Native Americans- Minority Role Essay Example for Free

Native Americans- Minority Role Essay Power and Minority Group Position: The Case of Native Americans Majority/Minority group relations can be illustrated by studying the role of power and how it is distributed between groups. The majority, or group that wields the most power, directly affects the circumstances for the minority. In most cases power struggle leads to racial and ethnic inequality. This scenario describes the case of the Native Americans. Since the arrival of the Europeans in 1492 the Native American has systematically been dehumanized, decivilized and redefined into terms that typify a subordinate or minority role, restricted life opportunities persist today as a result (Farley, 2000). When European settlers arrived on American shores to settle a New World, around 7 million Native Americans had been settled in the wilderness north of present-day Mexico for some time. It is believed that the first Native Americans arrived during the last Ice Age, approximately 20,000 30,000 years ago, by crossing the Bering Strait from northeastern Siberia into Alaska. Over thousands of years, spiritual kin-based communities had survived by living off the land and bartering goods. Their diversity was reflected by their societies, which ranged from small, mobile bands of hunter-gatherers in the Great Basin to temple-mound builders in the Southeast (DiBacco, 1995). The encounter of early explorers with the people of the Americas would ultimately set in motion the destruction of long existing Native American life and culture. Engrained into the minds of the Europeans were prejudiced images and stereotypes of the Native Americans, which we struggle still today to eradicate. From the 1490s to the 1590s, Europeans pushed inward across America from both coasts. Encounters with these settlers attracted many Native Americans toward European goods, but their attitudes toward the newcomers themselves depended greatly on previous experiences (Farley, 2000). In most cases, the early explorers found the Native American peoples to be friendly and generous. Columbus was immediately struck by the peaceful, generous nature of the Taino. The Taino society was highly organized around a patriarchal hierarchy and distinguished by happiness and friendliness. Columbus frankly stated how surprised he had been to make friends with the Indians. He wrote, They are gentle and comely people. They are so naive and free with their possessions that no one who has not witnessed them would never believe it. When you ask for something they have, they never say no. To the contrary, they offer to share with anyone They willingly traded everything they owned (DiBacco, 1995) When the Europeans settlers started to arrive in the 16th- and 17th-centurys they too were met by Native Americans. The Natives regarded their white-complexioned visitors as something of a marvel, not only for their outlandish dress and beards and winged ships, but even more for their wonderful technology steel knives and swords, fire-belching arquebus and cannons, mirrors, hawkbells and earrings, copper and brass kettles, etc. (Jordan, 1991). Increased interaction led to the Indians becoming less self-sufficient and economically dependent on the whites. As the years went on, however, the natives began to realize that the Europeans had much more in mind than a few settlements. They began to realize that their entire way of life was under siege. By the time the truth occurred to them, however, it was probably already too late. Their bows and arrows were no match for the Europeans firearms, and their bodies could not defend against the foreign diseases (DiBacco, 1995). As the encroachment of settlers on Indian lands continued, so did the inevitable conflicts. To the Indians, the arriving Europeans seemed attuned to another world; they appeared oblivious to the rhythms and spirits of nature (Jordan, 1991). Nature to the Europeans was something of an obstacle, even an enemy, and these disrespectful attitudes were quite apparent to the Indians. The wilderness was also a commodity however: a forest was so many board feet of timber, a beaver colony so many pelts, a herd of buffalo so many hides (Jordan, 1991). The Europeans cultural arrogance and ethnocentrism, and their materialistic view of the land and its inhabitants were repulsive to the Indians. Europeans, overall, were regarded as something mechanical soulless creatures wielding diabolically ingenious tools and weapons to accomplish selfish ends (Jordan, 1991). Initial European impressions of the Native American population were formed by the descriptions of Columbus and other explorers. Although Columbus initially praised the Taino, crediting them with a very acute intelligence , he also provided an unfavorable view of Native Americans when he discussed the Carib Indians, who were said to be very fierce cannibals. This description set the stage for the long-enduring image of the hostile, savage Indian (Berkhofer, 1978). Another New World explorer, Amerigo Vespucci further established this imagery in his writings about the natives stating, The nations wage war upon one another without art or order. The elders by means of certain harangues of theirs bend the youths to their will and inflame them to wars in which they cruelly kill one another, and those whom they bring home captives from war they preserve, not to spare their lives, but that they may be slain for food; for they eat one another, the victors the vanquished, and among other kinds of meat human flesh is a common article of diet with them. Nay be the more assured of this fact because the father has already been seen to eat children and wife (Burkhofer, 1978). The recently developed printing press rapidly dispersed such images through both print and picture, and these representations became firmly etched in the minds of the Europeans (Bataille, 1980). Eventually, the Native Americans were considered subhuman and evil. The hope of civilizing the Indian was often expressed, but ultimately religion required the eventual submission of the Indians to white domination (Burkhofer, 1978) When colonies began to form in North America, the colonists wanted to create a world similar to the one they had left. The Indians were a major barrier to this progress and civilization. The colonists hoped the natives would embrace Christianity and become assimilated within the colonist society. When the Native Americans resisted, they, like the wilderness, became merely an obstacle in the colonists path. Because they would not conform to the European way of life, their destruction was inevitable. Because some justification was needed in order to wipe out the entire race, the stereotype of the bloodthirsty savage was solidified (Bataille, 1980). The Europeans were accustomed to owning land and claimed ownership of the new territory, justifying their actions with the fact that the Indians were nomads with no interest in owning any land. The conflicts led to many wars and various actions instituted by the Europeans in order to accomplish their objectives. The Indian tribes were at a great disadvantage during these wars because of their modest numbers, nomadic life, lack of advanced weapons, and unwillingness to cooperate, even in their own defense (Jordan, 1991). During the nineteenth century, the American Indians, by tradition a communal people, were forcibly separated from their native cultures and lands. By the mid-1840s most of the Native Americans east of the Mississippi River had been relocated to Indian Territory, as a result of President Andrew Jacksons Indian Removal Act of 1830. This act gave territory to Native Americans who agreed to reject their ancestral holdings. This act allowed the Indians to live on the declared territory indefinitely. Many refused to leave their homelands, however, engaging in battles destined to end in death and destruction. These Native Americans were subjected to numerous forms of violence, such as raping, scalping and lynching, among other acts (Zinn, 1980). The Europeans eventually stripped the Native Americans of most of their lands, and as the settlers pushed further west, the boundaries of the Indian Territory continued to shrink. As the wandering Indians encountered existing tribes and the designated Indian Territory became more crowded, conflicts over land and hunting rights ensued. The relocated Indians were often struck by famine, as buffalo and other game became scarce. The reduction of the overcrowded Indian reservations was continued as more white settlers arrived in America (Zinn, 1980). The building of the transcontinental railroad allowed for thousands of white setters to make their way across Indian Territory. Native Americans forced off their lands often starved on the poor land or died of diseases brought with the settlers from Europe. Indians were often pressured to sign treaties giving up land and agreeing to live on reservations. In return, the government vowed to provide the Indians with services and supplies (Todd, 1986). The white men did not uphold this promise, however. Most of the Native Americans were nomadic and nonagricultural, and all depended for survival on hunting the buffalo (Jordan, 1991). The settlers realized the usefulness of the buffalo hides and killed an estimated three million buffalo each year over a three-year period. The devastation of the buffalo was also devastating to the Indians (Jordan, 1991). Tensions were increased as Indians traveled outside reservation lines to hunt buffalo for survival. When government attempts at concentrating the Native Americans in reservations proved ineffective, many battles ensued between Indians and Americans. Because their designated land was insufficient, the Indians were forced to revolt in order to survive (Todd, 1986). Terribly disadvantaged, however, the Native Americans were not able to defend themselves against the settlers. Most American Indians saw themselves as citizens of sovereign Indian nations. In fact, during the first half of the 1800s, the U. S. government treated Indians who lived in tribes as members of separate nations. The federal government even negotiated formal treaties with them. All that changed in the latter half of the 1800s. The U. S.government began to look at Indians as wards or dependents instead of citizens of their own sovereign nations or citizens of the United States. In 1870, the Senate declared that the Fourteenth Amendment, which granted citizenship to African Americans, did not apply to American Indians who lived in tribes. In 1871, Congress stated that hereafter no Indian nation or tribe within the territory of the United States shall be recognized as an independent nation (DiBacco, 1995). In 1887, congress passed the Dawes Act, dividing both reservations and families. Indian families who agreed to live separate and apart from any tribe were given their own land to cultivate. After 25 years, the family would be granted both land and U. S. citizenship. This U. S. policy stressed Indian assimilation of the habits of civilized life through citizenship, education, and individual land ownership (DiBacco, 1995). Traditionally, Native Americans owned land through tribes and communities, as opposed to individually. The effort to individualize Indians and force them to forgo their tribal and traditional ways caused strife among tribal communities and provoked a growing Indian opposition (Zinn, 1980). Once again, however, the Indians suffered because the quality of their land was very poor, they were untrained at farming, and they lacked proper tools. Additionally, disease and malnutrition increased as common causes of death. Between 1887 and 1934, American Indian nations lost more than sixty percent of their land to the American federal government (Jordan, 1991). The end of the 19th century marked the end of the Indian Wars with an unprovoked massacre in 1890 during which Indian warriors, women, and children were slaughtered by U. S. cavalry at Wounded Knee (Jordan, 1991). In the end approximately 200 Native American men, women, and children had been killed (DiBacco, 1995). In the early twentieth century Indians continued to be the target of civilized assimilation efforts. In accordance with these efforts, the government funded Native American churches and schools. Education has been regarded as a primary tool in the cultural genocide, or assimilation, of Native Americans throughout history. Its overall effect severely diluted Native American culture with Christian European values and beliefs, but taught no Native American history (Keohane, 2003). The Carlisle Indian Industrial School in Pennsylvania, the Haskell Institute in Kansas, and the Chilocco Indian School in Oklahoma all sought to eradicate Indian languages and lifestyles. Native Americans from various areas were forced to send their children to such schools. Most were boarding schools where students would have no contact with their tribal homeland. Students were forced to adapt themselves to the culture of the colonists under a militarized system that enforced the use of the English language, English names, and Christian religion, while dismissing Native American cultures as uncivilized. Many of the students were even kept from their families during breaks as they were sent off to work under white families, still furthering their cultural immersion and strengthening the American economy. Kill the Indian and save the man was the Carlisle Schools motto (Keohane, 2003). During the first few decades of the 20th century, the gap between Indians and whites widened as Native Americans continued to find the thinking of white Americans illogical, and Federal officials continued to outlaw Indian religious practices. As assimilation efforts began to succeed, American Indians were reduced in the public eye to the status of ancient relics. For example, most citizens were unaware that ten thousand Indian men were serving in World War I or that educated Indians were becoming teachers, farmers, and ministers (Zinn, 1980). Many of the stereotypes of Native Americans originally created in Columbus time have carried over to contemporary society. This only solidified white attitudes about manifest destiny and the role of the Indian in North America. The bloodthirsty savage had become a staple of the popular dime novel and Wild West shows (Bataille,1980). By the time of World War I, the image of the ignorant, savage Native American was firmly established in popular film, which was greatly profitable though historically inaccurate. The generic Indian was portrayed in fringed clothing, communicating through grunts and simple language (Bataille, 1980). Even today, many people overgeneralize about Native Americans, seeing them as one people even though the tribes have always differed in many ways. In 1924, Native Americans were finally given some recognition as a federal law pushed U. S.citizenship upon the remaining Indian population, BE IT ENACTED , THAT ALL NON-CITIZEN INDIANS BORN WITHIN THE TERRITORIAL LIMITS OF THE UNITED STATES BE AND THEY ARE HEREBY, DECLARED TO BE CITIZENS OF THE UNITED STATES: PROVIDED, THAT THE GRANTING OF SUCH CITIZENSHIP SHALL NOT IN ANY MANNER IMPAIR OR OTHERWISE AFFECT THE RIGHT OF ANY INDIAN TO TRIBAL OR OTHER PROPERTY. THE INDIAN CITIZENSHIP ACT, APPROVED JUNE 2, 1924 Despite their newly gained citizenship, Native Americans were blocked from voting for the next twenty years in Arizona, Utah, and New Mexico. As a result, The Indian Rights Association and The American Indian Defense Association were formed to protect Indian rights, but the two organizations had limited power or impact (DiBacco, 1995). The plight of American Indians attracted little attention until 1928, when a shocking study, the Meriam Report, exposed the frequency of Indian poverty and the failure of government to fulfill allotted promises. The result of this new interest in reform was called the Indian New Deal, a new law that would restructure tribal governments and the administration of federal policies. The bill became the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934. It introduced federal programs to support Indian agriculture, vocational education, and economic development. It included a provision that allowed reservation communities to set up tribal governments patterned after local units of the American government. Despite criticisms of the law being too paternalistic and undermining tribal traditions, the authority of Indian communities actually did expand during this time. The new Indian governments began to assert their rights in order to reverse the loss of tribal sovereignty (Jordan, 1991). Even though American Indians sent twenty-five thousand men and women to World War II, ten thousand to the Korean conflict, and forty-three thousand to Vietnam, their efforts did little to erase negative images of Indians (Zinn, 1980). Such images have also persisted in federal policy. Following World War II the Bureau of Indian Affairs instituted a program to terminate the federal governments trust relations with many tribes. In 1953 government officials passed a bill reducing federal expenditures and shrinking the federal bureaucracy by getting out of the Indian business and setting Indians free from federal support and protection. Poverty and homelessness quickly produced frustration and anger, and these, in turn, produced additional problems: alcoholism, joblessness, and poverty (Zinn, 1980). In the late 1960s, the Civil Rights Movement kicked off a wave of political activism by Native Americans, successfully changing negative policies and views. A new voice began to be heard in 1961 when the American Indian Chicago Conference gathered to present an Indian agenda for the new Kennedy administration. As American Indian youth became more involved in national Indian issues, the National Indian Youth Council formed (DiBacco, 1995). Additional examples of this new activism and militancy would include the founding of the American Indian Movement in 1968, the occupation of Alcatraz Island in 1969, the Trail of Broken Treaties march of 1972, and the armed occupation of Wounded Knee, South Dakota, in 1973 (Farley, 2000). These and other actions produced a national and highly visible call for Native American self-determination. This new campaign also emphasized individual tribal culture and practices. Pro-Indian legislation emerged during the 1970s as a result of activism and self-determination. The Indian Self-Determination and Educational Assistance Act, was passed in 1975 and stipulated that tribes could enter into contracts with the Indian Bureau to administer their own programs, from education to health care to housing. Other new laws included a settlement of land claims in Maine in 1978 and two pieces of landmark legislation passed the same year. The Indian Child Welfare Act established a role for tribes in the adoption of Indian children and the American Indian Religious Freedom Act declared constitutional support for Native American religious freedom (DiBacco, 1995). Despite growing efforts at self-determination, exploitation still plagues the Native Americans. Recent water and energy needs have led to government and industrial encroachment on Native American Land. Native Americans have even seen their reservations recommended as toxic-waste dumping grounds in exchange for much needed money. Discrimination still continues, especially in cities near the reservations. Tribal governments have enormous responsibilities that include the protection of hunting and fishing rights, water rights, religious traditions, and cultural heritage. At the same time, they struggle to develop successful gaming operations, profitable industrial factories, and effective educational and social-welfare programs. The systematic disorganization and dehumanization of their societies have restricted life opportunities. Poor education, low income, bad housing, poor health, alchoholism, and suicides are serious problems facing Native Americans today. They suffer the highest rates of poverty and unemployment among racial minority groups in the United States. Conditions are worse on Native American reservations, where an estimated 1/3 of them still live. According to goventment statistics on income, Native Americans are the poorest of the poor. (Farley, 2000) Today, many people in the United States ignore or are unaware of the problems Native Americans face. Many of those who are aware often stereotype them as backward, drunk, or unmotivated. Relations between Indians and non-Indians in the United States have been marked by an unfortunate series of blunders caused by prejudice and negative stereotypes. Even still, todays 2. 1 million Native Americans have proved their resilience by surviving oppression in a world dominated by other races and cultures. Unlike other minorities who have fought for equal rights in American society, Native Americans have fought to retain their land and cultures and have avoided assimilation, at a hefty cost. Works Cited Bataille, Gretchen. The Pretend Indians: Images of Native Americans in the Movies. Iowa State University, Ames: 1980 Berkhofer, Robert F. The White Mans Indian. Alfred A. Knopf Publishers, New York, 1978. DiBacco, Thomas V. , Lorna C. Mason, and Christian G. Appy. History of The United States. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1995. Keohane, Sonja. The Reservation Boarding School System in the United States, 1870-1928. http://www. twofrog. com. 3/19/2005 Jordan,Winthrop D. and Leon F. Litwack. The United States. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice Hall, 1991. Todd, Lewis Paul and Merta Curti. Triumph of the American Nation. Orlando: Harcourt Brace Joranovich, Inc. , 1986. Zinn, Howard. A Peoples History of the United States. New York: Harper-Collins, 1980. Farley, John. Majority-Minority Relations. New Jersey: Prentice Hall,2000.

Analysis of A Cry in the Dark Essay -- A Cry in the Dark Religion Chri

Analysis of A Cry in the Dark A Cry in the Dark, based on a true story, is about a mother whose baby is killed during a camping trip along with her husband. The mother, Lindy Chamberlain claims to have seen her baby being carried away by a dingo and then assumes that the dingo is the cause of her baby's death. As she reports this to the police, she is inconsistent with some of the details that she reports along with other factors that stood against her, the police, meda, and even people watching this take place as it caused commotion in the news, accuse her of murdering the child. The mother and the father of the murdered baby are religious and dedicated to the religion of the Seventh Day Adventists. This is a Christian religion whose main idea is the comming of Jesus Chirst for the second time and observing Sabath. Because of events associated with the religion similar to the religion of the Seventh Day Adventists, people assumed that the religion of the Seventh Day Adventists were similar to that of a cult. Also, what increased their reputation of being related to a cult and violence, was their idea and encouraging of scarfices for their religion. Since Lindy Chamberlain followed this religion and was dedicated to it religiously, people assumed that she could be just as violent and sacrifice her baby Azaria into the wilderness. Ironically, the meaning of her baby's name, Azaria, is "sacrificed in the wilder... Analysis of A Cry in the Dark Essay -- A Cry in the Dark Religion Chri Analysis of A Cry in the Dark A Cry in the Dark, based on a true story, is about a mother whose baby is killed during a camping trip along with her husband. The mother, Lindy Chamberlain claims to have seen her baby being carried away by a dingo and then assumes that the dingo is the cause of her baby's death. As she reports this to the police, she is inconsistent with some of the details that she reports along with other factors that stood against her, the police, meda, and even people watching this take place as it caused commotion in the news, accuse her of murdering the child. The mother and the father of the murdered baby are religious and dedicated to the religion of the Seventh Day Adventists. This is a Christian religion whose main idea is the comming of Jesus Chirst for the second time and observing Sabath. Because of events associated with the religion similar to the religion of the Seventh Day Adventists, people assumed that the religion of the Seventh Day Adventists were similar to that of a cult. Also, what increased their reputation of being related to a cult and violence, was their idea and encouraging of scarfices for their religion. Since Lindy Chamberlain followed this religion and was dedicated to it religiously, people assumed that she could be just as violent and sacrifice her baby Azaria into the wilderness. Ironically, the meaning of her baby's name, Azaria, is "sacrificed in the wilder...

Review of “Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl”

Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl: A Review Harriet Jacobs wrote Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl to show Northern free people what was actually happening to slaves. She hoped her eyewitness stories would convince them that they should speak up against slavery and unite in the effort to end it. She was especially interested in showing free white women the difference between her life and theirs. She wanted them to see that many things they took for granted were denied slave girls and women.Jacobs was asking free people to look at slavery through her eyes and imagine the pain, both physical and emotional, that she and other slaves were forced to endure. Even though she was a slave, her first six years were happy ones. Her father had skills that made him valuable to the white people so he was allowed more freedom than the average slave. Her grandmother was the daughter of a slave holder. She was granted freedom but then recaptured. She was allowed to make money by selling crack ers after her slave duties were done.An injustice Jacobs describes early in her book is the pain suffered by slave families who are separated when one member is auctioned off to the highest bidder. She tells about this happening to her grandmother who helplessly watched as her son was auctioned off at the age of ten for $720. Jacobs knew the pain of a family being torn apart would weaken a free woman’s stand on slavery. Males were auctioned off more than females because owners were more likely to keep females as sex partners and to father children by them.Slave owners made promises to slaves but never felt obligated to keep those promises. Jacobs’ grandmother had been promised freedom when her mistress died. The executor of the 2 estate, Dr. Flint, instead sold her for $70. In spite of what the will said, he got away with selling her because she was property and no one held him responsible for this unlawful act. She also was never repaid when she lent her life savings to her mistress. Two of the most chilling events Jacobs reports witnessing are on pages 15 and 16.She tells of a male slave who was savagely beaten by Dr. Flint because the slave argued with his wife after finding out their child was really the son of Dr. Flint. She goes on to tell the story of a young slave girl in labor delivering her master’s child. The master’s wife stood by mocking the young girl as the newborn died. The slave girl’s mother watched as her only child also died during child birth. Jacobs wrote, â€Å"The poor black woman had but the one child, whose eyes she saw closing in death, while she thanked God for taking her away from the greater bitterness of life. Much of the book explains Harriet’s attempts to avoid Dr. Flint’s sexual advances. When she reached the age of 15 he began a relentless pursuit of her. She was disgusted by his attention. She did not want to lose her virginity to her master as she saw many other slave girls do. She prayed for a way to get away from him. She endured the jealousy of Dr. Flint’s wife who recognized what was going on. She was in love with a free black man but her master forbid her to have any contact with him. After she convinced her lover to go away, Harriet met Mr. Sands.She became intimate with him in another effort to escape the unwanted advances of Dr. Flint. She had children with Sands but still was not able to get free. Eventually she ran away. She hid for 7 years in a cramped crawl space at her grandmother’s house. Jacob’s goes into detail about her escape to the North and the people who were kind enough to help her in her efforts to stay in contact with her family and to stay hidden from Dr. Flint. He continued his search for her until he died. Jacobs then hid from his family who began a search for her. Harriet learned she couldn’t depend on Mr.Sands for help in getting their children 3 freed. She lived for a time with Isaac and Amy P ost who were activists working for the Underground Railroad. Eventually a woman named Mrs. Bruce bought Harriet Jacobs from Flint’s children for $300 and she gave her her freedom. Her grandmother got to see Harriet free but died shortly after that. Harriet found out that her children, Emily and William, already knew things like who their real father was and where she had been hiding for all those years.Jacobs is very graphic when she describes slavery and the terrible treatment of slaves. She is very good at detailing her thoughts and reactions to the horrible things she saw and experienced. She reminds free women that most women have the same dream of a loving husband, children and a happy home. She also makes it clear that only free women can live their dream. She often expresses the belief that slavery is worse than death. On page 47 she challenges doubtful readers to visit the South and witness the injustice of slavery for themselves.I’m sure that the book does not include all the events that made Harriet Jacobs who she was. There were probably some good memories she could have shared but that would not have supported her argument or fulfilled her purpose. It is not clear to me why Dr. Flint was constantly asking for Harriet’s affection and never forced her to have sex with him. He did with other slave girls. I wonder if he actually loved her and wanted her to submit to him willingly. He also searched for her for many years until his death. Why didn’t he just rape her as he believed he had a right to?This book is easy to read, interesting, and well written. I don’t really believe a slave could write that well though. I also doubt she could have lived in a crawl space for seven years without more serious physical and mental harm. Some things might have been exaggerated to accomplish the author’s goal. She succeeds in showing readers how unjust slavery was. It’s a good book because, even today, we need to be r eminded about how ignorant, cruel and evil people can be. Not all of America’s history is good. We should never forget how the slaves suffered.

Foreign Bodies

When All is Lost, Faith Remains Many people find themselves in a constant struggle of faith. These individuals are often questioning if there is a God, and if there is how does one know. In Hwee Hwee Tan’s novel, Foreign Bodies, there is a struggle of faith in each of the four main characters. Mei and Andy are two of these characters that are able to come to faith in the Christian God after life altering experiences. These experiences have caused each of them to analyze and attack life in different ways.Each of these individuals have been able to overcome a treacherous past, and find faith, hope, desire and justice in their futures through Tan’s novel. Mei’s religious views are consistent throughout the novel, Foreign Bodies. Though she was born into a Confucianism based family, Mei chose at a young age to throw her traditional Singaporean beliefs to the side, and walk in the light of God, with her Uncle Cheong’s guidance, through faith in Christianity. It was a brutal shock to Mei’s grandfather when he finds out she no longer believes in her family’s faith.This conversation arises as Mei’s grandfather is telling her how to reduce her time in hell. â€Å"After I die, you going to feed me or not? † Gong Gong is shocked when Mei replies that she will be unable to. He immediately responds by asking who is responsible for the change in Mei’s beliefs. He is not surprised when she responds with Uncle Cheong. As a child everyone has a hero they look up to. Uncle Cheong is Mei’s hero. â€Å"In my eyes Uncle Cheong could do no wrong. Even his farts smelled like Aramis No. 7.With the heart of Mother Teresa and the body of Tom Cruise, Uncle Cheong was my hero†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Mei’s adoration allowed herself to be susceptible to Uncle Chong’s stories and views of God. She loved when he would tell her stories about her newfound savior. A key role in the strengthening of Mei’s faith in G od was due to the incident at Red Hill. Mei has oppressed this tragedy in her memory for many years, and only a few people are aware that it took place. As a four year old, Mei’s father took her to Red Hill to run and play with her lantern. It was the time of year when Mid-autumn was celebrated.At Red Hill, Mei’s father raped her. While this was occurring Mei sent multiple prayers up to her God. â€Å"I used all the prayers I knew, all the prayers Uncle Cheong had taught me. † Mei’s connection with God helped her get through her father raping her. She no longer felt the pain after she started to seek God’s help through prayer. Without the help of God, Mei may not have been able to become the person she is today. It is a miracle that Mei was able to recover physically, emotionally, and most important spiritually from this tragedy.One might have suspected that she would have lost all faith in God, for letting her father hurt her the way he did. This incident proves how strong Mei has faith in God. She has accepted that he will always be there for her, to watch and protect over her, even though it may not be immediately. Mei’s ultimate view of evil is seen through her view of evil being extremely prevalent throughout society. She believes that when someone close to her commits an act of wrong, it is her responsibility as a good Christian to fix their mistakes.This was seen in multiple events throughout the novel. Mei, with the push of her father’s will, believed that her mother is not able to take care of her own finances. Mei took on the burden of regulating her mother’s money, and frequently became frustrated and irritated with the way her mother wants to spend her mother. â€Å"My mother was a sucker for sales. She would go for anything which said ‘Offer ends today. ’ She was the type who would mass-buy toothpicks. † This quote displays the burdens Mei takes on with caring for her moth er.Mei is constantly trying to fix her mother’s life and teach her values that Mei finds important. Mei’s views on evil and religion are very different from Andy’s views of God. At the beginning of the novel Andy’s view of evil directly stems from his belief in the absence of God. Andy wishes to find some sort of proof that there is a God and goodness in the world, and he wants to be able to feel and understand God by himself. He denies the presence of this goodness and God in the beginning of Foreign Bodies by placing his desires into football teams. Too mediocre to ever achieve anything great in life by my own merits, I latched my personal identity onto something which could achieve greatness for me: a football club. † When Andy establishes his stance on religion at this point of the novel he is stating that he wants something great, but he is lost as to what this greatness is. Many individuals would seek a religion to fulfill these desires, but A ndy is content with placing his dreams on a football team. Though Andy in the beginning of the novel considers himself a â€Å"lapsed atheist†, he develops and changes throughout to become the person he eventually intended to be.Andy’s conversion to faith in God was originally not self-motivated. Andy seemed to have an eye for Mei, and Mei did not want a relationship with an individual that had spiritual beliefs different from hers, let alone none at all. After they start dating and Andy enters trail Mei accuses him of having no spiritual beliefs at all. â€Å"You faked it all, pretending to have seen Jesus, giving up gambling. You only said that to trick me into going out with you. † Andy gives no response as Mei’s statement is partially true, but Andy always did have hope that there was something more out there.Andy continuously hinted to the reader that he wanted something more to believe in. He may not have had the same extent of belief in God that Me i does, but she had no right to call him out as a complete non-believer. Though Mei’s push for Andy to find a spiritual safe haven was unsuccessful, the trail that Andy was put on gave him the final push to help him find God. Andy had been put on trial in Singapore for gambling on football games. This action had been legal in England where Andy had lived before his move to Singapore.Even though he was innocent of the charges against him, another individual who had hopes of framing a different man set him up. Once the trail began, and all of his friends had left him to face the charges alone, Andy had no other option, but to turn to God. He was an innocent man that stood no chance of winning his court case. Andy knew that he would be spending the next three years in jail, and he needed something to help pull him through when everyone else abandoned him. This abandonment caused Andy to put his trust and faith into he newfound God. â€Å"He slay me, yet I will trust him. This s tatement made by Andy in a letter to Mei proves that he came to God on his own free will without the help of anyone else. The absence of God that Andy once felt in his life has been removed due to his newfound faith. â€Å"I love God not for what He gives, but for who He is. I love him because He is God. I don’t care how much He hurts me, I will still love him, because no matter what I do to Him, He will still adore me. † The words could never be confessed from a straight atheist. Andy has always had hope and desire that there was some form of good out there for him, it just took longer than expected to find it.Though Mei and Andy are both believers in the Christian God, the experiences and challenges they both overcame to come to faith are extremely different, but still have similarities. Both of these individuals are able to forgive. Forgiveness in the Christian church is a huge belief, as God has forgiven each of us as individuals. Without this learned tool of forgi veness Mei would never have been able to forgive her father, and Andy would not have been able to forgive Mei for abandoning him in his time of urgent need.Mei and Andy’s views in God help define who they were as people, and who they aspire to be. God is ever present in both of their lives, giving them hope to take on the challenges that are waiting to cross their paths in the future. ——————————————– [ 1 ]. Tan, Hwee Hwee. Foreign Bodies. (New York: Washington Square Books, 1997), 20. [ 2 ]. Tan, Hwee Hwee. Foreign Bodies. (New York: Washington Square Books, 1997), 21. [ 3 ]. Tan, Hwee Hwee. Foreign Bodies. (New York: Washington Square Books, 1997), 248. 4 ]. Tan, Hwee Hwee. Foreign Bodies. (New York: Washington Square Books, 1997), 149. [ 5 ]. Tan, Hwee Hwee. Foreign Bodies. (New York: Washington Square Books, 1997), 124. [ 6 ]. Tan, Hwee Hwee. Foreign Bodies. (New York: Washington Square Books, 1997), 222. [ 7 ]. Tan, Hwee Hwee. Foreign Bodies. (New York: Washington Square Books, 1997), 45. [ 8 ]. Tan, Hwee Hwee. Foreign Bodies. (New York: Washington Square Books, 1997), 277. [ 9 ]. Tan, Hwee Hwee. Foreign Bodies. (New York: Washington Square Books, 1997), 278.

Small Group Reflection Essays

Small Group Reflection Essays Small Group Reflection Essay Small Group Reflection Essay Small group and team communication is basically the most imperative skill that any individual will ever have to learn. Communication consists of making contact with other individuals in verbal or nonverbal connection. Whether it is a group or team each individual has different background and customs, therefore he or she should be confident enough to deal with social diversity because there is no particular way in dealing with such diverse groups. The importance of team communication is vital for achievement because people learn from one another and share similar objectives. While classroom lectures provide students with volumes of information, many experiences can be understood only by living them. It is with the? workings of a small, task-focused group. What observations can I make after? working with my group? And what have I learned as a result? When meeting together and brainstorming ideas for our can drive there were many leadership roles and? the strengths of our individual group that became increasingly apparent. Although? early in our project Jeff was the key initiator and Casey largely an information? seeker, all of us group members eventually took on these functions in addition to? erving as recorders, gathering information, and working on coming up with ideas on how we would start and initiate this can drive. Every member coordinated the group’s work at some point, several made sure that? everyone could speak and be heard, and Casey was especially good at? catching important details the rest of us were oblivious to. Tyler and I frequen tly clarified or elaborated on information, whereas Andrea, Casey, and Jeffrey were good at contributing ideas during brainstorming sessions. Casey, Jeffrey and I brought tension-relieving humor to the group.? Just as each member brought individual strengths to the group, gender? differences also made us effective. For example, Andrea and Casey looked at the big picture and made intuitive leaps in? ways that the Jeffrey, Tyler, and I generally did not. Brilhart and Galanes have suggested that men working in groups? dominated by women may display â€Å"subtle forms of resistance to a dominant? presence of women† (p. 98). Our differing qualities complemented each other and enabled? us to work together effectively. The formation of our group developed in four stages. The first was the Forming stage in which we were uncertain about our roles and who to trust. This beginning stage is relatively where we as group members introduced ourselves. At this stage we were unsure how we would be able to use each other’s experience and abilities to come together as a cohesive group. The following stage was Storming, which is a time we learned about expectations discussed then confirmed by each one of us. The third stage of our development was Norming, a stage of working together to reach our goals. Lastly, the Performing stage is focused on solving any problems that arise. This stage is critical for getting the project done on time and completing the goal. Our group had a sense of unity that went through developmental stages. Each Learning Team member played a different role and it was important for us to perform his or her duties in order to get maximum cooperation between each member. Through these maintenance roles better relationships developed and improved morale of the group cooperation. In order for our group to develop into a well performing group organization we needed to have and maintain certain characteristics. We are a group of students with a vision working towards a common goal. The building of our team was complicated. We negotiated roles and tasks according to our strengths and interests. We worked well together, but far from perfect. Ideas were exchanged and meaningful productivity resulted. Good communication resulted from trust and respect. All of us members shared an equal participation, which made it easier for each individual to contribute to the success. Brilhart, J. K. , Galanes, G. J. (1998). Effective group discussion (9th ed. ). Boston:? McGraw-Hill.

SC3039C Punishment and Modern society Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

SC3039C Punishment and Modern society - Essay Example The purpose of punishment is to give justice to the victim and to discourage other people from following the same action in the future. If there is no authority involved then the action is more of a revenge than or an act of hostility rather than a punishment (Rusche et al 1939: 4). Durkheim is considered the founding fathers of sociology and his theories have greatly influenced the sociological side of criminology. To fully understand his point of view, we must first understand what his assumptions behind the analysis were. Durkheim believed that a society can be understood scientifically. In his first book, the Division of Labour in Society, Durkheim suggested that a society was like a body; a body works with all its parts working in harmony i.e. the hands need the head and the head needs the hands. Similarly, a society cannot function without the individual and the individual cannot function without the society (Durkheim 1984: 58). Durkheim was also of the view that majority of th e individuals share a common moral structure in the society, and this defines the individual’s role in the society (Durkheim 1964: 108). However, there is always a group of people that choose to non-conform to the values set by the society. Durkheim saw the non-conformist functional for the society. In his book The Division of Labour in Society, Durkheim talks about anomie, which is social instability caused by lack of moral standards (Durkheim 1984: 38). It can be described as a situation where rules on how to behave.

Hormonal Disorders Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Hormonal Disorders - Essay Example Also, patients with inherited defects of the body structures that produce steroid hormones, for example, hereditary adrenal hyperplasia and in particular those whose condition falls as inadequately controlled may have a high risk of adenomas. However, most adenomas do not link with an inherited sickness (Neil & Isaac, 2006). Even if adenoma stands as harmless, it has the potential to create severe health complications by compressing other structures through mass effect and by producing prodigious amounts of hormones in an unregulated, nonresponsive dependent behavior. This is referred to as paraneoplastic syndrome (Schwartz, 2002). The changes that occur in humans and cause adenoma are as follows: abnormality which comes as a result of excess production of hydrocortisone, a steroid hormone involved in reaction to stressing and energy steadiness. Adenomas that produce vast amounts of steroid hormones will cause clear symptoms. Huge amounts of hydrocortisone will cause Cushings conditions where too much mineral corticoid causes Conns conditions, and a surplus of male sex steroids creates unhealthy skin plus hair growth. Hardly ever hemorrhage can arise into adenomas and bring the pain in the flanks or back (Schwartz, 2002). Acromegaly refers to a condition that arises from the frontal pituitary gland when it produces excess growth hormones mostly at puberty (Neil & Isaac, 2006). A variety of disorders may increase the pituitarys hormone growth output, though most commonly it includes a hormone producing tumor referred to as pituitary adenoma, derived from a distinctive cell. It is true to say that the patient had acromegaly because of the symptoms the doctors found. The teenager at the age of 20 portrayed same symptoms of a person suffering from acromegaly. These symptoms stand as: enlarged hands and feet, severe headache, vision problem and