The Defeat of Many by One
In The Moor’s Last Sigh, Salman Rushdie uses the complex and changing character of the Moor to represent a complex and changing image of India. By making the eclectic family history of the Da-Gama Zogoiby family the central theme in the first two parts of the novel, Rushdie portrays India as a culturally and religiously pluralistic society. This pluralistic society is layered by violence caused by the corruption of multiplicity by various characters and the threat of Hindu fundamentalism. As pluralism is defeated by fascism in Part Three of the novel, the nature of the violence changes drastically and is symbolized by the Moor’s significant character change: “The Moor whose tragedy-the tragedy of
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The Zogoiby’s diverse history entails attempts to embrace many of these ideals. The eclectic cultural backgrounds of the Zogoiby family are representative of pluralism in India. The Da-Gamas are Portuguese Catholics while the Zogoibys are Moorish Jews. All of the Moor’s ancestors blatantly reject religion and embrace secularism: an arguably important component of pluralism. When Camoens went to see Gandhi speak, he told his wife Belle, “I hear nothing. I had seen India’s beauty in that crowd with its soda-water and cucumber but with that God stuff I got scared” (Rushdie 55). Another example of pluralism within the Zogoiby family is Aurora’s artwork, especially her childhood paintings in which she strives to represent the variety and multiplicity in the vision of the world and the vision of India. As Aurora ages, however, her childhood visions of pluralism are significantly changed.
Although Aurora’s later paintings also embrace pluralism, they reveal possible catastrophe: A place where worlds collide, flow in and out of one another, and washofy away. Place where an air-man can drowno in water, or else grow gills; where a water-creature can get drunk, but also chokeofy on air. One universe, one dimension, one country, one dream, bumpo’ing into another, or being under or on top of. Call it Palimpstine” (226). “
This image of “Mooristan” shows the danger of multiple worlds
America’s transformation into the country we live in today has been formed through numerous events during its short history but the event that will split the United States into North versus South is truly one of the most defining events in American history. Through numerous events leading up to the start of the Civil War, I will attempt to show how the United States was destined for conflict and that the Civil War was inevitable. The first way I will show how the war could not be avoided will deal with the issue of slavery. Slavery should be the first mentioned because many conflicts within the United States leading up to the Civil War and the division of the United States dealt with slavery. The Missouri Compromise should also be talked
While many obstacles get in the way of friendship, true friendship still lives, even in silence. In the book, The Chosen , By Chaim Potok, two boys, Reuven Malter and Danny Saunders, who are very religiously different and both raised in completely opposite ways, develops a deep friendship. Their friendship opens up their worldview to many other different viewpoints in life. The friendship between these two boys is one with great religious significance, starting off with destiny and Gods will. As Danny and Reuven’s Friendship develops, it teaches them to respond wisely to the values of the more complex and secular world. It also teaches the true value of friendship. Because Danny’s father, Reb
In my opinion, a book is always a better choice for entertainment then a movie. Usually, when a book is adapted into a movie; the movie always seems to omit scenes and details mentioned in the book. This is the same with Walter Mosley’s Always Outnumbered, Always Outgunned; a novel that tells a story surrounding a man named Socrates Fortlow. However, while the movie version of Always Outnumbered, Always Outgunned follows the same concept as the book there are substantial differences in terms of events, details, and chronological order.
A CLASS DIVIDED Thirty years ago Jane Elliott taught the third grade in the white, Christian community of Riceville, Iowa. The day Martin Luther King Jr. was killed she planned an exercise that wouldn't just show her students what racism is - rather, it would give them first-hand experience of what it felt like to be oppressed for something out of their control. Elliott divided her class by the color of their eyes, marked them with armbands and proceeded to treat one group as if superior in capabilities to the other. The superior students performed better than they ever had before, while the inferior students' performance dropped. The next day, the third graders traded ranks and their performance reversed in accordance to their
Socialization is the lifelong process of learning rules for adapting to social and cultural normality. Learning to follow societal rules is what allows people to survive, thrive and integrate into groups and communities within society. Through the observation of others, people begin to develop core values, beliefs and morals. This builds bonds and develops a sense of belonging within a given group. In the documentary, A Class Divided, the power of socialization is demonstrated as a third-grade teacher gives her class a hands-on lesson in discrimination and bias by separating her class in to in-groups and out-groups. This lesson not only gives a glimpse into the power of socialization showing how biases can be created, but it also helps
All of us have formed habits in our daily life. Even though some of these habits only exist in our subconscious and we cannot actually make sure whether they are real or only the conjectures. But it is undoubted that all of our behaviors are influenced by our desires on specific objectives. In the book, the power of habit, Charles Duhigg explained the definition of a habit as an effort-saving instinct. “When a habit emerges, the brain stops fully participating in decision making” (20). To support his opinions on habits, he introduced the three-step model of a habit loop, the theory of golden rule of habit, and the role of a craving brain and belief in the process of a habit changing. Through learning
Dissolved oxygen is oxygen that is trapped in a fluid, such as water. Since many living organism requires oxygen to survive, it is a necessary component of water systems such as streams, lakes and rivers in order to support aquatic life. The dissolved oxygen is measured in units of parts per million (ppm). Examine the data in Table 4 showing the amount of dissolved oxygen present and the number of fish observed in the body of water the sample was taken from; finally, answer the questions below.
As with playing the “What If” game (asking “what if” incessantly to explore each aspect of a situation), so did a chain of events occur that caused this relationship to form.
In the biography Unbroken, by Laura Hillenbrand, a troubled adolescent boy named Louis Zamperini revolves his life around his running career. Starting at such a young age, running had many impacts on Louie’s life. The high demand of training kept Louie distracted from making unintelligent choices he had previously been making. Running changed the young teenager he was and the man he was going to become.
Iran’s conflict between modernism and fundamentalism can be seen in the novel’s focus on the political prisoners. Marji encounters various men that were incarcerated for holding extreme leftist views, including her uncle, and the consequences they faced. In the chapter “The Heroes” Marji is exposed to the various torture methods induced to make the prisoners betray others who shared their discontent. This can be seen when Marji’s father asks about Ahmadi and Siamk, the newly freed prisoner, tells them, “… Ahmadi was assassinated. As a member of the guerrillas, he suffered hell” (54). In making this comment, Ahmadi shows the intensity with which fierce opponents were persecuted. Additionally, the never ending arrests and deaths of these political opponents show the
A Stalemate on the Western Front A stalemate formed on the Western Front due to four main reasons, one
Today in the United States citizens are given rights to speak freely, worship as they wish, and pursue life, liberty, and happiness. Unfortunately, most foreign nations do not grant their citizens these rights. People in foreign nations live with little protection, financial insecurity, and are governed by callous rules. Behind closed doors in private business in the United States, many workers face this tyranny as well. This relentless dictatorship causes men to live in fear for their own lives. Men struggle to abide by these strict and inhumane rulings. In most scenarios, man recognizes that there is no easy way out. Consequentially, a rebellion remains to be the only option. Since before Christ, men
In “One Last Time,” Gary Soto talks about how he grew up in an immigrant family, and to make money had to work the fields. He talks about how the menial jobs made him feel and what he thought of them. I may not be able to relate to the immigrant laborer part of the story. I understand what it’s like to come from very little but still think that some things are not worth doing just to get something if it will make you feel like less than you are. Soto goes into great detail about his time picking grapes and cotton, but he doesn’t really go into as much detail about why he feels the way he does. I feel that even though he talks about being a laborer and how he felt, it can be understood by many different types of people. I think that it is a
In the novel “The Moor’s Account” by Laila Lalami, the author stresses how the main character Mustafa is effected by his family and how that relates to the future he has in the New World. This is most identified by how he feels about his father, the giving up of his name, and his struggle to fight for a new life. Unlike other slaves in the New World, Mustafa ibn Muhammad ibn Abdussalam al-Zamori chose his fate for the possibility of a better life. He had the opportunity to try to work for himself and his family while still in Morocco. In fact, his father had even wanted him to do that. But Mustafa knew that he was confident in his decision to sell himself into slavery so that his family can be better off from there. In the story, the reader sees how Mustafa struggles as he journeys from Morocco and across the New World in search of the possibility for a new life. Overall, the reader sees how Mustafa struggles with not following his father’s guidance, his loss of humanity from his name being taken away, the quest to avoid changing his entire humanity in his new life, and how everything changing has affected him and changed him as a person.
In Bryce Courtenay’s The Power of One, the main character, Peekay the majority of his friends by means of a violent and unexpected death. “Death was violent and ugly like Grandpa Chook and Geel Piet, or even a macambre like Big Hettie. Death, as I had come to know it in Africa, had no gentle slipping awayness about it, no dignity.” Depending on your faith, death can bring about new life, or an end to everything. If you choose to believe the latter, as it can be assumed that Peekay did, these powerful things called loneliness birds hatch their stone eggs inside of you. “…laid stone eggs deep inside of you until you filled up with heaviness and despair. “