American Identity Construction In Raising Victor Vargas English Literature Essay

American Identity Construction In Raising Victor Vargas English Literature Essay Peter Sollet’s 2002 movie â€Å"Raising Victor Vargas†, is a fascinating piece of cinematic work because it has the incredible ability to transport an audience member from the movie theatre and place him or her behind main character Victor, thus becoming an eye witness of his daily actions in the barrio. By taking this approach, Sollet gives the audience the opportunity to analyze the negotiation and construction of Dominican self-identification in the United States. The movie is set in New York City’s Lower East Side and a majority of the main characters are members of the working class Vargas family. The head of the household is grandmother Anna Guzman, who is a first generation immigrant from the Dominican Republic. She has the responsibility to raise her three grandchildren named Victor, Vicki and Nino. Victor is a real ladies’ man and the central narrative of the movie revolves around his attempts to seduce popular neighborhood girl Judy Ramirez. His involvement with Judy is a desperate effort to rescue his reputation as Victor’s friends assume that he has slept with â€Å"Fat Donna.† Over the course of his seduction process, Victor gets both his brother and sister tangled up in his actions which makes raising victor vargas a mission impossible for his traditional grandmother. Both the general audience and critics appreciate the movie. It faired well at the box office and it received many positive critical reviews, including one from popular Chicago-Sun Times critic Roger Ebert who gave it three and a half stars out of four. â€Å"Raising Victor Vargas† also won several prizes including the Grand Special Prize at Deauville Film Festival and the Made in Spanish award at San Sebastian International Film Festival. Reasons for its success may lie in the fact that it is not a typical teenage comedy, since it not merely touches upon teens’ experiences with relationships. It also raises issues concerning th e search for an Dominican-American identity, the defining of race through language, the acceptance of generational tensions and the existence of cultural differences. All of these issues give a glimpse of how ethnic-racial identities are played out in New York City’s Lower East Side. By analyzing the construction of an ethnic-racial identity in â€Å"Raising Victor Vargas† by means of the previously listed topics, this paper will demonstrate how the existence of fluid identities encompasses feelings of inclusion and exclusion that are able to dominate lives within an urban minority community. The academic discussion on identity construction in Latino communities in New York City mostly focuses on the existence of panethnicity among Latinos and how this affects integration into American society. According to scholars Josà © Itzigsohn and Carlos Dore-Carbal, the existence of panethnicity â€Å"refers to the expansion of ethnic group boundaries to include different nati onal or ethnic groups that share a common language, a common culture, or a common regional origin into an encompassing identity.† This panethnicity has been examined as a secondary identity that coexists with national identifications. In addition, the link between America’s racial classification system and panethnic identity has also been researched extensively. Overall, research has drawn the conclusion that separate racial and ethnic categories are able to construct panethnic identities, yet they can also create panethnic identities together.

Contemporary issues in employment relations - topic EMPLOYEE Essay

Contemporary issues in employment relations - topic EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT - Essay Example As part of organization, engagement of employees in the process line of production and running of organizations defines important tool in ensuring improved performance and institutional productivity. McLeod and Clarke (2011, pg. 1) define employee engagement as creation of opportunities for workers to interact with manager, colleagues and the wider organization. Engagement in employment setting also involves creation of environment that motivates employees and makes them want to link with work and care about performing their tasks appropriately. McLeod and Clarke elaborate that engaged employees are aware of the fundamentals of operation of a given business as well as its objectives and goals. Engaged employees also understand frameworks of practice prescribed by the given organization in ensuring achievement of the goals and objectives of the organization. It is within these contexts that engaged employees work closely with their colleagues to improve job performance and maximize benefits for the given organization. According to McLeod and Clarke, it remains the responsibility of organization and its leadership to establish and nurture employee engagement that builds upon emplo yer-employee interrelationship. Effective employee engagement manifests through three items that include attitude, behavior and outcome. Attitude relates to feelings of loyalty and pride among employees that make them act responsibly and with great accountability. Behavior manifests when employees become great advocates of the individual organizations to clients or make extra efforts to complete a piece of task. Outcomes synonymous with effective employee engagement include low incidents of accident due to enhanced care when performing duties, higher productivity and reduced conflicts. In addition, outcomes also manifest through more innovativeness of employees, lower rates of sickness and few employee exits or resignations. McLeod and Clarke (2011, pg. 4) argue that

Sophocles Antigone Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Sophocles Antigone - Essay Example Like for example stop signs in places that do not warrant them. I have to admit that there may perhaps be occurrences where I have overlooked them. Be no mistake that I recognize the need for safety but there are just those that seem superfluous and unnecessary. The general thought that comes to my mind is the ardent belief that I am doing the right thing and that I was not blinded by personal misconceptions and that fundamentally no one will be hurt. I imagine that people will actually benefit from my acts and others may perhaps be enlightened. I consider that I may not always be right but there are moments when I have to be in the right. In this regard, I identify more with Antigone who has sacrificed herself to uphold what she believes in and refuses to be subjected to any law from the oppressive Creon. Her refusal to be subdued by restrictive orders is admirable in the sense that she honors her independence more than anything, even her life. To be able to live by one’s own virtues properly guided by ethical standards of morality is the greatest law anyone could