Kurt Vonneguts Slaughterhouse-Five and Breakfast of...

Kurt Vonneguts Slaughterhouse-Five and Breakfast of Champions Who would have ever thought the way a radioactive particle decays would relate to whether or not we have bad attitudes towards life? Who would have ever suspected that the structure of space-time would be so closely linked to whether or not we would marry rich wives? And who indeed would have ever expected that the properties of light might affect whether or not we go on homicidal rampages? Perhaps Kurt Vonnegut did. Could it be possible that a writer known more for his pictures of assholes than his knowledge of advanced physics actually centered some of the deepest concepts in his works on the philosophical implications of general relativity and quantum mechanics?†¦show more content†¦The logic behind it runs something like this: a person’s personality and immediate environment determine his actions. A combination of his genes and upbringing determine his personality. Thus, a person has no real choice in the way he acts (Rachels 104-6). In fact, his entire lif e – every action he would ever take – was inevitable from the day he was born. His genes are obviously not likely to change, and his upbringing is in the hands of his parents and the community in which he grows. And of course, the way they raise him depends upon their personalities, which depend upon their upbringings, which depend upon their parents’ personalities, which depend upon†¦ Needless to say, one can follow this chain all the way back through human and pre-human history, and the result is a lot more than a headache. Indeed, it is nothing less than a vision of â€Å"the whole universe as one great deterministic system† (Rachels 102). Think of it as the break at the beginning of a pool game – from the moment the pool player’s stick hits the cue ball up to when the balls come to a rest and the second player takes her turn, the fate of those little balls is completely predetermined. Pool players (or good pool players, at any rate) can even predict where those balls will land. Replace the stick hitting the cue ball with the start of the universe and the balls final resting places with theShow MoreRelatedAnalysis Of Kurt Vonnegut s Slaughterhouse Five 1634 Words   |  7 PagesKurt Vonnegut once said, â€Å"So it goes† to describe the unavoidableness of fate. This aspect of seeing terrible things and being able to continue on would become a main theme in his novels. Vonnegut, as an author, received his essential voice by writing about his own experiences, using what would become his signature pessimistic yet humanist view. Vonnegut is described by Lindsay Clark as, â€Å"Worse than a pessimist†¦ he is an eternal optimist doomed to disappointment† (Clark, â€Å"Viewing Four Vonnegut NovelsRead MoreEssay on Coping Mechanisms in Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse-Five1679 Words   |  7 Pages People react differently to tragedies: some mourn, some speak up, and some avoid the sorrow. In Slaughterhouse-Five, Kurt Vonnegut suggests the danger and inhumanity of turning away from the discomfort by introducing Billy Pilgrim as someone who is badly affected by the aftermath of the Dresden bombing, and the Tralfamadorians as the aliens who provide an easy solution to Billy. It is simpler to avoid something as tragic as death, but Vonnegut stresses the importance of confronting it. VonnegutRead MoreKurt Vonneguts Tragic Path to Success1128 Words   |  5 PagesKurt Vonnegut, was born on November 11, 1922 in Indianapolis, Indiana, to American-German parents Kurt Vonnegut (Sr.), and Edith Vonnegut. Vonnegut had an older brother, Bernard and an older sister, Alice. Vonnegut graduated from Shortridge High School in Indianapolis in 1940 and went to Cornell University later that fall. Though he majored in chemistry, he was Assistant Managing Editor and Associate Editor of the Cornell newspaper. While at Cornell, Vonnegut enlisted in the United States Army. TheRead MoreKurt Vonneguts Opinions Expressed in Player Piano, Cats Cradle, and Slaughterhouse-Five2290 Words   |  10 PagesKurt Vonnegut’s Opinions Expressed in Player Piano, Cat’s Cradle, and Slaughterhouse-Five Every so often, a person comes along and encompasses the meaning of a generation. This person will capture everything people want to say, and then word it so well that his or her name becomes legendary. The sixties was an era with many of these people, each with his or her own means of reaching the people. Kurt Vonnegut, Jr., armed with a typewriter and a motive, was amongst those that defined theRead More Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse-Five Essays3848 Words   |  16 PagesKurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse-Five Great artists have the ability to step back from society and see the absurd circus that their world has become. Such satirists use their creative work to reveal the comic elements of an absurd world and incite a change in society; examples include Stanley Kubrick’s film, Dr. Strangelove, and Joseph Heller’s novel, Catch-22. Both works rose above their more serious counterparts to capture the critical voice of a generation dissatisfied with a nation ofRead MoreThe Childrens Crusade: Innocence, Masculinity, and Humanity1440 Words   |  6 Pages　　Are wars still being fought by children. One could argue â€Å"no†, but others will say â€Å"yes†. Men go into war everyday, but many are not even fully grown. In Kurt Vonneguts Slaughterhouse-Five, he uses some of his own personal experiences to show the realities of war by examples of innocence, masculinity, and humanity through his main character Billy Pilgrim. Billy can supposedly time trave l after being kidnapped by aliens from Tralfamadore and uses it to travel to his time in WWII were he experiencedRead MoreThe Life and Writings of Kurt Vonnegut Essay2248 Words   |  9 PagesKurt Vonnegut is celebrated as one of the most successful novelist in the Post-Second World War period in the America. His literary works have had varied impacts on American culture, including the use of the word â€Å"karass† amongst college students, the naming of the pop groups â€Å"Ice Nine Kills† and â€Å"The Billy Pilgrims†, and the frequent use of the term â€Å"So it goes† as written in Vonnegut’s obituary on the New York Times (Farrell, p.ix). This article examines the impacts of Vonnegut’s on his literaryRead More The Theme of Dehumanization in Breakfast of Champions Essay1937 Words   |  8 PagesThe Theme of Dehumanization in Breakfast of Champions Dear Sir, poor sir, brave sir: You are an experiment by the Creator of the Universe. (Vonnegut 259) Imagine if this was addressed to you. What an awful feeling of betrayal and loneliness you would no doubt get. But what if next you heard this? You are the only creature in the entire Universe who has free will. You are the only one who has to figure out what to do next-and why. Everybody else is a robot, a machine. (Vonnegut 259) SurelyRead MoreReflections Of Life On The Page. Any Great Work Is, At1782 Words   |  8 Pagestheir stories as long or as short as possible, they can make a scene painfully detailed or boomingly quiet, and their list of options only goes on. One widely praised author, Kurt Vonnegut, often known as one of the pioneers of postmodernism, in many ways reflects his own life into his most famous work, Slaughterhouse Five. (Morse) In fact, his life influenced his work in so many ways that â€Å"Kathryn Hume describes his main characters as ‘Straightforward projects of some parts of his psyche,’ and otherRead More Biography of Kurt Vonnegut2381 Words   |  10 PagesKurt Vonnegut Jr. was born to third-generation German American parents in the city of Indianapolis, year 1922, November 11th. While at Shortridge High School in Indianapolis, Vonnegut was heavily involved with the school’s daily newspaper, the first and only daily high school newspaper in our nation. During his time at Cornell University, Vonnegut became the school paper’s senior editor. World War II then began, and so Vonnegut joined our nation’s armed forces. Mother’s Day came in 1944, and during

How Are Violent Video Games Affecting Young People Essay

â€Å"YOU SUCK!† â€Å"I killed him!† â€Å"Head shot!† These are just a few examples of dialogue spoken by children while they are playing violent video games. These video games might seem like harmless fun, but what if the violence in these games is affecting the behavior of young players interacting with others? In a society driven by technology, video games are becoming more popular each and everyday. People of all ages enjoy video games in their free time; these games allow the player to become an athlete, a soldier, or a professional fighter at the tip of their fingers. The hugest problem with these video games is they are becoming too violent. In today’s society, kids often brag about the new video game they brought, and the number of people†¦show more content†¦Players are able to see, hear, and feel what their character does, and completely escape reality. However, not every character is peaceful and many have violent tendencies. Players often engage in shooting, stabbing, or some form of destruction nearly each time they pick up a controller. Players are able to transform their controllers into a variety of firearms including: a plethora of guns, knives, explosives, swords, and even vehicles. The violent actions in video games are often held to blame for the violent activities and behaviors found in many children. Children who play violent video games are more likely to have increased aggressive thoughts, feelings, and behaviors according to a study by Ivory and Kaestle. The ultimate goal of most games is violence, whether it is knocking down a building or killing a person. Not only is this teaching children to believe that violence is acceptable, but it is also showing them destructing is as well. By repeating the violent acts children are actually learning these violent behaviors. Negative Effects of Violence in Video Games For every 4 video games about 3 of them will contain some form of violence in them. If parents wanted to avoid the violent video games and purchase a different genre, it clearly would be nearly impossible to do so. As implied by Dr. Willoughby of Brock University, the violence is not necessarily theShow MoreRelatedThe Importance Of Violent Video Games932 Words   |  4 PagesWhile video games are fun for a lot of people, violent video games have proven to lead to more than just high scores and a source of entertainment. Violent video games need to be limited to our maturing youth. First, violent video games are one of the biggest and increasing outlets for providing our youth with deranged thoughts and aggressive impulsions. Second, the use of violent video games is very prevalent amongst soldiers in the U.S. Army being ordered to play these games to keep them in a warriorRead MoreEssay on The Negative Effects of Violent Video Games1529 Words   |  7 Pages This question has becom e an epidemic in our country. We live in a violent world and young people have easy access to it whether its on television, in music or on the Internet. But with the explosion of media entertainment in recent years, video games have come under scrutiny as to whether or not violence in video games numbs children and teens to the consequences of real-life violence. The answer to this question is yes. Young children and teens are very easily influenced, especially in a societyRead MoreVideo Games : Video Game Violence1502 Words   |  7 Pages2013 Video Game Violence The evolution of video games has taken a drastic change since the 1970’s when video games were first introduced. Since then every decade video games have become more violent in nature with strong language and realistic to suit society today. Craig Anderson states that with more violence in video games they would sell better than games with less violence (Anderson, Gentile, and Beckley pg.5). Violent video games really became popular when the first person shooter games wereRead MoreEssay on Positive Influence of Violence in Video Games832 Words   |  4 Pagesparents and educators like to emphasise, â€Å"Violent video games make kids more violent†. Video games affecting youth is a very debatable topic. Most people just come to that conclusion without acquiring any evidence or reason, but there are some reasons why this is a wrong assumption. I believe that violent video games are actually good for people. They allow them to have an escape from real life which is positive, the violence allows people (young people in particular) to think morally about whatRead MoreVideo Games And Its Effects On Children924 Words   |  4 PagesM for Mature Video games have come a long way since first becoming popular in the 1970s. Electronic gaming has become one of the most common forms of entertainment among kids today. The games marketed to younger audiences are becoming less family friendly then when they were originally introduced. While many games are rated to be played by those eighteen and older many parents allow their children to take part in such games. From running around with a gun shooting everything in sight to survivingRead MoreRestrictions, Licenses, And Laws1105 Words   |  5 PagesContractual: A constraint is a limitation or a restriction on something to prevent something else from happening. The media industry they are so many restrictions and the issues in the game industry. Employment Development License NDA Collaboration Legal: Regulatory requirements is The restrictions, licenses, and laws applicable to a product or business, imposed by the government. Copyright is legal which mean of protecting an author’s work, this is a type of property that provides exclusiveRead MoreVideo Games Violent Effect on Youth1186 Words   |  5 Pagesafter losing a games in call of duty, and you are wondering why he is acting like this. What you might not realize is that it could be the violent video game affecting his behavior. The effects of violent video games in youth have devastating effects on them. These effects can range from violent behavior to acting out in school, and even possibly maybe even crime. The games you kids play could be more violent then you even know. Call of Duty, one of the leading first person shooter games, is all aboutRead MoreVideo Games, Violence And Aggression1005 Words   |  5 PagesVideo Games, Violence and Aggression For many years, there have been arguments over violent video games and their harmful effects. The standards for violence in today’s society are different than when video games were first introduced. A person’s personality plays into how they are effected by violence. In an article written for the American Psychological Association, Patrick Markey determined, â€Å"certain combinations of personality traits can help predict which young people will be more adverselyRead MoreThe True Cause Of Violent Behaviors1613 Words   |  7 PagesThe True Cause of Violent Behaviors in Today s Society There are volumes of media that are starting to harm the world in which we live. They have been linked to fourteen mass murders (Fletcher). Nine out of the top ten selling games have been labeled as violent and 42% of adolescents play them (â€Å"Children and Video Games†). These violent video games are a major problem in the United States and across the globe. Violent video games have a direct correlation with negative behaviors because they increaseRead MoreThe Hidden Danger: Violence Within The Media. Imagine You1141 Words   |  5 Pagesof violent material. However, this may actually harm the psychological well-being of some individuals and provoke violent behaviors in future situations. Although there have been many studies proving otherwise, some critics claim that there is no definitive link between the media and the formation of violent behaviors within human beings. However, the facts are true that violence, through many different media sources, are causing violence and aggression in human behaviors. Violent Video Games Violent

Appraisal Reflection The Recruitment Process

Question: Discuss about theAppraisal Reflectionfor the Recruitment Process. Answer: Introduction The recruitment process is always a vital process for an organization. Companies use the moment to search for the best talent in the labor market to join their firms. As part of the interviewing process, employers will need to see the skills a person has through various tests i.e. a typing test for secretaries. The purpose of this essay is to develop an appraisal reflection (Denda, 2015, p. 299). Communication skills are necessary to any profession. To improve my communication skills I decided to listen more and develop empathy. It was particularly important to start listening more than talking. Listening made me get little details in the conservation that show the message in the conservation. Empathy helped me to view different aspects of life from the point of view of my peers. When I combined good listening strategy and empathy strategy I realized that I was improving my communication skills throughout the semester (Elliot and Scallan, 2016, p. 139). Developing good communication skills gave me a lot of confidence. The skills made me a confident go-getter who could undergo interviews without any fear and sweating. Before the start of the semester, I feared interviews and view them to be very intimidating. Good communication skills will be very beneficial to my future profession. As a person with a preference for leadership. I will be able to influence employees to strive towards the achievement of a set organizational objective. The skills will be beneficial in passing interviews and creating a good image for me in the corporate world. As a student, I have never taken the need to develop skills such as decision-making, communication, and teamwork seriously. Having limited knowledge concerning the labor market requirements has been a bump in developing my professional career. Building a career portfolio is challenging and being a student I loved to procrastinate. Procrastination is the main barrier to developing a good professional portfolio. The college provides the necessary resources and the environment to sharpen these skills. During the semester I decide to take the issue seriously and try to develop the crucial skills that will give me an added advantage from other candidates in an interview process (Jones, Lavallee and Tod, 2011, p. 37). Personal insight and review are critical to establishing a career portfolio. My teammates and I have been trying to achieve the best out of our team to no luck. The team is stable with dedicated members but no teamwork skills. The skills needed in teamwork are what makes the team successful. According to Tuckmans teamwork theory, for a team to be successful it takes some time to and there should be no room for individual success in a team (Seck and Helton, 2014, p. 161). Knowledge of the theory helped the team from the middle of the semester to be more cohesive and develop a combined effort in tackling issues and assignments. The theory brought a lot of insight to the team members and helped us develop the skills needed for teams to be successful in addition to decision-making skills. Conclusion In conclusion, a graduate needs to develop a set of skills apart from the academic qualification to be able to survive in the job market. Set of skills such as decision making and communication skills give a candidate an added advantage during interviews. Reference Denda, K 2015, 'Developing Interview Skills and Visual Literacy: A New Model of Engagement for Academic Libraries', portal: Libraries the Academy, vol. 15, no. 2, pp. 299-314. Elliott, R, Scallan, S 2016, 'Developing communication skills with GP trainees: the REAM approach', Education for Primary Care, vol. 27, no. 2, pp. 138-143 Jones, MI, Lavallee, D, Tod, D 2011, 'Developing Communication and Organization Skills: The ELITE Life Skills Reflective Practice Intervention', Sport Psychologist, vol. 25, no. 2, pp. 35-52 Seck, MM, Helton, L 2014, 'Faculty Development of a Joint MSW Program Utilizing Tuckman's Model of Stages of Group Development', Social Work with Groups, vol. 37, no. 2, pp. 158-168.

The Entrepreneur in Economics Essay Example For Students

The Entrepreneur in Economics Essay Current economic research denies the innate characteristics of the entrepreneur. Rather than attributing economic growth and innovation to personality traits, economists would rather advocate a form of economic determinism: if an aggressive personality dominated an industry, economists try to explain the characteristics of the industry that made aggression a successful strategy. Economic models are contrived to remove the personality from the entrepreneur, to make all entrepreneurial decisions predestined, given enough time. However, to deny Bill Gatess or Steve Jobss role in economic history is equivalent to denying Hitlers role in creating a Nazi Germany or Castros role in creating a Communist Cuba. Claiming that history or economics is deterministic is silly. We will write a custom essay on The Entrepreneur in Economics specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now Entrepreneurs are people who make decisions; their decisions need not fall out of dry economic models, just as no literary model could predict the words of Shakespeare and no historical model could predict the future. However, we must be systematic in our approach to identifying entrepreneurial characteristics and not fatuously assert that entrepreneurs drive economic change. Instead, we must link specific entrepreneurial tasks to specific entrepreneurial traits with the goal of understanding how these traits crucially affect the evolution of a business from a startup to Fortune 500 company. This paper will explore current economic views of the entrepreneur and assert that there are common entrepreneurial traits that affect both the decision to become an entrepreneur and the level of entrepreneurial success. We must first debunk the idea, advocated by Knight and Mises, of the entrepreneur as risk-bearer (Peter Swoboda, 1984). Aside from making every stock market participant an entrepreneur, this definition simply does not describe actual entrepreneurs and must be discredited. In Amar Bhides 1989 study of Inc. 500 companies, where an Inc. 500 company grows its sales on average by 170 percent per year from 1983 1988, Bhide found that they have a low scale for profitable operation, in most cases less than $10,000. With low fixed costs and a small profitable scale, the risk of failure is minimized and the expected distribution of profits is skewed.Further negating the risk faced by the entrepreneur, the founders were predominantly college-educated middle class men with low opportunity costs (see charts below). By starting a company with a small scale of profitable operation, they faced a heads I win, tails I dont lose much scenario. If they failed, they could place the attempt on their resume. Entrepreneurs are not betting the family fortune or making their years spent earning an MBA worthless; instead, we find that an Inc. 500 founder is just about as likely to have only a high school education as to hold an MBA and as likely to be very poor as very affluent. The entrepreneur need not be less risk averse than the average human being. As Jeff Bezos famously noted, it would have been far riskier for him to not have started Amazon.com than to have started it. If Bezos had spent 12 years at medical school studying neurosurgery or had to give up a $3 million a year position at his fathers company, he would not have faced an incentive structure that would have made founding a company the least risky option.What is noteworthy is just how wrong Knight and Mises are with their conception of entrepreneur as risk-bearer. Not only is the entrepreneur not necessarily a risk-bearer, he is more akin to an arbitrageur with his heads I win, tails I dont lose much incentive structure. Inc. 500 entrepreneurs tend to serve niche markets with high market turbulence, which lead to many arbitrage opportunities in so far as the founder can satisfy the wants of an uncertain market. The arbitrage is not riskless, but it is nearly so. .u34003ba61c66db1431b8d7117a1aa6b3 , .u34003ba61c66db1431b8d7117a1aa6b3 .postImageUrl , .u34003ba61c66db1431b8d7117a1aa6b3 .centered-text-area { min-height: 80px; position: relative; } .u34003ba61c66db1431b8d7117a1aa6b3 , .u34003ba61c66db1431b8d7117a1aa6b3:hover , .u34003ba61c66db1431b8d7117a1aa6b3:visited , .u34003ba61c66db1431b8d7117a1aa6b3:active { border:0!important; } .u34003ba61c66db1431b8d7117a1aa6b3 .clearfix:after { content: ""; display: table; clear: both; } .u34003ba61c66db1431b8d7117a1aa6b3 { display: block; transition: background-color 250ms; webkit-transition: background-color 250ms; width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #95A5A6; } .u34003ba61c66db1431b8d7117a1aa6b3:active , .u34003ba61c66db1431b8d7117a1aa6b3:hover { opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #2C3E50; } .u34003ba61c66db1431b8d7117a1aa6b3 .centered-text-area { width: 100%; position: relative ; } .u34003ba61c66db1431b8d7117a1aa6b3 .ctaText { border-bottom: 0 solid #fff; color: #2980B9; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; margin: 0; padding: 0; text-decoration: underline; } .u34003ba61c66db1431b8d7117a1aa6b3 .postTitle { color: #FFFFFF; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 600; margin: 0; padding: 0; width: 100%; } .u34003ba61c66db1431b8d7117a1aa6b3 .ctaButton { background-color: #7F8C8D!important; color: #2980B9; border: none; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: none; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 26px; moz-border-radius: 3px; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; text-shadow: none; width: 80px; min-height: 80px; background: url(https://artscolumbia.org/wp-content/plugins/intelly-related-posts/assets/images/simple-arrow.png)no-repeat; position: absolute; right: 0; top: 0; } .u34003ba61c66db1431b8d7117a1aa6b3:hover .ctaButton { background-color: #34495E!important; } .u34003ba61c66db1431b8d7117a1aa6b3 .centered-text { display: table; height: 80px; padding-left : 18px; top: 0; } .u34003ba61c66db1431b8d7117a1aa6b3 .u34003ba61c66db1431b8d7117a1aa6b3-content { display: table-cell; margin: 0; padding: 0; padding-right: 108px; position: relative; vertical-align: middle; width: 100%; } .u34003ba61c66db1431b8d7117a1aa6b3:after { content: ""; display: block; clear: both; } READ: John Keats And Bob Dylan Essay For the author, himself an entrepreneur with $300K annual revenue and a business that serves a niche market with high uncertainty, the opportunity cost of starting a business while a student at college is trivially low.However, all people with low opportunity costs do not found companies. Many, many people face this same heads I win, tails I dont lose much situation, yet only a handful become entrepreneurs. Bhide believes that ambiguity aversion discourages many would-be entrepreneurs. Most successful entrepreneurs face uncertainty on all .