Friday, January 24, 2020

Alexander the Great Arriving in Persepolis :: Ancient Greece Greek History

Alexander the Great Arriving in Persepolis I am Alexander the Great, King of Macedonia ruler of Greece. I have been king of Macedonia since my father's assassination five years ago. Since his death I have conquered much of the world. I am ruthless, and should anyone attempt to defeat me in battle, they are sure to die. The year I became ruler of Macedonia I set out to the city of Thessaly to restore Macedonia rule. After Thessaly submitted to me I conquered many states, and many other states freely submitted without battles. Two years after my father's death, my war with the Persians began. Near the city of Troy, I defeated the Persian army. In doing so, all the states of Asia then submitted their arms to me. A year later I would encounter the Persians again; this time the main Persian army would be my opponent. I defeated the Persian army led by King Darious III at the city of Issus, and a year later took the city of Tyre. Furthermore, Egypt surrendered to me. Perhaps they knew they could not defeat me in battle and thought it better not to try. I had now secured control of the entire eastern Mediterranean coastline. I now bring you to my present time in history. It has been five years since I became king of Macedonia, and I have once again defeated my enemy, King Darious III at Babylon. I am now setting my sights on penetrating into the walls of Persepolis. I am very excited about this, as I am planning to retrieving many treasures which lie behind the walls. This will be a very fulfilling defeat because the Persian Empire plundered Athens almost 15 decades ago. I cannot let this go and because of it I will penetrate Persepolis and defeat the Persians and consummate vengeance upon them. With my highly skilled army of about sixty-thousand men, I entered Persepolis and assumed control of its palace. I find myself in the heart of Persia. From the Persian treasury at Persepolis I seized a wondrous amount of money. It is a well deserved payback, and I must resort to the tradition of vengeance for what the Persians did when Xerxes invaded Greece some hundred and fifty years ago. Alexander turned the city over to his troops, who stormed through its streets, slaughtered men, plundered their property and stripped women of their jewellery.

Thursday, January 16, 2020

Coffee Culture

Coffee has been around for a very long time. It is no coincidence that such an influential and integral drink has created a cultural realm of its own. According to â€Å"Hot and Bothered: Coffee and Caffeine Humor† by Elise Decamp with Catherine M. Tucker, coffee humor has been depicted to be one of the compliments that has culturally elevated coffee-drinking to a another human aspect – humor. Humor can be interpreted and expressed in more ways than one.There are no set rules of what constitutes humor in any society; therefore, humor comes in many shapes and sizes. So, how is increasing coffee humor relayed to â€Å"caffeine culture? † Each culture and point in time is different, but coffee has always had a strong correlation to a â€Å"caffeine culture† that stemmed from the physiological and mental attributes that coffee, or caffeine, imposes on its consumer. Because of its notorious effects coffee has on its consumers, drinking coffee has been portrayed as an energizing, riveting, and delectable image.The article also makes references to cartoons and sketches about consuming coffee in the mid-1900’s and how it depicted the consumption of coffee and its effects. This is perhaps because during that span, societies were emerging as more work-oriented lives that led to the more practical use of coffee, or caffeine. Coffee humor emerged as a way of interpreting coffee consumption and its effects by portraying the consumers as very alert, alive, and even somber. The articles also notes that research on caffeine consumption not only may make a person more energized and alert, but also relaxed and at ease.This eventually led to the relationship coffee had with its consumers by allowing avid coffee drinkers to demonstrate their affinity and devotion by either wearing it as a shirt, bumper sticker, or on a description via social media. Eventually, coffee humor has contributed to the image many coffee drinkers hold and has been an ess ential method of showing the world the many faces of drinking coffee. Drinking coffee, however, has not always been portrayed as a positive influence.Through coffee humor, modern preoccupations about coffee or other aspects of modern life have been revealed to be a concern for the consumption of coffee. The article explains the use of caffeine as drug, known as dopamine, which is responsible for the effects it has on its consumers. Those effects being alertness sleep depravity, high-energy, and an increase in blood pressure. Caffeine not only causes these effects to take place during its intake, but like many other drugs, it leads to withdrawals that bring forth anxiousness, depression, muscle fatigue, insomnia, and headaches.These withdrawals, however, only last a couple days, unlike stronger drugs with longer lasting withdrawals. Consequently, coffee humor has taken an interpretation of the effects of coffee consumption by portraying what would happen if someone was to go without drinking coffee and their lives would be different. What may seem like an innocent joke at first, could actually be analyzed as a portrayal of a social issue of the potential dangers and misinformed lifestyles many choose to be a part of.

Wednesday, January 8, 2020

Chinua Achebe s Things Fall Apart - 1849 Words

Corina De Jesus November 30, 2014 World Literature Okonkwo the Tragic Hero In the novel ‘Thing Fall Apart’ by Chinua Achebe Okonkwo is a protagonist. Critics also refer to him as a tragic hero. A tragic hero can be defined as a person who holds a position of power and he chooses his own way of doing things, has a tragic flaw and knows the reasons as to why they go through what they are going through. Okonkwo as depicted in this novel made a lot of decisions, very full aware of the consequences of his actions. Okonkwo was a well-respected man of the Umuofia clan (Bloom 4). He is afraid that he will end up becoming like lazy father Unoka and therefore ends up making a lot of decisions that later lead to his tragic suicide. When Okonkwo was a little boy he hated his father’s failures and weaknesses. He still remembers how he came to know about Agbala. His playmate told him that his father was agbala. He later learnt that this name was another name for a woman. From there onwards, he vowed not to stand for anything that his father stood for. This would include laziness, idleness and even falling into debt (Bloom 18). His father was also interested in music and conversation and this was seen as feminine in the Umuofia village. Okonkwo grew up hating his father’s laziness and therefore he devoted himself to prove that he is a man with no feminine characteristics like his father. From an early age, his father was not able to provide food his family. The fact that he did notShow MoreRelatedChinua Achebe s Things Fall Apart1719 Words   |  7 PagesThings fall apart is a classic novel written around the turn of the century, the novel focuses on the protagonist who we can also call a hero, Okonkwo. Okonkwo is a wealthy and respected leader within the Igbo tribe of Umuofia in eastern Nigeria. Strong individual with a passionate belief in all the values and traditions of his people. Chinua Achebe presents Okonkwo as a particular kind of tragic protagonist, a great man who carries the fate of his people. Okonkwo is a man who is inflexible andRead MoreChinua Achebe s Things Fall Apart1033 Words   |  5 PagesIntroduction Chinua Achebe is a famous Nigerian novelist in worldwide. Things fall apart is Chinua Achebe’s first novel published in 1958, the year after Ghana became the first African nation to gain independence. And this novel is one of the first African novels to gain worldwide recognition. (Phil Mongredien, 2010) This novel presents people a story of an African Igbo tribal hero, Okonkwo, from his growth to death. The fate of Okonkwo also indicates the fate of Africa caused by the colonizationRead MoreChinua Achebe s Things Fall Apart883 Words   |  4 Pagesdehumanize the native population and convince themselves that they are helping. Chinua Achebe’s book Things Fall Apart attempts to correct these misguided views of African societies by portraying a more complex culture that values peace, and the art of conversation. Achebe also tries to portray the idea that not all European people they come in contact with are aggressive, and misconstrued in their view of the African societ ies. Achebe tries to show us the value of his society through repeated views into conversationsRead MoreChinua Achebe s Things Fall Apart1410 Words   |  6 PagesTeddy Manfre Ms. Blass ENG 209-001 April 24, 2017 Things Fall Apart In 1958, Chinua Achebe a famous Nigerian author publishes one of his most famous novels Things Fall Apart. The novel takes place in a Nigerian village called Umuofia. During the time that this novel is published Nigeria is being criticized by the Europeans for being uncivilized. In response, Achebe uses his brilliance in this novel to express the valued history of his people to his audience. His focus in the novel is on the pre-colonizedRead MoreChinua Achebe s Things Fall Apart1015 Words   |  5 PagesIn his novel Things Fall Apart, author Chinua Achebe utilizes his distinctive writing style in order to accurately capture the culture and customs of the Igbo people despite writing his story in a foreign language. Five aspects of Achebe’s style that make his writing unique is the straightforward diction present in dialogue, the inclusion of native parables convey Igbo life authentically, the inclusion of native Igbo words and phrases, detailed descriptions of nature and the usage of figurative languageRead MoreChinua Achebe s Things Fall Apart1702 Words   |  7 PagesTitle: Things Fall Apart Biographical information about the author: Chinua Achebe was born in Nigeria in 1930. He had an early career as a radio host, and later became the Senior Research Fellow at the University of Nigeria. After moving to America, he became an English professor at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. Achebe has won numerous awards for his poetry and fiction, including the Man Booker prize and Commonwealth Poetry Price. He currently teaches at Bard College. Author: Chinua AchebeRead MoreChinua Achebe s Things Fall Apart Essay1347 Words   |  6 PagesCulture is an Important Element of Society Chinua Achebe is the author of when Things Fall Apart while Joseph Conrad authored Heart of Darkness. Conrad and Achebe set their individual titles in Africa; Achebe is an African writer whereas Conrad is Polish-British. The authors draw strength from their backgrounds to validity the authenticity of their fictional novels. Conrad writes from his experiences in the British and French navies while Achebe uses his African heritage. The theme of culture isRead MoreChinua Achebe s Things Fall Apart1248 Words   |  5 PagesChris Lowndes Ms. Cook A.P.L.C. 21 October 2015 We Are Family: Hardships in One s Family in Things Fall Apart Specific attributes correlate with each other to help create or not create the ideal strong family. However, through those attributes arise conflicts and major disputes. This issue of trying to achieve and create a strong family is of immense importance in one’s life, especially in Chinua Achebe’s, Things Fall Apart, a milestone in African literature. For instance, the father leaves his legacyRead MoreChinua Achebe s Things Fall Apart Essay1682 Words   |  7 Pagescertain degree of the priest class, libation, holidays, creation stories, divine systems of punishments and rewards. In the novel, Things Fall Apart, written by Chinua Achebe, is a story of tragic fall of a protagonist and the Igbo culture. Achebe demonstrates different examples and situations of where an African culture, in the instances of tribal religions, did certain things because of their tradition is and the way they developed into. African cultures pondered life mysteries and articulated theirRead Mo reChinua Achebe s Things Fall Apart1314 Words   |  6 PagesChinua Achebe masterpiece â€Å"Things Fall Apart† (1959) is the classic story of Okonkwo, a young man who strives to be revered by his village and family but because of his own internal character flaws meets his own demise. In the Igbo culture, family traditions are an important narrative throughout the novel. Okonkwo, the protagonist character of this story, begins with many attributes of what would be concluded as a hero with his cultural society. He is hard working, a material provider, feared and