Saturday, January 25, 2020

Idealism in F. Scott Fitzgeralds The Last Tycoon Essay examples -- La

Idealism in F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Last Tycoon Idealism is undoubtably present in F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Last Tycoon. Infatuation may be a better word, for that was exactly what possessed the main character, Monroe Stahr. He was totally engorged with one Kathleen Moore. He idealized Miss Moore as the second coming of his deceased wife Minna Davis. Stahr was a true man of men that had little to do with women since the tragic passing of his wife. He would rather put his feet up with a cigar and shoot the breeze with the boys. Yet once he laid eyes on Kathleen for the first time, all of that changed. It was love at first sight. Kathleen and Stahr meet after an earthquake rocked Los Angles. Stahr was surveying the damage done to the studio, when a prop came floating by with two "dames" clinging to it for their lives. A stage hand rescued and presented them to Stahr for judgement. That was the moment that would change everything. The following excerpt is a narration of what was going through Stahr's mind when he was struck blind by Cupid's golden arrow. "Smiling faintly at him from not four feet away was the face of his dead wife, identical even to the expression. Across the four feet of moonlight, the eyes he knew looked back at him, a curl blew a little on a familiar forehead; the smile lingered, changed a little according to pattern; the lips parted--the same." (Chp II, p.26) She was Minna, but she wasn't. All her features were Minna's, except her voice. "--and then he heard another voice speak that was not Minna's voice." (Chp II, p.26) She was obviously British and not glamorous American, as Minna's had been. Nevertheless, she was a replica of his life long love. Stahr determined right then that she would be the next. Before he could get himself together, Kathleen was whisked away by the police for trespassing. Stahr spent the next few days trying to track her down. By this time he had fully succumbed to her rapture. On their third meeting, they happened to stumble upon each other at a posh Hollywood party. Her beauty brought back all the sensations that had trapped him initially. The scene was as follows: "...the white table lengthened and became an altar where the priestess sat alone. Vitality welled up in him, and he could have stood a long time across the table from her, looking and smiling...(while dancing) she was momentarily u... ...es me feel as if life is just one big joke. I soon come to my senses and re-release that life will go on. Stahr on the other hand cannot get past the facts that love has left his life twice. It is just too much for him to deal with. I too idealized the woman in my life as the "wind beneath my wings." The sad fact is that just is not true. The only wind under my wings is the mountain valley breeze that is ever present on this university campus. I am reason for my survival, not a woman. Stahr saw Kathleen as the only thing missing from his life, and quite possibly that being a true statement. He could have lived without her, but he just didn't see it that way. Overall idealism is an interesting idea. We all do it, but why? Why do we idealize people and ideas? Are we trying to make them seem better than they really are? I believe that we do it, because it is instinctive. Whether we idealize a person or an abstract idea, we all do it. The Last Tycoon is an idealistic novel. Even during the time in which Fitzgerald was writing this novel, he idealized the novel itself as his best work. Tragically, just like Stahr, his dream was not realized due to death, that death being his own. Idealism in F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Last Tycoon Essay examples -- La Idealism in F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Last Tycoon Idealism is undoubtably present in F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Last Tycoon. Infatuation may be a better word, for that was exactly what possessed the main character, Monroe Stahr. He was totally engorged with one Kathleen Moore. He idealized Miss Moore as the second coming of his deceased wife Minna Davis. Stahr was a true man of men that had little to do with women since the tragic passing of his wife. He would rather put his feet up with a cigar and shoot the breeze with the boys. Yet once he laid eyes on Kathleen for the first time, all of that changed. It was love at first sight. Kathleen and Stahr meet after an earthquake rocked Los Angles. Stahr was surveying the damage done to the studio, when a prop came floating by with two "dames" clinging to it for their lives. A stage hand rescued and presented them to Stahr for judgement. That was the moment that would change everything. The following excerpt is a narration of what was going through Stahr's mind when he was struck blind by Cupid's golden arrow. "Smiling faintly at him from not four feet away was the face of his dead wife, identical even to the expression. Across the four feet of moonlight, the eyes he knew looked back at him, a curl blew a little on a familiar forehead; the smile lingered, changed a little according to pattern; the lips parted--the same." (Chp II, p.26) She was Minna, but she wasn't. All her features were Minna's, except her voice. "--and then he heard another voice speak that was not Minna's voice." (Chp II, p.26) She was obviously British and not glamorous American, as Minna's had been. Nevertheless, she was a replica of his life long love. Stahr determined right then that she would be the next. Before he could get himself together, Kathleen was whisked away by the police for trespassing. Stahr spent the next few days trying to track her down. By this time he had fully succumbed to her rapture. On their third meeting, they happened to stumble upon each other at a posh Hollywood party. Her beauty brought back all the sensations that had trapped him initially. The scene was as follows: "...the white table lengthened and became an altar where the priestess sat alone. Vitality welled up in him, and he could have stood a long time across the table from her, looking and smiling...(while dancing) she was momentarily u... ...es me feel as if life is just one big joke. I soon come to my senses and re-release that life will go on. Stahr on the other hand cannot get past the facts that love has left his life twice. It is just too much for him to deal with. I too idealized the woman in my life as the "wind beneath my wings." The sad fact is that just is not true. The only wind under my wings is the mountain valley breeze that is ever present on this university campus. I am reason for my survival, not a woman. Stahr saw Kathleen as the only thing missing from his life, and quite possibly that being a true statement. He could have lived without her, but he just didn't see it that way. Overall idealism is an interesting idea. We all do it, but why? Why do we idealize people and ideas? Are we trying to make them seem better than they really are? I believe that we do it, because it is instinctive. Whether we idealize a person or an abstract idea, we all do it. The Last Tycoon is an idealistic novel. Even during the time in which Fitzgerald was writing this novel, he idealized the novel itself as his best work. Tragically, just like Stahr, his dream was not realized due to death, that death being his own.

Thursday, January 16, 2020

Hampton Machine Tool Company Essay

About The Company Hampton Machine Tool was established in 1915 and has been manufacturing machine tools since its foundation. Hampton company’s customer base is made up primarily of aircraft manufacturers and automobile manufactures in the St. Louis area. It experienced record production and profitability during the years. Sales and profitability declined in the mid-1970s with the withdrawal from Vietnam War and the oil embargo. However, the company had stabilized the massive of sales by the late 1970s. The reasons of Hampton’s recovery were the increasing number of military aircraft sales in both export and domestic markets, the automobile industry rising and an improvement in the economy. Summary of The Problem Hampton Machine Tool Company have problems with the repayment of its $1million loan due date of September 1979. The loan was used for the stock repurchase. Thanks to the president of Hampton Company- , Mr.Cowin’s good reputation and the credibility in the business community and submission of projected sales and forecasted financial statements St.Louis National Bank gave the loan to the company. There were several factors caused the failure of forecast sales including firstly, the detention of delivery by the major component supplier on time, secondly, the purchase of $420,000 worth of components over normal level of inventory, thirdly, problems of machines occured during the production period. On the other hand, the company plans to pay a dividend of $150,000 in 1979. Therefore, Hampton needs an additional loan of $350,000 till October to be paid on December 1979 along with the initial loan Analysis The bank should make decision by the end of the October due to the maturity date of the initial loan. To assess the borrower’s ability for the repayment Pro-forma Financial Statements, Profitability ratios, Liquidity and leverage ratios, and projected cash budget should be assessed. Projected Cash Budgets and Proforma Financial Statements yield negative results about the principal payment of the loan for December 1979. The  forecasts of this analysis are based on projected sales, one month extension of the loan and dividend payment, and starting to repay the loan early. Projected Sales If sales projections and accounts receivables are not met, this situation will be worse than the present one financially. But as we can see in the projected cash budget, ending cash balance in December is negative so that Hampton will be unable to repay the loan on that time. On the other hand repayment in January will be possible with more accurate planning. Liquidity Ratios The reason of the paradox of increasing current ratio and net working capital but decreasing quick ratio is the increasing level of inventories Activity Ratios  The average age of inventory improved as a result of an increase in inventories. The company has a stock of row materials, and there are additional inventories waiting for the production process. The receviables management seemed to improve but collection in July and August needs a concern and a further study should be undertaken. Profitability Ratios Although there is unstable trend, Hampton Company’s profit ratios seems as its best visible to the company’s increase on its Net Profit Margin both in history and projection. Dividend Payment The company repurchased a substantial fraction of its outstanding common stock. Despite the good purposes about increasing the stock value, they had to make a loan of $1 million for he purchase. Because of the unreasonable conditions to pay dividends in December, the company will have a negative cash flow. Solution We inferred from the financial statements that the company can not afford to repay the loan in December, otherwise they will have negative cash flow. However, all the financial statements have consistency among them showing  this declining trend. They should offer a one month extention on the loan to indicate a reasonable solution and then should start repaying it early. The repayment process should be started Payment of $200,000 in September Payment of $100,000 in October No payment in November Payment of $350,000 in December These payments reduce the interest and final loan payment. Another solution is about the extention of one month till January with the final repayment of $700,000 once December accounts receivables are collected. Hampton will not able to make a dividend payment in December so holding the dividend payment till January will enable the cash flow positive and allows for December sales to be realized, therefore usable to maket he January final payment. Conclusion Hampton Machine Tool Company is not in a secure financial condition.There are many improvements needed to survive. For instance, in working capital’s quantity and quality, in profitability, in liquidity and for financial stability they should focus on new improvements. Again, the dividend payment should be delayed to January. Recommendation Since the company’s problems are mostly temporaray and the company past the analysis of credit, the Bank may grand both Hampton’s loan refinancing of the $1million loan to be paid on December 1979, end the additional $ 350,000 that Hampton wants to borrow (payable on January 31, 1980). However, its very much advisable for St. Louis National Bank to undertake further studies and collect more data such as industry ratios and data, prevailing interest rates, financial statements from prior years etc. to permit a better and more informed decision.

Wednesday, January 8, 2020

Psychological Perspectives And Strengths And Weaknesses

The aim of this assignment is to understand Psychological Perspectives and analyse what each perspective’s strengths and weaknesses are. Behaviourism: â€Å"Behaviourism (also called behavioural psychology) refers to a psychological approach which emphasises scientific and objective methods of investigation† (Simple Psychology, 2016). This approach seeks to understand all behaviour as a result of either ‘classical conditioning’ or ‘operant condition’. Also, trying to understand what has been learnt to create human behaviour. Each theory believes that different processes are involved in learning; however, both explain all types of behaviour as being the result of learning. â€Å"John Watson proposed that the process of classical conditioning (based†¦show more content†¦The dog had therefore learnt a ‘conditional response’ of salivation to the ‘conditional stimuli’ of the bell. Therefore, Pavlov believed that behaviour was learnt through Operant conditioning is â€Å"Operant conditioning can be described as a process that attempts to modify behavior through the use of positive and negative reinforcement† (Learning Theories, 2017). This theory of learning is associated with the American psychologist Burrhus Fredric Skinner. Skinner believed that the mind does exist, but that it is more productive to study observable behavior rather than internal mental events. He also believed that the best way to understand behavior is to look at the causes of an action and its consequences. He believed that operant conditioning was a form of Reinforcement. Repeated behavior tends to be reinforced or strengthened. Behaviour that isn’t reinforced will be extinguished or forgotten, weakening the outcome. Skinner studied operant conditioning by conducting a series of experiments using animals which he placed in a ‘Skinner Box’. 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