American Literature

After completely analyzing and evaluating the corporate strategy and the operating environment of PFA, it has been concluded that the company has a very sound and successful future if it follows its vision and mission accurately. But in doing so, PFA would have to undertake a few HRM actions so that nothing stops it from completing its vision and becoming as successful and profitable as ever. Before, recommending the HR actions, it is important that we understand what appropriate human resources are. Appropriate human resources refer to the individuals within the organization who make a valuable contribution to management system goal attainment (Ropo, 1993).

A-First HRM action
First of all, PFA would have to make efforts in the employee recruitment area because in order to be highly productive and efficient, the company would need a hardworking, talented and effective workforce. Therefore, first of all, PFA would have to make efforts in recruiting effective and efficient human resources through the process of job advertisements, job descriptions and job specifications in order to find the most suitable and appropriate employees in order to make the production efficient and effective.


B- Second HRM Action
Secondly, PFA would have to undertake actions in the selection process of human resource management. Selection is basically the process of choosing an individual to hire from all those who have been recruited.
Therefore, PFA would have to take aptitude tests, achievement tests, vocational interest tests and personality tests in order to select the most appropriate candidate out of all the recruited employees. Accurate and effective selection will help PFA to find the most efficient and hardworking workforce, who would try to achieve their own personal goals through the goals of the company (Bray  Waring, 2006).

C- Third HRM Action
The third HRM action that PFA would have to take in order to increase its efficiency and effectiveness would be to undergo the process of employee training. After recruitment and selection, the next step in providing appropriate human resources for the organization is training. Training is basically the process of developing qualities in human resources that will enable them to be more productive and thus to contribute more to organizational goal attainment. If PFA is successful in training its employees with the latest skills and technology, then no competitors can beat PFA in its efficiency and high productivity.

Recommendation of HR strategy
Human resource management has become increasingly important for organizations all over the world because workers have to be constantly trained to keep in pace with the constant changes in technologies, processes and working methods. Since, the social and economic contexts of the world too, are changing due to globalization, the human resource strategies and policies of organizations also change to adjust. The concept of HRM is not only about training employees but is based on learning as well. Those organizations that rely on HRM have a constant process of employee, and even organizational learning (Ropo, 1993).
Moreover, in my view HRM is a broad term, as it includes not simply training but it also encompasses development and education. Therefore, the employees of PFA should have proper training employee development and education because they are the most acceptable measures for todays changing global environment. The training segment of HRM is basically to enhance the physical skills of workers, while education relates to the school system and what has been learnt since childhood employee development determines the individual growth in the work place and also outside the organization in the social and economic world. Once an employee of PFA has experienced all of these three segments, heshe can be extremely efficient and effective for the success of the HRM strategy, which in turn is going to be very beneficial for PFA as a whole.

A. First reason for this recommendation
 Therefore, I would suggest that PFA not only works on improving its employee recruitment, selection and training but it should also make efforts in the process of performance appraisal, which is the final step of the process of HRM. Performance appraisal is basically the process of evaluating the past performance of the workers to find out what contribution they are making towards the achievement of organizational goals and objectives. The performance of modern organizations has to be improved constantly at all times to in order to stay competitive and to achieve maximum success, productivity, sales and profitability. Without the interference and help of the employees, no manager can obtain successful results of the performance appraisal program.

B. Second reason for this recommendation
Research has proven that performance management is of extreme importance for organizations and managers, who do not focus their efforts in the performance management of employees because leaving employees totally isolated and on their own with no communication with them can lead to drastic results in output and quality standards. Therefore, PFA should take this HR strategy recommendation seriously so that it works more effectively towards competitive business strategy (Peetz, 2005).

A. The first critical factor
When PFA decides to expand and launch its operations in the UAE, then the most important critical factor that will affect the companys HRM in the country would be the situation of workforce adjustment, that is, difficulty of employees in adjusting to a new culture. When PFAs employees would have to adjust in a different organizational and environmental change in the UAE, they would experience confusion, anxiety and stress as well. If the employees are not properly made to adjust in the UAE, PFA can suffer from the failure of its HRM strategy and result with low productivity and low levels of worker motivation in the UAE. Therefore, this is a critical factor that the company would have to deal with immediately and effectively (Allan, Bamber  Timo, 2006).

B. Second critical Factor
Secondly, PFA can face the critical factor of diversity with this decision of expanding in the UAE. Diversity of ideas and ways of working in a different country can clash between the employees of PFA in the US and in UAE. This can lead to the failure of the HRM strategy of PFA because when the workforce would have differences amongst themselves they would not work with motivation and dedication, which in turn would lead towards low efficiency and low productivity.

C. Third Critical Factor
Lastly, expanding operations in the UAE would bring new technology and machinery and different methods of working due to which PFA would have to spend money and efforts in providing its employees with appropriate training. This critical factor would be time consuming and expensive for PFA, as PFA would also have to provide language learning programs for its employees to properly adjust in the working environment of UAE. If the employees of PFA would not know the Arabic language they would not be able to be efficient and effective while working in that country. Therefore, in order to be perfectly successful and efficient in its HRM strategy in the UAE, PFA would have to solve all these critical factors. (Sheehan, Holland  De Cieri, 2006).

Ezra Pound in the extraordinarily short poem, In a Station at the Metro, conveys a portrait of human existence that is both clear and contradictory.  It is simultaneously clear and contradictory because, as the poem is read over and over again, a series of different interpretations arise.  Read a certain way, the poem seems almost hopeful and a beautiful testament to the business of human activity and the meaningfulness of human existence.  Read another way, however, the poem can be viewed as a more somber commentary as to the dreariness and the static nature of human existence which inevitably results in a death to which even the ghosts or the apparitions are bound for eternity.  This reaction paper will discuss how this brief poem suggests different interpretations and how these different interpretations are fundamentally grounded in the images created by the poets choice of words and their placement within the poems overall structure.
   
As an initial matter, while it is fair to argue that a title and a poems substantive content are independent features, this poem is nevertheless strongly informed by its title.  Before the reader even proceeds to the poem itself, the title confronts the reader with a variety of possibilities.  A metro, for example, evokes images of a bustling population center with people coming from all facets of life.  There must be rich businessman hurrying off the business meetings, government officials attending to their public duties, and even members of the lower classes hawking newspapers or other wares.  When the poet more precisely defines the focus of the metro to be presented in the poem, in this case a station, the human element is merged with machinery and notions of time and transportation.  These busy people are going somewhere, perhaps arriving, and the reader may begin to view this setting as being quite similar to an army of ants attending to their daily food collection and food preservation duties.  From the title, preparing to proceed to the substantive portion of the poem, the reader is struck by a notion of crowded people and a business of purpose that precludes leisure or idle reflection.  Movement and purpose are the dominant images.
   
Almost immediately, however, the poet qualifies or defines the anticipated crowds by characterizing them as being akin to apparitions.  This is foreboding as apparitions of basically defined as being ghosts or as being a type of image of a person that is deceased.  The reader is therefore compelled, the second word into the poem, to consider whether this characterization is literal or figurative.  A literal interpretation being unlikely, perhaps impossible, it becomes the readers challenge to determine the figurative intent of a comparison between the people making up the crowd and death.  This hardly seems a hopeful condition, perhaps hinting at the meaningless or the briefness of human life, and the readers considered reaction may very well be one of dismay.  Additional reflection, on the other hand, might yield a more hopeful interpretation of this figurative language more specifically, perhaps the poet instead intended to portray the durability and the advancement of the human race by showing the modern crowd as representing the perseverance and evolution of human beings. 

When the title is read together with the poems first line, in short, the apparition image tends to prevail and it does imply and conjure up images of lost time and death.  Interestingly, the apparition is further reduced to reflecting only faces rather than bodies.  The poet thereby draws some distinction between the complete bodies moving through the station and the apparitions which are limited to faces.  Faces, being more discernable and more readily identifiable than legs or arms, this word choice suggests that maybe the poet was trying to speak directly to the reader.  This is because a face is very personal, it emphasizes individuality in a crowd, and it is consequently plausible to conclude that the poet is warning the reader not to become lost in crowds because life is short and death is inevitable.  The second line of the poem reinforces this interpretation, that individuals should embrace the beauties of life, by using petals as a reference to wonderful features of life and the wet, black bough to represent the passing of time, withering, and the inevitability of death. 

There is therefore a consistency in the poems imagery, from beauty and human individuality, that seems to be connected to the human life span.  The most reasonable interpretation would seem to be one in which the poet celebrated the gift of life and lamented the passing in time.  The most reasonable lesson to derived from the poem, and inextricably linked to the aforementioned interpretation, is that people should pursue their individual interests and not be afraid to step away from the crowd because life is precious and time is very brief.

1. The search for the other ends up being a search for the self. Discuss in Death and the Compass. 
In Death and the Compass, Erik Lonnrot investigates a series of murders that he believes are related to cult killings. As he looks for the mastermind, he finds a maze of clues and more mysteries, and yet he is confident that he can determine the true identity of the killer. In the end, he realizes that he has discovered a hopelessness that he has not yet encountered, instead of the resolution of the crime. It seems that he is going around in circles and that he cannot uncover the truth. Erik cannot solve the crime as easy as he initially believed, and the killer takes this to his advantage.
This film shows that Erik Lonnrot also needs to know more about himself and the underlying causes of his own despair. The process of the crime detection brings him to an analysis of himself. He realizes that hubris is his sin and that as a human being, he is also not infallible. The media has vainly glamorized his reputation, and for this, he has glamorized himself also. He has come to believe that he can make perfect deductions, a belief that shaded his ability to think more logically. He is going around in circles on this investigation, because, ultimately, he does not know himself. If only he knew who he really is, including his weaknesses, then he would identify many alternatives to his crime hypotheses, and earlier detection of the criminal. This film teaches viewers that in many ways, analyzing the other can also lead to a revelation about one self.

2. Clay neither kills Georges wife (nor incapacitates her), nor throws George out of the plan, after the wife spies on him (on Clay). What is the importance, beyond plot, of this fact for the film The Killing
    The Killing is all about an elaborate planning of a heist, masterminded by an ex-convict Johnny Clay. He discovers that Sherry has been spying on them, but he does not kill her or take George out of the plan, because Clay is a master strategist. Instead, he sends them both away so that he can think about the implications of this development on his crime planning. He believes that Sherry is in it for money and possibly even cheating on George, for why else would she spy on them, when George is already part of the plan Sherry must be doing the spying for someone else. Clay must have forecasted that if everything goes according to plan, Sherrys treachery can lead to the demise of other crime members and Clay would have all the 2 million for himself. This shows the creativity of the criminal mind. Criminals may be unthinking in other areas of their life, but they also have the gift for understanding fellow criminals. Money rules in their game and this is the same source of their greed. Money, however, is still not everything, and it will also be the source of the problems, even for criminals. The ending shows that killing other criminals in the plan will not always guarantee success. In the end, crime does not pay and Clay goes back to jail.
The Killing is also a symbol for the killing of human conscience. When everyone practices the belief of every man for himself, society breaks down, for we all need one another in order to survive in this world.


3. In Minority Report, and with the case of Anderton in which 3 monkeys predict that Anderton will commit murder, there is no actual minority report. There are instead three different opinions, two of which coincide in their conclusions (but are otherwise different). Explain how this is the case and why it is of import.
    This is important because having different opinions demonstrates that people are still in charge of their lives. Though determinism may exist, as in the case of the precogs being able to forecast the future, people will still make the final decisions in their lives for every moment they have to make it. In the case of Anderton, though the two precogs concur that he will kill Crow, he still decided to not shoot him. He is still the master of his fate and not some predictor of the future. This shows that no one can predict his fate, not even precogs.

At the same time, these differences in opinions among the precogs also showcase that the system of precognition is not perfect. And if it is not perfect, then there is always a reason to doubt its results, including past predictions. This means that the whole system should be abolished and this fact is something that Burgess could not accept, so he kills himself instead.

5. Discuss the character of Paul Auster in City of Glass.
    The character of Paul Auster in City of Glass is deceptive, because he is the mystery writer Quinn himself. This deception, however, proves to be a deception of the self only. As Auster works on this case, as he pretends to be Auster, he imbibes a new identity, the identity of a true detective. He is no longer making stories he is the center of the story. He finds himself in a city of glass and he connects more to the other in this glass. This other is his creation, but at the same time, his creation changes him. The environment of detective work changes Quinn into Auster, and soon, he does not know anymore who he really is. As his creation changes him, it sends the message that he does not know himself to begin with, because writing so much about others made him lose his connection to his self identity.

6. Explain the importance of the final French quote in the Purloined Letter for the story as a whole.The importance of the final French quote in the Purloined Letter for the story as a whole is that it tells about the complexity of the problem of the Prefect, which is not complex at all, and that there is no calamitous plan worth doing. When translated, the French quote says that when the design is catastrophic, if it is not worthy of d  atree, is worthy of thyeste. In this case, Dupin is telling the Minister that his plans are not worthy to be pursued anymore, if it will destroy the lady he wishes to control. At the same time, he is expressing that if someone cannot solve a simple riddle, then another person can. The Prefect cannot resolve the problem of the purloined letter, but Dupin did. Also, this resolution does not have to be too obvious, but something also to be hidden in a simple manner. If the Minister wanted to make other people stupid, then he too shall eat his own medicine.

8. Analyze the final scene, as the dog upsets the cart, in The Killing.
The final scene of the dog upsetting the cart demonstrates that there is no perfect plan and no perfect criminal. This film noir explores the imperfection of human planning in the context of an irrationally uncontrollable environment. Clay believes himself to be the perfect criminal for his perfect plan. He has everything planned, or so it seems, because he has the people and the money to implement the crime. He cannot plan perfectly, after all, because there are changing and uncertain environmental factors that he cannot possibly prepare for. He also cannot account for the change in peoples feelings and actions. There is also the dog that sets up a sequence of events that will lead to Clays detection. He is also not the perfect criminal because he has not thought of buying a better quality suitcase. In the end, he knows that it will be futile to run from the police, because one mistake cannot erase his greater mistakes - his earnest belief in his perfection, his hubris.

Ernest Hemingway was and is one of the most prolific authors of the 20th century. The use of his characters not only allowed the reader to understand them but also was often created to expose those parts of the person people hide from one another, the flaws, the defects, the factors of being that create guilt and sorrow. He was not afraid to show the vulnerability of his characters, a vulnerability that was also considered strength. It was within this vulnerability that many of his character hid from themselves as well as from the reader. They closed off from the world that scared them and lived in their own way and in their own reality. Even when pushed to be different the characters rarely move out of their self-inflicted isolation and back into the world.  Instead they just find a new type of isolation in which to live.

Two of Hemingways short stories show the aspects of isolation from different age perspectives, but on the same idea. The main characters are obviously isolating themselves from the rest, but even some of other characters are isolationists as well. The first story, Soldiers Home, focuses on Krebs, a young man who has just returned from Germany after World War I. The two male characters within this story show signs of their isolation for protection from the harsh realities of the world. The other story, A Days Wait, focuses on the relationship of a father and son and their need to not show the fragility, what would be considered feminine, but to pull through things on their own, alone and with only their own self. 

Krebss world has been shaken on its foundations. He had joined the army to serve his country in World War I, but unlike most of the other soldiers from his town, he did not return from Europe right away.  In fact, he returned two years later, and by that time, the fanfare and glorious returns were over, and it was just another day in his small hometown. He wanted to be like a hero, but all the stories of war had been told.  He lied at times, but even then people still really did not want to hear. This alienation between him and the town in which he grew up created the self-inflicted isolation in which he put himself. He was no longer a part of the town.   The town ignored him upon his return rather than giving him a heros return.  To them he was home, but it was no big deal.  The town did not care about him and so he was safe in his isolation.   He even went so far in his own isolation that he could not let others in (McKenna  Raabe). To prove this point, Hemingway has Krebs explain it the aspects of finding a girlfriend, but the world they were in was not the world he was in.  He would like to have one of them. But it was not worth it. (89). The Army had taught him well to live in his own world and need for nothing from those outside.

The character of Krebs is symbolic of the soldiers who returned home, but could not readjust to normal life. These were the men who had found the routine of the military comforting even though they did not realize it.  Krebs in this sense missed the military.  He structured his day in the same way every day.  He did not have room to grow emotionally, or spiritual.  He existed. From the time he awoke to the way he spent his day, there were no changes.  His world was static.  Hemingway used Krebss point of view to show just how much he had isolated himself from the rest of the town.  Hemingway used the fact that Krebs no longer found the small town exciting.  He accentuated this with the fact that Krebs could not fit in like those young men whom he had gone to high school.  They were settling down and starting their adult life.  Krebs, however, decides that it is not for him.  The descriptions Hemingway used to show Krebss isolation also showed that he had no real agenda, and only acted to have something to do, but the action was not normally associated with people or at least no one in particular.  Krebs could not deal in the abstract as easily as in the actions of life. 

He was repulsed by the thoughts of getting a job, caring for people, or settling down.  For him, the life of isolation was finally giving him the necessary time he needed to re-evaluate his life and find what was missing or what needed to be done to make him comfortable again.  The fact that he does not want to associate or care for people is shown in his view of girls, but again when he tells his mother I dont love anybody (Hemingway 92). At this juncture in his life, he does not love anyone and he is not ready to care (McKenna et al).  Hemingway uses this symbolic theme of avoidance and the elimination of caring for other humans to accentuate the alienation that Krebss feels in relation to his return home from Europe. People he cared about were killed and the memory of death creates another reason to isolate and protect him from the world.

Another problem Krebs had was the fact that his isolation required him to lie.  He knew that eventually his lies would be discovered and there would be one more scene before he got away (Hemingway 93).  However, if he wanted to keep his own self safe, he needed to keep others out and the only way was to hide the truth. The morals of this young man are skewed, and Hemingway acknowledges this in the fact that he is a soldier coming home from war, but has a problem with lying.  His values seem out of place, as well with the way in which he deals with his issues, and that is to leave rather than adjust and stay. 

It would appear that the father lives in this way to a point as well.  Everything the reader knows about the father is through the mother or Krebss memories from before the war. She tells Krebs that his father is worried about him, he wants Krebs to use the car in the evening, and he wants him to have a normal life.  However, Krebs does not believe this of his father and neither does the reader.  He goes so far as to tell his mother that this is all her and not his father, but she denies it. Both the father and Krebss are very static and refuse to change for themselves or others. The father hides in his own type of isolation so that he does not have to deal with things that scare him including his family.  Krebs wants to leave and move to another city to keep his own isolation in tact. So it would seem that Krebs learned this not only from the war and the Army, but from his father as well.

The world in A Days Wait is much different.  Only one character has a name and that is the nine year old boy Schatz.  The rest of the characters do not have names mainly because only the child needs to be seen as an individual and that he takes his cues from this father.  Hemingway uses this isolation of Schatz, by naming him and therefore, making him more than the rest of the characters.  He will be the one who is most affected and the one who changes the most.  The second character is the father who will also change, but only because Schatz makes him. 

The father wakes to find his young son very sick.  The doctor comes and diagnoses the child with influenza and states his temperature is one hundred and two (Hemingway L17). From this point on the child self inflicts his own isolation from his family, including his father.  Hemingway uses the maturity of an adult in the childs illness.  The child does not want others to worry, but he is sure he is going to die.  Instead of acting as a child with crying and reaching out for parental love and guidance, he retreats into himself and takes it like a man.  He tells his father that he does not need to sit at the foot of his bed.  Schatz just lays there and watches his father, and eventually the father leaves.  At this point, the story completely isolates the child by only focusing on the fathers quest for quail (Hemingway L45-60).  The father out for a hunt is symbolic of Schatzs isolation within the house at the same time. When the father returns, the reader discovers why the child has isolated himself from everyone and refuses to let people in his room. From the point that the doctor diagnosis Schatz until the father comes back from hunting, the child is emotionally unraveled.  He is isolated in his fear, and Hemingway uses this to build the suspense. The reader knows that something is wrong because the child has changed in attitude from the first scene.  Finally, the suspense is drawn to a head when the father reenters the room, the child asks About what time do you think I am going to die (Hemingway L84). The reader cannot understand why the child would think he was going to die.  Hemingway creates a climax that leaps to another suspense and climatic moment almost immediately.  Only at this point does the reasoning for the isolation tell the reader that the child was afraid to die and that was why he isolated himself (Beegel).  His father explains that he is not going to die and why he is not going to die.  The child relaxes and starts to heal, physically and emotionally.

This story does not only show isolation but how isolation is taught from generation to generation especially through the masculine features of the men of the family (Beegel).  The young boy isolates himself to keep from having to face others.  He is terrified of his impending death and does not want to feel the need to comfort others.  He wants to wallow in his fear and wait for the inevitable.  Schatz seems to know even at the young age how men are to act in the face of fear.  However, the reader is glad to see the child come out long enough to question his father about death and learn the truth.  This shows growth in the characters of both the father and Schatz.

This male isolation is also prevalent in the father that left his sick son and decided to go hunting.  There is no real need to go hunting in the ice and snow.  Hemingway tells the reader that it was difficult to stand or walk on the glassy surface and yet he was out hunting.  This use of the hunting scene would seem to say that the father was isolating himself from the fear as well.  He did not want to have to worry and fear for his child so he left to take his mind off of reality (Beegel). Hemingway also allows the cold and winter setting to show a coldness that is part of the isolation of men.  However, when he returns to the house, the warms reminds the reader that isolation is not required, because the young boy realizes that a loving family is more important. 

The differences between these two stories are the changes or lack of changes that the characters go through and the predictive nature of one to the other. In Soldiers Home the isolation is well entrenched in the life of Krebs and his father.  The mother as well is isolated from the two men, but in different ways.  Krebs has learned his lesson from his father well.  He plans to will leave the area and go to a different state to keep him isolated.  He knows he cannot do it in his hometown, so escape is the only option.  Schatz, in A Days Wait learns that it is alright to be scared and it is alright to be alone, but the most important thing is to have the facts, and to have the facts one has to not be afraid to ask questions.  This is apparent when his father explains about the two types of thermometers. 
   
The two stories show how the human existence is influenced by the family and culture around the person.  The types of isolation are taught from father to son and while young the child still has some attachment as he grows older the men separate and isolate from one another. While many people create their own form of isolation, the basics are found throughout communities.  The concepts of boys should not cry is a similar kind of response.  This fact is taught to mean, hide the fear, stay into yourself, and dont let anyone get too close, because they will only hurt you.  The reader can also see that while Schatz and his father are still able to communicate together, in time, their relationship will be more like Krebs and his father.  They will learn to separate themselves from one another and will then focus on total isolation from those around them.

James Baldwin is one of the foremost African American, writers of the 20th century. His life both, as a gay man, and an African American man often led him to explore issues of racial identity, and sexual identity in his books. Baldwin was also well known for exploring the intersections of the social and psychological pressures and how they influenced the development of identity. This exploration of race and sexuality has cemented Baldwins place as one of the most well known writers of the Harlem Renaissance and the Civil Rights Era. Baldwins novels are notable for the personal way in which they explore questions of identity as well as the way in which they mine complex social and psychological pressures.

Annotated Bibliography
Baldwin, James (1992) Another Country, New York, NY, Vintage Paperbacks
In this novel Baldwin explores the themes of identity, and social and psychological pressure  by focusing on the life of  Rufus Scott, a bisexual, African American Jazz musician, and the questions raised amongst his friends and family after he commits suicide. The exploration of identity expressed in this novel is useful because it supports my thesis.

Baldwin, James (1995) Blues for Mister Charlie, New York, NY, Vintage Paperbacks
In this play Baldwin explores how the social and psychological pressures of racism have shaped the African American Identity. This is done through the telling of the story of Richard Henry, an African American man who has returned from Harlem to his Southern roots in Mississippi to recover from drug addiction, who is then murdered by a racist white man. This focuses on the complex social and psychological pressures created by racism and bigotry. This novel is applicable because it focuses on the social and psychological pressures that shape identity.

Baldwin, James (2000) Giovannis Room, London, UK, Delta Press
This novel looks at issues of identity through the eyes of a young African American man   living as an   expatriate in Paris in the 1950s. This novel also focuses on how social and psychological pressure influence and interact with racial and sexual identity. Baldwin, James (2000) Go Tell it on the Mountain, New York,
NY, Vintage Paperbacks

This book is the tale of John Grimes, the son of a Harlem preacher during the Great Depression. Baldwin explores the dynamics of family dysfunctionality, and how this impacts Johns developing identity and views on the world around them.

Baldwin, James (1984) Notes on a Native  Son, Boston, BA, Beacon Press
In this non-fiction wok, Baldwin explores the African American identity, and what it truly means to be Black in America. He focuses on life in Harlem during the Harlem Renaissance and how the social and psychological pressures of the time, fostered the growth the new African American identity that would lead to the flowering of African American culture.

Baldwin, James (1995) Going to Meet the Man Stories, New York, NY, Vintage Paperbacks
This book is a series of short stories that explores how race, gender, and sexual preference influence the development of identity. Baldwin mainly focuses on the medium of social pressure and psychological of physical pain as a determining factor in identity development.
Baldwin, James (2008) If Beale Street Could Talk, New York, NY, Vintage Paperbacks
 In this novel Baldwin looks at the story of Trish and Fonny a young couple living in Harlem. Fonny is falsely accused of rape and the story explores the tale of the couples search for justice. This novel explores how racial injustice influences identity.

Baldwin, James (2007) One Day When I Was Lost, New York , NY, Vintage Paperbacks
In this biography, Baldwin explores the many facets of Malcolm X, one of the great African American leaders of the 20th century. He explores the many facets of Malcolm Xs identity including how the social and psychological pressures of growing up the son of a Baptist minister, and his prison time shaped his identity and led him to become one of the leaders of the Civil Rights Movement.
Baldwin, James (1998) Tell Me How Long the Trains Been Gone, New York, NY, Vintage Paperbacks
This novel explores how ones final task in the development of identity is to confront the fact that everyone dies. We see this through the eyes of actor, Leo Proudhammer as he is confronted with both his mistakes and his achievements as doctors attempt to revive him after he becomes the victim of a heart attack. This novel explores how social and psychological pressures, and well and basic human life stages can influence the development of identity.

Baldwin, James (2000) The Fire Next Time, New York, Steck-Vaughn Publications
This book of essays explores race relations and human identity in the United States. Baldwin argues that the United States has always been a multi-racial society, and it is simply the lack of acceptance and tolerance that prevents diverse racial and cultural groups from fully integrating into American Society. This book explores how the social and psychological pressures of race relations creates a divided national identity

The core of Philip Roths the Human Stain is the controversy of a black man who passed off as a Jewish man for more than 40 years, fooling his wife and 4 children as well as all the people around him, from the academe department he worked for as well as the community he lived with. This paper wants to highlight how this is possible. The paper wants to understand if the story highlight how easy it is to acquire a Jewish identity. Is there no significant depth with being Jewish such that a person can be a Jewish just by saying hes one and acting like one There would be portions that discuss the Black identity as well, as this is a major theme of the story and it is very significant to understanding the Jewish identity. This paper would start with a discussion of the concept of cultural identity and racial development in the United States.
Concept of Cultural Identity and Racial Development
   
An individuals conception of what group he belongs in lies in his ethnic or religious identity, and despite the circumstances in his life, he would always find value and emotional significance to this identity (Galkina, 1997).  By practicing their own cultural traditions and values, engaging with their religious and familial neighborhood as well as educational communities, minorities feel a positive sense of their ethnic identity and find a sense of confidence (Chavez  Guido-DiBrito, 1999).
On the other hand, they also must filter their identity through negative treatment and stereotypes in relation to their race, which makes them feel they have a less of a status because of their different ethnic make-up compared to the mainstream society (Chavez  Guido-DiBrito, 1999). Despite the contrast between the minorities and the mainstream, the fact that everyone has an advantage when they develop a conscious ethnic identity remains, especially when they are in learning environments that abide with a multicultural framework (Chavez  Guido-DiBrito).
   
Cross (1991) supposed that self-conception is developed through the two components of personal identity and reference group orientation. Personal identity is the individuals general personality features such as psychopathology and self-esteem while reference group orientation pertains to the individuals membership to several social groups based on common factors like race, gender, religion and others more. For example, blackness or the black identity is influenced more by the reference group orientation as it reflects the salience of race as well as the valence given to race (Cross).
Blacks can be divided among those who give race much, little or no importance. According to Cross (1991), a positive reference group orientation towards ones own race does not necessarily mean a high self-esteem or low esteem if the positive reference group orientation is towards another race (blacks comparing themselves to whites).
   
Another important theory of racial-ethnic identity development is the Parham Model (1989). According to this theory, ethnic groups go through cycles of hatred toward the majority groups and then later on establish a positive framed of reference. According to the model, the exposure to the associated negative differential treatment to racial difference is the trigger for this cycle.  However, the supposition of this triggering factor is criticized by those who believed that immersion in ones culture is the factor that stimulates ones transference towards his racial identity (Chavez  Guido-DiBrito, 1999).
   
Another renowned racial identity model is the White Racial Identity Model by Helms (1993 1994 1995). This is one of the first white racial models. She finds the earlier racial identity models dependence on stages to analyze racial identification to be too limiting. Rather, she decided that statuses would explain more about the white racial identity. She posits that there exists a superiority of the white race, as well as the presence of individual, cultural and institutional racism.
The theory posits that a white individual progresses through three statuses. According to this theory, a white individual comes from a racist position before going through the three statuses to become someone with a non-racist white identity (Helms, 1993). This theory is helpful in showing that interracial exposure facilitates the development of racial identity. However, this theory had been criticized for not in reality explaining the development of a white individuals consciousness towards his or her racial identity. It had only talked about whites perception and feelings toward blacks changing from a racist point to a non-racist frame and used this as a basis for the development of the white racial identity (Chavez  Guido-DiBrito, 1999).
   
All these discussed models described the intersection between racism and racial development, or how the perception of others towards ones race (white or black) influenced the development of the individuals self-perception. It would also be important to look at the different ethnic identity development models or the models that center on what individuals discover about their own culture from their interaction with their family and community.
   
Ethnic identity is the identity an individual has that is developed from belonging to a common culture, religion, geographic location as well as common language. Strong connection or loyalty towards this commonality and proximity leads to the formation of a strong ethnic identity (Torres, 1996). Evidences of ethnic identity are shared rituals, symbols and behaviors within a group that emerges from values, beliefs and assumptions held by the group (Ott, 1989). Ethnic identity development models would therefore delineate the common attributes that can be found within a particular ethnic group.
   
Katzs (1989) model centers on the white ethnic identity and worldview. She describes fifteen values and perspectives common in the while American cultural identity. Her theory provides subsequent analyzers a pattern that says Americans regard the concept of time as linear, that they have a win-lose frame of thinking, and values independence, autonomy and competition among several patterns.
Aside from providing a description of the white ethnic group, Katzs (1989) model conceives that individuals who have these common beliefs among themselves connect with others difficultly, which explains why whites tend to believe they are superior. Unlike the white racial identity model, this model does not simplistically claim that whites are born racist. However, the model is not able to identify the triggers or outline the process involved on how the whites become conscious of their ethnic identity either. Although the model does not merely describe the common patterns of a particular group, its analysis of the group does not go as far as what is needed from this model. Furthermore, the models applicability is again confined only to a particular group.
   
One model that set to provide a description of ethnic identity that could be identified in all ethnic groups is the one by Phinney (1990). According to this theory, every minority ethnic group or the group non-dominant in a particular country must first filter and fight through stereotypes and prejudice against their group, which are detrimental to their process of self-conception or self-identification. Aside from this, the group must also reconcile the differences and conflict between the dominant and the non-dominant value systems as well as resolve how the members of the minority group fight for a bicultural value system.
This model is successful in laying out the real triggers involved in the emergence of ones consciousness regarding his or her ethnic identity. The limitation of this model lies in the insufficient argument regarding the positive influence of immersing in ones own culture, which could be very important in the resolution of the two problems outlined by Phinneys model (1990) regarding the negative prejudice a minority has to go through and resolve and the differences between their value system against the value system of the dominant group.

Concept of Jewish Identity
In the United States, Jews made up one of the many ethnic groups in the United States. However, unlike other ethnic groups and although they barely reach 3 of the total American population, they are deeply integrated with the social American mainstream (Lipset  Raab, 1995). There are three types of Jews in the United States. The first type are the Core Jews, who are Jews clearly defining themselves as belonging to this group, and people within the same household acknowledge this (Goldstein  Kosmin, 1992). The second type of Jews is those people with Jewish Background, people born or raised Jewish but identify with another group or religion. The third type of Jews is individuals living with Jews such as their spouses or children of mixed marriages, although they have no Jewish background.  To be more or less acknowledged as Jews, majority view that engaging in synagogue assistance or membership is already a clear indication of their Jewish identifications. Others treat engaging in synagogue already part of ethnic and communal sphere (Horowitz, 2003).
   
According to Winter (1992), the Jewish identity is always described as both a religion and an ethnicity simultaneously. Jewish identifications have been differentiated into two expressions public and private (Hartman, 2001). Each of these expressions has their own dimensions of Jewish commitments and behaviors (Horowitz, 2003).
   
The Jewish identity has another unique element. This is in terms of socialization and group cohesion (Cohen, 1998). They have to have a proportion of Jewish friends and the place of his residence has to have Jewish character (Winter, 1992). For Jewish people, it is important to have links or support system composing of other Jewish during dire circumstances (Hartman and Hartman, 1999). Most Jewish people have an identity of treating anti-Semitism as a serious problem and have uncertainty toward intermarriage (Lazerwitz et al, 1998).
   
Another component of Jewish identification is parochial education. A Jewish persons educational background reflects and signifies the identity on his parents as well as the parents level of desire to transmit a sense of distinct ethno-religious heritage (Pergola  Schmelz, 1989). Barack-Fishman and Goldstein (1993) illustrated how there is a significant relationship between Jewish education and the level of Jewish identification among adults. They illustrated that having Jewish education heightens an adults Jewish identification. Barack-Fishman and Goldstein measured Jewish education by looking at the type of school and duration of enrollment. They focused more on formal education than look at Bart Mitzvah celebrations and their adults participation in adult education programs.
Analysis of the Human Stain
   
The Human Stain is Philip Roths last volume in his trilogy on postwar America, preceded by the American Pastoral (1997) and I Married a Communist (1998). The Human Stain focused on post-war American preoccupations, ranging from race relations to identity politics. This book tells the story of a man and the tragedy that befalls his life, made interesting with secrets and revelations after the persons death, in which it could be said the past he longed to erased actually catches up with him even upon demise.
The Human Stain talks of a tragic protagonist named Coleman Brutus Silk, who at age seven, already devoted his life to teaching classics and to being a dean of the faculty at New England towns Athena College. It was illustrated in the beginning that Coleman Brutus Silk was a Jew, and only the few of the Jews invited to be on the Athena faculty. He was also one of the few Jews first to get the chance to teach and be part of the classics department anywhere.
   
Coleman Brutus Silks personal tragedy began a day five weeks into a semester. That day, two students were late in his class, and while they have not come in yet, Coleman made a remark alluding to them. He said, Does anyone know these people Do they exist or are they spooks This was misconstrued as a racist comment despite Silks adamant explanation that it was just a casual comment, in which the term spooks was only pertaining to ghosts. When he was labeled as a racist, this led to a scandal. When his wife died, Silk claimed that the scandal and harassment they suffered killed his wife, so he resigned from the college and severe all the ties with the institution.
Silk then engaged in an affair with Faunia Farley, a 34-year-old janitor. The harassment continued even though he was starting anew, and this affair was exposed and turned into a public scandal by the ambitious Yale-educated literary theorist, Delphine Roux. This was the same person who led the attack aggressively against the professor over the alleged racism his remarked had caused. Silk even received an anonymous letter that said, over the affair that, Everyone knows youre sexually exploiting an abused, illiterate woman half your age.
   
Silk, in his attempt to clear his name and get the scandal off, planned to write a book relaying his own version of what happened on that fateful day when he referred to his students as spooks, and the following events. He planned to entitle the book Spooks. However, he find himself uncapable of doing it. He turned to his neighbor and professional author, Nathan Zuckerman for ears, and told his story and version of events. He wanted his neighbor to write the story for him but Nathan refused. So Coleman did it himself, but when he finished, he realized that he do not want it published.
Nevertheless, when Coleman got killed, Nathan decided to go forth with the idea and piece the story of his friends life and death and come the novel called the Human Stain. In this book, Nathan relayed the events in his friends life, and shockingly revealed a secret of Coleman with regard to the professors real identity.
   
Silks secret was something he kept from his colleagues and friends, and most shockingly of all, even from his family. The professor turned out to be not a Jew after all. Instead, he is a light-skinned African American who had lived for the majority of life as a Jew. He kept this secret very well that Kaddish was even recited at his funeral. Not even his wife and children were let in on the secret.
In this revelation, Nathan uncovered a life that is fascinating and deeply representative of American society. The line the truth will always come out is true here. Silk was actually the descendants of Southern Negro slaves and his father was an optician until his business went bust, so his father had to work as a dining car waiter until he died. His mother was the first colored head nurse on any floor of any hospital in Newark City. But because, several inter-racial unions characterized Silks heritage, his complexion became a pleasant shade, which the author described as the color of eggnog, and this advantage allowed him to pass off as white and a Jew.
   
The incorporation of this twist by Roth made the fiction interesting, not even the scandal along the issue of racism and sexual exploitation can compare. The novel became powerful and disturbing, not really because of all the drama involved in Silks life or that he was killed, but because all these happened because he was thought of as a Jew. Furthermore, the fact that he is a Black make it more seem absurd that he would make a racist comment against his Black students, even though he hated being Black so much, or uncomfortable with it that he had to assume a Jewish identity.
Then again, if he could display such ruthlessness when he cut off his mother, and his identity makes it seem he cannot be just a victim of political correctness when he got harassed back in school. If he hated his identity that much, then it probably means he hated his Black students as much and can make such racist comments. .
Furthermore, although by revealing to the readers that he was innocent for the racial slurs because of his real identity, this make it strikingly obvious that some Blacks, like Coleman Silk, would choose to pass of as white just to enjoy the privileges, or avoid the complexities of being black. Coleman Silk symbolized those people that do not care, or do not have the guts to fight the injustices that deny his race or people their humanity. He symbolizes those people that would rather bend to the will of others and honor those that are doing these injustice against his people.
Coleman Silk chose a simpler life and assumed an identity that enables him to marry a white woman, engage in a career as a college professor and live the American dream without fear or challenges. However, because keeping ones identity is never a good idea, his past comes to hunt him with a series of events that led to the vanishing of all his comforts in life. Ironically, racial slurs against blacks have to be the case when he is a black person himself.

Issue of identity in the story
It can be seen in the story that the plot, although it seems like just any other story with drama in the start, revolved around the complexities of identities in the United States. On the one hand, it highlighted the plight of those with African identity such that the lighter skinned ones have to hide it, which is still much of a reality today. On the other hand, it highlighted the complexities of being a Jew. It makes it seem that the Jewish identity is so complex and vague that anyone can adapt or pass off as one without being caught until they die and have their identities be revealed in a book (technically, if youre going to be basing it on the story).
The novel highlighted as well the negativity associated with being Jewish such that Coleman has to die because of an identity he assumed. It was interesting to see through the interplay of events as well, the mixing and converging of the subjects of blacks and Jews, which is actually in reality, united by certain bond of alienation. Below are theories of cultural identities in the United States that could be used as foundation over the identity issue of the story.

Reading the story of Silk in the Human Stain and by studying the different models of cultural identity as well as the Jewish identity emphasized how cultural identity is a very sensitive issue. I learned that sometimes, some people would really want to pass off as someone they are not, even if it means turning their backs on their own identities, which could never be altered. The story makes it seem that passing off as a Jew is easy. However, no one can really escape his or her own identities, as well as their pasts.

    Millions of Americans and other people around the world use cellular phones and iPods and these gadgets have increasingly become one great human companion used for various tasks. A cell phone is an electronic device commonly used for communication purposes. Also known as mobile phones or hand phones, cell phones can be used for transmission of voice and text data. Cellular phones have a capacity for data storage which includes storing contacts in a safe place in the phone book instead of the traditional method of writing contacts on a paper. More formats of data storage are supported in cell phones. Data can range from audio and video files, text files, PDF, html and many more supported formats. With cell phones, people can make to-do lists or tasks which have also reminders. This ensures that tasks are performed in a timely and organized manner and there is not a time a task is missed to be done because of forgetting. Cell phones have in-built calculators which can be used for computational purposes. Simple math problems can be solved using most phones with this in-built feature (Ramaswani, 2008). It is a mobile generation. You can send and receive e-mail right from you cell phone, thanks to the technology. More still, information access through the internet is made easier through the mobile technologies which support internet access. Playing games, dating, watching TV, sending texts and doing business online has not been easier on the go. With portable devices like cell phones, these tasks can be done even when one is traveling    Probably, one may have wondered how the cell phones and i pods work. Or still, what makes a cell phone different from the regular phone. Perhaps, synonyms like PCS, CDMA, GSM and TDMA have stirred the whole confusion and one is just left in a different world-a world of perplexity. It is no more. In this paper, I will discuss more about cell phones and i pods, how they work and the transformations they have caused in the society in which we live.

    Basically, a cell phone is simply a radio which is a bit sophisticated, though, it still remains a radio. Telephones were invented in 1876 by Graham Bell while the wireless phones have their ancestry on radio invention done by Nikolai Tesla back in 1880s. The combination of these two great technologies, telephone and radio, gave birth to the trendy cell phones we see today. The cell phones, though having an origin from cordless telephones, cellular phones have a variety of features which differ from their ancestors. Radio telephones were commonly used in cars before the advent of cell phones. The radio telephones would be used for mobile communication with the aid of a central antenna tower in every city and about 25 channels on the tower (Joseph, 2006). The major drawback from this system of communication was that the central antenna required a powerful transmitter that could transmit up to 50 miles and required a small number of users. After this painful drawback, came the genius cellular system which divided a city into small cells and allowed extensive reuse of frequencies across the city. Today, millions of people can effectively use cell phones at the same time.

    Cell phones have distinct codes specially associated to them. The codes are used to identify the gadget, its owner and the service provider. The moment the cell phone is turned on, it will listen for an SID (System Identification Code) on the control channel which is a special frequency that the cell phone and the base station apply to communicate to each other. This communication between the cell phone and the base station will establish the call setup and the channel changing. Incase the control cell phone doesnt find any control channel to listen to, then the cell phone will know that it is out of range and on the screen, it will display a message, no service. After the cell phone has established an SID, the phone will compare it to the SID programmed into it and if the SIDs match, then the phone will establish that the communication is from the home system (TipBits.com, 2010). The cell phone will also transmit a registration request and the MTSO (Mobile Telephone Switching Office) will keep track of the location of the phone in a database and through this, the MTSO will know which cell you are located in when it needs to ring your cell phone. The MTSO gets the call and it attempts to find you picking a frequency pair that your phone will use in the cell to take the call. The MTSO will communicate with your cell phone over the control channel to establish which frequency to be used. The call is connected when the phone and the tower switch on the frequencies. At this stage, you and your friend can communicate to each other.

    The cell phones used today are of two types the analog cell phones and those phones that are digital. The standard for analog cell phones called the Advanced Mobile Phone System (AMPS) was approved and used in Chicago in 1983. For analog cell phones, the AMPS uses a range of frequencies from 824 to 894 MHz. however, the US government encouraged the presence of at least two carriers in the market so as to encourage competition and ensure that prices are lowered. The digital cell phones are what we can call the second generation (2G) of cellular technology. These phones use the similar radio technology just like the analogy cell phones which integrate some digital aspects of digital technology. The difference between digital and analog systems is that in analog systems, the signals between the cellular network and phones are not fully utilized (Ciao.co.uk, 2010). This means that the analog signals cannot be compressed or manipulated easily like the digital signals. It is for this reason that most cable companies are switching to digital technology so as to fit more channels within a particular bandwidth. The digital phones have a potential of converting your voice into binary format comprising of 0s and 1s. This information is then compressed to allow from3-10 digital cell phones to occupy the space which only a single analog call can occupy.

    The basic digital cell phone is made up of individual parts. The circuit board which carries the brain of the phone, the antenna, the LCD (Liquid Crystal Display), the keyboard, a microphone, a speaker and a battery. The circuit board controls all the activities in the phone. What you type on the keyboard, the voice commands are all conveyed to the circuit board which can handle millions of calculations per second to produce an effect.

    The world of cell phones has made an array of transformations. For music lovers, phones can really be fun to use. Nowadays, phones have integrated features which can enable phones to be used as audio and video music players. Perhaps, other music lovers can choose to go out of the line and purchase gadgets like iPods which play high quality music. iPods are palm-sized electronic gadgets which are primarily made for playing music. What makes iPods different from cell phones is the capability for handling communication, sending and receiving voice, video or text data. Cell phones can handle all the functions including the playing of music. Traditional potable CD players and Walkmans can also play music but they do not have a potential to store.

The iPods can play music for along time with a single battery charge unlike walkman and CD players which require some supply of power each time you are playing music. One may ask how this is managed in storing numerous music files and at the same time charging the battery to support long length playing. The answer mainly lies on the developer, Apple, who integrated the digital media player with a hard disk drive from Apple Computer. The original versions which were in the market had a capacity of 5 GB but today they come with the capacity of up 160 GB and can store quite a number of music files of any format (TipBits, 2010). For instance, in 2007, Apple released the 6G iPod classic which was a digital audio and video player and could view photos. The iPod had a portable hard drive which made it a real media center. The iPods come with an LCD screen to enhance perfect resolution of picture files.

    It is possible to connect an iPod to the PC (Personal Computer) through a USB (Universal Serial Bus) or a FireWire. These connections can enable the transfer of music and videos which are located on your computer to the hard disk drive or the iPod. On the part of usability, iPods are very user friendly with a touch wheel which is centrally placed and can be operated with a single hand.

       Like cell phones, popular iPods come with in-built feature like address books, calendars, alarm clock, to-do lists, text readers and games. Keen iPod users have probably known more about the iPod peripherals (Ramaswani, 2008). There are a number of peripherals which come with iPods. The docks for digital cameras, radio stations and digital voice recorder exist. In addition, you can plug the iPod to powerful speakers and automobile entertainment systems so that you can enjoy music on the go    The first iPods to be developed worked on specific platforms and could not be used across different OS (Operating Systems). However, from July 2004 and beyond, iPods could be used on either Windows or Mac. The operating system and the excellence of the iPods, it is possible to transfer the entire CD content of even 750 MB within ten seconds. The transfer rates have really encouraged most users to purchase iPods and use them for playing their favorite music. Users can also organize their music playlists comprising of thousands of songs into their favorite playlists. It is possible for the iPod users to purchase music online and store the files in their hard disk drive. Users can also subscribe to podcast which can add to their potential of access to music and other contents (Ciao.co.uk, 2010). The file types that iPods support include the MP3, AAC and wav.

    The integration of the iPods and the iTunes probably made every iPod user to love the product. iTunes is a software which integrates jukebox and media-player and it always comes with all iPods. Apart from the software being used in iPods, the software can be used to organize music files in your computer, import music from digital portable devices and export the music to the iPods and other digital devices. Whats more, the iPod users have an in-built ITunes Store which enables them to visit Apple in a regular manner for shopping. The shopping is made possible for the users with iPod touch or iPhones which support Wi-Fi (Wireless Fidelity) connection (Ramaswani, 2008).

    Summarily therefore, cell phones and iPods have changed our way of communication and entertainment. They have even gone beyond to make business operations easier. With superior features in both the cell phones and iPods, organizing activities and events has been made very easy. However, there is that dark side of iPods and cell phones which though can be avoided with responsible application of the technology.  Drawbacks from using iPods and cell phones for listening music drew a debate on the health concern when it came to the inquiry over the decibels exposure to the ears (Joseph, 2006). Another effect can relate to the social aspect which seems to decompose over time. The cheating of the couples, sending of threatening messages through cell phones is one such aspect which can easily be controlled by an individual and not to be blamed on the technology.