Social Status free essay sample

The novel Wuthering Heights takes place in nineteenth century England, a time where social class held utmost importance and the characters in this novel were no exception to that standard. The effects of the extreme importance placed on social status on the characters is seen throughout the novel. These social pressures effected the character’s sense of self, and more importantly, their relationships and love. Heathcliff had the most trouble fitting into the prim and proper standards of the English high class society when he arrived at Wuthering Heights. Many of the family members shared negative opinions of him except Catherine, who herself once belonged to the lower class. The relationship between Heathcliff and Catherine ended on the basis of the negative views of Heathcliff and his lack of high social class. In Wuthering Heights, Emily Bronte illustrates how Heathcliff and Catherine are effected by the importance of social status. Moreover, the effects of social class had the greatest impact on the two main characters in the novel, Heathcliff and Catherine. We will write a custom essay sample on Social Status or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Heathcliff appeared poor and unkept but when Catherine saw him, she knew she loved him. But there was also Edgar, a handsome and wealthy man who Catherine also experienced feelings for. When choosing which man she would marry it became clear that the high social class of Edgar outweighed her true passion for Heathcliff. â€Å"It would degrade me to marry Heathcliff now; so he shall never know I love him† (Bronte, 82). When asked why Catherine loved Edgar she explained it was because he was handsome, young, cheerful, and wealthy. â€Å"I shall like to be the greatest woman of the neighbourhood, and I shall be proud of having such a husband† (Bronte, 80). Catherine was concerned about her reputation among the other women she knew, although Nelly knew that, in reality, Catherine’s true passion and love lied with Heathcliff. Nelly questioned Catherine on her acceptance of Edgar’s marriage proposal because she saw that Catherine wanted to marry him for all the wrong reasons. Catherine knew this as well but fear kept her from admitting to herself that she loved someone who could possibly ruin her social class and reputation. â€Å"My love for Heathcliff resembles the eternal rocks beneath- a source of little visible delight, but necessary† (Bronte, 84). Even Catherine herself recognized her true love was Heathcliff saying that while he may not be handsome and socially acceptable, she needed Heathcliff. Catherine’s impression of Heathcliff came not only from herself but from the opinions of the strong minded people around her. Furthermore, Catherine was not the only one who held high social standards, especially when it came to Heathcliff. From the moment that Mr. Earnshaw arrived back to Wuthering Heights Heathcliff was not greeted with open arms, †Hindley hated him, and to say the truth, I [Nelly] did the same† (Bronte, 42). Hindley’s strong opinions on Heathcliff influenced Catherine. The impression that Heathcliff made was that when he first walked into Wuthering Heights looking disheveled, the first sign of a person in England with low social class. Everyone at Wuthering Heights saw Heathcliff as a â€Å"dirty, ragged, black haired child† and a â€Å"gipsy brat† (Bronte, 41). Because of these conceptions that the English had during this time, almost all of the family members at Wuthering Heights wanted nothing to do with Heathcliff. Accordingly, Catherine also tried to convince her sister-in-law, Isabella, not to marry Heathcliff. She feared the same thing for Isabella that she did herself, she did not want her to lessen her reputation by marrying Heathcliff. She called him â€Å"a half-civilized ferocity† and yet again mentioned how he would degrade her (Bronte, 96). Edgar, Isabella’s brother also very much despised the idea of her marrying Heathcliff. Edgar did not want someone of Heathcliff’s status to have the rights to the land and the fortune of Wuthering Heights and the Thrushcross Grange. He did not believe someone such as Heathcliff deserved so much and thought Heathcliff only wanted status and wealth. All of this hatred towards Heathcliff stems from the views all of the characters share about the importance of social class and keeping a good reputation. Neither Catherine nor Edgar cared that Isabella actually loved Heathcliff. The social importance effected Heathcliff that his rel ationship with Isabella stemmed from revenge. Heathcliff wanted to exact revenge on Edgar and Catherine for their marriage, since Catherine chose Edgar over him. Heathcliff knew that by having relations with Edgar’s sister he could obtain his revenge. Heathcliff knew of the hatred towards him caused by his social class. Therefore, the major theme that runs through the novel Wuthering Heights, is the effect of social classes in nineteenth century England. The social standards of the characters create havoc in the lives and the relationships. The relationship most effected by these views of social classes is that of Heathcliff’s and Catherine’s. If not for the skewed view of social importance Catherine would have married Heathcliff over Edgar. Catherine had a passion for Heathcliff but in the end was negatively impacted by the strong, narrow-minded opinions of Hindley and the others at Wuthering Heights. Another relationship involving Heathcliff was also looked down upon due to his low social class. The main character, Heathcliff, has the negative conceptions of social importance impact him the most throughout this novel.

And Then Came NAFTA… †Economics Essay

And Then Came NAFTA†¦ – Economics Essay Free Online Research Papers And Then Came NAFTA Economics Essay The goal of most businesses in the world is to make money. To make money, businesses target groups or markets of individuals to sell their goods and services to. Since the dawn of time, cultures have ventured out to trade with other cultures that have new and better goods. With the great advances in shipping, technology and communication that the 21st century has seen, it is more important then ever for business and countries to look to other nations for partnership in trading and bartering. This has many advantages to countries and individuals. First, it brings down the price of goods by allowing items not easily or cheaply produced in one part of the world to be supplied by parts of the world where they are easily produced. Bartering with other countries also increases the target market for your products 10 fold. The more people introduced to a new item the more sales it will generate. Regional trade blocs are intergovernmental associations that manage and promote trade activities for specific regions of the world.(ucatlas.ucsc.edu) One of the largest trade blocs in the world in NAFTA, or The North American Free Trade Agreement. NAFTA has three main players, the United States of America, Mexico and Canada. The United States has linked with Canada and Mexico to form a free trade zone, the North American Free Trade Agreement, and now hopes to extend that to the rest of Latin America to create a Free Trade Area of the Americas. The US is already negotiating with Chile to join NAFTA, but that has caused controversy with some other South American countries. The NAFTA agreement covers environmental and labor issues as well as trade and investment, but US unions and environmental groups argue that the safeguards are too weak.( revisionguru.co.uk) NAFTA has a trade flow of more then 2,000 billion dollars; 1,017 billion dollars in exporting and 1,277 billion dollars in imports. NAFTA was introduced on January 1, 1994; came with it was promises of new jobs, a spark in the economies of all three players and a safer and more concrete trade between its partners. NAFTA set up many rules and regulations for its partners that transcend legal, state and local, political and economic. It puts regulations on food safety as well tariff constraints and taxes. In fact, there were many stipulations set up by NAFTA that congress itself denied before the introduction of NAFTA. Mexico was enticed by the overwhelming potential financial gain attributed to doing business with America and Canada. America and Canada were interested in Mexico for cheap labor costs and further markets for goods and services. One interesting point of the three partners of NAFTA are their huge differences of economic levels. America’s gross national product is $11,750,000,000,000; Canada’s is $1,023,000,000,000; and brining up the rear is Mexico with a GNP of $1,006,000,000,000. One of the selling points to Mexico and America was the potential increase in economic statues of Mexico. As you can see, there is a huge difference between the economic statuses of the three members of NAFTA. This difference in economic stages between the members of NAFTA is one of the many advantages to the members themselves. There are many advantages to NAFTA for all parties involved. Some of these advantages are as follows: For every 1 billion dollars in exports, 40,000 jobs are created in America. Opens up the Mexican market Fosters economic integration Spurs growth, generates jobs and protects the environment Allows each country to specialize and become more efficient Access to large pool of cheap labor Some of the disadvantages are as follows. Potential losses of jobs Environmental problems Lower safety and health standards Uneven effect on the Texas Vs. other states. Adjustment costs for the three partners Dynamic effects Transferred from the center to the periphery? Constraints on development policy NAFTA will limit the adoption of certain economic policies Hidden costs: How to bring together the three economies (cas.suffolk.edu) Global implications of NAFTA are extremely large. NAFTA in effect, has broken down the trade barrier walls between two world superpowers and have sparked a slow moving economy in Mexico. There has been much talk about adding other countries to NAFTA like Chile and other South American countries, the more countries involved in NAFTA, then arguably it will increase the effectiveness of NAFTA as a whole. For our neighbors across the pond, it makes goods and services from America cheaper. With quantity, prices of our good and services will drop dramatically. It also sparks further trading because of the perceived stability of America’s economic persona. Another impact NAFTA has on the global economy stems from the fact that America has its hands in many pots. On top of trading with its regional partners, America does business with many other countries in many other trade agreements. Another important characteristic of U.S. trade is the wide variation in sectional trade bala nces by region. While gains from trade liberalization are brought about by increased volumes of imports and exports, these gains can be offset through terms-of-trade effects. (ers.usda) NAFTA is a powerful trade agreement between three counties governments to allow for businesses to trade easily across boarders. With talk about increasing the members of NAFTA, it will surely gain strength and advantages for its members. As for the global market, as NAFTA grows and America’s economic reputation increases, there will be many benefits for non NAFTA members. References cas.suffolk.edu/royo/CAS393/MEX7/sld007.htm Http://www.Wikipedia.com Http://www.Sticky-Marketing.com ers.usda.gov/publications/aer771/aer771e.pdf Http://www.Learnthat.com http://ucatlas.ucsc.edu/trade/subtheme_trade_blocs.php http://ucatlas.ucsc.edu/trade/subtheme_trade_blocs.php citizen.org/trade/nafta revisionguru.co.uk/economics/blocsex.htm Research Papers on And Then Came NAFTA... - Economics EssayDefinition of Export QuotasThe Effects of Illegal ImmigrationPETSTEL analysis of IndiaTwilight of the UAWQuebec and CanadaNever Been Kicked Out of a Place This NiceAnalysis of Ebay Expanding into AsiaAssess the importance of Nationalism 1815-1850 EuropeBook Review on The Autobiography of Malcolm XGenetic Engineering