The Storm By Kate Chopin Essay - 1508 Words

Kate Chopin was an American author who wrote the short story â€Å"The Storm†. It takes place somewhere down in Louisiana at a general store and at the house of Calixta, Bobinot who is the wife of Calixta, and their son Bibi. The other character in the story is the friend of Calixta, Alcee Laballiere. The story begins with Bobinot and Bibi in the general store to buy a can of shrimp; meanwhile, at home, Calixta is at home doing chores when a storm develops, which makes her worry about Bobinot and Bibi arriving home safely. As Calixta’s friend arrives to talk with her, but the friend has an intimate thought about her from their earlier years. He then starts to flirt with Calixta, which leads to passionate lovemaking. She then realizes from their love affair that it is ok to be open sexually and freely. Some scholars believe that â€Å"The Storm† invokes many daring and passionate sex qualities, while others say it is politically incorrect for the time period. How ever, I will argue that â€Å"The Storm† outlines Kate Chopin’s life, both through her amour and through the location and time. I will do this by writing from a biographical criticism perspective along with analyzing what other scholars said about the story and whether it strengthens or enfeebles my belief. First, to elaborate from a biographical point of view The Cambridge Companion To Kate Chopin, specifically, Emily Toth; a professor of English in women’s studies, who goes into detail about Kate Chopin’s life: Kate hadShow MoreRelatedThe Storm by Kate Chopin1332 Words   |  6 Pages The first thing I noticed about Kate Chopin’s â€Å"The Storm,† is that it is utterly dripping with sexual imagery and symbolism. Our heroine, if you will, seems to be a woman with normally restrained passions and a well-defined sense of propriety, who finds herself in a situation that tears down her restraint and reveals the vixen within. I wonder if it was intentional that the name Calixta makes me think of Calypso – the nymph from Greek mythology. If half of the sexual symbolism I found in thisRead MoreThe Storm by Kate Chopin1238 Words   |  5 PagesKate Chopin is writing so many great stories about whatever she sees. Kate has many Wonderful stories such as, (The Storm, Desiree’s Baby, A Pair of Silk Stocking, A Respectable Woman, and The Story of an Hour). There is one story in particular that catches my mind which is â€Å"The Storm†. 0In Kate chopins era, women a re seen as nothing more than a wife and have to stay with their husband for life. Chopin shows a dramatic scene between Alcee and Calixta during the time of a storm that is passing byRead MoreThe Storm By Kate Chopin844 Words   |  4 Pages Kate Chopin writes a short story named â€Å"The storm.† The plot of the story where the author shows two married couples, a total of five people and two of them have an affair. We can see a woman who is a mother, a lover and a wife and her different reaction while performing each one of the different roles. After the storm the characters seem to reveal hidden aspects of them. The story begins when Bobinot and his son Bibi are at Fregheimer’s store and decide to stay there due to a storm that is comingRead MoreThe Storm By Kate Chopin1205 Words   |  5 Pagesmain character, Calixta, is interrelated with the setting of the story, â€Å"The Storm† by Kate Chopin. In â€Å"The Storm†, setting plays the role as a catalyst that ignites Alcee’s and Calixta’s passion that then runs parallel with the storm. As their relationship builds together, Calixta’s natural desires become fulfilled; which without an outlet on the ability to express our emotions and natural desires, conflicts and storms result in our lives. In the beginning of the story, Calixta is very much intoRead MoreThe Storm By Kate Chopin869 Words   |  4 Pagesespecially true in Kate Chopin’s short story, â€Å"The Storm.† Calixta went outside of her marriage for a sexual affair with Alcà ©e when he unexpectedly showed up and a storm came through. The three most prominent literary elements that were addressed in â€Å"The Storm† were foreshadowing, symbolism, and setting. First, there is foreshadowing in the story. Bae and Young agree that foreshadowing is when a story implies that something will happen in the future without saying it (1). In â€Å"The Storm,† an example ofRead MoreThe Storm By Kate Chopin1649 Words   |  7 Pageslike writers in present day, Kate Chopin was a writer who wrote to reflect obstacles and instances occurring within her time period. Writing about personal obstacles, as well as issues occurring in the time period she lived, Chopin proved to be distinctive upon using her virtue. Kate Chopin was a determined individual, with true ambition and ability to produce writings that reflected women on a higher pedestal than they were valued in her time. â€Å"The Storm† by Kate Chopin is a short story written toRead MoreThe Storm By Kate Chopin851 Words   |  4 Pagesâ€Å"The Storm† by Kate Chopin was written in 1899 but was not published until several years later. She understood how daring her piece was and never shared â€Å"The Storm† with anyone. Chopin was born in 1851 to a wealthy father and an aristocratic mother. At the age of nineteen, she married and moved to Louisiana with her husband, Oscar. Chopin is known for writing realistic but sexually rich literature. Her short story â€Å"The Storm† conveys sex as a joyous part of her life and not a destructive one. Read MoreKate Chopin s The Storm Essay1339 Words   |  6 Pagesfamous writer Kate Chopin once said, â€Å"The voice of the sea speaks to the soul.† The Awakening, (1899). Kate Chopin was widely recognized as one of the leading writers of her time. She was an American author of short stories and novels. She was born on February 08, 1850 in St. Louis, Missouri, United States. She died on August 22, 1904, in St. Louis, Missouri, United States. Written in 1898 but not published until it appeared in The Complete Works of Kate Chopin in 1969, The Storm has been widelyRead MoreThe Storm By Kate Chopin1221 Words   |  5 PagesI also disagreed with â€Å"The Storm† by Kate Chopin, because it suggested that it is possible to be with more than one person at any given point. To me, love is trust, and without trust, love is nonexistent. Marriage is a commitment, a promise to be both trusting and trustful. To betray that agreement is not to love. Calixata expresses â€Å"n othing but satisfaction at their safe return† (727) and this reader has to wonder how she cannot feel guilt. Alcee wrote a â€Å"loving letter† to his wife, and this readerRead MoreKate Chopin s The Storm883 Words   |  4 PagesBasically, the setting in the short story of Kate Chopin ‘The Storm’ presents a clear demonstration of an illicit but a romantic love affair. Indeed, the title has been used perfectly to signify the adulterous love affair. Most importantly, it is evident that the storm has not been used as a mere coincidence but instead it has been used to steer the story and the affair forward. In fact, the storm has been significant during the start of the story, during its peak and ultimately in the end. Although

Competency in Recruitment Selection - 1204 Words

Competency Definition Core competencies are those capabilities that are critical to a business achieving competitive advantage. The main ideas about core competencies where developed by Prahalad and Hamel (1990) in which they advised that over time companies may develop key areas of expertise which are distinctive to that company and critical to the company’s long term goals. These areas of expertise may be in any area but are most likely to develop in the critical, central areas of the company where the most value is added to it’s products. â€Å"Core competencies are the collective learning in the organisation, especially how to coordinate diverse production skills and integrate multiple streams of technologies’ Prahalad and Hamel 1990.†¦show more content†¦It must not be seen as a single selection method and generally incorporates a number of methods including interviews and psychometric testing and perhaps work simulated/related exercises. The idea behind assessment centres is that they allow the managers to identify job-related behaviours. It is found that these can be limited however with a key problem being that assessors, normally managers, are not abel to accurately assess cross-situational abiliteis from different exercises. Managers also tend not to be trained on observing or judging competencies (Bach 2005). Criticisms of the Competency Approach in Rec Sel Whilst there are many advantages associated with the use of a competency framework within recruitment and selection, Taylor (2008) highlights some criticisms. Cloning - the tendency to select people who are like us in background, appearance, personality and style - leads to a reduction in diversity and a loss of innovative potential within the organisation. Competencies are also seen to be elaborate and do not always remain up to date. And if too much concentration is put on ‘input’ this could be at the expense of ‘outputs’ which may result on having employees’ who look good in theory, but in practice fail to achieve the results that make the business successful. Some behavioural competencies are essentially personality traits which individuals may be unable or unwilling to change and it isShow MoreRelatedCompetency Based Recruitment and Selection2464 Words   |  10 PagesTitle: - Competency Based Recruitment and Selection Theme: - Recent advances in commerce and management Introduction: Competency for any job can be defined as a set of human attributes that enables an employee to meet the expectations of his internal and external customers and stake holders. We have generally observed that only hard work, knowledge, sincerity towards work, and intelligence does not alone makes a person star performer in his/her profession. There are many other factors thatRead MoreCompetence Based Recruitment and Selection1114 Words   |  5 Pagesbased recruitment and selection facilitates career management in organization. Discuss. 1. INTRODUCTION Competence- based Recruitment and selection is used to predict the potential job performance of the applicants. With the help of this method organizations can find best people to achieve their objectives. The different between traditional recruitment and competence based recruitment and selection is that the second one concentrated more on formal, measurable competencies. TheRead MoreRecruitment Is The Process Of Searching The Candidate For Employment Essay1009 Words   |  5 PagesAccording to Edwin B. Flippo (1984), â€Å"Recruitment is the process of searching the candidate for employment and stimulating them to apply for jobs in the organization. It is the activity that links the job seekers and the employer. Job analysis is the methodological process of assessing and defining the components of a post, which includes nature of the work performed, the associated responsibilities and other criteria according to the job post. Recruitment and Selection (RS) refers to all activities anRead MoreAn Organization Strategic Business Plan1284 Words   |  6 Pagesorganizations that their strategy is well integrated with human resource recruitment and planning, tend to have human resource competitive advantage. In the following part, the discussion would cover the practices recognized in literature in regards to recruitment and selection processes as job analysis, recruitment and selection. in respect to this, it would be reasonable to first, thoroughly explain the recruitment and selection procedure which encompasses a number of inter connected and related stepsRead MorePerson-Organisation Fit In Recruitment1197 Words   |  5 PagesThe recruitment of employees is a costly expense to any business, so it pays to ensure that the recruitment process will reflect in the attraction of the most suitable candidates. When a business recruits the right person, provides training and ensures they can ‘fit in’, the employee is more likely to achieve the desired outcomes the business has set out for them. This essay will examine the notion of ‘person – organisation fit’ and its relevance in the recruitment and selection process. In traditionalRead MoreEmployer of Choice1490 Words   |  6 Pagesare asked to set out what constitutes good practice in the field of recruitment and selection. Explain what set of approaches organisations should use in order to comply with the legal requirements and maximise the chances that they end up employing the most effective employees. Justify your answer. Candidates will demonstrate the skills and knowledge to create suitable job descriptions, person specifications and competency frameworks by designing appropriate documentation. Using three to fourRead MoreHr Recruitment Selection Assignment 11457 Words   |  6 PagesDIVISIONAL HR MANAGER ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANTS (4) Recruitment and Selection Proposal HUMAN RESOURCES Recruitment and Selection (HRM782) Assignment 1 TABLE OF CONTENTS Page 3: Introduction Page 4: Proposed Job Advertisement Page 5: Selection Report Page 6: Resume Characteristics Report Page 8: Endnotes Page 9: Bibliography INTRODUCTION Successful candidates for the position of HR AdministrativeRead Morerecruitment and selection process1124 Words   |  5 Pagesproposal on RECRUITMENT AND SELECTION PROCESS OF MOE (Ministry of Education) By Benafsha Musafirzada Supervised By Nisar Khan Sir موØ ³Ã˜ ³Ã›â‚¬ Ø ªÃ˜ ­Ã˜ µÃ›Å'Ù„Ø §Ã˜ ª Ø ¹Ã˜ §Ã™â€žÃ›Å' Ø ±Ãš ¼Ã˜ § RANA Institute of Higher Studies 2014 RECRUITMENT AND SELECTION PROCESS OF MOE (Ministry of Education) INTRODUCTION 1.1 Background of the Study This project is titled as study of Recruitment and Selection Process of MOE. In this project the readers will come to know about the process of Recruitment and SelectionRead MoreOrganizational Image : An Organization805 Words   |  4 Pagesorganizational characteristics are desired by job applicants? Organization characteristics such as organizational image, location, size, familiarity, reputation, industry, and profitability have all been shown to have significant influence during the recruitment process. In reviewing the literature, organizational image is the variable containing the greatest number of relevant effect size estimates for organizational characteristics. This is probably because organizational image can encompass individualRead MoreTraining And Development Efforts Help Employees989 Words   |  4 Pagesorganizational characteristics are desired by job applicants? Organization characteristics such as organizational image, location, size, familiarity, reputation, industry, and profitability have all been shown to have significant influence during the recruitment process. In reviewing the literature, organizational image is the variable containing the greatest number of relevant effect size estimates for organizational characteristics. This is probably because the organizational image can encompass individual

Dynamic Leadership and Self Perceptions †MyAssignmenthelp.com

Question: Discuss about the Dynamic Leadership and Self Perceptions. Answer: Reflect on your own leadership journey to date and identify key events, people and experiences that have contributed to your leadership development and self-perceptions I am associated with a business organization in the post of assistant team leader in logistic sector of The Iconic. After completing my masters in business administration in marketing, I got the direct opportunity for becoming assistant team lead of The Iconic. At the initial stage, I had to face innumerable difficulties in making an effective rapport with my team members due to communication barrier, cultural barrier, psychological barrier and religious barrier. While maintaining any kind of group discussion with my team members I failed to make individual interaction due to the lack of language flexibility. However, after facing innumerable difficulties for becoming an efficient business leader I have decided to raise the issue with my assistant team lead regarding the workplace hazards I have faced at that time. My assistant manager along my operation head left immense contribution for developing my skill and competency level of leadership. People belonging to different geographical markets and psychological backgrounds are intimately associated within the service process. The role of an efficient business leader is to show equal priority and response to the people of different geographical backgrounds and attitudes (Dumdum, Lowe and Avolio 2013). I was not efficient enough to treat every single members of my team with equal respect and dignity. However, both my assistant manager and operation head decided to provide me a training and development session with the help of which I was successful to improve my communication skill as well as professional skill. My assistant managers helped me to understand on how to overcome sudden crisis happened at the workplace due to the lack of team performance. Increase self-awareness by completing a personality or leadership styles assessment As per the feedback collected from my assistant manager, I got to know that I have the lack of effective communication skill, body language and personality. In this kind of situation, I have faced innumerable difficulties in leading a team properly and motivating the team members towards the providing good services. However, as per the instruction of my senior managers I gave numerous assessments on my leadership style as well as on my personality evaluation for analyzing my drawbacks. After giving an online assessment on leadership style, I have identified my mistakes and weak points. I need to make a change for career progression and performance development. After evaluating the marks of personality and leadership styles assessment I got to know that I as a leader cannot take appropriate decision within stipulated time. This particular nature of mine affects the performance level of employees immensely. In addition, being a person of introvert I do not have the capability to make an effective interpersonal communication with the employees who face challenges in performing well at the workplace. Employees are from various cultural backgrounds and attitudes. Therefore, their culture and religious aspects became a major hindrance in making an effective interaction (Bhatti et al. 2012). However, the leadership assessment has indicated that I am not very much flexible to overcome the sudden crisis happened at the workplace due to the lack of confidence. As a result, I used to show a rude approach to my team members at the time of crisis. Consequently, I was facing challenges in maintaining an effective rapport with my team members. This is one of the most effective reasons of providing poor performance on behalf of the employees. However, after identifying my mistakes I have decided to rectify those drawbacks by receiving trainings and suggestion from my senior managers. Obtain feedback from a fellow student on your leadership journey and current challenges I have obtained effective feedback from my fellow student about the style of my leadership. The response collected from the fellow indicates that I as a leader is amalgamated with both good qualities as well as bad qualities. The good qualities within me include patience level, nice mode of temperament, willingness to overcome my drawback, quick learning capability, active listening skill and so many (Ramchunder and Martins 2014). As per the opinion of this specific fellow, I do not feel hesitated in rectifying my mistake even from the junior member. At the same time, I have the willingness to learn new strategies and policies from my senior in order to enhance my professional skill and competency. At the same time, the student has provided innumerable negative feedback on me as well. Due to these negative competencies, I have to face innumerable challenges for leading a particular team properly. According to that specific individual, I do not have flexible body language in maintaini ng an effective interaction with my team members. As a result, team members do not feel comfortable to share their problems with me at the workplace. This kind of barrier has left major negative impact in providing effective services for reaching the business goal. On the other hand, the fellow has mentioned that I should give my team members motivational speech so that employees like to show their courageous attitude for performing well towards the services. Provide mentoring and feedback on leadership to a fellow student on his/her leadership journey and challenges After getting an in-depth learning process about the quality of an efficient leader, I would like to provide effective feedback on the leadership quality of my fellow student. I have observed that this particular individual is possessed with good communication skill with the help of which this individual can make an effective interaction with every individual team members in order to know their challenges facing at the workplace. However, this very specific study has focused to make an in-depth overview about the importance of becoming an efficient leader in order to run a team towards reaching the peak of success. I have also observed that this particular student fellow by utilizing the extrovert nature can provide constant motivation to the employees. As a result, people belonging to different geographical backgrounds can show their courageous attitudes for performing well towards the service process. It is undeniable at the same time that this specific person as a team leader is p ossessed with some of the major drawbacks as well (Onorato 2013). The student fellow due to the impatient nature tends to lose the temperament frequently. As a result, the individual intends to scold up the team members due to the lack of effective performance (Shafie, Baghersalimi and Barghi 2013). In this kind of situation, the employees feel extreme level of de-motivation for performing well at the workplace. The business organization has to face innumerable difficulties in increasing their revenue growth due to the lack of effective employee performance. I have also observed that this student fellow faces challenges in providing equal response and dignity to the students of different geographical markets as well as religious backgrounds. Therefore, a biasness approach is created among the team members as well. This particular factor becomes a matter of challenges for becoming an efficient leader for a particular business organization. Identify the influences of national and organizational cultures on your perceptions of effective leadership Organizational culture is possessed with the values, beliefs and ethics that a particular company tends to maintain for running their entire process of business successfully. It is undeniable that organizational culture is possessed with major negative impact on the overall progress and effectiveness of leadership style (Ruggieri and Abbate 2013). I have observed that maintaining diversity at the workplace of The Iconic is one of the most effective cultures that the business experts focus to follow at their workplace. While maintaining the e-commerce business process organizational managers intend to provide equal priority and response to the people of different geographical boundaries and attitudes. The human resource managers are concerned about the skill and competency of an individual rather than focusing on the cultural and religious backgrounds (Sahaya 2012). However, after being appointed in the post of business leader I have intended to follow the same trend of my organizatio nal culture. I as a business leader have decided to be unbiased towards the team members. An individual team member cannot become my major priority. Therefore, I should maintain a flexible rapport with the every team member of my team equally. In addition, as per the cultural ethics of my organization an individual employee facing challenges at the workplace should be interacted effectively so that this specific individual do not get de-motivated in performing well towards the services (Lutz Allen, Smith and Da Silva 2013). Following the same trend, I as an assistant team lead of my organization intend to make interpersonal communication with my team members at the end of every week. This particular face-to-face interaction helps me immensely in improving my leadership quality. Therefore, based on the organizational culture and ethics I have reformed my leadership style and strategies as well. Develop and apply communication skills for relationship building and mentoring across cultures, functions and disciplines As already stated I have linguistic barrier due to which employees of different geographical backgrounds and culture cannot make an effective communication with me. As a business leader, I should enhance my skill and competency in communication skill so that my team members do not face any kind of difficulties in interacting with me. However, the ways I can develop my communication skill for relationship building and mentoring across cultures, functions and disciplines include as follows: Receiving a training and development session: The senior manager can arrange an effective training and development session for me in order to render multilingual flexibility. As a result, people belonging to various cultural and religious backgrounds would be able to make an effective interaction with me. I would be able to understand their personal issues faced at the workplace. However, an effective communication skill would help me in maintaining an effective rapport with my team members. Conducting group communication and sharing views and thoughts regarding the business goal: Conducting group communication and sharing views and thoughts regarding the business goal can help me immensely in enhancing my communication skill for becoming an efficient leader (Ojokuku, Odetayo and Sajuyigbe 2012). In a particular group communication, all the team members of my team would like to attend undoubtedly. Therefore, I would be able to get a scope in making an effective interaction with every individual team member. Therefore, I would not get the scope to keep silent. Whenever I will start in exchanging views and ideas automatically, the communication skill would be increased. Enhancing the listening skill of different news channels In order to become a good communicator I as a business leader would have to be a good listener first. Therefore, I need to enhance my listening skill as well so that I can listen the difficulties of employees faced at the workplace. After identifying the problems faced by the employees, I as an efficient leader would be able to provide effective solution for resolving the problems. Apply knowledge from the theories and models of effective leadership to interpret and understand your reflections and feedback In order to become an efficient leader I have followed effective theories and conceptual framework at the workplace so that employees get motivation in providing effective services towards reaching the business goal. According to me, situational theory and trait theory both are very much significant in giving a constant motivation to the existing employees. Trait theory believes that every team members while service for the organization is possessed with different cultural and behavioral traits (Herrmann and Felfe 2014). Therefore, as a team leader I should not judge the competency level of an individual based on their specific traits and features. However, I have observed that employees can be motivated in achieving the business goal based on their individual traits and features. At the same time, situational theory implies that leader as per different situation coming at the workplace should have the capability of changing business strategies and policies. Based on the organization al performance or crisis the business leaders have to change their leadership style. As a result, the leaders can handle different situation in their own way (Antonakis and House 2013). By maintaining an effective rapport with the employees, the leaders can use transformational leadership style for going with the rhythmic flow of business. References: Andrews, D.R., Richard, D.C., Robinson, P., Celano, P. and Hallaron, J., 2012. The influence of staff nurse perception of leadership style on satisfaction with leadership: A cross-sectional survey of pediatric nurses.International journal of nursing studies,49(9), pp.1103-1111. Antonakis, J. and House, R.J., 2013. The full-range leadership theory: The way forward. InTransformational and Charismatic Leadership: The Road Ahead 10th Anniversary Edition(pp. 3-33). Emerald Group Publishing Limited. Bhatti, N., Maitlo, G.M., Shaikh, N., Hashmi, M.A. and Shaikh, F.M., 2012. The impact of autocratic and democratic leadership style on job satisfaction.International Business Research,5(2), p.192. Chi, H.K., Lan, C.H. and Dorjgotov, B., 2012. The moderating effect of transformational leadership onknowledge management and organizational effectiveness.Social Behavior and Personality: an international journal,40(6), pp.1015-1023. Dumdum, U.R., Lowe, K.B. and Avolio, B.J., 2013. A meta-analysis of transformational and transactional leadership correlates of effectiveness and satisfaction: An update and extension. InTransformational and Charismatic Leadership: The Road Ahead 10th Anniversary Edition(pp. 39-70). Emerald Group Publishing Limited. Herrmann, D. and Felfe, J., 2014. Effects of leadership style, creativity technique and personal initiative on employee creativity.British Journal of Management,25(2), pp.209-227. Lam, C.S. and O'Higgins, E.R., 2012. Enhancing employee outcomes: The interrelated influences of managers' emotional intelligence and leadership style.Leadership and Organization Development Journal,33(2), pp.149-174. Lutz Allen, S., Smith, J.E. and Da Silva, N., 2013. Leadership style in relation to organizational change and organizational creativity: Perceptions from nonprofit organizational members.Nonprofit Management and Leadership,24(1), pp.23-42. Nanjundeswaraswamy, T.S. and Swamy, D.R., 2014. Leadership styles.Advances in management,7(2), p.57. Ojokuku, R.M., Odetayo, T.A. and Sajuyigbe, A.S., 2012. Impact of leadership style on organizational performance: a case study of Nigerian banks.American Journal of Business and Management,1(4), pp.202-207. Onorato, M., 2013. Transformational leadership style in the educational sector: An empirical study of corporate managers and educational leaders.Academy of Educational Leadership Journal,17(1), p.33. Ramchunder, Y. and Martins, N., 2014. The role of self-efficacy, emotional intelligence and leadership style as attributes of leadership effectiveness.SA Journal of Industrial Psychology,40(1), pp.01-11. Renko, M., El Tarabishy, A., Carsrud, A.L. and Brnnback, M., 2015. Understanding and measuring entrepreneurial leadership style.Journal of Small Business Management,53(1), pp.54-74. Ruggieri, S. and Abbate, C.S., 2013. Leadership style, self-sacrifice, and team identification.Social Behavior and Personality: an international journal,41(7), pp.1171-1178. Sahaya, N., 2012. A learning organization as a mediator of leadership style and firms financial performance.International Journal of Business and Management,7(14), p.96. Shafie, B., Baghersalimi, S. and Barghi, V., 2013. The relationship between leadership style and employee performance: Case study of real estate registration organization of Tehran Province.Singaporean Journal of Business, Economics and Management Studies,2(5), pp.21-29.

Pie In The Sky The Brigid Berlin Story Essays - Brigid Berlin

Pie In The Sky: The Brigid Berlin Story Among the oddballs and exhibitionists who clustered around Andy Warhol in the 1960's and 70's perhaps the scariest was Brigid Berlin, a chubby, motormouthed rebel from an upper-crust New York City family who relished the way her underground celebrity embarrassed her proper conservative parents. Her father, Richard Berlin, a friend of Richard M. Nixon and an admirer of Senator Joseph R. McCarthy, ran the Hearst Corporation, which he had helped save from bankruptcy in the 40's. Her mother, Honey, was an elegant, ladies-who-lunch-style socialite of the old school. Ms. Berlin was one of Warhol's favorite telephone companions, and she taped hundreds of hours of their conversations, some of which were adapted into a play called Pork that flaunted the Berlin family strife. Like many of Warhol's acolytes, she fancied herself an artist and was one of the first art world personages to work with a portable tape recorder and Polaroid snapshots (she specialized in double exposures). Her more notorious antics included a theatrical performance in which she telephoned her parents from the stage without their knowledge and broadcast live her mother's furious tirade about her lifestyle and choice of friends. That lifestyle included an addiction to speed (in the 1966 Warhol movie, The Chelsea Girls, she played a pill-pushing lesbian who shoots up in front of the camera) as well as an eating disorder that pushed her weight to 260 pounds. Despite her obesity, Ms. Berlin often appeared nude in Warhol's movies, displaying not a trace of self-consciousness. Excerpts from her taped conversations with Warhol and with her mother run through Pie in the Sky: The Brigid Berlin Story, Shelly Dunn Fremont and Vincent Fremont's unsettling close-up portrait of Ms. Berlin, which opens today at the Film Forum. This fascinating but somewhat repellent documentary repeatedly contrasts interviews with Ms. Berlin filmed two years ago when she turned 60 with excerpts from the mostly black-and-white Warhol films in which she radiated the aggressive ferocity of a B-movie prison matron. Much slimmer today than in the Warhol years, Ms. Berlin, who lives on the East Side of Manhattan with two dogs, looks sleek and matronly at 60. But when she reminisces, it becomes clear that she retains a lust for the spotlight along with a continuing inability to edit what comes out of her mouth. As she chattily recounts a life of squandered privilege and wasted opportunity, the movie casts a bitter chill. After all her walks on the wild side, you wonder if she has learned anything at all. Not a smidgen of wisdom or enlightenment passes from the lips of a woman whose main goals in life today seem to be keeping a neat apartment and fighting an obsession with Key lime pies (one scene shows her berating herself for having given in to that weakness and gobbling three at one sitting). Ms. Berlin emerges as someone whose life and art were determined by her own obsessive-compulsive behavior, be it consuming sweets or collecting celebrity drawings of sexual organs in a notorious scrapbook. Besides her weight, the guiding motif of her life appears to have been her controlling mother, who comes across as cold, judgmental and image-obsessed. Ms. Berlin has her fans, one of the most articulate being the director John Waters, who modeled his own informal repertory company on the Warhol crew. In his view her work with tape and snapshots led Warhol to adapt them into his repertory of techniques. He also admires her bravery for appearing nude. Because she no longer takes speed, Ms. Berlin seems less scary than distracted. Although her memory appears intact, she conveys the disengagement of someone who is either too traumatized or too self-centered to have much psychological perspective on the past. In the most revealing scene, she revisits the Chelsea Hotel, the site of some of her more outrageous antics. Growing visibly anxious, Ms. Berlin says she feels uncomfortable there and wants to leave, but she is at a loss as to why. PIE IN THE SKY: THE BRIGID BERLIN STORY Produced and directed by Vincent Fremont and Shelly Dunn Fremont; director of photography, Vic Losick; edited by Michael Levine; music by Chris Stein. At the Film Forum, 209 West Houston Street, west of Sixth Avenue, South Village. Running time: 75 minutes. This film is not rated. WITH: Brigid Berlin, Richard Bernstein, John Waters, Taylor Mead, Bob Colacello, Larry Rivers and Patricia Hearst. Arts Essays