Analyze Lucy in Disgrace by comparing her to Lucy in William Research Paper

Analyze Lucy in Disgrace by comparing her to Lucy in William Wordsworth's The Lucy Poems. Explain at least three signi - Research Paper Example The work also dwells on themes of violence and exploitation and the indelible and tormenting lacerations they leave on the victims as well as the perpetrators. David, a professor, teaching communication in a technical university in South Africa, makes sexual advances on a vulnerable female student. He refuses to apologize and is sacked by the college authorities and he comes to his daughter Lucy’s farm to live with her. As he begins to adapt to the farming life, a gang of three black men launch an attack on the farm, beats him up and rapes his daughter. Ironically, the same callous treatment that he metes out on the women in his life rebounds on his daughter and he remains helpless, unable even to protect his daughter’s honor. The story, through the depiction of the lead character Lucy, thus portrays women as hapless subjects of male prowess and domination, which reduce them to the status of emotional wrecks. On the other hand, â€Å"Lucy,† a set of five poems wr itten by Wordsworth, an acclaimed English poet, tells the story of an unrequited love of an anonymous narrator for Lucy, an anonymous and undefined character. Contrary to the Lucy in the novel, the poems view Lucy in an entirely different perspective by objectifying her as a symbol of beauty and innocence. She represents the deep yearning and longing of the young male narrator’s unquenched heart. ... On the other hand, in â€Å"Disgrace,† Coetzee clearly provides the idea as to who Lucy is, what her conflict is and how she perceives herself as a part of the South African society and the perspectives from which that society will view her problem. Similarly, in the novel, the audience gets to know Lucy and her feelings from her perspective, through her actions and dialogs, which renders it a certain form of emotional intensity to the character. On the other hand, in Lucy poems, the audience never sees or hears Lucy in person. Whatever information the author chooses to share with the readers derives from the narrator’s perspective and the perception that this anonymous person conceives and reveals about her. Thus, the author wraps his female character in a shroud of mystery and alludes to her traits by way of using distinct and vivid imageries but ambiguous attributes to her existence such as every day she looked â€Å"Fresh as a rose in June† and the narrator l amenting, â€Å"O mercy!† on the event that she is dead (Wordsworth Poem I Lines 6, 27). From these allusions, the audience is not able to make out whether Lucy is a person who actually has lived and died, or whether she just symbolizes some aspect of nature. In contrast, Coetzee’s Lucy comes alive on the pages through the straightforward narration of the stark realities of her existence and the depiction of her vivid emotions as can be evidenced from her denial of her father’s offer to send her to Holland saying that â€Å"There is nothing you can suggest that I haven’t been through a hundred times† (Coetzee 157). This dialog illustrates the emotional trauma of the character and the conflict she undergoes, through her own narration of it.

Organizational Case Study Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Organizational Case Study - Assignment Example The transformation forces businesses to rethink their methods and offer new products or services in their stores. In the process, such businesses engage in downsizing. During the process of downsizing, Staples Inc reduced its outlet shops by 15%. This made the company realize reduced profits of 72% (Staples, 2013). The decrease in profits was due to charges of restructuring the company. Staples Inc is experiencing a considerable heat from the southern part where online retailing is flourishing. This forced the company to take more than 90% of its products to be sold online (Staples, 2013). Additionally, Staple Canada develops an innovation lab to test new services centered on small-business customers. The lab is piloting meeting rooms and rental office, a self-serve Banner Xpress machine used for printing, Starbucks coffee shop and technology-training center (Straus, 2013). The stores chosen for downsizing are more than 25,000 square feet though they could reach15,000 square feet. So me of the stores have leases which run out within a year. This gives Staple company time to close them at that time (Staples, 2013). Importance of Downsizing Downsizing helps in managing duplication of roles. It is easy to find more than two employees conducting a task that a single person could conduct. Downsizing assists in correcting such scenario (Staples, 2013). Downsizing is also good in clearing ghost workers who earn a salary without working. Secondly, the system allows an organization to recover from its financial crises. This is because the company can lessen operational costs by lessening proportion of employees. Downsizing also enables the managers to manage an organization properly because the organization is reduced in size (Staples, 2013). Additionally, the company can get rid of incompetent employees and hire employees who are willing to serve the company diligently (Straus, 2013). Human Resources Challenges Facing Staple Company Staple Company is not exactly sure of downsizing would achieve the needed purpose. This is because; the remaining employees would ask more payment due to overworking. Secondly, the employees who were sucked must be compensated. This means Staples Company would have to incur an extra cost thus increase its cost of operation. Downsizing is a source of poor morale, guilt and stress on retained employees. As a result, the employees are likely to reduce their productivity that may reduce the company’s output (Staples, 2013). The company experiences low level of productivity from its employee due insecurity of their jobs as a result of downsizing programme. Another challenge is lack of technological skills in their fields. Inadequacy and weakness due lack of basic education to cope with the changing technological and scientific development also contributes to the current problem. Another problem is lack of mechanism to create promotion opportunities amidst employees. This is due to a high number of employees that the organization hires. The company also loses some of its best employees to rival companies that offer best terms of employment and job security. The company is also unable to attract employees with technical talents. Most of employees shun the company due to its downsizing programme that requires it to reduce its employees. Furthermore, the company lacks good engineers or computer experts who can assist in distribution of its resources. To counter this problem, the company is going