An Analysis Of The Financial Situation Marketing Essay

An Analysis Of The Financial Situation Marketing Essay Upon the successful completion of ACCAs fundamental level, I met the eligibility criteria of BSc Honours Programme, offered by Oxford Brookes University in partnership with ACCA for ACCA students. I had to select a topic from a vast variety of more than twenty topics to embark upon. After short listing them one by one, I decided to choose Topic 8 The business and financial performance of an organisation over a three year period for my research project. There were several reasons for choosing this particular topic. Apart from my personal interest, I wanted to apply my academic learning into a real world scenario as studying F7, Financial Reporting in the fundamental level of ACCA and P2, Corporate Reporting in the Professional Level, gave me high conceptual grip of financial analysis. It would also prove helpful to me in the future as I have a strong desire to invest into Plcs through the stock exchange once I start my career as an Investment Banker. I wanted to analyze on an organisation that operated in a highly competitive environment so that I would be able to compare its results with a competitor to see the financial and operational performance and the relation to the proposed strategy. This would also help make the report more interesting for the readers. Increasing trend in fashion, new clothing brands being introduced and the rapidly changing style sense of people, brought me to the conclusion to select an organization in the clothing retail industry. After researching on a few of the leading brands in the clothing industry of UK, I decided to analyse the financial performance of Next Plc and to compare it with Marks and Spencers. United Kingdom Clothing Market: In 1992, the United Kingdom clothing market emerged from the recession of the late 1980à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ²s and has continued to benefit from the renaissance of High Street spending throughout the 1990à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ²s. In late 1996, early 1997, the clothing retail industry showed signs of being boosted by the continued growth in personal spending, aided most recently by the payments consumers received from the building society conversion. In order to prevent economic overheating, the United Kingdom government and its major financial institutions were keen to dampen consumer spending. This occurred with the Bank of Englandà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ²s decision to raise interest rates. The introduction of new entrants into the clothing market and their, expansion, growth and diversification of outlets both in the chain and independent sector at all ends of the market i.e high, mid, and low were also important factors in the development of the United Kingdom clothing industry. Furthermore the retailers, revolutionized and thought to introduce new ways to sell their products. One of the popular methods was via the mail-order catalogues. This has now been super seeded by the arrival of television and Internet-based clothing outlets. There are in excess of 25,000 clothes retailing businesses in the United Kingdom, with a combined outlet total of 45,500 outlets. 1.2 Company Profile The Next retail chain was launched in February 1982 and the first store opened with an exclusive coordinated collection of stylish clothes, shoes and accessories for women. Collections for men, children and the home quickly followed. Next clothes are styled by the in-house design team to offer consistency of style, quality and value for money with a contemporary fashion edge. (Next Plc, Business Overview, The Next Brand [online]) Next Plc is a brand name in the United Kingdom clothing market for stylish, trendy men and women between 20 and 40 years of age. Menswear, womenswear, childrenswear and babywear is part ot the expansion into all the sectors of the clothing market under the NEXT brand label. Today Next Plc employees over 30,000 people and operates from more than 500 stores in the UK and Eire and over 170 franchise stores overseas, including Europe, Asia and Middle East. This makes Next Plc, one of the biggest High Street retailers in the United Kingdom. Over the last few years several larger format stores have opened across the UK and, in October 2005, Next opened the anchor store at the Manchester Arndale Centre with a store in excess of 80,000 square feet. Next Plc mainly operates through 5 basic divisions: Next Retail operates the high street shops through more than 330 stores covering the UK and Ireland; Next Directory is the mail order division which also contain the e-commerce platform; Next Overseas operates retail outlets in the United States, Asia, Europe, and the Middle East through franchise agreements; The company also provides home shopping and financial services, that make up the other 2 divisions: Ventura runs the financial services division by providing customer services management to clients wishing to outsource their customer contact administration and fulfilment activities Other activities include telecommunications software services and property management. For the first time in August 1985, Next launched its interiors range of soft furnishings for the home. Following the success of this diversification and the introduction of Next directory and home shopping, later in 1993, Next Plc announced its brand strategy, of One Brand Two Ways of Shopping, bringing together the common ranges across both retail and home shopping formats. 1.3 AIMS AND OBJECTIVES OF THE REPORT The primary aim of this report is to evaluate the business and financial performance of Next plc between, the three years ended, from 28th January 2006 to 24th January 2009. The main focus of this report can be summarized into: To understand Next Plcs Business Strategy; and how it has facilitated Next Plc to achieve success. To analyze and present financial information in a manner which will enable to evaluate the overall financial performance of Next Plc from the year-ended 28/01/2006 to 24/01/2009. To analyze the nature of clothing retail industry and the competitive environment in which Next Plc operates, and the affects it had on the company. 1.4 Executive Summary Exciting,beautifully designed,excellent quality clothing and homeware;presented in collections that reflect the aspirations and means of our customers (Annual Report 06) Next Plcs aim is to provide its customers with good quality clothing at a reasonable price. According to Michael Porter, in terms of Porters Generic Strategies this would be more of a stuck in the middle position, as it is competing with the market cost leaders as well as product differentiators. However, the success of Next Plc has shown that it has successfully operated in such a mid-market position and has done very well to implement its strategy. The overall business strategy has been successful. Despite an ongoing programme of expansion over the last few years, the company has continued to increase profits, besides the decline in 2009 due to the unstable economy of United Kingdom. It has been forced to close only four outlets due to poor performance over the past years. The above chart shows a steady increase of 32.3% during the years 2004 to2008. This followed brand-strengthening strategies and a new perspective in overseas development. During the three fiscal years ended, the performance of the group can be summarised as follows; Turnover increased by 7.17% Profit before tax increased by 10.91% Earnings per share incresed by 32.41% Dividends increased by 25% Overall the figures are not much high, but they look promising and have shown a steady improvement over the years except in 2009 when the figures declined steeply. The group has set a target to increase its sales turnover in the years to come and increse its earnings per share, that is one of the most important financial objective. Uncertain economic outlook, rising tax rates and weakinig pound against euro and dollar may act as barriers to this target, but it is highly probable that it will be achieved, by better and efficicient stock, margins, costs, including overhead and administration cost controls. 2 INFORMATION GATHERING 2.1 Sources used and their reasons 2.1.1 Primary Research Primary research is the research in which the researcher collects original data directly about the product, market and organization by whatever means appropriate to answer the research questions i.e it is specificially related to a particular Research Project. It is data that did not exist before. Due to the availability of sufficient information from secondary sources, I felt that there was no need of primary data. Hence, most of my work is based on secondary sources. 2.1.2 Secondary research I used two main sources for the secondary research. Library I went through various books in the College library. I used BPP study text Success in your research and analysis project which gave me an initial outline, approach, and structuring for the project. Studying the Bsc Oxford Brookes Information Pack gave me the essential information on how to go about the project. The study texts published for ACCA examinations provided me with an array of analytical tools to use in achieving the aims of this report. Electronic research I mainly relied on the Internet to formulate this report, as there was vast information available on the internet, needed for this report. The various databases and search engines to collect the information I needed for the report were: Next Plcs website was the most important and authentic source of information. It provided me with the annual reports, company profile, its history and all the other information I needed for this report which includes the audited financial statements aswell. The website also had an archive of company news which gave me a hindsight of the more immediate matters faced by the company. Competitor websites (for the same reasons) Reuters website (http://stocks.us.reuters.com), this provided me with the financial statements of Sainsburys and Tesco for the past five years along with ratios of both companies and the industry averages for the current period. London Stock Exchange website, providing details of historic share performance and relevant industry and competitor news Using internet search engines (Google, and Wikipedia) to gather information related to Next Plcs and the UK clothing retail industry. Other business related databases used to obtain relevant industry and competitor news are: Financial Times (www.ft.com) Accountancy age (www.accountancyage.com) Business Week (www.businessweek.com) BBC (www.bbc.co.uk) 2.2 Methods Used Information gathering is a critical and crutial phase, as the whole of the research is based on the information gathered, so it should be done in an organized and systematic way. Information access has become simpler with extensive details and volume available online and offline therefore a plan has to be made beforehand to be able to extract the relevant and accurate material in order to form a well-structured and organized report, which is easy to understand to the users of the report. Main method I used to collect the information was to use the GOOGLE search engine. By just entering a few key words in the search bar it provided me with the links of numerious different websites, that contained loads of information, which was both relevant and irrelevant for this report,. So I went through all the information and chose the one that was relevant and necesaary to formulate this report. I wanted to have the relevant material in hand before I actually started the report writing process. I started my research way before I actually started to write the report, so as I used to browse different websites, I bookmarked the web pages which had the relevant articles so that I would not have any problems referencing the information if I had chosen to quote it in my report. I printed the Financial Statements of Next Plc that I downloaded from its website and had also imported it into MS Excel to perform the ratio analysis on. 3 ANALYSIS 3.1 PORTERS GENERIC STRATEGIES Next Plcs aim is to concentrate on the design, quality and value of the product, together with excellent customer service and deliver. ( John Barton, Chairman Next Plc, Annual Report 2009) Michael Porter identified three generic strategies (See Appendix A) by which organizations gain competitive advantage. Porter argued that to be successful an organization should select and implement one of the strategies, i.e. either cost-leadership or differentiation. According to Porters viewpoint Next Plc would be a classic stuck in the middle whereby it is trying to compete with the Industry Cost Leaders, Primark etc. as well as the Product Differentiators, House Of Fraser However, the overall success of Next Plc has proved quite the opposite and there exists another viewpoint that a single generic strategy is not always best because within the same product customers often seek multi-dimensional satisfactions such as a combination of quality, style, convenience, and price. Next Plc seeks to provide its customers with fair price products without compromising on their quality and has been successfully operated in such a mid-market position. When interpreted narrowly as referring to the appeal of a product to its target buyers, the proposition that firms should not be stuck in the middle should not be taken to imply that companies must be down-market or up-market, but nothing in-between. Such a view is belied by the evident success of companies such as Next Plc, which earn substantial economic rents in a mid-market position. PIMS (Profit impact of marketing strategy) data and other evidence shows, however, that intermediate positions are indeed profitable and are successfully exploited by many firms. (Michael Cronshaw, Evan Davis and John Kay (1994), pp. 19-33) 3.2 SWOT ANALYSIS Next Plc STRENGTHS Brand Name Niche strategy WEAKNESSES E-Commerce Concentrated market OPPORTUNITIES Expand into EU Marketing Opportunity THREATS Competitor price war Economy Strengths BRAND NAME Next Plc uses its own label Next to sell its products. Customers of Next associate themselves with the Next label. As they use their own brand it is easier for them to react on customers wishes and to adapt them very quickly keeping control over the quality management. NICHE STARTEGY Next Plc adapts a niche strategy and its main target group is between the ages of 20-40. This strategy has worked quite well over the past years and it has emerged as one of the strengths of Next Plc, designing adult fashion wear for the people between 20-40. While some of its competitors have problems to satisfy this segment, NEXT managed it very well in the past, selling their stylish products at reasonable prices. WEAKNESSES E-COMMERCE Although Next Plc introduced its online shopping in 1999 and the entire collection is available to shop from on the internet, but Next Plc does not invest a significant amount on e-commerce as its competitors do. Debenhams for example invest approximately GBP 5m on internet technology while on the other hand Marks Spencer spend around GBP 50m on e-commerce and digital TV. Trend of internet shopping is increasing rapidly; therefore Next Plc should reconsider their IT strategy and invest more into e-commerce to stay in the competition. CONCENTRATED MARKET Next operates in a highly competitive retail clothing market, therefore there is concentration of similar type of clothing manufactures, e.g. Marks Spencer, Arcadia. This can damage Next, if competitors gain the market share or if consumers change their habits and Next does not adapt to these changes quickly. OPPORTUNITIES EXPAND INTO EU More than 90% of the revenue generated by Next Plc is within the UK under the brand names of Next Retail and Next Directory. However there is an opportunity to increase the revenue and sales by expanding its operation into EU countries. Next Plc has already its operations in mainland China, Hong Kong, Romania, Sri Lanka, India, Turkey but if it expands into EU it can diversify the risk of the concentration of UK retail market and the strength of Great Britain Pound over Euro, which currently is not that high due to the recession but in future this can be a good source of income. MARKETING OPPORTUNITY Next plc is already running a groundbreaking mail order operation Next Directory, which was launched in 1988 with a hardback, creating the blueprint for catalogue retailing. It is ranked number one among the High Street names that offer mail order clothing. This is an effective marketing techniques added by Next Directory, i.e. the online shopping service for its targeted age group 20-40 as they have little time to do their shopping. This could be a great opportunity for Next to increase its market share. THREATS COMPETITOR PRICE WAR The UK clothing retail industry is a highly competitive industry. Next Plc has over the past few years managed to compete very well and occasionally offering sale and promotions as well. However if cost-leaders retaliate this, it may have serious consequences as the business strategy of Next Plc is different to the cost-leaders, such as Primark, and it may not be able to compete with them in this area. Also indulging in a price war would mean that the quality of its products may have to be compromised. ECONOMY Due to the recent credit crunch, UK economy generally is facing a downturn. This has affected many industrys including retail. This is one of the main reason for the downfall in the revenue of Next Plc in 2009. The other worrying factor is the weakning of pound, this affects adversly to Next Plc due to its international suppliers. According to the analysts, UK economy will improve in 2010, and bringing back the sales for Next Plc. PEST Analysis Political: A stable and sound political environment is the basis for long-term decisions. The United Kingdom, as a Member State of the European Union, fulfils this prerequisite. The government has to act within a definite political framework to achieve the conditions of the European Union and this guarantees Next Plc a higher scope of economic actions. Another advantage of the European Union is the open transfer of goods. This makes it easier for Next Plc to sell their products in the different European countries. There are no trade barriers that aggravate sales. Economic United Kingdom had a stable economy in the last few years but since 2008, it is experiencing one of the worst recession in the history. This has affected almost all of the businesses in the United Kingdom. Due to this, Pound has become weaker than Euro and Dollar. This can be alarming for Next Plc, as these two are the main purchasing currencies oof the group. Secondly, due to this, foreign investments have become expensive for the group and it may become a hurdle for the group in order to expand overseas. The group now, can not exploit the favourable economic conditions of United Kingdom, when the Pound was exceedingly stong in the past few years where the group expanded its operaions the most. Social: The social structure has changed dramatically over the last few years. People are eager to find more convinent way to shop e.g internet shopping and shopping from home, due to the busy life and lack of time to go and shop from the retail stores. Nexts target customers are in the range of 20 to 40. People in this age group are much busier than rest and prefer to shop online, due to their interest in technology. In order to retain this customer age group, Next Plc must need to understand the needs of people and respond immediately. This will also result in customer satisfaction and an increase in market share for the group if it tends to satisfy its customers . Techinlogical: The age of Internet and the reception of new media reveal a lot of potential opportunities for Next Plc to boost profits Therefore the group relies heavily on its sub-brand Next Directory, through which customers can shop online, conveniently from home or through a mail order catalogue and the products are delivered the next day. Using this method the group can react instantly to changes in behaviours of its customers. 3.4 FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE The activities of the company in recent years have resulted in an exceptional financial performance. 3.4.1 SALES REVENUE The sales revenue of the group increased reasonablly well in the two years 2006-2008. Revenue incresed from  £ 3106.20m to  £ 3283.80m during the year ended 27th January 2007 resulting in an increase of 5.71% and in the year ended 28th January 2008, revenue further increased by 1.37% showing a consistant performance. This was achieved by roburst performance of Next Directory, and an effective cost control system. These are good results in a period of economic slowdown and are a reflection of the efforts we have made in building and improving the Next brand. (John Barton, Chairman Next Plc, Annual Report 2008) In 2009 the revenue of the group fell by 1.73% from  £ 3329.10M in 2008 to  £ 3271.50M in 2009. It was a tough year for the group, mainly because of the unstable economic conditions of UK as a whole, which began by the end of 2008 and still continues to worsen. Another reason for the decline in the turnover was the weakening of Great Britain Pound against dollar and euro, which are the main purchasing currencies of the group. But still the group did well to survive in these conditions and the management was pretty much optimistic about the financial conditions of the country. 3.4.2 PROFITABLITY RATIOS Gross Profit Margin The gross profit margin changed a little over the three years, this is because of the highly effective and efficient cost management of Next Plc. Revenue has increased over the years but the cost of sales hasnt changed much, proving that the group is cutting down its cost to save its customers from higher prices. In 2009, even under the tense economic conditions, the group has managed to decrease its cost of sales by 0.7% from  £2380m in 2008 to  £ 2,363m in 2009. This became possible due to the effective supplier management and good buying terms with its suppliers, even though pound got weaker against dollar and euro, which are the two main purchasing currencies of the group and higher tax rates, Next Plc aimed at reducing its costs rather than charging its customers with higher prices. Their response has been excellent,working hard with our suppliers to protect our customers from unaffordable price increases and our own margins, as far as possible. ( John Barton, Chairman Next Plc, Annual Report 2009) Marks and Spencers G.P margin was 38.6%% in 2008 and this decreased to 37.2% in 2009. This shows that the economic conditions were affecting everyone. But still GP margin of Marks and Spencers is better than Next. This is due to the increased amount of revenue generated by Marks and Spencers over the years from 2007 to 2009, in contrast with Next Plc. Net Profit Margin In 2008 net profit increased by 0.68% from 15.45% in 2007 to 16.13% in 2008. This was mailny due to the increase in revenue and effective management of overhead costs. In 2009, net profit declined by 9.3% from 16.13% in 2008 to 14.62% in 2009. Along with the weak economic environment and the decline in sales, another reason for this decline was the 39.9% increase in the overhead costs since 2008. This increase in the cost was due to the overseas expansion of the operations and the investment to strenghthen the Next brand. We are also extending the Next Brand into new overseas markets where we believe there are opportunities to build profitable businesses. If this is successful it will bring new sources of growth over the longer term. (John Barton, Chairman Next Plc, Annual Report 2008) Our goal has been to put a little of the magic back into the Next Brand through our product ranges, marketing and shopfit (Simon Wolfson, CEO Next Plc, Annual Report 2008) In contrast to this, the Net Profit Margin of Marks and Spencers is quite low as compared to Next Plc. It showed a varied trend over the three year period, being 10.9% in 2007, increasing to 11.8% by the year ended March 2008. In 2009, net profit declined by 22.16% from 11.8% in 2008 to 9.6% in 2009. Marks and Spencers incurs a very high cost on its admin, selling and general expenses amouting to almost  £2400m on average every year where as, Next Plc incurs just  £ 345m a year. Return on Capital Employed The return on capital employed (ROCE) assesses profits with the amount of funds (capital) employed to make the profits. This increased from 49.77% in 2007 to -53.27% in 2008. This represents an increase of 3.5%. But due to the economic unstability, the group could not maintain its high ROCE over the years and it declined by 9.85% from 53.27% in 2008 to 43.42% in 2009. On the other hand Marks and Spencers ROCE in 2008 increased by 0.44% to 22.37%. In 2009, it declined by 9.75% to 12.62%. This difference shows that Next is managing its resources much better, despite the fact that the revenue generated by Next Plc is approximately 37% lower than Marks and Spencers. The reason for a low ROCE for Marks and Spencers is the high overhead costs. It must control its costs in order to generate a higher return and free up additional extra capital invested. 3.4.3 LIQUIDITY RATIOS Current Ratio: This is a measure of the adequacy of companys current assets to meet short-term liabilities as they fall due, i.e its a basic liqiudity ratio. A ratio between 1 and 2 thought to be a standard level of liquidity. Next Plcs current ratio was 1.33, 1.11 and 1.50 in 2007, 2008 and 2009 respectively. This shows a healthy situation of the group as it has more current assests than its current liabiliteis as the ratio is greater than 1, therefore there does not seem to be any alarming situation for the group. If we compare the ratio of 1.50 in 2009, with the industry average of 1.93, it is very reasonable for the group but it can be improved by more efficient working capital management. Comparing the ratio to Marks and Specers, it was 0.52,0.59,0.60 respectively in 2007,2008 and 2009. This is because Marks and Spencers have a relatively high amount of current liabilities than Next Plcs, almost 30% more in year 2009. Quick Ratio: This differs from current ratio as it eliminates inventory from current assets providing a more useful position of the company to settle its immediate liabilities. Norms for quick ratios range from 0.7 to 1. Quick ratio of less than this is seen as a signal of illequidity. However, the trend of the ratio over time and comparison with the sector average are the most important indicator, as they are with current ratio aswell. Next Plcs quick ratio has been 0.82, 0.54, 0.93 for 2007 2008 and 2009 respectively. The ratio had a sharp decline in 2008 because of the  £242.7m short term debt raised by the company during the year in order to expand internationally. In 2009, the ratio was 0.93 which is quite good as compared to the industry average of 1.35. In comparison Marks and Spencers quick ratio was 0.22, 0.25, 0.30 in 2007, 2008 and 2009. This is quite alraming for the company as compraed to Next or the industry average, as it is very low. This is maily due to the high amount of debt finance invested in the group. This can be an alrming situation for the group as it can lead to illiquidity. This trend shows that Next Plcs in a better liquidity position and it may not face any problem settling short-term debts, whereas there may be pressure on Markss and Spencers suppliers. It indicates that Next Plc is making better use of its working capital. 3.4.4 GEARING RATIOS Capital Gearing Ratio: This indicates the extent to debt finance involved in a business. Next Plcs gearing ratio changed from 74.26% in 2007 to 111.22% in 2008 and 81.5% in 2009, whereas Marks and Spencers gearing ratio was 50.71% , 58.9%, 59.3% in 2007 2008 and 2009 respectively. In 2008, gearing ratio crossed over a 100% for Next Plc because of high level of debt taken by the group in order to finance the expansion and it exceeded the level of equity present in the group. We continued to invest in the Next Brand, spending  £39m refitting stores, maintaining advertising spend and improving the quality and design of our clothing and Home ranges (Simon Wolfson, CEO Next Plc, Annual Report 2008) Interest cover: The interest coverage ratio indicates the extent of which earnings are available to meet interest payments. An interest cover ratio of more than 3 times is considered safe as even if profits are reduced to half the company will still be able to meet its financing costs. Next Plcs had a very high interest cover of 15.37 in 2007. It then decreased to 12.38 and 9.74 in 2008 and 2009. On the other hand, the interest cover of Marks and Spencers showed a varied trend. It increased to 10.15 from 9.14 in 2008 and then decline by 51.6% to 5.24 times in 2009. Interest covere declined for both the companies in 2009. This was mailny due to the financial crisis the economy of UK is going through, but still it is much more than the safety margin i.e 3 times, therefore both the companies are in the position to settle their financial obligations. 3.5 INVESTOR OUTLOOK The earnings per share measures how much profit after tax is made for each individual share. (EPS) has been quite high for the group despite of the fall in the revenue in the 2009. The EPS of the group was 127.4p and it increased by 15.4% from 146.1p in 2007 to a record high of 168.7p in 2008. In 2009, EPS fell to 156p due to the fall in revenue. The continued use of surplus capital to buy back shares has again enabled us to deliver superior growth in earnings per share, our main financial objective ( John Barton, Chairman, Next Plc, Annual Report 08) The dividend per share of Next Plc was 44p and it then increased by 12.24% from 49p in 2007 to 55p in 2008. The group managed to maintain the same dividend per share of 55p in 2009, which is covered 2.8 times by earnings. Marks and Spencers EPS was 39.1p in 2007 and increased to 49.2p in 2008 before declining to 32.3p in 2009. The dividends per share were 18.3p, 22.5p, 17.8p in 2007,2008 and 2009 respectively. Despite having a very high EPS, the dividend payout ratio of Next Plc is much lower than Marks and Spencers. It was 33.5%, 32.6%, 35.2% in 2007,2008 and 2009 while the ratio of Marks and Spencers was 46.8%, 45.7%, 55.2% in 2007,2008 and 2009. This shows that Next Plc retains much of its profit as compared to Marks and Spencers. This can turn out to

Of Mice and Men & Death of a Salesman by John Steinbeck Essay

John Steinbeck was born in California, Salinas February 1902. In spite of the fact Steinbeck came from a wealthy background he also showed curiousness toward the farm workers and spent his own time working with them. The experience he had gained from working with the farm laborers was then applied as matter for his writing. This certainly adds a sense of realism to his texts. Steinbeck produced numerous novels about poverty-stricken people who have a dream. One of the novels is the well-known ‘Grapes of the Wrath.’ During the late 1920s the Wall Street crash took place, forcing millions of Americans out of work; this then led on to the Great Depression, an era in which people lacked any economic opportunity. The main cultural trends that occurred throughout this period of time were poverty and unemployment. The characters in the novella, â€Å"Of Mice and Men† can relate to this trend as it is set during that era. All the characters in the book are experiencing poverty at the time and are working to continue existence and to vanquish the Great Depression, so that they can obtain the dream. It is shown here – â€Å"Look, if me an’ Lennie work a month an’ don’t spen nothing, we’ll have a hunderd bucks. That’d be four fifty. I bet we could swing her for that.† The American Dream is striving for freedom, status, and success, and as this quote suggests it is often bound up with issues of a financial nature. The American Dream associates with all characters in, â€Å"Of Mice and Men† but mainly with Candy, Crooks, Lennie, George and Curley’s wife, who at one point says, â€Å"He says he was gonna put me in the movies. Says I was a natural.† Quotes such as this remind us of the unwavering confidence that American citi zens had in their version of the American Dream, and they often read ironically. This is because, as  readers, we know that the character is disillusioned, and falling for the false promise of prosperity. Racism is posed throughout the novella; in the 1990s segregation laws were approved, whereby the rights of black and white people were divided; black people generally had the things lacking in quality, i.e. Crooks’ inhumane segregation on the ranch. Habitual use of racism, for example flippant use of the word ‘N****r’ are prevalent in this novella. There were also groups of people who were explicity posed against blacks, for example the KKK, who presented violence towards the black minorities, by ambushing them and/or lynching them. They would also strike  any person who dared to associate with blacks. This may stand to elaborate why nobody socializes with Crooks – they’re frightened to step outside of social parameters. For example we learn that, ‘Candy stops at the door and takes a step back.’ The fact that Crooks is black demolishes the possibilities of his dreams actually being accomplished; they are not assigned the same rights, and In turn dreams as the white people. This is ironic because we know that Crooks used to ‘live the dream’, and live amongst â€Å"the white kids;† perhaps this is Steinbeck making a comment on how society has regressed for the worse. The tone Steinbeck creates is mellow and calm especially in the opening paragraph. I know this because Steinbeck uses words such as â€Å"twinkling† and â€Å"golden foothill slopes curve. † creating a dream-like atmosphere. Both these quotes represent colours that indicate summertime, a long season whereby people and animals revel in the tranquillity of the outdoors. In addition to this Steinbeck says that the, â€Å"foothill slopes curve† this gives the impression the walk is effortless trip. However, this calmness is instantly interrupted and starts to show rupture as the George and Lennie near. This may be Steinbeck commenting on how the futile nature of dreaming will always become apparent. Steinbeck states that the two men â€Å"hurried† and â€Å"pounded†Ã‚  down the river; both these verbs are starting to stipulate the start of a battle. By the writer creating such a subtle scene, which is then ruined, could represent the fact that people whose lives come across cheerful and composed, also have holster sadness. I feel that Steinbeck wanted the audience to know that ‘the best laid plans’ didn’t have the outcome that was anticipated; in fact the dream of ‘livin off the fatta the lan’ near enough every time fails, results in relationships vanishing and lives wrecked. Lennie is very broad and heavy handed. On the other hand George is small, so it is also ironic that Lennie’s surname is small. The text readers, â€Å"Behind him walked his opposite, a huge man, shapeless of face, with large, pale eyes, with wide, sloping shoulders; and he walked heavily, dragging his feet a little, the way a bear drags his paws. His arms did not swing at his sides, but hung loosely.† The writer says that George has â€Å"restless eyes†Ã‚  meaning that his eyes are defined, whereas Lenni e’s are described as â€Å"pale.† This colour is not vivid nor is it harsh, so it is almost sympathetic and tender. Lennie’s eyes do not suggest strength, so maybe Steinbeck is presenting Lennie as having a monotonous, good-natured personality. Steinbeck is not trying to make George and Lennie seem alike, but completely different; this is to show how dependent two opposites are in needing each other. Without one another George would have been a lonely ranch worker, meanwhile Lennie would of probably contained in a mental institution. Lennie is referred to a bear, straight away this tells the audience that Lennie is physically strong, pretty large and hostile. Despite this, it also shows that Lennie would only fight when he has to, he wouldn’t do it without an intention. Research has shown that bears only attack when they feel in danger, therefore a bear symbolizes Lennie best as he tend to lose control a lot. Lennie is always willing to attack when the dream is compromised, showing how important the vision was to American  citizens. Lennie says, â€Å"I remember about the rabbits, George.† and George responds, †¨Ã¢â‚¬ ¨Ã¢â‚¬ The hell with the rabbits. That’s all you can ever remember is them rabbits.† This is the very first time we hear about Lennie dream. Even from the beginning of the novella, the impression is given that Lennie is more enthusiastic than George about the dream. George’s simple eradication of the words â€Å"them rabbits† shows signs that he thinks the whole situation is foolish. This tends to get intricate as we to register that George might just be as animated for the dream as much as Lennie. it comes across that George is extra wary about that excitement, this makes sense as he’s also more aware of his surroundings compared to his other half. The American Dream as whole is impossible of fulfilment, the death of Lennie is figurative of that – concluding that all good things most come to an end. Lennie only wanted to â€Å"tend the rabbits,† nothing more, nothing less – it was George who came up with the entire dream therefore Lennie is not to blame for everything. The dream was presented to Lennie like a story, in a childlike manner. â€Å"†¦God a’mighty, if I was alone I could live so easy. I could go get a job an’ work, an’ no trouble. No mess at all, and when the end of the month come I could take my fifty bucks and  go into town and get whatever I want†¦Ã¢â‚¬  At this point George lashes out at Lennie raging about what the life of a migrant worker would be like without any heavy loads i.e Lennie. From this piece of text it seems that George is imagining a nonchalant existence and that Lennie is just an obstacle in his way.What George had highlighted here is far-seeing because of what happens in the end of â€Å"Of Mice and Men.† George uses the dream so that they both have hope later on life, after  the ranch workers knew about their dream they wanted to have one too. This reveals the value of dreams entirely in the novella, and for those alive during the Great Depression, sitting in the same position as the ranch workers. Once George creates a full account of the farm, its heaven garden-like qualities become even more obvious; Everything thing they want will be in front of their eyes, without any literal effort. Just as Lennie states: â€Å"We could live offa the fatta the lan’.† I think that when George shot Lennie he was right in doing so. One of the reasons I think this is due to the fact that he would have been killed by Curley or the rest of the ranch men anyway. Lennie had unexpectedly killed Curley’s wife; therefore, it would of resolved in death either way. The author lets the reader know that Curley would of killed Lennie when Curley says – â€Å"I’m gonna get him. I’m going for my shot gun. I’ll kill the son-of-a-bitch myself.† If Curley killed Lennie, it would of resolved in a slow painful, death. In my opinion, it was better his best friend killing him than his enemy. This killing can be compared to a mercy killing or linked to euthanasia in many ways. George killed Lennie for all the right reasons; the only downfall in this is that George has to go on and live a lonely life, with no companionship. George kills Lennie by Salinas River ‘Salinas’ means lonely, which is what George is now. George and Lennie fail to register that their dream is like thousands of other ranch workers, Crooks summarizes their dream when he quotes: â€Å"Seen hundreds of men come by on the road an’ on the ranches, with their bindles on their back an’ that same damn thing in their heads. Hundreds of them. They come an’ they quit an’ go on, every damn one of ‘em’s got a little piece of land in his head. An’ never one of them get it.† The men on the ranch have this futile dream about owning their peace of land, but its unachievable because of their circumstances. In a similar manner, from beginning to end Miller depicts the American Dream and how Willy Lowman and his family fail to achieve it. Arthur Miller was born in New York, Harlem October 1915. Miller wrote Death of a Salesman whilst working for his father’s company at the age of seventeen. Miller had said that everything he wrote was based on someone he knew or had seen. After Miller wrote the script he wrote a postscript saying that the real-life salesman, who the play is based on had killed himself by jumping in front of a subway train. Willy has been attempting to achieve the American Dream for such a long period of time that he actually believes it’s achievable. Throughout Willy’s life he has prolonged numerous lies to himself and to his family, this has persuaded him that his dream has become an possibility. He constantly reveals to his family that he’s on the verge of huge success, meanwhile he contemplates to himself as to why he hasn’t reached the dream he knows he is capable of – Willy says that â€Å"There’s more people! That’s what’s ruining this country! The competition is maddening! Smell the stink from that apartment house! And one on the other side†¦ How can they whip cheese?† Willy says this in Act one, this quote suggests that Willy is blaming the over populated country, America, on his lack of success – the truth is that its down to his belief in the assumption of the flawed American Dream. Its seems to me that Willy is just trying to come up with excuses, to cover the fact that he, himself, failed at the American Dream. The fact that Willy is always in need of a scapegoat , shows us that the dream Is, by nature, completely unachievable. The use of explanation marks in this quote express Willy’s feelings about the people and the impact its having on his ability to achieve the American dream. Miller makes an abstract comment on how America is guilty of selling their citizens a dream to failure, but who do we blame? On one hand we should blame the scapegoat, America as a nation, but it seems the  readers can’t help but blame Willy, it’s almost as if the readers have fallen for the same myth – blaming Willy and not American society. Willy convinced his sons that in order to achieve the American Dream you need to be â€Å"well-liked†, not just liked. It seems that Willy is implying that being admired and the quality of arousing interest is the most important thing that will enable you to achieve the American Dream. He puts being â€Å"well liked† first over any other quality. According to Willy, being well liked amounts to the bare matter for reaching the American Dream. Being well liked is a quickened way of achieving something without as much hard work. In act one Willy says to Happy that he’ll be â€Å"Bigger than Uncle Charley! Because Charley is not liked. He’s liked – but not well liked.† The exclamation mark is to emphasise the fact the he’s going to be bigger than Charley, Charley is prestige and has status. The dash creates the effect of a dramatic pause to make it clear that Charley was not well liked, but at the same time Willy is implying that he, himself, is well liked, when evidently we know this is just a delusion. Willy completely thinks that anyone who works hard in America will become successful without doubt. He says, â€Å"Biff Loman is lost. In the greatest country in the world a young man with such- personal attractiveness gets lost. And such a hard worker. There’s one thing about Biff – he’s not lazy.† This is another encapsulation of the American Dream fooling the American man, it’s evident that it’s futile and ends up killing Willy. It’s almost like Willy sees the American dream as a given right of an American, Willy’s death is such a horrendous one, as he commits suicide and so this serves to show us how destructive the American dream can be for the average American man. In act one, Willy indicates that Biff can even get let off with purloining a ball because of how popular he is with his coach. This supports the  notion that Willy places upmost importance on being â€Å"well liked† In Act One Willy says to his sons â€Å"Tell you a secret, boys. Don’t breathe it to a soul. Someday I’ll have my own business, and I’ll never have to leave home anymore† Here Willy is secretive and possessive, just like in of Mice and Men when George let Candy participate in their dream. Willy wants to own a  business just like George and Lennie, although Willy’s dream and George and Lennie’s dreams are completely different, they are similar at the same time, as they both are striving to achieve financial independence, they both have this unwavering image of a dream which they believe to be achievable, but the irony is the reader sees this as unachievable. The difference in these dreams is evident through what is they want to achieve; George and Lennie aims for and simple, agricultural success, whereas Willy is positioned in a contemporary situation in which he seeks to corporate success and material gain. Here it’s worth realizing Biff and Happy endeavour to achieve and reality which is more similar to George and Lennie in terms of its simplicity, however his father’s obsession with corporate wealth means that this is not possible. The above can be seen when Happy says, â€Å"That’s what I dream about Biff. Sometimes I wanna just rip my clothes off in the middle of the store and outbox that goddamned merchandise manager. I mean I can outbox, outlift and outrun anybody in that store, and I to take orders from those petty, common sons of bitches till I can’t stand it anymore.† Here we see Happy rejecting his father’s wishes to follow a corporate lead American dream, in favour of a more primal like competition. However he releases the idea that business competition, similar to the type his father promotes will bring him success; he can’t escape the rat race of American capitalism. This is similar to the inescapable, futile situation that Lennie and George find themselves in; they move from ranch to ranch, with seeming direction, but the irony lies in the fact  that their life is totally directionless. The final bitter blow lies in Lennie’s death. Although culturally, the direction toward which the pursuers of the American Dream changes over time (from dreams of living simply via agriculture, to dreams of achieving corporate success) it is interesting to see that Willy says to his wife, â€Å"You wait, kid, before it’s all over we’re gonna get a little place out in the country, and I’ll raise some vegetables, a couple of chickens†¦Ã¢â‚¬  This suggests that the direction of the American Dream has not  changed much, and material/corporate success only serves as a temporary means to fulfil the original view of owning one’s own ranch and living from the land. Here, Willy’s vision is almost identical to George and Lennie’s, which is interesting due to the difference era both are set in/written in. The ellipsis in this quote represents the never ending possibilities of what they can acquire. This aforementioned idea of Willy obsessed with being well liked is something he unfortunately passes down to his children in a typical cyclical way. In a conversation with his parents Biff and Happy reveal they are interested they are looking for work that is simply bearable. Happy says, about his â€Å"business idea† that, â€Å"†¦it wouldn’t be like a business. We’d be out playin’ ball again†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Despite this, Willy is completely fixated on ensuring that the boys possess job security in a lucrative profession, which he believes will lead them on this path to greatness, and most importantly, financial security. We may accuse Willy of not being very supportive of his children, as he seems to be prioritising pursuit of the American Dream over his children. This is a true reflection of his blind faith in the idealised dream. Linda’s attitude toward the American dream is contradictive. Linda does this by motivating Willy into believing his dreams are real, even though she recognizes his dream is conclusively futile and bound to stay  incomplete. Linda doesn’t have as many dreams as Willy, but her main one is to live a undemanding, quiet life with her husband. Whereas he would prefer to travel, be recognized and remembered by everybody. Linda would prefer to sit back in her aging jacket with him and to have him employed in the city. This is illustrated when Linda says to Willy ‘can’t continue this way’, and encourages Willy to put himself forward and ask Howard for a job, so that he does not have to travel and so he can pay for the insurance premium. At this stage the audience gather that Linda is very concerned for Willy. Linda never manages to attain her dream since Willy would be more willingly to commit suicide than to surrender his job as a salesman. In addition to this, Linda yearns to safeguard Willy. A case of this is whilst speaking to Ben  she shouts at Ben and says, ‘don’t say those things to him! ‘Afterwards, it is clear that she is shielding him; even though the stage directions interpret Linda as being ‘frightened of Ben’, she becomes assertive for Willy’s benefit. She fails to shade Willy as he objects, resulting in the worst case scenario whilst under her belt. Willy committing suicide. As the play concludes, it’s evident that Willy was lost and didn’t actually know himself. We already knew this, the point being hardly anyone attends his funeral. It is here Biff registers that his dad was lost, entirely and travelled down the wrong road, we know this as he says â€Å"He had the wrong dreams. All, all wrong.† It is obvious the Biff will no longer follow the same route as his father. However, Happy, decides to secure his father’s ill-advised visions and takes them on-board himself, he says so himself toward the end of the play â€Å"I’m gonna win it for him.† Comparison of â€Å"Death of a Salesman† and â€Å"Of Mice and Men† The novella ‘Of Mice and Men’ and the play ‘The Death of a Salesman’ paint a picture of the vanity of dreams, the main one is the American dream. Both authors, Arthur Miller and John Steinbeck use numerous linguistic and literary methods, so that the audience can see how impossible dreams were during that era. Of Mice and Men and Death of a Salesman are set during the 1930s-1940s, the writers permit the context of the literature in order to help them tour the futility of the ‘American Dream’. The American Dream is never achieved. The working-class people -Willy Loman in Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman, ends up disenchanted and kills himself. The Lomans are alike Lennie and George, They both try to repudiate that they’re just a minority in the world they’re living in, but their American dream is invariably just a step away. At one point, in Of Mice and Men and Death of a Salesman they contrast as Willy wants to be successful and â€Å"well liked† in order to gain status, whereas Lennie and George don’t want status they want to own a piece of land and belong somewhere, I know this as George says ‘it’d be our own, an ‘nobody could can us’. Willy is lost in this delusion about being successful and gaining status that he would rather die than be known to failure of the American dream. When Willy and Ben are speaking Linda yells at him saying, ‘don’t say those things to him!’ Here it is clear the Linda is shielding Willy. The way Linda presented herself to Ben is almost identical to the way Lennie reacts when its things resulting with George. For example, When Crooks expressed the possibility of George being injured, Lennie ‘walked dangerously towards’ him, questioning ‘who hurt George?’ The word ‘dangerously’ is used to narrate Lennie’s negative, forceful charge  toward crooks, this shows how far Lennie will go, having the only intention of making sure George is safe and not thinking about the outcome when doing so. Likewise, when Ben indicates Willy isn’t doing so well at work Linda reacts in a menacing manner toward him. In the stage directions Miller says how Happy was ‘almost ready to fight Biff’ As we know, Happy’s dreams are what his father’s are and when Biff decides to ask what applicability Willy’s dreams are it results in a battle nearly commencing. The reason being as to why Happy was ready to challenge Biff is because as stated above (Happy’s dreams are his fathers). What happened here is similar to what occurred with Lennie and Crooks. In my opinion Steinbeck and Miller, both display how the characters will assert one’s over another in an arrogant way, to make the audience grasp mentally, that no matter how much you try to protect your dream it will always be captured.

Do I Regret Knowing You - 1039 Words

Do I Regret Knowing You? There I was, March 16th, 2015, sitting backstage, waiting for my breathing to regulate with my friend Angelina on my side. Feeling as if I was being drowned in the water and couldn’t get a grasp of air. My body was shutting down, â€Å"how could this happen† and â€Å"why would she do that† kept coming out of my mouth. One moment friends, and then hatred came into place. I was having one of those moments when you just want hide and never come out; that was where it all began. It first started on January 18th, 2015, coming back from the last Bar Mitzvah of the year. â€Å"Just sleepover tonight!† Katherine said. â€Å"Okay† I replied. After a really long night Katherine, Makenna, and I had just gotten to Katherine’s place. I was too tired to go home, so I decided to just sleep at hers. We had planned to stay up all night and just have a good time, and it was. We started by getting into our pajamas and just having a girls’ night as usual. We fooled around, and ate so much junk food that it could have been a sin. Chocolate ice cream, sugar cookies, gummies, anything you could think of we were digesting that night. Oh, how well do I remember that night. Two months later is when it had all twisted and turned, not just my stomach but my life. I had been having a fake friend, well not just friend, â€Å"best† friend. Imagine, one day walking into school having a great day, and in 2nd period, it all changes. â€Å"Regina.. Did you see the video?† asked my friend Jorge. â€Å"What video..?†Show MoreRelatedGuilt And Regret Essay1338 Words   |  6 PagesBurdens of Pain, Guilt, and Regret Analyzing how guilt and regret stick with one forever not to mention the constant weight of pain, Oedipus and Amir the (main characters) confront guilt, regret, and pain in hopes to relieve themselves from the burdens. Guilt and regret two things everyone should be very familiar with because they tend to co-sign together. 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Henry Wadsworth Longfellows The Jewish Cemetery at...

Henry Wadsworth Longfellows The Jewish Cemetery at Newport is an enigmatic musing on Jewish history and culture. On the one hand, Longfellow makes sure to display his feelings that Hebrews are strange. In the first line of the poem, Longfellow uses the word strange in the same line as Hebrews, and then suggests that it was strange to see a Jewish cemetery close by the street of this fair seaport town, (line 2). This is as if to say that the Jews were not welcome in a fair seaport town, with emphasis on the word fair connoting white as well as attractive. The association between Jews and strangeness continues as the poet states directly, the very names recorded here are strange / Of foreign accent, and of different climes, (lines 13-14). The names referred to are Sephardic, Alvares and Rivera, which does substantiate the connotation with Jews and not being fair of skin (line 15). Yet just before Longfellow starts to come across as being anti-Semitic, the poet begins to lament the phenomenon of anti-Semitism in Europe. How came they here? What burst of Christian hate, / What persecution, merciless and blind, / Drove oer the sea (lines 29-31). Longfellow then demonstrates sensitivity to the fact that Jews in the old country lived in narrow streets and lanes obscure, / Ghetto and Judenstrass, (lines 33-34). Jews have been mocked and jeered, and spurned by Christian feet, too, states Longfellow (line 44). Moreover, the poet demonstrates some