The 20th Century phenomenon of Globalization has greatly influenced literary texts and language. The notion of the ‘global village’ is in itself an oxymoron, a term coined to play on our innate needs as human – for community, for history, for identity. This word, village, is one that most whose life experience does not transcend the western world, only wish to be familiar with. Today, in a world where one can eat at McDonald’s in Qa’tar and receive news that another child is dead in Iraq as it happens, the warmth of this word, village, is something we long for.
However, for many, our ‘global village’ does not suffice. Globalisation is, instead, a terrifying concept. We have become faceless, unrecognised and unnecessary. The increasing popularity of novels such an ‘Under the Tuscan Sun’ and ‘A Year in Provence’ that whimsically recount a retreat from the global are a reflection of our own increasing desire to escape. There is a quaint irony in the popularity of these globally marketed books, the same that underpins McDonald’s claim as a family restaurant and the artificial chalk on the blackboards at Gloria Jean’s.
Texts that focus on retreat from the global illustrate the reasons behind our desire to do so. Annie Proulx’s novel ‘The Shipping News’, an episode of the BBC series ‘Black Books’ and the short story ‘How about this?’ by Raymond Carver are three such texts. The issues clear in each text are reflected in my own visual, a comic strip titled “Urban Daze”.
The Essay on Global Warming 77
There is little doubt that the air’s carbon dioxide concentrations have been increasing since the Industrial Revolution and there are few who do not attribute this increase to the rise in humanity’s use of fossil fuels. There is also little dispute that the earth has warmed slightly over the same period. During our interview Adam told me that he believes strongly in the dangers of ...
The Shipping News is a novel by E. Annie Proulx. It tells the story of Quoyle who moves from suburban USA to Newfoundland, home of his ancestors, when his wife is killed. This move is primarily motivated by the first is the chance of a fresh start. Quoyle is able to find happiness in the local without money, celebrity or beauty – qualities highly valued by the global community. Another reason for his retreat is the intrinsic desire to return to Newfoundland, home to generations of Quoyles. The bad relationship he had with his late parents is another factor in his need to reconnect.
The Shipping News has a strong focus on environmental issues. In the chapter, Oil, Proulx’s contempt for the global is shown through the differing opinions of her characters. Quoyle writes an article for the local newspaper making known the environmental and cultural damage oil tankers are inflicting on Newfoundland. His co-worker, Tert Card, re-writes the article to say the very opposite. By staging this argument between Quoyle, for whom everything works out alright in the end, and Tert, who is forced to change his attitude, Proulx has made clear the notions of local versus global she intends to project.
However, The Shipping News does not offer a purely romantic image of the local. There is constant reference to sexual abuse and incest, and the rough lifestyle suffered by Newfoundlanders. This contrasts with the more traditionally serene image cast by the afore-mentioned popular retreat novels. My visual relates to The Shipping News in its portrayal of the importance of homeland. When the character in my comic imagines his ideal retreat, a key quality is it nurtures a community his family has been a part of for generations.
The desire to know ones heritage comes into play again in my second personal source, an episode of Black Books titled ‘Blood’. In this episode, the three protagonists Bernard, Manny and Fran each experience a retreat from the global. Fran feeling ‘empty’ after losing her business, researches her family tree to finds she has long-lost European relatives living in her neighbourhood. The episode satirises both the global and the retreat from it. Fran’s relatives are more than the quirky neighbours present in many retreat texts – they are very weird.
Global Warming essay 3
‘The earth has a fever, and the fever is rising… We are what is wrong and we must make it right’ (Al Gore, 2007) In the context of global warming, discuss the extent to which you agree with this statement. Global warming has been happening for millions of years through periods of glacial’s and interglacial’s. The last glacial period occurred during the last years of the Pleistocene, approximately ...
Bernard and Manny first must experience the global before they retreat from it. They own a dusty bookshop that rarely attracts customers. Manny walking to the shop, comes across a new branch of a chain store, Saga Books. In this sequence, the allure of the global is shown when Manny is forced to blindly follow placards leading into the store. These signs fully obstruct the street. This is an absurd image and blatant representation of the power of the global. The camera pans across the huge building to the exit as the sounds of a cash register and change clinking is played. Manny exits now holding a huge bag of books and oversized muffin and coffee. The sequence lasts no more than thirty seconds. This contrasts with usually slow pace of the episode, signifying the speed of the global world. This occurs again in the next scene when Bernard returns to Black Books and it has been completely transformed.
Bernard is innately disgusted by the new chain-store appearance of the bookshop, complete with couch, espresso machine and information point. This use of exaggeration contributes to the satirical style of the episode. The store is filled with people but when they leave for lunch, he exclaims, “We’ll open a full restaurant service! With a pool! And a gym! And an Egyptian style casino!” Bernard, characterised by his individuality and previous rejection of global ideals is quickly drawn in by the thought of money.
The episode ends with the shop returned to the way it was after Bernard goes mad with the stress of the global and gives his customers food-poisoning after feeding them paint, belt and pieces of his oven as a stew. My own visual also refers to the stress of the global world. The character’s facial expressions are frantic and enraged as he describes the impact of the global. He also refers to the fast pace of the global and this is shown by the cramped style of the comic strip.
Like ‘The Shipping News’, a key reason to retreat for the characters in Raymond Carver’s story ‘How about this?’ is the chance of a fresh start. The couple, Harry and Emily, drive to Emily’s deserted family home in western Washington. The story is written in third person but from Harry’s point of view, and while trouble between the two is not apparent in Harry’s thoughts, it is shown through subtly through their interaction. One example of this is when he moves close to Emily and hopes they might embrace but she does not respond. Love often comes from a move to the local in related texts, and this move is clearly designed to save their relationship. Harry claims the reason is desire for a simpler life. “For a long time he had wanted to move to the country, somewhere in the country. At first he wasn’t too clear about where he wanted to go; he just knew he wanted to leave the city and try to start over again. A simpler life was what he had in mind…” This passage from the story sums up the issues explored.
The Essay on Analysis For A Rose For Emily
An analysis of "A Rose for Emily" by Celia Rodriguez West suggests that modern art grew out of a dissatisfaction with existing belief. He also claims that nineteenth-century romanticism in England and in America, particularly during the latter half of this age, was relatively complacent, but that this complacency became an impossibility following the shock of World War I (West, 92). Artists asked ...
Emily is a painter and Harry, a writer, two occupations that are strongly personal, but they have lost their identities as a part of the global world. This is shown through reoccurring mention of the dark sunglasses they both wear – a token of sophistication, city life and here used as a sort of contemporary mask. Another symbol used to signify the global is the cigarette. Both characters smoke incessantly throughout the story, relighting their cigarettes particularly as tension builds. This constant chain smoking is as though despite their attempt to retreat have brought the global with them. In the closing paragraph of the text, we know that Harry and Emily will not go back to the city when Harry’s last match is blown out.
My own visual also includes various tokens of the global. The most significant are the suit that becomes the man’s uniform, and the high-rise building present in nearly every scene of the global world. I also utilised stereotypical images of the local such as the sunset, Mediterranean style home and wine bottle. There is a contrast of the global and local images – the global are almost fully black and white, drawn with strong heavy lines, where as the local images are lighter and washed with watercolour. I used these images and the melodramatic expressions and speech of the character to create a parody of a typical retreat from the global text. ‘The Shipping News’, ‘Black Books’ and ‘How about this?’ are ideal texts pertaining to the notion of retreat from the global as they each involve a key issue as compiled in my visual.
The Essay on Be global and act local
Explain the need for an MNC to “be global and act local.” How can a firm design its organization to enable this? In today’s business environment, globalization opens doors to new opportunities. More and more companies are going global, but not all companies are getting enough advantage of going global. Reason being, many firms are unable to respond to the local market. The company design that is ...
