Women’s Brains Essay Example

Women’s Brains Essay Example Women’s Brains Paper Women’s Brains Paper Women’s Brains by Stephen Jay Gould discusses how inferior women are to men, based on scientific data. George Eliot, in the prelude of Middlemarch, grieved over the unfulfilled lives of talented women. She wrote in 1872 that the leaders of European anthropometry or measurement of the human body, scientifically measured the inferiority of women. But it was craniometry or measurement of the skull, led by Professor Paul Broca, which got more attention. Broca argued that women had smaller brains than men, therefore could not equal their intelligence. He claimed this is scientific truth since men in modern societies possessed larger brains and that their superiority through time increases. He based this on extensive data that came from autopsies he performed in four Parisian hospitals. For 292 male brains, he calculated an average weight of 1,325 grams; 140 female brains averaged 1,144 grams for a difference of 181 grams, or 14 percent of the male weight. Though he recognized that the difference in brain size could be attributed to greater height of males, he made no effort to measure the effect of size alone and claimed that it cannot account for the entire difference. However, there are those who oppose Broca’s fold. One was Tiedemann, who proposed that the relatively small female brain size depends in part upon their physical inferiority and in part upon their intellectual inferiority. Another defender of women was L. Manouvrier, who claimed that women displayed their talents and diplomas and invoked philosophical authorities. Unfortunately, bad commentaries and sarcasm outnumbered these positive points. Examples of which were theologians asking if women had a soul and scientists ready to refuse them of a human intelligence. In 1873, Broca measured cranial capacities of prehistoric skulls from L’Homme Mort cave and found a difference of only 99.5 cubic centimeters between males and females. According to Topinard, one of Broca’s disciples, the increasing discrepancy through time is attributed to active men, who have all the responsibility and therefore needs more brain, and to the passive woman, whose role is childrearing. But the chief misogynist of Broca’s school was Gustave Le Bon, who claimed that there are a large number of women whose brains are closer in size to the gorillas’ than to most developed male brains. Even psychologists, poets, and novelists recognized that women represent the most inferior forms of human evolution, closer to children and savages than to an adult, civilized man. There may be distinguished women, but they were a minority. Moreover, Le Bon opposed granting women higher education, saying that when this happens, a social revolution will begin and t hat everything that maintains the sacred family ties will vanish. Gould, reexamining Broca’s data, said that his numbers were sound but his interpretations were ill-founded. Broca made conclusions yet he studied only seven male and six female skulls in L’Homme Mort. Furthermore, he did not consider that brain weight decreases with age. Women in his studies were considerably older than men. Using multiple regression, Gould found that at average height and age, a woman’s brain would weigh 1,212 grams, which reduces Broca’s measured difference of 181 grams to113 grams. Moreover, Broca did not also consider degenerative diseases that often entail substantial decrease of brain size. Many of his subjects were elderly women, assumed to have lengthy degenerative disease than men. In addition, Manouvrier argued that when muscular mass and force are used, difference in brain size will be in favor of men. But with â€Å"sexual mass,† women came out slightly ahead in brain size. Therefore, the corrected 113-gram difference is too large since the true figure is close to zero. To understand Broca’s contentions though, one must realize that he had easier access to women’s brains. However, Maria Montessori concluded that women were intellectually superior, but men had prevailed heretofore by dint of physical force. Gould ended the article with George Eliot’s prelude to Middlemarch, saying Eliot appreciated the special tragedy that biological labeling has imposed upon members of disadvantaged groups, women like herself.

Dont Overload Your Readers With Your Message

Dont Overload Your Readers With Your Message Dont Overload Your Readers With Your Message Dont Overload Your Readers With Your Message By Michael Great writing is not only enjoyable, it has something to say there is greatness in the theme. It may not be primarily a moral or a lesson, but something about the story appeals deeply to the heart. I believe that your skill as a writer determines the weight of the message you can communicate. The more skilled you are in handling the basic elements of plot, character, setting, conflict, and point of view, the more ambitious your theme can be, and the deeper the message your reader can take away from it. But as a writer, you may be starting from the other end. Maybe its the theme that motivated you to write in the first place. Maybe you have a message that you want to get across, and youre more sure of it than you are of the plot, character, or setting. Its a message that everyone needs to hear. Do you go ahead with it? Some would say yes, the message is always first. That was the slogan of Ken Anderson Films, an evangelical movie company best known for its 1978 film Pilgrims Progress featuring Liam Neeson in his first starring role. Even as a college student, majoring in theater at the time, I thought something didnt seem right about that slogan. Your message cannot be first Whether you make movies or write books, its not true that the message is always first. When you make a movie, first and foremost, its a movie. When you write a story, first and foremost, its a story. Your grand message will never get across if nobody can stand to read what you wrote. If its too long to finish, if the vocabulary is too complex for ordinary readers, then ordinary readers wont read it. When you compromise your story, you compromise your message. Authors may claim theyre standing up for truth, and that truth sometimes offends. First, they should make sure that whats offensive is the truth and not their writing style. Ultimately, writers only keep the readers whom they dont offend. As a writer, you are responsible for deciding how far to push your readers, deciding how much to say that they may not like. A disturbing theme sometimes makes a book more interesting. But no theme, no matter how great, can compensate for intolerable writing or make it tolerable. Ken Anderson wasnt the first communicator to believe the message is always first. Under a dictatorship, the dictators message is always first. From the 1930s to the 1960s, the approved artistic style in the Soviet Union was called â€Å"socialist realism,† and those who experimented with a different style could have their careers ruined. Any creative people who dealt with forbidden themes or subjects could find themselves in trouble with the police, not just with the critics. Socialist realism was supposed to depict the everyday life of the working people, to promote Soviet ideals. Except that Soviet officials saw morality as either black or white, while real people are complex – not all good, not all bad. In the end, socialist realism didn’t succeed in showing real people living Communist lives, because its characters were not real people. Sometimes when a writer is willing to put his message ahead of good craftsmanship, he writes an allegory, in which each character represents a different character quality and each event teaches a lesson. Ironically, the most successful allegory in Western literature is John Bunyans Pilgrims Progress (the 1678 original, not Ken Andersons version). Bunyan was a preacher he did have something he wanted to say but his book has endured because his characters seem like real people with particular character qualities, rather than character qualities masquerading as real people. Years ago, I thought of an illustration to describe the challenge that everybody faces, particularly a writer, who wants to communicate a message thats important to them. Loading up the truck and driving Suppose youre a military commander who wants to move something to another location. The problem: a ravine, a dry riverbed, between where you are and where you want the material to be. Before you can move your material, you need to prepare the way. How much work will that take? That depends on what you want to move. If you simply want to move an envelope, you can hand it to a messenger who puts the envelope in his pocket, hikes down to the bottom of the ravine and then hikes back up. But if you want to move a ton of armor, you need to spend more time, effort, and resources in preparation. Youll probably need to build the bridge across the ravine. How strong a bridge? That depends on how heavy the load is. Once the bridge is built, the truck is loaded and it begins to drive across that bridge, you will find out if your bridge is strong enough. Writers with important things to say, with a heavy load they want to put on the truck, will need to spend more time preparing the road for their readers. All too often, Ive read books by idealistic writers who havent done the work needed to communicate their message. They try to drive their heavily loaded truck through the ravine before they build a bridge across it. But everyone needs to hear this message! they protest. Then they need to take the time to make sure everyone can hear it. Theres no shame in loading up your truck with no more weight than your abilities as a writer can sustain. If your writing abilities are not yet what they will be, there is no shame in remembering that bridges break. Neil Gaiman had the idea for The Graveyard Book in 1985, but he felt he was not yet a good enough writer. As the years passed, he won Harvey Awards, Locus Awards, Eisner Awards, and Hugo Awards, but he still didnt feel ready to write The Graveyard Book until 2004 (when he decided he might as well get on with it anyway). As a writer, Im learning not to overload my truck without considering whether the bridge Im sending my readers over is strong enough to support such a weighty message. Otherwise my writing can end up like medieval religious art, beautiful perhaps, but literally without perspective. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Fiction Writing category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:70 Idioms with HeartFlier vs. FlyerDealing With A Character's Internal Thoughts

Analysis essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

Analysis - Essay Example 5. Certain policies of the government that might affect the economy and hence, the market or industry under consideration. One reason why it becomes very important to consider GDP in case of UK is that UK is a developed country. The infrastructure and the high end technology available in UK come at a higher cost than that in the developing countries. The expenditure increases due to non-availability of cheap labor. Thus, to support the ‘relatively’ high manufacturing costs, the GDP should be ‘relatively’ higher so that the profit is not affected. The GDP of UK was severely affected by recession. Though a lot of newspapers reported the rise in GDP by more than 0.4% in the fourth quarter last year, the GDP had dipped by 6% during recession (The Herald 2010). Does that mean that the spending has declined? Not much. The savings ratio has been declining along with the decline in GDP (guardian.co.uk 2010). Hence, the spending of citizens of UK has not been affected much. But another factor to worry about is the increase in VAT (Value Added Tax). To reduce the fiscal deficit, which went up during recession, the UK government has increased Value Added Tax from 15% to 17.5% (Dalong 2009). All confectionery items are VAT-able items. The cost of chocolates will increase. But how much will this affect the consumption of chocolates? To gain popularity in the UK confectionery market, it would be sensible to sell chocolates at a lower profit margin rather than increasing the prices because of the increase in VAT. ‘Cadbury’s’, which enjoyed a share of more than 30% of the UK confectionery market until last year, made the mistake of increasing the price of its ‘Dairy Milk’ bars. This led to a drop in the consumption of Cadbury’s products and their market shares dropped. Thus, it would be sensible to sell chocolates at lower price until the brand gains popularity and recognition and until UK completely recovers from reces sion (tutor2u 2009). The

Federalism and State Powers Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Federalism and State Powers - Essay Example The original federal government not only had little authority over confederate states and their activities such as commerce, the system had no court system and taxation powers. Essentially, the confederation was a loose union of politically sovereign governments, with each state having a free hand in regulating own commercial activities and having independent courts structures. The hindrances of the fragmented nature of the government with respect to national political and economic growth soon dawned on many Americans. As such, a reevaluation was thus necessary and so a Constitutional Convention was called in 1787 to restructure the government and harmonize functioning of the national and state economies. Finally, the â€Å"Great Compromise† was struck paving the way for federalism as the basis for governmental control. In the spirit of the US Constitution, Federalism is a dual system of sovereignty in which power was to be split between the central government and state govern ments. The agreement set fourth the United States Constitution as the Supreme law of the land with elaborate federal power system of shared responsibilities. (U.S. Const., Art. VI, cl. 2). Both levels of governments were to have a direct influence over the US citizenry through officials and enacted laws in both levels of governance. Noteworthy, changes in the constitutions governing the conduct of both the federal and state governments had to be consultative to promote magnanimity referred to in the superior laws. Articles I to VI of the supreme law basically define powers of the national government putting restrictions on what states’ spheres of influence. Accordingly, only the national government has authority to coin money, govern Indian tribes, conduct foreign relations, raise armies and a navy and declare war whenever necessary. Concerning the court system hitherto a thorn before the ratification of the constitution, only the Supreme Court was elaborately named in the US Constitution. Establishment of other federal courts fell under the powers of Congress. Declared under Article VI of the Constitution, the US constitution is the supreme law governing every aspect of governance in the entire nation. It apportions certain distinct powers to the federal government (enumerated powers) effectively limiting state powers to avoid conflict of interest. However, it also reserved other powers to the respective states (literally known as reserved powers). While State governments derive their authority from the people as outlined in their respective constitutions, the ratification of the United States Constitution basically transferred certain powers to the federal government effectively limiting state powers with respect to certain areas of policy action. According to the Tenth Amendment, â€Å"all powers not delegated to the federal government nor prohibited to the states were retained by the states.† Accordingly, states retained â€Å"police power" to enact laws governing health and safety, and those required to enhance economic welfare of the citizenry. Both levels of governments hold overlapping powers in certain areas. In general, issues regarding public security in terms of crime control, education, public health services, transport systems, and the general infrastructure are primarily state responsibilities. Nevertheless, all of these

Fitness Industry Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Fitness Industry - Assignment Example Approximately 78% out of the total population of 4.6 million belong to the 15-64 years old age bracket which represents the target market of the fitness club of Global PLC Ventures. Another 20% of the total population is below 15 years old. These two population segments comprise the future consumers of the new fitness centres in Dubai. The extremely robust private sector growth has created the need for new workers. Dubai had received US $32 trillion dollars in foreign direct investment that had funded the construction of new office buildings, residential towers and condominium residences in 2007 and 2008. These new businesses require many new workers. The labour force has increased to 4% per annum as new companies and enterprises open next year. Expatriate workers have been hired to work in new companies. Dubai has a very young and growing population: 47% of its population are below 15 years old. This fast-growing young population and the business executives are the target market of the Fitness business of Global PLC Ventures for its health and fitness business.Dubai has an open policy towards foreign businesses. It allows 100% foreign ownership and offers tax breaks to foreign companies. The most interesting development of Dubai is the three man-made islands: The Palm Islands, The s The Palm Dubai and The Palms. The project is being handled by Al Nakheel Properties. This property development will establish new residential, leisure, and entertainment areas. The two man-made artificial palm tree-shaped resort islands established Dubai's position as a top tourist destination in the Middle East. The Palm Islands is now... This paper approves that nutrition, exercise and a healthy lifestyle are becoming achievable goals with the establishment of fitness clubs in various parts of the world. Most of the fitness clubs offer state-of-the-art exercise equipment, individualized personal fitness training, group classes and nutrition advice. Indeed, the fitness industry is an emerging sector which can capture a wide and affluent clientele in carefully chosen business sites of Global PLC Ventures. The company must choose very interesting locations such as developed economies which guarantee growth and profitability for its fitness operations. This essay makes a cocnclusion that in terms of the bargaining power of buyers, it will be low since most of the consumers get high salaries as executives and employees of government firms and government controlled corporations. There are also many citizens who are working in multinational corporations as key executives. Public and private corporations give very high compensation and benefits packages for the citizens. Hence, the possibility of establishing fitness centres is nil for Brunei and Dubai citizens and residents as they do not have the appropriate technical training and business knowledge pertinent to management of a fitness business. In terms of the bargaining power of suppliers, it will be low because the fitness gym business is highly capital intensive due to high rental costs, high human resource costs and high maintenance costs of the equipment. A regular supplier of gym equipment cannot just easily venture into the fitness gym business; he must have a high capital.

Steps in Formulating Business Strategy

Steps in Formulating Business Strategy What is strategy? Why is it so challenging for organisations? Introduction: â€Å"Strategy† It’s [A1]a one word but it have a whole language in it. Strategy can be describe in its best meaning that it’s the way of Art and Science of Planning And marshalling [A2]the resources for their most affective an offensive use to bring about a desired future. Strategy is the way through which an organization can move from one milestone to other in pursuit of the overall goals. Without Strategy a company can be like a person without its nervous system so if an Organization wants to move in a race with other companies they have to make solid strategies for their organization. The term Strategy is derived from the Greek â€Å"strategos† meaning a general set of man oeuvres carried out to overcome an enemy. Strategy mostly involves to Set goals determine the actions to achieve goals and mobilizing resources to execute the actions. The main them of strategy is how the end goal will be achieved through the mean (Resources). There three main compon ents of any strategy (Petros DeSimone, 2010). 1) Diagnosis 2) Guiding Policy: That will define how to deal with those challenges 3) Action Plans: Its Designed to carry out the guiding policy Diagnosis: This step is basic Component for any strategy planner though this the worker of an organization get able know which kind of challenge is this it will and it will explain whole scenario of challenge to the worker of an organization (Petros DeSimone, 2010). Guiding Policy: As a worker of an organization get Diagnosis of a challenge to its organization then a guiding policy will be needed which will define how to deal with that challenge which they are facing? Action plan: After Guiding policy the worker needs an Action Plans which is designed to carry out that guiding policy Beside these three basic components strategy involves two major processes which are 1) Formulating Strategy 2) Implementing Strategy (Petros DeSimone, 2010). Formulating strategy: This step basically depends upon the components of strategy. Formulation involves analyzing the environment or situation, making diagnosis and developing the guiding policy. Implementing Strategy: Implementation refers to the action plans taken to achieve goals which are established by the guiding policy. [A3] Why strategy is so challenging for organizations? To run a business or organization strategies are needed without that organization or a company can’t reach to our desired goal[A4]. Strategies are like a soul for organizations, because with time they have to face tough challenges and to complete those challenges strategies plays important role.[A5] With time to time the board of director change their strategies because of Competitor which are in market and need to unique strategy through which they can produce the result in order to maintain the fruitful result in a reliability of specific organization (Goldhirsch, et, all, 2011). Here are some points which strategy make rs thinks before making strategy and this indicates why Strategies are so challenging for an organizations Strategy Formulation and Implementation: Strategy formulation and implementation areseparate,[A6] distinguishable parts of the strategic management process of business. Logically, implementation follows formulation; one cannot implement something until that something exists (Donnelly, et, all, 2009). Without formulation and implementation the business cannot give the fruit which organization desires. Formulation and implementation is like a two legs of strategy which able to move it on their way Execution takes time: The successful implementation of strategy takes more time than its formulation. This can challenge managers’ attention to execution details. The longer time frame can also detract from managers’ attention to strategic goals (Donnelly, et, all, 2009). Controls must be set to provide feedback and keep management abreast of external â€Å"shocks† and changes. The process of execution must be dynamic and adaptive, responding to unanticipated events. This imperative challenges managers responsible for execution. Understanding uncertainties and risks: In business the board of director has to think on the answer of the question that: how did we get here? Answering this question is a more difficult for deciding what policies and actions will push future performance in the desired direction.And while moving in that direction the directors have to think about the risks and uncertainties in business and for limiting and low down effect of that risks they have to make best strategy because if that strategy fails on that risks their company will not able to stand in market as they were before (Jansen Janssen, 2010). Assessing and selecting among options: The goal is to select now, without perfect information, the strongest set of actions that will move the business towards its goals. Here it is important to consider not only the potential ‘bottom line’ benefits, but also the each of option under uncertain future conditions and the relative difficulty and time required for implementation (Jansen Janssen, 2010). Customer Retention: IF an organization doesn’t have an effective business strategy for costumer they will lose the customers easily and for that organization needs Develop a program for following up on customers, and for staying in touch with repeat customers to make sure your products are working properly. Organization has tried to find new ways to help the customer with your product. When customers call in with problems, there needs to be an established and efficient customer service strategy in place to reduce customer stress (MandiĆ¡, Basili, Harjumaa, Oivo Markkula, 2010, September). Customer follow-up procedures and efficient customer service programs are essential to customer retention and sales revenue. Clarity in Direction of Activities: Strategies focus on direction of activities by specifying what activities are to be undertaken for achieving organizational objectives (MandiĆ¡, Basili, Harjumaa, Oivo Markkula, 2010, September). They make the organizational objectives more clear and specific. For example, a business organization may define its objective as profit earning or a non-business organization may define its objective as social objective. strategies will provide how profit objective can be sharply defined in terms of how much profits is to be earned and what resources Of how much profit is to be earned and what resources will be required for that. When objectives are spelled out in these terms, they provide clear direction to per-sons in the organization responsible for implementing various courses of action. Most people perform better if they know clearly what they are expected to do and where their organization is going (MandiĆ¡, Basili, Harjumaa, Oi vo Markkula, 2010, September). Organizational Management: Management of any organization is playing a pivotal role in order to maintain strategy and the business on the zenith. This is the management which makes all success possible, through assurance of team work. This is the management which make the company out from the peril and which safe the company from any difficult situation. The role of management is much more authentic and much more systematic which includes the system much provide the way to accomplished the given tasks by higher authorities. This is the reason through which staffs are organized and all works are managed (MandiĆ¡, Basili, Harjumaa, Oivo Markkula, 2010, September). Feasibility Study: Feasibility study is most essential in order to maintain the work of the firm and for strategy planning. Through this feasibility process management of our firm must be active to know that what is actual amount which is use to initiate any business or to maintain any firm. Feasibility study is the keen interest of the person which effectively works in order to maintain the system more actively and more systematically (MandiĆ¡, Basili, Harjumaa, Oivo Markkula, 2010, September). The feasibility study tells our organization that how much budget we have to initiate any project in UAE or to maintain it into the sustainability and harmonizing it. Competitor Analysis: The competitor analysis is the techniques which must be known by the manager or higher authorities’ officials to maintain the status of their company into peak. This is the analysis in which a manager forecasting the capabilities and future position of his own firm and compare it with other firm. After getting result he engages to work more for the sake of maintenance of his firm. In UAE the competition in business is getting increase day by day (MandiĆ¡, Basili, Harjumaa, Oivo Markkula, 2010, September). We must have to maintain the marketing and apply different techniques in order to beat the market value of our client. It also considering of following and take out the anti ways to beat the competition of your competition. We have to promotes our policies and provide the best results with best deals of facilitates to attract the more clients (MandiĆ¡, Basili, Harjumaa, Oivo Markkula, 2010, September). [A7] Conclusion: To be on successive path organization or company should have to think about what best strategy they would make so they can stand in market and beat their competitors in marketing line. Without strategies company will not able to stand a day and if the directors of organizations want fruitful organization then they have to make first pillar first which is Strategy. References: Donnelly, J. E., Blair, S. N., Jakicic, J. M., Manore, M. M., Rankin, J. W., Smith, B. K. (2009). American College of Sports Medicine Position Stand. Appropriate physical activity intervention strategies for weight loss and prevention of weight regain for adults.Medicine and science in sports and exercise,41(2), 459-471. Retrieved from http://europepmc.org/abstract/med/19127177[A8] Goldhirsch, A. 2., Wood, W. C., Coates, A. S., Gelber, R. D., Thà ¼rlimann, B., Senn, H. J. (2011). Strategies for subtypes—dealing with the diversity of breast cancer: highlights of the St Gallen International Expert Consensus on the Primary Therapy of Early Breast Cancer 2011.Annals of oncology, mdr304. Retrieved from http://annonc.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2011/06/27/annonc.mdr304.short[A9] Jansen, F., Janssen, D. (2010). Effects of positive politeness strategies in business letters.Journal of pragmatics,42(9), 2531-2548 retrieved from http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0378216610000627 MandiĆ¡, V., Basili, V., Harjumaa, L., Oivo, M., Markkula, J. (2010, September). Utilizing GQM+ Strategies for business value analysis: An approach for evaluating business goals. InProceedings of the 2010 ACM-IEEE International Symposium on Empirical Software Engineering and Measurement(p. 20). ACM. Retrieved from http://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=1852813 Petros, R. A., DeSimone, J. M. (2010). Strategies in the design of nanoparticles for therapeutic applications.Nature Reviews Drug Discovery,9(8), 615-627. Retrieved from http://www.nature.com/nrd/journal/v9/n8/abs/nrd2591.html[A10] [A1]Weak Start [A2]And should have been smaller [A3]Could have elaborayed [A4]Our desired goal, means? [A5]Weak sentence [A6]Why it is italics? [A7]Kindly arrange the document so as to relate to the topic and present strong arguments. [A8]Irrelevant reference [A9]Irrelevant reference [A10]All references are utter nonsense, nothing is relevant

The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolken :: essays research papers

The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolken Bilbo Baggins is a hobbit, one of a race of short, timid creatures who live in cozy tunnels and who prefer to keep their lives ordered and predictable. One day, he unexpectedly finds himself playing host to Gandalf the wizard and thirteen dwarves. The dwarves, with Gandalf's help, plan to travel to the Lonely Mountain to recover the treasure that a dragon named Smaug stole from their people long ago. Gandalf has selected Bilbo to be their burglar. The dwarves are not too happy with the wizard's choice, especially when Bilbo faints at the first talk of danger. But Gandalf insists there is more to the little hobbit than meets the eye. Bilbo himself is not sure that he is happy about being chosen burglar. But a part of him does yearn for adventure, and so one spring morning he finds himself setting out for Lonely Mountain with Gandalf and the thirteen dwarves. He does not prove very helpful at first. But then something happens that changes Bilbo's life. He finds a magic ring that makes him invisible, and has several opportunities to use it to rescue the dwarves from danger and imprisonment. They become quite impressed by him, and even rely on him, just as Gandalf foretold. Bilbo and the dwarves finally reach Lonely Mountain, the home of Smaug the dragon. The dwarves send Bilbo down a secret passage to the dragon's lair. Bilbo has more confidence in himself now and not only steals a cup, but manages to hold his own in a conversation with the wily Smaug (not an easy thing to do).Furious that someone has dared steal a piece of his treasure, Smaug attacks the mountainside where the dwarves have their camp. Then he flies toward Lake- town, to punish the inhabitants for helping the dwarves. The people of Lake-town run at the sight of Smaug, but one man, Bard, holds his ground. He kills the dragon with his last arrow and escapes before Smaug falls, smashing the town. Believing the dwarves are dead, an army of men, led by Bard, and an army of elves march toward the Lonely Mountain to divide the treasure. They find to their surprise that the dwarves are still alive. Bard, because he killed the dragon, claims his rightful share of the treasure. When the dwarves refuse to surrender it, the army besieges the mountain. Bilbo tries to end the dispute by stealing the Arkenstone, the piece of treasure most valued by the leader of the dwarves. He gives the jewel to Bard, hoping it can be used to force the dwarves