Case Study Fast Fashion Essay Example for Free

Case Study Fast Fashion Essay After two decades of fast fashion popularity, retailers and consumers have come to realize one of its biggest issues, its impact on the environment. Can fast fashion and sustainability work together? Step 2 The affordability of Fast Fashion is one of the main reasons for its high demand. Lack of authenticity or Intellectual Property. Fast Fashion has forced retailers to desire low cost and flexibility in design. Lack of quality in production Rapid production prevents consumers to get an idea of what’s to expect. (Forecasting) Excess of production. Wastes of these products from the retailers and consumer harm the environment. Reveals what is exposed in runways and fashion shows ahead of time. Fast fashion exploits the young consumer by incentivizing impulse behavior. Consumers are getting used to buying more frequent. Due to such rapid turnover, there’s a lack of exclusivity. Step 3 1. Higher quality, lower quantity. Pros Better option for repair: The customer will rather repair a good quality garment than can last than an inexpensive low quality one. Customer satisfaction: Consumers will be happier with a better value product. Long life: Products that are of better quality will definitely last longer so the consumer wont be forced to dispose. For the retailer, there is a great possibility they may attract a variety of new consumers that do appreciate superior quality. As a result of lower quantity, garments will stand out by look fresher and spacious on the sales floor. Cons Retailers may suffer fewer sales. There is a possibility they may lose some of their usual customers. Fewer options, now that there is a lower quantity. Higher quality means it wont be as affordable for the consumer as it used to be. Companies may have to reinvent themselves and state the fact that they are now enhancing the quality of their products. Consumer will be unwilling to compromise on price. 2. Personalization of Clothing Pros Consumer will be satisfied with having a say in the creation of its particular product. This idea will attract and motivate many more consumers. It’s innovative and fun for the consumer. The design will be personalized and the consumer will want to keep. Cons May require more shopping time for the consumer Products may not be as inexpensive now that the retailer will cater to every individuals needs. Consumers of fast fashion may be disappointed that there will now be less variety. Consumers may not adapt to this idea and reject it. 2. No more wasting, get compensated! Recycle and Reuse. The system involves customers bringing all the used items back to the stores and getting compensated with either a discount or a minimal refund. This is to incentive the customer to care more instead of wasting and harming the eco-system. Pros Companies will be take back used garments and send them off to countries in need. Companies will be able to reuse and reproduce them. Customer’s ability to help other in need is facilitated by the companies they have purchased from. Customers get an incentive to bring items back after knowing they also get a discount/store credit/ refund.

The Life and Teachings of Siddhartha Gautama Essay Example for Free

The Life and Teachings of Siddhartha Gautama Essay Buddhism is a way of life for Buddhists, based on the teachings of a man who had lived more than two and a half thousand years ago in northern India. He was born in the foothills of Lumbini, in what is now Nepal, in about 563BCE, and was called Siddhartha. His family was called Gautama, and his father (Shuddhodana) was the rular of the Shakya clan at that time. Everyone who followed Siddhartha called him the Buddha, which means the enlightened one. They believed that he had found the truth about life. Many stories about the life of the Buddha were passed on by word of mouth for about 600 years before anyone wrote them down. They were a constant reminder of the Buddha and all the things he did for other people. Siddharthas father felt very strongly about him taking over as rular. He therefore gave Siddhartha everything he wanted and every luxury he could have. He didnt tell his son about suffering and death because he didnt want to upset him. He was afraid that these things would stop him from becoming interested in religion. Because Siddhartha was a prince, he was taught the skills of archery, horsemanship, swordplay and martial arts. He was given the staff of beautiful young women to care for him and to look after him. When he was only nineteen, he married a beautiful princess named Yasodhara. Because she was a princess, she was allowed to choose her husband from the local princes. She chooses Siddhartha after a number of competitions, which included lots of things such as sports and the singing of love-songs! They then had a son whose name was Rahula. When Siddhartha decided to go out in his chariot, his father sent all his servants to go and get all the blind and sick people of the streets because he didnt want to upset his son, but Siddhartha saw four things that changed his life. He saw an old man, a sick man, a corpse and a Hindu holy man, or a Sadhu. After seeing the first three of these, Siddhartha knew that he had to grow old and die. He no longer wanted a life of luxury but wanted to be ordinary. He wanted to help these people overcome their suffering. He wanted to become more like a Sadhu, who gave up all his possessions and time to lead a spiritual life. He knew that this spiritual life was for him to live. Then, one night, he left his family at the palace. Channa, his charioteer, drove him out of his fathers city. He cut off all his hair, took off all his fine clothes and, wearing just a simple robe, he set out to a homeless life. He was 29 years old. For six years Siddhartha lived under strict discipline of the Hindu religion. In other words he lived as an ascetic. He had settled to live with five other holy men near the River Nairanjana. He had trained himself to fast for long periods of time and when he had done that he only ate a little, just enough for him to live on. Some people said that he nearly killed himself fasting like that. He grew so thin that you could see his backbone through his stomach. Then, one day, he decided that this fasting and discipline wasnt doing him any good. He was trying to find the truth about life and this discipline wasnt helping, so he gave it up. He went down to the river and bathed, and on the way back he met a milkmaid named Nandabala, and she offered him some rice pudding to eat. He accepted it. The other holy men thought that Siddhartha was giving up his fast and as a consequence, they then decided to desert him. Unfortunately, he had not done what he came to do. He still wanted to find the meaning and purpose of life and to understand how to overcome the suffering that there was. He went and sat at the bottom of a tree and vowed that he would not move until he had achieved this enlightenment. He sat under the tree all night, trying to deal with temptations. Then, he was said to have gained this enlightenment. The tree that he sat under is now called the Bodhi-tree because the word for enlightenment is Bodhi. He was thirty-five when he became enlightened. For the rest of his life, until he died at eighty, he had walked all over India. One of the main places where he taught was Varanasi, where he explained his teaching-which is now the basis of all Buddhist understanding and practice. He found the sanga- the order of monks and nuns who spent their lives spreading the teaching. Most people dont choose to be monks or nuns. They follow the Buddhas teaching, and apply it to work and family life. The sanga refers to all those who are monks or nuns. By the time the Buddha had died thousands of people in India had become his followers. During the next century his teaching spread throughout most of Asia. Today there are well over 500 million Buddhists living in countries such as India, Nepal, Thailand, Japan etc. There are many Buddhist centres in the west, Europe and the U.S.A. The Buddhists believe that everyone can achieve enlightenment. They hope to do so. Some say that we all have the Buddha nature within ourselves. Siddhartha is called the Buddha because he was the first to be enlightened in this way. The Buddhists respect the Buddha in many different ways. They respect him as a great and famous teacher, helping others to understand the truth and meaning of life, and to help them gain enlightenment like the Buddha.

Female Prison Inmates Health Evaluation

Female Prison Inmates Health Evaluation Charity Chin Yin Description of Target Population The target population being assessed is female prison inmates who are scheduled for release in three months. Prison is a place where people are being restricted to everything and where they lose their freedom, movement, and access to everything as a punishment. It is a place where people will go when they commit a crime. According to Bureau of Justice Statistic, in the year of 2015, there were 73,645 female inmates admissions in National Statistics in the United States, 4,675 in Federal prison, and 9,884 in the State prison of Texas (1). Statisticians, Geenfeld and Snell, from Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) mentioned that the majority of the females involved with the justice system are at least completed high school and graduates with an estimation of 60% of those on probation, 55% of those in local jails, 56% of those in State prisons, and 73% of those in Federal prison. In addition, 30%-40% of high school graduates have attended some college or more (2). A key informant. Steve Talbert, a Licensed Professional Counselor and Licensed Sex Offender Treatment Provider in Lubbocks juvenile, mentioned that the juvenile offenders in Lubbock county are mostly from the age of 20 to 28 (3). However, based on the BJS Statisticians for females who are in both State and Federal prisons, is it estimated that 1 in 5 women on probation or in local jails are under age 25; 1 in 8 State prisoners and 1 in 11 Federal prisoners are of age 25. Furthermore, nearly a quarter of Federal prison inmates are at least 45 years old (2). According to the percentages on specific ethnicities, Blacks and Hispanics were imprisoned at higher rates than Whites in all age groups. About two-thirds of women under the probation are white and nearly two-thirds of those confined in local jails and State and Federal prisons are the minority Black/African, Hispanic, and other races. Hispanics account for about 1 in 7 women in State prisons but nearly 1 in 3 female prisoners in Federal custody (2). D uring the research, it was hard getting the latest result; however, during the year 2007, there were 60% of the women prisoners were not employed full time when they were arrested, and 37% had incomes under $600 in the month leading up on their arrest, and nearly one-third (30%) of women were receiving welfare benefits prior to their arrest (4). Assessment of Nutritional Needs According to Steve Talbert, the key informant, he mentioned that the inmates do not have access to nutritious food items, all they have are mainly canned vegetables and under-cooked chicken, even so they only have 15min-30min of meals time (3). The inmates have to eat while they walk so that they manage to finish their meals on time (3), thus having poor nutritional status and poor health when compared to the general population (5). According to some studies, The United States prison inmates shows poor intake of vitamin D (5), because they are confined in their cells most of the time. Due to the lack of vitamin D, it links the inmates to other health problems such as poor skeletal health, lower muscle strength, low bone mineral density, osteoporosis, and fracture (5). Inmates have a very strict and limited time; therefore, they do not have much physical activity which causes chronic diseases. Based on Bureau of Justice Statistics, in 2011-2012, half of state and federal prisoners and local jail inmates reported having a chronic condition (including cancer, high blood pressure, stroke-related problems, diabetes, heart-related problems, kidney-related problems, arthritis, asthma, and cirrhosis of the liver) among all the prisoners, however females were more likely than males to report ever having a chronic condition (6). Majority of the prisoners (74%) and jail inmates (62%) were overweight, obese, or morbidity obese (6). In addition, it is also known that the health of the inmates deteriorated along with the length of stay in jail. The author from Medical Daily mentioned that the meals in prisons contains very little nutrition, low cost, and taste badly (7). Prison systems have a lengthy history of poor food quality as 95% of uneaten food is not thrown out, but rather frozen and reserved up to seven days after it was first distributed to the inmates; meals lack basic dietary necessities, and fruits and vegetables are absent from inmate trays otherwise asked for due to budget cuts (7). The prisoners diets are lacking of macronutrient, micronutrient, and the basic daily requirements. According to Medical Daily, the reporters analysis of the menu from the prison concludes that the prisoners are missing of leafy greens, fiber, whole grains, heart-healthy fats, and other viral nutrient (7). Instead of three meals a day, only two were served with about 10 to 14 hours apart (8). The inmates have do not have a choice to choose the food they want and in order to stay full throughout day, they have to eat whatever that is being served to prevent hunger. Many inmates reported that they could not sustain and ended up eating toothpaste, toilet paper, licking syrup packets and drinking excessive amounts of water to combat their hunger. Some even claim that the portions they received are not even enough to fill a five-year-old child (8). However, in Texas law, it is required for inmates to be fed three times in 24 hours but it only applies to county jail inmates and not state prisoners; however, it does not mandate that prisons offer inmates three meals a day (8). Implications for Nutrition Education A vast majority of female prisoners have the thought of whether they will have enough food for themselves or for their families due to their incarceration. Half of them were incarnated most of their life and did not know what had happened outside those walls, so they might not know how to shop and where to get food, lack the skills to cook a meal, and do not know anything about food assistance programs. They were so used to having people to cook for them and because of restricted time they were not able to have much physical activity. The usage of literacy sources such as nutritional pamphlets and recipes could enable the prisoners to cultivate a healthy diet with regular physical activities. preventing them from any nutrition-related chronic disease and help them to maintain a healthy lifestyle. Implementing and developing intervention that focuses on skill building and developing healthy lifestyle that incorporate good nutritional practices and physical activity (9).ÂÂ   Imple menting education program on portion sizes and calorie estimation, healthy food purchasing with budget, cooking classes and even food sanitation classes, as well as focusing on healthy eating with a balance diet helps decrease the risk of chronic disease In summary, a curriculum for this target population should include lessons on nutrition and childhood nutrition (portion sizes, nutritional balance and choice of food), skill in relation to cooking, budgeting, purchasing, and preparing (safe food handling practices and procedures), and also physical activity habits. Available Program There are several federal aid programs that distribute in Lubbock Texas that are eligible for women. These are the few programs that can provides and assists those who are struggling at no cost. One of the program is Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) that is available to female adults who struggles to buy food. This program is eligible for those who meet the requirements based on household size, income, assets, housing costs, work requirements, which is mainly for low-income individual and families (10). The purpose of this program is to improve the low-income households by increasing access to food or food-purchasing ability (10). This program can apply through the USDA official website which is https://www.fns.usda.gov/snap/supplemental-nutrition-assistance-program-snap (11) or https://www.yourtexasbenefits.com/Learn/Home (12) for the state of Texas, and even locally at Lubbock South Plains Food Bank by contacting them at (806)-686-1317 or https://www.spfb.org/welcom e_to_snap (13). Another program is Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC). If a woman is pregnant, breastfeeding, and postpartum with infants or with children under the age of five, assessed by qualified health professional that they are nutritionally at risk, and meet the income standard at or below 185% of the poverty guidelines, then she is eligible to participate in the WIC program. The purposes of this program are to provides nutritious foods to supplement diets, information on healthy eating, nutrition education and counseling, screening or referrals to other health care, welfare, and social services to those who got accepted (10). This program is available nationwide, statewide, and locally. There are four locations in Lubbock, women can find out more about this program by contacting the local office at (806)-907-0080 (14). If more information about local food stamps is needed, Lubbock Health and Human Services Office is available at (806)-744-7632 (15). References Carson, E. Ann. Bureau of Justice Statistics. Number of admissions of sentences female inmates to state or federal prison, 1978-2015). National Prisoner Statistics Program. Website. Available at www.bjs.gov. Accessed February 27, 2017. Greenfeld, A. Lawrence and Snell, L. Tracy. Women Offenders. Bureau of Justice Statistics Special Report. U.S. Department of Justice. Office of Justice Programs. Revised 10/3/2000. Pp. 14. Website. Available at https://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/wo.pdf. Published December 1999. Accessed February 28, 2017. Key Informant, Steve Talbert, Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC), Licensed Sex Offender Treatment Provider (LSOTP). Interviewed on February 24, 2017.Telephone: (806)-577-7924. Interviewed on February 24, 2017. The Sentencing Project, Research and Advocacy for Reform. Women in the Criminal Justice System, pp. 3. Website. Available at http://www.sentencingproject.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/Women-in-the-Criminal-Justice-System-Briefing-Sheets.pdf. Published May 2007. Accessed February 27, 2017. Benjamin Udoka Nwosu, Louise Maranda, Rosalie Berry, Barbara Colocino, Carlos D. Flores Sr., Kerry Folkman, Thomas Groblewski, and Patricia Ruze. The Vitamin D Status of Prison Inmates. Website. Available at https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3944727/. Published: March 5, 2014. Accessed February 27, 2017. Laura M. Maruschak, BJS Statistician, Marcus Berzofsky, Dr.P.H., and Jennifer Unangst, RTI International. Medical Problems of State and Federal Prisoners and Jail Inmates, 2011-12. U.S Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, and Bureau of Justice Statistics. Revised October 4, 2016. Website. Available at https://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/mpsfpji1112.pdf. Published: February 2015. Accessed February 28, 2017. Samantha Olson. Medical Daily. Aug 27, 2015. Website. Available at http://www.medicaldaily.com/1-week-prison-food-diet-reveals-problems-inmate-meals-low-cost-bad-taste-and-349572. Accessed February 28, 2017. Alysia Santo and Lisa Iaboni. Whats in a Prison Meals? The Marshall Project. July 7, 2015. Website. Available at https://www.themarshallproject.org/2015/07/07/what-s-in-a-prison-meal#.PCevh6rcc. Accessed February 28, 2017. Jennifer Decker and Jigna Dharod. Nutrition Education Needs of Women Being Released from Prison. Maine Nutrition Network, USM. USDA, Food Stamp Nutrition Education, 2006. Website. Available atÂÂ   https://snaped.fns.usda.gov/snap/resourcefinder/WomenReleasedFromPrison.pdf. Accessed March 1, 2017. Boyle Marie A. Community Nutrition in Action: An Entrepreneurial Approach 7th ed. Boston, MA; pp 389-393. Textbook. Published 2016. Accessed March 1, 2017. United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). Available at https://www.fns.usda.gov/snap/supplemental-nutrition-assistance-program-snap. Published January 30, 2017. Accessed March 1, 2017. Texas Health and Human Services Commission. Your Texas Benefits. Available at: https://www.yourtexasbenefits.com/Learn/Home. Accessed March 1, 2017. South Plains Food Bank. Welcome to Snap. Available at: https://www.spfb.org/welcome_to_snap. Accessed March 1, 2017. Texas Department of State Health Services. Texas WIC. Available at: http://texaswic.dshs.state.tx.us/wiclessons/english/zipcodelocator/. Accessed March 1, 2017. Food Stamps Offices: Nationwide Office Search. Lubbock Health and Human Services Office. Available at: http://www.foodstampsoffices.com/lubbock-tx/. Accessed March 1, 2017

television vs. Reality Essay -- essays research papers

  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  It is 8:30 Monday night and the whole family is in the living room watching the Fox network’s primetime hit â€Å"Ally McBeal†. Suddenly, just after the program resumes after a painstakingly long commercial break, you see a man and a woman lying in bed talking to each other after having a night of hot, passionate sex. You look down and see your ten year old son or daughter lying on the floor just staring at the TV, taking it all in. You begin channel surfing, and end up on channel 3, CBS. There is a brand new sitcom being aired called â€Å"Some of My Best Friends†. Almost immediately after you and your family begin viewing this program, two men, both proclaiming to be gay, begin kissing and embracing each other. Upset by all of this â€Å"garbage†, you turn off the TV and decide to try and find something a little more â€Å"educational† to do.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Sex. It seems to be everywhere on television today. From sitcoms to reality shows to dramas to soap operas, sex is one of the leading factors in most television programs. A recent study showed that 3 out of 4 primetime programs portray sex in relationships and 68% of all television programs contain sexual content (Cutler, Jacqueline, TVData Features Syndicate March 24,2001). There are exceptions to this, however, with networks occasionally focusing on education and children’s programming, but the mainstream of primetime television programs tends to focus on sex. But how accurate is television’s portrayal of sex in the real world? Does everything turn out like it does on shows such as â€Å"Sex in the City† or â€Å"Temptation Island†? Or are these sexual messages just an obvious ploy to help boost ratings? Recently I have watched several shows I thought would help answer these questions. The programs I have researched are â€Å"Friends †, one of NBC’s highest rated shows, â€Å"Everybody Loves Raymond†, a family sitcom on CBS, and â€Å"Days of Our Lives†, one of NBC’s daytime soap operas. In viewing these shows I hope to compare the key message behind sex and relationships in these programs to real life. I will also compare relationships between love and sex, anger and love, friendship and romantic love, and alternatives to heterosexual relationships.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The first television program I researched is the critically acclaimed NBC sitcom, â€Å"Friends†. Upon viewing this show, I fo... ...n an interracial relationship or marriage. This sends the message that people of a certain race or culture should marry someone that is like them. There have been rumors, however, of a new character on â€Å"Friends† that is going to be African-American. If this character does appear, then maybe it will encourage more programs to end endogamy and introduce characters of different race and cultures.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The average teen views nearly 15,000 sexual references, innuendoes, and jokes on television every year, according to â€Å"Electronic Babysitter Overexposes Youth to Sex†, a CNN report by Holly Firfer. If these messages are inaccurate, what kind of messages are teens receiving? In the same article, Firfer gave reasons for sex on television. First, Americans seem to eat it up with a spoon. Second, Hollywood has a lack of real writing talent, so why bother with an â€Å"intelligent† story? This seems to be very true, since every year there are more television shows being produced that primarily focus on sex. When will this sexual addiction cease? There is much more in this world than sex, and television should try to portray real life situations as accurately as possible.

An In-Depth Analysis of Milton Bradleys Literature Essay -- Gaming

Battleship is a commonly known game throughout the world. A strategic guessing-game, it was first introduced as a pen-and-paper activity where a player plots imaginary ships on a grid, and then take turns with the other player at guessing the positions of the ships of his or her opponent. While Battleship has had many different designs and title arts over the years, the 1967 version stands out as particularly significant. Along with the obvious â€Å"Battleship is fun† message, Milton Bradley attempted to sneakily convey a few subtle and not-always-wholesome messages through its choice in box design. The first thing that one notices when looking at this image is two people appearing to have a good time playing the board game known as Battleship. Both players are smiling and making animated gestures; the older player even appears to enjoy losing. This superficial analysis probably resulted in many impulse buys and a large profit for Messrs. Milton and Bradley. For many people, the implications stop there: â€Å"Battleship is fun. You should buy Battleship.† While delving deeper into the seas of analysis, close attention paid to the players depicted will reveal a bit of insight into a more subtle marketing scheme: This game is fun, yes, but it is also simple. It is so simple, in fact, that even a child can attain a level of mastery sufficient to overcome a far older, more experienced player. A young man—most likely older than eight, as eight is the minimum age stated not-so-subtly to the left—sits opposite an older man. It is probably a safe assumption that the two are related, as they have similar hair and facial features. This assumption will prove to be useful later. Anyone who is familiar with the rules of the game quickl... ... product which he saw as an affirmation of his superiority than one which contested it. The image of women presented on this box is one of subservience, inferiority, and compliance: all of the qualities that Milton Bradley obviously feel are associated the lesser sex. While it can be said with relative certainty that not all men in the 1960s were male-chauvinists, Milton Bradley designed an artistic cover for their board game which suited what they saw as the social norms of the time. In an attempt to market to the masses, they employed subtle advertising tactics meant to subconsciously gain approval from the greatest number of potential buyers: white, middle-class males. Even though this image does not necessarily reflect how the designers and marketing experts at Milton Bradley felt about women, it does reflect their feelings regarding the buyers themselves.

Examples of Differences in University Education :: Teaching Education

Examples of Differences in University Education You know, there is not all that much I would actually change about this university. Sure we could use some better facilities and the more diversity the better, but those changes have to take place over time, sometimes a long time. For now I am content with the prospect of throwing out ideas used by other universities to either increase student recruitment or enhance the image surrounding our college, that has without doubt been tarnished in past years. One example of how we could increase the ease on the perspective student milling around our website is to take a note or two from the University of Oklahoma in Norman, Oklahoma. The university of Oklahoma is seen as a highly academic institution along with having an advanced sports program. The Oklahoma Sooners went undefeated this past year. The good thing about their website is that it is very easily navigational, which is a plus because prospective students aren’t in the mood to have to siphon through presents addresses and alumni paraphernalia to get to what dorms they will be living in. The website also has a clearly defined area for the different colleges that are found with the walls of the University. One thing I myself had a problem distinguishing when I first started to look at Washington State University. Along my web based trip through colleges in the United States I also came across Plymouth College in Plymouth, New Hampshire. Now although this college seems to have a lot of the same basic attributes we do here at Washington State I found that they facilities they provide to their students to be far above our own. Not only do they provide the typical state of the art computer labs and rec. center, but also in some halls they have sectioned of soundproof music rooms for those students participating in things such as the symphony orchestra or band. In one hall they even have a ski tuning room , maybe a little more of a necessity in that part of the country but still really cool. I think the more exciting and significant part of my glimpse into this college was the fact that in every hall the students were allowed to enhance their living space by doing pictorials or murals on the walls.

The Vernissage

This short story was written in 2008, so it is a quite new one. It is about Alex and his family. At the beginning of this short story, Alex’ mother is picking him up from school; they are talking about everyday experiences about his school and her new bought dress. The mother has bought a new dress for the Vernissage she is going to attend to with her husband the following evening. Therefore Alex is going to stay home and doing his homework with company of his babysitter Anne-Marie. At six o’clock his father is coming home. At this hour Alex is laying in his parent’s bedroom underneath his parent’s bed listening to his mother getting ready for the coming evening. When his father gets in to the room a conversation with few words begins. At the ending Alex’s parents walks out and he goes into the bathroom and begin brushing his teeth even though he is soon going to have dinner. As we already know has Alex been for school and he gets into his mother’s car with a bit trouble because of the group of mothers waiting outside the school gates. He is still a boy who loves banana sandwiches. Yet he still wants to grow older and no longer be considered a child (p. , l. 48) â€Å"There was something about banana sandwiches, sweet and soft, that made him think of babyfood. Maybe he was getting too old for banana sandwiches,† He loves his mother and has a better relationship to her than he has to his father, he talks and has a lot more contact to his mother shown throughout the whole short story. Considered his bad relationship to his father a nice example is shown (p. 3, l. 100) â€Å"He hoped his father would not come looking for him – but that would be unusual,† Therefore it seems like his father doesn’t care that much for his son. Alex is also a very curious boy, or else he wouldn’t be asking so many questions to his mother so many times. After Alex has slipped into his parent’s bedroom he lies underneath the bed, and he is watching his mother while she is getting dressed and ready. In this scene we see the relationship between Alex’s parents. His father is going up the stairs to meet his wife. They are married, yet it feels like there is some sort of distance between them (p. 3, l. 107) â€Å"The two pairs of legs kept their distance, about three feet between them,† Alex’s mother is ery supportive towards her husband, he seems to be quite nervous for this evening (p. 3, l. 109) â€Å"â€Å"How are you feeling about tonight? † â€Å"OK. It should all go OK, I think. † â€Å"Of course it will. It will be great, John. †Ã¢â‚¬  Alex’s mother is searching for some sort of accept from Alex’s father whom she cannot achieve; she bought the purple dress for his sake, to look good for his special night and because he once said, the colour suited her, she listens to her husband, and it means a lot to her to come close to him. He does not listen to her (p. 3, l. 18) â€Å"â€Å"I told you I was going to buy a new dress; for tonight. Remember? † â€Å"Oh, right. † â€Å"Do you like it? † â€Å"The dress? †Ã¢â‚¬  In this line we can see how he seems not to care that much for his whole family. Alex’s father keeps a certain distance to his own wife, and perhaps she feels shut out of his mind. She tries to get closer to him, (p. 4, l. 148) â€Å"The woman took the hand and cupped it round her left breast. She held it there, as though it were a weak runt of a thing. † She wants her husband to touch her, but still this seems not to make the biggest impression on him either. As the main theme I believe we have lost love. We see a mother, a wife who wants her husband’s accept and she wants to feel him touching her not to reject her hand and begging. The mothers dress is purple; this stands for spirituality and is connected with the blood of sacrifice. Therefore I see the dress and the colour stands for her sacrifice to her husband. She truly wants to be a good and caring wife, support him in every way, she can. The white crepe paper stands for pureness and a new beginning. It can also mean loneliness and despair.