In this essay, I will break down this passage from Antin’s book, The Promised Land, into its components. I will explain how those components fit together and discuss their possibilities of meaning. Antin’s discourse will be reviewed and the fit of this piece into her discourse will be evaluated. In doing these steps, it will put the meaning behind Antin’s words that the attempts of the Gentiles to break and convert the Jewish people of Russia brings them closer together and to God in the face of the tyranny of the Czar.
This passage is composed of two dependent clauses connected with a semicolon. The first independent clause contains 26 words and the second clause contains 17 words. Both clauses are complex. The first clause contains an appositive and the second is a combination of an independent clause followed by a
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dependent clause. The beginning of the sentence begins with repetition of words beginning with a w like wall, within, and walls. Directly followed by the repetition of w is an example of assonance between religious, integrity, and Jews. In the next sentence, there is a contradiction between the words fortress and prisoners when Antin says “… a fortress erected by the prisoners of the pale”. There is another alliteration at the end of that statement involving prisoners and pale. In the next statement, “... a stronghold build of the ruins…”, stronghold and ruins create another contradiction in this quote. Again, the word pillaged plays along with the assonance of p throughout the quote. There is also repetition of the word “their” throughout this quote. This occurs when Antin references “… their jailers… their pillaged homes… their children”. The final statement of the quote produces very bold and merciless imagery when stating that their stronghold is “…cemented with the blood of their children”. Antin uses walls to symbolize the physical and social barriers erected by both the Gentiles and the Jews of the Pale. Antin’s mother explains to her in chapter one that the Gentiles “do as they like with [the] Jews” (8) because they needn’t worry about consequence. For the Gentiles, “to worship the cross and to torment a Jew was the same thing to them” (9). The world was built in a way that privileges the Gentiles and oppresses the Jews. The first wall, then, represents the political power of the Gentiles and how it has been used to isolate the Jewish people and place restrictions on Jewish culture and religion. Antin’s second wall symbolizes the resilience of the Jewish people, in direct defiance of the Gentile’s restriction, in fortification of their religious integrity. This wall is much larger, a wall that “the Czar with all his minions could not shake” (26). This is the wall that represents the indestructible, “hereditary faith in God” of the Jews of the Pale. (26). The more restriction, isolation, and politics the Gentiles force on the Jewish people in order to repress and change their way of life, the bigger their “wall within the wall” (26) becomes. Though the Christian imagery and culture forced on Jewish people by the Gentiles is potentially threatening to the Jewish way of life, the Jews of the Pale maintain their religious integrity (fortify their wall), by continuing to honor their own traditions, through Sabbath, teaching in Hebrew schools, and celebrating holidays such as Passover. . One wall is made to repress, while the other wall is made to protect Antin also uses contradicting symbolism and action to emphasize the perseverance of the Jews. She labels the Jews of the Pale as prisoners, but then explains that they have erected a fortress of their own. A fortress is typically an impenetrable and well-equipped structure that provides safety, particularly in times of war. Although they are prisoners to the Gentiles, the Jews have created a figurative fortress from what power they have. Antin explains that the Jews have been “all but dehumanized” (26) by the harassment directed toward them. Their faith is “the only thing that never failed [them]” (26) and is why they resist instead of back down. Their faith makes up the blocks of their fortress and each injustice motivates them to build “higher, thicker, more impenetrable” (26). She also describes a stronghold made of ruins, illustrating not only the resilience of the Jews but again the ingenuity and determination of the community. They survive with what they have and with the injustices they experience and are still able to create a stronghold of their faith. Each malicious attempt of conversion or repression only provides the Jews more to build with, more reason to turn to their faith. There is a large presence of repetition in this passage as well in the form of alliteration, assonance, and the repetitive use of the word “their”.
The alliteration in “this wall within the wall” is used to bring attention to the complexity of the barriers between the Gentiles and the Jews. Taken out of context, there really would be no need to build a wall if a wall is already created. It seems redundant. But the outer wall erected by the Gentiles is also controlled by them, giving them access to the interior whenever they may desire. In building the second wall, the Jewish people empower themselves to prevent the Gentiles’ contact. It is a wall that cannot be broken into or sabotaged at the Gentiles’ desire. When repetition is used again in the phrase “prisoners of the Pale”, its purpose is to reaffirm the connection between the two. In doing so, it also gives the Jews of the Pale a sense of belonging as well. Yes, they are prisoners. But they are prisoners of the Pale and they have erected their own wall in defiance of their captors. They have set their boundaries and in a way, imprisoned themselves to keep their distance from the
Gentiles. The repetition of “their” shows that both walls were created at the expense of the Jewish people. “Their captors” put up the wall to keep them in, “their ruins” are what gave them the materials they needed to build their defiant wall, and “their children” were those whose blood was spilt to cement their wall into place. The first wall was put up to try and deter the Jews, to make life so hard for them outside the Pale that they would want to remain in their enclosure. This also made them a much more compact target for raids and pogroms.
The author believes that the struggle of Jews vs anti-Semites is really just another form of the “rich vs poor struggle” which is existent through many societies in our modern era. The anti-Semites will take out their aggression against the Jews because Jews are an easy target. It is easier for an anti-Semite to accept that he works a hard job for little pay just to make a factory boss rich. However, the question is raised of what good would that do? The anti-Semite needs the job, so he can't quit, and causing an uproar towards his boss would only make him even more unhappy so instead, he channels his hatred in manageable ways, such as toward Jews.
...f the major Optimism of the Jews is that they could not comprehend the killing of all their people. They see it as a task that contains no possible way to be fulfilled. They justify it by saying “Was he going to wipe out a whole people? Could he exterminate a population scattered throughout so many countries? So many millions! What methods could he use?” (6). The answer to their question is yes but there is many chances to escape this fate, although the Jews of Sighet deny it.
Through this we are able to see the importance of Vladimir’s transition to Christianity because the writers of the Chronicle portray the act of moving from paganism to Christianity as one of divine will rather than desires of the flesh. This justification of conversion allows the reader to understand the importance of statewide adaptation in the world of Christian Slavs. To further our understanding of the deep rooted awe felt towards Vladimir’s Christianization of Russia, the Chronicle allows the reader specific examples of divine miracles which illustrate the admiration Slavs felt towards the conversion of Russia. When Vladimir attacks the Greek city of Kherson, he and his armies are unsuccessful and become exhausted by the constant charge on the cities walls. Relief finally comes in the form of a man set on aiding the ever-persistent Vladimir.
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail” utilizes pathos to instill emotion in people and advocate for civil disobedience. The letter also contains alliteration, which adds eloquence to an already logical claim. Pathos is shown in “Letter from Birmingham Jail” on page 8, where it reads, “We can never forget that everything Hitler did in Germany was “legal”...” Anyone reading King’s letter would know he is referring to the Holocaust here, and what it consisted of. They would also associate it with tragic and negative feelings. By comparing the Holocaust to the struggle for civil rights, King directs those sympathetic connotations to his cause. Alliteration too can be found on page 8, in the line, “I submit that an individual
Martin B. Shichtman, in his essay on Wace and Layamon, describes history as "the transcribing of the illusions of an age" (1987, 106). He states that for many scholars in the Middle Ages, translating histories was not so much a matter of setting down, word for word, what were considered to be "hard facts," but of expounding on the truths behind the material, as they were relevant to the time and audience for which they were written. This often involved the omission of some material from the primary source, the addition of new material to it, and the reinterpretation of events and attitudes expressed in the work.
Perhaps for no group of people were ‘the dark ages’ so aptly named as for the Jews. Over the span of one thousand years life changed wildly for the Jewish people and not in a positive way. At the start of the 5th Century the future looked bright but by the 15th century life was engulfed in darkness. This essay will investigate exactly how the legal position of the Jews was able to deteriorate so badly.
Benjamin Harshav’s “Language in Time of Revolution” teaches the reader that social factors, historical factors, willpower, and accidents of history brought back and revived the Hebrew and Yiddish language. This was important because it created the base for a new, secular Jewish society and culture to emerge again with their own language and a new social identity. This new social identity meant that there was a nationalistic movement toward having a common language, literature, and cultural heritage. However, the reason why the Hebrew and Yiddish language lagged in the first place was due to Nazism and Stalinism. These two totalitarian empires wiped out the Yiddish culture since the Jews were not the majority population in places such as Austro-Hungarian and Russian Empires. Since only one language of government and education was imposed on various ethnic groups, it is not a surprise that the Yiddish language became irrelevant. Stalinists argued that Jews can’t be a nation because they do not have a territory and a common language; the Zionists, however, tried to help by enforcing the Hebrew language on immigrants from all countries and languages because they believed in “national power and sovereignty rather than mere cultural autonomy.”
A description of the wall is necessary in order to provide a base for comparison with the rest of the story. Because we only get the narrator s point of view, descriptions of the wall become more important as a way of judging her deteriorating mental state. When first mentioned, she sees the wall as a sprawling, flamboyant pattern committing every artistic sin, (Gilman 693) once again emphasizing her present intellectual capacity. Additionally, the w...
Walls are built up all over the world. They have many purposes and uses. The most common use of a wall is to divide a region. One of these famous walls is the Berlin Wall, which was constructed in 1961. This Wall was erected to keep East Berlin out of West Berlin, and even America had its own wall well before this one. There were a few major differences though. America’s wall, in contrast, was not a physical one that kept capitalism from communism. America’s wall was of a psychological variety, and it spread across most of the nation. America’s wall was more of a curtain in the fact that one could easily pull it aside to see what behind it, but if one didn’t want to they didn’t. This curtain was what separated whites and blacks in America, and one famous writer, James Baldwin, felt there was a need to bring it down. He felt that one should bring it down while controlling his or her emotions caused by the division. One of the best places to see the bringing down of the curtain and the effects that it had on the nation is where the curtain was its strongest, in Birmingham, Alabama.
Are Jewish people ruling the world? How comes that all Jews are rich people? These kind of questions are considerable asked by Turkish people. Lots of conspiracy theories are created and they engage people’s attention. In other words, this issue creates lots of question marks in people’s minds. It would be pretty hard to find out who rules the world for an undergraduate paper but it is clearly possible to mention that Jewish people has always been in a special position in different countries. Jews has always been in a privileged position for the Turkic states as well, especially for the Ottoman Empire and the Turkish Republic. This essay aims to make references to the related issues about the Jewish people and their economic lives. In order to understand the position of Jewish people in the Ottoman Empire, it is beneficial to comprehend the political, economic and social atmosphere in the Ottoman Empire.
Even though Zionist and non-Zionist hearts bleed together at cruelty and mistreatment of Jews, there are many differences such as, the portrayal of Jews. “The basic proposition is that three-fourths of the Jews of the world are living in hopeless misery. Of the ten millions, one-half live in the pale of Settlement in Russia under conditions which have been depicted repeatedly to the horror of civilized mankind. One million are in Galicia, ni...
The poem itself is a technique Robert Frost uses to convey his ideas. Behind the literal representation of building walls, there is a deeper metaphoric meaning, which reflects people's attitudes towards others. It reflects the social barriers people build, to provide a sense of personal security and comfort, in the belief that barriers are a source of protection which will make people less vulnerable to their fears. Robert Frost's ideas are communicated strongly through the perspective of the narrator in the poem, the 'I' voice, who questions the need for barriers. The use of conversation and the thoughts of the narrator reflect the poet's own thoughts. In line thirty to line thirty-five, the narrator questions the purpose of a wall. He has an open disposition and does not understand the need to 'wall in' or 'wall out' anything or anyone.
‘Disabled’ begins in the present, where an unnamed character sits in a “wheeled chair, waiting for dark”. The character is unnamed as are not only one, but many soldiers who are sharing the same fate. Instead of using wheelchair, Owen has used the phrase “wheeled chair”. This suggests that someone has to push the chair for the soldier as he cannot do it by himself, showing that he is dependent on society. Owen uses the word “dark” which may be a metaphor for death. This may indicate that the soldier wasted most of his life and can no longer do anything but “wait for dark”.
The setting in "Mending Wall" by Robert Frost is crucial to the theme that it is human tendency to build barriers in some form whether they are emotional or physical ones. Frost 's description of the wall separating the two properties as well gives us a clear idea of the differences in the neighbors. The way Frost formed his poem by not using a rhyme scheme, no stanzas, a very specific amount of lines and syllables paints a picture of the wall. The author heavily focuses on the perspective of the narrator to further highlight the idea that boundaries aren 't necessarily a bad thing if we question the purpose of our walls that we put up.
In each of Kafka’s writings, there are prominent metaphors relating to anti-Semitic culture and sentiments before, during, and after World War I. Through absurd and irrational predicaments, the characters in Kafka’s stories illustrate the of Jewish people as “alien” and their various identity crises.