The Blue Sword CHAPTER FIVE

Corlath was on the ground at once, calling orders that sent long-robed figures scurrying in all directions. Harry sat alone on the big bay horse, who stood quite still; to her tired and befuddled gaze there were dozens of tents and hundreds of people. Men came forward from the mouths of tents and out from shadows, to make their bows to their king – to congratulate him on the success of his venture? Harry thought. Was it successful? Some were sent at once on errands, some faded back into the darkness from which they had emerged. The two men who had ridden with the king dismounted also, and stood a little behind him as he looked around his camp. Harry didn't move. She didn't quite believe that they had arrived – and besides, where was it they were? She didn't feel that she had arrived – or didn't want to. She thought wistfully of her despised bed far away in the Residency, and of fat dull busybody Annie. She wished she were home, and she was so tired she wasn't sur e where home was. When Corlath turned back to her she woke up enough to slither down from the horse's tall back before he tried to help her; this time she did no fancy sliding, but turned to face the horse's shoulder, and kept her hands on the saddle till her feet touched the ground. It was a long way down. She was sure it had gotten longer since the last time she dismounted. Fireheart stood as patiently as the fourposter pony as she leaned against him, and she patted him absently, as she might have patted her own horse, and his nose came round to touch her forearm. She sighed, and thought of Jack Dedham, who would give an arm to ride a Hill horse, even once. Perhaps it didn't count if you were riding double with a Hillman. Harry had her back toward Faran and Innath as they led the horses away. Faran said, â€Å"That was a longer ride than I enjoy, at my age,† and Innath replied laughing: â€Å"Indeed, Grandfather, you had to be tied to your saddle with your long white beard.† Faran, who was a grandfather several times over, but looked forward to being a king's Rider for many years yet, and wore his dark-grey beard short, grinned and said: â€Å"Yes, I long for a featherbed and a plump young girl who will admire an elderly warrior for his scars and his stories.† His eyes slid round, and he looked straight at Harry for the first time since Corlath had carried her, a black-wrapped bundle lying so bonelessly quiet in his arms that it was difficult to believe it contained anything human, to the shadow where two men and three horses awaited him. But Harry was frowning at her dirty feet and did not notice. â€Å"The Outlander girl,† Faran said slowly, with the air of an honest man who will be just at any cost. â€Å"I did not know the Outlanders taught their children such pride. She has done herself honor on this ride.† Innath considered. To do yourself honor is high praise from a Hillman; but as he thought of the last two days, he had to agree. He was almost a generation younger than his fellow Rider, however, and had viewed their adventure differently. â€Å"Do you know, I was most worried that she might weep? I can't bear a woman weeping.† Faran chuckled. â€Å"If I had known that, I would have advised our king – strongly – to choose another Rider. Not that it would have mattered much, I think: she would merely have had the sleep laid on her again.† He pulled a tent flap aside, and they and the horses disappeared from Harry's sight. She had recognized the Hill word for â€Å"Outlander,† and wondered dejectedly what Corlath's companions, who had so pointedly ignored her during their journey together, were saying. She wiggled her grubby toes in the sand. She looked up and noticed that she was standing only a few feet from the – what does one call it on a tent? Door implied hinges and a frame – front of the grandest tent of all. It was white, with two wide black stripes across its peak from opposite directions, meeting and crossing at the center, and extending to the ground like black ribbons. A black-and-white banner flew from the crossed center, the tallest point in the camp, as the tent was the biggest. â€Å"Go in,† said Corlath at her side again; â€Å"they will take care of you. I will join you presently.† As she approached, a man held aside the golden silk rectangle that served the great tent for a door. He stood to attention with as much dignity as if she were a welcome guest, and perhaps a queen in her own country. This amused her, with a stray thought that the Hill-king seemed to have his followers well schooled, and she smiled at him as she went inside; and was gratified by the startled look that crossed his face when she managed to catch his eye. At least they aren't all inscrutable, she thought. One of Dedham's subalterns might have looked like that. It was also comforting to have succeeded at last in catching someone's eye. What she did not know was that the honor guard at the door, who stood to attention because he was an honor guard and it would have been beneath him to be less than courteous to anyone who had the king's grace to enter the king's tent, was saying to himself: She walks and smiles at me as if she were a grand lady in her own home, not a prisoner of – of – He stumbled here, since neither he nor anyone else knew exactly why she had been made a prisoner, or an involuntary guest, or whatever it was that she was, except that it was the king's will. And this after a journey that made even old Faran, who was not flesh at all but iron, look a little weary. This was a story he would tell his friends when he was off duty. Inside Harry looked around her with awe. If the camp from the outside was white and grey and dun-colored, as dull but for the black-and-white banner flying from the king's tent as the sand and scrub around it and brightened only by the robes and sashes some of the men wore, inside this tent – she was sure it was Corlath's own – there was a blaze of color. Tapestries hung on the walls, and between them were gold and silver chains, filigree balls and rods, bright enameled medallions – some of them big enough to be shields. Thick soft rugs were scattered on the floor three or four deep, each of them gorgeous enough to lie at the foot of a throne; and over them were scattered dozens of cushions. There were carved and inlaid boxes of scented red wood, and bone-colored wood, and black wood; the largest of these were pushed against the walls. Lanterns hung on short chains from the four carved ribs that crossed the high white ceiling to meet at the center peak, above whi ch the banner flew outside, and below which a slender jointed pillar ran from floor to ceiling. Like pillars stood at each of the four corners of the tent, and four more braced the ribs at their centers; and from each pillar a short arm extended which held in its carven cupped hand another lantern. All were lit, bathing the riot of deep color, shape, and texture in a golden glow which owed nothing to the slowly strengthening morning light outside. She was staring up at the peak of the roof and feeling impressed at the smooth structure of the tent – her own knowledge of tents was limited to stories of the Homelander military variety, which involved ropes and canvas and much swearing, and leaks when it rained – when a slight noise behind her brought her back again to her presence in a Hill camp. She turned around, nervously, but not so nervously as she might have; for there was a graciousness and – well, humanity, perhaps, if she tried to think of a word for it – to the big white-walled room that set her at ease, even against her own better judgment. Four white-robed men had entered the tent. They brought with them, carrying it by handles set round the rim, an enormous silver basin: bath-sized, she thought. It had a broad base and sides that flared gently. The metal was worked in some fashion, but the play of the lantern light over the patterns prevented her from deciding what the designs might be. The men set the great basin down at one end of the tent, and turned to leave, one after the other; and each, as he passed her standing uncertainly near the center, bowed to her. She was made uneasy by the courtesy, and had to stop herself from taking a step or two backward. She stood with her arms at her sides, but her hands, invisible in the long full sleeves of her battered dressing-gown, closed slowly into fists. As the four men passed in front of her on their way out, several more were coming in, with silver urns on their shoulders; and the urns, she found when the carriers emptied them into the silver bath – it had to be a bath – were full of steaming water. No drop was spilled; and each man bowed to her as he left. She wondered how many of them there were engaged in water-carrying; there were never more than a few in the tent at once, yet as soon as one urn was empty the man behind was there to pour from another. It took only a few soft-footed minutes, the only sound that of the water falling into the basin, for it to be full; and the stream of men stopped likewise. She was alone a moment, watching the surface of the water glint as the last ripples grew still; and she saw that some of the design on the bath was simply the presence of hinges, and she laughed. This was a traveling camp, after all. Then four men entered together and ranged themselves in a line – like horse-herders, she thought, presented with an animal whose temper is uncertain – and looked at her; and she looked at them. She rather thought these were the four who had brought the bath in to begin with; but she wasn't sure. What she did notice was something else, something that hadn't quite registered while the steady shuffle of men and urns had gone past: that each of these men had a little white mark that looked like a scar on his forehead, in the center of the brow, above the eyes. She wondered about this; and then she wondered about what looked like towels lying over the shoulders of three of the men; and then the fourth one came toward her with a motion so swift and polite, and somehow unthreatening, that he slipped the Hill cloak off her shoulders and folded it over his arm before she reacted. She spun around then and backed away a step; and was almost certain that the look on this man's face was surprise. He laid the cloak down very gently on a wooden chest, and motioned toward the bath. She was grateful that at least he didn't bow to her again, which probably would have made her leap like a startled rabbit. It wasn't, she thought, that the gesture held any unpleasant servility. But it felt like an indication that she was somehow in command of the situation – or ought to be. The lack of servility was therefore alarming, because these men were too capable of observing that she didn't feel in the least as if she were in command. They looked at one another a moment longer. She thought then incredulously: Surely they're not expecting to give me a bath? – and noticed with the sides of her eyes that the other three men were standing behind the bath now, and one of the towels when unfolded was revealed as a robe, with a braided gold cord at the waist. The man directly in front of her, who had removed her cloak, reached out and laid his hands on the belt of her dressing-gown, and she suddenly found that she was angry. The last two days had been one indignity after another, however politely each had been offered; and to preserve what self-respect she could – and what courage – she had preferred not to think about them too closely. But that she wasn't even to be allowed to bathe without a guard – that she should be expected to submit tamely to the ministrations of four men – men – like a – like a – Her imagination chose to fail her here, far from home, with the terror of the unknown, and of the captured, only barely kept at bay. She threw off the man's polite fingers with as much violence as she could and said furiously: â€Å"No! Thank you, but no.† There are enough of them, for God's sake, to stand me on my head if they want to force the issue, she thought. But I am not going to cooperate. There was a ripple of golden silk at the sound of her voice, and a new shadow appeared in the lantern light. Corlath, who had been hovering just outside to see how his Outlander was going to behave, entered the tent. He spoke two or three words and the men left at once; each bowing, first to her and then to their king. A corner of Harry's mind, which refused to be oppressed by the dreadfulness of the situation, noticed that the bows were of equal depth and duration; and the same mental corner had the impertinence to think this odd. There was another little silence after the four men had left, only this time it was the king she was facing down. But she was too angry to care. If she said anything she would say too much, and she hadn't quite forgotten that she was at the mercy of strangers, so she bit her tongue and glowered. Why was this all happening? The bit of her mind which had commented about the equality of bows presently observed that anger was preferable to fear, so the anger was encouraged to carry on. Evidently Corlath had already had his bath; his black hair was wet, and even his sun-brown skin was a few shades lighter. He was wearing a long golden robe, stiff with elegant stitching, open at the front to show a loose cream-colored garment that fell almost to his sandaled feet. In her own country she would have been inclined to call it a nightshirt under an odd sort of dressing-gown – although nobody ever wore a scarlet cummerbund over one's nightshirt – but it looked very formal here. She mustn't forget to glower or she might feel awed. And then, inevitably, afraid. She recognized the quality of his silence when at last he spoke: the same feeling she had had when she first spoke to him, at the small campsite between the arms of a sand dune, that he chose and arranged his words very carefully. â€Å"Do you not wish to bathe, then? It is a long ride we had.† He was thinking, So I have managed to offend her immediately. It is done differently where she comes from; she can't know and must not be able to guess – but how could she guess? – that in the Hills it is only the men and women of the highest rank that may be waited on by household servants of both sexes. I feared – but for what good? We know nothing of each other's customs, and my household men have only done as they ought: treated the king's Outlander with the greatest honor. Harry in her turn had unbent slightly at the â€Å"we.† It was friendlier than the accusatory â€Å"you† she'd been expecting. She hadn't unbent so far, though, as to prevent herself from saying coldly, â€Å"I am accustomed to bathe alone.† Ah. Yes. I don't suppose I should mire myself with involved explanations at this point? She doesn't look to be in the mood for them. He said, â€Å"These are men of my household. It was to do you †¦ courtesy.† She glanced away and felt her anger begin to ebb; and so she was unprepared when he took a sudden stride forward as she dropped her eyes. He grabbed her chin and forced it up, turning her face to the light and staring down at her as if amazed. Her abrupt reversion to existence as an object to be bundled about, turned this way and that at another's will, made the anger boil up again at once; and her eyes glittered back at him without a trace of fear. He was staring into those eyes, as the light played full across them, and thinking, That's why. I don't understand it, but this must be why – the first step to why. He had just caught a glimpse, a suspicion, when she turned her head, the way the light fell, and he had put his hand out before he thought. Her eyes, under his gaze, shimmered grey to green with bubbles of amber that flickered like lightning in the depths and floated up to break like stars on the surface: bottomless eyes, that a man or beast fool enough to look at long would fall into and drown. He knew – he was one of the very few who need have no fear – that she did not know. She met his eyes too clearly: there was nothing in her eyes but simple and forthright fury – and he couldn't blame her for that. He wondered if she'd learned by accident not to focus her anger, or whether people she hated had a habit of falling downstairs or choking on fishbones – or if perhaps she had never hated . One doesn't generally look into mirrors when one is especially angry; one has better things to do, like pace the floor, or throw things. Perhaps no one had ever noticed, or been in a position to notice. And the thought came to him vaguely, for no particular reason, that she couldn't ever have been in love. If she had ever turned the full intensity of her kelar-brilliant eyes on any average mortal, they would both have had a shock; and she would never again have had the innocence to meet anyone's eyes as she now met his. He dropped his hand from her chin and turned away. He looked a little ashamed, she thought; and he said, â€Å"Forgive me,† as if he meant it. But he looked more thoughtful than anything else, and, she realized with surprise, relieved, as if he had made – or had made for him – some important decision. What can be wrong with my face? she thought. Has my nose turned green? It has always been crooked, but it never astonished anybody before. He offered her no explanation for his behavior, but after a moment's silence he said, â€Å"You will have your bath alone, as you wish,† glanced at her again as if to be sure she was real, and left her. She wrapped her arms around herself and shivered; and then thought, Very well, I do want a bath, the water's cooling off, and how long is a bath expected to take before someone else comes trotting in? She took the fastest bath of her life, and was bright red with scrubbing but quite clean when she tumbled out again, dried off, and slithered into the white robe left for her. The sleeves came to her elbows, and the hem nearly to her ankles. There were long loose trousers to go underneath, but so full as to seem almost a skirt, and they rippled and clung as she moved. The clothing all was made from something adequately opaque, but when she had tied the golden rope around her middle she still felt rather embarrassingly unclad; Homelander garb for its women involved many more layers. She looked at her dusty dressing-gown, but was reluctant to put it back on; and she was still hesitating over this as she dried her hair on the second towel and tried to part the tangle with her fingers, when Corlath returned, carrying a dark red robe very much like his golden one – and a comb. The handle of it was wide and awkward in her hand, but it had familiar teeth, and that was all that counte d. While she watched through her wet hair, the bath was half-emptied as it had been filled, and the rest carried out still in the silver basin. The four men at its handles walked so smoothly the water never offered to slop up the sides. Then there was a pause and one of the men of the household – or so she supposed the forehead mark indicated – entered carrying a mirror in a leather frame and knelt before her on one knee, propped the mirror on the other, and tipped it back till she could see her face in it. She looked down, bemused – the man's eyes were on the floor. Did household servants of the Hills all take lessons in tipping mirrors to just the right angle, relative to the height and posture of the person to be served? Perhaps it was a specialty, known only to a few; and those few, of course, would be preserved for the royal household. She parted her hair gravely and shook it back over her shoulders, where it fell heavily past her hips. The deep red of her robe was very handsome; the shadows it cast were as velvety as rose petals. â€Å"Thank you,† she said in Hill-speech, hoping that she remembered the right phrase; and the man stood up, bowed again, and went away. Meanwhile a long table was being erected under the peak of the tent, next to the central pillar. It consisted of many square sections, with a leg at each corner of each square, set next to each other in a long single row; she wondered how they managed to stand so level on the whimsical layers of carpet. Corlath was pacing up and down the end of the tent opposite her, head bent and hands behind him. Plates were arranged on the table – each setting, she saw, was given a plate, one of the curious flat-bowled spoons, two bowls of different sizes, and a tall mug. The table was very low, and there were no chairs; some of the cushions scattered all over the tent were gathered up and heaped around it. Then large bowls of bread and fruit and – she thought – cheese were brought in, and the lamp that hung from the wooden rib over the table was lowered till it hung only a few feet from the plentiful food. It was just a little above her eye level as she stood watching. The la nterns that hung from the ceiling beams were suspended on fine chains which were attached to slender ropes looped around a row of what looked very much like belaying-pins on a ship lined up against one wall. Corlath had stopped pacing, and his eyes followed the lowering of the lamp; but the expression on his face said that his thoughts were elsewhere. Harry watched him covertly, ready to look away if he should remember her; and as the lamp was fixed in its new position she saw him return to himself with a snap. He walked a few steps forward to stand at one end of the long table; then he looked around for her. She was not in a good position for judging such things, but she felt that he recalled her existence to his mind with something of an effort, as a man will recall an unpleasant duty. She let him catch her eye, and he gestured that she should take her place at his left hand. At that moment the golden silk door was lifted again, and another group of men filed in. She recognized two of them: they were the men who had ridden with Corlath to assist at her †¦ removal. She was a little surprised that she should recognize them so easily, since what she had mostly seen of them was the backs of their heads when they averted their faces, or the tops of their heads or hoods when they stared at the ground. But recognize them she did, and felt no fear about staring at them full-face now, for they showed no more inclination than they ever had for looking back at her. There were eighteen men all told, plus Corlath and herself; and she was sure she could have recognized them as a group, as belonging together and bound together by ties as strong as blood or friendship, even if they had been scattered in a crowd of several hundred. They had an awareness of each other so complete as to be instinctive. She knew something of the working of this sort of camaraderie from watching Dedham and some of his men; but here, with this group of strangers, she could read it as easily as if it were printed on a page before her; and their silence – for none bothered with the kind of greeting Harry was accustomed to, any Hill version of hello and how are you – made it only more plain to her. Rather than finding their unity frightening, and herself all alone and outside, she found it comforting that her presence should so little disturb them. That instinctive awareness seemed to wrap around her too, and accept her: an outsider, an Outlander and a woman, a nd yet here she was and that was that. She sat when everyone else sat, and as bowls and plates were passed she found that hers were filled and returned to her without her having to do anything but accept what was given her. Knives appeared, from up sleeves and under sashes and down boot tops, and Corlath produced an extra one from somewhere and gave it to her. She felt the edge delicately with one finger, and found it very keen; and was faintly flattered that the prisoner should be allowed so sharp an instrument. No doubt because any one of these men could take it away from me at my first sign of rebellion, without even interrupting their chewing, she thought. She began to peel the yellow-skinned fruit on her plate, as the man opposite her was doing. It seemed years since she had faced Sir Charles across the breakfast table. She didn't notice when the conversation began; it proceeded too easily to have had anything so abrupt as a beginning, and she was preoccupied with how to manage her food. From the tone of their voices, these men were reporting to their king, and the substance of the reports was discussed as a matter of importance all around the table. She understood no word of it, for â€Å"yes† and â€Å"no† and â€Å"please† and â€Å"good† are almost impossible to pick out when talk is in full spate, but it was a language she found pleasant to listen to, with a variety of sounds and syllables that she thought would well lend themselves to any mood or mode of expression. Her mind began to wander after a little time. She was exhausted after the long ride, but the tension of her position – I will not say that I am utterly terrified – served admirably to keep her awake and uneasily conscious of all that went on around her. She wondered if any of these men would give it away by look or gesture if the conversation turned to the Outlander in their midst. But after a bath, and clean clothes, even these odd ones, and good food, for the food was very good, and even the company, for their companionship seemed to hold her up like something tangible, her mind insisted on relaxing. But that relaxation was a mixed blessing at best, because as the tension eased even a little, her thoughts unerringly reverted to trying to puzzle out why she was where she found herself. Something to do with that abortive meeting at the Residency, between the Hillfolk and the Outlanders, presumably. But why? Why me? If I could be stolen from my bed – or my window-seat – then they could steal somebody from some other bed – and Sir Charles seems a lot more likely as a political figure. She repressed a grin. Though a very unlikely figure for riding across a saddlebow. There had to be a better reason than that of physical bulk for the choice of herself over †¦ whoever else was available. She had been spirited out of her own house, with the doors locked and the dogs out, and Sir Charles and Lady Amelia asleep only a few steps away. It was as if Corlath – or his minions – could walk through walls: and if they could walk through the Residency walls and over the Residency dogs, probably they could walk through any other walls – at least Homelander walls – that they chose. It was uncanny. She remembered that Dedham, whose judgment she trusted above all others' at the station, and who knew more than any other Homelander about his adopted country, believed in the uncanniness of certain of the Hillfolk's tactics. Which brought her back to square one of this game: Why her? Why Harry Crewe, the Residency's charity case, who had only been in this country at all for a few months? There was one obvious answer, but she discarded it as soon as it arose. It was too silly, and she was convinced that, whatever failings Corlath and his men might be capable of, silliness wasn't one of them. And Corlath didn't look at her the way a man looks at a woman he plans to have share his bed – and his interest would have to be very powerful indeed for him to have gone to so much trouble to steal her. He looked at her rather as a man looks at a problem that he would very much prefer to do without. She supposed it was distinction of a sort to be a harassment to a king. She also swiftly, almost instinctively, discarded the idea that her Homelanders would mount any successful expedition to find her and bring her home again. The Hillfolk knew their desert; the Homelanders did not. And the Residency charity case would not warrant extraordinary efforts. She thought wryly: If Jack guesses where I am, he'll think I don't need rescuing †¦ but poor Dick; he'll manage to convince himself that it's his fault, he brought me out here in the first place †¦ She blinked hastily, and bit her lips. Her crossed legs were asleep, and the small of her back hurt. She was accustomed to sitting in chairs. She began surreptitiously to thump her thighs with her fists till they began to tingle painfully to life again; then she began on her calves. By the time she could feel when she wiggled her toes, the hot stiff feeling around her eyes had ebbed and she could stop blinking. The men of the household entered the royal tent again, and cleared the table. The bread and fruit were replaced by bowls of something dark and slightly shiny. When she was offered a bit of it she discovered it to be sticky and crunchy and very sweet, and by the time she had eaten most of her generous serving, and what remained was adhering to her face and fingers, she noticed that a bowl of water and a fresh napkin had been placed at each person's elbow. There was a momentary lull while everyone sighed and stretched; and Corlath said a few words to the men of the household, which caused one of them to leave the tent and the other three still present to go around the walls extinguishing the lanterns, all except the one lamp that hung low over the table. The heavy woven walls shone in the daylight so the inside was palely lit; and the lamp over the table burned like a small sun, casting half-shadows in the quiet corners of the glowing white walls and in the hollows of eyes. None spoke. Then the man returned, carrying a dark leather bag bound with brass in the shape of a drinking-horn. A thong hung from its neck and base, and this the man had looped over his shoulder. He offered it first to Corlath, who gestured to the man at his right. The man of the household handed it gravely to him, bowed, and left; there were none in the tent now but those twenty who sat round the table. The first man drank – one swallow; she could see him letting it slide slowly down his throat. He balanced the bag on the table and stared at the burning lamp. After a moment an expression passed over his face that was so clear Harry felt she should recognize it immediately; but she did not. She was shaken both by its strength and by her own failure to read it; and then it was gone. The man looked down, smiled, shook his head, said a few words, and passed the horn to the man sitting on his right. Each man took one mouthful, swallowed it slowly, and stared at the lamp. Some of them spoke and some did not. One man, with skin sunburned as dark as cinnamon but for a pale scar on his jaw, spoke for a minute or two, and words of surprise broke from several of his audience. They all looked to Corlath, but he sat silent and inscrutable, chin in hand; and so the drinking-horn was passed on to the next. One man Harry remembered in particular: he was shorter than most of the company, while his shoulders were very broad and his hands large. His hair was grizzled and his expression grim; his face was heavily lined, but whether with age or experience or both she could not guess. He sat near the foot of the table on the side opposite her. He drank, stared at the light, spoke no word, and passed the horn to the man on his right. All the others, even the ones who said nothing, showed something in their faces – something, Harry thought, that was transparent to any who had eyes to see beyond – some strong sensation, whether of sight or feeling – she could not even guess this much. But this man remained impassive, as opaque as skin and blood and bone can be. One could see his eyes move, and his chest heave as he breathed; there was no clue for further speculation. She wondered what his name was, and if he ever smiled. As the leather bag rounded the bottom of the table and started up the other side, and Harry could no longer see the faces of the drinkers, she dropped her eyes to her hands and complimented herself on how quietly they lay, the fingers easy, not gripping each other or whitening their knuckles around her mug. The mug was still half full of a pale liquid, slightly honey-sweet but without (she thought she could by now conclude) the dangers of the gentle-tasting mead it reminded her of. She moved one finger experimentally, tapped it against the mug, moved it back, rearranged her hands as a lady might her knitting, and waited. She was aware when the drinking-horn reached the man on her left, and was aware of the slight shudder that ran through him just before he spoke; but she kept her eyes down and waited for Corlath to reach across her and take the waiting horn. This was not something an Outlander would be expected to join in – and just as well. Whatever the stuff was, watching the men's faces when they drank made her feel a little shaky. And so she was much surprised when one of Corlath's hands entered her range of vision and touched the back of one of her hands with the forefinger. She looked up. â€Å"Take a sip,† he said. She reached out stiffly and took the brass-bound bag from the man who held it, keeping her eyes only on the bag itself. It was warm from all the hands that had held it, and up close she could see the complexity of the twisted brass fittings. It carried a slight odor with it: faintly pungent, obscurely encouraging. She took a deep breath. â€Å"Only a sip,† said Corlath's voice. The weight of the thing kept her hands from trembling. She tipped her head back and took the tiniest of tastes: a few drops only. She swallowed. It was curious, the vividness of the flavor, but nothing she could put a name to †¦ She saw a broad plain, green and yellow and brown with tall grasses, and mountains at the edge of it, casting long shadows. The mountains started up abruptly, like trees, from the flatness of the plain; they looked steep and severe and, with sun behind them, they were almost black. Directly in front of her there was a small gap in those mountains, little more than a brief pause in the march of the mountains' sharp crests, and it was high above the floor of the plain. Up the side of the mountain, already near the summit, was a bright moving ribbon. Horsemen, no more than forty of them, riding as quickly as they could over the rough stony track, the horses with their heads low and thrown forward, watching their feet, swinging with their strides, the riders straining to look ahead, as though fearing they might come too late. Behind the riders were men on foot, bows slung slantwise over their backs, crossed by quivers of arrows; there were perhaps fifty of them, and they followed the horses, with strides as long as theirs. Beside them were long brown moving glints, supple as water, that slid from light to shade too quickly to be identified; four-footed, they looked to be; dogs perhaps. The sunlight bounced off sword hilts, and the metal bindings of leather arms and harness, and shields of many shapes, and the silver strings of bows. The far sides of the mountains were less steep, but no less forbidding. Broken foothills extended a long way, into the hazy distance; a little parched grass or a few stunted trees grew where they could. Below the gap in the mountains by any other path but through the valley would be impossible, at least for horses. The gap was one that a small determined force would be able to defend – for a time. The bright ribbon of horsemen and archers collected in the small flat space behind the gap, and became a pool. Here there was a little irregular plateau, with shallow crevasses, wide enough for small campsites, leading into the rocky shoulders on either side, and with a long low overhanging shelf to one side that was almost a cave. The plateau narrowed to a gap barely the width of two horsemen abreast, where the mountain peaks crowded close together, just before it spilled into the scrub-covered valley, and the rock-strewn descending slopes beyond. The horsemen paused and some dismounted; some rode to the edge and looked out. At the far edge of the foothills something glittered, too dark for grass, too sharply peaked for water. When it spilled into the foothills it became apparent for what it was: an army. This army rode less swiftly than had the small band now arranging themselves in and around the pass, but their urgency was less. The sheer numbers of them were all the tactics they needed. But the little army waiting for them organized itself as seriously as if it had a chance of succeeding in what it set out to do; and perhaps some delay of the immense force opposing it was all that it required. The dust beyond the foothills winked and flashed as rank after rank approached the mountains †¦ †¦ and then time began to turn and dip crazily, and she saw the leader of the little force plunging down into the valley with a company behind him, and he drew a sword that flashed blue in his hand. His horse was a tall chestnut, fair as daylight, and his men swept down the hill behind him. She could not see the archers, but she saw a hail of arrows like rain sweeping from the low trees on either side of the gap. The first company of the other army leaped eagerly toward them, and a man on a white horse as tall as the chestnut and with red ribbons twisted into its long tail met the blue sword with one that gleamed gold †¦ †¦ and Harry found herself back in the tent, her throat hoarse as if from shouting: standing up, with a pair of strong hands clamped on her shoulders; and she realized that without their support she would sag to her knees. The fierce shining of the swords was still in her eyes. She blinked and shook her head, and realized she was staring at the lamp; so she turned her head and looked up at Corlath, who was looking down at her with something – she noticed with a shock – like pity in his face. She could think of nothing to say; she shook her head again, as if to shake out of it all she had just seen; but it stayed where it was. There was a silence, of a moment, or perhaps of half a year. She breathed once or twice; the air felt unnaturally harsh on her dry throat. She began to feel the pile of carpets pressing against her feet, and Corlath's hands slackened their grip. They stood, the two of them, king and captive, facing one another, and all the men at the table looked on. â€Å"I am sorry,† Corlath said at last. â€Å"I did not think it would take you with such strength.† She swallowed with some difficulty: the lovely wild flavor of the mad drink she had just tasted lingered in the corners of her mouth, and in the corners of her mind. â€Å"What is it?† Corlath made some slight gesture – of denigration or of ignorance. â€Å"The drink – we call it Meeldtar – Seeing Water, or Water of Sight.† â€Å"Then – all that I saw – I really saw it. I didn't imagine it.† â€Å"Imagine it? Do you mean did you see what was true? I do not know. One learns, eventually, usually to know, to be able to say if the seeings are to be believed or are †¦ imagined. But imagined as you mean it – no. The Water sends these things, or brings them.† There was a pause again, but nobody relaxed, least of all herself. There was more to it than this, than a simple – simple? – hallucination. She looked at Corlath, frowning. â€Å"What else?† she said, as calmly as if she were asking her doom. Corlath said, â€Å"There is something else,† as if he were putting it off. He hesitated, and then spoke a few words in a language she did not recognize. It wasn't the usual Darian she heard the natives around the Residency speak, or the slightly more careful tongue that Dedham and Mr. Peterson used; nor did it sound like the differently accented tongue the Hillfolk spoke, which was still recognizable to those who were fluent in Darian. This was a rougher, more powerful language to listen to, although many of the sounds – strange to her Homelander ears – were common with the Darian she was accustomed to. She looked at Corlath, puzzled, as he spoke a little further. She knew nothing of this language. â€Å"It is not familiar to you?† Corlath said at last; and when she shook her head, he said, â€Å"No, of course not, how could it be?† He turned around. â€Å"We might sit down again,† and sat down with great deliberateness. She sat down too, waiting. The look she had seen before on his face, that of a man facing a problem he would far rather avoid, had returned, but it had changed. Now his look said that he understood what the problem was, and it was much more serious than he had suspected. â€Å"There are two things,† he said. â€Å"The Water of Sight does not work so on everyone. Most people it merely makes ill. To a few it gives headaches; headaches accompanied by strange colors and queer movements that make them dizzy. There are very few who see clearly – we nineteen, here tonight, all of us have drunk the Water of Sight many times. But even for us, most of us see only a brief abrupt picture – sometimes the scene lasts so little time it is hard to recognize. Often it is of something familiar: one's father, one's wife, one's horse. There is a quality to these pictures, or memories, that is like nothing else, like no voluntary memory you might call up yourself. But often that is all. â€Å"Occasionally one of the people of our Hills sees more. I am one. You have just proven yourself another. I do not know why you saw what you did. You told us something of what you saw as you were seeing it. You may have seen a battle of the past – or one that never happened – or one that may yet happen; it may occur in Damar, or – in some other country.† She heard may yet happen as if those three words were the doom she had asked for; and she remembered the angry brilliance of the yellow-eyed Hill-king as he stood before the Residency far away. â€Å"But – † she said, troubled, hardly realizing she spoke aloud – â€Å"I am not even of your Hills. I was born and bred far away – at Home. I have been here only a few months. I know nothing of this place.† â€Å"Nothing?† said Corlath. â€Å"I said there were two things. I have told you the first. You told us what you saw as you saw it. But this is the second thing: you spoke in the Old Tongue, what we call the Language of the Gods, that none knows any more but kings and sorcerers, and those they wish to teach it to. The language I just spoke to you, that you did not recognize – I was repeating the words you had said yourself, a moment before.†

Activity Based Costing Essay

Activity based costing (ABC) is a relative new way to allocate costs to specific processes and services. This system assures that the costs are accurately distributed to the products or services that generated them. ABC illustrates costs more accurately, giving management insight to the cost associated with certain business activities. ABC extends the decision-making skills of management by expanding on traditional costing (job order costing/process order costing) techniques. However, since ABC’s introduction in the 1980’s, many corporations are not using ABC, despite gained managerial decision making capabilities. Even by the mid-1990s, ABC’s use has not spread throughout the accounting industry and its use is not obvious (Selto & Jasinski, 1996). The following article will discuss the pros and cons of the ABC method. ABC is an extension of traditional product costing techniques. These techniques are called job order costing and process order costing. A job order costing system arranges costs for each unit as it goes through a production process. A process cost system collects costs in work in progress account. The numbers of units worked are recorded for the accounting period. These systems alone do not accurately illustrate costs incurred. Instead, these two costing techniques generally lump costs into 3 main categories (cost centers). These three categories are direct materials, direct labor and overhead. Cost drivers are then assigned to represent the relationship between the cost and the process it is allocated to. ABC provides a better map of the costs of manufacturing products or distributing services. ABC uses a multitude of activity centers, which are the equivalent to the previously mentioned traditional cost centers. Each of these activity centers has its own cost driver and driver rate. ABC identifies many different costs to products by adjusting the cost driver and driver rates to specific activity centers. This process avoids across the board allocations of cost. For example, a product, which takes up .03% of space in the warehouse, would require .03% cost absorbed by product sales revenue. If the depreciation unit requires 5% cost to replace equipment at a latter date, 5% is the driver rate for that particular product. Unit, batch  and product level costs can be determined with ABC. The following steps can summarize the ABC process. The first step is to identify the activities that consume resources and allocate costs to those activities. For example, purchasing materials, record keeping, labor, materials, miles driven, machine hours and number of customers served are activities, which consume resources and needs costs to be assigned to them. The second step is to distinguish the cost drivers that are related to each activity. For example, if machine hours an activity used in the process, then the number of hours used in production of one unit would be the particular cost driver rate. The last step is to allocate costs to products by multiplying the cost driver rate by the number of cost driver units consumed by the process. There are many inherent strengths in the ABC model. The ABC model allows costs to be allocated to many different activity centers. Few corporations can focus on undifferentiated product lines and be successful. Having multiple product lines means the company has multiple cost drivers associated with each different product line. ABC is helpful in selecting which products are successful and which ones should be eliminated. Accurate cost information is key in determining the actual costs of frequent product changes. This cost is important because costs can be a good indicator of the justification or termination of varying product lines. Product lines have become more complex. Product lines of past were much simpler. For example, the Model T Ford came in one style and one color, black. Today, Ford cars have many different colors and styles. These different styles all have different cost drivers and activity centers. ABC illuminates hidden costs when high volume sales are not present and product differentiation is. This is advantageous because unprofitable lines can be replaced with lines that are profitable. Not many years ago, labor comprised 25 to 50 percent of a product’s cost. However, since the 1960s, labor is increasingly less involved in the  production process. For example, the textile industry replaced 100-year old shuttle looms for European air-jet looms, doubling output with less labor. In steel, the Nucor corporation used continuous casting machines to yield labor costs of $60/ton verses traditional steel’s $130/ton. Labor cost today is infrequently the driving force behind costs it was during the development period of cost accounting (1930’s). Instead, indirect costs have replaced labor as the dominant portion of costs for some products (Kelly, 1991). To use labor as the major basis for allocating as job costing or process costing accounting does, may lead to inaccurate decisions by management. The accounting profession has largely overlooked ABC. Among reasons cited for low adoption were employee resistance and the organizational changes essential with the use of ABC (Ness & Cucuzza, 1995). Some trace the source of hindered adoption of ABC to technical as well as cultural issues. Others feel that ABC would be more widespread in industry if it were marketed better by the accounts themselves (Brausch, 1992). There are several reasons for ABC low adoption rate. Complexity is an obstacle to implementing ABC. ABC requires detailed records of the costs associated with producing products and services as compared to traditional methods. This detailed record keeping requires more effort from the accountants and is more time consuming. The complexity of ABC can contribute to more errors. ABC can require more time to check and recheck to uncover errors. ABC generally requires more effort on the part of the accountant verses traditional methods and reduces the adoption rate of ABC. Another reason for not using ABC is the increased economies of scale. Many corporations are standardizing their products to reduce the costs to manufacture them. For example, Coca-Cola distributes its products in many different countries. The product varies very little in respect to packaging and manufacturing. Traditional methods of accounting can assign costs more easily, quickly and accurately for those products that have little or no product variation. ABC is a valuable tool in calculating the costs of producing varying product  lines. These differing product lines require more extensive accounting practices than traditional costing methods provide. The information obtained from ABC can help promote product lines that managers feel are profitable between those which should be eliminated. Labor is less frequently the major ingredient in the production process. ABC addresses this concern by examining and illustrating the overhead costs associated with particular activity centers. ABC describes these over head costs more accurately and is beneficial when increasingly more complex manufacturing processes are used. Adoption issues should be addressed to implement ABC method when costing decisions matter to managers. Bibliography: ReferencesBrausch, J.M. â€Å"Selling ABC: New Cost Systems Can Flounder if They Are Not Marketed.† Management Accounting, February 1992, pp. 42-46. Geishecker, M.L. â€Å"New Technologies Support ABC. â€Å"Management Accounting, March 1996, pp. 42-48. Kelly, K. â€Å"A Bean-Counter’s Best Friend.† Business Week, October 25, 1991, pp. 42-43. Ness, J.A. and T.G. Cucuzza. â€Å"Tapping the Full Potential of ABC.† Harvard Business Review, July/August 1995, pp. 130-131. Selto, F.H. and D.W. Jasinski. â€Å"ABC and High Technology: A Story with a Moral.† Management Accounting, March 1996, pp. 37-40. 17 Activity based costing Essay Executive Summary This report provides an analysis of Activity Based Costing systems and Conventional Costing systems to determine whether the application of Activity Based Costing concepts would be useful at DBS Consulting Services. A profitability analysis of the two consulting services offered by DBS Consulting Services (e-Commerce Consulting and Information Systems Consulting) was performed using Activity Based Costing and Conventional Costing. Using the conventional costing approach, the overheads of $342,000 were allocated at $129,960 (e-Commerce Consulting) and $212,040 (Information Systems Consulting). Using the Activity Based Costing approach, the overheads of $342,000 were allocated at $107,160 (e-Commerce Consulting) and $234,840 (Information Systems Consulting). Before implementing an Activity Based Costing system, management needs to assess the problems that the firm is facing so that the Activity Based Costing system can be designed to address those problems. DBS Consulting Services is in a tight local labour market and is having difficulty finding quality staff. It was found that E-Commerce Consulting Services provided a higher income per billings percentage than that of Information Systems Consulting Services (19% vs. 3%) under the Activity Based Costing approach. E-Commerce Consulting Services provided the higher return per sales dollar. These results would suggest that the professionals at DBS Consulting Services need to spend more time in e-Commerce. The success of failure of Activity Based Costing approach is determined by the reactions of the people who develop and use the system. An Activity Based Costing system can be costly and time consuming to  implement and maintain, it requires extensive training, expertise and information. However, the benefits of Activity Based Costing systems, being improved cost accuracy and assisting management with decision making, outweigh these costs. Introduction It is said that Activity Based Costing can result in improved costing accuracy when compared with Conventional Costing procedures. Arguments to support this claim are that companies who adopt Activity Based Costing are not limited to a single cost driver when having to allocate costs to their products and activities. Activity Based Costing allows companies to use non-unit cost drivers as well as unit cost drivers to allocate costs. Also, because use differs significantly amongst activities, no single cost driver can accurately assign costs for all activities whereas Activity Based Costing takes advantage of multiple cost drivers, not just a single cost driver. Arguments against this claim are that service industries often have higher levels of facility costs which mean fewer costs will be included in the Activity Based Costing system. Service industries also have a lot of non-repetitive activities which make it difficult to identify an individual activity to assign a cost driver to. Both the conventional costing system and the Activity Based Costing system calculate the cost of a product or service in relation to the revenue it generates. However, the conventional costing system assigns manufacturing overheads based on a volume-based cost driver, and Activity Based Costing systems assign the manufacturing and non-manufacturing overheads based on the activities required to produce the item. Part 3 Case Analysis Report – DBS Consulting Services (cont.) The Conventional Costing System Conventional costing approaches assume that manufacturing overhead costs are related to the volume of production which is usually measured by input measures such as direct labour hours or direct machine hours. The features of a conventional costing system are: Direct material and direct labour costs are traced to products Manufacturing overheads are assigned to products based on a pre-determined overhead rate The manufacturing overhead rate is calculated using a volume-based cost driver Non-manufacturing costs are not assigned to products The advantages of using a conventional costing system are: They are aligned with generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) They are simpler than Activity Based Costing systems and easier to implement The disadvantages of a conventional costing system are: They are not as accurate as Activity Based Costing systems They can result in under-costing and over-costing of products They can lead to poor management decisions as non-manufacturing costs are excluded The Activity Based Costing System Activity Based Costing systems allocate manufacturing and non-manufacturing costs to a product based on the activities required to produce the item. Activity Based Costing systems calculate the cost of individual activities and then assign those costs to cost objects, such as outputs, based on the activities required to produce them. Activity Based Costing systems can be used to estimate the cost a product and also as a tool for management to monitor and control what is happening in the business by analysing the activity costs, the root causes of activities, the value of to the customer and measures of performance. The advantages of Activity Based Costing systems are: They provide a more accurate cost of products Manufacturing and non-manufacturing costs are included in the calculation They provide a greater understanding of overhead costs The disadvantages of Activity Based Costing systems are: Information can be misinterpreted by some users They can be costly to implement and maintain They involve major changes in data collection and analysis which can be challenging and also cause resistance amongst employees Current System at DBS Consulting Services Currently at DBS Consulting Services our administration costs (overheads) are allocated to both consulting services (e-Commerce and Information Systems) based on billable hours. The following analysis presents the profitability of the firm’s e-Commerce and Information Systems consulting services using Conventional Costing procedures and Activity Based Costing. Part 3 Case Analysis Report – DBS Consulting Services (cont.) Conventional Costing Procedures: Part 3 Case Analysis Report – DBS Consulting Services (cont.) Activity Based Costing Procedures: Analysis: Activity-based costing procedures result in a significant increase in the overhead costs allocated to Information Systems Consulting and a significant decrease in the overhead costs allocated to e-Commerce Consulting. The conventional costing procedures allocate overheads based on billable hours which results in 38% of overhead costs being allocated to e-Commerce Consulting (=1900 billable hours for e-Commerce / 5000 total billable hours), and 62% to Information Systems Consulting (=3100 billable hours for Information Systems / 5000 total billable hours). However Activity Based Costing shows that the overhead percentage allocations vary for each activity as summarised below. Part 3 Case Analysis Report – DBS Consulting Services (cont.) The e-Commerce Consulting services are allocated less overhead costs using Activity Based Costing when compared to the conventional costing approach. Using the conventional costing approach, $342,000 is allocated at $129,960 (e-Commerce Consulting) and $212,040 (Information Systems Consulting). Using the Activity Based Costing approach, $342,000 is allocated at $107,160 (e-Commerce Consulting) and $234,840 (Information Systems Consulting). E-Commerce Consulting Services provides a higher income per billings percentage than that of Information Systems Consulting Services (19% vs. 3%) under the Activity Based Costing approach. This shows that although both services are charged out at the same rate, and the labour rate for both services are the same, e-Commerce Consulting Services provides the higher return per sales dollar. By adopting the Activity Based Costing approach we can determine a more accurate method of allocating overhead costs to our services which in turn will provide more accurate profit analysis of each service. This will help to increase customer and shareholder value. Summary Given the very tight local labour market and the fact that it is difficult to find quality staff it would not be desirable for an aggressive expansion of either consulting service regardless of the fact that both generate a profit. If we opt to expand either service this would mean having to hire more qualified staff, which as mentioned above, is difficult in today’s competitive market. Before implementing an Activity Based Costing system, the following factors need to be considered: Management needs to show conviction that the benefits of the system will outweigh the costs Management and staff need to understand what Activity Based Costing is and how it can help the firm The requirement of resources to implement Activity Based Costing need to be considered Concerns about the resistance to change factors need to be addressed The success of failure of Activity Based Costing approach is determined by the reactions of the people who develop and use the system. Resistance to change can impede implementation, therefore in order to succeed, there must be a plan in place that is carefully thought out to take into account the factors above as well as determining the extent of change required and the different personalities involved. Employees should be encouraged to play a major role in developing and using the Activity Based Costing system to give them a sense of ownership and help them to view the system as a tool to help them manage their work. In conclusion, an Activity Based Costing system can be costly and time consuming to implement and maintain, it requires extensive training, expertise and information. However, the benefits of Activity Based Costing on improved cost accuracy and assisting management with decision making outweigh these costs. Part 3 Case Analysis Report – DBS Consulting Services (cont.) References Langfield-Smith, K., Thorne, H., & Hilton, R. (2012). Management accounting: Information for creating and managing value (6th edition). North Ryde, NSW, Australia: McGraw-Hill. Heisinger, K., & Hoyle, J. (2013.). Managerial Accounting,v.1.0. Retrieved April 10, 2014 from http:/catalog.flatworldknowledge.com Johnson, R. (n.d.). Traditional Costing Vs. Activity-Based Costing. Retrieved April 1, 2014 from http:/smallbuiness.chron.com Wilkinson, J. (July 23, 2013). Activity-based Costing (ABC) vs Traditional Costing. Retrieved April 1, 2014 from http:/strategiccfo.com Marx, C. (n.d.). Activity Based Costing (ABC) And Traditional Costing Systems. Retrieved April 4, 2014 from http:/financialsupport.weebly.com Keshav. (n.d). Advantages And Disadvantages of Activity-Based Costing (ABC). Retrieved April 1, 2014 from http:/accountlearning.blogspot.co.nz Delaware Technical Community College. (n.d.). Retrieved April 1, 2014 from https://www.dtcc.edu

EU LAW Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

EU LAW - Essay Example Rights of residence Member states will issue the right of residence to nationals of the member states who are not enjoying other provisions of the community law which has been provided that they themselves and the their family members are covered by medical insurance in respect of all the risks in the host member state and have sufficient resources, which will be able to sustain them and avoid being a burden to the social security system of the host member state during their period of residence. All the citizens of the union have the right to enter another member state by only possessing a valid passport or an identity card. Under no circumstance will they require an entry or exit visa. Claude, who is the manager of the restaurant, is granted a job by the owner Henri MangeTout, because he thinks that Claude is a Belgian citizen. In reality, since Claude is a Congolese from Dr Congo, his rights of residence do not fall under this Directive by the council. It is stated that after resid ing legally in EU country continuously for 5 yrs, you automatically get the rights of permanent residence, without even having to fulfill other requirements.2 Their staying in any of the member state is not affected by temporary absences and longer absences. Towards the end of His 5th year of continuous legal residence, he and his family are supposed to apply to the authorities for a permanent residence card that will enable them to be regarded as permanent residence of that state. This will give him and his family a chance to be able to enjoy the same benefits, advantages and rights as nationals. They can now stay there as long as they desire. The member states shall grant a residence permit the validity of which will be limited to a period of 5 years on the basis that it can be renewed. On the other hand, if they require revalidation of the permit at the end of the 2 years it is possible. No matter what takes place their rights of residence is guaranteed as long as they fulfill th e conditions of the member state in which they are residing. 3 Rights of free movement Claude and his family have the opportunity not to be deported, if they take the right legal moves to make sure every detail pertaining their dwelling is settled well by the London government. They have to make sure they follow up their rights of becoming citizens automatically after staying in United Kingdom for a period of 5 years, which is taken by the legislation as a substantial length of time for an individual to be well conversant with the system of that country. By doing this, they will be exercising their rights of residence within that state, which has been laid down by the member states of the European Union.4 Their son Patrice who is also a Congolese, but was born in Belgium, which has made him now to have the Belgium nationality, has also the right to reside in United Kingdom. His stay in the United Kingdom for a period of 5 years since 2007 together with his family is part of the coun cil directive that shall facilitate him to become a citizen automatically. Also, it is stated that, if your partner or any of the relative has been authorized by the state to live with you as family members, they also get the opportunity to automatically get the right s of permanent residen

Detailed Review of Pricing and R&D Strategy of X5, X6, X7 Research Paper

Detailed Review of Pricing and R&D Strategy of X5, X6, X7 - Research Paper Example In a recent survey, ChangeWave found that out of 3,043 survey respondents from North America, 14% gave positive response to purchase a mobile tablet in the next 3 months (Epstein, 2011). This rise in the consumer adoption of new technology determines the extent of future changes in the pricing and budget allocation for Research and Development (R&D) of its products. Tablet Development is focused on providing high quality and custom designed applications for tablets manufacturers and operating system providers. Its core products are X5, X6 and X7 that have been in the market for the last 6 years. However, there are major drawbacks in the existing price and R&D budget allocation strategies that have undermined the new product development cycle in the organization. 1.1 Aim: The aim of this report is to highlight the drawbacks of the existing pricing and R&D budget allocation strategy on a period of 6 years for the core products of Tablet Development and to recommend an alternative strat egy that should have been adopted to achieve the organizational goals. 1.2 Objectives: To critically review the strategy of pricing and R&D budget allocation for each core product, namely: X5, X6 and X7. ... The customer base also experienced 61% new customers, 94% repeat sales and 103% profitability. However, the R&D costs deteriorated by -33%. In 2011-12, the product X5 experienced 21% increase in its sales and revenue. The customer base experienced only 15% new customers, 72% repeat sales and 12% profit.ability However, the R&D costs remained stable with 0% change from the previous year. In 2012-13, the product X5 observed a severe decline as its sales dropped with a 23% change from the previous year. The customer base also declined by 36% of new customers. The losses increased to 17%. In 2013-14, the sales declined by another 51%, new customers by 81% and profitability by 88%. In 2014-15, the sales declined by 26%, new customers by 100% and profitability by 500%. In the entire life cycle, the product X5 remained at same price of $265 and R&D cost of USD 7,20,000 with nil change. As a result, the product market saturation declined from 84% in 2010 to 3% in 2015. The repeat sales also declined from 94% in 2010 to only 3% in 2015. 2.2 Product X6: In the period 2010-11, the product X6 the price was $420 and experienced a growth of 126% in its overall sales and revenue. The customer base also experienced 124% new customers and 81% profitability. However, the R&D costs deteriorated by -33%. In 2011-12, the product X6 experienced 60% increase in its sales and revenue and 53% increase in total costs. The customer base experienced only 56% new customers and 14% profitability. However, the R&D costs remained stable with 0% change from the previous year. In 2012-13, the product X6 observed a severe low increase as its sales dropped to 3% increase

Should Society recognize animal rights, even to the extent of Essay

Should Society recognize animal rights, even to the extent of disallowing the use of animals in scientific and medical experiments - Essay Example But in the context of pain suffered by animals, Gallistel (1989) has advocated the unrestricted use of animals for research purposes, especially in the study of the nervous system. He points out that studies on the nervous system may involve the destruction or stimulation of a part of the system to examine the ramifications of use of certain drugs and could cause pain and temporary distress to the animals used. He argues that restricting research on animals would restrict the progress in human understanding of the nervous system. It would interfere with the process of providing a moral and scientific basis for the amassing of knowledge that produces tangible benefits for the nervous ailments of humans and benefits in treatment. He contends that the suffering of a few animals cannot be accorded greater importance than the benefits that are provided to the human race. It is also argued that since animals do not possess a sense of moral values and reason, they are inferior beings as com pared to humans and therefore, their interests must be subordinated to that of human beings. In a similar vein, H Tristam Englehardt Jr believes that â€Å"morality is a human construct and that secular moral authority is grounded in consent†¦[and he]†¦..claims that animals have "rights" granted them by humans (since only humans are "ends in themselves"), but the "rights" so granted are to be used for human welfare, including the "right" to be hunted, skinned, eaten, used for entertainment, etc† (Haack, 2007). Hence, Gallistel and Englehardt are of the view that animals may have rights, but those rights are to be subordinated to those of humans and the animals can only enjoy rights to the extent that humans permit them to have those rights. Therefore, even in instances where they suffer pain, this pain is justified on the basis that their rights are

Is HRM a new concept Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Is HRM a new concept - Essay Example In case of multinational companies a brand new concept has been outlined by HRM known as organizational culture. This is a completely new field which describes internal environment of an organization and its impact on organizational performance. Change management approach is a new dimension within human resource management. It helps in describing various aspects that is related to acquisitions or mergers of firms. b) There are some factors which states HRM is not a new concept. Earlier management discipline forms the basis of human resource management. HRM is mostly stated as old wine packed in new bottle. There were management strategies followed previously but in recent years those have been given new names. Human resource management in various ways can be defined similar to the approach of personal management. In the current scenario new dimension has been given to human resource management in order to stay competitive but it cannot be totally stated as a new concept. There exist some important functions related to human resource management. Firstly training and development is a function that deals with training new recruits or existing employees so as to impart necessary skills and knowledge. Training and development sessions even enhances confidence interval amongst team members. Appraisal is another function which can be associated with job performance. This function tends to increase confidence interval within an employee. Compensation can be stated as the basic benefit that an employee receives. It forms the first step towards managing human capital in an organization. Assessment is an HRM function and it deals with analyzing employee performance. The assessed performance is then evaluated against a set standard in order to determine poor and best performers. All these functions are based on an essential component that is recruitment

Jasper Conran Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Jasper Conran - Coursework Example Jasper Conran is considered to be amongst the greatest contemporary artists and in recognition of his contribution to the fashion industry was honored with the Order of the British Crown in 2008. After Jasper Conran became associated with the Debenhams Store that stocked and marketed his J Line women’s wear that was launched in 1996, several of his other range of products began to be accepted through the store. In fact, his most successful venture has been his association with Debenhams, after which the sale of his line of accessories, men’s wear, women’s wear, hosiery, children wear and homeware grew exponentially. Jasper Conran has the distinction of being recognized with credibility in the world of costume designing. He has designed dresses for more than 15 theatre, opera and ballet productions (Ewing and Mackrell, 2006). Presently, his line of products has vastly expanded and includes lingerie, children’s wear, bridal wear, home wear, hosiery, jeans an d men’s wear. In 1999, Jasper Conran had started designing his signature brands of crystal following his partnership with Waterfold. This effort led to the introduction of four exclusive lines for Waterford and other table ware collections of bone china, which were also supplied to Wedgewood. The Wedgewood Collection by Jasper Conran is now the top selling porcelain table ware in the U.K. Jasper Conran launched his signature fragrance in 2003 and in 2005 he launched his most successful colorful fragrances; Jasper Conran II Man and Woman. In 2004, Jasper Conran designed a series of wallpapers and fabrics for the Designers’ Guild in London. At this time, Jasper Conran also designed an exclusive collection of fashionable fire places for Chesney’s in London. Jasper Conran is credited with having a unique British receptivity and his signature is exclusive because of his cuts and ensuing silhouette that remain unparalleled by other designers. Jasper Conran has often b een said to be the Calvin Klein of London. He created collections for men and women that represented sophisticated and classic lines. In 1986, he was declared as the Fashion Designer of the Year by the British Fashion Council, after which he struck a balance between British culture and international fashion. Jasper Conran was inspired by earlier Coco Chanel designs and American looks of Claire McCardell. His designs have been applauded for his outcomes generated from his retro styles and modern sophistication that were brought forth with pop over and monastic dresses. He is well recognized for his elegant adaptations of conventional British tweed formals. Conran’s ability and recognition was given a boost primarily because of his use of color combinations that were introduced in his 1992 collection. His evening wear is characteristic of a clean line in each garment that is brightened with cobalt and fuchsia. Founder’s Philosophy Capture any statements made by the desig ner or brand company about their philosophy e.g. attitudes to the environment. Jasper Conran is recognized as an authority in British styles, tailoring and designs that are characterized by a simple philosophy. His pieces are created so that they are used and enjoyed and are a pleasure to hold and to watch. Conran was much impacted by Jean Muir and still considers him as his mentor in fashion styles.

Service Oriented Architectures Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Service Oriented Architectures - Essay Example â€Å"Just as the Databases were at the center of design of applications of the 70s and 80s, Components are at the center of design of the applications of the 90s and the next century† – David Vaskevitch, VP, Microsoft. Almost anyone with a sufficient amount of experience in the world of information technology would agree that the concepts of ‘Objects’ have drastically changed the way, large scale software systems are built and deployed. Objects are the basis for advanced graphical user interfaces. Their power comes from their single most useful feature of reusability. Objects are built in such a way that they can be used to build ‘components’ that can be collaborated across multi-vendor platforms. These component based architectures have modernized the way large scale enterprise level software systems are built. The large scale success of component-based architecture has lead to the development of Service Oriented Architectures (SOA). The concept of SOA is an evolution of the Component Based Architecture in which the enterprise’s architecture is developed in a ‘Service-Driven Approach’. Service driven approach means that the requirements of an infrastructure are broken down into multiple components; each component providing a distinct service and each service is autonomous. These services are embedded into the business process of the enterprise that supports customer and business goals.

In what ways are the state and the law patriarchical institutions Essay

In what ways are the state and the law patriarchical institutions - Essay Example regarded an embodiment of strength and knowledge, they were inclined to be in charge of the social structure to which, in olden times, left women practically incompetent over men. Holy scriptures that date back two thousand years ago illustrate how women were thought to be of no essence. 1 Timothy 2:16 â€Å"I permit no woman to teach or have authority over men. She is to keep silent.† The supremacy of a Patriarchic society extends far beyond the realms of: sexuality, family units, employment and employment compensations, male-on-female hostilities, edifying associations, and the state. (eSSORTMENT, 2002) When society began to depict the roles of men as heads of nations and kingdoms, pioneers of expeditions and discoveries, brave heroes of war, engineers of technology and infrastructure, great thinkers and philosophers, etc., it unconsciously instilled prejudicial thoughts -- that there exists an inferior gender, the female gender. (Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia, 2008) A State is a defined group of people, living within defined territorial boundaries and more or less subject to an autonomous legal system exercising jurisdiction through properly constituted courts; (Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia, 2008) We have mentioned how men were able to superintend the social structure several thousand years ago given the perception of his intelligence to lead, ability to provide for the family, and biological physique that exuded strength and courage. Historically, men were able to illustrate the relationships of superiority and inferiority in society such as master-slave, strong-weak, leader-follower, parent-child, masculine-feminine, patriarch-matriarch, etc. As the dominant figures or spheres in society, men were able to select principal or exceptional people to constitute authority or governance and thus, forming the state. With the existence of the state, laws of society were established which were inclined to be patriarchal in nature. The parameters of

Obama’s Education Promise, a Rhetorical Analysis Essay Example for Free

Obama’s Education Promise, a Rhetorical Analysis Essay â€Å"Education is the best provision for the journey to old age.† – Aristotle Today, 314.5 million people call themselves Americans. Each of them, with God permitting, will make the journey to old age. However, in this huge set of individuals, roughly fifteen percent of adults over the age of twenty-five have not received a high school diploma (â€Å"Educational Attainment in the United States: 2009†). By itself, this percentage feels rather small, and so we as Americans pride ourselves in our educational system. After crunching the numbers, however, this measly percentage actually represents twenty-nine million Americans, twenty-nine million individuals who lack an accomplished high school education. Aristotle would be displeased to say the least. In 2008, then senator Barack Obama delivered a speech to the Mapleton Expeditionary School of the Arts titled â€Å"What’s Possible for our Children.† Though intended for his election campaign, the speech also reflected this introduction’s attitude, calling attention to the gaping holes in American education. More specifically, however, Obama promoted educational reform based on a three-point platform: â€Å"fixing† No Child Left Behind (an act which encourages state standardized tests to measure and regulate primary and secondary education in the United States), encouraging teacher reforms and furthering teaching employment, and increasing opportunities for minor ethnicities and other disadvantaged students. In retrospect, his speech met with great optimism and is often quoted by leaders in education. To explain this speech’s success more fully requires an analysis of Obama’s seasoned rhetorica l strategies, of ethos, logos, and pathos—respectively, as well as an explanation of how each of these three strategies establishes an effective speech. Obama sprinkles ethos, or ethical proof, throughout his three-point platform. In doing so, he gears his audience’s attention towards his assessment of the ethical standards in American education to inspire  motivation and change. For example, in the introduction, Obama states, â€Å"This kind of America is morally unacceptable for our children† (qtd. in â€Å"Full text of Obama’s education speech†). Through this statement, Obama assumes the role of an ethical mediator; he creates situated ethos whereby, as a presidential candidate, he has the power to tell us as a society where we are correct and where we can improve. By equating American education with moral irresponsibility, he calls society to consider the issues he addresses later in his speech. One such issue is No Child Left Behind, his first premise. In discussing the problems within the act passed by former President Bush in 2001, Obama repeats the phrase â€Å"we must† almost religiously. Must is a strong word choice; it implies an obligation to something. As an audience member, we make the connection that the obligation is precisely what Obama stated in the introduction. We must make our educational standards higher for our children; thus, we become motivated to fix No Child Left Behind. Likewise, in his second point, which promises teacher reforms and employment, Obama begins with a simple commonplace: Individuals who do good jobs should be rewarded. Using the ethos from his introduction, he concludes that teachers who do good jobs should be rewarded, which gives motivation for teachers to do well. Obama even goes so far as to inspire change in education among ethnic minorities, his final point. In this point, he calls upon hope—hope that disadvantaged students will one day rise from the bottom with his new learning opportunity programs. His optimism and confidence calls us, his audience, to change. Obama further generalizes this notion of change during his conclusion when he states, â€Å"We have to hold ourselves accountable† (qtd. in â€Å"Full text of Obama’s education speech†). By holding the audience accountable, educational reform becomes both a private and public matter. Therefore, the audience, 314.5 million Americans, feel more personally compelled, motivated even, to follow his advice—to change No Child Left Behind, to reward teachers for good work, and to give more opportunities to disadvantaged students—to reform much of the current educational model, in effect. Logos and pathos, however, are still needed to solidify such an undertaking. Realizing he is delivering a speech about education, an intellectual topic, Obama adds several textbook examples of logos, or logical proof, to his  speech. Simply put, after he explains the unacceptable educational current model to his audience using ethos, he uses logos to depict the reality of how unacceptable the system is. In his introduction, for instance, Obama equates knowledge to the â€Å"currency† of the Information Age, stating that an individual should use his or her knowledge to â€Å"sell† himself or herself to a career position. A cause-and-effect relationship soon follows to support this extended metaphor: â€Å"If the more than 16,000 Colorado students who dropped out of high school last year had only finished, the economy in th[e] state would have seen an additional $4.1 billion in wages over these students’ lifetime† (qtd. in â€Å"Full text of Obama’s education speech). Logically, we as the audience then deduce that education , in reality, is profitable. It is in our interest to be well-educated, but as of now, we are losing money from being uneducated. From there, Obama makes a more explicit logical deduction to support his first premise. If we as Americans want to help the economy, we should fix No Child Left Behind. His logical reasoning for fixing the program stems from its seemingly insufficient economic policy, which stifles the paychecks of teachers who we as a society want to inspire. Because of such, he suggests that, while No Child Left Behind’s goals are noble on paper, its functional mechanics are illogical and unacceptable in the real world. By doing so, he gains more support from educators and economists. Obama also uses logos in his third premise, albeit implicitly. Back in the introduction, Obama quotes the following from Thomas Jefferson, a well-respected president from American history: â€Å"[T]alent and virtue, needed in a free society, should be educated regardless of wealth or birth† (qtd. in â€Å"Full text of Obama’s education speech). Obama knows that the general public will agree with anything Thomas Jefferson says because he is so well respected in American history. Therefore, when he discusses the current issues of ethnic minorities, he conjures support from a broader spectrum of Americans because he is in accordance with Thomas Jefferson. In that respect, he is able to use logos as a means to show the unacceptable truth behind the educational system—to showcase the relationship between revenue and education as well as highlight student-teacher discrimination—to the widely diverse American people. Among all the strategies Obama uses in his speech, pathos, or emotional  proof, is the most commonly used, especially in the introduction and conclusion. The reason for this distinct placement of pathos is elementary: In order to grab the audience’s attention and illustrate the realities of America’s educational system, of which both processes require ethos and logos, Obama must connect to the audience’s emotions—to bring about changes in thought and heart. His most effective strategy that does so is his appeal to children. Countless numbers of times, Obama urges us as older Americans to provide better education for our posterity. By doing so, he uses our unconditional love for children, perhaps seeing our own children in other children, in a way that grabs our attention so that we may listen and critically think about what he has to say regarding education. On top of using the obligation to children as the basis for attention, Obama also invokes imagery during his oration. An example of this imagery is found in his third premise: â€Å"When they [students at disadvantages] look around and see that no one has lifted a finger to fix their school since the 19th century, when they are pushed out the door at the sound of the last bell—some into a virtual war zone—is it any wonder they don’t think their education is important? Is it any wonder that they are dropping out in rates we’ve never seen before?† (qtd. in â€Å"Full text of Obama’s education speech†) The very thought of a neglected child, or a child in a â€Å"war zone† for that matter, tugs at the hearts in the audience. By using such imagery in the third premise, the audience is helpless, for not many people can resist such raw emotion. The audience’s helplessness makes them vulnerable to changes in thought. In this case, the audience’s thoughts will largely favor Obama’s intent to dampen the disadvantages of ethnical minorities and mentally handicapped students. To conclude his emotional journey and to leave his audience emotionally â€Å"fulfilled,† Obama taps into the biggest patriotic commonplace in America—the â€Å"American dream.† He takes the one idealistic value that all 314.5 million Americans hold in common and equates the chance to educate oneself with that core value. It leaves a powerful, lasting impression on his audience and, alongside all the other pathetic strategies mentioned previously, heightens the audience’s interest in investing in educational reform. Hence, after looking extensively at all these different strategies at work,  is it any wonder why the speech did not meet with such critical acclaim? Ethos persuaded us as the audience that our educational system was ethically unacceptable. Logos described the current state of the educational system in a way that made us want to change it to Obama’s standards. Pathos sweetened our perception of that change, making us believe that educational reform will correct the current unacceptable model. Together, the three major strategies mixed in just the right proportions to yield instantaneous changes in audience perception and evaluation of America’s educational standards. It created waves which propagated Obama’s educational reform ideals to all parts of the United States. In fact, these waves continue to ripple throughout the American political arena; one needs to look no further than the 2012 presidential debates to confirm such a statement. Ultimately, education is on the minds of everyone, as well it should be. True as it is to say that agriculture started civilization, it is equally as true to say that education started modern civilization. Therefore, we as citizens of the entire world should be concerned with the development of our education, for when we lose our education, we lose our modern civilization. Aristotle is correct. As humanity matures, it ages. How does humanity mature? It educates itself. Without education the future remains uncertain, for there are no provisions to account for the uncertainty. As Americans, all 314.5 million of us would like to believe that the future of our nation is determined to stay. To claim such a belief with any amount of certainty, however, requires all 314.5 million individuals to be educated. Until then, we continue to build provisions for the hazy future that awaits us. Works Cited â€Å"Educational Attainment in the United States: 2009.† U.S. Census Bureau. Feb. 2012. Digital file. â€Å"Full text of Obama’s education speech.† denverpost.com. 2 Dec. 2008. Web. 2 Oct. 2012.

Collective Memory in Homiletics

Collective Memory in Homiletics Chapter Six Theological markers for the use of collective memory in homiletics 6.1 The Bible and remembering. The debate about memory in contemporary theological disciplines has yet to reach the level of intensity evident within history and sociology and their associated applied studies, but there is nevertheless evidence of a growing interest in the topic. Scholars well known for their work on social approaches to memory are increasingly cited by theologians, or are themselves offering ways into a theological extension of their works. In biblical studies, for example, the American Sociologist, Barry Schartz, presented a keynote address at the Annual Meeting of the Society of Biblical Literature in 2003 (published in Kirk and Thatcher, 2005); and from this side of the Atlantic, Jan Assmanns work on cultural memory provides a way into mnemonic devices in a ground-breaking study of Marks Gospel from the perspective of the performative oral culture in which it arose (Horsley, Draper and Foley, 2006). Such publications are the beginnings of what is likely to become a major area of interest and d ebate in theology and biblical studies. As exciting as that prospect is, this chapter concerns itself with one small and closely delineated area where social memory theory and theology in practice are, it is argued, closely related, namely collective memory and preaching. If, as it is being argued in this thesis, the practice of Christian preaching in contemporary European society must consciously address the mechanisms of collective memory and the issues raised by the decay of that memory, what are the theological resources available to support that task? This chapter seeks to answer that question within a theological discourse that views use of the Bible as the primary step in such ongoing resourcing. Just as Christian preaching in order to be Christian preaching cannot be seen in isolation from the biblical text, so this chapter will argue that a theological understanding of Christian tradition as memory cannot be isolated from an understanding of social memory work present in those same biblical texts. Consequently, this chapter seeks to establish that memory and remembrance, understood as fundamental components of a life-creating faith, are evidenced in the biblical texts themselves. It will be argued that our forebears in the continuing traditio n of Abrahams faith were conscious users of the social dimensions of memory. Establishing this point is key to the whole thesis, since it indicates that the homiletic theory advocated here is more than a knee-jerk response to the social amnesia indentified as being so destructive of Christian social memory. In straightforward terms, memory work will be established as a core component of Scripture and, therefore, a core component of preaching that seeks to use those same Scriptures for the remembering of Christ. That theological resourcing of the tasks of Christian collective memory will be established through an examination of some key concepts developed in the work of the Old Testament scholar Walter Brueggemann. Brueggemanns work is a good place to begin because he writes as a Christian preacher as well as a biblical scholar. The fact that he has also addressed memory issues very directly in his recent work adds a third justification for the focus of the analysis that follows. After the examination of some of Brueggemanns ideas, consideration will be given to the mechanisms of collective memory with particular regard to issues of boundary and development, and how these things are evidenced in Scripture. From New Testament evidence the focus will shift to worship and God as the ultimate referent of Christian memory. 6.2 Imagination as interpretative tool in the works of Walter Brueggemann. The American Old Testament scholar Walter Brueggemann delivered the 1988-9 Lyman Beecher Lectures on Preaching with the title Finally Comes the Poet: Daring Speech for Proclamation. The somewhat enigmatic quality of the title is typical of Brueggemanns style, and his published papers have included many similar aphorisms (for example At Risk with the Text, An Imaginative Or, The Shrill Voice of the Wounded Party, all in The Word Militant: Preaching a Decentering Word (2007); and Together in the Spirit–Beyond Seductive Quarrels, Reading as Wounded and as Haunted, and Texts That Linger, Not Yet Overcome in Deep Memory, Exuberant Hope: Contested Truth in a Post-Christian World (2000)) but arguably this particular title signifies more than presentational style. Finally Comes the Poet is Brueggemanns echo of a line from a poem entitled Passage to India in the Walt Whitman collection Leaves of Grass (1871): After the seas are all crossd, (as they seem already crossd,) After the great captains and engineers have accomplishd their work, After the noble inventors, after the scientists, the chemist, the geologist, ethnologist, Finally shall come the poet worthy that name, The true son of God shall come singing his songs. The poem has its origin in reflections on the grand technological achievements of Whitmans era, exemplified in the Suez canal and the American transcontinental railway. Its reference to great and new achievements as but a growth out of the past indeed fits well with Brueggemanns insistence that the old texts of Scripture when imaginatively interpreted are productive of new ways of seeing and living in the present (2000: 6): but there is, perhaps, a more playful and a yet more profound echo at work than simple topical reiteration. Whitman began Leaves of Grass as a conscious response to Ralph Waldo Emersons call in 1845 for the United States to have its own indigenous and unique poetry. The poems, despite being full of traditional biblical cadences, were to prove controversial since they used an innovative verse form with frequent colloquial language and some of them exalted the body and sexual love. Whitman worked on the volume throughout his life; the first edition of 1855 contained just 12 poems, but that grew to nearer 300 by the so-called deathbed edition of 1891-2. In other words, Whitmans work represents an ongoing creative enterprise that in its imaginative expansion and re-working sought to offer a new perspective on experience in an authentically American idiom of English. In that sense the poet comes last, as it were, to take imagination to shores far beyond those to be reached by rail or sea. As the poem concludes: For we are bound where mariner has not yet dare to go, And we will risk the ship, ourselves and all. O my brave soul! O farther farther sail! O daring joy, but safe! are they not all the seas of God? O farther, farther, farther sail! Imagination that goes beyond the immediately obvious; creativity that constructs alternative ways of giving an account of reality and interpretive language that profoundly resonates with the contemporary are themes that figure prominently in Brueggemanns work. In his Introduction to the Old Testament: The Canon and Christian Imagination, he writes: The tradition that became Scripture is not merely descriptive of a commonsense world; it dares, by artistic sensibility and risk-taking rhetoric, to posit, characterize, and vouch for a world beyond the common sense. (2003a: 9) This interpretive imagination that enables ancient texts to speak with forceful authority to the contemporary believer is at the heart of Brueggemanns hermeneutic. His conviction is that engagement with the biblical texts can be creative of real alternatives to the prevailing and destructive dominant worldviews. His insistence on not what the text meant but what it means (2007: 83) presents a striking challenge to biblical methodologies that dwell on historical understandings of the text. In Brueggemanns work, both historical and redactive analysis are but steps towards this more fundamentally purposeful interpretation. His work is, therefore, of particular importance to this study since it so clearly demonstrates ways in which the biblical text can be interpreted anew so as to offer a fresh and challenging voice amidst the clamour of contemporary society. It is hardly surprising then that Whitmans poetic fresh voice provides Brueggemann with the teasing frontispiece to his lectures on preaching as a poetic construal of an alternative world (1989: 6). Nor is it surprising that in the years since his Lyman Beecher lectures, beyond his major studies (for example, First and Second Samuel (1990); Theology of the Old Testament: Testimony, Dispute, Advocacy (1997); and Deuteronomy (2001)) Brueggemann has written extensively about the preaching task (for example, in works such as Cadences of Home: Preaching among Exiles (1997); Deep Memory, Exuberant Hope: Contested Truth in a Post-Christian World (2000); The Word Militant: Preaching a Decentering Word (2007)). His is an approach to Scripture that is essentially homiletical since, whilst remaining academically rigorous, it always looks to how the text resonates with contemporary existence. Indeed, Brueggemann asserts that the key hermeneutical event in contemporary interpretation is the event of preaching (2007: 92). 6.3 Imaginative remembering as a way into the text. In his use of tradition Brueggemanns method is presentist in just the way that collective memory theory suggests. He writes that remembering is itself shot through with imaginative freedom to extrapolate and move beyond whatever there may have been of happening (2003a: 7). Accordingly, his determination is to make the interface of ancient text and contemporary community more poignant and palpable (2003a: xi). In this he is following an understanding of how classic texts work in the life of faith that has an ancient pedigree and is exemplified in contemporary scholarship by David Tracy: I will understand not merely something that was of interest back then, as a period piece, whose use, although valid then, is now spent. Rather I will grasp something of genuine here and now, in this time and place. I will then recognize that all interpretation of classic texts heightens my consciousness of my own finitude, my own radically historical reality. I can never repeat the classics to understand them. I must interpret them. Only then, as Kierkegaard insisted, do I really repeat them. (Tracy, 1981: 103) In this understanding, interpretation, even when it appears novel (as long as that novelty is in an appropriate measure consistent with the tradition), is a legitimate extension of the tradition as represented by the text. Hence, for Brueggemann, what he terms imaginative remembering (2003a: 8) is both a way of understanding the formation of the text and an essential way into the text now. He writes of the Old Testament: What parents have related to their children as normative tradition (that became canonized by long usage and has long been regarded as normative) is a world of meaning that has as its key character YHWH, the God of Israel, who operates in the narratives and songs of Israel that are taken as reliable renderings of reality. Given all kinds of critical restraints and awarenesses, one can only allow that such retellings are a disciplined, emancipated act of imagination. (2003a: 8) This retelling is, in Brueggemanns methodology, a necessary extension of the memory work evident in the Old Testament texts with which he works, since those texts are themselves a sustained memory that has been filtered through many generations of the interpretative process, with many interpreters imposing certain theological intentionalities on the memory that continues to be reformulated. (2003a: 4) Brueggemann is at pains to assert the force of this continuity right up to the present time. The preacher, in his understanding, does not stand as a remote and objective commentator on the text, nor as a skill-laden technician who applies ancient wisdom to contemporary life, but is rather in her or his labours at one with and contributing to the ongoing flow of a living stream of tradition: All the forces of imaginative articulation and ideological passion and the hiddenness of divine inspiration have continued to operate in the ongoing interpretive task of synagogue and church until the present day. (2003a: 12) This ongoing process of memory work that makes faith possible for the next generation Brueggemann terms traditioning (2003a: 9). Although he does not use the language of collective memory theory in his writings, it is clear that he is alert to the mechanisms it suggests. For example, he points out that each version of retelling has as its intention the notion that it should be the final retelling that presents the newly interpreted or understood correct version. As that retelling comes to prominence and wide use, however, it is itself subject to further retelling that will eventually be productive of a fresher version that will displace the earlier version, partly or wholly (2003a: 9). It is not hard to see in this process what Halbwachs described as new memories created by the pressure of current needs and relationships and the forgetting of other memories that no longer have a supporting social framework. For Brueggemann, this process of retelling and discarding works to reinforce his demand that an exegetical and homiletical use of the text that is creative and imaginative is both legitimate and advantageous. The exegete or the homiletician can use the traces of earlier memories in the ongoing task of traditioning. Brueggemann writes: The complexity of the text evident on any careful reading is due to the happy reality that as new acts of traditioning overcome and partly displace older materials, the older material is retained alongside newer tradition. That retention is a happy one, because it very often happens that a still later traditionalist returns to and finds useful older, discarded material thought to be beyond use. (2003a: 9) Brueggemanns usage also echoes Halbwachs contention (see section 3.3) that changes in religious collective memory are often strengthened by an appeal to the recovery of ancient memory that has somehow been forgotten. What marks the difference between the two approaches is that Brueggemann sees this reclamation as necessary for a creative and imaginative handling of tradition rather than simply a way of socially legitimizing what might otherwise seem to be corrosive of the tradition. In collective memory theory as delineated by Halbwachs, change and development in Christian religious memory is seen as inimical to faith, whereas Brueggemann believes that variations over time are not only conducive to faith but are required if the text is to retain its power to change perceptions in every age. In acknowledging this process, Brueggemann also acknowledges that the memory held is far from being a straightforward and simple storage of information, or, as he terms it, an innocent act of repo rtage (2003a: 9). Far from seeing the social construction of memory as a denial of faith, Brueggemann uses that constructionism as a way to advance a socially responsible close engagement with the biblical text. This bears on the subject of this study in two very direct ways. 6.4 Living tradition as a field of artistic endeavour. First, it is important to acknowledge that although Brueggemanns hermeneutical method is an expression of impatience with biblical scholarship that dwells on historical, redactional and textual issues to the exclusion of social concerns; it is also more than that. His conviction is that the logic of modernity with its passion for linear, objective, and systematized thinking, and its insistence on only working with the given facts, has too often effectively silenced the Bible even in the churches (2003a: 28). He writes: Our technical way of thinking reduces mystery to problem, transforms assurance into certitude, revises quality into quantity, and so takes the categories of biblical faith and represents them in manageable shapes. (1989: 2) His is a style of engagement with the biblical text that goes beyond historical and technical categories (though readily employing those tools when needed) to imaginative and rhetorical aspects embedded in the text so as to focus not on the cognitive outcomes of the text (though there finally are cognitive outcomes) but on the artistic processes that operate in the text and generate an imagined world within the text. Such artistic attentiveness takes seriously the exact placement and performance of words and phrases, of sounds and repetitions that give rise to an alternate sense of reality. (2007: 76) In terms of homiletic theory this emphasis on artistic attentiveness calls to mind the work of R.E.C. Browne (1976) (see sections 2.3 and 5.2.3 above) and the suggestion he first voiced in the 1950s that preaching is an artistic activity requiring similar processes of social understanding and interaction as those necessary to the production of music, poetry or painting (Browne, 1976: 18). Indeed Brueggemann is arguably more in sympathy with the approach of Browne than with his American New Homiletic colleagues. The inductive methodology of New Homiletics beginnings all too easily with human experience, and, according to Brueggemann, its effort to induce from understandings of human experience connections to the biblical text is the wrong starting point. He cites what he perceives to be an increasing inclination amongst seminarians who prefer for preaching some idea, some cause, some experience, some anything rather than the text. A community without its appropriate text clearly will have no power or energy or courage for mission; it will be endlessly quarrelsome because it depends on ideology and has no agreed-upon arena where it adjudicates its conflicts. (2007: 42) With the New Homileticians Brueggemann is determined to connect the text and the world, but since his homiletic conceives the text as always challenging and critiquing commonplace understandings of experience and reality, those commonplace understandings cannot be the interpreters beginning. Interestingly, the word relevance is a term he studiously avoids in his consideration of how preaching properly works. Indeed, in a recent article he asserts the text is not directly addressed to us, and we should not work too hard at making it immediately relevant (2007: 39). As an alternative he uses the term resonates as a way of indicating that the preachers task is to enable a word to be heard that comes from outside our closed system of reality (2007: 4). Preaching, he insists, must always be subversive (2000: 6) and he means that literally: it offers a version of faith lived in reality that gets under the dominant versions and opens new ways of existing. He writes: My theme is alternative, sub-version to version, the sermon a moment of alternative imagination, the preacher exposed as point man, point woman, to make up out of nothing more than our memory and our hope and our faith a radical option to the normalcy of deathliness. (2000: 9) So, far from being a simple preservation mechanism, traditioning, in Brueggemanns methodology, becomes a creative activity in which each generation of faith reworks the tradition so as to maintain its liveliness: We now know (or we think we know) that human transformation (the way people change) does not happen through didacticism or through excessive certitude but through the playful entertainment of another scripting of reality that may subvert the old given text and its interpretation and lead to the embrace of an alternative text and its redescription of reality. (2007: 26) This is a radical understanding of faiths collective memory in that it lays the emphasis on traditions continuity being found in the telling and retelling which is properly productive of changes and shifts in traditions content. Here, the maintenance of a living tradition is clearly paramount; but processes of that maintenance are acknowledged as continually bringing to birth new ways of understanding how that tradition is experienced as living. The ways collective memories change are an aspect of how tradition functions effectively rather than being seen as a threat to the preservation of tradition. Brueggemanns traditioning works towards the creation of world-views in the anthropological sense; it is an insistence on an epistemology that shuns a too strident and dominating objectivism. As he puts it: Reality is not fixed and settled it cannot be described objectively. We do not simply respond to a world that is here, but we engage in constituting that world by our participation, or action, and our speech. As participants in the constitutive act, we do not describe what is there, but we evoke what is not fully there until we act or speak. (1988: 12) In this Brueggemann offers an understanding of the preachers task that is akin to David Buttricks phenomenological approach (Buttrick, 1987) in that it calls forth a sermonic language that can construe the world in new ways. Thus Brueggemanns definition of imagination is: The God-given, emancipated capacity to picture (or image) reality — God, world, self — in alternative ways outside conventional, commonly accepted givens. Imagination is attentiveness to what is otherwise, other than our taken-for-granted world. (2001: 27) This imaginative ability allows new insights and understandings to develop from within tradition. Processes of displacement and forgetting may indeed be at work in this, as collective memory theory suggests; but that does not necessarily mean that previous memories are just abandoned. Rather, imagination enables a reviewing incorporation of new perspectives that are beyond the easy conventions previously assumed. 6.5 Preaching as contested production. Preaching is at heart, according to Bruggemann, about the construel of alternatives. This assertion discloses a second point about how his work has a direct bearing on this study; and that shifts the focus from the nature of tradition to the practice of preaching. If traditioning is fundamentally about epistemology then preaching, as a mechanism of memory maintenance, must itself be productive of this shift in knowing. Consequently, preaching is, in Brueggemanns estimation, always a dangerous, indeed hazardous, activity since it is essentially a process of production understood in its widest creative sense. Like any productive process there is much that can prospectively go wrong in the process itself, let alone in its ultimate consumption as a product whose characteristics are potentially suspect or unwelcome. The dominant worldview in which both preacher and hearer exists is one in which reductionism with its relentless crude simplification of complexities and subtleties holds sway most of the time (1987: 13). In such circumstances preaching that is a creative weaving of the tradition into fresh resonant patterns can come as an unwelcome shock; it appears to put a question mark against more usual didactic, doctrinal or moralizing homiletical styles (2007: 29). That, of course, is precisely Brueggemanns purpose: Preaching is a peculiar, freighted, risky act each time we do it: entrusted with an irascible, elusive, polyvalent subject and flying low under the dominant version with a subversive offer of another version to be embraced by subversives. (2000: 6, italics original) Brueggemann situates preaching in precisely that area of contestation and change related to operative social frameworks that is familiar to collective memory theorists. That Brueggemann applies notions of production and consumption to the text and its exposition might seem strange in that kindred concepts such as commodification and consumerism are things he frequently criticises severely. In doing so he is, perhaps, making the point that the tendency of the dominating economic model to corrupt and distort underscores its seriousness and makes using its terms all the more resonant when applied to preaching. Preaching is to be taken with the utmost seriousness precisely because the world it aims to create offers a profound alternative to the dominating economic worldview. Preaching presents a new choice which challenges the hegemony of the usual way of viewing production and consumption, but the resonance of that choice is such that terms themselves are appropriately used: When the community has thus produced a text, it is the task of the community to consume the text, that is, to take, use, heed, respond, and act upon the text. The entire process of the text, then, is an act of production and consumption whereby a new world is chosen or an old world is defended, or there is transformation of old world to new world. The purpose of using the categories of production and consumption is to suggest that the textual process, especially the interpretative act of preaching, is never a benign, innocent, or straightforward act. Anyone who imagines that he or she is a benign or innocent preacher of the text is engaged in self-deception. Preaching as interpretation is always a daring, dangerous act, in which the interpreter, together with the receivers of the interpretation, is consuming a text and producing a world. (2007: 87) In other words, to facilitate this consumptive production, it is essential that the text be kept in conversation with what the congregation already knows and believes (2007: 100). This conversation is at its most effective when it is clearly opposed to both a false kind of objectivity that assumes the world is a closed, fixed, fated, given and a kind of subjectivity that assumes we are free or able to conjure up private worlds that may exist in a domesticated sphere without accountability to or impingement from the larger public world (2007: 100). Preaching has to keep the conversation going—an inevitable conclusion, given Brueggemanns dynamic understanding of tradition. It is intended that this analysis of Brueggemanns writings will have made plain the numerous points at which his thought provides fruitful links to the subject of this study. However, before moving to an examination of continuity and community in relation to collective memory it is worth reiterating some of the keys issues at a little length. In particular, the relationship between tradition, as represented by the Scriptural texts and contemporary concerns, will be examined further. That in turn will allow some extended discussion of the way in which this tradition is able to generate more than a straightforward replication of itself out of those contemporary concerns. Tradition is seen here as an environment within which the preacher is empowered towards an imaginative and artistic creativity that both sustains and develops that environment. That discussion will provide a conceptual bridge into the consideration of a brief but significant essay contributed by Anthony Thiselton to th e 1981 Doctrine Commission of the Church of Englands report Believing in the Church. Through Thiseltons work, issues of continuity and transmission will be directly addressed. 6.6 The presentist use of tradition. Brueggemanns perspective on the preaching task fits well with collective memory theory in that it is essentially presentist in its nature. Indeed, Brueggemanns insistence on what the text means now provides a positive theological and ministerial undergirding of the processes of collective memory. His understanding of imaginative remembering as the core tool of the preachers interpretation re-positions those collective memory processes as purposeful rather than simply inevitable. The preacher as hermeneutikos enters the stream of the ongoing flow of a living tradition and strives to be part of that lively continuity through homiletic activity; what Brueggemann understands as a continuing process of traditioning. It would not be an exaggeration to say that Brueggemann places this dynamic understanding of tradition at the very centre of faithful living. If so fundamental to the practice of faith, then that traditioning must also be essential to Christian mission. As Rowan Williams puts it: The Christian is at once possessed by an authoritative urgency to communicate the good news, and constrained by the awareness of how easily the words of proclamation become godless, powerless to transform. The urgency must often be channelled into listening and waiting, and into the expansion of the Christian imagination itself into something that can cope with the seriousness of the world. It is certainly true that, for any of this to be possible, here must be a real immersion in the Christian tradition itself. (2000: 40) In Brueggemanns thought, preaching becomes a key component of contemporary biblical interpretation in that it makes explicit in a demonstrable way just how tradition works. The essential rootedness of homiletics in a faith tradition becomes its greatest strength. This point needs to be underlined because it is not to be taken as special pleading for preaching as an exceptional kind of communication that must by its nature be allowed an ideological position inappropriate elsewhere. Instead, this is a declaration that the explicit rootedness of preaching exposes the reality of similar, but frequently denied rootedness, in other areas of discourse. Furthermore, that that very rootedness provides a platform for a sometimes radical re-evaluation of realities previously simply assumed—what Brueggemann understands as a construal of alternatives. In terms of collective memory, the recasting of memories becomes not the rather defensive mechanism Halbwachs described in his consideration of religion, but a creative and imaginative weaving of new possibilities out of the warp and weft of what has been inherited. This allows an adjustment of Halbwachs rather positivistic functionalism towards a more phenomenological perspective that is alert to the dynamism inherent in the tradition itself. Some words from Peter Ochs study of Peircean pragmatism in relation to Scripture seem apposite: For the Christian community, the Bible is thus not a sign of some external reality, but a reality itself whose meanings display the doubly dialogic relationships between a particular text and its context within the Bible as a whole, and between the Bible as a whole and the conduct of the community of interpreters. (1998: 309) The denial of an objectivizing distance between the preacher and the text may be justly assumed in the ministry of preaching, but Ochs study and Brueggemanns practice are suggestive of more than that: they point to a kind of knowing and learning only available through tradition. What is being challenged here is the easy assumption that a tradition-free, abstract, universal rationality is superior to such tradition-embedded thinking. Indeed, traditioning considered in the widest terms must put a question mark against the very idea of tradition-free knowing. In considering the influential works of Michael Polanyi (1891-1976), Alasdair MacIntyre (born 1929), and Charles Taylor (born 1931) Bruggemann makes the point that the imagination so crucial to development and change is generated from within tradition (2001: 31). 6.7 The generative nature of Scripture as tradition. Although, as acknowledged earlier, the relationship of tradition and rationality raises large epistemological issues beyond the direct scope of this thesis the subject needs to be broached here since it draws attention to an important aspect of tradition, namely its ability to seed fresh, creative understandings that are generative of new developments whilst retaining congruity with the tradition from which they arose. Colloquial usage of the term tradition makes it synonymous with preservation, but that fails to acknowledge this generative ability. Brueggemann sees generative traditioning at