A Re-Hearing of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight :: Essays Papers

A Re-Hearing of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight As J.A. Burrow has recently reminded us, Middle English literature "requires the silent reader to resist, if he can, the tyranny of the eye and to hear. Certain of the writings ... make a further requirement. They treat the reader, not just as a hearer, but as an audience or group of hearers" (Medieval Writers 1). Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is such a poem, a literate composition designed for oral performance, bearing the imprint of a poet skilled at once in manipulating a text and using it to affect his audience in ways outside the scope of the oral poet. It is with this dynamic between text and audience in mind that I approach the process of "re-hearing" Sir Gawain. In doing so I hope to achieve some clarification of what Tolkien referred to as one of the "structural failures" of the poem the failure of Mary, Gawain's protectress, to receive any further acknowledgement after Gawain twice asks her help, during his journey and in the final temptation scene. Studies of structural repetition (Howard 1964, 430-33; Burrow 1966, 87-97) and numerological patterning (Hieatt 1968, 129-31; Eckhardt 1980, 141-55) demonstrate the Gawain-poet's ability to exploit the spatial and temporal control afforded by the technology of writing (Ong 1971, 23-27). As Kent Hieatt has shown, he consciously uses numerological patterns. Line 2,525, the last long line of the poem, echoes the opening line and reinforces the emphasis given to five and twenty-five in the description of the pentangle. In a similar manner, notes Hieatt, in the "companion poem Pearl, the line that echoes the first line of the poem is 1,212, and 12 is probably the significant numerical structure in the poem" (Eckhart, 1980, 65-78). While such numerological structuring would of course go unnoticed by an audience during performance, its existence gives us a picture of a poet able to apply a fairly sophisticated process of organization to the physical text. In this paper I will examine an other method of textual structuring, one which deals primarily with color patterns rather than numerical sequences, though predictably the two appear to be interrelated. The poem deals almost exclusively and abundantly in reds and greens. Red, the color of Gawain's symbol of perfection, the red-gold pentangle on a red field, appears A Re-Hearing of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight :: Essays Papers A Re-Hearing of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight As J.A. Burrow has recently reminded us, Middle English literature "requires the silent reader to resist, if he can, the tyranny of the eye and to hear. Certain of the writings ... make a further requirement. They treat the reader, not just as a hearer, but as an audience or group of hearers" (Medieval Writers 1). Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is such a poem, a literate composition designed for oral performance, bearing the imprint of a poet skilled at once in manipulating a text and using it to affect his audience in ways outside the scope of the oral poet. It is with this dynamic between text and audience in mind that I approach the process of "re-hearing" Sir Gawain. In doing so I hope to achieve some clarification of what Tolkien referred to as one of the "structural failures" of the poem the failure of Mary, Gawain's protectress, to receive any further acknowledgement after Gawain twice asks her help, during his journey and in the final temptation scene. Studies of structural repetition (Howard 1964, 430-33; Burrow 1966, 87-97) and numerological patterning (Hieatt 1968, 129-31; Eckhardt 1980, 141-55) demonstrate the Gawain-poet's ability to exploit the spatial and temporal control afforded by the technology of writing (Ong 1971, 23-27). As Kent Hieatt has shown, he consciously uses numerological patterns. Line 2,525, the last long line of the poem, echoes the opening line and reinforces the emphasis given to five and twenty-five in the description of the pentangle. In a similar manner, notes Hieatt, in the "companion poem Pearl, the line that echoes the first line of the poem is 1,212, and 12 is probably the significant numerical structure in the poem" (Eckhart, 1980, 65-78). While such numerological structuring would of course go unnoticed by an audience during performance, its existence gives us a picture of a poet able to apply a fairly sophisticated process of organization to the physical text. In this paper I will examine an other method of textual structuring, one which deals primarily with color patterns rather than numerical sequences, though predictably the two appear to be interrelated. The poem deals almost exclusively and abundantly in reds and greens. Red, the color of Gawain's symbol of perfection, the red-gold pentangle on a red field, appears

Brigham Young

Do you know that individuals like the ‘American Jesus’ are historically rare to find in the world? Brigham Young is a man who led many into proclaiming the ‘good news’ of the Lord God of Israel. He led a band of men stripped of their worldly possessions into territories unknown. He had neither financial nor political backing but he was successful in establishing an industrious as well as an organized society. The only authority that he had was priesthood and of course his spiritual power.He gathered his people like a hen would to its chicks and gave them the sweet bread of life; the Gospel; the word of God (Arrington, L.  & Nibley H. nd). Brigham Young is one of the leading historical figures as far as the Mormon Religion is concerned.His life patterns well with that of Jesus Christ of Nazareth in the Bible in his mission to spread the word of God to every corner of the World. This essay therefore looks at Brigham Young’s life in relation to that of Jesus of Nazareth. Background To get a clear picture of the life patterns of Brigham, it is important to first get an insight of his background.Brigham Young was born on 1st June of the year 1801 in Whitingham in Vermont. He was the 9th born out of the eleven children that John Young with his wife Abigail Howe were blessed with. The family moved to New York when Brigham was only three years of age. He grew up helping his parents in their daily chores. His caring heart was revealed early when he took care of his ailing mother who had been suffering from tuberculosis. He was perhaps being prepared for his future role to take care of a larger flock. At the age of fourteen, his mother died and his father remarried.Brigham left from home to stay for sometime with a sister in Auburn. There he became a successful apprentice carpenter, glazier and a painter (Arrington, L. & Nibley H. nd). Later in 1823 he moved to New York where he worked as a carpenter and a painter in Port Byron. At twen ty three, he married Miriam Works (though he would later marry multiple wives after her death) and joined the Church of Methodist. After the birth of their first child, they moved to Oswego where he joined a religious seekers group. H e then moved his family near his father at Mendon.Joseph Smith the then leader of Mormon in his church mission passed by Mendon and left a copy of the Book of Mormons with a brother to Brigham. Brigham got access of the book and after going through it was greatly impressed. Two years later, he was baptized and became a believer of Mormon (Arrington, L. & Nibley H. nd). Following in the footsteps of Jesus of Nazareth Like Jesus Christ of Nazareth, Brigham had a burning desire to make known the gospel across the world.During his first summon just one week after he was baptized, Brigham declared that after baptism â€Å"I wanted to thunder and roar out the Gospel to the nations. It burned in my bones like fire pent up, so I commenced to preach†¦. No thing would satisfy me but to cry abroad in the world, what the Lord was doing in the latter days† Putting into practice his words, thundering and roaring of the gospel he did. Like Jesus leaving his father, Brigham left his family to go ‘abroad’ and establish God’s kingdom (Arrington, L. & Nibley H. nd). Like Jesus, his work in the service of God started in his home town and then spread abroad.His preaching missions carried him to every corner of Mendon. His dedication as well as his potential qualified him to join the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles in the Mormon Church of Joseph Smith. The Twelve’s duty was to travel far and wide to spread the gospel. They preached to all nations and to people of different kinds. Their stay was not at home but away where the gospel had not reached. Afterwards, The Twelve moved to Great Britain to act as missionaries of the word of God. Brigham had left his family in dire poverty and was determined to reach England o r better die in his trying to.He was ready to die Jesus’ way for a cause which he believed in; spread the Gospel. In Britain, Brigham out of his prowess directed all the works of The Twelve. In the same footsteps of Jesus of Nazareth, he had greatly inspired The Twelve and no wonder they made him their leader and overseer (Arrington, L. & Nibley H. nd). When the Twelve Apostles came back to Nauvoo, Brigham was assigned the role of directing the apostles by Joseph Smith in their missionary work as well as other activities like land purchasing and construction projects.Playing Jesus, Brigham was now the leader of the Twelve Disciples. He was the assistant of Joseph Smith who was the First president as far as authority and responsibility was concerned. It is thus clear that he took the second position after Joseph Smith which placed him in a similar position with that of Jesus; Jesus was also the second after God. This position made him more influential to not only his disciples but also in the whole of Nauvoo and abroad in general. Even after the death of his Spiritual Father, Joseph died; he remained the leader of the Twelve until his own death in 1877.They travelled far and wide preaching the Gospel, the work that they had been called to do. Long afterwards, the work that Brigham had started continued. Before he had died, he had organized the leadership of the church of Mormon. He had lived a life by the example of Jesus Christ and fitted perfectly in the footsteps of The Son of God (Arrington, L. & Nibley H. nd). Despite his good work, just like many other Mormonism men, Brigham used his status to take in plural wives. He used his missionary work as a tool to take advantage of vulnerable women.For instance, his second wife Mary was a window. Just like in Jesus’ time, when many, claiming to be the Son of God and savior took advantage of the poor and sinful, Brigham is not an exception of those who took advantage of the doctrine (Mormon Heteric, 2 009). Was Brigham true or a False Prophet? Could Brigham have been a prophet of darkness? The words in the Bible in the book of Deuteronomy 13: 1-5 can help clear the confusion between a true and a false prophet. It says that a prophet may foretell things to happen in the future and they shall come to pass.However, a man may have miraculous powers but not actually a prophet of the Lord. Any of the prophets who encourage the worshiping of other gods apart from the God of Israel is false. Jesus himself in the gospels is quoted warning that â€Å"many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am the Messiah’ and they will lead many astray† according to the works of Brigham and in the limelight of these statements, does Brigham qualify as a prophet of God? (Ulachos, 1979). In history, a few poses the character of Young. For a period of thirty years, he gave himself wholly to the service of the Lord.He claimed to be a prophet in the Church of Mormon. Though he was the chair of the of the Mormon Church who presided the longest, he in fact taught false doctrine that directed its worship to a god who is not the Lord God of Israel. He had given a sermon that God and Jesus had physical bodies made of bone as well as flesh. He concluded that Adam was in fact the God of Israel who should be worshipped. The claim by Brigham that Adam was God makes it clear that he was not a true prophet of the Lord; he was false and uninspired.Because of his belief, Brigham fell out with his disciples and still many opposed him (Ulachos, 1979). More so, he put it that Jesus Christ was begotten of the father who was their God. Adam was God and therefore, Jesus was his son. Many people did not like his interpretation of the New Testament and they opposed him. However, he managed to draw a group of them to believe that Adam was their God and Jesus his son. They defended him saying that people had misunderstood Young.If he had made a mistake, he would have corrected himself which he never did. This meant that his mind was right. His preaching of his own interpretation of the gospel from what was written down in the New Testament makes him no exception of a false prophet (Ulachos, 1979). Conclusion Brigham Young’s work in spreading the Gospel of the Lord God of Israel pictures well with that of Jesus Christ of Nazareth.He set out to do what many at the time could not have done and that is why to the present day, he is remembered in the Mormon Doctrine as one who made a great impact to the Church. Through the Gospel works, he rose from a humble background to a man who could sustain and give his twenty families a good life. Some of his teachings leave people wondering whether he was a true prophet of the Lord God as he claimed to be. However over the centuries, it has been an almost impossible task to identify who a false prophet is.References Arrington, L. & Nibley H. (nd). Brigham Young. Retrieved from http://www. lightplanet. com/mormons/people/brigham_ young. html Mormon Heteric. (2009). Economics of polygamy, divorce, and happiness. Retrieved http://www. mormonheretic. org/2009/11/15/economics-of-polygamy-divorce-and-happiness-daynes-part-4/- Ulanchos, C. (1979). Brigham Young’s False Teaching: Adam is God. Retrieved http://www. beyondweird. com/occult/adam. html

Development and Reward System

Organizations today realize that employees are part of their competitive advantages. Along with effective business strategies and sufficient capital, investments for developing highly skilled human resources have been part of most companies’ road towards success. In order to obtain this unique competitive advantage, organizational management must be able to give sufficient motivation to their employees (Creech, 1995).One of the considered approaches of management in motivating their employees is through reward system. Primarily, the goal of this paper is to provide an analysis of the aims of organisation in setting reward system. In addition, this will also provide discussions of some of the trends in reward practice and the emerging laws that affect employee rewards.Aims of Organisation for Setting Reward SystemIn Human Resource Management, the employee reward policy is intended to align employees with organizational strategy by providing incentives for employees to act in th e firm's interest and perform well over time. Expectancy theory carries a clear message that employees must feel confident that their effort will affect the rewards they receive. Perceptions of equity are therefore crucial in an employee's decision to remain and produce valuable work.Equity is a multidimensional construct, embracing external equity (the degree to which a firm pays employees the rate they would find in the external labour market), internal equity (the degree to which a firm differentiates pay between employees on the basis of performance in similar jobs), and individual equity (the degree to which employees are rewarded proportionately to their individual performance) (Dean and Snell, 1993).Because of the changing demands of performance on employees in high- velocity companies, perceptions of equity in its three forms may become confused, as job roles and job interdependence become more varied and flexible. Since employees would expect that as their job changes, so w ill their rewards, designing reward systems in high-velocity environments presents a major challenge to organizations. In high-velocity environments, a premium is placed on individuals who are able to operate in ambiguous circumstances and who are able to take advantage of loose job descriptions provided by their employers.Organizations in high-velocity environments are willing to pay proportionally higher salaries to individuals who have such skills. We would expect, therefore, that emphasis on individually equitable rewards as a means of recruiting and retaining highly capable employees would be required (Gomez-Mejia and Welbourne 1990; Snell and Dean 1992).Employee Rewards Policy amended by the Human Resource Management can be classified under three broad headings: performance-contingent rewards, which explicitly reward through performance outputs; job-contingent rewards, where pay is contingent on job classification; and person-contingent rewards, in which pay is dependent on th e competencies a person has (Dean & Snell, 1993). Because both output orientation and job   classification may be difficult to measure accurately in high-velocity conditions, the prospect of person-contingent rewards, which may encourage the values of learning, flexibility, and creativity, would seem to be best suited to fast-changing conditions.In addition, Employee Reward Policy can be one of the greatest foundations of control available to a company in its quest to increase organizational performance and effectiveness, yet remain one of the most underutilized and potentially complex tools for driving organizational performance. The importance and complexity of linking reward strategies to business goals in a systematic manner has been a recurrent argument in the study in this field, as has the importance and difficulty of linking rewards to the longer-term view (Hambrick & Snow, 1989). In describing the strongest level of linkage the emphasis has been placed on Lawler's (1990) description of reward processes which are capable of reinforcing the behaviours crucial to business strategy like long-term versus short-term, customer focus versus financial results.Statement EvaluationPeople do work for money, but they work even more for meaning in their lives. In fact they work to have fun. This statement can be evaluated using the physiological needs of people. Human beings have needs which can be classified as physiological, safety and security, social, esteem and status, and self-actualization. This means that although employees work because they want to ear incomes, there are still needs that should be fulfilled to ensure their contentment and happiness in what they are doing.  If any of the needs is unmet, or unsatisfied a person, the individual can be motivated if provided with an opportunity to satisfy the unmet need or needs. The most motivating opportunities are the most valued. The most valued opportunities are those designed to provide satisfaction o f the most intense unmet needs. What needs are most intense varies from individual to individual. One person's most dominant need may be the need to be happy (Romzek, 1989).In order to motivate and encourage the workers and employees to render their performances and to help them enjoy more of what they are doing, the employers should are giving recognition to those employees whose works is exemplary or that employee who has contributes to outstanding achievements and accomplishments of the mission and objectives of an organization as a whole.   Rewards and recognition go a long way to keeping employees motivated, satisfied, and committed. Management should recognize employees for both their progress toward and achievement of desired performance goals. It should show appreciation for small accomplishment as well as big ones.The recognition must be ongoing to reinforce employees' need to feel that they're doing a good job.   Moreover, the best forms of recognition typically have l ittle or no cost (Nelson, 1998). The statement just justifies the saying that people become more devoted to work when they feel that their environment likes them and appreciate the things they are doing.According to Skinner (1953), the reinforcement theory suggests the behaviors of the employees directly impact the outcome of their work or their performance. Thus, an employee with a positive behavior will bring about positive outcomes, whereas those with negative behaviors will lead to negative results. Thus, the positive behaviors of the employees should then be reinforced by their managers so as to generate more positive outcomes.Trends in Reward PracticeBeing able to recognise the needs for highly motivated individuals, human resource management has been able to develop different ways in rewarding their employees. The trends in reward practice include the broadbanding and performance-related pay and competency based pay or skill-based pay. This paper will focus on the broadbandin g and performance-related pay. Broadbanding is a manner of reducing the number of narrow grades in a certain pay structure into a smaller number of broader bands. This reward practice is based on the view that narrow ranges cannot reward employees who have reached their range maximum but who are still performing effective. The main goal of this reward practice is to provide greater flexibility to reward the acquisition of wider skills as well as competencies without need to promote the employees in each case or situation (Payment Practices, 2008).On the other hand, the performance-related pay is a common term for various approaches to warding or rewarding discretionary payments to employees on the basis of their contribution to the company. Among this common approach include the pay awards for successful meeting work objectives or for showing work-related competences or the integration of the two.   it can be said that each of this reward practice can be helpful for motivating and retaining skilful employees (DeWitt & Hamel, 2002).For rewards to be valued, the human resource management must see to it that the Employee Reward Policy includes the proper scheduling on when would be the most accurate time to give the rewards. Generally rewards received by an individual soon after accomplishment of a goal, or soon after attainment of a given targeted performance level, are the most valued rewards and the rewards that serve best to install a desire for further achievement or continued good performance, when the reward is tied to performance in time that reward is closely associated with the performance. It becomes an extension of the performance. It has real meaning because one can vividly see that it was received for performance.Laws that Affects Employee RewardsIf the employers are thinking of giving employees special rewards as incentives for having good attendance records, there are some legal and laws which prohibits them to do so.   For instance, the royal mail introduced a reward system for staff which did not take time off sick. Under this system, employees with full attendance records will be included into a prize draw to win Ford Focus cars or holiday packages. In the staff incentive, this system can be perceived as a workable reward to let the employees minimize or totally avoid their absences. However, this kind of system has some serious ramifications from certain employment law. This can be attributed to the employment discrimination law (Coopers, 2005).Herein, the management of Royal mail can be given discrimination charges for disability or age. The success of these claims depends on the specific situation of employees and their needs. This discrimination of age or disability may happen if, for instance, an employee had time off associated to the age and disability and this was not taken into consideration by the management under the reward system. Herein, there is an existing law that says that the failure of the managemen t to set-aside such employee’s absence due to age or disability related reasons can be considered as less favourable treatment.   Hence, this would hinder the company to provide reward for those individual who have no absences for this would not be fair for other employees. In this regard, if the company would like to continue the reward system, they must have some list of exceptions in the reward system. In this regard, it is safer for employees to give bonuses and rewards based on the performance and not by the number of absences.ConclusionRegardless of the targeted employees, the organization today is attempting to become employers of choice.   In order to become one, the management of the organization shall create an Employee reward system where potential job candidates feel that it will be an accomplishment to earn a job with the organization, and that once they have a job, the individual’s performance will be rewarded.ReferenceCreech, R. (1995). Employee Moti vation. Management Quarterly, 36(2), 33+.DeWitt, G. and Hamel, G. (2002). alternative Compensation Plan. Legislative Finance Committee. Online available at http://leg.mt.gov/content/publications/fiscal/interim/financecmty_june2002/broadband_report.pdf Retrieve April 21, 2008.Dean, J.W.; Snell, S.A. (1993). â€Å"‘Integrated Manufacturing and Job Design:The Moderating Effect of Organizational Inertia.Gomez-Mejia, L.R.; Welbourne, T.M. (1990). â€Å"‘The Role of Compensation in The Human Resource Management Strategies of High Technology Firms'†, in M. A. Von Glinow and S. A. Mohrman (eds.), Managing Complexity in High Technology Organizations. New York: Oxford University Press.Hambrick, D.C.; Snow, C.C. (1989). â€Å"‘Strategic Reward Systems'†, in C. C. Snow (ed.), Strategy, Organizational Design and Human Resource Management. Greenwich, Connecticut: JAI Press.Lawler, E.E. (1990). Strategic Pay. San Francisco: Jossey Bass.Payment Practices (2008. Onli ne available http://pmf.haven gateway.org/remuneration_and_reward/pay_practices_in_the_uk. retrieve April 21, 2008.Romzek, B.S. (1989). Personal consequences of employee commitment. Academy of Management Journal, 32, 649-661Nelson, B. (1998). The Care of the Un-Downsized. Public Management, Vol. 80, April 1998.Skinner, B. F. (1953). Science and Human Behavior. New York: Free Press.Snell, S.A. and Dean, J.W. (1992). â€Å"‘Integrated Manufacturing and Human Resource Management: A Human Capital Perspective'†, Academy of   Ã‚  Ã‚   Management Journal, 35: 467-504.Coopers, RT (2005). Employment Law: Attendance Rewards – Legal Ramifications. Online available http://www.uedawn.com/article.cfm/id/57087. Retrieve April 21, 2008.