Obasan By Joy Kogawa Essays - Japanese Canadian Internment, Obasan

Obasan By Joy Kogawa Today, society has become a boisterous world of communication. From telephone conversations to live Internet chat and e-mail, the world has never before been quite so in touch. In the novel Obasan, by Joy Kogawa, Naomi Nakane does not have technology to communicate. Instead, she faces the dilemma of communicating at all. From her family, Naomi is shown the many faceted truths of speech and communication. From strong, silent Obasan, to stubborn, resolute Aunt Emily, Naomi finds that one can correspond with others through silence as well as through speech. As a child, Naomi spends much of her life in non-communicative silence, only to help further the distance between herself and her mother. As Naomi grows into womanhood and beyond, she discovers that in speech lays understanding and, unfortunately, pain and sorrow. Joy Kogawas tale of Naomi Nakane shows how one young girl can live a tortured life and find peace living life in between silence speech. Naomis relationship with Obasan is an influential one, molded from love, respect, and understanding. Naomi describes Obasans way of communication best when she say declares, The language of her grief is silence. She has learned it well, its idioms its nuances. Over the years the silence with her small body has grown large and powerful(Obasan 17). Obasans silent stance provides a firm starting point for Naomi to return to when she needs to find her bearings. Obasan provides Naomi only positive reinforcement when it comes down to determining the right and wrongs of silence. Obasan used her silence to protect the children from the many faceted horror known as truth. The truth behind Naomis mother was requested to be kept from Naomi and her brother, but it was also potentially damaging to them as well. The memories were drowned in a whirlpool of protective silence For the sake of the children, calmness was maintained(Obasan 26). Aunt Emily believes that the only way to live at peace in the present, you must live in peace with your past. Emily gets this across to Naomi when she goes on a rant and says You have to remember. You are your history. If you cut any of it off youre an amputee. Dont deny the past. Remember everything. If youre bitter, be bitter. Cry it out! Scream! Denial is gangrene. Look at you, Naomi, shuffling back and forth between Cecil and Granton, unable to go or stay in the world with even a semblance of grace or ease(Obasan 60). Unfortunately, for the quiet Naomi, Emily also believes that in order to be at peace with your past you must stand up and yell at those at fault for reconciliation. Emily shows that her beliefs remain contingent upon facts, and that everyone needs to be on the same page before healing can begin. It matters to get the facts straightReconciliation cant begin without mutual recognition of the facts, she said. Facts? [said Naomi] Yes, facts. Whats right is right. Whats wrong is wrong. Health starts somewhere. (Obasan 219) Naomi cannot comprehend the angle with which her aunt approaches life. While Naomi may believe reconciliation is in order, she is only discouraged when she looks to see where speech has placed her Aunt Emily. If Aunt Emily with her billions of letters and articles and speeches, her tears and her rage, her friends and her committeesif all that couldnt bring contentment, what was the point (Obasan 50). Naomi becomes more and more frustrated when she sees the futile efforts of her Aunt. Albeit, she does believe that what her Aunt is doing is important for her Aunt, she cannot see the use if the results of such hard laborious tasks go for naught. All of Aunt Emilys words, all her papers, the telegrams and petitions, are like scratchings in the barnyard, the evidence of much activity, scaly claws hard at work. But what good do they do, I do not know-those little black typewritten words-rain words, cloud droppings. They do not touch us where we are planted here in Alberta, our rots clawing the sudden prairie air. The words are not made of flesh. Trains do not carry us home. Ships do not return again. All my prayers disappear into space.(Obasan

Critical Review Historians and the Extent of Slave Ownership in the Southern United States essays

Critical Review Historians and the Extent of Slave Ownership in the Southern United States essays Historians and the Extent of Slave Ownership in the Southern United States Only a minority of the whites owned slaves, at all times nearly three-fourths of the white families in the South as a whole held no slaves; slave ownership in the South was not widespread; not more than a quarter of the white heads of families were slave owners, and even in the cotton states the proportion was less than one-third; in 1850, only one in three owned any Negroes; on the eve of the Civil War, the ration was one in four; and slave owners probably made up less than a third of southern whites. From the US History textbooks in an elementary school to the Civil War journals of a major university, these lines are reprinted and repeated in an attempt to shape the perception of the public and to ease the insecurities of a nation embarrassed by slavery, an institution that supposedly marred its glorious history, or so says Otto H. Olsen. In an article that appears in the journal of Civil War History of 1972 entitled, Historians and the Extent of Slave Ownership in the Southern United States Olsen attempts to challenge the widely accepted notion that slave ownership was confined to only a few southern white plantation owners and that most of the white population was unaffected by it. The author spends nearly half of his thirty-seven paragraph article displaying the past and present attitudes of the general population through several case studies which he lists chronologically and explains in brief detail. He tries to discredit a handful of them while, at the same time, injecting his own views. In an attempt to persuade the reader he sets up his side of the debate by citing a few case studies that promote his hypothesis and concludes by relating some of his own opinions and findings including a study where he makes a seemingly strong comparison between thos...

Precursor To vs. Precursor Of

Precursor To vs. Precursor Of Precursor To vs. Precursor Of Precursor To vs. Precursor Of By Maeve Maddox A reader asks, Can you please tell me when to use precursor to and precursor of? Is there a difference between the two? Latin praecursor (â€Å"forerunner, advanced guard†) is from a verb meaning â€Å"to run in front of.† Latin cursor means, â€Å"to run.† The noun precursor entered English about 1500, chiefly in reference to John the Baptist as â€Å"Christ’s precursor.† The sense here is â€Å"a person who heralds the approach of another.† In current usage, precursor is used to refer either to a person regarded as someone’s forerunner, or a thing regarded as the prototype of something else. Here are two examples: Gilbert M. â€Å"Broncho Billy† Anderson is regarded by film historians as the precursor to better-known movie cowboys such as Gene Autry and Roy Rogers. [Dick Tracy’s] wrist radio was the precursor of the cell phone of today. The OED cites â€Å"precursor to† in 1675 and â€Å"precursor of† in 1716. On the Ngram Viewer, â€Å"precursor of† is far more common in printed books until the 1960s, when â€Å"precursor to† begins a marked rise, although it remains below â€Å"precursor of† on the graph. A Google search indicates that â€Å"precursor to† is more common than â€Å"precursor of† on the Web: precursor to (6,330,000 results) precursor of (4,230, 000 results) In my own use, I think I’m more likely to use â€Å"precursor to† when linking people and â€Å"precursor of† in reference to things, but random examples taken from the Web indicate that the phrases are used interchangeably: [The Scarlet Pimpernel] is  seen as a precursor to  the spy fiction and the superhero genres. Only about one in eight people with so-called pre-diabetes, often a precursor to full-blown disease, know they have a problem,   Was Marilyn Monroe a  precursor  of 1960s feminism? Its my belief that  Marilyn Monroe  was a  precursor to  the Womens Movement. Cyclorama paintings served as the  precursor to  movies. Carole Lombard was the  precursor to  all sexy comediennes. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Expressions category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:20 Great Opening Lines to Inspire the Start of Your StoryPeople versus PersonsI wish I were...

Export Marketing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Export Marketing - Essay Example Export marketing is the marketing activities involved in an export that helps in taking the opportunities of doing business in foreign countries while at the same time it sustains the production in the home country. Export marketing is very much important in today's competitive world, as it is only through exporting or marketing to the outside world, the small companies can turn into large companies and large ones into multinational operations. It allows a business to grow further beyond its geographical limits and helps in understanding economy of foreign countries. It also provides scope for improving the quality of goods or services as per the requirements in the foreign market. However, before pursuing export marketing, one should perform extensive export marketing research so that it can understand the demand of its goods and services among the foreign consumers. It also helps in understanding the capability of its products to sustain in the export market. Nowadays, in most of the countries worldwide, governments are encouraging their domestic companies to go global to expand their business extents and fulfil the requirements of overseas customers along with its domestic ones. This involves offering various export marketing research schemes to understand the foreign markets. ... The primary purpose of EMRS is to provide the necessary export marketing research to the UK companies before the companies are ready with their strategies to enter into the overseas market. This export marketing research basically involves gaining knowledge and information about the following topics regarding the foreign markets: The size of the market and its segmentation Regulations and legislation in the foreign market Needs, attitudes and usage of the customers Available distribution network The market trends followed Activities of the competitors along with their strategies and performances How to Enter into an Export Market It is a very important decision for any domestic company to enter into the export market. However, the success of this step of the companies depends on many factors. For the success in export marketing, a company needs an effective way to market and distribute its goods and services in the export market. There are multiple options available, which include direct exporting by the domestic company, using third-parties as intermediaries for exporting the goods and services and collaborating with companies that are already marketing in the export market. It is generally seen that the new ventures targeting for export marketing prefers direct export process. The main concern behind this behaviour of the companies is mainly due to their intention to save money or avoid sharing of any profit with other company or third-party services. The companies going for direct exporting should understand that they can be successful in the foreign market only when they are ready to use their resources t o perform the following basic tasks: Choosing the foreign

What If Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

What If - Essay Example If we are unable to establish some form of communication with others 'out there', there option of diplomatic advancement becomes extremely constrained. Hence, it is highly unlikely that we would be able to colonize any other planet. If we assume that the population of Eden2 can be communicated with, then it is in our best interest to take a diplomatic approach. By virtue of our assumption that they may be more technologically advanced then Earth, it would be illogical for us to choose invasion. The odds are we would be stopped, or eliminated from existence. Either way we do not leave a good impression of our species with the population of Eden2. Alternatively they may have evolved a society that is non-violent or even pacifist; however, it would be illogical to think that they would not have defences of some sort, especially given their advancement in technology. For example, they may have an impenetrable barrier around the planet or their places of dwelling; or firepower that is activated by too close an approach to their planet or dwelling; or they may be able to disarm their foe by way of being able to phase-shift (i.e. become invisible). Hence, we would need to approach in a friendly manner, take a slightly submissive role as guests in their part of the galaxy who looking for somewhere to live. We could assume that the population of Eden2 would want something in exchange for allowing us to colonize their planet, regardless of how friendly we are. As they may have more advanced technology it is unlikely that we would have much to offer in exchange. Alternatively, They may want something from us that we do not want to give, which leaves a lot to the imagination and calls into question many other assumptions that are better elucidated in my next sci-fi book (assuming my first gets published!). However, the idea that another species would engage in Earth behaviours such as reciprocity, 'scratch my back I'll scratch yours', or 'survival of the fittest', is purely a human concept. As we are currently unable to, and most of us not interested in, communication with the myriad of species we now co-habit with, we are unable to conceive of different ways of negotiating or problem-solving. We have only our human perspective as the frame of reference from which to draw on, and so likely we are projecting our human concepts onto another species.Given their probable higher levels of technology we could assume that they have advanced sociological systems as well, seeing as they have not used up all the natural resources on their planet, nor are nearing exte rmination of themselves through technology advancement. Although, from an Earth perspective, we have no evidence to support the assumption that advanced technology will ensures survival, given our present predicament. In the short-term, Earthlings can look forward to an extended life-span as compared to 100 years ago, thanks to technologic advancement. However, we also have decreased fertility rates and rising 'grey' populations in the West; overpopulation and appalling poverty in 'developing' nations; as well as mass species extinction and ecological breakdowns; pollution, depleted natural resources and global warming. The evidence suggests that advancements in our technology will not ensure our survival. Assuming that Eden2 has advanced socially, we could assume that they would be open to diplomatic negotiations regarding our colonization of their planet. Being socially advanced they would need to have ways of accommodating other

Greek audience Essay Example for Free

Greek audience Essay The minds of modern theatre goers are somewhat lazy compared to their Greek counterparts, hundreds of years ago. Today we go to a play and at best mope and follow the story, we remain silent throughout and maybe the most analytical and critical of us will have some thoughts on the screenplay. The Greeks however had a rapport with the play, they watched every move, and got behind every line especially in tragedy. The reasons why this occurred are as follows: Modern plays fall into the category of illusion dramas. The Audience are invisible spectators of others lives. The characters are made to look and act convincing, so a king will be dressed ornately, a girl will actually be small girl, and a cowboy will sport a Stetson and colt 45. The audience have everything made up for them and so they find it easy to fall into the illusion and just watch. Greek Theatre is conventional drama, the characters are often not in costume and symbols merely indicate who was who in the play. For example a king may wear a simple crown on his head. In Greek drama all the actors wore masks. All these factors made it very demanding on a Greek audience to follow the play before them. In effect they are forced to watch very carefully and a rapport is developed between the audience and the play. This audience got very vocal during a performance, which is all part of the rapport. Today we go to a theatre and maybe watch a play, which we have never seen, Greek plays were all well known stories, and the themes and issues were well known to the audience. The lack of a surprise element means the audience watches the play with a critical eye seeing how well the play was done, and also whether dramatist has inserted a moral or political issue. This is illustrated in The Aeneid, Virgil makes Aeneas a ancestor to the Roman race. Iulus who was his descendant was directly linked to Julius Caesar the dictator of the time. By doing this he legitimises the history of the peoples past, and they look upon the story in a new light. The Aeneid would be politically interesting to the average Greek due to the Carthaginian wars. Even the mention of Carthage would have alerted the audience and they would be pleased to see that the city was raised to the ground The issue of morality, as I said is often explored, and personified in a character, Was Oedipus immoral? The Greek audience would have to think hard over this tragic question. On the one hand he wasnt because he didnt know what he was doing, but yet he was cursed and destroyed like an immoral person. This is where the tragic element lies, the audience would feel for him and pray that they themselves dont suffer a similar fate. On the other hand he was impious, which was highly immoral in Greek times, and this is an issue I will cover later in my essay. Greek theatre however is full of tense and surprising moments. During Oedipus the king, Jocasta was aware that Oedipus was going to find out his fate. The scenes here were very tense. The audience would get behind it and voice their excitement. The best dramatists when they put on the play will include dramatic irony in the play. The whole Oedipus the king is based around this. The audience aware of his fate watch him squirm to his doom, because they know and cannot stop it happening makes it even more tragic. When Tiresias the prophet enters, Virgil creates many references to blindness and confusion, all reflect Oedipus state, as he doesnt know the truth, but is highly ironic because the blind priest is the only one aware of the imminent danger. As I have illustrated the last thing a Greek audience is going to do is to sit silently through the play. They would murmur to each other, gasp, sometimes-even cheer at the action unfolding before them. The whole experience would be more than just a trip; it is more a moral lesson, and a place full of high emotion reminiscent of a modern church. The Greek audience would be very religious people; the whole theatre experience was infact an act of worship, and it was regarded the right and duty of every citizen to attend. In the theatre a statue of Dionysus was present adding to the religious undertone. Having establishes the religious importance of the theatre; it is understandable how the audience have issues of morality and respect to the Gods on their minds. When Oedipus is impious, this is considered highly immoral as he had full control over his actions unlike his other actions. Everyone was expected to attend the theatre, and even those who couldnt afford it were paid for by the state. One can only imagine but the atmosphere was full of people from all walks of life. It is said there were around 14000 people in the oval shaped arena sat all round, this is almost like a modern day football match. The huge social importance of the theatre can be seen and understood from this, people went there to share ideas with friends, see friends, and meet people. I can imagine that because of all these factors and variety of people, the theatre was a very interesting place. People would obviously have different motives for going but it is established that it was more than just entertainmen t.

Contemporary History in Anil’s Ghost Essay -- Literary Analysis

There is always a problem of historical inaccuracies in fiction. When certain historical events become a part of the narrative (especially when these events are controversial), it is important to understand what they mean in the author’s conception of history and reality in general. Far more important is to understand their place in this conception when we see that the author’s depiction of facts is unusual and what he does seems to be not the reflection of existing reality but the deconstruction of a different one. Terrorism, civil war, separatism – it is hard to remember the themes that would be more complicated and controversial in the modern world, because questions like these never have a certain answer. Michael Ondaatje’s Anil’s Ghost is a good example of a novel that deals with the most important problems of contemporary history. Anil’s Ghost, first published in 2000, and is dedicated to events of Sri Lankan Civil War. Michael Ondaatje claimed in interviews that his book is not â€Å"just about Sri Lanka; it could be Guatemala or Bosnia or Ireland† (Scanlan 302) – so it can be suggested that the author is trying to describe not this particular conflict, but the situation in general. In another interview Ondaatje says: â€Å"Anil's Ghost is a more faithful or more nonfictive version. It's a fiction. It is a novel, and it is also a point of view† (Coughlan). Sri Lanka is mentioned as one of the places in which the war â€Å"always seems to be there, and nobody goes to it anymore† (Champeon). The conflict that still takes place is set between the government and Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, a separatist group. Different issues state that at the moment the number of victims is about 80.000 people. The action takes place at the end o... ...every country with the similar circumstances and not only in Sri Lanka. The experience of civil war is reconstructed in destinies of main characters – everyone of them has his personal tragedy and deals with it the way he can. And when neither the executioner nor the victim can be identified, it becomes important to give the identity to at least one of the murdered. It has to be named, and the problem has to be named, too. Through the historical situation the author tries to show us the necessity of personal choice in the times when there is no choice for the nation or the whole country. Anil’s ghost is many different ghosts – ghost of innocent people, who disappeared or died, ghost of the past, which has to be dealt with; ghost of Sarath, who finally becomes a martyr. And these ghosts don’t seem to be Anil’s only. In some reasons they belong to each other.