Education and Testing Standards - Wisconsin Essay

Education and Testing Standards - Wisconsin - Essay Example The document provides objectives that teachers are expected to achieve and measured via the scores of their students. However, it does not dictate how these are to be taught. The strategy is left to the teacher to determine and implement. You will find, however, that there are three main points common in all grade levels: training students towards critical thinking, use of technology as aid to learning, and giving the students the confidence to learn, impart what they know, and ask questions and explore to know more. The measure of these standards is where each grade level differs. Reading and Writing for the early years of K-5 put emphasis on understanding the details of the text while later years concentrate on understanding the subtext, understanding the context, and analysing characters via their personal experience. Interstate School Leaders Licensure Consortium (ISLLC) Administrator Standards The CCS is a 13-page administrator standard that clearly defines the responsibilities of administrative officials involved in the education of children. Like CCS, it defines the expectations but does not provide for how these expectations are to be met. The document is pretty straight forward but very helpful for teachers in order to understand the point of view of administrators when they make decision and set direction of a school. There are always some differences between how teachers see things and how administrators will do things because of the very nature of their obligations. In summary, they have seven major concerns: (1) know the teachers’ objectives, how they can develop in their profession, teaching style, and how students see the student, (2) know the students in terms of knowledge, disposition, and performance, (3) nurture a school conducive for learning, (4) nurture a system that will help push the students forward, (5) establish relationship between the families and communities of students, (6) work with integrity, ethics and fairness, and (7) learn and work with a larger political, social, legal, and cultural perspective. Interstate New Teachers Assessment and Support Consortium (INTASC) Teachers Standards The INTASC is a 10-page teachers standard. It sets the minimum requirements of a teacher in terms of knowledge, character, and teaching skill. It does not set objectives on what a teacher must achieve at the end of a school year. It is a requirement on what a teacher should be to be able to effectively teach their courses to students and use the strategies set forth by the CCS. Of the 10 points, four are most likely the hardest to measure or determine: a teacher’s ability to set a collaborative learning environment, the use of both formal and informal assessment strategies, understand how students are different and still be able to come up with a strategy that would nurture all students, and understand how to be of help to the students on an intellectual, social and personal level without invading privacy. How t he Documents Are Similar Never the Details. These documents set the objectives that teachers and administrative personnel must achieve for students to learn what they are expected to possess for college and, eventually, the professional world. To a certain extent, it also provides the strategies that teachers can utilize to achieve the objectives but none of these documents provide specific steps on how to get to the

River in Siddhartha Essay Example for Free

River in Siddhartha Essay Siddhartha many times in the book, and has many meanings. In the first chapter, Siddhartha visits the river to bath and to make holy sacrifices. â€Å"The sun browned his slender shoulders on the river bank, while bathing at the holy ablutions, at the holy sacrifices. †(pg3) When Siddhartha left Govinda behind, Siddhartha meets with the river again, and crossing this river led him to a new beginning. â€Å"During the night he slept among the boats on the river, and early in the morning, before the first customers arrived in the shop, he had his beard shaved off by the barber’s assistant. He also had his hair combed and rubbed with fine oil. Then he went to bathe in the river. †(pg52) Moving into the town on the other side of the river, Siddhartha got caught up with having money, just like everyone else in the town. â€Å"He was not long in Kamaswami’s house, when he was already taking a part in his master’s business. Daily, however, at the hour she invited him, he visited the beautiful Kamala, in handsome clothes, in fine shoes and soon he also brought her presents. (pg66) After getting tired of the materialistic lifestyle, Siddhartha crossed the river again, he lets go of all the memories he had on the other side of the river. He started to let go, by giving away his fine clothes. So crossing the river again gave Siddhartha a fresh start. â€Å"Will you accept these clothes from me, which I find a nuisance? I should prefer it if you would give me some old clothes and keep me here as your assistant, or rather your apprentice, for I must learn h ow to handle the boat. †(pg103) Staying with the ferryman, next to the river, was one step closer for Siddhartha to find Nirvana. Whenever Siddhartha meets with the river, it represents rebirth and forgiveness. In this novel, they use the river as a symbol for the stream of life and unity. When Vasudeva teaches Siddhartha to listen carefully for one last time, he hears voices which he always heard before, but this time they sound different, he heard the whole of a thousand sounds, the sound of Om. The river taught Siddhartha unity, that how he left his father and his father was hurt, Siddhartha’s son left him, which left him hurt by the loss. And that the agony is experienced again and again throughout a lifetime.

Tourism Today And Importance Of Front Office Tourism Essay

Tourism Today And Importance Of Front Office Tourism Essay Today tourism is one of the largest and most dynamic sectors, of the economy. It is growing at a fast pace, leading to infrastructure development, considerable, volume of foreign currency inflows, and good job opportunities. So it affects various sectors of the economy, contributing to the social and economic development of the country as a whole. According to recent statistics, tourism provides about 10 per cent of the worlds income and employs almost one tenth of the worlds workforce. All considered, tourisms actual and potential economic impact is astounding. The hospitality industry came into existence in order to accommodate tourists. When guests stay in a hotel and use the various services and facilities provided by the hotel, they seldom think about the complexity of hotel operations. The smallest of their demands, like for a cup of tea, requires coordination among a series of people. The hotel industry is a people-oriented industry. It is the effectiveness, efficiency, and courteous behaviour of the hotel employees that make a lasting impression on the guests total experience. The front office department of a hotel is the hub of guest activities. This department looks after the guests needs-right from the booking of rooms to receiving and registering guests, to assigning rooms, to handling guests mails and messages, to presenting bills and settling guests accounts at the time of check-out. It is important for the front office staff to provide excellent and flawless services to guests, as it goes a long way in creating an indelible image of the hotel. FRONT OFFICE GM AT WORK AND OTHER ACTIVITIES Most general managers depend on the performance of an outstanding front office to help them meet their guest service and profitability goals. The front office and its manager(s) are responsible for, a variety of important hotel functions. Because the rooms sold by a hotel are extremely perishable (an unsold room on a certain day is an eternal and unchangeable circumstance), it is very important that hotels do the best job possible in matching guest room availability with guest room demand. Also, since it is not possible to change the number of rooms available to sell up or down on a daily basis due to the constructed fixed number of rooms, an important responsibility of the front office is the sale of rooms at a rate that management feels will maximize revenue per available room. A well-managed and talented front office will do this well. The making of guest reservations is often the first thing that comes to mind when considering the major functions of a front office, and this is indeed an important and often complex aspect of the front office`s role. In addition to reservations, however, it falls upon the front office to actually assign arriving guests to specific guest rooms and respond to their special needs during their stay. These needs can include anything from transportation and information to medical assistance. In all of these situations and more, the unwavering role of the front office is to make the guests stay as comfortable and as welcoming as possible. An essential aspect of the front office is its responsibility for collecting the revenue charged to guests for their rooms, restaurant meals, telephone calls, and a host of other hotel services. This means that the front office manager, working with the G.M. and controller, must devise and administer revenue management systems that ensure guests are properly charged for the services they use and that the hotel fully collects all monies it has earned. When forecasting room demand, accommodating guests, and collecting monies for services rendered, the front office generates a large quantity of data, much of which are critical for management decision making. It is the role of the front office to collect, sort, and present these data in a way that assists in management decision making. As a G.M. my daily tasks can be made much easier by the support of an effective front office. OVERVIEW OF THE FRONT OFFICE The front office sometimes referred to as the front desk, the front office usually controls much more than the activities occurring at the front desk. In a small, limited service hotel, the front office may consist, physically of only that area reserved for guest registration. In a larger property the front office may include several staff members, each responsible for a portion of the office`s management or operation. Regardless of its size, the front office must be organized to manage its key tasks and areas of responsibility. TOURISM AND HOSPITALITY GROWTH + economicaly Tourism and hospitality, which are inextricably linked to each other, are among the major revenue-earning enterprises in the world. They happen to be among the top employers too. There has been an up market trend in tourism over the last few decades as travel has become quite common. People travel for business, vacation, pleasure, adventure, or even medical treatment. The present-day tourist, who has higher levels of disposable income, international exposure, and refined tastes, wants specialized versions of products and services, such as quieter resorts, family-oriented holidays, or commercial hotels. This has led to a demand for better quality products and services, mainly regarding accommodation and travelling, thus feeding the growth of the hospitality industry as a whole. The developments in technology and transport infrastructure, such as jumbo jets, low-cost airlines, and more accessible airports have made tourism affordable and convenient. There have also been changes in lifestyle-for example, now retiree-age people sustain tourism round the year. The sales of tourism products on the Internet, besides the aggressive marketing of tour operators and travel agencies, have also contributed to the growth of tourism. With several business-related activities associated with tourism, the industry has a tremendous potential of generating employment as well as earning foreign exchange. There are many countries in the world, such as Mauritius, Malaysia, Singapore, Fiji, and Caribbean, whose economies are primarily driven by tourism. Tourism can contribute to the economic growth of a country in the following ways: Employment generation: It creates a large number of jobs among direct service providers (such as, hotels, restaurants, travel agencies, tour operators, guide and tour escorts, etc.) and among indirect service providers (such as, suppliers to hotels and restaurants, supplementary accommodation, etc.). Infrastructure development: Tourism spurs infrastructure development. In order to become an important commercial or pleasure destination, any location would require all the necessary infrastructure, like good connectivity via rail, road, and air transport, adequate accommodation, restaurants, a well-developed telecommunication network, and medical facilities, among others. Foreign exchange: The people who travel to other countries spend a large amount of money on accommodation, transportation, sightseeing, shopping, etc. Thus, an inbound tourist is an important source of foreign exchange for any country. HOTELS DEFINITION AND CORE AREAS The term hotel was used for the first time by the fifth Duke of Devonshire to name a lodging property in London sometime in AD 1760. The word hotel is derived from the French hÃÆ' ´tel, which refers to a French version of townhouse. Historically in the United Kingdom, Ireland, and several other countries, a townhouse was the residence of a peer or an aristocrat in the capital or major cities. A hotel or an inn is defined by the British Law as a place where a bonafide traveller can receive food and shelter, provided he is in a position to pay for it and is in a fit condition to be received. Hence, a hotel must provide food (and beverage) and lodging to a traveller on payment, but the hotel has the right to refuse if the traveller is not presentable (either drunk, or disorderly, or unkempt) or is not in a position to pay for the services. Alternatively, a hotel may be defined as an establishment whose primary business is to provide lodging facilities to a genuine traveller along with food, beverage, and sometimes recreational facilities too on chargeable basis. Though there are other establishments such as hospitals, college hostels, prisons, and sanatoriums, which offer accommodation, they do not qualify as hotels since they do not cater to the specific needs of a traveller. A hotel is thus an establishment that provides paid accommodation, generally for a short duration of stay. Hotels often provide a number of additional guest services, such as restaurants, bar, swimming pool, healthcare, retail shops; business facilities like conference halls, banquet halls, board rooms; and space for private parties like birthdays, marriages, kitty parties, etc. Most of the modem hotels nowadays provide the basic facilities in a room-a bed, a cupboard, a small table, weather control (air conditioner or heater), and bathroom-along with other features like a telephone with STD/ISD facility, a television set with cable channel, and broadband/Wi-Fi Internet connectivity. There might also be a mini-bar containing snacks and drinks (the consumption of the same is added to the guests bill), and tea and coffee making unit having an electric kettle, cups, spoons, and sachets containing instant coffee, tea bags, sugar, and creamer. Areas of a Hotel: An Overview The organization of a hotel today is very complex and comprises various departments. The number of departments varies from one establishment to another. All departments may have their own managers, reporting to the general manager and the assistant general manager. The front office is where my principal research were held during this task: This department is headed by the front office manager, the front office department is the operational department that is responsible for welcoming and registering guests, allocating rooms, and helping guests check out. Uniformed services like concierge and bell desk, and EPBAX operators are part of the front office department. -Hotels are commercial establishment that provide accommodation, meals and other guest services. In general, to be called a hotel, an establishment must have a minimum of six guestsà ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚ ¢ rooms, at least three of which must have attached private bathroom facilities. Although hotels are classified into `star` categories, there is no standard method of assigning these ratings, and compliance with customary requirements is voluntary. An American hotel with certain rating, for example, may look very different from a European or Asian hotel with the same rating, and would provide a different level of amenities, range of facilities, and quality of service. Although hotel chains assure uniform standards throughout, non-chain hotels (even within the same country) may not agree on the same standards. In the travel and tourism industry, the hotel industry plays a very significant role, as all tourists need a place to stay at their destinations, and require many more services and facilities to suit their specific needs and tastes. FUNCTIONS (FRONT OFFICE) Front office is the first department of the hotel with which guests come in contact at the time of their arrival and also the last department they interact with when they depart from the hotel. This department performs various functions like reservation, reception, registration, room assignment, and settlement of bills of a resident guest. This chapter is aimed at providing an understanding of the organization of the front office department. Here, we will study the various sections of the front office and their functions, the organization of the front office staff, and the qualities, attributes, duties and responsibilities of front office personnel. FUNCTION AREAS The front office personnel are mostly in direct contact with guests throughout their stay. Guests contact the front desk to book a room; check-in; inquire about hotel services, facilities, and about the city or surrounding areas; and finally, to settle bills and check out from the hotel. Apart from these services, the front desk also provides services like handling guest mails and messages, maintaining guest accounts, paging guests (locating guests within the hotel), arranging travel services, and various other services as per the guests requirement. The front office is the contact point between the guest, management, and other departments. It handles guests complaints, dispatches housekeeping and engineering requests, prints and files reports, receives and answers phone calls, and sends and receives faxes. Thus, the front office personnel perform the following functions: Sell hotel rooms to guests, which may be standard or deluxe rooms, executive or presidential suites, etc. Accept advance booking of hotel rooms through telephone, fax, e-mail, websites, etc. Receive and register guests when they arrive at the hotel and assign them rooms according to their preferences-smoking/non-smoking, pool view/ garden view/sea view, high floor/low floor, near the elevator/far from the elevator, etc. Maintain accurate room status information. Maintain guest accounts and monitor credit. Handle guests demands and complaints. Prepare account statements of guests. Settle bills at the time of check-out. Coordinate guest services like handling of guest mails and messages, locating guests within the hotel premises, connecting guest telephone calls, keeping guests valuables in safety deposit lockers, handling of room keys, making sundry payments on behalf of guests, and so on. Provide information about the hotels facilities and services, the city, important events, festivals and shows, and places of tourist interest. FRONT OFFICE LAYOUT -For the efficient and smooth functioning of a department, it is important to divide it in sections and delegate tasks accordingly. -The front office department is divided in sections: *Reservation / Reception / Information desk / Cash and bills / travel desk / Communication / Uniformed services (which include bell desk and concierge) -A well designed layout should involve proper space utilization, aimed at improving the efficiency and control of the staff. The front desk should be located at a prominent place in the lobby for example. -the hotel lobby is an area furnished with seating arrangements just inside the hotel, where hotel guests and their visitors can meet and wait. -located just beyond the entrance to the hotel, the lobby is the first and last point of guest contact with the hotel. -A well-appointed lobby creates an impression about the overall standard of the hotel in the eyes of the guests. RESERVATION While planning business or pleasure trips, people like to ensure that they will have a safe and comfortable accommodation at their respective destinations. This can be achieved by booking a room of their choice in advance. . The reservation section of the front office department of a hotel is responsible for receiving and processing reservation queries. Depending upon the level of automation, volume of business, and house customs, the procedure of processing reservation queries may differ from hotel to hotel in terms of reservations handling, maintenance of reservation records, confirmation, amendment, and cancellation of reservations. This section is headed by a reservation manager, who is assisted by a reservation supervisor and a team of reservation clerks or assistants. Layout of the Reservation Section The location of the reservation section depends upon the size of hotel and the volume of business of the hotel. In a very small hotel, the function of reservations can be performed by the front desk. In a large hotel, a separate section is needed, which should preferably be located behind the reception counter and should have a communication door between the reception and reservation sections. Functions of the Reservation Section The following functions are performed by the reservation section: -Receiving reservation requests through various means like telephone, fax, e-mail, websites, sales representatives, or central reservations department. -Processing reservation requests received from all means on the hotel property management system (PMS). -Depending upon the availability of desired room type and projected sales during and around the requested stay dates, the reservation, waitlisted, or denied. -Updating the room availability status after each reservation transaction, i.e., after each confirmation, amendment and cancellation. -Maintaining and updating reservation records to reflect accurate information about room status. -Preparing reservation reports for the management. RECEPTION This section of the front office receives and welcomes guests on their arrival in the hotel. It is headed by a supervisor and comprises a team of receptionists and front desk assistants. The personnel of this section procure all the necessary information about the guest to complete the registration process. After finishing the registration formalities, a room is assigned to the guest, and a bell boy carries the luggage and escorts the guest to her room. The entire process is carried out professionally in a warm and friendly atmosphere. Layout of the Reception Section The reception section is located in close proximity to the entrance of the hotel. The layout of the section depends upon the size of the hotel and the volume of business generated by it. The front desk assistant carries out many tasks like receiving guests, registration, etc.; hence, the reception area should be designed in such a way to assist the staff in performing their tasks efficiently and effectively. The front desk may be circular, L-shaped, curved, or straight depending upon the requirement. Functions of Reception The following functions are performed by the reception section of hotel: -Receiving and welcoming guests. -Completing the registration formalities. -Assigning the room. -Sending arrival notification slips to the concerned departments. INFORMATION DESK As the name suggests, the information desk provides information to guests. It is manned by an information assistant. In a small hotel, the same function may be performed by the receptionist. The need of a separate information desk is felt in large hotels where the traffic of guests is higher. The information desk may be located next to the reception. Functions of Information Desk Some of the functions of the information desk are as under: -Maintaining resident guest rack. -Handling guest room keys. -Coordinating guest mails, telegrams, faxes, couriers, parcels, etc. -Providing information to guests regarding hotel facilities and services, city information, etc. -Handling guests messages. -Paging guests. CASH AND BILLS The cash and bills section records all the monetary transactions of guests. It maintains guest folios and prepares the guest bills to be settled by the guest at the time of departure. This section is headed by a cashier. Functions of the Cash and Bills Section This section performs the following tasks: -Opening and maintaining of guest folios. -Posting room charges in guest folios. -Recording all credit charges in guest folios. -Maintaining a record of the cash received from guests. -Preparing bills at the time of check-out. -Receiving cash/travellers cheques/demand draft for account settlement. -Handling credit! debit! charge cards for the settlement of a guest account. -Organizing foreign currency exchange for the settlement of a guest account. Travel Desk The travel desk takes care of travel arrangements of guests, like air-ticketing, railway reservations, sightseeing tours, airport or railway station pick up or drop, etc. The hotel may operate the travel desk or it may be outsourced to an external travel agency. Functions of Travel desk The travel desk performs the following tasks: -Arranging pick-up and drop services for guests at the time of their arrival and departure. -Providing vehicles on request to guests at pre-determined rates (charged kilometre/hour wise and depend on the kind and size of vehicle used- premium cars, semi-luxury cars, coaches, mini vans, etc.) -Making travel arrangements like railway reservations/ cancellations/ amendments, or purchasing air-tickets for guests. -Organizing half-day or full-day sightseeing tours in and around the city. -Arranging for guides who can communicate in the guests language. COMMUNICATION SECTION The communication section maintains the communication network of the hotel, which is generally quite complex. The hotel may have its own private branch exchange (PBX), along with post and telegraph lines. Earlier all outgoing calls were routed through the telephone operator. This was done to ensure proper accounting of outgoing calls. Switchboard operators were required to place wake- up calls, monitor automated systems, and coordinate emergency communications. Recent technological advancement in telecommunications has revolutionized the way hotels operations are run. Now guests are able to make outgoing calls without routing them through the operator. There is a computerized call accounting system that charges the outgoing calls to the guests account. Wake-up calls may also be registered on the system, which dials the guests extension at the pre-registered time and plays a pre-recorded message when answered. So hotels can now manage with lesser number of telephone operators per shift. The telephone operators, who answer incoming calls, protect the guests privacy and contribute to the hotels security programme by not revealing guest room numbers to any unauthorized person. Many hotels also provide guest paging services over the public address system. These systems generally operate through the communications section. Functions of Communication Desk The duties of the telephone operator include: -Answering incoming calls. -Directing calls to guest rooms through the switchboard/PABX system. -Providing information on guest services. -Processing guest wake-up calls. -Answering inquiries about hotel facilities and events. -Protecting guests privacy. -Coordinating emergency communication. . UNIFORMED SERVICES The uniformed services in the hotel include the bell desk team and the concierge. Bell Desk The bell desk is located very close to the main entrance of the hotel. This section is headed by a bell captain, who leads a team of bell boys (also called bellhops) and page boys. They handle the guest luggage from the guest vehicle to the lobby and to guest rooms at the time of arrival and from their rooms to the guest vehicle at the time of departure. They escort guests to their rooms and familiarize them with hotel facilities, safety features, as well as in-room facilities. The bell desk person is the last front desk employee who comes in contact with guests at the time of their departure. Functions of bell desk The bell desk is responsible for the following tasks: -Handling guest luggage at the time of arrival and departure -Escorting guests to their rooms on arrival. -Familiarizing guests about safety features and in-room facilities. -Providing information to guests about hotel facilities and services when asked. -Locating a guest in a specified area of the hotel. -Posting guest mails. -Making sundry purchases like postage stamps, medicine etc. for the guest. -Keeping guest luggage in the left luggage room if requested by the guest. à ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬ -Checking if in-room amenities are in their original condition at the time of departure of guests. CONCIERGE A concierge is a hotel employee who provides information and personalized services to guests like dinner reservations, tour and travel arrangements, and obtaining tickets for special events in the city, etc. A concierge is often expected to achieve the impossible, dealing with any request a guest may have, relying on an extensive list of personal contacts with various local merchants and service providers. The concept of concierges came from the days of European royalty; the concierge was the castle doorkeeper in those times. His duty was to ensure that all castle occupants were safe in their rooms at night. When the royal families travelled, they often took their concierges with them for security and for making food and lodging arrangements. As the hotel industry grew, concierges became a part of the hotel staff to provide personalized services to hotel guests. Functions of concierge The concierge provides the following services to guests: -Making reservations for dining in famous restaurants. -Obtaining tickets for theatres, musicals, sporting events, etc. -Arranging for transportation by limousine, car, coaches, buses, airplanes, or trains. -Providing information on cultural and social events like photo exhibitions, art shows, and local places of tourist interest. ++++++++++++++++++++++ GUEST CYCLE The guests of a hotel have four main stages interaction with the hotel à ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬ at pre-arrival / arrival / stay / departure. All guests go through the same procedure as they proceed from reservation to arrival and allotment of rooms, to their stay in the hotel, to the settlement of their bills and departure from the hotel, these various stages of activities constitute the guest cycle. PRE-ARRIVAL The interaction between a guest and a hotel before the guest arrives at the hotel forms the pre-arrival phase of the guest cycle. Reservation is the most important pre-arrival activity. During this phase, the guest first selects a hotel for stay. The guests choice about a particular hotel is affected by factors. Like advertisements, recommendations from family and friends, previous experience with the hotel, reputation, location, contractual agreement with the hotel, etc. Once a hotel has been chosen, the guest or a person designated by him (who could be his secretary or spouse or a travel agent) contacts the selected hotel through telephone, e- mail, or fax for reserving a room for the period of his proposed stay. The reservation request is received by the reservation staff, whose efficiency and competence in handling the request creates a good first impression of the hotel in the mind of the guest. Before confirming a reservation, the hotel may ask for a credit card guarantee or an advance deposit from the guest. In case of high occupancy periods, guests are requested to pay retention charges. This is to ensure minimum loss to the hotel in case of any last moment cancellations or no shows. Once the retention charges have been paid, the room is reserved or blocked for the guest for the required stay dates. The hotel also makes note of any special arrangements to be made, like a wheelchair and a barrier free room; airport or railway station transfers; an extra bed or crib in the room; etc. Thus the functions of the front office in the pre-arrival phase include: Processing the reservation request of the guest. Creation of guest folio (in case the hotel has received any advance payment). Blocking the room for the guest. Making special arrangements for the guest (if required). The data collected during the process of reservation can be utilized in future front office and sales activities. A well-managed reservation system can maximize the room sales and revenue by constantly monitoring the room status and forecasting the room revenue. ARRIVAL Guests have their first face-to-face interaction with the hotel staff on their arrival at the hotel. This is a very critical stage as guests form an opinion about the standards and services that the hotel can provide to them. During this phase, guests are greeted by the front desk staff and the registration process begins. The guests are asked to verify the details printed in the registration card these details are generated from the information received in the pre-arrival stage. The registration activity is an agreement between the hotel and the guest, whereby the hotel offers the accommodation product and services to the guest, and the guest agrees to pay for the services received. A hotel might pre-register guests (i.e., register guests before their arrival) like VIPs, groups, airline crews, and frequent guests. Once the guests have been registered with the hotel, they are assigned a room at the negotiated room rate. The guest is then shown to their room and their luggage is brought to the room by the bell desk. If any mails or messages have arrived at the hotel before the arrival of the guest, they are given to her. Thus the functions of the front office on the arrival of a guest include: -Reception and welcome of the guest -Registration of the guest -Room rate and room assignment to the guest. -Handing over the room key to the guest. -Luggage handling of the guest by bell desk. -Delivering the mails and messages that the hotel has received on behalf of the guest. The front office staff maintains lists of expected arrivals and departures on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis. They keep updating these lists, along with the arrival and departure details, and keep the other departments informed of any changes in the schedule of guests. This is very essential to provide a flawless service to guests and to avoid embarrassing situations like not arranging for the pick-up of a guest, or not having the room ready in time and making the guest wait for it. STAY During this stage the guest gets a first-hand experience of the facilities and services offered by the hotel. These services and facilities are the most important part of a guests overall experience at a hotel. An excellent level of services would lead to the satisfaction of the guest, which would make him, come back to the hotel and give positive feedback to other potential customers. The front office is the interface between the guest and the other departments of the hotel, so it must coordinate well

Rites Of Passage :: essays research papers fc

Rites of Passage When an individual experiences movement, or a change from an affixed position in society to another position, that individual can easily describe their change as a passage into a new realm of living. A new realm of living is the way in which the individual and society views, acknowledges, and proceeds with their life. Their changes are monumental not only for the individual, but for his/her society as well. Many changes take place during the span of a persons life. They become rites of passage and rituals of initiation-which are more than just simple changes. A plethora of come with these rites and are found in all corners of the globe. Going on vision quests, by the plains Indians of North America, to circumcision by certain Australian cultures, rites of passage present a vast table of religious comparisons(Eliade, p. 287-88). This essay will examine two rites of initiation, by comparing and contrasting their importance to each culture, and discussing how that importance affects that particular individual as well as their society. Finally, the essay will explore possible reasons as to why these initiation rites hold a deep meaning in their respective societies. The Kurnai of Australia have an initiation rite for the sons of married men in their perspective villages. Within a section by A. W. Howitt, in Eliade's book, From Primitives to Zen: A thematic Sourcebook of the History of Religions , a ceremony known as the "Showing the Grandfather" is described(Eliade, p. 288) In this initiation the Kurnai have a formal way of bringing a man's son into the highest, and most secret realm of their religion. By incorporating the use of the father and son relationship, this particular ritual involves the revelation of the central meaning, or "mystery" of their religion. The men and women are separated. Secrecy is one the most important traditions in this initiation. The initiation is not revealed to the women, or anyone else not of their society. The sons, or "novices" as Howitt calls them, are taught the proper religious traditions that they need to know for the ceremony, and for the rest of their lives, as this initiation will conclude their step into religious righteousness, and manhood. This all takes place the day before the ceremony, while other men, who have already been through the ceremony, prepare by hunting for food and arranging a site, not too far from the village, where the initiation will take place. The next morning, a new day at hand, the novices are taken to the site at which time the ceremony commences.

World Systems Theory

Dane Fuentes Sociology 10/19/12 World System's Theory Immanuel Wallerstein’s World Systems theory is the theory of how multinational corporations and industrializing nations have dominated the world over the last 500 years. Wallerstein also takes a look at how â€Å"periphery† and â€Å"semi-periphery† nations have become dependent on â€Å"core nations†, due largely to their lack of varied resources and driven by the need to survive.Wallerstein goes on to explain how colonialism has been replaced by neo-colonialism, a new form of using people, land, and resources purely for economic gain. This neo-colonialism, he claims, will lead to a perpetuation of wealth and more strict ascribed statuses and global stratification. One way neo-colonialism is highly visible, is in the presence of sweat shops or maquiladoras. Maquiladoras are sweat shops that are owned by multinational corporations that are common in developing and under-developed countries.These sweat-s hops do not give their worker’s any rights. There is no job security, benefits, or retirement pensions. People work, until they can no longer work, and then perish. The worker is then replaced, possibly by his children, and the corporation moves on, never noticing the now disenfranchised worker who has to find a new means of survival and, in his desperation, perhaps turning to crime. The IMF and World Bank are two multinational corporations that also may have contributed in many ways to the massive inequality that is the global economy.These financial institutions provided aid to needy countries. However, in exchange for this aid, the IMF and World Bank asked for very strong influences in those needy countries as well as heightened interest rates on the loans themselves. The countries are then, in turn, caught in a cycle of conceding to the Banks demands and paying their national debt. Many underdeveloped countries, such as Ghana and The Philipines, cannot pay these debts, so in turn, these debts grow.At the same time, the multinational corporations are syphoning out resources due to their influence within those countries, leaving barren wastelands and poverty-stricken, disenfranchised people in their wake. Therefore, it may be seen that the multinational corporations may have sought to help these developing countries in a time of need, but in truth they were seizing an opportunity to indirectly buy the land from under the people living on it. This forms the basis of neo-colonialism.

Everything You Need to Know About The Great Gatsby Setting

Everything You Need to Know About The Great Gatsby Setting SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips One reason that The Great Gatsby has now become a byword for the East Coast of the Roaring 20s - the decadently extravagant post-WWI era - is that Fitzgerald was amazing at creating memorable settings. Whether it's the sprawling luxury of Gatsby's mansion, the drunken chaos of Myrtle's apartment, or the suffocating airlessness of a suite at the Plaza Hotel, The Great Gatsbyfeatures settings that perfectly encapsulate character, mood, atmosphere, and emotions. In this article, I'll go through all of the Great Gatsby settings, explain what role settings play in a novel, show how these settings compare with one another, and explore what symbolic meaning they have. Article Roadmap Why Is Setting Important All the Settings in The Great Gatsby Great Gatsby Time Period Setting 1922 Summertime Comparing and Contrasting PairedGreat GatsbyLocations Midwest versus East Coast Manhattan versus Long Island East Egg versus West Egg Gatsby's mansion versus Daisy and Tom's mansion The Valley of Ashes: Setting and Symbol How to Write About Setting Why Is Setting Important? The literary term "setting" means the time and place of anovel's events. If the characters are the "who," then the setting is the "where" and "when." This "where and when" can be very general - for example, "20th century Earth." Alternately, the setting can beeach of the manydifferent places where any of the novel’s actions occur, no matter how small. For instance, you could a imagine a domestic drama where different rooms in the same house work as different settings. Usually, novels feature several different settings, and authors use descriptive language to explain what these times and places look, smell, sound, and maybe even feel like. Using these descriptions, we can learn a lot! Settings help readers fully understand characters. Character backgrounds, motivations, and the pressures they feel from their environment and surrounding society, are often coded into the places where they are.For example, a 20-year-old woman in a novel set in Victorian England would be under enormous pressure to get married and have kids (this desperation isthe plot of Edith Wharton's The House of Mirth). Meanwhile, the same woman in a novel set in today’s NYC is going to be more worried about getting a job (the main drama in The Devil Wears Prada). Settings develop or affect plot. Actions that are commonplacein one setting would be impossible in another. Often this has to do with what is and isn't considered acceptable behavior. Other times, it has to do with the technology, transportation, or means of communication that are available in a particular time. Many bad decisions in G. R. R. Martin'sSong of Ice and Fire happen because it takes weeks or monthsto get a piece of information from one castle to another - the quasi-medieval setting dictates this part of the plot. Settings contribute to mood,tone, and atmosphere. Many novels use setting as a way of developing a particular mood. For instance, the magical yet desolate and creepy setting of the moors inWuthering Heights creates the prevailing air of menace, imprisonment, and terror that infects that novel. Contrast this with the cozy setting ofLittle Women, where the March house represents the loving, close-knit, family atmosphere of the novel as a whole. Settings are used for symbolic or thematic purposes. Sometimes a particular setting is linked to one of the novel's themes, functions as a symbol, or if used to make moral, ethical, or aesthetic judgments. For example, in The Great Gatsby, the Valley of Ashes – an industrial neighborhood in Queens – symbolizes the desperate circumstances of those who are victims of the capitalist system the novel describes. There's a reason horror movies aren't typically set in sunny green meadows. All the Settings In The Great Gatsby Before analyzing theGreat Gatsby settings, I'm going to briefly explain and describe all the different settings that the novel uses. Time Setting The Great Gatsby takes place during the summer of 1922. The 1920s are a period that is sometimes called the Roaring 20s or the Jazz Age. Location Settings The Great Gatsby takes place in the United States. Most of the characters come from the Midwest to the East Coast. In the novel, the East Coast setting is divided into three distinct places: Manhattan, Long Island, and an industrial part of Queens that the novel calls either the Valley of Ashes or just the ashheaps. In Manhattan, we see two main settings: Tom and Myrtle's apartment uptown in Harlem, and asuite in the very posh Plaza Hotel next to Central Park. Gatsby's Long Island is broken down into two incredibly wealthy towns that face each other across a bay: West Egg, less fashionable and home to new money people,and East Egg, where older and more established families live. We see two WestEgg settings: Jay Gatsby's sprawling, extravagant mansion, and Nick Carraway's small rented house next door. In East Egg lies Tom and Daisy Buchanan's red and white Georgian mansion. In the novel's version of Queens, the main setting is George Wilson's garage and the road that runs next to it, connecting Long Island and Manhattan. Oheka Castle, one of the real life mansions that aresaid to have inspired Fitzgerald. Quick Note on Our Citations Our citation format in this guide is (chapter.paragraph). We're using this system since there are many editions of Gatsby, so using page numbers would only work for students with our copy of the book. To find a quotation we cite via chapter and paragraph in your book, you can either eyeball it (Paragraph 1-50: beginning of chapter; 50-100: middle of chapter; 100-on: end of chapter), or use the search function if you're using an online or eReader version of the text. Great Gatsby Time Period Setting What makes the Roaring 20’s different from other periods in history, and why does all the action take place in the summer time? 1922 The novel takes place during a period of enormous change and transition for the U.S. 1919 brought the end of World War I, a war marked byits massive death toll and the horrors of trench warfare which countered the image of soldiering as glorious and heroic. The young men who fought inthe war were dubbed The Lost Generation: the devastated and aimless survivors and the needlessly slaughtered dead. The post-war period in Americawas later dubbed theRoaring 20s because ofthecountry's rapidly growing economy and the greater influence abroad that came as a result of American involvement in the war. Many of the things this time period is famous forconnect with eventsin the novel. Prohibition went into effect in 1920, making almost all recreation alcohol illegal. This means thatany time you see people drinking alcohol in the novel, they are breaking the law. Moreover,Gatsby’s enormous wealth comes from him being a bootlegger - someone who illegally sells alcohol Women got the right to vote in 1919, and the Equal Rights Amendment wasfirst introduced in Congress in 1923. InThe Great Gatsby, the power and agency of women come up often. The three women in the novel make choices about their independence; Daisy and Myrtle find it hard to escape dysfunctional marriages, though they try through affairs; Jordan is able to lead a more independent life. The production and ownership of cars skyrocketedafter Ford popularized the efficient mass production of cars by assembly line. In the 1920, 1 out of 4 Americans owned a car. In the novel, cars are associated with danger and recklessness, as people are constantly either talking about car accidents or getting into them.And of course, the climax of the novel is when Daisy runs over and kills Myrtle. Summer The Great Gatsby pointedly takes place during the summer,as opposed to any other season. I say pointedly because the novel goes out of its way to assign meaning to summertime and to contrast it with the rest of the year - and often even with itself. For example, summer is somehow both healthfully airy and horribly suffocating. Nick initially relishes the Long Island summer, shirking his work because there is "so much fine health to be pulled down out of the young breath-giving air" (1.12). But in the tense confrontation in the Plaza Hotel, where Tom, Gatsby, and Daisy have a life-changing fight, the oppressive and unbearable summer heat means the room has basically no breathable air at all: The room was large and stifling, and, though it was already four o'clock, opening the windows admitted only a gust of hot shrubbery from the Park... "Open another window," commanded Daisy, without turning around. "There aren't any more." "Well, we'd better telephone for an axe- - " "The thing to do is to forget about the heat," said Tom impatiently. "You make it ten times worse by crabbing about it." ...the compressed heat exploded into sound and we were listening to the portentous chords of Mendelssohn's Wedding March from the ballroom below. "Imagine marrying anybody in this heat!" cried Jordan dismally. (7.174-190) Similarly, it's up for debate whether the summer brings with it life - the way we typically associate new foliage with a sense of rebirth - or not. On the one hand, Nick starts out with a traditional view of the summertime: And so with the sunshine and the great bursts of leaves growing on the trees-just as things grow in fast movies-I had that familiar conviction that life was beginning over again with the summer. (1.) But soon, Jordan compares summer unfavorably to the potentially positive change that fall brings when she says. Life starts all over again when it gets crisp in the fall. (7.75) This desire to have life start over again is crucial, since this novel is so interested in how the wish for forward momentum fights against the way the past anchors us and pulls us back. Despite his initial positive feelings about the summer on the East Coast, Nick eventually reverts to his roots in the Midwest. He contrasts the disappointing summer he spends on Long Island withthe season he associates with Midwestern wholesomeness and goodness - winter: That's my middle west- not the wheat or the prairies or the lost Swede towns but the thrilling, returning trains of my youth and the street lamps and sleigh bells in the frosty dark and the shadows of holly wreaths thrown by lighted windows on the snow. I am part of that, a little solemn with the feel of those long winters, a little complacent from growing up in the Carraway house in a city where dwellings are still called through decades by a family's name. I see now that this has been a story of the West, after all- Tom and Gatsby, Daisy and Jordan and I, were all Westerners, and perhaps we possessed some deficiency in common which made us subtly unadaptable to Eastern life. (9.125) I don't know about you, but I'll take this version of summer any day. Comparing and Contrasting PairedGreat GatsbyLocations Now let'stackle theGreat Gatsby settingsthatfunction as foils to one another. We can analyze them by comparing and contrasting them to each other. Midwest vs. East Coast Considering Nick eventually decides that whathe has written is really the story of Midwesterners failing to make it on the East Coast, these might be the two most significant settings in the novel. Still, before we dive in, it's important to remember that this Midwest is Nick's version of the Midwest, which is often undercut (for instance,a lot of Gatsby's criminal business comesas phone calls frombig Midwestern cities like Detroit). Nick describesthe Midwest as the center of all things moral and wholesome.It's a place where everyone is friendly, happy, innocent, and so much "in it together," that when he is describing his memories of the Midwest, Nick doesn't use the pronoun "I," but instead starts writing in the first floors person plural "we": One of my most vivid memories is of coming back west from prep school and later from college at Christmas time...I remember the fur coats of the girls returning from Miss This or That's and the chatter of frozen breath and the hands waving overhead as we caught sight of old acquaintances and the matchings of invitations: "Are you going to the Ordways'? the Herseys'? the Schultzes'?" and the long green tickets clasped tight in our gloved hands. And last the murky yellow cars of the Chicago Milwaukee and St. Paul Railroad looking cheerful as Christmas itself on the tracks beside the gate. When we pulled out into the winter night and the real snow, our snow, began to stretch out beside us and twinkle against the windows, and the dim lights of small Wisconsin stations moved by, a sharp wild brace came suddenly into the air. We drew in deep breaths of it as we walked back from dinner through the cold vestibules, unutterably aware of our identity with this country for one strange hour before we melted indistinguishably into it again. (9.123-124) In contrast, the East Coast is a place where everyone is so out for themselves, that after Gatsby dies none of the people whom he spent an entire summer entertaining can even be bothered enough to come to his funeral. In the beginning, this Midwestern quality of goodness strikes Nickas boring, which is why he decides to go East to New York: Instead of being the warm center of the world the middle-west now seemed like the ragged edge of the universe- so I decided to go east and learn the bond business. (1.6) But after his experiences during the summer, Nick comes to see the East as a kind of nightmare of debauchery, violence, and a disregard for human life: Even when the East excited me most, even when I was most keenly aware of its superiority to the bored, sprawling, swollen towns beyond the Ohio, with their interminable inquisitions which spared only the children and the very old- even then it had always for me a quality of distortion. West Egg especially still figures in my more fantastic dreams. I see it as a night scene by El Greco: a hundred houses, at once conventional and grotesque, crouching under a sullen, overhanging sky and a lustreless moon. In the foreground four solemn men in dress suits are walking along the sidewalk with a stretcher on which lies a drunken woman in a white evening dress. Her hand, which dangles over the side, sparkles cold with jewels. Gravely the men turn in at a house- the wrong house. But no one knows the woman's name, and no one cares. After Gatsby's death the East was haunted for me like that, distorted beyond my eyes' power of correction. (9.126-127) Manhattan vs. Long Island The action in The Great Gatsby is about evenly split between Manhattan and Long Island. Overall, Manhattan is the place where characters go to show off their disregard for society’s rules and lawful behavior. It's the easiest place to accommodate sexual indiscretions and shady business dealings: In Chapter 2, Tom takes Nick there to meet his mistress, Myrtle, and go to a party at their apartment, where Tom has sex with her while Nick waits, and where Tom ends the evening by punching Myrtle in the face. Gatsby takes Nick to Manhattan in Chapter 4 to have lunch with Meyer Wolfshiem, the gangster who fixed the World Series and who is Gatsby’s business partner. Finally,Gatsby, Nick, Daisy, Jordan, and Tom to go Manhattan in the explosive Chapter 7 showdown where Daisy chooses Tom over Gatsby. Partly this is because Manhattan is portrayed as a melting pot where a diversity of social classes, races, and backgrounds is par for the course, and where unusual people don't really stand out. For example, check out this passage where Nick and Gatsby are driving into the city: The city seen from the Queensboro Bridge is always the city seen for the first time, in its first wild promise of all the mystery and the beauty in the world. A dead man passed us in a hearse heaped with blooms, followed by two carriages with drawn blinds and by more cheerful carriages for friends. The friends looked out at us with the tragic eyes and short upper lips of south-eastern Europe, and I was glad that the sight of Gatsby's splendid car was included in their somber holiday. As we crossed Blackwell's Island a limousine passed us, driven by a white chauffeur, in which sat three modish Negroes, two bucks and a girl. I laughed aloud as the yolks of their eyeballs rolled toward us in haughty rivalry. "Anything can happen now that we've slid over this bridge," I thought; "anything at all. . . ." Even Gatsby could happen, without any particular wonder. (4.55-58) There are wealthy African-Americans, European immigrants, the living and the dead, all mixed together without a problem. The city is awash in possibility, the "wild promise" that anything could happen there - "even Gatsby." Also, misdeeds are easy to get away with in Manhattan because its size affords everyone enormous anonymity, which Nick loves: I began to like New York, the racy, adventurous feel of it at night and the satisfaction that the constant flicker of men and women and machines gives to the restless eye. I liked to walk up Fifth Avenue and pick out romantic women from the crowd and imagine that in a few minutes I was going to enter into their lives, and no one would ever know or disapprove. (3.157) On the other hand,Long Island is a much smaller, more insular community. Instead of shrugging off anonymous misbehavior, the people on Long Island care deeply about who their neighbors are and what theyare doing. It's harder to conduct affairs, shady business, or whatever else there without incurring the moral opprobrium of everyone else. While Gatsby is unremarkable in Manhattan, in West Egg he becomes the focal point of unending rumors. People say he is related to Kaiser Willhelm (the ruler of Germany during WWI, and thus America's main enemy), that he is a German spy, and any number of other things: Gatsby's notoriety, spread about by the hundreds who had accepted his hospitality and so become authorities on his past, had increased all summer until he fell just short of being news. Contemporary legends such as the "underground pipe-line to Canada" attached themselves to him, and there was one persistent story that he didn't live in a house at all, but in a boat that looked like a house and was moved secretly up and down the Long Island shore. (6.5) Similarly, Tom's affair with Myrtle benefits from its city setting, asTomfeels free to cheat on his wife in public: "he turned up in popular restaurants with her and, leaving her at a table, sauntered about, chatting with whomsoever he knew" (2.4). Meanwhile, when Daisy and Gatsby start their affair, Gatsby has to fire his entire household staff because he is worried that his servants will tell everyone what they've seen: Gatsby had dismissed every servant in his house a week ago and replaced them with half a dozen others, who never went into West Egg Village to be bribed by the tradesmen... The grocery boy reported that the kitchen looked like a pigsty, and the general opinion in the village was that the new people weren't servants at all. Next day Gatsby called me on the phone. "Going away?" I inquired. "No, old sport." "I hear you fired all your servants." "I wanted somebody who wouldn't gossip. (7. 9-14) You can see how rumor immediately spreads and is uncontainable in the close circles of Long Island. Even despite all of Gatsby's precautions, Nick has already "heard" from someone else that Gatsby has fired all his servants. This minute observation of one's neighbors really differentiates the towns in Long Island from the big city of Manhattan. The rumor mill even brings a reporter out to interview Gatsby in Chapter 6. West Egg vs. East Egg While very rich people live in both East Egg and West Egg, the difference is the kind of rich people live in each town. East Egg is for the old money crowd - people whose wealth is inherited, and who have been the upper crust of society for generations. In contrast,West Egg is for the nouveau riche - self-made people who have become rich recently and who were originally born into working or middle-class families. This means that in generaleveryone from East Egg looks down on everyone from West Egg in order to demonstrate their superiority.(Nick is one of the exceptions: he lives in West Egg despite having the family background necessary to fit in in East Egg).At one of Gatsby’s parties, Nick hangs out with an East Egg group who don’t socialize with anyone else and who are clearly there to mock and be appalled by the other party guests: Jordan invited me to join her own party who were spread around a table on the other side of the garden...Instead of rambling this party had preserved a dignified homogeneity, and assumed to itself the function of representing the staid nobility of the countryside- East Egg condescending to West Egg, and carefully on guard against its spectroscopic gayety. (3.37) This also means that since they can’t distinguish themselves through their wealth, East Egg residents rely on their better understanding of the nuances and minutiae of manners and behavior to signal that they are so very far above their West Egg neighbors. We get the sense that every East Egg person is forever sending knowing looks at every other East Egg person every time they encounter someone from West Egg. For example, check out Gatsby’s encounter with Tom’s horseback riding friend Sloane and his woman friend, when Gatsby repeatedly puts his foot in his mouth: Mr. Sloane didn't enter into the conversation but lounged back haughtily in his chair; the woman said nothing either-until unexpectedly, after two highballs, she became cordial. "We'll all come over to your next party, Mr. Gatsby," she suggested. "What do you say?" "Certainly. I'd be delighted to have you."... "You come to supper with me," said the lady enthusiastically. "Both of you."... Gatsby looked at me questioningly. He wanted to go and he didn't see that Mr. Sloane had determined he shouldn't... "My God, I believe the man's coming," said Tom. "Doesn't he know she doesn't want him?" "She says she does want him."... Suddenly Mr. Sloane and the lady walked down the steps and mounted their horses. "Come on," said Mr. Sloane to Tom, "we're late. We've got to go." And then to me: "Tell him we couldn't wait, will you?" Tom and I shook hands, the rest of us exchanged a cool nod and they trotted quickly down the drive, disappearing under the August foliage just as Gatsby with hat and light overcoat in hand came out the front door. (6.38-59) Gatsby, the quintessential West Egg-er, can’t tell that the woman doesn’t want him to come to her party. He is even less able to see that Sloane really doesn’t want him to come. And he doesn’t seem to sense how rude they are being to him - something which Tom and Nick pickup on immediately. This social cluelessness and lack of social adroitness translate into the style with which Gatsby lives his life. He spends enormous sums of money, but with every purchase, he is always showing that he is new to the moneyed scene. Let’s see how this plays out in his house. Gatsby’s Mansion vs. Daisy and Tom’s Mansion The differences between old money and new money are reflected primarily bydifferences in style, aesthetics, and taste. Gatsby typifies the ostentatious, over-the-top conspicuous consumption of those whose wealth is new and so must be always on display: I lived at West Egg, the- well, the less fashionable of the two, though this is a most superficial tag to express the bizarre and not a little sinister contrast between them. My house was at the very tip of the egg, only fifty yards from the Sound, and squeezed between two huge places that rented for twelve or fifteen thousand a season. The one on my right was a colossal affair by any standard- it was a factual imitation of some Hà ´tel de Ville in Normandy, with a tower on one side, spanking new under a thin beard of raw ivy, and a marble swimming pool and more than forty acres of lawn and garden. It was Gatsby's mansion. (1.14) His house is a reproduction of French chateau. This is ridiculous both because this French design is out of place in America, and also because it is a visibly brand new building trying to replicate something that would be centuries old. It’s completely ludicrous, and it is telling that the only person who has the desiredresponse to this mansion is Gatsby’s father: It was a photograph of the house, cracked in the corners and dirty with many hands. He pointed out every detail to me eagerly. "Look there!" and then sought admiration from my eyes. (9.102) Gatsby’s father has the same taste as Gatsby - the appreciation of a poor person for the trappings of wealth. Meanwhile, Daisy and Tom live in a house that is also extravagant, but one that has its luxury somewhat concealed: Their house was even more elaborate than I expected, a cheerful red and white Georgian Colonial mansion overlooking the bay. The lawn started at the beach and ran toward the front door for a quarter of a mile, jumping over sun-dials and brick walks and burning gardens- finally when it reached the house drifting up the side in bright vines as though from the momentum of its run. The front was broken by a line of French windows, glowing now with reflected gold, and wide open to the warm windy afternoon (1.18) The windows were ajar and gleaming white against the fresh grass outside that seemed to grow a little way into the house. A breeze blew through the room, blew curtains in at one end and out the other like pale flags, twisting them up toward the frosted wedding cake of the ceiling- and then rippled over the wine-colored rug (1.26) The house is much more fit for its location - Georgian Colonial is an architectural style that is appropriate toAmerica (as its name suggests, it came from England during the colonial period). The description also confirms the permanenceof the Buchanans' mansion. Gatsby’s house is fighting with its surroundings (it’s off both in time period, and it seems to be having a problem with the â€Å"raw† ivy). In contrast, Daisy and Tom’s house is so much a part of the environment that the grass â€Å"seemed to grow a little way into the house,† blurring outside and inside just like the open windows that let the breeze blow through. It may not be too much to read some foreshadowing into these contrasting descriptions: Gatsby’s house is too new and not rooted enough. Meanwhile, the place where Daisy and Tom live is deeply embedded and seems unbreakable. No one's pulling this thing out of the ground anytime soon. The Valley of Ashes: Setting and Symbol The Valley of Ashesin The Great Gatsby functions both as a literal place where the climactic event of the novel happens, and is also a powerful symbol – in other words, a concrete object that stands for an abstract idea connected to the novel's themes. The Valley of Ashes is the name that Nick gives to an industrial neighborhood in Queens that the rich have to drive through on their way from the Eggs to Manhattan. This is where George Wilson has his gas station, and where Myrtle Wilson is run over and killed by Daisy. Suitably, it is a horribly bleak and drab place: About half way between West Egg and New York the motor-road hastily joins the railroad and runs beside it for a quarter of a mile, so as to shrink away from a certain desolate area of land. This is a valley of ashes- a fantastic farm where ashes grow like wheat into ridges and hills and grotesque gardens where ashes take the forms of houses and chimneys and rising smoke and finally, with a transcendent effort, of men who move dimly and already crumbling through the powdery air. Occasionally a line of grey cars crawls along an invisible track, gives out a ghastly creak and comes to rest, and immediately the ash-grey men swarm up with leaden spades and stir up an impenetrable cloud which screens their obscure operations from your sight. (2.1) This is the place where those who cannot make it in the cutthroat world of East Coast capitalism end up. It is also the place propping up much of that wealth through the production coming from the factories that are polluting the spot. But the description that transforms the ash that covers everything from simply being dust to a scary substance capable of creating otherworldly plans and people signals that this Valley of Ashes has rich symbolic meaning. For a detailed analysis of how this symbol functions within the great Gatsby, check out our articles on how to approach symbols in general and on the Valley of Ashes as a symbol in particular. How to Write About The Great GatsbySetting So how do you use setting to create a compelling essay? Pick a Topic There are severalways to go about findingyour topic when tackling this kind of assignment. Here are some possibilities: Close reading. You can focus on settings themselves, digging really deeply into the description of one, two, or more places or times in the novel to explore how word choice, similes, metaphors, and any other literary devices help the reader visualize location. For example, you could trace the way the word "ash" appears in the novel, at first defining The Valley of Ashes itself is a kind of fantastical alternate reality, and then spreading outtoward the places of the privileged. You could focus on a literary device called metonymy, using a part to stand in for the whole, and explore why the novel chooses to focus on Dustin Ash as the representative aspect of this neighborhood. Connection to character. Often, setting is away to define character. If you write about this, your essay will tease out the common qualities of a character and of the place most closely associated with that character. These will either be synergistic, with one amplifying the other, or else theywill play as a contrast, undercutting the character. In our case, for instance, Gatsby's mansion speaks volumes about how he sees himself andhis money, and also about the vast gulf that separates him from the upper elite that he really wants to be part of. Conversely, Nick's pokey little house seems humble and unassuming, much like Nick wants to project himself to be. But in reality, by being located next to obscenely luxurious mansions, the house is only falsely modest, and shows off some of Nick's poorly disguised snobbery. (Read more about all the novel's characters in our overview article.) Connection to theme. Similarly, setting can help clarify a novel's theme by providing a concrete example of an abstract idea. In the great Gatsby, you could focus on the way one or more of the settings play into the failure of the American Dream, one of this novel's most salient themes. One way to do this would be to focus on the Valley of Ashes, the place where dreams come to die, both literally and figuratively. If the idea of the American dream is that through hard work anyone can become successful, then George Wilson's tragic fate, as exemplified through his garage and circumstances, serves to completely debunk this myth. Create an Argument It’s not enough to just describe one of the novel'ssettingsand explain its possible connections to either character or theme - or to compare and contrast it to another setting. Instead, you have to make sure that you’re making some kind of point about why/how the settingfunctions in the novel as a whole. How do you know if you’re making an argument and not just saying the obvious? If you can imagine someone arguing the opposite of what you’re saying, then you’ve got an argument on your hands. Once you've figured out what you want to argue, startsmall by analyzing chunks of the text where the symbol pops up, and then broadening your points out to the rest of the book. This way, your argument will be strengthened by textual evidence. What’s Next? Learn how to write about the themesthat settingsare usually linked to. Get help on other assignments by reading our guide on analyzingor comparing and contrasting characters. Brush up on the context of these settingsin our summary of The Great Gatsby. Want to improve your SAT score by 160 points or your ACT score by 4 points?We've written a guide for each test about the top 5 strategies you must be using to have a shot at improving your score. Download it for free now: