Phoolan Devi: Perceptions Of Power :: essays research papers

Phoolan Devi: Perceptions of Power The purpose of this paper is to analyze and index gender and power as they factor into the life of one Dalit woman, Phoolan Devi. Particularly, I have chosen to examine the idea of whether or not she wielded real power. In an attempt to make it more useful to speak of this slippery thing called power, I would like to make some declarations and pose some questions about its' nature. Cynthia Emerson has suggested that power is ultimately based on dependency relationships (Emerson 1962). It is important to remember that almost all manifestations of power require a power holder and at least one other party that believes that the first holds power. I would like to stress the word "believes" in the previous sentence because I think it is one of the key ingredients in understanding relationships of power. I realize that in many instances the power of the first party may not be undone merely by the second party ceasing to accept it, and that the power of one individual over another may sometimes be physically or otherwise inescapable. Often, the belief follows the direct experience of power, but regardless of the order in which it is conceptualized, I feel the nature of power is inextricably founded in belief and perception. One of the most striking characteristics of Phoolan Devi is her refusal to accept her power-deficient positions in her relationships. From the time that she was a child, she seems to have refused to conform to her society's hierarchical indexing. She resisted attempts to categorize and fix her into typical gender, class, and matrimonial positions. This is not to say that her resistance was always successful, but I am trying to show a lack of willingness to conform and accept her positions in her power relations. Her belief that the status that had been prescribed to her was unjust and her reluctance to accept it are key factors that led to her gaining power and breaking from her power deficient relationships. Her belief in her upward mobility made it possible. This belief in her self and resistance towards accepting the power forced on her helped undermine that same power. This is the one factor that makes Phoolan so different from so many of her Indian sisters that are still living under the thumb of Manu's Code. Does Phoolan Devi possess real power? So far we have considered theoretical power in relationships, but what about physical manifestations of power? The first example that comes to mind is the fact that over two hundred

Why Hamlet Needs To Die Essay -- Literary Analysis

Hamlet's view of death morphs through the course of the play as he is faced with various problems and troubles that force him to deal with life differently. This holds particular significance for a modern audience who, unlike the predominately Christian audiences of Shakespeare's time, contains an assortment of perspectives on the subject. For the majority of the play, Hamlet yearns for death, but there are different tones to his yearning as he confronts death in different circumstances; from his encounter with his father's ghost to the discovery of his beloved Ophelia dead in the ground, Hamlet feels an irrepressible urge to end his life. There are obstacles that get in his way, both internal and external, and Shakespeare's play is an account of Hamlet's struggle with them. When we first meet Hamlet, he is moping around Elsinore Castle on account of his father's recent death and his mother's more recent marriage to his uncle. In the first act of the play, it has been two months since King Hamlet was laid in the ground—a fairly short time ago in terms of grief, but not so long that family members could not conceivably begin their lives again, as Hamlet's mother has done in marrying her late husband's brother. Hamlet is still in mourning clothes, is wholly fixated on the loss of his father, and is positively mortified and revolted by his mother's apparent indifference. In the play's first conversation between Hamlet and his newlywed parents, they chide him for his "obstinate condolement" for his father (1.2.93). They believe that "Hamlet's long mourning for his father is against not only the rule of nature, grace, or grace, but also heaven" (Hassel 612). Thinking of death makes Hamlet an unpleasant person for the newlywe... ...zlw4MBx3Rc3yxAK4i00QEjo#v=onepage&q=&f=false>. Gottschalk, Paul. "Hamlet and the Scanning of Revenge." Shakespeare Quarterly, 24.2 (1973): 155-170. JSTOR Database. 13 Nov. 2009 . Hassel, Chris, Jr. "Hamlet's 'Too, Too Solid Flesh." The Sixteenth Century Journal, 25.3 (1994): 609-622. JSTOR Database. 13 Nov. 2009 . Russell, John. "Dust and Divinity: Hamlet's Fractured World." Hamlet and Narcissus. Cranbury, N.J.: Associated University Presses, 1995. 39-50. Rpt. in Shakespearean Criticism. Ed. Michelle Lee. Vol. 92. Detroit: Gale, 2005. 39-50. Literature Resource Center. Gale. 14 Nov. 2009 . Shakespeare, William. Hamlet. The Bedford Introduction to Drama. Ed. Jacobus, Lee A. 6th ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2009. 340-393.

Life of a Sensuous Woman Essay

Throughout the story the narrator describes several intimate moments she has shared with men in her past, which is seemingly braggadocios, but as it continues, it’s actually about a woman who desires to love herself. She begins by explaining how she is not from a low class family because her dad descended from middle ranking, stated on page 594, but by the age of 13 years old she had experienced many lovers. How ironic, because aristocrats are held in such high regards, and would never be caught being so promiscuous, but she somehow seems to blame the reason for her tenacious desire for lovemaking on the aristocratic woman and men she witnessed. Another proud moment for the narrator was when she spoke about being the only woman, in a village of 170 attractive women, that was thought to be pretty enough to be taken back to the domain lords attention. As stated on page 598,†When I got there, the old retainer thought I was even better than the woman in the painting, so the search was called off. She continues to emphasize her abilities regarding lovemaking with the monk on page 601, the man she wrote letters for on page 605, and finally the 500 disciples on page 610. Ultimately, the narrators decides to abandon her commitment to be of pure mind and heart to meditate and enter the way of the Buddha, as stated on page 611, because she is overpowered by her eminent desire to relive all o f the adventures she experienced though her lovemaking, the proudest moments of her existence.

Duffy: The Real ‘Painful Case’ Essay

In â€Å"A Painful Case,† by James Joyce, the central character is cold, intellectual, and emotionless. The narrator of this story adopts a pessimistic and scathingly negative view of the central character, Mr. Duffy. Duffy is, figuratively speaking, dead. He is dead to the world of passionate emotions that make others ‘alive,’ and he shuns most contact with other humans, especially emotional and intimate contact. He argues that ‘every bond is a bond of sorrow,’ and uses this as justification for not engaging in any relationships of an intimate nature. He has ‘neither companions nor friends, church nor creed.’ Duffy’s room is very telling of his personality as well. â€Å"The lofty walls of his uncarpeted room were free from pictures† (Joyce, 118). It is customary to put up pictures in one’s home of one’s family or friends, but Duffy does not associate with either. He has no joyous memories to immortalize in film and frame on his bedroom wall. His room mirrors the state of his mind: orderly and austere, uncluttered by anything resembling passion. In many respects Duffy is dead. The only intimacy Duffy may have ever felt in his life was with Mrs. Sinico, but even when she dies he initially feels nothing but disgust that he had shared intimate parts of himself with someone who degraded herself with an alcoholic suicide. â€Å"The whole narrative of her death revolted him and it revolted him to think that he had ever spoken to her of what he held sacred. [She had] a commonplace vulgar death. Not only had she degraded herself; she had degraded him. He saw the squalid tract of her voice, miserable and malodorous. His soul’s companion!† (Joyce, 126-127) The extent of Duffy’s aloof fear of intimacy is such that even when Mrs. Sinico dies the only thing he can think about is how her death cheapened him. Eventually, Duffy realizes that ‘he had withheld life from her,’ and ‘he had sentenced her to death.’ He realizes that he, at least in large part, had been responsible for her descent, alcoholism, and eventual suicide. He left her to loneliness when he stopped seeing her, and that loneliness was what prompted her death. â€Å"Now that she was gone he realized how lonely her life must have been, sitting night after night alone in that room† (Joyce, 128). With the realization that he was responsible for Sinico’s death, Duffy realizes that he too will die someday, and, like Mrs. Sinico, become nothing more than a memory. The reason why Mrs. Sinico left memories with Duffy is because she reached out and attempted to become emotionally intimate with him. Unlike Sinico, Duffy never made any such attempts, and recoiled when he realized that their relationship was becoming too close. Because of his lack of warmth and passion, when Duffy dies it is likely that no one will even remember him, and he realizes this. â€Å"His life would be lonely too until he, too, died, ceased to exist, became a memory- if anyone remembered him†¦ He gnawed the rectitude of his life; he felt that he had been outcast from life’s feast†¦ no one wanted him† (Joyce, 128-127) However, even after Duffy comes to this painful realization he still has little hope of altering his lifestyle to be more passionate and ‘alive.’ This is shown by Duffy’s thoughts of Sinico near the end of the story. Initially, he can feel her presence. â€Å"She seemed to be near him in the darkness. At moments he seemed to feel her voice touch his ear, her hand touch his† (Joyce, 128). Later, he sees a goods train emerging from the Knightsbridge station, and imagines the ‘laborious drone of the engine reiterating the syllables of her name.’ In this manner he personifies her spirit with the train. After the train leaves, so does his feeling that she is still there next to him; after the train leaves he feels utterly alone again. â€Å"He listened again: perfectly silent. He felt that he was alone.† Duffy dismisses Sinico’s spirit, and by dismissing her, he also dismisses any hope he had of learning to live. In this manner the narrator provides a pessimistic view of Duffy, while showing the reader how Duffy has little hope of learning to feel passion even after Sinico’s death. The newspaper refers to Mrs. Sinico’s death as ‘a most painful case.’ However, the title of the story really refers to Mr. Duffy. He is, in fact, the real painful case.

How does Steinbeck prepare us for the tragic ending in ‘Of Mice and Men’ Essay

Steinbeck prepares us for the tragic ending in ‘of mice and men’ right the way through the book. Lenny is the focus of all bad things to come and is a central character in the novel. First up there was the incident in ‘Weed’ where Lenny ‘stroked a woman’s red dress’ and she accused Lenny of raping her. This shows they make a habit of running away from places and people when Lenny often gets into trouble. ‘an you ain’t gonna do no bad things like you did in weed neither’. ‘they run us outta weed’. Those things show situations for the future and also show the dire situation they are in at the present, they are fugitives with Lenny committing the crimes and George helping him to get away because of their solid companionship in which both are each others only companions. The situation in weed also shows that Lenny likes stroking anything and anyone that is soft and once he has hold of someone or an it he can’t let go. This is also shown with the mice where Lenny ‘pets’ them too hard. ‘uh-uh jus a dead mouse’. He doesn’t seem to fully understand the value of life nor regret his murders. This is not because he is malicious but because he is in fact ‘mentally ill’. His strength is beyond his control and this can create very dangerous situations for him and others around him, maybe even for-seeing murder here. The pup’s yet another example, this animal is also part of Lenny’s worrying fetish, here it is shown that he is too dangerous for even bigger animals in chapter five where he kills a pup. Lenny shows violence here towards the pups which he seems to love and have affection for, he thinks if the pup had not died (through no fault of it’s own) then George would’ve let him tend the rabbits and everything would be smiley again. All Lenny cares about is the rabbits and this predicts that maybe Lenny will do something destructive with the rabbits welfare In mind because he cares about them that much. ‘I’ll break their (anyone) god damn necks if they touch the rabbits he says defensively showing aggression. The bad mood Lenny is in sets him up to be calmed down by someone/something. Unfortunately this somebody/something appears to be Curley’s wife. Curley’s wife is another central character in the preparation of an ‘all tears’ ending, she messes things for everybody and everything, ‘I knew she’d do us in the end’ George says resignedly after her death. She doesn’t show any sign of stopping when she on her role of misery-making and it all leads up to a climax of some sort, and ending maybe to all the pain and suffering each and everybody is going through, putting their minds at rest. Curley’s wife flirts as a meaning of talking to normal people, this is because she has not talked to other females and has not obtained any other skill so far in her short life, the men don’t like her and thinks shes a tart because of this but still find her attractive and Lenny is no different in this respect, ‘she’s purty’ (pretty) he says with delight while looking at her body up and down, listening to her tender voice and looking at her silky hair, instantly she becomes an obvious unintentional target for Lenny’s animals like affections and the antics what go with this along with her ‘red dress’ and ‘red mule feathers’ which also attracts Lenny. When Curley’s wife soothes Lenny and calms him down she doesn’t know what she’s letting herself in for, she thinks he’s a harmless ‘dum-dum’. She talks to him in the first place because she is lonely and in return for listening to her Curley’s wife lets Lenny stroke her hair which in turn triggers Lenny’s ‘can’t let go approach’ and he eventually kills her. We almost knew this was going to happen before it did because it resembles the weed incident too closely. Lenny had done a ‘really bad thing’ George says. A mistake of the highest degree. The death of a human being had occurred. After this George doesn’t even consider them going on the run together, here Steinbeck spells out the end of Lenny’s life indefinitely. George knows that Lenny can’t get away with it and says ‘we can’t let him get away with it this time’ showing what’s coming up next. Lenny’s death is now inevitable, George doesn’t want Lenny to get hunted down and ‘lynched’ like a wild animal but wants Lenny to die painlessly and dignified. This calls for Gorge to take control as anyway Lenny’s death is inevitable George decides to kill Lenny himself, humanely. Candy’s dog also showed signs of what happened to people who had no use in the ranch-place of work and it got shot just like Lenny would later be. If anything was learnt by the shooting of Lenny’s dog then it would have to be not to let a stranger kill someone who you care about. George deliberately took Carlson’s Luger as he set out of to kill Lenny himself. Steinbeck also uses the scenery to prepare us for the death of Lenny, the surrounding are beautiful, day turns to dusk and everything is moving along swiftly. The wind picks up in the background and a heron takes off this signifies an event is about to take place. The reader always knew that Lenny would die at the brush because that’s the place where he would go when he got in trouble and that’s how George would find him. George sensed it was going to be needed early on in the novel again preparing us for the ending. In the end the cards mapped out the future in a sad way, while George was playing ‘solitaire’ which again signifies their loneliness playing a one man game, Lenny picks up a card and asks why the card looks the same both ways up. George replies ‘that’s jus the way they make em’. He is saying that you can’t change what is inevitable just like Lenny’s impending doom. It is ironic that Lenny asks this question and George gives the answer because that is exactly what happens in the end.

How was Islam founded? Essay

Islam was founded in the 17th century when the angel Gabriel revealed to the prophet Muhammad the revelations of God. What is the difference between a Shi’ite Muslim and a Sunni Muslim? The Sunni believes that the legitimate leaders to be recognized by the Muslims are Mohammad’s successors – the four caliphs. On the other hand, the Shi’ites believe that only the heirs of the fourth caliphs should succeed as a religious leader. Why was the site of the Great Mosque of Cordoba so appropriate? The Great Mosque is appropriate because it was originally built as a church and later became a mosque for the Muslims, which expanded and became the second-largest mosque. What events led to the end of the Muslim world in 1492? The main event that marked the end of the Muslim world in Iberia was the conquest of Granada. On the second day of January 1492, the Muslim leader of Granada gave up his kingdom to the Catholic Monarchs. This became the end of the reconquistas when all of the peninsulas were recaptured by the Catholics. How was the Ottoman Empire formed? The formal Ottoman Empire rose during the year 1299-1453, which is associated with the fall of the Roman Empire. Under this government, the religious and ethnic minorities had freedom from the central control with regards to their internal issues or concerns. How does the life of Galla Placida bring the fall of the Roman Empire to life? During the animosities between the Goths and the Emperor, Placidia was captured and later on married Athaulf after the fall of Rome and they settled in Southern France. How did the Norse use animal style in their art? With the use of seminaturalistic lions and bird motifs, the Norse used animal style in their art to create pieces that will represent the 9th to 12th century. Why were manuscript covers often reused or stolen?   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Manuscript covers were often reused or stolen because it is made of silver and gold. What beautiful artistic elements characterize the Book of Kells? The manuscripts were made interesting by the use of vibrant colors and intricate knotwork of human and animal figures. The decorations were filled with Christian symbolism that illuminates the major theme of the illustrations. What was the fate of most Ottonian architecture and why? It is a pre-Romanesque style of architecture and also known as the Ottonian Renaissance. Architecture was influenced by Carolingian tradition. Of the vast number of Churches built, only a few are well-reserved, most have disappeared.

Centrism Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Centrism - Essay Example It is quite deceiving and absurd to find a significant number of people who take religion merely on a physical level, assuming that it is worth just active involvement in church traditions which may compensate for any shortfall of character. This concept, however, sets believers to the perils of blindness toward genuine principles of truth which should be learned and understood by the heart. Hence, in this regard, I propose to establish belief in Faith-Centrism. Under this religion, there would be one God whose image or form is yet unknown but still an omniscient, omnipotent, and omnipresent entity anyone can speak to at any moment in all open spaces. There is no need for a firm embellished structure to house particular images or figures for which offerings must be made since worship by faith alone ought to be central and is not subject to judgment based on material possessions imparted. Faith-Centrism challenges a follower to exhibit true values of faith beyond public view or approv al. For instance, showing compassion to someone in need is an act which, as much as possible, must not reap rewards by being seen and given any credit if faith must be kept pure. A believer is more spiritually attached when executing good deeds in secret because this way, he would be capable of meditative thought to weigh between pure and impure intentions. Moreover, Faith-Centrism shall have no administering priest to prevent the risks of formality people tend to become more focused on procedural custom rather than faith. It would be more appropriate to have organize brotherhood and sisterhood that would informally gather to share rich and colorful stories of faithful journeys in all walks of living. Any written code of ethic or conduct suitable should be personal and while I see it fit that the Bible or the Holy Scripture from the Christian tradition may proceed as the standard, nevertheless, a flexible interpretation is encouraged for all passages depending on how the biblical ve rses apply to one’s unique set of ways in dealing with any aspect of life (Hollingworth, 2010). When it comes to prayer, disciples of Faith-Centrism need not abide by any specific form. They can pray with or without having to utter words in any position of preference and for as long as sincerity is not neglected, prayer can be treated as formal or informal occasion of communicating to God in thought, whispers, loud speech, and writing (Daniel, 2008). The meaning of faith must remain central in solemn moments of pouring out sentiments to God, strongly believing that each request shall receive God’s answers once the proper time arrives. Through Faith-Centrism, people will have inspiration and opulent hopes of changing for the better as it includes no concept of hell in the doctrine. To be fair to the portion of mankind that has died in chaos without being influenced by the light of wisdom of truth taught in religion, souls thereof shall be guided by divine spirits to a d imension where there exists a chance to possess new material bodies and be born anew in the world instead of experiencing rigid fates as punishment for the unrighteousness. With the abolition of ‘hell’ in notion, people would realize the marvelous extent of God’s unconditional love keeping in mind that the opportunity to live another life is something very indispensable to purify every soul to full brilliance before it reaches heaven and meets God face to face. No soul goes to waste except for lives that are