Culture and Politics in Fascist Italy Essay Example for Free

Culture and Politics in Fascist Italy Essay In The Patron State: Culture and Politics in Fascist Italy, Maria Susan Stone discusses the cultural policy-making under Mussolini’s regime in Italy from 1922 to 1943. Specifically, she has provided a detailed study of two of the most popular showpieces of public culture during the fascist regime: the reconstituted Venice Biennale and the 1932 Exhibition of the Fascist Revolution. Stone asserts that the cultural politics that happened during the fascist regime in Italy was developed in three stages. The first stage (from 1925-30) was when the Fascists worked with the established institutions of high culture. It was during this stage that the regime discovered that it could not officially sanction any one style or movement. Stone also described this stage as the time when the Fascists dealt with the social elites. The second stage (from 1931-36) was the period when they used patronage and experimentation in an effort to shape cultural institutions according to their specifications. This is also the period when the Fascists increasingly gained support from the mass. They achieved this by moving away from supporting traditional events aimed for social elites and supporting events aimed at the masses instead. And finally, the third stage (from 1937-43), was when they adopted a more coercive set of methods. Through flexible policy of taste and patronage, the Fascists were able to win the consent of artists and draw supporters from the higher class to the masses. The role and use of mass culture during the Fascist regime have always fascinated historians for the past thirty years. Stone had added to the vast researches by other prominent historians such as Walter Adamson, Philip Cannistraro, and Umberto Silva on the same topic but on a new perspective. Work Cited: Stone, Maria Susan. The Patron State: Culture and Politics in Fascist Italy. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1998

Forensic Techniques for Wildlife Crime

Forensic Techniques for Wildlife Crime Lady Monet Buchanan Evaluate the use of current forensic and analytical techniques in the investigation and control of crimes against animals, wildlife and the environment Introduction Wildlife crime has in recent years become a major problem. Many wildlife/animals are being illegally killed, traded and smuggled every day. Illegal smuggling of animals and plants are typically smuggled for medicine, food and antiques. Wildlife trade is predominately done with items such as skin, ivory, horn, eggs, meat, and feathers (Singh et al., 2006). Examples of crimes against wildlife are poaching and illegal hunting of bears, tigers, rhino’s and elephant’s. Whilst all wildlife trade is not illegal, there are still trades such as buying and selling African elephant ivory pre-1947 (Wwf.org.uk, 2009) that are illegal and still despite the laws, are still being traded throughout the world. Items can be smuggled across many different borders and through many different trade routes (Wasser et al., 2007). The convention on international trade in endangered species of wild fauna and flora (CITES) in 1989, ban the international trade of elephant ivory (Singh et al., 2006) , however it is still a major problem today. This essay will focus on three important forensic analytical techniques; radiocarbon dating, stable isotope analysis and X-ray fluorescence analysis, which all aid in distinguishing whether ivory traded is legal or illegal and where the ivory may have come from. Case study’s using these techniques to help combat the illegal trade in elephant ivory will also be discussed and evaluated. Background about elephant ivory and analytical techniques used African elephant ivory trading was ban by CITES in 1989 (Singh et al., 2006) due to the serious threat of global elephant population (Wozney and Wilson, 2012). Although the ban has been put into place, there is still an increase with the amount of elephant ivory being traded. There are many cases where officers around the world have seized tons of ivory and with the help of analytical techniques, have been able to identify they have originated from illegal sources. In 2011 the 13th largest seizure was made involving 23 metric tons of illegal elephant ivory (Worldwildlife.org, 2015). Analytical techniques can be used to detect the type ivory and what specie it may have came from, the geographical identification of ivory and whether the ivory was obtained pre 1947 (legal) or post 1947 (illegal), for example DNA profiling, microscopic analysis, stable isotope analysis and radiocarbon dating. Analytical technique: Radiocarbon dating Aging ivory is crucial to determine its legality of trade and by measuring radioactive carbon-14, for example in ivory antiques, this can determine whether the trade of an item is legal (Uno et al., 2013). Radiocarbon dating can estimate the year the elephant died (ivory being obtained) which then determines whether this was pre or post 1947. This identifies whether the ivory was legally or illegally obtained. Carbon-14 was placed into the earth’s atmosphere between 1945 and 1980 due to a nuclear fallout (Schmied et al., 2011), this meant that there was a significant rise in the levels of carbon-14 in the atmosphere and due to this more being absorbed by plants and animals. The method of radiocarbon dating uses the ‘bomb curve’ dating graph (Smith, 2015) as a reference to the levels of carbon-14 in the atmosphere from around 1940-2000 (Schmied et al., 2011). Levels found in ivory show whether it was taken from an elephant before or after the bomb explosion. One way of using this technique is to extract carbon from a sample as carbon dioxide and add this to calcium carbonate. The release of carbon-14 from the calcium carbonate is then measured (Brunnermeier et al., 2012). Another way is to use an accelerator mass spectrometer machine and bombard the sample with cesium atoms. These atoms are used to split carbon into two lots with a ratio of carbon-14/carbon-12. The comparison of carbon-14 to carbon-12 is then measured to find the significant difference between the two carbons (Phys.org, 2015). The accelerator mass spectrometer counts the amount of carbon-14 present within the sample and figures are plotted on to the bomb curve graph (Smith, 2015). This shows the difference in carbon-14 levels in the sample to the levels in the atmosphere. Using an accelerator mass spectrometer is seen as a more improved and prà ©cised way, as small pieces of worked ivory can be tested (Phys.org, 2015). Researchers used this method to test the accuracy of radiocarbon dating. They acquired samples from an elephant which died in Kenya in 2006 and samples from an African elephant in Utah in 2008 (Phys.org, 2015). The ivory samples, presented the same amount of carbon-14 as those found in grass and plants taken in the same years. As they acquired accurate results, they went on to analyse 29 samples which resulted in minimal carbon-14 levels consistent with the atmospheric levels of carbon-14 before the nuclear bomb. They were able to assign the tusks, to have been legally taken as carbon-14 levels support this (Phys.org, 2015). The benefit of this technique is that it is a quick, simple and affordable test. One of the problems with this technique is that to gain the most accurate results, the samples most likely should be taken from the base of the tusk, as this part has the most recent carbon-14 levels present in the atmosphere just before death. To help aid in more accurate aging results, tests determining the strontium-90 levels within a sample can also be measured. Strontium-90 was also placed in the atmosphere at the time of the nuclear fall-out. Any ivory grown before 1955 would not have any signs of strontium-90 present, so along with naturally occurring levels of carbon-14 before 1955, this would give an exact determination that the ivory samples tested are in fact legal (Schmied et al., 2011). However carbon-14 dating alone in may cases is a precise enough technique (Brunnermeier et al., 2012) and can complement DNA analysis of ivory (Smith, 2015). Analytical technique: Stable isotope analysis Stable isotope analysis is the chemical elements found within chemical compounds such as food, which can determine the diet and trophic levels within a sample. This technique in relation to determining where ivory shipments have possibly come from provides a history of an elephant and what regions the ivory could possibly have come from. Nitrogen, carbon, oxygen and lead can be tested in the ivory samples to find the isotopic compositions gained from foods the elephant ate and therefore compare it to isotopic compositions found in the soils which the food (plants) grew (Aggarwal, Habicht-Mauche and Juarez, 2008). From this the region in which the elephant originated from can be distinguished. As different regions within the world have different levels of nitrogen, carbon, oxygen and lead present, the levels can be tested and compared to the levels found within samples. The ratios of stable isotopes found in ivory samples can be compared to the levels found in the soil and plants in d ifferent regions of Africa or Asia. To determine the stable isotopes present, ivory samples are powdered and treated with hydrogen peroxide and tested to insure there is an isotopic shift (Cerling, Omondi and Macharia, 2007). The instrument used to measure stable isotope analysis is mass spectrometry. This measure’s the levels within the ivory sample and can be compared to the levels found in the soil and food samples from specific regions (Aggarwal, Habicht-Mauche and Juarez, 2008). Results produced can be plotted on graphs showing the different levels of isotopes taken from samples and soils and the different variations of ratios of each isotope. Also maps of different regions for example Ethiopia can show which isotope levels are higher than others in another region such as Zimbabwe. In a case in Kenya, elephant tusks were analysed from different regions in Kenya and central Africa, the carbon-12 and carbon-13 along with the oxygen-16 and oxygen-18, ratios were compared to results found in ivory samples confiscated by Kenyan customs. To help track down the poachers, they wanted to find out whether the ivory samples where obtained locally or from somewhere else in Africa or Asia (Cerling, Omondi and Macharia, 2007). From using stable isotope analysis they was able to distinguish where these confiscated pieces may have possibly come from. Comparing the carbon and oxygen levels found with sample soils taken from Kenya and central Africa, five of the carvings were found to have indistinguishable carbon and oxygen results to central Africa, whilst two carvings were very similar to the Kenyan forest (Cerling, Omondi and Macharia, 2007). In this analysis the limited number of samples from central Africa meant that the results taken from the carvings could not give a prà ƒ ©cised location. Stable isotope analysis found accurate levels of carbon and oxygen consistent with two carvings from the forest mountain elephant bred in Kenya and so was able to link this ivory shipment back to Kenya. Although in studies dating back to 1990, found stable isotope analysis useful as nitrogen and strontium helped scientists in connecting confiscated ivory to three parks in south Africa, there is a belief that this technique still has a number of problems associated with it. One of the problems associated with stable isotope analysis is that this technique uses instrumentation that is very expensive to buy and run and the chemical separation techniques can be time consuming (Aggarwal, Habicht-Mauche and Juarez, 2008). Although this technique can track regions of where samples may originate from, if there is an unsufficient amount of data from previous studies of different regions, samples have nothing to be compared to. The strontium isotope itself has had success in helping in investigations of smuggled ivory, but the cost and time that is required to prepare samples, may slow down the commercial application of using this technique in years to come in the forensic industry (Aggarwal, Habicht-Mauche and Juarez, 2008). Analytical technique: X-ray fluorescence analysis X-ray fluorescence analysis is a technique which reveals the chemical elements present within a sample (Singh et al., 2006). This technique can provide preliminary data to the analytical techniques mentioned above. X-ray fluorescence can distinguish ivory from a range of elephant populations in various regions of Africa and Asia (Kautenburger, Wannemacher and Mà ¼ller, 2004). To undergo this analysis, samples of ivory are polished and dried overnight and a small section of the sample is used for direct analysis (Kautenburger, Wannemacher and Mà ¼ller, 2004). The instrument used for analysis is an X-ray spectrometer. When the sample is dried and examined, intensity peaks are given in a spectrum which shows various elements present and at what concentrations they appear at (Singh et al., 2006). The different elements and their concentrations shown in the spectra for example are iron (Fe), silicon (Si), sulphur (S), strontium (Sr) and hafnium (Hf) (Singh et al., 2006). Different samples will present different peaks of elements and different concentrations which can be use to distinguish between different breeds of elephants in different regions such as Africa and Asia. In a study done by researchers to characterize elephant ivory between regions of Africa and Asia, results found elements of Sr and Hf to have longer intensity peaks and therefore higher concentrations in African ivory than in Asian ivory (Singh et al., 2006). Another study carried out was able differentiate the ivory samples of two different elephant species within African, by the intensity peaks of elements such as Sr, Fe, Si and S and comparing them against reference samples taken from the same specie (Kautenburger, Wannemacher and Mà ¼ller, 2004). One of the main benefits of this technique is that it is a quick and cheap, non destructive technique that can be used for both quantitative and qualitative analysis (Kautenburger, Wannemacher and Mà ¼ller, 2004). Given that the studies above both were able to conclude with positives outcomes, this technique however does have limitations. One of the problems of this technique is that there can be marginable differences/similarities in intensity element peaks, which can make characterizing ivory from different regions or different species quite challenging (Singh et al., 2006). Another problem is with large numbers of ivory samples, validity of results may not always be achieved (Kautenburger, Wannemacher and Mà ¼ller, 2004). On the other hand this technique is used as preliminary data and such analytical techniques like DNA and radiocarbon dating can help support findings. Conclusion From examining three various analytical techniques used in the illegal trade of elephant ivory, it is possible to say that these techniques along with other analytical techniques such as DNA can aid in finding the year ivory was obtained and therefore assign whether samples being traded are legal (antique) or illegal (modern). Although radiocarbon dating is one of the most recent techniques, out of the three, it has become one the most successful techniques as it can pin point the exact year ivory was obtained from an accurate reading of carbon-14 in a sample and comparing it to the bomb curve data. Although it has a short half-life, hopefully in the future another test will be discovered. Unlike X-ray fluorescence which needs confirmatory tests such as DNA and radiocarbon dating for results to coincide with, stable isotopes with more research can lead to more precise and accurate results. Nevertheless all techniques have and will be continually used in the forensic industry. References Aggarwal, J., Habicht-Mauche, J. and Juarez, C. (2008). Application of heavy stable isotopes  in forensic isotope geochemistry: A review.Applied Geochemistry, 23(9), pp.2658-2666. Brunnermeier, M., Schmied, S., Mà ¼ller-Boge, M. and Schupfner, R. (2012). Dating of ivory from 20th century by determination of 14C by the direct absorption method.Applied Radiation and Isotopes, 70(8), pp.1595-1602. Cerling, T., Omondi, P. and Macharia, A. (2007). Diets of Kenyan elephants from stable isotopes and the origin of confiscated ivory in Kenya.African Journal of Ecology, 45(4), pp.614-623. Kautenburger, R., Wannemacher, J. and Mà ¼ller, P. (2004). Multi element analysis by X-ray fluorescence: A powerful tool of ivory identification from various origins.Journal of Radioanalytical and Nuclear Chemistry, 260(2), pp.399-404. Phys.org, (2015).Age and legality of ivory revealed by carbon-14 dating can fight poachers. [online] Available at: http://phys.org/news/2013-07-age-legality-ivory-revealed-carbon-.html [Accessed 7 Jan. 2015]. Schmied, S., Brunnermeier, M., Schupfner, R. and Wolfbeis, O. (2011). Age assessment of ivory by analysis of 14C and 90Sr to determine whether there is an antique on hand.Forensic Science International, 207(1-3), pp.e1-e4. Singh, R., Goyal, S., Khanna, P., Mukherjee, P. and Sukumar, R. (2006). Using morphometric and analytical techniques to characterize elephant ivory.Forensic Science International, 162(1-3), pp.144-151. Smith, R. (2015).Cold War Radioactivity Can Date Illegal Elephant Ivory. [online] National Geographic. Available at: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2013/06/130701-elephants-ivory-poaching-trade-science-animals/ [Accessed 7 Jan. 2015]. Uno, K., Quade, J., Fisher, D., Wittemyer, G., Douglas-Hamilton, I., Andanje, S., Omondi, P., Litoroh, M. and Cerling, T. (2013). Bomb-curve radiocarbon measurement of recent biologic tissues and applications to wildlife forensics and stable isotope (paleo)ecology.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 110(29), pp.11736-11741. Wasser, S., Mailand, C., Booth, R., Mutayoba, B., Kisamo, E., Clark, B. and Stephens, M. (2007). Using DNA to track the origin of the largest ivory seizure since the 1989 trade ban.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 104(10), pp.4228-4233. Worldwildlife.org, (2015).Illegal Wildlife Trade | Threats | WWF. [online] Available at: http://www.worldwildlife.org/threats/illegal-wildlife-trade [Accessed 7 Jan. 2015]. Wozney, K. and Wilson, P. (2012). Real-time PCR detection and quantification of elephantid DNA: Species identification for highly processed samples associated with the ivory trade.Forensic Science International, 219(1-3), pp.106-112. Wwf.org.uk, (2009).Forensics help fight ivory fraudsters. [online] Available at: http://www.wwf.org.uk/wwf_articles.cfm?unewsid=3159 [Accessed 7 Jan. 2015].

Subtle Criticism in Aphra Behns Oroonoko Essay -- Behn Oroonoko Essay

Subtle Criticism in Oroonoko  Ã‚   In reading Oroonoko it might be easy to miss the criticism offered against the European culture. Upon studying the novel however, this criticism which had been presented subtly becomes quite clear. An important note is that the author and the narrator are not in fact the same. Although the author is out to provide a criticism of European culture and values, she is reluctant to let it come through the narrator. This critique comes through mainly in less direct forms, through her non-European characters, most often Oroonoko, and through comparisons between cultures and the characters encountered in each. As a female writer trying to earn a living, and as the narrator of the story represented herself, Behn couldn't have the narrator offer too strong a criticism for fear of losing her audience. The narrator is presented as very European. She is very ethnocentric and seems to have no problem with the slave trade, only with the treatment of one specific individual (namely, Oroonoko). Occasionally, however, there will be a slip, a slight inconsistency in the narrators character, which offers a glimpse of Behn's true sentiments. For example, throughout the novel, the narrator is a strong believer in religion. She tells Imoinda ". . . Stories of Nuns and endeavour[s] to bring her to the knowledge of the true God."(41). She also tries to defend Christianity to an unbelieving Caesar. When discussing the natives of Surinam, however, she mentions that ". . . all the Inventions of Man . . . wou'd here but destroy that Tranquillity . . . and . . . wou'd teach ‘em [the natives] to know Offen ce . . . "(10). The first thing she includes as an "Invention of Man" is religion, implying that it is not essentiall... ... Banister truly does kill him like a dog as he said, "he wou'd declare, in the other World, that he was the only Man, of all the Whites, that ever he heard speak Truth."(64) Through each of these forms Behn is highly critical of European values, or maybe more precisely the lack there of. She criticizes religion, namely Christianity, for not enforcing morals in people; the most noble character in the novel, Oroonoko, does not believe in any God at all. She also criticizes those in the culture who do not hold themselves to their promises; the blacks and natives who are seen as so inferior are more true. She offers all this, yet, in a way that gives no offence and so keeps her audience for the next criticism she may offer. Works Cited: Behn, Aphra. â€Å"Oroonoko.† The Norton Anthology of English Literature. Ed. AH Abrams. New York. WW Norton and Company, Inc 2000.

Essay --

Iran, India, and Mexico are in extremely different parts of the world, making them very different from each other. The three countries have different histories, geographies, and natural resources that have shaped their development. Still, an analysis of Iran’s, India’s, and Mexico’s economic development and globalization, media access and coverage, and political leaders, shows that there are some undeniable similarities. Despite the three countries being similar in some ways, overall Iran, India, and Mexico are extremely different from each other; each country has a different historical background that has shaped it to be what it is today economically, socially, and politically. I. Economic Development and Globalization Iran: In Iran, the economy relies on oil for much of the government’s revenue. Overall in Iran, the state has a very ineffective state sector, with statist policies that control much of what is economic policy. This creates a lot of economic issues, causing Iran’s economy to rely on oil. There is not much of a private sector in Iran besides small workshops, farming, and some manufacturing. The government’s price controls and subsidies often hinder private sector growth. In Iran, there is a good amount of informal economic exchange outside of government regulation, as well as corruption. In the early 1990’s Iran’s government realized they needed to improve many factors of the economy. One major law created to improve the economy was President Mahmud Ahmadi-Nejad’s Targeted Subsidies Law. The Majles, Iran’s national legislative body, passed this law in 2010 to reduce state subsidies on food and energy. Over a period of five years, Iran’s legislatures worked to remove subsidies from the economy that were very ... ... be said for Iran and India. Mr. Singh, like many of the political elite in Mexico, is highly educated. Although Iran, India, and Mexico are similar in some ways economically, socially, and politically, for the most part they are very different. Iran’s economy relies on oil, while India’s economy is more services-oriented. Still, Mexico’s economy is similar to India’s—both having significant private sectors. Also, Iran, India, and Mexico are similar in that each country has a state-run television broadcasting. However, Iran’s government is clearly the most strict with what its citizens can view and Mexico is less strict and has more broadcasting companies. Iran is also different from India and Mexico because Iran has a theocratic ruler, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, whereas the other two countries do not. Overall, these countries are very different from each other.

Uncle Toms Cabin :: Uncle Toms Cabin Essays

Uncle Tom’s Cabin UNCLE TOM -Uncle Tom manages the Shelby plantation. Strong, intelligent, capable, good, and kind, he is the most heroic figure in the novel that bears his name. Tom's most important characteristic is his Christian faith. God has given Tom an extraordinary ability. He can forgive the evil done to him. His self-sacrificing love for others has been called motherly. It has also been called truly Christian. AUNT CHLOE- Aunt Chloe, Uncle Tom's wife, is fat, warm, and jolly. She is a good housekeeper and a superb cook, and justly proud of her skill. She loves Tom, and urges him to escape to Canada rather than to go South with Haley. After Tom is sold, she convinces the Shelbys to hire her out to a baker in Louisville and to use her wages to buy Tom's freedom. She is heartbroken to learn of his death. MOSE, PETE, AND POLLY - Mose, Pete, and Polly, the children of Uncle Tom and Aunt Chloe, are playful and rambunctious. Polly is Tom's special favorite, and she loves to bury her tiny hands in his hair. ELIZA HARRIS - Eliza Harris is raised by her mistress, Mrs. Shelby, to be pious and good. Described as light-skinned and pretty, Eliza dearly loves her husband, George Harris, and their little boy, Harry. When she learns that Harry is about to be sold, Eliza carries him in her arms to the Ohio River, which she crosses on cakes of ice. Although generally a modest and retiring young woman, Eliza becomes extraordinarily brave because of her love for her son.

Reaction to Everyday Use Essay

Everyday Use is a short story written by Alice Walker about a family of three, Mama, the narrator, Maggie her youngest daughter, and Dee, her eldest daughter. Both daughters are completely different, Maggie is a simpler person and Dee is high maintenance. Dee has always the home she was brought up in and everything to do with her childhood. She always wanted more and Mama gave her the best she could. One day, years after Dee has gone off to college, she returns to visit Mama and Maggie’s new home (the other had been burnt down when Dee was still living with them), and she brings along a man, possibly her husband. When Dee returns she has changed her name and has come hoping to retrieve certain family heirlooms. Walker uses different literary tools to tell this story in a way that makes the audience think about what she is trying to tell the audience. Strategy The main literary strategy Walker uses in the writing of Everyday Use are irony and symbolism. Mama and Maggie value the quilts discussed in the story, not as folk art, instead for what they are intended to be used for, a source of warmth. Mama would rather give Maggie the quilts and let her put these quilts to use even though they may end up ruined because she knows that she is the one that will appreciate and love the quilts the most. Dee wants to in a sense save the quilts from the harm that she is sure that her sister, whom she seems to think is intelligently inferior will ruin but she does not understand the true value and worth of these quilts. Dee’s sudden interest in her heritage and want to embrace different objects from her family’s past is obviously seen by her mother as empty. In Mama’s eyes the best way to keep the quilts and the love and care that comes with them in the family is to hand them over to Maggie, even if it means them possibly being damaged or worse yet, destroyed. This is the irony in the story. Many would think that preserving the quilts is the only respectful way of keeping the spirit of their family alive, but instead Mama sees deeper than that, she sees in actuality the best way to keep the spirit of their family alive is to put them to use so that more memories can be connected to them. Using them in daily life is a way to keep the family history and spirit alive, and to even add onto it. Theme The consistent theme of Alice Walker’s â€Å"Everyday Use† is appreciating the past, and one’s family. This theme was one that I found I could identify with greatly along with certain aspects of the story. The author skillfully tells us the story of two sisters, Dee, and Maggie, to prove her point. Dee comes home with a new contemporary identity tied to her African heritage, which she believes white men and women have tried to take away from her. She now embraces this African heritage and sees it as an important part of her. She scornfully asks Mama (the narrator) to not address her by the name her mother gave her, Dee, but to instead call her Wangero, assumed to be a name from her African herritage: â€Å"What happened to ‘Dee’?† I wanted to know. â€Å"She’s dead,† Wangero (Dee) said. â€Å"I couldn’t bear it any longer, being named after the people who oppress me.† Wangero (Dee) assumes and argues with her mother that she has been named after a white man or woman. Mama attempts to convince her that her name was not given to her by a white man or woman but that she was named after her grandmother. Dee resists what her mother has told her and insists that if she were to follow the line that it would go back to a white man or woman. Maggie, is unashamed of her past, she actually embraces it. She has always loved the quilts that her mother and aunt made from clothing that her grandmother had pieced. This section of the story is the prime difference between the sisters is revealed: Dee would like to use the quilts as pieces of artwork for her own home because it is something that would be stylish and argues with her mother that Maggie â€Å"would be backward enough to put them to everyday use.† Dee says this as if it were a bad thing to use the quilts as they were intended to be used but Mama believes that the everyday use, is the best way to value the past, to keep the spirit of the family going and not putting the items up for display as if they were in a museum or separating oneself from his or her family. This is something that I can identify with. When I was younger my great-grandmother had always crocheted afghans for each of her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. My cousins had when we were little looked down at these beautiful afghans and wanted instead store bought blankets. I treasured the afghan that my great grandmother had made me and used it often. When we were older, and she had passed away, my one cousin was going through a phase similar to Dee’s, she was suddenly very interested in our family history, and she now wanted the last afghan that my great grandmother made. She ended up being the one to receive the afghan because I did not feel like fighting over it. I did not want to receive it with a fight because I knew that it would tarnish the meaning for me but I always found it interesting how she changed her mind once became, for lack of a better word, â€Å"cool† to embrace family history and to like handmade items. Active and Responsive Reading While reading Everyday Use one inference that I made was that the story was set in the early 1970s. I made this inference from the way Mamma, the narrator, described Dee in the present day. I thought that the dress, accessories, and hair style Dee was described to have seemed to match up to fashion from the early 1970s. Dee is a vain, hypocritical, and condescending individual, this was my impression from my first reading of the story and after reading it twice more, I found that my impression of Dee did not change from my first reading. Mamma did the best she could for Dee as she grew up. Dee always despised the house they lived in and never saw the house that was built after the fire until she visited. Mamma and their church raised money so that Dee could get a higher education and go off to college. Dee uses her education as a way to look down on her mother and sister. She does not understand why they will not better themselves as she has. In this visit she begins asking her mother for things that she had never wanted before and looked down at. She now wants these items not as reminders of her family but more as pieces of art. Two of these items were quilts made by Grandma Dee. In the past when offered these, she had told her mother that the quilts were â€Å"too old-fashioned, out of style†. Now she thinks that they would make beautiful pieces Alice Walker writes this story I think for every family and every person in a family. In a world where people are consumed with art, fashion, and style, I think she is reminding us that there is more to some items than art, fashion, and style. Many times we think the only way to appreciate something is to frame it or put it up for display and not put it to everyday use in fear of ruining it but Walker uses this story to show us that there is more to appreciating something than just displaying it. Sometimes to best appreciate a piece of ones heritage through an heirloom you should use it for its intended purpose. In conclusion Walker teaches us a lesson about family and keeping the spirit and story of our family alive by not merely displaying our heirlooms but putting them to use. She uses irony to help tell her story and support her theme. Walker chooses a story that people can relate to and learn from.

Dominican heritage

Angie Cruz’s Soledad is a marvelous story of family and integrity, myth and mysticism, racial identity, culture and chaos and various other themes. The background of the author has deeply influenced the setting of the novel as the story is deeply influenced by her Dominican heritage. Author herself has testified that her cultural upbringing highly impacted the novel. Even though she authored it with keeping ‘community’ in her mind, the novel also turned out to be a story of family, relationships, girlhood, motherhood and extended to several other premises.The main voice in the story is that of an art student Soledad who wants to fly to her sick mother to take care of her. She is about to leave her neighborhood behind as only she can help her mother to recover from the emotional coma. Soledad also has her aunt Gorda, her wild cousin Flaca to tame in her family. As she comes back to her house, she is confronted with a big challenge to negotiate or forget the painful or chaotic past for rebuilding her fellowship with her mother. ‘Family’ and relationships become the centre theme of the story.Soledad had left her contentious family at the age of eighteen as she got fed up with petty fights, struggles and endless tragedies. She joined as an art student at Cooper Union and also had a gallery job (along with a hip East Village walk-up). Soledad was imminently cool, fine, peaceful being infinitely far from her belligerent, superstitious neighborhood where she had her upbringing. Soledad however could not continue for a long time as she got call from Tia Gorda saying that her mother badly needs her as she had slipped into an emotional coma. Soledad's return was the only solution to save her mother.The love that remained for her family made Soledad to return home though she was haunted with the terrible recollections about leering men, open hydrants, and dreadful slick-skinned teen girls with bawdy mouths and snapping gum. Soledad had muc h to face in her home at West 164th Street. She had to adjust with the raucous behavior of her cousin Flaca and had to keep her from falling for Richie, the neighbor. Soledad struggles and she falls into a big challenge. She was also disturbed by the memories and ghosts of her mother’s past and also had to mend their relationship so that she may recover.She had to fight the memories of all painful past experiences to help her love her mother. The story is all about the family burden suffered by young Soledad. Soledad always had strained relationship with the family members, especially her widowed mother Olivia. Much of the novel is about the family of Olivia, her female relatives. Soledad had her aunt Gorda who can better be called a witch. She opt ceremonies and home remedies for treating her sister. Soledad had much to suffer from the fiery adolescent Flaca her cousin. More than all this was the nightmares, terrifying flashbacks and fearful memories.Soledad struggles being ‘caught between two worlds’ for the sake of her family. The bad images of her mother’s Dominican youth, Soledad returns to her family. Soledad’s responsibility for her family and love for her mother constraints her to forgive or forget Olivia's past as a prostitute, her spurious paternity, and the death of her father in the hand of Olivia. She says â€Å"And when I surrender to the warmth of the water, I feel the past, present, and future becomes one. My mother becomes the ocean and the sky, wrapping herself around me†. The family warmth engulfs Soledad as she gets into a spiritual epiphany.Soledad is found to be compelled by guilt and responsibility and a forced loyalty and start to take care of the family that she once left. This forced loyalty or the love remnants make Soledad come back to the place that she longed to leave and meet her family that she wanted to forget. Soledad took herself away from her collapsed family as she wanted to have a d ifferent future than everybody else. She separated from everything, explored new paths and found herself successful in her new world. However the little love residue that remained in her heart made her sacrifice everything for the sake of her family (or her sick mother).She was back to her old neighborhood and finds something that longed for and that she did not expect. She finally recognizes that everything she was yearning for was there in front of her. We can say that the novel Soledad is all about family relationships. The news of her mother’s sickness melted the heart of young Soledad and made her take the crucial decision to leave her happy world and come to her family from which she was fleeing away. Even though Soledad was reluctantly returning to her family, her time with her family becomes too crucial in the novel that it occupies majority of the pages.Soledad’s plight was painful but her family members turned out to be characters that made the whole story in teresting, rather than Soledad. The background of the novel is in the family or cultural background of the author Angie Cruz. Author’s childhood experience in the ethnic barrio of New York City's Washington Heights neighborhood highly influenced the story. The story more or less appears as an autobiography where the family of Soledad represents the entire women folk of the superstitious neighborhood.The bizarre mother, jealous cousin Flaca, her crazy Aunt Gorda, the entire family of Angie Cruz speaks of the predicament of the entire neighborhood. Even though the whole story intended to report the helpless womanhood of the undeveloped neighborhood, the novel turned out to be a tale of family relationships that sprang up from an extremely collapsed background. The family of Soledad, her mother, cousin and her aunt filled the novel making it a tale family story. References Angie (2001) Cruz Soledad, Simon & Schuster Trent Masiki (2001) Soledad – Review – Black Issu es Book Review, Matthews & Associates.