The Algerian Civil War 1992-2002 :: essays research papers fc

Thus, what motivates men to slay the enemy is anger, Sun Tzu says in The machination of War. The conflict between Algerian Islamic fundamentalists and the Algerian military backed government is rooted in anger. The conflict, which began as skirmishes between government forces and Islamic fundamentalists, has interpreted on the proportions of a civil war as fundamentalists carried out kidnappings, assassinations and other forms of civil disturbance. The government has tried pacifying the Muslims by including Islamic leaders in the government, still extreme violence committed by both parties in the conflict has made a peaceful solution difficult to achieve. This violence has claimed the lives of an estimated 100,000 people in the years between 1990 and 2002. The Roots of AngerThe clash between the fundamentalists and the military government stems from Algerias experimentation with political liberalization. The attempt to create more points of positioning and more political parties i n the government has backfired horrendously. The violence of modern day Algeria stems from the failure of mild democratization in the North African country. Following nomination by the National Liberation breast (FLN) party, Chadli Bendjedid was elected President in 1979 and re-elected in 1984 and 1988. The National Liberation Front ruled as a virtual(prenominal) one-party regime until the political system was reformed in 1989. Antigovernment sentiment stemming from corruption, housing shortages, unemployment, and other severe economic and social problems boosted the Islamic Salvation Front (FIS) despite the partys instead public commitment to theocratic rule under Islamic law. This seemingly innocuous act was actually quite revolutionary. For the first time, an Arab country had authorized the creation of a political party that had made the creation of an Islamic republic its main goal . A newborn constitution was adopted in 1989 that allowed the formation of political parties o ther than the FLN. It also removed the armed forces, which had run the government since the days of the 1980s, from a designated role in the operation of the government. Between 1989 and 1990, forty-four new political parties emerged, many with distinct social agendas. These agendas included human rights, independent women organizations and other cultural movements . Among the scores of parties that sprang up under the new constitution, the militant Islamic Salvation Front was the most successful, winning more than 50% of all votes cast in elections in 1990 as well as in the first stage of national elections held in December 1991.

Emerging Nationalism after American War of 1812 :: essays research papers

After the war of 1812, the United States moved toward to the creation of a unified national state and by 1830 became a nation-state. Through major changes in infrastructure, establishments of national hopes, and the purchases of land, America was developing into its own fully functional and self-sufficient nation. The victory of the War of 1812 was a huge leap toward America nice its own nation because of the national unity the win provided its citizens. The morale of the citizens lifted greatly because they managed to defeat the greatest military powers of the universe and managed to survive. It also proved to the world that the american nation could defend itself from foreign threats. The victory improved Americas self confidence and faith in the military to defend the natiosn license and honor.Clays American system was an economic plan consisting of the establishment of protective tariffs, to establish a national bank, and to improve the countrys infrastructure. Protective t ariffs protected americans from jazzy imports. America Needed a strong national bank to help regulate money and to get funding for internal improvement projects such as pathways. Among the most important internal improvements created under the American System were the Erie Canal and the Cumberland Road. He wanted to unify the country by integrating the industrail with the agricultural and fool a strengthened infrastructure and economic nationalism to allow for self sufficiency.The National Bank created a standarad form of currency and helped pay off the new war debt. In 1816, there was a second twenty year charter. It was founded during the administration of U.S. President James Madison to stabilize currency. The estblaishment of a national bank led improvements in transportation because now roads could be paid for. These Improvements in Transportations were good for communication around the nation, which helped send messages faster. In 1818, the national road started the growi ng road systems that tied the new west to the old east. The Erie Canal was built in New York and runs from the Hudson River to Lake Erie, connecting the Great Lakes with the Atlantic Ocean.The Loose construction of the elasticised clause gave more power to the congress and allowed Thomas Jefferson to purchase the Louisana territory. The Louisiana Purchase was more than 530,000,000 acres of territory purchased from France in 1803.

Shirley Jacksons The Lottery and Kate Chopins The Story of an Hour Es

Shirley Jacksons The Lottery and Kate Chopins The Story of an HourThe Lottery by Shirley Jackson, and The Story of the Hour by Kate Chopin, both have similarities and differences when it comes to the elements of literature. Particularly, when the authors use adumbration to manipu lately the moods of the stories and add irony to cleverly deceive the reader. Both of these stories possess similarities and differences when it comes to their components of the story, specifically the authors usage of elements of mood and the tone of irony. In Shirley Jacksons The Lottery, irony is a study theme. This story is about a town full of elitist snobs that are stuck on their tradition of a lottery, even though it is a grim ritual and sort of detrimental to the people in the town. The characters are honoring a tradition that is handed down to them from former generations. The reader is led through the outwardly familiar and charming little liquidation, and is taken on a ride of ironic horror as they slowly grasp the annual fate of one the village?s inhabitants. The title ?The Lottery? implies a contest with a winner of some kind, like a sweepstakes. When in reality the winner is actually the bankruptcy or person that will die by stoning. At the beginning of this story, the main character, Mrs. Hutchinson, is in favor of the lottery. The atmosphere of the town is casual yet anxious. Mrs. Hutchinson arrives late because she ?clean forgot? what day it is. This seems quite impossible to any reader that anyone would forget a day like lottery day. Her procrastination is reasonable but her absolve is lame. Mrs. Hutchinson complains that her husband, Bill, ?didn?t have enough time to choose.? And that the results of the drawing were not fair. In these statements, she is implying that the other villagers had more time to choose, and in fact given an advantage all over the Hutchinson family. In reality, time had little to do with the drawing of the ?slips of paper.? As soon as t hey hold the second drawing, Mrs. Hutchinson is chosen. This is the climax of irony of this story. Mrs. Hutchinson is chosen for the lottery. She is shocked and astounded, having believed that she couldn?t possibly be chosen for the lottery. She begs or mercy, but the townspeople are strict with keeping to their traditions and her pleas of mercy fall on deaf ears and she is stoned to death. ?... ...the honour of her health. However, in ?The Lottery? the reader knows that something bad will eventually happen, but the reader has no idea who the ill-fated winner is going to be. I smell out that ?The Story of an Hour? is a better example of the elements of irony and foreshadowing than ?The Lottery.? In ?The Story of an Hour? the author uses a writing style that is easygoing to follow and simple to understand. The plot is orderly and follows a sequential order of events. The imagery is vivid, but is it easy to understand and doesn?t confuse the reader. ?The Lottery? was not an adequa te story. The foreshadowing was presented in an irksome fashion, and the language confused and baffled me. ?The Lottery? was difficult to follow, and I was unable to understand anything about it until I had effected the story. In closing, I feel that Kate Chopin did a superb job with ?The Story of an Hour? in reaching her audience on a level that make it simple to understand her story and to have a sense of perceptive knowledge of how the story would end. Works CitedJackson, Shirley. The Lottery. The Harper Anthology of Fiction. Ed Sylvan Barnet. New York HarperCollins, 1986. 862-868

Trainning as a Recruitment Tool :: Free Essay Writer

Trainning as a Recruitment Tool The backup of the article is grooming as a recruitment shit. It begins by addressing the problem which is that although we are living in a period of good conditions like low unemployment rate, legion(predicate) employers fell so bad. In the last decade employers had a deep and wide pool of new college graduates and recently laid-off, trained run shorters from which to choose. The workforce was also congregation and had no interest in leaving the security of a paid job to join the unemployed. The article suggests that the cause of this frustration is recruitment and retention problems.In an attempt to solve this problem, many organizations are offering nontraditional benefits, which include training and development opportunities. Training is considered the number 1 attraction and retention tool followed by flexible work schedules and competitive salaries. The author points out that we shouldnt just believe that more training will improve cond itions. He bases his melodic line on a study that found that high performing organizations provided each employee with an average of only 30 hours of training, compared to the average of 45 hours of training for each employee in separate organizations. So as a conclusion, if more training hours do not guarantee improved performance, then there must be other factors that needs fixing.The difference between high performing companies and all other organizations is the degree to which training is integrated into company culture and strategy. Despite less time was given for formal training, the employees were benefiting more. This is due to the environs of continuous learning in which nontraditional training opportunities were offered and encouraged. Another important factor is linking strategy and training. Training is considered an enthronisation for the organization because it is potentially a companys most critical asset. The author then goes on by providing a list of tools to he lp managers and employees opine about contribution and development in a new way. The first tool is the human capital value chain. This model consists of the opportunities offered to employees in the work environment enabling them to engage in the overall business strategy. The second tool suggested is the value creation continuum. This model helps employers define employee contribution to the organization, independent of job title or position, and define growth through the development of competencies. As employees progress, they begin to contribute more by growing intellectual capacity and leveraging their work and the work of others.

Delias Marriage in Hurstons Sweat Essays -- Zora Neale Hurston

In Zora Neale Hurstons short story, Sweat, Delia finds herself stuck in an unbearable marriage. Her husband, Sykes, mistreats her, leaves either work to her, and is unfaithful. After being married to Sykes for 15 years, Delia has lost all hope in the marriage. The countless beatings and painful acts of Sykes have brought her over the edge. She is forced to go against her strict religious beliefs because of the life in which she has been leading since her matrimony to her husband. One passage that sums up many factions of Delia and Sykess relationship is as followsShe lay awake, gazing upon the debris that cluttered their matrimonial trail. Not an image left standing along the government agency. Anything like flowers had long ago been drowned in the salty stream that had been pressed from her heart. Her tears, her sweat, her blood. She had brought cognize to the union and he had brought a longing after the flesh. Two months after the wedding, he had given her the first brutal bea ting. She had the memory of his numerous trips to Orlando with all of his honorarium when he had returned to her penniless, even before the first year had passed. She was young and soft then, but now she thought of her knotty, muscles limbs, her harsh knuckly hands, and drew herself up into an unhappy picayune ball in the middle of the big feather bed. Too late now to hope for love, even if it were not Bertha it would be some peerless else. This case differed from the others just in that she was bolder than the others. Too late for everything except her little home. She had built it for her old days, and planted one by one the trees and flowers there. It was lovely to her, lovely. (Hurston 680).This scene occurs when Delia is lying on her bed, thinking of what had just previously happened. Sykes had gotten home, and as usual, a fight erupted between the two former lovers. The difference about this confrontation though, was that Sykes did not strike Delia, as what usually happens. Delia picked up a metal skil allow and threatened to defend herself from her husband as he cowed in fear of being hit. This new plan of attack from Delia, involving a new intimidation, shows how her unnecessary sweat and hard work had gotten to be too much. The act of seizing a skillet from the stove to protect herself symbolizes how in essence, Delia is trying to defend her home. The skillet is a fragment of the house, and as she st... ...h will occur that night.The circumstances of any persons life will lastly decide the outcome. Negative conditions can be bearable enough that there will not be a thorough change in ones life, but worse situations can have different effects. Sometimes a person is forced to make a change in the way they live their life in order to make it tolerable. In Sweat, by Zora Neale Hurston, Delias attitude toward her bad marriage changes because of her lack of endurance for her life. The fire throne her eyes could no longer be restricted by Sykes mistrea tments and unfaithfulness. Delias water had boiled over and what resulted was a flame of another kind. She confronted all that Sykes was with a newly found indifference, and would take a stand against his wrongdoings. The question in which the conclusion of the story asks has to deal with Delias devotion to God and her religion. Is it OK to let him die? One may answer the question either way, but essentially, the response will be found in the eye of the beholder. Works CitedHurston, Zora Neale. Sweat. The baloney and Its Writer An Introduction to Short Fiction. Ed. Ann Charters. Boston Bedford/St. Martins, 1999. 678-687.

Delias Marriage in Hurstons Sweat Essays -- Zora Neale Hurston

In Zora Neale Hurstons short story, Sweat, Delia finds herself stuck in an unbearable marriage. Her married man, Sykes, mistreats her, leaves all work to her, and is unfaithful. After being married to Sykes for 15 years, Delia has lost all commit in the marriage. The countless beatings and painful acts of Sykes have brought her over the edge. She is forced to go against her strict religious beliefs because of the life in which she has been leading since her matrimony to her husband. One act that sums up many factions of Delia and Sykess relationship is as followsShe lay awake, gazing upon the debris that cluttered their matrimonial trail. Not an image left standing along the way. Anything standardised flowers had long ago been drowned in the salty stream that had been pressed from her heart. Her tears, her sweat, her blood. She had brought love to the union and he had brought a longing after the flesh. Two months after the wedding, he had given her the first brutal beating. She h ad the memory of his numerous trips to Orlando with all of his wages when he had returned to her penniless, even before the first year had passed. She was young and soft then, nevertheless flat she thought of her knotty, muscles limbs, her harsh knuckly hands, and drew herself up into an unhappy little ball in the middle of the big feather bed. Too late now to hope for love, even if it were not Bertha it would be someone else. This case differed from the others only in that she was bolder than the others. Too late for everything except her little home. She had built it for her old days, and planted one by one the trees and flowers there. It was lovely to her, lovely. (Hurston 680).This scene hails when Delia is lying on her bed, thinking of what had just previously happened. Sykes had gotten home, and as usual, a fight erupted between the 2 former lovers. The difference about this confrontation though, was that Sykes did not strike Delia, as what usually happens. Delia picked u p a metal skillet and threatened to defend herself from her husband as he cowed in fear of being hit. This new approach from Delia, involving a new intimidation, shows how her unnecessary sweat and hard work had gotten to be also much. The act of seizing a skillet from the stove to protect herself symbolizes how in essence, Delia is trying to defend her home. The skillet is a fragment of the house, and as she st... ...h allow for occur that night.The circumstances of any persons life will eventually decide the outcome. Negative conditions can be bearable enough that there will not be a thorough change in ones life, but worse situations can have different effects. Sometimes a person is forced to make a change in the way they live their life in order to make it tolerable. In Sweat, by Zora Neale Hurston, Delias attitude toward her bad marriage changes because of her lack of endurance for her life. The fire behind her eyes could no longer be restricted by Sykes mistreatments and unf aithfulness. Delias pee had boiled over and what resulted was a flame of another kind. She confronted all that Sykes was with a newly found indifference, and would take a stand against his wrongdoings. The question in which the purpose of the story asks has to deal with Delias devotion to God and her religion. Is it OK to let him die? One may answer the question either way, but essentially, the reaction will be found in the eye of the beholder. Works CitedHurston, Zora Neale. Sweat. The Story and Its Writer An Introduction to Short Fiction. Ed. Ann Charters. Boston Bedford/St. Martins, 1999. 678-687.

World Civilization Notes

HUM 1000 WORLD politenessS NOTES THE NATURE AND ORIGIN OF CIVILIZATION IN AFRICA commentary of attain confiness As we begin this course, it is crucial to runner discuss our chthonicstanding of the concept civilization. This is a comparative term which is usu whollyy utilize in comparison to such words as barbarian savage and primitive. In classical antiquity the atomic number 63ans using upd the word barbarian to describe to a foreigner who was regarded as inferior (Ogutu and Kenyanchui, An Introduction To African History, 1991 p33). Do you think this is still the way we use the word barbarian?The Latin speakers referred to hunters, food-gathitherrs as savage. In the seventeenth century this term savage referred to a person with let place art, literacy, or nightspot who lived in fear of humankind and death. Primitive on the an early(a)(prenominal) hand, in Latin meant the premier(prenominal) or original. Europeans utilise these words interchangeably when referring to non-Europeans while the word civilization was preserved to describe historical developments of European people (ibid). Now the term civilization is no longer confined to the above development progress ilkwise extends reference to non-European communities.At grants of civilization takes observance to law, belong to an organized society, having a society of literate people with advanced developments in urbanization, agri grow, commerce, arts and technology. The French thinkers of the 18th century referred to a person of the arts and publications as cultured. solely at the present the term is used to c everyplace much fields than just the arts and literature. Some quantify, therefore the words civilization and culture are interchangeably applied. In this unit, however, much use is confined to the word civilization peculiarly in reference to military man developments everyplace judgment of conviction and in all continents.An an other(prenominal) term that requires preaching at this stage is prehistory. Just like civilization,prehistory is used in comparative terms especially in relation to history. twain terms refer to the recent human activities. further whereas history as used by historians refers to the inquiry, investigation or inquiry into a totality of human past see to it, prehistory is rather confined to an inquiry or re search into a totality of human past draw originally the invention of writing. In our course-text (Anthony Esler, The human beings Venture vol 1, 2004) this prehistoric breaker point stretches amid 5000 and 3500 BC.This period is as well as kn make as Stone Age period. archeology plays a vital part in enabling us learn more than to the highest degree this prehistoric period. Through excavation and dating , a carry on of prehistoric information is obtained. The Prehistoric or Stone Age Period There are two versions which explain the origins of human species. These are mental hos preyal and biologic explanation. The creation version exists in the Judaeo-Christian previous(a) volition and its African counterpart. This Judaeo-Christian overaged Testament is captured in the book of Genesis 26-7 in which it is pen But there went up a cloud from the earth and weted the whole face of the ground. And the Lord divinity formed man of the dust of the ground, and clueed into his nostrils the breath of life and man became a life sentence soul. There is more detail about the whole sequence of creation in Genesis 1. Indeed it is written that human beings were the hold to be created particularised in Gods own image. This is best explained in Genesis 127 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him, male and female created he them. This creation story is vividly portrayed by Michelangelo on the ceiling of Sistine chapel in the Vatican at Rome .The pictures showing muscled, amplely bearded figure of Jehovah dividing light from darkness with a movement rolling the sun niness and the moon into being, extending his effectual right hand to bestow upon Adam the ultimate gift of life attracts numerous tourists to the Vatican. There are different aspects of creation explanations in Africa. However we use the version in The Human Venture vol. 1 (p 7). According to this version, Doondari do humankind out of the pentad elements fire, water, air, iron, and rock and roll.The oldest of all creation stories, that of the Minnite Theology mould in stone at Memphis on the Nile al to the highest degree five thousand eld ago, calls the occasion Ptah and says that he made the first sentient beings with weapons in their hands. Similar creation myths are found among other communities. This is because human beings are always concerned with understanding first things and how they led to more complex ones. Such myths are beef up by science which intimates that our earth developed from a ring of glowing gases cooled and solidified into planets.Around the planet earth was water which spread over much of the founding and above the earth was the atmosphere. HUM 1000 WORLD CIVILIZATIONS NOTES THE NATURE AND ORIGIN OF CIVILIZATION IN AFRICA Definition of key terms As we begin this course, it is crucial to first discuss our understanding of the concept civilization. This is a comparative term which is usually applied in comparison to such words as barbarian savage and primitive. In classical antiquity the Europeans used the word barbarian to refer to a foreigner who was regarded as inferior (Ogutu and Kenyanchui, An Introduction To African History, 1991 p33).Do you think this is still the way we use the word barbarian? The Latin speakers referred to hunters, food-gatherers as savage. In the 17th century this term savage referred to a person without art, literacy, or society who lived in fear of existence and death. Primitive on the other hand, in Latin meant the first or original. Europeans used these words interchangeably when referring to non -Europeans while the word civilization was preserved to describe historical developments of European people (ibid).Now the term civilization is no longer confined to the above development but also extends reference to non-European communities. Attributes of civilization includes observance to law, belonging to an organized society, having a society of literate people with advanced developments in urbanization, agriculture, commerce, arts and technology. The French thinkers of the 18th century referred to a person of the arts and literature as cultured. But at the present the term is used to cover more fields than just the arts and literature. Sometimes, therefore the words civilization and culture are interchangeably applied.In this unit, however, more use is confined to the word civilization especially in reference to human developments over time and in all continents. Another term that requires discussion at this stage is prehistory. Just like civilization,prehistory is used in co mparative terms especially in relation to history. Both terms refer to the past human activities. But whereas history as used by historians refers to the inquiry, investigation or research into a totality of human past experience, prehistory is rather confined to an inquiry or research into a totality of human past experience before the invention of writing.In our course-text (Anthony Esler, The Human Venture vol 1, 2004) this prehistoric period stretches between 5000 and 3500 BC. This period is also cognize as Stone Age period. Archeology plays a vital part in enabling us learn more about this prehistoric period. Through excavation and dating , a lot of prehistoric information is obtained. The Prehistoric or Stone Age Period There are two versions which explain the origins of human species. These are creation and biological explanation. The creation version exists in the Judaeo-Christian Old Testament and its African counterpart.This Judaeo-Christian Old Testament is captured in t he book of Genesis 26-7 in which it is written But there went up a mist from the earth and watered the whole face of the ground. And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life and man became a living soul. There is more detail about the whole sequence of creation in Genesis 1. Indeed it is written that human beings were the last to be created specific in Gods own image. This is best explained in Genesis 127 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him, male and female created he them.This creation story is vividly portrayed by Michelangelo on the ceiling of Sistine chapel in the Vatican at Rome . The pictures showing muscled, hugely bearded figure of Jehovah dividing light from darkness with a gesture rolling the sun and the moon into being, extending his powerful right hand to bestow upon Adam the ultimate gift of life attracts numerous tourists to the Vatican. There are different aspects of crea tion explanations in Africa. However we use the version in The Human Venture vol. 1 (p 7). According to this version, Doondari made humankind out of the five elements fire, water, air, iron, and stone.The oldest of all creation stories, that of the Minnite Theology form in stone at Memphis on the Nile almost five thousand years ago, calls the creator Ptah and says that he made the first sentient beings with weapons in their hands. Similar creation myths are found among other communities. This is because human beings are always concerned with understanding first things and how they led to more complex ones. Such myths are reinforced by science which intimates that our earth developed from a ring of glowing gases cooled and solidified into planets.Around the planet earth was water which spread over much of the orbit and above the earth was the atmosphere. From these basic settings, life emerged from single-celled bacteria and gradually evolved into bigger creatures in the sea. And e ven continued evolving outside the sea. Such creatures outside the sea include birds and other beasts. Besides vegetations also developed from the moss and horsetails to such bigger plants like trees. All this took place before the hominids emerged. Herein lies the biological or maturation explanation.The evolution process which continued resulted in bang-up geographical features such as grass nation, forest, desert among others. More than two thirds of the earth was covered with water. The protruded expanse of modify land formed the seven continents. They included Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia, North and South America and Antarctica. Each continent and the islands that lay between them had a range of climate and topography which provided a variety of human beings. Human Development Through the excavations of Mary and Louis Leakey at Olduvai Gorge in Tanzania, it was constituted that Africa is the origin of human species.The skeleton of Don Johanssons Lucy found scattered over a hillside in Ethiopia pushed prehuman origin back several years. Hominids or hominid like bones from more recent times include those of Cro-Magnon and Neanderthal type first found in France and Ger umteen a(prenominal) and their kin Peking Man and Java Man discovered in Asia. Together with theses finds were also crude stone wights, after fightd pots, pictures and bits of clothing were unearthed. The discovery of the ice man an intact human corpse, discovered frozen in the alpine ice in 1991came complete with deerskin coat, fur hat, stone dagger, bow and arrows and a crude copper axe.The biological evolution of human beings dates back to tens of billions of years when small fury creatures with huge warmheartednesss and long tail lived in forests, balanced on high branches and snatched at insects. From these there developed primates from who emerged as long as five million years ago the line of development known as hominids of which the humans are the only surviving descendants . There were various changes that the human ancestors underwent to adapt to the environment. For instance eyes of the tree d tumefyers changed and developed stereoscopic (depth) vision and color sightedness, very useful capacities for leaping from branch to branch.When these ancestors moved from forests to open grassland five million years ago more changes followed. Their legs and feet changed to permit erect bipedal walking on the African savanna. The posture in gaming freed the hands for carrying game and foraged soft and berries back to the family circle. The hands developed producing the most efficient thumb for the manipulation of any primates. The hominid brain grew, doubling and tripling in size of it and evolving a capacity that enabled human beings develop culture. Gradually, a number of hominid species developed, flourished for a time then died out.The Australopithecines of three and a half million years ago were perhaps quartet feet tall and had brain about a third o f modern humans. Hominids of the Neanderthal line were besider to us. Hominids who survived made stone tools, buried their dead with ceremony and decorated the walls of their caves with paintings of the animals they hunted. These survivors who emerged approximately thirty-five thousand years ago were the Cro-Magnon people, a subspecies of the hominid family called Homo sapiens (wise people). They were the last of the hominid line and biologically indistinguishable from us. Prehistoric MigrationsAs is established the homeland of human beings is in Africa. Around two million years ago, the ancestors began migrating to other continents of Europe and Asia. A skull found in China indicates that these ancestors reached East Asia two hundred thousand years ago. Between 70,000 and 40,000 BC human beings reached Australia between 40,000 and 20,000 BC they reached the Americas. consequently in about half a million years, prehistoric ancestors spread around the world. They evolved various cu ltures and ways of life which kept improving through the various ages. It is to these civilizations that we now turn. The ancient Civilization of EgyptIn this topic we go away look at the factors behind the rise of the superannuated Egyptian civilization, the growth of the Egyptian estate and its office to the ancient world. The Factors for the Rise of Ancient Egyptian Civilization Its appropriate to state that ancient Egypt was directly linked to the rest of Africa. Unlike at present, the Sahara desert had not developed. then movement between the northern and the southern parts of Africa were possible. This fact is true because slightly African communities in both East and West Africa palisade that their ancestral homelands were in Misri which roughly refers to Egypt. 1)Egyptian civilization owes its origin and development hulkyly to the water from River Nile whose start is in the South especially in Lake Victoria. In addition, the aristocratical Nile which is a tributary of the White Nile flows from the Ethiopian Highlands. The ticker of the land was that part of the river from the first cataract at Aswan to the fan shaped delta where it flowed into the Mediterranean Sea. The river winds six hundred miles from the cataracts to the delta. The Nile vale is hardly more than a few miles wide, but for the last hundred miles the valley opens up into the flat triangular delta spread along the sea.It is because of this river that Egypt was expound as the gift of the Nile. The rivers annual rise and fall were crucial for the life of Egypt. On its way from the south, the Nile on reaching stop number Egypt overflowed its banks and deposited over the narrow valley a layer of rich black mud, alluvium picked up along its way from the south. (2)The human resource was yet another factor. Perhaps as early(a) as the fifth millennium BC the hunters and nomadic pastoralists who had moved to the Nile Valley realized the agricultural potential of the robust valley . They settled into agricultural villages and put stubble and flax for clothing.They organized themselves into clans having animal totems such as crocodile or the hippopotamus. Sometime between 3500BC and 3000BC cooperative economic effort appeared as the Egyptians began to attempt at controlling the Nile with dikes and come basins. Copper was used more widely. The population grew. (3)There was influence from outside, for instance, there were the Mesopotamian style cylinder seals found in Egypt. Besides Sumerian pictograms appear among the earliest Egyptian hieroglyphics. In the growth of the Egyptian civilization, there was an intermediate stage rom the villages to the centralized Monarchial state. After the villages, there were the two lands of upper and Lower Egypt. The vulture of the theologydess Nekhbet was devoted in Upper Egypt while the cobra of Wadjet sacred in Lower Egypt. The kings of the upper valley wore white crown while those of the delta a red one. People in t he upper and Lower Egypt often fought each other. The Old Kingdom This area covered approximately ten thousand square miles. In 3000 BC, this Old Kingdom was the largest or most centralized state in the world. The Pharaoh was officially the king of upper and Lower Egypt. The Lord of the two lands and as such was crowned and symbolically buried in each of the two lands. There were separate treasures for the two halves of his dry land and much duplication of officials. The tendency toward fragmentation embodied in the nomes, the provinces of Pharaonic Egypt posed challenge to the unity of the state. Independent totemic communities or clans prior to unification, the nomes could become centers of disunity under ambitious governors. To hold the nation together, the early pharaohs forged a powerful alliance with the tabernacles and the priests.This is because the pharaohs claimed that they themselves were incarnations of divinity. The pharaoh was believed to be the son of the sun god Re. The reigning pharaoh was also Horus, the sky god-symbolized by falcon. On his death, the Falcon flew to the horizon, and the dead pharaoh became Osiris, King of the Underworld. indeed the Pharaoh among the ancient Egyptians was semi-divine. Every year the pharaoh performed religious ceremonies that guaranteed the rising of the river. He and his officials ruled the land in the spirit of Maat, a combination of truth, justice and tell apart that was for the Egyptians the highest of virtues.In the underworld, the souls of the dead were weighed against Maat. In this world the pharaoh him self was its living embodiment and the guarantee that the land would be ruled in its spirit. The Egyptians developed an elaborate administrative system. The caput administrative officer under the pharaoh was the vizier whose roles included chief judge, superintendent of public works and right hand to the king. Under the vizier were such offices as those of treasuries, agriculture, officials in incr iminate of irrigation systems and a secretariat. There was also a provincial administration charged with governing the nomes.The rulers of these provinces, the nomarchs exercised considerable local authority. They controlled the local militia, the source of most of the military cogency of the kings of Upper and Lower Egypt. The Egyptian bureaucracy was staffed by scribes . Scribes conducted census of land and people, estimated size of the harvest and calculated taxes in kind. They supervised the vital irrigation system, organized the fretting and feeding of the pharaohs and the building of the olympian tombs. Old kingdom Egypt was an ordered state and the society was organized hierarchically .At the top was the pharaoh while at the bottom were the slaves . count the diagram on the next page. Pharaoh v Pharaonic family, Relatives and Courtiers v The vizier (PM) and his circle v The Priests v The Scribes v Soldiers v Workers v Peasants v Foreigners v Slaves Source Ogutu & Kenyanch ui, An Introduction To African history,1991 p. 35 The hierarchy was symbolized most massively by the pyramid tombs of the pharaohs of the foursometh dynasty the dynasty of Khufu (also known as Cheops) builder of the great pyramid at Giza, around 2550 B. C The Middle KingdomThis period which stretches from around 2200 BC to the emergence of the clean Kingdom about 1550 BC is considered as a transition period between the two worlds. The period was characterized by semipolitical turbulence, famine and the invasion of marauding desert Bedouin in the delta. Egyptians longed for a open to the immemorial order of past centuries. What they got, however, was not a return to the past but a dynamic novel direction to study life . Ambitious dynasts from Thebes City in Upper Egypt snatched the kingdom from the last princely house to rule in Memphis.During the twentieth and nineteenth centuries BC, the powerful 12th dynasty restored prosperity and order along the Nile. Pharaohs during thi s period spread out their kingdom and trade . Egyptian merchants traded with Syria, nirvana, Mesopotamia and Minoan Crete. Egyptian military pushed south along the Nile into Nubia and on into The Sudan . Egypt for the first time became involved in a large scale with regions in North-East Africa and the Near East However the pharaohs who succeeded those in the 12th dynasty were weak and did not continue the firm hold on the expand kingdom .Before 1700 BC the Hyksos, an Asiatic speaking group seized power . Because they were less sophisticated than the ancient Egyptians ,the Hyksos were culturally assimilated ,adopted Egyptian names , worshipped Egyptian gods and followed other traditional royal rites.. The Hyksos introduced the use of bronze instead of softer copper . In addition they also introduced the two wheeled horse-drawn war chariot. After about one and a half centuries their rule was ended and more powerful pharaohs from Lower Egypt took over and established the New Kingdom . The New KingdomKing Ahmose was hailed by posterity as the father of the new kingdom and the yield of the eighteenth dynasty (Abu Bakri, Pharaonic Egypt in G . Mokhtar, ed General History of Africa vol 2(Abridged Edition) 1990, 73) Around 1550 BC Ahmose claped, defeated and expelled the Hyksos from Egypt to Palestine . He even followed them there and destroyed their base . Back at home he put down the rebellious nobility and Nubian princess who collaborated with Hyksos. All the swag from Ahmoses victories, he heaped them at the feet of Amon, the sun god of Thebes .The priesthood of Amon then became the most powerful in Egypt and Thebes the new capital. Pharaoh Hatshepsut (1490-1468BC) who married each of her half brothers in turn was, however, in her fifth year powerful profuse to declare herself supreme ruler of the country. She declared herself the child of Re and the gods designated ruler, had herself crowned with persona crown and seated herself on the golden throne of p haraohs. The two peaceful decades of her reign were prosperous for Egypt . She concentrated her attention upon the countrys internal affairs and upon building enterprises, mainly her magnificent synagogue at Western Thebes .The two achievements of which she was most proud were- 1. The expedition to punt where the Egyptian fleet obtained ebony and drop perfumes and spices, apes ,monkeys ,leopard skins, slaves and thirty-one live myrrh trees which were ceremoniously replanted at the queens tabernacle at Deir el Bahari. 2. The raising of two great obelisks at the temple of Karnak. At her death/ Thutmose the 3rd (1486-1436 BC) took over. He was a skilled archer and charioteer. The militaristic elements among the aristocracy who longed for more aggressive foreign policy loved him. He fought seventeen campaigns gainst a coalition of city states of Palestine-Syria-Lebanon/region. The coalition had been plotting at Megiddo to revolt against Egypts domination. Consequently, the whole count ry as far as the southern Lebanon came under Egyptian control. Egypt was therefore firmly established as a world power with a far reaching empire (A. Abu Bakr/1990, 73). It stretched over much of the ancient Fertile Crescent, from the Euphrates to the forth cataract of the Nile. Thutmose the 3rd had well equipped army supplied with the latest swords, bows and amour of the late Bronze Age. The army also used well constructed chariots.He established garrison towns, local governors and a sophisticated system of puppet kings to control what he had conquered. He raised obelisks as far south as the fourth cataract to signify his imperial expanse. These obelisks were looted and are found in Rome, Istanbul, London and New Yorks Central Park. Another outstanding pharaoh was Akhenaton (Amenhotep the fourth/ 1364-1347 BC) who was also described as heretic pharaoh, a religious visionary or the doom of his dynasty(Esler A, The Human Venture, 2004, 54). He was physically weak with a frail effemi nate eubstance with hardly the devisings of soldier or statesman.He was mostly concerned with matters of the mind and spirit. In his youthful fascination, Akhenaton instituted a radical change of policy which led to the direct attack on the priesthood of Amon. Initially he continued to live at Thebes where he had a great temple to Aton (the sun disk erected east of Amons temple at Karnak. Later, because of resistance to his reform in Thebes Akhenaton withdrew from the city. He founded a new residence at El-Amarna in Middle Egypt which he called Akhetaton (the horizon of Aton) where he lived until his death.It was here that he changed his name from Amenhotep (Amon is satisfied to Akhenaton (He who is serviceable to Aton or spirit of Aton). Akhenaton proclaimed Aton as the sole true god to be worshipped throughout Egypt. He launched campaigns to destroy all the other cults and replaced them with the worship of Aton. Hence Akhenaton was the first ruler to advocate for monotheism thir teen and a half centuries before Christ. Aton was represented not in human form like other gods but simply by the solar disk. Rays spread down from it and at the ends of the rays there were hands.Temples of Aton were built without roofs so that the worshiper might commune directly with the god and feel his power in the sky above. The Atonist revolution did not survive the death of Akhenaton. His second successor Tutankhamun returned to the opinion of his ancestors and became a worshipper of Amon. However it was not until the reign of Horemheb as the last king of the Eighteenth Dynasty that the persecution of Aton began with the same persistence that had formerly applied to Amon (Abu-Bakr, 1990, 75). The Decline of Ancient EgyptIts decline could be attributed to the following factors 1. The empire had grown so big that it was not easy to hold it together against external attacks. The Hittites and the sea people (biblical philistines) unendingly attacked the delta. 2. The weak kings undermined the state especially in the face of invaders. During the thousand years that followed the end of the New kingdom in the eleventh century/ Theban priests, Libyan mercenaries, Nubian kings, Assyrians, Persians, Macedonians and Romans ruled Egypt in turns. The Art, Thought and Achievements in Ancient EgyptSome of the art, thought and achievements are already discussed under the previous topics. For instance the roles of art and religion as well as the establishment of empire have been discussed. Perhaps what follows is to briefly itemize others 1. The discovery of the art of writing in Egypt began as picture writing i. e. hieroglyphics carved with reed pens on papyrus. As a working script therefore, hieroglyphic writing evolved over centuries into a cursive script called hieratic. The latter looked more like modern Arabic. 2. Scientific knowledge Astronomy, Egyptians divided the night sky into eparate constellations, compiled detailed records of the nightly positions of som e heavenly bodies and constructed on this basis a calendar that is close to the solar one in use to solar day. Mathematics Ancient Egyptians used mathematics to survey and re-establish boundary lines after the annual inundation had washed out the line markers up and down the Nile. They also used measurement and calculation for architecture and engineering, for predicting harvests and totaling royal tax receipts. Medicine Ancient Egyptian medicine operated on the basis of experience and rules of the thumb.Egyptian doctors indeed showed genuine clinical concern with symptoms, diagnosis and treatment. Some of the prescribed remedies include drugs, such as castor oil that whitethorn even have done the patient some good. 3. Construction Ancient Egyptians were great builders. They built in stone. The old kingdom pyramids still stand out as some of the wonders of the world. The forty five hundred years and the two and a half million cubic yards of solid stone in the great pyramid of Khufu is one example of human engineering feats. Obelisks were another Egyptian architectural specialist.They often stood almost a hundred feet high. Their hieroglyphic inscriptions described the achievements of the pharaohs who erected them i. e. Hatshepsut or Thutmose the 3rd. Other architectural feats include temples, tombs and sarcophaguses (stone coffins) 4. Polytheistic Religion The sources of religion include ancient Egyptians need for supernatural help to ensure a supply of game, ontogeny herds or desire for human support when dealing with life transition and with specific afflictions i. e. wars, pestilence, famine and oppression. 5. To express the inexpressible religious leaders turn to metaphor.This experience has brought religious discourse from the historically conditioned realities of a particular time and place i. e. the sun god sails down a celestial Nile in the mind of the Egyptian. 6. Egyptians worshipped many gods i. e. Amon-Ra, Osiris, Horus. The Origin of Civilization In The Rest Of Africa Since it is established that the earliest human species is in the land of the great lakes of East Africa, it becomes clear that the Egyptian civilization was not isolated from the areas where the earliest forms of human origins are situated. Hence there was a lot of interconnectedness between the north and the south.We use Kush and Nubia to garnish this point. The Nubians supplied ancient Egypt with gold, ivory, ebony, ostrich, feathers and slaves. It also supplied cattle, grain, leopards (and their skins), giraffes (whose tails were used as fly whisks, oils and perfumes among others. During the Egyptian decline, Nubian army went into Egypt and even took control of the Egyptian throne. Between the 11th c. BC and the 4th c. AD, the Nubian territory constituted the state of Kush. This area generally stretches from the first cataract of the Nile and the confluence between the Blue Nile and the White Nile.The region is currently between Egypts Aswan obturate and the Sudanese capital of Khartoum. During around 1500 BC, the area fell under the expansionist New Kingdom of Ancient Egypt. Egyptian Governors and garrisons, priests and artisans influenced Kush greatly. Sons of Kushite kings were educated at the Egyptian royal court at Thebes. Egyptian temples and gods royal rituals and hieroglyphics were all transplanted to the Sudan. The Egyptian religious complex at Napata in particular became a centre for the spread of the Egyptian culture among the Africans beyond the cataracts.During the decline of Egypt from around 1100 BC, the kingdom of Kush regained its independence and flourished, none the less the Kushite kings still followed Egyptian ways and worshipped Egyptians gods. They recovered their deeds in hieroglyphics inscriptions and buried their dead under the pyramid like those of the old kingdoms. Around 750 BC the Kushite kings Kashata and Piankhi marched north and liberated Egypt from Libyan rulers. For more than half a century later the Kushite pharaohs of the 25th Egyptian dynasty ruled a dual kingdom that stretched around 1400 miles from the Blue Nile to the shores of the Mediterranean.The Assyrians expelled the 25th dynasty and replaced the Kushite kings in Egypt. The golden age of Kushitic civilization was during Meroes ascendancy. Meroe built its cities in sun-dried bricks like Egyptians. Kushitic rulers succession was by consensus among the royal princes. The queen mother was uniquely powerful. Egyptian priesthoods i. e. the sun god was influential. But later it was replaced by the Kushite lion god Apedemek. The wealth of Kush lay in the location of its fertile land and its dynamic people. Kushite capital, Meroe was watered not only by the Nile but also by a significant annual rainfall.Hence there was expansive pasture and cropland. There were such minerals as gold and iron. Kushite artisans exploited the iron ore so industriously that Meroe became one of the centers for the production of iron in Africa. Later Kush developed its own writing. The first centuries of Christian era witnessed the decline of Kush. Reasons could include limited land that ended up being overgrazed, the drying out of the land due to creeping of the Sahara southwards and the loss of its northern customers, Egypt. Trade in the east was taken over by Axum which destroyed the kingdom of Kush finally.THE ORIENTAL CIVILIZATION Introduction The oriental as an adjective derives from the noun orient which refers to the East. The concept of East as used in reference to countries in Asia was given by the Europeans. Therefore in our discussion, we will look at such civilization as those of Mesopotamia, Hebrew, Persia, India and China. THE ANCIENT CIVILIZATION OF MESOPOTAMIA Ancient Mesopotamia was situated between River Tigris and River Euphrates. Indeed it was because of these two rivers that the Greeks called the land Mesopotamia to mean land between the rivers. Between 3,500 and 539 B.C cities and temples emerged f irst in Sumeria in the delta at the brainiac of the Persian Gulf. This was followed by more cities and temples in Akkladian, Babylon and climaxed in Assyria. All these constituted Mesopotamia. Gradual drying out of the sea covered delta at the mouths of the two rivers exposed the fertile side that may have attracted Neolithic farmers to migrate from the hilly areas and moved to settle in the villages at summer or Sumeria. These early inhabitants built reeds houses in the delta and hunted birds and speared fish. They were also farmers much as they hunted and gathered wild fruits.From this area, the ancient Sumerians built over centuries a type of civilization that was later emulated. The Sumerians first discovered how to tame the flooding waters of the Tigris and Euphrates. They constructed dykes, canals and irrigation ditches that converted the water from destructive actions to more productive uses like enabling the community to produce enough foods stuffs. The Sumerians planted ba rley and wheat. They cultivated date palm for fruit and palm wine. Sumerians reared sheep and goats from which wool and hair clothing was made.They used oxen to pull, plough, donkeys were beasts of burden, horses and camels were domesticated later. These latter animals were obtained during the Sumerian war encounters against their neighbouring foreigners. Mesopotamia developed such crafts as textiles, pottery and stone carving, smelting of copper and alloy of bronze. They also invented the wheel solid and spoked (The human supposition vdl) P. 37) To go along with the wheel, the Sumerians invented the carts and wagons. It is fictive that they were the first to invent writing. However, their most important invention was city itself. The city became the centre of civilization.In Mesopotamia, cities had high and thick walls with special gateways. Inside the walls, the town was divided into four quarters by main streets that entered the city through four main gates. Dominant features i n the city-state were kings palace, the temple of gods, and large houses of leading citizens. Temples or Zigguarats were pyramidal, terraced towers visible from far beyond the city walls. Streets were mostly narrow and winding, crowded with shopkeepers, artisans, slaves, citizens and even priests. The city had the aristocrats who included royal officials, members of the royal family and the chief priest of the major(ip) temples.The middle class included textile manufacturers, metal work manufacturers in copper and bronze, and merchants. In the fields outside the walls were peasant, serfs and slaves. Among this lower cadre of society, very few peasants were free citizens. Most were tenant farmers holding their land in return for payment in kind to absentee landlords, serfs and slaves worked on land owned by the royal family and the chief gods of the city state. These cadres of lower members in society were subjected to strict rules enforced by supervisor who made sure that the worker s irrigated farms to sustain city life.The shadoof method was widely employed in irrigation. A shadoof was a long pivoted pole with a weight at one end and a bucket at the other. The tool was used to lift water from large channels into the furrows where the seeds were planted. Other methods of irrigation included levees which were constantly strengthened, canals and ditches as irrigation methods were redredged to prevent silting up. Hence a good deal of cooperation was requisite for the success of the said group work. Mesopotamia women worked as weavers, pottery makers, farm workers and manual workers.In summer and Babylon, women could own property, sign legal contracts and engage in business themselves. Monarchies and cults of gods were central institutions in Sumerian society. Temples came first. The pyramidal Ziggurats and broad temple complexes of gods and goddesses Anu, Enhil, Enlil, Ninhursag and Imana (the last was also known as Ishtar) dominated the skyline of the Sumeria n city. Each city had its own patron among the heavenly assembly, who was believed to bring rising rivers and rich harvests to keep misfortunes at bay and to maintain law and order.MESOPOTAMIAN EMPIRE An empire was the most common larger form of political organization beyond the city states. Several efforts were made at this empire building by such rulers as Sargon of Akkad, Hammurabi of Babylon and Nebuchadnezzar in the New Babylonian empire. However Persians reduced these efforts by making Mesopotamia as a Persian satrapy or province. Several factors frustrated the Mesopotamia efforts at uniting. They included i. Attacks from the outsiders who included Akkadians Gadians, Kassites and Persians. ii. The existence of fragmented feudal order in Mesopotamia.This led to division of power among land owning aristocracy. iii. The tendency of a number of regions to break up into middle surface states which enjoyed their own hegemonies and resisted efforts from outside that aimed at imposin g larger order on the entire Mesopotamia. iv. Polarization among rival Mesopotamian city states frustrated efforts by any that aimed at uniting Mesopotamia. v. The unity which occurred temporarily was due to thriving confrontations accompanied by losses in human lives and oddment of property. The following are some of the successful attempts.Sargon of Akkad king of Sumerian founded a dynasty around 2300 BC His dynasty governed most of Mesopotamia for about a century. From a lesser Sumerian city state, Sargon replaced his royal master on the throne, overthrew the dynasty of Uruk and conquered most of the Tigris and Euphrates valley. He garrisoned his conquests with Akkadian troop and built himself a new capital at Agade. Sargons son and grandson ruled after him. However, a volcanic eruption may have brought drought to the region. The violent Gatians swept down from neighbouring hills destroyed Agade and its imperial Mesopotamian domain.Sargon is thus remembered as the worlds fir st empire builder. Hammurabi, also known as the lawgiver of Babylon (1792 -1750 BC) was born king of Babylon. The ordinal in the line of Amorite rulers, Hammurabi governed Babylon for about thirty years before embarking on his expansionist venture into the rest of Mesopotamia. Employing shrewd statecraft, good timing and military force, Hammurabi expand his empire far beyond the confines of his predecessors. For a brief period, he and his successors had authority over all the people of Mesopotamia (Human Venture, 42)Hammurabi the law-giver introduced a code of laws covering a range of civil and criminal matters. They tackled family relations, land laws, business laws, personal injury, military service, matters touching on witchcraft and taxes. Some of his laws are harsh seen from the present times. For instance, a principle of an eye for an eye a life for a life is cited for being extreme. But looked at with knowledge about our present judicial system, would you consider them stran ge? Hammurabis code observed some social hierarchy. There were laws for slaves and laws for their masters.For example, a horrible was punish more harshly for the same offence than his social inferiors. Here one gets the impression that might is not always right Does it operate in our society? At his death, Hammurabi had built so expensive an empire that his successors were unable to hold together. Attacks from enemies like Kassites, from the east weakened the empire. Within a century and a half, the empire had crumbled away. It took some time before other unifiers, this time from Assyria emerged. As the Babylonian empire declined, the Assyrians emerged as a military power right from the ordinal century BC.By the later part of the eighth century BC, they were incorporating their victims into a large and growing empire. In the seventh century BC under Sennacherib and Assurbanipal, Assyrians conquered Egypt and most of Mesopotamia. thusly under Assurbanipal Assyrian empire briefly r an from the Nile valley to the Persian Gulf. However, in the last part of the seventh century BC, chaos bedeviled the Assyrian empire. In 612 BC, an allied force of Chaldeans from Babylon and Medes from the easterly mountains attacked Assyria, defeated it and destroyed its city Nineveh.One lasting legacy the Assyrians were known for was savage brutality. The Assyrian decline prepared room for the rise of New Babylonian conglomerate. During the New Babylonian empire, Nebuchadnezzar II (605 -562) was a dominant figure. Soon after the fall of Nineveh, while still prince of Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar commanded the Babylonian army which had defeated the Egyptian forces at (carchemish in 605 BC. As king, he repeatedly attacked Palestine, destroyed Jerusalem and forced Judeans into exile At its peak, the new Babylonian empire compared in size with the Assyrian empire at its climax.It thus stretched from the Persian Gulf to the Mediterranean Sea during the sixth century BC. Nebuchadnezzar II was a great builder of canals and caravan roads as well as temples and palaces. He raised huge new walls around his capital, eleven miles long and very wide. He opened the broad processional way through the heart of the city to the Ishtar gate. He built the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, towering Ziggurat featuring terraces planted with trees and exotic plants. It is said he did this to please his Median wife who missed the hills of her mountains home.Nebuchadnezzars successors were not able to keep the huge empire safe from external attacks. Hence in 539 BC, the Persian conqueror, also known as Cyrus the Great defeated the rulers of the New Babylon Empire and ushered in a new era. THE HEBREW CIVILISATION Introduction In this region, we look at the Hebrew (or Jews) as a people, their efforts at establishing their Jewish Kingdom and the lasting legacy to posterity. It is at their legacy that the aspect of monotheism is critically discussed. It is also worthy noting that Hebrew history is intertwined with the Old Testament story.. The Hebrew peopleAt the beginning of the second millennium BC the Hebrews were part of the nomadic population of Semitic speakers who wandered and settled along the shores of the Arabian Desert between Mesopotamian and Egyptian civilizations. Abraham, the founder or patriarch of the Hebrew community moved from Ur with his wives and children, servants, shepherds and flocks around him and settled for a time in Palestine (Canaan) situated around Jordan River. A section of the community moved into Egypt where tradition states they were oppressed in the New Kingdom of Egypt. Hence in the thirteenth century BC, these Hebrews resumed their wanderings.Their liberator, Moses held them together for forty years in the wilderness of Sinai. Moses rallied them behind a single God, Yaweh. Hence by the 1200s BC, the Hebrews had become monotheists (The Human Venture, Vol. 1, p. 67) and promised to obey his commandments. It is believed, Gods messenger to the Hebrews, Moses wrote the Torah, also known as Pentateuch. These were the first five books of the Bible. Thus, through these books, Moses the liberator and law giver became a world historical figure. The Hebrews had some of their sections also known as Yehudim which when translated into English became Jews.Hence the genesis of the name that mostly refers to the present descendants of the Hebrews. The Hebrew Kingdom When the Hebrews ultimately settled at Palestine, all the twelve heathenish groups evolved into a kingdom. Earlier, before making this decision, the Hebrew communities were divided and disunited along clan and ethnic lines. Their leaders were called judges. At times they were also guided by charismatic prophets. Shortly before 1000 BC, however, all the twelve ethnic groups resolved to follow a single king who was to be also a war leader unfastened of winning wars against their enemies.Saul, David and Solomon were some of the first kings of the Hebrews. David (1010-9 60 BC) a gifted military leader defeated the Philistines and completed the conquest of Canaan. He cemented the political unity of the twelve ethnic groups, established a Hebrew state and began to build a Hebrew capital at Jerusalem. Generally regarded as the strongest of Hebrew rulers, David is reputed for founding a centralise kingdom of Israel in the tenth century BC. Indeed Soul, the first ruler made effort but could not score definitive victory against enemies of the Hebrews. Hence when he fell in contest, he was replaced by David.David was later succeeded by Solomon (960-920 BC), his son, reputed for his wisdom. Solomon was a shrewd diplomat and a great builder. He married many wives and kept many concubines, he built a magnificent palace for himself and a great temple for Yaweh. Solomon further strengthened and equipped his army with chariots and new iron-age weapons. Furthermore, he built, rebuilt and fortified a number of cities. Solomon also constructed ships and traded w ith the Phoenicians and even down the Red Sea. Hence, Solomon in a way symbolized the governmental ideals of wisdom and power in the service of the people.In his effort to ensure that the Hebrew Kingdom remained powerful in the region, Solomon employed huge amounts of force and money. He used oppressive taxation, forced labour and other harsh measures that made him unpopular among his people. Differences among the urban and commercial northerners and the pastoral, agricultural and more religious southerners of his kingdom weakened the monarchy. The emerging rebellion split the kingdom after Solomons death. The Fall of the Hebrew Kingdom The split of the Hebrew Kingdom into Judah in the South and ruled from Jerusalem and Israel in the North label the fall of the kingdom.The nation of Judah was made up of two of the Hebrew communities while Israel had ten of the original twelve ethnic groups. Neither of the two could withstand attacks from more powerful enemies who included the Assy rians and Babylonians. Hence in the eighth century BC, Israel was conquered by the Assyrians while Nebuchadnezzar II of New Babylonian empire defeated Judah in the sixth century (586) BC. Jerusalem and Solomons great temple were destroyed. Many Hebrews were held captive in Babylon. Others fled to Egypt and beyond, beginning the diaspora or dispersal of the Jewish people.Some captives escaped and returned to rebuild the temple of their Lord, Yaweh, before the end of the sixth century BC. But such short-lived Jewish states as what emerged in later periods could not withstand attacks from Persians, Macedonians, Romans, Arabs and Turks. It was not until 1948 that a new nation of Israel, approximating the size of the one ruled over by David, was declared. That nation of Israel is still busy fending off attacks from Arabs. The Birth of Monotheism The earliest Hebrews were organised along family, clan and ethnic lines.As earlier argued, the twelve ethnic groups were believed to have descen ded from the twelve sons of Abraham. Within the family, patriarchy prevailed. Male heads of families had power over wives and children. Polygamy was allowed for men wealthy enough to support several wives. Only sons could inherit property because daughters could marry away from the families. A wife retained control of the dowry she brought with her to her marriage. But she had few other property rights. Divorce was easy for men but difficult for women to secure. How does this compare with our present circumstances?There were exceptions though. Some women stepped outside the family centred system entirely. Some exercised political power as judges, or religious authority as prophetesses e. g. Deborah. Some like Judith who slew the commander of an invading host (The Human venture, Vol. 1, p. 71) were hailed as national heroes for their deeds. Religion played a central role in Hebrew life. In fact, the many ancient Hebrew laws recorded in the Old Testament had a deep religious touch mu ch as they also reflected the traditional Hebrew values. One such law was the principle of an eye for an eye.Other Hebrew laws also prescribed kinds of foods to be eaten, persons and communities from which to marry or be married among, or what punishments to be given out against violations of these taboos. Hebrew prophets carried the words of their god, Yaweh, carved on two stone tablets in a chest as they preached to their people. They proclaimed their divinely ordained rule in a promised land in Palestine. Over a millennium and half between Abraham and the return to Jerusalem from Babylon, the Hebrews evolved a unique conception of divinity and of humanitys relationship to it.During Abrahams time, the Hebrew worshipped their own god without interfering with the other communitys way of worship. But by Moses time, Hebrew spiritual leaders began to insist that Yaweh demanded exclusive worship in return for his special patronage. The spiritual leaders further insisted that Yaweh was the only real God in the universe. During the second millennium BC, the Hebrew began believing that Yaweh demanded exclusive devotion from Hebrews. They believed that Yaweh was a jealous god and would tolerate no others. Over the centuries, Hebrews believed that Yaweh could not tolerate any images of himself.He thus remained a strictly spiritual presence. He remained an incarnation of such superhuman qualities as all knowledge, absolute power and benevolent caring who had miraculously selected the ancient Hebrews as his chosen people. Yawehs prophets of the first millennium BC preached ethical monotheism, stressing the moral dimension of the worship of one God. In sermons to the Hebrews, preachers like Samuel, Jeremiah, and Isaiah insisted that Yaweh demanded believers to obey the commandments that forbade murder, theft, lying, covetousness and many other sins.The prophets also preached that Yaweh demanded social justice from his people. The rich were not to oppress the poor, nor the mighty oppress the weak. The prophets preached that God had made a Special Covenant with the Hebrews. Whenever they sinned, God punished them severely i. e. by having them enslaved in Egypt or held captives in Babylon. But if they remained loyal to him alone and kept his commandments, they would get a promised land where they would have respect among nations. It is this monotheistic legacy that the Hebrews have bequeathed to posterity.For instance, in the first century AD, Jesus Christ, born and raised in the Jewish community of Northern Palestine, became the founder of the Christian faith, a faith that later spread around the world. In the Seventh Century AD, the Prophet Muhammad, an Arabian merchant conversant with both Judaism and Christianity, founded the third major world religion, Islam. Down through the centuries Hebrew leaders like Moses and Solomon would be honoured not only in later Judaism, but also in the Christian Old Testament and the Muslim Quran. ANCIENT PERSIA A ncient Persia is situated in the Middle East.A region known to have given rise to many civilizations including Mesopotamia. During the millennium of the Christian era, the broad diversified Middle Eastern region had intermittent unity under a series of Persian dynasties. Some of the leading Persian unifiers include the Achaenemids (550-331 BC). The Achaenemids are a royal house which was founded by Cyrus the Great. The Persians were Indo-European descendants who had migrated into the Persian Plateau hundreds of years earlier. In the 6th C BC, Persians were still a war-like semi-pastoral people living in the mountains of what is present day Western Iran.There they were within easy reach of the Euphrates and Tigris valley. Cyrus the Great, also known as Cyrus the Shepherd was a self made emperor. He was merciful with defeated enemies, tolerant of all religions and very courageous. He was a brave fighter. By the middle of the 6th C, the Medes who had participated in the destruction of the Mesopotamian Empire were weak. This enabled Cyrus, a hereditary chief of the Persian people who were tributary to the Medes to rise. In 550BC, Cyrus invaded and overthrew the last Medean king of the Medes and crowned himself king of the Medes and Persians.For the next twenty years, Cyrus waged many victorious campaigns. Cyrus horse soldiers wore leather breeches and heavy felt boots, sat on their rugged mountainous ponies and were armed with compound bows. In his reign and that of his successors, Persia expanded to become the largest empire in the 6th century. About three years after seizing control of the Median confederacy, Cyrus crossed the Taurus Mountains into present day Turkey and overthrew king Croesus of Lydia. Using the wealth acquired from Croesus, Cyrus marched eastwards subduing residents of present day Iran and Afghanistan.In the process of expanding Persian Empire, Cyrus also expanded his troops so that by the time he invaded the New Babylonian Empire, the weaker and disunited Babylonian leaders were no match for him. About 539 BC Cyrus easily occupied Babylon, bringing to an end the Mesopotamian independence. Persia became the sterling(prenominal) power in the Middle East. About nine years later, Cyrus was killed in war in eastern part of todays Iran. Cambyses, his son succeeded him and conquered Egypt. Cambyses successor, Darius 1(522-486) further extended Persian Empire into northern India and Macedonia, on the northern frontier of Greece.Darius 1 also known as Darius the Great thus governed over a huge empire, from the Egyptians, Babylonians, Lydians, Greeks, Persians and Medes among others. To administer the expansive empire effectively, it was divided in provinces (satrapies). Each satrapy was under a Satrap (governor) who was often a member of the imperial family or a leading local nobleman. The satraps were granted political, military and financial autonomy on a large scale. As long as a satrapy paid its tribute on time and provide d its share of recruits for the army, the province could be left on its own in local matters.But to avert any rebellious satrapies, garrisons of royal troops were strategically situated across the huge empire. In addition, there were also royal agents (the kings eyes and ears) who monitored on the satraps and regularly briefed the rulers of the empire. Darius formulated a single imperial code of laws ground on the Mesopotamian model. He also borrowed the idea of minted coinage from the Lydians and began minting gold and silver coins. Besides he established a common set of weights and measures, a system of royal couriers and mail, a common calendar borrowed from Egypt and Aramaic, as a lingua franca.Aramaic was already widely used by business people in the general area. Darius was also a builder. He set up a network of hundred of miles of roads linking the far outside places of Persian Empire. Some ran from the capital at Susa to the Western City of Sardises Darius and his successo rs loved relaxing in gardens which they called Paradises and in great palaces at Susa, Bablylon and Persepolis. From the fifth century B. C. some Satrops began revolting against the Persian rule. For instance, the Ionian Greek City-states revolted and were supported by Athens. Gradually palace intrigues undermined the power of the empire.Even women were ruthlessly conspiratorial and by the fourth century B. C. black lovage the Great, King of Macedonia attacked and destroyed Achaemenid Empire. Attempts to revive the empire by such groups as the Seleucids (323-250 B. C. ) and the Parrthians (250 B. C. -224A. D. ) could not succeed. The two were not Persians and from 224 A. D. , the Sassanids, an Iranian group took over and ruled Persia until 641A. D. The four hundred year reign of the Sassanids is thus viewed as a restoration of the Achaemenid rule (Esler, A. , The Human Venture Vol. 1 p. 153). The Sassanids constructed an elaborate system of power.The bureaucracy, the Iranian barons and the Magi (Priests of Zoroaster) were most influential. The Grand Visier, was the Kings right hand man and operational head of the state. Other powerful officials included the chief priest, head scribe, and general of the armies. Iranian barons granted estates along the frontiers of the empire and provided a flexible border defense. While defending their own lands, the barons by the same means also protected the Sassanid Empire. The Magi lay in the peasant land tax on which the government depended and also provided religious sanction for Sassanid imperial power.Indeed under the Sassanids, Persian Empire emerged to the expansiveness of the earlier Achaemenid Empire under Darius and Xerxes. During its greatest the empire reached todays Pakistan in the east and Egypt in the west. In the north the empire reached Central Asia upto the suburbs of Constantinople. The expansion of the empire made it fall into conflict with such western powers as Ancient Rome and Medieval Byzantine Empi re. At one time the struggle took on a religious overtone between Zoroastrianism (Persia) and Christianity (Rome and Byzantium).Finally the Sassanid Empire was overwhelmed by the Muslim conquerors. The Persian Society and Culture Ancient Persian Empire was a class based society. The classes included the aristocrats, officials, priests, merchants, artisans, peasants, workers and slaves. In terms of gender relations, it depended on regions. In Mesopotamia women worked in handicraft industries while in Egypt women enjoyed legal rights. For example, a marriage contract guaranteed the bride to return her dowry in the event of the marriages dissolution and also receive a third of the husbands earnings. The Faith of ZoroasterInitially, Persians were polytheists. They worshipped Anahita, goddess of the life-giving waters and Mithra, god of the Sun. Sacrificial fire played a central part in the religion of the early Persians. But from the sixth century, Prophet Zoroaster founded a new religi on, Zoroastrianism. sextette hundred years before Christi, Zoroaster preached a faith that resembled present day Christianity. He preached belief in one god, Ahura Mazda, the Wise Lord, god of light, goodness and truth. Ahura Mazda was the creator of all things, the judge of all people, and the rewarder of virtue with spiritual blessings.Zoroastrianism proclaimed Liar as the prince of darkness. Liar was also known as Abriman. He preached that the universe was the battle ground between Ahura Mazda and his agent Mithra on the one hand against Abriman on the other. Zoroaster urged all human beings to take a stand in the struggle between the two forces. He predicted victory for Ahura Mazda and his followers would enter paradise while those who served Liar (Abriman) will be cast into the bridge of judgment into a pit of darkness and torment. The faith became a faith of the royal family and nobility in Persia.Ahura Mazda was symbolized in a small human figure at persepolis. Zoroastrianis m was largely a religion, therefore of the aristocrats given that Persians seldom sought converts to it. Nonetheless Zoroastrianism spread eastwards to India where the Parsi sect comprises the largest body of Zoroastrians in the world today (Elser, The Human Venture, p. 156). The cult of Mithra the sun god, champion of light against darkness spread westwards into Rome. Even Liar found a place in foreign pantheons such as demon of the Christians. The Indian Civilization IntroductionIn this sub-topic we look at the general overview of the Indian subcontinent, its earliest organization, and invasion from outside before eventually discussing the evolution of the empire. There after we will examine the major philosophical and religious contribution of India to the rest of humankind. The Indian Subcontinent Indian subcontinent is made up of raised areas such as the Hindu Kush and the Himalayas as well as the river valleys and coastal plains. It is in these valleys that the Indian civiliz ation was born and later expanded to cover the entire sub continent.It is argued that the subcontinent is about two thousan

Literary Analysis of Bartleby the Scrivener Essay

Bartleby the Scrivener could be described as a story about nourishting relinquish of its title character, about the cashiers attempt to get rid of Bartleby, and Bartlebys tenacious capacity to be always there. It is the story of an unnamed attorney and his employee, Bartleby, a scribbler of law documents.Confronted not only with Bartlebys refusal to do work (first to read copies against the original, then to copy altogether), merely also with the contagious constitution of the particular enounces of his refusal (Bartlebys peculiar I would prefer not to), the cashier concludes that, before Bartleby turns the tongues any further of those with whom he comes into contact, he must get rid of Bartleby. At the same time Bartleby feels mobbed in his privacy (27) when the different magnate workers crowd him behind his penetrate, they in turn are invaded by his idiosyncrasy his private idiom prefer. Bartlebys presence breaks down the clear distinctions between public and private, professional and domestic, between privacy and the mob. By pinpointing Bartleby as the cause of infective language (language turned bad), the narrator wants to stop the course of a process (the turning of tongues) already in progress. But getting rid of Bartleby is as silklike as getting rid of a chronic condition the narrator emphasizes a phrase which appears textually in italics he was always there (20). Bartleby is, as the narrator calls him, a nuisance (40), an intolerable incubus. As a character in the story with a body, he moves very little, but the few formulates he tells break out at unexpected moments in the office. Every attempt the narrator makes to control the passive Bartleby and his infectious language fails hilariously (Schehr 97). The narrator experiences a curious tension between the impossible imperative (on the level of the story) to get rid of the subject, and the impossibility (on the level of the narration) to write his complete biography (Bartlebys news r eport). Thus, Bartleby is also a fable about piece of music history or biography.In attempting to write what he thinks of as Bartlebys biography, the narrator merely misnames his writing project, or he emphasizes it from the wrong point of view. In search of Bartlebys origins, the narrator does not simply narrate (as he thinks) the history of Bartleby the Scrivener he relates instead the story of his own worry vis-a-vis Bartleby. In particular, he relates his anxiety over the scriveners silence and modes of breaking that silence for we could declare that, rather than expressing very little or in particular ways, Bartleby has particular ways of occasionally breaking silence.It is this violence in actors line, this unexpected eruption, which the narrator fears. The narrator, whose acquaintances describe him as an eminently safe patch, who likes nothing better than the cool tranquility of a snug retreat (4), is thrown decidedly off kilter when faced with what he terms Bartleby s passive resistance (17). Bartlebys weapon is his total indifference to truth, whereas the narrator seeks a second opinion on truth from the other office mates. Bartleby could be seen as the single solid block around which the narrator writes his own story about truth rather than the truth about the Bartleby story.Bartlebys passive resistance in reality generates the story confronted with it, the narrator creates theories (his doctrine of self-reliances, for instance), carries on debates with himself, and seeks the counsel of others all with the opaque Bartleby as the core. In reconstructing Bartlebys story, the narrator follows an implicit logic which he never directly states. It is the logic of cause and effect. (He is not deliberately hiding this logic, but because he takes its harshness for granted, he never comments on it critically.) Believing in the possibility of finding a specific, locatable, and nameable cause to Bartlebys condition (as he is able to do with the oth er office workers, Nippers and Turkey, whose moods vary according to their diets and the time of day), the narrator thinks that by eradicating the cause of the problem, he can alter the effects, the effects of Bartlebys speaking condition in the office space. McCall follows the same logic as the narrator in seeking causes of Bartlebys behavior.He mentions remark that when the narrator asks Bartleby to run an errand for him at the post office, that is belike the last place, if the rumor is correct, that Bartleby would ever want to go. (McCall 129). The narrator never considers that his line of reasoning might be faulty that Bartlebys condition may not be linked to a specific, locatable, nameable cause. We as readers may be placed in the same position as the narrator in that we never have it away either the origin of Bartlebys condition we witness primarily its effects, or symptoms, in the story.These symptoms reside not only in Bartleby as individual character, but in the very wa y the narrator tells the story about that character. Rather than speaking about the cause of Bartlebys condition, one could much aptly speak about the ways in which its effects are spread to other characters within the text. When the narrator impatiently summons Bartleby to join and help the others in the scenario of conclave reading, Bartleby responds, I would prefer not to (14). Hearing this response the narrator turns into a pillar of salt (14).(Faced with Bartlebys responses and sheer presence, the narrator oftentimes evokes images of his losing, then vigilant to, consciousness. ) When he recovers his senses, he tries to reason with Bartleby, who in the meantime has retreated behind his screen. The narrator says These are your own copies we are about to examine. It is labor deliver to you, because one examination lead answer for your four papers. It is common usage. Every copyist is bound to help examine his copy. Is it not so? Will you not speak? Answer (15)The narrator i s exasperated when Bartleby does not respond immediately to the logic behind his work ethic. These are your own copies we are about to examine. It is labor saving to you. Examining or reading copy is a money saving activity, from which every member of the office profits (four documents for the price of one reading ). Every copyist is bound to help examine his copy. To the contract the lawyer emphatically de gentlemans gentlemands from his employee, a bond based on an exchange of reading, Bartleby replies three times, gently, in a flutelike tone, I (would) prefer not to (15).By refusing to read copy, Bartleby refuses to consent to the economy of the office. It is perhaps only to another type of reading, one not based on a system of exchange and profit, which Bartleby consents. Although the narrator says he has never seen Bartleby reading not even a newspaper (24) he does often notice him staring extracurricular the window of the office onto a brick wall. Staring at the dead bric k wall (in what the narrator calls Bartlebys dead-wall reveries) may be Bartlebys only form of reading, winning the place of the economy-based reading demanded of him in the process of verifying copies.About halfway through the story, the lawyer/narrator visits his office on a Sunday dawn and, discovering a blanket, soap and towel, a few crumbs of ginger nuts and a morsel of cheese, deduces that the scrivener never leaves the office. Realizing the full impact of Bartlebys condition, he states, What I saw that morning persuaded me that the scrivener was the victim of innate and incurable disorder. (25) The narrator clearly locates the disorder in Bartleby. Seeing himself in the role of diagnostician and healer, he himself is faced with the hopelessness of remedying excessive and organic ill (24).The narrators concern about an individual medical cure should more aptly be a concern about an obsessively private rhetorical debate or a dangerously idiomatic group contagious disease (Pe rry 409). Despite his assumption that Bartleby is incurable, or perhaps precisely because he can effect no cure, the narrator beleaguers himself throughout the story with questions or commands to do something about Bartleby (McCall 9). If the private mans disorder can be passed on to another (one) person, what happens when the condition is let loose out of close quarantine into the public space of the office?Bartleby walks a precarious tightrope between comedy and tragedy (Inge 25). The tragic dimension often resides in the narrators turning inward on himself (a form of tragic compression), then putting himself on trial, an interior moment of accusation which eventually results in the collapse of the narrative in a single suspire or exclamation (Ah, Bartleby Ah, humanity 46). The comic effects are often related to the authoritarian attempt (and failure) to contain the spread of idiom as infection (Perry 412).If Bartleby has been a figure for tragedy in the lone meditation of the narrator, he becomes a figure for comedy in his contact with his office mates Nippers and Turkey. The more the narrator tries to regulate the contact between the three, the more hilarious and significantly out of control is Bartlebys influence. The effort to contain or control tends actually to promote the epidemic proportions of the narrative. It is the narrator himself who uses a vocabulary of contagion in relation to Bartleby. He says he has had more than ordinary contact (3) with other scriveners he has k immediatelyn.Bartleby exceeds this already extraordinary contact he has been touched by handling dead letters (Schehr 99). Some critics reproduce the narrators language of contagion in talking about Bartleby. McCall, in his study on The Silence of Bartleby, describes our response, the collective readers response, to reading the tale As we go through the story, we watch with a certain delight how Bartleby is catching. We root for the spread of the bug. (145) In a somewhat l ess delighted vein, Borges says, Bartlebys frank nihilism contaminates his companions and even the stolid man who tells Bartlebys story. (Borges 8) In the office scenes where the employees and boss come inevitably together, the bug word is Bartlebys prefer. Nippers uses it mockingly against the narrator as a transitive action verb when he overhears Bartlebys words of refusal to the narrators plea to be a little reasonable. Bartleby echoes, At present I would prefer not to be a little reasonable (26). If Nippers is suffering from his own peculiar and chronic condition of indigestion, he takes on the symptoms of Bartlebys condition when he exclaims to the narrator, Prefer not, eh? Id prefer him, if I were you sir, Id prefer him Id give him preferences, the stubborn mule What is it, sir, pray, that he prefers not to do now? (26) Whereas later in the story the narrator totally loses his critical skill to catch himself in his speech, in this exchange he is still able to suppose the e ffect Bartlebys word is having on him. He notes anxiously, Somehow, of late, I had got into the way of involuntarily using the word prefer upon all sorts of not exactly fitted occasions. (27) It is this qualifier not exactly which is of particular interest.Bartlebys use of words is not exactly wrong. Prefer is so insidious because it is only slightly askew, dislocated, idiosyncratic. As McCall accurately notes about the power of Bartlebys I prefer not to, one must hear, in the little silence that follows it, how the line delivers two remote meanings, obstinacy and politeness. (152) The line calls just enough attention to itself so as to attract others to its profoundly mixed message (its perfect yes and no) in an echoic way (McCall 152). Prefer is as inobtrusive, as contagious, and as revolutionary as a sneeze.The narrator lets it out of his mouth involuntarily. When Turkey enters the scene and uses the bug word without realizing it (without Nippers italicized parody or the narra tors critical comments), the narrator says to him, in a slightly excited tone, So you have got the word, too (27). In this diametrical sentence, the verb get implies to receive (as in to receive a word or message), but more strikingly for our discussion here, it implies the verb to catch one catches the word as one would catch a cold.The narrator attempts to monitor the contagion by naming the bug and pointing it out to the others. But the word mocks everyones will to control it prefer pops up six times in the next half a page four times unconsciously in the speech of one of the employees, and twice consciously (modified by word) in the narration of the lawyer. Bartleby could be described as a story of the intimacy or anxiety a lawyer feels for the law-copyist he employs. The narrator arranges a screen in the corner of his office behind which Bartleby may work.Pleased with the arrangement of placing Bartleby behind the screen in near proximity to his own desk, the narrator stat es, Thus, in a manner, privacy and society were conjoined (12). The narrator idealizes the possibility of a perfect unity between privacy and community in the work environment, but it is precisely the conflict between these two spatial conditions which generates the story, defining not only Bartlebys idiocy, but the narrators as well.The narrator most characteristically encounters Bartleby emerging from his retreat (13) or retiring into his hermitage (26). The screen isolates Bartleby from the view of the narrator, but not from his voice. Works Cited Borges, Jorge Luis. Prologue to Herman Melvilles Bartleby in Herman Melvilles Billy Budd, Benito Cereno, Bartleby the Scrivener, and Other Tales, ed. Harold Bloom. New York Chelsea House Publishers, 1987 Inge, Thomas M. , ed.Bartleby the Inscrutable. Hamden, CT Archon Books, 1979. McCall, Dan. The Silence of Bartleby. Ithaca Cornell University Press, 1989. Melville, Herman. Billy Budd and Other Stories. New York Penguin Books, 1986. Pe rry, Dennis R. Ah, humans Compulsion Neuroses in Melvilles Bartleby. Studies in Short Fiction 23. 4 (fall 1987) 407-415. Schehr, Lawrence R. Dead Letters Theories of Writing in Bartleby the Scrivener Enclitic vii. l (spring 1983) 96-103.

Isolation of organic compounds Essay

1. 2.07 g of the mixture of naphthalene and benzoic sultry was weighed accurately on a balance. The mixture was then dissolved in 40 ml dichloromethane and the solution was poured into a separatory funnel.2. 20 ml of aqueous sodium bicarbonate solution was added to the dichloromethane. A stopper was put on the separatory funnel and was move and pressure was frequently released. The 2 liquids separated into clear layers and the lower layer (dichloromethane layer) was tapped into an Erlenmeyer flask. The aqueous layer was situated into a 400 ml beaker. The dichloromethane was placed back in the separatory funnel.3. The dichloromethane was extracted with 2 more fresh portions of sodium bicarbonate solution. The bicarbonate solutions are combined in the beaker.4. The dichloromethane was dried with just about 10g of anhydrous sodium sulphate for 10 minutes after which the sodium bicarbonate was filtered using the Bchner funnel. The mass of an evaporating dish was measured and the dic hloromethane placed in the evaporating dish and placed on steam bath until it evaporated into a solid. The evaporating dish containing naphthalene was weighed to determine the yield.5. A funnel was placed on the evaporating dish on the steam bath to collect some sublimating crystals which were used to determine the melting point.6. The bicarbonate extract was acidified with concentrated HCl. A piece of litmus paper showed that it was acidic.7. The benzoic acid was extracted by shaking it with25ml portions of dichloromethane. The organic extracts were collected in a pre-weighed Erlenmeyer flask and evaporated on the steam bath. The mass of Benzoic acid produced was determined.RESULTS(i) Naphthalene 0.85g Benzoic acid 0.71g(ii) The melting point of Naphthalene 80-89 c

Pre-Med Seniors Preparing For Medical School

Tobin Robinson, Thalia Mulvihill, and Amanda O. Litz joined together to compose Bound and Determined Perceptions of Pre-Med Seniors Regarding Their exertion In Preparing For Medical School. Students are being examined on their divergent perceptions of studying and preparing for medical school placement exams.Studies show that classes are viewed on the values of where they contribute to their fields of study while the results of different perceptions are preparing students for notwithstanding learning. Mulvihill begins by expressing how much attention has been placed on factors such as science confidence and aptitude development, as well as persistence through and through difficult courses or academic programs. (Weimar, 2012)In this approach, such topics can assist the student in understanding the factors that contribute to the high volume that may in conclusion change their academic focus. It is stated that beginning students often predict they will receive a much higher course g rade in antecedent biology than what their current marks in the course would predict, and this trend occurs even when the instructor is transparent about the course grading process. (Robinson, 224)There were also studies through with(p) on different programs that are characterized by an intense , short course span, consisting of only a few weeks of course instruction that consist for a veritable number of hours a day. These classes were found to be successful in teaching science to a community college of students, especially those who involved shifting focus from dress down to active student learning, developing student leadership skills, and democratizing learning. (Lloyd & Eckhardt, 2010)Similar studies relating to the medical school admissions and underrepresented populations have found that certain medical school requirements, such as the MCAT, often hinder minority groups from medical school acceptance. (Henry, 2006) The MCAT has been a major hurdle for students seeking adm issions to medical schools for a vast majority of years. In otherwise words, this assessment can be categorized as a placement test into the students desired medical school.Because of the extreme importance of test scores in school admissions, many students take the time to prepare through a private course that is, in no way, affiliated with their college or university. These courses will render as the greatest way to prepare the collegiate senior in medical school acceptances.In Robinson, Mulvihill, and Litzs article in Bound and Determined Perceptions of Pre-Med Seniors Regarding Their Persistence In Preparing For Medical School, the authors are gathering information and creating methods to prepare Pre-Medical college seniors for Medical school by assigning assessments and providing practices to be admitted into a collegiate medical program.

Xbox 360 vs Ps3

Samuel Clark March 12, 2010 ENGL112 Compare/ Contrast Essay Microsoft XBOX 360 versus Sony Playstation 3 The video game industry has issue a long way since Magnavox released the Odyssey in 1972. It has scram an extremely lucrative business allowing for huge upgrades on new consoles. The current genesis of consoles is dominated by Microsofts XBOX 360 and Sonys Playstation 3. In the last generation the Microsoft XBOX was considered by many critics as a better console than the Sony Playstation 2.This generation has brought about more competition among the systems, as there is more technology for each(prenominal) manufacturer to take advantage of. While there are similarities in the two, it is their differences in which the Playstation 3 takes advantage of the XBOX 360s miscues. Real differences start to appear when you blend in into the consoles features. Sony has equipped the Playstation 3 with Blu-ray, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth capabilities standard on each console (Falcone). None of these comes with the XBOX 360 however Wi-Fi and HD DVD attachments are available separately (Bakalar).In addition Playstation 3 is backwards compatible, meaning that games from previous generations are playable on this system. The XBOX 360 plays older games only if you purchase a hard drive unit. Finally The Xbox 360 charges a pay for online play and usage whereas the Playstation 3 does not. Also both consoles have Netflix capabilities. Each of these consoles present examples of how far our technology has come. Microsoft offers far superior web support, however the features that come standard on the Playstation 3 are pricey attachments on the XBOX 360.On the other hand, the XBOX 360 is sold for $100 less than the Playstations 3. Because of the exclusive games and the features that come with it, the Playstation 3 has a bit of an advantage over the XBOX 360. Nevertheless, in a market that sustains itself on rapidly evolving technologies, it would not be wise to get comfortable at the superlative for anyone. Works Cited Bakalar, Jeff, and John Falcone. MIcrosoft Xbox 360. Rev. of Xbox 360, by Jeff Bakalar. www. cnet. com. CNET, 11 Sept. 2009. Web. 19 Mar. 2009. http//reviews. cnet. com/? consoles/? microsoft-xbox-360-20gb/? 4505-10109_7-3135