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Critically discuss the themes in my beloved country
Cry the beloved country and new criticism
Cry the beloved country and new criticism
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Recommended: Critically discuss the themes in my beloved country
Imagine this: a city, with dusty streets full of racially mixed people all hustling to reach their destination. Buildings loom over the road, each large and intimidating. Then the scenery changes in an instant, revealing a landscape that looks as though it belongs on a tapestry. The dusty streets disappear, leaving a single, long, dry road. Black traders and farmers trek this road every so often. Fields that should be thriving with vegetation lay vacant, with dust swirling up in the wind. Off in the distance, one can see small houses and towering mountains. Perhaps one would think “What would these two places have to do with each other?” In Alan Paton’s Cry, the Beloved Country, they are essential to the plot of the story. In this novel, these two places differ immensely and are yet similar in their situations. They also represent different types of morale, so their contrast pulls this story together. The first place described is called Johannesburg, which is a place that can be summed up easily as urban chaos. It is a place that has basically drifted from old traditions and struct...
Blomkamp builds the movie’s credibility by demonstrating and providing many accurate depictions of geography. Blomkamp does by extrinsically because he is a South African-Canadian who was born in South Africa and spent the first 18 years of his life there (IMDb). After moving to Canada, Blomkamp continued to visit his hometown yearly. This builds his external ethos because he is able to know exactly what the country is like when it comes to geography, and what the country has gone through in the recent tough times that have hit both Johannesburg and the rest of the world. Andrew O’Hehir of the Salon says that the movie shows the “social realities of contemporary Johannesburg, South Africa” (O’Hehir). This played a role in the making of the film because Blomkamp was able to capture the realities that Johannesburg was going through due to his prior knowledge of the area and history.
...ms by which to live. An individual confronts many challenges in society, whether it be crime and punishment, struggle to grow, or other rapid modifications. Cry, The Beloved Country and Things Fall Apart exemplify how societies can be disrupted and how people react to interruptions to their traditional way of life. Some choose to adapt to society’s new ways, while others resist assimilating themselves with the innovative public. Societal change happens no matter where you are, however, how someone allows it to affect them remains determined by that person. Society maintains their own way of punishment, production of a particular type of person, and causes some to prevent from adapting to its evolving ways.
Fear and Redemption in Cry the Beloved Country & nbsp; Fear grips all black societies and is widespread not only among black people but also white people. An unborn child will inherit this fear and will be deprived of loving and relishing his country because the greater he loves his country, the greater will be his pain. Paton shows us this throughout this book, but at the same time he also offers deliverance from this pain. This, I believe, is the greater purpose of this book. & nbsp; When Stephen goes to Johannesburg, he has a childlike fear for "the great city" Johannesburg. Khumalo's fears about his family are exactly the same as every other black person in South Africa.
The climate and landscapes of America are as diverse as the 300 million people that live here, and the choices to which region to live this often determined by the cultures and traditions of its people. Most citizens chose to live in (or around) one of America’s largest cities, where you will be exposed to the unlimited diversity of races, cultures, art and architecture. Other people may prefer to live in much smaller cities or towns, where one culture may be more traditional and consistent. There are many American’s who prefer to live in a more rural or private area, like in remote mountains, isolated forests or vast desserts. Yet wherever a person lives within the United States of America, there will be a blending of heritages, the mixing of traditions and the merging lifestyles. The immense combinations of people and cultures have been brought here from all around the world. Since the beginning of the Spanish settlements in the West, to the earliest European colony in the East, America has had a great mix of multicultural peoples living together. For instance the millions of ‘Native Americans’(living amongst their native cultures for thousands of years) were the first peoples/tribes encountered by European inhabitors when reaching this continent (which later became the United States of America). This excessive gathering of diverse peoples: in a new land, holding on to their own customs and cultures, has created the America we know today. This combination of multi-cultural people, are who formed together and later gained their independence through war and became a strong and powerful nation. The history of America’s ‘mixed inhabitants’ is complex yet fascinating. America has been called ‘The Melting Pot’ of the world, ...
When the Europeans arrived in Africa during the late eighteenth century the culture and the lives of the people of Africa are altered. Colonialism and Imperialism in Africa has adversely changed the way of life of the African people, and changed their culture, that had developed for so many years, unscathed by any distraction from the outside world. This dominant European influence has led to poverty in the African continent for the next 100 years, because of the institutions that were put into place by Europeans. In Things Fall Apart, it becomes clear that the Ibo culture responds in a distinct way to the European colonization; when compared to other villages and ethnic groups in Africa. These foreigners had such an enormous effect on the Ibo tribe that many of the clansmen decided to abandon the traditional ways or were too afraid to rise against the takeover of their tribe by the Europeans since the natives lacked the adequate technology to fight off the Europeans. The culture collision between Europe’s culture and the Ibo culture causes Nwoye’s sense of identity to be challenged and causes him to distance himself from his family and his tribe because of the introduction of Christianity and western ideals.
In the study of theories of criminology that emphasizes the role of social conflict as it underlies criminality and of social change is critical for the understanding of the interplay between social order and law. The conflict perspective, the pluralist perspective, and the consensus perspective are three analytical perspectives that shed light on this subject. Another type of social conflict theory is radical criminology that comes with its own tenants and shortcomings. Peacemaking criminology, left-realist criminology, convict criminology, postmodern criminology, and feminist criminology, are emerging social conflict theories that where associated with the radical ideas of mid-twentieth Marxist criminology.
Every person feels rivalry or competition towards others at some point in their lives. This rivalry greatly affects our ability to understand others, and this eventually results in paranoia and hostility. It is a part of human nature, that people coldly drive ahead for their gain alone. Man's inhumanity towards man is a way for people to protect themselves from having pain inflicted on them by others, and achieving their goals and desires without the interference of others. This concept of man's inhumanity to man is developed in A Separate Peace as the primary conflict in the novel centres on the main character, Gene, and his inner-battles with feelings of jealousy, paranoia, and inability to understand his relationship with his best friend Phineas. Competition is further demonstrated by the occurrence of World War II. It is shown that, "There were few relationships among us (the students) at Devon not based on rivalry." (p. 37) It is this rivalry and competition between the boys at Devon that ripped their friendships apart.
When the newlyweds move in they are wary of their new landscape, the unfamiliar surroundings, cultural barriers and difference to their old landscape along with the people in the landscape cause them to be unreceptive to the landscape. The changing relationship between the people is demonstrated through the comparative description of the couple in their old and new neighbourhoods. Their prior residence was “in the expansive outer suburbs where good neighbours were seldom seen and never heard”. This is juxtaposed against the noisy Macedonian family that “shouted, ranted and screamed”. The accumulation implies the severity of the noise and juxtaposed against the silence of their old neighbours, Winton demonstrates his purpose that the landscape shapes us and irrational emotions of fear and worry interfere with our receptivity to the landscape. The negative connotations of “uncomfortable”, “nervous”, “disapproval”, “resented” and “disgust” used to describe their neighbours highlights their lack of receptivity to their new landscape. The strained relationships with the neighbours continued into autumn and although displeased, the couple “took careful note of what was said”. The gradual acceptance emphasises the time required to fully accept the new people and their landscape as well as the shift in perspective that is only possible with time. The lack of receptivity to the landscape impacts the couple’s relationship with the neighbours and hence this shows the complexity of human behaviour because it is based on emotions which are impacted by the receptivity to the
In Cry, the beloved country, Alan Paton tells the story of his journey across Africa, his experiences with the colonized Africa, and the destruction of the beautiful, pre-colonialism native land of Africa. Heart of Darkness also tells the story of a man and his experiences with colonialism, but a man who comes from a different time period and a very different background than Alan Paton’s Stephen Kumalo. Although, both Joseph Conrad and Alan Paton portray the colonized areas as very negative, death filled, and sinful places, it is when one analyzes the descriptions of the native lands of Africa that the authors reasons for their disapproval of colonialism are truly revealed. When comparing the writing styles of Alan Paton and Joseph Conrad, their descriptions of the land and the people in both works reveal their different attitudes and views towards colonialism. While Paton and Conrad ultimately oppose colonialism, Paton is concerned with the disappearance of African tribal tradition, whereas Conrad is concerned with the perceived corruption of the white colonists.
Realism is the contrast of the Idealist conception that society can change on the foundation of an idea. The “Clash of Civilizations” by Samuel Huntington is a brilliant illustration that exhibits the power of ideas that has vastly influenced both foreign policies of countries, but also the discipline of International Relations. Samuel Huntington's “the clash of civilizations,” is based on the hypothesis: “In the post-Cold War world the most important distinctions among people are not ideological, political, or economic. They are cultural”. (Huntington, 1996, p. 21) Huntington recognizes the significance of the realist approach that the nation states will stay as the most influential actors in international relationships, but he refutes that nations’ interests can be described without any reference to culture (Huntington, 1996, p. 34). Instead, he suggests the civilization paradigm in which “supra-national civilizations” that act principally as nation states and practice their own civilization’s interests in a global setting that is structurally comparable to that portrayed by neo-realism (Milani & Gibbons, 2001). He claims that the clash of civilizations will dictate international politics and relationships, in particular, between the West and Islam (Huntington, 1996, p. 208). In this essay, I attempt to analyze how well Huntington's notion applies to present world scenario of international Jihadist terrorism and the United States' and other states' “war on terrorism”. - 8
The book was made into a movie starring James Earl Jones and Richard Harris. The book takes you to South Africa, where the land itself is the essence of a man. It as if the mountains, soaring high above the clouds, are the high moments in life, and the valleys are those low and suffering times. Next, you will take a journey to a place called Johannesburg. While reading the pages, the reader begins to envision Johannesburg being a polluted, very unkind, and rushed city. The setting is more of an emotional setting than a physical setting. As I stated, it takes place in South Africa, 1946. This is a time where racial discrimination is at an all time high. The black community of this land is trying to break free from the white people, but having little success. It is this so called racism that is essential to the setting of the story. Without it, the book would not have as much of an impact as it does. This film, the second adaptation of the book, has little room for hatred or anger. Instead, its underlying tone is one of a profound grief that the title hints at. Taken as a whole, Paton's novel promotes healing and understanding, and it speaks as powerfully to audiences today as it did when it was first published, fifty years ago. The book ends with a tone of ...
Asif Jordan once said, “Under the surface of contradiction, lies similarity.” Authors often use the idea of contradiction to bring out the similarities of people or places. Just looking at two places they seem extremely different. In truth, they are usually different, but are dealing with a lot of the same main issues of the story line. Alan Paton uses this idea in Cry, the Beloved Country when he exposes the characteristics of both Ndotsheni and Johannesburg. Paton is describing the actions of South Africa by showing both a rural and an urban environment to contrast the views of the two places.
Upon arrival into the jungle of vast buildings, the first thing noticed is the mobbed streets filled with taxi cabs and cars going to and fro in numerous directions, with the scent of exhaust surfing through the air. As you progress deeper into the inner city and exit your vehicle, the aroma of the many restaurants passes through your nostrils and gives you a craving for a ?NY Hot Dog? sold by the street venders on the corner calling out your name. As you continue your journey you are passed by the ongoing flow of pedestrians talking on their cell phones and drinking a Starbucks while enjoying the city. The constant commotion of conversing voices rage up and down the streets as someone calls for a fast taxi. A mixed sound of various music styles all band together to form one wild tune.
The possibility of the clash of civilizations, as seen by a quick glimpse of history, makes it evident that conflict is nearly inevitable. There are 5 key aspects that bring about problems in any given scenario. Historically, a niche is formed from a group of individuals with similar ways of life; through time the niche gains resources and adopts a religion or lack thereof. With these characteristics attributed to a group of people they are either viewed as friends or foes to neighboring communities, creating alliances. When a minor conflict arises with one community, because of alliances you have major conflict which has the possibility to tear individual communities apart.
Thirdly, the Clash of Civilizations is a theory by Samuel Huntington, which shows that the conflicts that North Korea and South Korea faces in the modern era are caused by differences. On one hand, the war was considered the clash of civilizations at one of two levels: the micro-level. It is when adjacent groups along the fault lines between civilizations struggle violently, over the control of territory and each other. It is clear that North and South Korea fought a gruesome war, and allies of both countries were involved (Huntington). The death toll had reached over 54,000, and this is a clear example of how two neighboring civilizations with different ideologies can clash with each other (CNN). On the other