Who Were Chinas Red Guards

During the Cultural Revolution  in China,  Mao Zedong mobilized groups of devoted young people who called themselves Red Guards to carry out his new program. Mao sought to enforce communist dogma and to rid the nation of the so-called Four Olds; old customs, old culture, old habits, and old ideas. This Cultural Revolution was an obvious bid for a return to relevancy by the founder of the Peoples Republic of China, who had been sidelined after some of his more disastrous policies such as the Great Leap Forward killed tens of millions of Chinese. Impact on China The first Red Guards groups were made up of students, ranging from as young as elementary school children up to university students. As the Cultural Revolution gained momentum, mostly younger workers and peasants joined the movement as well. Many were no doubt motivated by a sincere commitment to the doctrines espoused by Mao, although many speculate that it was a rise in violence and contempt for the status quo that motivated their cause. The Red Guards destroyed antiques, ancient texts, and Buddhist temples.  They even almost destroyed entire animal populations like the  Pekingese dogs, who  were associated with the old imperial regime. Very few of them survived past the Cultural Revolution and the excesses of the  Red Guards. The breed nearly went extinct in its homeland.   The Red Guards also publicly humiliated teachers, monks, former landowners or anyone else suspected of being counter-revolutionary. Suspected rightists would be publically humiliated, sometimes by being paraded through the streets of their town with mocking placards hung around their necks. In time, the public shaming grew increasingly violent and thousands of people were killed outright with more committed suicide as a result of their ordeal. The final death toll is not known.  Whatever the number of dead, this kind of social turmoil had a terribly chilling effect on the intellectual and social life of the country, even worse to the leadership, it began to slow the economy. Down to the Countryside When Mao and other Chinese Communist Party leaders realized that the Red Guards were wreaking havoc on Chinas social and economic life, they issued a new call for a Down to the Countryside Movement. Beginning in December of 1968, young urban Red Guards were shipped out to the country to work on farms and learn from the peasantry. Mao claimed that this was to ensure that the youth understood the roots of the CCP, out on the farm. The real goal, of course, was to disperse the Red Guards across the nation so that they could not continue to create so much chaos in the major cities. In their zeal, the Red Guards destroyed much of Chinas cultural heritage. This was not the first time that this ancient civilization suffered such a loss. The first emperor of all of China  Qin Shi Huangdi  had also attempted to erase all record of the rulers and events that came before his own reign in 246 to 210 B.C. He also buried scholars alive, which echoed eerily in the shaming and killing of teachers and professors by the Red Guards. Sadly, the damage done by the Red Guards, which was really carried out purely for political gain by Mao Zedong, can never be completely undone. Ancient texts, sculpture, rituals, paintings, and so much more was lost. Those who knew about such things were silenced or killed. In a very real way, the Red Guards attacked and defaced the ancient culture of China.

Love and Desire in Twelfth Night Essay - 1363 Words

According to Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, love is defined as â€Å"strong affection for another arising out of kinship or personal ties; attraction based on sexual desire; affection and tenderness felt by lovers; affection based on admiration, benevolence, or common interest; or an assurance of love.† In William Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, three different types of love are experienced: friendship love, true love, and self love. Each character experiences a different type of love, and in some cases it is not what they originally expected. The twisted, yet intriguing love story allows the reader to get lost in each characters emotions and development throughout the play. Many instances of love in the play are overwhelmed with a†¦show more content†¦Despite knowing that Orsino â€Å"loves† Olivia, Viola almost immediately falls in love with Orsino. And because Viola is disguised as a man, she cannot show her true feelings for Orsino. Aft er Orsino asks Viola to speak with Olivia and professes his love to her, Viola lets the reader know what she is truly feeling by saying â€Å"Yet a barful strife! Whoe’er I woo, myself would be his wife† (Act 1, Scene 4, Line 40). This shows that even though she is willing to help Orsino pursue Olivia, Viola ultimately wants to marry Orsino. Viola’s love for Orsino is revealed again at the end of Act 2, Scene 4. Orsino is asking Viola to try harder in the quest for Olivia and he basically says that there is no love more noble or great as his, so she must love him. Viola then proceeds to say that maybe Olivia doesn’t love him; however, there is â€Å"someone† out there that does. She says: Sooth, but you must. Say that some lady, as perhaps there is, Hath for your love as great a pang of heart As you have for Olivia. You cannot love her; You tell her so; Must she not then be answered? (Act 2, scene 4, Lines 86-90) This is Viola confessing her true feelings for Orsino. She is telling him that she is the one who loves him the way he loves Olivia. Viola’s love for Orsino is so deep and she has so much desire that it literally hurts her heart. She then continues to say that her father had a daughter who loved a man, yet she is her father’sShow MoreRelatedFestivity in Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night1357 Words   |  6 Pagesnegative side effects such as ego and lack of true love. He expresses that the pursuit of expression and truth in itself invokes enjoyment. Sir Aguecheek mirrors the uncertainty of a person through lack of self-confidence and the desire to openly reveal his true self when lamenting â€Å"Is it a world to hide virtues in?† (1.3.131). While uncovering aesthetic and emotional mysteries, the Illyrians find that disport restrains them from actual enjoyment and love. The play follows the audience to motivate themRead MoreAnalyzing Themes in William Shakespear es Twelfth Night Essay1478 Words   |  6 Pagesplay, â€Å"Twelfth Night†, which he wrote during the middle of his career. â€Å"Twelfth Night† is considered to be one of Shakespeare’s greatest comedies that he has written. In addition to it is also the only play that he wrote that has an alternate title which is called, â€Å"Twelfth Night, or What You Will†. By analyzing the themes presented in the play: Actions of love, Gender, and madness, helps show what Shakespeare conveyed about love. In the play, one of the major themes presented was love. This playRead MoreThe Twelfth Night: A Happy Ending? Essay1501 Words   |  7 Pageswith a marriage or a celebration in the final scene. The â€Å"Twelfth Night† is no exception to this rule. Despite problems of confused identities and sexualities, the play ends with marriage for the major characters because they â€Å"have learned enough about their own foolishness to accept it wisely, and their reward, as it should be, is marriage.†(Schwartz 5140). There is a resolution of harmony to a certain extent and an endorsement of romantic love yet despite the happiness evident in the last scene, thereRead MoreTwelfth Night By William Shakespeare1100 Words   |  5 PagesShakespeare’s play, â€Å"Twelfth Night† provides a great deal of insight into gender roles, gender identities, and desire in Elizabethan society. In Shakespearean times, women, and to a much lesser extent, men, were subject to a variety of arbitrary limitations based solely on gender. For example, women could not become actresses, and were practically required to have guardians and protectors. Additionally, both men and women were strictly held to separate sets of explicit standards, expectations andRead MoreElizabethan Poetry Analysis1292 Words   |  6 Pageswomen as seen in Shakespeare’s â€Å"Sonnet 130† and his drama, the Twelfth Night, or What You Will. To begin, I want to provide a brief summary of each literary work I will be discussing. Shakespeare’s â€Å"Sonnet 130† is a poem where the speaker describes his mistress and how she does not meet any of society’s beauty standards that are common in other love novels. Regardless of that, the speaker still loves her. Similarly, the Twelfth Night is a drama that falls under the category of romantic comedy. InRead MoreRole Of Female Characters In Twelfth Night1608 Words   |  7 PagesIn William Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, the female characters have a strong constitution specifically Olivia and Viola. The play begins with a shipwrecked Viola who decides to disguise herself and go under the assumed name of Cesario. Viola Cesario falls in love with Duke Orsino who is in love with Olivia. The Duke asks for Cesario to woo Olivia for him however Olivia begins to fall for Cesario. Later, Violas twin brother reappears, and Olivia mistakes him for Cesario proposes to him. In theRead More Twelfth Night Essay: The Necessity of Cross-dressing800 Words   |  4 PagesThe Necessity of Cross-dressing Twelfth Night      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The action of Twelfth Night begins shortly after a damaging tempest shipwrecks the heroine, casting her upon foreign shores. Upon arrival in this strange seaport, Viola--like the Princess Leonide--dons male disguise which facilitates both employment and time enough to orient herself in this unfamiliar territory.    Violas transvestism functions as emblematic of the antic nature of Illyrian society. As contemporary feminist and ShakespeareanRead MoreThe Impervious Perception of William Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night1631 Words   |  7 PagesIn the kingdom of Illyria (fantasy world), Twelfth Night was supposedly originally written for the entertainment of Queen Elizabeth I. William Shakespeare’s comedy associates with the Feast of Epiphany (January 6th) and was means for entertainment in the seventeenth century. It contains some aspects that can be thought of as a successful comedy when compared to the standards of today’s society. The play incorporates some of the very same devices that are used in modern comedies today, such as topsy-turvyRead MoreWilliam Shakespeare s Twelfth Night1221 Words   |  5 PagesShakespeare’s Twelfth Night is a widely known romantic comedy that was first published in 1623. Twelfth Night is one of Shakespeare’s finest works and it te nds to have an affinity to modern romantic comedy films and stories. The play has love triangles, unrequited love, lies and deceit, playful comedic relief, and obstacles that interfere with characters’ goals. Many of Shakespeare’s plays were turned into film adaptations and many were used very loosely as source material. Hamlet had Lion King (veryRead MoreDr. Faustus And Twelfth Night : Experiential Learning1517 Words   |  7 PagesDr. Faustus and Twelfth Night: Experiential Learning Henry Perkinson, a former educational history and educational theorist professor at NYU, wrote it in his book Learning from our mistakes â€Å"learning takes place not only in success, but in failure as well† (23). Perkinson’s perspective of education, that education comes from personal experience and academic knowledge, can be used to view Thomas Marlowe’s Dr. Faustus and William Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night differently. Both stories have characters

Essay about Richard Hofstadters The Age of Reform

Richard Hofstadters The Age of Reform In 1955, Richard Hofstadter wrote his Pulitzer Prize winning book The Age of Reform, about the Gilded Age. Hofstadter’s arguments about the Populist and Progressive movements and their origins started debate and renewed scholarship on the Populist and Progressive movements. Many historians did not agree with Hofstadter’s arguments and published their own papers stating their conclusions based on their own research. This scenario occurs all the time in the history field. One historian writes a book or paper and other historians accept or reject his arguments by doing their own research and making their own conclusions. Many historians wrote about the Progressive era after Hofstadter did.†¦show more content†¦He argues that for the early part of the history of the United States the culture of the nation centered on the farmer and the agrarian myth. The agrarian myth is that the independent family farmer was what drove the nation. Hofstadter states that fra mers enjoyed a certain privileged status in society. He argues that by the late 1870s this image or status was in decline and that farmers began to resent this loss of status. He asserts that the Populist movement was born out of this resentment. He explains that this resentment towards city-dwellers—those whose opinion of farming was declining—was why many Populists described the city as crime infested and disliked immigrants. He viewed populists as being hysterical, raving, and very nativist. He says that the ideas expressed by the Populists made their way to the cities where professionals latched on to them. These professionals he argued felt the pinch from immigrants and crime. These professionals became the members of the Progressive movement. He viewed progressives as more practical, less hysterical, and more patronizing. To Hofstadter the Populist and Progressive movements were borne out of a status revolution in the United States. Hofstadter presents an interesting argument to explain Populism and Progressivism. At the root of his argument is that people are more likely to feel resentment when their status is at stake rather then when their income or jobs are. This is an interestingShow MoreRelatedEssay on A Progressive Movement1538 Words   |  7 Pagesfamed historian and teacher Richard Hofstadter wrote The Age of Reform in 1955 about the late 19th century and early 20th century movement of Progressivism. In turn, other historians that include Paula Baker, Richard McCormick, and Peter Filene have written their opinion on what the movement we call Progressivism really was, and what its real significance is, or even if it really existed as a movement in its own right. Richard Hofstadter’s book The Age of Reform was written in 1955 and influencedRead MoreEssay about The Progressive Era: Conflicting Viewpoints1651 Words   |  7 Pagesimportance in history. In The Age of Reform, Richard Hofstadter reviews both the Populist and Progressive movements from a psychological standpoint. He maintains that both were groups, Populist farmers and Progressive long- established wealthy professionals, known as mugwumps, both of which formerly had had much power and influence in the United States and were being overshadowed by the growing importance of cities and the nouveau riche, respectively. Hofstadter’s main arguments are taken fromRead More Progressivism Essay1891 Words   |  8 Pagesdistinctly different. The four works, Richard Hofstadters The Age of Reform, Peter Filenes An Obituary for the Progressive Movement, Richard McCormicks The Discovery that Business Corrupts Politics, Paula Bakers The Domestication of Politics all discuss the Progressive â€Å"time period† in varying degrees of depth. The four historians all wrote after the 1950’s when the age in question was clearly over. Richard Hofstadter’s book discussed all facets of the age from the mid to late 1800’s to theRead More History Essay2625 Words   |  11 Pagesaccumulation of different theories throughout the ages by conflicting researchers. A prime example of the historical dialogue that has continued between historians of various perspectives is the study of American Progressivism that was started in 1955 by Richard Hofstadter in his controversial book entitled The Age of Reform. His theory of the Progressive Movement is explored and questioned by Peter Filene’s â€Å"An Obituary f or ‘The Progressive Movement’,† Richard McCormick’s â€Å"The Discovery that Business CorruptsRead MoreThe American Political Tradition912 Words   |  4 Pageswell-known historian at Colombia University. Richard Hofstadter was born on August 6, 1916, in Buffalo, New York. He attended both the University of Buffalo and Columbia University where he studied philosophy and history. Hofstadter was married twice and later in 1970 died from leukemia. Throughout his life Hofstadter had a lot of published works including Social Darwinism in American Thought, William Leggett, Spokesman of Jacksonian Democracy, The Age of Reform, The United States: the History of a RepublicRead MoreAnti Intellectualism By Richard Hofstadter1716 Words   |  7 Pagesassociated with them. Although Richard Hofstadter’s Anti-Intellectualism in American Life won the 1964 Pulitzer Prize, it is now almost fifty-fives out of date. Not to mention the ideas within the book are seen a s suggesting a type of self-defensive justification rather than an actual deep investigation. Hoftstader used the aftermath of McCarthyism and how there were wide range witch hunts among the academics and progressives and how that is influenced by the reform, socialists and communist movementsRead More Various Interpretations of the Progressive Era Essay2820 Words   |  12 Pagesideas appears to be a daunting task. However, the first historian to successfully define and explain the Progressive Movement was historian Richard Hofstadter. With his 1954 book Pulitzer Prize winning book, The Age of Reform, Hofstadter links the major reform movements before and after the turn of the twentieth century. Instead of citing specific reforms or leaders, Hofstadter deals with the ideas connecting Populism, Progressivism and the New Deal, while examining the differences and similaritiesRead MoreEssay about Interpreting American Progressivism2954 Words   |  12 Pagesthey often participate in an ongoing dialogue concerning their research. One of the first historians to make a major mark regarding the Progressive Era was Richard Hofstadter in his book The Age of Reform, published in 1955. Other prominent works include Peter G. Filene’s â€Å"Obituary for the Progressive Movement† , published in 1970, Richard L. McCormick’s â€Å"The Discovery that Business Corrupts Politics† , published in 1981, and Paula Baker’s â€Å"The Domestication of Politics† , published in 1984. WhileRead MoreThe American Political Tradition and the Men Who Made It Essay7033 Words   |  29 PagesIn Richard Hofstadters The American Political Tradition and the Men Who Made It, he identifies twelve of the most influential men and the political traditions they created, including the Founding Fathers who started it all. Additionally, Hofstadter informs the reader of other significant government officials including Andrew Jackson and his democracy, the progressive, trustbuster Theodore Roosevelt, and ending with Franklin D. Roosevelt and his programs of the New Deal. Richard Hofstadters ideasRead More`` Shifting The Center : Race, Class, And Feminist Theorizing About Motherhood Essay2296 Words   |  10 PagesPatricia Hill Collins discusses the importance of looking at issues from the context of people of different racial, social, economic, and political backgrounds . She writes that â€Å"varying placement in systems of privilege, whether race, class, sexuality, or age, generate divergent experiences,† which allows to engage in â€Å"theorizing that embraces differences as an essential part of commonality.† Only when we are able to look at an issue or policy from different perspectives and contexts can we understand its

Book Report on the Go Between - 1676 Words

The Go-between By L.P. Hartley Leslie Poles Hartley was born in 1895; he studied in Oxford and was officer in France during World War 1. He was novelist, short-story writer and critic. His reputation as a writer was established with the publication of the trilogy of novels, The Shrimp and the Anemone (1944), The Sixth Heaven (1946), and Eustace and Hilda (1947). He died in 1972. The Go-between was first published in 1953, the following year it received the Heinemann Foundation Prize of the Royal Society of Literature. Its film version was also very successful and won the principal award at the Festival de Cannes in 1973. This book is a fiction, its a memory story: a man in his sixties looks back on his boyhood of the middle class†¦show more content†¦Hartley begins The Go-Between: with The past is a foreign country. They do things differently there. This book is memory like in The Glass Menagerie; it is a look through the dusty memory of a sixty years old man. Another key theme is class distinction and its warping effects upon the life of one small boy. Hes from a disadvantaged family and is invited in an aristocratic family. The father and the fiancà © are aware of the girls affair with the farmer, but do nothing about it. They are confident she will do the right thing in the end, and she does. Why dont you marry Ted, the boy asks the young woman. Because I cant, she replies. Then why are you marrying Trimmington? Because I must. She understands, and she is tough enough to endure. Indeed, at the end of the film she turns up years later as an old lady very much in the image of her mother. An extra theme is man-woman relationships and love. Marian and Ted are in love with each other and have an ardent affair together. Lord Trimmingham probably loved her too because he married her although she was pregnant and Leo felt in love with her as soon as he saw her. The diary is a symbol of the past and of the doom that chose him that summer, its like a pact that he signed, dreams and freshness gone for adult revelations. In the Zodiac on his diary, Leo is Mercury (virgin), messenger of the Gods, mercury also gauging the ever-rising heat of the summer, and of those passions of the adults circlingShow MoreRelatedFilm Analysis: The Minority Report Essay1596 Words   |  7 Pages The Minority Report is a film that tries to stop crimes before they happen, with the enlistment of 3 teen pre-cogs. These pre-cogs predict future murders and the authorities swoop in and arrest the would-be murders, before they have the chance of committing the crime. Even thing goes great until Anderton, a cop played by Tom Cruise, is suspected. Written by Philip K. Dick and then turned to film by Steven Spielberg in 2002, the short story to film became a success. Though there are many differencesRead MoreBookreport The Bully Essays893 Words   |  4 PagesLangan Book Report Shanta R. Wilson Liberty University PSYC/221 Mrs. Rhonda Wilson July 31, 2011 I am writing my book report for Mrs. Rhonda Wilson, which is the instructor for PSYC/221. The book I will be giving my report on is The Bully by Paul Langan. This book contains 190 pages. It was copyright in 2002 by Townsend Press, Inc. and printed in the United States of America. The cover was illustrated in 2001 by Gerald Purnell and was designed by Larry Didona. I choose this book becauseRead MoreProject Management The Wedding751 Words   |  4 PagesPROJECT â€Å"The Wedding† Due: 12-8-2013 Project Description This project requires research imagination, and logic in applying the content of this course and book. Go to Chapter 4 and pick Case Study# 2 titled â€Å"The Wedding† It starts at page 132. This case study will continue in Chapters 5 through 8. You will follow every step and answer questions in a presentation format. Project Requirements Assignment Due: This project assignment should be uploaded to the course ASSIGNMENTS no laterRead MoreKnowledge Is Power, And That s The Problem880 Words   |  4 Pagesbelieve books cause in their society. In Bradbury’s, Fahrenheit 451, Guy Montag a Fireman, not to be confused with a firefighter, was forced to burn books. Using a kerosene spray gun or flamethrower, Montag would take the books and burn them. Although the books held a plethora of information, this lack knowledge lead to a dystopian society full of censorship, ignorant unlearned individuals, and technological advancements beyond those which we know of today. It was not until Montag stole a book thatRead MoreAnalysis Of Matt Tabbi s Book Report1350 Words   |  6 PagesThe purpose of this report is to apply the thoughts and issues discussed in The Divide to our organization in order to better help and understand why these changes will be important, and what steps we could consider taking to improve the issu es in our organization. This report will be broken down into three parts. The first part will cover an overview of Matt Tabbi’s book. The second part will discuss my analysis of the issues. Finally the third part will be about the recommendations for futureRead MoreEssay about Daniel Keys Flowers For Algernon772 Words   |  4 PagesCHARLY The book â€Å"Flowers For Algernon†, by Daniel Keys was written in 1961. Later, Richard Heynes decided to produce the movie in 1968 properly called â€Å"Charly†. There are both similarities and differences between the two. However, the differences play a more crucial role between the two rather then the similarities. One major difference between the movie and book is the events that took place. One example is when Charly met Fay. This never happened in the movie. But in the movieRead MoreAnnotated Bibliography on Incarceration Rate: Is It Such a Good Thing776 Words   |  3 PagesNeighborhoods Worse. New York: Oxford University Press, 2007. Print. This book written by Bert Todd R. Clear, a distinguished Professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, was published in 2007 at the Oxford University Press being a summary of a number of sources. Clear is an accredited source because he is the founding editor of the journal Criminology Public Policy and an author of eleven books, numerous articles, and book chapters on criminal justice. The intended audiences are for people thatRead MoreAmazon and Barnes and Noble690 Words   |  3 Pagesthe Article   The purpose of this report is to evaluate E-commerce structure and strategy of Barnes amp; Noble and Amazon. As e-commerce market is highly competitive, it is important for the company to develop an effective strategy in order to gain customer’s loyalty, remain profitable and maintain the company’s image This is investigates success of three online book websites and how or if they have expanded their markets.    Amazon.com is the largest online book  retailer and now is the largest onlineRead MoreThe Battle of the Labyrinth737 Words   |  3 PagesBook Report The Battle of the Labyrinth Rick Riordan Introduction This book report is for the compilation of our project in English to be submitted to __________. The title of this book report is The Battle of the Labyrinth by Rick Riordan. It has twenty chapters with 361 pages and published by Disney Hyperion Books, an imprint of Disney Book group. Rick Riordan is the author of the New York Times #1 best-selling Percy Jackson and The Olympians Series. He lives in San Antonio, Texas, withRead MoreGang Leader for a Day: Book Review1413 Words   |  6 Pagesï » ¿ Gang Leader for a Day Book Review It takes a lot of guts and no small amount of courage and cunning to infiltrate a street gang in the tough neighborhoods of Chicago, but that is what Sudhir Venkatesh did as a 23-year-old graduate student at the University of Chicago. In order to find out first-hand how a gang that earns its money selling crack cocaine functions from the inside, Venkatesh dared to get involved on a superficial basis with the gang. But Venkatesh wasnt seen as person who was

Anthropology-African Religions Free Essays

The roots of modern day Islam were sown a couple of centuries ago when the once proud Muslim empire began to be overwhelmed by expansionist movements dominated by European colonialists. This has led to a cultural turmoil in Muslim world who once used to live at the pinnacle of glory saw its silent burial with the meek subjugation of the Islamic Caliphate at the hands of mighty British army in early twentieth century. While a sizable section of the Muslims chose to follow the path shown by great statesman like Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, many continued to be festered by the wounds of humiliation. We will write a custom essay sample on Anthropology-African Religions or any similar topic only for you Order Now Now Muslims in many countries are looking to reassert themselves after a long period of humiliation and oppression, sometimes at the hands of foreigners and sometimes at the hands of their own leaders. Contrary to popular belief, Muslims are not a monolithic group, nor there is any centralized authority within Islam. The Islamic civilization from its birth has gone through debates and counter debates. Except for the Shahadah (God is one and Mohammad is his messenger) and the five mandatory duties (Hajj, Zakat, Roza, Namaz and Shahadah) everything else in Islam has been subjected to deep scrutiny and analysis with the result that many schools of thoughts kept appearing and disappearing. That is why contradictions are evident to people both inside and outside the Muslim community. The orientalists, the conventional authorities on Islam, have been accused of being essentialist and insensitive to the change, negotiation, development, and diversity that characterizes lived Islam. Some scholars, primarily anthropologists, have responded to the tendency to essentialize by giving up the idea of conceptualizing one â€Å"Islam† and instead have focused their inquiry on what they call various â€Å"local Islams.† Others have focused on sociological or political-economic approaches in explaining the modern forms of political and social activism among Muslims to the exclusion of â€Å"scriptural† Islam from their analysis. (Anjum O., 2007) Islam was brought to Sub-Saharan Africa in the first place via the trade routes from the Arab countries and North Africa. The African Muslims have always maintained quite close links with the Arab world, from which a number of reformers came. But Islamisation was essentially carried out by Africans themselves, who shared the same life, spoke the same language, lived in the same cultural world entirely. There is no doubt that, for African Muslims,  «Africanicity » and Islam are in no way opposed. For them Islam is not an imported religion. For many, abandoning the Muslim religion is equivalent to the rejection of all their family and tribal traditions, so intermingled are the two socio-religious universes. One must conclude that Islam, in its traditional African form, is entirely a part of the African cultural heritage and thus an African reality. The long cohabitation of Islam with traditional African religion has also had an effect at the cultural level. The African languages are in general languages with a concrete vocabulary, rather limited in the expression of more abstract realities or more developed reflections. With the Arabic language Islam has been able to fill a gap. Many African peoples, some scarcely touched by Islam, have borrowed a complete abstract, and especially religious, vocabulary from Arabic, with no more than the changes proper to the structure of each language. The relative success of Islam may be related to its compatibility with many aspects of African culture–for example, plural marriage for men, which was opposed by Christian missionaries. Nonetheless, Islam was also embraced because it provided symbolic identification with successful traders and travelers throughout the world, and it was seen as an alternative to European religion. Its agents were black, and it preached on behalf of those who lacked the trappings of Western civilization. These adaptations of local practices by the Islamists is not only unique in Cà ´te d’Ivoire, it has happened world over and plays an important role in shaping the thoughts and mind processes of the Muslims. How to cite Anthropology-African Religions, Papers

Analysis the Song The Way We Were free essay sample

There is a song—a love song that has touched several hundred thousand audiences’ hearts; it expresses the overflowing feelings of a woman who used to live in her intense true love. â€Å"The Way We Were,† by Alan Bergman, Marilyn Bergman, and Marvin Hamlisch illustrates the innermost emotions and regret of a middle-aged woman when she reflects on the youth which she had gone through. This song has a light beat and slow tempo forming delightful sensations for the listeners, but it also leaves audiences a profound message to think about. Sophisticated audiences may find themselves in the song. It brings out fervor, especially for people who have been living in love. Marilyn Bergman uses simple words, but it is very touching and emotive. Basically, it is a classical song which was played by symphony orchestras and performed by Barbra Streisand. By just looking at the lyrics, one would feel the sentimental soul and an introspective mind of a sensitive woman. We will write a custom essay sample on Analysis the Song The Way We Were or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page In the first line of the song, she writes â€Å"Memories, light the corners of my mind. Misty watercolor memories of the way we were. These memories have been engraved in her heart; they are neither gloomy nor euphoric, but they are vivid images which she wants to repress in the most innermost sphere of her mind. It is not just something very hurtful; it is not blissful to think of either. Her feeling is a mixture of nostalgia, melancholy, and a little bit of regret that is rushing through her body. Former familiar scenes were depicted in her mind, but, somehow, they are both painted with watercolor and blurred, symbolizing a mystical ethereal world that solely exists in her imagination and belongs to her only. Near the middle of the song she wonders, â€Å"If we had the chance to do it all again. Tell me would we? Could we? † She already knows her former love would never come back again; the melody sounds like she is missing and regretting her loss of love. The term â€Å"Would we? Could we? † is deliberately sung slowly and softly as mumbling is also a way to convey her thoughts. Despite her haunting regret, she prefers keeping that regret to making up her love again because she knows wistful moments and romantic longings that she has right now wouldnt exist if her love remained today. It is such an uncanny feeling and an agonizing struggle between the logic and the sentiment of a human being. The last couple lines expose changes in her mood, â€Å"Memories may be beautiful and yet whats too painful to remember. We simply choose to forget, so its the laughter we will remember whenever we remember the way we were. † She used to live in love with both happiness and bitterness, but she had to learn how to forget unpleasant experiences to keep the most exquisite feelings inside herself. Does she â€Å"simply† choose to forget? It is not something easy to do. The way Barbra Streisand sings shows internal struggling when she decides to get rid of mental pains. The word â€Å"laughter† here is not simply something funny and delightful to laugh at; it is also a pang of remorse and regret about the love and the youth that are gone from her life. Marilyn Bergman used simple words to describe emotion of the woman in this song, so it is quite easy for listeners to apprehend the meaning; however, its melody and the way Barbra Streisand performs it, the most essential factor, helps the song convey the message to audiences . The intended stress in every single word of her lyrics is absolutely touching. For example, the word â€Å"smiles† in the second line was purposely lengthened to give a hint to the audiences so that they can comprehend the whole significance of the song. It is a beautiful song evoking diverse memories for listeners. Each listener will feel and interpret the song in different ways depending on their character and their personal experiences. However, one thing for sure is that these audiences will feel more appreciative of people around them so that they will not be regretful later on.

Modern-Day Shakespeare free essay sample

I should have been born with my fingers permanently glued to a keyboard. From the age of five, I’ve known that I want to be a professional writer: a journalist, a novelist, a modern-day Shakespeare, maybe. Okay, not Shakespeare. Will used to give me terrible headaches back in my freshman year as I tried to figure out what he was talking about in A Midsummer Night’s Dream and The Tragedy of Julius Caesar. Macbeth in my sophomore year was much easier to understand. Regardless, I’m practically addicted to books, whether I’m reading or writing them. I can’t go a single day without writing something – a short story, a novel chapter, an article – and if I do, I feel a tingling in my fingers, an itch that won’t go away until I sit in front of a computer or pick up a well-sharpened pencil and just let my thoughts out. We will write a custom essay sample on Modern-Day Shakespeare or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page I can be inspired by anything: an expression, a song, a movie. Once I get inspired, it’s like a series of bells going off in my mind, the gears turning faster and faster as I spin out one possible story after another. Ghosts? Vampires? Shape-shifters? What about bogeymen, fairies, and†¦Desis? Well, why not let my Desi – my South Asian – heritage inspire me too?My extended, very Desi family is so widespread that whenever I meet with a cousin or an aunt I only vaguely remember, I tell him or her I’m a writer because I know it will distinguish me from all the other â€Å"kids† in the family and make me memorable. I tell my relatives about the stories I used to write as a child, the projects I’m working on now, and why I’m working so hard to make a breakthrough in the competitive world of publishing. One aunt hugged me and told me, â€Å"Just don’t forget about the rest of us when you become the next J. K. Rowling.†Smiling, I replied, â€Å"Don’t worry, I won’t.† Call it a hunch, intuition, or confidence, but I know that I will become the next J.K. Rowling. I have the ambition, I have the means, and I have the talent. My English and History teachers don’t praise my writing and tell me I have an innate writing talent because they want to be nice – they know how passionate I am about writing, and how that passion slips through my fingertips to the paper.I don’t really know why I love writing so much, I just do. There’s something about putting a story down on paper for friends halfway across the globe to read and understand, about finding just the right word to describe what I can see so clearly in my head, that lures me in like a siren’s song. Writing makes me who I am.Maybe I just want to leave my mark on the world, and since I can’t sing if my life depended on it or have the patience to create a majestic work of art – although I am a pretty decent actor, and a guitar recital in my sophomore year permanently rid me of my state fright†¦but acting doesn’t seem like the right path for me – I’ve chosen writing to make a name fo r myself. Sara B., novelist, journalist, graduate of Columbia University. It has a nice ring to it.