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Discussion post

Characteristics of remarried couples

In my opinion, there are many reasons why once separated individuals get to remarry.

1). Familiarity, knowledge about each other, and comfort. It is an essential quality and characteristic when it comes to human relations. Even though the two might have issues that make them not want to be together, they know each other very well, and therefore, it is easy for them to manage their problems together in an easy way instead of trying to go and look for other partners. Looking for other partners can be a very strenuous activity. Therefore these individuals may decide to remarry since they already know each other, and that brings with it some comfort since one is aware of what would make the other upset or happy.

2). Long-term happiness- when individuals get remarried, they do so basically for the sake of their happiness. One of the reasons individuals get divorced is that they are looking for something better than their partner, and in the real sense, there is nothing better than their partner. However, these individuals tend to forget what their partners have done for them and seek divorce due to minor misunderstandings. When outside, most people do not get what they expected the outside world could provide, and therefore, they finally get to come back to their partners who at least had real happiness before they separated.

3). Desire to have a quality life with all resources- even though it is only a few people who get married of late due to help, it is true that several individuals get married due to the financials and resource state of the other person. When these people get divorced, they go looking for the same or even better resources and spend their resources on them, which does not always play out. Therefore, due to frustration and inability to find people willing to pay their help, they get back to their former spouse and get remarried. The text supports the opinion as it states how resources make individuals remarry (brooks, 2013, p. 465).

4). Desire to keep children safe- most parents divorce, and this affects their children very negatively. However, some parents tend to rethink their marriages for the sake of their children. Therefore, most couples who break up when they had children usually undergo a tough time trying to avert the adverse effects brought upon the children by divorce. At times, they are unable to prevent the impact. They tend to remarry. However, this is also determined by the reasons why they had divorced at first. For example, if the cause was huge and did significant damage to the marriage, the individuals might not remarry, but if the issue were a small one, they would likely remarry.

Reference

Brooks, j. B. (2013). The process of parenting (edition 9). Mcgraw hill.

Music Disparity

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Music Disparity

Music is an efficient tool of communication that enables people to freely express their feelings regarding the emerging issues in the society like inequality as well as the public’s way of living.

The two songs selected as per this paper’s instructions are “Formation” by Beyoncé and “Chained to Rhythm” by Katy Perry. Beyoncé’s song is a morally poignant work in kind of a social anthem that talks about police brutality, happenings of Hurricane Katrina and Africa-Americans segregation history. Katy Perry’s work depicts adverse effects of the political affiliation in the society today and how people are not concerned about others issues so far as they are not affecting them in a way or the other. The songs are selected because they both talk about inequality and current issues affecting the society today.

The typical day’s society interaction symbolically relate to the selected music. Perry gives an insight into not allowing leaders build walls to separate use instead of establishing efficient connectivity (Dodson, 2018). She provokes civilians not to shut up while the front-runners are risking their well-being. Also, Beyoncé brings about racial issues in the society which has been the root of many evils in the community. She urges that everyone regardless of the ethnicity have equal rights and have the potentiality to take part in societal development.

In dealing with inequality, oppression and power exploitation, both songs incite the audience by reminding their responsibility of enhancing unity in the nation as well as making human rights elaborate to the listeners. In her song, Beyoncé takes part in protest advocating equal rights and condemning segregation of the black Americans, showing that she is part and parcel of the community and supports national cohesion. The case is same with Perry’s message as she says that they are about to riot and cannot comfortably see trouble coming.

Their relevance to the topic of discussion regarding inequality and political prejudice makes both Beyoncé and Perry’s song be selected. According to Katy Perry people have to be active in issues regarding social, political and economic development not to easily allow the influential tamper with the nation’s economy and stability. Similarly, Beyoncé portrays that she is comfortable with culture and ethnicity as she shows commitment being in the front line to fight injustice both regarding gender and racial bias (James, 2017).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eRaFMlZ1YHA

“Apparently” by J. Cole is the third option as the song that reminds people especially the marginalized and minority in the society to keep heads high in fighting injustice. J. Cole postulates the effects and threats of inequality to the community as it will at all the time lead to societal deprivation. This makes it relevant to the subject of discussion in this paper as all that people need is enlightenment and encouragement to fight for their rights and justice.

“Apparently” symbolically depicts the injustices undergone during social interactions where the inferior do not have a say in the community and have to fight hard on their success way. In his song, J. Cole states that he does not know freedom, but he will keep his head high and have a strong faith as he has to fight for his dreams. Here the music talks about the everyday inequalities seen in the society such as segregation when it comes to access to public amenities such as healthcare and education.

In dealing with injustice, J. Cole’s song insists on realizing person’s best friend and having an individual perspective on how to achieve the dreams. People may surround one pretending to there to help, but in reality, they aim at destroying one’s future and degrading the success. Therefore, it is a personal decision to set future goals and follow them to the key. Regardless of ethnicity and social differences, people have to fight inequality and great conducive environment for others to develop both socially and economically.

References

Dodson, J. (2018). On track to utopia. Overland, (230), 88.

James, K. (2017). From Bandannas to Berets: A Critical Analysis of Beyoncé’s “Formation” Music Video.

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Music exists in a variety of genres. They convey different messages depending on the target audience. Songs also vary depending on the purpose and settings they are played. Music sets scenes and creates emotion for its consumers. One song that has captured my attention and stayed in my mind for the longest time is called ‘this is America,’ sung by a famous African-American singer and actor, Donald Glover. His stage name is Childish Gambino, and his target audience is Americans, particularly black Americans. The official song video and audio were released in 2018.

The song ‘this is America’ is a controversial piece that caught people’s attention worldwide because of its specially defined lyrics and video. It focuses on the issue of discrimination against black people and police brutality. The song starts with a gospel choir to symbolize good news. During the slavery era, black people relied on the good news to give them hope of a better future and freedom from oppression by the white man. Childish Gambino proceeds to put himself in a white room to symbolize America then shoots a black man sitting on a chair. The gun he uses is treated with utmost respect than the body of a black person lying on the ground. As he shoots, he takes the pose of Jim Crow, a famous racist caricature to enhance his message and bring the audience closer to the narrative. The artist uses this scene to connect with his audience and convey the message of racial discrimination happening in America.

I believe the song intends to portray the image of police brutality against African-Americans in America. Many Cases of police using excessive force when handling black people have been reported, yet no serious or legal action seems to support the black community. Some go to the extent of using their legal power to kill black men and use the excuse of self-defense. The song warns black people to stay woke because they are not safe in America. Childish Gambino dances amidst the chaos to show his audience that they need to wake up and address America’s real issue and not get distracted.

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Characteristics phases of development of pre-historical humanity according to western civilizations by Joshua Cole and carol SymesPre-history refers to the period when human first appeared and invention of writing. This period has being characterized with limited sources of information as there were no formal ways through which information could have been stored except through the use of myths.

During the Paleolithic era, the main characteristics of this phase were the invention of fire by the Hominids who lived during this era. The human societies of this era were able to benefit from fire in a variety of ways including using it to harden tool tips, for hunting purposes, used the fire to made jewelry from metals, keeping themselves warm during cold nights and scaring away dangerous wild animals.

During this period, western civilizations were also characterized by cultures such as painting on wall caves and the burying of dead people in unique graves. During the burial ceremonies, the deceased were buried with objects that were meaningful to the life they lived including instruments such as horns, flowers and jewelry. At the end of Paleolithic era, the western civilization was characterized by finely crafted small tools that were developed by humans to aid in various activities such as fishing and hunting. Some of the finely crafted tools at this stage included fishhooks, wooden and bone sewing needles and arrow heads.

The Neolithic era began at around 11,000 B.C.E when there was rapid climate change and the human populations had become significantly huge. As the natural sources of food diminished, humans started looked for stable sources of food leading to the development of manageable food productions. Humans began domesticating animals and crops leading to a settled lifestyle as the need for hunting for food were eliminated. As people adopted a settled lifestyle, populations grew rapidly and specialization and division of labor became entrenched in societies. There was an emergence of status and rank in societies as a distinction developed between the rich and the poor.

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Characterization in Hamlet

Characterization in the play ‘Hamlet’ plays a crucial role in developing the story’s themes and plot. ‘Hamlet’ is one of Shakespeare’s most famous literary works that has been studied throughout the world. It is a tragic play whose main characters are the first family of Denmark. It is a sad tale of how a son, Hamlet, seeks vengeance for his father’s death and how his quest leaves destruction in its wake. Hamlet who is the main character in the story is central to the development of the play’s themes and other characters.

The story is set in the city of Elsinore in Denmark around the middle ages (Knights 19). When the play begins, the King of Denmark who is Hamlet’s father has been recently murdered. Hamlet is grief-stricken at the death of his father. Gertrude is the Queen of Denmark and Hamlet’s mother. Upon the death of her husband, she marries Claudius who happens to be her late husband’s brother. Other characters in the play are Ophelia who is the daughter to Polonius. Polonius serves as a royal attendant to the King. Laertes is Ophelia’s brother and a son to Polonius who ends up taking his father’s place in the palace after the death of Polonius.

The Ghost of Hamlet’s father is another character in the story that is seen to inspire many of Hamlet’s actions. Other minor characters include Horatio with whom Hamlet attended school and Guildenstern and Rosencrantz who are friends of Hamlet as well. All the characters in the story play a critical role and help to deliver the plot and the themes of the play in a vivid manner. The reader can find the characters very relatable, and their actions are what one would expect from the situations in which they find themselves.

Hamlet is the main protagonist in the play. Throughout the play, his actions are focused on seeking revenge for his dead father. He believes that the new king, Claudius, was a part of the plot to kill his father. He even suspects that his mother Gertrude aided him in carrying out the deed. “O most pernicious woman/ O villain, villain, smiling damned villain!…/ One may smile, and smile and be a villain/ At least I am sure it may be so in Denmark.”

Hamlet can be described as being loyal to the memory of his late father. He tells Horatio that he will never see anyone like his father, ““I shall not look upon his like again”. He wants to find out exactly who killed him so that he might take revenge on them. He is also very impulsive, and this can be seen in Act III where he speaks to his mother about her relationship with her husband, King Claudius. He tells her that what he did by marrying Claudius is disrespectful of his dead father. Unknown to him, Polonius was hidden behind the tapestry to protect Queen Gertrude from her son’s strange actions. Hamlet thinks Claudius is behind the curtain and drives a knife through it, killing Polonius.

Hamlet is brutally honest. He tells his mother in no uncertain terms exactly how he feels about her marriage to his uncle. He says, “O most wicked speed, to post/ With such dexterity to incestuous sheets!/ It is not, nor it cannot come to good/ But break my heart, for I must hold my tongue” . Hamlet thinks that his mother and Claudius insulted the late King’s memory by getting married a short time after the King’s death. Their marriage can also be considered incestuous as Gertrude married the brother of her late husband Knights 35). He is also vengeful and will stop at nothing to find out who killed his father.

Hamlet is also very emotional and unstable. His father’s death caused him much grief, and this shows what a loving son he must have been (Jarosz 13). Hamlet is anxious to speak to the ghost of his father when Horatio tells him of how they saw the ghost. With all the problems that Hamlet faces after the death of his father and his mother’s remarriage, he considers suicide but fails to go through with it as he believes it a sin. His actions, however, become more unpredictable by the day and lead his mother to summon him in the third act to find out what the problem is. Hamlet can also be quite level-headed when he chooses to be. Instead of rushing to kill his uncle on the ghost’s word, he decides that he must first get more evidence of his foul actions. He does this by performing a play about the Murder of Gonzago to see Claudius’ reaction.

Gertrude is another major character in the play. She is the Queen of Denmark because when her husband died, she married his brother and remained Queen. Such an act can be considered a betrayal and an insult to the memory of her late husband. She did so very soon after the death that Hamlet feels that her grief was faked. She is also very inconsiderate of her son Hamlet. Gertrude did not give him enough time to grieve his dead father before she went ahead to marry his brother. She, however, does not understand how her actions affected Hamlet and led to his unstable state of mind. Gertrude is a woman who lacks virtue, her marriage to her late husband’s brother can be considered incestuous and Hamlet tells her as much, her weak morality is brought to light when Hamlet asks her not to sleep in Claudius’ bed, to which she replies, “What shall I do?” (Thompson & Neil).

Queen Gertrude can be said to be gullible and guileless. She bows down to her husband’s every whim and is blind to his faults. She fails to comprehend the reason as to why Hamlet has been acting so strange lately. She acts shocked and surprised when Hamlet lets her know how he feels about her marriage and her grief that is quite shallow. She presents herself as a helpless victim in the whole scenario. This is hardly the case as she married Claudius soon after her husband’s death with no regard for Hamlet’s feelings or the opinions of other people. She is also selfish as her marriage was likely because she wanted to maintain the status quo of being Queen of England.

King Claudius is the main antagonist of the story. He became King by poisoning his late brother and then becoming King in his place. He also marries his dead brother’s wife, Queen Gertrude. The marriage can be seen as an incestuous act. Claudius appears to be repentant of his crimes as he confesses his sins to God in his chapel. The confession shows how remorseful he is for killing his brother. The King can also be said to be a capable leader. When the play begins, he manages to diplomatically avert a military crisis when Denmark is threatened by Norway. He is calm and gentle with Hamlet whom he urges to stop being so sad all the time.

As is his wife Gertrude, King Claudius is inconsiderate of Hamlet. He marries the Prince’s mother without giving him to grieve for his dying father. Claudius is also manipulative and scheming. He manipulates his wife into believing that he is innocent of any crimes. He manages to convince Laertes to become his ally after the death of Polonius. When he takes over as King, he tries to unite all his people who are grieving for their king. “The whole kingdom/to be contracted in one brow of woe” (Shakespeare 31). He is a heavy drinker, and in the end, he succumbs to poisoned wine which is ironical. The public persona of Claudius is entirely different from who he is in private. The ghost describes him as being incestuous for marrying his wife. His greed and lust for power are what led him to kill his brother in the first place.

Other minor characters in the story are Polonius, Ophelia, and Laertes. Polonius was a faithful attendant to the court. He is the one who asks Gertrude to speak to Hamlet to find the cause of Hamlet’s strange behavior. This is not out of genuine for concern for Hamlet, but it was a way of spying for the king hence Polonius is a pretender. His son Laertes is a man of weak character as he goes from being King Claudius’ enemy to being his friend. Ophelia is a gullible woman who bows down to the instructions of her father Polonius when he sends her to speak to Hamlet with the hope of finding the cause of his behavior.

The characters in the play are well explained, and Hamlet especially brings vivid images to the reader. His desire to avenge his father and his anger towards his mother overwhelm him and lead to the death of all the characters discussed. Characterization in the play helps the reader to identify the lot and theme of the story without much struggle.

Works Cited

Jarosz, Maria. Bargains with fate: Psychological crises and conflicts in Shakespeare and his plays. Routledge, 2017.

Knights, Lionel Charles. An Approach to” Hamlet.”. Stanford University Press, 1961.

Muir, Kenneth. The sources of Shakespeare’s plays. Routledge, 2014.

Shakespeare, William. The tragedy of Hamlet, prince of Denmark, 2018.

Thompson, Ann, and Neil Taylor, eds. Hamlet: A Critical Reader. Bloomsbury Publishing, 2016.

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Music has been for a long time been associated with politics, with a large number of musicians being involved in politics through their indirect influence as well as their ability to command a large population. Due to their influence, some of the musicians have been labeled as rebels to the government with some of the accusations leading to the assassination. Politicians, however, have misused the musicians and manipulated them to their gain.

‘Who shot the Sheriff’ is a Netflix documentary that narrates the circumstance that led to the attempted assassination of the Jamaican reggae icon, Bob Marley. Bob Marley was a famous reggae musician commanding a large crowd in Jamaica. Bob was a Rastafarian and rose to fame during the times that Jamaica was in chaos with people getting into war due to politics. Due to this Bob formed an underground movement named the roots and reggae movement and through this movement, he advocated for unity among the people through his music. Marley gained international recognition, and this sent tension to the politicians back at home as they saw a revolution and considered Bob Marley a threat. Two days before Marley could perform to a concert organized by the then prime minister of Jamaica Michael Manly, Bob together with his family and manager were shot by unknown people. According to the documentary, it is inferred that the attempted suicide was a plot to warn Bob to restrain himself from engaging in politics, and the CIA is thought to have had an upper hand of the attack.

The filmmaker intends to investigate who shot Bob Marley and therefore the film is an investigative documentary. The documentary opens with flickering images of black and white. Gunshots and people armed with guns are seen in the film, and this implies that Jamaica was in war at the time of the shooting. The documentary uses natural lighting, but the contrast is not very clear, and the reason is that the documentary uses past images recorded at a time when the technology was not advanced. Since the images and most of the videos were recorded past the year 1976, the visual quality is not that pleasing, and therefore the visual quality cannot be termed to be very good. However, the audio is very clear, and one can hear the wording without any strains. The coordination of the audio and visual elements is excellent, and this makes the overall quality of the documentary to be of high quality. Since the whole documentary is investigative, various interviews are done with different personalities providing their perspective on what transposed at the time of the shooting. Interviews are a source of valid data, and therefore it is a production of facts from the first-hand source, and this increases the credibility of the author. Through the interviews, that include from Bob Marley himself, we are able to obtain firsthand information and therefore sum up that the overall quality of the documentary is highly rated.

The mood created in the documentary is that of fear as people are seen shooting at one another and this creates a feeling of anxiety. The black and white images are a reminder of the past and therefore carries the mind of the viewer sometimes back. The responses of the Bob Marley during the interviews depicts him as being brave as he seems not to fear anything and this triggers a response of bravery from the audience. Despite the introduction of the documentary being hot with gunshots, Bob is seen with only a guitar in a concert preaching for peace, and this triggers responses of unity and togetherness to the people. Since Bob was a reggae artist, the Rastafarian colors are vividly depicted even through his dressing as well as the long hair that is a culture of the Rastafarians eliciting a response of being true to own religion which again calls for peace and unity. The documentary is thrilling and at the same time educative and therefore serves more than just being an investigative documentary.

Reference

Netflix. “Who Shot the Sheriff”. Retrieved from: https://www.netflix.com/ke/title/80191047

Music has been with us for a very long while. In fact, part of being human is an appreciation of the finer arts. However, music’s role has remained anything but constant throughout history. Music has gone from a mathematical science to a synthesis of melody and harmony. Many wonderful pieces have been written for religious purposes. Many more have been written for the secular world. The art of music has not always been that way. The Roman Catholic Church, for the longest time, was the only source of music that was approved by societies. Little by little, that changed. The secularization of music could not have occurred with out a secularization of the whole of western culture itself. While no one person can be single handedly responsible, there were many people who contributed to the gradual move of music away from the church.

To understand some of the later developments that were made in music, one has to look back on the beginning of western musical thought. Many people associate the beginning of the western world with the tribes that migrated and eventually conquered the Pelopeniasian lands, the area that was eventually called Greece. Greece was one of the first cultures to emerge in the west outside of the Fertile Crescent. It was certainly the first to leave clues as to how the culture thought. Greek scholars like Aristotle, believed that music should be grouped up as to its purpose. There was the solemn, disciplined and restrained music, Apollonian, and the wild, emotional, unrestrained music, the Dianysian. The Apollonian was usually reserved for the serious moments where wild displays of raw emotions were looked down upon. That included prayers, religious services and funerals. The Dianysian was the music used for dancing and celebrating. The whole of the Greek musical theory revolved on keeping those distinctions in mind. The Greeks viewed music as a science. That is an important point. The fact that the Greeks looked at it as a science rather than a religious experience let them have more freedom to study than the later cultures. It was a science, and the nature of science is experimenting. “What if you jiggle your left index finger on that high note?” If there is five hundred years of doctrine saying it is a sin to do that, a composer will feel less inclined to add it in. If you are in a culture that celebrates music as a science, a composer feels they have more freedom to add anything they want in. Rome was an extension of Greece. They were a conquering race of people who had a history of taking what they wanted from a conquered enemy and burning the rest. The Romans were very impressed with the theory of music that the Greeks had. They took it back to Rome and altered it slightly to please them. One of the ideas the Romans kept was separate types of music. There was “Music of the Spheres”, the serious music that made you think and have deep emotions to, and there was the “Music of the Human”, the dancing, not-too-deep, party music that you had urges and acted upon them.

The Roman Empire “fell” and many areas of Europe had very few authority figures to turn to. The kings in Europe were the lords of a hundred acres or so. There were no huge institutions to turn to keep the cultural ideals of the past alive. Enter the Roman Catholic Church. The church was the stable base that kept Europe from falling over after the Romans were finished. In most places, the church was the only stable thing around. In the early sixth century, all the lords were sure to have Rome behind them whenever they did the smallest thing, even write music. A big requirement of singing is you have to be able to read and write. With the fall of basically every institution there was, the people had no way to keep up with everything. They had to forget about music for a while in order to survive. So, there was tons of music lying around, but next to no one was able to understand what it meant. There was only one big organization around that taught people how to read and write. To train as a monk, being able to read and write the scripture was a big deal. Pope Gregory (590 – 604) decided that it was a good idea to pair music with glorifying God. Legends say that he sat down for a few years and hashed out all the music the church would use in its services, the hymns, psalms and canticles. Although it has been proved that there were many people who helped, he was the major force behind reviving the art of music after Rome “fell”. Pope Gregory also brought all the church’s political power to Rome, so that when he said to do something, local lords did not say “He’s some minor monk, I owe fealty to this monk”, they obeyed with out question. When he wanted to include music in the services, all those local lords did everything they could to help.

Europe was sailing along smoothly until one day, the Turks take over the Holy Land. The pope mounts a couple of crusades to wipe them out. During one of them, the second to be exact, the King of France’s wife, Eleanor of Aquitine, went along. Along the way they both had an affair with the same knight. On the way bake, they had their marriage annulled with a quick stop at Rome. Eleanor, however, was the large part of that family’s income. Aquitine made up all of western France at that point. When she went and married England’s king, Henry II, that was adding insult to injury. Henry II is better known by his sons King Richard II, “the Lion Hearted” and King John, the one who signed the Magna Carta. With their marriage, Eleanor was almost as rich as the pope. Half of the pope’s power came from the fact that he was richer than every other monarch. One of Eleanor’s passions was music. In her native Aquitine, there was a large Celtic influence. From that sprang the class of people called Bards. Wandering singers who played for money and food. The Roman Catholic Church had taken a hard line on the idea of Bards. Their music had the effect as to make people wish to commit sinful acts of passion and defiance. Eleanor absolutely loved them. She made it known that her lands were safe haven for bards and minstrels. She could defy Rome like that because she had the money. Also, she had the option of going into her lands and confiscating all the church’s lands and make them hers and therefore, taxable. Eventually, the church backed down. Her victory was short lived after her death. Her land became the territory of Richard II, who loved the idea of a holy quest and obeyed the pope to a fault. However, it was an important point in the history of music. Someone from the secular world stood up to the pope on a matter of musical freedom.

The church could not hold on to power forever. Eventually, the strains on it became too much. The Holy Roman Empire was a constant threat to Rome. The dwindling Byzantine Empire could not hold back the Muslim Turks for much longer. Eventually, a group of scholars got together and decided to look for the best of the best. Find the greatest minds in Philosophy, Mathematics and Music. This was another important step. People were trying to get the best people in a lot of fields and were not turning to Rome. A secular hand would guide the future of thought. The people who gathered there looked back to the past to gain an understanding of where their fields of study had came from. Music was no exception. People learned ancient Greek just to be able to read Aristotle’s views on music. This group of people founded a school called Notre Dame. However, the hand of the church was still holding on. Just because its power had waned, did not mean they were letting go any time soon. There were still certain things you had to do. The songs still had to be based on Biblical text. There was one drone and there was a melismatic melody above it. Then things started to change. In a tribute to the past, the musicians at Notre Dame started to experiment with the science of music. Magistar Leonin came up with what is now known as Organum. This was outlined in his book Magus Liber Organi or “The Great Book of Organum”. A later scholar named Perotin came up with putting more than one melody in a piece. He did this by putting more parts above the drone in a piece of Organum. This was called Organum Triplum and Organum Quadruplum. Then there was the big breakthrough of a Motet. That was the biggest thing to ever hit music. The later Middle Ages saw the greatest decline in the Church’s power. There was a point where certain lords refused to acknowledge the pope’s authority, so the elected their own pope. There was some times where there were up to five popes at once. Eventually, the imposters were denounced and there was one pope again. His power, however, was considerably shaken. No longer could he dictate what was what from Rome without anyone thinking about the decision first. That is when Music comes full circle and there is what we now call “Secular Form”. It had no drone as a necessary voice part and there was a fixed form. The big ones are Ballade, and Rondo. They were music for the sake of music. Harkening back to the Dianysian style of music, it was a perfect tribute to the Greeks.

Music had come full circle after the church controlled it for about one thousand years. It should not be said that the church was wrong to have controlled it in the first place. A little artistic restriction that is eventually done away with is a better thing than letting all of music’s past crumble away to dust. Music, and indeed all the arts, is like a living thing. They need to grow or they will become stagnate and waste away.

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Chapter 15

Single-serve coffee makers are an example of continuous innovation. Coffee lovers around the world have switched from drip coffee makers to the newer and more innovative sing serve ones. This change is classified as continuous because consumers have switched from one type of coffee maker to another, which they view to be more superior. There has been no significant change in customer habits, because they still continue to drink coffee, only using a better machine. Companies have taken advantage of the growing competition in the market for coffee machines that are the most efficient for consumers. Consumers prefer the single-serve machines because they are much faster, and they can have their coffee in a few seconds after the press of a button. Companies making such machines have experienced significant growth over the past few years compared to drip machines. Nespresso and Keurig are the most prominent players in the coffee maker market, and they are reaping big from their innovations. Nestle is a leading producer of coffee across the world, and producing efficient coffee makers is a practical step for the company. Continuous innovation involves marginal changes (Björk et al. 387), and this is how these companies have continuously grown their market margins by building upon the habits of their consumers.

The innovation has been well received in the market, facing little resistance. The main reason why continuous innovation faces little resistance is that it does not alter customer habits significantly. Single-serve coffee makers have simply built upon the existing popularity of coffee consumption and made the experience of brewing coffee faster and more efficient. Customers find these machines to be different from existing drip machines, and this is a point of attraction (Ries 26). The new single-serve coffee machines are more expensive than the drip ones, but customers are willing to pay more for the convenience that the new machines bring. Companies are building towards more sophisticated espresso machines, which is another example of continuous innovation.

Works Cited

Björk, Jennie, Paolo Boccardelli, and Mats Magnusson. “Ideation capabilities for continuous innovation.” Creativity and innovation management 19.4 (2010): 385-396.

Ries, Eric. The lean startup: How today’s entrepreneurs use continuous innovation to create radically successful businesses. Currency, 2011.

Character Analysis: Willy Loman

He is insecure and self-deluded:

Except that in the perfect universe, when he was perfect, he admits to being a horrible father. The hero’s sorrow is characterized by the fact that he was plucked from his ideal setting and thrust into a terrifying reality in which his ambitions were shattered.

Willy’s mental health deteriorates more as his illusions disintegrate in the face of crushing truth in his existence. Willy is motivated by the enormous tensions created by this imbalance, as well as the societal ramifications.

Willy Loman is a tragic hero:

Willy realizes that sales promotion is not the noblest profession, and his readiness to devote his life just for his family is more than just a wish to retain his dignity by not proclaiming in public that everything he had planned had been shattered.

Willy Loman is a humble man who worked as a salesman but now aspires to live a more relaxed life due to his health and age issues.

Willy’s entire existence has always been meaningless and has yielded no results. Willy recognizes that salesmanship is not the noblest profession, and his willingness to commit his life for the benefit of his family is a desire to maintain his dignity by not publicly declaring that all he had planned had been broken.

Except for the ideal world where he was the finest, he recognizes he was a lousy father. The hero’s tragedy is defined by the fact that he was taken from his ideal world and thrust into terrible reality, where his ambitions were dashed.

Willy has been yanked from his ideal world, where his boys are outstanding salespeople, and plunged into reality, in which they have failed to attain financial success.

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Chapter Eight: Social and Political Philosophy

Chapter eight of the book, “Philosophy: A Text with Reading” by Manuel Velasquez discusses social and political philosophy. The chapter opens by trying to elaborate on the relationship between an individual and society as well as the problems to do with justice. The subject of social and political philosophy tends to analyze the substantial role of a government towards its citizen, what it should do for the underprivileged, how an individual relates to the society as well as discussing on the issue of justice, for example, the justification of state authority. All these issues center on social and political philosophy. Social philosophy is defined as a philosophical study of problems that are affecting the society and the application of moral values for countering those issues, for instance, human rights and freedom.

On the other hand, political philosophy is a branch of social philosophy, and it discusses the role of the government or state in society. The government or state is the supreme authority, and hence it has the power to define the interests of the public and impose its rule on the public. By doing this, it tends to answer the question of justification of the state and its authorities. For example, the state implements this through the income tax method. That is, it sets its primacies by defining the programs that it feels are according to the public interest and afterward, it implements those programs by taxing the citizens. For example, the American government taxes its citizens according to their incomes.

Moreover, the issue of justification of the state and its authorities are well analyzed through the contract theory which is based on the philosophies of John Locke and Thomas Hobbes. John Rawls rejuvenated the theory during the twentieth century. Rawls contends that social contract is a fictional means for establishing what a fair society is and what the government in this society looks like. However, this theory has faced some criticism for example by communitarians who claim that the theory disregards the social l beings of individuals. Also, the feminists argue that the theory undertakes a nonconsensual division whereby women tend to be downgraded to the contentious issues in the society like in economics as well as politics where men dominate.

The issue of justice in society is also well discussed in this chapter. According to Velasquez, justice comprises retributive justice and distributive justice. Retributive justice analyzes how impartial punishments exist while distributive justice examines how the impartial society distributes benefits and burdens to society. Due to the different views of philosophers concerning the issue of justice, it exists in many forms, for example, justice as social utility, justice as strict equality and justice as moderate egalitarianism among other significant types. Plato and Aristotle link justice with merit. Their sentiments are according to the conventional Greek view of Justice. The egalitarians on their side claims for strict equality or evenhandedness of political rights as well as in economic opportunities. Their claim tends to be supported by society liberals; for example, Rawls who contends that justice entails financial support for the deprived. There are other liberals like Robert Nozick who also argues that individuals’ free choices need to be respected in all dimensions, particularly in economic matters.

The chapter closes with discussing the limits of the state towards the society. Although the section has different authors with diverse views concerning the issue of justice, it is evident that they all agree that it is the responsibility of the state to promote justice. For example, Aquinas maintains there is a great need for the laws of the state to be consistent with natural law. Moreover, these laws need to be compatible with the right to freedom. The right of freedom is entailed in the Bill of Rights, and it protects the citizens against interference by the state. In this chapter, the subject of human rights is also well analyzed by classifying it into positive and negative rights. This is according to how different individuals regard and view the issue of human rights. Even though every individual approves that it is necessary for changing the state laws when they seem to be conflicting with human rights, there are others who argue that there is a need for the state to enforce only the individual’s negative rights. On the other hand, others maintain that the government must obey and afford individuals positive rights.

The last end of the chapter is about the morality of war. Under the morality of war, political realism, pacifism as well as just war theory are discussed by the author. According to Velasquez, political realism maintains that morality is not effective to war while pacifism arguers on the immorality of war to the society at large. There is also the description of just war theory which discusses on the evil nature of war. For the just war to be justified, it has to achieve the following conditions according to this theory: it has to be I regard to the legitimate authority, it should have the right intention, it is real, and it has a just cause and finally if it is the last and only option. Moreover, just war tends to condemn some evil vices in society like terrorism.