Friday, January 24, 2020

Love Cant Be Simply Put :: essays research papers

The famous Benjamin Franklin once said, "If you would be loved, love and be lovable." But what is love, it can be defined by the Webster's dictionary as a "profoundly tender, passionate affection for another person." Even with that just being said countless poets, philosophers, and authors have fallen short of truly capturing the full meaning of love. The reason could lie in the differences of love and its ability to change throughout our lives. When a baby is born and placed into the hands of loving parents, the love that the baby is able to get is vital in the development of it. The love or lack of love starts to change you from the beginning of your life and continues throughout adulthood. The young baby needs the love and wants the attention. It needs to be protected and cared for. Undoubtedly there is a major love for a baby and the love of the baby for the mother. Interestingly some people say that they love chocolate, basketball, sex, and even cars. But that doesn't fall into the Webster's definition of being "profoundly tender, passionate affection for another person." Also it doesn't agree with Benjamin Franklin's, "If you would be loved, love and be lovable." As everyone knows the game of basketball is not a person and it can't love you back. So why would someone say that they love those things? I know from my own experiences that I have a passionate affection for playing the game and I feel a joy in playing it. Continuing to blur the meaning of love with it's diversity in the relationships we have for people and objects. For instance, I love my mom, dad, brothers, dog, sports, and many more. During certain periods of my life the love will certainly rise or fade. Also the intensity of that love is not the same in all those relationships. For I have never been in love with a girl, I may only imagine what it might be like to be in love. Guessing from my friends relationships with other girls it seems like a big headache instead of wonderful bliss like some poets maybe would like to put it. When Benjamin Franklin said, "If you would be loved, love and be lovable," he must have meant that love goes both ways. That not only is it important to love but also important in how it is received.

Wednesday, January 15, 2020

Analysis of Chopin’s use of linguistic features in her literary works

From the Victorian era, Chopin startled critics with her paradigmatic tale of a woman’s abortive struggle towards independence in an oppressive society. By using women as her protagonist, Chopin highlights their sexist roles in literature whilst restricting them from the expansion necessary to deal with their realisation. It thus seemed conducive to transform the novel into a series of letters in the form of English Sonnets, establishing the undeveloped characterisation of Edna with Robert, whilst they are separated from each other. The transformation aims to elucidate Edna’s role in society, by satirizing the narrow and stereotypical way in which woman are commonly portrayed in literature. The novel as a form does not offer the opportunity for character development in the same way a series of letters/sonnets do. For example, Edna openly declares her love for Robert, at the time of her death: â€Å"I’m the person who deserves your love.† The continuous sense of the author’s evaluation of the moral choices that her characters make is lost; they seem more autonomous throughout the sonnets because they speak for themselves without Chopin’s explicit authorial presence. The sonnet form successfully mimics letter writing as both forms are addressed to someone, whilst informing and shedding light on their own thoughts. Moreover, when the two characters reveal their feelings to each other or reminisce of their time together at Grand Isle, the meter is tight, mirroring the natural sound of a heart beating. For example, Robert declares: â€Å"The bonds we made grew deeper than the sea.† This foreshadows events, making it clear to the reader the context of which the letter/sonnets are written, in the novel. As the final sonnet concludes, the iambic pentameter in the rhyming couplets deliberately fails, creating the sound of a dying and irregular heartbeat, phonetically indicating Edna’s death. Both lines thirteen and fourteen consist of eleven syllables, breaking the strict rule of including five iambs with one unstressed and stressed syllable, to make up the meter. Unlike the rest of the sonnets, the final is in past tense which suggests that she has already died and is looking back on her words to Robert. The fact that she dies simultaneously as the sonnet concludes, highlights the end of their communication and hence concludes the transformation through her tragic death. Phallogocentrism is a key attitude conveyed in Robert’s sonnets, particularly after he discovers that Edna only likes him to gain attention from her husband, whom she believes to be having an affair. For example, conventional values of gender roles are implied through this simile: â€Å"like a deceived husband not knowing you,† which aims to make Edna feel sympathy towards her husband, in an attempt to reduce her emotional desire for Robert, which contrastingly accentuates through the discourse of the transformation. In conclusion, the third sonnet uses juxtaposition of Edna’s beauty to highlight her cunning and manipulative ways as a female protagonist. This is revealed through the line: â€Å"For there can live no hatred on your face,† which highlights Edna’s surfaced, innocent faà §ade, concealing her inner desires, highlighting her non feminist attitude.

Analysis of Chopin’s use of linguistic features in her literary works

From the Victorian era, Chopin startled critics with her paradigmatic tale of a woman’s abortive struggle towards independence in an oppressive society. By using women as her protagonist, Chopin highlights their sexist roles in literature whilst restricting them from the expansion necessary to deal with their realisation. It thus seemed conducive to transform the novel into a series of letters in the form of English Sonnets, establishing the undeveloped characterisation of Edna with Robert, whilst they are separated from each other. The transformation aims to elucidate Edna’s role in society, by satirizing the narrow and stereotypical way in which woman are commonly portrayed in literature. The novel as a form does not offer the opportunity for character development in the same way a series of letters/sonnets do. For example, Edna openly declares her love for Robert, at the time of her death: â€Å"I’m the person who deserves your love.† The continuous sense of the author’s evaluation of the moral choices that her characters make is lost; they seem more autonomous throughout the sonnets because they speak for themselves without Chopin’s explicit authorial presence. The sonnet form successfully mimics letter writing as both forms are addressed to someone, whilst informing and shedding light on their own thoughts. Moreover, when the two characters reveal their feelings to each other or reminisce of their time together at Grand Isle, the meter is tight, mirroring the natural sound of a heart beating. For example, Robert declares: â€Å"The bonds we made grew deeper than the sea.† This foreshadows events, making it clear to the reader the context of which the letter/sonnets are written, in the novel. As the final sonnet concludes, the iambic pentameter in the rhyming couplets deliberately fails, creating the sound of a dying and irregular heartbeat, phonetically indicating Edna’s death. Both lines thirteen and fourteen consist of eleven syllables, breaking the strict rule of including five iambs with one unstressed and stressed syllable, to make up the meter. Unlike the rest of the sonnets, the final is in past tense which suggests that she has already died and is looking back on her words to Robert. The fact that she dies simultaneously as the sonnet concludes, highlights the end of their communication and hence concludes the transformation through her tragic death. Phallogocentrism is a key attitude conveyed in Robert’s sonnets, particularly after he discovers that Edna only likes him to gain attention from her husband, whom she believes to be having an affair. For example, conventional values of gender roles are implied through this simile: â€Å"like a deceived husband not knowing you,† which aims to make Edna feel sympathy towards her husband, in an attempt to reduce her emotional desire for Robert, which contrastingly accentuates through the discourse of the transformation. In conclusion, the third sonnet uses juxtaposition of Edna’s beauty to highlight her cunning and manipulative ways as a female protagonist. This is revealed through the line: â€Å"For there can live no hatred on your face,† which highlights Edna’s surfaced, innocent faà §ade, concealing her inner desires, highlighting her non feminist attitude.

Analysis of Chopin’s use of linguistic features in her literary works

From the Victorian era, Chopin startled critics with her paradigmatic tale of a woman’s abortive struggle towards independence in an oppressive society. By using women as her protagonist, Chopin highlights their sexist roles in literature whilst restricting them from the expansion necessary to deal with their realisation. It thus seemed conducive to transform the novel into a series of letters in the form of English Sonnets, establishing the undeveloped characterisation of Edna with Robert, whilst they are separated from each other. The transformation aims to elucidate Edna’s role in society, by satirizing the narrow and stereotypical way in which woman are commonly portrayed in literature. The novel as a form does not offer the opportunity for character development in the same way a series of letters/sonnets do. For example, Edna openly declares her love for Robert, at the time of her death: â€Å"I’m the person who deserves your love.† The continuous sense of the author’s evaluation of the moral choices that her characters make is lost; they seem more autonomous throughout the sonnets because they speak for themselves without Chopin’s explicit authorial presence. The sonnet form successfully mimics letter writing as both forms are addressed to someone, whilst informing and shedding light on their own thoughts. Moreover, when the two characters reveal their feelings to each other or reminisce of their time together at Grand Isle, the meter is tight, mirroring the natural sound of a heart beating. For example, Robert declares: â€Å"The bonds we made grew deeper than the sea.† This foreshadows events, making it clear to the reader the context of which the letter/sonnets are written, in the novel. As the final sonnet concludes, the iambic pentameter in the rhyming couplets deliberately fails, creating the sound of a dying and irregular heartbeat, phonetically indicating Edna’s death. Both lines thirteen and fourteen consist of eleven syllables, breaking the strict rule of including five iambs with one unstressed and stressed syllable, to make up the meter. Unlike the rest of the sonnets, the final is in past tense which suggests that she has already died and is looking back on her words to Robert. The fact that she dies simultaneously as the sonnet concludes, highlights the end of their communication and hence concludes the transformation through her tragic death. Phallogocentrism is a key attitude conveyed in Robert’s sonnets, particularly after he discovers that Edna only likes him to gain attention from her husband, whom she believes to be having an affair. For example, conventional values of gender roles are implied through this simile: â€Å"like a deceived husband not knowing you,† which aims to make Edna feel sympathy towards her husband, in an attempt to reduce her emotional desire for Robert, which contrastingly accentuates through the discourse of the transformation. In conclusion, the third sonnet uses juxtaposition of Edna’s beauty to highlight her cunning and manipulative ways as a female protagonist. This is revealed through the line: â€Å"For there can live no hatred on your face,† which highlights Edna’s surfaced, innocent faà §ade, concealing her inner desires, highlighting her non feminist attitude.

Tuesday, January 7, 2020

Politics and the Political System of the Ancient Maya

The Mayan civilization flourished in the rainforests of southern Mexico, Guatemala, and Belize, reaching its apex around A.D. 700–900 before falling into a swift and somewhat mysterious decline. The Maya were expert astronomers and traders: they were also literate with a complicated language and their own books. Like other civilizations, the Maya had rulers and a ruling class, and their political structure was complex. Their kings were powerful and claimed to be descended from the gods and the planets. The Mayan City-States The Mayan civilization was large, powerful, and culturally complex: it is often compared to the Incas of Peru and the Aztecs of Central Mexico. Unlike these other empires, however, the Maya never unified. Instead of a mighty empire ruled from one city by one set of rulers, the Maya instead had a series of city-states that only ruled the surrounding area, or some nearby vassal states if they were powerful enough. Tikal, one of the most powerful Mayan city-states, never ruled much farther than its immediate borders, although it did have vassal cities such as Dos Pilas and Copà ¡n. Each of these city-states had its own ruler. Development of Mayan Politics and Kingship The Mayan culture began around 1800 B.C. in the lowlands of the Yucatan and southern Mexico. For centuries, their culture slowly advanced, but as of yet, they had no concept of kings or royal families. It wasnt until the middle to late preclassic periods (300 B.C. or so) that evidence of kings began to appear at certain Mayan sites. The founding king of Tikals first royal dynasty, Yax Ehb Xook, lived sometime in the Preclassic period. By A.D. 300, kings were common, and the Maya began building stelae to honor them: large, stylized stone statues that describe the king, or Ahau, and his accomplishments. The Mayan Kings The Mayan kings claimed descent from the gods and planets, laying claim to a quasi-divine status, somewhere between humans and gods. As such, they lived between two worlds, and wielding â€Å"divine† power was part of their duties. The kings and royal family had important roles at public ceremonies, such as the ball games. They channeled their connection to the gods through sacrifices (of their own blood, of captives, etc.), dance, spiritual trances, and hallucinogenic enemas. Succession was usually patrilineal, but not always. Occasionally, queens ruled when no suitable male of the royal line was available or of age. All kings had numbers that placed them in order from the founder of the dynasty. Unfortunately, this number is not always recorded in the king’s glyphs on stone carvings, resulting on unclear histories of dynastic succession. Life of a Mayan King A Mayan king was groomed from birth to rule. A prince had to pass through many different initiations and rites. As a young man, he had his first bloodletting at the age of five or six. As a young man, he was expected to fight and lead battles and skirmishes against rival tribes. Capturing prisoners, particularly high-ranking ones, was important. When the prince finally became king, the elaborate ceremony included sitting on a jaguar pelt in an elaborate headdress of colorful feathers and seashells, holding a scepter. As king, he was supreme head of the military and was expected to fight and participate in any armed conflicts entered into by his city-state. He also had to participate in many religious rituals, as he was a conduit between humans and the gods. Kings were allowed to take multiple wives. Mayan Palaces Palaces are found at all of the major Mayan sites. These buildings were located in the heart of the city, near the pyramids and temples so important to Maya life. In some cases, the palaces were very large, multistoried structures, which may indicate that a complicated bureaucracy was in place to rule the kingdom. The palaces were homes to the king and the royal family. Many of the king’s tasks and duties were carried out not in the temples but in the palace itself. These events might have included feasts, celebrations, diplomatic occasions, and receiving tribute from vassal states. Classic-Era Mayan Political Structure By the time the Maya reached their Classic Era, they had a well-developed political system. Renowned archaeologist Joyce Marcus believes that by the Late Classic era, the Maya had a four-tiered political hierarchy. At the top were the king and his administration in major cities like Tikal, Palenque, or Calakmul. These kings would be immortalized on stelae, their great deeds recorded forever. Following the main city were a small group of vassal city-states, with lesser nobility or a relative of the Ahau in charge: these rulers did not merit stelae. After that were affiliated villages, large enough to have rudimentary religious buildings and ruled by minor nobility. The fourth tier consisted of hamlets, which were all or mostly residential and devoted to agriculture. Contact with Other City-States Although the Maya were never a unified empire like the Incas or Aztecs, the city-states nevertheless had much contact. This contact facilitated cultural exchange, making the Maya much more unified culturally than politically. Trade was common. The Maya traded in prestige items like obsidian, gold, feathers, and jade. They also traded in food items, particularly in later eras as the major cities grew too large to support their population. Warfare was also common: skirmishes to take slaves and victims for sacrifice were common, and all-out wars not unheard of. Tikal was defeated by rival Calakmul in 562, causing a century-long hiatus in its power before it reached its former glory once again. The powerful city of Teotihuacan, just north of present-day Mexico City, wielded great influence on the Mayan world and even replaced the ruling family of Tikal in favor of one more friendly to their city. Politics and the Decline of the Maya The Classic Era was the height of the Mayan civilization culturally, politically, and militarily. Between A.D. 700 and 900, however, the Maya civilization began a swift and irreversible decline. The reasons the Mayan society fell are still a mystery, but theories abound. As the Maya civilization grew, warfare between city-states grew as well: entire cities were attacked, defeated, and destroyed. The ruling class grew as well, placing a strain on the working classes, which may have resulted in civil strife. Food became a problem for some Maya cities as the population grew. When trade could no longer make up the differences, hungry citizens may have revolted or fled. The Mayan rulers might have avoided some of these calamities. Source McKillop, Heather. The Ancient Maya: New Perspectives. Reprint edition, W. W. Norton Company, July 17, 2006.