Gender Struggle in a Thousand Splendid Suns Essay

â€Å"Women like us. We endure. It’s all we have.† Mariam, the child of a wealthy man and his house maid, lived by this quote all her life. The quote also applies to Laila, a woman who was raised in a modern household with education. An analysis of the hardships of women in Khaled Hosseinim’s, A Thousand Splendid Suns, would reveal that the injustices of society are coped with differently throughout several generations of women. Although Laila’s upbringing allowed her to be the stronger of the two women, both Mariam and Laila triumphed after enduring so much evil and cruelty. Their mothers on the other hand did not. Mariam’s mother, Nana, was at one point the house maid of a wealthy man named Jalil. She later on mothered his child, Mariam. Both Mariam and her mother had become outcastes and were sent to an isolated area as a consequence for the intolerable act. Mariam’s mother resents Jalil for it, and she also often complains about it to her daughter, ultimately trying to discourage Mariam from not trusting him. Ironically, Mariam’s mother did not openly express her resentment towards Jalil while he was around, nor did she ever attempt to change the situation. In using the inner strength that a woman contains Nana could have strived to make a better life for both she, and her child. Laila’s mother, Fariba, had a seemingly happy household, yet she often found herself immersed in overwhelming grief. When her sons Ahmad and Noor leave to fight in the jihad, and are later on killed in action Laila’s mother stays in bed mourning their loss. When the opportunity presents itself for the family to leave she wishes to stay in Afghanistan in order to see the freedom of the land that her sons died for. Fariba may have a more optimistic view in this sense. A look at the greater picture would reveal that she too lacks the effort to change the situation she is in, in similarity to Mariam’s mother. Fariba stayed in bed living in the past, letting everything take its course in hopes of justice, instead of solidifying her future by making a difference. Mariam and Laila are years apart by age, and come from two entirely different life styles, what brings these women together is one man, Rasheed. They are forced to marry this man through loss and heartache. Their marriages to Rasheed consist of emotional and physical abuse that is legally acceptable under fundamentalist Islamic governments such as the Mujahedeen and the Taliban. In addition to domestic violence, Laila and Mariam have to deal with senseless war, in which many of their closest loved ones lost their lives. Mariam and Laila endure because with their mentality it is simply the only choice they have. Neither of them would have been willing to just give up so they persevered and tried to make the best of the situations they faced. They both tried to have an optimistic view in a life that seemed to have little joy. Laila’s mother was never able to let go of the past and allow herself to move on from her son’s deaths. She was unable or unwilling to see her daughter and her husband as a way to make a happier future. Mariam’s mother became a bitter woman – perhaps many would say she had no choice, but we all have a choice in how we react and behave. She had decided to take her own life when Mariam because she felt she had nothing left to live for. These choices were something that Mariam and Laila would have never made, not because they were better than their mothers, but simply because they chose to never give up and never lose hope. In conclusion, Laila and Mariam overcame several accounts of injustice, evil, and extreme cruelty, unlike their mothers whom fell short upon effort. Despite their seemingly opposite upbringings both women far surpassed the efforts of their mothers. To endure is to continue or to last despite hardships, pain, and loss. Laila and Mariam clearly have endured through a series of injustices. It was their only choice. Bibliography Hosseini, Khaled. A Thousand Splendid Suns. New York: Riverhead, 2007. A Thousand Splendid Suns The history of Afghanistan is marked by death and loss and unimaginable grief. Ultimately, this is more than a story of survival in the face of what seem to be insurmountable odds. It is a story of the unconquerable spirit of a people and individuals seen through the eyes of two indomitable women. A Thousand Splendid Suns is told eloquently through the eyes of Laila and Mariam.

The eNotes Blog 3 Memoirs That ReimagineIllness

3 Memoirs That ReimagineIllness With the proliferation of illness narratives in the late nineteenth century, many writer-turned-patients have used the written word to capture what it means to face their own morality. There are a lot of illness narratives out there that feel disingenuous or overtly sentimental- and truthfully, it’s hard to say if we can ever fully understand another person’s suffering or sickness- but we seek these stories out anyway, wanting to learn from someone else’s experiences, wanting to better understand the impact of illness on our lives and the people around us. The best stories don’t promise inspiration or even a transformational change by the end, but promise to deliver the truth with emotional clarity and insight. Humor, even. From de-mystifying disease to self-discovery, these three memoirs seek to re-imagine what a story about illness can and should be. 1. Autobiography of a Face  by Lucy Grealy This is a memoir to the body, to a disease that was never named to Lucy Grealy as a child- at least not until much later. Grealy’s memoir centers on her childhood experiences of undergoing several operations and years of chemotherapy treatments to remove a cancerous tumor in her jaw, and the subsequent pain of fitting in, of overcoming her fear of being unloved. â€Å"It was the pain from that, from feeling ugly, that I always viewed as the great tragedy of my life,† Grealy writes. â€Å"The fact that I had cancer seemed minor in comparison.† Page count: 256 Publish date: March 18, 2003 2. Illness as Metaphor  by Susan Sontag Written as a reaction to her own experiences with cancer, Sontag’s Illness as Metaphor can hardly be considered a memoir; in fact, Sontag rarely appears in the text. But her book, which argues for the elimination of unwanted metaphorical thinking from our responses to illness, is as personal as it is social commentary. Sontag relies on her background as a researcher and critic to debunk common metaphors using medicine, literature, philosophy, and politics to solidify her case. This must-read teaches us how we think about and talk about disease, an enlightening read for any healthcare provider, patient, family member, scholar, or student. Page count: 87 Publish date: August 25, 2001 3. Intoxicated by My Illness  by Anatole Broyard In his autobiographical account about life with prostate cancer, Broyard writes, â€Å"the sick man sees everything as metaphor.† As a New York Times book critic and editor, he uses humor and literature in this collection of essays as a way of dealing with his diagnosis., Through these essays, he also seeks to know: How does one articulate â€Å"the imaginative life of the sick† and do it well? Page count: 156 Publish date: June 1, 1993

Free Essays on Madame Du Chatelet

Madame du Chatelet In a society where nobility disliked the notion of education for their daughters arose one of the great mathematicians of the eighteenth century, Frenchwoman, Emilie du Chatelet. Born in Paris December 17, 1706, she grew up in a household where the art of courting was the only way one could mold a place in society. During her early childhood, Emilie began to show such promise in the area of academics that soon she was able to convince her father that she needed attention. Provided with a relatively good education for the time, she studied and soon mastered Latin, Italian and English. In spite of her talents in the area of languages, her true love was mathematics. Her study in this area was encouraged by a family friend, M.de Mezieres, who recognized the young lady’s talent. Emilie’s work in mathematics was rarely original or as captivating as that of other female mathematicians but it was substantive. The fact that it was accomplished in the first place is in it self remarkable. Emilie not only refused to give up mathematics but she engaged the best known tutors to help her in her study. She also conquered the heart of Voltaire, one of the most intriguing and brilliant scholars of this time. Some of Emilie’s most significant work came from the period she spent with Voltaire at Cirey-sur-Blaise. For the two scholars this was a safe and quiet haven distant from the turbulence of Paris and court life. As Voltaire notes â€Å"We long employed all our attention and powers upon Leibniz and Newton; Mme du Chatelet attached herself first to Leibniz, and explained one part of his system in a book exceedingly well written, entitled Institutions de physique† (1,p.56). However she soon abandoned the work of Leibniz and applied herself to the discoveries of the great Newton. She was extremely successful in translating his whole book of principals of mathematics into French. She also ... Free Essays on Madame Du Chatelet Free Essays on Madame Du Chatelet Madame du Chatelet In a society where nobility disliked the notion of education for their daughters arose one of the great mathematicians of the eighteenth century, Frenchwoman, Emilie du Chatelet. Born in Paris December 17, 1706, she grew up in a household where the art of courting was the only way one could mold a place in society. During her early childhood, Emilie began to show such promise in the area of academics that soon she was able to convince her father that she needed attention. Provided with a relatively good education for the time, she studied and soon mastered Latin, Italian and English. In spite of her talents in the area of languages, her true love was mathematics. Her study in this area was encouraged by a family friend, M.de Mezieres, who recognized the young lady’s talent. Emilie’s work in mathematics was rarely original or as captivating as that of other female mathematicians but it was substantive. The fact that it was accomplished in the first place is in it self remarkable. Emilie not only refused to give up mathematics but she engaged the best known tutors to help her in her study. She also conquered the heart of Voltaire, one of the most intriguing and brilliant scholars of this time. Some of Emilie’s most significant work came from the period she spent with Voltaire at Cirey-sur-Blaise. For the two scholars this was a safe and quiet haven distant from the turbulence of Paris and court life. As Voltaire notes â€Å"We long employed all our attention and powers upon Leibniz and Newton; Mme du Chatelet attached herself first to Leibniz, and explained one part of his system in a book exceedingly well written, entitled Institutions de physique† (1,p.56). However she soon abandoned the work of Leibniz and applied herself to the discoveries of the great Newton. She was extremely successful in translating his whole book of principals of mathematics into French. She also ...

The online world Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

The online world - Essay Example In the following discussion, the focus is on enhancement of our personal and social lives by the online world. Social networking, cloud-based computing, and mobile technologies are transforming how people learn, work, and play. Digital technology has evolved quickly from personal computers and networks to participatory social, academic, and political Web 2.0 environments with a new vocabulary and new temporal and special interactions. Web 2.0 applications safari, Geocaching, Flickr, Google, Blogger, GarageBand, YouTube, iMovies, Facebook, Twitter, iPhone, and iPad are part of the new user-centric information infrastructure that emphasizes creative participation over presentation; encourages focused conversation and short briefs written in less technical, public vernacular; and facilitates innovative explorations, experimentations, and purposeful tinkering that often forms the basis of situated understanding that emerges from action. In the current world, the online world has replaced the actual lives, thanks to the introduction of new devices and a new lifestyle. The strategy involves using iPads instead of clipboards and switching manual activities to technological ones. Additionally, the online world involves putting information on an online device as opposed to delivering it manually. This substitution has come as a benefit in the business world due to upgrade of performance. Arguably, companies across the globe have embraced the online world and operations have improved. Doing business is now easy, thanks to introduction of e-Commerce, which has made it possible to move to Smartphones from the PC and wallets have been replaced with e-Payments for example PayPal and Payoneer online money transfer which is done in the social media (Kadushin 67). Substituting everything to technology is easy to understand because physical stores have been replaced with e-Store for instance

Smartphone Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Smartphone - Essay Example The will be able to produce a cell that can retain charge for a long time and which is appealing to their consumers because of its light weight. The company will incur a cost of ?830,000 to make a slim durable cell. This will enable them to capture the Smartphone market before the Korean rivals. For MidlandsPhones to be able to achieve their targets, they will have to commit a lot of resources to accomplish this undertaking. The company has adequately planned for skilled directors and other staff members to execute the plan (Lewis, 200, p. 65). The aim of the MidlandsPhones Company is to launch their product before the December so that during the vacation, they can be able to make significant sales. Another target is to be the first company to enter into the market with a light and long lasting battery for a Smartphone (Sheila, 2008). Finally, the company will have to carry out thorough market research to ensure they have an adequate potential to meet customers’ requirements. As a result, the company has set aside a lot of resources to complete their project with the set time and achieve their objectives. Getting into the market earlier than before the entry of any other rival is crucial because it will help the MidlandsPhones Company to capture market share and strengthen their competitive potential. This company will also be able to raise enough funds to cover for expenses incurred during research. It will also help them to mitigate the anticipated decline in market growth in the year 2013 as a result of increasing rivalry. The MidlandsPhones Company has partnered with PowerDev Company to ensure the proposed plan has succeeded. They have formed a strong production and marketing team who will avail the product for sale after four months once the project commences. The MidlandsPhones will also be able to utilize the resources available for the project and work within the set time to ensure smooth running of the activities. This will assist them to avoid unnecessary delays which would otherwise result to stiff rivalry from other producers. Having experienced project team is of paramount importance because it will ensure efficiency of resource use and timely launching of the product. Question 2: Reasons for Venture Preparation and Appendices (a). Scope (appendix 1) The project staff should set the time period with which they will achieve their specific goals (Urquhart-Brown, 2008, p. 54). They should also establish qualified project workers which will ensure the set goals are achieved within specified time. In addition, they should utilize all the available resources effectively to ensure the plans are attained. The staff should set the means and frequency of disseminating of information within themselves and with the company’s management to ensure adequate coordination of the activities. The MidlandsPhones will launch the new Smartphone with light and durable battery towards the end of November 2012. To ensure this plan is ac hieved, the company has established a strong establishment staff headed by an experienced production and marketing manager who will direct the members during the entire project period. The project staff will work to ensure the product is ready for market starting on first December 2013. The staff will also mobilize all the available resources to ensure the company’s target is achieved. They will also ensure that the company’

Leadership and Change Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Leadership and Change Management - Essay Example Leadership development is a complex process as I witnessed over last year and the issues covered by the meetings proved vital in changing my perception of human resource management and how to influence change in the organization structure. The failure to address challenges in the process could be highlighted in the preceding meeting. The process was a complex one although the challenges were diverse. I learned vital issues in change management, which will be addressed later in this reflective analysis. One of the vital issues addressed by the meeting is group cohesion and participation. The participation of individuals in the meeting helped to make the meetings interesting. In fact, the availability of the group members ensured that the objectives of the meeting were met. The individual performance of the group members ensured that all the vital issues in management were handled perfectly and even resolved amicably. The delegation of duties to the individual made the tasks easy to co mplete (Paton, Paton, & McCalman, 2008, p. 56). I learned from the process the vital nature of communication when handling human labor or education members. It was not easy to establish the code of practice among the members, but we were able to work due to mutual trust and cohesion. The change management strategy and collective responsibility are essential issues on the addressing of change within the organization such as the development of leadership skills and experience. As the meeting progressed, several issues could be raised that needed to be solved by the group members. Planning for the meeting was left to the chair-lady because she was the facilitator of the meeting and could handle leadership issues effectively. Under her leadership, several issues were addressed and the issues include the role of every group member. Through the development of group cohesion, she ensured that the group could operate better than expected. The resistance to change was evident within the grou p during the initial stages of operation. This indicated the power of inertia and the role of perception in trying to reach and change an established system (Okbor, 2001, p. 23). The planning of the meeting was perfect and led to the effective completion of the project and attainment of the set goals and objectives of the study. The planning of the ideas or themes to be discussed during the meeting was done by the chair lady with the support from the group members. The group used consensus building in the development of a meeting planner and the issues to be addressed by the group. It was not easy to resolve certain issues in the first meeting. Such vital issues were deferred and were addressed in the later meetings including the third meeting (Lusardi, 2012, p. 89). However, after the completion of the planning process, it was easier to develop and come up with the necessary plan of the meetings throughout the year. The direction and facilitation of the meeting were left to the cha ir-lady and the group members were in charge of the participation. The participation of the various members was monitored by the facilitator who recommended a plan of action, which included the probing of the group members and evaluating their understanding of the concepts discussed through the meetings.

My review and judgement for Toyshops online marketing Essay Example for Free

My review and judgement for Toyshops online marketing Essay Top shop online retail website allows their customer to purchase their products online. Top shop is generally regarded as the high street fashion centre for all women and men under 30, reasonably priced clothes suitable for all occasions. Top shop is one of the better laid out online shops the site uses an attractive black colour scheme and the clothes are divided into categories, viewers can choose to browse by New In items, Special Offers, Sale, Kate Moss range, Dresses, etc. Topshop is a high street fashion retailer that has been up and running since 1964 and is has successfully open 300 store across the UK, do shipments to more than 100 countries and has their eclectic British style is known all over the world. Over the years they have built a strong bond with industry insiders and in 2002 they joined forces with newgen, a scheme which allowed them to foster new design talent and provide a global platform for the scene’s brightest new stars. Topshop also the only high street brand to show on schedule at London Fashion week and Topshop Unique has become the style set’s hottest ticket. The Topshop formula is proving not just popular/reputation but profitable too. The chain made around $200 million in pre-tax profits last year on revenues of approximately $1.14 billion. Topshop online marketing system is very effective to its viewers/ users, Topshop’s online website benefits their customers because it give their customers the opportunity to visit their website at any time during business hours which make online shopping an excellent option for many busy shoppers. One of the most obvious benefit for online shoppers is convenience, online shoppers has the ability to purchase products/service from Topshop’s online website at any time which is most convenient for them. Their online website accepts orders twenty-four hours a day during normal business hours. Topshop’s online website provides their customers with total product information. Customers shopping online expect product details which is the Price, information on how the product or service runs on how to use it an so on, this is a benefit for the customer because before purchasing a product they get to see the price and get information on the product on how it will work out for them so they will get an rough idea of how it will work so before purchasing they could compare and select whether the price is suitable for them and if the service or product has what they need. Viewing items is easy – viewers can just click on the item they want to view in more detail and it brings up the name of the item, the price, a brief description of the product, materials used, suggestions for how to wear it, and a picture of the front and the back which you are able to zoom in. customers can see what sizes the item is available in sizes go from 6-16 and any sizes not in stock are greyed out. The business online features is beneficial to their viewer because it help to their viewers to find exactly what they are looking for in other words ‘easy to use’; images, colours, gifs, videos, drop down menus and search bars are all useful to the business viewers. Topshop’s online website also provides their viewers to be able to create their own account with the company, get additional information on their business, clothing and also complaints, viewers can write their own review on their products and service that the business offers. The effectiveness of the of Topshop marketing The effectiveness of Topshop marketing online gives customers an opportunity to purchase items from their online webpage, collect information about the product, service and also information about the business, their online webpage is also design in a way to enable their customers to get exactly what the they are looking; at the bottom of Topshop online webpage is where customers can get the information there need from the business such as, information about the business, how to find different branches, help and also other website that the customers can visit for update; Facebook, twitter, YouTube and also Google. Images, videos, pictures, drop down menus, gifs and search bar play a big impact on how customers view the business webpage, it make it easier for the customers to locate stuff on the business webpage, because these online features are visual. Topshop online website is effective because it help to attraction new customers to the business. The internet is a main asset to many people because they use this on a regular basis whether it is to communication, gather information or locate new places. Topshop use many marketing techniques to promote their online business, these are; promotional adverts online, email promotion, hyperlinks, on website such as twitter and Facebook and so on YouTube. Topshop also have an app for all smartphone, where customers can use to also purchase item, gather information and so on, this is very effective for their customers because this give their customers the advantage to shop from anywhere, during business hours. Topshop internet marketing states for Facebook and Twitter. Topshop continues to grow its following on social media sites, due to lots of features, in-store promotions and relatively high levels of engagement with fans and followers. Stats from E-Digital Research look at the number of followers for the top 20 retailers on Facebook and Twitter and, for the first time, Google+. Top 20 UK retailers on Facebook Topshop was also in pole position and it has added more than 1m new fans since May 2011. Its target audience are big Facebook and social media in general users, so the strategy of promoting its Facebook presence works well. Content is regularly updated to keep people interested, while it also promotes its social media profiles in stores and from its website. The retailer uses exclusive deals and interactive content to keep people interested. How much this translates into sales is another matter, but its significant that it hasnt opened an f-commerce store, presumably preferring to drive users to its product pages.