Farewell my concubine Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Farewell my concubine - Essay Example The two boys Shitou and Douzi are handed over by their parents to live in a strict training school for the opera in Beijing. The regime there is very harsh, and the boys are trained to perform very stylized roles which require heavy makeup and rigid types of characterization. Douzi is chosen to perform female characters, which involves him training his voice to sound like a woman, and repeating a very significant line which states that he is a girl by nature and not a boy. He has difficulty getting the words out, and repeatedly stumbles over that line, saying that he is a boy and not a girl. He is beaten and punished for this mistake, and the violence of his teacher is a way of showing how forceful communism came to be. The repressive era of the Cultural Revolution in the period between 1966 and 1976 forced people to conform to a rigid moral and social code of behavior, and punished people who resisted by beating them or banishing them to distant places, or even prisons. The training of the boys and the effect it had upon them is a kind of metaphor for the way that China suffered under the Cultural Revolution. The film shows how the two boys grow up to identify with people who are outcasts and oppressed.

Things Fall Apart (Okonkwo Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Things Fall Apart (Okonkwo - Research Paper Example Nwoye, Okonkwo’s oldest son, was a major character that accepted and embraced the new order to the disappointment of his father. Nwoye was the opposite of his father. He loathes war and violence, which Okonkwo cherishes. He embraces the new religion, which Okonkwo vows to destroy. Nwoye’s final decision to leave his father house clearly shows the cultural collapse the new religion brought to the Igboland. The Story Though Okonkwo is a respected leader in the Umuofia tribe of the Igbo people, he lives in fear of becoming his father, Unoka, an idle, poor, profligate, cowardly, and gentle man and could not even think of tomorrow. Throughout his life, Okonkwo attempts to be his father’s direct opposite. From an early age, he builds his home and reputation as the precocious wrestler, who throws Amalinze the Cat â€Å"in a fight which the old men agreed was one of the fiercest since the founder of their town engaged a spirit of the wild for seven days and seven nights † (Achebe 3) He was also a hard-working and a productive farmer. He becomes prosperous, thrifty, courageous, violent, and adamantly opposed to anything else that he perceives to be â€Å"soft,† such as conversation, music, and emotion. He marries three women and fathers eleven children among. He is stoic and tough on the outside but he was not a cruel man. Okonkwo’s life takes a turn a when an accidental murder takes place and Okonkwo was given the responsibility of adopting a boy named Ikemefuna from the village, Mbaino, where the murder took place. Okonkwo comes to love Ikemefuna like a son since the latter turns the feminine Nwoye into a man. In fact, he loves him more than his natural son, Nwoye. After three years, though, the tribe decides that Ikemefuna must die. When the men of Umuofia take Ikemefuna into the forest to kill him, Okonkwo actually commits in the murder. Although he’s just killed his adopted son, Okonkwo shows no emotion because he wan ts to be seen as courageous and not weak like his own father was. Inside, though, Okonkwo feels painful guilt and regret. But since Okonkwo was so wrapped up in being tough and emotionless, he isolated himself from Nwoye, who was like a brother to Ikemefuna. Indeed, Okonkwo never portrays emotions towards anyone even though he feels inward emotions at times as he did after killing Ikemefuna. Okonkwo wraps his inward emotions by outfits of anger express through violence, stubbornness, and other irrational behavior. He was impulsive; he acts before he thinks. Okonkwo demands that his family work long hours despite their age or limited physical stamina, and he nags and beats his wives and son, Nwoye. Later on, during a funeral, Okonkwo accidentally shoots and kills a boy. For his crime, he was sent on exiles for seven years in his mother’s homeland, Mbanta. There, he learns about the coming of the white missionaries whose arrival signals a collapse of the Igbo culture. They brin g a new political system, colonial government; and a new religious order, Christianity. The two new systems weaken the cohesive force among the Igbos and leads to eventual collapse of the Igbo culture. For instance, Igbo outcasts, the Osu, become accepted in the society. As the Christian religion gains legitimacy, more Igbo people including prominent sons became converted. Just when Okonkwo has finished his seven-year sentence and is allowed to return home, his son Nwoye converts to Christianity. Okonkwo is so bent out

Art of Negotiation Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Art of Negotiation - Assignment Example Effective negotiation skills are the solution to every conflict despite the extent of the conflict. Leaving the money on the table is a lose-lose negotiation skill. In a lose-lose situation, both parties in dispute end up being worse off. Each party in this situations feels that they have lost and therefore none claim being discriminated against. In some case, a win-win option is available but the involved parties are not aware. In the case of two prisoners being convicted of similar crimes, a lose-lose, win-lose or win-win situation can happen. This depends on how the criminals individually respond to the allegations against them. If both the criminals confess to the charges are maximum equally sentenced lose-lose situation occurs. If neither of them confesses to the charges and a minimum sentence is laid on them, then they experience a win-win situation. However, if one prisoner accepts and the others decline the allegation at the expense of the other, making his or her opponent face sentence alone, then a win-lose situation occurs. In many countries, elections are bound to have some disputes especially after the announcement of final results. None of the candidates believes and wants to accept the fact that they have been defeated. Therefore, allegations are made on petty issues such as biased counting of votes, bribing of voters, ineffective electoral process, and instrumental failure among others. In such situation, an effective negotiation skill has to be put in place to avoid long and short-term effects to the nation. For instance, war and rivalry among communities. As a negotiator, I would use my negotiating skills in this situation in a wise manner. In the case of some of the allegation by the loser has some basis, the lose-lose situation would have to take place.