Employee Turnover Types, Theories and Effects

Employee Turnover Types, Theories and Effects In this chapter, the literature review is aimed to present the concept, models, theories and previous research to the causes and correlation of employee turnover. The contents focus on employee turnover, the factors that influence the employee turnover: personal characteristics, job satisfaction, organisational commitment and perceived alternative job opportunities. Employee turnover has been defined by Price (1977) as the movement of members across the boundary of an organisation. As Mobley (1982) defined that turnover is the voluntary cessation of membership in an organisation by an individual who receives monetary compensation for participating in that organisation. This definition emphasises voluntary behavior because primary turnover model seek to explain what motivates employees to withdraw from the workplace. Furthermore, this concept focuses on separation from an organisation and not includes accession, transfer, or other internal movements through an organisation. Moreover, there are many definitions in same perspective from many authors as Van der Merwe and Miller (1996) stated that employee turnover is a permanent withdrawal and also function of the person-work relationship. The authors emphasise that there should be a fit between the worker, the agency and the environment. If this fit is not present or available, turnover is likely to occur. This relationship is considered pervasive. It can be affected by any or all aspects of the job situation, both inside and outside the employing organisation. Lane (2001) described employee turnover as the result of both quits and layoffs and further states that some turnover is a result of jobs in one firm being destroyed and jobs in another firm being created and hence due to the reallocation of jobs across the economy in response to changes in product demand. From the descriptions above, the researcher could conclude that job turnover is when employees leave their employment permanently and the entrance of new employees to the organisation. That employee turnover can either be positive or negative, but all have a significant impact on productivity (Boxall and Baldwin, 2002) Types of employee turnover There are two different types of employee turnover in an organisation that many authors have identified the following types of employee turnover: Voluntary turnover Gomez-Mejia et al (1997) defined voluntary turnover as a separation that occurs when an employee decides for personal reasons to end the relationship with the employer. The decision could be based on the employee obtaining a better job, changing career, or wanting more time for family or the present job is unattractive because of poor working conditions, low pay or benefits, and bad relationship with supervisor. In most cases the decision to leave is a combination of having attractive alternative opportunities and being unhappy with aspects of the current job. Sims (2007) conceded that voluntary turnover occurs when an employee initiates the termination of their employment of their own free will. Quits is one type of voluntary turnover. Grobler et al (2002) defined quits as occurring when an employee leaves the organisation without giving the normal period of notice (e.g. one month). It is usually a sudden decision by the employee. Thus, it should be noted that quits can occur at any time and mostly when the organisation least expects it. This can be serious impact on the organisations total performance and productivity. Although organisation can not do much about employee quitting, they can try to determine the possible reason for leaving or for making that decision. Involuntary turnover Gomea-Mejia et al (1997) defined that involuntary turnover occurs when management decides to terminate its relationship with an employee due to economic necessity or a poor fit. The organisation or the employee cannot control this type of turnover. It is further stressed by the authors that involuntary turnover results in very serious and painful decisions that can have a profound impact on the entire organisation, espacially the employee who loses his or her job. Mkhize (1998) concedes involuntary turnover as when an employee is asked by the organisation to leave. Involuntary turnover represents employer-initiated job separations over which employee have little or no personal say, such as dismissal or layoffs. Sims (2007) also concedes that involuntary turnover arises when employment is terminated against the wishes of employees. Those authors from their definitions stress the fact that with this type of turnover is result from the employers decision rather than the employee. It mig ht be employers would not want to keep poor performers or excess manpower. The costs of employee turnover Kelly (2001) stated that employee turnover costs are the problem that most executives are aware of but do not acknowledge as a potential loss of revenue. A lot of disadvantages that are brought up by employee turnover are clearly evident in cost benefit analyses. Human resource mangers know that employee turnover is a major cost and significantly impacts an organisation (Irvancewich, 1994). Many managers refuse to face up to these costs, but they might be forced to do so when considering the various factors necessary to calculate the cost of employee wastage (Stewart,1998) According to Mitchell et al (2001), employee turnover imposes extensive cost both the individual and the organisation level. At individual level, it does not matter if the person leaves voluntarily to another job or is forced to leave and take a personal toll. For organisation level, the problem arises when leaving employees take their valuable knowledge and expertise gained through experience with them. This turnover leads to numerous costs for the organisation, such as: Exist interview time and administrative requirement Payout of unused vacation time Cost of temporary workers Overtime for co-workers Training costs Replacement costs, include advertising, processing of candidates, interviewing, selecting. Potter (2002) postulated that employee turnover is a critical cost driver for American business. The cost of retaining and filling vacancies, lost productivity from vacant jobs and cost of training new employees increase operational costs. Elements of the cost of job turnover very widely and depend on whether all cost elements are recognised. The author further identifies three primary elements of employee turnover costs that include the following; Staffing Costs Sometimes are referred to as cost per hire. These include the costs of recruiting job applicants (such as advertising or job board posting, screening applicants, personal search, service brokerage fees, relocation expenses and signing bonuses). Vacancies cost While a position is vacant the productivity of the former employee is lost and the productivity of the overall organisation is reduced as the remaining workers cope with being shorthanded. Jay (1998) referred to these as the temporary replacement costs of getting the work done while the post is vacant and can include overtime, temps and many others. -Training cost The replacement employees time, other employees time and valuable resources must be expanded to train each employee and to facilitate the transition because no new employee starts working at 100% efficiency. Jay (1998) added the induction costs to the training and refers to this as direct costs and pay during unproductive early stages. Stone (2002) maintained that this phase is the non-productive time because it is characterised by dislocation of the other employees work as the new employee tries to settle down and incurs the same view on the lost productivity. Thus, training costs includes an organisations expenditure to orientate and train replacements and opportunity costs caused by inefficient production. The further statement identified an extension of those elements as follows: Redeployment Redeployment of an existing labour force as a result of labour turnover involves extra costs as this creates vacancies in the system. Assimilation and efficiency lost cost incurred before the new employee is fully proficient. Relocation Costs These costs include hotel charges, direct disturbances allowance, for example legal fees, removal fees, house purchase assistance and temporal travel subsidy of the new employee. Leaving costs These costs are associated with creating the vacancy, the closing of the previous appointment, for example refunding, superannuation payments, etc. Ham Griffeth (1995) refered to the leaving costs as the separation costs and describe them as those that quitting produces directly. A good example is exit interviews that are conducted when the employee leaves the employer to determine the reason for leaving. The researcher conceded that high employee turnover in an organisation means increased recruitment, selection and training costs. It can also mean a disruption in the efficient running of an organisation when knowledge, experienced personnel leave and replacements use be found and prepared to assume a position of responsibility. Theories related to employee turnover Expectancy theory holds that people are motivated to behave in ways that produce desired combinations of expected outcomes. Generally, expectancy theory can be used to predict behavior in any situation in which a choice between two or more alternatives must be made. For example, it can be used to predict whether to leave or stay at a job and whether to try substantial or minimal effort at task (kreitner and Kinicki, 2001). Vrooms expectancy theory (1964) According to Vroom (1964), the strength of tendency to act in a certain way depends on the strength of expectancy that the act will be followed by a given outcome and on the value or attractiveness of that outcome to the actor. Motivation, according to Vroom, boils down to decision of how much effort to put in specific task situation. This choice is based on a two-stage sequence of expectations that are effort-to-performance and performance-to-outcome. First, motivation is affected by an individuals expectation that a certain level of effort will produce the intended performance goal. Motivation also is influenced by the employees perceived chances of getting various outcomes as a result of accomplishing his or her performance goal. Individuals are motivated to the extent that they value the outcomes received. There are three key concepts within Vrooms model, which are expectancy, instrumentality, and valence. Expectancy According to Vrooms expectancy theory, expectancy represents an individuals belief that a particular degree of effort will be follow by a particular level of performance. In other words, it is an effort-to-performance expectation which refers to a degree of effort to which individual feels that it will lead to achievement of desired goal (kreitner and Kinicki, 2001) Instrumentality Instrumentality is a performance to outcome perception. It represents a persons belief that a particular outcome is contingent on accomplishing a specific level of performance (kreitner and Kinicki, 2001) Valence Valence refers to the positive or negative values people place on outcomes. For example, most employees have a positive valence for receiving additional money or recognition. In contrast, job stress and being laid off would likely be negatively valence for most individuals. In Vrooms expectancy theory, outcomes refer to different consequences that are contingent on performance, such as pay, promotion, or recognition. An outcomes valence depends on a individuals need (kreitner and Kinicki, 2001) Peter and Edward Lawlers Expectancy Theory (1969) Lyman Porter and Edward Lawler III developed an expectancy theory of motivation that extended Vrooms expectancy theory. This theory attempted to identifies the source of peoples valences and expectancies and link effort with performance and job satisfaction. There are three key variables which are predictors of effort, predictors of performance and predictors of reward and satisfaction (kreitner and Kinicki, 2001). Predictors of effort Effort is a function of perceived value of reward which represents the rewards valence and the perceived effort to reward probability. Employees will exhibit more effort when they believe they will receive values rewards for task accomplishment. Predictors of performance Performance determined by more than effort. The relationship between effort and performance is contingent on an employees abilities and traits and role perceptions. That is, employees with higher abilities attain higher performance for a given level of effort than employees with less ability. Similarly, effort results in higher performance when employees clearly understand and are comfortable with their roles. This occurs because effort is channels into the most important job activities or tasks. Predictors of rewards and satisfaction Employees receive both intrinsic and extrinsic rewards for performance. Intrinsic rewards are self- granted and consist of intangible such as a sense of accomplishment and achievement. Extrinsic rewards are tangible outcomes such as pay and public recognition. In turn, job satisfaction is determined by employees perceptions of the equity of the rewards received. Employees are more satisfied when they feel equitably rewards. Finally, employees future effort to reward probabilities is influenced by past experience with performance and rewards. Models of employee turnover To reinforce the previous definitions of employee turnover Man Sararat (1984) stated that a labour force movement was a process whereby labourers would make decision in regard to where and when they would work. It means the labourers choose their own employers and locations where they will work, and may change their jobs and companies as many times as the wish. Personal characteristics The concept of personal characteristic The personal factors include individual qualities that can be viewed as personal traits the employee possesses and which are distinctive to the individual (Harmse, 1999). The author further asserted that it has to do with what and who the individual is within his total being and which guide his behavior or functioning. According to the researcher, the employees general outlook on life is one of the major factors that influence employee turnover. An employee with a high self-esteem, confidence in his or her abilities and with a positive outlook on life is more likely to stay than the one with a negative attitude. Thus, these factors are inherent in human behavior. The following are the personal factors that influences employee turnover as identified by different authors. Relationship between personal characteristics and employee turnover A large number of research studies have identified the importance of individual or personal characteristic factors as predictors of employee turnover (Arnold Feldman, 1982; Cotton Tuttle, 1986; Lee Mowday, (1987). Among the characteristics most commonly examined are age, education, and tenure (length of time a person has worked in an organisation) (McBey Karakowsky, 2000; Mowday, 1982) The personal characteristic differences had been identified as potentially important correlates of turnover. This was because gender and age may be important negative correlates of turnover intention and turnover (Thatcher et al., 2003). Various studies had attempted to look beyond the traditional relationship theorised between job satisfaction and voluntary turnover. Gleser (1990) states that sex, race and age variables should be considered since minority group may face discriminatory practices and may approach job satisfaction differently than more normative groups. Age and employee turnover Drafke and Kossen (2002) maintained that employee turnover typically increases with age. Older employees have more work experience. They have a better understanding of what work needs can satisfy and overall they have a more realistic view of work and life. Young employees have comparatively little or no job experience with which to compare their current jobs and because of this they are more likely to substitute the opinions of other people, their own beliefs about other peoples jobs and their own idealistic views of what should be their lack of experience. In another way, Younger employees had more entry-level job opportunities and few family responsibilities, thus making job mobility easier. They may also have inaccurate expectation regarding working, which are not fulfilled in their early jobs (Porter Steers, 1973; Wanous, 1980). Therefore, younger employees are more likely to terminate their employment than older employees. Furthermore, Mc McCullough (2002) who stressed that age is a widely known factor that influences employee turnover. The author further states that the younger employee, the stronger likelihood of employee quit. The longer that employee stays, the more turnover risk goes down. Similarly older employees are less likely to quit than younger ones, as younger ones are more likely to take employment risks and hop to other jobs. The author still concedes that research has confirmed that the older employee, the lower likelihood of quitting. Education and employee turnover Neither a strong nor a consistent relationship between education and turnover is evident in the literature (Mobley, 1979; Price, 1977). Since many turnover studies are based on individuals with similar educations, a relation between turnover and education is difficult to establish. However, Arnold and Feldman (1982) and Brief and Aldag (1980) stated that education is positively related to employee turnover. Wong et al. (1999) found that individuals with higher education levels are better informed of the alternative opportunities available in the external labour market. Managers with high educational qualifications, by virtue of their high employability, they are greater discretion in their choice to turnover. If mangers perceive that reward levels are not commensurate with education or human capital value and performance levels, it is likely that they will report a greater number of turnover cognitions (Trevor et al., 2007) Tenure and employee turnover According to streers (1997) and Mobley (1982), there are many research studies which suggest that a negative relationship exists between tenure and turnover. The research has indicated that relatively high turnover occurs among new employees (Mobley, 1982). It should be noted that tenure has been considered as a covariant of age (Bedeian et al., 1992; Kacmar Ferris, 1989), and consequently its influence is similar to that of age. As an employees tenure increases, the formal benefits (e.g. compensation and promotions) and informal benefits (e.g. status) also increase. Given these issues, employees with higher tenure are less likely to leave their organisation for fear of losing these benefits upon entry into a new organisation (Hellman, 1997). Job satisfaction The description of job satisfaction There are many authors define job satisfaction in the literature. Job satisfaction is influenced by economic factors such as pay, benefit and rewords as well as structural and procedural factors reflecting autonomy or fairness. Hersey and Blanchard (1993) defined the job satisfaction is a consequence of the past which refer to employees feeling about the reward they have received when comparison with work role input and its outcome. Robbins (1996) conceded that job satisfaction refer to a collecting attitude toward ones job which is different between the amount of rewards workers receive and the amount that they should receive. Mitchell et al (2001) stated that employees who feel satisfied with their jobs have a positive experience of their pay, supervision, chances for promotion, work environment, clear roles and met expectations. Furthermore, Weiss and Cropanzano (1998) stated that job satisfaction represents a persons evaluation of his or her job and work context. It is an appraisal of the perceive job characteristics and emotional experiences at work. Satisfied employees have a favorable evaluation of their job based on their observation and emotional experiences. In the same way, Schermerhorn et al (2000) define job satisfaction as the degree to which individuals feel positively or negatively about their jobs. It is an attitude or emotional response to ones tasks as well as to the physical and social conditions of workplace. According to Locke (1976), job satisfaction is really a collection of attitudes about specific facets of the job. Employees can satisfy with some elements of the job while simultaneously dissatisfy with others. Different type of satisfaction will lend to different intention and behavior (McShane and Glinow, 2002). To access ones job satisfaction, five facets of job satisfaction should be measured following (Kreitner and Kinicki, (2001) : Work- itself (job) Harmse (1999) described a job as a position within an organisation depending on the scope of the organisation, which can be as small as one. The author still mension that it can also be viewed as a group of positions that are nearly as identical with respect to primary duties and tasks that are sufficiently similar to be included in less than one title. Kolen (1997) argued that a job is fully specified. Kolen (1997) defined the job as the kind and amount of work to be performed by a person or a piece of equipment within a given time period. The author still maintains that every well-conceived job definition should always consist of two parts namely: Job description- This is a detailed statement of the content of the job in terms of major tasks the sequence of those tasks and the conditions under which they will be performed. Mondy Premeaux (1994) described job description as a document that describes the tasks and responsibilities of a job and its relationships to other jobs. According to Harmse (1999), the job descriptions are beneficial for both the individual employee and the organisation. . According to Harmse (1999), the job descriptions are beneficial for both the individual employee and the organisation. The author further identifies the following advantages: The employee has a concise picture of why he or she is employed, The employee can easily identify how he or she will be assessed, The parameters of authority and accountability are clear, Given the big picture, i.e. the mission statements, the value of this specific position for the organisation can be identified, It assists in placing the right person in the right position, There is more efficiency and effectiveness throughout the organisation as tasks and responsibilities are identified. Job specification- This states the qualification an individual must posses to perform the job. Mondy Premeaus (1994) viewed a job specification as the minimum acceptable qualifications a person possess to perform a particular job. Luthans (1992) mention that work-itself is one of the major source of satisfaction. In additional, some of the most important ingredients of satisfying job included interesting and challenge work, work that not boring and a job that provided status. Van Dyk (2001) stressed that any job should have key characteristics that directly affect employee performance and satisfaction and thus in turn influences job turnover. The authors further identify the following three job characteristics; Variety-refers to the number of different tasks and activities included in the job. Challenge- is the level of difficulty of job tasks and activities. Autonomy-refers to the extent to which an employee can carry out his/her tasks independently on the job. The job that does not consist of the above job characteristics will not seem to have any meaning. Employees would what to do the job that is exciting and be able to use their abilities in doing it. Without these, chances of employees leaving their employers are accelerated. Pay Perceived competitiveness of pay refers to employees perceptions that salaries are Promotion Luthans (1995) described promotional opportunities as advancement in the hierarchy. Nel (2001) ascertained that a promotion occurs when an employee is moved from one job to another that is higher in pay, responsibility or organisation seniority. Various approaches can be used to promote employees and this can be based on the persons promotion potential, development needs and talent shortages in the organisation. Skidmore (1995) stated that promotions are important in the functioning of the organization. Nearly every employee wants to move ahead, both in position and in salary. The procedures and standards for promotion should be clearly defined through sound administration. Co-worker According to Robbins (2001), human need social interaction from their workplace in supporting, cooperate, comfort, advice, and assistance to the individual work. Therefore, to have friendly and supportive co-workers could lead to increase job satisfaction. Lance (2007) concedes that perception of co-worker integration and cohesiveness among peers directly affects job satisfaction. In the opposite way, turnover tends to increase for employees who are dissatisfied with their co-workers (Watt and White, 1988). Supervisor Lewis Souflee (1994) described that supervision is process that involves helping a less experienced person increase his or her effectiveness in service delivery. Through the vehicle of supervisory relationship, the supervisor provides support and encouragement, helps build skills and competences and oversees the supervisees work. According to Luthans (1992), supervisor is another moderately important source of job satisfaction. To the extent that supervisor provides technical assistance and behavioral support such as treated employees fairly, offers praise for good performance, listens to employees Kadushin (1992) stressed that supervision in an organisation is important because it enhances the morale of the staff while maintaining the system; meaning supervisee are supervised according to their different levels. For example, the less experienced tend to be supervised according to tutorial model, whereas those with more experience achieve similar purpose through case consultation, peer group consultations, peer group interaction, staff development programs and work teams. Skidmore, Thackery Farley (1997) shared this view by mentioning that supervision is a major part of work because it is concerned with helping the staff to use their knowledge and skills in getting the job done efficiently and well. Theories related to job satisfaction Luthans (1995) conceded that Herzbergs two factor motivational theories cast a new life on the content of work motivation. The theory offers an explanation specifically to the work place and job design (Grobler et al 2002). Robbins (1993) stated that Herzberg believed an individuals relation to his or her work is a basic one and that his or her attitude towards his work can very well determine the individual success or failure, and referred to this as motivation-hygiene theory. Herzberg concluded that there is a relation between job satisfiers and job content; job dissatisfiers are allied to hob on text. The author named the motivation factors satisfiers and called dissatisfiers hygiene factors. The hygiene factors are preventative because they can prevent dissatisfaction and are environmental in nature, and therefore are roughly equivalent to Maslows lower level needs (Luthans 1995). The motivators are intrinsic and related to job satisfaction for example achievement, recognition, and the work-itself, responsibility, advancement, and growth. The hygiene factors are extrinsic and comprise company policy, administration supervision, salary, interpersonal relations and working conditions. Robbins (2001) postulated that according to Herzberg, the factors that lead to job satisfaction are separate and distinct from those that lead to job dissatisfaction. Therefore managers who seek to eliminate factors that create job dissatisfaction can bring about peace, but not necessarily motivation. Thus, managers who hire wages will be placating their workforce rather than motivating them. It is evidenct that the Herzberg two factor motivational theories indicate that the more resources are poured down the hygiene drain for example increasing fringe benefits, the more resources will be needed in future. This is because with hygiene factors, ever-increasing amounts are needed to produce the same effect. A classic example is the issue of salary that never seems to be resolved; employees will still be discontent over wages even after concluding salary negotiations. As indicated earlier, motivators are intrinsic in nature and reflect the work content of the job. The supervisor cannot disperse them to the employees but they are controlled by employees and are administered personally. It is evident that no one can give another person the satisfaction that comes from accomplishing a particularly challenging job. According to the researcher, the need to motivate workers is a very crucial one. Motivation is required if the workers are to make a significant impact on their work given the limited budgets they operate on and the very difficult circumstances. In any situation, every employer would like to have employees who are motivated to do their work efficiently and effectively. This bears fruitful results and enhances organisational productivity and a lot of problems associated with de-motivation like absenteeism and late coming can be avoided. Relationship between job satisfaction and employee turnover During the past century, a variety of conceptual models for the turnover process have been developed (Lambert et al., 2001). It has been extensively studied, both as a dependent and independent variable. In 1976, Locke estimated the number or articles and dissertations dealing in some manner with the subject of job satisfaction to be over 3,300. By 1996, Spector estimated that the number of studies that have incorporated job satisfaction in some manner to be over 12,000. While these models have diverse origins from a wide array of disciplines, many researchers have theorized that job satisfaction is a key antecedent of worker turnover (Mobley et al., 1979; Price Mueller, 1986; Williams Hazer, 1986). Roznowski and Hulin (1992) contended that overall job satisfaction measures are the most informative data a manager or researcher can have for predicting employee behavior. Further, it has been theorised that high levels of job dissatisfaction lead to employee withdrawal, particularly in terms of voluntary turnover. According to Danserau et al. (1974), Mitchell (1981), Porter and Steers (1973), job satisfaction has been related to turnover. Muchinsky and Tuttle (1979) analysed nineteen articles dealing with job satisfaction and turnover. Overall, there was a negative relationship between job satisfaction and turnover although the strength of the relationship varied form study to study. In general, satisfied workers are less likely to leave their jobs than those with high job satisfaction quotients. The review noted that the relationship remained constant over different types of samples, organisations, and measures of job satisfaction (Birdseye Hill, 1995). Organisationa

Americans Motivation to Work Essay -- Labor Supply Economics

American's Motivation to Work The majority of Americans get up each morning and go to work in order to earn money. But what are the true motivators for working and where do they come from? How do wage rates and other forms of compensation affect the quantity of labor supplied to the market? This essay will discuss how labor effects the economy. Each person working plays a role in society and production output. These are areas that need to be addressed when the supply of labor is being discussed. The motivation to work arises from a variety of social, psychological and economic forces. People need income to pay their bills, feel that they have a role in society and also feel a sense of acheivement. Although there is always a choice, that is not working and not getting paid. People choose between labor and leisure according to the percieved rewards of each. The marginal utility of labor reflects the satisifaction to be gained from added income, as well as any direct pleasure a job may provide. A worker compares these satisfactions with those of leisure and chooses the one that yeilds the greatest utility for available time and wage rates. As it may seem obvisous to some, the more a worker gets paid, the more encouragement that worker has to work more hours and produce more output. Thus, higher wages may increase the marginal utility of an hour's labor, this being a substitiute for labor. But it can also have the opposite effect. This being that if a wor...

Marketing - The Pet Food Market Essay -- Business Management Studies

1. Describe the nature of the ‘exchange process’ which marketing facilitates in up to 100 words. The ‘exchange process’ is seen as the basic principle of marketing and involves the simple concept of needs and demands. In the world of marketing this can be any organization offering a product, service or even an idea. The customer then agrees to pay an amount of money for these goods. The whole exchange process works under the important condition that both parties value the goods offered by the other party to that extent that they are willing to fulfil the demands of the other party in return. The satisfaction gained from a transaction can lead to further purchases. 2. Explain how the pet food market is structured. Describe how a number of local outlets support this structure. The pet food market is structured into three main sectors, which consists of Dog food, Cat food and other pet food. The market share of Dog food (50%) and Cat food (47%) is nearly the same, whereas other pet foods only contributes to 3 % of the total market of  £ 1,684 million (Key Note Ltd 2003). Furthermore Pet food can be categorized generally according to their functions, which are: - Complete food: Provides all vitamins and minerals needed - Complementary food: To be combined with other foods, for example meat or biscuits - Snack, treat or training aid Within the Dog and Cat Food sectors a further segmentation can be found: The moist and semi-moist se... Marketing - The Pet Food Market Essay -- Business Management Studies 1. Describe the nature of the ‘exchange process’ which marketing facilitates in up to 100 words. The ‘exchange process’ is seen as the basic principle of marketing and involves the simple concept of needs and demands. In the world of marketing this can be any organization offering a product, service or even an idea. The customer then agrees to pay an amount of money for these goods. The whole exchange process works under the important condition that both parties value the goods offered by the other party to that extent that they are willing to fulfil the demands of the other party in return. The satisfaction gained from a transaction can lead to further purchases. 2. Explain how the pet food market is structured. Describe how a number of local outlets support this structure. The pet food market is structured into three main sectors, which consists of Dog food, Cat food and other pet food. The market share of Dog food (50%) and Cat food (47%) is nearly the same, whereas other pet foods only contributes to 3 % of the total market of  £ 1,684 million (Key Note Ltd 2003). Furthermore Pet food can be categorized generally according to their functions, which are: - Complete food: Provides all vitamins and minerals needed - Complementary food: To be combined with other foods, for example meat or biscuits - Snack, treat or training aid Within the Dog and Cat Food sectors a further segmentation can be found: The moist and semi-moist se...

Colonial Persuasion :: essays research papers

  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  27, 2002 â€Å"Radical Declaration† Gentlemen, there comes a time in all of our lives when we must stand up to our overseers. As our fellow countryman, Thomas Paine, declared, â€Å"It is ridiculous for an island to rule part of a continent, 3000 miles away.† Moreover, the restrictions on trade, the newly passed declaration allowing for the quartering of large bodies of armed British troops, and the closing of the port of Boston, shows that our dictator is unwilling to compromise on these â€Å"Intolerable Acts.† Furthermore, it seems as though it is but a small group of wealthy, extremely privileged, land owning loyals, who wish to remain under this tyranny. The king refuses to hear our grievances and has even disallowed us trial by jury. The esteemed patriot and my good friend and neighbor, Samuel Adams, tells me that he has received word from â€Å"A Virginian who wrote home from London that King George’s own House of Commons says he is ‘very obstinate’ and ‘shan’t continue to reign with any peaceable conduct toward the colonies’.† (Langguth, 28) So my friends, I ask you all how long can we continue to be treated as hostiles? Why should we wish to remain loyal to a country that deprived us of religious freedoms for generations, not to mention those of us who have no tie to the king and Britain at all? Why should we not seek independence? Why should we give into our selfish, greedy, loyalist neighbors, while the British troops are killing our friends, attacking our cities, and laying sole claim to OUR goods? I say we put a sharp and decisive end to our ties with the tyrannical king and HIS country. This bold declarative statement, however, will require the support and backing of all colonists not just my northernmost neighbors.

Fashion, Gender and Identity

‘Gender is a meaning that a culture assigns to sexual differences' and within gender, ‘masculinity and femininity are the divisions that a culture creates between behavior and ‘characteristics considered to be appropriate to men and women' (Bernard, 2007, 185- 186). Fashion aids in the social construction of gender through separating male and female fashion and promoting the stereotypical feminine figure. From the days of stays and petticoats to corsets and crinolines and now with padded bras and ‘Spans', fashion has seen centuries of shrinking and augmentation of the body to achieve the sexualities, feminine' shape.The communicative function' of the body and they way in which it is McCollum is like a ‘language' – a ‘cultural communication' (Descanters, 1997, 11). Being ‘feminine' is Just one of many ‘performances' that people can choose to present and a person's choice to follow more typically feminine or masculine styles can pr ovide an insight into who they are (Gauntlet, 2008, 11). Although certain guidelines may be socially expected, in the western world, we are largely in control of what we wear and thus are perpetually communicating some element of personal identity every time we get dressed, whether it is intentional or subconscious.Using the visual examples of Marie Antoinette, Queen of France and a fashion icon in the late 18th century and Lady Gaga, a current fashion and pop icon, this essay demonstrates how, even though centuries have passed, the practice of augmenting and shrinking the figure through fashion garments to achieve a feminine' shape has continued to perpetuate social constructions of femininity. Then, the example of Andre] Pelvic is used to demonstrate how appearance can communicate identity, in particular gender identity.Beginning in the 16th century in Europe, Women's bodies were universally forced onto bizarre, unnatural shapes' (Smith, 1998, 5). Stays, petticoats, corsets and cr inolines with stiff fabric, boning and wire were used to force the body into the desirable feminine' silhouette of the time. Constant dissatisfaction and change with the idealized shape of the body reinforced the idea that the natural body needed to be ‘improved and restricted' to be considered attractive (Smith, 1998, 5).We see this trend continue into modern day clothing and undergarments. This constant restriction and augmentation, which occurs almost solely to the female body, aids in the social construction and communication of gender. Illustration of Marie Antoinette by Panderer-Login, from Encyclopedia Figure 1 Britannica Image Quest A royal exemplar existed in the form of Marie Antoinette, Queen of France from 1774 until 1792 – a time when all of Europe was ‘culturally and stylistically influenced' by France, during the Rococo era (Coving, 2006, 56.Descanters, 1997, 35-36). The desired feminine physical ideal at this time was the ‘hourglass female fi gure: a tiny waist, ample bosom and large hips which enhanced femininity (Tallahatchie-Villas, 2007, 36-37). Marie Antoinette had to ‘learn to be a woman (or at least how to perform indemnity)' through the molding of her body with fashion garments (Goodman, 2003, 6). In Figure 1 (above) the Queen is depicted with her hand resting on her commodious and voluminous skirt, serenely gazing into the palace.It can be seen that her body is distinctly shaped to the ‘hourglass' figure that Tallahatchie-Villas (2007) refers to as an image of ‘enhanced femininity – the tightly laced corset has shrunk her waist and her bosom is being flattened and pushed upwards to have an overflowing effect. At the same time her hips have been augmented by a large pannier shaped undergarment and gathers and ruffles of fabric add to the luminous result. Corsets had been present since the beginning of the 17th century, initially made with an iron structure, which was replaced by whalebone in the 18th century.At the beginning of the 18th century, the farthing' – a framework of hoops' that aristocratic women had previously worn to provide volume under their skirts – was replaced by the crinoline (Charles & Carl, 2010, 30). The crinoline augmented the size of the hips and changed shape to follow changing fashions in the desired feminine physique. In the early 18th century the shape of the crinoline was round, it then came oval and then ‘conical' (Charles & Carl, 2010, 30).By the mid 18th century they had become a ‘pannier' shape meaning ‘side hoops' or false hips' – a shape that was flat on front and back and extended on the wearer's left and right, giving her exceedingly wide hips (Cumming, Conjunction & Conjunction, 2010, 148). This is the shape we see in Panderer-Aligns illustration of Marie Antoinette in Figure 1 . In this illustration there are a number of elements of composition and execution that support the conclusion that the molding the Queen underwent were both expected and desirable at this time.There is the artist's decision to place her in a standing position in which the full scale of her skirt can be realized, the addition of shading to emphasize her bust, and dark shadowing around the waist that functions to reduce its size. The enormity of the Queen's gown in relation to her head and the background of the portrait ensure that her curvaceous feminine shape instantly draws the viewer's eye. The artist's decision to contrast the rich, dark objects in the background with pale colors to illustrate her in the foreground again draws attention to this almost ethereal feminine form.One wonders how widely this image as distributed, given our knowledge of Marie Antoinette influence on fashion. Queen Marie Antoinette was known as the ‘Queen of Fashion' and her choices in clothing were closely documented, publicized and duplicated by women throughout the whole of Europe (Weber, 2007, 1). Her wardr obe has even provided inspiration for current designers such as Much Dulcet for her millinery collection at the Autumn/ Winter 2012/13 London Fashion Week and John Gilligan for his Spring 2010 Couture collection for Dior in Paris (Clearing, 2012. Maida, 2010).The consequence of her choice to conform to the notion of molding her body, restricting and augmenting – wrought undergarments and fashion garments – to achieve the hourglass shape ensured this practice remained in fashion and in turn contributed to the social constructions of the feminine physical ideal. After the fall of the monarchy at the turn of the century this fashion of restricting and augmenting the body, molding it to achieve the ideal feminine' physique, persisted. The use of the waist- shrinking, bust- raising corset was continued into the nineteenth century, although steel boning began to be used instead of whalebone.By the mid sass, ‘cheap, mass-produced' corsets were developed and became a tab le of nearly every woman's wardrobe (Gag & Steele, 2005, 291). At this time, flexible sprung-steel rings suspended from cloth tapes' known as ‘Hopkins' were in fashion and augmented the size of the wearer's hips (Gag & Steele, 2005, 317). The corset remained in fashion into the early twentieth century, when it had become a ‘straight front' corset that ‘pushed the pelvis back and the bosom forward,' forming the desired feminine physique at the time – the ‘S' silhouette (Gag & Steele, 2005, 293).The fashionable body in this period was augmented towards the back with use of a bustle skirt. In the sass, the fashionable female figure was ‘boyish and flat- cheesed,' so the waist shrinking corset and wired underskirts became largely obsolete, but the practice of restriction remained in fashion as the breasts still had to be tightly bound, this time to conceal rather than enhance' (Smith, 1998, 5).In 1939, and then after World War II, Tallahatchie-Villas ' image of ‘enhanced femininity with a tiny waist, ample bosom and large hips' returned to fashion again and brought with it the return of the corset and fuller skirts (Tallahatchie-Villas, 2007, 36-37. Gag & Steele, 2005, 293). From the sass onwards the process of restriction and augmentation to achieve the desired feminine physique dictated by fashion at the time has continued. A review of more recent trends and products and fashion exemplars appears below.Currently there is no singular feminine' silhouette that is being dictated by fashion. In some areas of fashion media we are seeing the same boyish thinness as in the twenties and in others there is a push for the ‘real', curvaceous shape (Abraham, 2012). There are still some ‘corset enthusiasts' and elements of these undergarments such as boning and full skirts are still being used in many women's garments as well as in haute couture fashion. There is a myriad of other new garments encouraged by fashion for wo men to restrict, augment and mold their bodies into any desired shape.A few products currently on the market include the Wastepaper' – a tubular piece of Lacy worn to slim the waist and flatten the stomach; the ‘High-waist Long Leg Brief which is designed to provide ‘under-bust and tummy support, hip and thigh contouring, and a nice boost for your butt'; as well as ‘Padded Shaper Panties' which have two round foam pads to give you a ‘perfectly rounded derriere' and padded bras to increase bust size (Morgan, 2012). Compared to the days of corsets and crinolines, he variety of ways in which fashion encourages women to squeeze, expand and mold their bodies have grown.Figure 2 – Photograph of Lady Gaga at the 2009 MET Music awards. Photo courtesy of Getty Images, 2009 Lady Gaga, is Without question, the world's biggest pop star' and a current fashion icon (Robinson, 2010, 280). She famously morphs her body into the sexualities feminine hourglass sha pe with boning, padding and structured garments – often designed specifically for her by current avian garden fashion designers such as Giorgio Airman and Nicola Fortieth for Thither Mugger (Fleming 2012.Nick, 2011). In the above photograph (Figure 2) Lady Gaga is wearing a Jean Paul Guiltier padded and boned body suit, which drastically shapes her figure into the curvaceous, hourglass silhouette of ‘enhanced femininity that Tallahatchie-Villas refers to (2007). The boning restricts the size of her waist while the undermine and padding on the cups over her breasts raise and shape the bust and the padding on her hips augment their size.Although this is an exaggerated example and would not be considered a ready- to- wear garment that women would be seen in on the street, Lady Saga's style choices are influential on how women choose to dress in mainstream culture. More than four hundred years after the first corsets and petticoats came into fashion, we see that the process of restricting and augmenting the female body to achieve a look considered to be feminine is still widespread.Through encouraging this practice and promoting a desired feminine physique that is difficult to attain naturally, fashion aids in the social construction of gender. An individual's choices about the clothes, make-up, accessories and styling that they adorn before venturing into public can communicate a lot about who they are. At the name time, the changeable and impermanent nature of these external applications meaner that no definite assumptions of a person's identity can be made and these variables can easily be manipulated by the individual, allowing them to become who they would like to be.An individual's unique interpretations of, and resistances to conventional fashions is known as ‘appearance style' and is a medium through which individuals can ‘announce' who they are or who they want to become (Gag & Steele, 2005, 34). There are some elements of appeara nce that we are accustomed to observing and processing almost immediately when we look at a person. For example when you see a stranger, it is highly likely that you will be able to tell if their gender is male or female almost instantly and their appearance style aids in this immediate recognition.When you observe the combination of their choice of hair cut, cosmetics, clothing, accessories, shoes and mannerisms; you can draw a conclusion about what gender that person is ‘announcing that they are. This shows that the individual has the power to manipulate these components of their appearance to communicate their understanding of their personal gender identity. An example of how successfully appearance can provide an insight into gender identity and also how easily it can be manipulated can be seen through examining performances of Andre] Epic.Pelvic is biologically a man but models as both a male and a female. At his first fashion week – New York Fashion week Fall/Wint er 2011/12 – he walked in five menswear shows and four homeowners shows and this number has since grown (Morris, 2011). Pelvic explains how he began to mold himself into the typically feminine aesthetic, creating an appearance style that would be read as female – he grew and dyed his hair, ‘started wearing skinny Sears†¦ Hopping in the women's aisle and putting on make-up' (Morris, 2011). Pelvic was voted the ninety- eighth sexiest woman in the world in Fem. ‘One Hundred Sexiest Women' list last year (Peck, 2011, 24). Figure 3 – Andre] Pelvic in ‘Hem' ad campaign. Photo courtesy of Hem from Hollywood Planet, 2011 In the above ad for the Dutch department store ‘Hem', Andre] Pelvic is pictured wearing their ‘mega push up bra' underneath a close-fitted top and a figure hugging dress (Freeman- Greene, 2011).The bra is claimed to ‘add two cup sizes' to its wearer's bust, which it has achieved successfully with Epic's originall y flat chest (Quicker, 2011). His body has been manipulated so that his appearance style masticates his gender as female. His hair is long and blow-dried in a typically feminine style, he is wearing make-up and a necklace, his arms are void of hair and his body has been manipulated to augment the bust with padding. He attempts to channel the poses that female models often make by moving and looking at the camera in a fluid and dramatic' manner (Morris, 2011).The close up angle of the photos and the choice of shots where Pelvic is making direct eye contact with the camera enforces the believability of Epic's feminine appearance. The success of the communication of Epic's gender identity as female in this advertisement monstrance the extent to which an individual can communicate who they are or would like to be through their appearance. As an audience we almost automatically assume Pelvic to be a ‘beautiful, Victorians Secret queue bombshell' (Abraham, 2011).This mutual communic ation and interpretation that can be achieved through manipulating the variables of appearance style allows for an individual's look to say much about who they are. Fashion aids in the social construction of gender through separating male and female fashion and promoting the stereotypical feminine figure. In numerous entities past and continuing into the present, the practice of women using wire, steel, elastic and padding to McCollum their bodies to the fashionable shape of the time has been common, even expected.We have examined how Queen Marie Antoinette encouraged this practice in the 18th Century by wearing a corset to nip her waist and enhance her bust as well as hoop pannier skirts to widen her hips. In the 21st Century it has been demonstrated that this body distortion is still common with pop icon Lady Gaga wearing a boned and padded body suit that provides her with that feminine, hourglass shape. We then saw how this practice is so typically expected to be feminine that th e biologically male model Andre] Pelvic can display his female gender identity by donning a padded bra. Fashion, Gender and Identity gender is a meaning that a culture assigns to sexual differences' and within gender, ‘masculinity and ‘femininity are the divisions that a culture creates between behavior and ‘characteristics considered to be appropriate to men and women' (Bernard, 2007, 185- 186). Fashion aids In the social construction of gender through separating male and female fashion and promoting the stereotypical feminine figure. From the days of stays and petticoats to corsets and crinolines and now with padded bras and Spans, fashion has seen centuries of shrinking and augmentation of the body to achieve the sexualities, feminine' shape.The communicative function' of the body and they way in which it is molded is like a ‘language' – a ‘cultural communication' (Descanters, 1997, 11). Being ‘feminine' is Just one of many ‘performances' that people can choose to present and a person's choice to follow more typically feminine or masculine styles can provide an i nsight into who they are (Gauntlet, 2008, 11). Although certain guidelines may be socially expected, in the western world, we are largely in control of what we wear and thus are perpetually communicating some element of personal Identity every time we get dressed, whether It Is Intentional or subconscious.Using the visual examples of Merle Antoinette, Queen of France and a fashion Icon In the late 1 8th century and Lady Gaga, a current fashion and pop Icon, this essay demonstrates how, even though centuries have passed, the practice of augmenting and shrinking the figure through fashion garments to achieve a ‘feminine' shape has continued to perpetuate social constructions of femininity. Then, the example of Andrea Pelvic is used to demonstrate how appearance can communicate identity, In particular gender identity.Beginning in the 16th century in Europe, Women's bodies were universally forced onto bizarre, unnatural shapes' (Smith, 1998, 5). Stays, petticoats, corsets and crin olines with staff fabric, boning and wire were used to force the body Into the desirable friendly' silhouette of the time. Constant dissatisfaction and change with the Idealized shape of the body reinforced the Idea that the natural body needed to be ‘improved and restricted' to be considered attractive (Smith, 1 998, 5). We see this trend continue into modern day clothing and undergarments.This constant restriction and augmentation, which occurs almost solely to the female body, aids in he social construction and communication of gender. Britannica Image Quest A royal exemplar existed in the form of Marie Antoinette, Queen of France from 1774 until 1792 – a time when all of Europe was ‘culturally and stylistically influenced' by France, during the Rococo era (Coving, 2006, 56. Descanters, 1997, 35-36). The desired feminine physical ideal at this time was the ‘hourglass female figure: a tiny waist, ample bosom and large hips which enhanced femininity (Tallah atchie-Villas, 2007, 36-37).Marie Antoinette had to ‘learn to be a woman (or at least how to perform indemnity)' through the molding of her body with fashion garments (Goodman, 2003, 6). In Figure 1 (above) the Queen is depicted with her hand resting on her commodious and voluminous skirt, serenely gazing into the palace. It can be seen that her body is distinctly shaped to the ‘hourglass' figure that Tallahatchie-Villas (2007) refers to as an image of ‘enhanced femininity – the tightly laced corset has shrunk her waist and her bosom is being flattened and pushed upwards to have an overflowing effect.At the same time her hips have been augmented by a large pannier shaped undergarment and gathers and ruffles of fabric add to the luminous result. Corsets had been present since the beginning of the 17th century, initially made with an iron structure, which was replaced by whalebone in the 18th century. At the beginning of the 18th century, the farthing'  œ a framework of hoops' that aristocratic women had previously worn to provide volume under their skirts – was replaced by the crinoline (Charles & Carl, 2010, 30).The crinoline augmented the size of the hips and changed shape to follow changing fashions in the desired feminine physique. In the early 18th century the shape of the crinoline was round, it then came oval and then ‘conical' (Charles & Carl, 2010, 30). By the mid 18th century they had become a ‘pannier' shape meaning ‘side hoops' or false hips' – a shape that was flat on front and back and extended on the wearer's left and right, giving her exceedingly wide hips (Cumming, Cunning & Cunning, 2010, 148). This is the shape we see in Pannier-Aligns illustration of Marie Antoinette in Figure 1 .In this illustration there are a number of elements of composition and execution that support the conclusion that the molding the Queen underwent were both expected and desirable at this time. There is t he artist's decision to place her in a standing position in which the full scale of her skirt can be realized, the addition of shading to its size. The enormity of the Queen's gown in relation to her head and the background of the portrait ensure that her curvaceous feminine shape instantly draws the viewer's eye.The artist's decision to contrast the rich, dark objects in the background with pale colors to illustrate her in the foreground again draws attention to this almost ethereal feminine form. One wonders how widely this image was distributed, given our knowledge of Marie Antoinette influence on fashion. Queen Marie Antoinette was known as the ‘Queen of Fashion' and her choices in clothing were closely documented, publicized and duplicated by women throughout the whole of Europe (Weber, 2007, 1).Her wardrobe has even provided inspiration for current designers such as Much Dulcet for her millennia collection at the Autumn/ Winter 2012/13 London Fashion Week and John Gillig an for his Spring 2010 Couture collection for Dior in Paris (Clarinda, 2012. Maida, 2010). The consequence of her choice to conform to the notion of molding her body, restricting and augmenting – wrought undergarments and fashion garments – to achieve the hourglass shape ensured this practice remained in fashion and in turn contributed to the social constructions of the feminine physical ideal.After the fall of the monarchy at the turn of the century this fashion of restricting and augmenting the body, molding it to achieve the ideal feminine' physique, persisted. The use of the waist- shrinking, bust- raising corset was continued into the nineteenth century, although steel boning began to be used instead of whalebone. By the mid sass, ‘cheap, mass-produced' corsets were developed and became a table of nearly every woman's wardrobe (Gag & Steele, 2005, 291).At this time, flexible sprung-steel rings suspended from cloth tapes' known as ‘Hopkins' were in fash ion and augmented the size of the wearer's hips (Gag & Steele, 2005, 317). The corset remained in fashion into the early twentieth century, when it had become a ‘straight front' corset that ‘pushed the pelvis back and the bosom forward,' forming the desired feminine physique at the time – the ‘S' silhouette (Gag & Steele, 2005, 293). The fashionable body in this period was augmented towards the back with use of a bustle skirt.In the sass, the fashionable female figure was ‘boyish and flat- cheated,' so the waist shrinking corset and wired underskirts became largely obsolete, but the practice of restriction remained in fashion as the breasts still had to be tightly bound, this time to conceal rather than enhance' (Smith, 1998, 5). In 1939, and then after World War II, Tallahatchie-Villas' image of ‘enhanced femininity with a tiny waist, ample bosom and large hips' returned to fashion again and brought with it the return of the corset and fuller sk irts (Tallahatchie-Villas, 2007, 36-37. Gag & Steele, 2005, 293).From the sass onwards the process of restriction and augmentation to achieve the desired feminine physique dictated by fashion at the time has continued. A review of more recent trends and products and fashion exemplars appears below. Currently there is no singular feminine' silhouette that is being dictated by fashion. In some areas of fashion media we are seeing the same boyish thinness as in the 2012). There are still some ‘corset enthusiasts' and elements of these undergarments such as boning and full skirts are still being used in many women's garments as well as in haute couture fashion.There is a myriad of other new garments encouraged by fashion for women to restrict, augment and mold their bodies into any desired shape. A few products currently on the market include the Wastepaper' – a tubular piece of Lascar worn to slim the waist and flatten the stomach; the ‘High-waist Long Leg Brief whic h is designed to provide ‘under-bust and tummy support, hip and thigh contouring, and a nice boost for your butt'; as well as ‘Padded Shaper Panties' which have two round foam pads to give you a ‘perfectly rounded derriere' and padded bras to increase bust size (Morgan, 2012).Compared to the days of corsets and crinolines, the variety of ways in which fashion encourages women to squeeze, expand and mold their bodies have grown. Figure 2 – Photograph of Lady Gaga at the 2009 MET Music awards. Photo courtesy of Getty Images, 2009 Lady Gaga, is Without question, the world's biggest pop star' and a current fashion icon (Robinson, 2010, 280). She famously morphs her body into the sexualities feminine hourglass shape with boning, padding and structured garments – often designed specifically for her by current avian garden fashion designers such asIn the above photograph (Figure 2) Lady Gaga is wearing a Jean Paul Guiltier padded and boned body suit, which d rastically shapes her figure into the curvaceous, hourglass silhouette of ‘enhanced femininity that Tallahatchie-Villas refers to (2007). The boning restricts the size of her waist while the underwear and padding on the cups over her breasts raise and shape the bust and the padding on her hips augment their size.Although this is an exaggerated example and would not be considered a ready- to- wear garment that women would be seen in on the street, Lady Saga's style choices are influential on how women choose to dress in mainstream culture. More than four hundred years after the first corsets and petticoats came into fashion, we see that the process of restricting and augmenting the female body to achieve a look considered to be feminine is still widespread.Through encouraging this practice and promoting a desired feminine physique that is difficult to attain naturally, fashion aids in the social construction of gender. An individual's choices about the clothes, make-up, accesso ries and styling that they adorn before venturing into public can communicate a lot about who they are. At the same time, the changeable and impermanent nature of these external applications means that no definite assumptions of a person's identity can be made and these variables can easily be manipulated by the individual, allowing them to become who they would like to be.An individual's unique interpretations of, and resistances to conventional fashions is known as ‘appearance style' and is a medium through which individuals can ‘announce' who they are or who they want to become (Gag & Steele, 2005, 34). There are some elements of appearance that we are accustomed to observing and processing almost immediately when we look at a person. For example when you see a stranger, it is highly likely that you will be able to tell if their gender is male or female almost instantly and their appearance style aids in this immediate recognition.When you observe the combination of t heir choice of hair cut, cosmetics, clothing, accessories, shoes and mannerisms; you can draw a conclusion about what gender that person is ‘announcing that they are. This shows that the individual has the power to manipulate these components of their appearance to communicate heir understanding of their personal gender identity. An example of how successfully appearance can provide an insight into gender identity and also how easily it can be manipulated can be seen through examining performances of Andre] Epic. Pelvic is biologically a man but models as both a male and a female.At his first fashion week – New York Fashion week Fall/Winter 2011/12 – he walked in five menswear shows and four womanlier shows and this number has since grown (Morris, 2011). Pelvic explains how he began to mold himself into the typically feminine aesthetic, creating an appearance style that would be read as male – he grew and dyed his hair, ‘started wearing skinny Jeansà ¢â‚¬ ¦ Shopping in the women's aisle and putting on make-up' (Morris, 2011). Pelvic was voted the ninety- eighth sexiest woman in the world in Fem.. ‘One Hundred Sexiest Women' list last year (Peck, 2011, 24). Figure 3 – Andre] Pelvic in ‘Hem' ad campaign.Photo courtesy of Hem from Hollywood Planet, 2011 wearing their ‘mega push up bra' underneath a close-fitted top and a figure hugging dress (Freeman- Greene, 2011). The bra is claimed to ‘add two cup sizes' to its wearer's bust, which it has achieved successfully with Epic's originally flat chest Quicker, 2011). His body has been manipulated so that his appearance style communicates his gender as female. His hair is long and blow-dried in a typically feminine style, he is wearing make-up and a necklace, his arms are void of hair and his body has been manipulated to augment the bust with padding.He attempts to channel the poses that female models often make by moving and looking at the camera in a flui d and dramatic' manner (Morris, 2011). The close up angle of the photos and the choice of shots where Pelvic is making direct eye contact with the camera enforces the believability of Epic's feminine appearance. The success of the communication of Epic's gender identity as female in this advertisement demonstrates the extent to which an individual can communicate who they are or would like to be through their appearance.As an audience we almost automatically assume Pelvic to be a ‘beautiful, Victorians Secret issue bombshell' (Abraham, 2011). This mutual communication and interpretation that can be achieved through manipulating the variables of appearance style allows for an individual's look to say much about who they are. Fashion aids in the social construction of gender through separating male and male fashion and promoting the stereotypical feminine figure.In numerous centuries past and continuing into the present, the practice of women using wire, steel, elastic and paddi ng to mould their bodies to the fashionable shape of the time has been common, even expected. We have examined how Queen Marie Antoinette encouraged this practice in the 18th Century by wearing a corset to nip her waist and enhance her bust as well as hoop pannier skirts to widen her hips. In the 21st Century it has been demonstrated that this body distortion is still common with pop con Lady Gaga wearing a boned and padded body suit that provides her with that feminine, hourglass shape.We then saw how this practice is so typically expected to be feminine that the biologically male model Andre] Pelvic can display his female gender identity by donning a padded bra. When examining these three examples, it becomes clear that the molding of the body into the feminine physical ideal through restriction and augmentation is communicative of the wearer's gender, whether intentional or projected by society, and provides an insight into who they are.

Bag of Bones CHAPTER SEVEN

The little girl actually she wasn't much more than a baby-came walking up the middle of Route 68, dressed in a red bathing suit, yellow plastic flip-flops, and a Boston Red Sox baseball cap turned around backward. I had just driven past the Lakeview General Store and Dickie Brooks's All-Purpose Garage, and the speed limit there drops from fifty-five to thirty-five. Thank God I was obeying it that day, otherwise I might have killed her. It was my first day back. I'd gotten up late and spent most of the morning walking in the woods which run along the lakeshore, seeing what was the same and what had changed. The water looked a little lower and there were fewer boats than I would have expected, especially on summer's biggest holiday, but otherwise I might never have been away. I even seemed to be slapping at the same bugs. Around eleven my stomach alerted me to the fact that I'd skipped breakfast. I decided a trip to the Village Cafe was in order. The restaurant at Warrington's was trendier by far, but I'd be stared at there. The Village Cafe would be better if it was still doing business. Buddy Jellison was an ill-tempered fuck, but he had always been the best fry-cook in western Maine and what my stomach wanted was a big greasy Villageburger. Now this little girl, walking straight up the white line and looking like a majorette leading an invisible parade. At thirty-five miles per hour I saw her in plenty of time, but this road was busy in the summer, and very few people bothered creeping through the reduced-speed zone. There were only a dozen Castle County police cruisers, after all, and not many of them bothered with the TR unless they were specifically called there. I pulled over to the shoulder, put the Chevy in PARK, and was out before the dust had even begun to settle. The day was muggy and close and still, the clouds seeming low enough to touch. The kid a little blondie with a snub nose and scabbed knees stood on the white line as if it were a tightrope and watched me approach with no more fear than a fawn. ‘Hi,' she said. ‘I go beach. Mummy ‘on't take me and I'm mad as hell.' She stamped her foot to show she knew as well as anybody what mad as hell was all about. Three or four was my guess. Well-spoken in her fashion and cute as hell, but still no more than three or four. ‘Well, the beach is a good place to go on the Fourth, all right,' I said, ‘but ‘ ‘Fourth of July and fireworks too,' she agreed, making ‘too' sound exotic and sweet, like a word in Vietnamese. ‘ but if you try to walk there on the highway, you're more apt to wind up in Castle Rock Hospital.' I decided I wasn't going to stand there playing Mister Rogers with her in the middle of Route 68, not with a curve only fifty yards to the south and a car apt to come wheeling around it at sixty miles an hour at any time. I could hear a motor, actually, and it was revving hard. I picked the kid up and carried her over to where my car was idling, and although she seemed perfectly content to be carried and not frightened a bit, I felt like Chester the Molester the second I had my arm locked under her bottom. I was very aware that anyone sitting around in the combined office and waiting room of Brooksie's Garage could look out and see me. This is one of the strange midlife realities of my generation: we can't touch a child who isn't our own without fearing others will see something lecherous in our touching . . . or without thinking, way down deep in the sewers of our psyches, that there probably is something lecherous in it. I got her out of the road, though. I did that much. Let the Marching Mothers of Western Maine come after me and do their worst. ‘You take me beach?' the little girl asked. She was bright-eyed, smiling. I figured that she'd probably be pregnant by the time she was twelve, especially given the cool way she was wearing her baseball cap. ‘Got your suitie?' ‘Actually I think I left my suitie at home. Don't you hate that? Honey, where's your mom?' As if in direct answer to my question, the car I'd heard came busting out of a road on the near side of the curve. It was a Jeep Scout with mud splashed high up on both sides. The motor was growling like something up a tree and pissed off about it. A woman's head was poked out the side window. Little curie's mom must have been too scared to sit down; she was driving in a mad crouch, and if a car had been coming around that particular curve in Route 68 when she pulled out, my friend in the red bathing suit would likely have become an orphan on the spot. The Scout fishtailed, the head dropped back down inside the cab, and there was a grinding as the driver upshifted, trying to take her old heap from zero to sixty in maybe nine seconds. If pure terror could have done the job, I'm sure she would have succeeded. ‘That's Mattie,' the girl in the bathing suit said. ‘I'm mad at her. I'm running away to have a Fourth at the beach. If she's mad I go to my white nana.' I had no idea what she was talking about, but it did cross my mind that Miss Bosox of 1998 could have her Fourth at the beach; I would settle for a fifth of something whole-grain at home. Meanwhile, I was waving the arm not under the kid's butt back and forth over my head, and hard enough to blow around wisps of the girl's fine blonde hair. ‘Hey!' I shouted. ‘Hey, lady! I got her!' The Scout sped by, still accelerating and still sounding pissed off about it. The exhaust was blowing clouds of blue smoke. There was a further hideous grinding from the Scout's old transmission. It was like some crazy version of Let's Make a Deal.' ‘Mattie, you've succeeded in getting into second gear would you like to quit and take the Maytag washer, or do you want to try for third?' I did the only thing I could think of, which was to step out onto the road, turn toward the Jeep, which was now speeding away from me (the smell of the oil was thick and acrid), and hold the kid up high over my head, hoping Mattie would see us in her rearview mirror. I no longer felt like Chester the Molester; now I felt like a cruel auctioneer in a Disney cartoon, offering the cutest li'l piglet in the litter to the highest bidder. It worked, though. The Scout's mudcaked taillights came on and there was a demonic howling as the badly used brakes locked. Right in front of Brooksie's, this was. If there were any old-timers in for a good Fourth of July gossip, they would now have plenty to gossip about. I thought they would especially enjoy the part where Mom screamed at me to unhand her baby. When you return to your summer home after a long absence, it's always nice to get off on the right foot. The backup lights flared and the Jeep began reversing down the road at a good twenty miles an hour. Now the transmission sounded not pissed off but panicky please, it was saying, please stop, you're killing me. The Scout's rear end wagged from side to side like the tail of a happy dog. I watched it coming at me, hypnotized now in the northbound lane, now across the white line and into the southbound lane, now overcorrecting so that the left-hand tires spumed dust off the shoulder. ‘Mattie go fast,' my new girlfriend said in a conversational, isn't-this-interesting voice. She had one arm slung around my neck; we were chums, by God. But what the kid said woke me up. Mattie go fast, all right, too fast. Mattie would, more likely than not, clean out the rear end of my Chevrolet. And if I just stood here, Baby Snooks and I were apt to end up as toothpaste between the two vehicles. I backed the length of my car, keeping my eyes fixed on the Jeep and yelling, ‘Slow down, Mattie! Slow down!' Cutie-pie liked that. ‘S'yo down!' she yelled, starting to laugh. ‘S'yo down, you old Mattie, s'yo down!' The brakes screamed in fresh agony. The Jeep took one last walloping, unhappy jerk backward as Mattie stopped without benefit of the clutch. That final lunge took the Scout's rear bumper so close to the rear bumper of my Chevy that you could have bridged the gap with a cigarette. The smell of oil in the air was huge and furry. The kid was waving a hand in front of her face and coughing theatrically. The driver's door flew open; Mattie Devore flew out like a circus acrobat shot from a cannon, if you can imagine a circus acrobat dressed in old paisley shorts and a cotton smock top. My first thought was that the little girl's big sister had been babysitting her, that Mattie and Mummy were two different people. I knew that little kids often spend a period of their development calling their parents by their first names, but this pale-cheeked blonde girl looked all of twelve, fourteen at the outside. I decided her mad handling of the Scout hadn't been terror for her child (or not just terror) but total automotive inexperience. There was something else, too, okay? Another assumption that I made. The muddy four-wheel-drive, the baggy paisley shorts, the smock that all but screamed Kmart, the long yellow hair held back with those little red elastics, and most of all the inattention that allows the three-year-old in your care to go wandering off in the first place . . . all those things said trailer-trash to me. I know how that sounds, but I had some basis for it. Also, I'm Irish, goddammit. My ancestors were trailer-trash when the trailers were still horse-drawn caravans. ‘Stinky-phew!' the little girl said, still waving a pudgy hand at the air in front of her face. ‘Scoutie stink!' Where Scoutie's bathing suitie? I thought, and then my new girlfriend was snatched out of my arms. Now that she was closer, my idea that Mattie was the bathing beauty's sister took a hit. Mattie wouldn't be middle-aged until well into the next century, but she wasn't twelve or fourteen, either. I now guessed twenty, maybe a year younger. When she snatched the baby away, I saw the wedding ring on her left hand. I also saw the dark circles under her eyes, gray skin dusting to purple. She was young, but I thought it was a mother's terror and exhaustion I was looking at. I expected her to swat the tot, because that's how trailer-trash moms react to being tired and scared. When she did, I would stop her, one way or another distract her into turning her anger on me, if that was what it took. There was nothing very noble in this, I should add; all I really wanted to do was to postpone the fanny-whacking, shoulder-shaking, and in-your-face shouting to a time and place where I wouldn't have to watch it. It was my first day back in town; I didn't want to spend any of it watching an inattentive slut abuse her child. Instead of shaking her and shouting ‘Where did you think you were going, you little bitch?' Mattie first hugged the child (who hugged back enthusiastically, showing absolutely no sign of fear) and then covered her face with kisses. ‘Why did you do that?' she cried. ‘What was in your head? When I couldn't find you, I died.' Mattie burst into tears. The child in the bathing suit looked at her with an expression of surprise so big and complete it would have been comical under other circumstances. Then her own face crumpled up. I stood back, watched them crying and hugging, and felt ashamed of my preconceptions. A car went by and slowed down. An elderly couple Ma and Pa Kettle on their way to the store for that holiday box of Grape-Nuts gawked out. I gave them an impatient wave with both hands, the kind that says what are you staring at, go on, put an egg in your shoe and beat it. They sped up, but I didn't see an out-of-state license plate, as I'd hoped I might. This version of Ma and Pa were locals, and the story would be fleeting its rounds soon enough: Mattie the teenage bride and her little bundle of joy (said bundle undoubtedly conceived in the back seat of a car or the bed of a pickup truck some months before the legitimizing ceremony), bawling their eyes out at the side of the road. With a stranger. No, not exactly a stranger. Mike Noonan, the writer fella from upstate. ‘I wanted to go to the beach and suh-suh-swim!' the little girl wept, and now it was ‘swim' that sounded exotic the Vietnamese word for ‘ecstasy,' perhaps. ‘I said I'd take you this afternoon.' Mattie was still sniffing, but getting herself under control. ‘Don't do that again, little guy, please don't you ever do that again, Mommy was so scared.' ‘I won't,' the kid said ‘I really won't.' Still crying, she hugged the older girl tight, laying her head against the side of Mattie's neck. Her baseball cap fell off. I picked it up, beginning to feel very much like an outsider here. I poked the blue-and-red cap at Mattie's hand until her fingers closed on it. I decided I also felt pretty good about the way things had turned out, and maybe I had a right to. I've presented the incident as if it was amusing, and it was, but it was the sort of amusing you never see until later. When it was happening, it was terrifying. Suppose there had been a truck coming from the other direction? Coming around that curve, and coming too fast? A vehicle did come around it, a pickup of the type no tourist ever drives. Two more locals gawked their way by. ‘Ma'am?' I said. ‘Mattie? I think I'd better get going. Glad your little girl is all right.' The minute it was out, I felt an almost irresistible urge to laugh. I could picture me drawling this speech to Mattie (a name that belonged in a movie like Unforgiven or True Grit if any name ever did) with my thumbs hooked into the belt of my chaps and my Stetson pushed back to reveal my noble brow. I felt an insane urge to add, ‘You're right purty, ma'am, ain't you the new schoolteacher?' She turned to me and I saw that she was right purty. Even with circles under her eyes and her blonde hair sticking off in gobs to either side of her head. And I thought she was doing okay for a girl probably not yet old enough to buy a drink in a bar. At least she hadn't belted the baby. ‘Thank you so much,' she said. ‘Was she right in the road?' Say she wasn't, her eyes begged. At least say she was walking along the shoulder. ‘Well ‘ ‘I walked on the line,' the girl said, pointing. ‘It's like the cross-mock.' Her voice took on a faintly righteous tone. ‘Crossmock is safe.' Mattie's cheeks, already white, turned whiter. I didn't like seeing her that way, and didn't like to think of her driving home that way, especially with a kid. ‘Where do you live, Mrs. ?' ‘Devore,' she said. ‘I'm Mattie Devore.' She shifted the child and put out her hand. I shook it. The morning was warm, and it was going to be hot by mid-afternoon beach weather for sure but the fingers I touched were icy. ‘We live just there.' She pointed to the intersection the Scout had shot out of, and I could see surprise, surprise a doublewide trailer set off in a grove of pines about two hundred feet up the little feeder road. Wasp Hill Road, I recalled. It ran about half a mile from Route 68 to the water what was known as the Middle Bay. Ah yes, doc, it's all coming back to me now. I'm once more riding the Dark Score range. Saving little kids is my specialty. Still, I was relieved to see that she lived close by less than a quarter of a mile from the place where our respective vehicles were parked with their tails almost touching and when I thought about it, it stood to reason. A child as young as the bathing beauty couldn't have walked far . . . although this one had already demonstrated a fair degree of determination. I thought Mother's haggard look was even more suggestive of the daughter's will. I was glad I was too old to be one of her future boyfriends; she would have them jumping through hoops all through high school and college. Hoops of fire, likely. Well, the high-school part, anyway. Girls from the doublewide side of town did not, as a general rule, go to college unless there was a juco or a voke-tech handy. And she would only have them jumping until the right boy (or more likely the wrong one) came sweeping around the Great Curve of Life and ran her down in the highway, her all the while unaware that the white line and the crossmock were two different things. Then the whole cycle would repeat itself. Christ almighty, Noonan, quit it, I told myself. She's three years old and you've already got her with three kids of her own, two with ringworm and one retarded. ‘Thank you so much,' Mattie repeated. ‘That's okay,' I said, and snubbed the little girl's nose. Although her cheeks were still wet with tears, she grinned at me sunnily enough in response. ‘This is a very verbal little girl.' ‘Very verbal, and very willful.' Now Mattie did give her child a little shake, but the kid showed no fear, no sign that shaking or hitting was the order of most days. On the contrary, her smile widened. Her mother smiled back. And yes once you got past the slopped-together look of her, she was most extraordinarily pretty. Put her in a tennis dress at the Castle Rock Country Club (where she'd likely never go in her life, except maybe as a maid or a waitress), and she would maybe be more than pretty. A young Grace Kelly, perhaps. Then she looked back at me, her eyes very wide and grave. ‘Mr. Noonan, I'm not a bad mother,' she said. I felt a start at my name coming from her mouth, but it was only momentary. She was the right age, after all, and my books were probably better for her than spending her afternoons in front of General Hospital and One Life to Live. A little, anyway. ‘We had an argument about when we were going to the beach. I wanted to hang out the clothes, have lunch, and go this afternoon. Kyra wanted ‘ She broke off. ‘What? What did I say?' ‘Her name is Kia? Did ‘ Before I could say anything else, the most extraordinary thing happened: my mouth was full of water. So full I felt a moment's panic, like someone who is swimming in the ocean and swallows a wave-wash. Only this wasn't a salt taste; it was cold and fresh, with a faint metal tang like blood. I turned my head aside and spat. I expected a gush of liquid to pour out of my mouth the sort of gush you sometimes get when commencing artificial respiration on a near-drowning victim. What came out instead was what usually comes out when you spit on a hot day: a little white pellet. And that sensation was gone even before the little white pellet struck the dirt of the shoulder. In an instant, as if it had never been there. ‘That man spirted,' the girl said matter-of-factly. ‘Sorry,' I said. I was also bewildered. What in God's name had that been about? ‘I guess I had a little delayed reaction.' Mattie looked concerned, as though I were eighty instead of forty. I thought that maybe to a girl her age, forty is eighty. ‘Do you want to come up to the house? I'll give you a glass of water.' ‘No, I'm fine now.' ‘All right. Mr. Noonan . . . all I mean is that nothing like this has ever happened to me before. I was hanging sheets . . . she was inside watching a Mighty Mouse cartoon on the VCR . . . then, when I went in to get more pins . . . ‘ She looked at the girl, who was no longer smiling. It was starting to get through to her now. Her eyes were big, and ready to fill with tears. ‘She was gone. I thought for a minute I'd die of fear.' Now the kid's mouth began to tremble, and her eyes filled up right on schedule. She began to weep. Mattie stroked her hair, soothing the small head until it lay against the Kmart smock top. ‘That's all right, Ki,' she said. ‘It turned out okay this time, but you can't go out in the road. It's dangerous. Little things get run over in the road, and you're a little thing. The most precious little thing in the world.' She cried harder. It was the exhausted sound of a child who needed a nap before any more adventures, to the beach or anywhere else. ‘Kia bad, Kia bad,' she sobbed against her mother's neck. ‘No, honey, only three,' Mattie said, and if I had harbored any further thoughts about her being a bad mother, they melted away then. Or perhaps they'd already gone after all, the kid was round, comely, well-kept, and unbruised. On one level, those things registered. On another I was trying to cope with the strange thing that had just happened, and the equally strange thing I thought I was hearing that the little girl I had carried off the white line had the name we had planned to give our child, if our child turned out to be a girl. ‘Kia,' I said. Marvelled, really. As if my touch might break her, I tentatively stroked the back of her head. Her hair was sun-warm and fine. ‘No,' Mattie said. ‘That's the best she can say it now. Kyra, not Kia. It's from the Greek. It means ladylike.' She shifted, a little self-conscious. ‘I picked it out of a baby-name book. While I was pregnant, I kind of went Oprah. Better than going postal, I guess.' ‘It's a lovely name,' I said. ‘And I don't think you're a bad mom.' What went through my mind right then was a story Frank Arlen had told over a meal at Christmas it had been about Petie, the youngest brother, and Frank had had the whole table in stitches. Even Petie, who claimed not to remember a bit of the incident, laughed until tears streamed down his cheeks. One Easter, Frank said, when Petie was about five, their folks had gotten them up for an Easter-egg hunt. The two parents had hidden over a hundred colored hard-boiled eggs around the house the evening before, after getting the kids over to their grandparents'. A high old Easter morning was had by all, at least until Johanna looked up from the patio, where she was counting her share of the spoils, and shrieked. There was Petie, crawling gaily around on the second-floor overhang at the back of the house, not six feet from the drop to the concrete patio. Mr. Arlen had rescued Petie while the rest of the family stood below, holding hands, frozen with horror and fascination. Mrs. Arlen had repeated the Hail Mary over and over (‘so fast she sounded like one of the Chipmunks on that old ‘Witch Doctor' record,' Frank had said, laughing harder than ever) until her husband had disappeared back into the open bedroom window with Petie in his arms. Then she had swooned to the pavement, breaking her nose. When asked for an explanation, Petie had told them he'd wanted to check the rain-gutter for eggs. I suppose every family has at least one story like that; the survival of the world's Peties and Kyras is a convincing argument in the minds of parents, anyway for the existence of God. ‘I was so scared,' Mattie said, now looking fourteen again. Fifteen at most. ‘But it's over,' I said. ‘And Kyra's not going to go walking in the road anymore. Are you, Kyra?' She shook her head against her mother's shoulder without raising it. I had an idea she'd probably be asleep before Mattie got her back to the good old doublewide. ‘You don't know how bizarre this is for me,' Mattie said. ‘One of my favorite writers comes out of nowhere and saves my kid. I knew you had a place on the TR, that big old log house everyone calls Sara Laughs, but folks say you don't come here anymore since your wife died.' ‘For a long time I didn't,' I said. ‘If Sara was a marriage instead of a house, you'd call this a trial reconciliation.' She smiled fleetingly, then looked grave again. ‘I want to ask you for something. A favor.' ‘Ask away.' ‘Don't talk about this. It's not a good time for Ki and me.' ‘Why not?' She bit her lip and seemed to consider answering the question -one I might not have asked, given an extra moment to consider and then shook her head. ‘It's just not. And I'd be so grateful if you didn't talk about what just happened in town. More grateful than you'll ever know.' ‘No problem.' ‘You mean it?' ‘Sure. I'm basically a summer person who hasn't been around for awhile . . . which means I don't have many folks to talk to, anyway.' There was Bill Dean, of course, but I could keep quiet around him. Not that he wouldn't know. If this little lady thought the locals weren't going to find out about her daughter's attempt to get to the beach by shank's mare, she was fooling herself. ‘I think we've been noticed already, though. Take a look up at Brooksie's Garage. Peek, don't stare.' She did, and sighed. Two old men were standing on the tarmac where there had been gas pumps once upon a time. One was very likely Brooksie himself; I thought I could see the remnants of the flyaway red hair which had always made him look like a downeast version of Bozo the Clown. The other, old enough to make Brooksie look like a wee slip of a lad, was leaning on a gold-headed cane in a way that was queerly vulpine. ‘I can't do anything about them,' she said, sounding depressed. ‘Nobody can do anything about them. I guess I should count myself lucky it's a holiday and there's only two of them.' ‘Besides,' I added, ‘they probably didn't see much.' Which ignored two things: first, that half a dozen cars and pick-em-ups had gone by while we had been standing here, and second, that whatever Brooksie and his elderly friend hadn't seen, they would be more than happy to make up. On Mattie's shoulder, Kyra gave a ladylike snore. Mattie glanced at her and gave her a smile full of rue and love. ‘I'm sorry we had to meet under circumstances that make me look like such a dope, because I really am a big fan. They say at the bookstore in Castle Rock that you've got a new one coming out this summer.' I nodded. ‘It's called Helen's Promise.' She grinned. ‘Good title.' ‘Thanks. You better get your buddy back home before she breaks your arm.' ‘Yeah.' There are people in this world who have a knack for asking embarrassing, awkward questions without meaning to it's like a talent for walking into doors. I am one of that tribe, and as I walked with her toward the passenger side of the Scout, I found a good one. And yet it was hard to blame myself too enthusiastically. I had seen the wedding ring on her hand, after all. ‘Will you tell your husband?' Her smile stayed on, but it paled somehow. And tightened. If it were possible to delete a spoken question the way you can delete a line of type when you're writing a story, I would have done it. ‘He died last August.' ‘Mattie, I'm sorry. Open mouth, insert foot.' ‘You couldn't know. A girl my age isn't even supposed to be married, is she? And if she is, her husband's supposed to be in the army, or something.' There was a pink baby-seat also Kmart, I guessed on the passenger side of the Scout. Mattie tried to boost Kyra in, but I could see she was struggling. I stepped forward to help her, and for just a moment, as I reached past her to grab a plump leg, the back of my hand brushed her breast. She couldn't step back unless she wanted to risk Kyra's slithering out of the seat and onto the floor, but I could feel her recording the touch. My husband's dead, not a threat, so the big-deal writer thinks it's okay to cop a little feel on a hot summer morning. And what can I say? Mr. Big Deal came along and hauled my kid out of the road, maybe saved her life. No, Mattie, I may be forty going on a hundred, but I was not copping a feel. Except I couldn't say that; it would only make things worse. I felt my cheeks flush a little. ‘How old are you?' I asked, when we had the baby squared away and were back at a safe distance. She gave me a look. Tired or not, she had it together again. ‘Old enough to know the situation I'm in.' She held out her hand. ‘Thanks again, Mr. Noonan. God sent you along at the right time.' ‘Nah, God just told me I needed a hamburger at the Village Cafe,' I said. ‘Or maybe it was His opposite number. Please say Buddy's still doing business at the same old stand.' She smiled. It warmed her face back up again, and I was happy to see it. ‘He'll still be there when Ki's kids are old enough to try buying beer with fake IDS. Unless someone wanders in off the road and asks for something like shrimp tetrazzini. If that happened he'd probably drop dead of a heart attack.' ‘Yeah. Well, when I get copies of the new book, I'll drop one off.' The smile continued to hang in there, but now it shaded toward caution. ‘You don't need to do that, Mr. Noonan.' ‘No, but I will. My agent gets me fifty comps. I find that as I get older, they go further.' Perhaps she heard more in my voice than I had meant to put there people do sometimes, I guess. ‘All right. I'll look forward to it.' I took another look at the baby, sleeping in that queerly casual way they have her head tilted over on her shoulder, her lovely little lips pursed and blowing a bubble. Their skin is what kills me so fine and perfect there seem to be no pores at all. Her Sox hat was askew. Mattie watched me reach in and readjust it so the visor's shade fell across her closed eyes. ‘Kyra,' I said. Mattie nodded. ‘Ladylike.' ‘Kia is an African name,' I said. ‘It means ‘season's beginning.† I left her then, giving her a little wave as I headed back to the driver's side of the Chevy. I could feel her curious eyes on me, and I had the oddest feeling that I was going to cry. That feeling stayed with me long after the two of them were out of sight; was still with me when I got to the Village Cafe. I pulled into the dirt parking lot to the left of the off-brand gas pumps and just sat there for a little while, thinking about Jo and about a home pregnancy-testing kit which had cost twenty-two-fifty. A little secret she'd wanted to keep until she was absolutely sure. That must have been it; what else could it have been? ‘Kia,' I said. ‘Season's beginning.' But that made me feel like crying again, so I got out of the car and slammed the door hard behind me, as if I could keep the sadness inside that way.