The play “Our Man in Madras” by Gert Hofmann has been described by many critics as being a dark comedy for it depicts the corporate industry in a negative light. What is interesting of the play and I find is very successful in portraying this vile side of the corporate world, is Hofmann’s inventive peak feature that the play only has one character we see most of - Mr. Jim Sieg. We are introduced to a Jim who is on the phone speaking to an employee by the name of Bob whom he is about to terminate his contract of employment, based on his under-achieving sales record when “compared with what our men in Australia and Europe are accomplishing, your figures still fall pretty short” (225) Jim says to Bob. The fact that a situation of this kind is discussed so telephonically instead of setting up a meeting with Bob, to disuse face to face, where and why he is failing to produce the desired sales the company is seeking is indication enough that the corporate industry has businessmen who have no time and courtesy to follow procedures and set protocols. The conversation between Mr. Sieg and Bob is staged in such a way that we never hear Bob speak directly, all of Bob’s words - his sufferings “You’ve what?
In this novel the symbolic meaning of the green light, Dr. TJ Eckleburg’s eyes and the ashes express one another. Despite this fact, they also have their own unique meanings. The ashes symbolize the corruption of that period. This age focuses on the all the wrong things in life. They lack morals and are filled with emptiness that resulted from the constant money chase throughout their lives.
Confidence's Cost to Collaboration The corporate formula for innovation often focuses on creating a team of experts to cook up the next big thing. Groups of managers -- typically composed of individuals from a variety of fields, including engineering, marketing and operations -- band together to develop new products or services that can create top-line growth. In a recent paper, Wharton management professor Jennifer Mueller and Wharton lecturer Julia Minson looked at the dark side of teamwork -- the tendency of those groups to become insular and less efficient as they grow in complexity. In "The Cost of Collaboration: Why Joint Decision-making Exacerbates Rejection of Outside Information," Minson and Mueller found that people working in pairs were more likely to dismiss outside input than individuals working alone. Mueller
Alienation Holden Caulfield, an interesting man, shows that many people show phoniness and how Holden despises them to a point where he alienates them. This book shows many themes, one of them being revolving around alienation and phoniness. J.D. Salinger’s masterpiece The Catcher in the Rye shows throughout the book that Holden alienates himself from other people because he fears the phoniness of adults. Stradlater, Holden’s roommate, shows phoniness by how he is a “secret slob” also how it annoys Holden to where he gets into a fight with Stradlater over his sloppiness with Jane, which leads Holden to alienating him.
He uses Arthur Birling as a voice for capitalism, who is ridiculed by the inspector, a representative of socialism. The dialogue between them shows this, as the inspector twists what birling says. For example, when the inspector says “I’m sorry but you asked me a question”, and Birling says the inspector previously asked him an unnecessary question, the Inspector replies “It’s my duty to ask questions”. Priestly uses this symbolism as framework for the political ideology battle each character has with the inspector. As the political Ida of capitalism has corrupted the Birling family, Priestly shows the audience how the inspector, the voice of socialism, constantly out-wits the birling’s.
The mindset of the GenXers were shaped by a shocked and unstable world economy, world violence, politics, and less than reputable businessmen and women who continued to control the direction of those appointed below them. The business world of today needs to focus on the needs and desires of its workers and see that their needs are met. The old world savvy manager will be stutter struck by the reactions and quick walking that will take place on the production floor should he try to apply the old tools of the trade. Mary Rau-Foster, in her article sums it up as she reflects on a passage in a book that she
The three main characters in this essay are the Box Man, the lady at the coffee shop and the lady across the way. She uses the Box Man, a man who has chosen his loneliness and “lives the life of the mind” (Ascher par 12). The thesis of Ascher is that we must accept are [our] loneliness and embrace our imagination, by doing this we can find solace in our self. Ascher states, “All humans are estranged from each other, regardless of their relationships, because of the impossibility of true communion and pure communication.” [Ascher does not say this. This is my explanation or analysis of Ascher’s thesis taken from “Understanding ‘The Box Man’” without any attribution or sourcing.]
Therefore, the stimulation of the May Fourth movement slowly awakens his enthusiasm and fervor. Lu Xun often portrays misfortunate characters with low social status. Lu Xun focuses on the protagonist, Kung I-chi to criticize the selfishness, lack of sympathy, and cruelty he sees in society. The failures of the official examination system and the governance it enacted. The story filled with the inconstancy and jealousy of human relationships, the strong bullying the weak and the stagnant consciousness of the "diseased" period in Chinese society.
In this reading, Dorothy West describes this character as “an abject little man.” In my mind, I immediately think of a hopeless, quite miserable individual who is downtrodden about his current state of being. When Lucius is able to live his imaginary “businessman” lifestyle through the correspondence he gives his daughter via dictation on her typewriter, for once, he experiences freedom from what had enslaved him for so long. In this “free” place, there are no hard times in life, no odd jobs to do, no frankfurters and beans to eat – J. Lucius Jones is all business, and plays his role to the hilt. Unfortunately, Mr. Jones becomes a little too involved in this fictitious character. He put all his hopes and dreams of par social status and finds it difficult to escape.
The Wanton Cynic in The Merchant's Tale The Merchant's Prologue and Tale presents the darkest side of Chaucer's discussion on marriage. Playing off both the satire of the moral philosopher, the Clerk, and the marital stage set by the Wyf of Bathe, the Merchant comes forth with his angry disgust about his own marital fate. Disillusioned and depraved, the Merchant crafts a tale with a main character who parallels his own prevarication and blind reductionism while he simultaneously tries to validate his own wanton life by selling his belief to the other pilgrims. As both pervert reality through pecuniary evaluations on different levels, however, both are exposed to be blind fools, subject to the very forces that they exert on others. As this reversal happens and the Merchant satirizes Januarie blindness, Chaucer reveals the Merchant's blindness, giving him the very significance that he had spent his whole tale trying to deny.