Afterlife In Latin America

Lazarillo de Tormes is a famous work of Spanish literature published anonymously. The novel is written in the first person. Lazarillo de Tormes is known as a picaresque novel in that the novel is written about a character of the lower-class instead of a hero or upper-class character. The novel has several themes, but the theme that is constant throughout the novel is appearance versus reality. A rhetorical device is a use of language that is intended to have an effect on its audience. The author utilizes several rhetorical devices in the novel which add emphasis to the story. For the purposes of this paper, the following rhetorical devices are analyzed: satire, simile, hyperbole, double entendre and parody. The novel, which was banned by the Spanish Crown during the time of the Spanish inquisition, is the story of the birth and life Lazarillo as he serves various masters and his struggle for survival. His struggle is real. Many of the rhetorical devices serve to add humor to the novel as well.

One of the most outstanding characteristics of humans is that we have a moral conscience- the ability to distinguish between right and wrong, as well as understand the consequences of actions beforehand. Nonetheless, religion remains important to society because it helps to refine and provide a deeper understanding of humans’ moral responsibility. There are instances where either people ignore religious practices in favor of reason and logic or follow only religious teachings that suit a particular situation. Chronicle of a Death Foretold is a novella that typifies the failure of religion to unify people and provide a common course for understanding life. The story talks about Santiago’s fight against fate and the probability of escaping death that is foretold beforehand. The priest symbolizes religion in the novella and readers observe that his actions are similar to those of ordinary people. Ordinarily, we expect the priest to uphold religious practices and bring people together when society is divided on an issue.

One of the overarching themes that spanned over the many books we read over the semester, was the nature of love and the search for meaning. Love is an inherent aspect of humanity, and while it is an often inexplicable and complex sentiment, it is intrinsically connected with mankind's search for meaning in life. Love often leads a person in directions that they do not expect, and this is obvious in the very different applications of love in different books. However, one common idea about the relationship between love, suffering, and wisdom, can be argued for based off the ancient texts that we read. In The Epic of Gilgamesh, Antigone, and The Tale of Genji, love is used as a vehicle for wisdom through suffering and loss.

Elialde author of The Sacred and the Profane introduces a new model of the sacred and the profane. Elialde’s model is meant to be universal, therefore meant to be appropriate for any recognized religion. David Carrasco author of Religions of Mesoamerica and Kay Almere Read and Jason J. González authors of Mesoamerican Mythology: A Guide to the Gods, Heroes, Rituals, and Beliefs of Mexico and Central America, discuss their interpretation of the Mesoamerican religion although their views on the Mesoamerican religion differs in some aspects when compared to Eliade’s model of the sacred and the profane there are a few noticeable similarities between both views.

Aztec view of the afterlife and its significance was the driving force of their life. Aztecs strongly believed in an afterlife. The journey to the afterlife entailed many things. It was believed that the way you died decided how your afterlife would go, not the way you lived. If you didn’t die in the specific ways which sent you to specific gods, you would go through the nine levels hell; in the ninth you would serve for eternity. “They are not places of bliss or damnation, merely multiple levels of existence divided in purpose.”

Death is something that people must deal with every day in our world, and there are several aspects of death that sometimes the living do not consider. For example, how does one celebrate or remember passed loved ones? What happens to you when you die? How would you like to be remembered? There are multiple ways to answer these questions, and examining differing points of view can be enlightening.

As human beings, we are students of life, and death is one of the hard lessons that we will encounter. Our faith is not a fixed concept, it is affected by a convergence of factors and events in our life. Faith is complex and differs from one person to another, but one thing is for certain, it affects how we look at life and how we approach life. Rudolfo Anaya’s Bless Me Ultima divulges into the life of an inquisitive six year old Antonio as he transitions from a young boy to a man and becomes cognizant of life’s tragedies. His inquisitive nature that persists to understand himself and his world bears an internal struggle that leaves a rift of

The foundation of our beliefs can be shaken because of traumatizing experiences. Our religious beliefs can be challenged by the thought of death. Why does death happen to good people? Why does it even happen at all? These are questions that go through the minds of people who face and witness death. In the novel Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolfo Anaya, Antonio is an attestant to several deaths at an extremely young age. The passing of the people he saw forged an unwelcome path that opened the door to spiritual challenges he never thought to be within the context of his fledgling existence.

The repetition in the writing is when the prisoners of the concentration camps have to go through roll call every day. This is terrifying because if you make one wrong move, you get shot. Then, they restart the roll call, which makes you need to stand there even longer risking your life. Sometimes, they even shot you for no reason at all. Another use of repetition in the book was what they ate everyday. They ate bread and/or soup. You didn’t even get that much. This terrified the prisoners because it wasn’t very tasty to start with, but it didn’t help eating it everyday. They were too scared not to eat it, though, because you could starve to death if you didn’t. The author uses repetition to show the theme of

In The Handmaid's tale, Margaret Atwood uses repetition in her writing to emphasize meaning. For example, on page 72, it says, "Her fault, her fault, her fault, we chant in unison." This event occurs when the handmaids are in “testifying” and Janine is telling the story of how she was Gang raped at the age of 14 and had an abortion. Aunt Helena is humiliating her by making the other handmaids chant things like, “She did,” or, “crybaby,” as well as other things on this page. Repetition is one of the literary devices that Margaret atwood uses in her writing.

Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s short story, “Death Constant Beyond Love” depicts the vulnerability and helplessness of a human when dealing with two of the most enigmatic parts of life. The background of corruption, poverty, and the political campaign become rather insignificant to the broader themes of love and death. Marquez expresses the confusion, power and diversity that come with the feeling of love and how ever changing it can be. These emotions are portrayed through the wealthy senator, Onesimo Sanchez. His love for Laura Farina becomes a means for him to sublimate his fear of death into sensual passion. However, his demise is inevitable, and he is left lonely and

​This paper will analyze afterlife in Hinduism and in Catholicism. Afterlife will be considered in the Catechism of the Catholic Church 1020-1060 and in Romans 10. Afterlife will also be considered in Bhagavad Gita 2:27, Obayashi page 146 and in Rig Veda 10.14.8. This topic is intriguing because death is a part of life and it is interesting to see the different perspectives of their two religions and of what happens in the afterlife. Besides the perspectives, this topic studies the greatest mystery of life, death which is an uncommon topic since people usually shy away from talking about this because of the emotional implications that it brings to people.

“A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning,” by John Donne explores love through the ideas of assurance and separation. Donne uses vivid imagery to impart his moral themes on his audience. A truer, more refined love, Donne explains comes from a connection at the mind, the joining of two souls as one. Physical presence is irrelevant if a true marriage of the minds has occurred, joining a pair of lovers’ souls eternally.

A study of American undergraduates indicated that the beliefs about the nature of life after death were quite complicated. A 41-item questionnaire produced 12 independent groups of beliefs. Belief in an internal locus of control and that one’s life is owned by God were associated with a more positive view of the afterlife, as was being Roman Catholic rather than Protestant. The most common beliefs were that one is reunited with family and friends, that the afterlife is comforting, that there is Heaven and that the transition is peaceful, all believed by more than 90 percent of the students.

In Chronicle of a Death Foretold, the concepts of honor and love are constantly mentioned. While love is often mentioned with adjectives that seem to conflict with the traditional idea of what love is, honor is repeatedly referred to in the way it is expected to be in. In the town, love seems to be absent in most people’s lives and it is said to be a “beast” or a “disorder.” In contrast, honor is extremely important to those in the town and revered. The two concepts of honor and love are distinctly different from each other in the novella, yet the narrator’s mother equates the two by saying “‘Honor is love’” (Marquez 97). Although the journalist’s mother conflates honor with love in order to explain the events of the town, further examination proves that her justification is false. In no way does an act of honor equate to an act of love.