The Color of Water Essay Example for Free

The Color of Water Essay The Color of Water by James McBride was a story about a young boy trying to figure out his racial identity but his mother would not talk about her past or what race she was. All James knew was that she was white living in a black power neighborhood and that fact terrified him. He thought that to grow up he had to know his racial identity but through all the trouble and hard times he went through he learned that his race did not matter. It was his education that was the most important. Ruth attitude about her race effected James through his childhood and as a young adult, she negatively affected his racial development, and Ruth eventually clears up his questions that he has been dying to get answers from. Ruth McBride’s attitude toward her own race affected her son, James McBride, as both a child and as a young adult. Ruth mainly looked down on her race because of her father. All he care about was money and the store, he did not care about his own wife or family. He also molested Ruth when she was a young girl. When James was a young boy he always questioned her about race. He wanted to know if he was black or white and he also asked what color Jesus was. James mother would not completely answer his question. She responded saying that James was a human and education was all that mattered, and that Jesus was the color of water. As a kid, James knew that his mother was white, and that terrified him. He knew that a white lady living in a black neighborhood, also with black kids, was living in danger. James really realized his mother’s danger when Ruth and James were walking home and a man came up and stole Ruth’s purse. James figured out how strong and brave or crazy his mother was when she did not fight the theft back and all she told James was that it was just a purse and it did not matter. When James grew up, he thought that Ruth was going crazy, and he didn’t respect her like he did in the past. If James would have known about his mother’s past, it wouldn’t have change much. He might have been more apologetic for her but that would be about it. Ruth’s impact on James’s racial development is negative, but she had good intentions. James never knows what his racial background is and that bothers him throughout his life. If he would have known what his mother’s background was maybe then he would understand himself in his eyes, but it does not take your race to figure out yourself, it takes learning who you are on the inside. Ruth was trying to make it a positive impact on his racial development. Ruth knew that race did not matter, it was about what was on the inside of the person, but James did not understand that concept. Race never concerned him by saying he was not going to associate himself with a person because of their background but he want to know about their race, and Ruth had no cares about their race, which is a better way to go at it. Ruth offers James confusion as he grapples with his racial identity as a younger boy, but she offers him clarity as a young adult. When James was young, Ruth would answer any of her questions and that bothered him but he knew not to push her to her limit or he would get the belt. He does not know what half of his race is, he know he was black from his father but knew nothing about his mother’s race. Ruth was not ashamed to be a Jew, but she did not support Judaism because of her father, Tateh. She was not hiding the fact that she was a Jew from James but she did not want to think about everything that she ran away from when she left Suffolk, Virginia and her family, more importantly her mother, Hudis Shilksy. When James turns into the young adult he finds out that knowing your race does not help you in life like a good education does. Even though he has learned this Ruth starts to explain his questions about race to him. In the story The Color of Water, James has unanswered questions as a child. At the end of the book James learns about Ruth’s race and he finds out his racial identity. James also finds out God’s color, He is the color of water and water is neither, black or white. Ruth had harmful memories when she was a Jew because of her father and when he might her first husband, Dennis, she changed her faith and found happiness. Ruth’s race affected Ruth which later on affected her son James negatively. Her angry about her past led to James’s confusion about his own racial identity, but later on got all his questions answered.

Impact of Colonialism on Indigenous People

Impact of Colonialism on Indigenous People In 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue. Observed on the second Monday of October every year, the federally recognized holiday celebrates the achievements of the Italian explorer Christopher Columbus. But because his arrival brought murder and slavery to indigenous peoples in the Americas, activists have attempted to rename this holiday to Indigenous Peoples Day. Though Indigenous Peoples Day aims to reframe the heritage narrative in the United States, many indigenous people around the world are forgotten, including the people of Kiche in Guatemala who are on the verge of being pushed out of their homeland. With roots as far back as 2000 BC, the Kiche were among the few Maya groups who survived after the decline of the great Mayan Empire. After the conquest by the Spaniards and Kaqchikel neighbors, who allied almost immediately with the Spaniards, in 800 AD, the fortunes of the Kiche changed virtually overnight. Their lands were seized and they were relegated to the status of laborers for their new, colonial landowners. Little has changed since that time. In a country where, Mayan descents constitute roughly 51% of the national population, ethnic diversity makes Guatemala a nation of immense human richness having its own cultural identity. However, discrimination against indigenous population is undeniable in Guatemala. As of today, 10% of total land is in Indigenous hands, which is not surprising where 85% of the nations land is owned by less than 2% of the population. In response, the Guatemalan government did provide about 5.2 million acres of concession areas for indigenous communities like the Kiche to take care of. However, areas controlled by the government undergo the most deforestation. Nearly 40% of Guatemala is covered by forests, making illegal logging a widespread issue that threatens the livelihood of people who rely on forests for survival. Critics blame uneducated campesinos clearing land for agriculture as one of the prime culprits. Though this does represent a threat, there are bigger threats, including lumber companies, and organized crime. Nevertheless, the government does not seem to have the political will to eradicate the dilemma. Some Kiche members, living in the highland Ixil Maya municipality of Nebaj, are actively protesting logging companies exploiting lumber on private lands. While the Indigenous Authorities of Nebaj issued a statement asking the government to take action, they declined to act and simply issued a statement that they are planting new trees for every one that is cut down. Eliseo GÃ ¡lvez, the deputy executive secretary of the governments National Council of Protected Areas, testified that for years, judges and the forestry police, have failed to coordinate this complication. Or perhaps, this very reason could very well be that the Guatemalan Ministry of the Economy actively promotes the investment of companies interested in exploiting the countrys nearly 2 million acres of forests. Timber companies arent the only ones contributing to the deforestation efforts. Drug traffickers have cleared large swaths of forests to lay down clandestine airplane landing strips and roads to haul through drugs. Galvez added, Now it is even more complex because of the influence of illegal actors who are using the park to move migrants and drugs north. In some parts of Guatemala, the narco-led deforestation annual rate was reported to be about 10 percent. In response to the crackdown in Mexico, drug traffickers began moving south into Central America around 2007 to find new routes through remote areas to move their drugs from South America and get them to the United States, said Kendra McSweeney, an associate professor of geography at the Ohio State University. But while bribes keep government officials looking the other way when it comes to deforestation activities, local activists and indigenous people pay the consequence when they speak up. As one of the highest homicide rates in Central America, kidnappings and extortion are not uncommon to indigenous people who may not have the economic ability to pay up, leaving parents to instead pay human smugglers to get their children to the United States, away from the crime. That in part helps to explain why large numbers of unaccompanied children began arriving in the United States starting in late 2013.

Summary Of Neutral Tones By Thomas Hardy English Literature Essay

Summary Of Neutral Tones By Thomas Hardy English Literature Essay The speaker addresses an estranged lover and reminisces about a foreseen moment in their past, from where he already anticipates the demise of their relationship. The first three stanzas (lines 1-12) describe the past incident when the speaker faces the bleak moments of a break up process. The speaker is mentally perturbed by the disillusions of love, believing that things were once beautiful. He is frustrated when love perishes and felt deceived by the sweet promises love had to offer. It started off with cold winter where the speaker stood by a pond with his lover and everything was neutral in colour with sombre effects of whites and greys to depict the sense of hopelessness and death in all living things. The tension gradually picks up in the second stanza where the speaker explores deeper into the nature of their relationship: Your eyes on me were as eyes that rove over tedious riddles solved years ago., which is interpreted to mean that the couple had repeated fights with no progress in their relationship. The insignificance of their communication exposed through the tired and morbid undertone seen in lines such as And some words played between us to and fro-. This shows fundamental flaws in their communication, making a meaningful relationship seem impossible. The first line of the third stanza describing her smile contains a disheartening oxymoron. Usually, a facial gesture would be associated with happiness and joy; where as in Neutral Tones the smile is des cribed as the deadest thing. The cold causality of the gesture serves as reminder to the bitterness of the poem. This oxymoronic metaphor continues, with the phrase: alive enough to have the strength to die. This phrase further enhances the emotional turmoil experienced by the speaker, presenting a horrifying image of something that just has enough energy to die. Based from this line, the speaker had already known that his lover would deceive him in love; just as her smile that defeats the purpose of joy and happiness. Lastly, the fourth stanza reflects upon the memories of the past incident and explains on the nature of love. It is a sad, pessimistic and melancholic poem that portrays love as painful and never lasting till it is fragilely doomed. What meanings do you find in the title? The poet tells on the termination of a relationship creates its melancholic note in the title itself, called Neutral Tones. Ironically, the colours of landscape are neutral but the lovers features, as in her eyes and smile, may seemed neutral but they are in fact bitter and hurtful. Throughout the poem, a variety of techniques are used to highlight sadness and emotions in the speaker with soothing yet depressing language that functions on duality. Neutrality effects from the poem may seem calm and soothing, yet it contradicts to the real meaning of the context, which actually depicts hopelessness and disillusionments about love. Explain in your own words the metaphor in line 2. In line 2, Hardy uses a very neutral monosyllabic word like the sun was white, as though chidden of God. The sun that normally appears to be yellow, symbolizes happiness and life. But in Neutral Tones, as the title suggests that all living things and nature becomes sombre in colour, which in this context the sun becomes white to create the feelings of frigidity as well as to symbolize the coldness of the relationship within the poem. The speaker once thought that love would be a happy and lively feeling of joy, instead of having a tragic ending of coldness towards the relationship. Sadly, even a possible hope of love has been chidden of God as if it is cursed and forbidden. What connotations appropriate to this poem does the ash (line 4) have that oak or maple would lack? The ash carries a double meaning, where as oak and maple merely mean a type of tree. Unlike the maple and oak, ash could also means a grey powdery substance that is left after something is burnt besides having another meaning as a type of tree. In other words, Hardy uses ash to connote to the demise of the speakers relationship as well as the love that fades in time. Hardy creates a gloomy environment with a grey ash to emit the ambiance of a winter season where everything is neutral in colour. The few leaves, which have fallen from the ash gives hint towards the dying of life. Yet, it is not life that died, but love. What visible objects in the poem function symbolically? What actions or gestures? The setting contributes to a mood of torpor or constriction the sun is white, as if drained of all its vitality. Dead leaves lie on the ground as a reminder of the end of the natural cycle of life and death. These leaves are grey and come from an ash: Both words reinforce the gloominess of this colorless, inert scene. Essentially, Hardy creates a dying environment to symbolize a perishing relationship. In addition to serving as an objective correlative, the bleak world Hardy describes in Neutral Tones also symbolizes the speakers dead relationship. Through his use of imagery, construction of the poem, and paradoxes, Hardy creates a bleak world of once-beautiful things lying in despair, which invokes a sense of hopelessness and melancholia in the reader. The description of the womans glance and their conversation suggests that their love had become boring and meaningless to her. Things become even direr in stanza 3, when the lovers smile is likened-in a metaphor instead of the simile of stanza 2-to the deadest thing/ Alive, and her bitter grin is compared to an ominous bird aà ¢Ã‹â€ Ã¢â‚¬â„¢wing. use of symbolism is the ominous bird a-wing, this could have been put in as a kind of prolepsis to the final stanza, the ominous bird representing his know shattered trust, the word ominous almost suggest something paganistic about this. The pain predicted by this bitter grin is confirmed in stanza 4 the death of their relationship, but even more pain and suffering followed in the deceptions and wrongs that ensued. The vagueness and generalized tone of this last stanza implies that the assertion that love deceives, / and wrings with wrongs is a generalization that applies to all love, not just this particular love.

Mark Twain Samuel Clemens or None of the Above Essay example -- Essays

Mark Twain Samuel Clemens or None of the Above Mark Twain was one of the most popular and well-known authors of the 1800’s. He is recognized for being a humorist. He used humor or social satire in his best works. His writing is known for â€Å"realism of place and language, memorable characters, and hatred of hypocrisy and oppression† (Mark Twain 1). Mark Twain was born Samuel Langhorne Clemens on November 30, 1835. He was born on the Missouri frontier in a small log village called Florida. His parents had come to Florida from their former home in Tennessee (Unger 192). When Clemens was four, he moved with his family to Hannibal, Missouri, a port on the Mississippi River (Mark Twain 1). His father, who had studied law in Kentucky, was a local magistrate and small merchant (Unger 193). When Samuel was twelve, his father died. He was then apprenticed to two local printers (Unger 193). When he was sixteen, Clemens began setting type for the local newspaper Hannibal Journal, which his older brother Orion managed (Mark Twain 1). In 1853, when Samuel was eighteen, he left Hannibal for St. Louis (Unger 194). There he became a steam boat pilot on the Mississippi River. Clemens piloted steamboats until the Civil War in 1861. Then he served briefly with the Confederate army (Mark Twain 1). In 1862 Clemens became a reporter on the Territorial Enterprise in Virginia City, Nevada. In 1863 he began signing his articles with the pseudonym Mark Twain, a Mississippi River phrase meaning â€Å"two fathoms deep† (Bloom 43). In 1865, Twain reworked a tale he had heard in the California gold fields, and within months the author and the story, The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County, had become national sensations (Bloom 47). In 1867 Twain lectured in New York City, and in the same year he visited Europe and Palestine. He wrote of these travels in The Innocents Abroad. This book exaggerated those aspects of European culture that impress American tourists (Bain, Flora, and Rubin 103). Many claim that The Innocents Abroad is Mark Twain’s second-best book (Unger 198). In 1870 he married Olivia Langdon. After living briefly in Buffalo, New York, the couple moved to Hartford, Connecticut (Bain, Flora, and Rubin 104). Much of Mark Twain’s best work was written in the 1870’s and 1880’s in H... ...e also came to be known for the white linen suit that he always wore when making public appearances (Unger 204). Twain received an honorary doctorate from the University of Oxford in 1907. He died in 1910, at the age of 75. When Twain died, he left an uncompleted autobiography, which was eventually edited by his secretary, Albert Bigelow Paine, and published in 1924 (Mark Twain 2). Mark Twain is still credited as being a major influence by most writers today. His work is still popular and will live on for many years. Works Cited Bain, Flora, and Rubin. Southern Writers: A Biographical Dictionary. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1979. Bloom, Harold. Mark Twain. New York: Chelsea House Publishers, 1986. Kunitz, Stanley J., and Haycraft, Howard. American Authors 1600-1900: A Biographical Dictionary of American Literature. New York: H.W. Wilson Company, 1938. Marshall, Sara. America In Literature: The South. New York: Charles Scribner’s Son’s, 1979. â€Å"Twain, Mark†. Microsoft Encarta 98 Encyclopedia. Microsoft Corporation. Unger, Leonard. American Writers IV: A Collection of Literary Biographies. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1974.

Analysis of Edmund Wallers Poem On a Girdle Essay -- Edmund Waller Gi

Analysis of Edmund Waller's Poem "On a Girdle" At first glance, Edmund Waller’s poem â€Å"On a Girdle† seems to suggest nothing more than praise of one woman’s fair beauty and the speaker’s love for her. After diving deeper into the text, however, it becomes apparent that the speaker does a much better job of praising himself than the woman. His love is more a lust for control and possession than a true declaration of sentiment. Waller uses extreme imagery and exaggeration to seemingly praise this woman. More importantly, however, he subtlety belittles her through tropes and diction. Waller evokes this image of her girdle to express his own desire to restrict this beautiful woman. It cannot be denied that Waller professes love for this woman. He praises her tremendously. He refers to her girdle as â€Å"my heaven’s extremest sphere†. Through this statement he is claiming that for him her girdle was the most expansive point of his universe. This is undoubtedly an extreme statement. He also declares, â€Å"My joy, my grief, my hope, my love / Did all within this circle move!† Waller is profoundly affected by this woman. She instills in him joy, grief, hope and love, all emotions someone enamored with a woman might experience. He loves her so much that if he can have her then, â€Å"Take all the rest the sun goes round!†. In essence Waller is saying he loves this woman more than anything else on earth. Unarguably, Waller holds this woman in extremely high regard. He has placed her on a pedestal. The more interesting idea to consider, however, is why he places her upon this pedestal. This woman is placed upon the pedestal because of her physical beauty. She is described as having a â€Å"slender waist†, a â€Å"na... ... is an object which can be given and then the word â€Å"me† suggests the speaker’s desire for ownership of this object. By using diction that suggests possession and control Waller reveals his true intent for this woman that the loves. This entire poem conjures up an image, that of a man with his arms encircling a woman as her girdle once did. After reflecting upon this image it can be seen as a very controlling one. The man has his arms around the woman but she has no part of the embrace. She is trapped. She is merely the object he has his arms around. She may be beautiful, he may love her, but she plays no role in the relationship. She simply remains in his embrace much like the deer in its pen she was compared to earlier. This is what Waller desires from this woman. He never asks for her love in return. He longs only for possession of her body.

Cultural impact of Macdonalds Essay

McDonald is more than a restaurant; it had known to be a prominent symbol of American standard in fast food industries. And for this company to penetrate the Arab market where they’re a huge gap in cultures, it must have to do some necessary adjustments. Even though McDonald have a strong value of its name as a brand, it wont be easy to for a foreign company to gain the confidence of a country with a strong different believe and well established culture. You see not the all restaurant could sell their products in Middle East because of this situation. It is this culture of Middle East people that had set standard and limitation of what to eat and not. Arab people are very strict when it comes to this matter and everything should be according to their laws and religion. The concept of selling product exclusively for a particular region is an effective way to reach out their potential market. For example, the introduction of Mcarabia sandwich in the Middle East. There are two versions of this sandwich, the McArabia Grilled Chicken and Grilled Kofta, which is both, prepared only using ingredients that are acceptable with the Arab Religion. This is very important part of reaching out the Arab market. Just by naming it as â€Å"McArabia† makes the Arab people feel how they are being valued by McDonald restaurant. It reflects the sincere commitments of McDonalds to reach out the market of the gulf regions. Thus, it gained a warm acceptance with Arab market and it has shown with record of successful sales of the company. With the success of McDonald, it brought out a new interest to its Arab Market. It taught its customers how they could they could enjoy American products and still stick with their culture. However, this leads to into some modernization, which I believe is now acceptable with Arab leaders. For as long as there religion is always on top of consideration, changes are welcome to Arab market. Maybe this is the reason why there’s a lot establishment and products being produce in accordance with the â€Å"hajal† standard.a

Yann Martel

Canongate reveals Martel's Holocaust tale Listen Select: : BOOK NEWS Canongate has exclusively revealed details of the forthcoming novel by Yann Martel, his first since the 2002 Man Booker-winner Life of Pi was published eight years ago. Entitled Beatrice and Virgil, the book is due for publication next June. It is being released simultaneously by Knopf Canada, Random House imprint Spiegel & Grau in New York, Text Publishing in Australia and Penguin India.The story follows Henry, who on being posed â€Å"a puzzle that he cannot resist† is pulled into the world of taxidermy, and the lives of the eponymous characters–a donkey named Beatrice and a monkey called Virgil. Canongate said the book, which tackles the topic of the Holocaust, â€Å"takes us somewhere truly unexpected and shocking†, asking â€Å"profound moral and philosophical questions about the nature of love and evil†.Jamie Byng, managing director and publisher of Canongate, said: â€Å"Life of Pi was always going to be an extremely tricky book to follow up, not least because of the expectations of Yann's many fans. â€Å"Thankfully, Yann has risen to the challenge by writing another exceptional novel, a wildly imaginative and multilayered story that engrosses from the first page and leaves you asking questions long after you have turned the last. I was stunned by Beatrice and Virgil and all of us at Canongate are enormously excited about taking this book to as many readers as we can. The publication will be supported by â€Å"an impressive PR and marketing campaign†, which will include consumer and social media advertising, widespread media coverage, author interviews, an extensive online campaign and events and festival appearances across the UK. Retailers are now being invited to pitch for signings. Canongate has â€Å"high hopes† for the book, as Life of Pi remains the most successful Booker winner ever. The publisher repackaged the title this July, whic h Canongate said trebled sales when compared with the previous year. ~~~~~~~~