An Evaluation of Immanuel Kant’s “The Enlightenment”

In the essay â€Å"What is Enlightenment,† Immanuel Kant (1784) cited his views on â€Å"enlightenment† and how it affects the general public. He wrote:  Enlightenment is man's emergence from his self-imposed immaturity. Immaturity is the inability to use one's understanding without guidance from another. This immaturity is self-imposed when its cause lies not in lack of understanding, but in lack of resolve and courage to use it without guidance from another.Kant asserted that it is only after an individual liberates himself from guidance of others that he will be able to use the freedom he wants to exercise. In carrying out his duty, for example, man can argue but he cannot revolt as it most definitely will result to failure.Public and Private ReasoningTalking about achievement of enlightenment, Kant identified two types of reasoning: public and private. Public reasoning is being utilized when an individual makes an argument for the purpose of marking progress. On t he other hand, rational workers who use reason in completing their specific jobs exercise private reasoning as the public need not know about their use of reasoning. Besides, people who make use of private reasoning must know how to obey otherwise the completion of the task is impossible.Many examples have been cited by Kant in explaining the difference between public and private reasoning. An example is when military men refused to follow commands. If this happens, their group could no longer be considered military. In a different case, a soldier may follow commands which contrast his personal beliefs but later on will critique what he believes. In this example, he exercises private reasoning in following the commands while his public use of reasoning is demonstrated in voicing out his complaints.As Lewis Beck (1959) wrote:Kant seemed to favor public reasoning over private reasoning as he stated that the public use of one’s reason alone can bring about enlightenment among me n. The private use of reason, on the other hand, may often be very narrowly restricted without particularly hindering the progress of enlightenment.  An example involving clergymen and the case of changing the symbol of the church was provided. Kant described clergyman’s performance of duties as a private use of reason while making use of public reasoning in fulfilling his responsibilities to the public in making progress. He stated, â€Å"For if he believed he had found such in them, he could not conscientiously discharge the duties of his office; he would have to give it up.†Enlightened Age or Age of Enlightenment?According to Kant, we do not live in an enlightened age, but rather an age of enlightenment. He stressed:  Ã¢â‚¬Å"As things now stand, much is lacking which prevents men form being, or easily becoming, capable of correctly using their own reason in religious matters with assurance and free from outside direction. But, on the other hand, we have clear in dications that the field has now been opened wherein men may freely deal with these things and that the obstacles to general enlightenment or the release from self-imposed tutelage are gradually being reduced.†His assertion gave a clearer picture of the difference between an enlightened age and an age of enlightenment. In the former, people become religious without clergymen because they would know when to follow rules and when to disobey them. During the age of enlightenment, however, people make progress by utilizing both kinds of reasoning which eventually results in competence or the balance of both public and private use of reason. We must know how to determine when it is right to obey and right to argue. It enables us to become the managers of our own freedom.Strengths and Weaknesses of Kant’s ArgumentsKant offered several brilliant ideas in his essay. Specifically, his notions about public and private use of reasoning help us gain management of our own freedom. A nd if we know how to live by the rules of reasoning, we will be competent. This later on translates into moving closer to an enlightened age.  While there are really good points in his work, I disagree with some of his views. I personally do not approve of the statement that an enlightened individual should be one who is free of having anything done for him. I strongly believe that man is naturally dependent of other people. We as social beings still have to learn from others and must know how to follow rules in the society. It is never wrong to accept the guidance of others as long as we know that it will eventually result to marking personal progress which shall then help in recording societal progress. ReferencesBeck, Lewis. Foundations of the Metaphysics of Morals. Kant, Immanuel. What is Enlightenment. Bobbs-Merrill, Indianapolis, 1959.Beck, Lewis. Studies in the Philosophy of Kany. New York: Bobbs-Merrill, Indianapolis, 1956.

Sun Tzu’s Art of War and Business Strategy

The concepts from Sun Zi’ a Art of War and Business Strategies applied by Carrefour is sufficient and effective, so just keep up with those concepts and Carrefour will do fine in the future. Otherwise, they could also apply some of other concepts from Sun Zi to even strengthen their business and to even secure a more stable success from future uncertainties. Carrefour should open more famous restaurant inside such as famous retailer shop to attract more customer traffic. Besides, they should be discovering more sales promotions to attract customers, such as rebates, premium and so on. This can be done by increasing advertisement in TV to attract more customers. By that, attract workers that they have many languages to communicate with customer in dealing with customer with different religious view. One of those concepts from Sun Zi that Carrefour could apply is the â€Å"To Dictate and Not to Be Dictated† concept. The company needs to create online supply platform, which will have Sears and Oracle. This will allow the company’s retailers and suppliers exchange innovative information through the internet system and maximize the flow of products, hence minimizing their administrative costs. Carrefour also needs to embrace technological advances, which will allow the company venture into new markets where it can increase its customer base. The marketing strategies, which the company can embrace, include online, viral marketing, and sourcing strategies (Nina, 2008). The company needs to streamline its legal aspects to allow its expanding in Asian markets without any hurdles. Carrefour gains of the utilization of emerging technologies can also come in the form of lowered tear and wear on equipment and facilities, which will decrease the maintenance needed for equipment and facilities (Gehlen & Lasserre, 2005). Carrefour has to show an exceptional capacity to adapt its concept to local business environment across the globe. By internalizing the achievement or failure of definite initiatives in one business design, Carrefour is capable to transmit the knowledge of this failure or success transversely in all business departments at little cost to the firm. The company is competent to spread the expertise, which its human capital has gained by sending experts to work side-by-side with local managerial team. This structure enables the spreading of understanding within the firm both downstream and upstream, therefore, creating value for the whole company (Hoskisson, 2008). Besides that, Carrefour could also apply the â€Å"Knowing the Battleground and Engagement Time† concept. Whereby Carrefour could conduct a survey beforehand to determine what are the most suitable tactics and strategies to implement in a certain market. This will bring greater result and a swift success could be obtained. Carrefour should seize the opportunity for expansion to other parts of China, especially the second-tier cities, which have a high growth potential. Since the eastern coastal cities where Carrefour has the majority of the market share are already saturated, there is little value in investing more money in the area. Moreover, it is timely for Carrefour to expand especially when personal income in China has seen a rising trend. This shows that the Chinese consumer market has a high potential for growth, and consumption and demand is likely to increase as disposable income rises. While Carrefour’s main challenge is increased competition as its major competitors also have plans to expand and seize market share, its resources do give it a competitive advantage. Firstly, its one-stop shopping concept is one-of-a-kind. It recognizes consumers’ need for convenience and provides for it. Hence, Carrefour should continue to position itself as a company that delivers superior value offering to customers, as well as the place where one can satisfy most of one’s needs for products, entertainment and other services. Secondly, its management capabilities also give it a competitive advantage over other competitors. Having a decentralized management gives the store managers flexibility to adjust the strategies to meet different local demands and needs in different locations. This allows Carrefour to increase customer value as it narrows down and customizes its strategy to meet the local customers’ needs. Thirdly, Carrefour’s low employee turnover rate gives it a cost advantage over its competitors and also raises overall confidence level of the company. Our recommendations are relative to the market development and are based on an evaluation of the forecast return within the coming 12 months. The forecast return is the difference between the current price and our 12-month price target which includes the projected dividend. The equity market has historically yielded a return of around 10%. When we determine the recommendation for a share we use the 10% as an estimate of the return in the equity market. Since our recommendations are relative and risk-adjusted, it is possible to compare our recommendations across sectors and risk categories. In addition, the potential is stated in absolute terms via our price target. It should be borne in mind, however, that the recommendation is the anchor. A buy recommendation will remain a buy recommendation until changed, even if price increases have taken the price ‘too close’ to the price target. The future and historical returns estimated in the research report are stated as returns before costs since returns after costs depend on a number of factors relating to individual customer relations, custodian charges, volume of trade as well as market, currency and product-specific factors. It is not certain that the share will yield the stated expected future returns. The stated expected future returns exclusively express our best assessment. References http://designit.com/cases/making-quick-check-scanning-simple http://na-carrefour.blogspot.com/2012/05/recommendation.html http://www.studymode.com/subjects/recommendation-of-carrefour-page1.html http://www.exclusivepapers.com/essays/Informative/carrefour-company.php

DAIMLER Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

DAIMLER - Essay Example In 2010, Daimler managed to form an alliance with Nissan and Renault (Reed, 2013). Before this alliance, it is important to denote that Daimler and Chrysler had a merger with Chrysler. But because of cultural differences, the merger ended. Under this alliance, Renault and Nissan allowed Daimler to use their channels of distribution, and production units. This is in countries such as Slovenia and Japan. Daimler on the other hand allowed Nissan and Renault to use their 6-4 cylinder technology to produce diesel engines for their productions. In 2012, Nissan allowed Daimler to use its production plans in Tennessee to manufacture their Mercedes brand. This was the first time that Daimler managed to produce vehicles at a North American trade zone. Another deal that occurred this year was the incorporation of Mitsubishi, into an alliance with Nissan-Renault-Daimler. Under this agreement, the companies agreed to share factories and production units for purposes of creating a huge multi-brand international automotive group. The purpose of creating this automotive group is to manage to compete against automotive giants such as Toyota, and Volkswagen. In this agreement, the three companies are to help Mitsubishi to develop electric cars at their North American plants, in exchange of using the distribution channels, and production units of Mitsubishi in Japan, and the emerging markets of Asia (Pearson, 2013). This deal covered mainly, the production of electric cars. Daimler does not only have a strategic alliance with Renault-Nissan, but it also has a alliance with Beijing Automotive company. Beijing Automotive Company (BAIC) is a state owned company in China. For purposes of capturing the Chinese market, and making its brand of Mercedes as a leading brand in China, the company had to form an alliance with BAIC. Most recently, Daimler entered into a deal with BAIC. In this deal, Daimler managed to acquire a 12% stake at BAIC. This was worth 844 million dollars. In return, Daimler was to cede the control of their manufacturing joint venture. BAIC was to increase its stake at this manufacturing joint venture from 50, to 51%. This gave it a controlling stake at this venture. Daimler and BAIC also had a joint sales operations alliance (Tejada, 2013). Under this deal, BAIC was to cede the control of their sales operations to Daimler. Therefore, Daimler was to increase its stake at their sales operations joint venture from 50 to 51%. Under these deals, Daimler is able to tie itself to its Chinese partners, and hence provide stiff competition to BMW. BMW is the leading luxury car brand in China, and Daimler seeks to overturn this. Another alliance is with that of Teslo Automakers Corporation. The company owns a 4.3% stake at Teslo, and it uses their drive train technology, for purposes of producing electric cars. The main reason of entering into an alliance with Teslo is to reduce the market share of BMW as a leading luxury car brand (Welch, 2013). Part Fo ur: The strategies of the company are divided in four main areas, namely (Daimler. 2013); Strengthening of the organization’s core businesses. In order to strengthen its core businesses, Daimler has embarked on improving the quality of its motor vehicles through innovation, and by using new and emerging technologies. These innovations are aimed at expanding the market share of the business, by catering for the needs of its customers, as well as improving the qua

The Statistics of Population Mean Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

The Statistics of Population Mean - Assignment Example A questionnaire is used to collect data in a survey. The main objectives in designing a questionnaire are to maximize response rate and obtain accurate relevant information for the survey. According to Leung (2001), there are no universal agreements about the optimal length of a questionnaire and it depends on the type of respondents. In general, a short questionnaire attracts higher response rate as compared to long complex ones (Leung, 2001). At the time of designing a questionnaire, following points must be taken into consideration. First, answer the questions yourself, how confidently you can answer questions from the questionnaire. Another thing is important that do not ask all the questions, some question should be skipped or randomized so that different respondents have a different subset of questions. Ask only the most important questions that are required for research/survey. The questions should be simple so that respondents can understand it. Another important aspect is th at do not ask questions for the sake of asking questions (Henning, 2008). The order of the questions should from general to particular, easy to difficult or factual to abstract.Whenever possible, the questionnaire should not be started with a demographic and personal question. Many studies do not require demographic questions at all. Therefore, those demographic questions should be asked that are relevant to the survey and unnecessarily not personal from the point of view of the respondents.

Descriptive essay of favorite room Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Descriptive of favorite room - Essay Example My eyes are bleary from focusing on the bright computer screen, and my mind numb from all the battering it has taken in creating a segment of the computer program I am working on. I need to break for a while. My eyes lift up from the computer screen, and I see the door through which I come and go. There is the desire to walk through it. I turn my eyes away from it, only to confront the information board with its intimidating schedules and deadlines, and the calendar as a reminder of the passage of time. I swivel on my chair and my eyes fall on a large picture on the right. A waterfall gushes over, creating a mist over the green canopy of trees on either side of it. I feel the roar in my ears, sense the mist on my body, and my eyes feast on the soothing green of the trees. My benumbed mind awakens and I feel a sense of revival. I swivel further to the shelf and see the disarranged books and compact discs, but my eyes do not focus on them. They search in between this disarray of books and compact discs till they fall on the baseball bat and fielding gloves sticking out. I have only eyes for them. My mind races back to my school days and the gay abandon of that age. I can see myself, baseball bat in hand waiting for the next ball to be delivered. The howls and hoots echo in my ear, as I miss and I am out, but who cares. The joy of just being part of the game is the thrill. A host of faces of my boyhood friends parade in front of me. Those days have gone and will never come back, except in the mind’s eye to refresh me from time to time. I swivel again to the right and my eyes hit another picture. This time it is a picture of a lazy river winding itself among a splash of green and yellow – a field of daffodils. The poem my English teacher made me learn races through my mind and the words gently fall out of my lips, as I picture myself on stage, reciting it. â€Å"I WANDER’D lonely as a

Outline Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 52

Outline - Essay Example This paper focuses on discussing some of the leading causes of stress of modern lifestyle in the above named countries. Work is one of the leading factors associated with stress normally because of the pressure from the management and the need to prove competent each passing day. Sometimes one will find that he or she have to beat the deadline of various task which requires sacrifice and concentration. Often, the effects of work related stress include constant headaches, anxiety and loss of concentration which is intellectual (Spielberg, 2010). This is another leading factor of stress related health problems and cause of stress itself. Members stress mainly results from the factors such as disputes among the family members which will range in different aspects. Family normally cause high stress will cause effects such as blood pressure and asthma related attacks to some of the family members (Boss, 2014). For certain, all individuals at some point have had to deal with this particular stress. The stress may arise from being too broke this leaves the victims suffering effects such as depression and constant headaches as a result of too much thinking. Such individuals may also experience effects which are heart related diseases such as cardiac arrest (Fische & Boer, 2011). In conclusion, it is without any reservation that the modern lifestyles are more stressful than the past lifestyle. The past life although cash did not drive individuals to stress over as the statistics have rapidly raised today. Furthermore, the people did not feel pressure from work as most of the people were self-employed and worked on their free time. Thus did not have to deal with competing economy. Fischer, R., & Boer, D. (2011). What is more important for national well-being: money or autonomy? A meta-analysis of well-being, burnout, and anxiety across 63 societies. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 101(1),

Choosing a Small Business Computer Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Choosing a Small Business Computer - Assignment Example One of the first considerations is compatibility. The small office PC needs to able to access and run the bulk of the programs available. This will mandate that the computer will be able to run programs that are written for Microsoft Windows. While moving to specialized platforms such as Linux or UNIX may provide greater security, the widespread application of Windows will have a greater benefit. Having decided on a Windows operating system, the next consideration is hardware. With a real estate business, there will be applications that will require multiple images of houses that will consume a large amount of disk space. Most desktop computers are available with a 320 Gbyte hard drive for less that $1000. They also have 2GB main memory and ample video memory to reproduce photo quality images without loss of speed. For a Dell computer model 1501 Inspiron with a 2.2 GHz Intel processor the price will be about $900 (Inspiron 1501 details, 2007). Hewlett Packard makes a similar computer, HP Compaq 5750, with slightly less storage (250 GByte) and an AMD processor for $920 (HP United States, 2007). However, the Dell comes with a 20-inch flat screen monitor that is an extra cost with the HP. All other things, such as brand and warranty, are equal and the selection would be the Dell. With a real estate business, there will be situations where you may need to go to a client's home or office. These scenarios will require you to take your computer with you which will necessitate using a laptop. A Dell laptop Insperon 1720 has all the features of the desktop (with a slightly reduced processor speed of 1.56 GHz) and sells for $1049 (Inspiron 1702/1721 Notebook, 2007). This has a WI FI card for wireless connection to the Internet. HP sells a similar laptop that has slightly less storage and a smaller screen for $949(HP Pavilion tx1000z series, 2007). Both have a long-term service contract available. The additional storage and the larger screen makes the Dell the better buy. With a real estate business there will be a lot of printing and document processing. One of the key concerns will be laser or inkjet For the real estate office it would be recommended to have a multi-function printer that prints, copies, and faxes. This will be a laser device that is black and white. The office will also need to do photo quality printing of homes and rooms that is best done by an inkjet printer. The real estate office will have to have 2 separate printers. However, with the wide choices available today, the cost is minimal in comparison to the features received. Do not purchase an all in one inkjet because the cost of printing the day to day documents would be unreasonable. Laser printers print and scan documents for about 2 cents a copy compared to 10 cents a copy for inkjet. The main consideration for a laser printer is features and cost. A few major companies manufacture most laser printers so quality is generally the same no matter who has put their name on it. Obviously we would expect better customer service from Hewlett Packard than we would from Podunk Printers, but the printer may in fact be the same hardware. Don't spend a lot of money on a laser printer. The HP 6310 will service all your office needs at only $132.00. For the office you will also need a high resolution color printer for photo quality work. These printers are inexpensive, but must be dedicated to printing photos. The ink cartridges are

Art Review Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Art Review - Assignment Example The painting has drawn much debate down the centuries because of the facial expression displayed on the painting. The Mona Lisa now is on display in Paris at the Louvre. In my opinion, the Mona Lisa is the greatest work of art of all time because of the skillfulness and difficulty of the piece. Da Vinci was an artist who often spent many years on one painting, so it is no surprise that he took so long with this one. The best works of art of those that force the viewer to think about what the painting represents; in this case, Da Vinci paints the facial expression that could be interpreted in one of two ways. In my opinion, the smile of the woman in the painting is not a real smile but a forced one; she may even be hiding something beneath that smile. Rembrandt, full name Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn, is considered to be the most famous painter and artist in Dutch history. Many of Rembrandt’s pieces of art contributed to what some experts refer to as the â€Å"Dutch Golden Age.† Early on in his life, Rembrandt was a successful portrait painter but his career did not flourish as much as his early promise showed. Later in life, Rembrandt taught many young Dutch painters how to cultivate works of art. The Night Watch is recognized as one of Rembrandt’s most famous works of art. However, it has also provided much controversy and debate around the militiamen in the painting. This painting was crafted right in the middle of the Dutch Revolt against the Spanish. What may be considered unusual about this painting is that a captain of a Dutch militia group commissioned the painting and paid Rembrandt a large amount of money to do so. However, during this volatile time, it was not uncommon for militia groups to pay for their portraits to be painted. While there are many people in the painting, the light focuses only on two main figures at the front and a

Twelve Angry Men Intros Essay Example for Free

Twelve Angry Men Intros Essay Set in the summer of 1957, Reginald Roses play, Twelve Angry Men, highlights the importance of speaking out for what is right. Rose demonstrates through characterisation that prejudice and preconceptions can conceal the truth. From the inception, Rose presents a biased jury who is convinced of the boys guilt based on preconceived notions. However it is through Juror 8, that Rose advocates that justice and fairness can prevail over prejudice if just one virtuous person is willing to speak out. Juror 8 is depicted as the epitome of a fair and conscientious juror who is prepared to stand alone in order to ensure a fair verdict is delivered. Although the other jurors initially lacked equity, they discover their inner voice through Juror 8 and are able to deliver a legitimate verdict. Twelve Angry Men demonstrates the weakness of the jury system. Do you agree? Reginald Roses play,Twelve Angry Men, highlights not only the fragility of the jury system, but also its strength. Rose presents to the audience that it is more by luck than legal support that the accused was acquitted, therefore implying that the jury system is flawed. Initially Rose presents a biased jury who is convinced of the boys guilt based on preconceived notions. This emphasises a major flaw of the jury system, being that prejudice can obscure the truth. In addition, the jurors votes are also influenced heavily by their own personal backgrounds. This is evident in Juror 3 and 10 especially. However it is through Juror 8s virtuous motives of finding a reasonable doubt that ensured a just verdict was delivered. Juror 8 was the only person able to look past personal prejudices from the beginning, and through perseverance was able to guide other fellow jurors to deliberate honestly and thoughtfully. Thus, Rose shows the audience that the jury system is capable of securing justice.

Devil in the White City Essay Example for Free

Devil in the White City Essay The Devil in the White City takes two aspects that rose in Chicago during the late 1880s and the early 1890s and interlocks them. The World Fair did not just bring millions of people to the city, it brought optimism. Even though Chicago became magnificent through the Fair, it still remained in a mind frame of racism, inequality of gender, separation of social class, and countless murders. The story of the White City of Chicago enhances the story of the Devil, H. H. Holmes, who found contentment within its walls and created a downfall of humanism all on his own. Daniel Burnham and John Root created the White City with the help of many architects from New York, Boston, St. Louis and Chicago. Burnham focused on the public relations so he mainly found the work and also took care of the money coming in. On the other side, Root was an innovator. He drew the blueprints and built what Root had agreed to do. Throughout many challenges, and tragedy, both men planned the building of the White City and enhanced its landscape. The White City was given to the 1893 Worlds Exposition celebrating Columbus discovery of America. The city of Chicago was given the honor of hosting the extravagant affair. Many people remained anxious, thinking that the Exposition would not excel a county fair, because they only envisioned Chicago as just an uncultured, meatpacking city and nothing more. But then the news came and Chicago was to be the host; the people of Chicago were ecstatic. They could finally show everyone they were as cultured and civilized as New York and maybe even better. Upon this great news, the firm of Burnham and Root was given the task of creating the Exposition grounds. The task had to be completed in approximately three years to be ready for the Dedication Ceremony and Opening Day. Three of their major obstacles were the location of the Exposition, its planning and design of the Exposition. It took them almost six months to decide on a location, so they only had two years and a half to design the building and landscape and then build the final product. It appeared to be an impossible task at the time. As soon as one challenge was met, three more would arise. One of the most prominent challenges was to create something that was comparable or preferably better than the Eiffel Tower, which was built for the Paris Exposition. America wanted the world to know that it could have a better World Fair Exposition than anything that had been done before. Other issues included the continued possibility of strikes from the workers, fighting committees for the approval of everything, deciding who would design the buildings and landscape, the economy, which was on the verge of collapsing during this period, and the power struggle between the National Committee for the Exposition and the Exposition Company. Everything was always behind schedule or at least appeared to but all of the architects from New York, Boston, Chicago and St stepped up to the plate. The workers, even with impending strikes, felt the patriotic spirit and worked harder and faster to finish their job. Burnham and his crew got the exposition grounds ready for the Dedication Ceremony, which was about one month before opening day. Things still needed to be completed, but it was closer to being done than anyone had expected. On Opening Day, things still needed to be accomplished but in general the fair had been completed. The Ferris wheel, Americas response to the Eiffel Tower, opened 51 days late, but from the day of its first rotation, people were enamored with the wheel. The landscape was not entirely done but it went on to be completed within the next couple of weeks. The maintenance of the wheel continued for the full six months that the fair was open. With many people out of work, this provided jobs for lots of poor families for a while. The World Fair Exposition was great because not only did it beautify Chicago but it also told the world that there is nothing American people could not do when they put their minds to it. As one critic said, â€Å"It was a common remark among visitors who saw the Fair for the first time that nothing they had read or seen pictured had given them an idea of it, or prepared them for what they saw† (Larson 255). The Fair ended up by being far impressive and more influential than anyone had ever imagined. The downside of this success is that this was a celebration of â€Å"white† America, the majority of the population, not all of America. Frederick Douglass fought for the chance to present the progress African-Americans had made since the end of slavery but they, the owners, wanted only to exhibit the Negro as a repulsive savage and nothing else. As Douglass once said, â€Å"America is false to the past, false to the present, and solemnly binds herself to be false to the future. † There were no blacks in the Exposition at all. The World Fair had a Colored People’s Day during which Native Americans would be half-naked and equipped with arrows to portray them as a lesser class as the whites. With its glory, the World Fair Exposition brought with it racism. It was ruled by the politics of rage. If the blacks had been represented, one could say that the Civil Rights movement would have happened a lot earlier than the 1960s because many people would have seen their progress since slavery and the blacks would have demanded to be treated as equals. There was also an issue of gender even before the Fair had started. During the building of the World Fair, women were not included as workers at all. They were expected to stay at home to take care of the kids and have dinner on the table when their husbands returned from work. They were treated as if all they could do was to stay at home and were incapable of bringing money in the family or take care of it financially. Another major setback was the separation of the social class. Only the upper class white men were allowed to show off what they had and everyone else was limited. Whites were portrayed as rich, powerful, and fearless during the parade while the lower and inferior class, such as African-Americans and Native Americans, were being restricted to take part of the white city. At the end of the Exposition Grounds, on the corner of Wallace and 63rd Streets, H. H. Holmes started making his plans. He had started his criminal life with insurance fraud, but found the killing part to be the most fun and exciting. He built his castle to feed his obsession, and once he discovered that the Exposition was coming to Chicago, it made his castle much more important. People, mainly women, would come to him for employment and after he gave them a job, he made sure it was their last job by killing them and selling their corpses to colleges to make money. His â€Å"castle† allowed him to commit murder at his leisure without anyone knowing about it. Before the Exposition opened, Holmes had already begun his killings. He used his charms and his intelligence to lure women into thinking that he was an ordinary man. He seduced women his looks and then killed them and their children. He continued this hobby until just before the close of the Exposition. It was said that he killed approximately 200 men, women and children; however, the courts could only prove nine actual killings due to the fact that only small bone fragments remained in the three-story house castle and the bones that were recovered from his torturous rampage could not be used to identify who the dead people due to the lack of technology. H. H. Holmes had been incarcerated on insurance fraud charges when the Pinkerton Detective Agency started probing into the disappearance of his best friend, whom he had killed so he could collect the life insurance. Battle tested, the Agency ended up by catching up with Holmes. By then a lot of people were missing or dead but it should not have been this way because he could have caught earlier but H. H. Holmes moved faster than society and society was not ready for him. The time he lived in aided him tremendously. A train trip took a couple of weeks to reach their destinations so it was not natural not to here from a relative for a long time and this made it impossible for one to know if the person was actually missing. Most of his victims were women because once they arrived in Chicago for the World Fair; they had no idea where to stay so they stayed at the Castle. As H. H. Holmes said, â€Å"I was born with the Devil in me. I could not help the fact that I was a murderer, no more than the poet can help the inspiration to sing† (Larson 109) Based on this quote, one would say that Holmes did not require a motive to do what he took part in because he was already a sociopath who waited for the perfect time to strike and based his entirely life around murders and making money by selling corpses. H. H. Holmes affected more people’s lives during the Fair than the actual World Fair itself because he was not like Jack the Ripper; He was a cold-blooded murderer and sociopath that lived just a few blocks down the road. He inserting fear in the heart of every woman in Chicago and forced Detective Agencies to catch up with him by inventing the â€Å"mug shot. † One would agree with his statement because during this gruesome period, Holmes did not show any emotions for anyone that he took a life from. It seems as if he never had a goal in life so once he had this mind-blowing idea, he stuck to it and exiled himself from humanity. The fact that he also went to college and finished medical school proves that this man is more than capable of being smart but all he knew how to do was to be a Devil. Throughout The Devil in the White City, Larson does a great job by telling us that one cannot choose what he wants and avoid or disregard the rest because it will catch up sooner or later. To a certain point, Larson is emphasizing that H. H. Holmes would have never been so successful with all his killings if the World Fair Exposition had not taken place. He certainly would have had fewer victims and could have definitely been caught earlier. America, presumably Chicago, wanted to outdo Paris and thought that things such as the gruesome murders that were happening in London would never reach their home towns. At the end, America did better at both ends because they did a lot better than the Paris Exposition and they also inherited H. H. Holmes, America’s first serial killer. This book was very gripping and many of the things were quite surprising and unbelievable to say the least. It maintained a perfect balance of the World Fair Exposition and the introduction of America’s first serial killer. I would definitely urge others to pick this up and ready themselves for a train ride because it keeps you on the edge and envelops you with the endless details. REFERENCES Larson, Erik. The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair That Changed America. New York: Crown, 2003. Borowski, John. H. H. Holmes America’s First Serial Killer: The Castle, the Murders, the Monster. Film Festival 2004.