The Significance Of The Creatures Speech Essay Example for Free

The Significance Of The Creatures Speech Essay Frankenstein: The Significance of the Creatures Speech. Hideous monster! You wish to eat me and tear me to pieces! You are an ogre. Victor Frankenstein has created life. Out of nothing he has constructed a being that can think for itself, make decisions for itself and sustain itself as if it were any of gods creations. When the creature confronts its maker it clearly presents an autobiographical narration of its life, it is this speech that raises several significant issues. These many issues can best be categorised into three broad areas, the development of the creatures basic capabilities and desires, the acquisition of morals and their further development and finally the duties that a creator has to those upon which it bestows life. A strange multiplicity of sensations seized me, and I saw, felt heard and smelt, at the same time Children rely on the first few years of life to develop their senses and their ability to survive on their own; they are cared for and raised by adults and those that are completely abandoned die. Frankensteins creation, in many ways similar to a new born child, in its age, lack of education and inexperience in the world, is totally abandoned and survives. It is during his speech that this significant issue of self-sustainment, even from birth, is raised. Frankenstein gives life to an inanimate object, this object however, from the first instant of life is capable of thought and well within its first week is able to sustain itself. When the creature gets hungry it finds food and seeks shelter, a most basic instinct, but how far do these instincts go? Does one from birth desire language, and companionship? The creatures speech answers many of these. Frankensteins creations rate of self-education far outstrips a human child who in the same situation would almost certainly perish. (Many Greek, Roman and Jewish stories involve children surviving on their own for certain periods and it is quite possible that Shelley has been influenced by the stories of, Oedipus, Romulus and Moses. Upon awaking in the woods on his second day of existence natural instinct takes over and the creature sets about procuring food and shelter. These are the most basic impulses for a creature and given an infant mind in a very apt, physically capable frame, his story gives a detailed insight to the extent of what knowledge and desires a new being has from birth. Several changes of day and night passed when I began to distinguish my sensations from each other Given no education other then what he can teach himself the creature sets about the task of mental development and survival. On its first night of existence the monster feels cold and damp from night, not understanding what these are it weeps in despair. Without any concept of what pain is other then first hand experience the creature knows nothing of how to end it, only upon the discovery of fire is the pain of cold abated. This important discovery however, as with the discoveries of Victor and the mythological Prometheus, have negative effects, all three tampered with the unknown, and all three suffered. Sweeter then the voice of the thrush or the nightingale Another issue focusing around basic instincts that is raised is the question of what a being is born with and what it acquires during life. The above quote indicates the creature, from the early stages of its life was able to compare and make decisions based upon, two entirely different things. It also soon develops the desire for the mastery of language and writing, which is very symbolic of how mankind for many thousands of years has relied upon writing and speaking to convey thoughts and desires form person to person, generation to generation. The creature also, from the first time it views its reflection refers to itself as hideous, having never been educated in beauty and deformity the creatures statement implies that all self-aware beings are born with a concept of beauty. I learned from the social life which it developed, to admire their virtues and depreciate the vices of mankind.

Hard Cover vs. Hard Drive Essay -- Compare Contrast Writing Technology

Hard Cover vs. Hard Drive Will Electronic Publications Ever Replace the Book? At one time our world was strictly an oral culture. We recited stories, kept records stored in our memories. When writing was invented did we suddenly stop speaking to one another or remembering facts? Of course not. At any given moment we can recall, from memory, names, dates, and places that we have committed to memory. When the printing press was invented, did we stop writing by hand? Again, no. So, why would we stop reading a book just because we have access to the World Wide Web? All previous information technologies of language, rhetoric, writing and printing are technological in themselves (Landow 218). These technologies—writing, speaking, typing—may seem second nature, but given time so will the Web. There are reasons for choosing a book over the Internet. To make that choice, first you must ask yourself what material you want to read, and why you want to read it. Then you can more easily discover the best medium to read it on. "It appears that electronic publications are generally either read by different people than those who read printed works, or are used by them differently†¦or as compliments, but not competitors (Pang 344)." If I want driving directions, for example, I could pull out my atlas and look through the pages of roads I’ve never heard of and landmarks I have ever seen. Or, I could go to www.mapquest.com and simply type in my starting point and final destination and get exact directions and mileage along with a map of that specific area in a matter of seconds. This is just one instance where the web is the choice over a book. "A great many—perhaps most—books do not contain literature, the arts, history, or even... ... distinction, I’m not sure. Maybe I have more respect, even a sense of duty, to the classical writers. At any rate "the movement to embrace new technology will not be a movement from something natural or human to something artificial—from nature to technology," and George Landow puts it, "since writing and printing books are about as technological as one can be (Landow 219)." The World Wide Web has just given us a different forum to experience text we have come to love and depend on. Works Cited Tribble, Evelyn B. & Anne Trubek, ed. Writing Material: Readings from Plato to the Digital Age. New York: Longman, 2003. Landow, George, "Twenty Minutes into the Future, or How Are We Moving Beyond the Book?" Tribble & Trubek 214-26. Pang, Alex Soojung-Kim, "The Work of the Encyclopedia in the Age of Electronic Reproduction." Tribble & Trubek 343-51.

Arbitrage in the Government Market Essay

In 1991, major discrepancies in the prices of multiple long maturity US Treasury bonds seemed to appear in the market. An employee of the firm Mercer and Associates, Samantha Thompson, thought of a way to exploit this opportunity in order to take advantage of a positive pricing difference by substituting superior bonds for existing holdings. Thompson created two synthetic bonds that imitated the cash flows of the 8 ¼ May 00-05 bond; one for if the bond had been called at the year 2000, and one for if it hadn’t been called and was held to its maturity at year 2005. The first synthetic bond combined noncallable treasury bonds that matured in 2005 with zero coupon treasuries (STRIPS) that matured in 2005. The synthetic bond had semiannual interest payments of $4.125 per $100 face value and a final payment of $100 at maturity in order to exactly match the cash flows of the 8 ¼ May 00-05 callable bond if it had been held to maturity. Thompson found the price of this synthetic b ond by using this formula: The ask price of the two bonds were given as $129.906 and $30.3125, respectively. She calculated the number of units needed of the 2005 treasury bond by dividing the semi-annual callable 00-05 coupon rate by the semi-annual 2005 treasury bond (4.125/6). The only part of the equation that she did not have was the number of units needed of the 2005 STRIP. She had to calculate the correct amount in order to imitate the cash flows of the 00-05 callable bond. Thompson did this by using this equation. The final cash flow of the 00-05 bond was $104.125, the final cash flow of the 2005 treasury bond was $106, and the final cash flow of the 2005 STRIP bond was $100 as there are no coupon payments in STRIPs. She found that the number of units needed of the 2005 STRIP bond was 0.3125, and then found that the synthetic price of this bond was $98.78. The second synthetic bond combined the noncallable bonds maturing in 2000 with STRIPS maturing in 2000. This synthetic bond also had semiannual interest payments of $4.125 per $100 face value and a final payment of $100 at maturity in order to exactly match the cash flows of the 8 ¼ May 00-05 callable bond if it had been called in 2000.  Through similar calculations of the first synthetic bond, she found that she needed 0.0704 units of the 2000 STRIP, and the price of this synthetic bond was $100.43. What Thompson found was surprising because both of these synthetic prices were less than the ask price of the 00-05 treasury bond. In normal markets this shouldn’t be the case because the synthetic bond would be worth more to investors since it does not have a redemption right to the government. In other words, the callable bond should have a lower price than the synthetic noncallable bond. 2. There are two ways that Thompson could exploit this pricing anomaly that she found. If she already held the 00-05 treasury bond, then she could immediately capitalize on the price discrepancy by selling the 00-05 treasury bond for the bid price of $101.125 and buying one of these synthetic bonds. Whether to buy the 2000 synthetic bond or 2005 synthetic bond is up for debate and opinion but it might be suggested to go with the 2005 one since the price of $98.78 is even smaller than the price of $100.43 and there would be larger price impact. By selling the 00-05 bond and buying the 2005 treasury bond, she would be getting the same cash flows for an immediate lower price. The second way that Thompson could exploit this pricing anomaly would be if she does not currently hold any bonds at all. A profit could be earned by establishing short positions in the relatively overpriced security and long positions in the relatively underpriced security. Thompson would borrow the 00-05 treasury bond from a dealer and then sell it. With that money, she would buy a synthetic bond and wait for the 00-05 treasury bond to decrease in price as prices converge. Once they do, she would buy the 00-05 bond for a lower price and give it back to the dealer, while pocketing about $2 (given that she bought the 2005 synthetic bond). There’s plenty of risk when trying to take advantage of pricing arbitrage. For example, the prices may never converge and Thompson might end up waiting almost 15 years without anything happening. Another risk is that the dealer might call the bond back while the money is tied up in the synthetic bond. Because of these risks, it might be better if she doesn’t try and take advantage of the pricing arbitrage at all. 3. Through close examination, a multitude of factors could have come into play resulting in the odd pricing of Thompson’s evaluated bonds. In studies conducted by Longstaff (1992) and Eldeson, Fehr, and Mason (1993) they found that negative option values were very common, ultimately implying that callable treasury bonds were significantly overpriced (35). Although it seems odd to have a negative option value, Thompson found herself in a rapidly changing bond market with the earlier introduction of derivative securities and STRIP bonds. With the introduction of STRIP bonds in 1985, problems arise in valuing callable treasury bonds using solely zero-coupon STRIP bonds being that they tend to undervalue the implied options (Jorden et al. 36). In addition, since negative option value bonds do not have implied volatilities, this raises the question whether callable bonds are priced rationally (Bliss and Ronn 2). Furthermore into Longstaff’s (1992) research, they exercised the â€Å"striplets† approach to investigate implied call option values. The â€Å"striplets† approach uses a U.S. Treasury coupon STRIPS and a coupon bond to synthesize a noncallable bond with the desired coupon (Jordan et al. 37). Longstaff finds that â€Å"61.5% of the call values are negative when estimates are based on the midpoint of the bid and ask prices, whereas 50.7% of the negative call estimates are large enough to generate profits even after considering the bid-ask spread† (38). Ultimately, the odd pricing in Thompson’s current situation is most likely due to the mispricing of callable bonds at the time due to the method of callable bond valuation and the early introduction of new types of bond securities in the market. 4. â€Å"Callable debt gives the treasury the right, but not the obligation, to redeem the callable treasuries at par (100) on any semiannual interest payment date within five years of maturity, provided that it gave investors four months’ notice† (Arbitrage in the Government Bond Market). There are multiple upsides for a company to issue callable debt. The main reason for this is to give the company (treasury) a sense of security in that they can redeem the bond in the event of an interest rate drop. For example, if the company issues bonds to investors at a 10% interest rate and then this rate  goes down to 8%, the company may redeem the callable bonds they’ve issued and replace them with the lower interest rate (8%). Callable debt is essential to have when there are long maturity dates. If you issue a non-callable bond for a fixed amount of years, there is a tremendous amount of risk for the treasury. For instance, if you issue a non-callable bond with a maturity of 25 years and the interest rate goes down over the years, this negatively affects the company. â€Å"Callability enables the treasury to respond to changing interest rates, refinance high-interest debts, and avoid paying more than the going rates for its long term debt† (Why Companies Issue Callable Bonds). Bibliography 1. â€Å"Bonds 200.† Why Companies Issue Callable Bonds. N.p., 24 Sept. 2014. Web. 30 Sept. 2014. 2. Jordan, Bradford D., Susan D. Jordan, and David R. Kuipers. â€Å"The Mispricing of Callable U.S. Treasury Bonds: A Closer Look.† Journal of Futures Markets 18.1 (1998): 35-51. Web. 3. Bliss, Robert R., and Ehud I. Ronn. â€Å"Callable U.S. Treasury Bonds: Optimal Calls, Anomalies, and Implied Volatilities.† The Journal of Business 71.2 (1998): 211-52. Web. 4. â€Å"Bonds 200.† Why Companies Issue Callable Bonds. N.p., 24 Sept. 2014. Web. 30 Sept. 2014. 4. 5. â€Å"Harvard Business School.† Arbitrage in The Government Bond Market. N.p., 20 Sept. 2014. Web. 28 June 1995. .

Consumerism Is Justified By Kant, Singer, And Aristotle

Today’s consumerism can be ethically justified using Kant, Singer, and Aristotle; however, people still should donate money to charity. Utilitarian’s, like Signer, believe that people should do everything they can to maximized the happiness of all people. To them, buying everything in sight is ethically wrong because the money could be better spent on helping others. Using Kant and Aristotle, it can be shown that buying lots of items, like in today’s society, can be ethically justified. When Aristotle discusses his views of ethics in â€Å"Virtue Ethics†, he shows that having just the right about of something is virtuous. For example, there is virtue in being brave, but if one is too brave it is a vise. Just as being too cowardly is also a vise. The virtue of bravery lies somewhere in the middle of cowardice and brashness. The same can be said of today’s consumerism. While buying everything and hoarding money is a vice so is giving away too much mon ey to the point that one cannot live. There must be a middle ground in helping others, or else the giver risks turning his virtue into a vice. People can spend money on the things that they wish to spend money on; yet, it is important to note that they should still be giving money to charity. If they fail to do so, they become gluttons and are no longer ethically sound. Same can be said of the people that give away too much money and cannot provide for themselves. They have turned their virtue into the vise of recklessness with