The Return: Nightfall Chapter 11

Bonnie couldn't remember any more sophisticated prayer and so, like a tired child, she was saying an old one: â€Å"†¦I pray the Lord my soul to take†¦.† She had used up all her energy calling for help and had gotten no response at all, just some feedback noise. She was so sleepy now. The pain had gone away and she was simply numb. The only thing bothering her was the cold. But then, that could be taken care of, too. She could just pull a blanket over herself, a thick, downy blanket, and she would warm up. She knew it without knowing how she knew. The only thing that held her back from the blanket was the thought of her mother. Her mother would be sad if she stopped fighting. That was another thing she knew without knowing how she knew. If she could just get a message to her mother, explaining that she had fought as hard as she could, but that with the numbness and the cold, she couldn't keep it up. And that she had known she was dying, but that it hadn't hurt in the end, so there was no reason for Mom to cry. And next time she would learn from her mistakes, she promised†¦next time†¦ Damon's entry was meant to be dramatic, coordinated with a flash of lightning just as his boots hit the car. Simultaneously, he sent out another vicious lash of Power, this time directed at the trees, the puppets who were being controlled by an unseen master. It was so strong that he felt a shocked response from Stefan all the way back at the boardinghouse. And the trees†¦melted backward into the darkness. They'd ripped the top off as if the car had been a giant sardine can, he mused, standing on the hood. Handy for him. Then he turned his attention to the human Bonnie, the one with the curls, who ought by rights to have been embracing his feet by now, and gasping out â€Å"Thank you!† She wasn't. She was lying just as she had been in the embrace of the trees. Annoyed, Damon reached down to grab her hand, when he got a shock of his own. He sensed it before he touched it, smelled it before he felt it smear on his fingers. A hundred little pinpricks, each leaking blood. The evergreen's needles must have done that, taking blood from her or – no, pumping some resinous substance in. Some anesthetic to keep her still as it took whatever was the next step in its consumption of prey – something quite unpleasant, to judge by the manners of the creature so far. An injection of digestive juices seemed most likely. Or perhaps simply something to keep her alive, like antifreeze for a car, he thought, realizing with another nasty shock just how cold she was. Her wrist was like ice. He glanced at the two other humans, the dark-haired girl with the disturbing, logical eyes, and the fair-haired boy who was always trying to pick a fight. He might just have cut this one too fine. It certainly looked bad for the other two. But he was going to save this one. Because it was his whim. Because she had called for his help so piteously. Because those creatures, thosemalach, had tried to make him watch her death, eyes half-focused on it as they took his mind off the present with a glorious daydream.Malach – it was a general word indicating a creature of darkness: a sister or brother of the night. But Damon thought it now as if the word itself were something evil, a sound to be spat or hissed. He had no intention of lettingthem win. He picked Bonnie up as if she were a bit of dandelion fluff and slung her over one shoulder. Then he took off from the car. Flying without changing shape first was a challenge. Damon liked challenges. He decided to take her to the nearest source of warm water, and that was the boardinghouse. He needn't disturb Stefan. There were half a dozen rooms in that warren that was making its genteel decline into the good Virginia mud. Unless Stefan was snoopy, he wouldn't go walking in on other folks' bathrooms. As it turned out, Stefan was not only snoopy butfast . There was almost a collision: Damon and his burden came around a corner to find Stefan driving down the dark road with Elena, floating like Damon, bobbing behind the car as if she were a child's balloon. Their first exchange of words was neither brilliant nor witty. â€Å"What the hell are you doing?† exclaimed Stefan. â€Å"What the hell areyou doing?† Damon said, or began to say, when he noticed the tremendous difference in Stefan – and the tremendous Power that was Elena. While most of his mind simply reeled in shock, a small part of it immediately began to analyze the situation, to figure out how Stefan had gone from a nothing to a – a – Good grief. Oh, well, might as well put a brave face on it. â€Å"I felt a fight,† Stefan said. â€Å"When did you become Peter Pan?† â€Å"You should be glad you weren't in the fight. And I can fly because I have the Power, boy.† This was sheer bravado. In any case, it was perfectly correct, back when they were born, to address a younger relative asragazzo , or â€Å"boy.† It wasn't now. And meanwhile the part of his brain that hadn't simply shut down was still analyzing. He could see, feel, do everything buttouch Stefan's aura. And it was†¦unimaginable. If Damon hadn't been this close, hadn't been experiencing it firsthand, he wouldn't have believed it was possible for one person to have so much Power. But he was looking at the situation with the same ability of cold and logical assessment that told him that his own Power – even after making himself drunk with the variety of women's blood he had taken in the last few days – his Power was nothing to Stefan's right now. And his cold and logical ability was also telling him that Stefan had been pulled out of bed for this, and that he hadn't had time – or hadn't been rational enough – to hide his aura. â€Å"Well, now, look at you,† Damon said with all the sarcasm that he could call up – and that turned out to be quite a lot. â€Å"Is it a halo? Did you get canonized while I wasn't looking? Am I addressing St. Stefan now?† Stefan's telepathic response was unprintable. â€Å"Where are Meredith and Matt?† he added fiercely. â€Å"Or,† continued Damon, exactly as if Stefan hadn't spoken, â€Å"could it be that you merit congratulation for having learned the art of deception at last?† â€Å"And what are you doing with Bonnie?† Stefan demanded, ignoring Damon's comments in turn. â€Å"But you still don't seem to have a grasp of polysyllabic English, so I'll put this as simply as I can. You threw the fight.† â€Å"I threw the fight,† Stefan said flatly, apparently seeing that Damon wasn't going to answer any of his questions until he'd told the truth. â€Å"I just thanked God thatyou seemed to be too mad or drunk to be very observant. I wanted to keep you and the rest of the world from figuring out just exactly what Elena's blood does. So you drove away without even trying to get a good look at her. And without suspecting that I could have shaken you off like a flea from the very beginning.† â€Å"I never thought you had it in you.† Damon was reliving their little combat in all-too-vivid detail. It was true: he had never suspected that Stefan's performance had been entirely that – a performance – and that he could have thrown Damon down at any time and done whatever he'd wanted. â€Å"And there's your benefactress.† Damon nodded up to where Elena was floating, secured by – yes, it was true – secured by clothesline to the clutch. â€Å"Just a little lower than the angels, and crowned with glory and honor,† he remarked, unable to help himself as he gazed up at her. Elena was, in fact, so bright that to look at her with Power channeled to the eyes was like trying to stare straight into the sun. â€Å"She seems to have forgotten how to hide as well; she's shining like a G0 star.† â€Å"She doesn't know how to lie, Damon.† It was clear that Stefan's anger was steadily mounting. â€Å"Now tell me what's going on and what you've done to Bonnie.† The impulse to answer,Nothing. Why, do you think I should? was almost irresistible – almost. But Damon was facing a different Stefan than he'd ever seen before. This is not the little brother you know and love to trample into the ground, the voice of logic told him, and he heeded it. â€Å"The other two huuu-mans,† Damon said, drawing the word out to its full obscene length, â€Å"are in their automobile. And† – suddenly virtuous – â€Å"I was taking Bonnie toyour place.† Stefan was standing by the car, at a perfect distance for examining Bonnie's outflung arm. The pinpricks turned into a smear of blood when he touched them, and Stefan examined his own fingers with horror. He kept repeating the experiment. Soon Damon would be drooling, a highly undignified behavior that he wished to avoid. Instead, he concentrated on a nearby astronomical phenomenon. The full moon, medium high, and white and pure as snow. And Elena floating in front of it, wearing an old-fashioned high-necked nightgown – and little if anything else. As long as he looked at her without the Power needed to discern her aura, he could examine her as a girl rather than as an angel in the midst of blinding incandescence. Damon cocked his head to get a better view of the silhouette. Yes, that was definitely the right apparel for her, and she should always stand in front of brilliant lights. If he – Slam. He was flying backward and to the left. He hit a tree, trying to make sure that Bonnie didn't hit it, too – she might break. Momentarily stunned, he floated – wafted really – down to the ground. Stefan was on top of him. â€Å"You,† said Damon somewhat indistinctly through the blood in his mouth, â€Å"have been a naughty boy, boy.† â€Å"She made me. Literally. I thought she might die if I didn't take some of her blood – her aura was that swollen. Now you tell me what's wrong with Bonnie – â€Å" â€Å"So you bled her despite your heroic unflagging resistance – â€Å" Slam. This new tree smelled of resin. I never particularly wanted to get acquainted with the insides of trees, Damon thought as he spat out a mouthful of blood. Even as a crow I only use them when necessary. Stefan had somehow snatched Bonnie out of the air while Damon was flying toward the tree. He was that fast now. He was very, very fast. Elena was aphenomenon . â€Å"So now you have a secondhand idea what Elena's blood is like.†And Stefan could hear Damon's private thoughts. Normally, Damon was always up for a fight, but right now he could almost hear Elena's weeping over her human friends, and something inside him felt tired. Very old – centuries old – and very tired. But as for the question, well,yes . Elena was still bobbing aimlessly, sometimes spread-eagled and sometimes balled up like a kitten. Her blood was rocket fuel compared to the unleaded gasoline in most girls. And Stefan wanted to fight. Wasn't even trying to hide it. I was right, Damon thought. For vampires, the urge to squabble is stronger than any other urge, even the need to feed or, in Stefan's case, the concern for his – what was the word? Oh, yes.Friends. Now Damon was trying to elude a thrashing, trying to enumerate his assets, which weren't many, because Stefan was still holding him down. Thought. Speech. A penchant for fighting dirty that Stefan just couldn't seem to understand. Logic. An instinctive ability to find the chinks in his foe's armor†¦ Hmmm†¦ â€Å"Meredith and† – damn! What was that boy'sname ? – â€Å"her escort are dead by now, I think,† he said innocently. â€Å"We can stay here and brawl, if that's what you want to call it, considering that I never laid a finger on you – or we can try to resuscitate them. Which will it be, I wonder?† He really did wonder about how much control Stefan had over himself right now. As if Damon had zoomed out abruptly with a camera, Stefan seemed to become smaller. He had been floating a few feet above the ground; now he landed and looked about himself in astonishment, obviously unaware that he had been airborne. Damon spoke in the pause while Stefan was most vulnerable. â€Å"I wasn't the one who hurt them,† he added. â€Å"If you'll look at Bonnie† – thank badness, he knewher name – â€Å"you'll see that no vampire could do it. I think† – he added ingenuously, for shock value – â€Å"that the attackers were trees, controlled by malach.† â€Å"Trees?†Stefan barely took time to glance at Bonnie's pin-pricked arm. Then he said, â€Å"We need to get them indoors and into warm water. You take Elena – â€Å" Oh, gladly. In fact I'd give anything,anything – † – and this car with Bonnie right back to the boardinghouse. Wake Mrs. Flowers. Do all you can for Bonnie. I'll go on ahead and get Meredith and Matt – â€Å" That was it! Matt. Now if only he had a mnemonic – â€Å"They're just up the road, right? That was where your first strafe of Power seemed to come from.† A strafe, was it? Why not be honest and just call it a feeble wash? And while it was fresh in his mind†¦M for Mortal, A for Annoying, T for Thing. And there you had it. The pity was that it applied to all of them and yet not all of them were called MAT. Oh, damn – was there supposed to be another T at the end? Mortal, Annoying, Troublesome Thing? Annoying Terrible Thing? â€Å"I said, is that all right?† Damon returned to the present. â€Å"No, it's not all right. The other car's wrecked. It won't drive.† â€Å"I'll float it behind me.† Stefan wasn't bragging, just making a statement of fact. â€Å"It's not even in one piece.† â€Å"I'll bind the pieces. Come on, Damon. I'm sorry I strafed you; I had a completely wrong idea about what was going on. But Matt and Meredith may really be dying, and even with all my new Power, and all of Elena's, we may not be able to save them. I've raised Bonnie's core temperature a few degrees but I don't dare to stay and bring it up slowly enough.Please , Damon.† He was putting Bonnie in the passenger seat. Well, thatsounded like the old Stefan, but coming from this powerhouse, the new Stefan, it had rather different undertones. Still, as long as Stefanthought he was a mouse, he was a mouse. End of discussion. Earlier Damon had felt like Mount Vesuvius exploding. Now he suddenly felt as if he werestanding near Vesuvius, and the mountain was rumbling. Ye gods! He actually felt seared just being this close to Stefan. He called on all his considerable resources, mentally packing himself in ice, and hoped that at least a breath of coolness underlay his answer. â€Å"I'll go. See you later – hope the humans aren't dead yet.† As they parted, Stefan sent him a powerful message of disapproval – not strafing him with sheer elemental pain, as he had before when throwing Damon against the tree, but making sure that his opinion of his brother was stamped across every word. Damon sent Stefan a last message as he went.I don't understand, he thought innocently toward the disappearing Stefan.What's wrong with saying that I hope the humans are still alive? I've been in greeting card shops, you know – he didn't mention that it wasn't for the cards but for the young cashiers – and they had sections like â€Å"Hope you get well† and â€Å"Sympathy,† which I suppose means that the previous card's spell wasn't strong enough. So what's wrong with saying â€Å"I hope they're not dead†? Stefan didn't even bother to answer. But Damon flashed a quick and brilliant smile anyway, as he turned the Porsche around and set off for the boardinghouse. He tugged on the clothesline that kept Elena bobbing above him. She floated – nightgown billowing – above Bonnie's head – or rather where Bonnie's head should have been. Bonnie had always been small, and this freezing illness had her crumpled into the fetal position. Elena could practically sit on her. â€Å"Hello, princess. Looking gorgeous, as always. And you're not too bad yourself.† It was one of the worst opening lines of his life, he thought dejectedly. But he wasn't feeling quite himself. Stefan's transformation had startled him – that must be what's wrong, he decided. â€Å"Da†¦mon.† Damon started. Elena's voice was slow and hesitant†¦and absolutely beautiful: molasses dripping sweetness, honey falling straight from the comb. It was lower in pitch, he was sure, than it had been before her transformation, and it had become a true Southern drawl. To a vampire it resembled the sweet drip-drip of a newly opened human vein. â€Å"Yes, angel. Have I called you  ¡Ã‚ ®angel' before? If not, it was purely an oversight.† And as he said this, he realized that that was another component to her voice, one he'd missed before: purity. The lancing purity of a seraph of seraphim. That should have put him off, but instead it just reminded him that Elena was someone to take seriously, never lightly. I'd take you seriously or lightly or any way you prefer, Damon thought, if you weren't so stuck on my idiot younger brother. Twin violet suns turned on him: Elena's eyes. She'd heard him. For the first time in his life, Damon was surrounded by people more powerful than he was. And to a vampire, Power was everything: material goods, community position, trophy mate, comfort, sex, cash, candy. It was an odd feeling. Not entirely unpleasant in regards to Elena. He liked strong women. He'd been looking for one strong enough for centuries. But Elena's glance very effectively brought his thoughts back to their situation. He parked askew outside the boardinghouse, snatched up the stiffening Bonnie, and floated up the twisting, narrowing staircase towards Stefan's room. It was the only place heknew there was a bathtub. There was barely room for three inside the tiny bathroom, and Damon was the one carrying Bonnie. He ran water into the ancient, four-footed tub based on what his exquisitely tuned senses said was five degrees above her current icy temperature. He tried to explain to Elena what he was doing, but she seemed to have lost interest and was floating round and round Stefan's bedroom, like a close-up of Tinkerbell caged. She kept bumping the closed window and then zooming over to the open door, looking out. What a dilemma. Ask Elena to undress and bathe Bonnie, and risk her putting Bonnie in the tub wrong side up? Or ask Elena to do the job and watch over them both, but not touch – unless disaster struck? Plus, someone had to find Mrs. Flowers and get hot drinks going. Write a note and send Elena with it? There might be more casualties in here any moment now. Then Damon caught Elena's eye, and all petty and conventional concerns seemed to drop away. Words appeared in his brain without bothering to come through his ears. Help her. Please! He turned back to the bathroom, lay Bonnie on the thick rug there and shelled her like a shrimp. Off with the sweatshirt, off with the summer top that went under it. Off with the small bra – A cup, he noticed sadly, discarding it, trying not to look at Bonnie directly. But he couldn't help but see that the prickling marks the tree had left were everywhere. Off with the jeans, and then a small hitch because he had to sit and take each foot in his lap to get the tightly tied high-top sneakers off before the jeans would come past her ankles. Off with socks. And that was all. Bonnie was left naked except for her own blood and her pink silky underwear. He picked her up and put her in the tub, soaking himself in the process. Vampires associated baths with virgin's blood, but only the really crazy ones tried it. The water in Bonnie's bathtub turned pink when he put her in. He kept the tap running because the tub was so large, and then sat back to consider the situation. The tree had been pumping something into her with its needles. Whatever it was, it wasn't good. So it ought to come out. Most sensible solution was to suck it as if it were a snakebite, but he was hesitant to try that until he was sure Elena wouldn't crush his skull if she found him methodically sucking Bonnie's upper body. He would have to settle for next best. The bloody water didn't quite conceal Bonnie's diminutive form, but it helped to blur the details. Damon supported Bonnie's head against the edge of the tub with one hand, and with the other he began to squeeze and massage the poison out of one arm. He knew he was doing the right thing when he smelled the resinous scent of pine. It was so thick and viscid itself that it hadn't yet disappeared into Bonnie's body. He was getting a small amount of it out this way, but was it enough? Cautiously, watching the door and cranking his senses up to cover their broadest spectrum, Damon lifted Bonnie's hand to his lips as if he were going to kiss it. Instead, he took her wrist in his mouth and, suppressing every urge he had to bite, instead simply sucked. He spat almost immediately. His mouth was full of resin. The massage wasn't enough by far. Even suction, if he could get a couple of dozen vampires and attach them all over Bonnie's little body like leeches, wouldn't be enough. He sat back on his heels and looked at her, this fatally poisoned woman-child he'd as good as given his word to save. For the first time, he became aware that he was soaked to the waist. He gave an irritated glance toward the heavens and then shrugged out of his black bomber jacket. What could he do? Bonnie needed medicine, but he had no idea what specific medicine she needed, and there was no witch he knew of to appeal to. Was Mrs. Flowers acquainted with arcane knowledge? Would she give it to him if she were? Or was she just a batty old lady? What was a generic medicine – for a human? He could give her over to her own people and let them try their bungling sciences – take her to a hospital – but they would be working with a girl who'd been poisoned by the Other Side, by the dark places they would never be allowed to see or understand. Absently, he had been rubbing a towel over his arms and hands and black shirt. Now, he looked at the towel and decided that Bonnie deserved at least a sop to modesty, especially since he could think of no more work to be done on her. He soaked the towel and then spread it out and pushed it underwater to cover Bonnie from throat to feet. It floated in some places, sank in others, but generally did the job. He turned the water temperature up again, but it made no difference. Bonnie was stiffening into the true death, young as she was. His peers in old Italy had had it right, he thought, a female like this was amaiden , no longer girl, not yet woman. It was especially apposite since any vampire could tell that she was a maiden in both senses. And it had all been done under his nose. The lure, the pack-attack, the marvelous technique and synchronization – they had killed this maiden while he sat and watched. He'd applauded it. Slowly, inside, Damon could feel something growing. It had sparked when he thought of the audacity of the malach, hunting his humans right under his nose. It didn't ask the question of when the group in the car had becomehis humans – he supposed it was because they had been so close lately that it seemed they were his to dispose of, to say whether they lived or died, or whether they became what he was. The growing thing surged when he'd thought of the way the malach had manipulated his thoughts, drawing him into a blissful contemplation of death in general terms, while death in very specific terms was going on right at his feet. And now it was reaching incendiary levels because he had been shown up too many times today. It really was unbearable†¦. †¦and it was Bonnie†¦. Bonnie, who had never hurt a – a harmless thing for malice. Bonnie, who was like a kitten, making airy pounces at no prey at all. Bonnie, with her hair that was called something strawberry, but that looked simply as if it was on fire. Bonnie of the translucent skin, with the delicate violet fjords and estuaries of veins all over her throat and inner arms. Bonnie, who had lately taken to looking at him sideways with her large childlike eyes, big and brown, under lashes like stars†¦. His jaws and canines were aching, and his mouth felt as if it were on fire from the poisonous resin. But all that could be ignored, because he was consumed with one other thought. Bonnie had called for his help for nearly half an hour before succumbing to the darkness. That was what needed to be said. Needed to be examined. Bonnie had called for Stefan – who had been too far away and too busy with his angel – but she had called for Damon, too, and she had pleaded for his help. And he had ignored it. With three of Elena's friends at his feet, he had ignored their agonies, had ignored Bonnie's frenzied pleas not to let them die. Usually, this sort of thing would only make him take off for some other town. But somehow he was still here and still tasting the bitter consequences of his act. Damon leaned back with his eyes closed, trying to shut out the overwhelming smell of blood and the musty scent of†¦something. He frowned and looked around. The little room was clean even to its corners. Nothing musty here. But the odor wouldn't go away. And then he remembered.

The Whiteness of the Veil Color and the veil in...

In his essay â€Å"Color, Light and Shadow in Hawthorne’s Fiction† Walter Blair approaches an interpretation of Hawthorne’s work through the author’s manipulation of color and light to produce symbolic meaning. Blair addresses â€Å"The Minister’s Black Veil† and notes the repeated emphasis on the blackness of Father Hooper’s veil and the pallor as a reaction to it. â€Å"The design of this tale,† he asserts, â€Å"is one in which repeated patterns of light, then blackness, then whiteness meaningfully occur† (Blair 76). Similarly, Hawthorne’s novel The Blithedale Romance employs chiaroscuro for its characters, symbols and the veil motif in particular. Blair does not go further in his discussion of whiteness and blackness in â€Å"The Minister’s Black Veil† in relation to The Blithedale Romance. An analysis of the use of color, particularly regarding the veil symbol, in both texts can provide additiona l insights into Hawthorne’s often noted ambiguity. Veils and the act of unveiling are popular literary tropes, particularly in Gothic fiction. They may be employed to address contrasting themes of knowledge vs. ignorance, the conscious vs. the unconscious, appearance vs. reality, obscurity vs. visibility, as well as the public vs. the private. In visual arts as well as in literature, the color black is associated with the satanic or the demonic. It is the opposite of light and life and represents loss. In addition, blackness may conceal a dark mystery. In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s short story â€Å"The

Married To Be Alone Essay examples - 842 Words

Married To Be Alone? Although marriage is the symbol of two lives ¡Ã‚ ¦ union, in the real world many people experience it in the opposite way. Gloria Steinem says:  ¡Ã‚ §The surest way to be alone is to get married. ¡Ã‚ ¨ In  ¡Ã‚ §The Story of an Hour ¡Ã‚ ¨ by Kate Chopin, we can certainly realize how well the author describes the loneliness of a marriage. There is another short story that also reflects the same point of view in a relationship; it is William Faulkner ¡Ã‚ ¦s  ¡Ã‚ §A Rose for Emily. ¡Ã‚ ¨ Both works serve as strong evidence for Gloria Steinem ¡Ã‚ ¦s opinion. In  ¡Ã‚ §The Story of an Hour ¡Ã‚ ¨ Chopin implies an idea of that Mrs. Mallard lives as a prisoner. Maybe it is because she grew up in a society in which women used to be properties of men, she has not noticed†¦show more content†¦This story reflects the society in that age, then Mrs. Mallards represents the housewives in that time. Many of them get married with the man they don ¡Ã‚ ¦t love, and they spend their lives living alone emotionally. In the other side we have another nineteenth century author, William Faulkner, who also wrote a short story about being alone, even his work does not focus that much on marriage. His idea of  ¡Ã‚ §getting married to be alone ¡Ã‚ ¨ is very strong, too. In  ¡Ã‚ §A Rose for Emily ¡Ã‚ ¨, Faulkner interprets loneliness by telling Emily ¡Ã‚ ¦s life. This lady goes through several stages in which no word better than  ¡Ã‚ §alone ¡Ã‚ ¨ can describes, even though, she doesn ¡Ã‚ ¦t want to accept the truth. After her father ¡Ã‚ ¦s death, she kept his body as if he were alive,  ¡Ã‚ §She did that for three days ¡K trying to persuade her to let them dispose of the body ¡Ã‚ ¨. She denied his father ¡Ã‚ ¦s death because she was afraid to be alone, she depended a lot on her father. Then she dated Homer Barron, it was a good chance to extricate herself from the loneliness.  ¡Ã‚ §[People of the town] learned that Miss Emily had been to the jeweler ¡Ã‚ ¦s and ordered a manà ‚ ¡Ã‚ ¦s toilet set in silver, with the letters H.B. on each piece ¡K and [they] said, They are married. ¡Ã‚ ¨ By her acts we can clearly see that Emily really wanted to marry Homer, so she wouldn ¡Ã‚ ¦t be alone any more. But he was a homosexual man, in that time considered as  ¡Ã‚ §not a marrying man ¡Ã‚ ¨. And for her, there is no way she can letShow MoreRelatedSingle Parents in Singapore1164 Words   |  5 Pagesrather than have an abortion. Unfortunately, some do fit the stereotype. By definition, a single mother has children but no husband; however that does not mean that she is unmarried, let alone never been married. Furthermore, widowed and divorced mothers are also single mothers. So is a woman who is raising her child alone because she is living apart from her husband. 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However, after Gatsby returned, Daisy married and everything changed. So, Gatsby decided to track Daisy and throw big parties so that he could attempt to fall in love with her again. This is bad decision making on Gatsby’s part because he knows he is going to get into trouble because he willRead MoreMulticultural Education And Learn ing A Mutual Respect1659 Words   |  7 Pageswould offend him. Interview questions 1. Where did your religion start from? 2. Could you explain your beliefs to me? 3. What is different about your religion then other religions? 4. Could you explain some of your traditions when it comes to being married in this church etc? 5. What essential things must one do to be a member of the Catholic church? 6. What does it mean to be Catholic? 7. What are the challenges, if any, with practicing your religion? 8. What type of education do you need to becomeRead MoreThe Demise Of Romeo And Juliet993 Words   |  4 PagesAlthough the death of Romeo and Juliet is caused by fate, but their death is also caused by their actions. The death of Romeo and Juliet was due to their actions of getting married despite knowing their family’s feud. During the balcony scene, Juliet wishes the Romeo will defy his name so they could be together and get married. â€Å"Deny thy father and refuse thy name, / Or, if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love, / And sails upon the bosom of the air† (Shakespeare II.ii.37-39). Juliet knows that becauseRead MoreWhen Should I Get Married? - 5 Important Questions That You Should Answer Before Tying the Knot792 Words   |  4 PagesWhen Should I Get Married? - 5 Important Questions That You Should Answer Before Tying the Knot Long married couples usually have this to say to marrying couples as if to warn them of a future that is bound to get doomed; â€Å"Marriage is not always a bed of roses. It is a responsibility starting from day one.† This sounds scary. But no one can deny the ounce of truth that is embedded in its every word. The question, therefore, is not how to make it a bed of roses. It is rather more important to answerRead MoreKate Chopin s The Strom946 Words   |  4 PagesAt times the person we want the most is the person you are best without. In the short story â€Å"The Strom† by Kate Chopin it talks about two couples committing in finality during their marriages. Calixta is married to Bobinot with a son named Bibi and Alcee is married to Clarisse along with her children. During the 19th century years had passed by along with Calixta and Alcee not seeing each other one day they run into each other due to a storm passing by. Calixta invites him in her house while the

Essay about Influencing Others In Business Environments

Influencing Others in Business Environments Throughout human civilization, the art of selling ideas or products has been a cornerstone of society. Some people have become masters at this art, yielding themselves and their companies large amounts of profit. Why is it that some people are better at this than others? This paper will take a look at the various aspects of nonverbal communication in selling (or influencing others to buy) and in job interviews by examining in detail the various aspects of proximics, haptics, physical attractiveness, and other nonverbal cues that influence people to say yes. Artifacts and local environment nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;Several studies have presented evidence in support of the theory that†¦show more content†¦Voice and Tone nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;Voices have a significant persuasive affect. A study by Mehrabian and Williams (1969) suggested that there are four nonverbal cues of voice that have a persuasive effect. These are: having a louder amplitude, having a greater intonation, having greater fluency in speech, and having a faster tempo during speaking. Another study showed that when one has a louder and more fluent voice they were more likely to get a favorable decision on a job interview or in a legal battle (Hollandsworth et al., 1979). Faster tempos have a more persuasive affect by exhibiting expertise and competence (Buller, 1986). But, there is a limit. Speaking tempos greater than 375 syllables per minute decrease their persuasive affect with faster tempos exhibiting greater and greater levels of loss of persuasiveness. Physical Appearance nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;Phsyical apperance has several manners in which it can help or hinder the outcome of a negotiation. Raw physical attractiveness, ones innate or genetic attractiveness, has been shown to dramatically affect the attentiveness of an audience. One study did an experiment with a woman, first she was dressed to look unattractive, then she was dressed attractively. The study showed that among male audience members her ability to influence them varied with how well she dressed. When she was dressed well, she was seenShow MoreRelatedManagement1118 Words   |  5 Pages1. Discuss the market system and the need for ethics in business and distinguish it from the law and concepts of virtue and morality. 2. Discuss ethics in the context of relativism, psychological egoism, utilitarianism, deontology, and virtue ethics. 3. Discuss the ideas of character ethic, female ethic, human rights, and ethical action. 4. Discuss the factors influencing employee issues including the right to work, employment at will, due process and employee participation, health and safetyRead MoreEffective Leadership Styles Within The Workplace1584 Words   |  7 Pagesno single method of influencing the behavior of employees for every situation. 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In order to stay competitive and attain loyal customers, companies obtain structures and guidelines to ensure ethical dilemmas are decreasedRead MoreInhibitors And Barriers That Make A Project More Difficult849 Words   |  4 Pagesa royal flush. I also learned that there are many different barriers for each style of person. The four styles of people are, Dominant, Influencing, Steady, and Cautious. A common barrier for the dominant trait is being over powering. By this I mean that people may get annoyed or frustrated if someone is telling them what to do all the time. For the influencing trait a common barrier would be getting off topic. Often time’s people with this trait are very talkative and outgoing, and these peopleRead MoreHuman Resource Planning and Development Leads to Success Essay examples1396 Words   |  6 Pagesconcept can be attributed to the establishment of apprenticeship programs in the 18th Century (Werner DeSimone, 2011, p.5). 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Each generation will search for, select and purchase a product or service for use and disposal based on personal wants and needs. Each of these groups is a different segment of the market. For example a business wants to cater to those between the ages of 17-30 they do marketRead MoreExposure, Attention, and Comprehension on the Internet1307 Words   |  6 Pagesare wrong (typing error, bounced email). - Help to increase in the volume of sales. Question 1 (b) Discuss the attention processes that were at work. †¢ Factors Influencing Attention †¢ Variation in Attention †¢ Marketing Implication ATTENTION PROCESSES Factors Influencing Attention : Factors Influencing Attention Involvement - determined by the means - end chains activated from memory, related affective responses, and arousal level. – consumers who experience high involvementRead MoreThe Crisis Management Of Philippines Essay894 Words   |  4 Pagesin organizations. One fundamental tool in instigating innovation is change management. Employee engagement is seen as a primary ingredient in successfully triggering readiness to change. However, beyond change management, culture is important in influencing employee engagement and readiness to change. Research suggests that Filipino employees, who generally possess a collectivist cultural orientation, are more motivated when working in groups. Therefore, good working relations are important in eliciting

Coffee and Starbucks free essay sample

In 2000s, Starbucks became a public traded company. Starbucks trended to international that has more than 15,000 locations in over  40 countries. Starbucks never stopping on selling coffee, they initiated several other product and brand extensions. For instance, to distributed whole bean and sold coffee to supermarket. Nowadays, Starbucks is the leader in the coffer industry, and it is almost monopoly the while coffee marketing. Starbucks is like fashion and culture in the society, and it is good place to gather. In our project, they are seven topics what are vision, mission, strategies, and goals; structure including its use of teams; External environment; management of change; culture and ethical values and practices; management of training and workforce diversity and leadership styles. We are going to explain how successful Starbucks it is because it is almost prefect without any improvements. Key word: Mission, principle, strategy, organizational structure, change management, leadership. Mission and Principles For each organization, having a purpose is very important. China will be a key part of its global expansion as the company looks to grow the store count in the nation to 1,500 by the end of 2015 (Forbes 2013). Starbucks utilises license agreements, strategic partnerships, and many other business activities and agreements. Starbucks’ latest acquisition of La Boulange and Evolution Fresh play some role in the company’s growth as there is more food for breakfast and lunch including more baked goods coming soon. Starbucks also agreed to purchase tea retailer Teavana Holdings Inc. for $620 million. It is its largest acquisition to date. When it comes to buying, Starbucks is well known for its commitment to quality products. The company increased their purchases to 40 million pounds, making it the largest purchaser of the Fair Trade Certified coffee in the world (Starbucks Corporation). 3. 1 Starbucks’ current position in the world market A recent survey by American Express/SAP ranks Starbucks 49th among the Top 100 global retailers (Forbes 2013). Starbucks Corp. raised its profit forecast for the current fiscal year after sales in its top market U. S. topped expectations. The company set its new earnings per share forecast for fiscal 2013 at $2. 06 to $2. 15, up from $2. 04 to $2. 14 per share, previously. It also raised its target for global net new stores to 1,300 from 1,200 on accelerated expansion plans for China. 3. 2 Starbucks and its main competitors Starbucks’ primary competitors are quick-service restaurants and specialty coffee shop. Starbucks’ major competitors are Dunkin Donuts and McDonald’s. McDonald’s recently introduced McCafe campaign in which it sells coffee beverages at a slight discount to Starbucks. McDonald’s priced their drinks between $1. 99 and $3. 29. By comparison, Starbucks’ comparable drink versions were priced between $2. 65 and $4. 15, a premium of approximately one-third. Dunkin Donuts uses its donuts and the rest of their menu as the attraction. By 2006, Dunkin Donuts was the top selling retailer of coffee-by-the-cup in America at 2. 7 million cups a day, close to one billion cups a year (Dunkin Donuts, Press Release 2006). 4. 0 Environmental factors 4. 1 Micro environment The following section of this deals with some of the main factors within the Starbucks companies’ micro environment. More specifically, the following headings will be explored: 1. Main Competitors 2. Customers 3. Suppliers 4. 1. 1 Main Competitors The field of coffee market is strongly competitive, including with respect to product quality, service, suitability, and price. Although Starbucks faces significant competition in the markets, it is still ahead of its competitors. 4. 1. 2 Customers Starbucks’ main target market is men and women aged 25 to 40. They account for just about half (49%) of its total business. Starbucks attract this particular age group through hip, contemporary design that is compliant in its advertising and decor and working to keep its products current as status symbols. Customers are likely to be urbanites with moderately high income and professional careers. Another 40% of Starbucks’ sales are creating young adults, aged 18 to 24. To appeal to this age group, Starbucks positions itself in colleges where students can hang out, and also appeals to them through technology focusing on social networking where it is actively producing a ‘cool’ image. 4. 1. 3 Suppliers â€Å"Aside from extraordinary coffee, Starbucks has made a business out of human connections, community involvement and the celebration of cultures. † (Starbucks) Starbucks is seeking for diverse-owned businesses to purchase from. In addition to their buying practices, they support supplier diversity outreach projects sponsored by various organizations such as: The National Minority Supplier Development Council and the Women’s Business Enterprise National Council. These projects include opportunity fairs, business development roundtables and supplier development projects. The Supplier Diversity helps to identify and deliver high-quality products and services. Starbucks is committed in creating a workplace that values and respects workers from diverse backgrounds. The company works with overseas suppliers to maintain a workplace that does not abuse workers. Therefore African farm groups selling coffee beans are getting more valued, they are paid better wages including benefits and are provided with resources that help to lower the cost of production, reduce fungus infections and increase the production of premium coffee. 4. 2 Macro Environement This section will examine some of the key Macro Environmental factors that face Heineken. More specifically, the following subjects will be discussed: 1. Economic Factors 2. Technological Factors 3. Political Factors 4. 2. 1 Economic Factors 4. 2. 2 Technological Factors As stated by Kotler and Armstrong (2010, p. 106), technological advances are possibly the strongest forces affecting current marketing strategies. The explosion of social media and the emergence of innovative technology in the last decade has seen new marketing and promotional media develop, and has given new opportunities to companies. Some of Starbucks’ uses of technology to market its’ product are as follows: 1. Starbucks continuously uploads pictures and statuses on sites such as facebook, instagram, twitter and pinterest, where most of the people in today’s world have daily access to. 2. The introduction of Starbucks card had improved customer service. 3. Starbucks launched a free nationwide mobile payment app. 4. The free, unlimited Wi-Fi in the stores serves as makeshift office and a meeting place. 5. Starbucks has its own official website, where you can see the menu, purchase gifts, read about all the information of their products and Starbucks contribution to the environement as well as the ethical sourcing. You can also top up your Starbucks card online. There have also been technological developments in agriculture. Agricultural technology has been a primary factor contributing to increases in farm productivity in developing countries. Although there is still widespread food insecurity, the situation without current technology development would have been inconceivable. Food prices are lower because of technology, but the benefits between consumers and producers depend on the nature of the local economy and trade patterns. 4. 2. 3 Political Factors Political factors that affect Starbucks include the level of stability within the countries in which Starbucks buy its coffee from. They get their coffee beans from countries all around the world in which some countries have a lot of natural disasters like earthquakes, tsunamis and wars. These natural disasters can affect Starbucks’ business because the countries will not be able to supply them with any of the coffee beans and they will have no coffee to sell. Starbucks also claims to be environmentally friendly, so they have to consider how to protect the brand aspect in everything they do. Another very important factor is the relationships between the countries between which the exchange of products is taking place. 5. 0 SWOT Analysis 5. 1 Strengths 1. Commitment to quality 2. Large expansion worldwide 3. Ethical sourcing 4. Largest coffeehouse chain in the world 5. Supporting farmers and their communities 5. 2 Weakness 1. Product pricing 2. Negative publicity 3. Coffee beans price is the major influence over firm’s profits 5. 3 Opportunities 1. Increase in product variety 2. International expansion of retail operations 3. Technological advancements 4. Joint ventures 5. 4 Threats 1. Competitors with similar offerings at lower cost 2. Rising prices in coffee beans and dairy products 3. Trademark infringement 4. Emergence of new competitors 6. 0 Products and branding strategy According to Louis E. Boone and David L. Kurtz (2010, p. 379) marketers recognize the powerful influence products and product lines have on customer behaviour and they work to create strong identities for their product and protect them. Branding is the process of creating that identity. 7. 0 Pricing Strategy Starbucks is the leader of the coffee market. As a distinct company, it controls a number of times more market share than any of its competitors. Starbucks sets its costs on a simple idea: high value at moderate cost. When people feel like they are getting a good deal for their money, they are more likely to pay a higher cost. Quality is the key. Sometimes when Starbucks introduces new products at higher cost, the costumers are willing to pay the extra money because they relate the Starbucks name with high quality. Although the risk still exists that more customers will prefer the lower-priced items, by presenting higher-priced items alongside lower-cost substitutes, Starbucks is mitigating the higher price through comparison. 8. 0 Promotional Strategies Starbucks has a strong presence on a number of social networks. When it comes to engaging its customers, Starbucks has definitely set a high bar. Instead of only focusing their effort on new costumers, it cultivates its current ones. Whenever Starbucks takes a photo, it shares it on instagram, twitter, facebook or pinterest. Promotion through networking is more valuable, as the world becomes more digitally concentrated. A proof its success can be seen on Facebook, where Starbucks has already over 35,5 million ‘likes’ and the numbers are keep going up. Starbucks also increased their advertising in radios, televisions and billboards from 1. 4% to 3% by 2009. Starbucks uses push-pull strategy : Push tactics are taking the product to the costumer. Pull tactics are getting the costumer to come to you. 9. 0 Distribution Channels Kotler and Armstrong (2013) describe a distribution channel to be ‘a set of interdepended organisations that help make a product or service available for use or consumption by the consumer or business user’. Moon and Quelch (2004) outline that Starbucks sold coffee products through non-company operated retail channels. These â€Å"Specialty Operations† accounted for 15% of net revenues. About 27% of these revenues came from North America food-service accounts, that is sales of whole-bean and ground coffees to hotels, airlines and restaurants. Another 18% came from domestic retail store licences. The remaining 55% of specialty revenues came from a variety of sources, including international licensed stores, grocery stores and warehouses clubs, online and mail-order sales. Starbucks also had a joint venture with Pepsi-Cola to distribute Frappuccino beverages, as well as partnership with Dreyer’s Grand Ice Cream to develop and distribute a line of premium ice creams. 10. 0 Summary This report has looked at Starbucks, both as a brand and as an international manufacturer. It has investigated the methods of marketing that Starbucks uses to develop and promote, and also to distribute and sell its’ brands. Through comparisons with Starbucks’ main competitors, the companies’ standing in the market place has been explained.

The Great Gatsbys green light and American optimism Essay Example For Students

The Great Gatsbys green light and American optimism Essay Metaphorically, one’s life is a navigable boat, in working against the innumerable currents physical: inertia and entropic disorder; existential: the reality of death; and social: family (genetic and relational), race and class, along with the educational access which can define the dynamics of economic opportunity – they define, or have defined for them, their own green light. Such opportunities purportedly thrive on myths of meritocratic pluck and ingenuity, especially within the milieu of pseudo-capitalistic competition, as workers, entrepreneurs, speculators, and the like strive toward their attendant Green Lights. We will write a custom essay on The Great Gatsbys green light and American optimism specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now However, the complexities of these â€Å"currents† that Nick mentions intersect as the tremendous opportunity some call â€Å"American Exceptionalism†; in that the first new nation in the new world rooted on expressed, but illusory, concepts like individualism, egalitarianism, and laissez-faire (â€Å"American Exceptionalism†). These green light ideals are foundative elements in the novel. This milieu furnishes optimism and audacity, in that Gatsby â€Å" invented just the sort of Jay Gatsby that a seventeen year old boy would be likely to invent, and to this conception he was faithful to the end† (98). It’s within this observation that the American ideal of â€Å"starting over† is found. To generalize, the original seventeenth century settlers of North America were the old world’s Euro-Anglo rejects, those looking for a better Puritanical life in a â€Å"land o’ plenty†. This â€Å"starting over†, from the outset, was an antecedent that encapsulates the American idea of the Westerner. Colonialists moved west across the Atlantic, much like the trailblazing pioneers would, looking for opportunity, prosperity, and ultimately, identity and security, within a purposeful adventure. This is alluded to by Nick when he considers each of the characters, Daisy, Jordan, Gatsby, and himself, pondering their compulsion to recklessly hope as a geographic designation, â€Å" we possessed some deficiency in common which made us subtly unadaptable to Eastern life† (176). In venturing forth, one has to hope and dream, uniting a sense of pragmatism that leverages the initial inspiration provoked by the Green Light. This, in a sense, is the Westernized cowboy clarity that not only discerns the Green Light, but never sees it extinguished. At the risk of sounding like promotional material for the spirited innovation of American business magnates and technophiles, the green light may dim or flicker, but it remains the principal glimpsed beacon of American dreamers In post Great War Long Island, we find the same obligatory hope throttling within each of Fitzgerald’s characters. Such romanticized optimism is dangerous in that it can also be found in the post-World War II era of baby booming prosperity, which brought on the Pax Americana trappings of empire, decadence, and constant wealth pursuit that was the seedbed of the counterculture’s reaction to conformity. These parallels aren’t unusual, as The Great Gatsby’s themes are distinctly present throughout certain undulations of American history. The hope Nick’s left with at novel’s end isn’t the peppery certainty that seemingly defined the post-civil war Gilded Age tales of Horatio Alger. Within the fantastical social mobility and grandiose dreams of Alger’s world is a commodified unreality. Nick has found the shallow and reactive chimera of Gatsby’s world bankrupt, and in the aftermath, he surveys America and experiences empathy. â€Å"I couldn’t forgive him or like him, but I saw that what he had done was, to him, entirely justified. It was all very careless and confused. They were careless people, Tom and Daisy – they smashed things up and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness, or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made† (179). One finds the roles of American financiers and the cultural and governmental endorsements that brought the world to financial ruin four years ago. .u0c80eaa927cc35a62ebcdb5a86628302 , .u0c80eaa927cc35a62ebcdb5a86628302 .postImageUrl , .u0c80eaa927cc35a62ebcdb5a86628302 .centered-text-area { min-height: 80px; position: relative; } .u0c80eaa927cc35a62ebcdb5a86628302 , .u0c80eaa927cc35a62ebcdb5a86628302:hover , .u0c80eaa927cc35a62ebcdb5a86628302:visited , .u0c80eaa927cc35a62ebcdb5a86628302:active { border:0!important; } .u0c80eaa927cc35a62ebcdb5a86628302 .clearfix:after { content: ""; display: table; clear: both; } .u0c80eaa927cc35a62ebcdb5a86628302 { display: block; transition: background-color 250ms; webkit-transition: background-color 250ms; width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #95A5A6; } .u0c80eaa927cc35a62ebcdb5a86628302:active , .u0c80eaa927cc35a62ebcdb5a86628302:hover { opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #2C3E50; } .u0c80eaa927cc35a62ebcdb5a86628302 .centered-text-area { width: 100%; position: relative ; } .u0c80eaa927cc35a62ebcdb5a86628302 .ctaText { border-bottom: 0 solid #fff; color: #2980B9; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; margin: 0; padding: 0; text-decoration: underline; } .u0c80eaa927cc35a62ebcdb5a86628302 .postTitle { color: #FFFFFF; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 600; margin: 0; padding: 0; width: 100%; } .u0c80eaa927cc35a62ebcdb5a86628302 .ctaButton { background-color: #7F8C8D!important; color: #2980B9; border: none; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: none; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 26px; moz-border-radius: 3px; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; text-shadow: none; width: 80px; min-height: 80px; background: url(https://artscolumbia.org/wp-content/plugins/intelly-related-posts/assets/images/simple-arrow.png)no-repeat; position: absolute; right: 0; top: 0; } .u0c80eaa927cc35a62ebcdb5a86628302:hover .ctaButton { background-color: #34495E!important; } .u0c80eaa927cc35a62ebcdb5a86628302 .centered-text { display: table; height: 80px; padding-left : 18px; top: 0; } .u0c80eaa927cc35a62ebcdb5a86628302 .u0c80eaa927cc35a62ebcdb5a86628302-content { display: table-cell; margin: 0; padding: 0; padding-right: 108px; position: relative; vertical-align: middle; width: 100%; } .u0c80eaa927cc35a62ebcdb5a86628302:after { content: ""; display: block; clear: both; } READ: Economic Reasons For American Independence EssayAnd yet despite such calamity, the green light embodies a human relation to memory and history, the limits within an individual and without. These limits are best embodied by Gatsby’s death and its relation to doomed business ventures (a cautionary tale? ), not to mention Daisy’s disappearance. The Green Light shines to Nick from its distant vantage, providing a meaningful meditation on life and death that only came as a result of the novel’s journey. At the risk of producing New Age brochure fodder, there’s a distinct futility within the ceaseless craving and striving that defines not just Americans like Gatsby, Nick, and Daisy, but humans everywhere. But especially Americans, in that the environment encourages an incessant drive to reach and realize an idyllic elsewhere of plenty, constancy, and prosperous, envious security that Fitzgerald understood and may have succumbed to. As for the rest of us humble and voracious Americans, the Green Light is a reminder that we can always compensate for past deprivations with the glow of our forgiving futures. Works Cited Declaration of Independence. Ushistory. org. Ed. Thomas Kindig. Independence Hall Association, N. D. Web. 29 June 2012 http;//www. ushisory. org/declaration/document/ Fitzgerald, Scott. The Great Gatsby. New York: Scribner, 1925. Print American Exceptionalism. Wikipedia Foundation. 7 June 2012. 29 June 2012. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/american_exceptionalism.

Free Essays on Cowboys

â€Å"Should have been A Cowboy†, a popular kit country song of the mid 90’s, broke out on the charts making people think back on their lifestyles. But in fact, do people view cowboys as the hero who has no trouble or worry, or the real cowboy lifestyle as rugged and dirty, struggling to survive. Cowboys were mounted herders hired by cattle owners in the United States to look after their livestock. Cowboys kept the cattle together, guided them to pasture, prevented their being mixed with other cattle, protected them from thieves, branded them, and drove them to shipping points. The long trips across the west seem to people today as a long horse ride with occasional campfires and beautiful scenery. This is the image I have always had about cowboys, but boy was I wrong. Between stampedes and Indians a cowboy had hardly enough time to enjoy the scenery. Nights were cold and lonesome. They were dirty and mean which seemed to be the key to their survival. Cowboys were faces with many hardships such as thievesfe tended to develop rough-and-ready virtues, as well as extraordinary skill in horsemanship and marksmanship. These qualities have acquired an almost legendary character in numerous tales and songs, making the cowboy a symbol of a hero in the United States and abroad.... Free Essays on Cowboys Free Essays on Cowboys â€Å"Should have been A Cowboy†, a popular kit country song of the mid 90’s, broke out on the charts making people think back on their lifestyles. But in fact, do people view cowboys as the hero who has no trouble or worry, or the real cowboy lifestyle as rugged and dirty, struggling to survive. Cowboys were mounted herders hired by cattle owners in the United States to look after their livestock. Cowboys kept the cattle together, guided them to pasture, prevented their being mixed with other cattle, protected them from thieves, branded them, and drove them to shipping points. The long trips across the west seem to people today as a long horse ride with occasional campfires and beautiful scenery. This is the image I have always had about cowboys, but boy was I wrong. Between stampedes and Indians a cowboy had hardly enough time to enjoy the scenery. Nights were cold and lonesome. They were dirty and mean which seemed to be the key to their survival. Cowboys were faces with many hardships such as thievesfe tended to develop rough-and-ready virtues, as well as extraordinary skill in horsemanship and marksmanship. These qualities have acquired an almost legendary character in numerous tales and songs, making the cowboy a symbol of a hero in the United States and abroad....