Child Abuse Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Child Abuse - Research Paper Example The rates are probably much higher than these estimated numbers. Hence it is legal, ethical, moral and life-or-death decision to report and handle child abuse and neglect. It is not only difficult to identify abused children; it is also difficult to handle the management of these children. This article is intended to gain insight into various types of abuse, their effects on the children and strategies available to manage such children. Definition of child abuse and neglect The definition of child abuse and neglect varies from state to state and country to country. According to the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA) of United States (cited in McDonald, 2007), abuse is "a recent act or failure to act that results in death, serious physical or emotional harm, sexual abuse or exploitation, or imminent risk of serious harm; involves a child; and is carried out by a parent or caregiver who is responsible for the child’s welfare." The definition is for that abuse cause d by caregiver or parent of the child. Also, failure to act, because of which serious harm has resulted, is also considered as abuse or neglect. It is important to note that harm or negligence caused by other acquaintances or strangers is not considered as child abuse or neglect. While direct or indirect infliction of any sort of physical, mental or sexual injury is considered as child abuse, deprivation of the basic necessities like food, clothing, care and medical attention is considered as child neglect. Types of child abuse and neglect The most common type of child abuse is physical abuse. Anger on the part of the parent or caregiver can miscalculate the extent of damage that can be inflicted to the child resulting in physical injuries. In most cases, the injuries are unintentional. Physical abuse can occur from any form of physical act either by parent or caregiver or by any other person who is responsible for the child (McDonald, 2007). The injury may range from simple bruise to severe fractures. Since bruise is an indication of damage to body tissue and breaking of blood vessels, discipline methods which cause bruises are considered as child abuse. The physical abuse may even lead to death. These injuries are termed abuse irrespective of the intentions behind the acts. Neglect is another type of child abuse that merits importance (McDonald, 2007). Failure on the part of the parent, caregiver or guardian to provide for the basic needs of the child is called neglect. The neglect may be physical, medical, educational or emotional. Inadequate provision of required food, shelter and proper supervision is called physical negligence. Medical negligence is failure to provide proper medical care or appropriate mental health treatment. Failure to attend to appropriate education needs of the child on the part of the parent, caregiver or guardian is known as educational negligence. When there is no proper attention to the emotional and psychological needs of the ch ild, emotional negligence ensues (McDonald, 2007). Allowing the child to consume alcohol and take illicit drugs or other dangerous substances or drugs is also considered as emotional negligence because, children do not know the difference between right and wrong and it is the duty of the parents or caregivers to help them adapt to good conducts and behaviors (McDonald, 2007). When child abuse involves sexual activity which cannot be comprehended to by the child, it is known as sexual abuse. While

Human DNA and Sexual Differentiation Essay Example for Free

Human DNA and Sexual Differentiation Essay There has with respect to understanding human evolution, thus far, hardly been any greater an academic marriage than that which has occurred between physical anthropology and genetics. For anthropologists the union has been particularly beneficial as DNA has been incorporated into the quest to understand human evolution. Some scholars have referred to this as the culmination of the evolution of the once distinct fields represented symbolically by Darwin’s theories on evolution and Mendel’s speculation regarding genes; one scholar has opined that Darwin and Mendel are the core, the essentials of understanding. These basics work together.  The gene pool the hereditary property of a population of animals maintains the variation of the population or species, and mutation tends to increase that variation. Darwins selection cuts back the less favorable variation, in that way sculpting the inheritance of the species. (Howells 8) Fossils and genes, taken together, illuminate in ways that one without the other simply cannot. This refers to the discovery of positive knowledge as well as the discovery of long-established fallacies in the field of physical anthropology (Marks 131). This essay will focus on a few types of positive knowledge regarding the evolution of human DNA. More specifically, this essay will discuss how DNA variation can be used to explain some of the evolutionary physical features for sexual differences in humans as they pertain to language, sexuality, and visual spatial skills. As a preliminary matter, it is important to acknowledge that human sex differences were not always as pronounced as they are today. There were genetic variations that occurred over a long period of time and these genetic differences are evident in the fossils used by physical anthropologists to piece together how and why DNA has evolved as it has over the course of time. Scholars seem to agree that the evolution of human DNA is unique in certain respects; for purposes of this essay, it is significant to note that, regarding sexual differences in species, It is apparent that these same cross-species sex differences have become more pronounced in humans (Joseph 35). The evolution of human DNA with respect to sexual differences is greater than has been found in studies of other species. It has been demonstrated that DNA evolution led to Homo erectus females experiencing a vaginal reorientation at the same time that males experienced a change in pelvic structure (Joseph 35). The consequences were tremendous as this likely resulted in the development of long-term relationships between males and females; this is because, rather than being dependent on estrus in order to get pregnant, females were now physically and genetically configured to be sexually receptive continuously rather than sporadically. These long-term relationships also seem to have coincided with males and females establishing more permanent or semi-permanent homes. It can be argued, to some degree at least, that this genetic variation led to an embryonic notion of marriage and home. These human sex differences were further accelerated with the genetic evolution of the brain; indeed, as the brain became larger, this required a larger birth canal and an increase in the sexual physical differentiation in the size and width of the H. erectus (Joseph 35). DNA varied to accommodate these changes and they are manifest even today in the way that women walk as well as in the more fragile nature of their pelvic bones when compared to their male counterparts. As the female was evolving there were practical consequences; for instance, The transformation of the human female hips and pelvis, however, also limited her ability to run and maneuver in space, at least, compared to most males (Joseph 35). These DNA variations thus functioned to separate males and females and to lay the physical groundwork for other changes. This evolution in human DNA, in turn, led to a division of labor predicated on these newly exaggerated differences between the sexes. Generally speaking, women became gatherers and men became hunters. Each of these roles demanded different types of skills and the human animal adapted through the mechanism of its DNA. The female role demanded careful language skills rather than violence whereas the male role demanded aggression and physical strength. In explaining how the male DNA evolved to adapt to the male’s developing function, one scholar has noted that successful hunting requires prolonged silence, excellent visual-spatial and gross motor skills, and the capacity to endure long treks in the pursuit of prey. These are abilities at which males excel, including modern H. apiens (Joseph 35). In short, many of the human sexual differences noted today can be traced to the ways in which human DNA has evolved over time in order to adapt to changed environments and to changed sex roles. In the final analysis, even a cursory examination of the history of the evolution of human DNA suggests rather persuasively that there are watershed events which can aid in understanding the uni queness of sexual differentiation in humans and how sex roles evolved in response to that sexual differentiation.

Sms Banking Marketing Plan

Sms Banking Marketing Plan BankMuscat is I well known bank in Oman and consider the best financial organization and the winner of 8 in raw as Bank of the year (Times of Oman 2010). It provides large banking services which fulfills most country demands including consumers, businesses and government. The main divisions of the bank are retail banking and wholesale banking. Within these divisions there are E-channels which are call center, ATM, CDM, cards, Internet and mobile banking. The demand for electronic banking services is increasing since Oman strategic is to convert the conventional system to E-government (e.oman 2010). While these changes in country is ongoing, most of organizations adapting to go electronically in order to compete in the market. BankMuscat is one of the leaders to adapt new innovative technologies which make them step ahead from other banks. An opportunity exists for SMS banking for two reasons: None of other banks yet provided transactions over SMS while BankMuscat SMS banking existing system support this feature. Expand the language to Arabic in SMS banking to cover existing BankMuscat customer of non-users of SMS banking. All other banks local not offering this type of services and they only were providing informative SMS banking rather than interactive transaction (Ecommerce Journal 2009). Our new service in existing SMS banking will lead the market since BankMuscat has a large portion of market share of customers. The current stats show a large usage in electronic services and people become more technology aware. The stats shows also huge increase in the number of registered customers with SMS banking and comparing total registration in 2009 by 110,099 while in 2010 the total registration as of month of November is 134,926 (appendix 1,2). Moreover, the increase also occurs in the usage of the service comparing it by last years and also comparing it with monthly transactions, 1,118,826 request in 2009 and 1,430,399 requests in 2010 (appendix 1,2). With all this increase if we applied the new services like transactions over SMS and Arabic enabled interface we will lead the market for years. This also will increase our commission profit for each SMS sent by customer and will attract more service providers to use our SMS banking service as a channel for bill payment. Our target customers will be all type of customers capable of using mobile phones to send SMS. The rapid increase in cell phone market with cheap prices and good rates of service providers is our key of success. Also the growth in Oman and increase the percentage of roads traffic is changing the habit of customers of paying for their bills and prefer to do all this at their home at own suitable time. Situation Analysis In order to build good relationship with our all stake holders we have to understand our environment forces around all our relationships. In the next section I will describe BankMuscat Internal and external environments along with their analysis. External environment (Mic, Mac) As a bank its obvious other local banks are our competitors and the main force and we will analysis this with Porters Five forces analysis. Porters Five forces Competitive Rivalry: our rivalry banks are HSBC because its an international well known bank and locally NBO which the second successful bank in Oman. Both are very adaptive to the technology and always competing. Threat of entry: misuse of SMS banking services may raise law issues which interferes the service as what happened to the NAWARS tel. bill payment portal shutdown by force of law. Also there is threat of leaks this new service to our competitors before launching will make a bad image of BankMuscat is imitating others initiatives. The power of buyers: Our customer will intend to use the SMS banking service a lot because they are directly transfer amount from their account to utility bills which is easer from withdrawal money from bank and then visiting utility providers outlet to pay their bills. The power of suppliers: since our utility providers are a few companies so there is limited of suppliers which will offer to market for their utility payments exclusively to BankMuscat because of the huge number of customers dealing with. The Threat of substitutes: the major threat is using the other channel which internet banking since its become more popular because the government encourages this initiative by name of E-government. Since we analyzed the microenvironment by using Porters analysis we also require doing another analysis in macro environment by using PEST analysis. PEST analysis Political Factors: Telecommunication Regulatory Authority may set rules and standards in order to protect the users from fraud by which will make the process of using SMS banking more complicated for users. Economical Factors: after the recession which happened during end of 2008 the market growth increases again in 2009 recovery stage and in 2010 most of companies started to gain profits (Oman Observer 2010). This increased the salaries and buying power from customers. In other hand, BankMuscat makes good profit in the three quarters of 2010 by increase in 26% (Sharif 2010) which allowed increasing the budget for department for development. Social Factors: The resist of change is one of the culture factors that are facing the banking developments. Some of interior customers still prefer to pay their bills by visiting the utility providers. But the good thing is our Arabic based SMS banking will capture those who dont want to use other language to do their transactions. The go green campaign which sponsored by many environment organizations and with support of government is focusing in reduce papers in businesses and here comes SMS banking as free papers service which is widely accepted as eco-friendly. Technological Factors: SMS banking has good opportunity because the bank strategies are to change the attention from visiting branches to do banking services remotely (BankMuscat 2009). Most companies prefer to do their transactions without using papers and this good sign change customers behavior towards our new electronic services. The availability of mobile coverage and the range of choice with cheap prices all adding value for using SMS banking as first alternative. SWOT analysis After we captured the information for from external environment we will use it in our SWOT analysis as opportunities and threats. Strengths Current system already has the function for bill payments Current system is the latest in market Current system has the capability to add additional languages Management are very adaptive for new changes Low cost upgrade Weaknesses Limited IT staff for implementation Third party software needs support from vendor Other departments not support in marketing of other products Opportunities Fastest bills payment with one step from account to utility provider. Easy to capture more utility providers because of large base of customers in BankMuscat Gain the market of non-English users Government support and collaboration for new technologies Threats International banks are more advanced in technology Law enforce in case of misuse of this service by customers Internet banking may attract big portion of SMS banking customers Marketing Objective BankMuscat vision statement Over one million satisfied customers by 2010 through continuous enhancement of stakeholder value. In pursuit for customer satisfaction and comply with BankMuscat vision our new SMS banking system will fill the thirst of customers who deserve to get unique services at any time anywhere with no hassle of waiting. Target Market To get deep inside to our target market we will be using market segmentation process analysis. 1-Segmentation Variables Geographic: since SMS banking is mobile technology based service, so there is no limits because it depends on the coverage of mobile network operator even its support international rooming. The Arabic based SMS is targeting customers especially in rural areas which they are not able to deal with English language. Demographics: Targeted market customers with age range 18-65 years old both genders who are working in job or having business with all range of income with small level of knowledge in using mobile devices. Psychographic: Targeted market customers can be any lifestyle orientations with personality open minded Behavioral: Common variables of this segment are customers prefer easy and fast way of bill payment for medium usage in monthly rate and heavy usage for account enquiry. The user status can be ex-user, nonuser, potential user and existing user. 2- Market segment profile After analyzing the market variables we will now gather the common share of who, what and why to build segment profile. Our customer looks like any gender between 18-65 years old living anywhere having account in BankMuscat and using text messaging of our local mobile operators with sufficient knowledge in using mobile devices. Our customers appeals to do their bill payments at any time faster than any service with both local and English languages. Customers who want to make their bill payment easier and faster on monthly basis in case of bill payments and frequently in case of account quires. Our customer needs are to provide them with fastest one-click anytime and anywhere with free of charge bill payments service, also at their convenient language. 3-Targeting strategy Our marketing strategy will use a mix of undifferentiated and concentrated strategy. SMS Bill payment will satisfy any BankMuscat account holders who is having local mobile operator. But also our strategy will concentrate on special targeted customers who want to use SMS banking in Arabic version. 4-Evaluate of market segments Currently the total registered customers for year 2010 are 110099 by comparing to 2009 was 981120 which we estimate the increase by 25% because of the new service and additional language. There is no comparison with other banks because this is new service to market. The cost will only occur in implementation stage because of the system upgrade, Ads, brochures and banners. 5-Selecting target market Based on the overcome of the targeting strategy and along with BankMuscat vision we will use the mix of undifferentiated and concentrated marketing strategies to increase the usage between existing customers and to capture potential customers of our competitors to reach and exceeds the satisfactory levels. 6-Market positioning We are offering our new service to our main two segments, existing and new customers who will use their mobiles SMS for the first time to do transactions which no other banks in Oman provide such service for their customers. The second segment is to provide existing SMS banking service and SMS bill payment service in Arabic-based for remaining BankMuscat account holders. Like before this is new service which our customers will experience exclusively. 7-Developing marketing mix The next section we will be describing the marketing mix Marketing Strategies, 7Ps -Product: Our product is upgraded SMS banking service for account query and bill payments with both English and Arabic interface. -Place: SMS banking service can be accessed by any BankMuscat accounts holders using their mobile phones through our local mobile operators locally or international rooming. -Promotion: Ads will be announced in newspaper radio stations and BankMuscat web site before launching to keep the customer informed for the new service launching and after launching. Brochures and banners will be distributed to all branch channels and ATM/CDM. -Price: SMS banking will remain free of charge service and only customer cost is for SMS as normal cost rate of sending SMS from mobile phone to another. -Physical evidence: Customer will get confirmation SMS after the transaction with transaction code for reference. Customer can use their account statement as a record for their transactions. -Participants: Customers will get support by direct interaction with call center agents and branch staff. -Process: The service will be monitored by usual function in the bank core system with status of the customer. SMS banking team and billing team will have the access to daily reports of the transactions. Budget The budget for the project will divide into upgrading the system and marketing for the service. The system upgrade will cost OMR 55,000 including support from vendor. The second part is for publishing Ads through media newspapers and radio stations and this will cost OMR 13,000. Last part is for printing brochures and banners, which will cost around OMR 25,000. There will be yearly budget for the rewards of the best selling branch. Part of the budget we will get it after the approval from the management. We have good confidence in our management to support the new project as Sheik Abdul Malik Chairman of Bankmuscat described that BankMuscat is welcoming any opportunity to develop pioneered products and services meeting the market changes (Letha 2010). Implementation The action plan is represented in a timeline schedule in next page and will shows each activity time and assigned department with the managers of that activity Evaluation and recommendation Once we end with timeline of the project we will take deep insight view of how our new system is effectively meeting our goals. As we are providing a service we will have to depend on the reports of the system providing. The system will allow us to see for each branch how much registration they made in point of time. We will compare these reports by same month of the previous year to see the percentage of increase. Monthly we will extract reports of the number of bill payments starting from the launching moth of July and onward to see if the increase is happening from month to month. We will also check the payments of each of bill type and to see where the bill type is needs more attention to boost the sale of it. In case there is system failure easily our IT team are ready to switch the system maintenance mode which will stop any interaction with customers SMS and will send default replay as the system under maintenance please try again later. If the problem is persist in bill payme nt facility then we can disable this feature temporary and keep the normal account query facility working until we fix the problem. The bill payments complaint will be handled by bills team and to update any payments with utility provider. So the customer will not need to contact both the bank and the utility provider since we will do all the necessary actions to solve the customers issue. Reference: Times of Oman (2010) BankMuscat wins top Banker award. Times of Oman [online] 14 December 2010. Available from [23 December 2010]. ITA (2010) ITA Vision [online] available from [23 December 2010] Ecommerce Journal (2009) Electronic banking in the Sultanate of Oman Ecommerce Journal [online] available from [23 December 2010] Oman Observer (2009) Omans economic fundamentals remain strong. Oman Observer [online] 05 July 2010. available from [23 December 2010] Sharif,A. (2010) Bank Muscat Third-Quarter Net Income Increases 26% on Lending. Business Week [online] 14 October 2010. Available from [23 December 2010] BankMuscat (2009) BankMuscat widens reach of easy-to-use mobile banking service [online] available from [23 December 2010] Letha,J. (2010) True leader. Business Today [online] 01 Jun 2010. Available from [23 December 2010]

Volcanoes and Climate Change Essay -- Geology Global Warming

Missing Graphics Volcanoes and Climate Change Introduction: Since the beginning of time, volcanoes have been wreaking havoc on the world, as we know it. Yet in the more recent times, there has been a great amount of debate regarding the effect of volcanic eruptions on world climate change. In this report, the effects of these volcanoes will be explored, particularly in regards to cooling and the depletion of the ozone. Table of Contents: Introduction General Information on Volcanoes Effect of Volcanoes on Cooling Effect of Volcanoes on Ozone Depletion Specific Volcanic Eruptions and their Effects Debate over Connection between Volcanoes and Global Climate Change Works Cited General Information on Volcanoes: Volcanoes arise when magma, liquid rock within the earth, reaches the surface. Volcanoes then erupt because of their bouyancy and gas pressure. On account of this buoyancy, the hot liquid magma rises toward the surface through the more dense rock. Gas pressure from within the magma also exerts a force on the surrounding rock. This cracks the rock, located above the magma, and then moves into the crack. This process is repeated over and over again until the magma reaches the surface. There are a few different types of volcanoes, and each erupts a bit differently. Shield volcanoes usually produce a fountain of molten lava that reaches high into the air, anywhere from 10 to 500 meters. In some eruptions, though, there is little fountaining; in these the lava just flows slowly away from the vent. There are also more explosive volcanic eruptions in which the gas pressure builds until it is extremely high and the viscuous lava can no longer stand i... ...because these volcanoes are located in different areas of the world or because El Nino occured during the year of the eruption of El Chichon. All of these evidences are still being compiled and scrutinized in order to verify the true relation between volcanic eruptions and climate change. Works Cited: Angell, James. "Stratospheric Warming Following Volcanic Eruptions." http://capita.wustl.edu "The Effects of Volcanic Eruptions on Earth's Climate." http://www.geo.mtu.edu Garrett, Chris. "Global Cooling." http://tiger.chm.bris.ac.uk Mattox, Steve. "How are volcanoes born and what makes them erupt?" http://volcano.und.nodak.edu "NASA Facts." http://www.nasa.gov Rowland, Scott. "What happens when a volcano erupts?" http://volcano.und.nodak.edu "The Science of Climate Change: The Aerosol Effect." http://www.panda.org/resources/publications

Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer’s Day

Word Count: 617 Teanna Armstrong Enc 1102 Essay #3 March 11, 2013 Sonnet, Theme, and Structure of â€Å"Shall I Compare thee to a Summer’s Day? † A sonnet’s structure has symbolism and it presents the theme in many poems of Literature. In the poem â€Å"Shall I Compare thee to a Summer’s Day? † by William Shakespeare happens to be a sonnet. To begin with, the sonnet mentioned above is called a Shakespearean sonnet. It is composed of three four-line quatrains and a concluding two-line couplet. Certain components of the author’s point are suggested to be based on its structural patterns; components such as thought and feeling.Meaning this sonnet can introduce the subject in the first quatrain, expand and develop it in the second and third quatrains, and conclude something about it in its final couplet. This whole set up helps the reader to capture the theme; and helps the author to organize the theme. As well as, the sonnet’s structure p lays a key role, other than just being a Shakespeare and sonnet. The structure of the sonnet is strictly constrained, and this one in particular is believed to be a fixed form sonnet. Poems in fixed forms are recognized by their rhyme, meter, and repetition.Furthermore, usually in its opening line the central idea of the poems is expressed. The theme of the poem â€Å"Shall I Compare the to a summer’s day† May be stated as: Can someone, or the subject, really be compared to all the components of a summer after understanding the theme it shows the reader that the sonnet is asking is the subject comparable to a summer’s day, making the structure of the poem easier to understand. To illustrate, the theme is hinted in the first half of the first stanza; which starts the order of the sonnet’s theme. It is clearly indicated that the second line: â€Å"Shall I compare thee to a summer’s Day? (874) is the question that he will be answering. This question also shows that a comparison will be made. The question that remains is what is being compared to what. This is answered in the second line, which states â€Å"Thou art more lovely and more temperate† (874). This statement shows that Shakespeare is comparing a summer’s day to a person who is more lovely and temperate compared to the day of a summer. Moreover, the structure of this sonnet has setup the central theme for the reader in the first stanza. What lies in the next two stanzas are details and deeper emotions or thoughts to fill the reader’s mind with illusions of the sonnet.These middle stanzas are placed in Shakespearean sonnets for this essential reason. The details in this particular selection creates more compare and contrast examples between that person and a Summer’s day. Although Shakespeare wrote the contrast and compare by explaining all of the Cons of summer in these two stanzas, and in the last two line, also known as the couplet, he tur ns the direction back onto the person he was speaking of to show what the cons were compared to. Not only that, but Shakespeare also showed meaning in this couplet: â€Å"So long as men can breathe†¦ This gives life to thee† (874).The statement stated before is meaning the opposite of what was said in the first two stanzas about the summer. Instead, Shakespeare is indicating that the person will live on through his poem forever unlike a Summer’s day. In Conclusion, many poems have different components that lead the reader to realize the central theme. In sonnets particularly, everything is placed where it should be for a reason. All sonnets have symbolism and presents the theme in many pieces of literature as explained above. . Works Cited 1. Diyanni, Robert. Literature: Reading Fiction, Poetry, and Drama. Unites States of America: McGraw-Hill Companies, 2007. Print.

Victor: English Language and White Community

Victor's Last Wish Victor’s Last Wish â€Å"Victor’s Last Wish† is a realistic fiction by Kris Jitab who describes in depth the pain and hardship endured by the main character, Vickramadas Gopal who was an Indian immigrant to Malaysia. Vickramadas was known as Victor throughout the short story. He made great efforts to transform himself to be like whites who he thought were the best. â€Å"Anything and everything related to the whites was beautiful to Vickramadas. † The author has painted a dramatic picture of sufferings and challenges of Victor in his course to attain a new identity – an Englishman.But, his efforts did not help him to be recognised by the white men as a part of them. He was rejected by Miss Cunningham and insulted by Miss da Gama because his skin was dark in colour. He also thought that his failure to be promoted to Junior Accountant was due to his dark skin. Thus, Victor was so desperate to have his skin colour changed. He was ver y disappointed for not getting what he had striven so hard to achieve. As a result, he lost his hope and direction in his life. Consequently, he indulged in heavy smoking, drinking, gambling. At last, he became a thief to steal in order to pay his debt.In one stealing, he was caught red-handed together with his accomplices. He tried to escape but unfortunately, in his escape, he fell into a tank of formic acid where his skin was turned white all over by the acid. His wish to change his skin into white was therefore realised but ironically he had lost his life. In this paper, two concepts of post colonial theory will be involved in the discussion of several issues and concerns raised by the author. The two concepts are mimicry and othering. Mimicry is best annotated through the main character, Vickramadas in the short story.He aspired to be an Englishman. He imitated the dress, manners and language of the whites. The othering is expressed through some characters, Miss da Gama and Mis s Cunningham, who assumed that they were superior to Vickramadas who had different skin colour from them. In the short story, Kris Jitab raised a colonial ideology that white men are the best and superior through Victor. Victor who obtained his tertiary education in King George College was greatly influenced by the English. He believed that the white men were gentlemen. In the very beginning of the short story, Victor paid his full respect to Mr.Riley who was a white man. â€Å"He felt a little self-conscious-which is understandable, for he was inside the office of a white man,† indicated that Victor had a sense of inferiority in him towards the white men. When Mr. Riley pronounced his name â€Å"Vickramadas Gopal† in a way that it did not sound like Indian anymore, Vickramadas said it was very correctly pronounced. â€Å"Vickramadas beamed. He loved the way Mr. Riley pronounced his name. † He had no will to tell Mr. Riley the correct way to pronounce his name. Everything Mr. Riley did was great and correct to Victor because he was a white man.He told himself that there was no reason to doubt the white men. In firm thought that the white men were the best, Victor set out with the aims to be like the white and emulate them. The first thing he decided to do to make him similar to a white man was changing his Indian name into an English name. Name is the most basic element that can represent or symbolise one’s culture and tradition. But, Victor had ignored the importance of his name to claim himself as an Indian. He was willing to sacrifice his name in order to fit into the white community. Beside his name, he was willing to abandon his religion.He was an educated person but the educated mind of his could not help him to think rationally. He wanted to be converted to Christianity because he thought being a Christian would make him the same as the whites. He was actually using the religion as a stepping-stone to his goal. However, Victo r failed to realise that the white men would never accept him as a part of them for his skin was dark in colour. In the short story, English was viewed as an important language to success. When Malaya was colonised by the English, English language was used as medium of instruction in Education and Politic.Victor could sense a need to master the English language as he was working for the white. In order to bring about his aim to emulate the white man, Victor concluded that all he needed to pay attention to was his speech. He attempted to improve his English speaking. He eliminated his Indian ways of speaking, which were shaking head and rolling his tongue while speaking, to speak like a white man. Victor viewed English as a powerful tool for him to advance in his career. If he could speak English fluently, he would gain confidence and deserved to be respected by the others.Moreover, he knew that not all of the Englishmen spoke good English. Thus, if he could master the language, he c ould prove that he was actually better than the white man. He could also be a gentleman like the white man. Besides the language, Victor also followed the ways the white men dress and dine. He was now a chameleon that had transformed his outward appearance to adapt himself to the white man’s lifestyle and culture. He was in an illusion that he was a white man when he spoke, dressed and dined like a white man. He refused to admit that he was an Indian anymore. I’m a Christian† is Victor’s answer to the question, â€Å"what are you? † which was asked by his acquaintance. He even behaved like a white man and started to correct others who were not behaving like him. For instance, when his friends did not eat their soup properly like gentlemen, he volunteered to give advices to them on how to eat the soup. â€Å"First of all, you shouldn’t slurp† and next â€Å"You hold your bowl by the edge facing you, and as you spoon your soup move your spoon away from you. † Author also indicates that pursuing one’s dream blindly will cause one to lose himself or herself gradually.Victor who was too possessed with his quest to attain a new identity lost himself as the story progresses. The rejection of the white man towards Victor to be part of them forced him to wander and seek companionship among the tappers as well as others outside the estate. He had tried so hard to improve his English and behave like a white man but now he had to go down to the tappers’ level, speak their kind of language and indulge in the type of activities that they preferred. He was repeating the action that he did to adapt himself to the white community.He was confused and led a strange dual-role life. His mind was in turmoil. He did not know where he was heading towards. Initially, Victor was a happy person. He thanked all his Hindu Gods for helping him to get the job. But he changed when he failed twice to be promoted to Junior Ac countant. He lost all his will to strive anymore. He even cursed the Almighty for failing him to achieve his ultimate goal-marrying Miss Cunningham. All his unfulfilled desires caused him to lose his own personality. At the end of the short story, Victor totally changed.He indulged in smoking, drinking, gambling and even stealing from his own company. Victor used to believe that â€Å"the white men are gentlemen† in the beginning of the short story. This perspective of his changed. His respect towards the white men also deteriorated when he received unfair treatment from them. Mr. Hemming had promised to promote Victor to Junior Accountant after Mr. George left the post. But, this promise had made to be broken when Mr. Gross came to replace Mr. George as the Junior Accountant. After this incident, Victor stopped to admire the white men.He started to not dress like a white man anymore. He even talked harshly to Mr. Hemming who asked about his new mode of dressing. â€Å"What happened to all your white clothes? † â€Å"I shoved them all up my arsehole. † Victor no longer treated Mr. Hemming, a white man, as a gentleman. He had lost his desire to be an Englishman as he abandoned their dress and manners of speech. From the main character, Victor, the author tried to tell the readers that humans have limited ability. There is something which is out of our control. For an example, we are unable to change other people’s perspective on us.Though Victor had tried his very best to speak, dress and behave like a white man, the white men’s perspective on him remained unchanged. They still saw Victor as an inferior whose skin was dark in colour. Miss Cunnigham could not accept Victor’s proposal for he had dark colour skin. Victor was so frustrated when Miss da Gama insulted him as a stinking â€Å"black ape†. His anger caused him to slap Miss da Gama. Consequently, he was beaten up by the white men. No white man or any Euras ian club members was willing to stand at the same side as Victor.All the white men formed a judgement that Victor was wrong. Victor was perceived as an inferior who had no right to fight back. This caused Victor to feel so helpless. He understood that he would never be accepted as a part of white men despite his great effort. He had sacrificed most of his time and money in order to get the membership of the Eurasian Club. But, the membership had been revoked due to a single deed, which was fighting back after he was insulted badly. Lastly, minority groups of any community will suffer from indiscernible oppression.In the short story, Victor felt that he had been oppressed. He had not been upgraded for ages although he performed pretty well in his job. When he entered the company- Hancock Doherty Plantation, Mr. Hemming told him that the company rewarded capable staff and virtually the sky was the limit. But Victor discovered that it was not true. Two raw white men instead of Victor, who was more experienced, were promoted to Junior Accountant before him caused him to be subjected to unfairness. â€Å"The sky’s the limit† was now a lie to him. In his opinion, his dark skin was the limitation in his career advancement.In â€Å"Victor’s Last Wish†, the main character, Victor had put in his full effort to transform himself to be like the whites who he perceived as superiors. He imitated the whites’ language, dress and manners. Unfortunately, his efforts to transform himself were not recognised by the white men. He was still perceived as a dark skin Indian who was inferior to the white men. Victor was so disappointed for not getting what he had striven so hard to achieve. He had abandoned his culture and religion to adapt himself to the white community but he received nothing in return.He was oppressed and discriminated by the white men due to his dark skin. Finally, Victor lost himself and indulged in sins as well as crimes. At th e end of the story, Victor’s wish to have his skin colour changed was realised when he fell into a tank of formic acid. But, ironically he had lost his life. The sense of inferiority in Victor had urged him to transform himself to be like his superiors. Unfortunately, he lost himself and his own identity in the process of transforming. It is not worth to sacrifice our own self and identity to achieve something that will never belongs to us.