Extracurricular Activities in School Essay Example for Free

Extracurricular Activities in School Essay An ideal school gives to students the scope and the spirit of healthy competition — to excel at all levels. Class work and the home work given by teachers have their academic importance; in this also one who excels wins the praise and appreciation from the teachers. But academic distinctions alone do not fulfill all the purpose for which the school exists. A school is the workshop of life-building in which the raw material is the nascent young pupils. The Principal, the teachers are molders of this raw material into the ideal mold. For this process, many more activities, other than vroom ones are needed to fulfill the purpose. A young pupil might have the potential and the natural Lent to excel in games and sports and he needs to go to play field and the sports ground for the purpose. There can be students whose natural bent of mind is towards creative art and the art room is his field where he needs to be given the chance to exhibit his potential. Even little children of the nursery or the primary classes can draw such lines and make such figures which may amaze an on-looker and may be led to exclaim —’What an idea, how could he imagine this?’ One cannot and does not know how much talent in what direction lies in a child’s brain. This can only come out when he or she is given that opportunity. The school has to provide such chances and explore out the pearls from the sea-depths of the young mind. Art competitions of different level of students are activities that need to be arranged and the excellence in that to be rewarded and encouraged. There are boys and girls who have a knack of oration. They have in them an amount of self-confidence that they can face spectators and audience. Elocution contests and debates offer them the chance to exhibit this latent talent of theirs. Such inter-class or inter-school competitions should regularly be held which would further them to become good debaters — who knows, they may one day become parliamentarians and what they have gained during their school days may place them in good stead in that field. Cultural shows; dramatics performances, mono- acting’s are events which schools generally hold and it so necessary for schools to hold them. That is also at of total education. Taking part in such events gives children a sense of self-confidence and embellishes their accomplishments which they possess or can even develop. Anything, any activity which helps in the development of the total personality of young boy or girl is a part of  education and competitions, the effort to excel from others, is an incentive which must be provided to a young mind. Such an opportunity is offered to them only through such cultural and extra-curricular activities Opening up of personality; developing the latent talents- promotion of the intellectual effort and an opportunity of healthy competition — all these are factors which an educational institution should always encourage — only when it does this, it fulfills its role in the total education of the young.

SWOT, PESTEL and five forces analysis

SWOT, PESTEL and five forces analysis 2. Introduction The supermarket industry is fierce in terms of its competitors. There are four main firms that have dominant market share but still have the aim to become the market leader and want to be bigger and better for their customers and potential customers. 3. Methodology In order to conduct my research I used a variety of sources which included economical and contemporary books, additional journals were also used to gain more specific and up-to-date information. The internet was also a valuable source due to its nature and variety of widely available information. 4. PEST Model The Pest model allows us to see what changes have happened in the industry and how this can affect competition. It allows us to distinguish the not so important compared to what is vital in the industry. For any firm in this industry it is important to create value for its customers, so therefore an understanding of the customer is vital. To create value, a firm would have to create a form of understanding and a relationship with its suppliers. Also for a firm in this organisation an in depth understanding and monitoring of its competitors is essential in order to be a profitable company and have first mover advantage. This supermarket industry includes the customers, the suppliers and the competition. An understanding of the pest model allows us to discover comprehensive potential opportunities and threats in the future. I.e. global warming may not be an issue now but can be in the next hundred years; this could reflect raw materials for food. 4.2 Political There is a low level of unemployment this due to the recession; this affects the demand of good being bought as consumers have less disposable income. However, food is a commodity and will always be demanded sue to its nature. E.g. the price of stock in supermarkets has dropped in last few years with the intention of boosting demand. Its level of custom has also fallen. There are now restrictions on buying land or buying out another supermarket chain making it more difficult for supermarkets to expand. 4.3 Economical Barriers to entry E.g. Over 5 years it has been reported that 700 hundred supermarket stores have opening ranging from sizes to 3,000 to 25,000 square feet. In comparison to this it is going to be hard for smaller supermarket chains to break into this industry due to it competitors. Only 5 new supermarket stores have opened in last 5 years. As a result of the recession, supermarket chains have to concentrate on the demands of the customer. This could include customers looking at: Cost Prices Profits Overall price is very competitive in this industry. There is also a change in the way consumers shop; supermarket chains such as Tesco have addressed this by giving incentives such as a club card in order to gain brand loyalty and repeat custom. Larger supermarket chains are quick to eliminate competitors. E.g. Sainsburys had bought out star Market and then opened stores across Egypt. 4.4 Social Supermarkets are continually monitoring changing consumer trends and shopping patterns such as; Who is buying the product? When they buy the product? How they buy their products? Which products are they buying? Monitoring these trends and understanding then can create competition in order to be the first to develop products and services that meet changing patterns. E.g. in the UK,75% of customers shop twice a week and seven still shop at different chains. This pattern by UK shoppers is known as Bulk Shopping or One Stop Shopping. Even though the recession has cut back the number of jobs available, supermarkets still employ a large number of people. This could be due to their flexibility in working times such as part time. E.g. Sainsburys employs around 150,000 people in the UK alone. Also there will always be demand for commodities meaning that supermarkets have some level of safety. Some supermarkets use this as a marketing technique, for example Asda aims to create over 7,500 jobs in 2011 (Tue, 16 Nov 2010 (www.supermarketnew.co.uk)) There is also change in demand regarding taste: organic foods are now much more common in supermarkets due to greater awareness of global warming, fairtrade and many other issues. E.g. there could be health concerns surrounding British beef with BSE. 4.5 Technological Technology has become beneficial to customers in supermarkets. With self checkout tills, shopping has become much easier and more convenient for consumers for shoppers. They are also easy to use meaning that all consumers can take advantage of this new technology. Personalized shopping is also being introduced which again makes shopping easier and more convenient. E.g. Waitrose allows you shop with your own trolley gun. With the technology available and the number of companies supplying it, explosion is the word for it, said Tim M. Hammonds, senior vice president of the Food Marketing Institute in Washington. Almost every store is doing at least one experiment. Tesco are reported to have spent  £25 billion in 2005 setting up their on-line shopping website this also helps chains looking at consumer buying habits. Tesco.com is the worlds biggest online supermarket and this year the group had sales of over  £577 million, an increase of 29% on last year 4.6 Environment Cutting waste; fruit and vegetables have less packaging. Fresh and seasonal produce of a high quality Introduction to organic foods, governments have supported farmers to convert and grow only organic foods. 4.7 Legal Law legislations Health and Safety 5. Swot Analysis The SWOT analysis shows the strengths, Weakness, opportunities and threats in the supermarket industry. 5.1 Strengths Corporate culture The supermarket industry is one of the biggest and profitable Supermarkets are a necessity; people will always need food therefore the demand is always high in relation to other industries. Customers have different tastes; supermarkets have a wide variety of goods and services making it likely that a consumer can purchase all of their necessities in one place. Having different stores allowing access to the mass market. Customer Experiences e.g. in store cafes and facilities. Giving Incentives: Loyalty cards and point reductions on foods. Image; this encourages brand loyalty and can keep an environmentalist reputation. 5.2 Weakness Recession has impacted on supermarkets; giving better price reductions and deals undercutting competitors to retain market share. Low-cost supermarkets such as Aldi, Netto and Lidl have taken consumers due their much lower prices. Smaller supermarkets may have to fold due to recession and a very highly competitive market. Low employee efficiency and high labour turnover. 5.3 Opportunities Market leadership in a highly demanded segments i.e. the growth in organic and natural foods this will establish high economies of scale Merging or acquisitions gaining market share E.g. Morrisons takeover of Safeways. Working with foreign countries help supermarkets break into a new market. Such as Latin America, South East China and South Africa. 5.4 Threats Changes in Government Regulations Recession impacts the economic changes. I.e. Has and impact on customers spending patterns. 6. Portors five forces Porters five forces of competition identify structural variables influencing competition and profitability in the supermarket industry. 6.1 Threats of Entry The supermarket industry is dominated by some big competitor chains such as Tesco, Asda, Sainsburys and Morrisons and smaller chains such as Somerfiels, One Stop etc. Bigger Chain competitors have focused more on operation and efficiency and productivity (allowing a wider variety of foods or products, better services etc). This force has left very small and traditional shops like butchers, bakers trailing very far behind. This has made it very hard for new companies to enter the supermarket industry. I.e. it is hard for a new business to raise capital because of the large fixed costs and its in a very much developed market with chains like Tesco have self check out points and their own stock control system. Where as Asda focus on operational tactics, like product development, better promotional activities and concentrating on better distribution. 6.2 Bargaining Power of Supplier Because the industry is fierce and is growing to be influenced by the likes of Tesco and Asda they can negotiate better promotional prices in comparison to smaller chains have a fear of losing business. They benefit from purchasing economies of scale. Suppliers are under threat because big food chains can negotiate better deals abroad. There needs to be an effective relationship with the supplier and its seller, this makes for a better profit margin. 6.3 Bargaining Power of Buyers To meet customer needs there are many things, lowering prices, wider and better choices, countless promotional activities, consistently bettering customer service. E.g. Tesco club card is most successful to date and has added to Tescos profitability. Supermarket chains have become more aware of consumer needs and by expanding in new markets banking, pharmacies and clothing. There is also a push on ethical products as consumers have become increasingly aware, they are now available in most big supermarkets. 6.4 Threat of Substitutes There is a threat that consumers can switch from one supermarket to another, this can be due to consumers being influenced highly on price, better service or quality. In relation to this bigger chains are buying out smaller chains, and opening them strategically in small towns or cities. E.g. Morrisons tookover Safeway as a method of quick expansion. 6.5 Bargaining Power of Competitors The supermarket industry has grown dramatically in size mainly due to bigger chains and continuous growth. This has opened up bigger and better retail concentration, new formats and better customer service. E.g. Tesco retain and build relationship with customers with databases allowing them to see what the consumers have purchased. Companies need to be innovative to keep up with the consumer behaviour such as refocusing on pricing and its values. 6.6 Competitive Rivalry Because the industry is dominated by bigger supermarket chains, there is a constant battle for better prices or better reductions. This results to high price wars to all competitors. Supermarket chains focus on quality and value for the customer in return they could attract new customers of different segments of the market. By bigger chains spending much more on advertising including celebrity endorsement, E.g. Jamie Oliver being the face of Sainsburys and Heston Blumenthal and Delia Smith for Waitrose it becomes much harder for smaller chains to compete. By giving customer price incentives such as Buy-One-Get-One-Free (BOGOF) this again allows supermarkets to retain and maintain customer satisfaction. Loyalty cards are also good example of this. 7. Conclusion 7.1 Smaller supermarket vs. bigger supermarkets The emergence of a number of smaller grocery stores has increased in the past 12 months. A number of smaller supermarkets have been grasped by larger competitors. Morrisons purchase of 39 Somerfields after Co-Ops disposal programme, led Morrisons to further increase market share in the south east and in the London. Sainsburys followed Morrisons vision, breaking into new areas, opening 22 store acquisitions in the north. The stores average from 17,000 square feet. Waitrose reached beyond the South east, opening 14 new stores, averaging between 5,000 square feet under its actual store size. A recent newspaper headline stated Asda goes shopping at Netto in  £778m takeover deal (27.05.10, London evening standard) showing larger supermarkets being able to takeover much smaller chains. 7.2 Strategies Available During the recession, it is apparent that value for money is most important to the customer. There is little room to negotiate prices as the market is very competitive and each supermarket wants to retain market share. Food Retailers can look into trends and new technologies to differentiate from the competitors, i.e. smarter shopping carts and better formatting of stores. Supermarkets are looking into convenience for the shopper. Smaller stores such as Tescos Express fill the gap between the bigger and smaller stores; they stock ready made meals and supply the basic foods. The sales maybe smaller but they retain market share and overall the business in going to profit. Organic foods are becoming a strong strategy to pull in new customers. There is a distinctive line between luxurious and affordable prices. The organic Market is worth 340 million annually, this figure has doubled in the last 2 years. Supermarkets have recognised the potential and responded with their own range of organic produce. Tescos has market lead and Sainsburys are planning a huge launch of its own organic range as is evident from the newspaper headline below. Tesco turns itself into a green giant (The Sunday Times May 31, 2009) Asda will also be taking advantage, a spokeswoman for Asda says: Organic food is definitely something that can be marketed to the masses. Throughout our stores we have a suggestion box programme called Tuned In. More organics is the number one suggestion. A sales increase from 3.1% to 5.4% in sales. And have increased their organic range from 250 to 400 items with cutting prices. Supermarkets may not be able to persuade shoppers from its competitors directly but convenience of better food products may sway them naturally.

Ghost :: essays research papers

  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The fondest memories of my youth include hitting people with sticks and throwing people out of trees. I was probably only about 8 years old when I started masquerading in the woods as a Robin Hood type character. Along with me I had about 7 other outlaws. Daily we would go into the woods and change teammates on our different Klan’s. Someday's we even had up to 12 kids parading through the woods on missions to free friends and seek vengeance for unjust acts that had been committed in our territory. Literally jumping 30 feet in the air from one tree to the next was no large task, it was done almost automatically when a foe approached and was gaining fast on you. Especially when you carry a wound from a battle, the adrenaline will make you do crazed things. Without hesitation or second thought we commonly committed feats which would have caused our parents to banish us from the woods. Trees were used to cut down and turn into weapons. There were throwing stic ks, swords, staffs, and an entire array of undecipherable weapons that were used. Going into battle included tying sticks to your shins so sword blows wouldn't hurt and using sap to thicken the skin on your hands so when the sword went uncontrollably smashing into your hands it wouldn't hurt as bad. I proudly wore the title of king of the mountain. When there was no snow we climbed a steep hill that went straight down about 12 feet into a grass field. Uppercuts and hooks were not uncommon ways of getting a nemesis off of the mountain. I even had a special attack where I would squat, jump, slap the victim in the face, land, and sweep there legs out as I hit them in the knees and stepped on their feet. This would inevitably cause them to crash into the ground. It was almost every time someone was hit off the cliff that we had the wind knocked out of us. If a blow were too forceful then other people would hit you with sticks. At the end of the day we outlaws would be covered with dirt and blood with several abrasions. I loved those woods and think fondly of them whenever I reminisce upon my early childhood. One of the Greatest adventures we had when the entire group of us was together as one Klan occurred when I was in 3rd grade.

Hasbro, Inc. Essay -- GCSE Business Marketing Coursework

Hasbro, Inc. Business Organization and Management Corporate Profile The twentieth century, especially the past fifty years, has certainly been a time of enormous change. Products have changed, the business of manufacturing and marketing toys has changed and the needs and desires of consumers who buy toys have changed. The majority of the world’s toys are now manufactured in the Far East. Perhaps the greatest change in the toy industry has been in the way that toys are sold by incorporating creative and original marketing strategies into company culture. It was Merrill Hassenfeld who broke new ground in 1951 as the first manufacturer to advertise a toy, Mr Potato Head, on television. It didn’t take long to realise the value of appealing directly to children. Today the sophistication of branded toys that can extend from a film to a series of toys and onward to computer software and electronic games might seem incredible to an earlier generation of toy makers. Yet the fundamental values of the toy industry are the same as they have always been. Subsidiaries and Divisions Atari - Manufacturer of coin-operated and consumer video games. Formed in 1972. Hasbro Germany Hasbro Interactive-Publisher of family interactive game CD-ROM software. Formed in 1995. Hasbro Spain Microprose - makes 3-D video games for PC’s Wizards of the Coast-Wizards of the Coast has built a house of cards. The company, a subsidiary of toy giant Hasbro, is best known for trading card games Magic: The Gathering (available in nine languages) and Pokemon. Wizards of the Coast's other offerings include the granddaddy of medieval role-playing adventure games, Dungeons and Dragons, and traditional games such as the Dilbert card game Corporate Shuffle and sci-fi board game RoboRally. The company also operates a Seattle gaming and entertainment center and retail stores under The Game Keeper and Wizards of the Coast names. CEO Peter Adkison, game designer Richard Garfield, and several others founded the company in 1990. Competitors Acclaim Entertainment-Major League All-Stars, an Indian warrior, and a bunch of foul-mouthed kids headline Acclaim Entertainment's array of video games. The Glen Cove, New York-based software publisher's titles, which include All-Star Baseball, Turok, and South Park, are available for PCs, Nintendo, SEGA, and Sony game systems. The company, ... ...d of Human Resources: Bob Carniaux Board of Directors Background of CEO Alan G. Hassenfeld was instrumental in the international growth sales of Hasbro in the late 1980’s. After his brother Stephen died of AIDS in 1989, Alan became CEO. Alan is the third generation of Hassenfeld to control Hasbro. He owns about 10% of the stock. FINANCIAL DATA Ticker Symbol: HAS (NYSE) Dividends: As of July 14, 2000, the dividends are $.06/share Shares Outstanding: As of Jun 00, 172,300,00 Number of Shareholders(institutional): 691 Big Chart Explanation Analysts Rating: Today the analysts ratings were 5 said Hold, 3 said Buy, 2 said Strong Buy This averages out to a 2.3 Hasbro ranks 13 out of 99. It is in the Leisure/Toys games industry. Analyst Ratings compiled using data provided by Zacks Investment Research, Inc. Bond Ratings: As of Feb 28th, Duff & Philips Credit Rating Co. placed its ratings of Hasbro Inc. on Rating Watch Down. DCR rates Hasbro Inc.’s notes and debentures ‘A’ and its commercial paper ‘D-1’.

Compressor Stall :: Essays Papers

Compressor Stall Gas turbine engine performance is limited by aerodynamic instabilities called rotating stall and surge. Currently there are several control strategies for enhancing the operability boundary of laboratory compressors by actively controlling rotating stall and surge. Models which capture the qualitative behavior of the aerodynamic instabilities have been found to exhibit abundant dynamic behavior and to be useful for designing control laws. Operability boundary is defined as the operating point where steady axisymmetric flow is unstable and untolerable amount of rotating stall and surge is present in the system. Operability enhancement is defined as the gap between the operability boundary for the controlled system and that for the uncontrolled system. Operability enhancement is one of the main goals for active control of rotating stall and surge. Actuator limits and system noise are found to limit the operability enhancement. We are interested in two problems: Analysis problem: given a controller with actuator limits and certain noise level, find the operability enhancement; Synthesis problem: given a set of controllers with actuator limits and certain noise level, find one that maximize the operability enhancement. It turns out that the synthesis problem is a minimax problem. We try to answer the analysis problem and the synthesis problem by nonlinear reduction using bifurcation theory and invariant manifold theory. For stall control with bleed valve actuators, we have derived analytic formulas that agree qualitatively with the experimental results on a low speed rig. We have solved the synthesis problem for the case when surge inception is close to stall inception by normal form reduction for a low order compressor model. We are also interested in extending the above control problems to general dynamical systems. We think center manifold reduction and normal form reduction are potential tools.Gas turbine engine performance is limited by aerodynamic instabilities called rotating stall and surge.

Night World : Black Dawn Chapter 15

Maggie shuffled behind Chamber-pot Emptier,heading back toward the castle. She was carryingpiles of folded linen sheets given to her by Laun dress, and she was doing her best to look like a slave. Laundress had smudged her face artisticallywith dirt to disguise her. She had also sifted ahandful of dust into Maggie's hair to dull the auburn into a lifeless brown, and when Maggie bowedher head over the sheets, the hair further obscuredher features. The only problem was that she wasconstantly afraid she was going to sneeze. â€Å"Those are the wild animals,† Chamber-pot Emptier whispered over her shoulder. She was a bigboned girl with gentle eyes that reminded Maggieof the calves tethered by Laundress's hut. It had taken Laundress a while to make her understandwhat they wanted of her, but now she seemed tofeel obligated to give Maggie a tour. â€Å"They're brought in from Outside,† she said. â€Å"And they're dangerous. Maggie looked sideways at the wicker cageswhere Sylvia and Gavin had walked earlier. Fromone a brown-gray wolf stared back at her with afrighteningly sad and steady gaze. In another a sleek black panther was pacing, and it snarled asthey went by. There was something curled up inthe back of a third that might have been a tigerit was big, and it had stripes. â€Å"Wow,† she said. â€Å"I wouldn't want to chase that.† Chamber-pot Emptier seemed pleased. â€Å"Andhere's the castle. It's called Black Dawn.† â€Å"It is?† Maggie said, distracted away from theanimals. â€Å"That's what my grandpa called it, anyway. Helived and died in the courtyard without ever goingin.† Chamber-pot Emptier thought a moment andadded, â€Å"The old people say that you used to be ableto see the sun in the sky-not just behind theclouds, you know. And when the sun came up inthe morning it shone on the castle. But maybethat's just a story.† Yeah, maybe it was just a story that you couldsee the sun in the sky, Maggie thought grimly.Every time she thought this place couldn't surpriseher anymore, she discovered she was wrong. But the castle itself was impressive †¦ awe inspiring. It was the only thing in view that wasn't dusty brown or pallid gray. Its walls were shinyand black, almost mirror-like in places, and Maggie didn't have to be told that it wasn't built of anyordinary human stone. How they had gotten it tothis valley was a mystery. Delos lives here, she thoughtasEmptier led herup a stone staircase, past the ground floor which was just cellars and storage rooms. In this beautiful, frightening, impressive place. Not only lives init, but commands it. It's all his. She got just a glimpse of the great hall, whereshe'd seen slaves setting a long table yesterday. Chamber-pot Emptier led her up another floor andinto a series of winding corridors that seemed to go on for miles. It was dim in this internal labyrinth. The windows were high and narrow and hardly let any ofthe pale daylight in. On the walls there were candles in brackets and flares in iron rings, but theyonly seemed to add wavering, confusing shadowsto the twilight. â€Å"His bedroom's up here,† Emptier murmured finally. Maggie followed her closely. She was justthinking that they had made it all the way withouteven being challenged, when a voice sounded from a side corridor. â€Å"Where are you going? Who's this?† It was a guard, Maggie saw, peering from underher hair. A real medieval guard, with, of all things,a lance. There was another one in the opposite cor ridor just like him. She was fascinated in the middle of her terror. But Chamber-pot Emptier of the not-so-quickwits reacted beautifully. She took time to curtsey, then she said slowly and stolidly, â€Å"It's Folder fromthe laundry, sir. Laundress sent her with the sheetsand I was told she could help me. There's morework because of the guests, you know.† â€Å"It's Chamber Maid's work to spread sheets,† theguard said irritably. Chamber-pot Emptier curtsied again and said just as slowly, â€Å"Yes, sir, but there's more work because of the guests, you see-â€Å" â€Å"Fine, fine,† the guard broke in impatiently. â€Å"Whydon't you go and do it, instead of talking about it?†He seemed to think that was funny, and he turned and elbowed the other guard in the ribs. Chamber-pot Emptier curtseyed a third time and walked on, not hurrying. Maggie tried to copy the curtsey, with her face buried in the sheets. There was another endless corridor, then a doorway, and then Emptier said, â€Å"We're here. Andthere's nobody.around.† Maggie lifted her face from the sheets. â€Å"You're absolutely wonderful, you know that? You deservean Academy Award.† â€Å"A what?† â€Å"Never mind. But you were great.† â€Å"I only told the truth,† the girl said placidly, butthere was a smile lurking in the depths of her gentle cowlike eyes. â€Å"There is more work when guestscome. We never had them before three years ago.† Maggie nodded. â€Å"I know. Look, I guess you'd better go now. And um-Emptier?† She couldn't bring herself to say the entire name. â€Å"I really hope you don't get in trouble because of this.† Chamber-pot Emptier nodded back, then went toreach under the bed and retrieve a ceramic container. She walked out again holding it carefully. Maggie looked around the room, which was verybig and very bare. It was somewhat better lit thanthe corridors, having several bowl-shaped oil lampson stands. The bed was the only real piece of furniture in it. It was huge, with a heavy wooden frameand carved bedposts. Piled on top of it were quiltsand what looked like fur coverlets, and hanging allaround it were linen curtains. I'm probably supposed to take all that stuff off and put the clean sheets on, Maggie thought. Shedidn't. The rest of the furniture seemed to be largechests made of exotic-looking wood, and a fewbenches and stools. Nothing that offered a hidingplace. But on one side there was a curtaineddoorway. Maggie went through it and found a small anteroom-the wardrobe Jeanne had mentioned. It wasmuch bigger than she'd expected, and seemed tobe more of a storeroom than a closet. Okay. So I'll just sit down. There were two stools beside a figure thatvaguely resembled a dressmaker's dummy. Maggie dropped her sheets on a chest and pulled one ofthe stools close to the doorway. Through the spacebetween the linen curtains she could see almost theentire bedchamber. Perfect, she thought. All I have to do is wait untilhe comes in alone. And then She stiffened. She could hear voices from somewhere beyond the vast bedroom. No, she couldhear a voice, a musical girlish voice. Oh, please, she thought. Not her.Don't let him come in with her. I'll have to jump out and hit herwith something; I won't be able to stop myself†¦ . But when two figures came in the room, she hadno desire to jump out. It was Sylvia, all right, but she wasn't with Delos.She was with Hunter Redfern. Maggie felt ice down her spine. Now, what werethese two doing in Delos's bedroom? Whatever itwas, if they caught her, she was dead meat. Sheheld herself absolutely still, but she couldn't tear herself away from the curtain. â€Å"He's out riding, and he won't be back for another half hour,† Sylvia was saying. She was wearing a dark holly-green gown and carrying a basket.†And I've sent all the servants away.† â€Å"Even so,† Hunter Redfern said. He gently movedthe heavy wooden door until it was almost shut.Not all the way, but enough to screen the bedchamber from anyone outside. â€Å"You really think he's spying on our rooms?† Sylvia turned in a swirl of skirts to look at the tallman. â€Å"He's brightmuch smarter than you give himcredit for. And these old castles have spy-holes and listening tubes built in; I remember. It's a stupidprince who doesn't make use of them.† He remembers, Maggie thought, for a moment too full of wonder to be scared. He remembers thedays when castles were built, he means. He's reallybeen alive that long. She studied the handsome face under the bloodred hair, the aristocratic cheekbones, the mobile mouth-and the quick flashing eyes. This was thesort of man who could fascinate people, she decided. Like Delos, there was a sort of leashed tension about him, a reserve of power and intelligence that made an ordinary person feel awed. He was a leader, a commander. And a hunter, Maggie thought. All these peopleare hunters, but he's the Hunter, the epitome ofwhat they are. His name says it all. But Sylvia was talking again. â€Å"What is it that he'snot supposed to know?† â€Å"I've had a message from Outside. Don't ask how,I have my ways.† â€Å"You have your little bats,† Sylvia said demurely.†I've seen them.† There was a pause, then Hunter said, â€Å"You'd better watch yourself, girl. That mouth's going to getyou in trouble.† Sylvia had her face turned away from him, butMaggie saw her swallow. â€Å"I'm sorry. I didn't knowit was a secret. But what's happened?† â€Å"The biggest news in your short life.† Hunter Redfern laughed once and added with apparentgood humor restored, â€Å"And maybe in mine. Thewitches have seceded from the Night World.† Maggie blinked. It sounded impressive the wayhe said itbut more impressive was the way Sylviafroze and then whirled breathlessly. â€Å"What?† â€Å"It's happened. They've been threatening for amonth, but most people didn't believe they'd reallydo it.† Sylvia put a hand to her middle, pressed flatagainst her stomach as if to hold something in.Then she sat on the fur-covered bed. â€Å"They've left the Council,† she said. She wasn'tlooking at Hunter Redfern. â€Å"They've left the Council and everything else.†Ã¢â‚¬ All of them?† Hunter Redfern's fine red eyebrows went up. â€Å"What did you expect? Oh, a few of the blackestpractitioners from Circle Midnight are arguing, butmost of them agree with the liberals in Circle Twilight. They want to save the humans. Avert thecoming darkness.† He said it exactly the way Maggie had heard lumberjacks say, â€Å"Save the spotted owls. Ha!† â€Å"So it's really beginning,† Sylvia murmured. Shewas still looking at the stone floor. â€Å"I mean, there'sno going back, now, is there? The Night World issplit forever.† â€Å"And the millennium is upon us,† Hunter said,almost cheerfully. He looked young and†¦personable, Maggie thought. Somebody you'd vote for. â€Å"Which brings me to the question,† he said smoothly, looking at Sylvia, â€Å"of when you're goingto find her.† What her? Maggie's stomach tightened. Sylvia's face was equally tight. She looked up and said levelly, â€Å"I told you I'd find her and I will.†Ã¢â‚¬ But when?You do understand how important this is?† â€Å"Of course I understand!† Sylvia flared up. Herchest was heaving. â€Å"That's why I was trying to sendher to you in the first place-â€Å" Hunter was talkingasif he didn't hear her. â€Å"If it gets out that Aradia, the Maiden of all the witches,is here in the valley-‘ Iliknow!† â€Å"And that you hadher and let her slip throughyour fingers-â€Å" â€Å"I was trying to bring her to you.I thought thatwas important,† Sylvia said. She was bristling and distraught. Which was exactly what Hunter wantedher to be, Maggie thought dazedly. He really knows how to play people. But the analysis was faraway, in the shallowestpart of her mind. Most of her consciousness wassimply stricken into paralyzed amazement. Aradia. The Maiden of all the witches. So it wasn't Arcadia at all, Maggie thought. She might have mentioned that,after I've been calling her Cady for days. But then she hasn't been conscious much, and when she was we had more urgent things to talk about. Aradia. Aradia. That's really pretty. The name had started an odd resonance in hermind, maybe bringing up some long-forgotten mythology lesson. Aradia was a goddess, she thought.Of†¦ um, sylvan glades or something. The woods.Like Diana. And what Maiden of all the witches was, she hadno idea, but it was obviously something important.And not evil, either. From what Hunter was saying, it was clear that witches weren't like other NightPeople. She was the maiden Bern and Gavin were talkingabout, Maggie realized. The one they were supposed to deliver. So Sylvia was bringing her toHunter Redfern. But Cady herself told me-I mean, Aradiatold me-that she was already coming tothis valley for a reason. Before she could even properly phrase the question, her mind had the answer. Delos. In a coincidence that lifted the hair on Maggie'sarms, Sylvia said, â€Å"She won't get to Delos.† â€Å"She'd better not,† Hunter said. â€Å"Maybe you don't realize how persuasive she can be. An ambassador from all the witches, coming to plead her case †¦ she just might sway him. He has a despicable softspot-a conscience, you might call it. And we know he's been in contact with the human girl who escaped with her. Who knows what messages the little vermin was carrying from her?† No messages, Maggie thought grimly. Not withthis vermin anyway. But I would have carried themif I'd known. â€Å"Gavin said Aradia was still unconscious fromthe truth potion-that she was practically dead,†Sylvia said. â€Å"I don t think she could have given any messages. I'd swear that Delos doesn't know she'sin the valley at all.† Hunter was still brooding. â€Å"The witches have oneWild Power on their side already.† â€Å"But they won't get another,† Sylvia said doggedly. â€Å"I've got people looking for her. All the nobles are on our side. They won't let her get toDelos.† â€Å"She should have been killed in the beginning,†Hunter mused. â€Å"But maybe youhave a soft spotfor herlike you do for that human boy.† Behind the linen curtains, Maggie stiffened. Like you do.Not like you did.And who else couldthe human boy be? She gritted her teeth, listening so hard she couldhear the blood in her ears, willing them to talkabout Miles. But Hunter was going on in his smooth voice,†Or maybe you still have some loyalty to thewitches.† Sylvia's pale face flushed. â€Å"I do not! I'm finishedwith them, and you know it! I may be a spellcaster, but I'm not a witch anymore.† â€Å"It's good to see you haven't forgotten whatthey've done to you,† Hunter said. â€Å"After all, youcould have been a Hearth-Woman, taken yourrightful place on the witch Council.† â€Å"Yes†¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"Like your grandmother and her mother beforeher. Theywere Harmans, and so was your father.What a pity the name isn't passed through the maleline. You ended up being just a Weald.† â€Å"I wasa Harman,† Sylvia said with muted ferocity. She was staring at the floor again, and sheseemed to be speaking to herself rather than toHunter. â€Å"I was. But I had to stand there and watch my cousins be accepted instead of me. I had towatch half humansbe accepted-be welcomed.They took my place-just because they were descended through the female line.† Hunter shook his head. â€Å"A very sad tradition.† Sylvia's breath came raggedly for another minuteor so, then she looked up slowly at the tall man in the center of the room, â€Å"You don't have to worryabout my loyalty,† she said quietly. â€Å"I want a placein the new order after the millennium. I'm through with the witches.† Hunter smiled. â€Å"I know it,† he said, lightly and approvingly, andthen he started pacing the room. He got what hewanted out of her, Maggie thought. Almost casually, he added, â€Å"Just be sure thatDelos's power is kept in check until everything's decided.† Sylvia bent and lifted the basket, which Maggiehad forgotten about. â€Å"The new binding spells will hold,† she said. â€Å"Ibrought special ingredients from one of the oldestMidnight witches. And he won't suspect anything.† â€Å"And nobody but you can take them off?† â€Å"Nobody but me,† Sylvia said firmly. â€Å"Not eventhe Crone of all the witches. Or the Maiden, forthat matter.† â€Å"Good girl,† Hunter said, and smiled again. â€Å"Ihave every confidence in you. After all, you havelamia blood in you to balance the witch taint.You're my own eighth-great-granddaughter.† Maggie wanted to punch him. She was confused and frightened and indignantand furious, all at once. As faras she could tell,Hunter Redfern seemed to be manipulating everybody. And Delos, Delos the prince and Wild Power,was just another of his puppets. I wonder what they plan to do if he won't join their new order? she thought bleakly. After a few minutes, Hunter turned in his pacingand walked by the door. He paused brieflyasiflistening, then glanced at Sylvia. â€Å"You don't know how happy it makes me just to think about it,† he said, in a voice that wasn't strained, or overly cheerful, or too loud, or anything that rang false. â€Å"To finally have a true heir.A male heir of my own line, and untainted by witchblood. I would never have married that witchMaeve Harman if I had known my son was still alive. And not only alive, but out having sons! Theonly true Redferns left in the world, you mightsay. Maggie, with her teeth set in her lower lip, didn'tneed to guess who was on the other side of thedoor. She watched tensely. And Delos came in, right on cue.

‘The Pit and The Pendulum’ by Edgar Allan Poe and ‘An Encounter’ by James Joyce Essay

An analytical study of ‘The Pit and The Pendulum’, ‘An Encounter’ and ‘The Pedestrian’, focusing on the themes of paralysis, entrapment and isolation The texts chosen for this study are: ‘The Pit and The Pendulum’ by Edgar Allan Poe and ‘An Encounter’ by James Joyce which, I feel, are appropriate as they provide comprehensive coverage of the themes analysed whilst managing to cover a historical period of some seventy years1. Poe’s piece is a dark, Gothic work which deals, in great depth, with the notion of both mental and physical paralysis encompassed in an entrapping and isolated atmosphere. Joyce, on the other hand, takes a characteristically more diverse and subtle approach to the concept of paralysis, cunningly concealing the theme within the stagnant surroundings of his Dublin. Verbal ‘entrapment’ is furthermore offered in the form of a dubious elderly man. The story ‘An Encounter’ by James Joyce amply exhibits many stylistic features associated with the modernist author – for example the use of epiphany or writing through first person narrative, with inner monologue to highlight the consciousness of the protagonist and also subtly divulge the feelings of others to the perhaps more ‘aware’ readership. However, Poe, on the contrary, chooses to play the cards of shock and terror in a style which is far more explicit and gruesome in comparison with Joyce’s incorporation of ambiguity. The theme of paralysis is key to Joyce’s work – the notion is implicit throughout Dubliners as a whole. With this idea comes its antithesis – escape – or with respect to ‘An Encounter’ and many of the other stories, thwarted escape. It is because of the character’s desire to achieve this freedom, that when the day fails to reach its high expectations, the stagnation and restrictiveness of the surroundings are powerfully reinforced – perhaps even confirmed. From the outset of the tale, Joyce ponders the notion of escape. Characters searching for such an escape, often describe how they would wish to travel afar to achieve it. So important, it seems, is this idea that the protagonist of the initial story of Dubliners, can be quoted of aspiring to exotic, foreign fantasy: ‘I felt that I had been very far away, in some land where the customs were strange – in Persia, I thought.’ This feeling is openly exhibited in ‘An Encounter’, as Joyce’s first person narrator states; ‘Real adventures, I reflected, do not happen to people who remain at home: they must be sought abroad.’ In the story, Joyce develops the theme in the form of an inner monologue – the thoughts of the protagonist dictating how his ‘Wild West’ adventures ‘opened doors of escape’. The method used is quite customary of the author- the thought processes of the boy (relating to escape) are ultimately what drive the tale, yet Joyce quietly conveys them through subtle, nondescript details. Joyce’s relationship with his hometown appears, like his works, slightly ambiguous. He may often be quoted of his distaste for the stagnant city2, succeeding in displaying it with an absence of enthusiasm, as a moribund, non-eventful hive. However, one feels that on reflection, after reading his work a subtle affection is undoubtedly apparent – perhaps Joyce’s time spent in exile3 incubated an innate longing for the city – Dublin’s entrapment being, perhaps, what fuelled this fascination with the petty happening of the city? Joyce’s relationship with the theme of entrapment in Dubliners is essential to the text: at times he appears intent, at others repelled. ‘An Encounter’ deals with methods of escape other than exotic foreign adventure, focusing on the attempt of two boys to ‘break out of the weariness’ of their everyday environment. Although, at first the prospect of adventure excites the young boys, there is constant undertone of anti-climax carefully intertwined into the story. Joyce writes from the first person point view, often through analepsis. It is perhaps because of this that a frequent air of frustration pursues the young schoolboys – it is as if the story is being recalled by a man embittered by the ‘restraining’ and ultimately paralysed city of Dublin. Quite often Joyce refuses to commit any fervent emotion to events, preferring to use lacklustre qualifying adverbs or adjectives; ‘†¦ We were all vaguely excited†¦ it was a mild sunny morning’ Joyce intently chooses to focus in on the most insipid details, usually choosing to focus on empirical sense experience – such as Mahoney’s grey suit or the ‘brown4 fishing fleet’- which works to suppress the buoyant atmosphere. This notion is also relative to the descriptive mood, which the author quite purposely generates through negative evocation of certain aspects: ‘†¦ The docile horses†¦ the drivers of groaning carts.’ This process of qualification through modifiers generates a subdued atmosphere parallel to that of the jaded inner-consciousness of the protagonists. The negativity which is now apparent in almost everything encountered appears to be an entrapping agent over the boys, who sulk into a resigned and somewhat resentful state, a state which is furthermore reiterated by the repetition of the adverb ‘too’: ‘It was too late and we were too tired to carry out our project of visiting the Pigeon House.’ Joyce has succeeded in presenting Dublin as an impotent city of circularity and entrapment. He is now anxious to erase the protagonist’s claim; ‘I was very happy’, from the audience’s memories, introducing words such as ‘solemn’, ‘sedulous’ and eventually even denotes the character’s thoughts as ‘jaded’. There is constant, yet suitable repetition of the adjective ‘tired’ – the day has become tedious, adventure and escape have proved elusive, and the encounter of a less than legendary sea-farer has confirmed that the protagonist will not find merriment in Dublin, forever doomed to live in the fantasies of comic book and literature. However, despite its lack of event, the day does provide the boys with one notable incident. Aspirations of escape having been superseded, Joyce begins a new paragraph focusing primarily on the silence and ‘stillness’ of the eventual situation: ‘There was nobody but ourselves in the field. [We had] lain on the bank for some time without speaking’. Through creating such an ominous, yet ‘dying’ atmosphere – sentences slowly becoming shorter, more concise (defeating imaginative possibility as displayed by the boys hitherto) and less picturesque use of vocabulary – Joyce signals the need for new themes to be introduced. He achieves this through the introduction of a curious elderly antagonist. The old man introduces the possibility of in-depth monologue and direct speech. In the conversation with the boys, he seemingly manages to entrap the young protagonist with his reference to literature – a topic of known interest to the boy – and also through cunningly incorporating a sinister ‘circular’ approach. Joyce is very keen to exploit the idea of circularity in his work and in this piece, the ‘monotonous’ voice of the antagonist and the way his voice ‘slowly circles round and round in the same orbit’, help to achieve the spellbinding quality of the man. This technique paralyses the narrator, who seemingly allows the man to give a discourse in the form of a monologue – mainly due to his apparent inability to interrupt. The politeness evident in the boy’s character is in hindsight, far from being useful. Joyce implicitly airs his personal views on the expensive Jesuit schooling that the protagonist has been subject to by placing the boy in a situation of danger. The resultant irony – learnt social skills being a hindrance – also helps highlight Joyce’s disregard for the church and its establishments. The worrying feature of the man’s discourse is the implicitly perverse way in which he speaks. He frequently refers to the ‘whipping’ of young boys, with one feels, over-excitable ardour. Joyce establishes the man’s odd approach through primarily using such adjectives as ‘magnetised’ and ‘circle’ in reference to his thought process. This creates the impression that he is intent on the subject. Secondly, a section of reported speech is introduced; ‘When a boy was rough and unruly there was nothing would do him any good but a good sound whipping†¦ what he wanted was to get a nice warm whipping.’ Joyce emphasises the mans positive outlook on the subject through the use of a positive lexical range; there is repetition of the word ‘good’ – firstly as a noun, secondly as an adjective – and also use of the adjective ‘nice’, which appears somewhat misplaced when used in conjunction with the concept of whipping. The protagonist’s isolation from sympathetic intellectuals due to young age means he is quick to warm to the old man when he talks of literature. In the epiphany, he even appears isolated from his closest friend, Mahoney, and it appears to me that the epiphany of the piece (from the young boy’s perspective) confirms that the older man has had a profound influence on his views – both intellectually and sexually. It appears that after entrapment, the isolation of the naà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ve child has left him susceptible to corruption and the ‘encounter’ has left the boy and the audience with the idea (with undoubted authorial intent) that the world is not such an innocent place. Such mental metamorphosis is more openly explicit in Edgar Allen Poe’s work, no epiphanies are evident, yet a first person narrative works to convey the progressively tortured thoughts of the protagonist to the reader. ‘The Pit and The Pendulum’ is a piece typical of the nineteenth century ‘gothic horror’ genre. The main area of focus is that of psychological terror and mental torture of the protagonist, brought about through natural agents and physical entrapment and isolation. The style is typical of Poe, aesthetic – as opposed to scientific – and wholly grotesque. The piece is, in its simplest form, an account of the destruction of the protagonist’s psyche. Poe begins ‘in medias res’ by describing the trial of the man, the narrator intently focusing upon his gloomy and confused mental state. Syntax used is complex and verbose, helpfully describing the characters inner consciousness and displaying his tangled, entrapping thought processes. The lexical field and imagery employed is especially exotic and indulgent – Poe uses metaphorical language peppered with adverbs and adjectives as the candles before the man alter from ‘white slender angels’ to ‘meaningless spectres, with heads of flame’. Another technique which is commonly employed by Poe is that of repetition, in this particular story, Poe often relies on the syntactical position of verbs to gradually heighten tension, and prompt his audience. A good example of repetition may be found when the protagonist is awaiting his doom at the hands of the pendulum – each new paragraph commences with the preposition ‘down’: ‘Down – steadily down it crept†¦ Down – certainly relentlessly down!.. Down – still increasingly – still inevitably down!’ This repetition works to give extra strength to the nemesis and increase the tense, anxious and bleak atmosphere. The notion of ‘down’ is the most important in the authors mind, and the layout of the word on the page vividly reflects the terrifying motion of the blades descent and, more importantly, the ever more dejected mental state of the protagonist. A technique used by Poe – and also exhibited by Joyce- is that of prolepsis. The fact that the protagonist is often left thinking of what ‘may be’ suggests a certain degree of isolation – the surrounding atmosphere offering no apparent subjects for the character to focus on in the present. In ‘The Pit and the Pendulum’, Poe incorporates a feeling of perpetual unease into the thought processes of his protagonist. There are frequent examples of this which often come about directly before the ‘ghastly’ prospects of the character are realised; as in the heightened, almost hysterical language and excited syntax of: ‘The result of the slightest struggle, how deadly! Was it likely, moreover, that the minions of the torturer had not foreseen and provided for this probability? It is characteristic of Poe to use hyperbole, a technique which creates a melancholy, theatrical feeling – often seemingly increasing the grandeur. Hyperbole also escalates the terror and entrapment suffered by the protagonist, the indulgent language used portrays a somewhat exaggerated experience to the audience. This technique is supported by extensive use of adjective and adverb, commonly negative in effect, as when the protagonist is close to death by the pendulum; ‘The odour of the sharp steel forced itself into my nostrils. I prayed – I wearied heaven with my prayer for its more speedy descent. I grew frantically mad, and struggled to force myself upward against the sweep of the fearful scimitar. And then I fell suddenly calm, and lay smiling at the glittering death†¦Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ Psychological entrapment in the story is offered in the form of ‘The Pit’. To accomplish the desired atmosphere for such a tortured fate, Poe begins to describe the physical surroundings of the protagonist in some detail. The ‘subterranean world of darkness’ to which the man is instantly subject to is stereotypically associated with Poe’s genre of writing, the gloom becoming a perfect vehicle to carry an unnerving, mystifying atmosphere. Further concern for the antagonist is drawn from the constant reference to his ‘fatigued’ state and also the dangerously ‘moist and slippery’ characteristics of the chamber. The tension generated relies heavily on Poe’s use of syntax – the protagonist encounters ‘The Pit’ through a sequence of brief sentences: ‘I proceeded for many paces; but still all was blackness and vacancy. I breathed more freely.’ The length of the sentences and the fact that Poe does not feel it necessary to justify or convolute the thoughts of the protagonist – who currently sees his punishment as ‘[not] the most hideous of fates’ – represents relatively calm and clear thought processes. As the narrator becomes evermore aware of the horrific situation, Poe mirrors his mounting terror through increasingly complex syntax: ‘The difficulty, nevertheless, was but trivial; although, in the disorder of my fancy, it seemed at first insuperable.’ Poe’s evidently excessive accentuation of punctuation, creating furthermore verbose sentences, achieves a faster movement of thought and a growing sensation of confusion. Eventually, as the protagonist gradually uncovers the secrets of his confinement, a greater fear of entrapment and danger being incubated inside him is realised. Poe displays this through every quickening pace in complex sentences which are supported with dashes – giving the effect of total bemusement and terror in the protagonist, feelings which almost lead to the making of treacherous mistakes. Quite suddenly, with a simple sentence – perceptibly out of step with the ever-increasing complexity of the syntax – the climax of the character’s investigation is revealed; ‘I stepped on it, and fell violently on my face.’ With the inclusion of this short, astute sentence, Poe signals that complex syntax hitherto has given sufficient insight to the audience and that the tensi on has peaked. The fact that the piece is written in the form of a first person narrative always suggests – in a similar style to James Joyce’s reflective, possibly older narrator – that the protagonist is reminiscing about his exploits, and that ultimately the piece will not end in his death. This is, of course, the case when General Lasalle of the French army comes to the rescue. The ending is extremely interesting as Poe chooses, unlike the other events of the story, to dramatically reduce proceedings – deciding to summarise the rescue in a short paragraph. The said paragraph uses more restrained syntax – exclamation is succeeded by a simple statement which, in the context, appears almost bathetic. ‘The fiery walls rushed back!.. The French army had entered Toledo.’ It is not entirely clear why Poe has chosen to end the piece in an almost anticlimactic manner. Perhaps he chooses to condense the singular joyful occurrence of the narrative thus maintaining its stance as a work of horror. Many sources, however, maintain that the story’s closure was dictated by demanding time restrictions implemented by Poe’s publishers5. Another reason for Poe choosing a first person narrator is perhaps that this perspective gives us a stronger feeling of entrapment due to our constant awareness of the innermost feelings of the protagonist. The narrative does not, unlike a third person perspective, allow the audience to transcend the situation, providing direct access to the horror which is occurring on the page. There is also no direct speech in the story. This fact reinforces the idea of isolation in the way that the protagonist has no need to speak due to absolute solitude. The grotesque element of Poe’s work, which quite frequently works as a perversely aesthetic or romantic catalyst for the mental entrapment of the protagonist, is usually evident in the form of a tormentor drawn from nature.6 In ‘The Pit and The Pendulum’, psychological suffering is brought on by a swarm of rats. These animals bring negative connotation, as they are associated with such horror as The Plague. They are definitely an effective device which works to supplement the physical entrapment already being suffered by the protagonist at this time. At one point, Poe also uses ‘fearful images’ of skeleton forms and such, which ‘disfigure’ the surrounding walls. It is stated that these figures have been created by monks, suggesting that this environment is some kind of medieval building – not designed specifically for torture. It is therefore interesting to observe how Poe manages to alter these innocent images into emotionally petrifying fiends – working as the author will have wished, to terrify the protagonist and therefore, the readership. By introducing entrapment in the form of the wooden framework and hideous vermin, Poe has realised the importance of including both physical and metaphysical entrapment a work of the Gothic horror genre of which he is undeniably a master.    1 ‘The Pit and The Pendulum’ was first published in 1843 for a collection named The Gift, later (revised) for the Broadway Journal in 1985. ‘An Encounter’ – taken from Dubliners – was written in 1904 yet published 1914. 2 In a letter to his English publisher, Grant Richards, he claimed that his intention was ‘to write a chapter of the moral history of my country and I chose Dublin for the scene because that city seemed to me the centre of paralysis.’ (Letters, II, 134). 3 During the summer of 1904, Joyce and his new-found love Nora Barnacle left Ireland for Europe. At ‘An Encounter’s’ time of writing, it is most likely that Joyce was living in Pola – Croatia. 4 The use of the adverb ‘brown’ is also evident to the same effect in the story ‘Araby’. Entrapment is projected through the ‘brown imperturbable faces’ of the housing. 5 SEE NOTE