Mariang Makiling

As I begin to read Lydia’s story, I recall the days that led up to the named storm, Hurricane Katrina. It was the year 2005. Most of the people I came in contact with were tracking the storm and wondered if the storm would come our way. We spoke of how we would prepare for the storm. I was afraid because my husband was on the road and I was alone to take care of my five-year-old child and my home. Lydia was brave as she rode out the storm.

Mariam has a basic understanding of justice. She believes that she does not have it, will not have it, and even that she does not deserve it. The beginning of the novel

Mariatu, on the other hand was a girl that had been victimized. “There were people with no ears, some with no arms,

They owned their own dairy farm and sold many goods such as livestock, dairy products such as milk, cheese, and butter. Maria’s mother Sophia died when she was a young child at the age of 10 years old. It was devastating but their family of eight kept strong and continued to survive.

Mariam struggled often with the constant rigor of her daily housewife work. As a child, Mariam encountered many horrific adversities and obstacles that she had to fight through. She lived with her mother, who she refers to as Nana. Nana was a very strict, bitter, and nasty woman. Mariam was the only thing she had in her life and she constantly treated her as dirt. She referred to Mariam as a harami, which translates to a sinner and/or a bad person in our culture. Her mother’s source of bitterness derived from the fact that Mariam’s successful father Jalil

First of all, Mariatu changes from being negative, regretful, and depressed being, to a positive and looking forward. In the beginning of the book, Mariatu has a plenty amount of horrific things done to her, and she goes through extremely traumatic experiences. However, at the end of the book, the people around her help her realize that their is always a future ahead, and she has to constantly look forward, not looking back. Mariatu takes this into consideration while trying to get a job to support her family, however, the last words of the book demonstrate what Mariatu really needed to do, and what made her accomplish her goals. Mariatu proclaims, “Something in me had changed. I knew now that I could look forward and back-without any regrets- at the same time.” (Kamara 212). Mariatu knew that in order to fix her past, and to help

While reading The Bite of the Mango, there are many traumatic events Mariatu experiences. Even these events are extremely devastating, heartbreaking, and life changing, Mariatu learns to seek the positives in her situations to make her life more joyful. The first traumatic event that Mariatu experienced was her little brother Santigie dying when Mariatu was 6 years old. Over the past years, Mariatu has formed a strong bond with him through playing and talking. When he died, in order to cope with her loss, she imagined that Santigie could be a spirit watching over her. “I was walking one day, I thought I could hear his voice calling me. I turned to look, but there was no one there. This happened several times over the next year.” (Kamara 19), mariatu proclaims. These occurrences made Mariatu think that Santigie was truly a spirit looking over her. Mariatu contemplating this assumably helped her cope with her issues by thinking that Santigie is in a better place now, looking over her shoulder.

This will be based on the chapter 4 Religion as "Truth-Claims", posted on Blackboard. First of all, Dianne L. Oliver makes a preface about her writings saying that religions claim to get the truth, and followers of diverse religions say that their truth is the only one true, and cannot be compare with any other. Also, she remarks that many of those religion followers use violence to uphold their own version of truth. Moreover, she let us know that she is going to consider the "True-Claims" of different religions, and show how those claims can influence the practices, behaviors, and ideas of religion followers. Next to the introduction, she considers that religion is very essential for understanding the fundamental questions in our daily lives.

“The size of the meals at the Andzelm house got smaller as more Jews showed up at the door pleading for something to eat.”(Zullo and Bovsun 12). Even if it meant that Maria’s family had to sacrifice food, they still helped because they knew right from wrong. Maria also risked herself to bring books for Moses because she knew that if she was in his situation, she would want someone to do the same.

At this point in her life she was becoming sick and was afraid she would be sold away from her family.So later the day she

It is pretty strange when Tretheway has not been ridden out the storm at that time, yet her ability to extend that empathy to the local residents is undeniable. Thetheway refacts all the deaths and “bodies washed away” (65) through the lens of witnesses – her family and the whole community – with emotional depth and

7. The Mountain – The mountain in Hindu (India) culture was seen as the center of the universe from which all things could be seen. Since people climb “up” mountains, characters that climb the mountains can be seen as moving upward on a spiritual/emotional journey. Biblically, mountains are places where God reveals his truths to man. In nearly all stories mountains are mysterious, powerful places.

Moon’s father was there, also it is a sacred place. Moon’s father left him a little before Moon was born, so Moon was never able to see him. Moon’s mother is an overworked woman that loves Moon and his grandma. Moon’s mother and grandmother can’t read so they payed the schoolmaster in their village a small fee to read them Moons’ father’s letters. Also Moon’s father was a master kite maker and whoever had one of his kites usually used them as family heirlooms. I know this because in the text it states “I was curious about the land of the Golden Mountain because my father was there.” Also another textual clue I found was “Mother was usually too busy for my questions. In fact mother was overworked because grandmother was too old to help her with the heavy work, and she tried to do both my father's and her work on our small farm.” Moon is so curious he wants to go and find his father in the land of the golden mountain. This is a life changing situation because Moon has very little money because his mother had almost no help to raise animals and take care of their little rice farm. With little money life was difficult, because prices for foods were high. When things get worse Moon goes to find his father and is determined to meet his father and find a way to make money for his mom. This is a situation that affects him greatly because, Moon has grown

Finally, the third section will dwell on the controversial topic of faith, and human’s need for belief. Religion has done an excellent job in manipulating human’s need for trust. Therefore, the combination of these three sections should compel the reader to better understand why such a false belief, such as religion has had such success throughout history.

In Sigmund Freud’s, The Future of an Illusion, he studies religious foundations and the influence of religion on civilization and social principles. As he explores the psychological depths relating to religion, he also portrays a scientific and rational civilization. In turn, he reveals his hope for an ideal world where humans surpass their feelings of helplessness and insignificance to live in an improved civilization based on reason and the increase of knowledge. Through his analysis and ideas, Freud is able to incite feelings of doubt surrounding religious beliefs and their validity.