Of mice and men by John Steinbeck Essay Example for Free

Of mice and men by John Steinbeck Essay Studying stage Drama enables us to see into a world that is very different from our own and to feel compassion for those who are unable to take control of their own lives Of mice and men By John Steinbeck is a very interesting and compelling text, and positions us as the reader to accept Lennie as the victim even though he killed someone, we as the reader are given many insights that some of the other characters do not get to experience, and therefore can get this message as the dominant reading. The earliest accounts of the life of Lennie and George tells us a tale about Lennie and his accidents involving mice, Lennie who gets presents of mice from his aunt, crushes there heads, because he doesnt know his own strength, he loves the mice, and cared for them, but because of his love for the mice they bite him and he crushes the mouses heads, Lennie is definitely mentally retarded, and as such he does things that regular people would not do it would seem that Lennies mentality was not designed for his body, if he was a thin weedy man then he would have no problems, he could pet animals AND make them stay alive, but things arent always as we like them Because the playwright is trying to establish Lennie as the good guy we are also positioned at the scene of their last job, Lennie feels a ladies dress, the woman screams, he holds on, she starts yelling to the police, he holds, and as a result, poor George has to spend a night in a ditch and what was the reason? I only did it to feel how soft it was says Lennie, even though this is still fairly strange, you as the reader can relate to him and say well, it really isnt his fault. Now I know you are wondering, Why did Lennie hold on even through the screams and the yelling police, why didnt he just let go? consider this story, a young child between the ages of 1 and 3 is found near his dead mother, holding on for dear life, and mentally Lennie was much the same way whenever he gets scared or frightened, he will hold on to it, you cannot blame the woman for her reaction, a big tall man grabbing onto her dress, she has every right to feel threatened, and as a result, Lennie gets George into trouble, and they have to spend the night in the ditch. On the farm, curly is picking fights; not only is he picking fights but he is picking fights that he cant win, apart from his height, what exactly did Lennie do? He laughed, oh no, dear God, how will he survive? George was going to teach him a lesson, but he wanted Lennie, this time he went too far, Lennie didnt want to fight curly, but he gave him no choice, he was scared and frightened, and once again, the mentality issue shines brightly, he grabs Curlys hand and he doesnt let go, he crushes every single bone in his hand, and again Lennie is portrayed as the good guy, what else could he do? The final matter is the matter of Curlys wifes death, this even if he is retarded, still classifies as murder, no matter how much they try to sugar coat it, it is still murder, and he pays for it with his own death, he gave George, his best friend, no other choice other than to kill him for his own good, his strength, has been the cause of all these problems right from the beginning, and although you can feel sorry for him, he should have had more common sense, he was retarded, and there is nothing you can do about that, but he should have learnt what was right and appropriate, and killing innocent people, even if it was manslaughter, is still bad. And so we are given an insight into the life of Lennie, we feel compassion for him and George, we have been positioned to draw this conclusion, well, youd be hard pressed to try and prove he wasnt wouldnt you? It seams there is two cases of murder (not counting the various animal deaths) George isnt the bad guy because he did what was best for Lennie, and Lennie wasnt the bad guy because he is retarded.

Crossroads of Tibet :: miscellaneous

Crossroads of Tibet Tibet, the roof of the world, is the highest and the most isolated country on earth. Located between China and Nepal, imagine a place tucked safely away from the world, hidden by walls of snowcapped mountains, rich with strange beauty and innocence. Tibetans are very confined people, their clothes are plain and simple like ropes but are actually silky and thick, unlike Chinese gowns which are flamboyant. They may have old fetchers but that is because the cold makes them look dry and old, but they are actually very pleasant people. During those days, they did not allow foreigners to enter their country. They were not hiding anything but they believed that foreign people would want to modernize their country, which they were against. Tibetans want to maintain their culture without changes, like a time capsule. Tibetans believe that walking for a long distance to holy places purifies the bad deeds they have committed; and that the more difficult the journey, the greater the depth of the purification. In 1949, Chairman Moa Tse-Tung was triumphantly proclaimed leader of the new People’s Republic of China, vowing that the first task of the communist regime, was to reunite the Chinese motherland. He declared that remote kingdom of Tibet was an integral part of Chinese territory and must rejoin the great republic. As the news passed to the ears of the Tibetan government, they replied firmly that â€Å"The government of Tibet recognizes no foreign sovereign, and we are an Independent Nation and all Chinese officials will be expelled from Tibet, and have a safe and pleasant return to China†. The government of Tibet knew that they would have a war against China which they did not intend to for it to happen and in the early 1950’s His Holiness, the 14th Dalai Lama was called upon to assume full political power of Head of State, when Tibet was threatened by the might of China. His Holiness, Tenzin Gyatso, at the age of 12 was the spiritual and temporal leader of the Tibetan people, was recognised as the reincarnation of his predecessor, the 13th Dalai Lama, was born in a small village of Takster – Northeast of Tibet. His Holiness dreamt that the village of Takster in Amdo including the northern border regions of Tibet was secured by the Chinese killing every man, woman and child. In his dream, images of monks were forced against their own will to point a gun to each other’s head.

Cultural Tourism in Nigeria

INDIVIDUAL ESSAY Essay Title: Cultural tourism festivals and events in Nigeria Name: Deborah Vincentsdaughter TABLE OF CONTENTS Contents INTRODUCTION3 Cultural tourism3 LITERATURE REVIEW4 Festivals and events4 Cultural festivals in Nigeria5 Festivals and impacts6 Igue festival6 New yam Festival (Iri ji Ohuru/iwa ji7 Gbagyi Gbodogun8 CRITICAL ANALYSIS11 CONCLUSION11 REFERENCES12 INTRODUCTION Tourism generally has to do a lot with social activities. A typical example is the adventure tourism which is a type of tourism that provides an opportunity for people to challenge nature and everything about it.This type of tourism provides opportunities for activities such as: Hand gliding and Para sailing which are grouped under hard adventure; while hot sports and wild life are grouped under soft adventure. The chambers dictionary has defined tourism as the events of tourists and those who make it available for them. Tourism as defined in a book says that it is the study of how good human bein gs can cope when they are away from their normal habitats, of the industry that meet his needs and lastly of the impacts that both he and the industry have on the host’s in such ways; sociocultural, economic and physical environments. Jafari 1977) Getting information from another book about tourism, differences in the definitions of tourism could be traced to the following approaches; Economic, technical and holistic. 1. Economic definitions emphasizes on the business area of tourism, but if it were to be criticized by leiper(1979) that it fails to even discuss about the tourist and his motivations or limitations in travelling. 2. Technical approach to the definition of tourism aims at mainly the governments and the tourism industry organizations that want to monitor the size and other important issues about tourists markets. . In 1942 holistic type defined tourism as â€Å"the sum of the phenomena and relationships arising from the travel and stay of non-residents, in so fa r as they don’t lead to permanent residence are not connected to any earning activity. Cultural tourism Cultural tourism is a part of tourism. This part of tourism is an activity in which a particular group of people in a definite area present their heritage or cultural assets for tourists to see and appreaciate.The UNWTO(united nations world tourism organization) produced two definitions based on two approaches which are; * The narrow definition-derived from the professional, product-based approach to defining cultural tourism. This definition includes ‘movement of persons for basically cultural motivations such as; study tours, performing arts, cultural tours, travel to festivals and so many other cultural events, visits to sites, travel to study nature, folklore and pilgrimages(Richards 1996:22) * The wide definition-is based on conceptual, process-based approach.Has to do with the migration of persons because they satisfy the human need for diversity, tending to rai se the cultural level of the individual and giving rise to new knowledge, experience and encounters(Richards 1996:22) Cultural tourism involves four elements according to my research and they are as follows; * Tourism * Use of cultural heritage assets * Consumption of experiences and products * The tourist(cultural tourists) According to ICOMOS (International council on monuments and sites) observed that â€Å"cultural tourism means many things to many people and herein it’s strengths and weaknesses†.This part of tourism is also known as a form of special tourism where culture plays the role of either attracting tourists or motivating people to travel (McIntosh and Goeldner 1992: Zeppel 1992; Ap 1992). LITERATURE REVIEW Festivals and events In this section, festivals and events in Nigeria will be discussed fully and their impacts analysed. It will be wise to discuss what festivals are all about first before going on to other things.Festivals are an important expression of human activity that contribute much to our social and cultural life and that they are also increasingly linked to generating business activity and providing income for their host communities(Ellen et all 2002). In some cases festivals are not observed with the motive of attracting tourists, their nature,destination,range of performers and productions in one place over a short period of time ,commonly in the summer months, encourages viewers(people) far and near/all over to come. They can take many forms, eg. music-rock, pop, jazz and folk types of music.There are also wine and cultural festivals. EVENTS INDUSTRY-this is an industry where festivals are grouped under. Cultural festivals in Nigeria Nigeria has so many festivals that have been in existence since the time of our ancestors, until the arrival of different religions as we have today but still yet festivals are taken as important occasion. Local festivals in Nigeria have a lot to do with different events such as; harvest festivals, betrothal festivals, crowning of a new chief and funerals. Today the western world and system has influenced our local festivals eg. ances that were performed by members of each village have now been transferred unknowingly to proffesionals. This country is rich in divers festivals which includes; * Egungun festival celebrated in Ijebu ode town of ogun state in May. * Odum festival celebrated by the ijaws of okirika in Benue state. Normally done in the month of April. * Barakau normally celebrated with animal sacrifices by the Fika people of Potiskun in yobe state. Done in July. * Nduku festival is known to be celebrated by the people of Ogume in Ndokwa local government area of Delta state. It is a November festival. * Igue estival this one is celebrated by the benis of Edo state in the month December. * New yam festival is done generally by the Ibo’s in Nigeria in the month of August. * Gbagyi gbodogun takes place in Gadabuke village and celebrated by the agadabu keyi’s (natives of the village) in toto local government area in Nasarawa state. Often observed at the end of the year November/December. * Oro festival is a tradional annual Yoruba event usually observed in the month of July. Among all these festivals listed out and summarized briefly, only three of them will be discussed and their impact as well in the next section.The local festivals are; 1. The Igue festival 2. New yam festival(Iri ji ohuru/iwa ji) 3. Gbagyi Gbodogun Festivals and impacts Igue festival; is the one am going to be discussing about first. It is done in the ancient city of the Benin kingdom, Benin located in Edo state in the southern part of Nigeria and takes place in the month of December. It marks the anniversary of the death of the past obas in Bini Kingdom. Igue festival usually goes on for seven days, and then on the seventh day, the conclusion is now celebrated. Sacrifices and offerings are made to the gods, songs are also sung along during the period.T he sacrifices offered are primarily used to cleanse the land, so that it becomes clean enough for the gods to be appealed. The people involved are the oba (king) of the Benin kingdom, his chiefs, subjects and the Benis of Benin, Edo state. In the past, their practices used to be sacrificing human beings for cleansing of the land to the gods until the present Oba Erediauwa came into power and stopped it. Presently such things don’t take place in the festival again, though sacrifices are being made, humans are no longer sacrificed, rather with animals for example goat.Apart from these, the Benis practice so many other things while celebrating the Igue festival which includes; the chiefs dressing in their finest traditional attires, joining the oba in songs and dances, by name Ugie Ewere. They do this with the Eben Emblem. Masquerades also perform the local dances to entertain the audience. While the festival is still on, all the Ihogbe presents symbolic Ewere leaves to the Oba. As the festival is celebrated yearly, the Oba celebrates Ugie Ewere (the anniversary of his marriage to Ewere some years back).The Bini people also use the festival as an opportunity for offering thanks to the gods for sparing their lives and request for more blessings. Public holidays are always given, and people are told not to move for that period of time. Impacts of igue festival The igue festival leaves its impacts in the lives of the Benin Edo people in these ways; * Economically; there are more activities in the area. For example a lot of people engage themselves in buying and selling in preparation of the event. * Socially; the festival creates a good publicity and image for the area. Eg. he people who come for the festival may want to re-visit the place, not just for a particular reason but to have a feeling of the environment. * Geographically; as people come from other tribes to witness the event, it gives the community an opportunity to be developed and supports environ mental enhancement. New yam Festival (Iri ji Ohuru/iwa ji); to eat a new yam/to break a new yam, that is what the words written in another language called Ibo means. Most times it depends on the village, but it is normally celebrated in the market place, where the god of the community/village is kept.The Iwa ji festival (new yam festival) is celebrated in the month of August. This festival, is all about celebrating a new yam(which is one of the most important food and first crop to be harvested in the eastern region) Old yams are brought out and discarded/consumed and the breaking of the new yam follows, it is usually done by the Igwe(king) or the chief priest depending on the destination, The people involved are the members of the village, chiefs or elders of the village, chief priest and the Igwe.In order for the festival to be a successful one, so many practices are involved which includes; sacrifices are made to the gods, to appease and thank them for fruitfulness, before the fe stival begins this is usually done by the chief priest(it is believed that their positions bestows the privilege of being intermediaries between the gods and their community),they come with the biggest sized yam for the festival, because it shows the amount of abundant fruitfulness including dishes served.Old yams are discarded or consumed in order to pave way for the new ones, Masquerades are invited to perform and entertain people, traditional gunshots announces the opening of the ceremony at times, children are being cleansed with rituals (ima cha ahu-to clean the body) because they belief that before a person takes in anything new, it is important to cleanse the body. This belief is popular among the Easterners. Most times the yam dishes are shared between friends and well-wishers in order to enjoy and celebrate with them.Sons and daughters of the Ibo community come back home from wherever they are in the world. Late Dim chukwuebuka Odumegwu Ojukwu described the events as  "the most igbo of Igbo events†, because it clearly shows the culture of the Ibos. Impacts of the new yam festival This festival impacts on lives of the locals of the eastern region in Nigeria, and they are; Positive impacts * Culturally; it strengthens the bond of the Igbos (the relationship). it reminds people of how love and unity existed and reigned among them before the civil war in the east. Socially; so many people feel happy during and after the event, because it brings their loved ones (sons and daughters) from far and near. For example Grandparents will be happy to see their children and grandchildren. * Economically; it yields the locals so much money, after they are done buying and selling. A good example for this is-people who were present at the occasion taste the yam, and would want to buy more maybe to take home or for many other reasons. Negative impacts * Culturally; sometimes people are being used for sacrifices to the gods all in the name of tradition or pre serving the culture.In addition, so many individuals get initiated into cults or fraternities which they never planned for. These initiations could be traced to the cleansing and sacrifices to the gods. Also People are being initiated into so many things. This happens because of the cleansing, sacrifices and others not mentioned. Gbagyi Gbodogun;the event takes place in northern part of Nigeria. it is being observed by the agadabukeyi’s or the Gwari people of Gadabuke village in toto local government area,in Nasarawa state. It is celebrated annually at he end of the year November/December. The festival is all about cultural values and tradition all showcasing with little sacrifices because religion has dominated tradition today. It helps to make the young ones get to know more about their customs and traditions. The people involved are the king, chiefs, governors, advocates and the villagers. Traditional dances, masquerades also display-the dance called Dawiya(the native name ),their local or cultural food is being displayed and served as well by name Zhepo.Martial arts, like the traditional martial arts are being done also,magics such as; pounding a tuber of yam on a person, and it is not painful(odi e shi-which means it is not painful in a language called Igbo),cutting an individual with a very sharp knife and it doesn’t hurt, eating razor blade and it doesn’t cut the persons mouth, pouring water into a basket and it does not lick. They normally drink palm wine, and the local food Zhepo with something to go with it. for example, garden egg soup and ponded yam.Ceremonial cleansing is being done also before the festival, traditional wears are being worn and they are called Ajesinda. This is the local food called Zhepo The Zhepo and garden egg soup mixed together Impacts of Gbagyi gbodogun Positive impacts The festival effects the locals in so many ways, a few of them are; * Socially; it is exciting for example when people watch the masquera des dance and the magicians act, it is pleasing to the eye and heart at times. Fun; people get to enjoy themselves while celebrating the festival. eg. he people acting as masquerades find it interesting scaring people (when they run, because of fear), the traditional dancers also have fun while performing at the festival. * Culturally; it awakens the gbagyi people about their culture for them to remember, to preserve, conserve and leave the culture Authentic just the way it has always been from the first days, if not because of science and technology or the 21st century age that came in and has really impacted into it. Negative impacts * Socially; the festival reunites the Gwari people. For example Gbagyi eople come together from far and near to celebrate, and through this, people get to meet new individuals. * Culturally; youths try stupid things. Eg. they go home and practice what they have seen the magicians do at the festival just to know if it true or not. At times they aspire to be magicians and have magical powers to do whatever they wished to do. CRITICAL ANALYSIS A. Is it fair for human beings to be killed all in the name of preserving culture? For example in the Igue festival human beings were being sacrificed to appease the gods.I personally believe that, no human being should be killed except the person has committed any crime punishable according to law and order. B. Can a festival be authentic, even after the foreign tourist’s impacts on them? Most at times, when foreigners grace these local events, they tend to introduce the western system to the locals who accept it and put it into practice. It takes a person who is properly educated and learned to know how to preserve their culture despite the influence of the foreign tourists. CONCLUSIONIn a nutshell, Even if Nigeria is rich in cultural festivals, there are some practices that are not supposed to be sustained anymore and there are some that are meant to be preserved and maintained. For example, sacrificing of human beings. On the other hand, it is good for foreign tourists to come for the events and educate the locals more about festivals, but the locals also need to be educated on how to preserve their culture. REFERENCES http://emeagwali. com/nigeria/cuisine/igbo-new-yam-festival. html Robertico Rosendo croes. (2000), Anatomy of demand in international tourism, a case study of Aruba, Van Gorcum. ihttp://www. nasarawastatetourism. com/events/GbagyiGbogun. html Bob Mckercher, Hilary du cros. (2002), cultural tourism the partnership between tourism and cultural heritage management, U. S. A. the Haworth hospitality press. http://nigerianartatoyasaf. blogspot. com/2012/02/in-benin-igue-festival-2011-c elebrates. html Peter Robinson, Sine hietmann, peter Dieke. (2011), Research themes for tourism, UK, CAB international. http://www. onlinenigeria. com/festivals/? blurb=471 Milena Ivanovic. (2008), Cultural tourism, Cape Town, South Africa, Juta & company. ltd. ICOMOS AND UNWTO.

Spanish Adjectives Before or After the Noun

One of the first things you may be told when you start studying the Spanish adjective is that, unlike its English counterpart, it comes after the noun. But it doesnt take very much reading of Spanish to find out that the rule about word order is meant to be broken; it is actually quite common to place adjectives before nouns. Certainly, adjectives — especially descriptive adjectives (ones that describe a quality of something) — usually come after the noun, and sometimes they must. But there are some adjectives that preferably come before the noun, and even a few whose meanings change depending on where theyre placed. Here are some of the different types of adjectives and where you will find them: Nondescriptive Adjectives Most adjectives other than those that describe go before the noun. Sometimes these adjectives are classified by other names, such as possessive adjectives or determiners. pocos libros (few books)muchas palomas (many doves)mi casa (my house)esta mesa (this table)dos libros (two books) Colors Colors come after the noun. la flor roja (the red flower)la Casa Blanca (the White House) Adjectives Indicating Membership or Classification These include adjectives of nationality and various types of affiliation and nearly always come after the noun. Note that such adjectives arent capitalized in Spanish even when they are based on a proper noun such as the name of a country. la mujer ecuatoriana (the Ecuadoran woman)el sacerdote catà ³lico (the Catholic priest)el restaurante chino (the Chinese restaurant)el juez demà ³crata (the Democratic judge) Adjectives Modified by an Adverb or Phrase These come after the noun. la taza llena de agua (the cup full of water)el libro muy interesante (the very interesting book)la computadora bastante buena (the quite good computer) Multiple Adjectives When two or more adjectives of similar importance describe something, they go after the noun. la casa grande y cara (the big and expensive house)el zapato tradicional y barato (the traditional, cheap shoe) Adjectives of Appreciation By placing an adjective before the noun, you can sometimes indicate a degree of appreciation for that quality and/or emphasis. In English we sometimes do the same thing by using a word such as really or by a change in intonation. Often the distinction isnt ready translatable. Es un mà ºsico bueno .(Hes a good musician.) Es un buen mà ºsico. (Hes a really good musician.)la hermosa vista (the beautiful view)Hollywood, la ciudad de incontables pelà ­culas (Hollywood, the city of countless movies.) Adjectives Conveying Emotion It is very common to place adjectives that convey emotion or feelings before the noun: el inolvidable cantante (the unforgettable singer)un increà ­ble historia (an incredible story)una estupenda pelà ­cula (a stupendous movie) Sometimes, the fact that an adjective conveys emotion results in it having a different meaning, or at least a different English translation, depending on whether theyre placed before or after the noun. Generally, the adjectives placed after the noun have an objective meaning or one that carries little or no emotional content, while one placed before the noun can indicate something about how the speaker feels toward the person or thing being described. mi viejo amigo (my longtime friend), mi amigo viejo (my elderly friend)el gran canal (the grand canal), el canal grande  (the large canal)un hombre triste (a sad man), un triste hombre (a pathetic man) Reinforcing Adjectives Adjectives that reinforce the meaning of the noun, such as adjectives that go with the accompanying noun, often are placed before the noun. In many cases, one might also say that the purpose of these adjectives is less for describing the noun thats modified and more for conveying some sort of an emotion to it. una oscura noche (a dark night)el horrible monstruo (the horrible monster)la alta montaà ±a (the high mountain)la blanca nieve (the white snow) Another way of explaining such adjectives is that they point to an essential characteristic of what is being described: las verdes hojas (the green leaves)el delicado equilibrio (the delicate balance)sangre rojo (red blood) Key Takeaways Adjectives that are purely descriptive come after the nouns they refer to.Adjectives that are used for grammatical purposes other than describing the nature or state of the nouns they refer to, such as determiners, typically come before nouns.Many descriptive adjectives can come before or after the nouns they refer to; when placed before, they often impart an emotional quality to the description.