The Nature of Culture Essay Example for Free

The Nature of Culture Essay The term â€Å"culture† is mentioned almost everywhere—in the television, at school, in politics, and in the media. What is the nature of culture? What is its function in the society? How does culture relate to individuals and how does culture change? The Nature of Culture   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Culture refers to the collectivity of human activities and symbols that are generated to give deeper meaning and significance to these activities. According to Findley and Rothney (2006, p.14), culture may be â€Å"understood as systems of symbols and meanings that even their creators contest, that lack fixed boundaries, that are constantly in flux, and that interact and compete with one another. † The culture of any given society may be seen in the lifestyle of people, the music and literature, as well as the painting, sculpture, film, and in the technology being used by the society. Culture may also be seen in terms of consumption patterns of people. According to anthropologists, however, culture is far broader than consumption because consumption falls into the broader framework that gives meaning to consumption goods being purchased by people. The science, religion, and relationships between and among people and institutions are all part of culture (Findley Rothney, 2006). On the other hand, cultural anthropologists use the term â€Å"culture† to denote the process and the ability of humans to think about, classify, and communicate experiences and other things in symbols. This means that the experiences, goods, services, and commodities that humans get access to are assigned particular meanings and importance. This process becomes even more important in the case of communities where individuals interact with each other and with the institutions and traditions of the community or society (Findley Rothney, 2006). Culture, the Individual, and Culture Change   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   An individual gets the symbols, traditions, and modes of thinking that are prevalent in the society. Given this, an individual’s mode of thinking is shaped by the culture of the society that they are in. Cultural change, no matter how difficult it appears to be, happens all the time. As generations come and go, the modes of behavior, conduct, and arts of a society change because new inventions and factors in the society are introduced. This can be explained by Thomas Kuhn’s theory on paradigm change. When new technologies, ideas, and processes are introduced, the symbols also change and the way that these processes are understood must change as well. Take for example the nature of the rapid technological change in our society. These changes are happening now at a breakneck speed. Instant communications, instant foods, and other instantaneous processes affect arts, music, and more fundamentally, the nature of interactions between and among people. The prevailing culture and traditions, however, will not simply be supplemented by the emerging new culture. Traditions also affect ways of thinking and how these changes shall be viewed in the broader society. With fast technological change, and the rapid obsolescence of gadgets and technology, the mode of thinking in the society is also changing. The elements of tradition and the modes of thinking in the present culture are also necessary for the transition to be effected. As the negotiation between the old culture and the emerging one proceeds, a new culture emerges in the process. Reference Findley, C. V. Rothney, J. A. (2006). Twentieth-century World, 6th edition. New York: Houghton Mifflin Company.

Tradgedy:The Scarlet Letter :: essays research papers

Tragedy, many people have defined it so many different ways. So, what is a tragedy? Arthur Miller has defined a tragedy by specifying certain characteristics that must be included in the story; there must be living and breathing characters, it must bring knowledge or enlightenment, there must be an internal conflict, and there must be a struggle for happiness. This definition does a really good job of defining what a tragedy is, but I think that there is more to it. I believe for a story to become a tragedy it does not have to have the above aspects, but every reader has to decide whether it is a tragedy to them. Take The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne for example. Arthur Miller states that the story has to have living characters. In The Scarlet Letter, the main characters are Hester Prynne, Arthur Dimmesdale, Pearl, and Roger Chillingworth. Nathaniel Hawthorne successfully brings these characters to life by showing us human nature and by making them breathe and cry and have emotions that only real people can feel. Hester has real emotions as Hawthorne shows us when he tells what is going through her head when she is on the scaffold in the first scaffold scene; â€Å"†¦she saw her own face, glowing with girlish beauty†¦Ã¢â‚¬  He also shows us Dimmesdale and the guilt he endures â€Å"†¦the judgement of God is on me†¦it is too mighty for me to struggle with!† He shows us how Pearl’s darkness throughout the book, â€Å"Hester could not help question†¦if Pearl was a human child†¦. deeply black eyes†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Hawthorne brilliantly portrays these characters as living. Finding enlightenment or knowledge from this book is a bit more difficult. In a specific section of this book, Hawthorne tells the reader right out what the knowledge to gain from this book is, he says that to lie and to be dishonest to oneself and to the public and to carry guilt, as Dimmesdale and Hester did, is the worst possible thing that a human can do. Dimmesdale carried his guilt for so long that it deteriorated his physical and emotional state and drove him nearly mad. Hester carried Dimmesdale’s secret along with Chillingworth’s and it hurt her emotionally also. The third aspect of a tragedy is that there must be a conflict internally. There is definitely a conflict in Dimmesdale about his guilt. When Dimmesdale and Chillingworth are discussing why men keep their sins quiet, Dimmesdale becomes weak from the emotional pain that it brings him.

Motherhood in The Bean Trees Essay

   Another prominent example of motherhood is Lou Ann’s relationship with Dwayne Ray. Although the baby has not developed a personality yet, and cannot respond with his mother, we cannot tell how Dwayne Ray’s part of the relationship is, but we can predict how it will be. It can be assumed that he will always be cared for by his mother, Lou Ann, for her worrisome ways and fear of her sons death keep her a vigilant mother, unrelenting in keeping him as safe and healthy as possible. When she asked Taylor of her opinion of her motherhood skills, Taylor replied that â€Å"‘The flip side of worrying to much is just not caring†¦ Dwayne Ray will always know that, no matter what, you’re never going to neglect him. You’ll never just sit around and let him dehydrate, or grow up without a personality, or anything like that. And that would be ever so much worse. You read about it happening in the paper all the time†¦ Somebody forgetting a baby in a car and letting It roast, or some such thing. If anything, Lou Ann, you’re just too good of a mother. ‘† (pg. 156) of which she speaks total truth that Lou Ann, although worrisome and lacking in backbone, still is a good mother, because she tries with all her efforts to make sure Dwayne Ray grows up. She is of the most passionate of mothers in the book, and will do her utmost to see to it that Dwayne Ray will live past 2000, despite whatever her dreams and nightmares may tell her. Taylor, the main mother of the book, is the only non-biological mother represented, which makes her relationship with Turtle all the more special, meaning that she took her despite their lack of family ties, and fought to keep her, although she could have easily relinquished her duties as mother. Throughout the book, she plays a role she’s avoided all her life, in order to protect and care for this little girl that was given to her care against her own wishes. She has absolutely no clue what to do, and constantly worries that she isn’t raising Turtle properly. Her worries are lessened, however, after Turtle beings speaking, her first noise being laughter because if Turtle was unhappy, she would have not laughed when she did a somersault. Taylor becomes more confidant in her role, and eventually accepts it to be perfectly normal, as does everyone else, and no one even considers Turtle not to be Taylor’s child, proven when many biological references are made between the two, despite their lack of blood ties. After Turtle is attacked in the park, Taylor begins to think that she isn’t doing a good job as a segregate mother, and when Turtle is threatened to be taken away from Taylor, she feels that the case to save Turtle is helpless and begins to think that the state department would do better than she would in raising the child. However, Mattie convinces her otherwise when she tells Taylor that she isn’t asking the correct questions, that â€Å"You’re asking yourself, Can I give this child the best possible upbringing and keep her out of harms way her whole life long? The answer is no, you can’t. But nobody else can either. Not a state home, that’s for sure. For heaven’s sake, the best they can do is turn their heads while the kids learn to pick locks and snort hootch, and then try to keep them out of jail. Nobody can protect a child from the world†¦ Do I think it would be interesting, maybe even enjoyable in the long run, to share my life with this kid and give her my best effort and maybe when all’s said and done, end up with a good friend. ‘† (pg. 178). What Mattie says here when comforting Taylor is a Barbara Kingsolver definition of motherhood. Taylor worries that she is unable to care for a child, and that with this attack, even the state would do a better job than she could, but, as Mattie said, no one can protect a child from the world, and especially someone that doesn’t care for them, like the state. They need a mother, a guardian, anyone that cares about them to raise as good a child as chance permits. Through the caring and affection Taylor received as a child, the worry and extreme concern Lou Ann pays Dwayne Ray, and Taylor’s behavior towards a child that is not her own, all show examples of how, biological or not, a mother or a mother-like role in a child’s life can lead them to riches or ruin. Their moral fiber, their behavior, their ethics all depend upon what they are taught and raised upon. Newt Hardbine and Jolene Shanks never had these morals and ethics instilled in them, thus leading them to terrible, even short lived, lives. Barbara Kingsolver uses these examples, even through minor characters such as Sandi at the Burger Derby and Bobby Bingo who sells vegetables out of his truck. All examples seen in The Bean Trees show that Motherhood and the role of a mother plays a predominant part not only in the book, but universally.

The Pandinus Imperator a.k.a. Emperor Scorpion - 769 Words

The Pandinus imperator, also known as the Emperor Scorpion or the Imperial Scorpion, is native to the hot, humid forests and savannas of Nigeria, Togo, Sierra Leone, Ghana, and the Congo Region. The Emperor Scorpion is the largest, but not the longest of all the scorpions8. They are also not as vicious as they look, they would rather flee than fight. However, if they are cornered they will turn aggressive and go to defensive position. Their venom is categorized as mild and is only as harmful as a bee sting, unless you are allergic. Their large pedipalps (pinchers) are strong enough to draw blood from a human. In this paper the topic that will be discussed is how human action can improve the terrestrial environment that is home to the Emperor Scorpion. Humans need to stop keeping them as pets, slow down deforestation, and plant more tress. The Emperor Scorpion belongs to the phylum Arthropoda, the name Arthropoda means jointed feet. An arthropod is an organism that has a hard exoskele ton made out of a hard substance called chitin. Its body is segmented and each part of its body has its own pair of legs, which are jointed, and it is also an invertebrate10. An invertebrate is an organism that lacks a vertebral column which is also called a backbone11. Every phylum of invertebrates has its own special characteristics, for example cnidarians, of the phylum Cnidaria, have special stinging organs called nematocysts. While invertebrates like echinoderms, of the phylum