The production, operating, and purchasing for Wal-mart Essay

The production, operating, and purchasing for Wal-mart - Essay Example In the fiscal year 2005, the net worth of Wal-Mart’s sales summed up to $312.43 billion. The strength of Wal-Mart today can be estimated from the fact that more than 1.6 million people all over the world are employed by Wal-Mart, which is 0.2 millions more than the total population of the 39th most populous state i.e. Idaho (Wilbert). Wal-Mart produces everything from processed foods to fabrics, cosmetics, office supplies, paints and furniture. Wal-Mart is undoubtedly a big controller of the world’s economy. Wal-Mart has fundamentally relied upon outsourcing to enhance the profitability of its business. Throughout its history, the company has been purchasing the services of vendors, local or imported, that would provide it with the cheapest services. â€Å"From the beginning, Walton had bought goods wherever he could get them cheapest, with any other considerations secondary. [Walton] increasingly looked to imports, which were usually cheaper because factory workers were paid so much less in China and the other Asian countries† (Ortega cited in Hornblower). In his autobiography written in 1992, Walton wrote, â€Å"Were not interested in charity here; we dont believe in subsidizing substandard work or inefficiency, so our primary goal became to work with American manufacturers, and see if our formidable buying power could help them deliver the goods, and in the process, save some American manufacturing jobs† (Walton cited in Hornblower). Although Wal-Mart has tried to maintain its patriotic image in the media by emphasizing upon the need and its intentions to buy only American services and vendors, yet the fact that it has accommodated external vendors to reduce the expenses and increase the profitability of the business contradicts its own vision and statements. This is the reason why Wal-Mart has been considered good for America by some and bad for America by others. According to the Professor Gary Geffery, Wal-Mart has performed far better as compared to

The opportunities and challenges that a Chinese firm faces while Essay

The opportunities and challenges that a Chinese firm faces while entering into Saudi Arabian market - Essay Example The present research has identified that in the recent times, it has been observed that increasing number of firms are going global which includes sectors like manufacturing, service, art, music and film among others. International business leads to enhanced flow of capital, services as well as ideas across the world. Consumers are offered with new choices and the companies are facilitated to innovate various new products as well as services. It has also been observed that international business assists in offering challenging employment opportunities to the people. Those transactions that are carried out in or with countries abroad in order to content the goals of the individuals, companies as well as organizations are referred to as international businesses. There are numerous types of international businesses such as export-import trade, foreign direct investment, licensing, and franchising and management contracts. It has been observed that since the past thirty years of operatio n, the volume of international trade has augmented from $200 billion to more than $7.5 trillion. In comparison to the global exports, there is rise in the sales of the foreign affiliates by a significant amount. The best thing that can be identified in the context of international business is that it has been successful in creating a network related to global connections that is capable of binding two countries, institutions as well as individuals because of trade, financial markets, technology as well as living standards. In the context of this study, the Chinese firm which is into retail sector wants to enter into Gulf Cooperation Council based country i.e., Saudi Arabia is considered. The Chinese firm will hire a consultant in order to gain advice on making such a move. The consultant will try to identify and offer advices on the challenges as well as opportunities when undertaking such a move into gulf countries. The project will begin with industry-specific characteristics. In order to do so, diamond model will be used. The project will also try to identify the general business contexts both national (China) as well as international (Saudi-Arabia). This will be conducted with the help of the PESTEL analysis. The next logical step followed after having identified the business context is to identify the most

Modernization theory Essay Example for Free

Modernization theory Essay Modernization theory focuses on the main idea that the processes which the currently developed countries went through are vital to achieving development in the underdeveloped and developing countries. Modernization is thought to take place in five stages according to the Rostow’s stage theory (Rostow 1960), namely; †¢ The traditional society †¢ Take-off preconditions †¢ Take-off †¢ Drive to maturity †¢ High mass consumption age The modernization theory is based on the idea of human progress according to Carneiro (2003) although according to Jones (1985) and McNeill (1990), the idea of human progress seemed unrealistic so long as man did not significantly influence the natural environment and as long as there was no perceptible change in the agrarian economies from one generation to the next. The developed countries are to serve an important role in helping the developing countries to achieve their level of development and serve as examples. Modernization traces its origin in the enlightenment era with the focus that progress in technology would help man overcome the challenges that the nature posed and man would have control over nature. Condorcet (1979) argued that moral values of people would change through economic development and technological progress, and therefore linked cultural change to economic development. Rostow (1961) argued that the economic effectiveness in the countries of low incomes is hampered by their social institutions and traditional cultural values. In these countries large population do not allow the individuals to save, as does the lack of strong work ethic (Giddens, Griffiths2006). According to the Marxist version of the modernization theory, early industrial society was characterized by exploitation. Growth of the developing countries would result from the use of education and technology. Allocation of resources in the developing countries in an irrational way was linked to the drawback in the industrialization of these countries. In order for a country to develop, it was necessary to remove the cultural, institutional and organizational roadblocks on its way to modernization and allocate resources rationally. Modernization is, according to Inglehart Welzel (2005), a process of the development of human where development of the economy triggers cultural changes which make democracy, gender equality, and individual autonomy increasingly possible. In addition to bringing out the root causes of the problems existing in the underdeveloped or developing countries, the theory also can help countries focus on means and ways of alleviating poverty by emulating the already developed countries. The theory puts strength to the fact that development is reachable, even by the underdeveloped and the developing nations and therefore can help the latter to put efforts to reach the developed world. The theory explains an important point why the developing countries cannot wake up one day and expect to see themselves developed, but that to achieve development, a particular process is followed-building the sub-processes in this process is of paramount importance to the countries of low economy. Dependency theory can be defined as an explanation of the development of the economy of a country’s or state’s development policy as influenced by the outside forces of cultural, economical, and political aspects (Sunkel, 1969). It is a system through which the developmental possibilities of the subordinate countries are disadvantaged and conditioned by the economic expansion and development of another country (Dos Santos, 1971). Dependency theory emanated in the 1950s with Raul Prebisch who was the director of the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and together with his colleagues was not comfortable with the way the developed economy in the developed nations failed to lead to growth in the poorer countries. According to him, the poorer countries exported the raw materials to the developed countries and yet received the same goods as processed goods and the earnings from the exports was not enough to fund the imports. Prebisch offered a solution for the poor countries to substitute imports and avoid use of their foreign reserves to purchase for imports of manufactured goods. Import substitution was hard to follow because of obstacles that were facing the poorer countries. These included: the possibility or ability of controlling their exports of primary products; political will as concerning desire or possibility to shifting from producing primary goods; and the inability of the small internal markets of the poorer countries which made them unable to support the economies of scale used by the richer countries to keep their prices low. International capitalism has been mentioned as the force causing dependency relationship According to Gunder (1972), contemporary underdevelopment is as a result of continued relationships-economic or others-between the developed and the poorer countries. Unlike imperialism which explains dominant state expansion, dependency explains underdevelopment-the result of imperialism. Dependency theory was developed as a result of combination of economic doctrine called structuralism, and Marxist sociology. It blamed the US intervention and the role of the Latin America in the world economy as failing to achieve development and its political authoritarianism as a result of its role in exporting raw materials in the world economy. America was said to suffer deterioration in the terms of trade by experiencing cheaper exports due to low wage resulting from surplus labor, and more expensive imports because, instead of the productivity gains being passed on as lower prices, they were going to the increasingly monopolistic industrial firms. Latin America would therefore, because of this free trade, not be able to accumulate surplus capital required to industrialize. The difference between developed and underdeveloped economies was said not only to be on state of the system of production, or simple difference of stage, but also to be of position or function within a single international economic structure of production and distribution. Poverty of the countries was blamed for the richness of some others, not because of any failure (Reid, 2007). Social exclusion of masses as a result of domination of the economy through industrial monopolies yielded to urbanization void of industrialization (Reid, 2007). As a payment to investments, the foreign investors required that the state discipline those demanding high wages leading to military dictatorship. Although their diverging points on the theory, there is an agreement in issues like the influence of external forces that developed world use to extend their interests abroad which includes foreign aids, communications, multinational corporations and other tools. In all the definitions there is an agreement that there exist two sets of states; the dominant and the dependent, centre and the periphery, the metropolitan and the satellite. All of the definitions point to dynamism of the relationship between the dominant and the dynamic country since the interactions between them tend to reinforce and intensify the unfair patterns (Ferraro, 1996). Like the Modernization theory which can be considered to be developed by different people, the dependency theory also is said to have arisen in three principle formulations. According to Reid (2007) the first principal formulation of the dependency theory focused on formal and institutional relationships such as trade relations and foreign trade, as factors which were sources to dependency. The second formulation treated the theory as a subfield of the refined imperialism theory of the Leninist and the analysis of capitalism by Marxist. The third formulation dealt with the two previous definitions. The theory has assisted in shedding light as concerns the exploitation existing in the monopolistic world market where countries with strong economies try to dominate over those with weak economies and create a monopolistic effect of trade. Continued use of foreign aid to the poor nations, which has seen countries being over-reliance to donors, has left poor countries with no solid alternatives than to pledge loyalty to the developing nations. The theory has helped in enumerating the disadvantages that can be acquired from capitalism especially where the capitalism is the influence to the establishment of relations between countries. The theory was criticized as eroding Latin American’s belief in selves, according to Lawrence Harrison, in addition to patronizing and paralyzing Latin America. The formulations were attacked as ignoring or undermining the other causes of underdevelopment such as internal social and cultural factors and were neglect of culture, race, gender and ethnicity. Besides, there were some countries like Asian countries which developed purely on a capitalistic system, and countries like Taiwan and South Korea developed through the ideas that have been propelled in the development theory (‘Dependency verses Dependency theory’). The theory has been blamed as indicating that for a country to succeed, it should join others who have succeeded in the exploitation of some, even if it does this on a regional level. It has been termed to be a strategy left only for the smaller third world countries with no real alternative market, and is no strategy at all. The dependency theory work has been blamed also for criticizing development in the third world, indicating that such development builds a society different from that at the core (developed world) and that there is no way the resulting society can be as that at the core. Development in the third world can be best described, as the dependency theory points out, development of underdeveloped and not as the advertised development. The similarities between the two theories can summarized as follows: †¢ Both theories concern themselves with the relationship between the underdeveloped and the developing with the developed countries. While the modernization theory is concerned with the view that the developed countries should serve as an example to the developing or underdeveloped countries for development purposes, the dependency theory explains the development of the country in relation to the outside forces or influences which may be as a result of the activities of the developed countries. Both therefore deal with and recognize that there exist the relationship between thee two types of countries. †¢ Both theories are consent to the idea that the developed countries have a superior hand in terms of the economy, over the developing or the underdeveloped world. The difference in this area is that the dependency theory seems to indicate an unfair dominance of the developed economies over the developing or underdeveloped ones, whereas the modernization theory views the relationship as health-that the developed economies can assist the underdeveloped or the developing ones †¢ Both theories do not give a one-sided explanation as concerns the causes of the low economic status in the developing or underdeveloped countries. While the modernization theory gives a critical look at the reason for the poor economic status of the developing or underdeveloped nations as being a result of the problems already existing such as overpopulation and lack of work ethics, it may be seen as neglecting the role of the developed economies in the resulting economic problems of the third word countries. In its explanation to the resulting economic difficulties in the third world, dependency theory has leaned unfairly away from the role played by the third world countries in resulting to their own economic problems. It has been blamed, as seen earlier, as neglecting the social economic factors that contribute to economic problems in third world countries. It can be seen to be unfairly explaining the problem as a result to exploitation and external forces. †¢ There are a range of modifications or disagreements arising among scholars in the development of the two theories Other differences †¢ While the modernization theory seems to explain the causes of poor economy in the third world as the result of the activities of the countries themselves for example through poor allocation of resources, and with a view to solving it, the dependency theory can largely be described as a criticism to the developed countries as being the cause to the problems of the economy in the third world. The modernization theory focuses on the internal causes of the poor economy in the third world, but the dependency theory focuses on the external influences †¢ The dependency theory is devoid of a clean sheet and proper strategy of solving the economic problem of the third world in a non fair market, to the event that it has been described as a ‘no strategy at all’. The modernization theory presents a way of solving the problems of economy affecting the third world such as substitution of imports, advance in use of technology and further education to improve economy. References Andre Gunder Frank, The Development of Underdevelopment, in James D. Cockcroft, Andre Gunder Frank, and Dale Johnson, eds., Dependence and Underdevelopment. Garden City, New York: Anchor Books, 1972, p. 3. ‘Development verses Dependency theory’ Retrieved November 13, 2008 from http://www. revision-notes. co. uk/revision/619. html Dos Santos Theotonio. The Structure of Dependence, in K. T. Fann and Donald C. Hodges, eds. , Readings in U. S. Imperialism. Boston: Porter Sargent, 1971, p. 226 Ferraro Vincent. Dependency Theory: An Introduction. July 1996. Retrieved November 13, 2008 from http://www. mtholyoke. edu/acad/intrel/depend. htm Giddens Anthony Simon Griffiths. (2006). Sociology. Polity Hogan Michael, Thomas Paterson. (2004). Explaining the History of American Foreign Relations. Cambridge. Cambridge University Press Inglehart Ronald Christian Welzel. (2005). Modernization, Cultural Change, and Democracy: The Human Development Sequence. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Reid Michael. Forgotten Continent: The Battle for Latin America’s Soul. Yale: Yale University Press Sunkel Svaldo. National Development Policy and External Dependence in Latin America, The Journal of Development Studies, Vol. 6, no. 1, October 1969, p. 23

Case Study: Multiple Sclerosis

Case Study: Multiple Sclerosis Kaitlyn Elliot Values and Principles Case Study Bob is 65 and has had multiple sclerosis for 15 years. He has a wheelchair and drives a specially adapted car. He lives with his wife, Jean, in a cottage in the country and they have always been involved in several community and church activates. Jean is Bobs main carer and although Bob is quite independent, Jean tends to do everything for him. Last month Jean had a slight stroke which left her with a right sided weakness and some speech difficulties that she finds frustrating. She cannot walk without a walking frame and still needs help with most personal care tasks. While Jeans been in hospital Bob has been supported by daily visits from home carers, however he is missing his outings as Jeans not been there to help him. Jean will be discharged from hospital next week and is worried about how they will manage. Suri is the hospital social worker and is going to meet jean later today to plan her discharge from hospital next week and her future care. Describe at least one individual using car services and explain at least two needs of this individual. Jean used to be an independent woman but after she had her stroke she has become more vulnerable and cant do all the daily tasks that she used to do like looking after Bob. Jeans basic essential physical needs are not being met completely. The stroke has caused her right-hand side of the body to become weaker and she also struggles to walk unsupported. Jean may have to be referred to a physiotherapist who would assess her abilities and draw up a treatment plan that will help Jean improve her muscle strength and help her to walk without the frame. An occupational therapist might also have to be introduced to assess her ability to carry out everyday tasks and may have to adapt her home to suit Jeans ability. Jean might struggle to keep a balanced diet up as she might find it hard to swallow some foods and may not be able to get access to pureed or easy to swallow food. The stroke could also be causing Jean to be extremely tired. She also might struggle to clean and dress herself and le t her good hygiene go down. Cognitive needs refer to the things that helps us to develop and maintain an active mind. Jeans stroke has cause her to have speech problems and will find it hard to communicate. She could be referred to a speech and language therapist who could do some exercises to improve the control over Jeans speech muscles. They could introduce her to some letter charts and using gestures and writing to communicate with others. Jeans memory will deteriorate as the stroke will have affected her brain. A care worker could introduce a diary or even just routines and involve her in the planning of this to help her out with daily tasks when she is discharged from hospital. Jean may also end up with dementia and if she does you could show her some family pictures or even find out what activities she used to do and encourage her to try some of them again or take her to some of her favourite places her and Bob used to go to. Without cognitive spurring, mental abilities will not develop or will deteriora te. Most of these functions will return after time and rehabilitation, but she will notice they do not return to what they used to be. Explain how two methods of assessment are used to identify needs of individuals. Needs are essential things in our lifes that we cannot live without. Needs can often be confused with wants. One way of assessing an individuals needs is using the SPECCS model. This is your social, physical, emotional, cognitive and cultural. All individuals have these types of needs. Social needs ae the need to have conversations and experience a variety of social relationships and how we interact with others. However, people who use care services may not be able to make these needs by their selfs. if they dont get any help they might not achieve a sense of acceptance and belonging and this may cause isolation and low self esteem. Physical needs refer to fresh air, food, water, warmth, shelter, hygiene, sleep and exercise. These are the basic physical needs that we need in our lives to promote wellbeing. Emotional needs are our feelings. We all experience different emotions including happiness, excitement, sadness and anxiety. Emotional needs include the need for love, security an d confidence. If we have these needs, we can express our feelings and people can also recognise them. Cognitive needs refer to our thought processes and how we make sense of the world. Cognitive abilities include the use of memory, thinking, understanding, communicating and making choices and decisions. Without these our mental abilities, will deteriorate. Care workers can play an important part in meeting an individuals cognitive needs by just even talking to them and giving opinions. The last one is cultural needs. This refers to values, beliefs language, gender, sexuality, clothing worn, and food eaten. It is important for the care worker to find out about the care users cultural needs and not make any assumptions about their culture. Another way of assessing an individuals needs is using Maslows Hierarchy of Needs. This theory is split into 5 sections. The stages in this theory are Biological and physiological needs, safety needs, belongings and love needs, esteem needs and self-actualisation.ÂÂ   Maslow believes that all humans are motivated towards achieving their full potential. He stated, People are motivated to achieve certain needs and that some needs take precedence over others. Our most basic need is for physical survival, and this will be the first thing that motivates our behaviour. Frustrated and unmet needs can lead to dysfunctional behaviour. Describe three features of positive care practice. At least one of these ways must include reference to values and principles. There are six principles to the National Care Standards, dignity, privacy, choice, safety, realising, potential and equality and diversity. Carers should value the service users and respect their space and own way of life. The service user also has the right to stop other people from seeing or knowing about their personal information. Choices help staff understand what range of options can be put in place for the user. Carers should be encouraging and help care service users to make the most of their life and achieving as much as they can with the resources available to them. In a positive care practice empowerment, should be used. All carers should help the service users to make their own choices and have some sort of control over their own lives. The carers could provide them with opportunities, information and support to help them do this. The SSSC have a code of practice to help gain a positive care practice. The code is set out in two parts. The first part if for the employers o f social service workers. Employer must make sure the social service workers are suitable for the job and help them understand their responsibilities and roles they will have. They also must have written policies in place to protect those who use the services and the carers. The employer must also promote the use of the code of practice to the social service workers. The second part is for the social service worker. They must protect and promote the rights and interests of the service users and treat them all as an individual. The worker must create trust and build confidence with the service users to allow them and you to be open and honest with each other. Promote the service users independence and help them understand their rights. The Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) have created a code of conduct to create a positive care practice. The nurse or midwife should be kind and respectful and putting the care and the safety of the patients first. They should also listen and take an y notes that may concern them and also respect their right to their dignity, privacy and choice and will share any information about the patients treatment or health in a way that they should be able to understand. They should always be paying attention to the patients wellbeing as well as their treatment and care. Describe how one care service creates a positive care environment. Give at least one example to explain how they meet the needs of individuals. Speirs Care Home, Beith creates a positive care environment by allowing the care service users to socialise in their lounge areas and provide spacious gardens for the users to relax in beautiful surroundings. They provide regular music entertainment for the users to allow them to have some sort of social life. They have a positive atmosphere in the care home and allow the community to be involved in their fair. They allow different types of care such as palliative care, respite care and convalescent care. The home also provide any transport the users need for going out and doctor appointments or even going out on day trips. They encourage the relatives to visit regularly to allow the users with alzheimers to familiarise their memory and hopefully try and help them not forget. Describe one way in which legislation helps promote a positive care environment. Care workers must comply with the legislation when they are carrying out work in a care environment to create a positive care environment. The legislation becomes a policy in the work place so, if the care workers fail to do this it could jeopardise their carer as legal action will be taken. The legislation is in place for the health and safety and their right to confidentiality as a care service user. Is also promotes health and wellbeing and equality of opportunity to promote a positive care practice. References http://www.carehome.co.uk/carehome.cfm/searchazref/20006048SPIA http://hub.careinspectorate.com/knowledge/national-care-standards/ https://www.nmc.org.uk/standards/code/ http://www.sssc.uk.com/about-the-sssc/codes-of-practice/what-are-the-codes-of-practice www.simplypyschology.org

The Life of Saint Peter :: essays papers

The Life of Saint Peter Peter Tosh was born into this world without a father or mother with the responsibility, or the time to raise young Peter. He was raised by his aunt, although Peter's personality would have you believe that he raised himself. An extremely self-reliant, self-dependent entity, Tosh fought for those who could not fight themselves. He was a voice for those who had not the means, nor the ability to speak to a worldwide audience. While those with power on the island of Jamaica saw Peter as a threat to the existing regime (A regime comprised of corrupt 'politricksters' who ally with Jamaica's small, wealthy, land owning class), the people saw Peter as a rebel hero. A champion of human rights, throughout his life Peter fought against the vampires and the duppies and all evil spirits, the spirits which Peter himself feared more than anything. Peter Tosh was a saint. Not a saint in the conventional, religious definition, but insofar as that he was put on this earth with a purpose. He was to expose the filth and corruption and expunge the wickedness of the ghosts which haunted him his entire life. Peter was a savior, sent to liberate the people of Jamaica, both physically and mentally. As for the majority of Jamaicans, life was spent scrounging for a dollar, struggling to put food on their children's table, and a roof over their head; That was if you can find some brush or metal with which to build one. It was difficult to find employment, and many of those that were employed were done so temporarily. Peter had greater visions for the Island of Jamaica. He was upset with the treatment of his people, and he did nothing to hide his feelings. It is believed by many that this is the very character trait which led to Tosh's murder. The voice of the people was eliminated by three supposed robbers who stole not one material object. At the tender age of forty three, Peter Tosh was silenced, as were the hopes of many Jamaicans. On October ninth, 1944 Winston Hubert McIntosh was born into this world. The only child of Alvera Coke, a resident of Church Lincoln, Westmoreland on the island of Jamaica. Winston's father, James McIntosh was the preacher at the local church in Savanna-la-Mar, which Alvera attended. However, Winston was just one of the many children which James McIntosh fathered and neglected to help care for.

Piagets Stages of Cognitive Development: The First Stage Essay

The first stage is called the Sensorimotor stage. It occupies the first two years of a child's life, from birth to 2 years old. It is called the Sensorimotor stage because in it children are occupied with sensing things and moving them. From these activities they learn what makes things happen, what the connections are between actions and their consequences. They learn to grasp and hold and what happens when they let go.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  This happens later on in the stage. When they are new-born they have no concept of there being anything else apart from themselves in the world. In fact they think that they are the world. Piaget called this Egocentism; he said that children with this attitude were totally Egocentric. This does not mean that they are just plain selfish; it means that they do...

Importance of Tolerance Essay

In the society that I have been raised in, I have always been taught to be accepting of others and not pass judgment on their race, culture or religion. I was told to leave my prejudice at home. In other societies, has this been the case as well? Through the close analysis and reading of four texts, I believe that this wasn’t the case and that intolerance and prejudicial attitudes were common. The four texts that I have chosen that show this is To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee, The Help by Kathryn Stockett, The Book Thief by Markus Zusak and The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne. These texts have made the themes of intolerance and prejudice apparent and have also shown myself and other readers why it is important to have tolerance within a community, without prejudicial attitudes. In Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird, Lee explores the importance of tolerance through the character of Miss Maudie. Miss Maudie says, â€Å"Mockingbirds don’t do one thing but make music for us to enjoy. They don’t eat up people’s gardens, don’t nest in corncribs, they don’t do one thing but sing their hearts out for us. That’s why it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird.† The Mockingbird is like an innocent person, it doesn’t harm anyone. The author wants to show the reader that people who hurt or judge peaceful creatures show their lack of tolerance and compassion for humanity. The Mockingbird is an appropriate symbol for both Tom and Boo, they are both innocent, harmless creatures but have been subjected to false accusations from the community. Miss Maudie, like Atticus, believes that it is essential to accept people as they are. Judging people through prejudice eyes only marginalizes vulnerable individuals, creating a divided community. The close relationship between lack of tolerance and racism is shown by Tom’s trial. Harper Lee has effectively communicated the intolerance throughout the novel, mainly through the people of Maycomb. They believe Tom is guilty, without giving him a second look. This is based on the setting of the book which was during the 1940’s and as in The Help, white citizens blamed everything on coloured people, and believed that no one who was coloured would be innocent of crimes. The lack of tolerance and racial division in the community is similar to The Help by Kathryn Stockett, where the importance of tolerance is shown through the character of Skeeter. Skeeter says â€Å"I am neither thrilled nor disappointed by the news that they might let a coloured man  into Ole Miss, just surprised.† Skeeter is a white woman and most women of the time would be offended that a coloured man would even be considered entrance to university. In contrast with To Kill A Mockingbird, Stockett is communicating that coloured people are innocent and there is nothing wrong with them, much to another character Hilly’s beliefs that they have â€Å"diseases.† The author wants readers to think deep into tolerance in this time and how many coloured people were discriminated on purely because they were different and how White supremacists thought coloured people would hurt or harm them, because they were different and like many did towards Tom and Boo in To Kill A Mockingbird, many did this towards the maids in The Help. These two texts relate as both Harper Lee and Kathryn Stockett have both established very intolerant divided communities, and this consequently makes the reader think more into their society. Do we discriminate against races such as those from Asia because they have trouble speaking English? This text also intensifies the already questions within the readers minds about the people of that time and readers then compare the people in To Kill A Mockingbird and The Help to themselves. Are we fully tolerant of the differences in our bicultural environment? The lack of tolerance of individuals is established on not only a fictional level but also a historical level in The Book Thief. Through the narration of Death, we learn about tolerance and how one character, Hans Hubermann shows his tolerance of others. It is also through Death’s narration that we learn those who are intolerant of the Jewish race, such as the Nazi Party. What is very important to note is that Hans is German, and the Book Thief is set in the period of Nazism, and as history tells us, men such as Hans would despise Jews and believe all of Hitler’s anti-Semitism policies, and in general would be very intolerant of those who are not the â€Å"pure race.† Death says â€Å"In 1933, 90 percent of German’s showed unflinching support for Adolf Hitler. That leaves ten percent that didn’t. Hans Hubermann belonged to that ten percent.† The reason Zusak has chosen to use these words is to establish Hans as a character- who he is and how he is tolerant. Hans immediately connects with Miss Maudie and Skeeter as all three are people who we would expect to be intolerant but all share the same value: that everyone is the same and should be treated equally. The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne also communicates how important tolerance is within a community.  This text centres on a woman who was convicted of adultery, and the text is set in Puritan times. This text is particularly important as it is not relevant to today’s society, as the three other texts are. The prejudice and intolerance towards a woman who committed adultery would be different in the 21st century. This is shown as the main character Hester Pryn ne was forced away from her loved ones when her sin came to light. She was a member of â€Å"as befitted a people amongst whom religion and law were almost identical†¦that the mildest and the severest acts of public discipline were alike made venerable and awful†. The community of her time was very highly based upon religion which is yet again, much like racism and intolerance, is not as common in today’s society. The circumstances that take place with Hester in the novel are not applicable today. In today’s society, we have more of an open society in which one is given more support from their family, government and the community in general when placed in a position such as Hester’s. We realize that adultery is a common occurrence and, therefore, the authority does not place punishment upon adulteresses. This connects strongly with the three other texts as people are more accepting of others in today’s society- we accept coloured people. The United States president is a coloured man, so we also respect them. W e look back at German history and feel remorse for the Jewish race, as we learn they did nothing. They were simply scapegoats. I strongly believe that over the time that the novels are set in, society has changed its values on prejudicial attitudes and as a whole, society is far more tolerant than ever before. After reading my texts and thinking more laterally about them, I strongly believe that today’s society has changed in a big way. These four texts have shown readers how society used to be and although they are merely fiction, they communicate real ideas. In both To Kill A Mockingbird, we think of America in the 1950’s and the racial disparities and the prejudice and intolerance that people such as Boo, Tom and Aibileen would have faced. Markus Zusak takes us straight back to Hitler’s autocratic fascist reign in The Book Thief and we learn even more about intolerance attitudes, but also learn about tolerant characters like Hans, and like Miss Maudie in To Kill A Mockingbird. In the final book, The Scarlet Letter, we see yet again how society has changed. We no longer discriminate against people because of their personal choices or who they are. Through these texts, readers have  learnt this and apply it to their real life and are also thankful that we are tolerant. Thankful that we aren’t killing innocent people, hating on others because of their skin colour or because they simply made a mistake. I am personally glad that society has experienced this change because who knows of what consequences we as a societal whole would be facing today.