The Woman Warrior by Maxine Hong Kingston

The Woman Warrior by Maxine Hong Kingston The theme of finding one s own personal voice is the central aim of Kingston in her memoir The Woman Warrior. She makes various references to the physical and emotional struggle of this aim throughout the text by exploring the silence of the women in her family and Chinese culture. By adding her experience as a Chinese-American woman she discovers her voice. Kingston uses autobiography to create identity and therefore breaks out of the silence that has bound her culturally to discover a resonant voice of her own (Wong 58). Kingston supplies a voice to many voiceless women enabling them to discover their identities as individuals. In The Woman Warrior, Kingston utilises her different voices to depict the stories of her ancestors. Through these stories told to her by her mother and her aunt, she is able to express a part of her which her own experiences cannot explain as a Chinese-American female. Her memoir is an intensely autobiographical work, yet her first person presence ranges from constant to, at times, almost non-existent. Overall , throughout the five chapters of The Woman Warrior, there is a movement from the theme of silence in the first line of the first chapter You must not tell anyone to a voice in the final line and the last chapter It translated well (Hong Kingston 3, 209). For Kingston, silence equates to a lack of voice, which she associates with the loss of identity as a woman, which is her main aim of the text. However, she is also aware of the risks involved in asserting independence from her own Chinese community. This idea is explored in the first chapter of the memoir, No Name Woman , where Kingston s aunt acted against her community s standards of suitable behaviour and the villagers punished her for acting as if she could have a private life, secret and apart from them (Hong Kingston 36-37). However, Kingston fear that in staying silent and not finding her own voice, she risks becoming a substitute for her nameless aunt, who remained silent her entire life. Kingston s anxiety is increased by her mother s warning: Don t tell anyone you had an aunt (Hong Kingston 18). But in writing the No Name Woman story, Kingston reacts against the family imposed silence and tells everyone of her aunt. Her aunt s silence, by refusing to name the father of her child, protects the man and simultaneously oppresses her. Kingston gives a voice to the silence woman by writing the aunt s story and theorising how her aunt became pregnant. In doing this, she removes her aunt s guilt and solidifies her identity as a Chinese-American woman. She feels that to remain silent about her aunt would be the same as rejecting her own sense of self. The theme of silence in the text is also linked to the cross-cultural problems that Kingston comes across throughout her own life. Kingston notes that The Chinese I know hide their names; sojourners take new names when their lives change and guard their real names with silence (Hong Kingston 6). The mention of silence not only refers to the hiding of names but also to the confusion of Chinese culture to first-generation Chinese-Americans. Although the women of traditional Chinese culture do not have voices, the stories and myths that female family members pass onto their daughters may contain subversive messages. For example, in the chapter entitled White Tigers , the legend of the Chinese woman warrior Fa Mu Lan is a constant reminder to young Kingston that women can transcend socially enforced limitations. Kingston discusses how as a child, she imagined herself to be like Fa Mu Lan, who saves not only her family but her community: the villagers would make a legend about my perfect filiality (Hong Kingston 45). It is in this chapter that we see how, even as a child, Kingston dreamt of transcending a life of insignificance. Brave Orchid s story of the woman warrior proves how stories and legends of tradition Chinese culture can create alternative, subversive voices for women who otherwise would spend their life in silence due to the dominance of a patriarchal society. Kingston extends her empowerment of women, by providing them with individualised voices, to her own mother. Brave Orchid, her mother, is effectively voiceless in America as although she has lived in America for many years, she does not speak English. As with all the lives of the women in The Woman Warrior, Kingston vocalises and records her mother experiences. The memoir displays Brave Orchid s sacrifices and distinguishes her from the nameless Chinese women living in America. In the chapter At the Western Palace , Kingston s aunt Moon Orchid, reveals how costly remaining silence can be. Moon Orchid relays the tale of a woman, deserted by her husband, who has completely submitted to the patriarchal view that woman should always remain silent and never question male authority. The voicelessness of s Chinese woman living in a traditionally patriarchal society is shown when the woman reluctantly confronts her Americanised husband and is unable to voice her years of rage and grief: But all she did was open and shut her mouth without any words coming out (Hong Kingston 152). Ironically, her loss of speech is the deciding factor in her husband s decision that she has no place in his American life, stating, I have important American guests who come inside my house to eat You can t talk to them. You can barely talk to me (Hong Kinston 153). However, by Kingston writing Moon Orchid s story in her memoir, she is also providing Moon Orchid with an individual voice. In the final chapter of The Woman Warrior, A Song for a Barbarian Reed Pipe , Kingston deals with the generational and cultural conflicts as regards the voice of Chinese-American women. Through her American education, Kingston imagines that Americans hear the language of Chinese as chingchong ugly (Hong Kingston 199). In order for a young Kingston to feel even partially accepted by her American peers, she retracts her voice: We American-Chinese girls had to whisper to make ourselves American-feminine (Hong Kinston 172). However, even as a child, Kingston is aware of the consequences of being without a voice. She describes the hatred she felt for another Chinese girl who refused to speak and how she physically bullied the girl to make her talk. Her hatred for the unspeaking girl is highlighted be her similarity to the girl. The young Kingston fears becoming like this silent girl, who functions as Kingston s alter ego. In this last chapter, Kingston simultaneously questions the customs of the Chinese and the indirect way in which the Chinese speak through observing their code of silence towards Americans regarding their cultural origins and history. This lack of a voice further marginalises Kingston and other first-generation Chinese-Americans as during Kingston s discovery of her voice; she resists putting herself in a state of submission but does, however, purposely present herself poorly to her peers. In Kingstons final look at her past, she tells the story of the poet Ts ai Yen to represent the possibilities of two cultures coming together harmoniously. Kingston identifies with Ts ai Yen s strength in expression and sees them both as women warriors symbolically fighting to link the cultural gap between America and China. In conclusion, Kingstons different voices culminate to constitute the voice of her own subjectivity, to emerge from a past dominated by stories told to her into a present articulated by her own storytelling (Wong 59). The writing of The Woman Warrior, an outlet for her to explore her past, becomes Kingston s remedy for silence her way of discovering her own personal voice and a place as a Chinese-American woman in society.

(Written in Outline Format) Computers: A Necessary Evil :: Technology

COMPUTERS AS A NECESSARY EVIL DEFINITION: First of all NECESSARY EVILS means that though a particular subject or issue that affects human life might contain some disadvantages to it that does not rule out the fact that its advantages have a much stronger basis for it to be utilized. INTRODUCTION: In this modern day and age, the Computer era has seemed to revolutionize the concept of Industrialization thus affecting all humans in one way or another. Without them modern man would have had to evolve at a much slower pace since with the aid of computers certain aspects of work can be completed with precise accuracy. To maximize the benefits and minimize the harms those making decisions about the implementation of computer systems must be sensitive to the problems as the advantages. â€Å"It has a colossal qualitative defect that springs directly from its quantitative virtues. It increases probability and it decreases possibility† -Lewis Mumford EFFECTS IMPACT OF COMPUTER ON PEOPLE 1) POSITIVE IMPLICATIONS a) Job opportunities in areas of programming, computer operations and information system management. b) Greater job satisfaction, this is done by tackling of interesting problems that seemed impossible until the dawn of the computer era. c) Businesses today rely on computer technology to assist them in almost every area of corporate life. Computers have invaded grocery stores, fast food restaurants, big businesses and small offices. They process data, store information, work out complex mathematical problems, track inventory, and even control temperature and lighting in office buildings. Reliance on the high-speed digital computer is so complete that the world of commerce would break up to a sudden stop if computers were removed. d) Use by Public Organizations, through avoiding waste and improving efficiency in government agencies, school districts and hospital units can also result in better services and a reduced tax burden for citizens. e) Home use, it’s used in entertainment and hobby purposes, for educational uses, for family financial applications and for countless other tasks. 2) Potential problems a) Threat of unemployment - The greater efficiency made possible by the computer usage can result in job obsolescence and displacement for some workers who are not in any way learned in the computer usage. b) Use of questionable data processing practices -Input data about individuals are routinely captured by many organizations, are entered into computer processed files. Inaccurate and incomplete data about people have been placed in files. c) WINNERS OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY AREA AFFECTED HOW AFFECTED Financial institutions More free-based consumer and business services Programming Industry Proliferation of new packaged programs Larger Universities Programmed education opportunities Insurance Industry Lower life/ health/ property claims cost

Sport Obermeyer

*Sport Obermeyer:* Case Analysis Pratyusha Lakshmi Puranam Executive Summary: Obermeyer offers a broad line of fashion ski apparel, including parkas, vests, ski suits, shells, ski pants, sweaters, turtlenecks, and accessories. Parkas are considered the most critical design component of a collection; the other garments were fashioned to match the parkas’ style and color. Their products were offered in five different genders: men’s, women’s, boys’, girls’, and preschoolers’. The company segments each â€Å"gender† market according to price, type of skier, and how â€Å"fashion-forward† the market was. Within each â€Å"gender†, numerous styles are offered, each in several colors and a range of sizes. In the current situation, Obermeyer is facing two major issues: inability to meet the demand of retailers during peak sales and a confusion of where to produce the garments – Hong Kong or China. The best way to mitigate the inability to meet the demand of retailers during peaks sales would be to forecast the demands with either past data or with the help of a forecasting committee. It would be idea for Obermeyer to forecast future demand with the help of a forecasting committee. To come over the confusion of which city to continue production in, Obermeyer should choose to continue short term production in Hong Kong but the Long Term production should be in China. Sport Obermeyer has the following main problems: Inability to meet the exact demand of the retailers of the latest fashion which is actually a result of poor forecasting of the jackets: Sport Obermeyer depends on the Las Vegas show to determine what fashions were going to dominate the season coming up and then produce the best fashions. This was a problem because the gap between the show and the production of final product and making it available to the retailer takes time and meanwhile anything can happen. Thus a rigid and accurate forecast must be made based on data as well as experience. They are in a dilemma of which location to continue their production in – Hong Kong or China: Raymond Tse had built the new factory in China where the cost was less but the quality had to be compromised. Moreover, the labor had to be trained and a higher minimum order was required. These issues were addressed by the Hong Kong facility where quality of product was good, the labor could multitask, a lower minimum order size was required and the time of production was low. But the overall cost was high. Recommendations: In order to overcome the forecasting issue, effective forecasting methods like forecasting with the committee should be adopted. The calculations can be based on the newsvendor problem and will help to forecast the optimum requirement of products. To overcome the dilemma of where to produce, the production initially continue in Honk Kong andshould be eventually moved to China. Later, Hong Kong should be used when the minimum order size does not suit that in China. Supporting Analysis: Sport Obermeyer has the issue of lack of stock during peak sales of certain types of parkas. This is very similar to the New Vendor problem. The newsvendor problem is a classic in management science partly because selecting an optimal inventory level in the face of uncertain demand is an important problem but also because the solution is so elegant and intuitive: the inventory should be selected so that the probability that the vendor stocks out should be set equal to the ratio of the item’s unit cost to its unit price. Precisely, the Newsvendor Framework is: One chance to decide on the stocking quantity for the product you’re selling Demand for the product is uncertain Known marginal profit for each unit sold and known marginal loss for the ones that are bought and not sold Goal: Maximize expected profit Numerically, P(x)Marginal Profit – (1 – P(x))Marginal Loss = 0 i. e. P(x) = Marginal Loss/(Marginal Profit + Marginal Loss) Obermeyer’s situation is more complicated than the Newsvendor problem because it is highly dependent on what color, style in the most popular at the moment. Moreover, the higher lead time and constraints of minimum number of orders defined by factories worsen the situation. Risk associated Production: Sport Obermeyer should produce the designs and styles that have the least standard deviation because they are least risky. For these products, the demand uncertainty is very less and thus there is a very low chance of incurring a huge loss. A loss, if any, will not be taxing for Obermeyer and will be in a very low level. Moreover, the trade show results from Las Vegas are not required to produce these parkas. Thus their production can be started immediately. On the other hand, Obermeyer would want to wait till the trade show is complete before starting the production of the parks with a high standard deviation because it has a higher risk. Any loss incurred sue to this segment will be huge and taxing. Demand forecast: The following table shows the demand forecast by the forecasting committee. According to basic principles of statistics, in a sample there is a 68% probability of success i. e available demand in the range (Mean + or – Standard Deviation) and 97% probability of available demand in the range (Mean + or – 2*Standard Deviation). The uncertainty in these two cases is the chance of being outside the range. For example there is a 32% uncertainty of availability that if the demand is below 823 or above 1211 in the Gail model. Similarly it follows for the rest of the data. With the Newsvendor problem, the Demand Forecast would be: Here, P(x) = Marginal Loss/ (Marginal Profit + Marginal Loss) Z has been taken from the frequency distribution tables. Produce = Average +Z*Standard Deviation First Production Quantities: tyles for which expected demand is more than twice the minimum order quantity styles for which expected demand is less than the minimum order quantity all other styles From the above data we have the least forecasted order as 639 which are higher than 600, which is the minimum order quantity for Hong Kong. If the demand is more than double of what has been forecasted there is no issue at all and any factory (Hong Kong or China) can be chosen. If the demand is less what we have forecasted it again depen ds on how much lesser than the minimum order size it is. As we have seen all the forecasted demands are greater than 600 and therefore there will not be much of an issue. A typical scenario is when the demand is in between the minimum order and the double the minimum order. For such a situation we will have to further analyze. We cannot blindly order the minimum both times not can we split the demand into half. In such a situation we have to choose a combination of both factories. *Effect of reducing minimum order quantities on profits*: If there is reduction in the minimum order quantities, then it would be profitable only in case of Hong Kong. There may not be a big difference in profitability if China lowers its minimum order quantity. The reason being, if the company selects China for its order, it is probable that the order is of bulk quantity. Hence, the minimum would not matter for bulk orders. As discussed earlier, it is a good idea to choose Hong Kong for quick and small orders. Hence, if Hong Kong lowers its minimum order quantity, then the number of orders with low quantities will increase for Hong Kong – because, Hong Kong produces the product in half the time as China. Hence, minimum order quantities are directly related to quick orders, which implies, if there is a reduction in minimum order quantity in Hong Kong, then it is profitable than the minimum order quantity reduction in China. Thus when we have to choose a location based on the aspect of reducing the minimum order quantities, we must go ahead with Hong Kong as it is more profitable than reducing minimum order size in China. *Increasing the capacity to react to observed demand*: The second order happens immediately after the Las Vegas show. Hence, to improve the capacity to react for the demand, more number of resources need to work for gathering and capturing the market ASAP during the trade show. This would marginally affect the order date, by increasing the time for Obersport to deliver to sport Obermeyer. But, at that moment, every moment is highly crucial. Once, Obersport is asked to deliver on a prior date, the retailers have the chance to start selling the products at an earlier date. From a profitability point of view, it may not affect a major percentage of profit. But, gaining every penny is the motto of a business. Hence, the capacity to observed demand if increased might result in improved profits. Thus Obermeyer should hire extra resources for this job. Improving Performance: Effectively and efficiently forecasting the demand will be the key factor in improving the performance of Obermeyer another important point would be to reduce the lead time. These two aspects will ensure that when retailers are in the peak sales period and request for replenishment of stock, Obermeyer is in a position to do the needful. Reducing lead time is the easiest to control and will help a lot in improving the performance. Moreover, Obermeyer can also restrict its suppliers (fabric etc) to one to two suppliers. Finally, Obermeyer should define the functionality of Obersport. Obersport should be restricted to can be in charge of sewing and cutting the clothes. Shipping and handling can be taken care by another smaller company so that it will be more efficient and timesaving. Sourcing in China versus Hong Kong Although the time taken for production in china is higher compared to Hong Kong, Sport Obermeyer should give the larger proportion of orders to china, to save labor costs. There are orders which need lesser quantity in lesser time. The urgent orders from retailers can be diverted to HK to save time and business. Hence, as decided previously by the company, over 50% of the orders can be given to China. Bibliography: http://www. hbs. edu/research/facpubs/workingpapers/papers2/0102/02-024. pdf http://www2. isye. gatech. edu/~sman/courses/2030/Newsvendor. pdf http://www. slideshare. net/glenferry/sport-obermeyer? src=related_normal&rel=708013 Sport Obermeyer *Sport Obermeyer:* Case Analysis Pratyusha Lakshmi Puranam Executive Summary: Obermeyer offers a broad line of fashion ski apparel, including parkas, vests, ski suits, shells, ski pants, sweaters, turtlenecks, and accessories. Parkas are considered the most critical design component of a collection; the other garments were fashioned to match the parkas’ style and color. Their products were offered in five different genders: men’s, women’s, boys’, girls’, and preschoolers’. The company segments each â€Å"gender† market according to price, type of skier, and how â€Å"fashion-forward† the market was. Within each â€Å"gender†, numerous styles are offered, each in several colors and a range of sizes. In the current situation, Obermeyer is facing two major issues: inability to meet the demand of retailers during peak sales and a confusion of where to produce the garments – Hong Kong or China. The best way to mitigate the inability to meet the demand of retailers during peaks sales would be to forecast the demands with either past data or with the help of a forecasting committee. It would be idea for Obermeyer to forecast future demand with the help of a forecasting committee. To come over the confusion of which city to continue production in, Obermeyer should choose to continue short term production in Hong Kong but the Long Term production should be in China. Sport Obermeyer has the following main problems: Inability to meet the exact demand of the retailers of the latest fashion which is actually a result of poor forecasting of the jackets: Sport Obermeyer depends on the Las Vegas show to determine what fashions were going to dominate the season coming up and then produce the best fashions. This was a problem because the gap between the show and the production of final product and making it available to the retailer takes time and meanwhile anything can happen. Thus a rigid and accurate forecast must be made based on data as well as experience. They are in a dilemma of which location to continue their production in – Hong Kong or China: Raymond Tse had built the new factory in China where the cost was less but the quality had to be compromised. Moreover, the labor had to be trained and a higher minimum order was required. These issues were addressed by the Hong Kong facility where quality of product was good, the labor could multitask, a lower minimum order size was required and the time of production was low. But the overall cost was high. Recommendations: In order to overcome the forecasting issue, effective forecasting methods like forecasting with the committee should be adopted. The calculations can be based on the newsvendor problem and will help to forecast the optimum requirement of products. To overcome the dilemma of where to produce, the production initially continue in Honk Kong andshould be eventually moved to China. Later, Hong Kong should be used when the minimum order size does not suit that in China. Supporting Analysis: Sport Obermeyer has the issue of lack of stock during peak sales of certain types of parkas. This is very similar to the New Vendor problem. The newsvendor problem is a classic in management science partly because selecting an optimal inventory level in the face of uncertain demand is an important problem but also because the solution is so elegant and intuitive: the inventory should be selected so that the probability that the vendor stocks out should be set equal to the ratio of the item’s unit cost to its unit price. Precisely, the Newsvendor Framework is: One chance to decide on the stocking quantity for the product you’re selling Demand for the product is uncertain Known marginal profit for each unit sold and known marginal loss for the ones that are bought and not sold Goal: Maximize expected profit Numerically, P(x)Marginal Profit – (1 – P(x))Marginal Loss = 0 i. e. P(x) = Marginal Loss/(Marginal Profit + Marginal Loss) Obermeyer’s situation is more complicated than the Newsvendor problem because it is highly dependent on what color, style in the most popular at the moment. Moreover, the higher lead time and constraints of minimum number of orders defined by factories worsen the situation. Risk associated Production: Sport Obermeyer should produce the designs and styles that have the least standard deviation because they are least risky. For these products, the demand uncertainty is very less and thus there is a very low chance of incurring a huge loss. A loss, if any, will not be taxing for Obermeyer and will be in a very low level. Moreover, the trade show results from Las Vegas are not required to produce these parkas. Thus their production can be started immediately. On the other hand, Obermeyer would want to wait till the trade show is complete before starting the production of the parks with a high standard deviation because it has a higher risk. Any loss incurred sue to this segment will be huge and taxing. Demand forecast: The following table shows the demand forecast by the forecasting committee. According to basic principles of statistics, in a sample there is a 68% probability of success i. e available demand in the range (Mean + or – Standard Deviation) and 97% probability of available demand in the range (Mean + or – 2*Standard Deviation). The uncertainty in these two cases is the chance of being outside the range. For example there is a 32% uncertainty of availability that if the demand is below 823 or above 1211 in the Gail model. Similarly it follows for the rest of the data. With the Newsvendor problem, the Demand Forecast would be: Here, P(x) = Marginal Loss/ (Marginal Profit + Marginal Loss) Z has been taken from the frequency distribution tables. Produce = Average +Z*Standard Deviation First Production Quantities: tyles for which expected demand is more than twice the minimum order quantity styles for which expected demand is less than the minimum order quantity all other styles From the above data we have the least forecasted order as 639 which are higher than 600, which is the minimum order quantity for Hong Kong. If the demand is more than double of what has been forecasted there is no issue at all and any factory (Hong Kong or China) can be chosen. If the demand is less what we have forecasted it again depen ds on how much lesser than the minimum order size it is. As we have seen all the forecasted demands are greater than 600 and therefore there will not be much of an issue. A typical scenario is when the demand is in between the minimum order and the double the minimum order. For such a situation we will have to further analyze. We cannot blindly order the minimum both times not can we split the demand into half. In such a situation we have to choose a combination of both factories. *Effect of reducing minimum order quantities on profits*: If there is reduction in the minimum order quantities, then it would be profitable only in case of Hong Kong. There may not be a big difference in profitability if China lowers its minimum order quantity. The reason being, if the company selects China for its order, it is probable that the order is of bulk quantity. Hence, the minimum would not matter for bulk orders. As discussed earlier, it is a good idea to choose Hong Kong for quick and small orders. Hence, if Hong Kong lowers its minimum order quantity, then the number of orders with low quantities will increase for Hong Kong – because, Hong Kong produces the product in half the time as China. Hence, minimum order quantities are directly related to quick orders, which implies, if there is a reduction in minimum order quantity in Hong Kong, then it is profitable than the minimum order quantity reduction in China. Thus when we have to choose a location based on the aspect of reducing the minimum order quantities, we must go ahead with Hong Kong as it is more profitable than reducing minimum order size in China. *Increasing the capacity to react to observed demand*: The second order happens immediately after the Las Vegas show. Hence, to improve the capacity to react for the demand, more number of resources need to work for gathering and capturing the market ASAP during the trade show. This would marginally affect the order date, by increasing the time for Obersport to deliver to sport Obermeyer. But, at that moment, every moment is highly crucial. Once, Obersport is asked to deliver on a prior date, the retailers have the chance to start selling the products at an earlier date. From a profitability point of view, it may not affect a major percentage of profit. But, gaining every penny is the motto of a business. Hence, the capacity to observed demand if increased might result in improved profits. Thus Obermeyer should hire extra resources for this job. Improving Performance: Effectively and efficiently forecasting the demand will be the key factor in improving the performance of Obermeyer another important point would be to reduce the lead time. These two aspects will ensure that when retailers are in the peak sales period and request for replenishment of stock, Obermeyer is in a position to do the needful. Reducing lead time is the easiest to control and will help a lot in improving the performance. Moreover, Obermeyer can also restrict its suppliers (fabric etc) to one to two suppliers. Finally, Obermeyer should define the functionality of Obersport. Obersport should be restricted to can be in charge of sewing and cutting the clothes. Shipping and handling can be taken care by another smaller company so that it will be more efficient and timesaving. Sourcing in China versus Hong Kong Although the time taken for production in china is higher compared to Hong Kong, Sport Obermeyer should give the larger proportion of orders to china, to save labor costs. There are orders which need lesser quantity in lesser time. The urgent orders from retailers can be diverted to HK to save time and business. Hence, as decided previously by the company, over 50% of the orders can be given to China. Bibliography: http://www. hbs. edu/research/facpubs/workingpapers/papers2/0102/02-024. pdf http://www2. isye. gatech. edu/~sman/courses/2030/Newsvendor. pdf http://www. slideshare. net/glenferry/sport-obermeyer? src=related_normal&rel=708013

A Divided Self The Many Facets of Faustus - 2074 Words

Having attained all that he desires from the knowledge of man, Marlowe’s character Faustus turns to the only remaining school of thought that he feels he must master which is the art of necromancy. In his pursuits, he manages to summon the devil Mephistopheles, arch demon of hell, and strikes a deal to trade his immortal soul with Lucifer in exchange for being granted an infinite amount of power and knowledge that extends even beyond the limits of human understanding. However in the process of negotiating the terms of his pact, it becomes clear that Faust is in a constant state of uncertainty in terms of whether he should repent and forsake the arrangement or simply go through with it. This underlying theme of internal struggle is†¦show more content†¦While illustrating the division that exists within him as a character Marlowe is also commenting on the nature of sin and redemption through Faust, who chooses to exercise his free will by giving up his eternal soul in p ursuit of earthly gain. In traditional Christian theology this is considered to be an ultimate and unforgiveable sin. Despite this fact, it is clear that Faust is still capable of repenting to God to save his soul, which conveys to the reader the essential Christian teaching that no matter how terrible the sin, it is still possible to gain forgiveness. The tragedy lies in that Faust looks for his salvation in every direction besides that which would actually save him. In the play’s beginning he condemns religious authority and transcendence in favor of his pursuits of magic. Yet in the later acts when he is at last coming to terms with the foolish nature of his pact he summons the figure of Helen, seeking transcendence and heavenly grace through her instead of God stating, â€Å"Come Helen, come, give me my soul again. Here will I dwell, for heaven be in these lips, and all is dross that is not Helena!† (12.85-87). His failure to realize that repentance is his only