P.T. Barnum's Cruelty within the Circus Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

P.T. Barnum's Cruelty within the Circus - Essay Example From time to time, he was indicted of being misleading and encouraging bogus publicity. He just modified the truth and made it appear more attractive. He was aware of what America required and he delivered exactly the same. This paper sheds light on animal abuse and violence in circus, with special reference to P. T. Barnum’s circus and its cruel behavior with elephants, particularly ‘Jumbo’ - a big, 13000-pound African Elephant. Jumbo was a huge ‘sensation’ in the London Zoo. During the period of 16 years he gave rides to thousands of kids on his back and pleased people with his naughty, humorous nature. However, surreptitiously the enormous creature - Jumbo - terrified zoo representatives with bad temper - and it appeared that just the similarly disobedient Scott could handle him. Therefore, the London Zoo management sold Jumbo and shipped him - along with Scott - to P.T. Barnum for his well-known circus. One may have doubted how the Barnum circus m akes a 13000-pound Jumbo to carry out tricks such as â€Å"sitting up or standing on his or her head† (Coup, p. 22). It is by means of ruthless behavior of trainers. The well-known circus shatters the strength of elephants when they are defenseless kids who should be staying with their mothers. They had a life of slavery from the second they came into this world: all innate movements, all senses and way of being is shattered, by means of bull hooks, ropes as well as electric shock. In the year 1885, during the tour of Canada, Jumbo was hit by a cargo train and killed on the spot. Barnum's subsequent test was to modify public feelings with reference to the theater. Generally considered as ‘places of wickedness’, Barnum desired to place them as fortresses of learning as well as amusement, and as ‘highly regarded’ middle-class hobby. He constructed the city's biggest as well as most ‘up to date’ theater, which was named as â€Å"Moral Lect ure Room† (Hartzman, p. 111). Circus Cruelty During the year 1882, P.T. Barnum gave 10,000 USD to buy Jumbo, the most renowned elephant around the world, chained up like ‘Houdini’, â€Å"stuffed into a crate and sailed across the ocean to New York City† (Bartholomew, p. 89). Barnum purchased Jumbo inexpensively because - not known to him but known to Zoo keepers in London - â€Å"the elephant had gone bonkers† (Bartholomew, p. 89). Jumbo had turn out to be such a danger that his possessors were afraid for the protection of a number of kids riding on his back. One of these rides had an asthmatic Teddy Roosevelt, who, possibly shocked by the incident, would later attacked and killed four elephants in less than five minutes while on safari in British East Africa (Bartholomew, p. 96). Jumbo was so devastated by his journey through ocean, detained within his barred enclosure, which his trainer had to get him intoxicated. In view of the fact that alcoholic drinks were previously a part his standard food, making the elephant to gulp down a few buckets of whiskey was not a difficult task. Following three years Barnum got his reward elephant, Jumbo â€Å"met his end† (Bartholomew, p. 96) during a direct collision with an ‘off-schedule locomotive’. The calamity took place as the animals were entering into the boxcars to go to the next town. A roaming circus is simply a headache and nothing else, particularly when one is using inflexible, unpredictable creatures like lions as well as

Annotated Bibliography Of John Steinbeck

Annotated Bibliography Of John Steinbeck East of Eden is John Steinbecks most famous novel. This book published in 1952 has won international critical acclaim, and propelled Steinbeck to international glory. Critics, both positive and negative, often describe the book as the most ambitious literary project of Steinbeck. The book talks about the intricacies of two families that live in the Salinas valley. The families are the Hamiltons and the Trasks. The two families have interwoven stories. The book originally addresses the authors two young sons, Thom and john. The book describes in detail the Salinas valley in California where the story is set. The story also involves other places like Connecticut and Massachusetts. The Salinas valley in central California is aptly described as it is the setting of the book. The story begins with the Hamilton family that has emigrated from Ireland. Samuel Hamilton raised his brood of nine children on some infertile patch of land until they are able to fed for themselves. As Hamiltons children begin to leave home, a well-off stranger buys the best ranch in the Salinas valley. The stranger is Adam Trask, and he has come to his riches after discovering that his father left him and his brother some worthwhile inheritance. Adam has fallen in love, and married Cathy Ames, a girl who is described as a monster. This is because she has been a manipulator of men, and she has left home after killing her parents. After giving birth, Cathy shoots Adam in the shoulders and flees. Adam has to rear his twin boys with the help of Samuel Hamilton and Lee. Lee is a Cantonese servant of Adam. The three men make good companionship and engage in lively biblical debates. Cathy turns to prostitution, and through murder, manages to acquire a brothel. The boys grow up, and Samuel Hamilton dies. Adam loses his fortune in a business misfortune. One of the boys chooses to farm, and the other twin becomes a priest. Caleb the farmer gets to be successful. During thanksgiving, he gives his father a gift of $15,000, which his father rejects. Meanwhile, his brother, Aron wants to drop out of college. The book ends with Adam bedridden, and Lee pleading with Adam to forgive his son. Benson.J. (1977). John Steinbeck: Novelist as Scientist. Novel, Vol. (10):6. It is important to note that, during the publication of East of Eden, the book did not get positive acclaim. It was rejected for many literary and biblical allusions that did not auger well with the critics of his day. East of Eden has been loved by the general readership worldwide. One of the failures of the East of Eden is that the book has borrowed heavily from Author Gunns book, New family physician. The borrowing is used to deepen the creative legacy and artistic portrait of Samuel Hamilton. John Steinbeck, in writing East of Eden, has strayed from his literary style and adherence to realism and naturalism. This is because of his habit of what he has referred to as creative reading. Creative reading can be related to creative writing. Only in this case it is the opposite, for the creative reader reads to write. The implication is that Steinbeck has immersed himself in various documents, some of them scientific to come up with East of Eden. The book has been superimposed with so many allusions that it loses the fictional ability with which it is supposed to command the reader of fiction. The result is that the book borders on non fictional work. In many respects, the book is drawn from the authors background. This makes it an autobiographical stretch of his life. For example, Samuel Hamilton, the benign farmer is a representation of Steinbecks grandfather. His execution of form (Steinbecks) is heavily influenced by other works. The problem is not the heavy borrowing, the problem is the way he has failed to disguise his borrowing. It is a fact that all great literary work is some form of copying, or stealing. Shakespeare plagiarized ninety percent from ancient Greek writing. He plagiarized in mastery disguise, and what we have of him are great works. East of Eden is blatantly plagiarized. Fensch, T. (1988). Conversations with John Steinbeck. New York: Free Press. The use of symbols and symbolization has been employed to masterly level in East of Eden. Like in all his other novels, symbolism is one of the marks that distinguish the works of Steinbeck. Symbolism is the use of objects, figures, colors and characters in representing abstract ideas and concepts. The usage of symbolism in East of Edn is of the most classical nature. Symbolism brings out the realism in East of Eden without sacrificing modernism. Salinass valley, that was the original title of the novel, is a representation of the biblical Garden of Eden. The lyrical opening of the book with a description of the smells and sights of the valley parallels the garden of Edn that is virginal in its depiction in the bible. The Salinas valley is the home of the contest between the likes of Adam and Cathy. It depicts the genesis of the great diabolical deception that contributed to the fall of man. The title rightly depicts the fall of man, for in the biblical chronology, man was chased out towards the east. The mountains in the Salinas valley represent the struggle of man between the eternal forces of good and bad. The scars that Charles Trask get after wounding himself represent the mark of Cain. French, W. (1976). John Steinbeck and Modernism, in Steinbecks Prophetic Vision of America, ed. Tetsumaro Hayashi and Kenneth Swan. Indiana: Upland press. One of the characteristics of the books of Steinbeck is that they contain spiritual positivism. In East of Eden there, is the tendency of the writer to want to lift the reader and to encourage the reader. This is one of the most enduring positive traits of East of Eden. The author does not adopt a strict moralistic view or an amoral view. Rather, it puts to the reader that sainthood and damnation are both available to human beings. The difference between the two is determined by the choice of man. The author has drawn vivid biblical allusions that portray that human choices are the determinants if his destiny. The titling of the book captures the fall of man in the original Garden of Eden. The author has, however, used some depictions that contradict the biblical stories. In reading the book, it is apparent that the portrayal of women is negative. The negative traits of Cathy Ames are exaggerated. It is a well known fact that the author depicts her as the devil, and this is taking th e negation of women too far. This is because no other male character gets to do the wicked things that she has been doing. The other insult to womanhood is that the author has not at least developed another female character to counter the negative image of Cathy Ames. The grief that is so apparent at the end of the book does not do much to lift the hope of the reader. The sense of guilty that follows the characters in the book is not good for the book. This is because the main characters seem to find no atonement for the wrongs that they have done in society. Parini, J. (1996). John Steinbeck: A Biography. Carlifornia: Holt Publishing. The critical acclaims that Steinbeck has got have been from his short stories and rarely for his novels. A significant observation is that the author has not faired well even with a book that won him the Nobel Prize in literature in 1962. This is the book, East of Eden. In fact, his literary fame and reputation declined with the publication of East of Eden. The book in discussion, East of Eden, is overly theatrical. Its biblical allusions are farfetched, and the portrayal main character lacks originality. The book is an amalgamation of themes, characters and literary styles from various sources without cogent intrinsic threading. It is disconjuctive in it ending, and leaves the reader with a sour taste in the mouth. The book is too sentimental and philosophically simplistic. Although Steinbeck remains on of the most celebrated authors, East of Eden is no Paradise Lost. Its humor is overly sympathetic, and the sociological perception that is said to distinguish is work is water down i n this work by an overt desire to see himself, and his family, in his works. Robert. ed. (2002). John Steinbeck, Novels 1942-1952. Washington: Library of America. East of Eden is a paradox in its reception. This is because the public received the book well with the critics writing off the book. The book, like all Steinbecks past world war two books, is not hard to understand. This is because it develops the themes that are first exposed in his short stories. The criticisms of heavy borrowing from Gunns works, and the biblical allusions cannot detract from his work.

The Myth Behind La Virgen de la Caridad del Cobre :: Cuban Culture

The Myth Behind La Virgen de la Caridad del Cobre To many Cuban-Americans living in Miami, La Virgen de la Caridad del Cobre, is one of the only ties remaining that unifies them with their homeland. The Virgin is a renowned and integral part of Cuban culture and plays an important role in the Catholic heritage of Cubans exiled inside and outside of North America. The church, La Ermita de la Caridad del Cobre, is a memorial that was constructed in honor of her and is a monument to the religious and political history of the island. Since there are many different versions circulating about the sighting of the Virgin, one must discuss the most popular and the most commonly accepted. The myth behind the La Virgen de la Caridad del Cobre, originated in 1606. The Virgin appeared one day in the Bay of Nipe near Santiago to two brothers, Rodrigo and Juan de Hoyos, and to Juan Moreno,a black boy roughly ten years of age. They were out on a fishing trip in the Bay. While struggling in their storm tossed boat, they heard a voice declare, "I am the Virgin of Charity." In one hand, the Virgin carried a mulatto baby Jesus; in the other, she held a cross. She also appeared to be holding a tablet which contained the inscription, "I am the Virgin of Charity." A replica of the same tablet is now framed and displayed on the first floor of La Ermita in Santiago de Cuba. In Cuba, there is also a statue of the Virgin, approximately one meter tall, located in a small chapel on the second floor. The statue is of a pretty mulatta who wears dangling earrings and a golden robe. La Virgen's racial attributes is a mixture of black, white and Indian; essentially, it covers the entire racial makeup of Cuba. She has dark hair and carries the baby Jesus in one hand and a cross in the other. People flock to her memorial to pray to her and give her thanks. They often leave small tokens of their appreciation and gratitude. To the exile community, she represents a Catholic Cuba untouched by the religious beliefs of the communist regime of he last four decades.

Production and Operation Management Essay

The Bronson Insurance Group was originally founded in 1900 in Auxvasse, Missouri, by James Bronson. The Bronson Group owns a variety of companies that underwrite personal and commercial insurance policies. Annual sales of the Bronson Group are $100 million. In recent years, the company has suffered operating losses. In 1990, the company was heavily invested in computer hardware and software. One of the problems the Bronson Group faced (as well as many insurance companies) was a conflict between established manual procedures and the relatively recent (within the past 20 years) introduction of computer equipment. This conflict was illustrated by the fact that much information was captured on computer but paper files were still kept for practical and legal reasons. FILE CLERKS The file department employed 20 file clerks who pulled files from stacks, refilled used files, and delivered files to various departments including commercial lines, personal lines, and claims. Once a file clerk received the file. Clerks delivered files to underwriters on an hourly basis throughout the day. The average file clerk was paid $8,300 per year. One special file clerk was used full time to search for requested files that another file clerk had not been able to find in the expected place. It was estimated that 40 percent of the requested files were these â€Å"no hit† files requiring a search. Often these â€Å"no hit† files were eventually found stacked in the requester’s office. The primary â€Å"customers† of the file clerks were underwriters and claims attorneys. UNDERWRITING Company management and operations analysts were consistently told that the greatest problem in the company was the inability of file clerks to supply files in a speedy fashion. The entire company from top to bottom viewed the productivity and effectiveness of the department as unacceptable. An underwriter used 20-50 files per day. Because of their distrust of the files department, underwriters tended to hoard often used files. A count by operations analysts found that each underwriter kept from 100-200 files in his or her office at any one time. An underwriter would request a file by computer and work on other business until the file was received. Benson employed 25 underwriters. MANAGEMENT INFORMATION SYSTEM Upper management was deeply concerned about this problem. The MIS department had suggested using video disks as a possible solution. A video disk system was found that would be sufficient for the Semester II Examination Papers IIBM Institute of Business Management companies needs at a cost of about $12 million. It was estimated that the system would take two years to install and make compatible with existing information systems. Another, less attractive was using microfilm. A microfilm system would require underwriters to go to a single keyboard to request paper copies of files. The cost of a microfilm system was $5 million. 1. What do you recommend? Should the company implement one of the new technologies? Why or why not? 2. An operations analyst suggested that company employees shared a â€Å"dump on the clerks† mentality. Explain. Caselet 2 Harrison T. Wenk III is 43, married, and has two children, ages 10 and 14. He has a master’s degree in education and teachers junior high school music in a small town in Ohio. Harrison’s father passed away two months ago, leaving his only child an unusual business opportunity. According to his father’s will, Harrison has 12 months to become active in the family food-catering business, KareFull Katering, Inc., or it will be sold to two key employees for a reasonable and fair price. If Harrison becomes involved, the two employees have the option to purchase a significant, but less than majority, interest in the firm. Harrison’s only involvement with this business, which his grandfather established, was as an hourly employee during high school and college summers. He is confident that he could learn and perhaps enjoy the marketing side of the business, and that he could retain the long-time head of accounting/finance. But he would never really enjoy day-to-da y operations. In fact, he doesn’t understand what operations management really involves. In 1991 Kare-Full Katering, Inc. had $3.75 million in sales in central Ohio. Net profit after taxes was $ 105,000, the eleventh consecutive year of profitable operations and the seventeenth in the last 20 years. There are 210 employees in this labor-intense business. Institutional contracts account for over 70 percent of sales and include partial food services for three colleges, six commercial establishments) primarily manufacturing plants and banks), two long -term care facilities, and five grade schools. Some customer location employs a permanent operations manager; others are served from the main kitchens of Kare-Full Katering. Harrison believes that if he becomes active in the business, one of the two key employees, the vice president of operations, will leave the firm.Harrison has decided to complete the final two months of this school year and then spend the summer around Kare-Full Katering – as well as institutions with their own food services – to assess whether he wants to become involved in the business. He is particularly interested in finding out as much as possible about operations. Harrison believes he owes it to his wife and children to fairly evaluate this opportunity.

Family Law Reflecting Moral and Ethical Issues

The legal system continuously endeavours and reforms to provide effective legislative remedies and modify existing legislation to reflect the changing nature of the Australian family structure. Family law has always been a colossal aspect of Australian society with many effective measures in place for family matters. Numerous values and their effectiveness have been debated through various features of family law, and these debates continue to the present day. Divorce is the legal dissolution of a marriage by an official court decision and was once frowned upon within society, and prior to 1974, married couples who wished to divorce had to apply under the Matrimonial Causes Act 1959 (Cth) on the ground of â€Å"fault† – that is, on the basis that one or both spouses admitted to acting in a way that undermined their marriage (for example, adultery, cruelty, insanity and desertion). However, the first major change to family law in Australia occurred when the law took reform in this aspect with the Family Law Act 1975 (Cth), which states that the only ground for divorce is the â€Å"irretrievable breakdown of the marriage†, such as the case in the marriage of Todd (1976), one or two of the spouses must consent for divorce. The declining influence of religion and the idea that marriage does not always â€Å"last for life† were social factors that influenced this change. The erosion of the concept of fault and the establishment of a single ground for divorce thus demonstrates changing societal values and how law is changed over time. Australian society believes that it is important to protect the disadvantaged, or those who cannot act to preserve their own rights – particularly children. After a marriage has been dissolved, it is the responsibility of both parents to provide financial support for their children as the case of Campbell and Campbell (1998) established that it is in the best interests of the child to maintain the lifestyle to which they have grown accustomed. The Australian Bureau of Statistics Marriages and Divorces 2011 Media release indicates there are 44,000 children under 18 affected by divorce. As such, the Child Support (Assessment) Act 1989 (Cth) requires that children receive a proper level of financial support from their parents and the Child Support (Registration and Collection) Act 1988 (Cth) ensures that periodic amounts payable by parents towards the maintenance of their children are paid on a regular and timely basis. Prior to the Acts, only 40% of claims for child maintenance were being met, whereas after the Acts were passed, approximately 70% of claims are being met. The new emphasis on children’s rights and parental responsibility reflects the social perception that children are vulnerable members of our society and thus require greater legal protection. Another important change in social attitudes has been the increasing acceptance of same-sex relationships, and recent law reforms have centred on providing same-sex couples with the same rights as de facto heterosexual relationships, and removing discrimination based on sexuality. At the State level, the De Facto Relationships Act 1984 (NSW) was amended to the Property (Relationships) Act 1984 (NSW), for the growing acceptance of heterosexual and homosexual relationships highlighted by news article ‘Partners who just can’t wait (2010)‘ which states the growth in unmarried couples living together. It now recognises same-sex relationships as having the same legal standing as heterosexual de facto relationships, and thus provides protection to people in same-sex de facto relationships in property division, inheritance and decision-making in illness and after death. The Miscellaneous Acts Amendment (Same Sex Relationships) Bill 2008 (NSW) creates amendments to 57 pieces of state legislation to ensure de facto couples (including same-sex couples) are treated equally with married couples. This Act also creates amendments to the Anti-discrimination Act 1977 (NSW) to ensure that same-sex couples are protected from discrimination on the basis of their â€Å"marital or domestic status† in employment, accommodation and access to goods and services, articulated in the Daily Telegraph ‘Gay couple win foster care case (2008)’, after a gay couple won $10,000 in damages when their application to become foster carers was refused. However in terms of federal laws at present, same-sex couples are unable to marry. The Marriage Act 1961 (Cth) defines marriage as â€Å"the union of a man and a woman to the exclusion of all others voluntarily entered into for life†, a definition established by the case of Hyde v Hyde and Woodmansee (1866) and repeated in the Family Law Act 1975 (Cth). In 2004, the Commonwealth Government reconfirmed the traditional concept of marriage as the â€Å"union of a man and a woman† when it passed the Marriage Amendment Act 2004 (Cth) meaning same-sex marriage is automatically void in Australia, ncluding overseas marriages. Over time, both State and federal governments in Australia have enacted legislation to encourage and enforce practices which are not only in the public interest, but also reflect the moral and ethical standards of society. While legislative mechanisms have been reasonably successful in achieving this goal with regard to the introduction of â€Å"no-fault† divorce and the protection of children, there is the need for further review and reform of legislation concerning same-sex couples.