Gloria Anzaldua’s Aztlan: the Homeland

In her essay La Frontera, Gloria Anzaldua provides a detailed history of the persecution of the Chicano settlers of the U. S. Southwest at the hands of their Anglo oppressors. Anzaldua refers to the Aztlan, the borderlands between the United States and Mexico encompassing parts of Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and California, as a â€Å"vague and undetermined place created by the emotional residue of an unnatural boundary†¦the prohibited and forbidden are its inhabitants†¦the squint-eyed, the perverse, the queer, the troublesome†. I find the author’s utilization of the word queer to describe the Aztlan peoples particularly interesting, as it draws a recognizable parallel between the historical struggles of Chicanos with the enduring tribulations of the LGBTQ community in modern America. Anzaldua accuses â€Å"The Gringo†¦the fiction of white superiority† of â€Å"seizing complete power, stripping Indians and Mexicans of their land while their feet were still rooted in it† and even goes so far as to make mention of â€Å"Anglo terrorism†. The author’s characterizations of the oppressive actions of the political-ruling white class towards the Chicano people can just as easily be applied to recent legislation crafted by several right-leaning politicians that serves only to strip LGBTQ individuals of their civil rights and to designate said persons as second class citizens. These statutes include the recently invalidated Proposition 8 here in California as well as the Federal Defense of Marriage Act, which would have forbidden gay couples from enjoying the same marriage benefits as heterosexual spouses, current state laws or constitutional amendments in 35 states that define marriage as being exclusively between a man and a woman, and current anti-sodomy laws aimed squarely at gay couples in 13 states that remain on the books despite such laws being outlawed by the US Supreme Court 10 years ago. Such anti-gay legislation is similar in prejudicial and persecutory scope as recent anti-immigration legislation enacted in Arizona and Alabama that seeks to intrude on the civil rights of Latin Americans in those states, who face imprisonment and deportation for non-compliance. As described by Anzaldua, the continuous berating of the Chicano people, â€Å"faceless, nameless, invisible, taunted with hey cucaracho and mojado† is ll too similar to the constant torment faced by members of the LGBTQ community by intolerant members of the oppressive majority, such as being verbally assaulted as â€Å"fags†, â€Å"queers†, â€Å"homos†, and much worse. Gloria Anzaldua eloquently equates the Chicano struggles with their Anglo imperial masters in the Aztlan with the LGBTQ struggle for civil rights in modern American society, and unfortunately, these fights will have to both continue to be waged will into the foreseeable future.

Fools and folly are widely used in comedy to create humour To what extent does this apply to Twelfth Night?

In this essay I will be exploring Twelfth Night and focusing on the extent at which folly is used to create humour. The word folly means â€Å"a silly person† or â€Å"one who uses folly for the entertainment of others† etc. In William Shakespeare’s comedy, Feste -licensed fool- the clown is not the only fool who is subject to foolery; others include Sir Andrew Aguecheek (natural fool), Malvolio who is exposed to be the natural fool and Sir Toby who is deemed to be the Lord of Misrule. Overall, fools and folly are widely used in Twelfth Night and form the basic plot. In Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, Feste’s role in this Illyrian comedy is significant. Feste plays the role of a humble clown and is employed by Olivia’s father thus playing the role of the licensed fool of their household. Olivia states that Feste is â€Å"an allowed fool† meaning he is licensed to speak the truth of people around him in order to entertain others. This is also seen when Curio states to the duke that â€Å"Feste the jester†¦a fool that the Lady Olivia’s father took much pleasure in†. Even though Feste is employed to be foolish, when compared to the other characters he is deemed to be the wisest, wittiest and the most philosophical of all the characters. Viola echoes this by saying â€Å"This fellow’s wise enough to play the fool. † By having the role of a licensed fool, Festes main role is to speak to the truth. Comedy is achieved through the truthfulness of the character. The first true glimpses of folly in Twelfth Night are seen in Act 1 Scene 3. Sir Andrew serves as an excellent example of the idea of Satire which Shakespeare throughout the play uses to undermine the so called rich, upper class characters. Sir Toby encourages Sir Andrew to â€Å"accost† Maria, which translates as â€Å"chat her up† and Sir Andrew foolishly addresses Maria as â€Å"Good mistress accost†. Shakespeare interestingly uses satire but also comedy of manners to illustrate his feelings towards the rich and powerful. His intentions are clearly seen here for the rest of the play; he starts with a powerful character being made a fool of and also ends with Malvolio being made a fool of, not weaker characters like Maria (servant) feste (clown). In this area of the scene, the audience expects a prominent, smart character to emerge on stage due to the description given by Sir Toby: â€Å"Why, he has an income of three thousand ducats a year,† which again links to the idea of comedy of manners- ‘a plot revolving around greed’. Subsequently, Sir Andrew is a naive, un-intelligent person who creates comedy and folly by miss-understanding Sir Toby. Knights in Shakespeare’s time would easily be able to gain respect through women due to it being an attractive occupation. However, Sir Andrew is the complete opposite and this allows the audience to laugh at how a character can be so different from the usual stereotype. Sir Andrew being so naive and thinking that he can easily add Maria to his endless list of women creates dramatic irony, the audience know that Maria thinks very poorly of him yet on the other hand Sir Andrew being so un-intelligent still thinks he is a wonderful human being. Alternatively, this area of Act 1 could show that even though Sir Andrew is rather naive, he still achieves because of the fact that Sir Toby mentions his â€Å"three thousand ducats a year† and Sir Andrew himself states to Maria that he is not â€Å"such an ass† and that he can keep his â€Å"hand dry,† this promotes the fact that when we wants to be, Sir Andrew can be smart and keep his â€Å"hand dry† which results in the audience weighing up what’s to come in the future for Sir Andrew. Ultimately, Sir Andrew fails to â€Å"woo† Olivia resulting in Sebastian marrying Olivia. Overall, this links back to the idea of comedy of manners and satire as both Sir Toby and Sir Andrew have been socially undermined with it being Sir Toby’s idea to set Andrew with Olivia and Sir Andrew failing in this quest. Feste who is employed to be funny and possibly ‘foolish’ is quite the opposite when compared with Sir Andrew. Feste is a philosophical, smart and witty character. In relevance to the question, a fool (feste) is employed to make people laugh yet there is no doubting that he comes across as anything but a fool. Shakespeare uses this character to highlight and contrast the frailties in the other characters such as Sir Andrew for example by allowing the natural fool to be the â€Å"natural wit† which is a very clever tool, the audience aren’t laughing at Feste being employed as fool yet laughing at how he makes others look like a fool. In act 1 scene 5, we don’t laugh at Feste for being a so called â€Å"fool†, we laugh at the witty re-marks that he creates and how undermines the people above him. Feste when talking to Maria regarding Countess Olivia states that â€Å"Many a good hanging prevents a bad marriage†. This has two comical meanings. Firstly, Feste is saying to Maria that sometimes its better being killed than entering marriage but to increase the comedy the phrase could also mean that a â€Å"well hung†(sexual connotations) man can prevent a â€Å"bad marriage†. When compared to today, a modern day audience would still find that funny due to IY being true yet in Shakespearean comedy, the audience would have been very surprised for a ‘fool’ to come out with such a controversial phrase, thus increasing comedy. Shakespeare understands the need for ‘surprise’ because the audience are laughing more at the surprise element rather than the joke itself. By putting this comical line in the final scene of the act, the audience have now gained a further understanding for the character and worked out how intelligent, witty Feste is. This will increase the popularity towards the character as the audience may have forgotten what happened previous to this scene when in act 2 yet the comical line from Feste would have stayed in their heads. Personally, Shakespeare wanted this immensely and therefore in relation to the question, yes fools are used to create humour but not through being stupid but by being witty and controversial as audiences like to be surprised. I believe the â€Å"bad marriage† area of the quote highlights the philosophical values that Feste has; he is giving the audience his opinions on marriages which he has seen from a fool’s point of view. Shakespeare is also handing a lot of power to feste as he could be forecasting the future for the marriages of Sir Toby and Maria, Olivia and Sebastian etc. Finally, Shakespeare can be seen to use juxtaposition in order to allow the gag of Feste contrast with the ‘well behaved’ Maria, this makes the audience possibly dislike Maria, an opinion shared by Shakespeare due to the time that he lived in, with the disrespectfulness of women. By the end of Act 2 scene 5, we gain the basic underlying plot. In scene 3, foolishness is definitely used to create comedy; Shakespeare uses the main idea of dramatic irony to create comedy. Three characters (Sir Toby, Sir Andrew, Maria) construct a plan to help make Malvolio look a fool, Shakespeare uses three characters to make the plot seem more severe, linking to the idea of a minor form of black comedy. In this scene we learn that foolishness is enhanced by using more people to gang up on another. Sir Toby speaks that â€Å"He shall think, by the letters that thou wilt drop, that they come from my niece, and that she’s in love with him. † This quote firmly shows; He’ll think these letters are from Olivia and that she’s in love with him. Shakespeare uses a gang approach to this due to Malvolio being a so called ‘kill joy’, Sir Andrew and Maria show their opinions on the plan with phrases like â€Å"Sport royal† â€Å"I have ’t in my nose too. † Which again highlights the mood of the other characters, the audience will ultimately laugh in feeling guilt towards Malvolio. In today’ world, a gang culture shows power due to power in numbers but in Shakespeare times it could be sign of wealth and power to be able to create a group situation. The word â€Å"drop† signifies the height at which this will drop Malvolio and purposefully ‘drop’ his heart when he finds out he is made out to be a fool. Subsequently, Malvolio foolishness creates huge comedy due to him being imprisoned because of his actions towards Olivia. The idea of a gang creating a plan to make another human being look a fool allows Shakespeare to experiment how Malvolio could act. By the end of the play he is seen to be very spiteful and out for revenge. Comedy isn’t always seen through people being fools or made out to be fools. Comedy is also achieved through other ventures. In order to gain approval in the kingdom Viola dresses as a man and therefore can work close to Orsino and takes on the name Cesario. This creates comedy because the audience know that she is a women beneath the disguise yet the characters don’t (dramatic irony) therefore power is given to the audience and they enjoy this. We understand in Act 1 scene 2 that she is going to take up some disguise by saying â€Å"Conceal me what I am, and be my aid†. At this moment in time, Viola seems very determined and confident towards being a man and she has reason so due to marrying Orsino at the end of the play. Therefore comedy isn’t just seen through the eyes of folly and foolishness it’s also achieved elsewhere. Due to it being a live play, the audience would be able to see it’s a disguised woman, even though all actors were men, and thus again increasing comedy. Twelfth Night was once a day to mark the end of the Christmas festivities. It was the feast of fools and even now, the Christmas season is a time where we all seek entertainment in the form of amusement and folly. Therefore Twelfth Night is still relevant today. Even now we love to see people make fools of themselves and the characters we don't like to be served with just retribution. In conclusion to my question, the answer is simply yes. Shakespeare doesn’t just have fools to laugh at (feste) which would seem the normal idea but he makes others look fools. This is through Malvolio being miss-lead, the naivety of Sir Andrew and possibly Orsino not having Olivia and having to make do with Viola. Interestingly, Shakespeare warms to the so called lower class characters like Feste, Maria by creating strong and confident characters that make the more upper class characters around them look fools. Comedy is also achieved in the play by the mistaken identity of Viola, the concept of black comedy and the comedy of manners. All key integral parts of how this play is seen comical. Overall, the main comedy comes from people acting foolish or looking foolish as well as the idea of comedy of errors.

Popular Resistance to Peter's Reforms (Peter the Great) Essay

Popular Resistance to Peter's Reforms (Peter the Great) - Essay Example Furthermore effect of these measures widened the gap between the peasant masses and propertied classes that had already appeared in the previous century, and would surely lead to the upper classes’ entire isolation and social outburst. Russian society of that time was grounded on the contract of service. Noblemen and the church had right to own the serfs and land. In turn they owed service to the state in the person of the Tsar. Initially there had been two groups of them. The first one comprised those who held their land possessions in perpetuity while those of another group held lands on a service basis. Nevertheless by the beginning of the eighteenth century hardly all of estates had become hereditary. In 1714 Peter recognized this change legally however required all entitled to serve. (Grey 356) To the propertied classes service meant first of all military service. However they had hated the old-fashion militia from which they used to be dispersed to their homes as soon as a campaign was over, they disliked the new regular army, because in it their duties proved to be much heavier. The only way to from the newly imposed service was injury or old age. Moreover Peter established the rule that no more than one third of the members of any noble family was allowed to serve in lucrative and relatively quite civil service while the others were compelled to serve either in the navy or in the army. Although many noblemen fit for military service did their best to evade military service, the summary enrollments and service registers were constantly being revised so such evasions were increasingly difficult. Being aware of the propertied classes’ ability to render state service effectively, Peter also paid close attention to the peasantry who bore the greater portion of his fundamental reforms’ burden. The peasantry provided recruits, paid taxes and the most of the labor. Having subjugated landowners to the military supervision, Peter thus increas ed their powers making the peasants’ escape more difficult and extending their bondage. In accordance with imperial ukase (edict) of November 26, 1718 the army in addition to its military duties was charged with the policing ones as well. Army officers became responsible thus for supervising local officials, pursuing of vagabonds and robber bands and for catching runaway peasants. The latter suffered most. They were forbidden to move without approval of army authorities and written permission of their immediate masters. Although the officers acted cruelly ordering executions and knouting for failure to pay there were not too many of peasants who fled or dared revolt against their masters or against the military. As a whole Russian peasantry went on serving and laboring with inconceivable fortitude Hardly the only escape for peasants from hard labour, recruiting and from taxes was flight. Although tolerant to inhuman oppressive policies Russian peasantry had an instinctive urg e to roam and to seek new lands free from oppression. The vast underpopulated expanse of Russia has always offered plenty of opportunities for the wanderer and colonizer yet made the labor force extremely unreliable and successive Russian governments have passed measures tying the peasants to the soil they tilled. It is no wonder that the number of escapes increased dramatically during Petrian reforms. In 1699 over 300 families from Voronezh

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Strategic Analysis of Zara Inc - Essay Example Research indicates these factors include intensive competitive rivalry, buyer power with consumers, and even threats of substitute products that can drive pricing lower. Research has also indicated much negative publicity for Zara, something requiring addressing by Zara executives in order to improve and sustain a quality brand reputation in its international markets. Though Zara is able to effectively create some barriers, such as new market entrants and by removing buying power by limiting outsourced supplier presence, Zara still requires more emphasis on understanding market characteristics effectively to provide relevant products and gain more brand loyalty. Recommendations for business improvement have been identified as conducting more intensive market research, more emphasis on the promotional function and utilisation of interactive marketing, decentralisation of certain business functions along the value chain, and building more self-owned manufacturing and supply capacity in order to gain competitive advantage. 1.0 Industry analysis Buchanan and Huczynski (2010) provide knowledge of contingency theory, a strategic model that indicates as circumstances in the market or industry change, the organisation’s structure must also be changed in order to adapt and stay relevant. Zara is a prime example of a business that understands the market characteristics and capabilities of major rivals, creating contingency strategies in order to respond (quickly) to changing market and industry dynamics. This is accomplished, of course, through maintaining a stance in which Zara executives routinely scan the external environment to identify threats and opportunities that could contribute to a better market position. Thompson, Gamble and Strickland (2005) offer the Five Forces Model proposed by Michael Porter identifying five competitive threats that are industry-related that will either enhance or disturb maintaining profitability and competitive advantage. The most intensive industry concern for Zara is threat of substitutes in its operating markets. H&M, Gap Inc. and Benetton offer similar fashion merchandise that is focused on either youth markets with a trends-focused set of buying characteristics or mass markets that are attracted to fashionable styles at affordable prices. Macro-economic theory indicates that threat of substitutes becomes a legitimate concern when the demand for the product has been affected by price changes associated with substitute products (Boyes and Melvin 2007). For Zara, substitute products include clothing sold at resale shops, such as with the emerging trend for retro-style fashions. In this environment, clothing is sold at a nominal price, but still offering consumers products that are deemed fashionable. The ability of consumers to procure merchandise and fashion accessories from a variety of lower-cost sales facilities has the ability to affect demand for Zara’s merchandise. Thus, Zara must be aware of alternative procurement

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World Religion - Essay Example For example, when reading the almanac page about Buddhism, we read that its sacred texts provide â€Å"rules of monastic life† and that it practices meditation (â€Å"Major Non-Christian World Religions†). Just by reading this, we will form our own ideas of what mediation and monasticism is from our limited knowledge and understanding of Buddhism. We have to read and learn about the history of Buddha, the meanings and context of his teachings and how they have been influenced through out its history. Also, just by reading a small paragraph that their belief consists of cycle of rebirth and death, we can’t grasp the full understanding of this belief and what it is trying to say (â€Å"Major Non-Christian World Religions†). With such basic and little knowledge we would be unable to even try to compare it to other religions. When we just read these simple summaries, it makes us believe that religions are boiled down to the few listed practices and beliefs. We make the wrong conclusions and tend to misunderstand the true meaning and their teachings. For example, when reading the summary on Islam, it seems like a list of rigid tasks of fasting, giving charity, and strict rules of conduct (â€Å"Major Non-Christian World Religions†). These few words fail to do justice to the vast and rich history of the religion, its founder, practices, and cultural context. We don’t get an idea of how and why it came to be, what influences it had on the people and how it changed and developed history. Also, when we read the basic concepts and practices of any religion we start making assumptions that its followers worldwide do these same few practices that we have read on a page. For example, when one reads that in Judaism, people observe certain dietary restrictions, celebrate specific holidays like Rosh Hashana and adhere to a â€Å"period of fasting and penitence†, we automatically assume that every single

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RocketBoom Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

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