Life and Works of Rizal Essay Example for Free

Life and Works of Rizal Essay He continued his studies at the Universidad Central de Madrid, Spain, where he earned the degree of Licientiate in Medicine. He also attended the University of Paris in France and earned second doctorate at the University of Heidelberg in Germany. Having travelled the world extensively, Rizal became conversant in at least twenty-two languages. He was a prolific poet, essayist, diarist, correspondent, and novelist whose most famous works were his two novels, Noli me Tangere and El Filibusterismo. These works fearlessly exposed the injustices committed by the Spanish civil and clerical officials in the Philippines amd spurred the militancy of armed revolutionaries and reformist against more than 300 years of Spanish rule. Rizal was proponent of institutional reforms by peaceful means rather than violence revolution. But he was associated with the growing insurgency movement and declared an enemy of the state by the Spanish authorities particularly because of the publication of his novels. He was deported to Dapitan in Zamboanga then incarcerated at Fort Santiago. When the Katipunan exploded into the full-blown revolution, the authorities were quick to incriminate him. After a mock trial, Rizal was convicted and sentence to die by firing squad at Bagubayan on December 30, 1896. Eventually, his martyred death proved to be the catalyst that precipitated the Philippine revolution and the downfall of the Spanish colonial rule.

Important Areas For Self Awareness Psychology Essay

Important Areas For Self Awareness Psychology Essay In a changing corporate world, strong leadership is becoming necessity for Business to survive.Complexity and chaos are creating emerging concerns in solving problem in business world, which leads more attention to leadership. This in turn has increased arguments how leadership is different from management. Management focus on responsibities and reaching goals effectively and efficiently which means it is the activities that keeps organization running(Huey,1994).However leadership is a role to influence others and guiding them to go in right direction to effectiveness(Bennis Nanus,1985).Three skills required for managers to create success organization includes establishing direction, motivating and inspiring people and aligning people (Cohn, 1998).This new leadership role, it puts more pressure on leaders to deal effectively in an environment in which knowledge is an economic resource. Knowledge includes explicit data and statistics as in history and tactic or inner sense. These are considered as key skills of leaders (White, Hodgson, Crainer, 1996).Self awareness is a foundation for tactic knowledge. In the White, et al(1996) self awareness involves the leaders being aware of their strengths and weakness and ability to accept them. Self analysis is a process of raising self awareness. So the key thing here is to collect sufficient and efficient information to make effective decision on ones future for a self managed development. By examining your strengths, weaknesses, skills and competences, a person can get a clear picture of what you are and what you have got. Important Areas for Self-Awareness Being a very complex and diverse creature Human beings need to have an understanding in many areas like psychological needs, personality traits, values, habits, emotions etc to become self aware. Understanding our personalities can help us to find the solutions in which we thrive and help us to avoid situation which will give us too much stress and mental pressure. It could be in personal or professional life. For instance an introvert person can find it more stressful in sales job than an extrovert person. So either the person has to learn skills to match the job requirement or should look for other opportunities. So Awareness of personality helps to make a decision that will lead to less stress to lead a happy life. Every person has its own personal values. Unawareness of own values may misguide to pay more attention to less unimportant work and feel guilty for not concentrating on priority works. Habits are the behaviours that are repeated routinely and automatically. Personal habit may affect our effectiveness. For instance if a person who is a manager doesnt have a habit to consult staff in decision making process may affect his ability to build staff members commitments. Knowing the psychological needs like esteem, affection, possessive, achievement, self actualization, power, control etc will help to understand their effect on interpersonal relationships. Emotional self-awareness is one of the five facets of emotional intelligence. Its about knowing ones feelings, what caused that feeling and how it impacts one thought and action. A person with high emotional self awareness can understand the internal processes of any emotional experience so can have a better control over it Managerial self Awareness There are many developmental assessments like multi-rater technique, Feedback process, filling questionnaire etc are designed with the underlying assumption that the awareness of any contradictions in how others see us and the perception of ourselves will lead to a greater degree of self awareness which in turn enhances the leadership behaviour. So its makes important to understand what is self awareness and its impact on managers performance. Piaget(1928) defended that a child is a self centered or egocentric being and so the perspective of others is largely ignored and are of no concern. Then there is gradual progression from self centered view to more socially aware view. Gradually a child learns to take others role in social interactions where self is viewed as an object(Mead, 1934).This process of role taking involves paying attention to needs, opinions, intentions, emotions and intellectual capabilities of others which are important characteristics for a child to become an actual communicator (Flavell, Botkin Fry, 1968). The child that is not actively taking part in this role taking behavior is not able to be an effective communicator (Piaget, 1928), because the concept of ones point of view is absent. Intellectual egocentrism can be defined as the inability to take other roles. The ability to search for the opinions of others and compare them to their own viewpoint in order to make comparisons is absent, and therefore hinders almost every part of the childs life. According to Flavell et. al (1968), the ability to assess what another persons capabilities and tendencies in a given situation are, paired with the ability to use this information to communicate more effectively is a skill that is developed with age. The move from intellectual egocentrism to consideration of perspective of others that occurs in childhood is of great importance in which manner a person perceives the self. Mead (1934) argues that for ones selfhood awareness, it is necessary to detach awareness from inside of oneself and use vantage points from another person. So taking the role of other is important in this context, as the concept of self consists of the perception of others. Duval and Wicklunds (1972) theory of objective self-awareness contradicts Meads theory by postulating that self-consciousness occurs because consciousness can focus its attention on the self in the same way that attention is focused on any object. So there is no way an individual is dependent on others point of view as in the sense that Mead intends. If the object-like nature of the self has been discovered, and stimuli in the environment are such that consciousness turns in the direction of the self, the person will become objectively self-aware (Duval Wicklund,p. 31, 1972). In other words, others point of view is not necessary to be self conscious, instead a mature individual has innate consciousness ability to focus in different directions. Duval and Wicklund (1972) define objective self-awareness as the state in which the self is the object of consciousness. On the other hand, subjective self-awareness is the state in which the self is not the focus of consciousness. So it shows the early work of Piaget, Flavell, Duval, and Mead in the current studies on the concept of self-awareness. From business standpoint different feedback techniques are important for manager self awareness. To be truly self aware a manager should not limit his thoughts,feelings to himself rather he should be aware of others standpoint and include this information in self appraisal(Duval Lalwani, 1999). This can be referred to as other-awareness (Figurski, 1987).So one must be first aware of others perspective in order to alter owns perspective and then adopt those in relation to self (Flavell, 1968).So self awareness is a practise to reflects on self and accurately access ones own behaviour and skills as they are visible in workplace interactions (Church, 1997). Many managers use the information they perceive to modify future behavior. Figurski (1987) identified four different kinds of person-awareness which all together will provide clarity to this study. As seen in Figure 1, target, perspective, and content are the three main dimensions of person-awareness.Perspective or tacit awareness (egocentric or allocentric)interacts with the target or focal awareness (self or other) to get content of awareness. Four categories of attention result: self-experience awareness, self image awareness, other-image awareness, and other-experience awareness. These can occur together in any combination or simultaneously. The allocentric perspective results when one focus on how other perceives them being self is the target. When others are the target, one is concern about how others feel. So it important to considers others internal experience before adopting their perspective. Therefore objective self-awareness is dependent upon the consideration of others experiences. Problems may arise for those who fail to integrate information from the egocentric and allocentric perspectives. If the others experience are not adequately considered, there will be less understanding between the self and others resulting in less effective communication (Wegner Giuliano, 1982). On the other hand,one who relates others experiences to themselves and integrates that information to perceive self should experience effective communication. The figures with frequency indicate that people are aware of others experiences almost 50% of the time. So self proves to be the dominant focus of attention. Although managers focus on self, they are not able to accurately judge their own behaviours as they may get biased. However, self-ratings are important as there are some characteristics like intelligence, high achievements status and locus of control are closely related to accurate self evaluation Mabe and West(1982). The greater the individuals level of self awareness the more similarity that is expected between the self assessment and the ratings provided by peers. The discrepancy between self- and other-ratings is also unclear. For example, an elevation in self-ratings could be due to lower ratings in others rather than over-estimation by the self. Atwater and Yammarino (1992) sought to determine how self-awareness affects the degree of relationship between leadership behaviour and its predictors, and between leader behaviour and performance outcomes. On comparison of self and other rating it was found that inaccurate self raters who overestimate their performance show poor performance than people who are more accurate self raters. Additionally, their peers rated over-raters lowest than the under-raters. So self-aware individuals appear to be using direct and indirect feedback to modify behaviour. Over-estimators, however, seem to be using this information to confirm or justify their self-misperception of over-achieving. The hypothesis that high performing managers are more self aware was tested using absolute average profile differences (d) as well as relative average item differences across each question. High performers showed significantly lower profile difference scores than average performers. This supports managerial self-awareness theory in that high performers display higher levels of self-awareness than average performers Church(1997). Individuals who are self-aware are more likely to respond to information from past experiences, thereby becoming more effective and displaying more leadership strengths. Individuals perceived by their managers as being high performers will be more self-aware. This can be concluded high performers receive higher congruence in self-other ratings compared to average performing managers. Therefore, there is a correlation between the overall leadership measure and higher congruence scores. If a manager is not self-aware, information on how others perceive the self is of no use. According to the Figurski (1987) model, the allocentric perspective must be utilized in order for one to be aware of how the self is considered by others. Failure to consider the similarity or differences between the self and others results in perspectives that vary. Effective communication is in turn hindered, because the understanding between people is not clear. Conversely, those who communicate effectively are using information gathered from interactions with others. It is therefore expected that managers with higher communication scores will display more congruent performance data (as reflected in self-rater agreement). Individuals tend to focus more on feedback they receive from their managers versus peers or others. Data source (self, manager, peer, and other) is expected to explain variance in self-awareness levels. Managers with emotional awareness are good decision makers. In these changing competitive environments intuitive decision makers can deal with situation with gut feeling and sixth sense. Emotionally aware persons can read their gut feeling and have better sixth sense that help them in decision making process. Jobs that dont suit a persons personality will give more stress than more compatible jobs. This is not like if your qualities are not compatible you cant go ahead with the job but you can put extra effort to develop the skills buy there are other alternative that will be less stressful. Self awareness is very powerful in revealing what is important for a person to improve performance. Understanding psychological needs increase motivation and get closer to the rewards that a person deserves. Understanding what click a person, reason of behaviour, reason of excitement etc can make what triggers others as well. So knowing to motivate yourself can help in know what motivate others. In Summary To perfect ones management skills the best way to start is getting self aware. With a sense of yourself and vision of what kind a person you are or what you want to become a plan of personal and professional development can be created, its helps to motivate a person, Help to manage stress and help in decision making and helps to lead and motivate others, which makes an effective leader. Knowing yourself is a slow process so we should try hard.

Alternative Mating Strategies of Animals

Alternative Mating Strategies of Animals Animal Behaviour Essay Reproductive success can be defined as a mechanism which allows the passing of genes from one generation to the next in such a way that the offspring will too successfully pass on these genes. When male reproductive success depends on male-male competition and aggression, as is usually the case in polygamous species, individuals who are at a competitive disadvantage sometimes adopt an entirely different constellation of reproductive behaviours. In most cases, individuals practice only a single reproduction option throughout their lifetime (Kelly R. Zamudio, 2000). However, when such alternative mating patterns are practiced as part of a developmental sequence, they can be considered parts of a single lifetime reproductive strategy (Kelly R. Zamudio, 2000). Alternative Mating strategies have long fascinated behavioural biologists. A system in which not all males are equal in physical attributes (phenotypes) and have therefore developed an alternative strategy in order to pass on indiv idual genes by producing offspring (Kelly R. Zamudio, 2000). We hear of sneakers, satellites, mate guarding and more. Alternative mating strategies shed light on fundamental evolutionary processes (Kelly R. Zamudio, 2000). How can sexual selection overcome the combined forces of natural selection on males and female who oppose it? Highly modified male phenotypes are well known to impose great survival costs upon the males that possess them (Kelly R. Zamudio, 2000). How is it that these extreme male variants, as well as the females that mate with or produce them, are not simply eliminated by natural selection outright (Kelly R. Zamudio, 2000). Alternative mating strategies invade a population when relatively few conventional individuals secure mates. There are two types of alternative strategies exist. First, phenotype differences through polymorphism and second, genetically determined alternative strategies (Kelly R. Zamudio, 2000). The side-blotched lizard, (Uta stansburianathe), is a small common territorial lizard that is widely distributed in North America. Males of this species are highly territorial and their mating system has been described as resource-defence polygyny, with large territory holders gaining access to females whose home ranges are included within their territory (Stanley F. Fox, 2003). Some populations of this species in the coastal range of California exhibit a curious combination of alternative states that has been described as a rock paper scissors game (Stanley F. Fox, 2003). Three alternative strategies interact in a system that has no single winner; instead each male has strengths that allow it to out- compete one other strategy, but weaknesses that leave it vulnerable to tactics of the third (Stanley F. Fox, 2003). Orange-throated males are aggressive, have higher levels of testosterone, and vigorously defend large territories, which presumably affords them access to larger number of females (Stanley F. Fox, 2003). Blue-throated males are also territorial but mate guarders and stay with their females after copulating. Mate guarding may prevent their female from copulating with other males, however this behaviour interferes with territorial defence, and potentially limiting access by blue males to additional mates (Stanley F. Fox, 2003). Yellow-throated males are non- territorial of other mates and copulate with their females. In order to do this sneakers not only behave surreptitiously to avoid detection, but also rely on female mimicry, their throat and dorsal coloration are most similar to patterns found in females (Stanley F. Fox, 2003). Each male has specific behavioural attributes that allow it to out compete only one of the other males orange-throated males are able to outcompete the blue-throated mate guarders through aggression (Stanley F. Fox, 2003). On the other hand mate-guarding of blue males allows them to out-compete yellow sneakers, effectively d eter sneakers from copulating. Yellow throated sneakers have been most successful at mating with the orange throated females in that territory (Stanley F. Fox, 2003). This is a genetically based system requires very specific evolutionary conditions (Stanley F. Fox, 2003). Previous behavioural estimates of fitness found that the three males exist in an evolutionary stable state. Negative frequency-dependent selection maintains each phenotype in the population and all three males may have equal fitness (Stanley F. Fox, 2003). Fitness of sneakers will be highest when orange males are present in large numbers, because this should offer sneakers ample opportunity to sneak copulation from within territories of these males (Stanley F. Fox, 2003). Long term fitness of strategies must average the frequency-dependent fitness of each morph at all stages of cycle and across the entire population (Stanley F. Fox, 2003). This requires long term paternity data sets. Analysis for local frequency-dependent processes that underlie these patterns provides a more rapid assessment of the focus maintaining alternative strategies in this population (Stanley F. Fox, 2003 ). Demonstrating frequency-dependent selection provides a better estimate of the global stability of the system is maintained by negative frequency dependence in which rare morphs have a fitness advantage (Stanley F. Fox, 2003). The scale at which these behavioural interactions occur is the level of competing groups of neighbouring males, in that the exact composition of males within a neighbourhood is expected to determine the fitness of all males within that group. For example the success of any one male should depend on the number of the other two males that come in direct competition with him (Stanley F. Fox, 2003). Another species that exhibits alternative mating strategies within species is the fallow deer. Males of this species may adopt alternative mating strategies within single populations (Thirgood, 1990). There are several explanations for this; Thirgood declared that first, a particular strategy may be optimal under certain environmental or social conditions (Thirgood, 1990). Secondly the best strategy for an individual to adopt may depend upon the strategies adopted by other males in the population (Thirgood, 1990). Third, males may simply be making the best of a bad situation, because they are incapable of competing with other males to gain maximum access to females (Thirgood, 1990). Fallow deer follow three types of mating strategies the first of which is the pursuit of a non-territorial strategy. The second strategy is to defend one single territory which may or may not contain resources desired. The last strategy is to defend multiple or what are known as lek territories (Thirgood, 1990). Lek breeding is an uncommon mating system that has only been described in five ungulate species, including the Uganda and white-eared kob and the fallow deer (Thirgood, 1990). In lek breeding species males conjugate on small clustered mating territories, which females visit solely for the purpose of copulation (Thirgood, 1990). Males do not provide paternal investment other than gametes and their territories do not contain resources required by females other than the males themselves (Thirgood, 1990). Lekking rarely appears as a pure strategy within populations, but usually as an alternative to single territory defence. Most studies of lek breeding ungulates have suggested that males holding territories on the lek have much higher mating rates than those holding single territories away from the lek, and that these latter males are simply poor competitors (Thirgood, 1990). Fallow deer in the Blackensford region of the New Forest form part of a managed population of approximately 2000 animals inhabiting an area of mixed deciduous and coniferous woodland, heartland, bogs and grasslands (Thirgood, 1990). Mating is highly seasonal, taking place largely in the half of October, although occasional copulations have been recorded before and after that time. In the New Forest population, adult male and female fallow deer are spatially segregated for much of the year (Thirgood, 1990). A small lek of three to seven mature males would be situated on the boundary of two distinct woodland habitats. A lek was observed and copulations were recorded (Thirgood, 1990). Permanently defended single territories were established in areas close to the lek. These territories occurred in a single variety of woodland habitats ranging in resources from plentiful to absent, and are representative of the great variability of single territory defence in fallow deer (Thirgood, 1990). Non-territorial reproductive behaviour has been described previously from a number of wild and enclosed fallow populations (Thirgood, 1990). At Blackensford this consisted of males simply following groups of females, or behaving as satellites by intercepting female movement (Thirgood, 1990). The estimated mating success on a single territory was higher than that reported for other lekking populations of ungulates (Thirgood, 1990). Data suggests that within a given year successful lek males attain higher mating success than single territory males, who in turn get more mating than unsuccessful lek males (Thirgood, 1990). Males are not limited to one strategy, and are capable of switching strategies as mating opportunities dictate. It was concluded that because fighting is more common on the lek, lower costs of single territory defence may result in a longer reproductive life (Thirgood, 1990). Another species that displays alternative mating strategies is a type of Bee known as Centris Pallida. Dimorphism is common in the male mating behaviour, of a large anthophorid bee (John Alcock, 1977). Bees of this genus have been relatively little studied, although previous studies have found males of various species established territories primarily by orchids or around flowering trees in tropical, central and south America and in Jamaica males of C. Pallida dig up buried females and males, mating with the former (John Alcock, 1977). Mate-location, techniques, size variation, and the fitness of mates as well as the parental investments of their mothers are intimately related to one another (John Alcock, 1977). Males of this Bee fall into one of two classes when searching for females. They are either patrollers, cruising rapidly near the ground in areas in which females are emerging, or they are however, poised at aerial stations around shrubs and trees (John Alcock, 1977). Patrolle rs search for sites at which a buried virgin female is about to emerge, upon finding such a spot, the male is capable of digging through 1-2cm of soil to the hidden female, which is usually mated by the male that uncovers her (John Alcock, 1977). Patrollers often attempt to appropriate a digging spot that another male has discovered or to separate a male from a freshly captured female (John Alcock, 1977). The second group of males, known as the hoverers, wait at sites peripheral to open emergence areas, generally by plants, whether these are flowering or not (John Alcock, 1977). Alternatively they wait at flowering shrubs or trees located well away from major emergence sites. These bees hover in the air with their hind legs dangling and held higher than the abdomen (John Alcock, 1977). They dart off rapidly in pursuit of all passing insects about their size and then almost always quickly return to their hovering station, although they may drift rather slowly over an area 1-2m in dia meter (John Alcock, 1977). These individuals do chase neighbouring and intruding however commonly but they almost never make physical contact. As a general rule, 1m or so separates hovering males (John Alcock, 1977). It is difficult to say whether this spacing stems from aggressive interactions among males avoiding one another, seeking unoccupied scanning locations (John Alcock, 1977). Hoverers will pursue females that are collecting pollen but rarely grasp these individuals, which implies that they seek to secure only virgin females and can discriminate these from already mated bees. Hovering bees apparently are waiting for virgin females that have avoided capture by patroller-diggers (John Alcock, 1977). It has long been known that males in a wide variety of animal populations practice alternative mating strategies in order to maximize their reproductive fitness. This is especially common when there is male-male competition for access to mates. In cases where such alternative strategies are as successful at obtaining mates as the predominant strategy, a coexistence of different mating strategies will evolve. The importance of alternative mating strategies is widely underestimated and often misunderstood. Polymorphic mating phenotypes provide quantifiable examples of intense frequency dependant sexual selection and its rapid evolutionary consequences. in the case of the blotched- lizard it has been shown that frequency-dependent selection arising from local competition can promote conditions that favour each individual male, and thus preserve all three strategies of the rock-paper-scissors cycle in the long term. Condition-dependent behaviour in the context of mating may result from c hanges in resource availability and intra-sexual competition for mates. When competition decreases, the expression of alternative behaviours also decreases. Changes in mating behaviours, especially among alternative males, have been documented in insects, fish, and amphibians upon removal of dominant males. Additionally, the availability of mates and resources also affects the expression of alternative strategies within a sex. The gain or loss of territory has been shown to affect mating approaches among insect species, while the receptivity and spatial distribution of mate’s impacts tactics used among insects, fish, and mammals. Mating behaviours are also affected by an individual’s size and age, as smaller or younger individuals are more likely to attempt reproduction through alternative means, including mimicry or sneak tactics. As a result, the ability to choose a behaviour that maximizes fitness under certain circumstances evolves.

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee :: essays research papers

Scout learned a number of things in the book, but most of them all refer back to a statement that Atticus and Calpurnia said, which goes, â€Å"It’s a sin to kill a mockingbird because all they do is sing their hearts our for us.† (Lee, pg. 90). Scout learned that about people, too. She learned that some people don’t do anything to you, so it would be a sin to do something mean in return. Over the course of the story Scout becomes more mature and learns the most important facts of life. She was living through a very difficult time and most of that helped her get through.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  While watching Atticus during the trial, Scout learned a lot about her father. She learned that he was more than just an ordinary man to the Negroes. He was defending Tom Robinson, which meant a lot to them, because not many white people in the county would do a thing like that. Very few, if any, white men would defend a black man in a trial in a segregated county during the 1930’s. Because of what Atticus did more people, both white and black, gained respect for him. Scout saw that to the neighborhood people, Atticus was a very wise man, and a very good man, also. While Scout was watching from he balcony, she saw her father do something she had never seen. He told Bob Ewell to write his name on a sheet of paper. Scout saw that Bob was left handed, so he couldn’t have beaten up Mayella, because her black eye was on the right side of her face.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Outside the jailhouse before the trial began, Scout learned that as a child she could make angry men stand in Atticus’ shoes for a minute. There was a crowd who was made with Atticus, and they wanted to hang Tom Robinson. She talked to Walter Cunningham directly about his own family, which reminded him of what a decent person he really was. He then led the group away. (â€Å"Last night you made Walter Cunningham stand in my shoes for a minute. That was enough.†Ã¢â‚¬â€Atticus (Lee, pg. 157)). Mr. Cunnigham was only in that group of people because he (and most of the other men) were afraid something bad would happen to them if they turned on Atticus’ side.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Jem told Scout a lot of bad things about Mr.

College Entrance Essay: Moving to the US :: essays research papers

University of Washington Admissions Essay The challenging family situation I would like to share with you is our move from Korea to the United States. In 1989, my life was changed when my family immigrated to a new country, hoping for a better future. My life in Korea was hopeless, because I was a failing student with not much interest in school. I spent the majority of my time in Arcades, wasting my coins on video games. Rather than studying with my friends, as I had told my parents I would, I obsessed over the games. The only positive aspect to my life was my private computer programming lessons. Programming in Apple BASIC presented me with an opportunity to create my own world. One day, my parents told me that we were going to move to the United States of America, and I developed a strong feeling that my life soon would change forever. After spending eleven years in Korea, our family moved a totally different environment. This I knew would be my toughest challenge to date. As a fifth grader attending a new elementary school in a new country, I felt left out because of my inability to communicate. Some kids assumed that I did not understand them at all, so they made rude remarks about me. I understood them, maybe not completely, but I knew the intent of their messages. All that I had was my Apple II computer at which I just sat and programmed when I came home from school. At home, my parents pressured me to study all of the time, but I was frustrated and wanted to return to Korea. I wanted to go back and talk freely with my friends and play games with them. My parents often told me that they decided to move here because of the educational opportunities, yet I continued to rebel and refused to listen to what they said. Over time, my English improved. I moved on to regular sixth grade classes; some of which were challenging, but tolerable because of my teachers whom were willing to help. I always enjoyed class trips to the computer lab, where I would start programming on the computer. Other kids would start to gather around and treat me like a genius. Before long, I made more friends and found that I was enjoying school. Thoughts of going back to Korea faded, and my grades rose to a satisfactory level. This pleased my parents who now encouraged me to invite friends to dinner.

Pan’s Labyrinth Setting

Setting is one of the vital elements of fiction. A work can only be fully approached if it is first based on its setting, which guides the development of the work. For â€Å"Pan’s labyrinth†, an outstanding cinema work rich in symbols, details and meaning, it is even more essential for us to take the underlying context into serious consideration The external setting of this work consisted of 3 element: time, place and social environment. In 2006, the movie was filmed in a Scots Pine forest situated in the Guadarrama mountain range, Central Spain by the talented Mexican director Guillermo del Toro.The idea for Pan's Labyrinth came from Guillermo del Toro's notebooks, which he says are filled with â€Å"doodles, ideas, drawings and plot bits† which had been kept for twenty years. There are a lot of social factors affecting Del Toro. Firstly, his mind and work are characterised by a strong connection to fairy tales and horror, also he described his political positio n as â€Å"a little too liberal†. Del Toro got the idea of the mythological faun (Pan) from childhood experiences with â€Å"lucid dreaming†: after he waked up, a faun would gradually step out from behind the grandfather's clock.The faun became a mysterious, semi-suspicious relic who gave both the impression of trustworthiness and many signs that warn someone to never confide in him at all. Moreover, by exploring the figure of the god Pan and the symbol of the labyrinth, he tried to â€Å"mix those compelling factors and play with them†. Secondly, â€Å"Pan's Labyrinth† continues a tide of fine movies of Del Toro, illustrating a period after Francisco Franco has come into power. He pointed out that the villains in most of his films are united by the common attribute of authoritarianism.Most people make the villains ugly and nasty but Del Toro realizes that one of the dangers of fascism is that it's very attractive. To him, perfection actually lies in full y loving the defect. Killing somebody can be because of he broke a law, or broke an idea: patriotism, liberty, democracy†¦ In short, the idea behind the act is valued more than the act itself. The Internal Setting of â€Å"Pan’s labyrinth† is related to the 2 parallel storylines: Ofelia's fantasy world against the colorless right angles of the fascist world. For the reality – the facist world, it takes place aroundMay–June 1944, five years after the Spanish Civil War, when Spain was under the authoritarian dictatorship of Francisco Franco. The world war II is about to end. The story happens in a mill on the border of Spain. When the war is raging across the world, women are subordinate to men. The Falangists is winning over the rebels and the rebels have to hide in the forest. It is really a time of suspicion and paranoia: rebel supporters are brutally killed. For the fantasy world, it is seen that the story is closely connected to an old and abandon ed labyrinth and the Underworld Kingdom existing a long time ago.Ofelia, the main character, is a young girl who loves fairy tales. She travels with her pregnant mother Carmen to meet Captain Vidal, her new brutal, facism and cold-blood stepfather and father of Carmen's unborn child. The story is then gradually revealed within the (internal) setting, making viewers immersing completely in appalling scenes with its deep meaning implied. ? A work’s setting has important role as it is the world in which the characters appear, act and expose their emotions. It can be used to evoke a mood or atmosphere that will prepare the reader for what is to come in.In many cases, setting contributes to the overall meaning of a story or affects the characters. It would be a shortcoming if we analyzed a literature work without interpreting its setting and meaning behind, especially for â€Å"Pan’s labyrinth†. In the realistic story, the decisive colors drawing the view of story is old-newspaper yellow and dark grey, which implies the atmosphere of sadness and lurking danger. Not much of Spain outside the mill is referred in the story but the war between political groups here can represent the overall country’s condition.The influence of military is strong and almost encroaching on the natural order of Spain. However, the fascist seem not to belong to this place. They wear steely blue gray uniform, which is unnatural in the forest, while the rebels wear earthy browns connecting to soul of mountain. The fascists' headquarters is lying in a small mill, and surrounded by trees and forest, the rebels' habitat. It states the implication: despite the power of military, the fascists are still the small pocket of dry land in the midst of rising communism, one day they will face to the failure.To further the point on the mill's lack of femininity, it is an indication to us audience that this is not right place for Ofelia. The box shape of it exists only for fun ction, efficiency and work and there is no room to growth and discovery. That this place is not for a child reflects the fact fascism does not fit in Spain. In the parallel story, the fantasy world appears in front of audiences with devastated views. It loses the princess Moanna like Spain is seeking freedom. The Labyrinth is the only place that Ofelia can fully realize her imagination. Moreover, it also reflects reality out there.The structure of Labyrinth is the same as the circulation of destiny. Ofelia comes to the dream world, reunites with the parents, while the rebel defeats the fascist after so much sacrifice, blood and tears. â€Å"Pan’s labyrinth† (internal) setting partly reveals a sorrowful and tragic fairytale. As previously mentioned, the story happened when Spain was under the authoritarian dictatorship of Francisco Franco, in a mill surrounded by mountain and forest and rainy frequently. The film’s darkness overshadows the light, therefore most v iewers can imagine the sorrow from that dreary framework without seeing any minutes of the film.Unlike in other fairy tales where the writers omit events or elements that are deemed too harsh, in Pan’s labyrinth they do not overestimate the violent conflict between the rebel and German army which is leaded by a brutal person Capital Vidal; or the loneliness of the girl between two world, reality and fantasy. To some extent, both of them can reveal a tragic ending. Besides the internal setting, the external setting also discloses some values of the film but in artistic aspect. The author, Guillermo del Toro, has strong obsession of fairy tale and horror.That why he can create details, characters especially fairy ones which contain many symbolic values and compel the audiences to thinking a lot. As a consequence, each time we watch the film, we can always find something new. If we ask why a writer chooses to include certain details in a work, then we are likely to make connecti ons that relate the details to some larger purpose, such as the story's meaning. By analyzing clearly the setting of †Pan's Labyrinth†, viewers, as well as critics, can draw lessons from what Del Toro conveyed

Concept of Divinity in Judaic, Sumerian and Hindu Society

Divinity is the core of all religions and rule most societies. Socialization based on divinity occurs almost everywhere. Most of the acceptable behaviors we have been taught since infancy have religious roots. I will compare and contrast the concepts of divinity in Judaic, Sumerian and Hindu culture, based on Genesis, The Epic of Gilgamesh and The Ramayana of Valmiki, respectively. Judging by the literature, the Judaic concept of divinity seemed to be both polytheistic and monotheistic.I conclude there were multiple gods by several passages in Genesis including when God said, â€Å"Let us make a human in our image, by our likeness†¦,† and in Job where it reads â€Å"†¦and one day, the sons of God†¦Ã¢â‚¬  indicating a belief in multiple gods. Monotheism is evidenced elsewhere throughout Genesis, including in Creation when God, not gods, created heaven and earth, and throughout Job where the title character seems monotheistic. He says things like, â€Å"The LOR D has given and the LORD has taken. May the LORD’s name be blessed. † I do, however, see more evidence of monotheism than polytheism in Judaic culture.The Hindu and Sumerian are polytheistic concepts. The Hindus had multiple gods, like Brahma, the god of creation, Visnu, the god of preservation, and Siva, the god of redemption, from the Ramayana of Valmiki while the Sumerians, in The Epic of Gilgamesh, had Ea, Anu, Adad, Errakal, Shamash, Ninurta and Istar, among others. The Judaic God, from Genesis, was a vengeful entity as evidenced after the serpent hoodwinked Eve into eating and giving Adam fruit from the tree of knowledge, good and evil. All three involved were severely punished severely.God told the serpent â€Å"Because you have done this, cursed be you of all cattle and all beasts of the field. On your belly shall you go and dust shall you eat all the days of your life. Enmity will I set between you and the woman, between your seed and hers. He will boot your h ead and you will bite his heel. † He said to Eve, â€Å"I will terribly sharpen your birth pangs, in pain shall you bear children. And for your man shall be your longing and he shall rule over you. † And to Adam he said, â€Å"Cursed be the soil for your sake, with pangs shall you eat from it all the days of your life.Thorn and thistle shall it sprout for you and you shall eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your brow shall you eat bread till you return to the soil, for from there you were taken, for dust you ate and to dust shall you return. † The Sumerian gods were also pretty vengeful. I say this because of the great flood to wipe out the humans (except Utanapishtim and his wife) because the gods felt man was out of control and needed to be purged from Earth. Utanapishtim was warned by Ea (or Shamash) of the impending flood, told to build a boat, and not to warn the people of Shuruppak of the impending flood.The Hindu gods seemed less vengeful due to karma; if you follow dharma, karma would reward you. If you stray from the path of dharma, karma would punish you; thus, the gods did not need to be vengeful. This leads me to the conclusion that the Sumerian gods were followed out of fear but the Hindu gods were followed out of faith in dharma. The Judaic concept is a combination of the two. Man initially obeyed God out of fear, but eventually (at the end of Job), obedience was faith-based. Man and God developed faith in each other.There was free will in Judaic society, evidenced by God saying to Adam, â€Å"From every fruit of the garden you may surely eat. But from the tree of knowledge, good and evil, you shall not eat, for on the day you eat from it, you are doomed to die. † This allowed Adam to make a choice; thus giving him free will. I find evidence of fate and free will in Sumerian society. Gilgamesh encountered several instances where he made decisions without knowing there were consequences (indicating fate) and en countered the wrath of the gods. An example is when he rebuffed the goddess Ishtar’s wish to marry him.He knew not what the consequences would be beforehand. Ishtar was so dejected by the rejection that she (unsuccessfully) sent the Bull of Heaven to kill him. I see evidence of free will when Enkidu urged Gilgamesh to slay Humbaba, saying in part, â€Å"Finish him off for the kill, put him out of existence, before Enlil the foremost one hears of this! The great gods will become angry with us†¦,† indicating he knew beforehand the gods would not be happy with Humbaba’s slaying (indicating free will). In the Hindu concept, there was also no free will; you were to follow dharma.This was illustrated by Rama’s response to his mother, Kausalya, when she objected to his banishment to the Dandaka forest for fourteen years and asked that he take her with him. He said to her, â€Å"Mother, that would be extreme cruelty towards father. So long as father lives, please serve him: this is the eternal religion. To a woman her husband is verily god himself. † He was willing to follow the king’s will to follow dharma and kept his mother on the path of dharma, as well. There was evidence of all three cultures of their gods communicate directly to man.In the Judaic view, God spoke directly to Adam and Eve; not through a proxy. After God created them, He said to them, â€Å"Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and conquer it, and hold sway over the fish of the sea and the fowl of the heavens and every beast that crawls upon the earth. † There is also evidence in Job that God spoke directly to man, like when He answered Job from the whirlwind, â€Å"Who is this who darkens counsel†¦Ã¢â‚¬  In Sumerian culture, the gods speak directly to the humans as evidenced by Ishtar propositioning him thusly, â€Å"Come, Gilgamesh, you shall be my bridegroom!Give, oh give me of your lusciousness! You shall be my husband and I s hall be your wife. † Hindu divinity had gods communicating with humans, also. The god, Lord Visnu, who took the form of Rama to destroy the evil Ravana, regularly interacted and communicated with mortals throughout The Ramayana of Valmiki. The gods in Judaic and Sumerian culture seemed to be very petty and immature, behaviorally. The story of Job is an example of the Judaic god’s immaturity, when God allowed the Adversary to torture Job to prove his faith in God.This was little more than showing off, because he had no reason to test Job’s faith. Some Sumerian gods were also petty. Ishtar, as mentioned earlier, made the puerile decision to unleash the Bull of Heaven on Gilgamesh in a failed attempt to kill him for turning down her proposal. The Hindu gods do not seem as immature as the others, but they can make bad decisions based on emotion. Visnu (in the form of Rama), for example, was so angry when Sita was kidnapped (he thought a demon had eaten her), he threa tened to kill all living things.He said in part, â€Å"†¦I shall set aside all these virtues and the universe shall witness my supreme glory which will bring about the destruction of all creatures, including the demons. † In this paper, I have compared and contrasted the similarities of and differences between the Judaic, Sumerian and Hindu concepts of divinity. These concepts have many similarities and several distinct differences. I am hopeful I have sufficiently illustrated these common and unique divine attributes of religion.