Les Miserables :: Les Miserables

Les Miserables Throughout peoples lives they will be influenced due to other people and events. There are many ways people can be influenced. In the book Les Miserables by Victor Hugo, three different people influence Jean Valjean. The first influence on Jean was by the bishop. Another influence on Jean was Cosette. A third influence on Jean was Javert. Each of these are people who play a large role in Jean's life. The bishop was one of Jeans first and most important influences involving kindness and forgiveness. The first way that the bishop shows kindness to Jean is by inviting him into his home for dinner and a place to sleep, even though he is an ex-convict and no one else would help him. "Monsieur, sit down and warm yourself: we are going to take supper presently, and you bed will be made ready whil you sup." (Page 26) The next and most powerful act of kindness and forgiveness that the bishop shows to Jean is, when he tells the police that the silver which Jean had actually stole was a gift, and that he had forgotten to take his gift of candlesticks. When the bishop says, "Ah there you are! I am glad to see you, but I gave you the candlesticks too, which are also silver and will bring you two hundred francs"(Page 38). When the bishop say's this, Jean Valjean is filled with surprise and disbelief, and did not know what to do. From that day on Jean would remember the bis hop and his kindness towards him, and use this memory to help others. Javert has many different types of influences on Jean. One way that Javert influences Jean is by sending him to the galleys for the first time even though he was just stealing to feed his family. Jean was turned cold and cruel by this, he thought that the whole world was as cruel as Javert seemed to be. This cruelty only leads Jean into more trouble. "See, there is where he got out; he jumped down Cochefilet lane. The abominable fellow! He has stolen our silver!" (Page 37) This shows that even after Jean was released from the galleys he was hardened from the influences and still was a thief. The second way that Javert influences Jean is by testing Jeans new side of kindness and gratitude by sending him to the galleys a second time, for saving a wrongfully accused man.

How Russia was Christianized Essay

Religion, as one of the fundamental forms through which human beings make sense of their existence and experience, belongs to the intellectual and spiritual sphere of world-view, passion, or philosophy. Conversion to Christianity and gradual adaptation of the daily Christian rituals were a steps in continues process. Russian Christianization is a long-term, open-ended process; in other words, it was obliged to reinforce the Russian commitment to the faith through deeper understanding and performing daily rituals. Orthodox Christianity is the majority religion of Russia, estimates the number of adherents range from 55 to 80 percent. Russian Orthodoxy is an integral part of the Eastern Orthodox world and worldview (Ardichvili, 2006). The geographic reach of Eastern Orthodoxy today includes mostly Russia and the European part of the former USSR, Eastern Europe, and the eastern Mediterranean. For Russians, Orthodoxy is much more than simply a church; it is an entire way of life and culture (Clendenin, 2003). Russian approach to Christianity differed from Catholicism and Protestantism. It involved much singing and ritual and not much knowledge of the Bible. It also had a thick pagan substratum: peasants believed in wood spirits, sea demons and monsters of the lake. Orthodox teachings have stood the test of time; they are not teachings that serve popular culture. Russia’s state history as a history of its â€Å"core† people – the Russian people – is well known, and is a history of a Christian people. This paper provides a monograph on how Russia was Christianized. It shows how Russians are being molded by their belief as a whole. Further, it provides a deeper understanding of how Russians grows as a society through the Russia Orthodox Christianity. Russian Orthodox Christianity Orthodoxy came to Russia from Byzantium in A. D 988, when the ruler of Kievan Russ (precursor of modern Russia and Ukraine) Grand Prince Vladimir, converted to Christianity, married a sister of the Byzantine emperor, and started a rapid process of instituting Orthodoxy as the state religion. Having searched the world for a faith to unite his people, his emissaries to Constantinople returned awestruck. Orthodox worship possessed such beauty, they reported, and that they did not know if they were on earth or in heaven. Russians soon came to love and adore their new faith, taking Orthodoxy to heart and building numerous churches and monasteries. The church in Russia was governed by a hierarch appointed from Constantinople until the Turks sacked that city in 1453, leaving the Russians as the strongest defenders of Orthodoxy in the world. In 1472, Ivan III, the grand duke of Moscow, married the niece of the last Byzantine emperor (who had died in 1453). Ivan then took the title of czar-an adoption of Caesar-and Moscow began to consider itself â€Å"the third Rome. † Missionary activity spread Russian Orthodoxy throughout Siberia and beyond Russia’s borders to Alaska, Finland, Japan, and China. In effort to serve Russian emigrants around the world, the Russian Orthodox Church established dioceses in North America, Europe, and Japan. The Russian Church and state continued to play this central role in the Orthodox world for the next 450 years (Clendenin, 2003; Ware, 1997; World Fact Book, 2005). However, in 1917, the Bolshevik revolution resulted not only in abolition of Orthodoxy’s role as the state religion but also in destruction of thousands of churches and monasteries, and the deaths of millions of members of the clergy, monks, nuns, and lay believers. Communists, bent on creating a workers paradise in this world, fiercely attacked the church. Before the revolution, Russia boasted more than 50,000 churches and 160,000 priests. By late 1930s there were no more than 300 functioning churches. The clergy had been murdered or had died in the gulags, and only a skeleton crew of priests was allowed to serve such as the faithful. Outside communist Russia, the faithful suffered as they witnessed the tragic fate of the countless persecution of their church. Bishops in exile rallied around Metropolitan Antoni, forming a temporary church authority that took refuge first in Constantinople and, then, at the invitation of the Serbian patriarch, in Karlovei, Yugoslavia. The historical events of that year, 1917, caused the dispersion of millions of Russians worldwide, outside the borders of their native country. Back in Moscow, Patriarch Tikhon issued a decree supporting this action, though later, presumably under communist influence, he retracted it. The Synod of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia chose to ignore the second decree, since Patriarch Tikhon issued it while under house arrest. He later died under circumstances so mysterious that he is now considered a martyr. One of his successors, Metropolitan Sergii, maintained correspondence with bishops abroad. This landed him in prison in 1926, where he stayed until he issued his now infamous â€Å"Declaration† in July 1927. In it, he demanded that all clergy abroad make a written promise of their loyalty to the Soviet government and declared that all Orthodox in the Soviet Union must be â€Å"faithful citizens and loyal to the Soviet government. † Perceived as a betrayal of the church by the Synod and many faithful within Russia and abroad, Sergii’s declaration silenced any doubts that the church in Russia was subject to communist control. The problem was compounded when he formed a church organization that was not sanctioned by the bishops in Russia and abroad. In the USSR, an underground â€Å"free† church sprung up in defiance, Russian Orthodox abroad dug in and held tight to their traditions, sensing that they alone preserved the faith undefiled and incorrupt. Archbishop Laurus, who arrived in America in 1946 with a group of monks fleeing the war in Europe, states that the primary purpose of Hollywood Monastery is to â€Å"preserve Orthodoxy as it was passed on from our predecessors and to give it to the next generation and also to Russia. † With the fall of communism, Russians were allowed to return to their churches without obstacles. It soon became clear that Orthodoxy had procreated the Russian soul so deeply that even seventy years of repression couldn’t stamp it out. Even so, the Russian Church outside of Russia and the Russian church in Russia have not reunite There are a number of unresolved issues blocking union, including the canonical ones cited above, moral questions, and others, such as the caution of all the new martyrs of Russia. The Synod, unwilling to taint the purity it has so ardently maintained, remains steadfast in its position. Moreover, Warem (1997) estimated that there were more than 54,000 churches in prerevolutionary Russia and more than 17,000 functioning churches in 1996. Although officially the whole country was supposed to be atheist during the Soviet rule, millions of people followed their religion in private, and many more joined the church after 1991. As suggested by Clendenin (2003), more than 70 million people in Russia today identify themselves as Orthodox. WORKS CITED Ardichvili, A. â€Å"Russian Orthodoxy worldview and adult learning in the workplace. Advances in Developing Human Resources. † 8(3). 373-381, 2006. Clendenin, D. â€Å"Eastern Orthodox Christianity. † Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Aademic, 2003. Warem T. â€Å"The Orthodox church. † London: Penguin, 1997. World fact book, December 20, 2005.

Essential components of culture - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 4 Words: 1141 Downloads: 1 Date added: 2017/06/26 Category Marketing Essay Type Analytical essay Level High school Did you like this example? A2. (Lowe, R. and Marriott, S., 2006) suggest that most entrepreneurs require certain qualities and experience for surviving in a new and hostile environment. Hofstede, G. (1980) has also differentiated culture in four dimensions: level of power distance, individualism collectivism, masculinity femininity and uncertainty avoidance. Doole and Lowe (2004) show 3 essential components of culture: Beliefs reflecting knowledge and assessments of particular situations and activities, Values regarded what is considered to be appropriate behaviour and Customs concerning behaviour in certain situations. They further explain components like language, religion, education, social organisations, law and politics, response to technology, values and attitudes, etc. Considering from the above indications, the advantages for SMEs moving to markets psychologically and geographically close to them are many-fold. Advantages include: Better understanding of the culture: The region in which an entrepreneur lives or is born in, is often close to him/her, both emotionally and socially. S/he better understands the locales culture, religion, language, customs and beliefs as s/he is brought up in that particular area. S/he also knows the customers and use effective means to satisfy their needs. Government and politics: The entrepreneur successfully understands the rules and regulations, government and political structure, their policies and may also gain government contacts and methods to know better about the local economy of a particular location and its neighbouring places. Knowing the legal procedures/matters and local employee management and their culture is quite easy. Local networks: The entrepreneur recognises and makes profitable relationships and contacts thereby, increasing professional networks subsequently. Family, friends and other social networks also support him/her emotionally and financially. Example: M.A. Yusuff Ali, CEO and founder of Lulu Hypermarkets: An Indian-born founder, who migrated to the Middle East four decades ago but remains an Indian citizen. After gaining experience, understanding how UAEs economy works and doing hard work, he opened the first store in Abu Dhabi in 1995. By the year 2000, his hypermarkets expanded to 11 stores in the rest of UAE. The hypermarkets now expand to more than 25 stores across the Middle East. Alongside his Middle East success, Yusuff Ali has been building business ties back home in India [Source: (Karmali, N., 2013), Forbes.com and Wikipedia]. In April 2013, Lulu Group has launched their operations in the UK with the inauguration of a logistics and packaging centre under the Y International name. (Trade Arabia, 2013) Another example is of Charlie Marshall, founder of the bed brand Loaf. He was asked in an interview about the idea of internationalisation. He replies that even though his company grew rapidly in his home ma rket, the UK market is enormous and although were building a strong and loyal customer following, we havent even scratched the surface. We want to get it right here first and do what were doing really, really well on all levels. Once weve done that, well look to expand into other markets. [Source: https://www.londonlovesbusiness.com/entrepreneurs/fast-growing-businesses-and-sme/meet-the-loafer-whos-built-a-20m-bed-business-in-five-years/7414.article] Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Essential components of culture" essay for you Create order Some challenges faced by SMEs moving to markets that are geographically or psychologically distant: Culture challenges: It is quite difficult to understand a distant markets cultural arrangement. Barriers could include understanding language, culture, religion, customs, beliefs, values, etc. The adjustability trait should also be harnessed to overcome these challenges and at an enterprise level, entrepreneur should normalise culture differences and conflicts (while valuing and respecting individual cultures) to create an effective communication and understanding throughout the enterprise. S/he should also create and follow policies that protect employees from all kinds of discrimination (especially during the recruitment and hiring process). Other challenges include over relying and trusting contacts as the SME may have limited knowledge of the new region, its economy, legal and political functions and bureaucracy. Also, facing discrimination or less attention from the foreign government as compared to the local businesses (in form of barriers or inhibitors) also poses challenges. I believe that the product/manufacturing sector faces more of these (above mentioned) issues. Service (especially internet and B2B) sectors face less issues. Because services provided are intangible and less culture dependant. Some enterprises actually modify their products/manufacturing processes to adapt to the culture. This includes different packaging, ingredients, advertisements, and techniques for different targeted regions customers. For the product/manufacturing sector, lets again take the example of BQ (Example taken from A1): The stores were a huge success and the Beijing store now boasts the highest average customer spend of any store in the world (over  £50). But it is the cultural similarities and differences and how they affected the retailer that are really interesting. The stores look very similar to those in the UK, although they are usually considerably bigger. At 20 000 sq. ft., the Beijing Golden Four Season store is the largest of its kind in the world. Like their UK counterparts, staff wear orange overalls. The products offered are also very similar, although the space devoted to garden products is considerably smaller and the Chinese BQ also sells soft furnishings. But the big difference is that Chinese customers do not want to do-it themselves at all, they prefer to get others to do it for them. The Chinese customers are typically middle class and wealthy. They come to the store to select what they want and get it installed by a professional. The reasons for this are partly cultural and partly economic BQ therefore started to offer more services to customers designers and contractors to install its products. (BQ case study). From the above example, it is clear that BQ didnt learn about their customers culture that they do not like to install DIY products themselves. Rather due to cheap availability of labours and other factors, they like the furnishings to be installed by the professional employees. But BQ learnt this soon enough to help them adapt to this change and eventually satisfy and retain customers. References: Lowe, R. and Marriott, S., (2006) Enterprise: Entrepreneurship and Innovation: Concepts, Contexts and Commercialisation, 1st ed., Taylor and Francis [Online] Available at https://capitadiscovery.co.uk/derby-ac/items/884805 (Accessed: April 12th 2014) Hofstede, G. (1980) Motivation, leadership and organization: do American theories apply abroad, Organizational Dynamics, Vol. 9 No. 1, pp. 42-63 (Accessed: April 12th 2014) Doole, I. and Lowe, R. (2004) International Marketing Strategy: Analysis, Development and Implementation, 4th edn. London: Thomson Learning Karmali, N., 2013, Middle East Retailer Yusuff Ali Emerges As Billionaire, Forbes.com Available at https://www.forbes.com/sites/naazneenkarmali/2013/02/24/middle-east-retailer-yusuff-ali-emerges-as-billionaire/ (Accessed: April 12th 2014) Wikipedia, Lulu Hypermarket, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lulu_Hypermark et (Accessed: April 12th 2014) Trade Arabia, 2013 LuLu opens logistics centre in Birmingham https://www.tradearabia.com/news/RET_233563.html BQ, Case study Available at: https://www.palgrave.com/business/burnsentrepreneurship/students/cases.html Wickham, P.A. (2006), Strategic Entrepreneurship, 4th edition, Financial Times Prentice Hall [On-line] Available at: https://capitadiscovery.co.uk/derby-ac/items/884969 (Accessed: April 10th 2014)