A Critique of the Short Story Say Goodbye

This paper is shows a critique of the Short Story Say Goodbye. This critique would concentrate on the writing style of the author. It would also provide some insights from the proponent of this paper on how the story can be related to the way a person live his life. The author of the story had appropriately given a title to the story that he had written. It captures the essence of the story and the emotional feel of it. Any reader who would read this story would be able to relate to it because the author had been able to show how people treat life. In the first part of the story, Eileen McCoy is a typical woman who takes everything for granted. She does not worry too much about her life because she knows that her best friend Liz is there to take care of her. Eileen did not also feel that there would be something wrong with her life because she had been with James for the past thirty-six years and from the story they had a happy life. Although Eileen loves her husband, she did not know that something was coming until they went to see the doctor. James McCoy, on the other hand, is a very good example of how the people behave when they feel something wrong with them. In real life, there are some people who evade the topic of having a check-up. Since James was putting off any check-ups from the doctor, he was not able to have his diagnosis early. As a result, it became too late for a treatment that could have prolonged his life. Regrets are always realized when it is too late and this is what the author had shared with the readers. It is well written and the reader can relate easily to how the story was written. The author ended the story in a very good way. The reader can really feel the emotion of the two characters at the end of the story. Although the characters did not actually say goodbye, the author did not show how Eileen would have said goodbye to James. This is an open ending where one would imagine James in his deathbed and how Eileen would make the most out of their lives. It is a good strategy to keep the readers think even after the reader had read the story. The theme of the story is given straight to the readers and even though the story is not long, any reader would remember it. This is because what the story provides the reader is a lesson that every person should know which is â€Å"Live life to the fullest and appreciate what you have. † The story could also change lives and open the eyes of the reader. Having a â€Å"James McCoy† as a friend or a family, the reader can actually tell someone they know to watch out for their health because you only have one life. A person’s life is always linked to someone and every life is important. If the person wants the people they know dearly to stay happy then he or she must always take care of how they are. A person can make another one’s life miserable by just being ill and when a person is gone, the one who suffers most are the one’s left behind. A well-written story deserves praise and what matters in a story is the content and not the length. It is good to read short stories such as this one because it is a story which could be happening right this moment. There are people out there who have just been learned things that could change their life forever right this moment. Sharing this story with other readers could help them change how they see life and appreciate it more.

Uol Past Year Paper

This paper is not to be removed from the Examination Halls UNIVERSITY OF LONDON AC3093 ZB (279 0093) BSc Degrees and Diplomas for Graduates in Economics, Management, Finance and the Social Sciences, the Diplomas in Economics and Social Sciences and Access Route Auditing and Assurance Friday, 18 May 2012 : 10. 00am to 1. 00pm Candidates should answer FOUR of the following EIGHT questions: TWO from Section A, ONE from Section B and ONE further question from either section. All questions carry equal marks.  © University of London 2012 UL12/0010 D01 PLEASE TURN OVER Page 1 of 6SECTION A Answer TWO questions from this section and not more than one further question. (You are reminded that four questions in total are to be attempted with at least one from Section B. ) 1. You have just been approached by the newly-appointed Senior Regulator for the financial services (including accounting and auditing) industry in a country which has previously had little or no regulation on the provision of financial information. The Regulator has said that his first priority is to improve the quality of annual financial statements which the major companies in the country publish.The Regulator has established working parties to examine improvements in the quality of accounting and financial reporting practices. Another working party has been established to examine the quality of audit field work. The Regulator tells you that he wants your working party to put forward proposals which will improve the quality of audit reporting. He is concerned that present practices allow individual auditors to report in their own way. This has led to confusion, since there are so many different styles of audit report. The Regulator believes that a standardised approach will reduce this confusion.He is aware that there are international auditing standards on auditing and asks you to examine the possibility of adopting an approach consistent with the international standards. He asks you to look at the following specific aspects of audit reporting: †¢ To whom the audit report is addressed †¢ A reference to the framework of accounting †¢ A reference to the framework of auditing †¢ Some discussion of what can be and what cannot be expected from an audit †¢ The style of opinion on the financial statements, and †¢ Any other issues you think might be relevant.Required (a) (b) Draft a report from your working party on the specific issues mentioned above. (15 marks) Draft an appendix to this report setting out the advantages and disadvantages of a standardised approach to audit reporting. (10 marks) UL12/0010 D01 Page 2 of 6 2. You are the audit partner of Lottolife, a leisure establishment which includes a bar and a restaurant open to the general public. The management consists of a senior manager and three assistant managers; all four are paid a salary with a profit-related bonus.Both the bar and the restaurant are dependent on casual workers who are paid an hourly rate in cash at the end of the week. To record the hours worked, each employee has to ‘clock in and clock out’ using a clock card inserted into a machine which records the time in and out. There is no other check on the accuracy of the recorded hours. Workers are hired after a short interview by one of the assistant managers who completes a form to record the details of the successful applicant. The company has a poor reputation as an employer and expects its staff to work long hours.Consequently employees tend not to stay very long. On resigning, an employee has to sign a form which is endorsed by the assistant manager and is then handed to the Payroll Department so that the employee’s last pay packet can be made up and the employee taken off the payroll. There are never enough applicants to fill the vacancies and almost no applicant is rejected. Both pay and staff morale are low. In an attempt to boost the pay and attract more and better staff, one o f the assistant managers has suggested paying a weekly bonus from the cash tips left by customers.The tips would be divided among the workers rather than being banked as part of the takings. There would be no record kept of the tips which would mean that the workers would not be taxed on their ‘bonus’. It also has a members-only club which is a licensed casino where various forms of gambling take place. Under the licensing rules only trained staff can be employed and these are reasonably well paid jobs. Occasionally if there is a staff shortage on the catering side in the casino, members of the bar and restaurant staff are brought in, given new uniforms and are instructed to help out.Technically this is against the gaming rules, but the casino management consider that if the breach is ever discovered by the authorities, the worst thing that might happen would be the casino having to pay a fine. They are aware however that it is possible that the licence could be withdra wn and the casino could be forced to close. Required (a) (b) Identify possible weaknesses in the control environment in Lottolife. (15 marks) Suggest various audit procedures which might be appropriate in the particular circumstances of Lottolife. (10 marks) UL12/0010 D01 Page 3 of 6 3.You have just been appointed auditor of Bruton’s Ltd, a small family-owned gentlemen’s tailors and clothes shop. It is based in the South-West of England where it has six shops in different towns. The clothes it stocks and sells are at the upper end of the price range, appealing to the wealthier customer. The company, like its customers is old-fashioned. In fact, the decor of the shops has not changed since the 1960s. The head of the family and major shareholder, John Bruton, is aged 86 and sees no reason to change what has for fifty years been a winning formula – a top quality service and a premium price.He dismisses the falling sales and lower profits as simply consequences of t he tough economic climate. The three other shareholders are Bruton’s sons, the youngest of whom is 53. The sons have tried to get their father to change strategy since they have seen similar companies in other regions increase their market share through the internet and through a radical make-over of their retail outlets. They accept that their plans will cost about ? 10m and they will need a bank loan to finance what is effectively a re-branding exercise.They believe, though they have not done a detailed analysis, that internet sales over the next three years would bring in enough cash to repay the loan and enough profit to cover loan interest. After that, there would be clear profit for about ten years until the next rebranding was needed. In addition, the leases on the shops are all going to expire in the next five years. These can be renewed but it will be costly as the premises are all in city centre locations which are highly sought after by companies in the food and dr inks industry.With insufficient cash reserves, Bruton’s would need further bank financing to cover the capital cost of renewing these long term leases. The sons are also urging their father to consider buying in cheaper clothes imported from Asia as way of boosting sales and profits. The father who is very patriotic has rejected this suggestion, choosing instead to stay with British-based suppliers who have served him well since he began in business. Bruton’s accounting system dates from the 1960s. It is mainly manual with sales staff making out a handwritten receipt for each sale.Cash is put through a till but there is no reconciliation of receipts and takings through the till. The shops do have credit card facilities but again there is no reconciliation of sales and card receipts. The main element of control is the presence of one of Bruton’s sons. Each is responsible for two shops which they attend on alternate days. This close supervision has seemed to work well until, Roger, the eldest son, had a heart attack and was unable to work for six months. During this time, his two brothers supervised the six shops visiting one every three days.Roger is now back at work though he only works reduced hours at one location. Required (a) (b) Identify the major elements of audit risk in Bruton’s Ltd. (15 marks) Explain the steps you would have taken before formally accepting appointment as auditor of Bruton’s Ltd. (10 marks) UL12/0010 D01 Page 4 of 6 4. You have just been appointed the Quality Assurance Partner in Raiffes & Co. , Chartered Accountants and Registered Auditors. You are currently reviewing a sample of the audit files of five audit clients.Your aim is to ensure that the quality of audit work at least matches and, if possible, exceeds the minimum standard required under the international auditing standards and UK legislation. You have made the following list of items which cause you concern: †¢ In Albany Ltd, the audi t team noted that although accurate inventory records had not been kept during the year, the year-end stock count was tightly controlled and a detailed review of gross profit margins suggested little chance of material error. On this basis the audit manager had recommended signing an unmodified opinion.In Boverton plc, a weakness in internal control had been detected early in the audit. The weakness concerned payroll and may have allowed overpayments to genuine staff and/or payments to fictitious staff. Because payroll is such a sensitive area, the audit team had done nothing more than note the weakness in the audit file, highlighting the issue for partner review. In Chirley plc, the company had failed to comply with the relevant financial reporting standard for pension costs. The matter is one of disclosure rather than measurement.The Finance Director simply will not accept that the standard is correct and insists that he is right. The recommendation from the audit team is to agree with the Finance Director since the accounting numbers are right and the firm should not risk upsetting a major client. In Dalton, a fraud involving the cashier had been discovered. The amount involved was immaterial to the financial statements. When the Finance Director was told about the fraud, he was unmoved, claiming that he knew about the fraud which had been going on since the man was first employed five years ago.The Finance Director said that he allowed the cashier to supplement his salary in this way since it was cheaper than giving him a pay rise. In Exeter Ltd, this was the first year of the audit appointment. The fixed asset register had not been maintained for the last five years meaning that it was impossible to assess from the records how long the assets had been in use. Total tangible fixed assets are material to the financial statements. The team had immediately stopped work on fixed assets concluding that the audit report would have to be modified on the grounds o f disagreement. †¢ †¢ †¢ Required (a) Evaluate the situation in each of the five cases and suggest an appropriate course of action in each including if necessary modifying the auditors’ report. (15 marks) Suggest steps which the firm should take to ensure that all its audits come up tot the appropriate standard. (10 marks) (b) UL12/0010 D01 Page 5 of 6 SECTION B Answer ONE question from this section and not more than one further question. (You are reminded that four questions in total are to be attempted with at least two from Section A. ) 5.Because audit time is not unlimited, sampling is a key component of any audit strategy. Explain the various factors which auditors consider when setting up their sampling plan. 6. Critically evaluate the purpose of an audit from the point of view of the readers of the auditors’ report. 7. You are required to write a general theory of auditing of financial statements. What concepts and assumptions would you include an d what purpose would each serve? 8. Critically evaluate the measures taken in the IFAC Code of Ethics to safeguard auditor independence. END OF PAPER UL12/0010 D01 Page 6 of 6

A Feminist Criticism of a Farewell to Arms Essay

After finishing A Farewell to Arms, I found it difficult to reconcile Judith Fetterley’s feminist attack of the novel with my own personal opinions. I agree that Hemingway does kick women to the curb in his portrayal of Catherine, but my reasons for pinning this crime on Hemingway are different from hers’. Although she means well, Fetterley makes the ridiculous claim that by portraying Catherine as an angelic, selflessly loving â€Å"woman to end all women,† Hemingway disguises misogynistic attitudes and a deep-seeded hatred towards the XX chromosome. This claim is not supported by the text. If we look at Hemingway through the lens of his own words, we find that his misogyny does not spring from a â€Å"too good to be true† portrait of Catherine, but rather in his tendency to cast her down into the dirt-Catherine is a dependent, baby-manufacturing trap that stifles Lieutenant Henry: â€Å"Poor, poor dear Cat. And this was the price you paid for sleeping together. This was the end of the trap† (320). It is his penchant for sex and his need for womanly comfort that keeps Henry coming back to Catherine, not some notion of â€Å"love† or true connection. This is Hemingway’s misogyny, however unintentional, unmasked. But to get a true sense of this â€Å"anti-Fetterley† feminist view of the novel, it is important too look at the specifics of Hemingway’s construction of Catherine-facts that stand in direct opposition to Fetterley’s stated attacks. First of all, Catherine is not Fetterley’s unique and unattainable goddess-she is an object in Henry’s universe, a feast of sensations but nothing more. She is akin to good food and good drink: â€Å"‘I was made to eat. My God, yes. Eat and drink and sleep with Catherine'† (233). Indeed, Henry’s thoughts about Catherine, both when he is at the front or by her side, mingle with longings for good wine and reflections on sumptuous meals. In Henry’s world, a good Capri would be nice, a nice hunk of cheese would be grand, and sleeping with Catherine would be sublime. These things all equate to the satisfaction of basic human needs. Every now and then, Henry feels a grumbling in his loins-a periodic hunger for the â€Å"cheese† between Catherine’s legs. Hemingway dissolves Catherine into the least common denominator-the object, devoid of meaning or real importance (when Henry isn’t hungry). How can Catherine be an angel, as Fetterley claims, when she is merely an object, a small, rocklike satellite orbiting Planet Henry? This leads us to another aspect of Hemingway’s treatment of Catherine. In the novel, she is a completely dependent and subservient slave to Henry and his desires-she is placed firmly under his heel. This is evident from her dialogue: â€Å"‘I’m good. Aren’t I good? You don’t want any other girls, do you?†¦ You see? I’m good. I do what you want'† (106). Through her words, we get a sense that the only thing that concerns Catherine is the level of Henry’s satisfaction. She needs his approval; he is the beginning and end of her world. This dependency resurfaces many times in the novel. In Milan, Catherine works herself to the bone all day, so that she can have sex with Henry all night. Throughout this period, her greatest worry is that she doesn’t tack up to the girls that he has had in the past: â€Å"‘I’ll say just what you wish and I’ll do what you wish and then you will never want any other girls'† (105). When she is pregnant, her thoughts and concerns continue to center completely around Henry’s happiness: â€Å"‘But after she’s born and I’m thin again I’m going to cut it (her hair) and then I’ll be a fine new and different girl for you'† (304). Even during her long and arduous labor, Catherine’s single worry is that she is a burden on Henry: â€Å"‘Oh, I wanted so o have this baby and not make trouble, and now I’m all done and all gone to pieces and it doesn’t work'† (322). Fetterley might claim that this amounts to â€Å"selfless-love,† but I think this phrase gives Catherine (and Hemingway) too much credit. Catherine, as portrayed in the text, seems more like an obedient dog then a virtuous, unselfish being of light; she is like a mutt that serves its master because it has no one else and cannot survive on its own. By the end of the novel, Hemingway succeeds in portraying Catherine as both an object and a docile subject in Lieutenant Henry’s kingdom. This construction diminishes Catherine’s character and allows Henry (and Hemingway) to view her and the baby completely in terms of the burden they entail. They are a â€Å"trap†-flames that burn the log that â€Å"Henry the ant† scurries around on. This makes it much easier for Hemingway to kill off Catherine and wash Henry’s hands of all responsibility-the final pieces in his misogynistic puzzle. This harsh take is a more tenable alternative to Fetterley’s feminist attacks on the novel.

Cheetham Reading Assignment Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Cheetham Reading Assignment - Coursework Example Cheetham suggests that Emanuel Swedenborg influenced Gauguin’s inspirations outright. Schopenhauer’s analyses Gauguin’s achievement as genius, madness and memory. He elaborates and defines genius as the capacity to remain in a state of pure perception which could be blended with madness as his genius defies social norms. Lastly the madness connects to the memory as it focuses on the platonic ideas which are seen through the mirrors of inner thoughts. Schopenhauers purely neoplatonic theory perfectly describes the â€Å"disjunctions† found in so many of Gauguin’s paintings as he tends to interpret the things in terms of ‘higher meaning and distort nature. He laments that he derives meanings from the inner thoughts and not materialistic world. Aurier’s reference to â€Å"pure† Ideas the touchstone for the neoplatonic foundation of Gauguin’s abstract art as the memories confront the artists with the ultimate reality. The neoplatonic philosophy in late nineteenth century France was popular as it offered metaphysical security which helped artists to escape from the harsh realities of the

Taxation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Taxation - Essay Example First, the paper explores the evidence presented by Mirrlees that is applicable to welfare reform, then analyses the shortcomings of the current benefits and welfare system, the changes proposed to the welfare system, and lastly, criticisms launched by various parties to the proposed changes to the UK benefits and welfare system. The Mirrlees Review delivers a comprehensive review of tax reform drawing on new evidence, new (applied) theory, and new economic environment. The main motivation for the call for reform was a tax structure that does not work as a system (absence of joining up between welfare benefits, corporate taxes, and personal taxes); is not neutral in cases where it should be (irreconcilable savings taxes and a corporate tax system that elevates debt over equity); is not well structured where it should diverge from neutrality, and fails to attain progressivity efficiently (Auerbach 2012, p.685). The impact of taxation on work effort forms one of the core sources of inefficiency of a distortionary tax system. Labour supply models convey the trade off between work and leisure. The evidence detailed in Labour Supply and Taxes detail that the hours of are comparatively inelastic for men, and a bit responsive for married women (Meghir and Philips 2008, p.3). The participation of low education men is more responsive to the incentive to incentives than initially thought. For men with enhanced levels of education, participation is virtually responsive. The Mirrlees Review considered evidence under five headings: critical margins of adjustment to tax reform; measurement of effective tax rates; the significance of information and complexity; evidence on the size of responses; and, implications from theory for tax design (Mirrlees, et al. 2010, p.2). The review delivers empirical evidence on labour supply responses for individuals and families at both the intensive and extensive margins and by age and demographic structure;

Solar energy project at Philippines Research Paper

Solar energy project at Philippines - Research Paper Example Now I will discuss the Role of Stakeholders, project manager in relation to Project Governance in the project of BP solar energy. The project manager has the responsibility for the management of the project needs to have a well-defined process (Kenneth, 1998). In this project, the project manager has to streamline the main resources and financial aid to plan for the successful completion of this project. BP solar energy company has to make use of the local workforce and regional resources for this project to support them and this will also take less investment for the project. The government and Ministry of Finance of Philippines have to originate and establish such parameters to renovate this project development and also contact to international donors for their better support for the project. Local communities have to produce the innovation in the public and raise funds to support this project for its successful completion. The analysis I have conducted for this project has provided us a roadmap for the better project handling and management. I have identified two main stakeholders of this project, by this information we have to get the clear picture of people and instaurations those are attached, affected, influenced and take advantage for this project. This is basically a public welfare project to provide the electricity to people who do not have this facility in far from the area of Philippines. In this analysis, I have found that general public is the biggest beneficiary of this project.

Task4 accounting manager Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Task4 accounting manager - Essay Example This report may help the management to look into the real reasons for such variances and control them. These are all the accounting functions which every organization has to undertake for future accountability. In addition to these, continuous improvement of service has to be embarked upon. The firm has never given any thought towards such performance improvement. Of these functions, only some direction has been derived towards strategic decisions that too because of the expected economic downturn. That means the firm is falling short of decision making in financial management terms. The company has thought upon implementing the strategy of cost leadership. However, on checking through the cost incurrence, there is a variance of 10%. The budgeted costs amounted to 70% of revenue whereas the actual expenses expanded up to 80%. This means that the strategy was not taken up seriously. Once the service terms get standardized, there will be less possibility of variances in the costs. At the same time, the cost leadership strategy can be achieved on a long term basis without any compromise on the service standards. A look into the financial report and the cash flow statement clearly states that the firm has surplus cash in hand. That means it is not making ultimate use of its available funds. If it goes for some financial management planning by acquiring new machinery, the funds would be well utilized for future low cost benefits. To implement any plan in any organization, it needs to be well communicated to all its stakeholders. They need to be explained about the shortfalls in the current management. Slowly, along with accounting management, even financial management processes have to be taken up. Once effective communication has been taken up, quick actions to implement those plans are to be initiated. The stakeholders should not find a fault that the

Healthcare policy and Health Care Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Healthcare policy and Health Care - Essay Example   Provided that every insurer is given the option to choose between public and private hospitals, the allocation of doctors might be affected because of the differences in professional fees and other benefits provided only if employed in private institutions. Increase subsidy in private insurance providers encourages those who were previously self-sustained to opt for these insurances instead.  Ã‚  Provided that every insurer is given the option to choose between public and private hospitals, the allocation of doctors might be affected because of the differences in professional fees and other benefits provided only if employed in private institutions. Increase subsidy in private insurance providers encourages those who were previously self-sustained to opt for these insurances instead.   Those in the healthcare industry are in an open-handed type of work. It is characterized by the increase in the demand which results in an increase of the number of hours spent for work. Relate d to the previously cited problem, this is a result of the unequal distribution of the professionals among public and private hospitals. In the context of policy issues, this distribution is brought about by the migration of professionals from the public to private hospitals because of the mentioned inefficiency in government structures such as the prevalence of bureaucracy within the system itself.   In a personal milieu, these professionals feel undervalued and may even result in quitting the job for failure to meet personal satisfaction.  The principle of a sound health care plan is best achieved with equity of the foundation that attending to the health concerns of a nation is indispensable to its growth. Assimilation of health in various social factors such as education and finance develops into a workable scheme in order to provide an environment wherein people belonging to any social status are given access to health care.  ... Textual analysis was first employed by looking at the possible provisions on healthcare in their Constitution. It was found out that there are several changes and alterations of their Constitution hence its effects to the health care policies were examined. There were also examinations on the synchronicity level or the coexistence of these health care policies in the past and the present – a closer assessment at what connects both phenomena in time. Documentary evidence will be collected in order to elucidate on the policies and laws of the Australian federal government and the state at particular points in its history. To collate it with the aims and objectives of the succeeding parts, it is important that the research focuses on the institutional factors representing that particular stage and its ramifications to the present. Core Australian healthcare policies and how it influence public health outcomes The Australian healthcare policy is divided into three categories; a) t he Medicare, b) non-Medicare, and c) privately-financed health care services. The Medicare is the application of the health care policies based on standards set by the federal government and the state of which both share the responsibility for its administration and financing. This covers pharmaceutical benefits and for in-patient and medical insurances. The second is largely public financing without applications of national standards. And the last constitutes other private professional services such as physical therapy, physiotherapy and dental care. Positive outcomes and effects of the policy 1. The delineation of public policy proved effective as it clearly shows the role of the federal government and the state on every portion. As a result, in the 2000

Propose and Justify Research Method and Design Essay

Propose and Justify Research Method and Design - Essay Example Research design ensures that different parts of the research process do not conflict with each other. Research design usually comes after we have identified problem situations and developed a Hypothesis or problem statement. It’s usually is a rational decision making process, which is very methodological. To understand the role of ethical leadership in the educational environment, opinions, literature and hardcore statistics will be equally important. The nature of the study is such that a single dimensional study with only statistics or only opinions will not be able to answer the question at hand. In such a study taking only quantitative or only a qualitative analysis will complicate the problem statement. Thus there is a need to take a mixed method design approach for the study mentioned. A study using a mixed method design aims to establish facts using both quantitative and qualitative data; therefore it is called a mixed method design. Mixed method design is usually used in studies which are on the initial stages of research, and the research questions require the research to both come up with the proper definitions and solve the problem statement at the same time. If we use mixed method design for ‘How can ethical leadership in educational institution, influence a positive learning environment?’ a design with the following elements can be used. Below are details of why a mixed method design is important, for each element of research design. The purpose of the study will be to both explore and describe certain elements to enhance and increase understanding. An exploratory study is undertaken when not much is known about the situation, or there are no valid examples of how similar problems have been handled in the past. This type of study enables to better comprehend the nature of the problem. In essence an exploratory study enables the researcher to get much needed familiarity with a research topic

Discuss two different public policy case studies Essay

Discuss two different public policy case studies - Essay Example The primary objective of this essay is to examine two public policies case studies, taking into account the theoretical foundations of a public policy, concepts and models and any other critical component. Thereafter, the paper will compare these two public policy initiatives in different settings. The paper considers public policy associated with the public interest that is the ‘big picture view’, the need for public servants to commit their energies for the bigger picture, the wider interests. It also emphasizes the importance of the procedures and tactics for both policy development and public participation; and the commitment and skills required to cooperate with other sectors and the public. The paper proposes that the initial intention of a public policy is that of inclusion, that is every member of a society must be included in the social and economic activities of a system. Development of a Public Policy In the development of a public policy it is important to cr itically study the content, genesis, rationale and structures of the public policy Ashford (1992, p.354). Further, it is important to achieve an understanding of the people involved in this process and the channel through which public policy is developed. In outlining the rationale guiding development of a public policy, we begin by the foundations upon which a concept might be established upon, the definition of a public policy. There are numerous definitions of a public policy, but the definition must contain aspects of ideas, values, decisions made and actions taken, pursued or ignored by the relevant authority with respect to the achievement of that idea or plan Braun and Busch (1999, p.61). This if candidly stated would imply choices and decisions taken by a government that will direct actions that might follow from the initial choice or decisions. Public policies can be split into two classes; there are policies that are already on the public agenda and there are policies that are yet to be formulated. Public policies can also be split into two, a policy can either be regulative or allocative (Harrington, Estes and Crawford 2004, p.7). The policy that is already on the public agenda is already prioritized and the necessary formal stages are in place, on the other hand, any issue that is not on the public policy agenda requires sufficient information and education from all the relevant stakeholders to initiate its development and to oversee its implementation. Gerston (1997, p.63) suggests that for a public policy to be classified as a public agenda it must meet three criteria , first, the policy must have a wide scope, second the impact of the policy must be felt, this the intensity criterion and finally it must have been developed earlier, the time criterion. Public policies have been formulated for a number of reasons, Blakely and Leigh, (2010, p.127) suggests that public policy satisfy three core reasons reactive, proactive and proactive demands. Publ ic policy formulation is deemed as reactive when it acts in response to certain issues and demands that are arising, either out of pre-warning or with minimal warning to the relevant authority, external factors or internal factors. The process may entail the plan to resolve that problem or

A voice, a mystery Essay Example for Free

A voice, a mystery Essay William Wordsworths To the Cuckoo and John Keats Ode to a nightingale are comparable in many different aspects. The two poems have striking similarities and appear akin to one another. Both poems are likely to be written in related styles; both Wordsworth and Keats wrote in the same era, and were both Romantic Poets. They are also both poets of similar stature and regarded to be of similar ability. They both talk of similar a subject matter, a bird that is personally special. There are parallels to be drawn, but there are also many ways in which the poems contrast. It becomes clear that both poets perceive and respond to their subjects rather differently, and that the poems differ in meaning, direction and quality. The nucleus of both poems is a bird, Keats writes of a nightingale and Wordsworth of a Cuckoo. Birds are very modest and insignificant creatures, yet both poets have used them to extensively express emotion. To these poets their respective birds are extraordinary and important. Neither poet refers to one particular creature, but they both use the species of bird representatively. It is not their fondness for the bird as if it were a pet, a domestic animal, but their fondness of the free animal species that inspires them. It is important to acknowledge that although both poets, especially Wordsworth enjoy using lavish description, neither describes the physical appearance of the bird. They are both using the birds as metaphors, as symbols. Wordsworth makes the bird an invisible thing/ a voice, a mystery He does not see the bird, he can only hear it. This is to enhance the metaphorical strength of the bird. Keats similarly does not feel the need to describe the nightingale. Whereas Wordsworth does this to make his image more mystical and ambiguous, to Keats it does not matter what it looks like, it is the nightingales spirit he writes about. He talks primarily about its manner and its ways. Wordsworth also makes the cuckoo seem more divine and more powerful by using Voice and Cry with capital letters. This makes the sound of the cuckoo personify the bird and what it represents. The cuckoo is not regarded as beautiful physically, so he chooses to show it and even call it by its voice, O Cuckoo! shall I call thee bird, Or but a wondering Voice. Keats also points out the nightingales singing capacity, creating audible and not only visual imagery, Singest of summer in full-throated ease. The way the two poets perceive and react to their subjects is where the two poets vary greatly. It is relevant that in Tintern Abbey, Wordsworth says the following: Of eye and ear, both what they half create, And what perceive Both poets do follow this idea. They use imagination to expand on what they see and do so in different directions. The fact that Wordsworth does not see the Cuckoo means he can invent and expand greatly. Both poets are clearly partial to the birds, but show different attitudes towards them. Wordsworth longs for the bird, he needs the bird and is fond of it. Keats insists he is not jealous, Tis not through envy of thy happy lot, But being too happy in thy happiness However, he certainly shows contempt towards the bird and expresses an unhappy longing which borders on envy. In essence, the bird is part of Wordsworth. It is part of his past. He is yearning for his past so he longs for the cuckoo. The cuckoo is the symbol for his past. It is something he has left, something that has not changed. The same whom in my schoolboy days, I listend to

Reading of the modernists involved such a process of disturbance Essay Example for Free

Reading of the modernists involved such a process of disturbance Essay Modernist writers disturbed their readers by adopting complex and difficult new forms and styles. To what extent has your reading of the modernists involved such a process of disturbance? Modernist literature flaunts difficult, often aggressive or disruptive, forms and styles; it frequently challenges traditional realistic style and is characterised by a rejection of 19th century traditions. Literary modernism focuses on breaking away from rules and conventions, searching for new perspectives and points of view, experimenting in form and style. It breaks up and disturbs the settled state of literature and emphasises a re-structuring of literature and the experience of reality it represents. Although art always attempts to imitate or represent reality, what changed was the understanding of what constitutes reality, and how that reality could best be represented. Modernist literature is marked by a break with the sequential, developmental, cause-and-effect presentation of the reality of realist fiction, towards a presentation of experience as layered, allusive, and discontinuous: using, to these ends, fragmentation and juxtaposition, motif, symbol, allusion. From time to time there occurs some revolution, or sudden mutation of form and content in literature. Then, some way of writing which has been practiced for a generation or more, is found by a few people to be out of date, and no longer to respond to contemporary modes of thought, feeling and speechtradition has been flouted, and chaos has come.1 This process of disturbance can be seen in the experimentation in form in order to present differently the structure, the connections, and the experience of life. The tightening of form puts an emphasis on cohesion, interrelatedness and depth in the structure of the novel. This is accomplished in part through the use of various devices such as symbolism, narrative perspectives, shifts and overlays in time and place and perspective. Woolf uses these methods to explore what lies outside the specification of the real. Woolf draws on an interior and symbolic landscape: the world is moved inside, structured symbolically and metaphorically, as opposed to the realist representations of the exterior world as a physical and historical, site of experience. The painter Jacques Raverat wrote in a correspondence to Woolf: The problem with writing is that it is essentially linear; it is almost impossible, in a sequential narrative, to express the way ones mind responds to an idea, a word or an experience, where, like a pebble being thrown in to a pond, splashes in the outer air are accompanied under the surface by waves that follow one another into dark and forgotten corners2 Woolf felt it was precisely the task of the writer to go beyond a linear representation of reality in order to show how people think and dream. Rather than take her characters from point A to point B, Woolf gives the impression of simultaneous connections: a form patterned like waves in a pond. She reveals what is important about her characters by exploring their minds and the thoughts of those surrounding them. Such explorations lead to complex connections between people, between past and present, and between interior and exterior experience. Woolf establishes these connections through metaphors and imagery, and structures the novel using alternating images of beauty and despair, exhilaration and melancholy. These juxtapositions suggest both the impulse towards life and the impulse towards death, which makes the process of reading disconcerting and recondite. Woolf dispensed with conventional beginnings and endings, and the traditional structure of events in time, for example, Mrs Dalloway tells about one days experiences for two characters whose lives are not connected with each other, except by the slightest coincidence at the end. Woolf uses perceived time interwoven with clock time to create a simultaneous experience of past and present. The scene is London after the war, but also Bourton thirty years ago. In this commingling of time, the past exists on its own and in its relations to the present. Time is moved into the interior as well: it becomes psychological time, time as an innerly experienced or symbolic time, or time as it accommodates a symbolic rather than a chronological reality. Examining the intersection of time and timelessness, Woolf creates a new and disturbing novelistic structure in Mrs. Dalloway wherein her prose has blurred the distinction between dream and reality, between the past and present. An authentic human being functions in this manner, simultaneously flowing from the conscious to the unconscious, from the fantastic to the real, and from memory to the moment. Throughout Mrs Dalloway the focus continually shifts from the external world to the characters consciousness and how they perceive it. This has the disquieting effect of back grounding observable reality so the details emerge more slowly than when they are presented by an omniscient narrator. However, the London setting is established immediately, the streets and landmarks are real, this verisimilitude of setting seems to give the characters a solidity which is juxtaposed with the fluidity of the depiction of the characters thought processes. Mrs Dalloway supposes that somehow in the streets of London, on the ebb and flow of things, here, there, she survived3 The fact that the narrative takes place on a specific date is disclosed more gradually than the setting is, for example, Clarissa thinks For it was the middle of June. The war was over4 and then the narrator tells us it is Wednesday on page fifteen. Later still Peter Walshs thoughts reveal that it is 19235. There are also references to Gold cup day at Ascot so by naming a specific year Woolf turns what could have been a fictional fact in to a real one. Woolf implies a concept of time as a series of life conjunctures rather than impersonal. These are established by the presence of sensory phenomena in different contexts such as the sound of Big Ben, the common perceptions among unrelated observers, for instance, the prime ministers car. Also, by convergences at occasions of group activities as in Clarissas party. Time seems relativistic in the sense it depends on systems of measurement. The clocks divide the day into quarter hours. The loud voice of Big Ben is associated with the masculine. It is described as a young man, strong, indifferent, inconsiderate, were swinging dumb-bells this way and that6. It marks the movements of the two doctors, Peter Walsh and Sir Richard as they move through their day, making pronouncements. St Margarets on the other hand is the feminine. It follows Big Bens booming leaden circles with ring after ring of sound that glides into the heart like a hostess, like Clarissa herself7 thinks Peter Walsh as he hears St Margarets peeling sound. Furthermore, The clocks divide time into a pattern, Shredding and slicing, dividing and subdividing, the clocks of Harley Street nibbled at the June day, counselled submission, upheld authority, and pointed out in chorus the supreme advantages of a sense of proportion8 The ringing of the clock bells radiates from the centre of the city. The sound creates a design in the texture of the narrative, slicing through the characters subjective experience of time and contrasting this with objective, exterior time. In To The Lighthouse many of the characters are preoccupied with time. Mr. Ramsay worries about how his philosophical work will stand the test of time, just as Lily expects her painting to be rolled up and forgotten. The very style of the novel brings time into question as Woolf infuses even a brief moment in an everyday event, such as reading a story to a child, with an infinitude of thought and memory 9 Meanwhile days, tides, and seasons keep up their rhythms regardless of human events, while historical time brings cataclysmic change in the form of war. In addition, time brings loss as well as renewal. Mrs. Ramsay dies, while the children she has left behind continue to grow. In To the Lighthouse Woolf depicts two contrasting kinds of time, the linear and regular plodding of clock or objective time, and the reiterative, non-linear time of human experience. Her depiction of subjective time, layered and complex was, critics have observed, not unlike that of the philosopher Henri Bergson, though there is no evidence of any direct influence. It is in the Time Passes section of the novel that Woolfs interest in the contrasting forms of temporality is most evident. The narrative style of this part is very unusual and is unlike that of Parts I and III. Its effort to narrate from what Woolf called an eyeless point of view is strange, it is as if she is thinking of the philosophical problem, the problem with which Mr Ramsay grapples in the novel, of how to think of the world when there is no one there. This is translated into an artistic problem, of how to narrate the passage of time when there is no one there to witness it. The scale of events in Time Passes is much grander than the scale in The Window, thus throughout this section Woolf employs a different method and uses parenthetical asides to impart important news. Instead of focusing on the thoughts of her characters, she keeps a tight focus on the house itself. Dramatic events such as Mrs. Ramsays death could not have been confronted in the style of The Window. as the subtle, everyday quality of the interactions between events and thoughts would have been disturbed by the introduction of the tumultuous news imparted here. The airs in this section of the novel are like times fingers. The constant, regular beam of the Lighthouse is closely allied with time, too, like an all-seeing and immortal eye. Puffs of air detached from the body of the wind10 pull at the loose wallpaper and the things in the house, the light from the Lighthouse guiding them through the house. Natural time is seen as objective and inhuman, it is destructive and violent in the sense that it has no concern for human purposes. Woolfs solution to this problem is to invent a poetic style that, ironically, relies heavily upon the devices of personification and animism. The shadows of the trees made obeisance on the wall, loveliness and stillness clasped hands in the bedroom, light bent to its own image in adoration on the bedroom wall and in the heat of the summer the wind sent its spies about the house again11. It can be questioned whether these devices are successful. It is as if Woolf wishes to fill the emptiness of inhuman nature with primitive animistic entities and malign agencies. The solution can seem oddly childlike, personification and animism being, as Freud pointed out, typical of infantile thought12. The problem illustrates, perhaps, the difficulty of avoiding images of human agency even when they are least necessary. In Mrs Dalloway during sections of mind-time, Woolf sets various time streams loose at once, either in the mind of one character, who retreats into internal soliloquy, collapsing past, present and future, or in the simultaneous perspectives given by several characters recording a single moment. The result of either technique is that plot time stands still.13 Time is not entirely subjective and elastic in this text, however. The novel does take place within a prescribed temporal context marked ominously by the booming of Big Ben: First a warning, musical; then the hour, irrevocable. The leaden circles dissolved in the air. Throughout the novel this chronology is inescapable, cutting through the characters thoughts of the past to bring them back to the present moment Auerbach points out that To the Lighthouse marks the end of the Western tradition of realism. He argues that the novel employs a new fashion of temporality. It is the gap between the brief span of time occupied by exterior events, about two days in The Window, and the rich, dreamlike realm of consciousness. The exterior events actually lost the hegemony over subjectivity14. The novel proves the insignificance of exterior events by holding to minor, unimpressive things like stockings, while keeping in minimum the descriptions of such great events as death and marriage. To the Lighthouse is thus a disturbing turning point in literature because it discarded any claim to the organic completeness of exterior events and the chronological order. To The lighthouse employs a non-linearity and thus counteracts narratives usual form of depicting events in a continuous succession. Synchronicity, evident in the coexistence of multiple perspectives at the same temporal moment, disturbs the narratives attempt to render the story world as events in succession. And elision, evident in the stories within the story whose endings are invariably left dangling and incomplete, dissolves the narratives attempt to achieve completion. Together, these discordant methods undermine the conventional unfolding of narrative. Woolfs novel employs these techniques of disruption in order to portray narrative continuity as an inescapable yet unattainable illusion. Plot is generated by the inner lives of the characters. Psychological effects are achieved through the use of imagery, symbol, and metaphor. Character unfolds by means of the ebb and flow of personal impressions, feelings, and thoughts. Thus, the inner lives of human beings and the ordinary events in their lives are made to seem extraordinary. These complex and new methods that attempt to depict the chaotic interior life appear more jumbled and perplexing than the classical realist novel and so seem disturbing. However, Woolf is attempting to create a realistic account of the inner processes of the individuals mind and an expression of the continuous flow of sense perceptions, thoughts and feelings. Woolf also employs the symbolic apprehension and comprehension of reality as a structural approach to experience. It marked a turning away from writing by observation to transforming fact into a symbol of inner experience. In her diary Woolf wrote What interests me in the last stage was the freedom and boldness with which my imagination picked up, used and tossed aside all the images, symbols which I had prepared. I am sure this is the right way of using them-not in set piecesbut simply as images, never making them work out; only suggest 15 To The Lighthouse assumes a structure similar to that found in the fictional scene of the painting. In a letter Woolf acknowledges the structure and its unifying symbol as enacted at the end. I meant nothing by The Lighthouse. One has to have a central line down the middle of the book to hold the design together.16 In To The Lighthouse the Lighthouse has a prominent but fluid symbolic place in the novel. It does not seem to be the key to some hidden allegory since it does not stand for just one thing, each character that contemplates the Lighthouse gives it a special meaning, its significance in the novel evolves as the sum of different parts. For the teenaged James, the Lighthouse is a stark symbol of masculinity, a phallic symbol. For Mrs. Ramsay, the Lighthouse is a watching eye sweeping through her thoughts with a regular rhythm. To Woolf, the Lighthouse seems to serve as an anchor, a unifying image that ties together the layers of time and thought she explores. Like the clock striking the hours in Mrs. Dalloway, images of the Lighthouse act as the bolts of iron17 holding the different strands of the novel together. The focus of the planned excursion is not named until page eight and from then onwards the Lighthouse always appears with a capital letter. It is conventional to capitalize words referring to abstractions, particularly in philosophical writing. This feature has the effect of elevating the significance of the place, as if Lighthouse were an abstract concept like Truth or Death. The Lighthouse makes its first appearance in the text in very lyrical terms. The domestic metaphors used to describe the scene, which are perhaps Mrs. Ramsays associations; the island is in a plateful of blue water, and the dunes are arranged in pleats18. The first influence of the lighthouse is the description of Jamess excitement The wonder to which he had looked forward, for years and years19 The lighthouse already seems to have gained a greater significance than its mere physical existence. It is an object of desire to James. However, his reaction to Mrs Ramseys promise shows that there is a separation between his dream of happiness (going to the lighthouse) and his dull, everyday experience of life. Prosaically, the lighthouse is a real thing, yet James has made it into an unattainable dream, which he does not expect to come true. James seems to be in a crisis because there is a prospect that his ideal world and real world will become the same and he will go to the lighthouse. Therefore, the wondrous aura of the lighthouse is attached to mundane things. James endows a picture of a refrigerator with a heavenly bliss. It was filled with joy20 this implies that fantasies bring relief from the dullness of everyday life, as long as there is the prospect that they will come true. However, James is one of that great clan21 who live for the future but if future ideals cloud the view of reality then there is an implicit suggestion that achieving ones desire presents a danger in that there would be nothing left to live for. Conversely, people must have some hope of achieving their ideal, or life would become futile. Woolfs symbol of the lighthouse expresses this paradoxical idea in that it represents both an idealised fantasy while also being a real lighthouse. It becomes a trigger, provoking the reader to think about the human tendency to live for a future fantasy, together with all the paradoxical emotions Woolf conveys as associated with that tendency. James looked at the Lighthouse. He could see the white-washed rocks; the tower, stark and straight; he could see that it was barred with black and white; he could see windows in it; he could even see washing spread on the rocks to dry. So that was the Lighthouse, was it? No, the other was also the Lighthouse. For nothing was simply one thing. The other Lighthouse was true too22 James compares the real and the ideal and decides that the Lighthouse can be both. He provides a useful key for deciphering the symbol of the Lighthouse, for nothing was simply one thing23. The Lighthouse is the object of striving, some mystical, distant entity with an all-seeing eye. At the same time it is the embodiment of isolation and sadness, linked with Jamess desolate image of himself and his father as lonely and apart from other people The fact that the Lighthouse is a frequent subject for artists adds to its symbolic import. The tightening of form puts an emphasis on cohesion, interrelatedness and depth in the structure, Woolf engages both the subject of art, Lily Briscoes painting, for example and the aim of philosophy, in Mr. Ramsays work. The Lighthouse was then a silvery, misty-looking tower with a yellow eye, that opened suddenly, and softly in the evening.24 Mrs. Ramsay incorporates the Lighthouses regularly appearing light into the pattern of her thoughts. She recognizes that she is doing this, that she is making the things she sees part of herself, as if the Lighthouse was an eye looking at her. The light strokes also serve to highlight certain cadences in her thought, heightening their meaning by repetition The parallels developing in this section between Lilys actions and reflections and the impending trip to the Lighthouse suggest that Lilys revelation, her moment of clarity and stability, is her own version of the Lighthouse, the thing toward which she has been striving 25. Woolf builds upon the same metaphors and imagery through repetition and association to give them symbolic value of their own. There are repetitions of key images: water, waves, and sea; webs, ties, and threads; and trees through the novels. In Mrs Dalloway words are used in very certain terms in relation to life. They are used repeatedly throughout the rest of the novel, and built upon as metaphors until they stand alone to symbolize life. The sense of being absorbed in the process of action is inseparable from the fear of being excluded from it and from the dread that the process is going to be interrupted. The metaphor of the interrupter and the solemn pause, indicating a fear of being interrupted, are developed throughout the novel. Clarissas sewing is depicted in a rhythmic wave of building, creating, and making. These images recur throughout the novel as they gain symbolic significance. Sewing is a metaphor often used to denote womens creative capacity and symbolizes both artistry and the creation of life. The wave provides both a sense of calm and fulfillment, yet maintains a suspenseful pause before a crash or interruption Mrs. Dalloway has an unpleasant feeling she cannot place. After taking a moment to think, she realizes this feeling is attached to something Peter had said, combined with her own depression26. She realizes it is her parties. Her unpleasant feeling is attached to the criticism she receives from both Richard and Peter about her parties. Clarissa privately defends her parties. She sees them as an offering, a term she is able to recognize as vague and goes on to define. She is offering a connection. She gives meaning to life by feeling the existence of others and offering a way to bring them together, offering them a chance of connection. While sitting on the couch, Septimus notices a shadow on the wall. Fear no more the heat o the sun. This phrase, which acts as a calming device, enters his head. Suddenly, he is not afraid. He sits up and takes an interest in what Lucrezia is doing. She is making a hat. More significantly, she is creating and building Rezias creation of the hat, like Clarissas sewing, symbolizes not only the creation of life, but also more specifically, the female ability to create life But this hat now. And then (it was getting late) Sir William Bradshaw27 Woolf uses this one symbolic line as a metaphor for the transition from life, represented in the making of the hat and death, suggested by Bradshaw, the symbol of the souls containment and the character who ultimately provides Septimus with the impetus to kill himself. Woolf uses a great deal of imagery; her similes often begin as a straightforward comparison, which is then elaborated. This moves the ideas away from the physical reality of the narrative and towards mental events, emotions and ideas providing a bridge between the plot and the interior consciousness of the characters. The reader is shown the dilemma of how to create a meaningful sequence and the impossibility of essentially finding an explicit formal system of how to represent objects and concepts, that are assumed to exist, and the relationships between them. The cumulative effect of such repeated notions and images is to establish a systematic network of social elements, such as, human time, space, shared symbols, personal relationships, so as to arrive at a vision of modern life on a national scale. This collective existence is apprehended internally, as its participants experience it. It is both the content and the form used to portray that content which makes reading a disturbing process. The question of the reality of experience itself; the critique of the traditional values of the culture; the loss of meaning and hope in the modern world and the exploration of how this loss may be faced are all themes within Woolfs novels. Subject matter and writing style are the two features that characterise Modernism and this applies to Mrs Dalloway. The themes of Woolfs novels express the angst of Modernism in a precise way and Mrs Dalloway exemplifies the conflict felt in the modern society that produces this angst. The conflict is played out between two forces, one that fragments and disperses social order and causes chaos, and a more stable impulse that looks for unity. Multiple voices, fragmented narrative and stream of consciousness are the stylistic devices of Woolf that convey the themes of conflict, despair and escape in the novel. Mrs Dalloway can be seen as an attempt to critique modern life, however, the novel can seem overwhelmed by the chaos of characters struggling to find meaning in life when death is such a large presence. Another aspect of this novel that is Modernist and can be seen to be disturbing is its withdrawal from the epic novel, the larger historical or temporal frame found in the 19th century novel. In Mrs Dalloway, there is no organising logic from which to draw a secure and comfortable resolution to lifes struggles. The action or plot is restricted to a single day, no large epic journey is possible and while the struggle for life is apparent, there is nothing of the 19th century moral structure to contain and manage the outcomes. Death and despair overwhelm life and its purposes, the narrowness of life is suffocating, and lives are fragmented, anxious, disconnected and misrecognised. To The Lighthouse also undermines what were the conventional expectations attached to novels. Woolf speculated that she might be writing something other than a novel. I have an idea that I will invent a new name for my books to supplant novelBut what? Elegy?28 Her work can be seen as more poetry than fiction as it occupies itself with abstract ideas and experimentation more than with plot and character development Woolf throws into disorder readers expectations of how life can be represented within a novel, and she achieves this through seeking a new mode of expression. It is not that she rejects reality, but rather that she sought to develop a higher type of realism, as if more complex forms would allow for the depiction of a more complex and vivid understanding of reality. Bibliograph. Auerbach, Erich, Mimesis: the representation of reality in Western literature / by Erich Auerbach; translated from the German by Willard Trask. New York: Doubleday/Anchor Books, 1957. Bell, Q, Virginia Woolf: A Biography. London: Hogarth Press, 1972. Eliot, T.S, American Literature and American Language in Selected Essays. London: Faber, 1951. Fleishman, Avrom, Virginia Woolf: A Critical Reading. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1975. Lee, Hermione, The Novels of Virginia Woolf. New York: Holmes and Meier Publishers, 1977. Naremore, James, The World Without A Self. London: Yale University Press, 1973. Schulze, Robin. G, Varieties of Mystical Experience in the Writings of Virginia Woolf in Twentieth Century Literature Vol.44. New York: Hofstra University, 1998. Woolf, Virginia. A writers diary: being extracts from the diary of Virginia Woolf edited by Leonard Woolf. London, Hogarth Press, 1953. Woolf. Virginia, Mrs Dalloway. London: Penguin, 1996. Woolf, Virginia, To The Lighthouse. London: Penguin, 1992. 1 Eliot, T.S, American Literature and American Language in Selected Essays. London: Faber, 1951.p. 73. 2 Lee, Hermione, The Novels of Virginia Woolf. New York: Holmes and Meier Publishers, 1977. p.106. 3 Woof, Virginia, Mrs Dalloway. London: Penguin, 1996. p.8. 4 Ibid. p.6. 5 Ibid. p.55. 6 Ibid. p.35. 7 Ibid. p.60. 8 Ibid. p.75. 9 Auerbach, Erich, Mimesis: the representation of reality in Western literature / by Erich Auerbach; translated from the German by Willard Trask. New York: Doubleday/Anchor Books, 1957. p.529. 10 Woolf, Virginia, To The Lighthouse. London: Penguin, 1992, p.190 11 Ibid. pp.137-139. 12 Schulze, Robin. G, Varieties of Mystical Experience in the Writings of Virginia Woolf in Twentieth Century Literature Vol.44. New York: Hofstra University, 1998. p.3 13 Naremore, James, The World Without A Self. London: Yale University Press, 1973. p.71. 14 Auerbach, Erich, Mimesis: the representation of reality in Western literature / by Erich Auerbach; translated from the German by Willard Trask. New York: Doubleday/Anchor Books, 1957. pp. 351-355 15 Woolf, Virginia. A writers diary: being extracts from the diary of Virginia Woolf edited by Leonard Woolf. London, Hogarth Press, 1953. p.169 16 Bell, Q, Virginia Woolf: A Biography. London: Hogarth Press, 1972. p.168. 17 Woolf, Virginia, To The Lighthouse. London: Penguin, 1992. p.5. 18 Ibid. p.23. 19 Ibid. p.7. 20 Ibid. p.7. 21 Ibid. p.7. 22 Ibid. pp.276-277. 23 Ibid. p.277. 24 Ibid. p. 107. 25 Ibid. 270. 26 Woolf. Virginia, Mrs Dalloway. London: Penguin, 1996. p.183. 27 Ibid. p. 178. 28 Woolf, Virginia. A writers diary: being extracts from the diary of Virginia Woolf edited by Leonard Woolf. London, Hogarth Press, 1953. p.78.

The Decisive Role Of Humour In Advertising English Language Essay

The Decisive Role Of Humour In Advertising English Language Essay Humour plays a decisive role in our daily life and it is also a subject of interest of numerous disciplines such as linguistics, popular culture, psychology, mass communications, marketing and some others. The discussion of what humour is can be traced back to Aristotle and Plato. The complexity of this phenomenon has been an intrigue for many researches. Humor is a universal human activity found among all cultures and throughout all of recorded history (Alden, Hoyer, and Lee 1993). Humour is widely used in advertising as a form of communication in order to persuade customers to purchase products and services since it is generally believed among advertisers that making us laugh will encourage positive thoughts and feelings toward their products and brands and put us in a receptive mood for their sales messages (Beard 2008: 2). Cook said that advertising is always a handy and useful mirror if we want to reflect on the way we behave socially (Cook 1992:5). However, the use of humour in advertising remains very controversial as its presence in advertising can cause both positive and negative effects. Response to a humorous ad can be different as individuals have different sense of humour. Therefore humour is very individual and subjective but at the same time it is universal. According to Raskin responding to humor is part of human behavior, ability, or competence, other parts of which comprise such important social and psychological manifestations of Homo sapiens as language, morality, logic, faith, etc. Just as all of those, humor may be described as partly natural and partly acquired (Raskin 1985: 2). Throughout its history there were many attempts to define humour but none of the definitions accounts for all its possible types thus underlying its complexity. Humour can be broadly identified as a form of communication in which a created stimulus may act to provide pleasure for an audience (Gulas and Weinberger 2006: 95). Attardo states that linguists, psychologists, and anthropologists have taken humor to be an all-encompassing category, covering any event or object that elicits laughter, amuses, or is felt to be funny (Attardo 1994:4). It is very important to distinguish between humour and laughter as humour has been often identified with laughter  [1]  which seems to be wrong as humour a mental phenomenon while laughter is rather a neurophysiological reaction to it. 1.2 Aim and scope The objective of this thesis is to contribute to further understanding of one of the numerous strategies employed by advertisers, namely humour. However, this thesis does not set out to provide a theoretical framework for humour in spite of the fact that the following chapters make frequent reference to the academic and scientific literature. The overall aim of the study is not only to provide a better understanding of humour in print advertising and give an insight into different linguistic theories of humour as well as its different types but also to describe different linguistic features which advertisers use to incorporate humour and illustrate this by means of empirical material gathered from a variety of sources. Under this point humour will be divided into two groups: pun-based humour and non-pun humour. We deal with pun humour when the advertiser uses elements of language to create new meanings that result in humour. My supposition is that this is the type of humour which mos t often occurs in print advertising. In this regard such linguistic devices will be described as polysemy, homonymy, idiomatic expressions, neologisms and nonce formations, and antonyms. However this would be just mere identification of a certain type of humour in advertising and its enabling factors. Therefore the extent of the study is to look how different types of humour vary across different products and services advertised in magazines. Since it is generally believed that the best media suited to the use of humour are radio and TV, lots of studies exploring the use of humour and its effectiveness were conducted mostly in this field. Therefore this thesis is focused on the advertisements presented in print media and does not feature ads that appear on the television, radio, internet, and cinema. There has always been a great debate over whether humorous print advertisements work and of course there is no need to say that they do. We just have to remember that humour print invol ves a more intimate relationship. Graham Warsop, the only creative director to have judged the big four international advertising awards, once said: Print humour gets someone to smile inwardly rather than outwardly (Aitchison 2004:). This states again that not everybody will laugh at the same things. It should be noted that headline and body copy of an advertisement will not be the crucial means of attraction since most advertisements are humorous only due to the interplay of text and image. The picture often functions as an eye-catcher in the ad whereas its meaning differs from the meaning of the text. Cook considers pictures to be a part of advertising discourse as they are used to convey a central idea in the ad (Cook 2003:6). Thus, both pictures and headlines will be seen as equivalent and will be considered together as their interplay contributes to the overall meaning of the text.  [2]  Advertising in its turn will be seen in the thesis as a communication process. 1.3 Outline As shown in the table of contents, this thesis consists of five chapters. Chapter One is the introduction in which the purpose and the research questions are stated. It starts by providing a background of the subject of the thesis, and then moves on to description of material and methods and ends by introducing the advertising terminology. Chapter Two is dedicated to a more detailed delimitation of the concept of humour, with an overview of the major humour theories which are necessary for introducing the operational definition of humour that will be used in this study. Chapter Three presents humour types. It discusses numerous existing taxonomies of humour types and offers a new classification which subdivides humour types into two main groups: pun based humour vs. non pun humour. The structure of this chapter is centered on this taxonomy with the corresponding analysis of the advertisements. Chapter Four is a research part of the thesis which analyzes the incidence of the identifie d humour types across various products and services and presents the collected empirical data as well as the results and findings. Chapter Five functions as a summing-up in which the research questions are answered and the conclusions are drawn. A bibliography and appendix will conclude the thesis. 1.4 Material and Method As stated above this thesis is focused on the advertisements presented in print media and does not feature ads that appear on the television, radio, internet, and cinema. The selected material consists of a total of sixty two humorous advertisements chosen from the range of around two hundred English-speaking magazines published between the years 2006 and 2010. Popular lifestyle magazines have been mainly used as they are directed toward a general audience and have a high content of ads which advertise a wide range of products and service. I used so wide range of magazines because one and the same ad have been found in numerous magazines as well as in different issues of one and the same magazine. For this thesis I have mainly used such glossy magazines as Cosmopolitan, Marie Claire, In Touch, Chat, OK, In Style, Self, The Economist and some others. No gender issues will be put forward in this thesis as well as no differentiation will be made between humour in British and US magazine s as it would give this thesis a whole new dimension. As a first step in the selection procedure, I looked for any ads that displayed humorous context. The selection was relatively wide as this resulted in around 100 ads which I considered to be humorous. It should be noted that when browsing through numerous magazines it is very difficult to determine whether the ad is humorous or not as certain subjectivity is always involved into the process of decision making. That is why the subjectivity is inevitable. Despite the fact that such procedure of selection is often employed by many researches, I tried to avoid making decisions without consideration of opposing opinions and different points of view. For this purpose one interview was conducted the aim of which was to exclude prevailed subjectivity in my selective procedure and to explore two basic questions: which advertisements will be still considered as humorous according to the interviewees and how they will determine the type of humour in case the ad proves to be humorous. A remark should be made under this point that anyway it will be to a certain degree the so called unilateral decision as in the long run it is me who decided which ads would be included and which would be left out. It is also worth of mentioning that the interview is not the main purpose of this study and that is why its presence in the thesis will be limited by the short description of its procedure and results. Coming back to the interview procedure, it should be noted that the interview was conducted in a small group consisted of twelve participants. The length of the interview was two hours. Around one hundred fifty different ads were presented to the participants chosen on the assumption that all of them were humorous. In order to ensure that the results would not be biased, the participants were not informed about this fact as well they did not know what the study was exactly about. The participants were asked to have a look at each advertisement and to determine whether they consider it to be interesting or boring, creative or not creative and humorous or non-humorous. The two supplement questions besides the question about the presence or absence of humour in the ad were introduced only with the purpose of trying to avoid some potential disadvantages which are directly connected with an interview. This is the so called participant reflexivity, which means that the person being intervi ewed (interviewee) tells the interviewer only what s/he wants to hear. Then, since many people often expect from a humorous ad to make them burst into laughing and such an attitude would bias the results of the interview I decided to ask them to rate (in case they think the advertisement is humorous) how humorous it was on a five-point-scale. Rating an advertisement as 5 meant that they considered it to be very humorous, 3 indicated that it was a moderate representative of humorousness whereas 1 suggested that it was a very poor example of a humorous ad and should be probably excluded from the list. The results drawn after the evaluation of twelve questionnaires were surprisingly consistent. The agreement was particularly high for the identification of the given advertisements to be humorous or non-humorous. As for rating is concerned the results were not similar, better to say they were very inconsistent and that proves again that humour is always being judged individually and subj ectively. After that all the ads were sorted out to determine which ads would be fruitful for a qualitative analysis. The advertisements which were considered by most of the participants as not humorous at all were excluded from the list of candidates for future analysis. 1.5 Advertising terminology No need to say that advertising hat its own terminology. I am not going to list all the terms you can find in the field of advertising. Thus, the terminology will be limited to a few terms which are frequently used in this thesis. I will follow Cooks definitions which he presents in his Discourse of Advertising (2003). According to him Headline Phrase(s) found at the top of an ad. Caption Phrases (s) found in close proximity to an image. Body copy A piece of smaller text, often containing the main (or copy) information. . CHAPTER 2. THEORETICAL BACKGROUND 2.1 Introduction As was mentioned in the introduction, humour is by no means homogenous. Since there is no general acceptance in classifying humour, there is no ideal theory of humour which can cover all its factors and embrace all its peculiarities. Most of the existing humour theories are mixed and it seems to be impossible to incorporate such a huge phenomenon as humour into a single integrated theory. As a starting point it can be asserted that humour is triggered by particular mechanisms (Spotts, 1987). Spotts states that these mechanisms can be grouped into three main categories: the cognitive theory, superiority theory, and the relief theory (Spotts et al. 1997:20). The chapter that follows is dedicated to some of the main threads of the theories of humour that have emerged although it is important to notice that not all humour theories ever proposed will be presented in it and it will not be attempted to make a comprehensive survey of all these ideas. Only those theories will be discussed which play a significant role for working out an operational definition of humour for this thesis. 2.2 Incongruity and Incongruity-Resolution Theory Incongruity can be called in other words inconsistency or contradiction. The incongruity theory goes back to Francis Hutchesons Reflections Upon Laughter published in 1750. Later on it was revisited and represented by Kant, Schopenhauer and Kierkegaard. Incongruity theories are considered to be cognitive in their nature. This is the group of theories which dominates humour research. According to McGhee (1979) humour is as reaction to incongruity and he defined incongruity as the relationship between components of an object, event, idea, social expectation and so forth. When the arrangement for the constituent element of an event is incompatible with the normal or expected pattern, the event is perceived as incongruous. The existing theories of incongruity have a difference based on the question whether incongruity is a necessary condition for humour to be produced and if yes, whether it is sufficient or probably there are other conditions needed to cause humour. Based on this fact tw o schools of thought about incongruity theories appeared: the so called one-stage incongruity theories and two-stage incongruity-resolution theories. One-stage incongruity theorists like many representatives of some psychological theories propose that we often laugh when we see or hear something unexpected. In terms of this theory it can be said that we cognitively process (or think about) the message in a single stage that includes three parts interruption (whats that?), perceptual contrast (theres something incongruous and unexpected here!), and playful confusion (whats it mean) (Speck, 1987:7). Other theorists like Jerry Suls and Thomas Schultz, the opponents of the two-stage incongruity resolution theory, postulate that it is not sufficient for a message to be funny by itself and they insist on the overlapping of meanings of the incongruous parts and on the presence of a second stage, namely the resolution of the incongruity. Incongruity becomes stronger only when it follows a resolution process and is understood and accepted by its audience (Gulas and Weinberger 2006: 23à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ 26). Attardo considered incongruity theories to be cognitive in their nature and were often associated with linguistic theories of humour. To summarize the ideas, it can be added that incongruity theory is based on the idea of a contrast between two overlapping scripts whereas incongruity-resolution theory requires the presence of two stages: incongruity as derivation from expectation and incongruity understood in resolution which in its turn results in amusement. Incongruity is seen by many researches as a humour type. I prefer to see it as a condition needed to produce humour. 2.3 Superiority Theory The second branch of the main humour theories is presented by theories of superiority. These theories have gone by lots of names such as disparagement, criticism, hostility, aggression, malice, degradation, and derision. This group of humour theories is based on the ideas of Aristotle, Quintillian, Plato, and later Thomas Hobbes (seventeenth century) and it is directly connected with the social function of humour which cannot be said about the incongruity theories which consider humour as an individual phenomenon. Superiority theory is a theory of mockery. In terms of this theory humour is pointed against something or somebody thus making us to believe that something or somebody is superior to somebody else. In other words we laugh from feelings of superiority over other people, from suddaine Glory arising from suddaine Conception of some Eminency in our selves, by Comparison with the Infirmityes of others, or with our owne formerly (Critcheley, 2002: 3). It is suggested that people joke about things that make them feel unsure and/or uncomfortable as a way of releasing feelings of tensions (Gulas and Weinberger 2006: 28). 2.4 Release Theories Release theories as well as superiority theories have numerous names such as arousal theory  [3]  , freedom theory  [4]  , and tension-release theory  [5]  . This group of theories describes how people respond emotionally to humour. It was put forward by Herbert Spencer in the nineteenth century but it was better explained and thus it is better known from Freuds analysis of humorous utterances given in his book Jokes and Their Relation to the Unconscious (1905). Freud proposed that jokes provide us with a release from the constant need to repress our natural aggressive and sexual desires, and are thus experienced as pleasurable. Like dreams, jokes come from the unconscious, bur are first transformed into less explicit forms, thereby providing a socially acceptable way of breaking taboos (Ventola, Guijarro 2009: 79). The release theory has rather to do with the physiological function of humour. It is based on the notion of homeostasis, which means that humans regulate their inner environment on the physiological level in order to ensure certain stability in response to strain, tension, and anxiety. Morreall (1983) talks about the biological function of laughter and insists on the possibility of coexistence of relief theory with other theories discussed above: incongruity (relief through resolution) and superiority (relief through triumph.  [6]   2.5 Linguistic Theories of Humour Since all the existing theories of humour are based on the notion of incongruity there is no theory about which it can be definitely said that it is a purely linguistic one. Linguistic in this case is rather a conditional name. Nevertheless, the first step into this direction was put forward by Raskin, who suggested a script-based semantic theory developed for verbal humour. Viktor Raskins Script-Based Semantic Theory of Humour was presented in his book Semantic Mechanisms of Humor (1985) which was a great contribution to all of the humour theories ever proposed and a first attempt to describe humour from a linguistic perspective. Raskin set his goal as following: Ideally, a linguistic theory of humour should determine and formulate and the necessary and sufficient linguistic conditions for the text to be funny (Raskin, 1985: 47). The script-based semantic theory of humour was designed as a neutral theory which takes in account all the three theories discussed above. According to Raskins theory, verbal or written communication is considered to be a joke if the text is fully compatible with two different but at the same time opposite scripts. Script in this case presents a large chunk of semantic information. This is the main hypothesis of his theory: A text can be characterized as a single-joke-carrying text if both of the conditions are satisfied. i) Th e text is compatible, fully or in part, with two different scripts ii) The two scripts with which the text is compatible are opposite in a special sense (à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦). The two scripts with which the text is compatible are said to overlap fully or in part on this text (Raskin 1985: 99). Raskin introduces the notion of the trigger or a punch-line, which switches the listener from one script to another thus creating the joke (Raskin, 1985: 36). Raskins theory can be interpreted within the terms of incongruity ­-resolution school of humour. Although his theory was primarily developed for verbal humour it proves to be effective for many types of humorous advertising, both for verbal and for visual. It should be noted that there is also a revisited version of the SSTH called The General Theory of Verbal Humour (GTVH). This theory was a result of collaboration of Raskin and Attardo. The main aim of the GTVH was to broaden the scope of Raskins SSTH in order to apply it to any humorous text.  [7]  Attardo comments about it as following: Whereas the SSTH was a semantic theory of humor, the GTVH is a linguistic theory at large that is, it includes other areas of linguistics as well, including, most notably, textual linguistics, the theory of narrativity, and pragmatics (Attardo 1994: 222). Attardo postulates that resolution does not exclude the presence of incongruity; they coexist and accompany each other so that any humorous text will contain an element of incongruity and an element of resolution (Attardo 1994: 144). 2.5.2 Operational Definition An operational definition of humour will have to encompass all the above listed theories as all of them are important for the analysis of the advertisements in this thesis. Under this point I would fully agree with Raskin when he said that à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ the incongruity-based theories make a statement about the stimulus; the superiority theories characterize the relations or attitudes between the speaker and the hearer; and the release/relief theories comment on the feelings and psychology of the hearer only. (Raskin 1985: 40) The operational definition of a humorous advertisement will be worked out in terms of Raskins SSTH. The question arises why no I do not follow the GTVH. There are reasons for that. First, the GTVH adopted the main hypothesis of the SSTH. Second, the broadenings introduced, are not of much importance for a current analysis. The third reason is that the GTVH is still under development and not all the problematic issues have been resolved yet. So the advertisement will be considered to be humorous if it fulfills the following conditions: the advertisement has two overlapping scripts which cause the incongruity these two scripts are in the opposite relation to each other. The first condition alone would not be enough for the advertisement to be humorous as the overlapping of two scripts may have a non-funny text as a result as well. CHAPTER 3. HUMOUR TYPES 3.1 Introduction Since there is no universal definition of humour, there are many ways to classify it and there is no universally accepted classification of humour types. Taxonomies of humour types are very different and not homogeneous. There have been many attempts to classify humour according to different criteria. Kelly and Solomon (1975), for example, classified humour according to techniques used in order to produce humorous effect and presented seven types such as a pun, an understatement, a joke, something ludicrous, satire, irony and humorous intent whereas Goldstein and McGhee talked about three types: nonsense, sexual and aggressive. An overview of some main classifications is presented in Table 2  [8]  , which proves the fact that the typologies of humour types are diverse and mixed as well as terminology used for different types of humour: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ (Raskin) The classification of humour types presented in this thesis is based on the taxonomy offered by Catanescu and Tom (2001) which in its turn used Reicks practitioner-oriented classification system as a basis. Catanescu and Tom adopted five types from this classification and added two new types which resulted in seven following humour types: comparison, personification, exaggeration, pun, sarcasm, silliness, and surprise. As the study they conducted was not only devoted to homour in print advertising, not all humour types presented in their taxonomy could be included into classification for this thesis. Thus, such category as surprise had to be left out despite several examples of using this technique in a print advertisement which could be found during the analysis of selected material. The reason for that was the fact that the operational definition did not work with this humour type as some other mechanisms were involved in such advertisements which were beyond the current analysis. To avoid the mixture of devices, types and techniques about which Raskin spoke, all these types were divided into two main categories, namely pun humour and non-pun humour each of them was subdivided into several sub categories. In such a way polysemy, homonymy, nonce-formations and idiomatic expressions fell under the category of pun humour and such types as comparison, personification, exaggeration, sarcasm and silliness under the category of non-pun humour correspondently. The goals of this chapter are: a) to introduce some definitions of a pun to frame the discussion, b) to give an insight into some types of pun taxonomies, c) to develop pun taxonomy for the current analysis and to describe the nature of the linguistic phenomena involved in puns illustrating it with the help of gathered material, d) to offer a taxonomy of non-pun humour taking into account the occurrence of each type in the advertisements collected from the magazines. 3.2 Oh! Thats a pun and I didnt mean it  [9]   Before talking about pun-based humour it seems to be of great importance to determine what will be understood under pun. Puns are said to be the most common basis for humour.  [10]  The management of humorous language is largely a matter of devising transfers the transfer from set to set, from scale to scale, from layer to layer, until the happy conclusion of a double vision is achieved. At the heart of this process of continual and multiple transference, an important process aping the shiftiness of thought itself, is the apparently frivolous device of pun; word-play is the lure, the spinning toy that draws up the lurking and fishy meaning. We take punning for a tawdry and facetious thing, one of the less profound forms of humour, but that is the prejudice of our time; a pun may be profoundly serious, or charged with pathos (Nash 1985: 137). As mentioned in the introduction, my supposition is that pun is the type of humour which most often occurs in print advertising despite qui te the opposite points of view when puns were criticized for their frustrating ambiguity and for representing a simple and less sophisticated form of humour. That is why many advertisers prefer not to include puns into advertisements believing that they have a low intellectual status. Nash defends the pun against such accusations offering his own list of puns and insisting on the fact that puns are common in the language of journalism (Nash 1985: 137). Sherzer provides another argument in defense of puns in advertising stating that puns are higly appropriate for advertising as they deliver two meanings for the price of one (Sherzer 1985). The same opinion shares Redfern: Advertising space is costly. Economy is essential, and puns are highly economical (two meanings for the price of one word or phrase), and in fact much more of a labour-saving device than many of the products they seek to promote. (à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦) Since the fundamental message of all advertising is known to everyone in advance, there is a need for diversification. Wordplay, with its distortions, bifurcations and re-creations, introduces variety and refreshment into saturation. Puns, the devious ones, are a way round those rather stuffy rules of the advertising watchdogs: adverts should be legal, decent and true. A recipe for mass-producted boredom. The words of adverts are double-talk, necessarily. If adverts told only the verifiable truth, they would be pedantic and tedious. And so they have to approximate; they have to say one thing and suggest another. Obliqueness is all. So why not make a virtue out of necessity, and a silk purse out of a sows ear? (Redfern 1982: 130-131). Redfern asserts that puns are well suited for advertising as they are usually delivered with the requisite ambivalent mixture of false apology and only too real aggression (Redfern 1982:275). Definitions of pun as well as definitions of humour vary greatly from researcher to researcher. Freud considered puns to be the lowest form calling them cheapest stating that they can be formed with the least effort.  [11]  Walter Redfern (1984) devoted a whole book to pun in which he said that pun can make an individual. (à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦) It can ruin lazy expectations; subvert the nature of language and thought (Redfern 1984: ). Sherzer defined it as a form of speech play in which a word or phrase unexpectedly and simultaneously combines two unrelated meanings (Sherzer 1978: 336). This the point (the presence of two senses) on which all linguistic and non-linguistic analyses agree. Following the rules of the incongruity-resolution theory a phenomenon of pun can be defined as two meanings incongruously combined in one and the same sentence. These two meanings cause ambiguity due to which a conflict arises between the two senses which is subsequently resolved by the surprising punchline (Ross 1998:8). Following the operational definition of a humorous advertisement, a pun-based humorous ad has to fulfill the following conditions: two meanings have to be semantically incompatible, i.e. opposed. This is the so called deliberate ambiguity in a pun which creates the incongruity. Then it must be followed by resolution leading to humorous interpretation. 3.3 Pun taxonomy There are numerous taxonomies of puns witch essentially differ from each other. Attardo criticized these taxonomies and attempts to explain the phenomenon of pun through its taxonomy. He tried to build the taxonomy of the taxonomies and distinguished four major types of pun classifications, namely: taxonomies by linguistic phenomenon, by linguistic structure, by phonemic distance, and eclectic (Attardo 1994: 112). Tanaka distinguished four categories of puns in advertising: nonsense puns, contextual puns, puns with sexual innuendo, and puns with two communicated meanings (Tanaka 1994: 64-80). I will keep to taxonomy based on linguistic phenomena as it is the most relevant one for this thesis. Taxonomies based o