Swot Playstation free essay sample

A well-structured and user-friendly online appearance reflects the identity of a successful company and its products. Thus, e-marketing has to be combined with the classic marketing tools in order to develop an effective marketing strategy. The aim of this report is to compile an e-marketing plan for an existing company and to state and describe the core aspects of the company’s existing Internet marketing strategy as well as to analyse and evaluate the company’s current position and identify opportunities for improvement. By using Sony PlayStation as a relevant industrial example the implications of the analysis will be discussed, as well as the evaluation, planning for practitioners and marketing decision-makers. 2. E-Marketing First of all, the term ‘e-marketing’ has to be defined in this context. The notation ‘electronic marketing’ â€Å"refers to the application of marketing principles and techniques via electronic media and more specifically the Internet† (Quirk. biz, 2006). There is lots of evidence that e-marketing is a very important field, if not even â€Å"at the heart of e-business† as and Smith (2008, p. We will write a custom essay sample on Swot Playstation or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page 3) claim. Although, it can be related differently to e-commerce and e-business, namely, overlapping, replacing or involving, its principal task is to provide direct access to the customer in order to obtain a better understanding of their needs and get closer to them. Moreover, adding value to products and widening distribution channels to boost sales, for instance, represent further functions of e-marketing (Chaffey and Smith, 2008). Therefore, its components are intimately connected with those of marketing in general but based on the Internet (Quirk. iz, 2006). â€Å"(†¦) eMarketing encompasses all the activities a business conducts via the worldwide web with the aim of attracting new business, retaining current business and developing its brand identity. † (Quirk. biz, 2006) So, as this quote summarises, the internet helps over all small firms to reach a huge international audience in a short time and a relatively cost-effective way. Furthermore, this two-way communic ation channel allows interaction with the customer, while conventional marketing is largely about advertising the brand only (Quirk. biz, 2006). Another advantageous difference to traditional marketing represents amongst others the independence of the location where the business takes place. The internet enables the supplier to communicate with the customers make a deal without being physically present (Bach, 2007). 3. Marketing Mix The marketing mix is a well-established framework with which marketers can plan their approach to their target market. The model became famous in the 1960s when Jerome McCarthy talked the first time about the â€Å"4P’s† in marketing: product, place, price and promotion. Those are elements, which should help to plan the marketing strategy. The above mentioned model was extended by Booms and Bitner (1981), because in their point of view the model was only suitable for products, but not for the service industry. So they created the â€Å"7P’s†, which means they added three more â€Å"P’s†; physical evidence, people and process to the existing model. As a company you should sell only a product, which is affordable, can be delivered, and which has a high qualitative standard. In the online world there is always the opportunity for launching new versions, or slightly different variations and even new products. Within the internet industry the prices change minute-by-minute, so they put the market prices under pressure, with methods like price comparison and auctions, the internet business can reach a reduction in the offline market prices. Changes in the place of distribution, promotion, purchase and usage of products are considered, when the place is specified as an element of mix. It is same online and offline: increasing the presentation and making it widely accessible to the customers and is the principle. Online, there are a lot of options to promote a product from advertisements, PR, selling, direct mail, merchandising, exhibitions, sponsorship and packaging to word of mouth and all should be reviewed for the promoting part of the marketing mix. There are also some devising key issues, for example, integration, creativity and globalisation for the promotional mix. People are online and offline a significant contributor, and in case they make the difference. A company has to find the balance between automatic online customer service and traditional human service, for providing the clients the service and quality and, while they also need to minimize the service costs. For online distribution companies, the quality of the site is the physical evidence, so it is very important to reassure, that the customers who buys intangible services online, through a site that is meeting acceptable standards of speed and an which is easy use. On the one hand, a company can create an advantage in the competitive market with good processes and systems, but on the other, poor processes can damage the brand or kill the sales. Briefly summarized, all processes impact customers in terms of product and service quality. (Cp. Chaffey and Smith 2008, pp. 50-89) 4. Target market According to Internet World Stats (2011) the most import online markets are North America, Oceania / Australia and Europe. Therefore, around 80 per cent of the North American households have access to the World Wide Web, followed by Oceania / Australia as well as Europe with around 60 per cent of Internet users. These figures show clearly the importance of an online presence and, therefore, an elaborated e-marketing plan in these countries. Although the main focus of e-marketing concentrates on the well-developed countries, Asia and Africa are highly proposed to become big future players (Internet World Stats, 2011). 5. Sony PlayStation According playstation-presse. e (2011) Sony Computer Entertainment Europe (SCEE), with the headquarter in London, is responsible for distribution, marketing and sales for the hardware as well as for the software for the products of PlayStation 3, PlayStation 2, PSP (PlayStation Portable) and PlayStation Network in 99 countries in Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Oceania / Australia. In addition, Sony PlayStation develops, publishes, promotes and distributes game softwa re for these formats and accounts third party programs for the platforms of Sony Computer Entertainment Europe territories. Since the launch from the PlayStation 3 gaming console in November 2006 over 55. 5 million units were sold. With more than 153. 6 sold units PlayStation 2 still belongs to the most successful consumer electronics products in history. Since the launch by end of 2004 more than 73 million units of PlayStation portable gaming consoles were sold worldwide, which highlights the importance of the portable gaming. Throughout the increasing interest and the growth of network applications and network-gaming, over 1. 91 billion downloads of more than 90 million users could be registered at the interactive and free PlayStation Network. . Homepage 6. 1 Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) The PlayStation homepage is easily accessible through search engines such as Google or Yahoo. Therefore, the Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) gives the user the possibility to enter the sub pages directly. The first impression of the landing page gives a well-structured overview of all the different sections. Throug h the graphical elements such as pictures, animations and videos consumers are attracted and curious about the content of the page, whereas other pages overwhelm the consumers by presenting too much text. Therefore, visitors are more likely to stay on the page and spend time by informing themselves about the different products. The website provides the latest information about Sony products. Moreover, this page is linked to a PlayStation Blog where the producers introduce their new technical innovations. The header is divided into two parts. The upper part provides all significant links to the diverse products such as PlayStation Network, PlayStation 3, PlayStation Vita, PlayStation Portable and PlayStation 2. The lower bar focuses on the social aspects such as the Forums or the PlayStation Blog. Every link leads to subpages, which are again divided into different sections to gain an insight into the different products and services. The footer, placed on the bottom of the page, has a very clear design and is easy to navigate throughout the sections mentioned before. One of the main focuses of the homepage lies on social networks, where a significant part of the landing page deals with a Facebook integration. Users will find the ‘Facebook-Recommend’-button on news, support and competition pages on eu. playstation. com. By clicking on this button, users can quickly and easily let their friends know which PlayStation content they like. Users can post comments and share all the latest PlayStation happenings on the Wall along with the rest of the PlayStation community and their friends. Furthermore, they can share their excitement and enthusiasm with the community by letting them know exactly how much they want to play an upcoming release on PlayStation, rate any game that they already own on PS3 and PSP and find out, if their friends own it too. By further investigation a ‘Twitter’- and ‘Google+’-button are placed on one of the sub-pages. Compared to the Facebook Integration window the other social media links are not set on the landing page and, therefore, hard to find. Another significant part the of the landing page deals with the gaming software by providing the visitors with information on gaming software regarding release date, general information about the games, multiplayer experiences and add-ons. Furthermore, every game is linked to a specially designed subpage which also leads to the official product site. Moreover, users have the possibility to follow certain games on Facebook by ‘liking’ the link provided on these gaming sub sites. 7. E-Marketing Plan 7. 1 SWOT Analysis SWOT is an â€Å"acronym where the letters stand for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Treatsâ€Å", as shown in table 1 (Evans et al. , 2003, p. 196). Its aim is to visualise the possible results and effects of an intended project, for instance, after an analysis has been carried out. Thus, it â€Å"provides a platform for going on to formulate the strategy for the futureâ€Å" (Evans et al. , 2003, p. 197). StrengthsWeaknessesOpportunitiesThreats well-structuredtoo many linksimplementation of a keyword searchpage seems confusing ? visitors are leaving the site visual contentrequires a lot of RAMsimpler animationscapacity overload ? browser crashes product presentation and informationno direct sale via online shopsetting up an official PlayStation online shopSkipping retailers ? loss of sales partners Table 1: SWOT analysis by the authors (2011) According to the SWOT analysis the page is well-structured, but has too many links which may confuse the visitors while navigating through the site. Eventually, this could cause a loss of traffic. A possible solution would be an implementation of a keyword search in order to help the user to find the requested information easier and faster. A further strength represents the visual content, which attracts lots of visitors to stay longer on the site by providing many pictures and recent videos of the latest products. Although the website is well-designed and modern, the majority of the flash animations require a high random access memory (RAM) as well as a fast internet connection. Otherwise, the animations are rather stalled than flowing and it may cause a capacity overload followed by a crash of the browser. This problem could be prevented by providing a simple hypertext mark-up language (HTML) view. Although the product presentation and information on the web page is well-arranged, a direct sale opportunity via an online shop is missing. Skipping retailers by creating an official online store could increase the sales on the one hand, but on the other it may cause a loss of sales partners. Through the comparison of the results gained from the SWOT analysis a more specific marketing strategy is provided by the following SOSTAC analysis, which is a commonly used method to create a marketing plan. 7. 2 SOSTAC Model The SOSTAC-acronym stands for Situation analysis, Objectives, Strategy, Tactics, Action and Control and derives from Smith in the 1990s. The initial situation analysis, which can carried out, for example, by a SWOT analysis, defines the present position of the company. Afterwards, the aim and its objectives were formulated followed by a strategy, including the definition of the target market. In addition, the concrete tactic must be determined by defining the tools of the strategy in more detail. Finally, the specific actions required for the implementation must be identified. To conclude, the whole process, the success or failure must be evaluated by reviewing, updating and modifying. (Cp. Smith 1998 paraphrased in Businessballs 2006) Thus, this model is well applicable to create an e-marketing plan for Sony PlayStation: Situation: At the moment the PlayStation homepage is well-structured, informative and product related. Objectives: Through integrating an official online store traffic should be increased and, consequently, the product sales should rise. Strategy: Set up an official online store run by Sony PlayStation. Tactics: Every visitor of the homepage is more likely to become a customer by providing special offers via an online store. Action: Hiring a company (web designer) which develops and implements the PlayStation online shop. Control: Maintenance – this means to control the traffic on the website in order to analyse and improve the online appearance. 8. Conclusion To summarise, the customers represent the number one priority within a company and, therefore, the company’s main task is to attract, keep and maintain their loyalty. This can be done by developing an in-depth marketing plan including an e-marketing plan. As demonstrated above, the implementation of the SWOT-analysis and the SOSTAC-model is the initial framework to create a strategy plan. In the case of Sony PlayStation, this means adding an option for online sales to their already well-designed homepage might increase their overall product sales and, consequently, their business volume. For the implementation of an online store a web designer might be required. As mentioned before, the whole process needs to be monitored constantly, which includes obtaining regularly the customers’ feedback. All in all, related to the results of the analysis an e-marketing plan represents an essential tool for developing a successful webpage. References Bach, B. (2007) Implications of Enabling Technologies for Apple Inc. : Cybermarketing and enabling technologies. Googlebooks [Online]. Available at: http://books. google. co. uk/books? l=enlr=id=yJbwFr1M4HUCoi=fndpg=PA2dq=emarketing+independence+of+location+ots=j7bgNOf78asig=jQRagQ8cBrj0cpskyc2B2lM00M#v=onepageq=independence%20of%20locationf=false (Accessed: 16 November 2011). Chaffey, D. Smith, P. R. (2008) eMarketing eXcellence: Planning and optimising your digital marketing. 3rd edn. Oxford: Butterworth-Heinemann. Chapman, A. (2006) Businessballs [Online]. Available at: http://www. businessballs. com/pr_smiths_ sostac_plan ning_method. htm (Accessed: 16 November 2011). Evans, N. , Campbell, D. Stonehouse, G. (2003) Strategic Management for Travel and Tourism. EBLIB [Online]. Available at:

Jap Theatre essay essays

Jap Theatre essay essays Essay Question: How do we equate the dark and serious theatre of the 1960s in Japan with the lighter, fluffy theatre of the 1990s? Is this a fair description of both theatres? Are they part of the same movement? Are they simply a mirror to contemporary Japanese society? Shogeki-Jo, the little theatre movement of the 1960s, also called the underground (angura) theatre has formed the basis of contemporary theatre in Japan. This theatre developed in a spirit of revolt against the post war Japanese mainstream. The first generation artist of angura, such as Terayama Shuji, Suzuki Tadashi and Kara Juro, created a dark world of passions that broke the conventional frame of theatre; the first modern theatre that is uniquely Japanese in aesthetics and practice. In the 1980s and the 90s, as the social conditions in Japan changed drastically, the focus of angura theatre also shifted. It developed mainly in two directions. One is the light, fluffy theatre of Noda Hideki and the quiet theatre of Hirata Oriza, where the radical element of underground theatre has been replaced by normalization and popularization; hence its relation to the original angura impetus becomes uncertain. However, the other strand of the angura development demonstrates the return of ra dical theatre in the 1990s. Dealing with issues concerning the despair of post bubble Japan, theatre groups such as Daisan Erotica, Gekidan Kaitaisha and Dumb Type integrated theory and practice in their performances, presenting a theatre that can  ¡intervene in and subvert dominant construct of Japanese social reality ¡ . Despite their differences in style and concept, traits of 1960s angura theatre are evident in both of these later developments, as they are indeed all, unique expressions concerning the contemporary Japanese society. The 1960s in Japan was an era of radical social changes due to the wide spread political movement against the renewal of the US ¡VJapan Security Tre...

Discuss how mechanical engineering has helped the human race to Assignment

Discuss how mechanical engineering has helped the human race to develop - Assignment Example Among the aspects of human lives, that mechanical engineering has influenced includes transportation. Throughout the history of humans, the transportation of products to the commercial centers was one of the biggest challenges to the development and faster civilization of humans. However, with the discovery of mechanical engineering, humans have fast tracked developments in communication and transportation technologies thus developing stronger economies of the contemporary society. Introduction Mechanical engineering began in the 18th century in central Europe during the industrial revolution. The wave of industrial revolution in Europe influenced numerous discoveries with the view of increasing the use of machines to replace the extensive human labor that had preceded the agrarian revolution. Humans thus concerted their effort in determining the best ways of harnessing heat energy and using it to run machines. Among the several areas, that humans concentrated on was transportation. Humans had tried developing faster and easier ways of transportation to help facilitate the movements of both people and products. After the invention of the wheel much earlier, humans concentrated on inventing ways of propelling the wheel and using it to facilitate transportation. Through mechanical engineering, humans discovered the use of fossil and among other fuels to produce heat capable of propelling engines. The invention of automobiles, ships and airplanes in the modern societies origi nated from the concerted efforts of such early mundane mechanical engineers as Isaac Newton and Archimedes to explain some of the developments in the field. Integration and interaction were and still are essential psychological concepts that have influenced every aspect of humanity including politics ad economy. Humans needed effective and efficient ways of transporting their products to the market. This was essential for survival since after the agrarian revolution, the climatic disparity resulted in different regions producing specific products. Humans therefore needed effective platforms to trade their products thus develop stronger and more cohesive societies. Additionally, humans had invented and started using some of the basic tools such as hoes and ploughs during the agrarian revolution. With such basic knowledge on the use of tools, humans therefore sought to incorporate the use of machines to pull carts and wagons. With the invention of mechanical engineering, humans could therefore begin developing machines capable of increasing the efficiency of the previously existing tools. The development of effective means of transportation led to the faster industrialization of the European economies. The basic knowledge of propelling motors with fuel is fundamental in the design of motor vehicle among other machines that operate on motion and movable gears. Mechanical engineering aided the discovery of effective means of turning fossil fuel into heat energy thus operating the machines of the basic principles of mechanical engineering (James, 1987). The principles include mechanics, kinematics and thermodynamics among many others. The principles incorporate the use of heat to propel gears and levers to facilitate the movement of specific parts of the machines thus resulting in the movement of the entire machines as in the case of cars, ships and airpl

Social life Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Social life - Research Paper Example Around 30 or 40 years before, most of the women satisfied with their homely assignments of looking after the children and the family matters. But the development of science and technology and the changing life styles encouraged the women to think in terms of finding an employment for gaining more financial freedom. Earlier, women relied heavily on men for their personal expenses and in many cases they were forced to suppress their needs because of the difficulties in getting money from the men. The over dominance of men in family, social and professional matters forced the women to change their attitudes towards employment and many of them started to come out from the kitchen to join the companies as employees to get more professional and financial freedom. This paper analyses the Economic incentives which have motivated women to continue to participate in the Labour Market. In many countries, the rapid economic growth was due largely to important growth in the manufacturing and services sectors, where substantial and proportionally larger increase of female workers has been registered† (WOMENS PARTICIPATION IN ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT, p.1). Traditionally, women were forced to confine their activities within the boundaries of the kitchen or family as the men dominate the women community. Women enjoyed less freedom in financial matters since the men were the ones who earned money for meeting the family expenses. Even though, the women community worked hard in the kitchen or in the home, their jobs were marked as the nonproductive ones and they earned no financial rewards for their hard work. On the other hand, men earned money for their hard work and hence they normally spent the money in their own ways neglecting the needs of the women. For example, men spent lot of money for smoking, drinking etc like enjoyment purposes whereas the women were depriv ed of such enjoyments because of the lack of financial rewards they were getting for their hard work. In

Calculus project Lab Report Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Calculus project - Lab Report Example Q2. A scalar quantity can be either negative or zero or positive. This depends on choice of the reference point or zero point. Choice of reference or zero comes from convention and / or convenience. Suppose someone is conduction an experiment and observing some change with time; then he can choose zero time as per his convenience and there is nothing that can bar his choice of zero or reference point for time, if some choice of zero reference point is offering him some convenience in formulating some equation or like that he is free to choose it. Once he has assigned some zero or reference point for time, the time corresponding to all the preceding events becomes zero. In fact we write 1999 AD which is nothing but +1999 year and similarly a date like 530 BC is as good as -530 years. Similarly, another scalar quantity temperature is often measured in negative with melting point of ice being 0o Celsius and all the temperatures below it being negative temperatures. Similarly one can find many instances where scalar quantities are have negative values. Q3. A vector quantity is formed by vector addition of its components. Therefore, if any of the components has a non-zero magnitude the vector will also have a non-zero magnitude. So it is not possible to have a vector of zero magnitude if one of its components is not zero. However, under some operations, in which the magnitude of the resultant depends not only on the magnitude of the individual vectors but on the angle between the two vectors as well; one can get a resultant of zero magnitude. This is illustrated below. This means resultant of two vectors with unequal magnitude can be zero under scalar product provided the two vectors are mutually perpendicular. Physically work done by a force is zero if the displacement caused by it is normal to its direction. This means resultant of two vectors with unequal magnitude can be

East Asian Culture

East Asian Culture Orient is defined as study of East Asian culture, their tradition and its impact on the rest of the world. European found the word orient. The term was further developed in the form of orient and oxidant. Oriental countries are all East Asian countries like Japan, Korea, China and an oxidant country means all Western countries. The word ‘Orient describes in many ways, as far as Edward Said â€Å"its a place of romance, exotic being, haunting memories and landscapes.† In short we can say its a cultural study and its impact on the world through its politics and economy mainly. The orient is the neighbors of Europe and they are the oldest as well as richest colonies of the twentieth century. Orient helped Europe in defining its ideas, personality and culture in many ways. It is an integral part of the European material civilization and culture. Said mentioned in his book â€Å"Orientalism expresses and represents that part culturally and even ideologically as a mode of discourse with supporting institutions, vocabulary, scholarships, imaginary, doctrine and even colonial bureaucracies and colonial styles.† From Edward Saids point of view there was negligence in orientalism by the world. The reason was high ended executive attitude of ninetieth and early twentieth century in European colonies. Japan was the sufferer of the cross cultural conflict in early twentieth century The conflict was between the Japan and western countries. In the early twentieth century Japan and other oriental regions often carries assumptions that western countries are far more superior and eastern region that is oriental region is more superior for there ancient tradition. Therefore orientalsim is known for understanding eastern culture to west. The reasons behind the conflicts were, orient of Japan represents a unique culture field which is modernistic also and has traditional Japanese sense also. In some respect for Japan I can say orientalism is the part of ethnocentrism. Orientalism is not an outdated way of knowing colonism in Japan but also it is an integral part of the modern consciousness. Ethnocentrism is a particular group of culture which is somehow better than the other cultural groups. It is a view of there own understanding towards there own culture. Till late eighteenth century, people were seeing the interchange between the academic and imaginative type of orientalism, but after some more further detailed research Edward Said discovered the third type of orientalism which is called as Academic orientalism. In this corporate institution analyzed and discussed orientalism in there own ways, therefore we can say that orientalism as a western style for dominating, recruiting and having authority towards the orient. From Edward Saids point of view, orientalism is fueled by academic orientalism concept. E.g. In America, in late twentieth century, the term orientalism was changed to ‘East Asian studies but in Britain and some parts of Europe it is still called as ‘School of Oriental and African Studies or SOAS. The fact of Saids orientalism as not much to consider because, culture and nations whose location is in the east and there histories, customs have less reality and it is better than it could be said and assumed. For understanding the ideas, histories, culture and power of configuration, the orient was created, which is called as orientalized. These things simply believe that, things happen simply as a necessity of the imagination and the power of dominance between the orient and oxidant. Orientalism is not exactly called as a political subject or issue as it is passively reflected by culture, scholarships, institution and not the large diffuse collection of text about the orient. It is rather than cultural, geographical awareness to the western world, this might help to western world to understand the orient properly and to correct the wrong assumptions made over the orient. It is a distribution of geopolitical awareness into the aesthetics, scholarly, economic, sociological and historic text. It is an elaboration of geographical location as well as scholarly discoveries and phi logical reconstruction. Americans ideological thinking about east has generally found that, American give more importance to China than other oriental countries like Japan. They think that, Chinese culture is more easily accessible and flexible than Japanese culture. American feels Chinese are more like them in more private nature, they are educated, rational and more practical as well as they are more frank. Even Chinese food is more adoptable and has some western influence to it but Japanese eat raw fish and Miso soup which is not comfortable to western world. Japanese orientalism has much more cultural conflicts than other because, in late eighteenth century Japanese people feels that there culture is more mixed with western culture but western countries feels that Japanese culture is not more easily accessible to them. Japanese social institutions signify that, Japanese culture has high level of sophistication, yet it also appeared highly feudal to modern world. Western image of Japan was not fully negative. There are many positive cultural and traditional things that western world thinks about Japan. Romantic culture really teaches the world there sophisticated culture, with its indigenous traditions are in close harmony. Some of the world famous things of cultural evidence are Bonsai trees, bamboo and wooden houses, female accessories from natural resources like bamboo stick hats, Zen Buddhism and meditation techniques, macrobiotic cooking and ceramic vessel art teaches the modern world about Japanese quality of living and the evidence of there culture that they are aesthetically more attuned than rest of the world. Image of the Japanese people in there private life is completely different. They are little bit fanatical, deceitful in nature. The great study of different cultures in the world done by Richard D. Lewis in his book known as ‘When cultures collides which was published in 1982. This book is the best referral to many other people who do there business overseas. Richard wrote some specific observation of Japanese people in his book, Japanese children are encouraged to be completely dependent and keep a sense of interdependence throughout their lives. Everything must be placed in context in Japan. Japanese are constrained by their thought processes in a language very different from any other. They do not like meeting newcomers. They represent their group and can not therefore pronounce on any matters without consultation- cannot initiate an exchange of views. Westerners are individuals, but the Japanese represent a company which represents Japan The Japanese go to incredible lengths to be polite. As far as I conclude on Richards comments on Japanese people, I feel Japanese people are very private in nature and independent from childhood. They have very much proud feeling for there country and every time they mention there feelings. If they do some mistake then, they can go to any level of politeness. In World War II ethnocentrism exhibited, which carried some negative consequences in terms of cross cultural communications. Reaction of America on economic defeat created some negative impact on the Japanese people living in America. E.g. Congressman smashed Japanese radio in Capitol Hill and Chinese person was murdered as he was assumed as Japanese. So I can say that Orientalism taught many cultural things to world through there tradition and oriental objects. For my essay I chose Japanese six paneled screen as my oriental object. As this object is oriental, there are many cultural details hidden inside this object and through the detail analysis I will show some points of oriental evidence hidden in the object.

Sexuality and the Grotesque in Toni Morrisons Beloved Essay -- essays

Sexuality and the Grotesque in Toni Morrison's Beloved Grotesque images of rape, murder, and sexual abuse are recurring throughout Toni Morrison's novel Beloved. The ideals of the white oppressor, be it murder, rape, or sexual abuse were powerful forces that shaped the lives of many of the characters, especially the character Sethe. Rape and sexual abuse are two grotesque instances expressed throughout the novel. The most often referred to is the incident when Schoolteacher?s nephews stole Sethe?s breast milk but many other incidents included Paul D was forced to felicitate prison Guards on the chain gang every morning. Ella is locked up and repeatedly raped by a father and son she calls ?the worst yet?. Stamp Paid?s wife Yashti is forced to have sex by her enslaver. Baby Suggs is compelled to have sex with ?a straw? boss who later breaks his coercive promise not to sell her children. Sethe?s mother is ?taken up my many in the crew? and Sethe is put in the position where she must endure ten minutes of sex with the tombstone engraver so the tombstone could read ?Beloved.? ?This act is a key note for the whole book: in the world of slavery and poverty, where human beings are merchandise, everything has its price and the price is tyrannical.? (Atwood 39-40) With all the sexual abuse throughout the novel, the most referred to and seemingly most atrocious was when Schoolteacher. ?The schoolteacher, he?s a sort of master-race proponent who measures the heads of the slaves and tabulates the results to demonstrate that they are more like animals than people.? (Atwood 40) ordered his nephews to steal Sethe?s breast milk. ?They used a cowhide on you?? ?And they took my milk.? ?They beat you when... ...owards the oppressive slave owners. Works Cited Atwood, Margaret. "Haunted by Their Nightmares." Bloom's Guides Toni Morrison's Beloved. Ed. Amy Sickels. Broomall, PA: Chelsea House, 2004. 39-42. Atwood, Margaret. "Margaret Atwood on the Practical Uses of the Supernatural in Beloved." Critical Essays on Toni Morrison's Beloved. Ed. Barbara H. Solomon. New York: G.K. Hall & Co., 1998. 29-32. Barnette, Pamela E. "Pamela E. Barnette on Images of Rape and the Supernatural in Beloved." Bloom's Guides Toni Morrison's Beloved. Ed. Amy Sickels. Broomall, PA: Chelsea House, 2004. 67-69. Corey, Susan. "Susan Corey on the Grotesque in Beloved." Critical Essays on Toni Morrison's Beloved. Ed. Barbara H. Solomon. New York: G.K. Hall & Co., 1998. 106-115. Morrison, Toni. Beloved. New York: Alfred a. Knopf, 1987.