Similarities and differences in Crane and Dreiser's practice of Essay

Similarities and differences in Crane and Dreiser's practice of realism - Essay Example It is therefore pertinent to analyze the similarities in Crane’s practice of realism and that of Dreiser, while showing the differences that exists between them in the process. The two authors try to show the reality of living in an urban setting and the experiences of people living in the cities. The two of them usually talk about the experience and challenges faced by women living in the society and in the case of Maggie: A Girl of the Streets and Sister Carrie, they talk about the experience of women living in the urban society and the consequences that comes with them living in the urban society. The two authors depict life as a normal process. It is pertinent to note that the two authors have shown that one basic principle to live in the urban world is to be fit as they show the animalistic survival of the fittest principle in their works. The difference that exists between the works of Crane in Maggie: A Girl of the Streets and Dreiser in Sister Carrie is in the ability of one of the authors to integrate emotions into his work.While Crane took cognizance of the people living in the urban settings with a consideration for their yearning for sympathy (Crane), Dreiser does not in any way consider any form of pleadings for sympathy or moral judgment (Dreiser), and this is the major difference between the depiction of realism by the two writers in the works considered.

'In the current economic climate, what are the biggest challenges and Essay

'In the current economic climate, what are the biggest challenges and biggest opportunities facing new managers entering indus - Essay Example Finding unique strategy There are many innovations, as upshots of reaching certain competitive advantage in order to be on top of the competition, especially now that the current economic climate demands key players to do the right move in order to survive the tough and challenging times. The challenge therefore is to think of a strategy that is something new or as a new way, one that is unique and hard to emulate in order to achieve a highly sustainable competitive advantage. According to Porter, the only way to ensure a sustainable competitive advantage on the part of an organization is to employ strategies that are unique or hard to outdo (Porter, 1990). The current economic climate for instance allows the mobile phone producers to initiate strategies that are far better than the other. However, common to their prevailing strategies is to come up with new innovations from time to time, leading to facing off the old product trends or models. This gives the opportunity for consumers to become more sophisticated and look for what could benefit them to the fullest, including the opportunity to find for the best price at their advantage resulting to a strong market power that is enough for them to have remarkable bargaining power. On the other hand, this may challenge the competing companies to look for a more feasible strategy that along the way will have the ability to meet both the needs of the target consumers and the company. Finding for the best resource Considering the point that the current economic climate would mean finding the available or best resources in order to guarantee continuous operation, the other challenge for most managers in various organizations is finding the relevant resources linked to their actual operation. This is evident to many outsourcing activities initiated by major international companies (Cornejo, 2009). The case of call centers for instance is a perfect manifestation that many companies are employing third parties in order t o minimize their cost and guarantee profitability on the process. Not only that. Outsourcing human resource is proven effective especially if organizations will have to employ human resource with associated low labour cost. This is evident how international companies like call centers outsourced or instituted their operation in developing countries like in Asia where they could save on their actual operational cost. China for instance is a remarkable country with available resources especially the human resource that could be tapped to guarantee higher profitability. The challenge on the other hand is that there is on-going competition for allocating the best resource, which means individual companies will have to compete in this aspect, the hard way, knowing that having limited resources is not far from the impossibility with the current economic climate. Opportunity for creativity Despite the associated challenge in finding a sustainable competitive advantage through having unique strategy that is hard to emulate or copy, managers will have the opportunity to be as creative as possible in this aspect so as to initiate their goals (Chaston, 2012). They will have the opportunity to go beyond the limit, and think of possibilities that are not yet realised in the current set up of the prevailing economic climate. Consider the point of the highly differentiated offerings for mobile communication gadgets and the remarkable upgrade from

Whats Eating Gilbert Grape Essay Example for Free

Whats Eating Gilbert Grape Essay World War I was supposed to be the war that ended all wars. Instead it set the stage for future conflicts throughout the 20th Century. The people of the time called the conflict the Great War, and they believed that there would never again be another like it. Although the United States tried to remain neutral, it was eventually drawn into the conflict. The war had a profound effect on the nation, and touched upon many aspects of American life. When the war ended, the United States, and the world, was changed forever. Your Task: Place all of your answers in your computer notebook for the following questions. Your notebook should include pictures, maps and anything else you want to make your project the best. Please use the links provided and your textbook to answer the following: Area 1 : Choosing sides and war plans: 1. Using the map in your text pp. 375 and the chart on page 379, answer the following in your notebook. -Allied Powers (6 major countries) Great Britain, France, Russia, Italy, Serbia and the U.S -Central Powers (4 major countries) German, Hungarian, Turkish, Bulgarian -Neutrals (6 major countries) Switzerland, Sweden, Spain, Norway, Ireland, Denmark and the Netherlands. -What were the central and the allies called before the war? The Central powers were known before the war as the Triple alliance and before the war the Allies were known as the triple entente. 2. Which side did the United States eventually join? Why? All allied forces, The US had planned to stay out of the war at first. They would only send aid to the Allied Powers, but they did not fight. When Germany heard they were sending aid to the Allies, they got angry and bombed one of the supply ships, which really angered the US. Thus, the US joined the war on the Allied side. 3. Which country switched sides just before the war started? Why? Italy was in the Triple Alliance but then switched to fight with Russia, Britain and France and don’t forget the U.S. 4. List and describe the four long term causes of World War I. Militarism- is when a country builds up on their armys navys and weaponry. Alliances- A union or association formed for mutual benefit, esp. between countries or organizations. Imperialism- A policy of extending a countrys power and influence through diplomacy or military force. Nationalism- An extreme form of this, esp. marked by a feeling of superiority over other countries. 5. What was the spark! that led to the immediate cause of World War I? Murder of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria set-off chain reaction of national treaties guaranteeing alliances/protections and they honored those agreements until they were all at war with each other. 6. Who was General Schlieffen, and what was his plan for World War I? What was his country trying to avoid by implementing this plan? Alfred Von Schrieffen to help Germany win a war on two fronts against France and Russia. The general gist of it was that Germany would attack France first as their army was the most organized. They would surprise the French by attacking through Belgium (not accounting for the fact that the UK would rush in to help, and that Belgium itself would put up a fight.) and spit in half half would take the coast to defend against Britain, whilst the other half would circle round and take Paris. They expected Russia would take a few weeks to get ready for war by which time they would have cap tured France and be ready to fight Russia. Area 2 : Weapons of War: 1) List and describe 4 weapons introduced in World War I. Be sure to explain their effectiveness and how they were used? Tank- The tank was first used at the little known Battle of Flers. It was then used with less success at the Battle of the Somme. Though the tank was highly unreliable – as one would expect from a new machine – it did a great deal to end the horrors of trench warfare and brought back some mobility to the Western Front. Gas- most feared of all weapons in World War One. Poison gas was indiscriminate and could be used on the trenches even when no attack was going on. Whereas the machine gun killed more soldiers overall during the war, death was frequently instant or not drawn out and soldiers could find some shelter in bomb/shell craters from gunfire. A poison gas attack meant soldiers having to put on crude gas masks and if these were unsuccessful, an attack could leave a victim in agony for days and weeks before he finally succumbed to his injuries. Rifle- they used rifles to use people duhhhh.. they could only use those because they were in a trench and it was hard to get other stuff in there. Machinegun- Machine guns inflicted appalling casualties on both war fronts in World War One. Men who went over-the-top in trenches stood little chance when the enemy opened up with their machine guns. Machine guns were one of the main killers in the war and accounted for many thousands of deaths. 2) What is Propaganda? What were four reasons propaganda posters were used? Propoganda is the aim of getting people to believe your side of the story 1. They were trying to enlist people into the army. 2. They were trying to convince people to ration the food they used and send the rest to the soldiers 3.They were trying to convince people to grow victory gardens and send the food to soldiers 4. They were trying to show people the opposing side was a monster and to donate money/food/work to help the soldiers fight them 3) What nation produced the most posters throughout WWI? Germany. 4) Go to sidebar to the right and click on a couple of countries; England, U.S. and Germany. Are they similar? List some symbols, messages, similarities and differences, if any, in the posters. No they are not similar. Area 3: Life in the Trenches: 1) What is trench foot? What caused trench foot? Trench foot is a condition of the foot resembling frostbite, caused by prolonged exposure to cold and dampness and often affecting soldiers in trenches. 2) What affects did it have on the body? What was the remedy for it? Trench foot is what you get when your feet have been exposed to long periods off wet, cold, and unsanitary conditions .If the infection was left to sit without medical attention for to long it could turn into gangrenous and have to be amputated. The remedy was for officers to change their socks at least 4 times a day and wear thigh high boots. 3) Read the diary entries from Thomas Fredrick Littler and answer the following: * Describe some common repetitive themes (tasks) of trench life. July 2nd 1916 (Sunday) We rested all day, and many of us are still a little shaky. July 3rd 1916 We had a number of reinforcements sent to us, and paraded at 9-30 p.m and moved up the line to Foncquevillers a little to the north of Hebuterne and were billeted in cellars, turned out to work at 11-p.m and went up the trenches and in places we were waist deep in water, and at last got to the fire trench and went on top and put out 150yds of barbed wire and returned to billets at 4-30 in the morning. July 4th 1916 Put another 150 yrds of barbed wire on the top and the trenches were still waist deep in water July 5th 1916 Just the same as the day before. * Define stalemate, How does the definition of this word describe life in the trenches? Stalemate in ww1 refers to the period throughout the war where trenches dominate the front-line. Like the definition stalemate, during this period the battle lines barely moved, so most historians refer to it as stalemate. 3) What was No Mans Land? (Please be sure to describe at least three distinct features) No Mans Land is the area of land between the trenches of the opposing forces. To get to No Mans Land you had to crawl under barbed wire . While in No Mans Land you were at high risk of dying as you could easily be shot dead by a sniper bullet. You were most likely be taken down by machine guns or simple assault rifles, if you went to No Mans Land snipers were for long distances for the enemies who were in trenches. The machine guns that the Germans had were much more advanced; the English ones were more basic Area 4: America enters the War: 1) What was the Lusitania? What is the significance of the Lusitania in the War? How many people died and were there any Americans on board? Lusitania was a ship built by Cunard for the Admiralty, who loaned the shipbuilder 2,600,000 pounds for the construction of two ships, the Lusitania and her sister ship RMS Mauretania. Both ships were to be built to Admiralty standards for heavy cruisers and during time of war would be placed in the service of the British Navy. Carried Americans. On the Lusitania a total of 1,198 people died (785 passengers and 413 crew). Those killed included 128 US citizens. 2) How many Allied and Neutral ships were lost to submarines in 1917? How much total number of Allied and Neutral ships were sunk by submarines between 1914-1918? (Scroll downits there!) there were 2,439 ships were lost. There were 4,837sunk. 3) What is the Zimmerman Telegram and who wrote it? Why did Americans feel threatened by this telegram? (Think Monroe Doctrine). The Zimmermann Telegram (or Zimmermann Note; Zimmermann-Depesche; Telegrama Zimmermann) was a 1917 proposal, Arthur Zimmermann wrote it. The British intercepted a telegram sent from Germany to Mexico asking the Mexicans to attack the U.S. if the U.S. got involved in WWI. They promised the Mexicans money and a return of AZ, CA, NM territory lost by the Mexicans to the U.S. in the Mexican American War of 1846-8. Mexico considered it, after all, they did not like the U.S. or Wilson, but were more afraid of the U.S. than Germany. Plus, Germany is 1000s of miles away it was one of the factors that helped bring us into the war. 4) In the telegram, what did the German government decide to begin on Feb. 1, 1917? What was promised to Mexico in the telegram? 5) When does the Untied States declare war on Germany? Who was John J. Pershing? There were two major reasons. First off, the German U-Boats sank 3 passenger ships carrying US civilians and citizens. As if that wasnt enough, the Germans sent the Zimmerman code, which was a code (intercepted and decoded by Britain) that asks Mexico to ally itself with the Axis (or, at least Germany). If Mexico does ally itself with the Axis, then the Axis would help Mexico take back some of the original Mexican lands that the US took over. Seeing this, the US got pissed (after a large amount of casualties and a lethal threat note) and began to attack (or, declare war on Germany). Because the British were also going against Germany, and Britain was once the US homeland, the US joined war on the Allies side. John. J. Pershing was a general officer in the United States Army who led the American Expeditionary Forces in World War I. Pershing is the only person to be promoted in his own lifetime to the highest rank ever held in the United States Army—General of the Armies (a retroactive Congressional edict passed in 1976 promoted George Washington to the same rank but with higher seniority[1]). Pershing holds the first United States officer service number (O-1). He was regarded as a mentor by the generation of American generals who led the United States Army in Europe during World War II, including George C. Marshall, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Omar N. Bradley, and George S. Patton. 6) What was the Brest-Litovsk Treaty? How did it affect the fighting on the Western Front? (Think Schlieffen Plan) The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk was a peace treaty signed on March 3, 1918, at Brest-Litovsk (now Brest, Belarus) between the Russian SFSR and the Central Powers, marking Russias exit from World War I. it make fighting more intense on the western front. Area 5: Results of the War: 1) What was the name of President Wilson’s Speech to Congress on January 8, 1918? 14 points. 2) Through the points mentioned in the above article, how does Wilson address: * Imperialism- * Militarism- * Navigation of the seas- * International trade- * Self-determination What does this mean- * League of Nations- 3) How does the US Congress feel about the League of Nations? Why is this League set up for failure? 4) In Articles 231232 of the Treaty of Versailles, what is Germany responsible for? 5) What happened to most of Wilsons Points in the final draft of the Treaty of Versailles? Why? 6) What country lost the most soldiers, and has the most missing, How many American soldiers died and what was the total number of soldiers who died in the war? 7) When did the war end? When was the Treaty of Versailles signed? Why are these dates significant? 8) Why did this attitude of an unfair peace and US noninvolvement in the League of Nations help set up the foundations for a new world conflict? Reflection Assignment Historical Context: World War I was supposed to be the war that ended all wars. Instead it set the stage for future conflicts throughout the 20th Century. The people of the time called the conflict the Great War, and they believed that there would never again be another like it. Although the United States tried to remain neutral, it was eventually drawn into the conflict. The war had a profound effect on the nation, and touched upon many aspects of American life. When the war ended, the United States, and the world, was changed forever. Using the information acquired from your Webquest, write a well-constructed essay including the following: * An Introduction, body and conclusion. * Evidence of proof reading—grammar and spelling do not interfere with the message. * Answer a separate sheet of paper to be used as a rough draft for your next test. -List and describe the long and short-term causes of World War I. Be sure to also include how the agreements at the Treaty of Versailles left many of the causes still in place after the war. -Be sure to use specific examples from your World War I Webquest as well as other information provided in class. -Be sure your thesis is supported through the body and conclusion from this packet and other information from this unit. -Be sure the essay has clarity and answers the question. On Sunday, June 28, 1914, in Sarajevo, Bosnia, an 18-year-old Serbian named Gavrilo Princip, shot and killed Archduke Francis Ferdinand and his wife Duchess Sophie while they were driving in an open car. Princip belonged to a sercet terror society, called the Black Hand, that wanted to rid Bosnia of Austrian rule and unite it with Serbia. The assassination led to the first World War. This terrible conflict latsed over 4 years, involved over 30 nations, and claimed more than 20,000,000 lives, both miltary and civilian. It cost billions of dollars, destroyed Europe, crumbled empires, and sowed seeds of World War 2. There were also others causes that led up to World War 1. Over time, countries in Europe made mutual defense agreements that would pull them into battle. If one country was attacked, allied countries were bound to defend them. Before World War 1, the following alliances existed: Russia and Serbia, Germany and Austria-Hungary (The Dual Alliance 1879), France and Russia (Franc o-Russian Alliance 1891), Britain and France and Belgium, and Japan and Britain. Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia (July 28, 1914), Russia got involved to defend Serbia. Germany seeing Russia mobilizing, declared war on Russia (August 1, 1914). France was then drawn in against Germany and AustriaHungary (August 3, 1914). Germany attacked France through Belgium pulling Britain into war (August 4, 1914). This eventually split the continent into two hostile sides. The Central Powers (Germany, Austria-Hungary, later joined by Bulgaria and the Ottoman Empire), and the Allies (Great Britain, France, Russia, later joined by Japan, Italy, and the United States). Another factor that increased the rivalry in Europe was imperialism. Before World War 1, Africa and parts of Asia were areas of conflict between the European countries. This was because of the raw materials these areas could provide. The increasing competition and desire for greater empires led to an increase in conflict that helped start World War I. Militarism means that the army and military forces are given a high profile by the government. The division between European countries and militarism, or a policy of glorying military power and keeping an army prepared for war, led to an arms race between the main countries, another cause of World War I. The armies of both France and Germany had more than doubled between 1870 and 1914, and there was fierce competition between Britain and Germany for mastery of the seas. In the fall of 1914, a series of battles occured in the region of northern France known as the Western Front. During this time a German general, named Alfred Graf von Schlieffen, had drawn up a plan, called the Schlieffen Plan, which called for attacking and defeating France in the west and rushing to fight Russia in the east. By early September, German troops had reached the outskirts of Paris. But, on September 5, the Allies attacked the Germans northeast of Paris, in the valley of Marne River. The Germans retreated after four days of fighting. The Battle of the Marne was an important battle because the Frenc h and British forces were able to stop the Schlieffen plan for a quick victory. However, the German army was not beaten, and its successful retreat ended all hope of a short war. By early 1915, armies on the Western Front began digging long trenches to protect themselves from opposing armies. This became known as trench warfare where soldiers fought each other from trenches. New technology, such as machine guns, poison gas, tanks, and submarines, allowed armies to wipe out each other more quickly. War was also going on in a region known as the Eastern Front, which strecthed along the Russian and German border. In this region, the Russian and the Serbs fought the Germans and Austro-Hungarians. Here, the Russians lost many lives. Near the town of Tannenberg, the Germans defeated the Russians killing over 30,000 Russian soldiers. In September 1914, after defeating the Austrians twice, the Russians were defaeted by the Austrians pushing them out of Austria-Hungary. By 1916, Russia was near collapse. Russia was less industrialized than the other European countries, but they had a large population which allowed their army to rebuilt its ranks. In Feburary 1915, the Allies made an effort to take the Dardanelles strait, which led to the Ottoman capital Constantinople. Taking over this region, would allow them to defeat the Turks and make a supply line to Russia. This became known as the Gallipoli campaign. The Gallipoli peninsula was attacked by British, French, Australian, and New Zealand troops. By May, the campaign turned bloody. In December, the Allies began to evacuate. They had lost over 250,000 soldiers. Germanys colonies in Africa and Asia were attacked. The Japanese defeated the Germans in China and captured Germanys Pacific island colonies. Four of Germanys colonies were attacked by France and England who took control of three of the colonies. Soldiers and laborers from India, South Africa, Senegal, Egypt, Algeria, and Indochina joined their French or British rulers in hope that their service would lead to their independence. In 1917, many wars took place on the sea. During the year, the Germans used unrestricted submarine warfare, in which the submarines would sink without warning any ships in the water around Britain. In Janurary 1917, a German submarine sunk the British passenger ship Lusitania which left 1,198 people dead, including 128 United States citizens. Germany claimed the ship had been carrying ammunition, but still recevied strong protests from President Woodrow Wilson. After two more attacks, the Germans agreed to stop attacking neutral and passenger ships. In February 1917, United States officals intercepted a telegram from Arthur Zimmermann, Germanys foreign secretary, which stated that Germany would hel p Mexico regain the land it lost to the United States if Mexico would help Germany fight. This pushed President Wilson, on April 2, 1917, to ask Congress to declare war on Germany. The United States then joined the Allies. When the United States entered the war, the war had already been going on for three years. World War 1 became a total war because all of the countries devoted their resources to the war. The wartime government took control of the economy and told factories what and how much to produce. Nearly every civilian able to work was put to work. Governments began rationing or limiting the number of goods people bought that might be needed at war and using propaganda to put people in favor of the war. Women were also a big help by taking over factories jobs and helping the wounded on the battlefield. In March 1917, Czar Nicholas was forced to step down due the shortages of fuel and food in Russia. By 1917, about 5.5 million Russian soldiers were either killed, wounded, or a prisoner of war. Russia refused to fight anymore. In November 1917, a Communist leader, named Vladimie llyich Lenin took control and insisted on pulling Russia out of the war. Germany and Russia signed the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk which ended the war between them in March 1918. In May 1918, the Germans again reached the Marne River. In July 1918, the Allies and the Germans fought the second battle of Marne. The weakened Central Powers were unable to fight off the Allies. The Bulgarians first surrendered and then the Ottomans. In Germany, the soldiers and the people revolted. On November 9, 1918, Kaiser Wilhelm II stepped down, and Germany became a republic with socialist Friedrich Elbert as president. A representative of the new German government met with Commander Marshal Foch near Paris. They signed an armistice or an agreement to stop fighting. On November 11, the Great War came to an end. World War 1 left the nations of Europe devastated. France and England had large debts. Germany, near economic collapse, was told to pay reparations that it could not pay. For hope the Germans turned to a man, named Adolf Hitler, that promised to avenge Germanys defeat. This would soon lead to another bloody war in the years to come.

What Is Capacity Planning?

What Is Capacity Planning? Planning is concerned with thinking ahead, making provision. Capacity can be referred to as the upper limit on the rate of output. Another meaning of capacity can also be to maximum rate at which a transformation system produces or processes inputs. Therefore capacity planning can be defined as the process used to determine how much capacity is needed and when it is needed, in order to manufacture greater product or being production of a new product. According to TeamQuest (www.teamquest.ocm/capacityplanning Date access 12 Feb 2010) the goal of capacity plannings would be to provide satisfactory service levels to users in a cost-effective manner. Capacity planning has become a major issue in a global environment due to the financial benefits of the efficient use of capacity plans within material requirements planning systems and other information systems. Insufficient capacity will lead to insufficient delivery performance, stress on current work-in-process, and frustrate sales personnel and those in manufacturing. However, excess capacity can be costly and unnecessary. The lack of proper capacity planning will become a barrier to the achievement of maximising performance. With regard to Natref refinery they have a constant plan ahead for the next six months where the last three months are fixed. A shortage of supply would definitely influence its ability to provide according to its estimates. The supplies need to be monitored closely due to the fact that capacity is a possible restraint, especially when there is a need for stock building. These problems are closely planned and scheduled to reduce unforeseen capacity problems. The planning is done by the shareholders of Natref namely Sasol, that holds 63.64% of the shares and Total that holds 36.36% shares. The shareholders are very closely involved with Natrefs daily operations. The levels of capacity and production rate is constantly monitored to ensure that the plant is run in an optimized way and to ensure that there are no shortage of raw materials. When doing capacity planning it is important to consider the following three steps as set out by TeamQuest (www.teamquest.ocm/capacityplanning Date access 12 Feb 2010): To follow the above mentioned steps, you can ensure that your organisation will be prepared for the future. You will have the information necessary to purchase only what you need, avoiding over-provisioning while at the same time assuring adequate service. To be able to do capacity planning it is important to understand and determine the market requirements. To be able to determine the requirements you need to understand the workloads. Before setting service/product levels, you need to determine what unit you will use to measure the incoming work. According to TeamQuest (www.teamquest.ocm/capacityplanning Date access 12 Feb 2010) the workload can be explained as a logical classification of work performed. It is useful to analyze the work done on systems in terms that make sense BOTTLENECKS What is a bottleneck? A Bottleneck is the action that occurs and causes the capacity in a certain procedure that is not fully utilized for (Operations Supply Management, Jacobs, Chase, Aquilano, 2009:165) this action, it may be time, how long it takes to complete the task or the facilities that are in process for instance dispatch places of the final product. Business Definition: Bottleneck (http://dictionary.bnet.com/definition/bottleneck.html Date of access 10 Feb 2010) An activity within an organization which has a lower capacity than preceding or subsequent activities, thereby limiting throughput. Bottlenecks are often the cause of a build-up of work in progress and of idle time, A limiting factor on the rate of an operation. A workstation operating at its maximum capacity becomes a bottleneck if the rate of production elsewhere in the plant increases throughput but at that workstation can not be increased to meet demand. An understanding of bottlenecks is important if the efficiency and capacity of an assembly line are to be increased. The techniques of fishbone charts, Pareto charts, and flow charts can be used to identify where and why bottlenecks occur. Identification of bottlenecks (Production and Operations Management, Ray Wild, 1979) There are two ways to identify bottlenecks in a system, first check whether the resource profile is correct for the given capacity and secondly make use of the knowledge of personnel in the specific layout by discussing this and finding out where they see the bottlenecks. In the process to avert and manage bottlenecks, there need to be looked at the following factors: The work that must be done and the work ethics The goal is to establish what the most economic way is, to get the work done. To standardize the method, equipment and material that is used to get the work done. Furthermore there should be established how much time a qualified worker needs to do a job of a given quality standard. It is important that this process be applied for maximum benefit to the organization. The interpretation of the layout Points that need to be looked at are the following: Cost of the handling and moving of crude oil. Utilization of labour, facilities and the space of the plant. Are there initial plans for the maximization or minimization of the layout? If equipment needs to be changed or replaced, does the plant compensate for it? Capacity planning and management thereof Effective capacity management is of utmost importance to Natref. The main goal for capacity planning is to balance the level of manufacturing to the demand of the product being manufactured. Capacity planning comes down to the following two factors: Determining the capacity needed for the manufacturing system. By developing and implementing a strategy that can be used in the existing process by applying resources in such a manner those fluctuations can supply in demand. Scheduling Because Natref is operating on a LEAN process, scheduling is of utmost importance, for example when a shutdown is planned. This means that certain activities will have to be rescheduled, for example, more completed products will have to be stored for the demand thereof during the shutdown. The ships with crude oil that have been ordered, will have to be rescheduled, because there might not be storage available at Natcos. The design and scheduling of the process flow See if the refinery process used by Natref is entailing optimal flow, in other words, is the manufacturing line in balance. All these processes are being used and implemented by Natref. What makes the situation at Natref a slightly different is that bottlenecks can not only arise in the layout, but also in the process of crude oil being provided from Durban by pipe line. Bottlenecks can also arise at the storage facility (Natcos). Refer to Annexure A for the schematic presentation on the potential bottlenecks. All the points marked A, B, C, D and E can be identified as probable bottlenecks. Because Natref itself does not have a lot of storage capacity (LEAN) for crude oil, they should act more pro-active to avoid bottlenecks in the refining and procurement stages. If bottlenecks occur during the refining process, then it should be dealt with the utmost urgency. Note to Natref At present Natrefs biggest points for bottlenecks are the procuring and shipping of ready products, because in both cases they do not have enough storage capacity. The existing shipping facility is too small and therefore a bigger shipping facility is being built to increase the tempo for road- and rail transport. This is a much cheaper option to building a storage facility at Natref, because there would be less risk due to fire hazards when product is kept in storage. Natrefs main goal is procurement of energy resources. Natref should in fact make use of its clients storage facilities and so shipping its ready-made products quicker. Relating to the procurement of crude oil, Natref should manage bottlenecks as follows for minimum risks: Advanced buying of crude oil should be scheduled that there would always be enough ships on its way, so that Natcos (storage farm at Durban) would not run out and that there would always be enough storage space. Maintenance plans for the pipe line from Natcos to Natref should be thoroughly seen through, so that continual flow of crude oil can be maintained. Maintenance should be synchronized during shutdown dates. CAPACITY PLANNING: CHANGES IN DEMAND AND SUPPLY The business environment has never been more challenging than it is right now. The speed of change in the marketplace is creating a stress on corporations to respond quickly and effectively. The foundation that is required to react to dynamic changes in supply and demand is based on understanding your supply chains capacities. Understanding and then building the infrastructure that provides the needed flexibility and speed requires an in-depth understanding of how capacity impacts your business. The impact of capacity management is felt throughout the organization, within every element of the supply chain. Supplier capacity can bring production to a standstill. Production capacity is equally important; if the capacity is not great enough to meet peak demand periods and inventory building is not properly planned, customer demand will go unfilled. Distribution capacity, both storage and throughput, ensures delivery of the right product at the right time. Transportation connects all elements of the supply chain; as such, its capacity issues are key, influencing service levels and on-time delivery performance. Change has become the rule, not the exception. The need for capacity management is measured not in years or quarters but rather in weeks and months. Changes can be brutally fast and without warning. Industry over the past two years has been hit hard with a steep slowdown of their business. Some were managing their capacity to great detail during the late 90s, with state of the art systems in place; however, these systems failed when business conditions began impacting their extended supply chains, including contract manufacturers and suppliers. With these current levels of change, dynamic measurement and planning tools have become a necessity. External as well as internal dynamics create the need for constant monitoring and adjustment of capacity levels and policies. Global economic conditions and competitors cause external pressures that challenge current business practices. From price pressures to raw material availability, organizations must be flexible enough to react quickly to these changes. Internal dynamics can be equally as disruptive. Acquisitions and partnerships as well as moves into new markets create opportunities to leverage current assets and spend capital wisely. However, without proper planning, these opportunities can become large challenges and liabilities if synergies are not exploited. No matter how well capacity planning is conducted, these decisions must periodically be revisited to make sure they are still aligned with the organizations goals. If so, they will provide the foundation to support new initiatives including collaboration throughout the extended supply chain. Management Reality: A subjective issue As every manager knows, capacity is a difficult concept to quantify. Whether its a workstations ability to process jobs or a manufacturing plants capability for a year, the answer is frequently it depends. Because of the dynamic nature of capacity and the interrelationships among different supply chain elements, capacity is forever changing. Product-mix changes, process or equipment engineering improvements, labor availability and new data management systems are only a few reasons capacity can suddenly change. The most available and, therefore, most popular measure of capacity is the past-but the past is not necessarily a good indication of the future. There is an answer. Many tools have been developed to address the dynamic nature of supply chains today. In an effort to empower managers, to allow them to plan rather than react, planning tools evaluate a variety of variables and are superior to educated guessing about where, how much and when capacity should be modified. With a scope ranging from a full view of the supply chain to a subset of the organization to a micro within the box view of a facility, there is a tool to meet any capacity management need. These tools help quantify the differences among alternatives and lead to a greater understanding of the interrelationships within a supply chain. From identifying bottlenecks, to backup suppliers, to available alternate routings, to contingency planning, the true cost and impact of decisions can be evaluated. Because all elements of the system being studied can be represented at once, sub-optimization can be avoided. Alternatives can be objectively evaluated to determine their t rue impact on a variety of performance measures, including throughput capacity, inventory levels, and cycle times, before expensive and disruptive changes are made. According to Baltzan et al. (2009:184) demand planning SCM (Supply Chain Management) software can help an organization determine capacity. An organization must determine the performance capacity level for each of its facilities. If it decides a facility will have a large amount of excess capacity, which provides the flexibility to respond to wide swings in demand, then it is choosing an effectiveness strategy. Excess capacity, however, cost money and can therefore decrease efficiency. Natref does just this, by utilising its software, swinging the throughput of its product albeit Diesel or Petrol, whenever the demand for the one product exceeds that of the other the system can rapidly change the throughput of the product needed. Competitive Advantage: Knowledge is Power Capacitys pervasive influence and the pace of change make the need for accurate knowledge and flexibility a necessity. The ability to quickly react, while making educated and informed decisions, will directly impact the health and success of your organization. It will enable you to rise above your competition, to compete based on your supply chain and the service and flexibility you can provide. In todays dynamic business environment, speed and flexibility are a necessity. From being able to quickly respond to business conditions to reacting to dramatic changes in customer demand, a disproportion of capacity can have devastating results. Too much capacity can result in low return on assets, morale damaging layoffs and expensive facility closures while too little can result in lost sales and eroding customer loyalty. Utilizing a strategic network design tool allows an organization to objectively evaluate its extended supply chain and simultaneously consider all costs and business policies. This understanding can then drive an organizations capital expenditures and strategies as they build a world-class supply chain, built to compete against any organization in the world. It can be said that from the information provided by Natref it is utilising its capacity very successful. In total Natref produces 170 000 m3 of Petrol 170 000m3 of Diesel fuel + 30 000 m3 of Diesel fuel for export markets, 110 000 m3 of Jet-Fuel (kerosene) and 25 000 t Heavy Fuel Oil for industrial use 13 000 t of Bitumen. Thus a total of 480 000m3 and 38 000t of product. The demand fluctuates constantly and Natref has to constantly stay abreast with changes. Natref are fortunate to have shareholders that have a direct input into the market that helps with its planning. TECHNIQUES TO DETERMINE LONG-TERM CAPACITY REQUIREMENTS To achieve real (effective) capacity, you must understand what is produce, need to look at both resource input and product output. As operation manager you have to ensure to view also the dimension of capacity, and that capacity must be stated relative to some period of time. This is evidence in the common distinction draw between long-range, intermediate-range, and short-range capacity planning.(Jacobs, Chase and Aquilano (2009:121-122)) According to Jacobs et al (2009:123-124) the objective of strategic capacity planning is to provide an approach for determining the overall capacity level of capital-intensive resources facilities, equipment, and overall labour force size that best support the companys long-range competitive strategy. To ensure overall capacity level the concept of best operating level must be used and at all time ensure a 100% capacity utilization rate is acquired. Capacity utilization rate is determined by the actual capacity used divided by the actual capacity it has been developing for. The % out of 100 will determined the utilization rate. When determining capacity requirements, you have to require demand for each product line, individual plant capabilities, and allocation from production: Use forecasting techniques to predict sales for individual products within each product line. Calculate equipment and labour requirements to meet product line forecasting. Project labour and equipment available over the planning horizon. (Jacobs et al (2009:121-122)) To evaluate capacity alternatives Jacobs et al (2009:131) suggests the use of a decision tree. A decision tree is a convenient way to evaluate a capacity investment decision; this does not only help to understand the problem but also finds a solution. A decision tree is a schematic model of the sequence of steps in a problem and the conditions and consequences of each step. The way forward is that a square indicates a decision point and the circles represent change events. Branches from decision point show choices available for decision maker, branches from chance events show the probabilities for occurrence. To solve the tree you work back from the end to the start of the tree, you calculate the expected values of each step, by calculating the value of each step the time and money value is important if the planning horizon is long. Example diagram of a decision tree Once the calculation is made you prune the tree by eliminating from each decision point all the branches except the one with the highest pay off. This continues until the first decision point and problems are solved. If no changes are made competitors will move in and would make expansion no longer feasible. According to an International Journal of Production Economics (2001:p215-22) in a manufacturing strategy, capacity is a structural decision category, dealing with dynamic capacity expansion and reduction relative to the long-term changes in demand levels. Sales and operation planning (SOP) is the long-term planning of production levels relative to sales within the frame work of a manufacturing planning and control system. Within the SOP, resources planning are used for determining the appropriate capacity levels in order to support the production plan. Manufacturing strategy and sales operation planning provides two perspectives on long-term capacity management, raising and treating different issues. Note to Natref: regarding best practice techniques to determine long-term capacity requirements Natref needs to: Estimate the capacity of the present facilities 115 000 barrels/day All petrol grades @ 3500 liter/minute 80% of JIA jet fuel requirements @ 2000 l/minute, and Diesel @ 4500 liters/minute With above information Natref need to establish their capacity utilization percentage and relates the actual output to output capacity and actual input use to input capacity. This will determine the efficiency of the current input and output capacity. With this a capacity cushion need to be added on to the capacity demand to allow for: greater than expected demand, demand during peak demand seasons, lower production cost, product and volume flexibility and improve quality of products and services. Forecast the long-range future capacity needs Natref need to consider the life input for the next 5 years and understand the product life cycle as it impacts capacity. Anticipate technology development and competitors action. Forecast the strategy and demand of shareholders. Ask the question what will change to the current month productions in 5 years: 170 000 m3 of Petrol 30 000 m3 of Diesel fuel for export markets 110 000 m3 Jet-fuel 25 000 t heavy fuel oil for industrial use Natref could also expand long-term capacity by: Subcontract with other companies, acquire other companies facilities and resources Expand , update or modify excising facilities When all above is done and the forecast and capacity requirements has been establish. Two approaches could be followed namely expand all at once or expand incrementally. Expand all at once build the ultimate facility now and grow into it Little risk of having to turn down business due to inadequate capacity and less interruption of production One large project cost less than few smaller projects and due to inflation, will construction cost be higher in the future Incrementally build as capacity demand grow Less risky if forecast needs to materialize and funds are not teid up in capacity for other investment possibilities Appropriate for new products May suggestion would be that after Natref has decides what strategy they want to take for the next 5 years regarding long-term capacity requirements they need to analyze more than one suggestion in a decision tree the expected value approach. The decision point would be the 5 year strategy, regarding this Natref need to determine more than one change event that will have an expected value. This will allow Natref to see all choices available for decision making and the probabilities for occurrence. When all the choices available value are calculated, Natref need to work back from the end of the tree to the start of the tree, this will allow Natref to calculated the expected value of each step and the time and money to determine the actual long-term requirements for the next 5 years. WAYS TO COUNTER LACK OF CAPACITY DURING PEAK DEMANDS/SHUTDOWNS If the goal of capacity planning is to provide satisfactory service levels to users in a cost effective manner, then the lack of capacity would be not succeeding in providing satisfactory service levels. And if capacity planning is defined as the process that is used to determine how much capacity is needed and when it is needed, in order to manufacture greater products or production of a new product, then lack of capacity is the situation where a goal is not achieved, due to some or other constraint in the process. According to a study conducted by Sylvester, Lendon and Bevan (2004:1) they prove that to continually add capacity is not a viable solution to counter the lack of capacity. In their study they needed to properly understand and manage patient flow in a hospital. This is removed from the capacity at a refinery, but the basics would still be the same. If one compare this directly to the Natref state of affairs, the assumption would be that to add capacity would not necessarily counter the lack of capacity. Natref is currently in the process of establishing another storage facility. The cost of adding this facility is very high, approximately R300 million. It is therefore not possible to constantly add capacity or storage facilities every time it seems that a lack of capacity will occur. Natref counter a lack of capacity by erecting a new storage facility, by ensuring that their estimates and planning for the given shutdown/peak period is precise. Although the product is stored periodically, to ensure that on the date of the shutdown or when the peak demand starts, it has sufficient stock to continue with the demand or supply in the additional situation, Natref should investigate the possibilities of utilising external sources of capacity. These storage facilities could include the underground tanks of the individual filling stations, and/or determining the product that will most likely be short or that needs to be stored for future use and to expand the storage of that product and less ening the storage of the product that would not be used as frequently. According to TeamQuest (www.teamquest.ocm/capacityplanning Date access 12 Feb 2010): there are five noteworthy reasons why capacity planning fails. It would also be possible to trace these reasons back and make a connection with the lack of capacity. If the planning fails the capacity would most probably fail as well. These five reasons are: 1. Imperfect data; 2. Lack of common goals; 3. Trendy versus modelling; 4. Too narrow view; 5. Flaws in the prediction method. If these five facts are taken into consideration when the capacity planning is done, it would increase the possibility of success for a project. Further there are three important considerations taken into account when adding capacity. They are: 1. Maintaining system balance; 2. Frequency of capacity; and 3. Use of external capacity. When analysing current capacity there are four basic steps that could be used to assist you: TeamQuest (www.teamquest.ocm/capacityplanning Date access 12 Feb 2010) identifies the following four steps: The first step would include comparing the measurements of any items referenced in the service level agreements with their objectives. This will indicate whether the system has adequate capacity. The second step would include checking the usage of resources. This analysis identifies highly used resources that may prove problematic at present or in the future. The third step would include looking at the resource utilisation for each workload. Determine which workloads are the major users of each resource. This will indicate the workloads that are making the greatest demands on the system resources. The fourth step is to determine where each workload is spending its time by analysing the components of response time. Allowing you to determine which system resources are responsible for the greatest portion of the response time for each workload. When measuring capacity you need to consider the following: Design capacity: the maximum output that can possibly be attained. Effective capacity: The maximum possible output given a product mix, scheduling difficulties, machine maintenance, quality factors, and so on. Actual output: the rate of output actually achieved. Measuring of System Effectiveness: Efficiency: the ratio of actual output to effective capacity Utilization the ratio of actual output to design capacity. PLAN FOR THE FUTURE: To ensure that you will be able to meet the requirements of the market in a years time, you need to do capacity planning based on the forecasted processing requirements. You need to know the expected amount of incoming work, by workload. That will allow you to calculate the optimal system configuration for satisfying service levels. Future processing requirements can come from a variety of sources. Input form management may include: Expected growth in the business Requirements for implementing new applications Planned acquisitions or divestitures to name but a few. Additional, future processing requirements may be identified from trends in historical measurements of incoming work such as orders or transactions. After system capacity requirements for the future are identified, a capacity plan should be developed to prepare for it. The first step in doing this is to create a model of the current configuration. From this starting point, the model can be modified to reflect the future capacity requirements. If the results of the model indicate that the current configuration does not provide sufficient capacity for the future requirements, then the model can be used to evaluate configuration alternatives to find the optimal way to provide sufficient capacity. When considering capacity planning there are even more issues to consider. Best practices. Since the late nineties refineries have expanded capacity significantly, production capacity has increased tremendously. As refineries got larger, it was expected that emissions would increase as well. Environmental problems have become a huge issue due to the large expansion in demand for product. Goals to achieve the environmental standards and best practices are a large part of capacity planning and production. Finding newer and better ways of producing more product and faster and cheaper. New modern techniques have challenged organisations to rethink the way they conduct business both internally and externally. To determine how efficiently and effectively their entire supply chain is managed. The petroleum refining industry has effectively embraced the software solutions to optimise the business supply chain to maximise the profit margins and create order in the chaos of numerous opportunities and challenges. The supply chain of a typical petroleum refining company involves a wide spectrum of activities, starting form crude purchase and crude transportation to refineries, refining operations, product transportation and finally delivering the product to the end user. The nature of the value chain is such that its economics are extremely complex and heavily linked. For example the process of selecting the right crude is liked not only to the transportation costs involved in delivering to the refinery, but it must take into consideration the refinery configuration, capabilities and constraints in converting the crude into products, as well as the product volume and price fluctuations. Software solutions based on Linear programming (LP) technique have emerged as leaders among various mathematical optimization techniques available to optimize the entire supply chain form crude evaluation and selection, production planning and product logistic planning Refinery planning form the foundation for the business decisions that have the biggest impact on refinery profitability. The following are plans that should be considered: Annual plans Monthly rolling plans Weekly Plans Strategic Plans Profitability improvement plans LONG TERM CAPACITY PLANNING According to the Encyclopaedia of Business, 2nd ed. The following is explained under long term capacity planning: Over the long term, capacity planning relates primarily to strategic issues. This involves the firms major production facilities. This type of planning also involves location decisions, technology and transferability of the process to other products. Long term capacity planning may evolve when short term changes in capacity are insufficient. Long term considerations relates to overall level of capacity Det

essay :: essays research papers

Coach Nestled along the Massachusetts shore, lined with oaks that may have seen the arrival of the first Americans, there is a quaint baseball park, bordered only in the outfield by a thatched wooden fence and some pines. The Pawtucket Pawsox of the Cape Cod League call this unique sanctuary home. Today is a Friday evening. The sun slowly pulls the last traces of orange from the sky, and the skyscraping light towers illuminate a 6 foot 4 inch right-hander, made only taller by the Georgia clay mound. Like most in the minor leagues he is a fighter and a worker. He is far from home and at the climax of a magical journey of a career.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Reaching local stardom at an early age, Aaron Knieper pitched in all of the big games. He pitched in all of the not-so-big games too. People could see the potential that this lanky kid from Saginaw, Michigan possessed. As he piled up innings in his youth, they only contributed to more to his experience but were slowly taking their toll on his meal ticket, his arm. Aaron was still careful about his health, but youth often disguises ignorance. As his body matured, it ceased to stretch in ways it had before, and his workload drastically increased upon being drafted by the Boston Red Sox out of college. Now he was playing for a job. Then, one fateful day everything changed. It was his elbow. And there it all ended.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Most young athletes dream of becoming professionals, but those dreams almost always end at or before the college level. It is a major disappointment for those who are told that they are not good enough to play anymore, yet Aaron was. He had almost reached the show and it killed him inside. He wasn’t ready to let anyone tell him that his career in baseball was over. His stubborn pursuit of a dream, which had carried him this far, would now have to change with no hope of returning to professional baseball. He went back home and spent some much missed time with his mom and sister, for his father had passed away when he was young. Most of time was spent relaxing in front of the television pondering what to do next. Aaron had never had a â€Å"real† job and did not even finish college. It was then that he decided to follow his passion, baseball.

What is Cancer :: essays research papers

What is Cancer The article entitled â€Å"What Is Cancer?† from the American Cancer Society’s web site discussed how cancer forms and effects people in different ways depending on what type of cancer they have. It also mentioned how cancers are treated and ways to prevent cancer.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Cancer forms from the uncontrolled growth of abnormal cells in the body. When we are born we all have normal cells that continually grow until adulthood. We also have abnormal cells that are in our body. As we reach adulthood our normal body cells stop dividing for growth purposes and only divide to replace dead or damaged cells. The abnormal cells in our body continue to divide even into adulthood and form cancerous cells. Most cancers develop into tumors while others flow throughout the body via the body’s bloodstream. An example of this is leukemia.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Not all tumors that are created in the body by the abnormal cells become cancerous however. Some tumors called benign tumors are not cancerous and will not affect the body in as harmful ways as cancerous tumors would. Benign tumors are still dangerous however there size can be harmful to the body by growing in places that they are not needed and putting pressure on other parts of the body.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  All types of cancer are different and respond to different types of treatment. Different cancers also have different rates of growth. These different rates of growth are what cause different cancers to be more harmful than others. Cancer is the second leading killer in the United States. Over half of men and one third of women will develop cancer in their lifetimes. Millions of people are now living with cancer because of new treatments that have become available through extensive research.

Ernest Hemingway’s the Old Man and the Sea

The Old Man and the Sea includes many symbols and metaphors within the story line. Hemingway uses the technique of comparing two items as symbolism in his story to make this story personally unique and to share his point of view of many different worldly topics. Some of the metaphors Hemingway uses as symbols to relate the story to real life are the similarities between the marlin and life, life and the sea, and the poor and the rich. Ernest Hemingway wrote about the marlin as if it was a human living in reality. This metaphor also includes a Christian aspect to it where Santiago (the old man) is God and the marlin is everyone on earth. Where Santiago found the marlin was in somewhat shallow water where it was closer to Santiago (the creator). The marlin was tempted with the hook like Adam and Eve were tempted with the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and eventually gave in and took the bait (Adam and Eve partaking of the fruit). Once the marlin realized it was hooked it started heading for deeper water to hide just as Adam and Eve hid from God. As the fish got deeper it naturally got darker, resembling man running away from God trying to make their sin unnoticeable. Along with swimming to deeper water, the marlin had to pull the boat behind him as a burden that he had to carry because he was trying to escape from his mistake. The old man wondering what the fish was doing said â€Å"If you're not tired, fish, you must be very strange. † (The Old Man and the Sea, page 67, paragraph 4) just as God would wonder about man running and running from Him and never seeing the truth that is right in front of him. A good amount of time goes by and they're in deep waters where sharks attack the fish and do a little damage to the boat. The attack on the fish is like man going through the tribulation but evil doesn't just do damage to man but to God too because He cares about us and doesn't like to see us suffering. At the end right after the old man sees the lights from the city on the horizon the sharks attack the fish again. The old man fought the sharks and finally got them to leave but with nothing but the carcass of the fish. In the same way, God will fight for us and scare the enemy off so that He may have us (those who accepted Him) like the old man had the memory of what the fish was like. In the night sharks hit the carcass as someone might pick up crumbs from the table. The old man paid no attention to them†¦ † (The Old Man and the Sea, page 67, paragraph 3) because it is only the flesh that remained. Another object in the story that shared similarities to life was the sea. The old man had been fishing for most of his life so he was well acquainted with the sea. Yet still that one time that he went out and he got a glimpse at what he desired he went after it and in this case cost him almost everything. While pursuing his desire the sea shook him, beat him, and gave him some unexpected turns. Some examples of those where when the fish dragged him out to sea further and further, when he had to fish for food because he ran out, when the fish kept going after the old man though it would be out of energy, when the sharks attacked, or after all the time he spent out at sea trying to catch the fish, he had nothing but the carcass to show for it. It is the same with life. Humans get into their routines but 100% of those humans get something thrown at them that they didn't see coming. Like a car crash resulting in death, heart attack, or maybe it is family members that just got the news that a loved one committed suicide. The biggest similarity between life and the sea is that in the beginning of the story the old man would take the boy out with him to teach him techniques of how to fish while in life the person you look up to, most likely the father figure, can tell you what to do incase something happens or if something happens again but the pupil will learn from the father the most when they are in real time situations and the pupil gets to see how the father handles the situation. Based on what the pupil sees is where he or she will ultimately learn from that father figure. So while the boy's parents where at home telling him not to go fishing with the old man because he is bad luck, the old man takes the boy out into the world and actually shows him how most everything is done rather than just telling him. The poor and the rich town people in the story also share similarities. Since it was a small town by the sea most if not everybody fished. The rich would fish as a way to relax while their business inland was being run by one of the citizens in a lower money bracket. While the poor were fishing to stay alive. It was their means of survival. Both the rich and the poor came in after fishing for the day and either turned in their fish for money or took it home to be eaten. Even though both classes of society were quite the opposite they almost did the exact same things because the town was so small and there was hardly anything to do. There are many different objects and characters that Hemingway wrote in The Old Man and the Sea that share similarities among symbols and some of them are how the marlin represented life, the sea also represented life, and how the rich and the poor were similar beyond society saying they are opposites. Hemingway used many symbols within his story and because no one has the same point of view, the reader is left to interpret those symbols on how they see it. All the symbolism in the book makes it a great book for all ages. For the kids it is a nice easy read but for the older generations there can be a lot of information found on the author, life, and many other topics.