnocentrism; however, in today’s society, these people are now mostly looked down upon and can be considered a minority group. The race and culture barriers that once caused so much devastating acts of violence and treatment against people of a different background no longer litter the streets of everyday activity. The few people that still have negative beliefs of people of a different race are now sunken into the background of society. Many of the negative words are now kept inside and are often kept unsaid. These words often remain unsaid mainly because in today’s society people who promote prejudices against different races are more than often looked down upon. In addition, certain words now have different meanings, some completely opposite of what they meant in 1995. The way people communicate with people of a different race has changed greatly. There may be preconceived stereotypes that people still carry with them due, mainly in part, to the environment one grew up in. However, people have learned to respect one another and issues with communicating with people of a different race have become more at ease, rather than being hostile. In some ways, however, there are some similarities that exist between the time frame of the movie, and present-day. People in today’s society still stereotype one another. The stereotypical thought is often the first thought that comes across our mind when we see a person of a different race. Over time, though, stereotypes have been slowly diminishing in society. Some other similarities are the groups of people. Although the way that students group with each other is not based so much on race anymore; larger organizations still exist in today’s society. One example of an organization is the Ku Klux Klan. Also known as the KKK, the Ku Klux Klan is a group that consists of only people from the white race. Their main purpose is to reinforce their belief that the white race is more superior to any other races. Other groups also exist in today’s society that practice the values that they believe. However, these groups are not so much outgoing anymore and the acts of violence that the groups committed in the past are rarely seen in present day. There were many points throughout the movie where a scene occurred that caused viewers the realize something. For example, in the scene where Malik is in a conversation with Fudge, Fudge explains to Malik that all the students of the same race only interact with each other and are rarely seen with students of a different race. After Malik is told this, at that point in the scene, Malik’s face turns stern and the music becomes more dramatic. I believe it is at that time where Malik realized the social barriers that existed on campus and also around the world. Another scene that came to be very important to me is when Remy is seen in the first step of him becoming part of the white supremacist group. In the scene Remy is seen studying outside on some stairs shortly after leaving his room due to his African American roommates playing loud music. At the time Remy is vulnerable and is in need of company. The leader of the skinheads happens to approach Remy in this time of need and Remy is convinced into following Scott, the leader of the skinheads. These two scenes in the movie are two of the few scenes that stand out the most to me. These scenes stand out the most to me from other ones because these are two points in the movie where the way the two students perceive people of a different race begin to be altered by their environment. I believe that Singleton incorporated these scenes and the way the two characters develop in order to symbolize the change in society by whom we may encounter in life and how that can impact our beliefs. Another scene that I believe is significant is at the beginning of the movie when Malik enters an elevator after a white student, Kristen, is standing in the elevator about to go up. During this brief scene in the elevator, after Malik get in the elevator, Kristen clinches her purse more tightly and her facial expression shows fear for Malik. This scene shows that at the time of the movie how people reacted towards one another. It is also a brief time where you can notice that Malik only shakes his head when he sees how people react towards him. I enjoyed the movie very much. The movie pointed out the harsh reality of the way society was in 1995, especially on a diverse college campus. The move portrayed many acts of violence that may have occurred in real life and it helps to raise our attention and realize how ignorant people acted toward each other. After watching the movie I hope that people who discriminate against other races and cultures can change the way they think. The movie made me feel grateful, as well, for the people who went through this hard time in America and got through it in a righteous manner. After watching the movie, I became more aware of what the current time era presented to people. And that was ignorance, violence, prejudices, and discrimination towards people who looked differently than that of one’s self. I have much respect for the people who had to go through so much trouble just because they were different. I also enjoyed the movie because Singleton incorporated scenes that may seem out of the ordinary is today’s society, but is what really happened during the days of America segregating. The movie â€Å"Higher Learning† is directly related to our Sociology course, in that the film’s main them is racism, and other sociological issues that existed in 1995. In our sociology class, we learn about the reasons why humans interact with each other in the way that they do. In the movie â€Å"Higher Learning† many issues arise such as racism and discrimination, as well as, prejudices and barriers. In our sociology course, we learn about these issues and other sociological concepts so that we understand the way society interacts.

Bond Prices and Interest Rates Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Bond Prices and Interest Rates - Essay Example Similarly, a bond is said to be offered at a discount on its par value, if the bond price is less than the par value which occurs in the instance when the rate of return that is offered by the bond is less than the market rate of return that is offered on other similar risk assets in the market. A bond is said to be priced at par value if the market price of the bond is equal to the par value of the value which occurs in the instance when the rate of return offered by this bond and the required rate of return for this type of asset are equal. [1] [2] Moving on, we will now look at the basic pricing mechanism for bonds. This mechanism is the standard procedure that is used for bond pricing and states that the value of a bond must be equal to the present value of all the future payments that the bond will make over the course of its maturity. This is directly in line with the no arbitrage rule as the cost of this asset and the generated revenues are being equalized in the pricing technique. [1] [2] A basic formula for calculating bond price is given below: Coming to our specific question, as we can see from the mathematical equation for the derivation of bond prices, an increase in interest rates will lead to a decrease in bond prices.

Managing in a mized economy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Managing in a mized economy - Essay Example This therefore means that management of an entity would have to set up a system of delegation and working that would enable individuals within an organisation to extract resources from the society, process it and then sell it to members of the society. Most organisations are either publicly or privately owned (Gadkari, 1997). However, there is a growing trend of social entrepreneurship. 'Social entrepreneurship' is a term linked to the activists, NGOs, policymakers, international institutions and corporations which address a range of social issues in innovative and creative ways (Nicholls, 2006). Management techniques are adapted to be able to give all organisations guidelines and codes of best practices to apply in the setting up and running of successful businesses (Montana & Charnov, 2008). Management encourages the people with power and authority in organisations to set up permanent systems and structures as well as periodic targets and ends and ensure that they are attained thro ugh leading, co-ordination, monitoring and evaluation (Witzel, 2004). In this sense, management gives sufficient tools, techniques and guidance that can enable people in all forms of organisations to attain results. This means that management just gives people in authority the right and ideal standards and techniques to attain the standards and targets they set. This therefore means that management in public, private and voluntary organisations are essentially the same. However, Holley et al (2009) state that management in public, private and voluntary organisations are different because of the inherent nature of these forms of business. First of all, the public sector is set up by the government to provide services to the public at little or no costs. On the other hand, private businesses are set up to render a service to the society with a view of maximizing the profits of the owners. Voluntary organisations on the other hand, are set up by non-governmental entities to provide ser vices to the public at little or no costs and are usually funded by philanthropic efforts. The structures of authority and establishment of these entities create inherent differences in these organisations that makes it inappropriate for a manager to use the management system that works for one class of entity on another. This is because the government's requirement from public sector organisations are not the same as those used by the shareholders of private companies. Also, the requirements of sponsors of voluntary organisations are very different from these two. This therefore makes it necessary for different management systems to be used in each of these cases. Holley et al (2009) state that monopolistic conditions often exist in the public sector. This is because few people provide the same service that public sectors do. This therefore means that the requirements and desires of the public sector are not very demanding. On the other hand, the private sector is very competitive. This is because an average business seeks to gain a larger market share in the face of competition from other businesses that provide similar goods and services to members of the public. This therefore means that a private sector organisation needs to remain competitive to survive into the foreseeable future. Voluntary organisations are also specialised in their nature and do not often face competition directly (Courtney, 2002). However, their supreme goal is

Native Guard Poems By Natasha Trethewey Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Native Guard Poems By Natasha Trethewey - Essay Example The poem profoundly conveys her heart for the blacks in rich voice texture and images of truths concerning the battles not only against slavery for the fellow blacks but even with the unsettled issue of freedom that appears detached from the desired racial equality. â€Å"Native Guard† begins with an epigraph attributed to the 19th century social reformer and statesman Frederick Douglass stating â€Å"... if this war is to be forgotten, I ask in the name of all things sacred what shall men remember?† in reference to the Civil War which Trethewey revitalizes with her literary design. Utilizing ten stanzas each bearing distinct date, the poet pays tribute to one member of the Louisiana Native Guards being â€Å"the first officially sanctioned regiment of black soldiers in the Union Army.† With reference to the first line where the speaker expresses  Ã¢â‚¬ Truth be told, I do not want to forget†, the native guard himself is shown to have gathered to his sen sibility an essential contemplation of the past, adding â€Å"†¦I thought to carry with me / want of freedom though I had been freed, / remembrance not constant recollection†¦Ã¢â‚¬ . ... s and ends with a memory wherein the last line of each sonnet becomes a variant of the subsequent sonnet's opening line, as in a meaningful chronology of historical events. Since â€Å"Native Guard† is a first-person narrative supposedly by an unnamed ex-slave in an all-black regiment of the Union Army, the lines can be observed to possess stately approach to language and structure. Within the poem’s context is the presence of circularity depicting circumstantial shifts as one finds the former slave guarding the imprisoned inside the Union fort at Mississippi’s Ship Island. Comparing his personal life in relation to his professional life as a military officer who look after welfare of the fallen rebels, he states – I now use ink to keep record, a closed book, not the lure of memory — flawed, changeful — that dulls the lash for the master, sharpens it for the slave. For the slave, having a master sharpens the bend into work, the way the sergea nt moves us now to perfect battalion drill, dress parade. Trethewey’s style of writing in â€Å"Native Guard† is characteristic of a speaker’s tone or at least, a sound representative of the way speech is made in the culture or group the narrator has become a part of. Like journal entries, the words are phrased and constructed in a manner that indirectly yet effectively states the type of sentiments involved and along the following lines, the bitterness may be sensed with the drop of the last two words – †¦We’re called supply units - not infantry – and so we dig trenches, haul burdens for the army no less heavy than before. I heard the Colonel call it Nigger work†¦ Often, the work celebrates not only the factual details which history is not made to confront or disclose but also the most excruciating truths that

Student Learning from Preparing and Discussing Two Briefing Papers Essay

Student Learning from Preparing and Discussing Two Briefing Papers - Essay Example The products involved the power generation, transmission, distribution, industrial and building systems, and transportation, while the regions consisted of Asia Pacific, Europe and America (Haberberg and Rieple, 2008). For this reason, Bernavik was recognized for creating a fundamentally different model that could be used to organize and manage a large company. Before Bernavik handed over to Goran Lindahl, in 1997, ABB had continued to achieve spectacular results in which its profits had increased nearly four times, its turnover had doubled, and its return and capital employed had also increased from 12% to 20%, from 1988. However, five years later, after Goran took over the management, ABB started experiencing loses. According to Haberberg and Rieple (2008), the company had a debt of more than $4billion and had suffered a loss of about $691 million within five years: its survival was hanging in the balance. When Bernavik was the CEO, the company purchased about 200 companies, which were successful and formed the basis of global leadership positions. However, the main problem arose after the company decided to purchase an American Industrial boiler manufacture called the Combustion Engineering. As stated by Haberberg and Rieple (2008), after ABB had purchased the company, it was declared that Combustion Engineering insulated its product using asbestos. ... According to Haberberg and Rieple (2008), minimal administration led to lack of standardization of products. The company had four headquarters and about six hundred spreadsheets were being used around the ABB, which made it difficult to share files. In addition, independence of the companies was extremely high. For instance, one factory decided to export transformers to Africa, which was not in its Charter. Moreover, CEO Lindahl contributed highly to the problems ABB was facing. First, he simplified the innovation structure to eight product based divisions, which dissolved the regional dimensions from the matrix. According to Haberberg and Rieple (2008), this caused unnecessary political debate and compromised solutions because the managers concentrated on reconciling the demands of the products and regional bosses. Additionally, Lindahl made a decision to exit the transportation and power generation businesses and closed eleven factories in Europe, which led to loss of about 10,000 jobs. Although this helped the company to make a profit, it affected the expansion and productivity of the company. In addition, other CEO’s who came after Lindahl did not do much to promote the growth of the ABB. For instance, Jurgen Dormann did not know much about the company and the problems it was experiencing by the time he was appointed the CEO. He set up pension funds for the former CEO’s Bernavik and Lindahl of $51 and $81 respectively, which affected the financial status of the company. According to Douglas and Wind (2010:568), success can only be obtained by developing marketing strategies and products that match the specific characteristics of the international markets. Adopting a uniform

The Relationship Between Risk and Expected Rate of Return in CAPM Statistics Project

The Relationship Between Risk and Expected Rate of Return in CAPM - Statistics Project Example In the opinion of Roll and Ross (1980, pp.1073-1103.), this theory had considerable significance in empirical work during the 1960s and 1970s. However further researches on this concept have questioned its reliability and authenticity of the computation of empirical constellation of asset returns; and, many related theories have detected ranges of disenchantment with the CAPM. As a result, the most widespread CAPM underwent harsh criticisms not only by the academicians but also by financial experts. In addition, empirical researchers have gathered a range of evidence against this model during the last few decades. That evidence questioned the model’s assumptions and argued the dead of the beta. Roll and Ross (1980, pp.1073-1103.) say that this situation led to the demand for a more potential theory and it caused the formulation of Arbitrage Pricing Theory (APT). Although APT was developed recently, CAPM is considered as the basis of modern portfolio theory. According to Shanke n (1982, pp.1129-1140), the ATP is not more susceptible to empirical verification than the CAPM. The author also challenges the testability of arbitrage pricing theory as he finds that the basic elements of testability strategy would not properly work in the case of this model. He also points out that the theory precludes the differentials of expected return that form the basic structure of the concept. Huberman and Wang (2005, pp. 1-18) claim that both the CAPM and APT show relation between expected returns of assets and their covariance with other random variables.