In the The Brief and Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz, fukú and zafa are forces depicted as interconnected opposites of each other: fukú is represented as the evils of colonization, and zafa is depicted as the counterspell to fukú. When fukú is first introduced in the book, it is not mentioned without zafa. Throughout the book, fukú is depicted as a faceless man, and zafa is depicted as a golden mongoose. Zafa predates fukú, and continues keeping the de León family safe from harm, whether the family is endangered by the Trujillo regime or not. While at first the novel seems to show them as interconnected forces, the details provided throughout the novel allude to the idea that zafa (good) is more powerful than fukú (evil). Throughout …show more content…
This shows that zafa is actually a powerful Ancient force which does not serve as a protector from colonialism but rather as a savior of humanity. Yunior states that since the Mongoose’s “earliest appearance in the written record–675 B.C.E., in a nameless scribe’s letter to Ashurbanipal’s father, Esarhaddon[1]– the Mongoose has proven itself to be an enemy of kingly chariots chains, and hierarchies. Believed to be an ally of Man.” (Diaz 151). While fukú was not released into the world until 1492 C.E., zafa’s protective watchfulness was first recorded in 675 B.C.E. This shows that the Mongoose’s protective watchfulness has existed long before the creation of fukú. In the letter referenced by Yunior, the Mongoose also serves as a protector of humans. The letter is a response to Esarhaddon when he asks for advice after, while on his way to invade an Arabian village, a mongoose runs beneath his chariot. During that time, there was an omen that misfortune was imminent if a mongoose ran between one’s legs. The letter is a response to Esarhaddon, advising him not to continue with the invasion (Damrosch 154-155). In this way, the Mongoose saved the Arabian people from a very certain demise, protecting them from danger. Furthermore, zafa is not only present when characters’ lives are threatened by Trujillo: it also appears to Oscar when he attempts
Polonius said,” Observe his inclination in yourself” (II.I.78). In this quote it shows that he's protective over his son. He asked Reynaldo too keep an eye on Laertes. Laertes is going to France and he doesn't want to see his son get hurt. Polonius also shows that he's protective in this quote,”There, my blessing with thee/ And these few precepts in my memory/ Look thou character” (I.III.61-64). This is telling Laertes too be careful when he goes to France. He gives him money and advise as he leaves for France. In “The Lion King” Zazu is very protective over Simba and Nala. One way he showed he was protective was when he found Simba and Nala in the elephant graveyard. They went in too there on purpose too look around but didn't know they would be in danger when the hyenas attacked them. Zazu flew in and tried to protect them. He told them to get out and when they were in danger he stayed with them and helped them get to
"Man, when perfected, is the best of animals, but, when separated from law and justice, he is the worst of all." (Aristotle). In Chinua Achebe's novel Things Fall Apart, Okonkwo is living proof of Aristotle's statement. Although he is arguably the most powerful man in Umuofia, His personal flaws of fear of failure and uncontrollable anger do not allow him true greatness as a human being.
In the short story “The Most Dangerous Game”, there are two main characters, Sanger Rainsford and General Zaroff. The story starts off with Rainsford and Rainsford’s hunting partner, Whitney, on a yacht heading to Rio de Janiero to hunt big game animals. Rainsford ends up becoming trapped on Ship-Trap Island, and that is where he and the reader are introduced to General Zaroff. Unfortunately for Rainsford, General Zaroff is not your normal General. General Zaroff and Rainsford are similar and different in many ways, and even though Rainsford believes that Zaroff is a sick individual, at the end of the story he becomes more like Zaroff than he realizes.
G. Zaroff is a cruel person because instead of hunting animals, he hunts humans and does not care for the value of life. He displays this quality when he tells Rainsford “I refuse to believe that so modern and civilized a young man as you seem to be harbors romantic ideas about value of human life. In this quote he shows his cruelness because he doesn’t care about humans but himself. He also doesn’t care for the value of human life.
General Zaroff is described by Connell from Rainsford’s point-of-view, “Rainsford 's first impression was that the man was singularly handsome; his second was that there was an original, almost bizarre quality about the general 's face. He was a tall man past middle age, for his hair was a vivid white; but his thick eyebrows and pointed military mustache were as black as the night from which Rainsford had come. His eyes, too, were black and very bright. He had high cheekbones, a sharpcut nose, a spare, dark face--the face of a man used to giving orders, the face of an aristocrat.” (Paragraph 56). Here Connell really paints a picture in the reader 's imagination of what Zaroff’s appearance is, showing that he is tall, has a very distinctive face, and looks like a man used to giving orders to others. Later on when Rainsford and Zaroff took place in their hunting game, at one point Rainsford was hiding from Rainsford to avoid being killed. When describing what was going on from Rainsford point-of-view again, it was stated that terror was about to burst from his heart, while he was watching Zaroff smoke below the tree he was in. This really lets the reader’s mind know how much fear was going on through Rainsford during this hunting game. Here Connell really shows how his use of imagery relates to the tone of the story and how is set during
...his father’s failure and weakness, and even now he still remembered how he had suffered when a playmate had told him that his father was agbala. That was how Okonkwo first came to know that agbala was not only another name for a woman, it could also mean a man who had taken to title. And so Okonkwo was ruled by one passion – to hate everything that his father Unoka had loved. One of those things was gentleness and another was idleness.
To begin with, Zaroff considers himself as a civilized person because of the various quotes from the story. For example, “Oh yes,.. I have electricity. We try to be civilized here.”(Pg 50). From this we can infer that Zaroff has many uses for his electricity, but in the wrong way in people's mind. First off, he used the electricity to show sailors that there is a blatant channel marker to get hunters and sailors on the island. This is how Zaroff gets his victims, this is how Rainford and his crew
According to Webster’s dictionary, a tragic hero is a protagonist that is otherwise perfect except for flaws that are intrinsic to his or her character, which often leads to his or her demise. In Chinua Achebe’s novel, Things Fall Apart, Okonkwo, the protagonist was unlike tragic heroes such as Oedipus, Iago and Beowulf, because he was not born into nobility, but had to rise to fame and earn respect through his exceptional stamina, hard work and his historic unrivaled success at defeating the famous Amalinze the Cat. Like Beowulf and Oedipus, Okonkwo shares traits that are characteristic of a tragic hero. These traits exposed his mortal fear of failure, his fear of weakness and his fear of becoming like his father who was lazy and poor. Okonkwo also possesses an unwavering pride and an irrepressible anger. Fear, pride and anger are some of the traits of a tragic hero that were inherent in Okonkwo, and this paper will seek to explore how these traits contributed to his downfall Okonkwo’s connection of manliness with rage, ferocity and recklessness eventually leads to his downfall. Okonkwo finds it difficult to accept the changes the Missionaries have brought to Umuofia. The missionaries changed the way the people of Umuofia think, leading to an irreversible division among the people.
Bayezid I- (r.1389-1402) Ottoman ruler who started to besiege Constantinople in 1395. The Europeans saw him as a new threat to Christendom, and Hungary’s king led English, French, German, and Balkan knights in a crusade against the Turks. He defeated them at Nicopolis, and moved their capital from Bursa to France. If Bayezid had not defeated the Christians, the Ottoman Empire might not have taken Constantinople. The armies of Timur defeated him near Ankara in 1402 where he was taken prisoner and died in captivity.
In this essay we will briefly discuss how past history has defined a covenant and what covenant Abraham had with God. There are questions on why God chose a person such as Abraham due to his known demeanor, we will learn how Abraham decided to lead his life to fulfill the covenant and chooses to live a renewed way of life.
Chi as discussed in this novel is the concept most important to understanding the conflict within. Okonkwo's Chi is strong, and immersed the Umuofia in a battle with the British. Further underlying conflict resides in the lack of written law in African society, which led the British to assume they were not civilized, and in a constant state of anarchy. These characteristics coupled with an effeminate church led to the tragic end to Okonkwo's life, and eventually the Umuofia culture.
In the novel Things Fall Apart, chi is a concept that is based around a character’s individual god, in this case, the character Okonkwo. A character's quality is determined by their fortune, whether it's a good or bad chi. The idea of the chi controls and determines a character’s luck or misfortune which can be seen in the novel through the Umuofia clan. The character Okonkwo has a strong relationship with his chi, while it helps him reach a new level of achievement. Okonkwo is introduced as a man who was never lucky, always struggling against poverty and minimal success (26). Okonkwo beat these hardships by working toward the title he deserved. While going through these difficult of times, Okonkwo achieved fame at an early age due to his determined attitude. His fame was due to his success as being the greatest wrestler in all of Umuofia. This was known not to be luck, but by having a good personal god, the chi. The Igbo people of the
Zephaniah the prophet, the opening verse of the book Zephaniah is given a genealogy stretching back four generations. Starting with the son of Cushi. Cushi could be a personal name, but also means Ethiopian . This raises the question as to whether an editor thought that someone who may have come from foreign, perhaps immigrant stock needed a longer pedigree to justify his true Jewishness. Zephaniah is also the great-grandson of Hezekiah; giving rise to speculation as to whether this was King Hezekiah.
American boxer, one of the greatest fighters in the history of the sport. Colorful, talented, and sometimes controversial, Ali entertained fans and intimidated opponents. His boxing style involved graceful footwork and powerful jabs. He also became famous for bragging about himself. For example, he once described his skills by saying that he could "float like a butterfly, sting like a bee," In 1978 Ali became the first boxer to win the world heavyweight championship title three different times. Ali was born in Louisville, Kentucky. His original name was Cassius Marcellus Clay, Jr. He began boxing at the age of 12, after his bicycle was stolen and a police officer suggested that the young Clay should learn how to box. By age 18 Clay had amassed a record of 108 wins and 8 losses in amateur competition. This included six Kentucky Golden Gloves titles, the 1959 International Golden Gloves heavyweight title, and a gold medal as the light heavyweight champion at the 1960 Olympic Games in Rome, Italy. After returning from the Olympics, Clay turned professional. He fought his first professional bout on October 29, 1960, and defeated Tunney Hunsaker. As Clay continued to win over the next few years, he became more vocal about his successes, and he was given the nicknames "Louisville Lip" and "Mighty Mouth." By 1964 Clay had recorded 19 professional wins and had earned a chance to challenge heavyweight champion Sonny Liston. At 22 years of age, he was considered a serious underdog. Nonetheless, he predicted that he would knock out Liston in the eighth round. Clay needed even less time to make good on his claim. His jab-and-dance technique tired Liston, who failed to come out of his corner at the start of the seventh round. Clay was crowned the new world heavyweight champion and proclaimed himself "The Greatest."
The story "Zaabalwi", written by Nagub Mahfouz, is about a narrator 's quest for the Islamic mystic Zaabalwi. The story takes place in Cairo and the narrator looks high and low to find this mysterious character. The people of Cairo see Zaabalwi as a saint of sorts, who possesses physical healing and religious salvation. In all regards, it is an obvious symbol that has significance relating to spirituality.