Why Did Buddhism Fail to Take Hold in India - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 5 Words: 1356 Downloads: 5 Date added: 2017/09/17 Category Religion Essay Type Argumentative essay Topics: Buddha Essay Buddhism Essay Did you like this example? It comes as a phenomenon at how Buddhism was driven from the land of its birth place due to Hinduisms ultimate triumph. It is difficult to say what specifically led to Buddhist decline from India; however, it is clear that Hinduism corresponded more elaborately with human needs, and established more direct connections with deities. The philosophy that Buddhism denies the importance of gods and emphasizes on expectations that people find their own ascetic paths in life may have been too heavy a burden for the ordinary person. The traditional religion of India was Brahmanism, which offered little comfort to the common people. The Brahmins were the highest of a four level social caste system. They had become extremely powerful due to their crucial role in the execution of sacrifices and mystical potency. Nonetheless, few could afford to pay for these sacrifices. Brahmanism and its teachings were understood only by the uppermost elite, and had little appeal to the common perso n. Many were dissatisfied with Brahman society, and a number of philosophical sects began to arise. Buddhism arose in the sixth century B. C. E. and demanded no intense physical austerities; the teachings of the Buddha were successful because they were simple and empirical, and most importantly accessible to all. Unlike Brahmanism, which was essentially ritualistic and mythological, the Buddha’s teachings were based upon the eightfold path. The Buddha stated that each person could achieve Nirvana, the ultimate spiritual fulfillment. Buddhism effectively ignored the social strata and it stressed that all castes could follow the Middle Way and eventually gain enlightenment; no matter how low they were in society. The religion’s optimistic outlook on the potential of each individual to transcend suffering and its accessibility and democracy rendered it immensely appealing to the people. (Barnes 1:113) A system of nuns and monks was established; creating a pervading notion of social equality that gave the religion strength. The establishment of the Sangha, the community of monks and nuns which linked all Buddhist monasteries together; served as a spiritual example for the community which played an important role in the religion’s rise and success. The Sangha were determined about spreading the Buddha’s message, and some monks even risked their lives by travelling out of India to preach the way out of suffering. (Eliade 2: 283) The appeal of Buddhism also seems somewhat economical. Vedic sacrifices had taken its toll on many; monarchs had often taxed their subjects for funds and those in poorer circumstances had no means of assuring their personal prosperity by sacrifice. However, by Following the Eightfold Path of the Buddha, it cost virtually nothing for the common man to practice his religion. Furthermore, the royal patronage Buddhism gained from its very inception further strengthened the religion. The Buddha was a Kshatr iya prince who had forsaken his former life to gain enlightenment;† these actions attracted the notice of many kings. Bimbisara and Ajatasatru of Magadha and Prasenajit of Kosala were only a few of the numerous rulers who converted to the new religion of Buddhism. † (Shean, Vincent) Political support of the ruling class proved to be very significant to the rise of Buddhism. It is evident that by the 7th century C. E. that a decline in Buddhism is seen. For instance, Theravada Buddhism was on the verge of non-existence in most of the Indian subcontinent and Buddhism as a whole was on a steady decline. The religion was becoming tainted in many ways because â€Å"during the Gupta period onwards, Indian religion became more and more permeated with primitive ideas of sympathetic magic and sexual mysticism† (Shean, Vincent) affecting Buddhism because to these developments in its native land. The direct result of this was the birth of a new sect known as the third veh icle which misinterpreted religious tenets and allowed the use of intoxicants; it was also lenient in the upholding of celibacy. Furthermore the fall of Buddhism continued with the corruption of the Sangha. From the many donations they received, they became rich, and monks began to ignore the tenth rule of the Vinaya and accepted silver and gold. The Mahayana school introduced expensive rituals and ceremonies into the religion, causing it to cease to be economical. Much of the decline of Buddhism was caused by its own failings; it could not meet the popularity of the re-emerged Hinduism. As an essentially non-theistic religion, it could not achieve the same success with the masses as Hinduism, which possessed a pantheon of gods that could intervene in the affairs of men if appeased. The moral corruption of Buddhism also caused degeneration in its intellectual standards; the Hindus, on the other hand, had a strong scholarly foundation. After the renowned Buddhist king Ashoka, t he majority of Indian rulers supported the new Hinduism. It had the patronage of the Gupta rulers and most of the Rajput rulers, ensuring it prosperity and success among the people. To make things even more appealing, Hinduism also incorporated many Buddhist elements, such as preaching monks and religious processions; it further claimed the Mahatma Buddha as one of the incarnations of the lord Vishnu. † (Parrinder 1:319) Therefore the common man did not make any great distinction between Hinduism and Buddhism; the new Hinduism embraced some of Buddhism and allowed for the belief of gods. Lastly, persecution of Buddhists played a final part in the downfall of the religion. Muslim invasions left India damaged; the invaders destroyed Buddhist monasteries and universities. A large number of Buddhist priests and monks fled retreating to the mountains of Tibet. â€Å"This left the Buddhist remnants of India with no priesthood to direct them, making it easy for Brahmins of the ne w Hinduism to pick up the pieces and reform Hinduism with Brahmins at top of the caste. † (Shean, Vincent) Though Hinduism was able to sustain itself through these times, Buddhism had been increasingly weak and these raids dealt a final blow. Buddhism captured the enthusiasm of the rich and poor alike. It was a religion that preached a way out of suffering, in a simple and direct fashion that could be understood by the common man. Unlike the Brahmanism that had become too recondite and scholarly for the masses, Buddhism fulfilled the spiritual needs of the people; every person could work their way towards enlightenment. Its notions of social equality earned it much success and the establishment of the Sangha gave it strength. It flourished for centuries, but eventually, the corruption of the Sangha, the rivalries between sects, and the lack of protection from the ruling class weakened Buddhism and made it unable to compete with the reformed Hinduism. The anti-Buddhist ca mpaigns led by the Muslims caused its final downfall, and Buddhism eventually entirely disappeared from India between 1000 and 1200 C. E. It left India with a rich legacy that was partially incorporated into Hinduism. Works Cited Barnes, Trevor. The Kingfisher Book of Religions: Festivals, Ceremonies, and Beliefs from around the World. New York: Kingfisher, 1999. Print. I found this book useful because it creates parallels between the origins, developments, beliefs, festivals, and ceremonies of Hinduism and Buddhism. Eliade, Mircea, ed. The Encyclopedia of Religion. Complete and Unabridged ed. Vol. 1-2. New York: Simon Schuster Macmillan, 1995. Print. ENC. I found the encyclopedia to be very useful in providing facts to supporting my own path or thesis to understanding why Buddhism diverged from India and why Hinduism took its place? Parrinder, Geoffrey, ed. World Religions : from Ancient History to the Present. New York, 1983. Print. I found this to be a useful and reliable sou rce that went into depth on the religions of Buddhism and Hinduism. Comparing the two religions I was able to draw tangible conclusions on the emergence of both theologies. Sheean, Vincent. THE BUDDHISM THAT WAS INDIA. Foreign Affairs. 1 Jan. 1951. Web. 2 Mar. 2010. The article focuses on the spread of Buddhism in India while discussing its clash with Hindusim. It describes the decisive struggles of which took place between Buddhism and Hinduism for control of India, and it goes into the results that are still being seen in the evolution of the Asian peoples. I found this source to be very useful because it focuses directly on my topic. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Why Did Buddhism Fail to Take Hold in India?" essay for you Create order

Victimization A Postcolonial Reading Of George...

Beyond the Obvious Victimization: A Postcolonial Reading of George Orwell’s â€Å"Shooting an Elephant† In my short teaching career, I have experienced two paralyzing instances of student tears in class that required my response. One of those such instances was in response to reading George Orwell’s essay â€Å"Shooting an Elephant†: my sensitive student was so sad about the elephant’s fate that she needed to leave class to recover from her grief. Such a reaction is not unreasonable to Orwell’s tragic essay, the story of a British soldier’s experience attempting to support and maintain colonizing efforts in Burma that results in the tragic and painfilled death of the animal. A postcolonial perspective is not necessary to see the tragedy in†¦show more content†¦He claims he was hated, yet he seems to ignore that the minor discomforts of his life, the jeers and taunts and negligible hurts and humiliation, constitute the ext ent of Burmese ability to express their unhappiness. He notes, â€Å"No one had the guts to raise a riot† (2605), failing to recognize that not bravery is lacking but rather knowledge of the punishment sure to follow such action. He regrets that he must kill the elephant, but he elides further exploration of potential alternatives, immediately rejecting other ways such as testing the elephant’s behavior to predict its reaction (2609). Not only does Orwell’s own essay reveal that he is not victim but rather someone in power, but also, scholars agree that Orwell is not the victim he perceives himself to be. Criticism of â€Å"Shooting an Elephant,† especially postcolonial criticism, recognizes that Orwell is not the victim he believes he is. Ouzgane and Coleman note that â€Å"the rifle, the symbol of colonial power . . . makes George Orwell the inauthentic authority† (paragraph 16), correctly assessing that he is both the one in charge and further the one who should not be in charge. They do not describe him as a victim, they describe him as compulsive, power-wielding, and superior (paragraph 16). Further in support of Orwell’s non-victim status are Moosavinia, Niazi, and Ghaforian. In their postcolonial work applying Said’s Orientalism to Orwell’s works, they mention that Orwell â€Å"wrote Burmese Days,

The Hijacking of Food and Farm Policy Free Essays

Diet For a Small Planet, that I made my way from Vermont to California to volunteer for her Institute for Food and Development Policy, also known as Food First. There has been a lot to celebrate since then. In every corner of the country, demand for locally and sustainable grown food is rising, with farmers and ranchers growing more chemical-free, healthier food for our nation’s schools, universities, restaurants and supermarkets. We will write a custom essay sample on The Hijacking of Food and Farm Policy or any similar topic only for you Order Now Since 2005 the number of farmers markets has doubled, with more than 8000 markets open for business round the country. New local ownership and distribution structures are popping up everywhere, including more than 200 food hubs that are working in innovative ways to get more local, sustainable food to market. More than 180 local food policy councils are transforming food systems from the bottom up. The organic sector, with more and organic acreage has been growing steadily In recent years. More Information on these Impressive trends can be found In the slides that I presented during my keynote speech to the Women Food and Agriculture Network Conference in Iowa earlier this month to a wonderful crowd of mostly women farmers, landowners and loathe food system advocates. As great as these accomplishments are, the tens of thousands of projects and farms that are building a healthier, more sustainable food system around the country cannot grow quickly enough to counteract the tremendous damage to public health and the environment caused by the existing profit-driven Industrial food system. Two key messages In Lap ©Ã¢â‚¬â„¢s book remain more relevant today than ever. The first?and the basis for my lifelong commitment to eating low on the food chain— is that it is inefficient and resource-intensive to rely on meat as our primary rotten source. It is clear that we cannot solve our global water, energy, climate change and public health challenges without changing how we produce meat and drastically reducing how much of it we eat. While we still have a long way to go, we are making slow but steady progress in reducing Americans’ meat consumption?which is down four years in a row?mostly driven by consumers’ concern for health and animal welfare. Yet It’s clear that we wont achieve the far-reaching reforms needed to Improve the way produce feed and raise animals?until we fix the bigger problem plaguing our DOD system?a problem that struck me as the second and most important message not caused by scarcity of food but scarcity of democracy. Nearly forty years later, the lack of democracy not only continues to be a fundamental cause of hunger, but also a source of many other serious problems in our food system. Big food and industrial farming interests are hijacking our democracy and public policy at a huge cost to public health and the environment. And sadly, the Obama administration is complicit in this hijacking scheme. On several fronts, the administration is ignoring civil society calls for reform on several fronts and is giving rarity to industry financial interests over those of public health, the environment and welfare of animals, workers and consumers. Despite a clear and compelling need, it has failed to ban antibiotic use in well animals, pass effective factory farm regulations, or enact federal labeling and stricter regulation of genetically engineered food. No recent example of the administration’s failure to put the public interest ahead corporate interests is clearer than the U. S. Department of Agriculture’s proposed poultry rule. This rule would reduce the number of USDA inspectors in poultry acclivities by 75 percent, accelerate assembly lines pace to 175 birds per minute and intensify the use of toxic chemicals to clean the birds being processed. Who profits from this appalling proposal? No surprise there. As Tom Philter reported in Mother Jones magazine, Tyson, Pilgrim’s Pride, Purdue, and Sanderson, the nation’s leading poultry companies, stand to gain more than $1 billion over the next 5 years. As well, Congressional lawmakers are ignoring the public interest as they hash out a farm bill that will continue to give away billions to wealthy, profitable farms and agribusiness while slashing programs that promote nutrition, conservation, healthy food and organic agriculture. Because the good food movement lacks political muscle, there is far too little investment and effective federal policy to support?and help scale up good food projects and organic farming. And because big food and industrial agriculture companies have so much power, the federal government has too many bad policies that are doing far too much to support and enshrine the status quo, making it harder for sustainable agriculture to compete. The proposed farm bill is a perfect case in point. The bill currently being negotiated n conference committee would channel more than $13 billion a year to support and promote chemical-intensive, diversity-destroying monocots that mostly provide feed for animals and vehicle fuel, with less than $200 million annually going to support local and organic diversified agriculture. The dominance of corporate and large-scale commodity interests in our political system is nothing new?but as the economic power of these industries has become more concentrated, their political clout has grown stronger, and the consequences, Just recently, the Center for a Livable Future at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health published an in-depth analysis to assess the status of industrial farming five years after the publication of the seminal Pew Commission Report on Industrial Farm Animal Production. It found that the problems have actually gotten a lot worse. When Civil Eats asked Ralph Logics, an author of the Pew Commission report, to explain the lack of progress, he blamed † the overwhelming influence and power of the animal gag industry†¦ Whether it’s affecting members of Congress, whether it’s denting and nearly breaking the regulatory process, or whether it’s too much influence over academics. Everywhere you look there’s too much influence by the industry. In order to counteract that influence and put the public interest back into policy- making, the good food movement must channel more of the energy it devotes to building a healthy food system into blunting the power of industrial agriculture and building a healthier democracy. Otherwise, we will fail to make our vision for a healthy, Just and sustainable food system a reality for everyone. Stay tuned for Part 2, in which I explore the steps that are needed to blunt the power of indu strial gag and build greater food democracy. How to cite The Hijacking of Food and Farm Policy, Essays

Astronomy And Japanese Myths Essay Research Paper free essay sample

Astronomy And Nipponese Myths Essay, Research Paper Throughout history different civilizations have let astronomy determine their beliefs and imposts. One such civilization that has traditions rich in uranology is the Nipponese civilization. Since I am half Nipponese, I thought I would discourse some of the traditions found in Nipponese civilization. Further, I will explicate how these aincient traditions and beliefs are still present in modern twenty-four hours society in Japan. I found some truly great web sites which I will utilize to compose my essay. The first web site focuses chiefly on Nipponese festivals/traditions and how astronomy plays a portion in Nipponese festivals/traditions. The # 8220 ; Astrologers Union of Japan # 8221 ; home page is great, but the whole web site is written in Japanese. Astroarts has a great Nipponese uranology page which offers a horn of plenty of astronomical info # 8230 ; .the links are great excessively! Please bear with me as I am larning new things excessively. I. Orihime, Kengyuu, and Tanabata Orihime, Kengyuu, and Tanabata Tanabata is a Nipponese festival based on the fable of Orihime and Kengyuu. This narrative uses the stars of Vega and Altair for it # 8217 ; s chief characters. The Nipponese refer to Vega as Orihime Boshii which means weaving princess star. Kengyuu Boshii means puller of cattles star and refers to Altair. The other characters are Orihime Boshii # 8217 ; s beget the emperor which is the star centered at the north pole ( polaris? ) , the boater which refers to the Moon, and Kasasagi which are a group of magpies. The writer of the fable begins by stating his readers that Orihime Boshii ( Vega ) would see the # 8220 ; river of Eden # 8221 ; ( milky manner ) everyday and weave beautiful cloths. Her male parent the emperor loved these cloths and grew really fond of them. One twenty-four hours, Orihime Boshii became really sad because she had spent wholly her life up until that twenty-four hours weaving cloths and had non found the clip to fall in love and acquire married. The emperor loved his girl and felt sorry for her # 8230 ; he arranged ( where the thought of ordered matrimony in Japan comes from? ) for her to get married Kengyuu ( Altair ) , a prince who lived across the # 8220 ; river of Eden # 8221 ; . As the matrimony of Orihime Boshii and Kengyuu blossomed, Orihime Boshii neglected her weaving and this disquieted and worried her male parent. The emperor eventually decided to divide the twosome by agencies of the # 8220 ; river of Eden # 8221 ; , nevertheless, for one twenty-four hours out of the twelvemonth ( 7th twenty-four hours of the 7th month ) the twosome would be allowed to be together. On that twenty-four hours a boater ( the Moon ) would ferry Orihime Boshii across the river to see her hubby Kengyuu # 8230 ; the boater would merely come to ferry Orihime Boshii across the # 8220 ; river of Eden # 8221 ; if she had finished her weaving # 8230 ; id she had non finished her weaving it would rain and the river would be excessively flooded to traverse by boat. The Gods took compassion on Orihime Boshii and allowed for a group of Kasasagi ( magpies ) to wing into the milklike manner and do a magpie span for Orihime Boshii to traverse over to the other side and see Kengyuu. Tanabata, the festival based on this fable is celebrated every twelvemonth on the seventh twenty-four hours of the seventh month of the Nipponese lunar calendar. During this festival people write wants to the Gods on strips of paper, tie these strips of paper to newly cut bamboo, eat seasonal veggies, and decorate Equus caballus and cow figures made out of straw or H2O oats. Over the old ages H2O purification ceremonials, a matrimony between a weaving lady and a H2O God, and other such ceremonials were added to the tanabata festival jubilation. II. Setsubun Setsubun, Oni Out, Happiness In Setsubun is a Nipponese lunar new twelvemonth festival to free the approaching twelvemonth of bad liquors. In short, beans are thrown all over the house, on people, on concern, and whatever else people want guarded from the devastation of evil liquors. Peoples are so suppossed to eat the beans. Let # 8217 ; s expression at how astronomy plays a function in the Setsubun tradition: 1. Setsubun occurs on the twenty-four hours before Risshun ( spring ) . 2. # 8220 ; The setsu of Setsubun ( literally # 8220 ; sectional separation # 8221 ; ) originally referred to the Eve of any of the 24 divisions of the solar twelvemonth ( see The Lunar Calendar in Japan for an account of these divisions ) .† 3. Lunar Calendar in Japan 4. # 8220 ; Setsubun achieved the position of an imperial event and farther took on symbolic and ritual significance relation to its association with chances for a # 8220 ; returning Sun # 8221 ; , associated climatic alteration, reclamation of organic structure and head, ejection of immorality, symbolic metempsychosis, and readying for the coming planting season. # 8221 ; 5. # 8220 ; Setsubun by and large ever precedes the lunar New Year, and in the ancient ideal was frequently really referred to as New Years # 8217 ; Eve. In 2000, solar and lunar rhythms coincided plenty to do the ideal about existent in that February 4th marked Risshun ( Spring Begins ) , and February 5th was the existent lunar New Year in both China and Japan. # 8221 ; III. Happy New Year New Year in Japan [ ] This is the Jappanese symbol for the term # 8220 ; happy new twelvemonth # 8221 ; . It is a combination of the chatacters for Sun and Moon. Harmonizing to the Japanese # 8230 ; Sun+Moon= new morning and alteration # 8230 ; therefore happy new twelvemonth. 1. This character sometimes refers to the planet Venus # 8230 ; Venus is either # 8220 ; Kinsei # 8221 ; ( gilded star ) or # 8220 ; Myou Jyou # 8221 ; ( bright clicking star ) . 2. # 8220 ; Akema*censored*e Omedetou Gozaimasu # 8221 ; is the term for happy new twelvemonth but it literally means: # 8220 ; The twelvemonth is altering # 8230 ; darkness gives manner to visible radiation # 8230 ; new life begins # 8230 ; Congratulations! # 8221 ; Why? # 8220 ; In antediluvian traditional knowledge ( under the lunar calendar ) , the New Year was seen in relation to alter in both the Sun and Moon every bit good as the symbolism of their luminosity # 8221 ; 3. The Chinese and Nipponese calendars are based on a 12 twelvemonth rhythm # 8230 ; this 12 twelvemonth rhythm is # 8220 ; based on places of Jupiter with its 12 twelvemonth orbit ( and attendant place about the ecliptic # 8221 ; . IV. Yowatashi Boshii # 8230 ; Nipponese Lore Associated with Orion Japanese Lore Associated with Orion 1. Orion is a Yowatashi Boshii star # 8230 ; one of the # 8220 ; go throughing the dark stars # 8221 ; # 8220 ; This phrase was applied to outstanding star groups which would look in the East at sundown and set with the clicking Sun ( Uchida, 1973 ) . # 8221 ; 2. The first refers to kabuki play in which a membranophone ( tsuzumi ) with caputs on both sides is beaten with the fingertips # 8230 ; the membranophone is in an hourglass form and is tied with strings # 8230 ; this membranophone comes from the constellarion Orion. # 8220 ; The stars Betelgeuse and Gamma Ori organize one terminal of the membranophone while the stars Rigel and Kappa Ori form the other. The three belt stars represent the cord that is used to bind the strings snugly in the middle # 8221 ; 3. The Nipponese usage wooden blocks as portion of amusement and spiritual ceremonials. Wooden blocks are said to cite assorted Gods. # 8220 ; Nipponese have found the # 8220 ; play # 8221 ; of this simple instrument and its # 8220 ; sound # 8221 ; in Orion as Kanatsuki no Ryowaki Boshi ( literally striking both sides stars ; Uchida, 1973 ) . # 8221 ; [ ] This subdivision of the web site on Orion contains many more fables and things based on the stars of Orion, but for deficiency of infinite, I will stop it here. Please see the website # 8230 ; I am larning most of these things for the first clip. I was amazed to larn that the Nipponese position Orion as many different things whereas in western civilization Orion is viewed as a remarkable thing. I am running out of room so I will stop it here. As you can see Japan has an copiousness of fables and folklore based upon the stars and uranology. This web site that I found is amazing # 8230 ; it discuses all of the major Japanese beliefs, traditions, civilizations, and folklore as it relates to astronomy. In this paper I have tried to sum up some of the Nipponese fables, festivals, traditions, and folklore based on uranology, and what I found out is that I will necessitate much more infinite than this text window offers in order to discourse this subject. I learned a great trade and hope to analyze this out farther and larn a batch more Bibliography 1. Renshaw, Steve and Ihara, Saori. # 8220 ; Astronomy in Japan # 8221 ; . 10 October 2000-14 October 2000. Other sites that I found but did non utilize ( non inbibliographical signifier ) . 1.http: //www.astroarts.co.jp/index.html 2. hypertext transfer protocol: //jin.jcic.or.jp/kidsweb/japan/d/q9.html 3. hypertext transfer protocol: //www.nao.ac.jp/

We Learn About Ancient Civilizations Through Literature, Artifacts, An Essay Example For Students

We Learn About Ancient Civilizations Through Literature, Artifacts, An Essay d stories passed down from generation to generation. The Mesopotamian civilization is one of earth’s earliest civilizations, and it’s also one we know very little about. We can gather information about these people’s way life, beliefs, and geographical location. The Epic of Gilgamesh, a literary work from this time period, shows us several important pieces of information that helps us understand this ancient civilization. This epic shows us the Mesopotamian peoples belief system, their views on death, and their description of the after life. The Mesopotamian people believed in a higher being, like most civilizations have for centuries. Their belief system consisted of many gods, each representing an aspect of Mesopotamian life. From the Epic of Gilgamesh we learn that they believed that the gods are the creators of everything around them. This is seen in this epic with the creation of Enkindu, by the goddess of creation, Aruru. We also can conclude that the god of the heavens, Anu, ruled the gods. The Mesopotamian people also had gods for death, love, and even cattle. The Mesopotamian people used the gods to explain just about every aspect of their life. Their gods were all-powerful, and could grant people godly features. For example, Gilgamesh embarks on a quest for eternal life from the gods when his fear of death becomes a reality with the death of Enkindu. We will write a custom essay on We Learn About Ancient Civilizations Through Literature, Artifacts, An specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now The Mesopotamian people also believed in an afterlife. Through the Epic of Gilgamesh, we see that this civilization had an ancient version of what we consider to be heaven and hell. Their hell was controlled by the Queen of Darkness, and was believed to be a place of no return. The epic describes this place as a place of darkness where â€Å"dust is their food and clay is their meat†(sources, p5). Their underworld was where everyone who stood in the way of the gods. Death for the Mesopotamian people was believed to be controlled by the gods. We see this with the death of Enkindu. The gods decided that Enkindu should die because of his actions with Gilgamesh, and when Enkindu dreamed of his death, he knew it was the gods decision and he couldn’t prevent it. We can also see the god’s control of death through Gilgamesh’s journey to obtain immortality. It was known that the gods could grant a person eternal life by Gilgamesh’s encounter with Utnapishtim, a man that had been granted that of which Gilgamesh had been searching for. If granted eternal life, it was believed that you where entered into the assembly of the gods. Without the epics, and recordings of ancient civilizations, we would not be able to learn about the accomplishment and life-styles of are ancestors. The Epic of Gilgamesh has sheded some light on the mysteries of long ago. We do not have many recordings of Mesopotamian civilization, but with works of literature like this epic we can take another step closer in the search for answers to question about their beliefs, views on death, and what they believed about life after death.

Thomas Jefferson v.s. Patrick Henry essays

Thomas Jefferson v.s. Patrick Henry essays The Declaration of Independence and the Speech in the Virginia Convention compare and contrast in content, format, and persuasive techniques. The content of the Declaration was to attack the King of Britain where as the Speech in the Convention was to attack the people of Britain. The format of Henrys excerpt was that is was a speech and was not written down for a record. Jefferson had written a document to keep and save. The persuasive technique of both was good because of the powerful words they used. Both stories were good and persuaded the people. The content of Patrick Henrys Speech in the Virginia Convention discussed how they wanted to fight the people of Britain. Henry was very patriotic to his country. No man thinks more highly then I do of the patriotism, as well as abilities, ... Patrick wanted the colonists to stand up and fight for what they believed in. Thomas Jefferson wanted to fight the King of Britain because he was injuring the people of America. If the King of Britain is gone, all the pain and suffering would be gone. Although Henry and Jefferson have their differences, they both wanted war against Britain. The format of Thomas Jefferson excerpt was different than other speeches because it also is a document. Jeffersons document was later then edited and made different to fit the needs of the people. The document was also to be seen again in later use. Henrys excerpt was actually a speech and a one-time subject. His speech was made to move people and persuade. Both excerpts had great words and both told about being free from the pain the Britains were outputting. Jefferson and Henry both had differences in format. In persuasive techniques, both, Patrick and used great powerful words. I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death. , ... we mutually pledge to each other our lives, out fortunes and our ...

Healthy People 2020 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Healthy People 2020 - Essay Example One of the various objectives healthy people 2020 has provided for the well being of Americans is the promotion of Nutrition and Weight Status. It encourages the choice of healthy, nutritious diet to reduce the risk of any chronic disease and to maintain a healthy body weight. Good nutrition is especially essential for children’s physical as well as their mental growth. Moreover, it is important in reducing the risk of many health problems such as obesity, diabetes, heart disease and malnutrition, etc. (Healthy People.gov, 2013). Obesity is one of the most prevailing health problems among adults and children. Being overweight is a result of excessive intake of calories and underweight is directly linked with food insecurity that means limited or no availability of healthy and nutritious food. It is obvious that the amount of caloric intake affects an individual’s health whether it is high or low. Other than this, it is important to keep this in mind that what is the source of the calories a person is taking. There are many foods, which help prevent various diseases and are also helpful in weight control. These foods include fruits, vegetables, whole grains and nuts. Plenty of researches show that making these foods a huge part of the diet will protect against diabetes, heart problems, high blood pressure and many other health issues. On the other hand, excessive fat and sugar intake increases the possibilities of various health problems (Brug, Starlen, & Maskini, 2012). Most important thing for health is a healthy weight.

Josephus, the jewish wars (c. 100CE) Term Paper

Josephus, the jewish wars (c. 100CE) - Term Paper Example Josephus and other Greek historians are not an exemption. An analysis of various classical historians literary works on the Jewish war McLaren in his book the† turbulent times† emphasizes on the need to differentiate between the Josephus narrative of his actual events, as well as the interpreting such events. According to him, he views Josephus bias life as the jest of his text instead of trying to know the extent of Judea turmoil in a more different way (Josephus and Whiston 12). Perhaps, by inquiring how Judea was run in the first century. The only way to ensure that happens is by establishing what led to its transformation from the stability to its downfall. All the same, it might be for a reason that the ideal method should actually be determined by the Jewish attitude in response to the Roman rule. For instance, being fully qualified is the only way to achieve the criteria for describing various incidents based on an individual. Some even insist that even if McLaren would appreciate that, his book end with such sentiments, it would still not be that negative (Mclaren 425). However, the positive side of his literary works is where he suggests that his case study calls for three main pillars that include the identification and isolation of the required investigation. In his view, there is a need to examine each incident based on the individual grounds. In light with this, he calls for assembling all pieces of relevant details regarding every incident that happened in Judea. As much as such issues have been raised, it is very evident too that, most of the valuable information is not only from the chronological events of the Josephus, but comes also from other sources such as the Philo, which has not been widely used in his book (McLaren 426). McLaren argues that, in order to appreciate the chronological events that took place in the Jewish war, it is necessary to keenly observe the long and short term causes of the war (Mclaren 425). He is also ve ry skeptical in regards to Josephus works as a historian as the Romans too had their own stories to say in their favor. That is the reasons why he has always attacked the Greeks for printing unreliable sources of references. According to the biblical times, the Jews came to significance due to the establishment of a Jewish center in Palestine. Josephus claims that judges were appointed from the Jews themselves. After a while, the Jews flourished giving them the best position to control the administration. This caused an alarm in the government, hence leading to the violence that erupted. Consequently, this led to the Jewish persecution in Damascus, a city that had a large population of Greeks. A total of 10,500 Jews were killed (McLaren 427). Furthermore, the Jews in Syria could not occupy prestigious positions in Arab countries. Jews are known for being notorious in surrendering to the Arabs. For four years, Syria was considered as the platform for the struggle between different ra ces, Jews being part of the struggle Josephus as a source of military history of the Jews war However, it is indispensable to note that, Josephus works is still accredited for, due to the support of the church leaders. This in itself tries to prove that the documents are reliable (Bloom 222). Despite this, there are still some doubts concerning the rebuilding of the Roman campaign in Judea. This is because he has employed the Greco-Roman records to prove some of his arguments (Bloom

Globalization is a Good Thing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Globalization is a Good Thing - Essay Example It is evidently clear from the discussion that globalization has had a long history, with some scholars believing that it has spanned millennia but this form of globalization has come to be surpassed by that which is taking place in the current world. Globalization, as it is today, is mainly based on the idea of free trade and the fact that people from all over the world have come to depend on one another to acquire commodities for their daily use. Thus, one would suggest that while globalization has enabled the development of positive relations between people of different cultures, it has also had some negative impacts as well. Globalization has led to the increase of understanding between peoples from different cultures and backgrounds and this has ensured that individuals, who in previous years could not interact peacefully, can now do so without any prejudice and stereotypes. The interaction between people from different cultures has taken place mainly because of the fact that th ere have developed new forms of technology such as social networks. The latter form of technology has enabled the interaction of individuals from all over the world and has made it possible for individuals of diverse cultural backgrounds, who have not met face to face, to become friends. This has ensured that a situation has developed where these individuals have come to understand each other and found out the reasons behind each other’s cultural practices, hence greater understanding. The cultural understanding that has developed has also led to the creation of greater conditions to enable world peace and it is for this reason that not only governments but also individuals have taken the initiative to work towards the achievement of lasting global peace.

Historical Background Of Victorian Age English Literature Essay

Historical Background Of Victorian Age English Literature Essay In the year 1837, Queen Victoria ascended the throne of Great Britain and Ireland and succeeded William the IV. She served for a period of 64 years, till her death in 1901 and it is one of the longest reigns in the history of England. The period was marked by many important social and historical changes that altered the nation in many ways. The population nearly doubled, the British Empire expanded exponentially and technological and industrial progress helped Britain become the most powerful country in the world. 1.1.1. Chief Characteristics of Victorian Period While the country saw economic progress, poverty and exploitation were also equally a part of it. The gap between the rich and the poor increased significantly and the drive for material and commercial success was seen to propagate a kind of a moral decay in the society itself. The changing landscape of the country was another concern. While the earlier phase of Romanticism saw a celebration of the country side and the rich landscape of the flora and fauna, the Victorian era saw a changing of the landscape to one of burgeoning industries and factories. While the poor were exploited for their labor, the period witnessed the rise of the bourgeoisie or the middle class due to increasing trade between Britain and its colonies and the Reform Bill of 1832 strengthen their hold. There was also a shift from the Romantic ideals of the previous age towards a more realistic acceptance and depiction of society. One of the most important factors that defined the age was its stress on morality. Strict societal codes were enforced and certain activities were openly looked down upon. These codes were even harsher for women. A feminine code of conduct was levied on them which described every aspect of their being from the proper apparels to how to converse, everything had rules. The role of women was mostly that of being angels of the house and restricted to domestic confines. Professionally very few options were available to them as a woman could either become a governess or a teacher in rich households. Hence they were financially dependent on their husbands and fathers and it led to a commercialization of the institution of marriage. 1.1.2. Victorian Novels Victorian Era is seen as the link between Romanticism of the 18th century and the realism of the 20th century. The novel as a genre rose to entertain the rising middle class and to depict the contemporary life in a changing society. Although the novel had been in development since the 18th century with the works of Daniel Defoe, Henry Fielding, Laurence Sterne, Samuel Richardson and the others, it was in this period that the novel got mass acceptance and readership. The growth of cities, a ready domestic market and one in the oversea colonies and an increase in printing and publishing houses facilitated the growth of the novel as a form. In the year 1870, an Education Act was passed which made education an easy access to the masses furthermore increasing literacy rates among the population. Certain jobs required a certain level of reading ability and simple novels catered to this by becoming a device to practice reading. Also the time of the daily commute to work for men and the time alone at home for women could be filled by reading which now became a leisure activity. As a response to the latter, the demand for fiction, rose substantially. The novels of the age mostly had a moral strain in them with a belief in the innate goodness of human nature. The characters were well rounded and the protagonist usually belonged to a middle class society who struggled to create a niche for himself in the industrial and mercantile world. The stress was on realism and an attempt to describe the daily struggles of ordinary men that the middle class reader could associate with. The moral tangents were perhaps an attempt to rescue the moral degradation prevalent in the society then and supplied the audience with hope and positivity. These moral angles allowed for inclusion of larger debates in fiction like the ones surrounding the woman question, marriage, progress, education, the Industrial Revolution. New roles for women were created because of the resultant economic market and their voice which was earlier not given cadence was now being spotted and recognized and novels became the means where the domestic confinement of women was qu estioned. Novels reflecting the larger questions surrounding women, like those of their roles and duties. In the latter half of the century, Married Womens Property Acts was passed, the women suffrage became an important point of debate, and poverty and other economic reasons challenged the traditional roles of women. The novel as a form became the medium where such concerns were raised. 1.1.3 Charles Dickens: A Popular Victorian Author In the same year that Queen Victoria ascended the throne, Charles Dickens published the first parts of his novel Oliver Twist, a story of an orphan and his struggle with poverty in the early part of the century. As the Industrial Revolution surged on, the class difference between the traditional aristocracy and the middle class was gradually getting reduced and with the passing of the Reform Act, the middle class got the right to vote and be politically engaged in the affairs of the nation. While the aristocracy criticized the work that the bourgeoisie had to do in the factories and the industries, to maintain the supremacy that they had the privilege of, the middle class in response promoted work as virtue. The result of this led to a further marginalization of those struck by poverty and were part of neither groups. The Poor Law that was passed made public assistance available to the economically downtrodden only through workhouses where they had to live and work. The conditions of these workhouses were deliberately made to be unbearable so as to avoid the poor from becoming totally dependent on assistance from outside. Families were split, food was inedible, and the circumstances were made inhospitable to urge the poor to work and fight a way through poverty. However, these ultimately became a web difficult to transgress and people chose living in the streets rather than seeking help from a workhouse. Dickens was aware of these concerns as a journalist and his own life and autobiographical experiences entered the novel through Oliver Twist. His novel enters the world of the workhouses, the dens of thieves and the streets and highlights that while there was economic prosperity on one side, there was poverty on the other and while morality, virtue were championed, hypocrisy was equally a part of society. His social commentary entered the world of his fiction. In 1836, before Oliver Twist, his serials of Pickwick Papers were published which led him to instant recognition and popularity. It started the famous Victorian mode of serial novels which dominated the age till the end of the century. It not only made the reader anxious for the next serial to come and spread the popularity of the book itself, but also gave the writer a chance to alter his work according to the mood and expectation of his audience. His works enjoyed continuous popularity and acceptance and Dickens as a writer became famous for his wit, satire, social commentary and his in depth characters. Bleak House, A Christmas Carroll, David Copperfield, Great Expectations are some of his other great works. 1.1.4 William Makepeace Thackeray: English Victorian Writer Thackeray was born in Calcutta, India and was also an important writer but one who expressed his age very differently from Dickens and other writers. He is most noted for his satirical work Vanity Fair that portrays the many myriads of English society. Although he was seen as equally talented as Dickens, but his views were deemed old-fashioned which hindered his popularity. He did not readily accept the changing values of the age. His work is seen almost as a reactionary voice. Vanity Fair for example has the subtitle A novel without a Hero and in a period where other writers usually embarked on a portrayal of the coming of age of a hero, Thackeray himself very deliberately opposes it. While the protagonist of Dickens David Copperfield invites the reader to identify with him, Thackerays Becky Sharp is the conniving, cynical and clever. Even his novel Pendennis, is a complete opposite of the novel David Copperfield, although both were published the same year. Thackeray did not identif y with the middle class because hence his novels lack a middle class hero. When novels were catering to reassure middle class self-worth, Thackeray denied to give that assurance. Even, Dobbin, a middle class character in Vanity Fair, is not completely granted hero status and a tone of criticism lingers on the character throughout the work. In The History of Henry Esmond, Thackeray deals with questions of not only of the concerns of society at large but also of individual identity. While most writers supported the idea of innate goodness in the individual human self, Thackeray differed. For example the character of Henry Esmond is also not a completely positive character and the negatives of his self, is perhaps Thackerays critique of Victorian emphasis on the individual. An individualism that focused on personal virtue and morality is seen as Thackeray to at the risk of selfishness bordering on narcissism and self-absorption. His discontent with his age became more vocal in later works like Phillip and The New Comes. While the former is injected with autobiographical accounts and is goes back to the satirical tone of Vanity Fair, the latter is a harsh critique of the material greed of the age and a critique of the contemporary culture of the age. As a result of his strong opinions of his society and its issues, and a critical rejection of the dominant concerns found in works of other writers of the same age, Thackeray stands in isolation as an outsider to this circle due his skepticism of the changing Victorian society. His stand did not change with time and lends to a social criticism and commentary of a very different sort in his works. Catherine, A Shabby Genteel Story, The Book of Snobs are some of his other works. 1.2 Women Novelists of the Victorian Era The era saw a proliferation of women writers. The novel as a genre was initially seen as feminine literature and as the literacy rate among women increased, a new need for women writers catering to this segment was answered by these writers. 1.2.1. Mrs. Gaskell Elizabeth Gaskell, popularly called Mrs. Gaskell wrote short stories and novels that dealt with presenting a social picture of her society in the 1850s. While it was a time when doubts about material progress reaching the actual lives of the ordinary man were starting to be raised, Gaskell mostly gave an optimistic view of the time. Gaskells North and South for example, seeks to present an answer to division and difference by presenting a form of a social reconciliation. There is an attempt at reconciliation of many divergent streams in the novel. Mary Barton was her first novel, published in 1848 with a subtitle, A Tale of Manchester Life and sticks to the Victorian concern of presenting the daily life of the middle class. Cranford came next in the form of a serial and was edited by Dickens for the magazine called Household Words. It was received positively and Gaskell gained immediate popularity for it. It centered on women characters like Mary Smith, Miss Deborah and the others. However the book was also critiqued for its lack of a significant story line. She was also famous for her gothic style in some of her works and this made Gaskell slightly different from other novelist of her time. Ruth, Sylvias Lovers, Wives and Daughters were other significant works by her. 1.2.2. George Eliot Perhaps the one most famous women writers, George Eliot still maintains a canonical status. Her real name was Mary Ann Evans or Marian Evans and she adopted the pseudonym George Eliot to escape the stereotype attached with women writers and successfully entered the domain of serious writing. She had a controversial personal life and there too was not hesitant to break the norms of societal feminine boundaries. Adam Bede was her first novel, published 1859, set in a rural landscape and deals with a love rectangle. It received critical appreciation for its psychological descriptions of the characters and a realistic description of rural life. Mill on the Floss, 1860, revolves around the life of Tom and Maggie Tulliver and traces their life as they grow up near the River Floss. Historical, political references to those of the Napoleonic Wars and the Reform Bill of 1832 inform the novel and lend it a more intellectual and serious strain. Autobiographical elements also form a part of the novel as George Eliot fuses herself partly with Maggie, the protagonist of the book. After Silas Marner (1861), Romola (1863), Felix Holt the Radical, (1866) came Eliots most popular novel Middlemarch in the year 1871. The novel revolves around the life of complex characters and the Reform Bill of 1832. Subtitled A Study of Provincial Life the plot is based in the fictitious town of Midlands. The greatness of the novel was because of the vast portraiture of country and urban life that it depicts, its complex plots and characters, and its stark realistic projection of the time its set in. The role of education, the women question, politics, s ocial commentary, idealism are other complicated strands of the novel. 1.2.3. Bronte Sisters Charlotte, Emily and Anne Bronte were the three famous novelist daughters of Patrick Bronte, a well-educated man and a writer himself; and Maria Bronte. The family together went through a series of tragedies where Maria Bronte died very early and none of the three sisters could reach the age of 40. Charlotte died at the age of just 39, Emily at 30 and Anne at 29. All three were educated by their father at home and all of them were fond of storytelling since childhood. Charlotte Bronte is famous for her novel Jane Eyre, published in 1847. The titular protagonist of the book, Jane Eyre, and her struggles in life and love for Mr. Rochester along with the process of her mental and spiritual growth are traced. The novel is believed to have a feminist tone to it and the famous woman in the attic character of Bertha Mason raises several gender and feminist issues. Emily Bronte, the second of the trio, became famous for her novel Wuthering Heights, published in the year 1847 and the only boo k written by her. Like George Eliot, Emily wrote under the pseudonym of Ellis Bell but after her death Charlotte published the novel with her sisters real name. The novel is the love story of Heathcliff and  Catherine Earnshaw. Anne Bronte, the last of the three, wrote two novels: Agnes Grey  (1847) and The Tenant of Wildfell Hall  (1848). The former was an autobiographical work and the latter is about a woman named   Helen Graham who transgresses marital and social boundaries to assert her freedom. It is seen a substantial piece of feminist writing. All three sisters hence larger societal questions through mostly women characters and the plot focusses on their life with themes of love and passion. They hence enjoyed a large female readership and have achieved status as classics of literature. 1.3. Late Victorian Novelists Thomas Hardy was the most important writer in the later part of the Victorian Era. He was influenced by both the romanticism of the earlier era and the social commentary of Dickens. He is famous for the conception of the fictional town of Wessex. Far from the Madding Crowd  published in 1874,  The Mayor of Casterbridge  in 1886,  Tess of the dUrbervilles  in 1891, and  Jude the Obscure  in 1895 are his famous novels but Hardy was also known for his poetry. The late part of the period also saw the rise of the sensational novels by writers like Wilkie Collins and they too were based on the life of the middle class. The Woman in White (1860) and The Moonstone (1868) are Collins famous sensational novels. Anthony Trollope, another writer in the second half of the era, was himself from a middle class background and wrote the Phineas Finn (1869) and The Way we Live (1874). It was the time when Lewis Carroll wrote his famous Alices Adventures in Wonderland published in 1865 an d stood very different from other because of the child fiction genre it became a classic of the Carrolls different dreamy world that stood in direct contrast with the realistic tone of novels that was at its peak. George Gissing, George Moore, Samuel Butler, Henry James, Robert Louis Stevenson were other novels of the era. Rudyard Kipling and his short stories based in India pointed to the larger historical process of colonialism happening at the time. It was in 1877 that Queen Victoria became the Empress of India. Then also came George Bernard Shaw and Oscar Wilde, another two most famous writers of the time. 1.3.1. Overview of Victorian Period The age hence was important for the rise of the novel as a genre and form which itself saw transformation within the period. From romanticism to realism, politics to passion, optimism to pessimism, the novel could successfully deal with the changing mood of the society. Class, gender, individualism, society all were given space in the novel. The period was known to have witnessed the massive change of Britain from an agrarian to industrial landscape. All concerns informed the novel and the novel was made into perhaps the most important genre of the age and the ones that would follow. 1.4 Modern Period After Queen Victorias death in 1901 came the period which saw writers like Joseph Conrad, H.G Wells, D.H Lawrence, E.M Forster and others. The most important event in the early part of the 20th century was the First World War that took place from 1914 to 1918. It was a crucial event that changed the way of the world, impacted the psyche of the people and also the way literature was written. The pessimism and doubts that were a part of the writings of the earlier period may perhaps have anticipated the War. Hence Joseph Conrad, instead of talking of the society and its change now focused on dislocated individuals, a question of where one belongs in a seemingly cruel world. Colonialism are important part of his works wherein he presents a stark reality of exploitation and greed. Lord Jim, Nostromo, Heart of Darkness, are some of his major works. H.G Wells was a prolific writer and wrote around a hundred novels. The Time Machine, Ann Veronica, The History of Mr. Polly, The War of the Wo rlds, are some his important novels and Tono- Bungay is seen as his most brilliant work. Lawrence, was a controversial writer because of the open sexual references in his work. His work was different because of the sensual language and emotional feelings that made them. Therefore the novel then moved from the realism of the world outside more towards a description of the reality of the individual within. Sons and Lovers, The Rainbow, Women in Love are important works by him. E.M Forster, lastly wrote his famous Howards End that deals with the Schegel and the Wilcox family and the society in 1910, brilliantly and delicately described which would then be transformed permanently by the First World War. 1.4.1. The Georgian Poets and World War I During the reign of George V, was published five anthologies of poetry by Edward Marsh in the year 1912 to 1922. Many important writers like of the time like Edward Thomas, Robert Graves, D.H Lawrence, Walter de la Mare contributed to these anthologies. The main concern was to depict the real issues surrounding the world around the World War. 1.4.2 Modernism Modernism as a movement was a response to the horrors of World War-I and to the rising industrial societies and growth of cities in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It challenged the harmony and the rationality of the Enlightenment and sought to reinvent art and literature of the age. To do so, it broke away from the works of the past and conventions that were earlier held at a pedestal. The view that traditional conceptions of beauty and on the whole the meaning of art itself did not fit the age lead to another movement called Dadaism that consciously set to redefine art itself. The movement was seen as anti-art that aimed to upturn its order. Chaos then as the basic antithesis to order was abundantly used by artists. Started by Tristan Tzara (1896- 1963) as a reaction against the senseless violence of the First World War and to reflect the anarchy that it spread in the social system as well as in the lives of ordinary people. What was also opposed was the conception of what was worthy of being the object of art. The classical subjects were replaced by the mundane as the urinal that Marcel Duchamp placed as an object of art in his gallery. Also in his LHOOQ Duchamps Mona Lisa with a moustache was a direct means to shake the viewer and the age out from his complacency that lead to the war itself. It was the direct expression of disillusionment with the war and that art too had lost its meaning like the literature of the classical time. The breaking down of any previously set rules and a violent portrayal of freedom of expression to shock and awe was the channel of the time that saw the violence of the World War firsthand. The artists and writers of the Dada movement were mostly war veterans and expressed through their work the psychological devastation of the war. The call for re-invention was echoed in the movement and stood for what modernism broadly aimed at. 1.4.3 Thematic and Technical Features of Modern Literature The conception that reality could be easily be comprehended was replaced by modernism with a more subjective argument. Reality became not what was directly seen but what was behind the apparent surfaces and it took a crude look at the ugly, the stark behind the glossy surfaces. It was to raise these questions that distortion became a crucial trope in the visual arts of the era. Comtes Positivism could no longer be used to describe reality. The distorted images force the onlooker to step out of his comfort zone and to question his conception of reality. It highlights the dialectical relationship between the object of expression and the language that expresses it. This was echoed in the Literature of the time where sentences are fragmented and deliberately left incomplete as in Waiting for Godot. Dialogues are seldom completed and there is an inability to find the correct words to describe the state of the self. This breakdown of language after the World War calls out for a need to rei nvent language to fit the post war world. Hitlers use of almost an enigmatic, opera type use of words (he admired Wagner) that achieved his mass appeal, did also lead to the war. It was perhaps then necessary to breakdown language to reinvent it. The distortion and the fragments not only hint at the former but to a unity that needs to be rediscovered. The half-sentence make the reader seek to complete them and participate in the call for a search of a new unity and identity which is Pounds injunction to Make it New. The onlooker/reader is removed from his role as a mere passive observer to an active one who contributes to the meaning of the art he views/reads. Hence the incompleteness was not aimed at a completely pessimistic answer that leads to a loss of hope, but to different source of comfort similar to what T.S Eliot finds in the world of shanti shanti shanti at the end of Wasteland. 1.4.4 Overview of Modern Age Literature James Joyce set his novels and short stories in a small city of Dublin. Dubliners published in 1914 is a part of the modernist literature along with The Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man and Ulysses. Stephen Daedalus is a central character both in the Portrait and Ulysses. The latter however was banned. The next important writer was Virginia Woolf who was associated with the Bloomsbury Group which was a group of intellectuals and writers that met at her house which included E.M Forster and Leopold Woolf. Woolf attempted to present the changed world through a changed style of writing. In 1915 came her first novel called The Voyage Out and then came Night and Day in 1919. There was a realistic serious tone to both these books. Modernist strain in her writing began with her next novel call Jacobs Room which was published in 1922 along with Ulysses. The rest of the novels like Mrs. Dalloway, To the Lighthouse, The Waves, and Orlando had the same modernist tone. 1.5 Stream of Consciousness Picassos cubism became an important part of modernisms subjective view of reality and a need to move away from traditional forms of art. It was this subjectivity that lead to the stream of consciousness technique of narration, as used by Virginia Woolf in Mrs. Dalloway. The focus on the interiority of the self and its perception of the objects it conceives was way to grasp the changed notion of reality. The Pre-Speech level of consciousness (as Henry James called it) of the character where the narrative deals with what is freely sensed or felt by the characters rather than what is directly uttered changed the way that narratives functioned. The expression of the self was also to highlight the crisis of the self within itself. The existential view of life and its cyclical futile form was what entrapped it rendering it unable to transcend futility of existence. This pessimistic view was a residue of the war which saw man as Sisyphus with his worthless search for meaning, identity and u nity in an age that cannot satiate his search. In The Myth of Sisyphus Albert Camus dwells on this futility of the modern experience. 1.6 Poetic Drama The term poetic drama was made popular during the middle of the 20th century. The term was made famous due to the works of T.S Eliot who used his work as a reaction to the drama of G. B Shaw and Galsworthy who were immensely influenced by Henrik Ibsen who wrote A Dolls House and Ghosts. In the The Quintessence of Ibsenism written by G.B Shaw, he accepted the formers influence on him. T.S Eliot apart from being a poet was also a critic and wrote many important works like Possibility of Poetic Drama and Poetry and Drama in which he expressed his belief that poetry and drama are linked inseparably. W.B. Yeats, W. H. Auden and other poets also tried writing poetic drama. UNIT 2 1MPORTANT LITERARY TERMS 2.1. Dramatic Monologue A persona poem or what is popularly termed as a dramatic monologue in poetry, uses the theatrical device of a monologue where a character or person on stage speaks alone. Often done to highlight the character or authors internal thoughts and vocalize them to an implied audience, it was used in poetry in the 20th century. Romantic poetry was seen as the root of the same. It is usually one persons speech to oneself or the audience / reader wherein he talks about a subjective view on a situation, topic, or any other character. Robert Browning was the poet who perfected the use of dramatic monologue in his poems like My Last Duchess, Soliloquy of the Spanish Cloister. His use of the device influenced Eliot and other modernist writers. 2.2 Paradox As the term signifies, a paradox occurs when there is self-contradiction in a sentence. Even ideas can have a paradox in them. It is done often for stylistic reasons and to express a complicated thought or feeling. Hamlets line I must be cruel only to be kind. (Act 3, Scene iv line 178) in Shakespeares play with the same title is an example of paradox where two contradictory emotions of kindness and cruelty are brought together. 2.3 Antithesis It basically denotes the coming together of complete opposites in a sentence. It is a rhetorical device often used by orators. For example, Goethes quote Love is an ideal thing, marriage a real thing is an example of the same. 2.4 Symbol Derived from the greek word Symbolom, a symbol is a word or object that stands for another word or object. For example a fox is a symbol for cleverness and dove is the universal symbol for peace. 2.5 Problem Play Used mostly with reference to drama, a problem play usually deals with an attempt to focus the public opinion about a social concern. It engages therefore with a problem in the most feasible manner and may either seek to solve it or complicate it further. It was made famous by Henrik Ibsen, a Norwegian Playwright and even used by G.B Shaw in his plays. 2.6 Essay Usually a piece of prose writing that is aimed at being a thoughtful piece of writing with strong intellectual debates and undertones. It is derived from the word exagium that in Latin means a trial by weight. The form is believed to have emerged in the Renaissance and Francis Bacon in 1597 published his Essays. 2.7 Novel A novel is a piece of literature that can be fictional or real and is written in prose. It is very different from drama and poetry by the extent of its length. There are many sub genres that can be a part of the novel itself. In fact a single novel is often is result of play of these various strands of literature. The root of the word Novel or Novella signifies something new as it was a later conception in the history of literature. It came after poetry and drama. It was the 18th and the 19th century that form became a major literary field with writers like Daniel Defoe, the author of Robinson Crusoe; Fielding, who wrote Tom Jones and Samuel Richardson, Charles Dickens and others. After the romantic phase there was a revival of the gothic fiction in works like Ann Radcliffs Mysteries of Udolfo and Mary Shelleys Frankenstein. Gothic was one such genre of the novel form. Realist novels, Sensational novels, domestic novels are just some of the others. On the whole the novel can be seen as a fictional narrative in prose, generally longer than a short story. Unlike the epic, which is now seen as a dead genre, the novel is still enjoying its high status in the literary market as perhaps, it has evolved with the continuously evolving world. 2.8 Free Verse Free verse is a type of structure which does not have a fixed meter or regular rhythm. Even the line length varies from one sentence to another. The cadence is dependent solely on the wish of the writer but sometimes alternates between stressed and unstressed syllables. It was derived from the word freo a middle-english word that meant free. Many great writers and poets experimented with the free verse style including Milton in his Samson Agonistes. 2.9 Short Story   A short story is also a form of fiction writing but is different from the novel because of the length due to which it gets its name. It can be a highly serious work of literature, a didactic one with a moral, a part of childrens fiction and is also open to experimentation. For example, Rudyard Kipling wrote many short stories. The word short comes from the word sceort which means the same. Defoe also wrote short stories because of the popularity of serial novels at his time. It is however Edgar Allen Poe, who is considered to be a seminal figure responsible for the popularity of short stories as a genre. Joyce wrote them in his work titled Dubliners and Kafka wrote Metamorphosis using the same. UNIT 3 FEATURES AND FORMS OF DRAMA Drama is one of the oldest forms of literature along with the epic. It is believed to have derived from the ancient Greek and Roman works. 3.1 Plot A plot is the main trajectory of drama and called be called as its story line. In Poetics, while defining all the major parts of a drama, Aristotle believed that the plot was of prime importance. It was so because it the plot that could be success at achieving

Effective Use of Sound Techniques in Fritz Lang’s Film, M Essay

Effective Use of Sound Techniques in Fritz Lang’s Film, M M was directed by Fritz Lang and was released in Germany in 1931. M follows the story of a strand of child murders in a German city. In a hunt for the murderer the police as well as the organized criminal underground of this German city search rapidly for the killer of these innocent children. The specific elements that Fritz Lang uses to express his view of what the sound should be are, how particular sound techniques shape the film, and how the sound affects the story. In a shot by shot analysis of a series scenes that uses diegetic sound the audience can understand what Lang's intentions for sound was for this film. Initially the audience is witness to how particular sound techniques shape this film. For instance, one of the main details that the audience hears is the song that the murderer whistles. Due to the marvel of sound the audience can pick out that the whistling is related to the murderer. Along with the blind man who figured this mystery out, the audience could only put these two together with this sound technique. The director shows the audience how such a simple part of every day sound can be so important to solving such a terrible crime. An additional sound technique that the director uses is during the beginning of the film with the clock on the wall of Elsie Beckmann's family's apartment. The director uses this clock as a suspense builder to show more and more time is passing without her mother hearing something from her daughter. Attributable to the novelty of sound, the ding dongs and coo-coos on the clock are louder than in reality. This could be another way in which the director wanted to pull the audience into the element of what the clock ... ... understands how important time is being portrayed for Elsie's mother. In brief, the audience can see how this 1931 sound film could be shaped by sound in a number of ways. Considering that sound at this time was a new phenomenon it is understood why mostly diegetic sound was used over nondiegetic sound. This director also showed the audience how the story could be affected by sound with examples like the clock becoming a character and storyline of its own and also the murderer being identified with his whistling. With the lack of sound and the collage of images during specific times, the director was able to create a mood without music or sound. Apparently this was a technique that was learned throughout his many years of silent films. These details were what brought the story together and would not have been done so precisely without the technique of sound.

Armed Conflict

War is often said to be rooted in multiple sources located at various levels of analysis (individual, state, or global) and compare the contributions that theories at each level have made to our understanding of the causes of war.Oxford Dictionary defines war as â€Å"any active hostility or struggle between living beings; a conflict between opposing forces or principles† (qtd. in â€Å"Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy† para. 8). Since the etiology of war is grasped from many sub-disciplines, it is but wise to learn about it based on three groupings namely: those who seek war's causation in man's biology (individual), those that seek it in his culture (global), and those who seek it in his faculty of reason.These determinants of war could give a better understanding as why it happens despite the detrimental effects it does to mankind particularly in terms of individual and global analysis.Individually, â€Å"Some claim war to be a product of man's inherited biology, with disagreements raging on the ensuing determinist implications† (Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy para. 18). According to the â€Å"International Encyclopedia of Philosophy,†Example theories include those that claim man to be naturally aggressive or naturally territorial, more complex analyses incorporate game theory and genetic evolution to explain the occurrence of violence and war (cf. Richard Dawkins for interesting comments on this area).Within this broad school of thought, some accept that man's belligerent drives can be channeled into more peaceful pursuits (William James), some worry about man's lack of inherited inhibitions to fight with increasingly dangerous weapons (Konrad Lorenz), and others claim the natural process of evolution will sustain peaceful modes of behavior over violent (Richard Dawkins) (para. 18).Rejecting biological determinism, culturalists seek to explain war's causation in terms of particular cultural institutions (Internet Encyclop edia of Philosophy para.

Race Crime Essays

Race Crime Essays Race Crime Essay Race Crime Essay There have been many studies conducted by both academics and government organisations to gain further insight into the reasons why, when compared to their representation as members of the population as a whole, people from black minority ethnic backgrounds, widely referred to as BME groups, are massively overrepresented in the criminal justice system in England and Wales (Webster, 2007;111). However, Feilzer and Hood have warned that all research has failed to conclusively prove whether different outcomes for minority ethnic people have been due to discrimination or as a result of other factors (Webster, 2007;112). This essay aims to critically account for the disproportionate presence of BME groups in the criminal justice system, in particular the police, the prison service and the courts, exploring possible reasons for the overrepresentation such as social exclusion and socio-economic disadvantage. The essay will also draw comparisons with other countries such as the United States of America and Australia. Criticism of the police and their relationship with BME groups is nothing new, and tensions within British society were exacerbated with the influx of West Indian immigrants in the 1950s. A study conducted in the 1960s compared urban and rural policing and described the negative stereotype that police officers held of members of the black community (Spalek, 2002;77). More recently, the murder of Stephen Lawrence and the subsequent Lawrence Inquiry produced a startling insight into the degree of, what Lord Macpherson termed, institutional racism within the criminal justice system (Macpherson, 1999). Recent statistics from the Ministry of Justice (MJ) illustrate the overrepresentation of BME groups in the criminal justice system. The Ministry of Justice report, Statistics on Race and the Criminal Justice System 2008/2009 (MJ, 2010) highlights some of the substantial differences that exist between the experiences of people from BME groups compared with those from a white background (MJ, 2010). The report illustrates that BME groups are disproportionately represented at every stage of the criminal justice system but specifically in stop and search, arrests and the prison population. However, this is not simply an issue in England and Wales, but reflects problems faced by criminal justice systems in other countries around the world (Bhui, 2009;50). It has been well established by many authors and studies that the use of stop and search powers by the police has been the most controversial issue (Bowling and Phillips, 2003;534) when dealing with the topic of policing minority ethnic communities. Stop and search powers are governed by section 1 of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act (PACE) 1984, which requires the police to have reasonable suspicion. It is this concept that gives rise to concerns about discrimination and racial profiling (Davies et al, 2005;170). People from BME backgrounds are also more likely to be stopped under the stop and search powers of section 60 of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994, and are less likely to be given a reason for being stopped (Davies et al, 2005;171). Black and Asian people are 26. 6 and 6. 3 times more likely to be stopped and searched respectively than white people, under Section 60 of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 (Townsend, 2010). This is a higher stop and search ratio than that recorded before the publication in 1999 of the Inquiry report into the murder of the black teenager, Stephen Lawrence. Section 60 powers enabled the police to use such stop and search in exceptional circumstances but has subsequently allowed the abuse of such powers through increased stereotyping, further alienating the most affected communities (Townsend, 2010). The report concluded that the overuse of stop and search had created significant mistrust in minority ethnic communities (Travis, 2010), and contributes to the idea that the system is institutionally racist. The Ministry of Justice report found that there has been a 70 per cent rise in BME being stopped and searched over the past 5 years. In England and Wales as a whole it was recorded that 18 people of a white background and 135 of a BME background per 1000 of the population were subject to the use of Stop and Search by the police under section 1 of PACE 1984 (MJ, 2010). The statistics show that under PACE, Black people were 7. 2 times more likely, and Asian people were 2. 1 times more likely to be stopped and searched than white people (MJ, 2010). It could therefore be argued that stop and searches are disproportionately carried out on people from BME backgrounds, under both PACE and the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act. However, there was a large variation in the number of stop and searches throughout England and Wales. In London the number per 1000 of the population was 47 white and 210 black. This variation is a result of several factors. Firstly, 54 percent of the black population of England and Wales live in London, and are therefore more likely to be stopped and searched than any other area. Secondly, 42 percent of all stop and searches are carried out by the Metropolitan Police Service, which only serve 14 percent of the whole population of England and Wales (MJ, 2010). In contrast, there are other areas within England and Wales such as Cumbria and Durham where the rate of stop and searches per 1000 of the population for those from black backgrounds compared to white backgrounds was 0. 7. This means that more white people are stopped and searched per 1000 of the population than black people (MJ, 2010). Findings from the report Offending, Crime and Justice Survey 2003-06 suggested that an individuals ethnic group was not significantly associated with increased or reduced likelihood of offending (MJ, 2010). It is however, believed that BME communities are considered to be suspect populations (Webster, 2010;95) with the tendency for black and Asian communities to receive greatly inferior treatment by the police, leading to their involvement with the criminal justice system. Similar to the stop and search statistics, people from BME groups experienced more arrests per 1000 of the population than people of white backgrounds, and black people were 3. 3 times more likely to get arrested than white people (MJ, 2010). However, Phillips and Browns study in 1998 found that of the cases that went to the Crown Prosecution Service, the proportions that were terminated were 27 per cent for Asians, 20 per cent for black people and 12 per cent for white people (Bhui, 2009;35). This strongly suggests that black and Asian people were more likely to be arrested and charged without sufficient evidence to prosecute. Despite the conviction rates being substantially higher for white people compared to those from BME groups (MJ, 2010) in 2008, the percentage of white adults sentenced to immediate custody for indictable offences was under 29 percent, while BME groups ranged from 42 to 52 percent (MJ, 2010). This higher percentage is not necessarily due to discrimination, but rather a number of other factors, such as the seriousness of the offence committed, mitigating or aggravating factors and whether or not the defendant pleads guilty. Research has shown that people from BME backgrounds are more likely to plead not guilty, and hence be tried in a Crown court (MJ, 2010). In fact 48 per cent of black offenders plead not guilty compared to 30 per cent of white offenders. If offenders are found guilty after pleading not guilty, they are often given heavier and longer sentences (Marsh et al, 2010;178) and this may be a reason why there are more black offenders in prison. Although people from BME backgrounds account for less than 11 per cent of the British population, they account for a much higher proportion of the prison population. On the 30th June 2009, 20 percent of prisoners identified themselves as being from BME groups (MJ, 2010). The total prison population excluding foreign nationals has experienced increased numbers from all ethnic backgrounds since 2005, but most notably from Asian and Mixed groups. Those from a white ethnic background had the smallest increase (MJ, 2010). The result of such overrepresentation of people from BME backgrounds, in particular black people, is that there are some prisons in the south east of England that are now virtually all black (Ramesh, 2010). The disproportionate presence of people from BME groups could mean one of two things. People from BME groups may be discriminated against at the point of entry into the criminal justice system and this subsequently continues to the point of imprisonment. Alternatively, the groups are actually more involved in crime than others for reasons particular to that group (Hale et al, 2009;419). It is of common belief that the true answer lies somewhere between the two theories, yet self report studies have indicated that white people commit just as much or even more crime than those from BME groups (Kalunta-Crumpton, 2010). Evidence from several studies has shown that there are three overarching causes for the overrepresentation of BME groups in the Criminal Justice System, all of which compound each other. Firstly, social exclusion is a longstanding primary cause (House of Commons; Home Affairs Committee (HC), 2007). Secondly, factors specific to the black community such as family patterns and cultures amongst black people, both fuel and compound socio-economic deprivation. Thirdly, the structure and the way the criminal justice system operates mean more young BME people come into contact, and stay in contact, with the system (HC, 2010). There is considerable racial inequality in the criminal justice system with a massive underrepresentation of people from BME backgrounds in judiciary and court positions (Marsh et al, 2010;179). A recent report by the Ministry of Justice found that, as of April 2009 in the courts based judiciary, a mere 4. 5 per cent of judges were from BME backgrounds, and represented just 3 of the 163 High Court judges (MJ, 2010). This is a point that was highlighted in the Lawrence Inquiry, and in particular the failure of the police service to recruit minority ethnic officers. Recommendation 65 of the Lawrence Report stated that the police service ought to develop more initiatives to increase the number of minority ethnic recruits (Bhui, 2009;54). Despite such attempts to recruit more people from BME groups, the police force is still a predominantly white institution with only 4. 4 percent of officers in post coming from a BME background (Hansard, 2010), and this is reflected in the feelings of people from BME groups. A study conducted by Shute et al showed that one fifth of black defendants felt that their treatment had been influenced by racial bias (Marsh et al, 2010). Of the black and Asian defendants who thought that they had been given longer custodial sentences, over half put it down to their ethnicity rather than what they had done or said in court (Marsh et al, 2010), indicating the feeling amongst people from BME groups that institutional racism still exists within the criminal justice system. Such thoughts of institutional racism within the criminal justice system were again identified with the tragic incident in March 2000 when Zahid Mubarek, a 19 year old Asian prisoner at Feltham young offender institution, was murdered by a cell mate with a history of racist and violent behaviour (Nacro, 2003). It is regarded that social exclusion is the key reason for the overrepresentation of ethnic minorities within the criminal justice system. BME groups are socially and economically disadvantaged compared with white people and are more likely to come to police attention (Bhui, 2009;34). This socio-economic disadvantage stretches back to the post-war period when the first settlers from the Caribbean were forced into ghettoes because of racial prejudice and restricted access to accommodation, resulting in them being stacked in deprived areas where schools were substandard, employment opportunities were minimal and long-term prospects to hold the family together were limited (HC, 2010). It is believed that the disproportional presence of ethnic minorities has arisen due to the idea that policing bares down more heavily on those that frequent public spaces more often (Maguire et al, 2007;437). This happens to be black and Asian people as they are still subjected to high rates of unemployment, homelessness and nocturnal shift work. It is noted that 80 per cent of black African and black Caribbean communities live in particularly deprived, high crime urban areas such as Neighbourhood Renewal Fund areas (Bhui, 2009;32). It is the combination of all of these factors that place such individuals at greater risk of being stopped and searched (Maguire et al, 2007;437). The House of Commons Home Affairs Committee found that in 2007, all the minority ethnic groups within the black category are consistently below the national average across all Key Stages, at GCSE and equivalent and Post-16. At GCSE and equivalent, 45 per cent of black Caribbean pupils, and 51 per cent of black African pupils achieved 5 or more A*-C grades compared to 57 per cent nationally (HC, 2007). The committee concluded that the failure of the education system to educate our black boys provides a breeding ground for disaffection that undoubtedly leads many to seek alternative means to obtain a good standard of living or gain respect from their peers (HC, 2007). Conversely, the recent report How Fair is Britain produced by the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC), shows that ethnic differences are narrowing at GCSE level, except for the top two highest performing groups; Chinese and Indian (EHRC, 2010). Educational underachievement is fed by rates of exclusion, which is higher for black young people than any other ethnic group. The 2006 Department for Education Skills (DfES) report shows that 9. 6 per cent of black Caribbean young people had had a fixed period exclusion compared with a national average for all pupils of 5 per cent (DfES, 2006). Excluded young people, regardless of ethnicity, are twice as likely to commit offences as children in mainstream school according to the Youth Justice Boards (YJB) survey completed by MORI. In a recent survey 23 per cent of young people in mainstream school said they had committed an offence in the last 12 months, while 60per cent of excluded young people say they had committed an offence over the same period (YJB, 2009). This is a clear indication that young black people are more likely to be excluded from school, and subsequently more likely to offend. Asian children on the other hand had the lowest exclusion rates, followed by children with one white and one Asian parent (EHRC, 2010). The success of Asian children in education ties in with their low offending rates. Such traits have traditionally been explained as the result of strong informal controls said to inhere in Asian culture and family life (Webster, 2010;97). In 2007, at a time of growing gun and knife crime, former Prime Minister Tony Blair, insisted that we needed to stop pretending it was a problem for the general population (Blair, 2007), but rather an issue for the black community to resolve (Hale et al, 2009). This idea has been reaffirmed in statistics such as the figures from Operation Trident, a Metropolitan Police Service operation intended to deal with shootings among black people living in London in 2006. The operations findings detailed in the Home Affairs Committee report showed that, of all the firearms homicides and shootings in 2006 in London, 75 per cent of victims and 79 per cent of suspects were black (HC, 2010). These statistics reflect the idea that the majority of offending by people from minority ethnic backgrounds is intra-racial. It was also found that the boroughs with the highest firearms offences such as Hackney and Lambeth had the highest density of black population in London, as well as being some of the most deprived (HC, 2010). Furthermore, recent research in the UK suggests that homicide rates are associated with levels of poverty and deprivation (HC, 2010). It is this level of involvement and overrepresentation that is the greatest cause for concern for some sections of black and minority ethnic communities. The Director of Equalities and Policing at the Greater London Authority, Lee Jasper said of the situation we have, quite literally, a crisis in the black community among our young black people (HC, 2010). Self report studies ask some general questions about the respondents social and economic situation and then they are asked to describe any offences that they have committed. This technique relies solely upon the honesty of interviewees to reveal their offending behaviour. Self report surveys have produced controversial findings and in particular have suggested that race differences usually observed in official records are either absent or much reduced (Bowling and Phillips, 2002;99). The 2003 Offending, Crime and Justice Study found that in actual fact, white respondents were more likely than black or Asian respondents to say that they had offended (Bhui, 2009;32). The findings of such studies have indicated that the dark figure of crime is more likely to be committed by white people than those from BME backgrounds (Kalunta-Crumpton, 2010). In Australia, they face a slightly different issue, in that the indigenous population of Aboriginals and Torres Strait Islander people are massively overrepresented in the justice system, and it is a result of historical discrimination, over-regulation and unfair treatment (Australian Law Reform Commission, 2006). Indigenous people make up 2. 5 per cent of the population in Australia, yet in 2008 they accounted for 29. 3 per cent and 24. 1 per cent of the female and male prisoners respectively (Bartels, 2010); a rate 17 times higher than that for non-indigenous people (Australian Institute of Criminology, 2010). These figures varied throughout the different territories of Australia. For example, in Victoria, Indigenous people accounted for 6 per cent of the prison population, much lower but still overrepresented compared to their presence in the general population. In the Northern Territories however, the situation is much worse, with Indigenous people representing 83 per cent of the prison population. This is a startling illustration of the massive overrepresentation of Indigenous population in the criminal justice system. One explanation considered by some authors such as Bartels, is that the Indigenous population is significantly younger than the non-indigenous population. A census in 2006 found that the median age for both Indigenous and Non-Indigenous populations was 21 and 37 respectively (Australian Government, 2008), and thus a reason for the high number of Indigenous people coming into contact with the criminal justice system. In the United States of America, they face a similar if not more extreme situation than in Britain and most Western European countries. The Washington DC based research group, The Sentencing Project reported that today there are more African American men in prison and jail than in college (Walker et al, 2007;xiii). Despite black people only representing 12 per cent of the United States population, nearly half of all prisoners in the USA are African-American (Webster, 2007), and it is predicted that nearly one third of African-American males born today will go to prison (Ramesh, 2010). The US Justice Department have released statistics that suggest approximately 40 to 45 per cent of the US prison population is black (Ramesh, 2010), and that black people represent 31 per cent of arrests and 37 per cent of all violent arrests. Walker et al concluded in The Color of Justice, that the US criminal justice system is contextually discriminatory, in that discrimination does occur within certain parts of the system but not all parts, all of the time (Walker et al, 2007;419). The recent statistics from the Ministry of Justice paint a very clear picture as to the substantial differences that exist between the experiences of BME groups compared with white people, and in particular the experiences of black people. The central problem with the disproportionate presence of ethnic minorities in the criminal justice system is their under-representation in criminal justice professions coupled with their overrepresentation as suspects, defendants and prisoners (Newburn, 2007). Longstanding tension between the police and ethnic minorities still plays a significant part in the discrimination of ethnic minorities and is demonstrated in such documentaries as The Secret Policeman (Daly, 2003), highlighting that racism within the police force still occurs. Although many positive steps have been taken to eliminate institutional racism within the police force since the Lawrence Inquiry, there is still more that needs to be done. The police are not the only institution criticised of being discriminatory, with the Prison service also displaying such traits. It could be argued that the criminal justice system as a whole is still considered institutionally racist. Minority ethnic communities around the world are suffering from the same issues faced by those in England and Wales. The Australian prison population figures illustrate the startling discrimination the indigenous population of Australia face. The United States of America have a justice system described as contextually discriminatory (Walker et al, 2007;419), with an increasing population of black prisoners, many of which have committed violent or drug related offences. Despite numerous studies by academics and government departments, it has been considered that all research has failed to conclusively prove whether the disproportionate presence of people from minority ethnic backgrounds in the criminal justice system is through discrimination or other factors (Webster, 2007). It would appear however, that BME groups are most definitely overrepresented at every stage of the criminal justice system. From the findings of self report studies it can be inferred that the overrepresentation of ethnic minorities is not a result of disproportionate offending, but rather a combination of different factors. Similarly, the issue is not one solely of institutional racism within the criminal justice system. Unfortunately people from minority ethnic backgrounds live in the most deprived urban areas, with the highest crime rates, and therefore are undoubtedly over-policed. Young people from BME backgrounds are consistently underachieving in education and are almost twice as likely to have a fixed period of exclusion compared to the national average, and subsequently twice as likely to offend. Upon being charged for an offence, people from BME backgrounds are more likely to plead not guilty, and hence tried in the Crown court, where if found guilty, will receive a heavier sentence. It is the compounded effect of these factors that are the major cause of the disproportionate presence of ethnic minorities within the criminal justice system, and without addressing these issues first and foremost, their presence will simply increase.