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The Color Purple by Alice Walker

The color purple by Alice Walker, it’s a novel which discusses and narrates issues concerning gender inequalities, discrimination and racism within a community based in South America, in the early 1900’s. The main character in the novel “Celie” is a young black woman abused and violated by close members of her family such as, his father and his husband. In this case the novel raised questions to readers of the novel, making them eager wanting to know why didn’t “Celie” tell her mother what his father was doing to her? Another question triggered to readers is; did Celie really do what she was doing to protect her sister or was she doing this for herself?, this is understood differently by each reader who gets to read the novel, of which in my opinion I see it as a protective and caring way of her, to her sister.

The novel talks about the life of Celie as when she was a teenager at the age of fourteen, who is living a very harsh environment, which is full of racism and discrimination. Her mother is suffering from an illness, which because of that she frequently visits the doctor, of which when she does the visiting; Celie is left alone with Fonso her father back at home. Fonso takes full advantage of Celie’s mother’s absence and rapes Celie.

After struggling with her illness for long Celie’s mother dies, and Fonso takes full advantage of Celie’s mother absence and takes chances to rape Celie more and more often, saying “You gonna do what your mammy wouldn’t” (pg.1).

After the continuous rapes Celie is impregnated by her father and has two children by her father, both of which are brutally taken away right after they are born by Fonso. Celie because of her ignorance assumes that he has taken the children into the woods and killed them, but actually and later Celie came to figure out from the help of her sister that Fonso sold her children. Fonso eventually remarries after Celie’s mother death, and Celie is a resemblance of guilty conscious to him, he decides to get rid of her and the guilty feelings, he is forced to be married by her father to a man who is only described as Mr. in the novel.

The life of Celie does not transform with Mr. It’s described that her life does not change from what he had been with from her father. Mr. feels that the only way to keep a woman in her place is to beat her. Celie’s sister, Nettie, is the only person that Celie has ever truly cared, loved and trusted, runs away from Fonso and comes to live with Celie and Mr. Nettie in the novel is described to be beautiful than Celie which makes her more attractive to men. Mr. finds her very eye-catching and tries in any way to seduce Nettie, but Nettie cleverly ignores and stays away from him. Mr. is embarrassed by Nettie’s neglecting him and decides to send her away from the house. Before they Nettie leaves she promised to write letters to Celie. Nettie keeps her promise by sending Celie letters, which Celie never gets to; see them because Mr. Intercepts and hides the letters before Celie can get a glimpse of them. Celie’s ignorance makes her lose interest of the letters and assumes that Nettie must be dead.

During a visit to the South part of the Country Shug Avery, who is a blues musician, falls ill. She has no real home which is a result of her lifestyle, it ends up Shug Avery is hosted by a long time friend who is Mr.

Celie takes care of Shug and helps her back to her health, Celie finds herself falling in love with Shug, Shug decides that she will help Celie back to emotional health which leads to both of them having a homosexual relationship. Shug is now healthy and decides to go and get letters from the mailbox later for her to find out that there is a letter for Celie which has been sent to her from Nettie, Celie is overjoyed to realize that is still alive and good in health. Later Celie and Shug come to realize that a bunch of letters were hidden from her by Mr. as Celie read the letters she realizes that Nettie joined a Christian missionary group that has gone to Africa to spread Christianity. Nettie describes and confronts Celie that the missionaries who are leading them, have two children of which Nettie thinks that they are Celie’s children. She also writes that the man who they thought was their father actually was their stepfather. She goes ahead and explains to Celie that their real father died at an early age and they moved in with another family.

The letters makes Celie relieved that her two children were not born out of incest and hope that they are not dead. Celie is incredibly happy to learn that her sister and her two children are still alive, but on the other side she is also sad and fiercely angry with Mr. for keeping the letters from her. The anger finally gives her the courage to stand up to Mr. when Mr. Attempts to slap her she stabs him with a knife. Then she decides to leave Mr., and move with Shug to Memphis. Mr. terrorizes Celie saying “you will leave over my dead body”, and Celie responds with buoyancy. “It’s time to leave you and enter into the Creation. And your dead body is just the welcome mat I need” (p. 207).

In Memphis, Celie starts a new business sewing pants. With the help of Shug she becomes very successful. Shug later leaves falls for a nineteen-year-old boy named Germaine. Shug then leaves Celie to go and live with Germaine, so does Celie’s happiness leave her.

Fonso, the man who claimed to be Celie’s father, dies and leaves Celie to inherit his house. Celie moves in and continues her pants-making business there. Celie eventually becomes friends with Mr., who has malformed her behaviors since Celie’s departure. He has learned about a great logic of absurdity in life and love since Celie left him, and near the end of the novel he declares that: “I start to wonder why us need love. Why us suffer. Why us black. Why us men and women. Where do children really come from? It didn’t take long to realize I didn’t hardly know nothing…The more I wonder, the more I love.” (p. 289)

Celie is develops a friendship with Mr., but decides that she can never love a man again and believes that love will never be back in her life. But then her sister Nettie returns from Africa with her two children. They are reunited, and Celie feels a happiness and love that she has never before experienced. Celie’s final letter to God states that, despite her old age, “I think this the youngest us ever felt” (p. 295).

The major themes behind Alice Walker’s novel the Color Purple is as listed below.

Epistolary

The use of letters in the novel can be described or related to an epistolary novel, this can be experienced by how the letters written to God and to her sister Nettie. The color purple is narrated by a number of diary entries and letters, that’s why it’s described as an epistolary novel. Behind the novel lie the advantages and disadvantages of such structures and for the novel in particular?

The author of the book “Alice Walker” tried to put the novel in a way that the readers may see and understand the novel in their own point of view. One can realize that without the use of epistolary in the novel the story and theme of the novel would have sounded differently.

Vulgarity, violence, racism and discrimination

From the introduction of the novel one can realize that vulgarity, violence, racism and discrimination are being experienced by Celie who is the main character. The main questions which puzzled me after reading the novel were; what is the main reason of vulgarity, violence, racism and discrimination in the novel? Is it unfair to use these words when describing the novel? Were the readers supposed to notice the agony of the characters in the novel and understand their life situation? And what were the intensions or message of the author trying to convey?

Black Women were being mistreated and applied as animals in that era, as the novels describes them, as to the likes of Sofia and Celie experience a life of brutality and mistreat from their husbands.

Vulgarity is practiced by many of the characters in the novel, one of the characters who practice this is, Shug Avery who is full of vulgar “as seen on page 116 listed of referring to sex by making love.” Another case where this is experienced is when Celie is being raped by her father this is well elaborated in page 161, through the following excerpt. “He starts to choke me saying you better shut up and get used to it, or I will kill your mama.”

Violence can be seen from the very first beginning of the novel where Fonso denies Celie’s right by raping her, this continues not only for Celie but also to several other members of the community who are being violated in different ways.

Racism is experienced and well elaborated in the novel, an example is when Celie was in a store and the white sales man asked her to walk out. This simply shows how uncouth the white salesman was to a black woman.

Discrimination in my own point of view I can suggest that it’s the main idea behind the Color Purple. This is experienced in the author’s real life and tries to relate her story to the novel, except that the novel is fiction. The novel tries to make the readers picture and imagine their selves being in an environment where discrimination is a common thing and is experienced by almost everyone. The novel also shows how women were being mistreated and applied as slaves, a good example is of what Sofia and Celie go through in life under the brutality and mistreat from their husbands.

Ignorance and irresponsible is the chemistry that builds Celie as the main character using the sense of ignorance and irresponsibility as a form of protection to herself, she ignores sharing her story to the public not even her mother, being afraid of what her father will do to her. The weaker afraid part of her makes her ignorant, irresponsible and also turning her into a slave to the people around her. The way she accepts her father to take her children away after birth shows how irresponsible she is, not being concerned of where her children are by assuming that they are dead.

Rape was the main exploitation to women from men which made them feel unprotected, this can be seen where Celie is raped by her father and also when Mr. tried to rape Nettie. Is most evidenced in the general outline of the book. Celie who is the main character undergoes various stages of rape in her life. As a young child, her father rapes and at the same time threatens her. Also Mr. Who is Celie’s husband carries out rape thinking that its love making, he doesn’t consider Celie feelings, even though she is not in the right mood. (This is shown in page 81, “he did not consider Celie’s bandage on her lead during intercourse”.) When Squeak discovers the warden is her Uncle and on approaching for assistance, so that they can free Sofia. She ends up being raped in order for Sofia’s release. This is also experienced when Mr. tried an attempt to rape Nettie.

Oppression and brutality is a dominant theme in this novel. Celie’s father exhibits brutality by raping her daughter. Brutality of his father is also exercised when Celie’s two children are taken from her by Fonso and sold in the market, soon after giving birth which makes her think that they are dead. Mr. also indicates brutality by beating up Celie, frequently and also forcing her to have sex. Both white men and black men practice brutality since they take advantage of defenseless black women. Sofia also faces oppression and brutality, when she declined taking up the job that the mayor had offered, she is beaten up and imprisoned and put as a slave in the house hold. Celie has shown an element of jealousy and brutality. This is when Harpo who is Mr.’s son gets married to Sofia and Sofia starts becoming a thorn in his flesh and Celie advices him to beat her up. Nettie also experiences brutality when she is thrown out of Mr.’s house only because he refused to be seduced by him.

Troubled relationship experience infidelity in the novel. It shows how men were not faithful and committed to their relationships; one can see that Mr. beats his wife Celie which directly shows that the relationship between them is not doing well. Marriages in this novel are brought out as institutions of oppression, mistrust and infidelity. Mr. beats Celie up and has also infidelity issues. Harpo’s marriage experiences infidelity, this can be seen when Sofia left Harpo, Harpo gets married to Squeak, even though Sofia has a few Children, Harpo lets her go. Sofia is also involved in cheating on Harpo because when she returns back home, she has six children instead of five meaning the sixth child is not Harpo’s child. Mr. who is Celie’s husband clearly shows lack moral and infidelity, when she seduces Nettie who is Celie’s sister.

Values of the color purple explain and show how Celie was motivated and inspired by Nettie and Shug Avery’s and lifestyle. This tackles and challenges the sense of thinking of readers pushing and making them curious to know the chemistry on how Nettie and Shug Avery inspired Celie to change her style of living, to become a successful woman.

Work Cited

Blackman, Andrew. Celie’s Characteristics. 17, Feb 2010. 25 Feb 2011

<http://andrewblackman.net/2009/06/the-color-purple-by-alice-walker/>

Bookrags. Faith and believe of Celie. 2009-2010. 25 Feb 2011

<http://www.bookrags.com/notes/tcp/PART1.html>

Beaulieu, Andrea. Negative comments on the novel. 1, Feb. 2001. 25 Feb 2011

<http://www.mswritersandmusicians.com/writers/alice-walker.html>

Harcourt. The Color Purple. 2006. 25 Feb 2011

<http://www.harcourtbooks.com/colorpurple/teacherguide.asp>

Lewis, Jone Johnson. The life of Alice Walker. 2007. 25 Feb 2011

<http://womenshistory.about.com/od/alicewalker/a/alice_walker.htm>

Nicole. The life of Celie. 11, Aug, 2010. 25 Feb 2011

<http://www.linussblanket.com/color-purple-alice-walker/>

Paperstater. The Color Purple. 2007. 25 Feb 2011

<http://www.paperstarter.com/colorpurple.htm>

Renoir,Gabrielle . Gender inequality. 3 Jan 2011. 25 Feb 2011

<http://literarycornercafe.blogspot.com/2011/01/book-review-color-purple-by-alice.htmlSparknotes. Summary of the Color Purple by Alice Walker. 2011. 25 Feb 2011

<http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/purple/summary.htmlThe Color Purple. Fri 29 May 1998. 25 Feb 2011

< http://www.library.csi.cuny.edu/dept/history/lavender/purple.html>

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The color purple of Alice Walker has enormous historical and social significance in a 30-year range of periods and movements including the Harlem Renaissance, the progressive developments in both civil and female rights, the destruction by European businesses of rich African civilizations, and the start of World War II. In the course of the life of a person, prominent social problems and their historical relevance are encountered through a certain evolution, as new problems arise with every new age. Miss Celie’s life, a poor southern black woman, evolves from the early to the middle of the 1900s with issues of historic importance. In a period of recent abolition of the practice of slavery, Walker uses Celie as a sign of what it was meant to grow and develop in the US. In one way, Celie represents an entire population of black women, who had suffered abuse, when they began to fight for their rights, find their pride and worth. Walker, on the other hand, also uses Nettie’s journey to show that White Europeans pursue power and wealth in the appalling destruction of African cultureADDIN CSL_CITATION {“citationItems”:[{“id”:”ITEM-1″,”itemData”:{“DOI”:”10.2307/1208336″,”ISSN”:”00107484″,”author”:[{“dropping-particle”:””,”family”:”Proudfit”,”given”:”Charles L.”,”non-dropping-particle”:””,”parse-names”:false,”suffix”:””}],”container-title”:”Contemporary Literature”,”id”:”ITEM-1″,”issue”:”1″,”issued”:{“date-parts”:[[“1991″,”11″,”30″]]},”page”:”12″,”publisher”:”Gale”,”title”:”Celie’s Search for Identity: A Psychoanalytic Developmental Reading of Alice Walker’s “The Color Purple””””

black Americans have also been curiously lacking in education. The beginning of Celie’s life was drastically affected by all these problems. Her stepfather bothered her and severely got her free

Celie grew up to be a strong woman. The importance of monumental societies and political events in an individual life can be demonstrated by this historical moment of women’s suffrage in full alignment with the Celie narrative. In the same way

Nettie[would like to know how the world works. As missionaries

The Closure of Luby’s Cafeteria

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The Closure of Luby’s Cafeteria

Introduction

Running an organization has never been easy, and 2020 proved a yet more challenging year for many businesses presenting new business owners with unprecedented set of challenges. Just like other businesses, Luby’s Cafeteria found itself struggling to stay afloat following the emergence of the global novel coronavirus pandemic. In September 2020, the company announced its decision to close down. Its mother company Luby’s Inc., later announced in December that it sold its Fuddruckers locations to a franchise before completely dissolving the company.

Company Overview

Founded in 1947, Luby’s Cafeteria is a public company that held the spot of the largest chain cafeteria across America. The company started from a small cafeteria in downtown Antonio and expanded fast since then beginning with Texas and then other states in the Southern states. It went on to become labeled the most profitable cafeteria chain in the America. In 1996, Luby’s Cafeteria had 147 units in Texas, ten in Tennessee, 12 in Arizona, nine in Oklahoma, four in Kansas, New Mexico, and Florida, two in Louisiana, three in Mississippi, and one in Missouri. Unlike other restaurants, Luby’s never franchised its outlets but compensates every unit manager with generous profits from their designated outlets (Lankford, 2020). Luby’s Cafeteria abides by the motto of “Good food from people.” By offering family style, freshly-prepared served in attractive settings and served at reasonable prices. The restaurant primarily caters to office and store personnel during lunch hours, shoppers and families during dinner meals. The restaurant does not offer breakfast meals. The units are usually about 10,000 to 11, 000 square feet and can accommodate approximately 300 individuals. They are found in business and shopping developments and residential areas.

Besides its down-home style, Luby’s Cafeteria has a stellar financial record. The company led its publicly-held competitors when it came to benchmarks in earnings, sales, average sales per unit and return on average equity. Luby’s has paid consecutive quarterly dividends and increased dividends each year since 1965. Except a brief time in late 1970s, Luby’s did not have a long-term debts in its balance sheet. The company’s growth is financed from periodic stock offerings, internal cash flow, and on occasion, short-term credit lines from banks. According to Forbes magazine, Luby’s individual unit managers and executives have tried to stick with what they know and have done so brilliantly. According to the magazine, compared to its competitors in the cafeteria business, such as Piccadilly and Morrison’s Bishop’s/Furr’s, none of them cuts a better hog when it comes to returning on equity. The company’s roots run through America’s social, political and economic history starting with the first unit until the twentieth century where its success lies. Despite being incorporated in 1959, the cafeteria’s history was planted when Harry Luby, a clothes merchant made a business trip to Chicago, Illinois from his hometown in Springfield, Missouri in 1909. Here, Luby got captivated by the new restaurant types where patrons collected food items from a counter to the dining tables. Luby immediately recognized that the restaurant used a then-emerging concept of assembly lines and mass production in the line of business. After two years, Luby started a similar business in Springfield, Missouri.

Aspects of Luby’s Cafeteria Failure

The main factor that pushed Luby’s Cafeteria to its collapse was the emergence of the novel COVID-19 pandemic. Luby’s Cafeteria was not suited to survive the pandemic. The restaurant used a cafeteria style that made social distancing more difficult to execute (Davahli, M. Karwowski, Sonmez, & Apostolopoulos, 2020). Notably, Luby’s was already struggling financially for years by the time the pandemic hit, which also fuelled its decision to close down. The devastating effects of the pandemic push Luby’s to wind down its operations and dissolve its business. It closed and shut down company-owned locations of two chains. As of 26th April 2021, Luby’s owned 11 locations and meanwhile, 83 franchised Fuddrukers units were operational and could be seen in 25 states mostly in Midwest and the South.

Unfortunately, the dissolution marked the end of the road for the Cafeteria’s locations as they were fully company-owned. For seven decades, the brand served famous LuAnn platters and southern-style comfort food. ABC13 noted the Luby’s cafeteria ceased majority of its operations in restaurants by the end of August 2021 fiscal year. Worth noting, Luby once owned a Cheeseburger located in Paradise, the last which closed in September. Additionally, Luby’s rights to Koo Koo Roo brand whose specialty was charbroiled chicken sold to a third party that was independent. In June 2021, when the company made it public that it was seeking buyers for portions or all its businesses, the company did not get any offers that were acceptable. However, its CEO Chris Pappas mentioned that the dissolution strategy left enough paths for flexibility making it possible for Luby’s Fuddruckers to be possible buyers. After a month, it was discovered that Pappas may be the savior of the renowned chains. The executive entered into an agreement with either Luby’s Cafeteria to review the company’s financials. Rumors had swirled that he could potentially buy the enterprise with the partnership of his brother, Harris Pappas. However, the deal did not materialize and Chris Pappas resigned as the company’s Chief Executive Officer.

Strategic Plan To Rebrand and Revive Luby’s Cafeteria

To revive and restore the glory that Luby’s Cafeteria had enjoyed for many years, there is a need to make a few changes in branding and online presence. The main reason why the cafeteria closed down in the first place is because of the pandemic. When the pandemic hit, the World Health Organization guidelines of social distancing made it impossible for the restaurant to carry out business as usual (Olteanu, 2020). For the business to perform well, there is need to rebrand the entire business. This includes giving it a new brand identity. The first step would be investing in new brand identity. This includes coming up with a new name for the business, tagline, logo, theme colors, outlet design, and even the menu. It is important to invest in the above-mentioned elements as the visibility and reputation of the restaurant will only be as good as the brand name. Another strategy would be rethinking their mode of delivery. As opposed to only offering cafeteria-style dining experiences, the new owners should venture into online delivery services. The strategy would go a long way in pushing the cafeteria’s sales, being that the primary reason it shut down was due to the pandemic. Online deliveries are viable as they would minimize congestion in the physical outlets making adherence to covid-19 social distancing regulations viable.

Conclusion

In closing, Texas-founded Luby’s Cafeteria is an example of a organization that shut down recently. After many years of service to the Americans, the company announced the decision to shut down its doors to the world in September 2020. The primary reason behind the collapse of Luby’s Cafeteria was the emergence of the covid-19 pandemic. Being that the physical units are average in size, adhering the social distancing protocols became difficult, leading to the decision to close the company. This coupled with prolonged periods of financial struggle led to the closure of Luby’s Cafeteria. In the future, businesses should be flexible enough to adjust to the changing nature and needs of their target clients.

References

Davahli, M. R., Karwowski, W., Sonmez, S., & Apostolopoulos, Y. (2020). The hospitality industry in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic: Current topics and research methods. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 17(20), 7366.

Lankford, A. (2020). The importance of analyzing public mass shooters separately from other attackers when estimating the prevalence of their behavior worldwide. Econ Journal Watch, 17(1), 40.

Olteanu, L. (2020). Rebranding strategies and their boomerang effect—The curious case of Burberry. The Journal of World Intellectual Property, 23(5-6), 777-797.

entered Celie’s life during the Harlem Renaissance

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The Chinese Cultural Values in Individual Roles And Responsibilities As Derived From Confucius Philosophy

Individual duties and responsibilities to our families, friends, government and society are beyond our capacity to act as we deem fit. However, the shared interests and beliefs attained through participation and cooperation both at the individual level, and the societal level founds the responsibilities. To live a fulfilling life, according to early Chinese culture, it is essential to understand the shared beliefs and the common interests of people living in that community. These values determine people’s behaviour, which reflects the roles of individuals to society. Early Chinese culture require individuals to accomplish duties and responsibilities to families, friends, government and society at large by aligning their actions with commitment, harmony, honesty, benevolence, and righteousness, these values are derived from the philosophy of Confucius.

Portraying the acts of honesty, wisdom, righteousness and benevolence from how the people advocated the same during the particular times, explains the sources of these values in the Chinese culture. According to (Cua, n.d) the basic virtues are considered important, leading and guiding, cardinal and very compendious. The core societal value is harmony as it brings coordination between humankind and nature and people of the society. Harmony leads to the growth of other values such as honesty, commitment, benevolence and righteousness. Harmony enhances the relationship between the government and the people of the community. Duties and Responsibilities of individuals were based on the societal and government roles or service to friends and family. The Chinese culture provided the foundation of societal roles, especially in families and service to the society, as well as the government in providing services to the community.

Individuals are expected to accomplish their duties and obligations with honesty through trustworthiness, integrity and credibility. (Lau, 66) In one Confucius quotes says, “I do not see how a man can be acceptable who is untrustworthy in his word”. Through this quote, the Chinese culture understood that honesty is a vital value in gaining trust from society. A man has to be honest to be accepted by the community. Most importantly, in obtaining wealth, an individual should consider other individuals to acquire wealth reasonably through their labour and not by committing crimes or cheating. From the master’s words in (Lau 61), “poor yet delighting in the way, wealthy yet observant of the rites”. Lau still stresses on honesty in acquiring wealth through this saying. The Chinese Culture embraced this value among its people to improve the services to family, friends and society. Honesty in work develops acceptance from the community and trust from friends and family.

According to Confucius philosophy, (Lau 59) gives a quote that, “It is rare indeed for a man with cunning words and an ingratiating face to be benevolent”. The quote links honesty to benevolence. An honest individual could easily acquire the value of benevolence to other people of the society. Honesty is a foundation for one to possess different values. Possession of the value of openness creates a good relationship with the people in the society. When one is honest, they are trusted by individuals, which creates kindness and love to other people of the community. The Chinese culture leadership and governance is based on honesty since its citizens believe an honest government. Honesty can also be applied to familial connections in efforts to make it stronger as it creates trust and kindness towards fellow family members.

Individuals should extend the virtue of benevolence to familial ties and blood connections. Using the Confucius philosophy, (Lau 73) through a quote says, “benevolent man is attracted to benevolence because he feels at home in it”. The quote shows the importance of familial ties and the satisfaction brought by the same. Benevolence is valued in the Chinese culture as it states the benefits of the familial relations, by blood, in friendships and the relationship between people in the society. Benevolence has kept the Chinese people together through their cultural values. Confucius philosophy is the source of these values, and it encourages values such as wisdom, loyalty and self-discipline among people in the society hence instilling peaceful coexistence. The peaceful coexistence motivates individual and societal prosperity. It founds the importance of performing one’s roles to the community in the Chinese culture. When an individual develops benevolence within oneself, it drives them towards the same value as it creates the feeling of completeness and peace, which makes it easy for the individual to dwell in that situation.

A quote from Confucius philosophy says, “when a man sets his heart on benevolence, he will be free of evil” (Lau 73). The quote shows that benevolence is a very vital virtue as it brings one too close to heart. It directs an individual to practice honesty and depart from evil activities. Benevolence makes it possible to express love and kindness from the heart hence gives the sense of equality for every individual. Therefore, loving everyone and being kind to them prevents one from planning evil against one another and instead wish for the best for them and even by being part of their happiness and successes. Benevolence creates the togetherness in the Chinese culture hence justifies the service to one another. Equality indeed supports prosperity for every individual, therefore, frees the society from evil. By bringing family and blood relatives close shows love and commitment to one’s specific duties.

Individuals should accomplish their duties with commitment. Just as Lau 66 says in one of Confucius philosophy quotes, “Faced with what is right, to leave it undone shows lack of courage”. This quote means that individuals should commit themselves to do right regardless of the obstacles. Challenges are a part of human life, and it requires courage to overcome them. When people have the interest and are committed to achieving successful lives, they attain prosperity. In Chinese society, when an individual performs their roles regardless of the challenges they face, it defines courage and becomes an example to others. Failure to tackle the issue at hand describes cowardice; hence, the individual cannot earn respect from society. Confucius founded this value and embraced by Chinese culture. It also states that duties accomplished by a committed individual are usually perfect and to the standard required by the society and government, which contributes to the growth of people and society.

Besides courage in commitment, (Lau 66) uses Confucius Quote that,” Commitment bears positive results”. This quote means that with commitment to duties as dictated by the society and government, one is predisposed to succeed. Chinese culture uses its rites to encourage involvement in its individuals. Just as derived from Confucius philosophy, with the laid-out responsibilities and roles of every individual, commitment is essential. It pushes one to ensure they are successful in their work. This value applies to the functions in the families, to friends and those developed by society. To add on, the government also gives responsibilities to individuals in society, and it is only possible to perform them if one is committed to attaining the set objectives and goals. Committed individuals work to the expectation of the society hence bear positive results of growth and an excellent example to other people. Exemplary commitment to doing things is well advocated in ancient Chinese culture.

Justice and correctness should dictate our daily activities and decisions. Righteousness is key to success in ancient Chinese culture. According to (Lau 63) book, a quote from Confucius analects, says, “When your parents are alive, comply with the rites in serving them; when they die, comply with the rites in burying them; comply with the rites in sacrificing to them”. Confucius, through the quote, stresses on compliance to rites to at all times. Conforming to rights depicts righteousness to the culture. In addition, according to (Tsai, 159) righteousness is the inner core of morality that guides an individual in their lives. The Chinese culture, currently complies to the rites during every occasion, either during ceremonious times and also during funerals and sad moments. The quote gives the importance of righteousness as it is the basis of harmonious relationships with friends, society and the family. The citation uses parents as the example hence showing that being righteous to the rites guides on the roles one has to their families and society. Justice and correctness develop the value of righteousness in people, that help in daily activities and decision making, on matters affecting individuals and society.

The Chinese culture holds their rites in high esteem as it guides them in performing their culture and in their responsibilities in society. As (Lau 70) says, “You will be looked upon as obsequious by others if you observe every detail of the rights in serving the lord”. The quote stresses more on righteousness to the culture’s rites and the impact that one receives from complying with the rites. The quote is from Confucius philosophy but is used by the Chinese culture to ensure respect and obedience to the rites of their culture. As one earns respect from other people because of observing rights, they can serve society and their families with ease. Trust is earned through respect. Confucius provides the importance of righteousness to the community hence is adapted to by the Chinese culture. Righteousness is a virtue that cannot be omitted in our daily life as it dictates the choices made in performing the daily activities.

It is essential to understand the shared beliefs and the common interests of people living in a particular place to understand what individual people owe to their friends, families, societies, and governments. Commitment to one’s responsibilities and roles, honesty towards one’s sources of wealth, benevolence towards people of the family and community, as well as righteousness encompassing correctness and justice, are the virtues aligned with one’s obligations and duties as expected by the society and the government. (Confucius-1.com, 2019) article states that the Confucius analects has been the foundation of Chinese education for almost two thousand years. This statement proves that the Chinese culture values were derived from the Confucius Philosophy. It is from the philosophy that the culture was able to set its societal values in performing individual roles and responsibilities to the society, family, friends and the government.

In general commitment, honesty, benevolence, and righteousness are the basis for peaceful coexistence and fulfilment of obligations to families, friends, government and the society in the Chinese culture and derived from the Confucius Philosophy.

List of References

Confucius-1.com. (2019). Analects of Confucius. [online] Available at: http://www.confucius-1.com/analects/ [Accessed 21 Nov. 2019].

Cua, A. (n.d.). Confucian philosophy, Chinese. Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy.

Lau, D.C. Confucius: The Analects (New York: Penguin, 1979).

Tsai, D. (2005). The bioethical principles and Confucius’ moral philosophy. Journal of Medical Ethics, 31(3), pp.159

The choice to pursue a bachelor’s degree has been one of the most fulfilling. I decided on this path due to my interest in finding out how and why humans think and behave the way they do. My bachelor’s degree has taught me a great deal about human thought process and inspired me to pursue further studies in occupational therapy. I find that psychology is an excellent foundation towards becoming an occupational therapist.

My passion for helping others is the most powerful driving force behind my desire to become an occupational therapist. I specifically want to help people with Parkinson’s, dementia, suffered from TBI’s and stroke and other similar problems. These kinds of illnesses are usually debilitating and take a significant toll on the patients’ mental and physical wellbeing. When individuals who previously lived an independent and self-sufficient life have to rely on others, it could discourage them and slow down their healing process. As an occupational therapist, helping such people get back on their feet literally and figuratively would be very fulfilling. Another personal attribute I consider extremely useful in this career choice is my optimistic nature. I always look on the bright side amid any challenge. I hope to transfer this attitude to my patients, which will help them get in a good mental space essential for healing.

Before narrowing I decided to pursue occupational therapy, I considered further studies in psychology. I would like to work with patients, offering counseling and more hands-on work. For this reason, I found that occupational therapy would be a better fit for my goals. Occupational therapy involves finding interventions for patients through everyday activities. It is more hands-on and involving than psychology. The idea that I can help someone get their life back on track by helping with the most mundane activities brings me a lot of satisfaction.

I have spent some time volunteering in a local hospital shadowing occupational therapists and this confirmed my decision to pursue the same career. This volunteer experience has shown me how much impact occupational therapy has on patients’ lives. Examples of patients in the program include people who had been injured in road accidents, patients in early stages of dementia, elderly patients among others. I saw the significant improvements that the patients made from the time they started therapy to the time they completed their program. The therapists assessed the patients’ needs, came up with appropriate interventions, and assisted patients through these interventions. I saw recoveries that I considered miraculous, and I would be honored to transform the lives of people in their time of need.