Stakeholder Coca Cola

Stakeholder We have identified nine groups of stakeholders who are either most affected by our product or who most affect our product. These are employees, consumers, customers, shareowners, government and regulatory authorities, non-government organizations, local communities and civic societies, and suppliers, including Coca-Cola AMATIL. We aim to keep these groups informed about our product and to have constructive discussions with them on issues of common concern. Through direct engagement and research, we identify the concerns of our stakeholders.We review and prioritize the issues raised and, where appropriate, change our approach. Responsibilities to stakeholder groups: * Shareholders – Generate profits and pay dividends. * Customers – provide good quality products at reasonable prices. Safety, honesty, decency and truthfulness. * Employees – health and safety at work, security, fair pay. * Suppliers – pay on time, pay fair rates for the work done, provide element of security. * Local Community – provide employment, safe working environment, minimise pollution and negative externalities – provide external benefits. Government – abide by the law, pay taxes, and abide by regulations. * Management – their aims versus those of the organisation as a whole. * Environment – limit pollution, congestion, environmental degradation, development, etc. Contribution of the stakeholder: * Shareholders: Interested parties who seek and publish financial and other business performance information about our company. * Costumers: All outlets from which our beverages are sold to Australian consumers. Employees: Individuals who operate our production facilities, sales and distribution centers and administrative offices. * Suppliers: Suppliers who provide us with ingredients, packaging, promotional materials and other goods and services. * Local community: Local territories within Australia which we operate and the organisation that support these communities. * Government: Decision-makers and implementers at local and national levels in Australia. The picture below shows how we will interact with all various groups of stakeholder.We will use different communication methods to keep stakeholders informed and to seek their input on issues of common concern, such as environmental conservation and health and wellness. http://popsop. com/42891 The Coca Cola Amatil is one of the largest bottlers of non alcoholic beverages in the Pacific region and one of the world’s top five Coca-Cola bottlers. It has operations in five countries: Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, Indonesia, and Papua New Guinea. CCA is manufacturing, selling and distributing many varies product including water, energy drinks, fruit juice, coffee and every types of Coca Cola beverages.CCA employs more than 16. 000 people in five countries across the Asia-Pacific and has access to more than 265 million consumers through over 700. 000 active customers. The company, with a market capitalization of 8 billion dollars, It is the largest non-alcoholic beverage company in the Pacific circle. The CCA in providing ALDI, Coals, Woolworth, general grocery stores, convenience stores, gas stations, Wal-Mart, Kmart, Target, drug stores that in turn sell the products to final consumers.

The Resilient Australian Economy Australia Essay

The Resilient Australian Economy Australia has been one of the few developed nations to remain largely unscathed by the global financial crises of 2008 – a crisis, which has left in its wake seemingly intractable problems of unemployment, large government debts, financial fragility and political unrest in Europe, Japan and North America (McAuley 2012). This would be further explored in the essay. Composition The Australian economy faces new challenges like the high exchange rate of Australian dollar that has impacted the international competitiveness of its trade activities, mainly manufacturing. Another long-run challenge the economy faces is the dependence of Chinese economy, as they are major trade partners. The future will depend on how the Australian economy prepares itself with corrective/reactive policy measures, trade agreements, and innovative strategies to keep Australia’s dream run of prosperity. Chart 4: Industry Value Added and Employment, 2014 Source: ABS The Chart 4 shows the composition of Australia’s economy with the value added by each industry in the year 2014. Though mining still enjoys a high contribution to the economy, it is on a slow decline and will continue declining as the composition shifts. A variety of factors can affect the decline such as depletion of natural resources, climate change and change in strategy by the government. The technological know-how progress along with high exchange rate has had an impact on the composition. Thus,Show MoreRelatedThe Economic Impact Of Sainsbury s Entering Its Economy1207 Words   |  5 Pagessegment looks at how an economy can operate and perform to benchmark growth levels. Nevertheless, it examines the economy climate and how organizations, consumers and even suppliers behave within it, (Learn Marketing, 2015). 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These regulatory bodies such as the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA), Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC) and the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA), play a highly significant role in the operation of the Australian economy. Their responsibilities are to regulate Australia’s financial markets, to make the Australian economyRead MoreThe Growth Of Australia s Resource Industries2073 Words   |  9 Pagesof great Asian potential. This is the story of a future Australian economy and society that is fully engaged with Asia. Already, companies from outside the resources sector that have begun their journey into Asia are writing the first chapters of that story. The choice to make the Asian Century an Australian century is ours to make. It is time to decide. Asia’s economic transformation is most evident in three areas. First Asian economies have sustained high investment in infrastructure, housing

Essay on Ammonium Security Act and the Sandy Recovery Act

The United States was built on an agrarian system. The ability to grow crops helped create an economic backbone for the county. The use of fertilizer became a norm in farming and agriculture and was not considered a potentially harmful substance. Modern science in combination with the terrorist mind has looked at fertilizer as a weapon, particularly those containing ammonium nitrate. The Ammonium Nitrate Security Program shows how far the United States has progressed by regressing when the issue of terrorism is presented into the conversation. Terrorists are using readily available tools which can be purchased legally without knowledge of law enforcement personnel. The Sandy Recovery Improvement Act of 2013 also reflected a commitment to†¦show more content†¦However the substance is also used in fertilizer which is not regulated. Following the bombing, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms began a partnership with The Fertilizer Institute (FTI) to monitor and report suspicious activity (Bureau of Alcohol, 2014). The Ammonium Nitrate Security Act was developed as a means of regulating the sales of ammonium nitrate to the public. A lack of a comprehensive and uniform method of tracking the substance among the states reveals a flaw in the system of preventative policing. North Carolina does not have any regulations in place for the monitoring of sales of ammonium nitrate in its fertilizer form. The fact that the substance is considered an explosive unless it is in the form of fertilizer is an oversight by the government. The Sandy Recovery Act The Sandy Recovery Act of 2013 signed by President Obama afforded federally recognized tribes residing on reservations the ability to deal directly with FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency). Prior to the signing of the amendment, the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act of 1988 (Stafford Act), which provides disaster relief, did not include a provision allowing the tribes to request federal aid directly to the president. The sovereignty of the particular tribal nation was categorized as being in the same genre as a local

Essay On Health Informatic - 904 Words

Current state and policy initiative Health informatic may be the newest topic on the federal healthcare agenda. Several bills dealing with health information technology or areas of health care that may benefit from the use of technology have been brought before Congress, where they have drawn bipartisan support. President Bush has been a strong advocate of increasing the availability of Health Information Technology. Former President George W. Bush signed an executive order in 2004, founding the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology as a division of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The purpose was adoption of interoperable electronic health records in the United States within 10 years. In†¦show more content†¦Directions and level of change Healthcare is continuously evolving, and so are the ways physicians are managing patient information. Health informatics has made enhancements in the healthcare industry by tracking disease, assessing hospital quality, and studying trends. It’s also proven valuable by providing insights to physicians so they can adjust treatment plans, ensure effective practices are in place, and further their clinical research. Over the years, health informatics has reinforced provider-patient relationships and encouraged patients to take control of their health care. The U.S. will remain intensely focused through 2020 on implementing Electronic Health Record, Personal Health Record, and Mobile Health (mHealth) systems that will ultimately be integrated via Health Information Exchange networks (Detmer, Bloomrosen, Raymond, Tang, 2008). The use of health information technologies will contribute drastically to more affordability and improvements in quality of care over the coming decade. Mobile health (mHealth) technologies are forecasted to reach 1.158 billion users by 2020 (Detmer, et.al., 2008). Mobile apps running on smart devices will prove very valuable in helping to prevent and treat a wide range of health conditions. New wearable body sensors will acquire continuous physiological data streams, such as blood pressure, heart rates, and bloodShow MoreRelatedHealth Informatics Essay2025 Words   |  9 PagesIntroduction Health informatics is the bridging of computer science, information and the health care field. This interdisciplinary field can be applied to a range of medical fields such as nursing, biomedicine, medicine and subspecialties such as immunology (immunoinformatics). 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Patients are expected to disclose various details of themselves to physicians to enable the correct diagnosis and treatment. In this way, issues like being given drugs which have adverse interactions are avoided. Nevertheless, the patients may fail to disclose part of their health issues fearing that the information may be disclosed to other people hence causing them discrimination and stigma. This essay will discuss the benefits that informatics have on enhancing privacyRead MoreHealthcare Information System Essay1615 Words   |  7 Pages 1) The nurse understands that nursing informatics is recognized as a specialty area of practice by which statement? ___ A) There is a need for nursing informatics interests to gain representation by work groups and organizations within the United States. B) As a differentiated practice, nursing informatics is focused upon the client, the environment, health, and the nurse. C) Research priorities for nursing informatics include the development of a standard nursingRead MoreInformatics Needs Essay939 Words   |  4 PagesInformatics Needs Assessment HCS/482 Gina Reiser, RN September 29, 2014 Informatics Needs Essay An informatics needs assessment is a critical step in the selection and implementation of the Electronic Health Record (EHR). The purpose of a needs assessment is to understand the organization and the needs of the organization well enough to boost the positive impact of an EHR while minimizing the negative effects (American Medical Association, n.d.). A readiness assessment can assist in identifyingRead MoreAdvantages And Disadvantages Of Clinical Information Systems931 Words   |  4 Pages(CIS); overview, benefits, disadvantages and potential improvement Introduction: Health informatics (HI) plays an important role in the health sector, first appearing as a clinical discipline in the middle of the 20th century in Europe (Collen, 1994). 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Problems Of E-Commerce Development In The Retail Industries

Question: What Is The Problems Of E-Commerce In Development? Answer: Introducation: The Ecommerce system had been developed for the improvement of the operations of the organization and it would help in forming the effective deployment of the operations and functions (Leong et al., 2016). The e-commerce deployment had helped in the development of the retail industries and had formed the effective management of the functions and operations. The retail industries had been using the e-commerce strategies for reaching a wider range of customers and targeting them for selling their products and services. The influence of the e-commerce industries are being evaluated for forming the analysis of the issues and deployment of the appropriate solutions for them. The e-commerce system had been facing security and functional issues with the growth of the business organizations (Laudon Traver, 2013). There have been a number of the security flaws in the implementation of the ecommerce system. Research Aims and Objectives The research had been done for the analysis of the impact (issues) of the ecommerce system for the implementation of the effective operations for the retail industries. The aims of the study of problems of e-commerce development in retail industries are, Analysis of the Issues: The analysis of the issues of implementing the ecommerce system would result in forming the development of the proper contingency planning. The analysis is done by considering the impact of the issues that the retail industries have been facing due to the implementation of the ecommerce systems. Development of Contingency: The development of the contingency planning would help in forming the accurate deployment of the operations and it would form the effective deployment of the ecommerce in retail industries. The objectives of the study of problems of e-commerce development in retail industries are given below, To form an analysis of the various ecommerce issues of the retail organization such as security vulnerabilities and operational issues To develop an understanding of the aspects of the ecommerce and technology in the growth of the retail sector To form some contingency planning for the implication of the ecommerce system successfully in the retail industries Methodology Literature Synopsis The activities of the internet based ecommerce systems had helped in the advancement of the retail enterprises and had framed the powerful administration of the capacities and operations (Huang Benyoucef, 2013). The retail projects had been utilizing the web based business methodologies for achieving a more extensive scope of clients and focusing on them for offering their items and administrations. The impact of the web based business enterprises are being assessed for framing the examination of the issues and organization of the suitable answers for them (Du Tang, 2014). The internet business framework had been confronting security and useful issues with the development of the business associations. There have been some of the security defects in the usage of the web based business framework. As stated by Pantano (2014), a large number of hackers and cyber criminals have been using the e-commerce platform for extorting money and goods from fake ids and accounts. Data Accumulation Data Accumulation for the study can be done for realizing the impact of the improved operations and it would help in realizing the importance of the ecommerce system for the retail organization (Fernie Sparks, 2014). The issues have grown since the technology development and hence it is required for implementing some contingency planning to form effective management operations. Qualitative Data: The records and reports of the retail industries would serve the purpose of the qualitative data analysis by the help of the discussion and examination (Falk Hagsten, 2015). The brainstorming and meetings would provide the thorough study of the issues of the ecommerce system. Quantitative Data: The quantitative data analysis had been done for collecting data with the help of surveys and questionnaire for the improvement of the operations (Carlucci et al., 2014). The use of specific charts like histogram, pie, Venn diagrams, and bar charts would help in forming the inference of the quantitative analysis References Carlucci, D., De Gennaro, B., Roselli, L., Seccia, A. (2014). E-commerce retail of extra virgin olive oil: an hedonic analysis of Italian SMEs supply.British Food Journal,116(10), 1600-1617. Du, Y., Tang, Y. (2014). Study on the Development of O2O E-commerce Platform of China from the Perspective of Offline Service Quality.International Journal of Business and Social Science,5(4). Falk, M., Hagsten, E. (2015). E-commerce trends and impacts across Europe.International Journal of Production Economics,170, 357-369. Fernie, J., Sparks, L. (2014). Logistics and retail management: emerging issues and new challenges in the retail supply chain. Kogan page publishers. Huang, Z., Benyoucef, M. (2013). From e-commerce to social commerce: A close look at design features.Electronic Commerce Research and Applications,12(4), 246-259. Laudon, K. C., Traver, C. G. (2013).E-commerce. Pearson. Leong, C. M. L., Pan, S. L., Newell, S., Cui, L. (2016). The Emergence of Self-Organizing E-Commerce Ecosystems in Remote Villages of China: A Tale of Digital Empowerment for Rural Development.Mis Quarterly,40(2), 475-484. Pantano, E. (2014). Innovation drivers in retail industry.International Journal of Information Management,34(3), 344-350

Problems with Social Security

Table of Contents Introduction Problems with Social Security Aging Population Baby boomers Conclusion Works Cited Introduction Social security refers to an insurance scheme meant to cover people against social risks. It covers people confronted with conditions such as poverty, aging, disability and unemployment among others. This paper seeks to discuss the problems associated with social security. The paper will look into the major problems that that are affecting the social security scheme.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Problems with Social Security specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Problems with Social Security The basis of social security which requires finances for supporting the services that are supposed to be offered is also the source of problems for the scheme. The principle of social security fund as was established in the United States in the year 1936 was to offer an opportunity for individuals t o make savings through social security schemes and get back the contributions at a later time when the individuals are not able to work. The inability to work was initially identified as either due to old age after retirement or as a result of disability. In this approach, social security was a self funded scheme. This has been the assumed state of operation of social security though fears have been raised that there may be problems that threaten the sustainability of social security. Specific concerns have been made with experts estimating that the social security fund will be bankrupt in about three decade’s time (Parker 1). Aging Population One of the problems that are facing social security is the shortage of funds that is realized from the fact that the program is paying out more money than it is receiving. This means that the program is gradually reducing its capacity to shield the public from the conditions that the program was meant to protect them from. Though a tren d into this effect had been forecasted and was predicted to be realized at least in the next few decades the economic instability that was realized towards the year 2010 changed the conditions and shortage of funds is currently being realized in the program. The reduced liquidity of the program has been due to the fact that contributions have been to the decrease, a fact that has been realized due to aging population that is being realized in America as well as the increased level of unemployment that was realized along with the economic melt down of the year 2009. Consequently, increased number of people has been applying for benefits while contributions are decreasing (Parker 1). The number of elder people in America has also been growing and is still expected to grow. This population was realized to be about thirteen percent in the year 2009 and is expected to increase to almost twenty percent in the next two decades. This percentage increase will mean increased number of depende nts on the program and reduced number of contributors towards the same causing the problem of shortage of funds (AOA 1).Advertising Looking for essay on social sciences? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Baby boomers Another problem that has been identified with the social security is the baby boomers factor. The baby boomers form the bulk of the American population and have been the main funders of the program. As they grow towards retirement age, the generation X which has fewer people will be the ones to finance the program for the boomers’ benefits. The higher number of the boomers will then explode the threat of shortage of funds (Socialsecurity 1). Conclusion The problems with social security is attached to its financial instability that it is likely to face as the trend shows that there is a likelihood of increased expenditure and decreased revenue. Aging population is the main factor to the problems. Works Cited A OA. Aging statistics. AOA, 2010. Web. Parker, Tim. Top three challenges facing social security. Financialedge, 2011. Web. Socialsecurity. Social security problems. Social Security Reform, n.d. Web. This essay on Problems with Social Security was written and submitted by user Presley Rivers to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.

Best Analysis Valley of Ashes in The Great Gatsby

Best Analysis Valley of Ashes in The Great Gatsby SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips In The Great Gatsby, between the glittering excitement of Manhattan and the stately mansions of East and West Egg, there is a horrible stretch of road that goes through an area covered in dust and ash from the nearby factories. Why does the novel insist on spending time in this depressing place? Why, instead of simply calling it Queens, or giving it a fictional name, does Nick refer to it by the vaguely Biblical-sounding "valley of ashes"? In this article, I'll dissect this potent symbol of the failure of the American Dream, analyze the places it occurs in the text, figure out the characters who are most closely associated with this location, and give you some tips on writing essays about this image. Quick Note on Our Citations Our citation format in this guide is (chapter.paragraph). We're using this system since there are many editions of Gatsby, so using page numbers would only work for students with our copy of the book. To find a quotation we cite via chapter and paragraph in your book, you can either eyeball it (Paragraph 1-50: beginning of chapter; 50-100: middle of chapter; 100-on: end of chapter), or use the search function if you're using an online or eReader version of the text. What Is the Valley of Ashes in The Great Gatsby? The valley of ashes is the depressing industrial area of Queens that is in between West Egg and Manhattan. It isn't actually made out of ashes, but seems that way because of how gray and smoke-choked it is. This grayness and dust are directly related to the factories that are nearby- their smokestacks deposit a layer of soot and ash over everything. The valley is next to both the train tracks and the road that runs from West Egg to Manhattan- Nick and other characters travel through it via both modes of transportation. The area is also next to a small river and its drawbridge, where the products of the factories are shipped to their destinations. Want to get better grades and test scores? We can help. PrepScholar Tutors is the world's best tutoring service. We combine world-class expert tutors with our proprietary teaching techniques. Our students have gotten A's on thousands of classes, perfect 5's on AP tests, and ludicrously high SAT Subject Test scores. Whether you need help with science, math, English, social science, or more, we've got you covered. Get better grades today with PrepScholar Tutors. Key Quotes About the Valley of Ashes Before we can figure out what the ash heaps mean as a symbol, let's do some close reading of the moments where they pop up in The Great Gatsby. Chapter 2 About half way between West Egg and New York the motor-road hastily joins the railroad and runs beside it for a quarter of a mile, so as to shrink away from a certain desolate area of land. This is a valley of ashes- a fantastic farm where ashes grow like wheat into ridges and hills and grotesque gardens where ashes take the forms of houses and chimneys and rising smoke and finally, with a transcendent effort, of men who move dimly and already crumbling through the powdery air. Occasionally a line of grey cars crawls along an invisible track, gives out a ghastly creak and comes to rest, and immediately the ash-grey men swarm up with leaden spades and stir up an impenetrable cloud which screens their obscure operations from your sight†¦ The valley of ashes is bounded on one side by a small foul river, and when the drawbridge is up to let barges through, the passengers on waiting trains can stare at the dismal scene for as long as half an hour. There is always a halt there of at least a minute and it was because of this that I first met Tom Buchanan's mistress. (2.1-3) After telling us about the "fine health to be pulled down out of the young breath-giving air" (1.12) of West Egg in Chapter 1, Nick shows us just how the glittering wealth of the nouveau riche who live there is accumulated. Much of it comes from industry: factories that pollute the area around them into a "grotesque" and "ghastly" version of a beautiful countryside. Instead of the bucolic, green image of a regular farm, here we have a "fantastic farm" (fantastic here means "something out of the realm of fantasy") that grows ash instead of wheat and where pollution makes the water "foul" and the air "powdery." This imagery of growth serves two purposes. First, it's disturbing, as it's clearly meant to be. The beauty of the natural world has been transformed into a horrible hellscape of gray ashes. Not only that, but it is turning regular humans into "ash-grey men" who "swarm" like insects around the factories and cargo trains (that's the "line of grey cars"). These are the people who do not get to enjoy either the luxury of life out on Long Island, or the faster-paced anonymous fun that Nick finds himself enjoying in Manhattan. In the novel's world of haves and have-nots, these are the have-nots. Second, the passage shows how disconnected the rich are from the source of their wealth. Nick is annoyed when he is a train passenger who has to wait for the drawbridge to lead barges through. But the barges are carrying the building products of the factories. Nick is a bond trader, and bonds are basically loans people give to companies (companies sell bond shares, use that money to grow, and then have to pay back that money to the people who bought the bonds). In the 1920s, the bond market was fueling the construction of skyscrapers, particularly in New York. In other words, the same construction boom that is making Queens into a valley of ashes is also buoying up the new moneyed class that populates West Egg. "Oh, sure," agreed Wilson hurriedly and went toward the little office, mingling immediately with the cement color of the walls. A white ashen dust veiled his dark suit and his pale hair as it veiled everything in the vicinityexcept his wife, who moved close to Tom. (2.17) In the valley, there is such a thick coating gray dust that it looks like everything is made out of this ashy substance. It's important to note that from a general description of people as "ash-grey men" we now see that ashy description applied specifically to George Wilson. He is covered in a "veil" of desolation, sadness, hopelessness, and everything else associated with the ash. Also, we see that Myrtle Wilson is the only thing that isn't covered by ash. She visually stands out from her surroundings since she doesn't blend into the "cement color" around her. This makes sense since she is an ambitious character who is eager to escape her life. Notice that she literally steps towards Tom, allying herself with a rich man who is only passing through the ash heaps on his way from somewhere better to somewhere better. Chapter 4 "I'm going to make a big request of you today," he said, pocketing his souvenirs with satisfaction, "so I thought you ought to know something about me. I didn't want you to think I was just some nobody."... Then the valley of ashes opened out on both sides of us, and I had a glimpse of Mrs. Wilson straining at the garage pump with panting vitality as we went by. With fenders spread like wings we scattered light through half Astoriaonly half, for as we twisted among the pillars of the elevated I heard the familiar "jugjugspat!" of a motor cycle, and a frantic policeman rode alongside. "All right, old sport," called Gatsby. We slowed down. Taking a white card from his wallet he waved it before the man's eyes. "Right you are," agreed the policeman, tipping his cap. "Know you next time, Mr. Gatsby. Excuse me!" "What was that?" I inquired. "The picture of Oxford?" "I was able to do the commissioner a favor once, and he sends me a Christmas card every year." (4.43-54) While West and East Egg are the settings for the ridiculous extravagance of both the old and new money crowd, and Manhattan the setting for business and organized crime, the valley of ashes tends to be where the novel situates the grubby and underhanded manipulations that show the darker side of the surrounding glamor. Check out just how many unethical things are going on here: Gatsby wants Nick to set him up with Daisy so they can have an affair. Mrs. Wilson's "panting vitality" reminds us of her thoroughly unpleasant relationship with Tom. A policeman lets Gatsby off the hook for speeding because of Gatsby's connections. Nick jokes about Gatsby's shady-sounding story about being an Oxford man. Gatsby hints at doing something probably illegal for the police commissioner (possibly supplying him with alcohol?) that makes the commissioner be permanently in his pocket. Want to get better grades and test scores? We can help. PrepScholar Tutors is the world's best tutoring service. We combine world-class expert tutors with our proprietary teaching techniques. Our students have gotten A's on thousands of classes, perfect 5's on AP tests, and ludicrously high SAT Subject Test scores. Whether you need help with science, math, English, social science, or more, we've got you covered. Get better grades today with PrepScholar Tutors. Chapter 8 Wilson's glazed eyes turned out to the ashheaps, where small grey clouds took on fantastic shape and scurried here and there in the faint dawn wind. (8.101) This brief mention of the ashheaps sets up the chapter's shocking conclusion, once again positioning Wilson as a man who is coming out of the gray world of ashy pollution and factory dust. Notice how the word "fantastic" comes back. The twisted, macabre world of the valley of ashes is spreading. No longer just on the buildings, roads, and people, it is what Wilson's sky is now made out of as well. At the same time, in combination with Wilson's "glazed" eyes, the word "fantastic" seems to point to his deteriorating mental state. No telephone message arrived but the butler went without his sleep and waited for it until four o'clockuntil long after there was any one to give it to if it came. I have an idea that Gatsby himself didn't believe it would come and perhaps he no longer cared. If that was true he must have felt that he had lost the old warm world, paid a high price for living too long with a single dream. He must have looked up at an unfamiliar sky through frightening leaves and shivered as he found what a grotesque thing a rose is and how raw the sunlight was upon the scarcely created grass. A new world, material without being real, where poor ghosts, breathing dreams like air, drifted fortuitously about . . . like that ashen, fantastic figure gliding toward him through the amorphous trees. (8.0) The final reference to the ash heaps is at the moment of the murder-suicide, as George skulks towards Gatsby floating in his pool. Again, the ashy world is "fantastic"- a word that smacks of scary fairy tales and ghost stories, particularly when combined with the eerie description of Wilson as a "gliding figure" and the oddly shapeless and out of focus ("amorphous") trees. It's significant that what threatens the fancy world of the Eggs is the creeping encroachment of the ash that they so look down on and are so disgusted by. But, truth be told, I'm not a huge fan of dust getting into my house either. The Meaning and Significance of the Valley of Ashes in The Great Gatsby In the world of the novel, which is so much about the stark differences between the rich, the strivers, and the poor, the valley of ashes stands for the forgotten poor underclass who enable the lifestyle of the wealthy few. The people who live and work there are the factory employees whose production is driving the construction boom that supplies the residents of West Egg with wealth and also allows the criminal underclass to prosper by creating fake bonds to cash in (this is the illegal activity that Gatsby tempts Nick with). This region of industrial production is shown burying its inhabitants in the polluted byproduct of its factories: ash that covers everything from cars to buildings to people. This literal burial has a symbolic meaning as well, as those who cannot connive their way to the top are left behind to stagnate. The valley is a place of hopelessness, of loss, and of giving up. Highlighting this is the fact that Myrtle Wilson is the only ash heaps resident who isn't covered in the gray dust- she has enough ambition to try to hitch her wagon to Tom, and she hopes to the very last that he will be her ticket out of this life. On the other hand, although Wilson also tries to leave the ash heaps by moving to a different part of the state, his defeatist attitude and general weakness doom his escape attempt to failure. At the same time, the phrase "the valley of ashes" connects to the Biblical "the valley of the shadow of death" found in Psalm 23. In the psalm, this terrifying place is made safe by the presence of God. But in the novel, the valley has no divine presence or higher moral authority. Instead, the ashes point to the inexorable march toward death and dissolution, linking this valley with the Anglican burial services reminder that the body is "ashes to ashes, dust to dust." Even when George tries to sense a divine presence through the eyes of Doctor T.J. Eckleburg, the fact that no one else is impacted by this billboard's inanimate presence ultimately dooms George as well. Characters, Themes, Motifs, and Symbols Connected to the Valley of Ashes George Wilson: George Wilson's garage is right in the middle of the valley. He is so strongly identified with this place that by the end of his book he is described as an "ashen figure"- he is almost made out the dust that covers everything in this Queens neighborhood. He is also the book's weakest, most hopeless, and least ambitious character- traits that doom him in the cynical, self-serving, amoral world that Fitzgerald is describing, and traits that align with what the ash heaps represent. Myrtle Wilson: George's wife remains vibrant and colorful despite her years living in the middle of the ash heaps. Her dreams of escape enable her to avoid being covered with the dust that ends up burying everyone else. However, because her path to leaving centers on Tom, the valley of ashes ends up being Myrtle's death trap. Society and Class: Everyone who can afford to move away from the dirty and depressing valley does so, which means the only people that left to live and work there are those who have no other options. The state of this area shows what happens in a culture where getting ahead is valued above all other things: those who cannot succeed on these vicious terms have no recourse but being buried alive by pollution and misery. The Eyes of Doctor T. J. Eckleburg: The billboard that features the strikingly disquieting disembodied giant eyes of Doctor T. J. Eckleburg is located in the middle of the valley of ashes, right next to Wilson's garage. Just as the ash heaps reveal the huge gulf between the poor and the rich, so the eyes stare at the devastation that heedless capitalism has created. This stare seems accusatory, but of course, the eyes are completely inanimate, and so whatever guilt they produce in the person they are looking at dissipates almost immediately. The eyes speak to the lack of God/religion in the novel, and that how George is the only one who outwardly grants them any larger significance beyond Nick and Tom's half-hearted discomfort under their stare. Symbols: Colors. Fitzgerald doesn't deviate from the standard association of the color gray in this novel. It describes things that are dirty, unpleasant, dull, uninteresting, monotonous, and generally depressing- all qualities that are associated with the ash heaps as well. When this color is combined with the ashes, it also stands for death, decay, and destruction (all the fun "d" words). Motif: Cars. Although most of the time, the novel treats cars as a dangerous, exciting, and liberating mode of transportation, these positive qualities fade away whenever cars enter the valley of death: On the more benign end, there is permanent traffic. (Nick complains about waiting for barges to cross under the drawbridge.) There is also the threat of running out of fuel. (Tom, Nick, and Jordan stop at Wilson's gas station to fill up because Gatsby's fake warning about the empty tank makes Nick nervous.) And of course, there are frequent wrecks (as evidenced both by the drunken accident Nick sees leaving Gatsby's party, and Tom's gleeful exclamation that a wreck means more business for Wilson's garage when they are nearing the scene of Myrtle's hit-and-run). Finally, the ash heaps are the scene of Myrtle's death by car, as Daisy runs her over, which leads us right back into the novel's ongoing theme of death and failure. This might well be the first time a drawbridge was directly connected to murder... Essay Ideas and Tips for Writing About the Valley of Ashes Now that we've explored the layers of meanings behind the valley of ashes, you're in a good place to think about how to write about this symbol. Tips for Writing About Symbols Here are some tips for how to write an essay about the role of a symbol in a novel, including the valley of ashes: Build from the text out. In this article, I first looked at the valley of ashes as it appears as a location for events in the novel, and only afterward wrote about its general meaning and connections. The same approach is good to remember for your own essay. Work from small ideas to big ones, and you'll be supporting your argument. Make an argument. It's not enough to just describe the symbol and explain its possible meanings. Instead, you have to make sure that you're making some kind of point about why/how the symbol works. How do you know if you're making an argument and not just saying the obvious? If you can imagine someone arguing the opposite of what you're saying, then you've got an argument on your hands. Don't overthink it. Sure, the ash heaps can be said to represent lots of things: the failure of the American Dream, the low position of the working class in the novel, or the way death underpins the glittering high life in Manhattan and the Eggs. But that doesn't mean that it also stands for doomed love, Gatsby's mysterious past, or international cooperation. In other words, watch out for stretching your symbol analysis too far from what the text is telling you. Essay Ideas for the Valley of Ashes Here are some possible essay arguments. You can build from them as-is, argue their opposite, or use them as jumping-off points for your own interpretation. The valley of ashes shows what happens to people who try to pursue the American Dream through honest hard work- they end up nowhere. The valley of ashes is only the most obvious site of decay in the novel. In reality, all of the places show signs of rot and decomposition which underpins the seemingly glittering lifestyle of the rich characters. For Myrtle, the valley of ashes is as inescapable a trap as the Buchanan mansion is for Daisy. The whole place might as well have barbed wire around it for how easy it is to escape. The Bottom Line The valley of ashes is the depressing industrial area of Queens between West Egg and Manhattan. It isn't actually made out of ashes, but seems that way because of how gray and smoke-choked it is. The valley is mentioned in: Chapter 2, where Nick describes what this place is like at length before he goes there to meet Tom's mistress Myrtle. Chapter 4, where it's the place Gatsby can flash his mysterious get-out-of-a-ticket-free card at a cop and also ask Nick to set him up with Daisy. Chapter 8, where a beaten down and despondent Wilson looks at the ash heaps to try to find divine moral guidance. This symbol is connected to discussions of: Class division, since it stands for the forgotten poor underclass who enable the lifestyle of the wealthy few. The way the working class is left behind, since this place is both literally burying its inhabitants in the polluted byproduct of its factories and figuratively burying those who cannot connive their way to the top to stagnate in hopelessness and despair. The absence of a moral value system, which is notably lacking in the valley, which has no divine presence or higher authority beyond a creepy inanimate billboard. The characters, themes, symbols, and motifs most closely connected to the valley of ashes are: George Wilson, whose garage is right in the middle of the valley. Myrtle Wilson, who remains vibrant and colorful despite her years living in the middle of the ash heaps. Society and class, since everyone who can afford to move away from the dirty and depressing valley does so, which means the only people that left to live and work there are those who have no other options. The Eyes of Doctor T. J. Eckleburg, a billboard that speaks to the lack of God or religion in the novel. The motif of colors, where gray describes things that are dirty, unpleasant, dull, uninteresting, monotonous, and generally depressing. The motif of cars, which lose their usually positive associations whenever they enter the valley of death. What's Next? Revisit Chapter 2, Chapter 4, and Chapter 8 to see the context surrounding mentions of the valley and its ash heaps. You can even explore why the valley of ashes almost made it into the title of the novel here. Consider the characters of George and Myrtle Wilson to understand why he succumbs to the ash heaps and she rises above them. You can also read about all the other symbols in The Great Gatsby. While the Valley of Ashes is all about imagery and tone words, there are several other literary elements at play in The Great Gatsby. Learn how to spot personification and rhetorical devices in action with our guides. Need to review your knowledge of literary devices and poetic terminology for an English/Literature class? Read up on assonance, iambic pentameter, and point of view. Want to improve your SAT score by 160 points or your ACT score by 4 points? We've written a guide for each test about the top 5 strategies you must be using to have a shot at improving your score. Download it for free now: