Religion Field Project Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Religion Field Project - Essay Example As I approached him, he was happy to share his knowledge with me. Firstly, he said about his family. He came to the U.S a year ago for studies. He belonged to an agricultural family in Jalandhar district of Punjab, a Northern state of India. His whole family follows Sikh religion. There were certainly interesting features in the appearance of my interviewee. Firstly, he had a turban covering his head and a bangle. From his communication, I also realized that he is a pure vegetarian. From the communication with him, I realized that Sikhism is one of the youngest religions in the world, with an age of fewer than seven hundred years. Also, I learned that this religion is a minority in India as the religion is mainly confined to the states of Punjab and Haryana and certain parts of present-day Pakistan. My first attempt was to learn the history of this religion. Jagjeet Singh pointed out that Sikhism had its birth in the state of Punjab in the 15th century. In order to do the further stu dy about the religion, I visited the website Sikhs.org. I learned from the website that Sikhism was founded by Guru Nanak Dev who was born in 1469 at Talwandi. This place is presently in Pakistan. Guru Nanak Dev exhibited very deep inspiration in the case of religion and he started questioning the various social establishments of that time. (Sikhism, Sikhs.org). The main intention of the interview was to identify the fundamental principles in which Sikh people believe. I asked Jagjeet to briefly describe the basic principles of Sikhism. He pointed out that Sikhism does not claim the presence of a different God. Instead, it claims that God is one and that all humans are equal. To check the feasibility of this claim, I searched various sources. I learned that Guru Nanak Dev, along with his companion Mardana-a Muslim minstrel, wandered the area urging for improvement in the existing social situations. They spread three basic principles; ‘Naam Japna’, ‘Vand Chakkoâ₠¬â„¢, and ‘Kirat Karo’. ‘Naam Japna’ means to remember God through meditation and ‘Vand Chakko’ means promoting selfless service and being ready to share one’s income with others. Similarly, ‘Kirat Karo’ indicates working hard and honestly to earn a good living. After Guru Nanak, there were a number of Gurus. The first one among them was Guru Angad Dev. He was followed by Guru Amardas, Guru Ramdas, Guru Arjun Dev, Guru Hargobind, Guru Har Rai, Guru Harkrishan, Guru Tegh Bahadur, and Guru Gobind Singh. The basic principles of Sikh faith are contained in the book ‘Guru Granth Sahib’ compiled by the 5th Guru Guru Arjun Dev. The highest religious place of Sikhs is located at Amritsar in Punjab. The temple is called ‘Harmandar Sahib’ or ‘Golden Temple’. The temple was constructed in the first half of seventeenth century by Guru Arjun Dev. More information regarding the origin and culture of the Sikhs can be found in the BBC Religions website (Origins of Sikhism). Jagjeet Singh revealed the fact that due to misconceptions, people who belong to this religion often come under attack for their unique dress codes. In fact, the special codes of conduct for Sikhs are set by their 5th Guru. There are five essential attributes a true Sikh should wear. The first one is Kesh (hair), followed by a hairbrush known as Kangha, Kada (iron bangle), Kirpan (sword), and Katch (cotton loincloth). As a result of this special dress code as suggested by the 5th Guru.

Case Study on Financial Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Case Study on Financial Management - Essay Example The aim of diversification is to reduce the extreme ups and downs in returns and rather to create a consistent return under different economic and market conditions (McGowan, Collier and Young 1992). There are many different asset classes that are available to an investor when making an investment decision. Depending on the return the investor is looking at, the time horizons that the investor is expecting to reap the benefits in and also the level of risk the investor is willing to accept, he or she can invest in a varying combinations and thus achieve diversification of his or her portfolio. Some of the asset classes that are available to us today are money market funds, bonds funds and equity funds. Money market funds are short-term debt instruments that are very liquid and can be converted to cash easily. Treasury bills and commercial paper fall into this category. The risk of loss is lower and pay higher yields than deposit accounts. Bond funds on the other hand pay a regular income, have a longer maturity period and the actual income can fluctuate during economic upturns and downturns since it is for a longer period of time than the money market funds, however they are rel atively safer than equity funds. Equity funds yield much higher returns than both money market and bonds funds however they can be very volatile in the short term and cause havoc in a portfolio. Therefore it is advisable to invest in them for long-term gain rather than short term gain. Diversification can be further classified into geographic, industry and style diversification as well. By this it is meant that we can diversify our portfolios by equity, bonds and money market funds from different regions and countries - which is known as geographic diversification. Sector or industry diversification is investing in equity and bonds from different industries instead of sticking to one particular industry. Style diversification is investing in a portfolio that has instruments that have short term and long term yields or under valued and over valued stocks or all (Adair, Berry and McGreal 1994). The Addendum gives a detailed description of the different diversification strategies that can be used by an individual when combining two classes of assets and gives an indicative calculation of how risk and rewards are leveraged under each strategy by just changing the weight given to the different

Video games rivalry Essay Example for Free

Video games rivalry Essay Introduction The video games industry faces an entirely new rivalry situation. After 11 years of leadership, Sony has nearly lost its strong positions on the market, which gives the other two players – Microsoft and Nintendo the chance to compete for the leadership. While the goal of Nintendo is to stay in the industry, Sony and Microsoft aim to strengthen their positions on the home entertainment market, which is constantly growing. The key factors, the companies need to consider in order to gain a competitive advantage, are good marketing and well developed distribution, as well as providing a huge range of games with recognizable characters. As the market segmentation increases, it is of crucial importance to put an emphasis upon the new target groups and reqruit as many new players as possible. However, there are also a lot of factors outside and inside the industry, which play a major role and have to be considered in order to become a better idea of the state of the industry, and to estimate its profitability and tendency of growing. Summary of macro-environmental analysis Stricter legislation both advantageous and disadvantageous for the video games industry is expected. As governments become more concerned about the increasing violence among teenagers the control of video games content is strengthened. On the other hand the laws against piracy aim to reduce the number of the illegaly copied games. With the rise of the prices of everyday goods, petrol, etc. , while salaries don’t go up as fast, the disposal income declines and for many entertainment becomes a luxury good. People are not willing to spend as much on it as they used to. However, as the average age of the video games players goes up, there are more players with own incomes, who are able to buy more games. The industry is expexted to grow due to the fact that, as surveys of the NPD Group show, kids spend more time playing and the hardcore gamers spend an avegare of 45 hours per week playing video games. On the other hand the growth prospecst are dampened by the increasing concerns of the parents about their children being too inactive and spending more time playing video games than playing sports or taking part in other activities. However, there is also a tendency of video games being increasingly regarded as an entertainment for the whole family. The future growth of the industry is theratened by the declining birthrates. Teenagers are the main consumer and less teenagers in the future means less games sold. This effect is compensated by the fact that the avarage age of the video games players goes up. Video games reach a broader audience and more adults and even elderly people start playing. The technological progress is beneficial for the growth of the industry as the the producers are able to constantly improve the quality of the games and include new features and functions to the consoles. However, this causes higher costs and also the time needed to develop a new game grows. The growing awareness of environmental issues has also an impact on the video games industry. The implementation of eco-friendly technologies and the constant growth of energy prices cause an increase in the cost for manufacturing of the consoles and the DVDs. Overall, the video games industry is expected to grow faster than average industry growth rates, particlularly due to the socio-cultural trends and the constant technological progress. Summary of industry analysis Due to a range of factors, which make it difficult for a new company to take part in the video games industry, the threat of new entrants is low. First of all, the industry is characterized by huge ecomonies of scale, as the producers need to sell great numbers of games in order to make a profit. Second, the capital requirements are very high because of the increasing costs of games development and consoles manufacturing. It is also costly for the customers to switch to a new producer, because this would mean they have to buy a new console. Suppliers pose a medium level of threat. The main reason is the crucial importance, which their input has for the final product. Also the costs for the input are high relatively to the total purchase. However, the concentration of the suppliers is relative low as they are many video games publisher but just three producers of consoles. Threat of forward integration exists as well, due to the fact that some of the big publishers of video games have the ressources to try to enter the industry. Although there are some substitues for video games and the differentiation is fairly low, buyers don’t have a lot of bargaining power. Their concentration relative to the industry is low and they have to face high costs if they want to switch to one of the substitutes (buy a computer for example). To have the newest console or play the latest games is considered to be a sign of â€Å"coolness† at school, so strong incentives for buying exist. The power of substitutes is considered to be low to medium. The biggest threat comes from computer games. Due to the fact that almost every family possesses at least one computer, computer games are a cheaper alternative to video games as one doesn’t have to buy the console. However, the lack of multiplayer function impairs their perfomance, especially when video games are regarded as a family or group activity. The switching costs are high as well and the buyer propensity to switch is fairly low, particularly for buyers, who are addicted to playing video games. The video games industry is charaterized by medium rivalry, which is getting more intense lately. The industry grows slowly as they are three establishes players, that compete among each other and every one of them try to outsell the others and become the market leader. The rivalry is enchanced by the low level of product differentiation and the high fix costs of the manufacturing of the consoles. However, the rivalry is reduced by two major factors: the switching costs for the buyers are high and there is a lack of understanding of the technological differencies of the consoles, because of their complexity. As a result of the stage of these five forces in video games industry, the industry is considered to show a relatively high level of profitability. Interconnections and interrelationships between the two analyses There are several interconnections between the macro-environmental analyse and the industry analyse that can be found. Mostly the macro-environmental trends have an impact on the forces, which determine the profitability of the industry. Sticter regulation of the video games content limits the scope of games a new company can present to the market while trying to enter the industry and make this more difficult for them. The increasing licensing fees for the exclusive rights to intellectual property of media companies or sport organisations are addtitional obstracles for entering the industry as they enhance the capital requirements. Economical factors such as decreasing disposalble income have also an impact. People start searching for cheaper substitutes so the power of substitutes for video games grows. The bargaining power of buyer becomes higher as well, as buyers condition their purchases on the price-performance ratio of the product. As the number of video games players goes up, the demand for a larger library of games rises. This leads to an increase in the power of suppliers due to the fact that the producers need them to develop more new games and develop them faster. With the rapid advance of new technologies it is to be expexted that new substitutes for video games will be introduced to the market for enertainment in the near future. Thus, the power of substitutes will rise, as well as the bargaining power of buyers. The growing rivalry in the video games industry prompts the companies to improve their products, sell them cheaper and expand their target group. As a result video games become amore attractive kind of entertainment for a broader audience. Recommendations With the competition in the video games industry getting more intense, the next steps of the players become of crucial importance for their positioning on the market. Due to the low product differentiation, the next market leader will be the platform provider that manages to offer much more different gaming experience. Furthermore the extra features of the consoles have to be further developed, as the producers aim to establish the consoles as the central tool for any kind of home entertainment, not just for video games playing. Important issue regarding the extra features is the fact that many of the users are not aware of them, so more information and communication with the customers is required. The companies have to learn by the mistakes of the past and try to avoid making them again. It is of significant importance to develop a much larger library of games before the introduction of the next console, as this was proved to be a major factor for success in the past. Another factor that needs to be considered is a better control of the games and their distribution, as well as perfectly realised marketing campaigns. As the video games audience becomes broader, the companies should make an effort to reqruit new players from the new target groups: females and older people, by creating a greater range of games, directed towards the interests of these players, and more intensive advertising. The new image of the video games as family entertainment has to be extended as well. The possible entrance in the industry of some of the big games publisher creates opportunities for establishing of alliances. An alliance between one of the platform providers and a major publisher will give them a very strong position on the market and a sustainable competitive advantage. Thus, they will have the best chances to become the new leader of the industry.

Impact of mass communications and mass media within modern culture

Impact of mass communications and mass media within modern culture The culture is very diverse. It is quite evident that due to the dramatic development of mass communications and mass media the modern culture impacts on many national cultures around the world. Every society is a legacy of the institutes. These institutes are kind of a collection of habits and customs. Without culture, the real freedom is impossible. Many researchers are certain that modern challenges require a resolute approach to the problems, and that chief problems appear in the area of culture and their solution is in the development of culture. All nations that are cultured in a traditional sense have their folklore, their own cultural identity elaborated by many generations. Thor Hansen claimed: Culture is something that evolves out of the simple, enduring elements of everyday life; elements most truthfully expressed in the folk arts and crafts of a nation. We make history; but we are also made by our history. Individuals and societies constantly move in history and use it as a reservoir of experience, allegiance and ideals that craft identities and outlooks. The patina of history ages the present. But more important: when today is steeped in a vision of the past it becomes a means to envision and shapes a trajectory into the future. History is never a dead letter, even if we fail to learn its lessons, or refuse anything except reliving its mistakes. (Sardar, 2002, p.11) Tradition, heritage, modernism all contested terms. But no less contested are the very words art and history, the one leading away from, the other towards, a time-based judgement of the ethical outcomes of creative practice. But it is precisely when the terms are held in dialectical conflict that they function together to produce illuminations not just of the past, not just of the present, but of the processes of change in which we all humanity now alive must take our places. (Sardar, 2002, p.14) The aim of the present work is to found such phenomena as modernism, postmodernism and contemporary art as cultural reference points. In connection with this aim, the following tasks can be set: to look at the history of these movements; to relate the art movements under concern with social developments. Cultural situation of the end of XIX first half of XX centuries developed under the sign of modernism. Fauvism, impressionism, cubism, futurism, abstractionism, Dadaism, surrealism are not nearly the full list of modernistic art movements. Modern (fr. Moderne means newest, modern, Art Nouveau, Jugendstil) European and American art style of the end of XIX early XX centuries. Modernism is variously argued to be a period, style, genre or combination of the above; but it is first of all word, one that exists, alongside cognate words. Its stem, modern-, is a term that, from the latin modo, means current, and so has a far wider currency and range of meanings than modernism. (Childs, 2008, p. 12-13) The new style spread all over Europe and first influenced architecture and decorative art. Modern representatives used new technical and structural facilities, open-plans, unique architectural decor in order to create extraordinary, deeply individualized buildings. Plastic and fluent lines, floral patterns are typical for modern. Modern architecture,  new architectural style that emerged in many Western countries in the decade after World War I. It was based on the rational use of modern materials, the  principles  of functionalist planning, and the rejection of historical precedent and ornament. This style has been generally designated as modern, although the labels International style,  Neue Sachlichkeit,  and functionalism have also been used. (Answers.com) Speaking about modern in the broad sense the term avant-gardism may also be used. In other words the art movements mentioned above can be named either modernist or avant-garde ones. Avant-Garde the term was first applied to artists in the nineteenth century to indicate those whose work seemed to be at the forefront of new developments in art as opposed to artists who hitched their artistic fortunes to Academic conformity and as such its linguistic fortunes have paralleled Modernism (although theorists such as Peter Burger prefer to see the two as separate). Some critics have argued that with the demise of Modernism and the inception of Post Modernism, avant-gardes too have disappeared. (Investigating Modern Art, 1996, p. 173) Considering the above mentioned material we can state that avant-gardism is connected with the retreat of culture from realism and declaration of art independence from reality. Creation of new and unique style and language in art. Let us go into particulars of art movements of modernism. Impressionists were against conventionalities of classicism, romanticism and academism, they insisted on the beauty of day-to-day life, simple democratic motives, strove for true-to-life honesty of picture, tried to catch the impression got from what an eye sees at the particular moment. The landscape is considered the most typical theme of impressionists. (Britt, 1990, p. 11) Cubism signified total rupture of connection with real image of the nature, which had been predominating in European painting since Renaissance. The aim of Picasso and Braque was to construct three-dimension form on the plane, its partitioning into geometric elements. Both painters were inclined to simple tangible forms, uncomplicated themes, what was especially typical of early cubism. (Britt, 1990, p. 159-161) Dadaists didnt develop their own original style. They lurched from one extreme to another, tried by any means (including provocative behavior) to shock self-complacent middlebrow. Cross-cutting, collage and ready-made (ordinary items presented as a work of art) were favorite Dadaism genres. Dadaism became popular very fast (especially in New York, where Marcel Duchamp was its leader), but the formed movement existed for a small period of time only. (Britt, 1990, p.203-210) It influenced much to other movements, in particular to surrealism (in its devotion to absurd and fantastic), abstract expressionism and conceptual art. Freuds theory of the unconscious and his method of free associations as a way to pass from consciousness to the unconscious are the source of Surrealism. However, the forms of these ideas expression were quite different among surrealists. For instance, Dali drew his illogical paintings, resembling nightmares, with religious exactitude, likelihood enhancing impression of hallucination or delusion. Mark Ernst, in his turn, worked out his paintings nearly automatically, turned off his mentality, preferring arbitrary characters, which often transferred into abstraction. Though Joan Miro is distinguished from other surrealistic painters by variety and cheerfulness of paintings. (Britt, 1990, p. 226-245) If we aggregate all historic facts and description of modernism in art, it is possible to assert that the feature of this movement is harmonious combination of very different things, and it constitutes its attractiveness and uniqueness. The age of modernism needed painters with universal talents. Postmodernism literally means something after modernism, or the contemporary times. The genealogy of the term postmodernism dates back to 1917. It was first used by the German philosopher Rudolf Pannwitz in his work Crisis of European Culture. He was talking about a new person, called to overcome the decline. It was just a paraphrase of the Nietzsches idea of a superman. (Cahoone, 2003, p.2) If we disregard further uses of the term, the next stage, leading directly to modern disputes, was a literary discussion of the sixties in the USA. (Ward, 1997, p. 8-9) Initially, postmodernism denoted the crisis of avant-garde literature in it. However, later the term acquired a positive meaning denoting hopes to overcome the crisis, in particular, the gap between elite and mass culture. This term is used more and more often to characterize innovations in literature and art, and also transformations in the social and economic, technological and social and political sphere. (Ward, 1997, p. 4-7) Postmodernism receives the status of a notion in 80s first of all thanks to the works of Lyotard who spread the discussion of postmodernism to the sphere of philosophy. (Ward, 1997, p. 169-170) In the culture of postmodernism there is a trend called neo-expressionism. This is a trend in the art of certain artists in the USA and Europe, especially Germany, which appeared at the end of 1970s. The artists turned again to the expressive means of Expressionism, every time creating a very individual style, often charged with aggression and nervous twist. (Heartney, 2001, p. 13-18) In the postmodernism epoch there were such interesting terms as postmodernist feminism. From the mid 80s, the increasing number of feminists who studied the implications of postmodernism for the benefit of feminism discussed the problem of their common foundation and even described their own theories as postmodernist ones. According to Linda Nicholson, if feminism continues this movement towards a more historical, non-universal, non-essentialist theory, the one that acknowledges differences between women, then feminism will become postmodernism in its essence. However, this movement also means that feminism should reject universal statements concerning the gender, patriarchate and concerning women or a woman. For many feminists it means rejecting too much. (Heartney, 2001, p. 51-54) In the seventies, new trends appeared in the architecture. There is even an exact date July 15, 1972. On this day a block of new comfortable houses was blown up in the city of Saint Louis. (Introducing Postmodernism, 2004, p. 115) I think that postmodernism serves as assimilation of the experience of artistic avant-garde. However, unlike avant-garde, postmodernism fully erases the border between formerly independent spheres of spiritual culture and levels of consciousness between scientific and ordinary consciousness, high art and kitsch. The postmodernist attitude to culture appears as a result of violating the purity of such a phenomenon as art. Postmodernism consciously moves away from creating original works to collage. And the strategy of postmodernism does not consist in assertion of destruction versus creation.

Sentimental Wedding Speech from the Father of the Bride -- Wedding Toa

Sentimental Wedding Speech from the Father of the Bride This speech uses quotes that are skillfully woven into his more personal message, which is a good way of adding humor and providing the speaker with material that is neither offensive or dull. He also includes several jokes that are popular in wedding speeches, but has given his own twist on them to add originality Ladies and gentlemen, may I start my speech by welcoming the guests. Today, we are surrounded by most of the friends and family that have been important to us during our lives. Some have traveled thousands of miles, just to be here today. We welcome you all and thank you sincerely for sharing this special day with us. As about half of you will know, this is my second father of the bride speech. To misquote Oscar Wilde from 'The Importance of Being Ernest: â€Å"To lose one daughter may be considered unlucky. to lose two is careless!† Well. I guess that's O.K. because my being careless is how they came to be here in the first place. Making the father of the bride speech, I feel a bit like a Sheik walking into his harem for the first time. I know what I've got to do, I just don't know where to start. You will all be pleased to learn that my speech will be every bit as good as last time. In fact, my side of the family will probably remember great chunks of it. Not really, although I am following exactly the same format. This means it will probably start off badly, sag in the middle with long silences, and then trail off into a lot of incoherent rambling. To be honest, I did try to memorize this speech, but forgive me if I resort to my notes every five seconds. I asked for an autocue to be set up in front of me. Apparently, the wedding budget doesn't str... ...qually as long -and I haven't quite finished yet because my next toast is to the bride and groom. That reminds me of the wedding I once went to where the two of the guests were a minister and a priest. When the priest was offered a drink for the toast he said â€Å"I’l1 have a large whisky please." When the minister was offered the same, he said "No thanks. I'd rather go with a scarlet woman than touch the demon alcohol." The priest promptly put his whisky back on the tray and said â€Å"I didn't know there was a choice.† Now I don't want to offend anybody, so if theres a priest or a minister present, I apologize. And if there's a scarlet woman here, I’11 meet you in the bar in ten minutes. Thank you for your indulgence. Without further delay I'l1 ask you to join me in a toast to my beautiful daughter, the bride, and her handsome husband, the groom. The bride and groom.

Human Resources Training :: Human Resources Essays

  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The bottom line for any company is how efficient the workforce is at producing a quality product. Any company which desires to stay ahead of its competition will engage in training and team building efforts for their employees. However, is it really effective? What if the employees do not perceive the training in a positive manner? In their case study, Employee perceptions and their influence on training effectiveness, Amalia Santos and Mark Stuart examine these questions and more.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The basic research question at hand was: Overall, what are the employee’s attitudes and perceptions toward the training they were being asked to obtain? Secondly, are the workers able to take the training which they have received and utilize that knowledge in the workplace?   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Santos and Stuart state that most of the human resource literature seems to point at the fact that training is the most significant factor in obtaining behavioral and cultural change. They cite Keep, E. (1989). 'Corporate training: the vital component?' in New Perspectives on Human Resource Management as showing that training was able to bring about a deeper commitment by workers toward a project as well as bring out certain talents or abilities that may not have been utilized or noticed before(Santos, Stuart, 2003).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The researcher’s; hypothesis was that the evaluation methods would make a difference in matching the type of training to the employee’s needs and that when this was done the employee’s attitude toward the training would be a positive one.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Most of the research participants were employees who worked in the core financial services business. Upper management were included as well as those in the branches, on the line, and the head office. Names were selected randomly from a computer’s system.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  One of the larger variables in this case study was the motivation of the employee himself. One of the larger complaints that Santos and Stuart point out, is that companies are spending large amounts of money on training but have no way to determine whether a certain type of training is being effective or not. The dependent variables were those employees whose interest level was known to be high. These people wanted the training and were highly motivated to attend.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  This case study took place in 1999 for the span of four months in a financial services organization called FinanceCo(Santos, Stuart, 2003). This company had a good reputation for implementing good people management processes and they had the reputation for being quite invested in the idea of ongoing and regular training for all of their employees.

Death of a Salesman & Brother Dear Comparison Essay

Throughout the constant journey of life you are often under pressure. There is pressure to satisfy, pressure you put on yourself and the pressure that other people put on you. Throughout the play Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller and the short story â€Å"Brother Dear† by Bernice Friesen, the characters find themselves facing these pressures on a daily basis. Both plotlines show how people can experience these pressures, for all different reasons, during various times in their life. In Death of a Salesman, Biff, a son of the main character, Willy, is struggling with the pressure to impress his father and satisfy him. Willy is constantly complaining about Biff, saying he is a bum and is not good. One day Biff decides he is going to try to go into business, just like his father, hoping to make Willy happy. He speaks to his mother about this, â€Å"It’s just-you see, Mom, I don’t fit in business. Not that I won’t try. I’ll try, and I’ll make good† (Miller 60). Biff knows that he will not be successful in the business world and that it is not for him, but he is going to try it anyways just so his Dad will be proud of him. The pressure to satisfy his father is so big that Biff is willing to do something he does not want to do just to make him happy. Similarly, in â€Å"Brother Dear† Greg is also under the pressure to satisfy his father. Greg wants to be a member of Green Peace, plant trees, and save the planet, while his father expects him to go to University, like his older brother, and make something of himself. His younger sister Sharlene explains, â€Å"He’s in pre-law at university, but his marks are crap. I think he went into law just because Dennis did and Dad hasn’t stopped sheering† (Friesen 3). Just like Biff, Greg is doing something he is uninterested in just to make his Dad happy and proud. Schneider 2 Coming to the end of Death of a Salesman, Biff finally, after all of the hurt and stress, puts some pressure on himself to confront his father. â€Å"I stole myself out of every good job since high school! † â€Å"And whose fault is that? † â€Å"And I never got anywhere because you blew me so full of hot air I could never stand taking orders from anybody! That’s whose fault it is! † (Miller 131) All of Biff’s pressure makes him blow and tell his father the truth about why he has never been successful. Greg’s father in â€Å"Brother Dear† is constantly putting pressure on Greg to do good in school and make something of himself. However Greg does not want to do what his Dad wants, but what he wants. Eventually, after years of pressure, Greg applies pressure onto himself to tell his father his real plans. He tells his Dad how he got a job planting trees for the summer, so he no longer has to pay his rent anymore. When his father questions how he will make enough money for rent and tuition Greg responds saying, â€Å"I’m not going back to school† (Friesen 4). Just like Biff, Greg makes himself confess and tell his father the truth about his life. Throughout Death of a Salesman, Willy Loman has a huge amount of pressure on him from his family and those around him. He has pressure from his wife to get money to pay bills, pressure from his sons to â€Å"get himself together† and pressure from hid friends to do better. All of this pressure makes Willy act crazy. One day, while he was asking a friend for a loan he states, â€Å"Funny y’know? After all the highways, and the trains, and the appointments, and the years, you end up worth more dead than alive† (Miller 98). Willy is implying the he in under so much pressure, he often wishes he were dead so he could be relieved. Schneider 3 In â€Å"Brother Dear†, Sharlene, Greg’s younger sister, is also feeling the pressure in her family to get an education and be something. Like Greg, she has dreams of her own. â€Å"†¦next year’s grade twelve, then it’s escape to the University of Alberta†¦Like Dad wants. I have dreams of running off to Europe for a couple of years, being a nanny and learning a language or two†¦I’ll tell Dad I’ll do the university thing when I get back. He’ll probably explode anyways† (Friesen 2). Sharlene is torn between following her dreams or doing as Daddy wants. Overall, throughout life you often have pressure put on you. The characters in both Death of a Salesman and â€Å"Brother Dear† are all under the pressure to satisfy, the pressure of themselves and the pressure of others. Whether the pressure be to get a job, go to school or be something, they all experience pressures throughout their journey of life.