MBA Information Technology Preventing and Detecting Operational Risk Essay

MBA Information Technology Preventing and Detecting Operational Risk Caused by Employees - Essay Example It has become imperative for the senior management to forcefully implement the appropriate measures to detect and prevent operational risk from employees in their organisations. Most of the measures, including security, need to be followed top down. An employee who sees an upright senior is less likely to engage in fraudulent behaviour. Security Policies and Training. The next step is to develop security policies and provide training to ensure that everyone is aware of, understands them and also follows them in right spirit. The greater the understanding of how security issues directly impact production levels, customer and supplier relationships, revenue streams, and management's liability, the more security will be incorporated into business projects and proposals. Most critical is an Acceptable Use policy (AUP) that informs users of their responsibilities. An AUP serves two main purposes: (1) It helps to prevent misuse of information and computer resources and (2) it reduces exposure to legal liability. Security Procedures and Enforcement. The next step is to implement procedures, training, and enforcement of the AUP. Businesses cannot afford to ignore security risks nor can they afford the infinite cost of perfect security. Security Tools: Hardware and Software. ... Keep in mind that security is an ongoing, multilayered process and not a problem that can be solved with hardware or software tools. Hardware and software security defenses cannot protect against irresponsible business practices. 2. What events triggered the strong measures to prevent and detect internal fraud Name three laws that have antifraud measures. Answer. Fraud Prevention and Detection. Internal audits and internal controls (cover later in the chapter) are critical to the prevention and detection of occupational frauds. Some high-profile examples of occupational fraud that were executed because of the lack of internal audits and controls leading to implementation of strong measures to prevent and detect internal fraud include: NEC. In 2006, NEC had to restate its earnings for five prior years after discovering that a 50-year-old manager/engineer had been fabricating business deals. The bogus deals inflated sales by 36.3 billion yen ($311 million). The false transactions enabled the manager to embezzle tens of millions of yen, which he spent on entertainment. Adelphia. A year after the public learned of the $600 million Enron scandal, the Rigases made Enron's fraud look like penny-change. The SEC uncovered the misappropriation and theft of tens of billions of dollars. In addition to the $2.3 billion the family stole from the company for their personal use, they caused losses investors of more than $60 billion. Global Crossing. Corporate insiders knowingly sold more than $1.5 billion of artificially inflated company stock. In April 2005, the SEC filed a settled action for civil penalties against Global Crossing's former CEO, CFO, and VP of Finance for aiding and abetting the fraud. Each executive agreed to pay a $100,000

Stakeholders Importance And Their Engagement Management Essay

Stakeholders Importance And Their Engagement Management Essay For any project Planning, management and control are always the most important drivers to deliver the desired outcome.In present days there are many different organisations have embraced the concept of projects as a mechanism of delivering change.Regadless of the size and what kind of industry may be due to this they experience unacceptably high rates of failure, which wastes scarce monetary and human resources and the reputation of the project management profession. The Stakeholder engagement offers a mechanism for assesing each key stakeholder and there influence to understand their expectations.It also defines the proper way for engaging stakeholders.The aim of this course work is to define stakeholder engagement and their importance for any project. Stakeholder: Stakeholders are an integral part of a project. They are the end-users or clients, the people from whom requirements will be drawn, the people who will influence the design and, ultimately, the people who will reap the benefits of your completed project. (jenkins, 2006) It is very important to participate stakeholders in every step of the project for reasons like experience shows that their involvement in the project may increase the chances of success by building in a very significant feedback sphere and involving them in the project can be able to fetch confidence in the final product and will greatly ease its acceptance in your target audience. The Stakeholder Circle: There are many researchs regarding the importance of stakeholders roles in enhancing wealth and economical benefits.One research team (Fletcher et al., 2003) defined a process for mapping stakeholder expectation, one that uses value hierarchies and key performance areas (KPA).In this process stakeholders are divided to their respective potential for threat and their potential for cooperation (Blair et al., 1991) or influence of their power basing on their legitimacy of each stakeholder relation with the company as well as the urgency of the stakeholders claim on the company (Mitchell, Agle and Wood, 1997). There are many other methodologies that provide a relevant useful tool for visualising power and influence in social network mapping (Rowley, 1997).It is sort of more holistic process for managing stakeholders, identifying,assessing,influence and support of the stakeholders.This will lead to obtain strategies for assessing stakeholder satisfaction.It culminates in the development of a stakeholder knowledge base that provides knowledge of who is aware or ignorant and whether their attitude is supportive or opposing (Turner, 2002).Another (Briner, Hastings and Geddes, 1996) have influences the Stakeholder Circle. The concepts of power,authenticity and urgency (Mitchell, Agle and Wood, 1997) are valuable for identifying important stakeholders, This idea of providence and centrality(Rowley, 1997) attempted to figure out and show the power and communication importance within the stakeholder community. In the process of developing an proper engagement strategy based on the work of Briner et al. (1996), Turner (2002) and Fetcher et al. (2003).Figure 1 represents the stakeholder circle, which inturn helps project manager and their team in locating the project key stakeholders in relation to specific time within aproject lifecycle. The prototype stakeholder circle consists of two key elements: concentric circles that represents distance between stakeholder and the projrct manageer.The pattern used for each stakeholder represents homogeneity. Figure 1. Prototype Stakeholder Circle. MI_PR_NS_12_05_06_1_fig1.jpg The Stakeholder Circle is done basing on the idea that a project can exist only with the up to date consent of its stakeholder community (Bourne and Weaver, 2002), so the relationship between the community that inturn increases project team chance for achieving desired outcome.The stakeholder community comprises of both individuals and groups with a different possible influence the projects outcomepostively or negatively. Identification Of Stakeholders: Identifying project stakeholders starts with the categories upwards,downwords,inwards,outwards and sidewards.Then it is followed by knowing mutuality (French and Granrose, 1995), as defined in the scales of understanding what each stakeholder requires from the project and also the significance of them to the project.Posing these questions makes the relationhip between the project and the stakeholder and make sure that project manager is aware and understand what what the both group needs.This can be done through a workshop with project team and the persons from the organization those familiar with project deliverables and constraints.The information obtained can be entered and validated.Then next-prioritisation of the stakeholders can be done. Prioritisation Of Stakeholders: Here the rating of each stakeholder can be done from the project team members by validating stakeholders power,proximity and urgency according to the project.And can be put on into the tool.This list with the relavent data on each stakeholder, helps in developing an engagement strategy.This will make easier for project team to understand and ensure the expectations of key stakeholders. Stakeholder Engagement: Stakeholder engagement can be defined as the method of well eliciting the stakeholders views on their association with the organization (Friedman and Miles, 2006). Stakeholder engagement can be implicit as the practice that the organisations usually take to engage stakeholders in a positive way in organizational actions or activities. From the view of accountability and responsibility theories, stakeholder engagement is a method by which organisational accountability and responsibility towards stakeholders can be acquitted, often through the involvement of stakeholders in decision-making and governance (Gary, 2002). In an organisation, stakeholder engagement customs may exist in many areas like public relations, customer service, supplier relations, management accounting and human resource management with the varied set of organisational stakeholder. In such circumstance, stakeholder engagement might be seen as an instrument for consent, control, co-operation and accountability and also as a structure of employee involvement and participation. It is also seen as a practice for enhancing trust and as an alternative for true trust and also as a discourse to enhance fairness. Stakeholders must be appointed to achieve the best through proper planned amalgamation of communication and involvement. This also assists of stakeholder being committed to the organisation. For the companies to execute the operational level of strategic management capability stakeholder engagement may be opted as one approach. In phrase of degree of engagement with their stakeholders, organisations can employee different strategies (Carroll, 2008).  Stakeholder engagement presents the sense of corporate responsibility. If the organisation is working with dedication through suitable policy and practice, it is quite clear that it is acting responsibly towards the stakeholders. The more an organisation engages with its stakeholders, the more accountable and responsible that organisation is towards these stakeholders (Greenwood, 2007). Even though firms take up a wide series of communication to report their stakeholder engagement efforts, customarily, on the whole usually engaged and most wide-ranging method for reporting stakeholders engagement plans is to voluntarily disclosure its annual reports (Boesso, 2009).  By tradition Stakeholder engagement is viewed as a corporate responsibility in action.  The movement behind the use of the term engagement in corporate social responsibility (CSR) is the need to emphasize that ,it is no longer sufficient for firms to simply network  with stakeholder but also to have a sufficient interaction with stakeholders is considered as logically necessary activity of business (Noland, 2010).   For developing a new activity or to reconsider current or previous efforts a template of principles should be stressed. For stakeholders engagement to be effective the company hold on to various kinds of principles when engaging them on an issue or proposed action or for general feedback (Blackburn, 2007). Planning, transparency, code of conduct, training, inclusiveness, ongoing commitment, and listening are some of the principles of stakeholders engagement. The strategic principles refer to a higher level of understanding and structuring of the stakeholder engagement and involves identifying the stakeholders, significant issues and expectations. The  Strategic principles of the stakeholder engagement  Ã‚  deals  with the  Ã‚  issues of significance to stakeholders and the agency,  understands the concerns, views, needs and expectations of the stakeholders and responds coherently and appropriately. The operational principles are concerned with the action of dealing with the stakeholders such as the stakeholders engagement plan and consultation. They involve  clear and agreed information with feedback processes. The operational principles of the stakeholder engagement are collaborative and recognize, understand and involve stakeholders in the process. They conduct stakeholder engagement in a manner that fosters mutual respect and trust. When engaging stakeholders on an issue or proposed action or for general feedback, the comp any adheres to various kinds of principles to help endure the stakeholder engagement is effective. Maintaining Engagement: Understanding or defyning relavent responses recquires numerous elements, Like which stakeholders are concerned about project definition and planning process, which stakeholders are in need of more information about the project to ease their opposition and which stakeholders play key and relevant roles.Project managers will be held responsible in converting the resulting strategy of who,what,when and how, of giving the tailored messages which are defined for each stakeholder into action.This helps in integrating the communication plan into the project schedule and reporting the expectations of stakeholders are understood and managed in a very proper way. Analysing and Planning: Often the significance of research to stakeholder engagement is ignored. It allows you to identify strengths and weaknesses and eventually build up strategies to connect efficiently. The stakeholder engagement is a serious component to the success of the project and it may be useful to develop a stakeholder engagement plan. For this, various sources, predictable and unconventional, whether it is media, online, literature or word of mouth. As part of the analysis, it is important to examine existing, current and past relationships, available resources and constraints . Managing Project Communication Using Prince2: PRINCE2 has a best move toward managing project communication across the whole project cycle.   It is important that the project manager maintain controlled and bi-directional in order flow to engage and inform  project stakeholders.Spotlight should be on how to ensure the project remains feasible even with its business case, produces the obligatory products, and make sure that is maintained according to plan.   The PRINCE2 communication management cycle can be done by using these four steps:   Plan-Execute-Monitor-Improve.I The communication planning should be in such a way that all stakeholders are identified and engaged throughout the life cycle of the project.The time and resources required for performing this activities will be part of project and team should plan how it should be carried on. It is very much important to figure out and analyze key project stakeholders to find out their information needs.Identified stakeholders will be the persons or groups who are not part of management team but required to contact and interact regularly or else the project outcome will be disturbed.So, it is very important to have effective communication to get desired results.PRINCE2 recommends a very proper six step process to engage stakeholders: 1. Figure out the stakeholders who are concerned in project or worried about the project outcome. Evaluate and generate profiles of the stakeholders to know their involvement, interest and attitudes relating to the project Define a engagement strategy for stakeholders and make them focus on project communications, approving on the information required by each concerned party basing on their roles. Define a proper communicating proforma, timing of the project communications and decide who the senders and recipients for each specified item. Engaging stakeholders according to the plan. Evaluate the efficiency communication activities for the project. (T.Barnard, L.Haner and Weese, 2010) The Communication Management Strategy: It defines the resources and regularity of communication with both internal and external stakeholders.The project manager will be held responsible to create and manuscript this strategy and try to update with the strategy stage by stage and make sure it still encompasses all key project stakeholders . When the project is into the final stage it is also to review the Communication Management Strategy and make sure it includes all the parties who need to be advised that the project is closing. (prince2 2009, 2009) Conclusion: This work on stakeholder engagement made me to know how to identify key stakeholders and their engagement and relation with the project manager and the team which inturn reduces the project risk through developing and nurturing relationship within project. This task presumes that the act of stakeholder engagement in and of itself delivers help towards stakeholders and is, therefore, an act of conscientiousness towards stakeholders. Stakeholder engagement does not always reflect perfect communication, relations and results from start to finish. Stakeholders may be at first argumentative, during the course of the consultations for both internal and external reasons, the important factor is how you deal with these hurdles.

The Life of Jeremiah Essay -- The Prophet Jeremiah

The Life of Jeremiah Jeremiah may be one of the most intriguing and revealing of the Old Testament prophets. With his continual return to god and the constant struggle between his heart and the voice of god. This elevates him as a human being and not just as an instrument of god (Paterson 144). He is one of the most human of prophets mentioned in the Old Testament and at the same time most Christ like in aspects of his sermons and works. His story has intrigued many for it is of human weakness and strength (Paterson 139). Let us now take a look at his life and at his works. To fully understand the meaning behind his sermons and predictions we must first look at what a prophet is and what he holds true. The word prophet means to speak by delegated authority (Paterson 3). Prophets speak because they are commanded to by a higher power (Paterson 4). Their beliefs were the beliefs of the living god and to make god visible to their people (Paterson 8). They also believed that "life was unity and every thought and activity had to be brought into subjection to god (Paterson 9)." The prophets also stood for religious integrity (Paterson 10). With this understanding of what a prophet is we can now take a look at his life. Jeremiah was born in Anathon a small village six miles from Jerusalem. He was born to a priestly family whose origins have been traced back to Moses. Jeremiah was heir to many spiritual heritages and riches. "He was steeped in the finest Hebrew piety and nourished on its sacred traditions (Paterson 141)." Jeremiah began his prophecy during the reign of Josiah. During this time there was much prosperity and political independence. He was very concerned with the social inj... ...leadership them telling them to not expect a swift return to Jerusalem, but to build homes and starts businesses. During the worst days of the siege in 588B.C.E. Jeremiah purchased some ancestral land. With this act he was affirming his deepest faith in Yahweh that he would not abandon his people and remove them from the Promised Land forever. Jerusalem finally fell in 587B.C.E. actualizing Jeremiah's fears and predictions. Jeremiah was captured during the fall but was later released to travel where he pleased. After the assassination of Gedaliah in 582B.C.E., Jeremiah was forced to travel with refugees to Egypt where he continued to prophesize until his death. Jeremiah is one of many prophets spoken about in the Old Testament. Many of his prophecies and sermons were controversial but they had a meaning and these meanings can still be put to use today.

Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte

Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte is a strange and powerful book of family loss, love, vengeance, and good versus evil. According to Janet James, Wuthering Heights, in essence, is a battle of nature versus nurture (James 2). As this classic begins, the evil villain in the book—Heathcliff—appear to be following the path of the good-hearted hero. His true characteristics, however, slowly unravel—showing his tenacity for evil against many of the characters in this multi-generational novel. The affects that Heathcliff has on Catherine and many other family members in Wuthering Heights create our flawed character. Yet, Heathcliff is the fuel that drives every other character as they act and react to Heathcliff and his evil ways. In Wuthering Heights Mr. Earnshaw brings home an orphan named Heathcliff that he quickly adopts into the family. This apparent noble gesture of family love for an individual without a real family or home opens the floodgates of drama. The Earnshaw family winds up initiating a war that spreads over several generations. According to Hubbard, Nelly Dean is a servant who was raised in Wuthering Heights. Nelly tells the history of Heathcliff and, thus, narrates much of the story. Hubbard 1) Heathcliff is raised in the family. He eventually falls in love with Catherine, one of the Earnshaw children, a pseudo-step-sister to Heathcliff. Mr. Earnshaw eventually dies and the family members attempt to ruin Heathcliff’s life due to years of bitter resentment. Yet, the courtship between Heathcliff and Catherine continues to unfold as the warring within this intense saga deve lops. A key turning point occurs when Catherine dies during childbirth. Heathcliff reacts to years of vengeance, vows his own revenge on the very family that he has grown up in. Heathcliff, then, attempts to gain control of the family legacy. As we look at our central character, Heathcliff, his initiation into the family has him cast as a protagonist. However, as the fate of good versus evil begins to gather thematic weight, we find a shift in Heathcliff. In fact, the shift is so dramatic that Heathcliff becomes the story’s antagonist. The entire structure of Wuthering Heights revolves around Heathcliff. As in many classics, love is an overriding subplot that weaves together the multi-generational conflict that evolves. Love, in the end, seems to be the demise of the evil characters. Heathcliff and many of his surrogate family members are unable to share their love for one another. It’s a case of honor for the bloodline of the Earnshaws that creates the war. Graphic bloodletting results as many characters—Heathcliff, our supposed protagonist included—sink to killing as the only means to alleviate the family drama. Characters choose to use lies and deceit to meet their unbridled need for passion, lust, and selfish gain. Wuthering Heights, although its main protagonist is an orphaned child, cradles its main character into a large family with a special purpose. This adoption creates animosity between step-siblings and spouses. Estrangement and bitter revenge is a subplot linking this graphic and upsetting intense novel. As the battles between individuals progress in the novel, the undercurrents of physical and mental pain—sometimes horrific pain—create intense situations as characters constantly juggle with a decision: Is the fight for a worthy cause? Heathcliff, in Wuthering Heights, winds up becoming loved and hated. He is, in effect, the hero and villain of this grand classic novel. His character creates dramatic intensity. Here, is an example of one of the Earnshaw’s discussions with Heathcliff. Hindley said, â€Å"and I pray that he may break your neck: take him, and be damned, you beggarly interloper. † (p. 61) His drama slowly evolves into an evil being. He pushes his hatred at everyone except Catherine. Heathcliff gets to a point of dependency on Catherine. As long as he has Catherine, he can deal with anything. Heathcliff is, in effect, the story of Wuthering Heights. Thus, when Catherine dies, Heathcliff loses his co-dependent love and releases years of build-up rage and aggression. The emotions and actions of other characters in this epic novel all seem to stem from Heathcliff. His magnetic personality is the catalyst toward other character interaction and plot development. Catherine, for example, is torn emotionally and spiritually over Heathcliff because of the feelings other family members have regarding Heathcliff. In the end, it has been viewed as a death she desired. It was the only way to find relief to a life of bitter entanglements. The following quote comes from Catherine describing her feelings about Heathcliff to Edgar: â€Å"Oh Edgar, Edgar! † she panted, flinging her arms around his neck. â€Å"Oh, Edgar darling! Heathcliff’s come back. † (p. 114) As Heathcliff and Catherine develop their relationship fairly early. In chapter 10, we see that Catherine has grown bored of Edgar. Her interest in Heathcliff abhors Edgar and thus a bitter jealously between Heathcliff and Edgar ensues. Since Edgar is Catherine’s wife, the intensity of this jealousy from Edgar brings secret joy to Heathcliff. Heathcliff and Catherine wind up sharing deep passionate love. But the secrecy of her unfaithfulness becomes well-known in the family. Plus, the wealth of the Earnshaw creates greed within Heathcliff. This foreshadows the fact that Heathcliff will go to almost no-end to get what he wants: the Earnshaw legacy. On an estranged level, we see that Heathcliff’s mental stability becomes a question mark. The entire Earnshaw family, except for Catherine and Hareton, view Heathcliff as some sort of ruthless, cold-blooded creature. Some even consider him incarnate evil. From the author’s perspective, however, he is a man of turbulent emotions who feels that everyone else is evil due to that fact that society has excluded him. His short-temper and violent tendencies helps to create the character backdrop of a villain that can cause two generations of a wealthy family to be turned upside-down. Healthcliff creates his own laws which are the main reason why he is hated by almost every other character in the novel. However, his commitment to Catherine leads readers to offer him some credibility, or at least pitied on some levels. This credibility is forever in question due to Heathcliff’s inability to be forgiving of anyone. Through dialogue from Heathcliff, Emily Bronte creates the image of a character sinking out of control. Isabella writes of her anguish over the Earnshaw dilemma. She wrote, I do hate him–I am wretched–I have been a fool. † (p 163) Catherine, in Wuthering Heights, whose eventual demise comes by the hands of losing her own life, is set up by her personal struggles in her love-hate relationship with the arch nemesis, Heathcliff. She builds walls that suffocate herself from her family, all at the extent of Heathcliff. When other family members suspect his less-than-moral activities, Heathcliff simply stacks on the lies by jabbering on to cover up his deception. He continues to manipulate situations based on fast-talking. Again, his unfortunate orphanage and adoption into this glamorous family is his means of escaping victimization. Yet, ironically, he is, both, a victim and villain in the grand scheme of Emily Bronte’s masterpiece. In the following, we listen to Hindley express his mental state of mind regarding Heathcliff. Hindley said,†Unless you overreach him; and he’ll be my ruin. Damn the hellish villian! † (p. 193) The tide turns as the lies intensify and the great network of these families begin to see the truth. Other characters begin to boast their concerns over troubling issues surrounding Heathcliff. This unraveling of the family adds intensity to each new scene. In other words, the world is wrong and only Catherine and Heathcliff are correct—at least that is how Heathcliff sees things in his mental instability. Comedy is another component that is woven into the threads of the evil characters in Wuthering Heights. Most often, Bronte pokes fun at Heathcliff as the other family members and servants treat him unfairly and oftentimes with mockery. The grand theme of death and horror is apparent in Wuthering Heights. The characters evolve and revolve almost entirely around the characterization and altering behaviors of Heathcliff. The other character’s true motives come to light: They yearn for the demise and death of Heathcliff. As timing is such a critical component of Heathcliff’s development as a character, the timing of the lies within the family reach a climax. Before they can amend their ill-mannered plans to end Heathcliff, the damage is done and the family suffers. Bronte uses more empowering language to make her point with such artistry: The guest was now the master of Wuthering Heights. † (p. 204) In closing, this classic novel gained universal fame for its ability to weave the consequences of war and family and love and loss. And, it is done in climatic fashion. Betrayal and love and comedy are the components that keep the characters moving—especially our villain Heathcliff. There is one single link that connects Heathcliff with humanity. That is his respect for Harton Earnshaw, the man who adopted Heathcliff into the family, initiating this lifelong journey. According to Vogler, respect for family also manifests in the story as the battle between siblings and loved ones becomes the necessary device to overcome loss and deception and overzealous pride (Vogler 16). There is no way to correct the death and horrific pain that was unleashed as the story of Heathcliff and the Earnshaws occurred. In fact, Heathcliff wound up spending almost his entire life acting out on revenge against this family. As his life came to an end, Heathcliff was seeking spiritual aid. In fact, his dream was to be with Catherine again where he could spend eternity with the love of his life. Thus, as he brought about a slow death upon himself, he became happier the nearer and nearer he got to death. Yet, ironic as it may sound, Wuthering Heights is based on the love found by being forced into the trenches of war, a war that goes beyond the physical pain of the battlefield and into the ache of the soul. In the end, deceit loses but not before causing rampant death and destruction among the link known as family. Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte is a strange and powerful book of family loss, love, vengeance, and good versus evil. Wuthering Heights, in essence, is a battle of nature versus nurture. Tartuffe is also a story of estranged family love, loss, and deceit. As each story begins, the evil villains in both books appear to be following the path of the good-hearted hero. Their true characteristics, however, slowly unravel—showing their tenacity for evil. Heathcliff, in Wuthering Heights—and Tartuffe, in the play Tartuffe—have many comparable attributes. In Wuthering Heights Mr. Earnshaw brings home an orphan named Heathcliff that he quickly adopts into the family. This apparent noble gesture of family love for an individual without a home winds up initiating the warring and drama between several generations. In Tartuffe, the eventual evil character known as Tartuffe is regarded as a most pious and holy man, a hero on God’s path—or so we are led to believe. This can be paralleled to Heathcliff’s entry into the story as a loved orphan child. Tartuffe is regarded by the community members with the utmost respect. The intertwining of love, lust, and deceit is rampant in both stories. Love, in the end, seems to be the demise of the evil characters. They are unable to share their love and thus choose to use lies and deceit to meet their unbridled need for passion, lust, and selfish gain. Wuthering Heights, although its main protagonist is an orphaned child, cradles its main character into a large family. This adoption creates animosity between step-siblings and spouses. Estrangement and bitter revenge is a subplot linking both of these graphic novels of intensity. As the battles between individuals progress in each novel, the undercurrents of physical and mental pain—sometimes horrific pain—create intense situations as characters constantly juggle with a decision: Is the fight for a worthy cause? Heathcliff, in Wuthering Heights, winds up becoming loved and hated. He is, in effect, the hero and villain of this grand classic novel. His character creates dramatic intensity. His drama slowly evolves into an evil being. He pushes his hatred at everyone except Catherine. Heathcliff gets to a point of dependency on Catherine. As long as he has Catherine, he can deal with anything. Heathcliff is, in effect, the story of Wuthering Heights. The emotions and actions of other characters in this epic novel all seem to stem from Heathcliff. His magnetic personality is the catalyst toward other character interaction and plot development. Catherine, for example, is torn emotionally and spiritually over Heathcliff because of the feelings other family members have regarding Heathcliff. In the end, she seeks relief in death. Some of the characters in the play begin to see that Tartuffe is not the pious individual they were led to believe he was. Cleante and Dorine, for instance, discuss Tartuffe’s questionable characteristics. They both agree he is filled with deceit and has tricked Orgon. The web of love and desire runs amok as communication between family members and loved ones is blurred. Deception creates the sub plotting elements between Damis, Orgon, Mariane, Valere, Cleante, and Dorine that create animosity. This French play is in direct correlation to Emily Bronte’s classic novel that also weaves family deception, love, desire, and war to create an empowering story. Catherine, in Wuthering Heights, whose eventual demise comes by the hands of taking her own life, is set up by her personal struggles in her love-hate relationship with the arch nemesis, Heathcliff. She builds walls that suffocate herself from her family, all at the extent of Heathcliff. Tartuffe also builds walls. For Tartuffe, however, his walled persona is central to his initial means of deceiving others. He seeks to capture the love of Elmire. When others suspect his less-than-moral activities, Tartuffe simply stacks on the lies by jabbering on and using religious cliches to cover up his deception. He continues to manipulate situations based on fast-talking. Again, his religious background leads others to believe him. The tide turns in both stories as the lies intensify and the great network of these families begin to see the truth. Other characters begin to boast their concerns over troubling issues surrounding Tartuffe. Madame Pernelle’s advice is seen as truly absurd. She feels betrayal and takes out her angst by reprimanding other family members. For example, she hounds Cleante for his desire to counsel society; she doesn’t like how Elmire dresses; even the maid is reckless. This unraveling of the family adds intensity to each new scene. In other words, the world is wrong and only Madame Pernelle and Tartuffe are right. This talkative old woman reveals to the audience, for the very first time, that Tartuffe’s true character is not pious. Comedy is another component that is woven into the threads of the evil characters in Tartuffe and Wuthering Heights. In scene four, Orgon is completely fooled and also blinded by his committed affection to Tartuffe. The servant-master relationship gives way to humor. Here, we witness a bitter, yet sharp-witted, servant who makes fun of the unintelligent master. This dim-witted masters isn’t even aware of the ridicule. Comedy is found throughout Wuthering Heights as well. Most often, Bronte pokes fun at Heathcliff as the other family members and servants treat him unfairly and oftentimes with mockery. The grand theme of death and horror is also apparent in both stories. The characters evolve and their true motives come to light. However, by the time the lies are brought to light, the damage is done and the families suffer—in both stories. In closing, these two novels gain universal fame for their ability to weave the consequences of war and family and love and loss. And, it is done in climatic fashion. Betrayal and love and comedy are the components that keep the characters moving—especially our villains Heathcliff and Tartuffe. There is one single link that connects Heathcliff with humanity. That is his respect for Harton Earnshaw, the man who adopted Heathcliff into the family, initiating this lifelong journey. Respect for family also manifests in Tartuffe as the battle between siblings and loved ones becomes the necessary device to overcome loss and deception and overzealous pride. Wuthering Heights is based on the love found by being forced into the trenches of war, a war that goes beyond the physical pain of the battlefield and into the ache of the soul. It’s ironic, in Tartuffe, that our antagonistic villain was once considered holy and pious. In the end, deceit loses but not before causing rampant death and destruction among the link known as family.

Emotionally-Charged Subjects Essay

Parents and teenagers need not always argue about issues that are manageable. The key to managing these issues is in understanding each other’s position and in finding a middle-way solution. If we can aim for a win-win solution, that would be best, but many times it may not be possible. So, adjusting our wants with regards to the other’s position may be necessary to solve our problems. Let us take the issues of friends, money and school for example. If we try to understand the problems facing each side, from the teenager and from the parents, we can try to negotiate our way to a solution. First, many teenagers today have friends that parents disagree with, but both sides can work on a solution. Proverbs 18:24 says, â€Å"A man of too many friends comes to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother† (New American Standard Bible). The teenager has to understand that quality friends are more important than quantity. Bad company may lead to drug abuse, alcoholism, pre-marital sex, unwanted pregnancies and other consequences that are life-and-death situations. It is important then to choose our friends wisely and to refrain from others who are bad influences on us. So how do we choose our friends? Or how do we know that they are truly our real friends? Proverbs 17:17 asserts that â€Å"A friend is always loyal, and a brother is born to help in time of need† (New Living Translation). If our so-called â€Å"friends† are only there when we have money or if we are in good health or if we have a nice car and a beautiful house, then they are not our friends. A true friend will be there for you even in sickness, homelessness and poverty. Of course, parents also have to understand that nothing is perfect and that these ideals may not be realized all the time because of actual, instead of theoretical circumstances. So parents have to give their teenagers some room for error and imperfection. By learning from their mistakes, they will become better adults later. Second, many teenagers nowadays want more money, which their parents don’t have, so we need to find creative solutions to solve it. In 1 Timothy 6:10, it is mentioned that â€Å"the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs† (New International Version). Money is needed to satisfy many physical desires, but too many desires will lead to suffering. It is important to extinguish the flames of desire through moderation. If we don’t really need something, we don’t have to possess it. We also need to be wise with our money through investments and diligent work. By finding part-time work and learning how to invest our savings properly, a teenager will learn good financial skills that he will need later as an adult. As Matthew 25:18 mentions, we should not dig â€Å"a hole in the ground and [hide]†¦ the master’s money† (New Living Translation) even if we have only a little of it. We should invest it, and we can also find some work to earn more money that we can additionally invest. We should also not have sudden cravings to splurge once we have a lot of money. In Proverbs 7: 20, a prodigal man â€Å"took lots of money with him†¦ [and] won’t be home for a couple of weeks† (God’s Word Translation). Instead, we should learn how to control our emotions. Being wasteful in our expenditures will empty our bank account. Lastly, we should also be generous. As Exodus 22:25 says, â€Å"If you lend money to one of my people among you who is needy, do not be like a moneylender; charge him no interest† (New International Version). By learning how to give, we will receive payment in â€Å"kind† later on in the form of respect, the return of favors and other non-quantifiable intangible forms that we will appreciate later. Lastly, teenagers may need to confront their parents about their problems in school. Grades are one of the major problems that teenagers face in school. Low marks could be a consequential problem due to bad friends or the lack of money to buy learning resources. If our problem with friends and money are resolved, then we can solve our issues in school also. But sometimes, the cause may be something else. If our ancestors were not so bright themselves, then we shouldn’t expect too much on ourselves. Or if we take some mental aptitude tests, and we score poorly, we may be faced with a biological problem that requires specialized training. But more often than not, we can improve our brain power through proper nutrition, exercise and mental conditioning. There are many books and courses in the market that will teach us on how to increase our mental aptitude. So, it may be necessary to purchase a few for the benefit of our future. But parents should also consider that school and grades are not everything. Jesus himself was very learned, but he did not bother to prove his academic excellence by getting a respected degree from a well-known school. In John 7:15 â€Å"the Jews were surprised and said, How has this man got knowledge of books? He has never been to school† (Bible in Basic English). Indeed, school is not the only place to learn and thus, school grades are not the only proof of learning. While some people may be God-gifted, more often than not, many people learn from the â€Å"School of Hard Knocks. † Truly, there are many successful people today, such as Bill Gates, who never finished college. In the end, teenagers are not always wrong and parents are not always right. When a proper middle-ground is reached between the two, there is peace. References Hook, S. (ed. ). (1965). Bible in Basic English. Cambridge University Press. Holy Bible: New International Version. (1978). Grand Rapids: Zondervan. Holy Bible: New Living Translation. (1996). Wheaton: Tyndale House. The Bible: God’s Word Translation. (1995). Jacksonville: Baker Publishing Group. The Bible: New American Standard Bible. (1997). Anaheim: Foundation.