The Dreams by Naguib Mahfouz Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

The Dreams by Naguib Mahfouz - Essay Example â€Å"The Dreams† is an example of a collection of short stories that professionally depict the social, economic, and political lives of Egypt through a list of short dreams, designed and narrated by Naguib Mahfouz. First published in 2000, the collection of 104 dreams reflects many of Mahfouz’s hopes and expectations for the kind of life that is better to prevail in Egypt in the new millennium. After a deep and long experience in writing, Mahfouz wanted to end his writing career by publishing his views, ideas, and thoughts in a form of dreams that reflect his vision for the future of Egypt. These dreams are rich and varied, containing Mahfouz’s night-thoughts and elaborate scenes. In most of these dreams, Mahfouz recalls people, scenes and situations from his earlier life, making nice connections to the present and the future, which Mahfouz looks for. â€Å"The Dreams† makes it clear that Mahfouz is a prolific writer as he produced a great number of novel s and short stories that discuss a variety of issues related to his society and environment. The greatness of Mahfouz as a novelist and story teller does not only lie in his professionalism in writing, but also in his success in giving clear pictures of the social, economic, and political lives in the Arab world. And Middle East. This success stems from his closeness to all the social classes and understanding of their problems and sufferings. For example, in many of the novels that are written by Naguib Mahfouz, he depicts the Egyptian streets and allies in a way that is very close to reality. Even in â€Å"the Dreams,† Mahfouz’s closeness to his social surroundings is recurrently reflected in the various details of the scenes he depicts and the characters he portrays. In the collection of the dreams that are professionally drawn by Mahfouz, the author’s sense of self is uniquely interwoven with his views about the surrounding social circumstances that dominate d Egypt during the time of publishing the collection. This evolving sense of self for Mahfouz is clearly revealed by the changes to the houses that fill his dreams. For example, the recurrent appearance of a certain woman in his dreams may represent his old soul mate or lover, from a psychological perspective. Taking dream number 29, for instance, we view Mahfouz in a conversation with his literary cohorts, when he mentions a female writer he esteems. In this dream, the reader can easily feel Mahfouz’s annoyance when he listens to his companions, criticizing the woman’s social pretensions and depravity. This annoyance of Mahfouz is clearly reflected in his quick exit from the scene, and then he meets another woman in the elevator after he leaves. While talking with him about false friendship, this woman suddenly robs Mahfouz at gunpoint. These beautifully-designed scenes in one dream reflect Mahfouz’s talent in sending numerous positive messages via eloquently-b uilt small paragraphs. In this context, the reader of Mahfouz’s dreams may find them luminous and optimistic, in addition to their being shimmering with vitality. Hence, the reader of Mahfouz’s dreams should be aware that those dreams, for the author, are not mere psychological reflections on events and people from the past; rather, these dreams are masterfully used as a fertile ground for a literary

Assignment. Product deelopment Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

. Product deelopment - Assignment Example The companies are retailers in freshly brewed coffee and are using status/prestige pricing, market penetration pricing, and market pricing strategy. They include Starbucks, McDonald’s, and Dunkin’ Donuts respectively1. Status/prestige involves setting prices higher than the competition in order to create a perception of an added advantage of the product that creates a reputational quality and distinction. Market penetration pricing involves offering a product/service at a lower price to attract customers from those offering the same product at a higher price. On the other hand, market strategies considers various things before setting the price, but mainly evaluating prices of similar products in the market. It can set prices higher than the competition if it deems it has more features or less if the features are less. Starbucks has been a master of employing value-based pricing to maximize profits. It does this by using research and customer analysis to formulate targeted price increases that capture the greatest amount consumers can will to pay without driving them off. The company does profit maximization by determining the price and product output level that generates most profit2. As has been implied through market penetration strategy, McDonald’s is after the mass market by offering lowest, on average, prices compared to the other two. This strategy is intended to create traffic large enough to cover all cost incurred, including selling cheaply per latte. Lastly, Dunkin’ Donuts prices its products in comparison to the two (market strategy) by offering similar-featured coffee to that of Starbucks and better than McDonald’s3. By using this strategy, its hopes to undercut and win Starbucks’ customers for the same features and offer better features to McDonald’ s customers, hence enough margin. The three coffee shops have different minimum order quantity (MOQ) that will enable each to make reach their marginal