MHR

Motivation refers to the forces within a person that affect his or her direction, Intensity, and persistence of voluntary behavior o Particular level of effort (intensity) o Certain amount of time (persistence) o Particular goal (direction Although is definition is still being debated, employee engagement Is defined as an Individual's emotional and cognitive (rational) motivation, particularly a focused, Intense, persistent, and purposive effort toward work-related goals Employee Drives and Needs To understand how to create a more engaged and motivated workforce, we need o understand the motivational â€Å"forces† or prime movers of employee behavior o Drives (Also called primary needs) are defined as hardwired characteristics of the brain that attempt to keep us In balance by correcting deficiencies 0 Drives accomplish this task by producing emotions to energize us to act on our environment.A few drives that are consistently identified in research include the drive for social interaction, understanding the environment, competence or status, and defending oneself against physiological and psychological harm. D Everyone has drives and is born with them. They are prime movers of behavior because they generate emotions. O Needs are goal-directed forces that people experience. They are the motivational forces of emotions channeled toward particular goals to correct deficiencies or imbalances. C] Suppose you arrive at work to discover a stranger sitting at your desk. Seeing this situation produces emotions (worry, curiosity) that motivate you to act. These emotions are generated from drives, such as the drive to defend and the drive to know.The emotional reactions to seeing the stranger sitting at your desk represent the forces that move you, but you channel those emotions towards specific goals Everyone has the same drives, they are hardwired through evolution. The type and intensity of emotions formed in a particular situation varies from one person to the next. O Individual's self-concept (as well as personality and values), social norms, and past experience amplify or suppress drive-based emotions, resulting in stronger or weaker needs C] This explains why needs can be learned† to some extent. Colonization and reinforcement may cause people to alter their self-concept somewhat, resulting In stronger or weaker need for social Interaction, achievement, etc.MR. 405 By Colorist intensity, and persistence of voluntary behavior o Particular level of effort (intensity) Although is definition is still being debated, employee engagement is defined as an individual's emotional and cognitive (rational) motivation, particularly a focused, intense, persistent, and purposive effort toward work-related goals Employee Drives Drives (Also called primary needs) are defined as hardwired characteristics of the brain that attempt to keep us in balance by correcting deficiencies Drives and defending oneself against physiological and psychological h arm. 0 Everyone has deficiencies or imbalances. 0 Suppose you arrive at work to discover a stranger emotions, resulting in stronger or weaker needs.

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Coordinate Algebra Review Test 1 Multiple Choice Identify the choice that best completes the statement or answers the question. ____1. Which equation represents the relationship â€Å"3 more than a number is 7? † a. | | b. | | c. | | d. | | ____2. A parking lot holds 42 cars. There are 26 cars in the lot already. Which inequality can be solved to show all the numbers of cars c that can still park in the lot? a. | | c. | | b. | | d. | | ____3. Leroy works part time for a moving company. One day he had to move 34 boxes from a truck to inside a house.After moving some boxes, he took a break and told his boss that he has only 15 more boxes to move. Which equation can be solved to find how many boxes Leroy moved before his break? a. | | c. | | b. | | d. | | ____4. A rectangle with an area of has a length that is 4 times the width. What is the width? (Round your answer to the nearest tenth. ) a. | 5. 6 cm| c. | 22. 3 cm| b. | 11. 1 cm| d. | 44. 5 cm| ____5. The area of the rectangle shown is more than 72 square inches. Which inequality can be used to find x? a. | | b. | | c. | | d. | | ____6.The maximum capacity of a theater is 471 people. So far, 254 people are seated in the theater. Which inequality can be solved to show the number of people p that can still enter the theater? a. | | c. | | b. | | d. | | ____7. A total of d dollars was donated to 4 charities. Each charity received $375. Which equation can be solved to find the total amount of money donated? a. | | c. | | b. | | d. | | Short Answer 1. Citizens less than 18 years old are not allowed to vote. Define a variable and write an inequality for the ages of citizens who are not allowed to vote.

Shakespeare Research Paper

William Shakespeare is arguably one of the greatest playwrights and poets of all time. This is due to his intelligent sonnets and plays that are divided into the genres of comedy, tragedy and history. Many great poets have acknowledged him as a pure genius in the way he presents his work. English novelist D. H. Lawrence stated â€Å"When I read Shakespeare I am struck with wonder that such trivial people should muse and thunder in such lovely language†. Alchin, online) English poet Robert Graves once described this poetic genius, claiming that â€Å"The remarkable thing about Shakespeare is that he is really very good – in spite of all the people who say he is very good. † (Alchin, online) Shakespeare’s work has the reputation of being the one of the greatest in English language and Western literature. It has been translated into every major language and is still being preformed all around the world today. Many of Shakespeare’s plays and sonnets hav e similar characteristics relating to themes, motifs, and symbols. These recurring images and ideas not only portray how he really feels, but they also have a personal connection with Shakespeare as they have had some significance in his life. The theme of death and reappearing ghosts appear in many of Shakespeare’s works, especially in Hamlet and Macbeth, and are used to connect with the reader and present an important aspect that helps develop his works as a whole. In the time of William Shakespeare there was a strong belief in the existence of the paranormal activity and. Thus, the theme of the supernatural is a recurring aspect in many of Shakespeare?s plays. In both Hamlet and Macbeth, the supernatural is vital to the development and structure of the plot. It provides a deeper understanding of each character, and increases the impact of important events. The supernatural appears to the audience in many varied forms. In Hamlet there is a ghost, the most common supernatural form. However, in Macbeth, not only does a ghost appear but a floating dagger, witches, and prophetic apparitions make appearances. A ghost, appearing in the form of Hamlet’s father, makes several appearances in the play. It first appears to Marcellus and Bernardo, along with Horatio. The ghost says nothing to them and is perceived with fear and apprehension. However, the ghost gives the reader important information that helps them understand the development of the plot. The conversation between the ghost and Hamlet serves as a reason for Hamlet’s later actions and provides insight into his character. However, Hamlet is not quick to believe the ghost. â€Å"T' assume a pleasing shape; yea, and perhaps, Out of my weakness and my melancholy, As he is very potent with such spirits, Abuses me to damn me. (Shakespeare, Act 2, Scene 2). This reveals another aspect of his character and helps the reader understand Hamlet. This ghost is portrayed as a subconscious, and he uses it as a guide when he takes the ghost’s advice to seek revenge for the King’s death. The supernatural occurs four times during the course of Macbeth. It occurs in the forms of the witches, in the appearance of Banquo’s ghost, in the apparitions, and in the â€Å"air-drawn† dagger that guides Macbeth towards his victim. The witches are the most important supernatural aspect in Macbeth. They represent Macbeth’s evil ambitions and are the reason for his evil aspirations. Macbeth believes the witches and wishes to know more about the future so after the banquet he seeks them out at their cave. He wants to know the answers to his questions even though the consequences are violent and destructive to nature. In Hamlet and Macbeth the supernatural is a vital part of the structure of the plot. It provides a catalyst for action by the characters and supplies insight into the major players. The supernatural appeals to the audience’s curiosity of the mysterious and thus strengthens their interest. Shakespeare had his experiences with death throughout his whole life. During the 16th century, waves of plague swept across England. John and Mary Shakespeare had eight children, including William. Joan, the first born sibling, died at the age of two months old due to the Bubonic Plague. Margret was the second born child and only lived for one also due to the plague. Anne Shakespeare was the sixth child born. She died at the age of eight. William was very fortunate to live a full life as three out of seven of his siblings died at an extremely young age. He also had to witness much of his family suffer with illness from the plague that swept Stratford uring the hot summer months. The plague was not the only tragic aspect of Shakespeare’s time. Smallpox, Syphilis, Typhus and Malaria mainly from infected rats all drastically affected Shakespeare’s life and caused copious amounts of death. These type of aspects and experiences all have influenced his writing (Amanda Mabillard, online). It is also a key motif and vital theme in Macbeth and Ham let, as well as many other plays. Each major character in both plays has a famous soliloquy that discusses the topic of death and leads the character with a lingering feeling of despair. They both wonder if embracing death would be better than living in a world full of corruption. â€Å"Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow creeps in this petty pace from day to day to the last syllable of recorded time; and all our yesterdays have lighted fools the way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle! †¦ Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, Signifying nothing. † (Shakespeare, Act 5, Scene 5). Macbeth, feeling guilty after committing killing the king and sad after the death of his wife, sees life as meaningless and insignificant. He wonders if life is truly worth living anymore. Hamlet’s famous soliloquy displays a similar tone as he also ponders between life and death. â€Å"To be, or not to be: that is the question: Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, Or to take arms against a sea of troubles, And by opposing end them? †¦ With this regard their currents turn awry, And lose the name of action. –Soft you now! The fair Ophelia! Nymph, in thy orisons Be all my sins remember'd. † (Shakespeare, Act 3, Scene 1). His despair, sorrow, anger, and inner peace are all justifiable emotions for this troubled character. Hamlet's feeling of despair towards his life and to the world develops as the play moves on. With the burden of avenging his father's death, Hamlet thinks that perhaps it is better commit suicide, except that there is no knowledge of what comes next. Therefore, although he thinks death should to be embraced, it cannot be pursued. (Schoenbaum, 49) Shakespeare’s life and thoughts are portrayed, reflected, and interpreted throughout his plays. Hamlet and Macbeth’s speeches both suggest that Shakespeare himself dealt with the question of life over death and possibly had thoughts of suicide. He uses these characters to reflect his feelings and thoughts and develop the plot of the story. Shakespeare’s plays have influenced many people around the world. He is one of the most known playwrights. His style is so unique and distinctive and excels beyond the expectations of great writing. Although his plays may seem as just a great story merely for entertainment, each and every single aspect of his writing has an incredibly deep meaning that adds style and feeling to the plot. The supernatural in many of Shakespeare’s works and have contributed to plot development by foreshadowing events later in the novel and shaping the characters attitude throughout the play. Death has been a lingering aspect through most of Shakespeare’s plays and is usually the fate of the major character. It helps develop the plot and places emphasis on the fatal flaw of the major character or theme of the play. They both have played an important part in Shakespeare’s life and have been essential to the success of his work as they help the genius express his feelings and shape the scheme of his writing.

TECHNOLOGY INNOVATION Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

TECHNOLOGY INNOVATION - Essay Example For example, in the case of an automobile manufacturer that is unwilling to develop a hybrid electric vehicle, competence will actually be lost rather than gained. Competency is a major factor in this case. Fuel-cell vehicles, on the other hand, are a more radical innovation that requires more significant changes to be made to the body of a vehicle, to its engine, and to the fueling infrastructure. Consumer behavior is also affected more radically, as the technology involved may be unfamiliar to many consumers, necessitating a change in attitude or thinking (Honda, 2009). Some may argue that fuel cell vehicles are competence-destroying for the petroleum companies, which exist dependent on the status quo of petroleum based engines, and perhaps even for many automakers. They might be competence enhancing for battery makers, since the vehicles will require much larger batteries. Until we know more about the changes consumers will have to make to use fuel-cell vehicles, it is difficult to assess whether the technology will be competence enhancing, competence destroying, or competence neutral for them. It would seem to be a situation in which there are currently too many variables; many are waiting for governments and infrastructure manufacturing private entities to choose one type of fuel technology. Currently, the field is rather crowded with options. The issue is bound to be simpler in the future, if there is a single standards of a more ecologically friendly vehicle, and a single accepted technological change. #2 Judging by the Honda case, I think that five main factors will influence the rate at which hybrid electric vehicles are adopted by consumers. The first, and perhaps most obvious, of these factors, is price. While many people are talking about a greener future and reducing individual carbon footprints in today’s ecologically

Unit 4 assessment professionalism Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Unit 4 assessment professionalism - Essay Example By making the open door policy as an important policy in the organization ensures that the management and the subordinates understand what is required of them as guided by the policy. Further, by ensuring that it is part of policies in the organization is important in creating an organizational culture, which promotes open communication where every member is able to approach any other member of the organization who can address a given issue effectively (Malin, 2000). On the other hand, having a policy in place also helps in ensuring that the scope of what is permissible or not is addressed effective lest it turns the policy in to ineffective one, which causes more problems to the organization. In this case, the policy allows for order in the organization, where members respect each other and that they know what and where the policy is applicable (Anderson and Bolt, 2011). Lastly, a policy ensures that all individuals, both in the management and subordinate understand their responsibi lities towards the policy. Question 2:  As a supervisor, you observe, on numerous occasions, one of your best customers intently abusing two of your most valuable employees. What steps do you take to protect your staff members?   It is import for an organization to ensure that both the employees and customers have a good environment where they can engage each other with respect and professionally. Of great significance is the recognition of the importance of the customer, who should be well served and his/her needs addressed effectively and professionally. However, when customers become abusive on the employees, it is important for the organization to stand up to defend them from such abuse (DuPont, 1998). In many nations including the US, UK, South Africa and many more have legislation, which protects staff by forbidding certain behavior by customers. It is however important to know that the leadership of an

Greek Philosophy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Greek Philosophy - Essay Example Protagoras' law - the person is a measure of all things - better than anything characterizes the changes in people's interests. New issues have been first of all appeared in the minds of persons, which acted mainly in Athens as teachers of all sciences and arts, which are required for active participation in public life, in the minds of sophists. The last are already not independent thinkers separated from each other, trying to understand the world and its development. They represent a new estate, which being engaged in training to eloquence and using logic arguments as arts, naturally in this business was supervised not with a pure aspiration to get the truth, but aspiration to shine and win in verbal dispute. Characteristic for this philosophy, dictated to sophists by conditions surrounding them and their position in life, are empiric-skeptical (with respect to questions of theoretical value) and utilitarian-egoistical (with respect to questions of practical actions) points of view . The content and volume of our knowledge are entirely defined by our own sensual perceptions. Such perceptions, being subjectively changeable, cannot make valid knowledge at all. Also our activity is always defined by minute needs.

Physical Science Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 2

Physical Science - Essay Example For instance, individuals who are severely suffering from incurable diseases and other deadly diseases; they should be allowed to choose between life and death since they endure much pain. Furthermore, motive of euthanasia is to "aid-dying" painlessly, therefore, the laws should consider approving it even among the children. This will reduce pain, suffering and even low esteem suffered by patient. By doing so, the rights of an individual will have been respected. It is true that killing oneself is a way of protecting yourself from other forces and hence a defense mechanism, but it is totally different from mass killing, law does find it worth approving. When providing medical care and emotional care, the doctor always gives the patient medicine no matter the gross effects. Putting that into consideration, pain and agony should be prioritized. Hence our terminally ill children should be given a soft way out from such problems; hence legalizing euthanasia will be the only way out. The medicine given may not help and they may finally die. Therefore, legalization of euthanasia helps to avoid wastage of resources when buying medicine and it should be legalized. Law should forbid Mercy killing. It is unaccepted and a taboo for one to kill or to kill themselves. Human life deserves exceptional security and protection hence we should all stand against euthanasia Family members may have ill intention into forcing the patient to commit euthanasia hence unaccepted in the society. To protect evil and personal gains euthanasia should be demolished and should not be legalized in the current society. Thirdly, killing of oneself is biblical and religious unaccepted hence it will be abuse to the existing religion when euthanasia is legalized. The whole world should stand and protect the existing religions. Personally, I would not support euthanasia law since it will cause recklessness in the society. People will just be thinking about euthanasia whenever they are ill

Early years in the uk context Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words - 2

Early years in the uk context - Essay Example This England framework is goal based and outlines large number of goals, which children should achieve in their early education. In this essay, there is an outline of comparison of England and Scotland framework of early education. This comparison gives different aspects on various themes. For instance, the education approach of early childhood in England focuses on the individual child- centered approach. On the other hand, in England all children in a class should adhere to uniform approach. In order to make a comparison between the two curriculum policies one needs to consider the aspect of flexibility. This flexibility includes teacher’s interpretation of the framework and guidelines, which appears to be the identifiable difference between these two curriculum policies. In Scotland, the mode of early year’s education, which applies, is 0-8 program while National curriculum is the mode, which applies in England, North Ireland, and Wales. There are some similarities b etween the process of National Curriculum guidance of England and Scotland. In both nations, curriculum activities follow a subject-oriented system (CLARK, 2012:14). In England, educational syllabuses followed decisions from isolated educational working groups, which include everything covering all curricular activities. Contrastingly, in Scotland each review group gave out its ideal decisions in which some were complex map of primary education. Another similarity between the two aspects of early years curriculum is how the isolated working groups were confident, had tight timetables, and fast introduction to pre-schools. Apart from these similarities, the England National Curriculum has been more effective and has more central development than Scotland 0-8 curriculum. A great difference has been due to political influence in England arising from involvement of government in Curriculum policy. However, due to lack of good approaches to National Curriculum assessment in the year 1988 through 1993 led to the establishment of slimmed down curriculum in the year 1995. During this time, the England National Curriculum differed fro Scotland (0-8) assessment program. This was due to the separation primary and secondary stages. There was first and second stage of the 0-8 Scotland Curriculum Assessment program (DELORENZI & ROBINSON, 2005:41). Stage 1and 2 involves five to seven years and seven to eleven years for primary schools and major stages 3 and 4, which involves eleven years to fourteen years and fourteen years to sixteen years for secondary schools. This Scottish form of 0-8 Curriculum and Assessment Program covers a longer time span compared to the England policy of early year’s curriculum. Another difference occurs when comparing the curriculum coverage at each stage of education. The Scotland 0-8 Curriculum and Assessment programme covers all the required concepts of curriculum with the exception of a core curriculum. On the other hand, the England Na tional Curriculum concentrates on subjects such as mathematics, English, and Science as the key subjects. Subjects like technology, history, art, music, geography, and PE are the foundation subjects at first and second stage with an addition of a National language as foundation subject at the third stage. The nature of early years study program of the two systems is of a fussy interest. In En gland, teachers and education officers

Contemporary nursing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Contemporary nursing - Essay Example (Hermann, 2004) It is due to this reason that Australian nursing is confronting to challenges like lack of public reliance on hospitals, nurses', negligence towards patients etc. Other challenges include lack of community contact, some ethical issues which later escort towards loss of interest and defaming the profession. (Mant, 2002) Job dissatisfaction is also one of the reasons which escort experienced nurses to leave this field. (Goodwin, 2002) Under such circumstances where nurses are open to hear critics either in professionalism or ethical values, could one think that political apathy alone is to be held responsible for creating this situation In my opinion, the situation is all about what nurses understand and perceives the ethical and moral code of conduct. Therefore, it is not to blame the political apathy of professional values but the morals which a nurse has to follow throughout her nursing career. By nursing ethics, it is meant the morals and duties of nursing which she must succumb to in professional patient care. Often nurses see 'morality' as involving more a personal or private set of values, in contrast with 'ethics', which is seen as involving a more formalised, public and universal set of values. The incorrect use of fundamental ethical terms and concepts has led to a certain degree of confusion in nursing ethics discourse. Therefore the responsibility of this confusion does not lie with political apathy, but with a nurse who understands and perceives in her own manner. In this situation where 'political involvement' and 'ethics' has, been misunderstood in today's nursing profession, one must think behind the hidden facts responsible for creating the chaos. Blaming the laws, nursing code of conduct or nursing schools is not the solution to the problem. Lack of sharing and understanding a common nursing ethical language has become the ground root for taking a correct or incorrect course of action on which the reputation of nursing is built. Here by correct or incorrect I mean the course of action that is morally correct for the patient. For example if two nurses are unable to share a common perception about nursing practice, they cannot meaningfully debate about moral permissibility due to conflicting views and these views could later result into the differences clearly seen while handling a patient. Therefore, the onus comes on the shoulders of those nurses who are dedicated to enter in this profession to research about the conflicting views. The Moral Problems of today's Nurse Nursing practise revolves around basic care and common sense and today's nursing care is the moral care of the patient without these two features. (Traynor, 1999, p. 69) Moral care involves dedication and emotional bonding and respect for the patient. Though the nurses who are new to the profession are dedicated enough to handle the patient and understand morality, but that dedication is devoid of basic 'care' and 'common sense'. However older ones that stick to this profession for years explicitly identify their work and values as 'traditional' but still they never realise what is ahead of them that requires true morality what it takes to become today's nurse who is willing to accept

Women in mathematics,Science,and Engineering Essay - 1

Women in mathematics,Science,and Engineering - Essay Example However, women are highly underrepresented in science and technology studies at the secondary and tertiary levels of education, and in the overall technical workforce. This is despite evidence that suggests further involvement of women in technology related fields would greatly improve innovations and economic development in most countries (OECD, 11). Young girls are currently less involved in technical subjects as early as in their high school level; only a third of students in OECD countries taking biology, advanced chemistry, and physics related subjects are girls. In the United States, only 15% of girls are enrolled in advanced computer science studies, despite the growing computer literacy among all young people. Therefore, there is need to critically address the low enrollment of women in science and technology based fields to bridge the large gap between male and female expatriates in science and technical fields. Currently, women in US and other OECD countries are increasingl y enrolling in male dominated engineering and mathematics fields; there has been a remarkable impact on the number of women enrolling for engineering and math intensive courses.... There is a serious under representation of women in engineering enrollment in the western world. In the US, there are evident and remarkable differences in the numbers of females enrolled in various engineering disciplines. These trends are indicative of specific university features, or some courses appearing attractive to females, resulting in higher numbers of female students in some science and technical courses compared to others (Gill etal, 392). For example, in Australia, though engineering is regarded as one of the highly paid professions, requires high tertiary scores before admission to university, and has the highest level of employment from the graduate level, females in Australia make below 14% of the total first year enrollments in engineering; this is despite the given incentives, high professional status of engineers, and high pay offered in engineering (Grill et al, 392). Moreover, in Australia, women have been leaving the engineering profession at a much higher rate compared to men, which suggests that women underrepresentation in engineering will continue to worsen. This is complicated by the fact that high performing females who overcome the barriers to score highly in math and science subjects, and would be expected to take engineering as the best course, prefer other courses such as Law and medicine, with female students making more than 50% of first year enrollments in these studies across Australia (Grill et al, 392). The trend where high performing female students in Australia prefer law and medicine to engineering hints on the social implications of being an engineer. Law and medicine are associated with

Black People and Affirmative Action Essay Example for Free

Black People and Affirmative Action Essay Please be advised that Assignment One on the printed Tutorial Letter 101/3/2013 on pages 12 14 has a number of both typographical and numerical mistakes. This happened as a result of a number of factors: the initial assignment reading was too costly for the Department to commission in terms of copyright and had to be retracted at the last minute. The reading on Affirmative Action: a losing battle? was then included but with an almost impossible deadline, which resulted in the errors reflected therein. This is regrettable and we apologise for any inconvenience this might have cost you. The corrected version of the assignment is on page 3 and is attached to this TL and again on my UNISA for your convenience. The marks are out of 100 marks 50 for Section A and 50 marks for Section B. NB: Please note that the due date has not changed in any way (4 March 2013). 2 ENN103F/102 8. 4. 1. FIRST SEMESTER ASSIGNMENTS The purpose of this assignment is to teach you how to read an article and to critically engage in academic reading and reflecting on the material in an academic manner by answering the short paragraph questions provided as well as an essay. Assignment 01 will be marked fairly fully and sent back to you. Affirmative action: a losing battle? There are considerable reasons to suppose that this topic, which affects all citizens of South Africa, in particular, seems dated. In some instances it is a policy viewed with hostility as it is said to discriminate against sections of the population, yet in others it is seen as beneficial to women, black people and the disabled. Studies show that in many instances this form of historical redress has proven a hindrance to performance and makes the beneficiaries doubt their abilities when viewed by their superiors. This has a negative effect on an organization since the quality of work is seen as being sub-standard. Equally, there are significant indicators, both in industry and the private sector, that the opening up of previously closed avenues through the policy of affirmative action made companies perform better since the beneficiaries of such workplace selection viewed their work as a challenge. Where beneficiaries claim stigmatization by such a selection process, it means they prefer not to have been selected through such efforts. Either way, the battle seems to go on and on. In the light of this ongoing and divisive debate, the level of debate regarding the policy has not progressed further since comparative studies of the policy have not been seriously undertaken. There has been no systematic study of the developments in how the policy actually proves beneficial as a tool of redress. Part of the reason is that, firstly, there is a lack of monitoring of what goes on in organizations, and secondly, that the regulations are not strictly enforced. For instance, companies will usually ‘front’ a black person, a woman or a disabled person, as a chief executive officer and leave the matter of compliance as a secondary issue. Rarely do such companies face serious consequences even if they do business with the government. The question then is whether a time limit should be placed on the policy and Act or whether it should be declared unconstitutional. Consideration has not been taken, for instance, of measures used in other countries to actively promote privilege. Very few advocacy groups ever mention the Naturalization Act of 1790, the Homestead Act of 1862 or even the Federal Housing Administration Loan Program of the 1930s used by the government of the United States of America to promote racial preference; or that such Acts were also used as models for other racially divided societies. Advocacy groups for and against the policy and Act have routinely made it a point that the policy is unsettling, needless and discriminatory, on the one hand, while others argue forcefully that the amelioration of past injustices justifies its implementation. Whichever side is on the ascendancy cannot take the other side’s viewpoint, and in the end the past divisions are set to continue. 3 SECTION A: Short questions Answer the following questions in short paragraphs. Please note that each question will be marked out of 10 marks: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Is the affirmative action policy morally defensible? Explain. In your opinion, which country has successfully implemented the policy of affirmative action and why did it succeed? In your view, why did the South African government choose to implement the Affirmative Action policy and Act, and was it ever justifiable? Does the policy need to be discontinued after a certain length of time, and why? In your opinion, why is it that people from a different racial group are unemployable in certain sectors of the economy and not in others? [10 X 5 = 50] SECTION B: Essay Write an essay of approximately one and a half page on either of the questions below. Please note that each essay will be marked out of 50 marks: 1) Do you think cultivating an equal opportunity society has helped countries such as South Africa and America to move forward? In a carefully worded essay, show why this is the case or why it is not. OR 2) To what extent do you consider such a policy and act relevant to the needs of any society today? [50 marks] Best wishes The ENN103F Team 4.

Classical Conditioning Essay Example for Free

Classical Conditioning Essay Classical conditioning is an association between two stimuli; It is what proceeds the response. The two stimuli in my experiment was the ringing of the bell and the on and off of the light switch performed in a dark room. During my experiment I rang the bell and then immediately turned off the lights. I remained in the dark for fifteen seconds then turned the light back on. I left the light on for fifteen seconds, and would monitor my pupils in the mirror then ring the bell and would simultaneously turned off the light again. After doing this several times, I rang the bell one last time but did not turn off the lights. Then I immediately looked into the mirror to monitor my pupils. I noticed that the pupils dilated. The unconditional response (UR) is that my pupils would dilate when the room became dark which I had no control. The conditioned response (CR) is that the bell stimulated the pupils to dilate. Prier to this time, the ringing of the bell had no effect on the dilation of my pupils. Therefore, the classical conditioning programmed my pupils to dilate upon the ringing of the bell and controlling the light stimuli. I repeated the same experiment but this time I did not ring the bell at all to see if the time would have a response. Every fifteen seconds I would turn the lights either on or off. The results were negative. In conclusion, indeed it took two stimuli, the ringing of the bell and the lights to provoke a response.

Analysis of the Coca Cola Companys Organizational Behaviour

Analysis of the Coca Cola Companys Organizational Behaviour This document contains a broad analysis of The Coca-Cola Company and addresses several Organizational Behaviour and Human Resources issues. Recommendations are anticipated based on the findings and the problems that were discovered within the study. The goals of the recommendations are to address several issues that The Coca cola Company are facing in their Organization Stucture, Leadership and Management issues, their Organization Culture, Human resources issues and Communication skills of the organization and also align company decision-making with the structure of the organization. Contents Abstract i Contents ii List of Abbreviations ii CHAPTER ONE 4 INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND INFORMATION. 4 1.0. Organizational History 4 1.1. The Coca Cola Company 5 Meet Our Company 5 Who we are 5 What we Do 5 Why is our role Important 5 1.2. Mission, Vision Values 6 Our Mission 6 2.0.Organization structure and Span of Control 8 Mechanistic vs Organic structures 8 2.2. Span of Control 9 3.0.Human Resource and Management Practise 10 3.1. Human Resource Planning 10 3.2. Resourcing 10 Outsourcing 10 3.3. Training and Development 10 3.4. Performance and Motivation 11 3.5. Management System and Policies 11 3.6. Team working 12 3.7. Management of Change 12 Types of change 12 Strategic change 12 Operational change 13 List of Abbreviations HFCS High Fructose Corn Syrup CEO Chief Executive Officer CAO Chief Administrative Officer CFO Chief Financial Officer. CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND INFORMATION. Organizational History It was 1886, and in New York Harbor, workers were constructing the Statue of Liberty. Eight hundred miles away, another great American symbol was about to be unveiled. Like many people who change history, John Pemberton, an Atlanta pharmacist, was inspired by simple curiosity. One afternoon, he stirred up a fragrant, caramel-colored liquid and, when it was done, he carried it a few doors down to Jacobs Pharmacy. Here, the mixture was combined with carbonated water and sampled by customers who all agreed this new drink was something special. So Jacobs Pharmacy put it on sale for five cents a glass.    Pembertons bookkeeper, Frank Robinson, named the mixture Coca-Cola ®, and wrote it out in his distinct script. To this day, Coca-Cola is written the same way. In the first year, Pemberton sold just 9 glasses of Coca-Cola a day.    A century later, The Coca-Cola Company has produced more than 10 billion gallons of syrup. Unfortunately for Pemberton, he died in 1888 without realizing the success of the beverage he had created.    Over the course of three years, 1888-1891, Atlanta businessman Asa Griggs Candler secured rights to the business for a total of about $2,300. Candler would become the Companys first president, and the first to bring real vision to the business and the brand. (The Coca cola Company website) Its popularity would not stay within the United States for long, though, because in the year of 1906, Coca Cola was bottled in Cuba and in Panama. Bottling operations were soon started in Hawaii the next year, then in the Philippines, France, Belgium, Bermuda, Colombia, the Honduras, Italy, Mexico, Haiti, and Burma in later years. By the year of 1940, the famous soft drink was bottled in forty countries. Advertising for the cola has included many product slogans including, The Pause That Refreshes, which was used in 1929, Have a Coke and a Smile, which was used in 1979, and Always Coca Cola which was used in 1993 when sales from this soft drink exceeded ten billion cases worldwide. (Essortment Articles) 1.1. The Coca Cola Company Meet Our Company The coca cola company i the worlds largest beverage company. We operate in more than 200 countries and market a portfolioof more than 3000 beverages products including sparkling drinks and still beverages such as waters,juices and juice drinks and still beverages such as waters, juice and juice drinks, teas, coffees, sports drinks and energy drinks. Who we are Headquarted in Atlanta, Georgia, we employ approximately 92,400 associates across our six operating groups-Eurasia Africa,Europe,Latin America, North America, Pacific and bottling Investment in addition to Corporate. What we Do Our Company manufacturee the concentrates, beverage bases and syrups thats make our brand unique, and sells them to bottling operations. We oown our Licence the Brands adn, to connect our brands to our customers, we focus on marketing activities including print and television advertising, online programs retail store displys, sponsorship, contests and package design. Why is our role Important Our focus on beverage creation and marketing enables us to understand and meet the diverse and ever-changing beverage needs and desires of our consumers around the world. We are a global business that operates on a local scale, in every community where we do business. We are able to create global reach with local focus because of the strength of the Coca-Cola system, which comprises our Company and our more than 300 bottling partners worldwide. While many view our Company as simply Coca-Cola, our system operates through multiple local channels. Our Company manufactures and sells concentrates, beverage bases and syrups to bottling operations, owns the brands and is responsible for consumer brand marketing initiatives. Our bottling partners manufacture, package, merchandise and distribute the final branded beverages to our customers and vending partners, who then sell our products to consumers. All bottling partners work closely with customers grocery stores, restaurants, street vendors, convenience stores, movie theaters and amusement parks, among many others to execute localized strategies developed in partnership with our Company. Customers then sell our products to consumers at a rate of 1.6 billion servings a day. (The Coca cola company website) 1.2. Mission, Vision Values The world is changing all around us. To continue to thrive as a business over the next ten years and beyond, we must look ahead, understand the trends and forces that will shape our business in the future and move swiftly to prepare for whats to come. We must get ready for tomorrow today. Thats what our 2020 Vision is all about. It creates a long-term destination for our business and provides us with a Roadmap for winning together with our bottling partners. Our Mission Our Roadmap starts with our mission, which is enduring. It declares our purpose as a company and serves as the standard against which we weigh our actions and decisions. To refresh the world To inspire moments of optimism and happiness To create value and make a difference. Our Vision Our vision serves as the framework for our Roadmap and guides every aspect of our business by describing what we need to accomplish in order to continue achieving sustainable, quality growth. People: Be a great place to work where people are inspired to be the best they can be. Portfolio: Bring to the world a portfolio of quality beverage brands that anticipate and satisfy peoples desires and needs. Partners: Nurture a winning network of customers and suppliers, together we create mutual, enduring value. Planet: Be a responsible citizen that makes a difference by helping build and support sustainable communities. Profit: Maximize long-term return to shareowners while being mindful of our overall responsibilities. Productivity: Be a highly effective, lean and fast-moving organization. (The Coca cola Company website) Organization structure and Span of Control All organizations have some form of more or less formalized structure that is the framework for getting things done. Structure is the pattern of realtionships among position in the organization and among members of the organization. Structure makes possible the application of the process of management and creates a framework and creates a frame work of order and command through which the activities of the organization can be planned, organised directed and controlled. (Mullins 2005) According to (Amstrong 2009:365)Organizations vary in their complexity, but it is necessary to divide the overall management task into a variety of activities, to allocate these activities to the different parts of the organization and to establish means of controlling, coordinating and integrating them. The structure of an organization consists of units, functions, divisions, departments and formally constituted work teams into which activities related to particular processes, projects, products, markets, customers, geographical areas or professional disciplines are grouped together. The structure indicates who is accountable for directing, coordinating and carrying out these activities and defi nes management hierarchies the chain of command thus spelling out, broadly, who is responsible to whom for what at each level in the organization. Mechanistic vs Organic structures Mechanistic Organic High formalisation Low formalisation Narrow span of control Wide span of control High centralisation Low centralisation Hard change Easier to changeEasier We can say Coca-Cola Companys structure is a tall structure, a hybrid of both mechanistic and organic models. The organization has a more centralized structure, however in recent years there has been a movement towards decentralization for easy managemant in regions. The central point of The Coca-Cola Company is on responsiveness. The complex integrating mechanisms are characteristic of an organic structure. The surveys and interviews used by the company allowed information to flow from the bottom-up, and the intranet allows for information to be exchanged laterally. According to surveys done it have make the Company to pursue simplification and standardization (The Coca-cola Company Website). Centralization and high standardization are associated with a mechanistic structure. 2.2. Span of Control Span of Control arises in line authoority and refers too the number of subordinates who report directly to a given manager or supervisor. (Mullins 2005) If the span of control is too wide,its difficult to supervise the subordinates effectively and this places more on the manager. The Coca-Cola Company currently employs approximately 92,800 employees up to december 2009. According to a general details obtained from the companys website, there are at least 5 hierarchical levels at the corporate level. Eg there is aboard of Directors, Operating group leadership and Functions leadership. This span of control seems slim for the CEO of such a large organization. The CEO is also a member of the Senior Leadership Team. This team consists of each head of the eight operating groups abovementioned, and also has other top executives in areas like innovation and technology and marketing. Although there are only six people that answer directly to the CEO, the CEO is able to receive input from a wide variety of divisions because of this leadership team. Since the team is comprised of members from various divisions, the CEO will be able to obtain a wide variety of information. The move to decentralization has caused structural changes for the Company. Generally, The Coca-Cola Company does a good job of managing its hierarchy of authority. Considering they have a tall structure, they are still able to keep to some extent more organic style of management, allowing them to be more flexible to changing conditions. The CEO and CFO both have six people that report to them. Human Resource and Management Practise In this chapter we are going to discuss the Human Resource planning, recruitment and selection, Human Resource development and Training. 3.1. Human Resource Planning Human Resource planning is the process of systematically forecasting the future demand and supply for employees and the deployment of their skills within the strategic objectives of the organization. (Bratton and Gold, 2007) 3.2. Resourcing Recruitment is a process of getting a pool of capable people to apply fro employment to any organization. It can also be referred to as searching for and obtain potential qualified candidate for a required position. Recruitment of employees in Coca Cola Company follows their rules and regulations to ensure they have got the right candidate who will fulfil the mission and vision of the company. The company advertise the post in the Newspapers and on their website and shortlist the candidate who meet the requirements. The Management team interview the candidates and select the qualified candidate. Also the company promotes the individual whose performance is good according to his skills and experiences. Outsourcing Sometime Coca Cola Company is using some other recruitment agent/organization to advertise and Interview the candidates for them. 3.3. Training and Development Cocacola employees are set through a formal training program in different aspect. Most of it their training involves diversity education. In this they focus on minimizing differences and amplifying, valuing each other and respecting to help get better results. The Coca-Cola Company believes that this training helps to creates a work environment that values diversity and power employee commitment, and improves productivity. The Company also uses a lot of team training. This team training allows new employees learn how to respond to certain situations and to get to know one another. The organization also provides all new hires with guidelines on conduct and employee involvement in the political process in the business code of conduct. This code is communicated through orientation of new-hires to ensure all employees will conduct themselves with high degree of honesty and integrity that governs the companys culture. 3.4. Performance and Motivation Performance Management refers to the set of interconnected practices which are designed to ensure that a persons overall capabilities and potential are appraised, so that relevant goals can be set for work and development and through assessment, data on work behaviour and performance can be collected and reviewed. (Bratton and Gold, 2007) By training employees and to get the workers engaged and feellike they are the part of the company. Salesmen are getting percentages of their sales which make them work hard to ensure they are getting more. 3.5. Management System and Policies Management system refers to what the organization does or a proven framework to manage its processes, or activities, so that its products or services meet the objectives it has set itself, such as satisfying the customers quality requirements, complyin with regulations, or meeting environmental objectives. Governmental Regulation Our Company is required to comply, and it is our policy to comply, with applicable laws in the numerous countries throughout the world in which we do business. In many jurisdictions, compliance with competition laws is of special importance to us, and our operations may come under special scrutiny by competition law authorities due to our competitive position in those jurisdictions. (Annual Report 2010) The Coca cola company follow the rules and regulations of all countries which its operates. 3.6. Team working Coca cola company people are working as a team. They are saying their people are working as a global Team Our company is built around two core assets, its brands and its people. Thats what makes working here so special. We believe that work is more than a place you go every day. It should be a place of exploration, creativity, professional growth and interpersonal relationships. Its about being inspired and motivated to achieve extraordinary things. We want our people to take pride in their work and in building brands others love. After all, its the combined talents, skills, knowledge, experience and passion of our people that make us who we are. Our 92,800 associates around the world live and work in the markets we serve more than 87 percent of them outside the U.S. In this geographically diverse environment, we learn from each market and share those learnings quickly. As a result, our Company culture is ever more collaborative. From beverage concept and development to merchandising, our associates are sharing ideas across departments and markets in new ways. Consequently, our associates are increasingly enthusiastic about their work and inspired to turn plans into action. (The Coca cola Company Website) 3.7. Management of Change Change management is defined as the process of achieving the smooth implementation of change by planning and introducing it systematically, taking into account the likelihood of it being resisted. (Amstrong 2009:424) Types of change There are three types of change: strategic, operational and transformational. Strategic change Strategic change is concerned with broad, long-term and organization-wide issues involving change. It is about moving to a future state that has been defi ned generally in terms of strategic vision and scope. It will cover the purpose and mission of the organization, its corporate philosophy on such matters as growth, quality, innovation and values concerning employees andmcustomers, competitive positioning and strategic goals for achieving and maintaining competitivemadvantage and for product-market development. These goals are supported by policies concerning marketing, sales, manufacturing, product and process development, fi nance and human resource management. Strategic change takes place within the context of the external competitive, economic and social environment, and the organizations internal resources, capabilities, culture, structure and systems. Its successful implementation requires thorough analysis and understanding of these factors in the formulation and planning stages. (Amstrong 2009:424) The coca cola Company are as other many comapanies always forced to change due to competition from their competitors like pepsi, also some environmental issue make the company to change their way of Manufacturing and changing they bottle printing method which were claimed to destroy the environment. Operational change Operational change relates to new systems, procedures, structures or technology that will have an immediate effect on working arrangements within a part of the organization. But its impact on people can be more significant than broader strategic change and it has to be handled just as carefully. (Amstrong 2009:424) Cocacola companies always changes the systems, procedure and Technology soas to satisfy its customers need.Like changing their bottle type, addition of more product etc. Transformational change Transformational change takes place when there are fundamental and comprehensive changes in structures, processes and behaviours that have a dramatic effect on the ways in which the organization functions. (Amstrong 2009:424) This happen when there is a change in country policy and reguations which force some structure change. Some other management of change issues is Coca-Cola decentralised its organisational structure by cutting half of the staff at its Atlanta headquarters and moving the regional chieftains closer to their local markets. In India, decision making has been moved further down to different areas of that diverse country. Other is Company uses the incremental method in decision making. Especially in the last 20 years or so, the board was extremely conservative and looking to avoid any drastic changes. However, recently they used the unstructured decisionmaking model. This was demonstrated in 2004 through the process that CEO Isdell used when creating the companys Manifesto for Growth when the company show the sign of decline. Rather than modifying what the company has been doing, the company surveyed about 400 of their top managers what they thought was problematic in the company. Based on information in the surveys done, 150 leaders in the company met to create solutions for the problems. The alternatives were analyzed thoroughly and all final decisions were made by groups.

Stopping Terrorism Worldwide Essay -- essays research papers

Can We Stop the Worldwide Disease-Terrorism? Terrorism, which has been around for as long as people can remember, has been on the rise for the past ten years. Terrorists usually use murdering, kidnapping, hi-jacking and bombings to achieve their political purpose. For instance, according to Wikipedia.com (2006), in 1985 816 deaths, then in 2003, more than 1,000 people died by terorist acts around the world. In recent years, terrorism seems to be at a new height and attacks are much more violent than in the past. Unfortunately, in spite of many anti-terror campaigns, projects and organizations are being created for prevention (to prevent) terrorism, the number of terrorists only is increasing. These days terrorism is all over the world. Terrorists use violence against civilians or against civilian targets, in order to attain political aims. As it is mentioned in Cfrterrorism.org (2006), The US Department defines terrorism as "premeditated, politically motivated violence perpetrated against noncombatant targets by subnational groups or clandestine agents, usually intended to influence an audience." Paul Pillar (Council on Foreign Relations, 2004), a former deputy chief of the CIA's Counterterrorist Center, interprets the definition of terrorism as follows,â€Å",†¦, planned in advance, rather than an impulsive act of rage and not criminal, like the violence that groups such as the mafia use to get money and not carried out by the army of a country.†, The purposes of terrorists are different but majority of their victims are peaceful people. There are many different types of terrorism, for many different purposes. The primary purpose of terrorism is to force a change in their government structure or position. If terrorists are not s... ...hat terrorism can not be ended with violence. Violence in response to violence can only lead to further violence. So we should discover more creative programs about reducing the poverty, let everybody study, regarding their religion, sex, race and nationality. If we invest money into these things than investing to wars, we have already reduced terrorism. Other crucial thing is freedom. Nowadays, many terrorists claim that they are freedom fighters of their country. From this we can conclude that we, ourselves, are making terrorists by occupying their native country. If we do not want any terrorism, let them enjoy their freedom. But these days it is sad to realize that some bigger countries, with its (their) powerful economy want to take control over smaller countries, which is again leading people of these countries to take a gun and defense their countries values.

The Nature of Duality in Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde Essay

The Nature of Duality in Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde It has long been debated that there are two sides to the human mind. Many philosophers have stressed on the fact that human beings are 'dual creatures’. There is the duality of good and evil, right and wrong, joy and despair. There always is the desire to do something which is against the society, against the laws, although this varies from person to person. Robert Stevenson brings the possibility of another self in one person to life in his creation of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. His novel is a rich tale of the duality of mankind. We all have a split personality in a sense, we have two sides to us: right and wrong. There is a Mr. Hyde in all of us: anger, frustration, murderous thoughts all prevail in us although we have evolved so much. Morals, education, helping and unselfishness are the Jekyll side of us. Stevenson believed that people knew they had a bad side, but they all refuse to accept the truth, as the ‘dark side’ is so unpleasant. The novel demonstrates how innocent curiosity about the darker elements of our nature can soon get out of hand, how the evil triumphs over good if let out of control. Stevenson portrays duality in almost all of his characters, mainly Dr. Henry Jekyll. The symbols used, the narrative viewpoints and the language use by Stevenson also puts forward the dual nature of man. The philosophical context of the novella also is another factor which Stevenson cleverly uses. Stevenson creates a novel of gothic genre, which was extremely popular at the time of release. And the bottom line of the novel is to entertain the reader. The nature of duality, the philosophical context, the scientific context, symbolism, and hy... ...onality. Darwin’s theory of evolution and Freud’s creation of psychoanalysis are well portrayed in this novel. Overall, Stevenson clearly implies that humans are a mixture of ‘good’ and evil’ and challenges the ‘human perfectibility’, which was presumed for the upper class at the time. I particularly enjoyed this novel as it was exploring various themes at the same time. One interesting point is that, when Jekyll made up the ‘transforming draught’, it never was intended to turn him evil. It was just his desires which propelled him to being Hyde. The potion just acted as a catalyst and in the end it was Jekyll who destroyed himself. We had discussed this in class and it struck me as it wasn’t an evil potion. This also shows that Jekyll wanted to break through the Victorian laws and meet his inner desires, which leads us back to the ‘nature of duality’.

The Life and Works of Walt Whitman :: Biography

Poets write various styles of poetry. They use their own personal experiences, ideas, and creativity. Walt Whitman used all of these styles in his writings. He had experienced trials and tribulations throughout his whole life. Whitman did a lot of moving during his childhood, and that probably caused his personality to be neurotic. There are a lot of things that he has done to change the writings of future poets’. Walt Whitman was born on May 31, 1819 in Long Island, New York. He was the second son of Walter Whitman and Louisa Van Velsor. His father was a house builder. The family consisted of nine children (Whitman 1). The Whitman’s moved to Brooklyn when Walt was only four years old (334). When he was only twelve years old, he began to learn the printer’s trade and he fell in love with the written word, and became accustomed to reading the bible (para. 2).He did not have a formal education, and he read the works if Sir Walter Scott, Shakespeare, Homer, and Dante (Feldman 438). Whitman had worked as a printer in New York City until a fire annihilated the printing district where he was working at. When he turned 17 years old, he became a teacher in the one-room school houses of Long Island. Whitman continued to teach until 1841, he turned to journalism and this became his full-time career (Whitman para. 3). Whitman founded a newspaper called, The Long Islander, and later on he edited numerous of Brooklyn and New York newspapers. He left Brooklyn’s, The Daily Eagle, to become the editor of the New Orleans Crescent. He experienced first hand the cruelness of slavery in the slave markets of New Orleans. When he returned to Brooklyn, he found the Brooklyn Freeman and he started to develop a unique style of poetry (Whitman para. 4). Whitman had a unique sense of writing styles. People say that he had an â€Å"organic† style of writing of Hebrew poetry and is based on the device of parallelism. Whitman’s poetry contained elements of repetition (Unger 332). His characteristics also had a lot to do with his writings. People say that in his own way that he was an intellectual, and was a highly unorthodox poet. He had a neurotic side. They described him as a convert bisexual, quirky, elusive, and power-seeking (332). Whitman’s sexuality had some influence on his writings. He had some difficulty with his sexuality.

West Side Story

In the context of 1960s, chain gangs and gang wars are prevalent between Latin and White American adolescents. For the reason that the White American adolescents despise and discriminate against the Latin Americans (particularly the Puerto Rican race), the Whites resort to bully the minorities and they even ostracize the Latin Americans by depriving them of their rights to use recreation places like the street’s basketball court, food houses, and the like upon believing that the White Americans are the most superior and the better race than the Latin Americans; and in so doing, the White Americans perceive and believe that should not mingle with those inferior and minority race (such that of the Latin Americans as an example) who were different from them (Brian 2005). Moreover, in this movie directed in 1961 by Jerome Robbins & Robert Wise entitled: West Side Story, the conflict between the two opposing races namely the White and the Latin Americans was further described through presentation of some prevailing scenarios that the Latin Americans unjust encounter and experience with the White Americans. Body The West Side Story is a movie adapted from Broadway’s musicale. It was an adaptation of the infamous Shakespearean play, Romeo and Juliet (UAPI 2009). Starred by Natalie Wood as â€Å"Maria,† Richard Beymer as â€Å"Tony,† and George Chakiris as â€Å"Bernardo,† the rest of supporting characters of the film includes: Russ Tamblyn as â€Å"Riff,† Rita Moreno as â€Å"Anita,† Simon Oakland as â€Å"Lieutenant Schrank,† Ned Glass as whom they call â€Å"Doc,† William Bramley (as the notorious police of the street) named, â€Å"Officer Krupke,† Tucker Smith as â€Å"Ice,† Tony Mordente as â€Å"Action,† Eliot Feld as the â€Å"Baby John,† and lastly, David Winters, as the one who portrayed the character of â€Å"A-Rab (Shulman 1961). † The Plot of the West Side Story The Movie West Side Story was depicted in the life of the citizens of the White and Latin Americans living in the 1950’s in Manhattan streets of the United States. A division was clearly evident as it was created and recognized by the adolescents of the east coast and west coast of Manhattan. The setting begins in the mentioned streets of Manhattan as a self-gratifying and self-centered musical song was sung by the Jets (the name for the White Americans’ gang and clique). Throughout the song sung by the Jets, the Puerto Ricans/Latin American adolescent gang led by Bernardo were discriminated and ostracized. First instance was when a fruit held by one of the Sharks (the name of the Latin adolescent Americans)–it was abruptly grabbed by another member of the Jets without consent and respect to the quiet Latino. Moreover, the Latin Americans/ Puerto Ricans were mostly driven away and out of establishments and public leisure places. It was evident in the entire film that the height of discrimination and prejudice occurred in the late 1950s to early 1960s and it was shown how the Latinos were mostly bullied by the White Americans (Dirks 1961). The setting of the West Side Story is at the basketball court of Manhattan. Even if the scenario in the court, it was obvious that the Latin Americans were discriminated as they were not favored to play in the same court with the White Americans. It was evident however, that there was a rival even in basketball for the two different races. Furthermore, a representative member of the Jets (White American adolescents) vandalized a wall and wrote: â€Å"Sharks stink! Upon catching this adolescent in the act, the Sharks saw what the White American adolescent did and so they chased after him and the riot between the White and the Latin Americans began (Howe 2003). The Sharks (East side) and the Jets (West side) A hot-tempered and authoritative cop was assigned in monitoring the activities of the two distinct groups, The Sharks and Jets. The cop’s name was Officer Krupke, played by the actor William Bramley. Officer Krupke’s major task and obligation is to control and to minimize the rate of crime and therefore maintain peace and order in the streets of Manhattan. Meanwhile, the Jets (West side) were preoccupied in praising themselves with all pride and self-centered egoism. According to the Jets, they walk tall as they consider themselves the kings of the streets in Manhattan. The Jets perceive that the east side, Sharks (the Latin Americans) were a threat to their dream of being the king of the streets, in so doing, the Jets consisting of the White Americans just would not stop throwing mock at the Latinos and drive them away wherever the Jets hang out. Further, the Sharks or the Latin Americans led by Bernardo just kept themselves mum at a time just to keep their group away from trouble. However their threshold of patience was reached at a certain point of them when Bernardo was mocked by the cop, Officer Krupke himself—showing that he was in favor of the White Americans. In this case, Bernardo decided he would stand up for his group and race and they decided to fight in defense of those Jets and other White Americans who interfere with their freedom and right of peace (RC 2008). Upon Bernardo’s (leader of the Sharks in west side) and his group’s implicit decision to fight for their right of freedom, respect, and peace in Manhattan, they resort to fight with the Jets in a dance showdown. From that dance, the difference of the two cultures was shown in terms of their specialties in music genre: the Latinos were good dancers of boogie, salsa, twist, and cha-cha, whereas for the white Americans, they are good dancers but not as good and as creative dancers as the Latin Americans. During the dance showdown, two eyes met as if they were magnetized to notice each other inspite of the numerous Sharks and Jets dancing on the floor. The two love birds were Maria (played by the famous Natalie Wood) and Tony (as portrayed by Richard Beymer). Maria (a Puerto Rican/ Latin American woman) fell in love at first sight with Tony ( a member of the Jets, a white American) during the first dance showdown between the White Americans and the Latin American adolescents. Further, the dance showdown halted as soon as Bernardo (Maria’s brother) noticed the undesirable scene. Bernardo obviously did not want his sister to fall in love with a White American especially with belonging in their opponent Jets (Shulman 1961). In the next scene of the film, the West side Jets claim they have departed the social norm that is why they are anti-social and juvenile delinquents. According to the songs they sing, they need help and they could not be blamed for their behavior since each one of them have their issues and problems in their families. Most of them were misunderstood and belonging in broken family set-up. At the end of their song, they address officer Krupke (RC 2008). The climax of this move is when the conflict between the Jets and the Sharks became intense up to the point that both parties decided to pick a fight and end their rival in duel. ON the other hand, Maria (Bernardo’s sister and Tony’s girlfriend) secretly meet with Tony even she knows that it is dangerous for the both of them. Since Tony was madly in love with Maria, he took the risk and courted Maria. However, Maria requested and pleaded her Tony to try to stop the war between the two groups. Tony, hesitant at first for the difficult request of Maria, agreed to do his best and try to stop the fight as soon as possible (Shulman 1961). The West Side Story: A grand slam receiver of Academy Awards Having been released by the United Artists in 1961, the West side story gained praise and at the same time critiques from the viewers and it also achieved the title of: â€Å"the 2nd highest grossing movie† in 1961. The West side story received a total of ten Academy awards and it achieved several nominations and recognitions in the United States. This award winning movie, West Side Story achieved success in depicting the current existing culture of the Americans (both for the White and Latin Americans) during the 1960’s. The West side story achieved several honors and Academy awards namely for the following categories: for Best Picture, considering Robert Wise is the producer; Best for Supporting Actor played by George Chakiris as â€Å"Bernardo;† Best Supporting Actress for Rita Moreno who portrayed the role of â€Å"Anita;† another Academy award for the film’s Best Art Direction category considering the aspects of the right choice of set color and design, claimed by Victor Gangelin and Boris Leven; Best in Cinematography category: good choice and quality for the film’s color which induces the movie’s theme, claimed by Daniel Fapp; another award of Best in Costume Design for Irene Sharaff; Best in Directing for Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins; Best Academy award in Film Editing for Thomas Stanford; Award for the film’s Original Music Score and of the Musical Picture credited to Johnny Green, Saul Chaplin, Sid Ramin, and Irwin Kostal; and last but not the leas t, the West side story also gained the Academy award Academy for Best Sound as credit to Fred Hynes (Todd-AO SSD) and Gordon Sawyer (Samuel Goldwyn SSD) (Howe 2003). In addition, the West side story achieved further recognitions, awards, and nominations were the result of the cooperation of the cast and those working staff behind the scenes. In 1997, the film was promoted by the United States Library of Congress (USLC) as it has been considered as a film that is being â€Å"culturally significant† and it was chosen to be preserved in the collection of the National Film Registry. Similarly, the West side story achieved further awards and recognition as Best in Writing and Screenplay based on material from another medium, as credited to Mr. Ernest Lehman; another received award by this film is the Academy Award for Brilliant Achievements in the Art of Choreography on Film credit to and for Jerome Robbins (one of the directors of the West side story). Furthermore, the west side story achieved 1998 American Film Institution Recognition (AFI) as rating number 41 out of 100 movies in the United States. In 2002, it also gained American Film Institution Recognition (AFI) as rated number three in the Passions of the United States for 100 years. The songs used in the West side story also top rated the charts especially for the songs: Somewhere (rated number 20 for 100 years), also for the song America (rated number 35 for 100 years), and also including the song, Tonight (rated number 59 for 100 years) consecutively as recorded in 2004 charts. In 2006, it achieved recognition of100 Years of Musicals rating number 2 from AFI and apparently, the West side story achieved the recognition of 100 Years for 100 Movies in its tenth (10th) Anniversary Edition rating number 51 from AFI, as put into account in year 2007 (Howe 2003). The Soundtrack used in the West Side Story In order for a great multi-million dollar winning movie to become possible, the choice of songs as background music for the movie’s soundtrack plays a very important factor in determining the success of the movie. Originally, the West side story was a musical created by Johnny Richards. In 1961, West side story was adapted and recorded by the Stan Kenton Orchestra as musical collection jazz orchestra using Bernstein scores. However the Stan Kenton Orchestra’s version was viewed and evaluated by the film directors of the West side story, it was the different version of musicale from the musicale included in the ongoing film. In fact, upon seeing the Stan’s orchestra jazz version, the directors claim that they should have used Stan’s version as soundtrack of the film but it was too late and a new and different version was created by the song directors to be used in the West side story. Although The Stan Kenton’s version was not used as the basis of musicale background of the film, it gained a Grammy Award for Best Jazz Recording of a large group in 1962 (Shulman 196). This is not saying that West side story was free from flaws and considered therefore as perfect, but it was generally agreed by majority that the film was a good and timely musicale reflecting the current cultural norms and values of the Americans in 1960s. In manner of clothing, perception of power, basis for conflict, the prevalent prejudice and discrimination, and the diverse nature of language, music, and dance steps. The difference between the White and Latin Americans was explicitly described and presented in the portrayal of the main and supporting characters of the movie (RC 2008). Characteristics of the Characters in West side story Described as â€Å"New York’s classic of the 1960s,’’ West side story was astoundingly studded with magnificent and good starts who sang the songs like Tonight, Maria, I Feel Pretty, America, Officer Krupke, A Place for Us, and I Have Love (citation). Although Maria was criticized for delivering some lines the songs with uncertain accent, the musicale was a success for its overall success in portraying the life and culture of the adolescent, White and Latin Americans in 1960s. The characters of the West side story played a major role in making the film on of the best musicale created in the United States. First and foremost, Rita Moreno (girlfriend of Bernardo) and the one who played the role of â€Å"Anita,† delivered a great portrayal of her character in the movie. Anita, as a Latin American, was a graceful and flexible dancer, and at the same time, was good singer as she sang some songs in the film. Similarly, Russ Tamblyn, who played the role of Rif, was the persuasive leader of the Westside Jets and portrayed his character fairly as well. Having been playing the role of Maria, Natalie Wood portrayed her character as an innocent-looking, young, and a graceful dancer and singer, Maria. The character Maria fell in love with Tony, the member of the Jets gang in the west side. On the other hand, George Chakiris playing the role of Bernardo, as the brother of Maria and leader of the Sharks in the East side, portrayed the role of a discriminated leader of a minority group of the Latino adolescents in Manhattan. Bernardo could be quiet and soft spoken at times but he has the tendency for aggression to assert himself and represent his group in defending their race against discrimination and prejudice of the white Americans. Most and the rest of the characters exerted their best performance level in portraying their roles for the West side story (UAPI 2009). The Significance and Recommendation of the West side story Thought the West side story was just presented in such a simple way, it successfully addressed the important issues and problems in the society existing long, long time ago at the onset of 1960s and still exists nowadays. The social issues of family set up of the adolescents (particularly as sung by the Jets), the lack of attention parents and school personnel who should aid the personality development of the disturbed adolescents, the racial issues, conflict, discrimination and prejudice existing among culturally-diverse communities, increased the awareness of the viewers (who may be a parent, a policymaker, or district guidance counselor) and so, they could devise ways and create programs for the benefit of the currently growing adolescents. Even if the culture describe in the film was during the 1960’s it is obvious that discrimination and prejudice is still occurring in some communities in the United States; in so doing, this film may serve as a guide for the adolescents and the adults to address and provide solutions to current problems in the society and its members—especially for the benefit of the adolescents who are in pressing need of guidance, understanding, attention, and advice from the adults. In such case, the West side story is must-seen (UAPI 2009). Indeed, the West side story is a re-tell or a remake and a musical version of the popular novel/movie Romeo and Juliet (citation). It is a musical drama with soul-inspiring and enervating song lines sung by the stars of the film. Just like the tragic Shakespearean play Romeo and Juliet, the West side story ended with a tragic accident of killing the major characters in the movie namely Bernardo and Tony. Maria was left alone by her two loved ones due to the hatred built between the Jets and the Sharks of Upper West side Manhattan, New York City (RC 2008). Compared between the rival between Montague and Capulet families of Romeo and Juliet, the gangs Jets and Sharks hate could not stand each other as well. And so the gang wars between the two different races began (war existed between the Latin and White Americans in Manhattan, New York). Thus, the creation of the West side story was just in time to support the cinema/ silver screen in competition with the shows on television popularized during the 1960s (UAPI 2009). The Staff behind the Scenes of the West side story The film version of the West side story was based from the book of Arthur Laurents having the same title. Further, the musicale collection based from the collection of musical scores of Leonard Bernstein. The lyrics of the songs sung by the stars in the West side story were composed by Stephen Sondheim. Moreover, the choreography and the musical concept were contributed of Jerome Robbins. Further, the screenplay was written by Ernest Lehman. Producers of this film were Walter Mirisch, Robert Wise, and Saul Chaplin respectively. The cinematography on the other hand, was powered by the creative mind of Daniel Fapp. Color for the film was also powered by Technicolor and thus, the film itself was taken in Panavision 700. This movie was astoundingly directed two of the greatest directors of the era: namely, Jerome Robbins and Robert Wise (UAPI 2009). The Relationship of the West side story to Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet The West side story was indeed a vibrant film which is full of life among the characters. Further the Broadway musicale style of the 1961 film written by Laurents and directed by Robbins was a â€Å"hit† top-notching the charts of the best movies in 1960s in the silver screen. Replicating the tragic, Shakespearean novel, Romeo and Juliet, the West side story has the same characteristics of the play Romeo and Juliet since the lovers in the story, Tony and Maria attempted to risk the danger of having a relationship despite of their difference in their races. Maria was Puerto Rican and Tony was a White American making them members of the two opposite races (UAPI 2009). The two opposing and distinct races and ethnicities, White and Latin Americans were the focus of this movie. In order to present the differences in culture of the White and Latin Americans, the movie was able to show the attitude of White, European adolescents towards the Latin, Puerto Ricans. Further, the story was presented by producing the story using a ground-breaking, exhilarating musicale with an astounding well-performed choreography by the various outstanding artists. The West side story poses the emerging conflict present among the inhabitants of the Upper West Side Manhattan in New York City during the 1960s. The movie poses the problems of the adolescents in engaging in criminal chain and gang wars which obstructs the peace and order in the community of Upper West side New York. Moreover, in order to present such existing culture and social problems of the United States in 1960, the entire movie was taken and shot in the streets of Upper West side New York City and in Manhattan. However, some of the parts and scenes in the movie were shot and recorded on the improvised sets and studios prepared by the floor directors (UAPI 2009). In comparison of the West side story in Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, The Montague family came to be the counterparts of the White American Jets in the West side story. Similarly, the Capulet family was the counterpart of the Puerto Rican/ Latin American Sharks. Relatively, Bernardo’s abduction of Riff in a gang fight (Tony’s elder brother), simulates the similar scenario of the tragic accident of Mercutio (Romeo’s friend in Romeo and Juliet) being killed by Tybalt, who appears to be Juliet’s cousin. As a result, Romeo resorted to kill Tybalt as well as a revenge for the death of his friend Mercutio. Apparently, the same related scenario of revenge in a fight simulates the scene where Tony abducted Bernardo after stabbing Tony’s elder brother, Riff. Furthermore several characters in the west side story have their counterpart or equivalent characters that portrayed similar roles in Romeo and Juliet and these are the following: Anita in the West side story portraying the â€Å"Nurse† (Juliet’s confidante in Romeo and Juliet) and Doc in the West side story portraying the role of â€Å"Friar Lawrence† in Romeo and Juliet novel. But it is to put into account that the tragic suicide of Romeo and Juliet at the end of the story was not the same with the ending of the West side story since Maria, after the death of her beloved Tony, did not kill herself but she just furiously pointed the blame to the pointless, mad desire of the Shark and Jets gang (citation). Critiques argue for the West side story that the movie was a similar recreation of other classic hit musicales like the â€Å"Gypsy† and the â€Å"Dolls. However it was interpreted that way by critiques and viewers, The West side story is considered as one of the America’s masterpiece production in the global silver screen. The West side story was a hit for it was a divergence from the current popular culture of movies in the 1960s. The unique musicale of the West side story discussed social problems in the United States: gang wars, racial discrimination, juvenile delinquencies and family problems through the songs sung by the adolescents, Jets in the entire movie (Zoglin 2009). Salient points to consider and some important scenarios in the West side story Focusing on Maria and Tony’s love affair, they seem to risk what danger could happen the moment the other members of the Sharks and Jets the get to know the forbidden relationship of Maria and Tony. When the lovers hear the arrival of Anita (Bernardo’s girlfriend) Tony quickly escaped his way out of the house and he said Maria that they should meet at the drug store owned by Doc to elope and get married. However, Anita accidentally caught the presence of Tony quickly escaping the house. Anita was startled and reacted negatively at first but she listened when Maria explained how she loved Tony so much. Inspite of Anita’s grievance over Bernardo’s death she resorts to help Maria arrange their plan of eloping and getting married. Moreover, Anita gave Maria a hint that Chino of the Sharks is after Tony to kill him with a pistol (Zoglin 2009). As the officer, Lt. Schrank arrived at Maria’s house he questioned Maria for the riot/gang wars that recently occurred between the Sharks and the Jets. Maria was careful enough for covering up Tony in order to protect him from the further questioning and investigation of the officer. Maria lured the Lt. Schrank by se nding Anita as an errand to Doc’s drugstore to buy a medicine to relieve the pain she is feeling in her head. Such action of Anita was for the purpose of delivering a message to Tony at the drugstore that Maria could not come and meet her for Maria was held as a detainee a under investigation of Lt. Schrank. However, upon entering the drugstore, Anita did not expect that she was going to be mocked by the White American, Jets. Not only this, the Jets tried to harass her as an insult to her being a â€Å"Puerto Rican. † Maria was disrespected by the rest of the Jets not giving her a chance to deliver Maria’s message for Tony. In so doing, the circumstance really made Anita really furious. Consequentially, Anita distorted the real message that she has to deliver (that Maria was detained due to Lt. Schrank’s queries) and she imparted that her message was to tell Tony that Maria was shot dead by Chino with a gun. The chaos was stopped by Doc as he yelled to them inside the drugstore and also, for the Jets to stop harassing and making fun of the Puerto Rican lady, Anita. The jets stopped and listen to the old man (Doc). However, Doc went down to the basement and checked out the hiding Tony. Further, he relayed Anita’s untrue, bad news to Tony that Maria was shot dead by Chino. So, Tony abruptly ran his way up and out of the drugstore’s basement and then he searched for Chino with desolation and hopelessness and how he’d wish that Chino would kill him as well (Zoglin 2009). While searching for Chino, Tony saw Maria on the road. The lovers were so happy to see each other again especially Tony when he thought that his beloved Maria was already dead. Suddenly, Chino appeared in the scene and shoot Tony. Maria was so startled as her lover fell on his knees and landed on Maria’s arms. Maria, trying to comfort her dying lover sang a song for him so that he will not be afraid. The lovers affirmed that if their love was not possible here, they should continue their love somewhere place as they should see each other again in their next life and in the other world. The White Jets and the Puerto Ricans Sharks ran towards the death scene together with the cops (including Officer Krupke in the scene). Maria was infuriated with the mere presence of officer Krupke and she yelled at him not to even dare to come closer the dead body of his beloved Tony. Maria took the gun from the suspect Chino and there she pointed the gun ate everyone: the Sharks and the Jets. She blamed that the death of Riff, Bernardo, and Tony was the fault of the both gangs and the result to all their selfish hatred. So for the reason that Officer Krupke was hindered by Maria to get even closer to Tony, some of the members of the Jets and Sharks took the initiative in carrying Tony’s corpse. After the tragic killings of the leaders of the Jets and Sharks in the streets of Manhattan, New York, the gang war between the two gangs was considered over (Zoglin 2009). Realism was shown and achieved in the West side story since the songs used in the entire movie were a mixture of English and Spanish songs. In order to reflect the underlying multicultural theme of the story, the songs were carefully selected and very well performed by the actors/singers. Together jam-packed with a set of dance steps, pirouette, leaps in its choreography, the overall mood of the movie was an exciting one (citation). The West side story was indeed a must-seen movie since it is very substantial and culturally significant. In order for people to understand the nature of conflict in different groups, and the reason for discrimination and prejudice, the West side story successfully presented the conflicts occurring among the adolescents resulting to their behavior problems and maladjustment in the society. In the form of musicale of songs and dances, the message of the film was carried out through the innovative and creative performances of the carefully-selected artists of the film (Zoglin 2009). Modified by Ernest Lehman, the rewrite version of the West side story had remained a striking and filled with energetic and enthusiastic songs reflected from its lyrics. Furthermore, the book version of the West side story play was containing songs which are mostly composed by Stephen Sondheim and Leonard Bernstein. The talented directors of the West side story are Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins. Considering Robert Wise’s expertise I the field of directing, the collaboration with the professional dance choreographer, Jerome Robbins was a very intelligent decision and resulted to make the movie a real big hit in the silver screen (Zoglin 2009). Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins respectively gained recognition for the West side story. However, Jerome Robbins was pulled out of the West side story project since he was frequently the reason for procrastination of the shoots, budget-exceeding production rates, and also, Robbin’s frequent disagreement with Wise was a reason for the rest of the staff to remove him from the direction of the West side story. Robbins’ ideals for the completion of the West side story were becoming overwhelmingly expensive just for his wish to make the movie close to perfection. Four of the dynamic dance steps which Robbins choreographed in the West side story were the following: â€Å"Something’s coming,† â€Å"Prologue,† â€Å"Cool,† and â€Å"America. † The West side story is also focused on the love story of two different people having different races. However love was the foundation, Tony and Maria were separated due to hatred and violence. Tony was Maria’s first love. She loved the man inspite of the fact that they were belonging in different race and that her brother and their group of minority Puerto Rican gang (Sharks) not in good terms with the White American gang (Jets). When Maria first set her eyes with Tony, she fall (right then and there) madly in love with Tony and vice versa; these first encounter of Maria and Tony happened during the dance showdown between the Jest and the Sharks. Tony’s on the other hand, who was previously preoccupied with the activities with his gang in the West side has diverted his attention to Maria when he fell in love with her. However, considering the obvious fact that Maria’s brother, Bernardo was a leader of the Sharks and his prospect lover Tony was member of the opponent Jets, Maria still persists to pursue her forbidden and controversial love affair with Tony. Maria knows that Bernardo would never approve of her love affair with Tony for Bernardo knows how cruel, prejudicial, and discriminating the White American race was. Meanwhile, Jets Sharks just would not stop claiming right over the west side streets of New York for their gang’s territory. At first, the Sharks could be observed that they do not have any intention of keeping the streets to their own, but the Jets just would not stop bullying and discriminating, and driving them away wherever they see them. The Sharks think, especially Bernardo (as their leader) that this was too much and they believe they deserve a right to whatever the White Americans enjoy doing and hanging around. So what the Sharks did is to engage in a fight with the Jets most of the time to defend themselves from the unjust dominance of the Jets. Consequentially, the rival lead to a fight between the Jets and the Sharks and this caused the death of Riff, Bernardo, and Tony as well (Zoglin 2009). Maria requested Tony if he could no something to stop the mad fight between the two gangs. At first, Tony hesitated to give in to Mari’s request but because he loves her so much and he would love to marry her, he agreed with Maria and he said he would do everything he can to stop the war between the two gangs. The sad thing is, Tony did not expect that his brother Riff was going to be killed in the gang war. So, to avenge the sudden death of his brother in Bernardo’s hands, Tony resorts to abduct Bernardo as well due to the sudden rage of his emotions (Zoglin 2009). The 1960s showed a great importance to the subculture created by adolescent Americans. Although the Americans are a culture in itself, it has different influence of subcultures branching out and one example of this subculture is the Puerto Ricans. The multicultural society of the gangs among the adolescent White Americans and Puerto Ricans in the New York, West side community was emerged during the 1960’s where gang wars chain gangs had become eminent and widely spread in the local news (Zoglin 2009). The West side story was indeed an enticing film by Jerome Robbins and Robert Wise. Similar to the tragic story of Romeo and Juliet, the west side story successfully addressed the social problem of juvenile delinquency and discrimination in the multicultural society of the United States during the 1950s to 1960s. Relatively, the love story of Maria (Natalie Wood) and Tony (Richard Beymer) is similar to the love story of Romeo and Juliet that the lovers crossed boundaries despite their difference in ethnicity, race, and culture. This shows that the heart does not choose the one to love. For Tony, It does not matter if Maria is a Puerto Rican, discriminated and a member of their enemy, Sharks. Same for Maria: she does not care if Tony is a white American, a mocker, discriminating, and a member of the Jets gang which is the opponent of Maria’s brother, Bernardo. The west side story was able to accomplish a creative, upbeat, and ardent choreography of dance steps and overwhelming lyrics of the songs sang by the characters in the West side story (Zoglin 2009). This invigorating and elating film is dazzling with the combination of songs and dance steps interpreting the lifestyle and culture of adolescent Americans in the United States during the 1960s. It was plausible to the extent that the prevalent gang wars among the diverging culture of the Puerto Ricans against the White Americans was portrayed in such a way that it seems less violent and therefore, there was no violent bloodshed in the movie. However, there was no need for blood-shedding, serious fight in the entire film in order to present how serious the outcome would be for engaging in gang wars of the New York streets (Zoglin 2009). Officer Shrank warned both the Jets and the Sharks to avoid fighting on his streets or else, Officer Shrank threatened the boys that he would beat the boys up. After the encounter with Officer Schrank and Officer Krupke, Riff led his group to sing a song which is praise for the Jets. The Jets despise the Sharks for they were a threat to the streets in which the Jets wants to own. He persuaded the rest of his Jets members to perceive that their gang is the most strenuous, invincible, and superior team and that they deserve the right to everything especially in the streets of the Upper West side New York. Riff was very anxious to control the spreading volume of the Sharks since it was a tendency that the Sharks might dominate the streets of New York, should the latter multiply its members. In so doing, Riff persuaded his gang mates that they should fight against the Sharks/Puerto Ricans and kill them if they have to so as to control their proliferation in the streets. The one who should win the fight would be declared as the winner and therefore, would have the right to dominate in the Manhattan streets of New York. Moreover, Riff resorts to fighting their rival gang, Sharks with deadly weapon like a dagger for instance (Zoglin 2009). Overall, the story shows that there is both a similarity and difference in the culture of the Puerto Ricans and the White Americans. Though they are different in race, color, and ethnicity, both races was shown to have the same interests like in dancing, singing, basketball, and favorite hang-outs. Because of such similarity and interests, the White American Jets, led by Riff was pissed off upon always seeing the Puerto American Sharks wherever they go and spend their time. Further, it was explicitly shown that the Jets are more confident than the Puerto Ricans since they are the majority of inhabitants or citizens in New York during the 1960s (Zoglin 2009). From a challenge to a dance night out with the Sharks, the Jets just would not stop pissing the Sharks and driving their rivals away so that the Sharks would not be a threat to their desire of keeping their authority and ownership of the streets of New York west side. But what happened in the dance was overlapped with the instance when Maria and Tony saw each other and locked each other’s eyes for long time as if they are not seeing anybody but the two of them. Bernardo caught the both of them in the act that is why he did not decide to finish the dance; hence, he took his sister’s hands and pulled her off the dance floor (citation). Because of pride, the Jets boosted their egos by singing themselves song of somewhat victorious melodic songs as if they were the superior race and the others are just second class. Riff (the current leader of the Jets) decided that Tony should be the one to coordinate the challenge of the Jets to the Sharks. At first, Tony was hesitant to give in to the request. However later on, Tony agreed to tell the message to the Sharks. For the reason that Tony was once the leader of the gang since Tony was also a mastermind in co-founding the group of White Americans. On the other hand, Maria was conversing with Anita at a bridal shop where Maria is working. Maria told Anita (Bernardo’s boyfriend), how much Maria loves Tony and that she explained to Anita that his brother Bernardo, should not be that too much, extreme protective of her (Zoglin 2009). Inspite of the distinct difference of the Puerto Ricans from the White Americans, the two divert gangs were shown to be enjoying themselves using their talents in dancing and singing which makes them similar in their interests. The gang members Sharks and Jets may have experienced conflict between their groups because of their overt difference. The majorities of the White Americans dislike the minorities of Puerto Ricans because the Whites believe and perceive that they are the strongest race, invincible, and therefore, they should walk tall and act like kings! For the Jets: they should own, rule, and dominate the streets and they should have the right to the territory no matter what it takes (Dirks 1961). Conclusion The West Side Story highlights the following scenarios which had occurred in the 1960’s: During the 1960’s, juvenile delinquencies are rampant among adolescents. Similarly, there is also prevalence of discrimination and prejudice among the White and Latin Americans. Puerto Ricans are disliked and bullied by the White Americans upon thinking that the White Americans are the superior race that should own the streets and that the Latin Americans, specifically the Puerto Ricans, have no right to be in places where the White American adolescents hang out and play. In so doing there were chain gang fights are everywhere. Emerging in late 1950s and early 1960s, the streets of Manhattan had become a place where there is no peace and order due to the frequent gang wars that occur between the two distinct races of the Whites and the Puerto Rican adolescents. However, the love story of Maria and Tony having the opposite race shows that love does not choose the color, race, and ethnicity of a person as a basis of whom it should love. Works Cited Brian, Paul. 28 November 2005. Leonard Bernstein: West Side Story. 29 April 2009 . Dirks, Tim. 1961. West Side Story. American Movie Classics Company LLC. 29 April 2009 . Howe, Matt. 03 April 2003. West Side Story Impresses. 29 April 2009 . Shulman, Irving. A Novelation by Irving Shulman: West Side Story. New York: Simon & Schister Inc, 1961. â€Å"West Side Story (1961). † 16 December 2008. Reel Classics, L. L. C. 29 April 2009 . â€Å"West Side Story. † 1961. United Artists Pictures, Inc. 29 April 2009 . Zoglin, Richard. 25 March 2009. Is West Side Story Overrated? 29 April 2009 .