Financial Reporting Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 1

Financial Reporting - Essay Example Each major purpose of accounting often requires a different way of presenting or reporting the information in the accounting system. In this scenario, it may be emphasized that it is a vicious circle in that there are managers in organizations who affect accounting and such accounting in turn affects people's behaviour. The impact of accounting reports on the decision making behaviour of business, government and creditors is termed as the 'economic consequences' and the world has seen the worst of such consequences because of the bad reporting as in the case of 'Enron Corporation'. It may also be observed that such external reporting had given rise to the preparation and presentation of consolidated financial and non-financial statements. Several arguments have been flowing around about the very purpose behind the merits and demerits of such consolidated statements. In this context, this paper attempts to draw an overall picture of the position of the consolidated statements in relat ion to decision making by the stakeholders vis--vis the presence of the consolidated statements as a deterrent factor to have a clear understanding of the decision making process. "Management wealth, it is argued, is a function of changes in share prices (via stocks and stock options), and changes in cash bonuses (via compensation plans). Ordinarily, managers are predicted to have greater incentives to lobby for accounting standards that lead to increases in reported earnings and thereby management wealth." (Markus J. Milne) It is more than normal that managers indulge in enhancing the reported earnings to strengthen their positions in the organizations higher echelons. Positive Accounting Theory studies the manager's accounting policy choices as part of the overall process of corporate governance. Under this theory Positive rather than Normative accounting policies are chosen strategically. 3.0 REASONS FOR FIRMS TO ADOPT CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL REPORTING: This part of the paper analyses the various reasons why a firm may decide to resort to consolidated financial reporting. The decision may be partly due to the statuary obligations placed on the firm and partly on the managers' decision to go with the publication of consolidated statements. Statutory Regulations as a reason for publication of consolidated financial statements: Earlier studies (Whittred 1986, 1987, 1988) concluded that the regulations did not have much impact for the firms to resort to consolidated financial statements, whereas the contracting cost variables were the major determinant for publication of consolidated statements. However later it turned out that Regulations did play a major role in compelling the firms to adopt publication of consolidated financial statements. "The introduction of tax legislation permitting the presentation of consolidated returns seems to have been a significant factor in widening the profession's awareness of

Quality of Successful Marriages Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Quality of Successful Marriages - Essay Example Be it any problem or trouble, the whole family tries to overcome it collectively. This affects and influences the upbringing of the children in this culture to a huge extent as well. Usually the parents communicate to their children in a very evident manner and encourage them to communicate in a similar way. They discuss very minute details and interact very closely. For example, my mother has always talked to me very frankly, about everything, be it the smallest details; even the taboos of the society, and this has encouraged me to share everything with her in return. This has always helped me to get closer to my mother. Not only this, my parents have always depicted very close communication, sharing everything with each other, understanding each other's needs and personality and valuing each other's opinions and thoughts. As I've grown over time, being brought up in this particular way where interpersonal communication has always been stressed upon, I have grown learning these values that conveying your own thoughts and understanding others is the most important part of being in a relationship, and the most important factor of making it successful. In addition to this, I would like to induce within myself, such skills that would help me to communicate with people especially my significant other in the best possible way so that I can always understands his needs, thoughts and opinions his way. This is one of the foundations of making a marriage successful. 2. EMPATHY & SENSITIVITY Empathy means to understand. To stand in the other's shoes and try to imagine and realize what that particular person would be going through. This is quite self-explanatory how important this factor would be for a successful marriage. If one cannot understand the other properly, this will eventually lead to conflicts that can badly damage the relationship and in worst cases, can even bring an end to the relationship. Empathy has always been one of the basic aspects of successful relationships, especially marriages. Here, I'd like to give a personal daily-life example; if I need to study for a test, but my parents want me to help them in some household chores, and they don't empathize and tend to be narrow minded and keep on scolding me and forcing me not to study and do the house work, how difficult it would get for me to pursue my studies. In my family, however, it's the other way round. My parents have always understood my needs and my priorities and have never forced me to do what I don't want to and/or I cannot do at a particular point in time due to my own engagements or commitments. Moreover, my parents always empathize with each other. If my father has some unexpected business proceedings and/or meetings, for example, and he has prior plans with my mother, like shopping, she would always understand and would not fret about it. Similarly, if my mother (a working woman) needs some time out to carry out her office work at home, my father would always understand and would never get upset. Had it been the other way round, and had my parents never empathized, they would have always been fighting and upset with each other. But thankfully, it's the former way and they always empathize with each other. This in turn shows me and teaches me the importance of empathy in making a relationship, especially marri

Textual Comparison on Blog and Journal Summary

Textual Comparison on Blog and Journal Summary In the following I will be reporting on two texts containing a similar research different in terms of presentation: one is a blog and the other is a journal summary. Of importance however, is not their text presentation mode but on how their respective writers made their lexicogrammatical choices. I chose to work with the following features: noun group composition and lexical density. Lexical density I computed the lexical density of the texts by estimating how each writer used lexical as well as grammatical units in total. The entire blog text has a lexical density of 53.78% while the journal article summary has a lexical density of 55.61%. This is an indicator that the journal article has a huge quantity of information-carrying words. The blog text, on the other hand, has comparatively limited information-carrying words. Mostly, you will find incomplete clauses in the blog text like the writer was constructing his/ her own utterances. For example, how the blog post used The five largest statewide whooping cough epidemics identified as the journal writer used The 5 largest statewide epidemics had substantial proportions . Seemingly, the writer had little time to ponder and plan what they wanted to write. The journal writer had more time to plan as well as shape the units of meaning they wanted to use comparatively. The writer of the journal sufficiently selected the best lexical word befitting, reviewed the text and replaced words before he submitted the text compared to the blogger. The writer of the journal also seems to be well equipped when it comes to vocabulary as well as word finding. Comparatively, the blogger has more difficulties finding words and with their vocabulary. Additionally, the lexical density tells us that there is more information in the journal text compared to the blog text. True to this, the journal text has 355 words and the blog text has 308 words (excluding the last bit about requesting for a copy). Take Of the 970 measles cases with detailed vaccination data, 574 cases were unvaccinated despite being vaccine-eligible and 405 (70.6%) of these had nonmedical exemptions (e.g., exemptions for religious or philosophical reasons, as opposed to medical contraindications; 41.8% of total) from the journal article summary it has a lexical density of 48.84%. A similar edition of the blog is Of the 970 measles cases with accompanying vaccination data, 574 cases were unvaccinated despite being eligible to receive the immunization and 405 cases had nonmedical vaccine exemptions, such as religious or philosophical opposition to vaccines, which has 54.29%. Here, the writer of the blogger used more lexical words in the sentence compared to the writer of the journal to tell the same story. The blogger also used lesser words i.e. 35 while the writer of the journal text used 40 words. In the given text, the blogger came strong with his/ her words and overtook the writer of the journal when he sai d, despite being eligible to receive the immunization. The journal writer simply wrote, despite being vaccine-eligible. For the reader, it is easier to understand the blogger because it is not difficult for anyone who is not equipped with vocabularies to know what eligible by itself means. The blogger explicitly tells us how the subject(baby), and the object(vaccine) relate by telling us how the subject would have had an action performed on it. The other sentence does not clearly depict the object nor talk more on it nor the action. When the journal writer uses vaccine-eligible, the sentence comes out as vague. Taking this sentence apart from the text, the lexical words give us a general idea of what the whole text is about which is what the blogger did. The journal writer decided to take the other approach by using grammatical, non-lexical words more to assist us to make a whole from the pieces. Judging from this alone, the blogger intended to convey more information compared to the writer of the journal. See how in the journal text the writer says However, several pertussis outbreaks also occurred in highly vaccinated populations indicating waning immunity. The whole sentence has lexical words except for the word in. the lexical density is a clean 92.31%. For the same text in the blog, it amassed a 68.18% lexical density. The prepositions and determinants replaced lexical words. However, the study also noted that epidemics of whooping cough occurred in vaccinated populations too which highlights the issue of waning immunity. The blogger uses more words because they have incorporated grammatical non-lexical words but that does not increase the density of the sentence. I feel the blogger already told us what they study was about thus, saying which highlights the issue of waning immunity would have been replaced by, highlighting waning immunity. More lexical units, more density less tautology but still maintaining the meaning. When it gets to the general text, the journal writers text is more expository compared to the blog text. The reason their lexical densities are not that far apart is because they both used information-bearing as well as lexical words, only that one excelled at it more. Noun group composition. With the noun groups, I tackled the four common noun phrases: pronouns, nouns alone, nouns + determinants and nouns + modifiers+ determinants. When it comes to parts of speech, the journal has 37.08% usage of nouns, 5.48% of adjectives, 5.48% of verbs, 1.83% of adverbs, 15.67% of prepositions, 2.09% of pronouns, 4.18% of auxiliary verbs. The blog text has 27.32% usage of nouns, 7.92% of adjectives, 14.48% of verbs, 4.37% of adverbs, 17.49% of prepositions, 3.55% of pronouns and finally, a 5.19% of auxiliary verbs. There are two rules that simply govern how noun groups are used in English. One of them is that many noun phrases have at least two essentials. When a noun is not used in a generalizing manner, there is at least a determiner and a noun. A determiner could be a quantifier like many, a possessive like my, a numeral like thirty, a question word like whose and finally an article like the. The writer of the journal used longer and many noun phrases compared to the blogger. He was trying to be very accurate about the information being conveyed because it was complex. I made a count of 25 noun phrases with determiners in the blog text. Comparatively, I made 31 noun phrases with determiners in the journal text. When it comes to the noun phrases with determiners as well as modifiers, the journal text beat the blog text by far. An indicator of how complexly the writer of the journal viewed the information before he accurately relayed it. I feel the blogger was very sketchy when conveying the information. He did not want to delve deeper rather just give the reader an idea of the matter at hand. The writers have both tried to be very noun-centric. They have used many noun phrases as well as been very modest with their variety of verbs. An example is at some point; the two writers have used a noun phrase repeatedly without making use of the pronouns. They ended up repeating a specific term as it was the only way to refer to the concept in the text. An instance is in how they both have used the noun phrase The United States at least more than twice. The second rule that governs how noun groups are used in English claims other multiple noun phrases also use modifiers. Modifiers can be adjectives, subordinate nouns, adjectival clauses, relative phases or prepositional clauses. Using examples in the blog texts, a substantial number and the 5 largest statewide whooping cough cases. The determiners in the two examples are a and the. Substantial, largest, statewide as well as whooping are adjectives. In this case, largest statewide whooping is an adjectival clause. Lastly, the nouns are number, and cough cases. 5 counts as a number which is just part of the clause but is not necessarily important to the clause. An example from the journal text is this phenomenon improved understanding. This is the determinant here. Phenomenon improved is the adjectival clause and understanding is the noun in this case. Noun phrases are an essential fragment of every sentence. Noun phrases function first as the subject of clauses. For example, in the scientific literature, scientific acts as the subject.Secondly, they act as subject complements. Take that have occurred since measles was declared eliminated. Measles is the subject and eliminated is the subject complement. Thirdly, they function as the direct objects e.g. epidemic in the phrase The 5 largest statewide whooping cough epidemic. Conclusion. A journal text tends to try and be as formal as can be while the blog can be informal. They thus differ in their lexical densities because the writer relayed the information stressing the information differently. The building of noun phrases in the journal is also taken seriously because there are more complex clauses compared to the blogger. The blogger seemingly rushes through to make a submission while the journal writer has to think through and integrate so many aspects of grammar in his writing before submitting. APPENDIX. Blogs noun group composition. Noun alone pronoun Determiner + noun Determiner + modifier+ noun Refusal They The vaccine A substantial number Disease They The spread The scientific literature Jama whose This month The 5 largest statewide whooping cough epidemic U.S> Who The study The recent surge whooping cough cases Measles cases Themselves The disease An unfortunate comeback Patients They The U.S. The largest number Vaccine refusal The study Risk That diseased Cough A record low Immunity The immunization Researchers The study Reporters The researches Measles outbreaks The study authors Cough outbreaks The issue Incidence The vaccine Measles cases The study Percent A rise Children Some groups Parents The U.S. Vacation Percent Patients Measles cases Vaccination data Cases Opposition Vaccines Cough outbreaks Studies Vaccination data Percent Percent Patients Purpose Epidemics Coughs Populations Immunity People Measles Percent People Risk Factors Measles Cough People CDC Measles Disease Cases Cases Cough Cases Street Journals noun group composition Noun alone Pronoun Determiner + noun Determiner + modifier+ noun State vaccine mandates Their The United States This phenomenon improved understanding Vaccine delay refusal A review The published literature Diseases The United States that have occurred since measles was declared eliminated Measles We The association That assessed diseases risk Pertussis The epidemiology Which described measles reports Parents These diseases No history of measles vaccination Children The epidemiology The measles cases with detailed vaccination data Immunizations The association These had non-medical exemptions Exemptions The epidemiology Which included 10,609 individuals for whom vaccination status was reported. Association The united states The 5 largest statewide epidemics had substantial proportions Outbreaks The context A substantial portion Disease These outbreaks The phenomenon of vaccine refusal Attention The U.S measles cases An increased risk Exemption The era An increased risk Pertussis Some populations the lowest point in U.S pertussis incidence Pertussis Diseases U.S. outbreaks Search November Reports U.S measles outbreaks Measles January Studies Vaccine delay Exemption Measles studies Summaries Outbreak reports Age range Years Cases Month Half Cases Vaccine eligible Exemption Reasons Contradictions Percent Total Reports Pertussis outbreaks Age range Years Range Percent Percent Individuals Pertussis outbreaks Populations Immunity Reports Outbreaks Vaccination data Cases Percent Elimination Measles People Vaccines Individuals Pertussis resurgence Immunity Vaccine refusal Factors Blogs lexical density classification by sentence. No. of sentences Lexical density by every sentence. Lexical density 1 vaccine refusal is fueling the spread of potentially deadly diseases. 70% 2 Published this month in Jama the study found that a substantial number of U.S. measles cases that happened after 2000 when the disease was declared eliminated in the U.S. occurred among patients who were left purposefully unvaccinated i.e. vaccine refusal. 48.84% 3 They also found that vaccine refusal was associated with an increased risk for whooping cough though waning immunity seems to be contributing as well. 58.33% 4 To conduct the study researchers combed through the scientific literature for reports of measles outbreaks between 2000 and 2015 and for whooping cough outbreaks since 1977 when incidence of that disease reached a record low. 48.57% 5 They identified more than 1400 measles cases since 2000 of which more than 56 percent occurred in children whose parents refused vaccination. 47.83% 6 Among the five largest statewide whooping cough epidemics identified between 24 percent and 45 percent of patients were unvaccinated or undervaccinated. 57.14% 7 Of the 970 measles cases with accompanying vaccination data 574 cases were unvaccinated despite being eligible to receive the immunization and 405 cases had nonmedical vaccine exemptions such as religious or philosophical opposition to vaccines. 54.29% 8 in eight of 12 whooping cough outbreaks from nine studies that included vaccination data the researchers found that 59 percent to 93 percent of unvaccinated patients were left unvaccinated on purpose. 58.06% 9 however, the study also noted that epidemics of whooping cough occurred in vaccinated populations too which highlights the issue of waning immunity. 68.18% 10 the study authors concluded that refusing the vaccine against measles meant that people were putting not only themselves but also other people who had been vaccinated at risk. 57.14% 11 they also wrote that while the recent surge whooping cough cases may be down to other factors too the study clearly demonstrates that refusing to be vaccinated against measles has led to a rise in whooping cough among some groups of people. 53.66% 12 according to CDC though measles was declared eliminated in the u s in 2000 the contagious disease is making an unfortunate comeback spiking to 667 cases in 2014. 42.86% 13 as for highly contagious whooping cough the disease reached a recent high in 2012 with more than 48000 documented cases thats the largest number of reported cases since 1955. 51.72% Journals lexical density by sentence. No. of sentences. Lexical density by every sentence Lexical density. 1 association between vaccine refusal and vaccine preventable diseases in the united states a review of measles and pertussis. 58.82% 2 parents hesitant to vaccinate their children may delay routine immunizations or seek exemptions from state vaccine mandates. 70.59% 3 recent outbreaks of vaccine preventable diseases in the united states have drawn attention to this phenomenon. 60% 4 improved understanding of the association between vaccine refusal and the epidemiology of these diseases is needed. 50% 5 to review the published literature to evaluate the association between vaccine delay refusal or exemption and the epidemiology of measles and pertussis 2 vaccine preventable diseases with recent us outbreaks. 55.17% 6 search of PubMed through November 30 2015 for reports of us measles outbreaks that have occurred since measles was declared eliminated in the united states after January 1 2000 endemic and epidemic pertussis since the lowest point in us pertussis incidence after January 1 1977 and for studies that assessed disease risk in the context of vaccine delay or exemption. 48.33% 7 we identified 18 published measles studies 9 annual summaries and 9 outbreak reports which described 1416 measles cases individual age range 2 weeks84 years 178 cases younger than 12 months and more than half 56 8 had no history of measles vaccination. 57.14% 8 of the 970 measles cases with detailed vaccination data 574 cases were unvaccinated despite being vaccine eligible and 405 70 6 of these had nonmedical exemptions e g exemptions for religious or philosophical reasons as opposed to medical contraindications 41 8 of total. 48.84% 9 among 32 reports of pertussis outbreaks which included 10 609 individuals for whom vaccination status was reported age range 10 days87 years the 5 largest statewide epidemics had substantial proportions range 24 45 of unvaccinated or undervaccinated individuals. 55.26% 10 However, several pertussis outbreaks also occurred in highly vaccinated populations indicating waning immunity. 92.31% 11 Nine reports describing 12 outbreaks provided detailed vaccination data on unimmunized cases among 8 of these outbreaks from 59 through 93 of unvaccinated individuals were intentionally unvaccinated. 55.56% 12 A substantial proportion of the u s measles cases in the era after elimination were intentionally unvaccinated. 47.06% 13 the phenomenon of vaccine refusal was associated with an increased risk for measles among people who refuse vaccines and among fully vaccinated individuals. 57.69% 14 although pertussis resurgence has been attributed to waning immunity and other factors vaccine refusal was still associated with an increased risk for pertussis in some populations. 57.69% Work cited. Laufer, Batia, and Paul Nation. Vocabulary size and use: Lexical richness in L2 written production. Applied linguistics 16.3 (1995): 307-322. Johansson, Victoria. Lexical diversity and lexical density in speech and writing: a developmental perspective. Working Papers in Linguistics 53 (2009): 61-79. Abney, Steven Paul. The English noun phrase in its sentential aspect. Diss. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1987. Pg. 45

Old Time Television :: essays research papers

Old Time Television I love Lucy Leave It to Beaver Honeymooners Superman Quiz shows!!!! Leave it to Beaver contributed to the notion of the perfect Fifties family. Parents never raised their voices or were too busy for the kids. Dad didn't work late. Mom, well, poor Mom seemed obliged to remain perfectly coifed and dressed regardless of task. Dusting, vacuuming, cooking. No matter. She always had a dress and her heels on. What they never showed was Mom ironing which must have been a daily ordeal to keep all those nice outfits pressed. A life crisis consisted of a lost report card or failure to eat your vegetables. Still, we watched. Amused by the comings and goings of the Cleaver family and I suspect, wishing our own families could be as perfect as the Cleavers. The Honeymooners was really television's first spin-off. I Love Lucy Lucille Ball was a pathfinder who paved the way for all the women in TV to follow. Without Lucy, arguably, there might not have been a Carol Burnett or Mary Tyler Moore. She proved women could be the leads and carry a show. Not one show, but several. None of which takes away from Desi Arnaz's estimable talents as a producer. His "can do" attitude made the "I Love Lucy Show" work. He innovated the three camera filming format still in use today. Previously, shows like this were performed before a live audience and preserved on kinescope which makes poor copies. Desi's filiming of Lucy is the reason there are great copies today. The show ran in a period of TV history when married people slept in separate beds which would explain why on TV, women didn't get "pregnant.

My Understanding of Feminism Essay

My understanding of feminism has increased greatly due to the material and discussions in this course. When this course first started I had a small general idea of what feminism was. I always assumed it had to deal with women’s rights and movement, mostly about the African-American movements. I had no idea that feminism tied into so many different subjects throughout history and even the present day. This course also had a broad overview with many different types of readings. The readings, along with the discussions generated a more in depth view n particular topics. Although I had a general knowledge of some of the topics, other topics were completely new to me and I found them very interesting. For example, the topic about the native settlers that were forced from their native land by the Europeans, specifically about the Beothuck people of Newfoundland. One unit that really sparked my interest was Unit 1 1: Advertising Culture and the Commodification of the body. I think that this unit was very intriguing, as I have always wondered bout how and why the media portrays women the way they do. This idea of â€Å"Fat† women has become such a profitable topic in the media. The article by Lisa Ayuso â€Å"l look Fat in this† portrayed an excellent view from women who often feel ashamed of their body because it is not the â€Å"perfect body’ that is plastered all over the media. Another unit that I thoroughly enjoyed was Unit 8: Diasporas. I enjoyed reading other students posts on how they feel about Newfoundland culture and its traditional items. Many students registered in this course are from Newfoundland, so the shared culture among us with the different viewpoints, I found really interesting. This course has not changed my view or position on a particular issue. I have increased my knowledge and have broadened my views on many topics. One particular issue that came to a complete shock to me was about the forced sterilization of young black women. Especially about the doctor that tricked the mother into signing a waiver to do this to her daughters, I was in disbelief. Also, the trials and tribulations the young women had to go through to get an abortion. Abortion is still a sensitive topic today, but the views of it have changed a lot from the past. One thing that I don’t quite understand is Liberalism. It has come up in many of the readings, but I still seem to fully understand exactly what it is. Can anyone elaborate more on this for me? But overall this course has provided me with a deeper insight about feminism. My Understanding of Feminism By SexyNewfle

Styles and Themes of Samuel Richardson

Styles and Themes of Samuel Richardson Samuel Richardson wrote his novels using the epistolary novel style, in which all the books are made up of letters. These letters are meant to be written during the time that the stories take place by the main character. They either described a scene or dialogue within the scene (Brophy 245). The stories used the themes of female dominance over the emotions of a man, and male dominance over the physicality of a woman. Also, many women in his stories are put under a great amount of distress, which takes up most of the plot of the novel (â€Å"Richardson Criticism†). Little is known of Richardson's early years beyond the few things that Richardson was willing to share. Although he was not forthcoming with specific events and incidents, he did talk about the origins of his writing ability; Richardson would tell stories to his friends and spent his youth constantly writing letters. One such letter, written when Richardson was almost 11, was directed to a woman in her 50s who was in the habit of constantly criticizing others (Brissenden 2). â€Å"Assuming the style and address of a person in years†, Richardson cautioned her about her actions. However, his handwriting was used to determine that it was his work, and the woman complained to his mother (Harris 68). The result was, as he explains, that â€Å"my mother chides me for the freedom taken by such a boy with a woman of her years† but also â€Å"commended my principles, though she censured the liberty taken (Brophy 245). † Pamela was immediately and extremely popular with the reading public. Richardson initially also enjoyed critical acclaim and was considered one of the most important English novelists. His contemporaries focused almost exclusively on his moral teachings, and most praised the author for his judgment and honesty. Richardson's stated purpose in his works was moral instruction and thus when his sincerity was eventually questioned, and his work attacked by Fielding in parodies including Shamela, Richardson defended himself with explanations and revisions, particularly in the third edition of Pamela. Fielding ridiculed Pamela's obsession with chastity and her tendency to measure the rewards of virtue in material terms (Harris 87). Fielding's interpretation of Pamela established the opposition between â€Å"Pamelist† and â€Å"anti-Pamelist† which has persisted to the present day (Brissenden 32). Richardson's popularity rapidly diminished in the nineteenth-century until he was generally neglected. However, critics would on occasion mention him as historically important for advancing the epistolary form. William Hazlitt perceptively wrote that his works combine the romance of fiction with the â€Å"literal minuteness of a common diary. † Twentieth-century critics have emphasized Richardson's concept of self (Brissenden 12). His character's extreme self-awareness can be read at different levels; according to both Richardson and critics, the characters are not as bound to the truth as they continually claim. Elements of Richardson's work have often been praised in spite of their author; critics suggested that the depths of his work were present unconsciously or even by accident (Brissenden 32). Scholar A. D. McKillop argued convincingly to the contrary, that Richardson was a skilled, deliberate craftsman conscious of his work, its layers, and its meanings. Further rehabilitation to Richardson's reputation was gained from W. M. Sale's painstaking bibliographic study and Ian Watt's discussion of background and technique. Richardson is studied today as a psychological novelist and as a social historian for his descriptions and insight in regard to the relationships of the sexes in a patriarchal society, and to sexual themes in general (Brissenden 32).. While working for Wilde, he met a rich gentleman who took an interest in Richardson's writing abilities and the two began to correspond with each other. When the gentleman died a few years later, Richardson lost a potential patron, which delayed his ability to pursue his own writing career. He decided to devote himself completely to his apprenticeship, and he worked his way up to a position as a compositor and a corrector of the shop's printing press. In 1713, Richardson left Wilde to become â€Å"Overseer and Corrector of a Printing-Office†. This meant that Richardson ran his own shop, but the location of that shop is unknown. It is possible that the shop was located in Staining Lane or may have been jointly run with John Leake in Jewin Street (Brophy 245). In 1719, Richardson was able to take his freedom from being an apprentice and was soon able to afford to set up his own printing shop, which he did after he moved near the Salisbury Court district close to Fleet Street. Although he claimed to business associates that he was working out of the well-known Salisbury Court, his printing shop was more accurately located on the corner of Blue Ball Court and Dorset Street in a house that later became Bell's Building (Brissenden 12). On 23 November 1721 Richardson married Martha Wilde, the daughter of his former employer. The match was â€Å"prompted mainly by prudential considerations†, although Richardson would claim later that there was a strong love-affair between him and Martha. He soon brought her to live with him in the printing shop that served also as his home (Brissenden 14). One of Richardson's first major printing contracts came in June of 1723 when he began to print the bi-weekly The True Briton for Philip Wharton, 1st Duke of Wharton. This was a Jacobite political paper which attacked the government and was soon censored for printing â€Å"common libel (Brophy 245). However, Richardson's name was not on the publication, and he was able to escape any of the negative fallout, although it is possible that Richardson participated in the papers as far as actually authoring one himself. The only lasting effect from the paper would be the incorporation of Wharton's libertine characteristics in the character of Lovelace in Richardson's Clarissa, although Wharton would be only one of many models of libertine behavior that Richardson would find in his life. In 1724, Richardson befriended Thomas Gent, Henry Woodfall, and Arthur Onslow, the latter of those would become the Speaker of the House of Commons (Kinkead-Weekes 667). In 1733, Richardson was granted a contract with the House of Commons, with help from Onslow, to print the Journals of the House. The twenty-six volumes of the work soon improved his business. Later in 1733, he wrote The Apprentice’s Vade Mecum, urging young men like him to be diligent and self-denying (Brophy 245). The work was intended to â€Å"create the perfect apprentice. Written in response to the â€Å"epidemic Evils of the present Age†, the text is best known for its condemnation of popular forms of entertainment including theatres, taverns and gambling. The manual targets the apprentice as the focal point for the moral improvement of society, not because he is most susceptible to vice, but because, Richardson suggests, he is more responsive to moral improvement than his social betters. His tota l staff during the 1730s numbered 7, as his first three apprentices were free by 1728, and two of his apprentices, Verren and Smith, died soon into their apprenticeship (Brophy 245). The loss of Verren was particularly devastating to Richardson because Verren was his nephew and his hope for a male heir that would take over the press (Kinkead-Weekes 67). Work continued to improve, and Richardson printed the Daily Journal between 1736 and 1737, and the Daily Gazetteer in 1738. During his time printing the Daily Journal, he was also printer to the â€Å"Society for the Encouragement of Learning†, a group that tried to help authors become independent from publishers, but collapsed soon after. In December 1738, Richardson's printing business was successful enough to allow him to lease a house in Fulham. This house, which would be Richardson's residence from 1739 to 1754, was later named â€Å"The Grange† in 1836. In 1739, Richardson was asked by his friends Charles Irvington and John Osborn to write â€Å"a little volume of Letters, in a common style, on such subjects as might be of use to those country readers, who were unable to invite for themselves. † While writing this volume, Richardson was inspired to write his first novel (Brophy 245). Richardson made the transition from master printer to novelist on 6 November 1740 with the publication of Pamela: or, Virtue Rewarded. Pamela was sometimes regarded as â€Å"the first English novel. † Richardson explained the origins of the work (Brophy 245). In the progress, writing two or three letters to instruct handsome girls, who were obliged to go out to service, as we phrase it, how to avoid the snares that might be laid against their virtue, and hence sprung Pamela†¦ Little did I think, at first, of making one, much less two volumes of it†¦ I thought the story, if written in an easy and natural manner, suitably to the simplicity of it, might possibly introduce a new species of writing, that might possibly turn young people into a course of reading different from the pomp and parade of romance-writing, and dismissing the improbable and marvelous, with which novels generally abound, might tend to promote the cause of religion and virtue (Kinkead-Weekes 47). After Richardson started the work on 10 November 1739, his wife and her friends became so interested in the story that he finished it on 10 January 1740. Pamela Andrews, the heroine of Pamela, represented â€Å"Richardson's insistence upon well-defined feminine roles† and was part of a common fear held during the 18th century that women were â€Å"too bold. † In particular, her â€Å"zeal for housewifery† was included as a proper role of women in society. Although Pamela and the title heroine were popular and gave a proper model for how women should act, they inspired â€Å"a storm of anti-Pamelas† (like Henry Fielding's Shamela and Joseph Andrews) because the character â€Å"perfectly played her part (Brophy 243). † Later that year, Richardson printed Rivington and Osborn's book which inspired Pamela under the title of Letters written to and for particular Friends, on the most important Occasions. Directing not only the requisite Style and Forms to be observed in writing Familiar Letters; but how to think and act justly and prudently, in the common Concerns of Human Life. The book contained many anecdotes and lessons on how to live, but Richardson did not care for the work and it was never expanded even though it went into six editions during his life. He went so far as to tell a friend, â€Å"This volume of letters is not worthy of your perusal† because they were â€Å"intended for the lower classes of people. In September 1741, a sequel of Pamela called Pamela's Conduct in High Life was published by Ward and Chandler. Although the work lacks the literary merits of the original, Richardson was compelled to publish two more volumes in December 1741 to tell of further exploits of Pamela, the title heroine, while â€Å"in her Exalted Condition. † The public's interest in the characters was waning, and this was only furthered by Richardson's focusing on Pamela disc ussing morality, literature, and philosophy. After the failures of the Pamela sequels, Richardson began to compose a new novel. It was not until early 1744 that the content of the plot was known, and this happened when he sent Aaron Hill two chapters to read. In particular, Richardson asked Hill if he could help shorten the chapters because Richardson was worried about the length of the novel. Hill refused, saying, You have formed a style, as much your property as our respect for what you write is, where verbosity becomes a virtue; because, in pictures which you draw with such a skillful negligence, redundancy but conveys resemblance; and to contract the strokes, would be to spoil the likeness (Kunitz 60). In July, Richardson sent Hill a complete â€Å"design† of the story, and asked Hill to try again, but Hill responded, â€Å"It is impossible, after the wonders you have shown in Pamela, to question your infallible success in this new, natural, attempt† and that â€Å"you must give me leave to be astonished, when you tell me that you have finished it already. † However, the novel wasn't complete to Richardson's satisfaction until October 1746. Between 1744 and 1746, Richardson tried to find readers who could help him shorten the work, but his readers wanted to keep the work in its entirety (Kunitz 60). A frustrated Richardson wrote to Edward Young in November 1747: What contentions, what disputes have I involved myself in with my poor Clarissa through my own diffidence, and for want of a will! I wish I had never consulted anybody but Dr. Young, who so kindly vouchsafed me his ear, and sometimes his opinion (Brissenden 32). Richardson did not devote all of his time just to working on his new novel, but was busy printing various works for other authors that he knew. In 1742, he printed the third edition of Daniel's Tour through Great Britain. He filled his new few years with smaller works for his friends until 1748, when Richardson started helping Sarah Fielding and her friend Jane Collier to write novels. By 1748, Richardson was so impressed with Collier that he accepted her as the governess to his daughters (Brophy 243). In 1753, she wrote An Essay on the Art of Ingeniously Tormenting with the help of Sarah Fielding and possibly James Harris or Richardson, and it was Richardson who printed the work (Kunitz 60). But Collier was not the only author to be helped by Richardson, as he printed an edition of Young's Night Thoughts in 1749. By 1748 his novel Clarissa was published in full: two volumes appeared in November 1747, two in April 1748 and three in December 1748. Unlike the novel, the author was not faring well at this time. By August 1748, Richardson was in poor health. He had a sparse diet that consisted mostly of vegetables and drinking vast amount of water, and was not robust enough to prevent the effects of being bled upon the advice of various doctors throughout his life. He was known for â€Å"vague ‘startings' and ‘paroxysms'†, along with experiencing tremors. Richardson once wrote to a friend that â€Å"my nervous disorders will permit me to write with more impunity than to read† and that writing allowed him a â€Å"freedom he could find nowhere else (Brissenden 32). † However, his condition did not stop him from continuing to release the final volumes Clarissa after November 1748 (Brophy 243). To Hill he wrote: â€Å"The Whole will make Seven; that is, one more to attend these two. Eight crowded into Seven, by a smaller Type. Ashamed as I am of the Prolixity, I thought I owed the Public Eight Vols. n Quantity for the Price of Seven† Richardson later made it up to the public with â€Å"deferred Restorations† of the fourth edition of the novel being printed in larger print with eight volumes and a preface that reads: â€Å"It is proper to observe with regard to the present Edition that it has been thought fit to restore many Passages, and several Letters which were omitted in the former merely for shortening-sa ke (Brophy 243). † The response to the novel was positive, and the public began to describe the title heroine as â€Å"divine Clarissa. It was soon considered Richardson's â€Å"masterpiece,† his greatest work, and was rapidly translated into French in part or in full, for instance by the Antoine Francois Prevost, as well as into German. In England there was particular emphasis on Richardson's â€Å"natural creativity† and his ability to incorporate daily life experience into the novel (Brissenden 32).. However, the final three volumes were delayed, and many of the readers began to â€Å"anticipate† the concluding story and some demanded that Richardson write a happy ending. One such advocate of the happy ending was Henry Fielding, who had previously written Joseph Andrews to mock Richardson's Pamela. Although Fielding was originally opposed to Richardson, Fielding supported the original volumes of Clarissa and thought a happy ending would be â€Å"poetical justice (Brissenden 34). Others wanted Lovelace to be reformed and for him and Clarissa to marry, but Richardson would not allow a â€Å"reformed rake† to be her husband, and was unwilling to change the ending. In a postscript to Clarissa, Richardson wrote: If the temporary sufferings of the Virtuous and the Good can be accounted for and justified on Pagan principles, many more and infinitely stronger reasons will occur to a Christian Reader in behalf of what are called unhappy Catastrophes, from a consideration of the doctrine of future rewards; which is everywhere strongly enforced in the History of Clarissa (Brissenden 36). Although few were bothered by the epistolary style, Richardson feels obligated to continue his postscript with a defense of the form based on the success of it in Pamela. However, some did question the propriety of having Lovelace, the villain of the novel, act in such an immoral fashion. The novel avoids glorifying Lovelace, as Carol Flynn puts it, But Richardson still felt the need to respond by writing a pamphlet called Answer to the Letter of a Very Reverend and Worthy Gentleman (Peden 236). In the pamphlet, he defends his characterizations and explains that he took great pains to avoid any glorification of scandalous behavior, unlike the authors of many other novels that rely on characters of such low quality (Brissenden 32).. In 1749, Richardson's female friends started asking him to create a male figure as virtuous as his heroines â€Å"Pamela† and â€Å"Clarissa† in order to â€Å"give the world his idea of a good man and fine gentleman combined. † Although he did not at first agree, he eventually complied, starting work on a book in this vein in June 1750. Near the end of 1751, Richardson sent a draft of the novel The History of Sir Charles Grandison to Mrs. Dunnellon, and the novel was being finalized in the middle of 1752. When the novel was being printed in 1753, Richardson discovered that Irish printers were trying to pirate the work (Brissenden 32).. He immediately fired those he suspected of giving the printers advanced copies of Grandison and relied on multiple London printing firms to help him produce an authentic edition before the pirated version was sold. In Grandison, Richardson was unwilling to risk having a negative response to any â€Å"rakish† characteristics that Lovelace embodied and denigrated the immoral characters â€Å"to show those mischievous young admirers of Lovelace once and for all that the rake should be avoided (Brissenden 32). † At the same time as he was associating with important figures of the day, Richardson's career as a novelist drew to a close. Grandison was his final novel, and he stopped writing fiction afterwards. However, he was continually prompted by various friends and admirers to continue to write along with suggested topics. Richardson did not like any of the topics, and chose to spend all of his time composing letters to his friends and associates (Peden 236). The only major work that Richardson would write would be A Collection of the Moral and Instruction Sentiments, Maxims, Cautions, and Reflexions, contained in the Histories of Pamela, Clarissa, and Sir Charles Grandison. Although it is possible that this work was inspired by Johnson asking for â€Å"index rerum† for Richardson’s novels, the Collection contains more of a focus on â€Å"moral and instructive† lessons than the index that Johnson sought. Richardson was a skilled letter writer and his talent traces back to his childhood. Throughout his whole life, he would constantly write to his various associates (Peden 236). Richardson had a â€Å"faith† in the act of letter writing, and believed that letters could be used to accurately portray character traits. He quickly adopted the epistolary novel form, which granted him â€Å"the tools, the space, and the freedom to develop distinctly different characters speaking directly to the reader. † The characters of Pamela, Clarissa, and Grandison are revealed in a personal way, with the first two using the epistolary form for â€Å"dramatic† purposes, and the last for â€Å"celebratory† purposes (Peden 236). In his first novel, Pamela, he explored the various complexities of the title character's life, and the letters allow the reader to witness her develop and progress over time. The novel was an experiment, but it allowed Richardson to create a complex heroine through a series of her letters. When Richardson wrote Clarissa, he had more experience in the form and expanded the letter writing to four different correspondents, which created a complex system of characters encouraging each other to grow and develop over time (Kunitz 60). However, the villain of the story, Lovelace, is also involved in the letter writing, and this leads to tragedy (Brissenden 32). Leo Braudy described the benefits of the epistolary form of Clarissa as, â€Å"Language can work: letters can be ways to communicate and justify. † By the time Richardson writes Grandison, he transforms the letter writing from telling of personal insights and explaining feelings into a means for people to communicate their thoughts on the actions of others and for the public to celebrate virtue. The letters are no longer written for a few people, but are passed along in order for all to see (Brophy 243). Works Cited Brissenden, R. F. â€Å"Samuel Richardson. † British Writers. Ed. Ian Scott-Kilvert. Vol. 3. New York: Scribner, 1987. Print. Brophy, Elizabeth Bergen. Samuel Richardson: The Triumph of Craft. Knoxville: U of Tennessee P, 1974. Print. Eaves, T. C. Duncan, and Ben D. Kimpel. Samuel Richardson: a Biography. Oxford: Clarendon, 1971. Print. Harris, Jocelyn. Samuel Richardson. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1987. Print. Kearney, A. M. Samuel Richardson. London, Routledge & K. Paul: Northumberland Limited, 1968. Print. Kinkead-Weekes, Mark. Introduction. Pamela. By Samuel Richardson. Vol. 1. London: J. M. Dent & Sons, 1962. Print. —. Samuel Richardson: Dramatic Novelist. Ithaca, NY: Cornell UP, 1973. Print. Kunitz, Stanley J. , and Howard Haycraft, eds. â€Å"Samuel Richardson. † British Authors Before 1800: A Biographical Dictionary. New York: H. Wilson, 1952. Print. Peden, William. â€Å"Samuel Richardson. † Critical Survey of Long Fiction. Ed. Carl E. Rollyson. Vol. 6. Pasadena, CA: Salem, 2000. Print. â€Å"Samuel Richardson Criticism. † ENotes – Literature Study Guides,