Food and Culture Essay Example for Free

Food and Culture Essay That is, both mother and child are being watched, judged, and constructed by society since making a good obento may please her child and also affirm that she is a good mother, and child consuming their entire meal in a appropriate manner is considered well-taught. This social phenomenon represents that culture is constructed with power which exerts a force which operates in ways that are subtle, disguised, and accepted as everyday social practice. Another essay Carole Counihan’s â€Å"Mexicanas’ Food Voice and Differential Consciousness in the San Luis Valley of Colorado† uses the case of Ryubal to suggest how women can display differential consciousness through their practices and beliefs surrounding food. In society where traditional division of labor in cooking is still prevalent, a Mexican women Helen Ryubal challenged the traditional views of women and cooking by rejecting cooking, making husbands respect women who cooked, and involving husband in cooking. Her strategy not only minimized the subordinating dimensions of reproductive labor but also valued and benefited from the help of her mother, sister, and husband. Her attempt has been based on her ideologies which was developed from differential consciousness which is â€Å"a key strategy used by dominated peoples to survive demeaning and disempowering structures and ideologies† (175). Both essays are focusing on the relationship between food and gender through each case. Allison considered obentos as a container of cultural meanings, and social expectations from women and their performance and effort in obentos. Counihan’s ethnographic research of Ryubal also provided evolved relationship between women and food which could be possible due to her differential consciousness. Two authors both used a certain level of methodology to associate with their claim such as Ideological State Apparatus and differential consciousness. This utilization strongly supports their claim and strengthens the relationship between gender and food in culture. Moreover, both authors imply the relationship food is not a mere subject but rather deeply involved with society and its ideology. As the readings focus on the relationship between gender and food, it is evident that this relationship is deeply rooted in cultural representation. To be more specific, culture constructs what is considered as normal, custom, reasonable, acceptable under ideology. The hegemonic view from this culture forms women’s custodial relationship with food. As an asian woman, I also have countless experience relating to food. Similar to most of asian culture, the society’s expectation from woman is still traditional- cooking is women’s role and they are suppose to serve their men and rest of the family. Like Ryubal’s challenge, the counter-hegemonic view toward woman’s relationship to food and reasonable, modern alternatives are necessary.

America Needs Gay and Lesbian Marriage :: Argumentative Persuasive Essays

  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Same-sex marriage--why is it even an issue ?   To put it into perspective, 10% of the American population is homosexual, meaning this is not just a minor issue (Harbinger 681).   Also, with our society making significant strides toward equality in recent decades both in gender and racial issues, one has to think about sexual equality.   I will explain to the reader why we should legalize gay marriage, particularly in terms of justice and the benefits society reaps from same-sex marriage.   Also, the ramifications of the legalization of gay marriage, both for gays and society, will be examined.   Finally, I will refute arguments against same-sex marriage.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Society benefits by having fewer "closet gays."   "Closet gays" are homosexuals who try to abide by society's standards, and marry a partner of the opposite sex (Harbinger 683).   However, due to the different sexual orientations of the two partners, problems often occur, causing emotional harm to"closet gays," their partners, and their children (Harbinger 683).   If gay marriage were legal, homosexuality would be legitimate.   Thus, the number of "closet gays" would decrease, as acceptance of their sexual orientation increases.  In short, society would be spared a lot of trouble--the breakup of a family or dissatisfaction with one's life, especially of the homosexual partner, as she or he tries to comply with society's standards.      Ã‚  Ã‚   Same-sex marriage is just in that it provides gay couples with the same rights as heterosexual couples.   Only marriage binds a couple in the eyes of the law ("Let Them Wed" 13).   It enables partners to make life-or-death decisions, gives them the right to inheritance, medical benefits, and jurisprudence, among others ("Let Them Wed" 13). As in heterosexual relationships, homosexual partners are the significant other of one another.   Unlike heterosexual couples, however, they are denied the right to marriage and all the benefits that go with it.      Ã‚  Ã‚   Gay marriages also provide sufficient reasons for society to promote them.   They at least fulfill two of the most important reasons for marriage:   the domestication of men and the provision of a reliable care giver (Rauch 22).      Ã‚  Ã‚   Civilizing men is one of society's biggest problems (Rauch 22).

“A Good Man is Hard to Find” (O’Connor) vs. “The Death of Tommy Grimes” (Meaddough) Essay

â€Å"The Death of Tommy Grimes† is a more successful and compelling piece of literature than â€Å"A Good Man is Hard to Find†. Both stories focus on traditionalism, human nature in times of death and obligation. However, â€Å"The Death of Tommy Grimes† is far more successful due to its efficient use of characterization, atmosphere and the grotesque. â€Å"The Death of Tommy Grimes† is clearly the superior piece of art. Both â€Å"A Good Man is Hard to Find† and â€Å"The Death of Tommy Grimes† focus intently on tradition’s effects on society through the use of characterization, but â€Å"The Death of Tommy Grimes† is far more successful in delivering its message. â€Å"A Good Man is Hard to Find† uses the younger generations as well as the older generations of the family (from grandparents to children) to portray a decline in moral stability and Christian beliefs; an example of how tradition, meant to maintain these beliefs and morals, can be easily corrupted. â€Å"The Death of Tommy Grimes† communicates this same message through the strictly traditionalist character of the father, whose racism is shown to be extremely destructive to our society. Because of his unquestioning belief in racist traditions, he has influenced his own son to adhere to the racist tendencies prevalent in the South during their time. â€Å"A Good Man is Hard to Find† is extr emely subtle in its anti-traditionalist message, its most effective example being a subtle allusion to a lurking evil in the highly traditional character of the grandmother, showing the fact that personal flaws are often disguised by a strong belief in the values of tradition. Her misuse of her Christian tradition is brought to attention through the words of the Misfit: â€Å"‘She would have been a good woman,’ the Misfit said, ‘if it had been somebody there to shoot her every minute of her life.'(O’Connor 11)† â€Å"The Death of Tommy Grimes† is much more straightforward in its anti-traditionalist message, emphasizing its stance through the remarkably blunt words of the father: â€Å"‘Boys, I wanna tell you my boy became a man today. Yessir, killed his first n****r.’ (Meaddough 413)† The child then belongs to their ironically infantile world of men, and is taken as one of their own by the bar’s stereotypically racist Southerners. This message is condensed to fit the last page of the story, leaving the message short but also driving its point across in a way that is extremely hard to miss. For this reason, â€Å"The  Death of Tommy Grimes† is the better of the two stories in terms of accomplishing its task. â€Å"A Good Man is Hard to Find† uses the characters of the children to show its views on tradition’s dangerous effects as it is passed down and either mutilated or ignored throughout multiple generations. The children’s rudeness and apathy for the well-being of others is a hard-hitting example of the nature of immorality. â€Å"The Death of Tommy Grimes† not only uses the character of the father as an example in its pro-traditionalist message, it also maintains the father as a fully necessary and functional three-dimensional character throughout the story. Although â€Å"A Good Man is Hard to Find† would function as a story without the inclusion of the children, it is easy to see that their primary purpose in the story is to show the damage inflicted by a lack of morals. However, â€Å"The Death of Tommy Grimes† uses its characters to their fullest potential, again alleviating its success in delivering its message of anti-traditionalism. For these reasons, â€Å"The Death of Tommy Grimes† is superior to â€Å"A Good Man is Hard to Find† in communicating its message on traditionalism through the use of characterization. â€Å"The Death of Tommy Grimes† and â€Å"A Good Man is Hard to Find† both use their atmosphere to portray human nature during times of death; however, â€Å"The Death of Tommy Grimes† is far more successful because it does so without taking away from other aspects of the story. Throughout â€Å"The Death of Tommy Grimes†, the son’s fear of killing and the father’s repeated use of the word â€Å"buck† without directly referring to a deer gives a strong aura that something is not as it seems on the surface. Although the foreshadowing is not direct, a sense of uneasiness and an aura of evil are given off, imbuing the story with a dark and foreboding atmosphere. â€Å"A Good Man is Hard to Find† gives multiple direct references to The Misfit and his evil ways throughout the story, and refers to him in such a way that there would be no logical explanation for his inclusion in the story were he not to interfere directly with the aff airs of the family. This use of foreshadowing is too direct, and although it certainly adds to the atmospheric uneasiness, it also reveals parts of the story too early on, leaving almost nothing to the imagination. Both of these atmospheric devices lead to a climax in which death is very clearly present. Both stories also contain both metaphorical  and literal deaths; â€Å"The Death of Tommy Grimes† containing the literal death of the sickeningly dehumanized prey and the metaphorical death of Tommy in his passage into â€Å"manhood†, and â€Å"A Good Man is Hard to Find† portraying the gruesome deaths of the members of the family as well as the internal death of the Misfit who has been metaphorically killed by the society that has mutilated his life. This change in both stories from seemingly normal events into situations where death is present in multiple ways adds to the atmosphere, which shifts from light to dark quite quickly. However, â€Å"A Good Man is Hard to Find† becomes slightly pretentious after its dark atmosphere has settled in, turning to a long and unrealistic dialogue between the grandmother and the Misfit, a device that is seemingly present only in order to allow O’Connor to communicate her views on the grandmother’s selfishness in death, a message which was mysteriously absent throughout the beginning of the story, without so much as an allusion or foreshadowing to indicate that this message is the true theme of the story. This dialogue actually detracts from the atmosphere of the story by being too obvious in its attempt to redeem the story as a social commentary: â€Å"I wasn’t there, so I can’t say (Christ) didn’t (raise the dead),† The Misfit said. â€Å"I wisht I had of been there,† he said, hitting the ground with his fist. â€Å"It ain’t right I wasn’t there because if I had of been there I would of known and I wouldn’t be like I am now.† His voice seemed about to crack and the grandmother’s head cleared for an instant†¦ â€Å"Why you’re one of my babies. You’re one of my own children!† (O’Connor 11) Although both â€Å"A Good Man is Hard to Find† and â€Å"The Death of Tommy Grimes† successfully show human nature during times of death through their use of atmosphere, â€Å"The Death of Tommy Grimes† is clearly more effective because it finds a way to do so without detracting from other aspects of the story. â€Å"A Good Man is Hard to Find† and â€Å"The Death of Tommy Grimes† both deal with the issue of obligation through the use of the grotesque, but â€Å"The Death of Tommy Grimes† gives an example better suited to accomplishing its goal. â€Å"A Good Man is Hard to Find† shows the grandmother’s belief that both her children and grandchildren hold a strong obligation to her, as though the  mere fact that they belong to her lineage means they have inherited a debt of obedience. However, at the same time she shows no obligation whatsoever to her family during a time of extreme desperation, choosing merely to continue struggling for her own life rather than making any attempt to save those around her. Although she calls out the name of her son, she makes no attempt to discourage the Misfit from killing his wife or daughter, nor does she give any recognition to the fact that her grandson has also been killed. This shows a very confused and selfish sense of obligation, a willingness to receive but not to give. â€Å"The Death of Tommy Grimes† delves into what is arguably an even more grotesque example in order to demonstrate the potential flaws in obligation. The son’s strict devotion to his father leads a boy who could once not bring himself to take the life of a small animal to sufficiently alter his mind to a point at which he could bring himself to shoot a human being. His views of his father as being a role model in his life leads to his inevitable personal death, forcing him to abandon his morals in favor of his obligation to his father: And he though how it must be for Pa when the other man bragged about their boys, and him so scared to kill a weasel, and he knew what he had to do. â€Å"Pa,† he murmered, â€Å"think maybe I could go a time at that old buck?† (Meaddough 409) The son feels, as most sons do, a natural obligation to his father, and this obligation allows him to demoralize himself and to dehumanize another man, succumbing to racism and evil. Although both stories are very successful in using the grotesque to portray the perils of obligation, â€Å"The Death of Tommy Grimes† uses an example that is unveiled more suddenly and also more callously. Rather than showing any one character as having a truly difficult time coping with the horrible nature of the incident, it portrays the racist men as encouraging and applauding the activity, and the son as succumbing to the beliefs of these men and re-evaluating his actions as being almost acceptable. It demonstrates that the grotesque can be normalized through a strong enough feeling of obligation. Although â€Å"A Good Man is Hard to Find† also demonstrates an apathy towards the grotesque in the character of the Misfit, it shows reasons for his apathy through his hard and troubled past.  On the other hand, Tommy Grimes has been raised in a relatively â€Å"normal† and â€Å"happy† upbringing (his father’s racism being the one downfall that is mentioned). It is because of this acceptance of such a terrible incident that â€Å"The Death of Tommy Grimes† is the more successful of the two stories in portraying its message on obligation through the use of the grotesque. Although â€Å"The Death of Tommy Grimes† and â€Å"A Good Man is Hard to Find† clearly share much in common, it is obvious that â€Å"The Death of Tommy Grimes† is the far superior story. Throughout the stories’ common themes of traditionalism, human nature in times of death, and obligation, â€Å"The Death of Tommy Grimes† maintains more well-supported, believable and well-communicated messages than â€Å"A Good Man is Hard to Find†. Its characterization, atmosphere and use of the grotesque are vital to its success, and Meaddough demonstrates a proficiency in the use of these literary techniques superior to O’Connor. â€Å"The Death of Tommy Grimes† prevails over a â€Å"A Good Man is Hard to Find† in many ways, and is a far more efficient and successful piece of literature.

The Ramayana As A Hero Essay - 1508 Words

Chapter 1 INTRODUCTION Heroism and the concept of a hero have been subject to many changes, especially with respect to changes over time and in terms of how heroism is viewed by different cultures. The thing being explored in this chapter, primarily through the analysis of major heroic archetypes and characters, is how the ancient Indian heroic society takes the ideas of heroism, with specific focus on the epic poem ‘The Ramayana’. Along with the examining of the major characterstics of heroic archetypes, specifically the hero who works with a partner or companion, the hero who works alone and the figure of the hero who plays a background role in the context of the epic, there will also be a brief focus on the importance of the ability of†¦show more content†¦Normally, they have one weakness that compromises their noble quest, but they overcome this obstacle with grace, endurance and fortitude. By the end of the work, classic heroes generally live happily ever after. Tragic Heroes Their fatal flaw or weakness in their character that brings about their downfall, is the main characterstic of these heroes. Many factors play major roles into these personas. Since these heroes experience a â€Å"downfall†, they must come from noble birth or some high ranking position, and the path to their downfall is often plagued by one or a series of poor choices. Towards the end of the work, the readers might feel sympathy or pity for these characters, which is an indication that the punishment for these heroes was too harsh for their shortcomings. The aim of the difficulty of the tragic heroes is to teach the readers valuable lesson. Epic Hero These people closely resemble the classic heroes, and they are the main characters in the epic poems. Heroes in this group also exhibit superhuman strength and courage, but they do so because they have a mix of divine and mortal heritage. Their mortal halves also foreshadow that they will display a weakness. These heroes often succumb to a moment of despair where they almost give up when they embark on a noble quest that will test their courage over and over (the obstacles are usually made by gods). Finally, these heroes work into their strength once more toShow MoreRelatedEssay on Sita as the Hidden Hero of Ramayana2232 Words   |  9 PagesSita as the Hidden Hero of Ramayana    Valmikis Ramayana was written around 300 B.C.E. (Carrier 207). Typically, the character of Rama is seen as the hero and the character of Sita is seen as the heros wife.   In this essay, I will compare Sitas journey of capture and inner growth with the save the kingdom journey of Rama, show how the two correlate, and eventually connect in the influential chastity scene. 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