The Boy s The Striped Pajamas Book Report - 1088 Words

Brenda Cabrera Mrs. Ferreri English I MYP 4 December 2014 The Boy in the Striped Pajamas Book Report The Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne is a historical fiction novel that contains 216 pages. In my opinion the title means someone who never leaves their pajamas. I think this title was chosen because the story is basically how Bruno made a friend who he thought was wearing striped pajamas but in reality it was his concentration camp uniform. The setting takes place in the early 1940’s during the Holocaust time in Germany near Auschwitz, a famous concentration camp. In order for a novel to be great there has to be a well explained plot. A plot consists of the exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, and resolution. The exposition is described by the characters, background information, and conflicts. The main character is Bruno, a nine year old boy who loves to explore all around town with his three best friends. Gretel or often reffered to as the â€Å"Hopeless Case† is Bruno’s older sister who loves to play with her dolls and often teses Bruno with her friends. Mother is a stay at home wife who loves her children. Father is a soldier who persecutes Jews. Maria is the maid who helps around with the job chores, Bruno has known her his entire life. Bruno is frustrated when he finds out he is leaving Berlin to move to â€Å"Out-With† so his father can be closer to his job. Bruno does not like his new house but that does not keep him from exploring it. There are twoShow MoreRelatedAnalysis Of The Book The Boy s The Striped Pajamas 1035 Words   |  5 Pagesanalysis report, of the book â€Å"The Boy in the Striped Pajamas†, I will be breaking down the story. Starting with the beginning introducing the main protagonist and antagonist of the movie. Then introducing the main conflict and how the protagonist tried to fix this problem, and how it was solved. The final paragraph will break down the movie even further by explaining symbols, showing what they mean, and how this movie depicted the real world. To start off, The movie â€Å"The boy in the striped pajamas† wasRead MoreDifferent Perspectives of The Jewish Holocaust 1641 Words   |  7 Pages The National Socialist German Workers Party, commonly known as the Nazi party, originated during the 1920s. Formerly, the Nazi Party’s main purpose was to abolish communism. However, in 1930 the party ´s focus shifted to include racial and ethnic purity in order to create a perfect race commonly known as the Aryan race. Opportunely, the years of the Great Depression could not have been a more ideal time for Adolf Hitler to come to power, for Hitler transmittedRead MoreThe Boy in the Striped Pyjamas Portfolio6447 Words   |  26 PagesRothen Table of contents Introduction | 3 | Book report | 4 | Main characters | 5 | Themes | 7 | New book covers | 9 | Words and Phrases | 10 | Reflection | 11 | Film review | 12 | Interview | 14 | Song interpretation | 16 | Peer assessment | 18 | Vocabulary | 20 | Self evaluation | 22 | Introduction This portfolio documents my dealing with the book â€Å"The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas†, written by John Boyne, and the corresponding film, which wasRead MoreThe Ballad of the Sad Cafe46714 Words   |  187 Pagesher first novel, The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter, created a literary sensation. She is very special, one of America s superlative writers who conjures up a vision of existence as terrible as it is real, who takes us on shattering voyages into the depths of the spiritual isolation that underlies the human condition. A grotesque human triangle in a primitive Southern town. . . A young boy learning the difficult lessons of manhood. . . A fateful encounter with his native land and former love. . . These

Rhetorical Devices On The Hands Of An Angry God - 1093 Words

In everyday life we apply rhetorical devices for many situations. We apply them most when trying to persuade others, such as advertisement on the television. Rhetorical devices have been used for a really long time. In fact, the Puritans in 1741 were persuaded through rhetorical devices. They were always told about the effects of sinning and were told what would happen after their life was over. Rhetorical devices helped persuade the Puritans into believing that all of the things mentioned to them were true. Around that time, a pastor—Jonathan Edwards—gave a sermon about what would happen if they did not covert into a child of God. In â€Å"Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God† Edwards applies the rhetorical devices such as: ethos, pathos and logos to persuade his audience to be converted or born again as a child of Christ. The rhetorical device ethos refers to the audience’s ethics. According to the Using the Persuasive Appeals article ethos, â€Å"appea ls to the audience’s trust by establishing his credibility or trustworthiness as a writer or speaker† (13). Edwards utilizes ethos throughout his whole sermon. The first way he applies ethos is by putting himself in his audience’s position. For example, â€Å"we find it easy to thread on and crush a worm that we see crawling on the earth†¦thus easy is it for God when he pleases to cast his enemies down to hell†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Edwards 40). This allows Edwards to reassure his audience. This reveals to his audience that he understands that it is notShow MoreRelatedRhetorical Analysis Of Sinners In The Hands Of An Angry God1219 Words   |  5 Pagesâ€Å"Sinners† Rhetorical Analysis Imagine you are a Puritan, it is the Great Awakening, and one of the most well-known preachers of the time is telling you that there is a good chance you are going to hell. Without some serious skills in persuasion, this statement wouldn’t mean anything. Jonathan Edwards Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God speech was extremely effective in persuading the Puritans to take their religious beliefs more seriously due to his use of many rhetorical devices such as: figuresRead MoreSinners in the Hands of an Angry God Essay972 Words   |  4 PagesOutline 1. Introduction a. Hook - â€Å"Unconverted men walk over the pit of hell on a rotten covering.† ( A quote from Jonathan Edwards’ â€Å"Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God†) b. Thesis – Jonathan Edwards’s sermon portrayed Puritans as sinners of their religion through the use of rhetorical strategies such as ethos, pathos, and logos. 2. Body Points c. Body 1 i. Topic Sentence - Ethos is referred to as the trustworthiness or credibility of the speaker and theirRead More Use of Rhetoric in Jonathan Edwards Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God570 Words   |  3 PagesOn July 8th 1741, Jonathan Edwards preached the sermon â€Å"Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God† in Enfield, Connecticut. Edwards states to his listeners that God does not lack in power, and that people have yet not fallen to destruction because his mercy. God is so forgiving that he gives his people an opportunity to repent and change their ways before it was too late. Edwards urges that the possibility of damnation is immanent. Also that it urgently requires the considerations of the sinner beforeRead MoreSinners in the Hands of an Angry God by Jonathan Edwards Essay647 Words   |  3 PagesSinners in the Hands of an Angry God by Jonathan Edwards Jonathan Edwards grew up in an atmosphere of strict puritan discipline. He became a very religious and devout believer at an early age, and excelled in academics, entering Yale University at the age of thirteen. Many years later he became the pastor of a church that grew with his teachings. His lifestyle reflected his teachings and was a well respected man. His sermons spoke directly at many people and he impactedRead MoreShort Poem The Tyger Essay642 Words   |  3 Pagesâ€Å"The Tyger† is one of the most famous works by William Blake. It is a great poem, which clearly shows the reader the way in which poetic devices and sound and rhythm affect the meaning of a poem. William Blake questions the nature of God, and faith. He asks two important rhetorical questions in the poem. Does God create both good and evil? If so what right does God have to do this? The poem is a cycle of questioning the creator of the tyger, discussing how it could have been created, and back to questioningRead MoreThe Hands Of An Angry God By Jonathan Edwards707 Words   |  3 Pages For the sinners who fail to cleanse their loathsome, tainted souls, angering the omnipotent God whose hostility is presented in an infinite wrath, only a painful, torturing hell is held in their destinies. This terrifying, ominous threat, presented in â€Å"Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God† by Jonathan Edward s, amplifies the power of God, and renders a profound hatred toward impure sinners. Accordingly, through his usage of the powerful rhetoric exposed by allusion, imagery, and metaphor, EdwardsRead MoreMary Rowlandson And Transcendentalism1661 Words   |  7 PagesIndian attack just happened, but that God had determined it. She believed that the attack was God’s punishment for the Puritan’s failure to uphold their covenant with him. Although Rowlandson faced many horrifying experiences, she relied on faith during her captivity. She relied on bible quotes to strengthen her and get through the whole experience, especially the bad days. Even when she was treated well by the Natives, she believed that they were blessings from God, thus giving her much hope. FacingRead MoreEssay on Justifying The Mirror of All Christian Kings799 Words   |  4 Pagesthe world England at Harfleur ‘whose limbs were made in England’, ‘‘God for Harry, England and Saint George.’’ And at Agincourt ‘gentlemen in England’. He pounds home the fact that they are brothers in arms and that they are the lucky ones that will be remembered. ‘We band of brothers’ Henry calls them flatters them, telling them that they are brothers to the king. He also uses common rhetorical devices. He uses groups of three a lot. For instance Harry the king, BedfordRead MoreEssay about Comparision of Wordsworth and Blakes Poems1523 Words   |  7 PagesUs,† we figure the theme to be exactly what the title suggests: Humans are so self-absorbed with other things such as materialism that there’s no time left for anything else. In â€Å"The Tyger† the theme revolves around the question of what the Creator (God) of this creature seems to be like and the nature of good vs. evil. Both poems arise with some problem or question which makes the reader attentive and think logically about the society. Moreover, searching for the different mechanics in each ofRead MoreAnalysis Of John Winthrop s City Upon A Hill And Jonathan Edward s Sinners1971 Words   |  8 PagesThe central theme of both John Winthrop’s â€Å"City Upon a Hill† and Jonathan Edward’s â€Å"Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God†, is the prospect of religion in one’s everyday life influencing their future. In order to build up their ideas about acting in a way that pleases the Lord, both these authors use repetition, diction, allusions, and metaphors as a way to build momentum in their speech as they allude to teachings of the bible and their diction install a notion of uncertainty. However, while Winthrop

Concentration Camps in the Holocaust free essay sample

It is very sobering how real it all feels even to the reader. Corrie Ten Boom and her whole family went off to the camps for keeping Jews safe and out of her whole family she was the only one that survived. It is a very sobering book to read indeed, you feel all the pain, anxiety and feel all of the fear she experienced. I believe this book not only is a good descriptor of the camps but also dives into the emotions of the people living in them and just how the littlest things in there can bring all the joy in the world. This book would be an okay book for students at a high school caliber because the beginning starts slow but the inner content in phenomenal. In conclusion I think that The Hiding Place by Corrie Ten Boom a very insightful book on the concentration camps and also keeps you entertained on the same hand. We will write a custom essay sample on Concentration Camps in the Holocaust or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Boyne, John. The Boy in the Stripped Pajamas. Ireland: David Fickling Books 2006 Boyne’s book offers a completely different view of the concentration camps from what normal eyes would see. It offers the perspective of a child. The child’s name is Bruno and although he himself does not live inside the camps, he lives along side them and makes friends with another little boy named Shmuel who is his age and a Jew. This books makes the concentration camps seem almost innocent. Although he is not directly in them he is outside and witnesses a lot of it all. Just how unknowing of all the real terror going on within those walls. Over the course of the book you can’t help but get attached and when Bruno and Shmuel walk into a gas chamber unknowing of what it is the feelings go through the reader is almost unbearable. As said prior this book gives a different look at the camps it doesn’t make you sad, it doesn’t make you worry or be afraid until the end of course in the gas chambers. But almost as though everything is normal, there’s no harm done in Bruno’s eyes. It is quiet a different perspective of it all and I love how authors besides Boyne do that. They take it on a whole different level and a different view different from the rest of anything out there. Although this book gives a softer look to the concentration camps I still don’t feel as though younger people should be reading such a novel due to the issue it still deals with. High school students at least should be the first time to touch upon this. In closing The Boy in the Stripped Pajamas is a very amazing book filled with everything you could have heard prior about the camps and put it through a child’s eyes. Auschwitz Adler, Jerry. The Last Days of Auschwitz. January 16, 1995. 46 This piece written by Jerry Adler is very moving. But when it comes to concentration camps in the Holocaust what isn’t? The author really captures all the right words to help you to visualize more the situation that is at hand. The Visuals you imagine are so appalling and wretched even to just imagine. And the Germans who ran the camps just appearing so emotionless as though the actions they are doing doesn’t even phase them in the slightest its just another normal day. The sheer cruelty of human beings hit an all time low during this period of time. Hearing these documents and more such as this can make one feel almost dirty for even living. Where was the rest of the world at this time, some were helping of course but for others just to turn their heads and look the other way is just monstrous. And in all this terror how some still manage to find some joy in all of it. Something to even laugh about or smile even knowing how many of them were shipped off to gad chambers that day or worked to death. As always with most pieces of writing about such events it is rather thought provoking. People should not read such a document though until of at least entering high school. Mr. Adler did a marvelous at piecing his words together to actually make you feel pain and see everything so clear. In closing this is indeed a very hard-hitting piece well put together by the author. Dachau Gibson, Michael. Art/Architectures; Dachau Through the Eyes That Saw it First Hand. New York: New York Times 2002 In this article Gibson goes into the story of a man named Zoran Music and studies the paintings he made while he was in Dachau. These are very abstract pictures more then realistic but still the emotions behind them are immense. Showing the stacks of bodies piled up against each other, people screaming and running all so terrifying. Mr. Music wasn’t a Jew, he lived in Italy but had some friends who dealt with the British and twenty were taken off. Some were shot and the rest off to Dachau. In this article hearing the opinions and feeling the emotions of Mr. Music is almost heart shattering. He has no emotion and almost no care for anything. It is a very realistic view on how some of the survivors feel after the torture they endured. Some try to forget and live on but not here, he is in this constant state. When he was released he painted more and more of what he felt and saw in Dachau. He hoped that when people would see these it would open up the eyes of the rest of the world and stop this madness from ever happening again. But after he realized the fighting and brutality continued he stopped seeing there was no point. This article not only goes into our mind from hearing a story but also when looking at the paintings seeing it in again a different light. It is all very sobering the story along with the artwork. Almost saddening to see people such as this telling their story and even painting it on a canvas and it affecting us in no way. It is still out there. This could be read by anyone really it is not too gruesome and it gives another good perspective into a person affected by the camps. It should be good for older classes and just for people to educate themselves. In conclusion this article is very informative and hits a lot of different feelings and emotions. Treblinka Roper, Matt. I looked for him but God must have been on holiday: Last living survivors of Treblinka death camp speak of unimaginable horrors. Mail Online [London] 11 August 2012 In this article it takes the accounts of the last two survivors of Treblinka, Samuel Willenberg and Kalman Taigman. It follows both of there stories both similar yet so different. Out of anything personally read this had to be the most-hard hitting, the vast detail of it all, the stories within. Treblinka was no ordinary concentration camp once entered you only had a 1% of survival after the first three hours. Samuel Even saw his own two sisters come into the camp and knew there fate was certain. The camp was more of a genocide, 15,00 Jews would be sent off and killed everyday in Treblinka. Seeing numbers like that is just devastating and hearing these stories could break any ones heart. This should be something only heard in fictional stories, but these catastrophes all occurred. These stories of these two men alone are so terrible, heart churning, terrifying, and so sick and masochistic. Something that turns heads and really makes you wonder what was going on that was so wrong with these people to torture and kill to such an extent. The content in this article should not be read at an age younger then high school level at least. These events are painful to read to even imagine being the one going through them. In conclusion this article is very moving and hurtful just to think about. Although it is painful to read, the world cant forget what happened for those years in Treblinka.

Manchester Products free essay sample

1. HOW WOULD YOU CHARACTERIZE THE HOUSEHOLD FURNITURE INDUSTRY? In 2004, the Household Furniture Industry’s annual growth was 4%, it was a $36. 4 billion industry. There a many competitors within the industry because of low cost imports from Asia and Mexico. The household furniture industry is also closely tied with the economy. After the housing boom in the early 2000’s, companies needed to focus on a more innovate and stylist product to get consumers attentions. Household furniture products are classified as wood (48%), upholstered (34%), and metal/other (18%). They are then segmented by price and quality. In a survey, Consumers rated that they are more concerned about style, design, quality, and comfort. They are not loyal to one particular brand because 60% of them would switch brands when looking for a replacement. The consumers are also highly involved in the process of purchasing furniture, 60% of them talked to third parties and 70% visited more than one store prior to a purchase. They are also vary significantly on where they purchase their furniture. 2. What are the benefits and risks associated with the acquisition of PLFD? The benefits associated with the acquisition of PLFD is, they have very strong brand equity and a recognizable name within the household furniture industry. They are associated with high quality and stylish products. 80% of consumers were aware of the brand. PLFD occupied the number one or number two market share position in several categories. They also had strong ties with all of the leading distribution centers. This is something that Manchester Products was lacking and could significantly help them to get their products onto the market. Also the household furniture industry is a larger industry and has more steady growth than the office furniture industry. Some of the risks associated with the acquisition are Manchester and PLFD targeting two different markets. Manchester is primarily office furniture, home media, and recliners for the home, where as PLFC with Accent Pieces, Bedroom, Chairs/Sofas, Dining/Kitchen, Entertainment/Media, Home Office, and Tables. They have two different styles of furniture. Manchester offers conservative, functional designs, where as PLFD offer bold styles and fashionable colors, which would definitely be two different target markets. Another risk is that Manchester can only use the Paul Logan name for 3 years. It is important that they use this name to their benefit because of the brand equity, but they also want their customers to be aware of their Manchester brand because that will ultimately be the brand name. Also a major risk is that competitors such as National Furniture are looking for an opportunity to capitalize on the acquisition and steel some of PLFD’s business. Once the acquisition is complete, MH needs to make sure that they come up with a strong marketing strategy so that they do not lose loyal or potential customers. 3. 4. What are the marketing problems raised in the brand transition? Which of the three brand transition options outlined in the case should Adams recommend? The major problems in this case are, the 2 different styles of furniture that MH and PLFD offer, target two different types of consumers, and how to transition from the Paul Logan name to Manchester name. Both MH and PLFD target customers in the Middle to Upper Price points, but their customers have 2 different styles. MH is conservative and PLFD is highly stylish. The aspect that they need to consider is how to make both target customers happy. In order to transition the brand, it would be very helpful for MH to keep the Paul Logan name initially. MH has to be very cautious about their competitors because they are ready to capitalize on the acquisition. If they keep the Paul Logan name, customer will still recognize it and purchase it because of the brand equity. This will help MH to secure most of PFLS’s market share and help them to remain competitive. Another reason why they should keep the Paul Logan name is because of the distributors. PLFD is a traffic builder in stores and distributors are concerned about the acquisition. MH needs to secure these distribution centers in order to close up the holes in their distribution network. Once they do this and start building relationships with the distribution centers then they can consider building their business on the MH name. Jeremy Campbell the VP of Strategic Planning suggested that it does not have to be all or nothing for 3 years. Picking up one or two products at a time that lend themselves to low-risk brand transition and transitioning them to MH name gradually is a good start. MH may also want to develop two different names for their furniture styles. They will have 2 different target markets, conservative and high fashion. MH is associated with more conservative furniture, so it would help if they developed a new trendier name for Paul Logan’s furniture to reach their different target markets. 5. 6. Compare the marketing budgets for MH and PLFD. What difference do you see in the allocations of push vs pull expenditure? Do you agree with Adams budget estimates and allocations? Reviewing the marketing budgets of MH and PLFD, PLFD allocated much more of its budget to push programs in the form of volume rebates and purchase allowances for trade compared to MH which put more of their budget into pull programs such as national advertising. In 2005 MH is planning on reducing PLFD’s push programs by 3. 8%, a total of $38 million. In addition to this they are increasing the pull programs for MH by 9. 7% of $45. 6 million. MH should reconsider this marketing budget. One of the major issues that MH has had in the past is securing distribution for their products. By acquiring PLFD, they are in a very good position to secure more distribution, but at the same time, they do not want to turn off the household distribution outlets by not offering volume rebates and purchase allowances. These push programs are what helped PLFD have strong relationships with buyers from major furniture chains, department stores, and wholesalers. Adams should not make any significant changes to the pull programs that PLFD had in place. Instead, he should be adding more to both budgets. During an acquisition and at a time that you want to build up your customer based, it is not a good time to be cutting back on your marketing. It is important that MH uses both push and pull strategies through this acquisition. PLFD’s closest competitor is looking to beef up advertising and price reductions. They are also looking at using an aggressive strategy to exploit the uncertainty associated with the integration. MH needs to come out with guns blazing. They definitely don’t want to turn off their distribution network because it is very important to get the product out on the market, but they also need to advertise

Socrates And The Self Defense Clause Essays - Philosophy, Ethics

Socrates And The Self Defense Clause The question of Morality and what it means: Throughout the recorded history of man, there has been a series of questions continually asked by each generation. ?Who are we? Where are we going? Why? Is there a God Are just a few of the questions that continue to engage the minds of so many today. But perhaps the most difficult one to really grasp has to do with the theories of ethics and morality, or in layman?s terms, ?What is good and bad, and how do we live our lives to uphold the good while shunning the bad As time has gone on there have been many theories and ideas proposed, ranging from the divine hand theory (dealing with how organized religion handles the matter of ethics), from utilitarianism (short version maximizing pleasure while minimizing pain, ethical egoism on a grander scale really), to the vague theories of Immanual Kant, (who stressed the theory of universal law, categorical imperatives, and what would happen if we applied it, supposedly). With all these great philosophical minds over the course of eons workin g on the problem with ethics, I find it rather ironic that no one pays heed to what one of the greatest minds in history, Socrates ( circa 470 B.C. to 399 B.C.) had to say concerning this question of morality. Socrates, seemingly was able to create a whole ethical theory based on a single statement, ?One must never do wrong, even for wrong received.? Words he uttered literally on his death bed just days before his execution took place in Athens. Simple words, yet with such magnitude and underlying meaning that we must examine this further in order to fully understand it. The statement, ?One must never do wrong, even for wrong received? seems to be a predecessor to the Judo-Christian philosophy ?treat others as you would have them treat you? or more commonly referred to as the golden rule. A first glance we seem to have all we need laid out for us right there. This statement calls for us to be honest, not to kill or maim anyone, and creates a world where life is more simple. Or does it? What about situations where some one is violating you, trying to harm you? May you defend yourself, and in fact is self defense a legitimate moral justification in this case? Looking at the literal text in ?One must never do wrong, even for wrong received? seems to imply that you may not. Even if our life is at stake, since attacking them would be doing wrong, we must not do so.? So in other words, Socrates must hold that self defense cannot be a legitimate moral justification for your actions. Ah but does he really ? Is it wrong to defend your life? I think not, in fact it is one of the highest goods possible. Not only are you saving a life by doing so (your own) you are also reaffirming to the public that human life is indeed sacred, and more so should be defended against all evils. In fact your self-defense appeals to the Athenian virtues of justice. One must recall that Athenians hold six virtues up above all others, and that these should not only be followed, but are indeed the highest qualities one could have. In this example, by defending your life your showing giving a shining example of justice (namely its wrong to kill). Since you are showing justice (knowing what is right and what is wrong) your making an example of our initial maxim ?One must never do wrong, even for wrong received.? You can also defend yourself in a nonlethal way, which by then doing so you are appealing to the Athenian virtue of piety (knowing what is sacred, or holy if you will). By saving your life and sparing your attackers, you are showing that life is a sacred thing, which further promotes your own piousness. For the vast majority of us, it hold true that we value life above all else, that defending it is a good in of itself, and based on Athenian virtue it seems the same here. Also by knowing what is pious

Nahuatl - The Lingua Franca of the Aztec Empire

Nahuatl - The Lingua Franca of the Aztec Empire Nhuatl (pronounced NAH-wah-tuhl) was the language spoken by the people of the Aztec Empire, known as the Aztec or Mexica. Although the spoken and written form of the language has substantively changed from the prehispanic classical form, Nahuatl has persevered for half a millennium. It is still spoken today by approximately 1.5 million people, or 1.7% of the total population of Mexico, many of whom call their language Mexicano (Me-shee-KAH-no). The word Nahuatl is itself one of several words that mean to one extent or another good sounds, an example of encoded meaning that is central to the Nahuatl language. Mapmaker, priest, and leading Enlightenment intellectual of New Spain Josà © Antonio Alzate [1737–1799] was an important advocate for the language. Although his arguments failed to gain support, Alzate vigorously objected to Linnaeuss use of Greek words for New World botanical classifications, arguing that Nahuatl names were uniquely useful because they encoded a storehouse of knowledge that could be applied to the scientific project. Nhuatls Origins Nhuatl is part of the Uto-Aztecan family, one of the largest of the Native American language families. The Uto-Aztecan or Uto-Nahuan family includes many North American languages such as Comanche, Shoshone, Paiute, Tarahumara, Cora, and Huichol. The Uto-Aztecan main language diffused out of the Great Basin, moving where the Nahuatl language probably originated, in the upper Sonoran region of what is now New Mexico and Arizona and the lower Sonoran area in Mexico. Nahuatl speakers are first believed to have reached the Central Mexican highlands sometime around AD 400/500, but they came in several waves and settled among different groups such as Otomangean and Tarascan speakers. According to historical and archaeological sources, the Mexica were among the last of the Nhuatl speakers to migrate from their homeland in the north. Nhuatl Distribution With the founding of their capital at Tenochtitlan, and the growth of the Aztec/Mexica empire in the 15th and 16th centuries, Nhuatl spread all over Mesoamerica. This language became a lingua franca spoken by merchants, soldiers, and diplomats, over an area including what is today northern Mexico to Costa Rica, as well as parts of Lower Central America. Legal steps which reinforced its  lingua franca  status included the decision by King  Philip II  in 1570 to make Nahuatl the linguistic medium for clerics to use in religious conversion and for the training of ecclesiastics working with the native people in different regions. Members of the nobility from other ethnic groups, including Spaniards, used spoken and written Nahuatl to facilitate communication throughout New Spain. Sources for Classical Nahuatl The most extensive source on Nhuatl language is the book written in the mid-16th century by friar Bernardino de Sahagà ºn called the Historia General de la Nueva Espaà ±a, which is included in the Florentine Codex. For its 12 books, Sahagà ºn and his assistants collected what is essentially an encyclopedia of the language and culture of the Aztec/Mexica. This text contains parts written both in Spanish and Nhuatl transliterated into the Roman alphabet. Another important document is the Codex Mendoza, commissioned by King Charles I of Spain, which combined a history of the Aztec conquests, the amount and types of tributes paid to the Aztecs by geographical province, and an account of Aztec daily life, beginning in 1541. This document was written by skilled native scribes and overseen by the Spanish clerics, who added glosses in both Nahuatl and Spanish. Saving the Endangered Nahuatl Language After the Mexican War of Independence in 1821, the use of Nahuatl as an official medium for documentation and communication disappeared. Intellectual elites in Mexico engaged in a creation of new national identity, seeing the indigenous past as an obstacle to the modernization and progress of Mexican society. Over time, Nahua communities became more and more isolated from the rest of Mexican society, suffering what researchers Okol and Sullivan refer to as a political dislocation arising from the lack of prestige and power, and a closely-related cultural dislocation, resulting from modernization and globalization. Olko and Sullivan (2014) report that although prolonged contact with Spanish has resulted in changes in word morphology and syntax, in many places there persist close continuities between the past and present forms of Nahuatl. The Instituto de Docencia e Investigacià ³n Etnolà ³gica de Zacatecas (IDIEZ) is one group working together with Nahua speakers to continue practicing and developing their language and culture, training the Nahua speakers to teach Nahuatl to others and to actively collaborate with international academics in research projects. A similar project is underway (described by Sandoval Arenas 2017) at the Intercultural University of Veracruz. Nhuatl Legacy There is today a wide variation in the language, both linguistically and culturally, that can be attributed in part to the successive waves of Nahuatl speakers who arrived in the valley of Mexico so long ago. There are three major dialects of the group known as Nahua: the group in power in the Valley of Mexico at the time of contact was that Aztecs, who called their language Nahuatl. To the west of the Valley of Mexico, the speakers called their language Nahual; and dispersed around those two clusters was a third who called their language Nahuat. This last group included the Pipil ethnic group who eventually migrated to El Salvador. Many contemporary place names in Mexico and Central America are the result of a Spanish transliteration of their Nhuatl name, such as Mexico and Guatemala. And many Nahuatl words have passed into the English dictionary through Spanish, such as coyote, chocolate, tomato, chili, cacao, avocado and many others. What does Nahuatl Sound Like? Linguists can define the original sounds of classical Nahuatl in part because the Aztec/Mexica used a glyphic writing system based on Nahuatl that contained some phonetic elements, and the Spanish ecclesiastics matched the Roman phonetic alphabet to the good sounds they heard from the locals. The earliest extant Nahuatl-Roman alphabets are from the Cuernavaca region and date to the late 1530s or early 1540s; they were probably written by various indigenous individuals and compiled by a Franciscan friar. In her 2014 book Aztec Archaeology and Ethnohistory, archaeologist and linguist Frances Berdan provides a pronunciation guide to classical Nahuatl, only a small taste of which is listed here. Berdan reports that in classical Nahuatl the main stress or emphasis in a given word is almost always on the next-to-last syllable. There are four main vowels in the language: a as in the English word palm, e as in bet, i as in see, and o as in so. Most consonants in Nahuatl are the same as those used in English or Spanish, but the tl sound is not quite tuhl, it more of a glottal t with a little puff of breath for the l. See Berdan for more information. There is an Android-based application called ALEN (Audio-Lexicon Spanish-Nahuatl) in a beta form that has both written and oral modalities, and uses homemade illustrations, and word search facilities. According to Garcà ­a-Mencà ­a and colleagues (2016), the app beta has 132 words; but the commercial Nahuatl iTunes App written by Rafael Echeverria currently has more than 10,000 words and phrases in Nahuatl and Spanish. Sources Edited and updated by K. Kris Hirst Berdan FF. 2014. Aztec Archaeology and Ethnohistory. New York: Cambridge University Press.Dakin K. 2001. Nahuatl. In: Carrasco D editor. The Oxford Encyclopedia of Mesoamerican Cultures. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p 363-365.Garcà ­a-Mencà ­a R, Là ³pez-Là ³pez A, and Muà ±oz Melà ©ndez A. 2016. An Audio-Lexicon Spanish-Nahuatl: Using technology to promote and disseminate a native Mexican language. In: Bradley L, and Thouà «sny S, editors. CALL communities and culture – short papers from EUROCALL 2016: Research-publishing.net. p 155-159.Maxwell JM. 2001. Languages at the Time of Contact. In: Evans ST, and Webster DL, editors. Archaeology of Ancient Mexico and Central America: An Encyclopedia. New York: Garland Publishing Inc. p 395-396.Mundy BE. 2014. Place-Names in Mexico-Tenochtitlan. Ethnohistory 61(2):329-355.Olko J, and Sullivan J. 2014. Toward a comprehensive model for Nahuatl language research and revitalization. Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Berk eley Linguistics Society 40:369-397. Sandoval Arenas CO. 2017. Displacement and revitalization of the Nahuatl language in the High Mountains of Veracruz, Mexico. Arts and Humanities in Higher Education 16(1):66-81.Various authors. 2011. Los Nahua. Cultura Viva, Arqueologà ­a Mexicana 19(109, May-June)

What can we learn about the structure of the traditional indian Essay

What can we learn about the structure of the traditional indian society from the Ramayana story - Essay Example For instance, respect for teachers and elders are an important traditional value amongst the Indian families. A sage is about to arrive at the palace of King Dasharatha, and this incident reflects something profound about the Indian society. R. K. Narayan writes, â€Å"On a certain afternoon, messengers at the gate came running to announce â€Å"Sage Vishwamitra.† When the message was relayed to the King, he got up and hurried forward to receive the visitor.† (7) A King going all the way to receive a sage. Seems incredible, but that was the value system and even today sages command immense reverence. What it is to be an ideal human being and what is an ideal society? One will not be able to find a better work than Ramayana to find the treasure-house of values. Those are not mere ideals for practicing sitting on the ivory tower! Every value described and defended in the Ramayana stands the test of practicability. That which is not practical, can not be noble or spiritual either. An individual has to play different roles in different stages of one’s life. Donning the human body, Lord Ram has shown to the humanity how to live the divine life. His reign on this Planet Earth has been hailed as Ram Rajya, which means the ideal policy that the human beings can aspire for. The impressionable minds of the youngsters need to be given the correct values. The Sages are embodiments of truth and love. No extraneous considerations are taken into account, and the question of defending Dharma assumes supreme priority, and all other overriding factors are side-tracked. The slaying of demon Thataka illustrates the correct style of imparting the right values to Ram when SageViswamitra was on his way to his hermitage in the thick forest. The demon used to harass the sages performing sacred rituals and plunder the forest wealth. When Vishwamitra orders Rama to slay her, Rama hesitates for a while, whether it is proper to slay a woman! Women