Hamlet’s Deception Essay

Shakespeare’s Hamlet is a play full of dishonesty and betrayal. Deception is the central theme in this play. Hamlet, in a state of emotional turmoil, deceives everyone by acting insane for a number of reasons. First, because he is deeply angry at his mother and at Ophelia. Second, because the opinions of his peers will need to be influenced. The last reason is so no one will notice he is trying to avenge his father’s murder. While some believe he fell victim, deception ultimately leads to the fulfillment of Prince Hamlet’s death wish. Not only is Hamlet deceptive, but so are the other characters. Horatio, Claudius, Polonius, Ophelia, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, Fortinbras, and Laertes are all simultaneously manipulating each other as well as Hamlet. Deception is evident in the opening act of the play. Hamlet portrays himself as someone who detests lies, corruption, and deceit. He explains that his grief is real and not simply a facade to feign his madness. He is adamant that his feelings are genuine. Throughout the entire play, Hamlet is manipulative, wise with his words and actions, and convinces everyone he is insane. He does these things because he is obviously grief-stricken with the news of his father’s murder and is angry at the person who did it, his uncle and his father’s murderer. He is also confused and hurt that his mother would marry his uncle, especially in such a short time after King Hamlet’s death. Not to mention he feels it is incestuous that his uncle is now his step father. He refers to his mother as the â€Å"good mother,† or step mother. He lies about his mental state to refrain from arousing suspicion and to create a distraction. While Hamlet gathers evidence against Claudius, he reveals to Horatio his plan to feign insanity: Here, as before, never, so help you mercy, How strange or odd soe’er I bear myself, As I, perchance, hereafter shall think meet To put an antic disposition on, That you, at such times seeing me, never shall, With arms encumber’d thus, or this head-shake, Or by pronouncing of some doubtful phrase, As ‘Well, well, we know’; or ‘We could, an if we would’; Or ‘If we list to speak’; or ‘There be, an if they might’; Or such ambiguous giving out, to note That you know aught of me: this is not to do, So grace and mercy at your most need help you. (187-199) Hamlet tells this to Horatio in confidence. He tells him nothing specific, but he does let him in on the fact that he’s trying to deceive everyone so they won’t know he’s trying to gather evidence against Claudius. Horatio swore his allegiance to Hamlet. A rational person would not be able to exlpain this to someone. He understands every situation and knows there will be consequences for his actions. These reasons further prove that Hamlet was being deceitful. When Hamlet meets his mother, Gertrude, in her chamber, his plan is to â€Å"speak daggers† to her for what she has done, but has no intention of being physically violent. If Hamlet were actually insane, he would have murdered his mother without a second thought. Irrational people cannot control their actions. They do not know right from wrong. Gertrude blames Hamlet’s behavior on the fact that he is obviously insane and feels a great amount of pity for him. An act of deception takes place when Hamlet stages the murder of Gonzago in the re-enactment of the Mousetrap play at the suggestion of the ghost. This re-enactment is to try to manipulate Claudius into feeling guilty about murdering the king. It worked. Claudius did feel guilty. This was a signal to Hamlet, but he unfortunately did not act immediately to avenge his father’s murder. In one of the events he concocted to discover the truth, Hamlet unknowingly kills Polonius, thinking it was Claudius. Because of Polonius’ death, Claudius is now afraid of Hamlet. Losing her father at the hands of her lover caused Ophelia to go mad. It only made Laertes seek revenge. Because of Hamlet murdering Polonius, he is exiled to England. I believe it was more so for Claudius’ safety than an actual punishment. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern accompany Hamlet to make sure he arrives where he’s supposed to. King Claudius ordered Hamlet’s death, but he does not know it. Hamlet is being deceived until he figures it out and turns the tables. He switched his name on the death warrant with Rosencrantz and Guildenstern’s name. They die in his place. Without deception, the plot would be at a standstill. Hamlet would not have his â€Å"antic disposition.† Claudius would be a flat character. Hamlet’s â€Å"to be or not to be† soliloquoy probably would not exist. If Hamlet had killed Claudius without debating it and weighing the pros and cons, I would not have enjoyed this play. Ultimately, deceit caused many unnecessary deaths. Polonius should not have died, but did because of a simple mistake. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern died because of Hamlet’s trickery. Ophelia kills herself because she cannot live with the dilemma of making everyone else unhappy. I am sure Hamlet telling Ophelia he never loved her (even though he did) also played a huge part in her suicide. Gertrude and Laertes unknowingly drink the poisoned wine that was meant for Hamlet. Claudius dies because he was stabbed by Hamlet with a poisonous sword. And finally, Hamlet dies because Laertes stabs him with a blade that has also been poisoned. Throughout Hamlet’s emotional turmoil, he remained sane. Outside forces influenced his behavior. His father’s murder set up a domino effect for Hamlet to lie, betray, and become filled with murderous rage. Hamlet got his revenge by killing Claudius, which is what he set out to do, but it came with a price. Hamlet fell victim to the deception he created.

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‘Yathu's Supermarket' sells several of goods such as all groceries items, wines, alcohol, etc. We sell specific product to target specific people so that we can satisfy customers' wants and increase sales eventually as they buy the products they want. We have to be aware that our product is fashionable among the community and the customers so the products we sell are what the customers want. We also have to be cautious that our products are safe and don't harm people in any way; we also have to sell products which are reliable. In our supermarket we have to offer various types of products to increase customer choice so that they can choose what they prefer. We also have to make our product look appealing to the customers. So overall, we have to sell the products look desirable for the customers so that they will buy it. Price Price is also a major factor in determining how much sales and profit we make because customers normally look for cheap products so if we sell the products at a cheaper price then it is going to attract customers so eventually we are going to increase sales. So as we are a small business we have to lower our prices to a relatively low price than our competitors to catch customers' attention and try to persuade them to buy the product. It is important to have low prices as low prices increases sales; this is manly because customers always go for low prices and high quality products. However, we have to make the price reasonable so that we can make some profits, this is important to compete in the market. We have to try to make short term tactics to boost sales such as lowering prices of key products we sell to attract customers. We could use psychological pricing, so we can for example sell products à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½2.99 instead of à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½3.00 so this will encourage the customers to think that it is a bargain. However, in the long-run after we have established as a strong business in the market we can increase our prices gradually to increase profits. Promotion Promotion is a campaign increase customer awareness of our service. Advertising is main way of promoting our service. There is other several types of ways to promote such as personal selling, public relation or even sponsorship. Comparing with the budget we have advertising through newspapers, leaflets, etc is the ideal way as it is in reach of our budget. A successful advertising campaign increases customer awareness and increase sales/profits. ‘Yathu's Supermarket' have to limit our promotional campaign to our budget, so we have to advertise in the cheapest possible way such as leaflets, local newspaper, billboards, etc. ‘Yathu's Supermarket' have to improve our public relations so we have to increase how the customers think of us, so we have to do several activities to improve public relations, this is because customer satisfaction and customers' relationship with our business is one of the major keys to our success in the future. We have to create a brand such as a logo to represent our business. By developing a recognising brand we can help boost sales and profits by encouraging customers to make repeat purchases, so the customers will be loyal. Place ‘Yathu's Supermarket' has decided that setting up our business in Woolwich is the best way for our business and the public and also it is the most cost-effective way. We have to store our stock at our supermarket as it is the cheapest way. However, as we become a larger firm we can find our places to place our stock such as a warehouse. We can also use internet to sell goods to our customers as it is easier for them and we are able to target a wider audience. We have to make the product we sell appealing so the customers will buy it so we have to place the product in a place where it is likely catch the customers' attention. So where we place the product is essential to how much profit we make and how much sales we make. We can also provide a service such as free delivery if they spend a certain amount in the shop. So for example if they spend more than à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½10.00 they can get free delivery service, this will attract the attention of customers so this will likely to increase sales and the profit we make. One of the reasons why it might take the attention of customers is that probably not many people offer this sort of service so it is unique, which the customers might prefer. All these 4p's (Product, Price, Promotion, Place) are done to help my business stabilise in the market and obviously to try to make more sales and profits.

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Like Water for Chocolate Essay Like Water For Chocolate by Laura Squalevella Bantam Doubleday Dell Pub (Trd); ISBN: 0553472550 Copyright 1994 CHAPTER ONE. JANUARY. Chrutnuw Ro/ INGREDIENTS 1 can of arOin 1/2 choriw aaye oreyano 1 can of chitej rrano 10 haro ro PREPARATION: Take care to chop the onion fine. To keep from crying when you chop it (which is so annoying!), I suggest you place a little bit on your head. The trouble with crying over an onion is that once the chopping gets you started and the tears begin to well up, the next thing you know you just cant stop. I dont know whether thats ever happened to you, but I have to confess its happened to me, many times. Mama used to say it was because I was especially sensitive to onions, like my great-aunt, Tita. Tita was so sensitive to onions, any time they were being chopped, they say she would just cry and cry, when she was still in my greatgrandmothers belly her sobs were so loud that even Nancha, the cook, who was halfdeaf, could hear them easily. Once her wailing got so violent that it brought on an early labor. And before my greatgrandmother could let out a word or even a whimper, Tita made her entrance into this world, prematurely, right there on the kitchen table amid the smells of simmering noodle soup, thyme, bay leaves, and cilantro, steamed milk, garlic, and, of course, onion. Tita had no need for the usual slap on the bottom, because she was already crying as she emerged, maybe that was because she knew then that it would be her lot in life to be denied marriage. The way Nancha told it, Tita was literally washed into this world on a great tide of tears that spilled over the edge of t he table and flooded across the kitchen floor. That afternoon, when the uproar had subsided and the water had been dried up by the sun, Nancha swept up the residue the tears had left on the red stone floor. There was enough salt to fill a ten-pound sack-it was used for cooking and lasted a long time. Thanks to her unusual birth, Tita felt a deep love for the kitchen, where she spent most of her life from the day she was born. When she was only two days old, Titas father, my great-grandfather, died of a heart attack and Mama Elenas milk dried up from the shock. Since there was no such thing as powdered milk in those days, and they couldnt find a wet nurse anywhere, they were in a panic to satisfy the infants hunger. Nancha, who knew everything about cooking-and much more that doesnt enter the picture until later offered to take chargeof feeding Tita. She felt she had the best chance of `educating the innocent childs stomach, even though she had never mauled or had children. Though she didnt know how to read or write, when it came to cooking she knew everything there was to know. Mama Elena accepted her offer gratefully, she had enough to do between her mourning and the enormous responsibility of running the ranch and it was the ranch that would provide her children the food and education they deserved-without having to worry about feeding a newborn baby on top of everything else. From that day on, Titas domain was the kitchen, where she grew vigorous and healthy on a diet of teas and thin corn gruels. This explains the sixth sense Tita developed about everything concerning food. Her eating habits, for example, were attuned to the kitchen routine: in the morning, when she could smell that the beans were ready, at midday, when she sensed the water was ready for plucking the chickens, and in the afternoon, when the dinner bread was baking, Tita knew it was time for her to be fed. Sometimes she would cry for no reason at all, like when Nancha chopped onions, but since they both knew the cause of those tears, they didnt pay them much mind. They made them a source of entertainment, so that during her childhood Tita didnt distinguish between tears of laughter and tears of sorrow. For her laughing was a form of crying. Likewise for Tita the joy of living was wrapped up in the delights of food. It wasnt easy for a person whose knowledge of life was based onthe kitchen to comprehend the outside world. That world was an endless expanse that began at the door between the kitchen and the rest of the house, whereas everything on the kitchen side of that door, on through the door leading to the patio and the kitchen and herb gardens was completely hers-it was Titas realm. Her sisters were just the opposite: to them, Titas world seemed full of unknown dangers, and they were terrified of it. They felt that playing in the kitchen was foolish and dangerous. But once, Tita managed to convince them to join her in watching the dazzling display made by dancing water drops dribbled on a red hot griddle. While Tita was singing and waving her wet hands in time, showering drops of water down on the griddle so they would dance, Rosaura was cowering in the corner stunned by the display. Gertrudis, on the other hand, found this game enticing, and she threw herself into it with the enthusiasm she always showed where rhythm, movement, or music were involved. Then Rosaura had tried to join them-but since she barely moistened her hands and then shook them gingerly, her efforts didnt have the desired effect. So Tita tried to move her hands closer to the griddle. Rosaura resisted, and they struggled for control until Tita became annoyed and let go, so that momentum carried Rosauras hands onto it. Tita got a terrible spanking for that, and she was forbidden to play with her sisters in her own world. Nancha became her playmate then. Together they made up all sorts of games and activities having to do with cooking. Like the day they saw a man in the village plaza twisting long thin balloons into animal shapes, and they decided to do it with sausages. They didnt just make real animals, they also made up some of their own, creatures with the neck of a swan, the legs of a dog, the tail of a horse, and on and on. Then there was trouble, however, when the animals had to be taken apart to fry the sausage. Tita refused to do it. The only time she was willing to take them apart was when the sausage was intended for the Christmas rolls she loved so much. Then she not only allowed her animals to be dismantled, she watched them fry with glee. The sausage for the rolls must be fried over very low heat, so that it cooks thoroughly without getting too brown. When done, remove from the heat and add the sardines, which have been deboned ahead of time. Any black spots on the skin should also have been scraped off with a knife. Combine the onions, chopped chiles, and the ground oregano with the sardines. Let the mixture stand before filling the rolls. Tita enjoyed this step enormously, while the filling was resting, it was very pleasant to savor its aroma, for smells have the power to evoke the past, bringing back sounds and even other smells that have no match in the present. Tita liked to take a deep breath and let the characteristic smoke and smell transport her through the recesses of her memory. It was useless to try to recall the first time she had smelled one of those rolls-she couldnt, possibly because it had been before she was born. It might have been the unusual combination of sardines and sausages that had called to her and made her decide to trade the peace of ethereal existence in Mama Elenas belly for life as her daughter, in order to enter the De la Garza family and share their delicious meals and wonderful sausage. On Mama Elenas ranch, sausage making was a real ritual. The day before, they started peeling garlic, cleaning chiles, and grinding spices. All the women in the family had to participate: Mama Elena, her daughters, Gertrudis, Rosaura, and Tita, Nancha, the cook. And Chencha, the maid. They gathered around the diningroom table in the afternoon, and between the talking and the joking the time flew by until it started to get dark. Then Mama Elena would say: Thats it for today. For a good listener, it is said, a single word will suffice, so when they heard that, they all sprang into action. First they had to clear the table, then they had to assign tasks: one collected the chickens, another drew water for breakfast from the well, a third was in charge of wood for the stove. There would be no ironing, no embroidery, no sewing that day. When it was all finished, they went to their bedrooms to read, say their prayers, and go to sleep. One afternoon, before Mama Elena told them they could leave the table, Tita, who was then fifteen, announced in a trembling voice that Pedro Muzquiz would like to come and speak with her. After an endless silence during which Titas soul shrank, Mama Elena asked: And why should this gentleman want to come talk to me? Titas answer could barely be heard: I dont know. Mama Elena threw her a look that seemed to Tita to contain all the years of repression that had flowed over the family, and said: If he intends to ask for your hand, tell him not to bother. Hell be wasting his time and mine too. You know perfectly well that being the youngest daughter means you have to take care of me until the day I die. With that Mama Elena got slowly to her feet, put her glasses in her apron, and said in a tone of final command: . II Thats it for today. Tita knew that discussion was not one of the forms of communication permitted in Mama Elenas household, but even so, for the first time in her life, she intended to protest her mothers ruling. But in my opinion You dont have an opinion, and thats all I want to hear about it. For generations, not a single person in my family has ever questioned this tradition, and no daughter of mine is going to be the one to start. Tita lowered her head, and the realization of her fate struck her as forcibly as her tears struck the table. From then on they knew, she and the table, that they could never have even the slightest voice in the unknown forces that fated Tita to bow before her mothers absurd decision, and the table to continue to receive the bitter tears that she had first shed on the day of her birth. Still Tita did not submit. anxieties sprang to her mind. Doubts and the next week she didnt speak a single word to her. What passed for communication between them resumed when Mama Elena, who was inspecting the clothes each of the women had been sewing, discovered that Titas creation, which was the most perfect, had not been basted before it was sewed. Congratulations, she said, your stitches are perfect -but you didnt haste it, did you? No, answered Tita, astonished that the sentence of silence had been revoked. `Then go and rip it out. Baste it and sew it again and then come and show it to me. And remember that the lazy man and the stingy man end up walking their road twice. But thats if a person makes a mistake, and you yourself said a moment ago that my sewing was . Are you starting up with your rebelliousness again? Its enough that you have the audacity to break the rules in your sewing. Im sorry, Mami. I wont ever do it again. With that Tita succeeded in calming Mama Elenas anger. For once she had been very careful, she had called her Mami in the correct tone of voice. Mama Elena felt that the word Mama had a disrespectful sound to it, and so, from the time they were little, she had ordered her daughters to use the word Mami when speaking to her. The only one who resisted, the only one who said the word without the proper deference was Tita, which had earned her plenty of slaps. But how perfectly she had said it this time! Mama Elena took comfort in the hope For one thing, she wanted to know who started this family tradition. It would be nice if she could let that genius know about one little flaw in this perfect plan for taking care of women in their old age. If Tita couldnt marry and have children, who would take care of her when she got old? Was there a solution in a case like that? Or are daughters who stay home and take care of their mothers not expected to survive too long after the parents death? And what about women who marry and cant have children, who will take care of them? And besides, shed like to know what kind of studies had established that the youngest daughter and not the eldest is best suited to care for their mother. Had the opinion of the daughter affected by the plan ever been taken into account? If she couldnt marry, was she at least allowed to experience love? Or not even that? Tita knew perfectly well that all these questions would have to be buried forever in the archive of questions that have no answers. In the De la Garza family, one obeyedimmediately. Ignoring Tita completely, a very angry Mama Elena left the kitchen, and for that she had finally managed to subdue her youngest daughter. Unfortunately her hope was short-lived, for the very next day Pedro Muzquiz appeared at the house, his esteemed father at his side, to ask for Titas hand in marriage. His arrival caused a huge uproar, as his visit was completely unexpected. Several days earlier Tita had sent Pedro a message via Nanchas brother asking him to abandon his suit. The brother swore he had delivered the message to Pedro, and yet, there they were, in the house. Mama Elena received them in the living room, she was extremely polite and explained why it was impossible for Tita to marry. But if you really want Pedro to get married, allow me to suggest my daughter Rosaura, whos just two years older than Tita. She is one hundred percent available, and ready for marriage At that Chencha almost dropped right onto Mama Elena the tray containing coffee and cookies, which she had carried into the living room to offer don Pascual and his son. Excusing herself, she rushed back to the kitchen, where Tita, Rosaura, and Gertrudis were waiting for her to fill them in on every detail about what was going on in the living room. She burst headlong into the room, and they all immediately stopped what they were doing, so as not to miss a word she said. They were together in the kitchen making Christmas Rolls. As the name implies, these rolls are usually prepared around Christmas, but today they were being prepared in honor of Titas birthday. She would soon be sixteen years old, and she wanted to celebrate with one of her favorite dishes. Isnt that something? Your ma talks about being ready for marriage like she was dishing up a plate of enchiladas! And the worse thing is, theyre completely different! You cant just switch tacos and enchiladas like that! Chencha kept up this kind of running commentary as she told the others-in her own way, of course-about the scene she had just witnessed. Tita knew Chencha sometimes exaggerated and distorted things, so she held her aching heart in check. She would not accept what she had just heard. Feigning calm, she continued cutting the rolls for her sisters and Nancha to fill. It is best to use homemade rolls. Hard rolls can easily be obtained from a bakery, but they should be small, the larger ones are unsuited for this recipe. After filling the rolls, bake for ten minutes and serve hot. For best results, leave the rolls out overnight, wrapped in a cloth, so that the grease from the sausage soaks into the bread. When Tita was finishing wrapping the next days rolls, Mama Elena came into the kitchen and informed them that she had agreed to Pedros marriage-to Rosaura. Hearing Chenchas story confirmed, Tita felt her body fill with a wintry chill: in one sharp, quick blast she was so cold and dry her cheeks burned and turned red, red as the apples beside her. That overpowering chill a lasted a long time, and she could find no respite, not even when Nancha told her what she had overheard as she escorted don Pascual Muzquiz and his son to the ranchs gate. Nancha followed them, walking as quietly as she could in order to hear the conversation between father and son. Don Pascual and Pedro were walking slowly, speaking in low, controlled, angry voices. Why did you do that, Pedro? It will look ridiculous, your agreeing to marry Rosaura. What happened to the eternal love you swore to Tita? Arent you going to keep that vow? Of course Ill keep it. When youre told theres no way you can marry the woman you love and your only hope of being near her is to marry her sister, wouldnt you do the same? Nancha didnt manage to hear the answer, Pulque, the ranch dog, wentrunning by, barking at a rabbit he mistook for a cat. So you intend to marry without love? No, Papa, I am going to marry with a great love for Tita that willnever die. Their voices grew less and less audible, drowned out by the crackling of dried leaves beneath their feet. How strange that Nancha, who was quite hard of hearing by that time, should have claimed to have heard this conversation. Still, Tita thanked Nancha for telling her-but that did not alter the icy feelings she began to have for Pedro. It is said that the deaf cant hear but can understand. Perhaps Nancha only heard what everyone else was afraid to say. Tita could not get to sleep that night, she could not find the words for what she was feeling. How unfortunate that black holes in space had not yet been discovered, for then she might have understood the black hole in the center of her chest, infinite coldness flowing through it. Whenever she closed her eyes she saw scenes from last Christmas, the first time Pedro and his family had been invited to dinner1 the scenesgrew more and more vivid, and the cold within her grew sharper. Despite the time that had passed since that evening, she remembered it perfectly: the sounds, the smells, the way her new dress had grazed the freshly waxed floor, the look Pedro gave her . . . That look! She had been walking to the table carrying a tray of egg-yolk candies when she first felt his hot gaze burning her skin. She turned her head, and her eyes met Pedros. It was then she understood how dough feels when it is plunged into boiling oil. The heat that invaded her body was so real she was afraid she would start to bubble-her face, her stomach, her heart, her breasts-like batter, and unable to endure his gaze she lowered her eyes and hastily crossed the room, to where Gertrudis was pedaling the player piano, playing a waltz called the Eyes of Youth. She set her tray on a little table in the middle of the room, picked up a glass of Noyo liquor that was in front of her, hardly aware of what she was doing, and sat down next to Paquita Lobo, the De Ia Carzas neighbor. But even that distance between herself and Pedro was not enough1 she felt her blood pulsing, searing her veins. A deep flush suffused her face and no matter how she tried she could not find a place for her eyes to rest. Paquita saw that something was bothering her, and with a look of great concern, she asked: That liquor is pretty strong, isnt it? Pardon me? You look a little woozy, Tita. Are you feeling all right? Yes, thank you. Youre old enough to have a little drink on a special occasion, but tell me, you little devil, did your mama say it was okay? I can see youre excited-youre shaking and Im sorry but I must say youd better not have any more. You wouldnt want to make a fool of yourself. That was the last straw! To have Paquita Lobo think she was drunk. She couldnt allow the tiniest suspicion to remain in Paquitas mind or she might tell her mother. Titas fear of her mother was enough to make her forget Pedro for a moment, and she applied herself to convincing Paquita, any way she could, that she was thinking clearly, that her mind was alert. She chatted with her, she gossiped, she made small talk. She even told her the recipe for this Noyo liquor which was supposed to have had such an effect on her. The liquor is made by soaking four ounces of peaches and a half pound of apricots in water for twenty-four hours to loosen the skin1 next, they are peeled, crushed, and steeped in hot water for fifteen days. Then the liquor is distilled. After two and a half pounds of sugar have been completely dissolved in the water, four ounces of orange-flower water are added, and the mixture is stirred and strained. And so there would be no lingering doubts about her mental and physical well-being, she reminded Paquita, as if it were just an aside, that the water containers held 2.016 liters, no more and no less. So when Mama Elena came over to ask Paquita if she was being properly entertained, she replied enthusiastically. Oh yes, perfectly! You have such wonderful daughters. Such fascinating conversation! Mama Elena sent Tita to the kitchen to get something for the guests. Pedro happened to be walking by at that moment and he offered his help. Tita rushed off to the kitchen without a word. His presence made her extremely uncomfortable. He followed her in, and she quickly sent him off with one of the trays of delicious snacks that had been waiting on the kitchen table. She would never forget the moment their hands accidentally touched as they both slowly bent down to pick up the same tray. That was when Pedro confessed his love. Sen on to Tita, I would like to take advantage of this opportunity to be alone with you to tell you that I am deeply in love with you. I know this declaration is presumptuous, and that its quite sudden, but its so hard to get near you that I decided to tell you tonight. All I ask is that you tell me whether I can hope to win your love. I dont know what to say . give me time to think. No, no, I cant! I need an answer now: you dont have to think about love, you either feel it or you dont. I am a man of few words, but my word is my pledge. I swear that my love for you will last forever. What about you? Do you feel the same way about me? Yes! Yes, a thousand times. From that night on she would love him forever. And now she had to give him up. It wasnt decent to desire your sisters future husband. She had to try to put him out of her mind somehow, so she could get to sleep. She started to eat the Christmas Roll Nancha had left out on her bureau, along with a glass of milk, this remedy had proven effective many times. Nancha, with all her experience, knew that for Tita there was no pain that wouldnt disappear if she ate a delicious Christmas Roll. But this time it didnt work. She felt no relief from the hollow sensation in her stomach. Just the opposite, a wave of nausea flowed over her. She realized that the hollow sensation was not hunger but an icy feeling of grief. She had to get rid of that terrible sensation of cold. First she put on a wool robe and a heavy cloak. The cold still gripped her. Then she put on felt slippers and another two shawls. No good. Finally she went to her sewing box and pulled out the bedspread she had started the day Pedro first spoke of marriage. A bedspread like that, a crocheted one, takes about a year to complete. Exactly the length of time Pedro and Tita had planned to wait before getting married. She decided to use the yarn, not to let it go to waste, and so she worked on the bedspread and wept furiously, weeping and working until dawn, and threw it over herself. It didnt help at all. Not that night, nor many others, for as long as she lived, could she free herself from that cold. TO BE CONTINUED Next months recipe, Chabeta weooina Cake. CHAPTER TWO. FEBRUARY. Chabefa Wany Cake INGREDIENTS. 175 aranw refinco granetlate0 uyar 300 yram cake flour, fteo three tim 17eay arateo peel of one lime PREPARATION: Place five egg yolks, four whole eggs, and the sugar in a large bowl. Beat until the mixture thickens and then add two more whole eggs repeat, adding the remaining eggs two at a time until all the eggs have been added. To make the cake for Pedro and Rosauras wedding, Tita and Nancha had to multiply this recipe by ten, since they were preparing a cake not for eighteen people but for 180. Therefore, they needed 170 eggs,which meant they had to arrange to have that number of good eggs on thesame day. To get that number of eggs together, they preserved all the eggs laid by the best hens for several weeks. This preserving technique had been employed on the ranch since time immemorial to ensure a supply of this nourishing and indispensable food throughout the winter. The best time to preserve eggs is August or September. The eggs must be very fresh. Nancha preferred to use only eggs laid the same day. The eggs are placed in a cask containing crumbled sheep fodder, allowed to cool, and then covered completely. This will keep the eggs fresh for months. If you want them to keep for more than a year, place the eggs in an earthenware crock and cover them with a ten-percent lime solution. Cover tightly to keep the air out and store in the wine cellar. Tita and Nancha had chosen to use the first method because they didnt need to keep the eggs fresh for that many months. They had placed the cask containing the preserved eggs between them under the kitchen table and were taking the eggs out of it as they put the cake together. When she had beaten barely a hundred eggs, the phenomenal energy required for the task began to have a bad effect on Titas mood. To reach the goal of 170 seemed unimaginable. Tita beat the mixture while Nancha broke the eggs and added them to it. A fit of trembling shook Titas body and she broke out in goose bumps when each new egg was broken. The egg whites reminded her of the testicles of the chickens they had castrated the month before. Roosters that are castrated and then fattened up are called capons. The family had decided to serve capons at Pedro and Rosauras wedding because they would impress everyone with the quality of the dinner, as much for the amount of work required in their preparation as for the extraordinary flavor of the birds themselves. As soon as the date of the wedding was set for the twelfth of January, they ordered two hundred roosters to be bought for castrating and fattening up. This task fell to Tita and Nancha. Nancha because of her experience and Tita as punishment for feigning a headache to avoid her sister Rosauras engagement. I wont stand for disobedience, Mama Elena told her, nor am going to allow you to ruin your sisters wedding, with your acting like a victim. Youre in charge of all the preparations starting now, and dont ever let me catch you with a single tear or even a long face, do you hear?

India As A Tourist Destination Tourism Essay

India As A Tourist Destination Tourism Essay The term marketing has a very important meaning in the area such as retailing, branding and other similar areas such as event marketing. On the other hand, marketing in tourism and hospitality sectors are still legging comparing with the other areas. In this paper, different elements of tourism marketing will be explained with the help of understanding the concepts of marketing theory and research within tourism and hospitality sectors (Williams, 2006). Tourism is broadly defined as a business activity which is connected with providing accommodation, service and entertainment for people who are visiting a place for pleasure, recreation, leisure, business and so on (Chaudhary, 2010). It becomes an integral part of todays lifestyle. Hence, tourism marketing is also one of the important sectors where more effort and concern has been given to increase the standard of tourism all over. The reason behind this new trend is due to the increase of cross-cultural activities and due to the pass ion of people for visiting new destination. Also, the volume of tourism activity and the value is increasing compare to holiday destinations. This creates an inconsistency between tourism demand and supply, thereby creating under-utilized tourism capacity (Kaynak Kucukemiroglu, 1993). Position: Scope and the Objective of the study This paper discuss about the different marketing concepts which are used in tourism marketing and their application to generate different marketing strategy. In this paper, India has been chosen as the holiday destination. Hence all the research and analyze has been done to identified different marketing strategies to increase and promote Indian tourism all over. Scope and Objectives: The objectives of this research are as follows: To study the  theoretical  framework for marketing in tourism and the concept of marketing  strategy  in the tourism  industry this includes: PEST analysis, marketing mix,  segmentation, targeting and positioning. Conduct surveys and analyze India as a holiday destination and compare it with other  holiday destination To explore the perception of India as tourist destination Global Tourism Industry Todays era, the tourism Industry is booming all over the world. Tourism has become one the significant ingredient of mankind. A new tourism industry is rising which is driven by new consumers, new technologies, new ideas and new management techniques (Poon, 1993). The opportunities in the tourism industry are increasing with time and it is considered that at the end of 21st century, the tourism industry will generate more than 500 million employments whole over the world which will results in the increase of GDP by the tourism industry upto 15% (LCS Parking, 2012). Emerge of special marketing concepts including special tourist segments where the special segment refers to the the provision of customized leisure and recreational experiences driven by specific interests of individuals and groups (Sung, 2004) increases the number of tourists all over. According to the UNWTO World Tourism Barometer, despite of economic crisis in some of the major outbound markets around world, the total n umber of international tourists travel between the January to April 2012 is more than 285 million which indicates a growth of 5.4% compare to the last year (UNWTO, 2012). The main consideration of the World Tourism Organisation (WTO) is to provide with the best possible facilities and service for a distinct and specific need of the tourists (Sung H. H., 2004) and ensure benefits for consumers, business, local people and the environment. To provide the best facilities there is an immense change in the Tourism Industry (World Travel Tourism Council, 2012). The infrastructure and accommodation is one of the key sectors of the tourist industry. Even the advanced and sophisticated communication technology helps the actual and potential tourists all over with their expectations, personalities, and ever-changing needs (Pyo, Uysal, Chang, 2002). Expected Result of the study Literature Review A General Overview of Tourism What is Tourism Marketing? A product can be idea, goods, or service. Since the tourism industry is primarily a serviced-based industry, the main products provided by tourism business are recreational experiences and hospitality. This are intangible products and much more difficult to market than the tangible product. The intangible nature of services makes quality control difficult but crucial. It also makes it more difficult for potential customers to evaluate and compare service offerings (Chaudhary, Indroduction to Tourism Marketing, 2012). In addition, instead of moving the product to the consumer, the customer must travel to the product (area/community). Travels forms a significant portion of time and money spent in association with tourism experiences and is a major factor in peoples decisions on whether or not to visit a place (Vukonic, 1983). Tourism marketing or the marketing in relation to tourism means the process of achieving voluntary exchange between: Tourist who want to appreciate/ experience product and service. Organisations which put together and offer the product and service. The WTO defines tourism marketing as a management philosophy that in the light of tourism demands makes it possible through research, forecasting, and selection to place tourism product on the market most in line with the organizations purpose for greater benefits. Nature of Tourism Marketing Marketing is different perspectives that provide an understanding of the nature of marketing and tourism marketing (Panda, 2009). Marketing is an activity: Marketing is explained as an activity that is carried by a marketer to give its offer to customers. For example, marketing of a tour packages involves assembling the package, promoting it, and arrange it for sales. The focus in this perspective is to make the activity cost-effective and efficient. Marketing is an economic process: Marketing generates revenues directly through transactions and indirectly through its multiplier effect and employment generation. Here efforts are made to maximize economic benefits. Tourism marketing in its initial phase focused on economic benefits. Marketing is a social process: Marketing as a social process involves interaction and relationship between participants coming from different walks of life and society. The social process make host-guest relationship an important part of tourism marketing. Right to travel and pro-poor tourism have developed in response to the different social process. Marketing in managerial process Marketing is considered to be a business function that undertakes all managerial functions of planning, organizing, directing and controlling to carry out different activities. Overall, marketing can be combined together. It can be the economic, social, managerial process and activity at the same time. However, its different natures may dominate at different times. Process of Tourism Marketing Tourism marketing is a cycle process that begins with the understanding of drives, needs, wants and demands of tourists who are satisfied through suitable offers by entering into an exchange process with the marketers. The feedback of exchange is used by both the parties for the future relations. The different elements of a cyclic process give an insight of tourism marketing. Capture.PNG Fig: Tourism Marketing Process Understanding Needs, Drives, Wants and Demands of Tourists It is very important to know the tourist behavior as it will helps in delivering desired satisfaction. This begins with the identification of their needs, drives, want and demands. Need: Need is the felt gap between the existing and the desired state. Need motivates a person to act when it reaches the threshold level and it can be both physical and psychological. Marketers identify the need of people that direct their tourism behavior and offers alternatives to satisfy their needs. Maslows framework can be used to understand these needs. It divides the human needs into five categories of physical, safety, love and esteem and self-actualization. Tourists need a minimum acceptable level of food and accommodation at a place before travel. Safety need is reflected in the form of tourists need for law and order. That makes tourists avoid places of war, terrorism and conflicts. Need for love is the acceptance of tourists in the host society. In most of the cases, tourists prefer open societies than closed one. Esteem needs are tourists expectation that the host society would understand their importance and recognize the same. Lastly, self-actualization is undertaking trips that always been dreamt. Drive: Drive is the force created by needs. Unsatisfied needs create tension that drives the consumers to look for solutions. These solutions take the form of specific products. Buyers search for the best solution for their needs. The stimuli present in the environment give direction to drive. Want: Want is an expression of need in the specific form. Want are the thing which someone like but not really necessary. The need of recreation, leisure people generally tend to go for holiday. Marketers fit into the want framework other by redesigning offers or by assisting buyers in learning about new forms of product, services or idea. Demand: Demand is want accompanied by the purchasing power. It decides if the buyer has enough money to purchase. Demand changes with prices, substitutes, marketing efforts, inflation levels, income, etc. Demand can be created by building the purchasing power. For instance, when the demand for air travel has gone up than companies has introduced budget airlines. Growth of Tourism Marketing Tourism marketing evolved with the growth of tourism. The concept of tourism is very old, but its modern organized form started in the eighteenth century. Earlier, travel was undertaken for business and religious purpose. Tourism as a full- fledged a full- fledged business did not exist. Its marketing started with the first organized tours offered by Thomas Cook in 1841. Evolution of Tourism Marketing: Tourism marketing and its orientation has changed with the growth of tourism. Internationally, tourism came of age in 1950 and since then has seen a continuous change in the approach towards its development (Wang Pizam, 1998). The stages of tourism development and the corresponding marketing approaches are discussed below. Boosterism approach in the 1950s: It was the beginning of modern tourism and the emphasis was on boosting the tourism activity. This approach was based on the following assumptions towards tourism. Tourism is inherently good and should be developed. Cultural and natural resources should be exploited for tourism develop Economic Planning approaches in 1960s: As a result of the efforts of the earlier phases, the economic potential of tourism was well understood and new assumptions towards tourism were as follows. Tourism is like any other industry. Tourism can be used to create jobs, earn foreign exchange, and improve terms of trade, encourage regional development, and overcome economic disparities. Physical and spatial approach in the 1970s and the 1980s: The earlier approaches resulted in the massive growth in the massive growth of tourism. Mass tourism was not without consequences and its negative impacts on environment became visible and well known. This changed the earlier assumption of it being inherently good and harmless and new assumptions were formed. These were as follows. Tourism is a resource user. It exploits and destroys the natural resources used as tourism attractions. There has to be an ecological basis for its development to preserve the natural resources and tourism attractions. Tourism development can be geographically distributed to reduce the impacts. Community approach in 1990s: As tourism continued to developed, their social impacts were noticed. Particularly the local communication felt alienated. There were inconvenienced by the growth of mass tourism and were not in a position to decide on tourism development. As a result, tourism was opposed. It led to the focus on the following assumptions. Local community control on tourism development in the area is needed. Need for balanced development of tourism and search for alternatives to mass tourism. Social impact of tourism on a community and their attitudes toward tourism should be understood. Sustainable approach in the 1990s: Large-scale tourism development forced tourism planners to think of tourism development in a more holistic manner where the economic, environmental, and socio-cultural issues could be balanced. The concept of sustainable tourism was adopted for this purpose. The assumption for this approach is that a suitable balance must be established between environmental, economic, and socio-cultural dimensions of tourism development to ensure its long-term sustainability. Marketing orientation too becomes socio- environmental to balance the interests of tourism, marketers and the environment (Verbeek, Bargeman, Mommaas, 2011). Marketing Concepts for Tourism The marketing concept holds that achieving organizational goals depends on knowing the needs and wants of target markets and delivering the desired satisfactions better than the competitors do. Under the marketing concept, customer focus and value are the two important paths to sales and profit. Hence, the marketing concepts depend on the determining the needs and wants of target markets and delivering the desired satisfactions more effectively than competitors do (Kotler, Armstrong, Wong, Saunders, 2008). Different marketing concepts are used in tourism industry are as discussed below. PEST Analysis in Tourism Market It is important to know about the market environment first for any marketers. In tourism this competition is fiercer, since the competition is almost in the destination of various states as well as countries. Market environment refers to the constitute forces which exist in the environment and influence the customer decision making. For scanning the tourism-marketing environment in India, the PEST (Political, Economic, Social and Technological) Political Environment: Political environment influence tourism marketing through pressure groups, policies, rules and regulations, and legislation (Bennett Strydom, 2001). Pressure Group: These groups in society use political influence for the furtherance of certain issues. Green groups work for ecotourism, consumer group for tourist protection, cultural groups for protection of heritage and culture, industry groups for reduction of taxes and so on. These try to influence law-making bodies to create a suitable mechanism to address their concern. Law and Policies: The government regulates tourism with the help of laws that govern its different sector. The government creates policies as guidelines to provide direction for the development of tourism. For instance, the Tourist Policy 2002 guides tourism growth in India. Rules and Regulations: Rules regarding land allocation for hotels and tourism development, tax concessions, permits, registrations of tour operators and travel agents, open sky, budget airlines, and tourism police gives a direction for tourism growth. Economic Environment: The general economic environment of a country influences any economic activity. Growth of new sector: Growth of new sectors, such as information technology (IT), travel and tourism, retails and banking has given jobs to young people. This income is finding its outlet in recreation, including travel and hospitality. Growth of economy: Growth of new sectors lead to growth of economy. Easy availability of foreign exchange: Increase of foreign tourism leads in increase of foreign exchange. Social Environment: The social environment decides buying patterns of the tourists and the response of the society to tourism. The socio-cultural environment of a place decides the holiday choices regarding the type of destination, activities, duration of holiday, expenditure pattern and so on. Group behavior: Indians are group oriented. This makes group travel acceptable and likable. The reference group in framing opinions is also very important. Lifestyle changes: Globalizations has changed the lifestyle of people. People take tours frequently for a change and rejuvenations. Technological Environment: Technology has completely altered the way the tourism business is conducted. Transportation: Transportation technology has given faster and better vehicles to facilitate the movement of tourists to far off places. Information and communication Technology (ICT): Major changes have been introduced by information and communications technologies in tourism. Internet and online distribution systems have been improved. Marketing Mix in Tourism Market Tourism Product Tourism product is a mix of tangible and intangible elements. Kotler (1984) conceptualizes product as anything that can be offered to a market for attention, acquisition, use, or consumption that, might satisfy a want or need. It includes physical objects, service, persons, places, organization and ideas. This takes the concept of product beyond physical objects and can very well include tourism. Medlik and Middleton (1973) conceptualize tourism product as a bundle of activities, services and benefits that constitute the entire tourism experience. The bundle consists of five components: destination attractions, destination facilities, accessibility, images and price. According to Smith (1994) a tourism product consists of five elements in a series of concentric circles. The core is tangible and more controllable by management but the outward progression marks more intangible elements and greater consumer participations. The tourism product is a synergistic combination of these elements. These elements are as follows. The physical plan: This is the core of a tourism product where the main attraction is produced. It can be natural such as landscape or waterfall, or facilities such as conference hall, theme park, hotel, etc. Service: Service refers to the performance of specific tasks required to meet the need of tourism. A hotel needs management, front desk operation, housekeeping, maintenance, and food and beverage provisions to function as a hotel. Hospitality: Consumers expect enhanced service or something extra. Hospitality is that extra provided over professional service. Freedom of choice: It refers to the necessity that the traveler has some acceptable range of options for a satisfactory experience. Involvement: This is participation by consumers in some degree in the delivery of service. Tourism is known to be a participative activity. Hegarty (1992) explain tourism product through the following components. Environment: It is the raw material of tourism that gives a tourist destination its particular appeal. It has natural, cultural, and social elements. Activities: These are based on and derived from the environment. Foe example, trekking, rafting, sightseeing and so on. Accommodation: A tourist must have a place to sleep and eat Transport: There must be ways of getting around the destination. Services: There are various services that support tourism such as information, health, booking and customs. Infrastructure: Tourism cannot work without basic infrastructure like roads, airports, telecommunication and medical support. Destination Life Cycle and Tourism Area Life Cycle: The concept of life cycle is applied to destination as TALC (Tourism Area Life Cycle) or DLC (Destination Life Cycle). It is defined as stages a destination goes through, from exploration to involvement, development, consolidation, stagnation, rejuvenation, or decline (Howie, 2003). Tourism Area life cycle.PNG Fig: Tourism Area Life Cycle Butler (1980) proposed the tourism area life cycle model of a tourist destination that identifies the stage of exploration, development, consolidation, stagnation, and decline. Exploration: This is the beginning of the destination for tourist activities. At this stage the destination is relatively unknown and visitors initially come in small numbers restricted by lack of access, facilities and local knowledge. Development: The destination see development of amenities as more people discover them and word spreads about the attraction. Stagnation: Tourists arrivals grow rapidly some theoretical carrying capacity which involves social and environmental limits. The rise of exploration to stagnation often happens very rapidly, as implied by the exponential nature of growth curve. Decline or Rejuvenation: A destination would decline if it follows trajectories C, D, and E as shown in the above Figure. This will happen if the very attractions that created the destination are lost. However, it may continues to draw some tourists with increased consumption and unsustainable development but not for very long. Tourism pricing: Price is the momentary value decided for exchange of goods and services between the buyers and sellers. Both parties want maximum benefits from this exchange. Factors Influence Tourism Pricing Tourism pricing is influenced by a large number of factors relating to supply, demand and the environment. The cumulative effect decides the final price. Supply-side Factors: Supply of tourism services is characterised by perish-ability, geographical restrictions, and domination by intangibles, and with consumption that takes place instantly with production. All this affects pricing. The specific supply-related factors affecting prices are discussed below. Perishable: Tourism services tend to perish if not consumed. For example, if a place has a carrying capacity for 5,000 tourists per day, it will host 35,000 in a week. It cannot host all tourists in one day. Hence, tourism services are to be consumed as and when produced. To bear the cost of maintaining supplies throughout the year, the prices may fluctuate. Intangible: Tourism Services are dominated by intangibles and putting a momentary value for these is very difficult. Intangibility is used by the hotels to price rooms differently depending upon various factors. For example, room facing sea will be perceived differently from the one facing a road. Geographically restricted operations: All tourism services come defined with geographical constraints. For example, a diners clientele can get services at a particular place only where the diner is placed. Tourists can enjoy a national park only after getting there. This limits the potential of the restaurant and the park only to the people who get there. Fixed Capacity: Tourism supplies have a fixed capacity. In tourism, supplies are limited; hence prices tend to rise in relation to demand. For example, in a hotel double room cannot accommodate more than two people. Substitutes: Availability of substitutes increase total supplies and tourists shift to different options for reasons such as higher prices, non-availability, and so on. For example, paying guest accommodation is being a substitute for storage of hotel rooms. However, all components of tourism cannot have relevant substitutes. Costs: Costs decide the minimum level of revenue to be charged from the buyers. But if the costs are high because of inefficiencies of production, prices too are unreasonably high. Cost of tour packages are often not in the hands of marketers, when most of the components are bought from other suppliers. Both fixed cost and variable costs are accounted for pricing. Actively-based costing (ABC) is used to calculate costs in tourism. Competition: Competition in the market increases supplies, reduce inefficiencies and bring down prices. Demand-side Factor: Tourists option about services affects demand as well perception of price. The specific demand-related factors affecting prices are discussed below: Value Perception: Value perception of price is subjective and varies among and within market segment. It also varies with time and location. Level of Demand: The level of demand impacts prices. High demand leads to high prices as tourists compete among themselves for the experience. Demand Pattern: Tourism demand often marked by seasonal fluctuations with majority of tourists travelling during the tour season for the best experience. As a result, demand exceeds capacity in peak period and facilities remain underused in the off season. Prices are adjusted to the match the demand pattern and also to influence demand to balance it with supply. Environmental Factors: External environment constitutes many forces that directly or indirectly shape demand and supply factors and price. Tax Structure: The tax structure in the form of surcharges, airport tax, luxury tax and service tax adds to the cost and the final prices. Consequently, when the service tax rate is changed, final prices changes immediately. Market Structure: Type and level of competition in the market has a direct bearing on price. Competition can be easy or intense, negative or positive, with similar or dissimilar, government regulated of free. Less competition results in higher prices whereas the healthy competition leads to reduction of prices. Government Policies: Marketers have to abide by government policies on price. For example, India has a dual price policy wherein foreigners pay in dollar and Indians in rupees. Price is the momentary value of goods and services and fixing this value right is critical for the success of a firm in the market. The cost-based, buyer-based and competition-based methods are commonly used in tourism industry. Once a price-level is determined, pricing strategies are used to respond to the continuously changing environment. The strategies often used are market skimming, market penetration, price-quality combination, discount pricing, geographical pricing and differential pricing. Tourism Promotion: Promotion mix is the combination of different methods of promotion. Each method is suitable under different conditions and a right combination can be very powerful. Tourism promotion is persuasive communication for the target market. It follows the general rules of human communication and applies it to marketing (Jayapalan, 2001). The goal of promotion is to contribute to marketing goals but it has its specific objectives in terms of attitudes and sales behavior of the market. Promotion is carried out with the help of different methods and together these are called promotion mix. Important Promotional Tools in Tourism A few promotional tools, such as brochures, events and movies are more apt for tourism because of their distinct nature. Brochures: Brochures are popular form of promotion used for direct sales. These are defined as booklets or pamphlets used for sales and promotion. This has the following advantages. It targeted more specifically. If retained, it will have greater reminder value. It can also have secondary or pass-along audience. Events: Events are organized occasions of significance. They are used to promote and highlight the tourism potential of a destination. The following and many more types of events are used for promotion tourism. International trade fair: This fair bring large number of buyers and sellers to a place, and who are likely to spread the word about the products showcased there. Cultural fair: Destination-specific festivals like carnival etc., brings a large number of tourists to these place. Cultural events: Cultural events, such as film festivals, dance shows, musical events, etc., brings destination in news. Sports events: Sports events, such as Common Wealth Games, show that tourism can be promoted in the different city in the country. Tourism Distribution Tourism distribution is transfer of tour and associated facilities from the suppliers to the tourists through the tourism distribution system. It delivers many benefits to the tourists. These are as follows. Accessibility and availability: Attractions are made available conveniently by arranging transfer of tourists. Information: Tourists get information about places, flights, trains, routes and so on. Counseling and advice: Tourist may not be able to decide about travel destinations and plans and may ask for advice. Arrangements: Tourists want arrangements to be mad for them so that they have minimum hassles on tour. People in Tourism People are an important content of tourism marketing mix. The tourism experience depends upon sellers, tourists, other service providers, residents, and tour group member. Some people understand the importance of tourism but others may not and their behaviors or encounters with the tourists might spoil the whole tour experience. Customer can look for one time encounters or relational long-term encounters. In long-term encounters, customers get attached to the service provider or brand. Long-term relations give marketers a brand-loyal market and consumers get good service. The difficulty is created in encounter with the other service providers, tour group members, and other tourists at the destination who are not directly concerned with marketing. These too have to be marketed the idea of creating a good service environment. The main focuses of the firms are discussed below. Internal environment: The main focus of the firms remains its internal environment and it manages its employees and customers for the same. Transactional Intervention: It is use to improve and control employee behavior. It includes building awareness, training in relationship building, behavioral flexibility and professionalism, empathy, interpersonal skills non-verbal communications and improved physical surroundings. Customer relationship management: It implies entering into, building, maintain, and sustaining relation with customers. Process in Tourism Marketing Process is an important element of tourism marketing mix because of the service-intensive nature of tourism. Tourism service process or delivery of tourism service involves procedures, task schedules, mechanisms, activities, and routines by which a product or service is delivered to a customer. It is an operating system of workflow activities and their integration. The main objectives of service delivery are to build improved, simplified, real-time, on demand, guaranteed, cost-effective service. The process of service delivery includes activities and flows, procedures, mechanisms of transfer, time and cost of transfer, and involvement of tourists in transfer. Physical Evidence in Tourism Physical evidence performs specific functions in tourism and form an integral part of the marketing strategy. The important functions performed by evid

Macbeth: The True Nature of Man :: essays research papers

In the play Macbeth by William Shakespeare, the author tries to show the true nature of man by using the play’s main character, Macbeth, as an example. He is overly ambitious, courageous, and self-doubting. Throughout the play, Shakespeare displays these characteristics to the audience through Macbeth to show the true nature of man. At the end of the play, these characteristics ultimately lead to Macbeth’s downfall. In the beginning of the play, Macbeth is described as being â€Å"valiant†. He is a skilled warrior, who is loyal to his king and his country. Almost single-handedly, he wins the war for Scotland. He defeats many of the enemy soldiers, including a traitor, all in the name of his king. But, when three witches encounter Macbeth and his friend Banquo, Macbeth’s ambition begins to grow. They tell Macbeth that he will be Thane of Cawdor and King. Soon after, Macbeth meets with King Duncan. He informs Macbeth that he is the new Thane of Cawdor. Macbeth is astonished, and from then on he is obsessed with being king. His ambition begins to become ruthless when Duncan proclaims that his son Malcolm is the Prince of Cumberland, and therefore, the heir to the throne: â€Å"The Prince of Cumberland! That is a step/On which I must fall down, or else o’erleap, /For in my way it lies. Stars, hide your fires;/Let not light see my black and deep desires:/The eye wink at the hand ; yet let that be/Which the eye fears, when it is done, to see.† (I,iv,48-53) At this moment, Macbeth, realizing that they stand in the way of the witches’ prophecies, decides that both Duncan and Malcolm need to die for him to be king. As soon as Macbeth kills Duncan, he enters into a world of evil. Later in the play, Macbeth’s ambition becomes increasingly ruthless. He kills his best friend Banquo, and almost kills Banquo’s son, Fleance, because he believes they would stand in the way of his reign. The witches told Banquo â€Å"Thou shall get kings, though thou be none.† (I,iii,67) This means that Banquo himself would not be a king, but that his successors would be. Macbeth tries to prevent this by killing Banquo and his son Fleance. Even though Macbeth can be called a tyrant and a murderer, he is nonetheless, very courageous. In the beginning of the play, he fights very bravely for his king and country.

La Ruby :: essays research papers

La Rubia Deep into the swamp bayou of houma, louisianna is a tale of a little girl who finds out who she really is and the truth behind her dark past. Theres only one way in and one way out for ruby. When she soon finds out that she has fallen in love with her half-brother the secret becomes more twisted with details that only her grandmother knows, but won't let out. In the bayou at a young age, madame ruby, takes up painting to ease her mind. her grandmother sees the talent she posses and urges her to become one of the greatest. she sets up here painings at thier roadside sale to earn extra money. Deep in the swampy woods of Houma Louisianna one night, I find myself lying awake listening to the swamp creatures and gazing at the shodows in the moonlit night. I was anxious that this weekend was supposed to be a big weekend for tourist and Grandmere and I were setting up the road-side sale in the morning. As I lay tossing and turning in the bed the phone rang in an erie ring. I can hear Grandmere in the kitchen mummbling something, then she soon comes upstairs to awake me. "Ruby, Ruby, get up honey, we have to go to Louise's house. She's about to have the baby." So I calmly get out of bed and put my slippers and nite coat on. "I'm coming Grandmere" I said, from atop the stairs. I went to my stick like dresser and pulled out my charm bracelet that Grandmere had given me last Christmas and fastened it around my wrist. I quickly ran downstairs and saw Grandmere waiting by the door. I noticed she was carrying some sort of black bag and the flashlight. She gra bbed my hand and we took off out the door, slamming the front door behind us; stumbling down the steps. It was so dark that night I could barely see my hand in front of face. Grandmere knew exactly where to go. She had lived there all her life and could get anywhere at night even without a flashlight. My Grandmere was a very mystical lady, yet everyone believed in her powers and remedies. Grandmere has been called on more than one occasion for a birth. "Come on Ruby, you're walking to slow" she said about two steps in front of me as I walked through the swampy trees.

Island of the Sequined Love Nun Chapter 51~53

51 Where Losers Flourish The Sorcerer paced back and forth across the lanai. â€Å"I want to find another pilot, Beth. We can't let him act that way and get away with it.† The Sky Priestess yawned. She was draped across the wicker emperor's chair, wearing a towel she'd wrapped above her breasts at the Sorcerer's request. He said he needed to think. â€Å"Did you ask him why he did it?† â€Å"Of course I asked him. He said he was trying to liven up the game.† â€Å"Worked, didn't it?† â€Å"It's not funny, Beth. We're going to have trouble with him.† The Sky Priestess stood up and put her arms around the Sorcerer. â€Å"You have to have a little faith in me,† she said. â€Å"I can handle Tucker Case.† She didn't want to have this conversation. Not yet. She hadn't told the Sorcerer about Tuck going off course. She had plans for the fair-haired pilot. The Sorcerer pulled away from her and backed up to the rail. â€Å"What if I don't like the way you handle him?† â€Å"And what's that supposed to mean?† â€Å"You know what it means.† She approached him again, this time untucking the towel so it dropped as she stepped into his arms. Her nipples just brushed the front of his shirt. â€Å"‘Bastian, if what happened today proved anything, it proved that Tucker Case is a troglodyte. He's no threat to you. I'm attracted to finesse, not force. Case reacts to force with force. That's why he hit Yamata. You use a gentle touch with a guy like that and he's helpless.† Sebastian Curtis turned away from her. â€Å"I'm not taking the guards off his house, not for a while anyway.† â€Å"You do what you think is best, but it's not good policy to make an enemy of someone whose services you require. So what if he hates the ninjas? I hate the ninjas. You hate the ninjas. But we need them, and we need a pilot. We're not likely to be as lucky next time.† â€Å"Lucky? The man's a reprobate.† â€Å"Tucker Case is a loser. Losers flourish on islands, away from competition. You taught me that.† Flattery might work where seduction seemed to be failing. â€Å"I did?† She unzipped his pants. â€Å"Sure, that monologue about ninety percent of the endangered species living on islands. That's because they would have died out years ago from real competition. Losers, like Tucker Case.† â€Å"I was talking about unique ecosystems, like the Galpagos, where evolution is speeded up. The way the religions take hold.† â€Å"Same difference.† He yanked her hand out of his pants and pushed her away. â€Å"What's that make us, Beth? What does that make me?† The Sky Priestess was losing on all fronts. There was an element here that she was not in control of, an unknown variable that was affecting the Sorcerer's mood. When sex and flattery don't work, what next? Ah, team spirit. â€Å"It makes us the fittest, ‘Bastian. It makes us superior.† He looked at her quizzically. Easy now, she thought. You're getting him back. She walked slowly back to the emperor's chair and sat down daintily, then threw a leg over either arm and leaned back spread-eagle. â€Å"A quiz, ‘Bastian, a quiz on evolution: Why, after all these years, with all the fossil evidence, doesn't anyone know for sure what happened to the dinosaurs? Don't answer right away. Think.† She fiddled with her left nipple while she waited, and finally a smile came over his face. He really did have great teeth. She had to give him credit for keeping up his dental hygiene all these years on the island. â€Å"No witnesses,† he said finally. â€Å"We have a winner. But more precisely, no surviving witnesses. Losers can only flourish until a dominant species appears, even on an island.† A shade of concern crossed his face. â€Å"But dinosaurs ruled the Earth for sixty million years. You can hardly call them losers.† Could he be any more difficult? â€Å"Look, Darwin, there are absolutely no dinosaurs getting laid tonight. Pick your team.† 52 Don't Know Much About History Tuck twisted the guts out of the stick pen and pried off the end cap with a kitchen knife, making, in effect, a perfect compact blowgun. He found a piece of notebook paper in the nightstand and seated himself on the wicker couch so he had a good diagonal view of the guards posted outside his door. He tore off a small piece of the paper with his teeth, worked it into a sufficiently gooey ball, then fit it into the pen tube and blew. The spit wad sailed through the window and curved harmlessly away from the guards. Too much moisture. He squeezed the next one between his fingers before loading, then let fly to strike the nearest guard in the neck. He brushed at his neck as if waving off an insect, but otherwise didn't react. More moisture. Tuck had taught himself deadly accuracy with the spitball blowgun at a time when he was supposed to be learning algebra. In contradiction to what his teacher had told him, he had never needed to know algebra in later life, but mastery of the spitball was going to come in handy, although this skill had not ended up on his permanent record, as had, presumably, his failure of algebra. The third wad struck the guard in the temple and stuck. He turned and cursed in Japanese. Tuck had prechewed a follow-up shot that took the guard in the neck. The guard gestured with his Uzi. â€Å"Go ahead, fuckstick. Shoot me,† Tuck said, a gleam in his eye. â€Å"Explain to the doc how you shot his pilot over a spit wad.† He tore off another piece of paper with his teeth and chewed it while the guard glared. The corrugated steel storm shutters above the windows were held open with a single wooden strut. The guard clipped the strut and the shutter fell with a clang. Tuck moved to the next window down. He leaned out and fired. A splat in the forehead of guard number two, another strut knocked out, another clanging shutter. One window to go, this one demanding a shot of almost twenty-five feet. Tuck popped his head out and blew. A spiderweb of spittle trailed behind the projectile as it traveled down the lanai. It struck the first guard on the front of his black shirt and he ran toward Tuck, leading with his Uzi. Tuck ducked back inside and the final shutter fell. Tuck heard the guard at each shutter, latching it down. Mission accomplished. With the guards peeking in the window every two minutes, he would have never been able to pull off the coconut dummy switch. And even in the ambient moonlight, he'd have never made it to the bathroom unnoticed. Of course, he couldn't have closed the windows. That would have been suspicious. â€Å"Good night, guys. I'm turning in.† He stood, blowgun waiting, but the shutters remained latched. He quickly turned off the lights and crawled into bed, where he constructed the coconut man and waited until he heard the guards start to talk and smelled tobacco smoke from their cigarettes. Then he tiptoed to the bathroom and made his escape. He half-expected the shower bottom to be nailed down. Beth Curtis had used it to escape only this morning. Maybe she hadn't figured that he knew about it. No, she was nuts, but she wasn't stupid. She knew he knew. She even knew that he knew she knew. So why hadn't she told Sebastian? And she hadn't said anything about their little detour to Guam either – or maybe she had. Sebastian hadn't sent a big postflight check like before. Tuck made a mental note to ask the doc about the check the next time they were on the golf course. For now he snatched up his flippers and mask and headed for the beach. Before entering the water, he pulled a bottle of pills from his pocket – anti-biotics left over from his dickrot – and made sure that the cap was on tight. This might be the only chance he'd have to get medicine to Kimi. He swam around the minefield and went straight into the village and down the path toward Sarapul's house. Women and children were still sitting around outside their houses, the women weaving on small looms by kerosene lantern, the children playing quietly or finishing up dinners off banana leaf plates. Only the smallest children looked at Tuck as he passed. The women turned away, determined, it seemed, not to make eye contact with the strange American. Yet there was no alarm in their ac-tions and no fear, just a concerted effort to not notice him. Tuck thought, This must be what New York was like before the white man came. And with that in mind, he stared at a spot in the path exactly twelve feet in front of him and denied their existence right back. It was better this way. He never knew when he might have to fly one of their body parts to Japan. He made his way quickly up the path and soon he could see a glow near Sarapul's house. He broke into the clearing and saw the old cannibal and Kimi sitting around a fire, working on something. Sewing, it looked like. â€Å"Kimi,† Tuck said, â€Å"you shouldn't be up.† Kimi looked up from his work. There was a huge piece of blue nylon draped over his and Sarapul's laps. â€Å"I feel better. You fixed me, boss.† Tuck handed him the pills. â€Å"Take two of these now and two a day until they're gone.† â€Å"Sarapul give me kava. It make the hurt stop.† â€Å"These aren't for the hurt. These are for infection. Take them, okay?† â€Å"Okay, boss. You want to help?† â€Å"What are you guys making?† â€Å"I'll show you.† Kimi started to rise and his face twisted with pain. Sarapul pushed him back down. â€Å"I will show.† The old cannibal snatched up the kerosene lantern and gestured for Tuck to follow him into the jungle. Tuck looked back at Kimi. â€Å"You take those pills. And don't move around much, I'm not sure how well those stitches will hold. You had a big hole in you.† â€Å"Okay, boss.† Sarapul disappeared into the jungle. Tuck ran after him and almost ran him over coming out of a patch of small banana trees into an area that cleared into walking trees, mangroves, and palms. About fifty yards ahead, Sarapul stopped near the beach. He stood by what appeared to be a large fallen tree, but when Tuck got closer he saw it was a long sailing canoe. Sarapul grinned up at Tuck, the light from the lamp making him appear like some demon from the dark island past. â€Å"The palu – the navigator – he make. I help.† Sarapul ran the light down the length of the canoe. Tuck could see that one of the tall gunwales was darkened and glazed with age, while the other had been hewn recently and was bright yellow. He could smell the fresh wood sap. There was an outrigger the size of a normal canoe and a platform across the struts. As canoes went, it was a huge structure, and hewing the hull from a single piece of wood with hand tools had taken an incredible amount of work, not to mention skill. â€Å"Kimi did this? This is gorgeous.† Sarapul nodded, his eyes catching the fire of the lamp. â€Å"This boat broken since before the time of Vincent. Kimi is great navigator.† â€Å"He is?† Tuck had his doubts, given the storm, but then again, as Kimi had said, they had survived a typhoon in a rowboat. And this craft was no accident; this was a piece of art. â€Å"So you guys are sewing a sail for this?† â€Å"We finish soon. Then palu will teach me to sail. The Shark People will go to sea again.† â€Å"Where'd you get the nylon for the sail? I can't see Dr. Curtis thinking this is a good idea.† Sarapul climbed into the canoe and dug under a stack of paddles and lines, each hand-braided from coconut fiber, until he came up with a tattered mass of nylon straps, Velcro, and plastic buckles with a few shreds of blue nylon hanging here and there. â€Å"My pack. You guys used my pack?† â€Å"And tent inside.† â€Å"Do you have the stuff that was inside? There were some pills that can help Kimi.† Sarapul nodded. He led Tuck back through the jungle to his house. Kimi had gone inside and was lying down. â€Å"Boss, I don't feel so good.† â€Å"Hang on. I might have some more medicine.† Actually, Tuck had never been sure of all the things that Jake Skye had loaded into the pack. Sarapul retrieved a palm frond basket from the rafters and handed it to Tucker. Tuck found the antibiotics he had been looking for, as well as painkillers and aspirin. Even what was left of his cash was in the basket. All the pills were still dry. Tuck doled out a dose and handed them to the navigator. â€Å"Take these when you have pain, and these take like the other ones, twice a day, okay?† â€Å"You good doctor, boss.† â€Å"You did a hell of a job on that boat.† Kimi seemed distressed. â€Å"You not tell Sorcerer or Vincent's white bitch.† â€Å"No, I won't tell them.† Kimi seemed to breathe easier. â€Å"Roberto come today. He say you must see the canoe. But he say you should no tell the Sorcerer.† â€Å"Roberto told you that.† â€Å"He talk funny now,† Kimi said. â€Å"Like you, kinda. In American. He tell me Sepie is okay. She come home soon.† â€Å"I couldn't get in to see her. There was a guard on the clinic.† â€Å"Dog fuckers,† Kimi said. Then Tuck told the navigator about the golf game and watched as the old cannibal held him while he laughed, then curled with pain. â€Å"I better sleep now, boss. You come back. I take you sailing.† â€Å"You got it.† Tuck backed out of the house and waited until Sarapul joined him with the lamp. â€Å"You know which pills to give him?† Sarapul nodded. Tuck started down the path toward the village, but pulled up a minute later when he heard the cannibal running after him. â€Å"Hey, pilot. Vincent send you to us, huh?† â€Å"I don't know.† â€Å"You tell Vincent I wasn't going to eat you. Okay?† Tuck smiled. â€Å"I'll try to smuggle you some Spam next time I come.† Sarapul smiled back. As he came up on the drinking circle, Tuck stopped and checked his watch. He didn't want to be gone more than a couple of hours. There was little danger that he'd be called to fly, at least not without the warning appear-ance of the Sky Priestess, but Beth Curtis might show up at his bungalow at any time. Funny, he didn't think of the Sky Priestess and Beth as the same person. The Shark men were applying new coats of red paint to their bamboo rifles by the light of a kerosene lamp. They moved around on the logs and Tuck took a seat by Malink. Without a word, the young man who was pouring handed Tuck the cup. He drained it and handed it back. â€Å"What's the deal with the rifles?† Tuck asked Malink. â€Å"Vincent's army,† Malink said. â€Å"Vincent said we must always be ready to fight the enemies of the United States of America.† â€Å"Oh,† Tuck said. â€Å"Why red?† Malink looked at Tuck as if he was something he had stepped in. â€Å"It is the color of Vincent's brother.† â€Å"Yeah?† Tuck didn't get it. â€Å"Vincent's brother, Santa Claus. Red is his color. You must know that.† Tuck couldn't help it. He let his mouth fall open. â€Å"Santa Claus is Vincent's brother?† â€Å"Yes, Santa Claus brings excellent cargo for everyone, but only once a year. He comes in a sleigh on the snow. You know, right?† â€Å"Right. But I don't get the connection.† Malink looked as if it was all he could do not to tell Tuck how incredibly dense he really was. â€Å"Well, we have no snow, so Vincent will come in a plane. Not once a year. When Vincent come, he will bring cargo every day. More than he gives through the Sky Priestess. More than Santa Claus.† â€Å"And Vincent told you this, that he was Santa's brother?† Malink nodded. â€Å"His skinny brother, he say. So we make rifles red.† Malink watched for signs that Tuck was getting it. Tuck wasn't giving them. â€Å"Even Father Rodriguez know about Santa Claus,† Malink insisted. â€Å"Okay,† Tuck said, â€Å"how about moving that cup around the circle a little faster, guys?† â€Å"Vincent will bring us real rifles when he come. We must be always ready to fight,† Malink said. â€Å"Who?† Tuck asked. â€Å"Have you guys ever been attacked?† â€Å"Once,† Malink said. â€Å"When I was boy, some guys from New Guinea come in canoe. We no like those guys. We go in our canoes to kill them.† â€Å"And what happened?† â€Å"It got dark.† â€Å"And?† â€Å"We come home. Those guys from New Guinea pretty lucky no one know how to navigate in the dark.† â€Å"No palu?† Tuck asked, using the native word for â€Å"navigator.† â€Å"Japanese kill them. No palu left, except maybe one.† â€Å"That's why you didn't turn Kimi over to the Sorcerer?† Malink nodded and trouble crossed his brow. â€Å"I am thinking, if Vincent send you, how come the Sorcerer not know you here? And how you not know Santa Claus?† Tuck noticed that the men had stopped painting their rifles and talking among themselves to listen to his answer. There was pressure here, beyond whether he'd be able to drink or not. He told them what they needed to hear. â€Å"Vincent called me from the land of armored possums to come to the island of the Shark People. I am a flyer, as Vincent was a flyer. He does not tell me everything, and he does not tell the Sorcerer everything. Vincent is sometimes mysterious, but we must trust his judgment.† Malink smiled. â€Å"Let us drink to this flyer. Then we go to sleep.† To Tuck, Malink said: â€Å"Tomorrow is the hunt.† 53 How the Shark People Got Their Name When the pounding came at his door just after dawn, Tuck prepared himself mentally to meet the smiling face of Sebastian Curtis, who would be overly cheerful at the prospect of trouncing the pilot at another round of gravel golf, but when he opened the door, there was Beth Curtis wearing a long-sleeved white cotton dress and a huge sun hat with a brim that fell over her face like a lampshade. Tuck had on hand-me-down boxer shorts that showed more of his morning bulge than he was comfortable with. Strange, a month ago he was ready to sell his soul for this physiological phenomenon, and today it was an embarrassment. â€Å"Good morning,† he said. â€Å"I was expecting the doc.† â€Å"Oh, did you two have plans?† â€Å"No, I just†¦never mind. Would you like to come in for some coffee?† He gestured to the small kitchen nook. â€Å"Why don't you make yourself a cup and bring it with you? I have something to show you.† â€Å"Sure. Just give me a second.† She waited by the door while he threw a pot of water on the stove, dressed quickly and combed his hair, then poured the water over some coffee grounds and stirred in some powdered milk. â€Å"I'm ready. What's up?† â€Å"I want to show you something on the other side of the island.† â€Å"Outside of the compound?† â€Å"Near the village. I think you'll enjoy it.† Tuck walked with her out into the morning sun, nursing his coffee as they went. There were no guards in sight anywhere. The wide gate to the runway was open. â€Å"Where's the ninjas?† â€Å"You call them that too? That's funny.† She laughed, but because he couldn't see her face under the hat, he couldn't tell if there was any sincerity in it. She put her hand on his arm and let him lead her across the runway like a Victorian lady under escort. â€Å"Do you ever miss your family?† she asked as they walked. Tuck was taken by surprise. â€Å"My family? No. We parted on less than favorable terms. I fell out of contact with them long before I came out here.† â€Å"I'm sorry. Really. Is it difficult for you?† Tuck thought she might be joking. â€Å"My mother and my uncle are my only real family. They married after my father was killed. I wasn't pleased.† â€Å"You're kidding. I thought they only did that in West Virginia. Aren't you from California?† â€Å"She married my father's brother, not her brother. Still, I don't miss them.† â€Å"What about your friends?† Tuck thought for a second. Things had changed for him since he'd last seen Jake Skye. In a way he'd taken on some responsibility. He was acting on his own, without a net. He wished that he could tell Jake about it. â€Å"Yeah, I miss my friends sometimes.† â€Å"Me too, Tucker. I'd like to be your friend.† â€Å"You have Sebastian.† â€Å"Yes, I do, don't I.† They walked in silence until they entered the village, which was deserted except for a few dogs and too many roosters. â€Å"Where is everybody?† Tuck reminded himself not to let it appear that any of this was familiar to him. â€Å"Is this where the natives live?† â€Å"They're all at the beach. Today is the day of the hunt.† â€Å"The hunt?† â€Å"You'll see. It's a surprise.† As they passed the bachelors' house, Tuck peeked through he door. He could see someone sleeping inside. Beth led the way to the beach and Tucker looked back. Sepie stood in the doorway wearing only a bandage around her ribs. She waved and Tuck risked a quick smile and turned away. They were going to give him away. One hint of recognition and he was screwed. The women, children, and old men were all lined up on the beach. Tuck had never seen most of the women and children. There must have been three hundred people there. The only familiar face was Favo, the old man from the drinking circle, who showed no recognition when he looked at Tuck. The younger men were out in the water, standing knee deep on the reef in the light low-tide surf. Each of the men held a five-foot-long stick with a rope tied at one end. They wore long knives tucked into cords tied around their waists. â€Å"Fishing?† Tuck asked. â€Å"Just watch,† Beth said. â€Å"This is how the Shark People got their name.† Tuck spotted Malink coming out of the jungle with four other men. Each carried a large plastic bucket. â€Å"They make the buckets out of net floats from the huge factory ships,† Beth Curtis said. â€Å"The plastic is tougher than anything they can make.† â€Å"What's in them?† Tuck watched as each man swam out to the reef holding a bucket on his head. â€Å"Pig and chicken blood.† Two men helped Malink onto the reef and took his bucket from him. Malink looked out to sea and said something in his native language, then looked to the people on the beach as if to say, â€Å"Ready.† The chief shouted a command to the men in the water and they dumped the buckets of blood. Soon they were all knee deep in crimson surf and the bloodstain swept out into the ocean in a great cloud. â€Å"Isn't that dangerous?† Tuck asked. â€Å"Of course. It's insane.† Interesting choice of words. Tuck was surprised that no one seemed to notice or make a big deal of Beth's presence. â€Å"Why aren't they drumming and kowtowing to you?† â€Å"They aren't allowed to when I'm dressed like this. It's a rule. I need my privacy at times.† â€Å"Of course,† Tuck said. A fin appeared in the water about twenty yards out from the reef. Someone shouted and Tuck recognized Abo from his warrior's topknot. Malink nodded and Abo dove into the water and swam toward the shark. Before he was ten yards out, the fin turned toward him. More fins appeared and as Malink nodded, more young men dove into the water with their sticks. â€Å"Shit, this is suicide,† Tuck said. He watched as the first shark made a pass at Abo, who moved out of its way like a bullfighter. â€Å"You've got to stop this.† Tuck couldn't remember ever feeling such panic for another human being. Beth Curtis squeezed his arm. â€Å"They know what they're doing.† The shark circled and made a second pass at Abo, but this time the young warrior didn't move out of the way. He shoved his stick into the shark's jaws as if it was a bit, then flipped himself on the shark's back and wrapped the cord just behind the pectoral fins, then back to the other end of the stick so it wouldn't come out. The water boiled around Abo as the shark thrashed, but Abo stayed on and, holding the stick like handlebars, he pulled back to keep the shark from diving and steered him into the shallow water of the reef, where the other men waited with their knives drawn. A roar went up from the crowd on the beach as Abo turned the shark over to the slaughterers and held up his arms in triumph. The men on the reef slit the shark's belly and cut off a huge hunk of the liver, which they handed to Abo. He bit into it, tearing out a ragged chunk and swallowing as blood ran down his chest. Soon others were steering sharks onto the reef and the water beyond was alive with fins. The red cloud expanded as the sharks died and bled and more came to take their place. The gutted sharks were brought onto the beach, where the women continued the butchering, handing pieces of the raw flesh to the children as treats or prying out serrated teeth and giving them to little boys as trophies. One of the men actually stood up on the back of a huge hammerhead that he was steering to the reef and nearly castrated himself on the dorsal fin as he fell. But the shark was held fast and died on the reef with the others. In half an hour the shark hunt was over. The sea was red with blood for a thousand yards in all directions and the beach was littered with the corpses of a hundred sharks: black tips, white tips, hammerheads, blue, and mako. Some of the deadliest creatures had been taken like they were guppies in a net, and not one of the Shark People was hurt, although Tuck noticed that many were bleeding from abrasions on the inside of their thighs where they had rubbed against the sharks' skin during their ride. The Shark People were ecstatic, and every one of them was drenched in blood. Tuck was stunned. He'd never seen such courage or such slaughter before, and he was getting the willies thinking about all the time he had spent swimming in these waters at night. Malink walked up the beach dragging a leopard shark by its gills. His Buddha belly was dripping in blood. He looked up at Tucker and risked a smile. â€Å"That's the chief,† Beth Curtis said. â€Å"He's really too old for this, but he won't stay on shore.† â€Å"Do the sharks ever get any of them?† â€Å"Sometimes. Usually just a bite. A lot of sutures, but no one's been killed since I've been on the island.† No one hunting sharks, anyway, Tuck thought. A little girl who had been helping her mother shyly peeked over the carcass of a big hammer-head, then ran up to Tucker and quickly touched him on the knee before retreating to the safety of her mother. â€Å"That's strange,† Beth Curtis said. â€Å"The women and girls won't have anything to do with a white man. Even when they come to Sebastian, they talk to him through a brother or husband – and he speaks their language.† Tuck didn't answer. He was still looking at the little girl's back. She had a massive pink scar that ran like a smile from her sternum, under her arm, to her backbone at exactly the place where the kidney would be. Tuck felt sick to his stomach. â€Å"I think I've seen enough, Beth. Can we go?† â€Å"Can't deal with the sight of blood?† â€Å"Something like that.† As they walked back through the village, Tuck noticed a woman and a little boy sitting outside of one of the cookhouses. The mother was holding the boy and singing to him softly as she rocked him. Both of his eyes were bandaged with gauze pads. Tucker approached the woman and she pulled the child to her breast. Beth Curtis caught Tuck's arm and tried to pull him back. Tuck shook her off and went to the woman. â€Å"What's wrong with him?† Tuck asked. The woman slid across the gravel, away from him. â€Å"Tucker!† Beth Curtis said, â€Å"Leave her alone. You're scaring her.† â€Å"It's okay,† Tuck whispered to the woman. â€Å"I'm the pilot. Vincent sent me.† The woman seemed to calm down, and although her eyes went wide with wonder, she managed a small smile. Tuck reached out and touched the child's head. â€Å"What's wrong with him?† The woman held out the boy as if presenting him for baptism. â€Å"He is chosen,† she said. She looked at the Sky Priestess for approval. Tuck stood and backed away from her. He was afraid to look at Beth, afraid that he might strangle her on the spot. Instead, calmly, deliberately, although it took all his effort to keep from shaking, he said, â€Å"We'd better get back.† He led the way through the village and back to the compound.