Adverse Situations and the Formation of Culture :: Cultural Identity Essays

An unspoken contempt of culture has grown throughout white America. What benefit could possibly come from silly rituals, special foods, colorful garments, jewelry and ceremonies? Even most of the relativists have forgotten the purpose of culture and blindly dispense hollow respect for it. Sociology and anthropology texts imply it's just arbitrary stuff people come up with for the hell of it when they live near one another. With such an implication, it certainly seems a little silly in today's world. Culture emerges in only one circumstance and serves only one purpose. When a group of people face the same adversity at the same time, they do better if they deal with it together. A people's collective solutions to adversity is their culture. If there's a limited supply of food, we'll get used to the same fruits and meats and use the same cooking techniques. If we live in the same climate and around the same building materials, we'll learn to build dwellings together. If we experience the same weather and live near cotton plants, we'll weave similar clothing. If we're confused by the same astronomical phenomenon or killed by the same unknown disease, we'll come up with myths together. Without unified adversity, problems are fleeting. If I face hunger one month, infant mortality the next, and predators the third, and you face these things in the opposite order, we build no culture together. We're not going to hunt together or create a common death ritual or learn to build secure dwellings together. This is the only reason culture is geographically localized. Now, many classes of people do not face any perceptible adversity that unification is a weapon against. A non-trivial percentage of the world who are of certain races, live in certain countries, and are born to affluent families no longer see problems in their lives that could be overcome if they just had the help of their fellow man. There is no hunger for them, no discrimination, no infant mortality, no predators, no droughts. As far as they know, their only enemy are the people around them competing for the same jobs, resources, and mates. Genuine culture cannot emerge in these situations. Instead, we end up with something that looks a lot like culture—a common language, beliefs, some customs, ways of greeting and acceptable conversation. However, for these people, this commonality does not serve the purpose of culture. Instead, it's used only to smoothly interact with those in proximity.

“An Occurrence At Owl Creek Bridge” By Ambrose Bierce Essay

Naturalism is often perceived as a form of writing which is blunt because of the candor that writers used in approaching the subject. However, while naturalism is known to employ detailed realism in describing its subjects it necessarily follows that characterization becomes a critical process where the reader is given the benefit of making a conclusion as to how a particular character is characterized. In effect, naturalism merely generates the facts for the reader to base his/her conclusion on. In this light, the main character in Ambrose Bierce short story, â€Å"An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge†, Peyton Furquhar is given flesh and blood using naturalist elements of description, association, and flash back. Description is a device that could be perceived as naturalist because it is through this that the writer is able to give a matter-of-factly picture of the character and in the short story, such device works to initially present the superficial characteristics of the main character. For instance, in the line, â€Å"Peyton Farquhar was a well-to-do planter, of an old and highly respected Alabama family. † (Bierce, 2010) no further suppositions can be made except for what is being stated; that the protagonist is well to do, is in agriculture, and has integrity in that he is a well respected member of a known family. Obviously, in these lines, the writer does not have any intention of creating other subjective interpretations; instead he simply states what is superficially apparent. In another line from the story, â€Å"her husband approached the dusty horseman and inquired eagerly for news from the front. † (Bierce, 2010) still referring to the protagonist, the author again reveals another superficial personality that being the eagerness of the protagonist for news, in fact this particular characterization is stated in the same line to avoid further misjudgments. Association is also used in the story to indirectly characterize the character by revealing apparent unrelated events or situations. This is consistent with naturalism where the environment and social circumstances can work to influence a particular character or an event. In the lines, â€Å"Evidently this was no vulgar assassin. The liberal military code makes provision for hanging many kinds of persons, and gentlemen are not excluded. † (Bierce, 2010) succeeding a lengthy description of the physical attributes of the protagonist, the writer, by association, suggests that the protagonist was being executed unjustly. Further analysis of this line would reveal that another association comes to mind; that the character belongs to the middle or the upper class. So, even without the physical descriptions, one can easily associate the mitigating circumstances to the actual character of the protagonist. Another such example is found in the lines, â€Å"To be hanged and drowned,† he thought? â€Å"that is not so bad; but I do not wish to be shot. No; I will not be shot; that is not fair. † (Bierce, 2010) here, the author reveals a side to the character of the protagonist determined by his chosen method of death – being shot during this period was an undignified way of dying as it was indicative of the gravity of the fault of the one being executed. Shooting was also done while the victim had his back on the shooters which all the more makes it quite humiliating and degrading. So, this particular line characterizes the protagonist, through external circumstances, as someone who has a reputation that he protects and would not want to be tarnished. Other than just association, reminiscing and flash back are also tools in naturalism that may be employed to characterize a character. Flash back is when the protagonist draws from past experiences or recalls certain social elements that are not in effect at the period the story is being told, and these elements can reveal much about the character and even affirm the actions of the character. So, in the lines, â€Å"By diving I could evade the bullets and, swimming vigorously, reach the bank, take to the woods and get away home. My home, thank God, is as yet outside their lines; my wife and little ones are still beyond the invader’s farthest advance. † (Bierce, 2010) the author paints the character to be someone who is deeply concerned of his family that even in his direst moments, as guards were shooting at him from the riverbank, he still had thoughts of his home intact, which he verily recalled consequently revealing this particular aspect of his personality. Again, this same naturalistic device is used in the lines, â€Å"He must have traveled the entire night. As he pushes open the gate and passes up the wide white walk, he sees a flutter of female garments; his wife, looking fresh and cool and sweet, steps down from the veranda to meet him. †; (Bierce, 2010) where a sexual nature is revealed in the scenes that the protagonist recalls. Here, other than just revealing that the character is a homely and family person, the stark description of the garments as well as the scent of the wife are consistent with a subliminal description which points to the sexual desires of the character. In the story, â€Å"An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge† Bierce effectively gives his character ‘life’ notwithstanding his turning up dead in the end, by using certain elements of naturalist and realist literature. Here one sees that through superficial and candid description, association of environmental and social circumstances, as well as the recall or reminiscing of past circumstances, the personality, attitude, and character of the protagonist becomes more vivid and believable. References Bierce, A. (2010). An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge. Retrieved May 5, 2010, from http://fiction. eserver. org/short/occurrence_at_owl_creek. html

The Debate Over Affirmative Action - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 3 Words: 942 Downloads: 9 Date added: 2019/10/30 Category Society Essay Level High school Tags: Affirmative Action Essay Did you like this example? The Debate Over Affirmative Action: Is Affirmative Action justified? Affirmative Action had its origin in the Civil Rights Act of 1964, but an extreme discussion whether minorities should receive special treatments in society has emerged in recent decades. Affirmative Action more narrowly refers to preferential selection based on race, gender, or ethnicity. This paper will argue that Affirmative Action reinforces stereotypes and permanently embeds them into the countrys system. Therefore, Affirmative Action is not legitimized and it even reinforces racism, which still remains a major issue in our society. This paper has three parts. In the first, I will argue why Affirmative Action has to be seen as a reinforcement of stereotypes and racism. The second part of the paper will discuss an important objection to my argument I am presenting and offer an alternative response. In the third, I will present another important objection to my argument and offer an alternative response. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "The Debate Over Affirmative Action" essay for you Create order AFFIRMATIVE ACTION AS AN REINFORCEMENT OF STEREOTYPES AND RACISM  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Minorities, who are given a position only dependent on the policy of Affirmative Action, usually do not meet all requirements for it, and the idea of Affirmative Action that all individuals under that race are mostly not qualified and therefore need special treatment to accomplish the position is called racism. Affirmative Action states that all individuals of a similar race are from a lower class and require extra help since it is assumed that they would not have the capacity to accomplish it on their own. By giving minorities a special treatment depending on this policy it seems like saying that they are unable to accomplish it by themselves. It puts minorities in the perspective that they can not accomplish their goals with their own capacities or diligent work. This supports stereotypes and racism and even inserts it permanently into the countrys system. A race-based policy brings an undesirable stigma and minorities need to work considerably harder to prove that they have earned their position. The way how individuals are placed into boxes and separated depending on their appearance is humiliating, noxious, and simply just wrong and even worse to make it a law. Race and sex segregation remain a critical issue in our nation, yet Affirmative Action ought to be about class and helping the lower class citizen, and not about race. This society still has to master many challenges and obstacles to become a nation in which each and every individual is treated equally and with the same respect, but putting Affirmative Action permanently into the countrys system goes into the wrong direction. In Steels opinion Affirmative Action causes more harm than good for minorities and underlines their inferiority. This supports that white people feel superior and reinforces racism. He states that it has the effect of stigmatizing the already stigmatized and legitimize it by the policy of affirmative action. There is no need for a policy, which demonstrates that minorities have the same abilities to reach specific positions and only reinforces stereotypes and therefore underlines racism. Policies and laws should not be based in racial categories and rather on class categories. FIRST OBJECTION Proponents claim that affirmative action is necessary to earn and sustain diversity. According to the Diversity Justification Affirmative Action is a means to increase the racial, cultural, and ethnic diversity. By exposing individuals to different believes and cultures they are becoming more open-minded and liberal. Therefore, it is important to promote diversity in workplaces and schools to reduce stereotypes and racism. Typically people, who live very separated and only surround themselves with people from their own race, base their opinion of other races and minorities on stereotypes. Proponents believe that diversity and interaction with people from different races further their understanding that everyone is equal and more or less just like themselves, which reduces stereotypes and racism. Intergroup interaction and diversity reduces prejudice under the right conditions. However, it is ignorant to only focus on the diversity of races and skin colors like Affirmative Action does without promoting real diversity. The right conditions are not achieved and people of the same race do not automatically hold the same opinion and think alike. Real diversity is found in different interests and perspectives of unique individuals and Affirmative Action complete fails to reach that goal. Real diversity can only be achieved by letting schools and company naturally select their participants. Even though it takes time and patience, it will be more efficient in the long run. SECOND OBJECTION Proponents see Affirmative Action as reverse discrimination and according to the Compensation For Past Wrongs Justification as a way of re-paying minorities for past wrongs. Affirmative Action is seen as countering the wrongs of the past as an compensation for victims of racism. However, Affirmative Action is not reverse discrimination and instead it is discrimination against non-minorities. Past discrimination against minority groups does not justify present discrimination against non-minority groups. All people should remain equal under the law and should be treated accordingly. Even Anderson claims that the burdens of unjust discrimination should not fall on anybody. The consequences of Affirmative Action affect non-minorities career paths, which results in hate against minority groups and racism. Now I will review the course of this paper and offer a concluding thought. This paper argues that affirmative action reinforces stereotypes and therefore racism. People might think that it ensures diversity, which helps to overcome stereotypes. The diversity that affirmative action achieves is not real diversity and only focuses on skin colors instead of unique individuals. It also furthers racism by the actual discrimination of majority groups. Other policies need to be adopted, which should not focus on race and rather on class.