Should You Come Clean About Lying on Your Resume [INFOGRAPHIC]

Should You Come Clean About Lying on Your Resume [INFOGRAPHIC] We’ve all embellished our resumes from time to time. We’ve put down Excel proficiency knowing full well that the only thing we know how to do is copy and paste into a spreadsheet. We’ve listed ourselves as fluent in Spanish even though we barely passed high school Spanish (don’t judge me). But where do we draw the line between stretching the truth and lying? And when do you we come clean about lying on our resumes? If lying on your resume gets you the job but also gets you fired, is it really worth risking your professional reputation? Let’s take a gander at this infographic to get a better idea of when you should come clean about lying on your resume:Â   Source: [GQ]

How To Write One Of The Most Important Essays At College

How To Write One Of The Most Important Essays At College Helpful Tips on Writing a College Application Essay One of the most important college assignments is the college application essay. And this type of essays is absolutely different from all those you used to write throughout high school. It is not like a persuasive or argumentative essay, a college application essay allows you to be more creative and show yourself through writing. In this case, you will have to create not just a good essay but a really excellent one. But don’t be scared at once, everything is not that complicated. Thanks to the following guide, we are sure you will be able to master those skills as soon as possible. The Definition of a College Application Essay Sometimes, a college application essay is called an admissions essay, personal statement (statement), application essay, or purpose. The applicants are frequently asked to write several such essays, though some institutions might ask you to write just one. As a rule, you will be asked to complete just one question selected, though it’s possible to choose from several ones, too. The topics can be really specific or vice versa, very wide to write on. Most often, the essay statements are connected with three topics – talents of the applicant, the significance of the chosen area of expertise, and mutual benefits. If you are assigned a college application essay about the applicant’s talents, you should write about your life experience and why you are a serious candidate. You will have to share your dedication to art or sports, overcoming various obstacles, etc. If you are assigned a college application essay on the importance of the chosen field, you will have to share your academic pursuits and goals to show how ambitious you are. Mutual benefit questions should show why you would benefit from admission and why the college would benefit from such a student as you. Your main task is to give a unique answer to question and show your best sides. Format of a College Application Essay As a rule, college applications are being written online, so you will have to create your essay in a text box. At first, it is necessary to type it in Microsoft Word (or other compatible programs) and paste it to the text box. Make sure to check if everything is spaced properly to avoid various cutoffs. There is no certain structure set for formatting a college application essay. Some teachers insist that it’s necessary to follow the five-paragraph structure; however, it is not mandatory at all. Your essay has to be well-written and unique. And writing it in a five-paragraph structure won’t help you be accepted to college. Your essay should have an introduction, body paragraphs, and a conclusion. However, it might consist of four, five, or even six paragraphs in total. All you need is not to forget about the word limit. How to Write a College Application Online Read the task and write down your ideas on paper. Here there is no need to restrict yourself, just let your ideas flow from your imagination and answer the question the best way possible. You might write your best answer from the very first idea, and it might take some time to think and choose the best answer. Keep in mind that the most unique, honest, and the attention-capturing answer will be the best one. Create a hook, which is the first sentence that will grab the reader’s attention and will be relevant to the prompt. Your essay doesn’t have to be one of the thousands of those essays the members of the admission committee read every day. It has to stand out from them all! For that reason, it is the most important sentence of your entire essay, while it promises your reader that the rest of the writing is really smart, interesting, and worth his or her time. Do not reply as hundreds of other applicants, but write something unpredictable, something vivid and something that will make your reader keep reading your writing. Once you have finished with the hook, it’s time to write an introductory paragraph, which will make the reader acquainted with the subject. The last sentence contains an overall thesis. You won’t have to prove the thesis here like when writing other types of essays. But a single point orbiting around is mandatory for a college application essay. If you are asked why the college will help you reach your goals, you will have to address this question in your introductory paragraph final sentence writing something like: In my opinion, this college will help me reach my top dream helping people by becoming a great dentist. However, it is not too unique and interesting. Instead, it’s better to write something like: I have always been concerned about human suffering, so I believe educating studying to become a dentist at such a great university is the best way to help people cope with their pain. Each body paragraph has to start from a very strong topic sentence and contain good examples to support your unique or life perspective. And your final paragraph has to link the reader to why you exactly need to study at that school. Create your first draft. Once you have your opening sentence, good outline, and an overall imagination of what you want to say in your body paragraphs, start to write. It would be perfect if you could take a one-hour or even more break and after that, read it again. When rereading your draft, you should underline everything that seems too weak to you, eliminate the repetitions and misspellings. The draft should flow very smoothly and sound engaging, so can rewrite it as many times as necessary. Now you can ask your family member, friend, or any other trusted person to read it and give their feedback. Ask for honest feedback from them, so they could tell you exactly what part is weak or boring. If necessary, make revisions. Now you can even put it away for a couple of days and only then reread it. once you feel comfortable with it, you can submit it online. Topics for Your College Application Online As a rule, students are being assigned a particular topic, but sometimes they may ask you to choose from five or seven topics. There are even cases when the college asks you to write on your own topic you feel comfortable with. Below, there are some topics to choose from and make them your own: Describe the biggest challenge you’ve overcome. What was your biggest failure and what lesson you took from it? Have you ever disappointed someone you love or care for and what lesson you took from it? What profession do you consider to be the noblest and why? They say every family is weird. What about yours? How the weirdness of your family made you grow into a better person? Who of the public figures you would like to interview and why? What lesson did you take from one of your flaws? What childhood memory embodies the best who you are today? What social issue is the most compelling for you and why? Is there any law you would like to change? Why? Conclusion The college application essay is one of the most challenging and important assignments for any student. And an average student often finds it very complicated and scary. And it happens for some good reasons, while a great essay will open lots of doors for you. If you are not sure about having good skills to write your best college application essay, you can use our tips and make them yours, as well as read some of the college application essay examples to get a better idea of how it’s better to create the essay of your life. Remember that your future might depend on your college application essay, so it’s necessary to put some efforts and get some special skills to show your best self to the commission!

The core marketing concepts and various elements of marketing process Essay

The core marketing concepts and various elements of marketing process adopted by Apple - Essay Example Apple is one of the most successful companies of the current world in the electronic industry (O'Grady 2009, p.5). In fact, the company has witnessed tremendous growth since 1984 becoming a household name. All these are attributed to the marketing concepts and processes it adopted in order to reach its targeted customers. Gill Amello, the former CEO of the company pointed out that Apple’s marketing concepts are based on the scarcity and social proof powers (O'Grady 2009, p.5). In this regard, in order for the company to reach its intended customers, it adopted the ‘Golden Circle† marketing strategy, which entailed the why, how, and what. The â€Å"why† implies that everything that Apple do is aimed at changing the status quo and thinking differently from the rest of the competitors. The â€Å"how† pertains to the products manufactured by the company. In this regard, Apple has been at the forefront in making quality and beautifully designed products, w hich are user friendly to the customers. This has seen the company outcompete many of its rivals in the industry. The â€Å"what† has to do with the computers, in which the company has ensured that all its computers are of high quality and affordable to its customers according to O'Grady (2009, p.6). Apple has also used technology as its main marketing tool targeted at reaching the early adopters who then markets the products to the rest of the people (O'Grady 2009, p.7). This concept is termed the Law of Diffusion of Innovation. To achieve this, Apple has a team of experts that analyzes the needs, wants of customers, and adopts innovative technology in accordance with their needs. This has been witnessed in the popular iPhone and iPads, which have indeed changed the world. With these technologies, Apple has made it clear to its customers that no other competitor can match it in terms of quality and value for money (O'Grady 2009, p.7). However, once the products have reached the early adopters, these customers do the rest by spreading the good news about Apple’s products to the rest of the world. Source: O'Grady, J.D. (2009), Apple Inc. West Port, CT: ABC-CLIO. Thirdly, Apple believes that the key to success lies on being different from other players in the market while at the same time understating the needs and wants of customers. Apple is one of the companies that have faced many challenges over the past decade as was witnessed in the failure of Macs to catch in an industry dominated by PC. The failure was attributed to the fact that the engineers and developers of Macs assumed that they knew the needs of customers, which was not the case. Apple changed the situation towards the end of 1990s with the introduction of iMac, which came in several beautiful colors. This resonated well with the needs of customers, thereby seeing its sales go up. In addition, iMacs was also well received by customers because getting into the internet with it was qui te easy and faster as opposed to the Mac. This is because iMac only needs a plug in to the line of the phone, a feature, which did entice internet users (O'Grady 2009, p.9). Apple also considered tapping into a new market by introducing new inventions that are more efficient and cost effective to customers. It is noted that by the time apple was introducing the iPod in the market, there was already the mp3 player. This gave iPod a lot of competition for customers. Therefore,

Bible As Literature Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Bible As Literature - Essay Example It is also very rich in literary forms that can develop a student's appreciation and analysis of literature. The study of the bible can also help students practice their respect for each other's beliefs by analyzing the books within an impartial academic context that sets aside emotionality. Studying the bible can be very beneficial to students not only for learning about literature but also about life in general. Any legal or educational system builds its foundations from a set of moral values. In fact, Harvard, Yale and Princeton were schools established to teach young men to be pastors and America's children were once generally schooled with the Christian moral values that upheld respect for authority figures like parents and disapproval of sin. ("Cause and Effect," n.d.) Studying the bible as literature can help students identify, appreciate, and implement moral values that can be very beneficial not only to them but to the country itself. regarding the authenticity of the story of creation but the narration about the life of its characters provide clues as to how man had lived in the past. If the genealogy of its characters is to be examined, the bible's information dates back to 4223 years before Jesus Christ was born. (Petrie, n.d.) Its pages write about the culture and beliefs of people who lived through many different eras that can help students appreciate history. There is a great chance that more people have heard about the bible but not read it yet if one turns to the printed text as a shaper of reading, one can truly go further. (Norton, 2000, p. 78) People frequently read the bible in religious perspective yet many artistic forms of writing abound in it. The bible is rich in similes, metaphors, metonymy, synecdoche, personification, anthropomorphism, apostrophes, ironies, hyperboles, euphemisms, litotes, pleonasm, ellipses, zeugma, aposiopesis, allegories, riddles, symbols, narratives, tragedies, poetry, parallelisms, oratories, epistles, etc. Throughout the books of the bible, students can read many samples of literary forms that can help hone their skills in analysis of literature. ("Literary Forms in the bible," n.d.) Studying the bible as literature can help students appreciate their religious differences without emotional involvement. Many different religions have interpreted the bible in their own perspectives and these analyses have even lead to the birth of many other religious sects. Should the bible be studied for its moral values and literary form, students can learn to respect diversity because the books are treated academically instead of spiritually which can be very personal. Teaching Through the bible One of the problems encountered by some students today reveals some professors who cannot help themselves from using the course on bible literature to impose their own religious beliefs. The bible must remain as a learning tool by ensuring that professors are impartial to it. The National Council on Bible Curriculum's web site

Essay on Weimar Germany Essay Example for Free

Essay on Weimar Germany Essay Weimar: Destined for Failure by a Weak Constitution and Poor Popular Support? A thread that runs throughout many analyses of the legacy of theWeimar Republic contains the idea that the fledgling German democracy was somehow doomed from the start. With a constitution that contained items such as Article 48 – a constitutional provision that permitted the Weimar President to rule by decree without the consent of the Reichstag – and a clause that allowed the Reichskanzler to assume office in the event of the death of the President, there were certainly structural inadequacies that, in hindsight, may not have been the wisest choices by the framers of the Weimar Constitution. Craig took aim at the consttutional inclusion of proportional representation (Verhaltniswahlrecht) in elections to the Reichstag, arguing that the resultant plethora of German political parties â€Å"made for an inherent instability that manifested itself in what appeared to the bemused spectator to be a continuous game of musical chairs† in the near-constant shuffling of Weimar coalitions and ministries. Eyck described the enormous number of political parties under proportional representation as â€Å"these many cooks [who] brought forth a broth which was neither consistent nor clear. † Mommsen, however, disagreed that proportional representation was a root cause of Weimar political instability, calling Verhaltniswahlrecht â€Å"at most a symptom† of the problems, and adding that the â€Å"reluctance to assume political responsibility† by Weimar political parties was the source of instability. Left: Weimar President Friedrich Ebert Other historians have pointed to the seeming lack of enthusiasm many Germans felt for the new government as contributing to a â€Å"doomed† Weimar. Erdmann argued that Germans faced a difficult dilemma in 1918-1919, faced with the choices of â€Å"social revolution in alliance with the forces pressing for a proletarian dictatorship,† or â€Å"a parliamentary republic in alliance with conservative elements such as the old officer corps. McKenzie, while acknowledging that the new Republic did not have broad support, nonetheless maintained that the motivations of most Germans remained simply â€Å"the restoration of law and order and return to peacetime conditions. † Fritzsche, arguing against the idea that Germans were anti-democratic, argued that â€Å"the hostile defamations of the president of the republic were as indicative of democratization as the presidency of the good-willed Fritz Ebert himself. Brecht disputed the notion that Germans, as a people, have somehow always been totalitarian, and cautioned against such the creation of such simplistic stereotypes to exlain the failure of Weimar democracy: †¦nothing can be more devious than the opinion that the Germans have always been totalitaran and that the democratic regime served only as a camouflage to conceal this fundamental fact. The overwhelming majority of the people at the end of the imperial period and during the democratic regime were distinctly anti-totalitarian and anti-fascist in both their ideas and principles. The rise of a culture of political violence in Weimar Germany should certainly be considered as a contributory factor in the Republic’s political instability. Beginning with the emergence of the Freikorps units immediately after the declaration of the Republic, this tendency toward violence became entrenched in Weimar politics after the 1919 assassinations of Karl Liebknecht and Rosa Luxemburg. Evans argued that â€Å"gun battles, assassinations, riots, massacres, and civil unrest† prevented Germans from possessing the â€Å"stability in which a new democratic order could flourish. Moreover, noted Evans, all major political parties employed groups of armed loyalists whose purposes were to protect their political compatriots and to contribute to the waging of low-grade civil war: Before long, political parties associated themselves with armed and uniformed squads, paramilitary troops whose task it was to provide guards at meetings, impress the public by marching in military parades, and to intimidate, beat up, and on occasion kill members of the paramilitary units associated with other political parties. Thus, the rise of militant extremists such as the NSDAP should viewed within the context of the Weimar history of political paramilitary forces as a â€Å"normal† phenomenon. Groups such as the Stahlhelm, the Reichsbanner Schwarz-Rot-Gold, and the Rotfrontkampferbund had memberships much higher than did the Ordnertruppen in the early to mid-1920s, and the rise of the Sturmabteilung as the muscle behind the NSDAP reflects the recognition by the Nazis of the unwritten rules of politics in Weimar Germany. Weimar Culture and Challenges to Tradition The personal freedoms often associated with Weimar culture – whether seen as an inevitable, pendulum-like reaction after decades of Wilhelmine authoritarianism, or as a flowering of postwar expression – led to a period of unparalleled vibrancy in literature, the arts, architecture, and philosophy. Kolb described the period as â€Å"the eruption of a new vitality, the liberation of creative forces in a short decade of unbounded intellectual and artistic freedom. Moreover, the Weimar period witnessed significant leaps forward in the emancipation of women, and it is not without considerable merit that many pundits have described Weimar Germany as the first modern culture. Left: Image of cabaret production of the Haller Revue in Berlin Yet these sudden cultural changes were far from being universally accepted by the average German, and groups on the right as well as the left decried what was perceived by many as the power of destructive internal forces. Leftists tended to focus on the bourgeois infatuation with base materialism, while many conservatives believed that republican Germany was becoming a morally decrepit nation. Hitler himself played off such sentiments in his speeches, using widespread perceptions of decadence and disaffection with modernity as springboards for his anti-Marxist and anti-Semitic philosophies. In his first public speech after accepting the post of Reichskanzler, Hitler blasted those whom he believed to have quickly led Germany to moral decay: Communism with its method of madness is making a powerful and insidious attack upon our dismayed and shattered nation. It seeks to poison and disrupt in order to hurl us into an epoch of chaos. This negative, destroying spirit spared nothing of all that is highest and most valuable. Beginning with the family, it has undermined the very foundations of morality and faith and scoffs at culture and business, nation and Fatherland, justice and honor. Fourteen years of Marxism have ruined Germany; one year of bolshevism would destroy her. Chief among the evidence for the supposed moral decline cited by contemprary critics of Weimar culture was the open sexual freedom proclaimed by many younger Germans, especially in the larger cities. Berlin, in particular, became something of an international destination for people seeking its wide variety of sexual subcultures. Henig argued that the â€Å"bright lights and avant-garde cultural attraction of Berlin incurred the hostility of traditional communities in rural areas. † The Weimar era, maintained Mommsen, was a period â€Å"that was characterized by the tension between extreme modernity in a few cultural centers and the relatve backwardness of life in the provinces. † Kolb noted that â€Å"confrontation in cultural matters still further exacerbated the basic political discord among Germans in the Weimar period. Lacqueur observed that many German artists were seemingly clueless of just how far removed their work was from the sensibilities of the average German citizen: Strange as it may appear in retrospect, they were genuinely unaware of the fact that the distance between the avant-garde and popular taste had grown immeasurably and that the dctrines preached by the right were much more in line with popular taste. Those who emphasize the cultural decadence of Weimar Germany, of course, run the risk of sounding prudish, or even worse, as apologists for the fascist regime that followed the demise of the Weimar Republic. Still, it is important to note that the perception of moral decay by many comtemporary Germans – on both the political right and left – was a contributing factor in the moving away from mainstream political parties by German voters and toward extremist factions such as the NSDAP and KDP. Combined with political instability and – most importantly – deleterious economic conditions, the concerns of many Germans about moral decline and social decay began to be expressed in the electoral results of 1930-32 and the eventual collapse of the republic-supporting Weimar Coalition. Hyperinflation, Depression, and Politcial Opportunity One of the consistent themes that underscores the period of Weimar Germany is that of economic instability, and the economic calamities that occurred throughout the history of the Republic mirror periods of political upheaval. The Weimar government, at various times, faced food shortages, hyperinflation, massive unemployment, and an unprecedented economic depression, and any analysis of the failures of democracy in Weimar Germany needs to take into account these inherently disruptive economic phenomena. Craig succinctly summed up the economic problems facing the new republic with this comment: â€Å"Its normal state was crisis. † Left: German children playing with worthless banknotes in 1923 The debts incurred by the German government during the war and the economic downturn that followed the transition away from a wartime economy weighed down the fledgling Weimar Republic. Industrial production in 1919, noted Evans, was only 42 percent of what it had been in 1913, and grain production had fallen by over 50 percent from prewar figures. These economic factors, however, paled in comparison with the effects of the reparations demanded and received by the Allies in the Versailles negotiations. In addition, Germany suffered significant territorial losses as a result of Versailles, including Alsace-Lorraine, West Prussia, Posen, Upper Silesia, and the Saar. The terms of the Treaty called for the new German government to make an initial payment of 20 billion gold marks to the Allies by May, 1921, and the Reparations Commission eventually settled on a total reparations bill to Germany of 132 billion gold marks. John Maynard Keynes – a participant in the Versailles negotiations – accurately predicted that the onerous terms of the Treaty of Versailles were far beyond the means of the new republic: The policy of reducing Germany to servitude for a generation, of degrading the lives of millions of human beings, and of depriving a whole nation of happiness should be abhorrent and detestable,—abhorrent and detestable, even if it were possible, even if it enriched ourselves, even if it did not sow the decay of the whole civilized life of Europe. The initial German economic losses due to the Treaty of Versailles were staggering. Germany lost about 13. 5 percent of its territory, approximately 13 percent of its industrial productivity, and slightly more than 10 percent of its population. In addition, the loss of important mining areas such as the Saar and Upper Silesia resulted in a loss of 74 percent of German iron ore, 41 percent of the country’s pig iron supplies, and approximately 25 percent of its coal reserves. Historians and economists have long debated the actual effects of the Treaty of Versailles on economic conditions in Weimar Germany. Fraser argued that the Treaty â€Å"was in no sense the unjust and cynical imposition that the propagandists alleged it to have been. † Eyck held that many Germans believed â€Å"that they had been duped by the armistice,† and that the effect of the heavy reparations served mostly to reinforce the Dolchsto? legende. Craig argued that the economic conditions that followed the burden of the reparations bills resulted in ordinary Germans suffering â€Å"deprivations that shattered their faith in the democratic process and left them cynical and alienated. Kolb noted that most of the reparations that were paid ultimately were sent by the debtor nations of Britain and France to the United States, which in turn reinvested this capital in the German economy. Webb called into question the very process of analyzing post-Treaty German economics, arguing that the effects of inflation in the early 1920s make calculations especially difficult, as inflation â€Å"altered the real va lue of all financial flows and confounded their measurement. † Yet it would be naive to dismiss the idea that reparations payments were a heavy burden on the new Weimar government. With a sputtering economy, high unemployment, and weak tax revenues, the government of Ebert found itself trying to balance the needs of German citizens with the additional debt load from the reparations bills. Moreover, to a German population that was experiencing widespread poverty and food shortages – not to mention the wartime sacrifices – reparations that were being sent to recent wartime enemies came as a shock.

Manipulation of Truth in Oliver Stones JFK Essay -- essays research p

Manipulation of Truth in Oliver Stone's JFK   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Oliver Stone is a master of manipulation. Being an expert in the art of directing, Stone is able to make an audience believe whatever he wishes. In the 1991 film JFK, Oliver Stone manipulates facts in order to convey a fictional conspiracy involving the assassination of John F. Kennedy. The Zapruder film and the magic bullet theory are two facts that Stone employs to trick the audience into believing his fabricated tale.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Stone unfolds this film through the eyes of Jim Garrison, the district attorney of New Orleans, who believes that there is more to the assassination than what has been presented in the past. Although three years have gone by since the conclusion of the trial, Garrison feels personally obligated to uncover classified information that will prove a complex government coup d'etat. Garrison's idea that the United States government is somehow related to Kennedy's assassination is first seen in the opening of the film. Stone flashes scenes from the Zapruder film (an eight millimeter live video of the shooting) where he mutes the original audio sounds and replaces them with ceremonial music, representative of the United States government. Being that the Zapruder film is a piece of documented evidence; a general audience does not question its validity. This replacement of sound is a conscious attempt to foreshadow the conclusion that Stone wants the audience to come to at the end of the film. By linking together visual images of the assassination with military music, Stone sends a subliminal message that two are somehow related. In reality, this connection is nothing more than a fictional interpretation contrived by Oliver Stone.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Where does reality end and fiction begin in Garrison's conspiracy theory? This is a question that one must ask themselves before viewing the final episode of JFK. The final element of the movie is made up of an intense and captivating courtroom scene. It is here where Garrison culminates the entirety of his speculations and presents them in front of a court of law. Are Garrison's suppositions valid, or is it the way in which he presents these conjectures that makes them appear to be true? Garrison's passionate and charismatic rhetoric makes his accusations exce... ... righteousness in the name of their former president. Testimonies from witness present at the assassination, in reality, do not exist. Because of the emotional high being experienced, viewers do not take the time to separate what is fact in Garrison's testimony from what is fiction. Stone successfully uses his final presentation of the factual Zapruder film to coerce a majority of both audiences into believing his contrived tale.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Oliver Stone incorporates facts such as the Zapruder film and the magic bullet theory into his 1991 film, JFK. This film is not intended to be a documentary, but rater a persuasive work of art that uses facts in order to convey fiction. Being a master of manipulation, Stone is able to alter the way in which he presents these facts, causing viewers to believe that there is a conspiracy involving the Kennedy assassination. By using techniques such as replacement of sound and repetition of footage, Oliver Stone forces viewers to make false connections and experience intense emotions. Through careful manipulation of evidence in JFK, Stone successfully persuades a majority of viewers to believe an ultimately fictional conspiracy.

Disruptions of Meanings in Kate Chopin’s “Desiree’s Baby”

Despite its brevity Kate Chopin’s â€Å"Desiree’s Baby† offers a rich account of the disruptions of meaning within literary texts. Such disruptions were achieved by Chopin through the use of Desiree Aubigny. The possibility of such is evident if one considers that Desiree Aubigny [as the main protagonist] enabled a more complex understanding of the meanings embedded within the concepts of race, sex, and class. In lieu of this, what follows is an analysis of Desiree Aubigny in Kate Chopin’s â€Å"Desiree’s Baby†. In this drama of misinterpretations, Desiree undermines certainty about the ability to read signs [e. . skin color] as clear evidence about how to categorize people. The disruption culminates when Desiree, whom everyone considers white, has a baby boy who looks partly black. When she is rejected by her husband, Armand, she takes the infant, disappears into the bayou, and does not return. Armand later finds out, however, that he himsel f is black, on his mother's side. This, though unintentional has devastated him by means of these two surprises, one concerning her supposed race and one concerning his own. In order to fully understand this, it is necessary to present an analysis of how the story unfolds. The story takes place in an antebellum Creole community ruled by institutions based on apparently clear dualities [master over slave, white over black, and man over woman]. Complacently deciphering the unruffled surface of this symbolic system, the characters feel confident that they know who belongs in which category and what signifies membership in each category. It is important to note that within the story the aforementioned dualities parallel each other as critiques of their hierarchical structures. Within this system of race, sex, and class, the most complacent representative is Armand Aubigny. Confident that he is a white, a male, and a master, he feels in control of the system. However, such confidence will later be challenged by his wife Desiree. In order to understand how his wife challenged the hierarchical representation of signification [and hence that of meaning], we must take a closer look at the surprises that Armand encounters. The tale begins with a flashback about Desiree’s childhood and courtship. She was a foundling adopted by childless Madame and Monsieur Valmonde. Like a queen and king in a fairy tale, they were delighted by her mysterious arrival and named her Desiree. It is important to note that Desiree means â€Å"the wished-for one† or â€Å"the desired one†. Desiree in this sense was depicted like a fairy-tale princess who â€Å"grew to be beautiful and gentle, affectionate and sincere,-the idol of Valmonde† (Chopin, 1995, p. 160). When she grew up, she was noticed by Armand, the dashing owner of a nearby plantation. He fell in love immediately and married her. She â€Å"loved him desperately. When he frowned she trembled, but loved him. When he smiled, she asked no greater blessing of God† (Chopin, 1995, p. 162). They were not to live happily ever after, however. Thus occurs the initial subversion of meaning resulting from the reversal of the accustomed â€Å"happy ending† that usually concludes such fairy tales. It is important to note that the short story initially started with the depiction of the figures [Desiree and Armand] in such a fashion as that of fairy tale figures despite of such an initial description and depiction of their situation, the ending [or rather the later parts of the story] shows that such an ending as that which is warranted by such stories which takes the aforementioned form [fairy tale stories] was to be subverted within the aforementioned tale. Soon after the story proper opens, Armand meets with the first surprise. He, other people, and finally Desiree see something unusual in her infant son's appearance. She asks her husband what it means, and he replies, â€Å"It means . . . that the child is not white; it means that you are not white† (Chopin, 1995, p. 163). Desiree writes Madame Valmonde a letter pleading that her adoptive mother deny Armand's accusation. The older woman cannot do so but asks Desiree to come home with her baby. When Armand tells his wife he wants her to go, she takes the child and disappears forever into the bayou. Thus, Armand's first surprise comes when he interprets his baby's appearance to mean that the child and its mother are not white. What seemed white now seems black. Desiree, with the child she has brought Armand, has apparently uncovered a weakness in her husband's ability to decipher the symbols around him. Ironically, Desiree's power comes from the fact that she seems malleable. Into an established, ostensibly secure system, she came as a child apparently without a past. As a wild card, to those around her the girl appeared blank, or appeared to possess nonthreatening traits such as submissiveness. Desiree seemed to invite projection [as Madame Valmonde’s desired child, Armand’s desired wife]. Both [Madame Valmonde and Armand], however, deceived themselves into believing they could safely project their desires onto Desiree, the undifferentiated blank slate. Actually, however, her blankness should be read as a warning about the fragility of representation. One aspect of Desiree’s blankness is her initial namelessness. As a foundling, she has lost her original last name and has received one that is hers only by adoption. Even foundlings usually receive a first name of their own, but in a sense, Desiree also lacks that, for her first name merely reflects others individuals’ desires. In addition, namelessness has a particularly female cast in this society, since women, including Desiree, lose their last name at marriage. Namelessness connotes not only femaleness but also blackness in antebellum society, where white masters can deprive black slaves of their names. Although Desiree’s namelessness literally results only from her status as a foundling and a married woman, her lack of a name could serve figuratively as a warning to Armand that she might be black. Concerning sex, race, and class, Desiree upsets systems of meaning but-by failing to connect the personal with the political-stops short of attacking hierarchical power structures. Disruption of meaning could lead to, and may be necessary for, political disruption, but Desiree does not take the political step. Instead of attacking the meaningfulness of racial difference as a criterion for human rights, Desiree takes a more limited step as she reveals that racial difference is more difficult to detect than is commonly supposed [e. g. through physical traits]. In this view, suffering can result if people classify each other too hastily or if, having finished the sorting process, people treat their inferiors cruelly. However, the system of racial difference, with its built-in hierarchy, persists. In this system, superiority is still meaningful; the only difficulty lies in detecting it. The importance of Chopin’s aforementioned story is thereby evident if one considers that it presents three reasons [unconsciousness, negativeness, and lack of solidarity] to help explain why Desiree does reveal her society's lack of knowledge but fails to change its ideological values, much less its actual power hierarchies. She poses so little threat to the dominant power structures that she holds a relatively privileged position for most of her life. Yet subversiveness need not be bound so tightly to traits such as unconsciousness that makes it self-limiting. Desiree’s existence as enabling the subversion of meaning must thereby be taken seriously if one is to consider that Chopin through the aforementioned character and her story enabled to show that explicit meanings although necessary are not sufficient means for understanding the underlying conditions implicit in existence. In a sense, Desiree serves as a reminder for individuals to continually consider what lies beneath the implicit assumptions that generates meanings [and hence stereotypes or modes of classification] within society.