Economic issue Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 2

Economic issue - Essay Example The progressive widening of this gap occasions the government to take an active role in addressing emerging issues in that regard. Wealth concentration to a few people while the rest of the population battles poverty and middle class-related social and economic issues only worsens the state of the larger economy. In this respect, it is important to review the minimum upwards. Finally yet importantly, putting more money into people’s pockets will ultimately improve life standards in diverse and dynamic ways. More people across America will realize improved purchasing power, consumption of goods and services will increase, and reliance on unemployment benefits will reduce as more people enter the job market. Even though minimum wage debates have proven to be contentious, it is important to consider individual and/or household benefits that an increase in minimum wage will provide to the American population. Morath, Eric. White House: State, Local Minimum-Wage Efforts to Help 7 Million Workers. The Wall Street Journal, Aug. 12, 2014. Web. 15 Sept. 2014.

Macbeth and Jane Eyre Essay Example for Free

Macbeth and Jane Eyre Essay Macbeth by Shakespeare and Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte have a similar theme. In both the novel and play, there is a contender edging somebody else on. In Macbeth, Lady Macbeth edges Macbeth on to first killing King Duncan and other people. In Jane Eyre, Jane pushes Rochester not to be scared and to let go of the safety nets and trust in others. In Macbeth, Macbeth turns from having a pure heart to a black and evil heart, while Rochester changes from having a closed heart to an open and trusting heart. At the beginning of the play, Macbeth is seen as a courageous soldier who is loyal to the King but is corrupted from the witches prophecies and by his and Lady Macbeths ambition. This is because of the weakness of Macbeths character and the strong power of Lady Macbeth and how she is easily able to influence him. Her strength motivates him at the start but after, he realizes what he has done, but still decides to continue to go down his murderous, bloody path. At the beginning of the play Lady Macbeth appears as a kind wife of Macbeths but underneath lays a scheming and treacherous woman. She watered his seed and started the never-ending growth of the beanstalk from Jack and the Bean Stalk. Macbeth however was his own sunlight and let the plant just keep on growing higher with more and more thorns. The first time she waters the seed is when they first hear that King Duncan is sleeping over their house that night. Lady Macbeth asks her husband when the King would leave. Macbeth answers that the king would leave the following day. Lady Macbeth tells him otherwise however. O, never shall sun that morrow see Your hand, your tongue: look like th innocent flower, but be the serpent undert. She tells him that she has to kill the king and nobody would expect it because he is being hospitable and letting the king stay at his house. To the King Duncan and the rest of the people, Lady Macbeth seems to be a nice sweet lady. However, she is really tricky and conniving. At First, Macbeth tries to back out last minute. He says, We will proceed no further in this business: he hath honored me of late, and I have bought golden opinions from all sorts of people, which would be worn now in their newest gloss, not cast aside so soon. He says that the king has only been nice to him and is a wise man and does not want to get rid of him so soon. Lady Macbeth shrewdly answers that he is a coward for not  wanting to go through with it and that he is not a man unless he does. Macbeth is convinced by her argument and decides to go through with it. Later that night while the king was fast asleep, Macbeth killed him. After the murder, Macbeth got paranoid and started to kill people left and right in order to make sure nobody would find out about the assassination he commit against King Duncan. That is an example of how Lady Macbeth stated the seed to sprout, but once it would come out of its shell, Macbeth could not put it back and instead would make it keep on growing until it would kill him. Jane Eyre and Edward Rochester are soul mates. When two people are meant for each other, they feed off of each other. In this particular case, Mr. Rochester feeds off of Jane more then the other way around. When they first meet at Thornfield, Rochester is cold and bitter while Jane is trying to be as nice and warm as she can be. When he falls off of his horse, he sprained his ankle. When she sees him fall, she runs to him and asks, Are you injured, sir? before even finding who he is or where he comes from. Her primary focus is to make sure that he is all right. He keeps telling her to go home but she insists on helping him. Later in the conversation, he realizes who she is but still has no idea who he is. Only later she learns who is the man she helped. That is the first time he meets someone who is nice to him without having secret intentions behind it to get a reward or just to get on his good side. From that moment on Jane and Rochester feed off each other to grow to become happy people. A few weeks after Rochester fell off his horse, somebody tried to kill Rochester by putting his room on fire during his sleep. It is suspected to be Bertha, his crazy wife. Jane sees smoke come out of Rochesters room. She runs to his room and puts out the fire and saves his life. He feels indebted to her and invites Jane to have dinner with him. They both think the other one is not so physically attracted. After speaking during dinner however, they start to like each others personalities. He later throws a party where a beautiful lady by the name of Blanche Ingram attends. Rochester and her are suppose to get married but Jane gets in the way. Rochester realized that he could not marry Ingram because he realizes that he is in love with Jane. After many incidents and complications to get married, Jane runs away. While she is away, Bertha  Mason, a crazy woman who is Rochesters first wife, burns down the house and kills herself and at the same time blinding Rochester. Jane hears Rochester screams her name about a year after she leaves. She magically hears it somehow and is able to tell that the person shouting is Rochester. She goes back to Thornfield and they marry. While he is blinded, he trusts her with his life and lets her guide him everywhere without being scared. A few months after they get married, thanks to her love for him and his love for her, he is able to see again. Shakespeares Macbeth and Charlotte Brontes Jane Eyre are two great stories that share a theme. Although the outcomes are complete opposite, they both have someone affecting the other person in a positive or negative way. In Macbeth, unfortunately, the evil seed grew inside Macbeths body and caused him to go on a murder rampage. In Jane Eyre, fortunately, Jane is there to kill the sprout of the bad plant and implant a kind-hearted, lively, and firm maple tree.

Ethics Theories and the competing values framework

Ethics Theories and the competing values framework Ethics Theories and the Competing Values Framework Introduction Management theory and practice implicitly endorse some ethical values over others and this provides the basic ethical orientation of managers. But managers have to understand different ethical theories to find out best for a particular situation â€Å"Ethics can be defined as the systematic attempt to make sense of individual, group, organizational, professional, social, market, and global moral experiences in such a way as to determine the desirable, prioritized ends that are worth pursuing, the right rules and obligations that ought to govern human conduct, the virtuous intentions and character traits that deserve development in life, and to act accordingly. Put more simply, ethics is the study of individual and collective moral awareness, judgment, character, and conduct.†[1] Researchers propose three types of ethics namely, descriptive, normative and analytical. Ethical Theories There are a number of ethical theories. All these theories can be exhibited in four quadrants in the figure below[2]: Teleological Ethics Theories Teleological ethics theories proposes that beneficial ends and/or results determine the ethical value of actions. If, on balance, any action provides more benefits than costs to the relevant stakeholder (s) than by any other alternative, teleological ethics endorses the goodness of that choice. Three major types of teleological ethics are eudaimonism, utilitarianism, and egoism. Ethical Egoism Ethical egoism, is a teleological theory that holds that an action is good if it produces or tends to produce results that maximize a particular persons self-interest as defined by the individual, even at the expense of others. Ethical egoism discourages a person to help others when the person gets nothing out of it. Enlightened egoism emphasizes long-range self-interest simultaneously endorsing altruistic concern for the well being of others. An enlightened egoist, for example, may well avoid cheating and support community projects, not so much because these actions benefit others, but because they help achieve some ultimate goal for the egoist, such as social image enhancement that could lead to carrier advancement within an organization. Utilitarianism Principle of Utilitarianism proposes that an action can be considered as right only if the action produces most utility for all the people affected by the action. Utilitarianism principle holds that the action whose net benefits are greatest relative to the net benefit of all other alternative actions. Both future as well as immediate costs and benefits are taken into consideration in this principle. Utilitarians have come up with an alternate version of the principle of Utilitarianism called rule utilitarianism. According to this, an action is ethically right, if the actions would be required by moral rules which are correct. A moral rule is correct if the sum total of the utilities produced is greater than sum total of utilities produced if everyone follows an alternative rule. Rule Utilitarianism is applicable to a great extent to an organizational context. In an organizational situation, according to Rule Utilitarianism the correct moral rule is the one that would produce greatest utility for everyone affected. Eudaimonism or Theories of Happiness Eudaimonism is a teleological theory that endorses a course of action if it promotes or tends to promote the fulfillment of goals relating to human nature and its happiness. For example, this theory says that a manager enforces employee health and safety standards at work to ensure that employees derive happiness and satisfaction out of it. This theory is based on the premise that when a choice has to made between having a good time (maximizing pleasurable utility) and leading a good life (maximizing happiness) and the latter outcome was to be preferred to the former. Deontological Ethics Theories Deontological ethics theories maintain that responsibly fulfilling obligations, following proper procedure, â€Å"doing the right thing†, and adhering to moral standards determine the ethical value of actions. Deontological ethics maintains that irrespective of the consequences of an action, an action is ethical if it is morally right. Among the major types of deontological ethics are negative and positive rights theories, social contract theories, and social justice theories. Negative and Positive Rights Theories Negative rights theories hold that an action is right if it protects an individual from unwarranted interference from government and/or other people in the exercise of that right; for example, if a person has a right to privately use, sell, or dispose of his personal property as he chooses, this means that every other person has the correlative duty not to prevent him from privately using, selling, or disposing of his property as he freely chooses. Positive rights theories hold that an action is right if it provides any individual with whatever he or she needs to exist. For example, if he has a right to adequate health care to survive, this means that other agents (perhaps the government) have the correlative duty to provide him with entitled adequate health care, not merely to avoid interfering with its competitive acquisition. Social Contract Theories Social contract theories hold that an action is right if it conforms to the terms agreed upon, conditions, or rules for social well-being negotiated by competent parties. Social Justice Theories Social justice theories hold that an action is right if it promotes the duty of fairness in the distributive, retributive, and compensatory dimensions of social benefits and burdens. For managers, this approach stresses monitoring adherence to standard operating procedures and rewarding persons for adhering to contractual agreements in a coordinated manner. Virtue Ethics Theories Virtue ethics theories maintain that habitual development of sound character traits determines the ethical value of persons. For the virtue ethicist, sound, balanced character, motivation, and intention of an individual is more important than the persons actual conduct and its consequences. Three major types of virtue ethics theories focus on individual, work, and professional character which defines the required characteristics of the character of an individual or work or professional. System Development Ethics Theories System development ethics theories maintain that the ethical value of actions is determined by the nature and extent of the supportive framework for continuous improvement of ethical conduct. Managers should assess and develop work cultures supportive of ethical conduct. Ethical problems faced by Personnel Managers: The ethical issues faced by individual employees and managers are very different, since managers are responsible for the entire range of human resources activities such as hiring, firing, disciplining, and performance evaluation. A large number of the ethical issues that arise in business are human resources related and these can usually be addressed by local managers, who act quickly, fairly, and with compassion.3 Hiring and Work Assignments: A manager hires, or brings new people into the organization, and determines employee work assignments once employees are on the job. The new people may be permanent employees, or they may be part -time employees, temporary workers, or consultants. Performance Evaluation: Many times performance evaluation is not done objectively but is based[3] on the relationship of the executive with his appraiser. This defies the entire purpose of Performance Appraisal System which should ensure that a fair and transparent appraisal is done. This kind of favoritism may lead to demotivation of star performers and sends a bad signal in the company. One good way to ensure continuous performance evaluation is to establish a formal appraisal system where performance of an employee is measured continuously and through quantifiable parameters. By measuring the objectives and targets are quantifiable and objectively measured, the process becomes fair and ethical. An ongoing process can greatly reduce misunderstanding, resentment, and charges of discrimination or bias. Terminations: Termination done in any form is never pleasant and should be avoided at all times but at times management is faced with no choice but to terminate the employees. Layoffs can result from many kinds of reorganizations such as mergers, acquisitions, relocations, or as the result of economic reasons, or changes in business strategy. A layoff can stem from a decision to trim staff in one department, or from a decision to reduce head count company-wide. 4 There are steps a manager can take to make it easier for the employee being terminated. The main goals are to be fair, ethical and to allow the employee to maintain personal dignity. Manager should ensure that this step is taken as a last possible resort and if it is inevitable, manager should ensure that the employee is given sufficient notice to get a new job or come up beneficial schemes like voluntary requirements. Also, it would be more beneficial if management engages outplacement counselors or human resources professionals to meet with people who are laid off. Managing workforce diversity Managers are often placed with ethical issues of discrimination and unfair favoritism on the basis of the society and community that the employee belongs to. It is important for a manager to discourage any kind of bias based on religion, community and gender. Importance of Ethics in Business context Enron Scandal Enron Scandal a saga of how the truth unfolded and the one-time most reputed business of America went into trash. As the Consequential Theory of Utilitarianism says, an act is ethical or morally right only if the consequences of that action are more favorable than unfavorable to everyone. As in the case of Enron, it can be seen that whatever the top management did was favourable to only a bunch of officials while the sufferers were the stakeholders in the form of shareholders, employees, financial institutions, accounting firms etc. Also later, when the mask was off, all the culprit officials were penalized and punished which proves that truth cant be hidden for long. And the short-term benefit is too short when compared with long-term cost which one has to pay for its unethical acts. [4] Enron entered into a range of shady dealings, including concealing debts so they didnt show up in the companys accounts. This can be justified as according to the Normative Principle in Applied Ethics which talks about the â€Å"Right to information†. Enron lied about its profits as during its heyday from 1999 to 2000, the company reported very strong net income by dubious accounting exercises. But the actual amount of cash that Enrons businesses generated wasnt nearly as impressive. Wrong information is more catastrophic than no-information. This can be justified as according to the Normative Principle in Applied Ethics which talks about the â€Å"Principle of honesty† which says that one shall not deceive others. Insider Trading refers to the process where a person is in hold of certain information due to ones position in the organization and he uses it for his own advantage. Insider trading is both illegal and unethical. Enron CEO Ken Lay had been consistently selling Enron stock in 2001. Top management promoted Enron shares as a bargain to employees and linked all their pension plans to the same. These employees had lost up to 90 percent of their 401(k) retirement savings as Enrons shares trashed into ground. As per principle of Principle of Paternalism, one should assist others in pursuing their best interests when they cannot do so of themselves. In this case, employees were ignorant of the fact as to what was the company doing, moreover, they were ignorant of best practices so they relied on the advice of their CEO to invest in stocks.[5] Conclusion The collapse of Enron has made it clear that no matter how much profit an organization makes in short-run, for its survival in the long-run, it has to stick to the policies of ethical practice. Any organization that deviates from this, will suffer in the long-run. A manager would invariably be faced with ethical dilemmas in the daily working of an organization but he or she should not endorse unethical practices since it would harm the organization in the long run and no organization can sustain in long term on unethical practices and policies. References 1. Joseph A. Petrick John F. Quinn, (1997), Management Ethics: Integrity at Work, Sage Publications, Sage series in Business Ethics. 2. Ken Blanchard, Ch. 8. Managing by Values, P.33-36, in Integrity at Work, Edited by Ken Shelton, Executive excellence publishing, 1998. 3. Ken Blanchard, Ch. 8. Managing by Values, P.33-36, in Integrity at Work, Edited by Ken Shelton, Executive excellence publishing, 1998. 4. Willlmot Hugh, â€Å"Contributions of Poststructuralism and Posthumanism†, Ethics Organization, Sage Publications, 1998, Pg. 76 -121 5. Hart, O. , 1995, Corporate Governance: Some Theory and Implications, The Economic Journal 105, 678-689. 6. Retrieved from http://www.ethics.org/ [1] Joseph A Petrick John F. Quinn, Management Ethics: Integrity at Work, Sage Series on Business Ethics , 1997, p.43. [2] Ibid, p. 48 [3] Ken Blanchard, Ch. 8. Managing by Values, P.33-36, in Integrity at Work, Edited by Ken Shelton, Executive excellence publishing, 1998. [4] Willlmot Hugh, â€Å"Contributions of Poststructuralism and Posthumanism†, Ethics Organization, Sage Publications, 1998, Pg. 76 -121 [5]5 Hart, O. , 1995, Corporate Governance: Some Theory and Implications, The Economic Journal 105, 678-689.

Shakespeares Macbeth - Villain, Tragic Hero, or Simply Ambitious ? Ess

Macbeth:   Villain, Tragic Hero, or Simply Ambitious ?      Ã‚  Ã‚   The play MacBeth conforms to the definition of a tragedy: â€Å"A play in verse or in prose dealing with tragic events, usually ending in the downfall of the protagonist†1.   However, many sections of MacBeth do not describe a tragic hero, but merely a villain or a lord who is overly ambitious and pays the consequences for his actions.   MacBeth is a tragedy that challenges the very foundations of that genre, set by Aristotle and Plato in the third century B.C. These foundations had been part of the text Poetics, in which Aristotle listed the six requirements of dramatic tragedy, one of which is the inclusion of a tragic hero, a fundamental that has been followed by many tragedians including Sophocles, Aeschylus, O’Neill and Shakespeare himself in his other tragedies.    MacBeth however is different from these tragedies in that the protagonist is not clearly defined as a tragic hero, the reader may view glimpses of a hero in MacBeth but not in substantial amounts, so this is neither completely validated nor revoked by Shakespeare. In order to come to a conclusion the reader must take into consideration not only MacBeth’s intentions but those of the people around him as well, such as Lady MacBeth and the three Weird Sisters, both of whom can be deemed to have influenced his actions in some way.    MacBeth’s downfall and ultimate fate begins with his decision to murder King Duncan. Yet, from what the reader has seen of MacBeth so far, this action seems highly out of character.   He is initially portrayed a loyal warrior who has a wife and his own castle, and yet he still chooses to murder Duncan.   The apparent reason for this is ambition, we are told this by Ma... ...d, not once was he forced into doing anything that was not desired by him. On many occasions, the reader is tempted to see MacBeth as a simple villain and yet his resolve to carry out what he had already started influences them to rethink their opinion on his status as a villain. This remarkable blend of a tragic hero, a villain and a man beset with sheer determination is one that allows MacBeth to stand out arguably as one of the finest morality plays ever written.    1. Concise Oxford dictionary    Bibliography English 366: Studies in Shakespeare Introduction to Macbeth http://www.mala.bc.ca/~johnstoi/eng366/index.htm Barnet, Sylvan. Shakespeare’s MacBeth, Signet Classic 1987 Shakespeare’s Macbeth, a Play for our Time http://www.uky.edu/ArtsSciences/Classics/mac/intro.html Aristotle, Poetics http://planetpapers.com/poetics/1209.html

Crude oil

Crude oil is a necessity for the emerging as well as the existing industries all over the world. It has the power to affect production because it's a raw material which Is used for producing petrol etc. The fluctuations In the price of crude oil can affect the economy on a large scale. The price of crude oll Is affected by the demand and the supply like any other good. In times of bottlenecks the price Is expected to rise whereas when there is an oversupply of crude oll the price tends to fall. Crude oil prices have varied over the last 50 years.In June, OPEC production fell by 370,000 barrels, this was mainly caused due to hindrances such as conflicts In the Middle East and the production strikes In Nlgerla . As a result this affected the price of crude 011 and It rose substantially. The prices of crude oll were subject to some major fluctuations In recent years. It can be observed that the price of crude 011 rose as much as $140/barrel approximately in 2008. 1n the same year it fel l as low as $40,' barrel approximately. In the years 2010 and 2011 it constantly increased from $80,' barrel and reached a maximum price of $122/barrel approximately.In the years 2012 and 201 3 the price of crude oil fluctuated in the range of $100/barrel and $120/ barrel. High crude oil prices can be responsible for cost push inflation in the economy. Cost push inflation is caused mainly due to an increase in the price of raw material. Crude oil is a raw material and is predominantly used for transportation. Transportation is a vital part of the production process. Increase in the price of crude il would mean that the transportation costs increase. This in turn affects the production cost and finally the high costs fall heavily on the consumers in the form of high prices.The Oil market has been unstable since the 1970's and has been overblown by many serious disruptions. As a result the oil market has lost its market share and people have now shifted to other energy sources availab le . The market for alternative energy sources has expanded as its much cheaper then crude oil. People have now shifted to cheaper fuels such as natural gas, bio-diesel etc. However other ut expensive alternatives of crude oil have also emerged for e. g. Carbon free cars, these are cars which run on rechargeable battery and they are also environment friendly.Crude oil is one of the major energy source and most of the countries still consume It heavily-UK imports crude oll and as a result its suffering from Imported Inflation currently. The crude oil prices are expected to Increase In the near future and this In turn would further contribute to Inflation In the economy. If the prices of crude oll aren't controlled then It can be said that Crude oll will continue to lose Its arket share -In order to bring stablllty In the oll market It needs to get rid of disruptions caused by various conflicts In the oll producing countries. rude oil By ‘hatewar world. It has the power to affec t production because it's a raw material which is used for producing petrol etc. The fluctuations in the price of crude oil can affect the economy on a large scale. The price of crude oil is affected by the demand and the supply like any other good. In times of bottlenecks the price is expected to rise whereas when there is an oversupply of crude oil the price tends to fall. Crude oil barrels, this was mainly caused due to hindrances such as conflicts in the Middle East and the production strikes in Nigeria .As a result this affected the price of crude oil and it rose substantially. The prices of crude oil were subject to some major fluctuations in recent years. It can be observed that the price of crude oil rose as much as $140/barrel approximately in 2008. 1n the same year it fell as low as $40/ barrel approximately. In the years 2010 and 2011 it constantly increased from $80/ and 2013 the price of crude oil fluctuated in the range of $100/barrel and $120/ hare and people have now shifted to other energy sources available .The market for consume it heavily. UK imports crude oil and as a result its suffering from imported inflation currently. The crude oil prices are expected to increase in the near future and this in turn would further contribute to inflation in the economy. If the prices of crude oil aren't controlled then it can be said that Crude oil will continue to lose its market share . ln order to bring stability in the oil market it needs to get rid of disruptions caused by various conflicts in the oil producing countries.

Complete Persepolis/Season of Madness

The Complete Persepolis/ A Season of Madness These two selections are based on completely different scenarios. One takes place in Iran during its country’s revolution with Marjane, a girl trying to figure out who she is and wants while having to face her countries conflicts that affect her. The other story takes places inside a home were a woman named Fatin feigns madness and is having to do desperate things instead of admitting to an adulterous affair she had.Although these two stories may seem like they have nothing in common, these two selections have certain particular points that can be compared among each other. The three points that can be compared are about the mother, husband, and protagonist positions. Marji’s mother better known as Mrs. Satrapi or Taji s in The Complete Persepolis is a passionate woman, who is upset with the way things are going in Iran, including the elimination of personal freedoms, and violent attacks on innocent people.She actively takes part in her local government by attending many protests. Marjane's mother is very family oriented. She cares very dearly about her daughter Marjane, so much that she is willing to do anything for her happiness. She and Marjane's father were the ones who decided to send Marjane to Austria. The reason they did this was because they wanted Marjane to be safe and have a better life. The only way she could be safe is to get away from the war that was going on at the time. Majane's mother only wants her daughter to be happy.She goes far distances to do so, like going and visiting Marjane in Austria and helping Marjane with her and her husband Reza's wedding even though she did not agree with it and that shows again that she is willing to do anything for her daughter as long as she’s happy. In A Season of Madness, the mother –in – law shows no compassion. The mother-in-law is a commonly disliked figure in Arab culture, especially when she is the matriarch of the larger family. It seems as if Fatin is being controlled be this older woman that shows to have no interest towards her.At the end of the story when Fatin confesses to her unfaithfulness the mother-in law reacts with a very unlikeable personality with an attitude of her just wanting Fatin out their lives. Then his mother was clasping my hand, twisting her mouth into a grimace of pity and murmuring, â€Å"She’s crazy, poor thing. Nothing can be done for her. † (745) Marjane’s husband Reza served in the Iran army. Reza used to be a womanizer but when he met Marjane that all changed. He was into art just like Marjane, and took it very seriously.He shared love for life like Marjane and he also didn’t take the Iran government too seriously. Him and Marjane dated for a while and ended up getting married but they both changed which lead to fighting which ultimately lead to a divorce. Reza is important because he helped Marjane chase her dream of getting into the career path of art by applying to University of Tehran with her. So overall, Reza was a good husband to her that helped her along the way of finding herself. Fatin’s husband is very compassionate and loving and vows to stay with her no matter what. Poor thing, she’s so young. I swear to god, I’ll take her anywhere in the world to find a cure for her† (745) Fatin’s husband although at a point makes her seem as though she was invisible and almost as childlike only showing that his feelings are sufficient. It seems as if he was being selfish by ignoring all the things she did to get a divorce and still wanting her there with him no matter what. Influenced by her liberal parents, Marji is outspoken, aware of her environment and spends more time reading books than playing with toys. A believer in God and Marxism, and rebellious at times.Marji is a strong girl, who follows in her parents footsteps. Even though Marji ‘s view of the world changes as she gro ws, from a small little girl to a full grown woman, her feelings on life remain the same and has always been a fighter. She had many experiences throughout her life; she was the new kid at school, had to make new friends, got into the wrong crowd, smoked cigarettes, smoked weed, had boyfriends, and many other things. Marjane strongly believed in fighting for what you believe in. Sometimes her actions seemed rebellious, and they got her into trouble, but this didn’t change her feelings or ambitions.Fatin’s greatest desire is to discover her â€Å"real self† through creativity and independence, and to find her individual place in society. Fatin is suffering by being in a relationship with a man that she does not love. Fatin’s discovery of painting as an outlet is shown when she says â€Å"I stumbled along in my madness, never meeting my real self except when my eyes fell on the watercolors, which the strange light in this African country had inspired me to paint: it was a light that broke the hold of the sun’s burning rays for a short time at daybreak and dusk.I often wondered if I should tear these paintings down from the walls, in case they were what made my husband keep hoping that the old Fatin would return. † (Al-Shaykh 742) Fatin hides her pain and confusion through her paintings because she feels her marriage, children, house and sex is not fulfilling. She turns herself into a really disgusting human by doing things such as not brushing her mouth or not wearing protection during her period. She remains invisible, unrecognized, and a woman without a voice.The protagonists in these two stories seek freedom of expression and look for a voice in their own particular way. They refused to be helpless, unhappy, and an act of their own initiative to reject the role patriarchy has reserved for them. Work Cited The Longman anthology of world literature/David Damrosch, David L. Pike, general editors. – 2nd ed. Satrapi , Marjane. The Complete Persepolis. New York: Pantheon, 2004. Print. www. kirjasto. sci. fi/shaykh. htm www. laits. utexas. edu/doherty/africanwomen. html