Gender Issues in Africca Expressed through Literature Term Paper

Gender Issues in Africca Expressed through Literature - Term Paper Example The rest of this essay will highlight, compare and contrast the gender issues discussed in these novels. In particular it will argue that the two books in question bring key insight, understanding and a message of hope to women’s issues in their respective countries. So Long a Letter (originally published in French as ‘Une si longue lettre’), gives voice to women of Senegal in particular and Western Africa in general. It is written by Mariama Ba and is semi-autobiographical in content. Ramatoulaye Fall is the protagonist and first-person narrator of this epistolary novel. Addressed to her close friend Aissatou Ba, the letter was prompted by the narrator’s recent and unexpected widowhood. Ramatoulaye recounts to Aissatou the circumstances and the shock accompanying her husband’s death due to heart-attack. But having adopted the novel form, the letter touches upon topics far and beyond that of her immediate grief. And through her forays into all aspect s of women’s social rules and restrictions the feminist voice of the author comes alive. (Ba-Curry et.al, 2008, p.112) Especially astute are Ba’s grasp of interpersonal equations and balance of power between the two genders: â€Å"A woman is like a ball; once a ball is thrown, no one can predict where it will bounce. You have no control over where it rolls, and even less over who gets it. Often it is grabbed by an unexpected hand...Whereas a woman draws from the passing years the force of her devotion, despite the ageing of her companion, a man, on the other hand, restricts his field of tenderness. His egoistic eye looks over his partner's shoulder. He compares what he had with  what  he no long has, what he has with what he could have. (Ba, 1980, p.42) The novel Everything Good Will Come by Sefi Atta has thematic similarities in that its protagonist also is a girl living in postcolonial Nigeria and England. But compared to Miriama Ba’s work, Atta’s novel is created in a much broader canvas, covering political developments, ethnic conflict, crime as well as interpersonal relationships. The chief character in the novel is that of Enitan, who is confronting in her life various issues that have engulfed postcolonial Nigeria. Some of the most realistic and poignant passages in the novel pertain to the ethnic strife between groups such as Youruba, Igbo (Biafrans) and Housas, which has stifled progress and development in sovereign Nigeria. (Olowonmi, 2008, p.55) Sefi Atta emphasizes ‘bonding’ as a mechanism for achieving communal bliss. Via bonding, key characters in the story are able to share their burden and fight bravely to resist their oppressors and seek freedom for their loved ones. Dismantling this cloak of disillusionment then becomes a text-type for the survival of democratic governance in her country. According to the United Nations’ Global Human Development Report (2002) governance in action includes i nstitutions, rules and political processes. And these factors determine if economies grow, children go to school, and whether human development moves forward or backward. Thus, this perspective â€Å"is in consonance with the writer's vision when he/she moves through enormous materials to organize and orchestrate in order to open a window to prospective horizons as his/her art reflects reality. And conclusively, the writer caves for the deepening of democratic governance in Nigeria to ensure that the use of power in public affairs gives premium to human

How has the Anglican Catholic Tradition shaped the Theology and Essay - 1

How has the Anglican Catholic Tradition shaped the Theology and Liturgy of the Marriage Service in Common Worship - Essay Example It is a social act that joins two people in a long lasting commitment and a promise to fulfill their marriage vows. Thousands of years back, considering the example of early men, who were hunters and wanderers changing their habitats every now and then. They were illiterate and uncivilized people who did not have any technology, luxury, means of communication, storage system for food etc. hence they lived for today only and had no moral values. There was no concept or need of marriage as they did whatever they liked to, involved in unethical sexual acts and women gave birth to children without knowing who the father was nor the offspring cared to find about their father and knew only their mother. This act kept going for years and gradually with an extreme need of change the women started realizing her responsibilities towards making own house and how to make the living beautiful. The men being the hunters remained busy all day long whereas the women invented the idea of cultivating crops in fields and made various kind of trials to grow better plants and selected those good in taste and for health. After the transition of men from hunters to farmers the concept of marriage arose as man being the owner of lands and properties will remain superior to a woman who will carry his child only by devoting herself to him and will not have relationship with other men. BIBLICAL DEFINITION OF MARRIAGE: The ceremony and reception programs of marriage are not discussed in detail in the holy book Bible. However it does describe the marriage and its vows in many chapters. It is divine and sacred act and is common since Jewish times. Hence it is very essential to follow the commands and vows of marriage set by God which gives emphasis over the importance of this sacred occasion of matrimony. As said in the vows; that the couple will remain faithful to each other, stand together through good times and bad ,give love and care, in sickness and in health and till death do us part. A less importance is given to ceremony and its festivities and more to the contract made between the individuals according to religious perspective. Matrimony is a sacred agreement in the eyes of God. It is therefore essential for a man and woman to marry each other according to religion as said by Jesus that it is forbidden for a man and woman to live together without marriage and the relationship between such a couple cannot be termed as â€Å"husband and wife†. (John 4). Hence the scriptures of Bible reveal that holy union of two people in the eyes of God is the most sacred relationship fulfilling all the commands by God. CHRISTIANITY: Christianity is a monotheist’s ( believes in one God) religion founded on the basis of lessons given by Jesus Christ ( in Canonical Gospels and New Testaments). It is also the largest religion in the world. It says that Jesus Christ is God’s Son and the protector of mankind due to which He is also referred to as Messiah. The f ollowers of this religion are called as Christians. This religion is divided into three divisions: Roman Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy, and Protestantism. The Roman Catholic churches were separated from Eastern Orthodox churches in 1054 (AD).Protestantism was set in insixteenth century as a result of a protest from a group of people against Roman Catholic churches and hence a separate group of churches was originated. The religion started to

Jesus and Caravaggio Essay Example for Free

Jesus and Caravaggio Essay Caravaggio (1573-1610) Originally named Michelangelo Merisi, Caravaggio was born on September 28, 1573 in the Lombardy hill town of Caravaggio near Milan, which he is named after. He was born to relatively privileged parents who were victims of an epidemic and he became an orphan at the age of eleven. When Caravaggio was only 13 years old his family decided he would devote his life to painting. Caravaggio began as an apprenticed in 1584 to Simon Peterzano, a Milanese painter in oils and fresco. His earliest years in Rome, from-1588 were very difficult for Caravaggio. He was employed for a while in the workshop of Mannerist painter Giuseppe Cesari, also known as the Cavaliere dArpino as a fruit and flowers specialist, the only Caravaggios still life work known without figures is a Basket of Fruit (1597 Pinacoteca Ambrosiana, Milan) the facts about this piece are not really clear although it is possible the painting was made as a trial piece, since the background was added later (the piece is now lost). Basket of Fruit (1597)- In 1592, Caravaggio arrived in Rome at the age of 21. His first five years in Rome were the hardest period for Caravaggio. He had no money and lived a very modest life style because he couldn’t find a suitable work place, therefore he moved from one workshop to another frustrated from working as an assistant to painters who had much smaller talent than his own. He earned his living mostly from uncreative routine work and never stayed more than a few months at each studio. Finally in 1595, he decided to set out on his own and began to sell his pictures through a dealer, Maestro Valentino, who brought Caravaggios work to the attention of Cardinal Francesco Del Monte, a bishop of great influence in the Vatican. Caravaggio soon came under the protection of Del Monte and was invited to receive a place to live, and a pension in the house of the cardinal. Despite spiritual and material deficiency, Caravaggio had painted approximately 40 paintings for Francesco Del Monte. The subjects of this period are mostly adolescent boys, such as the above paintings: Boy with a Fruit Basket (1593; Borghese Gallery, Rome). The boy with a fruit basket has similarities with another painting the- Fruit seller by the Lombard painter Vincenzo Campi, painted about 1580, nevertheless, Caravaggio is not following his footsteps and using innovative drawing techniques. Differently from Vincenzo Campis drawing posing a young woman in the center of the piece, Caravaggio preferred a teenage boy which was his most common theme of drawing at the time. Also his subject is brought almost to the front of the picture, so that the boy seems to offer himself as well as the fruit to the observers. There is a sign of uncertainty in the way that the boys long neck raises out of his shoulders edge. Caravaggios incredible techniques of light and shadow are already seen in his early work. Against a near-blank ground, attention is focused on the right side of the boys upper body, his right arm and the fruit basket, displaying very rich variety of fruits. The Young Bacchus (1593; Uffizi Gallery, Florence). Caravaggios Bacchus no longer seems like an ancient god, or the Olympian vision of the High Renaissance. Instead, Caravaggio paints a rather vulgar and soft yang boy, who turns his chubby face towards the viewer and offers wine from a large glass held by his small thin fingers. This is not Bacchus himself, but some perfectly ordinary individual dressed up as Bacchus, who looks at the viewers rather exhaustedly. It appears that Caravaggio used real people for his paintings even in his early work. The Music Party (Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York). The two figures seen in the front of the piece are the main characters of the composition. They are shown in an oppositional structure, and only one of them is fully shown. The figure of the instrument player and the corresponding figure that we see from behind. The face between these two is Caravaggios; the figure on the left is taken from an earlier composition (Young Peeling a Pear). Caravaggios usage of a narrow range of earth colors which was his signature method of painting is shown from his earliest work as well as in his most famous ones. Also his amazing use of details, he describes every part of the figures anatomy and he always creates movement in his paintings. These early pictures show an innovative, direct, and empirical approach; they were painted directly from life and show almost no usage of the academic method of painting which was used in Rome at the time.

The Importance of Childhood Vaccination Essays -- Medicine Vaccination

Since the introduction of vaccinations, medical science has managed to all but eliminate many formerly fatal and debilitating childhood illnesses in countries where the immunization of children is nearly universal. Diseases such as measles, mumps, diphtheria, rubella and polio have been relegated to a marginal status in developed countries with active immunization campaigns; smallpox is actually considered to have been completely eliminated from the earth, without a single case having been reported since roughly 1979 (â€Å"Childhood†). Largely centered around a study published in 1998 in the British medical journal â€Å"The Lancet†, there has been an upsurge in concerns of the safety of vaccinations and a resulting decrease in their usage. This has led to a somewhat anachronistic return of these diseases. In many developed countries, parents are relying on herd immunity to protect their children when they choose to forgo immunization over concerns about their safety. Herd immunity essentially means that when a small percentage of a social group â€Å"can't get certain vaccines for medical reasons, or some children are not able to respond to certain vaccines. For these children, the immunity of people around them is their only protection† (â€Å"Childhood†). While some parents' concerns over the safety of vaccinations are based upon the well-intentioned desire to keep children safe from autism, the act of choosing to not vaccinate their children actually causes far greater damage by exposing them to acquiring potentially life-threatening illnesses and removing a critical link in the chain of herd immunity. Over the last 12 years, a growing population of parents have chosen to avoid immunizing their children with the misguided belief that they are... ...s In Context. Web. 28 Oct. 2010. Deer, Brian. "MMR doctor Andrew Wakefield fixed data on autism." The Sunday Times. Times Newspapers Ltd , 8 Feb. 2009. Web. 28 Oct. 2010. â€Å"Hazlehurst v. Secretary of Health and Human Servs.† 604 F.3d 1343 (2010). Leagle.com. Leagle, Inc. Web. 28 Oct. 2010 "Noncompliance with Mandatory Vaccinations Threatens Community Health." Should Vaccinations be Manditory? Ed. Noà «l Merino. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2010. At Issue. Gale Opposing Viewpoints In Context. Web. 28 Oct. 2010. "Vaccine Risks Are Outweighed by the Risks of Not Vaccinating." Should Vaccinations be Manditory? Ed. Noà «l Merino. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2010. At Issue. Gale Opposing Viewpoints In Context. Web. 28 Oct. 2010. "Vaccines." Current Issues: Macmillian Social Science Library. Detroit: Gale, 2010. Gale Opposing Viewpoints In Context. Web. 9 Nov. 2010.

Huntsville Project Team Meeting

HUNTSVILLE PROJECT TEAM MEETING As the Huntsville project manager to effectively coordinate and host a progress meeting with team members. There are three things that must be accomplished: meeting objectives; use the minimum amount of time; and participants should leave with a sense of direction and effectiveness in the meeting process. With these criteria in mind, the process of structuring, planning, preparation, and execution of the Project Progress Team Meeting will be a definite success. Predetermine the outcome and purpose of the meeting.Prior to setting the meeting objectives, I have to decide the end results or what I want this meeting to accomplish; whether it’s decision based, to generate ideas, update the status of the project, etc. so that it maximizes the allotted time and all participants can come prepare. Under all the stress of schedules, and time constraints; time is a precious resource during the life of a project and it should be used wisely. Therefore, duri ng the planning stage of this meeting, I owe it to my team members and myself to streamline the meeting in the most effective way to meet and cover all objectives in the least amount of time.In doing so I would prepare the agenda with the following factors in mind: priorities the agenda to determine what absolutely has to be covered; define the end result (what I want the meeting to accomplish); identify who needs to be in attendance and if required consider previously scheduled obligations so that I pick the superb time and date for max participation. With solid objectives, a tight agenda and a commitment to involving the meeting participants in the planning, preparation, and execution of the meeting, it’s a common curtsy to circulate the agenda to participants (team members) to get their feedback and buy-in.This gives them the sense of belonging and lets them know they’re actively contributing to the success of the project. Prior to closing the meeting I think itâ₠¬â„¢s important to reintegrate the highlighted points of the meeting and identify any team member due out so that everyone leaves the meeting on the same accord. Sending out meeting notes to assure objectives were met, would be the icing on the cake.

Should Students be Allowed to Grade Their Teachers Essay

Congratulations, Professor Johnson! Youve Got â€Å"A† today! Imagine: all the teachers gather in the staff room to be graded for their work. The representatives of students comment upon their work and name the teacher of the week. The criteria for evaluation are the ability to get students involved in the educational process, original presentation of the material, respectful and tolerant attitude. Difficult to imagine? Sounds like a shocking idea? Undoubtedly, yes, but what would be the result if this system was really implemented? First of all, it would definitely make students more involved in their education. The current situation makes students tolerate any form of injustice: if there is a conflict between a teacher and a student, which can result simply from a clash of personalities, teachers simply demand to respect their authority. Students position is always a dependent one: they must listen and agree, as their academic record can suffer a lot. Moreover, the system can be good for teachers as well. It is not a rare case when, preparing for their classes, teachers choose the way of presentation that would be interesting for them. Unfortunately, it does not always make students fascinated, but they keep their ideas to themselves and teachers simply do not know that there is a problem. Certainly, some people would argue that the system would simply be a tool for students to get rid of the teachers they dont like. But let us face it: students can also be objective and if they really dislike a person, it is not for a big amount of homework. So, if students got a chance to grade their teachers, it would be very useful both for teachers and for students. The first would feel more motivated to develop their professional skills, the latter would feel more secure during their school years.

The Great Gatsby By F. Scott Fitzgerald - 1229 Words

Simrandeep Farma ENG3U1-02 Ms. Vitelli 1/10/2015 The Great Gatsby The roaring twenties was the period known for its exuberant, overwhelming and free pop culture of all time. F. Scott Fitzgerald’s, The Great Gatsby, represent the past historical modernization of a male subjugated social system. The Great Gatsby is a mysterious love tale, and a social interpretation towards the American Life. This story explores the journey for happiness and wealth through the American Dream, and shows how perfectionism, deteriorated relationships, and deceitfulness occur during the Jazz Age. The Great Gatsby, however, is not the story about a woman’s journey for happiness and improperly shows the representation of females during 1920. F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel The Great Gatsby shows the historically male controlled social system through women being portrayed as shallow beings, which are dominated by men, and seen as flawed individuals. The novel’s key female character, Daisy Buchannan, represents the role of Tomâ€⠄¢s shallow trophy wife who is idolized as the â€Å"ideal† individual within the consciousness of Jay Gatsby. Subsequently it was never Daisy’s knowledge or character type that attracted Gatsby; it was more based upon her wealth, â€Å"That was it. I d never understood before. It was full of money—that was the inexhaustible charm that rose and fell in it, the jingle of it, [and] the cymbals song of it† (Fitzgerald, 99). Although Daisy is far from being flawless, Gatsby interpretsShow MoreRelatedThe Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald1393 Words   |  6 PagesF. Scott Fitzgerald was the model of the American image in the nineteen twenties. He had wealth, fame, a beautiful wife, and an adorable daughter; all seemed perfect. Beneath the gilded faà §ade, however, was an author who struggled with domestic and physical difficulties that plagued his personal life and career throughout its short span. 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There are three major point of this essay are: the background history of Fitzgerald life, the comparisons between Fitzgerald and the Gatsby from his number one book in America The Great Gatsby, and the Fitzgerald got influences of behind the writing and being a writer. From childhood to adulthood, Fitzgerald faced many good andRead MoreThe Great Gatsby By F. Scott Fitzgerald2099 Words   |  9 Pagesauthor to mirror his life in his book. In his previous novels F. Scott Fitzgerald drew from his life experiences. He said that his next novel, The Great Gatsby, would be different. He said, â€Å"In my new novel I’m thrown directly on purely creative work† (F. Scott Fitzgerald). He did not realize or did not want it to appear that he was taking his own story and intertwining it within his new novel. In The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, he imitates his lifestyle through the Buchanan family to demonstrateRead MoreThe Great Gatsby By F. Scott Fitzgerald1607 Words   |  7 Pages The Great Gatsby is an American novel written in 1925 by F. Scott Fitzgerald. One of the themes of the book is the American Dream. The American Dream is an idea in which Americans believe through hard work they can achieve success and prosperity in the free world. In F. Scott Fitzgerald s novel, The Great Gatsby, the American Dream leads to popularity, extreme jealousy and false happiness. Jay Gatsby’s recent fortune and wealthiness helped him earn a high social position and become one of the mostRead MoreThe Great Gatsby By F. Scott Fitzgerald1592 Words   |  7 PagesMcGowan English 11A, Period 4 9 January 2014 The Great Gatsby Individuals who approach life with an optimistic mindset generally have their goals established as their main priority. Driven by ambition, they are determined to fulfill their desires; without reluctance. 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