Humans Live in a World Where Everything Tries to Make You Something Else Essay Example for Free

Humans Live in a World Where Everything Tries to Make You Something Else Essay Identity is now so hard to define. No longer as simple as whom am I? Identity is it solid or fixed? Neither is it constantly changing from birth till death. In addition to the problems faced with growing a developing an individual also faces problems from ideas surrounding personal problems. These can be examples from the environmental influence, such as arriving into a new school or even a new culture. These experiences can be both positive and negative though, negative as they may leave an individual disillusioned with their direction and place in life, yet positive in the way that an individual may feel reinvigorated and their perception of personal boundaries removed. Growing up in Australia is a short collection of stories from various artists that entails their stories of being different to others and the challenges that they faced in order to fit in when their identities are so different. Sticks and Stones and Such Like by Sunil Badima is a story about How being different, can isolate an individual and make it difficult for them to belong. The main difference in this story is the name Sunil, it singled him out and showed his different nature compared to everyone else. The way that people couldn’t pronounce it only served to exacerbate his push for a more ‘western’ name, Neil. This changing of an identity, from the Indian Sunil to the Aussie Neil, represents how people are willing to change and conform in order to fit in and be accepted by others, even going so far as to forego cultural preoccupations. How to be Japanese by Leanne Hall is a story that Discusses the stereotypes that exist, the racial prejudices that those from a culture deemed the minority are subject to. An individual cannot control how they look yet they’re judged about this. The cultural differences usually hinder an individual, whereby once cultural values sporting exploits as that of success another views success educationally as high marks, yet it is the minority group which is subjected to being stereotyped. This stereotyping is an action that removes an individual’s identity, placing an individual into a wider group whereby they lose their identity, given a set of predetermined characteristics, which is extremely common amongst the racial groups, e. g. the Japanese love hello Kitty. Reveals how a loss of identity can occur as an individual is adjudged to be something else before qifference, alienating them, difficult to conform. A personal identity is impossible without belonging to a family, society and culture. Without Belonging to a group somewhere an individual cannot hope to find their identity, the two are inextricably linked. Without a place in the world, an individual is lost and cannot hope to find their place. This is shown progressively throughout the film of Skin. Because Sandra is coloured and her parents and brother are white, she is constantly confused about her identity and who exactly she is. rBelonging is an innate predisposition that majority of the populous seek the feeling of acceptance and a place in the groups ranks offers. Once Sandra relises she cant find this within her family and the society she grew up in she looks to the Black people of South Africa to find a sense of belonging. Belonging to a group offers a sense of security and acceptance that people seek. It is through this environment that an individual will learn and their identity flourishes under the experiences of the group and that of their own, belonging to a group reaffirms our own identity. Whilst belonging to a group may culminate in the formation of an identity, this may not be the true potential of the individual. This influence may upon an individual’s identity may be detrimental, their identity a mere extension of the group’s prerogative. May also lead to an individual being stereotyped and/or alienating their past. Therefore those that cannot belong or alienate themselves from the rest of society struggle to find their place in the world, they are constantly drifting, the question of who am I, left unanswered. This is emphasised throughout the film Skin as Sandra is constantly changing her state as a white South African to a colored South African, so that she is able to find a sense of identity and belonging. People are put into groups, like family and school, and this is a struggle when it conflicts with identity. Whilst belonging to a group, the choice to conform is one that most people must make, we are all born into a group of some degree. Yet it is this place within a group, the arrangement of parameters that can lead to conflict surrounding an individual’s identity. When we are born, we are born into a family environment, born into a group already. Yet through this group, as individual’s we learn and model ourselves off the actions of those in the group, the decisions and perceptions of its members are reaffirmed onto our own. Yet this predetermined group can cause problems for our identity as individuals. This family whilst providing a base from which an identity can develop, also masks an individual’s identity, the individual may have of been raised in the interests of the group, unfulfilling their true potential. Moreover this placement of an individual occurs through other avenues of life as well. At school an individual may be labelled, stereotyped in a particular way based upon something as simple as they way in which they dress. This stereotyping and prejudice can breed only conflict within an individual as they struggle to determine who they truly are, are they the person they are perceived as? Or are they more? Furthermore in order to fit into a group, an individual’s conformity may be misaligned with the values and perceptions of this group, only giving birth to further conflict surrounding an individual’s identity. They struggle to find who the truly are, their true identity against the restraints that conformity offers them. There is conflict between identity and belonging. Where conflict is resolved it is good for the individual’s identity. The need to belong is an innate predisposition for most humans. As we are social creatures we seek a place in the world, a place where we can be accepted, a place of security. Yet in our willingness to conform, conflict can arise between an individual’s identity and that of the group. This discrepancy something that breeds only discontent as an individual discovers that the interest of the group may be misaligned to those of their own. Furthermore in a group the needs of the group are put before those of the individual, thereby stifling the true identity. Yet this creates further conflict as some of the decisions of the group, the choices that it makes may not be reflective of those of the individual. As the individual takes second wrung to the needs of the group, the individual may become discontent about where they are, questioning their own identity.

Why did the 1919 Paris peace settlement not provide a durable peace in

Why did the 1919 Paris settlement not provide a durable peace in Europe? The First World War, was without a doubt one of the most tragic events in the history of people. It was fought on a scale, and at a cost in human suffering, unparalleled in the history of man kind. Countries from every continent, including most of those in Europe, had taken part. Whole populations had been marshalled to serve their countries war efforts1. All these came to an end when on 11 November 1918, Germany finally agreed to sign an armistice. What is very important to know, is that this armistice was actually based on United States’ President Woodrow Wilson’s â€Å"Fourteen Points†. However, the Treaty of Versailles, sharply differed from Wilson’s points, and Germany, who felt betrayed, denounced the treaty as â€Å"morally invalid.† Henig claimed that the fact that it did not survive the 1920s intact stemmed, not so much from the terms of the peace treaties themselves but from the reluctance of political leaders in the inter-war period to enforce them2. Overall, the Treaty of Versailles was flawed to the extent that instead of preventing future wars it made a future war inevitable! But let’s take things from the beginning in our attempt to demonstrate the reasons that led the Versailles Treaty, to be considered a failure. The goal following World War I was to restore European stability and maintain everlasting peace. However, these goals were recognized by all of the leaders as not easily achievable. French Prime Minister Clemenceau commented on the day the armistice was signed on 11 November 1918, â€Å"We have won the war: now we have to win the peace, and it may be more difficult3. The French politician Marshal Foch, as the Versailles Treaty was being signed, stated rather prophetically, â€Å"This is not peace; it is an armistice for 20 years4.† Indeed, Foch was absolutely correct. The Versailles Treaty did little to shape any sort of long-term peace from the results of World War I. Instead, the treaty, hastily put together, was vague, exposed the Allies’ inability to cooperate toward an agreement, and fuelled German nationalism from resentment over her treatment by the Allies in the treaty. The principle reasons for the failure of the Treaty of Versailles to establish a long-term peace include the following. Firstly, the Allies disagreed on how best to treat Germany, also Germany re... ... the Treaty of Versailles from ever approaching success, however, was not the terms of the treaty, but rather the reluctance to enforce the terms by the Allies. They were naà ¯ve to assume that Germany would cooperate with the treaty terms by themselves. Thus within a year of the peace conference, the victorious alliance had crumbled away. It was this critical collapse, rather than the provisions of the peace terms themselves, which ensured that the Treaty of Versailles was never fully accepted or enforced7. The Allies were strong enough to win the war, but not strong enough to secure the peace! BIBLIOGRAPHY: ïÆ'˜Â  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Adamthwaite, Antony. The Making of the Second World War (New York, 1992). ïÆ'˜Â  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Henig, Ruth. Versailles and After: 1919 – 1933 (London: Routledge, 1995). ïÆ'˜Â  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Hobsbawm, Eric. The Age of Extremes: A History of the World, 1914 – 1991 (New York, 1996). ïÆ'˜Â  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Keynes, John Maynard. The Economic Consequences of the Peace (New York, 1920). ïÆ'˜Â  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Kitchen, Martin. Europe Between the Wars (London, 2000). ïÆ'˜Â  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Marks, Sally. The Illusion of Peace: International Relations in Europe, 1918 – 1933 (London, 1976). Why did the 1919 Paris peace settlement not provide a durable peace in Why did the 1919 Paris settlement not provide a durable peace in Europe? The First World War, was without a doubt one of the most tragic events in the history of people. It was fought on a scale, and at a cost in human suffering, unparalleled in the history of man kind. Countries from every continent, including most of those in Europe, had taken part. Whole populations had been marshalled to serve their countries war efforts1. All these came to an end when on 11 November 1918, Germany finally agreed to sign an armistice. What is very important to know, is that this armistice was actually based on United States’ President Woodrow Wilson’s â€Å"Fourteen Points†. However, the Treaty of Versailles, sharply differed from Wilson’s points, and Germany, who felt betrayed, denounced the treaty as â€Å"morally invalid.† Henig claimed that the fact that it did not survive the 1920s intact stemmed, not so much from the terms of the peace treaties themselves but from the reluctance of political leaders in the inter-war period to enforce them2. Overall, the Treaty of Versailles was flawed to the extent that instead of preventing future wars it made a future war inevitable! But let’s take things from the beginning in our attempt to demonstrate the reasons that led the Versailles Treaty, to be considered a failure. The goal following World War I was to restore European stability and maintain everlasting peace. However, these goals were recognized by all of the leaders as not easily achievable. French Prime Minister Clemenceau commented on the day the armistice was signed on 11 November 1918, â€Å"We have won the war: now we have to win the peace, and it may be more difficult3. The French politician Marshal Foch, as the Versailles Treaty was being signed, stated rather prophetically, â€Å"This is not peace; it is an armistice for 20 years4.† Indeed, Foch was absolutely correct. The Versailles Treaty did little to shape any sort of long-term peace from the results of World War I. Instead, the treaty, hastily put together, was vague, exposed the Allies’ inability to cooperate toward an agreement, and fuelled German nationalism from resentment over her treatment by the Allies in the treaty. The principle reasons for the failure of the Treaty of Versailles to establish a long-term peace include the following. Firstly, the Allies disagreed on how best to treat Germany, also Germany re... ... the Treaty of Versailles from ever approaching success, however, was not the terms of the treaty, but rather the reluctance to enforce the terms by the Allies. They were naà ¯ve to assume that Germany would cooperate with the treaty terms by themselves. Thus within a year of the peace conference, the victorious alliance had crumbled away. It was this critical collapse, rather than the provisions of the peace terms themselves, which ensured that the Treaty of Versailles was never fully accepted or enforced7. The Allies were strong enough to win the war, but not strong enough to secure the peace! BIBLIOGRAPHY: ïÆ'˜Â  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Adamthwaite, Antony. The Making of the Second World War (New York, 1992). ïÆ'˜Â  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Henig, Ruth. Versailles and After: 1919 – 1933 (London: Routledge, 1995). ïÆ'˜Â  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Hobsbawm, Eric. The Age of Extremes: A History of the World, 1914 – 1991 (New York, 1996). ïÆ'˜Â  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Keynes, John Maynard. The Economic Consequences of the Peace (New York, 1920). ïÆ'˜Â  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Kitchen, Martin. Europe Between the Wars (London, 2000). ïÆ'˜Â  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Marks, Sally. The Illusion of Peace: International Relations in Europe, 1918 – 1933 (London, 1976).

Ethics of Climate Change in Australia

The United Nations Declaration of Human Rights states that everyone has the right to life and a standard of living adequate for the health and well being of an individual and their family (United Nations, 1948). Global average temperatures are projected to increase between 1. 4 and 5. 8 Â °C by the end of this century (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, 2001), and this, in conjunction with the increasing sea level, which, in itself, causes the number of individuals living in coastal areas to be exposed to increasing flooding and storm surges, affects human health.These affects are mostly brought on by climate change, which, ironically, is being heavily influenced by humans themselves. They can cause illness and fatalities from intense heat, a depleting food supply and also the alterations of infectious diseases. A well-established climate change effect on human health is the influence the climate has on shortages in regional areas. According to the World Health Organisation, it is estimated that about 800 million people are presently malnourished, with almost half of them residing in Africa (WHO, 2002). Malnutrition remains one of the major health crises worldwide.Food crops are heavily and directly influenced by extreme climate conditions such as droughts, and this then severely impacts the levels of food available for consumption, especially in the remote areas in Africa. This then links back to the issue of undernourishment in Africa, as food is a depleting source in the current climate experienced in this continent. Another human health impact that is supported by climate change is heatwaves. The summer of 2009 was possibly Australia’s hottest heatwave, in which many cities recorded their highest temperature since records began.On Saturday the 7th of January, Melbourne recorded its highest temperature of 46. 4Â °C (Cameron, et al, 2009). It was as a result of this heatwave that bushfires broke out all over the state of Victoria, the dry win ds and hot air no match for efforts to reduce the fires. These fires ranked in the top ten of bushfires in the world with respect to fatalities (Cameron, et al, 2009). Fatalities in heatwaves can be challenging to measure, as the fatalities generally arise from the worsening of chronic medical conditions as well as direct heat related illness.These conditions and illnesses are particularly seen in the elderly and frail people. However it is estimated that 374 people were killed in this heatwave (The Victorian Government Department of Human Services, 2009). This is the most prominent recent example of human health as a direct outcome of climate change in Australia. Fatalities and general illnesses caused by heat are directly affected by the variance between the average temperature and high above average temperatures, as opposed to regular and steady escalations in the usual temperature.This is particularly seen in the beginning of summer when people have not yet adjusted to the highe r temperatures. Furthermore, due to the Urban Heat Island Effect, the strongest effect of urbanisation on annual mean surface air temperature trends occurs over the metropolis and large city stations, with corresponding contributions of about 44% and 35% to total warming, respectively (Yang, et al, 2011). As a result of this, and as metropolis regions and population grow; exposure to fatalities and illnesses caused by heat look expected to rise in the future.Vector-borne diseases are influenced by environmental aspects such as temperature, rainfall, humidity and land-use or vegetation, thus affecting the population and spread of the diseases. Vector-borne disease spread and population alter as the ecosystem around them does, as a result of climate change. An example of this would be that around the equatorial regions of the world, diseases like malaria have been restricted to living in those regions. However, as the global mean temperature increases, those regions may expand in area and the malaria disease would be able to spread over a much larger span.This spread could also be caused by the constant migration of the human population and their affect on the land they use. The alterations caused by climate change on infectious diseases significantly affect human health. It is majorly severe climatic events that alter the biology of infectious diseases. Because they do not have thermostatic systems, infectious organisms such as protozoa and viruses, and their supplementary vectors, for example mosquitoes and aphids, are affected by variations in temperature, mostly in their survival and reproduction levels. As the temperature increases due to global warming, these organisms have the pportunity to flourish in their environments, and, in under-developed areas such as Africa, this could lead to serious impacts on human health. Also, a connection has been found between the rising occurrences of malaria with simultaneous increasing temperatures from 1968 to 1993 in central Ethiopia (Tulu, 1996). Though populace relocation, resistance to drugs, or efforts to control vectors couldn’t explain this link. As we cannot ignore the evidence, this therefore leads us to believe that the associated increasing temperatures, due to climate change, have caused the increase in malaria in central Ethiopia.However, despite this, irregularities of highest temperature in the highlands of Kenya have been related to the spread of malaria. However, numerous studies of tendencies in climate and malaria populations in Africa have not discovered a connection to increasing temperatures. This then highlights the significance of incorporating other key causes of the chance of malaria such as disease control efforts, human relocation, a resistance to drugs and also a change in how the land is used.From this we can see that there are many factors caused by climate change that affect human health. Though the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that each indi vidual has a right to health and life, it is humans who are ironically causing climate change in the first place. Whether it is the intense heat in heatwaves or the rising spread of vector-borne diseases, in a developed or developing country, humans are increasingly becoming exposed to possibly fatal incidents.

The Great Gatsby And The Harlem Renaissance - 1594 Words

Mackenzie Rittenhouse CP English 11 Modernism in The Great Gatsby the Harlem Renaissance I hope she ll be a fool — that s the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little fool . . . You see, I think everything s terrible anyhow . . . And I know. I ve been everywhere and seen everything and done everything. (The Great Gatsby, pg. 20) There was a loss of innocence, disillusionment and lack of faith in the American Dream. This became the movement known as Modernism. WWI was the first â€Å"total war† in which modern weapons spared no one. The casualties suffered by the participants in World War I dwarfed those of previous wars. The armed forces continued to use old tactics, but had modern weaponry that of which caused a major number of casualties. This war left American’s with a scar on their hearts, and in their minds. WWI changed the game completely, and after the massacres that occurred during the war, and the complete and utter destruction that was left behind, caused uproar in American values and principles. This was the start and bas is for the Modernist movement. Scientists such as Sigmund Freud, Karl Marx, Charles Darwin, as well as Albert Einstein all were significant catalysts for the Modernist movement due to the fact that they were strongly opposed to the beliefs of the earlier movements such as Realism and Naturalism. Their principles were altered to fit the new modernist ideals. They also hated seeing the repercussions of the war on US citizens,Show MoreRelatedThe Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald and Jazz by Toni Morrison 647 Words   |  3 Pageshistorically accurate. The combination of influence and historical accuracy can create a new subcategory of â€Å"historical fiction†. Two exceptional novels by distinguished authors have managed to start this new concept of â€Å"historical fiction†. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald and Jazz by Toni Morrison are two literary novels that pioneered the movement of historical realism in fiction as well as influenced literary writing styles and United States culture for g enerations following their creationRead MoreThe Great Gatsby By F. Scott Fitzgerald1138 Words   |  5 Pages The Roaring 20’s â€Å"There are only the pursued, the pursuing, the busy and the tired.† (F. Scott Fitzgerald. The Great Gatsby). This is a famous quote from Fitzgerald because this is what the 1920’s was about.The American Dream was about working hard for what you want and this quotes sums it up. Everybody in the 1920’s worked hard for what they had and wanted. The 1920’s was a time to remember. The 1920’s was known by so many names. For example the Jazz Age, Flappers, the ‘New† Women andRead MoreTheme Of Naturalism In F. Scott Fitzgeralds The Awakening1358 Words   |  6 Pagescountry divided by racism through his poems, â€Å"Mother to Son† and â€Å"The Negro Speaks of Rivers.† F. Scott Fitzgerald emphasizes the changes of America during the roaring twenties in The Great Gatsby to reveal the rise of a new social class, the â€Å"new money.† Throughout the movements of naturalism, the Harlem Renaissance, and modernism, au thors such as Kate Chopin, Langston Hughes, and F. Scott Fitzgerald utilize symbols to evaluate the transformation of the American identity by demonstrating the closureRead MoreEssay on Modernism at Its Finest in Literature756 Words   |  4 Pagesnovels used the concept of the American dream to make people question whether the dream still existed in the mist of the First World War and the Great Depression. In describing the American dream, one is led to believe that the individual is led to self-triumph, and their life will progressively get better and better in America. 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Scott Fitzgerald s The Great Gatsby and Toni Morrison s JAZZ both tell the story of the 1920s in America, but from opposite points of view. Both authors provide us with two compelling narratives of the societal shift that took place in America after World War I had come to an end. Although the accounts share many of the same general topics, as well as the historical era, it is difficult to imagine how the two stories could be so different from one anotherRead MoreRacism In The Great Gatsby Analysis985 Words   |  4 PagesThe Great Gatsby: Racism vs. Classism F. Scott Fitzgerald, author of The Great Gatsby, and Toni Morrison, author of Jazz, both write about America in the roaring 20’s, but the viewpoint from which both stories are told are completely different. Jazz embodies the story of a love affair gone wrong. Although it was very dense reading, the book goes back and forth from flashbacks and to the current time to show all of the interpersonal connections between the multitude of characters. The Great GatsbyRead MoreChanges in Era and American Culture Reflected in Its Literature1774 Words   |  7 Pages As the eras changed, so did American culture. Literary works including The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald and The Scarlett Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, reveal two main characters who are alienated by their societies and who are not valued for their true worth as individuals. Both characters in these novels endure an identity crisis, which then leads to them become their own tragic hero/heroine. Both F. Scott Fitzgerald, and Nathaniel Hawthorne, depict characters that reinvent themselvesRead MoreThe Counter Culture of the 1920s Essay1493 Words   |  6 Pageschange. The 1920’s are also known as the â€Å"Jazz Age,† which was coined by F. Scott Fitzgerald, and the â€Å"Roaring Twenties.† It was a decade of change. (Hakim, 41) The counterculture of the 1920’s resulted from the Age of Jazz, Flappers, and the Harlem Renaissance. Out of the streets of New Orleans, a new form of music arose. This new type of music was not known as African or European, but simply American. It was jazz. In 1900 jazz first developed, but it wasn’t until the 1920’s when jazz began toRead MoreThe Great Gatsby By F. Scott Fitzgerald1330 Words   |  6 PagesThe novel Great Gatsby and the short poem America go great together both describing their views on America during this crazy time period of change. Great Gatsby was written by a man named F Scott Fitzgerald he wrote this book in 1925 during Great gatsby was written by a man named F Scott Fitzgerald he wrote this book in 1925 during the times when the American dream was the same for everyone.The 1920’s were the age of miracles Fitzgerald had said: it was an age of art, it was an age of excess, and