The Village, by M. Night Shyamalen Essay

Countless people around the world listen to various styles of music. Despite the genre, whether it be country or hip hop, these songs deliver a message onto it’s listeners daily. Same songs could have a different meaning to different people depending on the experiences that they go through or the tribulations that one is currently facing. Spotless Minds by Jhene Aiko offers a message about love and how although love could be a blessing, it can also act as a curse. This song should not be viewed as merely a song, but more like a lesson that is teached using only a few lyrics. The deeper the context, the more meaning the song will have on particular people. The art in the way these lyrics are carefully composed, when sung, conveys a bittersweet message that reminds listeners of the joys and miseries of love as well as the experiences that Jhene went through. The lyrics, the deeper meanings hidden behind stanzas, and the relatability of this song are reasons why Spotless Minds is an interesting yet harsh reality that love isn’t how people see it in the movies. This song carries in it a meaning of true love that yearns to be heard around the world. Whether heard by a married couple or a high school relationship that is still blossoming, this song speaks to all who are willing to listen.

As dawn beckons, a new day has begun and the sleeping village of Salem is coated in a bright glow of orange. The small wooden shacks of this colonial town are packed together and next to it is a great green forest of oak trees. The wind starts to blow ever so gently like a ship on still water and the sea of trees dance, causing the leaves rustle.

In the essay, Stranger in the Village, James Baldwin talks about his experience as an African American visiting a small village in Switzerland who has never seen an African American before. In the small village Baldwin is seen as something magical and so unusual to them because of the color of his skin. Even after going back to the village several times he still feels like a stranger. To portray his experiences of racism Baldwin strongly uses pathos throughout his essay. He describes the sense of never belonging whether in America or in a small village of Switzerland. Baldwin uses pathos to argue that there is a way to stop racism in the village with the children but America and the adults in the village have too much history to have the same innocence as the children of the village.

African American racial tension has decreased drastically, since the fifties our country has leaps and bounds towards equality. James Baldwin wrote Stranger in the Village, and he wrote about his experience living in a small Swiss village and how he was able to evaluate the American society and its issues of race. Baldwin specifically focused on African American racial issues. Baldwin makes arguments about how race is treated much different in Europe, he also argued how there are still a lot of problems with American society that need to be changed. I agree with Baldwin's thoughts however this essay is outdated and isn't completely relevant to our society today; however some of the broader ideas are.

They are an active community of which all engage in the same ritual. Although the ritual is unethical, it is safe to say that all types of people in this town work together, creating a similar culture amongst everyone. Also, this particular town creates a cultural body, as referred to as Scholes, based on their households. A family in this village consisted of a mother, father, and a couple of children. The mother was the caregiver, cooker and cleaner, the father was the workingman, and the children went to school and came home. The boys would help their fathers with house work involving tools and the girls would learn from their mothers the ways of caregiving and so on.

“Even thought the black box lost its meaning they still remembered to use stones”(Griffin8). The villagers remembered the negative and not the positive in the ritual. The villagers don't think about others just themselves. Griffins statements can be used to state my claim about cruelty behavior. Their main arguments can be used in my essay towards authority and violence. Griffins article talks about how the villagers are being brought down by Old Man Warner and continues the tradition and converting it to violence. Instead of standing up to Warner and protesting that is not right to treat human beings as a form of assumption in sacrifice in order for crop growth to

Every Culture has a set of rituals that they partake in, that are often constructed over a long period of time. Simple Actions, and special moments contain so much meaning and make everlasting memories. All rituals despite the locations they originate from, or the location they are carried out in contain the same components, they are repetitive, symbolic, remind a certain group of people about their values and beliefs, and these rituals commemorate a significant moment. For example christians commemorate the birth of christ by attending mass, and many other cultures celebrate this moment in many different ways that have in depth symbolic meaning. In the book “Guests of the Sheik” by Elizabeth Warnock Fernea rituals play a major role. Fernea’s husband Bob is an anthropologist studying the occupants of a small village named El Nahra and their culture. Fernea has documented her experiences, and adventures, and her perspective of the many rituals that the townspeople participate in such as, Ramadan, Muharram, weddings, and pilgrimages. In Muslim culture pilgrimages are immensely important and can even lead to an elevated status. Such as the pilgrimage to Mecca. Fernea is able to participate in a pilgrimage to Karbala with a couple of the towns women she had befriended. The Pilgrimage to Karbala is a symbolic, and cultural ritual in the aspect that it is reenacted every year, and is full of symbolic meaning, commemorates an important occasion and reminds a culture about their

In paragraph three of James Baldwin's 'Stranger in the Village' (1955), he alludes to emotions that are significant, dealing with conflicts that arise in the Swiss village. Of these emotions are two, astonishment and outrage, which represent the relevant feelings of Baldwin, an American black man. These two emotions, for Baldwin's ancestors, create arguments about the 'Negro' and their rights to be considered 'human beings' (Baldwin 131). Baldwin, an American Negro, feels undeniable rage toward the village because of the misconception of his complexion, a misconception that denies Baldwin human credibility and allows him to be perceived as a 'living wonder' (129).

“When, beneath the black mask, a human being begins to make himself felt one cannot escape a certain awful wonder as to what kind of human being it is.”(4). In his essay, “Stranger in the Village”, James Baldwin writes about the major differences that African Americans experience in Europe and America. Throughout the essay, Baldwin describes how the Europeans are naive about the black man. The outrage and amusement that Baldwin feels throughout his visit causes the overwhelming realization of the history of the African American.

A person’s heritage and cultural identity may be lost when moving to a new country where the culture is different and other cultures are not easily accepted. In the short story “Hindus”, Bharati Mukherjee uses setting, characters and the plot to discuss what it is like to lose your cultural identity while being a visible minority in America. Mukherjee uses the plot to describe the events that take place in the main characters life that lead her to realize how different the culture and life is in the America’s. She also uses the characters as a way of demonstrating how moving away from one’s culture and heritage can change a person’s perspective and ways of thinking. Mukerjee also uses setting in her story to identity the physical differences in culture between living in India and America. Alike the setting and characters, the plot helps describe the loss of culture with a sequence of events.

In the novel Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut, a fictional character named Bill Pilgrim is used to depict the various themes about life and war. Vonnegut went through some harsh times in Dresden, which ultimately led to him writing about the tragedies and emotional effects that come with war. By experiencing the war first handed, Vonnegut is able to make a connection and relate to the traumatic events that the soldiers go through. Through the use of Billy Pilgrim and the other characters, Vonnegut is able show the horrific affects the war can have on these men, not only during the war but after as well. From the very beginning Vonnegut portrays a strong sense of anti-war feelings, which he makes most apparent through Billy Pilgrim.

There are several details given about the villagers’ tradition. It’s not the same tradition as it was a long time ago. For instance, numerous objects that are used in the original tradition are lost or renewed and/or replaced. The narrator tells that “Because so much of the ritual had been forgotten or discarded, Mr. Summers had been

One can understand how traditions are easily lost through the handing down of information, beliefs, and customs by word of mouth or by example from one generation to another. Traditions that lose their meaning due to human forgetfulness can cause dreadful consequences to occur. Although "the villagers had forgotten the ritual and lost the original box, they still remembered to use stones" to kill the forgetful woman.

An early scene shows the funeral service of villagers, many of them children, murdered by cartels. A sobbing villager’s interview tells how they were brutally beaten to death.

Art is the expression of human’s creative skill and imagination, art pass through society, and it reflects social life by shaping. Art, such as literature, dance, painting, calligraphy, and music. James Baldwin, a famous African- American author of “Stranger in the village.” He discussed the rank and relationship between the Blacks and Whites in the society. Also, Baldwin went to the village in Leukerbad, and lived with the White Europeans. This essay is about the the experience and history of him. Teju Cole was the one who had read the “Stranger in the village” and he wrote what he felt about James Baldwin’s essay. Their opinions were opposite, but I think there is no right or wrong.