Elements of Literature

The elements of literature connote the aspects that make up a piece or work of literature such as a poem, biography, prose, epic, story or play. To be able to write a complete work of literature, a writer, poet, or playwright needs to use certain elements of literature to make the work have meaning.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Elements of Literature specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More The basic elements of literature found in most writings include the plot, setting, character, structure, conflicts, point of view and theme. These elements however differ from the various types of literature work. For example the literature elements found in novels or short stories might differ from those found in poetry or prose (Bhattacharyya, 2010). DiYanni in his work mostly focuses on theme as the main element of literature in his analysis of various works. Theme is the central idea or basic meaning that is underlying in a sto ry, poem, novel or play. The theme is identified in terms of looking at the characters in a literary work or the author’s perspective or view of the literature piece. The theme is seen to reflect the society or world as a whole (Werre, 2003). DiYanni (2007) explores the theme of denial in his comparisons of literature by Faulknet, Miller and Poe. He notes that denial is very prominent in the story of† A Rose for Emily† and in the play â€Å"Death of a Salesman† and in the poem â€Å"The Raven†. Within the play, the story and the poem each, the theme of denial is prominent because of the central character’s refusal to accept the reality. This creates a dreamlike situation that enables them to remain indifferent to the truth about their lives and surroundings. This state of denial is however seen to be a momentary solution to their problems. In his theme analysis of â€Å"A Rose for Emily†, the main character, Emily Grierson is seen to be withdrawn into her own unrealistic dream world. The people in the town she lives in feel that disrupting her unrealistic world will upset her causing her to react in a negative way. When her lover, Homer, tries to threaten her unrealistic world, she kills him and hides his body in an upper bedroom in her house. Homer’s body is discovered well after Emily’s death and funeral (DiYanni, 2007). Diyanni further analyses Emily’s character and her creation of the unrealistic world by looking at her actions that revealed she was in denial. In the story, we are told of how Emily keeps her father’s body for three days denying that he is dead and also denying the townspeople his body.Advertising Looking for essay on american literature? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Her denial was evident in her refusal to believe that her father was dead despite persuasion from doctors and ministers who had called on her t o dispose of the body. Emily’s other denial was that she saw her marriage to Homer Barron and his existence to never have been real. This is evident in the quote: â€Å"The man himself lay in the bed†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ The body had apparently once lain in the attitude of an embrace, but now the long sleep that outlasts love has cuckolded him† (DiYanni, 2007, p.84). In the story, the town gets free postal delivery services which require that every town’s member have a mailbox and house numbers attached to their house. All the townspeople agree to have the mailboxes and numbers attached to their houses except Emily. She refuses to get a mailbox and house numbers hanged on her house which is see to be a form of denial. Other than the mail services, she refuses to pay tax to the local government (DiYanni, 2007). The townspeople also experience some denial where in a traditional stance; they claim that Emily is no longer a member of the upper social class because she does not possess the qualities to belong to that group. The townspeople believed the Grierson family held themselves in high esteem, more than what they truly were. The townspeople also deny that they have a right and obligation to inform Emily that there is a foul stench around her house. They withdraw from the reality by covering up the smell with sprinklings of lime around her house and all the outer buildings. The townspeople also deny that Emily and Homer could be in a love relationship because they think it would be improper for a lady like her to have a relationship with a day laborer from the North. They also deny that a lady from the Grierson family with such a high standing in society would take a person like Homer Barron seriously. They even go to the extent of denying the relationship by saying that grief would not cause a real lady to forget her high ranking social status in the town’s society (DiYanni, 2007). DiYanni’s next analysis of the theme of denial is in Miller’s play â€Å"Death of a Salesman. The main character of the play, Willy Loman, lives in a delusional world in which he is successful and adored by the people around him.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Elements of Literature specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Willy’s wife Linda and their two sons, Happy and Biff, support Willy’s unrealistic world because they do not want to disrupt his dreamlike state, claiming that he will eventually realize the truth on his own. Willy’s denial occurs when he denies that he is a mediocre salesman in the first Act of scene three. He claims that he is known in all of New of England in a conversation with his two sons (Diyanni, 2007). He further exaggerates the circumstance of his denial when he claims that he can park his car in any London street and no one would touch it because the police would protect it like it was their own. He also appea rs to be delusional when he claims that he never has to wait in line to see a buyer. Willy’s denial from reality is also evident where he is has an antagonistic view towards anyone or anything that wants to threaten his unrealistic world. This is evident when Willy tells off Bernard for saying that his son is about to fail school and also when he chases his son Biff out of the house for calling Willy a fake after discovering that he has a mistress . Willy’s wife Linda also faces some denial when she refuses to accept the fact that her husband tried to kill himself. These is evidenced where she writes a letter claiming that all the car accidents Willy had been involved were not accidents at all. She first removes and later replaces a rubber hose from behind the water heater that Willy used to try and kill himself with because she feels that removing the hose might insult Willy. Linda also contradicts the self-depreciating remarks that her husband makes. She is noted to say that her husband is the handsomest man in the world and that he doesn’t talk too much, he is just a man with a lively personality. She is also quoted as saying â€Å"There’s nothing to make up dear. You’re doing fine† (DiYanni, 2007). Linda summarizes the things that have pushed her husband into denial as being his old buyers who were also happy to see him and brought him constant business when he was a younger salesman. Now his buyers were either dead or retired. She also says that Willy drives for seven hundred miles without making any money from his long and tiring journey. To counter his wife’s statement about his fruitless sales journeys, Willy lies to his wife that the fifty dollars he borrows from Charley is the salary he makes when he goes on his seven hundred mile journey.Advertising Looking for essay on american literature? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Willy’s sons are also in denial that there is something wrong with their father. They perpetuate Willy’s delusions by playacting out one of their father’s daydreams in which they are both successful businessmen. Happy is seen to be telling his brother about how they are going to sell start a sporting good line known as the Loman Line that will be worth a million dollars. On the other hand, Happy’s brother Biff is pretending to go for a job interview with Oliver who is his former boss. The job will make him to be a successful salesman for sports goods (DiYanni, 2007). When Biff confronts him with the rubber hose he used to try and kill himself with, Willy faces a nervous breakdown. Biff wants his father to acknowledge the fact that he was trying to commit suicide and he also confronts his father on the fact that Willy is not a successful salesman. He wants his father to accept the fact that he is a failure and a thief. In the events that lead up to his dea th, Willy has a last argument with his son after which he drives off in his car and later crashes it. This scene is viewed to be a reflection of Willy driving away from the truth and reality of himself and his mediocre life. The next theme of denial to be analyzed is Poe’s poem â€Å"The Raven†. The narrator of the poem attempts to deny the fact that his love, Lenore, is dead. He is faced with denial when he is made angry by the raven’s declarations that his lover Lenore no longer exists which in the end makes him view the raven as nothing more than just a bird. In stanza two of the poem, the narrator denies that his Love Lenore is gone where he states† Eagerly I wished the morrow; vainly I had sought to borrow from my books surcease of sorrow-sorrow for the lost Lenore† (DiYanni, 2007, p.1173). In the fifth stanza of the poem, the narrator faces denial when he states in the poem that he gazed down the hallway and stood there reveling in the fact tha t his lover was no longer among the living. His denial is in evidence again in the eighth and ninth stanzas when he refuses to accept the fact that he is lonely. The stanzas in the poem also reveal that the presence of the raven is seen to be a distraction from the narrator’s experience of solitude and loneliness after the loss of his lover. His denial of loneliness is also in evidence in the tenth stanza where he believes that the raven will leave at some point, likening its departure to that of his friends, his hopes and dreams. The narrator is in denial when he refuses to accept the fact that the raven is only just a bird. This is evident in the fifteenth and sixteenth stanza where he labels the raven to be a prophet of doom. He also likens the bird to a fiend and a devil. DiYanni compares the different characters of the play, poem and story noting that the narrator of the poem, Emily Grierson and Willy Loman are all similar in that they allow outside influences and their unrealistic worlds to affect their decisions. DiYanni also notes that all the three characters are lonely with the narrator being lonely from the death of his lover, Emily Grierson loosing both her father and Homer and Willy being the lone salesman trying to make a living. The characters are also lonely in that they live in their own delusional worlds which make it difficult for them to relate with the other characters in their lives, creating situations that are filled with tension and antagonism (DiYanni, 2007). The aspect of the main characters in the play, poem and story placing some distance between them and the truth creates a situation where they are unreceptive and antagonize anyone who tries to threaten and distort the truth about their unrealistic world. In each of the three works, death is seen to be a consequence of each characters extreme denial. In the case of Willy, the removal of denial from his life in the play gives him the motivation to commit suicide. Emily Grier son murders Homer as a result of a withdrawal from her unrealistic life while the narrator looses his sanity when he strains himself to question the reality of the raven (DiYanni, 2007), Another similarity of the three works is seen when the family of Willy helps to perpetuate his fantasies because they believe they have no right to interfere with his unrealistic world. This is similar to when the townspeople help to perpetuate Emily’s delusions. All the three characters deny reality because the truth to them will mean having to reevaluate their ambitions, goals, priorities which would mean redefining their happiness. Emily, Willy and the narrator use physical and violent outbursts as a way of showing their defiance and resistance to the fictional and factual true predicaments of their lives. The three characters also run from the truth about their unrealistic worlds by either committing murder as was the case with Emily killing Homer or committing vehicular suicide as done b y Willy or becoming mentally insane as evidenced by the narrator questioning whether the raven was truly a bird (DiYanni, 2007). The theme of denial in most of the works analyzed by DiYanni has revealed the fact that the character in focus by the author will most often face denial in the form of refusing to accept that their surroundings are real. The characters also refuse to accept that the existence of their friends and family members are real. They refuse to deal with their emotions and deny any confrontations with the people that are close to them. The characters are seen to violently refuse any person or thing that tries to threaten their world or alter their chosen view of reality. An intrusion into their dreamlike worlds results in disastrous consequences which are more than likely death or suicide. References Bhattacharyya, A. (2010) Elements of Literature. Web. DiYanni, R. (2007) Literature, reading fiction, poetry, and drama. 6th Edition. New York: McGraw-Hill. Werre, P. (2003) The elements of literature. Web. This essay on Elements of Literature was written and submitted by user Peyton C. to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.

Two american Dreams essays

Two american Dreams essays In The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, many themes are enclosed; the most salient of these themes is related to the American Dream. The American Dream is based on the idea that any person, no matter what they are, can become successful in life by his or her hard work. The dream also embodies the idea of a self-sufficient person, an entrepreneur making it successful for themselves. The Great Gatsby is about what happened to the American Dream during the 1920s, an era when the dream had been corrupted by the relentless pursuit of wealth. In this novel, the pursuit of the American Dream and the pursuit of a romantic dream are the ultimate causes of the downfall of the books title character, Jay Gatsby. Throughout the story, Jay Gatsby avoids telling the truth of his hard, unglamorous childhood. He does this to keep his superficial image of himself and to save himself from the embarrassment of being in a state of poverty during his youth. His parents were lazy and unsuccessful peop le who worked on the farm, and because of this Gatsby never really accepted them as his parents. Jay Gatsbys real name is James Gatz and he is from the very unexciting North Dakota. He changed his name to Jay Gatsby when he was seventeen years old, which was the beginning of his version of the American Dream. In all realities Gatsby arose from his Platonic view of himself, the idealistic self-view that a seventeen year old boy has of himself (Fitzgerald 104). Though concealed for most of the story, Gatsbys embarrassing childhood is a major source of determination in his attempt to achieve the American Dream. During Gatsbys early adulthood, he joined the army. He first met Daisy when he was at Camp Taylor and he and some other officers stopped by her house. He initially loved Daisy because of her extraordinary house and because many other men had been with her already. One evening in October, during 1917, Gatsby fell in love with Dai...

Outsourcing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 7

Outsourcing - Essay Example This business format demands a website which enables Lisa and Mark to gather goods from manufacturers, for instance, Stu Rees, 37, who dwells in Santiago. Similar to Mark and Lisa, Stu Rees is an attorney with inclination and love for cartooning. He undertakes the outsourced designing for Billable Hours cards. The company also outsources some of its works to professionals in Greece and Canada very cheap rates. The company considered the option of outsourcing its job to online experts due to challenges of having permanently employed staffs. Allocation of jobs online is much quick and effortlessly manageable as compared to having permanent staff members. While most small business experience fluctuating income and are much more exposed to risks such loses. The company notes that outsourced jobs are effectively conducted delivered within the timeframe desirable to business conditions. Currently, Billable Hour is a small business that Lisa can manage singly, but even as it expands Lisa notes that would resist the test of hiring new workers due to: workers health benefits, state payroll taxes , compensation insurance and compliance work place requirements. The qualitative factors that have prompted the company to outsource its jobs originate from the employment challenges directed by the current policies on labor process in America. The hurdles are ritualistically high and cannot be adopted by emerging firms. Similarly, people growingly desire to be independent and managed own firms. This was triggered by the unexpected turn of events under which many people were rendered jobless after economic downfall. Uniquely, Billable Hour deals with soft copy goods that easily deliverable by internet technology. The internet infrastructure exposes it to a wide variety of market players that contribute hugely to the design and successful growth of the company. This model of outsourcing also ensures allocation only

Analysis of the Allegory Of The Cave, Delphic Quest, and Aristotle's Essay

Analysis of the Allegory Of The Cave, Delphic Quest, and Aristotle's On The Soul - Essay Example Eventually a prisoner is released and the allegory details his progression out of the cave and into higher states of knowledge. It’s abundantly clear that the prisoners shackled in the cave represent humans at beginning stages of cognitive knowledge. Plato urges the reader to consider the prisoners’ predicament in terms of knowledge, ‘Now consider what would happen if their release from the chains and the healing of their unwisdom should come about in this way.’ As the prisoner is released from the shackles and realizes that the fire and statues have caused the shadows, he has then metaphorically passed from the imagining stage of reason to the belief stage, as evidenced in N. Jordan’s chart. However the prisoner is still unaware of the world outside the cave and as he exits the cave he gradually becomes privy to a higher stage of cognitive development, â€Å"At first it would be easiest to make out shadows, then the images of men and things reflected in water, and later on the things themselves. After that, it would be easier to watch the heavenly bodies and the sky itself † As the prisoner exits the cave, man is correspondingly shown to have entered the thinking stage of cognitive development, where mathematical concepts are implemented through reason to construct and understand the world. The prisoner then enter the final stage of cognitive development where they witness the actual objects that witness the cave from the outside, the actual objects that cause the reflections in the water, and ultimately the sun itself, â€Å"And now he would begin to draw the conclusion that it is the sun that produces the seasons and the course of the year and controls everything in the visible world.† This final stage is the Form of the Good, this seems to correspond to Plato’s concept of the idealized forms and Socrates concept that the unexamined life is not worth living, to conclude that the

Night of Scorpion Essay Example for Free

Night of Scorpion Essay Night of the scorpion written by Nissim Ezkiel is an interesting poem and the poet brings about a very appealing contrast between good and evil in it; altogether giving the poem an essence of equality. The poet makes it a trouble-free task for the readers to visualize the scenes with the appropriate use of various imageries. He has also done a marvelous work of adding various different senses into the poem. All the senses, visual, smell, internal feelings and sound have been included. In this poem we can see the scenes vividly with the help of lines like,† †¦to crawl beneath a sack of rice,† and,† Peasants came like swarm of flies. Nissim Ezekiel is able to keep are mind alive and engaged the entire duration of the poem with the help of lines like,† Peasants came like swarm of flies. † When we read this line, we know that it is a simile and it help us to see how the peasants came along. But when think deeper we realize that it also shows us that the narrator does not admire the kind of care that the villagers are showing, he just wants them to leave him and his family alone. The reason the villagers are compared to flies is to show exactly how exasperating they are and that they are not welcome, just like flies. The poet has made this poem complex, which is always a good thing. This can be proved because to describe the scorpion he uses words like â€Å"diabolical† and â€Å"The Evil One† which show it as a demonic creature. On the other hand he also used lines like,â€Å" driven him to crawl beneath a sack of rice† and â€Å"†¦ risked the rain again,† which brings about a contradiction as this line shows that the scorpion is not at all the villain, it is simply scared. Among the many figures of speech used in this poem onomatopoeia is one of them. He has used this figure of speech efficiently, enabling us to hear the constant noises that were made. The poet write that the villagers â€Å"buzzed the name of god† which again stresses on the point that the noise and commotion being made by the villagers was not at all welcome. The poet further draws the interest of the reader by using a figure of speech to convey this message and not doing it directly. He has also written â€Å"They clicked their tongues,† which is another instance of onomatopoeia. The element of smell is brought about because the poet has introduced candles and burning oil in lanterns in his poem as well. Nissim Ezekiel has made the mother’s experience of getting bitten by the scorpion sound excruciating and eternal. He has conveyed this by using some very descriptive writing, example, â€Å"May the poison purify your flesh of desire, and your spirit of ambition,† Nissim Ezekiel successfully built the tense atmosphere by using just a short sentence,â€Å" My father, sceptic, rationalist, trying every curse and blessing,† There is also an instance in which the poet uses alliteration,â€Å" I watched the flame feeding on my mother. This line has also been able to build up the complex nature of the poem because of its dual meaning. We can simply say that the ‘flame’ refers to flame of the paraffin or we can also say that ‘flame’ refers to the scorpion’s poison. The poem ends sanguinely, with the mother surviving and being thankful to god for making her suffer and not her children. After all the tense moments of pain, suffering, torture and fear, the poem has a very touching and warm ending which proves the mother’s love for her children.

Themes of the Odyssey :: essays research papers

Throughout the Odyssey there are many themes that Homer uses to portray different people and events. To name a few, there are the themes of Betrayal and Revenge,Greed and Glutony, Hospitality, Role of the Gods and Wealth (the amount of money one had determined the status he held in the greek society, and this explains Odysseus's love for plunder). To start with the most common one, the role of the gods, one can see many such allusions thrown all over the odyssey. The epic poem starts in Mt.Olympus where the gods are discussing what will happen to Odysseus , Master mariner and warrior of Ithaka. As it so happens he is on the island of Kalypso, one of the lesser gods. Also, as Odysseus travels, one learns about the role of the gods in not only his travels but other peoples ones too. Agisthos, the man who stole Agamemnon's wife and killed him, was sent a message from Zeus by Hermes, giving him the information of what will happen if he kills him. Also, Menelaus, the red haired king of war, had to wrestle with a sea-god in order to gain acceptance and sail all the way back to his homeland of Sparta, and find news about the rest of his companions. He would not find out about his brothers demise until he got home. The next two themes are interelated, Betrayal and Revenge, with Greed and Glutony.THe gods punish those who show greed and glutony, but that does not mean that they cannot be punished as well. A prime example of this is when Posiedon is out feasting among the 'sun-burnt' races that were deemed to be his own. While he was feasting, Odysseus escaped the island of Kalypso, something that Poseidon did not like and was to late to stop from happening. While he was being gluttanos and eating all that food, Odysseus had escaped. Another example would be the murder of Agamemnon. Agisthos was greedy and wanted money and status, as well as Agamemnon's wife and Agamemnon's wife betrayed Agamemnon when she went off with him and even more so when they both killed him. However, the theme of Betrayal is often closely followed by the theme of Revenge. Agamemnon's son, Orestes, would go back and avenge his father's death, killing Agisthos and his mother even though later on in greek mythology he knew he would be punished for killing her.

Compagnie du Froid Analysis Essay

Memorandum Campagnie Du Froid is a summer ice-cream business founded in 1985 by the father of Jacques Truman. In 2007, after the passing of his father, Jacques Truman took over the business and emphasized an aggressive growth strategy. By 2009, Campagnie Du Froid was a market leader in the eastern part of France, northeastern coast of Spain, and northern Italy. Each region had its own manager and the main headquarters was located in Paris. Jacques believed decentralizing the decision making as much as possible. Each region had its own manufacturing, marketing, distribution and sales organization. The central office took care of accounting, developing of new products, and sharing of learning experiences across the regions. Each year Jacques met with the regional managers to discuss a profit plan for each region. The profit plans laid out regional goals for the upcoming year and were used as a tool to monitor performance. During the summer months, a profit statement every two weeks was generated and sent to Jacques in order to detect any major problems. The France region is run by Jean Pinoux and had performed exceptionally well in 2009 with profits above budget and sales increasing by 20% from the previous year. Jean had stumbled across a new source of revenue in which he helped deliver packaged food for regional producers using the company’s refrigerated trucks. The incremental cost to provide the service was very low and was seen by Jean as a simple way to increase revenue. Jacques was surprised by Jean’s new initiative, but acknowledged the profit potential in the distribution business. Pierre Giraux is the manager of the Italian region. The 2009 sales goals were met and Pierre had expanded business into most of the western Italian coast, but suffered from higher wages and lower efficiency than expected, which hindered performance of the region. Andres Molas is the manager of the Spanish region and his performance had been outstanding up until 2009. There had been many problems that sprung up in 2009 causing the performance of the Spanish region to decline. The first  problem was the new machines weren’t working correctly until late August which caused them to run out of capacity several times. The Spanish division had to import product from the French division at a transfer price of full cost plus 5% profit for the manufacturer. On top of that, the Spanish division had to absorb expenses of people traveling to France to fit the Spanish packaging to the French production line. Lastly, there were unseasonably cold temperatures that had driven down tourism and demand. As a result, Andres had to cut prices in order to stimulate demand and keep with competition. Traditionally, each manager was given the same bonus of 2% of corporate profits, but the results in 2009 challenged the fairness of this evaluation system. The Spanish region performed extremely poor and had driven down company’s profits to the lowest it’s been in ten years. Jacques thought it was unfair for the French and Italian managers to pay for the problems of the Spanish region but wasn’t sure Andres Molas was to blame for the poor results. Jacques Truman needs to make many decisions regarding the evaluation and performance of each region. In order to properly evaluate the difference between the expected profit versus the actual profit in the Italian region, a causal analysis was conducted on the Italian region. The causal analysis in Exhibit 1 allowed us to better understand the Italian business. First, we evaluated the impact of the change in sales volume. The sales volume variance (Flexible budget in Euros – Static Budget in Euros) produced a sales variance of â‚ ¬119 for Ice Cream sales and â‚ ¬34 for Specialty sales; this represented a profit variance of â‚ ¬58. While the sales volume variance is important, it is also important to understand the amount of sales growth that is attributed to the temperature change versus actual performance of the business. There was â‚ ¬19 worth of growth strictly from the change in temperature between both ice cream sales and specialty sales. The profit side of the causal analysis resulted in a â‚ ¬8 variance attributed to the temperature change and a â‚ ¬5 0 variance related to performance which resulted in a total volume for profit increase of â‚ ¬58. The change in prices also had an impact on the Italian region’s expected and actual profit because the â‚ ¬7 total sales variance  represented an increase of â‚ ¬7 profit for the actual profit. The â‚ ¬7 variance was calculated by the favorable â‚ ¬20 variance for ice cream sales and an unfavorable variance of â‚ ¬13 for specialty sales (â‚ ¬20-â‚ ¬13=â‚ ¬7). This proves that the Italian region can charge slightly more for their ice cream sales given the increase in demand, while the increase in demand of the specialty product could be more attributed to the decrease in price. Overall, the change in pricing came out to make a positive impact on the Italian region’s profit. The cost of raw materials impacted the actual profit through the price variance and the quantity variance of the direct materials. Using the level 3 analysis, it was determined that the price variance was favorable â‚ ¬46 and the quantity variance was unfavorable â‚ ¬17 which represented a flexible budget variance of favorable â‚ ¬29. This impacts the profit because the Italian region was very efficient with their costs of direct materials, but the Italian region came up short in their manufacturing efficiencies as they experienced an unfavorable quantity variance of â‚ ¬17. An overall favorable flexible budget variance of â‚ ¬29 represents a positive impact on the profit for direct materials. The cost of labor impacted the actual profit through the rate variance and the efficiency variance of the direct labor. Using the level 3 analysis, it was calculated that there was an unfavorable rate variance of â‚ ¬2 and an unfavorable efficiency variance of â‚ ¬11. This impacts the profit because the Italian region paid more for their labor than expected, which turned into an unfavorable variance of â‚ ¬2; this variance is related to the changes in the prices of labor. Also, the Italian region was not as efficient with their labor forces which showed in the unfavorable efficiency variance of â‚ ¬11; this is related to the labor efficiency of the workforce. Overall, the impact of the direct labor was negative to the profit as the Italian region was both inefficient and paid more per labor hour than estimated. The fixed costs impacted the actual profit by having an unfavorable variance of â‚ ¬20. This shows that the Italian region was slightly less cost conscious with some of their fixed costs and this negatively impacted the profit. After considering all of the different components of the profit of the Italian region through a causal analysis, the Italian region experienced a favorable variance of â‚ ¬58 on their overall profit. The manager of the Italian region should be evaluated relative to multiple criteria to gain a holistic view of his region’s performance. In order to compare the three regions together, causal analyses were performed for each region, see Exhibits 1-3. The first crucial measure should be sales growth, and this goes for all regions, not just the Italian region. Sales growth year-over-year is crucial to any business because businesses become more expensive to run as time goes on due to inflation. It is best to look at sales quantities relative to changes in price because if you were to just look at changes in quantity sold, the manager could steeply decrease the price just to make his or her performance look stronger. The next crucial measure should be price and quantity variance. Price variance shows how strong of a negotiator a manager is with suppliers, which can result in huge cost savings. Quantity variance shows how efficient workers are in producing products. A favorable qu antity variance evidences workers are not creating much scrap, and therefore are saving money. Another key indicator of manager performance is labor efficiency variance because it shows how productive workers are when producing product. A strong labor efficiency variance shows that the manager is staying on top of workers and demanding consistently strong performance from them. We do not believe that much weight should be put on labor rate variance because the manager often has little control due to unionization and government regulations within the area of operation. The above measurements of effectiveness of the Italian region and more specifically, the Italian manager can be found in Exhibit 1 which breaks down the relevant variances in determining the appropriate evaluation of the Italian manager. The more specific-scope variances mentioned are shown in Exhibit 6. All of the above tie into the bigger picture variances, which are the flexible-budget variance and the sales-volumes variance, which are shown in Exhibit 5 for Italy in 2009. These then roll into the static-budge t, which determines if a manager met the profit plan for the region, which is shown in Exhibit 4 for Italy in 2009. This gives a rather vague view, and can sometimes distort how a manager truly performed unless the variances that roll into it are investigated further. Both the manager of the French region and Spanish region should be judged on  similar criteria as the Italian region manager besides a few small nuances that France and Spain have in their operations. All of the measurements mentioned above in analyzing the Italian region manager’s performance should be used for France and Spain, as these measurements provide the same value no matter the region. A causal analysis for both France and Spain were conducted and can be found in Exhibits 2 and 3, respectively. For France, the more specific scope variances, flexible-budget and sales-volume variances, and the static-budget variance are shown in Exhibits 9, 8 and 7, respectively. For Spain, the more specific scope variances, flexible-budget and sales-volume variances, and the static-budget variance are shown in Exhibits 12, 11 and 10, respectively. France’s revenue from distribution should be taken out of all variance analyses it is considered in because the other regions do n ot have this service in place, and it would distort the view of relative performance. Also, France’s revenue should not include the 5% markup for transferring product to Spain because this is an intercompany sale and is not based on France’s customer demand but instead is based on Spain’s. We believe it is therefore necessary to remove the 5% markup from the purchase price for Spain because this will cause a heavily unfavorable price variance for direct materials. We feel that it is best to instead take this as a qualitative judgment in the manager’s performance in the sense that sales are outpacing inventory. It can also be noted that competitors have generally shown to steeply decrease market prices when demand weakens, but we feel this is best to account for qualitatively instead of through what seems to be an arbitrary measure of change in sales relative to temperature. It should be the regional manager’s job to address the decrease in the demand instead of have it be excused due to temperature change. In evaluating performance, it can be noted that the conditions did not allow for demand as strong as in other regions, but should not allow for a manager’s performance to be comparable to a region with widely stronger sales. Please note the standards used for Compagnie du Froid are listed in Exhibit 13. Based on our analysis of each of the regions’ performance for the year of 2009 and other important information, we believe that Italy’s regional manager did the best job. First and foremost, the region exceeded profit  expectations are set forth in the profit plan, as shown in Exhibit 6. Italy also earned favorable variances relative to both the flexible-budget variance and the sales-volume variance. The more specific-scope variances were strong as well with the only major weakness being in the quantity variance for ice-cream, but the strength of the other variances outweighs this one significant weakness that can easily be improved through training or overall experience. The direct labor efficiency variance is the only relatively weak variance, however Mr. Trumen noted that new machines were causing labor efficiency issues. It was mentioned that this was included in the profit plan already, however it can be expected that this variance will fluctuate until the equipment begins running normally. Revenue growth also exceeded expectations, which as mentioned earlier, is key to growing any business and maintaining positive cash flows. There are three main problems that Jacques Truman appears to be facing. The first problem involves whether or not to change how much each manager receives as a bonus. Each manager’s bonus is currently calculated at a fixed 2% of corporate profits but after the poor performance of the Spanish division during 2009 has Jacques considering new ways to evaluate each manger’s bonus. Jacques is considering whether to link each manager’s bonus to a performance measure such as a profit plan, revenue growth, or some overall economic measure of results. A second problem is how to calculate transfer pricing from one division to another. The Spanish division was charged full cost plus a 5% profit margin from the French division. Andres Molas believed this was way too much for a transfer price and in turn made his division look bad. Jacques needs to decide for current and future purposes on how to handle transfer pricing in case of a similar event happening again. The third problem involves whether or not to allow Jean Pinoux of the French division to continue providing the distributing services to regional food producers. Jean claims the distributing services add extra revenue with very little incremental cost. Jacques needs to decide whether Jean’s claims of the distributing services are true. After careful analysis of all three problems, we’ve developed some recommendations for Jacques Truman to consider. Our first recommendation involves implementing a new way to calculate the performance bonuses managers receive at the end of  each year. We don’t believe that every manager should simply receive 2% of corporate profits. Each manager’s performances can be measured by a variety growth metrics and budget variances while also taking qualitative factors into consideration. The growth metrics that should be considered are things like sales growth year-to-year and sales quantities relative to changes in price. Varian ces that should be considered are: price variance, quantity variance, and labor efficiency variance. Qualitative factors such as unseasonal temperature changes and intercompany transfer of product should also be taken into consideration. For reasons discussed earlier, we believe considering these metrics will give the most accurate view of each manager’s performance. Using these benchmarks will allow Campagnie Du Froid to calculate a more appropriate performance bonus for each manager. The second recommendation involves how transfer prices should be calculated between divisions. Assuming there are no capacity constraints at the French division because of the two new machines it just bought, transfer pricing should be set at the variable cost per litre of â‚ ¬2.76. When the French division has excess capacity, there is no opportunity cost to be lost and it should be indifferent for them to make these extra units for the Spanish division. Fixed costs don’t need to be added to the transfer price because they will be incurred regardless and the 5% profit margin is unnec essary because all profits eventually go to corporate. This will cut transfer costs for the Spanish division by â‚ ¬0.77per litre and â‚ ¬459,000 total. This type of transfer pricing will be beneficial to the buying division in the future and allow it to spend less when it runs into these types problems. The third recommendation involves the new distribution arrangements that Jean Pinoux wants to engage in the French division. In 2009, revenues from distribution were â‚ ¬79,000. The incremental costs for delivery expenses were â‚ ¬47,000 and â‚ ¬3,000 for depreciation of the trucks. The revenues from distribution outweigh the incremental costs by â‚ ¬29,000; therefore we recommend the French division continues with the new distribution arrangements. We believe these recommendations will help Campagnie Du Froid become a more efficient and profitable company.