All the Glitters R Not Gold free essay sample

All that glitters is not gold Ambanis and Mittals are no Buffetts and Gates. But we can’t blame them for the appalling poverty that prevails in India Now that Durga Puja’s son et lumiere has faded, comment might be permitted on what this annual exercise of expensive competitive showmanship reveals of popular taste. That no doubt explains why no one voices the real charge that should be levelled at the super-rich who should be in the dock not for spending too much but for the waste and crass vulgarity of their spending. Given its Brahmins and Dalits, India has always been a land of contrasts. It has also always epitomized the concentration of wealth. But no one salivated earlier over how rich the rich were, how they acquired their money or how they spent it. Mr Mukesh Ambani’s 400,000 sq ft mansion is a talking point because it’s news in the West and because the public and private domains are no longer separate. We will write a custom essay sample on All the Glitters R Not Gold or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Their overlapping not only exposes the rich to scrutiny but also distracts attention from the Government’s neglected responsibilities. India lags behind many sub-Saharan countries in almost all the indices of modernity not because of the Ambanis, Mittals, Mallyas and Modis, but because our politicians are on the make and our civil servants are on the take. It’s their job to create systems that enable people to raise their standard of living; it’s not the job of those who have either escaped the rigours of the system or learnt how to manipulate it to their advantage. The spotlight is on the rich also because political democracy creates its own fantasies. Universal suffrage fosters the illusion of participative decision-making. The notion of equality before the law is taken seriously. Tub-thumping politicians whip up populist sentiment to pander to the gallery and distract attention from their own misdemeanours and extravagances – marble monuments and statues, for instance. With the media forever on the lookout for titillating titbits, it’s news when Mr Ambani buys a Rs 642-crore luxury jet for his wife’s birthday. The information revolution places a premium on immediacy. The past is another country. Those who gloat over the number of Indians in the Forbes list of billionaires forget that time was when India occupied the Number One global slot. Few asked how His Exalted Highness the Nizam of Hyderabad and Berar, reckoned the world’s richest man, had accumulated his wealth or questioned how he spent it. Something called social consciousness and responsibility provides the phoney justification for inquisitiveness. The logic is that extremes of wealth and riches are intolerable and that the rich owe a debt to the poor. Conspicuous consumption is condemned for the same apparent reason. But whatever lofty moral arguments might be invoked, the underlying reason for condemning lavish spending is fear: the rich must for their own sake take care not to provoke the envy and enmity of the poor who are always the majority. The French and Russian Revolutions are history’s warnings against unbridled and careless extravagance. These are Western notions and, significantly, much of the knowledge about even our own rich that excites India’s media comes from the West. A society in which the caste system is firmly entrenched does not recoil in horror when an import ban is temporarily suspended to benefit one polyester tycoon. But the Western media thought the manipulation outrageous and reported it. Western society has evolved notions of social consciousness and responsibility. Western Governments have achieved an egalitarian ethic and devised a social welfare net. In the fifties, the Western media went to town on what it considered immoral spending like the jewel-studded 18-carat gold faucets on Sir Bernard Docker’s 860-ton yacht. Now the stories are about similarly ostentatious Indians, and India’s media picks them up. That is how Indians know that the most expensive home in Britain is the ? 117- million Kensington townhouse that Mr Lakshmi Mittal (who spent ? 34 million on his daughter’s five-day wedding junket at the Palace of Versailles built by France’s King Louis XIV) bought for his son. Another tycoon, Mr Bhupendra Kumar Modi, paid nearly ? 10 million for one of Singapore’s most expensive penthouse flats in Marina Bay. Mr Vijay Mallya, who spent ? 1. million last year on buying five relics of Mahatma Gandhi, reputedly has 26 residences around the world and is planning a new home in Bangalore that will soar to 30 storeys against Mr Ambani’s 27. Such details tell us a great deal about the quality of India’s wealthy. Not for them the example of the 38 US billionaires who pledged at least 50 per cent of their wealth to charity through a campaign started by Mr Warren Buffett and Mr Bill Gates. Not for them the candour of the oil investor, Mr T Boone Picken, who famously said, â€Å"I like making money more, but giving it away is a close second. Wealth may not generate wit or wisdom in India but that doesn’t mean the wealthy can be blamed for Mumbai’s slums or our shameful public services. The most we can accuse them of is not investing enough in schools, vocational training, hospitals and recreational facilities. Instead, many prefer to store their wealth abroad. Some salt it away in concealed accounts. Mr Ratan Tata prefers to acquire automobile and steel corporations in Britain, South Africa and Singapore, and has reportedly donated $50 million to Harvard. The solution does not lie in redistributing the wealth already created but in encouraging others to generate more while the Government also spends more on amenities like potable water, sanitation, housing and hygiene, and effective free and compulsory primary education throughout the country. India’s self-image is that of a superpower but a country does not become one only because a few people are filthy rich. It’s equally facile to argue that India isn’t a superpower because 800 million Indians survive on around Rs 70 a day. The British working class lived in abysmal squalor when Britannia ruled the waves. The solution lies in unleashing the collective creativity of the Indian people. Deng Xiaoping’s remedy was to â€Å"let some people get rich first and then when they get rich, they will move the whole society and the rest will follow. † It became China’s slogan. Perhaps it will work in India too but if it does, it will also mean garish glitter down the line. Taking the totality of Indian society, the Ambanis, Mittals, Mallyas and Modis are only more of the same. Source : Internet (by Sunanda K Datta-Ray (columist))

Free Essays on Michelangelo The Optimistic Artist

Artist Michelangelo was pessimistic in his poetry and an optimist in his artwork. Michelangelo’s artwork consisted of paintings and sculptures that showed humanity in it’s natural state. Michelangelo’s poetry was pessimistic in his response to Strazzi even though he was complementing him. Michelangelo’s sculpture brought out his optimism. Michelangelo was optimistic in completing The Tomb of Pope Julius II and persevered through it’s many revisions trying to complete his vision. Sculpture was Michelangelo’s main goal and the love of his life. Since his art portrayed both optimism and pessimism, Michelangelo was in touch with his positive and negative sides, showing that he had a great and stable personality. Michelangelo’s artwork consisted of paintings and sculptures that showed humanity in it’s natural state. Michelangelo Buonarroti was called to Rome in 1505 by Pope Julius II to create for him a monumental tomb. We have no clear sense of what the tomb was to look like, since over the years it went through at least five conceptual revisions. The tomb was to have three levels; the bottom level was to have sculpted figures representing Victory and bond slaves. The second level was to have statues of Moses and Saint Paul as well as symbolic figures of the active and contemplative life- representative of the human striving for, and reception of, knowledge. The third level, it is assumed, was to have an effigy of the deceased pope. The tomb of Pope Julius II was never finished. What was finished of the tomb represents a twenty-year span of frustrating delays and revised schemes. Michelangelo had hardly begun work on the pope’s tomb when Julius commanded him to fresco the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel to complete the work done in the previous century under Sixtus IV. The overall organization consists of four large triangles at the corner; a series of e... Free Essays on Michelangelo The Optimistic Artist Free Essays on Michelangelo The Optimistic Artist Artist Michelangelo was pessimistic in his poetry and an optimist in his artwork. Michelangelo’s artwork consisted of paintings and sculptures that showed humanity in it’s natural state. Michelangelo’s poetry was pessimistic in his response to Strazzi even though he was complementing him. Michelangelo’s sculpture brought out his optimism. Michelangelo was optimistic in completing The Tomb of Pope Julius II and persevered through it’s many revisions trying to complete his vision. Sculpture was Michelangelo’s main goal and the love of his life. Since his art portrayed both optimism and pessimism, Michelangelo was in touch with his positive and negative sides, showing that he had a great and stable personality. Michelangelo’s artwork consisted of paintings and sculptures that showed humanity in it’s natural state. Michelangelo Buonarroti was called to Rome in 1505 by Pope Julius II to create for him a monumental tomb. We have no clear sense of what the tomb was to look like, since over the years it went through at least five conceptual revisions. The tomb was to have three levels; the bottom level was to have sculpted figures representing Victory and bond slaves. The second level was to have statues of Moses and Saint Paul as well as symbolic figures of the active and contemplative life- representative of the human striving for, and reception of, knowledge. The third level, it is assumed, was to have an effigy of the deceased pope. The tomb of Pope Julius II was never finished. What was finished of the tomb represents a twenty-year span of frustrating delays and revised schemes. Michelangelo had hardly begun work on the pope’s tomb when Julius commanded him to fresco the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel to complete the work done in the previous century under Sixtus IV. The overall organization consists of four large triangles at the corner; a series of e...

DQ1_WK5 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

DQ1_WK5 - Essay Example This report provides marketing strategies recommendation for three different products each of which is at a different stage in its life cycle. The first product showcased is Apple’s iPhone. This product is currently introductory or birth stage of its life cycle. The iPhone was the first smart phone with full multimedia capabilities such as internet connectivity that came out in the marketplace. Its touch screen functionality made it very unique. When it was introduced the company took a good first step which was signing as exclusivity contract with A&TT to test the marketplace. A prestigious mobile carrier with 3G infrastructure provided the company with a good partner to introduce the product. The pricing for this product was pretty steep when it came out which limited the demand for the product. The product needs an aggressive marketing campaign in multiple media channels in which the price of the item is deeply discounted to cost $99 or lower. The purpose of this strategy is to penetrate the marketplace and increase market share. Other competitors came out with smart phones which are as good as the iPhone, thus t he luxury price of $500 that apple charged for the product in its inception is no longer viable The second product to be analyzed is Panasonic’s HDTV. The HDTV is currently in the growth phase of its life cycle. Digital televisions sets currently have favorable regulatory market conditions. In February 2009 all the entire television industry is going digital and the analog signal will be gone forever in the United States marketplace (Dtv, 2009). The demand for this product is going to increase. A good marketing strategy for Panasonic is to increase its distribution channels by adding the product to the shelves of more retailers nationwide. The pricing can be lowered a bit to take advantage of the holiday season boost, but there is no need for deep discounting as in the case of the iPhone

Wedding Photography Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Wedding Photography - Essay Example raphers to capture the images that will have meaning for the couple, such as allowing the event to unfold as it does rather than trying to direct it for the ‘perfect’ shot. Finally, it is important to consider the ethics of the situation – are you the first photographer, how do you respond to Uncle Charlie peering over your shoulder and should you digitally enhance images with minor flaws in them in order to provide a more pleasing picture. Examining some of the more important techniques and tips available will help to produce more satisfying results while an understanding of some of the ethics questions involved may help alleviate future problems. As has been mentioned, the wedding photographer must combine more than one role as he or she attempts to capture images of someone’s big day. They must have strong knowledge of portrait photography in terms of lighting and composition. â€Å"Portrait photographers learn lighting ratios such as the normal 3-1 ratio for lighting the face, as well as portrait composition. They then spend time setting up their shots for a desired lighting effect. †¦ They strive to control every aspect of the portrait† (Lee, 2004). This knowledge is often necessary in establishing the group shots of the wedding party and many images of the bride. However, this does not capture the sense of the joyousness of the moment nor does it complete the professional photographer’s duties at a wedding. This is where the photojournalist must come into play. â€Å"The photojournalist on the other hand is ‘quick to draw’ you might say. He or she is able to capture a fleeting mome nt in time. They are on their toes looking for the chance shot† (Lee, 2004). The degree to which a photographer must be a portrait artist or a photojournalist depends greatly on the general trends in society as well as in the wishes and personalities of the couple involved. The more the photographer is able to key in to the mood of the event, the better

Changing Nature Of The Psychological Contract Management Essay

Changing Nature Of The Psychological Contract Management Essay The mutual expectations people have from one another in a relationship of employer employees are commonly referred to as a psychological contract. The content of these contracts can be changed over time and can affect the behavior of the two. The origins of these psychological contracts go beyond thousands of years back. Amidah (1998) was one of the initial writers who used the term psychological contract as the mutual understanding between employees and their employers. The psychological contract between employers and employees related to job security has been facing changes due to the economic down grading. The increasing rates of short term and contractual employment have forced employees to seek self actualization sort of psychological contracts. The changing nature of psychological contracts of generation Y has certain implications on organizations which have always been interested in having workforce committed to the organizational goals and objectives. According to recent literature, psychological contract is an individuals beliefs necessary to perform commitment that may exist between the employee and the organization (Lester, Turnleyet.al. 2002). Individuals perception and expectations from the organization in terms of receiving benefits, wages and opportunities against the services provided to the organization by the employee used to form the foundation of any psychological contract (Lester, Turnley et.al. 2002). The inherent perceptual nature of the psychological contract between employers and employees may have contrasting implication about obligations of the contract (Lester and Kickul, 2001). Nowadays companies are more focused on the achievement of corporate goals and profit margins while noticing stock market prices because of the competitive business environment all around the world (De Meuse, Bergmann et. Al., 2001). This is because of the fact that the world has seen the problem of corporate downsizing, restructuring and mergers since 1980s and 1990s (De Meuse, Bergmann et. al 2001). This current scenario of doing business has absolutely changed the nature of employee and employer contract and the demand of this relationship. In the past, these psychological contracts were of long term where employees were committed with an organization where they continued to learn as well as they got high job ranking but now the psychology of the contract has seen changing nature because of the availability of short term employment with upscale designation for technical and professionals workers (Smithson and Lewis, 2000, Lester and Kickul, 2001). Hiring of high skilled professional(s) for a specific task completion is one of the emerging trends in the business community (Lester and Kickul, 2001) and consequent termination of the staff with the attainment of work objectives. This phenomena has made the modern workplace a source of stress and extra work load and job insecurity and decreased commitment to organizational goals and objectives in return (De Meuse, Bergmann et. al). The need of personal growth, development of transferable skills, networking opportunities and career management for immediate job has been gaining potential among professionals due to the current scenarios of job insecurity (De Meuse, Bergmann et.al., 2001, Lester and Kickul, 2001). The changing environment of employment has considered another driver of the change in nature of psychological contracts of generation Y. The previous employees to employer psychological contracts were relational in nature and their specific features were trust, respect and loyalty between the employee and the employer, but, this new insecure job environment has randomly changed the nature of the psychological contract from relational to transactional nature. This transactional exchange has been defined by De Meuse and Begmann et.al (2001) as an explicit or an implicit promise having the capacity of maintaining information about monetary remuneration available to employee against his services to the organization. This periodical change in nature of the psychological contract was predicted by Rousseau and Parks in a research conducted during 1993 with an explanation of change in the nature of contract from relational to transactional in case of occurrence of any violation of the contract. However, it is important to maintain the equilibrium of trust between the employee and the employer either in relational psychological contract or in transactional psychological contract, but, in the present situation of job insecurity it is hard to have any trust on the employer or employee. Therefore, the lack of job security has brought the concentration of employees to acquire transferable skills and techniques and contracts of transactional type (De Meuse, Bergmann et al). Impacts of the changing nature of the psychological contract of generation Y on organizations With the emergence of new markets, competitors and technologies have been increasingly changing the behavior of organizations towards the hiring of skilled and well trained employees at every level of the organization (Lester and Kickul, 2001). Businesses of today are only selecting skillful employees for short term periods to make their projects accomplished by utilizing the skills and expertise of professionals (Lester and Kickul, 2001). It is because of the use of new technologies in business processes and to get a competitive edge in the market. To achieve this desired level, organizations have to keep track of professionals and motivated and committed workforce to efficiently achieve their goals. It has been studied that the changing nature of psychological contracts is because of the reducing commitment of employees due to job insecurity and enhanced competition faced by todays employers (Bunderson 2001, Lester and Kickul, 2001). However, high level of commitment and satisfaction is enjoyed by employees who have long term psychological contract as per studies conducted during 1998. There are certain measures that should be taken by the organization to retain and motivate their employees even on the presence of economic pressure and new organizational structure (Lester and Kickul, 2001). The level can be achieved by just understanding the elements of psychological contracts as well as the fact that it is an evolving and continually changing contract and organizations have the right of making a choice regarding an employee to get committed and motivated workforce and employment. According to Maslows hierarchy theory, the highest need for humans is self-actualization. Lester and Kickul (2001) states that today  employees are  becoming increasingly aware of the non-monetary rewards which the firms are willing to provide  in exchange for their skills. It entails that employees have now reached at a certain point in time; where theyre able to seek out the self-actualization. Self-esteem or self actualization is the highest need of humans as stated by Maslows hierarchy theory. Employees are increasingly getting awareness of the behavior of organizations of giving non-monetary rewards to employees against the skills of professionals and technical persons (Lester, Kickul, 2001). This is the time when it can be suggested that employees are gradually heeding towards the state of self actualization. Stalker (2000) stated that successful companies of the day are keeping balance between the needs of the employee and the needs of the organization. To achieve this, companies are needed to maintain a balance between their efforts and time investment. Managers are responsible to achieve this balance while keeping the workforce committed and motivated (Lester, Turnleyet, al., 2002). It is a fact that nowadays job insecurity has made psychological contracts a dynamic and evolving one and can be handled by the organization by just understanding the causes of changes and timely changes in the contract according to the needs and demand of the sources (Lester and Kickul, 2001). Lester and Kickul (2001) shows that a  proactive approach to the psychological contracts can reduce employees intentions to leave since their needs can be fulfilled by the organization. The other step that can be an effective support to minimize the gap of the psychological contract is communication. Better and timely communication between the contracting bodies can reduce the conflict and can reduce the gap of psychological contracts (Lester and Kickul, 2001). Open book management techniques are an effective communication tool between the organization and employees and help in the formation of an effective communication frameworkfor the organizations. Successful organizations are required to startworking on the psychological contract before the hiring of the employee. The organizations publications, interview processes, contract negotiation and orientation processes are some of the ways that can help organizations to make better changes in the psychological contract and keep it up to date (Niehoff and Paul 2001). Organizations literature and publications create the first impression of all the values espoused by the employers.  The interview process then helps in establishing the image of the organization for potential employees (Niehoff, Paul, 2001), while promoting expectations  ranging from the tangibles  such as pay and benefits,  to the intangibles such as  treatment of employees or degree of empowerment etc (Niehoff, Paul, 2001). As suggested by Niehoff and Paul (2001), by  providing Realistic Job Previews like Cisco Systems  (Lester and Kickul, 2001), candidates can be given a realistic and clear view of the actual expectations of the work hours, duties and performance levels  (Niehoff and Paul, 2001).  The negotiation process (after an offer is made to a candidate)  provides a further  opportunity to clarify the specific details regarding the expectations of both parties  (Niehoff, Paul, 2001). Finally, the orientation program gives an opportunity to re-enforce the psychological contract which has been formed. Once all of these are in line with each other and also in line with the companys expectations, the company can form a contract that is expected to be clearly understood by both parties and has less chances of being breached. Conclusion Changed psychological contract is the demand of the modern economic environment. It is the demand of both the organization and employees. The psychological contracts of generation Y are more transactional and related to self actualization. This change in the nature of the contract has been considered by the management of an organization and employees with the increasing demand of giving more time and effort in the formation of the psychological contract acceptable to the organization and employees. As it has been seen that psychological contracts are formed on the basis of trust, but it can be strengthened by the two following factors: Internal factors External factors Internal factors can be the individuals perception that can be the outcome of his or her cultural behavior, but external factors include situations that how organizations are shaping their policies in the interest of employees and how much they are acknowledging the perceived obligations according to the formal contract of employment with those professionals or skilled technicians. These measures can be used to determine the commitment of employees to the organizational goals and objectives and any violations can lead to the job satisfaction depletions actions. However, the choice to be in the employment contract can be up to individual employee. The long lasting employer to employee relationship can only be possible if there is a strong build up credibility between employer and employee. This credibility can give the contract more and more reliance and can be effective to build up a long lasting relationship. Psychological contract will remain strong till the time they remain in fa vor of the employees orientation towards life and can be the source of strong commitment of individuals to be or not to be part of an organization. But with the change and any amendments in organizational structure, strategy and the job role, the individual can shift to new works and job roles and this new work role can be the source of better return on relationship (ROR) than on return on investment (ROI). Strong and reliable psychological contract can provide the organization with a healthy and fruitful relationship between the employee and employer that would be helpful in the sustainability of the organization. Whatsoever it can be better concluded in a way that the changing nature of the psychological contract of generation Y is only the result of changing nature of job environment and increasing insecurity to jobs, therefore, employees have transformed their interest from signing relational contract to transactional contract. This transformation of contract nature has caused t he organization to bear the loss of committed and loyal workforce for a long period of time on one hand while getting the benefit of having highly skilled professionals for the completion of their project within a short period of time.

Identify Two Reports on Serious Failures to Protect Individuals from Abuse Essay

Abuse can happen anywhere anytime, but especially to vulnerable people, ie Children, elderly people, people with disabilities, people with learning difficulties. It can even happen in places people should be safe, ie hospitals, residential/ nursing homes, schools, daycare/ nurseries, centres etc. I researched two cases reported for abuse. The Winterbourne case which was nationally reported, and a local abuse case of Orme house in Lowestoft. The Winterbourne case was more physical and emotional abuse and the Orme house case was more neglect and poor living conditions. The Winterbourne case was reported nationally because it was such a disgusting mistreatment of vulnerable people, 11 members of staff were caught on cctv after visitors and patients complained about mistreatments. The evidence that was captured showed physical abuse such as, slapping, poking eyes, pulling hair, even as unbelievable as trapping them under chairs, and soaking residents in freezing cold water. It also showed emotional and verbal abuse in the form of name calling. This was an inhumane and diabolic mistreatment of vulnerable individuals unable to defend themselves. Winterbourne appears to have made dicisions based on profits and returns, over and above dicisions about the effective and humane delivery of assessments and treatments. Where were the staff who should have been reporting these crimes to management , if management was not listening then they should have been reported to the authorities and organisations, such as social services and cqc that is what they are there for. The staff who didn`t abuse patients but didn`t report the incidents are just as abusive and responsible , as they were employed to help with patients welfcare, in turning a blind eye they failed to put the best interest of the patient first. The Orme house case was locally reported due to neglect, residents were sleeping on dirty, infested mattresses and eating take aways provided due to lack of food on the premises. Poor health and safety, and health and hygiene conditions were due to untrained/poorly trained staff and working under staffed. Residents were taken to other residential homes in the area and Orme house was closed down. In both cases there does not appear to have been a governing staff body taking a stand and putting a stop to these behaviours, and no-one reported anything to the governing body CQC (care quality commision) or social services until sygnificant harm had already come to the residents of both these care homes. If these homes had a governing member of staff to ensure all care standards are met, where was their accountability. CQC are the governing body for all health and social care settings, they set out care standards and legislations and requirements that are to be met in each setting. These requirements and standards are normally brought into place by using company policies and procedures, to protect all parties they may vary slightly, but all have to comply with the standards set out in legislations. There are a number of agencies that work together to ensure staff are vetted. The government commisioned the bichard inquiry (2002) and it looked at the way recruitment was carried out, the inquiry led to the safegaurding vulnerable groups act 2006 and the vetting and barring schemes. Which are run by the independant safegaurding authority (ISA) they work with the criminal records bureau(CRB) and protection of vulnerable adults/children (POVA/POCA) lists 99 to access anyone who wants to work with vulnerable groups. There is also the health and safety act 1974 and a number of health and environmental laws that should of been adhered to under the health and social care act 2008, every employer and employee has a duty of care to ensure a safe working and living environment for all staff and residents to which in these cases staff at both care homes failed.

Feminism & Postcolonialism in Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre Essay

As a representative work of a female author who was well ahead of her times, Jane Eyre can safely be regarded as the magnum opus of Charlotte Bronte. A literary career that spanned for a meager six years, it was really incredible as to how Charlotte Bronte could excel so much as a novelist so as to be able to pen down the account of a lonely and principled woman who has since been looked up as the very epitome of womanhood, let alone the politic of feminism. Moreover, elements of postcolonialism and their influence on individual behavior can also be traced in the polarized character sketching of Jane Eyre and Bertha Mason. In contemporary literature, gender and postcolonial discourses do not seem to rest solely on any stereotypical convention of characterization. Instead, such approaches tend to de-categorize women according to their individual identity. In other words, a female character in today’s literature would rather have patchy dispositions, as opposed to having lofty and focused ideals. What makes Jane Eyre a true critique of postcolonial and feminist literature is its assimilation of the contradictory traits of womanhood – good and bad, elegance and vileness, civility and impudence – within a single narrative framework. In the light of this observation, this paper attempts to justify Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre as a fictional illustration of feminism and postcolonialism. To substantiate the thesis, the paper will look into chapters 26 and 27 – a transitory phase in the storyline of Jane Eyre. Most of Charlotte Bronte’s novels, including Shirley (1849) and Villette (1853), deal with a vivid picture of colonial Europe and document how social conventions are shaped and redressed by colonial aggressions. At the end of chapter 26 of Jane Eyre, Mr. Rochester asks Jane to accompany him to France – a place not colonized by Great Britain. This shows how the concepts of meta-colonization were imbued in the author’s mind while writing the novel. What it also brings out is how the male protagonists of Bronte, while most of whom have a sardonic and bipolar attitude to romantic relationships, invariably prefer women having a distinct colonial background in order to rule out the possibility of a foreign intrusion into their hardnosed Victorian veils. Meyer points out that there is a fusion of postcolonial societal doctrines and racial synthesis in the way Bronte treats her women characters in Emma (1853) and Jane Eyre. This hints at a dichotomy of social prejudices regarding how a common European would respond to the color of human skin on one hand, and how it would be treated as a benchmark for social permissibility. The paradigm of postcolonialism is embedded at the heart of the novel when Mrs. Reed grows an aversion to little Jane on the ground of her ethnic background, alien to the former’s own (249). Meyer further discusses the literary tropes Bronte uses in Jane Eyre to signify race relations prevalent in contemporary English societies. Bronte, according to Meyer, uses the concept of blackness in a figurative way to connect the actual history of British colonization with racial â€Å"otherness†. This psychological practice of attributing â€Å"otherness† to was a result of a colonizer’s preoccupation with Whiteness. There is a paradigmatic shift from literature to life, however, in the way Bronte pinpoints the presence of both class and race discrimination in the British society. She does this to unmask the patriarchal impositions that were central to the overall aura of dominance practiced by the British over their colonies. The politics of feminism in Jane Eyre is quite complex in nature, simply because a number of related factors are interwoven in the plot. Quoting Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, Meyer argues that Jane Eyre and Bertha Mason represent two distinct leagues of feminism. While Jane is a sober and progressive woman capable of bettering her situation on her own accord, Bertha Mason is a compulsive character, almost an obstacle character, lying beyond the scope of self-improvement or redemption. Bertha Mason is a representative of the aboriginal race, precariously positioned between human and bestial instincts. In dealing with the development of a meaningful character, Bertha Mason is deliberately stripped of the very qualities that are bestowed to Jane Eyre. Consequently, Jane grows to be the epitome of womanhood with all her feminine virtues (250). But Meyer does not take Spivak’s argument at face value. She further questions the validity of the claim that Spivak makes about the correlation between feminism and imperialism in Jane Eyre. If imperialism can be cited as a tentative offshoot of postcolonialism, it would be easier to substantiate the thesis. From imperialistic perspectives, Bertha Mason qualifies as a colonial woman who is supposed to have an individualistic entity of her own. But then again she is also portrayed as a native woman, which seems to obfuscate the earlier attribution to imperialism. Going by Meyer’s argument, it is clear that traits of both imperialism and postcolonialism cannot coexist within a single character, and if it does, one must remain dormant for the other to thrive (250-1). Hence, it is logically better to link patriarchy with colonial dominance, as both have their origins rooted in the nineteenth century British high-bloodedness that had historically been proved to be discriminating on gender issues. Rositsa Kronast examines Bronte’s introduction of the â€Å"female colonial Other† in the context of a male dominated regime. Citing Jane Eyre as her principle reference, along with Jean Rhys’ Wide Sargasso Sea, Kronast shows how the tables can turn with changes in power and hierarchy. It may be noted, however, that this change may or may not come from internal agents. As is the case with Jane Eyre and Bertha Mason, the change is imposed by the Victorian norms that were outright puritanical. Consequently, Jane, despite being a woman of substance, is pitted against seemingly insolvable situations especially when her love affair with Mr. Rochester comes under serious threat from Bertha Mason. While Jane is drained of her power, Bertha Mason steps in as an empowered woman, capable of inflicting great damage at a public level. The reversal of fortune is only possible because the Victorian times in colonial England allowed for total submission of women before male whims. The Victorian concept of womanhood that Jane embodies is based on relative compatibility with men. Women were seen to be playing second fiddles to their gender counterparts in a number of roles – from mother to wife (3). What is interesting to note from Kronast’s argument is that if Jane is the Other woman, she is at once powerless and empowered. This brings us to the same logical fallacy that has been mentioned earlier in the paper – two contradictory traits cannot control a character’s life in any way. So to put matters in the right context, it is reasonable to infer that the Creole woman portrayed by Bertha Mason must give in to the author’s intention of representing the colonized face of womanhood, in order to accommodate for a lofty and ideal feminine role for the individualistic Jane (Staines 42). In essence, reading into the feministic and postcolonial components in Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre brings out the difference between what is intrinsically feminine and what is not. It is basically a novel based on modern concepts of feminism. Jane’s personality exudes a rich ardor of feminine grace and beauty. Postcolonialism, on the other hand, is only introduced for putting the concept of feminism into perspective. Therefore, Jane and Bertha continue to hold their respective positions of significance, with the latter playing the role of a borderline character. Works Cited Kronast, Rositsa. The Creole Woman and the Problem of Agency in Charlotte Bronte’s â€Å"Jane Eyre† and Jean Rhys’s â€Å"Wide Sargasso Sea†. Munich: GRIN Verlag, 2010. Meyer, Susan L. â€Å"Colonialism and the Figurative Strategy of Jane Eyre. † Victorian Studies. Bloomington, Indiana: Indiana University Press, 1990. Staines, David. Margaret Laurence: critical reflections. Ottawa, Ontario: University of Ottawa Press, 2001.