The Novel Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse †Informal Essay

The Novel Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse – Informal Essay Free Online Research Papers The Novel Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse Informal Essay The novel Siddhartha, written by Hermann Hesse, is about a young Brahmin, Siddhartha who has potential to be a prince among his caste members, and lives in India. During his youth, he grew up in a family that practices Hinduism, which they learn everything from their holy book only. The rituals and mantras they have taught Siddhartha and his best friend Govinda seem more a matter of custom than a real path that could lead to true enlightenment. He leaves his family to go with a group of Samanas, who are starved, half-naked, and must beg for food, but only because they believe enlightenment can be reached through asceticism, a rejection of the body and physical desire. He lived as a Samana for years. He mastered everything to reach the true enlightment; he was close to perfection. However, everything collapsed when he met Kamala and Kawaswami. When Siddhartha was attempting to master the material world, as he approached more, he became part of the material world, instead of becoming the true master of the material world. He was no longer skinny, naked Samana but a wealthy, fancy, greedy, and well-fed merchant. After recognizing that he had a dream to reach the true enlightenment, he left the city and went to Vasudeva, the ferryman, who told Siddhartha that he will return to him. Siddhartha confessed his sin, and started to mediate to reach the true enlightenment. After meditating for couple years, he met his old friend Govinda, who still follows Gotama but has not attained the kind of enlightenment that Siddhartha now neglects. Govinda came to see the sage man seeking for advice, and he didn’t recognize Siddhartha when he was giving Govinda advice. Through Siddhartha’s advice, two samanas found the true enlightenment that they have been looking for all of their lives. My favorite part of the novel was Siddhartha’s mind. To reach his goal, he did everything whether he had done it reluctantly or pleasingly even though he was quivering in the middle of the novel. His dedication to reach his goal was unbelievable. He ditched every pleasure that he could have received just to reach his goal. He was also extremely courageous in some aspects. He was courageous when the asked his father for permission to leave with a group of Samanas. Siddhartha lived in a society where younger people respected and adored elders. It was difficult for Siddhartha to go up to his father and get permission to leave with a group of Samanas. The least favorite part of the novel was the quivering moment of Siddhartha’s life. When Siddhartha met Kamala, he started to fall apart spiritually. Siddhartha fell in a love with Kamala, and she became more important than the true enlightenment. At the same time, Siddhartha was attempting to master the material world, as he approached more, he became part of the material world. Then he met Kawaswami who was a businessman. Which provoked Siddhartha to become a businessman. All of his effort and time to become a true enlightened samana became nothing. I was disappointed at Siddhartha he got affected by two people, who seemed like had no effectiveness at all. When I look myself and compare my faith with Siddhartha’s faith, mine’s nothing because I am not as dedicated, enthusiastic, and courageous as Siddhartha. If I were in Siddhartha’s situation, I wouldn’t talk to my dad to leave with a group of samanas even though I wanted to, because I am not extremely courageous. Also, I wouldn’t leave the city if I started to make money, and become rich. Only the dedicated ones could leave like Siddhartha did in my opinion. The novel made me to think of the number people who actually practice their religion as much as Siddhartha with same dedication, enthusiasm, and courage. In my opinion, Eight-Fold Path and Four Noble Truths of Buddhism is what they use it as guides to reach Nirvada, after their death. It works like Ten Commandments for Christians. I understand Eight-Fold Path and Four Noble Truths of Buddhism as Buddhism version of Ten Commandments. I think I will never be able to apply theses to my life unlike Siddhartha because I have to give up everything that I possess. The novel is well written. It made me to think what a human could do when they’re trying to reach goals. After reading the novel, I learned that human has unlimited power to do things. The unlimited power exists when you are mentality is set to do something. Research Papers on The Novel Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse - Informal Essay19 Century Society: A Deeply Divided EraHip-Hop is ArtQuebec and CanadaWhere Wild and West MeetThe Relationship Between Delinquency and Drug UseMind TravelComparison: Letter from Birmingham and CritoHonest Iagos Truth through DeceptionThe Spring and AutumnTwilight of the UAW

In the Last Throes

In the Last Throes In the Last Throes In the Last Throes By Maeve Maddox An amusing egg-corn that has just appeared on my radar is that of writing in the throes of as in the throws of. A protagonist in the throws of madness Plaster cast of a Pompeii resident in the throws of death Iraq is in the last throws of insurgency AMD in final death throws? in the throws of the epidemic Question: Why do cockroaches die on their backs? Answer: Because in the throws of death, they often tip or topple over Although both words may derive from the same Old English word, à ¾rawan to twist, turn writhe, theyve been used with distinctly different meanings long enough to make the mix-up amusing. (Throe may derive instead from O.E. à ¾rowian to suffer.) The OED offers these definitions: throe: A violent spasm or pang, such as convulses the body, limbs, or face. Also, a spasm of feeling; a paroxysm; agony of mind; anguish.  Ã‚  Ã‚      The pain and struggle of childbirth; pl. labour-pangs. The agony of death; the death-struggle, death-throe. A violent convulsion or struggle preceding or accompanying the ‘bringing forth’ of something. To confuse the issue, theres a blog called In the Throws of Resistance, and a song called In the Throws of a Moral Quandary. Theres also a villainous group (Marvel Comics) called the Death-Throws. Their name is a pun on death throes. Theyre jugglers. The things they throw cause death, hence, death throws. Take care next time you want to express the idea of intense suffering or passion. Throes in the sense of violent feeling is too good a word to throw away. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Spelling category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:10 Grammar Mistakes You Should AvoidDeck the HallsDrama vs. Melodrama

GOV STUDY GUIDE 649,652,654, Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

GOV STUDY GUIDE 649,652,654, - Assignment Example Soviets were a group of elected government council members in a counrty that was communist. 9. In a monarchy, the sovereignty of the government in power is usually possessed in one person, a king or a queen and it only lasts until the person dies and the next family member in line takes over (McClenaghan, 2006). A minister is a politician in a national or regional government who has the duty of implementing policy decisions. 10. A coalition is a formal pact between people or groups of people with the purpose of satisfying each group’s interest (McClenaghan, 2006). A consensus is an agreement between two people or groups and smooth decision-making process occurs because each party has the entitlement to make decisions. 1. In 1918, the Chinese political and military leader, Chiang Kai-shek joined a nationalist party known as the Kuomintang (KMT). Chiang had a successor called, Sun Yat-Sen in year 1925, who ensured that there was a unification process for all the local leaders in China and chased away the communists in China. He focused on battling both communism and Japanese aggression. When China’s allies declared the war in Japan in 1914, China also participated as one of the Big four. Later, there was a civil war in China in 1946 and the communist forces in China led by Mao Zedong succeeded thereby creating the People’s Republic of China. Cultural Revolution was a movement in China established to cleanse China of the four olds which included old customs, ideas, culture and habits (McClenaghan, 2006). The movement was launched by Mao Zedong as a way of reasserting his authority in the government. 3. The Republic of China is what is known as Taiwan and the People’s Republic of China is what is known as China (McClenaghan, 2006). These are two separate states, but both states seem to claim to control the other. 5. In China, there are no political opposition groups, but in Russia there are many political groups such as the KTR group and the

Primary Source Analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Primary Source Analysis - Essay Example All of this is set against the background of the Cold War, which sharpened animosities between capitalist and communist world views, and raised the spectre of world annihilation from nuclear war between Communist Russia and the Capitalist United States. The FLQ was an extremist organization and it organized campaigns violent action, including the bombing of the Canadian Stock Exchange in 1969 and the assassination of government minister Laporte in 1970. The Manifesto sets out its urgent demand for total liberation of the Quebecois people from all higher powers. It professes to have at first been supportive of the conventional nationalist â€Å"Parti Quà ©becois† but this party’s electoral defeat by the Liberals is portrayed as evidence for the ineffectiveness of this organization. The hardship experienced by many groups of working people is cited, including fishermen, miners, construction workers, factory workers, as well as other groups such as welfare recipients and policemen. Their poverty is blamed on the high taxation systems that the Canadian Federal Government has introduced, and also on trade contracts between Canada and Britain which benefit the governments and the wealthy business owners, but not the ordinary workers. The manifesto states that the QLF has not used all of the means available to it, including violent ones like arms and dynamite to free workers from exploitation by their greedy bosses. Institu tions such as the Church and the Universities, which represent the establishment, are also criticized, and the manifesto ends with a call to rise up in revolution against all of these oppressors. This document is an example of Marxist revolutionary propaganda and it offers an insight into the thinking of the people behind the terrorist acts committed by the FLQ in the 1960s and 1970s in Montreal and Quebec. Evidence for this thesis can be found in three of the document’s main features : Ideas. The authors of the document imply that it

Video Game Effect Essay Example for Free

Video Game Effect Essay There are millions of people who play highly controversial games like Grand Theft Auto and other violence video games, realize that it is a game and do not do things they do in the game in real life. If people believe that video games cause behavior problems, they are underlying issues with the gamer himself, and not with the software, but according to American Psychological Association, almost ninety percent of kids between the ages eight and sixteen are addicted to video game especially the violent one. The average girls spends almost six to eight hour week’s playing video games which does not sound bad comparing to boys who spends an average of thirteen hours a week. Some parents reported that video games only describe virtual reality, and should not translate into real world problem. However, children are more likely to imitate the actions of a character with which they classify themselves with. In all violent video games, players are often required to take point of view of the shooter or perpetrator, which show a change of their behavior. Study shows that repetition increases learning and video games required repetition in order to master control characters movement. If the game is violent, then the effect is a behavioral practice for a violent activity. These children who are involve in playing violent video games are more aggressive than who are not involve with these game, which at some point of their life, they will get heart or might die because of their action. Recently, parents become unaware with their kids behavior in real life. Some of them let their kids do whatever they like to do like playing violent video games for long hours or watching brutal shows on television. Report by American Psychological Association â€Å"disagree that violent video games cause behavior problems, because the choices people make cause violent behavior. Video games, even the violent once, can be good experience. † But parents need to teach their kids those video games need to be separate from reality. The choices they make in their daily life have absolutely nothing to do with video games. In fact they may be able to take out any aggressions that they have on a video game, rather than go out and beat someone up, that what their parents believe, but what they do not know is playing video game frequently for long hours has a huge negative on kids because it feed their brain with aggression, violence, and fighting which creates problems such as poor social skills from kids to their parents and the outside world. Sociology studies shows that boys by the age of twenty-one had spend more than 10000 hours or more just by playing video games American Psychological Association wrote â€Å"97% between the age 12 to 17 in the US played video game†¦ top 10 out of 20 were violent. † USA today made study twenty years ago about sixty percent of American family had sat down as family dinners, same study last year the number drop down to twenty percent. Because kids are spending their times on video game, it creates huge problems such as poor social skills, poor grade in school, and live in hostile environment. Psychologist concludes, that video game is nature requirement activities, because it based on reward system and as human we try to be satisfied and achieved all requirements. For example, in video game Mafia 2, the character is required to rob bank which is the basic objective. But if the player kills all securities without triggering the alarm, the player will receive bounce. Since all players love to achieve more, they will do the mission, after completing the mission they will play it again in order to get the bounces. If parents are worried that their children are addicted to violent video game and spending so much time playing it, they should set limits, like playing video game for an hour after completing their homework, also try to encourage their children to play outside, and do other activity. Parents must check the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) to learn about the video game’s content and what age range it belongs to. Parents should strongly monitor their children about video games that they are buying, and from online games. Violent video games have been blamed for increase bullying, assaulting women, and school shooting, because violent games teach children that violence is way to solve problems and it is acceptable in this world. Studied showed that sixty percent of middle school children who played at least one video game that rated mature has hit, beat, and assault other students. Also it shows that students who committed this violence act were enjoying inflected pain and become less forgiving. For example, in Bully the character have to fight with teacher and other student in order to be popular in school. In other word, this video game encourages kids to be disrespectful to the elder and to the other student. Female in violent video games are mostly present as explore to sexual contact, like being rape, get killed, and thrown behind the bushes. What make it ironic is the player is rewarded by getting some extra feature. For example, in LA Noire the character is homicide, in one of his chapter the player must solve several of cases that women been rape, nude, murder, and thrown in dumpster or tree. In 1998 study shows that thirty percent of violent video games involve women been attacked and rape. Another example, in Grand Theft Auto, which considers one of the best seller games in 2008, player must gain money to be able to buy armor or guns so the player will target female for two reasons. First, they carry more cash, and second they weak. Schools shooting have been connected to shooting video games. Students who have been exposed to violent video games held more violent attitudes, had more hostile personalities, were less forgiveness, and believed that being sadistic with other is normal. Seung-Hui Cho the student who opened fire at Virginia Tech incident. He was addicted to shooting game called Counter Strike, the objective of that game is to kill the other team where character are allowed to buy guns, armor, and grenade. Every time the character kill member of the other team he rewarded with money. If parents and schools are affected by kids who play violent video games for long hours, it means media and society are affected too. Societies are concern with violence and media including the internet have extend worlds of video game, especially the violent one, such as the Hitman series, Grand Theft Auto, Mortal Kombat, and more. The character in video games may get away when he committed crime or brutal events. As adults they know the different between real life and fiction one, but kids do not know that. Kids might steal money or attack other kids believing they will get away. For example, in Grand Theft Auto player can steal car, run over pedestrian, and hit another car. With kind action the police well attempt to arrest you character. However, if the character were able to drive fast or hide inside building for couple of minutes police will ignore you and let you free.

The Relationship Between Social Class and Educational Achievement Essay

The Relationship Between Social Class and Educational Achievement Many sociologists have tried to explore the link between social class and educational achievement, measuring the effects of one element upon the other. In order to maintain a definite correlation between the two, there are a number of views, explanations, social statistics and perspectives which must be taken into account. The initial idea would be to define the key terms which are associated with how "social class" affects "educational achievement." "Social class" is the identity of people, according to the work they do and the community in which they live in."Educational achievement" is the tendency for some groups to do better or worse in terms of educational success. Research reveals that the higher the social class, the higher the levels of educational achievement are likely to be. The children of parents in higher social classes are more likely to stay on in post compulsory education, more likely to achieve examination passes when at school, and more likely to gain university entrance. These features painted a true picture of British education in the twentieth century and can be argued to follow this trend today. However, whether there has been any reduction in the inequalities is more debatable, but some research suggests that these inequalities are as great as ever, despite the overall improvements within the education system. Many researchers argue that IQ tests are biased in favour of the middle class, since members of this group largely construct them. If it is accepted that social classes and other groups have distinctive subcultures and that this affe... ... to reject school and school values (such as academic success). This has its roots outside of school in the nature of the fathers and elder brothers' in manual work. They look up to these figures and see school as "sissy", un-masculine, unlike the "real" masculine work that their fathers, brothers etc do. Overall, in conclusion there can be no definite correlation identified between "social class" and "educational achievement" in that there is much research into this and many sociologists suggest their own theories, and have yet not decided whether there is a link or not. However, there does seem to be correlation of some kind as sociologists either favour it or not. It can be still said that the main relationship between these factors is the higher the social class; the more likely the pupil is going to succeed.

Factors That Influence Infant Development

From the moment of conception, there are so many factors and hazards expecting parents must consider ensuring a safe pregnancy and healthy baby. All of which are very important to growth and development. In this essay, I will focus in on the key points an expecting mother should pay close attention to during pregnancy, labor, and the birth of her baby. Caring for yourself and the life growing inside of an expecting mother is a wonderful experience and sometimes a challenge. From the moment a couple decides to have a baby is when they should begin thinking about their future offspring. Taking care of yourself first is key to having an optimally healthy body to house a developing baby. Eating healthy, exercising and refraining from drugs, smoking and alcohol is of the utmost importance. Some mothers who are trying to conceive also take the extra measure of taking prenatal vitamins. It is also a good idea for a couple to visit their doctor to make sure they are in good health and given the â€Å"green light† to begin to work toward conceiving. Making sure you are in good physical health prior to conception is important to lessen the chances of complications during pregnancy. Once the joyous day arrives and you learn that you are expecting, it is very important to see your doctor and have him verify the news. Then begins the task of finding an OBGYN to care for you and your baby throughout the pregnancy and deliver the child when the time comes. Regular, consistent prenatal care is by far the most important factor in insuring the healthiest, safest pregnancy and delivery one can have. Your doctor will see you every month in the beginning of the pregnancy and track your baby’s growth as well as your weight and overall health. During these visits it is important to talk openly with your doctor about any questions or concerns you are having. Your doctor will prescribe prenatal vitamins and run regular tests throughout the pregnancy. When the due date gets closer a mother visits her OBGYN more frequently to track her progress and prepare her for the impending birth. Preventative care while pregnant is important to the growing fetus as well as the expecting mother to monitor progress and deal with any complications that may arise, such as gestational diabetes. What I feel is the most obvious hazard and precaution an expecting mother must consider is refraining from unhealthy activities, such as consuming alcohol, smoking or drug use. These toxins often have major and detrimental effects on a developing baby. There are many birth defects and disorders directly connected to expectant mothers unhealthy lifestyles during pregnancy, for example â€Å"fetal alcohol syndrome, which can cause deformities, mental retardation, learning disorders, vision difficulties and behavioral problems and are irreversible. †(www. mayoclinic. com) Drugs, smoking and alcohol all affect a baby that is in a critical time period of development and growth. An expecting mother must put the needs of her unborn child first. In this essay I have covered just a few important factors in the health and safety of a growing baby; but there are many, many more to consider. A couple planning to conceive must be aware of the hazards to their developing child and the precautions that must be heeded. Creating a new life is a wonderful, life changing experience. Every expecting parent should always do what is best for their child, from conception through the crucial first years of development on into adulthood.