No, he had not slept but had experienced hysterical hallucinations, the products of his own obsessive concern with sin and marital fidelity. B. The question demands an answer. 1. The narrator’s question rests on much more than the fact that he asks it. 2. The nature of the question is implied throughout a story which asks, “Is there a natural (as opposed to supernatural) explanation for what Brown underwent? ” 3. Such ambiguities of natural/supernatural conflicts are characteristic of Hawthorne: ) “The Minister’s Black Veil” b) The Scarlet Letter (e. g. , the flaming “A” in the sky and the scarlet “A” on Dimmesdale’s chest) I. Technical ambiguities A. Point of view 1. The story is almost entirely told from a limited omniscient point of view (Brown’s perceptions), and it is so limited that it is impossible for a reader to discriminate fact from Brown’s imagination. 2. At several points in the story, the point of view expands to include an authorial voice, but this voice editorializes further ambiguity. ) Words and phrases 1) “as it were” 2) “as if” 3) “some affirm that” 4) “must have been an ocular deception” 5) “doubted whether he had heard ought but the murmur of the forest” 6) “whispering without a wind” b) The authorial voice also reports Brown’s perceptions with ambiguity. 1) “seem” 2) “appear” 3) “beheld” 4) “fancied” 2. The cumulative effect of this language is to cast doubt on the literal reality of Brown’s experience and to make any of the four explanations plausible.
II. Ambiguity of theme A. Hawthorne’s ambiguous narrative creates an issue much larger than the question which the narrator poses about Brown’s personal experience; that is, is the devil correct when he pronounces that evil is the inherent nature of all mankind? B. Has Brown’s journey, irrespective of its degree of literalness, revealed truth to him? C. Hawthorne provides no answer; such ambiguity is the theme. (For Hawthorne, all men are potentially evil and potentially good. )
Discussion question
For this week’s discussion, you will review the Critical Thinking Case, SAP and the American CEO of a German Multinational, and answer the questions at the bottom of the case study. The questions are also included below for your convenience
What are some of the sources of McDermott’s excellence at managing cross-cultural differences? How did his experience managing a deli store at a young age help him develop cross-cultural management skills?
What are some of the cross-cultural differences he discovered? Using your knowledge of culture, explain some of these differences.
What is your assessment of his lessons for cross-cultural managers? Relate these lessons to the GLOBE findings of the effective global leader.
Make sure that you post your substantive initial posting no later than Saturday this week, and be sure to use outside support for your posting. This should be from reliable sources (other than the text book), and you need to reference the sources using proper APA Version 7 formatting.