Humanities Prejudice And Persecution Coursework Essay Example for Free

Humanities Prejudice And Persecution Coursework Essay Why did the Nazis hate the Jews? Did Nazi Propaganda make the German people prejudiced against the Jewish race? How successful were the policies of the Nazi government in establishing an anti- Semitic society? In this coursework I will be explaining why the Nazi’s hated the Jews. I will explain what propaganda is and if the Nazi propaganda makes the German people prejudiced against the Jewish race, and how successful the policies to establish an anti-Semitic were. The term prejudice means an attitude (about a person or group) that is formed without having all the facts. This usually involves disliking somebody, mostly because of their ethnicity, sexuality, religion etc. Prejudice attitudes are learned. For example children in Nazi Germany were taught to hate Jews, which is like anti- Semitic. Germans were influenced by the use of propaganda to prejudice them and make them discriminate against the Jews. The main reason for this was because of Adolf Hitler. The term discrimination means when treating someone in a different way, usually less well, because they belong to a particular group. The Nazi’s treated the Jews differently, due to their religion and they discriminated the Jews as they way they looked like. The term persecution is to treat an individual or group badly. Hitler persecuted the Jews as soon as he came to power in 1993. Adolf Hitler persecuted Jews in many different ways. The way that Hitler persecuted the Jews were: When Hitler seized power in 1933 he used his powers under the ‘enabling law’ to begin his attack on the Jews. In 1938 the attacks on the Jews became more violent with Himmler the head of the SS and the Gestapo launching Kristallnacht on 11th November 1938. By 1939, half of Germany’s 500,000 Jews had emigrated to escape Nazi persecution. In 1939, Germany invaded Poland which had a much larger population of 3 million Jews. In 1941, Germany invaded Russia which had a population of 5 million Jews. Himmler sent four special trained SS units called ‘Einsatzgruppen battalions’ into German occupied territory and shot at least 1 million Jews. Victims were taken to deserted areas where they were made to dig their own graves and shot. Nazi Propaganda: The Nazi’s propaganda in those days was seen as Anti Semitic. Propaganda was an organized way of media that convinced people this could be done by ideas, information, rumours or opinions. The major purpose for the Nazi’s propaganda was to make the German people prejudiced against the Jews race. Another purpose why propaganda was used was a ‘brainwashing’ of the public convincing them of an ideological viewpoint. The Nazi’s propaganda portrayed the Jews as: fat, greedy, lazy, people with big crooked noses, ugly, dark, hooded eyes, nasty, evil, disloyal, unclean, wealthy, powerful and sly. To do this the Nazi’s made sure that their propaganda’s were everywhere. They were more noticed on, for example; posters on windows, cars, walls and also the Nazi’s propaganda was broadcasted on television and films were also made to show the way Nazi’s prejudiced the Jews and was held on the radio. I will now be showing some propaganda posters, which shows positive posters and negative posters. image01.jpg ‘The External Jew’ Poster from a Museum. This propaganda shows a negative outlook about the Jews; it shows Jews being ugly with a crooked nose. The money portrays that Jews are selfish and are money grabbers in the German society. This poster explains the Jews being selfish as they have a lot of money. The whip in this poster indicates that Jews are trying to take control of the German society. This is a negative propaganda towards the Jews. A German Beer Mat This is a Negative propaganda, which shows a German beer mat with a Jew’s face on the mat. This beer mat that was created by the Germans and was put in all pubs. It also has a picture of a Jew showing a very ugly face. Jews are hated by the Germans. The Germans have created this image on the beer mat to show how much they hate the Jews and to show that they do not have any respect towards the Jews. This beer mat indicates ‘whoever buys from a Jew is a traitor to his people!’ People in pubs promote even more hatred against Jews. Anti- Semitic Propaganda in school An Anti-Semitic cartoon. From the German children’s book 1938 This is a negative propaganda which is taken from a German children’s book. This propaganda has both German children and Jewish children in a school. The stereotype here of the Jewish children is made to make them look horrible, dark and with big crooked noses. There is a distinct with the difference of Jews and Germans. Unlike the Jews the Germans stereotype was seen as clean and tidy and they are kept in a lighter area. From this propaganda you can clearly notify which children are Jewish or German as the stereotype comes in again. This propaganda is also to brainwash the German children. This poster explains Jews being kicked out of school, and is showing that without Jewish children the school is better. Showing the Ideal Aryan Family This propaganda is a Positive poster towards the Nazi’s. Because this is trying to promote the ‘Ideal Aryan Family’. We can see this is a positive propaganda as it shown by the fruit and flowers around the family. A fund raising poster for the Hitler Youth This is a Fund raising poster it shows a stunning Nazi girl. This is a positive propaganda towards the Germans. This poster indicates that Nazi’s are beautiful. They are pure good and generous. The tin displays the swastika, which is the Nazi symbol. Hitler posing with German children in 1936 This is a positive propaganda towards the Germans. This poster shows Hitler posing with 3 children from the Nazi Youth. They look extremely joyful as they are with who they believe was the ‘Saviour of Germany’. This poster explains Adolf Hitler is being seen as a father figure for the children. This also explains Hitler is trying to get their support for himself. A ‘Jew Free Area’ Sign This is a Jew Free area sign. From this sign, it shows that this leads to discrimination towards the Jews. This shows that Jews are restricted from going to swimming baths and public places. This propaganda was used to make the Jews jealous as they were unable to go to some places that had a sign like this. This shows Germans being good-looking and healthy, whereas in other propagandas it shows Jews being horrible and fat. In conclusion when the World War 1 had ended, Hitler convinced all the Germans that the Jews were scapegoats. The Nazi’s then used negative propagandas to discriminate the Jews every possible way. Hitler convinced all the Nazi’s about saying negative things about the Jews, Hitler brainwashed the Nazi’s which they began to hate the Jews. The Germans needed a saviour which Hitler came and took upon this role. Due to the fact that all the brainwashing Hitler started to do to the Germans so they were able to hate the Jews. The propagandas were so successful that it led to Hitler making the laws. By the propagandas being successful and the new laws made by Hitler this led the Jews dying in the holocaust. The holocaust is the name given to the slaughter of six million people, mostly Jews, during the Second War.

Analysing The Political System In Ukraine Politics Essay

Analysing The Political System In Ukraine Politics Essay Before mentioning about the presidents and presidential elections, the political system of the Ukraine is important to analyze its political transition. With its independence, Ukraine had some difficult task which would be solved in short time. A new political system had to be built. New system of national security and defense had to be created. With its Constitution, the general foundations of the political system are defined. Ukraine is an independent, sovereign, democratic and social and jural state in accordance with its organic law. The state power is divided into legislative, executive and judicial branches. According to Constitution, the main responsibility of the state is to establish and promote human rights and freedoms. Ukraine is a unitary state, in which its territory is integral and inviolable. The state has a single citizenship. (http://www.ukraine-arabia.ae/ukraine/politics/president/) As we look into the President of the Ukraine, this post is designated to be Head of State and a guarantor of national sovereignty, territorial integrity and adherence to the Constitution. President is elected by the citizens of the state on the basis of direct universal suffrage. The term of presidential office is five years. In order to be elected as President there are obligations. One of them is living in Ukraine for ten years before the elections, the other is being citizens.(http://www.ukraine-arabia.ae/ukraine/politics/president/) The only legislative body of Ukraine is the Parliament which is called the Verkhovna Rada. Citizens elect the deputies of Ukraine via direct universal suffrage through secret vote. The parliamentary election system is mixed with majority and proportional. 450 deputies are elected 225 of them are elected at single-mandate constituencies in terms of relative majority, and another 225 are elected proportionally at multi-mandate national constituency from the list of candidates who comes from the political parties. Constitution and laws of Ukraine establish the powers of the peoples deputies. They can unite themselves into factions with more than 25 members. These deputy groups are formed on a party and non-party basis. Then, the Cabinet of Ministers which is the supreme executive authority of Ukraine comes. Presidential orders, laws of Ukraine and the Constitution are the legal basis for its actions. The Government is responsible to the President and it is controlled by the Verkhovna Rada. This dependency leads to presidential appointment of a Prime minister with parliamentary consent. Prime Ministers authorities may be suspended and discharged by the President. Furthermore, Members of Cabinet of Ministers are discharged and appointed by President. When we look at the judicial authority system, there are Constitutional Court and Courts of General Jurisdiction. Furthermore, the supreme authority in judiciary is Supreme Court of Ukraine. The system of courts of general jurisdiction is based on the principles of territorial and special jurisdiction. The Constitutional Court of Ukraine is a separate entity and is independent from the Courts of General Jurisdiction. The activities of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine promote constitutional control in all spheres, stabilization and strengthening of constitutional order, the establishment of principle of primacy of law and the supreme legal force of the Constitution, and the promotion of constitutional rights and freedoms of citizens. Ukrainians had to take a program of state and nation building simultaneously. In the process of state building, Ukrainian policy was shaped with the  desire  to  guarantee its  independence. It can be said that Ukrainian independence was accompanied with the qualifications of quasi-state and quasi-nation as a part of the Soviet heritage. Policy of Ukraine since 1991- 1992 until the 2004- 2005 was based on the process of state and nation building. Because of locked within the Soviet borders, Ukraine has isolated from the other world. All the interactions with the entire world were conducted by Moscow, that is the reason why Ukrainian authorities had no experience in cooperation with other states and independent administration of the state. (http://www.allacademic.com//meta/p_mla_apa_research_citation/3/6/1/1/8/pages361183/p361183-20.php) E.2.Presidents of Ukraine While examining the political transition of the Ukraine, it is also necessary to deal with the presidents and elections. After the independence from Soviet in 1991, in Ukraine there held 5 presidential elections in 1991, 1994, 1999 and 2004 and 2010, five parliamentary elections in 1994, 1998, 2002, 2006 and 2007. The Ukrainian Constitution which was adopted in 1996 and was amended in 2004, stipulates a de-facto dual executive that is dependent on both the president and the parliamentary majority. (Oleksandr Sushko and Olena Prystayko) There held the first presidential election on 1st December 1991. Leonid Kravchuk won the elections with the 61,59 percent of the votes in the first round and became the state President. He showed a degree of political continuity from the Soviet period. He failed in understanding the need for economic reform. Consequently, because of not implementing the reforms in which power was divided between the communists and the opposition, the result became a hybrid regime. (Karpyk, Tamila,8) As it was stated before, the first years of independence was dealing with nation  building  and  political  survival.  The appearance and activities of Rukh (the Peoples Movement of Ukraine) which is a new Democratic Party was important for preservation of national identity among the masses. Vyacheslav  Chornovil  was the leader of the Democratic Party and he had significant characteristics on the spirit of nationalism in Ukraine. In these circumstances, changing into a nation-builder and being a mediator between the nationalist West and the Russified Eastern part of the country was not difficult for the first President Leonid Kravchuk who was former Second Secretary of the Communist Party of Ukraine. However, it was not an easy task. Before his office term ended, he had to call an early election because of the strike of the coal miners on 7th July 1993. (http://www.kmu.gov.ua/control/en/publish/article?art_id=72956cat_id=32588) With the decision of referendum, the early election was held on 26th June1994. Leonid Kravchuk and Leonid Kuchma were among the candidates of this election. In the first round, none of the candidates gained over 50 percent. Leonid Kravchuk got 38,36 percent and Leonid Kuchma got 31,17 percent of the votes. In the second round which was held on 10th July 1994, while the current head of the state received the 45,06, Leonid Kuchma was elected as Ukranian second Head of State with the 52,15 percent. (http://www.turksam.org/tr/a1898.html) It was surprise for Leonid Kravchuk to lose to Leonid Kuchma in the early elections. Leonid Kuchma was the former manager of Ukraines biggest armaments factory. On coming to power, Kuchma devolved greater power to the regions to decide linguistic and national questions. In his election campaign, anti-nationalist sentiment was aired by the Kuchma. (Kuzio, 214) However, this more liberal policy has squarely contradicted his desire for national consolidation and thwarted attempts to make policy implementation by the center in the periphery more efficient and effective. His first year in power led to financial stabilization. However, he could not continue the reform process and that led to small group in power becoming richer and the majority of the people had to find another means for survival. In 1999, during the Office term of Kuchma, The Committee to Protect Journalists stated Ukraine for its restrictions over independent media. The image of Ukraine was influenced in negative way bec ause of disappearance of opposition journalist. (Karpyk, Tamila,20) Kuchma has intimate relations with Putin. His administration can be seen as soft authoritarianism. Corruption, suppression of the media and weakening of the civil society were activities during the period of Leonid Kuchma. He aspired to construct a system of managed democracy which is formal democratic practices but informal control of all political institutions similar to Putins model of government in Russia but he never had such kind of success. Ukraines three largest oligarchic group did back Kuchma and wielded their media and financial resources. (McFaul,50-51) However, Kuchma did not control the rents generated from oil and gas sales that could have been used to purchase the loyalty of societal challengers. Kuchmas regime did not control or own major segments of the Ukrainian economy. The third election was held on 31st October 1999, Leonid Kuchma also took part in this election. There were 13 candidates but none of them got the majority of the votes. Ukrainian Communist Party leader Petro Simonenko and Leonid Kuchma competed in the second round. The former President was re-elected for a second term by taking 56,25 percent of the votes. In 2000, Viktor Yuschenko became Prime Minister of Kuchma. In economic domain, the citizens became hopeful with this change. Especially encouraging privatization, comprehensive reform programs and attempts for prevention of corruption enabled Yuschenko to have support from Ukrainians. As a consequence, he automatically became opponent to Kuchma and he was dismissed from his post. In 2000, a former socialist and oligarch leader released a video record which contains Leonid Kuchmas illegal orders. With this event, a scandal broke out and it brought a different approach to Ukrainian politics. In the parliamentary elections, Yuschenkos bloc got 112 chairs. However Kuchmas party got 104 chairs and it became sign for the upcoming elections for President. (SarÄ ±kaya, p.3) Kuchma has tried to squelch opposition voices. However, his jailing of former Energy Minister Yuliya Tymoshenko, his dismissal of Prime Minister Yuschenko and his apparent collusion in the murder of journalist Georgy Gongadze further weakened the state and created more opposition. (McFaul, p.54) As a final impression on Kuchmas term, he did not aspire to construct full blown autocracy. He was prepared to transgress democratic rules to prevent the opposition from coming to power and he also wanted to maintain the appearance of democracy. The fourth Presidential elections were really struggling and it led to the Orange Revolution which will be explained in the following section. The election held on 31st October 2004 had 26 candidates. Two of the candidates were Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych backed by Russia and former Prime Minister and opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko supported by the West. The first round was really competitive and in the second round the percentage of the votes of Yanukovych and Yushchenko were close to each other. With the announcement of the international electoral watchdogs about defraud on the elections resulted in the mass demonstrations of the population. Ukrainian High Court explained that the results were not valid. As the new election was held, Yushchenko instead of Yanukovych got the Presidency with the help of the Orange Revolution. Although Yanukovych did not win the election, it was seen that his and Russias political influence power in Ukraine was very strong. (http://www.turks am.org/tr/a1898.html) When Yushchenko first came to power, Ukraines Orange government seemed like it could meet the popular demands for radical political reform and immediate integration into Europe. Yushchenko and his Prime Minister Tymoshenko showed their incompatibility while working. They criticized each other openly. The Ukrainian political system became more dysfunctional. (Motyl, Alexander, 4) There is also an important and positive improvement. During Yuschchenkos term Ukraine was upgraded to FREE from Partly Free by Freedom House. He failed to understand the need to deal with Ukraines past or how to integrate Ukraine and follow through on pursuing criminal charges against the elites who had murdered journalists, abused their positions of power through massive corruption and theft of state property, and organized mass election fraud. (Kuzio, 217) On the other hand, he actively favored his ethnic Ukrainian base by promoting the Ukrainian language, culture, and identity in schools, government, and the media. With these actions, he alienated many of the ethnic Russians and Russian speaking Ukrainians in the countrys east and south. (Motyl, Alexander, 3) On 17 January 2010, 18 candidates competed in the elections. Current President Yushchenko was also one of the participants. (http://www.turksam.org/tr/a1898.html) In February 2010, Viktor Yanukovych made a remarkable political comeback. It was surprising that Orange Revolution was conducted against Yanukovychs Presidency and now the Ukrainians elected him voluntarily. The economic conditions of Ukraine could be explanation for this situation. In 2009, the countrys GDP fell by 15 percent. People were frustrated and they were willing to support anyone who could fix the economic conditions. And Tymoshenko was seen as guilty and Yanukovych became the winner.At the start of his presidency, Yanukovych laid out his foreign policy priorities: restoring Ukraines close ties with Russia, European integration and building relationships with strategic partners such as the United States. By playing to these priorities and, at the same time, pursuing their own interests in the region, Russia, the European Union, and the United States can help stabilize the Yanukovych presidency and Ukraine.(Motyl,Alexander, 2) Yanukovych claimed that he learned from his mist akes in the past. However, he had already done some mistakes. He redefined democracy as political order. He does not advocate Ukrainian heritage contrary to his opponent Yushchenko. He appointed Dmytro Tabachnyk for Ministery of Education and Science. He was not a good choice because he openly declares his anti-Ukrainian views. He also claims that ethnic Ukrainians in the west of Ukraine are too Westernized to be genuine Ukrainians. His assault on the Ukrainian identity resulted in demonstrations and protests which were directed at Yanukovych and his minister. (Motyl,Alexander, 4) As a result of Yanukovychs centralized and anti-Ukrainian regime, Ukraine does not reach national consensus on the political and economic direction of country. He is not expected to be authoritarian because of not having strong coercive apparatus as Putin but his regime is seen as return to Kuchmism. There created strong opposition to him and Ukraines first President Kravchuk is among them. He criticized lawlessness, permissiveness, use of force and corruption which are done by the team of Yanukovych. It is believed that if he continues to act like this, he can provoke a second Orange Revolution. Lacking the ability, capacity, and will to change the system, Yanukovych will probably try to enhance his regimes legitimacy. However, its Party of Region is not supported by population in Kiev and no reform is expected during his term because of gathering Kuchmas incompetent ministers in his team. Furthermore, the lower natural gas price that Yanukovych negotiated with Russia will bring imm ediate benefits to the oligarchs. Lower gas prices will allow them to keep the costs of their products low and globally competitive without forcing them to modernize or become more efficient. Even if the people welcomes lower gas prices at first Yanukovychs regime is expected to be more corrupt. (Kuzio, 214) After evaluating Presidents of Ukraine, the citizens ideas on democracy are worthy to examine. According to survey which is conducted in 2010, the preference for democracy is highest in Western Ukraine, while apathy toward the type of governing system is highest in Eastern and Southern Ukraine. More Ukrainians do not view Ukraine as a democracy than those who do. Only 25 percent of Ukrainians believe that Ukraine is a democracy compared to 41 percent who do not believe it is a democracy . E.3. The Orange Revolution From over two decades, Ukraine has been facing with a most difficult transition from its authoritarian past. On the way to democratization, it has experienced economic collapse, over lasting constitution making period, border disputes with its neighbors, severe discontinuities and a revolution.(Bohdan Harasymiw, 2002) The fall 2004 presidential election was one of the pivotal movements in the history of Ukraine. The current president Leonid Kuchma and Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych who was chosen successor of Kuchma deployed state resources, national media, and private funding from both Ukrainians and Russians to win against Viktor Yushchenko. When this effort was not enough, the government of Kuchma added votes in the second round for Yanukovych. As a response, Yushchenko called his supporters to come to Independence Square. The reason for this call is to protest this fraud in the election. Thousands of people came together in Kiev and stayed there until Supreme Court decided to cancel the second round results. (McFaul, 49) As we evaluate the Orange Revolution, it is understood that domestic factors accounted for most of the drama of this event.but external factors played direct role in constraining some dimensions of autocratic power. It also enhanced some dimensions of the oppositions power. However, Ukrainian democracy did not consolidate after the Revolution. Even if the Ukrainian democracy go back towards autocracy over the long run, this dramatic event is still seen as a democratic breakthrough in this decade.(McFaul, 48) With the Orange Revolution, it was seen that in Ukraine there is a struggle for between a semi-autocratic regime and a democratic opposition. Although there were improvements towards liberal democracy but not guaranteed. Institutional changes remain modest. 5 years after this movement, election of Yanukovych can be surprising and made the Orange Revolution waste of time. It has just postponed his Presidency. F.3.Ukraine-Turkey Relations: Turkey and Ukraine are neighbors on the Black Sea. When we look at the general situation between these two countries it can be said that it is good but not sufficient compared to their current potential. Especially in the issue of security in Black Sea, Ukraine has great importance for Turkey. Furthermore, its location on the energy lines, being one of the significant Black Sea countries, the historical ties with Crimea region and nearly 265000 Crimean Turks living in Crimea makes their relations substantial and sensitive. (http://www.mfa.gov.tr/turkiye-ukrayna-ekonomik-iliskileri.tr.mfa) As it is all known Ukraine has importance on the international relations with its strategic position. Ukraine sees Turkey as a key country for exit for Middle East and Mediterranean Sea. Ukraines foreign policy in its South axis aims to improve relations with Turkey. For Turkey, Ukraine is a buffer zone in order to prevent Russians to reach Black Sea. Turkey also attaches importance to Ukraine in terms of the stability of the region and strives to further develop its bilateral relations with Ukraine in every field especially economic and trade. (http://www.turksam.org/tr/a1512.html) Turkey is one of the first countries which recognized the Ukrainian Independence. Because of the discontinuity of the political relations, economic and the trade relations moved ahead of them. The Protocol on the establishment of the diplomatic relations between Turkey and Ukraine was signed on February 3, 1992. The legal framework which regulates the relations and cooperation between these two countries is almost complete after the signing of several agreements and protocols in political, military, economic, cultural, educational and intelligence related fields. (http://www.mfa.gov.tr/turkiye-ukrayna-ekonomik-iliskileri.tr.mfa) In 1994, Trade Economic Cooperation Agreement entered into force. There has been no serious political problem and there is an increase on the economic dynamic. There is an unbalanced situation of trade. Although Turkey imports more, its exports to Ukraine remains very low. 70 percent of Ukraines exports to Turkey is composed of iron, steel and the other mine products. There has been an increase of the Turkeys exportations on coal, organic and inorganic chemical substances, wood, aluminum, paper, plaster, stone and cement from 2007.  Turkeys investment in Ukraine is towards 135 million US dollars. There are over 500 enterprises. Another part of the relationship between these two countries is composed of Black Sea Economic Cooperation which both are the members. (http://www.mfa.gov.tr/turkiye-ukrayna-ekonomik-iliskileri.tr.mfa)    Moreover, Turkey and Ukraine support each other in international organizations such as UN, CoE, and OSCE. Military relations are conducted both on bilate ral basis and within the framework of NATO-Ukraine Commission, BLACKSEAFOR and Operation Black Sea Harmony.(http://www.mfa.gov.tr/turkey_s-political-relations-with-ukraine.en.mfa) In 2003, Turkey declared Ukraine as privileged State status so Ukraine became privileged in Turkeys foreign policy. There have been several negotiations of the Foreign and Prime Ministers of both countries. In January 2007, Prime Minister Yanukovich visited Turkey and Operation Black Sea Harmony was signed. G.Conclusion In conclusion, after evaluating the Ukraines triple transition period, we have reached some important points. Although there have been some attempts to fully implement democracy, there are some obstacles. At first glance, the problems seem to be resulted from its communist past and Russian influence. Ukraine does not fully integrate as Ukrainian society. The problematic national transition of Ukraine can be traced back to this period. Seperatist minority groups, ethnic Russians and Crimean Tatars, keep Ukraine deal with its internal problems rather than economic ones. Economic crises which resulted from the price of gas fluctuations led to frustration within the country. Another obstacle that Ukraine faces with is its dependency on Russia in terms of energy. If it does not overcome this struggle, it seems to restrict Ukraines regional power. However, explaining Ukrainian internal conflicts only with the Russia based reasons would be wrong. Russia is extremely influential factor but we should not underestimate the other factors. In Ukraine, there are not only two cleavages that split the country. Ukrainians are divided also among themselves. It is clear that Ukrainian part and Russified part in Ukraine exist and surprisingly there was no civil war because there is no clear distinction between these counterparts. One of the most important sign for democracy is civil society and in Ukraine it can be seen as the strongest among the other Post-Communist states though it is not in Western standards. This led to the Orange Revolution that increased the political competition however; it could not succeed in long term reforms. Political instabilities and crisis environment became continuous in which Yanukovychs pro-Russian attitudes and Yushchenkos Ukrainian nationalism competed. Besides Ukrainian society chose best of the worst option because of the high level of corruption. As a matter of fact that in the first place Ukraine should focus on the problem of high level of corruption as the society expected to do so. The reason hidden behind societys choice for Yanukovych is his claims on economic solutions rather than his political views. After all, the analytical outcomes show that Ukraine does not fully achieve a consolidated democracy. Although civil society and independent media paint a promising Picture, it has more things to do in order to reach the standards of Western democracies. Especially, the deficiency in the reforms on the political institutions should be reconsidered. Nevertheless, Ukraine succeeded sufficient triple transition, coming after the Baltic States, when we compared it to the remaining post-Soviet countries like the Caucasus and the Central Asia.

Low Cost Model For Long Haul Airlines

Low Cost Model For Long Haul Airlines As most industries reach a stage of maturation, the changing nature of the airline industry is evolving to integrate novel strategies and business models needed to comply with consumer needs. The low-cost airline sector is a model that generated large financial gains but saturation is observed, leading companies to discover new opportunities in the long-haul low-cost market. The article explains the principles behind the idea, justifying the failure of previous attempts and proposing a novel business model that can be adjusted to todays economy. 1. Introduction The airline industry is characterized by instability and unpredictability making it one of the most risky to invest in, succeeded only by the hospitality industry. Due to significant exposure to external factors, the airlines are subject to financial losses and damages, with the most recent being the terrorist attack on the US on September 11th in 2001. The global airline industry suffered greatly and any financial stability plummeted reports show losses of $10 billion only by US airlines in 2002 (Wensveen et al., 2007) In order to adapt with the continuously changing environment, airlines employed a cost-reduction policy by reducing capacity, in-flight amenities and management expenditure. The effectiveness of this method urged many companies to reconstruct their strategy to comply with consumer demand and lifestyle (Taneja, 2005). As a result, passengers were starting to prefer the more cost-effective approach of Low-cost carriers (LCCs) than conventional methods. A form of low-cost travelling had already emerged in the 1970s by Southwest Airlines, who kept low-unit costs by reducing aircraft turn-around time at the gate which inspired current companies follow its business strategy (Bamber, 2009). Today modern development of the strategy lead to a low-cost revolution with LCCs controlling 30 and 40% of the market capacity in the US and UK respectively since 2005 (Taneja, 2005). Due to the success of the model and the inevitable future saturation of the short-haul LCCs, companies focused their interest in converting the same business model for long-haul flights and turning it into a profitable business plan. However the concept of a low-cost long-haul airline is not new but previous attempts have not been successful. The earliest example is Freddie Lakers Skytrain which offered no frills transatlantic flights from London Gatwick to New York with single class tickets costing only  £59 one-way. The competitive pricing from established airlines that ensured after the relaxation of transatlantic market fare regulations, lead to debt accumulation of  £270 million and the company ultimately failed in 1982 (Calder, 2006). This review will examine the issues raised by the entrance of low-cost airlines to the long-haul route market and assess the factors that lead that prevented growth and establishment of such companies. By assessing how the elements of low-cost travelling are transferable to long-haul operations and the sustainability of such projects, solutions to building a successful business model could be found. 2. Other LCCs and proposals Shortly after the demise of Lakers venture, a US based low cost airline named People Express commenced flights from New York to London Gatwick in 1983 and later added Brussels. By providing connecting flights at its Newark hub and charging $3 for checked baggage, the company proceeded to expand from a successful low-cost carrier to offering economical long-haul flights. However, due to over-expansion and management problems the company was terminated in 1987. Recent attempts to adopt the Skytrain model of low-budget travelling include Oasis and Zoom Airlines. Oasis, based in Hong Kong, offered non-stop service between Hong Kong and London Gatwick in 2007, generating huge success due to the low cost of  £75 for one-way flights. Due to growing competition by leading airlines which landed in the more centrally located Heathrow and rapid accumulation of losses due to the unsustainable fares, the company failed just after 18 months. On the other hand, Zoom Airlines which operated between Toronto and several UK airports since 2006, had a longer lifespan but was forced to shut down after outstanding debts and bankruptcy were reported. A variety of ideas and proposals for long-haul travelling were suggested but were unable to raise the necessary finance. One of the most controversial cases is Civair, which was scheduled to start up a low cost flight between Cape Town and London Stansted in March 2004. However in December of that year, 7,400 passengers were left stranded when the company did not have an aircraft for the flight and no alternatives could be funded leading to closure. 2.1 Long-haul vs. short-haul flying Low-cost carriers have inherent differences in various factors when distinguishing between short-haul and long-haul flights. These include crew and security requirements, turn-around times, airport facilities, route authorities and route density. The competitive advantage acquired in short-haul LCCS cannot be transferred to long-haul, low-cost carriers because the only means of being profitable is optimizing aircraft capacity. Theories that could possibly create revenue by using the low-cost, long-haul model fall in two categories: either using a long haul airbus, charging higher baggage fees, buy-in food and beverages and fly to secondary airports or acquiring many cheap long-haul aircrafts with two-class service and secondary airport bases which will conduct multiple flights per week(Wensveen and Leick, 2009). The former theory would only be viable in practice if high volume city pairs could fill all the seats in the aircraft while the latter relies solely on getting cheap aircraft . However before developing hypotheses and specifications, attention should be given on the business side of airline operation. Judging from previous attempts, despite the original promising profits, most companies failed due to improper business planning. 3. Airline business planning and airline failure Every attempt of an airline entering the low-cost, long-haul flight market lead in failure, despite all the positive indications in the beginning. While there are hundreds of reasons leading in an airline failure, several common errors in business planning are shared between all of the cases. 3.1. Inability to maintain competitive advantage A company should be able to establish a sustainable, competitive advantage by analyzing and targeting the correct market while having the ability to compete with other carriers in the long-term. In the case of Skytrain, where Laker Airways entered the market of LCLH market without any competitors, it generated significant gains which were quickly diminished after the introduction of other airlines in the market. Uniqueness of an airlines business concept is important as it sets it apart from the competition otherwise will fail to raise necessary funds. 3.2. Inadequate income growth and profitability In most cases, many airlines business often dont demonstrate income growth and profitability. By displaying unrealistic financial projections in order to sell the business concept, the airline will fail. Bottom line growth is vital for the financial establishment of a company and that growth should be based on valid financial assumptions which can be backed up by quality measurements. 3.3 Incompetent leadership While the importance of a capable management team is underestimated, its one of the most imperative factors I gaining the interest of potential investors, as its believed that an average idea can be made profitable by the correct mindset. In most airlines the management team is overlooked in the business plan and this discourages investors from investing money. On the contrary, a good team is able to highlight any risks involved in the strategic objectives of the company and create a business plan that will ensure growth. A prime example is the introduction of Gordon Bethune as a new Chief Executive Officer of Continental Airlines the company had already filed for bankruptcy but Mr. Bethunes actions reinstated the fading airline into the most thriving carriers(Bethune et al., 1998). 3.4 Limited initial funding Most airlines require large funding throughout their development which cannot be obtained easily and combined with poor business plans lead to untimely failing. Airlines such as Oasis and Zoom were closed due to inadequate funding while competition by other companies was rising (Bradsher, 2008) . Correct estimations of the funding required and also taking into account the money lost during setup and initial operations, will lure investors for money investment as the potential for profitability will be significantly displayed. 3.5. Overexpansion and lacking flexibility Airlines often tend to expand their destination and aircraft base, with the impression that it will increase income revenue. In most of the cases, it was the limiting-step towards failure. Moderate growth and balanced route frequency can prevent overexpansion and sustain optimal gains. Additionally, the ability to compromise and adjust to the changing economical and social environment can subsequently increase the popularity of an airline among passengers. Continuous operation will lead to dependence on financial support from loans or subsidies and eventually bankruptcy. 4. Can the long-haul, low-cost model work? Studies have examined the possibility of the low-cost model integrating in long-haul flight business and clear advantages and disadvantages have been noted. At first, due to the absence of direct substitute for long-haul flights as well as the already competitive prices, there isnt adequate evidences that lower fares can increase demand in the same manner as in short-haul flights. Moreover, secondary airports cannot be used for the landing of large-aircrafts due to size and time limitations and also cost-effectiveness (Maertens, 2010). However, a cost advantage of 20 to 25% is possible if a carrier can offer online booking to reduce distribution costs and only point-to-point services where connective flights to the desired destination can be arranged by the individual passenger. Today, companies such as AirAsia X and Jet Star have managed to find a balance between price and service in order to provide low-cost flight opportunities. 4.1 Jetstar The Australian airline has managed to become one of the most successful start-ups in the recent years. While being a fully owned subsidiary of a legacy carrier, Quantas, is managed and operated separately. After commencing flights in the domestic Australian market in 2004, Jetstar operated its first international flight to from Melbourne to Singapore on December 2010, marking a new era for economical long-haul flights. Their low fares are based on the notion of offering point-to-point routes between Australia, Asia and the Pacific, in order to complement Quantas main international flight schedule. The company also offers choice between two ticket types, economy and premium economy, which various in-flight meals and snacks can be purchased or complimentary, respectively. 4.2 AirAsia X The Malaysian AirAsia which was the pioneer of low-cost carrier operations across Asia introduced the long-haul service AirAsia X in 2007 to provide more options and greater affordability to a wider marketing spectrum. Based in Kuala Lumpur, the worlds biggest low-cost hub, it has covered many destinations in Australia, Europe and Asia. A key principle in order to keep costs low is high frequency of flights and providing point-to-point medium or long haul services. As a true no-frills service it includes lots of seats and passengers purchasing in-flight meals and entertainment. It also offers a premium class which is similar to economy fare of legacy carriers while in June 2010, a US$10 million refurbishment was introduced introducing flat beds in the premium area with a small rise in the ticket fare (Anonymous, 2010). 5. Building an efficient low-cost long haul airline By evaluating the facts and figures of the previously mentioned airlines, Jetstar and AirAsia X, its evident that that reasonably priced long-haul travel can become a reality by utilizing specific cost-effective methods and business strategies. While this increase in long-haul travelling maybe attributed to the expanding economy in Asia (Hooper, 2005) and the rapidly increasing competition among emerging low-cost airlines in the continent, it has been shown that intercontinental travel as demonstrated by AirAsia can be profitable while maintaining low fares. These techniques can also be employed for any up-and-coming LCLH airline in Europe or US, to ensure their development. 5.1. Ensure faster turnaround of aircraft Short-hauls are considered to have more cost-advantage than long-hauls due to landing at secondary and less congested airports which allows higher crew and aircraft utilisation. Long-haul flights usually require more time refuelling and servicing, therefore less rotations can be performed compared to short-hauls. However, by landing at a specifically designated low-cost hub, such as Kuala Lumpur, can minimize refuelling times and costs of servicing while providing adequate support for larger aircrafts. 5.2. No frills services All-economy seating and in-flight food and beverage which can be purchased can aid in the revenue of sales while pre-booked in-flight entertainment such as hand-held devices could be useful in long-haul flights. 5.3. Point-to-point travelling only This method employed in short-haul flights ensures short turnaround times and prevention of time-consuming services which would affect timetables. Modern long-haul airlines could seek interline partners to expand their flight capabilities, similar to the co-operation of the Australian company Jetstar with its partner company Quantas (Jetstar, 2007). 5.4 High density cabins and lower input prices Gains from the long-haul flights will be possible if high seat densities exist which could make up for the low ticket fare, as more passengers equal to increased revenue. Also by importing dual-seating system with premium seats which can be charged at higher prices and have extra amenities, a market for passengers requiring conditions similar to business flights can be created resulting in more profit. New entries in the airline industry are benefited from very low unit aircraft prices in large orders as well as hiring younger and cheaper pilots. Moreover, costs of advertisings and website/call centres can be avoided to cut down expenses, since the low price is a sufficient reason for passengers to choose those companies. 6. Novel business models Because of the limited solutions and benefits on directly developing a low-cost, long-haul airline, new business models have been developed for potential exploitation into a low-cost model. 6.1. Network specialists These companies cater mainly to business passengers and are specifically operated as a corporate shuttle for routes with high-yield. A prime example is PrivatAir, a Geneva-based airline which has survived through contracts with major corporations to transport their employees between locations (Wensveen and Leick, 2009). It offers business class seating on trans-Atlantic flights using several Airbus and Boeing planes. It can also operate as an operator for existing airlines such as Lufthansa and KLM which utilize the company for their business class services in Germany. 6.2. Product specialists Airlines which focus on business and affluent leisure travel and are all-business class, all first class or both. These types of airlines are on par with legacy airline yields and offer premium cabins for long-haul flights. Companies in this market include Eos Airlines, MAXjet Airways, Silverjet and LAvion. While the first three carriers had gone bankrupt, LAvion which seemed promising and was recently acquired by British Airways did not make any profit as well (Lagrorce, 2008). Eos and Maxjet airways both operated between London Stansted and New York JFK using Boeing 757-200 while Silverjet operated between London Luton and Newark as well as Dubai. All three airlines ceased operations in 2008. LAvion operated between Paris Orly and Newark and is currently a subsidiary of British Airways OpenSkies unit. While the original offer of low fares and premium facilities seemed promising, all four companies filed for bankruptcy, citing rising fuel and oil prizes, limited funding resources an d newly formed competition on the specific routes by legacy carriers. While this business problem does not seem to be problematic, adjustments should be made in order to give motives to increase passenger preference. 6.3. Price specialists These airlines mainly adopt lower-costing strategies to compete with existing companies solely on price. This includes the low-cost, long haul flight plan which has been employed by various airlines such as Oasis Hong Kong, Zoom, Jetstar, Viva Macau and AirAsia X. In order to compete with legacy companies, larger aircrafts with high-seating configuration should be used to make profit. With the exception of Oasis and Zoom, which were bankrupt, the rest of the companies flourished with expanding their flight schedule beyond Asia and Australia. The problems leading to failure in the two named companies mainly involve insufficient business planning as discussed in a previous section. However long-term effects of the plan remain to be seen as sustaining low prices can be proven difficult with the current economy. 6.4. Long-haul charter carriers While unit costs for charter carriers is 10-20% more expensive than LCCs (Teckentrup, 2007), their increasing use for long-haul travelling made them an attractive alternative to network airlines, usually for summer destinations. Many European charter companies now target specifically long-haul destinations, such as Corsair which operates an all-economy Boeing 747-400 between Paris and Overseas French territories in the Caribbean; such high density planes are not used on other long-haul international travel by the company. Due to competition and projects bearing no success such as Britannia Airways, which discontinued flights from UK to Australia, charter airline long-haul flights have been restricted to limited time frames and leisure destinations. However, charter flights represent a large percentage of long-haul market and could potentially be exploited beneficially. 7. Sustainability of the low-cost model and future projects As the long-haul market becomes successfully grown and becomes profitable for major carriers again, it is likely that other carriers will be interested to obtain a share of the market. Due to the over-saturation of the low-cost short-haul airline industry in Europe, established LCCs such as Easyjet may utilize point-to-point flights by co-operating with long-haul flight companies to lower prices for distant travelling. Employing new aircraft types such as Airbus A350 and Boeing 787 can fly longer distances offer denser seating that would be possible to fit 800 seats flying between main hubs such as London-New York. Deregulation can also create a potential increase in new services, as many markets are limited to one or two national carriers. As this breaks down, the introduction of new entrants, such as Virgin Atlantic in the India-UK and India-USA markets can spur new competition and lower prices in international travel (Phadnis, 2012). For now, the low-cost, long-haul market appears to be decreasing as one of the pioneers of this sector AirAsia X pulled its European services citing the damaged economy of European countries and exorbitant government taxes affecting its ability to offer low-cost fares (Thomas, 2012). Even Ryanair, which declared that will commence transatlantic flights in 2007, has recently confirmed that long-haul flights are not happening for some years (Olorenshaw and Sturke, 2007). 8. Conclusions The substantial success of certain LCCs has certainly led to the perception of an attractive business model and its implementation is being utilised by various long-haul operators. Established LCCs are reluctant to join the long-haul market due to the dangers present but that is rapidly changing. Experience and expertise gained by short-haul markets can be transcribed successfully in the long-haul operating scheme, which will greatly compensate to the losses that will occur as the markets become saturated with myriads of low-cost carriers. On the other had, traditional airlines are equipped with an array of qualities such as established clientele, reducing economy seat fares to attract new passenger and experience in international flights puts the beginner low-cost carrier in a disadvantageous position. By employing a long haul point-to-point model to promote cross-selling and service integration with more established, traditional companies allow passengers to fly from smaller markets in other regions via LCCs. As with any new business model, achieving cost advantages is not enough to deem it successful. Theres a long history of competitors which offered subsidised low fares to combat new entrants in the long-haul market, leading them to financial difficulties and bankruptcy. Continuous innovation is needed in the evolving air transport market and adjusting to emerging carrier types could be beneficial. Combining a solid business plan which is flexible, manageable and competitive with a long term vision will guarantee a successful transition to the long-haul business.

Corruption in the Film Blue Chips :: Blue Chips Movie

Corruption: The act of corrupting or of impairing integrity, virtue, or moral principle; the state of being corrupted or debased; loss of purity or integrity; depravity; wickedness; impurity; bribery. In the film Blue Chips corruption overshadows true meaning of sports tournament. There are two challenging issues in the film dealing with money and morals. Bribery is used to save the athletic reputation of the university. A college basketball coach finds himself battling between his morals, integrity of the team and institution he works for.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Pete Bell a basketball coach at Western University. Coach Bell has an impeccable reputation at WU, coaching the number one basketball team in the nation. During his coaching career, WU has won two national championships; eight conference titles and has never had a losing season. His life passion is basketball and his greatest fear is losing a tournament. Making a six-figure salary and being responsible for a team that 15,000 people came to watch, one could say he was completely pleased. His work was honored especially the way he always played by the rules. He knew of many coaches that would bribe their recruits or players for fixed games. Bell despised coaches who played parts in such corruption.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  During one season his greatest fear came reality. His team lost, this was a major failure to WU Corruption: The act of corrupting or of impairing integrity, virtue, or moral principle; the state of being corrupted or debased; loss of purity or integrity; depravity; wickedness; impurity; bribery. In the film Blue Chips corruption overshadows true meaning of sports tournament. There are two challenging issues in the film dealing with money and morals. Bribery is used to save the athletic reputation of the university. A college basketball coach finds himself battling between his morals, integrity of the team and institution he works for.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Pete Bell a basketball coach at Western University. Coach Bell has an impeccable reputation at WU, coaching the number one basketball team in the nation. During his coaching career, WU has won two national championships; eight conference titles and has never had a losing season. His life passion is basketball and his greatest fear is losing a tournament. Making a six-figure salary and being responsible for a team that 15,000 people came to watch, one could say he was completely pleased. His work was honored especially the way he always played by the rules. He knew of many coaches that would bribe their recruits or players for fixed games. Corruption in the Film Blue Chips :: Blue Chips Movie Corruption: The act of corrupting or of impairing integrity, virtue, or moral principle; the state of being corrupted or debased; loss of purity or integrity; depravity; wickedness; impurity; bribery. In the film Blue Chips corruption overshadows true meaning of sports tournament. There are two challenging issues in the film dealing with money and morals. Bribery is used to save the athletic reputation of the university. A college basketball coach finds himself battling between his morals, integrity of the team and institution he works for.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Pete Bell a basketball coach at Western University. Coach Bell has an impeccable reputation at WU, coaching the number one basketball team in the nation. During his coaching career, WU has won two national championships; eight conference titles and has never had a losing season. His life passion is basketball and his greatest fear is losing a tournament. Making a six-figure salary and being responsible for a team that 15,000 people came to watch, one could say he was completely pleased. His work was honored especially the way he always played by the rules. He knew of many coaches that would bribe their recruits or players for fixed games. Bell despised coaches who played parts in such corruption.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  During one season his greatest fear came reality. His team lost, this was a major failure to WU Corruption: The act of corrupting or of impairing integrity, virtue, or moral principle; the state of being corrupted or debased; loss of purity or integrity; depravity; wickedness; impurity; bribery. In the film Blue Chips corruption overshadows true meaning of sports tournament. There are two challenging issues in the film dealing with money and morals. Bribery is used to save the athletic reputation of the university. A college basketball coach finds himself battling between his morals, integrity of the team and institution he works for.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Pete Bell a basketball coach at Western University. Coach Bell has an impeccable reputation at WU, coaching the number one basketball team in the nation. During his coaching career, WU has won two national championships; eight conference titles and has never had a losing season. His life passion is basketball and his greatest fear is losing a tournament. Making a six-figure salary and being responsible for a team that 15,000 people came to watch, one could say he was completely pleased. His work was honored especially the way he always played by the rules. He knew of many coaches that would bribe their recruits or players for fixed games.

Personal Narrative: Football Underdogs to Champions Essay -- essays re

Football Underdogs to Champions I had tried out for the High School football team but unfortunately was cut. I worked hard over the summer and even passed on the family vacation to North Carolina to attend football conditioning at the school. Even with all of my effort put towards running and weightlifting I was still cut. That however did not stop me from playing the sport I love. I had heard of a local pigskin football league that allowed any teen my age to play. I immediately conversed with my parents and received their permission to sign up. When I first went to get my equipment I met my first coach. Coach Andy was a larger gentleman with a muscular frame. He had a bald head and slightly crooked teeth. He seemed very friendly when I met him and found out he had played football during his high school and college career. I also met the president of the pigskin league Mr. Kemp. He was fitting other players for their shoulder pads and helmets. While I was getting fitted he noted that I was a larger player and asked why I had not played high school football. I took the comment as a compliment and explained the story to him. I had also found out that my team would be the Cowboys. Through various conversations at the fitting, I found out that the Cowboys was the team in which late arrivals and new players were assigned. The Cowboys were considered the â€Å"misfit† team that had been thought of as the worst team in the league. That very night from receiving my gear I had an idea. I knew that my friend Brian Alvey enjoyed football as much as I did. He had also tried out for the high school football team and had been cut the year before. I proposed the idea of him playing football on the same team with me in the p... ...ud of me and we continued to pummel the Redskins. Our defensive line would not allow them to score at all. On one occurrence, the Redskins made it to our end zone and had fumbled the ball. I quickly jumped on the ball and prevented them from scoring. We had come back and won with a blowout game. With the game sounding whistle came roars of cheers from the sidelines, bleachers, and the team. We had won the Turkey Bowl Championship. The underdog team of misfits and late arrivals had come together and won. Winning the Turkey Bowl was one of the most memorable experiences in my life. My team had come together and through hard work and effort won the championship. To this very day, I proudly display the large Turkey Bowl Championship trophy in my room. Every time I look at the trophy it reminds me of how a group of misfits came together and won as a team.

Does the globalization of supply chains favors a leagility solution to a supply chain? Essay

The globalization of supply chains favors a leagility solution to a supply chain. Nowadays organizations can no longer efficiently and effectively compete in isolation of their suppliers, customers or other interest, supply chains, not organizations, compete against each other, those who will survive are those who can provide management to the fully integrated supply chain, entire supply chain must be viewed as one system. It implies that organizations across the supply chain must take interest in each other and work together to make the entire supply chain competitive. (Andersson, R. , 2007) To be successful in the future the supply chain should be market-driven or demand-driven, where the key model is oriented toward virtual networks, information bases and perceived customer value (Andersson, R. , 2007) . References â€Å"The Institute for Working Futures†. Supply Chain Issues and the Push-Pull Boundary. Retrieved June 13, 2009. http://www. marcbowles. com/courses/adv_dip/module4/module10/m10four. htm Goldsby, Thomas J. , 2006.MODELING LEAN, AGILE, AND LEAGILE SUPPLY CHAIN STRATEGIES. Retrieved June 13, 2009. http://www. allbusiness. com/professional-scientific/management-consulting/4089028-1. html Mason-Jones,Naylor,B. ,Towill, D. R. â€Å"Lean,agile or leagile? Matching your supply chain to the marketplace†. Retrieved June 13, 2009 http://ihome. cuhk. edu. hk/~b103313/Exetrain/lean%20agile%20or%20leagile. pdf Andersson, R. â€Å"Quality-driven logistics†. Retrieved June 13, 2009. Division http://bada. hb. se/bitstream/2320/1777/1/Quality-driven%20logistics. pd

East of Eden: John Fontenrose Response

East of Eden: John Fontenrose Response The basis for the story of good and evil is most often the Christian biblical stories in the book of Genesis. The classic battle of good and evil with good always triumphant over evil often stretches farther out and into our many cultures. This archaic tale is ever prevalent in all of mankind’s greatest stories in many different variations. John Steinbeck often brings this struggle to different methods of thought especially on how we view evil, as well as good.He brings this story to light using the everyday, common man in his books, Grapes of Wrath, Of Mice and Men and now East of Eden to portray the realistic side of the battle of good and evil. Many will argue that he does not have a very clear goal for presenting this idea including, John Fontenrose, in his literary criticism, â€Å"John Steinbeck: An Introduction and Interpretation† but it is quite the opposite. In John Steinbeck’s book, East of Eden, The stories of the Hamilton and Trask families get intertwined along with many other people as the theme of good and evil unfolds on them on farmland in both Salinas, California and in Connecticut.Towards the beginning of the book the good characters, Alice and Adam and the bad characters, Cyrus and Charles are clear to the reader but as the novel progresses the concept of â€Å"timshel† is introduced which redefines the concept of predestination versus free will and changes the course of each character’s limitations for better and for worse. In East of Eden Steinbeck is not unclear on his position of good and evil, rather he puts forward the way this mindset has changed over time and gives his own methodology on how the struggle of good and evil should be thought of.Often times Steinbeck shows the realism in this book with many archetypes that are not perfect and alter from time to time. This makes it hard for some people to understand his reasoning like, John Fontenrose, as he neglect s this concept when he states that the author is, â€Å"never clear about the relation of good to evil in this novel† (Fontenrose). Steinbeck purposefully creates this view so that the appearance of progression in his archetypes is shown when free will is added to his characters. In the late beginning of the book, Charles beats his brother, Adam, almost to death because of jealousy over his father’s love.It is an almost perfect allusion to the biblical story of Cain and Abel which represents an ever occurring theme throughout the book. In fact this represents one of the first introductions towards realism in the novel because these horrible events are a part of life, that of which Steinbeck does not wish to cover up. Instead of hiding them Steinbeck shows them in detail to carry the notion that the concepts of good and evil are not concrete but are situational and objective. While Charles thought he was being just, Adam most certainly did not.In part three of the book Steinbeck introduces the concept of â€Å"timshel† as discovered by Adam’s servant Lee and its many different translations, â€Å"‘Thou shalt,’ meaning that men will surely triumph over sin. But the Hebrew word timshel- ‘Thou mayest’-that gives a choice. Why, that makes a man great, †¦ for in his weakness and his filth and his murder of his brother he still has the great choice† (Steinbeck 301-302) He attempts to convince Adam and Cal of the validity of timshel and ultimately succeeds, as Adam gives Cal his blessing and Cal realizes he himself has the power to overcome his family’s legacy of evil.With the concept of Timshel, Steinbeck is not accurate, â€Å"translating the verb form timshol (not timshel as Steinbeck has it)† (Fontenrose). Steinbeck makes an almost unnoticeable symbol in the fact that the concept of â€Å"timshel or timshol† is not perfect, as shown with an incorrect translation. He proves this by having many things in the novel chosen and some not chosen, therefore not perfect free will. This is further proven by the fact that Charles in the beginning fills the Cain archetype but as timshel is introduced the archetype continues and Cal is given the freedom to break away from this destiny of Evil.Although Cal breaks free he is still partly held down by his archetype and therefore achieves balance between both good and evil. Steinbeck continues with this enigma using Cal again, having a C in his name and his assault on his brother Aron, shows his connection to Cain. Although he was not a good person, he wanted to become better which makes him superior to his brother Aron in the eyes of Steinbeck. As John Fontenrose put it â€Å"Good is identified both with admirable individual qualities and with conventional moral goodness† and with Cal â€Å"the author appears to accept Cal's label of bad for his adolescent desires and impulses. (Fontenrose 4) Steinbeck presents pr ogression by making the outcome of Cal and Aron less severe than that of Adam and Charles. Although characters in East of Eden, more often than not, are pushed to expel evil forces from themselves and pertain towards good traits, the line is much more blurred. This is most prominently seen in Cal, who, although fitting under the archetype of the biblical Cain, still strives towards good character, as seen in this passage, where he offers Aron a business opportunity after college. ‘I’ll get started and lay the foundation. Then when you finish we can be partners. I’ll have one kind of thing and you’ll have another’† (Steinbeck 536). Cal does also stir towards negative characteristics, particularly when he expresses the truth of their mother to Aron. Aron slowly becomes more and more pure as the book continues which eventually becomes his fault of being too good and not being able to deal with the evils of the world.Cal struggles with the human d esires towards good and bad, growing out of the Cain archetype and fleshing out into perhaps the most equal character in the book, neither choosing to neither reject the bad completely nor embrace the good completely. Cal breaks the notion of inherent good or evil archetypes and brings forth the realism concept of timshel. The narrator sums this up with many concepts while waxing on the perceptiveness of forces. â€Å"Some forces seem evil to us, perhaps not in themselves but because their tendency is to eliminate the things we hold well† (Steinbeck 131).The piece continues with the argument that â€Å"good and evil are relative terms†, more specifically in that Steinbeck appears to show Cal as bad when his action are of an adolescent nature and sees Aron as good when his actions reflect extreme self-indulgences. The characters are by no means clear cut in their morals; in fact, nearly every character is obscured as to whether they are altogether good or bad. By no mea ns was a fault of Steinbeck’s, rather it was an intentional move meant to portray the diverse and human characters which inhabit the story.Even when describing the changing scenery of the Salinas Valley, the character’s muddled human condition is reflected. When discussing the new church and sects which are appearing, the narrator says, â€Å"They were not pure, but they had a potential of purity, like a soiled white shirt. And any man could make something pretty fine of it within himself† (Steinbeck 217). Although the object of discussion is actually a church, the resemblance of character to the morally conflicted characters that inhabit the novel is difficult to ignore.Fontenrose’s reasons follow similar patterns, with statements such as â€Å"Good and evil are complementary† and â€Å"evil is the source of good and may even be necessary to good† essentially coming down to evil and good being necessary for the other to exist (Fontenrose 4) . Although Fontenrose is overall incorrect in his claim that good and bad have no relation in the novel, in this claim it is necessary to agree, if only because such broad terms are used. The claims which Fontenrose makes almost seem to undermine his own argument; as they do essentially prove that there are clear relations between good and evil within the novel.Overall, Steinbeck is quite distinct in his defining of morality, in which the polar opposites of good and evil coexist in such a manner that each individual has a right of choosing their path, defined by the ever-present phrase, timshel. This gives some characters the ability to gain the ideal balanced morality, not all evil and not all good. As we look deeper into the novel we see that through the many different concepts and understandings of good versus evil, Steinbeck lays down his system of how good and evil are actually perceived.