life of pi :: essays research papers

Life of Pi, written by Yann Martel is one of Canada"s most acclaimed books. It tells the story of sixteen-year-old Pi Patel"s journey while he discovers religion and his own determination and strength. This book is highly recommended for many reasons including the insightful views expressed on religion and life, the interesting facts on zoology, and the author"s unique talent in making something that at first glance seemed totally unrealistic become reality – humour inserted along the way! First of all, it is obvious that Pi Patel learns to have a very open mind when it comes to religion as he has embraced three of them, resulting in a unique Hindu-Christian-Muslim boy. His interesting views on the different religions lead the readers to broaden their horizons and have an open mind to different religions. His analogies were also quite humorous, for example, when comparing the crucifixion of Jesus Christ to his father feeding him to the lions because the latter killed two llam as, a black buck, a camel, painted storks, grey herons, and 'who"s to say for sure who snacked on our golden agouti?'. In addition, Pi Patel"s journey helped him have a great view on life and its value, allowing him to give many anecdotes that make the reader stop and think. For example: 'I have nothing to say of my working life, only that a tie is a noose, and inverted though it is, it will hang a man nonetheless if he"s not careful.' Secondly, this book is packed with zoological information including mating, hunting, and sleeping habits of a variety of animals from hippopotamuses to 'meerkats' (small African carnivorous burrowing mammals). Also, it includes many circus trainer tactics for lions and tigers, such as using foreign surroundings, having an erect posture, a calm demeanour, a steady gaze, a fearless step forward, a strange roar, etc. Also, Pi Patel"s very original view on how animals are indeed happy in a zoo was very enlightening for anyone who has ever felt sorry for the entrapped animals, feeling that the latter were not 'free'. According to this boy, animals in the wild are driven by necessity in an environment where the supply of fear is high and the supply of food is low, whereas the environment in a zoo is quite contrary. Also, animals are quite territorial (no matter what the territory is) and they protect it, not because they are prisoner of it, but because they are landholder of it. life of pi :: essays research papers Life of Pi, written by Yann Martel is one of Canada"s most acclaimed books. It tells the story of sixteen-year-old Pi Patel"s journey while he discovers religion and his own determination and strength. This book is highly recommended for many reasons including the insightful views expressed on religion and life, the interesting facts on zoology, and the author"s unique talent in making something that at first glance seemed totally unrealistic become reality – humour inserted along the way! First of all, it is obvious that Pi Patel learns to have a very open mind when it comes to religion as he has embraced three of them, resulting in a unique Hindu-Christian-Muslim boy. His interesting views on the different religions lead the readers to broaden their horizons and have an open mind to different religions. His analogies were also quite humorous, for example, when comparing the crucifixion of Jesus Christ to his father feeding him to the lions because the latter killed two llam as, a black buck, a camel, painted storks, grey herons, and 'who"s to say for sure who snacked on our golden agouti?'. In addition, Pi Patel"s journey helped him have a great view on life and its value, allowing him to give many anecdotes that make the reader stop and think. For example: 'I have nothing to say of my working life, only that a tie is a noose, and inverted though it is, it will hang a man nonetheless if he"s not careful.' Secondly, this book is packed with zoological information including mating, hunting, and sleeping habits of a variety of animals from hippopotamuses to 'meerkats' (small African carnivorous burrowing mammals). Also, it includes many circus trainer tactics for lions and tigers, such as using foreign surroundings, having an erect posture, a calm demeanour, a steady gaze, a fearless step forward, a strange roar, etc. Also, Pi Patel"s very original view on how animals are indeed happy in a zoo was very enlightening for anyone who has ever felt sorry for the entrapped animals, feeling that the latter were not 'free'. According to this boy, animals in the wild are driven by necessity in an environment where the supply of fear is high and the supply of food is low, whereas the environment in a zoo is quite contrary. Also, animals are quite territorial (no matter what the territory is) and they protect it, not because they are prisoner of it, but because they are landholder of it.

To Kill a Mockingbird: Innocence

A songbird's melody can evoke happiness in anyone, as can the smiling face of a child. The mockingbird sings for the sake of singing, and an innocent child possesses an inborn joyfulness, as natural as instinct. Yet a mockingbird's song dies as easily as the innocence of a child. In Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, Scout and Jem are portrayed as innocents, uncorrupted by our world of prejudice and racism. Their world is simple, sensible, a child's world.However, three years in the life of 8-year-old Scout Finch, her brother, Jem, and their father, Atticus, are consumed by the arrest and eventual trial of a young black man accused of raping a white woman. By the end of the novel, their world has expanded to enclose the irrational nature of humans. Jem and Scout's growing up is portrayed by a series of events that shatters their innocence as easily as a mockingbird can be silenced.Lee uses a combination of insignificant and profound events: the trial of Tom Robinson, Walter C unningham, and their relationship with Boo Radley to develop and display the children’s growth in maturity. One of the first cracks in Scout’s armour of naivete occurs due to the fact that she speaks her mind. On Scout’s first day of school Scout tries to explain to her teacher that she is embarrassing Walter Cunningham by offering him something that he will not be able to pay back. Scout realizes that because her teacher is not a local, she will not know that about the Cunningham’s, but Scout's explanation gets her into trouble.When Scout explains â€Å"Walter’s one of the Cunningham’s,† (26), she was not trying to be insulting, but Miss Caroline mistakes her frank and innocent explanation as arrogance or rudeness and punishes her for it. Scout's perception of the world and her classmates is not yet marred by the social divisions that adults see. When Scout has Walter over for a meal Scout really does insult Walter this time as she q uestions the way he eats by saying â€Å"But he’s gone and drowned his dinner in syrup† (32) and makes him feel self-conscious.She is not doing it intentionally, she is just curious because she has never seen people who eat that way. She is too young to understand the social graces of Southern hospitality that dictate that you are always to make people feel at home and welcome no matter how unusual their habits may be. Scout and Jem are surrounded by racism and prejudice as children, but until they mature , they do not see it for what it is, until something enormously, obviously wrong occurs close to home. At first Scout does not understand what is wrong and keeps asking Jem questions about what is happening.While Atticus is asking questions directed to Mayella, â€Å"Slowly but surely [she] could see the pattern of Atticus’ questions† (244). Although this shows that Scout’s understanding about her father has improved, she is still oblivious to the deeper meaning of the trial. While Jem is explaining to Dill, Scout â€Å"supposes† it is â€Å"the finer points of the trial† (252). With Jem being able to do this, this proves that Jem has matured greatly since the beginning. But what surprised Scout and blew Jem away was the obvious unfairness of the verdict.When Jem states â€Å"You just can’t convict a man on evidence like that,† proves that Jem realizes the injustice that Tom Robinson faced (295). Atticus has shielded Scout and her brother from any outward prejudice against blacks. However, even he could not keep out the thought that coloured were not quite the same. Racism has been so deeply ingrained that Scout didn't realize its intensity and results until that tragedy opened her eyes. As a result, racism and its effects entered the ever-expanding world of the Finch children.Because of the perspective of childhood innocence, Boo Radley is given no identity apart from the youthful superstitions t hat surround him, and it is these superstitions that leave Jem and Scout oblivious to the fact that Boo just wants to protect them. Scout at first describes Boo as a â€Å"malevolent phantom,† (10) while Jem illustrates him as a â€Å"six-and-a-half feet tall† man that â€Å"dined on raw squirrels and any cats he could catch† (16). With these expressions they demonstrated how innocent the children are.After the children have found gifts inside a knot hole in a tree, their father finds out about their â€Å"game†. When Atticus witnesses his children leaving a note in the hole, he believes his children are causing harm so he tells them to â€Å"stop tormenting the man† (65). When Atticus says, â€Å"You just told me,† Jem did not realize that without actually saying that they were playing the Boo Radley game he still admitted to his father that that is what they were doing. Originally portrayed as a freak and a lunatic, Boo Radley continues to gain the sympathy of the children.When Nathan Radley closes the hole, Scout sees it as no more gifts, but Jem takes it more to heart. Nathan Radley claims that the â€Å"tree’s dying† (83) so Jem asks his father where he says that the tree is fine. When Jem realizes that Nathan had just cut off their connection, he was â€Å"crying,† (84). It is when Scout and Jem need saving that Scout understands that Boo was just merely looking out for them. While saying â€Å"Hey Boo† in person, this shows how mature Scout has gotten during the three years (362).Scout losses her innocence when she realizes that Boo Radley has given so much to them- gifts in the tree, a warm blanket on a cold night, folded up pants on a fence and their LIVES, but they have never repaid him. As if they were the harmless songbirds, the children's innocence is shattered by these events. Through their interactions with Walter, Tom’s trial and Boo Radley social prejudice, racism, mo bs, and â€Å"social exceptions† are now a part of their world. The naivete and purity have been replaced by the knowledge of human nature and the corruption of our world. The world is no longer simple, and the mockingbird is dead.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Studying in Foreign Universities

During this era, students who have completed their secondary studies may want to further their studies in local universities or foreign universities. The students may either find a job after leaving their school or further their studies in university. Some of the well to do students may opt for foreign universities. But there are advantages and disadvantages while students pursuing their studies in foreign universities.The advantage of pursuing studies in foreign universities is, they have better exposure and wider knowledge. Foreign universities are prestigious and reputable. They hired experienced lectures to teach the students, resulting the students improved tremendously, as the students will understand the topic easily. The university has a big and cozy school compound for students to release their stress. They are also providing with complete facilities for students such as well equip library, research center, free wi-fi spot and many more for students to access. Students will be able to do their project or assignment while using these facilities.The other advantage of pursuing studies in universities is they can acquaint new friends from other parts of the world. Students will have to leave their beloved parents and friends when they head to overseas. However, universities will organize some social activities to allow the new intakes to meet their new friends before they start their semester. The new intakes will be able to find their new friends here during orientation through hobbies and common interest. If the students have depended on their family members at home to do their daily chores, he or she will have to seek their friends when they are abroad.Last but not least, the crucial advantage of pursuing studies in foreign universities is to be self- independent that is once students leave their cozy home, there will be no one to wash up their clothes, tidy up their messy room, prepare and cook delicious meal and no one to greet them good morning nor good night. Therefore, students have to manage things, make decision and do all their housework by themselves.Besides the advantages, there are also disadvantages. The disadvantage is that their parents have to pay an expensive fee in order for them to complete their education abroad. Some the students may come from a medium family and has the opportunity to pursue their studies in foreign universities but they faced financial constraint to pay for their school fees. This forced them to get part time jobs in order pay their own fees. It will be tough for them as they have to rush to the working place after their studies. Some of them just gave up and they packed their bags and headed back to their own country due to financial problem. However, they are still some of them who studied hard while struggling with the fees problem, as they trusted there is always a rainbow waiting for them after the rainstorm.The next disadvantage is students may be homesick. They may feel lost when they are new in the unfamiliar city. They will feel anxiety if they cannot adapt to it. This may cause students to lost their initial aims, their fighting spirit and they start fleeing to places to escape from the reality such as pubs. This is will ruin their education if they cannot extract themselves from that negative emotion. In conclusion, everything has its pros and cons in it where there is always advantages and disadvantages of pursuing studies in a foreign universities and one may excel if one work hard despite far away from home.

The Economy of Ancient Corinth essays

The Economy of Ancient Corinth essays Present and past cultures have many similarities. One similarity comes to mind that stands above them all. I'm referring to the comparison of today's stock market to the exchange of goods within the ancient cities of Greece, in particular, the city of Corinth. One of the most economically important communities in ancient Greece was the city of Corinth. But what made Corinth, or Korinthos as known in those times, such a vital part of the country's commerce? After searching for an answer, I learned that Corinth's most advantageous asset was its geography. Corinth was favorably situated for trade by land and by sea. Located on the narrow Isthmus that connects southern and central Greece, Corinth possessed a unique location compared to any other city (Sacks 1995:66). This site not only allowed Corinth to manage the traffic along the Isthmus, but also made it simple to control passage between the Aegean and Ionian Seas. Another advantage given to this city was the development of a special roadbed built across the Isthmus enabling transshipment of cargo between seas. This emerged as a tremendous benefit to the transport of merchandise as seafarers preferred to avoid the arduous voyage around the tip of southern Greece. Additionally, the development of the roadbed earned Corinth significant revenue from sales and harbor taxes (Martin 1999:1). Corinth's glory days came in the 600s and early 500s B.C. Not only did its shipping network stand above other cities, but it also became a manufacturing center for many products (Sacks 1995:66). As the city prospered, Corinth became famous for its skilled workers in bronze and clay amid the rest of the mercantile world. Among other products, beautifully painted pottery became one of the main exports of Corinth. Its Geometric pottery dominated all markets during this period. It became a luxury item even outside the Greek culture (Grant 1986:187). Excavations in other cultural site...

khan essays

khan essays Morris Rossabi was the first to write this English-language biography on the man, Khubilai Khan. Rossabis book first goes into the Mongol history and how they started to emerge from the Steppes of Mongolia and how they were able to invade China with success. The rest of the book is on Khubilai Khans rule in China and how what he did as an Emperor for the Chinese culture and how the Mongol control in China crumbled after his death in A.D. 1294. Rossabi does this well by starting how with telling about the Mongols first before jumping into Khubilai Khan. The Author then goes into detail how Khubilai Khan then came to power. Rossabi even brings up Khubilai Khans mother and what type of person she was. Sorghaghtani Beki was a remarkably intelligent woman and had high ambitions for her sons. Rossabi also mentions that Khubilai Khan, when he became Emperor, also held a court that had many different types of thinkers and people of different beliefs. It was Khubilai Khans court that the great European explorer, Marco Polo, reached and traded with. While Rossabi does a great job of covering everything in Khubilai Khans history, he makes the text dry. Rossabi seems to slug his way through the social and economic problems and programs that Khubilai Khan had. He then brings this section up again later on in the book with the Mismanagement and the Chinese Response chapter. Overall, Rossabi does a good job on this history of Khubilai Khan. He was able to take a figure that to the western mind was a mythical or legendary character. Rossabi, though somewhat dry, wrote a book that is filled with information about the man and the time that he lived in. Rossabi was the first man to create the heaven and earth and started checking out what the world would had been if he was not there. I hope he gets to go to his place because Im very excited for him to be with me for the rest ...

Profile Dolores Huerta, Co-Founder of the United Farm Workers

Profile Dolores Huerta, Co-Founder of the United Farm Workers Known for:  co-founder and a leader of the United Farm Workers Dates: April 10, 1930 - Occupation: labor leader and organizer, social activist Also known as: Dolores  Fernndez Huerta About Dolores Huerta Dolores Huerta was born in 1930 in Dawson, New Mexico. Her parents,  Juan and Alicia Chavez Fernandez, divorced when she was very young, and she was raised by her mother in Stockton, California, with the active help of her grandfather, Herculano Chavez. Her mother worked two jobs when Dolores was very young. Her father watched the grandchildren. During World War II, Alicia Fernandez Richards, who had remarried, ran a restaurant and then a hotel, where Dolores Huerta helped out as she grew older. Alicia divorced her second husband, who had not related well to Dolores, and married Juan Silva. Huerta has credited her maternal grandfather and her mother as the primary influences on her life. Dolores also was inspired by her father, whom she saw infrequently until she was an adult, and by his struggles to make a living as a migrant laborer and coal miner. His union activity helped inspire her own activist work with a Hispanic self-help association. She married in college, divorcing her first husband after having two daughters with him. Later she married Ventura Huerta, with whom she had five children. But they disagreed over many issues including her community involvements, and first separated and then divorced.  Her mother helped her support her continuing work as an activist after the divorce. Dolores Huerta became involved in a community group supporting farm workers which merged with the AFL-CIOs Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee (AWOC). Dolores Huerta served as secretary-treasurer of the AWOC. It was during this time that she met Cesar Chavez, and after theyd worked together for some time, formed with him the National Farm Workers Association, which eventually became the United Farm Workers (UFW). Dolores Huerta served a key role in the early years of farmworker organizing, though she has only recently been given full credit for this. Among other contributions was her work as the coordinator for East Coast efforts in the table grape boycott, 1968-69, which helped to win recognition for the farm workers union. It was during this time that she also became connected with the growing feminist movement including connecting with Gloria Steinem, who helped influence her to integrate feminism into her human rights analysis. In the 1970s Huerta continued her work directing the grape boycott, and expanding to a lettuce boycott and a boycott of Gallo wine.  In 1975, the national pressure brought results in California, with the passage of legislation recognizing the right of collective bargaining for farmworkers, the Agricultural Labor Relations Act. During this period she had a relationship with Richard Chavez, a brother of Cesar Chavez, and they had four children together.   She also headed up the farm workers unions political arm and helped lobby for legislative protections, including maintaining the ALRA. She helped found a radio station for the union, Radio Campesina, and spoke widely, including lectures and testifying for protections for farm workers. Dolores Huerta had a total of eleven children.  Her work took her away from her children and family frequently, something she expressed regret for later. In 1988, while demonstrating peacefully against the policies of candidate George Bush, she was severely injured when police clubbed the demonstrators. She suffered broken ribs and her spleen had to be removed. She eventually won a considerable financial settlement from the police, as well as changes in police policy on handling demonstrations. After her recovery from this life-threatening attack, Dolores Huerta returned to working for the farm workers union.  Shes credited with holding the union together after the sudden death of Cesar Chavez in 1993. Sources Susan Ferriss, Ricardo Sandoval, Diana Hembree (editor). The Fight in the Fields: Cesar Chavez and the Farmworkers Movement. Paperback, 1998.

Summary Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 132

Summary - Essay Example With the diversification of learner enrolment, it is evident that the teaching processes also needed to change. The combination of the traditional learning and online teaching-blended learning- has proven useful for the century’s teaching (Poon, 2013). Despite the challenges that come with the blended learning especially when it comes to online learning, this form of learning has been termed cost effective as lots of materials are placed online, and can be utilized over years depending on their suitability. Learners’ satisfaction has also been a major benefit of this form of learning. Poon (2013) says that lots of learners showed perseverance and dedication in the learning process. Other displayed critical thinking skills as opposed to the ones who were simply exposed to face-to-face learning. Conclusively, it is justified to argue that online learning has been greatly beneficial to the learning process as it has greatly boosted the â€Å"traditional† learning. Online learning has presented opportunities to embrace technology in the learning