Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

”It is truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife”

                      I would like to talk about one of my favourite novel “Pride and Prejudice” written by Jane Austen. It is her second best novel published in 1813. Basically it is a romantic comedy about the pride of a man and the prejudice of a woman. For me this is a hilarious novel, story of which is set around society of the English countryside during the 18^th century, when young ladies were in want of a husband of good fortune and breeding.

In the beginning Darcy and Elizabeth (the two characters) were distant from each other because of their prejudice but as the story moves forward they managed to understand feelings for each other and their mutual understanding led them to a peaceful and lasting marriage towards the end.

                      For me marriage is one of the important themes of the novel, but the question that arises in my mind after reading this novel and especially its first sentence is that why it is important for the woman of that time to marry a man of good fortune for the security of their future?  According to the laws of 19^th century of England it was a woman’s duty to marry and bear children and at the time of marriage husbands were granted all wealth and property of their spouse and they were expected to take care of their wives. That is why unmarried woman of that time had very limited options for living comfortably.

                      I think that marriage especially with its closer relation with money is the important theme of the novel. The starting sentence shows the underlying humour and view of marriage of Austen’s time, in which money is important to begin a marriage. By saying “universally acknowledged” we get the impression that marriage is something that is wanted by all; unlike reality, where there are many who refuse it. It also implies that any rich man who wants a wife is actually a woman who wants a rich husband. So it’s the opposite of which Austen said. She is continuing with her joking tone, showing her unhappiness with the way marriages work in her era. She didn’t like that and this novel reflects her thought that woman should marry only for love. We take such a notion for granted today, but this is really revolutionary stuff for the turn of the century, especially for the ladies of little fortune. If money were there to begin with, one might have the luxury of meeting a suitable person who is truly likable, even loveable, but that is a secondary consideration.

                      In last, I think that love and affection for partner is the most important thing in marriage, though money is also important but that is secondary thing because love and affection for other is the thing that makes your life comfortable that can’t be bought by money.

                     

The Story of Stuff

I have just seen a short movie by Annie Leonard “The Story of Stuff”. In the clip she speaks about environmental and consumer market in the developed world and especially US. In the clip, Annie had the opinion that corporations are more influential than the government. And corporation’s goal is to earn more and more by increasing their sales. Corporations do so by selling at cheaper prices, actually cheaper than the production cost. What does it mean? Buyer is not paying the whole price of the stuff, then who is paying for the cost? People, where the production is being carried out, and they pay at the cost of their natural resources, then those working in factories and stores having no insurance and keeping toxics within their bodies. But people are not forced to buy new things but they buy since advertisement force them to buy according to latest fashion. And what actually happens to the stuff?. According to her, 99% of stuff turns into junk in just 6 months which during the decomposition process turns into toxics.

 In the whole video she has drawn an overall good picture of need for new stuff, how to make cheap products, ask people to buy them through advertisement, then keep them updating after a certain period of time and throwing the old stuff into junk. And she has some clear intention to educate the people from this aspect and think about the recycling of the junk material. In my opinion the scope of this short film is to make people think before buying new stuff but I doubt it looks some exaggeration in the figures mentioned by Annie Leonard.

Snooping Bosses

The article is about surveillance of employees by different companies using some computer programs even during the time when they are not working. In our daily life when we talk about bosses, an image of some devil person usually comes to our mind, of course not always true. But where does snooping come from? Is it right or wrong? To find answers to these questions, first we should be very receptive to know and keep in mind the duties of bosses.

We all are fully aware of the importance of time. Also in recent years competition in any field of life is almost fully saturated. In my opinion, bosses are supposed not only to run the companies but they are supposed to reduce the expenses in order to increase the profit. The same objective is achieved by periodically launching new products. And bosses obviously don’t want their employees to waste time in non productive activities and especially leaking out the strategic information.  Since having the power to intrigue company related issues, bosses do investigate the matters whenever they feel to. But here comes the stage to define when? Obviously it is boss right to intrigue every matter but if they do it so frequently, they will divert the attention and energies of their employees to think in only one direction and in contrast they cannot leave the matter at all too. So they have to make a check and balance on some of the activities within company. And obviously they have to watch the matters related to work place. But some bosses behave in snooping manner taking it as their prime responsibility. In my opinion, snooping is actually a by product of the authority given to bosses to have a look on employee’s activities since spying an employee’s activities relating to work is fully legal but personal matters are not supposed to be thought even. Despite what is wrong and what is right, employees need to adjust themselves in this world with same ‘snooping bosses’.