In Amitav Ghosh's, "In an Antique Land", the author compares his life with that of a slave named Bomma. He reveals that both men live in antique lands, foreign to their culture and surrounded by very different people. Ghosh also relates the book to Percy Bysshe Shelly's poem Ozymandias, a piece on mankind's hubris and the insignificance of the individual. Ghosh effectively juxtaposes Bomma's life with his own as he tries to find himself and unlock the slaves past through the ancient papers of the Cairo Geniza. Through historical details and antidotes, the author proves how a place can be both antique and contemporary. The title of the book comes from not only Ghosh's study of the history of the Middle East, but his observation on …show more content…
His religion is a constant reminder of how he is an outcast yet he is also judging the culture he feels is criticizing him. He sees them as outdated and disapproving while they see him as unusual and mysterious. He is criticized for his religion and customs, and the children mock him in disbelief for being Hindu. One little boy comments on his amazement with this foreign culture:
"You mean," he said in rising disbelief, "there are people in your country who are not circumcised?"
In Arabic the word "circumcise" derives from a root that means
"to purify"; to say of someone that they are "uncircumcised" is more or less to call them impure.
"Yes," I answered, "yes, many people in my country are
impure'." I had no alternative; I was trapped by language." (62)
This is just one example of how Ghosh is treated as an outcast in the small town of no one of the small religion. He does not fully understand the language or culture that surrounds him, which causes even further confusion among the parties. This relates back to Shelly's poem because both the visitor and the "ancient" are being observed and criticized.
While Ghosh realizes that the town will never respect why he worships cows or burns the dead, he desperately tries to analyze the town he lives in. As he buries his head in letters from Ben Yiju, he slowly puts together the relationship between
The Europeans changed the land of the home of the Indians, which they renamed New England. In Changes in the Land, Cronon explains all the different aspects in how the Europeans changed the land. Changing by the culture and organization of the Indians lives, the land itself, including the region’s plants and animals. Cronon states, “The shift from Indian to European dominance in New England entailed important changes well known to historians in the ways these peoples organized their lives, but it also involved fundamental reorganizations less well known to historians in the region’s plant and animal communities,” (Cronon, xv). New England went through human development, environmental and ecological change from the Europeans.
In Ozymandias, the narrator speaks of an “antique land” that he’s travelled to and comes across a statue which is the King Ozymandias (who is the Egyptian pharaoh Ramesses II.) The structure of the poem is written in an petrarchan
Imagine being in the Bart train, going to a party with some of your friends, but while in route, you are shot by the Bart police for a crime you did not commit. This is the story of a young man named Oscar Grant. On New Years Eve of 2009, he was fatally shot. . Police brutality is the use of excessive force, physically or verbally, by a police officer. In one year, how many incidents of police brutality or misconduct do you think have occurred? In the U.S. alone, statistics show that over 2,500 incidents have occurred. Because of the constant stories of severe police brutality, it is clear that the efforts to stop this are not effective.
There is a common mistake that people make when concerning history. They make the mistake of assuming that history is what happened in the past, but history is much more than what happened in the past. History is formed from analyzing evidence from the past and making a connection. Many historians have different personal perspectives on history, and by using the historical method they can all draw conclusions as to what happened and advocate a theory. We find that history is much more than what happened in the past from reading, "The Strange Death of Silas Deane." This is a good example of applying the historical methods and producing a new theory based on reliable evidence. The author classified the important facts into groups of
Shelley’s version of “Ozymandias” pays particular attention to the details of what remains of Ramses’s statue. Shelley conveys to the reader that no matter how powerful a ruler may be, their influence will fade with time. The description of what Babylon looks like when the poem was written gives the reader a clear
The two historical documents, Narrative of Lavinia Bell written by an anonymous author in the Montreal Gazette and the Letter to an English Abolitionist by James Henry Hammond, shared their strong opinions on the important issue of slavery. These documents were written in the 1800’s during an era of progressive changes. One can identify similarities and many differences in their opinions, motives, and goals for their writings. I believe Bell’s account was written to show the perspective of slaves’ brutal view, compared to Hammond’s letter justifying slavery and the rights of the slaveholders.
This allows insight into what is important to people in Bedouin society. Lila Abu-Lughod gives examples of ghinnawas about star crossed lovers, divorce, arranged marriage, polygyny, and many other ghinnawas related to love. All of these areas are associated with modesty, or hasham, and are taken very seriously. For instance, when the one of the girls mentioned in the book wanted to marry another man and was upset that she had to marry the man that she did, she ran away. She came back, but still sang very sad Ghinnawas. People thought that she was doing it for attention, but when her brother in law heard about her Ghinnawas, he realized that she actually was unhappy. This solidifies Lila Abu-Lughod’s point that was mentioned in nearly every chapter that modesty is important to the Bedouin society, as it is what the women choose to think of and express thoughts and feelings about. Furthermore, what is sang in these songs are meaningful to those who hear them because they truly believe that it is what the person singing them actually
Living in the medieval time period was not as glamorous as it is often portrayed; peasants and serfs led hard lives, however, kings, lords, and knights lived lavishly and at the expense of those under them. In this paper you will read about all of these lifestyles, as well as the castles in which these lords and kings lived in. Mainly castle designs, fortifications, and siege tactics will be revealed to you; yet there are several sections, dealing with the lifestyles of the above mentioned, leading up to that.
Geography had a tremendous impact on early civilizations, the topography of the different regions played a key role in their development and formation. This statement by Fernand Braudel “ Geography is the stage in which humanity’s endless dramas are played out” (Getz et al., Exchanges, 26) is a very moving and telling description. The terrain, whether it is natural or man made is not the end all, be all. It does however affect the stage a great deal. Mountainous areas act as blockades, which keep the societies independent, plains open up the area, and rivers enable everything to move around freely. 2
The Ganguli home is often filled with Bengali family and friends, and that provides a support system for Ashoke and Ashima. It makes the Ganguli’s feel like they did when they were in India, surrounded by family. Gogol receives some advice from his aunt before leaving for college. She tells him to have fun, but come home and marry a Bengali woman.
III. Identify at least one element of Fatimid culture for each of the following categories. One example is provided: for that category, identify at least one additional cultural element.
The Medieval Ages that descended upon the Europeans following the deconstruction and devolution of the formerly grand institutions of the Roman Empire left a world darkened to the eyes of history. The world lost touch with simple concepts to a modern history student of writing, economy, culture, and government—the mainstay of that which we cannot see ourselves without—civilization. What was left of Europe was a state of chaos. In all other periods of human history I have studied there were similarities among them from which I could draw conclusions upon the condition of the respective times. The Text helped to give order to the progression of European history from the ancient to the modern drawing
The history of the modern world derives from thousands of years of human history. Embedded in its history are the many eras of man which have constructed our modern learning, art, beliefs, and order. The middle ages, although represented as “dark”, backwards, and idle, were in fact a bridge linking the classical and modern world. Medieval society may not have been in a sense glorious, but the era of itself was a prime foundation of the modern world’s newfound stability, a revival of the law and teachings from the classical era, a reinvestment and reform in the church, and a precursor to the golden age of art.
In “Hell-Heaven”, the actions of Pranab Chakraborty, a Bengali family friend of the narrator, shapes those around him, including the narrator’s family; as the story progresses, his influence on those around him becomes more profound. The two characters that are affected by Pranab in
Medieval society was for centuries a basically rural society. In the Middle Age, 90% of the population lived in the countryside, center of all activity and daily life for the inhabitants of that time.