Passage Essay Example for Free

Passage Essay Passage: â€Å"As I have endeavored to show you how Europeans become Americans; it may not be disagreeable to show you likewise how the various Christian sects introduced, wear out, and how religious indifference becomes prevalent. When any considerable number of a particular sect happens to dwell contiguous to each other, they immediately erect a temple, and there worship the Divinity agreeably to their own peculiar ideas. Nobody disturbs them. If any new sect springs up in Europe it may happen that many of its professors will come and settle in America. As they bring their zeal with them, they are at liberty to make proselytes if they can, and to build a meeting and to follow the dictates of their consciences; for neither the government nor any other power interferes. If they are peaceable subjects, and are industrious, what is it to their neighbors how and in what manner they think fit to address their prayers to the Supreme Being? But if the sectaries are not settled close together, if they are mixed with other denominations, their zeal will cool for want of fuel, and will be extinguished in a little time. Then the Americans become as to religion, what they are as to country, allied to all. In them the name of Englishman, Frenchman, and European is lost, and in like manner, the strict modes of Christianity as practiced in Europe are lost also. This effect will extend itself still farther hereafter, and though this may appear to you as a strange idea, yet it is a very true one. I shall be able perhaps hereafter to explain myself better; in the meanwhile, let the following example serve as my first justification†. Paraphrase:  In an attempt to explain you how Europeans became Americans, it is also visible that how the different Christian factions established, wear down and then finally they submerged into each other. When a significant number of people, belonging to different groups inhabit contiguous to each other, they live and worship in the way that satisfies their own religious thoughts. If a new cluster of people recoils in Europe then it is a possibility that many its lecturers come and live in America. With them, they bring new zest. They are free to follow their own principles because neither the administration nor anyone else will get in the way. If these people are prolific and nonviolent, no one cares about their way of worship. On the other hand, if these two different groups are intermingled and mixed together, then their zest and enthusiasm will wear out and will be extinguished with the passage of time. Then the unanimity arises and they become allied to every aspect of life; in religion as well as to their country. This impact will expand itself still beyond in future, and though this may appear to you as an eccentric suggestion, yet it is a very true one. Summary: In the passage, the writer shows how in America, the religious indifference becomes common. Like when two different religious groups happen to settle adjacent to each other, they raise there temples right away and start their own spiritual worship. They are free to follow their own persona because no one interfere them. If they live peacefully, and are productive, nobody bothers to think in what manner they address their prayers to the Supreme Being. But if two different sects mix up with each other, their spiritual values merge with each other. Consequently, they lose their own distinction and amalgamate together in religion just as they show unison for their country. The writer is of the view that this impact will still extend itself in the future. This may appear odd but it is true. Analysis: In the passage narrated above, the writer has shown his/her immense treasure of research and vocabulary. The passage demonstrates the logical approach of the writer. In the passage, the writer has put in the picture of how the Englishmen of Europe are changed into Americans. Here the writer has essentially emphasized on the religious fusion of the people belonging to different groups. But the writer has ignored the issue of moral violence produced by this merger and its impact in the passage. The writer has used the words â€Å"peaceable† and â€Å"industrious† in describing different groups of people that shows positive approach of the writer. Similarly, â€Å"Supreme Being† has been used instead of God which reflects His highness and supreme power. On another place, word â€Å"denomination† has been used to describe different casts and factions of people. I chose this passage because this paragraph is quite thought provoking and an example of simplicity of diction and elevation of thoughts. Besides, the topic under discussion in this part of article is fairly interesting. I fairly like this passage because in this part the writer has influenced me to imagine how the modern culture of America has flourished till today. The writer has shown his/her positive attitude by describing the constructive out comes of this unification of people belonging to different cultures, traditions and even religion. From this passage, I have discovered that how rich and how much mature our culture and our traditions are.

Amazon.com Case Study Essay -- Business Marketing Management

The objective of this case study is to outline and provide a brief overview of Amazon.com’s (Amazon) mission, strategic direction, core competencies, relied technologies and their future impact of new technologies, and how management and use of consumer data will impact future business. In addition, we have analyzed Amazon’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats in a SWOT analysis. Based on this analysis, and research, we have recommend a course of action as to how Amazon should respond to their weaknesses and threats and how best to leverage strengths to take advantage of available opportunities. Amazon’s Mission and Strategic Direction Amazon.com, Inc. is an internet retailer headquartered in Seattle, Washington founded by CEO Jeff Bezos. Their mission and strategy is quite simply â€Å"to offer Earth’s Biggest Selection and to be Earth’s most customer-centric company, where customers can find and discover anything they may want to buy online and [we] endeavor to offer our customers the lowest possible price.†1 And, if they can’t help they will point the customer to a site that can. The company accomplishes this by operating six global internet sites: www.amazon.com, www.amazon.ca, www.amazon.de, www.amazon.jp, www.amazon.co.fr and www.amazon.co.uk. Through their zShops, auctions, affiliate program, Merchants@ and Amazon Marketplace programs, Amazon, and their sellers and partners, offer new and used collectibles and products in categories such as apparel and accessories, DVDs, electronics, computers, books, music, videos, cell phones, tools and hardware, the list is almost endless. In order to maintain quality, the company packages and ships all of its merchandise. They also continue to negotiate volume deals with suppliers to meet their goal of lowering prices. Additionally, Amazon has formed partnerships and alliances with publishers, other on-line retailers, technology providers, either handling their web site operations or linking brick-and-mortar entities to its virtual storefront. As part of their diversification strategy, Amazon recently acquired Internet Movie Database www.imdb.com (IMDb), which is an authoritative source of information on movie and entertainment. This acquisition is one of many Amazon is making expand its product and service offerings. The company is also preparing to sell internet domain names and already ... ...omers. Possible future partnerships could involve companies like AT&T who is currently developing a â€Å"web cents† card for online shopping. This partnership could also lead to technology developments which Amazon already uses to leverage its position. All in all Amazon should do well if it continues to stay true to its mission – the customer. References: Amazon.com, â€Å"Investor Relations,† â€Å"About Amazon.com,† â€Å"Annual Report,† â€Å"Privacy Notice,†, â€Å"Web Services,† www.amazon.com, Online, May 2003, www.amazon.com> Kaplan, Simon, â€Å"The Right Fit,† www.cio.com, Online, May 2003 www.cio.com/archive/120101/fit content.html Dignan, Larry, â€Å"The Day Ahead: Dot-coms grow up, chief execs step out,† www.zdnet.co.uk, Online, May 2003, Fool.com, â€Å"Amazon’s CEO Letters,† www.fool.com, Online, May 2003, www.fool.com/server/foolprint.asp?file==/news/foth/2002/foth021119.htm Bannan, Karen J., â€Å"Book Battle,† Media Week,† EBSCOhost, Online, May 2003, Vol. 10 Issue 9, P72, 2p, 5c Hoovers.com, â€Å"Profile,† www.hovers.com, Online, May 2003, www.hoovers.com/premium/profile/3/0,2147, 51493,00.html Fortune.com, â€Å"Amazon: Can Amazon Be Saved?,† www.fortune.com, Online, May 2003, www.fortune.com Amazon.com Case Study Essay -- Business Marketing Management The objective of this case study is to outline and provide a brief overview of Amazon.com’s (Amazon) mission, strategic direction, core competencies, relied technologies and their future impact of new technologies, and how management and use of consumer data will impact future business. In addition, we have analyzed Amazon’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats in a SWOT analysis. Based on this analysis, and research, we have recommend a course of action as to how Amazon should respond to their weaknesses and threats and how best to leverage strengths to take advantage of available opportunities. Amazon’s Mission and Strategic Direction Amazon.com, Inc. is an internet retailer headquartered in Seattle, Washington founded by CEO Jeff Bezos. Their mission and strategy is quite simply â€Å"to offer Earth’s Biggest Selection and to be Earth’s most customer-centric company, where customers can find and discover anything they may want to buy online and [we] endeavor to offer our customers the lowest possible price.†1 And, if they can’t help they will point the customer to a site that can. The company accomplishes this by operating six global internet sites: www.amazon.com, www.amazon.ca, www.amazon.de, www.amazon.jp, www.amazon.co.fr and www.amazon.co.uk. Through their zShops, auctions, affiliate program, Merchants@ and Amazon Marketplace programs, Amazon, and their sellers and partners, offer new and used collectibles and products in categories such as apparel and accessories, DVDs, electronics, computers, books, music, videos, cell phones, tools and hardware, the list is almost endless. In order to maintain quality, the company packages and ships all of its merchandise. They also continue to negotiate volume deals with suppliers to meet their goal of lowering prices. Additionally, Amazon has formed partnerships and alliances with publishers, other on-line retailers, technology providers, either handling their web site operations or linking brick-and-mortar entities to its virtual storefront. As part of their diversification strategy, Amazon recently acquired Internet Movie Database www.imdb.com (IMDb), which is an authoritative source of information on movie and entertainment. This acquisition is one of many Amazon is making expand its product and service offerings. The company is also preparing to sell internet domain names and already ... ...omers. Possible future partnerships could involve companies like AT&T who is currently developing a â€Å"web cents† card for online shopping. This partnership could also lead to technology developments which Amazon already uses to leverage its position. All in all Amazon should do well if it continues to stay true to its mission – the customer. References: Amazon.com, â€Å"Investor Relations,† â€Å"About Amazon.com,† â€Å"Annual Report,† â€Å"Privacy Notice,†, â€Å"Web Services,† www.amazon.com, Online, May 2003, www.amazon.com> Kaplan, Simon, â€Å"The Right Fit,† www.cio.com, Online, May 2003 www.cio.com/archive/120101/fit content.html Dignan, Larry, â€Å"The Day Ahead: Dot-coms grow up, chief execs step out,† www.zdnet.co.uk, Online, May 2003, Fool.com, â€Å"Amazon’s CEO Letters,† www.fool.com, Online, May 2003, www.fool.com/server/foolprint.asp?file==/news/foth/2002/foth021119.htm Bannan, Karen J., â€Å"Book Battle,† Media Week,† EBSCOhost, Online, May 2003, Vol. 10 Issue 9, P72, 2p, 5c Hoovers.com, â€Å"Profile,† www.hovers.com, Online, May 2003, www.hoovers.com/premium/profile/3/0,2147, 51493,00.html Fortune.com, â€Å"Amazon: Can Amazon Be Saved?,† www.fortune.com, Online, May 2003, www.fortune.com

Examine Pushkin’s Use of the Supernatural in ‘Pikovaia Dama’

Examine Pushkin’s use of the supernatural in ‘Pikovaia dama’ (‘The Queen of Spades’). To what extent could this text be described as a ‘ghost story’? The first setting is a card party hosted by Narumov of the Horse Guards. Hermann the young engineer was always watching the others play until the early hours of the morning but had never actually partaken in the card game himself. Tomsky starts to talk about his grandmother, Countess Anna Fedotovna. All the others listen eagerly while he tells a story about his grandmother’s gambling sixty years ago in Paris. She had lost a large sum playing the card game Faro.When her husband refused to pay off her debts, which she could not do so herself she has to look elsewhere for the money. Tomsky goes on to tell of his grandmother’s acquaintance with a man named Count de Saint-Germain, â€Å"the subject of so many weird and wonderful tales†. One of those tales mentioned in the nov ella is that he was the inventor of the elixir of life. A potion which could be used to bring eternal life to whoever drank it. This is the first sign of the supernatural in the story. Pushkin by no means shows any feeling of the tales of Count de Saint-Germain to be true.It is actually quite the contrary as Tomsky starts off by saying â€Å"You know he passed himself off as the†¦ † indicating that he was trying to convince people he was but in actual fact very few believed him. Also the use of â€Å"and so forth† indicates he is getting bored of listing these ‘wonderful’ tales about the Count. He then goes on to say that people used to ridicule him. For all the Count’s mysteriousness he was though a very wealthy man. The Countess requested to meet with him in the hope that he would pay off her debts out of the kindness of his heart.After all, that kind of money would not even make a small dent in the Count’s wallet. After pondering her proposal he said â€Å"I can accommodate you as far as the sum of money goes, but I know you would be at ease until you had repaid me, and I would not wish to encumber you with fresh worries†. Instead he wanted to give her a secret which would allow her to win all her money back. By now all the guests at the card party were listening intently. The countess turned up at a card game the same evening the Count had given her the secret.Playing Faro, the same game they themselves were playing at the part, the Countess selected three cards. All three cards won, coming up one after another and she had recouped all of her losses. There was a very sceptical reaction to the story. One said â€Å"Pure luck! † and Hermann remarked â€Å"A tall story†. Tomsky also tell of his grandmother passing down the secret once to a young man she took pity on. He also won with all three cards. Without calculating the odds it is fair to say that Pushkin is not expecting us to believe tha t these sequences have occurred twice out of pure luck.Therefore it is up to the reader to decide in this situation if the tale of the magical secret should be believed. It is not being told from the narrator’s point of view but instead from Tomsky’s. It could be perceived as being no more than a drunken story made up in a bar to impress a few friends and acquaintances. The next time Pushkin presents with something of the supernatural is much later on in the story in chapter five. Since the time that Tomsky had told the story of his ageing grandmother’s secret, the young engineer, Hermann, had become obsessed with the notion.In trying to obtain the secret from the Countess he had accidentally killed her. Three days after that night he had decided to attend the funeral at a local monastery. After the oration at a full church the relatives were first to go up and take leave of the body. Then it was the turn of all other guests wanting to pay their respects. After many had gone it came to the turn of Hermann who was feeling no real remorse for killing the old lady. â€Å"He bowed to the ground and lay for several moments on the cold floor, strewn with fir-twigs.At length he rose, pale as the corpse itself, ascended the steps of the catafalque and bent down. †¦ At that moment it seemed to him that the deceased gave him a mocking glance and winked an eye. Hermann in hastily recoiling missed his footing and crashed faced upwards to the ground. He was helped to his feet†. The way Pushkin says in this paragraph â€Å"it seemed to him† almost implies that it did not actually happen at all and that it was only in Hermann’s imagination. This could be a as a result of guilt Hermann may feel for killing the old lady or could even be a sign that Hermann is going mad.Later that evening Hermann went to an inn and drank a fair amount of wine, which was very uncharacteristic for him. On arriving home he jumped straight into bed ful ly clothed and fell sound asleep. In the middle of the night he woke up because of the moonlight flooding his room. â€Å"At that moment someone peeped in at his window from the Street and immediately walked away. Hermann did not pay the slightest attention to this. A minute later he heard the door of the next room being opened. Hermann thought that it was his orderly, drunk as usual, coming home from a night walk.But he heard an unfamiliar footstep: someone was softly shuffling along in slippers. The door opened: a woman in a white dress came in. Hermann took her for his old nurse and wondered what could have brought her at such an hour. But gliding across the floor the white woman suddenly stood before him—and Hermann recognized the Countess! † â€Å"I have come to you against my will,' she said in a clear voice, ‘ but I am commanded to grant your request. Three, seven, and ace will win for you in succession, provided that you stake only one card each day and never in your life play again.I forgive you my death, on condition that you marry my ward, Lizaveta Ivanovna. . . .† Hermann was the only one to see this, his orderly remain asleep throughout the whole episode. Once again the element of supernatural is only witnessed by Hermann. On top of this he has been drinking heavily which Pushkin could have pointed out to lead us to believe that is was all in Hermann’s mind. With the three cards Hermann believed the Countess told him engraved in his mind he made his way to a card game in Petersburg. Hermann placed an extremely high stake on the first card, higher than the table had ever seen before.The dealer dealt and a three turned up on the left, a win for Hermann. The next evening he was back and placed even higher stakes on the seven card, another win. The next evening Hermann was back once again and everybody was gathered around the table in excitement. Hermann of course choosing ace as the Countess had told him. Tchekalinsk y began dealing; his hands trembled. A queen fell on the right, an ace on the left. ‘The ace has won! ‘ Hermann said, and showed his card. ‘Your queen has lost,' Tchekalinsky said kindly. Hermann shuddered; in fact, instead of an ace there lay before him a Queen of Spades.He could not believe his eyes or think how he could have made a mistake. At that moment it seemed to him that the Queen of Spades screwed up her eyes and gave a meaning smile. He was struck by the extraordinary likeness. . . .'The old woman! ‘ he cried in terror. On this occasion we can be sure that it’s all in Hermann’s mind as all the other players and spectators clearly see a different card to the one that Hermann is seeing. It also adds to the theory that Hermann was slowly losing his mind throughout the story with him finally being admitted to a mental hospital in the novella’s conclusion.In my opinion I think it would definitely be possible to label The Queen of Sp ades as a ghost story on the premise that the main character, Hermann, believes he sees a ghost. At the same time Pushkin seems to go out of his way to give us a logical reason for all of the supernatural occurrences in the story, whether it be alcohol, dreams, guilt or just simply hallucinations. There are also so many different layers to the story that labelling it a ghost story would omit so many other possible labels. Garry Evans

The World Of Art, By Matthias Grunewald - 940 Words

In the world of art, it has influenced religion in many ways. Art and religion has gone throughout for thousands of years. In this world, almost every religion glorifies, protests, idealizes, and tells the stories of religion. Art has become a form of propaganda. It has become a way to convey a message and emotion providing the art meaning. A way art has become influenced in religion is by making statues of Jesus on the cross and have been painted for centuries to portray the sufferings of Christ. The crucifixion, portrayed by Matthias Grunewald in 1515, has been the fundamental symbol of the Christian religion, recalling the crucifixion of Jesus. On the cross, Jesus Christ is crowned and vested as a king, and the marks of his suffering are much less prominent. In The Catholic Faith Handbook For Youth, the author, Brian Singer states, â€Å"The crucifix, It is a symbol of paradox: new life comes through death†( Singer 394). In Christianity, Christians believe Jesus died in or der to save the world’s sins. And if individuals want eternal life with God, then one must dump sin. It symbolizes Jesus passion for all humanity and death. Cross forms are used as symbols connecting with religion. Crosses have been used as ornamentations at cathedrals, churches, graveyards, homes, and have been placed out at roadsides in where a loved one has suffered a tragedy creating a memorial mark. Crosses can also be used for decorative wall art, given as a special religious gift, and placed at aShow MoreRelatedGerman Culture Essay991 Words   |  4 Pagesimmigrant languages include Turkish, Kurdish, Polish, Balkan languages and Russian. Literature German literature dates back to the Middle Ages. The most celebrated authors of the period are Walter von der Vogelweide and Wolfram von Eschenbach. The world renowned Grimm Brothers - Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm published their fairy tales collection in the 19th century. Among the most respected German poets and authors are Lessing, Goethe, Schiller, Kleist, Hoffmann, Brecht, Heine and Schmidt. Nine GermansRead MoreFrancis Bacon s Portrait Of Pope Innocent X923 Words   |  4 Pages Francis Bacon was an Irish-born English artist known for his raw, controversial and emotionally charged works (Gale, Tate Gallery) often referred to as the â€Å"enfant terrible† of British art (Schama, 7) . Many of his works, including Study After Velazquez’s Portrait of Pope Innocent X, are palimpsest using a variety of different images to create his own original works. Study After Velazquez’s Portrait of Pope Innocent X is part of the loose series of â€Å"screaming popes† (Sy lvester, 40) of which thereRead MoreEssay about Germany1969 Words   |  8 Pagesis the main source for the economy. There are many factories that produce iron and steel, and there are chemical and textile industries also. The steel is often used to make cars, and Germany is the third largest automobile manufacturer in the world. The service industries are in community, government and personal services. Community services include jobs in education and health care, and personal services include such jobs as repair shops and beauty salons. Mining is also an