Jane Campion's The Piano - A Metaphor for European Domination
The exact nature of the encounters between Captain James Cook and the Polynesian natives of Hawaii as well as all interactions and exchanges between Europeans and native Polynesian peoples of the Pacific while Cook was exploring the islands of Hawaii and after has been investigated by anthropologists and historians for many years. Captain Cook died at the hand of Polynesian natives while he was at Hawaii in 1779. Marshall Sahlins stated that Cook was seen as the god Lono during the celebration of the Makahiki festival taking place at the time of Cook’s visit. Gananath Obeyesekere, in his noted work, The Apotheosis of Captain Cook: European Mythmaking in the Pacific, argues that Sahlins is incorrect in his conclusions about Cook and his myth models, which are defined as indigenous people not using rationality in the same way as Europeans. They underestimate the flexibility and pragmatism of indigenous cultures and cosmology. Obeyesekere argues that the Prospero myth and the Kurtz myth are evident in the works of Sahlins and other historians as well. The Prospero myth that is of the European explorer who brings forth peace and a "civilized" culture to the native peoples of the lands he or she explores. The name "Prospero" is taken from a character in Shakespeare’s play, The Tempest. The Kurtz myth is that of the explorer, who witnesses the raw nature and "uncivilized" culture and ideology of the native peoples and becomes himself "savage". The name "Kurtz" originated from Joseph Conrad’s novel Heart of Darkness and is adopted in Francis Ford Coppola’s cinematic masterpiece Apocalypse Now. Obeyesekere’s ideas are prevalent in The Piano, a feature film involving a lov...
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...rts Obeyesekere’s arguments by having the savage element awakened, then subdued with force in the supposedly civilized Europeans, as opposed to Sahlin’s denial of European savagery in the explorations of Cook and the denial that Cook was a savage and bloodthirsty male seeking to kill, using "civilization" as an excuse for killing. This idea is seen in the domination of Ada by both Stewart and Baines, and the males’ violence and sexual aggression toward the innocent and mute Ada. The inability to speak on Ada’s part is a metaphor for her domination by the males, a trait of european culture in the ninteenth century. The piano is the means by which she is able to communicate, embodying both the Kurtz persona in the raw, beautiful sound that flows from the piano, and the Prospero persona in the intricate and ordered melody and harmony with that a skilled pianist plays.
“There was tears on Hazel’s cheeks, but she’d forgotten for a moment what they were about” (Vonnegut, 216), Hazel’s cheeks were wet with tears but because she was distracted by the ballerinas. She forgot why she was crying. The use of televisions was a means of terrorizing the citizens when Diana Moon Glampers shoots Harrison because he disobeyed the law. The killing of Harrison and his empress depicts a view of what happens to anyone who disobeys the law. Harrison brought strength and beauty by removing his and the empress weight and masks where as his parents are so compromised that they could hardly put two logical sentences together. The unflinching language used by Vonnegut to narrate the murder of the emperor and his empress mirrors the cold and inhuman nature of the dead. Electronic devices was also used to deprive people of their memories and stop them from making use their brains for thinking. “He began to think glimmeringly about his abnormal son who was now in jail, about Harrison, but a twenty-one-gun salute in his head stopped that” (Vonnegut, 217). This electronic device stops anyone from using his or her brain with the sound of an automobile collision. The use of technology deprives individual from using their full potentials and thus creating a wall between them and their
Lupack, Barbara Tepa. Take Two: Adapting the Contemporary American Novel to Film. Bowling Green, OH: Bowling Green State University Popular, 1994. Print.
In 1979, Francis Coppola released a film that he said he hoped "would give its audience a sense of the horror, the madness, the sensuousness, and the moral dilemma of the Vietnam war" (as quoted in Hagen 230). His film, Apocalypse Now, based on Joseph Conrad's 1902 novel Heart of Darkness, is the story of Captain Benjamin Willard's (Martin Sheen) journey to the interior of the jungle of Southeastern Asia for the purpose of executing his orders to track down Colonel Walter E. Kurtz (Marlon Brando). Once Kurtz is located, Willard is to "terminate his command with extreme prejudice" because Kurtz has raised an army of deserters and natives, whom he rules over like a fanatical war lord- When Willard finally reaches Kurtz's compound and meets him, he discovers a man who has descended into primitive barbarism. From the beginning of their encounter, Kurtz knows why Willard was sent to find him and makes no effort to stop Willard from slaying him with a machete. With his mission accomplished, Willard boards the boat that will take him. back to civilization.
The 19th and 20th centuries were a time period of change. The world saw many changes from gender roles to racial treatment. Many books written during these time periods reflect these changes. Some caused mass outrage while others helped to bring about change. In the book The Awakening by Kate Chopin, gender roles can be seen throughout the novel. Some of the characters follow society’s “rules” on what a gender is suppose to do while others challenge it. Feminist Lens can be used to help infer and interpret the gender roles that the characters follow or rebel against. Madame Ratignolle and Leonce Pontellier follow eaches respective gender, while Alcee Arobin follows and rebels the male gender expectations during the time period.
Throughout history society has been controlled by men, and because of this women were exposed to some very demanding expectations. A woman was expected to be a wife, a mother, a cook, a maid, and sexually obedient to men. As a form of patriarchal silencing any woman who deviated from these expectations was often a victim of physical, emotional, and social beatings. Creativity and individuality were dirty, sinful and very inappropriate for a respectful woman. By taking away women’s voices, men were able to remove any power that they might have had. In both Alice Walker’s “The Color Purple” and Kate Chopin’s “The Awakening”, we see that there are two types of women who arise from the demands of these expectations. The first is the obedient women, the one who has buckled and succumbed to become an empty emotionless shell. In men’s eyes this type of woman was a sort of “angel” perfect in that she did and acted exactly as what was expected of her. The second type of woman is the “rebel”, the woman who is willing to fight in order to keep her creativity and passion. Patriarchal silencing inspires a bond between those women who are forced into submission and/or those who are too submissive to maintain their individuality, and those women who are able and willing to fight for the ability to be unique.
Amidst extreme attempts from Nurse Ratched and Randall Patrick McMurphy to gain and maintain total control of the ward, Ken Kesey implements specific vivid imagery, as well as intentional instances of exaggerated word choice, to make these attempts clear to readers during part two of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. The men on the ward have felt for some time that Nurse Ratched is oppressing their rights as humans, and now with McMurphy on the ward, “the guys started letting fly at everything that had ever happened on the ward they didn’t like” (145). These complaints are mostly exaggerated, as one suggests that Ratched wants “seven buddies” to go with a patient when he “goes into the latrine to relieve [himself]” (145). This request, although
Thomson, Judith Jarvis. "A Defense of Abortion." The Ethical Life: Fundamental Readings in Ethics and Moral Problems. Ed. Russ Shafer Landau. New York: Oxford University Press, 2012. 351-363. Print.
When Kate Chopin's "The Awakening" was published at the end of the 19th Century, many reviewers took issue with what they perceived to be the author's defiance of Victorian proprieties, but it is this very defiance with which has been responsible for the revival in the interest of the novel today. This factor is borne out by Chopin's own words throughout her Preface -- where she indicates that women were not recipients of equal treatment. (Chopin, Preface ) Edna takes her own life at the book's end, not because of remorse over having committed adultery but because she can no longer struggle against the social conventions which deny her fulfillment as a person and as a woman. Like Kate Chopin herself, Edna is an artist and a woman of sensitivity who believes that her identity as a woman involves more than being a wife and mother. It is this very type of independent thinking which was viewed as heretical in a society which sought to deny women any meaningful participation.
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, written by Ken Kesey is a confronting novel that captures the essence of power and manipulation and the battle to maintain it. Set in a psychiatric ward in 1960s America, Kesey explores Nurse Ratched’s oppressive rule over the ward and her continual manipulation and exploitation of the weak and fragile patients. The arrival of R. P. McMurphy and his rebellious and defiant ways leads to a series of battles between the two characters as they struggle to maintain a position of power and status within the ward. Kesey presents the ideas of vulnerability and strength using a variety of literary devices and explains these ideas through how characters’ behaviours are influenced by the power of knowledge. Through his characters, Kesey explores the consequences of manipulation and exploitation, the injustice and lack of care that the patients are subject to, the results of rebellion and the consequential growth in confidence of the patients, and the boundaries between sanity and insanity, with devastating effect, echoing the conflicts of his time.
for General Electric and did some stories on the side, earning him lots of money. He then left General Electric and moved to Cape Cod, Massachusetts to become a writer full time in 1951.
Piano for Pleasure is a text book for the adult beginners without musical background. Each chapter has seven sections, including listening, rhythm, technique, theory, reading, improvising, and performance. The MIDI files for the text and sound files in Mp3 format will be available on the Web site to download. You will also find much of materials and additional examples in PDF format which may be printed for easier study. The teacher could choose this book for the beginners who must have a very high comprehension.
Language development sees primary school aged children gradually widen their vocabulary, and begin to understand more complex sentences and complicated languages. They advance from knowing how to read and understand more then one to two sentences
The current dominant constitutional principle is parliamentary sovereignty, which means parliament may enact any laws, there are no legal limitations on their law making role. Thus, the doctrine of parliamentary sovereignty is incompatible with an entrenched codified constitution, as a codified constitution would be the highest law. In addition, codified constitutions tend to come about after there has been a serious fracture in the political system of the country concerned; it is seen as a ‘fresh start’. Britain has not since the seventeenth century English civil war experienced a severe rupture to the political system; therefore there has never been a ‘constitutional moment’ of which the fundamental rules needed clarification and writing down into one document.
In 2000 the report of the Royal Commission on reform of the House of Lords described the UK Constitution as “extraordinarily flexible with the capacity to evolve in the light of changes in circumstances and society”.1
A constitution is a set of laws defining the allocation, limitation, regulation of governmental power. This power, in most liberal democracies, is separated among the three branches of the state – the legislative, the judiciary and the executive. The importance of a constitution could not be overemphasized in every country, typically in liberal democracies. Its key functions include establishing the central structure of the state’s government, granting and controlling the governmental power, and determining the way of which the government of the nation interact with its people. The existence of the constitution of the United Kingdom, however, is highly controversial due to its peculiar nature. This essay, applying a positivist approach, regard