Wednesday, May 6, 2020

Truth and Fiction in OBriens The Things They Carried

Truth and Fiction in Obriens The Things They Carried The Viet Nam War has been the most reviled conflict in United States history for many reasons, but it has produced some great literature. For some reason the emotion and depredation of war kindle in some people the ability to express themselves in a way that they may not have been able to do otherwise. Movies of the time period are great, but they are not able to elicit, seeing the extremely limited time crunch, the same images and charge that a well-written book can. In writing of this war, Tim OBrien put himself and his memories in the forefront of the experiences his characters go through, and his writing is better for it. He produced a great work of art not only because he experienced the war first hand, but because he is able to convey the lives around him in such vivid detail. He writes a group of fictional works that have a great deal of truth mixed in with them. This style of writing and certain aspects of the book are the topics of this reflective paper. It is evident from the first that OBrien is writing about himself. It is difficult to confuse since he uses his own name, his own place of birth and other true details of his own life to form the narrator of the stories. The truth of the stories is a grounds for understanding the credibility of the author. He is trying to make the reader understand that these are not just random stories that he dreamed up while sitting in front of a type writer orShow MoreRelated OBriens Things They Carried Essay: Truth, Fiction, and Human Emotion1272 Words   |  6 PagesThe Things They Carried: Truth, Fiction, and Human Emotion  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   There are many levels of truth in Tim OBriens The Things They Carried. This novel deals with story-telling as an act of communication and therapy, rather than a mere recital of fact. In the telling of war stories, and instruction in their telling, OBrien shows that truth is unimportant in communicating human emotion through stories. OBriens writing style is so vivid, the reader frequently finds himself accepting theRead More Relationship between Fiction and Reality Explored in The Things They Carried1214 Words   |  5 PagesRelationship between Fiction and Reality Explored in The Things They Carried      Ã‚  Ã‚   In many respects, Tim OBriens The Things They Carried concerns the relationship between fiction and the narrator. In this novel, OBrien himself is the main character--he is a Vietnam veteran recounting his experiences during the war, as well as a writer who is examining the mechanics behind writing stories. These two aspects of the novel are juxtaposed to produce a work of literature that comments notRead MoreThe Things They Carried By Jonathan Culler1683 Words   |  7 Pagesseem. In a similar manner, author Tim O’Brien coins the term â€Å"story truth†, a derivative of â€Å"real truth†, within his novel The Things They Carried, to discuss how retellings of wartime events are often altered to convey the emotional significance they possess. It is through these two works, Culler’s analysis of performative language and O’Brien’s notion of story truth, that the necessity of fictionalization to convey a personal truth to its f ullest extent and effect is revealed. For Culler, performativeRead MoreEssay about The Things They Carried Literary Analysis764 Words   |  4 PagesLiterary Analysis of The Things They Carried: Metafiction   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Tim O’Brien brings the characters and stories to life in The Things They Carried. He uses a writing style that brings stories to life by posing questions between the relationship of reality and fiction (Calloway 249). This is called metafiction and it exposes the truth through the literary experience. Tim O’Brien uses metafiction to make the characters and stories in The Things They Carried realistically evocative of the VietnamRead MoreTim O Brien : A Man Who Has Positively Affected The World1119 Words   |  5 Pagesâ€Å"Fiction is the lie that helps us understand the truth.† This quote by Minnesota author and veteran, Tim O Brien, displays his passion for writing stories that make truth come to life. Tim O’Brien is a remarkable man who has positively affected the world through his literary works regarding the Vietnam War. His personal life and authorship through his military experience, have led to making him one of the most influential war authors to date. Tim O’Brien was born in Austin, Minnesota on OctoberRead MoreTim OBriens The Things They Carried: An Analysis1542 Words   |  6 PagesStudent Network Resources Inc.  ©2003-2010 ________________________________________________________________________ Tim OBriens The Things They Carried is a short story told in the form of a catalogue. OBriens title provides both an accurate description of how the story is organized mainly by lists, with the narrative seeming an almost accidental intrusion but also as a sort of recurrent musical refrain in the text itself. The title phrase is repeated at semi-regular intervals in theRead MoreThe Things They Carried By Tim O Brien1621 Words   |  7 PagesTim O’Brien’s use of fictionalized writing in the delivery of â€Å"The Things They Carried† was the best writing style possible for a war story. Fiction, as opposed to a more conventional historical account, allows him to paint a more realistic portrayal of soldiers’ actual combat experience during the Vietnam conflict by use of imagery, real life accounts, and third person omniscient point of view. â€Å"The Things They Carried† is a story that I can personally relate to because of my service in the UnitedRead MoreWar And Trauma In Tim O’Brien’S â€Å"The Things They Carried†.1525 Words   |  7 PagesWar and Trauma in Tim O’Brien’s â€Å"The Things They Carried† Often in literature, we find ourselves reading stories with layers upon layers of meanings found in them. Tim O’Brien’s â€Å"The Things They Carried† is no exception to this idea. O’Brien tells his story in such a way that as we read the complex descriptions of what the characters are experiencing, the line between fiction and reality are often blurred. This helps further advance our understanding of the issue Tim O’Brien is trying to portrayRead MoreThe Importance of Metafiction as a Literary Device in the Things They Carried867 Words   |  4 Pagesof history in which some great pieces of fiction were created. The Things They Carried, by Tim OBrien is a great example of one of these pieces of fiction. A big part of this novel was OBriens theme of metafiction. Metafiction is a type of fiction that self-consciously addresses the devices of fiction. This in another sense means that metafiction is the act of writing about writing. This literary de vice is used in The Things They Carried, as OBriens method to systematically remind his readersRead More Fact Verses Fiction in OBriens The Things They Carried Essay1454 Words   |  6 PagesFact Verses Fiction in OBriens The Things They Carried The difference between fairy tales and war stories is that fairy tales begin with Once upon a time, while war stories begin with Shit, I was there! (Lomperis 41). How does one tell a good war story? Is it important to be accurate to the events that took place? Does the reader need to trust the narrator? In The Things They Carried, Tim OBrien examines what it takes to tell a good war story. He uses his own experiences in

Diversity and Equality Management by Human Resource Managers

Question: Describe about the Diversity and Equality Management by Human Resource Managers? Answer: Introduction Human resource management is an important functional area of an organization that is concerned with the management of the most important assets i.e. human resources or employees. It is the role and responsibility of human resource managers that they should consider performing the management of organizations employees in a manner that leads to their positive level of contribution towards attaining organizational goals (Pfister, 2009). They are required to carry out diverse range of functions, but with the increasing globalization of businesses in the international markets, an important area that is identified crucial is the management of diversity and equality at workplace. Since businesses globalizes across international markets, they are faced with the problems of managing employees from diverse background from different culture (Kwak, 2003). As a result, it is argued that the management of equality and diversity is not an easy task to HR manager and this requires consideration of various important factors in ensuring the efficient management of employees in organization. Analysis of the Concept of Equality and Diversity and their Importance As human resource managers are required to perform the recruitment and selection of employees, an important area that has been gaining significant level of recognition is mainly the management of diverse workforce of the organization. Diversity has been a key concept which indicates that the people from different culture, background, castes, color and creed are allowed to work together so as to achieve organizational goals. Diversity is all about managing the people from different cultural backgrounds, and it is regarded as an important concept that is required to be practiced by HR managers (Lewis, 2001). The increasing pace with which businesses are expanding into international markets has often necessitated their HR managers to consider for areas aimed at managing diverse workforce. This is mainly because they are exposed to different nature and background of employees in their workgroups (Fujimoto, Hartel Azmat, 2013). Apart from this, the concept of workforce equality is also an important HR concept that is aimed at achieving equality within the employees of the organization. Workforce equality implies that there should be adequate level of support and equality provided to each and every employees of the organization. There should not be any kinds of discrimination on any basis or grounds within employees, neither on their gender nor on their payment or any other factor. Even there is Equal Opportunity Act in various countries aimed at providing equal treatment to employees and the HR manager is therefore required to make sure that these applicable legislations are being followed. The equal treatment along with the diversity management is important for HR managers to achieve because these aspects allow them in achieving higher level of effectiveness with respect to organizational activities (Kundu, 2003). Difficulties in Managing Diversity and Equality As the management of equality and diversity is identified as highly important for HR managers to consider, but there are various such barriers in the process that affect the ability of the HR manager to perform such activity in a positive manner. As for instance, diversity management includes the members from different cultural background which results into threats to the organizations own cultural environment. This is mainly because diverse employees try to implement their own culture and values while performing tasks. The HR managers are therefore required to create a platform that supports the management of organizational culture within the diverse employee groups of the organization (Day, 2007). In addition to the above, diversity management is also highly difficult because of higher chances of resistance by employees to work in group. Group performance is key to businesses in achieving success in the 21st century, and with such diverse people in the workgroup, it has been extremely difficult for the HR managers to ensure positive management of such diverse employees. This is regarded as a major challenge or barriers that create difficulties in performing the management of diversity in a positive way. Diversity management also includes challenges in the form of managing proper communication levels by the HR managers because of such diverse needs and backgrounds of employees. It is also evident that there are higher chances of opposition to change within the diverse members, and the implementation of diversity plans is also highly difficult because of such diverse nature of employee background (Iverson, 2000). Apart from the above difficulties in managing diversity, there are also problems and challenges to HR manager in ensuring equality within its employees. The discrimination on the part of HR managers on the basis of caste, color and creed and also on the basis of male and female employees is still persistent across organizations in different part of the globe. It has been crucial that efficient decisions should be considered aimed at promoting equality so that higher level of efforts can be achieved and better overall contribution from each and every employee would contribute towards favorable attainment of organizational goals (Daft, 2009). Factors Essential to Consider in Managing Diversity and Equality Equality within employees can be achieved by way of making its essential that each and every employee should be treated in a fair way and there should be organizational policies aimed at supporting fair treatment to employees. There should be strong rules within the organization for the HR managers that requires them to completely avoid any kinds of discrimination on any grounds. The selection of employees by the HR manager should be performed on the basis of their quality and performance, and men and women employees should be treated with equality. In these ways, the attainment of equality can be ensured and their better overall management in achieving organizational goals can become possible (Hicks-Clarke Iles, 2000) Apart from these factors, the successful diversity management also requires the consideration of various important factors. As for instance, the HR manager is required to promote diverse member groups to participate in team working and they should be assigned with projects that require team working. In addition to this, by emphasizing on cross cultural training, it could be possible to achieve better level of acceptance within employees in providing best efforts towards accomplishing the organizational goals. Diversity management can be performed by HR managers through devising policies and procedures that would necessitate employees to follow the prevalent organizational culture. The culture and values of each and every employee need to be supported with a view to accomplish higher performance levels on their part, as they would feel highly valued and satisfied from the satisfaction of their performance across organization (Barbosa Cabral-Cardoso, 2007). These are some of the major initiatives that are essential to consider by the HR manager in performing the management of equality and diversity within its workforce. They are essential because they would positively aid the management in achieving success in respect to the management of both these areas. Conclusion In this essay, it has been argued that the management of diversity and equality is highly difficult to HR managers in particular and it is therefore essential that there should be a range of strategies that should be considered by the HR manager in achieving success in this respect. As for instance, the analysis has resulted into the identification that there are large number of challenges encountered by HR managers in performing such tasks of achieving equality and diversity within their performance. The analysis has indicated that the factors such as supporting equality, promoting team work, policies and procedures requiring management to perform the management of diverse employees efficiently are essential to consider by the HR manager in achieving success in their role. References Barbosa, I Cabral-Cardoso, C 2007 Managing diversity in academic organizations: a challenge to organizational culture, Women in Management Review, vol. 22, no. 4, pp. 274-288. Daft, R. 2009 The Leadership Experience. 4th ed., Cengage Learning. Day, R 2007 Developing the multi-cultural organisation: managing diversity or understanding differences?, Industrial and Commercial Training, vo. 39, no. 4, pp. 214-217. Fujimoto, Y, Hartel, EJ Azmat, F 2013 Towards a diversity justice management model: integrating organization justice and diversity management, Social Responsibility Journal, vol. 9, no. 1, pp. 148-166. Hicks-Clarke, D Iles, P 2000 Climate for diversity and its effects on career and organisational attitudes and perceptions, Personnel Review, vo. 29, no. 3, pp. 3324-345. Iverson, K 2000 Managing for Effective Workforce Diversity, Cornell Hotel and Restaurant Administration Quarterly, April, vol. 41, no. 2, pp. 31-38. Kundu, SC 2003 Workforce diversity status: a study of employees reactions, Industrial Management Data Systems, vol. 103, no. 4, pp. 215-226. Kwak, M 2003 The Paradoxical Effects of Diversity, MIT Sloan Management Review, Spring, pp. 7-8. Lewis, S 2001 Restructuring workplace cultures: the ultimate work-family challenge?, Women in Management Review, vol. 16, no. 1, pp. 21-29. Pfister, J.A. 2009 Managing Organizational Culture for Effective Internal Control: From Practice to Theory. Springer.