Untouchables Essay Example for Free

Untouchables Essay In the article Untouchable, Tom O’Neil tells us what being an untouchable is all about. By interviewing those labeled as untouchable, O’Neil finds a way to truly express to us what it’s like to be an untouchable and the true underlying complications that the seeming unbreakable caste system has projected on its cultural members. What are untouchables? Untouchables, or achutta, are the lowest ranking members in the caste system – or pecking order. O’Neil states that â€Å"untouchables are outcasts – people considered too impure, too polluted, to rank as worthy beings,† (ONeil, p. ). Interestingly, untouchables are not deformed or distinctively different from other Indians in any way. â€Å"Their skin is the same color. They don’t wear rags; they are not covered with sores. They walk the same streets and attend the same schools. † (ONeil, p. 2). Yet, O’Neil goes on to tell us that â€Å"[they] are shunned, insulted, banned from temples and higher caste homes, made to eat and drink from separate utensils in public places, and, in extreme but not uncommon cases, are raped, burned, lynched, and gunned down. † (ONeil, p. 1). Untouchables cannot hide from their status if they were born an untouchable – they will forever be an untouchable. â€Å"Untouchables may as well wear a scarlet tattoo on their foreheads to advertise their status. † (ONeil, p. 2). O’Neil goes on to quote Sukhadeo Thorat, a faculty member at Jawaharlal Nehru University and among the few Untouchables in India with a Ph. D. â€Å"You cannot hide your caste,† he says. â€Å"You can try to disguise it, but there are so many ways to slip up. A Hindu will not feel confident developing a relationship without knowing your background. Within a couple of months, your caste will be revealed. † (ONeil, p. 2). O’Neil tells us that Family name, village address, body language all deliver clues, but none so much as occupation. Untouchables perform society’s unclean work – work that involves physical contact with blood, excrement, and other bodily defilements as defined by Hindu law. Untouchables cremate the dead, clean latrines, cut umbilical cords, remove dead animals from the roads, tan hides, sweep gutters. These jobs, and the status of Untouchability, are passed down for generations. Untouchables are trapped at the bottom of a system that can’t function without discrimination. † (ONeil, p. 2). Stuck in a never-ending world of reject, untouchables are mistreated, disregarded, and held at an unremovable status throughout their life. What’s stopping this? Well, untouchability was abolished in India’s constitution in 1950 however, it is still a factor today. â€Å"Many people would point out that the crudest, most overt forms of discrimination have largely disappeared, the result of sporadic reform movements before and after India’s independence in 1947. It’s true that at least in the public sphere, Untouchables have made progress since the days – within living memory – when they were beaten if their shadow touched a higher caste person, wore bells to warn of their approach, and carried buckets so their spit wouldn’t contaminate the ground. Untouchables couldn’t enter schools or sit on a bench near a higher caste person. † (ONeil, p. 2). Yes, things have changed however, it isn’t quite changing drastically enough. Why? Because Hinduism, a religion held by many of these Indians, supports the idea of untouchability and provokes more societal authority than that of their constitution. O’Neil puts it best when he states The ancient belief system that created the Untouchables overpowers modern law. While India’s constitution forbids caste discrimination and specifically abolishes Untouchability, Hinduism, the religion of 80 percent of India’s population, governs daily life with its hierarchies and rigid social codes. Under its strictures, and Untouchable parent gives birth to an Untouchable child, condemned as unclean from the first breath. (ONeil, p. 1). With such a large percentage of India dedicated to these Hindu beliefs, it’s easy to see why breaking down this caste system is such a struggle. Although, the 1950 constitution has made some progress. â€Å"The 1950 constitution mandates a quota system that reserves seats in the federal legislature equal to the Untouchable share of the population: 15 percent. Reserved spots extend to positions in state legislatures, village councils, civil service, and university classrooms. † (ONeil, p. 2). Still, after 60 years since the constitution, only a small amount of progress has been made. Unfortunately, much of India’s caste system is still undoubtedly present. â€Å"†¦for all the laws and regulations on the books, the hard heart of caste remains unmoved. There are 160 million Untouchables in India – a country that trumpets itself as a model for developing nations. During the winter I spend in India, hardly a day passed that I didn’t hear or read of acid thrown in a boy’s face, or a wife raped in front of her husband, or some other act whose provocation was simply that an Untouchable didn’t know his or her place. (ONeil, p. 2). With such little urge to break apart Hinduism and the foundation many Indians built their daily lives on, it’s difficult to imagine any drastic changes when considering the rights of Untouchables, not just legally, but also socially. The acceptance of all castes and the abolishment of the caste system as a whole seems quite sadly far from the future horizon. Those with kinder hearts have tried to speak up and voiced their concern for Untouchables. One many of us are familiar with was Mahatma Gandhi. Even though Gandhi urged Indians to cease discriminating against untouchables, many feel that he failed. Historians say that Gandhi deserves great credit for pushing the issue of Untouchability onto the national stage and for lending his moral stature to the campaign to abolish it. Yet he never actually renounced the Hindu caste system, and the concrete results of his actions were few. Many Untouchables, particularly the educated ones, would love to knock him off his pedestal. Even the Harijan label (given to those in place of Untouchable) invokes pity rather than respect. (ONeil, p. 5). Not only did Gandhi’s lack of abandoning the Hindu caste system all together lead to few, if any, results his actions also lead many Untouchables to believe his efforts failed even farther. India’s â€Å"one true Untouchable hero† is a man name Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar and he came into play during Gandhi’s â€Å"greatest perceived sin†. (ONeil, p. 5). Gandhi’s greatest perceived sin, however, was to undermine a man named Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar. Ambedkar pushed for a separate electorate. He feared that an assertive Untouchable could never win an election open to voters of all castes. He wanted Untouchable office-holders elected exclusively by Untouchables. Gandhi resisted Ambedkar’s position on religious principles, fearing that secular solutions to caste problems would destroy Hinduism. And in September 1932, when it appeared that the British would side with Ambedkar, Gandhi protested by entering a fast unto death. Ambedkar had little choice but to surrender after a few days as Gandhi weakened. Ambedkar won a guarantee of seats for Untoughables in the legislation, but Gandhi’s actions broke the momentum for radical change. (ONeil, p. 5). Since Ambedkar’s death there has been no Untouchable leader of the same comparison. There is only a small group of grassroots organizers spread throughout India. These organizers are helping the cause with every effort, however small it may be. Not only is this helping, medical training is also changing the lives of some Untouchables. Having health care for all members of the society is a huge help but what’s really shattering the grounds of the caste system are those health workers who are Untouchables themselves and are being accepted, opportunely or not, by those in a higher caste who need medical attention from whoever may be offering it. Salve and Sathe, two health workers, were members of the Untouchable caste. Building not only their confidence but also changing perceptions of those their helping is causing changes one step at a time. â€Å"[There was] much prejudice against Untouchable women like her. Discrimination was the hardest for me, and the hardest to fight,† states Salve. â€Å"I gave people love and affection. Slowly casteism goes away. † (Necessary Angels, p. 86). In her later year Sathe has also experience change. She had become the sarpanch, or leader of Jawalke – the city she had spent years caring for. There has also been changes in villages that Sathe, Salve, and their group does not reach. â€Å"More women are postponing marriage until 18, the use of contraception has reduced family size, and more girls are attending school. † (Necessary Angels, p. 77). Every change, however relatively minor or moderately large, is a change in the right direction. The suppression of those labeled Untouchable O’Neil compares to as slaves. A societal horror one familiar with our U. S. class systems can better fathom. With our racism and prejudices are we any better at all? Babulal Bairwa, an Untouchable landowner in the village of Chakwara says â€Å"I am clean. I don’t smoke or drink or eat meat. I work hard. I do everything right. Why am I Untouchable? † (ONeil, p. 7). O’Neil responds â€Å"Because he was born one. One hundred sixty million Indians serve this life sentence. † (ONeil, p. 7). Yes, we have grown much since the abolishment of slavery but is racism not still here? Will the discrimination ever be lifted of those people scared with the label of Untouchable?

Conrads Heart of Darkness as an Attack Upon Colonialism and Imperialism :: Heart Darkness essays

Attack Upon Colonialism in Heart of Darkness It is very easy for a reader to see Heart of Darkness as a depiction of, and an attack upon, colonialism in general, and, more specifically, the particularly brutal form colonialism took in the Belgian Congo. Consider the book from this point of view, and you will be led to those details which depict the mistreatment of the Africans, the greed of the so-called "pilgrims," the broken idealism of Kurtz, and so on. You will find it important to notice, for example, that French man-of-war lobbing shells into the jungle, or the grove of death which Marlow stumbles upon, or the little note that Kurtz appends to his noble-minded essay on The Suppression of Savage Customs, or the importance of ivory to the economics of the system. As a historian, however, you might also find yourself a little frustrated by the odd fact that the book is so evasive about naming places and people and dates. We can surmise, for example, that Brussels is the city of the whited speculchre, but we might wonder why Marlow can't come right out and name it. One reason for the lack of names, I suppose, is that Conrad was not only interested in the particulars of the history of colonialism as it was applied to the Belgian Congo; he was also apparently interested in a more general sociological investigation of those who conquor and those who are conquored, and the complicated interplay between them. In this light, different--more sociological--questions can be raised and different answers found. The details that might be noticed in this context are, for example, Marlow's invocation of the Roman conquest of Britain, or the cultural ambiquity of those Africans who have taken on some of the ways of their Europeans--Marlow's helmsman, for example, or the Manager's rude servant--or the ways in which the wilderness tends to strip away the civility of the Europeans and brutalize them. Conrad's Heart of Darkness as an Attack Upon Colonialism and Imperialism :: Heart Darkness essays Attack Upon Colonialism in Heart of Darkness It is very easy for a reader to see Heart of Darkness as a depiction of, and an attack upon, colonialism in general, and, more specifically, the particularly brutal form colonialism took in the Belgian Congo. Consider the book from this point of view, and you will be led to those details which depict the mistreatment of the Africans, the greed of the so-called "pilgrims," the broken idealism of Kurtz, and so on. You will find it important to notice, for example, that French man-of-war lobbing shells into the jungle, or the grove of death which Marlow stumbles upon, or the little note that Kurtz appends to his noble-minded essay on The Suppression of Savage Customs, or the importance of ivory to the economics of the system. As a historian, however, you might also find yourself a little frustrated by the odd fact that the book is so evasive about naming places and people and dates. We can surmise, for example, that Brussels is the city of the whited speculchre, but we might wonder why Marlow can't come right out and name it. One reason for the lack of names, I suppose, is that Conrad was not only interested in the particulars of the history of colonialism as it was applied to the Belgian Congo; he was also apparently interested in a more general sociological investigation of those who conquor and those who are conquored, and the complicated interplay between them. In this light, different--more sociological--questions can be raised and different answers found. The details that might be noticed in this context are, for example, Marlow's invocation of the Roman conquest of Britain, or the cultural ambiquity of those Africans who have taken on some of the ways of their Europeans--Marlow's helmsman, for example, or the Manager's rude servant--or the ways in which the wilderness tends to strip away the civility of the Europeans and brutalize them.

Livy and Polybius on the Life of Hannibal from Carthage

Hannibal, argueably the greatest war hero of the Ancient World, second to Alexander the Great was both loved and hated throughout the Hellenic world and has remained a major historical character studied through ancient history circles today. Livy and Polybius two brilliant ancient historians have left an invaluable insight into the life of Hannibal from Carthage and have documented in their writings the footsteps of this most famous warlords achievements against Rome. This essay will include an outlook on Hannibal from both authors perspectives, Livy and Polybius and will also include who the historians were, when they wrote and what type of works they performed. Livy was a Roman historian who existed between 59 B. C- 17 A. D. Born Titus Livius in Patavium the most elegant city in Italy, came from Aristocratic blood and born into a world of opportunity and luxury. Livy lived many years after the battles between Hannibal and Rome approximately 150 years later so his sources of writing were not first hand accounts so therefore not entirely accurate. Livy moved to Rome at the age of 30 and after a brief stint writing and teaching philosophy began a large scale documentation on the history of the Roman empire. Due to a wealthy family inheritance Livy was financially free to live a quiet life of study in the library, becoming the most influential author of his era. Livy,s writing was very colourful and dramatic with a very story telling style. He was brilliant at glamourising Rome stating history was written by the winners, making the enemy read bigger and bolder than they really were, a gross style of exaggeration to allow rome to seem like an unconquerable dynasty who defeated the undefeatable. A very imaginative story telling style that won many hearts throughout the Hellenic world. I am Roman, I am great, Rome is great. Livy had no political or military blood lines or experience in public office, was not a man of war but more an academic who wanted to escape the evils of civil war so present during his time and escape to the library to write about the joys of the past. In book 21 of his ancient writings Livy shows positive perspectives on Hannibal declaring him the commander and chief of the Carthaginians and a soldier who led the way in battle, the first to enter the fight and the last to leave the battle. Livy also states that Hannibal was an opportunist who continuously practiced and observed others where necessary to become a great leader of men, however Livy does conclude his view speaking in negative terms about Hannibals inhumane cruelty, absence of truth, disrespects oaths and has no sense of religious codes. The truth is that Rome never defeated the carthaginians in battle and during their last battle at Cannae the roman army were slaughtered by Hannibal losing 70,000 men in one day, the Romans never fought the Carthaginians on land again and were forced to find other methods in exterminating their enemy, Livy never gave the reader an exact truth but more a moral story of history as he was an astute Roman who loved all things Rome. Polybius was an Ancient Historian from Greece, one of the greats. His views of Roman history provided his readers with historical means for individual self improvement. Polybius was born in Megalopolis in 202 B. C the son of Lycortas a general of the Achaean league. With his fathers influence Polybius served as an ambassador to Egypt and also served as a cavalry commander. In 169 B. C Polybius was dispatched to assist Rome against Macedon however Rome suspected Polybius of half hearted support and was shipped to Rome as a political hostage living comfortably under house arrest behind the city walls of rome. Eventually Polybius was appointed tutor to Roman aristocratic children and given permission to access Roman documents and readings in order to utilise his craft of writing literature. Polybius became honoured by both Greeks and Romans and was an eyewitness to historical events of his day including the 3rd macedon war and the 3rd punic war. Polybius insisted on travelling to where the history was made, to the battle fields, engaging other military men, including tracking down other military soldiers who fought fore and against Rome in the 1st and 2nd Punic wars. Polybius on Hannibal reads a very neutral account basing his views on eyewitness accounts including his own and referencing from other readings and sources of history. Polybius was himself a man of war who had real life experience into the mindset of a soldier in battle. His opinions neither favour nor ridicule Hannibal. Polybius endeavoured and discovered in book 9 an honest side to the character of Hannibal stating for I think that men in these circumstances are compelled, not occasionally but frequently, either by the suggestions of friends or the complexity of affairs, to speak and act contrary to real principles. Polybius unearths here the human condition of Hannibal a highly motivated man, a man with a plan who did not just sit around, a man groomed for war his whole life and loyal to the oath of his father, I will hate Rome my whole life. Polybius also expresses a comparison in book 9 mentioning other exceptional historical figures like Cleomones from Sparta, a most excellent king and most cruel tyrant and then again as a positive individual most obliging and benevolent. Polyibius is clearly stating a reasoning here acknowledging the cruel reality of war and how generals are compelled to change with the changes of circumstance. Having studied the historical writings on Livy and Polybius the reader can conclude that Polybius was more favourable to Hannibal. Although Livy did praise Hannibal in the early passages of book 21 he did conclude by attacking his code of conduct and methods when campaigning and on the battle field and illustrates Hannibal as an extremely cruel character. Livy failed to use primary sources in his readings accompanied with his story telling style, his readings were written from an enterrainment point of view particularly to the Romans as Hannibal was a true enemy to Rome. Polybius however prided himself on keeping it real and stating only the facts, praising his heros or villians only if they deserved it. , expressing always a non biased opinion. Polybius always documented his findings from eyewitness accounts and information stemmed from interviews he had performed personally with those who had served beside Hannibal, taking himself along the exact same routes tracing Hannibals steps to were the history occurred. Livy and Polybius writings of the punic wars between Rome and Hannibal from Carthage painted a picture of his achievements and gave insight into the man known as Hannibal, the difference between the two authors were the styles in resourcing the material to keep the work accurate and correct. Polybius achieved plausible accounts which deems him the most credible. It’s a pity that all historians were not as good as Polybius.

Reducing Credits For High School Graduation - 924 Words

I believe that reducing credits for high school graduation will help students graduate on time. I say that because nowadays in America, schools are always competing for high test scores rather than focusing on the bigger picture. Instead of teachers giving out a handful of work in class work, teachers should interact more with their student. By teachers helping students out, students eventually will want to come to class everyday ready to learn. Some students go to school just because it is required, but nowadays students aren t growing as a person in a classroom. I’ve seen teachers rush through lectures, which sometimes leaves a student confused. If the government could turn schools into a place where students will love to come back to school. Now students will be more motivated to passing their classes. 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