Beauty is not so easily measured

While love is something that can be sensed as being palatable and felt directly within one’s self, beauty is not so easily measured—an aesthetic that is judged by each person according to his or her own likes or dislikes. Kawabata Yasunari’s classic short stories â€Å"The Man Who Did Not Smile† and â€Å"Immorality† both look at love and beauty and how they are measured, each in a poetic and colorful way.â€Å"The Man Who Did Not Smile† is a 1929 short story, or â€Å"palm of the hand story,† as Yasunari called them (Ljukkonen, online), about a film writer and his relationship to beauty via his movie that is being filmed, and via his relationship with his wife and children.   It is a story about beauty and this man’s relationship to beauty, and the psychological relationship he has to the idea of beauty and what is behind the idea of beauty.Yasunari wrote â€Å"The Man Who Did Not Smile† as a first-person account from the film writer’s standpoint.   The man is on location for a film he has written about patients in a mental hospital, and is in the process of discovering a final scene for his film.   He finds it one morning while â€Å"gazing out on the Kamo River,† (Yasunari, 1929/1990, p. 128) upon waking, finding himself amid the memories of a previous day and recalling a mask that he had seen in a display window.   It is that image that gives him the idea for his final scene of the movie, â€Å"a daydream† (p. 129) filled with masks of smiling faces.The search for the masks to be used in the film becomes the central drama of the story—and the protagonist’s relationship to those masks once he takes them to his wife and children after the filming of the movie is complete.   The masks are delicate and the actors must handle them carefully.   Yet, there is some power within those masks.   The film writer decides to buy them so they can be handled with out fear of them being destroyed, and it is in the power of those masks that the protagonist realizes his own relationship with beauty.â€Å"Well then, I’ll buy them.   I did actually want them.   I daydreamed as if awaiting the future when the world would be in harmony and people would all wear the same gentle face as these masks.   (p. 131)His children love the masks, but he refuses to wear them.   His wife agrees to put one on, and it is in that moment that he discovers his true relationship to his wife’s beauty.   â€Å"The moment she removed the mask, my wife’s face somehow appeared ugly† (p. 131).   It is as though he is seeing her face for the first time—and his own idea of her beauty, or, in this case, the â€Å"ugliness of her own countenance† (p. 131).   As his wife lay in the hospital bed, he is faced not only with a new idea of beauty, but his own sense of self—one that might appear as â€Å"an ugly demonâ €  (p. 132) to his wife.   He would be exposed to his real self, his true nature.Psychologist C. G. Jung writes that the mask can be seen as the outer persona we show to the world, the way we want to be seen (Jung, 1929/1983, p. 96).   â€Å"The mask is the ad hoc adopted attitude, I have called the persona, which was the name for the masks worn by actors in antiquity† (Jung, 1921/1983, p. 98).   The narrator is forced to confront not only what lies behind his wife’s beauty/ugliness, but also his idea of his own beauty/ugliness.   The â€Å"beautiful mask† (p. 132) reveals another question, too:   whether or not the face he sees on his wife could be artificial, too, â€Å"just like the mask† (p. 132).   It’s a perplexing question, but one that reveals, like the mask, much about the filmmaker’s relationship to himself and his world.While the idea of beauty colors Yasunari’s 1963 â€Å"palm-of-the-hand† story †Å"Immortality,† the concept of eternal love is the central theme.   In this short story, two lovers have reunited after being apart for at least five decades—but their reunion comes in the afterlife, as they are now each dead.   Yasunari presents a portrait of an eighteen-year-old girl and a man sixty years her senior walking through some woods in a land they’d both known together while alive.   The scene is haunting as the girl is not aware the man has passed on into the afterlife until the end, when, upon that realization, the two â€Å"go into the tree and stay† (Yasunari, 1963/2005, p. 326).The love between the two has been eternal, in a sense—the girl killed herself because of her love for the man when they had to separate, and he wound up spending much of his life on the land overlooking that spot in the ocean where she died. The man has returned to the land where she died to reclaim her.   He wants to be with her forever.   However, he doesn’t know he is dead, and neither does she. Once she realizes he, too, is dead, they are able to reunite into eternity in nature, merging themselves into an old tree where they will live forever.Like â€Å"The Man Who Did Not Smile,† Yasunari uses the idea of beauty and the mask that we wear—Jung’s â€Å"persona†Ã¢â‚¬â€as an aspect of â€Å"Immortality.†Ã‚   The girl tells the old man, Shintaro, that she has lived in the afterlife with the image of him as a young man.   â€Å"You are eternally young to me,† (p. 325) she says, even though the man is now old.If I hadn’t drowned myself and you came to the village now to see me, I’d be an old woman. How disgusting.   I wouldn’t want you to see me like that.   (p. 325)For the girl, memories are important.   Her spirit carries them as she lives in the afterlife.   Scholar James Hillman says that memories are important for the soul, carrying with them e nergy that thrives for the departed person.   The girl realizes this, too, in a way:   â€Å"If you were to die, there wouldn’t be anyone on earth who would remember me,† she says (p. 325).The soul, they say, needs models for its mimesis in order to recollect eternal verities and primordial images.   If in its life on earth it does not meet these as mirrors of the soul’s core, mirrors in which the soul can recognize its truths, then its flame will die and its genius wither.   (p. 159)The girl imagines ugliness representing old age—that ancient mask we all wear once we have passed from the prime years of our life.   Even though the old man is wearing that mask, she doesn’t see it:   she has only her memories carried with her at the time of her death, so she sees him as an eighteen-year-old, also.   For the man, he never experienced his lover as an old woman; thus, her youth is indeed eternal for him.Yasunari uses few characters in both stories, keeping each â€Å"palm-of-the-hand† short and simple.   The narrator in â€Å"The Man Who Did Not Smile† is joined by the mask buyer, his wife, and his children in the tale, while it is only Shintaro and his young lover in â€Å"Immortality.†Ã‚   We do not see deeply driven characterization in either story, as Yasunari essentially paints portraits of each actor through their thoughts and actions.   Like a beautiful painting of a sunset or sunrise, we must use our imagination amidst the texture and colors of the painting to grasp its deeper meaning.Indeed, Yasunari’s beautiful use of words shines in both stories in his colorful imagery.   It is simple:   â€Å"An old man and a young girl were walking together,† he writes to begin â€Å"Immortality.†Ã‚   He ends that story almost the same way he begins â€Å"The Man Who Did Not Smile†Ã¢â‚¬â€with the picture of the sky.The color at evening began to drift onto the smal l saplings behind the great trees.   The sky beyond turned a faint red where the ocean sounded.   (p. 326).â€Å"The Man Who Did Not Smile,† on the other hand, begins with the image of the sky as well.   â€Å"The sky had turned a deep shade; it looked like the surface of a beautiful celadon porcelain piece† (p. 128).   It is a daydream of sorts, a beautiful portrait into which Yasunari takes the reader as he moves through the inner world of the film writer.Both stories are magical.   It is the â€Å"magic of those trees† (p. 325) that captures the imagination of Shintaro and his young lover.   Those trees are part of land his family owned, and he later sold to the men who turned the land into a golfer’s driving range.   The trees are on land overseeing the ocean where the girl jumped to her death.   Trees are sacred and magical in many mythologies.   Buddha gained enlightenment under the Bodhi Tree, and many myths use trees as the focus for rebirth (Anderson, 1990, p. 25).   In the same regard, the ocean, too, is a mythical place:   from where gods and goddess reside and in the Greek legend Odysseus sailed before being reuniting with his lover (Anderson, p. 25).The magic of â€Å"The Man Who Did Not Smile† comes in the healing properties of the masks.   It is through the image of the mask that the film writer is able to create an ending for his story—a â€Å"beautiful daydream† (p. 128) to conclude the â€Å"dark story† (p. 129).   The masks represent his own distrust of himself and the world around him, covering with an artificial beauty the truth that lies behind them.   The masks magically hide what is true and meant to be revealed—whether it is an â€Å"ugly demon† (p. 132) or an â€Å"ever-smiling gentle face† (p. 132).What is also interesting about â€Å"The Man Who Did Not Smile† is in how the film writer’s screenplay is based on a sce ne inside a mental hospital.   We learn later that his wife is in a hospital of sorts—and we never learn the exact nature of her illness.   Could it be a mental hospital?   And might her hospitalization also be a reflection of his â€Å"gloomy† personality (p. 129)?   He’s afraid of what is hiding behind the masks—so much that his initial reaction to putting on the mask himself is fear.   â€Å"The mask is no good.   Art is no good† (p. 132).   Masks and art each reveal the hidden dimensions.   The film writer himself uses his films to balance his own â€Å"gloomy† personality.   Yet the shadows of life are revealed through film and art, and are experienced in hospitals.   Each is an aspect of â€Å"The Man Who Did Not Smile.†Yasunari gives much to think about regarding our relationship to each other and ourselves in â€Å"The Man Who Did Not Smile,† and to our relationship with the magic of eternal love in â€Å"Immortality.†Ã‚   Both reveal the hidden aspects of our existence on earth, offering us a short look at the feeling of living in a world of melancholy and loneliness amid what we call beauty.   Our own mortality rises from the depths of eternity through these stories, and it is in the hidden beauty of our daily lives that Yasunari’s works can be realized.BibliographyAnderson, William.   (1990).   Green man:   The archetype of our oneness with the earth.London:   HarperCollins.Hillman, James.   (1996).   The soul’s code.   New York:   Warner Books.Jung, C. G.   (1983). Definitions.   (R. F. C. Hull,Trans.). In   A. Storr (Ed.). The essentialJung:   Selected writings.   (V. S. de Laszlo, Ed.) (Pp. 97-105).   Princeton:   Princeton University Press.   (Original work published 1921).Jung, C. G.   (1983). The relations between the ego and the unconscious.   (R. F. C. Hull,Trans.). In   A. Storr (Ed.). The essential Jung:à ‚   Selected writings.   (V. S. deLaszlo, Ed.) (Pp. 94-97).   Princeton:   Princeton University Press.   (Original work published 1929).Ljukkonen, Petri.   (2005).   Yasunari Yasunari.   Retrieved November 19, 2005 fromhttp://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/Yasunari.htm.Yasunari, Yasunari.   (1990).   The man who did not smile.   (L. Dunlop, Trans.).   InPalm-of-the-hand Stories.   (J. Martin Holman, Trans.).   (Pp. 128-132).   San Francisco:   North Point Press.   (Original work published 1929).Yasunari, Yasunari.   (2005).   Immortality.   In (G. Dasgupta, J. Mei, Ed).   Stories aboutus.   (Pp. 323-325).   Nashville:   Thomas Nelson Publishers.   (Original work published 1963).

CD 361 - Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

CD 361 - - Essay Example Lastly, and for this paper, music have been found to help people to read, concentrate, and remain focused in their studies. This paper will evaluate the claims of various researchers who have studied the impact of music in helping student in learning. There is evidence that show that student perform better when they are educated through music. Research indicate that music education helpstudent to develop foundationalcapability to learn and achieve better understanding of other academic courses. Moreover, music education has shown to increase the development of skills, expertise, and knowledge required in the life success of a person. Therefore, music education an important lesson that thestudent should consider in order to help them develop the require skills to master the art of learning. Moreover, scholars say that music produces a unique pleasure that thehuman being cannot live without in their life. Music education enhances learner’s motor skills. Motor skills help learners can utilize the small and acute muscle in writing, typing, and enhancement of another physical movement that are essential in learning. Moreover, the brain organ responsible for motor and sensory function is developed and improved by music training. Arts Education Partnership argues that students trained in music have better sensory and motor function capability than other students not trained in music. Scientist have found that music learning help student develop capability required in solving complex math problems. Student who has studied music hove been found to perform better in maths than student who has never had music learning in their life(Arts Education Partnership 3).Music learning strengthens part of thebrain that is used in the processing of complex calculations through practicing in themusic. Scholars argue that students who studied music in their middle school perform significantly better to non-music counterparts(Arts Education Partnership 3). This is because

Ocean Park Hong Kong Recruitment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3250 words

Ocean Park Hong Kong Recruitment - Essay Example Generally, one of the aims of this theme park is to ensure that the visitors of the island of Hong Kong would each have their own memory of their visit and/or stay at the theme park (Mehrmann, 2005). Each year, the theme park receives about four million visitors, thus contributing so much to their financial stability. It is also the leader in Education and Conservation with the following programs and titles under its belt: (1) Asia’s Standard-Bearers for Conservation, (2) The Gold Standard for Animal Husbandry, (3) Ongoing Community Outreach Program, (4) New Ocean Park Academy and, (5) Involvement in World Conservation Organizations and Education Programs. During its thirty year existence, the ocean park also witnessed an increased attendance from mainland China and is currently catering to a new generation which is often regarded as a generation with more sophistication. However, the thirty-year theme park is in need of renovations as its facilities are already ageing (Einhorn, 2005). Also, in its existence as the only theme park in Hong Kong, about 70 million visitors have paid a visit (or stayed) at this very popular theme park. But things changed as the monopoly of the ocean park with regard to its share of visitors in the Hong Kong Island and its attractions has been threatened with the rise of competitors. These included the opening of Disneyland in 2005, the Tung Chung Cable Car in 2006, the Hong Kong Wetland in 2005, the growth of the Macao entertainment industry (Mehrmann, 2005). This is why, Mehrmann (2005), the Central Executive Officer of the Hong Kong Ocean Park mentioned the following as the things needed for them to stay alive and keep up with the new players in the midst of a tighter competition with newer theme parks and other attractions in the region: (1) continue to attract more people to the park, (2) develop a value proposition that is relevant to Hong Kong, (3) rediscover themselves and their true identity, (4) energize their stake holders: the government, suppliers, guests and of course, their employees, and finally, (5) to attract, retain and develop the right talent.  Ã‚  

Organizational Communication Unit 6 Project Essay

Organizational Communication Unit 6 Project - Essay Example This includes the network of repeated interpersonal strategies for coping with interpersonal and organizational events that are stressful and perceived as threatening. Interpretation of individual and collective organizational meanings is the avenue to understanding organizational identity. With respect to transference and dynamics, psychoanalytic action researchers learn to use themselves (the self as the core of the personality and interpersonal experience) as instruments of organizational study. Empathy and introspection become necessary skills in helping subjects to share feelings and ideas that previously could not be discussed. One's perception of the organization and his or her role identity in it is directly linked to the nature of interpersonal relationships between and among organizational participants (Schien, 2000). Authority and peer relations may rekindle frustrated needs among adults in work organizations. Stressful organizational events such as change in leadership, retrenchment, cutbacks, policy or budgetary revisions, and shifts of political climate can foster psychologically regressive and defensive responses among members (Chil d, 2005). In my private life and at work, I use different strategies to enact and embody multiple and intersecting identities. The strategies are interpersonal communication, evaluation of gender differences, accounts of individual and collective identity, evaluation of cultural and social discourses. The desire to merge with the sameness of the other is the overarching theme of this organization's adaptive response to its environment. organizational identity implies that many repetitive and, frequently ritualistic, patterns of interaction within work groups and among participants are, for organizational members, purposeful, but not necessarily conscious, psychological defenses against threatening events and relationships. These defensive patterns, ultimately, result in the construction of rational administrative processes of organizations that regulate threats to personal security and self-esteem by structuring and defining organizational life. On the cultural level, this means leaders and p eers who have common interests, values, and goals; on the psychological level, it means organizations dominated by patterns transference in which organizational participants look to each other as mentors and egos, or kindred spirits. In private life and at work, I frame my identity in accordance with life situations and people I have to communicate with. Gaining insights into the emotional dimensions of their relations can enable them with the help of a consultant to clarify and resolve differences, improve coordination, and thereby consider alternative ways of interacting at work. Psychoanalytic organization theory views feelings as the unconscious foundation from which everything else emerges in the context of organizational culture. Let's conclude with an elaboration of this point. People use their organizations for unconscious reasons such as defending themselves against certain anxieties, renewing a sense of lost omnipotence, enhancing their self-esteem, and resolving incomplete developmental issues; as targets of aggression; and as a

Global Business (Germany Industry) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Global Business (Germany Industry) - Essay Example Companies involved in these transactions face various environmental factors including constraints and conflicts with laws and cultures of the world. Businesses that venture into global transactions have to modify their applications, complexity and intensity in the way they operate to be able to cop up with challenges brought up in the global business (Rugman, 2009). 2 Overview of Garment industries in U.S.A Garment industry specializes in production of wear products. It is also referred to as ready-to-wear industry. Early garment industries relied greatly on hand production due to low level of technology during those periods. Acceptance and use of these garments did away with the custom clothes resulting to growth of the industry. It draws its workforce from the neighborhoods which are protected by trade unions. It employs several people due to the nature of activities involved in production of clothes. It is also rated among the countries income earner industries. This indicates that countries invested in garment production have a higher gross domestic product because of income received from export. Globalization has opened up markets for products and therefore countries whose labor costs are cheap have an advantage over those whose labor cost is expensive. Countries outside U.S.A like china can afford cheap labor hence regulate their production costs. Competitions from other countries selling garments in U.S.A which are cheaper than what is sold by indigenous firms create stiff competition. Open market activities across borders have been the major challenge leading to decline in garment production in U.S.A.... Garment industry trade overseas because operational costs are cheaper. Foreign countries, due to free market, have provided cheap labor, locations and enabling firms to be in good control of their operational costs. From this perspective, US firms enjoys an increase in profits since they have more access to a large market. Garment firms therefore end up relocating to foreign countries that provide cheap and ready resources to produce same quality of products produced in U.S.A. U.S.A garment industry continues to decline due to relocation of firms to seek favorable ground for wealth creation. Garment firms in regions like India have a higher competitive advantage in that they are able to operate at low costs while producing quality products which meet international standard. Such low priced products are preferred than what is locally produced in U.S.A. Current market trends indicate a serious decline in production capacity and size of the garment firms in U.S.A. 3.2 Labor cost Reducti on of labor cost by garment firms has been the forefront of their operation. This has been done by completely laying off workers and obtaining experts in fields that require expertise. Labor cost affects final profits to be generated and therefore high labor costs incurred by garment industry prove to be a threat to their efficient operation. In U.S.A the labor laws are strict protecting workers from exploitation (Rugman, 2009). The set minimum wage for every worker makes the firms to equalize their operations at the provided cost that comes with this law. When comparing with garment firms in India and other countries like Philippines labor laws are not strict enough to protect

Minimising the risk in shipping operation. A Case study comparing two Essay

Minimising the risk in shipping operation. A Case study comparing two shipping lines (Maersk and NYK) - Essay Example The risk of piracy has continued to dominate the list of shipping risks for most organisations, sometimes superseding other risks in terms of frequency of occurrence, and the intensity of loss or/and liability. As a direct result of piracy, the costs of operating shipping lines have significantly increased. Insurance costs for sea vessels, for example, have continuously soared to greater heights while vessels are required to install certain security features to help reduce the risk of loss resulting from piracy. Owing to the importance assigned to the shipping industry in international trade, and considering the risks it faces, it would only be wise to consider finding ways of mitigating the effects of such risks or altogether eliminating them. This work is dedicated to the analysis of piracy as a main shipping risk and is aimed at coming up with strategies and techniques for combating this specific risk. According to the International Maritime organisation (IMO), approximately 90 percent of the world’s trade is transported by the international shipping industry. Transportation of bulk raw materials and manufactured goods, and intercontinental trade would practically be impossible without international shipping. Better said, without the international shipping industry, one half of the world would ultimately freeze while the other half would starve. Under close analysis, ships are high value and sophisticated assets. Merchant ships in their annual operations generate income in excess of 380 billion USD dollars in freight rates alone. In reality, this accounts for about five percent of the world’s entire economy. This percentage no shows how vital the industry contributes to investors, governments, employees, organisations and by extension the global economy. In this sense, it is important for all stakeholders to join forces and

Health care Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 4

Health care - Essay Example The caregivers were even in favor of such services because they needed counseling services due to the every day stress they were experiencing and this stress was ruining their work and personal life balance. According to a research conducted by Roberts and others, people who are near to death, stay at home and prepare to die and need the support of caregivers such as health care professionals and family members to live the remaining days of their life in peace (Roberts 2007). With the assistance of telecommunication, assistance can be provided to such patients as healthcare settings can not remain available 24/7. Those who are terminally ill can not move themselves and require immediate attention when they suffer different kinds of health issues. Availability of tele hospice services will assist such patients as they will be able to obtain advice and treatment for their issues over a simple phone call. Several patients suffer from loneliness and anxiety in their every day life, these disorders are mostly found in those individuals who do not have support and who do not have someone to talk to. It is not easy for patients to reach hospitals all the time when they need support and assistance from care givers. The health care professionals even need assistance and counseling because of the traumatic events they experience in their every day life. Tele hospice services can help solve all these issues. Due to availability of hospice services through the telecommunication, patients who do not need to attend health care settings can easily obtain support and counseling services over phone calls. On the other end, a special line for health care professionals can help them release their stress and obtain advice when they suffer from heavy stress due to their everyday work. The health care settings experience the problem of limited staff availability due to which they can not attend all pat ients and those patients who do not need to