Crowdfunding Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Crowdfunding - Essay Example From this discussion it is clear that the reward can be service or product that the company offers. Just like the donation approach, the method does not have equity or financial return. The advantage of the method is that it lets capital seekers to incentivize their investors without selling ownership stake or incurring extra expenses. Equity-based offers the investors the opportunity to have a stake in the business. In this respect, the investors have a chance to trade capital for equity shares. The implication is that the contributors get a financial return on the investment, as well as, dividends.As the report highlights that  crowdfunding presents numerous advantages to the movie producer. First, the strategy facilitates access to many accredited investors in which the entrepreneur can interact and share the fundraising campaign. The borrower can review the potential investors and select the best out of a large pool.  The producer can promote the campaign through the email ne wsletter, social media, and other online marketing platforms. The media platforms mentioned above make the campaign viewable to the thousands of potential investors.  Crowdfunding offers the potential funders an opportunity to be part of the company, especially in the equity-based approach. With the equity - based approach, the funder can trade in shares. The implication is that the funder gets financial investment and dividends.

Objectives For An E Business Strategy

Objectives For An E Business Strategy Investigation, critical analysis and formulation of e-business strategy for Under Study who manufacture, maintain, service and support scientific machinery and accessories.   (Jump to) Task A To generate research and formulate an e-business strategy for the company by means of applying five analytical tools in strategic management. Task B Discuss the challenges of adoption of e-business and evaluate the critical success factors for e-business in relation to the company Task C Critically review the process analysis in relation to operations with a view to improving performance. Executive Summary (Synopsis) The aim of the project is to investigate the current state of the company with a view to investment. The intention is to identify and set objectives for an e-business strategy. The company under study has a workforce with over 150 years of experience in manufacturing, maintaining, service and support of scientific machinery and accessories. It is part of a larger group of five privately owned companies. The company aspires to expand its operations into new countries and produce innovative products with exceptional quality however it currently operates with dated and obsolete equipment with no long term business to business agreements, minimal profit margins and no e-business strategy. The report will review a process analysis of the company in relation to expanding its operations into a new country with a view to improving performance. The first part of this report applies five analytical tools in strategic management concluding with an evaluation of a proposed approach. The second part of this report details the challenges of e-business adoption ending with an evaluation of the critical success factors. The third part of this report is a critical review of the process analysis. Task A The objective of this task is to formulate a suitable E-business strategy for the company. Competition has always been central to the agenda of companies. Strategic planning has now become widely accepted as the important task of charting a long term direction for a company. Strategies offer a frame work for understanding position and the underlying forces of competition (M Porter). Reviewing Information Systems (IS) and Information Technology (IT) are used in business to add value and achieve objectives (McKay and Marshall, 2004). Identifying internal and external forces is essential to understanding and defining strategic goals and objectives. The rate of change in both internal and external environments of manufacturing firms is increasing, which necessitates that increased attention be paid to strategic planning and strategy formulation. The approach for this task will mirror that suggested by McKay and Marshal who recommended that internal and external analysis can create an e-v ision. An appropriate devised e-business strategy can then be proposed. McFarlans Strategic Grid In 1993 McFarlan and McKenney provided a strategic grid to examine the strategic role of information technology. The tool is useful in balance decision making. Analysing and understanding the companys information technology and information systems will be vital in terms of how the company does its business currently and how its business model or e-business strategy is formulated for the future. Factory: High operational impact, low strategic impact, this quadrant is about operational improvements that affect large portions of the firm, and are aimed at improving performance or decreasing cost. Turnaround: low operational impact, high strategic impact. This quadrant is about exploiting new technologies to provide strategic opportunities. Strategic: High operational impact, high strategic impact. IT organisations that have most projects in this quadrant understand that IT can both improve core operations of the firm while simultaneously generating strategic options. Application of Model. Figure 1.0 Illustrates the companys position in the McFlaranss strategic grid as strategic quadrant. The company has identified that information technology and information systems are an important part of their future. This has been identified by the companys desire for an e-business strategy. If the company utilised IS IT more then the business will perform more efficiently and potentially gain a competitive advantage. Future investment in IT IS is a necessity for the companys growth. It can not be ignored that the company is positioned close to the turnaround quadrant but on analysis the company has identified its needs for growth thus strategic planning is of higher importance. Pest Analysis When analyzing the macro-environment, it is important to identify the factors that might in turn affect a number of vital variables that are likely to influence the organizations supply and demand levels and its costs (Kotter and Schlesinger, 1991; Johnson and Scholes, 1993). The radical and ongoing changes occurring in society create an uncertain environment and have an impact on the function of the whole organization (Tsiakkiros, 2002). Kotler (1998) claims that the PEST analysis is a useful tool for understanding market growth or decline, and as such the position, potential and direction for a business. A PEST analysis is a business measurement tool. PEST is an acronym for Political, Economic, Social and Technological factors, which are used to assess the market for a business or organisational unit. The PEST analysis headings are a framework for reviewing a situation, and can also, like SWOT analysis, and PorterHYPERLINK http://www.businessballs.com/portersfiveforcesofcompetition.htmHYPERLINK http://www.businessballs.com/portersfiveforcesofcompetition.htms Five Forces model, be used to review a strategy or position, direction of a company, a marketing proposition or a proposal. As PEST factors are essentially external, completing a PEST analysis is helpful prior to completing a SWOT analysis, a SWOT analysis Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats is based broadly on half internal and half external factors. PEST ensures that companys performance is aligned positively with the powerful forces of change that are affecting business environment (Porter, 1985). PEST is useful when a company decides to enter its business operations into new markets and new countries. The use of PEST, in this case, helps to break free of unconscious assumptions, and help to effectively adapt to the realities of the new environment. The results can be used to take advantage of opportunities and to make contingency plans for threats when preparing business and strategic plans (Byars, 1991; Cooper, 2000). Application of Model (P)olitical Factors The company opening in new countries must consider political factors such as regulations and legalities; for example an e-business may not be eligible to trade or have premises in a new territory. Chinese regulations for example have limited Googles search engine, excluding Googles You Tube. In March 2010 China banned Googles search engine only to lift the ban a day after. The company must monitor the new Countrys policies or regulations to ensure the way it conducts business is politically acceptable and thus not limiting any future strategies or goals. Ensuring the selected country has a stable political environment will aid company stability. Many countries have restrictive polices which are designed to protect local manufactures from larger organisations. Such policies often hinder foreign companies from entering into these markets. The company should form a strategic alliance with a local company to circumvent any limitations in opening in a new country. (E)conomic Factors The industry is in growth, this is indicated by the company wishing to expand and develop an e-business strategy. Funding in new countrys can be affected by monetary and fiscal rates. Changing inflation rates and currency fluctuation can determine the profitability of the company. A depressed economy will generally be a luxury which results in a number of organisations going out of business, it can provide opportunities for some (Robinson and et al., 1978; Thompson, 2002). If the company is restricted by political issues this would be considered if an alliance was required to set up operations in a new country. A depressed economy could also give an advantage on labour due to high unemployment. Energy availability and cost will require analysing for suitability in the new country. This could affect the e-business strategy in a negative or positive way. (S)ocio Cultural Factors Recruitment in a new country will have to consider technology limitations due to education. Higher educational standards will raise the probability of technology advancement thus having a competitive edge. Consumers attitudes towards online transactions may negatively influence the e-business strategy however if the new country is emerging as an online leader due to political influences such as investing in IT then this could gain a competitive advantage. Cultural attitudes towards e-business across the globe may affect the company objectives. (T)echnological Factors Safer online transactions will aid online communication thus improving business to business communications and orders. Internet accessibility can determine whether the companys e-business strategy will work. Some locations may have limited services or none at all. This can also be a competitive advantage if the area is in development or an internet provider is expanding. Technology advances could potentially aid the company in being more efficient and lean. Becoming a lean world class business will aid the company in being financially competitive. Government investment in technology and research will aid growth. SWOT Analysis SWOT has an extensive history as a model of strategic and marketing analysis. It has featured in strategy books since 1972. SWOT analysis is a strategic planning method used to evaluate the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats in a project or in a business venture. It involves identifying the internal and external factors that are favourable and unfavourable to achieve that objective. The technique is credited to Albert Humphrey It advocates say that it can be used to gauge the degree of fit between the organisations strategies and its environment, and to suggest ways in which the organisation can profit from strengths and opportunities and shield itself against weaknesses and threats (Adams, 2005). The tool is relatively simple to use but its impact if used academically could be influential in a new business strategy. A weakness is that SWOT, having been conceived in simpler times means it does not cope very well with some of the subtler aspects of modern strategic theory, such as trade-offs (De Witt and Meyer, 1998). Strengths: characteristics of the business or team that give it an advantage over others in the industry. Weaknesses: are characteristics that place the firm at a disadvantage relative to others. Opportunities: external chances to make greater sales or profits in the environment. Threats: external elements in the environment that could cause difficulty for the business. Application of Tool The tool has been applied to the company to establish the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. (S)trengths 150 Years workforce experience. Good company name. High quality production and service. Constantly lowering costs to compete. Informative website Desire to grow the business into new territory. Competent workforce Strategic growth into new country / territory Supply directly to customer After sales service Privately owned International customer base Service and support is world wide (W)eaknesses Limited resources. Website is designed for marketing, no transactions. Limited investment. Bricks and mortar organisation no web transactions Skills shortage or little innovation. Weak marketing with no e-commerce or e- business strategy. Dated processing of supply chain management, lack of information technology and information systems. Profit margins are set to compete for business Still using some dated equipment (O)pportunities Competition is unwilling to take on less important projects. Mergers or strategic alliances in new country IS and IT improvements for competitive advantage enhancing a professional company image. Website sales developing market. International market LTA (long term agreements) with suppliers and customers. Educated general manager. Logistics / transportation. Diversification Up to date technology manufacturing. Potential to open new site. Development of new technology, processes and materials. Faster manufacturing with less power (competitive pricing) Environmental leader Unsaturated market IT director with 20 years experience in e-business (T)hreats Language barriers in potential new country Competitive rivalry in global market for larger contracts. Fluctuation in global monetary policy fiscal/interest rates could leave the company exposed (supply chain). Cheap labour abroad. Fierce competition from larger companies. Possibility of a competitor developing new technology. Porters Five Forces Model of Competition The Porters Five Forces model is a simple tool that supports strategic understanding where power lies in a business situation. It also helps to understand both the strength of a firms current competitive position, and the strength of a position a company is looking to move into. Despite the fact that the Five Force framework focuses on business concerns rather than public policy, it also emphasizes extended competition for value rather than just competition among existing rivals, and the simpleness of its application inspired numerous companies as well as business schools to adopt its use (Wheelen and Hunger, 1998). The original competitive forces model, as proposed by Porter, identified five forces which would impact on an organizations behaviour in a competitive market. These include the following: The rivalry between existing sellers in the market. The power exerted by the customers in the market. The impact of the suppliers on the sellers. The potential threat of new sellers entering the market. The threat of substitute products becoming available in the market. Understanding the nature of each of these forces gives organizations the necessary insights to enable them to formulate the appropriate strategies to be successful in their market (Thurlby, 1998). Application of Tool Rivalry Amongst Existing Firms Strong amount of rivalry within the companys chosen products/industry. Rivalry is evident by the presence of larger businesses in the same industry. Competitive pricing indicates fierce competition. Bargaining Power of Buyers Buyers can approach the company and the competition (larger companies) thus creating competition and fierce pricing strategies. Long term agreements are essential to long term stability. The company accepting minimal profit demonstrates the bargaining power of buyers. The company doesnt hold a niche product thus the cost of a buyer switching supply will be minimal. Bargaining Power of Suppliers Suppliers could strategically integrate forward for example assemble the product and sell direct to customer. The World Wide Web (www.) reduces the possibility of suppliers rates being overpriced and uncompetitive. The company can access the www to research suppliers and costs to ensure the right price is being paid thus forcing the supplier to have less bargaining power. If the cost of switching supplier is high e.g. switching from one component supplier to another though there is no evidence of this to the company, it shouldnt be overlooked. Threat of New Entrants The high set up costs and technology reduce the risk of new entrants. This is indicated by larger organisations as competition. The desire to develop the business into a new country indicates that competition is minimal. Competitors could retaliate when made aware of the company establishing itself in a new country. Threat of Substitute Products The threat of a substitute product is high. The company are manufacturing dated products. New technology could eliminate the need for the dated product thus ending the majority of the companys revenue. The threat of the customer not needing the dated part, designed out of the end product. There is no evidence to support the threat but choosing to ignore it could be costly. McKinsey 7S Model The McKinsey 7S model was developed in the late 1970s and named after a consulting company, McKinsey and Company, which has conducted applied research in business and industry (Pascale Athos, 1981; Peters Waterman, 1982). The 7-S model is a tool for managerial analysis and action that provides a structure with which to consider a company as a whole, so that the organisations problems may be diagnosed and a strategy may be developed and implemented. The 7-S diagram illustrates the multiplicity interconnectedness of elements that define an organisations ability to change. The Seven-Ss is a framework for analyzing organizations and their effectiveness. It looks at the seven key elements that make the organisations successful, or not: Strategy plan of action Structure dictates way the company operates and performs (Waterman, 1980) Systems user friendly as possible (Lynch, 2005) Style important in the performance of strategy (Martins and Terblanche 2003) Skill to maintain competitive edge in technology advancement Staff people make a business successful Shared values common goals working together to achieve them Application of Tool Strategy The company has a desire for growth by entering in to a new country and establishing an e-business strategy. Realisation of companys business strategy and the groups corporate goals requires substantial capital investment in the near future. Structure The structure of the company often dictates the way it operates and performs (waterman et al 1980). No formal alliances. Privately owned. Systems Customer satisfaction the website offers a feedback mechanism Local area network provides administration a range of functional applications. The wider area network enables access to email and the World Wide Web. The company utilises computer aided design (CAD) and has a new stock control system which will drive forward control and the desire for efficiency. Style The company prides itself on quality of products and services satisfying customers has a grate deal of focus. Over engineering a product to achieve superior quality may hinder effectiveness to compete in pricing. Utilising a competitive prising strategy to establish sales. Skill Over 150 years experience. Develops machinery from design to manufacturing with the use of computer aided design (CAD). Educated and enthusiastic general manager Appears to be a lack of creativity/innovation amongst the companys workforce. In house training offered to customers in all aspects of machinery and instrumentation demonstrates a high skill level. Staff New general manager has ethicised the need for a flexible work force and working environment. A new recruitment policy has been recognized as a driver for development. Shared values Service support contracts with emphasis on creating quality products and services. Good relationships with a number of organisations, sector manufacturers and developers. E- Business Strategy Objectives Strategy is designed to transform the firm from the present position to the new position described by objectives, subject to constraints of the capabilities or the potential (Ansoff, 1965). The author recommends the following objectives for the companys e-business strategy supported by the data provided from the analytical tools used; SWOT, Porters Five Forces, Mckinseys 7S, PEST and McFarlans Strategic Grid. To innovate new technology and efficiency through strategic investment, employee motivation and empowerment. Increase efficiency and effectiveness e-procurement Increase revenue from global markets Establish an long term agreement (LTA) E-Business Strategy Evaluation and Alignment with Business Objectives To remain competitive in todays global economy, the company must decide what methods, processes, and technologies will best optimize their operations. They have to weigh the company analysis and take action quickly in this ultra-competitive environment. Innovations and faster product development can also often create a barrier for potential new entrants (Porter, 2004) .The Companys dependence on obsolete products and lack of innovation has been analysed as a threat in Mckinseys 7S analysis and SWOT. The workforce has a wealth of over 150 years experience yet the business relays on obsolete components as its main revenue. It is essential to form strategic alliances with suitable organisations across the globe. Collaboration between the businesses will form the foundation for the development of new products. To aid the process of managing the change the author would recommend a well chosen project management technique or tool be applied especially in the planning stage. A suitable tool would be Critical Path Analysis which was originally created to benefit large defence projects. Two models, SWOT and Mckinseys 7S identified a lack of creativity/innovation amongst the companys workforce. It is important for the organisation to instil confidence among the employees about their future in the organisation and future career growth as an incentive for hard work (Purcell and Boxal, 2003) Emphasis is needed on hiring the best staff, providing them with rigorous training and mentoring support, and pushing personnel to their limits to achieve professional excellence. Creating professional excellence will gain competitive advantage over competitors. Empowered employees become more proactive with ideas and solutions. To overcome pockets of reluctance to change, the companys vision for change must provide an atmosphere of communication where concerns about transformation are not seen negatively but rather welcomed. Achieving empowerment and employee motivation requires continuous articulation and communication of reporting results and monitoring each individuals contribut ion and accountability to the overall companys objective. Leading others to think innovatively and promoting the continual discovery of new solutions and technologies is essential for the company to achieve its goal. Motivation is the art of getting people to do what you want them to do because they want to do it (Dwight Eisenhower) In order to maximise efficiencies across the supply chain the company needs to invest in information technology and information systems, the SWOT analysis has identified efficiency gains in e-procurement. IS and IT efficiencies will offer a competitive advantage also enhancing professionalism of the company and its overall image thus being more attractive to potential customers. Information systems and information technology are used in business to add value and achieve objectives (McKay and Marshall, 2004) The data from SWOT and PEST indicate the companys weakness of not utilising e-commerce thus missing an opportunity. The analysis demonstrates that the website is non transactional and therefore does not generate revenue from new or existing customers. To achieve an increase in revenue from global markets the company must form an e-commerce facility on its already established website. Search engine optimisation and key word density will ensure the company websites place on the World Wide Web. A recommendation would be for an external company to monitor the company website and scan competitors sites, frequently reporting results. Recruiting a specialist company would guarantee the site is in the top 10 results for the companys sector. Engaging in e-commerce will positively reduce risk of falling behind the competition. To address complexities of change, each component must be aligned, along with the enabling technology, (Statoils Data Quality Manager; Hesterbrink, 1999). Product suitab ility will need to be established during the planning stage. The company needs to be cable of adapting its business to thrive in this ever-changing world of e-business. In order to recoup costly investments in new production technologies the company needs to be assured that there will be income in the future to pay for the investment, as a way of reducing the risk in the investment decision. Establishing positive relationships and service are extremely important in winning business. It would be clear with an LTA (long term agreement) that customer is committed to the company. The technology advanced product would be key to a successful business to business (B2B) relationship. The company vision shows the company is committed to delivering to the customer a high quality product, on time and at a competitive price which in its self and with the SWOT analysis shows the need to invest. Securing long term agreements will create a competitive advantage. Task B The objective of this task is to discuss the challenges of adoption of e-business and evaluate the critical success factors (CFSs) for e-business in relation to the company. Critical success factors are the essential areas of activity that must be performed well if you are to achieve the objectives. The concept was developed by D. Ronald 1961 and refined by John F Rockart 1981. The company faces various challenges in implementing e-business. Critical success factors can typically be identified for each individual objective. Financial implications The initial test is financing the change process. The company has previously restricted investment due to the unavailability of resources and the absence of commercial awareness of innovation. Positive changes have been put into operation to overcome the obstacles such as employing an enthusiastic, educated general manager and a IT director with over 20 years experience. Initial costs of implementing e-business are: Preparation or project management and communicating the strategy Consultancy fees for Information systems and Information technology Recruitment is costly when advertising for specialists Equipment and software installation including maintenance / service costs Reorganisation of business to ensure world class lean principles are applied Human implications Implementing an e-business strategy will raise numerous issues within the workforce and business. Essential training will need time allocating. The company will have to capacity plan the impact on the business. Training the workforce to operate the new equipment / tools Creation of new procedures is time consuming Support, emotional and stress often employees dislike change If an alliance is formed will both sites be utilised potential redundancies A formal approach for managing change, beginning with the leadership team and then engaging key stakeholders and leaders should be developed early and adapted often as change moves through the organization the leaders themselves must embrace the new approaches first, both to challenge and to motivate the rest of the organisation. They must speak with one voice and model the desired behaviors. Data Protection Security is a prime concern for the successful adoption of e-business (Chaffey, 2007). Data utilized by the company requires safeguarding against: Fire Fraud or theft Failures in the system data recovery and backups on or off site Electronic espionage Customer information Strategic Alliances Firstly a suitable company needs to be identified for its qualities and business presence. The alliance company will need to compliment the company regards to vision and objectives. Organisational differences will need aligning for example one company may have a strong environmental stance when the other chooses to ignore the issues thus causing friction and possibly undermining already implemented procedures. Once the organisations have formed realignment or restructuring will need to be completed for example in lean world class manufacturing both sites would not require a human resource executive. The alliance formed must be mutually beneficial to both sides thus creating harmony between the two businesses. Long Term Agreements It would be clear with an LTA (long term agreement) that the customer is committed to the company. Developing innovative technology would be required to approach potential new and old customers with the objective of securing an LTA. The technology advanced product or products would be key to a successful business to business (B2B) relationship and long term agreement. The company vision and the acknowledgment of a required investment demonstrates the company is committed to delivering to the customer a technology advanced high quality product, on time and at a competitive price which in its self and with the SWOT analysis shows the need to invest. Securing long term agreements will create a competitive advantage and a secure future. Worldwide Business Worldwide trading is a competitive market with numerous challenges. E-business will encounter cultural variances which will need to be overcome if the implementation is to be fully successful. Operating in a worldwide market will create a fiercely competitive environment. The United Kingdom is known for technology development but not mass production. Technology development is suggested to be skills related. Mass production is suggested to be low cost labour operating with proven processes if a suitable product is developed then a consideration must be applied for outsourcing production to a low cost labour facility which will allow the company to compete in the worldwide market. Technology Small and medium sized businesses are often reluctant to develop into e-business due to resource. The company will have to commit to resourcing the e-business strategy. Implementation of the software will be challenging, adapting the workforce to an automated business process will be difficult. Employees are often reluctant to change. A transformational management style would be beneficial in impleme

kathak dance :: essays research papers

Kathak is the classical dance of north indian style that was characterized by rhythmic footwork danced under the weight of more than 100 ankle bells, spectacular spins, and a representation of themes from Persian and Urdu poetry alongside those of Hindu mythology. The word kathak means "to tell a story". It is derived from the dance dramas of ancient India. Kathak arose from the fusion of Hindu and Muslim cultures that took place during the Mughal period. More than any other South Asian dance form, kathak expresses the aesthetic principles of Islamic culture. The origins of the kathak style lies in the traditional unfolding of Hindu myths by Brahmin priests called kathiks, who used mime and gesture for dramatic effect. Gradually, the storytelling became more stylized and developed into a dance form. With the arrival in northern India of the Mughals, kathak was taken into the royal courts and developed into a sophisticated art form; through the patronage of the Mughal rulers, kathak took its current form. The emphasis of the dance moved from the religious to the aesthetics. In cooperation with the aesthetics of Islamic culture, abhinaya which is defined as the use of mime and gesture, became more delicate, with emphasis placed on the performer's ability to express a theme in many different ways. There are two main centers of education called gharanas, which are both named after cities in northern India and which expanded under the patronage of regional princes. The Lucknow gharana developed a style of kathak that is characterized by precise, finely detailed movements and an emphasis on the exposition of thumri, (which is a semiclassical style of love song). The Jaipur gharana required a mastery of complicated pure dance patterns. Nowadays, performers present a blend of kathak based on the styles of both gharanas. A traditional kathak performance features a solo dancer on a stage, surrounded on all sides by the audience.

The Mad Woman in the Attic

In the character of Jane Eyre, Victorian-era women found a relatable everywoman who has been viewed by some as an emblem of early feminist characterizations. An orphaned and self-sufficient woman, moving forward in her life alone, first by abandonment and then by choice, she finds love in Mr. Rochester. However, in a disturbing turn of events she finds he is already married to a mad woman who resides in the attic of Thornfield unbeknownst to Jane and the general public. Fleeing the deceit of Rochester and the fracturing of her dreams of a familial happiness, she finds her own way with the same determination.When her own fortune turns for the better and Rochester’s to the worst she once more embraces him. All makes for a very dramatic and socially telling example of the Gothic novel but what of the madwoman in the attic? Rochester’s insane Bertha, heard only through maniacal laughter and an eerie presence? She creeps around the peripheral of Bronte’s masterpiece a nd though her importance as a device to provide an obstacle in Jane’s otherwise seemingly paradisiacal future cannot be undermined, as a character she is shallow.What little information that is gleaned about the woman is through the biased lips of Rochester. With Jean Rhys’ Wide Sargasso Sea Bertha reverts to Antoinette, a young white West Indian Creole haunted and troubled by her family’s past and trying to come to terms with her identity of being the colonizer and the colonized or rather as critic Elaine Savory has called this struggle, â€Å"Antoinette’s dual location as oppressor and oppressed† (134). Married to young Edward Rochester, a nameless man in Rhys’ version, her essential self begins to deteriorate under the pressures of gossip and alienation within her marriage.Through the three parts of the novel, Rhys attempts to tell the story behind the story; her tale weaving between the blanks in Bronte’s Jane Eyre to give voice t o Antoinette. With Rhys tale, the reader gains insight into the complexities of human relationships based on greed and the effects of the colonial structure on not only the oppressed but also the oppressor. Bronte’s tale of romance is contrasted and given more depth with Rhys examination of the debasement and enslavement of Antoinette by colonial society, a conquering husband, and the prison of her mind.Rochester is also recast, young and full of doubt and anger; in Rhys depiction we can see in him the strange and dark middle-aged man of Jane Eyre. In the similar backgrounds of Jane and Antoinette, the reader can see an overlapping of these two characters into a single woman both taking different paths but holding the hand of the same man. One thrown into hell and the other finding her salvation. With overlapping motifs and characters, Wide Sargasso Sea and Jane Eyre become complimentary pieces each lending meaning to the other.The chronology of the novels, both individually and taken as complimentary texts, is interesting in respect to the placement of the characters within their individual societies. In Charlotte’s Bronte’s Jane Eyre, Jane’s narrative follows a generally linear path from when the reader first meets her as a ward of the Reed’s to her eventual reunion with Mr. Rochester. Jane’s life is enmeshed in the social protocol of her time and dependent on the whim of others, she is thrown away only to find her strength and singularity in hardship.Her story is largely peopled with Rochester and the other persons residing at Thornfield, while Wide Sargasso Sea provides a frame around and through Jane’s tale using only relevant characters from the original text. The three parts of Rhys’ book are positioned around and throughout Jane Eyre’s chronology of events. Middle-aged when he meets Jane, Rochester is only a young man in Wide Sargasso Sea whose still living brother and father have cast thei r net (Edward) to the islands of the West Indies to see what riches they can attain.Antoinette and Edward Rochester’s story, in respect to Jane Eyre, takes place largely before Jane was born except for the third part which commences in the fire at Thornfield. The three parts of Rhys’ book are divided between Antoinette’s early life and childhood, Rochester‘s story, and Antoinette’s rambling from her attic prison. The first allows for an understanding of the characters of Antoinette and Rochester as products and victims of imperialism.With the Emancipation came an end to slavery but also brought a new era of profiteering and exploitation. At the center is Antoinette, her family having lost everything with the emancipation including the little respect and social placement they had once held. Her mother’s marriage to Mr. Mason provided little reprieve as the seeds of hate had been heartily sown. However, Mr. Mason presented a new context for the hatred directed at Annette and Antoinette, a role that briefly would be overtaken by Richard Mason and finally in Edward Rochester.As Veronica Marie Gregg notes, â€Å"Mr. Mason represents a new breed of English merchants and imperialists who still seek to dominate the economic life of the colonies and to coerce the labor force into working to ensure their wealth, even after plantation slavery has formally ended† (91). The people know of his wealth and are not ignorant to profits he has made from the collapse of the system of slavery which left them third class citizens and deeply impoverished despite their freedom.With her marriage to Rochester, which is told in the second part and picks up a short time after her own first part ends, Antoinette discovers her own uncertain place not only in the limited society of the West Indies that she will always belong to while never really belonging but also in the eyes of her opportunistic husband. In part two, Rhys lays the groundwork for Antoinette’s later complete deterioration by showing the hatred and distrust of Rochester. Almost the whole of Jane Eyre could fit in the gap in years that is seen between parts two and three.Jane is born, orphaned, cast aside, educated all within this space. Antoinette’s jumbled narrative in part three illustrates the effects of Rochester’s hatred and indifference, and the maddening effect of her imprisonment. There is no mention of Jane as Antoinette’s world does not exist outside the small room that is her prison. The house around her is an unreal concept and its inhabitants figure little into her life as her struggle has now become completely internalized.As Elaine Savory explains in examining the lack of Antoinette’s grip on the reality of her prison, â€Å"An absence of attachment can be so severe that it makes the place seem unreal, as in the case of the house in England in which Antoinette is imprisoned† (Savory 142). Though we don’t see or hear of Jane in Rhys’ text, in taking Jane Eyre as the complimentary text it is a given that Jane is in the background of this third part just as Bertha/Antoinette exists largely outside Jane’s own tale.The two texts can easily be interwoven to provide insight where once there was none but the question remains if this was Rhys’s true intention. In both stories, we see signifiers of the times. In Wide Sargasso Sea, the story takes place within the context of the West Indies in the 1830s and 1840s, following the Emancipation Act in 1833 (Gregg 83). In Jane Eyre, the signifiers are more subtle but still present. Towards the ending of Jane Eyre, Jane is given the newly published book Marmion which was published in 1808 (83).By this relation of dates, the two texts cannot be connected chronologically because according to the dating of the stories, Antoinette, the first Mrs. Rochester, would have not even been born when Jane, the second Mrs. Roches ter, is hearing her laughing like a loon from the attic. These subtle differences in dates call to question Rhys decision to relocate the overall tale decades into the future and the intention of these discrepancies. Her intention appears to be not to change the eventual story of Jane Eyre but rather to provide a different context for the reading of Wide Sargasso Sea.Rhys was fully aware of the problems in depicting her Antoinette within the context of Bronte’s mad Bertha, The West Indies was †¦ rich in those days for those days †¦ The girls [West Indian Creole women who married Englishmen] †¦ would soon once in kind England be Address Unknown. So gossip. So a legend. If Charlotte Bronte took her horrible Bertha from this legend I have the right to take lost Antoinette. And, how to reconcile the two and fix dates I do not know — yet. But, I will† (qtd. In Gregg 83).Rhys redefines Antoinette’s basic struggle through this relocation in time, f raming the tale within a context, that as Veronica Marie Gregg notes, â€Å"seeks to articulate the subjective and locational identity of the West Indian Creole of the post slavery period†(83). Antoinette’s madness then becomes not a hereditary trait aggravated by alcoholism and promiscuity but a result of historical and social distinctions defining her as an Other, â€Å"Not quite English and not quite â€Å"native,† Rhys’s Creole woman straddles the embattled divide between human and savage, core and periphery, self and other† (Ciolkowski 340).That history supports this characterization is no accident, Rhys used the â€Å"legend† loosely applied to Jane Eyre by Bronte and expanded it to the exploration of a single woman. As Rhys noted in a letter to a friend, â€Å"very wealthy planters did exist their daughters had very large dowries, there was no married woman’s property act. So, a young man who was not too scrupulous could do ve ry well for himself and very easily. He would marry the girl, grab her money, bring her to England [†¦] and in a year she would be [†¦] mad† (qtd.In Gregg 84). While Bronte chose to use class and gender as a center for her story of Jane, Rhys uses the characters of Antoinette and Edward Rochester to illustrate the broader effects of colonialism. Antoinette is the primary character explored and expanded upon in Wide Sargasso Sea, it is her character that spurned Rhys to write the text. Rhys notes in a letter to Selma Vas Diaz in 1958, â€Å"The Creole in Charlotte Bronte’s novel is a lay figure – repulsive which does not matter, and not once alive which does.She’s necessary to the plot, but always she shrieks, howls, laughs horribly, attacks all and sundry – off stage. For me †¦ she must be right on stage† (qtd. In Gregg 82). In Bronte’s text, Antoinette is Bertha, and is as Rhys notes a shallow character revealed more fo r her usefulness in the larger context of Jane’s life decisions than an independent character with distinct traits and history. The little information we learn about Bertha in Jane Eyre is through the dialogue of Edward Rochester and Jane’s visual and auditory perceptions.In Wide Sargasso Sea, the story of Antoinette’s early life and circumstances are explored so that we can more fully understand the events which led to her eventual decline into insanity while also viewing the larger concept of cultural disintegration. The novel begins with the first part of Antoinette’s story and the stage is immediately set to show the class and racial issues particular to their experience of post emancipation and the new intrusiveness of colonialism, â€Å"They say when trouble comes close ranks, and so the white people did.But we were not in their ranks† (Rhys 17). From the onset, Rhys establishes Antoinette as an outsider. Though she is white, she and her fami ly are not considered part of white society due to her mother’s French Creole heritage. In Rhys delving into the depths of Bertha’s logic in madness and destructiveness, we find the reasons behind the shrieks and moans and fire that burns through Thornfield in Bronte’s rendition. The crazy mother Rochester describes to Jane as the root of Bertha’s own illness is rendered as a broken and ostracized woman in her inherited homeland.After the death of her husband and fall of the old plantation system, Annette Cosway is not only left to raise her two children alone but is kept separate from the support of the white class system which views her as an outsider, â€Å"part of the hostility toward Annette stems from her being a French West Indian Woman in a British West Indian colony. This alludes to the centuries-long feud between the French and the English in the Eastern Caribbean† (Gregg 85). Unlike the British West Indian women, Annette came from Martin ique as a trophy wife for old Mr.Cosway. It is not so much his death that she mourns in the first section of the Wide Sargasso Sea but instead the end of the society that he represented. The collapse of this society rewrote the rules of race relations and class distinctions, since as Gregg explains â€Å"The racial superiority of the whites depends upon the economic ascendancy achieved by unpaid black labor. Without money, Antoinette’s family become niggers, isolated from the rest of white society† (89).Antoinette excuses her mother’s preoccupation with this change because of her youth and inexperience with a world that was any different than the established plantation society, â€Å"She was young. How could she not try for all the things that had gone so suddenly, so without warning† (Rhys 18). However, while Antoinette is able to find reason in her mother’s psychological collapse, it gives the community outside of the walls of Coulibiri a chance to begin talking.It is here that we see the beginning seeds of the gossip of madness that would later reach Rochester’s ears via Daniel Cosway. It was not only Annette who was effected by the West Indian constructs of race and class, before the Emancipation and after but also all those touched by the enterprises comprising the economic structure, â€Å"All human relationships are marked by slavery and the plantation society, and all are constructed, for the most part, within these parameters.Christophine, we are reminded, was a wedding gift to Annette† (Gregg 86). † In this world, people are property, to be bought and sold, to be tied irreparably to their oppressors even when that oppressor is themselves. Annette’s isolation is partly her own, she keeps herself sequestered and silent from the abuse that is hurled and directed at her family from the blacks and whites. Black society is much more forward in their feelings, while white society speaks softly an d when they think no one is listening.Antoinette sensed the animosity from the whites and was confronted daily with that of the blacks, â€Å"I never looked at any strange negro. They hated us. They called us white cockroaches† (Rhys 23). Elaine Savory in her examination of the politics of a racially charged society observes, â€Å"Displacement is a strong theme in the novel in relation to major characters such as Antoinette, her husband and Christophe [†¦. ] But substantial displacement across racial and class lines severely affects coherent self-definition.Antoinette finds herself called white cockroach by black people, yet she has no place in white culture either† (139). † At the center of Antoinette’s feelings of alienation is not only her relations with the other locals but also the lack of love she feels from her mother, â€Å"Rhys establishes a world in which everything rests on problematic and strained relationships: between people of differe nt nationalities, race, languages, classes, against which the struggle to maintain connection even within a family can seem puny and defeated† (Savory 136).Annette is distant from her daughter as she turns away from the outside world in the decaying of Coulibiri and she remains at a remove even as she shows more interest in Antoinette imminent social position or lack thereof. First exposed to the renewed society, Antoinette’s shabby dress makes her consciously aware of only her mother’s judging eyes, â€Å"All that evening my mother didn’t speak to me or look at me and I thought ‘She is ashamed of me’†(Rhys 26). The judgment Antoinette feels from her mother seems, in light of her later fate, more a look of calculated understanding.Annette understood from firsthand knowledge the path her daughter’s life would inevitably take, â€Å"Both women’s marriages are based on the economy of the slavery and post slavery societies, w ith their bodies as a site of negotiation in this economy† (Gregg 97). The shame Antoinette imagines in her mother’s eyes is really the cool assessment knowing that her daughter will be judged as property, enslaved in marriage. The fire at Coulibiri provides a closure to Antoinette’s jaded childhood, â€Å"When they had finished, there would be nothing left but blackened walls and the mounting stone.That was always left† (Rhys 45). The â€Å"they† in Antoinette’s narrative is the disenfranchised and angry black mob aggravated by the new elevation of their previous oppressors and a fear over the loss of work with the importation of foreign and indentured labor. As Veronica Marie Gregg explains, This intensely charged episode [†¦] emblematizes the post slavery disputes about labor conditions between the plutocracy and the working people in the West Indies.In this historical moment, the ruling class, in order to secure its socioeconomic pos ition and to control labor, sees punitive and coercive measures such as immigration and Asian indentureship as a viable response to the â€Å"laziness† of the African people. The freedpersons respond with material violence as part of their viable means of struggle and resistance at this point† (Gregg 95). The individuals of the mob form into a solid image in Antoinette’s selective sight, â€Å"They all looked the same, it was the same face over and over† (Rhys 42).The episode reinforces Antoinette’s feeling of alienation and also solidifies the division between mother and daughter, as Annette finally descends completely into alcoholism and insanity. Worn out and beaten by the death of Pierre and the willful destruction of her home exemplified by her beloved parrot, she surrenders to her pain. Antoinette is at once orphaned completely, her stepfather serving on an absentee basis but still retaining guilt and thereby trying to secure Antoinetteâ€℠¢s future.It is interesting to note the similarities in the lives of Antoinette and Jane during the periods of their lives when they were both housed in charity house or convent. Both still have living relatives but find themselves living independently of familial love and guidance and both are able to develop relationships which seems, particularly in Antoinette’s case, in a much lighter tone than her previous interactions. Her friendships are far more equal, as the other young ladies at the convent are all white and themselves of upper class descendency.Like Jane Eyre who finds her first examples of friendship as a charity ward where class distinctions do not exist as there is only one class, unwanted, Antoinette finds a similar niche, where she â€Å"soon forgot about happiness† (Rhys 56) and simply lived. It seems a contradiction to find comfort where there is no happiness but for Antoinette whose life has been at the mercy of emotion, the lack of it would seem a r elief. For both women, this time period of their lives was the one in which they had the most ease. In Jane Eyre, Jane experiences few of the belittling feelings directed at her by the Reeds.After the death of Helen Burns, there is nothing else until Jane decides to leave Lowood, â€Å"I am only bound to invoke memory where I know her responses will possess some degree of interest; therefore I now pass a space of eight years almost in silence† (Bronte 77). Similarly, there is little of Antoinette’s life except the convent where â€Å"Everything was brightness, or dark† (Rhys 57). There is a difference though in their views of their time spent secluded from the outside world. For Jane, Lowood is a temporary stop, a school and a home. For Antoinette the convent provides a solution to the outside world and not simply a new home.In the predictability she has found solace, if not happiness, in the mundane routines. However, Antoinette knows that the refuge she has be en allowed in the convent is only temporary, sensing the fate her mother had seen in her from the day she was born a girl. She is not only a daughter to Mr. Mason or a sister to Richard Mason, she is an asset with her beauty and upper class distinction. In her final meeting with Mr. Mason at the convent, she senses her future and is frightened anew, It may have been the way he smiled, but again a feeling of dismay, sadness, loss, almost choked me [†¦] It was like that morning when I found the dead horse.Say nothing and it may not be true [†¦] The girls were very curious but I would not answer their questions and for the first time I resented the nuns’ cheerful faces. They are safe. How can they know what it can be like outside? (59). She has learned from the example of her mother that the security Mr. Mason envisions for her is not a security against the uncertainties and animosities of the outside world she has so far experienced. As a sensitive child, she ascertai ned what it was to belong to the upper class, and knows that despite marriage or perceived respectability she will always be at the mercy of another‘s will.As a woman she is destined for either the convent or marriage, understanding what marriage will mean she prefers the convent. While later she fights against the imprisonment of Rochester, it seems only because she has come to an understanding of a third alternative which is freedom from either, first hinted at by her Aunt Cora. That Antoinette only realizes her freedom through her own death brings her initial fear full circle, â€Å"Her fortune and her beauty make her a prized possession for him, an easy way to acquire his status as an â€Å"independent† gentleman† (Kendrik 236).When he realizes that he cannot attain this status through Antoinette he turns against her. The embodiment of Antoinette’s fear lies in Edward Rochester, seemingly different from Bronte’s romantic hero but really an exten sion of his character, â€Å"not so much a wholesale revision of Bronte’s existing creation as a reillumination and reemphasization of aspects that are present, though perhaps not stressed, in the Rochester of Jane Eyre† (Kendrik 239).Unlike Antoinette, he plays an integral part in both Jane Eyre and Wide Sargasso Sea. Bronte’s Rochester is a middle-aged man, cynical and lacking the attractiveness that would usually be found in a romantic hero. It is this lack of attractiveness that allows Jane to feel proper in first speaking with him, â€Å"Had he been a handsome, heroic looking young gentleman, I should not have dared to stand thus questioning him against his will, and offering my services unasked† (Bronte 105).With Jane, Rochester is proud, jaded, inquisitive and crassly gentle; he is at once attracted to and inclined to suppress her independent streak but â€Å"Jane’s ambiguous class status as a Governess prevents her from being an adequate m irror for Edward† (Kendrik 240). They are able to overcome this class distinction only through Rochester’s loss of property and face and Jane’s own inheritance. The largest distinctions between the Rhys and Bronte’s Edward Rochester lies in experience and the women of their lives.With Jane, Bronte’s Rochester has a puritanically astute woman whose will largely matches his own strength of character but whose properness largely outweighs any true acts of rebellion. As Terry Eagleton notes in his Marxist exploration of Jane Eyre, Bronte’s â€Å"protagonists are an extraordinary contradictory amalgam of smouldering rebelliousness and prim conventionalism, gushing Romantic fantasy and canny hard-headedness, quivering sensitivity, and blunt rationality. It is, in fact, a contradiction closely related to their roles as governesses or private tutors† (Eagleton 30).Jane’s contradictions are largely predictable, Antoinette’s he dis covers are not of any kind he has known. Rhys turns back the clock on middle-aged Rochester to reveal the personality and actions of a much younger, much angrier man. As Elaine Savory explains, Rhys’s Wide Sargasso Sea â€Å"not only privileges the Caribbean but does a great deal to move Rochester out of the realm of the Gothic romance and explain his capacity for cruelty† (133). In part two of Rhys’s text Rochester is left intentionally nameless (Rhys qtd.In Gregg 100), as Gregg explains, â€Å"His entrance in the novel is a beginning with no introduction [†¦] no thematic preparation or signal to the reader. This is an inscription of the structural origins of the narrative and history of imperial Europe, which designates the West Indies as a blank space on which to inscribe the desires of European man† (100). From the onset his acquiring of Antoinette is that of the conqueror, their marriage is no love story but an arrangement made between Richard M ason and Rochester’s father and brother.Given this understanding, the opening lines of part two, which could be read as a description of courtship take on a darker meaning, â€Å"So it was all over, the advance and retreat, the doubts and hesitations†(Rhys 65). In these lines we see not the mild flirtations of two young people but rather a hunter tracking its prey. In the beginning of their marriage it is notable that Rochester was not always seemingly against Antoinette but at first envisioned a real future with her despite her appearance of foreignness. On the road to Granbois he observes, â€Å"She smiled at me.It was the first time I had seen her smile simply and naturally. Or perhaps it was the first time I had felt simple and natural with her [†¦] Looking up smiling, she might have been any pretty English girl† (Rhys 71). He attempts to draw parallels between the alien West Indian landscape and his own country, â€Å"Next time she spoke she said, â⠂¬ËœThe earth is red here, do you notice? ’/ ‘It’s red in parts of England too’† (Rhys 71). By drawing this comparison he is at once dismissing Antoinette but also trying to locate himself within the larger world he finds himself.Though it is not addressed, it is most likely that young Rochester has little experience with the world outside of England and no concept from which to draw on in the landscape and people that he now finds himself surrounded by. He is deeply aware of the fact that his betrothal was not his own choice but is nonetheless pleased from a collector’s standpoint in the beauty and seeming malleability of his new wife, â€Å"She spoke hesitantly as if she expected me to refuse, so it was easy to do so† (Rhys 67). He asserts his dominance, even as the circumstances of his being â€Å"bought† undermine any goodwill.Even from the beginning his feelings are unstable, â€Å"I have sold my soul or you have sold it, a nd after all is it such a bad bargain? The girl is thought to be beautiful, she is beautiful. And yet †¦Ã¢â‚¬  (70). There is no chance for happiness to grow from this doubt because even as Rochester moves forward he holds himself back out of a sense of Englishness, â€Å"in Wide Sargasso Sea he is the immediate manifestation and enforcer of the network of patriarchal codes (sexism, colonialism, the English Law, and the â€Å"law† which demarcates and creates sanity and insanity)† (Kendrik 235).Antoinette does not fit into the definition of any discourse Rochester understands and is therefore permanently located outside of Rochester’s feelings of self. During this beginning section of part two, we see one of Rhys subtle correlation to Bronte’s Jane Eyre. It is with this and other small concessions that Rhys connects the two texts in more than simply character names and geography. In his first days at Granbois, Rochester sits on the veranda with Anto inette making observations on the wilderness around them, in particular taking notice of a moth alighting by their candle,A large moth, so large that I thought it was a bird, blundered into one of the candles, put it out and fell to the floor. [†¦] I took the beautiful creature up in my handkerchief and put it on the railing. For a moment it was still and by the dim candlelight I could see the soft brilliant colours, the intricate pattern on the wings. I shook the handkerchief gently and it flew away (Rhys 81).In Jane Eyre, Bronte’s Rochester while on a walk with Jane draws her attention to a moth’s wings, â€Å"’Look at his wings,† he said, ‘he reminds me rather of a West Indian insect; one does not often see so large and gay a night-rover in England’† (Bronte 220). By including details on the moth in her telling of Rochester’s early life, Rhys draws a subtle thread connecting the older and the younger experience and memori es. He becomes a continuous character, present in both manifestations. Though the West Indian landscape harbors fond memories, it also embodies Rochester’s doubts and growing hostility towards Antoinette.In the brilliantly colored flowers and trees, the exotic scents, and unknown regions of the island‘s geography, Rochester finds a metaphor for his new wife’s inaccessibility, â€Å"he has come to hate this landscape, because it signifies his wife and his failure to reach her, even to overpower or control her† (Savory 144). Like Antoinette, he cannot deny its beauty but also like his wife he cannot reconcile this type of beauty with his previous experience and knowledge, â€Å"It was a beautiful place – wild, untouched, above all untouched, with an alien, disturbing, secret.I’d find myself thinking, ‘What I see is nothing – I want what it hides – that is not nothing† (Rhys 87). In describing Antoinette, he is similar ly disturbed, â€Å"She never blinks at all it seems to me. Long, sad, dark alien eyes. Creole of pure English descent she may be, but they are not English or European either† (Rhys 67). He finds himself as unable to penetrate the unknown about her as he is the landscape. In his lust for Antoinette he makes his only connection and breaks down the barrier with which she has sought to protect herself, â€Å"Very soon she was as eager for what’s called loving as I was – more lost and drowned afterwards†(Rhys 92).Like Jane when questioning Rochester on how he will feel about her independence after the newness of the marriage has worn off, Antoinette is beset with doubts on her husband’s true feelings toward her, â€Å"If one day you didn’t wish it. What should I do then? Suppose you took this happiness away when I wasn’t looking†¦Ã¢â‚¬â„¢Ã¢â‚¬  (Rhys 92). In this exchange Rhys draws another connection between the past and the futur e Edward Rochester. His similar conversation with Jane, though less emotionally fraught than his dialogue with Antoinette, brings into question his dominance,For a little while you will perhaps be as you are now, – a very little while; and then you will turn cool; and then you will be capricious; and then you will be stern, and I shall have much ado to please you: but then you will be well used to me, you will perhaps like me again, – like me, I say, not love me. I suppose your love will effervesce in six months, or less (Bronte 229). In this conversation, Jane senses that Rochester’s love and admiration are fickle in nature, â€Å"Jane has doubts about Rochester the husband even before she learns about Bertha.In her world, she senses, even the equality of love between true minds leads to the inequalities and minor despotisms of marriage† (Moglen 82). Antoinette discovers this through her own experience with him. Though Antoinette brought wealth to the un ion, in doing so she forfeited that wealth, since by English law it becomes her husband’s alone. Resigned to this, she lets down her guard and allows herself to love and lust after the man who becomes first her tormentor and finally her jailer. Jane Eyre knows a slightly different Rochester, less inclined to passion, but still fears for her own independence in a union under English law.She knows that legally she will become the subordinate of her husband but Jane’s nature prevents her from willingly giving into this precept. Without fortune of her own, Jane does not run the same risk as Antoinette but nor does she hold to same status socially, â€Å"as a younger son of the gentry, has suffered at the hands of social convention and so like Jane has a history of deprivation; but unlike her he has achieved worldly success, buts a glamorous figure in county society, and so blends social desirability with a spice of thwarted passion and an underdog past (Eagleton 34).With this combination of traits so at odds with Jane’s own plainness it is easy to see the basis of her doubts. Just as Edward Rochester came to resent Antoinette for the society she represented and the wealth that bought, so also could he come to resent Jane for her lack of either class status or money.

Banking Concept of Education: Paulo Freire Dislikes Essay

Paulo Freire severely scrutinizes the banking concept of education. He dislikes everything about the traditional teaching method, where the teachers just fill the students with information and hope the students retain it long enough to spit it back out to them on tests. He argues that students are led to â€Å"memorize mechanically† the information lectured by a teacher. He would strongly oppose the use of grades in the schooling system. Truly, students are getting graded on how well they can memorize random facts as the tests that encourage memorization of material make up a very large portion of the grading system. In his strong argument against the banking concept of education, Freire gives in a little to the opposition, as he admits, â€Å"they [students] do, it is true, have the opportunity to become collectors or cataloguers of the things they store.† I feel that this is the key to individuality in school. Freire is correct in the way that he portrays the schoolin g system. Students mostly just receive and memorize information from their teachers; thus, they never really critically think about the material. Nevertheless, the techniques that each individual student learns and masters to accomplish these demands shape his/her success later in life. I agree with Freire that, with respect to truly learning the material and retaining the knowledge for a long period of time, simple memorization is very poor. Last year, I took an AP United States History course. The material covered in the course was the same as the material I â€Å"learned† in my eighth and ninth grade United States history classes. The only difference was that this time around, we were going to study the content further in-depth, which Freire might find pleasing. Once the course got underway, I soon realized that I had to completely relearn the material, as I had completely forgotten everything I learned in the eighth and ninth grade classes. It was not because I did poorly back then, but because after the ninth grade class was over, I had no need to retain that information. I was no longer being graded on United States history, and thus, I flushed that information out of my brain to make room for new material to memorize. Once my senior year AP course began, all of the similar material seemed new to me. In Doing School, Denise Clark Pope explains a very similar phenomenon that Eve Lin experienced. â€Å"Once she took an exam, she said most of the facts she had memorize ‘emptied out of her brain.’ She was required to move on to the next assignment to keep up with the pace of the class. Taking time to reflect or to engage with the material would only slow her down and adversely affect her grades.† (Pope 155-56). Freire would oppose this. He would want students to slow down and really analyze the information thoroughly. On the other hand, I feel that in today’s fast-paced society, being able to sh ift gears so quickly is a necessary trait. I attended a medium-sized school, Saucon Valley School District, all the way up from kindergarten. With about two hundred students graduating each year, we all knew each other fairly well. However, since sixth grade, I embarked on a journey with about twenty other students. We chose to follow the path of an â€Å"honors student† taking more rigorous classes than others. We attended almost all of the same courses every day of the year and got to know each other and hang out with each other outside of school a lot more than with others in the grade. By high school, we were so closely knit that someone came up with the name, the â€Å"honors family,† and it just stuck with us ever since. The label was true though. It was like a family, as study sessions were conducted before big tests and all-nighters were pulled for group projects. We pushed each other to do better and worried when others were falling behind. Yet, just like most of the students in Doing School, we were very competitive about our grades as we strove to get the highest marks on a test or paper. I do not believe any of us went as far as Eve Lin did though, in relation to keeping her summer college class a secret just so that she had an edge on everyone else (Pope). Although it was not as extreme as in Faircrest High School, competition in the â€Å"honors family† at Saucon Valley was definitely present. Competition, motivation to succeed, and enthusiasm was amongst the â€Å"honors family.† I wish the same could be said about the rest of the grade. During my senior year, I decided to take Calculus I and II at Lehigh University, and thus, had scheduling conflicts at high school. The Honors Government and Economics class overlapped with my Calculus courses, so I needed to simply take the regular class of Government and Economics. Here, I got a glimpse of how other classmates performed in class. I interacted with many of these students in extracurricular activities and even in Physical Education, but very rarely in a core class. The desire to learn was very low in my Government and Economics class. It was not that these students were not intelligent. They just merely did not care about their grades, GPA, or class rank. Many of these students were perfectly fine with getting a C in the class. After all, a C was a passing grade. Passing was all that mattered to them. Many were fine with doing the minimum to get by just so that they could graduate high school and adventure out into the work force. The teacher seemed to realize the situation as well; she gave very little work to the class throughout the semester and based the tests off of the already-filled-in note packets she handed out regularly. Very little material was covered, even though the class lasted over ninety days. Overall, this class seemed like a complete waste of time for me. I was not coping with stress, competition, or a rigorous curriculum like I had for the rest of my classes. There was very little motivation for me to truly gain knowledge from the class as well, since I was already getting an A in the class and did not need to take time away from my other classes to study for tests. After taking the class and looking back upon it now, I realized that I can take literally nothing productive from it. It was a waste of time that did not provide me with any skills necessary or helpful for my life after schooling. Unlike the average students’ classes, the â€Å"honors family† classes gave me the necessary practice for the real world. I received so much more knowledge than others on how to succeed even with obstacles in my way. These traits and techniques on how to succeed are very similar to those Denise Clark Pope outlined in the conclusion of Doing School. Throughout high school, I gained and perfected an absolutely necessary trait of success: time management. The five students at Faircrest High School were always making the best of their time. They worked on homework during class periods and took free periods and weekends as a time to catch up with their work (Pope). Similarly, I needed to do the same if I wanted to keep up with the â€Å"honors family† work. I participated on the school soccer team in the fall, basketball team in the winter, and baseball team in the spring. The time after these extracurricular activities was insufficient to complete my work. I needed to use as much free time throughout my day as possible to complete assignments. As one might imagine, one evil coming from such a workload and extracurricular activities is stress. The students Pope researched at Faircrest all underwent stress. I, as well, was under an enormous amount of stress. Big projects seemed to always be due at the same time, and final exams were always clumped together in a two-day span. Many members of the â€Å"honors family† sacrificed their well-being through a reduced social life and poor sleeping habits in order to complete the workload. In return, we mastered the skills of coping with stress and managing out time. These skills will benefit us in the long run as we enter adulthood and the work force. Often times I did not understand why I was pushing myself to such a limit. I thought to myself that most of the students not motivated to achieve success had such an easier life. They went through school carefree and had loads of free time after school and on the weekends to hang out with friends. Nevertheless, I knew why I chose to push myself to the limits. I knew that my time to shine would come later in life and all my efforts would be worth a life full of success; the characteristics for success were instilled in me through the competit ion of grades and the workload I endured in school.