The Metamorphosis Symbolism

The Metamorphosis Symbolism The opening line of the story is shocking and bizarre. One morning, upon awakening from agitated dreams, Gregor Samsa found himself, in his bed, transformed into a monstrous vermin. In other words, Gregor is transformed overnight from a human being into a bug. Although it is unclear whether this metamorphosis is literal or figurative, this transformation is undoubtedly the focus of the entire story. Gregors lack of anxiety or panic upon recognizing his dreadful predicament is noteworthy. His conclusion that taking a later train to work will solve his problem is amusing. Taken literally, becoming an insect is reason to panic. His reaction suggests that the metamorphosis was subconscious; he did not literally change into a bug but rather gradually realized his status and felt like a bug. Eventually, however, Gregor realizes that he is just being used by his family. After this reality sinks in, symbolized by his agitated dreams, Gregory actually feels like a bug. He recognizes his isolation and alienation from society. The grand metamorphosis takes place, and eventually Gregor experiences a complete role reversal. He tries to catch the next train to work and to continue as he had before his realization. However, Gregor is so distraught that he cannot bring himself to get out of bed. Subconsciously he can no longer tolerate his familys treatment of him. However, it is only after his oversleeping that Gregor can begin to acknowledge his wasteful existence. Gregors oversleeping through agitated dreams represents his resentment of his pathetic situation. Before his transformation he would quickly jump out of bed to continue his miserable life without considering an alternative lifestyle. In his sleep however he is afforded the opportunity to momentarily escape life to contemplate his inner turmoil. The agitated dreams represent his pitiable existence; the oversleeping serves as the initial stage of Gregor recognizing this existence. Gregor is not the only character in this story that experiences a transformation. His parents and his sister are forced to change as well in order to adapt to their new circumstances. Upon realizing Gregors metamorphosis, his family leaves him in his room and isolates him, just as they had done in the past. His mother cant stand the sight of him, and they separate further. Gregors father is forced to return to work and thereby assumes the role of supporting the family. As long as Gregor was working, his father was unwilling to pursue a career; rather, he was content to let Gregor support the family all by himself. Thus, Gregors working allows Mr. Samsa to sit home all day doing nothing. It is only through Gregors inability to work that his father is forced to assume the role of supporting the family. Consequently, Gregors sickness and death facilitates his fathers career development. In his sickness, even his father cannot stand the sight of him and in disgust fatally wounds Gregor by throwing an apple at him. Kafka uses the apple to make a biblical allusion to symbolize the apple from the tree of knowledge. The apple represents Gregors awareness of his pitiful existence. His father throws the apple at him to show that Gregor is being rejected by his family. This new reality of alienation and isolation drives him to his ultimately fatal mental state. His fathers unhealthy dependence on his son leads Gregor to feel estranged. This alienation causes Gregor to manifest his feelings of worthlessness and isolation in a way that would affect his body. This mental breakdown eventually drives Gregor mad leading to his untimely death. Unlike Mr. Samsa, Gregorys sister cares for him and attempts to nurse him back to health by providing him with food and encouragement. However, even she is unable to put up with him after a while. She comments that the bug cannot possibly be Gregor as if it were he would have realized long ago that human beings cannot possibly live with such an animal and he would have left of his own accord. At that point, being completely stripped of his humanity and being, completely rejected by his family, Gregors transformation to a bug is complete. Ironically, Gregors miserable life of serving his family is better than the alternative. Once he can no longer provide for his family, life was not worth living. After Gregor is dead, the Samsas are relieved, and they make plans for their daughter to get married. As long as Gregor was alive, his family is unable to proceed through life and move on. Rather, they depended on Gregor for everything and made no effort to be productive. Their troubled relationship with Gregor was thereby harmful to the entire family. The numerous transformations in The Metamorphosis emphasize the importance of maintaining healthy relationships. The dysfunctional Samsa household relies on their son Gregory to support the entire family. This ridiculous role reversal not only causes Gregor to have a mental breakdown, but also prevents the rest of his family from pursuing their own careers. Only after Gregorys death is his family able to move on with life. Kafka uses the transformations in The Metamorphosis to reinforce the importance of maintaining healthy relationships. When people get caught in abusive relationships, their entire families fall apart. The important lessons that Kafka teaches in The Metamorphosis continue to have relevance today.

Charismatic leadership style of mahatma gandhi Essay

Introduction Mahatma Gandhi was one of the most important person and charismatic leader in the history of India as he was he only one who is considered as the founder of our nation. He was the self made leader, he was not having any career in his life, no fame was gained by him, he was also not so rich an average looking man but still he was the father of the country. Mahatma Gandhi gave right ways and positive thoughts to many people in the nation, he make them teach what he actually practice in his real life, he was called as the great symbol of truth by the public of our nation. It was due to rule of British in India which made him to fight against them and for this he needed to guide the Indian citizens to fight against them this made him to become the absolute leader and to use evil practices against the British. It was the period during which he was in South Africa working on some legal work their which he was subjected to abuse , but then he realizes how the Indians in their home land were badly treated and beaten by the British which was subjected to cruel abuse. To fight against the British people Gandhi took many ways which he called as practices in all over India which were non violence, truth and bravery. This whole practices were named by Indians as Satyagraha and which was having a big meaning among the Indians. The practice of Satyagraha was done all over Indian was used against corruption, non- violence, civil defense. Mahatma Gandhi thought that doing such practices will only help them to have proper control over social and political rulings. It was because of his charisma that he many Indian were devoted towards Mahatma Gandhi and due to which they were following practice of Satyagraha without any fear. Through the practice of Satyagraha Gandhi Ji followed the fight for independence from British which was considered as a big fight in whole world during that period of time. During his fight for  independence Gandhi Ji advice his Indian to use the non- vio lence fight against the British which generally consists boycotting the practices of British and not accepting the use of British products in India. It was his intelligence, leadership qualities and charm nature which helped many Indians to fight against the British by the use non- violence practice. Since Mahatma Gandhi was very devoted towards his home land and towards its country people that he was ready to die for them anytime that is why he was the main point of attraction among the hearts of Indian people and that’s why people of India were also ready to die for Gandhi Ji anytime anywhere. HELPERT†S DIMENSIONS OF CHARISMA Transformational leadership President of South Africa stated bout Gandhi Ji â€Å"You produce a Lawyer and we produce a Leader out of you†. This first evident that makes him great leader was in South Africa when was thrown out of first class compartment on the basis that he was an Indian and Indians were treated as lower class people in South Africa and this is just because of color of Indian people. This intolerant behavior towards Indians opened his eyes and showed how his country people are treated. This thinking intended him to fight against racism for equal rights of Indian people. This further led him to a great fighter in India and he was also a great leader in the hearts of Indian people. According to Bass (1985) transformational leaders generally consists of distinctive attractive behavior that includes sacrificing personal gains for the advantage of the group setting common example for followers and demonstrating high model standards. Leadership style of Gandhi Ji clearly shows the presence of transformational leadership. As an example his followers were intended by him, have trust in him, love him, were loyal to him and revert him. Transformational leaders also charm to higher values like equality, freedom, right decision and peace. Gandhi Ji was mainly known for these leadership styles and fought for his entire life following these values and taken stand for these values. Gandhi ji leadership styles throughout his life encouraged his followers to follow this practice of non-violence fight and also to fight in unity. During their fight for  freedom thousands of his followers were sent to jail and were also beaten badly and treated brutally. Example: Many of his followers were gathered for the Salt March which was followed by a non- violence practice but then also British officers beat them badly with sticks. Then also they did not follow the path of violence because they had a great respect of Gandhi Ji and his practices of non- violence, equality and unity. 1. Accordi ng to Ferrin and Dirks transformational leadership is strongly associated with trust in the leader. According to Bass, transformational leaders consists the following behaviors: Idealized influence This nature arouses active and powerful follower emotions and identification with the leader. Gandhi was successful in motivating and influencing lots of people as a result he was the person of his words, and continuously practices what he preached. He was a task model for lots of common people and won their respect and trust through his practice. He expressed hg model conducts, non-violence, cooperation (voluntary imporvinshment), commitment and endurance so as to achieve India’s independence. Intellectual Stimulation This behavior will increase follower awareness of issues and forces followers to look at issues from a new view point. Gandhi Ji was perpetually supportive of his believers and inspired them to think broadly as well as frankly, raise queries and solve issues. He was willing to simply accept wrong doing and mistakes and wasn’t ashamed to discard a method that didn’t worked as plan. For example: Gandhi Ji asked for the shut off his non- violence campaign just because sum of his subordinates were using violence methods to fight against British in that case instead of going against them he asked for the closure of the campaign. Individualized Consideration This includes giving support, training and inspiration to followers. Gandhi Ji was very supportive to his followers as an example he with patience listen to the problems and considerations of the poor with regard to their ability to keep our support because of British policies. Gandhi Ji was also very supportive of different leaders like national leader and Vallabhbhai Patel. He nurtures them inspired them to share concepts and even authorized them to create choices, never creating them feel addicted to him. Inspirational Motivation This type of leadership includes human action and appealing vision and making use of symbols to focus subordinates effort. Gandhi Ji stood by his personal values and systematically delivered his vision of independence by openly exchanging his vision and using symbols like the Salt Satyagraha Movement, he guided his believers with the way right meaning that successfully impressed them to stay idealistic and increase their effort. Gandhi’s Power and Influence Tactics 1. Referent Power Referent power is also called as: Charismatic power Personal Power Power of personality When a leader is respect, admired and influentially followed by others. As we have already discussed in transformational leadership Gandhi Ji was respected by his followers and having a two way relationship between him and his followers. An important leader is given respect only when two way communications is followed and Gandhi Ji believed in this way of communication that’s why he was a great leader. Gandhi ji constantly proved to be a role model and is behavior consistent with the moral principles he predicate. Qualities of Mahatma Gandhi as a Referent Leader Honest and considerate to others Unselfish intentions Role model Used the process of internalization to influence his followers Many of the followers of Gandhi Ji were influenced by stimulating their values of self  respect, justice and freedom to fight against British. At certain points personal identification was also considered. For example Jawaharlal Nehru was initially influenced by Gandhi Ji as he used to western wear clothes and looking at the style and dressing sense of Gandhi Ji he also started wearing Khadi clothes. Similarly many followers of Gandhi ji boycotted the western style wearing and opted for khadi dressing like Gandhi Ji. According to (2010) power is the capacity to attract the nature and attitude of people in the direction desired. With an exclusive charming and attractive practices followed by Gandhi Ji empowered him with high referent power. He was able to maintain his power by expressing care towards the needs of the public by showing trust and treating people equally. Due to his high level of personal sincerity and pers istent values allowed him to maintain his referent power. 2. Expert Power Since Gandhi Ji was a good lawyers as he has completed hi law from South Africa and was aware of all the rules and regulations of the government. Due to his expert knowledge also the member of Indian national congress and later join the British Indian community in the Transvaal where he fought against restriction on Indian trade he always follows the rules and regulations in correct direction and his entire practices were legal there were no illegal practices followed by him. Due to his non-violence and expert power his followers were also influenced by his practices and used to follow his path. 3. Job Involvement Gandhi Ji always encouraged for ethical practices during his lifetime which are: Truth and love Self Discipline Abolition of untouchability Dependency(Weaving his own clothes) Gandhi Ji always had a high influence on people because of the above mentioned characteristics of his leadership. Gandhi Ji mainly shows interest  for others rather than focusing on self interest also called altruistic behavior. In order to influence his followers in the direction of non- violence he did fast for several days. During that period he not even thought about his health and food, he suffered a lot till he gets the desired result of his fast. Gandhi Ji become as a leader of masses from the leader of community when Gandhi ji was in South Africa he fought in suit and tie but when he came to India he adopted the situation realizing in India and wore clothes of a peasant, weaved his own clothes and lived in a small house. He was always under control of situations and having effective negotiation skills while dealing with British authorities. Conclusion Gandhi shows the transformation of a standard man into a legendary leader. It shows how conditions will inspire someone to fight against injustice and difference. Gandhi’s style of leadership proves that to attain a required and decent end, suggests that must be equally sensible. Gandhi had a vision that was accepted by his followers. His personal practices led to India to be free from Britishers. His involvement and interest towards the poor people of society is memorable and peerless. His teaching of non violence is extremely abundant relevant even in today’s world. For the contribution and sacrifices he created for the India’s independence, upliftment of poor people, contribution towards woman encouragement and unity among completely different religions, he has been given the title of ‘Mahatma’ by his nation and is named as ‘Bapu’ that’s Father of the nation. References http://www.mahatma.com/php/showContent.php?linkid=9 http://www.youthforhumanrights.org/voices-for-human-rights/champions/mahatma-gandhi.html https://sites.google.com/site/leadershipmasters/powers-of-leadership http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080725175352AAz0Fqu http://www.unpost.org/mahatma-gandhi-soft-leadership/ http://www.etudier.com/dissertations/Gandhi-And-His-Leadership-Style/206087

Observing Non-Verbal Communication

Non-verbal communication is the process of communicating that is characterized by the absence of words but rather communicating, sending and receiving messages via bodily language, styles, and symbols. I tried to observe this type of communication in the park with a particular male and female as a target subjects. A young man, possibly 20 yrs of age and a woman, more or less of the same age group, were ‘conversing’ in the park at 5 PM in the afternoon. I use the term ‘conversation’ loosely here. Using the concept of proxemics, parks would be classified under the group, public territory, but I note that, generally speaking, such places would have no control on the behavior of the people; people there would exceed territorial rights with regards to their behavior. Without thoughtful analysis, the first idea that had entered my head was that the man and the woman were in a relation but apparently I cannot make a concluding statement about this. Physical appearances suggest informal relations as suggested by their casual appearances. Both were wearing pants with the female wearing a pink tank top and the male wearing a faded statement shirt. There is a high possibility that their meeting was not business or work associated. I disregarded Monochromatic time schedule in favor of Poly-chronic time schedule since the subjects conversation and appearances were evidently personal. Kinesic communication of the subjects— facial expressions, body movements, gestures, and posture ­Ã¢â‚¬â€reveal one important thing; the subject’s conversation was neither intimate but rather harried, constrained and angry. There was an obvious lack of touch between the two which would denote ‘friendship’ or ‘love’. The woman was gesticulating her hands wildly, and at some point in time, she was waving her right hand at the right empty space indicating that she was ‘emphasizing’ something to the man. Her shoulders were not slumped but rather posed upwards indicating a highly constrained emotion. Her feet was braced apart and she walking around wildly. Her face was clearly angry; her brows were drawn together in a frown and most probably her nostrils were growing bigger or flaring up, with her irises dilating indicating, a high emotional state. The sides of her mouth were slanted downwards as she was talking clearly indicating a negative emotion. Her curly hair was moving with the movement of her mouth. Blood was rushing to her face which makes her face really look red indeed. When the male was talking, she was ‘rolling her eyes’, indicating mockery and disbelief to what the person was saying. She was intentionally trying or trying to appear like she was not listening to the other person was saying when she was looking away at the other direction. The male subject was equally angry. His stance, shoulders upwards were poised for a fight but he was defensive as indicated by the arms that were crossed high on his chest. When he was not talking, his lips were drawn in tight line and he was highly attentive what the female was saying because ‘he did not remove his eyes from her’. His eyes were in slits, indicating anger and at some point, he was also gesticulating his hands indicating that he was forcefully explaining something to the female. I observed that proxemics for the park as a space was clearly loosely defined as to the public territorial usage; the subjects were clearly using the space for ‘personal’ purposes. Movement and body position of my subjects hinges towards negative emotional responses, ost specially that of charged anger. The subjects exhibited negative attitudes, and mostly involuntary non-verbal communication. All messages transmitted between the two were conscous and deliberate and not subliminal; their conversation was intended to say something and both were equally aware of it. Bibliography Argyle, M. (1988). Bodily Communication. Madison: International UP.

Chronology of Easter Island Important Events on Rapa Nui

An absolute agreed-upon Easter Island chronology—a timeline for the events that happened on the island of Rapa Nui—has long been an issue among scholars. Easter Island, also known as Rapa Nui, is a tiny island in the Pacific Ocean, thousands of kilometers away from its nearest neighbors. The events that happened there make it an icon of environmental degradation and collapse. Easter Island is often given as a metaphor, a dire warning for all of human life on our planet. Many of the details of its chronology have been hotly debated, particularly the time of arrival and dating and causes of the societys collapse, but recent scholarly research in the 21st century has allowed me the confidence to compile this timeline. Timeline Up until recently, ​the  dating of all events at Easter Island was under debate, with some researchers arguing the original colonization took place anytime between 700 and 1200 AD. Most were agreed that major deforestation--removal of the palm trees—took place over a period of about 200 years, but again, the timing ranged between 900 and 1400 AD. Firm dating of the initial colonization at 1200 AD has resolved much of that debate. The following timeline has been compiled from scholarly research on the island since 2010. Citations in parentheses are provided below. 2013 Tourism levels about 70,000 people visit annually (cited in Hamilton)1960s First commercial airplanes land on the island (Hamilton)1853 Easter Island made a Chilean National Park (Hamilton)1903-1953 Entire island used extensively to raise sheep, people moved into the only town (Hamilton)1888 Rapanui annexed by Chile (Commendador, Hamilton, Moreno-Mayar)1877 Census shows only 110 people descended from the original colonists left (Hamilton, Comendador, Tyler-Smith)1860s Peruvian slave trade (Tromp, Moreno-Mayar)1860s Jesuit missionaries arrive (Stevenson)1722 Dutch captain Jakob Roggeveen lands on Easter Island, bringing diseases with him. , Easter Island population estimated at 4,000 (Moreno-Mayor)1700 Deforestation completed (Comendador, Larsen, Stevenson)1650-1690 Peak in agricultural land use (Stevenson)1650 Stone quarrying stops (Hamilton)1550-1650 Highest population levels and most levels of rock gardening (Ladefoged, Stevenson)1400 Rock gardens first in use (Ladefoged)1280- 1495 First genetic evidence on island for contact with South America (Malaspinas, Moreno-Mayar)1300s-1650 Gradual intensification of horticultural land use (Stevenson)1200 Initial colonization by Polynesians (Larsen, Moreno-Mayar, Stevenson) Most of the outstanding chronology issues about Rapanui involve the processes of collapse: in 1772, when Dutch sailors landed on the island, they reported there were 4,000 people living on Easter Island. Within a century, there were only 110 descendants of the original colonists left on the island. Sources Commendador AS, Dudgeon JV, Finney BP, Fuller BT, and Esh KS. 2013. A stable isotope (d13C and d15N) perspective on human diet on rapa nui (Easter Island) ca. AD 1400-1900. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 152(2):173-185. doi: 10.1002/ajpa.22339Hamilton S. 2013. Rapa Nui (Easter Island)s Stone Worlds. Archaeology International 16:96-109.Hamilton S, Seager Thomas M, and Whitehouse R. 2011. Say it with stone: constructing with stones on Easter Island. World Archaeology 43(2):167-190. doi: 10.1080/00438243.2011.586273Ladefoged TN, Flaws A, and Stevenson CM. 2013. The distribution of rock gardens on Rapa Nui (Easter Island) as determined from satellite imagery. Journal of Archaeological Science 40(2):1203-1212. doi: 10.1016/j.jas.2012.09.006Malaspinas A-S, Lao O, Schroeder H, Rasmussen M, Raghavan M, Moltke I, Campos PF, Sagredo FS, Rasmussen S, Gonà §alves VF et al. 2014. Two ancient human genomes reveal Polynesian ancestry among the indigenous Botocudos of Brazil. Current Bio logy 24(21):R1035-R1037. doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2014.09.078Moreno-Mayar JV, Rasmussen S, Seguin-Orlando A, Rasmussen M, Liang M, Flà ¥m Siri  T, Lie Benedicte  A, Gilfillan Gregor  D, Nielsen R, Thorsby E et al. 2014. Genome-wide Ancestry Patterns in Rapanui Suggest Pre-European Admixture with Native Americans. Current Biology 24(21):2518-2525. doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2014.09.057Stevenson CM, Puleston CO, Vitousek PM, Chadwick OA, Haoa S, and Ladefoged TN. 2015. Variation in Rapa Nui (Easter Island) land use indicates production and population peaks prior to European contact. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Early Edition. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1420712112Tromp M, and Dudgeon JV. 2015. Differentiating dietary and non-dietary microfossils extracted from human dental calculus: the importance of sweet potato to ancient diet on Rapa Nui. Journal of Archaeological Science 54(0):54-63. doi: 10.1016/j.jas.2014.11.024Tyler-Smith C. 2014. Human Genetics: Pre-Columbian Pacific Contact . Current Biology 24(21):R1038-R1040. doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2014.09.019