Are you really what you eat? Why are people born with certain unique tendencies? Are matter and spirit separate, or the same? Although seemingly unrelated, these questions are unified by the subject under consideration in this paper: the Hindu caste system. The caste system itself is unified by the concern of ritual purity.
Get original essaythe caste system has been a dominating aspect of social organization for thousands of years. A caste, generally designated by the term jati ("birth"), refers to a strictly regulated social community into which one is born. In general, a person is expected to marry someone within the same jati, follow a particular set of rules for proper behavior (in such matters as kinship, occupation, and diet), and interact with other jatis according to the group's position in the social hierarchy. ("India")
Among Hindus, the thousands of jatis are grouped into four large clusters called varnas, which is loosely translated as color. Whether this refers to skin color or to attributes of character depends on ones perspective. Kelly Ross, a non-Hindu college philosophy instructor, believes that these sound suspiciously like skin colors; and, indeed, there is an expectation in India that higher caste people will have lighter skin. In contrast, a Hindu web page asserts that this is not a reference to skin color, but to the fact that colors are associated with types of personalities (The Caste System). For instance, if warriors are referred to as red, this implies their passionate nature, and not their skin color.
Each varna has a traditional function to fulfill for the good of the whole society. Brahmins, the priests, are at the top of the social hierarchy, followed by Kshatriyas, the warriors; Vaishyas, originally peasants, but later merchants; and Sudras, the serfs. The particular varna in which a jati is ranked depends, in part, on its relative level of "impurity," determined by the group's traditional contact with any of a number of "pollutants," such as blood, menstrual flow, saliva, dung, leather, dirt, and hair. Restrictions between the castes were established to prevent the relative "purity" of a particular jati from being corrupted by the "pollution" of a lower caste.
This paper first outlines how the caste system is likely to have been formed over time, and then briefly describes three theories from anthropology that attempt to explain its ideology. In all three, the theme of ritual purity is strongly apparent. The goal of this paper is to provide this information in a condensed format for fellow classmates.
Hinduism and the Hindu caste system emerged from a blending of the culture of the Aryans and the native people already living in northern India. The Aryans were nomadic, pastoral warriors, organized into tribes, who entered northwestern India in the second millennium BC, their forebears having come from Northern Eurasia (Wasson 209). The Aryan tribes were already split into two social classes before invading India: the nobility and commoners, similar to the ancient Greek patricians and plebeians. The chief was primarily a war leader. He was aided by a general and a priest, who was the predecessor of the later priesthood known today as the Brahmins (Basham 34). Since then, the worldly and spiritual powers have been in the hands of different specialists: worldly power in the hands of the king, spiritual power in the hands of the priest.
A critical development during this time was that the ritual power of the priest became more important than the secular power of the king, who was expected to protect and depend upon the priest (Dumont 72). The Brahmins were eventually placed at the pinnacle of the social ladder, probably influenced by their claims to superior purity. Quoting the French missionary Abbe Dubois, Bougle writes, The Brahmins strive most to keep up appearances of outward purity . . .It is chiefly to the scrupulous observance of such customs that the Brahmins owe the predominance of their illustrious caste (58).
The oldest religious justification for the division of society into the four varnas is found in the tenth mandala (circle) of the Rig-Veda, the oldest and holiest Hindu scripture. This passage describes the creation of the universe as the sacrifice of a gigantic original man, Purusa, whose mouth became the Brahmin; his arms were made into the
Warrior, his thighs the People, and from his feet the Servants were born. . .(Fieser and Powers 8). Because the Brahmins came from his mouth, they were the keepers of the holy word and law, and therefore the most prestigious. The Kshatriya are warriors because they came from the part used for fighting, the arms; Vaishya are the tradesmen because they came from the legs; and Sudras are servants because they came from the lowest part of the cosmic body, the feet.
These four classes seem to have actually existed in the ancient Aryan society in northern India. The members of the three higher varnas were probably mostly Aryans, while the fourth and lowest varna was probably mostly darker-skinned, conquered peoples (Basham 137).
However, the original varnas were not the castes that exist today, for there is evidence that people could, and did, change their varnas, and inter-marriage between persons of different varnas was allowed (Basham 146).
The rigidity of the caste system came about later, possibly due to the development and acceptance of such religious ideas as karma and reincarnation. Neither of these concepts were Aryan ideas, and it is possible that they were the indigenous tribes contribution to the religion that became Hinduism (Glucklich 28). If one believed in reincarnation, one saw ones place in the caste system as determined by ones character in a previous life. If one was reborn an Untouchable, one had obviously been more sinful than if one was reborn a Brahmin:
The status of a Brahmana is incapable of acquisition by a person belonging to any of the three other orders. Travelling through innumerable orders of existence, by undergoing repeated births, one at last, in some birth, becomes born as a Brahmana. The status of a Brahmana is incapable of acquisition by persons begotten on uncleansed souls. (Mahabharata, Anusasana Parva, XXVIII)
Concerns about purity seem to have developed during the same time period as the caste system. The Laws of Manu, a holy Hindu book that contains rules for personal conduct, which date, at the latest, in the third century AD, refer to impurity from outcasted persons, as well as from death and menstruation (Dumont 53). The Chinese Buddhist pilgrim Fa-hsien, who traveled to India during the reign of Candra Gupta II (ruled 376-415 AD), refers to pollution on approach; that is, pollution from coming close to an Untouchable or outcast (Basham 66). During these early times, leather workers (who are impure because they work with dead animal skin) were already disliked, as evidenced by their being heavily taxed (Basham 107).
A well-known modern study of the formation of castes was one overseen by Jan Breman during the 1960s in two villages in India that focused on the integration of tribal people into the Hindu caste system. The tribal peoples are poor natives of India who were not integrated in the past into Aryan society or Hinduism because they lived in remote areas. During Bremans period of observation, they became agricultural workers for the land-owning, higher caste Brahmins. Breman quotes J.A. Baines, who suggested that the migration of Brahmins into new regions, previously occupied by tribals, created a system of land servitude. Because the Brahmins own religion did not allow them to touch plows, the tribal people became their farming servants (39). Besides doing work in the fields, the tribes also did other kinds of work that only Untouchables would do (Breman 40). Their willingness to do so is presumably accounted for by the absence, in their tribal culture, of the pollution complex of Hinduism. Once settled in Hindu villages, however, they are treated as Untouchables because of the pollution attitudes of their Hindu employers (Breman 256).
This study illustrates that castes likely developed from immigrants, tribal groups, or groups with a newly developed craft becoming integrated into one social system. Both Hinduism and the caste system then spread from northern India to the southern part of the peninsula, absorbing, and eventually defeating, the rival religions of Buddhism and Jainism (Sastri 28). In this way, the indigenous tribes of India were gradually Hindu-ized. Those tribes closer to the newly established towns of the Aryans were integrated into the Hindu social order first, those further distant being integrated later (Stein 185 and 206). Each, as a closed group, was then ranked in a local hierarchy of jatis. Integration into a hierarchy was the price that a group had to pay in order to settle in an agricultural village. As Dumont has said, In the hierarchical scheme, a groups acknowledged different-ness, whereby it is contrasted with other groups, becomes the very principle whereby it is integrated into society. If you eat beef, you must accept being classed among the Untouchables, and on this condition your practice will be tolerated (191).
McKim Marriott and Ronald Inden have tried to explain Hindus own understanding of the caste system, in an attempt to avoid influencing the native understanding with Western or academic ideas. What they call their ethnosociology of the caste system includes what other anthropologists have called the Hindu pollution concept, but they give this concept a different interpretation. It focuses on such questions as: What is it that actually defiles water for a higher-caste person when it comes from the hands of an Untouchable?
What they find is that, unlike Westerners, who think in terms of the duality of body and spirit, Hindus think monistically. Hindus believe that a person physically inherits a coded-substance (Marriott 110), i.e. matter comes with morality built in. Each persons body has a single code within, a set of rules, which dictates what is appropriate for them. The code programmed into the persons body influences his or her varna, jati, gender, and personality: code and substance cannot have separate existences in this world of constituted things, as conceived by most South Asians (Marriott 110).
Marriott and Inden explain ones varna-dharma (the code for members of each of the four varnas) by referring to the sacrificial superman Purusha discussed above. In their interpretation, he is a Code Man (Marriott 114), each varna receiving its particular code from a different part of the body of the Code Man. Ones jati-dharma (the duty of ones jati) is also encoded into ones bodily substance, as are the duties for ones gender and personality, which explains why women could not . . . participate in sacrifice to the gods; their presence at the sacrifice was considered a source of pollution (Mayer).
Ideas from this theory explain why Hindus believe that pollution can be transferred between people. Every persons body is made up of little particles that can be loosened, separated, and then combined with other kinds of coded particles (Marriott and Inden 233).
This theory of inherited coded substances, which can break up into tiny particles and then recombine with other kinds of particles, can explain how pollution transfers from a polluted person to a pure person. These particles (in hair, sweat or saliva) can mix into food, water, and other things exchanged in inter-personal transactions. Carried to the extreme, even the sight of some untouchable groups was once held to be polluting, and they were forced to live a nocturnal existence (Untouchable).
Thus, one gives off coded particles and gains coded particles from others. One should try to gain appropriate or superior coded particles (those coming from gods or higher castes), not worse coded particles (those coming from lower castes or defiled persons). One may get better particles through right eating, right marriage, and other right exchanges and actions (Marriott and Inden, 233). This idea is reflected in the famous Hindu epic the Mahabharata, which states that, The status of Brahmana, once gained, should always be protected with care by avoiding the stain of contact with persons born in inferior orders . . . (Mahabharata, Anusasana Parva, CXLIII).
Marvin Davis has taken Marriott and Indens concept of coded-substance and used it to help him construct a similar theory from the viewpoint of Hindus from West Bengal. Davis learned of this folk theory largely from interviewing Bengali Hindus, but the theory is also drawn from Hindu holy books, including the Bhagavad Gita, Srimad Bhagavata Mahapurana, Purusukta, and Manu Dharmasastra (7). Since these works are widely known in India, it is likely that his findings apply in other areas besides West Bengal.
The Hindus of West Bengal believe that, from the god of creation first emanated purusa the male, cultural principle of the universe in which is embodied hard, structuring but relatively inert matter. Then prakriti the female, natural principle of the universe in which is embodied soft, energetic, but relatively unstructured or undifferentiated matter . . .all creation depends on the continued union and reunion of purusa and prakriti through time, and the resulting mixtures and products of the three modes in which primordial matter is constituted. (Davis 8)
When compared with Marriott and Indens coded-substance, there is an obvious parallel of purusa with code and prakriti with substance.
The three basic materials formed by the union of prakriti and purusa are sattvagun, rajogun, and tamogun. Sattvagun, a white substance, generates goodness and joy and inspires all noble virtues and actions. Rajogun, red, produces egoism, selfishness, violence, jealousy, and ambition. Tamogun, black, engenders stupidity, laziness, fear, and all sorts of base behavior (Davis 9).
Thus, the gun theory offers a unique interpretation of purity and impurity, as sattvagun may be equated with the former and tamogun with the later, with rajogun functioning as a material mode that activates the other two gun (Davis 9).
According to this philosophy, the hierarchy of beings is composed of Brahma, the creator, at the top, followed by the gods, then humans, demons, animals, plants, and objects at the bottom (Davis 10). In Brahma, the three guns are present and in balance. In all the other beings, one or the other gun predominates. The gods are largely sattvagun; human beings mixture of guns depends on the varnas they were born into. In the sacred words of the Bhagavad Gita,
The works of Brahmins, Kshatriyas, Vaishyas, and Sudras are different, in harmony with the three powers of their born nature. The works of a Brahmin are peace, self-harmony, austerity and purity . . .[the works of a Kshatriya] are heroic mind, inner fire . . . courage in battle . . .[the works of a vaishya are] trade, agriculture and the rearing of cattle . . .the work of the Sudra is service. (qtd. in Ross)
The gun theory, like the coded-substance theory, asserts that people and jatis do not have fixed coded-substances. They should try, through marriage, to maintain or improve the coded-substance of individual and jati: Jati purity and ritual rank are intimately tied to womens purity; for daughters to marry down jeopardizes the rank of the entire jati and is, therefore, vigorously opposed by all jati males (Wong).
Another aspect of the caste system that this theory elucidates is the practice of endogamy, which can be understood by examining the Bengali Hindus theory of conception. Food changes into digested food, which changes into blood, which changes into flesh, which changes into fat, which changes into marrow, which changes into semen in the male and uterine blood in the female (19-20). In the conception of a child, the semen of the male and the uterine blood of the female unite. As Marriott and Inden explain, the inborn qualitative ranks of the later genera are...thought to derive from the syntax by which they originated first, by the syntagm of consistency, and second, by the syntagm of homogeneity (234).
The theory also offers insight into Hindu beliefs about the roles of food and eating. Cold foods (milk, clarified butter, most fruits, vegetables) make one sattvagun. Hot foods (meat, eggs, onion, mangoes) make one rajogun. Spoiled or stale food make tamogun, as do beef and alcohol (Davis 20). Thus, Brahmins are expected to be vegetarians, while the Sudras and Untouchables will eat anything. Foods, then, are substances that carry the capacity to affect and transform the person who consumes them: One is always likely to become what he eats, and he may also be atomically involved in what he feeds to others, especially if and when the food is hot, (Marriott and Inden 233). This would explain why of all the restrictions of the caste system, the prohibition of accepting food from a person of lower, and therefore less pure, caste is one of the strongest (Wong).
A less abstract theory of caste is Edward Harpers claim that the central concern in Hindu ritual is to make offerings to the gods to prevent natural disasters. Anyone making an offering to the gods must be ritually pure, however, or else the gods will not be pleased. Because the intermediary between the general society and the gods is the priest, typically a Brahmin, he must be pure in order to communicate with the gods, and satisfactory communication with the gods is in everyones best interests. A Havik [Brahmin] should be ritually pure because this state is intrinsically good, not because it is enjoyable (Harper 174).
This idea goes back to the ancient Aryan, pre-Hinduism idea of Rita (order), the belief that the sacrifices made by the priests were a necessary part of the natural order. If such offerings were not made, or if they were not made correctly, nature would go awry rain would not fall, epidemics might prevail, and so on (Basham 241). Thus, the threat of supernatural punishment constantly reinforces concepts of ritual purity (Harper 185).
In Hindu belief, all living things have a rank in the hierarchy of purity (Wong). Among these living these are included devates, deities, and devarus, gods. Devates can either help man or harm him, depending on if they are kept ritually pure or if they are polluted. Devates are honored by being given offerings by those who are ritually pure, but if defiled, they retaliate by causing injury, usually in the form of illness, to the offender, to his cattle, or to members of his family (Harper 188). Devarus [gods] are higher than devates on the scale of purity, and need to be protected from sources of impurity. This is done, in part, by secluding them by building a temple around them into which lower castes are not allowed.
The elevation and purity of the soul of a being have both spiritual and physical correlates. Contact with impure matter even, for some of the purest individuals, with the shadow of impure matter defiles or pollutes the pure and necessitates cleansing that takes both physical and spiritual forms. Pure individuals must, therefore, eschew contact with impurity . . . . (Wong)
Hindus believe that mans major source of control over the malevolent aspects of spirits comes from mantras, a syllable, word, or phrase used in meditation and believed to possess spiritual powers (Mantra). But mantras work only when contained within a field of purity. If a powerful devate . . . is attempting to harm a Brahmin, the protective mantras that he needs can be made effective only if he is in madi [ritual purity] . . . (Harper 191). Similarly, temples can be conceived of as fields of purity, into which even a Brahmin cannot enter unless he is in a ritually pure state (Harper 188), which explains why Brahmins have vehemently resisted allowing Untouchables into their temples.
Because it is of supreme importance for the Brahmins to remain pure, the lower castes plow the fields (which results in the accidental killing of insects), give animal sacrifices to certain blood-demanding deities, sweep the public roads, and dispose of the Brahmins dead cattle. People who work with corpses, body excretions, or animal skin had an aura of danger and impurity, so they were kept away from mainstream society and from sacred learning and ritual (Elst). All of these services are necessary to keep the town functioning, but they bring one degree or another of impurity to the performer. A Brahmin would not be able to perform one of these actions and maintain sufficient ritual purity to be able to worship the gods, and catastrophe would soon follow. The lower castes direct the flow of impurity to themselves, which creates the firm and eternal chasm between the clean and unclean castes.
The higher states of purity, then, fundamentally depend upon a division of labor among castes, which are arranged according to a hierarchy of purity. According to anthropology professor Michael Moffat, Caste is fundamentally holistic. What you do, and what you are, is defined in relation to the social whole.
Ritual purity does not come automatically; it must be achieved with great effort, and it cannot be attained solely by one mans own efforts. For a Brahmin to remain sufficiently ritually pure so that, through his own efforts, he can attain his personal maximum purity potential, he needs the assistance of other castes. Harper summarizes: The relationship between castes requires specialization in occupations in order for other castes to be more pure, so that these may attain sufficient purity to purify the gods (196).
The evolution of the caste system is difficult to clarify, but it probably originated in India as the Aryans invaded from the northwest. They brought with them their religion, which, in the Rig-Veda, declared that society was divinely divided into four parts. Gradually, as the Aryans moved southwards, the native tribes were incorporated, and barriers between castes hardened. Its main concern was with purity and impurity, which involved food, death, marriage, and the body. This was supported by the belief that morality is the same as matter, and therefore physical matter can make you a nobler or baser person. Every individual was born with a unique physical body that had its own unique morality, and one could make it better or worse by contact with pure or impure matter.
Therefore, since people, like everything else, were not just physical bodies but spiritual as well, the clean spirits avoided the unclean so that their spirit could accumulate morality, and thus be reborn in the next life in a purer existence. Purity also meant that prayer and sacrifice to the gods required special priests that were purer than the average person. This arranged society so that its main goal was the protection of the priests, at the expense of the commoners.
It is clear, even from the brief descriptons in this paper, that the caste system is very complex. The underlying philosophy turns out to be deeper than what appears on the surface. However, one must not get lost in the labyrinth of ideas.
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Get custom essayWhen dealing with the living social reality, what counts is not the fine metaphysical concepts embodied in great religious works of a people, but the home-spun ideas that have percolated into the consciousness of the masses and become a part of their world view. (Cunningham and Menon 10)
So little of Hipparchus’s life has been recorded, but he is considered the very founder of trigonometry. Reasonably enough Hipparchus is often referred to as Hipparchus of Nicaea or Hipparchus of Bithynia and he is listed among the famous men of Bithynia by Strabo, the Greek geographer and historian who lived from about 64 BC to about 24 AD. There are coins from Nicaea which depict Hipparchus sitting looking at a globe and his image appears on coins minted under five different Roman emperors between 138 AD and 253 AD.
Get original essayThis seems to firmly place Hipparchus in Nicaea and indeed Ptolemy does describe Hipparchus as observing in Bithynia, and one would naturally assume that in fact he was observing in Nicaea. However, of the observations which are said to have been made by Hipparchus, some were made in the north of the island of Rhodes and several (although only one is definitely due to Hipparchus himself) were made in Alexandria. If these are indeed as they appear we can say with certainty that Hipparchus was in Alexandria in 146 BC and in Rhodes near the end of his career in 127 BC and 126 BC.
It is not too unusual to have few details of the life of a Greek mathematician, but with Hipparchus the position is a little unusual for, despite Hipparchus being a mathematician and astronomer of major importance, we have disappointingly few definite details of his work. Only one work by Hipparchus has survived, namely Commentary on Aratus and Eudoxus and this is certainly not one of his major works. It is however important in that it gives us the only source of Hipparchus’s own writings.
Most of the information which we have about the work of Hipparchus comes from Ptolemy’s Almagest, but, as Toomer writes:… although Ptolemy obviously had studied Hipparchus’s writings thoroughly and had a deep respect for his work, his main concern was not to transmit it to posterity but to use it and, where possible, improve upon it in constructing his own astronomical system.
Where one might hope for more information about Hipparchus would be in the commentaries on Ptolemy’s Almagest ?. There are two in particular by the excellent commentators Theon of Alexandria and by Pappus, but unfortunately these follow Ptolemy’s text fairly closely and fail to add the expected information about Hipparchus. Since when Ptolemy refers to results of Hipparchus he does so often in an obscure way, at least he seems to assume that the reader will have access to the original writings by Hipparchus, and it is certainly surprising that neither Theon nor Pappus fills in the details. One can only assume that neither of them had access to the information about Hipparchus on which we would have liked them to report.
Let us first summarise the main contribution of Hipparchus and then examine them in more detail. He made an early contribution to trigonometry producing a table of chords, an early example of a trigonometric table; indeed some historians go so far as to say that trigonometry was invented by him. The purpose of this table of chords was to give a method for solving triangles which avoided solving each triangle from first principles. He also introduced the division of a circle into 360 degrees into Greece.
Hipparchus calculated the length of the year to within 6.5 minutes and discovered the precession of the equinoxes. Hipparchus’s value of 46’ for the annual precession is good compared with the modern value of 50.26’ and much better than the figure of 36’ that Ptolemy was to obtain nearly 300 years later. We believe that Hipparchus’s star catalogue contained about 850 stars, probably not listed in a systematic coordinate system but using various different ways to designate the position of a star. His star catalogue, probably completed in 129 BC, has been claimed to have been used by Ptolemy as the basis of his own star catalogue. However, Vogt shows clearly in his important paper that by considering the Commentary on Aratus and Eudoxus and making the reasonable assumption that the data given there agreed with his star catalogue, then Ptolemy’s star catalogue cannot have been produced from the positions of the stars as given by Hipparchus.
This last point shows that in any detailed discussion of the achievements of Hipparchus we have to delve more deeply than just assuming that everything in the Ptolemy’s Almagest ? which he does not claim as his own must be due to Hipparchus. This view was taken for many years but since Vogt’s 1925 paper [26] there has been much research done trying to ascertain exactly what Hipparchus achieved. So major shifts have taken place in our understanding of Hipparchus, first it was assumed that his discoveries were all set out by Ptolemy, then once it was realised that this was not so there was a feeling that it would be impossible to ever have detailed knowledge of his achievements, but now we are in a third stage where it is realised that it is possible to gain a good knowledge of his work but only with much effort and research.
Let us begin our detailed description of Hipparchus’s achievements by looking at the only work which has survived. Hipparchus’s Commentary on Aratus and Eudoxus was written in three books as a commentary on three different writings. Firstly there was a treatise by Eudoxus (unfortunately now lost) in which he named and described the constellations. Aratus wrote a poem called Phaenomena which was based on the treatise by Eudoxus and proved to be a work of great popularity. This poem has survived and we have its text. Thirdly there was commentary on Aratus by Attalus of Rhodes, written shortly before the time of Hipparchus.
It is certainly unfortunate that of all of the writings of Hipparchus this was the one to survive since the three books on which Hipparchus was writing a commentary contained no mathematical astronomy. As a result of this Hipparchus chose to write at the same qualitative level in the first book and also for much of the second of his three book. However towards the end of the second book, continuing through the whole of the third book, Hipparchus gives his own account of the rising and setting of the constellations. Towards the end of Book 3 Hipparchus gives a list of bright stars always visible for the purpose of enabling the time at night to be accurately determined. As we noted above Hipparchus does not use a single consistent coordinate system to denote stellar positions, rather using a mixture of different coordinates. He uses some equatorial coordinates, although often in a rather strange way as for example saying that a star:… occupies three degrees of Leo along its parallel circle…
He has therefore divided each small circle parallel to the equator into 12 portions of 30° each and this means that the right ascension of the star referred to in the quotation is 123°. The data in the Commentary on Aratus and Eudoxus has been analysed by many authors. In particular the authors of [15] argue that Hipparchus used a mobile celestial sphere with the stars pictured on the sphere. They claim that the data was taken from on a star catalogue constructed around 140 BC based on observations accurate to a third of a degree or even better. In the earlier work by the same authors, they suggest that the observations were made at a latitude of 36° 15’ which corresponds to that of northern Rhodes. This would tend to confirm that this work by Hipparchus was done near the end of his career. As Toomer writes: Far from being a “Work of his youth”, as it is frequently described, the commentary on Aratus reveals Hipparchus as one who had already compiled a large number of observations, invented methods for solving problems in spherical astronomy, and developed the highly significant idea of mathematically fixing the positions of the stars…
There is of course no agreement on many of the points discussed here. For example Maeyama in sees major differences between the accuracy of the data in Commentary on Aratus and Eudoxus (claimed to be written around 140 BC) and Hipparchus’s star catalogue (claimed to be produced around 130 BC). Maeyama writes:… Hipparchus’s “Commentary” contains his own observations of the stellar positions, great in number but inaccurate in operation, despite all his ability for accurate observations…. the observational accuracy [of] his two different epochs have nothing in common, as if they dealt with two different observers. Within an interval of 10 years everything can happen, particularly in the case of a man like Hipparchus. Those views which consider Hipparchus’s astronomical activities at his two different epochs as similar are completely unfounded.
Perhaps the discovery for which Hipparchus is most famous is the discovery of precession which is due to the slow change in direction of the axis of rotation of the earth. This work came from Hipparchus’s attempts to calculate the length of the year with a high degree of accuracy. There are two different definitions of a “year” for one might take the time that the sun takes to return to the same place amongst the fixed stars or one could take the length of time before the seasons repeated which is a length of time defined by considering the equinoxes. The first of these is called the sidereal year while the second is called the tropical year.
Of course the data needed by Hipparchus to calculate the length of these two different years was not something that he could find over a few years of observations. Swerdlow suggests that Hipparchus calculated the length of the tropical year using Babylonian data to arrive at the value of 1/300 of a day less than 3651/4 days. He then checked this against observations of equinoxes and solstices including his own data and those of Aristarchus in 280 BC and Meton in 432 BC. Hipparchus also calculated the length of the sidereal year, again using older Babylonian data, and arrived at the highly accurate figure of 1/144 days longer than 3651/4 days. This gives his rate of precession of 1° per century.
Hipparchus also made a careful study of the motion of the moon. There are difficult problems in such a study for there are three different periods which one could determine. There is the time taken for the moon to return to the same longitude, the time taken for it to return to the same velocity (the anomaly) and the time taken for it to return to the same latitude. In addition there is the synodic month, that is the time between successive oppositions of the sun and moon. Toomer writes: For his lunar theory [Hipparchus] needed to establish the mean motions of the Moon in longitude, anomaly and latitude. The best data available to him were the Babylonian parameters. But he was not content merely to accept them: he wanted to test them empirically, and so he constructed (purely arithmetically) the eclipse period of 126007 days 1 hour, then looked in the observational material available to him for pairs of eclipses which would confirm that this was indeed an eclipse period. The observations thus played a real role, but that role was not discovery, but confirmation.
In calculating the distance of the moon, Hipparchus not only made excellent use of both mathematical techniques and observational techniques but he also gave a range of values within which be calculated that the true distance must lie. Although Hipparchus’s treatise On sizes and distances has not survived details given by Ptolemy, Pappus, and others allow us to reconstruct his methods and results.
The reconstruction of Hipparchus’s techniques is beautifully presented in where the author shows that Hipparchus based his calculations on an eclipse which occurred on 14 March 190 BC. Hipparchus’s calculations led him to a value for the distance to the moon of between 59 and 67 earth radii which is quite remarkable (the correct distance is 60 earth radii). The main reason for his range of values was that he was unable to determine the parallax of the sun, only managing to give an upper value. Hipparchus appears to know that 67 earth radii for the distance of the moon comes from this upper limit of solar parallax, while the lower value of 59 earth radii corresponds to the sun being at infinity.
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Get custom essayHipparchus not only gave observational data for the moon which enabled him to compute accurately the various periods, but he developed a theoretical model of the motion of the moon based on epicycles. He showed that his model did not agree totally with observations but it seems to be Ptolemy who was the first to correct the model to take these discrepancies into account. Hipparchus was also able to give an epicycle model for the motion of the sun (which is easier), but he did not attempt to give an epicycle model for the motion of the planets.
In William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, the minor character Hippolyta functions in three ways. Her first role in the play is as an example of mature love in juxtaposition to the two immature Athenian couples. Her second purpose in the play is to aid in answering the question "Can love follow conquest?." Her final function is to act as a voice of reason and clarification for the audience. Even though Hippolyta is a minor character in the play, her part is critical to the development of the play's major themes of love and understanding. Hippolyta and Theseus begin A Midsummer Night's Dream by discussing their plans to marry. They remain true to one another throughout the course of the play, until finally marrying in the end. Shakespeare juxtaposes them against Hermia, Helena, Demetrius, and Lysander's unstable relationships. He portrays the Athenian lovers as irrational because of their arbitrary love for one another. Their love is superficial and the objects of it change several times during the play. Demetrius is unable to explain his sudden love for Helena when he says, "I wot not by what power- / But by some power it is-my love to Hermia, / Melted as the snow" (IV, i, 167-169). After saying these lines, he absurdly makes plans to immediately marry Helena, even though his love for her is arbitrary. Hippolyta's relationship with Theseus is not tainted or changed with magic, as is the case with the Athenian lovers' relationships. The magic the Athenian lovers experience represents the immaturity and uncertainness of their love.
Get original essayEven though Hippolyta's relationship with Theseus appears to be more stable and mature than the Athenian lovers', it is still based on the conquests of war. After Theseus conquers the Amazons, Hippolyta must become his wife. Their relationship is not hateful and cruel like Helena and Demetrius' relationship is at the beginning of the play, however there is still noticeable tension. This poses the question "Can conquest result in love?." Theseus comments that he "wooed thee with my sword, / And won thy love, doing thee injuries;" (I, i, 16-17). This apparent paradox is not the typical standard of true love. When the couple goes hunting Theseus seems to recognize the effort he must put forth to conquer Hippolyta's heart (IV, i, 122-128). He tries to impress her with his dogs' howling even though she has said there is none better than the howling of Hercules' dogs. The howling is like music to Hippolyta, which is symbolic because it represents harmony. She does not believe she will have harmony in her life with Theseus, because it is a result of war. Hippolyta shows that love is not won on a battlefield. However, the couple has only mild disagreements for the continuance of the play. The idea that she will grow to love him emerges with the symbolic dance of Titania and Oberon (V, i, 402-424). Their dance signifies harmony and order for the couple.
Hippolyta's final function is to aid the audience in sorting through the disorder and chaos of the play. Her literal mindedness and rational nature allow her to clarify the mysterious and magical events of the play for the audience. Her fiancé, Theseus, is the most powerful mortal in the play, however Hippolyta proves to use less imagination and more reasoning than he does. Theseus sees the Athenian lovers as being without reason because "The lunatic, the lover, and the poet/ Are of imagination all compact" (V, i, 7-8). On the other hand, Hippolyta uses reason to prove the lover's stories true, because all of their stories coincide with one another. This enables the audience to realize the previous scenes actually happened, even though they are full magic and other ethereal components. Later, Hippolyta comments symbolically, "This is the silliest stuff that ever I heard" with regard to the mechanics' rendition of "Thisbe and Pyramus"(V, i, 211). Her comment on the play is like that of an audience member's comment on "A Midsummer Night's Dream," because of the ridiculous events that occur. Theseus' reply that one should use his or her imagination to better understand it shows how Shakespeare intends the audience to view the play. Hippolyta clarifies for the audience again, adding that it is the audience, not the characters, that use their imagination. She illuminates the way the audience should respond to A Midsummer Night's Dream.
Even though Hippolyta only appears in three scenes of the play, her contributions are essential to the play's development. Her demonstration of mature love functions as the standard that the Athenian lovers never reach. The juxtaposition of Hippolyta's relationship against the other lovers' relationship shows the irrational, superficial, and arbitrary nature of the latter group's love. Hippolyta also shows that love can emerge from conquest and war. Her love for Theseus emerges after order and harmony resumes in their world. Lastly, Hippolyta acts as a voice of reason and clarification for the audience. Her rational insights allow the audience to understand the events surrounding the Athenian lovers, as well as the play as a whole. Hippolyta's three functions as a minor character contribute immensely to plot and understanding of A Midsummer Night's Dream. Without the character of Hippolyta, the play would lack in theme, substance, and clarity.
Hip and pelvis damages are not the prevalent causes for pain within the general population. Nevertheless, a majority of these ailments bring substantially related disease that makes them vital within the extent or range of musculoskeletal care. It is important to point out that the identification of hip and pelvis injuries is often puzzling because hip and pelvis conditions are subsidiary to several pathological processes. For instance, according to Cheatham and Kolber (2016), 28-90% of patients complaining of groin pain are at the end of the day established to have over one related injury (p. 89-113). In teenagers and children, complaining of hip pain, it is often established that they have a high incidence of pain in lower extremity joints and the lower back, additionally blurring the diagnosis. Furthermore, the hip is not originally identified as the cause of pain in more than 55% of all the cases among patients presenting with hip pathology. A person’s susceptibility to injury as well as the sort of injury suffered or experienced differ significantly in terms of the category of leisure activity and age.
Get original essayFirst, it is important to appreciate that sports-related injuries are usually the main causes of hip pain. Notably, Pope, Bloem, Beltran, Morrison, and Wilson (2014) in their research established that 10-24% of injuries suffered during leisure or athletics events among children are hip associated, and 6–7% of adult athletic injuries emanate in the pelvis and hip (p. 716-988). Pain might arise from either chronic pathology or severe injury owing to extreme or repeated activities that place substantial pressure on the pelvis and hip. Particularly, the hip endures or tolerates a great burden during usual load-bearing duties of day-to-day living. Furthermore, hip weighting is additionally escalated by 6–8% during exercises, resulting in a higher danger of injury. As an important component of the main musculature of the body, the pelvis similarly offers a vital biomechanical groundwork for the lower extremities and is time and again an unseen trigger for pain in the distal interphalangeal joints (DIJ). This paper will assess the occurrence of hip and pelvis damage within the general public and within particular subgroups. It will also consider issues identified to raise the danger of damages to these sections.
A patient’s age is a vital component in establishing the cause of pelvis and hip pains. For example, among youthful kids, there is seldom substantial severe injuries, however, a number of shared orthopedic entities within this area might at first appear as a result of workout-related pain. As children mature, skeletal growth takes place in an expected form with the presence of epiphyses and apophyses in addition to their ultimate integration. During development, these are regions of avulsion damages, and relative frailty to the growing apophyses are more prevalent in comparison to those relating to the musculotendinous part. During puberty, bone formation continues, however, the undeveloped skeleton remains disposed to damage since the intense physical strains of outdoor activities such as sports surpass the capability of the musculoskeletal structure. Furthermore, quick growth in muscle power associated with hormonal variations put emphasis on the discrepancy involving muscle and physeal power.
Taking part in athletic activities has been revealed to worsen the danger of hip and pelvis damage, along with the ultimate growth of hip osteoarthritis. According to Pope, Bloem, Beltran, Morrison, and Wilson (2014) males with long-term exposure to athletics are at risk of getting hip osteoarthritis (OA) of 4. 5 in comparison to those who do not engage in the sport. Among those exposed to intense physical weights due to their professions and sports, the relative danger of getting hip osteoarthritis (OA) increases to approximately 8. 5 likened to those who engage in minimal physical weights in the two activities (p. 112-233). Generally, groin and hip injuries are more common among athletes taking part in contact or tense sports.
Damages of the hip and pelvis are commonly experienced by females in comparison with male counter parts, irrespective of activities or age. For instance, Blankenbaker and Davis (2016) in their study established that 8% of all girls complained of hip pains, in comparison to complains from boys which stood at 4% among high school and primary-aged children. They also established that the causes of growing occurrence of hip pains among females is likely due to functional and anatomical aspects. Imaging of Hip and Pelvis InjuriesInjuries of the hip and pelvic are not as prevalent as those of the limbs but are vital to treat and make a diagnosis correctly since they can be related with lengthy rehabilitation durations and major physical conditions that might limit an individual's movements, senses, or activities. Imaging plays a significant part in the correct identification of these injuries however it should not replace a cautious physical and historical analysis. Several elements must be assessed or evaluated before requesting a radiologic study (that is, the location of symptoms, the age of the patient; period, type, as well as probable causes of injury) since the ideal examination might differ if the damaged tissues are the muscle, cartilages, tendons or bones. RadiographyIn spite of the spread or growth of cutting-edge imaging modalities, radiography is still a significant constituent for the assessment of hip and pelvic injuries. This analysis is known as plain film, however, it is worth noting that the analysis is not straightforward regardless of its humble moniker.
Essentially, substantial results may possibly be underestimated by clinicians who are uninformed of newly introduced refined radiographic signs of vital causes of hip pain, for instance, Femoroacetabular impingement (FAI). Some benefits of radiography comprise high spatial resolution, wide accessibility, relatively cheap and high specificity. During radiography, it is vital that the analysis is appropriately exposed and placed. According to Long, Rollins, and Smith (2016), the correct and detailed inspection of the hip ought to comprise an anteroposterior (AP) assessment of the pelvis as well as a sideways assessment of the hips. An anteroposterior (AP) evaluation of the pelvis permits a side by side contrast which might help in the recognition of refined pathology (p. 326-361). Curvatures created by the combined surface of the acetabulum and femoral head are equidistant. The femurs are whirled internally as showed due to the fact that the trochanter is hardly noticeable. (b) Normal frog-leg lateral assessment of the hip. [image: Image result for Normal cross-table lateral view of the hip](c) Normal cross-table lateral assessment of the hip.
The launch of medical Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) has transformed the musculoskeletal imaging platform and has enhanced human understanding of injuries. Even though it is costly and laborious, Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) is an accepted method of assessment of the hips consisting of assessment of the cartilages, tendons, bone, as well as the muscle. The two evaluative characteristics resulting in effective analysis of pathology are the quality of the evaluation as well as the experience of the analyst. ConclusionAs pip and pelvic disorders continue to be diagnosed and treated, radiology continues to be a necessary contribution in the analytical process. X-ray (Plain radiography) is always the primary examination.
An important, yet, often overlooked aspect of nursing care is cultural competence. To achieve any level of cultural competence one must be open to learning and accepting other cultures. There are many features of a culture that are key to achieving cultural competence. Below, I plan to delve into some of the predominant factors most beneficial for nurses, and other healthcare workers alike for the Hispanic heritage.
Get original essayWe are often told the way to one’s heart is through their stomach. I believe that simply means love is put into food made for others, in turn, making food for someone is an outward expression of an internal feeling. From what I have learned about the Hispanic culture, they also see this as an affirmation of love for others in their culture. Food preparation was a time for family comradery in Hispanic culture. It was stated “as a collectivist culture, Hispanics tend to be group-oriented and place a strong emphasis on family and community ties” (Marquine, et al., 2015) Preparation for usually include all the women in the family, it is taken as a time to teach traditional Hispanic cooking, “each person performing a different task”.
Like most cultures, the foods Hispanic people to eat food that is available in their environmental area. If they live near the water, they will tend to consume more fish, if they lived more inland their diet consists of more beef, pork, and grains. Most of the Hispanic diet consists of vegetables, fruits, grains, nuts, seeds, legumes, herbs, and spices (Oldways, 2019). Food is typically roasted or fried. Fresh foods and spices are particularly important to the Hispanic diet. In Hispanic countries, there are many fresh food markets available. In the (2018) study the participants mentioned some of the frequently visited markets such as the “veduleria-vegetable store, mercado- fruit and vegetable open air markets, panderias- bakeries, and butchers” (Coe et al., 2018). In the U.S., with a few exceptions, all the markets tend to be one stop shop type of stores.
When it comes to pain medications Hispanic people frequently “express negative attitudes and beliefs about medication. The primary reason for rejecting medication was fear of becoming an addict”. It is common in the Hispanic culture to use “’healers’ also known as courandero/a’s” (Johnson & Farquharson, 2019). They would much prefer natural alternatives such as homeopathic ointments, teas, some even use prayer. Majority of the Hispanic population is Catholic in faith and they place “Great emphasis on religious beliefs in the maintenance of health and treatment of illness (Johnson & Farquharson, 2019)”. Along with homeopathic and folk medicine use, as mentioned above, they tend to have magico-religious beliefs. Although popular consensus is “death is accepted when it comes” due to the ‘It’s in God’s timing’ mentality, they will give offerings to patron saints, light candles with pictures of Saints, use prayer, along with a multitude of other religious activities to cope with hopes of healing those in mind. In the (2015) study by Marquine, the Hispanic culture’s religiosity/spirituality seems to have a positive impact on their health.
Unlike the U.S., the Hispanic populations usually have some medications readily available to them in over the counter form that would otherwise be by prescription only. One of the medications found at their local stores that must be prescribed in the U.S. would be antibiotics. It was reported by the participant in the (2019) article by Johnson and Farquharson that Hispanic culture does not typically practice preventative healthcare. Hispanic people tend to take a reactive versus a proactive approach to medicine. Among the other practices, Hispanic people use self-distraction techniques, which in long term can negatively affect their health. However, the population in general, is thought to not necessarily have a trusting relationship with medical professions as briefly discussed in Torres et al. (2017) study. When there is some distrust in a profession it will typically make those seeking help or care from said profession timid upon meeting the professional and may make disclosure of pertinent information difficult. That too, can negatively influence health among Hispanics.
The Hispanic population tend to have an increased risk for many health disparities. The health disparities most affecting the Hispanic population include: obesity, hypertension, diabetes, liver disease, heart disease, cancer, STD’s, increased teen pregnancy rates, and unintentional injuries; topping the list for causes of mortality would be cancer, heart disease, and unintentional injuries (Velasco-Mondragon, Jimenez, Palladino-Davis, Davis, & Escamilla-Cejudo, 2016). Of course, all the previously mentioned disparities can intertwine, with obesity being the most common correlation among the referred to disease processes. Per CDC statistics (2020) it is recorded that the percent of men aged 20 and over with obesity is at 41.2% and 48.4% for women. Obesity significantly increases the risk for diabetes, hypertension, heart, and liver diseases. As obesity is not the only risk factor, other notable risk factors mentioned in the research by (2016) Velasco-Mondragon et al. include tobacco use, alcohol intake, and occupation.
Cancer among Hispanics are “more likely to be infection related, but are less likely to be diagnosed with prostate, breast, lung, and colorectal cancer” (Velasco-Mondragon et al., 2016). Compared to other cultures, Hispanics typically have a lower rate of cancer related fatalities but has recently become the leading cause of death among the Hispanic population. Due to the obesity prevalence among the Hispanic population, multiple sources noted, Hispanics are disproportionally affected by diabetes. Hispanics in the U.S. were noted to have a “rate of diagnosed diabetes 66% higher than non-Hispanic whites” (CDC, 2020).
As for the increase risk of STD’s and teen pregnancy one risk factor, that is usually not considered, could possibly be related to religious beliefs. It is common for practicing Catholics to be against contraception, with majority of Hispanics sticking with the more traditional beliefs in the Catholic faith that would include prophylaxis in the form of condoms. However, the CDC (2020) reports between chlamydia, gonorrhea, and syphilis (primary, secondary, and congenital) Hispanic people had tested positive 2.25 times more than non-Hispanic whites in the U.S.. It was also reported by the CDC (2020), in 2018 of newly diagnosed cases of HIV in the U.S. 27% of those were Hispanic.
In conclusion, majority of disease processes that frequently affect the Hispanic population are directly linked to Obesity. Although there are always exceptions to the rule, such as hereditary factors, it looks as if obesity is the most highly regarded reason for the most common diseases Diabetes is a significant disease process affecting the Hispanic population, along with obesity, it can help produce the majority of other disease processes listed such as heart and liver disease, as well as cancer. Religious beliefs can also be identified as a risk factor in the health of Hispanics, as well as an integral factor of healthcare practices among Hispanics. Homeopathic remedies are the first preference among the culture and family plays a key role in the Hispanic lifestyle especially in the nutritional aspect.
The history of relations between the white colonists and Native American tribes in Northern America is full of violent acts of injustice. However, some events can still shock with the unfairness and brutality that the US side used to reach its expansive and ambitious goals. The Trail of Tears is one of such terrifying episodes. The tragic events that are known by the name of the Trail of Tears not only violated the US laws, but they were also some of the most shameful acts of ethnic cleansing, as the United States in their pursuit of new territories and resources held an act of latent genocide toward the Cherokee community.
Get original essayThe term Trail of Tears refers to a series of coercive removals of Native American tribes from their original territories in the modern Southern States to the reservations on the West of Mississippi River that took place after the Indian Removal Act of 1830 and ended with the Cherokee removal in 1838-1839 (Sturgis, 4). Although there were 5 tribes, including Cherokee, Muscogee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, and Seminole communities, that were removed during this period, the term Trail of Tears originated as a result of the last and most struggling removal of Cherokee tribe in 1838-1839, as that was how the migration route was called by the Cherokee people. To keep the discussion focused, I will concentrate on Cherokee removal in this paper.
Andrew Johnson, the American President from 1829 to 1837, was one of the main executors of the removal policies. Seeking the expansion of Georgia’s rich lands for American farmers and anticipating new economic opportunities after the start of Georgia’s gold rush in 1829, Johnson actively worked to remove Native Americans from their lands and free them for the white farmers and slave owners (Sturgis, 7).
Being more concerned with the satisfaction of his ambitions and the well-being of Georgian farmers, Johnson seemed to value his political career and ratings far more than the principles of coexistence of colonists and Native Americans laid by Thomas Jefferson, and the decision of the Supreme Court of 1832 (Sturgis, 7). Johnson’s initiatives were later finished by his successor Martin Van Buren in 1839, as the Cherokee tribe, the last of the largest Native Americans large tribes on the desired territories, was removed. For Americans, the tribal territories presented a great economic potential and were seen as natural part of the US dominance over the continent.
Although most of the Native Americans were not ready to give up their lands after the illegitimate treaty, Treaty of New Echota in 1835, the US reinforced the pressure by sending thousands of soldiers to the tribal territories and showing that they would be ready to use violent measures if their demands were not pleased (Sturgis, 57). Facing disastrous military consequences, all of the approximately 16,000 Cherokee population was forced to migrate to the reservations West of Mississippi River, 900 miles away from their home (Thornton 289). There were two of the most devastating parts of the migration that led to a severe number of deaths. First, the fact that the route was laid solely through the land, which extended the period of migration and made it physically more challenging.
Second, the migration started in November of 1838 and finished in May of 1839. Therefore, the migrants needed to get through the winter's cold weather. These factors, as well as the poor organization and provision of the migration because of US’s ignorant and violent commanding, have led to human losses estimated at around 4,000 people during the travel (Thornton 289). Therefore, a quarter of Cherokee migrants died as a result of brutal conditions of traveling through the Trail of Tears. Such disastrous consequences for the Cherokee make it clear why the name of the Trail of Tears was introduced by the Cherokee community.
The events around the Trail of Tears have several controversial issues. The first one is the legal controversy around it. The Indian Removal Act of 1830 made it clear that the US cannot forcefully remove the tribes from their territories. The only way to legally execute the transition of territories is through signing two-side treaties between the tribe leaders and the US representatives. Such disposition was supported by the US Supreme Court decision on the Worcester v. Georgia case.
As Samuel Worcester was convicted of the unlicensed entrance and living on the Cherokee territories, the Supreme Court denounced this decision and concluded that "Indian tribes are distinct, independent political communities retaining their original natural rights' in matters of local self-government”
Interestingly, Andrew Jackson refused to enforce the Supreme Court’s decision, forcing the treaties onto Indian tribes and aggressively taking the lands by force (Sturgis, 8). After it became clear that Cherokee were not eager to move to reservations, while having a legitimate right to do so, the US used a trick to legitimize their forced removal. The Treaty of New Echota was signed by a minority, the pro-treaty group of Cherokee’s political establishment, who were not the legitimate representatives of the tribe at that time (!).
However, the US used the treaty to legitimize the removal, giving the Cherokees two years to move voluntarily. In 1838, after most of the Cherokee people refused to leave, the US used military forces to impose the removal. Therefore, the events of Trail of Tears were illegitimate and were a result of aggressive, expansive policies by Andrew Johnson and Martin Van Buren’s administrations, which violated not only the basic principles of international relations but the decision of the US Supreme Court.
Amy Sturgis claimed that the removal of Cherokee tribe from Georgia fits under United Nations Commission of Experts definition of ethnic cleansing, as it was based on the purposeful removal of the specific ethnocultural community from its geographic areas using violent methods. Moreover, although the US forces did not directly kill the 4,000 of Cherokee people, the authorities were aware of the potentially disastrous consequences of massive land migration during winter. Therefore, it seems appropriate to go further than Sturgis and argue that Trail of Tears should be recognized as an act genocide. Dadrian’s (205) typology of genocide includes various forms of genocidal actions, including their latent form.
Latent genocide emerges as an unintended byproduct of goals that were unrelated with the community’s extermination. Dadrian points out that massive deportation cases are among the most significant examples of latent genocide (Dadrian, 206). Moreover, Dadrian himself uses the tragedy of Trail of Tears as “perhaps the single most relevant case” of latent genocide in American history (206). Although the main aim of the removal of Native Americans from their territories was to free the lands of these tribes for agricultural activities of the white population and their slaves, the tragic byproduct of the removal was the death of a quarter of Cherokee’s population.
Therefore, there are significant reasons to call the Trail of Tears a genocidal act, executed by the United States toward the tribe of Cherokee. Such terminology underlines the controversial side of America’s state-building process and should provoke a further reevaluation of the history of American international affairs, demonstrating the expansive, imperialistic policies of the US aimed at the neighboring nations.
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Get custom essayThe Trail of Tears is amongst the most shameful episodes in American history. Forceful removal of numerous Native American Tribes in the 1830’s culminated in the most violent and tragic removal of the Cherokee tribe in 1838-1839. As the tribe was forced to migrate 900 miles by land during the hostile winter weather, a quarter of tribe’s population dies as a result of the Trail of Tears. Motivated by economic and political ambitions, the US farmers, gold seekers and politicians, led by Presidents Andrew Johnson and Martin Van Buren, violated the Indian Removal Act of 1830 and the US Supreme Court’s 1932 decision and, using the illegitimate Treaty of New Echota, forced the Cherokee tribe to migrate from their lands to the appointed reservation. These actions were not only illegal, but they can also be considered as an act of latent genocide, committed by the US commandment. The history of Trail of Tears should remain as an important reminder of the tragic consequences that voracious expansive policies might lead to.
Although the feminist movement began to make a solid appearance in the United States in the mid 19th century, successful results did not show until the early 20th century. In the 1800s, women held little importance in society and had little to no voice. They had almost no power since they were not allowed to vote and were expected to be subordinate in marriage by always obliging to their husbands orders without any objection. The oppression of women in both marriage and society throughout the late 19th century is reflected in Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper.” In this story, the narrator was diagnosed with temporary nervous depression with a slight hysterical tendency by her physician husband and as a result they lived in a secluded colonial mansion for the summer as treatment. During their three months stay, the wife had very little interaction with the outside world, was forbidden from doing strenuous activities, and was not supposed to write. Due to her constant isolation and slim activity, she progressively hallucinated a woman who was trapped in the wallpaper of her room, and was trying to break free. The woman in the wallpaper was a reflection of the progressive woman in the United States during the late 19th century. Many readers would argue that the narrator was actually mentally ill from the beginning, however the “sickness” she experienced was a result of both her husband and society restricting her and every other woman’s actions and freedom.
Get original essayFor treatment to the narrator’s “illness” that was diagnosed by her husband, she underwent a less severe regimen of the rest cure for twelve weeks. The rest cure treatment was developed by Silas Weir Mitchell in the 1870s, the most prominent physician in the treatment of neurasthenia in the United States at the time, and was practiced widely throughout the U.S. and western Europe until the mid-1930s. His therapy consisted of five elements: extreme bed rest, seclusion, dietary changes, massages, and electricity. The patients are removed from their home and family and are cared for by nurses. They also aren’t allowed to read or write or create a lot of neural stimulation. For at least five weeks, the patient is bedridden and can only leave to use the bathroom. Because of this, massages and electricity were used to prevent muscular atrophy. As for their diet, they mostly drank milk because of its high fat content. The treatment was used mostly on women that had severe nervous system issues which included hypochondria, hysteria, and temporary nervous depression. Supposedly, many women actually benefitted from the treatment, however numerous patients developed negative psychological responses just like the ones the narrator experienced.
The effects the narrator experienced from the rest cure were anxiety, hallucinations, depression, and paranoia. Although Dr. Mitchell and other medical experts weren’t fully aware of the physiological effects during the 19th century, recent researchers were able to uncover the negative outcomes of bed rest and isolation. Multiple studies have shown that long periods of bedrest can cause a patient to show symptoms of depression, anxiety, forgetfulness, and confusion. The lack of personal control and freedom one feels during bedrest is a factor in the cause of these symptoms. Since the narrator’s husband made almost all of her decisions and wanted her to stay in her bed most of the time with little brain stimulation, it comes as no surprise that the wife is experiencing the negative psychological effects. Studies investigating the psychological effects of long-term solitary confinement reveal that “hallucinations, insomnia, paranoia, uncontrollable feelings of rage and fear, and distortions of time and perception” can occur. Even though the narrator in “The Yellow Wallpaper” did not experience the same severity of isolation as prisoners in solitary confinement, it is expected that her symptoms are similar considering she spent the three months powerless in a secluded mansion under her husband’s overpowering actions and patriarchal tendencies.
Although the rest cure technique was one factor into the narrator’s anxiety, paranoia, and hallucinations that led her to “free” the trapped woman in the wallpaper at the end of the story, another cause of her actions were from the restraints put on her emotional and physical freedom by her husband and the patriarchal society in the 19th century. Just like almost every other woman during that time period, the narrator didn’t have a voice in her marriage or society — unable to make her own choices such as writing in her journal, picking the room she will stay in for three months, and deciding who visits her. When she was fixated on the details of the wallpaper, the narrator perceived part of the design as a woman who was stuck in the wall and unable to break free. When she ripped the wallpaper at the end of the story and “freed” the woman, it represented the narrator’s escape from the patriarchal and sexist gender roles that prevented equality in the American 19th century.
By the mid-1800s, the fight for women’s suffrage became prevalent. In July 1848 Seneca Falls, New York, the first meeting dedicated to women’s rights took place and around 100 women attended with two-thirds of them being female. Smaller women’s rights conventions were also being convened across the United States which were prominently in the North. These groups were able to have the Married Women’s Property Act adopted in numerous states in 1882, which allowed married women control over their own property and income. Other regulations were also being enacted across America, such as the a New York Law created in 1860 that “gives women joint custody over their children and the right to sue and be sued” (Eisenberg et. al). The first state to grant women full voting was was Wyoming in 1869, and the other states that passed suffrage laws in the 19th century were Colorado (1893), Utah (1896), and Idaho (1896). These activists were not just fighting for the right to vote, but were striving for social, economic, and educational equality. Just like the rest of the women in the late 1800s, the narrator in “The Yellow Wallpaper” is struggling with the lack of freedom and civil rights apparent in society. The frustration and stress from the inferiority she feels while stranded alone in the house with her misogynistic and obstinate husband ultimately leads to her psychotic breakdown in hopes to break free from the oppression.
William Shakespeare is likely the most well-known literary figure in Western history, and thus an analysis of his works can deeply connect us to our cultural history. The beauty about studying Shakespeare is that any one of his works, such as “Sonnet 116” which we will be observing in this paper, opens our eyes to the lineages and trends of culture that have inspired countless other works of humanities for the past several hundred years. Indeed, the inspiration for “Sonnet 116” and Shakespeare’s other sonnets came from the English context of being influenced by the preceding Italian Renaissance. Further, Shakespeare’s signature style of his sonnets was inspired by courtly customs in the Elizabethan era of English history. As we will explore, a study of “Sonnet 116” brings us to consider the historical and cultural context of Shakespeare’s works, and to appreciate Shakespeare’s enduring value to the humanities in inspiring us to tap into eloquent literary forms of expression to celebrate or explore the most important dimensions of human experience.
Get original essayShakespeare’s sonnets are believed to have been mostly all written and released in the early 17th century, which thus places his work within the historical influence of the Italian Renaissance and Elizabethan Era of English literary history. Shakespeare’s sonnets are best contextualized within the trend of courtly love poems written in the 16th century around the cult of Anne Boleyn. “Sonnet 116” like several of Shakespeare’s other sonnets, expresses deep passionate feelings of love and a celebration for the mysterious essence of love. Shakespeare’s work fits into the tradition of the Devonshire Manuscript, which is full of courtly love poems from Henry VIII’s court and Boleyn’s circle. Sir Thomas Wyatt deserves mention here as a primary source of influence for this era of the sonnet in English history, because many of the poems in the Devonshire Manuscript are attributed to him. As we will next see, the Elizabethan sonnets of the 16th century were characterized by the thematic styles of the Italian Renaissance, but Shakespeare, in the 17th century, adapted the style to make his own characteristic style known as Shakespearean sonnets.
Shakespeare’s poetic predecessors relied upon the Italian Renaissance poet Petrarch’s style of sonnet, but Shakespeare would modify this form in ways recognizable in “Sonnet 116.” Petrarch’s style of sonnet divided the poem into two sections — the first with eight lines, known as an “octave,” and the second and last with six lines, known as a “sestet”. As we see with “Sonnet 116,” Shakespeare’s characteristic style did away with Petrarch’s two-part structure, opting instead for 14 lines in one single verse. Petrarch’s style is to use two different voices or tones for each of his sonnets’ parts, thus creating a dialogue of different perspectives. Shakespeare’s style by contrast allows for further rumination and subtle lines of thought from the speaker while maintaining the same perspective, which creates more of a nuanced and varied feeling of inner dialogue. For instance, in “Sonnet 116” we see that the speaker accomplishes a greater depth of exploration regarding love than would have been possible in just eight lines. The first eight lines establish the idea that true love is timeless, and then lines nine through twelve reinforce this theme with further effective imagery such as “Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,/But bears it out even to the edge of doom”. Finally, Shakespeare’s typical couplet ending allows for a concluding statement which often reviews the point spoken through the sonnet and adds light back onto the speaker.
Many academics agree that Shakespeare has been one of the most important Western historical figures to the modern humanities education because of the accessibility of his work in allowing modern students to expand their literary frontiers and understand the history and culture that has led to the present. Ann Forrester (1995) says, “Shakespeare has brought alive Western society’s shared history and culture in a way no other playwright has ever done”. Forrester (1995) refers here to the way that Shakespeare’s works — including his sonnets — allow us to have a sense of what cultural themes and styles of being were present in his time of the 17th century. The above analysis regarding the Italian Renaissance and Elizabethan era’s inspiration for Shakespeare’s sonnets are proof of this — we can understand our not so-distant past by exploring Shakespeare’s form.
Further, Shakespeare is relevant for the humanities because his works contain an impressive degree of literary talent as seen in excellent usage of voice, tone, perspective, and other tools that can empower one’s expression. Forrester (1995) writes about how she witnesses her students “come to life” as they read Shakespeare’s works, as they are clearly inspired by entering into his voice and style of expression. Entering into a practice with Shakespeare is necessarily contagious, argues Forrester (1995), because one connects with a rich world of literary expression that adds valuable dimensions to human experience. For instance, in Sonnet 116, Shakespeare makes a passionate statement about love, which, from a humanities position, is certainly a valuable aspect of human experience which warrants complex and creative expression. In short, Shakespeare is valuable to the humanities because he can inspire people to tap their original process of thought and expression and thereby to make meaningful and moving statements about their experience.
The above analysis of “Sonnet 116’s” placement in history, the thematic inspiration and style of this work, and Shakespeare’s greater importance to the humanities shows that any one of Shakespeare’s works can bring us into a much greater appreciation for our cultural history and potential for creative expression. Indeed, “Sonnet 116” takes its place not as an isolated work from the mind of a genius who is unconnected from history and cultural context, but rather it is a product of a longer lineage of creative development in Western history that connects us to the Italian Renaissance and the Elizabethan literary era of English history. Shakespeare’s sonnets express appreciation and exploration of love, which is a very important facet of human experience. Shakespeare today still remains relevant to the humanities because of the potential of his work to connect us back with the history of Western culture that led us to this point, and in inspiring us to live the best lives we can in grappling with the essential themes and questions of life, such as love.
Slavery continues to have an impact on America in the most basic economic sense. An economic structure—a method of creating and exchanging commodities—American slavery was generally not the same as the remainder of the advanced economy and separate from it. Stories about industrialization stress white foreigners and clever designers, however, they forget about cotton fields and slave labor. This viewpoint infers that slavery didn't change, yet that slavery and enslaved African Americans had minimal long term impact on the rise of the US during the nineteenth century, a period where the country went from being a minor European exchanging partner to turning into the world's biggest economy—one of the focal accounts of American history.
Get original essayWith the rise of plantation systems and cash crop economies in the late seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, slaveholders had a financial force to authorize racial orders to guarantee the enslavement of Africans, while likewise guarding benefit and opportunity for white Europeans. The move from little range cultivating to mechanical agriculture changed the way of life of these social orders, as their financial flourishing relied upon the plantation. Until the transatlantic slave trade was canceled in 1807, more than 12 million Africans were shipped to the New World, and more than 90 percent of them went to the Caribbean and South America, numerous to work on sugar plantations. All through the New World, the plantations filled in as an organization in itself, portrayed by social and political inequality, racial conflict, and dominance by the planter class.
African slaves - at first caught in intertribal fighting yet later legitimately available to be purchased in what turned into a rewarding slave trade - were sold and dispatched to the Americas to be the workforce for European colonial ventures. This African enslavement was driven, not out of a feeling of racial inferiority, yet to fulfill labor needs. Although at first not beneficial, the estimation of the African slaves themselves just as the rise of new European tastes - and a market - for American-created commodities, for example, chocolate and tobacco, inevitably brought about a gigantic and gainful arrangement of trans-Atlantic trade.
European boats conveyed supplies to African slave ports. From that point, cargoes of captured slaves were sent to the Americas from Africa, where the individuals who endured the awful journey were sold as property. Plantations, part of another structure and arrangement of agriculture creation, bought these slaves in enormous numbers to work fields that developed rice, indigo, cacao, tobacco, and sugar for the return exchange back to Europe. Slaves turned out to be such an enormous aspect of the population and their work such a huge aspect of the economy in these settlements that historians presently call them as 'slave social orders.' 'Race,' as it was created in these colonial slave societies was not the same as how it was created in the US.
From the start, free work, particularly of immigrants getting away from religious persecution, was utilized in North American regions. Before long, be that as it may, the benefits of the slave trade were discovered to be appealing, and the English plantation owners continued to sort out and finance expeditions to the African coast. The English slave exchange was organized at first through state-sponsored organizations. From the earliest starting point, nonetheless, intruders tried to infiltrate these trading limitations. Like others previously, the English found that the way into the expansion of their slave trading was to be found in the Americas.
Servitude caused racism, yet financial intentions, not racial motivations, caused slavery. The incline of plantation slavery was connected to the advancement of free enterprise; the choice to import large numbers of Africans and to hold them in innate servitude depended on the way that oppressed Africans were less expensive than some other type of work then accessible.
Like most tremendous changes, the inconvenience of hereditary race slavery was progressive, grabbing hold by degrees over numerous decades. It continued gradually.
The brutal conditions and low life anticipation of colonists in Virginia inevitably changed as settlers turned out to be more acquainted with its climate and their environment. Expanded survival and proceeded with an increase of colonists brought population development and expanding interest for land, which turned out to be all the more scarce and further eliminated from access to roads and water transportation, both essential for agriculture trade. Landholdings in Virginia extended from the Tidewater area of fertile terrains and effectively safe waterways into the less rich grounds of the Piedmont lower regions and beyond, where they crashed into the regional interests of native gatherings. The instability of the strains developed as the settlement developed and decades passed, exploding in 1676 in what got known as Bacon's Rebellion. At first, a contention between William Berkeley, the governor of Virginia, and Nathaniel Bacon, a wealthy settler in the Virginia colony, overland and Indian relations in the western aspect of the colony, the rebellion started worries about class and race when Bacon went east to Jamestown, the colonial capital. At that point pardoned by Berkeley, Bacon returned with armed forces and vowed to give freedom to slaves and indentured servants who rallied to his cause - as did Berkeley, less effectively. His followers seized and set fire to Jamestown and temporarily controlled the colony. The rebellion itself demonstrated short-lived when Bacon died unexpectedly a month later and huge numbers of his followers were executed, yet its bigger implications remained. Past Bacon's particular issues, the alliance between poor whites and African slaves and freedmen in his rebellion delivered a bigger concern that such an alliance may be a continuing cause of further revolts and class uprisings.
Lifetime servitude could be upheld just by eliminating the possibility that an individual may be free through Christian transformation. One approach was to ban this customary course to opportunity. As early as 1664, a Maryland statute indicated that Christian sanctification couldn't influence the lawful status of a slave. A solution, nonetheless, included eliminating religion inside and out as a factor in deciding servitude. Hence, another essential key to the horrible change was the move from changeable spiritual confidence to unchangeable physical appearance as a measure of status. Progressively, the predominant English came to see Africans not as 'barbarian individuals' however as 'black people.' They started, to depict themselves not as Christians yet as whites. Furthermore, they progressively composed this move into their colonial laws. Within a generation, the English meaning of who could be made a slave had moved from somebody who was not a Christian to somebody who was not European in appearance. It was a little yet pivotal advance from saying that dark people could be enslaved to stating that Negroes should be enslaved. As though this earth-shattering movement was insufficient, it was joined by another. The individuals who composed the colonial laws not just moved to make slavery racial; they likewise made it hereditary. Under English common law, a child acquired the legal status of the father.
With the solidifying of servitude came the rise of race. Beforehand, individuals' appearance and origins had not made a difference as much before socially, especially among the working class. The physical uniqueness of African slaves - presently missing comparable European indentured servants - notwithstanding, not just signified their recently made subordinate position inside Virginian society, it turned into the basis and purpose behind that position. Virginia's model, thusly, turned into a model that other British colonies with slaves, when they were made, followed with a commonly supporting dynamic. 'Race' clarified why Africans were slaves, while slavery's corruption provided the proof for their inferiority.
In The Histories, Herodotus offers an account of the events leading to the Greco-Persian Wars between the Achaemenid Empire and Greek city-states of 5th century BC and attempts to determine “the reason why they fought one another” (1.1). In recounting the events that preceded the Greco-Persian War, the historian Herodotus places historically significant political and social events, which likely hold complex causes and effects, in linear order, primarily tied together through the motif of retribution for mutual acts of wrongdoing. Causality in The Histories is the result of what Herodotus sees as history’s inherent ability to maintain balance; a certain harmony is found in the oscillating power of individuals and groups through their recurring cycles of prosperity and destruction. In addition, Herodotus attests to an even more consequential equilibrium: that which is found between human motivation and the natural laws of fate.
Get original essayThe Histories’ proem begins by recounting the abduction of the king of Argos’ daughter, Io, at the hands of Phoenician sailors, which supposedly ignited the conflict between Greeks and Persians. “After that, say the Persians, certain Greeks, whose name they cannot declare, put into Tyre in Phoenician country and carried off the king’s daughter, Europa… So far, say the Persians, it was tit for tat… (1.2). At this antecedent point in Herodotus’ chronicles, equilibrium is in place; both the Greeks and the Persians (Phoenicians) had wronged each other only once and, therefore, one complete cycle of vengeance had occurred. In starting a reverse cycle of vengeance, the Greeks kidnapped the king of Colchis’ daughter, Medea, to which the Persians responded one generation later through Alexander’s robbery of Helen from King Menelaus of Sparta (second complete cycle). “Up to this point it was only rape on both sides, one from the other; but from here on, say the Persians, the Greeks were greatly to blame. For the Greeks, say they, invaded Asia before ever the Persians invaded Europe” (1.4). In concluding his proem, Herodotus leaves this Greek-initiated third cycle of vengeance unfinished; the Persian response to complete this third cycle, and the events preceding it, are detailed in the remaining content of The Histories. Post-proem, Herodotus relies more heavily on the personal considerations of the characters involved in order to offer explanation as to why events occurred as they did. Frequently, Herodotus also depends on the belief in fate, presumably controlled by the gods, in order to draw clear lines of causality. Thus, another delicate historical balance is struck post-proem, this time between human free will and the will of the gods (fate), demonstrated by Croesus’ blunder against King Cyrus of the Achaemenid Empire.
In one of the most fascinatingly ironic tales of The Histories, Croesus’ Lydian messengers received word from the Oracle of Delphi that “…if he made war on the Persians he would destroy a mighty empire” (1.53), which Croesus did not realize was pointed at his own Lydian Empire. “Croesus missed the meaning of the oracle and so made the campaign into Cappadocia, being convinced that he would destroy Cyrus and the power of the Persians” (1.71). The reliance on the oracles, where a priest or priestess serves as a medium between mortals and the wisdom of the gods, introduces the notion of divine control over Croesus’ fate. The intentional ambiguity of the statement, which misleads Croesus into initiating the invasion, leads readers to wonder whether the gods wished for the invasion to occur. Croesus was certainly responsible for making the final decision to invade and it was due, at least partially, to his own naivet, that he led his forces to meet the Achaemenids at the Halys River, but due to Herodotus’ inclusion of the oracle and the latent role of fate by which an oracle is accompanied, there is an implicit understanding of a lack of human control. “So Croesus advanced into Cappadocia, for these reasons: because he longed for additional territory to that which was his portion but, mostly, because he trusted in the oracle and because he wanted to take vengeance on Cyrus, son of Cambyses, on behalf of Astyages, son of Cyaxares, who was his, Croesus’, brother-in-law and king of Media and had been subjugated by Cyrus” (1.73). The dominance of human free will over that of fate in Croesus’ interpretation of the oracle is not clear, suggesting that the relationship is one of harmonious balance, not preeminence of one over another.
Still, Herodotus again elects to employ the motif of vengeance in order to clarify the causal chain and maintain a sense of equity, or balance, for the wrongdoing committed against Croesus’ brother-in-law, Astyages, years prior. Following Cyrus’ victory over Croesus at Sardis and the rise to power of Cyrus’ son, Cambyses, the setting shifts to Egypt, where Cambyses had expanded the borders of the Achaemenid Empire. In an Egyptian religious festival for the animal god Apis, Cambyses believed that he was being disrespected and “…was nearly lunatic. He drew his dagger and made to stab Apis in the belly but struck the calf in the thigh” (3.29). Later, Cambyses received an omen through a vision that Smerdis, which was the name held by his brother, “…sat on the royal throne and reached for heaven with his head” (3.64). Cambyses ordered Prexaspes, his closest ally, to murder his brother in hopes that he would maintain his position as king. As Herodotus implicitly argues, this was a foolish decision. When Cambyses learns that he was mislead by the omen, and that there was a Magian man named Smerdis who had usurped him while he was away in Egypt on campaign, becomes furious. In mounting his horse to return to Susa for the reclaiming of his throne, “…the cap fell off the scabbard of his sword, and the naked blade pierced his thigh. He was wounded at just that point of his body at which he had struck the Egyptian god Apis” (3.64). Similar to the story of Croesus’ omen, Cambyses was misdirected and, in a sense, fell victim to fate. What is particularly compelling about Cambyses’ story is the unidentified vengeance enacted on Cambyses, supposedly by an outside force (fate) for his stabbing of the mule god Apis, illuminated by the location of his self-inflicted mortal wound. This union of the motifs of fate and vengeance are only complicated by the presence of Cambyses’ free will in the ability to interpret the dream omen as he pleased.
Herodotus may be suggesting that while humans had free will and were the source of incidental causes for events, fate plays an equally significant role and serves to enforce the necessity of vengeance for misdeeds in history because regardless of human effort, “…it is surely not in the nature of man to be able to turn aside that which is fated to be” (3.65). Over the course of Herodotus’ The Histories, the Persians enact their revenge for the Greek invasion of Asia, first through Croesus’ subjugation of the Greek regions of Asia Minor (1.6), which completes the unfinished cycle of vengeance introduced in the proem. The Athenians begin yet another cycle through their role in the Ionian Revolution against the Persian Empire (7.8), to which the Persians responded through the first Persian invasion of Greece under King Xerxes in 492 BC (7.20). The Histories ends with a Greek-Persian vengeance-balanced reality, which was driven forward by both the incidental human causes, often economic, political, or personal, and also the natural laws of fate which, in symmetry with human motivations, maintain perfect harmony throughout history. Herodotus’ etiology seems to support a “just order of events,” as if history uniformly corrects itself to preserve parity between empires, right injustices committed, and bring to fruition that which is fated by forces outside of the human realm.