Study of Chinese Wine Consumption Essay Example for Free

Study of Chinese Wine Consumption Essay Abstract Purpose  ± This research aims to examine Chinese consumers wine consumption and purchasing behaviour. Design/methodology/approach  ± The study, conducted during the Chinese New Year in early 2006, used in-depth interviews with 15 consumers in Guangzhou, Peoples Republic of China. Findings  ± The results suggest that Chinese consume Chinese spirits for all occasions, yet consume red wine only for special occasions such as Chinese new year and other holidays. A key point for selling red wine to the Chinese is its positive image; drinking red wine is considered trendy and shows good taste. Another key point is consumer perceptions of red wine as healthier than Chinese spirits because wine contains less alcohol. Two other findings are that most Chinese consumers assume all wine is red wine and have little wine knowledge. Most respondents did not know of white wine or that Australia produces wine. Finally, Chinas culture of face value, mianzi, plays a key role in purchasing and consuming wine. Chinese tend to purchase inexpensive wine for private consumption and public occasions, yielding more mianzi in front of others. In some important occasions, consumers will purchase a foreign (French) red wine to impress their guests and obtain even more mianzi. In most situations, Chinese purchase and consume wine for perceived health and symbolic  ± lucky or good face  ± values. Research limitations/implications  ± The small sample size is a limitation. Another limitation is that all the respondents lived in the urban area of Guangzhou, one of Chinas most developed cities. The findings do not generalize to China. Practical implications  ± The findings suggest that wine is a symbolic product rather than a necessity product in China; therefore, image is an important attribute for selling wine in China. Furthermore, limited wine knowledge tends to make Chinese consumers rely heavily on price for their wine purchasing decisions, as price relates to mainzi. Chinese consumers high awareness of France as a wine making country and their deep-rooted positive beliefs about French wines pose difficulties for marketing other foreign wines, such as Australian wines, in China. Originality/value  ± This is perhaps the first academic study in English of Chinese wine consumption and wine purchasing. It offers important insights on the characteristics of wine consumption and purchasing in China. Keywords Consumers, Consumption, China, Wines, Red wines Paper type Research paper 98 Fang Liu and Jamie Murphy International Journal of Wine Business Research Vol. 19 No. 2, 2007 pp. 98-113 # Emerald Group Publishing Limited 1751-1062 DOI 10. 1108/17511060710758669. Introduction Chinese wine production has grown dramatically since the 1980s, with an average annual increase of 14 per cent from 80,000 tons in 1980 to 440,000 tons in 2005 (ASKCI, 2005; Snapshot, 2005; see Figure 1). Wine consumption has risen alongside the wine production. From 2004 to 2005, Chinese wine consumption reached 420,000 tons  ± 564 million bottles, which brought China into the top ten wine consumption countries (Foodmate, 2007). From 2005 to 2010, Foodmate (2007) estimates that Chinese wine Chinese wine consumption 99 Wine production in China (1980-2005) Figure 1. consumption should increase by 35 per cent, or six times the worlds overall increase in wine consumption. Chinas per capita wine consumption of under 0. 5 litres is markedly less than the world average of 7. 5 litres, and 40 times less than the 20 litres drunk in western countries such as France, Australia, and the USA ( Jin, 2004). For the past 10 years, Chinese wine consumption increased from 10-15 per cent annually, grew 20 per cent in 2005, and this strong growth should continue for the foreseeable future ( Jin and Zhan, 2006). Chinas current low per capita wine consumption, augmented by the worlds largest population (1.25 billion) and decades of 7-8 per cent annual GDP growth (NBS China, 2004) has foreign wineries keen for a share of this market. In addition, a reduced wine import duty and the Chinese governments preferential policy for foreign wines further entice foreign wineries into China (SinoCast China Business Daily News, 2002). Foreign wines, particularly from France, the USA, and Australia, are pouring into China (He, 2004). From January to February 2006, China imported around 18 million litres of wine valued at E14 million, and its annual wine imports increased 79 per cent in 2005 (Worldbydata, 2006). Chinas wine market is also becoming competitive, with many local and foreign brands available (Tang, 2005). Despite its huge market potential, academic knowledge about Chinese consumers wine consumption and purchases is scarce. This paper reviews literature on Chinese wine consumption and then discusses the results of qualitative interviews conducted in early 2006 in Guangzhou, China. The paper closes with managerial suggestions for exporting wine into China and proposed avenues for future research. Chinas wine history China has a rich wine history. Towards the beginning of the Han Dynasty, around 206 BC, Chinese started to grow grapes and produce wines in the Yellow River region of northeastern China (Winechina, 2005). Grape wine production, however, lagged other alcoholic beverages such as Chinese spirits due to weather and soil conditions. During IJWBR 19,2 100 the Tang Dynasty, about 500 AD, there was still little Chinese wine production and China began importing wines, mainly from the Middle East. Due to its scarcity, only emperors, senior government officials, and rich merchants drank wine  ± usually for important occasions such as the emperors birthday (Winechina, 2005). Chinese spirits are alcoholic beverages distilled from grains and have been the traditional drink for nearly all occasions in China. Furthermore, due to historical and cultural reasons, wine has never gained the same popularity as rice spirits or beer (Li, 2006); tradition still influences who drinks wine and on what occasion. Wine is both a luxury and image product in China. Chinese who drink wine are usually educated, wealthy, and middle or upper class (Wang, 2006). Demographics aside, many Chinese consume wine for important social or business occasions (Tang, 2006b). Wine has a favourable image in China, but most Chinese have little wine knowledge or appreciation, such as judging wine quality or taste ( Jin, 2004). Macro-factors also hinder Chinas wine market. For example, few guidelines for wine advertising have led to many wine advertisements providing exaggerated or false information (Peoplenet, 2006). Yet, despite Chinas rich wine history and growing wine consumption, few studies have examined Chinese wine consumption and wine purchasing. The next section describes a qualitative study to help bridge this research gap of Chinese consumers attitudes towards wine. Research methodology Due to the complex topic and limited literature of Chinese consumers wine purchasing behaviour, this study adopted a qualitative method (Morse, 1994). Scholars often use qualitative methods in organizational and consumer research in order to help understand complex issues that may not be immediately implicit in surface responses (Goulding, 2005, p. 301). Furthermore, the qualitative approach is particularly apt for experiences such as consumption (Goulding, 2005, p. 303). This study investigated Chinese consumers thoughts associated with wine, wine drinking, and wine purchasing. The major research questions were: (1) when and where Chinese consume wine; (2) how frequently they drink wine; (3) how much they drink per occasion; and (4) what factors influence their wine purchasing. For a qualitative approach, this study used in-depth interviews and a semi-structured questionnaire of open-ended questions. Data collection All interviewees were friends of the researcher and thus inclined to discuss frankly and openly their attitudes towards wine. Interviewing friends is common in qualitative studies as friends will accept the interview as well as share intimate thoughts (Frankel and Devers, 2000; Pottie and Sumarah,2004). The criteria for selecting interviewees were availability, that they had consumed wine, and represented a balanced crosssection of age, gender, and income. Table I profiles the nine male and six female interviewees. Four interviewees were in their 20s, four in their 30s, five in their 40s, and two in their 50s. Defining Chinese income levels is difficult; different areas have different income levels and income disparity is a serious problem (Zhou, 2006). Chinas average ID A B C D Gender Male Male Male Male Age 33 24 42 23. Highest education University University Senior high New Zealand university Collegea Senior high University freshman University Senior high College Junior high Senior high Income Median Low High Median Occupation Marketing executive Engineer assistant Restaurant owner Bank customer service officer Washing business owner Small business owner University student Retired senior executive Working in a beauty shop Airline middle management Housewife Retired government official Lecturer Entrepreneur Account manager Marital status Married with one child Single Married with two children Single. Overseas travel None None HK and Singapore Studied in New Zealand; visited Australia. None HK None Holland, South Korea and a few others None Holland, Japan, Malaysia and HK None HK, Singapore, Thailand, Australia and a few others HK and Australia None HK Chinese wine consumption 101 E F G H I J K L Male Male Male Male Female Female Female Female 43 44 19 60 40 25 40 58 High High Low Median Median Low Low Median Married with one child Married with one child Single Married with one child Married with one child Single Married with one son Married with two adult children Married with one child Married with two children Single. M N O Female Male Male 30 35 34 University High school University Median High Median Notes: aCollege degree, da zhuan, is a three-year degree. A university degree, da xue, is four years. In China, the bachelor degree is four years and a three-year degree is not a bachelor. A four-year degree is much more valued than a three-year degree Interviewee profiles Table I. personal income per month is around E40, but E120 in Guangdong, Shanghai, and a few other developed areas. Even within the same area such as Guangdong, people in urban areas could earn approximately four times as much (E480) as people living in the rural areas. Thus, differentiating low and middle income depends on developed or less developed areas as well as rural or urban areas (Sina, 2006). As the interviews took place in an urban area of Guangzhou, the capital of Guangdong and one of Chinas most prosperous cities (NBS China, 2004), this study IJWBR 19,2 102 classified four subjects earning E530 as high income. Regarding education, nine subjects had or were studying towards a university degree and six had a high school diploma. The profiles show that the sample has good coverage in gender, age, income, and education level. The researcher  ± a Chinese from Guangzhou, conducted and taped one hour indepth interviews in Chinas official language, Mandarin. The interviews occurred from 29 January to 12 February 2006, during the Chinese New Year, an official holiday of about two weeks. Choosing this festive period for interviewing had three advantages. Interviewees are generally in a good mood and less concerned with the time spent on an interview. Finally, during Chinese New Year, Chinese have banquets with friends, colleagues, and family once or twice a day and usually drink alcoholic beverages when eating. Interviewees were comfortable and less inhibited answering questions related to wine and other alcoholic drinks. Data analyses Transcribing and analysing the taped interviews reinforced and clarified the interview notes. Furthermore, after reviewing the initial narratives, the researcher returned to some interviewees for a follow-up interview and clarifications (Colaizzi, 1978). General findings follow. Wine means red wine When the researcher asked have you tried wine, pu tao jiu, ten interviewees instantly asked do you mean red wine, or ni shi shuo hong pu tao jiu ma? After the researcher explained that wine could be red or white, they said they knew and had drunk only red wine. They never tried nor knew about white wine. In their minds, there were four types of alcoholic drinks: hong jiu or red wine, pi jiu or beer, bai jiu or Chinese spirits, and yang jiu or foreign spirits. Similarly, Fu (2004) noted that most Chinese think red wine represents the entire wine category. Of the five interviewees who knew both red wine and white wine, D and H mostly drank red wine, as it was more available in the market. A and C mostly drank red wines, albeit for a different reason; red is a lucky colour in the Chinese culture. The other subject, J, also drank more red wine due to availability, but she preferred white wines as they were sweeter. She added that companies should promote white wine much more aggressively in China. These results suggest that Chinese have poor general knowledge about wine; twothirds of the interviewees were unaware of white wine. White wine may be less popular because it does not fit Chinese culture. Red is a lucky colour, associated with good things such as weddings and birthdays. White is an unlucky colour, often associated with funerals. Besides the lucky association, Fu (2004) argued that red wine sold better in China as it has a stronger taste than white wine; the Chinese prefer strong taste. Given the low awareness of white wine, the following section discusses Chinese consumers attitudes towards red wine only (see Table II). Chinese attitudes associated with red wine When asked about thoughts associated with red wine, all 15 interviewees began with differences between red wine and Chinese spirits. Later, interviewees B and I compared red wine with beer and J compared red wine with foreign spirits. In these Chinese Thoughts Choosing red wine or Chinese spirits depends on the occasion Red wine is less strong and thus healthier than Chinese spirits Red wine has positive symbolic meaning (e. g. lucky and prosperous) Red wine is particularly good for occasions such as spring festivals or celebrating good things Drinking red wine indicates good social image People drinking red wine cares about their face or image Drinking wine is more elegant and gracious than drinking Chinese spirits Red wine is particularly good for occasions such as banquets with important guan xi hu. Chinese know much less about wine, than about Chinese spirits Red wine is expensive Well-educated people with good income drink red wine You can mix red wine with other drinks (e. g. sprite) so you drink less alcohol Beer tastes better than red wine Red wine cannot replace Chinese spirits Red wine is good for those who are not very good at drinking Red wine drinkers are young and modern Wine suits women more than men as it contains less alcohol People who often drink red wine like following western lifestyles Xiaozia prefer red wine Wine suits get-togethers with less familiar or new friends as nobody would get drunk. (getting drunk in public is embarrassing) Red wine tastes good You can mix red wine with other drinks (e. g. sprite) so you can try more varieties than Chinese spirits Red wine is a better gift choice than spirits People above 40, white collared, will like red wine Chinese spirits have a bigger market than red wine as people drinking red wine are a small group Wine is for appreciation not for competition like Chinese spirits (Chinese like to compete on the quantity they drink when they consume Chinese spirits) Count 11 8 8 8 7 5 4 3 3 3 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1. Chinese wine consumption 103 Notes: aXiaozi directly translates as small capitalist. Compared to other middle-class Chinese, this subset is extremely concerned with image and tends to consume expensive and branded goods to show that they live better than others do. They often favour western lifestyles Interviewee thoughts associated with red wine Table II. consumers perceptual maps of alcoholic drinks, red wines main competitor was Chinese spirits. Eleven out of 15 interviewees said that drinking Chinese spirits or red wine depended on the occasion or chang he. Among these 11 interviewees, eight said that red wine was particularly good for celebrating Chinese New Year and other holidays as red symbolises prosperity, luck, and good fortune. Interviewees C, E, and F, all businessmen,  ± said that red wine was good for banquets with important business connections or guan xi hu. This common thread among the businessmen suggested that red wine is starting to appear in business banquets, traditionally dominated by Chinese or foreign spirits. Besides occasion, another important thought related to red wine was attributes. Red wines health aspect was the most important, and most recalled, attribute. Some of this perception may stem from Chinese Prime Minister Zhus 1997 speech promoting IJWBR 19,2 104 red wine as healthy (Anderson, 2001). Eight of 15 interviewees believed that red wine was healthier than Chinese spirits as it contained less alcohol. Of these eight interviewees, four were high income earners (C, E, F, and N) and four were middle income (A, H, I, and M). Living healthy is an emerging trend for Chinas middleand upper-income classes, so red wines health aspect probably attracts wealthier Chinese. Comments from subject C, a businessperson, covered the major perceived benefits that Chinese consumers had regarding drinking red wine (see below). Due to his age, he appeared to emphasise the health aspect of the red wine. If I had a choice, I would drink red wines in most social get-togethers. Red wines contain less alcohol so it is not as lie (strong) as Chinese spirits or foreign spirits; therefore, it is better for health. You know, at my age, when you reach 40, you must take care of your health. You cant drink alcohol as if you drank when you were 18 or 20 year old. Also, there are different ways of drinking red wine such as straight red wine or red wine mixed with something else like a cocktail (so it is less alcoholic). Even elderly people and young kids can drink red wines whilst these people wont be up for Chinese or foreign spirits. In addition, red wine indicates good luck so it is good for important occasions such as birthday parties and festivals. Other attributes mentioned were red wine indicates good social image; people who drink it have good taste (B, C, E, G, I, M, and O). Red wine is expensive (B, G, and O), beer tastes better than red wine (B and M), and red wine is not strong enough (B). Compared with the health and social image, the other attributes seemed less important. Consumers evaluate products on intrinsic and extrinsic cues (Ophuis and van Trijp, 1995). Wines intrinsic cues include physical attributes such as colour, aroma, and taste, which cannot be changed without changing the physical product itself; extrinsic cues associate with the product but are not physically part of the product such as brand, price, and distribution (Dimara and Skuras, 2001, p. 692). Healthy seems an extrinsic attribute as it stems from the perceptions that red wine contains less alcohol than Chinese spirits, and red wine is a fruit- rather than rice-based drink. Good social image is also an extrinsic cue. The above analyses indicate that extrinsic rather than intrinsic attributes dominate Chinese consumers perceptions. This also suggests that Chinese consumers know little about wine and aligns with studies of intrinsic vs extrinsic cues. Expert consumers, knowledgeable about the product, rely more on intrinsic product cues, while novice consumers with little product knowledge tend to rely more on extrinsic cues (Maheswaran, 1994; Laroche, 2005). A final category of thoughts related to who consumes wine. The most frequently mentioned statement was red wine drinkers are conscious about their face or image (B, H, I, J, and M). Being conscious of mianzi, directly translated as face (Graham and Lam, 2003), is a key Chinese characteristic; people are conscious of what other people think about them (Zhang, 1996). Four respondents (D, G, J, and I) noted that drinking wine was more elegant and gracious than drinking Chinese spirits. Two subjects (M and O) commented that people who often drink red wine like to follow the western ways of life as red wine indicates something non-Chinese or, in particular, western. These results confirm the importance of extrinsic cues. Drinking red wine suggests good social image, elegance, and grace, all of which indicate good mianzi. However, the perception that red wine drinkers are conscious about their mianzi could be negative. For example, Subject M, a well-educated female in her early 30s, told the researcher that: Red wine is particularly attractive to those Xiaozi (Small Bourgeois) people but I am not a Xiaozi type of person. (Why? ) Well, I will consider myself a middle-class person with good income and education but a Xiaozi person is different. Xiaozi is not decided by education or income, but rather by the xingtai (values). Some people may not have high income but they are very concerned with their public image. They want to be seen as unique and different. When they speak, they will always use a few English words in a Chinese sentence. They would also speak Chinese with a somewhat different qiangdiao (intonation). They like to follow the trends and fashions from western countries. For example, they would drink Cappuccino rather than tea. A Xiaozi type of person may earn only 3000 yuan a month but he or she could spend 4000 yuan on a Luis Vuitton bag. Frankly speaking, Cantonese (Chinese living in and around Guangdong province) people seem to be less xiaozi because Cantonese are very shiji (practical or down to earth) so they care more about the actual functions or benefits of a product rather than the image. For example, a rich Cantonese man may drive a BMW (an expensive car in China) but he will stop in a small takeaway at a street corner to buy a bowl of beef noodles if he thinks the noodles are good. This will never happen with a Xiaozi type of person. Chinese wine consumption 105 The drinking scent When asked how often they drank wine, the responses were one to three times a month (A, C, D, E, and F), one to three times a year ( J, K, L, M, N, and O), and once or twice in their life (B, G, and I). Four out of the five heavy drinkers, albeit light drinkers compared to Australians, were businessmen over 40, and had the highest income. They had more opportunities to drink red wine as they attended more business and social functions.

We are the Plague, We are the Cure :: Exploratory Essays Research Papers

We are the Plague, We are the Cure Why is it that the fate of our nation seems to be in a downward spiral of despair? It seems as if everywhere you turn, you are greeted with grim visages of violence and misery. What is this plague which afflicts our society and has taken away the innocence and happiness of past generations? Our society is condemned to its current state due to its individualistic desires. If man is the downfall of himself, then is he also the plague of his society? You might believe that only recently with the advent of the Internet are we pushing ourselves too far, but this is far from the truth. This problem has hung as a spectre over society since its origin. In Genesis 3, we are first introduced to this plague on society. As Adam and Eve wandered the Garden of Eden, they were tricked by the serpent into eating from the Tree of Knowledge. After condemning all three for their disobedience God commented that, "the man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil." (Genesis 3:22) This plague continues to today. If you think about it, we are all becoming increasingly dependent on technology. In a recent work by Bill Joy, this thought really hit home. To think that soon, "People won't be able to just turn the machines off, because they will be so dependent on them that turning them off would amount to suicide." This is what our dependence will cause, and this dependence is cause by our desire to push ourselves harder than is necessary. (Joy 2) As you can see this problem began when society did, and will not end until society does also. Technology and history are not the only fields in which society's plague are present, however. Recently, it seems as if every time you open the newspaper you are greeted with a declaration of 'breaking' news on the Presidential election. For hundreds of years, this process seemed so simple. Of course, there were times when society's little evil would spring up and try to do damage.

Compare the ways in which Philip Larkin and Carol Ann Duffy present the theme of death and its implications on life

The concept of death and its implications are explored extensively by Larkin and Duffy, both poets agreeing that the destructive quality of death makes void of all the time and effort we invest in life. Larkin seems to demonstrate a cold fear towards this inevitability by distancing himself from the reality in ‘Ambulances’ and ‘Dockery and Son’, choosing to make resigned but philosophical points on the subject. Duffy, by contrast, invests in a far more emotional approach and suggests how the finality can bring a strange sense of comfort amidst the devastation; this is demonstrated in the poems ‘The Suicide’ and ‘Never Go Back’ where the personas vow to never repeat their deathly experiences again, and, in the case of ‘The Suicide’ in particular, use death as a means to exact revenge. ‘Ambulances’ are described as vehicles that both literally transport the dying, and are the anthropomorphised psychopomps who help establish the transitory stage between life and death. The fairly archaic yet idiomatic verb phrase ‘borne away’ and the use of determining modifiers in ‘any kerb: / All streets’ suggests that death is a ubiquitous and ghostly presence that transcends time and takes life indiscriminately. Thus, Larkin achieves a grave mood and an aloof tone which suggests the easy dissolution of identity and personality in the face of death. Duffy similarly presents the event of death in ‘The Suicide’, but unlike Larkin’s distance, the persona here takes control with the modal auxiliary in ‘I will write’ and demands recognition from their attempted suicide: ‘Famous. The delivery as an emotional dramatic monologue helps serve the speaker’s appeal to victimhood, as they use a bitter and increasingly vindictive tone to justify their heinous sin of ‘despair’. This cry for attention thus suggests the instinctive egoism of humans, much like the bystanders in ‘Ambulancesà ¢â‚¬â„¢ who, despite witnessing a tragedy, ‘whisper at their own distress’. In contrast, death in ‘Dockery and Son’ incites abstract musings on the meaning of life and depicts Larkin’s autobiographical account of attending the memorial service of an old college acquaintance.What is the difference between a figurative and a literal analogy? The poem is introduced in medias res, ‘Dockery was junior to you..? ’ but the disinterested speaker quickly dissolves into a nostalgic reverie as he explores the fatalistic reality that is often followed after death. The lack of consolation in living is demonstrated when Larkin attempts to revisit his past and ‘tries the door of where I used to live’, but finds it ‘Locked’; the finality in the modifier symbolises how the speaker is unable to return to a past that no longer exists, and thus remains estranged from the familiarity of the past. Never Go Back’ develops on this idea further since it follows the journey of a speaker who revisits her old haunts after the end of her failed marriage. Death, here, is used as an extended metaphor, in contrast with Dockery’s literal death, but this likewise establishes a period of mourning and self-reflection as she is being transported by ‘a taxi implying a herse’. However, the persona suggests there is some consolation in life since she is ‘released’ by the past, the verb carrying connotations of the relief and freedom gained in knowing that the past no longer exists, whereas Larkin’s resignation towards life in sombre lines such as, ‘Whether or not we use it, it goes’, suggests Dockery’s death to be more of a call to take stock of his life and thus suggests it to be the beginning of the end. ‘Ambulances’ invites us to the idea that death is a private experience but this sense of intimacy can be misleading as it opens with the simile ‘closed like confessionals’. The sinister religious connotations suggest how the sudden belief in death has the ability to invoke regret as one realises the significance of their life; the narrator thus suggests that there is a need for secrecy at this personal revelation as he attributes the ambulance with a spectral quality by the dynamic verb ‘thread’, provoking images of the Moirae and their threads of fate, and thus constructing the image of the ‘traffic’ as being the fabricated flow of time. However, the persona reminds us that death is a definite reality as he eerily juxtaposes it against youthful innocence with ‘children strewn on steps or roads’. The verisimilitude of the ordinary urban scene also grants death a recognisable status, but at the same, Larkin demonstrates how death is inscrutable via the symbol of the ambulance: ‘giving back none of the glances they absorb’, presenting the ambulance, and therefore, death as a mystery which provides no answers. Similarly, ‘The Suicide’ provides as an example of how death can be cryptic as the persona presents a gothic scene breathlessly. The irregularly long opening line coupled with the pathetic fallacy in ‘bitter moon’ and ‘smudgy clouds’ conveys the speaker's rambling tone and her disorganised state of mind as she appears to plan her own death. These imagined, celestial characters provide a parallel with her emotional reality through the repeated vowel and consonant sounds in ‘gleam’ and ‘glee’, thus drawing attention to the sandwiched non-sequitur of ‘I dress in a shroud. The deliberate caesurae and the ending rhyme ‘me’ suggests she is preparing for and welcoming her death, a stark contrast with the ‘ambulances’ which ‘come to rest at any kerb’ and are the intruders that disturb the normality of everyday life. The reassuring universality of life is also missing in ‘The Su icide’, as the persona twists images of innocence such as with the modifier in ‘the horrid smiling mouths’, and conveys her contempt, much like the case of betrayal by her loved one. Duffy thus attempts to establish a personal relationship with death which is arguably seen as unnatural, whereas Larkin suggests that it is perfectly acceptable for death to transcend life and for our understanding of it to remain little. Larkin’s ‘Ambulances’ continues its cool narration which helps create an ironic quality to the scene when the speaker suddenly launches into the description of death in the second stanza, all whilst sustaining the organised verse form. Life is seen to quickly dissolve into the image of the ‘wild white face atop red stretcher blankets’, the elongated effect of the alliteration serving as the only definite point of transition. Otherwise, the face isn’t given any attention as ‘it is carried in and stowed’, the pronoun ‘it’ dehumanising the person and the use of verbs which carry connotations of luggage also demonstrates how our bodies are only perceived as vessels for our souls, and that without them, we are powerless. The witnesses, ie the children and women, show to have realised this reality. The epiphany delivered slowly in ‘And sense the solving emptiness’ uses the present continuous to suggest that this experience is universal, but the delivery in gentle sibilance conveys the hushed voice of the speaker as he establishes the event as a quiet memento mori. The obscurity thus suggests the unwillingness of facing the realisation that everything is pointless in the face of death. This is further demonstrated by the polysyndetic listing of ‘so blank and whole and true’, each adjective stressed as the persona makes an effort to capture the moment of realisation before it is lost. Paradoxically, these fatalistic descriptions also carry a sense of nihilism and indifference as Larkin here chillingly injects realism into the scene when he remind us of how we lose our humanity in death. Power and identity are also recurring ideas in ‘The Suicide’ as Duffy’s persona realises that death is a means of achieving recognition and establishing control when she feels trapped and isolated by life. This is denoted by the speaker declaring ‘my body is a blank page I will write on’; the modal verb ‘will’ and the monosyllabic lexis conveys the persona’s certain tone as she describes how her romantic notion of death will leave a clear message for the intended left behind. Similarly, Larkin also shows how death can leave revelations for those left behind, except Duffy here provides a specific example with the possessive determiner in ‘my body’. The use of the personal perspective conveys the speaker's isolation which is reiterated by the repeated syntactical structure of ‘Nobody’; this suggests her lack of recognition in life and how the preservation of it, ‘eyes in the glass like squids’, is deemed unnatural which is mirrored by the sardonic ‘Sexy’ that summarises the simile. By comparison, both poets indicate that death is a natural state due to the futility in living except Larkin suggests that this is a sudden realisation whereas Duffy demonstrates how the drawn-out angst of death is felt on the condition of being alive. The outer enclosed rhymes that contains the intertwining rhymes in ‘Ambulances’, such as the passive-sounding ‘air’ and ‘there’, captures Larkin’s conclusion of how death is the inevitable fate that overshadows our lives. The harsh sibilance in ‘the sudden shut of loss’ conveys the finality of the end but this ending remains dynamic, as the assonance invokes the sighing sound of the narrator as his summary of life, ‘unique blend of families and fashions’ is chased into the final verse where it is unravelled, the dynamism evoking the sense of continuity of time. The noun phrase ‘exchange of love’ denotes how life is a contractual obligation but is only temporary as the endgame is ‘to lie unreachable inside a room’ which connotes the undeniable loneliness in death. However, Larkin persists in remaining vague as he describes death with the euphemism ‘what is left to come’, thus establishing how death remains as an unspoken truth in society. Similarly, Duffy shows how the concept of death governs people in ‘The Suicide’ where the persona’s increasingly vindictive mood culminates into unrepentantly spitting out imperatives to the readers: ‘Fuck off. Worship. ’ The speaker here shows an awareness of the readers’ voyeurism who are compelled to follow her path to self-destruction and watch her play god as she ‘lies under the lightbulb’, literally suggesting the exposure to truth and figuratively conveying a sensual submission to her ‘lightbulb’ moment of self-inflicted death. However, we see the persona’s captivation is to the point of delusion. The dismissive tone and metaphor for life in ‘Who wants / a bloody valentine pumping its love hate love? offset by the deviantly collocated ‘bloody’ alongside the iambic dimeter, attributes the sound of two heartbeats to her confused valentine’s ‘love hate love’. Duffy thus suggests that reflecting over the fragility of life can drive a person to madness and, as Larkin suggests, there is a conservative view that promotes the secrecy of death, indicating how people fearfully deny death in their lives due to its ability to ex pose human frailty which may be seen as an uncomfortable consequence of death. Structurally, Duffy's haphazardly contained verses and the speaker's punning cliches such as ‘I take out the knives’ create a more heartfelt cognisance of death as something looked for and desirable, whereas Larkin’s standardised verses convey his reliable but frigid outlook on the subject. ‘Ambulances’ indicates that death is a passive presence; the echoing alliteration in ‘dulls to distance all we are’ and the collective pronoun ‘we’ concluded that death is the unavoidable fate universal to all of us and, that in death, we are all equal. Likewise, ‘The Suicide’ reflects how death can leave a resounding impact except, specifically, death’s legacy can be a notoriety caused by the decision to unnaturally decide your own death, instead of letting it take you, as suggested in ‘Ambulances’. The shocking irony in ‘This will kill my folks’ thus suggests how death can become an act act of spite when we wilfully plot our own demise instead of allowing death to take its own course. Larkin’s ‘Dockery and Son’ suggests there is a sense of tediousness in death rituals as the persona abruptly cuts off the Dean in the opening lines of the poem with a heavy caesura. Instead, he teases the readers with reminisces of ‘our version’ of the mischief he took part in with friends in the past. This emotional detachment from his old acquaintance’s death is defended by the transitive modifier ‘visitant’, proposing his apathy is appropriate with the neologism ‘death-suited’. This avoidance of the death is further demonstrated by focusing on the comforting familiarity of the surroundings: ‘A known bell chimes’. However, this comfort remains unreachable, announced by the speaker with the modifier ‘Locked’ as he revisits his old halls of residence. The polysyndeton in ‘Canal and clouds and colleges subside slowly from view’ support the adverb ‘slowly’ as Larkin illustrates this gradual passing of time and how the illusion can make one forget that life is limited, the persona thus showing how the event of death can provoke us to want to revisit the past. In ‘Never Go Back’, the speaker similarly explores the relationship between time and death, except here, death is used as a metaphor to describe loss as time itself is personified ‘left pining till it died’. Duffy thus suggests the human desire to enjoy more of life before death takes us, whereas Larkin’s numerical references to time ‘’43’, ‘twenty-one’ quantifies life and suggests a more practical view on the finiteness of time. The persona likewise revisits the past after the end of her marriage, as the narrative begins with the familiar scene of ‘where the living dead drink all day’, the oxymoron ‘living dead’ indicating how people live unfulfilled lives while the hard alliteration delivers a heavy droning sound that lends a mechanical quality to the scene. This conveys a sense of disillusionment with the social activities she used to enjoy, in contrast with ‘Dockery and Son’, where the speaker recalls the past with nostalgic reverence as he anecdotally reveals how Dockery used to share ‘rooms with Cartwright who was killed’. Both poets therefore demonstrate how death and loss can trigger retrospections of the past, Duffy arguing for the case of pain and abandonment in loss with the image of ‘a limping dog’, whereas Larkin avoids such sentiments with the trailing ellipsis in ‘How much . . How little . . . ’, the unfinished thoughts enacting Duffy’s convincing view on how the best emotional response to death is to ‘never go back. ’ The persona in ‘Dockery and Son’ begins to show an awareness of how life is ultimately a journey towards the final destination of death. The train station used symbolically as ‘the joining and parting lines’ simil arly imply the different crossroads existing in life and how companionship allows our roads to briefly overlap. However, the antithesis of the nouns ‘numbness’ and ‘shock’ suggests there is a sense of confusion when the speaker draws comparisons between Dockery’s accomplishments and his own, and ponders on the moment he strayed ‘widely from the others’. Therefore, the syndetic list of repeated negatives ‘no son, no wife, no house or land’ should depict the speaker’s failure of attaining any adult achievement, yet the nonchalance in ‘still seemed quite natural’ suggests that Larkin hadn't quite moved on from his time in university, the adverb ‘still’ indicating the speaker's struggle to come to terms with ageing and the flow of time. There is thus a sense of dread when Larkin contemplates the ‘strong unhindered moon’; the pathetic fallacy suggests the feebleness in differentiating our individual lifelines since we are all doomed to the ‘only end of age’, the adverb ‘only’ stressing the absoluteness and lack of choice in death. Duffy’s ‘Never Go Back’ also demonstrates an emotional resignation to the choices made as ‘the house’, which personifies the past, ‘prefers to be left alone’ amidst the overwhelming images of death; the verb ‘prefers’ suggests it has no intention of recovering from the metaphorical ‘cancer’ which spoils the glowing memory of it being ‘where you were one of the brides’. The house instead reprimands the persona with ‘You shouldn't be here’, the negative modal verb ‘shouldn't’ warning against the attempt to reconcile with the past. The speaker is thus unable to bitterly ruminate the past and abstains from comparing her life to others, ie her ex-husband, alternatively, allowing ‘objects’ (which pertain to the past) to symbolise life itself, and demonstrates how they can symbolically ‘fill a room with pain’ after the end of their use. This passiveness of the persona is also missing in ‘Dockery and Son’, where Larkin intentionally uses Dockery’s death as a means to appraise the value of his own life. Rather, the use of the second person narrative in ‘Never Go Back’ becomes increasingly significant as the speaker captures the suffocating quality of death, recreating the past through syntactic parallelism in ‘all the lies . . . and all the cries’, and the soft assonance in the pictorial image of ‘draw your loved body in blurred air’ conveying this ghostly effect as Duffy places the readers in closer proximity to death. Comparatively using the first person perspective, the speaker in ‘Dockery and Son’ is more prone to deviate from Dockery's unfortunate death and instead focuses on the bleakness of the mundane: ‘And ate an awful pie’. Therefore, both poets present life as a journey that is met with death, yet Larkin demonstrates how death can be used comparatively when we realise our own expiration date and consider the wider meaning of our lives, whereas Duffy indicates how grief can distort the past and how this can, in effect, emotionally paralyse a person. ‘Dockery and Son’ begins with a simplistic but regular alternating rhyme scheme which suits Larkin’s familiarity with his alma mater. The steady fall of sounds such as ‘give’ and ‘live’ capture the persona’s feelings of bittersweet nostalgia but this gradually evolves until the final syntactical structure of ABBCADDC, which creates the suitably dense texture demanded, as Larkin moves from describing his literal surroundings to attributing philosophical thoughts to death’s rendition of life. The speaker derogatorily muses that our acquisitions aren't as valuable as society's ‘innate assumptions’ perceive them to be, since they are superficially denounced as a ‘style’ that tragically ‘harden into all we’ve got’. There is thus a sense of futility in life inspired by the news of a young man’s death, as Larkin concludes that even our choices are obscurely decided by ‘something hidden from us chose’, the vague pronoun ‘something’ suggesting how the workings of life is beyond our comprehension while death remains a certainty that levels everyone in due time. ‘Never Go Back’ similarly concludes with the idea that life is governed by a mysterious entity, except here, it is explicitly denoted as greed and human desire. The crude images of the ‘sly sums of money’ and ‘a drenched whore’ connote a sense of the decay and degression found in society’s apparent hedonism. This enables death to run in parallel with life, as even the associated taxi driver is described by the cliche ‘looks like death’. Ironically, the speaker demonstrates how this illusion of life, and its false evolution, allows possibilities to remain open; the hollow sounds in the pronoun ‘nowhere’ and neologism ‘nowhen’ dissolves the significance of time and space, and instead grants importance to the present by the homely image of ‘the fires and lights come on wherever you live’. By comparison, Larkin suggests a sense of entrapment by the facade as ‘what we think truest . . . warp tight-shut’; the harsh syllables in the modifier ‘tight-shut’ elicit a sense of urgency as the speaker realises he is running out of time to achieve what he wishes, yet the possibilities remain cut off in ‘Dockery and Son’ due to the speaker’s acute awareness of death. In conclusion, Larkin and Duffy both demonstrate the omnipresence of death in our lives. Larkin uses his unassuming observations to describe death as an inescapable component of everyday life, thus suggesting that his point of enlightenment in ‘Dockery and Son’ marks too as a pessimistic beginning of the end. Duffy chooses to manifest death in everyday components of life, normalising death, and instead, offers the view in ‘Never Go Back’ that death provides a chance to understand that the past is gone, and also as a catalyst for hopeful beginnings. However, despite these contrarian views, both poets agree that death remains the undeniable ending to our lives

Why Were Nazis Accepted in Argentina After WWII

After World War Two, thousands of Nazis and wartime collaborators from France, Croatia, Belgium and other parts of Europe were looking for a new home: preferably as far away from the Nuremberg Trials as possible. Argentina welcomed hundreds if not thousands of them: the Juan Domingo Perà ³n regime went to great lengths to get them there, sending agents to Europe to ease their passage, providing travel documents, and in many cases covering expenses. Even those accused of the most heinous crimes, such as Ante Pavelic (whose Croatian regime murdered hundreds of thousands of Serbs, Jews and Gypsies), Dr. Josef Mengele (whose cruel experiments are the stuff of nightmares) and Adolf Eichmann (Adolf Hitlers architect of the Holocaust) were welcomed with open arms. It begs the question: Why on Earth would Argentina want these men? The answers may surprise you. Important Argentines Were Sympathetic Argentine President Juan Peron. Hulton Deutsch/Getty Images   During World War Two, Argentina clearly favored the Axis because of close cultural ties with Germany, Spain,  and Italy. This is not surprising, as most Argentines were of Spanish, Italian, or German descent. Nazi Germany nurtured this sympathy, promising important trade concessions after the war. Argentina was full of Nazi spies and Argentine officers and diplomats held important positions in Axis Europe. Perà ³ns government was a big fan of the fascist trappings of Nazi Germany: spiffy uniforms, parades, rallies, and vicious anti-Semitism. Many influential Argentines, including wealthy businessmen and members of the government, were openly supportive of the Axis cause, none more so than Perà ³n himself, who had served as an adjunct officer in Benito Mussolinis Italian army in the late 1930s. Although Argentina would eventually declare war on the Axis powers (a month before the war ended), it was partly a ploy to get Argentine agents in place to help defeated Nazis escape after the war. Connection to Europe Its not like World War II ended one day in 1945 and suddenly everyone realized how horrible the Nazis had been. Even after Germany was defeated, there were many powerful men in Europe who had favored the Nazi cause and continued to do so. Spain was still ruled by the fascist Francisco Franco and had been a de facto member of the Axis alliance; many Nazis would find safe if temporary, haven there. Switzerland had remained neutral during the war, but many important leaders had been outspoken in their support of Germany. These men retained their positions after the war and were in a position to help out. Swiss bankers, out of greed or sympathy, helped the former Nazis move and launder funds. The Catholic Church was extremely helpful as several high-ranking church officials (including Pope Pius XII) actively aided in the Nazis escape. Financial Incentive There was a financial incentive for Argentina to accept these men. Wealthy Germans and Argentine businessmen of German descent were willing to pay the way for escaping Nazis. Nazi leaders plundered untold millions from the Jews they murdered and some of that money accompanied them to Argentina. Some of the smarter Nazi officers and collaborators saw the writing on the wall as early as 1943 and began squirreling away gold, money, valuables, paintings and more, often in Switzerland. Ante Pavelic and his cabal of close advisors were in possession of several chests full of gold, jewelry and art they had stolen from their Jewish and Serbian victims: this eased their passage to Argentina considerably. They even paid off British officers to let them through Allied lines. The Nazi Role in Perà ³ns Third Way By 1945, as the Allies were mopping up the last remnants of the Axis, it was clear that the next great conflict would come between the capitalist USA and the communist USSR. Some people, including Perà ³n and some of his advisors, predicted that World War III would break out as soon as 1948. In this upcoming inevitable conflict, third parties such as Argentina could tip the balance one way or the other. Perà ³n envisioned nothing less than Argentina taking its place as a crucially important diplomatic third party in the war, emerging as a superpower and leader of a new world order. The Nazi war criminals and collaborators may have been butchers, but there is no doubt that they were rabidly anti-communist. Perà ³n thought these men would come in useful in the upcoming conflict between the USA and the USSR. As time passed and the Cold War dragged on, these Nazis would eventually be seen as the bloodthirsty dinosaurs they were. Americans and British Didnt Want to Give Them to Communist Countries After the war, communist regimes were created in Poland, Yugoslavia, and other parts of Eastern Europe. These new nations requested the extradition of many war criminals in allied prisons. A handful of them, such as the Ustashi General Vladimir Kren, were eventually sent back, tried, and executed. Many more were allowed to go to Argentina instead because the Allies were reluctant to hand them over to their new communist rivals where the outcome of their war trials would inevitably result in their executions. The Catholic Church also lobbied heavily in favor of these individuals not being repatriated. The allies did not want to try these men themselves (only 23 men were tried at the famous Nuremberg Trials), nor did they want to send them to the communist nations that were requesting them, so they turned a blind eye to the ratlines carrying them by the boatload to Argentina. Legacy of Argentinas Nazis In the end, these Nazis had little lasting impact on Argentina. Argentina was not the only place in South America that accepted Nazis and collaborators as many eventually found their way to Brazil, Chile, Paraguay, and other parts of the continent. Many Nazis scattered after Perons government fell in 1955, fearing that the new administration, hostile as it was to Peron and all of his policies, might send them back to Europe. Most of the Nazis who went to Argentina lived out their lives quietly, fearing repercussions if they were too vocal or visible. This was particularly true after 1960, when Adolf Eichmann, architect of the program of Jewish genocide, was snatched off a street in Buenos Aires by a team of Mossad agents and whisked off to Israel where he was tried and executed. Other wanted war criminals were too cautious to be found: Josef Mengele drowned in Brazil in 1979 after having been the object of a massive manhunt for decades. Nazi war criminal Adolph Eichmann stands in a protective glass booth flanked by Israeli police during his trial June 22, 1961 in Jerusalem. Handout/Getty Images   Over time, the presence of so many World War II criminals became something of an embarrassment for Argentina. By the 1990s, most of these aging men were living openly under their own names. A handful of them was eventually tracked down and sent back to Europe for trials,  such as Josef Schwammberger and Franz Stangl. Others, such as Dinko Sakic and Erich Priebke, gave ill-advised interviews, which brought them to the attention of the public. Both were extradited (to Croatia and Italy respectively), tried, and convicted. As for the rest of the Argentine Nazis, most assimilated into Argentinas sizable German community and were smart enough to never talk about their past. Some of these men were even quite successful financially, such as Herbert Kuhlmann, a former commander of the Hitler youth who became a prominent businessman. Sources Bascomb, Neil. Hunting Eichmann. New York: Mariner Books, 2009Goà ±i, Uki. The Real Odessa: Smuggling the Nazis to Perons Argentina. London: Granta, 2002.