Ceremony Analysis Essay Example for Free

Ceremony Analysis Essay In a song called Helplessness Blues by Fleet Foxes, the lyrics present a crisis in self-identity. â€Å"I was raised up believing I was somehow unique; like a snowflake distinct among snowflakes unique in each way you can see. But now after some thinking, I’d say I’d rather be, a functioning cog in some great machinery serving something beyond me. † The lyricist struggles between his desire of individuality and his desire to be a part of a larger organization. As the song continues, he relates his story of learning to be at peace that the purpose of his life is to be a part of his community. Tayo experiences a similar struggle due to his mixed blood. He is torn between the white culture that tells him to only be concerned with personal gain and the traditional Laguna Pueblo belief that all living organisms are a part of one life force. In the same manner that Robin Pecknold of Fleet Foxes discovered his purpose, Leslie Marmon Silko uses a variety of literary features to support her negative treatment of white selfishness to show Tayo’s discovery of his purpose. Silko encourages the reader to view the world in a more connected sense. Leslie Marmon Silko repeatedly uses white characters as symbols to represent the idea of self-interest. Tayo is searching for Josiah’s cattle, which is symbolic for Tayo trying to find a balance between his white and Laguna Pueblo halves. After falling off of his horse, Tayo meets a group of Texans that portray the white stereotype of putting their own personal gain before that of others. After discovering tracks of a mountain lion, the men leave Tayo with one man saying, â€Å"greasers and Indians – we can run them down anytime. But it’s been a couple of years since anybody up here got a mountain lion. pg99 Rather than looking at his town with a sense of togetherness or unity, the white man feels like he has to be the one in his town to catch a mountain lion. He views the mountain lion as lesser than himself and would be willing to kill it to gain recognition. His sense of pride is important to him and he is willing to endanger Tayo’s life to secure his own social success. One aspect of this country that many people love is the American Dream. The prospect of an individual who is able to have the opportunity to acquire whatever he/she wants based solely on their own desire to work inspires any people. The United States of America has always been founded upon the ideal that any one person can acquire as much as they are willing to work to earn. Laguna Pueblo culture however, teaches that men, women, and animals are all one life force that depends on itself for survival. Thus, rendering the concept of working for your own personal benefit useless. When Tayo and Rocky are signing up to fight in World War II, the recruiter first tells them â€Å"Now I know you boys love America as much as we do, but this is your big chance to show it! pg. 64 At first, this seems like the recruiter is highlighting the fact that serving a higher purpose, in this case America, could have a positive outcome for these boys. However, Silko’s use of diction and choice of the words â€Å"your big choice† shows the selfish undertones. Even when trying to recruit men to fight for one common cause, the man must tell them that they can work themselves into a place of higher status. Silko uses a much more positive tone when Laguna Pueblo belief regarding the connected state of nature. Referring to old man Ku’oosh, Silko writes, â€Å"The old man only made him certain of something he had feared all along, something in the old stories. It took only one person to tear away the delicate strands of the web, spilling the rays of the sun into the sand, and the fragile world would be injured. † Pg. 38 Leslie Marmon Silko uses a much more poetic tone when dealing with instances of Laguna Pueblo culture. She uses characters that have been established as wise to tell stories that relate to what Tayo faces in his life. Ku’oosh tells Tayo about the importance of a community by warning him about the dangers of one person going astray. Silko teaches these lessons through wise Laguna Pueblo characters. One of Tayo’s problems is his feeling of empathy. Tayo has a tendency to experience the pain of other people. When Tayo is fighting in World War II, â€Å"Tayo could not pull the trigger. The fever made him shiver, and the sweat was stinging his eyes and he couldn’t see clearly; in that instant he saw Josiah standing there; the face was dark from the sun, and the eyes were squinting as though he were about to smile at Tayo. So Tayo stood there, while they fired at the soldiers, and he watched his uncle fall, and he knew it was Josiah. † Pg. 8 Tayo naturally forms bonds with people. He is able to relate to others and he wants to share that with someone. He was so overcome by emotion seeing his uncle being fired at that he could not do his duty. At the beginning of the novel, Tayo has nobody to receive all of the love that he has to give. Tayo craves a bond with somebody. This is why the characters Ts’eh and Night Swan and their relationships with Tayo are so important. They are symbolic of his connection between people. Silko often teaches lessons in parallel. At the same time that Tayo is learning to come to grips with his role in Laguna Pueblo society, Silko uses the cattle to parallel his life. The cattle are a mixed breed just like Tayo; just like Silko. The cattle are a repeated symbol to Tayo’s life as he tries to rescue them and return them home. â€Å"Cattle are like any living thing. If you separate them from the land for too long, keep them in barns and corrals, they lose something. Their stomachs get to where they can only eat rolled oats and dry alfalfa. When you turn them loose again, they go running all over. They are scared because the land is unfamiliar, and they are lost. † Pg. 74 The description of these cattle mirror Tayo’s life in a multitude of ways. Just like the cattle being separated from the land for too long, Tayo is separated from his Laguna Pueblo culture for much too long while serving in World War II. When he returns home, he has problems with his stomach also. He constantly vomits whenever he thinks about the war as well as drinking to cover the pain, which is symbolic of his purging of white culture. Over the course of Ceremony, Tayo learns a great lesson regarding Laguna Pueblo culture. He grows away from his original white tendencies and learns to conform to Laguna Pueblo culture. At the beginning of the novel, Tayo is concerned with himself. After returning home from the war Tayo is haunted by all of the people that he has interacted with and wants to be freed from those memories. On page 7 it says, â€Å"So Tayo had to sweat through those nights when thoughts became entangled; he had to sweat to think of something that wasn’t unraveled or tied in knots to the past- something that existed by itself, standing alone like a deer. And if he could hold that image of a deer in his mind long enough, his stomach might shiver less and let him sleep for a while. † Tayo begins the novel trying to separate himself from the memories and people of his past. He thinks that the way to escape the memories that haunt him is to attempt to untangle his life from those who were there at that time of his life. As the novel progresses, Tayo learns how to use other people to help him solve his problems rather than viewing them as a setback. Similarly to Tayo, author Leslie Marmon Silko is part white, part Mexican, and part Laguna Pueblo. Tayo’s struggle to find a balance between the two halves of his culture is something that many people can relate to. Silko uses literary devices such as tone and symbolism to show the duality within Tayo that many people feel. Being of mixed blood myself, I understand the difficult balance of trying to identify with others. Tayo learns, however, that a sense of community can be a part of his healing ceremony.

The Evil In Hamlet Essay examples -- claudius, queen gertrude

The Evil In Hamlet Throughout the play Hamlet, evil thoughts and actions can be seen. The characters Hamlet, King Claudius, and Queen Gertrude consistently are influenced by the forces of evil. Evil becomes the controlling factor of the play and causes the characters thoughts and actions to be blurred. Hamlet’s thoughts are constantly darkened by suicide and death. Hamlet can be seen as suicidal in one of his first soliloquies. â€Å"O, that this too too solid flesh would melt / Thaw and resolve itself into a dew, / Or that the Everlasting had not fixed / His canon 'gainst self-slaughter. O God. God† (Ham. 1. 2. 129-132). This shows Hamlet wishes his "flesh would melt" because his mother's actions have made the world completely corrupted. Hamlet also states that suicide or, "self-slaughter" is evil and a sin. Another example of Hamlets thoughts being consumed by evil and death can be seen in what may be his most famous soliloquy. Hamlets thoughts are so blackened by evil and death he wonders why everyone doesn’t commit suicide. â€Å"To be, or not to be: that is the question: / Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer / The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, / Or to take arms against a sea of troubles, / And by opposing end them? To die: to sleepâ €  (Ham. 3. 1. 56-60). This shows Hamlet clearly pondering why he should live in a world of troubles when he could just kill himself. Hamlets’ pondering of death comes to a pinnacle in the notorious graveyard scene when Hamlet holds up the skull of Yorick, a court jester Hamlet knew when he was little. â€Å"That skull had a tongue in it, and could sing once. How the knave jowls it to the ground, as if it were Cain's jaw-bone, that did the first murder! It might be the pate of a poli... ...evil of Claudius and herself. â€Å"Gertrude, do not drink. / I will, my lord; I pray you pardon me† (Ham. 5. 2. 257-258). Gertrude consumes the cup even though Claudius directly tells her not to. It is left ambiguous as to weather or not Gertrude knew the cup was poisoned or not. Gertrude may have been so possessed by the guilt of her evil she drank the poisoned cup knowingly in an attempt to try and save Hamlet. It is clear that evil is a driving force throughout the play. The thoughts and actions of the characters of Hamlet, King Claudius and Queen Gertrude are poisoned and corrupted by evil. The characters evil ultimately lead to all of their deaths. Works Cited Shakespeare, William. â€Å"The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark† Literature: An Introduction to Reading and Writing. Ed. Edgar V. Roberts. 9th Ed. New York: Pearson Longman, 2009. Print

Organic vs. Non-organic Food Essay

Bottom line, going green can cultivate envy. The public is constantly bombarded with the idea that organic products are better. Perhaps this is true, but maybe it is brilliant marketing simply selling a status symbol. Envy can come from a neighbor’s luscious, organically grown front yard to the hybrid vehicle a co-worker drives, to the organic foods that consumers in a higher financial echelon seem to be able to only afford. Is this envy justifiable or is the notion of organics and its superiority a tactic of propaganda to boost the already $30-plus billion industry even higher, according to Farm and Dairy’s April, 2012 article â€Å"Organic Food Sales†? Although proponents of organic food insist it is healthier than conventional food, non-organic foods are extremely comparable to its organic counterpart, possibly even more necessary. The United States has evolved into a powerful nation; one that boasts of freedoms, luxuries and an overabundance of practically everything. The United States is also a country which has a population that grows greater and greater each year. Reasons including the number of births outnumbering the number of deaths, as well as the number of immigrants coming to live the â€Å"American Dream. † According to the Census Bureau End-of-2011 estimate, â€Å"the United States will enter 2012 with a population of roughly 312. 8 million people† (Schlesinger, 2011, para, 1). This statistic takes into account one birth approximately every 8 seconds, one death every 12 seconds as well as one new migrant entering the country approximately every 46 seconds. As cited by Schlesinger (2011), this ends up with a population increase of over two million in 2012. This is a staggering number and would only increase over time. In his article â€Å"Point: Industrial Agriculture has Improved Farming for Hundreds of Years,† George Wright (2011) explains how the use of biotechnology and techniques such as caging animals used to increase the profits of agricultural industry is not a contemporary idea. Wright (2011, para. 7) states how â€Å"the use of biotechnology to produce food has been around for over 8000 years. † He gives examples such as enzymes being used to make foods like baked goods and dairy products. Wright also asserts that â€Å"biotechnology is expected to help agriculture by improving quality, nutrition, safety and the processing of raw crops,† (Wright, 2011, para. 7). Biotechnology is not a process that is new to the agriculture industry. Finally, Wright’s article (2011, para. 12) concludes that â€Å"with the world’s population at six billion and heading higher, there is no practical alternative to ‘industrial agriculture’. † He also points out that â€Å"agricultural innovations from industries such as biotechnology are advancing agricultural production,† (Wright, 2011, para. 13). In addition, Avery’s article â€Å"‘Frontline’ Perpetuates Pesticide Myths† (1993), Avert adds that â€Å"it is believed that if the world converts to organic systems of farming, by 2050 this system of farming will not be able to supply enough food for the population and will be responsible for massive amounts of deaths due to starvation. Another organic misnomer claims that organic livestock and plants are free from chemicals and unnecessary medications, unlike their non-organic counterparts. According to Nancy Sprague’s 2011 article, â€Å"Counterpoint: Organic Food is Unnecessary & the Current Food Supply is Safe†, there are a myths about organic food that are debunked. She discusses how organic foods are actually prepared and while comparing and contrasting it to the process non-organic foods go through prior to arriving at the grocery shelves. When discussing about the use (or lack thereof) of pesticides, Sprague (2011, para. 4) notes that â€Å"organic farmers can use pesticides from an approved list,† which contradicts the consumer’s belief that organic foods have not come into contact with any pesticides. Sprague goes further to state the toxins that the organic industry supposedly takes pride into avoiding are contaminants that actually cannot be avoided. Nitrates, chemicals and antibiotics are now found naturally within the environment due to â€Å"broad contamination of the earth’s natural resources† (Sprague, 2011, para. 4). The organic industry also asserts that the levels of hormones in non-organic meats are extremely high and in-turn dangerous to the consumers’ health. In fact, in Lester Aldrich’s (2006) article, â€Å"Consumers Eat Up Organic Beef Despite Costs, Unproven Benefits†, he finds quite the opposite conclusion. Aldrich discusses the results of a study by Gary Smith, professor of meat sciences at the Center for Red Meat Safety. This study analyzed and compared the levels of hormones found in two-3 ounce steaks, one each from an organic animal and one from a non-organic animal. The results were shocking. Smith’s compare/contrast analysis showed that there was an almost incomprehensible difference (on a nanogram scale) between the hormone levels from both the organic and non-organic samples,† (Aldrich, 2006, para. 29). Aldrich (2006) then compared these results to the levels of these same hormones to a typical birth control pill that is voluntarily consumed. The results showed â€Å"the average birth-control pill provides 35,000 nanograms of estrogen daily† whereas â€Å"a non-pregnant woman produces about 480,000 nanograms of estrogen, 240,000 nanograms of testosterone and 10. 1 million nanograms of progesterone daily,† (Aldrich, 2006, para. 30). The comparison is astounding and should put any worries about added hormones in our food to rest. Prior to pasteurization of food, people would die young due to food-borne illnesses. Avery (2002) opens his article â€Å"The Hidden Dangers In Organic Food† with â€Å"Products most people think are purer than other foods are making people seriously ill. † Avery’s (2002) article mentions how the invention of the refrigerator as well as simple procedures such as food refrigeration and washing ones hands before eating or making food would eventually keep food-borne illness to a minimum in the United States, although those individuals who were quite ill or weak would die if exposed to food-borne bacteria. Unfortunately, with all the claims of health, organic food is becoming more notorious for being served on a plate with food-borne illnesses such as salmonella, and now more recently, E. coli. Avery (2002, para. 1) cites the U. S. Centers for Disease Control stating â€Å"people who eat organic and natural foods are eight times likely as the rest of the population to be attacked by a deadly new strain of E. coli bacteria,† salmonella or fungus. According to Avery (2002), USDA offered organic famers a method that did not require either pesticides or pasteurization to protect the crops; irradiation. This process used low levels of gamma radiation to kill bacteria while maintaining the freshness of the food. Unfortunately, organic farmers were outraged and more than 200,000 protesters opposed the idea therefore the USDA removed this process from the final organic food standard (Avery, 2002). This has not been beneficial for public safety, as cited in Sprague’s (2011) where she points out that there have been several infections caused by E. coli in the United States during 2009 alone. Organic farming does have one huge positive aspect: it strives for self-sustainability and leaves a small carbon footprint in the environment. With that said, organic farms, regardless of whether or not its food can be proven to be healthier than conventional food, requires a much larger area of land mass to produce the same amount of food than that of a conventional farm. According to Avery (2002), â€Å"agriculture already takes up 36 percent of the world’s land surface. † Avery (2002) translates this to mean that by year 2050, short of a worldwide cataclysm, the world will need 2. 5 times more food output than what is needed today. Wilcox (2011, para. 26) states in her article â€Å"Mythbusting 101: Organic Farming > Conventional Agriculture† that until organic farming can contend with the output of conventional farming due to space needed without the ecological costs involved, the need for more space will be severely detrimental to the environment. † Organic farms help the environment on small, local levels. Unfortunately they do not produce the same amount of food that a conventional farm can; between 20%-50% below what a conventional farm of the same size will produce (Wilcox, 2011). Wilcox (2011) also emphasizes that with more advanced technology, organic farming may eventually be able to keep up with conventional food production, however, if more areas of the planet become transformed into organic farmland in the meantime, the planet’s natural habitats will begin to quickly deplete. Conventionally farmed foods and organic foods both have positive and negative aspects to their individual philosophies. Organic farming does not necessarily produce healthier food. Hormone levels in organic and non-organic foods are extremely similar and the lack of pesticides in organic food contributes to a higher frequency of food-borne illnesses. As much as this is true, the organic farm leaves a smaller carbon footprint than a conventional farm, which, in the long run will allow for the environment to sustain itself and be able to continue producing more food. With that being said, when going to the store to buy food, the consumer should make the conscious choice to purchase organic foods when it is affordable, in order to support and promote self-sustainable/organic farming. If the choice is made to buy conventional foods, the consumer should not feel guilty or worried the food is substandard to organic. There should be confidence knowing that USDA regulations are being followed by conventional farms to produce the highest quality food possible. ? References Aldrich, L. (2006, July 12). Consumers eat up organic beef despite costs, unproven benefits. Wall Street Journal. Retrieved from htttp://search. proquest. com. proxy. devry. edu/business/docprintview/398944062/abstract/137 Avery, D. T. (1993, Apr 01). ‘Frontline’ perpetuates pesticide myths. Wall Street Journal. Retrieved from http://search. proquest. com. proxy. devry. edu/business/docprintview/398370529/Record/1371 Avery, D. T. (2002, June 25). The hidden dangers in organic food. Retrieved from http://www. cgfi. org/2002/06/the-hidden-dangers-in-organic-food/ Sprague, N. (2011). Counterpoint: Organic food is unnecessary & the current food supply is safe. Points Of View: Organic Food, 3. Retrieved from http://search. ebscohost. com/login. aspx? direct=trye&db=pwh&AN=43286301&site=pov-line Schlesinger, R. (2011, Dec 30). U. S.population 2012: nearly 313 million people. U. S. News and World Report, Retrieved from http://www. usnews. com/opinion/blogs/robert-schlesinger/2011/12/30/us-population-2012-nearly-313-million-people Wilcox, C. (2011, July 18). Mythbusting 101: organic farming > conventional agriculture. Scientific American, Retrieved from http://blogs. scientificamerican. com/science-sushi/2011/07/18/mythbusting-101-organic-farming-conventional-agriculture/ Wright, G. (2011). Point: Industrial agriculture has improved farming for hundreds of years. Points Of View: Factory Farming, 2.

The French Revolution And The End Of The Nineteenth Century

The French Revolution had general reasons basic to every one of the insurgencies of the West toward the end of the eighteenth century and specific causes that clarify why it was by a wide margin the most vicious and the most all around critical of these transformations. The main of the general reasons was the social structure of the West. The primitive administration had been debilitated orderly and had as of now vanished in parts of Europe. The inexorably various and prosperous tip top of well off average citizens—vendors, producers, and experts, frequently called the bourgeoisie—sought to political force in those nations where it didn t as of now have it. The workers, large portions of whom claimed land, had accomplished an enhanced way of life and instruction and needed to dispose of the last remnants of feudalism to obtain the full privileges of landowners and to be allowed to expand their possessions. Moreover, from around 1730, higher expectations for everyday lif e had diminished the death rate among grown-ups impressively. This, together with different variables, had prompted an expansion in the number of inhabitants in Europe remarkable for a few centuries: it multiplied somewhere around 1715 and 1800. For France, which with 26 million occupants in 1789 was the most populated nation of Europe, the issue was generally intense. Voltaire [Credit: Stock Montage/Hulton Archve/Getty Images]A bigger populace made a more prominent interest for sustenance and shopperShow MoreRelatedHope in The Nineteenth Century in Europe1598 Words   |  6 Pages1.Hope During the Nineteenth Century in Europe it has been described as a time of hope and rightfully so because of all the new ideas flowing around the continent. Ideas of a world without monarchs and a government run by the people for the people. France showed it was possible and other European countries attempted to follow along but what about the rest of the world. Maybe this century was not filled with hope maybe something else. Possibly this century was filled with the sense of European powerhousesRead MoreThe French Revolution First Popularized The Words Terrorist And Terrorism 1506 Words   |  7 Pages Whereas the French Revolution first popularized the words ‘terrorist’ and ‘terrorism’, its contemporary understanding differs from its revolutionary meaning in 1794. The serious economic difficulties, the threat of foreign invasions and the social structure of the French government are some of the causes that led to the fall of the monarchy in August 1792. 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