My Father's Life
“The truth is that the life of an individual is not more interesting than the life of a whole nation. And another truth is that not everyone is able to describe his/her life the way great writers do.” This was my father’s first response to my request of knowing more about his past life.
My father, Ruben Aslanian, was born on April 12 the year 1951 in a small village of Abkhazia called Mteesoubanee. Abkhazia was part of the Georgia republic during the mid nineteenth century and Georgia was one of the fourteen republics of the outdated Soviet Union. The village my father lived in does not have anything in common with the villages of the present time. One of the main differences is that those villages were extremely far away from the main cities. Another major distinctions is the fact that the roads of those villages were not clean and covered up with asphalt and the houses were not provided with electrician, phone or water supply system. Villagers had to get water from either a river or a well that they had built and for light at nights, they had the candles. There was one store for the whole village, which was selling casual items such as soap, candles, matches, canned food and so on.
Each village had a kolkhoz which where large fields owned by the government. Villagers were working on these fields and selling the product to the government in a low price almost without charge. Except working on the kolkhoz, every villager had a field of his individual, which was about as big as 3000 square meters that needed care. The government owed these fields as well, which belonged to the villagers for as long as they lived in the same area. The difference between those fields and the kolkhoz was the villager’s chose of either selling the product or keeping it to themselves.
Villagers did not even have passports. The government would not give them passports on purpose because they did not want them to leave the villages and try to go live in cities. Without a passport, one could not get a visa of a city and without visa; one could not find a job. This system forced people who were born in villages to either live their whole life in the same village or move to another village. In any case, villagers were not able to survive in cities. In other words, if someone had the luck to be born as a villager he had to die one too.
“ I have my own...
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...eir goal was to revenge the people that put them in the prison and ruined their lives. Unfortunately, one of those people was my own father. Like a picture in my mind, I still remember the criminal with a mask holding a gun against my father’s head. I remember my father begging them to not do anything in front of his children and my mother trying to pull us away so we would not be witnesses of the murder of out own father. Fortunately, they did not kill my father. I do not now the reason. I still think that it was the God’s will, because otherwise I just can not explain it. The next day, I found myself in a plain flying out of my motherland to be safe.
“I always remember my house, my garden, my neighbors, and every single city of Abkhazia, where I spent a long time of my life. I want to admit that I live much wealthier life now in America, than back in Abkhazia. The point of our life is not about been rich; the point if this life is, in my opinion, is to wake up in the morning and be able to see beloved relatives and friends. This is not only my misfortune; this is the disaster of every human been that, in his or her middle ages, looses his or her surroundings of a life time.”
The Stone Mountain Coal Company wielded monopoly control over the town of Matewan through a feudal system of economic, cultural, political, and environmental processes. Every person in the town of Matewan came under the power of the company in one way or another. The employees of Stone Mountain were under a bondage contract with the company. Once they came to the company it was impossible to leave and at the same time maintain a basic standard of living. They could not leave also because once they signed on with the company they owed the company a large sum of money for everything ranging from the ticket for the train that brought them to Matewan to the equipment they needed to work there. In this way it was as if they were paying the company to let them work in the mines rather the other way around. They did not have the rights basic to capitalism such as the right to join a union, the right to sell their labor in a labor market to the bidder of their choice, and the right to spend their wage freely.
By 1885, little to no independent countries existed throughtout the whole African continent. This was due to the imperialism done by strong European countries. Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Belgium, and Spain are to blame. There are many possible contributing factors as to why the European countries decided to completely carve up Africa, split it up, imperialize the whole of the continent. Because of the need for resources Africa could supply, the European desire for power, and the European's reaction to the White Man's burden, they took control of almost every square mile in Africa through imperialization.
Prior to the 19th century, the Europeans traded mainly for African slaves. It turns out they were not immune towards certain diseases and therefore had an increasing risk of becoming sick. For years to come this continued, but not much land was conquered. Eventually, conference between only the Europeans was held to divide up the land appropriately, and the scramble for Africa began. The driving forces behind European imperialism in Africa were expanding empires, helping natives, and natural resources.
Any signs of innovation and improvements were saved for cities, while conditions in the villages drastically worsened. Villagers like Matryona would listen about new inventions and Earth satellites through radio as if they were some useless magic wonders, and then they would go on loading peat with forks and eat plain potatoes and barley kasha. Soviet ideology infiltrated Matryona’s life through a wall poster and a radio, but it was unable to change her peasant soul into sophisticated and progressive New Soviet Man. Villagers’ life was a struggle of surviving the winter and finding food to eat, leaving no place for abstract concerns about ideological
Life in Russia during the early 1900’s was exceedingly repulsive, especially for the peasants, of which my ancestors presumably were. The conditions my ancestors lived in can be described as arduous, burdensome, poor, and unhygienic. The house of which peasants lived were cramped and lacked insulation. This made the peasants, moreover my ancestors, prone to diseases such as pneumonia, which was immensely lethal at the time. For those of the lowest social class...
Glebov was raised near the House on the Embankment, a large and elegant government building where many honorable Soviet citizens lived. Although he was always near the admirable building, he was raised in the shade of the building with his family in a small apartment “in which had been born” (200). Young Glebov knew several classmates who had lived at this house, and he envied their lifestyle. The envy that he experienced as a child continued to be a driving force throughout his
The village had shutdown, the once giddy streets became grim. Flowers that once flourished in the meadows around the village wilted and rot. Death took over homes. Blissful faces became helpless.
The American Dream, a long standing ideal embodies the hope that one can achieve financial success, political power, and everlasting love through dedication and hard work. During the Roaring 20s, people in America put up facades to mask who they truly were. In The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald conveys that the American Dream is simply an illusion, that is idealist and unreal. In the novel, Gatsby, a wealthy socialite pursues his dream, Daisy. In the process of pursuing Daisy, Gatsby betrays his morals and destroys himself. Through the eyes of the narrator, Nick, one sees the extent of the corruption Gatsby is willing to undertake in order to achieve his dream. Although Fitzgerald applauds the American Dream he warns against the dangers of living in a world full of illusions and deceit; a trait common during the Roaring 20s. The language and plot devices Fitzgerald uses convey that lies and facades, which were common during the Guided Age, destroys one’s own character and morals. Through Fitzgerald use of symbolism, expectations, and relationships, he explores the American dream, and how it is an illusion that corrupts and destroys lives.
... He was extremely persistent and achieved two of his three goals to becoming successful, but never accomplished his final goal, family. He fought for Daisy, but failed, and in many ways in today’s American Dream people never get their “Daisy”. The reason they do not is not because they were not stalwart, persistent, or diligent, but only because what they are striving for is non-existent. The tragedy is that these dreamers spend their whole lives fighting for their dream and they always pay a terrible price, like Gatsby.
Abortion is considered to be one of the most highly controversial issue in today’s society. As defined by the 2013 Merriam-Webster’s Medical Dictionary, an abortion is, “the termination of a pregnancy after, accompanied by, resulting in, or closely followed by the death of the embryo or fetus.” Abortion is purely based on opinion, so there are some who consider themselves as “Pro-Life” and others who consider themselves as “Pro-Choice”. Regardless of which side of the issue you choose, if you do not see how the terms “Pro-Life” and “Pro-Choice” play a large role in United States major elections in today’s society you do not fully understand the major concepts about this subject. Abortion should remain a legal option for women since the government has no right to interfere with a woman’s personal decisions.
...e situation, to portray many different ways in which serf liberation affected the peasant class. Many contemporary writers criticized emancipation adducing it did not bring any change in peasant’s lives. For example, Nikolai Nekrasov’s ‘Who Lives Well In Russia?’ may be considered a critic of the emancipation. This book is about seven peasants who met after the emancipation and ask each other if they are living well. The answers are negative and the villages were they come from have names that reflect their feelings: “Patched”, “Holey”, “Barefoot”, “Shivering”, “Burned”, “Hungry” and “Harvestless”.
The Scramble for Africa took place during the period of time around 1880 until 1914. During this time Africa found itself being split up and divided amongst several European countries. In essence Africa was like a fresh baked pie and everyone wanted a slice.
involved with Hamlet. It seems that no matter whoever gets involved with Hamlet after he finds
Europeans and Africans have always had some form of interaction mainly through trade, at the time Africans either traded goods or their own people. This lead to Europeans establishing trading post all over Africa, such as El Mina where they traded slaves all around the world. The Europeans became greedy and wanted not only slaves, but Africa’s natural resources. They began to battle over land, Africans did not have the weaponry to win these battles. This helped Europe to increase in land and power throughout Africa. They began to illegally divide the land, throughout Africa in the early 1800s, it was not till the Berlin conference that Africa was legally divided. This was the known as the Scramble for Africa, presented by King Leopold, who convinced them that by dividing land they would help Africa. He promised to promote philanthropy, end Arab slave trade, free trade and increase scientific enterprises. By 1905 most of Africa was under European rule except Ethiopia and Liberia. Europeans managed to suppress the early efforts by most Africans to resist the establishment of colonial rule.
It’s no doubt that our world today is full of unsolved, contentious and controversial issues. Most of them relate to morals, religions or ethics thus create many strong opinions in “yes” and “no” or “good” and “bad” sides. Abortion is one of those sensitive issues. There are numerous proponents and opponents of abortions in the US. Proponents of abortion believe that unwanted pregnancies can be very stressful for women and they should have the right to make decisions about their bodies. However, abortion is seriously wrong because killing a fetus is killing a person. And obviously, death is the end of life for the fetus when the fetus should have the right to have a life just like ours.