the call of the wild Essay - 952 Words

The Call of the Wild, on the surface, is a story about Buck, a four- year old dog that is part Shepherd and part St. Bernard. More importantly, it is a naturalistic tale about the survival of the fittest in nature. Throughout the novel, Buck proves that he is fit and can endure the law of the club, the law of the fang, and the laws of nature. Buck had been raised in California, on the ranch of Judge Miller. There he had the run of the place and was loved and pampered by all. Unfortunately, one of the judges workers had a gambling problem and stole Buck to sell him for fifty dollars. Buck fights being tied, caged, and beaten, but his efforts only frustrate him. He is put on a train and a boat, being shipped to Alaska to be used as a†¦show more content†¦Most of the other dogs stay away from Buck because of his size and strength, but Spitz becomes his constant enemy, from whom he learns an important lesson. Spitz fights with Curly, one of the dogs that is friendly to Buck. Buck watches as all the other dogs attack and kill Curly once he is down. Buck is determined he will never be put in the same position. He will fight to the death if necessary. Spitz constantly picks on Buck, wanting to get in a fight with him; Buck, however, resists the challenges from Spitz. Then one time he steals the resting-place that Buck has created for himself. Buck has had enough and attacks Spitz with a vengeance. Francois and Perrault have to separate the two dogs. Although the fight is stopped, the animosity continues, and the two enemies are always in a skirmish. Then one day when Spitz prematurely kills a rabbit that all the dogs have been chasing, Buck attacks again. The battle is fierce, and Buck is losing. He then calls upon his intelligence and imagination to defeat Spitz. Instead of going for his throat, Buck attacks Spitzs front legs, breaking both of them. Once he is down, the other dogs come in for the kill. Now that Spitz has been eliminated, Buck is determined to become the leader of the dog sled team. When Francois and Perrault harness Sol-leks at the front of the team instead of Buck, he refuses to fall into his place. When the drivers try to catch him, Buck runs out of reach. The quot;gamequot; of tag continues forShow MoreRelatedThe Call Of The Wild1092 Words   |  5 Pages The book ‘The Call of the Wild’ uses the characters, storyline and subject matter to explore ideas that almost all of us experience. This lesson will fill you in on these themes, help with understanding the storyline, and offer a few questions to test your comprehension. !!!’’The Call of the Wild’’ - The Basics Author __Jack London__ wasn t your typical storyteller. Born in 1876, he drew inspiration for his work as a novelist and journalist from his early life experiences in poverty, as a sailorRead MoreThe Call Of The Wild754 Words   |  4 Pagesauthors in history, wrote a book called The Call of the Wild and a short story called To Build a Fire. These two writing pieces share similar attitudes and setting. In addition, their endings and travel style are much different. The Call of the Wild and To Build a Fire have these two similarities and two differences that add a lot of meaning to each story. The four parts of setting in these stories are very similar. On page 15 in The Call of the Wild it says â€Å"Buck’s feet sank into white mushy somethingRead MoreCall of the wild2057 Words   |  9 Pagesï » ¿Name: Instructor: Course: Date: A Problem of Nature in The Call of the Wild by Gary Snyder The poem Call of the Wild by Gary Snyder represents an ecological view on relationship between nature and Western civilization, as well as on peace and war. The image of the West in this poem is characterized by repression, ignorance, and violence. It ruins both wild nature with its forests and animals, and civilized human nature. Thus, the term nature itself appears to be problematic. I argue thatRead MoreThe Call Of The Wild1115 Words   |  5 Pagesintellectual of the species that survives; it is not the strongest that survives; but the species that survives is the one that is able best to adapt and adjust to the changing environment in which it finds itself†. In Jack London s book The Call of The Wild, out of many themes the most important is adaptation for many reasons. Buck has adapted mentally and physically, Buck s original character was changed very quickly after arriving in the cold Alaskan wilderness. Buck adapted in many ways throughoutRead More Call Of The Wild E ssay979 Words   |  4 Pagespet to a primordial, wild beast. To begin with, before living in northern Canada and Alaska, Buck lived a pampered, luxurious life on Judge Miller’s estate in Santa Clara Valley, California. Although there were numerous breeds of dogs living on the estate, Buck had an aspect to himself that set him aside from the other dogs and animals. amp;quot;For he was king – king over all creeping, crawling flying things of Judge Miller’s place, humans included.amp;quot; (Call of the Wild, page 14). Buck wouldRead More The Call of the Wild Essay632 Words   |  3 Pages nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;The Call of the Wild nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;The Call of the Wild, by Jack London, is a classic piece of American literature. The novel follows the life of a dog named Buck as his world changes and in turn forces him to become an entirely new dog. Cruel circumstances require Buck to lose his carefree attitude and somewhat peaceful outlook on life. Love then enters his life and causes him to see life through new eyes. In the end, however, he must choose betweenRead MoreCall Of The Wild Analysis773 Words   |  4 PagesThe Call of the Wild Literacy Analysis â€Å"Buck stood and looked on, the successful champion, the dominant primordial beast who had made his kill and found it good.† (London, 43). In the adventure novel by Jack London, The Call of the Wild, a huge 140 pound Saint Bernard/Scotch Shepherd named Buck goes through internal and external challenges that leaves him retrogressed and more wild than ever. He adapts to the wild Northland environment that he had never experienced in the sunny state of CaliforniaRead MoreThemes In The Call Of The Wild784 Words   |  4 PagesThe Call of the Wild penned by Jack London, Buck, a Scotch Shepherd/St. Bernard mixed dog, is carried off into the Alaskan Klondike during the Yukon Gold Rush, and retrogresses from a civilized Southland pet into a ferocious, primitive beast of the North. Throughout Buck’s Northland adventure, he passes through the possession of several masters, each with varying degrees of mutual friendship or hatred. Finally, upon the death of his ideal and fin al master, John Thornton, he answers the call of theRead MoreThe Call of the Wild Essay1288 Words   |  6 PagesThe best chapter of The Call of the Wild is chapter six â€Å"For the Love of a Man.† Chapter six is the chapter in which Buck, the protagonist, begins to live with John Thurston. John saved Buck from his masters that were whipping him and clubbing him nearly to death. Nursing Buck back to health, the pair begins to form a bond like no other, a bond of unconditional, passionate, genuine love. The exuberant John always played with the carefree dogs, including Buck, Skeet and Nig. The bond that BuckRead MoreEssay about The Call of the Wild Versus Into the Wild1246 Words   |  5 PagesChris McCandless and Buck serve as examples of the archetype of the wild through their experiences of leaving where they feel most comfortable and answering the call of the wild. They show that each experience is inimitable because the wild is unique to every individual. For Bu ck, the wild is a place outside of civilization and his dependence on man, where the external threats of nature exist and he must prove himself as a true animal with instincts for survival. In McCandless case, the place

Capital Valuation Models Example

Essays on Capital Valuation Models Research Paper Financial Paper: Capital Valuation The present paper seeks to apply some capital valuation models in order to justify current market values of equityand debt of Home Depot. There exist different types of capital valuation models that are used in order to determine the value of a firm or the value of equity or debt of a firm at any particular time. Valuation is generally regarded as a method which forecast the present value of the expected pay offs to the shareholders of a firm. Valuation process also helps in converting forecasted value in to one particular number which corresponds to the basic intrinsic value of the firm. According to Lee (1999), capital valuation models are nothing but a set of accounting systems which helps in constituting the tools that are essential for communicating the assessment regarding any future event. Capital valuation models are of different types. Some of them are based on asset based valuations, while some others take in to account discounted cash flow measures. For the purpose of the present study, focus will be placed on those models that use the technique of discounted cash flows. Before moving into analyzing how far findings regarding current market value of equity or debt, it would be better to have a look at different discounted cash flow models of capital valuation. Discounted capital valuations model are mainly of three types: Free Cash Flow based accounting system, dividend based accounting system and earning based accounting system. All of these three types of capital valuation techniques can be used for the valuation of entire firm as well as for the equity of the firm. Once, value of firm and value of equity is determined, it becomes quite easy to calculate value of debt. Present value of debt can be calculated by subtracting the present value of equity from the present value of firm as a whole. Free cash flow based valuation system: Under this system, for the valuation of entire firm’s capital free cash flow to the firm is taken into account, while for the valuation of equity only, free cash flow to the equity holders is taken into account. Free cash flow to firm (FCFF) is defined as the cash flow that is made before any repayment of debt, but after incurring all sorts of operating expenses and taxes. On the other hand, free cash flows to equity (FCFE) can be defined as the cash flows which are generated after incurring all expenses and taxed along with the repayment of debt due to that period. (Vishwanath, n.d) In terms of equation, FCFF can be represented as follows: FCFF= cash flows from operation + interest (1-t)-capital expenditure And FCFE can be written as follows: FCFE= cash flows from operation + interest (1-t)-capital expenditure- net debt paid. In both of the cases interest benefit of taxation has not been included as the discount rate includes such benefit. Now, under free cash flow based valuation technique, to calculated present value of the firm with infinite life a terminal period is required to be set after which the firm is expected to grow at a rate which is different from the ongoing rate. For the terminal period, a terminal price is calculated and then it is discounted by a specific discount rate. The formulae for the present value of a firm and the present value of the firm’s equity can be represented as follows: (Vishwanath, n.d.; Levin and Olsson, 2000) T (Value of firm)t=0 = FCFF0 + ∑PV (FCFFi) + PV (Terminal Price); i=1 Where Terminal Price = (FCFFT)/(r-g), where r is the discount rate and g is the growth rate after terminal period. And, T (Value of firm’s equity)t=0 = FCFE0 + ∑PV (FCFEi) + PV (Terminal Price); i=1 Where Terminal Price = (FCFET)/(r-g), where r is the discount rate and g is the growth rate after terminal period. Now to calculate value of firm working cost of capital is used as the discount rate. Cost of capital to a firm is generally defined as the opportunity costs of investors for making their investment in the firm. WACC can be represented by the following formula: (Miles and Ezzell, 1980) WACC = were + wdrd Where we is defined as the weight of equity, re is defined as the cost of equity, wd is defined as the weight of debt, rd is defined as the cost of debt. The weight of equity can be defined as the ratio of market capitalization to the market value of the firm and the weight of debt can be defined as the ratio of market value of debt to the market value of the firm. Total market value of firm is generally measured by summing total market value of equity and total market value of debt. (Miles and Ezzell, 1980; Fama, 1970; Fama, 1991) Cost of equity is generally treated as the return that the investors expect to be paid by the firm for compensating them for the variability in returns which is generally caused by fluctuating earnings and fluctuating prices of shares. Cost of equity can be presented by the following formula: (Miles and Ezzell, 1980) Cost of Equity = risk free return to yield on long run government bonds + market risk premium * Beta variant for the company. Cost of debt, on the other hand, is generally taken at the effective rate of interest applicable to an AAA rated company in the market with an appropriate mix of short, medium and long term debt, net of taxes. Dividend based capital valuation: Dividend based valuation formula can be represented as follows: Value of the firm = Dividend / (WACC – g); where g is the growth rate of dividend. Value of the firm’s equity = Dividend / (cost of equity – g); where g is the growth rate of dividend. (Feltham and Ohlson, 1995) Earning based capital valuation = Earnings per share / (cost of equity – g) (Feltham. and Ohlson,. 1995) Calculation for Home Depot: In case of Home Depot, cash flow from operating activities has started to diminish from the year of 2007 owing to the global recession. From 2007 to 2008 cash flow from operation had declined by around 25 percent, while from 2008 to 2006 it declined by 3.4 percent. Hence, it is assumed that the market will grow by a rate of -2 percent for the coming two years and from third year it will attain a growth rate of -3 percent which is assumed to continue for the rest of its life time. Now, it is required to calculate WACC for discounting cash flows. Before calculating WACC, it is necessary to calculate cost of equity. On the basis of available information, beta for the firm is 0.56, which is quite high. Now risk free rate is around 4.3 percent, while market risk premium on U.S. securities is 6.8 percent (for 2008). Given these values, cost of equity is – Cost if equity = 4.3 % + 0.56(6.8 %) = 8.19 % Now cost of debt of the firm is around 5 percent (approximately). From the balance sheet for the period ended on 1st January, 2009, market value of equity and market value of debt can be obtained. Market value of equity is $17,777 million, while market value of debt is $11434 million. Therefore, WACC = 8.19 *(17,777/ 29211) + 5 * (11434/29211) = 4.98 + 1.95 = 6.94 (approximately) Now from available information FCFF and FCFE can be calculated for Home Depot. FCFF and FCFE for the current period are $3681 million and $1636 million. Now, FCFE for the current period is $1636. Given that the firm will grow at a negative rate of -2 percent and since the third year it will grow at a rate of -3, the present value of the firm’s value can be given as = 1636 + (1636(1-0.02))/(1+0694) + (1636 (1-0.02)2)/(1+0694)2 + 1373(1-0.03)/(0.498-0.03) = 17777. It implies that on the basis free cash flow based technique of calculation of firm equity value it is possible to justify current market value of equity with the assumptions of appropriate rate of growth. Now it would be interesting to find out whether with the assumption of same rate of growth in dividend and earning per share it would be possible to justify current market valuation of equity of the firm Home depot. Now from available information, total dividend earnings for the period ended on 1st January, 2009 was (.90*1.68) billion = 1512 million. Now applying the formula of dividend based the following can be obtained: Total value of firm’s equity will be = 1512/(0.0498+0.03)= 18984. Here results can not properly justify the current market value as current market value is lower than the estimated. But it can be taken as a good approximation as difference between the estimated value and current value is not quite large. Now the formula based on earning per share can be applied. From available information, total earnings of the share holders for the period ended on 1st January, 2009 was (1.37*1.68) billion = 2301.6 million. Now applying the formula of earning based valuation method the following can be obtained: Total value of firm’s equity will be = 2301.6/(0.0498+0.03)= 28842 Here results can not justify at all the current market value as current market value is lower than the estimated. Hence, with similar kind of growth rates, free cash flow based technique seems to be best applied for the purpose of valuation. References: Feltham G.A. and Ohlson, J.A. (1995), â€Å"Valuation and clean surplus accounting for operating and financial activities†, Contemporary Accounting Research 11, 689-731 Lee, C.M, Myers, J. and Swaminathan, B. (1999). â€Å"What is the Intrinsic Value of the Dow?†, Journal of Finance 54, 1693-1741 Levin, J. and Olsson, P. (2000), Terminal Value Techniques in Equity Valuation: Implications of the Steady State Assumption. SSE/EFI Working Paper Series in Business Administration No 2000:7 Miles, J. and Ezzell, R. (1980). The Weighted Average Cost of Capital, Perfect Capital Markets and Project Life: A Clarification. Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, 15: 719-730. Vishwanath, P.V. (n.d.) Fundamentals of Valuations. Available at www.swlearning.com/finance/daves/valuation/ [accessed on 12th June, 2009]

Prometheus Essay Free Essays

When I was reading â€Å"Prometheus†, I came upon a lot of similarities between the story and Frankenstein: The Modern Prometheus. I believe Frankenstein: The Modern Prometheus was a good name for Mary Shelley’s book for multiple reasons. One reason was that both Prometheus and Victor, despite what people said, gave very valuable but dangerous things to both society and individual persons. We will write a custom essay sample on Prometheus Essay or any similar topic only for you Order Now Another reason might be that both Victor and Prometheus had to suffer for their bad decisions. Both Frankenstein: The Modern Prometheus and â€Å"Prometheus† share many similarities through both their tone and morale. In Frankenstein: The Modern Prometheus, the tone of the subject to the author simply screams disapproval and a little bit of appreciation. When Mary Shelley first writes of Victor creating the monster, she shows excitement through her writing when she brings up the idea that life could be created in a lab and given to a lifeless being. But, later on in the book, when she is writing for Victor’s character, she clearly expresses more hatred and disapproval of the idea of the giving of life to lifeless beings. She expresses these ideas through Frankenstein’s obvious anger and pain that is caused because of his reckless choice to create life. In terms of morale, Shelley makes it clear life is not meant to be created and given away. Life is supposed to be a very valuable thing to be appreciated every day. But yet, she still shows that good can come from a bad situation. These are some of the examples of Shelley’s intentional moral and tone in Frankenstein: The Modern Prometheus. In â€Å"Prometheus† the author’s tone also shows disapproval, but it presents positive thoughts about the gift of fire. When Prometheus first gives fire to the people of the earth, the author expresses both his approval and disapproval of the situation through Zeus’s character and Prometheus’s character. When Zeus says, â€Å"Now that they have that gift, there’s no telling what they’ll do. Soon they will be so proud of their accomplishments, that they will think they are as great as gods. Who knows, they might even try to storm Olympus itself†, the author obviously is glowing with disapproval of the idea. However, the author admits that some good could come out of it, when Zues decides to give the humans a chance ather than burn them in their own flames. Now we are to the point where I must state both the stories’ similarities. Both the â€Å"Prometheus† and Frankenstein: The Modern Prometheus are similar in so many ways; I easily understand why Mary Shelley named her novel based on the Greek Myth. One of the most obvious reasons is the close similarit y in the plot. Both Victor and Prometheus are punished for their decisions they had make. They also both think their choices will contribute to society, instead of being a menace to society. Another major similarity is that the authors of both stories present the same lesson throughout each story. The lesson is that some things are meant to be left alone or else major consequences will follow because of the decision to tamper with those things. In Frankenstein: The Modern Prometheus, Victor tampers with the matter of life; his consequence is the torture of being responsible for the murder of those he loves. In the Greek Myth Prometheus, Prometheus tampers with the matter of fire; his consequence is being tortured every day for the rest of eternity by excruciating physical pain. Those are a couple of the many similarities between the two classic stories. Both the Greek myth â€Å"Prometheus† and novel Frankenstein: The Modern Prometheus were good stories to read. They both provided very good life lessons. One is that if one is doing something that requires unwanted lying to those they love, one probably should not be doing it in the first place. Another is that one needs to take responsibility for his or her actions and accept it with open arms because it was due to their one decision. After reading these stories many similarities arose for me that helped me make the decision that Mary Shelley’s novel was appropriately named. How to cite Prometheus Essay, Essay examples

Transnational Crime free essay sample

Life and Debt portrays a true example of the impact economic globalization can have on a developing country. When most Americans think about Jamaica, we think about the beautiful beaches, warm weather, and friendly people that make it a fabulous vacation spot. This movie shows the place in a different light, by showing a pressuring problem of debt. The everyday survival of many Jamaicans is based on the economic decisions of the United States and other powerful foreign countries. The film opens with camera shots portraying Jamaica as the beautiful and carefree place that most Americans view it as. The vast majority are oblivious to the fact that the delicious food they indulge in on their voyage probably came off a ship from Miami. In the 1970s, the countrys former Prime Minister signed a loan agreement which ultimately led Jamaica to owe over four billion dollars in debt to the World Bank and IMF. We will write a custom essay sample on Transnational Crime or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page This ultimately caused a sinking economy of low valued imports and to sweatshops destroying local businesses and agriculture. In the video, we see workers who are working gruesome six-day-a-week work schedules to receive the legal minimum wage of only $30 in US money for the entire week. Many have protested against the poor compensation, and have been fired from their jobs; having been placed on blacklists which prevent them from ever getting work again. Many have turned to crime as a means of income. What Globalization Means Globalization is not a recent concept. It means that the worldwide, virtually instantaneous interdependence about many aspects of economic and cultural life within a nation or state has expanded across borders either intentionally or unintentionally. Now this nation or a states independence to control events within its borders is challenged by international corporations, economic globalization, trade, transnational crime and the increase in global communications and developments in technology. Ways in Which Globalization Increases Crime Streeten defined the components of globalization’s effects on the fundamental change in our lives as below: †¦additionally to economic interdependence in terms of trade, finance, direct investment, there are technological, educational, cultural, ideological, and environmental, legal, military, strategic and political incentives that are rapidly spread throughout the world. Money and goods, images and people, sports and religions, guns and drugs, diseases and pollution can now be moved quickly across all over the world. Although people in many places seem prepared to die for the better option, we can say that there is no absolute model of the state. While we are talking about the state and globalization, we face the same dilemma while discussing the family characteristics in the West. In other words, the traditional Western family model and marriage has lived through many changes, and faced irreversible damages. We cannot state how the family will be in the future. The only thing we can do is keep up old and traditional values. Similarly, states are seeing considerable elements of traditional statehood being eroded. Main Components The sum of the various elements of globalization has caused sovereign state less and less a locus of policy and control under some organizations such as the WTO, the EU, NAFTA. Those organizations have become more significant players in the world politics arena. Indeed, it will be increasingly difficult for our future civil servant to define what national and international dimensions of problems are. Main Actors More than 190 countries now take place in the political arena with a larger number of powerful non-sovereign and at least partly (and often largely) independent actors that at least partly, varying from corporations to non-government organizations (NGOs), from terrorist groups to drug cartels, from regional and global institutions to banks and private equity funds. The sovereign state is affected by them causing better or worse as much as possible. The monopolistic power once enjoyed by sovereign entities is now being eroded.