My son, my executioner Essay -- Literary Analysis, Donald Hall

From a global viewpoint, the passing of generations of the human race is a smooth and natural cycle, one generation bringing another generation into this world, as they themselves begin to leave it. From the perspective of the individual, however, this cycle can bring about a mixture of feelings, from pride to depression, as they watch their own lives fall second to that of their children. Donald Hall’s â€Å"My son, my executioner† and Rita Dove’s â€Å"Daystar† describe how the birth and growth of a child is a massive turning point in a person’s life and can be looked at as either the continuance of one’s legacy or the withering of one’s own life, depending on the viewpoint. Donald Hall’s â€Å"My son, my executioner† describes the speaker’s acknowledgement that the arrival of the speaker’s son signals the beginning of the speaker’s own coming death, but muses that the child will carry on their legacy. The speaker holds the child â€Å"in [their] arms† (line 4) and reflects upon the situation. The speaker refers to the son as their â€Å"instrument of immortality† (line 6), its â€Å"cries and hunger† (line ...

The Fitzgerald Flapper Essay -- Biography Biographies Essays

The Fitzgerald Flapper Which came first, the flapper or the Fitzgerald flapper? This question may prove as difficult as its proverbial counterpart. But it is a question well worth asking in an effort to examine the flapper, a cultural icon of the 1920s. This new woman heralded an end to the traditional Victorian woman, as well as the relatively new Gibson girl. But where did she come from? And what was Fitzgerald's contribution to the creation of such an icon? Fitzgerald's short story Bernice Bobs Her Hair and novel This Side of Paradise will be used to make such an assessment. Finally, one must ask how the flapper, in turn, contributed to Fitzgerald's career, for the good and the bad. Although the flapper may have guaranteed the success of This Side of Paradise and earned Fitzgerald the position of spokesman for a generation, it may have also stifled the progression of his work and confused critics for years to come. First, it would be helpful to establish a working definition of the flapper, prior to Fitzgerald. Coined in England, the flapper was used to describe a somewhat awkward, fledgling-type girl, in the throws of budding womanhood ("Flappers in the Roaring Twenties"). She is still learning how to move in her body, gangly and thin. Another source puts forth a very different definition of the flapper. This definition, found in "Mrs. Stratton of Oak Knoll" asserts that a flapper is English slang for a society girl who has made her debut and hasn't found a husband ("F. Scott Fitzgerald Centenary"). She is an old maid of sorts, gone to seed. The first of these two definitions seems the more likely origin of the Fitzgerald flapper. Prior to World War I, most women in the America still behaved and dr... ...e to adapt to a writer's changing objectives. Works Cited Bruccoli, Matthew J. The Short Stories of F. Scott Fitzgerald. New York, NY: Scribner, 1989 Bryer, Jackson. The Critical Reputation of F. Scott Fitzgerald: A Bibliographical Study. USA: Archon Books, 1967 Fryer, Sarah Beebe. Fitzgerald's New Women: Harbingers of Change. Ann Arbor and London: UMI Research Press, 1988. Kitch, Carolyn. The Girl on the Magazine Cover. Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, 2001 Prigozy, Ruth. The Cambridge Companion to F. Scott Fitzgerald. UK and USA: Cambridge University Press, 2002 "Flappers in the Roaring Twenties." www.about.com. http://history1900s.about.com/library/weekly/aa022201a.htm "F. Scott Fitzgerald Centenary: University of South Carolina." www.sc.edu. January 2002. www.sc.edu/fitzgerald/index.html

A Streetcar Named Desire, by Tennessee Williams Essay -- A Streetcar Na

A Streetcar Named Desire From the beginning, the three main characters of Streetcar are in a state of tension. Williams establishes that the apartment is small and confining, the weather is hot and oppressive, and the characters have good reason to come into conflict. The South, old and new, is an important theme of the play. Blanche and her sister come from a dying world. The life and pretensions of their world are becoming a thing of memory: to drive home the point, the family mansion is called "Belle Reve," or Beautiful Dream. The old life may have been something beautiful, but it is gone forever. Yet Blanche clings to pretensions of aristocracy. She is now as poor as Stanley and Stella, but she cannot help but look down on the humble Kowalski apartment. Stanley tells her that she'll probably see him as "the unrefined type." The differences between them, however, are more complex and volatile than a matter of refinement. Desire is central to the play. Blanche is unable to come to terms with the force of her own desire. She is clearly repelled and fascinated by Stanley at the same time. And though she stayed behind and took care of the family while Stella ran off to find a new life, Blanche is both angry and jealous of Stella's choice: she seems a bit fixated on the idea of Stella sleeping with her "Polack." Stella has chosen a life built around her powerful sexual relationship with Stanley. Blanche is both repulsed by and jealous of the choice. . The play is haunted by mortality. Desire and death and loneliness are played off against each other again and again. The setting is one of decay; the dying Old South and the dying DuBois family make for a macabre and unsettling background. Blanche's first monologue is a rather graphic description of tending to the terminally ill. There is also the specter of Blanche's husband, who died when they were both very young; indeed, Blanch still refers to him as a "boy." Another symbol is the meat: Stanley enters carrying a package of bloody meat, like a hunter coming home from a day of work. Stanley is a superb specimen of primitive, unthinking, brutal man. The meat-tossing episode is seen as humorous by Eunice and the Negro Woman, who infer a sexual innuendo from the incident. Apparently, it is obvious to the neighbors that the sexual bond between Sta... ...us line is full of terrible irony. It is true that Blanche has often depended on the kindness of strangers, but all of them have abused and abandoned her. In the end, even her own sister has betrayed her. Her fragility, her inability to fend for herself, and her self- deception have brought her to madness. The representative of the new man, Stanley, is more ape than knight. But Blanche's line is earnest in that it shows her terrible loneliness. For so long, she has known only strangers; young girl in a house full of the dying, and then a woman losing her looks seeking protection from callous men. Her tragedy will for the most part be forgotten. Stella is crying, but she has nonetheless decided to stay with Stanley. She also will have to busy herself with caring for the baby. The other men have callously chosen to go on with their poker game on this day, denying Blanche the dignity of being taken away in private. The Old South dies, and the New South does not mourn her passing. Everyone is going to move on: as the play ends, Steve is already dealing a new hand. Sources:Streetcar Named Desired by Tenesse Williams Northon Anthology www.Sparknotes.com www.classicnotes.com

Examining Hamlet and The Great Gatsby Essay

According to Roger Lewis, â€Å"The acquisition of money and love are both part of the same dream, the will to return to the quintessential unity that exists only at birth and at death† (41). In both William Shakespeare’s play, Hamlet, and F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel, The Great Gatsby, the protagonists are willing to sacrifice all that they have in order to achieve their unrealistic objectives and ambitions, resulting in their tragic demises. While there are many themes and concepts relevant to both Hamlet and The Great Gatsby, their parallels regarding their aspirations stand out for further evaluation. The concept of sacrificing all that a person has, not limiting to their own life, is ever present in these works. Both Hamlet and Gatsby make evident that they are willing and are capable of sacrificing all that is themselves to possibly reach their ultimate goal. Throughout William Shakespeare’s play, Hamlet, the Prince of Denmark is set on his goal of achieving vengeance and justice for his father’s murder, without the realization that his obstinate aspirations eventually lead to his own downfall. Unlike many other characters, Hamlet is very analytical; he makes very calculated and thoughtful moves before he acts, ultimately leading him to his death. â€Å"Hamlet represents the type of man whose power of direct action is paralyzed by an excessive development of his intellect† (Freud, Sigmund). This is furthermore supported when Hamlet is given a golden opportunity to attain vengeance for his father, but does not kill Claudius, the king of Denmark, for Hamlet mistakenly assumes that Claudius is praying. Hamlet: Now might I do it pat. Now he is a-praying. And now I’ll do’t. And so he goes to heaven. And so am I revenged, That would be scanned. A villain kills my father, and, for that, I, his sole son, do this same villain send, To heaven. Oh, this is hire and salary, not revenge. (Hamlet, III, iii, 74-80) Hamlet misses an opportune chance to complete his mission, one to which he would have no opposition, but loses his chance due to his over-excessive thought process. On the other hand, Jay Gatsby is a person who appears to be motivated by only his urges and emotions; no other forces drive him more than his ultimate love lust. â€Å"Gatsby does not appear as a man of ordinary disposition acting under the direction of ordinary, explicable impulses. He appears instead as one under the spell of some enchantment† (Langman, F.H.). In other words, Gatsby himself was driven by a mighty inner need to reattain his once lost love. Through this, we see that Gatsby was not controlled by anything but his heart; his heart controlled his actions and thought process, and had completely consumed his entire life since his breakup with Daisy. Gatsby was willing to adjust himself to what Daisy seemed to desire at that moment. He hadn’t once ceased looking at Daisy, and I think he revalued everything in his house according to the measure of response it drew from her well-loved eyes. Sometimes, too, he stared around at his possessions in a dazed way, as though in her actual and astounding presence none of it was any longer real. Once he nearly toppled down a flight of stairs. (Fitzgerald, F. Scott, 112) In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel, The Great Gatsby, Jay Gatsby has made it his life mission to donate all of his possible energy and resources to attempt to acquire his love once lost. According to Carla Verderame, â€Å"The novel concerns itself with the struggles of reinventing oneself to attain the dreams and pleasures of one’s youth. In Gatsby’s case, the effort goes terribly awry.† Gatsby, throughout the novel, strives to retrieve his long lost love; he is willing to conform himself to whatever means he must conform to in order to achieve his end desired goal. â€Å"The poor boy who becomes a millionaire by extra-legal activities endeavors to recapture Daisy Buchanan by means of his newly acquired wealth. This ostentatious, mysterious character becomes the exemplar of the American dream and its flaws† (Bruccoli, Matthew J.). Jay Gatsby spends years of his life involved in illegal activity in order to accumulate enough wealth to be able to throw many parties, all for a possible chance to see his love once lost, Daisy. In this, both Jay Gatsby and Prince Hamlet are willing to sacrifice all that they have, not limited to themselves, in order to achieve their unrealistic goals. In comparison, Hamlet is content with altering his life and his current relationships, all for the sake of being closer to his ultimate goal, vengeance for his father. â€Å"Hamlet lacks faith in G-d and himself. Consequently he must define his existence in terms of others†¦ He would like to become what the Greek Tragic hero is, a creature of situation. Hence his inability to act, for he can only ‘act’†, i.e., play at possibilities† (Auden, W.H) Hamlet is willing to act mad, ruining all of his relationships, not limited to his romantic life, for a futile opportunity to get close enough to Claudius to kill him. Although both Jay Gatsby and Prince Hamlet are willing to sacrifice all for their aspirations, Gatsby puts on a false front, while Hamlet covers his; Gatsby pulls a facade as though he had been wealthy throughout his entire life, while Hamlet feigns insanity. Gatsby has attempted to pull a facade of him having always been wealthy, thus allowing him to be part of Daisy’s circle. Gatsby claims to have inherited his vast sum, hiding that he had actually self accumulated it over the years. By pretending to be wealthy to belong in an elite class, he is hoping for the opportunity and chance to have the ability of mixing in with Daisy, his lost love. â€Å"Past the last door to the last room and Gatsby’s facade is still up; he is still marshaling, even in his bedroom ‘many colored disarray’, literally pilling up: there is no end to his ‘soft rich heap’†¦But despite all the wealth they embody, they remain piles of things† (Lhamon Jr, W.T., 58). Though Jay Gatsby indubitably pretends he fits into the elite rich’s circle, he did not belong there in the least. Gatsby goes so far as to change his name, the one part of a being that will always be himself infinitely. He had gone so far as to change his name and identity as though it could be almost impossible to separate the fake facade from the real being. While delving so deep into a lie and false pretense, one can presume that likely at a point the two merged, creating a sort of equilibrium state, as though there had genuinely existed a ‘Jay Gatsby.’ â€Å"[Gatsby’s] parents were shiftless and unsuccessful farm people- his imagination had never really accepted them as his parents at all. The truth was that Jay Gatsby of West Egg, Long Island, sprang from his Platonic conception of himself. He was a son of God†¦ he must be about His Father’s business, the service of a vast, vulgar, and meretricious beauty. So he invented just the sort of Jay Gatsby that a seventeen year old boy would be likely to invent, and to this conception he was faithful to the end.† (Fitzgerald, F. Scott) In contrast, Hamlet has dissembled his true noble self in order to feign madness to draw Claudius near. Hamlet is far superior than any other characters in Hamlet, intellectually and with a potent inner strength. He embodies many incredible capabilities and abilities; Hamlet can be considered a paradoxical character, being both witty and cautious, kind but stern, etc. â€Å"[Hamlet] is endowed with the finest sense of propriety, susceptible of noble ambition, and open in the highest degree to an enthusiastic admiration of that excellence in others of which he himself is deficient. He acts the part of madness with unrivaled power† (Schlegel, August Wilhelm Von). Hamlet is inherently a noble and imperial being, therefore, for him to dissemble himself and conceal it enables him to feign his insanity, for insanity is much less noble than nobility. Hamlet appears to be a strong character, both physically and mentally. He is a very elegant thinker, who is by far more intellectual than his peers. â€Å"The character of Hamlet stands quite by itself. It is not a character marked by strength of will or even of passion, but by refinement of thought and sentiment† (Hazlitt, William). Hamlet is a very unique character in regards to his highly mature and noble sophistication. While it seems that Gatsby was not deserving of his vastly enourmous wealth along with the status that accompanied it throughout the book, on the contrary it is possible that he might in fact had been. One could argue that in reality he was a nobel character, deserving of his status in elite circles . Whether or not Gatsby had indeed inherited his sum or had invested legally or illegally, he truly did acquire an enormous sum of cash. Gatsby had come into life with almost nothing to his name, and had left it with enormous wealth. He was an honored individual who served his country and truly can be referred to as the epitome of the American Dream throughout his life. Gatsby ‘represented everything,’ Nick says, for which he feels â€Å"an unaffected scorn.† Even when he tells Gatsby, on their last meeting, that he’s ‘worth the whole damn bunch put together,’ Nick continues to disapprove of him on a social level. Gatsby has redeeming qualities, however†¦ Parts of his fantastic story turn out to be true. He had been a war hero, and has the medal from Montenegro to prove it. He had actually attended Oxford—for five months, as a postwar reward for military service, and produces a photograph in evidence. Above all, there was nothing phony or insincere about his dream of Daisy (Donaldson, Scott). That being said, it is important to also reanalyze Hamlet’s position; Hamlet could well possibly have not been concealing his true self, but rather trying to develop his plan cognitively. Although the question remains if he had truly become consumed by his ‘madness charade‘ or if it had been an act all along, William Shakespeare gives no indication in his work. â€Å"Hamlet, a very unconventional hero whose eloquence and endless deliberation on why he cannot consummate the revenge his father desires underscores his essential rhetorical role in the play. While Hamlet so eloquently describes his feelings, the question remains as to whether he actually feels them† (Bloom, Harold). Although it may appear that he had lost himself, if not beginning with his escapade concerning his old girlfriend then with his seemingly drivel conversations, it is highly likely that Hamlet had just been playing a part. This is seen when Hamlet is able to not only save his own life from the decree put forth by his uncle, but to complete his mission in the end as well. While there are many germane ideas present in both literary works, their parallels to each-other regarding their willingness to achieve their aspirations are regarded as a main point to be extracted for further assessments. Both protagonists were willing to do about anything, including altering their destinies, in order to achieve some aspiration of theirs, regardless of how unrealistic it may be. According to Khalil Gilbran, â€Å"To understand the heart and mind of a person, look not at what he has already achieved, but at what he aspires to.† (97) This being said, both Gatsby and Hamlet are intricate characters with much to delve and dissect on; though they both died tragic deaths, their deaths were not in vain for their legacies continue onward. Works Cited: Auden, W.H. Hamlet. qtd in Lectures on Shakespeare† ed. Arthur Kirsch. New Jersey: Princton University Press, 2000 Bloom, Harold, ed. â€Å"Background to Hamlet.† Hamlet, Bloom’s Guides. Philadelphia: Chelsea House Publishing, 2003. Bruccoli, Matthew J. New Essays on The Great Gatsby. Cambridge: Cambridgeshire, 1985. Donaldson, Scott. Fool for Love: F. Scott Fitzgerald qtd. on â€Å"On Gatsby and the Historical Antecedents for Gatsby.† Bloom, Harold, ed. New York: Chelsea House Publishing, 2006. Freud, Sigmund. The Interpretations of Dreams. qtd. as â€Å"Hamlet’s Deepest Impulses† Harold Bloom, ed. Shakespeare’s Tragedies, Bloom’s Major Dramatists. Philadelphia: Chelsea House Publishing, 1999. Fitzgerald, F. Scott. The Great Gatsby. New York: Scribner, 2004. Print. Gilbran, Khalil. qtd in A Toolbox for Humanity ed Lloyd Albert Johnson. Victoria, Canada: Trafford Publishing, 2003. Hazlitt, William.Characters of Shakespeareâ€℠¢s Plays qtd. as â€Å"Hamlet’s Power of Action† in Harold Bloom, ed. Shakespeare’s Tragedies, Bloom’s Major Dramatists. Philadelphia: Chelsea House Publishing, 1999. Lewis, Roger. Money, love, and aspiration. qtd. in â€Å"New Essays on the Great Gatsby† ed. Matthew J. Bruccoli. Cambridge University Press: Cambridge, UK. 1985 Lhamon Jr, W.T. Style and Shape in the Great Gatsby.† Critical Essays on F. Scott Fitzgerals, Cambridge. ed. Scott Donaldson Bostom: Hall, 1984 Schlegel, August Wilhelm Von. Hamlet’s flaws. qtd. in Shakespeare’s Tragedies, Bloom’s Major Dramatists. Harold Bloom, ed. Philadelphia: Chelsea House Publishing, 1999. Shakespeare, William. Hamlet. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1992. Verderame, Carla. The Great Gatsby. McClinton-Temple, Jennifer ed. Encyclopedia of Themes in Literature. New York: Infobase Publishing, 2011.

Culture Of Poverty Essay

Culture is a set of values and beliefs that influence the effectiveness also strategy formulation. It is a pattern of shared basic assumptions that people learn to produce behavioural norm. Poverty is being unable to provide yourself with comfort and material needs. Culture of poverty shows that those who are poor stay in poverty due to adapting the poverty burden. The world eliminates the culture of poverty through education and get their priorities straight and create micro-culture where the whole world will belong (Bass, 2005) I agree with the position that the poor are largely responsible for their own poverty because when they realize they are poor instead of working hard they start feeling helpless and not belonging and they feel that the society do not serve their needs. They feel they have no power therefore can not try to change their situation for the better and feel they are inferior and think that the rich are superior which make them not put effort to change their situation for the better. The poor also feel that they are unworthy and do not form any racial group and feel that they are unworthy and do not form any racial group and feel that they are discriminated by the members of the society. People who are poor do not know any history o becoming rich and acquiring wealth, they only know heir problems and shortcomings; they recognize only the poor conditions and only their neighborhood which is also living in poverty. Poor people have no knowedge, vision or ideas to compare themselves with other people who are rich for example they do not care whether they are in high class or low class. The poor should be encouraged to work hard and not accept the poverty burden in order to improve their lifestyle. CAUSES OF SOCIAL INEQUALITY RACISM This is the existence of a higher race and a lower race due to the higher race having superiority complex. This is as a result of having supernatural gifts that others do not have or being gifted in hunting and being courageous and being known to excel in war. this is recognized by possession of trophies gained after being a winner. The looser becomes the victim of the conqueror. When an individual experience personal superiority and see others as inferior social inequality will always be experienced (Fanning, 2000) SOCIAL STRATIFICATION This is where women politically and socially feel inferior. Old people are respected only when they are strong. In some tribes people rank high when they are initiated and also when they are granted new names. people are grouped together and accorded status depending on which group they belong either poor or rich. There are caste system where each individual is born in for example in India Brahmin is the caste at the top and untouchables is the bottom caste which is based on good or bad conduct. In Britain land was owned by nobility depending on family tradition, conduct or privileged who were the ruling group. SEXISM This is discriminating one another basing on gender for example women discrimination. These are attitudes or behaviours that make social roles to be stereotyped basing on gender. this also involves abusive behaviour to a person of opposite sex. In work place women are excluded in employment to the benefit of men. Employers fail to recruit women even though they have same or even higher qualifications than men. Women are also denied positions in politics whereby men dominate parliament with women being the minority. Sexism causes social inequality because women feel inferior to men and belief that they are weak and unproductive, they regard themselves with low esteem . they fail to use ideas they have and are not innovative. This makes all the work to be left to men to do and social inequality will always affect the society. EFFECTS OF SOCIAL INEQUALITY It brings about difference in religion where we have Christians, Muslims or Hindus of different religion and beliefs. Social class arises whereby those who belief they belong to same social class work together and leave out those of different social class (Bowen, 1948) Some people think they are inferiors and other superior leading to division and lack of unity. In terms of skin colour, there is radical distinction between black and white people. It can cause mental illness due to lack of improved technology and skills in treating illness. Low income earners lack basic needs due to lack of enough money to finance their basic needs. Unequal distribution of wealth between rich and poor in areas which are more productive than others for example mountain regions are more productive compared to lowland regions. REFERENCES 1. Madden Janice Fanning; Changes in Income inequality within US; W. E Upjohn Institute, 2000 2. Bowen Howard; Toward Social Economy; Rinehart, 1948 3. Bass Stephene; Reducing Poverty and sustaining the Environment; Earthscan,2005

Oedipus and Freud

Freud. But on the other and in some sort of situations or moments, according to what Dry. Freud called the unconscious level, we are capable of free our most deep emotions and feelings leaving aside the reason, and acting in a very primitive way. In both cases, these schemes are a predictable behavior or reaction that could be found and several times reproduced in different cultures with different structures. This is a never ending fight between reason and feelings.In order to clarify my point of view I will use some examples from the play Oedipus The King: A) The intelligence and sides of Oedipus I think, is the representation of our desire to control things according to our own schemes, we have to be In control of everything that we are capable of, we neglect our subconscious that In this case Is the prophecy and we Just try to avoid this kind of situations as possible with all of our will. But, what causes more anxiety is that we very deep know that we have to fight our subconscio us desires because they can show at any moment.For example: Page 749: locate: Why should anyone in this world be afraid, since fate rules us (Subconscious) and nothing an be foreseen? A man should live only for the present day (The satisfaction of emotions and feelings (subconscious more than reason Conscious because we are not responsible for what we decided, it is our fate) have no more fear of sleeping with your mother: how many men, in dreams, have lain with their mothers! No reasonable man is troubled by such things.Oedipus: That is true; only if my mother were not still alive! But she Is alive. I can not help my dread. (From a conscious perspective, be aware of our deepest Instincts and fight against them). B) lactate's Insistence of not Interviewing the shepherd: locate: For God's love, let us have no more questioning! Is your life nothing to you? My own is pain enough for me to bear. Oedipus: You need not worry, Suppose my mother a slave, and born of slaves: no baseness can touch you. locate: Listen to me, I beg you: do not do this thing!Oedipus: I will not listen; the truth must be made known. locate: Everything that I say is for your own good! , Oedipus: My own good snaps my patience, then; I want none of it. locate: You are fatally wrong! May you never learn who you are! In this lines I can understand the sire of locate to not let the reason to guide our will, instead of this a less conflictive solution will be found to keep things in the way they are, and you can read the warning that locate does to Oedipus cursing him to never know who he Is.This is again the fight between desire and consent, we from an unconscious level can desire a vast amount of feelings, but our reason and schemes help us to consent only what It Is appropriate. As Dry. Freud says: â€Å"he Is at the same time compelling us to recognize our own inner minds, in which those same impulses, though suppressed, re still to De Taunt. † c) I en sexual Impulse Tanat Dry.Freud ret ire In t : â€Å"l Is ten Tate AT all of us, perhaps, to direct our first sexual impulse towards our mother and our first hatred and our first murderous wish against our father†. I truly believe that Dry. Freud not only refers to a sexual impulse but to a large group of emotions that are represented by the mother and father, from our most basic needs like food, protection, to the most complex ones like sexual behavior with a desire or attraction and the desire of independence and power.

The Change of Video From Analog to the Digital

DVD is an exciting new technology because of the following benefits: up to nine hours of studio-quality video and multiple channel surround sound simultaneous multiple language support and interactivity other digital video delivery systems, including direct broadcast satellite, wireless cable and digital cable Digital video changes all aspects of video production. Up to this point video has been recorded and transmitted as analog electrical system. Analog video transmitters and receivers can be built inexpensively but are very expensive to transmit and store. Also, today ¡s strong digital computers cannot process analog signals, so analog information cannot be easily searched, sorted or edited. The change of video from the analog to the digital domain changes everything. Digital video can be stored and distributed more inexpensively than analog, and digital video can be stored on randomly accessible media such as a magnetic disk drive (hard discs), and optical disc media (CDs). When stored on randomly accessible media, video can be used in other applications such as games, education, training, and other applications. Even movies can become interactive, allowing viewers to select their point of view, a plot path and the ending. Digital video also significantly increases transmission efficiency so that communications networks, everything from television systems to telecommunication satellites, are able to carry from six to ten times more channels of video programming than was possible before, thereby offering more consumer choice. The ability to transmit video over the public phone network will also allow video conferencing, accelerating the work at home movement that is changing the way people are employed. DVDs can hold 4.7 to 17 billion bytes of digital data on a 120-mm (4.75 inch) disc. This can mean up to nine hours of studio quality video and multi-channel surround-sound audio, highly interactive multimedia computer programs, 30 hours of CD-quality audio, or anything else that can be represented as digital data. A DVD looks like a CD. It is a silvery platter, 4.75 inches in diameter with a hole in the center. Data is recorded on the disc in a spiral trail of tiny pits, and the discs are read using a laser beam. DVDs hold more information because the pits are smaller and the spiral is tighter and can record data in as many as four layers, two on each side of the disc. Lasers that have a shorter wavelength beam of light are more accurate aiming and focusing mechanisms. These are used to read the DVDs. In fact, the focusing mechanism is the technology that allows data to be recorded in two layers. To read the second layer, the reader focuses the laser deeper into the disc, where the second layer of data is recorded. Not only are two-layer discs possible, but double sided as well. This ability of four layers gives DVD its 17 gigabyte capacity. Since a 135-minute movie fits on a single DVD layer however, single-layer DVDs will be the most common. Philips was founded in 1891 by Gerald Philips in Eindhoven, the Netherlands as a manufacturer of incandescent lamps and other electronics. From its small beginning, Philips has emerged as one of today ¡s global leaders in electronics. As a thirty-nine billion-dollar company, Philips successfully competes in a wide range of markets such as consumer products, lighting, semiconductors, professional products and systems. Philips currently has a workforce of more than 250,000. The company has 243 production facilities scattered throughout twenty-five countries. Philips sells and services its products in 150 countries and their stock is traded in 16 stock exchanges in nine countries. The company presently has seven different product divisions and one hundred businesses in value based competitive analysis. Philips ranked first worldwide in lighting, color picture tubes, shavers, and dictation equipment. They are second in laser optics and monitors. The company is third among consumer electronics and medical imagining equipment. To maintain leadership in global markets through innovation, Philips reinvests 5.3% of its sales into research and development and has research laboratories in six countries. Through its commitment in research, Philips has come up with at least ten thousand inventions in field of optical recording, digital audio coding, digital video coding and mobile telephony. The company is a holder of 60,000 patents and design rights and almost 30,000 trademarks registrations. Philips possesses key patents in optical recording (CD-Audio, CD-ROM, CD-R, CD-RW, DVD-Video, DVD-ROM), digital audio coding (MPEG-2 audio compression) and mobile telephony (GMS and CDMA). Philips Magnavox was formed in 1974 when the two companies decided to join forces. Along with the Philips brand, there are several other name brands including, but not limited to, Marantz and Norelco. Philips Magnavox released the DVD400AT video player on April 30, 1997 at a retail price of $549. The new device allows for richer sound and video quality that was found  ¡V until then  ¡V only in movie theaters. In 1960 Akio Morita began Sony ¡s first major overseas venture in the United States in New York City with a capital investment of $500,000. They employed six people initially but would grow into one of the largest components of Sony ¡s worldwide operations. Currently, Sony Electronics, Inc. in North America has one-third of Sony ¡s corporate assets worldwide. They are the largest geographical operation of the corporation. They rake in some $9.6 billion sales on a given year and roughly $1.3 billion in exports. The North American plants employ a total of 24,000 people whose job range from manufacturing to customer service to research and development and marketing and sales. During the 1995 Consumer Electronics show, Sony debuted the first prototype DVD player in the United States. On January 8, 1997, Sony Electronics released their first DVD player at a retail price of about $1,000  ¡V a big difference from today ¡s $400 price tag. John Briesch, President of Sony Electronics A/V Group said,  ¡Ã‚ §We have designed our first DVD player, model DVP-S7000, as a high-end product to deliver not only reference-standard DVD video quality, but state-of-the-art CD sound as well. ¡ Panasonic introduced its first products into the U.S. market in 1961. The founder of its parent company  ¡V Matsushita Electric Industrial Company Co.  ¡V Konosuke Matsushita believed that  ¡Ã‚ §Matsushita makes people before it makes products. ¡ He basically believed that valuing employees first would lead to better quality products. It seems that his successors have carried out his vision because Panasonic continues to sell high quality products in the U.S. and abroad. The company currently employs 19,500 people in factories, sales companies, service centers and research facilities in the U.S., Puerto Rico, Mexico and Canada. Divx is the latest technology to revolutionize DVD players. Divx movies are synonymous with movie rentals in the sense they can be viewed for a set period of time (48 hours from the time of the initial playing). Unlike traditional movie rentals, Divx doesn ¡t have any late fees tacked on to the price. In addition, there are no late night trips to the video store to return movies. A Divx movie costs an average of $4.50, which includes an initial viewing time of forty-eight hours from the time of pressing the play button. After that time is up, an additional forty-eight hours can be purchased for $3.25. It is done through the internal modem to an 800 number and information is uploaded back to the CD on a very small chip. This can be repeated as often as the user likes. Also, a person may decide a movie on Divx is worth watching over and over. During this case, a Dixv can be converted into a movie that has unlimited playing time and is like a regular DVD movie. Technological and social/cultural shifts: With the advent of the DVD, more and more data can be stored on a single disc. In addition, the DVD is far more interactive than the traditional VHS tape. For example, on a DVD two or more languages can be stored. That couldn ¡t happen on a VHS tape because of limiting recording time. Furthermore, people don ¡t have to leave their house to watch a DVD. With the emergency of e-commerce on the Internet an individual can order a movie off of the web and have it delivered to the front door within days. This takes away from the social interaction with people that occurs in a store setting. People are able to use the DVD to learn another language. Take for instance a DVD that has superstar French-Canadian Celine Dion singing her various songs. One option in the program is to change the lyrics that are displayed on the screen to French. As Celine Dion sings in English, the words matching up to what she is singing are displayed on the bottom of the screen. This is an excellent way to learn another language. There are many different ways that are now being developed to copyright protect the movies, programs and videos etc. that are on the new DVDs. The three most common ways that were found to be used already to protect DVDs are: Regional coding, Content scrambling system and the Copy generation management system (CGMS). When you buy your first DVD drive and install it, you now have to enter the zone in which you live. The world is divided into six sections, with Canada and the United States as zone 1. The DVD disc also has its own codes that allow it to be played in certain parts of the world and not in others. This forces people that buy DVD discs in Zone 1 to also have to utilize discs that are coded for Zone 1. This prohibits movies that are produced in other Zones from being used where they should not be. The code can however be changed on your DVD drive. The code can only be changed a couple of times, thus prohibiting people from changing the code constantly and abusing the protection. It allows the user to change the code a couple of times so that if they move to a different zone they will not be penalized. The second type of encryption is called the Content Scrambling System. (CSS) This is a key-based data encryption that  ¡Ã‚ §sets up a protocol whereby your drive and the disc exchange keys. ¡ The keys are legal, registered mechanism of the Content Scrambling System. Any hardware that is sold or brought into different zones must be registered. When the keys are found to be authentic, then the DVDs can be decrypted. The third type of protection comes from the VCR technology that we are all very familiar with. The Copy Generation Management System is the technology that makes it impossible to copy two videos between two VCRs with a good resolution and brightness. This system works by embedding a signal in a part of the video that is not usually seen by the user. This signal causes the brightness of the video to vary and for the picture to be unreliable. This same technology has been implemented for use with DVDs. Although it seems possible that some people may be able to overcome these copyright traps, the user has to have at least an 8, 10 or 17 GB hard drive.