7.Use extended examples to compare and contrast the characteristics of Essay

7.Use extended examples to compare and contrast the characteristics of a growing and a mature product market. Discuss how different product market phases affect a companys cost recovery - Essay Example Page 74. 2002). Every economic entity or product market has its own typical variables. As Jack Welch sums it up, â€Å"Every job you take is a gamble that could increase your options or shut them down.†(2005. Page 264). On this â€Å"drive to maturity† (Rostow.2008.Page 9), the various stages of development are characterized by different features, both qualitative as well as quantitative. When the market is growing, or emerging as the jargon puts it, there is hectic industrial activity, growth rates aim higher, profit margins are low and investment multipliers are in great demand, since there is an increasing need for plough back. There is a high appetite for investment, impacting the rates of interest. Labour costs are low, non renewable natural resources are abundant, and economic activity mainly uses natural resources. Often, a growing market is characterized by a higher degree of inflation than a mature market. The growing market manifests high potential for volume growth since it addresses first time users to a great extent. There is high appetite for products, and entrepreneurs and marketers use the opportunity for test marketing, new product launches, preference- indifference surveys and market research to arrive at optimum product offerings. There is potential to grow both horizontally and vertically- which means that expansion of user base through market penetration and per capita volume growth, both are possible in a growing market. Population grows at a faster rate than in mature markets. Market penetration and development of upcountry markets requires ongoing infrastructural development, which again, is an essential feature of an emerging or growing market. Environmental concerns start to raise their ugly head, but are put on the backburner mostly. It would be interesting to discuss the car industry category while

Mr and Mrs Andrews Painting Analysis

Mr and Mrs Andrews Painting Analysis I chose to make the comparison between Gainsboroughs Mr Mrs Andrews and Shonebares Mr Mrs Andrews Without Their Heads because although the titles are similar and the concept is similar, there are distinct differences. The fundamental differences stem from the fact that Shonebare used mannequins, whereas Gainsborough painted in oil on canvas. Shonebare has excluded the landscape whereas Gainsborough has included his beloved landscape which is an important part of his paintings. These two artists are from two different backgrounds, different races and 235 years apart. The two pieces are an ocean apart: Gainsboroughs painting is hung in The National Gallery, London while Shonebares work is installed in The National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa. Similarities The important differences in the two pieces are Gainsborough has a landscape in the background, whereas Shonebare has excluded this which alters the subject completely. For Gainsborough, the landscape was extremely important and by combining portraiture with landscape, this helped him to cover his love of landscape and at the same time earned a living, but it also gave us an historical insight into the landscapes in that period. Gainsboroughs sitters almost appear secondary, with the Andrews sitting under the oak tree and just about appearing in the portrait. The fact that Shonebare excludes the landscape is significant as the landscape depicts the wealth and status of Mr Andrews and by excluding this, Shonebare has appropriated a degree of this power and wealth. Gainsborough cursed the face business but Shonebares pieces without heads would not have worked in Gainsboroughs time for the simple fact that portraiture was popular in the mid 18th century. Portraitures were a way of indic ating to the world that a person had arrived. The face/eyes are the one thing that helps to give a human being identity it is like the window of a persons character and soul and by excluding this, there is an emptiness in Shonebares story, although one could argue that by being faceless the viewers can decide on the characters for themselves. Another significant factor in Shonebares Mr Mrs Andrew is by not having any heads, the eyes are drawn immediately to the beautiful vibrant fabrics. The Dutch Wax fabrics are important signifiers of Africa in Shonebares installation and although this is associated with Africa, it is in fact printed fabric based on Indonesians batik, manufactured in the Netherlands, Britain and other countries and exported to West Africa. This cloth has proved to be a rich and adaptable material, both literally and metaphorically, and it is vibrant and theatrical, although this particular installation is incongruous as the material does not marry up with the pe riod designs of the mid 18th century as it would have been highly unlikely gentlemen and ladies would have dressed in clothing from the sub-Continent, even though some of these materials are extremely expensive. Include in here Shonebares technique(why did he use material?)/Gainsboroughs brushstrokes (how has he managed to achieve such reality in his fabric? There is also something quite unsavoury about decapitated heads with the bodies still looking alive and I find the Shonebares mannequins quite surreal and disturbing having looked at this several times. Why however did Shonebare use headless characters? One of the reasons I expect could well be he wanted the characters to be mysterious but it is more likely that because Gainsboroughs painting is a celebration of deference and by being headless, Shonebare has somehow deflated their status. The eyes of Gainsboroughs Mr Mrs Andrews are staring straight at viewers, inviting them into their world. Expand here. In comparison to her neck, however, Gainsboroughs Mrs Andrews has extremely narrow shoulders which seems out of proportion to the rest of her body, and I wonder if this was naturally so or if it was to underscore that she was the subordinate of the two. Mrs Andrews faint smile indicates decorum although her narrow shoulders and posture reveals a degree of subjugation and possibly domination by her confident, no-nonsense husband. Shonebares Mrs Andrews posture has revealed a more confident looking woman with the shoulders being broader and the fact that the couple looks more equal has automatically transformed Shonebares mannequins into the 21st century. Gainsboroughs painting on the other hand is an anachronism of the past with the man standing next to his belongings: his wife, dog and gun and his land ownership in the background. Expand on Gainsborough here. Althou gh Shonebares installation is inside a building and there is just a plain background, he has managed to conjure up a feeling of a couple being outside of a building and the Rococo style bench could well have assisted in making this possible. When I look at Shonebares piece, I am thinking landed gentry but on looking again, my eyes tells me that there is incongruity as these bright colours would be classified as far too garish for these upwardly mobile folks in the middle of the English countryside. It shows Mrs Andrews in fine silk clothing, sitting on a Rococo style bench, sitting primly, while Mr Andrews is portrayed as a casually dressed gentleman with a dog and a gun, standing proudly before his sprawling land. Expand on both Mr Andrews clothes, figure and posture. I saw Mr Mrs Andrews at the National Gallery in late November 2009 and it is a relatively small oil on canvas, measuring 69.8 x 119.4 cms. It lacked that stiffness and grandeur associated with huge canvasses of that period. The young couple are shown in their Suffolk surroundings and it shows a distinctive style of portraiture, which does convey a degree of spontaneity and casualness, although that is not strictly true as the painting is highly organised. Robert Andrews would have been eager to display his latest agricultural advancement with the mechanical seed drill which was unusual in the mid-18 th century. Expand on Gainsboroughs landscape. Why did Shonebare not have a landscape/background? Why did he chose to have a 3-d installation? Could he have achieved a realistic landscape of that size in post-Modern Britain? Both artists are from completely different backgrounds and eras and to understand these pieces a little better, it is important to look in further details at their lives. Yinka Shonebare MBE was born 234 years later, in London in 1962 to Nigerian parents and lived in Battersea until his parents relocated to Lagos when he was 3. His father, a lawyer, wanted him to also study law but at 17 Shonebare returned to London and at 19 he chose to study art. He received his BA from Byam Shaw (now part of Central St Martins College of Art Design) and his MA from Goldsmith College, London University. A month into his art course he became seriously ill with a rare viral infection which attacked his spine and left him temporarily paralysed. He is now partially paralysed and walks using a stick. While at art school Shonebare was questioned by a lecturer about his choice of subject matter and why was it not more African? This started his journey of using Dutch Wax fabric as an apt metaphor for the entangled relationship between Africa and Europe in his installations. It has proved to be a rich and adaptable material, with the flexibility to be used in his installations, his paintings and in other projects he has undertaken. Shonebare works across the media of painting, sculpture, photography and filmmaking and has won several prizes, shortlisted for the Turner prize in 2004 and has been awarded the commission to make a work for the Trafalgar Square Fourth plinth in 2010. In 2005 he was awarded the MBE an award he has chosen to use as part of his artistic identity and uses this wherever his name is written. Thomas Gainsborough was born in Sudbury, Suffolk, in 1727, fifth son of a cloth merchant. Having a keen interest in drawing as a child, at the tender age of 13, he was sent to London to study art in 1740. He was a founding member of the Royal Academy, but unlike his contemporary, Joshua Reynolds, he was never knighted. Gainsboroughs natural preference was always for landscape painting, but it was impossible for an English artist to make a living painting landscapes and so in 1748 he moved back to Suffolk where be became known as a portrait painter. He hated portrait painting and, like Reynolds, this was his main form of income but he felt it bounded him to the wishes of his sitters. .Nothing is worse than gentlemen I do portraits to live and landscapes because I love them, Gainsborough once said to a friend. In another letter to a friend he complained about the pressure of society portraiture, which he described as the cursd Face Business. Gainsborough was one of the most important English artists of his time. He was impressed by the natural rhythm of Dutch landscape paintings and became a dedicated admirer of Van Dyck. The focus of country life as a centre of power and privilege was faithfully reflected in Gainsboroughs art, and in Mr Mrs Andrews the landscape reflected this power and self-esteem. In this painting, his most famous, it shows Robert Andrews, Gainsboroughs childhood friend, with his wife Frances on their estate. They had been married on 10th November 1748 when he was 23 and she was 16 and it is believed that this was painted soon after their marriage. Robert Andrews inherited half of his fathers estate and the other half of the neighbouring pieces of land from his wifes father, William Carter. In Mr Mrs Andrews Gainsborough succeeded in painting both a portrait of the client and of the landscape which is natural and in fact it is possible to relocate the very tree under which the Andrews sat. Unlike the French artificial geometric gardens, he was concerned with freeing painting from any kind of stylisation although Gainsborough sometimes included his own landscape from his imagination.

America Needs to Invest the Social Security Trust Fund Essay -- Argume

America Needs to Invest the Social Security Trust Fund Our nation ensures social welfare through Social Security. However, the United States cannot ensure the welfare of its own welfare system. To save Social Security, Americans in general do not favor an increase in the payroll tax, a cut in benefits or an increase in the retirement age. Furthermore, Americans are relying upon Social Security as their sole source of income at increasingly alarming rates. Social Security is intended to supplement retiree income, not account for 100% of it. Through elimination of the potential options, that leaves one necessary action: invest the Social Security trust fund in the stock market. According to the San Francisco Chronicle (Social Security, Sec. C, p 16), many people are concerned that investing Social Security's trust fund in the stock market will not only jeopardize their future income, but would result in the federal government influencing economic decisions. These concerns are uneducated assumptions. Under the proposed plan to invest a portion of the Social Security trust fund in the stock market, only new and previously unanticipated Social Security money would be invested. Part of The President’s plan entails allocating "more than $2.7 trillion in expected budget surpluses over the next 15 years or 62% of the total to directly bolster Social Security's cash reserves. Of that, nearly $700 billion or 25% would be invested in the stock market." This plan would eliminate the risk of losing payroll tax money because only budget surplus revenue would be invested. Many who oppose The President's plan have lived through the Great Depression, one of the bleakest times in American history. While the Great Depression was triggered ... ... belongs to us, the people. Therefore the government, which holds the key to Social Security and in essence, our future, needs to adjust the system to the needs of it's beneficiaries. Don't cut benefits, as many Americans rely on Social Security for a large portion of their income. Don't increase the retirement age because more and more Americans are retiring in their 50's to play golf in Florida or do whatever, wherever. And don't increase the tax we pay, because it's already being grumbled about by many Americans. But do increase our retirement income. It's time to accept some greater risk, just as the founding fathers did when declaring the colonies the United States of America and to take the leap of faith by investing in the stock market. BIBLIOGRAPHY "A look at the plan to save Social Security." San Francisco Examiner, January 31, 1999,Sec. C, p. 16.

Blue Nile and Diamond Retailing Essay

1.What are some key success factors in diamond retailing? How do Blue Nile, Zales, and Tiffany compare on those dimensions? Key drivers of customer purchases in diamond retailing include quality and range of products offered, reputation, professional advice offered, and customer perception and emotional bonds, including a positive buying experience and customer service. Success is also dependent upon obtaining economies of scale through such avenues as preferential access to resources, an effective supply chain and marketing strategy, as well as an ability to control facilities and operating costs and manage inventory effectively. Blue Nile’s, Zales’, and Tiffany’s key success factors in dealing with customers are related to the characteristics of their individual target markets. Blue Nile, for example, offers high quality diamonds and fine jewelry online that are comparable to Tiffany’s but with markups that are lower than Tiffany’s and Zales’. Blue Nile, which was founded in 1999, focuses on customers who want good value and who prefer to shop conveniently from home and without incurring high pressure sales tactics. They also provide customers with easy-to-understand jewelry education, as well as the ability to design custom jewelry. However, its customers must forego a hands-on purchasing experience as well as the instant delivery offered by Tiffany’s and Zales’ retail locations. Tiffany, which opened in 1834, is an independent, specialty jeweler that offers premium-priced diamond rings, gemstone and fine jewelry, watches, and crystal and sterling silver serving pieces. Tiffany’s exclusivity and prestigious brand image, extensive service, and fashionable locations allow it to maintain and gain luxury market share domestically and globally. In contrast, Zales, a specialty retailer of diamond fashion jewelry and diamond rings in the U.S. since 1924, has high name-brand recognition and appeal to value-conscious shoppers. Zales’ chain of retail venues for its middle-class target customers includes Zales Jewelers, Gordon’s, and Piercing Pagoda’s mall-based kiosks that appeal to teenagers. Zales offers more moderately priced and promotion-driven products compared to Blue Nile and Tiffany. It also competes with discounters such as Costco. Economies of scale and sourcing are achieved differently by each company. Blue Nile has the most cost-effective business model because of exclusive supplier relationships that allow the online retailer to offer a manufacturer’s diamond inventory without purchasing it until needed. In addition to low warehouse and inventory costs, Blue Nile avoids the facilities investment expense and operating costs of the bricks-and-mortar retailers. U.S. retailer Zales is able to obtain economies of scale because of its large number of stores, but high inventory costs due to extreme changes in product offerings and marketing strategy in 2006-2007 confused its traditional customers and severely hurt its bottom line. Tiffany sustains high profit margins through its globally dispersed locations and online presence, established third- party sourcing as well as in-house manufacturing which provided 60 percent of its products, and by utilizing centralized inventory management to maintain tight con trol over its supply chain and reduce operational risk. 2.What do you think of the fact that Blue Nile carries over 30,000 stones priced at $2,500 or higher while almost 60 percent of the products sold from the Tiffany Website are priced at around $200? Which of the two product categories is better suited to the strengths of the online channel? Blue Nile is able to successfully offer diamonds priced up to $1 million or more online by emphasizing the large variety of certified high-quality stones available and a markup that is significantly lower than that of its store-front competitors. The main source of Blue Nile’s competitive advantage over traditional, store-based retail jewelers is that it has lower facilities cost and inventory expense. Only one central warehouse is needed to stock its entire inventory although outbound transportation costs are high because it provides customers free overnight shipping. Additionally, through exclusive supply relationships, the firm is allowed to display for sale the inventory of some of the world’s largest diamond manufacturers/wholesalers. Selling high-priced diamonds online works for Blue Nile because its competitive strategy is based on the priorities of its target market customers. These online customers want high-quality diamonds, but place strong emphasis on receiv ing good value for the cost and on product variety, are willing to wait for their jewelry, and often prefer to customize their purchases. In comparison, Tiffany successfully uses a combination of over 180 exclusive worldwide retail stores and an online channel to benefit from the strengths of both channels. Approximately 48 percent of the company’s net sales come from products containing diamonds, with more than half of retail sales coming from high-end jewelry with an average sale price of over $3,000. Its online offerings, however, focus on non-gemstone, sterling silver jewelry with an average price of $200. The company offers a wide variety of these low demand items with high demand uncertainty, and they account for more than half of its online sales. Online sales are facilitated by Tiffany’s already-in-place centralized inventory management system, in-house manufacturing, and strong supply chain and information infrastructure. These lower-priced products increase the firm’s potential customer base and improve margins by reducing operating costs. Tiffany’s sales of sterling silver jewelry priced around $200 are more suited for the strengths of the online channel than are Blue Nile’s thousands of stones priced at $2,500 and above. With the growing popularity of e-business, competition with Blue Nile’s sole business model is increasing. In addition, with its well-to-do but price-conscious customer base, the company is more affected by the effects on difficult economic times on purchasing behavior than is Tiffany with its less price-sensitive global customers who demand luxury goods at any price. Blue Nile is also more susceptible to the rising costs of diamonds and of labor because it does not purchase the majority of its diamonds until a customer decides on a purchase. 3.Given that Tiffany stores have thrived with their focus on selling high-end jewelry, what do you think of the failure of Zales with its upscale strategy in 2006? Tiffany’s upscale strategy, affluent customer base, and business model evolved over a period of more than 100 years, and changes such as adding an online distribution channel were made gradually and as an extension of Tiffany’s current business practices. Zales, on the other hand, handled a strategic shift to upscale retailing within a time period of one year and failed drastically as shown by the following chain of events. Feeling the pressure from discounters Wal-Mart and Costco, Zales decided to give up its long-time strategy of selling promotion-driven diamond fashion jewelry and diamond rings in order to pursue high-end customers. In this 2005 ambitious move to become more upscale, Zales invested heavily in higher-priced diamond and gold jewelry with higher margins and dumped its inventory of lower-value pieces. Led by an ambitious CEO, this new strategy initially sounded as if it would work. However, trying abruptly to undo an 81-year-old strategy and brand reputation for selling moderately-priced items was doomed to fail. The company lost many of its traditional customers who were put off by the suddenly higher prices, and it did not win the new ones it had targeted. As a result, Zales abandoned its new strategy in 2006, hired a new CEO, and began transitioning a return to its traditional strategy of attracting the value-oriented customer. This change involved selling off nearly $50 million in discontinued upscale inventory and spending nearly $120 million on new moderately-priced inventory. The actions severely affected Zales’ bottom line for at least the next two years, not to mention alienating its middle-class customer base. The situation was further compounded by rising fuel prices and falling home prices in 2007 which caused a decrease in consumer discretionary spending. 4.What do you think of Tiffany’s decision to open smaller retail outlets, focusing on high-end products, to reach smaller affluent areas in the United States? Opening small, fashionable retail outlets in smaller affluent cities is a good move for Tiffany. Doing so provides the company a quicker, more cost-effective way to expand its store base and its target-market reach in the United States. A smaller store format offers lower operating costs and a shorter payback period on capital investment, both of which help increase margins and returns. With it strong brand equity attracting well-to-do customers and with efficiencies in terms of a high ¬Ã‚ ¬-margin product mix, lower inventories are required, faster turnover results, sales per square foot are higher, and overall store productivity is increased. 5.Which of the three companies do you think was best structured to deal with the downturn in 2009? Zales was most affected by the 2009 economic downturn in the U.S. which severely damaged the country’s retail jewelry industry. The Texas-based company, with retail stores located only in North America, was more vulnerable to adverse U.S. market conditions than the geographically-dispersed Tiffany and Blue Nile. The company was still trying to regain market share among its middle-class customers and handle merchandising issues in light of its failed strategy begun several years earlier to go upscale. Additionally, a new CEO in 2006 who began the company’s return to its traditional strategy based on diamond fashion jewelry and moderately-priced diamond rings, had not been able to restore the company to profitability. Blue Nile, with its already low operating costs and small inventory holdings, was in a better position than Zales to weather the economic downtown. Because Blue Nile does not purchase the majority of its diamonds until a customer places an order, its bottom line was not as severely impacted by customers who began purchasing less expensive jewelry and by those who stopped buying completely because of strong price-sensitivity. Before the downturn, the company had already increased its international Web site presence by launching sites in Canada and the United Kingdom and opened an office in Dublin. The Dublin office offered free shipping to several western European nations, while the U.S. office handled shipping to Asian-Pacific countries. In spite of the above, Blue Nile saw its first decline in sales in the third quarter of 2008. Tiffany, as a jeweler and specialty retailer, was the best structured of the three companies to deal with the 2009 U.S. economic downtown. There is not as strong a correlation between its sales and consumer confidence levels as there is with Blue Nile’s customers. With over 100 stores in international markets, Tiffany’s operations are much more globally diversified than Blue Nile’s. In addition to its extensive global and domestic retail outlets, Tiffany also has the benefit of its e-business distribution channel and of catalog sales. With its strong business model and high margins on a broad range of offerings, tightly controlled supply chain, and the exceptional power of its brand image, Tiffany fared better than Zales and Blue Nile during the economic downturn. 6.What advice would you give to each of the three companies regarding their strategy and structure? In light of the previous answers, I would recommend the following: 1) Zales needs to expand to markets in other than North America to lessen the severity of the effects of future economic downturns in the U.S. With its longstanding presence in the U.S. retail jewelry industry, it should also focus on reinforcing the value of its brand with consumers in its target market. Zales should increase its marketing efforts and continue to expand its e-commerce business. This will generate revenue and improve its margins by lowering operating costs. 2) Blue Nile should continue focusing on its low price for high-quality diamonds and on its unique online customer experience to further differentiate itself from Tiffany’s and other retail jewelry competitors. It definitely needs to expand its international presence by launching more country-specific Web sites, as well as continue enhancing its current Web site. Just as importantly, it needs to diversify its marketing efforts to online communities and to the public in general to increase its brand name recognition and appeal. 3) Tiffany should continue to increase its small-store formats in the U.S. and develop a stronger presence in its direct selling channel. It needs to grow its sizable international operations, particularly the fast-growing Asian luxury market, in addition to entering untapped emerging markets. With the increasing cost of diamonds and gold, it might assess the advisability of participating in sales promotions which it has never before done. Most importantly, Tiffany should continue increasing its supply chain efficiency and protecting its brand equity at call costs.

Morbid place Essay

Pip thinks that Magwitch looks as though he is ‘eluding the hands of the dead people, stretching up cautiously out of their graves, to get a twist upon his ankle and pull him in. ‘ There is a gibbet where a pirate had once been buried in the marshes and Pip looks at Magwitch ‘†¦ as if he were the pirate come to life, and come down, and going back to hook himself up again. ‘ Dickens makes the reader wonder if that is how Magwitch is going to meet his end. The descriptions from Pip are very eloquent and show us that he has a wonderful imagination. In Dickens’s time, criminals (and a person could be called this just for stealing a loaf of bread for his/her family, or committing some sort of petty crime) were thrown into prison or put in hulks. Hulks were old naval ships that had been converted into prisons; the convicts were shackled so that there was less chance of escaping. If a person escaped from a hulk s/he was transported to Australian on a ship that had atrocious living conditions, many people dies from disease or malnutrition before they arrive din Australia. People were thrown into the debtor’s prison when they got into any debt, even if they only owed a little bit of money. The person in debt was imprisoned indefinitely until the person who they owed the money was satisfied. Many debtors died in these prisons because of the terrible living conditions. This is extremely different to how it is now, and so the modern reader doesn’t understand the situation. Today almost everyone is in some sort of debt; mortgages, loans, overdrafts, and yet no one is thrown into prison for it. Magwitch speaks as though he’s not very educated. He says â€Å"wittles† when he means ‘victuals’, â€Å"partickler† instead of ‘particular’ and â€Å"percooliar† when he should say ‘peculiar’. Dickens uses phonetics to show his dialect and colloquialisms. This makes Magwitch seem not very sophisticated. The ‘younger’ Pip’s dialogue shows that he has had some sort of education as it’s a lot more educated than Magwitch’s: â€Å"If you would kindly please to let me keep upright, sir, perhaps I shouldn’t be sick†. But when compared to the ‘older’ Pip’s dialogue, we can see that he became more educated: â€Å"It was a dressing-room†¦ and prominent in it was a draped table with a gilded looking-glass. † Miss Havisham and Estella seem to speak ‘posh’ and rather snobby. When they are playing cards Estella says: â€Å"He calls the knaves Jacks! † She obviously thinks that her way of talking is proper. Dickens shows the reader how the different classes spoke in Victorian times; from the poor and uneducated (Magwitch) to the wealthy and refined (Miss Havisham). We don’t see much of Estella and Dickens leaves the reader asking questions; who is the young and pretty girl and what is she doing in such a morbid place? But what we do see isn’t very nice. Although she is a beautiful girl she is very vindictive. â€Å"†¦ what coarse hands he has. And what thick boots! † She makes Pip feel ashamed of himself and doesn’t even say his name; she talks as if she is speaking about him to someone else, as if she could never lower her standards enough to talk to such a common ‘thing’. ‘She put the mug down and on the stones of the yard, and gave me the bread and meat without looking at me, as insolently as if I were a dog in disgrace. ‘ She isn’t satisfied until she makes Pip ‘lean against the wall and cry’ and watched him twist his hair with bitter frustrations. Miss Havisham is unusual because although aged, she is not married. In Dickens’s England a woman was expected to get married and then look after her husband and children for the rest of her life. This was necessary because women relied on their fathers, then their husbands. Without a husband how would a woman survive if her father died? Or ran into debt? This is another situation were that the modern reader finds unusual. These days, women have equal rights and do not need to get married. Dickens makes us feel some kind of consideration for Miss Havisham during our first meeting with her: ‘†¦ The bride within the bridal dress had withered like the dress, and like the flowers†¦ ‘ She seems like an injured soul and we comprehend why when she says her heart is â€Å"broken! † The reader wonders how come Miss Havisham is in her unmarried state and this makes us feel sorry for her. She lives in the dark, keeping all the light out as if she can’t bear to face the world. Then the reader’s attitude towards her changes when we realise that Miss Havisham just wants Pip for a plaything and we begin to feel less kind towards her. When she goes as far as telling Estella to â€Å"beggar him† and â€Å"break his heart† we definitely we definitely start to dislike her. The reader doesn’t feel that Pip is safe with her. The differences between the happenings now and in ‘Great Expectations’ make the modern reader surprised and mystified, but still able to relate to Pip’s story. ‘Great Expectations’ is can still be related to today because at some point, everyone goes through the struggles that Pip must battle. It shows that assets and wealth do not change who people are inside, and that finding one’s self can be a long tedious process until finally everything becomes clear. Dickens wrote ‘Great Expectations’ as a way for him to introduce himself into his writing; many aspects of his life can be found in the book, making it very autobiographical. It was also a way of making his feelings known about the social issues in England in his time. He tells the reader not to judge people, as appearances are very deceptive. The ‘moral’ of the story seems to be that no matter how you change your outward appearance and how much you educate yourself, you can’t change who you really are.