The Rule of St. Benedict and Beowulf books Essay

The Rule of St. Benedict and Beowulf books - Essay Example The Rule of St. Benedict was written at a time when the world was ravaged by great political and economic upheaval brought about by warfare. It was during this time that there was immense chaos and hardship and there was no integrated community whatsoever. Even the monks and hermits spent their lives in tiny cells, huts or caves with self imposed hard rigor. Most of them lived on bread-crusts, indulged in self-flagellation for decades together. Saint Benedict understood that such living was not healthy for community living and therefore revolutionized the existing rules to make life much better. The most important thing he did was to allocate specific time for different activities. He divided the Pg. 2 day by setting aside time for work, prayer, study, relaxation and sleep respectively. This arrangement was rather innovative and well accepted all around since it made life much easier to lead even while creating a good community atmosphere by bringing about order in their daily lives. An ideal ruler always wants the best for his subjects and considering the masterpiece he offered his subjects, there is no doubt that St. Benedict could be called an ideal ruler because he had the good of his people at heart. As a good ruler he was responsible for bringing about peace and harmony through community life by releasing his people from the bondage of hardship and chaos. Even though Benedict was a monk himself, he was not a rigid taskmaster who penalized his subjects. In fact, in his book he states that these rules were ‘nothing harsh, nothing burdensome.’ (St. Benedict ( 1998) On the other hand, he was a concerned leader who wanted to bring about order and peace in his environment. Benedict’s rule is an integral and invaluable guide to us in this contemporary society because it forms the basis of order and structure in our daily lives. Benedict’s vision of order was aimed at bringing people much closer to God. According to Benedict, all indivi duals are equal before God and therefore equality within a community lays the foundation for spirituality and drawing people closer to the Divine. Benedict’s rules have great significance and Pg. 3 relevance in today’s society as it continues to help us maintain order and discipline in our lives. Beowulf is in sharp contrast to ‘The Rule of St. Benedict’ because it is a narrative that comprises of both fact and fiction. It is a mixture of images of people and creatures who are less human and comprises of both comedy and tragedy. Written in the early part of the tenth century A.D. Beowulf is one of the oldest epics in British literature that has managed to survive. Presently a house timber British library in London, Beowulf describes the interesting adventures of a well known Scandinavian warrior belonging to the 6th century. While ‘The Rule of St. Benedict’ is based on factual evidence of real people within a real environment, ‘Beowulfâ €™ is based on fact as well as fiction to express the thoughts and ideas of its author. Throughout the narrative, the author speaks of the descendants of each warrior, the conquests they fought and the manner in which they lost their lives, but constantly keeps close proximity with the Divine and expressing that God is ever present and is a solace and guide to mankind. One such warrior was Shield who though was an orphan, put an end to many enemies and took care of his people like a good king. This idea of a good king is

Factors influencing Language and Literacy - (4) Language Change Essay

Factors influencing Language and Literacy - (4) Language Change - Essay Example With the shift to understanding the importance of culture in teaching English as a second language, teachers are faced with new challenges when teaching adults. Language is complex, far more than just making language and grammar choices. For instance, try translating the phrase â€Å"Linguists have been interested in several aspects of language variations† into Spanish, and then translating the Spanish back to English: Los lingà ¼istas han estado interesados en varios aspectos de la variacià ³n de la lengua. The translation reads: â€Å"The linguists have been interested in various aspects of the variation of the tongue.† That might be quite true because the tongue has a great deal to do with forming words, but it isn’t the phrase that was originally translated. Translation is one of many specific factors that influence language change. What else must be taken into consideration in an analysis of change? An effort will be made to investigate factors such as cultural variation, social networking, ethnicity, communication in a family-unit and technological advances, as they relate to teaching and learning a different la nguage. Looking back at the history of the English language over the past hundred years, pronounciation, spelling and meaning have changed very little, but the number of words has greatly increased because of the industrial revolution and the advent of a technological society. Also, military history, with wars throughout the 1900s, made military language very much a part of the century (Wilton, 2005). In Great Britain, the variances of language, i.e. accent, dialect, variety and register, are especially evident in different sections of England. American English has its own regional dialects, as well as different spelling, pronounciation and meaning for many English words. In Australia, both accent and dialect, as well as several words unique to the continent, make the English language distinctive there. For people from Asian

Radiation Treatment of Foods Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Radiation Treatment of Foods - Research Paper Example The preservation of the quality of the food in terms of flavor, texture and components is also another advantage of the radiation method as compared to other methods (Alothman et al. 201). The first benefit of radiation in food preservation is in terms of effectiveness in disinfection from different forms of contaminants. The use of radiation is recognized as a physical and non-thermal method of food preservation also referred to as cold-pasteurization used to decrease or even remove pathogens and contaminants from food. The process is commonly used for the â€Å"removal of pathogens in fruit juices, hindering the spoilage of seafood and meat products and prevention of microbial growth such as Salmonella in poultry products.† Lower doses referred to as radurization are used to hinder enzyme action such as sprouting and ripening (Dionisio et al. 1267). The process of decontamination then can improve the shelf-life of the food and related products (Alothman et al. 202). The effi ciency of radiation treatment on the basis of price and time is another important advantage. The process of radiation treatment is time-efficient due to the fact that compared to other methods it has short processing time.

The horror of war in Dulce et Decorum est Essay Example for Free

The horror of war in Dulce et Decorum est Essay How does Wilfred Owen portray the horror of war in Dulce et Decorem est? Owens Dulce et Decorem est is a painful, poignant and blunt depiction of the squalid conditions and distressing experiences which had a permanent effect on the soldiers of the 1st world war. He addresses the subject with absolute honesty and frankness as a soldier himself, which brings out the stark contrast of the reality of war to the propaganda which enticed young soldiers to fight to begin with; Owens use of language here shows his deep loathing towards war and misleading propaganda. Firstly I will address the idea in the poem that war is irreconcilable and contradictory to the notions displayed by propaganda posters of courage, bravery, honour, glory and patriotism. The first stanza of the poem is heavy with negative connotations- the men are beggars, weak, destitute and dejected, lacking in hope; they are coughing like hags due to living in the trenches- rife with illness, disease, gas attacks and dead bodies. The use of words like haunting, distant, asleep, lame and drunk create a feeling of inevitable doom; knock-kneed, coughing, limped, blood-shod and dropped indicate ill health and disease. The theme of loss is also significant here; many had lost their boots, all blind, deaf even, connoting the loss of sense organs as well as property, the small comfort of simply having boots. Through the sludge the men curse those who were the cause of their suffering, the Germans, war, propaganda. Nevertheless there is still the theme of duty, and/or a small light of hope amongst the disheartened men- Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots// But limped on, blood-shod. Even in shoes full of blood, the men march on, partly because they have to and they have been ordered to, partly because they have to protect themselves, but mainly towards that distant rest. This portrayal of dedication (to family, cause, life) is in contrast to the positive connotations of bravery or glory. There is nothing positive about the mens desire to push on, only desperation. This is heightened by the fact that this poem was written in 1917, 3 years after they were promised the war would end by Christmas 1914. The second stanza could be likened to wakening from a dream- the men are drunk with fatigue when a small but urgent voice calls Gas! then more urgently, as the danger is fully understood- GAS! following on from this is an avalanche of awkward words like fumbling, clumsy and stumbling which adds to the urgent, staccato feeling of the stanza structure. This feeling of awkwardness augments itself, then becomes relief (just in time) then turns into pity and excruciating empathy for the someone who is drowning under a green sea, as he is yelling out and floundring like a fish, wrenching at the emotions of the reader; and, it seems, of Owen himself. In the 3rd and shortest stanza, Owen seems to be saying to the reader that the things he had seen were so horrific that he wished he were blind himself. He does this by saying that his sight is helpless, that in his dreams, (one would imagine a sanctuary) even in his dreams he is haunted by the man he saw die as he plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning. The end of this stanza is so abrupt as to have a painful effect on the reader, as if this description is a flashback of Owens that he cannot stop his helpless subconscious mind from re-enacting in his dreams. The last stanza is really Owen addressing the reader directly, having described to them the graphic things he had encountered. How there were so many dead that they flung them in the wagon, how his dreams were so terrifying that they smothered him and how horribly he had to watch his friends die, gargling blood. He informs the reader that if they had seen what he had seen, they would not tell with such high zest// To children ardent for some desperate glory,// The old Lie; Dulce et Decorem est//Pro patria mori. That you, My friend, the reader, would not dream of speaking of the war with ardour, if to create a utopian fantasy for ones children; if at all. The fact that Owen capitalises the L in Lie along with the ending of the poem with the religiously indicative Latin phrase shows his sarcastic bitterness clearly- he wants the reader to empathise and feel as he feels when he thinks of how he was lied to about a place worse than hell, and even worse, how it was glorified. In conclusion, Owen portrays the horror of war, with an incredibly graphic nature, as at complete odds with popular considerations. He fills the poem with themes of loss, blindness, illness, fatigue, death, blood, uncleanliness and deafness and likens war to a place worse than hell, worse than the reader could even imagine. He displays war as rife with sickening and squalid substance, and the effects it has on the soldiers who survive as incurable, corrupted, horrific, destructive and vile.

The Child?s Hidden Tiger Essay -- essays research papers

The Child’s Hidden Tiger In the short story The Child by Tiger, Thomas Wolfe portrays mans dark side through the unexpected madness of the seemingly good-natured Dick Prosser and the actions taken by the town people. This story is set in an era when people believed race determined the moral character of a person. Many viewed blacks as social outcast and hence the cause of most crimes. This is true to the extent that African Americans were committing a large number of petty crimes, but were they really the cause. Many factors play into determining a cause, and in this case it is quite evident that the social conditions in which African Americans were forced to live in contributed to there social behavior. However, can these pressures push a man to mental madness and drive him towards mass murder? It is not just to say that he is without fault, but it is true to say that, the coldness of one man will decrease the warmth of another. The story gives us a glimpse of Dick’s life a short period before the cl imax. We are left to probe clues and use our imagination and intuition to come to a personal conclusion of why Dick committed mass murder. The time in which the story takes place was a period of severe racial discrimination especially toward Blacks. The most prevalent attitude toward African Americans was that they were somehow inferior to the whites. This is evident by the referral of Dick as the â€Å"Shepperton’s Negro man† (Wolfe 24). â€Å"Mr. Shepperton himself Arellano 2 declared ... The Child?s Hidden Tiger Essay -- essays research papers The Child’s Hidden Tiger In the short story The Child by Tiger, Thomas Wolfe portrays mans dark side through the unexpected madness of the seemingly good-natured Dick Prosser and the actions taken by the town people. This story is set in an era when people believed race determined the moral character of a person. Many viewed blacks as social outcast and hence the cause of most crimes. This is true to the extent that African Americans were committing a large number of petty crimes, but were they really the cause. Many factors play into determining a cause, and in this case it is quite evident that the social conditions in which African Americans were forced to live in contributed to there social behavior. However, can these pressures push a man to mental madness and drive him towards mass murder? It is not just to say that he is without fault, but it is true to say that, the coldness of one man will decrease the warmth of another. The story gives us a glimpse of Dick’s life a short period before the cl imax. We are left to probe clues and use our imagination and intuition to come to a personal conclusion of why Dick committed mass murder. The time in which the story takes place was a period of severe racial discrimination especially toward Blacks. The most prevalent attitude toward African Americans was that they were somehow inferior to the whites. This is evident by the referral of Dick as the â€Å"Shepperton’s Negro man† (Wolfe 24). â€Å"Mr. Shepperton himself Arellano 2 declared ...

The Godfather: An American Dream Story Essay -- Film Movies

The Godfather: An American Dream Story The Godfather is the â€Å"dark-side of the American dream story† (Turan, pp2). The film follows the practices of a fictional Italian mafia family, the Corleone’s. Though most Americans do not condone the practices of the Italian mafia, they cannot deny that Francis Ford Coppola’s The Godfather is a cinematic masterpiece. This film gave insight to a mysterious way of life that the average person does not have knowledge of. As the audience is educated about the mafia they also are introduced to many stereotypes. Many of the film’s important scenes begin with one key character, Don Vito Corleone and the word â€Å"Godfather†¦Ã¢â‚¬  The setting is very dark as the film opens and a man is asking for the Godfather’s help. Though the Don is not happy about the request he grants it, letting the man know that when the time comes he will have to do him a service as well. As the movie continues the audience is shown that it is a very special day; it is Connie Corleone, the Godfather’s daughter’s wedding day. This is an important factor in understanding why Corleone has granted this request, because of the tradition that â€Å"no Sicilian can refuse anyone’s request on his daughter’s wedding day.† With this line comes the insight that the family and the culture find old world tradition very important. Throughout the movie several people come to Vito Corleone asking for favors and services to be rendered. As the Godfather is commissioning work his daughter’s wedding continues on outside the house. This scene is extremely important to the movie, explaining the family’s background and also the group’s cultural background. Throughout this scene they introduce the audience to all of the characters ... ... educated the average person. The Mafia, as depicted by the Corleone family, is very close knit; those that are not even actual family members are still considered part of the â€Å"family.† This movie can be watched repeatedly and each time is as enjoyable as the first. It is a cultural eye opener and lead to two sequels and several other media items, such as today’s television drama The Soprano’s. Though the world does not condone what this lifestyle is about it will always be interested, and somewhat glorify the traditions and lifestyle of something so secretive and just plain bad. Works Cited Turan, Kenneth. â€Å"Tale of The Godfather is Epic in Itself.† Los Angeles Times 21 Mar. 1997. http://www.filmsite.org/godf.html http://www.mobposters.com/godfather.shtml

Internet’s Adverse Effects on Teenagers Essay

Adverse Effects of Internet on Teenagers: Introduction: The use of internet has grown tremendously among the teenagers over the last few decades. This has largely been caused by a variety of reasons such as education and the need for entertainment. The internet provides a variety of free information and resources that can either build or destroy the life of a teenager. As a result, many teenagers have ended destroyed morally and psychologically due to excessive use of the internet for the wrong reasons. As a matter of fact, research shows that many teenagers get excessively addicted to the internet from the first time they gain access information in the web (Kraut ; Kiesler, 49-74). The growing and excessive use of the internet among the teenagers has also largely been influenced by the affordability and availability of internet both at school and home. This continued use of internet by the teenagers has tremendously affected the teenagers adversely with time. To be precise, most teenagers who have excessively use internet have continued to have problems academically, socially and even morally. Background Information: Research indicates that in every ten teenagers, nine are regular internet users. According to statistics, 87% of the teenagers in the Western World aged between 12 and 17 are regular users of the internet. 51% of these teenagers visit the internet on regular basis. This actually represents about 21 million teenagers who visit the internet. It has also been found that 81% of the teenage internet users basically use the internet for playing video games. This percentage represents about 17 million teenagers (McKenna ; Green, 9-31). The figures above are a direct indication that there is an overwhelming increase in the number of teenagers accessing the internet over the last few years. This information implies that most teenagers are therefore openly vulnerable to some of the evil practices that go on over the internet. As a result, the society has continued to bring up teenagers who are morally corrupt. Refutation: It is important to note at this point that most teenagers are quickly getting addicted to internet use. Most teenagers get addicted to the internet because of the following reasons: First, most teenagers believe that the internet is the best source of entertainment. There are many internet sites that provide free games of that the teenagers can play. Most teenagers therefore visit these sites and spend quite a lot of time playing those games. The teenagers find fulfillment in these games and therefore dedicate much time to play such games. The addiction to internet games by the teenagers has largely been encouraged by lack of enough co-curriculum activities in the schools in the current society. With the current globalization, most schools tend to focus more on impartation of academic knowledge to the teenagers paying less attention to other extra-curriculum activities that are important for the mental development of the teenagers. This has therefore left the teenagers seeking for alternate sources of entertainment which they easily find over the internet. These teenagers have therefore grown to believe that the internet is the best source of entertainment. This is absolutely wrong since the internet games ideally promote the culture of selfishness because it gives the teenager a chance to find solace and fulfillment in the machine. This makes the teenagers to become selfish even as they grow up. Secondly, most teenagers believe that the internet is the best source of informant for academic research. Whenever the teenagers are given class assignments to do, the first research source they run to is the internet. This is because they believe that the internet provides accurate and ready information that can help them to quickly complete their assignments. As a result, many teenagers have been become so addicted to the internet for academic purposes. However, the teenagers need to understand that taking academic materials and reproducing information from the internet can often to academic frauds like plagiarism. The teenagers therefore need to be careful in conducting their research over the internet due to the crime risks they expose themselves to. As a matter of fact, the teenagers need to seek alternate sources of information such as books, journal articles and newspaper articles in conducting their research. This will help them to get information that they fully trust because it is easy to verify the sources of information from books and journal articles. Lastly, most teenagers believe that the internet is the best form of communication. This is because of the various technologies for communication that are actually provided over the internet. Most teenagers tend to lack cellular phones for communication. This gives them the option of communication technologies such as email and chat sessions in different applications over the internet. Through such technologies the teenagers get a chance to effectively communicate with their friends. This has made them believe that the internet is the best source of information since they can easily share their issues with friends over the internet. This is however wrong and should be discouraged. Proper socialization can only be healthy through physically contacting someone. Electronic communication through the internet reduces the relational skills of the teenagers and therefore makes them vulnerable to becoming irresponsible and selfish adults when they grow up. It is important to have good social skills which can only be enhanced through physical relationship (Lee ; Kuo, 7) Supporting Arguments: Internet use has adverse effects on the teenagers because of the following reasons: Internet expose the teenagers to Internet Crimes against Children. The internet is one of the platforms through which predators tend to find teenagers and grooming them for criminal activities such as the production and distribution of children pornography, stalking and contacting the teenagers for sexual acts engagement and even exploitation through sexual tourism. Most of the criminals tend to look at teenagers as perfect targets for achieving their criminal motives. This is mainly because most teenagers tend to be naive, trusting, adventurers, curious and seeking attention as well as affection. This, therefore, makes the teenager so vulnerable to being victims of such kind of criminal acts over the internet. In addition, the criminal acts could turn the teenagers into criminals too especially when there are monetary benefits attached to it. Secondly, the internet has the ability to corrupt the good morals of the teenagers. The internet provides quite a lot of free information and services that have the capacity of corrupting the good morals of teenagers. Illicit and immoral information such as pornography can easily become objects of admiration of teenagers over the internet. It is important to note that most teenagers tend to be at the peek of adolescence whereby they enjoy all manner of new things and are very curious to adventure into things. Due to peer pressure and pressure from their physical bodies, the teenagers are most likely to get addicted internet pornography. Accessing such illicit and immoral information can therefore corrupt their innocent minds. This information is dangerous because it can easily transform them into criminals such as rapists. Anytime the teenagers access the illicit information over the internet, they tend to develop the desire to practice what they read and watch over the internet. As a result, such kinds of teenagers end up not concentrating in their academic work and so scoring poor grades in school. Some also drop out school as they turn out to be frequent law offenders (Handbook of child psychology, 1-101).