Luxury Fashion Brand Essay Example for Free

Luxury Fashion Brand Essay To be successful in India, it is both necessary to gauge the financial potential as well as the mindset of the Indian luxury consumer. This will help in bringing forth the right product offerings to the Indian consumer as well as targeting them better. There are conventional foundations for ensuring success of a brand and they are listed below in brief: * The brand must be â€Å"expansive† Which means it should be full of innovation opportunities for the marketer and in terms of satisfying the different needs of the luxury consumer. * The brand must tell a story – One of the best ways for an organization to compete and distinguish yourself from the rest of the pack is to tell your brand story. The story should be so powerful that it should make customer act as the way you want. * The brand must be relevant to the consumers’ needs Depending upon the mindset of the luxury class, it is necessary for a brand to satisfy those needs, whether they be for recognition or functional use etc. * The brand must align with consumers’ values A brand that does not concur with the basic values of a consumer’s society has a small chance of succeeding because luxury items are identification for a luxury consumer. This makes it difficult for the consumer to adopt the brand in such cases. * The brand must perform Irrespective of which category the brand belongs to, a performance assurance is a must for the brand. Based on the inputs given above as well as an understanding of the decision making process of the luxury consumer, we recommend the following paths for luxury marketers based on what Indian consumers really desire from their luxury brands, i. e. product brand, dealer/store brand and price/value relationship : (The price / value relationship has been accorded less focus since the Indian Consumer is at a phase when cost of luxury is secondary to its appeal / benefits) 1. Brand Me Affluent! It is essential for marketers to ensure that the recognition value of their brands is always high so that it lends a sense of affluence to the consumer, which can only come if others around him / her perceive the brand to be a top-notch luxury brand. This can come from either being aligned with the most successful celebrities or being a part of elite events and promotions. 2. Nothing but the Best – This is a golden opportunity for the marketer to earn greater margins by adding customized value to his line of luxury goods. These added-value customized goods will ensure that the customer feels he has something more than just the ordinary range of luxury goods available. 3. Luxury is having the world at my fingertips – First! A luxury marketer will not only have to be faster than his competitors in reaching out to the consumer, to gain a share of wallet but also continuously offer innovative products that serve to differentiate between the consumers. 4. â€Å"Ethnic Chic† – The Fusion of Local Global goods This point is connected to the strategy of a product being in line with the consumers’ values for it to be adopted. Apart from this, in the Indian context, ethnicity is also a fashion statement in many product categories. 5. You Think I’m Demanding? Next! The marketer’s job should be a constant endeavor to offer newer luxury goods to the consumer, in sync with their needs. In addition to that, marketers will need to make sure that each and every single consumer has to be treated with a high-level of personalized attention, given the nature of the product and the consumer. Even minor Shortfalls in this case will have the consumer shifting their brand preferences to those marketers who can satisfy their needs better. 6. CANNIBALIZATION OF BRANDS It thus becomes essential to ensure that successful celebrities are partnered with at the right time, thereby both eliminating chances of Competition as well as delivering the right aspirational / appeal message to the intended audience. Conclusion The starting point for identifying successful luxury brand strategies in India has been established by identifying certain salient aspects of luxury brands that remain constant as well as identifying the stage of mindset of the Indian consumer towards these brands. The focus is now towards ‘how soon’ luxury brands will enter the market to gain a first mover advantage, which is of significant importance in India. Apart from how soon, we primarily focus on ‘how will’ luxury brands cater to the mainly aspirational needs of the Indian consumer. A word of caution that goes for luxury marketers, irrespective of their brands and Geographical presence – The luxury consumer is always looking for newer ways to Satisfy his continuously changing needs. Hence, the need to keep a close tab through insightful research is of prime importance. As far as India is concerned, given the rapidly accelerating affluence of the Masses, the scenario is set to witness a boom. The ones who will be riding the Wave will be the ones who’ve kept their ears open to each and every word of their Each and every customer. After all, in the luxury business, no marketer can afford the luxury of treating its consumers as a loosely bunched segment.

Case study: Behavioral Appearance Behavioral Appearance

Case study: Behavioral Appearance Behavioral Appearance To those who find themselves in contact with schizotypal individuals they often range appearing eccentric and aberrant to outright bizarre in their actions. Their behavior is clearly erratic. School and employment histories of these individuals show marked deficits and irregularities. Not only are they frequent dropouts, but they drift from one source of employment to another. If married, they are often separated or divorced. At times, their behavior appears eccentric, that is, they prefer social isolation and may engage in activities that other find curious. In more severe cases, their behavior may seem clearly bizarre. The presence of odd speech patterns is an example. Schizotypal individuals may verbally digress or become metaphorical in their expressions. According to the DSM-III, Often, speech shows marked peculiarities; concepts may be expressed unclearly or oddly or words used deviantly, but never to the point of loosening of associations or incoherence (American Psychiatric Association, 1980, p. 312) Interpersonal Conduct Interpersonally, schizotypals experience a life of isolation, with minimal personal attachment and obligations. As their lives progress it is not uncommon to find these individuals drifting into increasingly superficial and peripheral social and vocational roles. These individuals have virtually no close friends or confidants. They have great difficulty with face-to-face interaction. They commonly experience intense social anxiety at relatively minimal social challenge. For these reasons, we believe the interpersonal conduct of schizotypals may be categorized as ranging from being interpersonal detacted and secretive to inaccessible. Cognitive Style The cognitive style of schizotypal individuals may be ruminative and autistic in less severe variations to blatantly deranged in more severe forms of the disorder. The cognitive slippage and interference that characterize the thought processes of this disorder in its milder forms are simply amplified here. Schizotypals are frequently unable to orient their thoughts logically. They tend to become lost in a plethora of irrelevancies. Their thinking appears scattered and autistic as the disorder manifests itself in its more severe variations. According to the DSM-III, these individuals may report magical thinking (i.e., clairvoyance, telepathy, a sixth sense, or just extreme superstitious behavior). Similarly schizotypals may experience recurrent illusions where they report the presence of a person or force not actually there. Psychotic thought, when it does occur, is transient and not indicative of a diagnosis of schizophrenia. Affective Expression The deficient or disharmonious affect of many of these patients deprives them of the capacity to relate to people, places, or things as anything but flat and lifeless phenomena. Their affective expression ranges from being apathetic to insentient and deadened. On the other hand, some schizotypal individuals seem in a constant state of agitation. Their affective expression ranges from being apprehensive, perhaps even frantic in their affective expression. We will present more on these clinical variations later. Self-Perception Schizotypal individuals often view themselves as forlorn and lacking meaning in life or, in more severe cases, on introspection, they may see themselves as vacant. They may experience recurrent feelings of emptiness or of estrangement. Experiences of depersonalization and dissociation may also be present in these patients. In sum, schizotypals appear virtually self-less as they look inward towards self-appraisal. Primary Defense Mechanism The schizotypal personality disorder is characterized by extreme social and affective isolation as well as autistic and bizarre cognitive functioning. The defense mechanism commonly used by individuals who possess this disorder is undoing. Undoing is a self-purification mechanism in which individuals attempt to repent for some undesirable behavior or evil motive. In effect, undoing represents a form of atonement. In severly pathological forms, undoing may take the form of complex and bizarre rituals, or magical acts. These rituals, such as compulsive hand washing, are designed to cleanse or purify the individual. These compulsions not only cause these individuals discomfort, but they may also consciously recognize them as absurd. Nevertheless, individuals employing such a mechanism appear to have lost the ability to control these acts as well as the ability to see their real meaning. Differential Personality Diagnosis The schizotypal personality disorder is likely to be confused with another severe personality disorder, the borderline disorder. Both the schizotypal and the borderline patterns represent severe personality disorder. Furthermore, according to the present biosocial learning theory, they both emerge when the less severe personality variants decompensate. Yet, there are marked differences in these two disorders. The schizotypal disorder features schizophrenic-like symptoms. These symptoms reflect disturbances in cognitive processes. Thus, the schizotypal is characterized by perceptual pathology as well as social withdrawal and isolation. The most obvious feature of the borderline disorder, on the other hand, is instability of mood. The symptoms of the borderline reflect disturbances in affect rather than cognitive. Finally, the borderline individual is interpersonally dependent, unlike the socially isolated schizotypal. A final note should be made regarding the schizotypal disorder in contrast to the Axiz I schizophrenic disorders. Axis I disorders are characteristically more severe and of relatively shorter duration. The Axis II schizotypal disorder represents the operation of internal, ingrained, and more enduring defects in the patients personality. Although schizophrenic episodes often reflect a psychosocial stressor, the schizotypal disorder represents an underlying and persistent characterological pattern. CLINICAL VARIATIONS The description of the schizotypal personality disorder presented in the previous section portrays the generic aspects of this disorder. It is more common, however, to see the schizotypal pattern manifest itself in one of two major variations. The two major clinical variations of the schizotypal disorder are (1) the schizotypal-schizoid pattern and (2) the schizotypal-avoidant pattern. Schizotypal-Schizoid Variation Schizotypal-schizoid individuals are characteristically drab, sluggish, and inexpressive. They display a marked deficit in their affective expression and appear bland, untroubled, indifferent, and unmotivated by the outside world. Their cognitive processes seem obscure and vague. Such individuals seem unable to experience the subtle emotional aspects of social exchange. Interpersonal communications are often vague and confused. The speech pattern of these individuals tend to be monotonous, listless, or at times, inaudible. Most people consider these individuals as strange, curious, aloof, and lethargic. In effect, they become background people satisfied to live their lives in an isolated, secluded manner. Case 11.1 portrays such an individual. Schizotypal-Avoidant Variation Schizotypal-avoidant individuals are restrained and isolated. Similarly, they are apprehensive, guarded, and interpersonally withdrawing. As a protective device, they seek to eliminate their own desires and feeling for interpersonal affiliation, for they expect only rejection and pain from interacting with others. Thus, apathy, indifference, and impoverished thought, which we saw in the cognitive and affective insensitivity, is presented here as a result of an attempt to dampen an intrinsic oversensitivity. The case of Harold T. is a study of a schizotypal-avoidant individual. SELF-PERPETUATION OF THE SCHIZOTYPAL PERSONALITY DISORDER The prognosis for the schizotypal personality disorder is perhaps the least promising of all the personality disorder discussed in this text. Let us examine why. The self-perpetuating spiral of deterioration that occurs in the schizotypal disorder is fostered by three major factors: (1) social isolation, (2) dependency training, and (3) self-insulation. Social Isolation Individuals who possess the schizotypal disorder are often segregated from social contact. They are kept at home or hospitalized with minimal encouragement to progress on a social basic. Social isolation such as this serves not to perpetuate the difficulties these individuals have with cognitive organization and social skills, but also serves to worsen the status of both. In many instances, the social isolation seems to stimulate a regression on the part of these individuals. They will tend to lose what cognitive and social abilities they may have had before the isolation. Jane W. was clearly capable of returning to society if she had been provided adequate social support. Without such support, the only option was to keep her institutionalized. Dependency Training Often found in conjunction with social isolation is the tendency on the part of those around schizotypal individuals to be overly protective. They will tend to patronize or coddle them. Such overprotection tends to reinforce dependent behavior on the part of the schizotypal. According to Millon (1981), Prolonged guidance and shielding of this kind may lead to a progressive impoverishment of competencies and self-motivation, and result in a total helplessness. Under such ostensibly good regimens, schizotypals will be reinforced to learn dependency and apathy (p. 427). Self-Insulation Finally, not only through mismanagement and neglect will the schizotypal disorder be perpetuated, but also through the tendency of these individuals to insulate themselves from outside stimulation. As we described earlier, to protect themselves from painful humiliation, rejection, or excessive demands, schizotypals have learned to withdraw from reality and disengage themselves from social life. Even though exposed to active social opportunities, most of these individuals will participate only reluctantly. They prefer to keep to themselves-to withdraw. Without active social relationships, these individuals will simply recede further into social isolation, apathy, and dependency. Thus, the disorder is perpetuated. The case of Harold T. demonstrates a condition in which his ability to insulate himself has served as an effective barrier to rehabilitation. His apathy, lack of verbal communication, and habit of drawing strange and religiouslike pictures has effectively insulated him from other and has removed any hope of improvement for almost 10 years. So, in summary, we see that through social isolation, dependency training, and self-insulation, the schizotypal disorder is perpetuated. Although the motives for socially isolating and overprotecting these individuals are usually good, that is, with best interests of the patient in mind, the tactics are actually counterproductive for they deprive the patients of the opportunity to develop social skills while reinforcing dependency. The schizotypals own tendency to insulate himself/herself from social contact serves to exacerbate the disorder even further. Such self-insulation serves to foster and further perpetuate the spiral of cognitive and social deterioration that typifies the schizotypal disorder. Schizotypal Personality Disorder DSM-IV Criteria A pervasive pattern of social and interpersonal deficits marked by acute discomfort with, and reduced capacity for, close relationships as well as by cognitive or perceptual distortions and accentricities of behavior, beginning by early adulthood and present in a variety of contexts, as indicated by five (or more) of the following: Ideas of reference (excluding delusions of reference) Odd beliefs or magical thinking that influences behavior and is inconsistent with subcultural norms (e.g., superstitiousness, belief in clairvoyance, telepathy, or sixth sense; in children and adolescents, bizarre fantasies or preoccupations) Unusual perceptual experiences, including bodily illusions Odd thinking and speech (e.g., vague, circumstantial, metaphorical, overelaborate, or stereotyped) Suspiciousness or paranoid ideation Inappropriate or constricted affect Behavior or appearance that is odd, eccentric, or peculiar Lack of close friends or confidants other than first-degree relatives Excessive social anxiety that does not diminish with familiarity and tends to be associated with paranoid fears rather than negative judgments about self Reproduced with permission from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition. Copyright 1994 American Psychiatric Association. Therapy The schizotypal is perhaps one of the easiest personality disorders to identify but one of the most difficult to treat with psychotherapy. The thought disorder and accompanying paranoid ideation work to distort communication between therapist and client and inhibit the formation of a trusting therapeutic alliance. Moreover, because schizotypals are inherently isolative and nonrelational, the therapist may sometimes be experienced as an intrusive presence. Because the alliance is the very foundation of therapy, medication is often needed before lasting progress can be made, especially with subjects who express the disorder severely. THERAPEUTIC TRAPS The expectations of the therapist and their influence on therapy are particularly important and may require careful monitoring. Most schizotypals initially see the therapist as attacking or humiliating (Benjamin, 1996). As anxiety increases, they may retreat further behind a curtain of disordered communication as a means of shielding themselves and confusing the intruder. Occasional retreats are universal. Therapists who become vexed when greeted with silence and emotional distancing only create an atmosphere that justifies such a reaction. Instead, the need for distance must be respected, without conveying feelings of disapproval or inducing guilt, to which many subjects are especially sensitive. Not pushing too hard or too fast can prevent severe anxiety and paranoid reactions. Extraordinary patience may be required because schizotypals repeatedly misperceive aspects of the therapeutic relationship and then act on these misperceptions. Subjects who believe they have privileged access to information beyond the five senses sometimes apply their extrasensory powers to therapy and the therapist, believing that they can read the therapists mind or arrive at conclusions about what the therapist secretly desires on the basic of tangential or irrelevant cues. Accordingly, communication should be simple, straightforward, shorn of psychological jargon, and require a minimm of inference. Schizotypals find it difficult enough to bring order to their own thoughts, much less penetrate ambiguities and double messages carelessly introduced by others. The concrete is to be preferred over the poetic because the latter is naturally rich in connotations, which play havoc with schizotypal cognition. Special attention to the countertransference is in order, for unconscious feelings emitted by the therapist bring an unknown complexity to communication and are especially likely to be misconstrued by subjects. STRATEGIES AND TECHNIQUES What can be done in therapy often depends on the extent to which the thought disorder intrinsic to the syndrome can be controlled. Otherwise, every aspect of therapy becomes more complicated. Further, the appropriate goals and strategies for any particular subject depend on whether his or her symptoms most resemble an exaggerated schizoid pattern, an exaggerated avoidant pattern, or a mixture of the two. Strategies and techniques appropriate for the dominant underlying personality disorder can be used to supplement the primary goals of treating the schizotypal pattern (refer to the appropriate chapter). Establishing a more normal pattern of interpersonal relationships is a primary goal of therapy. Social isolation intensifies cognitive deficits and allows social skills to atrophy. Contatc with a therapist can prevent further deterioration. Because patterns of disordered family communication typify the early developmental environment of these subjects, therapy offers the chance for a novel, corrective interpersonal relationship through steady support and euthenticity. Accordingly, as emphasized by Benjamin (1996), the basic skills of humanistic therapy, including accurate empathy, mirroring, and unconditional positive regard, become particularly important. Benjamin states that the therapeutic alliance may represent a chance to experience a nonexploitive protectiveness, one that eventually permits the schizotypal to give up management of the universe by magical means (p. 360). After an alliance has been established, subject can be encouraged to voice distortions of reality as they occur, and these can be discussed in the context of the therapeutic relationship. Benjamin (1996) further stresses that many schizotypals are likely to belive that harm may come to the therapist through their association. As such ideas are voiced, they can be tested realistically and tactfully refuted. In general, interpersonal therapy should enhance subjects sense of self-worth and encourage the realization of positive attributes, an important step in defeating detachment, rebuilding motivation, and providing confidence necessary to take the first steps toward constructive social encounters outside therapy. Because schizotypals have difficulty sorting the relevant and irrelevant in interpersonal relationships, therapists may find that much of their time is spent helping the schizotypal test interpersonal reality and gain perspective on which behaviors might be appropriate in whatever situations are current in the subjects life. Repeated discussions of essentially similar situations may be necessary, as many schizotypals fail to realize that these are but variatio ns on a theme. Basic social skills training are often helpful. Modeling behaviors provides an example that even concrete subjects can imitate. The ability to appraise interpersonal realities appropriately is an important step in decreasing social anxiety and accompanying paranoid symptoms while creating a capacity for appropriate affect and a sense of reward. From a cognitive perspective, psychotherapy must adapt to the schizotypals limited attentional resources and tendency to intrude tangential factors. Because many schizotypals are either overly concrete or overly abstract, learning may be generalized to other settings and situations only with great difficulty. Simplicity and structure help prevent the lessons of therapy from being obscured by the discombobulating effects of thought disorder. Furthermore, cognitive techniques allow the content of thought to be identified and eventually modified. This suggests that the combination of medication and cognitive therapy should be particularly effective. Writing in Beck et al. (1990), Ottaviani indicates that the first step is to identity characteristic automatic thoughts, such as, I am a nonbeing, as well as patterns of emotional reasoning and personalization, reviewed previously. Moreover, she suggests that assumptions underlying social interaction present an especially profitable avenue for change, as schizotypals usually believe that other dislike them. Subjects must be taught to act as naÃÆ'Â ¯ve scientists and test their thoughts against the evidence. Feelings do not make facts; instead, each cognition is a hypothesis and should be disregarded if found inconsistent with the objective evidence. Even bizarre thoughts can be dealt with in this way. The thought, I am leaving my body, for example, can be countered with prepared countercognitions: There I go again. Even though Im thinking this thought, it doesnt mean that its true (p. 141) Because an effective grasp of objective reality is the Catch-22 of the cognitive approach, Ottaviani further suggests that schizotypals also be taught methods for gathering contrary evidence. Subjects can list evidence inconsistent with their predictions, for example. Going beyond content, cognitive style interventions can also be made. Rambling can be countered by requests for summary statements, and global statements can be countered by asking for elaboration. Finally, where subjects are not too paranoid or bizarre, group settings can be used to practice social functioning and provide feedback about distorted cognitions. Because classical psychodynamic therapy is inherently unstructured, its use is probably not advised. As noted by Stone (1985), the purpose of psychodynamic therapy should be to internalize the therapeutic alliance. Because the early home environment of most schizotypals is likely to feature fragmented and chaotic communications, the ego boundaries of the schizotypal subject are only poorly developed. The interpretation of conflict not only disregards their desire for distance but also plays into their fear of engulfment. Accordingly, silence should be accepted as a legitimate part of the personality (Gabbard, 1994). Once this acceptance is felt, the subject may then begin to reveal hidden aspects of the self that can be adaptively integrated. Analytic procedures such as free association, the neutral attitude of the therapist, and the focus on dreams may foster an increase in autistic reveries and social withdrawal. Probably the most useful analytic suggestion comes from Rado (1959), who suggests that identifying and capitalizing on some source of pleasure, however small, is a superordinate therapeutic goal. Motivation develops from the capacity for pleasure, and ultimately, only this can balance the painful emotions, attach the schizotypal to the real world, and prevent the dissolution of the self and cognitive disintegration that results from autistic withdrawal.

The American Revolution Was NOT Justified :: Americas Unjust Revolution

Any historical event with-world changing consequences will always have two sides to the story. What most Americans refer to today as the American Revolution is no different. As Americans, most of us view eighteenth-century England as a tyrannical power across the ocean, and see men like George Washington as heroes who fought against the oppressor. If history and wars were that simple, everyone would understand them, and the need for wars would be diminished. The truth is, England was not the least bit tyrannical to the colonies. Actually, the rebels had no idea, nor any intention of establishing a new and separate government "of the people, by the people, and for the people." They only meant to make a statement and attempt to avoid every tax that Parliament could dream up in the process. Across the Atlantic Ocean in England's Parliame nt, some men such as William Pitt and Edmund Burke understood opposition to taxes by the American colonists. After all, the colonies had been all but ignored by England since they were established in the early part of the seventeenth century up until the Seven Years War (1756 - 1763). Other men such as George Grenville and Charles Townshend did not understand at all the protests against any taxes implemented by Parliament . These men felt that was not only the right of Parliament to demand taxes, but also their duty to raise money for the Crown. Parliament had the power to demand a tax of every British citizen in the empire, and these men had developed their own ideas about how those taxes would be implemented.

A Place to Go - Original Writing :: Papers

A Place to Go - Original Writing Night after night I had passed the strange location. I began to recognize it and became aware of every detail. I found the building light in the same way. My eyes became attracted, addicted to this place, every eve it beckoned me to return. Simply gazing on it seemed to provide a relaxation, it warmed me. My body became accustomed to its feeling and presence; I found it, almost difficult to leave it. Despite this I had to carry on, they where close behind me now. This was not the first time that I had passed the building and approached it with curiosity. I had wandered here before. This building seemed of some overwhelming significance, when near I felt pathetic and feeble, this building, mansion or 'castle' seemed to posses some great inhuman power far beyond my conceivable imagination. As previously I waited and rested near to the building, my back lay vertical against the huge wall, again this unbelievable feeling of nostalgia, anomalous refreshment and suspicion passed through the very material of my being. It happened suddenly. I was unrepentant, almost unaware of this 'attack' I was about to undergo. I felt a hard thud to my right, this failed to affect me, and I was dazed and confused by the sheer marvel of this magic place. The second warning was more obvious and harder to ignore. A hand was placed on my shoulder. The way in which it touched me was indescribable, there was no feeling or emotion in this being I was now contemplating. I pondered its nature for a while, until the hand did seem to posses a feeling, an emotion; the hand now gripped my shoulder with intensity, a feeling of urgency and aggression showered over me. I was now left with now choice but to confront this creature. I slowly turned my head. I could see, in the corner of my eye a man. A tall man. A big man. An old man and an interesting man. This aggression and urgency flourished and eventually disappeared,

The Long Road to Graduate School :: Graduate Admissions Essays

The Long Road to Graduate School In his poem, The Road Not Taken, Robert Frost wrote, "Two roads diverge in the woods, and I took the one least traveled by/ And that has made all the difference." In this poem, the narrator had a choice of two roads. However, I've discovered that life is a little more complicated. Sometimes the path we embark on is not always the one we choose. Sometimes we are pushed or pulled in certain directions and we have to react to our environment. My path to a college education has been filled with bumps, potholes, detours and roadblocks. The signs often read "yield" and "do not enter." The path has not always been clear, but I've kept my eyes opened, focused on the road ahead, and the experience has made all the difference. During my freshman year in high school, my mother remarried and I had to move from Colorado to Kentucky. One year later, we relocated back to Colorado after they divorced. During my junior year in high school, my mother remarried again and I had to change schools again, although we remained in Colorado. Thus, I did not have a sense of continuity during high school and although I recognized that my path would lead me to college, I was not ready to commit myself to school full time. Instead I went to work full time as a grocery clerk and worked my way up to assistant manager. I then moved into customer service work and finally fell into an advertising manager position. I took several night courses during this period until I was ready to commit to school full time. Although I could have continued with work, I knew that it was not what I wanted to do and once I committed myself to attending school and realized that I wanted to study Sociology, I have proven myself to be an above ave rage student. This past year, I earned all "A"s in my courses.

“Of Mice and Men” Prejudice and Alienation Essay

Prejudice of many groups of people was prevalent in America during the Great Depression era. In the 1930s when the book took place, there was an extreme amount of racism and sexism, little to no knowledge of mental disability, and assumedly a great deal of ageism. In _Of Mice and Men,_ John Steinbeck uses prejudice to illustrate the theme of alienation through ageism, racism, sexism, and ableism. Candy was an old man who lived on the farm who lost his hand in an accident while working. The ranch hands constantly tortured Candy by telling him that his dog was too old for his own good, and that he would be better off dead. Candy takes this personally, assuming that they were insinuating that he was also worthless to the ranch, and too old for his own good. The old man realizes that this is the only job he’ll ever have, considering he only has only had one hand and is too old to do hard labor and said, â€Å"‘When they can me here I wisht somebody’d shoot me†¦ I won’t have no place to go, an’ I can’t get no more jobs'† (60). The other men understand this and exclude Candy for his differences. Slim, another ranch hand, talking about Candy’s dog said, â€Å"‘I wisht somebody’d shoot me if I got old and a cripple'† (45). Candy’s dog is an obvious parallel to Candy and his physical conditions that prevent him from working. To show racism, Steinbeck uses the character Crooks, a black stable buck who lives on the ranch. Although sometimes in the book it seems that Crooks isolates himself, it is clear towards the end of the book that the other men avoid associating with him because of the color of his skin. Many of the  other ranch hands refer to Crooks as â€Å"nigger†, an extremely offensive term, instead of his actual name. Crooks avoids getting into trouble by staying in his room (which is in the barn with the animals) and staying out of the way of the rest of the men. At one point, Crooks aggravates Curley’s wife, and as a response she threatened, â€Å"‘Well you keep your place then, nigger. I could get you strung up on a tree so fast it ain’t even funny'† (87). When Crooks is talking to Lennie and Candy, he confides in them about his loneliness, admitting, â€Å"A guy sets alone here at night, maybe readin’ books or thinkin’ or stuff like that. Sometimes he gets thinkin’, an’ he got nothin’ to tell him what’s so an’ what ain’t so† (73). Sexism is another major part of the novel, and it is shown through the character of Curley’s wife. Curley’s wife, is who she sounds like she is, because she’s married to Curley, the son of the head of the ranch. She is never given a name, which was probably to show the reader that the only relevance she had was that she was Curley’s possession in a way, because she was his wife and was not allowed to talk to anyone but him. Curley’s wife constantly cries for attention because she, like many of the other characters in this novel, feels lonely most of the time. The men do not understand why she does, and take it as thought she is just being â€Å"slutty† in a sense because she didn’t like Curley. George is talking to Candy when he says his first impression of Curley’s wife. George said, â€Å"‘Well, seems Curley’s married†¦ a tart,'† because he didn’t empathize Curley’s wife’s loneliness (28). In turn, Curley’s wife is alienated for her gender, and admits to Crooks, Lennie, and Candy that she wishes she had people to talk to and have conversation with. While talking to the three other â€Å"outcasts† on the farm she admitted, â€Å"‘I can’t talk to nobody but Curley. Else he gets mad'† (87). It is more and more apparent throughout the book that the other ranch hands don’t want to make Curley upset by talking to his wife, but in the end she is still alienated because she is a woman. The most recognizable prejudice in this novel was the ablelism toward Lennie. Lennie, the main character of the book, had some type of mental disorder that prevented him from remembering things and also from controlling the motor function and decision making concerning his hands, but of course in  this time period there was no knowledge of such diseases. Lennie was the most kind-hearted, innocent character in this book because he doesn’t understand superficial alienation or prejudice toward someone because of their sex, race, age, etc. He can’t take care of himself, so his best friend George tells him what to do. During one part of the book when George is talking to Slim, George talks about how he used to treat Lennie: â€Å"‘I used to have a hell of a lot of fun with him. Used to play jokes on ‘im ’cause he was too dumb to take care of ‘imself'† (40). Soon after, George told Slim that he stopped messing with Lennie because he told him once to jump into a river, and Lennie almost drowned and died because he didn’t know how to swim, and didn’t know any better than to just listen to what George says. At the end of the book when Curley found out that Lennie had killed his wife, he took it out in anger because he did not understand that Lennie couldn’t control himself, ordering, â€Å"‘When you see ‘um, don’t give ‘im no chance, shoot for his guts'† (97). Lennie is alienated in this novel because of his disability and is isolated (and killed) as a result. In sum, Steinbeck uses ageism, sexism, racism, and ableism to convey the theme of alienation in _Of Mice and Men_. In the scene with all four of the alienated characters in Crooks’s room, Curley’s wife said in frustration with the fact that she has not one to talk to, â€Å"‘Standin’ here talkin’ to a bunch of bindle stiffs- a nigger an’ a dum-dum and a lousy ol’ sheep- an’ likin’ it because they ain’t got nobody else.'† (78) This line is very significant because it shows that even though they are all excluded from the majority of the ranch hands, and from society in general, they realize that they can turn to each other when they feel lonely.

My Last Words Essay

I have not but my word and my able body. I am not a saint and sure as hell I have sinned, but I try to live true and within my means. Someone once told me that thoughts and feelings should be recorded by way of venting out my demons and exorcising my troubles away, not sure I fully understand how this works, but well I have some exorcising to do so here goes. Living with guilt is a terrible thing for any man. But when that guilt gets you all fired up inside and makes the nights restless, sleep lasts only an hour or two and that image of what you have done wrong is burning right behind the eyes, lets just say id turn to god if I only believed he would listen. You see I killed a man not through choice, if truth be told through lack of any other way I could see before me. I curse the day his Aunt Clara asked me to see him through. Lenny small, biggest damn guy I ever seen, Strongest too, but god played an awful trick and made him as dumb as hell, had the mind of an infant before the child learns what is right and what is wrong. A man like that is innocent of any crime he may commit due simply to the frailty of his mind. Those guys would have strung him up and tortured him. Lenny did not deserve to see it coming. Lenny broke the neck of the bosses daughter in law, least she would have been if she would of lived that long. She had no business being in that stable. As for Lenny the dumb bastard, just got to touch anything he finds pretty. It is my guess he was handling her too hard, scared her and to stop her from screaming out would of put his hand over her head and boom, she’s dead. His intentions were not evil but his act was. I prayed he would remember to meet me in the brush, my guilt for killing him is nothing compared to the guilt I would have had to endure watching him suffer at another mans hand. Just like old Candy and his dog, it was my job to put him down. Not that it makes it any the easier to live with I think this is the most I have been able to concentrate in the month since it happened. Can’t eat, can’t sleep, I just see his sorry ass lying on the floor dreaming of our very own plot of land. Truth is without Lenny I am nothing I have nothing, he was my friend and I killed him, doesn’t seem right I can draw my next breath. Boss damn near threw me off the ranch himself that day and swore id never â€Å"work a ranch in this country again†. To be honest life just isn’t the same without Lenny beside me. I think its time to meet my maker. Draw your own conclusions and treat this as you will. Beside this note is fifty bucks for my headstone, which I would like to read â€Å"here lies George Milton Who Loved His Friend† I apologise to whom ever finds my body, but know I can not take his torment and pain or this heinous world anymore. I only hope purgatory will eventually allow me peace.