Company Research Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Company Research - Assignment Example The company will be sponsoring FIFA world cup, it is launching a new website and it has over 400 offices in the US. Farmers insurance Inc. is an insurance company based in Los Angeles but with sub branches all over the nation. It deals with insurance and its contact information is https://www.farmers.com/careers.html and 1-800-435-7764. I would like to be a customer relations person as the job is flexible and I would be my own boss. This is the positive aspect but the negative one is that the company requires all employees to own cars. It has one of its values as curiosity, it hires fresh graduates and it has numerous agents with easy contact. The best company to work for is Google not only because it’s the best in Fortune 500 in 2013 but also because of its great culture which is the positive aspect of the company. Google is a search engine whose contact information is http://www.google.com/about/company/ and phone number is +1650-253-0000. It is located in Mountain View California. The best job position is on the management team because of the power and authority not to mention prestige. Its negative aspect is the wavering working hours. It is owned by young people, serves millions worldwide and was founded in

Advantages And Disadvantages Of Using A Pointer Computer Science Essay

Advantages And Disadvantages Of Using A Pointer Computer Science Essay Write advantages and disadvantages of using pointer. How the concept of pointers is useful in the implementation of data structures? A pointer allows a function or a program to access a variable outside the preview function or a program ,using pointer program can access any memory location in the computers memory. 2)since using return statement a function can only pass back a single value to the calling function, pointers allows a function to pass back more than one value by writing them into memory locations that are accessible to calling function. 3)Use of pointer increases makes the program execution faster 4)using pointers, arrays and structures can be handled in more efficient way. 5) without pointers it will be impossible to create complex data structures such as linked list , trees, and graphs. Disadvantages of pointers:- 1)we can access the restricted memory area. 2) Pointers require one additional dereference, meaning that the final code must read the variables pointer from memory, then read the variable from the pointed-to memory. This is slower than reading the value directly from memory. 3). If sufficient memory is not available during runtime for the storage of pointers, the program may crash When setting up  data ststructures  like  lists,  queues  and trees, it is necessary to have pointers to help manage how the structure is implemented and controlled.Pointers and Structures can be used to build data structures that expand and shrink during execution examples stack queues,trees etc.While pointer has been used to store the address of a variable,it more properly applies to data structures whose interface explicitly allows the pointer to be manipulated as a memory address.Because pointers allow largely unprotected access to memory addresses. 2). Elaborate the concept of Fixed block storage allocation and Buddy system in dynamic memory management. Sol. Fixed block storage allocation:- This is the simplest storage maintenance method. Here each block is of the same size. The size is determined by the system manager. Here the memory manager maintain a pointer AVAIL which points a list of non contiguous memory blocks. A user program communicate with the memory manager by means of two function GETNODE(NODE) and RETURNNODE(PTR).The procedure GETNODE is to get a memory block to store data of type NODE. This procedure when invoked by a program returns a pointer to first block in the pool of restorage. The AVAIL then points to the next block.If avail=NULL it indicates no more memory is available for allocation. Similarly whenever a memory block is no more required it can be returned to the memory bank through a procedure RETURN NODE(). Buddy system:- It is the another storage management system which restricts the size of blocks to some fixed set of sizes. These blocks of restricted sizes are maintained in a linked list. Whenever a request for a block of size N comes, the number M the smallest of the fixed sizes but equal to or largest than N, is determined and a block of size M is allocated if available on the list. If not available then a larger block if available is split into two sub-blocks known a s buddies. Each of them are also of fixed sizes and the process is repeated until a block of size M is produced. for example , if k=1 and Fo=8, then the block sizes are 8,16,32,64,128,à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦. THAT is ,the block sizes are successive powers of 2; and the buddy system based on such fixed sizes is called binary buddy system. 3.)Differentiate between static memory allocation and dynamic memory allocation. Illustrate various memory management functions Sol. In case of static storage management scheme , the net amount of memory required for various data for a program is allocated before the starting of the execution of a program once memory is allocated, it neither can be extended nor can be returned to the memory bank for the use of other programs at the same time. On the other hand dynamic storage management schemes allows user to allocate and deallocate as per necessity during the execution of programs. The static storage allocation is easy to implement and efficient from execution point of view .Here all variables those are required for a program is allocated during compile time this is why static storage allocation is a compile time phenomena. In this each subprogram/subroutine of a program is compiled separately and the space required for them is reserved till the execution of the program. On the other hand dynamic memory allocation , space for memory variables is allocated dynamically that is as per the current demand during the execution. When a subprogram is invoked space for it is allocated and space is returned when the subprogram completes its execution. Thus , the space required to run a program is not fixed as in static allocation, rather it varies as program execute. Various memory management functions:- 1)malloc():-The malloc function dynamically allocates memory from heap.The prototype for malloc() function is Void *malloc(size_t size); 2)calloc():- The calloc() function dynamically allocates memory automatically initializes the memory to zeroes. The prototype for calloc() function is Void *calloc(size_t nitems , size_t size); It takes two arguments . The first argument is the number of elements and the second argument is the size of each element. 3) realloc():- The realloc() function changes the size of previously dynamically allocated memory with malloc(), calloc(), realloc() functions.The prototype for realloc() function is Void *realloc(void *block, size_t size); It takes two argument . the first argument is the pointer to the original object and the second argument is the new size of the object. 4.)Write different ways to manage records in memory Sol.) Since records may contain non homogeneous data, the elements of a record cannot be stored in an array . Some programming languages such as PASCAL and COBOL do have record structures built into the language. Suppose a programming language does not have available the hierarchical structures that are available in PASCAL and COBOL . Assuming the record contains non homogeneous data , the record may have to be stored in individual variables , one for each of its elementary data items. On the other hand one wants to store an entire file of records, such a file may be stored in memory as a collection of arrays that is, where elements in different arrays with the same subscript belonging to the same record. Part-B 1.)Illustrate the use of array of pointers and pointers to an array Sol.) An array of pointers is that for eg if we have array of 10 int pointers ie int *a[10] then each element that which is stored in array are pointed by pointers. here we will have ten pointers. In pointer to an array for eg int(*a)[10] here all the elements that is all the ten elements are pointed by a single pointer. int *a[10]:-array of pointers. consider one array int b[10]={1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,0};so elements will be stored in addresses .now this address are stored in array of pointers.thats int *a[10]={b+0,b+1,b+2,b+3,b+4,b+5,b+6,b+7,b+8,b+9};means a+0=address of value 1 is the first element of int *a[](first element of int b[10])and so on. while int(*a)[10]:-here a is an pointer to an array containing 10 integers. suppose int b[10]; then a=b[10]; this will give element of int b[10] array thats b[0];and so on but in case of two dimensional array first we have to allocate base address of respective one dimensional array and base address of element of one dimensional array then only we can use pointer to an array. Give example to show the use of far pointer and dangling pointer problems Sol.) A far pointer uses both the segment and the offset address to point to a location in memory   The far pointer can point to any location in memory. . Far pointers have a size of 4 bytes . They store both the segment and the offset of the address the pointer is referencing. A far pointer has an address range of 0 1M bytes. A far pointer can be incremented and or decremented Only the offset of the pointer is actually incremented or decremented. The segment is never incremented by the arithmetic operators.On the other hand Dangling pointers are the pointers that do not point tao a valid object of the appropriate type. These pointers arise when an object is deleted or deallocated,without modifting the value of the pointer so that pointer stll points to the memory location of deallocated memory .As the system may reallocate the previously freed memory to another process ,if the original program then derefrences the dangling pointer,results in bugs or errors as the memory may contain com pletely different data.   Consider the following example { char *cp = NULL; { char c; cp = &c; }    /* cp is now a dangling pointer */ } Solution to dangling pointer: char *cp = malloc ( A_CONST ); free ( cp ); /* cp now becomes a dangling pointer */ cp = NULL; /* cp is no longer dangling */ Differentiate between linked list and arrays in terms of representations, traversal and searching. Sol.) 1)In case of array traversing is used visiting all elements in an array while to traverse a single linked list we mean to visit every node in the list starting from first node to last node. 2).Searching operation in an array is applied to search an element interest in an array.It is a process of finding the location of given element in an array.The search is said to be successful if the given element is found.there are two types of search operation : Linear search Binary search If the array elements are in random order then one have to use linear search technique and if the array elements are sorted then it is preferable to choose binary search technique.While in case of linked list only linear searching is possible.This is one of the limitation of linked lists as there is no way to find the location of the middle element of the list. can we perform binary search in linked list ,if no then illustrate the reason. Sol.) No, we cannot perform binary search in linked list because there is no way Of indexing the middle element in the list. With a sorted linear array we can apply a binary search whose running time is proportional to log2n. On the other hand a binary search algorithm cannot be applied to a sorted linked list, since there is no way of indexing the middle element in the list. This property is one of the main drawbacks in using a linked list as a data structure.

Jet Crashes :: essays research papers

In this story: 'No chance of rescue' At least 100 cars set afire Pilot reports balance problem RELATED STORIES, SITES From staff and wire reports RANCHO CORDOVA, California (CNN) - The investigation into the fiery crash of an Emery cargo jet that killed all three crew members is focused on a shift in the plane's load shortly after it took off from Sacramento, California. The DC-8 plunged into a nearby auction yard of wrecked cars, leaving a quarter-mile-long trail of burning debris. Authorities said the pilot of Emery Worldwide Flight 17 reported that the jet's cargo shifted shortly after takeoff Wednesday evening. The plane, its balance disrupted, tried to return to Mather Field for an emergency landing. Instead, it crashed in a fireball about a mile east of the airport just before 8 p.m. There were no reported injuries on the ground. 'No chance of rescue' One witness said the plane hit the ground belly first and was immediately surrounded by fire. Nobody on the ground was injured. The plane, bound for Dayton, Ohio, carried three crew members: the pilot, first captain and a flight engineer, all believed to be Emery employees, said company spokesman James Allen. The crew members, whose identities were not immediately released, were dead by the time fire crews arrived, said Capt. Dan Haverty, from the American River Fire Department in Rancho Cordova, California, a suburb of Sacramento. "There was no chance of rescue," he said. Firefighters were hampered by intense flames, which burned for several hours after the crash. Smoke was visible in the moonlit night several miles away. At least 100 cars set afire The plane's cargo included clothing, transmission fluid and a small amount of fuses -- 9 grams, or about a third of an ounce -- used to activate automobile air bags, Allen said. The crash at the Insurance Auto Auctions salvage yard set between 100 to 200 cars on fire, many with gas in their tanks, causing several explosions. Debris cut a swath about 250 yards wide and a quarter mile long. Firefighters worked into the night extinguishing scattered flames. Debris from the plane, including a 15-foot-long piece of the fuselage and a wheel assembly, was found scattered among the wrecked cars. j Dozens of vehicles were crumpled. Pilot reports balance problem The flight took off at 7:50 p.m. and the pilot immediately called back to the airfield's departure control and told them he had a severe problem with the balance of the aircraft, said Jim Whitehead, manager of the Federal Aviation Administration's regional operations center in Los Angeles. The plane hit the ground "in a ball of

Gap 5 Porter

Introduction Gap, Inc. is a leading American specialty apparel retailer based in San Francisco, California. It sells casual apparels, accessories, and other personal care products for men, women, and children. The products of Gap, Inc. include denim, khakis, T-shirts, boxers, casual wear, and others. Currently, the company boasts approximately 150,000 employees and 3,139 stores all around the world. Gap, Inc. sustains a large number of brands, namely Gap, Old Navy, Banana Republic, Forth & Towne, Piperlime, and others. These different companies are bought by the parent company in different times. Started as a general jeans retiling store, Gap, Inc. today has a market value of $13. 32 billions. Throughout its history, Gap, Inc. has established itself as a leader in the industry. What began as one brand has grown to include Gap, GapKids, babyGap, GapMaternity and gapbody. Gap has become a cultural icon by offering clothing and accessories rooted in cool, confident and casual style to customers around the world. The article which title â€Å"Gap Goes Global† in 2006 is about Gap, Inc wanted to franchise its business to overseas. It announces a franchise agreement with Dubai-based retailer Al Tayer Group to open Gap and Banana Republic stores in five markets in the Middle East. Besides planning on the Middle East outlets, Gap and Singaporean franchisee F. J. Benjamin expect to open stores in coming months in Singapore and Malaysia. Gap is also wish to follow the example set by other American brands that have successfully expanded in Asia and the Middle East, such as Starbucks. Gap's current international expansion strategy of working with local franchisees reduces Gap's financial risks. Using franchisees, Gap is able to sell its brand and its clothing without the headaches of navigating local real estate markets and hiring armies of store-level employees onto its own payroll. All of Gap's existing overseas stores in Britain, France, and Japan are owned and operated by the company, a setup that has at times proven expensive and unwieldy. Purpose and Values of Gap, Inc â€Å"Gap Inc. is a brand-builder. They create emotional connections with customers around the world through inspiring product design, unique store experiences and compelling marketing. Their purpose is simply, to make it easy for the customers to express their personal style throughout their life. They have more than 150,000 passionate, talented people around the world who help bring this purpose to life for their customers. Across the company and embedded in culture, their key values that guide their success are: integrity, respect, open-mindedness, quality and balance. Every day, they honor these values and exemplify their belief in doing business in a socially responsible way. † Five Forces Analysis Today, retail apparel industry is a very competitive industry to be in. Porter’s five forces model shows that there is already a low barrier to enter but it is hard to establish a distinct brand name, threat of substitutes is strong for the retail apparel industry, the intensity of rivalry is high since the industry is already facing a fast growth, supplier’s bargaining power is weak because they have limited power, and lastly buyers’ power is strong as they have variety of choices. Threat of New Entrant Although it is not hard to enter the clothing retail business, it is hard to establish a distinct brand name. Gap faces little threat of increases in price competition by entry of new firms into the market. Smaller boutique-style clothing stores may be able to compete on a local level brand, however such firms likely would not be able to expand, and Gap enjoy a cost advantage in producing staple articles of clothing, such as jeans and sweaters. Due to economies of scale in producing large amounts of clothing, entrants will have extremely hard time producing clothing at cheap enough prices to compete with Gap and its competitors. Entrants would also have difficulty in finding supplier firms who would produce their clothing at a competitive cost level. Costs drop per unit of clothing produced, and an entering firm would need to order a large amount of clothing in order to enjoy the same economies of scale that Gap enjoys. Brand loyalty is also important in fashion. Because many consumers have strong preferences for certain brands or styles of clothing, new entrants would find difficulty in increasing the amount of customers they attract to their stores without incurring significant advertising expenses. Because of their size advantage and economies of scale in advertising, Gap has a significant advertising advantage over all other direct competitors within the specialty apparel market. They can afford to run well-known nationwide television advertising campaigns while other firms in the market do little or no TV advertising. A new entrant trying to steal away brand loyal customers from Gap would need vast advertising resources in order to establish their brand and be competitive, which is unlikely for an emerging firm. Threat of Substitutes There are many substitutes in casual clothing industry. Since there are a wide variety of products that people can choose, they could either be substituted by sporting products, business apparels, cheap clothing materials, and others. On an industry level, there is no popular substitute for clothing. A booming economy where individuals have more disposable income may lead them to buy more clothing. In the reverse situation, demand for new clothing will likely drop if the economy is performing poorly. Because there are no substitutes for clothing, an increase in price by one firm will cause consumers to purchase clothing from another firm. If prices rise throughout the industry, consumers will buy less clothing. Bargaining Power of Suppliers In retailing industry, the power of suppliers varies depending on the company itself. As per Gap, Inc. , the suppliers have limited power. The annual report states that no suppliers supply more than 3% of the company’s demand. This gives Gap, Inc. power to set the price of its raw materials. Supplier power is concentrated in the firms who supply the raw materials for clothing production and the factories that are contracted to produce them. There are many sellers in both markets, and the power they possess is limited since demanding a higher price will cause the clothing manufacturer to buy the raw materials elsewhere. For instance, Gap contracts factories in over 60 different countries; if one factory is asking too high a price to produce their clothes, Gap can take their business elsewhere. Only if a factory holds a certain expertise in producing a certain type of clothing will they hold much power over the firm selling the clothes. Bargaining Power of Buyer The buyers have variety of choices to make in the retail clothing industry. Since there are various competitors and substitutes in the company, the buyers might move shopping around. Hence, the companies have to work harder to retain the clients. Intensity of rivalry between existing competitors Gap Inc. operates within the specialty retail apparel market, a market which contains several large direct competitors, such as American Eagle Outfitters, Abercrombie and Fitch, J. Crew and Aeropostale. Because of the nature of the fashion industry, independent specialty stores and boutiques can compete with these larger brands on a localized level. It is worth mentioning that superstore retailers such as Target and Wal-Mart sell low-priced, lower-quality clothes, so they could also be considered as indirect competitors to Gap. Clearly, there are a large number of apparel retailers, and a smaller, though still large, number of direct competitors to Gap within the specialty retail industry. This competitive landscape lends itself to a high level of price competition. The company is bound to encounter tough rivalry not only from established local brands but from other American casual-clothing labels, including Esprit, Levi Strauss, Tommy Hilfiger and Ralph Lauren. Competition, therefore, arises in fashion. Firms want to appeal to as many consumers as possible while keeping those already loyal to the brand happy with the style of clothes the firm offers. The winning style maintains the brand loyal customers association with the firm’s image, while attracting new buyers. A mistake in fashion, however, will lead some loyal customers to abandon their brand, and will fail to attract new customers. Strategy Gap, Inc used international expansion as a strategy to expand their product all around the world. Gap Inc. perates more than 3,100 stores in the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, France, Japan and Ireland. In addition, Gap Inc. is expanding its international presence with franchise agreements in Asia, Europe, Latin America and the Middle East. Conclusion Based on the article from The Financial which title â€Å"Gap Inc. Expands Global Presence through New Franchise Agreement to Serve Customers in Israel† in 2009, it is prov en that Gap, Inc has go Global using franchising in 14 countries. Gap Inc. has opened 89 Gap and 32 Banana Republic franchise stores in 14 countries around the world. Gap franchise stores are open in Bahrain, Greece, Indonesia, Korea, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Malaysia, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Philippines, Singapore, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates. In addition, Gap Inc. has signed and announced agreements to open Gap and Banana Republic franchise stores in Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Romania, Egypt and Jordan. REFERENCES Brendan, S. , Michael, M. , (2005), Gap, Inc Strategic report, SageGroup, LLP, Retrived from economics. pomona. edu/jlikens/†¦ /Reports/Gapreport. pdf Company information, purpose and values, Retrieved from http://www. gapinc. om/public/OurBrands/brands_gap. shtml Masaaki, K. , (1999), Gap Inc. Rachel, T. , (2006), Gap Tries on European Style, Retrieved from http://www. businessweek. com/globalbiz/content/jun2006/gb20060608_179268. htm Louise, L. , (2006), Gap Goes Global, Retrieved from www. businessweek. com Gap Inc. Expands Global Presence through New Franchise Agreement to Serve Customers in Israel, Retrieved from www. finch annel. com ———————– Bargaining Power of Suppliers Bargaining power of buyer Intensity of rivalry between existing competitors Threat of Substitutes Threat of New Entrants

The Reality of Imagination

The Reality of the Imagination Rebecca Smarcz Poetry is a dichotomy of imagination and reality. It requires metaphors and abstract symbols as representatives of the poet’s imagination. These metaphors and symbols are depicted through concrete images in order to correlate with the reality that the reader and poet exist in. According to Roy Harvey Pearce’s essay Wallace Stevens: The Life of the Imagination, Stevens refers to himself as an â€Å"exponent of the imagination† and â€Å"As poet, he [Stevens] is†¦an ‘exponent of the imagination’†¦But, as human being, he finds that he must hold the imagination to concrete reality† (Pearce 117).Pearce, along with many other critics, believe that the diverging relationship between an imaginative world and reality is one of Stevens’ biggest concerns and struggles in his poetry. This battle between imagination and reality existed for Stevens in poetry as well as in his everyday life. In a letter to Ronald Lane Latimer in March 1937, Stevens wrote, â€Å"I have been trying to see the world about me both as I see it and as it is† (Beckett 117).This struggle between imagination and reality is extremely apparent in Stevens’ poetry, specifically in Evening Without Angels and A Fading of the Sun, both of which were published in the 1936 volume Ideas of Order. Stevens contrasts images of light and dark, sun and night, in Evening Without Angels and A Fading of the Sun in order to illustrate a dichotomy between imagination and reality as well as truth and individual perception.While Stevens establishes a strict opposing relationship in the beginnings of these specific poems, by the conclusion of each of the poems he recognizes that both imagination and truth are necessary components of art and life by the uniting imagination and reality as complements of each other, rather than divergent elements. He uses poetry as a medium to address the relationship between i magination and truth, and these poems are no exception. In the very beginning of A Fading of the Sun Stevens directly calls upon the audience to question the extremity between light and dark, and in turn, the conflict between imagination and reality.He begins with, â€Å"Who can think of the sun costuming clouds,† which directly asks the audience to imagine (Fading 1). The verb â€Å"to think,† while it can also convey an action dealing with factual knowledge, Stevens clearly uses it in this circumstance in an imaginative sense by the sun image he asks the audience to think of. The sun implies bright, openness, and light; therefore, it serves as a symbol for the imagination. With imagination there is room for interpretation and variations among individual imaginations.The double meaning of the verb â€Å"to think,† the factual versus the imaginative meaning, inherently adds to the struggle Stevens faces regarding imagination and reality when he writes poetry. Fu rthermore, Stevens establishes an opposing relationship between light and dark throughout the first three stanzas of A Fading of the Sun. In the first stanza Stevens calls upon the audience to imagine â€Å"the sun costuming clouds. † The image of the sun â€Å"costuming,† masking, or covering up the clouds is unrealistic and the reader can only rely on his imagination to picture this image (Fading 1).The sun can never cover up the clouds because of their location in the earth’s atmosphere; they are always in front of the sun. Furthermore, due to their density and chemical makeup the sun’s light will always be muffled when it tries to penetrate even the thinnest cloud. If the audience does go along with Stevens’ image of the sun masking the clouds, they imagine a scene in which they can only see the brightness of the sun with no shadows or darkness, just pure light, pure imagination.However, with this intense sunlight, â€Å"people are shaken† (Fading 2). Here, Stevens comments on the issue of poetry and life only having imagination, completely excluding truth and reality. People are uneasy with too much sunlight and imagination, with no reality to balance it out. In contrast to poetry and life having too much sunlight and imagination, Stevens also negatively remarks upon life and poetry being solely centered on darkness and reality. Darkness implies truth and definiteness because there is only one color with darkness: black.There is sureness in this color, there is no room for other interpretations, there is just black, just darkness, just reality and truth. Too much darkness causes people to â€Å"cry for help† and makes their bodies â€Å"grow[s] suddenly cold† (Fading 5, 7). People become lifeless and succumb to unhappiness when there is no imagination in their lives. With this opaque darkness â€Å"The tea is bad, bread sad,† ultimately, Stevens implies that imagination is like sustenance for the mind (Fading 8). Food gives energy to the body and is necessary for survival just as imagination is necessary for survival.Stevens tarnishes tea and bread in order to relate how the body becomes tarnished when it is only surrounded by reality and when humans exists without imagination. Without food â€Å"people die;† therefore, without imagination they cannot live their lives to the fullest (Fading 10). Moreover, Stevens affirms that it is impossible to be happy â€Å"without a book. † He states that it is a lie â€Å"If joy shall be without a book† (Fading 11). Here, Stevens uses the book as a symbol for art, poetry, and imagination. Life without art and imagination will be dark and unhappy; it is like a sky without sun.Imagination needs to be a part of poetry and life, but although this may be true for Stevens in these first stanzas, Stevens eventually settles upon the notion that reality must be a component in poetry and life as well. Stevens searches for a balance between light and dark, imagination and reality, in this poem and in life and he finds that balance in the last stanza. Stevens erases his prior negative outlook on the diverging relationship of imagination and reality by creating an image of the sun and night working together.The â€Å"pillars of the sun, / Supports of night† is a direct reference to Stevens’ realization of the harmonizing combination of imagination and truth (Fading 16-17). The sun symbolizes imagination while the night represents reality. With these sun pillars supporting the night people live a full life with tea and wine that are good and bread and meat that are sweet. Stevens creates this image of the sun and night transcending their opposing differences in order to establish the idea that imagination and reality are important parts to life and poetry.When Stevens combines the image of the sun, representing imagination, with the night, symbolizing reality, â€Å"The wine is good. The bread, / †¦ is sweet† (Fading 18-19). Although Stevens also refers to tea and meat as being edible and good with the unification of imagination of reality, he forces the reader to focus solely on the wine and bread images by placing the wine and bread in the same line of the poem. Stevens’ inclusion of the wine and bread images seems to be a clear religious reference to Jesus Christ in which Jesus offers his body and blood to his disciples in the form of bread and wine.When Jesus offered these gifts to his disciples his disciples needed faith and imagination to truly believe that these real, tangible items were indeed the body and blood of Jesus Christ. This idea that faith is needed in order to transcend the reality of these items correlates with the relationship between imagination and reality that Stevens addresses throughout this poem. Furthermore, with any religion, there is a necessary balance between faith, imagination, and belief, with reality, certainty, a nd truth. An individual must believe in his faith of the afterlife but he must also not ignore the reality of his life on earth.This last stanza supports Lucy Beckett’s claim of â€Å"Stevens’ constant devotion to reality, his belief that the phrase ‘the truth of the imagination’ has a meaning only with respect to the imagination’s relation with reality. † Although Stevens’ poetry is largely based in his imaginative world, Beckett notes that Stevens realizes his â€Å"responsibility† as a poet to balance imagination and reality (Beckett 42). Stevens’ even states in his essay ‘Effects of Analogy’ that when writing poetry The poet is constantly concerned with two theories.One relates to the imagination as a power within him not so much to destroy reality at will as to put it to his own uses†¦The second theory relates to the imagination as a power within him to have such insights into reality (Beckett 43). In A Fading of the Sun Stevens uses his power as a poet to combine reality with imagination and he faces the same task in Evening Without Angels. Stevens, once again, addresses the relationship between imagination and reality in his poem Evening Without Angels and immediately calls attention to the natural separation between imagination and reality in the beginning lines of the poem.He opens the poem with the question, â€Å"Why seraphim like lutanists arranged / Above the trees? † directly placing seraphim, or angels, on a separate level from the trees (Evening 1-2). Stevens immediately creates this image of separation between imaginative beings, seraphim, and the trees, which represent the earth and reality. He creates this separation between imagination and reality in this first stanza in order to set up the conflict between the two components throughout the poem, and then, just as he does in A Fading of the Sun, concludes the poem with the complementary combination of bot h imagination and reality.Furthermore, Stevens directly questions the audience in these opening lines in order to force the audience to wonder why there has to be a separation of imagination and reality in poetry and in life. In other words, Stevens sparks a wondering in the audience in the beginning of the poem and throughout the poem brings the audience on journey to discover the true balance of imagination and reality. Stevens continues to question the dichotomy between imagination and reality by issuing the question in the third stanza, â€Å"Was the sun concoct for angels or for men? (Evening 10). Here, the sun is representative of the imagined world, specifically heaven. Stevens questions whether the imagined world is only reserved for imagined things, like angels, or if men can be a part of the imagined world as well. Later on in the poem, Stevens declares that men, indeed, â€Å"are men of sun;† they are part of the imagined world (Evening 14). However, before Steven s comes to this realization he wants the audience to think about man’s place in the imagined world.After he questions whether the imagined world is for men or for angels he states, â€Å"Sad men made angels of the sun, and of / The moon they made their own attendant ghosts† (Evening 11-12). From this passage, Stevens seems to be affirming his pro-imagination stance. When men only place angels, or imagined things in their imagination, instead of incorporating imagination into their own human reality, they become unhappy. Again, Stevens utilizes the image of the moon in order to symbolize reality; therefore, when men do not have any sun or imagination in their lives, they become ghosts in their reality.Ghosts are translucent figures without any substance to them, so without imagination men exist in their reality without any substance; they are empty beings. Therefore, in order to have substance in poetry and in life imagination must be included. In a letter that Stevens wrote to Latimer in 1936 he states, â€Å"There is a point at which intelligence destroys poetry† (H. Stevens 20). Intelligence, fact, truth, and reality, according to Stevens, obstruct and hinder the imagination that exists in poetry. Stevens, when writing poetry consciously limited reality’s influence and focused on the art of imagination.However, while imagination is obviously important to Stevens, just as he does in A Fading of the Sun, he also stresses the importance of a balance between imagination and reality in the last few stanzas of Evening Without Angels. He discusses how â€Å"The motions of the mind† often times â€Å"Desire for rest† (Evening 21, 24). Stevens associates these â€Å"motions of the mind† with â€Å"Light† while the need for rest is associated with darkness, clearly implying that the imagination needs to be muffled by darkness, or reality (Evening 20-21).Here, Stevens clearly establishes his â€Å"devotion to rea lity† (Beckett 42). But, it is not until the last few lines of the poem that Stevens demonstrates the importance of a balance between imagination and reality. In the last lines of Evening Without Angels Stevens creates the image in which imagination becomes truth. Stevens writes, â€Å"Where the voice that is in us makes a true re- / sponse† (Evening 34-35). The voice is a symbol of the poetic voice inside the poet as well as the imaginative voice that lives inside of each individual.Through his poetry Stevens uses his poetic voice as a tool to unite imagination and reality. Finally, Stevens concludes the poem by creating the juxtaposition of the sun and moon: â€Å"Where the voice that is great within us rises up, / As we stand gazing at the rounded moon† (Evening 36-37). Again Stevens attributes sun-like qualities to the imagination by giving it the motion of rising up. Then, he combines the imaginative world and reality by placing the individual in a dark sett ing, staring at the moon, which is a symbol for reality.Stevens connects the imagination to the rising of the sun in order to make the audience aware that the sun and moon, although they are opposites, do indeed complement each other. Everyday the sun rises and then it sets, allowing night to start, indicating reliance upon one another. If the sun does not rise and set the moon will not be seen. Sister M. Bernetta Quinn explains in her essay, Metamorphosis in Wallace Stevens, that Stevens’ poetry â€Å"deals with the concrete, the particular; philosophy, with the abstract† (Quinn 69).Throughout his writing, Stevens stresses that imagination and reality are both necessary components of life and poetry. He is able to come to this conclusion by the act of poetry writing, in which he incorporates metaphors and symbols as representatives of his imagination. These metaphors and symbols are grounded in concrete images and reality in order for the audience to be able to unders tand and relate to Stevens’ imagination and create their own imaginative world through his writing. Work Cited Beckett, Lucy. Wallace Stevens. New York: Cambridge UP, 1974.Print. Pearce, Roy H. â€Å"Wallace Stevens: The Life of Imagination. †Ã‚  Wallace Stevens. Ed. Marie Borriff. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall, 1963. N. pag. Print. Quinn, Sister M. Bernetta. â€Å"Metamorphosis in Wallace Stevens. † Wallace Stevens. Ed. Marie Borriff. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall, 1963. N. pag. Print. Stevens, Holly. Souvenirs and Prophecies: The Young Wallace Stevens. N. p. : Alfred A. Knopf, 1977. Print. Stevens, Wallace. The Collected Poems of Wallace Stevens. New York: Vintage, 1990. A Fading of the Sun & Evening Without Angels. Print.