American Foreign Policy Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words - 1

American Foreign Policy - Assignment Example aling with the two determinant factors differ between the realist approach and the idealist approach; the two approaches that have been exercised by different American leaders while each still adopts the same objectives of foreign policy1. How do these divergent approaches achieve foreign policy with the same goals? We analyze the realist foundations upon which President Bush’s administration was based versus the idealist foundations upon which President Obama’s administration is based. To achieve this, the paradigms of realism which underlay Bush’s foundation are hereafter explored2. The tenets of realism that Bush administration grew on included: firstly, nations or countries are the vital targets of foreign policy but their interactions complicate the attempts to influence their inherent natures. Second, a state’s material resource base (regarded as its power) relative to others determines its projected interests. The more the resource base the more it seeks to expand its political influence over lesser nations with cost/benefit analysis subtly influencing any relationships born. Therefore, according to realists, American power could and should be used to restrain states that could clearly harm the U.S. and its interests, (American interests are considered here to encompass political and economic)3.This disposition clearly enumerates those nations whose economies are currently emerging with the threat of toppling United States off the perch. This is an obvious manifestation of how realistic opinions in foreign policy formulation propose war with other n ations which may not have declared war on America. As it will be stated in the course of the discussion, realists use military interventions to solve such threats. It is important to see this misguided application of military on economical wars. In fact the undertones of U.S. being in pursuit of resources from other countries, mostly oil, and wary of emergent nations like China have been growing louder.

Network Typologies Essay Example for Free

Network Typologies Essay A network is a system of two or more computers that are connected in some manner. Each computer on the network has access to the files and peripheral equipment (such as printers or modems) on all the other computers on the network. The origin of local area networks can be traced, in part, to IBM terminal equipment introduced in 1974. At that time, IBM introduced a series of terminal devices designed for use in transaction-processing applications for banking and retailing. What was unique about those terminals was their method of connection: a common cable that formed a loop provided a communications path within a localized geographical area. Unfortunately, limitations in the data transfer rate, incompatibility between individual IBM loop systems, and other problems precluded the widespread adoption of this method of networking. The economics of media sharing and the ability to provide common access to a centralized resource were, however, key advantages, and they resulted in IBM and other vendors investigating the use of different techniques to provide a localized communications capability between different devices. However, Datapoint Corporation began selling its Attached Resource Computer Network (ARCNet), considered by most people to be the first commercial local area networking product. Since then, hundreds of companies have developed local area networking products, and the installed base of terminal devices connected to such networks has increased exponentially. They now number in the hundreds of millions. Designing a manageable network One of the most important considerations in designing a network to be manageable is deciding how and where to connect the network-management equipment. Is there a separate network-management center to accommodate? Do nonoperational staff members like the network designer sit in a different area? Do they require access to the network-management centers equipment through the network? In general, the design should include a separate virtual local area network (VLAN) just for network-management equipment. The management VLAN was used to access management functions on remote network equipment. This network management-equipment VLAN houses servers and workstations used to manage the network. Design Types A large-scale network design is composed of several common building blocks. Every LAN, of whatever size, has to have an access system by which the end stations connect to the network. There are several inexpensive options for LAN connections, such as Ethernet and Token Ring. As a philosophical principle, the network should be built using basic commonly available technology. The design shouldnt have to reinvent any wheels just to allow the machines to talk to one another. So, just as basic commonly available technologies exist for connecting end stations to LANs, there are common methods for interconnecting LAN segments. Once again, these technologies and methods should involve the most inexpensive yet reliable methods. But in this stage of interconnecting, aggregating, and distributing traffic between these various LAN segments, the designer may run into some serious hidden problems. There may be thousands of ways to connect things, but most of these methods result in some kind of reliability problems. Network topology The topology of a local area network is the structure or geometric layout of the cable used to connect stations on the network. Unlike conventional data communications networks, which can be configured in a variety of ways with the addition of hardware and software, most local area networks are designed to operate based on the interconnection of stations that follow a specific topology. The most common topologies used in LANs include the loop, bus, ring, star, and tree, as illustrated in the figure below Loop As previously mentioned, IBM introduced a series of transaction-processing terminals in 1974 that communicated through the use of a common controller on a cable formed into a loop. This type of topology is illustrated at the top of Figure below. Local area network topology. The five most common geometric layouts of LAN cabling form a loop, bus, ring, star, or tree structure. Because the controller employed a poll-and-select access method, terminal devices connected to the loop require a minimum of intelligence. Although this reduced the cost of terminals connected to the loop, the controller lacked the intelligence to distribute the data flow evenly among terminals. A lengthy exchange between two terminal devices or between the controller and a terminal would thus tend to weigh down this type of network structure. A second problem associated with this network structure was the centralized placement of network control in the controller. If the controller failed, the entire network would become inoperative. Due to these problems, the use of loop systems is restricted to several niche areas, and they are essentially considered a derivative of a local area network. Bus In a bus topology structure, a cable is usually laid out as one long branch, onto which o ther branches are used to connect each station on the network to the main data highway. Although this type of structure permits any station on the network to talk to any other station, rules are required for recovering from such situations as when two stations attempt to communicate at the same time. Ring In a ring topology, a single cable that forms the main data highway is shaped into a ring. As with the bus topology, branches are used to connect stations to one another via the ring. A ring topology can thus be considered to be a looped bus. Typically, the access method employed in a ring topology requires data to circulate around the ring, with a special set of rules governing when each station connected to the network can transmit data. Star The fourth major local area network topology is the star structure, illustrated in the lower portion of Figure 1. In a star network, each station on the network is connected to a network controller. Then, access from any one station on the network to any other station can be accomplished through the network controller. Here, the network controller functions like a telephone switchboard, because access from one station to another station on the network can occur only through the central device. In fact, you can consider a telephone switchboard or PBX as representing a star-structured LAN whose trunks provide connections to the wide area network telephone infrastructure. Tree A tree network structure represents a complex bus. In this topology, the common point of communications at the top of the structure is known as the head-end. From the head-end, feeder cables radiate outward to nodes, which in turn provide workstations with access to the network. There may also be a feeder cable route to additional nodes, from which workstations gain access to the network. One common example of a tree structure topology is the cable TV network many readers use on a daily basis. With the upgrade introduction to networking of many cable TV systems to two-way amplifiers and the support of digital transmission, the local cable TV infrastructure can be considered to represent an evolving type of tree-structured local area network. Mixed Topologies Some networks are a mixture of topologies. For example, a tree structure can be viewed as a series of interconnected buses. Another example of the mixture of topologies is a type of ethernet known as 10BASE-T. 10BASE-T network can actually be considered a star-bus topology, because up to 16 or 24 devices known as stations are first connected to a common device known as a hub, which in turn can be connected to other hubs to expand the network. Transmission Medium Used in LAN. The transmission medium used in a local area network can range in scope from twisted-pair wire, such as is used in conventional telephone lines, to coaxial cable, fiber-optic cable, and electromagnetic waves such as those used by FM radio and infrared. Each transmission medium has a number of advantages and disadvantages. The primary differences between media are their cost and ease of installation; the bandwidth of the cable, which may or may not permit several transmission sessions to occur simultaneously; the maximum speed of communications permitted; and the geographic scope of the network that the medium supports. Twisted-pair wire In addition to being the most inexpensive medium available for LAN installations, twisted-pair wire is very easy to install. Since this wiring uses the same RJ11 and RJ45 modular connectors as a telephone system, once a wire is cut and a connector fastened, the attachment of the connector to network devices is extremely simple. Normally, a screwdriver and perhaps a pocket knife are the only tools required for the installation of twisted-pair wire. Anyone who has hooked up a pair of speakers to a stereo set has the ability to install this transmission medium. Unshielded twisted-pair Although inexpensive and easy to install, unshielded twisted-pair (UTP) wire is very susceptible to noise generated by fluorescent light ballasts and electrical machinery. In addition, a length of twisted-pair wire acts as an antenna; however, the twists serve as a mechanism to partially counteract this antenna effect. Unfortunately, due to the law of physics, the longer the wire length, the greater the noise it gathers. At a certain length, the received noise will obliterate the signal, which attenuates or decreases in strength as it propagates along the length of the wire. This noise can affect the error rate of data transmitted on the network, although lead-shielded twisted-pair (STP) cable can be employed to provide the cable with a high degree of immunity to the line noise and enable extended transmission distances. Examining a building cabling standard and the various categories of twisted-pair that can support different transmission rates which, in turn, enable different types of Ethernet networks to be supported. Because the bandwidth of twisted-pair cable is considerably less than coaxial or fiber-optic cable, normally only one signal is transmitted on this cable at a time. Although a twisted-pair wire system can be used to transmit both voice and data, the data transmission is baseband because only one channel is normally used for data. In comparison, a broadband system on coaxial or fiber-optic cable can be designed to carry voice and several sub channels of data, as well as fax and video transmission. Other constraints of unshielded twisted-pair wire are the rate at which data can flow on the network and the distance it can flow. Although data rates up to 1 gigabit per second (Gbps) can be achieved, normally local area networks employing UTP wiring operate at a lower data rate. In addition, UTP systems normally cover a limited distance, measured in terms of several hundred to a few thousand feet, while coaxial and fiber-optic cable–based systems may be limited in terms of miles. Extending transmission distances over twisted-pair wire requires the periodic insertion of repeaters into the cable. A repeater receives a digital signal and then regenerates it; hence, it is also known as a data regenerator. Coaxial cable At the center of a coaxial cable is a copper wire, which is covered by an insulator known as a dielectric. An overlapping woven copper mesh surrounds the dielectric, and the mesh, in turn, is covered by a protective jacket consisting of polyethylene or aluminum. The figure below illustrates the composition of a typical coaxial cable; however, it should be noted that over 100 types of coaxial cable are currently marketed. The key differences between such cables involve the number of conductors contained in the cable, the dielectric employed, and the type of protective jacket and material used to provide strength to the cable so it can be pulled through conduits without breaking. Two basic types of coaxial cable are used in local area networks. The type of cable used is based on the transmission technique employed: baseband or broadband signaling. Both cable types are much more expensive than twisted-pair wire; however, the greater frequency bandwidth of coaxial cable permits higher data rates for longer distances than you can obtain over twisted-pair wire. Normally, 50-ohm coaxial cable is used in baseband networks, while 75-ohm cable is used in broadband networks. The latter coaxial is identical to that used in cable television (CATV) applications, including the coaxial cable used in a home. Data rates on baseband networks using coaxial cable range from 50 to 100 Mbps. With broadband transmissions, data rates up to and including 400 Mbps are obtainable. A coaxial cable with a polyethylene jacket is normally used for baseband signaling. Data is transmitted from stations on the network to the baseband cable in a digital format, and the connection from each station to the cable is accomplished by the use of a simple coaxial T-connector. Because data on Coaxial cable. baseband network travels in a digital form, those signals can be easily regenerated by the use of a device known as a line driver or data regenerator. The line driver or data regenerator is a low-cost device that is constructed to look for a pulse rise, and upon detecting the occurrence of the rise, it will disregard the entire pulse and regenerate an entirely new pulse. Thus, you can install low-cost line drivers into a baseband coaxial network to extend the distance over which transmission can occur on the cable. Typically, a coaxial cable baseband system can cover an area of several miles, and may contain hundreds to thousands of stations on the network. Obtaining independent sub channels defined by separate frequencies on coaxial cable broadband transmission requires the translation of the digital signals from workstations into appropriate frequencies. This translation process is accomplished by the use of radio-frequency (RF) modems, which modulate the digital data into analog signals and then convert or demodulate received analog signals into digital signals. Because signals are transmitted at one frequency and received at a different frequency, a head-end or frequency translator is also required for broadband transmission on coaxial cable. This device is also known as a demodulator, as it simply converts the signals from one sub channel to another sub channel. Fiber-optic cable Fiber-optic cable is a transmission medium for light energy, and as such, provides a very high bandwidth, permitting data rates ranging up to billions of bits per second. The fiber-optic cable has a thin core of glass or plastic, which is surrounded by a protective shield. Several of these shielded fibers are bundled in a jacket, with a central member of aluminum or steel employed for tensile strength. Digital data represented by electrical energy must be converted into light energy for transmission on a fiber-optic cable. This is normally accomplished by a low-power laser, or through the use of a light-emitting diode and appropriate circuitry. At the receiver, light energy must be reconverted into electrical energy. Normally, a device known as a photo detector, as well as appropriate circuitry to regenerate the digital pulses and an amplifier, are used to convert the received light energy into its original digital format. The figure below provides an illustration of the cross sectio n of a single-strand fiber cable. The cladding that surrounds the core of the fiber can be considered to represent a cylindrical mirror whose job is to ensure light stays in the core as it flows along the fiber. The Kevlar fibers add strength to the cable, while the outer jacket, which is commonly colored orange, represents a polymer-based shield that protects the cable from the elements. There are two key factors that govern the manner by which light flows through a fiber-optic cable. Those factors are the diameter of the core and the light source. The first type of fiber-optic cable developed had a relatively large diameter that ranged from 50 to 140 microns, where a micron is a millionth of a meter. The original light source used to transmit information was a light-emitting diode (LED). Horizontal cross section of a single-strand fiber cable The coupling of an LED to a large-diameter optical fiber results in photons flowing along multiple paths through the optical fiber, resulting in the transmission referred to as multimode, which is also the same name used to reference the type of optical fiber. There are two types of multimode fiber, referred to as step-index and graded index. A step-index fiber has a core with a uniform refractive index, resulting in the different components of a light signal in the form of modes or rays flowing in a non-uniform manner through the optical cable. The top portion of the figure below illustrates the flow of light through a step-index, multimode fiber. In a graded-index multimode fiber, the refractive index is varied from the center to the edge of the core to minimize modal dispersion. The middle portion of the figure below illustrates the flow of light through a graded-index, multimode fiber. This type of fiber minimizes model dispersion and supports higher data rates than a step-index multimode optical fiber. A third type of optical fiber has a relatively small core diameter, typically between 7 and 12 microns (10−6 meters). This type of optical fiber permits only one path for the flow of light due to the small diameter of the core. As a result of the lack of modal dispersion, single mode supports a much higher data rate than multimode fiber. Because of the small diameter of single-mode fiber, lasers are used as the light source instead of LEDs. Both the core thickness and the cladding of an optical fiber are measured in microns. The three major core thicknesses used in optical fiber are 50, 62 and 100 microns. The associated claddings for those core diameters are 125 and 140 microns, respectively. Light flow in multimode and single-mode optical fiber. Computer networks are everywhere; from a simple two-node home setup to the vast number of computers on the internet. However, any computer network includes certain basic components, regardless of which operating system one is running. Network scope refers to the extent to which a network provides coverage. There are two major divisions of network scope; Local Area Networks and Wide Area Networks. †¢ A Local Area Network (LAN) consists of any number of computers that are linked directly together and are housed in a clearly defined geographic area, such as in a single building or campus. A LAN can only be as large as the physical limitations of the cabling you use which also depends on the cabling type. Usually the computers linked together in a LAN are workstations that can access data on computers on the same LAN, and use devices like printers that are connected to the LAN. †¢ A Wide Area Network (WAN) can span large geographic areas like countries and continents. WANs often contain two or more LANs. At least some of the connections used in WAN rely on long distance communications media such satellite links, long distance fiber optic cable, or specialized high speed telephone lines. WAN technology is essentially used to link all the computers in a multi-site or multinational enterprise in a reliable way Note that the key characteristic of a LAN or WAN is not how big it is, but rather the technologies used to connect the computers. There are other more specialized scopes used to describe networks. These include: †¢ Metropolitan Area Networks (MAN): this is a mini-wan or a giant LAN that is confined to a single municipality. A company might use a private MAN to link different offices together within the same compound. Computers on a MAN are linked using high-speed media like fiber optic or dedicated digital lines. This is the typical description of the IITA Ibadan network as will be discussed later. †¢ Storage Area Network (SAN): A specialized LAN linking several network servers that are dedicated to storing large amounts of data in a centralized secure repository. †¢ Personal Area Network (PAN): This is a connection you personally have with the technology that is around you (within your body) e.g. the way your cell phone communicates with your Bluetooth headset and your laptop. Bluetooth and infrared are currently the major types of PAN. Network Topology A network topology refers to the layout of the transmission medium and devices on a network. Topologies use either a point to point or multipoint connection scheme. A connection scheme indicates how many devices are connected to a transmission media segment or an individual cable. An example of point-to-point connection scheme is a printer or modem connected to your computer. Another is two computers connected directly to each other to use file transfer software like windows i.e. the network computer communicates with other network devices via direct cable connection between them. An example of a multi point connection scheme is a star or bus topology network. The entire physical structure of the network is called its physical topology. Star topology: This is a local area network topology where all the nodes are connected individually to a central connecting device called a hub. Signals travel from the nodes to the hub which then sends signals to other nodes on the network. A star topology network is easily scaleable – nodes can be added and removed fairly easily- and if a computer fails, none of the other nodes are affected. However if the hub fails the entire network fails. A hub does not perform any type of filtering or routing of the data. It is simply a junction that joins all the different nodes together.

South African Show Shaka Zulu Film Studies Essay

South African Show Shaka Zulu Film Studies Essay In late 1986, the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) created a television mini-series by the name of Shaka Zulu. It would prove an instant and huge success, and by 1992 it had been seen by over 350 million viewers in South Africa and abroad (Tomaselli 1992). Best described as an historical drama, the series centred on the first recorded encounter between blacks and whites in southeast Africa, with particular focus on the interactions between an exploratory British party, led by Lieutenant Francis Farewell (Edward Fox), and the ruler of a powerful and dangerous kingdom, the legendary Shaka Zulu (Henry Cele) (Hamilton 1998, p.171). In brief, the narrative follows Farewells band of men (including the storys narrator, Henry Francis Fynn) as they head to Zululand to dissuade Shaka from an attack on the Cape Colony. They are shipwrecked, captured by the Zulus, and come to learn about how Shakas kingdom was built. Within this structure, Fynns diary is used as a mechanism for a se ries of flashbacks which tell Shakas life story: his conception and birth (he is illegitimate), his life as an outcast, and his rise to power (Hamilton 1998). It is a violent portrayal Shaka is shown to be destined to rule through brutality (Fynn records that Shakas mother gave birth to a nation of blood-stained spears) (Faure 1986) and spends most of his time angrily taking revenge on those who have wronged him (Tomaselli 1992). Eventually, with the death of his mother, Nandi (Dudu Mkhize), Shaka is struck by a violent grief and the series ends with the Zulu kingdom in flames (Hamilton 1998, p.172). Farewell and company prove unable to save Shaka from himself, and the Zulu nation falls into chaos. Before conducting an analysis of the television series itself, it is worth examining how Shaka was remembered in Zulu culture long before the show was even commissioned. Like all history, there is no single voice in Zulu oral accounts of Shakas rule. Throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, different Zulu interests drew on different Shakas to support their actions in a changing world (Hamilton 1992, p.62). Thus, accounts differ significantly about key episodes in his life and fundamentally in their evaluation of the Zulu king and the Zulu memory of Shaka has not always been unanimously favourable towards him (Hamilton 1998, p.53). Having said this, Hallencreutz (1989, p.73) argues that we can roughly view the appreciative, complimentary izibongo (praise singers) as the core of the established Zulu tradition, and the more critical oral accounts as belonging to other related ethnic groups. And the fact that the legacy of the Shaka izibongo has tended to persist in situations of politica l crisis seems to support this claim. Thus the myth of Shaka, as he is remembered by Zulu oral historians, is probably best captured by those who pursue the izibongo tradition to some extent. I would suggest that the memory of Shaka is, for the most part, exemplified by poets such as Mazisi Kunene (1979 cited Hallencreutz 1989, p.75) who ends his commemoration of Shaka (based on Zulu oral accounts) as follows: He is an Ancestral Spirit; he cannot be stabbed. Even now they sing his song. They call his name. They dance in the arena listening to the echoes of his epics Till the end of time-they shall sing of him. Till the end of time his shield shall shelter the hero from the winds And his children shall rise like locusts. They shall scatter the dust of our enemies, They shall make our earth free for the Palm Race. Thus, while it is important to note that Zulu accounts of Shaka can and do differ greatly from hailing him as a benevolent leader to decrying him as a violent killer it is evident that they tend to fundamentally acknowledge that Shaka was an extraordinary man (Cele 2001, p.119). Various factors, including a perpetual need to describe the achievements of a leader who stood up to white expansion (especially considering South Africas particular history), have resulted in Shakas uniqueness and extraordinariness being prominent features in almost all Zulu oral histories (Cele 2001, p.121). While not unanimously favourable towards him, Zulu oral histories about Shaka would never portray him as being dependent on or subservient to the white man. As I am arguing that Shaka Zulu demonstrates how myth can be stripped down and re-imagined, it is also necessary for the purposes of this essay, to illustrate how and why Shakas story in Zulu oral history falls under the broad banner of myth (as used in the scholarly sense). Obviously, the definition of myth is a contested one. Nevertheless, I would argue that the Shaka legend, as remembered in Zulu culture, is mythic in almost every sense of the word. For instance, Mircea Eliade (cited Segal 2004, p.60) suggests that the mere ritualistic recitation of the highpoints in a characters biography (as demonstrated by the Zulu izibongo) posits that characters life as myth. The simple act of creating an oral biography for a famous historical figure like Shaka can transform them into near-gods and their sagas into myths (Eliade cited Segal 2004, p.53). Certainly, the Shaka story seems to comply with Levi-Strauss assertion that it is almost a prerequisite of myth that it starts out as an oral tradition (Leach 1974, p.56). In recording Shakas life in oral form, historical truths are transfigured, resulting in a new reality with a highly mythic character as chief protagonist (Mersham 1993). Hence, by the time the Shaka Zulu television show was commissioned in 1986, Zulu culture had already transfigured Shakas history into something quite mythic. Various elements of the Shaka story also closely resemble many of the telltale characteristics of myth as defined by theorists. For instance, Segal (2004, p.5) states that it is a prerequisite of myths that the main figures be personalities divine, human, or even animal. Shaka certainly fits this bill, as his presence tends to dominate Zulu folklore, where he is positioned somewhere in between divine and human (and he was even hailed as the great elephant by his praise singers) (Kunene 1979, p.13). Both Mersham (1993) and Cele (2001) go so far as to suggest that the man was (and is) for some Zulus a black Jesus Christ a symbol of deliverance from outside oppressors. Shakas story also evidences such highly mythic themes such as fratricide (Shaka was assassinated by his half brothers, Dingane and Mhlangana). This underrating of blood relations is a key feature of myth in Levi-Strauss terms (Leach 1974, p.76). Otto Rank (cited Segal 2004, p.96), in The Myth of the Birth of the Hero, s uggests that dislike of two brothers for each other is often traceable to the competition for the tender devotion and love of the mother. While this isnt necessarily the case with Shakas story, his love for his mother, Nandi, is well-documented (and is a key element in the Shaka myth). Shakas life, as it is remembered in Zulu culture, essentially is, by Northrop Fryes definition (cited Segal 2004, 81), a quest-myth it is the myth of the life of the hero. His life story conforms closely to Fryes four stages of birth, triumph, isolation, and the heros defeat. As Rank (cited Segal 2004, p.96) states, the mythological hero is heroic and triumphant because he rises from [relative] obscurity to, typically, the throne. And usually, like Shaka, he is a victim of Fate. Further, the Shaka narrative is mythic in the way it operates within the community which invests in it. Wylie (1997) argues that Shakas life story has achieved the status of myth, simply by virtue of the fact that it has garnered an authority of its own which is unthinkingly followed and repeated despite historical changes or the surfacing of contrary evidence. In being simplified and made innocent to its receivers, history has become myth, and myth is given a natural and eternal justification (Barthes 1993, p.143). Mythic history is above questioning and bereft of factual detail. It is not so much an explanation of events as it is a statement of fact (Barthes 1993, p.143). This is a key hallmark of myth, allowing it to function as it does in modern society. Myth, says Levi-Strauss (cited Leach 1974, p.59) is powerful in that novices of the society who hear the myths for the first time are being indoctrinated by the bearers of the tradition a tradition, which in theory at any rate, has been handed down from long dead ancestors. Through the recitation of this tradition and the passing of time, says Barthes (1993, p.142), things lose the memory that they were once made. In the case of the Shaka myth, this untouchability of a mythic characters life story has had very real social and political ramifications (as will be discussed later). Finally, I would suggest that myths that are successful in modern-day societies almost always go some way to explaining and commemorating the founding of that society. The Shaka myth both in its original form and as it is recreated for the television show is a classic embodiment of the myth of a founding community an origin (Tomaselli Shepperson 2002, p.132). It is typically mythic in that it explains how one state of affairs became another: how a plurality of tribes became a nation (and the rendition of the myth in the television series ultimately served to legitimate KwaZulus leaders rights to rule in 1986)(Mersham 1993). The man who played the central part in the establishment of the nation is the main figure. The cult of Shaka is mythological in that it honours his role in the establishment of the Zulu nation (Segal 2004, p.59). But where the myth described by Zulu oral historians focuses on the creation of the nation under Shaka, the television show emphasises an equally myt hic but quite different side to the kings rule: his downfall. The myth as depicted in Shaka Zulu closely matches the native American myths that so intrigued Levi-Strauss myths where: The entire story aims at explaining why after their first beginning, a given clan or lineage or group of lineages have overcome a great many ordeals, known periods of success and periods of failures, and have been progressively led towards a disastrous ending. It is an extremely pessimistic story, really the history of a downfall. (Levi-Strauss 1989, p.38) I will argue that the filmmakers (and their SABC backers) adopted this approach to the myth as a means of warning against violence in the pursuit of power (Tomaselli Shepperson 2002, p.132). Thus, a highly mythic story element was used to serve a very real function. A new myth, with a very different message, was manufactured to replace the old. How filmmakers able make myth It should now be evident how the Shaka myth developed and endured in Zulu oral histories. However, I will argue further that the creators of the Shaka Zulu television show essentially took this and recreated their own, new mythology to suit their own purposes. According to Barthes (1982 cited Wylie 1997), myth is an empty parasitical form, enabling it to be reformulated and reconstituted in various incarnations. While initially based in history, it is necessarily incomplete, accepted as truth but effectively divorced from the contingency of events (Wylie 1997). Thus, the line between history and mythology and I would argue, an original mythology and reinvented mythology as in the series is effectively blurred. Thus, there is room for new mythologies to effectively be invented which claim to be based on the same historical truths which inspired the original narratives. As Levi-Strauss (1989, p.38) asks, where does mythology end and where does history start?. The simple opposition be tween mythology and history which has traditionally been treated as a given is not at all a clear-cut one (Levi-Strauss 1989, p.40), and space is made for new mythologies to be created on essentially the same histories. In short, the creators of Shaka Zulu created a new mythology based on an old mythology originally linked to an almost two-hundred year old history. Hence, I argue that the Shaka Zulu television series adapted the Shaka Zulu myth for western eyes. For instance, grotesque witchdoctors were included in the show to serve the narrative function of magical creatures who aid or threaten the heros quest (Parks 1982 cited in Tomaselli 1992). While historically inaccurate and politically dubious, magical elements are included for television as they are integral to the western mythical formula (Tomaselli 1992). Tomaselli (1992) goes so far as to suggest that the very fact that television is a Western form of expression doomed Shaka Zulu to being a white, Western interpretation of the myth from the start. I would not necessarily go that far, but I would maintain that series was, either consciously or unconsciously, fashioned to conform to western notions of myth. Like the witchdoctors, the white crews sea voyage into a mysterious and dangerous land in Part One of the series hearkens back to some of the oldest myths in western culture. Likew ise, the television show is laden with western notions of prophecy. Shakas rise to power is explained almost entirely in terms of the witchdoctor, Sitayis prophecy. Before the party leave for Zululand, Fynn talks of a prophetic child who it is said will bring with him an era in which the name amaZulu will signify terror and death. (Faure 1986). Similarly, with his birth, the narration talks of how the prophecy was about to begin its determined path (Faure 1986). The links with other canonical western myths such as that of Oedipus are self-evident. Thus, Shaka Zulu, in its efforts to subscribe to the conventions of the mythic form familiar to western audiences, deviates notably from the mythology evidenced in Zulu oral accounts. Where Zulu mythologies about Shaka tended to cut through the bizarre to the essence of depictions, Shaka Zulu was obsessed with the surreal (Tomaselli 1992). The inevitable result was an othering of the Zulu people in a show almost unrecognisable alongside th e history it professed to present. Actual analysis show Content There can be little doubt that much of the shows actual content is, at best, dubious in its portrayal of the Zulu people and the history of Shakas rule. The Zulus portrayed are a bizarre and violent people (Tomaselli 1992). The first scenes in which Zululand are shown are typified by bloody warfare and crying infants. In fact, when we first encounter Shakas kingdom in Part One of the series, we do so through the eyes of the bewildered white party surrounded by sweating masses speaking a strange language, mysterious drum beats and an almost constant procession of war parties running around for no apparent reason (Faure 1986). Certainly, little effort has been made by the filmmakers to portray the everyday, mundane life of the Zulu people the emphasis is almost wholly on public, frequently violent rituals (Tomaselli 1992). The act of making the Other a spectacle is principal characteristic of western, bourgeois myth, says Barthes (1993, p.152), and this is process is patent in Shaka Zulu. Like his subjects, Shaka is also othered as a barbarian megalomaniac with an obsessive desire for revenge (Mersham 1993). Failure to please him carries the penalty of him killing every member of the party (Faure 1986). And, like all the Zulus, he is dictated to by superstition and ritual Have the armies assembled by the next full moon is one of the first commands we hear (Faure 1986). And perhaps the most startling subversion of history and myth comes in the form of the shows witchdoctors. What in truth were perfectly ordinary natural healers are depicted as superhuman, grotesque individuals (Tomaselli Shepperson 2002, p.135). Scary and monsterish, their arrival in a scene is almost always accompanied by thunder and lightning and rain (Tomaselli Shepperson 2002, p.135). In truth, these izangoma were welcomed as an integral part of the community a far cry from the creatures with glowing eyes that command packs of hyenas and maintain dens of dwarfs (Hamilton 1998, p.179). Th us, Zulu ritual is presented as being disgusting and frightening. (Hamilton 1998, p.179). Tomaselli and Shepperson (2002, p.135) argue that such a typical white misinterpretation of Zulu cultural practice is legitimised by the show positing itself as a mythology not, I would argue, a mythology familiar to Zulu history, but one that has been manufactured by white producers for audiences in 1986. It is a typically white version of a native myth (as evidenced by an almost Pocahontas-like scene of Nandi as a young Zulu maiden being watched as she washes at a misty waterfall) (Faure 1986). It is a myth reconfigured to make a modern-day impact. Style The series is also notable for the clear stylistic decisions on how it was shot. There is a very obvious distinction made between those shots that depict the Zulu nation and those featuring the whites in the Cape Colony. The tribal Zulu scenes are largely shot through a sepia filter, with an over-emphasis on yellows, browns and bloody reds. The only deviation from this formula comes during the night-time scenes chilling blue, rife with thunder and lightning, and loaded with imagery of sorcery, magic and the supernatural (Tomaselli Shepperson 2002, p.134). Tomaselli and Shepperson (2002, p.134) argue that ethnographic detail is deliberately obscured by the hazy sepia lighting, the clouds of smoke made by fog machines and the mass of shiny, sweaty (oiled) black skins. The end product is a smudge of objects and people, depicted as an incomprehensible writhing, pulsating and faceless dark mass as they dart about the landscape in a storm of dust. (Tomaselli Shepperson 2002, p.134). Aga in, I would argue there is something quite mythic about this hazy, blurry portrayal of a people. This is in stark contrast to the shots of white people in the Cape Colony, which are whiter, truer and do not contain the clashes between hot and chilling colours (Tom Shepperson, p.134). Thus, the binary oppositions that Levi-Strauss argues are so integral to myth are blatant: white vs black; light vs darkness; civilisation vs barbarity; rationality vs magic; normal behaviour vs ritual; peace vs war and order vs chaos (Tomaselli Shepperson 2002, p.134). Again, conscious decisions from the filmmakers have resulted in a new, subverted mythology. And I would argue that this essentially racist version of Shakas story professes to audiences to be the canonical version of the myth. Intentions etc Like all stories, re-imagined mythologies such as that on show in Shaka Zulu are clouded by the conventions of narrative in terms of prevailing worldviews (Tomaselli 1992). In other words, the creators of Shaka Zulu were dictated to in their mythmaking by the established ideologies of the time. The show is, thus, inextricably linked to the socio-political situation in South Africa at the time of its creation (Tomaselli 1992). Further, any author cannot help but impart something of his or her worldview on audiences when broadcasting a creation to the public domain. As van Jaarsveld (cited Mersham 1993) argues, as soon as an author (in this case, director William C Faure) presents an interpretation of the past, they are putting forward an arsenal of arguments for formulating decisions about the future. Thus, it was not by accident that the Shaka myth (and message) presented on screen differed so greatly from that recounted by Zulu oral historians. Director William C Faures stated intentions for the series were explicit: to bring the story of Shaka Zulu home to the Zulu people (Faure 1986). He is quoted (cited Tomaselli 1992) as saying: Shakas life was originally recorded by white historians who imposed upon their accounts bigoted and sensationalist values often labelling the Zulus as savage and barbaric. It is our intention with this series to change that view. However, as Barthes posits, all myths are founded on a concealment of some meanings and the interested promotion of others (Rylance 1994, p.47) and there was more motivating Faure than just the desire to right historical wrongs. He also hoped that show would shed light on South Africa, correct misconceptions and change the system (Hamilton 1992, p.181). It appears to have been his deepest wish that the show would balance international perceptions about the conflict in 1980s South Africa, and thus whatever intentions he had to redress the injustices of history became distorted by his commitment to this objective (Tomaselli Shepperson 2002, p.131). Thus, Tomaselli and Shepperson (2002, p.133) argue that Faures project was couched, perhaps unintentionally, within apartheid discourse, and does no justice to either Shaka or history. This is just further evidence that mythology as a story form is manufactured to suit prevailing worldviews. From the off, Faures creation was fraught with apparent political interference. The series writer, Joshua Sinclair, removed himself from the production when he was made aware of the directors links with South African Military Intelligence (Blignaut cited Tomaselli 1992). Faure was also convinced out of using Zulu poet, Mazisi Kunenes epic Emperor Shaka the Great as source material, as it was deemed to be overly critical of white people and because Kunene was an exiled member of the African National Congress (ANC) (Tomaselli Shepperson 2002, p.130). However, the relationship between the filmmaker and the SABC (and the state) was by no means a straightforward one. Faure liaised equally closely with not only the Zulu royal family (inviting the Zulu prince Gideon onto set as a cultural advisor) but also the Zulu government (Tomaselli 1992). Yet even with these efforts to seek Zulu approval, we shall see that the level of state involvement was tangible. The key to Shaka Zulus unique succ ess was in that it was able to establish a myth that was acceptable to both those who already had their own version of Shakas story and those largely unfamiliar with it. The apartheid government saw Shaka Zulu as an opportunity to reformulate the myth in a way that would more closely suit their plans. Initially a powerful tale of a hero resisting white oppression, the myth was transformed into something quite different. At the time of Shaka Zulus release, South Africa was in a state of violent political turmoil. The apartheid regime was fast coming around to the idea that solutions to the violence in South African society had to be found. Thus, Faures proposed television series offered the state and the SABC a key opportunity to present all South Africans with a drama advocating interracial collaboration and portraying the dangers of its failure (Hamilton 1998, p.181). As Barthes (1993, p.156) states, mythology harmonises with the world, not as it is, but as it wants to create itself. The mythology of Shaka Zulu was, in effect, a reflection of how the government thought South Africa should be. Shaka Zulu represented an opportunity for the government to promote a resolution based on order (apparently best reflected by the capitalist Inkatha Freedom Party) over disorder (basically, the socialist ANC freedom fighters) (Tomaselli 1992). To the apartheid government, order implied keeping nations separate according to tribal homeland, and Tomaselli (1992) argues that the series insistence on manufacturing a dichotomy between savagery and civilisation only served to endorse apartheid discourse that black people should be allowed to develop in their own way in their own areas. The government also needed cooperative, authoritarian black leaders to implement their visions of peaceful segregation. Someone, says Hamilton (1998, p.184) like Shaka Zulu. The closest match was the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) leader, Mangosuthu Buthelezi, whose links with Zulu royalty made him and his fellow party leaders the shows perfect target audience. Shaka Zulu effectively acted as a means for the government to communicate its reformist visions to Buthelezi and his leadership. For instance, the chaos of the Zulu kingdom portrayed in the final episode after Shakas rejection of white interaction came as a stern warning to black politicians such as Buthelezi of the consequences of trying to go it alone (Hamilton 1998, p.184) (as an interesting aside, it is worth noting how this all fits into Levi-Strauss insistence that the chief moral implication of myth is that self-interest is the source of all evil) (cited Leach 1974, p.81). Refusal to cooperate with the apartheid state (just like Shakas refusal to establish a truce with the Cape Colony in the show) would only result in flames and chaos will prevail (Hamilton cited Tomaselli Shepperson 2002, p.32). Again the myth of the downfall on screen was used to warn against risking the Zulu nations downfall in the real, physical world. The message behind the new myth was clear. The project was not without its critics. The production was universally rejected by anti-apartheid who were fighting for non-racial democracy. Most white anti-apartheid historians were appalled by the series historical inaccuracies (Tomaselli 1992). Wright (cited Mersham 1993) slated the show for pandering to a whole range of colonial and racist stereotypes about the Zulus a people reduced to singing, dancing, fighting. Hamilton states that the multitude of Unzulu untraditional features had many critics baffled as to how the series gained royal approval (Hamilton 1998, p.185). Also, while the series did show Shaka to be a leader of calibre and talent, Hamilton (1998) argues that it was guilty of repeating older stereotypes of his psychological imbalances and bloodthirstiness. Mazisi Kunene (cited Tomaselli 1992) lambasted the series as a rotten a propaganda tool aimed at aimed at projecting the Zulu people and their king as bloodthirsty savages and whites as their saviours. Yet for all the shows obvious failings, the show was an immense success evidence, in my opinion, of the power of the mythic form. Uses Curiously, the Shaka Zulu myth would prove to be as acceptable to the Zulu leadership as it was to the forces that influenced its creation. This has a lot to do with the anxieties within Zulu society at the time of the shows release. Ernst Cassirer wrote in The Myth of the State (1946 cited Segal 2004, p.39) that myth resurfaces as a means of explanation when the rational forces that resist the rise of the old mythical conceptions are no longer sure of themselves. In these moments, he says, the time for myth has come again (1946 cited Segal 2004, p.39). Late apartheid South Africa was such a time. Myth is dangerous in that it is a social-psychological paradigm catering for a particular anxiety in society, yet still as in the case of Shaka Zulu presents itself as something born out of historical truths (Wylie 1997). Thus, myth tends to give a natural justification to the worldviews it supports (Barthes 1993, p.142). Historical veracity becomes far less important than the ways in whi ch the myth is appropriated and utilised. As Barthes (1993, p.144) states: Men do not have with myth a relationship based on truth but on use. For Buthelezi and the IFP, the truthfulness of the myth was far less important than the socio-political purposes it could serve. The white version of the Shaka Zulu myth arrived on South African television screens at a time of great political strife in the Zulu homeland of KwaZulu. Buthelezis Inkatha Freedom Party was involved in a bloody conflict with the African National Congress for legitimate rule. Where the ANC sought multi-party democracy, the IFP stood for Zulu independence, and thus Shaka Zulus emphasis on ethnicity and equating it with nationhood proved to be more than acceptable fillip to Buthelezi (Tomaselli Shepperson 2002, p.133). Mangosuthu Buthelezi was very conscious of the power of the Shaka myth. At political rallies, the IFP leader would be seen wearing the same kind of Zulu royal regalia that Shaka is shown to wear in the series (Tomaselli 1992). In fact, the wearing of traditional, ceremonial skin garments became a marker of Zuluness for IFP politicians (causing many anti-IFP Zulu-speakers to take offence to the notion that they should become postcard Zulus) (Klopper 1996, p.55). Thus, I argue that it is no contradiction that Shaka Zulu could simultaneously portray the Zulu people as backward, uncivilised and tribal and be a vehicle for legitimating the IFP leadership (Mersham 1993). Tribalism helped the IFPs cause. Further, Buthelezi would explicitly compare himself with the Zulu royalty of Shakas time throughout the 1980s as a means of gaining political credibility with the Zulu people. Thus, the fact that the Shaka Zulu myth was so fresh in the Zulu consciousness with the shows broadcast, became a means for the IFP to bestow its leadership with legitimate authority (Tomaselli 1992). Like Shaka once did, Buthelezi now became the man who would lead his nation against its colonial oppressors (Tomaselli 1992). Tomaselli (1992) even argues that Inkathas militia wing was mobilised as a reincarnation of Shakas impi (military), as a means of inspiring popular support for their (frequently violent) cause. Within the Zulu community, Buthelezis cause was strengthened by Ink athas close identification with the loyalty, discipline and bowing and scraping for Shaka shown in the show (Mersham 1993). Obedience to the leader in the TV series myth was shown to be an innate aspect of Zulu culture questioning Buthelezi was implied to be unZulu. Despite its flaws both in terms of historical accuracy and prejudiced portrayals the Shaka Zulu myth was lauded by the Inkatha leadership as being faithful to their king, and a positive mobilising force for Zulu nationalism (Tomaselli 1992). Thus the Shaka Zulu show became a mechanism for the IFP to portray itself as inheritor and protector of the historical pride of the Zulu nation (Tomaselli 1992). The unsavoury aspects of the shows portrayal of the Zulu people and the downfall of Shaka were superfluous. The myth of a great Zulu leader standing up to outside oppression and the implied suggestion that a new leader had it in him to do likewise were all that mattered. Buthelezi was happy to ride on the dramatic success of the series, even if a perceived concession of the series objectionable features was the price to pay. (Hamilton 1998, p.186). GET OWN WORDS What I have tried to show is that in certain viewing contexts, Shaka Zulu offered a legitimacy for both ruling government and anti-apartheid elements (eg. the Kwa Zulu legislature and Inkatha). Barthes, R., 1993. Mythologies. London: Vintage. Cele, TT., 2001. Qualities of King Shaka as Portrayed in Zulu Oral Testimony and in Izibongo. South African Journal of African Languages, 2, 118-131. Fernandez, JW., 1967. The Shaka Complex. Transition, 29, 11-14. Available from: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2934231 [Accessed 8 January 2010] Hallencreutz, CF., 1989. Tradition and Theology in Mofolos Chaka. Journal of Religion in Africa, 19 (1), 71-85. Available from: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1581183 [Accessed 8 January 2010] Hamilton, C., 1998. Terrific Majesty: The Powers of Shaka Zulu and the Limits of Historical Invention. Cape Town: David Philip Publishers. Hamilton, C., 1992. The Character and Objects of Chaka: A Reconsideration of the Making of Shaka as Mfecane Motor. The Journal of African History, 33 (1), 37-63. Available from: http://www.jstor.org/stable/182274 [Accessed 15 December 2009] Harries, P. 1993. Imagery, Symbolism and Tradition in a South African Bantustan: Mangosuthu Buthelezi, Inkatha, and Zulu History. History and Theory, 32 (4), 105-125. Available f

Upholding Shakers Traditions :: essays research papers

Traditions Upheld The Shakers are universally admired for their architecture and handcrafts. Shakers believed that they served God by approaching every task with care. This care resulted in a distinctive Shaker style of architecture, furniture and decorative arts characterized by traditional Shaker values of simplicity, utility and fine craftsmanship. The Shaker sense of order and neatness is reflected in the clean lines and lack of ornamentation of their designs. Shakers were pioneers of the principles of form and function advocated later by architects and designers. The Shakers, or United Society of Believers in Christ’s Second Appearing, are the most enduring and successful of the many communitarian societies established in America in the 18th and 19th centuries. The first Shakers, led by Ann Lee, came to America from Manchester, England, in 1774 seeking a place to freely practice their religious beliefs. Near Albany, New York, they established the foundation for a unique sect which has endured for more than 220 years. The early Shakers traveled through New England and New York, attracting converts who were impressed by the kind of personal, spiritual relationship with God preached by Ann Lee. Converts gathered into communities, bound by their shared faith and a commitment to common property, celibacy, confession of sins, equality of men and women, isolation and separation from the world. By the 1830s nineteen Shaker communities had been established in New York, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Hampshire, Maine, Ohio, Kentucky and Indian a. Shakerism reached its peak in the mid-1800s, with an estimated five thousand members. There are still a few Shakers around today. The village that was most discussed by Susan Jackson Keig was in Pleasantville Kentucky. She discussed the Shakers singular way of life and their very detailed lives. There were four villages in Ohio, two in Kentucky and one in Indiana. There were nineteen major Shaker villages. These people new the secrets to live they seemed to live longer and be in better health. The Shakers were caring people they would take in orphans and all sorts of people, they did not discriminate against who was allowed in their village. Susan Jackson Keig showed a medley of beautiful pictures that can not be found any where else. I really enjoyed her presentation. Upholding Shakers Traditions :: essays research papers Traditions Upheld The Shakers are universally admired for their architecture and handcrafts. Shakers believed that they served God by approaching every task with care. This care resulted in a distinctive Shaker style of architecture, furniture and decorative arts characterized by traditional Shaker values of simplicity, utility and fine craftsmanship. The Shaker sense of order and neatness is reflected in the clean lines and lack of ornamentation of their designs. Shakers were pioneers of the principles of form and function advocated later by architects and designers. The Shakers, or United Society of Believers in Christ’s Second Appearing, are the most enduring and successful of the many communitarian societies established in America in the 18th and 19th centuries. The first Shakers, led by Ann Lee, came to America from Manchester, England, in 1774 seeking a place to freely practice their religious beliefs. Near Albany, New York, they established the foundation for a unique sect which has endured for more than 220 years. The early Shakers traveled through New England and New York, attracting converts who were impressed by the kind of personal, spiritual relationship with God preached by Ann Lee. Converts gathered into communities, bound by their shared faith and a commitment to common property, celibacy, confession of sins, equality of men and women, isolation and separation from the world. By the 1830s nineteen Shaker communities had been established in New York, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Hampshire, Maine, Ohio, Kentucky and Indian a. Shakerism reached its peak in the mid-1800s, with an estimated five thousand members. There are still a few Shakers around today. The village that was most discussed by Susan Jackson Keig was in Pleasantville Kentucky. She discussed the Shakers singular way of life and their very detailed lives. There were four villages in Ohio, two in Kentucky and one in Indiana. There were nineteen major Shaker villages. These people new the secrets to live they seemed to live longer and be in better health. The Shakers were caring people they would take in orphans and all sorts of people, they did not discriminate against who was allowed in their village. Susan Jackson Keig showed a medley of beautiful pictures that can not be found any where else. I really enjoyed her presentation.

The Art and Science of Creating a Monster

Albert Einstein, one of the greatest scientists in the world, believes that there is one question human beings must answer in order to truly understand the implications of existence itself: Is the Universe friendly?   In the vast body of thought both ancient and modern, the answers to this question are numerous and mostly contradictory.   In Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, the narrators uniformly answer this question in the negative.   In spite of their disparate stations in life, each storyteller feels separated from his fellows in some way, physically, intellectually, and geographically.   Society does not ease the condition of such lost souls because it is so quick to ostracize and dismiss anyone that departs from its grand ideals of what is acceptable (Williams, 1).Most artists, scientists, philosophers, and explorers are not celebrated until several centuries after death, if then.   Human beings are extremely social creatures.   In order to function well, people need to feel as though they are a part of something bigger than themselves, that they share a similar path to those around them.   Though he was denied the decency of others, the creature had only one wish; to have a companion made for him.   If he never encountered another living being except for her, he would have been contented in the spirit that there was someone in existence that could relate to him.   Victor Frankenstein, brilliant scientist extraordinaire literally sold his soul for godhood.At the end of his story, he shares the same fate of his creature: friendless and alone with only strangers to ease his passage into death.   In a sense, one could conceivably argue that Victor suffered just as much as the creature because he had his whole world taken from him—his little brother, best friend and his wife.   In the end, he becomes as wretched as the creature without soul or companionship and perished among strangers.   For one who has known genuine happine ss, life’s tragic moments become even more painful.Robert Walton, the sailor that tells the story of Frankinstein and his creature is equally marginalized.   He is without friends because his aspirations were lofty and his education limited.  Ã‚   When one leaves the path of the establishment to explore new and sometimes frightening realms, or departs from the norms expected for one’s gender, race, or intellectual achievements:   society exacts punishment by banishing him to the fringes.The creature is the most obviously reviled being in the story.   On a dark and stormy November night, he awakes to Victor’s horrified screeches.   His physical appearance produces instant disgust in everyone he meets, including his â€Å"father† and creator.   During the Romantic Era and in Gothic literature, physiognomy was a way to determine a person’s character and inclinations (McLaren, 40).   Elizabeth was thought to be an angel because of her bea utiful golden hair and fair countenance, while people assumed the creature was morally degenerate because of his ugly appearance.The creature had the sallow skin of a dead thing, he was extremely tall, strong, and bright, yet he was very malformed.   In the eighteenth century, ugliness and deviance were heavily correlated.   In many of the stories of the time, the hero and heroine were extremely good looking, virtuous, and talented in some special way.   In contrast, the villain was ugly, amoral, violent, and without conscience.   Even if there were a great degree of credence to this, it would seem that the violence toward others is simply a villain’s expression of loathing both self and society.â€Å"This violent response to his own oppression shares the same elements of many of the post-WWII protest novels.   Protest novels often delineate a relationship between the mainstream dominant society and the â€Å"Other,† a character designated for his/her margin alization and oppression within that society†(Scott).   Before departing to the wastelands of the North to end his miserable existence, the monster gives an accounting to himself to Walton, even though he believes that it would not move the sailor to sympathize with his plight.Little does the creature know that his confessor had lived without a friend or companion.   Had things turned out differently, maybe Walton and the creature might have become friends because both were alone in the world.   The creature’s story is very reminiscent of the tragic poor, malformed vagabonds living on the fringes of society, exposed to only the worst traits and abuses of   other human beings.   As a living creature, the monster wanted to be shown decency, compassion, gentleness and even love and he was denied at every turn.   He hated himself and the world and turned his grief and rage into a force of darkness that would avenge itself on everything and everyone his creator h olds dear.â€Å"I desired love and fellowship, and I was still spurned. Was there no injustice in this? Am I thought to be only the criminal, when all humankind sinned against me?†(Shelley, 210).  Ã‚   While some literary critics believe that the monster represents the depravity that lies dormant in all human beings until pushed to the breaking point (Scott), others have determined that he is instead, a voice of social justice.   When external conditions become so unbearable that it takes every ounce of effort to simply survive, this experience justifies any act of rebellion against the social order (Knoepflmacher & Lewis, 165).  Ã‚   To the creature, Victor Frankenstein represented the malignancy and callous disregard for life he encountered in his life experience.   When his last chance for a companion was destroyed in his creator’s ultimate breach of trust, he made it his life’s mission to destroy everything his creator loved without assuming personal responsibility for his death.Victor Frankenstein, not content with pursuing a normal career in medicine, aspires to godhood.   Because of his hubris, he loses everything he holds dear in his life and dies alone in an arctic desert.   Unlike his unfortunate creation, he represents the very establishment from which his ambitions set him apart.   His childhood was normal in an idealized sort of way.   His parents lavished tons of attention on him and he never had a moment of feeling unloved, neglected, or spurned by other people.   Growing up in Geneva, his life was extremely sheltered, and the people in his life were good and beautiful.   His aversion to ugliness is one of his most pronounced character traits.When he enrolls in University, he immediately judges the character of his professors based on their physical appearances, â€Å"I found even in M. Krempe a great deal of sound and sense and real information, combined, it is true, with a repulsive physiognomy and man ners.  Ã‚  Ã‚   In M. Waldman I found a true friend.   His gentleness was never tinged by dogmatism and his instructions were given with an air of frankness and good nature that banished every idea pedantry†(Shelley, 49).This passage makes Frankenstein appear shocked that M. Krempe would have anything of value to offer him because of his unattractive appearance.   Another despicable character trait is Victor’s inability to take responsibility for his actions.   Once the creature wakes up, he rushes from the room (Shelley, 57).   Later, he allows an innocent woman—the family maid he grew up with no less—to be executed for a crime she never committed to hide the existence of his creature (Shelley, 84).Robert Walton, not content to explore the vast inhabited regions of earth, braves the cold and ice to look for a northern route to the Pacific Ocean.   He wants to â€Å"boldly go where no man had gone before† to paraphrase Star Trek.   How ever, all he found was an endless wasteland that did not deliver the passage he had sought.   Though he merely serves as the recipient of Frankenstein’s story, he has no one in the world except his sister.   In this sense, he identifies with the creature’s feelings of loneliness.   In his second letter he tells his sister, â€Å"But I have one want which I have never yet been able to satisfy, and the absence of the object of which I now feel as a most severe evil.I have no friend, Margaret: when I am glowing with the enthusiasm of success, there will be none to participate in my joy; if I am assailed by disappointment, no one will endeavour to sustain me in dejection†(Shelley, 18).   While he is normal physically, his educational background sets him apart from others.   He is self-taught, and his curriculum included books of voyages and fantastic adventures, and the poets he had become familiar with were British.   Later, he laments that he is  "more illiterate than many schoolboys of fifteen†(Shelley, 19).  Ã‚  Ã‚   Still, he could not help feeling a little pity for the creature’s ordeal since part of it resembled his own, â€Å"Once my fancy was soothed with dreams of virtue, of fame, and of enjoyment.Once I falsely hoped to meet with beings who, pardoning my outward form, would love me for the excellent qualities which I was capable of unfolding.   I was nourished with high thoughts of honor and devotion.   But now crime has degraded me beneath the meanest animal†(Shelley, 209).   In that last desperate section following Frankenstein’s death, we realize that had Frankenstein not treated his creature so ill, he could have become a reliable companion, loyal friend, and confidant†¦the very thing Walton had become to Frankenstein when he was cold, alone, and starving.   Even as two wealthy white European men, Walton and Frankenstein failed to flourish in a society that was uniquely designed for them.While the two men and the monster keenly felt their separation from others, the women are practically non-characters.   Even though a woman that inhabited the extremely liberal artistic scene of the Enlightenment Era wrote the story, all the female characters assumed no importance of their own in a truly strong and heroic sense outside of their impact on Victor’s life.   They were objects, not subjects.   Even the monster was able to express himself as a subject, while the women served as props. Still, there was much about them that would potentially interest a reader if the characters were explored in greater depth.   Frankenstein’s mother was a philanthropist who visited poor families and attempted to ease their lot in life.Elizabeth was very passionate in the defense of Justine when she was falsely accused of murder (Shelley, 81).   As an orphan raised by peasants and adopted into a wealthy family, her character’s death would have been much more dramatic and poignant had she been flushed out more.   While Shelley achieved much as a writer, she did not want to encourage women to become more assertive, and none of the female characters (other than Walton’s sister) survived until the end of the book.One account states that Shelley believes women must behave differently from men (Schoene-Harwood, 42).  Ã‚   During the Romantic Era, men were the heroes, the creators, the actors in public life and the centerpiece of home life.   Women were the passive observers, and sometimes creators of brilliant artistic works.   Otherwise, the rest of the world belonged to men.Times have certainly changed, but not as much as people think.   Global travel exposes people to different cultures, ideals, and mores.   In the field of social psychology, the most successful societies assimilate outsiders rather than marginalize them.   To maximize the likelihood of maintaining a peaceful civilization, the newcomers must adapt the mores, values, and language of the dominant culture and the institutions must be able to accommodate the tansition.   When a population is exiled to the fringes, it would possibly create a volatile situation of accelerating tensions between the marginalized group and the dominant group to the point where the people on the fringe begin to attack the establishment in ways both subtle and explosive (Simon, 141-146).In American history, immigrants were looked down upon and many laws were passed to keep them out.   Eventually, groups of immigrants had begun forming their own communities, keeping the spirit of their home culture alive in a country that neither wanted nor welcomed them.   With the growth of these communities, people no longer have the need nor desire to learn the dominant language.   On a whole, people in the West are gradually becoming more tolerant toward alternative lifestyles, minority groups, and religious preferences, but the bias and prejudice against people not gifted with physical beauty is the final socially acceptable prejudice to hold. Women in the Western World had finally been granted the right to vote; even so, a woman’s value is still vested in her looks and ability to become a wife and mother.Until a woman’s choice to attain worldly power is respected, they will never achieve the same level of equality that men assume.   Shelley’s women were faithful in their duties of domestics, artists, and lovers, but like many women of the time; were not allowed to express the hidden passion they were forced to repress.   Even in our own society, marginalizing others is still par for the course.   In the US, a strict racial hierarchy is still perpetuated even though the apartheid was legally dissolved in the 1960’s.   There is a great disparity between the races when looking at factors such as life expectancy, disease profiles, and income.Progress toward a better world is often slow and a lways painful.   In order to maintain social stability, people did not evolve the ability to accept sweeping changes on all levels.   Appearance in the twenty-first century will become an even greater obsession than it was in the past.   With superior technology to alter, enlarge, or diminish undesirable characteristics, beauty will quickly become associated with social class and personal value.   When Elizabeth was adopted, Frankenstein’s mother believed that she was a higher order of being by virtue of her physical appearance, â€Å"a being heaven-sent, and bearing a celestial stamp in all her features† (Shelley, 34).Victor Frankenstein’s monster was a different order of being himself, he was purely logical, empathetic, and selfless, but he was hideously ugly.   Eventually, through repeated rejection, brutal treatment, and several attempts on his life, he was trained to mold his character to match his looks.   To those living on the fringes, the un iverse is an extremely unfriendly place indeed.Works CitedCaldwell, Janis McLaren. Literature and Medicine in Nineteenth-Century Britain: From Mary Shelley to George Elliot. Cambridge University Press, 2004Knoepflmacher, Ulrich Camillus & George Lewis. The Endurance of Frankenstein.   University of California Press: 1979Schoene-Harwood, Berthold. Frankenstein: Essays, Articles, Reviews. Columbia University Press: 2000Scott, Cynthia C. â€Å"The Other: Race, Rage, Violence and the Protest Novel in M. Shelley's Frankenstein†. The People’s Media Company. 3 Mar. 2007 ;http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/28245/the_other_race_rage_violence_and_the.html;Shelley, Mary. Frankenstein. New York: Signet Classic, 1965Simon, Bernd. Identity in Modern Society: A Social Psychological Perspective.   Boston: Blackwell Publishing, 2004Williams, Kipling D. The Social Outcast: Ostracism, Social Exclusion, Rejection, ; Bullying. New York: Psychology Press, 2005

Free Essays on Persian Wars

The most destructive war for Greek history was the Peloponnesian war. This war was fought between Athens and Sparta. Sparta’s goal was to attack Attica by land, burn its houses, and lay waste to the countryside. The Spartans hoped that by doing this they would disrupt agriculture and spread fear and chaos throughout the region. After realizing that trying to defeat the Spartan army would be stupid, the adopted a plan that relied on their fleet. Pericles ordered refuge behind the long walls. Pericles hoped the Spartans would grow tired and frustrated and give up the fight. At first the plan was working. In the summer of 431, the Spartans marched into Attica and burned Athenian homes and farms. After Pericles died in 429, some Athenians joined the Spartan-led alliance. After months and years of fighting the Spartans destroyed the Athenian fleet. Finally in 404 B.C. the Athenians surrendered. After the Peloponnesian war Greek city-states were weak and financially destroyed.... Free Essays on Persian Wars Free Essays on Persian Wars The most destructive war for Greek history was the Peloponnesian war. This war was fought between Athens and Sparta. Sparta’s goal was to attack Attica by land, burn its houses, and lay waste to the countryside. The Spartans hoped that by doing this they would disrupt agriculture and spread fear and chaos throughout the region. After realizing that trying to defeat the Spartan army would be stupid, the adopted a plan that relied on their fleet. Pericles ordered refuge behind the long walls. Pericles hoped the Spartans would grow tired and frustrated and give up the fight. At first the plan was working. In the summer of 431, the Spartans marched into Attica and burned Athenian homes and farms. After Pericles died in 429, some Athenians joined the Spartan-led alliance. After months and years of fighting the Spartans destroyed the Athenian fleet. Finally in 404 B.C. the Athenians surrendered. After the Peloponnesian war Greek city-states were weak and financially destroyed....