Chinua Achebe vs. Margret Atwood Essay Example for Free

Chinua Achebe vs. Margret Atwood Essay Compare the ways that vultures are portrayed and used in the poems by Margaret Atwood and Chinua Achebe. By Jessica Tilbrook. Chinua Achebe and Margret Atwood grew up in two very different environments. They were born almost a decade apart, yet they both managed to construct two very meaningful poems about vultures. Achebe was born in Nigeria in 1930. In 1967 the region of Biafra broke away from Nigeria. Achebe became a devoted supporter of Biafra independence and served as ambassador for the people of the nation. But to get this point there was a 3 year war of independence ravage. Chinua Achebe witnesses some horrific scenes. He saw babies, children and adults starving to there death. He saw his own people from Biafra killing others from Nigeria. He saw how loving people have the capacity to be evil and vice versa according to Achebes version on the poem vultures. Chinua Achebe believed that any good work of art should have a purpose. Achebes vultures defiantly had a purpose, as it shows how even evil, vile creatures like vultures have the capacity to love. Throughout Achebes poem there is a negative feel. From the very start of the poem it is unpleasant and quite graphic in the description of the vultures. In the poem it occasionally refers to love as one of the vultures inclines affectionately. This suggests that even vile creatures can have the capacity to love. Chinua Achebe uses many techniques throughout his poem vultures. The structure of the poem has no rhyming scheme or lines of the same lengths. The lines are written short, probably on purpose as you can then appreciate the horror, by reading it slower, creating tension. Achebes poem isnt really in Stanzas it is more split into four sections; this is probably done to keep the flow of evil and ideas running through the poem. There is also a lack of punctuation throughout the poem, this could have been done on purpose to keep the poem flowing, like the sections. Chinua Achebe choose to right in past tense for the description of the vultures, as its easier to understand what vultures are like whereas the Belsen Commandant is described in the present tense. This might of been done to remind us that evil is all around us now, and everyone has the capacity to be evil. The word strange on its own, at the beginning of the second section makes us pause, and think about whats actually going to be strange, which makes you think about the whole section. Throughout Achebes poem there is a lot of imagery a good example of this is Belsen Commandant a mass murderer and his children calling him Daddy, not father. This is probably done so you can visualise how the children have no idea of what there father has actually done, and they are treating him like normal. This is quite emotional to read, as you can imagine this really happening. Another example of Achebes imagery is the metaphors he uses to describe death and horror. In the first section it says vulture perching high on broken bones of a dead tree. This makes the atmosphere more intense, and builds up the tension from the very beginning. There is some alliteration in the poem, but there are not many references to sound. I think Achebe wants to concentrate on more visual images rather than sound effects to suggest his ideas. I liked Achebes version of the poem vultures. It had a very meaningful purpose, which is what Achebe wanted to achieve. He wanted to use vultures as a vehicle to get people to understand that even the most loving of people have the capacity to be evil. I think he used vultures as a very successful vehicle at getting his point across. I also think that this poem is ambiguous on one hand, you could say that even the cruellest of creatures show even the tiniest amount of love, but on the other hand, that even the most loving creatures have potential to be even the slightest bit evil. The second poem called vultures was written my Margret Atwood. She was born in Ottawa, Ontario in 1939. She was a daughter of a forest entomologist, and spent part of her early years in the bush of North Quebec. Atwood is the joint honorary president of the rare bird club of birdlife international. The main message of this poem is how life comes of death. So basically the cycle of life, and even from the most horrific things in life, can bring something extraordinary out of it. Throughout Atwoods poems there are references to death, such as hung and bones. This does not give a good vibe to the poem. Atwood uses several metaphors throughout. Then theyre hyenas, raucous around the kill, flapping their black umbrellas. This is two metaphors in one sentence. She describes the vultures as hyenas which is not only a good comparison but good use of imagery. Also Atwood says the vultures were flapping their black umbrellas this makes them out to seem huge evil animals. The structure of Atwoods poem is done very well, as she occasionally puts odd words on a separate line to make you think about the poem in more depth. The poem is sort of in stanzas but there isnt maybe, which helps the poem keep flowing. All of the lines in the poem are roughly the same length, apart from the occasional odd word. I think it makes the poem easier to read, and get the rhyme flowing at the right pace. Margret Atwood uses a variety of meaningful and powerful words. For example carnage violate gluttonous all these words have a negative impact on vultures. As they are explaining why and how they are vile creates. But some people might say that the way vultures act is completely natural. This is because it is natural for them to eat, which means killing other animals, to feed themselves and there family. Which shows this poem is also quite ambiguous. There arent many references to sound throughout Atwoods version of Vultures. But she does say vultures snigger at funerals. And sniggering refers to sound. This also implies vultures are vile creature, as it is inappropriate to horribly giggle at a funeral. I think that Margret Atwood successfully used vultures as a good vehicle to show how life comes out of death, even in the most horrible circumstances. I thought both Chinua Achebe and Margret Atwoods poems both had very different meanings, but both shows contrasts between humans and vultures. In my opinion Chinua Achebes version of vultures was the best used vehicle to get his point across. As he point his point across very well, and he achieved his purpose that any good work of art should have a purpose. So I think Chinua Achebes poem just slightly had an edge over Margret Atwoods because of Achebes aims for his poem.

Drives for Globalisation

Drives for Globalisation Q) Identify, define and describe three of the drivers of the recent wave of globalisation. Justify your selection, supporting your argument with the use of examples. Introduction Globalisation can be characterized by four factors; the growing worldwide interconnections, rapid, discontinuous change, increased number and diversity of participants, as well as growing complexity (Parker, 2005). According to the Dictionary of Economics (Bannock et al., 2003), the term; globalisation, is defined as the geographical shifts in domestic activity around the world and away from the nation states. It can also be referred to the interdependence of economies, through the increase in cross-border movement of goods, service, technology and capital (Joshi, 2009). Examples of such integrations can be seen in the growing presence of many multinational companies as they expand into new regions (i.e. McDonalds) and the outsourcing of manufacturing and services. There are four main areas that drive the recent wave of globalisation; however, as each area is very broad, this essay will focus on three drivers within the four categories. Drivers of Globalisation The four main areas of drivers for globalisation are market, government; cost and competition (see Figure 1). These external drivers affect the main conditions for the potential of globalisation across industries, which are mainly uncontrollable by individual firms. Market drivers include areas such as common customer needs and transferable marketing, whereby the emergence of global markets for standardized products has enabled corporations to cater demands in new markets with existing products (Levitt, 1983). Government influence is also a major driver, with policies leading to reductions in trade barriers and a shift towards an open market economy. With access to new markets and human capitals, in the area of cost advantage drivers, companies are able to gain new economies of scale by selling at higher quantities, as well as explore the advantage of low cost production through outsourcing and import. In the case of competitive drivers, the growing trade between nations along with f oreign direct investment (FDI) has helped to increase interdependence among countries and organisations, as well as exposing firms to new competitors. This essay will now focus on three more specific drivers from these four areas; the lowering of trade barriers in trade liberalization, the cost differences between countries, and the rapidly changing technology such as the internet. Globalisation is by no means a new phenomenon; periods of growing interconnections had existed throughout history, such as the Silk Road connecting Europe to Asia. However, unlike many of past waves, globalisation today represents much thicker relationships that involve many people and interactions in interconnected networks (Keohane and Nye, 2000). Hence, the reason for focusing on these three drivers is because they are some of the most important factors that influence and steer the recent wave of globalisation. The governments trade policies help to open the door to their economy, while the difference in cost provides incentives for investment such as overseas companies looking to benefit from low cost economies, at the same time, the rapidly changing technology helps to accelerate the rapid diffusion of free enterprises through new means of communication and improved mobility. Trade liberalization As a way to regulate their international economic position, trade policies has been used by various governments to control what goes in (imports) and out (exports) of the country. Most of the restrictive policies are for imports with the use of barriers such as tariffs  [1]  and non-tariff barriers  [2]  , whilst for exports, it tend to be stimulatory (Dicken, 2007). One of the key features and drivers of globalisation has been the liberalization of barriers on trade in goods and services. An important motivation for such action is usually related with market access, as many governments reciprocate each others liberalization decision, each can benefit from the market access provided for its export industries by the other reciprocating government (Hillman et al. 1995). For example, since major reforms to liberalize market since the 1978 and trade, China experienced some of the highest GDP growth (around 10%) in the world for decades where millions were lifted out of poverty. Although there has been a general shift towards trade liberalization around the world, countries still have differing policies and levels of liberalization depending on stages of development, culture and other political factors. One prominent international organization that promotes trade liberalization and brought major reductions in trade barriers is the World Trade Organization  [3]  (WTO), which has the competencies to both enforce existing trade agreement and to pursue new possibilities of liberalization (WTO, 1995). Preferential trading agreement can also take place between countries, such as the European Union (EU) and the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), where members have a common foreign trade policy and substantially reduce internal trade barriers among themselves (Hillman, 2008). Also, though international trade is getting more liberalized, it has not produced similar level of benefit to all countries. For example, the influx of cheap, subsidized agricultu re goods from western countries into poorer developing countries in the south after market liberalization, have devastated many local producers and increase in poverty, as it was the case for the Mexican corn famers  [4]  . Differences in cost between countries As a number of factors such as stage of development, location and demography varies between countries, the cost of factors of production: land, capital and labour, will undoubtedly differ as well. These differences also increase international trade and investment, thus further driving globalisation. For example, in the southern city of Guangzhou, China, 10,000 labourers work legal hours stitching shoes for Nike at $95 a month (Time, 2004). Therefore, it gives great incentive for companies such as Nike to outsource manufacturing work to China and other low cost economies, where goods can be made at a fraction of the cost as opposed to industrialized countries. As seen in the clothing industries, much of manufacturing has moved to the developing world, where there are small barriers to entry, labour intensive and only requires low levels of economic development in the host country. Also, low cost labour does not only apply to low skilled works, a highly skilled professional in emerging economies can still be much cheaper to employ compared to ones in developed countries while producing similar quality of result. For example, the Intel Centrino Duo mobile platform was almost all developed in Intels India development centre  [5]  . When the wages increase as the economy grows, production may be moved to another low cost economy. Of course, the variation in cost is not unique only in human capital, but also in many other areas such as raw materials, which can be influence by geographic location of the country. The cost advantage from outsourcing and importing can be negated by shipping and distribution cost, but when the difference is high enough, as it was shown in the huge variation in salaries between China and US; it will still be cheaper to import. Rapid change in technology Technological advancement in the past few decades have led to major improvements to global connectivity (Wellman et al, 2005), mobility and communication, which in turn helped to facilitate, drive and be driven by globalisation. Examples of technology change facilitating globalisation can be seen in all sectors, from agricultural, production lines, to finance. In particular, one of the most prevalent changes is in information technology, ranging from mobile phones to the internet, where people are able to connect to each other from different localities throughout the world and access all sorts of information (Nyiri, 2005). It is based upon the convergence of communications and computer technologies, shifting from analogue to digital systems. For example, a director in the US can conduct a meeting with managers based in India through video conferencing, saving time and money from such long distance travel. For instance, the Bank of America Corp has 400 video-conferencing systems, and the Cleveland banking company saves $200,000 a month in travel expense by using video conferencing according to one of its spokesperson (Bills, 2006). Although there are concerns of a digital divide between places that are connected and those that not, the recent development in mobile technology can help to overcome obstacles in communication access growth in p oor countries that lack fixed line infrastructures. In another area, innovations in transportation technologies have accelerated geographical mobility, as speed and efficiency of transportation are dramatically lowered. For instance, development in aviation technology from propeller aircraft in the 1950s to jet passenger aircraft by 1960s has cut travelling time by hours, resulting in greater convenience and international mobility. Overall advances in both transportation and communications technologies have made todays complex global economic system possible by overcome the frictions of space and time. Conclusion This essay has only covered some of the crucial drivers in the recent globalisation; there are a number of other drivers and conditions which make globalisation as it is today. Furthermore, each driver has their limitations to the extent of their influence. In the event of the recent global recession, globalisation has come under much criticism as economic shocks can be felt across the globe and affect many people due to the growing interconnection between countries. However, although closing an economy may insulate it from shocks, it can also mean stagnation in growth and even more severe internal crises. Hence, it is also important to remember that most, if not all drivers are dependent on one another, and that the way they are managed will have profound influence on the direction and success of the recent wave of globalisation. References: Bannock G., Baxter R. E. and Davis E. (2003) Dictionary of Economics, 7th ed. Penguin Reference, pp. 161 Bills S. (2006) Video Conferencing Gets Lift from New Technology, American Banker, The Financial Services Daily. Wed. Feb 15, 2006 Dicken P. (2007) Global Shift: Mapping the Changing Contours of the World Economy, 5th Ed, Sage Publications, London Hillman A. (2008)Trade Liberalization and Globalization, Readings in Public Choice and Constitutional Political Economy, Chapter 27. Springer US Hillman A.L., Long N.V. and Moser P. (1995) Modeling reciprocal trade liberalization: the political-economy and national-welfare perspectives. Swiss Journal of Economics and Statistics, 131, pp503-515 Joshi R. M. (2009) International Business, Oxford University Press, New Delhi and New York. Keohane R. O. and Nye J. S. Jr. (2000) Introduction. In Joseph S. Nye, Jr and John D. Donahue (Eds), Governance in a Global World, pp. 1-41. Washington, D.C.: Brookings Institution Press Levitt T. (1983) The Globalization of Markets, Harvard Business Review, May/June 1983: 39-49 Nyiri K. (2005) A Sense of Place. The Global and the Local in Mobile Communication. Wien: Passagen Verlag. Parker B. (2005) Introduction to Globalization Business, SAGE Publication, pp. 6-9 Time magazine. (2004) How Nike Figured out China, by Matthew Forney, Sunday, Oct 17, 2004. Weblink: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,725113-4,00.html Wellman B. et al. (2005) Connected Lives: The Project. The Network Neighbourhood, edited by P. Purcell. Berlin: Springer World Trade Organization (1995) International Trade: Tends and Statistics (Geneva: WTO).

Journeys End by RC Sheriff Essay -- Sherriff Journeys end essays

Sherriff's "Journey's End" On many occasions throughout the book of the play of "Journeys End", Sherriff uses methods to re-create the overwhelming stress of trench warfare. He describes every aspect of the trenches, the guns and the whole life. With this understanding of the trenches, the audience are helped in imagining what it must have been like to live there. In the play, all the narrative writing in the book has had to have been left out. Instead the directors must rely more on the acting and the scenery, which is not to do with Sherriff's work and vision. However the directors of these plays have to get the scenery correct if they are going to make the audience understand the unbearable stress suffered by the soldiers. Sherriff gives good guidance to the directors in the large columns of narratives, which have already been mentioned. With these the directors can strategically set the scenery in certain position to gain maximum effect while also having the benefit of knowing what the stage is meant to look like adding to the overall effects. The main way in which Sherriff re-creates the stress of warfare is in his large chunks of narrative. These are found on many pages throughout the book. He uses these to describe all about the lives of the men and the feelings of everyone. An example of this is on the first page where he introduces a very full-characterised captain. Of course these passages help the directors to grasp some aspect of the way the stage should look but also allows the reader to get his or her own picture in her head. With so many descriptive words throughout the book, it is hard not to imagine the front line in one way or another. This method is very effective as it does give ... ...the end of the book he re introduces Stanhope as an inspiration and tries to please him in many ways. Raleigh uses Stanhope has an idle to get him through the stress. The other way in which he looks to avoid the stress is by sending letters to his family, and having general conversations like the one with Osborne where Raleigh finds out Osborne played rugby for England. Other generalised ways in which the men in the book deal with the stress is through patriotism. Frequent jokes are made about the Germans and many of the troops, including officers only stay and fight because they feel the Germans are doing the world an injustice. Many of the men believe they are fighting for the safety of Britain and their families. The silence of the war is frequently mentioned throughout the book and many of the men gather in unity and sing songs to banish the quiet.

Losing Julia :: essays research papers

  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In Jonathan Hull's book Losing Julia the main character, Patrick Delaney, was a complicated man. At the age of 18, while still very much an innocent boy, he was sent to Europe to fight in a bloody and terrible war. This exposure to the worst of humanity changed him in many ways. During the war he made some of the best and closest friends he ever had in his life. He also watched these friends die a gruesome death while he was only a hundred feet away, unable to help or save them. His entire outlook on life changed. Before the war he was hopeful and optimistic. Afterwards, life didn't seem as important. He went home and tried to be normal, but he couldn't. He married, had kids, and returned to an everyday job as an accountant, but something inside him was missing. He left an important part of himself on the battlefield. It wasn't until he met Julia, that he felt alive again. Through her he was able to open his heart and his soul. Her presence helped to heal the wou nds that the war had left behind. There was a lot that happened to Patrick, love, war, loss, and regret, that made him the type of 81 year old man that he was.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  World War I is a pivotal event in Patrick’s life. It was during this event that Patrick learned what it meant to be a man. He was forced to look inside himself and find the courage that was needed to fight. He questioned his morals, values, and faith, and discovered things about himself that he never knew. For the first time in his life he was completely alive and understood how valuable that life was. During this war, he met and became friends with Daniel MacGuire. Dan became like a big brother to him and Pat clung to him for security and used him as a pillar of strength. He was Patrick’s lifeline and when he was killed, Patrick was lost. For the rest of his life Patrick would never be able to get over Dan’s death. He would always feel guilty that he lived and Dan died. This experience left him very cynical, especially about God. He couldn’t understand how someone who was supposed to be all powerful would let something like war happen, and allow a good man, such as Daniel, to die.

Essay --

Happiness is arguably the most sought after goal of the human condition, and time and money are possibly two of the most valuable resources any individual possesses. The article â€Å"Time, money and happiness: How does putting a price on time affect out ability to smell the roses?† by Sanford E. DeVoe and Julian House (2012), sets out to answer the question; what is the connection between time, money, and happiness? The hypothesis that DeVoe and House (2012) proposed was that there is a frustration caused when the goal of maximizing the economic value of time is obstructed and that this frustration can lessen other benefits of experiences, especially pleasure. This hypothesis requires that the individual think about time in relation to its monetary value and therefore whether or not time can be better spent doing something that brings in money. The researchers tested their hypothesis through a few experiments. The first experiment that DeVoe and House (2012) conducted was to directly test their hypothesis. The procedure of this experiment was to take 53 undergraduate students (32 femal...

Explain the Purpose of Hermeneutics

The primary need of Hermeneutics is to determine and understand the meaning of Biblical text. The purpose of Hermeneutics is to bridge the gap between our minds and the minds of the Biblical writers through a thorough knowledge of the original languages, ancient history and the comparison of Scripture with Scripture. Through Hermeneutics, Biblical Interpretation can be achieved in three ways; historically, the message and the doctrine. The Bible is totally authoritive and inspired by God, however is it propositional or not? To be propositional means that God reveals certain truths at which we respond in accepting these truths. These certain truths may be found in scripture, creeds and or the teachings of the church. Non-propositional approach emphasise God revealing himself at which we respond with faith being a personal belief in God, resulting in us developing specific ideas and or propositions about God. A non-propositional view believes the Bible is a source book of many different accounts of human response to the divine. In Hermeneutics, there are three, among many, significant schools of thought which we are principally concerned; fundamentalism, liberal approach, and traditional interpretations of Scripture. Fundamentalism was first used in the beginning of the 20th century, whose aim was to preserve what they saw as the ‘fundamentals’ of the Christian faith from being eroded by liberal thinking. The fundamentals included the following beliefs; the divinity of Jesus; meaning he was fully God, that God’s ultimate judgement and the existence of heaven and hell and the physical resurrection of Jesus, among others. Fundamentalists believed in the doctrine of plenary verbal inspiration, this is the understanding that, the Bible is the actual word of God to the extent that it was dictated by God, word for word, to the people who wrote it down. To the fundamentals, the Bible is seen as being ‘inspired’ or ‘breathed’ by God in a direct and ‘unmediated’ fashion, meaning the actual writers of the Bible are just conduits and God is the actual author as it is God’s words that they are included, and so God is the words of the writers. Fundamentalists would declare that their view of the Bible can be found in the words of the Bible itself. Similarly Fundamentalists may argue that the Bible itself makes a clear statement of its own dependability. Since the Bible is regarded as being entirely the work of God and that God is the author it is inerrant meaning it can never be changed, questioned or challenged, to do so means you’re challenging God himself. With this idea that the Bible goes without error goes beyond the concept that it is with theological error. Rather the belief of inerrancy includes freedom from geographical, historical and scientific error as well. The second school of interpretation is Liberalism. This grew out of the discussion amongst rationalism and authoritarianism. The Liberal system of Hermeneutics suggests that the modern mentality was to govern someone’s approach to scripture, such as, if anything was not in harmony with ‘educated’ morality, it was rejected, for example Biblical concepts such as hell, sin and depravity as they offend moral sensitivities, and could not believe that their God could punish them in such a way. The Liberal method of Hermeneutics allows the Bible to be open for criticism like any other scripture, for example, miracles are not always to be accepted as they are not of certain truths and are not scientific. Another approach the Liberal system suggest is that the scripture’s text itself could be rearranged, for instance in authoritive order the law comes first however it may be argued that shouldn’t it be ordered by the times in which they were written? The reason behind this approach is that the Liberal method rejects all forms of inspiration. For a Liberal interpreter of the Biblical, the concept of revelation is redefined to mean human insight into religious truth. One of the consequences of the liberal school of interpretation is that the content of doctrinal and theological are not binding, this results to the belief that religious experience is therefore fundamental and that theology is an afterthought. The Liberals believe that the writers of the Bible accommodated their recipients and hence the Bible is not binding on us. Non propositional theology is often favoured by liberal theologians because it places the emphasis on human experience and rationality. The third school of interpretation is Traditionalism. Traditionalists maintain that the Bible is full of truth, God is revealed within the Bible and that it is inspired by the Holy Spirit. One of the key characteristics of their approach to the Bible is its emphasis on the need to understand the nature of the different types of literature within the bible. However, traditionalists would not accept the fundamentalist’s notion of inerrancy as many would acknowledge that there are mistakes in the Bible. These are seen as a reflection of both the historical context in which they are written and the human fallibility f the authors. As with Liberals, traditionalists believe that some aspects of the Bible need to be reinterpreted for today. Traditionalists place a lot of emphasis on the process of exegesis. However, after establishing the intended meaning of the author the next step in the traditional approach is the question of how it should be applied to Christian today. However, whereas fundamentalists believe that the true meaning of a text should be clear to each reader; traditionalists believe that exegesis is more of a complex process. Another characteristic of the traditionalists is that they are open to a range of different forms of scholarship, for instance, open to forms of textual and historical analysis. However unlike the liberal approach such scholarship is generally used to support conservative positions. Unlike fundamentalists, traditional approaches appreciate both the human involvement in the authorship of Biblical books and the historical/literary process through which the books were developed. However, although they acknowledge this human and historical process they do see it also as inspired by God as they recognise that there is something distinct and authoritive about the canon of scripture. Hermeneutics is the science, as it is guided by rules, and the art, the application of these rules, of Biblical interpretation. The description of Hermeneutics as the ‘art of understanding’ comes from a 19th century theologian, Fredrich Schleiermacher. In interpretation, we approach a text, with either, some kind of prior understanding, prejudgement or a pre-conceived idea in order to read out of the text, known as exegesis. Or openly reading the text, to discover something about it which we would not of known before, known as eisegesis. Eisegesis, is most faithful to text, as you have no opinion on the text at hand, however this is also most confusing as it results in a variety of information. One major scholar, as mentioned, is theologian Friedrich Schleiermacher, a founder of modern Hermeneutics, which within his work Biblical teachings are emphasized. Schleiermacher was the first person to introduce a philosophical theory of interpretation, which is appropriate to the Bible along with other texts. He emphasized the affective or emotions as a source of religious experience which is ultimately different from the purely rational approach of philosophy. Schleiermacher also argued that what makes Christianity very special is the historical event of Jesus whose life was one of perfect God-consciousness. It is this which the early authors attempted to capture in their writings. Schleiermacher believed that as religious propositions can only be made known through language the role of Hermeneutics is to unlock the original experience. Using Kant, Schleiermacher argued that the mind seeks to organise different experiences, which can be seen in the different categories or styles of literature contained within the Bible. One of the purposes of hermeneutics for Schleiermacher is to therefore ensure that the right literary genre is applied to the text. Another major scholar along with Schleiermacher is Paul Ricoeur a great philosopher of the 20th century. Unlike Schleiermacher Ricoeur argued that the author is not important in interpretation of texts, only the reader as he develops a view of the world which is enriched and enhanced through his engagement with the text. Ricoeur established between semantic meaning, what the text says, that can me verifiable and the symbolic meaning, what the text means. It is this symbolic meaning which is the purpose of hermeneutics, as symbols go beyond language to the world itself and to human truths and human experience. Ricoeur argued that in modernity the message of symbols have been forgotten, so the hermeneutical task is to restore the original meanings to symbols. Hermeneutics is therefore the philosophy of finding meaning in life; language not only conveys meanings but Meaning of existence. The world itself, it can be argued, may be considered a text in which we can find the meaning; however the advantage of a written text is its existence which makes it independent from an author and his culture therefore allows us the freedom to question it but to also be questioned by it. However we do not need to believe in the world that the symbols of the text refer to, but we can participate as we have the imagination to do so. Therefore the goal of hermeneutics is the understanding.

Nature of the Murderers Essay

Compare the Techniques that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Ruth Rendell use to present the Nature of the Murderers, the Motives and the Consequences.  The two books I am going to compare are ‘The Hound Of The Baskervilles’ by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and ‘People Don’t Do Such Things’ by Ruth Rendell.  Ã¢â‚¬ËœThe Hound Of The Baskervilles’ is an intricate crime detection novel written pre-war in the 18th Century, where Doyle relays facts to the reader incredibly cryptically and at strategic points. These facts, if pieced together correctly, eventually inform the reader of the result of the book and what characters fit in where. It starts with Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson solving, really a puzzle rather than a mystery as they find a walking stick left in their office by someone unknown. This however develops into a full-scale mystery that involves murder, betrayal, dishonesty and revenge. This type of novel was popular around the time of being first published because they somehow matched true stories of the time, for example, Jack the Ripper. ‘People Don’t Do Such Things’ is a short story written post-war and has a much more modern slant on things. It is told through the eyes of the eventual culprit so as to only relay information that the narrator deems to be important and this resultantly deceives the reader in the overall ending of the story. The beginning of the story is a depiction of a happy stable marriage between the narrator and his wife but starts to go downhill from there. The story uses themes of betrayal and murder.  The nature of the murderers in ‘The Hound Of The Baskervilles’ and ‘People Don’t Do Such Things’ are quite different as Stapleton in ‘The Hound Of The Baskervilles’ is in mind to commit the murder so as to have personal gain by inheriting his families’ wealth. In ‘People Don’t Do Such Things’ the narrator is committing the murder in an act of self-denial as he is working with the view that if he canâ₠¬â„¢t have his wife, no one can. In both ‘People Don’t Do Such Things’ and ‘The Hound Of The Baskervilles’ neither author goes into any detail when describing the murders and it is left for the reader to form their own picture or suspicions as to what might have happened. In ‘The Hound Of The Baskervilles’ the first suspicions are set onto a mythical hound that roams the moors. This was a completely plausible theory at the time as a vast number of people still believed in such happenings. However in ‘People Don’t do Such Things’ the first suspicion is set onto the eventual joint victim. This method of putting someone else in the picture of committing the murder is much more modern as this is what generally tends to happen in modern day society. Mythical creatures roaming moors are somewhat absent from what we seem plausible. In both ‘The Hound Of The Baskervilles’ and ‘People Don’t Do Such Things’ the murderers are both killing a member of their family but for very different reasons. The motive of Stapleton in ‘The Hound Of The Baskervilles’ is to get rid of family members blocking the way between him and the his potential inheritance thus deriving a large amount of personal gain. The narrator in ‘People Don’t Do Such Things however kills a member of his family because of depression. He is depressed because he was under the illusion that his marriage was perfect and that a close friend of him and his wife was nothing more but this turned out to be wrong. This eventual false friendship was unknowingly cleverly set up by Reeve – the close friend – and was manipulated to his advantage. He suddenly felt like he had been used when he found out his wife had betrayed him but the person she had had the affair with didn’t want her anymore and neither did the narrator. This left her with nowhere to go and consequently caused problems for both people and son the narrator decided to get rid of the problem once and for all. Both murderers gained self-gratification from the experience but from different motives and from different situations. The two stories also differ from each other when the consequences of the murder are bought into play. In ‘The Hound Of The Baskervilles’ Stapleton’s plot is discovered and unravelled by Sherlock Holmes. In the end Stapleton doesn’t get bought to justice but dies by drowning in a swamp in an attempt to escape Sherlock Holmes, some might say he got what he deserved. In ‘People Don’t Do Such Things’ the narrator doesn’t lose that much, except a feeling of guilt will have settled in his mind, as in the end the wrong person is convicted of the murder. This comparison is a clear example of how the same sort of situation can have more than one, completely different outcome. As a general comparison both authors have written about the same situation but have followed on in different directions as to where the story ends up. Also the fact that the stories where written at completely different times in history affects the way in which the story is constructed and consequently written. Different aspects of the story are directly related to the surrounding society at the time when the story was written such as the language used which can be a major pivot point as to whether the reading audience can understand the authors writing or not. I think this is evident in both ‘The Hound Of The Baskervilles’ and ‘People Don’t Do Such Things’ as the language used in ‘The Hound Of The Baskervilles’ is clearly different from that used in ‘People Don’t Do Such Things’. This type of differential between the two stories can greatly affect how parts of the story are relayed to the reader. As I live in the modern world I can relate to and understand ‘People Don’t Do Such Things’ much better than ‘The Hound Of The Baskervilles’ because of the differences between the way of life in the 18th Century when ‘The Hound Of The Baskervilles’ was written and relatively close to the present when ‘People Don’t Do Such Things’ was written.  Overall I think that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Ruth Rendell both present the nature of the murders, the motives and the consequences in a definitive and individual way but both methods are separate from each other simply because of the difference in the surrounding societies’ believes and understandings.