Jesus Reflection - 1028 Words

August 17, 2013 Christian Worldview Mrs. Farley Jesus Reflection Essay What I learned from the Jesus film was about his teaching. I have to say he preached a lot of good words and I wished I can see various people practice his words in society and cultural. There are some people who follow and read the Bible to start their life on a righteous path and there are some that I see our falling into sins and wrong choices in life. In the book of Matthew I think Jesus was teaching the people how to carefully listen to one another and follow the rules and they will forever parish in God’s Kingdom. The teaching goes along with cultural because families and churches can keep the traditions going and they too can teach their children and†¦show more content†¦What I learned from the film was about how miracles are performed by Jesus. The guy with the demon inside him reminded me about how people often say â€Å"I have a few demons to fight off!† I know they were saying about their addiction to a resource that they cannot fight off. In today society I realize there are numerous people who have a certain type of demons inside them, but it up to them and their faith in God and Jesus to get it out of them. I remember in the book of Mark when the woman who was bleeding for twelve years and she touched Jesus garment and instantly she was healed, and Jesus wanted to know who touched his garment and she fell to her knees and Jesus said to her â€Å"Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease† (Mark 5:34, ESV). I believe that when you have faith in God then miracles and good things will come your way. In the film I also saw another miracle when Jesus helped a young girl who was sick and everyone thought she was dying. In other cultural they perform miracles too, I remember when I was spending the summer in Mississippi and I had a sinus headache and my grandmother is Baptist and she did not have any Tylenol or Aspirin, she was saying â€Å"We are going to get that demon out of you!† I am Muslim, and to me it was just aShow MoreRelatedJesus Reflection1143 Words   |  5 PagesJesus asked us a question, and that question was Who Am I? Everyone has their own ideas of who Jesus is. For example, someone can think Jesus is a wonderful person, while someone else can think he is a bad person. This question that Jesus ask us is all based upon our own opinions and how we think of him. In my opinion Jesus is our Lord and Savior, and saves us physically by providing the resurrection. Without Jesus there will be this empty feeling in our hearts, he is the reason why we have thatRead MoreJesus Reflection Essay1020 Words   |  5 Pageswhat I have read, viewed, and learned about Jesus’ life. In the following piece I will be reviewing the following topics and how they coincide with my own life and experiences. The topics are as follow: Jesus’ Teachings, Miracles, and His Death and Resurrection. I have chosen these particular topics because I can relate to them in some spectrum of my life to the present day as well as the fact that I specifically admire what these topics entail. In Jesus Teachings (Matthew 5:9, NKJV), â€Å"Blessed areRead MoreKing Jesus Gospel Book Reflection1924 Words   |  5 Pagesï » ¿ King Jesus Gospel Book Reflection Caley Mays Melody Harper GLST 220-001 16 September 2014 King Jesus Gospel Book Reflection My understanding of the gospel prior to this class was that God sent his only son to earth so that we may be forgiven of our sins. The gospel to me was also about Jesus’ life, death and resurrection. As I was growing up I also learned about the great commission. While I learned about the great commission I realized all Christians are required to go outRead MoreReflection Paper: Paschal Mystery of Jesus2182 Words   |  9 PagesPROJECT In Christian Living Education (Reflection Paper: Paschal Mystery of Jesus) Submitted by: Jesthony C. Rodriguez Submitted to: Sir John Paul Cabrera The Paschal Mystery of our Lord Jesus Christ’s main subject is the Passion/Suffering, Death and Ressurection. The Passion includes the physical, spiritual and mental suffering of Jesus in the hours before and including his trial and execution by cruxification. One that comes with my mind is the â€Å"Stations of the Cross†. There are lotsRead MoreReflection Paper On Jesus s The Gospel Essay1322 Words   |  6 PagesPosition Paper 1: Jesus According to Mark Scholars believe the Gospel According to Mark was the first Gospel written. Mark1:1-8:21 reveals a great deal about Jesus’ life through its relatively simple style. Jesus serves as the protagonist character from the beginning, and Mark describes him as â€Å"Jesus Christ, the Son of God† (New Revised Standard Version, Mark 1:1). He quickly becomes known across the area and eventually â€Å"could no longer go into a town openly† because of the large crowds surroundingRead MoreReflection Paper - Virgin Birth, Jesus Claim God, Bible Authority1136 Words   |  5 PagesI. Introduction This paper is going to explore facets of three fundamental truths of Christianity. I hope to answer the questions, â€Å"Does the Bible have authority?†, â€Å"Did Jesus claim to be God?†, and â€Å"Did Jesus need to be born of a virgin?†. These three questions can be summarized with the question, â€Å"Is God reliable in what he has said about Himself, and if we can t take His Word for it, then what?† II. Section One The question of the authority of the Bible rests on the issue of the authorityRead MoreReflection Paper On The Twelve Apostles Of Jesus 1832 Words   |  8 PagesJuliet Ding Biblical Narrative Ms. Murphy 07 Dec. 2015 Reflection Paper #3 Paul who is originally named as Saul is usually known for being one of the twelve apostles of Jesus and his missionary journeys. He is also often being considered as a good leader, because of his patience. Although Paul suffers a lot when he is spreading the Gospel, he never gives up telling people about Christianity and Jesus’ ideas. Most of his missionaries take places in modern day Greece and Turkey or the surrounding areasRead MoreThe Parable Of The Good Samaritan830 Words   |  4 Pagesneighbor is to forgive one another. Lastly, the Korean Revised Version translates, â€Å"the one who had compassion† (Luke 10:37, KRV). In Luke 7:13, we see Jesus ho had â€Å"compassion† to the woman who had lost her son, and told her â€Å"Do not weep† (ESV). This tells us that we must comfort those in sorrows and needs. From my understanding and reflection, a neighbor is someone who is in need. Because I am a teacher, my neighbors are my students. This passage has a strong impact on how I should treat my studentsRead MoreWhat I Choose Apu As A Nurse For More Than 10 Years With A Clinical And Academic Experience848 Words   |  4 Pagesof my classes, I start the lecture with a devotion of the day from various books, such as the book â€Å"Jesus calling†. The words of this book speak to each and every student. I feel it gives encouragement on daily basis. I also show a lot of videos that are inspirational, and could have a message related to the topic we’re discussing in class that day. We usually take some time for prayers and reflection on the week since I last saw them. Beside all that, I do have specific individual assignments forRead MoreReflection Of A Reflective Leadership Retreats1084 Words   |  5 Pageslessons to personal, professional, and spiritual settings. We experienced what Walters (2006) considered the essence of retreats, which is to â€Å"have conversations with each other about things that are important†¦individually and collectively† (p. 22) Reflection on Retreat Experience Accustomed to a world inundated with technology, constant motion, and noise, spending a sustained period of time in nature initially produced feelings of isolation and withdrawal. The feelings of detachment from smartphones

Personal Narrative Tha Thank You Essay - 860 Words

After I spoke those words I felt like there was a weight being lifted off my shoulders, but I still had an overwhelming need to cry. I could tell that Keith felt sorry for me but still he didn’t say a word. He probably didn’t know what to say. What did you say in a moment like that? There was nothing in the world he could have said that would have made me feel better. My whole world was crashing down around me. All I wanted to do was crawl into a hole and never come out again. â€Å"Let me get you home.† He finally said after starting his car. â€Å"Tha†¦ Thank you.† I was grateful. I just wanted to get away from the party. I never wanted to see Madison’s house ever again. I never wanted to see Mason or my sister. My depression was turning to anger, but I didn’t know which emotion was better. As Keith drove me home I just became angrier at them. How could they do this to me? Were they that heartless? Had I dated a monster f or four years? Why had I let him waste a part of my life like that? That was four years of my life I would never get back, and to think that during our slow dance at prom I was thinking about our wedding. I was angry at him, but I was also angry at myself. I was mad at myself for being so stupid. I should have seen it coming. My sister had always been jealous of Mason and me. She wanted what we had, never finding it with any of her boyfriends. She always commented on how handsome Mason was. And prom? She was all over him on theShow MoreRelatedEducation Reform And Curriculum Design2337 Words   |  10 Pagesseveral compliment pieces countering Lippmann’s claims. Dewey did not argue that much of the democratic processes as described by Lippmann were problematic. He conceded that current models were not ideal. However, he did reject any solution tha t erected a hierarchy with an amateur/expert citizen binary. Dewey believed the solution was to provide a better and more holistic education to the public, therefore enriching the public’s ability to discern media messages a nd avoid manufactureRead MoreThe Rise of Social Media and Its Impact on Mainstream Journalism21031 Words   |  85 Pagesof a much wider change in the media landscape. Futurologist Paul Saffo talks of the shift from mass media to personal media. He believes many traditional publishers will fall by the wayside in the process: The Mass Media revolution 50 years ago delivered the world to our TVs, but it was a one-way trip – all we could do was press our nose against the glass and watch. In contrast, Personal Media is a two-way trip and we not only can, but also expect to be able to answer back.7 For academics like ClayRead MoreSupporting the Development of English Literacy in English Language Learners22851 Words   |  92 Pages development, evaluation, and dissemination needed to transform schooling for students placed at risk. The work of the Center is guided by three central themes—ensuring the success of all students at key development points, building on studentsâ €™ personal and cultural assets, and scaling up effective programs—and conducted through research and development programs in the areas of early and elementary studies; middle and high school studies; school, family, and community partnerships; and systemic

The Power of One Character Analysis Free Essays

string(260) " will despise him because he is English, to hearing the beautiful Indian lady with the diamond in her tooth referred to as a â€Å"coolie,† Peekay is constantly made aware that people in this society are unrelenting in their notion of social hierarchy\." The close of the school year returns our hero to his beloved Nanny who listens to his tale of torture and who introduces the first flavor of Africa to the western reader; she summons the great Inkosi-Inkosikazi, a medicine man who will cure the boy of the â€Å"night water. † Nanny tells the boy’s story with all the eloquence of the great storytellers while Inkosi-Inkosikazi and the others listen. Even our hero is in awe: â€Å"I can tell you one thing, I was mighty impressed that any person, most of all me, could go through such a harrowing experience. We will write a custom essay sample on The Power of One Character Analysis or any similar topic only for you Order Now 6 All is set for the night; the chickens have been put through their magic, our hero has had his sweet potato, and it is time for him to meet Inkosi-Inkosikazi in his dreams. When this happens, our hero is shown a quiet place to which he can return in times of trouble. He does this later in the book when he feels a crisis. In the morning, the night water problem has been solved and Inkosi-Inkosikazi presents the boy with the scrawniest of the chickens. He is named Granpa Chook. This chapter is significant for several reasons. As an introduction to the bildungsroman style, our hero is situated in a time and a place. His early tribulations are addressed and he is given weapons to deal with them. His ability to think things over is revealed, and the chapter ends with one hurdle overcome and the boy set to begin another year at boarding school. This time, though, he has the magic of Inkosi-Inkosikazi and Granpa Chook, â€Å"the first living creature over which I had held power. † 7 He is learning that there are ways to cope with injustice. Just as he had decided to remain invisible, our hero learns that there is strength inside of him and that he can summon that strength when needed. He is able to find ways to survive the Judge and other oppressors. This gives hope to any reader who has felt himself the underdog. As the novel progresses, our hero’s ability to rise to the surface despite how different he is to his companions tells the reader that we are all unique and that the power of each one can overcome daunting odds. The above material should serve as the basis for one class discussion. For each chapter, the teacher should examine what is essential to fuel the discussion. This next portion of the narrative will concentrate on the ransitional points in Peekay’s development and the instances in which politics affect his life and environment. The remainder of the first section of Book 1, which will be evaluated through a written assessment (see Appendix C) takes Peekay on a journey to his new home in Barberton. Peekay finishes his time at boarding school where he learns to adapt to the Judge and his â€Å"storm troopers† by doing the Judgeâ €™s homework in hopes that the older boy will graduate and be out of his life. The Judge has carved a crude swastika on his arm. He agrees to allow Pisskop and Granpa Chook live until he passes math and then says Hitler will surely deal with them and they will be dead meat. This plan is altered when Pisskop refuses to eat the turds the Judge forces into his hands and Granpa Chook defecates in the howling Judge’s mouth. He and the storm troopers beat the bird to death, leaving our hero to bury and mourn his only companion. The school term ends, the Judge departs, and Mevrou, who, interestingly, also addresses our hero as Pisskop, prepares him for the journey to his new home by brusquely informing him that he will take the train alone. Free from the Judge, yet mourning the loss of Granpa Chook, they set out. When they meet Harry Crown, the Jew who sells them tackies, the man is appalled at the boy’s name and suggests â€Å"Peekay† which our hero gratefully accepts. Thus far, Peekay has been loved by his Zulu nanny, despised by his Afrikaner schoolmates and subjected to the cruelties of budding Nazis, and treated kindly by a Jewish storekeeper. The next step involves Mevrou’s emotionless parting from the boy when she consigns him to the care of the railway. Then Peekay meets Hoppie Groenewald with whom he travels and who treats him as an individual and a friend. â€Å"Hoppie Groenewald was to prove to be a passing mentor who would set the next seventeen years of my life on an irrevocable course. He would do so in little more than a day and a night. † 8 He introduces Peekay to boxing and brings him to his match where the boy is put under the care of Big Hettie, an aging, overweight Irish women who literally kills herself with food. She is the subject of her own drama which unfolds in the following chapter. Peekay learns from Hoppie that he is a worthwhile person. He learns that there is a goal in each life and to reach that goal one must focus. The most important piece of information he learns, though, is that the power of one can conquer. The child’s mind takes in this crucial information along with his heart’s response to the genuine kindness of the first person who seems to care about him since Nanny. To his dismay, he awakens the morning after the fight to find a note from Hoppie who has left the train. It contains the advice, â€Å"first with the head, then with the heart,† 9 which Peekay follows in all his future endeavors. This section of Peekay’s journey allows characters from several different backgrounds to make their impressions on the boy. The threat of Hitler is somewhat removed, but the marked inequality in the way different groups of people are treated unfolds. From Peekay’s embarrassment at Hoppie Groenewald seeing his circumcised penis and fearing that he will despise him because he is English, to hearing the beautiful Indian lady with the diamond in her tooth referred to as a â€Å"coolie,† Peekay is constantly made aware that people in this society are unrelenting in their notion of social hierarchy. You read "The Power of One Character Analysis" in category "Essay examples" This baffles the boy who sees everyone as the same. But how did he become the egalitarian child who grew into the freedom fighter? His beginnings show him with a bland and ineffectual mother who has a nervous breakdown and is essentially removed from his life. His nanny is the most important person in his small world. Granpa is kindly but vague. These conditions could account for the boy’s acceptance of the blacks in his world, but how does it come about that he also accepts the other disdained groups? While he fears the Judge and his henchmen, he does not profess to despise all other Afrikaners. He takes to Harry Crown and is fascinated by the Indian woman. The key to this acceptance is in his nature as a person and his early experiences. At school he is made into the outcast. For no reason other than his heritage, the boy is punished, humiliated, and threatened with death. He is bewildered, not understanding why he has been singled out this way, yet he does not see his treatment as an injustice in the beginning. His reaction is to try to blend in and remain impervious to the tortures with which he lives. The result of forcing this under the surface is that he becomes a bed wetter. The interesting point here is the cure; Nanny sets out to cure the boy in the only way she knows how. The acceptance into her culture without question or prejudice enlarges the boy’s capacity to understand that all humans are part of the same whole. He communes with Inkosi-Inkosikazi in his dream and is linked to the older man’s culture. This early understanding of the interconnection between all people is what allows the boy to incorporate anyone he meets into his world, his space, and his family. The people who do not fit well are individuals who have strayed from the whole, those such as the Judge and Lt. Borman. These people must be dealt with but they are not representative of their entire race and do not engender hatred from Peekay as such; he can discern them as blotches on the whole of humanity and deal with them appropriately. This maturity is what all intelligent people strive for, hoping to assess an individual and his actions and not mistake the work of one person as representative of an entire race or ethnic group. Peekay seems to exude the feeling of common brotherhood without consciously striving to communicate it, unlike Pastor Mulvery, who is portrayed as being as sincere as he is intellectually able, yet projecting all of his acquired ideals and dogma in a sickeningly conscious manner. Peekay reflects the world around him. He is everyman and everyman is his brother. Through his actions, Peekay speaks to the world around him and those who inhabit it answer him in kind. Throughout the book there are subtle distinctions between the competing Afrikaners and the English, referred to by the Judge as the â€Å"verdomde rooineks,† or â€Å"damned rednecks. Characters toss off ethnic references and racial epithets as a matter of everyday speech, such as, â€Å"I will tell Hoppie Groenewald you behaved like a proper Boer, a real white man,† 10 and â€Å". . . my mother was always getting splitting headaches because she was a white woman and like Nanny said, it was a very hard thing t o be. † 11 Peekay is essentially colorblind. To him, his Nanny is the most important person in the world. His mother is simply the woman who gave birth to him. Without a father, his grandfather is an bsent-minded, distant personage who has little influence on the boy’s life. All the figures in Peekay’s life at this point, save the Judge, are adults, and it matters little whether they are Zulu, Shangaan, Afrikaner, Jewish, Indian, or â€Å"verdomde rooinek. † To Peekay they are all people, each one an entity to examine and understand; sometimes to fear and sometimes to love. The combination of a child’s point of view with the adult narrator’s reflection on these memories frames the picture for the reader, creating a universal point of view for global readers of all ages. After the disappointment of finding his mother under the religious spell of Pastor Mulvery, Peekay discovers that Nanny has been sent back to Zululand because she would not forsake her beliefs for the Christian religion. Peekay’s life would have been unbearably bleak if he hadn’t met Doc. Chapter Nine brings a breath of hope, both intellectual and aesthetic, into Peekay’s life. Instead of remaining in the stifling company of his mother and Pastor Mulvery with the â€Å"escaping teeth,† Peekay has found a mind and heart to nurture his own. His loneliness birds are at bay, and he realizes, at age six, that one can be alone but not lonely. In this part of the book, organized Christianity is portrayed as something to be avoided. None of the characters who embrace the Apostolic Faith Mission seems to be very bright. The whole question of what happens in heaven is almost funny, except that the only response to the little white girl’s query about whether the blacks will still work for the whites is for Pastor Mulvery to tell her that nobody works in heaven. He sidesteps the entire issue of equality and leans toward the â€Å"separate but equal† stance held in the United States. Doc, in contrast, who is a German citizen and therefore perceived as a threat to society, is the most spiritual character in the book; it is he who unwraps the beauty of the natural world for Peekay. In Courtenay’s world, those interested in war and politics are definitely less valuable than those who embrace nature. In the second half of Book 1, Peekay grows from age 6 to 12. His relationship with Doc is the longest and most fruitful of any of his mentors. World War II begins and Doc is imprisoned for being an unregistered German. The injustice spreads as Peekay tries to intervene and is kicked in the jaw and touted as a hero who brought down a suspected traitor. When he comes to in the hospital, his broken jaw wired shut, Peekay is appalled at the report and relies on Mrs. Boxall, his friend and the town librarian, to sort it out and vindicate him. Peekay’s observation of the treatment of the prisoners and the racial prejudice of the prison officials only strengthens his feelings of the necessity for equal rights and education for everyone. He does not think of himself as English; he is South African. Doc accepts his internment graciously, as he is allowed full freedom of movement in the prison and is allowed to have a cactus garden. There is a hierarchy among the prisoners as well. In every collection of humans who must coexist at close quarters there will be some order that emerges or that is imposed. Think of Lord of the Flies or The Admirable Crichton. Power struggles exist among any group of people. Seeing the power that Peekay attains without his seeking it points to the power inside him; the power of one person to make a change. This reinforces the notion that the one who should be held as an example is the one who does not seek power. This is more clearly illustrated in later chapters. The character of Geel Piet could fill an entire book. His relevance to the theme of Peekay’s story lies in his role as a symbol of the downtrodden, poor bastard. He has lived a life of crime, but he is not all bad. He has learned to function within the system to accept what he cannot change. His legacy is: Peekay’s success, the eight-punch combination, and the music that Doc dedicated to him. Peekay’s boxing progresses, his musical abilities, although not masterful, proceed, and his academic career flourishes, due largely to his tutoring by Doc, Mrs. Boxall, and extra help from his teacher, Miss Bornstein, on whom he develops a crush. By the end of Book 1, Peekay has realized the enormity of the inequality of his country. His comprehension has grown from his early fear of Hitler coming to kill him and Granpa Chook to a resolve to continue to fight racial hatred and promote equality for all. How to cite The Power of One Character Analysis, Essay examples The Power of One Character Analysis Free Essays string(260) " will despise him because he is English, to hearing the beautiful Indian lady with the diamond in her tooth referred to as a â€Å"coolie,† Peekay is constantly made aware that people in this society are unrelenting in their notion of social hierarchy\." The close of the school year returns our hero to his beloved Nanny who listens to his tale of torture and who introduces the first flavor of Africa to the western reader; she summons the great Inkosi-Inkosikazi, a medicine man who will cure the boy of the â€Å"night water. † Nanny tells the boy’s story with all the eloquence of the great storytellers while Inkosi-Inkosikazi and the others listen. Even our hero is in awe: â€Å"I can tell you one thing, I was mighty impressed that any person, most of all me, could go through such a harrowing experience. We will write a custom essay sample on The Power of One Character Analysis or any similar topic only for you Order Now 6 All is set for the night; the chickens have been put through their magic, our hero has had his sweet potato, and it is time for him to meet Inkosi-Inkosikazi in his dreams. When this happens, our hero is shown a quiet place to which he can return in times of trouble. He does this later in the book when he feels a crisis. In the morning, the night water problem has been solved and Inkosi-Inkosikazi presents the boy with the scrawniest of the chickens. He is named Granpa Chook. This chapter is significant for several reasons. As an introduction to the bildungsroman style, our hero is situated in a time and a place. His early tribulations are addressed and he is given weapons to deal with them. His ability to think things over is revealed, and the chapter ends with one hurdle overcome and the boy set to begin another year at boarding school. This time, though, he has the magic of Inkosi-Inkosikazi and Granpa Chook, â€Å"the first living creature over which I had held power. † 7 He is learning that there are ways to cope with injustice. Just as he had decided to remain invisible, our hero learns that there is strength inside of him and that he can summon that strength when needed. He is able to find ways to survive the Judge and other oppressors. This gives hope to any reader who has felt himself the underdog. As the novel progresses, our hero’s ability to rise to the surface despite how different he is to his companions tells the reader that we are all unique and that the power of each one can overcome daunting odds. The above material should serve as the basis for one class discussion. For each chapter, the teacher should examine what is essential to fuel the discussion. This next portion of the narrative will concentrate on the ransitional points in Peekay’s development and the instances in which politics affect his life and environment. The remainder of the first section of Book 1, which will be evaluated through a written assessment (see Appendix C) takes Peekay on a journey to his new home in Barberton. Peekay finishes his time at boarding school where he learns to adapt to the Judge and his â€Å"storm troopers† by doing the Judgeâ €™s homework in hopes that the older boy will graduate and be out of his life. The Judge has carved a crude swastika on his arm. He agrees to allow Pisskop and Granpa Chook live until he passes math and then says Hitler will surely deal with them and they will be dead meat. This plan is altered when Pisskop refuses to eat the turds the Judge forces into his hands and Granpa Chook defecates in the howling Judge’s mouth. He and the storm troopers beat the bird to death, leaving our hero to bury and mourn his only companion. The school term ends, the Judge departs, and Mevrou, who, interestingly, also addresses our hero as Pisskop, prepares him for the journey to his new home by brusquely informing him that he will take the train alone. Free from the Judge, yet mourning the loss of Granpa Chook, they set out. When they meet Harry Crown, the Jew who sells them tackies, the man is appalled at the boy’s name and suggests â€Å"Peekay† which our hero gratefully accepts. Thus far, Peekay has been loved by his Zulu nanny, despised by his Afrikaner schoolmates and subjected to the cruelties of budding Nazis, and treated kindly by a Jewish storekeeper. The next step involves Mevrou’s emotionless parting from the boy when she consigns him to the care of the railway. Then Peekay meets Hoppie Groenewald with whom he travels and who treats him as an individual and a friend. â€Å"Hoppie Groenewald was to prove to be a passing mentor who would set the next seventeen years of my life on an irrevocable course. He would do so in little more than a day and a night. † 8 He introduces Peekay to boxing and brings him to his match where the boy is put under the care of Big Hettie, an aging, overweight Irish women who literally kills herself with food. She is the subject of her own drama which unfolds in the following chapter. Peekay learns from Hoppie that he is a worthwhile person. He learns that there is a goal in each life and to reach that goal one must focus. The most important piece of information he learns, though, is that the power of one can conquer. The child’s mind takes in this crucial information along with his heart’s response to the genuine kindness of the first person who seems to care about him since Nanny. To his dismay, he awakens the morning after the fight to find a note from Hoppie who has left the train. It contains the advice, â€Å"first with the head, then with the heart,† 9 which Peekay follows in all his future endeavors. This section of Peekay’s journey allows characters from several different backgrounds to make their impressions on the boy. The threat of Hitler is somewhat removed, but the marked inequality in the way different groups of people are treated unfolds. From Peekay’s embarrassment at Hoppie Groenewald seeing his circumcised penis and fearing that he will despise him because he is English, to hearing the beautiful Indian lady with the diamond in her tooth referred to as a â€Å"coolie,† Peekay is constantly made aware that people in this society are unrelenting in their notion of social hierarchy. You read "The Power of One Character Analysis" in category "Papers" This baffles the boy who sees everyone as the same. But how did he become the egalitarian child who grew into the freedom fighter? His beginnings show him with a bland and ineffectual mother who has a nervous breakdown and is essentially removed from his life. His nanny is the most important person in his small world. Granpa is kindly but vague. These conditions could account for the boy’s acceptance of the blacks in his world, but how does it come about that he also accepts the other disdained groups? While he fears the Judge and his henchmen, he does not profess to despise all other Afrikaners. He takes to Harry Crown and is fascinated by the Indian woman. The key to this acceptance is in his nature as a person and his early experiences. At school he is made into the outcast. For no reason other than his heritage, the boy is punished, humiliated, and threatened with death. He is bewildered, not understanding why he has been singled out this way, yet he does not see his treatment as an injustice in the beginning. His reaction is to try to blend in and remain impervious to the tortures with which he lives. The result of forcing this under the surface is that he becomes a bed wetter. The interesting point here is the cure; Nanny sets out to cure the boy in the only way she knows how. The acceptance into her culture without question or prejudice enlarges the boy’s capacity to understand that all humans are part of the same whole. He communes with Inkosi-Inkosikazi in his dream and is linked to the older man’s culture. This early understanding of the interconnection between all people is what allows the boy to incorporate anyone he meets into his world, his space, and his family. The people who do not fit well are individuals who have strayed from the whole, those such as the Judge and Lt. Borman. These people must be dealt with but they are not representative of their entire race and do not engender hatred from Peekay as such; he can discern them as blotches on the whole of humanity and deal with them appropriately. This maturity is what all intelligent people strive for, hoping to assess an individual and his actions and not mistake the work of one person as representative of an entire race or ethnic group. Peekay seems to exude the feeling of common brotherhood without consciously striving to communicate it, unlike Pastor Mulvery, who is portrayed as being as sincere as he is intellectually able, yet projecting all of his acquired ideals and dogma in a sickeningly conscious manner. Peekay reflects the world around him. He is everyman and everyman is his brother. Through his actions, Peekay speaks to the world around him and those who inhabit it answer him in kind. Throughout the book there are subtle distinctions between the competing Afrikaners and the English, referred to by the Judge as the â€Å"verdomde rooineks,† or â€Å"damned rednecks. Characters toss off ethnic references and racial epithets as a matter of everyday speech, such as, â€Å"I will tell Hoppie Groenewald you behaved like a proper Boer, a real white man,† 10 and â€Å". . . my mother was always getting splitting headaches because she was a white woman and like Nanny said, it was a very hard thing t o be. † 11 Peekay is essentially colorblind. To him, his Nanny is the most important person in the world. His mother is simply the woman who gave birth to him. Without a father, his grandfather is an bsent-minded, distant personage who has little influence on the boy’s life. All the figures in Peekay’s life at this point, save the Judge, are adults, and it matters little whether they are Zulu, Shangaan, Afrikaner, Jewish, Indian, or â€Å"verdomde rooinek. † To Peekay they are all people, each one an entity to examine and understand; sometimes to fear and sometimes to love. The combination of a child’s point of view with the adult narrator’s reflection on these memories frames the picture for the reader, creating a universal point of view for global readers of all ages. After the disappointment of finding his mother under the religious spell of Pastor Mulvery, Peekay discovers that Nanny has been sent back to Zululand because she would not forsake her beliefs for the Christian religion. Peekay’s life would have been unbearably bleak if he hadn’t met Doc. Chapter Nine brings a breath of hope, both intellectual and aesthetic, into Peekay’s life. Instead of remaining in the stifling company of his mother and Pastor Mulvery with the â€Å"escaping teeth,† Peekay has found a mind and heart to nurture his own. His loneliness birds are at bay, and he realizes, at age six, that one can be alone but not lonely. In this part of the book, organized Christianity is portrayed as something to be avoided. None of the characters who embrace the Apostolic Faith Mission seems to be very bright. The whole question of what happens in heaven is almost funny, except that the only response to the little white girl’s query about whether the blacks will still work for the whites is for Pastor Mulvery to tell her that nobody works in heaven. He sidesteps the entire issue of equality and leans toward the â€Å"separate but equal† stance held in the United States. Doc, in contrast, who is a German citizen and therefore perceived as a threat to society, is the most spiritual character in the book; it is he who unwraps the beauty of the natural world for Peekay. In Courtenay’s world, those interested in war and politics are definitely less valuable than those who embrace nature. In the second half of Book 1, Peekay grows from age 6 to 12. His relationship with Doc is the longest and most fruitful of any of his mentors. World War II begins and Doc is imprisoned for being an unregistered German. The injustice spreads as Peekay tries to intervene and is kicked in the jaw and touted as a hero who brought down a suspected traitor. When he comes to in the hospital, his broken jaw wired shut, Peekay is appalled at the report and relies on Mrs. Boxall, his friend and the town librarian, to sort it out and vindicate him. Peekay’s observation of the treatment of the prisoners and the racial prejudice of the prison officials only strengthens his feelings of the necessity for equal rights and education for everyone. He does not think of himself as English; he is South African. Doc accepts his internment graciously, as he is allowed full freedom of movement in the prison and is allowed to have a cactus garden. There is a hierarchy among the prisoners as well. In every collection of humans who must coexist at close quarters there will be some order that emerges or that is imposed. Think of Lord of the Flies or The Admirable Crichton. Power struggles exist among any group of people. Seeing the power that Peekay attains without his seeking it points to the power inside him; the power of one person to make a change. This reinforces the notion that the one who should be held as an example is the one who does not seek power. This is more clearly illustrated in later chapters. The character of Geel Piet could fill an entire book. His relevance to the theme of Peekay’s story lies in his role as a symbol of the downtrodden, poor bastard. He has lived a life of crime, but he is not all bad. He has learned to function within the system to accept what he cannot change. His legacy is: Peekay’s success, the eight-punch combination, and the music that Doc dedicated to him. Peekay’s boxing progresses, his musical abilities, although not masterful, proceed, and his academic career flourishes, due largely to his tutoring by Doc, Mrs. Boxall, and extra help from his teacher, Miss Bornstein, on whom he develops a crush. By the end of Book 1, Peekay has realized the enormity of the inequality of his country. His comprehension has grown from his early fear of Hitler coming to kill him and Granpa Chook to a resolve to continue to fight racial hatred and promote equality for all. How to cite The Power of One Character Analysis, Papers

Oedipus Rex Persuasive Essay Example For Students

Oedipus Rex Persuasive Essay A man who is highly renowned and prosperous, but one who is not pre-eminently virtuous and just,whose misfortune, however, is brought upon him not by vice and/or depravity, but by some error ofjudgment or frailty. AristotleIn Sophocles Oedipus The King, Oedipus, the main character who kills his father and marrieshis mother, undoubtedly qualifies as a tragic hero. According to Aristotles definition, a tragic heromust be highly renowned and prosperous. Oedipus was the King of Thebes and was highlyrenowned for solving the riddle of the Sphinx and killing the monster. A victim of fate vilified by all,he discovers his own downfall and rips out his eyes in self-punishment. This is castration for hisincestuous sin. One of Oedipus key flaws lies in his will to know-and thereby, to control all reality. Oedipusknowledge and determination help him intellectually with solving mysteries like the riddle of theSphinx but lead him ultimately to his tragic downfall. The petition of the chorus that opens Oedipusthe King attests to Oedipus responsible leadership. He has been a good king for Thebes, and when introuble is forthright to saving his city, but in his excitement and energy, Oedipus has no discretion. When, for example, Creon wisely hints that they should discuss the prophecy from the oracle inprivate, Oedipus refuses, insisting that every action related to freeing corruption from the city must bepublic. In his path to follow his will with an intellectual passion, Oedipus listens to no one andis convinced he is doing nothing but good. His dynamic drive to solve the mystery and perform thisintellectual feat in front of all his people end in horror, as he finally discovers that the murderer is noone but himself. By this total error of judgment and blindness Oedipus makes himself a tragic hero. To the chorus, Oedipus explains his blinding as his mournful inability ever to look upon his loved onesagain, but the violence also represents his attack on that part of him that cannot stop seeking out andfinding what is hidden, despite the fateful consequences.