Circle of life

Europeans and Native Americans both retained religious beliefs. Though, Native Americans articulated their beliefs in a less structured way. Europeans were monotheistic. They attended churches led by and educated clergy. And, unlike Native Americans, interpreted written scriptures. In

European families always put the males first, whereas African and Native American cultures saw the woman as the symbol of family bond. The children were said to be descended through the mother’s side more than the father. Religion was somewhat similar between the Native American and African cultures where the Europeans strongly disagreed with. Africans believed that there was a center power and Native Americans believed there were several deities, where they both believed that focused on nature and the its forces. They both believed that objects (usually scared to them) held sprites of the dad and spirits that can be evil or good. On the other hand, Europeans believed that there was a single deity with written scriptures which was all run through

In class we read the book, Life As We Knew It, by Susan B. Pfeffer. It is about a girl named Miranda who lives in New York with her mom, and brother Matt who is coming home from college. They see on the news that an asteroid is going to collide with the moon, so Miranda, Laura and Johnny throw a party. When the asteroid hits the moon, the moon becomes a lot closer to the Earth. Many world catastrophes start to occur around the world like massive tsunamis, tornadoes and lightning storms. What I will be talking about is my favorite scenes from the story.

The natives had a completely different way of life than the Europeans did, and with any religion, the followers believed in entirety. In the novel Things Fall Apart, Achebe develops the African’s beliefs fully. Many whites thought of the native Africans as being uncivilized. The natives were just as much civilized as the whites, if not more. They seemed to have supplementary structure and followed their beliefs more so than the whites. It was the ignorance of the white men not to realize how civilized the natives really were. The natives were civilized, just in their own way, but the Europeans still wanted to civilize the natives. ‘Heart of Darkness projects the image of Africa as “the other world,” the antitheses of Europe and therefore of civilization, a place where man’s vaunted intelligence and refinement are finally mocked by triumphant bestiality.’ (pg 3 An Image of Africa: Racism in Conrad’s Heart of Darkness) Europeans professed to be great, ‘civilized,’ people, but in reality they were just as civilized as the natives were.

In his novel Things Fall Apart, Chinua Achebe introduces his readers to the Nigerian village Umuofia and its culture through the protagonist, Okonkwo, a well respected Umuofian leader. Umuofian culture is centered around pleasing and respecting spiritual life. Everything within this culture and religion has a specific order; however, the Umuofian culture ultimately reaches its demise when Evangelists arrive to convert the Umuofians to Christianity. As seen through the events that transpire in this novel, from Nwoye leaving his family to letting the osu have a place in society, religion has the potential to both build and break a society. Specifically, religion has the power to break apart families, introduce new ideas into society, and bring hope into one’s life.

"Life as We Knew It," is a book by Beth Pfeffer, which is known to be science fiction. The story involves environmental changes, which involves science but can be fictional as well because it is not likely to happen in reality. So this story was written by Beth Pfeffer and she had decided to write this book after watching a show about a meteor. She asked herself, what it would be like to be a teenager living in a catastrophe. Beth later came up with the story, writing it as a 16 year old girl's diary. The story first main point starts out with everyone getting ready to watch a meteor pass and ends up hitting the moon.

The circle of life is an ongoing loop of everything in the world. Just like a wheel, the circle of life goes round and round. The circle of life never stops, and even though someone might try to, it will not stop. Life and death is the circle of life. In Edgar Allan Poe’s “Spirits of the Dead”, Poe introduces the reader to life and death. This is a very sorrow filled poem, with death and forgiveness. The way Poe uses Life and Death is part of what brings this poem to life. The use of life and death is exactly what Poe chooses to address as he uses imagery and personification of the life he once had and the love he once possessed. The literary techniques in “Spirits of the dead”, are the mood and tone of this poem. It shows what Poe really feels behind his words.

The Native Americans and Europeans had many influences that affected their outlook when they first encountered one another. These influences have different stories and views that pertain to the origin of life and how the earth was created. For example the Native Americans had stories that were passed down from generations that would be reshaped in different tellings. On the contrary the European Christians obtained their stories from books that had been written in earlier years such as the bible and Aristotle’s work. Despite their differences all of their beliefs were affected by the accounts which then made their encounter with each other and the relationship with human beings.

Carla the Carbon atom is a free spirit. She wanders through the atmosphere, moving with the wind. Carla floats from one cloud to the next, without a care on her mind. One day, she was floating in the air, and was joined by two oxygen companions, Oscar and Octavius. Her two companions transformed her into a carbon dioxide molecule. Her new status as a molecule allowed her new privileges, like the ability to enter plants and to take part in plant and animal respiration. Carla was now a part of an exclusive club.

The Europeans, therefore, described the indigenous people as savage, polytheistic pagans and heathens, who were doomed to damnation for the worship of animals and nature. The Europeans, within their understanding of the will of God, believed it their duty and their responsibility to teach these indigenous people the “correct” way to live, and were determined to impose their own religion upon the indigenous people by enforcing the worship of the God of the Christian Bible through any means deemed necessary, including slavery, coercion, and the threat of, or actual maiming or death. Europeans chose to dismiss the religious and cultural practices of the indigenous peoples because the indigenous peoples did not engage in scheduled worship services as the Europeans did, or call their deities by the names that the Europeans used, nor did the indigenous peoples perform their worship ceremonies in the same manner as the Europeans.

There are a multitude of common elements of religion as practiced by the West Africans. Five of these elements include community, ancestors, a high God, Tricksters, and animal sacrifice. Community kept everyone together both physically and religiously, with no one left alone. The West Africans also believed that their ancestors were still present and watching over them. The ancestors were placed between God and the community, and sometimes they held all the power. Furthermore, a high God had developed everything in existence and the West Africans could not be without him. There were also multiple tricksters that blended the boundaries of sacred and ordinary. The chaos brought on by these tricksters, such as a hare or spider, would lead to order. Another element is animal sacrifice, where these rituals were done to praise the Gods.

While the Native Americans and the Africans inhabited two different continents, their belief system has a plethora of similarities pertaining to their core values. The basis of their religion also, in some ways, epitomizes modern day religion such as rites of passage. Their differences are shallow in context when it comes to what they view as sacred and holy and including religious rituals that are performed for a specific reason or transformation. Both Native American and African mythologies center around the ideology of harmony, balance, and cyclical nature of all beings through animistic symbolization. To a certain degree, all outsiders or nonnatives who study the belief systems of indigenous religions have found that indigenous religion is more than just a religion or belief system but rather an inherent way of living. To name or label indigenous beliefs as “religion” or any other is to have a bias based on our own views of transformation and ultimacy.

Religion is a social construct embedded in the African American experience through the ages. Whether it be Christianity, Muslim, Judaism and many other religions that found itself in the Americas the religions derived from the African diaspora was very mixed, they had traditional belief about magic which are derived from some Yoruba and Muslim belief system, Christianity was something new to them. As their, ancestors were brought to the Americans they brought their own traditional belief system. African American religious institutions served as contexts in which African Americans create a meaning to their experience during their enslavement, thus they interpret their relationship to Africa and charted a vision for a collective future that will

A major aspect of one’s society is religion. Without it, the way people hold themselves accountable would be nonexistent. In addition, many moral standards that exist today are values taken directly from religions such as Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Currently, there exists a feud between people who believe in a god, and of those who do not. Eventually those who believe in a higher power will fight against each other. In “Things Fall Apart”, Chinua Achebe brings to light the differences and similarities of Christianity and Animism in order to demonstrate the effects of religion upon one’s society, which is exemplified by Okonkwo and his people. This is noticed in the lives of the Ibo, the missionaries, and

According to George Bernard Shaw, the single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place. The novel The Circle by Dave Eggers tells us a story about the main character, Mae Holland, and her journey through the company Circle. The company Circle have the most futuristic-like advancements in technology. Mae Holland’s dream is to work at the Circle because she dreaded her previous job at a run-down utility company. Holland is introverted and before working at the Circle, her life was not consumed with technology. She slowly assimilates with the Circle’s rules and regulations and therefore encounter a problem with situations she has never experienced before. Holland did not meet the expectations of the Circle’s requirements