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Sociology: The Study of Culture Essay -- Sociology Essays
Ordinarily I have endeavored to understand the activities of others. I generally needed to realize why individuals of various sexual orienta...
Sunday, March 22, 2020
Billy Sunday Essays - Christian Fundamentalism,
Billy Sunday Billy Sunday For almost a quarter century Billy Sunday was a household name in the United States. Between 1902 when he first made the pages of the New York Times and 1935 when the paper covered his death and memorial service in detail, people who knew anything about current events had heard of the former major league baseball player who was preaching sin and salvation to large crowds all over America. Not everyone who knew of the famous evangelist liked him. Plenty of outspoken critics spoke of his flashy style and criticized his conservative doctrines. But he had hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions, of loyal defenders, and they were just as loud in their praise as the critics were in their criticism. Whether people stood for or against the Reverend William A. Sunday, they all agreed that it was difficult to be indifferent toward him. The religious leader was so extraordinarily popular, opinionated, and vocal that indifference was the last thing that he would get from people. His most loyal admirers were confident that this rural-breed preacher was Gods mouthpiece, calling Americans to repentance. Sundays critics said that at best he was a well-meaning buffoon whose sermons vulgarized and trivialized the Christian message and at worst he was a disgrace to the name of Christ (Dorsett 2). There are elements of truth in both of these views. He was often guilty of oversimplifying biblical truths, and at times he spoke more out of ignorance than a heavenly viewpoint. He was also a man with numerous flaws. He spoiled his children, giving them everything that they asked for. He put enormous responsibility on his wife, burdening her with many aspects of his ministry. He always noticeably sought the Oswalt / 2 applause of the crowd for his own praise. He often confused the will of God with his own social and political agenda. He even sometimes compared the gospel of Jesus Christ with special interest and American foreign policy. Nevertheless, Billy Sunday was a sincere man whose life was fundamentally changed by his response to an evangelists call to repent of his sins, to believe that Jesus Christ died in his place for those sins, and to follow Christ in thanksgiving by worshiping and obeying him. Following this spiritual rebirth, the convert became deeply devoted to Jesus Christ. A devotion manifested in living out many of the teachings of Christ as found in the New Testaments four Gospels. The professional baseball player became a regular churchgoer. He also studied Scripture and became unusually generous toward the needy. Furthermore, Sunday was constrained by an obsession to tell others how he had finally found inner peace and a more purposeful life. At first through lectures and then in sermons, he related how Jesus Christ gave him a new life of meaning, peace, and hope. This same gospel, he said, would similarly transform others. The evidence is overwhelmingly that it did. If Billy Sunday was sincere devoted, and motivated, he was also a product of his times and an example of the culture and morals of middle America. On the other hand, Sunday took many stands against popular beliefs, and he persuaded multitudes to join him in a war against many of the modernistic ideas of the time that he saw as evil. As he once summarized his opinion so well, What this world needs is a tidal wave of reform (Sunday Satan 24). Oswalt / 3 It is true that Sunday was a showman who craved an audience and loved applause. But he also touched the lives of countless men and women of all social classes, helping them escape various forms of personal bondage and find freedom in the gospel. And if he did not convert all of urban America to his brand of Christianity, he at least played a major role in helping to keep conservative biblical Christianity alive in this century (Dorsett 3). To understand fully why he thought, lived, preached, and teached the way he did, we should look at his upbringing and conversion experience. William Ashley Sunday was born on November 19, 1862. His father, a union private, would die of pneumonia just five weeks later, three days before Christmas, in a cold, damp
Friday, March 6, 2020
Fish Weir - Ancient Fishing Tool of Hunter-Gatherers
Fish Weir - Ancient Fishing Tool of Hunter-Gatherers A fish weir or fish trap is a human-made structure built of stone, reeds, or wooden posts placed within the channel of a stream or at the edge of a tidal lagoon intended to capture fish as they swim along with the current. Fish traps are part of many small-scale fisheries around the world today, supporting subsistence farmers and sustaining people during difficult periods. When they are built and maintained following traditional ecological methodologies, they are secure ways for people to support their families. However, local management ethics have been undermined by colonial governments. For example, in the 19th century, British Columbias government passed laws to prohibit fisheries established by First Nations people. A revitalization effort is underway. Some evidence of their ancient and continuing use is found in the wide variety of names still used for fish weirs: fish impoundment, tidal weir, fishtrap or fish-trap, weir, yair, coret, gorad, kiddle, visvywer, fyshe herdes, and passive trapping. Types of Fish Weirs Regional differences are apparent in construction techniques or materials used, species harvested, and of course terminology, but the basic format and theory is the same world-wide. Fish weirs vary in size from a small temporary brush frameworks to extensive complexes of stone walls and channels. Fish traps on rivers or streams are circular, wedge-shaped, or ovoid rings of posts or reeds, with an upstream opening. The posts are often connected by basketry netting or wattle fences: the fish swim in and are trapped within the circle or upstream of the current. Tidal fish traps are typically solid low walls of boulders or blocks built across gullies: the fish swim across the top of the wall at spring high tides, and as the water recedes with the tide, they are trapped behind it. These types of fish weirs are often considered a form of fish farming (sometimes called aquaculture), since the fish can live in the trap for a period until they are harvested. Often, according to ethnographic research, the fish weir is regularly dismantled at the beginning of the spawning season, so fish may freely find mates. Invention and Innovation The earliest fish weirs known were made by complex hunter-gatherers all over the world during the Mesolithic of Europe, the Archaic period in North America, the Jomon in Asia, and other similarly dated hunter-gatherer cultures around the world. Fish traps were used well into the historic period by many groups of hunter-gatherers, and in fact still are, and ethnographic information about historic fish weir use has been gathered from North America, Australia, and South Africa. Historical data has also been collected from medieval period fish weir use in the UK and Ireland. What weve learned from these studies gives us information about the methods of fish trapping, but also about the importance of fish to hunter-gatherer societies and at least a glimmer of light into traditional ways of life. Dating Fishtraps Fish weirs are difficult to date, in part some of them were used for decades or centuries and were dismantled and rebuilt in the same locations. The best dates come from radiocarbon assays on wooden stakes or basketry which were used to construct the trap, which only dates the latest rebuild. If a fish trap was completely dismantled, the likelihood that it left evidence is very slim. Fishbone assemblages from adjacent middens have been used as a proxy for the use of a fish weir. Organic sediments such as pollen or charcoal in the bottoms of traps have also been used. Other methods used by scholars include identifying local environmental changes such as changing sea level or the formation of sandbars that would impact the weirs use. Recent Studies The earliest known fish traps to date are from Mesolithic sites in marine and freshwater locations in the Netherlands and Denmark, dated to between 8,000 and 7,000 years ago. In 2012, scholars reported new dates on the Zamostje 2 weirs near Moscow, Russia, of more than 7,500 years ago. Neolithic and Bronze Age wooden structures are known at Wooton-Quarr on the Isle of Wight and along the shores of the Severn estuary in Wales. The Band e-Dukhtar irrigation works of the Achaemenid dynasty of the Persian Empire, which includes a stone weir, dates between 500ââ¬â330 BCE. Muldoons Trap Complex, a stone-walled fish trap at Lake Condah in western Victoria, Australia, was constructed 6600 calendar years ago (cal BP) by removing basalt bedrock to create a bifurcated channel. Excavated by Monash University and the local Gundijmara Aboriginal community, Muldoons is an eel-trapping facility, one of many located near Lake Condah. It has a complex of at least 350 meters of constructed channels running alongside an ancient lava flow corridor. It was used as recently as the 19th century to trap fish and eels, but excavations reported in 2012 included AMS radiocarbon dates of 6570ââ¬â6620 cal BP. The earliest weirs in Japan are currently associated with the transition from hunting and gathering to farming, generally at the end of the Jomon period (ca. 2000ââ¬â1000 BC). In southern Africa, stone-walled fishtraps (called visvywers) are known but not direct-dated as of yet. Rock art paintings and fish bone assemblages from marine sites there suggest dates between 6000 and 1700 BP. Fish weirs have also been recorded in several locations in North America. The oldest appears to be the Sebasticook Fish Weir in central Maine, where a stake returned a radiocarbon date of 5080 RCYPB (5770 cal BP). Glenrose Cannery at the mouth of the Fraser River in British Columbia dates to about 4000ââ¬â4500 RCYBP (4500-5280 cal BP). Fish weirs in southeastern Alaska date to ca. 3,000 years ago. A Few Archaeological Fish Weirs Asia:à Asahi (Japan), Kajiko (Japan)Australia:à Muldoons Trap Complex (Victoria), Ngarrindjeri (South Australia)Middle East/West Asia:à Hibabiyaà (Jordan),à Band-e Dukhtarà (Turkey)North America:à Sebasticook (Maine),à Boylston Street Fish Weirà (Massachusetts), Glenrose Cannery (British Columbia), Big Bear (Washington), Fair Lawn-Paterson Fish Weir (New Jersey)UK:à Gorad-y-Gyt (Wales), Wooton-Quarry (Isle of Wight), Blackwater estuary weirs (Essex), Ashlett Creek (Hampshire)dRussia:à Zamostje 2 The Future of Fish Trapping Some government-sponsored programs have been funded to blend traditional fish weir knowledge from indigenous peoples with scientific research. The purpose of these efforts is to make fish weir construction safe and productive while maintaining ecological balances and keeping the costs and materials within the range of families and communities, especially in the face of climate change. One such recent study is described by Atlas and colleagues, on weir construction for the exploitation of sockeye salmon in British Columbia. That combined work by members of the Heiltsuk Nation and Simon Fraser University to rebuild weirs on the Koeye River, and establish fish population monitoring. A STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) education program has been developed (Kern and colleagues) to engage students in the construction of fish weirs, the Fish Weir Engineering Challenge. Sources Atlas, William I., et al. Ancient Fish Weir Technology for Modern Stewardship: Lessons from Community-Based Salmon Monitoring. Ecosystem Health and Sustainability 3.6 (2017): 1341284. Print.Cooper, John P., et al. A Saxon Fish Weir and Undated Fish Trap Frames near Ashlett Creek, Hampshire, Uk: Static Structures on a Dynamic Foreshore. Journal of Maritime Archaeology 12.1 (2017): 33ââ¬â69. Print.Jeffery, Bill. Reviving Community Spirit: Furthering the Sustainable, Historical and Economic Role of Fish Weirs and Traps. Journal of Maritime Archaeology 8.1 (2013): 29ââ¬â57. Print.Kennedy, David. Recovering the Past from above Hibabiya - an Early Islamic Village in the Jordanian Desert? Arabian Archaeology and Epigraphy 22.2 (2011): 253ââ¬â60. Print.Kern, Anne, et al. The Fish Weir: A Culturally Relevant Stem Activity. Science Scope 30.9 (2015): 45ââ¬â52. Print.Langouà «t, Loà ¯c, and Marie-Yvane Daire. Ancient Maritime Fish-Traps of Brittany (France): A Reappraisal of the Relationship between Human and Coastal Environment During the Holocene. Journal of Maritime Archaeology 4.2 (2009): 131ââ¬â48. Print. Losey, Robert. Animism as a Means of Exploring Archaeological Fishing Structures on Willapa Bay, Washington, USA. Cambridge Archaeological Journal 20.01 (2010): 17ââ¬â32. Print.McNiven, Ian J., et al. Dating Aboriginal Stone-Walled Fishtraps at Lake Condah, Southeast Australia. Journal of Archaeological Science 39.2 (2012): 268ââ¬â86. Print.OSullivan, Aidan. Place, Memory and Identity among Estuarine Fishing Communities: Interpreting the Archaeology of Early Medieval Fish Weirs. World Archaeology 35.3 (2003): 449ââ¬â68. Print.Ross, Peter J. Ngarrindjeri Fish Traps of the Lower Murray Lakes and Northern Coorong Estuary, South Australia. MSc, Maritime Archaeology. Flinders University of South Australia, 2009. Print.Saha, Ratan K., and Dilip Nath. Indigenous Technical Knowledge (Itk) of Fish Farmers at Dhalai District of Tripura, Ne India. Indian Journal of Traditional Knowledge 12.1 (2013): 80ââ¬â84. Print.Takahashi, Ryuzaburou. Symbiotic Relations between Paddy-Field R ice Cultivators and Hunter-Gatherer-Fishers in Japanese Prehistory: Archaeological Considerations of the Transition from the Jomon Age to the Yayoi Age. Senri Ethnological Studies. Eds. Ikeya, K., H. Ogawa and P. Mitchell. Vol. 732009. 71ââ¬â98. Print.
Tuesday, February 18, 2020
Community Involvement Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words
Community Involvement - Essay Example The villagers lived in one location for mutual protection and the sharing of resources. From these simple beginning we have evolved a very complex structure of governance and social services, and volunteer community action is a primary support of that structure. Basically it begins when somebody notices that something needs to be done or changed, and that person decides to do something about it. It can be as simple as organizing a few people to paint a wall or as complicated as setting up a permanent community service organization. Of course, the more complex the project, the more people will be required and the more difficult it will be to organize. In this paper we will examine the methodology and functioning of community action as it applies to North American culture, specifically the United States. The scope of this paper does not allow space to examine community action in other cultures, though there are most certainly many similarities. Other cultures and government systems also have many differences. What motivates individuals to become volunteers or even to lead community action is different for each person. However, the best motivation is a desire to make their environment a better place to live. What makes any town or city a good place to live? The answer is really simple: healthy happy inhabitants. So we want to eliminate anything which damages health or happiness. This means we want to eliminate crime, health hazards in all their forms, substance abuse, severe poverty, pollution of all sorts and urban blight. Governments try to work on all of these, but local volunteer action is necessary also, because government simply cannot and should not do it all. We must remember that the more we expect government to do, the less freedom we will have. Therefore, we should all support volunteer based community action. Some volunteers will say it is a desire to help others or to give
Monday, February 3, 2020
Most influential event in American history from 1750 to present Essay
Most influential event in American history from 1750 to present - Essay Example This paper examines the devastating impacts of the Japanese operation on United States of America later well-known as Pearl Harbor attacks and as result unprecedented reactions from the people of America. Attacks on the Pearl Harbor navy station enhanced the unity of American nation in their decision to fight and defeat their opponent. Pearl Harbor attacks provoked the United Statesââ¬â¢ participation in the Second World War and reorganization of its national security. United States had experienced other attacks that took place earlier to the Pearl Harbor. However, none of them was as destructive and surprising as the Pearl Harbor attacks. Additionally, the attack was the first to be conducted in the territory of American State. The military assault began in the morning of December 7, 1941 and it targeted American navy stationed in the Pearl Harbor. According to John Toland, the Pearl Harbor attacks were planned and executed by the Imperial Japanese Army. During all the period, th e Second World War had been going on for two years but the United States of America had not yet joined the conflict. Japan, Italy, and Germany as the main aggressors were concerned about the imminent involvement of the United States of America in the war. Due to the apparent dominance of the American navy, the Japanese military premeditated the Pearl Harbor assault to prevent United States of America from joining war by weakening its naval facility.
Sunday, January 26, 2020
Muhammad Haji Salleh Poetry Analysis
Muhammad Haji Salleh Poetry Analysis Wikipedia defined that self-identity is the mental and conceptual understanding and persistent regard that sentient beings hold for their own existence. In other words, it is the sum total of a beings knowledge and understanding of his or her self. Components of the self-concept include physical, psychological, and social attributes, which can be influenced by the individuals attitudes, habits, beliefs and ideas. These components and attributes can be condensed to the general concepts of self-image and the self-esteem. In our own culture and society, we are taught by our parents and the elderly to value or own culture and custom and must not feel that we are superior to others after we had accumulated a lot of new knolwedges and experiences. We should not turn our back to our own society, roots and land after we had been abroad but we should be proud of our own identity. This is what is lacking in most of us in our community. We tend to forget our roots and we are not proud of being part of a particular culture or race. In this research paper, I have choosen to analyze two masterpiece from our Malaysian writer.This study is based on Muhammad Haji Sallehs poems, which is si tenggang homecoming and the traveler .The overall aim of this paper is to analyze and discuss the portrayal of the theme searching of self-identity. In this research paper, I will also include the two poems implications of using these two poems towards education. 2.0 Background of the author Muhammad Haji Salleh (1942- ) is a well-known Malaysian poet, critic, translator, editor and researcher. He is the sixth Malaysian Laureate. He was born on 26th March 1942 in Taping, Perak. Muhammad had most of his education in Malaysia; he received his early education at Bukit Mertajam High School and Malay College Kuala Kangsar. However, he did his teacher training at Lodge Teacher Training College in England. He obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Malaya (Singapore), Masters of Arts from the University of Malaya in 1970 and a Ph.D from University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, United States of America in 1973. In 1977, he was a Professor under the Fullbright-Hays programme and taught at the North Carolina State University, Raleigh, USA. He is a professor at the Department of Malay Letters in Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia and was once appointed as the Deputy Dean of the Faculty of Social Science and Humanities as well as Head of Institute of Malay Language and Liter ature. Muhammad Haji Salleh is the only Malaysian poet who is studied in the Literature English programme. 3.0 The Authors Writing Career Muhammad Haji Salleh began writing poetry in 1963 when he was a student at the Malayan Teachers College, Brinsford Lodge, England. Muhammad started writing much earlier but only towards the late 1960s that he became well known in Malaysia. Muhammad has lived much of his life abroad in the United States while he is pursuing his studies and most of his poems are written in English. As his educational background was centered on Bahasa Malaysia and English language, he writes in both languages. Later, he devoted much of his time to write in Bahasa Malaysia. He often translated his own Malay poems and other local Malay poems into English. T.S.Eliot and W.H.Auden who he admired influenced the English poems that he wrote. The beauty of the language and the messages convey in the poems written by these two poets had inspired Muhammad Haji Salleh to write English poems. Muhammad Haji Salleh has received various awards for his works, both at national and international levels. Muhammad won the Asean Literary Award in Bangkok, Thailand. A Number of his poems won various prizes and in 1972, he was awarded the Asean Literary Award for his anthology of poems Perjalanan si Tenggang II, which was subsequently translated in English in 1979.He was made a National Laureate in 1991 and was awarded the Hadiah Sastera Kebangsaan in 1976, the Australian Cultural Award to Asian Artists in 1975 and the Asean Literary Award (Poetry) in 1977. Writing both in Bahasa Malaysia and English, Muhammad has devoted his life to the development of the Malaysian literary tradition. He is not only well known as a poet but also as a literary scholar. As a post-colonial poet and a professor of literature, Muhammad is known for his passionate quest for identity. In fact, the quest of identity is reflected in his poems especially in the outstanding collections of Poems of the Outsider (1973), The Travel Journals of Si Tenggang II (1979), Time and Its People (1978), Poems from the Malay Annals (1981) and Rowing Down Two Rivers (2000). 4.0 Background of The Poems: si tenggangs homecoming and the traveler Muhammad is known for his passionate quest for identity through his writings. It is very clear that his works explore the human condition and problems related to individuality and community life. These two poems: si tenggang homecoming and the traveler are able to portray Malay traditions, culture and beliefs because it deals with a universal theme, which are the issue of identity, selfhood and the essence of being oneself. Both of these poems reflect the poets concern for the Malay society and explore the human condition and problems related to identity. Muhammad consistently wrote about the theme of seeking for self-identity because he lived most of his life abroad and influenced by the western world, where he stayed there for many years but he never forgot that he belongs to the Malay society; his mother tongue is Malay which is the language of his native land. Although he writes in English but he still talks about the village life, the city and its people and the Malay society as a whole. That is why both of these poem generally consist of encourages criticisms or opinions that differ from the Malay culture. It is because traditional society generally does not encourage criticisms or opinions that differ from accepted beliefs or those, which have been taken to be a way of life. 5.0 Discussion on si tenggangs homecoming and the traveler. Si tenggangs homecoming poem consists of six stanzas. Upon closer study, it is a reflection of si tenggangs experiences as a traveler, who had been abroad for a while and returned to his homeland. The persona is telling the reader that in the process of discovering himself; he has not lost his sense of inheritance and roots. This can be seen through stanza 3, line 31-34,
Saturday, January 18, 2020
Greed and Power in Macbeth Essay
Macbethââ¬â¢s ambition is the sole cause of the whole tragedy. Do you agree? From reading the novel Macbeth it is evident that Macbethââ¬â¢s ambition is one of the sole causes of the whole tragedy but not the only sole cause. Though he has thought about murdering Duncan, his only motive for murdering Duncan is ââ¬Å"vaulting ambitionâ⬠which shows that without the persuasions of his wife the whole tragedy would have never happened. Lady Macbeth often seems to control Macbeth by manipulating him or by direct order. Her plans work with remarkable effectiveness, overriding all his objections and questioning his manhood when he hesitates to murder, until he feels he has to commit murder to prove himself. It is her deep-seated ambition, rather than her husbandââ¬â¢s that ultimately propels the plot of the play by goading Macbeth to murder Duncan. The Witches prophecy is also a sole cause in the tragedy because it fuels Macbethââ¬â¢s ambition and gives him an overwhelming desire for power. We first hear of Macbeth as a brave and capable warrior (from the Bloody Captain). However after meeting with the witches we can see that he has consuming ambition and a tendency to self-doubt. This is shown after he is prophesised to be King by the Three Witches. The prediction that he is going to be King brings him great joy but also inner turmoil as he imagines himself killing Duncan. Macbethââ¬â¢s ambition is powerful and he does not need any help coming up with the idea of murdering Duncan, but it seems unlikely that he would have committed the murder without his wifeââ¬â¢s powerful taunts and persuasions. Before he kills Duncan, Macbeth is plagued by worry and almost aborts the crime. It takes Lady Macbethââ¬â¢s steely sense of purpose to push him into the deed. However desperate he is for that crown he would not have murdered Duncan. This suggests that unlike Lady Macbeth, he has a conscience. And this comes to trouble him along with uncontrollable guilt after murdering Duncan. Lady Macbeth is stronger, more ruthless and more ambitious than her husband. After reading the letter sent to her by Macbeth she is already plotting Duncanââ¬â¢s murder. She is convinced that he is too moral to commit the murder, saying that he is ââ¬Å"too full oââ¬â¢ thââ¬â¢ milk of human kindnessâ⬠. .At one point she wishes that she were not a woman so that she could do it herself. Even her husband implies that she is a masculine soul inhabiting a female body. Although she appears to hold herself together after the murder and steadies her husbandââ¬â¢s nerves immediately after the rime has been perpetrated, saying ââ¬Å"whatââ¬â¢s done, is done. â⬠and merely trying to treat Macbethââ¬â¢s guilty hallucinations with the blandest possible palliative. Afterwards however she begins a slow slide into madness. As she sleepwalks she mutters, as if to Macbeth, ââ¬Å"Whatââ¬â¢s done cannot be undoneâ⬠. Just as ambition affects her more strongly than Macbeth before the crime, so does guilt plague her more strongly afterward. Sh e has been reduced to sleepwalking through the castle, desperately trying to wash away an invisible bloodstain. Once the guilt truly gets to her she commits suicide showing her inability to deal with their past crimes The Three Witches lurk like dark thoughts and unconscious temptations to evil. Their mischief is a combination of two things- their supernatural powers and their ability to understand the weakness of their targetsââ¬âthey play upon Macbethââ¬â¢s ambition like puppeteers. Despite the absurdity of their ââ¬Å"eye of newt and toe of frogâ⬠recipes, they are clearly the most dangerous characters in the play, being immensely powerful and extremely wicked. The prediction (if it is a prediction) they tell Macbeth compels him to ponder on killing his King. Macbeth kills many thinking that he is invincible because the witches said that Macbeth canââ¬â¢t be killed unless that man is born of a woman. When Birnam Wood moves to Dunsinane, Macbeth knows that he is going to be killed. The Witches prophecy, along with Lady Macbethââ¬â¢s ruthlessness and ambition are the causes for the tragedy. Macbeth shows us that too much ambition and thirst for power will lead to your ultimate destruction.
Friday, January 10, 2020
Hughââ¬â¢s character Essay
The final story, which Hugh tells, incorporates the many criticisms of Hughââ¬â¢s character. He covers up his own failings and inadequacies as a defence mechanism and reiterates this by saying to Owen, ââ¬Ëto remember everything is a form of madness. ââ¬Ë This story is almost a turning point of Hughââ¬â¢s character and for the audienceââ¬â¢s interruption of his character. Hugh is no longer a two dimensional caricature but a real character with human attributes, hence why we can be critical and admirable towards him. After all, Hugh is a self-educated man with a vast depth of knowledge of the Classics, speaking four languages, that we know of, Greek, Latin, Gaelic and English; nearly all of which he would have to have taught himself. He seems to be driven to share his knowledge. By teaching the Classics in his environment of rural poverty, himself a picture of poor ragged countryman, we must appreciate his drive and ability. Hugh also formed the ââ¬ËHedge Schoolââ¬â¢ well as far as we know. He is attempting to educate the locals and one almost feels that he has taken the school from the hedge lines into the barn and still as an old man in his early sixties he has the ambition to move onward and upward to a new position at the new national school. He is clearly a figure in the local community who is looked up and respected by his peers and students alike. In addition, Yolland has a great deal of respect for him, calling him â⬠an astute man. ââ¬Ë Yolland almost has more respect for Hugh than Owen does because Owen continues to be critical of him and Yolland repeats, ââ¬ËBut so astute,ââ¬â¢ almost placing Hugh on a pedestal. In addition, as an audience you have to respect his ability to cope with his situation, his wife has died and his sons are without a mother. It is easy to be critical of Hugh but you have to admire his ability to cope with the hard reality of the times he is living in even if that means trying to erase the past. After all he did live in an age of hand to mouth existence and he almost blocks out the reality of these hardships. His survival mechanism is a natural and human instinct. We cannot really blame him for wanting to live in an unrealistic world of Greek myth and Latin past. Neither can you chastise his drinking. His lifestyle and the stress of his situation is what drives him to drink and you cannot really fault him for that. All of these small but simple gestures that Friel incorporates into Hughââ¬â¢s character are what make us as an audience have admiration for him. Friel does not create a stereotypical character, but a ââ¬Ëfully-roundedââ¬â¢ individual with human qualities, it is these qualities, which allow us as an audience to both admire and criticise his character.
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