Humour and Leadership

Leaders in today’s cut throat world of corporate industry face an enormous challenge. In the midst of achieving the organisation’s goals and pursuing profits, how do leaders build teamwork, motivate their subordinates, convey their sometimes demanding managerial concerns and reduce stress in a way that produces positivity and productivity? Is it possible to be serious at work without actually being serious at work? To answer this question, this essay will look at research surrounding leadership characteristics and investigate how humour can practically have an impact on leadership effectiveness. How do we define humour? Humour is a verbal or nonverbal activity eliciting a positive cognitive or affective response from listeners and must be connected to context in order to be truly funny. The definition includes puns, jokes, stories, anecdotes, physical actions etc (Meyer, 1990). According to Sarros and Barker (2003), humour is the ability to invoke laughter or see the funny side of a painful predicament. In their study of Australian managers, Sarros and Barker (2003) established that the character attribute of humour was rated the second highest behind integrity. Humour may seem an unlikely component for a leader, however Barker and Coy (2003) also recognised the importance of humour. They identified seven virtues by which Australian executives could be identified and humour was included. Eckert and Vehar (2000) state: â€Å"It’s possible to do serious work without being serious. In fact, it’s actually counterproductive to do it any other way. Research on environments that foster innovation shows that playfulness and humour are critically supportive elements. We can be serious about what we’re doing without taking ourselves seriously, and we must. With humour in the workplace being established as a component for effective leadership, the way in which it is used needs to be looked at. According to Anderson (2011), humour is best when it is used deliberately, and advises it to be planned but flow naturally according to one’s personality. There are many opportunities for humor to be used. While the telling of a joke is a good starting point, humour that uplifts is much more positive and this can occur during speeches, within memos or even at the conclusion of an email (Avolia et al 1999). There are many benefits as to why a leader would use humour in the workplace. According to Davis and Kleiner (1989), humour has the potential to achieve three outcomes, these are, 1. Stress Reduction in the workplace, 2. Conveying managerial concerns and 3. Motivating employees. Hughes and Avey (2009) add weight to this as their research suggests that when a leader uses humour, they elicit a greater commitment from their followers to the organisation and build a much deeper level of trust. Furthermore Holmes and Marra’s (2006) research on humour in the work place identified a wide range of functions including the use of humour as a solidarity strategy, establishing, maintaining and developing workplace relationships and contributing to the process of creating a sense of team through humour as a subversive strategy, contesting, challenging and undermining the achievement of workplace objectives. Humour in the workplace is incredibly profitable for some organisations. According to Stevenson (2004) organisations are starting to see the important role that humour plays towards leadership, motivation, innovation and creativity. Some of these initiatives have been stated by Morreall (1983) and include such organisations as Kodak and Price Waterhouse establishing humour rooms within their buildings. He goes on to add that because humour has such a profound affect on the body, even hospitals are using it to enhance the healing process. You could argue that God, through Solomon’s writings, has always been aware of the powerful impact humour can have; â€Å"A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones. † Proverbs 17 v 22 (TNIV 2005). I am currently working as a youth worker for a not for profit organisation. The nature of working in community welfare can be at times be extremely serious, so to counter the seriousness our team have written into our yearly plan to include times of spontaneous dancing in the office. Not that anyone can seem to dance with any real coordination or skill. However it’s exactly the opposite and it allows our team to laugh at and with each other as a way of building morale and combating stress relief. Not all leaders are funny and not all humour is effective. When a leader tries too hard to be funny, it has the potential to undermine their leadership. If the humour is seen as sarcastic or mean spirited, it will certainly alienate staff (Sala 2003). In a list of cautions given by Jonas (2004), who agrees with the idea that humour should be handled like hazardous material, the list of cautions include: Aggressive or put down humour which attacks people or humour based on topics which centre on sex or illegal activity. One would have to include humour which degrades gender and humour which slanders religious beliefs also. Avolio, Howell and Sosik (1999) found that some employee's view the use of humor to be inconsistent with the seriousness of the issues being examined and, depending upon the circumstances, the inappropriate use of humor may have detracted from, rather than contributing to, the eventual outcomes. In some instances, Avolio et al. also believe the use of humour leads employees to view their leaders as insensitive to their needs. When a leader uses humour, there is significant potential for good outcomes. Humour has the ability to go beneath the surface and affect the working environment to such an extent that organisations are seeing the benefit of including ‘humour rooms’ within their organisation. A simple joke about work which is shared among colleagues has the potential to build solidarity and form a bond between colleagues which in turn provides a more positive working environment and greater productivity. While there are some dangers in using humour, however a leader who uses humour wisely can most certainly have an effective and positive impact in their workplace.

Example Term Paper on Abortion

Example Term Paper on Abortion Abortion is knows as a disgusting but a very common term in the lives of people and youth.  Ã‚   Many students of colleges and universities also make use of this term in their educational and communal perspectives. All know about this universally acknowledged term and its influence over different societies. Students are puzzled in poles apart accreditation related with this word in different societies around the world. They face similar obstacle on their way when they need to write a research paper on abortion. Research paper on abortion is often a demand by their professors in college and university. While writing research papers on abortion, students may look around for abortion research paper help from different sources. Other than getting help from external sources, students can do an abortion research paper at their own. Abortion research papers can be finished only from side to side research and after consulting several books, websites and studying different researches conducted in this regard. For writing a research paper on abortion, students necessitate direction on different abortion research paper topics.   Abortion is forbidden strictly in all religions and is illegal in most of civilized societies. Even though it is never appreciated in any society, some groups argue to allow abortion as a legal right to individuals. This thought provokes hot debates in different countries. Students could do their work with some guidance for writing research paper on abortion. A research paper on abortion will consists on different parts like: Introduction to the concept Abortion Legality involved in abortion and its application Religious perspective of Abortion Need and requirement of abortion Societal perspective of Abortion and its impact Cultural influence for and against abortion View of Church and Mosque along with governmental perspective You can buy custom research paper on abortion from us anytime CustomWritings.com.   We have practiced writers who are trained in writing a research paper on abortion and its related issues.   We can do a research paper on abortion in the shortest time possible.   We have a huge support staff that remains online at all times when you are placing an order for research paper on abortion.   Abortion term paper help of all kinds is provided at CustomWritings.com, and you can post an order for any kind of research paper on abortion you want. A large percentage of customers at CustomWritings.com are students.   We promise our student patrons full marks or the best possible grades in their academic research paper on abortion. We provide full refund if it is found that our research paper writers did not fulfill the customer’s requirements. We have a number of customers who have always bought their research on abortion done through us, and still they buy from us. CustomWritings.com has always been a favorite among students and teachers alike.   We have thousands of customers who have their custom research paper on abortion  prepared by us.   We have never been blamed for providing clichà ©d material to our clientele, and that is why CustomWritings.com is one of the most favorite online companies to write on abortion writing scenario.

Oldowan Tradition - Humankinds First Stone Tools

Oldowan Tradition - Humankinds First Stone Tools The Oldowan Tradition (also called Oldowan Industrial Tradition or Mode 1 as described by Grahame Clarke) is the name given to a pattern of stone-tool making by our hominid ancestors, developed in Africa by about 2.6 million years ago (mya) by our hominin ancestor Homo habilis (probably), and used there until 1.5 mya (mya). First defined by Louis and Mary Leakey at Olduvai Gorge in the Great Rift Valley of Africa, the Oldowan tradition is to date the earliest manifestation of stone tool making on our planet. Further, it is global in scope, a toolkit thought to have been carried out of Africa by our hominin ancestors as they left to colonize the rest of the world. To date, the oldest known Oldowan tools were found at Gona (Ethiopia) at 2.6 ma; the latest in Africa is 1.5 mya at Konso and Kokiselei 5. The end of the Oldowan is defined as the appearance of Mode 2 tools or Acheulean handaxes. The earliest Oldowan sites in Eurasia are 2.0 mya at Renzidong (Anhui Province China), Longgupo (Sichuan Province) and Riwat (on the Potwar Plateau in Pakistan), and the latest so far is at Isampur, 1 mya in the Hungsi valley of India. Some discussion of the stone tools found at Liang Bua Cave in Indonesia suggests that they are Oldowan; which either lends support to the notion that the Flores hominin is a devolved Homo erectus or that the Oldowan tools were not specific to species. What Is an Oldowan Assemblage? The Leakeys described the stone tools at Olduvai as cores in the shapes of polyhedrons, discoids, and spheroids; as heavy and light duty scrapers (sometimes called nuclà ©us racloirs or rostro carà ©nà ©s in the scientific literature); and as choppers and retouched flakes. Selection for raw material sources  can be seen in Oldowan by about 2 mya, at sites like Lokalalei and Melka Kunture in Africa and Gran Dolina in Spain. Some of that is surely related to characteristics of the stone and what the hominid planned to use it for: if you have a choice between basalt and obsidian, youd select basalt as a percussion tool, but obsidian to break down into sharp-edged flakes. Why Did They Make Tools at All? The purpose of the tools is somewhat in controversy. Some scholars are inclined to think that most of the tools are simply steps in manufacturing sharp-edged flakes for cutting. The stone-tool making process  is known as chaà ®ne opà ©ratoire in archaeological circles. Others are less convinced. There is no evidence that our hominid ancestors were eating meat before about 2 mya, so these scholars suggest that the stone tools must have been for use with plants, and the percussion tools and scrapers may have been tools for plant processing. Admittedly, however, its hard to make assumptions on negative evidence: the oldest Homo remains we have only date to 2.33 mya in the Nachukui Formation of West Turkana in Kenya, and we dont know if there are earlier fossils we havent found yet that will be associated with Oldowan, and it may be that Oldowan tools were invented and used by another non-Homo species. History The Leakeys  work in Olduvai Gorge in the 1970s was quite revolutionary by any standards. They defined the original chronology of the Oldowan assemblage in the Great Rift Valley of eastern Africa including the following periods; the stratigraphy within the region; and the material culture, the characteristics of the stone tools themselves. The Leakeys also focused on geological studies of the paleo-landscape of the Olduvai Gorge and its changes over time. In the 1980s, Glynn Isaac and his team worked at the more-or-less contemporaneous deposits at Koobi Fora, where they used experimental archaeology, ethnographic analogy, and primatology to explain the Oldowan archaeological record. They developed testable hypotheses about ecological and economic conditions that might have triggered stone tool making- hunting, food sharing, and occupying a home base, all of which is also done by primates, with the exception of the production of sharp-edged tools. Recent Investigations Recent expansions to the interpretations built by the Leakeys and Isaac have involved adjustments to the time span of use: discoveries at sites such as Gona have pushed the date of the first tools a half-million years earlier from what the Leakeys found at Olduvai. Also, scholars have recognized a considerable variability within the assemblages; and the extent of the Oldowan tool use throughout the globe has become recognized. Some scholars have looked at the variation in stone tools and argued that there must have been a Mode 0, that Oldowan is the result of a gradual evolution from a common tool-making ancestor of both humans and chimps, and that phase is missing in the archaeological record. That has some merit, because Mode 0 tools may have been made of bone or wood. Not everyone agrees with this, and, currently, it seems that the 2.6 mya assemblage at Gona still represents the earliest stages of lithic production. Sources I highly recommended Braun and Hovers 2009 (and the rest of the articles in their book Interdisciplinary Approaches to the Oldowan) for a good overview of current thinking about Oldowan. Barsky, Deborah. An Overview of Some African and Eurasian Oldowan Sites: Evaluation of Hominin Cognition Levels, Technological Advancement and Adaptive Skills. Interdisciplinary Approaches to the Oldowan, SpringerLink, 2018. Braun, David R. Introduction: Current Issues in Oldowan Research. Interdisciplinary Approaches to the Oldowan, Erella Hovers, SpringerLink, 2018. Braun DR, Tactikos JC, Ferraro JV, and Harris JWK. 2006. Archaeological inference and Oldowan behavior. Journal of Human Evolution 51:106-108. Carbonell, Eudald. From Homogeneity to Multiplicity: A New Approach to the Study of Archaic Stone Tools. Interdisciplinary Approaches to the Oldowan, Robert SalaDeborah Barsky, et al., SpringerLink, 2018. Harmand, Sonia. Variability in Raw Material Selectivity at the Late Pliocene sites of Lokalalei, West Turkana, Kenya. Interdisciplinary Approaches to the Oldowan, SpringerLink, 2018. Harmand S. 2009. Raw Materials and Techno-Economic Behaviors at Oldowan and Acheulean Sites in the West Turkana Region, Kenya. Lithic Materials and Paleolithic Societies: Wiley-Blackwell. p 1-14. McHenry LJ, Njau JK, de la Torre I, and Pante MC. 2016. Geochemical â€Å"fingerprints† for Olduvai Gorge Bed II tuffs and implications for the Oldowan–Acheulean transition. Quaternary Research 85(1):147-158. Petraglia MD, LaPorta P, and Paddayya K. 1999. The first Acheulian quarry in India: Stone tool manufacture, biface morphology, and behaviors. Journal of Anthropological Research 55:39-70. Semaw, Sileshi. The Oldowan-Acheulian Transition: Is there a Developed Oldowan Artifact Tradition? Sourcebook of Paleolithic Transitions, Michael RogersDietrich Stout,  SpringerLink,, June 16, 2009.

Presidential Pets of the Past

Presidential Pets of the Past Animal lovers savour that moment when a pet runs up to greet them at the end of the stressful day. Few jobs are probably more stressful than the U.S. presidents position. Thats why it is no surprising that presidents and their families have always been fond of animals. Dogs seem to be first in line, but creatures from mice to alligators have also been presidential pets in the White House. List of Presidential Pets George W. Bush President George W. Bush carries Barney to the South Portico of the White House Monday, Sept. 3, 2001, after disembarking Marine One. Photo by Tina Hager, Courtesy of the George W. Bush Presidential Library â€Å"Barney was by my side during our eight years in the White House. He never discussed politics and was always a faithful friend.† President Bush remembered his little friend with these words when he died of lymphoma in 2013 at the age of 12. Barney, a Scottish terrier, was a gift to George W. Bush after the 2000 presidential election. He was always polite and liked to greet prime ministers, queens and heads of state in the White House. Barney was even a media star, he had his own website where his fans could watch videos from the dogs perspective about visiting celebrities and White House staff. â€Å"Barney and I enjoyed the outdoors,† Bush said. â€Å"His favourite activity was chasing golf balls.† However, Barney could also lose his temper. Once he bit the Reuters news reporter and the Bostons Celtics public relations director. Among other presidential pets were a Scottish terrier Miss Beazley, an English springler spaniel Spot, a cat India, and a longhorn cow Ofelia. Bill Clinton Socks, a black-and-white stray cat, became a presidential pet in 1991 when he jumped into the arms of Chelsea Clinton. Once the Clinton family took the cat, he took place in the Americas heart. He was a subject of a popular TV comedy, Murphy Brown, a cartoon book and a song, he appeared with the President on a series of stamps in the Central African Republic. Socks was so popular, that a Clinton family even asked the photographers to leave this poor cat. In 1997 a Labrador retriever Buddy joined the presidential family but Socks wasnt a fan of a new dog. Hillary Clinton said that Socks â€Å"despised Buddy from first sight, instantly and forever.† When Socks died in 2009, Bill Clinton admitted: â€Å"Socks brought much happiness to Chelsea and us over the years, and enjoyment to kids and cat lovers everywhere. We’re grateful for those memories† George H.W. Bush Millie is among the most notable pets in the White House. The English springer spaniel â€Å"wrote† Millies Book: As Dictated to Barbara Bush that describes a day in her life at the White House. In 1992 it was at the top of the New York Times bestseller list. Millie was depicted in several TV shows, including Whos the Boss and Murphy Brown. She even appeared in the episode of The Simpsons. The 15-acre Millie Bush Bark Park on the west side of Houston is named after her. Millie took active part in re-election. â€Å"My dog Millie knows more about foreign affairs than these two bozos,† Bush claimed, mentioning his opponents Al Gore and Bill Clinton. Millie was even a mother of two other presidential pets: Ranger and Spot. She died at the age 12 of pneumonia. Ronald Reagan    Lucky, a large black dog, was said to â€Å"to be a size of a pony. † And not for reason. His breed Bouvier des Flandres originated in Belgium for the purposes of pulling carts and herding kettle. Bouviers are known as fearless dogs useful as both family friends and guard dogs. They require a lot of room to exercise and wander about, and the Reagans soon found that out. Lucky was named in the honour of Mrs. Reagans mother, Edith Luckett (â€Å"Lucky†) Davis. A small â€Å"ball of fluff,† a nine-year-old puppy, turned into a large dog just in several months. Lucky enjoyed running in the halls of the White House. However, despite the efforts at training, she didnt really adjust to live there. Thats why the president and his family decided to send her to their ranch in California in 1985. She died at the age of 10 in January 5, 1995. Ronald Reagan had a few other dogs: Rex, Cavalier King Charles spaniel; Victory, golden retriever; Peggy, Irish setter; Taca, Siberian husky; and Fuzzy, Belgian sheepdog. Jimmy Carter When Jimmy Carter and his family moved into the White House, they didnt take no pets along. Grits arrived at the White House on June 8, 1977. The dog was named in honour of the Carters family Southern roots. A handsome border collie mix was a present to Carters daughter Amy from her school teacher, Verona Meeder. Visitors admitted that Amy â€Å"sure loves that dog.† She enjoyed petting Grits on the steps of the White House. However, the Carters decided to return the dog to the Amys teacher. Some sources report that one of the reasons was that a dog had behaviour problems. Moreover, Grits didnt get along with the Carters cat, Misty Malarky Ying Yang. But it also may be because Amys teacher lost her own dog, and the girl wanted to ease the sadness. Gerald Ford The Fords have always been fond of dogs. Long before they moved to White House, they had golden retrievers. Their daughter, Susan, asked their family friend – a photographer David Kennerly to help them get a new dog. Kennerly contacted a breeder about a puppy. Susan surprised her father with a cute dog she called Liberty. Liberty became famous when Gerald Ford and his wife decided to breed her with a golden retriever. The press became crazy when Liberty gave birth to nine cute puppies. Mrs. Ford didnt let them to be photographed before they were 2 months old. The photos were made by Kennerly and was in high demand as well as puppies themselves. Liberty died at the age 11 in 1986. The Fords also had a Siamese cat Shan and a dog Lucky.    Richard Nixon Checkers is probably the most famous candidate in the list of presidential pets. Nixons cocker spaniel never lived in the White House, but he became a celebrity when Sinator Nixon mentioned him in his speech in 1952. It became to be known as the Checkers speech when the politician for the first time used TV to appeal to the voters. Nixon loved Checkers a lot. He always had dogs biscuits in his desk and enjoyed watching him to play. The cocker spaniel lived with Nixon until he died in 1964 at the age of 13, four years before Nixon was elected a president. Three other dogs lived with Nixon in the White House: poodle Vicky, terrier Pasha and Irish setter King Timahoe.    Lyndon B. Johnson Lyndon B. Johnson loved dogs and they loved him a lot. The presidents beagles, Him and Her, became celebrities when the Life magazine published a photo portraying how Johnson was peaking up the dogs ears. Hundreds of calls and letters came from the dog lovers. They wrote â€Å"If someone picked you up by the ears, you’d yelp, too.† However, dogs seemed to like that a lot. They were treated very well and enjoyed swimming in the White House pool and riding along in the presidents car. Sadly, both Him and Her died at a young age. Him was hit by a car when he was chasing the squirrels in 1966, and Her died after swallowing a stone in 1964. After Him and Her died, Lyndon B. Johnson had two other dogs – collie Blanco and a mixed-breed dog Yuki. John F. Kennedy Charlie was a Welsh terrier the Kennedy family brought with them when they moved into the White House. Kennedy loved animals despite his allergy to animal hair and wanted his children to have experience of taking care of them. Jackie Kennedy gave Charlie to her husband as a gift during Kennedys campaign for president and he became a part of their family. However, John F. Kennedy didnt like one Charlies habit: He loved nothing more than to fetch a stick. He always brought the stick and drop it on the lap. The First Couple enjoyed walking outside the gates of the White House and playing with Charlie. They resembled two students taking a dog for a walk. They looked so happy,† told their son Bryant. Among other Kennedys pets were ponnies, hamsters, a cat, a rabbit, a horse, a canary, and seven dogs of different breeds. Dwight D. Eisenhower Heidi is probably the only dog banned from the White House. A beautiful female Weimaraner was born on the 9th of May, 1955. She had an accident on the expensive rug in the diplomatic reception room. Its cost was about $20,000 at that time. Because of the Heidis weak bladder, the Eisenhowers decided to send her to their farm in Pennsylvania. Heidi was protective of her owners. She was wary of photographers and always tried to prevent the First Lady from having her picture taken. Heidi just jumped between the Mamie Eisenhower and the camera. Weimaraners are great family dogs, known for their hunting abilities and loyalty. Heidi liked to sleep in the basket on the third floor and run in the White House. During the day, she napped in the presidents private office where Eisenhower gave her head scratches. After she left Washington she had four puppies and enjoyed life on the farm.

Assignments Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words - 1

Assignments - Essay Example ary sources are as well important because a reader is able to develop a clear understanding about the past events as far as German’s past events are concerned. Primary sources act as evidence of what happened in the past of Germany and they can be used as evidence for arguments concerning the history of Germany. Because of the originality of primary sources, they provide correct chronology of events, exact periods, and names of all people who participated in different historical events. At the end of 19th and beginning of 20th century, Germany had concerns about its environment in order to protect their surroundings. Its concerns were mostly based on industry, transport as well as other human activities that can have a negative impact on their environment. Their concerns became more serious at the beginning of 20th century due to rise in industrialization and technology. Some heavy weapons that were used during the World Wars led to massive destruction of German’s environment. They wanted to protect their environment from air, soil, and water pollutions. Released wastes from industries caused environmental pollution especially water and air pollution. Forest cover was also a major environmental issue in Germany during the mentioned period because they discouraged destruction of forests. Some environmental laws that were implemented during this period are still applicable to current days. The rise of Hitler to power was contributed by the weakness of the Weimar constitution. The constitution crippled the government and many people were willing to have a dictator as their leader. When a crisis erupted in 1919-1933, there was no one who could fight and stop Hitler. Article 48 of the Weimar constitution gave the president authority under certain situations, to take emergency measures in addition to proliferation of legislative verdicts without a prior approval from the parliament of Germany. This constitution also led to Hitler’s rise to power because the

End of Cold War and Collapse of Soviet Union Essay

End of Cold War and Collapse of Soviet Union - Essay Example e 1980s in order to determine why the Soviet Union left Eastern Europe and the extent to which Gorbachev can be held responsible for the subsequent collapse of communism. Though the reasons for the collapse of communism in the CEE countries are numerous, Gorbachev is at the heart of the said event. Historians have examined the dramatic end of the Cold War almost since the day the Berlin Wall came crashing down. Some, most notably Karen Dawisha, predicted the event earlier. She released her book Eastern Europe, Gorbachev, and Reform in 1988, and understood that Gorbachev knew the regimes in Eastern Europe were illegitimate, placed in power by the Soviet Union on the coattails of the Red Army's entrance into the area during the closing days of World War II.2 However, she argued that if Gorbachev was serious in his intentions concerning noninterference in the affairs of sovereign states, then Eastern Europe would likely soon break away from the Soviet grasp and attempt to move west.3 Charles Gati theorized in his important work The Bloc that Failed: Soviet-East European Relations in Transition, that the Soviet Union lost control of Eastern Europe due to an extraordinary domestic crisis which consumed their attention and resources.4 Moreover, The Warsaw Pact was an ineffective mec hanism for collective security, according to Gati, since its member states each had different perceived enemies, oftentimes another member of the Warsaw Pact.5 Joseph Rothschild stated that the stability of Eastern Europe depended directly on the economic performance of the country in question.6 By the time Gorbachev came to power, he realized that a serious overhaul of the system was necessary due to the flagging economies of the Eastern Europe satellite states, in crisis before but never this severely. Like Charles Gati, Rothschild stated that by the 1980s, Eastern Europe had broken out of the conformist mold placed on it after World War II by Joseph Stalin, and each country began to pursue its own different interests.7 Thus the "Soviet bloc" was a collection of different states each moving in its own direction; Gorbachev had very limited choices, and ultimately let them Return to Diversity. These views hold to the tenet that the breakup of the Soviet bloc was due to internal fact ors in the countries of Eastern Europe.8 Other authors have studied the internal demise of the Soviet Union, placing the emphasis on themes ranging from the nationalities problem to incorrect decisions by the General Secretary. Helene Carrere d' Encausse examined the former in her work The End of the Soviet Empire, in which she chronicled the difficulty of governing an empire

William Faulkner's A Rose for Emily Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

William Faulkner's A Rose for Emily - Essay Example Although the story begins with Emily's death, enough information is given to track the course of her life. As a young teenager, she lived with a very strict father, who chased away all her boyfriends. When he died, Emily was already past 30 and still single, meaning he was all she had. She didn't want to release his body for burial, but the town forced her to and she went into depression for a long time. What brought her out of the depression was meeting and dating a Northerner, Homer Barron, who was a manager of a work crew installing sidewalks. The town didn't approve of the match, because he was far below Miss Emily's social status, and they tried to break up the couple. Emily bought a large amount of arsenic this time and would not explain what she needed it for, but the town decided to believe it was for rats. Since they couldn't break up the couple, the town wrote to Miss Emily's cousins who came for a visit, effectively chasing Homer away. When the cousins left, Homer returned at least once, but the town thought he and Emily must have had a fight because they never saw Homer again. She refused to pay her property taxes and she ignored the town's complaints about a bad odor that was coming from the house for a while, but apart from town girls whom she taught china painting, no one was ever invited in. After Miss Emily died, the town discovered Homer's body in an upstairs bedroom, lying on a bed with one of Miss Emily's grey hairs on the pillow beside it. Part 2: Setting, Atmosphere, Pattern/Structure, Point of View The setting of the story is an old crumbling mansion in the South, making the story officially a Southern gothic. Miss Emily's house was once a very fine house in a very respectable part of town, but the neighborhood and the house have deteriorated over the years and the town around it has continued to grow and change. Because of the change between the vibrant town and the crumbling mansion, the atmosphere of the story becomes eerie. There is a strong sense of strangeness as the younger generation attempts to understand the factors that influenced Miss Emily's life and her passionate adherence to the past. This atmosphere is created through constant references to the strange, old, and deteriorating elements, and the puzzled reactions of townspeople as they attempt to deal with Miss Emily. Although there is a clear story told that traces Miss Emily's life, it is not told in chronological order or even reverse chronological order. Instead, the story jumps back and forth in time, starting with Emily's death, then scrolling back to a time about 10 years earlier when Miss Emily refused to pay her taxes. This leads to recollections among the town members of another time when Miss Emily confounded the town elders to do something about the terrible smell coming from her house, but the town pitied her because she had just been jilted by the only man she had ever dated. This causes reflection to move even further back to the reason why Emily is still single and further puzzlement as to why Emily wouldn't allow the town to take away his body after her father died. Another memory is triggered, jumping forward again, to a time when Miss Emily bought a large amount of arsenic, and then moves back to talk about Miss Emily's dating Homer Barron and his disappearance with the arrival of Miss Emily's cousins (after the townspeople wrote to them about the unsuitable match). Finally, it jumps back to Miss Emily's death and the discoveries that took place after her funeral. This structure is meaningful to the work, because it contributes to the sense of strangeness and it reflects the town's shock as they slowly begin to piece the evidence together of what must have happened. The narrator of the story is