Tuesday, December 24, 2019

The Traits Of A Leader - 725 Words

Trait leadership is exactly what it says. It is leadership based on the traits a person holds. However, the Trait Approach of looking at leadership also points out that people can emerge as a leader. Of the five main traits, I see integrity as the most important and self-confidence as the hardest to acquire. In class, we looked at the five major traits of leaders; of intelligence, self-confidence, determination, integrity, and sociability. Intelligence is important for leaders to be able to communicate effectively with their followers. Without the knowledge of being able to communicate with followers, there would not be any followers doing the â€Å"following.† It would be chaos. In a business, if the leader in a group is in charge of a project, but is unable to communicate with their team, the project will not be completed as well as planned. Leaders need self-confidence for many reasons, the most important being to show followers to have confidence in their leader. If leader s don’t believe in themselves, why would a follower believe in them? The third trait discussed was determination. This trait would also reflect my last idea on self-confidence. Why would followers be determined to work and push through if the leader isn’t? Sociability plays hand in hand with being outgoing, in my eyes. An effective leader would be able to get along with all followers, is friendly, and is enjoyable to be around. I feel as though integrity should be the first trait discussed, as I feel it isShow MoreRelatedThe Qualities And Traits Of Leaders Essay1546 Words   |  7 Pages2 The qualities and traits of leaders A number of leadership traits almost come directly from within. These are the qualities that might be harder to train, but which make leading other people smoother. Committed A good leader has to show commitment. Fulfilling your vision won’t happen overnight and you need to be able to convince everyone else that you won’t disappear when things get tough. If you make a promise, you need to keep it. You can’t just preach about achieving A, B and C, but you needRead MoreTraits of a Leader Essay752 Words   |  4 Pagesabout the relationship between the leader and the followers. A good leader tries to motivate people to bring about positive changes revealing a common objective without using coercion or manipulation. Leadership is not about control, but permitting interaction and communication between the leader and the individual followers. With empowering others, leaders build a foundation of collaborative thinking and encourage an atmosphere of personal involvement; a leader can strengthen the respect and loyaltyRead MoreLeadership Traits Of A Leader2040 Words   |  9 Pages â€Æ' Confidence is integral trait of leader. A person who has problem solving skills, domain knowledge and other necessary qualities of a leader cannot lead an organization if he/she doesn’t believe in himself/herself abilities. Confidence within a leader portrays authority to his/her followers. In majority of the situations followers are likely to listen and respect to an authoritative figure. Self-confidence will allow the leader to make critical decisions in tense situations and convey his vision/idealsRead MoreEssay on Traits of an Effective Leader1245 Words   |  5 Pageseffective leader there are traits involved as well as a competency to lead. Failure to take into account the personality traits a successful leader should possess can lead to employing a leader who is ineffective. Many times people are promoted into leadership positions due to the longevity of their tenure with a company or how they perform in their current positions. As a member of the management team of D r. Pepper Snapple Group I have observed that there is more to becoming a successful leader thanRead MoreEssay on Traits of a True Leader 1038 Words   |  5 PagesIntroduction A true leader not only demands respect, but has the necessary leadership traits to command it. Negative qualities, such as harshness and verbal abusiveness may exact compliance from members of the group, but it will be most likely out of fear, rather than dedication to the cause, or project, at hand. An employee may be left to think that if he didnt need this job to pay his rent, he would terminate his association with that employer immediately. On a certain dance reality showRead MoreThe Role Of Personality Traits Of A Leader1023 Words   |  5 PagesSynthesis Paper The three empirical articles primarily studies is about leadership and how personality traits of a leader can reflect and affect his or her role. The first article was conducted by Liliendfel, Waldman, Landfield, Watts, Rubenzer, and Faschingbauer in 2012 titled, â€Å"Fearless Dominance and the U.S. Presidency: Implications of Psychopathic Personality Traits for Successful and Unsuccessful Political Leadership† whose purpose is to evaluate and measure the personality of the 42 U.S. presidentsRead MoreTraits Of Military Leaders Vs Corporate Leaders1536 Words   |  7 PagesTraits of Military Leaders vs Corporate Leaders According to well-respected Evangelical pastor and author, Richard Warren, â€Å"Great leaders inspire. They maintain a hopeful attitude, even in the face of discouraging setbacks, constant criticism and abundant opposition. People don’t follow discouraged leaders. They follow those who persist with hope.† In every setting, the ultimate purpose of leadership is to influence others to accomplish a shared goal. In order to be an effective leader, one mustRead MoreTraits And Characteristics Of A Good Leader Essay2018 Words   |  9 PagesTraits and Characteristics of a Good Leader A trait is a distinguishing quality or characteristic (Trait, n.d.). Businesses spend around $1,228 per employee on learning and development. Forty-four percent of businesses believe they will be increasing the amount of money spent on leadership development (The 10 defining traits of an amazing leader, n.d.). Could they save money if research could determine what traits and characteristics are imperative for a good and effective leader? This paper willRead MoreThe Personality Traits of a Good Leader511 Words   |  2 PagesLEADERSHIP: EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Introduction: The personality traits of a good leader have a somewhat diverse focus. It is mainly concerned with the leaders attitude towards the team. Therefore, considerate qualities are a significant element of the personality traits of a good leader. Leaders need to be faithful and sincere. They should be able to care about their workers on both a personal and professional level. A leader has to develop diverse response in order to cope with crisis managementRead MoreAn Effective Leader Is A Trait That Not Everyone Possesses1362 Words   |  6 Pages The ability to be an effective leader is a trait that not everyone possesses. People have developed their own leadership styles and those styles contrast from one leader to another. The three supervisors in this case analysis fit the bill for the differences in leadership styles. This case features three supervisors from a small auto parts factory called Brako. The first supervisor, Art, is a hands-on leader who has a grasp on the rules and p rocedures of the company. Generally liked by his

Monday, December 16, 2019

Deception Point Page 72 Free Essays

The President looked around the room for Tench. He had not seen her since before his press conference, and she was not here now. Odd, he thought. We will write a custom essay sample on Deception Point Page 72 or any similar topic only for you Order Now This is her celebration as much as it is mine. The news report on television was wrapping up, outlining yet again the White House’s quantum political leap forward and Senator Sexton’s disastrous slide. What a difference a day makes, the President thought. In politics, your world can change in an instant. By dawn he would realize just how true those words could be. 85 Pickering could be a problem, Tench had said. Administrator Ekstrom was too preoccupied with this new information to notice that the storm outside the habisphere was raging harder now. The howling cables had increased in pitch, and the NASA staff was nervously milling and chatting rather than going to sleep. Ekstrom’s thoughts were lost in a different storm-an explosive tempest brewing back in Washington. The last few hours had brought many problems, all of which Ekstrom was trying to deal with. And yet one problem now loomed larger than all the others combined. Pickering could be a problem. Ekstrom could think of no one on earth against whom he’d less rather match wits than William Pickering. Pickering had ridden Ekstrom and NASA for years now, trying to control privacy policy, lobbying for different mission priorities, and railing against NASA’s escalating failure ratio. Pickering’s disgust with NASA, Ekstrom knew, went far deeper than the recent loss of his billion-dollar NRO SIGINT satellite in a NASA launchpad explosion, or the NASA security leaks, or the battle over recruiting key aerospace personnel. Pickering’s grievances against NASA were an ongoing drama of disillusionment and resentment. NASA’s X-33 space plane, which was supposed to be the shuttle replacement, had run five years overdue, meaning dozens of NRO satellite maintenance and launch programs were scrapped or put on hold. Recently, Pickering’s rage over the X-33 reached a fever pitch when he discovered NASA had canceled the project entirely, swallowing an estimated $900 million loss. Ekstrom arrived at his office, pulled the curtain aside, and entered. Sitting down at his desk he put his head in his hands. He had some decisions to make. What had started as a wonderful day was becoming a nightmare unraveling around him. He tried to put himself in the mindset of William Pickering. What would the man do next? Someone as intelligent as Pickering had to see the importance of this NASA discovery. He had to forgive certain choices made in desperation. He had to see the irreversible damage that would be done by polluting this moment of triumph. What would Pickering do with the information he had? Would he let it ride, or would he make NASA pay for their shortcomings? Ekstrom scowled, having little doubt which it would be. After all, William Pickering had deeper issues with NASA†¦ an ancient personal bitterness that went far deeper than politics. 86 Rachel was quiet now, staring blankly at the cabin of the G4 as the plane headed south along the Canadian coastline of the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Tolland sat nearby, talking to Corky. Despite the majority of evidence suggesting the meteorite was authentic, Corky’s admission that the nickel content was â€Å"outside the preestablished midrange values† had served to rekindle Rachel’s initial suspicion. Secretly planting a meteorite beneath the ice only made sense as part of a brilliantly conceived fraud. Nonetheless, the remaining scientific evidence pointed toward the meteorite’s validity. Rachel turned from the window, glancing down at the disk-shaped meteorite sample in her hand. The tiny chondrules shimmered. Tolland and Corky had been discussing these metallic chondrules for some time now, talking in scientific terms well over Rachel’s head-equilibrated olivine levels, metastable glass matrices, and metamorphic rehomogenation. Nonetheless, the upshot was clear: Corky and Tolland were in agreement that the chondrules were decidedly meteoric. No fudging of that data. Rachel rotated the disk-shaped specimen in her hand, running a finger over the rim where part of the fusion crust was visible. The charring looked relatively fresh-certainly not three hundred years old-although Corky had explained that the meteorite had been hermetically sealed in ice and avoided atmospheric erosion. This seemed logical. Rachel had seen programs on television where human remains were dug from the ice after four thousand years and the person’s skin looked almost perfect. As she studied the fusion crust, an odd thought occurred to her-an obvious piece of data had been omitted. Rachel wondered if it had simply been an oversight in all the data that was thrown at her or did someone simply forget to mention it. She turned suddenly to Corky. â€Å"Did anyone date the fusion crust?† Corky glanced over, looking confused. â€Å"What?† â€Å"Did anyone date the burn. That is, do we know for a fact that the burn on the rock occurred at exactly the time of the Jungersol Fall?† â€Å"Sorry,† Corky said, â€Å"that’s impossible to date. Oxidation resets all the necessary isotopic markers. Besides, radioisotope decay rates are too slow to measure anything under five hundred years.† Rachel considered that a moment, understanding now why the burn date was not part of the data. â€Å"So, as far as we know, this rock could have been burned in the Middle Ages or last weekend, right?† Tolland chuckled. â€Å"Nobody said science had all the answers.† Rachel let her mind wander aloud. â€Å"A fusion crust is essentially just a severe burn. Technically speaking, the burn on this rock could have happened at any time in the past half century, in any number of different ways.† â€Å"Wrong,† Corky said. â€Å"Burned in any number of different ways? No. Burned in one way. Falling through the atmosphere.† â€Å"There’s no other possibility? How about in a furnace?† â€Å"A furnace?† Corky said. â€Å"These samples were examined under an electron microscope. Even the cleanest furnace on earth would have left fuel residue all over the stone-nuclear, chemical, fossil fuel. Forget it. And how about the striations from streaking through the atmosphere? You wouldn’t get those in a furnace.† Rachel had forgotten about the orientation striations on the meteorite. It did indeed appear to have fallen through the air. â€Å"How about a volcano?† she ventured. â€Å"Ejecta thrown violently from an eruption?† Corky shook his head. â€Å"The burn is far too clean.† Rachel glanced at Tolland. The oceanographer nodded. â€Å"Sorry, I’ve had some experience with volcanoes, both above and below water. Corky’s right. Volcanic ejecta is penetrated by dozens of toxins-carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide, hydrogen sulfide, hydrochloric acid-all of which would have been detected in our electronic scans. That fusion crust, whether we like it or not, is the result of a clean atmospheric friction burn.† Rachel sighed, looking back out the window. A clean burn. The phrase stuck with her. She turned back to Tolland. â€Å"What do you mean by a clean burn?† He shrugged. â€Å"Simply that under an electron microscope, we see no remnants of fuel elements, so we know heating was caused by kinetic energy and friction, rather than chemical or nuclear ingredients.† â€Å"If you didn’t find any foreign fuel elements, what did you find? Specifically, what was the composition of the fusion crust?† â€Å"We found,† Corky said, â€Å"exactly what we expected to find. Pure atmospheric elements. Nitrogen, oxygen, hydrogen. No petroleums. No sulfurs. No volcanic acids. Nothing peculiar. All the stuff we see when meteorites fall through the atmosphere.† Rachel leaned back in her seat, her thoughts focusing now. How to cite Deception Point Page 72, Essay examples

Sunday, December 8, 2019

The Crucible and McCarthyism Paralleled free essay sample

Miller paralleled McCarthy by writing about the events and ways of thinking that prompted the outbreaks, the immediate reactions Of the people, the reasons why the leaders Of both vents started the chaos, and even the evidence the courts used against the accused people in his play. The New England Puritans had always been a very strict society with minimal enjoyment and pleasures. In The Crucible the girls who become the main providers of the spectral evidence were originally going to get punished for dancing in the forest.When questioning Abigail, Reverend Paris says to Abigail he cannot denounce the rumor of witchcraft when he saw the girls dancing like heathen, but Abigail says that she is willing to be punished with a whipping (Miller 9). This parallels McCarthy with the fear of anything related to communism. After World War II and during the Cold War, Americans were on edge and outright terrified about anything related-directly or indirectly-to Communism. We will write a custom essay sample on The Crucible and McCarthyism Paralleled or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page This even stretched to dog breeds; the German Shepherds popularity declined after World War II because of anti;German sentiments and was even temporarily renamed to the Alsatian Wolf Dog (Animal Planet). Both in America during the 1 sass-ass and in 1692, towns were filled with people on edge and people who were cared of what tomorrow would bring, from an accusation of being a witch to a USSR attack. It seemed that Communism was starting to take over the world with the Iron Curtain taking territory and democracy falling which raised fear in Americas their well being and that of their governments (Brinkley).There were also witchcraft trials in Europe from 1480 to 1 750 where 40,000 to 60,000 people were executedmore than a thousand times more than the Salem Witch Trialsbut in America there were not many witchcraft accusations before the Salem Witch Trials (Brinkley). Similarly, before the itch hunts of the sass-ass there was not much bad talk about communism and there was even a Commun ist Party USA that played a prominent role in the US labor movement from the 1 sass-ass (Socialism ASSAI).On both situations panic was raised to monumental heights that led to extreme situations and was the result Of one persons influence. The Salem Witch Trials were conjured by a mixture of fear, ambition, frustration, jealousy, and perverted pride that ended with men and women hanged (Miller vii). It all started with Abigail Williams accusing her black servant of conjuring the dead n the forest to cover up that she and a few of her friends were cursing the wife of the man she had an affair with (Miller 40); Abigail was just trying to cover up her own UN-Puritan tracks.Also because of this affair, the wife that was cheated on had been, blackening {Abigail name] in the village which was the other reason Abigail was cursing her to death in the forest (Miller 22). The Wisconsin Senator Joseph McCarthy gave a speech in February of 1950 that dropped a bombshell by saying, The State Department is infested with Communists and that he had a list of over a hundred members of the Communist party who were state employees (Roberts). McCarthy had just been voted by the capital press corps as the worst Senator in Washington, but was able to raise fear of Communists in America (Roberts).McCarthy accusations led a few hundred people to prison and two To the electric McCarthy was able to fuel fear already present because of the wars, just as Abigail was able to spark fear of witches in the Puritan society with her accusations. Blood was shed in both scenarios and after the just settled, both leaders faded into obscurity; Abigail disappeared and Was found as a prostitute in Boston and McCarthy was censured by the Senate (one of the few senators to ever be disposed of in this fashion) and died at age 48 as a result of hepatitis (most likely from alcoholism (Wisped).During the Salem Witch Trials, Abigail was the able to strike fear into everyone by even getting the people to part like the sea for Israel when she walks through the courtroom and is seen as a saint in the eyes of the village (Miller 50). The evidence Abigail used was physical harm that she inflicted on herself, such as stabbing herself with a needle to accuse Goody Proctor of sending spirits on her (Miller 70), and most of all spectral evidence which was declared not a cceptable by law shortly before the Witch Trials were shut down (Davidson and Eyelet).During the 1 sass-ass, many Americans were inclined to believe the worst, even without evidence and McCarthy used this to his advantage by saying that there were non hundred and five state department employees who were members of the communist party thought there was ally only fifty seven alleged communists in office (Roberts). McCarthy found mostly flimsy evidence (Roberts) that was the equivalence to spectral evidence in the sass. Later, people declared McCarthy a serious violations of due process as did people after the Witch Trials (Checkers). Some courageous critics called McCarthy investigations and accusations a fraud and a hoax (Grim), but some of them, like Arthur Miller, were even accused of Communism (Roberts). Like Abigail, McCarthy was stoking fear and smearing anyone in his path, accusing everyone who crossed him of communism. People who tried calling out Abigail for her false accusations were accused Of witchcraft and she even openly threatened Judge Detonator when he tried asking her if all of the girls actions in the court were fake or not (Miller 100).Some critics say the Salem Witch Trials and McCarthy were not paralleled using examples such as The Crucible spanning about four months and the McCarthy investigations that lasted for a decade. Though the period of time in which both events happened differentiated, there are still more parallels between McCarthy and the Salem Witch Trials than differences. Another difference is that there were some, though not many, Communists found with the investigations by Mc Carthy including Nuclear scientist].Robert Oppenheim, but it was more often than not that the people being accused were innocent like the Salem Witch Trials (Gigs). Miller was able to parallel McCarthy by writing about the events and ways of thinking that prompted the outbreaks, the immediate reactions of the people, the reasons why the leaders of both events started the chaos, and even the evidence the courts used against the accused people in his play.

Saturday, November 30, 2019

TRAVELCOMFORT BUSINESS PLAN

Executive Summary TravelComfort UK, Incorporated is a start-up travel agency that specializes in small and escorted luxury touring packages for its selective clients.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Travelcomfort business plan specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More The agency is strategically located in Hill Gate Notting, London- to better serve its customers across the UK. This location has of late experienced rapid growth in the number of discriminating or selective luxury tour clients. TravelComfort is a partnership between 4 experienced travel scholars named as Josh Foster, Rochelle Night, Mike Manning and Joshua Awozele. The first 2, other than sitting on the board are also the company’s Chief Executive and Operations Manager respectively. The last 2 do not have additional managerial roles. The first 2 have had extensive training in travel business, especially in sales and marketing to oversee the operation s of this new venture. Their knowledge will thus be useful in this starting period. Other than the 2 managerial staff, and the additional 2 board members, the company intends to use an independent sales force of 6 individuals to keep its overhead expenses low hence increasing its sales returns. The owners feel that this will be the surest way of maintaining profitability and its subsequent expansion in this highly competitive travel service industry.Advertising Looking for essay on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More In addition, the company will make use of the 4 marketing mix to market itself to its customers as well as establishing best relationships with agent travel firms. More so, to ensure that it achieves its profitability and expansion outcomes, the management intends to source for a long-term loan of UK pounds 60,000 from Standard Chartered Bank to finance its required start-up capital of approximate ly  £120,000. The company is characterized by a strong commitment to customer value, service and specialized luxury tour needs; characteristics that set it apart from other UK travel agencies thus constituting its best attractions and unique selling points. Market Research of the UK travel industry A research article by Tassiopoulos highlighted that though there had been a major trend towards responsible and ethical consumptions across UK’s consumer markets, the demand for services in the UK travel industry had risen to match those in other sectors, with tourism given as an example.1 This increase has also coincided with increases in consumer expectations across the country. To expound on this, this plan went ahead to stress that in each holiday, a significant and a growing number of travellers in the UK were looking for better and high quality products. As such, the experiences provided by tour and travel firms should be able to enable the traveller’s access ‘ real’ living cultures within or without their nations. Nonetheless, previous researches highlighted that though UK travellers had accustomed themselves to taking shorter trips in most cases, at the same time, they expected to derive more value from such short trips.2Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Travelcomfort business plan specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More A scholarly study by Pfister and Tierney summarized the above notions by arguing that nowadays, holidays spender’s across the UK preferred ‘real’ holidays that were characterized with a lot of authenticity.3 These expectations contradicted the scenarios dating 10 years back in this same country. Supporting the above frameworks, Page and Connell combined their findings to assert that in the UK, there has emerged a growing interest in the pursuit of more adventurous forms of travel agencies.4 For instance, the demand for the market h as of lately shifted to those agencies that offer specialized travel and tour services such as land based expeditions of the nature of the Graham Land as well as skiing activities. On the other hand, drawing inferences from the Independent on Sundays, the authors of this plan established that the recent economic recession has been a blessing to the UK tour travel industry. This is for the reason that the ever increasing economic recession has increased costs of overseas holidays by a high of 10%- 7% more than domestic holidays.5 This in return has meant that more Britons have preferred to spend their holidays in their country as a budgetary precaution. TravelComfort will strategically position itself to maximise on this great opportunity. To add, Hogson went ahead to review statistics that also revealed that the travel and tourism industries across the UK had for years pursued profits within flexible, unrestricted and fast-moving environments.6 This, according to Robinson had led to most travel agencies failing to establish monitoring systems and formal objectives. They instead chose to seize each opportunity as it came their way without considering its long term effect.7Advertising Looking for essay on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More To address this, TravelComfort has established and stated its mission statements. This will in turn assist it to achieve its outcomes since the mission statements will be used as statements of guidance and reference. Specific Target Market The stiff competition in the UK tour and travel industry has created the impetus to clearly understand the specific and the ever changing needs of the differentiated customer groups.8 TravelComfort has studied the market and identified UK citizens especially the retired or working couples who would like to go for adventure as constituting its key target market. Other than those, the company will emphasis on corporate travellers (business conference travellers) and any other travellers from any part of the world. Unique Selling Points These were comprised by the following brief features, concepts and benefits that our clients were happy to associate with our branding. In line with the above, TravelComfort has positioned itself to cater for speciali zed clientele group in the UK. As such, the company will offer small-group, budgetary and luxury modes of adventure travel. These will mainly target UK clients with a small global market presence also targeted in the plan. TravelComfort seeks to have a competitive advantage over its rivals by small but more exclusive packaged tours. These will enable our few clients to receive immediate personal or special attention from our travel hosts. As we expand, we intend to cultivate this niche of one-on-one contact to catch and retain on all our potential clients. The company will also provide accurate, first-hand and instant information concerning all its services to its customers. This can be achieved through mass-messaging or emailing service to registered clients. Market size/growth trends According to the statistics by the UK Office for National Statistics, the financial year ending February 2011 saw a total of 84.6 million travellers visit or depart from UK (visitors to UK were 29.6 m illion while visits abroad by the region’s citizens was 55.0 million).9 This number of travellers a combined drop of 6% compared to the previous year. The reason cited for the drop in the number of visitors was the bad weather. Table 1 showing the number of visitors entering or leaving the UK (Souce: UK Office for National Statistics, 2011). Despite the reduction in the number of travellers, the projected market growth for the UK travel industry stands at 10%. Of the total market size, TravelComfort aims to garner at least 5% of the market by the end of second year of operation. Competitive Environment At present, competition has been intense in the retail travel agency industry in Europe.10 As such TravelComfort will face stiff competition from both external and internal travel agencies. In the case of internal competitors, the company will compete with Thomson Travel Group-UK’s largest tour operator and Going Places-UK’s second largest travel agency.11 Other than the two, internal competitors will also include online travel agencies such as eDreams, Ebookers, Expedia, Iglue, LastMinute and Key2Holidays amongst others. External competitors will comprise of CN Travel Touristic Group- Germany’s largest travel agency and TravelPlanners from USA amongst others. Of late, the UK travel industry has been characterised by constant fluctuations both in service quality and sum of service providers.12 We intend to capitalize on this and broaden our market share. The competitive edge of our company will see us attract and retain customers through provision of up-to-date and accurate information. The company will also offer competitive discounted prices to win on repetitive customers. More so, the company will make use of IT and avail online tickets to its clients. To achieve on the above, the company will rely on the efforts of its experienced founders and personnel. These have great experience in luxury retailing, offering travel, achieving high-net-worth and offering and providing personalized services. Company Description TravelComfort is a full-service travel agency offering full-line travel planning for all its customers. The agency links all business, recreational and adventure travellers with travelling and accommodation firms. As was earlier highlighted, this agency is a partnership between Josh Foster, Rochelle Night, Mike Manning, and Joshua Awozele-who cofounded the agency in January of 2012. The company is located at Office Complex, Nottingham Hill Gate- London. The objectives of the company are as follows: To achieve a profitable status within the first year To garner a 5% market share within the first 2 years To increase its workforce to 20 by the second year (January 2012) and appoint a full-time Business Manager to enhance sales operations Expand the company’s corporate sales by  £ 85,000 each month. This is to happen by the 6 month of the agency’s operation. Services provided The compa ny will provide primary travel services that include, but unlimited to, hotel arrangements, bus and airline ticketing, car rental arrangements, conference planning, charter and tour services, student or employee-tour services and vacation packages. If these services are sold online, the agency will attain a sales margin of 10%. However, this is expected to rise to 15% if they are sold through agents. Marketing Plans/Strategies The company will make use of the four aspects of marketing mix to sell its services to its customers. These are: Pricing strategies The company will offer competitive rates to make its services affordable to all classes of people. In addition, the company will offer a 10% discount to the second ticket purchased by the same consumer. This will attract repetitive consumers to the agency thus increasing its market share. Promotion/Advertising strategies These will focus on the following: Buying ‘space’ in the UK daily newspapers for promotional adve rts on the agency’s services Creating a website where clients will be able search and review their services. The site will then allow them to make online reservations. This site will also be hyper-linked to social networking sites and other travel sites Distributing brochures or posters to strategic places to sell company services Product/ Service strategies The company has already achieved this strategy by incorporating a variety of services within service line. Distribution strategies The company intends to distribute some of its operations for instance, by using agents to market its services. Operational plans TravelComfort will ‘purchase’ its services from the above listed service companies using the following procedure: The company’s Operation’s Manager (Mr Night) will be tasked with negotiating with service industries on the awarding of service agency contacts. In this case, the agency will target to be awarded a commission of 10% on each tic ket (in this case service) sold. The company will then strive to sell more to improve on its profitability. The company intends to sell its services by using its other six sales-representative employees. These employees will improve service efforts by delivering tickets and making telephone follow-ups on their return. These will garner repeat sales and businesses. Besides their coordination, the 2 partners will perform initial sales management until the hiring of the Business Development Manager. Sales forecast The company targets to have sold services worth  £2,516,430 by end of 2012 and  £4, 50,100 by end of 2013 and 8,000,000 in the third year of 2014. This plan is based on the service arrangements to be increased between the agency and its partners. The following table 2 summarises the sales, gross and net profit’s highlights. The values are all in ‘0000 TravelComforts Projected Highlights Sales G/P margin Net Profit Margin Yr 1  £250  £80  £15 Y ear2  £450  £125  £45 Yr 3  £800  £225  £12 To achieve the forecasted sales above, the following sales programs are to be implemented: Issuing sales awards to those sales representatives who will be the top four in terms of highest grossing sales Issuing awards to employees who excel in delivering exemplary tour services to Travel comfort clients. This will create a scenario of retaining and attracting clients hence increasing the sales. The firm intends to implement e-commerce by allowing on-site ticket sales and registration through its Computerised Reservation System. This will ease the process of acquiring or accessing the firm’s services hence increasing the number of discriminative clients. Related to the above, the management intends to position customer care agents in its London office to carry out the role of selling tickets through the phone mode. The firm’s marketing and ticketing services are also to be re-distributed across key attraction points (a scenario commonly called sales retailing) across London to win on the potential passers-by who can top up as its customers. For instance, off-site sales are to be carried out at hired sites. For instance, the management plans to engage stadium managers across the UK to catch on the increased spectator audience. This is so because the management carried an earlier research that proved that spectators in the VIP ticketing category were likely to form a special group for the specialized tour services across London. Break-even analysis The levels of sales need to service all personal requirements and costs will be calculated as follows: Sales (required to break even) =  £ (Business Survival Budget/Drawings + Overheads/Operating Expenses) Sales=  £300,000 +  £400,000=  £700,000 TravelComfort’s Monthly Break-even points Figure1 depicting the break-even analysis From the above figure, it is projected the company will break even half-way through the third month. At this time, the company will have required to have sold an estimated â‚ ¬ 700,000 meet its personal requirements (drawings) and all its costs comfortably. Key Personnel Mr. Josh Foster- Company’s Chief Executive Mr. Foster is one of the co-founders of the agency. Having graduated with a distinction in Business Management, Sales and Marketing, he will spearhead the company’s growth. His strength to multi-task across dynamic environments will see him represent the agency at key stakeholder conferences. He will also spearhead the agency’s expansion module. Mr. Rochelle Night-Operations Manager Mr. Night will coordinate all agency operations. His leadership skills will ensure that a link exists between the sales representatives and the customers. He intends to maximise on his supervisory role at Easyjet Travel Agency to implement his new duties. Other than the two above, the following also topped up as Travel Comfort’s board members: Critical risks of the venture The following risks were identified as potential risks associated with this venture. Emerging travel agency businesses that were likely to cause stiff competition. The financial crisis that was likely to cause shifts in consumer demands (consumers were likely to reduce on their leisure expenditures). The company was likely to lose contact with some of foreign customers. Contingency planning The following measures will be implemented to safeguard the performance of the venture if sales reduce by more than 5% as projected. The management will carry out reviews to determine if the forecasts were realistic. If they were not, new estimates will be forecasted based on the sales statistics at hand. In this case, the last trading period’s actual results will be projected for achievable targets to be determined. If the forecasts were real, the management will review its budget to obtain a realistic one. In this case, the management will determine the expenses to be r educed and the margins to e improved. In this case the pro-forma revenues will be decreased by a realistic percentage based on the conditions facing the company. Having implemented the above, the company will carry out the following actions to improve on its performance: Carry out an aggressive promotion to increase its service awareness. Establish reward schemes for its sales team to motivate them in reaching more consumers. For instance, by rewarding employees who surpass a weekly target of  £ 20,000 with a 15% commission Likewise, the company willl try to re-negotiate its contracts with its partners. In this case, the management will point out the difficulties facing the travel agency and request a re-view of the engagements on mutual basis. Offering/ Funding The following table summarized the company’s start-up summary Item(s) Description Total amount Expenses Office supplies, rent, consultant’s fees, utilities, insurance, internet charges, website creation charges, communication bill etc  £80,000 Assets Furniture, cash, computers etc  £ 120,000 Owners’ Contributions Primarily cash  £ 150,000 Loans/ Borrowing From Standard Chartered Bank  £ 200,000 Total start-up funding  £ 550,000 Financial Plan Profit Loss Account The following is the profit and Loss account (projected for the first three years). Note: All figures are in  £. Year1 Year 2 Year 3 Sales (Direct and Indirect) 2,516,430 4,110, 345 5, 815,100 Less cost of sales 1, 910, 000 3, 515, 650 4, 910, 000 Gross profit 606,430 594,695 905, 100 Less Expenses 450,130 480,520 520,000 Pre-tax net income 156, 300 114,175 385, 100 Taxes Paid 18,900 11, 600 41, 200 Net income 137,400 102,575 343,900 Pro-forma Balance Sheet The following balance sheet has also been projected for the first three years. Balance Sheet (projected for the 1st three years) Note: All figures are in  £. Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 Total Current Assets 450,000 4 20, 500 455, 100 Total Long-term Assets 150,000 214,000 139, 900 Total Assets 600,000 634,100 595,000 Current liabilities 250,000 242, 100 245,000 Long-term liabilities 200,000 112,000 0 Total Liabilities 450,000 354, 100 245,000 Total Capital 150,000 280,000 350,000 Total Capital and Liabilities 600,000 634,100 595,000 Reference List Doganis, R, Flying off course: the economics of international airlines, 3rd edition, Routledge, Newyork, 2002. Hogson, A, The travel and tourism industry: strategies for the future, CABI Publisher, Oxford, 1987. Horne, S J, Swarbrooke, Leisure marketing: a global perspective, Butterworth-Heinemann, UK, 2005. Independent on Sundays, Recession ‘is good news for UK travel industry’, 2008. Web. Needham, A, Business for higher awards, Heinemann, UK, 1999. Evans, N, Strategic management for travel and tourism, Butterworth-Heinemann, UK. Page, S Connell, J, Tourism: A modern synthesis, 2nd edn., PublisherCengage Learning EMEA, Stamford, 2006. Pfister, R Tierney, P, Recreation, event, and tourism businesses: start-up and sustainable operations, Human Kinetics, Leeds, UK, 2008. Plunkett, J W, Plunkett’s airline, hotel travel industry Almanac 2007: Airline, hotel travel industry market research, statistics, trends leading companies, Plunkett Research, Ltd., Texas, 2006. Robinson, P, Operations Management in the Travel Industry, CABI, Oxford, 2009. Tassiopoulos, D, New tourism ventures: an entrepreneurial and managerial approach, Juta and Company Ltd, Cape Town, South Africa, 2009. UK Office for National Statistics, Travel and tourism: Overseas visits still subdued, 2011, retrieved https://www.ons.gov.uk/. Footnotes 1 D Tassiopoulos, New tourism ventures: an entrepreneurial and managerial approach, Juta and Company Ltd, Cape Town, South Africa, 2009, p.309. 2 J W Plunkett, Plunkett’s airline, hotel travel industry Almanac 2007: Airline, hotel travel industry market research, statistics, tr ends leading companies, Plunkett Research, Ltd., Texas, 2006, p.62. 3 R Pfister, P Tierney, Recreation, event, and tourism businesses: start-up and sustainable operations, Human Kinetics, Leeds, UK, 2008. 4 S Page J Connell, Tourism: A modern synthesis, 2nd edn., Cengage Learning EMEA, Stamford, 2006, p.81. 5 Independent on Sundays, Recession ‘is good news for UK travel industry’, 2008. 6 A Hogson, The travel and tourism industry: strategies for the future, CABI Publisher, Oxford, 1987. 7 P Robinson, Operations management in the travel Industry, CABI, Oxford, 2009, p. 254. 8 A Needham, Business for higher awards, Heinemann, UK, 1999, p.19. 9 UK Office for National Statistics, Travel and tourism: Overseas visits still subdued, 2011. 10 S, Horne J, Swarbrooke, Leisure marketing: a global perspective, Butterworth-Heinemann, UK, 2005, p. 233. 11 R Doganis, Flying off course: the economics of international airlines, 3rd edition, Routledge, Newyork, 2002, p.159. 12 N Evan s, Strategic management for travel and tourism, Butterworth-Heinemann, UK, pp. 172-177. This essay on Travelcomfort business plan was written and submitted by user BenGr1mm to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.

Tuesday, November 26, 2019

Mary Shellys Combination essays

Mary Shellys Combination essays Mary Shellys Combination Of Knowledge and Humanity In the novel, Frankenstein, Mary Shelly is not trying to reinforce the biblical thought of a forbidden knowledge, but is rather introducing the thought that science is capable of being very dangerous if it becomes divided from humanity. The reason that it could be conceived that Mary Shelly is reinforcing the idea of forbidden knowledge is because of the constant statements that Victor Frankenstein makes about how dangerous the acquirement of knowledge is. For example he stated how dangerous is the acquirement of knowledge, and how much happier that man is who believes his native town to be the world, than he who aspires to become greater than his nature will allow (p. 81). These statements show that knowledge is dangerous, but it is other statements made by Walton, Victor Frankenstein, and the creature that make up Mary Shellys main argument that the acquirement of knowledge without the consideration of humanity is the true danger, not the actual pursuit of knowledge. Mary Shelly first showed the importance of the combination of humanity and knowledge through Walton when he wrote home to his sister claiming that he was missing something very important from his life. Walton knew that the absence of a friend would cause him much suffering and felt it as a most severe evil (p. 52). A friend would be capable of aiding Walton on his voyage and together they could benefit from one anothers knowledge. Walton stated [how] would such a friend repair the faults of [himself] (p.53). In other words, for Walton, the absence of a friend would damage the connection of humanity and knowledge on his voyage to the north and would cause him much damage. Walton saw a friend as the connection to humanity because he would be able to converse with this friend and gain a different perspective on his own opinions (p. 53). After all if Walto...

Friday, November 22, 2019

A Beginners Guide to the Industrial Revolution

A Beginner's Guide to the Industrial Revolution The Industrial Revolution refers to a period of massive economic, technological, social, and cultural change which affected humans to such an extent that its often compared to the change from hunter-gathering to farming. At its simplest, a mainly agriculture-based world economy using manual labor was transformed into one of industry and manufacturing by machines. The precise dates are a subject for debate and vary by historian, but the 1760/80s to the 1830/40s are most common, with the developments beginning in Britain and then spreading to the rest of the world, including the United States. The Industrial Revolutions The term industrial revolution was used to describe the period before the 1830s, but modern historians increasingly call this period the first industrial revolution. This period was characterized by developments in textiles, iron, and steam (led by Britain) to differentiate it from a second revolution of the 1850s onwards, characterized by steel, electrics, and automobiles (led by the U.S. and Germany). What Changed Industrially and Economically The invention of steam power, which replaced horses and water, was used to power factories and transportation and allowed for deeper mining.The improvement of iron-making techniques allowing for vastly higher production levels and better material.The textile industry was transformed by new machines (such as the Spinning Jenny) and factories, allowing for much higher production at a lower cost.Better machine tools allowed for more and better machines.Developments in metallurgy and chemical production affected many industries.New and quicker transport networks were created thanks to first canals and then railways, allowing products and materials to be moved cheaper and more efficiently.The banking industry developed to meet the needs of entrepreneurs, providing finance opportunities that allowed the industries to expand.  The use of coal (and coal production) soared. Coal eventually replaced wood. As you can see, an awful lot of industries changed dramatically, but historians have to carefully untangle how each affected the other as everything triggered changes in the others, which triggered more changes in return. What Changed Socially and Culturally Rapid urbanization led to dense, cramped housing and living conditions, which spread disease, created vast new city-dwelling populations, and a new sort of social order that helped to establish a new way of life: New city and factory cultures affecting family and peer groups.Debates and laws regarding child labor, public health, and working conditions.Anti-technology groups, such as the Luddites. Causes of the Industrial Revolution The end of feudalism changed economic relationships (with feudalism used as a useful catch-all term and not a claim that there was classic-style feudalism in Europe at this point). More causes of the Industrial Revolution include: A higher population because of less disease and lower infant mortality, which allowed for a larger industrial workforce.The agricultural revolution freed people from the soil, allowing (or driving) them into cities and manufacturing, creating a larger industrial workforce.Proportionally large amounts of spare capital for investment.Inventions and the scientific revolution, allowing for new technology.Colonial trade networks.The presence of all the required resources located close together, which is why Britain was the first country to experience the industrial revolution.A general culture of hard work, taking risks, and developing ideas. Debates Evolution, not revolution? Historians such as J. Clapham and N. Craft have argued that there was a gradual evolution in industrial sectors, rather than a sudden revolution.How the revolution worked. Historians are still trying to pry apart the heavily interwoven developments, with some arguing that there were parallel developments in many industries and others arguing that some industries, usually cotton, surged and stimulated the others.Britain in the 18th century. The debate still rages over both why the industrial revolution began when it did and why it began in Britain.

Wednesday, November 20, 2019

Talk about my Interest in Computer Science Personal Statement

Talk about my Interest in Computer Science - Personal Statement Example My objective is to become a member of the team who designs, valuable, useful and efficient software for the customers. The world of computers started fascinating me when I decided to work as a salesman in a computer store at Taiwan in the summer break of 2010.Apart from a reasonable salary, the store offered me a deep insight in the software programming that made up my mind of what I wanted to be in life. As I am a keen and an enthusiastic player of different computer games I was enthralled to see how the programming of different games was written. I began to develop a high understanding of software and hardware of a computer as my work involved assisting the experts with writing different software, repairing and assembling different models and versions of this remarkable technology. My working experience at this store made me reliable and consistent as I had to be very punctual with timings and has taught me to work as a team on a certain project. I believe I can utilize these skill s learned from my work experience in my education as well so as to make sure that I avail most of the opportunities available. This new curiosity of learning more never left me but in fact grew more intensely as time passed by. I came to learn and use a few software programs like Softimage|XSI ESP 3.0, Microsoft Visual Basic and Maya Personal Learning Edition. My aim is to see people enjoying the computer games and take pride knowing that I have contributed in creating the programming of the game. The knowledge I gained from working at that computer store allowed me to use my creativity to solve problems. My Taiwanese friends assisted me in whatever difficulty I faced regarding programming. My job turned out to be more like a training period to polish my skills and develop my interest in this vast field. My past educational background has nothing to do with computer science. My basic interest that brought me towards this profession was to see its widespread and practical use in the real world. Although I have a strong background in mathematics, my interest progressed in programming and computer because of my curiosity and passion to solve logical problems. Mathematics and computing has a strong connection as I came to realize that different concepts of mathematics such as vectors, logarithms and algebra are extensively used in computing. With the fine blend of computing and mathematics, I believe I can discover the unfamiliar for the betterment of the mankind. My sound foundation in math helped me to learn some computer languages such as VB and C++. Considering my interest in programming, one of my friend who is also a computer science programmer at UCI, helped me to learn how to write the APP program. APP is the software for Apple’s products like Ipad and Iphone. Apart from my educational background and experience I have gained through working I had always been an active student participating in the extra curricular activities. I am a good player of te nnis and have won many competitions in my school and club. I love to read and play video games on the computer as my favorite past time. Surfing on the internet to gain information and news about the recent hardware and software releases is my new hobby. I plan to have computing as my major in the university as my deep interest in the subject would guide me towards a bright

Tuesday, November 19, 2019

Law and mangement Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Law and mangement - Essay Example e individual/ parties to an agreement identify the formation and termination terms of contract incorporating in as well as the privileges plus tasks of the participating groups under that contract (David, 2009). The acceptance of a contract of a suggestion takes place while there is an untrained recognition of the entire accessible terms. Despite the fact that, this is extraordinary as well as there will usually be a time of collaboration. New terms as well as conditions presented in the course of cooperation in consequence quantity to a succession of responses to present the unique offer, cancelling the conditions and terms of the unusual offer (Contract). If an agreement is prepared, and for any cause it afterward turns out to be unworkable to for one party to act upon their obligations, then we need to think about frustration. Be cautious to note that frustration is about following impossibility; if an agreement was impossible to carry out right from the beginning, then the matter is one of error and not frustration (Smithies, 2007). Frustration of contract is a fake declaration of contracting details prepared through one participating contract party to another participating party as well as has the outcome of suggest that contacting group party into the agreement. For instance, beneath definite state of affairs, frustration of contract makes a statements or promise prepared through a retailer of goods concerning the excellence or feature of the manufactured goods that the vendor has may encompass the developed standards or misrepresentation. A conclusion of falsification permits for a conduct of rescission as well as irregularly gu arantee depending on the kind of distortion (Smithies, 2007). In this situation Harry offer his Motor Cycle for sale to Ian at $ 500. The main mistake done here is the establishment of any detailed document for regarding the offer. Here no time limit is defined no prices is established. In this situation Harry is free to sale his

Saturday, November 16, 2019

Equations of Motion Worksheet Essay Example for Free

Equations of Motion Worksheet Essay 1. A car moving at a velocity of 25 m/s, accelerates at a rate of 6 m/s2. Find its velocity after 3s. 2. An object is dropped from rest. Calculate its velocity after 2.5s if it is dropped: a. On Earth, where the acceleration due to gravity is 9.8m/s2. b. On Mars, where the acceleration due to gravity is 3.8m/s2. 3. A motorbike is travelling with a velocity of 3m/s. It accelerates at a rate of 9.3m/s for 1.8s. Calculate the distance it travels in this time. 4. A Tesla Roadster car accelerates from rest at a rate of 7.1m/s2 for a time of 3.9s. Calculate the distance it travels inn this time. 5. A bullet accelerates at a rate of 90,000m/s2 from rest. Calculate its velocity if it travels a distance of 0.5m while accelerating. 6. An aircraft is travelling along a runway at a velocity of 25m/s. It accelerates at a rate of 4m/s2 for a distance of 750m before taking off. Calculate its take-off speed. 7. A car is travelling at a speed of 21m/s. It accelerates at an average rate of 3m/s2 for a time of 4 seconds. Find the distance it travels. 8. A car accelerates at a rate of 10m/s2 for a time of 4s. It reaches a speed of 52 m/s. Calculate its initial speed. 9. A bullet is at rest. It travels a distance of 0.34m in a time of 0.0095 seconds. Calculate its acceleration. 10. A falcon is diving at a speed of30m/s. It accelerates at a rate of 40m/s2 and reaches a speed of 100m/s. Calculate the distance it travels during its acceleration. 11. A snail is at rest. It accelerates at a rate of 0.00075m/s2. Calculate the time it takes to reach a speed of 0.0135m/s. 12. A blue shark accelerates at a rate of 16m/s2 for a time of 0.8s. During this time it travels a distance of 11.52m. Calculate its initial speed. 13. A car is travelling at a speed of 30m/s. It decelerates at a rate of 12m/s2. Calculate the time taken for the car to come to rest. 14. A stone is thrown vertically upwards. It decelerates at a rate of 9.8m/s2. It reaches a greatest height of 16.53m. Calculate its initial speed. 15. A rubber toy pops up to a maximum height of 2.51m. Find its initial velocity.

Thursday, November 14, 2019

Graduation Speech :: Graduation Speech, Commencement Address

We are to leave here today with a new set of wings. Wings of which we have crafted through our years of attending school. Some will soar high with their strong wings built of good personality and hard work; others will glide through life needing repairs. If we leave here today with one thing, let it be the power to achieve the goals that we’ve set forth for ourselves. Most of us have been helped through our four years at Big Falls, whether it be Bridgette Moore with advice on life, Mr. Bridgett checking if you’re on track to graduate, Mr. Young always letting your flaws stand out, Mr. Nrure pushing you to not make any bad decisions and especially Mr. Floss who taught me that a woman can go beyond the stereotypes and learn how to weld. It’s now time for us all to build our own lives and express our true individuality. Think for a moment about all that we’ve accomplished; we’re a strong group of kids with a world of hope waiting for our true colors to shine through. Together we’re a rainbow in the sky. Life has put in front of us many doors, it is only up to us to build behind those doors. Fellow graduates — let’s show society what can be made out of our time and fly out of here today with your wings spread wide, your head held high and your hopes as bright as sunshine. Let your dreams lead the way, only stopping to make the best of everything. Let’s take what we’ve learned throughout the past 13 years and astound the world with our minds. With all the rivers to choose from, surely one will bring you to an ocean of opportunities. Take time to thank all those who have been there for you and helped your journey run more smoothly. Take time to thank your family for being strong and holding you up, and especially take time to thank yourself for only being the individual you are.

Monday, November 11, 2019

Looking for Alibrandi Sumary

chapter 29 summary Josie at speech night. Speech night was a very emotional night, the HSC was almost over and it would be the last time that they would be wearing their uniform. â€Å"I’m only Dux because I didn’t want you to be† she told me. When josie went to the ladies she bumps into Ivy and they start to talk to each other about how close they were to john and that they didn’t know what could have caused him to commit suicide, in the end Josie and Ivy hug each other and Josie tells Ivy that if they ever go to the same university that if they bumped into each other they would go out for a cappuccino.In this chapter we get to see that Ivy and Josie can get along when they choose to be and even though they had there ups and downs they still ended up as good friends, just the way that john hoped it would be like. chapter 28 summary Josie is hit with a shocking surprise.When Josie went to school the next day she sees Ivy sitting on the stairs holding her h ead in her hands and Josie asks her what was wrong then Ivy tells her that John was dead but Josie thought that it was a joke when Ivy told her but then when she saw anna come up to her and hold her in her arms and say that she was very sorry josie had to go to the ladies room and she vomited and then when she was done she fell to the ground and she felt like she wanted to cry but she couldn’t because she was so angry. â€Å"he killed himself. â€Å"He swallowed tablets and they found him this morning. † â€Å"For God’s sake, josie, he’s dead, my father wrote the fucking autopsy report. † In this chapter we get to see that josie and ivy have so much in common because they both loved john and they both cared about him so much, we also get to see that josie has a lot of fear in her because she is to scared to die and she never wants her family to die because she loves them so much. chapter 27 summary Josie goes to watch her cousin robert play at his rugby union game.While at the game josie bumps into john who was also watching the game and asks josie what she was doing at the game, she said that she bribed her cousin because if she went to his game he had to take her to the St. Anthony’s graduation. â€Å"Oh yes, where only the privileged can attend. I promised Ivy when we were about twelve I think. † In this chapter we get to see that josie and john get along very well and that they both like each other but they were both to shy to tell each other that they did when they were younger. chapter 26 summaryJosie forgives her grandmother for doing what she did over thirty years ago. â€Å"your grandfather francesco treated me like one of his farm animals. † Josie and her friends were going to go to Anna’s to do some last minute studying for the HSC but when the bus came Josie say’d to her friends that she would miss out and instead she went to her grandmothers house. When Josie got to her grandmo thers house she gave her the biggest hug she has ever given and she cried her guts out, when they sat down in the living room Josie asks why?And then her grandmother tells her more of what happened and because of that she starts to resent her nonno a bit because of what he did to nonna katia. In this chapter Josie learns that her grandmother had dreams like her and that she did what she did because she was angry with francesco and only him because he had left her alone for so long. chapter 25 summary Josie  and her family celebrate her mothers birthday. Josie lets her mother go to her cousins house and stays at her grandmothers house and then she blows her top off at her grandma and finds out that marcus sandford is her mother’s father and not her nonno.In this chapter we get to see that Josie dislikes her grandmother for doing what she did and she has been telling her that australians are bad and she should go out with an italian man instead. chapter 24 summary Jacob wants to meet Josie's grandmother. When Josie and Jacob are walking down the stairs she sees her grandmother and Jacob tells Josie that he wants to meet her because he thought it would be nice but Josie repeatedly says no because she has just earned her grandmothers trust again and she doesn't want to lose that. â€Å"My grandmother wouldn't understand, jacob. give it time. he was brought up in a different time and place . i know it's hard enough for you to understand. It's hard enough for me. † In this chapter we get to see that Josie feels kind of ashamed of her grandmother because her grandmother always to carry on with her family tradition. we also get to see that Josie and Jacob don't always have the right things to say to each other. chapter 23 summary Josie gets to understand her grandmother more than she has ever before. Josie learns that her grandmother was a very lonely person when she moved to australia because nonno had to work and he worked on the cain farms when they lived in Queensland. He came to see me though. he said that it would his heart if i would leave. i could see it in his eyes. but if i stayed i knew i would break my heart. † In this chapter we get to see Josie and her grandmother really close to each other, we also get to see that Josie is interested in what her grandmothers life was like when she first moved to Australia. chapter 22 summary Josie and her mum have a splurge day. they decided to go to one of the harbourside restaurants and although the weather was cool, it wasn't wet enough to ruin the view. â€Å"he's ultra cool, you know.Not cool as though he drives a sports car and dresses trendy, but he's a cool guy, he's up front. No bull. † â€Å"take things slowly, and they will work out. † this chapter reveal that christina was treated very badly by her father when she was pregnant and even before that, he called her every name under the sun, a tramp, a slut. he even hit me across the face and even hit my mother. chapter 21 summary Josie goes to the movies with John Barton to see Macbeth. While at the movies they bump into Jacob and he tries to have a go at John because Josie and Jacob are going out, but in Jacobs eyes that s not what it looks like. Well,, for your information, Miss Intellectual, we're studying Macbeth at school and that's what i'm going to see tonight,so never ever presume what i like and what i don't like. † In this chapter we get to see that Jacob gets jealous when Josie goes out with other friends that are boys, we also get to see that they both can get pissed of very easily with each other. if Josie had the option to go out with John and not Jacob she would but the only thing from stopping her is that he isn't that fun as Jacob but he shares so many things in  common with Josie and Jacob doesn't. chapter 20 summaryJosie is put in charge of keeping an eye on he little students at St Martha's on their annual Walk-a-thon that they have every year to celebr ate St Martha's day. While Josie is supposed to be looking after the slow people she instead goes with her friends to see Trey Hancock at the Sebel Town House. The next day Sister  Louise calls the girls into her office but dismisses three of them and tells Josie to stay behind. â€Å"Ivy doesn't have â€Å"one offs†. She's   responsible from the moment she walks into school till the moment she walks out. † â€Å"You were voted school captain but i gave the job to Ivy because she'd do a better job. In this chapter we find out that Josie was supposed to be school captain instead of Ivy, we also learn that Josie loves to do what her friends do and that she and her friends are trend setters for all the little people of St Martha's. chapter 19 summary Tomato Day! Josie and her family have a tradition that they have to make their own pasta and sauce to go with it, this is when the whole tomato thing comes into place every year on a specific day all the family comes tog ether and they pick tomatoes for the sauce, they squash them by hand and then cook them and then squash them again and then cook them one last time.Robert and I call this day â€Å"Wog day† or â€Å"National Wog day†. Nonna and Zia started to tell the story about Marcus Sandford and how he helped them with the garden while the men where at camp. â€Å"I thought that maybe by spoke to someone they would feel sorry for us and send us back one man. Maybe all our husbands. † This chapter reveals that Josie and her family get on very well when they aren’t fighting and telling others what to do and how to do it, we also get to see that Josie’s family loves to carry out tradition. chapter 18 summaryJacob surprises Josie by getting a car so they can go places instead of having to ride on his motorbike. â€Å"Tons of things ,† I said excited. â€Å"We could form a company. I’d be the theory part of the business and you’d be the practic al. † This chapter reveals that Josie believes that she can have a wonderful life with Jacob but at the same time she doesn’t as well because she doesn’t believe that she has chosen the right man for her. chapter 17 summary Josie gets to know her father more than ever over the holiday that they had together in Adelaide. â€Å"You sound like Mama†, I said, standing up through the sunroof.Josie enjoys the time that she spends with her father in Adelaide and meeting the rest of her family for the first time in seventeen years. This chapter reveals that Josie likes being with her father because she feels like she has known him for her whole entire life. When Josie gets back she sees Jacob on Saturday night and he tells her never to leave him again. chapter 16 summary Josie wags school on friday to go on a date with Jacob Coote. He leaned over and kissed me quickly. â€Å"what was that for? † i asked, embarrassed, but laughing. â€Å"I like the way you talk, I like the way you think. So much passion behind those bifocalled eyes.So much to say†. This chapter reveals that Josie is really opening up to Jacob and letting him into her life, and the same thing goes for Jacob he is letting Josie into his life and telling each other what they have done and what their families are like. chapter 15 summary Josie goes out with the girls to darling harbour after school, at the cafe` they see Jacob, Anton and four of their friends cramp themselves in to the booth behind them much to the dismay of Anna and Josie. â€Å"Listen, we’ll start over again, Okay, I looked into his clear green eyes which always seemed so warm and sincere no matter how bad he looked at times†.Eyes, my mother told me, never lie. This chapter reveals that Josie starts to like Jacob again even though he treated her like he did on their date to the movies. when Josie gives Jacob a second chance he asks her to wag school with him so they could go out on a proper date. chapter 14 summary Josie meets up with John barton again and give each other their pieces of paper with their emotions written on it. John talks to Josie about the fact that his father hates him at the moment just because he didn’t win the maths competition. My father was home when i got there this afternoon . Went through my mail. He owns m y life so of course he is entitled to open my mail,† he spat out bitterly. after John finishes telling Josie about what his father think s about him at the moment they decide to talk about the HSC and that they have to write what they are feeling at the moment and then they have to give it to someone else and then after the HSC the person that they gave the note has to ask them how they are feeling and read out what they felt before the test.In this chapter we are shown Josie’s feelings for John Barton again, we are also shown that Josie cares about what John does with his life and tries to help him with his pro blems. chapter 13 summary Josie goes out on a date with Jacob Coote but ends up spending the night with her father Michael Andretti. â€Å"Just because you had to meet my mother, you went and acted like a prick. Why? † â€Å"Okay, this is my proposition. How about you come work for me at the chamber? You can do photocopying and help the secretaries,† he suggested.Josie starts to dislike Jacob Coote because he was being a snob to her and her mother when he came to pick her up so they could go to the movies, when they got to the movies they started to have a fight and then Josie ran off and hid in one of the arcades and when she thought the cost was clear she ran out of the movies and started to walk home when she was being followed by a car, when it pulled up next to her she shouted at the driver saying that her father was a police officer and the person driving said actually he’s a Barrister, Josie jumps in the car and has dinner with Michael Andretti at a pizza place on Glebe point road.In this chapter we get to see a father, daughter relationship build and start to get strong we also get to see Josie’s true feelings towards her father, she feels that she wants to know him more but at the same time she doesn’t want to because what he did to her mother over seventeen years ago. chapter 12 summary Josie ask’s her grandmother to show her the photos of when she was young and her past. â€Å"I regretted it when i saw the look of glee on her face. Because the way Nonna makes my mother feel , I hate making that women happy. † Even hough Josie doesn’t like to make her grandmother happy she still tried to pay attention when she was telling her stories behind all the photos, Josie screeched when her grandmother told her that her first Australian friend was a hunk, but when her grandfather had found out that her grandmother had an aussie over about every day he got jealous and said she was never to see him again. I n this chapter we get to see that Josie tries to be nicer to her grandmother. chapter 11 summary Josie talks to her mum again and ask’s if she can go to the movies on saturday. Is that what all this buttering up has been all about† after telling her mother that she wants to go to the movies with Jacob Coote, her mother says that she will think about it. this chapter reveals that Josie has strong feelings for Jacob Coote more than ever because not only did he protect her after she as hurt by Greg Sims and she liked that he was being a protective person. chapter 10 summary Josie gets raped by Greg Sims and his posy. â€Å"He grabbed me by the front of the uniform and slobbered all over my mouth and i could hear Anna scream and pull me away while the bile rose in my throat†.Jacob Coote comes to comes to Josie’s aid while she is being forced upon by Greg Sims. In this chapter we are shown that not only can Josie be mean and cruel to other people, Jacob Coote c an also be just as mean and cruel to people. When Jacob drops Josie off she tells him that if he wants to go out with   her that he has to meet her mother, Jacob puts up a fight but in the end he gives in and ask’s her out to the movies on saturday night. chapter 9 summary Josie fights with her mum. â€Å"I don't like the fact that you're going out with him again. Josie doesn't like it when her mother leaves her at home alone just so she can go out with a guy, Josie doesn't want her mum to get married because she just wants it too be the two of them until they die. The chapter reveals that Josie loves her mother but she also doesn't want to hurt her by doing the wrong things. Josie has her moments with her mother every now and then, but they usually end up hugging each other or if it doesn't go well they don't talk to each other for a while. chapter 7 summary Josie goes to her grandmothers house because her mum is going out for the night. Oh God, Ma, I have to sleep in the same bed as her. She doesn't shave her legs. † Josie learns a lot about her grandmother that night that she sleeps over, she told Josie that she used to look exactly like her when she was her age, she also told Josie that she was forced to move to Australia with her husband and that meant that she would probably never see her family again. This chapter reveals that Josie starts to develop a stronger relationship with her. chapter 8 summary Josie brakes a girls nose. we are introduced to one of the beautiful girls Carly Bishop â€Å"they were all wogs. hey seem to be ever where,† she snickered. â€Å"I'm just the same as them and I'd appreciate you not going on about wogs every day. It offends me†   In this chapter we get to see a father daughter relationship develop between Josie and Michael Andretti. the chapter reveals that Josie does have feelings for Michael Andretti even though she told him to stay away from he he still came to the rescue when she called. chapter 6 summary Josie meets her father for the second time. â€Å"I don't want her,† he said flatly. oth Josie and Christina had a fight with Michael Andretti, first it was Christina who told Michael that they didn't want anything to do with him, then later on in the day Josie followed him into the lounge room and watched him look at all the photos that her grandmother had all around the place, Josie told him that if he ever hurt her mum that he would be in a lot of trouble. This chapter reveals that Josie feels anger and hatred towards Michael Andretti because he left her mum when she was young and didn't try to contact her since then. chapter 5 summary Josie goes to the regional dance.Jacob Coote gives Josie a ride home on his motor cycle even though Josie knows that if her mum found out that she did she was going to be dead or one of the people in another car saw her and recognized her they would tell her grandmother and she would tell her mother. â€Å"My mother will murder me†. â€Å"she'll find out alright†. this chapter reveals that Josie starts to develop a strong relationship with Jacob Coote. â€Å"do you know that I've been in this country my whole life and I've never spoken to an aboriginal†. chapter 4 summary Josie works with Poison Ivy at the debating night.We are introduced to John Barton. â€Å"To walk into the regional   dance with John Barton would make me the envy of every snob at St Martha's†. This chapter reveals that Josie shows her feeling for just more than one particular boy. she likes to flirt a lot with boys that she hasn't seen for ages or just met. chapter 3 summary Josie hates to go to her grandma's house because its her family ritual only because her mum makes her. We are introduced to Josie's father Michael. â€Å"Michael! my heart began to pound at one hundred miles per hour and I could feel the hairs at the back of my head standing up on end†.This chapter reveals that Josie feels hate towards her grandmother because she sayed that the daughter's behaviour always reflects on how good the mother is. chapter 2 summary Josie speaks about AIDS at the ‘Have A Say Day'. Josephine has friends such as Sera, Lee and Anna, who influence her life greatly. We are introduced to Jacob Coote at the ‘Have A Say Day' â€Å"†¦. If your an outcast with your own kind, you'll never be accepted by anyone†. â€Å"No matter how much I hate Poison Ivy, I want to be in her world†. This chapter shows more about Josie's relationship with her friends and how she deals with her family life.For days I just couldn't help thinking about my father. I felt sick at the idea of meeting him, though at the same   time I desperately wanted to. chapter 1 summary The reader is introduced to the main character and narrator of the story, Josephine Alibrandi. as a reader we find out that Josie goes to St Martha's high school. The narrator is a typical teenager who worrie s about issues such as peer pressure and relationships with others and teachers. â€Å"My biggest problem though, is being at a school dominated by rich people†¦ ho i can't see having a problem in the world† This chapter shows how Josie feels insecure because she is an outsider. My Mother was born here so as far as the Italians were concerned we weren't completely one of them. Yet because my grandparents were born in Italy we weren't completely Australian. Whole Book Summary ‘Looking for Alibrandi’ is a story about a young girl, growing up in Sydney in the nineties. The only side of life to create any hassle is that she is Italian, with an Italian mother, grandmother and father, somewhere, growing up in an Australian world.Throughout the book, she spends her entire year twelve either at her home or at her grandmother’s, school or suburban areas, learning about herself and making friends. The main character, Josephine Alibrandi, or Josie, is a feisty a nd head-strong seventeen year old. She received an English scholarship at the beginning of highschool to go to a strict, Catholic college, St. Martha’s. She is very intelligent academically and can achieve excellent grades when she applies herself. She is also the vice-captain at St. Martha’s to Ivy, an Australian favourite of all, whom she calls Poison Ivy.Most of her friends from primary school didn’t end up there, so she has made new friends, although most of the school is from the rich, Australian side of Sydney. She has only just introduced boys as a major part of her life, mostly involving Jacob Coote from the state school and forming a friendship with John Barton, from the Catholic boy’s school. Josephine was born illegitimately to a seventeen year old Christina Alibrandi. The father, a boy of the same age named Michael Andretti, had to move away to Adelaide with his family before she was born. There was a part of him that knew Christina had gone t hrough with the pregnancy, however he as scared and not prepared for a child. Michael had to come back to Sydney when Josephine was seventeen for his work as a barrister and bumped into Christina at a wedding. Michael Andretti is stern and serious. Even Josephine notes him as â€Å"a worrier†. They have separate lives, he has a good job and a girlfriend. By the end of the story, they have grown close and he had gotten her out of trouble many times, like when she smashed Carly Bishop in the nose with a textbook and when she was wondering the streets alone after she stormed out of her date with Jacob Coote.He begins his life with her by saying that he doesn’t need any ‘complications’ and that it is all going perfectly without an ‘obnoxious creation’. Eventually they get to know each other and Josey works at his law chamber and begins to consider changing her last name to Andretti. Christina Alibrandi, Josie’s mum, is supportive of her dau ghter and has raised her on her own for her whole life, with the occasional help of her mother. Jacob Coote said: â€Å"You [Josephine] come across all tough and fearless while on the inside you’re a softy. She [Christina] comes a across a softy, whereas deep down she’s tough and fearless. Christina can be strong and honest when she needs to be and will do what she thinks is right, like suggesting to her daughter, the first time she met Jacob Coote and he was acting like a pig, that she didn’t think it would be good to let her go out with him again. She also is known to compromise, in letting Josie go out with him after she saw he’d smartened up a bit. She is like Josie, a dreamer. She says herself, â€Å"I wasn’t a rebel Italian [when I had you], I was a naive Italian. † She’d give her very life for her daughter and she loves her mother very much, despite not admitting to it.Katia Alibrandi, known as Nonna to Josie, is the mother of Christina. She felt things too, just as her daughter and grand-daughter; she describes herself as a youth to have been a â€Å"gypsie†. When she was younger and came to Australia with her husband, she was alone in the outback with little knowledge of the language. She had the help of an Australian man, Marcus Sandford, who loved her dearly and would do things for her, seeing as her husband would be away on work. She did not pursue a relationship with him; people were talking as it was. â€Å"People will talk† is the quote that she practically lives by.The Italian community are known to ‘talk’. He came into her house one day and Christina was born nine months later. Marcus was going to take her away where nobody knew them, however, seeing as she’d defied her marriage so much, she at least had to stay with her husband. Her husband had lied to her all of these years, he could not have kids, however they stayed together. Nobody knew about Christinaâ₠¬â„¢s illegitimacy, Katia distanced herself from her because of it, until Josephine figured it out after finally taking interest in her grandmother, and she never told anybody.Katia and Josie develop a good relationship, even though Christina must never know. Katia was strong and has memories, even though she is old-fashioned, just like how she would never accustom herself to Josie’s Australian boyfriend, who she has no knowledge of. Jacob Coote is the captain of Cook State Highschool. He is â€Å"deep and meaningful when he wants to be† in the words of Josie. He is with the ‘in’ crowd at Cook High. He has his pick of the girls and is popular and athletic. Jacob bullied Josephine when she was younger, not her specifically, however that was how life worked.He then falls for her and defends her, he beats Greg Sims when he tries to rape her and his friends, her friend, in the McDonald’s car park where she worked before the law chamber. They go through their fights, however they have high prospects in their relationship by the end of the book. Jacob’s mum died when he was young. It did hurt him, however he tries to move on from it. He does think about it, sometimes, however he is contented in his life otherwise. He now lives with his dad, who drinks a bit, and has an older sister of about 24 years of age with her own family now.Of course he naturally has prejudices against John Barton. John Barton grows up in a prissy world and has all of the doors open to him. He does enjoy it sometimes, however it isn’t really what he wants to do with his life. He is expected to do well; while Jacob and Josie aren’t expected to get far, and he’s prefer that. Ivy Lloyd, or Poison Ivy, decides that she owns him. John does quite like Josephine though. He tries to be diplomatic with things, although he does not want to enter politics as everyone expects him to.By the end of the book, he commits suicide with a drug overdos e right before his year twelve exams. That ruined the story for me, made me cry. Ivy and Josie begin to accept each other, however they are hurt as he was a true friend to them both. I can almost relate to John Barton, not the suicide, however in means of having pressure on him and having to meet expectations. I can understand that, because it is so real. All of these characters are real and this story is only too possible. The Italian Empire, where â€Å"people will talk† is real. It is very humorous actually, because it relates so much to my own life.Illegitimacy being the end of the world, and how gossip can start in one place and everybody know. I understand the gender stereotypes and the important role of religion, in when Katia cannot leave her husband. It is fairly old-fashioned and stubborn, the things that Josie is restricted from doing, however that seriously is life, no doubt about that. You’d have to be there to know it, and I’m there. I’m a l ot like Josephine. I can see how things aren’t fair, however I am able to accept them because decisions are made for me for my own good. Josephine says, â€Å"No way, Mama. If you say no I’ll accept it. I also do think, like Josephine does, that the entire world is crumbling around me and I can be a little inconsiderate at times, accidently of course. I’m learning about myself and growing up, just as she is. Only I’m not in year twelve yet, and I’m not in a leadership role, as much as I like to be a leader. The story is basically about growing up, which can be a challenge in itself, however the main complication is that she is Italian in an Australian world as previously outlined. It creates expectations and a way of life that may have been ethical in Italy, however not so in Australia.Also, the Italians here haven’t modernised with the Italians back there. Things that seem ordinary here just won’t flow with the Italian community, th ings like widows and women with children marrying, and two unmarried people living together, problems that both Katia and Christina face, and that Josephine will too unless she can run from it as she says she will, â€Å"I’ll run one day. Run for my life. I’ll run to be free and think for myself. † There isn’t really a resolution, except that Josie learns to accept who she is.She may still want to run, however, for the time being, she is happy with it. She even says that it will be a part of her forever, her nationality, and even if she dislikes it sometimes it will always make her who she is: â€Å"You can’t hate what you’re a part of. What you are. I resent it most of the time, curse it always, but it will be a part of me till the day I die. † Josie grows up, that is how it all works out. She learns more about the world around her, like the hardships that both her mother and her grandmother went through, and she becomes more aware o f the world around her.A major turning point is after the death of John, she suddenly realises that her life will always be what it is, and her deciding to get along with Ivy is another way of saying that she has gotten more mature, and that she understands. In the story, the way things progress, how relationships develop, and the steps that Josephine takes to grow up, all happen through the things that she encounters. She begins her journey at a public event where every school has to make a speech. Josephine represents her school, as Ivy is too busy talking to the Premier of the entire state.There she meets Jacob Coote and doesn’t really know what to think about him, however he is impressed by his speech on the vote. However, she hardly considers herself interested, despite everyone, including herself, finding him attractive. We then meet her grandmother and get a glimpse of her family life. She sees her father for the first time when he shows up at her grandmother’s house, however they do not converse, as ‘Nonna’ does not know who he is, and he’s only an old neighbour so far. There is inter-school debating and Josie talks to John Barton. He is friendly and Josie gets along with him well.They decide they will see a movie together for school. He would have been her ideal boyfriend. Ivy comes and steals him away, despite the fact that he is reluctant to go with her. He doesn’t get a chance to be with her at the school dance a while afterwards, being caught up with Ivy, seeing as he is in that crowd with her. Josie dances with Jacob Coote, who gives her a lift home on his motorbike, as much as she’d rather not ride on it. She finds out that his mother died when he was younger. He tries to kiss her, however she refuses, they agree that they are from two different worlds and he leaves on good terms with her.Next is Josie’s second encounter with Michael Andretti at her grandmother’s house. She speaks to him after her mother. Everyone is very clear that they want nothing to do with him. It is then that her grandmother realises who is and his relation to the family, at that, she decides she would not want to see him again, however she doesn’t cause a fuss. Josie stays with her mother overnight and learns more about her. She begins to take an interest after realising that her grandmother was a seventeen year old once too.She arrives at school and attends class where she overhears Carly Bishop bagging people of European descent, calling them ‘wogs’ as an insult. Josephine had taken it for years and finally had gotten sick of it. They argued and then Josie hit her with her ‘Concepts of Science’ textbook. She calls Michael Andretti, as he is a barrister to help her, seeing as she’d probably have been expelled and sued. He comes to her rescue, even though they’d agreed to never speak to each other again. On Friday, Josie speaks to Sister Loui se, the headmaster of her school, as scheduled.She realises that she does care and notices that she’s human, despite being a nun. Her mum goes out on a date for the first time. Josie and her grandmother are furious, however her mum has a good time and Josie accepts that. Whilst working at McDonald’s with her friend, Anna, Greg Sims, a boy who teased her as a child, enters with her friends. He would have been rude to her, however police came in to buy something so he leaves her be. They wait for her and Anna in the car park; they are ready to rape them both. Jacob Coote is just passing by with his friend, Anton, and he sees what is appening. He beats the living daylights out of Greg Sims. Anton takes Anna home, and they are quite fond of each other. Jacob takes Josie home. He asks her out, she considers it and decides to ask her mother. He agrees to meet her, only he’d never do that any other time and dislikes the idea. She talks to her mother who agrees to let h er go out with him. Curiosity gets the better of Josephine as she asks her grandmother to see photos and to tell her about her life. She finds out about how she met Marcus Sandford in a post office and he would help her, seeing as she was alone in the country.When her husband found out, he was furious and didn’t want to let her see him anymore. On Saturday, she goes on her date with Jacob. He is a pig to her mother in spite of the fact that he has to meet her. The date lasts ten minutes and she storms out of the cinema complex before even entering the movie. On the long walk home, her father is driving past and picks her up to go and get pizza. He tells her that ignoring her existence won’t make her go away and they begin to develop an understanding relationship. Her mother is not angry, only she isn’t too keen on Jacob Coote.Josie is enjoying her job at Mac Michael and Sons law chamber. Her joy is shattered when she has coffee with John Barton ant they talk abo ut life. He worries, her, saying things like, â€Å"I don’t think I want to live this life anymore, Josie. † She is extremely worried and they decide to write on a piece of paper the way they feel and keep each other’s so that they can read them after graduation. It gives him a little hope, however she is still extremely concerned. Josephine talks with her friends and tells them that she’d like to be a barrister when she grows up.Jacob Coote asks her out on another date. They decide they will wag school for it, not that she’d have ever dreamed of doing so in a million years. There won’t be any mother-meeting this time. They have a wonderful time and share in their first passionate kiss. On the mid-term holidays, Jacob gets a car. Her mum is supportive of them being together. There is the St. Martha’s Walk-a-thon. Josie leaves with her friends and is in major trouble with Sister Louise because it meant that the little kids were unsuper vised. She goes to see that movie with John and Jacob sees them there.They argue but they get over it. A couple of weeks later she is at his house for the first time. He would have liked to have sex with her, and she refuses it. After some conversation he accepts it. She finds out about Marcus Sandford being her real grandfather and promises not to tell if her grandmother accepts Michael Andretti. She talks to John Barton and he is cheery and happy and the day later at her year twelve exams she finds Ivy crying that he had killed himself. It is sad. She reads the note he wrote earlier that year and realises that it was what he wanted to do.She attends the funeral. Jacob was also torn up; he was taking it harder than Josephine. He felt had something in common with John, somewhere, and he’d experienced death before and this probably reminded him of his mum. Only now I realise that he was happy because he knew he would do it. He even said only the day beforehand, â€Å"Iâ€℠¢ve got my whole future planned out the way I want it to be and there is nothing anyone can do to take that away from me. † It is sad, but also a good thing in a sense. It is what he wanted. I think Josephine learns to accept it a little at the end.At the beginning of this book review, I though the ending was ridiculous and too sad. Now I understand more that it was really what John Barton wanted to do, kill himself. He was really looking forward to being able to run free, just like Josephine always said she’d wanted to do, even if that meant death for him. I like the ending, now I do. I now like that there was a challenge in figuring that out. Besides that, I liked that Jacob and Josephine ended up having a caring relationship and that they became incredibly happy. I like happily ever afters.Throughout the book, I enjoyed that they were always able to become friends again after a fight. It made the book a lot more exciting. I also enjoyed how the book exhibits how rela tionships developed throughout the novel. It was interesting to read about the way emotions develop between characters, specifically Josephine and her father. It was thrilling to read how they learn things about each other and accept each other in their lives, and the way that the Alibrandi’s become comfortable with him. It is also good to see how Josie takes interest in her grandmother and she can confide in her.I’d change the time she spends with her friends. I’d like them to have played a more prominent role, or not be included in the story, as they add little to the plot. It would’ve made me happy if she did not skip school. It just ruined a little of the part of her that I though resembled myself. I thought I’d have liked to change that John died. I now would not change that, it adds an important lesson for Josephine to learn on her journey of growing up. Death is something she had to learn to accept. However it could be in the blurb, it would ruin the story a little, although a warning would be nice for the light-hearted.I’d have liked if Melina Marchetta would elaborate more and explain how he saw his death was ‘running free’. I wouldn’t have understood if I hadn’t written this essay. I learnt more about death from reading this. That pretty much sums it up. I never saw suicide as a relief or an escape, although it apparently can be. I picked up on a few facts that I’d have found in a history book, they were another factor that kept me engrossed in reading. This would be a good book for somebody of European descent. It made it highly enjoyable for me as so much is only too true.It could possibly be aimed at someone a little older than myself, somebody who certainly has the insight to deal with suicide and not let it get to them. It has to be taken maturely, so possibly it would be a good story for the sixteen-and-up age group, however it does matter on the individual. ‘Look ing for Alibrandi’ by Melina Marchetta is an extremely wonderful book, definitely worth reading and re-reading. It gave me a lot, and I can understand why people made such propaganda about reading it. I rate it ‘I