Rhetorical Analysis of Douglass free essay sample

In the excerpt â€Å"Learning to Read and Write†, Frederick Douglass talks about his experiences in slavery living in his masters house and his struggle to learn how to read and write. Frederick Douglass was an African American social reformer, orator, writer, and statesman. Some of his other writings include â€Å"The Heroic Slave†, â€Å"My Bondage and My Freedom†, and â€Å"Life and Times of Frederick Douglass†. In this excerpt, Frederick Douglass uses an empathic tone, imagery, certain verb choice, contrast, and metaphors to inform African Americans of how important it is to learn to read and write and also to inform a white American audience of the evils of slavery. I find Frederick Douglass to be relatively persuasive in his argument to his intended audiences. We know that one of his intended audiences is African Americans because he consistently states things such as â€Å"I was compelled to resort to various stratagems† and â€Å"Thus, after a long, tedious effort for years, I finally succeeded in learning how to write†. We will write a custom essay sample on Rhetorical Analysis of Douglass or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page These sentences show us how difficult it was for him and states how he had to go through many trials to finally learn to be literately correct. By not giving up, he shows us how important he thinks it is for slaves to learn how to read and write. We also know that his other audience were white Americans because of his use of contrast. He describes how his mistress changed from being a nice, helpful, and loving woman to being a mean, evil spirited brute because of the simple fact of being a slave holder and her husband’s characteristics rubbing off on her. By stating â€Å"Slavery soon proved its ability to divest her of these heavenly qualities† he shows us how much of a negative effect slavery can be not only on African Americans, but also on white Americans. Frederick Douglass most likely chose this audience because many slaves probably did not know the extent of how important it was to read and write, or just didn’t know it was important at all. Frederick Douglass wanted slaves to be able to know what was happening in society and what was going on around them that their masters were not telling them. As far as the white audience goes, he likely chose this audience to make slave owners and non-slave owners look at slavery a different way. The way he portrays slavery in my eyes is almost as a force that turned this woman (his mistress) into something that she is not. It makes slavery look like a disease spread on white Americans that makes them horrible people. Another audience that might be included are poor white children and/or teenagers. Throughout the excerpt, Douglass explains how he would use the poor white children as instructors to teach him how to read and write in exchange for food. In the excerpt he writes â€Å"Have not I as good a right to be free as you have? These words used to trouble them; they would express for me the liveliest sympathy†¦Ã¢â‚¬  He could have chosen this audience because he knows that the children hold the future. This would be his way of convincing the younger kids to look down upon slavery. That could change the lives of African Americans forever. There could be a number of different audiences that Frederick Douglass was referring to, but the least likely would be extremely racist slave owners. Racist slave owners probably wouldn’t even pick up something an African American wrote, let alone care what he had to say. The Logos in this excerpt has a structure of Frederick Douglass’s events going in chronological order. He opens this excerpt by telling how long he lived at his master’s house. He then goes on to describe how his mistress changed from a nice lady to a mean-spirited one. He explains how her doing so made it hard for him to read because she would always get angry whenever she would see him holding a book. He then describes how he would become friends with the poor white kids so that they would help him learn how to read. Once he has learned to read, he starts to understand more of what is going on around him and he doesn’t like it. He begins to envy the ignorance of his fellow slaves. He meets two white men who encourage him to run away to the north to be free. Frederick considers it, but he wants to learn how to write first. He concludes this excerpt by describing how he learned to write by being in a ship-yard and also by daring the white kids that he knew more letters than them, tricking them into teaching him more letters. There wasn’t any flashbacks or foreshadowing in this excerpt. He went from beginning to end. If Frederick Douglass did decide to use any literary time elements such as foreshadowing and flashbacks, it could have made this excerpt a bit more interesting. Although, the chronological order did just fine. Frederick Douglass’s main claim to his argument of the importance of slaves learning how to read and write is the fact that without that knowledge, slaves would just remain ignorant to the things happening around him. They would have to rely on other people’s words instead of their own. With slaves being ignorant to their surroundings, it would be impossible for them to grow or to reach freedom. Frederick Douglass has an automatic appeal of credibility since this is an excerpt from his a narrative of his own life. Frederick Douglass also establishes Ethos when he started to think logically by learning to read. The more he learned, the more he was building his character to get what he wanted. He also builds character by choosing not to run away when the white men told him too. He knew there was a chance of them tricking him to run away just so they can catch him and get an award. He decided to take the opportunity to learn to write before he would run away. His character can also be determined by the title and even the first sentence of the story. â€Å"I lived in Master Hugh’s family about seven years. † This shows that he is just like any other slave even though he found a way to educate himself. This grabs the attention of his audiences and makes him as an author credible and trustworthy. Frederick Douglass appeals to Pathos in this excerpt. Because this is a true story, all the hardships his mistress put him through and all the trouble he had to go through and endure just to learn to read and write, give off real emotions. The fact that this really happened to him has more of an effect on his audience than if this was fiction. We see Douglass saying that he regrets his own existence and he wished himself dead. This makes the audience feel extremely sad and sorry for him. One way that Frederick Douglass uses pathos to persuade his audience is by him stating how bad he felt once he did learn how to read and write and how he envied the people who couldn’t. One would think that by him saying that would push someone to not want to learn to read, but it is the reason he feels this way that would persuade them. The reason he feels this way is because now he knows things that he’s never known and he knows how bad things are for slaves. That would persuade someone to want to know as much information as he does. He also establishes Kairos in this excerpt because of the fact that with only a few modifications, this same story could have been writing in modern times. Although slavery is not legal in America, it is in some parts of the world. There’s also illegal slavery in America such as human trafficking. It could be the same story of a person being trafficked trying to learn to read and  write, another language maybe, in order to escape. It also could be told in ancient times with the slaves in Egypt. That’s just a few examples of how this excerpt could be told in multiple time periods. In this excerpt â€Å"Learning to Read and Write† we see how Frederick Douglass used rhetoric devices Logos, Pathos, Ethos, and Kairos. Also we see how he used different literary elements to establish those. Frederick Douglass effectively persuaded his audience of African Americans and white Americans to show the importance of learning to read and write and to inform how evil slavery really was.

Never grow up Essays

Never grow up Essays Never grow up Essay Never grow up Essay Marco, who is the elder of the two illegally immigrated cousins, does live up to Eddies views of masculinity. He is everything that Eddie believes a man should be. The reason he immigrated into the country was to provide for is hungry family back in his home in Sicily. He wants his family to have food on the table just like Eddie does. Marco came to the country because he thought that if he worked and earned money he could send it back home to his wife and kids: If I stay there they will never grow up.  Eddie takes a liking to Marco straight away. We can see that he respects him because of what he is hoping to do for his family, he seems very interested in Marco and asks a lot of questions,   So whatre you wanna do, you gonna stay here in this country or you wanna go back?   And   Well, youre married, aint you?  It then becomes clear that Eddie is losing, or he thinks he is losing, his role of the man in the household. Eddie has always believed that he is the dominant person in the family but now that he has met Marco he feels threatened. He feels that Marco is threatening all the respect and pride that Eddie has earned. Eddie behaves peculiarly when he asks Rodolfo if he can box which leads to a boxing match between Eddie and Rodolfo, which is just supposed to be harmless but when Eddie actually hits Rodolfo then tension builds up, causing a moment of hostility and almost aggression between Eddie and Marco. Marco challenges Eddie to lift a chair by the bottom of the leg. Eddie fails. Marco succeeds and holds the chair above Eddies head as if he was going to hit him with it. This moment of tension between them shows Marcos hostility towards Eddie and is a warning to Eddie for him to leave Rodolfo alone. In the final scene at the end of the play we see that Eddie can not take any more and turns both cousins in to the immigration bureau. Marco fills up with rage and anger and shouts:   He killed my children! That one stole the food from my children!  Eddie becomes offended and demands that he apologizes and demands that he gives his name back,   Hes gonna take that back or Ill kill him! You hear me?  The play ends with Marco and Eddie in a fight. Eddie has a knife threatening to kill Marco. All Eddie wanted was for Marco to tell the people that what he said wasnt true because that was all that is all it comes down to in the end, pride and respect, You lied about me, Marco. Now say it. Come on now, say it!  There is a link between the three traits, aggression, hostility and manliness. Eddie will get aggressive if people dont conform to his way of thinking, and this will also include hostility and not always to the intended people. Eddie himself struggles with expressing himself in any other way than violence because he is not very educated; this causes internal frustration and causes him to lash out with violence. In contrast with Eddy, Alfiari (the chorus like character, who is similar to that of Henry Vs, who speeds up the play) who is educated and a man of the law, reserved and careful. In the final scene, the fight between Eddie and Marco involves hostility and aggression due to manliness, as Eddie wants his respect and he wants his name back. Another quality of manliness: honour. However Eddie betrays Marco and Rodolpho by tipping off the Immigration Bureau:  I want to report something. Illegal immigrants. Two of them. Today hostility is viewed upon as wrong, when A View From the Bridge was written, hostility made up part of the day-to-day running of people in this era. Today women are treated as equals and any discrimination is taken incredibly seriously, in the time the play written, women had very few rights and were constantly stereotyped and abused.  In this play women dont play any particular part, accept for objects of affection, arguing points and stereotypical slaves. They are also victims of male aggression and hostility, Beatrice also believes that the female characters are also responsible for the tragedy that befalls the male characters: Whatever happened we all done it, and dont you forget it, Catherine. Women in this era, were forced into these roles, they had few rights and were treated poorly. Another character in the play, Alfieri, plays a similar part to a chorus, similar to ones in Greek plays, narrating the play and commenting on events; he also plays a part in the play as a lawyer and a family friend. He is essential to the structure of the play as he opens and closes it and at other times moves the action quickly forward.  The language in this play is mostly colloquial. Beatrice and Eddie, who were both never educated very well, use colloquial probably the most. They use short, simple sentences:   Yiz ever work on the piers of Italy?  And:   or take a trolley or sumpm? Catherine goes to school and is being educated is the most obvious to be the better language speaker but still uses the word yiz . Radolpho is not able to speak English very well due to the fact that he is speaking in his second language and struggles sometimes,   the machine, the machine is necessary.   His sentences are lively and witty and entertaining. Marco seems to be able to speak English better than his brother. His sentences are usually serious and quite intense:   Too loud. The guests in that hotel are all Englishmen. They dont like too loud. Although we read the drama A view from the bridge it was initially intended to be performed on the stage this would have made the play more dramatic because the audience would feel like they are a part of it. The setting would cause problems because it is constantly changing so the stage set-up would have to be skilfully done so as little time was wasted as possible changing the set.  If we were to act a small part of the play in groups it would probably help us to understand why Arthur Miller had so many stage directions in the script. It is because every little detail needed to be shown to reveal the authenticity of the play and to give it a feeling of what it was actually like to be there.  As there are so many stage directions, it would be difficult to keep up with all the different stage directions.  The play is a tragedy. Miller was heavily influenced by this tradition of playwriting from Greek tragedy to the Norwegian Henrik Ibsen. His plays also make important social and political comments reflecting Millers belief in Communism.

Analysis and Consequences of Legal Action(S) Essay Example for Free

Analysis and Consequences of Legal Action(S) Essay Analisis for successful lawsuit report Purpose Per your request, our legal team, courtesy of Legal Eagles, LLP, wishes to advise you regarding your tentative legal action against Mechanics National Bank (â€Å"National Bank†). As you alleged, National Bank was negligent in their failure to remove a lien on your Lagoon Beach property. Our legal team has assessed this and other concerns of your case. Outlined throughout this correspondence are conclusions we have made and recommendations we wish you consider. Before we proceed, we thank you for your trust and assure you nothing less than our highest-quality work. You have expressed to us your interest in recovering compensation for a failed entrepreneurial endeavor involving a hotel property, Hotel California. You also informed us that your acquisition of this property was dependent upon your securing financing through pledging a property you currently own as collateral. In a brief analysis of the facts of your case, we find you may successfully prove liability on the part of National Bank; however, this conclusion is not without concerns, particularly regarding your contract with the owner of Hotel California. This concern and other considerations for your case are also discussed in this correspondence. Factual Background Our notes of the essential facts of your case indicate the following: You sought the acquisition of an existing hotel property located in Palm Desert, Green. You contacted the hotel’s listing agent, Mr. Babak Gordon, and obtained preliminary data on the property, including financial statements of the hotel which you have provided us. On January 5, 2005, the hotel owner, Ms. Shirley Ramirez, Mr. Gordon, and you had a preliminary discussion regarding the purchase and sale of Hotel California. Ms. Ramirez offered to you by phone this property for $4.3 million, excluding the furniture, and the sale was to conclude following a 45 day escrow. On January 6, 2005, you faxed Ms. Ramirez a signed letter both indicating your acceptance of her offer and your preference that the transaction close following a 60 day escrow. Although you never received a reply or confirmation from Ms. Ramirez, on January 30, 2005, you obtained a financing commitment from Bank of the West. Their conditions we re that the bank would obtain a first priority lien on the hotel property along with an unrelated undeveloped parcel of land owned by you in Lagoon Beach, Green. As you have shared with us, you acquired this land in 1984 and had managed to pay off its mortgage on November 1, 2004. However, National Bank failed to remove its lien on the property. You vigorously attempted to get National Bank to remove its lien on this property. You contacted bank officers and explained to them that the lien needed to be removed so that you could pledge the property as collateral and finance your purchase of Hotel California. Because National Bank did not remove this lien, you were unable to finance the acquisition of Hotel California. You later bought a hotel property â€Å"similarly situated† and â€Å"virtually identical† to Hotel California for $4.7 million dollars. Issue From our analysis, we find as reasonable your decision to consider pursuing legal action against National Bank for damages. You have cited National Bank as negligent for failing to follow instructions regarding the removal of a lien from the title of your Lagoon Beach property. If you proceed further to trial, a court of law will try, whether by failing to remove its lien on your Lagoon Beach property, National Bank committed the tort of negligence. Because our analysis has also raised concerns regarding your contract with the owner of Hotel California, Ms. Shirley Ramirez, we must also inform you of a second issue a court of law is likely to try. If you proceed further to trial, a court of law will try whether a legally binding, enforceable contract exists (or existed) between Ms. Ramirez and you. Keep in mind that your legal action for damages may be predicated on whether there was a contract. Roadmap In addition to listing our conclusions, recommendations, and concerns throughout this correspondence, you will find that we have analyzed the likelihood for success of your legal action against National Bank. You have expressed your desire to recover damages for your lost opportunity involving the Hotel California property. For your convenience, a complete and careful analysis has been conducted and detailed throughout this correspondence. GROUNDS OF LIABILITY You have alleged that National Bank was negligent, and you intend to recover damages from National Bank. You will have the burden of proving the prima facie case for the tort of negligence. You must cite evidence and present arguments that support your allegation of National Bank’s negligence. To successfully fulfill your burden you must show that: * Duty: The defendant (National Bank) owed you (plaintiff) a duty of due care. * Breach of Duty: Defendant’s conduct breached that duty. * Actual and Proximate Cause: Actual and proximate causation between defendant’s breach and your (plaintiff’s) injury was present. * Injury: Injured party (you) sustained injury due to defendant’s actions. If you fail to prove these elements, National Bank’s legal team may motion to dismiss your case. In this event, it is possible that your case could then be dismissed without further proceedings. However, if you successfully prove and argue all four of these elements, you must also overcome any affirmative defenses, if applicable, raised by the defendant (National Bank). These defenses are contributory negligence and assumption of risk. From our initial analysis, National Bank will be unable to raise an affirmative defense on these grounds. We will fully assess whether there are on any other legal grounds defenses that National Bank can raise. (See Other Considerations.) Remedies for Negligence If you successfully prove National Bank’s liability, you may be entitled to recover compensatory or actual damages. The damages and compensatory award amounts are determined on a case-by-case basis by the jury or judge presiding over the case. We have included a potential award amount you may be entitled to and you will find a complete discussion on how this determination is made. (See ANALYSIS OF LIABILITY – Injury.) Statutes Governing Contract Law Because the secondary issue (See Issue) and one of our concerns regarding your case is regarding your contract with Ms. Ramirez, we have disclosed applicable information from both the Green Civil Code and our legal library pertaining to 1) offer and acceptance, 2) Green’s statute of frauds, and 3) Green’s â€Å"mirror image rule.† For your convenience, we have bolded and defined legal terminology that will be reiterated in later sections of this correspondence. Offer and Acceptance An offer is the important first step in the contract formation process. A party (offeror) who makes the offer gives another party (offeree) to whom the offer is made the power to bind both parties to a contract simply by accepting the offer. Not every proposal qualifies as an offer. To distinguish an offer, courts evaluate offers on three grounds: First, they look for some objective indication of a present intent to contract on the part of the offeror. Second, they look for specificity, or definiteness, in the terms of the alleged offer. Third, they look to see whether the alleged offer has been communicated to the offeree. An acceptance is â€Å"a manifestation of assent to the terms [of the offer] made by the offeree.† In determining if an offeree accepted an offer and created a contract, a court will look for evidence of three factors: (1) the offeree intended to enter the contract, (2) the offeree accepted on the terms proposed by the offeror, and (3) the offeree communicated his acceptance to the offeror. Statute of Frauds According to the Green Civil Code,  § 1624, any contract transferring an interest in land is invalid if not accompanied by â€Å"note or memorandum.† An unenforceable contract is one that meets the basic legal requirements for a contract, but may not be enforceable because of some other legal rule. A contract for which the statute of frauds requires a form of writing, yet no writing is made, may be declared an unenforceable contract. Mirror Image Rule The traditional contract law rule is that an acceptance must be the mirror image of the offer. Attempts by offerees to change the terms of the offer or to add new terms to it are treated as counteroffers because they indicate an intent by the offeree to reject the offer instead of being bound by its terms. Now that you have an understanding of the relevant law behind the tort of negligence and contracts, and are familiar with the legal terminology of these areas, we proceed into our analysis of the facts of your case and the prima facie case for the tort of negligence. ANALYSIS OF NATIONAL BANK’S LIABILITY Should you pursue further legal action against National Bank, you will have the burden of proving the elements of the prima facie case of the tort of negligence. Below are descriptions of these elements, accompanied by our legal analysis between the facts of the case, prima facie case, and case law from our legal library. Tort of Negligence In Commercial Escrow Company v. Rockport Rebel, Inc., negligence is defined as â€Å"conduct which falls below the standard established by law for the protection of others†. Because of the similarities in the facts between the case of Escrow Company and your case, this case has been used extensively in the forming of the following arguments. We recommend using this case in satisfying your burden for your legal action. Accordingly, you must argue that National Bank’s behavior in failing to remove the lien on your Lagoon Beach property fell below the standard for public protection established by law. Further, to successfully prove negligence, you must argue that National Bank is responsible for some injury you incurred stemming from their alleged mismanagement and failure to remove the lien on your property. With your notes, the facts of your case, and documents you provided us, we have constructed tentative arguments to determine the success of your legal action. You will find these arguments beginning on the next page. Duty According to the case, Commercial Escrow Company v. Rockport Rebel, Inc., â€Å"a defendant owes a duty of care to all foreseeable plaintiffs.† For example, in cases where a â€Å"[defendant] voluntarily assumes the duty to act by promising to the plaintiff to behave in a certain way,† the defendant owes that plaintiff a duty to act with care. According to Judge Utter, a â€Å"defendant also [owes] the plaintiff a duty of care where a contractual relationship between the parties requires the defendant to act in a certain way towards the plaintiff.† Considering these rules of law, National Bank owed you a duty to act as you requested. In your previous correspondence, you indicated that National Bank is â€Å"the lender on your Lagoon Beach property.† You also submitted to us a copy of your deed of trust. To reiterate â€Å"the language in the deed of trust† as part of your contractual relationship with National Bank, National Bank was supposed â€Å"to promptly record a reconveyance of its lien on [your] property upon payment in full of the underlying loan.† Because National Bank failed to do this, we find it foreseeable that you would be prevented from using the property as collateral for your hotel acquisition. Additionally, you also mentioned that you â€Å"vigorously attempted to get†¦ National Bank to remove its lien on [your] property, but to no avail† and despite â€Å"repeated assurances from various officers.† Because National Bank officers assured and essentially promised you that they would remove the lien on your property, National Bank voluntarily assumed a duty to you, if no duty had been present beforehand. In essence, the assurances made to you to process your request indicate that National Bank voluntarily assumed, and therefore owed you, a duty of due care to act as you requested. In light of these arguments, we assure you that you should successfully satisfy this first element – duty – of the prima facie case of the tort of negligence. Breach of Duty According to Commercial Escrow Company v. Rockport Rebel, Inc., in order for a plaintiff to prove negligence, the â€Å"plaintiff is required to show †¦that [the defendant] had breached [defendant’s] duty of care to the plaintiff.† In most cases, a defendant owes a plaintiff a duty to act as would a reasonable person under similar circumstances. In the case of Escrow Company, the Court found that â€Å"in performing services for a client, [the] escrow company has the duty to strictly follow instructions.† Like an escrow company, a financial institution like National Bank most likely has a duty to strictly follow instructions drafted in a deed of trust, or part of a loan or other financial instrument. Because officers on behalf of National Bank did not follow instructions and terms of behavior involving you (as lendee) and National Bank (as lender) detailed in your property’s deed of trust, you may successfully argue that National Bank breached its duty to you. According to our copy of your deed of trust you provided us, National Bank was required to â€Å"promptly record a reconveyance of its lien on the property upon payment in full of the underlying loan.† You had managed to pay off the mortgage on this property on November 1, 2004. Despite this, National Bank failed to remove its lien, even after you requested. Because officers at National Bank did not strictly follow this instruction, National Bank breached the duty of due care owed to you. Causation Satisfying the prima facie case for the tort of negligence also requires that a plaintiff prove that there is a connection (or actual causation) between the alleged breach of duty by defendant and injury suffered by plaintiff. As in the case of Commercial Escrow Company v. Rockport Rebel, Inc., courts assess the existence of a connection between breach and injury by determining whether injury would have occurred if not for breach. A court would employ a similar test in your case. Because National Bank failed to remove the lien on your property, you did not satisfy terms of the loan commitment with Bank of the West and could not secure financing for your acquisition of Hotel California. We find that there is a casual connection. Courts also evaluate the proximate cause (causation) between a defendant’s breach of duty and a subsequent injury suffered by a plaintiff. Proximate causation refers to whether the defendant’s breach of duty and subsequent injury suffered by the plaintiff was foreseeable. Because you vigorously attempted to have officers at National Bank remove its lien on your property and informed them that you needed the lien removed in order to pledge the property as collateral, we find that your injury of loss of opportunity to acquire the hotel property was foreseeable. Injury The final element you must prove to satisfy the prima facie case for the tort of negligence is whether you have suffered injury because of National Bank’s alleged negligence. Due to National Bank’s failure in removing the lien on your Lagoon Beach property, the transfer of ownership agreement of Hotel California between you and Ms. Ramirez allegedly collapsed. Later, you purchased a â€Å"similarly situated† and â€Å"virtually identical† hotel property for $4.7 million, $400,000 more than what you would have paid for Hotel California ($4.3 million). In essence, National Bank’s alleged negligence caused you to incur an opportunity cost of $400,000. This loss of opportunity is under the assumption that a valid, enforceable contract existed between you and Ms. Ramirez. SUMMARY Because National Bank breached its duty by failing to remove its lien on your property, you were unable to secure financing for a $4.3 million acquisition of Hotel California. However, you later purchased a â€Å"virtually identical† property for $4.7 million. You may be entitled to the difference. DEFENSES AGAINST LIABILTY In this portion of this report, we detailed any applicable defenses relevant to your case, and outlined other considerations and concerns we advise you to consider. Although we have found that affirmative defenses to National Bank’s negligence are inapplicable to the particular facts of your case, we have other concerns to discuss. Other Considerations It is the opinion of Legal Eagles, LLP, that National Bank may argue that regardless of whether it removed the lien on your Lagoon Beach property, indefinite would be the transfer of ownership of the hotel property from Ms. Ramirez to you. As our analysis showed, you may successfully prove that National Bank had a duty to remove the lien on your property and subsequently breached that duty by failing to adhere to this instruction. If the failure to remove the lien on your property can be proven to have caused you damage(s), we will advise you to pursue further legal against National Bank. But first we must evaluate the documents you provided us and later the validity of the binding contract between you and Ms. Ramirez. Analysis of Income We have completely revalued the hotel property, Hotel California you were interested in. We used the same method(s) and approaches that most banks in our region would use to appraise the value of hotel properties. The expected value approach places weights on appraisals from two methods. First, we multiplied the past two years’ average gross margin by four. This holds a weight of 40%, because it is expected to be accurate 40% of the time. The value we derived from this method came to $2,462,380.00. Next, we took the present value of the average of the past three years’ cash flows, discounted at an 8% discount rate for 10 years. This method holds a 60% weight. The value derived from this method comes to $2,505,589.13. Our final step is to assign the correct weight to each method and sum the two figures. We can therefore conclude that the Hotel California’s appraisal value is $2,488,305.48. In addition to this, it is acceptable for a company to sell what is known a s â€Å"goodwill.† That is why the listed price of 2.5 million dollars was overstated by $11,694.52. We know that the bank would only allow you to borrow up to the appraised value, $2,488,305.48, unless you either pay 25% of the purchase in cash, or pledge to the bank a first priority lien on the vacant land as collateral. We also know that the latter option was not possible, so we will consider the former. We conclude that 25% of the purchase price of $4.3 million is $1,075,000. Because you were able to only provide $500,000 in cash for a down payment, you did not meet the requirements to borrow more than $2,488,305.48 from the bank, without pledging the vacant land. Hypothetically, if you had decided to borrow $2,488,305.48 from the bank, plus your $500,000 down payment, you would have had $2,988,305.48. This amount still would not have been enough to purchase the Hotel California property offered at $4.3 million dollars. Consequently, we conclude that without pledging the vacant land as collateral, there was no way you could have borrowed enough money to make the purchase. Even though the appraised value was not enough for you to borrow a sufficient amount of money from Bank of the West, we believe the appraised amount you were given was not accurate. There are two reasons why we believe Desert Mirage Accounting should not have relied on the income statement and footnote provided by Ms. Ramirez’s accountant. The first problem lies in the way the accountant prepared the income statement. Mr. Babak Gordon calculated gross profit by taking revenue minus cost of revenue. This method is only used for retailers and manufacturing companies, whereas Hotel California is a service company. The second problem is the verifiability of the financial statements and reliability of the accountant. To be credible, financial statements must follow generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP). A financial statement that follows GAAP must be accompanied by a signed opinion letter. The letter can be in the form of: 1) Compilation letter Finally, this letter must be signed by a certified public accountant (CPA). Because the income statement of Hotel California does not come with any signed opinion letter, we cannot verify its accuracy. Therefore, Desert Mirage Accounting should not have relied on that income statement and footnote information to make the evaluation. In our initial observation of your case, we assumed National Bank’s failure to remove its lien from your Lagoon Beach property caused you to forfeit your opportunity to purchase the Hotel California property. As illustrated by our calculations above, you could not have financed the acquisition of Hotel California without pledging your Lagoon Beach property as collateral. However, after conducting a thorough analysis of your case, we regret to inform you that you may not be able to prove damages stemming from National Bank’s failure to remove its lien from your property. Even though National Bank may have breached its duty to you, National Ba nk could argue that your contract with Ms. Ramirez is invalid or unenforceable. In the event that you do not have a valid or enforceable contract, you are not legally entitled to the Hotel California property or other legal remedies. In essence, regardless of whether National Bank’s negligence can be proved, a transaction between Ms. Ramirez and you might not have occurred if a binding contract did not exist. We will clarify and explain this finding in the next section. Offer and Acceptance Analysis From our analysis, coupled with case law from our case library, we have found that there was no contractual arrangement between you and Ms. Ramirez. In arriving at this finding, we took into account the facts surrounding your case. There are key elements that prevent the institution of a contract, for the purchase of real estate, between you and Ms. Ramirez. In reaching this finding, we referred to the case of Cayetano J. Apablasa v. Merritt & Company from our case library. In this case, the Court evaluated a plaintiff’s action for damages resulting from an alleged breach of contract. This plaintiff’s action for damages depended on whether there was an existing contract. The Court found that â€Å"no reasonable construction of evidence† admitted a binding contract between the parties; and that the correspondence that was provided to the Court amounted to â€Å"nothing more than an offer that was never accepted.† In essence, at the conclusion of the plaintiff’s case, the Court’s judge â€Å"entered a judgment decreeing that no contract was entered into, existing, or was ever executed.† Similar to your case, in Cayetano v. Merritt, the initial reply to the offeror’s offer by the offeree did not constitute an acceptance, contrary to what the offeree had thought. The offeree had included a â€Å"proviso† in his perceived acceptance letter to the offeror. In light of this, the Court found that terms proposed in an offer â€Å"must be met exactly, precisely and unequivocally for its acceptance to result in the formation of a binding contract.† This decision supplements our discussing regarding Green’s â€Å"mirror image rule† below. (See Regarding Mirror Image Rule.) Additionally, the Court stated that â€Å"[t]he addition of any condition†¦ is tantamount to a rejection of the original offer and the making of a counteroffer.† In essence, the Court’s decision can be summarized by the following: â€Å"[w]here a person offers to do a definite thing and another introduces a new term into the acceptance, his answer is a mere expression of willingness to negotiate or is a counter proposal, and in neither case is there a contract; if it is a new proposal and it is not accepted it amounts to nothing.† Regarding Green’s Statute of Frauds A key element that is missing in the proof of a contract is that your agreement with Ms. Ramirez was not in writing. The Green Civil Code requires that in order for a contract involving the sale of real property, to be valid, the agreement must be in writing and signed by the party to be charged or by the party’s agent. In your situation, Ms. Ramirez made her initial offer orally over the phone and you replied by a signed fax. There was never a written offer or contract signed by Ms. Ramirez. Therefore, a court of law would most likely find the contract between you and Ms. Ramirez as unenforceable. Even if the alleged contract did not have to be in writing and could be enforceable, there are other additional concerns we have: Regarding the Mirror Image Rule In a situation, such as the one you were in, a proper acceptance must meet the â€Å"mirror image rule.† This rule states that in order for an offeree to properly accept an offer, the offeree must accept the exact offer that was established by the offerer. When reviewing your case, we found that you had intent to accept Ms. Ramirez’s offer, but in your attempt to accept the offer, you added a different term to the agreement. In her offer, Ms. Ramirez required that â€Å"[t]he sale was to conclude following a 45-day escrow.† However, in your reply, you stated that you â€Å"would like to close escrow within 60 days.† A court of law would find that by changing the terms of Ms. Ramirez’s offer, you fail to meet the â€Å"mirror image rule,† and therefore terminated Ms. Ramirez’s initial offer and proposed a counteroffer. Documents you provided us detailing your correspondence with Ms. Ramirez indicate no communication on her part in accepting your counteroffer. Summary We must mention that had there been a contract between Ms. Ramirez and you, you may have been the subject of legal action by Ms. Ramirez. If we assume there was an actual contract between Ms. Ramirez and you with either the 45 day or 60 day escrow term, Ms. Ramirez could have pursued legal action and you could be liable for having breached your contract for your failure to deliver on your promise. You entered into the alleged contract with Ms. Ramirez on January 6, 2005. Regardless of whether there was an agreement for a 45 day escrow or a 60 day escrow term, you failed to secure financing in either time frame. Approximately 80 days after entering the alleged contract with Ms. Ramirez, on March 28, 2005, you contacted Ms. Ramirez to request an extension. The fact that you have no pending legal action brought by Ms. Ramirez may suggest that Ms. Ramirez did not view the arrangement with you as a binding contract. We reiterate that neither party had a binding, enforceable contract. CONCLUSION Ms. Warren, we regret to inform you that success with your legal action is unlikely. There is a high chance you will be unsuccessful, should you purse a legal action against National Bank on the grounds of the tort of negligence. National Bank failed to remove the lien on your Lagoon Beach property, violating the duty of due care owed to you, and disrupting your ability to secure financing for your entrepreneurial endeavor. However, the question of law of whether there was a valid, enforceable contract between you and Ms. Ramirez, is the decisive issue. As our analysis has indicated, a court of law will most likely try the issue of whether there was a binding contract. Thus without the binding contract between you and Ms. Ramirez involving her offer for the hotel (Hotel California), a judge or jury in a court of law cannot rely on how much you would have paid to make a compensatory damages determination. In other words, because your action for damages is predicated on a contract between you and Ms. Ramirez, your damages cannot be established and you incurred no loss of opportunity. Without the loss of this opportunity cost, you have not suffered any injury due in part to National Bank’s negligence. RECOMMENDATIONS Ms. Warren, as Associate Partner of Legal Eagles, LLP, I oversaw the analysis of my legal team and validated their conclusions and findings. In light of the findings of our analysis, I foremost recommend that you consider the following course of action: * Please, do not pursue further legal action against National Bank regarding this cause of action and issue. It is my opinion and the opinion of Legal Eagles, LLP, that pursuing further legal action regarding this issue, considering our evaluation of your case, will result only in additional expense on your part including legal and attorney fees and your time. You will also not receive the resolution that you would like making the process inherently dissatisfying and frustrating. With this in mind, there is another course of action I do recommend. Because you have already attempted to resolve your issue with National Bank regarding the lien on your Lagoon Beach, Green property, you are entitled to contact the regulatory agency of your former bank. All national banks within the state of Green are regulated by different agencies. If National Bank’s lien remains on your property, I recommend you pursue this alternate course of action: * Contact the appropriate state of Green regulatory agency of your financial institution (National Bank) and file a complaint. Your bank’s regulatory agency can help you with your concerns and complaints. There are many regulatory agencies in the state of Green’s banking industry. For your convenience, the appropriate regulatory agency of your former bank, and its details have been listed: According to the Federal Financial Institutions Examinations Council (for additional information visit www.ffiec.gov), National Bank’s regulator is the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (for additional information please visit www.helpwithmybank.gov). You can visit and reach this regulatory agency online or by phone at (800) 613-6743. The Office of the Comptroller will assist you in getting answers and solutions to your questions and concerns. You can also file complaints against your bank, here. If you decide to proceed with filing a complaint, officials from the Office of the Comptroller will contact National Bank on your behalf regarding your issue for a response. You will then receive a let ter summarizing the results. Those who have sought our legal advice and even had similar experiences as you with National Bank as well have reported that intervention by a regulatory agency expedited the process and liens were eventually removed. We are confident that you have the tools to resolve this issue. ——————————————– [ 1 ]. The elements of the prima facie case of the tort of negligence are duty, breach of duty, actual and proximate cause, and injury. [ 2 ]. COMMERCIAL ESCROW COMPANY AND JAMES DE MIK, APPELLANTS, v. ROCKPORT REBEL, INC., APPELLEE. 778 S.W.2d 532; 1989 Tex. App. LEXIS 2263 [ 3 ]. CAYETANO J. APABLASA, Appellant, v. MERRITT & COMPANY (a Corporation) et al., Respondents. 176 Cal. App. 2d 719; 1 Cal. Rptr. 500; 1959 Cal. App. LEXIS 1542 Analysis and Consequences of Legal Action(S). (2016, Mar 24). We have essays on the following topics that may be of interest to you

Discuss the law of consent to treatment and the law of negligence Assignment

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Fundamentals of Business Law Assignment Case Study

Fundamentals of Business Law Assignment - Case Study Example This case cannot be heard in a higher court. It can best be referred to the District Magistrate's courts. And because it is a criminal wrong, Joe would likely either be imprisoned for a given number of years or fined. He can also be punished by way of corporal punishment. This is a civil case but which relates between employees and employers. The case will be heard in an industrial court which is an administrative tribunal i.e. a body given the power of an administrative nature. This case involves commission of the tort of negligence because the employer has not taken reasonable steps to guard the machines. And in the process, it has caused injury. The judge of the industrial court can appoint two assessors from a panel of assessors appointed by the concerned minister. One assessor represents the employer and the other represents the employees. But the assessors only give an opinion. The decision of the courts is final and the result of the judgement is called an award. This is a criminal offence. In fact Del has committed an economic crime by failing to pay large sums of value added tax. And since the amount of money involved is huge, the case will be heard by the High Court. If Del is of the opinion that he has not been given a fair trial, then he can appeal to the court of appeal. Del is likely to be fined i.e. pay the tax added plus penalty. Prima facie, this can appear to be a civil case. But whether the employer has perpetrated any civil wrong will depend on the agreement made between Millie and her employer. Be it as it may, she has a right to sue. This case would be heard by the industrial court. It is the industrial court that hears cases between employees and their employers. Based on the judge's opinion, she might be paid as her colleagues. Question Two Whether Cules can recover compensation from Humpty or Alec the rules of law that govern this case are whether the essential elements of negligence can be proofed in order for an action for negligence to be maintained. In order for Giles to successfully sue and recover compensation from Humpty or Alec he must prove the following. i. That they owed him a duty of care. ii. That Humpy and Alec breached legal duty. iii. That he Giles suffered injury as a result of the breach of duty. 2 Humpy and Alec owe no duty of care to Giles. Humpty was to provide a loan to Giles and had no duty over Gile's chicken business. On the other hand, Alec was only approached to give advice concerning the loan and not on whether it was appropriate to purchase the machine. In Burwill v. Young a house wife was alighting from a tramcar. A motor cyclist passing on the other side of the tram collided with a motor car, the noise pf the collision resulting in the plaintiff suffering nervous shock and subsequent miscarriage. She brought an action of negligence on the motor cyclist personal representative. The action failed and it was held that at the time of the collision, the plaintiff was not there therefore he did not owe

Happiness and the Good Life Essay Example for Free

Happiness and the Good Life Essay What is the relation between living a good life and being happy? To many, the good life is a financially prosperous life, and happiness lies in the possession of wealth. Worldly success is what counts, and anyone who is not ‘successful’ in the usual sense is counted a ‘failure.’ Others strive for a life based on honor and public recognition. A good life is made up of hobnobbing with the right people in the right settings, and happiness is a matter of gaining respect. Along with these, there are lives that show by their living a desire for glory or power that inspires great efforts. Others, who are not drawn to wealth, power or glory because of the difficulties involved in attaining them, may choose the pursuit of pleasure. A good and happy life is one in which pleasures outweigh the pains overall. Many questions have been asked about the good life and happiness. People constantly answer those questions with their lives, and we see many different ideas of the good life and happiness playing out in the strivings of human beings to live well and be happy. The ancient Greeks wished their friends to ‘do well’ and ‘fare well’ in this life. These two, they thought, held the keys to human felicity. Doing well concerns ourselves, our own actions and feelings. We have some control over these aspects of our lives. So when we wish someone to ‘do well’ in life, we express the hope that the person will be moral and fair in his or her dealings with others. Beyond securing basic physical survival, someone who does well in life can sleep with a clear conscience, whether blessed with material success or not. From many a philosophical point of view, the good life has an intrinsically moral core that involves compassion for the suffering of others and acting justly in the world. ‘Faring well’ concerns events and occurrences over which we do not have so much control. â€Å"Faring well† means succeeding in life, coming into a prosperous condition, with all the benefits that come with money and social acceptance. Someone who is faring well in life has had a bit of good luck. It is possible to do everything right in order to succeed, but still fail to do so. For example, you can study hard for your degree, get your professional qualifications, work diligently, become competent, but still not succeed. The cards may not fall your way. As Sartre says, â€Å"You are free to try, but not to succeed.† This seems right to me, and so I will come down with Aristotle against Plato on this point, that doing well is not all that is involved in attaining happiness in life. Plato’s Socrates famously says that the good person cannot be harmed, that virtue is knowledge, and that happiness consists entirely of doing well and being just. Aristotle argues that a degree of luck plays into our happiness. He insists that most of our happiness is in our own hands, but that it can be affected by outside circumstances. So while being happy is mostly a matter of ‘doing well’ (and ‘thinking well’), great misfortunes can damage our happiness. It may be that such a person, by ‘doing well,’ will attain a degree of dignity in suffering, but he will not be happy; or, as Aristotle has it, ‘blessed.’ In light of this result, I hazard an intuitive philosophical account of the relation between the good life and happiness. Living a good life is a necessary but not a sufficient condition for happiness. In other words, it is possible to live a good life without being happy, but not happy without living a good life. This a ‘philosophical’ account of the relation because many philosophers have a particular idea of happiness and the good life that is not shared by everyone, with their emphasis on clarity of thought and sound reasoning. In addition, though philosophers recommend the philosophical life as both the happiest and the best, they are not in a position to legislate for everyone what happiness must be. Nevertheless, the traditional philosophical view is not without support. All we have to do is look at the results of many lives that strive for wealth, power, fame, glory or pleasure. So many disasters befall those who pursue a good life with no moral core, or reflective turn of mind, that it makes some sense, as philosophers argue, to pursue the wisdom to recognize the good life, and, within that life, such happiness human beings can attain.

A Journey into Darkness in Heart of Darkness Essay -- Heart Darkness e

A Journey into Darkness in Heart of Darkness      Ã‚  Ã‚   Joseph Conrad, in his story, "Heart of Darkness," tells the tale of two mens' realization of the dark and evil side of themselves. Marlow, the "second" narrator of the framed narrative, embarked upon a spiritual adventure on which he witnessed firsthand the wicked potential in everyone.   On his journey into the dark, forbidden Congo, Marlow encountered Kurtz, a "remarkable man" and "universal genius," who had made himself a god in the eyes of the natives over whom he had an imperceptible power.   These two men were, in a sense, images of each other:   Marlow was what Kurtz may have been, and Kurtz was what Marlow may have become.      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Like a jewel, "Heart of Darkness" has many facets.   From one view it is an exposure of Belgian methods in the Congo, which at least for a good part of the way sticks closely to Conrad's own experience.   Typically, however, the adventure is related to a larger view of human affairs. Marlow told the story one evening on a yacht in the Thames estuary as darkness fell, reminding his audience that exploitation of one group by another was not new in history.   They were anchored in the river, where ships went out to darkest Africa.   Yet, as lately as Roman times, London's own river led, like the Congo, into a barbarous hinterland where the Romans went to make their profits.   Soon darkness fell over London, while the ships that bore "civilization" to remote parts appeared out of the dark, carrying darkness with them, different only in kind to the darkness they encounter.      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   These thoughts and feelings were merely part of the tale, for Co... ...ntempt to be a kind of moral heroism.       Works Cited Adelman, Gary. Heart of Darkness: Search for the Unconscious. Boston: Little & Brown, 1987. Bradley, Candice. "Africa and Africans in Conrad's Heart of Darkness." (24 Jan. 1996). Online Internet. 3 October 1998. Available: http://www.lawrence.edu/~johnson/heart. Conrad, Joseph. Heart of Darkness. Ed. Robert Kimbrough. 17th ed. New York: Norton, 1988. Levenson, Michael. "The Value of Facts in the Heart of Darkness." Nineteenth-Century Fiction 40 (1985):351-80. Rosmarin, Adena. "Darkening the Reader: Reader Response Criticism and Heart of Darkness." Joseph Conrad Heart of Darkness: A Case Study in Contemporary Criticism. Ed. Ross C. Murfin. New York: St. Martin's, 1989. Watt, Ian. Conrad in the Nineteenth Century. San Diego: U. of California P, 1979. 168-200, 249-53.