Friday, January 31, 2020

He Loved Light, Free

He Loved Light, Freedom and Animals and Pneuomconiosis Essay Both poems are about death and the acceptance of death although are written from different perspectives and are different for the fact that in He loved light, freedom and animals by Mike Jenkins the young boys death was quite a shock, but it could have been prevented whereas in Pneumoconiosis written by Duncan Bush the mans death is inevitable, there is nothing he can do to change it. Both poems also have connection with coalmines. Pneumoconiosis is a disease caught from working down in the mines, and the background of He loved light, freedom and animals is about a mining disaster that happened in Aberfan where a slag heap on the side of a mountain collapsed and engulfed parts of the small town. The first poem I studied was Pneumoconiosis, and as the title suggests, the poem is about the killing lung disease that many coalminers suffered and died from. Pneumoconiosis was renames The Dust by the sufferers because it was mainly caused by inhalation of a lot of dust. The dust would get trapped in the lungs and made breathing difficult, and eventually killed after many years of effecting colliers lives. Duncan Bush wrote in the form of an old retired coalminer who is slowly dying from the disease. The elderly man is now feeling the effects of the disease more than ever. He shows his feelings towards the disease and reflects to his past. The poor man worked down in the mines for thirty years without realising the fatality of his coughing and breathing difficulties but now he begins to see the truth, hes now walking at a much slower pace and can not talk as fast and fluent. The constant repetition of the line I try not to think about it gives us the impression that in the back of his mind he cannot help the feeling of ominous foreboding that his life will soon be coming to an end. He is worried about when his death will come but doesnt want the remainder of his life to be a misery. The opening line, This is the Dust is an introduction to the illness, it simply tells us what the whole poem and the title is about. The second line then describes it as Black diamond dust. It is a good way of describing the dust from the coal, as coal is similar to diamond in many ways. They are both valuable, and a fair amount of coal sparkles, as diamonds do. We understand that the man came from the South Wales valleys; the poet shows this by adding boy at the end of the line and uses informal English to punctuate his accent which symbolizes the location of the industry. It is a personal poem, Darren Bush is writing in the first person as though he is the old man telling his story I had thirty years in it. This is affective because we can relate with his character better by understanding what he is going through and feeling. The man was happy in his work back in the day; he didnt have the slightest idea that one day working there would lead him to his death. A laughing red mouth He would be covered at work in black dirt, and his mouth would stand out, as it was the only clean part of him. We realize the first symptoms of his illness when he used to spit smuts black but obviously, he was unaware and didnt realize the cause of his spluttering. The poet uses alliteration to describe the young collier suffering, the hard constant s conveys the way the sound the man made and it stands out. In the second verse, the man continues telling us about the disease he suffers from and points out the fact that he accepts it and he bravely admits he will die with it. The poet cleverly uses the line its had forty years in me now which follows the line I had thirty years in it. This shows that he is quite old, because he retired ten years ago. The disease isnt only affecting his inside; his illness is visible like my blued scars. The scars are a part of him that wont go away, he can not erase them. The sufferer tells us how he gets by from day to day and how things have changed since hes been ill in the third verse. There are a few pauses in the third stanza which conveys the shortness of breath the man has. One step at a time; especially the stairs. It is quite jerky, as I can imagine his breathing and talking would be like. He then goes on to talk about his past and his experiences. His own brother also died of Pneumoconiosis, so he knows what he is facing. He explains that he saw his brothers last moment, which I think is very emotional. Although he seems calm, he must be quite frightened that he will be going through the same thing. He doesnt want to let the image of his brother that will always be with him scare him. The description the poet uses about the brothers last moment are very good, and give us a vivid image of how much he struggled worse than a hooked carp drowning in the air. The last three lines of the poem are very emotional and sad, he emphasises his slow walk and the occasional cough he lets out involuntary by telling people to know him as that man. This shows that the illness has effected him so much, he is different to a lot people when he used to be as healthy as the rest. After reading the poem, I admire the character in the poem because he can handle and accept his death, rather than complain and give up all hope. He is trying to lead his life as normal as possible and trying not to make the last of his life a misery which I respect. Another poem I studied was He loved light, freedom and animals. Mike Jenkins writes as if he is the father and he reminisces and remembers happy memories he shared with his son. He doesnt believe that his son is dead and in his mind the boy is still as lively as ever. The disaster of Aberfan happened on the 21st of October in 1966. The slagheap was balancing on a mountain overlooking the small village. The flood of waste had slipped and rushed down the mountain shattering homes, farms and the village school, which killed 116 young villagers. Critics say that the disaster should never had happened and young, innocent peoples lives such as the character in the poems son shouldnt have been lost. The poem contains many good descriptions that create strong images of both the child and the slag heap. This creates a good balance of positive and negative emotion in the poem. The images of the slagheap and the child are a complete contrast to one another; the descriptions of the boy are happy and beautiful foe example his eyes gleamed as gorse-flowers do now whereas the slagheap is described by the use of dark, depressing phrases such as tumour on the hillside burst and the black blood coal. The unpleasant phrase of the tumour growing on the top of the mountain reminds us of illness and gives us the thought people would want to stay as far away from it as possible. But tumours can be detected and defused, like the slagheap, it could have been manually moved but nobody had thought of the consequences until it was too late. The poet refers to the characters son throughout the poem, almost in every stanza which I believe makes the poem very interesting. It also shows that he will always think of his son, and will not give up the happy thoughts. He remembers the things he used to do when he was happiest. His son would be in the classroom waving an answer like a greeting. This emphasises how very enthusiastic and eager the boy was and obviously he was a pupil who enjoyed school, but it was there where he had died. When the poor boy was pulled out, the poet writes that his son must have been like a child collier, dragged out of one of Butes mines. A child collier would have been in a very dangerous job, and often lost their lives. They would come out of the mines hurt and covered in black dust but his son wasnt a collier, he was at school. School is meant to be a safe place, but not for the pupils on the day of the disaster. A good example of a simile in the poem is the one about the son and his mother shown in the last stanza. Ears attuned as a ewes in lambing. The connection the boy had with his mother was like no other, his mother can still hear his laugh and like and ewe and a lamb, she was attuned to her son. This is a good way of showing that they were close, and his mother is lost without him. She will always recognize his laugh, and can still hear it clearly in her head. The parents of the boy will always remember him as they last seen him, young, healthy and happy. They will be hearing his laughs springing down the slopes for a long time. Mike Jenkins uses personification in his poem to make it more alive and colourful. An example of him using personification is shown in the fourth verse, he creates a character out of the slagheap when the poet describes it s if it has a greedy belly that ate up all the children and villagers. The tone of the poem is conversational, the father tells us as the reader about his son, and about his sons death. Its a dramatic poem, and is very emotional. Both negative and Positive feelings are shown in the poem. Although the theme of the poem is sad, the lines about the boy are happy; they are lines that bring a smile to the readers faces. In a way this makes us feel even sorrier for the father and makes it more emotional. The lines about the slag heap are bitter, expressing the fathers feelings towards it. In my opinion, the fact that the poem begins with a line about the grave No grave can contain him and then ends with a line about the grave I try to foster the inscription, away from its stubborn stone is clever. It emphasizes the fact that he is in his grave and will not do the things that were mentioned in the middle of the poem, he will not be climbing a tree again or calling out names. I personally enjoyed reading this poem because I felt I could relate to the father, as it was from a personal point of view and can relate to the loss of someone special. It was very emotional and made me sympathize for the mother and father. It was unfair for the innocent, fragile boy to die in such a horrific accident and it made me angry that people had not thought of the consequences they were facing by putting the slagheap on top of the mountain. Both poems are very successful in creating sad emotions, and also anger and frustration. In He loved Light, Freedom and Animals, anger is created because the boy and his classmates were so young when they died, and they didnt deserve to have their lives taken away. In Pneumoconiosis, anger is created because the old man had been affected by the dust silently, and is expecting his death. This is very frustrating, as there is nothing we as the reader can do to change what has happened and what is going to happen. In my opinion, He love Light, Freedom, and Animals made the biggest impact to my emotions. As the child was only young, it is easy to relate to, and it makes the reader realize that life can be cut so short, although Pneumoconiosis is also very emotional, as the reader acknowledges the long term effects miners suffer. He has been, and is still fighting bravely but he knows he cant hold on forever.

Thursday, January 23, 2020

Facing Our Fears in Science Fiction Essay -- Science Fiction Films Bo

Facing Our Fears in Science Fiction The dead are walking. They lumber and limp, feet scraping against the asphalt. Suddenly, they lunge and tear down into soft, warm, vulnerable flesh with startling speed. Not far behind, oozing inside-out hellhounds growl around razor fangs, stalking with murderous intent. All because of an innocent little airborne chemical weapon†¦This can’t be happening, this would never happen, right? It may sound far fetched, and it is. These horrifying creatures grace the screen of current blockbuster hit, Resident Evil 2: Apocalypse. So you’re safe. For now. But why are these images on screen so terrifying to us? Why do we cringe and gasp and sigh with giddy relief when it’s all over? Because we’ve just been given a brush with death. One of our greatest common fears came to life, and we stared it straight in the face and lived to tell about it. And that’s why we’ll keep coming back. After all, that is how science fiction films ha ve maintained their popularity and appeal for over fifty years now – they take whatever common fears our current society possesses and reflect them back at us. Fifty years ago, computers were as yet unheard of, and the world was still a very large place. Society was not so much concerned with trouble within itself, but with assault from outside forces. According to film critic John Brosnan in Future Tense, the end of World War II sparked the beginning of the â€Å"Golden Age† of science fiction (73). The war was over, but the Communist threat was still out there, and with the unleashing of the atomic bomb fear of a full scale nuclear war bordered on paranoia. Families built bomb shelters in their backyards and schools held air raid drills for their c... ...he dead walking. We love to ask ourselves, â€Å"This can’t be happening! This would never happen! Right?† Wrong. Works Cited Brosnan, John . Future Tense. New York: St. Martin's P, Inc., 1978. Dirks, Tim. Science Fiction Films. May 1996. 02 Oct. 2004 . Glass, Fred. "Sign of the Times." Film Quarterly 38 (1984): 16-27. Menville, Douglas . A Historical and Critical survey of the Science Fiction Film. Diss. U of Southern California, 1959. New York: Arno P Inc., 1974. Senior, W.A.. "Blade Runner and Cyberpunk Visions of Humanity." Film Criticism 21 (1996): 1-12. Telotte, J.P.. "The Problem of the Real and THX 1138." Film Criticism 34 (2000): 45-57. Warwick, Kevin. "The Matrix - Our Future?" The Philosophy of the Matrix. 20 Nov.2002: 14 Oct. 2004

Wednesday, January 15, 2020

Religious and Thnic Groups Paper Essay

I picked Buddhism as my religious group. I am a Christian so this is interesting to me because if would have stayed in Thailand, Buddhism would be the religion that I would have learned and believed in. Buddhism is a very unique religion and it differs from all other religion out there. They do not believe in a God. Tak stated, â€Å"We don’t believe in a god because we believe in man. We believe that each human being is precious and important, that all have the potential to develop into a Buddha – a perfected human being. We believe that human beings can outgrow ignorance and irrationality and see things as they really are. We believe that hatred, anger, spite and jealousy can be replaced by love, patience, generosity and kindness. We believe that all this is within the grasp of each person if they make the effort, guided and supported by fellow Buddhists and inspired by the example of the Buddha. As the Buddha says: No one saves us but ourselves, No one can and no one may. We ourselves must walk the path, But Buddhas clearly show the way† (2011) The Four Noble Truths of Buddhism teach that life is a suffering, there is a cause of this suffering, it is possible to put an end to this suffering and the Noble Eightfold Path is the means to end this suffering. Refuge in Three Jewels is the three components of Buddhism which protect a person from the unstable world as he progresses on the path to become a Buddhist. The Five Precepts lay down the moral conduct to make human world a better place to live. These precepts prevent Buddhists from indulging in deeds that restrict spiritual growth and cause harm to others. The Three Marks of Conditioned Existence explain that everything in this world is impermanent, without substance and full of suffering. They do not have a ten commandments, no judgment day, no creation myth, no prayers for help or intervention, and let’s people find their own path though life. There are no rewards or punishments on judgment day like others. Buddhism is strictly not a religion in the context of being a faith and worship owing allegiance to a supernatural being. Buddhism has been looked upon as opposite teaching from other and this makes Buddhism have a negative experience even though they feel that it is okay and that hateful things can not cut through their skin. This is what my brother had to say about his experience with others in different religion, a member on Yahoo commented â€Å"I have experienced hate form other who don’t believe in what I believe in. And for the simple fact that I don’t worship their god. People have been afraid and confused and it’s sad that people are this way. Well people telling me that I’m going to burn in hell is just one example. Mostly I get people coming up to talk to me and I get the whole, â€Å"so are you a good Christian girl thing,† which makes me want to puke, and I say no I’m Pagan. And most people don’t even know what that means, but typically they stop talking and walk away. †( Philosoraptor, 2012) Buddhism has contributed little at a time and over time. Today we use meditation as a relaxation and even as a type of medicine. It is like yoga, has the same affect on the mind, body, and soul. The growth with Buddhism is even reaching different races, like for example Whites. Amanda Rivera said, â€Å"I think the appeal comes from the fact that the Lotus Sutra emphasizes the absolute equality of all people to be able to attain buddhahood, to attain their enlightenment. The sources of prejudice and discrimination with any religious group is that people do not know and understand the group and which fear and hate starts to set in. It is the people’s ignorance that causes the negative feelings and actions. When we talk about prejudice and discrimination a fine example would be two years ago in Kansas. The Lao-Buddhist Association [Wat Lao Buddhasampham] is trying to move its Olathe temple to a location along 119th Street in Olathe. But the Johnson County Board of Commissioners has so far denied the group a conditional use permit. Neighbors say that the area the Buddhists have chosen is zoned residential, but Lama Chuck Stanford of the Rime Buddhist Center says that discrimination is the real reason behind the opposition. â€Å"This is clearly just ugliness of ethnic and religious prejudice,† said Stanford. [†¦] Standord notes that Christian churches are common in residential areas, and that comments made by residents during a January zoning board meeting indicate fear and ignorance. At the meeting, people raised concerns about traffic, water pollution and â€Å"animal sacrifices,† along with noise from gongs, which Stanford says are no louder than church bells. Another example On Sept. 13, 2011 the U. S. Department of Justice filed a lawsuit against the city of Walnut in Southern California because the city did not allow Chung Tai Buddhist Group, originally from Taiwan, to build a worship and meditation center. The Department of Justice accused the city government of violating federal law, which states that religious groups have the same rights to use land as other building applicants, and of discriminating against the Buddhist group. The sources of prejudice and discrimination with any religious group is that people do not know and understand the group and which fear and hate starts to set in. It is the people’s ignorance that causes the negative feelings and actions in which then problems and issues occur instead of accepting that people are different and unique. I have been neutral with Buddhism but my brother believes in it. I do not judge him and I try to think critically if I speak but after doing the research I have a new understanding of my ethic religion of my biological parents. The main important thing I have learned is not asking which religion is better but what is different from what I believe in and what they believe in because that is when you can see how others think and view beliefs. Taking a look at ethnic group of Pacific Islander are different from others in the aspect that the Pacific Islanders live a very social lifestyle, in which family members, both immediate and extended, work together in a solidified community. Pacific Islanders often have difficulty balancing their traditional â€Å"laid-back† attitudes with the high pressure competitive demands of American pedagogy and marketplace economy. Pacific Islanders’ cultures follow customs and traditions based on ancient principles that promote living an honorable and noble lifestyle. Embedded deeply into the Polynesian culture are music, dance, and food. Traditional storytelling, music, and dance are ancient ways of passing down history from one generation to another. Thus teachers with students who are Pacific Islanders may want to use both written and oral instruction, particularly in areas of literacy. Pacific Islanders are in fact highly developed peoples. Our ancestors survived for centuries in remote and isolated communities having devised their own means of dealing with the elements and of maintaining social order. In the process of what is known as ‘development’, however, Islanders wrestle daily with individual demands in a market-driven world, while our consciousness continues to be haunted by a pervasive sense of our collective identity (Wickham). The main thing with interaction with other groups is that Pacific Islander are more laid back and they tend to not be up to par with the other social groups. This makes them to be â€Å"dumb† and â€Å"no gas in the think tank. † Pacific Islander has been a huge contribution to American culture in fields as varied as the arts, health care, business and military service, Asian Pacific Americans are central to our quality of life. Month of May has been declared Asian Pacific American Heritage Month which celebrates all of those that have entered into the United States and help to develop where we are today as one. Prejudice and discrimination is part of history with Pacific Islander in the past. Taiwanese-American Wen Ho Lee, for example, was targeted by the U. S. government and suspected of espionage because of his ethnicity, according to many in the Asian/Pacific Islander community. In May, U. S. Rep. David Wu, an Oregon Democrat, was detained entering the Department of Energy building in Washington, D. C. , and repeatedly asked if he was an American citizen. July, 2009 in Seattle, a group of Asian-American youths, stopped by police for jaywalking, claimed they were harassed by an officer who repeatedly asked if they spoke English and allegedly remarked, â€Å"I’ve been to your country before, when I was in the Army. † These types of prejudice and discrimination are all appearance wise and nothing more. The pure ignorance is the source for all these actions. The research was harder to do on Pacific Islander due to the fact of less records and information like other groups. The more I read the same information was being presented. I started to research other groups and I was able to find so much more information. So yes it did help me to understand them better but not to the point of really understanding them because of lack of information and data on them. Prejudice and discrimination on the two groups were similar because both of them were looked upon as physical appearance and judge by looks instead of getting to know the two and understand the two. They both been looked at as different and odd. In the beginning of the two in America they both been push around and forced into doing things that were not right at all. Harassment and anger seems to fill hate towards the two. They are different in ways of the one is being discriminated because of a practice and the other is a human being. There is not much to be different other than that. Discrimination and prejudice looks the same, acts the same, and smells the same. Not much difference because it is all out of uneducated assumptions, anger, hatred, and intolerance. References Philosoraptor, M. (2012). Yahoo! Answers. Retrieved from http://answers. yahoo. com/question/index? qid=20120229093706AAHWC2Q Swee, T. (2013). Buddhism-Major Differences. Retrieved from http://www. buddhanet. net/e-learning/snapshot01. htm Tak, Y. (2011). Comparing Buddhism With Other Religions. Retrieved from http://wfcs. buddhistdoor. com/OldWeb/passissue/9612/sources/comp. htm Rivera, A. (2011). Why Is American Buddhism So White. Retrieved from http://www. thebuddhadharma. com/web-archive/2011/11/9/forum-why-is-american-buddhism-so-white. html Wickham, A. WACC. Retrieved from http://www. waccglobal. org/en/19973-indigenous-communications/929-Hidden-perspectives-on-Communication–Culture-in-the-Pacific-Islands-. html.