Billy Budd as Allegorical Figure
An allegory is a symbolic story. Herman Melville's Billy Budd is
an example of an allegory. The author uses the protagonist Billy Budd to
symbolize a superior being who has a perfect appearance and represents
goodness. Melville shows the reader that a superior being can be an
innocent victim of evil and eventually destroyed. In, Melville's Billy Budd,
the main character is an allegorical figure who symbolizes all goodness in
men.
Billy Budd's image is symbolic. He symbolizes one who is perfect in
appearance. Budd is strong and handsome. He is the center of attention and
compared to the "Handsome Sailor." (THAAL, pg. 2512) Melville uses an
allusion to compare the "Handsome Sailor" and the eye of the constellation
Taurus. His comparison also shows that Billy, like the "Handsome Sailor,"
is popular. Also, the comparison with the "Handsome Sailor" shows Billy as
a handsome character. A comparison is also made between Billy and a "mighty
boxer or wrestler." (THAAL, pg. 2513) The author wants the reader to see
that Billy has strength as well as beauty. He also goes on to make an
allusion between "young Alexander", Alexander the Great, and Billy to
create an image of a powerful figure. (THAAL, pg. 2513) Melville compares
Billy's physical appearance to that of Alexander the conqueror creating an
image of a superior being.
Billy is an "honest soul" and wants simple peace and quiet. (THAAL,
pg. 2514) The simple peace that he seeks may represent the romantic view of
a noble savage, who has goodness because he is untainted by the corruption
in society. Melville has interest in the noble savage and creates Billy
Budd to represent this idea. Billy seems naturally good with no sins in his
character. He lives a simple and serious life. For example, when Claggart
makes fun of him, Billy does not understand the "humor" in his statement.
(THAAL, pg. 2532) Another example that shows Billy's simple character
fearfully witnesses a flogging. Billy has never experienced punishment and
is afraid of this unknown. He is also naive about evil. When told, by the
Dansker, that Claggart, the master at arms, is down on him, Billy is
doubtful of the Dansker's words. He replies by saying: "What for?
Then again, Billy has to do this to pay the bills, to keep his house, and to allow his wife to get her favorite piece of jewelry at the store. At the end of the story, Billy has just gotten into bed in the middle of the night with his devoted wife, Johnnie Mae. The text states, “Later Billy, lying in the darkness, listened to the even sounds of his wife’s breathing... He found Johnie Mae's hand and held it. Even in her sleep, she took his hand and squeezed it gently“ (Myers 38). From this, it is obvious how strong Billy and Johnie’s love really is. At the end of the day, Billy and Johnie love each other through all the hardships they face together. This is when Billy understands that even though he continues to fight to make money, he still will always be beloved by his spouse. In summary, in the short story “Fighter” by Walter Dean Myers, Billy learned that the influence of another is not always right by following his guidance counselor and ending up struggling to keep his life together, but in the end figured out that the love of your own family is really the most important
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The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (SOX) was named after Senator Paul Sarbanes and Michael Oxley. The Act has 11 titles and there are about six areas that are considered very important. (Sox, 2006) The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 made publicly traded United States companies create internal controls. The SOX act is mandatory, all companies must comply. These controls maybe costly, but they have indentified areas within companies that need to be protected. It also showed some companies areas that had unnecessary repeated practices. It has given investors a sense of confidence in companies that have complied with the SOX act.
The United States of America has a population of 260 million people. This is a big market with substantial purchasing power. As of 1997, Breckenridge Brewery has only expanded eastwards and the west side of the country is relatively untouched. According to Exhibit 2 in the case study, there were only distributors in 32 states and that leaves a potential to sell to the other 19 states as w...
Throughout the past several years major corporate scandals have rocked the economy and hurt investor confidence. The largest bankruptcies in history have resulted from greedy executives that “cook the books” to gain the numbers they want. These scandals typically involve complex methods for misusing or misdirecting funds, overstating revenues, understating expenses, overstating the value of assets or underreporting of liabilities, sometimes with the cooperation of officials in other corporations (Medura 1-3). In response to the increasing number of scandals the US government amended the Sarbanes Oxley act of 2002 to mitigate these problems. Sarbanes Oxley has extensive regulations that hold the CEO and top executives responsible for the numbers they report but problems still occur. To ensure proper accounting standards have been used Sarbanes Oxley also requires that public companies be audited by accounting firms (Livingstone). The problem is that the accounting firms are also public companies that also have to look after their bottom line while still remaining objective with the corporations they audit. When an accounting firm is hired the company that hired them has the power in the relationship. When the company has the power they can bully the firm into doing what they tell them to do. The accounting firm then loses its objectivity and independence making their job ineffective and not accomplishing their goal of honest accounting (Gerard). Their have been 379 convictions of fraud to date, and 3 to 6 new cases opening per month. The problem has clearly not been solved (Ulinski).
Ethics continues to be a hot issue in the business world. The focus on business ethics grew after several significant business scandals beginning in the millennium. These scandals prompted the government to pass new accounting regulations to increase the control and accuracy of financial reporting. A prominent piece of legislation is the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, which applies to publicly traded businesses. The basis of Sarbanes-Oxley is to increase the reliability and accuracy of financial reporting (Noreen). At the time of these scandals, many businesses and individual professions already had ethical and accounting standards in place. Subsequently, more businesses have developed ethical codes of conduct.
In any situation an open mind should be kept, realizing there is something to be gained. If someone think they know it all then they just might block their blessing; once the blessing is gone it is not coming back and life will continue. She then goes to say “most intellects do not believe in God but they fear us just the same.” Mankind is said to be made in God’s image. Badu tells the listener that people who do not believe in God still fear God’s people the same way they fear him. Humans are God’s creation; God gives humans life. Without God intellects live in fear, even though they do not believe in him they know that he is the creator. They continue life in fear knowing that the man they disown can take their life
Evil is a popular theme in many novels and plays, and there are many factors that contribute to characters becoming evil. Factors such as no interaction with people and the way someone is treated can turn a person to become evil and commit bad acts. The person may start out as a selfless person with good morals, but eventually he will turn evil as a result of outside factors. Some factors might be isolation, the way he is treated by others, and motives. A person’s selfish needs often consume him and he wants nothing but to benefit himself. He will do anything to get what he wants and will eventually commit so many bad acts that he will turn purely evil. In the play Macbeth by Shakespeare and the novel Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, the characters
No evil dooms man hopelessly except the evil he loves, and desires to continue in,
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spirit or disregard what he has been told. "… the devil hath power T'assume a
The end of 2001 and the start of 2002 saw the end of a period of magnified share prices and booming businesses. All speculations of misrepresentation came to light and those firms which once seem unconquerable were now filing for bankruptcy. Within this essay, I shall discuss the corporate governance mechanisms and failures which led to the Enron scandal resulting in global corporate governance reforms being encouraged.
... he had chosen a path of evil and that these happenings were simply evil consequences of his evil doings. However, what he hadn’t realized yet was his connection to these supernatural forces and events. He had fallen unknowingly to these powers, and now was merely around the corner from his awaited tragic doom.
.... In his head, by doubting everything, he can at least be sure not to be misled into falsehood by this so-called demon.