...Minimalist contentions: Fight Club Introduction Chuck Palahniuk is one of the most influential American fiction writers who emerged in the 1990s. His debut novel, Fight Club (hereafter: FC) reached cult status after the film adaptation by David Fincher was released in 1999, and widespread and divided critical reception was soon to follow. Much of the current debate about Fight Club focuses on the political implications of the text, but most often recourse to it by way of referencing the film. These arguments usually question or celebrate the transgressive potentials of the book (Giroux; Mendieta), or address issues of masculinity brought into the fore by their literary and cinematic representations emergent in the same decade (Tuss; Friday). However, few, if any, have addressed the literary aspirations of the text and its author. Although none of the approaches to the thematic concerns of Fight Club are unjustified, in the argument that follows I will suggest that conclusions drawn and critical judgments passed have been hasty, and not only failed to take into account the formal aspects of story-telling, but that the narrative features of Palahniuk’s text have largely went unexplored, and constitute a blind spot of the reception. Critics condemning or acclaiming the novel, and, indeed, many a cultic reader of Palahniuk ignored Fight Club as a literary narrative, and have inadvertently been repeating the catchphrases of the text, either reinforcing or trying to undermine what...
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...I have been working over ten years in the field of education. I am a teacher of English and an interpreter. Founding president of BBC English Club, chairperson Eagle Association based on education and the English Clubs Council coordinator based on the promotion of human development through the practice of English. I am a Social Studies online teacher at the Nelson Mandela International School; the CEO and the Curriculum Learning Director of the English Club BBC.I am also a consultant, speaker, and trainer in youth networks in Congo for personal development and youth empowerment, a national mentor and international mentor with Aspire Foundation which aiming to make a difference to one (1) billion women by 2020. I have chosen this work because...
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...did not sell many copies until his death. Before his death he was believed to be a failure, but is now considered one of the best American writers of the 20th century. The story takes place in New York City and on Long Island. More specifically, the West and East Egg during the roaring 20’s. Fitzgerald reflects on his own life making The Great Gatsby more of a personal narrative. F. Scott Fitzgerald was born Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald on September 24, 1896, in St. Paul, Minnesota. F. Scott Fitzgerald’s life has influenced his writing on the novel The Great Gatsby....
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...focus on language itself, exposing the constructed news of what we had assumed were natural categories. In a word, postmodernism was meta.” * “Like ideas of the modern and the postmodern, the contemporary brings up the question of whether it simply designates a new style or more deeply captures the state of society and the feeling of our era. Key elements seem to run throughout discussions, especially the speed up of time and the reveling effects of globalization. If postmodernism was self-conscious about language, the contemporary is hyperconscious of time.” * Also referred to as contemporary literature, which is perceived as being “hyperconscious of time.” (The Sound and the Fury) * “Globalization is why many theorists set the starting date of the contemporary at 1989, because the fall of the Berlin Wall signaled the end of dividing the world between the capitalist West and the communist East. That is why postmodernism is no longer adequate.” * “That is a chief difference from previous eras, even the postmodern. Postmodernism might have responded to media like TV, but the contemporary arose with the advent of personal computers, on every desk, beginning only in the 1980s and now in our pockets.” * “At first the term [contemporary] was a catch-all for literature produced after World War II, in the wake of the classic modernist works of the first half of the century.” * WILLIAMS, JEFFREY J. “The ‘Contemporary’ Moment.” Chronicle of Higher Education...
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...he declares his enraged thoughts to the camera. In framing shots this way, the director sets the viewer up as Alvy’s confidant. His expressiveness of inner thoughts grants the viewer better insight into his psyche and creates a personal dynamic between the viewer and him. With the intimate framing of the scene’s close-up, Alvy opens up to his confidants. The framing device and sets the tone for the viewers’ and Alvy’s...
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... English 215 09, December 2013 Fight Club Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk uses violence for most of recorded history, violence has played a major role in our lives; for example, through country conflicts to world wars, violence seems to be the tool to our defense. Even in our daily lives, when encountered a conflict, we humans want to make it disappear as quick as possible. We do this by using violence unconsciously, whether it is verbally or physically. To the same effect, in his novel Fight Club, Palahniuk reveals violence to be an inescapable cycle. He does this effectively by using violence in the lives of the characters; acting as a form of escape, a gateway to self- realization, a tool for control and a boost of self- esteem. In this novel, Palahniuk uses violence as a form of escape. Fight Club is a support group that is aiming to escape frustrations and to help release built- up emotions; “They never say stop. It’s like they’re all energy, shaking so fast they blur around the edges, these guys are in recovery from something. As if the choice they have left is how they’re going to die and they want to die in a fight” (Palahniuk 139). In other words, Tyler mainly formed Fight Club to allow men to relieve their tension and stress. It is a form of escape for not only the Narrator and Tyler but for the countless other men who flock to Fight Club as well. Moreover, violence seems to have...
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...Business Studies Human Resource Management 12/11/2013 Table of Contents Question 1: Mission statement and culture and the HR implications 2 Q2: CSR and HR's role in its implementation 5 Q3: Job analysis and job analysis techniques 7 Q4: Job description 9 Q5: HR in small versus large organisations 11 References: 12 Question 1: Mission statement and culture and the HR implications The organisation I am going to base my answer on, is Castleknock Golf Club where I am currently employed. Both the mission statement and the culture of an organisation are responsible for how the company runs, its success and existence. Mission statement The mission of an organisation is a statement of how it intends to fulfil its purpose. The main mission statement of Castleknock Golf Club is to provide an excellent dining environment while at the same time providing a high standard of customer service which customers would come to expect from such an establishment as Castleknock Golf Club. HR plays a vital role in an organisation, focusing on its mission statement and culture which are essential for its existence. Understanding the organisation's purpose , identifying strengths and weaknesses, its competitors and implementing new strategies helps a business grow. In order to reach the goal of a company, HRD has to focus on the strategy formulation of employees: * Staffing Strategy * Development Strategy * Compensation Strategy The HR department...
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...Evaluation of the qualitative study: ‘In the Club: Ecstasy Use and Supply in a London Nightclub’ Table of contents: 1. Overview 3 2. Qualitative research approach methods and Quantitative research approach 4 3. The strength and weakness of Observation data collection 6 4. The strength and weaknesses of in-depth interview 6 5. Focus group discussion 7 6. Conclusion 9 7. References 10 Overview The aim of this report is to evaluate the qualitative study ‘In the Club: Ecstasy Use and Supply in a London Nightclub’ by Bill Sanders which was published in 2005 in the Sociology journal. The report will give a brief overview of the research aims, a description of the methods used, and explain the main findings reported in the paper that have been selected. A discussion of why a qualitative research approach has been chosen for the research question or questions posed in the study will also be evaluated. Furthermore, the use of an extended evaluation of the strengths and weaknesses of the method or methods used in the research will focus in particular upon their appropriateness to the project’s key research question or questions posed and the robustness of the claims made in the article. Finally, a consideration of the potential contribution that a different qualitative method could have on the research question asked will be conducted to assess its strengths and weaknesses. The research was to explore what was widely known about...
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...entertain typically mix humor with more serious morals, lessons learned, or experiences. In other words, they have a real point to make… they are not just silly, slapstick humor. You can tell a lighthearted, personal story that reveals a life lesson you’ve learned or examine a familiar subject from a different and unexpected viewpoint or take a lighthearted look at a particular issue. Example: Summer jobs: “Summer jobs for high schoolers: The daily diary of the American Nightmare.” Additional suggestions for the composition and delivery of after dinner speeches are as follows: 1. Carefully select an interesting, timely, and appropriate topic. Having something familiar in the talk that the audience can relate to will enhance listener interest. 2. Build your speech around a central theme, moral, or idea. 3. Support your main point or central theme with colorful stories, narrative and examples. 4. Be imaginative and creative when delivering your talk. Few speeches demand more imagination and creativity than the speech to entertain. 5. Be positive and good-natured when delivering your talk—irony and sarcasm are acceptable but not bitterness. 6. Be optimistic and modest when speaking and create an appropriate mood for your listeners. 7. Humor is a key ingredient in speeches to entertain, but can take many different forms. It can be accomplished through satire, irony, banter, sarcasm, and wit. A speech does not have to have the audience rolling on the floor...
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...influenced by Italian Neorealism and classical Hollywood cinema. Although never a formally organized movement, the New Wave filmmakers were linked by their self-conscious rejection of classical cinematic form and their spirit of youthful iconoclasm. "New Wave" is an example of European art cinema. Many also engaged in their work with the social and political upheavals of the era, making their radical experiments with editing, visual style and narrative part of a general break with the conservative paradigm. Using portable equipment and requiring little or no set up time, the New Wave way of filmmaking presented a documentary type style. The films exhibited direct sounds on film stock that required less light. Filming techniques included fragmented, discontinuous editing, and long takes. The combination of objective realism, subjective realism, and authorial commentary created a narrative ambiguity in the sense that questions that arise in a film are not answered in the end. It holds that the director is the "author" of his movies, with a personal signature visible from film to film. The informal movement was spearheaded by a handful of critics from Cahiers du cinema Jean-Luc Godard, François Truffaut, Eric...
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...Jinko Solar Proposal [Using Arrow Proposal as template] 1. Cover slide—please add Jinko Solar logo on both the slide and the car 2. Table of Contents—please change ‘Arrow’ to ‘Jinko Solar’. Under VI. please replace with Telling the Jinko Solar global story 3. Good 4. Title should be ‘Our note of shared visions’ Whilst we love the idea of an exciting and timely new global motorsports championship, what we and Sir Richard Branson are most excited about is how we can use Formula E as a platform to drive innovation forward and impact the world of electric vehicles, electric mobility and clean energy. We are thrilled at the potential of partnering with an organisation such as Jinko Solar, which shares our future vision and seeks to change the way we generate and use electricity, and takes responsibility of enabling a sustainable future by delivering the cleanest, most efficient and economic solar energy solutions. The following slides hopefully will give you an idea of how we think Virgin Racing can help you tell your story on a global scale to win new business in global markets, build strong brand equity and affinity, attract new talent, engage Jinko Solar employees, and support local communities. Thank you again for this great opportunity—we are looking forward to changing the world together! Sincerely, Richard and the Virgin Racing Team 5. Good 6. Good 7. Good 8. Good—however names need to be updated with drivers...
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...A Behavioural Finance view of the Deepwater Horizon Disaster of 2010 INTRODUCTION The Deepwater Horizon disaster of 2010 was the largest accidental marine oil spill the oil industry has ever seen. It claimed 11 lives and caused huge environmental damage on the shoreline of the Gulf of Mexico by discharging circa 4.9 million barrels of oil. There have been numerous enquiries and studies into the accident to try to understand what happened, the goal of the enquiries was to establish where the fault and therefore guilt lay in order to ascertain compensation. This report attempts to apply key concepts from behavioural finance with a view to understanding the thought processes behind the decisions that were made. In the last decades there have been a lot of studies documenting the impact of psychological traits on the decisions made by managers. This report while touching on them, will not go into detail regarding the various technical difficulties encountered on the Deepwater Horizon and will instead focus on understanding the thought process of the various players involved. We will also briefly cover BP’s historical safety record as this will help us understand some of the behavioural factors in play within the organization. While BP was the principal on the Deepwater Horizon rig there were also other parties like Transocean , the rig operator, Halliburton, who operated in a consultancy position, Anadarko and Schlumberger. These companies played a part in the crisis and their...
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...felt sympathy for Gatsby, and I wanted to know the reason the author gave the book such a horrendous ending; thus, I researched the author. It turned out that F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote the book based on his life and experiences, which made me respect him more, maybe out of pity. I started to read more of his writings, and I learned numerous life lessons through them. In The Great Gatsby, “The Rich Boy,” and “The Bridal Party,” F. Scott Fitzgerald makes similarities in point of view, allusion, setting, plot, and theme. Fitzgerald’s unique writing style is composed of distinctive narrators. His narrators tend to narrate in both first person and third person narrative. The narrator uses third person narrative when the events are occurring in front of him and thus gives his own interpretation of the events. First person narrative is used when the narrator is involved in the story itself, often times confiding in the protagonist. In The Great Gatsby the narrator is known as Nick Carraway, who is Gatsby’s neighbor and Daisy Buchanan’s cousin. Carraway states “I’m inclined to reserve all judgments, a habit that has opened up many curious natures to me and also made me the victim of not a few veteran bores,” which depicts how Carraway is a reliable first person narrator but also a peripheral narrator who just observes and tells the story (Fitzgerald Gatsby 1). Through peripheral narration, Carraway is almost invisible and thus acts more like a third person narrator who describes the events...
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...your favorite vacation spot, you are probably trying—maybe without even realizing it—to convince your reader that your vacation spot is the most beautiful place in the world. Think about it. When did you read any nonfiction writing that wasn't, finally, trying to persuade you of something in some way? Most rhetoricians—that's people who think about argument and language—agree that there are three basic ways to appeal to an audience. You can appeal to logic. That is, you can lay out your argument in clear, coherent steps, so your reader or listener can see how you get from one conclusion to the next. Or you can appeal to authority. Here you may want to find experts or facts to support your argument—think about Tiger Woods endorsing golf clubs. (Of course, do we also trust Tiger to advise us on buying watches? Not so clear.) Or you can appeal to emotion. Emotional appeals can be extremely powerful, especially when you are able to relate your argument to your readers' values or needs. Most good arguments make use of all three appeals in some way. But how do you actually construct an argument? First things first: the thesis. The thesis is probably the single most important sentence in the entire paper, because it's what every other element of the paper is working to support. It's the anchor, providing a point for both the reader and you, the writer, to come back to. This puts a lot of pressure on you to choose a good thesis statement, but...
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...CHAPTER 3 COLONIAL HISTORY TRACKED Colonialism trumpeted the cultural superiority and rightness of the White. The European empire is said to have held sway over more than eighty-five percent of the rest of the globe by the time of the First World War, having consolidated power and control over several centuries. One of the ways by which colonialism maintained power was by writing its own histories. These histories were conceived within grand narratives of progress, expansion and enlightenment. Inevitably, they both systematically and accidentally recast, ignored and silenced other competing histories from the places and cultures with which they came into contact. Post - colonial studies has consequently set itself the task of examining and challenging those narratives, developing other ways of telling histories, and re – evaluating other ways of remembering. If post- colonial literature means the interrogation of the subaltern to the “center”, no other book is representative of the post-colonial theory and practice as Amitav Ghosh’s The Glass Palace. The novel won the 2001 Frankfurt e – book Award of fifty thousand dollars Grand Prize for Fiction. Abreast of the contemporary academic debates about colonialism and culture, Ghosh is well-equipped in challenging the institutionalized perspectives...
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