Tuesday, January 28, 2020

Corporate Governance Failures And Scandals In Recent History Accounting Essay

Corporate Governance Failures And Scandals In Recent History Accounting Essay In this essay, we are going to contemplate law, which is one of the most fundamental jurisdictional areas at present. Value will be given to the unraveling of the significant area of company law. One should acknowledge that in the past two centuries, several corporate collapses have overturn the facts in the business world and brought many changes in the corporate field in UK and abroad. In approaching this issue, the government seeks to prevent the repetition of accounting scandals and fraud. It introduces governmental regimes, that will set the framework in the UK corporate system. We are going to examine and analyze the basic legal issues arising with the application of the Combined Code and the UK legislation and whether their usefulness to the objectives of a company, is a fact or whether is a virtual reality. In assessing this question, it is important to state that a good corporate governance is an indispensable demand for a large organization. A corporate governance, is considered to be the framework of rules, relationships, systems and processes within and by which authority is exercised and controlled in corporations, while it encompasses the mechanisms by which companies and those in control, are held to account  [1]  . The main purpose of corporate governance is the facilitation of effective, entrepreneurial and prudent management that will be able to deliver the long-term success of the company  [2]  . The objectives of a company, are achieved through the completion of the procedures of corporate governance principles, that are set out in the Combined Code. Corporate Scandals Corporate governance failures and scandals in recent history, must be taken into account, in order to comprehend the reasons that have led to the creation of the Combined Code. The scandals came into the light involving well-known firms such as Maxwell, that was brought to the attention of the general public for problems associated with the management of pension funds and their security  [3]  . Another major scandal was the Enron scandal, who concerned several parties who gained personal benefits from illegal accounting procedures. In addition, WorldCom corporate scandal was the one where accounting irregularities led the firm to bankruptcy. In Polly peck the owner was accused of fraud because he owed a vast amount of money to investors. BCCI was found guilty of accusations of deception and the laundering of money. An important example which showed the need for an effective system was Parmalat which was similar to Enrons. The former events have highlighted serious shortcoming in worldwide pension legislation, and were behind policy-making throughout the decade  [4]  . Committees These unforeseen corporate scandals gave impetus to governments and regulatory bodies to draft a Code that will guard the future of companies from situations such as these. Several committees were formed, concerning the development of corporate governance which is considered the internal means by which corporations are operated and controlled  [5]  . Initially, the Cadbury  [6]  Committee drafted The Report of the Committee on the Financial Aspects of Corporate Governance which encouraged the firms to alter the structure and responsibilities of the board of directors, to increase the value and effectiveness of the audit and the relationship between the board and shareholders and concerned the responsibilities of institutional shareholders  [7]  . The Cadbury committee was followed by the Greenbury  [8]  committee, where it was acknowledged that the examination of directors remuneration was a necessary demand. The Hampel  [9]  committee that took place in 1998, rev iewed and updated the earlier recommendations by the two previous committees. This Final report emphasized on principles of good governance rather than explicit rule in order to reduce the regulatory burden on companies and avoid box-ticking so as to be flexible enough to be applicable to all companies  [10]  . Furthermore, the Higgs  [11]  and Smith  [12]  Reviews formulated the Combined Code 2002. According to the Higgs Review the effectiveness and independence of non-executive directors are of importance, while with the Smith Review the role of the audit committee is established. Corporate Governance Code 2010 The recommendations and principles of the committees on good corporate governance, have developed the Combined code. The Combined Code was first issued in 1998 and had received many updates since then. The Code that is in effect now is the Corporate Governance Code 2010. The Revised Code sets out standards of good practice in relation to board leadership and effectiveness, remuneration, accountability and relations with shareholders  [13]  . It sets out principles designed to encourage shareholders, non-executive directors and auditors to accept their legal responsibilities and scrutinize the stewardship of companies  [14]  . The Code is considered to be a voluntary code, which applies to an extent in any company that chooses to adhere to it  [15]  . The committees made several recommendations. At first, they recommended that every company should be headed by an effective board, which will be collectively responsible for the success of the company and will provide entrepreneurial leadership, in setting the companys strategic aims  [16]  . In the Code it is mentioned that the board must have a sufficient size where the balance of skills and experience is the appropriate for the requirements of the business  [17]  . Accordingly, it suggested that the responsibilities at the head of the company should be divided between the running of the board and the executive responsibility for the running of the companys business  [18]  . In addition the roles of chairman and chief executive should be divided  [19]  . An illustration that supports this, is the scandals that were created by the Polly Peck, were Asil Nadir the owner abused the power that was in his hands. This is considered to be a distinguished provision and if it is followed then balance of power will take place and similar situation will not be repeated. In the Corporate Governance Code the issue of remuneration is being highlighted. The code provides that the role of the remuneration committee is an integral component for the corporate governance process and companies must go through a formal process in considering the developing policy on executive remuneration  [20]  . It provides that the board should establish a remuneration committee of independent non-executive directors, which should make available its terms of reference, explaining its role and the authority delegated to it by the board  [21]  . The remuneration committee should consult the chairman or the chief executive about their proposals relating to the remuneration of other executive directors  [22]  . In Tyco scandal the chairman along with the chief executive were involved in fraudulent practices that were estimated at the loss of million dollars and were used for personal benefit. Apo4ii The Cadbury Report referred to the important duties and responsibilities of an independent audit committee over the processes of corporate governance. The board should establish an audit committee of at least 3 non-executive directors, each of whom is independent and financially literate  [23]  . The audit committee assists the board in fulfilling its statutory and fiduciary oversight responsibilities relating to the companys financial accounting, reporting and controls  [24]  . The report of the Blue Ribbon Committee on Improving the Effectiveness of Corporate Audit in 1999 pointed out that the audit committee should encourage procedures that promote accountability among the internal auditor, and the outside auditors , ensuring that management properly develops and adheres to a sound system of internal control. An audit committee is designed to provide a level of assurance within the scope of corporate governance. In light of Enron and similar situations, scrutiny of audit c ommittee performance is likely to increase, therefore it is more important than ever to ensure that audit committees are satisfying at least the basic standards of conduct  [25]  . Evaluation of the Corporate Governance Code In the Corporate Governance Code importance needs to be given to the non-executive directors (NEDs). They were introduced by the Combined Code in order to prevent any future corporate governance problems. Each board should have non-executive directors  [26]  . NEDs have a crucial role in the operation of the board as members of a unitary board. In spite their knowledge and skills, they should constructively challenge and help develop proposals on strategy, they should examine the performance of management in meeting agreed goals and objectives and finally satisfy themselves on the integrity of financial information  [27]  . A fundamental quality that a NED needs to posses is independence  [28]  . This had become essential after the Enron and WorldCom scandals, because of the sensitiveness around remuneration, accuracy of financial disclosure and consequence of flawed strategic decisions  [29]  . Being independent means being capable of exercising objective judgment to task where there is a potential conflict of interest  [30]  . The crucial issue is whether NEDs are independent. They are appointed by executives and shareholders and it is accepted that most of them are considered to be from the same background as the executives and therefore to have a more friendly relationship between them. This might affect their performance because if a problem occurs they might overlook it because of the more friendly association. NEDs need to be objective and not to be affected by additional factors. At the beginning, it seemed to be distinctly effective, since they would ensure the directors actions and the company in general, in order not to give impetus to imminent scandals. However, we can state that they are not considered as a great solution since the work is not so effective. Furthermore, the shareholders effective communication needs to be evaluated. According to the principle there should be a dialogue with shareholders based on the mutual understanding of objectives  [31]  . It is considered very essential that the board is given the opportunity to communicate with shareholders. This will achieve a better governance because the aims and scopes of shareholders will be heard and hence comprehended by the board. Shareholders and the board, can have the potential to be each others greatest source of development. Thus, by reinforcing each others opinion will result to great solutions of numerous concerns and this will accomplish better governance strategies. Additionally, a comply or explain basis is used when applying the Code on Corporate Governance. This approach was forwarded by the Cadbury Committee. According to this approach companies were obliged to either indicate whether they achieved to comply with the code in their annual reports or otherwise explain any areas of non-compliance  [32]  . This approach is not considered to be legally binding instead it is voluntary. Companies have the right to choice, yet when they choose not to implement the Code, a rational reason must be given to the shareholders since they are going to be judged by it. The area of non-compliance is not very clear instead it is critical, but there is not an obligation to comply because the Code is not legally enforced. However the Code provides flexibility for those who choose to apply it  [33]  . Therefore this needs to be examined for a more effective work of the Code, nonetheless the comply or explain mechanism can achieve a good governance struct ure . The Code has raised the standards in the field of corporate governance. Through its implementation, it has  become effective for several companies. From the first time it was introduced since now it has received many updates, in order to reach perfection. Nevertheless, the various principles provided by the Code need to be critically observed and improved. It is very important to signify that corporate scandals have been reduced, yet they are not vanished. Regulators need to focus on existing problems and provide major developments of unclear areas of the Code. Conclusion As has been shown, several issues arising from the application of the Combined Code and the legislative framework have been analyzed and embodied in the essay. Their extensive investigation, helped us root out whether the government actions in achieving satisfactory corporate governance procedures, can be established. Consequently, the Combined Code has improved the corporate governance standards, yet there are several inadequate areas that need to be developed. Concurrently, it is essential to justify that in order to promote a good governance, all aspects of the Code need to be effectively welcomed and applied, with both knowledge and awareness of their usefulness, by the corporate system. A combination of the right people at the right place along with the current governance regime, can constitute the vital ingredients that over time, will ensure a successful company.

Monday, January 20, 2020

Poe :: essays research papers

What is the total effect of a story? The total effect of a story is the specific response an author expects to get from his/her readers. In "The Tell-Tale Heart," by Edgar Allen Poe, is complete and total horror. The setting, plot, character and even point of view contribute to this total effect of horror. The setting contributes to this total effect in several different ways. All of the shudders in the house were closed, so no one could see anything from the outside in or the inside out. This was scary because no one ever knew what went on in that house except the old man with the googily eye and the murderer. The house was old and creaky, and, during the midnight hours, was pitch black. This creaky old house is a classic for horror stories and films, so it definitely adds to the total effect. The plot also gives that same feeling of horror. The way the murderer watched the old man night after night, for hours at a time. You got the total effect of horror when he flipped the bed onto the old man, and then chopped him into little tiny pieces and hid him the floorboards. Then the police came to see about a scream that was reported earlier. The man led them through the house, claiming that the old man was out of town for a while. He finally sat down in the exact spot where the old man had been buried under the floorboards. What eventually made the man confess to what he had done when he imagined that he heard the old man's heart beating from under the floorboards. It got louder and louder until finally he thought they(the officers)were just driving him insane and they heard the heart to and they must have heard it until he just jumped up, ripped off the floorboards and said "I did it, I killed him," pointing at the pieces of the man. Characterization is the biggest part of the total effect of horror. The man seemed normal enough, except for the fact that the old man's "vulture eye" made a little crazy. He was very normal, until the "eye" drove him to stalking the man while he was asleep, and then finally killed him. At the beginning of the story, or the end, whichever you would like to call it, it was the beginning, and the end, he kept saying "I'M NOT MAD," it was sort of, well, a psycho thing to say after chopping someone into little pieces and hiding them in the floorboards, that kind of told

Saturday, January 11, 2020

The Influence of the Renaissance on English Literature

Introduction: It is difficult to date or define the Renaissance. Etymologically the term, which was first used in England only as late as the nineteenth century, means' â€Å"re-birth†. Broadly speaking, the Renaissance implies that re-awakening of learning which came to Europe in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. The Renaissance was not only an English but a European phenomenon; and basically considered, it signalised a thorough substitution of the medieval habits of thought by new attitudes. The dawn of the Renaissance came first to Italy and a little later to France. To England it came much later, roughly about the beginning of the sixteenth century. As we have said at the outset, it is difficult to date the Renaissance; however, it may be mentioned that in Italy the impact of Greek learning was first felt when after the Turkish conquest of Constantinople the Greek scholars fled and took refuge in Italy carrying with them a vast treasure of ancient Greek literature in manuscript. The study of this literature fired the soul and imagination of the Italy of that time and created a new kind of intellectual and aesthetic culture quite different from that of the Middle Ages. The light of the Renaissance came very slowly to the isolated island of England, so that when it did come in all its brilliance in the sixteenth century, the Renaissance in Italy had already become a spent force. It is difficult to define the Renaissance, but its broad implications in England do not defy discussion. Michelet exaggeratedly calls the Renaissance â€Å"discovery by mankind of himself and of the world. This is, indeed, too sweeping. More correctly we can say that the following are the implications of the Renaissance in England : (a) First, the Renaissance meant the death of mediaeval scholasticism which had for long been keeping human thought in bondage. The schoolmen got themselves entangled in useless controversies and tried to apply the principles of Aristotelean . philosophy t o the doctrines of Christianity, thus giving birth to a vast literature characterised by polemics, casuistry, and sophistry which did not advance man in any way. b) Secondly, it signalised a revolt against spiritual authority-the authority of the Pope. The Reformation, though not part of the revival of learning, was yet a companion movement in England. This defiance of spiritual authority went hand in hand with that of intellectual authority. Renaissance intellectuals distinguished themselves by their flagrant anti-authoritarianism. (c) Thirdly, the Renaissance implied a greater perception of beauty and polish in the Greek and Latin scholars. This beauty and this polish were sought by Renaissance men of letters to be incorporated in their native literature. Further, it meant the birth of a kind of imitative tendency implied in the term â€Å"classicism. † (d) Lastly, the Renaissance marked a change from the theocentric to the homocentric conception of the universe. Human life, pursuits, and even body came to be glorified. â€Å"Human life†, as G. H. Mair observes, â€Å"which the mediaeval Church had taught them [the people] to regard but as a threshold and stepping-stone to eternity, acquired suddenly a new momentousness and value. . The â€Å"otherworldliness† gave place to â€Å"this-worldliness†. Human values came to be recognised as permanent values, and they were sought to be enriched and illumined by the heritage of antiquity. This bred a new kind of paganism and marked the rise of humanism as also, by implication, materialism. Let us now consider the impact of the Renaissance on the va rious departments of English literature. Non-creative Literature: Naturally enough, the first impact of the Renaissance in England was registered by the universities, being the repositories of all learning. Some English scholars, becoming aware of the revival of learning in Italy, went to that country to benefit by it and to examine personally the manuscripts brought there by the fleeing Greek scholars of Constantinople. Prominent among these scholars were William Grocyn (14467-1519), Thomas Linacre (1460-1524), and John Colet (14677-1519). After returning from Italy they organised the teaching of Greek in Oxford. They were such learned and reputed scholars of Greek that Erasmus came all the way from Holland to learn Greek from them. Apart from scholars, the impact of the Renaissance is also; in a measure, to be seen on the work of the educationists of the age. Sir Thomas Elyot (14907-1546) wrote the Governour (1531) which is a treatise on moral philosophy modelled on Italian works and full of the spirit of Roman antiquity. Other educationists were Sir John Cheke (1514-57), Sir Thomas Wilson (1525-81), and Sir Roger Ascham (1515-68). Out of all the educationists the last named is the most important, on account of his Scholemaster published two years after his death. Therein he puts forward his views on the teaching of the classics. His own style is too obviously based upon the ancient Roman writers. â€Å"By turns†, remarks Legouis, â€Å"he imitates Cicero's periods and Seneca's nervous conciseness†. In addition to these well-known educationists must be mentioned the sizable number of now obscure ones—†those many unacknowledged, unknown guides who, in school and University, were teaching men to admire and imitate the masterpieces of antiquity† (Legouis). Prose: The most important prose writers who exhibit well the influence of the Renaissance on English prose are Erasmus, Sir Thomas More, Lyly, and Sidney. The first named was a Dutchman who, as we have already said, came to Oxford to learn Greek. His chief work was The Praise of Folly which is the English translation of his most important work-written in England. It is, according to Tucker Brook, â€Å"the best expression in literature of the attack that the Oxford reformers were making upon the medieval system. † Erasmus wrote this work in 1510 at the house of his friend Sir Thomas More who was executed at the bidding of Henry VIII for his refusal to give up his allegiance to the ‘ Pope. More's famous prose romance Utopia was, in the words of Legouis, â€Å"true prologue to the Renaissance. † It was the first book written by an Englishman which achieved European fame; but it was written in Latin (1516) and only later (1555) was translated into English. Curiously enough, the next work by an English man again to acquire European fame-Bacon's Novum Organwn-was also written originally in Latin. The word â€Å"Utopiaâ €  is from Greek â€Å"ou topos† meaning â€Å"no place†. More's Utopia is an imaginary island which is the habitat of an ideal republic. By the picture of the ideal state is implied a kind of social criticism of contemporary England. More's indebtedness to Plato's Republic is quite obvious. However, More seems also to be indebted to the then recent discoveries of the explorers and navigators-like Columbus and Vasco da Gama who were mostly of Spanish and Portuguese nationalities. In Utopia, More discredits mediaevalism in all its implications and exalts the ancient Greek culture. Legouis observes about this work : â€Å"The Utopians are in revolt against the spirit of chivalry : they hate warfare and despise soldiers. Communism is the law of the land; all are workers for only a limited number of hours. Life should be pleasant for all; asceticism is condemned. More relies on the goodness of human nature, and intones a hymn to the glory of the senses which reveal nature's wonders. In Utopia all religions are authorized, and tolerance is the law. Scholasticism is scoffed at, and Greek philosophy preferred to that of Rome. From one end to the other of the book More reverses medieval beliefs. † More's Utopia created a new genre in which can be classed such works as Bacon's The New Atlantis (1626), Samuel Butler's Erewhon (1872), W. H. Mallock's The New Republic (1877), Richard Jefferies' After London (1885), W. H. Hudson's The Crystal Age (1887), William Morris† News from Nowhere, and H. G. Well's A Modern Utopia (1905). Passing on to the prose writers of the Elizabethan age-the age of the flowering of the Renaissance-we find them markedly influenced both in their style and thought-content by the revival of the antique classical learning. Sidney in Arcadia, Lyly in Euphues, and Hooker in The Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity write an English which is away from the language of common speech, and is either too heavily laden—as in the case of Sidney and Lyly-with bits of classical finery, or modelled on Latin syntax, as in the case of Hooker. Cicero ? eemed to these writers a verv obvious and respectable model. Bacon, however, in his sententiousness and cogency comes near Tacitus and turns away from the prolixity, diffuseness, and ornamentation associated with Ciceronian prose. Further, in his own career and his Essays, Bacon stands as a representative of the materialistic, Machiavellian facet of the Renaissance, particularly of Renaissance Italy. He combines in himself the dispassionate pursuit of truth and the keen desire for material advance. Poetry: Sir Thomas Wyatt (1503-42) and the Earl of Surrey (15177-47) were pioneers of the new poetry in England. After Chaucer the spirit of English poetry had slumbered for upward of a century. The change in pronunciation in the fifteenth century had created a lot of confusion in prosody which in the practice of such important poets as Lydgate and Skelton had been reduced to a mockery. â€Å"The revival†, as Legoius says, â€Å"was an uphill task; verse had to be drawn from the languor to which it had sunk in Stephen Hawes, and from the disorder in which a Skelton had plunged it; all had to e done anew†. It was Wyatt and Surrey who came forward to do it. As Mair puts it, it is with â€Å"these two courtiers that the modern English poetry begins. † Though they wrote much earlier, it was only in 1557, a year before Elizabeth's coronation, that their work was published in Tottel's Miscellany which is, according to G. H. Mair, â€Å"one of the landmarks of English literatu re. † Of the two, Wyatt had travelled extensively in Italy and France and had come under the spell of Italian Renaissance. It must be remembered that the work of Wyatt and Surrey does not reflect the impact of the Rome of antiquity alone,. but also that of modern Italy. So far as versification is concerned, Wyatt and Surrey imported into England various new Italian metrical patterns. Moreover, they gave English poetry a new sense of grace, dignity, delicacy, and harmony which was found by them lacking iil the works of Chaucer and the Chaucerians alike. Further, they Were highly influenced by the love poetry of Petrarch and they did their best to imitate it. Petrarch's love poetry is of the courtly kind, in which the pining lover is shown as a â€Å"servant† of his mistress with his heart tempest-tossed by her neglect and his mood varying according to her absence or presence. There is much of idealism, if not downright artificiality, in this kind of love poetry. It goes to the credit of Wyatt to have introduced the sonnet into English literature, and of Surrey to have first written blank verse. Both the sonnet and blank verse were later to be practised by a vast number of the best English poets. According to David Daiches. Wyatt's sonnets represent one of the most interesting movements toward metrical discipline to be found in English literary history. † Though in his sonnets he did not employ regular iambic pentameters yet he created a sense of discipline among the poets of his times who had forgotten the lesson and example of Chaucer and, like Skelton, were writing â€Å"ragged† and â€Å"jagged† lines which jarred so unpleasantly upon the ear. As Tillyard puts it, Wyatt â€Å"let the Renaissance into English verse† by importing Italian and French patterns of sentiment as well as versification. He wrote in all thirty-two sonnets out of which seventeen are adaptations of Petrarch. Most of them (twenty-eight) have the rhyme-scheme of Petarch's sonnets; that is, each has the octave a bbaabba and twenty-six out of these twenty-eight have the c d d c e e sestet. Only in the last three he comes near what is called the Shakespearean formula, that is, three quatrains and a couplet. In the thirtieth sonnet he exactly produced it; this sonnet rhymes a b a b, a b a b, a b a b, c c. Surrey wrote about fifteen or sixteen sonnets out of which ten use the Shakespearean formula which was. to enjoy the greatest popularity among the sonneteers of the sixteenth century. Surrey's work is characterised by . exquisite grace and tenderness which we find missing from that of Wyatt. Moreover, he is a better craftsman and gives greater harmony to his poetry. Surrey employed blank verse in his translation of the fourth book of The Aeneid, the work which was first translated into English verse by Gavin Douglas a generation earlier, but in heroic couplets. Drama: The revival of ancient classical learning scored its first clear impact on English drama in the middle of the sixteenth century. Previous to this impact there had been a pretty vigorous native tradition of drama, particularly comedy. This tradition had its origin in the liturgical drama and had progressed through the miracle and the mystery, and later the morality, to the interlude. John Heywood had written quite a few vigorous interludes, but they were altogether different in tone, spirit, and purpose from the Greek and Roman drama of antiquity. The first English regular tragedy Gorboduc (written by Sackville and Norton, and first acted in 1562) and comedy Ralph Roister Doister (written about 1550 by Nicholas Udall) were very much imitations of classical tragedy and comedy. It is interesting to note that English dramatists came not under the spell of the ancient Greek dramatists â€Å"(Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides, the tragedy writers, and Aristophanes, the comedy writer) but the Roman dramatists (Seneca, the tragedy writer, and Plautus and. Terence! the comedv writers). It was indeed unfortunate, as Greek drama is vastly superior to Roman drama. Gpfboduc is a s'avish imitation of Senecan tragedy and has all its features without much of its life. Like Senecan tragedy it has revenge as the tragic —otive, has most of its important incidents (mostly murders) narrated on the -stage by messengers, has much of rhetoric and verbose declamation, has a ghost among its dramatis personae, and so forth. ‘. â€Å". is indeed a good instance of the â€Å"blood and thunder† kind' of tragedy. Ralph Roister Doister is modelled upon Plautus and Terence. It is based on the stupid endeavours of the hero for winning the love of a married woman. There is the cunning, merry slave-Matthew Merrygreek-a descendant of the Plautine slave who serves as the motive power which keeps the play going. Later on, the â€Å"University Wits† struck a note of independence in their dramatic work. They refused to copy Roman drama as slavishly as the writers of Gorboduc and Roister Doister. Even so, their plays are not free from the impact of the Renaissance; rather they show it as amply, though not in the same way. In their imagination they were all fired by the new literature which showed them new dimensions of human capability. They were humanists through and through. All of them—Lyly, Greene, Peele, Nashe, Lodge, Marlowe, and Kyd-show in their dramatic work not, of course, a slavish tendency to ape the ancients but a chemical action of Renaissance learning on the native genius fired by the enthusiasm of discovery and aspiration so typical of the Elizabethan age. In this respect Marlowe stands in the fore-front of the University Wits. Rightly has he been called â€Å"the true child of the Renaissance†.

Friday, January 3, 2020

Technologys Control Over Society Illustrated in Aldus...

Technology is defined as using the entire body of science, methods, and materials to achieve an end. In the novel, technology is used to control the life of everyday people to develop new ones. The author Aldus Huxley set the world in the future where everything is being controlled by technology. Even the new born are controlled way before they were born. This is a scary society because everything is being controlled even before someone is born, in a test tube, where they get to be determine of what class they are going to belong, how they are going to look like and beyond. Therefore, the society of Brave new world, is being controlled by society from the very start. The society of Brave New World has gained the knowledge to produce†¦show more content†¦We slacken off the circulation when theyre right way up, so that theyre half starved, and double the flow of surrogate when theyre upside down. They learn to associate topsy-turvydom with being well-being. These procedures would be considered morally incorrect today, however, in the future the lack of ethics allows this to be a normal procedure. Each of the characters in Brave New World lacks an important human characteristic, individuality. I feel individuality is one of the most important things that defines us as humans, we were each created differently, and, like a snow flake, no two people are alike. In the future, due to the advent of genetic engineering, up to 17 thousand babies can be made from a single fertilized egg. Each person has their identity programmed in thedecanting room. Each life has a predestined path that has been determined forthem, robot slaves working for society and gain, no different than the skilled barbarians of Eddys warning. I feel that Eddys beliefs are supported by Huxleys novel Brave New World. Without humanities, Huxleys future thought only of the end and not of the means, there was no concern for life and each life lacked individuality. I think the most unnerving part of this is I see many similarities between Brave New World and the present and todays social tendencies. That is the main difference in the world of today and before. Finally, in the novel Brave New