Emergency Management 670 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Emergency Management 670 - Essay Example However, it is good to know that mitigation and response are two very important aspects of each disaster management plan, due to the fact that they complement and supplement each other (Avery et al., 2008). In this regard, the most important thing to do even while choosing to trade off is by making sure that if one is favored for a specific risk, the other will still be financed even if in only a small portion of the budget for that particular risk. The best way for local government to deal with the situation is by treating each risk individually, and having a budget for each risk. This will allow each risk to be considered in terms of its characteristics and then based on these characteristics; the disaster management team can decide whether it is important for mitigation or response planning. Some risks such as those that are predictable and preventable will be better managed using mitigation planning while those that are less predictable and less preventable will be better managed using response mechanisms. Whether to trade off between response and mitigation should however be considered for each type of risk individually, rather than for the overall risks that face a community (Mueller & Stewart, 2011). This is because each risk is unique and would require a unique risk management method. For the risks that are preventable and predictable, the authorities can choose to use mitigation to manage the risks. On the other hand, for those risks that are not predictable, the best way is to prepare for a comprehensive response. In a nutshell, if each risk of a disaster is considered individually, then it is possible to trade off between mitigation and response for the risk of that disaster. The efficiency of a disaster management plan is dependent on both mitigation planning as well as response planning (Hess & Gotham, 2007). It is therefore not entirely correct to argue that a response plan or a mitigation plan can be ideal for the management of a

What is the future of the modern state What are the challenges to the Essay

What is the future of the modern state What are the challenges to the modern state - Essay Example nomenon of â€Å"multi-level governance† like umbrella governance bodies similar to European Union, is another aspect of change that is happening to the modern nation state (Pierson, 160). A major challenge associated with these changes is the â€Å"loss of control for individual national governments† (Pierson, 161). Yet another challenge is the need of doing negotiations and building consensus to act (Pierson, 155-156). Each modern nation state is presently transforming into homes to many ethnicities and races and hence global migration and the related social issues are emerging as new matter to attend to (Pierson, 163). This is also a potential area where the skill of the state for negotiations, and for interactions with multi-level governance systems, is tested (Pierson, 165). As the political autonomy of the states get merged into economic and other realms that have grown in weight, it is expected that a new form of state is emerging, namely, the â€Å"empire† (qtd. in Pierson, 170). The â€Å"empire† is defined in this context as â€Å"a new economic-industrial- communicative machine† that incorporates into itself, â€Å"the decline of nation state authority, the ubiquity of global capitalism, the importance of networks, new information technologies, and the extension of new forms of governance† (Pierson, 171). Hence, a new future and unforeseen challenges for modern state is emerging every day, every moment, in a complex flux that carries within it, the â€Å"empire† and its infinite expressions (Pierson,

Management Of Innovation Titan Edge History Essay

Management Of Innovation Titan Edge History Essay Innovation is defined as the process by which new products, services, materials and processes are developed and introduced into the market for commercialization. Thus, Innovation is the successful exploitation of new ideas. There are 4Ps of Innovation which are as follows: Product Innovation- Changes in the products/services offered by the company Process Innovation- Changes the way in which the products are created delivered to the customers Position Innovation- Changes the manner in which the product is introduced in the market Paradigm Innovation- Changes the underlying model which changes the way in which the company functions Innovation is very critical for all the businesses in order to grow and survive the fierce competition in the marketplace. Thus companies continuously bring about innovation and introduce a lot of new products and services to gain a competitive advantage over their competitors. The companies do this by investing a lot of money in their RD department. There are companies which have the greatest ideas in the world but that do not make them innovative. A starting point of a breakthrough innovation is not an idea but it is an orbit-shifting challenge. Ideas are certainly important as far as innovation is considered but it is not the starting point of the innovation process. To bring about a breakthrough innovation the most important thing for a company is to get a team in place, enroll team members, create strategies, convince stake holders to invest money and finally to create route in order to reach the destination which did not exist before. Problem Statement: The objective of Titan Watch Industries was to design and make the slimmest water-resistant watch in the world. This was the orbit shifting challenge which Mr. Xerxes Desai, the managing director at that time had put forward to his team in the year 1994. To create the slimmest watch in the world it needed to be just 3.5mm thick which is as thick as the edge of the floppy disc. In order to achieve this objective the Titan team went to the Swiss who are known as the master of watch making in order to get a deep insight and get help in developing the watch. But to their dismay, the Swiss said that it is impossible. The major reason behind this was that a watch could either be ultra-slim or either it could be water-resistant. The Swiss themselves had made an effort in the year 1982 but they had failed to make the worlds slimmest water-resistant watch. Although they were disappointed but the Titan team took on the challenge and said that if the Swiss could not do it than they would do it. It took them four long years to make a breakthrough innovation and do the impossible by challenging almost all the parameters of watch making. Thus, the slimmest water-resistant in the world wad conceptualized, designed and manufactured not in Switzerland or Japan but was done right here in India. Objectives of the study: The main objective of this study was to understand that how the innovation process was carried out and managed by Titan Watch Industries in order to make the slimmest water-resistant watch in world- Titan Edge. The Titan story is a classic example of an Indian company achieving an amazing feat by making a truly global innovative product successfully. Hence, studying its success story becomes all the more important. Thus, I selected the Titan Edge case study as the topic of my seminar paper wherein I could learn the way the innovation process was managed effectively by Titan and which made it a global player in the field of watch making. The Beginning: It all started way back in 1985 when Titan Watch Industries was set up as a joint venture between the Tata Group and Tamil Nadu Industries Development Corporation. It began with French collaboration from where they got the watch movements and the technology used to develop them. The production of watches began in the year 1987. By the year 1992, Titan started to surpass their French collaborators and started to improve their own creations. At this time Xeres Desai gave a call to develop the slimmest water-resistant watch in order to become a global player by proposing an orbit-shifting challenge to his team. Titan felt the need to make this innovation because they realized that just being the marketing leaders wont help but to earn the respect as the best in the world it was necessary to become the technology leader. In 1994 Desai gave the RD team the challenge of developing the slimmest movement in the world which would 1.15mm thin- as thin as a credit card. The current movement developed by Titan was 3.4mm thick and the challenge was to develop 1.15mm which was a challenging task for the team considering the fact that it was just the second movement which would be developed in-house. Desai further raised the challenge by asking the team to put the movement in the case and create a watch out of it. And in India it needed to be water-resistant as Indians do not prefer to buy watches which are not water-resistant. This was an impossible challenge because till date there was no ultra-slim watch which was water-resistant. The Challenges: There were various challenges which Desai had to face during the development of Titan Edge. The greatest challenges were internal as the mindset of deference to the development world is the key reason which prevents breakthrough innovation in a developing country like India. The various challenges faced during the project were as follows: Challenge 1: Enrolling to the cause While making a radical innovation the biggest challenge is to create self-belief within the team members. The engineering challenge would have been impossible to achieve unless the self-belief and enrolment had not happened. When the team returned from Switzerland without any progress the reaction of the people within the organization was that if the Swiss cannot do it than how can we do it and if Swiss cannot do it than no one can do it. Thus it was this mindset of deference to the developed world which was the major challenge which Desai had to tackle. The watch manufacturing has three main departments which are case manufacture, movement manufacture and assembly. In addition to this even RD department had to been enrolled and energized. The usual response the manufacturing department gives to the design department is that you give us the drawings and we will work according to it. If it works, it works and if does not work than we cannot do anything about it. But once the true alignment had happened at Titan people take ownership for their work and in this case the response from the manufacturing department to the design people was that you provide us with the drawings and we will figure a way out and see to it that things work out properly. Thus, this is how the entire team was motivated and energized in order to enroll them into the cause of making the slimmest water-resistant watch in the world. Challenge 2: The Movement Challenge The team at Titan kicked off with the watch movement in the RD department which was headed by Subramanya Bhatt. During that point of time there were no benchmarks available in the world because the movement of that thickness did not exist. It was a big challenge for the team as they had to make the movement of that thickness from scratch since reengineering was not possible. It was an astronomical challenge in front of the team and it needed a paradigm shift to bring down the size of the movement from 3.4mm to 1.15mm thickness. There were many technological challenges right from the manufacturing department, assembly department and the testing department. The biggest challenge was to accommodate the components in the available space and mainly the battery and the step motor. For this they had to miniaturize the size of the components drastically. The problem with the battery was that reducing the size of the battery would reduce the power of the battery considerably and would thus reduce the power backup considerably. Thus its a trade-off between the size and the power of the battery. You can either have an ultra-slim battery or else you can have a battery with a long-life. Its an either/or challenge but innovation is all about the and. In the initial survey all the usual battery suppliers said that it is impossible to make a battery of this size and it cant be done. But then the team conducted an intense secondary research and was able to find a supplier located in USA who was able to make the battery which was 1.05mm thick and had a backup for a considerably longer time. But still this was not enough because for the watch to be water-resistant the back cover needs to be opened as infrequently as possible. Thus, this needed that the battery should have backup of comparatively a longer battery life. The team had to reduce the power consumption of the battery by half in order to double the battery life. The step motor is the heart of the watch and it is the component which consumes the maximum amount of power. Hence, they had to somehow crash the power consumption of the step motor. For this challenge a silicon chip was developed and simultaneously the step motor was worked on to reduce the consumption of power. The net result was that the life of the battery doubled. There were number of innovations made in terms of tooling, equipment and production facilities in order to create the slimmest movement in the world. Thus, finally the movement of 1.15mm thickness was ready and the next challenge was to make a case around it and which needed to be waterproof. Challenge 3: The Case Challenge After the movement was developed Desai brought in B.V. Nagraj who was the head of the product engineering in order to tackle the challenge of making the case. With the working prototypes of the movement the team members decided to go to Switzerland to the famous Watch Fair in Basel, to meet the Swiss who are considered the master of watch making and ask them to make a waterproof case around the movement. In terms of styling, design, reliability and quality everything is with reference to the Swiss in the watch industry. Even the Titan team believed that the Swiss were the ultimate and they would have the solution to their problem. But to their shock the Swiss were actually surprised that an Indian manufacturer had made the movement. When Titan team members asked them to make a casing of 3.5mm thickness many of them told them that they had gone crazy. Many of the manufacturers took the prototype back to their factories but they came back and said that its not possible. Some of the VPs were quite surprised that an Indian company could even think of something of such a high magnitude. Thus, the team had to return back to India without any progress. The challenges were that the casing had to serve three functions simultaneously. The first one was that it needed to be just 3.5mm in thickness. Secondly, it would have to be water-resistant and lastly it should be good looking in design parameters as well. Thus for this breakthrough was required for the case: the top glass, the back cover and the crown which is the winding key on the side of the watch. The usual thickness of the glass is around 1-1.2 mm but for a watch of 3.5mm thickness the glass would have to be around 0.3mm which is 75 per cent reduction in the thickness. The glass should have the same strength as the standard glass and in addition it should be water-resistant as well. The team met Desai and said that Swiss cannot do it. So Desai asked his famous question to the team that What are you going to do about it? How will you overcome the problem? The team members told him that if the Swiss cannot make it than we will make it. Desai was confident that they will be able to make the case in-hose but the rest of the organization was not. It took some time for the organization to believe that it was possible. If the Swiss cant do it, than we will became the rallying cry. The fact that the Swiss could not make it energized them instead of de-energizing them. The design team had to be convinced and inspired in order to make the case which would be 3.5mm thick and the tolerances would be as thick as a single hair. The case had to look aesthetically pleasing as well. Thus a complete paradigm shift was required in order to design the case for the movement. The next stage was manufacturing. Hari Rao was the chief manufacturing officer and he was very passionate about Indian manufacturing skills. When he was told that the Swiss could not make it, he promptly said that we will make it and took it as a challenge. Getting Hari Rao on board was a simple challenge but getting the general managers of the case manufacturing and assembly was a tough task. Rafique Ahmed the GM of the case manufacturing was a practical kind of a person and he would prefer to maximize the productivity rather than trying something new. It was not east to enroll him but when he was told the fact that even Swiss could not do it struck a chord and he agreed to make the case provided that the design team would crack the glass challenge. The problem with the glass was its thickness. No glass existed at 0.3mm which could withstand the rigors of daily wearing. The solution was found with sapphire glass as it was far sturdier and more reliable than the normal glass. It could be made much thinner and still it would not break. The team located a niche sapphire making glass-company called Steatlar in Switzerland which was able to make the glass of required thickness for the case. Challenge 4: Prototype Challenges There were several challenges faced while making the prototype. The biggest challenge was that the metal was thin on all the sides. Fixing the glass so that the watch would be waterproof was another challenge which the team faced. This was because of the thickness of the case between the glass and the watch needed to be in proportion with the thickness of the entire watch in order to make the watch aesthetically good looking. Drilling the hole for the crown was another challenge because the thickness of metal below the hole was just 0.1mm and hence it kept splitting. Finally the team figured out a way to do both the things. At no point of time reengineering was possible because there were no references available. Everything needed to be innovated like new jigs and new tools in order to make the case. Even the strap was a challenge. Making the strap was also a paradigm shift. The strap needed to be thin enough in order to match the thickness of edge. The strap supplier had never made such a thin strap before but today he thanks Titan because he can sell these ultra-slim straps abroad at premium rates. There were several such challenges to be overcome. And one by one they were. Finally the case was ready and it was given for the final assembly. Assembling the entire watch together was another major challenge. The clearances had come down drastically. Initially for other watches the clearances were around 150 microns but for the Edge the clearances came down to 100 microns. The challenges multiplied with a factor of ten as very fine clearance between the hands caused them to clash with each other and this needed to be tackled too. Finally, the watch began to come together. It wasnt easy for the team to handle the fights and arguments which used to come up due to frustration. There were constant fights due to the tolerances. Everyone wanted to increase the tolerance but then they were explained the significance of Titan Edge and they were told that it is not like any other watch. After all the hard times finally the watch was ready. The Titan team manufactured about fifteen to twenty Edge watches in thirteen different shape variations which were then sent to Switzerland for testing. Testing: The prototypes were sent to Chronofiable SA, Switzerland for testing which is a world renowned independent Horological testing Agency. The watches were subjected to various types of testing such as high temperature test, low temperature test, temperature shock tests, bump tests and drop tests etc. all spread over a period of eight weeks. After all the tests were conducted, the Titan Edge was certified as not only reliable but it was also certified as water-resistant up to 30 meters. The watch was also tested internally at Titan and the interesting thing is the manner in which they were tested by Dwarkanath. He was of the opinion that the agencies can check the watch thoroughly but they cannot replicate the real life conditions. He threw the Edge against a wall, and then threw it in the floor at different angles in order to check whether its safe. He chucks it into the swimming pool in order to check whether it is water-resistant or not. Finally he tied the watch to the shock absorbers of his car and made several trips on the terrible roads between Bangalore and Hosur, covering 200 km in all. The Edge passed these tests too. Conclusion

Bryophyte And Pteropyte Life Cycles :: essays research papers

Although Bryophytes and Pterophytes are both plant divisions with a common ancestor, they have little in common. While Bryophytes (mosses) are generally nonvascular and very short in height, Pterophytes (ferns) are vascular plants that usually grow much taller than mosses. While the dominant generation in mosses is the gametophyte, ferns exhibit the sporophyte generation. The details of their alternations of generation vary as well, although both have diploid and haploid stages. Alteration of generations is defined as a life cycle in which there is both a multicellular diploid form, the sporophyte, and a multicellular haploid form, the gametophyte. Meiosis in mosses produces haploid spores. This process occurs in a sporangium, a capsule in fungi and plants in which meiosis takes place and haploid spores develop. After fertilization, the sporophyte zygote grows out of the parent gametophyte. At the end of this stalk is the sporangium. Meiosis occurs and the haploid spores disperse. In ferns, the mature sporophyte (2N) has small spots on the undersides of its leaves. These are clusters of the Pterophyte sporangia, called sori. As in mosses, meiosis occurs in the sporangia, which then release spores, continuing the cycle. Mitosis in Bryophytes begins germination, or growth. It directly follows meiosis. As mitotic division continues, protonemata (1N) are formed. They grow until they are mature gametophytes. In Pterophytes, mitosis occurs directly after fertilization. The zygote divides and grows until it peeks out of the parent gametophyte, then it matures until it can release its own spores. Mosses exhibit the embryophyte condition, which means their gametes develop with protective sheaths of cells. This was an adaptation that allowed plants to become hardier. Mosses have two sexes of gametangia; the male gametangium is called an antheridium, and the female is called an archegonium. Eggs are produced in the archegonium and sperm in the antheridium. In order for fertilization to take place, the sperm must swim through moisture to the archegonium. This is why mosses must live in damp environments to survive- they cannot reproduce without moisture. The zygote develops within the archegonial cavity. Ferns are usually homosporous as well (there is a single type of spore; the gametophyte is bisexual). In ferns, the archegonia and antheridia mature at different times, which means there is cross fertilization between gametophytes and thus more genetic variation. Sperm from the antheridia swim to the archegonia where the zygote develops. Like mosses, ferns also need a moist envir onment for fertilization to occur.

Multimedia Courseware Shell Proposal Essay

A new experimental degree program, the Bachelor of Applied Business Program (BAB), was launched Spring Quarter 1994 by Continuing Education and Extension. BAB is a practitioners’ degree for the working adult student. The emphasis in the program is on learning skills and accessing information to apply to solving practical workplace problems in a rapidly changing business world. The program was developed with substantial involvement of the Inver Hills Community College, the business community in the Twin Cities area, and the University of Minnesota’s Continuing Education and Extension (CEE) unit. This is the first degree program offered by CEE, and—if successful—it will serve as a model for redefining â€Å"outreach† in the urban corridor to fulfill part of the land grant mission of the University of Minnesota. We are currently in the process of developing the course materials and selecting faculty to teach in the program for Fall Quarter 1994. Note that the three distinguishing features of the BAB program include a number of technical features, graphic elements, or applications that could be significantly enhanced by multimedia courseware: †¢ Courses are being designed with substantial involvement of area businesses to give students â€Å"hands on† experience, including leading and participating in group work; skills for managing upward and downward business relationships; storing, accessing, and retrieving information; creating and implementing budgets, operations flowcharts, schedules, and staffing plans. †¢ Learning outcomes will be specified for each course and applications-related competencies will be integrated into courses across the curriculum. These will include emphases on writing, speaking, and visual communication; using technology and information management techniques, engaging in applied problem-solving and critical thinking skills, working in teams, quality in the workplace, ethics, and the dynamics and management of a diverse workforce. †¢ Practicum/project work will also be an important aspect of the BAB curriculum and students will be encouraged to develop and maintain a portfolio of their coursework and practical experiences which can later be used as evidence of the competencies that they have developed. Our business partners stressed that the BAB upper division courses must be applied and skills-oriented, making use of interactive learning modules that model actual workplace situations. Moreover, the courses must integrate both medium and message into a fast-paced, electronically connected, multimedia learning environment that requires that students take the initiative and work on real projects with limited supervision. Project Description Under an earlier MinneMac grant the principal investigator, Elizabeth Michaels, collaborated with Deborah Henderson and Ann Douglas to create WAC (Writing Across the Curriculum), a courseware shell, for delivering instruction in writing, pharmacy, and business courses. This shell has been used extensively in the English Department since 1990, at Grace High School since 1991, and for the past two years, in five Central and Eastern European countries: Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, and Slovakia. The major shortcomings of WAC are its lack of graphics or visual capabilities and its lack of integration with other software packages. However, if we could integrate the basic principles of text delivery that we have already developed in WAC with the capabilities of the PowerMac 7100—specifically with its AV Video, CD-ROM, and color display, we could develop a powerful multimedia component that will teach students how to manage a business â€Å"from their desktops.† Moreover, by linking to other programs, like Microsoft Projectâ„ ¢, Excelâ„ ¢, or Directorâ„ ¢, we can create a multi-functional learning tool that can be used in labs and for distance learning throughout Minnesota. The multimedia courseware shell we propose to develop will provide an innovative and easily updated method of delivering timely, practical, high quality business courses to working adults. The PowerMac 7100 which we are requesting will be used initially by the multimedia courseware development team: Elizabeth Michaels, Principal Investigator (English); Mr. Pat Lingren, Program Director (CEE); and our project consultant, William Rudel (Carlson School of Management). After the courseware has been developed and alpha tested, faculty designing the target courses will be trained in the use of the courseware shell to develop their own multimedia course modules. The project we propose, therefore, is to design an interactive, multimedia courseware shell, initially for four key courses in the curriculum. The BAB MultiMedia Courseware shell (BAB-MMC) will enable us (1) to develop multimedia case studies and (2) to create course materials which will enable students to integrate various project planning, database, spreadsheet, business graphics, and electronic mail packages with textual information in their classes. The BAB-MMC will serve two purposes: as a training tool for innovative and experimental curriculum development for BAB faculty and as a teaching/learning tool for BAB students. The following is a description of the four courses and how we will use the BAB-MMC in each of them. 1. Planning and Implementing at the Business Unit Level (4 cr.) This course focuses on creating and implementing plans such as operations flowcharts, budgets, schedules, and staffing plans at the business unit level. The BAB-MMC will integrate these flowcharts, budgets, schedules, and staffing plans as well as the presentational software for creating written and oral briefings for presenting, monitoring, and revising these plans. It will also contain strategic planning instruction and forecasting techniques. Moreover, the course will make use of multimedia case studies to give students practice in solving real logistics and planning problems. 2. Project Management in Practice (4 cr.) This course has two objectives: (1) to teach students about project management and the various tools and techniques available to the project lead in such areas as scheduling, coordinating, allocating resources, and monitoring project activities; and (2) to provide students with the opportunity to carry out a field project and put the tools of project management into practice. These projects will be carried out in teams whenever possible. The BAB-MMC will integrate into the course a number of the abovementioned project management tools which will then be used by the students in recording and reporting on their field experiences. The students will also communicate electronically with the instructor and regularly post messages to a class bulletin board as a means of communicating progress and requesting help with problems. 3. Accessing and Using Information Effectively (4 cr.) This course begins with a conceptualization of the role of information in business operations including information systems and data management. The BAB-MMC will serve as a tool for developing short case studies and exercises, which include data-based, text-based, oral, written, and multimedia elements. Students will learn to access external information for the firm through library resources, information search services, CD-ROMs, and periodicals and internal information through desktop database systems, e-mail, or computer conferencing. 4. Practicum (4 cr.) Two of the three forms the practicum could take are (1) to develop a business plan for a new venture or (2) to complete a portfolio of projects which demonstrate transferable skills from previous courses or fieldwork. The BAB-MMC will take the current course materials that we have developed for the business plan and convert them into self-study units which will integrate spreadsheet, cash flow analysis, financial analysis, and graphics packages capable of creating organizational charts and other business graphics to enhance and simplify the preparation of a complete business plan and its pro formas. The third form a practicum could take is a supervised project at the student’s workplace or at another location. For this option, the BAB-MMC will set up a course Website where the students report electronically to the instructor and other students. This will minimize the need for site visits and enable one professor to manage and respond to the individual need s of six to eight students who are enrolled in the practicum in any quarter more efficiently. Evaluation The BAB-MMC will be evaluated by the developers conducting user testing on the shell and sample modules and by instructors developing modules for their courses to determine its ease of use and effectiveness as a classroom tool. Students will be asked to evaluate the BAB-MMC as part of their regular course evaluations at the end of each quarter. We will also have two representatives of the Digital Media Center conduct an independent evaluation of the multimedia courseware shell as a teaching/learning tool. Quantitative and qualitative data will be collected.

Measure of Contentment Essay

Down to that moment I had vainly supposed that my creditor had withdrawn or suspended proceedings until I should be quite recovered. I had never dreamed of Joe’s having paid the money; but Joe had paid it, and the receipt was in his name. What remained of me now, but to follow him to the dear old forge, and there to have out my disclosure with him, and my penitent remonstrance with him,† (Page 463) This shows how only Joe can rescue Pip and his identity; Joe represents who Pip should have become. Respect and admiration for Joe is once again won for Pip, as â€Å"I had never dreamed of Joe paying the money; but Joe had paid it, and the receipt was in his name† shows. As a result of this act of Joe’s, Pip continues to reform into someone with a better identity, an example of which is shown in the passage: â€Å"What remained of me now, but to follow him to the dear old forge, and there to have out my disclosure with him, and my penitent remonstrance with him,† as this shows how Pip is willing to be humble toward Joe, and ask for his forgiveness. By seeking after someone else’s pleasure before his own, Pip displays qualities of selflessness, Once Pip has discovered his true identity, he can begin to become someone he is happy and content with, because he cares less about his own problems and so they don’t loom as great and as terrible, and he becomes more content. A further lesson Pip must learn in his struggle to find contentment is to control his fantasies, phobias and delusions. A phobia is something psychological, that you fear and therefore try to shut out. Pip’s phobia that he won’t be able to obtain Estella controls him so much that he subconsciously creates fantasies to counter-act his phobias. A fantasy is when you dream of something irrational, or a surreal delusion of something that is exaggerated to fit your expectations of what you want that thing to be. Pip gets trapped by many fantasies in the novel, which prevent him living in reality and achieving contentment. A major fantasy in the novel is that Estella is meant for him, and that Miss Havisham is his benefactress, and this fantasy drives Pip into becoming a gentleman: â€Å"‘The beautiful young lady at Miss Havisham’s, and she’s more beautiful than anyone ever was, and I admire her dreadfully, and I want to be a gentleman on her account. ‘† (Page 125) This passage is when Pip confides in Biddy why he yearns after being a gentleman, and it shows how Pip has the fantasy that as soon as he is a gentleman, Estella will be his. Later, when he comes into his Great Expectations, he fantasises that Miss Havisham is his benefactress so that he can be fit for Estella, and the fantasy is so strong that he makes himself believe that it is true. A passage that displays this is found on Page 177, when Pip is getting acquainted with Herbert: â€Å"‘And as to the condition which you hold your advancement in life-namely that you are not to inquire or discuss to whom you owe it- you may be very sure that it will never be encroached upon, or even approached by me, or anyone belonging to me. ‘ In truth, he said this with so much delicacy, that I felt the subject done with, even though I should be under his father’s roof for years and years to come. Yet e said it with so much meaning, too, that I felt he as perfectly understood Miss Havisham to be my benefactress, as I understood the fact myself. † This passage shows how Pip has let his fantasy that Miss Havisham is his benefactress delude him, and how he will manipulate things that may not necessarily mean what Pip wants them to mean, to suit him and his fantasies. In order for Pip to progress in life and achieve contentment, he must learn to let go of these fantasies. However, it is apparent that Pip is unable to let go of his fantasies, because he is afraid of what the reality might be. For example, Pip makes himself believe that Miss Havisham is his benefactress and that Estella is intended for him, because if Miss Havisham is not his benefactor, who is, and is Estella still for him? To Pip, the answer to these questions are too daunting to recognize, so he fantasises about the answer that he wants it to be. Therefore, when Pip discovers that in reality, his benefactor is an escaped convict, he is in absolute shock and repulsion. â€Å"The abhorrence in which I held the man, the dread I had of him, the repugnance with which I shrank from him, could not have been exceeded if he had been some terrible beast. † (Page 313) Dickens’s cleverly uses language in this passage by repeating the same thing three times in different ways, as each of the parts of the passage that Pip describes Magwitch with all tell of his hatred and revulsion of him, but the build up of these things adds drama to the scene, emphasising Pip’s shock at the reality instead of his fantasy. Once Pip understands that Magwitch is his benefactor, a reformation begins in Pip, and he becomes a better, happier, more altruistic person. â€Å"Where I might go, what I might do, or when I might return were questions utterly unknown to me; nor did I vex my mind with them, for it was wholly set on Provis’s safety. I only wondered for the passing moment, as I stopped at the door and looked back, under what altered circumstances I should next see those rooms, if ever. † (Page 425) This passage depicts how Pip has controlled his phobia of lower class status, because he is willing to help Magwitch and develops a self-sacrificing love for him, because, as it says in this passage, Pip is willing to give up everything that he has ever consciously wanted, which is being an eligible gentleman, for Magwitch’s (Provis’s) safety. As a result of his self-centred fantasies, phobias and delusions, Pip becomes very selfish and self-concerned whilst he is in London, but when he begins to seek humble forgiveness from Joe and Miss Havisham because his fantasies have been ruined by reality, he becomes less selfish. Selflessness contributes to Pip’s happiness at the end of the novel, which is part of Pip learning to become like Joe, who demonstrates selflessness throughout the novel. When Pip seeks after other’s happiness before his own, he becomes more able to grow and develop into a better person: Giving of self makes you unselfish, which in turn makes you happy as you make others happy. This consequences in you being outward looking because you want to look for more opportunities to help others, creating less focus on your own faults and more contentment and satisfaction with yourself. For example, when Pip saves Miss Havisham from the fire, or lends Herbert money for his business, Pip forgets about his own needs and safety. The injury Pip gets as a result of the fire at Satis House does not prevent Pip from wanting to save Magwitch by helping him escape the law and Compeyson by fleeing the country, instead, he wishes he could do more: â€Å"I felt mortified to be of such little use in the boat,; but there were few better oarsman than my two friends. † (Page 426) This shows how instead of dwelling on his own unfortunate circumstances, and the fact that he felt â€Å"mortified†, Pip thinks in a complimentary manner about his two friends: â€Å"but there were few better oarsman than my two friends. † Pip learning how to become less self-centred and dispel his fantasies and phobias partly leads to the level his contentment at the end of the novel. An additional lesson that Pip must learn before he can achieve some level of contentment, and a fundamental lesson for anyone growing up, is learning to listen and take advice from others. There are many points in the novel where Pip is offered good advice, usually by someone of trust or worth to Pip, and he doesn’t take it. Once Pip learns to take the advice given to him by those superior to him in experience, he can begin to make better and more informed decisions, which consequences in his being happier, more satisfied and more content. The first major turning point in the novel, of Pip desiring to be and becoming a gentleman, could have been avoided if Pip had listened to this advice given to him by Biddy: â€Å"‘Biddy,’ said I, after binding her to secrecy, ‘I want to be a gentleman. ‘ ‘Oh, I wouldn’t, if I were you! ‘ she returned. ‘I don’t think it would answer. ‘ ‘Biddy’, I said with some severity, ‘I have particular reasons for wanting to be a gentleman. ‘ ‘You know best Pip, but don’t you think that you are happier as you are? ‘† (Page 124) This passage shows how Pip thinks that he knows best, as he speaks to Biddy with â€Å"severity† at not being able to understand why he wants to be a gentleman. When Biddy questions Pip, if he is not happier now, it shows that Pip is striving for contentment, although he attempts to find it in the wrong way, as Biddy cleverly picks up on: â€Å"‘Do you want to be a gentleman to spite her, or to gain her over? ‘ Biddy quietly asked, after a pause. ‘I don’t know,’ I moodily answered. ‘Because if it is to spite her,’ Biddy pursued, ‘I should think -but you know best- that might be better and more independently done by caring nothing, for her words. And if it is to gain her over- I should think- but you know best -she is not worth gaining over. ‘† (Page 125) Here, Biddy is offering Pip very good advice; that Estella really isn’t worth it. However, Pip thinks that he â€Å"knows best†, as Biddy says, and continues to follow the prospect of becoming a gentleman for Estella. If Pip had taken Biddy’s advice, he would have been able to achieve contentment in his life quicker than he does as he pursues the life of a gentleman, because he would have learned to forget Estella, become apprenticed to Joe, and lived the life of Joe, who is content with his life. However, once Pip is in London, it is a whole new world to him, one that he struggles to cope with at first because of the spectral difference between London and his â€Å"marsh country† home. As a result of this, Pip needs to be taught how to survive in London and he is now willing to learn and listen to the advice of others, which in turn helps him to achieve a degree of contentment. I believe that this is one of the most important lessons that readers today can get from Great Expectations; that in order to achieve contentment, you need to be able to listen to the advice of those that are older, more experienced and more knowledgeable that you are, because they are more likely to know how to best achieve it. The readers can learn from Pip’s ignorance not to make the same mistakes themselves. Dickens cleverly uses setting throughout the novel to depict different qualities of life, or levels of contentment. The marsh country Pip originates from represents a humble lifestyle, but those that live there, such as Joe and Biddy, and Pip at the beginning of the novel, seem to be more content with their lives than those that live in London, which represents the wealthy, extravagant lifestyle. Dickens uses this irony to show how money and wealth do not necessarily bring contentment, which is a further essential lesson that Pip must learn. Miss Havisham lives in Satis House, which comes from the Latin meaning ‘enough’ or ‘satisfaction’. This is ironic because from the outside, the house represents a life of wealth and grandeur, which people often assume to bring satisfaction, but on the inside, the residents of the house lead a bitter, frozen lifestyle, and Miss Havisham is so unsatisfied with her life that she lives it to wreak revenge on all men. These circumstances are used by Dickens to show how wreaking revenge does not equate to contentment; Pip must learn that if he is to be happy, he must not seek revenge from anyone, even those that have especially offended him. Nobody’s life works out perfectly, and Pip’s is evidently no exception. An example of a situation where Pip would need to learn to ‘forgive and forget’ is when Mrs Joe, his sister dies. On contemplation, Pip reflects: â€Å"Whatever my fortunes might have been, I could scarcely have recalled my sister with much tenderness. But I suppose there is a shock of regret which may exist without much tenderness. Under its influence (and perhaps to make up for the want of the softer feeling) I was seized by a violent indignation against the assailant from whom she had suffered so much; and I felt that on sufficient proof I could have revengefully perused Orlick, or anyone else, to the last extremity. † (Page 272) This passage discloses Pip’s thoughts as he moves from feeling bitter toward his sister: â€Å"I could scarcely recall her with much tenderness†, to seeking revenge upon the person that caused his sister anguish: â€Å"I felt that on sufficient proof I could have revengefully perused Orlick, or anyone else, to the last extremity†. It is a successful piece of writing as Dickens’s uses pairs of effective adjectives such as â€Å"shock of regret† and â€Å"violent indignation†, which creates more impact on the reader and helps them to empathise with the way Pip is feeling. This then results in the reader feeling more of a connection to Pip as he strives to achieve contentment, and so helps them to learn more from the novel. In conclusion, it believe that Dickens’ rite-of-passage novel Great Expectations is successful at presenting useful lessons to it’s readers as to how they themselves can achieve contentment, despite being written in the 19th century. These are portrayed through Pip’s own struggle to achieve contentment, many of the struggles relating to Dickens’ own life, such as the issues like overcoming debt, unrequited love, family problems and poor education. Dickens shows in the novel how these things can be overcome, and contentment and satisfaction achieved, through the realisation of moral values, the dispelling of delusions and fantasies, and learning how to respond to people around you. However, despite this, the most important lesson, that comes through the novel, in learning how to achieve contentment in life is living it. Pip says that he was happy at the forge before he went to London, but he was not content (Page 315). Therefore, this suggests that the novel recommends that the best way to gain contentment is to live your life and learn through the experience of it; otherwise you would feel unsatisfied with your experience of life.