How I Learned to Drive Summary of Play by Paula Vogel

In How I Learned to Drive, a woman nicknamed Lil Bit recalls memories of emotional manipulation and sexual molestation, all of which are tied together with driving lessons. When Uncle Peck volunteers to teach his niece how to drive, he uses the private time as an opportunity to take advantage of the girl. Much of the story is told in reverse, starting with the protagonist in her teen years and echoing back to the first occurrence of molestation (when she is only eleven years old). The Good As the chair of Yales Playwriting Department, Paula Vogel hopes that each of her students will embrace originality. In an interview on YouTube, Vogel seeks playwrights who are fearless and want to experiment, who want to make sure that they never write the same play twice. She leads by example; Vogels work lives up to the same expectations. Compare How I Learned to Drive with her AIDS tragicomedy The Baltimore Waltz, and youll understand how her plot-lines and style vary from one play to the next. Some of the many strengths of How I Learned to Drive  include: Humor and wit steer the play away from over-bearing life lessons.A mock-Greek chorus allows for a multitude of interesting characters.Its never boring: the non-linear style jumps from one year to the next. The Not-So-Good Because the play strives not to preach in the style of an ABC After School Special, theres a sense of (intentional) moral ambiguity spread throughout the play. Near the end of this drama, Lil Bit wonders aloud, Who did it to you, Uncle Peck? How old were you? Were you eleven? The implication is that the child molester was himself a victim, and while that may be a common thread among real-life predators, it doesnt explain the level of sympathy that is offered to a creep like Peck. Check out the end of her monologue when Lil Bit compares her Uncle to the Flying Dutchman: And I see Uncle Peck in my mind, in his Chevy 56, a spirit driving up and down the back roads of Carolina - looking for a young girl who, of her own free will, will love him. Release him. The details mentioned above are all psychologically realistic elements, all of which make for great discussion in the classroom or the theater lobby. However, there is a scene in the middle of the play, a lengthy monologue delivered by Uncle Peck, which depicts him fishing with a young boy and luring him into a tree house to take advantage of the poor kid. Basically, Uncle Peck is a pathetic, repulsive serial-molester with a coating of nice guy/car enthusiast. The character Lil Bit is not his only victim, a fact to be mindful of if the reader leans towards pity for the antagonist. The Playwrights Goals According to a PBS interview, playwright Paula Vogel felt dissatisfied looking at the movie-of-the-week approach, and decided to create How I Learned to Drive as an homage to Nabokovs Lolita, focusing on the female perspective instead of the male point-of-view. The result is a play that depicts a pedophile as a very flawed, yet very human character. The audience may be disgusted by his actions, but Vogel, in the same interview, feels that its a mistake to demonize the people who hurt us, and thats how I wanted to approach the play. The result is a drama that combines humor, pathos, psychology and raw emotions. Is Uncle Peck Really a Slime Ball? Yes. He definitely is. However, he is not as invidious or as violent as the antagonists from movies such as The Lovely Bones or Joyce Carol Oatss story, Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been? In each of those narratives, the villains are predatory, seeking to victimize and then eliminate the victim. In contrast, Uncle Peck actually hopes to develop a normal long-term romantic relationship with his niece. During several incidents throughout the play, Peck continues to tell her I wont do anything until you want me to. These intimate albeit disturbing moments generate feelings of trust and control within Lil Bit, when in truth her uncle is instilling a cycle of abnormal, self-destructive behavior that will affect the protagonist well into adulthood. During the scenes in which Lil Bit discusses her present-day life as an adult woman, she indicates that she has become dependent on alcohol, and on at least one occasion she has seduced a teenage boy, perhaps to have the same sort of control and influence her uncle once possessed over her. Uncle Peck is not the only loathsome character in the play. Lil Bits family members, including her mother, are oblivious to the warning signs of a sexual predator. The grandfather is openly misogynistic. Worst of all, Uncle Pecks wife (Lil Bits aunt) knows of her husbands incestuous relationship, but she does nothing to stop him. You have probably heard of the phrase, It takes a village to raise a child. Well, in the case of How I Learned to Drive, it takes a village to destroy a childs innocence.

Online Shopping Effectiveness and Convenience - 3130 Words

ONLINE SHOPPING: IT’S EFFECTIVENESS AND CONVINIENCE THE PROBLEM AND ITS BACKGROUND Online shopping or online retailing is a form of electronic commerce which allows consumers to directly buy goods or services from a seller over the Internet using a web browser. Alternative names are: e-web-store, e-shop, e-store, Internet shop, web-shop, web-store, online store, and virtual store. An online shop evokes the physical analogy of buying products or services at a bricks-and-mortar retailer or shopping center; the process is called business-to-consumer (B2C) online shopping. In the case where a business buys from another business, the process is called business-to-business (B2B) online shopping. The largest of these online retailing†¦show more content†¦Online stores are becoming a real threat to the traditional retail stores. Some people visit traditional stores to get an idea about some products and go back to their computers to order the product online. Online shops have become successful not without reason. Below are few reasons why online shopping increased day by day retaining the popularity and is ever growing. Convenience is an unbeatable advantage the online shops have over traditional shops. A shopper does not need to brave the traffic and pollution to reach a shop. Moreover there is no guarantee of finding the right product in just one shop. While shopping online, multiple stores can be reached by a click and even comparisons between different products are available at the finger tips. There are many online stores which stock not just local products but even national and international products. A product which is a specialty of another state can be easily ordered from the shop online. It is quite simple to search around for bargains and deals online. It is true traditional shops also offer deals and discounts. But the problem is in finding the right product in the right shop. Online coupons also impact the rates available in online shops. The online auction sites are also a good place to find products at cheap rates. Finding used products are much simple online. Many people post their products for resale in sites which specialize in such products and the transaction is through theseShow MoreRelatedStrategic Management and Planning788 Words   |  4 Pagesinternationally if the internet is not always available* 6. Can BN expand its product offerings beyond diamond and jewelry* 7. Is BN â€Å"stuck in the Middle† APA 3-5 pages at least 4 references Blue Nile, Inc. is considered the world’s largest online retailer of diamonds. Founded in Nineteen-ninety nine, the Blue Nile offers gold, platinum, pearl and silver jewelry. The company’s headquarters is located in Seattle, Washington and operates in over twenty five countries, with products offeredRead MoreCh.13 Qvc Strategic Management775 Words   |  4 PagesQVC QVC is for quality, value and convenience; this is the vision that Joseph Segel had in 1986 when he started the company and it continues to be the cornerstone of the firm’s operations. These three simple words communicates to all stakeholders the firm‘s values, aspirations and goals. QVC is dedicated to giving customers more: more choices, more brands, more entertaining programming, and more great values. QVC’s vision is quality, value and convenience for all customers. The mission isRead MoreEffectiveness of Online Shopping2292 Words   |  10 Pagesthe world shop online. Many online shopping websites over the internet spread like virus that broaden peoples’ choice in terms of products ranging from clothes, shoes, jewelry, electronics, and even gadgets. People are very much likely to shop online rather than going to the malls because the items available in online are very much accessible. According to Limcaoco (2000), Filipinos experience themselves the convenience and accessibility of online shopping. That’s why online shopping has become anRead MoreAnalysis Of Showrooming At Best Buy, Details The Struggles Of Brick And Mortar Companies Competing With Online Retailers Essay1245 Words   |  5 PagesShowrooming at Best Buy, details the struggles of brick and mortar companies competing with online retailers. Best Buy, a major retailer of electronic goods, decide s to permanently price match their online competitors. Using references from the 11th edition of business essentials, this paper will determine the pros and cons of permanent price matching, and how other companies are dealing with the increase in online shopping. The issue of showrooming will be addressed, along with an explanation of how companiesRead MoreDescription Of A Fitting Room1379 Words   |  6 Pages Vision Fitting Room will grow to be an internationally accessible shopping website. To enable us to expand globally we will need to maximize our relationships with our customers and brands we affiliate ourselves with. We want to provide attentive customer service and tailor our services to their needs so that we earn their loyalty and repeated business. Being reliable and having the best customer service will also be very important for our business’s reputation. Mission The mission of FittingRead MoreWhy Are Print Advertising Obsolete? Essay1290 Words   |  6 Pagesmassive impact on the field of advertising. In other words, the companies choose the Internet to advertise products to customers as oppose to print advertising. Furthermore, there is an increasing in tendency to read news, search information, and go shopping on the Internet. People can search Google to get the products’ information faster than a newspaper. Social media is also attracting more people to go on the Internet. Therefore, print advertising is obsolete because it is not only ineffective forRead MoreOnline Commerce As A Multi Billion Dollar Industry1290 Words   |  6 PagesOnline commerce was introduced to consumers in the mid-1990’s, and in the years since, it has grown exponentially. It started out virtually nonexistent and has become a multi-billion dollar industry. Nearly every retail sector has entered online commerce; clothing, electronics, home, health an d grooming items, even food and groceries are starting to gain traction online. Online commerce sites rival traditional brick and mortar stores such as Walmart and Target, as well as other big-box stores. AsRead MoreOnline Advertising As An Advertising Medium Essay1398 Words   |  6 Pagesinformation technology has enhanced the importance of online advertising. The importance of the Internet as an advertising medium has generated a lot of attention in recent years. With the growth of internet usage from few years, increase the trend of shopping online (James et al, 2016). Nowadays, many companies are more concerning about how to attract customers to increase their revenue and become a leader in competitive market. So they move towards online advertisements as many people spend more time forRead MoreSummary: Delivering Customer Value Based on Service Proces: the Example of Tesco.Com1449 Words   |  6 Pagesand preserve previous customers. Tesco, founded by Jack Cohen in 1929, is a UK-based global supermarket chain, popular for its â€Å"Everyday low prices strategy†. It is the first company to introduce grocery online shopping through its website Tesco.com from the notion that customer would prefer online purchasing from the store they usually go to in person. Two central conceptions that are at the very heart of marketing and delivering customer value are service quality and satisfaction (Spreng and MackoyRead MoreEnvironmental Scan Paper1497 Words   |  6 Pagesbreakfast sandwich. Starbucks uses a strategy referred to as â€Å"four-fold†. (Forbes.com, 2014) The first part of their strategy includes focusing on the upper scale of the coffee market and providing their customers with a quality product versus convenience. The second fold of their strategy refers to execution by focuses on their original product and expanding how the product is offered. The stores of today offer seating as you would find in your own living room with fire places and free internet

Data Protection Act free essay sample

Victory Training and Development Institute Kingdom of Bahrain Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development Written Handout (Word Count: 668) Assignment submitted in part fulfillment of the requirement for the (3RAI) Core Unit – (3RAI)- Foundation Level Prepared By| Ahmed Malek| Programme Title| Recording, Analyzing, and Using HR Information| Assignment Title| 3RAI| CIPD Membership No. | | Personal Tutor| | Submission| 1st Attempt| Date of Submission| 9th May-2013| â€Å"I declare that this assignment is the result of my own work† Data collection of employees benefits HR department to comply with legal requirements. For example visas, legal employee contracts and Insurances. 2. Reminders and Alerts. In Software package reminder and alerts can be use for various reason for example performance, Probation periods, visa expiration and Birthdays. At least two types of data that is collected within the organization and how each supports HR or Lamp;D practices| 1. DATA FOR SECURITY AND SAFETY CCTV cameras are installed in an organization for the purpose of safety and ecurity of the staff. A description of at least two methods of storing records and the benefits of each| 1. PAYROLL SYSTEM Payroll system storage helps HR or Lamp;D department to view history of salary and bonuses of employees and can be beneficial in time of increment. 2. TRAINING AND COURSES TRACK RECORDS Track records of an employees training, courses and awards, helps HR to evaluate employee history of performance and progress. HR can take decision on behalf of the records to promote or demote staff, Further coordinate with line managers to prepare progress reports and submit to HR department upon which decision can be made for compensation, awards and promotion. A statement of at least two essential items of UK legislation relating to the recording, storage and accessibility of HR or Lamp;D data| Page-2 1. FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT 2000 UK According to (Freedom of Information act 2000 – UK) Provides public or residence of the country to access information of the public authorities like government department, local authorities, the NHS, state schools and police forces. When public sector that is mentioned above issue any kind of new rules and regulations in the country that should be published in the newspapers for public information. This Act helps HR to be updated with latest Legislations of the country which in future benefits them in various way for example ministry of Labor works, economic department work, which is authorized to renew company Trade License. 2. DATA PROTECTION ACT 1998 -UK According to Martin, Whiting, Jackson (1998) stated that according to Data Protection Act (1998) UK any record of an individual person, can be view only for law full purposes, if viewing is for personal amusement so it will be consider as violation against the data protection act. Data Protection Act gives individuals a certain rights to protect there data which is held by some one either its government sectors or private, one should have legitimate reason to collect data, to protect individual it is important that in the organization individual should have excess to there data and to be aware of the changes and update. Data will be control by data controller, which means an individual person who will be assigned to control data in complete circumstances; data can be protected by two ways in soft copies and hard copies. Both have advantages and disadvantages, advantage of the soft copy is that it is easy and quick to Page-3 excess were as disadvantage is that it can be erased if electronic system get corrupted. Hard copy advantage is that it can be use for legal contract purpose were both parties’ signatures require, were as disadvantage is it Require immense space to store.

Forecasting Essay Example For Students

Forecasting Essay In my assignment I will forecast the third and the fourth quarter revenues of Consolidated Edison Company for the year 1996. The company’s main fields are electricity, gas and steam supplying. In the case of every company it is important to forecast the future revenues to be able to calculate the company’s expected profits. That is the situation in this case as well, so I must do my job as perfect as I can. I got the past eleven years data, from which I can analyse the whole situation and which I can use to predict for the future. To make the forecast more accurate I can use the actual quarterly revenues. Quarterly revenues for Consolidated Edison Company($ million), 1985-1995Year March 31. June 30. September 30. December 31. 1985 1441 1209 1526 13211986 1414 1187 1411 11851987 1284 1125 1493 11921988 1327 1102 1469 12131989 1387 1218 1575 13711990 1494 1263 1613 13691991 1479 1330 1720 13441992 1456 1280 1717 14801993 1586 1396 1800 14831994 1697 1392 1822 14611995 1669 1460 1880 15281996 1867 1540 Source:The Value Line Investment Survey (New York: Value Line, 1990, 1993, 1996) p.170. There are several different methods, which can be used by forecasters. For this case I will test the nave, the moving averages, the exponential smoothing, the double moving averages, the deseasonalisation, the linear regression and the exponential regression models. After having conducted the procedures, the forecaster’s task is to evaluate the models. This is not an easy task because there are a lot of measures, based on which the person has to decide. The measure coefficients test the difference between the observed and the forecasted values, which then used for comparison. These measures are as follows:MSE: This is the mean squared error, which sum and square all of the errors and take their average. MAD: This is the mean absolute deviation, which sum the absolute errors and take their averages. MAPE: This is the mean average percentage error, which shows the difference in percentages. As I mentioned, all of these measures test the errors, and when the values of measures are the smallest in a method, that method seems to be the most accurate one. Now, I will conduct the different methods one by one. The first technique is the naive approach. The essence of this approach is that it uses the value of the current period as the forecast for the next period. This model is rarely the best one because it does not take the seasonality and the economic changes into consideration.(Table I)The next method I have conducted is the moving averages. This technique uses several past time periods as the forecast for the next period. I averaged three and four quarters to get the possible best one, but it has turned up that the three quarter one has overestimated, while the four quarter one has underestimated the values a bit. From the graph we can see that the four quarter moving average method does not take the seasonality into consideration, therefor it calculates only average values.(Table 2)After the moving averages procedure I conducted the exponential smoothing method, which uses a weighted average of past time series values to get a smoothed forecast. This model decreases the effects of pa st data and this way creates more accurate forecasts for the future. I used three different weights; the value of 0.2 and the 0.4 and the 0.8. Among them the model weighted by 0.2 was the most accurate one.(Table 3)The double moving average model is an improved variation of the moving averages models. Although a better result was hoped from this technique I must say that the result was worse than the previous ones’. It is seen in the graph that this method is continually overestimating. It can be related to the wrong model building. It would be interesting to test the four quarter one as well.(Table 4)It is said that usually the best procedure is the deseasonalisation technique, because this method splits the components of the time series up into parts and analysed separately. After, the components are rebuilt and the forecast is made.(Table 5)The regression models (linear and exponential) use the built in regression of Excel to forecast the values. The different types are ne eded because the values of data may be fit to a straight line or to an exponential curve. To be able to get the possible best results I must conduct them all.(Table 6,7)Having conducted the different procedures it is time to compare them to each other. .u715fa9b54fb2ef2171c229d7de26bbe2 , .u715fa9b54fb2ef2171c229d7de26bbe2 .postImageUrl , .u715fa9b54fb2ef2171c229d7de26bbe2 .centered-text-area { min-height: 80px; position: relative; } .u715fa9b54fb2ef2171c229d7de26bbe2 , .u715fa9b54fb2ef2171c229d7de26bbe2:hover , .u715fa9b54fb2ef2171c229d7de26bbe2:visited , .u715fa9b54fb2ef2171c229d7de26bbe2:active { border:0!important; } .u715fa9b54fb2ef2171c229d7de26bbe2 .clearfix:after { content: ""; display: table; clear: both; } .u715fa9b54fb2ef2171c229d7de26bbe2 { 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; } .u715fa9b54fb2ef2171c229d7de26bbe2:active , .u715fa9b54fb2ef2171c229d7de26bbe2:hover { opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #2C3E50; } .u715fa9b54fb2ef2171c229d7de26bbe2 .centered-text-area { width: 100%; position: relative ; } .u715fa9b54fb2ef2171c229d7de26bbe2 .ctaText { border-bottom: 0 solid #fff; color: #2980B9; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; margin: 0; padding: 0; text-decoration: underline; } .u715fa9b54fb2ef2171c229d7de26bbe2 .postTitle { color: #FFFFFF; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 600; margin: 0; padding: 0; width: 100%; } .u715fa9b54fb2ef2171c229d7de26bbe2 .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; } .u715fa9b54fb2ef2171c229d7de26bbe2:hover .ctaButton { background-color: #34495E!important; } .u715fa9b54fb2ef2171c229d7de26bbe2 .centered-text { display: table; height: 80px; padding-left : 18px; top: 0; } .u715fa9b54fb2ef2171c229d7de26bbe2 .u715fa9b54fb2ef2171c229d7de26bbe2-content { display: table-cell; margin: 0; padding: 0; padding-right: 108px; position: relative; vertical-align: middle; width: 100%; } .u715fa9b54fb2ef2171c229d7de26bbe2:after { content: ""; display: block; clear: both; } READ: Direct Taxes Enquiry Committee Report EssayMSE MAD MAPENaive forecast 1 period ahead 74644.33 254.56 17.45%Moving Average 3quarter 37631.92 168.74 11.51%Moving Average 4quarter 24499.71 136.20 9.23%Exponential Smoothing a=0.2 29485.20 146.25 9.98%Exponential Smoothing a=0.4 33731.96 160.62 10.97%Exponential Smoothing a=0.8 54578.95 213.13 14.59%Deseasonalisation 7010.50 62.04 4.43%Double Moving Average 3quarter 71216.02 232.20 15.89%Linear Regression 23354.74 134.48 9.33%Exponential Regression 23343.68 132.57 9.12%From the table it is clearly seen that the values of error terms are the smallest for the deseasonalisation model in all of the three measures of accuracy. In Gr aph 2 it is seen that the forecasted values closely fit to the past data. This indicates that I have to forecast with this method to be the most effective. The deseasonalization model operates with splitting the time series into components, which are the trend, the cyclical, the seasonal and the irregular component. In time series the trend component is the long-term component that represents the growth or decline in the series over a period of time. In the case of the Consolidated Edison Company, this trend effect is a continuous growth, which has started since 1985. This trend effect can be related to the changes in the economy- inflation and the continuously growing consumption. The cyclical component is the wavelike fluctuation around the trend. Any regular pattern above or below the trend line might be related to the effect of cyclical component. In this case this component strongly affected the year 1985-1987, but after this short period it decreased and has much weaker affect on the revenues. The seasonal component refers to a pattern of change that repeats itself year after year. This seasonal component causes the fluctuation of revenues in the different quarters. These changes can be considered as the effect of weather changes and any other regular changes in a year time. The irregular component is the measure of variability of the time series after the other components after the other components have been removed. This component can determine the unpredictable and unexpected factors, which always causes uncertainty for the forecast. In my case this component is filtered out by the averaging procedure. Since I have already presented the model that I found the best I must complete the original task, the forecast. Based on the computer output the trend values for the third and the fourth quarter are 1779 and 1792. To reach the forecasts I must multiple these trend values by the seasonal components, which are 1.138 and 0.929. Before I tell the result of forecast I want to comment these seasonal indexes. The value of 1.138 means that in each third quarter the revenues are above the trend line by 13.8% on an average. The value of 0.929 means that the revenues in each fourth quarter are 7.1% below the trend line on an average. Finally the reached results are 2024 for the third quarter and 1666 for the fourth period. These values mean that the revenues are expected to be $2.024 billion in the third quarter of 1996, while the revenues in the fourth quarter are expected to be $1.666 billion in 1996. Economics Essays