Book Review on Home by Marilynne Robinson Essay Example for Free

Book Review on Home by Marilynne Robinson Essay Lost and alone, will Glory and Jack find themselves? Will they know what family truly means? Perhaps, all they simply need is one another and their father. Glory had been grief-stricken, being left by the man she trusted, leaving her with nothing but to return to the old house in Iowa, where her frail dad lives alone. There she was, feeling neglected and worthless while, along with her father, awaits the surprising return of her long lost brother, Jack. A man with a troubled past and in an uncertain state, Jack comes home looking distressed but grateful. He was different among his siblings ever since, enjoying the thrill of creating troubles but deep inside, he is a good and caring person. Unfortunately, guilt has eaten him. Remorse caused by the wrong decisions he had made towards his dear ones and the unwillingness to forgive himself. While the two are battling their own wars, their father is trying to make amends with them because he, too, is feeling like a failure as a dad, especially to Jack. He was not a perfect father but he tried to be, wanting what was best for his children. The return of Jack has turned the three lives around and also Ames and his family’s. It has opened the eyes and heart of each one, addressing to their many concerns and problems, internally and within the family. Jack and Glory had both found a confidant in each other, helping cure their personal pains little by little. The simple gestures and conversations they had had built a growing bond between brother and sister. The love and care shown to each other and their dad had compensated the past sorrows they had experienced. These have made Jack and Glory whole again, being the person they once were or hoped to be. After everything the Boughtons have gone through, all the troubles and heartaches, they were finally able to feel what happiness is through the realization that the family is the most important thing in one’s life because here, there is unconditional love and trust. Family is where they have found themselves, a place where they can truly call home. Analysis Nothing can compare to a family’s love for one another. Home is a novel about family. Robert Boughton had constant questions and worries about his children. He always seemed tired because of the sadness and guilt he feels for thinking he was a failure as a father. He has troubled children, showing that one raised in a Christian home has no certainty that he/she will lead a Christian life. It still depends on one’s own choice and apparently, Jack has not made the right ones. He has finally come home, but was almost unrecognizable and distant. He felt undeserving and surprised for being treated so well, though have caused much trouble, because he led a hard life while away. Jack is a good person, as mentioned by Ames who is evidently most irritated at him, knowing he has committed many mistakes and trying to become a better person. He struggles everyday with his dilemmas, feeling like a disgrace to the family, and wanting to be at peace but can’t seem to find it. Slowly, with his family’s help, he began to heal and change, but not wholly up until the end. Jack left, as suggested by his caring brother Teddy, for the sake of their ailing father. He did not want to cause anymore trouble and see his father suffer, but he did agree to come home if he needs help, realizing that families are forever. Both Teddy and Glory will be there. â€Å"But the soul finds its own home if it even has a home at all† Glory, like Jack, is lost, alone and bitter. She carries on life with a heavy heart, as she takes care of her ailing father and a problematic brother. Feeling hopeless, she seeks attention and fortunately, her two brothers show it to her. She understands Jack, but not completely because of his secretive character and he, too, understood her, her feelings and battles. As the story progresses, there was a growing bond between brother and sister, whether it was taking care of their father or sharing thoughts and opinions, though avoiding to bring up the pressing issues amongst them. Nevertheless, they became better individuals because of each other. The Lord truly is wonderful! The story was ordered chronologically, with the occasional recalling of the past. It started with the return of Glory and Jack until his leaving. It is equally about Glory’s and Jack’s internal conflict. The story revolves around overcoming the misfortunes each has encountered, due to appalling decisions, through the understanding and care of family. Another internal conflict was the minister, feeling like a failure as a dad. With these being the main plots, the subplots would be the relationship of Jack and Ames, together with his family, and the coming home of Teddy. The external problem was the coming home of Jack and Glory. He seemed distracted, causing worry to his sister and father and she, left unmarried, cheated, and alone. The narration of the story is character-based since the plot unfolds through the opinions and decisions made by the characters, not from having this setting to the next. No doubt that the story reflects religion, the uncertainty that everyone feels about it because there, as mentioned by Ames, is no absolute knowledge on what it really is. The stories among the characters parallel some characters and stories in the Bible such as David, Lazarus and The Prodigal Son. The plot evolved from the slight change in emotions. Glory began to feel needed and responsible in making her brother feel better and her father well, while Jack felt being part of the family. He saw and realized that his family would accept him for who he is and would try to do everything to make him feel welcome. In the outside, the plot was about the coming home and duties of both Glory and Jack, visiting of Ames and Teddy, and the parting of Jack. There were a lot of themes in the story such as guilt, loneliness, resentment and religion, but the main theme was the importance of the relationship among family members. It can help make everything much better, though slowly but surely. The theme is based from the belief of Robinson and I, definitely, agree with her. Family is the basic unit of society and is the foundation of every individual. The relationship among members should be strong in order for all of them to be stable and complete as each individual. Personal Application/Impression Home was a hard read. Though an avid reader, the book was more complicated and confusing compared to the fiction novels I normally read. The words have so much meaning and the plots were not written in a sequence, leaving me puzzled. I soon began to understand the context of the story and the meaning of those sentences that seemed too long after reading more. Marilynne Robinson writes Home in a reminiscing manner and with thorough explanations of the actions done by the characters. I have never read a novel as defined as this, enabling me to imagine the exact happenings in the story. Home has touched me, making me appreciate my family even more. I can feel the characters’ experiences when it comes to family, their effort to become closer and trying to offer help. It takes me from keeping my own problems to sharing it with my family because I now truly realize that they would accept me for who I am and help me with my troubles. The characters acted the way people actually do in real life and the settings were a possibility. Home truly is a beautiful and moving book, showing the importance of family. However; I did not enjoy the writing as much, though the storyline and intention of the author was wonderful. It was written with much effort, but a little too dragging and confusing. Maybe it was confusing because partly, I did not get to read the first book, Gilead, but the plots did jump from one to the other. Note that it is a must to read Gilead first for better understanding and appreciation of Home. The developing of the story was slow and some do enjoy that type of writing but I don’t so, it was a little dragging. It was hard to turn to the next page if the ending of a page is not as interesting. Robinson built a sturdy plot but bores some readers like me. It did not have action in every page but again, it is interesting for those who love to imagine being the character himself. A well-written novel, but no work of fiction is perfect for everybody.

Industry anlysis of Retail Grocery Industry Essay -- essays research p

Industry Analysis   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In order to analyze an industry, it is important to determine where it is in the industry lifecycle. During the 1970’s and 1980’s the retail grocery industry was expanding at a phenomenal rate. Throughout this boom period, the number of large grocery stores was rising and forcing the existing† Mom and Pop† grocery stores out of the industry.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In the early 1990’s, the retail grocery industry began leaving the growth stage and entered the maturity stage in the industry lifecycle. This was caused by increased market saturation and slowing growth rates. Between 1995 and 1996 the growth rates were the lowest they had been in the past twenty years. The main reason for this was the vast number of grocery stores that had been built in growth stage and the emergence of new grocery retail formats such as warehouse clubs and dollar stores. This increased competition forced firms to compete with each other for the same customers by lowering prices.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Enter WalMart. Walmart was not even in the grocery industry in the early 1990’s but through excellent supply chain management and extremely low everyday prices have forced their way as one of the dominant players in the retail grocery industry. Industry surveys indicate that the five largest chains (WalMart, Kroger, Costco, Albertsons, and Safeway) accounted for approximately 37.5% of total sales in 2002.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The 1990’s were an important time because of the arrival of new technologies that would change the retail grocery industry. Scanners, Elcetronic Data Interchanges, and the internet have all sped up and lowered the costs of business operations. WalMart was one of the early adopters of this technology and had a competitive advantage over its competitors. New technologies being pioneered now include self-serve checkouts, RFID’s, and kiosks, they will all eventually change how we shop at grocery stores today.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Walmart’s arrival as the largest grocer in North America has caused quite a stir in the retail grocery industry. Walmart’s low prices have caused an industry–wide obsession with consolidation. Many firms are cutting costs any chance they can, forcing some firms to move upmarket. â€Å"The traditional supermarket concept no longer has a profitable future in most ... ...lay a part in the consumer’s decision but in the end eggs from one store are the same as eggs from another store. The consumer can also compare prices from various stores to get the best deal on their groceries. Supplier Power   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Supplier power has been pretty high in the past because grocery stores had very few options of where they could get their goods and had even less of a say of how much to pay for these goods. Recently WalMart has started to change the balance of power away from the supplier. By being so large and having the power of making or breaking a product based solely o if WalMart carries it they can demand certain prices. Another way to combat high supplier power is to introduce private label brands. For example Giant eagle carries its own brand of peas it is not as dependable of its pea suppliers as it was before carrying their own brand. Some suppliers have decided to try and regain power by merging with other suppliers such as Gillette/Proctor & Gamble and Phillip Morris/Kraft. It appears that after a long time of high supplier power the playing field is starting to level itself off and it appears this will continue into the future.

Guitars: the History, Types, and Influence

Ariana Kecskes Mrs. Densmore English 9/10 March 11, 2013 Guitars Guitars have been around since the Renaissance. In the late 1400’s, the classical guitar was created. This instrument was known as an â€Å"outcast†, never being played in concerts. Later on, the Spanish guitar was created; the early versions of this were known to have a unique sting layout because they had four sets of two strings. In the 1500’s a fifth set of strings were added to this guitar.Well into the 1500’s, the guitar began to be played in performances. This made guitars more famous, and caused better and improved designs to be made. Many people began to play the guitar, including Benjamin Franklin and Andrew Jackson. Finally, in the 1850’s the modern design for an acoustic guitar was made by C. F. Martin. In the 1800’s, many modern design of guitars evolved from the Italian and French models. People invented new techniques of playing the guitar including, playing and t uning all at once.In the late 1800’s, Orville Gibson began building arch top guitars. Over 78 thousand guitars were made in the year, 1900. The 20th century was a very prosperous time for the guitar. Manufacturers began making steel-stringed guitars which are popular today. In 1931, the first electric guitar was created; they called it â€Å"The Frying Pan†, due to its round shape. However, electric guitars were not popular until 1936, when Gibson made a famous electric model, the ES-150.Later on, guitar crafters made the â€Å"Solid Body Guitar†, because of bad reports on their previous models. Fender created â€Å"The Broadcaster† in 1949, which was the first largely produced guitar. In 1952, Gibson created the popular â€Å"Les Paul†. Fender and Gibson both went on creating guitars almost as in a competition. By the 1960’s, the guitar was fully matured. Gibson produced another electric guitar model in 1961, the ES-335. This was a semi-hol low body guitar.. The Strat and the SG were very popular guitars, especially in the 1960’s.

Sleep Deprivation Negatively Influences Driving Performance

Road traffic injuries are estimated to be the 5th leading cause of death within the next 15 years, with the current yearly death toll reaching 1.3 million (Gresser, 2014; ASIRT, 2016). The average person is generally awake for around 16 hours a day, however sometimes within busy lives sleep may become a last priority between family and work, and thus extending the period a person is awake (Williamson Feyer, 2000). In this essay, it will be argued that sleep deprivation negatively influences driving performance, as it has been found that driving for long periods of time or after sleep deprivation leads to poor driving performance as levels of alertness are low. Two empirical studies have been chosen to support this argument, by Otmani, Pebayle, Roge, and Muzet (2004) and Williamson and Feyer (2000). The general findings of both studies agreed that performance was impaired in sleep deprived subjects (Williamson et al. 2000; Otmani, Pebayle, Roge, Muzet, 2004). An article by Williams and Feyer (2000), investigated the effects of sleep deprivation and Blood Alcohol Concentrations (BAC) on driving performance. The aim was to compare these two factors to determine the level of sleep deprivation at which showed equivalent driving performance of hazardous BAC (Williamson Feyer, 2000). To do this, two independent variables were manipulated – BAC and sleep deprivation. The levels tested for BAC included, 0.025%, 0.05%, 0.075 and 0.1%. For sleep deprivation theShow MoreRelatedSleep Deprivation And Sleep Deficiency1774 Words   |  8 PagesKevin Touch Ms. Acosta-Mata English 4 AP 6 Oct. 2015 Sleep Deprivation: A Bane to Men, Women and Children alike It was 12:30 am in the morning and Israel Joubert and his family was driving home after a family reunion. Joubert had hoped to get to his workplace on time at 8 am in the town of Fort Worth. 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