Gated Communities and Segregation in The Tortilla Curtain by T.C.Boyle Essay

Gated Communities and Segregation in The Tortilla Curtain by T.C.Boyle - Essay Example Though segregation based on race, ethnicity, religion, etc., is now illegal, there are still some practices among the citizens like the existence of gated communities that cause segregation and racism. Although, one section of people views gated communities as a feasible and practical way of living, other sections view it as ‘islands’ which promote segregation. This issue of gated communities forms a subtle but a key part of the novel, The Tortilla Curtain written by T.C. Boyle and published by Viking Press in 1995. Boyle is a ‘Distinguished Professor’ of English at the University of Southern California and lives in the Santa Barbara. He has written over 12 novels as well as more than 100 short stories winning, with many of his works reflecting the issues and lifestyle of people living in California including The Tortilla Curtain. â€Å"The Southern California writer T. C. Boyle captures the separation that marks daily life in Los Angeles.† (Fuller, B ridges and Pai 145). Boyle sets his novel in the Topanga Canyon where the lives of two couples, who live an entirely different lifestyles, cross each other with tragic and at the same thought-provoking results. The main protagonist couple, Delaney, a sensitive writer about nature and Kyra Mossbacher, an obsessive real estate agent, move in to a newly gated community nestled among the natural surroundings called Arroyo Blanco. The other couple is the Mexican illegal immigrants, Candido and his pregnant wife America Rincon, who enter the American borders illegally wanting to achieve the American Dream of a prosperous life, but live in an awful condition in a makeshift camp deep in the Topanga Canyon. When a freak car accident involving Delaney and Candido happens, it leads to further interactions between the couples with their opposing worlds intersecting in a problematic and tragic manner. The interactions between the couples mainly arise due the setting of the gated community. Boyle paints the picture of a strictly conforming gated community, where all the houses were white with orange roofs. â€Å"†¦lay the massed orange tile rooftops of Arroyo Blanco† (Boyle 74). The private community gives a sense of exclusivity. The concept of a gated community, with a homeowners association, is to provide a safe neighborhood with all the facilities. However, when viewed from another perspective, by facilitating families of similar races and class to live closer together, while ‘ignoring’ other sections of the people, it is leading to segregation. Part 2: Gated community is the term given to the residential neighborhoods which have a surrounding wall and a main gate for entry. This form of residential living has become a key part of the new housing market, particularly in the urban areas. It is viewed as a new form of urbanism, under which public spaces in various geographical territories are being privatized. They have thus become a â€Å"symbol of metropolitan fragmentation and social segregation†, with segregation happening mainly along economic and racial lines (Le Goix 76a). Le Goix (9) further states that â€Å"gated communities are located within every kind of middle class and upper-class neighborhoods, with half of them are located within the rich, upper-scale and mostly white neighborhoods, and one third are located within

Christopher Marlowes Dr. Faustus - An Insatiable Desire for Knowledge,

Christopher Marlowe's Dr. Faustus - Corrupted by an Insatiable Desire for Knowledge, Wealth And Power The Renaissance period is characterized by a grand desire for acquisition of knowledge and a passion for emerging individuality.   "Scholars and educators   . . . began to emphasize the capacities of the human mind and the achievements of human culture, in contrast to the medieval emphasis on God and contempt for the things in this world" (Slights 129).   However, the whirlwind of change brought on by the budding ideas of Humanist thinkers was met with a cautious warning by one the greatest writers of the era.   Christopher Marlowe's Dr. Faustus acts as mask, containing and disguising the dramatist's criticisms of Renaissance thinking.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Christopher Marlowe's Dr. Faustus is, in many ways, reflective of humankind's struggle to balance new ideas with existing traditional thoughts as the world neared the 17th century.   At the time this play was written, "Elizabethans saw the world as a vast, unified, hierarchical order, or 'Great Chain of Being,' created by God" (139).   At the very depths of this hierarchy lay the innate objects and at the top sat God and the angels, with the plant and animal kingdoms falling somewhere in the middle.   Humans were believed to sit just above the animals, as they possessed souls and free will.   It is said that humans could develop and reside "a little lower than the angels" or degenerate and fall to the level of the animals (139).   Faustus is striving to rise towards the angels in his quest for human advancement, but ironically, he ends up plummeting to the depths of Hell.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The drama Dr. Faustus illustrates Marlowe's two main concerns for the human mind at the turn of the 17th ... ...twines the vast differences with prolific language and a shocking storyline.   The play's tragic conclusion marks Marlowe's detachment from the morale plays of his generation.   Its tragic conclusion leaves the Renaissance audience with a sense of despair, but also with a resolve to avoid the wicked desires embodied by Faustus. Works Cited Barnett, Sylvan, ed. Doctor Faustus / Christopher Marowe: edited and with an introd. by Sylvan Barnett. New York: New American Library, 1969. Etienne, Gilson. Reasons and Revelations in the Middle Ages. New York: New York, 1938. Marlowe, Christopher.   "Doctor Faustus."   The Genius of the Early English Theatre.   Sylvan Barnet, Morton Berman & William Burto, eds.   New York:   Meridian, 1990. 95-161. Slights, William. New Ways of Looking at the Renaissance. Binghamton, New York: Renaissance English Text Society, 1993.

Non-Monetary Rewards in the Workplace

Managers of different industries and organizations have been finding ways to create a motivational workplace. Defining motivation, it is â€Å"that which gives impetus to our behavior by arousing, sustaining, and directing it toward the attainment of goals† (Wortman and Loftus, 1992 p.353). In order for a business organization to achieve its objectives, therefore, there should be some motivations in the workplace that will drive its employees to accomplish such objectives. Companies may aim to improve the quality and productivity of the business primarily for increased profitability. Personally, employees may have their own motivators that drive them to perform their jobs better. Older employees are motivated by the insurance and pensions they will get upon retirement while others are motivated by the increase in salary as the years of their stay in the company increases. What makes motivation very important is that when it has been very effective, the business and its workers will mutually benefit; that is they will both achieve their goals. For businesses, turn over rate will decrease and productivity may increase. What also makes it a hard task for the managers is that employees have different behaviors and attitudes towards work, thus different motivations are needed in order to satisfy the employees. The most common type of motivation is reward. Rewards are given to motivate employees to improve their performance or simply to avoid dissatisfaction among employees. Rewards may be monetary or non-monetary. The purpose of monetary rewards is to acknowledge employees’ excellent job through money. Money has been an effective motivator because people are motivated first by the desire to secure first-level needs of food and shelter for survival (Creech, 1995). Aside from that, one of the primary reasons why people work is to earn money and improve their economic status. Monetary rewards or incentives include salary increase, profit sharing, project bonuses, stock options and warrants, scheduled bonuses and additional paid vacation time (Ballentine et al, 2003 p.1). However, people’s needs are not only material things. There are also other needs that are needed to be satisfied such as the need to learn, to be challenged, to improve skills, improve social status, and the need for other opportunities. These needs are basically what make people self satisfied and fulfilled. Non-Monetary Rewards Non-monetary rewards are important employee motivators. As many people say, there are certain things that money cannot buy and these are sometimes more important to people. According to Kohn (1993 on Ballentine et al, 2003), monetary incentives encourage compliance rather than risk-taking because most rewards are based only on performance. On the other hand, non-monetary rewards are recognition of an excellent job which do not involve money but are still satisfying and motivating to employees with the purpose of creating opportunities to the employees. Non-monetary rewards include: (1) opportunity to learn, develop and advance as an employee; (2) flexible hours; (3) Recognition; (4) the opportunity to contribute; and (5) independence and autonomy (Anonymous, 2006). Opportunity to Learn, Develop and Advance The opportunity to learn, develop and advance can be considered as opportunity for growth. Creech (1995) describes growth as to the mental abilities of employees. Promotion is one means of growth but there are also other ways that employees can learn and grow aside from moving out of their current position. Training, for example, are provided to employees who have showed exemplary performance. Some companies even send their employees abroad for special seminars and trainings to further enhance their skills while other companies have provided scholarships and send their employees to universities to make them more educated. Another way of rewarding an employee is by giving him more complex and challenging tasks that will help improve his skills giving employees a certain feeling of achievement. Flexible Hours Having flexible hours is rewarding to employees in such a way that they can have more time with other obligations. It will be rewarding for good employees if they can have time for other important things such as the family, a part-time job, hobbies and social life. Even the most dedicated employees may feel like slaves and may lose interest with their jobs if all their time will be spent working for the company alone but those who can have time for their selves can be more enthusiastic. Recognition It is very important for an employee’s excellent job to be appreciated and recognized. Recognition as a reward should be earned directly through the job (Creech, 1995) and must be in the form of merit so that employees know efforts are being observed and appreciated by management (Anonymous, 1994). Recognition may be in the form of â€Å"pat in the back†, verbal praise, or written praise (in the form of letter or certificate). There are even some companies that announce the reward publicly by holding ceremonies annually or quarterly in recognition of outstanding employees such as awards for the most prolific employees, the most loyal, most innovative and so on. In this way, employees are more motivated knowing that their good performances are recognized. Opportunity to Contribute Employees feel rewarded when they know that they have good contributions in the workplace. They can even more contribute to the organization when they are given more responsibilities and when they know that their contributions are being valued. This reward involves having to work in a team, working closely with the people in the upper level of the business organizations such as the management, and having your ideas being heard and considered with regards to the decisions made in the company. This kind of reward is commonly given to innovative and creative employees who always have new ideas to contribute to product development and productivity. Independence and Autonomy Exemplary employees are usually given the independence and autonomy because the management trusts them that can accomplish their jobs without supervision and help of others. This reward is commonly given to employees who are good in decision making, can handle pressure and can finish the job on time effectively. It is a rewarding and comfortable feeling for an employee when there is no supervisor or other employees that always looks after his works while employers can save time and money when they have workers who can work independently. Conclusion Although monetary rewards have been traditionally effective as a motivator in a workplace, non-monetary rewards are also important in meeting the other needs of the employees. Non-monetary rewards satisfy and eliminate unhappiness in the workplace by providing employee self-fulfillment, growth, and a feeling of achievement, making them more motivated to perform their jobs better. Therefore, in a workplace, there should be a balance of monetary and non-monetary rewards which motivates employees in different effective ways. References: Anonymous (1994) Personnel Practices/Communications. Human Resources Management. Chicago: Commerce Clearing House Inc., Anonymous, Top Five Non Monetary Items Employees Want in a Workplace Retrieved online on October 12, 2006 http://www.recognitionrewards.com/top_five_items.htm Ballentine, Andrew, McKenzie, Nora, Wysocki, Allen & Kepner, Karl (2003), The Role of Monetary and Non-Monetary Incentives in the Workplace as Influenced by Career Stage, EDIS, Department of Food and Resource Economics, Florida Cooperative Extension Service, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL. Creech, Regina (1995), Employee Motivation, Management Quarterly, Volume 36, Issue 2 Wortman, Camille B. and Elizabeth F. Loftus. (1992) Psychology. New York: McGraw-Hill, Inc.

Patents An Invention Of Man - 1231 Words

Patents are ingenious - they allow for security in preventing theft of ideas through government licensing for the exclusive rights to manufacturing, utilization, and sales of inventions. However, lines are crossed when private companies are allowed to patent life forms, including genetic material. Patents are only designed to prevent intellectual property theft on inventions. Human genes are a product of nature and are not a result of an invention of man. Furthermore, allowing genetic information to be patented would profoundly impede progress on study of the patented material, letting patent-holders deny the rights for other scientific bodies to study and manipulate it, when these other scientific groups could have easily added to progress involving it. If only a single group is authorized to sell a specific product or service related to patented genetic material, there is no competition to compare the quality or prices of products of patented genetic material. The levels of risk an d consequence associated with allowing the patenting of life forms, including genetic material, is dangerous and should not be authorized. Imagine Isaac Newton as he watches an apple fall to the ground from a tree. ‘Eureka!’ he thinks. Newton was the first person to discover the force of gravity. What does he do next? Patent gravity? No: Newton merely discovered gravity, in contrast to inventing it. According to Wagner (2009), â€Å"Laws of patent are meant to be used to protect inventions - thingsShow MoreRelatedThe Career Of Thomas Edison1411 Words   |  6 Pagesnotion is an illusion of course as the career of Thomas Edison illustrates. Edison was a man of enormous accomplishments. Armed only with his natural abilities and aptitudes, Edison, who had only a limited education, changed the face of the planet and the lives of almost every human being with his inventions. 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