The Great Gatsby :: essays research papers

In The Great Gatsby Fitzgerald offers up commentary on a variety of themes justice, power, greed, and betrayal, the American dream and so on. Each one of these themes is demonstrated through the relationships, which the characters have. Fitzgerald carefully sets up his novel into distinct social groups, in which each character fits. By creating distinct social classes – old money, new money, and no money, Fitzgerald shows the differing in the way relationships turn out. This book offers a vivid peek of what life was like during the 1920’s.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The first relationship introduced in the novel is Tom and Daisy Buchanan. Tom is a very powerful domineering man, very self-centered and self-absorbed. While Daisy is a charming, beautiful lady, with a thrilling voice, she is very self-centered as well. Tom and Daisy’s relationship is undergoing stress. When Daisy notices that her finger is hurt she says, â€Å"You did it, Tom†¦ That’s what I get for marrying a brut of a man, a great big hulking physical specimen (Tom interrupts) â€Å"I hate that word hulking†¦even in kidding.† â€Å"Hulking,† insisted Daisy. (P 16) Daisy knows how to push all of Tom’s buttons and how hard to push them. Daisy tells Nick how cynical she is about everything, she shows her views in the statement â€Å"She told me it was a girl and I turned my head away and wept†¦ all right I’m glad it’s girl. And I hope she’ll be a fool – that’s the best thing a g irl can be in this world, a beautiful little fool.† (P 21). It’s rumored that Tom is having an affair, â€Å"Tom’s got some woman in New York.† (P 19), and from what Daisy says she would just rather not notice what is really happening. Daisy and Tom never seem at peace with each other, just in an oblivious state where nothing can change them. They know â€Å"their place† is together; it suits society, they are perfectly matched. Daisy goes astray with Gatsby. â€Å"As he (Tom) left the room again she got up and went over to Gatsby and pulling his face down, kissing him on the mouth†¦You know I love you.† (P 122-123) Daisy uses Gatsby to rebel against Tom’s infidelity, but would never even consider leaving him, especially for an old flame. They are so materialistic; they except their flawed relationship as normal.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Myrtle and Tom have a very fiery relationship.

Behavior of People in Power

People who have the highest positions in corporate America are considered as individuals that hold the seat of power. They are refereed to as such because of the amount of resources that they possess as well as their capability to control it. In relation to this, they also have the authority to command other people as they act as superiors to many employees that obtain their source of living from working in their companies. Being the case, there behaviors are often the topic of public scrutiny.People in power behave differently in corporate America. There are cases wherein some of these people tend to abuse the power that they have. The main issue about the behavior of those powerful people in corporate America is in the way they deal with their workers. Corporate managers have been tougher towards there employees in the recent decades. Such kind of action could be attributed to the fact that foreign competition has dramatically increased, which makes business operations even harder to deal with.As such, millions of American workers, regardless of the type of job that they have may it be white-collar or blue-collar and despite of their sex and age are experiencing wage stagnation as well as worsening case of health and pension benefits. Furthermore, workers are pressured by the management to work harder and faster (Greenhouse, 2008). This kind of condition is observable in large and leading American corporations. A good example of this is Wal-Mart. For some time now, Wal-Mart has been facing numerous allegations and lawsuits with regards to their illegal treatment of their employees.The topic of establishing a labor union for Wal-Mart employees has also been the topic of numerous debates. An example of such maltreatment is when some of its workers complain about the indignity and danger of being locked inside their stores at night. There is one incident wherein a supervisor and his worker that is suffering from food poising were locked inside the store, which m ade it impossible for him to take his worker to the hospital (Greenhouse, 2008). Being layed off is one of the hardest thing that an employee can go through especially if he or she is the breadwinner of the family.However, some corporate managers tend to this insensitively like what RadioShack did to 400 of its workers in its headquarters as Forth Worth, Texas. The management fired its workers through e-mail by stating: â€Å"The workforce reduction notification is currently in progress. Unfortunately your position is one that has been eliminated† (Greenhouse, 2008). Based upon the poll conducted by Business Week (2000), almost three-quarters of the American public believes that business, which includes huge corporations is already gaining a whole deal of power in the various aspects of people’s lives.Some Americans also look at corporations as the villain in terms of the demands of various managements towards their workers that made them overworked and stressed out. I n line with this, many Americans also feel that they are not getting and enjoying the fair share of riches that these corporations are earning. This is due to the fact that average wages and benefits have only exceeded inflation by a meager amount of 7. 6%, while productivity has increase by 17. 9%. Moreover, many citizens that belong to the middle-class are pointing out the widening gap between the rich and the poor (Business Week, 2000).The discussions above show that the tremendous amounts of power that corporate America has as well as its great influence over the lives of other people. However, this power has also affected the behavior of some of those who possess authority in these corporations. They have utilized it for their own advantage at the expense of other people’s welfare. Those people who deserve utmost importance like the corporations’ employees are instead place in a very disadvantageous position. References Business Week. (2000). Too Much Corporate Po wer?Retrieved September 23, 2008, from http://www. businessweek. com/2000/00_37/b3698001. htm. Greenhouse, S. (2008). Has Corporate America Turned Callous Toward its Workers? Retrieved September 23, 2008, from http://tpmcafe. talkingpointsmemo. com/2008/06/30/ has_corporate_america_turned_c/. http://tpmcafe. talkingpointsmemo. com/2008/06/30/has_corporate_america_turned_c/ http://knowledge. wpcarey. asu. edu/article. cfm? articleid=1008 http://www. businessweek. com/2000/00_37/b3698001. htm http://jimgentil. blogspot. com/2007

Linnaeuss System of Taxonomic Classification

A taxonomy is a hierarchical scheme for classifying and identifying organisms. It was developed by Swedish scientist Carl  Linnaeus in the 18th century.  In addition to being a valuable tool for biological classification, Linnaeuss system is also useful for  scientific naming. The two main features of this taxonomy system, binomial nomenclature and categorical classification, make it convenient and effective. Binomial Nomenclature The first feature of Linnaeuss taxonomy, which makes naming organisms uncomplicated, is the use of binomial nomenclature. This naming system devises a scientific name for an organism based on two terms: The name of the organisms genus and the name of its species. Both of these terms are italicized and the genus name is capitalized when writing. Example: The bionomical nomenclature for humans is Homo sapiens. The genus name is Homo and the species name is sapiens. These terms are unique and ensure that no two organisms have the same scientific name. The foolproof method of naming organisms ensures consistency and clarity across the field of biology and makes Linnaeuss system simple. Classification Categories The second feature of Linnaeuss taxonomy, which simplifies organism ordering, is categorical classification. This means narrowing organism types into categories but this approach has undergone significant changes since its inception. The broadest of these categories within Linnaeuss original system is known as kingdom and he divided all of the worlds living organisms into only an animal kingdom and plant kingdom. Linnaeus further divided organisms by shared physical characteristics into classes, orders, genera, and species. These categories were revised to include kingdom, phylum, class, order, family, genus, and species over time. As more scientific advancements and discoveries were made, domain was added to the taxonomic hierarchy and is now the broadest category. The kingdom system of classification was all but replaced by the current domain system of classification. Domain System Organisms are now grouped primarily according to differences in ribosomal  Ã¢â‚¬â€¹RNA structures, not physical properties. The domain system of classification was developed by Carl Woese and places organisms under the following three domains:   Archaea: This  domain includes prokaryotic organisms (which lack a  nucleus) that differ from bacteria in membrane composition and RNA. They are extremophiles capable of living in some of the most inhospitable conditions on earth, such as hydrothermal vents.Bacteria: This domain includes prokaryotic organisms with unique cell wall compositions and RNA types. As part of the human microbiota, bacteria are vital to life. However, some bacteria are pathogenic and cause disease.Eukarya: This domain includes eukaryotes or organisms with a true nucleus. Eukaryotic organisms include plants, animals, protists, and fungi. Under the domain system, organisms are grouped into six kingdoms which include Archaebacteria  (ancient bacteria),  Eubacteria  (true bacteria),  Protista,  Fungi,  Plantae, and  Animalia. The process of classifying organisms by categories was conceived by Linnaeus and has been adapted since. Taxonomy Example The table below includes a list of organisms and their classification within  this taxonomy system using the eight major categories. Notice how closely  dogs and wolves are related. They are similar in every aspect except species name. Taxonomic Hierarchy Example Brown Bear House Cat Dog Killer Whale Wolf Tarantula Domain Eukarya Eukarya Eukarya Eukarya Eukarya Eukarya Kingdom Animalia Animalia Animalia Animalia Animalia Animalia Phylum Chordata Chordata Chordata Chordata Chordata Arthropoda Class Mammalia Mammalia Mammalia Mammalia Mammalia Arachnida Order Carnivora Carnivora Carnivora Cetacea Carnivora Araneae Family Ursidae Felidae Canidae Delphinidae Canidae Theraphosidae Genus Ursus Felis Canis Orcinus Canis Theraphosa Species Ursus arctos Felis catus Canis familiaris Orcinus orca Canis lupus Theraphosa blondi Taxonomic Classification Example Intermediate Categories Taxonomic categories can be even more precisely divided into intermediate categories such as subphyla, suborders, superfamilies, and superclasses. A table of this taxonomy scheme appears below. Each main category of classification has its own subcategory and supercategory. Taxonomic Hierarchy With Subcategory and Supercategory Category Subcategory Supercategory Domain Kingdom Subkingdom Superkingdom (Domain) Phylum Subphylum Superphylum Class Subclass Superclass Order Suborder Superorder Family Subfamily Superfamily Genus Subgenus Species Subspecies Superspecies