Compare and contrast Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Compare and contrast - Essay Example The main characters in Sweat are Delia, the protagonist, a black washerwoman who had been working on the laundry for white people; her husband, Sykes, the antagonist is an abusive husband openly and vagrantly practicing infidelity; Bertha, the other woman of Sykes who he sleeps with; and the townspeople at the village. On the other hand, in A Rose for Emily, the main characters are Emily Grierson, a round character is depicted by the town as a tradition; the rest of the characters are basically flat characters such as Tobe, Emily’s servant; the townspeople; mentions of Emily’s father (who died) and Homer Barron, the significant person in Emily’s life who supposedly dated her and then, disappeared. The main characters are similar in gender and being ‘talk of the town’ in some events in the story; but distinctly different in personality. Delia, despite her small frame and silent stance showed strength and courage in disposition when faced with an extre mely dangerous event (when confronted by the rattlesnake).

The Story of an Hour by kate chopin Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

The Story of an Hour by kate chopin - Essay Example This also shows that the aspect of her seclusion to rediscover her emotions is vital. The narrator has critically analyzed her internal mental world, unlike her external world outside her bedroom. The window outside her room is vibrant and alive similar to her mental aspect while covering everything about her physical aspect. While the blatant use of some words is proof of this internal world, there are several cases of playful or ironic usage certain images or phrases to show the character’s joy in the story and the underlying message that marriage is limiting. The fact that at the end she also dies because of the excess happiness in many ways is symbolic of the â€Å"marriage† disease. Unless her antagonist â€Å"husband† is not present, she can never feel free much like an affliction. The detail that it is only her heart that is affected as compared to the entire body is indicative that her sadness from this disease symbolically stems from some internal factor. For example, in the description of her husband’s face, it is evident that he had affection for her sentiments that she does not reciprocate (Chopkins 7). This kind of direct and simple language is utilized only to highlight the things the main character hates. Therefore, the language shows that she never actually lov ed her husband. This helps bring out and simplify the language construct in the story for easier understanding of the character. The language becomes rich and lively with vibrant images and color when louse’s emotions are described in detail in regards to the things she likes. This contrasts sharply with the areas where the character is emotionally unattached or indifferent. The contrasts in some of the sentences in the book help highlight the characters responsive indifference. However, as the story progresses, the character and language come alive, as her real feelings are shown

Enzo Ferrari Leadership Strategy

Enzo Ferrari Leadership Strategy Enzo Ferrari was born in Moddena (Italy).He was Italian race car driver and entrepreneur. He founded the great motor racing team in history The Scuderia Ferrari f1 team and Ferrari car manufacturers .During the world war one Ferrari served in the Italian army and upon his return from the army he found that his family business collapsed. he then settled for mechanic job ,he left this job at 1920 to work for Alfa Romeo and also racing their cars. Ferrari had lot of success in local racing. Ferrari was manager of the Alfa Romeo car factory and also had a team of 40 drivers including him to participate in races. This was done under the banner of Alfa Romeo in the early days. Then on Ferrari started to get more grip on Alfa Romeo Company. When Alfa Romeo took more control of the racing Ferrari left Alfa to form his own racing team . First formula 1 race of Ferrari was in 1950. Ferrari is the only team in history of formula one to participate in every single championship. After their first victory in the British grand prix in 1951 what happened that is all history return in golden words .Car manufacturer whose every car enter the market is a success and a formula one which every driver want to drive at some point in their career. This is what Ferrari is. He died at age of 90 in 1988 I have chosen Enzo Ferrari as my leader because I admire him on what he have achieved from being a mechanic in workshop to a leading car manufacturer . Whatever I do I do it with a passion . And the leader I have chosen was highly regarded for his passion for fast moving cars , racing, and above all success in his area of expertise manufacturing cars. He was determined and achieved the level of success he wanted to be in. He motivates me to achieve the impossible . So I didnt had second thought in picking Enzo from my favourites for the position of leader profile that I am gone to work on for the leadership assignment. Analysing the leader based on Leadership Theories Trait Theory Traits refer to the trend in personnel behaviour. Effectiveness of the leader can be valued based on the traits possessed by the leader .we get more information on traits when we keep constant eye on consistent pattern of behaviour. How people behave in weak situations also comes into account when referring to trait theory. Enzo Ferrari analysed based on trait theory . Enzo Ferrari is regarded as effective leader during his era. Ferrari possessed various traits. When considering all traits he had there are some traits worth mentioning here. Self confidence, trustworthiness, assertiveness, enthusiasm. Incidents which Ferrari showed immense self confidence were starting scuderia on 1929, serving as manager and driving high speed cars, his ability to put things together at bad times to ripe better results in future. Self confidence is trait which all leaders have in their custody .so what made Ferrari a stand out in that. Self confidence is one thing that each motor sport racer have in their pocket .Because when you are speeding at 100 mph per hour in old times with no much protective gears in the cars you ought have some confidence to press the pedal even on sharp bends. Ferrari also showed his self confidence while entered into formula one without much support or sponsorship. The confidence Enzo had is still seen in the Ferrari team evidently. Enzo Ferrari has transferred one of his trait to his team that is assertiveness. which Ferrari car manufacturer have and Ferrari formula one team always shows in the entire history of motorsport . This trait was seen in Ferrari either in selecting drivers , making strategic decisions ,resolving company issues etc . Enzo always valued trust . give and take policy was usually adopted in the case of trust by Enzo . Alfa Romeo ,and other partners of Ferrari sees Ferrari as a trust worthy person .Enzo Ferrari always created enthusiasm in the people who he deals with . As a person who is really enthusiastic about the formula 1 racing , he poured that enthusiasm into his workers and formula 1 drivers . The level of enthusiasm Scuderia Ferrari is showing now in motor sport was from their dear leader Enzo Ferrari .This is main reason why which Ferrari team is winning championship and hunger to go for more. High energy and physical stamina helped Ferrari to participate in racing events apart from being the manger of scuderia.Ferrari was a reserved character , and usually not found of interviews .Enzo had all qualities in work related characteristics of a leader , when Alfa Romeo withdraw their entire support Ferrari fought against the obstacles and hardships through determination and desire to excel. His friends and technicians were sure that one Enzo is going to be great man . Enzo was practical and had responsibility in achieving the goals. Every time his decisions were not right , like once they lost a championship due to wrong selection of tyres by Ferrari .Winning racing and making unbeatable sports cars are resulted from team effects but Ferrari consider himself only accountable for all wrong moves and for success he made sure that credits usually goes to his team members. Behavioural Theory This approach says that anyone who adopts appropriate behaviour can be good leader. We usually consider two approaches ( autocratic and democratic) to analysis a leader. Behavioural theory and Enzo Ferrari In the early days itself sucedria Ferrari had policy of splitting the responsibility .Enzo Ferrari usually delegates the responsibility among the his crew . when Enzo was working under Alfa Romeo , Alfa used to share responsibities with Enzo like giving the control of racing team , positioning the strategies etc. Ferrari when started his own car manufacturing he used to share the authority to good and sound technicians to develop some best cars. Enzo also valued the comments of his mechanics and drivers ,This is also due to the fact that his profession also demanded him to be a democratic leader. He is not a person who is leading a country but a person who leads group of mechanics to produce world class sports cars . country can be run by a autocratic leader but a car company cannot . According to the workers of Ferrari car company Enzo Ferrari was charismatic and affectionate leader. Leadership style of Ferrari was a combination of boss centred and subordinate centred leadership. Applying Gardners roles on Ferrari ,he had goal to become world class car manufacturer and wanted his cars to won in formula 1 races , he managed and fixed values for the team . Ferrari served as racer for initial time and manged Alfa Romeos racing department. Ferrari was successful in achieving a workable unit with him Ferrari roped in some finest drivers like Fangio, Hill etc and got some really good mechanics from British car companies and Italian companies like Bugatti . Rene Dreyfus an ex Bugatti driver Says that he learned the business of motor racing from Ferrari . Ferrari was a great motivating factor for the team ,in the initial years Ferrari was a manger and racer used to attend races while other drivers are driving for scuderia .In last few years he didnt attended much races ,he got information about the races over phone from his employees but this was not his workers and mechanics want to see him in the motor sport arena and in the paddock with them as motivational factor .Such was the effect of Enzo Ferrari on his team.Constant conversations and explanation happened between Ferrari and his racing team . He used to explain about the car to his formula one drivers because in this sport good understanding about the car is essential for the success.Also the conversation between mechanics and manager Enzo was crucial in developing some of finest formula 1 cars Ferrari has ever produced .Till death in 1988 Ferrari served as a symbol of Scuderia Ferrari motor sport . Ferrari named one their cars as Enzo Ferrari in the remembrance of their great founder. The team Ferrari was represented by Enzo not only in the name but also in and out of the formula 1 field. As a leader of Ferrari motor racing team and car manufacturing Enzo always representative for his mechanics and drivers in the public . Although Ferrari was a reserved character and rarely gave interviews to media, his passion for the motor sport and love for cars made him the ideal representation of sc uderia Ferrari . Enzo Ferrari was consistent but adaptable to change in situation , when Alfa Romeo wanted more control in racing Ferrari thought of starting own car manufacturing using all limited resources available and bringing in new talents to his team . During 1960s Ferrari had financial crisis so he had talks with Fiat and got their support and over these years Ferrari team also followed the same tactics ,that is getting new support like shell, Pirelli etc as partners in formula 1 sport. Enzo Ferrari in the Leadership context Taking whole leadership context into account, there are certain things which are really applicable to Ferrari . There is nothing much to say on his traits and behaviours as there are already mentioned above. There werent much values that Ferrari used to put into his leadership style, nor much of an ethical approach. Ferrari is considered as a pure business man, although he love cars there is no sentimental relation with cars that is he was ready to sell old cars for scrap value if they are not working properly .In a way Ferrari used path goal theory to accomplish his vision. At that time face to face was reliable communication method although telephone was also there. When Ferrari started to not attending races his employees would convey the information about the races over the phone to Ferrari . Ferrari was a charismatic leader according to his friends and I also fee l the same . He was more of a transactional leader .This is evident from the strategy he adopted when there was a sho rtage of money, drivers will get the percentage of the winning money from the races . Drivers who have passion for motor racing work for fun and money , the fun they get from driving high speed cars and money from winning races ,so being a transactional leader Ferrari was able to employ some 40 drivers during 1940s They won him races and he paid them well . Enzos contribution to Ferrari company is what made him truly special . His vision was to make some unbeatable cars in the history of formula one and he and his crew was able to achieve it . Also the entire motorsport industry benefited from the advanced techniques introduced by Ferrari .Enzo Ferrari was job oriented than people oriented but still took a good care about his racing drivers. He used to remember the drivers who shed their life in the track with great pain and agony. Ferrari had structural frame of reference than human resources frame in gather information, make decisions, and exercise power. During the last years of his careers may be due the experiences he gathered, Ferrari turned into human resource frame of reference . Power and influence Power means the ability of the Ferrari to influence the people in his organization to bring desired outcomes . Influence in this context means how Ferrari was able to influence people in attitudes, actions etc .Ferrari had personal power He was an expert in the field of motor racing ,the knowledge he acquired during the days as manager of Alfa Romeo racing department, through his relation and experience with drivers and mechanics is what made him an expert in his area .So subordinates followed his ideas .Referent power are visible if leader is charismatic , Ferrari is regarded charismatic leader . This has effect on Ferrari formula one team even after 21 years of Enzos death .Reason is that Ferrari team is made up of passion and love for fast cars and racing .The influence Enzo had on his team in the early days was hunger for victory .This is still continuing even after his death through the never lasting thirst for victory in races for ferrari formula one team . The response to the type power Ferrari had was commitment from his workers .This commitment was really essential for building up of successful formula one team. Conclusion In the entire human history we come across many varieties of leader ,some truly great and some people want to forget from their memory . So what makes one a great leader. There is no single recipe answer for that. All the ingredients in right mixture makes a good dish same for leader also , effective traits, behaviour, influence on people, the way leader carry himself etc will result in evaluating him as a successful leader or not . Enzo Ferrari was a great business man and visionary but was he one of the greatest leader of all time ?, not really because he was the leader of a business empire, he has not transformed any individual to another level of potential or hasnt done something exceptional for mankind. Then what makes Enzo Ferrari special, a man who started as a mechanic after the collapse of family business, went through all hardships, fought against all odds to build an empire, a truly amazing car company which glitters in the car industry world .Ferrari was able to convert h is passion into reality. He was combination all effective traits for leader but didnt had anything more than a limit, like everything in proportion, that made him stand out. More job oriented character invited some criticism from his friends in early days, but he didnt changed his style. Being consistent that is what I liked about Ferrari. The stamina and self confidence from being a race driver helped him in his decision making. Life is like a chocolate box you dont no what you going to get from it this is applicable for race driver. A race driver is not sure what will be the result at the end of the race he just push the pedal and hope for a win ,same was done by Ferrari he wanted to win in the races and in business his drivers won the races for him and his leadership style and strategies combined to form the success in business. From a simple life to a millionaire life the journey of Ferrari was as exciting as a formula one race from start to chequered flag. When we look back int o the life history of Enzo Ferrari only thing he likes to convey is dreams will go in speed of f1 car but the control should be yours.

Metaphysics, Epistemology and George Orwells Nineteen Eighty-Four (198

Metaphysics, Epistemology and Orwell's 1984 Since the beginning of recorded time, philosophers have pondered questions of metaphysics (what exists, what is real) and epistemology (how we know what exists and is real, our proof). However in George Orwell's 1984, the need to answer these questions no longer exists for the majority, as the ruling party has created a new reality for its citizens, one in which what is real and what truly exists cannot be questioned. But on the flip side, the protagonist of 1984, Winston Smith, finds himself constantly searching for what is real in his life, and in a larger sense, in the society and world that surrounds him. In its simplest terms, metaphysics can be seen as a question of what it is that we know to be real, what truly exists. In a deeper sense, as defined by Aristotle, metaphysics attempts to understand the fundamental nature of all reality. Closely related to metaphysics is epistemology. Epistemology looks to define what knowledge is, how it is obtained, and what it is that makes anything knowledge at all. It serves to establish proof, a warrant for what we consider to be real, thus validating our knowledge of our own reality. Within 1984, Orwell, or rather "The Party" has created Big Brother, a larger-than-life character known to all citizens, uniting and influencing all of Oceania. To the citizens of Oceania, there is no question that Big Brother does not exist. To them Big Brother is real, he exists in the flesh just as the rest of the citizens of the nation. Almost no one entertains the proposition that he is merely a character, created to enforce party agendas and goals. His face appears in movies, on posters; he is virtually everywhere. Citizens are ... ...are being told. They will never know if what they are being told is the truth and will never distinguish between what is actually true and what is just mindless babble and propaganda. Works Cited Anderson, Alan. "Metaphysics: Multiple Meanings." April 14, 2000. May 31, 2000. Floyd, Nathan T. "Rhetoric & Epistemology." November 29, 1995. May 31, 2000. Khoury, Jonathan A. "1984 in 1996: How Orwell's 1949 Classic Describes our Government." May 31, 2000. Orwell, George. 1984. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Inc., 1949. Hyperlinks http://websyte.com/alan/metamul.htm metaphysics http://www.lcc.gatech.edu/gallery/rhetoric/terms/epistemology.html epistemology http://members.aol.com/jonkhoury/1984.htm 1984

Boy in Striped Pyjamas and Rose Blanche essay

John Boone represents the different perspectives of society in World War II through the representations of characters in the fictional novel The Boy in Striped Pajamas. Brunt's childlike perspective is represented through his malapropism of ‘the Fury' and â€Å"Out-With† and his reaction to unexpected events, â€Å"mouth making the shape of an O†. The irony of Brunt's narrow view, â€Å"it's so unfair†¦ † Confronts the audience with the ignorance of some German citizens to the horrific events of the Holocaust.The characters of â€Å"Mother ND â€Å"Grandmother† are utilized by Boone to represent the differing perspectives of the society during the Holocaust. Grandmother exercises constructive disobedience in dissenting with the Nazi regime and perceiving Fathers role as â€Å"a puppet on a string†. This is juxtaposed to Brunt's Mother through the euphemism of â€Å"[Bruno] had never known anyone to need quite so many medicinal Sherriesà ¢â‚¬  showing her complacency to do nothing about the knowledge of the concentration camp. Boone positions an older audience to see the dangers of naivety and the cost of inaction.Rose Balance composed by Robert Innocent juxtaposes the main protagonist to others in the picture book, representing the differing perspectives during the Holocaust. The purpose of the text is established by the motif of Rose positioned behind a window, symbolizing her separation from the evil of the Nazi regime. A single bright color is utilized throughout the text, which Innocent uses to juxtapose the dominant influence of Rose Balance and the Nazi regime. Innocent's use of the ironic statement, wars being, people often cheer† confronts a modern audience who recognizes the historical horrors of war.The foreshadowing of seasons â€Å"winter was coming† at the being of the book develops into a symbol of hope after the protagonist is killed and â€Å"spring takes over'. The French translation of Balance connotes the innocence and purity of the protagonist; however the audience soon recognizes Rose's loss of innocence as her bow is lost. The responders are forced to distinguish the evil of the Nazi party from the protagonist whom Innocent represents as a symbol of the innocence and humanity.The Boy in Striped Pajamas and Rose Balance are both tragic representations of innocence through the confronting atrocities of the Holocaust. However, The Boy in Striped Pajamas allows the reader to explore different notions while Rose Balance is a stark representation of the horrors of war. Boone blurs the boundaries between innocence and ignorance through the perspective of Bruno as he â€Å"pretends he hasn't heard† the true about his friend Samuel and the concentration camp.

Malansang Isda by Rosalinda Olsen Essay

†Ang hindi nagmamahal sa sariling wika ay masahol pa sa malansang isda† is one of the most often quoted of Rizal’s writings. Why, then, did he write his two novels, Noli me tangere and El Filibusterismo in Spanish? In his dedication of theNoli me Tangere, Rizal wrote, â€Å"I will strive to reproduce thy condition faithfully, without discriminations. † Surely, the national hero of the Philippines was not somebody who said one thing and did the opposite. Both novels portrayed the social and political conditions of the time through characters that represented a cross section of Philippine society—the natives who were called the Indios, the Peninsuslares or the Spanish who were born in Spain, and the Filipino or the Spanish who were born in the Philippine Islands—immortalized in the characters of Crisostomo Ibarra and his beloved Maria Clara, Elizas, Padre Damaso, Dona Victorina, and the sinister Padre Salvi. These characters represented the ideal and the despicable, the funny and the tragic, the truly comic and the merely ridiculous. There was enough in the novel to satisfy the Filipinos’ appetite for a good laugh and a love story–the more sentimental, the better—serving as a thin layer to hide the bitter satire. It can be said that Rizal’s two novels awoke the slumbering political passion of his countrymen so successfully that it quickened the birth of the Philippine Revolution. If this were Rizal’s aim, which most decidedly was not, he would have written the novels in Tagalog. Not only would this have been understandable to most people in Luzon, it would have hidden the revolutionary intent from the Spanish. As it was, the novels had to be distributed in secret among the Indios because the Spanish authorities banned those books. Which leads to the question of whom his target audience was in, order to answer the first question of why he wrote the Noli me tangere and theEl Filibusterismo in the language of the Spanish colonizers. So much has been written about Rizal’s extreme reluctance for revolution as the solution to the social cancer that was destroying his country, in contrast to his passionate advocacy of education and political reform. Evidently, the Spanish colonizers were Rizal’s primary target audience, hence, he wrote in their language. The Indio could have been a secondary target audience, perhaps in the hope that the ilustrados would fight for the socio-political reforms that were clearly indicated in the novels. There was no need to reproduce the social conditions of the time to the Indio who knew it only too well and constantly suffered from it. Rizal wrote the novels in Spanish because that was the appropriate language for his intent. Language is basically a tool, a means to express ideas and to communicate these, but before being a tool, language is first a reflection of one’s objective reality. Language is a symbol that represents the material objects in one’s environment. If an object does not exist in one’s material universe, one would have no word for it. For example, a person in search of gold in a certain area might show the natives a gold piece and ask what the natives call that metal and where he could find it. If there is no word for gold among the natives, it either means there is no gold in the area or the natives have not seen or heard of that metal before. When Rizal wrote the famous lines â€Å"Ang hindi nagmamahal sa sariling wika ay masahol pa sa malansang isda†, he was not referring to language merely as a communication tool but as an expression of one’s identity, of one’s individual and social consciousness. In the novels, Dona Victorina represents the type of Filipino who rejects her identity as Indio and who would do everything to deny it in every form, particularly in mannerism and language. More than a hundred years have passed since Rizal wrote his two novels but the social and eco-political structures remain basically the same. Only the ruling class has been changed, Filipinos have replaced the colonial masters. At the tip of an inverted pyramid is the very small minority of the power class that consists of the affluent and the Catholic hierarchy. At the top of this pyramid is about 80% of the population that have been assessed by the World Bank-IMF as living below poverty level. Between these two main groups is the middle class that shows no sign of increasing in number. Only a miracle would keep this unnatural pyramid from toppling over, but that belongs to another article. Undoubtedly, Pilipino (supposedly the expanded and enriched form of Tagalog) is not the language of the power class. Most of them speak English and some prefer to speak Spanish. The masses can read and speak Pilipino, as it is a required subject in school, but chances are, they speak their cradle tongue among themselves and most of the time, which would be any of the major languages and the numerous dialects. The language of the middle class is an odd mix of English, Pilipino, and their radle tongue. Since language is a reflection of one’s identity, could we then say that the Filipinos have one national identity? Without a common identity, there could be no real sense of nationhood. This is what Rizal meant by that famous quotation that is often quoted but only the surface level. Pilipino is the national language but the preferred working language of government, business, and education as well as the mass media remains English. There would be nothing amiss with this if it were not for the great majority of the population whose knowledge of English is not functional. It is not surprising that government can get away shamelessly with graft and corruption because the masses have little understanding of what is going on. Clearly, language in Philippine contemporary society is the one big wall that divides the powerful from the masses of poor people, notwithstanding all the calls for people empowerment. One would think that the entertainment industry, specifically the movies and the television, might be a vehicle for uniting the people because the movies are still affordable and one could always go to the neighbor’s to watch television. Just take a quick look at the commercials; most of them are in English. Noontime and evening variety shows are probably the worst because the language used by the hosts and participants reflects the jargon of the â€Å"lost tribe† aka Manila people, which is a horrible porridge of English and Pilipino with an even more horrendous lack of grammar or logical syntax. So much for the local role models, let’s take a look at the school system. According to a DECS ruling, Pilipino should be the mode of classroom instruction. So far, this has worked, in some fashion, in the elementary grades and to a lesser extent, in the secondary and the tertiary levels. Textbooks in Pilipino have been published and used in the schools, but all the references remain English. In fact, teachers find it impossible to use Pilipino in teaching mathematics, algebra, chemistry, or physics, philosophy, etc. Not surprisingly, the pupil is subjected to a kind of mental lobotomy and eventually their soul is truncated, amputated, or dichotomised. Brave souls who perhaps wanted to â€Å"make a difference â€Å" in the academe, have attempted to write their undergraduate or graduate thesis in Pilipino. Some succeeded, but one can’t help wondering if their theses would ever be taken down from the library shelves to be read and enjoyed. Few would have the courage to admit that they would rather read Rizal’s novels in English, not just because it would be easier for them but because the Pilipino translations are so antiquated that one would read it only under duress, which is to say, only because the school requires it. The Philippines, Indonesia, and Malaysia got their independence from their colonial masters at about the same time. All three countries created a national language that would be the expression of the national soul and, thus, be a unifying element. Sadly, Pilipino has not succeeded in being the language of the government and the governed, in contrast to how Indonesia and Malaysia has used their respective national languages. Indonesia does not use Dutch as the language of government, education and commerce. Neither do the Malaysians use English as their working language. An anecdote would illustrate this. A friend was on holiday in Kuala Lumpur. One day, she took a cab and, naturally, spoke to the taxi driver in English. In polite but cold tones, the driver asked her, â€Å"Madam, why do you talk in English? We are all Malaysians. † Nonplussed, she said she was Filipino and the taxi driver apologized and explained that she looked Malaysian. It might be an excellent thing for Philippine politicians to have experienced this, but then again, they would be more likely to hire a limousine (at Filipino taxpayer’s expense, of course) and lose the chance of being told to speak the national language by a lowly taxi driver. Is the Filipino then a â€Å"malansang isda†? Using the â€Å"isda† analogy, the Filipino might well be like a fish out of water, in the sense that Filipinos are supposed to be living in one country—the big sea—that has become an alien territory to citizens whose ties have remained regional or tribal rather than national. A fish out of its natural habitat would quickly die and stink. Rizal did not have all the answers to Philippine problems, but he has practically said it all. For the young, he collected folk stories and legends. For the more mature, he wrote the novels, Noli me tangereand El Filibusterismo, the two long essays â€Å"The Indolence of the Filipino† and â€Å"The Philippines a Century Hence† as well as poetry and countless articles. Jose Rizal is the national hero and his portrait is in the lowest denomination of Philippine paper money. Every Filipino knows Rizal, but do they understand him? Those who have read his novels remember only the love story of Ibarra and Maria Clara, the antics of Dona Victorina, and the pathetic Sisa. High School and college graduates are obliged to take the Rizal course as a requirement for graduation, but how many of them understand the two long essays relative to what is happening in the Philippines today, if they read it at all? Rizal has been iconized and even idolized by a sect that calls themselves â€Å"Rizalistas†, but the Filipino has yet to realize and actualise his relevance.