Irony Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Irony - Essay Example The widow was pretending to mourn her husband’s death but in the real sense she was very happy that she was free at last. The other part that irony was really brought out was when she died on realizing that her husband had died. â€Å"The Story of an Hour† brings out irony to a great extent. Mrs. Louise Mallard had a heart problem which made it hard for Josephine, her sister to comfortably tell her of her husband’s death. Josephine learned about the news from Richards who was the first to learn about the death of his friend. He had received the news earlier in the office when the railroad tragedy came in. Richards asked Josephine to break the news to her because she was her sister (Chopin, n.pg).. Mallard was among the people communicated to have died during the disaster. Josephine and Richards were hesitating to tell Mrs. Mallard that her husband was dead because she was suffering from heart disease. They feared that this news would kill her from a heart attack, traumatize her or could not be able to handle the news. Nevertheless, Josephine delivered the news to her sister. Surprisingly, her respond to the horrible news of her husband’s death was as that of a freed bird. This was exactly the opposite of what they expected her to respond. Mrs. Mallard accepted the news unexpectedly fast and locked herself in her room to be on her own. This was ironic too because she just sat comfortable and looking through the window ad never shed tears or got sick as expected. This shows that she was relieved to learn of her husband’s death. The news of, however, left her feeling free and happy that her husband was no longer around (Chopin, n.pg). She did not even bother to enquire what exactly happened which is unexpected and rare behavior to most people who have been left by their loved ones. Her heart was beating fast because of joy and not because of worry. According to Chopin (n.pg), She was thinking about her life in freedom and she felt that

Buy American Act for Government Contracts Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Buy American Act for Government Contracts - Essay Example The provisions of the Buy American Act therefore ensure that materials for use in developing public facilities are product of the United States. The particularly designated materials under the act’s control are iron, steel, and their products. If a construction material is a product of foreign raw materials then it only qualifies for application in developing public facilities if at least fifty percent of its raw materials are domestic (Ncsl, 2009). The act however grants leaf for application of such ‘non-domestic’ materials, in the specified category, under three conditions. The first condition is if the material is not domestically produced in either desirable quality or quantity. Leaf is also granted in cases where application of domestic products under the category would inflate costs by more at least 25 percent. A leaf is similarly granted for use of ‘non-domestic’ materials if application of domestic materials would be contrary to the interest o f the American people. A contract under such waiver is however supposed to be reported in an official and written form. BAA regulations however exempt some countries, countries with trade ties to the United States. These countries enjoy the benefits as though their products were manufactured in the United States (Ncsl, 2009). Personal position over the Buy American Requirements The Buy American Requirements’ provisions are discriminatory, unfair and against the spirit of globalization and international trade. Selective waiver of the provision to some countries identifies discrimination against the countries to which total waiver is denied. The waiver is particularly designed to favor developed countries that have advanced technology into ‘large-scale’ production. Developing countries for example lacks the capacity to supply higher quantity of materials than can be produced by the United States’ domestic resources. This therefore means that only countries w ith high production capacity can trade in the regulated materials in America. It is similarly irrational to expect a developing country to exceed the United States in production capacity if both countries have the raw material. The act therefore significantly cuts off developing companies from trade in the specified materials in public facility development. While restricting trade with a foreign country would be rational, basing the reason on quantity is unfair to both the countries that with to trade in the restricted goods and the American taxpayers. This is because cheaper and higher quality materials could be derived from other countries whose production capacity might be lower than that of the United States. I therefore hold the opinion that the act is unfair and discriminatory may negatively influence the spirit of international trade between the United States and some countries (Ludwig, n.d). The Buy American requirement and the government position of a â€Å"free marketâ₠¬  The provisions of the Buy America act completely contradict claims of a free market in the United States economy. This is because the natural forces of demand and supply control a free market as opposed to establishment of control measures by the act. Developing rules to control the market such as restricting market access to specified sellers therefore undermines the doctrine of a free market system. This is because under free market economy, which America claims to have, trade initiatives are directed by people’s ‘self-interest’