...Three Threads and a Thesis Worksheet #2 The Road 1. “I’ve taken a new lover. He can give me what you cannot. / Death is not a lover.” The character of the wife represents the complete loss of hope due to a rational and realistic perception of reality –a reality in which cannibalism is a common practice. The author is breaking the boundaries between human and nonhuman behavior in a society that have lost moral values. Death seems to be the only way out of a prison made of ash and fire. 2. “…He should have tried to keep her in their lives…Following a stone wall in the dark, wrapped in his blanket, kneeling in the ashes like a penitent.” The ashes are the residual of something that has been destroyed, and they appear to refer to a lost past....
Words: 270 - Pages: 2
...Socio-cultural anthropologist Horace Miner studied and wrote about a North American group that practiced body rituals the modern-day person would view as strange and different, as their religion is based on magic and organized by witch doctors in a hierarchal caste system. Although “Nacirema” is “American” spelled backwards and could theoretically refer to the Nacirema as a backward people, Miner does not explain how and where the name originated. In his thesis he refers to the Nacirema people “as an example of the extremes to which human behaviour can go” (1956: 503). This example is laid out in the article by describing the practices of “holy-mouth-men,” the “latipso,” and the “listener.” As it is for many, it’s all about beauty and health, and this is definitely the focal point for the Nacirema in all of their rituals and ceremonies. Personally, I believe their thoughts on beauty and health consumes them, considering that the Nacirema have proven to go to great extents and is seen as barbaric, “[t]he fundamental belief […] that the human body is ugly and that its natural tendency is to debility and disease” (1956: 503). They would practice rituals and ceremonies that are believed to work because of magic and faith in the practice and of the medicine men, shown in the examples below. An offshoot of their obsession with beauty and health is their preoccupation with their own mouths! They have medicine men they call “holy-mouth-men” (1956: 504). Compared to our modern culture...
Words: 1174 - Pages: 5
...At this point Baudrillard introduces the possibility of resistance to the new global simulation, but before he elaborates on this impossibility, he tells us that we can no longer look to traditional leftist critique for our oppositional strategy. He explains that because we exist within a system where power is exercised through the carnival, and the only law is the law of excess, we must understand that crime is normal or even total. Baudrillard’s thesis is that the system itself is totally criminal, and by virtue of this has absolutely no problem talking about its own criminality. This is precisely what Baudrillard means when he talks about the ritual couple, the cannibal and the carnival, in The Agony of Power. Here, the process of cannibalism entails the striping back of old Western values in order to build a new hyper-moral system to cynically partner the carnivalesque, which reflects the criminal hypocrisy of a system that no longer really believes in its own values and knows full well that they are part of an enormous simulation or masquerade. So, crime is over. There is no more real crime because the West no longer believes in anything that could moralize criminality. All of its values are simply simulations of once strongly held beliefs. However, belief is not the only ending Baudrillard talks about in The Agony of Power. Baudrillard talks about the end of capital in the collapse of value into the ecstasy of global communication where everything is exchanged. We learn...
Words: 543 - Pages: 3
...support national organizations that protest against factory farms. Thesis Statement: The U.S. government should ban factory farms and require the meat industry to raise animals in their natural environments. Attention: Close your eyes and step into the world of an individual. You are born into a world where nights and days are never constant (attention getter). You are fed three to five times a day, but no one is there to nurture you. Not even the numerous others crammed into your living space. You grow frantic, scared, and sickly. Now open your eyes, to reality. What I have just described is one of America’s worst ghettos. You know this individual who is trapped in this environment. He is your breakfast, lunch and dinner. It is the meat you eat . Today’s farms not only abuse their animals they also produce harmful diseases and environmental hazards that affect each and every one of us, regardless of whether you consume animal products or not. The U.S. government should ban factory farms and require the meat industry to raise animals in their natural environments (preview of points and statement of purpose). I. What used to be Old McDonald’s farms have now become factory farms that produce animal abuse, disease and ecological hazards. A. Animals are abused on factory farms (Marquadt, 1993) (Reasoning: Inductive) 1. Broiler chickens are often debeaked, due to fear of cannibalism (Jasper, 1992). 2. Cattle are often dehorned and...
Words: 1586 - Pages: 7
...disease is a second theory. This theory has little to no supporting evidence. Because of the fact that there were no bodies found and that all the buildings in the colony were no longer standing, this theory is easily disproven. It takes a human body eight to twelve years to completely decay, so John White would have found bodies. Additionally, the surrounding structures would most likely still be standing if a disease was the only thing to wipeout the colonists. A third theory claims that it was Mother Nature who caused the settlers to disappear. The theory suggests that a hurricane came from the North Carolina Outer Banks and washed away the colony. The fact that the bodies and architecture of the colony was missing does support this thesis. However, one piece of irrefutable evidence that disproves the idea of a hurricane destroying the Roanoke Island colony; the fence around the colony was still standing. There is no way a destructive hurricane could have destroyed everything but a feeble fence. Another option for the colonists of Roanoke Island, when they were seemingly abandoned by their governor, was to assimilate into Native American life. There is very little proof to disprove this speculation. When John White returned to the vacant colony, he found the word “crotoan” carved into a tree. Crotoan was the name of a nearby island and also the name of an Indian tribe in that area. Furthermore, there were English historians that claimed there was a North Carolina Indian tribe...
Words: 793 - Pages: 4
...Topic: Factory Farming Organizational Pattern: Monroe’s Motivated Sequence Specific Purpose: To persuade the audience that factory farms are dangerous and abusive and therefore need to be banned. Primary Audience Outcome: I want the audience to join or support national organizations that protest against factory farms. Thesis Statement: The government should ban factory farms and require the meat industry to raise animals in their natural environments. The process of preparing the project: I start with information finding in week 3 by referring to youtube suggested by the lecturer. Then I choose a topic: Factory Farming. I prepare the script for the speech by referring to a few website that I got from google search. I narrow down the main ideas that I want to include in my topic: 1) disadvantages/ danger of factory farming; 2) suggestion to replace factory farming; 3) action that need to be done. Apart from that, I prepare the material supporting my presentation that include the visual for factory harming so that audience can give full attention to the topic, arouse their interest to know more and continue listening to my speech. The Script guideline: I. Attention: Close your eyes and step into the world of an individual. You are born into a world where nights and days are never constant (attention getter). You are fed three to five times a day, but no one is there to nurture you. Not even the numerous others crammed into your living space. You grow...
Words: 948 - Pages: 4
...Assignment 1: “A Modest Proposal” by Jonathan Swift In “A Modest Proposal” by Jonathan Swift, the surprise ending happens when the author indicates that he believes that the young children of Ireland should be fed until they are plump and sold to the wealthy in order to feed them. He states that this would solve the economic and social difficulties that Ireland has faced for so many years. It would also rid the country of the massive number of children that are not being properly cared for. Swift states that Ireland has been enduring significant problems for many years. This has forced people around the country to speculate on solutions, some of which have seemed fairly extreme and complex. The surprise of this story comes at the end and follows a lengthy and highly rational argument in favor of making some radical changes to the country. Swift says that he has realized after going through many of these complicated solutions that the best one was the simplest. This represents a major surprise for the reader, who would have no way of anticipating such an insane solution after a very rational and logical argument. While I was reading I wondered if there was going to be a sudden switch in tone, but I had no way of recognizing that it would be so dramatic. I knew that there was probably an important reason that this text is so important. While reading through the carefully crafted argument that comprises most of the essay, I believed that there would probably be some sort of...
Words: 1010 - Pages: 5
...the way in which high school curriculums are distorting reality. He focuses heavily on the Pilgrims and the first European settlers of America. He gives copious details about the factual history of Plymouth Rock and compares it to the innocuous fables of the history textbooks. The consolidated, America-can-do-no-wrong revisions of Social Study curriculums give students an incomplete and misinformed historical perspective. To say that the American history textbooks are misrepresentative would be a gross understatement. In an attempt to promote unquestioning nationalism, history books have robbed students of the most valuable aspect of learning about America’s past, the means to not repeat the folly of our progenitors. Loewen presents his thesis with effective elegance: “Whether one deems our present society wondrous or awful or both, history reveals how we arrived at this point. Understanding...
Words: 1147 - Pages: 5
..... .. | | . |A Modest Proposal | |By Jonathan Swift (1667-1745) | |A Study Guide | |Cummings Guides Home..|..Contact This Site | |.. | |Type of Work | |Purpose | |Historical Background | |Summary | | ...
Words: 7460 - Pages: 30
...“Is crime a learned behavior forced by strain due to the depleting environment an individual inhabits?” “Are individuals with a genetic mutation destined to become deviant?” All of these may be a result of biological and social constructionist theories of deviance, this essay will define the opposing differences and the relation of the two in this essay. Both hold contributing factors to the construction of deviance in society, but are both highly conflicting theories. Before going into the theories of deviance, the definition of deviance must be further explained. The codification of deviance can vary widely between different cultures, a norm in one culture can be considered deviant in another. For example, the notion of cannibalism has been proved by anthropologists to be a spiritually divine form of ritualistic sacrifice in the ancient Aztec culture of Mexico. Yet in Western culture murder and the consumption of human flesh is considered highly revolting, dealt with by harsher consequences by law than most other deviant crimes. These differences are due to the way each individual society develops their own moral codes. These codes are often defined by cultural ideologies, adversity to other cultures and ritualistic practices which have become accepted, and as well established...
Words: 1440 - Pages: 6
...core issue in moral philosophy involved identifying whether universally moral values existed or not. Accordingly, this essay will demonstrate that, although the relativist stance on the philosophical problem may seem quite compelling, the universalist one ultimately proves itself to be the most applicable and reasonable. In other words, moral universalism will win over cultural relativism inasmuch as the relativist will fail to provide compelling responses to the universalist’s objections, as this essay will further explain. However, to balance out the debate, I will additionally highlight the benefits that the relativist theory brings to light, in order not to let the universalist loose some important moral principles. The first relevant thesis regarding morality amounts to cultural relativism, which is a theory according to which moral judgments’ truth-value exists only in relation to the culture or society that holds it. The relativist Sumner captures perfectly the definition of this moral perspective: “The notion of right is in the folkways. It is not outside them, of independent origin, and brought to test them. In the folkways, whatever is, is right” (Sumner, 1906: 28). To explain, the relativist stance involves both a negative assumption, that is the denial of the existence of any “universal moral truth at all” (Driver, 2007: 16), and a positive one, that is the recognition of the existence of a moral truth dependent on each specific culture. With such a definition, cultural...
Words: 1487 - Pages: 6
...Pollan gives up meat for a while, inspired by an argument of Peter Singer: "No one in the habit of eating an animal can be completely without bias in judging whether the conditions in which that animal is reared cause suffering" (312). Yet he identifies himself as "a reluctant and, I fervently hoped, temporary vegetarian" (313), so it's not at all clear that the experiment does anything to lessen his bias. As a vegetarian, Pollan struggles with the social ramifications of eating differently. He points out that "my new dietary restrictions throw a big wrench into the basic host-guest relationship" (313) and decides, "I'm inclined to agree with the French, who gaze upon any personal dietary prohibition as bad manners" (313). Yet he'll find himself able to justify only a very limited kind of meat-eating, which likewise represents a "personal dietary prohibition." He then proceeds to discuss his alienation from traditions like the Passover brisket, apparently not allowing for the possibility that traditions might evolve over time. This rigid view of tradition is an odd one considering his plans to hunt an unkosher pig. Pollan then moves on to a discussion of animal rights philosophy. He claims to be debating Peter Singer, but he'll quote Matthew Scully when it better suits his point, never acknowledging any significant difference between the writers. Other times, he'll just quote Singer out of context. Pollan eventually argues for meat-eating on the grounds that it serves the...
Words: 1792 - Pages: 8
...Hui-Fen Hsu The Heroic Pattern in Life of Pi 95 The Heroic Pattern in Life of Pi Hui-Fen Hsu Applied English Department National Taichung University of Science and Technology Lecturer Abstract This paper examines the universal structure of a mythological hero’s adventure in Life of Pi. The theory is based on Joseph Campbell’s The Hero with a Thousand Faces, which illustrated and distilled heroic patterns from various cultures. The hero’s journey has three stages: separation, initiation, and return. Answering a call to adventure, the hero departs from his familiar world and ventures into a region of supernatural wonder. Miraculous forces are encountered there and a decisive victory is won. He then returns from this mysterious land, bringing an elixir to bene¿t his fellow men. Through this journey of trials, the hero transforms his former self and achieves spiritual growth. Such heroes range from monster slayers to spiritual leaders such as the Buddha and Christ. Life of Pi is a fantasy adventure novel about an Indian boy who survives a shipwreck by drifting on a lifeboat with a tiger. His adventure ¿ts Joseph Campbell’s hero archetype. Similar to the mythological hero, Pi departs from his familiar land of India, answering the call for adventure to a new country. Protected by the supernatural powers of Hinduism, Catholicism, and Islam, he penetrates the dangerous and mysterious realm of the Pacific Ocean. After experiencing harsh ordeals, he returns...
Words: 9172 - Pages: 37
...University of Phoenix Material Types of Myths Worksheet Knowledge, Belief, Myth, and Religion Directions: Answer the following question on knowledge, belief, myth, and religion in 3 to 5 sentences. How are knowledge, belief, myth, and religion related to one another and how are they distinct from one another? Use an example from your life or popular culture to explain this relationship. To understand myth or religion people need to have the knowledge and need to belief in what has become part of their faith and values as individuals. First knowledge is needed in order to understand the message and belief of that religion. Myth and religion go together because most of the religions are stories or writings that have been passing thru the years by others. It is only up to the person to decide how myth and religion are interpreted by knowledge and beliefs. This is why knowledge, belief, myth and religion are related to one another. Myths Directions: Choose two examples for each type of myth and identify the pieces of literature, such as a Shakespeare play, in which the examples are found. Greek Myths |Myth 1: |Literature it’s found in: | |“In my opinion mortals have created their gods with the dress and|XENOPHANES, fragment 21 B 14-16 (Diels-Kranz) | |voice and appearance of mortals. If cattle and horses...
Words: 2006 - Pages: 9
...Justice of Michael Sandel: In 1884 the British ship Mignonette foundered in the South Atlantic. The four crewmen, including the captain, escaped in a lifeboat, with only two cans of turnips for sustenance. One of the survivors was the cabin boy, 17, an orphan, who soon took sick after drinking seawater. On the 19th day at sea, utterly desperate, the captain, Thomas Dudley, suggested drawing lots to determine who would be killed so that the others might survive by eating him. One man objected, and the plan was put off. The next day, however, the captain told the others to look away, offered a prayer, and slit the cabin boy's throat. Four days later, the crew spotted a ship "as we were having our breakfast," the captain later wrote. Back in England, two of the three survivors were charged with murder. By utilitarian logic—the greatest good for the greatest number—it's hard to object to the act. Yet many in the hall do object, and Sandel, stalking the stage, scanning the room, wants to know why. When one student suggests that the act would have been justified had the boy, Richard Parker, consented, Sandel replies, in an amused tone: "What would that scenario look like? Dudley is there, penknife in hand, but instead of the prayer, or before the prayer, he says, 'Parker, would you mind?'" Students seem to think the proposed lottery would have justified the killing. Sandel probes: Can a fair process sanction something so abhorrent? And what if the loser changes his mind after...
Words: 3984 - Pages: 16
