Assertions and Audit evidence Essay Example for Free

Assertions and Audit evidence Essay 1. The allowance for doubtful accounts is fairly presented in amount. * Valuation or allocation assertion 2. All accounts payable owed as of the balance sheet date are included in the financial statements. * Existence or occurrence assertion 3. All purchase returns recorded in the general ledger are valid. * Existence or occurrence assertion 4. The allowance for doubtful accounts is fairly presented in amount. * Valuation or allocation assertion 5. All accounts payable owed as of the balance sheet date are included in the financial statements. * Completeness assertion 6. All purchase returns recorded in the general ledger are valid. * Existence or occurrence assertion 7. A retail client values its inventory using the retail method of accounting. * Valuation or allocation assertion 8. A construction client uses the percentage of completion method for recognizing revenues. * Existence or occurrence assertion 9. A client has a defined benefit pension plan and does not have competent employees to write footnote disclosures. * Presentation and disclosure assertion – classifications and understandability 10. Slow-moving items included in inventory have been properly identified and priced. * Valuation or allocation assertion 11. A client financed the acquisition of assets using preferred stock that pays a 3 percent dividend and must be redeemed from the shareholders next year. * Rights and obligations assertion 1. Bank statement sent directly to the auditor by the bank. (1) – Most reliable 2. Creditor monthly statement obtained from clients files. (2) – Reliable, but subject to possible forgery 3. Vouchers in clients unpaid voucher file. (4) Least reliable 4. Duplicate sales invoices in filled order file. (4) Least reliable 5. Time tickets filed in payroll department. (4) Least reliable 6. Credit memo in customers file. (4) Least reliable 7. Material requisitions filed in storeroom. (4) Least reliable 8. Bank statement in clients files. (2) Generally reliable 9. Management working papers in making accounting estimates. (4) Least reliable 10. Paid checks returned with bank statement in (1) above. (3) Somewhat reliable 11. Letter in customer file from collection agency on collectability of balance. (2) Generally reliable 12. Memo in customer file from treasurer authorizing the write-off of the account. (4) Least reliable

Walt Disneys Silly Symphonies Analysis Film Studies Essay

Walt Disneys Silly Symphonies Analysis Film Studies Essay Walt Disney, arguably one of the twentieth centurys greatest story tellers, found his voice in the 1930s. Following from the success of the Mickey Mouse shorts, the Disney Studio began the production of the Silly Symphonies, a series that reworked fairy tales and nursery wisdom; reviving the classics in the hope of producing an animated feature. Mickey Mouse was Disneys superstar and occasional alter-ego. Steamboat Willie (1928) had made the studio a cut above his rivals but Disneys new project would take the spectator far beyond Mickey and into a new universe more daring and original that would make the studio not only influential but border line serious art. Taking from various sources such as paintings, magazine illustrations, films and posters, the Silly Symphonies fed the swelling stream of sentimental modernism at the Disney Studio, blending the fantastic and the real, the irrational and sentimental, magic and empiricism, highbrow and lowbrow culture (Watts, 2002: 111). The Silly Symphonies allowed the spectator to enter a fantastic world of nature, fairy-tales and metamorphoses, providing escapism full of colour and movement, free from history and repression. Russian filmmaker Sergei Eisenstein was a great admirer of Disneys early Silly Symphonies and the features up until Bambi (david hand, 1941). In his unfinished papers he discussed the work of the Walt Disney Studio between 1928 and 1941. Eisensteins fascination with Disney animation is based on the fantastical, alogical order in which it is possible to: achieve a mastery and supremacy in the realm of freedom from the shackles of logic, from the shackles in general (Disney) gives us prescriptions from folkloric, mythological, prelogical thought but always rejecting, pushing aside logic, brushing aside logistic, formal logic, the logical case (cited in O.Moore, 2002:125). The Silly Symphonies allowed the animators to try out new techniques and ideas with the two most important being the ability to squash and stretch giving the animators freedom to exaggerate their characters actions and expressions but also to create believability in such a way that the audiences accepted the distortions in a characters shape. Eisenstein was attracted to the elasticity of the animated cartoon and fascinated by the ever changing contours defining it as plasmaticness, a rejection of once and forever allotted form, freedom from ossification, the ability to dynamically assume any form (Leyda, 1988:21) Disney was not the first to experiment with form. French animator and auteur, Emile Cohl had produced Fantasmagorie in 1908. Lasting two minutes, the hand of an artist draws a clown which shape shifts into a myriad of images, for fantastic or comic effect, invoking an optical amusement for both young and old. The hand of the artist illustrates the advantage of working in ani mation, with the characters obeying to the transformation at the nudge of the animator. Eisenstein writes that it is the sight of omnipotence that makes the image so appealing as it holds the ability to become whatever you wishà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ turning stable forms into forms of mobility. (Leyda, 1988: 21) Eisenstein frequently focused on the Silly Symphony, Merbabies (1938) in which the metamorphoses and juxtapositions of the characters are central to the short. He exclaims: A striped fish in a cage is transformed into a tiger and roars with the voice of a lion or panther. Octopuses turn into elephants. A fish into a donkey. A departure from ones self from once and forever prescribed norms of nomenclature, form and behaviour. Here, its overt. In the open. And of course, in comic form. (Griffin 56) Eisenstein delighted in watching inanimate objects and animals metamorphose in shape and substance and then used for purposes other than intended. Whereas Emile Cohl transformed one object into another, Disney demonstrated the humanisation of inanimate objects. Whilst still maintaining their properties, the animals were able to think and behave like humans. What was once a tall building is now a building swooping down to avoid an oncoming plane, a trees branch becoming a long bony arm. Not only had Eisenstein recognised the greatness of the Silly Symphonies but so had America. From 1930, Silly Symphonies won an Academy Award every year for their cartoon shorts laying the stepping stones for his feature length films. The shorts looked toward experimenting with sound, music and image, focusing less on gags but evoking mood and emotion. An analysis in Stage magazine described the Silly Symphonies as, a rare kind of art wherein musical and pictorial elements came together as a seamless whole. With the music in a Bach chorale or a Mozart symphonyà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦from the smoothness and precision of the lucid thing you hear, you are not aware of the formidable equipment of harmonics, counterpoint, and pure mathematics that its composer had to possess. So with les oeuvres Disney (Watts, 2002:123). With another critic observing, not until a couple of years ago were you ever permitted to see and hear a six-legged spider pounding out Schuberts Liebestraum or a baby grand piano or a pelican rattling off the Anvil chorus from Il Travatore on the bony skeleton of a giraffeà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦or Mickey playing a xylophone solo on a set of false teethà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ (Watts, 2002:74) The Silly Symphonies expressed music without specific or recurring characters, with the action of inanimate objects or anthropormorphic animals moving in synchronisation with the music. Many of the shorts were built around a community of non-human creatures, joyful and celebratory, glorifying rural life in opposition to the oppressions of the big city. Russell Merritt notes that Disney himself was simply adapting the formulas of American marionette theatre, which in turn had been influenced by turn-of-the-century fairyland operettas and stage musicalsà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦.Nor can the drawing, based on the style of American illustrators like Harrison Cady, W.W. Denslowà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦be considered original art. But in the world of commercial American cartoons, no one had seen anything like it (Kaufman, 2006:6). Working on board with Disney was the extremely talented animator, Ubbe Iwerks and composer and music director, Carl Stalling. It was Stalling who came up with the original idea for th eir first Silly titled, The Skeleton Dance (1929). Entirely animated by Iwerks in black and white, and inspired by Edgar Allen Poe and gothic illustrators, The Skeleton Dance invites the spectator to an abandoned graveyard. The haunting visuals alert the spectator; the widening eyes of a terrified owl, a full moon, wind blowing whilst the owl shivers and hoots, expanding and shrinking. A branch from a tree swoops down, looking like a long, thin witchs arm. Bats fly from the belfry into the camera, a spider appears and crawls away, a dog howls, two cats bicker; spitting and sparring until out of the grave comes a skeleton. Atmospherics and mood is created with the visuals being accented by the music. Symbolic of a Halloween night (and later used as the inspiration for Disney Worlds Haunted Mansion) the images fright as well as amuse and approach horror and death in a comical way. Styled like a comic vaudeville routine, the skeleton bubbles with charisma. Metamorphosing in a comedic manner and dancing the Charleston, the skeletons dance in perfect synchronisation with Stallings score. What distinguished Stallings scores were their playful, often brilliant comic non-sequiturs: a radically disjunctive mingling of serious music with cakewalks, ragtime, and soft shoesà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦.the symphonies revelled in a musical openness ahead of its time, a non-hierarchical approach, in which all genres of music were considered equal- all joyfully embraced, nothing sacred. (Kaufman, 2006:8) As early as 1930, Paul Rotha wrote, To many writers at the moment, the Disney cartoons are the most witty and satisfying productions of modern cinema. Their chief merit lies in their immediate appeal to any type of audience, simply because they are based on rhythm. They have been compared with the early one reelers of Chaplin, and the way in which they appeared unheralded, gradually to achieve an international acceptance is not unlike that of the great comedians early work. (Kaufman, 2006:8) In contrast to The Skeleton Dance and with the new frontier of Technicolor (the new three-colour process for film), Flowers and Trees (1932) presented a moralistic story about good triumphing over evil (a common theme within the Disney films). As morning breaks, nature awakes from its slumber. The trees stretch their branches and yawn, the flowers awake; some brush their teeth, others perform their daily exercises. The mushrooms pop out from beneath the ground. The female tree has leaves like feather bowers and uses white flowers to powder her nose. The old tree stump is dark and grey with crows nesting in his broken branches. As he yawns, bats fly from his mouth. The male tree pulls at some reeds to play the harp, another tree conducts as the birds sing along. Flowers and Trees pays homage to traditional culture. The magical story is accompanied by the music of Schubert, Rossini and Mendelssohn. These films work to the classical narrative of a heterosexual romance with a celebration of the community or courtship. There is a conflict, a kidnapping of some sort with the climax of the male protagonist duelling and saving the day with harmony being restored. Rather than the bleakness of the crowded city street, animation allows an attractiveness, a transformed world, free from restrictions, restrain and control, inviting a new freedom. Eisenstein comments that Disneys works themselves strike me as the same kind of drop of comfort, an instant of relief, a fleeting touch of lips in the hell of social burdens, injustices and torments, in which the circle of his American viewers is forever trapped. (Leyda, 1988:7) This was not only for children but for anyone of any age proving that cartoons can appeal to both intellect and imagination. The Silly Symphonies were more original and more progressive and caused a revolution in the animated cartoon industry. Out of the 210 (find ref) Silly Symphonies, only some are remembered if at all, with only a few remaining famous. Shorts such as The Three Little Pigs, The Old Mill, Flowers and Trees and The Skeleton Dance are the most recognised with only the Big Bad Wolf and Donald Duck remaining well-known Symphony characters. Disneys films were then a lyrical, limitlessly imaginative revolt against the disciplinary regimes of the capital, against the big grey wolf who in America is behind every corner, behind every counter, on the heels of every person especially those of the working class. (James, 2005:271) As time passed by and the Disney Company expanded, Disney finally betrayed Eisensteins notions of utopian promise in the medium (James, 2005:271). The Silly Symphonies enabled the studio to extend their aesthetic experimentation, taking it in new directions and laying the foundation for the narrative formulas that made Disney so popular. He had mobilised the highest quality skills and developed new technical innovations such as introducing synchronised sound, colour, special effects and the multi-plane camera. Eisenstein criticised the use of colour in the Disney films describing it as an amorphous, extraneous element that plays no part in [Disneys] amazing synchronous dance of lines and shapes, melody and rhythm. (find ref) Disney had finally abandoned the plasmatic that was apparent in the early Silly Symphonies and began leaning more toward the verisimilitude of graphic representation. Animals now possessed human characteristics both emotional and psychological and his style aband oned its utopian potential, establishing realism as the norm in animation. 85:Animal bestiary; ss were effectively experimental films progressing the form itself. 86: Disney was moving closer to the revelation of the animal and progressing the form toward a hyperrealoism, which though diminishing some aspects of the freedoms of the animation language, began to ironically facilitate a way in which truly cinematic effects might be achieved Need to add in: The Silly Symphonies were intended for the mass market and thus colour was used not only to present the real and express narrative development but also to provide transformations were it is as expressive and fluid as music. ever, Kristean Moen argues that colour can be seen as a site of instability and fluidity. introducing high art to animation. The name itself suggests a blend of both high and low culture and demonstrates the studios attitudes to high art. Exhibition book , 89-The Disney animators also applied the principles of follow-through and overlapping action. Never done, most things were like a cut out, moving in one piece. No one thought of the characters clothing following through, sweeping out and dropping a few frames later, which it does naturally. Thats why d anuimation looked so different. The animators applied principles used in the theatre- secondary action, anticipation, staging and timing to create believable perfomanc. 3 little pigs was a rbeakthough: for the first time, characters who look alike demonstrated differing personalities through their movements. It now wasnt just how it looked by gow he moved and determined his personality. 90-As the work of the animators became more polished, the performances grew more subtle AND NUANCED Until they rivalled the acting of live performers. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ the characters cease to exist as drawings but become live individuals. Although not directing many of the Silly Symphonies, they benefited from Disneys intervention and he was making animation a sophisticated art form. Paul Wells argues however that by taking into account the contribution of Iwerks, it is possible to challenge the view that Disney can be wholly understood as a figure around whom the key enunciative techniques and meanings of a film accrue and find implied cohesion. (Wells: ) Watts; 108 The Skeleton Dance dramatically enlarged the boundaries of enchantment and the uncanny for mainstream cartoon industry. From its earliest days metamorphosis had always been the mainspring of cartoon magic. Cartoon characters were made of parts that could change, bend out of shape, detach, grow or diminish. Landscapes were forever changing themselves. But the ss moved awar from such surreal (not abandoning them altogether) and expanded upon atmospherics Merit pg, 8 (rephrase)

Hawthorne Effects On Factory W :: essays research papers

Hawthorne experiments were conducted at the Hawthorne (Illinois) plant of the Western Electric Company to determined the psychological factors, components of the job and work satisfaction on the employees. The experiments identified the factors that will help me to manage the operating employee of the factory. The Hawthorne experiments were divided into three phrases and there were 4 experiments conducted within this purpose.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The first phrase was the test room studies where there were two experiments conducted for this purpose. The first experiment was the illumination experiments (1924-1927) which studied the effects of lighting on output. Two groups of workers were selected in the company and one group had no variations in its level of lighting while the other group were placed under the envoirement that had several variations from better to worse. The result was surprising, as output of both groups were increased. The second experiment named Relay Assembly Test Room ((1927-1929) were conducted to further the investigation. In this experiment, a group of women were made to subject of various conditions that include the effects of changes in working conditions such as rest periods and meal breaks. Again, the result of the experiment shown that regardless of whether the conditions were improved or worsened, the productivity always increased. Elton Mayo identified this situation is due to the fact that the women responded to the researchers’ attention. And saw themselves as a special group. This form of behavior is known as â€Å"Hawthorne effect†. From the first phrase of studies, I learnt that an important factor were not the incentives or working conditions, but is the esprit de corps that lies within the workers. In this case, I need to develop the esprit de corps among the operating workers by showing more personal interest to them. In short, I need to pay a lot of attention to the operating workers in my factory. The second phrase of the Hawthorne experiment was the interviewing studies. Interviewing programs were established to determine the attitudes of people at the plant towards their jobs, working conditions and supervision. It was also aimed to establish the importance of social relationships in the work situation to increment the interest in human relations at work. 21000 people were interviewed for a morale survey. The survey, however, cannot identify the dissatisfactions of the workers. The result of the survey identified that the wealth of material gained was used to improve several aspects of working conditions and supervision.

Alice Walker Essay -- essays research papers

Best known for her Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Color Purple, Alice Walker portrays black women struggling for sexual as well as racial equality and emerging as strong, creative individuals. Walker was born on February 9, 1944, in Eatonton, Georgia, the eighth child of Willie Lee and Minnie Grant Walker. When Walker was eight, her right eye was injured by one of her brothers, resulting in permanent damage to her eye and facial disfigurement that isolated her as a child. This is where her feminine point of view first emerged in a household where girls were forced to do the domestic chores unaided by the brothers. Throughout her writing career, Alice Walker has been involved in the black movement and displays strong feelings towards the respect black women get. In 1961, Walker entered Spelman College, where she joined the Civil Rights Movement. Two years after graduating in 1965, she married Melvyn Leventhal, a Jewish civil rights lawyer; afterward, they worked together in Mississippi, registering blacks to vote. In the summer of 1968, she went to Mississippi to be in the heart of the civil-rights movement, helping people who had been thrown off farms or taken off welfare roles for registering to vote. In New York, she worked as an editor at Ms. Magazine, and her husband worked for the NAACP Legal Defense Fund. In 1970, Walker published her first novel, The Third Life of Grange Copeland, about the ravages of racism on a black sharecropping family. In Meridian, 1976, her second novel, she explored a woman’s successful efforts to find her place in the Civil Rights Movement. She read much of Flannery O’Conner's work and greatly admired her. For one thing, O’Conner practiced economy. According to Herbert Mitgang of the New York Times, "She also knew that the question of race was really just the first question on a long list"(1983). Much of Walker’s writings are very personal. For example, one of her first books once was written during a time in which she was pregnant and suicidal and it described how she had an abortion and dealt with all of its after effects. Unlike many other authors, she is not afraid to write about very personal experiences she has had. Since the beginning of her writing career, she has written sixteen books, including five novels, several collections of essays, short stories, children’s books, and poems... ...mp;quot;(1993). Overall, Walker has been a very influential author throughout the black community, and her audiences are very much interracial. Although many of the criticisms are controversial over her view of black men, through this research it is concluded that the depiction cannot be narrowed down to black men. She was merely describing the kind of man who had the potential and who was abusive. Not suprisingly, most of the controversy streams from the fact that there aren’t other black male characters portrayed to counteract the depiction of the abuser. This perceived imbalance however doesn’t mean that she is focusing all her anger towards black males, she is merely trying to illustrate topics that people know are true yet perhaps unwilling to admit it. Another good argument is that it seems as though critics are trying to force her to choose between her support for the black community and her support for the feminist movement, and she won’t do that for them. She is equally supportive of both, and that is a very admirable quality. Alice Walker was a very personal author who was not afraid to show or hide anything in the struggle against racism and support for black women. Alice Walker Essay -- essays research papers Best known for her Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Color Purple, Alice Walker portrays black women struggling for sexual as well as racial equality and emerging as strong, creative individuals. Walker was born on February 9, 1944, in Eatonton, Georgia, the eighth child of Willie Lee and Minnie Grant Walker. When Walker was eight, her right eye was injured by one of her brothers, resulting in permanent damage to her eye and facial disfigurement that isolated her as a child. This is where her feminine point of view first emerged in a household where girls were forced to do the domestic chores unaided by the brothers. Throughout her writing career, Alice Walker has been involved in the black movement and displays strong feelings towards the respect black women get. In 1961, Walker entered Spelman College, where she joined the Civil Rights Movement. Two years after graduating in 1965, she married Melvyn Leventhal, a Jewish civil rights lawyer; afterward, they worked together in Mississippi, registering blacks to vote. In the summer of 1968, she went to Mississippi to be in the heart of the civil-rights movement, helping people who had been thrown off farms or taken off welfare roles for registering to vote. In New York, she worked as an editor at Ms. Magazine, and her husband worked for the NAACP Legal Defense Fund. In 1970, Walker published her first novel, The Third Life of Grange Copeland, about the ravages of racism on a black sharecropping family. In Meridian, 1976, her second novel, she explored a woman’s successful efforts to find her place in the Civil Rights Movement. She read much of Flannery O’Conner's work and greatly admired her. For one thing, O’Conner practiced economy. According to Herbert Mitgang of the New York Times, "She also knew that the question of race was really just the first question on a long list"(1983). Much of Walker’s writings are very personal. For example, one of her first books once was written during a time in which she was pregnant and suicidal and it described how she had an abortion and dealt with all of its after effects. Unlike many other authors, she is not afraid to write about very personal experiences she has had. Since the beginning of her writing career, she has written sixteen books, including five novels, several collections of essays, short stories, children’s books, and poems... ...mp;quot;(1993). Overall, Walker has been a very influential author throughout the black community, and her audiences are very much interracial. Although many of the criticisms are controversial over her view of black men, through this research it is concluded that the depiction cannot be narrowed down to black men. She was merely describing the kind of man who had the potential and who was abusive. Not suprisingly, most of the controversy streams from the fact that there aren’t other black male characters portrayed to counteract the depiction of the abuser. This perceived imbalance however doesn’t mean that she is focusing all her anger towards black males, she is merely trying to illustrate topics that people know are true yet perhaps unwilling to admit it. Another good argument is that it seems as though critics are trying to force her to choose between her support for the black community and her support for the feminist movement, and she won’t do that for them. She is equally supportive of both, and that is a very admirable quality. Alice Walker was a very personal author who was not afraid to show or hide anything in the struggle against racism and support for black women.

My Bisexuality :: Personal Narrative Writing

My Bisexuality Dreams are dangerous and wild things, but once captured and tamed, powerful insights to who you really are. I had the classic American dream: growing up, finding Prince Charming, getting married and living in a nice house with a white picket fence, two kids, and a dog. As I got older that dream of mine faded away until, one day, it no longer existed. The funny thing is, I can pinpoint that day exactly and how it changed my life. I was a sophomore in high school and, after overcoming the stresses of my freshman year and having made a name for myself, I was quite content with who I was. I wasn't the popular cheerleader Barbie that everyone adores, but that was okay. I was me, and I was finally beginning to accept that. Years before, elementary through junior high, I was the kind of kid that was constantly insulted and teased. High school had been a new start for me, and I was proud of it. I seemed to ooze confidence myself, and however it happened, it drew others to me that shared my same interests. In other words, I had real friends. It was the most amazing feeling in the world, to have friends, to belong! I was me, really me, and I completely belonged. Then, it happened. I was at band practice, as usual, watching the marching drill from the sidelines. I can't remember what exactly caught my eye, but the next thing I knew I was totally entranced by the brass section. Maybe it was one of fate's silvery threads; whatever it was, I was under its spell. Did I just see what I think I saw? Yes, yes I did! It was the weirdest thing; there was a green trumpet. Not gold, not silver, but green! "Wow!" I thought. "That's just awesome. I wonder what kind of person actually plays a green trumpet." And there you have it. The day that changed my life all started with naà ¯ve curiosity. What can I say? It was so hot outside that my skin was melting into puddles on the pavement, I was absolutely bored out of my mind, and a green trumpet (and the owner of such) offered a pleasant change of pace in the monotonous tone of my day. I know, it sounds crazy, but from the first moment I saw the midday sun glint off that emerald instrument, fate's plan had already been set in motion.

Gender Roles Seen in Toys

Gender Roles and Toys By Shawna Robb English 101 Professor Solomon One room has pretty pink wallpaper with a princess border; the other is blue with monster trucks on one-wall and sports pictures on another. It is not hard to tell which room is female and which room is male. Male and female are used in this instance to define genders. Gender, unlike sex, is a universal guideline upon which individuals are placed. Gender refers to the socially constructed roles, behavior, and activities that a particular society considers appropriate for men and women. When the pressure of gender stereotypes is open to debate some say there are prenatal influences that are gender based. What is obvious is that gender plays a significant role when it comes to the toys people select for their children and the way that toy companies market them. â€Å"Toys-R-Us† is a United States based toy company who has been taken to task for marketing designs that reflect or promote gender specific toys. It is wrong that toy stores, like â€Å"Toy’s-R-Us†, clearly divides the toys by gender in stores and in toy advertisements because it teaches children how they are supposed to be in order to be accepted by society, promotes aggressive behavior for males and a passive attitude for females. Stereotypical boy toys are things like action figures and toy cars. These are both active and aggressive, which is â€Å"masculine† representing how men are supposed to be in society. Girl’s toys are often dolls, dress up, and toys that mimic household duties. That is stereotypical because its saying girls are passive, not active. It is setting standards that girls belong in the home for their future while boys get doctor kits or chemistry sets that give them higher goals. Introducing children to these gender role ideas this early is shaping them for the rest of their lives. The world’s leading fast food franchise has an interest in the gender of its young customers. At McDonalds a very popular child’s meal is the happy meal. When a Happy Meal is ordered the worker always asks if the child is a boy or a girl. This lets the worker know what type of toy to put in with the meal. The McDonalds worker could ask if the customer wants a hot wheels or a mini Barbie but instead they learn the gender of the customer and stereotypically provide the toy. Toy stores separate their store by toys for girls and toys for boys. The girl isle has stereotypical girl colors like pink, purple, and yellow. All of these colors are light when the boy’s section has colors like red, blue’s, black, brown and green. All of the boy’s colors are darker and less â€Å"pretty†. Just from that quick look down the isle one can notice which is for girls versus boys. The dark colors are less southing and action oriented. The girl colors, are lighter making them much more calm and subdued. This same pattern can be seen in advertisements on television. Female directed commercials are light colors, with softer music usually having lyrics that explain the toy and giving passive examples for what can be done with the toy. Boy’s commercials however have the message that they are going to go out and do something active with the toy. The music for masculine toys is generally uplifting and motivating, which makes a boy excited to play with the toy. Commercials cannot be avoided and they reach almost all boys and girls on a day-to-day basis. One interesting area in looking at the influences of toys and gender is the advertising of toys relative to levels of aggression. The television airwaves are filled with toy advertising. Is there a relationship between this advertising and levels of violence, does this relationship show a gender bias? For example a parent might wonder if the purchase of â€Å"boy oriented† toys for their child might increase the child’s risk for becoming violent. The parent might also wonder if merely watching the advertisements themselves increase children’s risk for becoming violent. In 2001 Kilinger, Hamilton and Cantrell offered the observation that the use of commercials to sell children’s toy products could have a socialization impact on children similar to that of television programming. Bandura’s Social Learning Theory says, â€Å"human behavior is transmitted, whether deliberately or inadvertently, largely through exposure to social models†(Bandura 1). When a child thinks that a behavior will be punished versus rewarded but instead is not even acknowledged they will perceive it as a reward. Children usually continue rewarded behavior to receive more praise. Television is seen as a â€Å"super tutor† to Bandura, the child will model what they see on television, not knowing if it is good or bad. For those children whose parents are not good role models, the television becomes the behavioral role model. If violence and aggression is viewed on the television, it is more likely that children will engage in violent and aggressive behavior. While television can model appropriate behavior, there is a well-documented tendency for violence and aggression. Advertisements are difficult to avoid since they are interwoven in shows and they tend to emphasize violent and aggressive behavior (Kilinger 13). In the study by Kilinger, Hamilton and Cantrell they observed â€Å"children’s perceptions of aggressive content, stereotypic sex-role behavior, and appropriateness of television toy commercials†(Kilinger, 11). The results of the study support the notion that there is a gender bias in terms of aggressive content and consequently aggression potential. The results did show that toys and the advertisements for them aimed toward boys were more aggressive than that of the toys that are gender neutral or aimed toward girls. The commercials shown were clearly sex role stereotyped. This is consistent with other research that has supported the idea that boys are more socialized toward aggression. Boys may be more desensitized to aggression as a result of gender stereotyped toy commercials as well as their toy selections in the past. Again, this is a reason for concern since commercials are unavoidable while watching television. While the promotion of aggression is certainly an adequate reason to exercise great care when it comes to toy and gender, it is not the only reason. Parents do support gender bias toys from the time the child is born. More often than not, a boy will receive toys that are focused towards boys and girls will receive stereotypical girl toys. The children do not go out and buy this themselves; their parents will pick out their toys until the child is already taught what they should like. Parent’s will find out they are having a boy or a girl then base everything around that detail, like the room color example, children and baby clothes are also gender biased as well as their toys. When the girl is playing with girl toys she will be rewarded for the â€Å"right† interests, as would a boy playing with a boy toy. They will then continue this behavior to get their parent’s approval. If a father see’s their son playing with a Barbie doll or asking to be a princess, their father might redirect them saying those are girl things urging them to play with a male biased toy. One thing Social Learning Theory has assumed is that reinforcement and punishment is the means by which parents socialize children. The study named â€Å"Parental Socialization of Young Children’s Play†, done by Eisenberg, Wolchik, Hernandez and Pasternack, observed the parent’s involvement with enforcing gender stereotypes. This study found that parents do reward their children for same-sex toy play. It is not only the toy companies that enforce gender roles in toys; the people raising the child are also responsible for teaching stereotypical thinking. The idea that cross-sexed interests are wrong does come from society and children start learning this from the time they are born. (Eisenberg, Wolchik, Hernandez and Pasternack 1506). A thirteen-year-old Swedish boy, Hannes Psajd, spoke out about the gender focused toys in â€Å"Toys-R-Us†. Hannes said that the 2008 â€Å"Toys-R-Us† Christmas Catalog showed boys playing with different toys than girls do. The boy said that he and his sister always play with the same toys and there is nothing wrong with that. Psajd said that it sends the wrong message to girls, since they are playing with only passive toys. Hannes stated â€Å"boys want to be princesses sometimes†(Landes 1), demonstrating that this store does not only discriminate against girls. When the claim was looked into by a regulatory committee they stated that, â€Å"Toys-R-Us discriminates based on gender and counteracts positive social behavior, lifestyles, and attitudes†(1). This shows that children do recognize this problem if it is brought to their attention. The problem of toys defining gender roles does not completely rest  rest with â€Å"Toys-R-Us† but is a societal problem. Society has created the gender roles we now have and these roles are often strict. While it will take time to make fundamental changes in gender bias a starting point could be the creation of more gender-neutral toys. These toys would have to find their way into homes and that could be a function of the advertising that is currently part of the problem. Parents need to be educated to nurture more flexible gender roles and allow children to explore their interests, even if this interest violates stereotypical norms. Boys and girls should have equal opportunity to play with a doll or a monster truck. Children are taught gender roles from the time they are born, toys are one way that this is taught to them. In a toy store like â€Å"Toys-R-Us†, it is clear to see which isle is for boys and which one is for girls. The colors and stereotypical gender bias toys show the clear division in the store between feminine versus masculine toys. Television advertisements depict females as being passive while they promote aggressive behavior for males, this can lead to boys acting violently in the future. Parents sometimes scold children who play with cross-sex toys, which will teach the child not to repeat this behavior. Gender roles teach a child what they are supposed to be, feminine or masculine, and toys to play a part in enforcing these gender stereotypes. Works Cited Bandura, Albert. â€Å"Psychological Modeling: Conflicting Theories†. Chicago: Aldine Atherton, 1971. Print. Eisenberg, Nancy, Walchik, Sharlene A. Hernandez, Robert, Pasternack, Jeannette F. â€Å"Parental Socialization of Young Children's Play: A Short-Term Longitudinal Study. † Child Development 56. 6 (1985): 1506-13. ERIC. EBSCO. Web. 5 Apr. 2011. Klinger, Lori J. , James A. Hamilton, Cantrell, Peggy J. â€Å"Children's Perceptions of Aggressive and Gender-Specific Content in Toy Commercials. † Social Behavior and Personality 29. 1 (2001): 11-20. PsycINFO. EBSCO. Web. 5 Apr. 2011. Landes, David. â€Å"Toys‘R’Us Scolded for Gender Discrimination. † The Local: Sweden’s News in English. 6 October 2009. Print.

“No Name Woman” by Maxine Hong Kingston Essay

In this passage from â€Å"No Name Woman,† Maxine Hong Kingston imagines what old world China was like, and paints a picture of a repressive, strictly ordered society in which people were essentially unable to have private lives. Everything had to be done for the sake of the family’s or village’s well-being. In such a world, Kingston’s aunt represents the worst kind of transgressor, one whose private lusts disrupted the social order and threatened the very existence of the village. Kingston uses interesting and imaginative stylistic techniques to represent the â€Å"circle† or â€Å"roundness† of Chinese life and the struggle this creates for both the village and No Name Woman. The village that Kingston’s aunt lives in was very strict and had their own set rules on how society should live. â€Å"If my aunt had betrayed the family at the time of large grain yields and peace, when many boys were born, and wings were being built on many houses, perhaps she might have escaped such severe punishment.† (11-14) Kingston explains to the reader that if the village is doing really well in maintaining stability, then maybe she could get away with having a child out of wedlock. But because this happened while the village is not doing so well at the time, they made her pay for what she had done. No Name Woman’s scenario shows the reader the unfair rules the village abides by. If the village is doing well, they will push any problem associated with their rules of â€Å"roundness† aside, but if they are not doing so well at the time a rule is broken or a problem erupts, they will make that person suffer the consequence of their action. The villagers blamed her for all the unfortunate events that were happening in the village at the time. â€Å"People who refused fatalism because they could invent small resources insisted on culpability. Deny accidents and wrest fault from the stars† (33-36) in these two sentences, Kingston shows the reader that the people in the village who do something wrong, would blame other people because their ego was so strong they believe they do nothing wrong to cause any problems. So when another person does wrong, they were not hesitant to point the finger at someone. The village’s whole life was based on the idea of â€Å"roundness†. Kingston shows the reader what the idea of â€Å"roundness† means to the village by using symbolism. â€Å"The frightened villagers, who depended on one another to maintain the real, went to my aunt to show her a personal, physical representation of the break she made in the â€Å"roundness.† (4-7) the village views the idea of â€Å"roundness† as the universe, or unity. They believe that the â€Å"roundness† was the cycle of life; the way the community functions. Kingston uses imagery to give the reader an image of the village â€Å"The round moon cakes and the round doorways, the round tables of graduated size that fit one roundness inside another, round windows and rice bowl-these talismans had lost their power to warn this family of the law: A family must be whole, faithfully keeping the descent line by having sons to feed the old and the dead who in turn look after the family.† (21-26). the sentence proves to the reader how much the village emphasizes the idea of â€Å"roundness†. They have tables, doors, and windows that are all round. Kingston’s vivid imagery shows the reader that their whole life and universe is based on the idea of â€Å"roundness†. When Kingston’s aunt was pregnant without being married, the villagers felt like she was disrupting their â€Å"roundness†. Kingston shows the reader how the villagers feel about her aunt, â€Å"The villagers were speeding up the circling of events because she was too short sighted to see that her infidelity had already harmed the village.† (27-29) this tells us that the villagers feel what she was doing was wrong and had an effect on the whole village. They were enraged at her because she had disrupted their whole universe. They felt she had done it on purpose which upset them even more. Their belief system was that if anyone disturbs their roundness, they were to get rid of them. Their roundness was their universe. Their whole life was based and influenced on the idea of roundness. If someone had disturbed it, they needed to get rid of them because that meant somebody was disturbing their universe. â€Å"Awaken her to the inexorable† (33) the villagers mean to punish her so bad that she feels herself waking up to a horrible and unbearable life. They want her to realize exactly what she had done, and how bad she has caused chaos in the village. No Name Woman was a villager whose action caused disruption in the â€Å"circle† or â€Å"roundness† of the Chinese way of life. The villagers felt the need to remove her because they thought she was the problem. They assumed by getting rid of her, they could restore their â€Å"roundness† way of life. They did not want to admit that other issues and other people were also associated with their village’s problems.