The Lord of the Flies: How The Conch Is Used To Highlight Ideas In the

Generally speaking, the conch has represented democracy and collectiveness throughout the novel. Golding uses the conch to highlight many different ideas in the book by setting the story on an island, which is a microcosm of the entire world and the world that the boys lived in before encountering the fateful crash of the plane. The group of boys encounter problems which, even on this island, they are unable to escape from. It is important to remember that at the same time, there is a nuclear war taking place. The ‘long scar’ that ‘smashed into the jungle’ implies that the island has already been ruined permanently. It seems as though the attempt to remove the boys from a war-filled world has failed because the island is already contaminated by the crash of the plane, which was shot down by an enemy plane, this is somewhat related to warfare. The boys now need to survive on the island and this causes problems revolving around social order, as t here are no adults present. In that case, some of the problems are attempted to be resolved by using the conch. Soon after Ralph discovers the conch, it becomes a symbol of unity and collectivity, because it is used to gather any survivors for an assembly. The assembly itself at the beginning of the novel shows that the children still have the civil codes and rules of society engraved within them. This means that the boys were at that time, behaving within the acceptable boundaries of society. However, the fact that they are still boys imply that the civil codes have not yet been fully engraved and developed inside them. During the first assembly, ‘it seems to [Ralph] that [they] ought to have a chief to decide things.’ Even though this is a sensible idea, there is st... ...We begin to notice this when Ralph himself, begins realizing that Jack is using more power than he should by arranging a hunting party and abandoning the fire which could have gained the attention of a passing ship to rescue them. Consequently, Ralph decides to hold a ‘meeting’ that ‘must not be fun, but business.’ Another important message is that sometimes one loses the ability to control the evil within them. This is evident during the time when the group of boys ‘were all jabbing at Robert’ who was imitating the sow. At first, this is taken light-heartedly, but as the ‘game’ proceeds, Ralph feels that ‘the desire to squeeze and hurt is over-mastering’ and Robert starts to squeal in ‘real pain,’ ‘’Ow! Stop it! You’re hurting.’’ In a way, this illustrates great corruption in society as Ralph, who is the chief, has the craving of hurting people.

The Taste of Watermelon

The story was written by Borden Deal, who died in 1985. He was an American novelist and writer of short stories. The story was set in the United States of America in a small village of the countryside. The main characters in the short story were, Freddy Grey and J. D. who are the narrators friends, Mr. Wills who is the father of the beautiful girl, and of course the beautiful girl – Willadean. The narrator has known his guy friends, Freddy Grey and J. D. for years since he moved to this place and started going to school. Willadean is this girl that the narrator is interested in, she is tall and slender. Mr. Wills who is Willadean’s father who everybody was afraid of. He has bright, fierce eyes under heavy eyebrows. The story is about this boy (the narrator) who moved to this certain place and started going to school, was never interested into girls, but he did have an eye on this girl called Willadean. Last year she was nothing compared to who she is now. The narrator mentions how her walk started to turn him on, and how beautiful she really was. But he was afraid to get close to her, cause of her father Mr. Wills who would shake anybody’s soul inside them, with his yelling and always being angry. He had been growing this specific watermelon for a really long time but the narrator decides to steal it at night, most probably to get closer to Willadean, to show that he is not afraid of Mr. Wills where as he really is. He brings his friends Freddy Gray and J. D. with him for support and to help him out, the boys tell him not to do this terrible thing, but unfortunately, he does it. In the end Mr. Wills gets sad after finding out that his watermelon has been kidnapped and bursts out into tears. The narrator does not get closer to Willadean unfortunately and doesn’t even try anymore. The style of the story is written in 3rd person. It uses a lot of hyperbole sentences to make it sound and look more dramatic has really warm atmosphere which really gives the love atmosphere away, which explains a lot of details in certain paragraphs of the story ‘The taste of watermelon’. Maybe the narrator would be able to add some alliteration to make it seem more dramatic. And I would add some more details about the characters to get a much better idea of the characters and be able to picture the characters in your head, to make it seem much easier to you. I enjoyed reading this story. I found it interesting because of the theme of the story, which is basically – love. Because this boy (the narrator) is in love with this girl Willadean and to get closer to her, he decides to steal her father’s watermelon which he had been growing for a really long time. As well as making him extremely mad for once to see the father’s reaction. In the end, the father burst into tears and was very sad for losing his ‘baby’ watermelon; he loved his watermelon so much that Willadean thought he loved the watermelon more than his own daughter. It just really interested me. The Taste of Watermelon Taste of Watermelon is written by Borden Deal. Taste of Watermelon is written in the year of 1979. It is a short story. He is an American author who is dead! He has been dead 25 years. The Taste of Watermelon is set in the country side where a bunch of farmers live. It is set in the states because of the language used. For example ‘golly’ and ‘gosh’. It is set in around the 1970s, the time it was written in. There are 4 main characters I would say. There is Mr. Will who is an old man who is a farmer and every night he guards his huge watermelon with a gun. Then there is a boy who steals the watermelon and eats it up with his friends. He then after he steals it feels really bad and collects the seeds from the floor and gives them to Mr. Wills The story is basically about a boy who steals the watermelon from Mr. Wills and together with his friends; Freddy, Gary, and J. D. , they eat as much as they can of the watermelon and destroy whatever is left. The boy goes home and watches Mr. Wills as he realizes that his watermelon has been stolen. He freaks out and starts destroying all the other watermelons and the boy after a night of not sleeping together with his dad collects all the seeds he could find and gives them to Mr. Wills to plant a field of watermelons for the following year. Mr. wills accepts his apology and is pleased to hear that the boy would love to help Mr. Wills in planting all these seeds. Mr. Wills is happy ?. The author uses 1st person. I personally prefer reading stories written in first person so I as the reader can make a character. When a story is written in first person it is usually more emotional and personal. The language used in this story is pleasant. It is not to formal or informal. The dialogue is funny as it is written in Old American Farmer Language like when they use ‘golly’ and ‘gosh’ I find it very amusing. There isn’t too much description in this story which I absolutely hate so ? I think the main point of this story is to entertain. Yes there is a morale behind everything like in this case it is basically don’t steal and if you do have the courage and decency to own up. But still it seems to me as if the idea of this story is that the writer wanted to write a story that would interest people and they would enjoy reading it. I don’t think that he wanted to send a message across to his readers. It was a great story and I really enjoyed it. It was a bit on the longish side but still enjoyable. The idea was original and really interesting to read. There was a good amount of suspense in this story and it was balanced out between boring bits and funny of interesting bits. As I said before the description wasn’t over done which I can’t stand so on a whole it deserves a ?

Example of profit growth in a UK retailer - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 7 Words: 2035 Downloads: 2 Date added: 2017/06/26 Category Finance Essay Type Analytical essay Level High school Did you like this example? Title: Corporate Finance à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" Topps Tiles 1. Topps Tiles is one of the leading UK retailer and distributor of ceramic tiles, wooden flooring and related products. It is a FTSE 250 index company. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Example of profit growth in a UK retailer" essay for you Create order Topps Tiles is a highly cash generative company with rapidly increasing earnings per share. Over the last five years, its earnings per share have increased from 2.6 p to 11.3 p à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" annualised growth of 44% (See exhibit 1 for earning per share and dividend history). Its cash inflows have also increased substantially. In the year ended 2 Oct 2004, Topps Tiles had cash inflows of  £13.3m before financing, a significant growth in cash inflows over the corresponding figure of  £10.3m for 69 weeks ended 27 Sep 2003. The cash balance at 2 Oct 2004 was  £29.6m as compared to  £18.6m on 27 Sep 2003, a 50% increase in one year. The company has long term interest bearing debt of  £6.5m only, which means it has negative net debt of - £23.1m. The cash balances are so high that the interest received at  £0.93m is more than twice of interest paid at  £0.4m. While the companyà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s profits and cash are rising, it is finding tough to employ them at new projects. The increase in cash balance is even after  £8m on capital expenditure. Faced with a rising profits and lesser options to employ cash, the management of Topps Tiles has decided to distribute increasing amounts of cash to shareholders in terms of higher dividends. Exhibit 1 shows the growth in profit after tax, which is in line with growth in earning per share. This shows that earning per share and dividend per share growth is not because of reduction in number of shares. Exhibit 1 also shows dividend cover over the five year period. The dividend cover has decreased from 3.05 in 2000 to 1.41 in 2004. This shows not only that the management wants to return excess cash to investors in terms of higher dividends but also that it is confident of generating enough profits and cash in future to meet high dividends. The company mentioned in its 2004 Annual Report that the Board is committed to maintaining progressive dividend p olicy (Topps Tiles, pg. 3). One of the ways of measuring success of dividend policy would be to analyse abnormal share price movement in two days following dividend announcement. Increase in share price in line with increase in dividend is probably the indicator that the dividend policy is successful. Also higher current dividend may signal greater expected earnings (Dickens, Casey Newman, 2003). Topps Tiles announced its last dividend on 30 Nov 2004. Exhibit 2 shows the percent change in Topps Tilesà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢share price, General Retailer Index and FTSE All Share Index over the two day period surrounding 30 Nov 2004. It is better to compare Topps performance with the General Retailer sector than overall market. The two day change in Topps Tilesà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ share price was 16.3% as compared to 0.5% change in General Retailer index and -0.2% change in FTSE ALL Share Index. Hence the abnormal movement in Topps Tilesà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ share price with respect to Gen eral Retailer Index was 15.8% in the period surrounding dividend announcement. This significantly high upward movement proves that Topps Tilesà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ dividend policy is successful and investors have now more faith in managementà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s ability to maintain and increase high dividends. 2. One of the ways of measuring success of dividend policy would be to analyse the change in share price with respect to change in industry sector index. Managers should compare the percent change in Topps Tiles share price with index over the medium term. In established and mature companies, increase in dividend increases share price. If the percent change in Topps Tiles share price is statistically higher than the percent change in sector index price, then the management has done well to convey the message to shareholders and market in general through dividend policy. Also managers should compare Topps Tilesà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ abnormal share price movement near dividend a nnouncement date with abnormal share price movements near dividend announcement dates of some of its peer group companies. If abnormal percentage increase in price in two days following the dividend announcement is more than the corresponding movement in peer companiesà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ share price, then Topps Tiles dividend policy is successful. Managers could also look at change in profile of shareholders over time to analyse the impact of dividend policy. There are many institutional funds that invest in dividend yielding stocks only. If the ownership has changed in favour of income and dividend favouring financial institutions, then increase in dividend policy is successful. Another indicator of successful policy would be adoption of similar dividend policy by per group. Companies are many times forced to adopt better dividend policies of their peer companies because of market expectations. If after Topps Tiles adoption of higher dividend payout policy, other companies hav e also adopted similar dividend policy over time then Topps Tiles dividend policy is successful. 3. According to Dividend Growth Model, a firmà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s share price is the present value of its future dividends. The mathematical representation of the above statement is Share price = D1 / (r-g) (I) Where, D1 = expected dividend next period r = return on equity g = dividend growth rate (in perpetuity) D1 = Dividend in current period (D) * (1+g) In case of Topps Tiles, the company announced a dividend of 8.0 pence (D) for the year ended 27 Sep 2004. The one year growth rate of dividend was 130%. The expected return on equity, r = 10% Using equation I and assuming that current one-year growth in dividend is maintained till perpetuity, we get Expected share price = 8*(1+130%) / (10% 130%) Since the growth in dividend is more than the return on equity, the denominator is a negative number and the above equation is not valid in this case. As the growth of earnings is more than the increase in discounting factor, the Dividend Growth Model would give an infinite share price. The annualised dividend growth over the five year period is 74.5%. Since this is also more than the expected rate of equity, the Dividend Growth Model would again fail to give a proper share price. The share price on 7th April 2005 is 184.5 p (Source: https://uk.finance.yahoo.com/q?s=TPT.L). Since this a finite number, if we use Dividend Growth Model then the market is assuming that over longer run Topps Tiles would not be able to sustain such high dividend growth rates and its growth rate would be lower than the expected return on equity. If we now reverse calculate the expected dividend growth rate for a share price of 184.5 p, we get 184.5 = 8*(1+g1)/(0.1- g1) g1 = market expected dividend growth rate = 5.4% Market expects Topps Tiles to grow slightly above average economy growth rate over perpetuity and this is logical as no com pany can ever grow more than average economy growth rate. Moreover in the longer term of 10-15 years, Topps Tiles growth is linked to growth in housing market. Housing market growth over longer term will match growth in economy and population. 4. UK has enjoyed one of the best economic conditions among OECD countries in the recent times. Its economy is strong with increase in companiesà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ earnings. Employment is at high levels and salaries have also started to increase. Inflation rate is also around 2 % only. Topps Tilesà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ market is very much related to the housing market in UK. UK has also enjoyed lower interest rates in 2002 and 2003, allowing more people to take higher mortgages. Lower mortgage costs have created more demand for houses. House prices have witnessed double digit growth rate each year in the last few years and thus created a further demand to refurbish houses. Topps Tiles products à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" ceramic tiles and wooden floorings à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" are widely used in house construction and refurbishment. Many house owners have used cash release, due to remortgaging, for house refurbishment. So it can be safely assumed that stable and strong economy with rising house prices have helped Topps Tiles perform excellently. Its cash inflows have increased significantly over the years. The company is confident of maintaining strong demand for its products and its ability to generate high profits. Topps Tiles have decided to reward its shareholders with increasing dividends. In absence of suitable number of investments and ever increasing cash inflows, it has not only increased dividends in line with increase in growth but also at a rate higher than growth in earnings. 5. A listed firmà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s ownership can be broadly categorised into the following categories: High inside ownership. High inside ownership of directors and management should reduce agency problem (Jensen Meckling, 1976). Management uses dividends to reduce agency costs. So when insiders have large stakes, there is very less or no agency costs and hence less need for dividends. Also inside owners can take compensation in other ways which will not result in similar compensation to other shareholders. Dickens, Casey and Newman (2003) found out that inside ownership has negative relationship to dividend yield. Low inside ownership but concentrated outside ownership. Managers in this case may be pressured to act in line with large shareholders so as to safeguard their own jobs. Stagecoach plc is a listed company. Though it is managed by a management with not substantial shareholding, its Chairman has a large stake in the company. Last year the company paid a large special dividend. This allowed Chairman to earn a significant income without having to reduce his stake holding through share selling. Low inside ownership with diverse outside ownership. In the above two scenarios, management is more in contact with major owners and there are less agency costs. Due to diverse ownership in this case, it is very difficult for managers to communicate properly with majority of shareholders. So they use dividends as a device to signalà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s firm value. Intrinsic model hold that a share price is the present value of its future dividends and so increase or decrease in dividend should result in increase or decrease in market value respectively. So in this case, the managers have more incentives to increase dividends. 6. Investors look at signals to reduce information gap between management and themselves. They look for indicators about business performance and management uses dividend declaration to reduce information gap between them and investors. One of the best ways to remove agency problem is through the dividend policy. Stated dividend policy and dividend declarations help management to communicate its assessment of future business potential. Dividend payments allow investors to judge the thoughts of the management. The investors know that a firm which reports good earnings and pays a regular dividend is confirming in action what it has reported in accounting profits. Due to recent corporate scandals, investors value the information content of dividends more than the reported earnings. Also a consistent dividend policy is better than looking at one dividend alone. Managers can manipulate earnings and pay high dividend in short term. But if the company is facing serious troubles, they canà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t continue doing so as the firm will face serious cash flow problems. A company which has regularly increased dividends commands more investor faith. Also by increasing dividends, managements send the signal that they feel comfortable about future earnings. If a management is not sure about potential earnings, it would not increase dividend because it may not be able to meet its dividend commitment going forward. Exhibit 1: Topps Tilesà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ profit after tax, earning per share and dividend growth over the last five years. 53 weeks ended 3 June 2000 52 weeks ended 2 June 2001 52 weeks ended 1 June 2002 Profroma 52 weeks ended 27 Sep 2003 53 weeks ended 2 Oct 2004 Five Year Compounded Annual growth Psot tax profit,  £m 5.53 6.55 8.04 13.12 25.65 Change, % 18.4% 22.7% 63.2% 95.5% 46.8% Basic earning per share, p 2.62 2.96 3.58 5.82 11.30 Change, % 13.0% 20.9% 62.6% 94.2% 44.1% Dividend per share, p 0.86 1.00 1.43 3.48 8.00 Change, % 16.3% 43.0% 143.4% 129.9% 74.6% Dividend cover 3.05 2.96 2.50 1.67 1.41 Source: Topps Tilesà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ Annual Reports for 2004, 2002 2001 (https://www.toppstiles.co.uk/3/frame-0financial.html) Exhibit 2: Topps Tilesà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ share price, General Retailer Index and FTSE All Share Index Date Topps Tiles share price, p Two day % change General Retailer index Two day % change FTSE All Share Index Two day % change 29-Nov-04 209.82 2121.0 2365.33 30-Nov-04 214.11 2108.6 2345.21 01-Dec-04 244.10 16.3% 2131.8 0.5% 2359.47 -0.2% Source: www.uk.finance.yahoo.com Bibliography and references Dickens, R.N., Casey, K.M. and Newman, J.A.; à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"Bank dividend policy: Explanatory factorsà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢, Quarterly Journal of Business and Economics, Lincoln: Winter 2003, Vol. 41, Iss 1/2 Jensen, M.C., and Meckling, W.H., à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"Theory of the firm: managerial behaviour, agency costs and ownership structureà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢, Journal of Financial Economics, October 1976. Topps Tiles, 2004 Annual Report (https://www.toppstiles.co.uk/3/frame-0financial.html)