Sunday, January 26, 2020

The Enigma of Arrival by V.S. Naipaul

The Enigma of Arrival by V.S. Naipaul The Enigma of Arrival by V.S. Naipaul Sir Vidiadhar Surajprasad Naipaul, also more generally know with his abbreviated name of V.S. Naipaul, is an English novelist who also indulged into writing essays throughout this life which he primarily spent in the United Kingdom. Originally, Naipaul comes from Trinidad where he was born on August 17, 1932 while also inhibiting Indian descent. Digging into his personal life, Naipaul was married to an English woman by the name of Patricia Hale for a duration of 41 years before she died with cancer in 1996. During his time with his Patricia, he was spotted numerous times in prostitution centers in London while also having a rather casual affair with Margaret Gooding, an Argentinean woman who was from Angolan descent. Today, he shares his life with his current wife, Nadrina Naipaul, who is a Pakistani journalist. Turning more towards his professional career as a writer, Naipaul has won numerous awards for his great strides in literature. In 1964, he won the Hawthornden Prize, in 1971 he captured the Booker Prize and in 2001, he was honored with the Nobel Prize in Literature. As he drew most of his attention in his writing towards realism and post-colonialism, his most gifted and notable works in his fiction creations were A Bend in the River, The Enigma of Arrival and A House for Mr. Biswas while turning to his non-fiction establishments, he was known for An Area of Darkness, India: A Million Mutinies Now and A Turn in the South. The novel, Enigma of Arrival, indulges us into the lone and calm English town of Wiltshire where the narrator, commonly perceived as Naipaul himself, rents out a small little cottage with rather large fields surrounding it and on the side, a river where the water flows so elegantly. Coming from Trinidad, he is rather unwary and has no idea what there is to expect in these new surrounding of his life. In the first section of the book labeled as â€Å"Jacks Garden,† Naipaul describes a garden full of life and subtleness and greets a man called Jack who is the owner of this property. Throughout the chapter, he realizes that Jack has not always lived there and that Jack has created this beauty with his bare hands which influences the narrator to believe that the surrounding of a home indicates the persons characteristics. As Jack dies in the dampness of his cottage and garden as he gets old, new people move in which indicates a change of guard. The story also takes a rather twist ed turn as the garden turns into a farm under the leadership of the new owners. Naipaul is rather modest and conservative though, living life by himself in this rather rural but arguably, comfortable place while taking in the acceptance of change. In the second chapter, â€Å"The Journey†, he focuses more on his experiences and thoughts when he first set foot in England. He recalls being quite oblivious to the English culture and that he was only this young, immature teenager who received a scholarship to attend Oxford. He indulges into a rather intense autobiography about how he reflects on the English who have changed him in a way that needed him to change his cultural grid. What furthermore comes to his mind is his experiences in a boarding house that he stayed in England and how he lived in Trinidad before occupying this subtle cottage in Wiltshire. He also reflects on his development as a writer and soon he realizes that however badly he wanted to leave England, he couldnt, because his audience and employment were rested in this country. Surely enough, he comes to the point where he summarizes all the great work he has completed to that date and looks deeper into the differences between two gazes – colonial and imperial. He notices that the colonial relates to the book 1984 by Aldous Huxley and how the Big Brother surveillance was something that he couldnt understand while on the other hand, his imperial view led him to control his characters in his stories while also indulging him into his narrative energy which couldnt be interfered with. Next up is the chapter â€Å"Ivy†, where Naipaul makes a vast and first appearance with his landlord who drives by him in his flashy and elegant car. Naipaul views him as a man with high social privileges and compares him to a man with a fringe what he previously sees who is the exact opposite as he writes about how life has begun differently for these two men, how one values something more than the other and how culture has created each man to who he is today. He comes back to talking about â€Å"Jacks Garden† again and how his visual interpretation leads this garden to be a state of art as he compares it to two painters, Constable and Giorgio de Chirico. The gardener, Pitton, is also mentioned as he one of the servants for the house and is someone who cant be bothered to look for another job since he is settling for less than he could possibly achieve in life. This makes Naipaul think and it throws him back to memories of how he has dealt with failure in his writing and as a human being. He relates to how important it is to be accepted by other people and how a true home can lead to someones well being. All in all, he creates a certain amount of hope as he looks into the future and sees time catching up with him. In the last two chapters, â€Å"Rooks† and â€Å"The Ceremony of Farewell†, the narrator talks about Alan, the ‘other writer in this novel who is a native towards this culture and understands the concept of the English. The most important part is the painting of Chirico which is identical to the name of this novel and how habituation is what creates vision and imagination. It also talks about how the journey of getting to a place creates the arrival and the thought of the place as Naipaul states that living in Wiltshire is another surprise in his life, however has gave him the power to accept chance. The story ends with the tragic death of Naipauls sister in Trinidad and the description of the Hindu ceremony that follows to honor her life. In a quote in the first chapter Naipaul states: â€Å"This idea of winter and snow had always excited me; but in England the word had lost some of its romance for me, because the winters I had found in England had seldom been as extreme as I had imagined they would be when I was far away in my tropical island.† (5). The seasons of a country do reflect the setting that it portrays and since England is mostly known for being rainy and gloomy, it might be looked at as a rather disliked place for tourists. However, coming from tropical islands, Naipaul experiences the cold weather as this influences his cultural grid to the change in climates. On the other hand, he expected more of the English winters and somewhat sounds disappointed in the adaption that he has to make. He tends to compare his old home with his new one and talks about the lack of romance that he has with this place. A certain ingredient of a lovely home is missing in England. In the second chapter, Naipaul recalls himself traveling to New York as he takes out his pencil: â€Å"When you licked the pencil the color became bright; dry, the color was dull. I had bought the pad and the pencil because I was traveling to become a write, and I had to start.† (106). Many different people travel for different things such as adventure, business, leisure, etc. That said, Naipaul was on a mission to capture the world with his own two eyes and mark down everything he saw which was new to him. He wanted to expand his cultural views and then felt the need to reflect on how he could relate to it in his own mind. Experience through travel is arguably stronger than the highest possible education as it indulges someone into a visual and emotional first person perspective on how the rush of the city lights can frighten you or how the background music in a bar can remind you of home. Naipaul travels for his own reason, for his profession of creating a diary which will keep memories of life, safe and sound. Soon enough, Naipaul starts to appreciate his surroundings as he recalls: â€Å"Whatever my mood, and how ever long or short my separation from the cottage, whether I had gone on an overseas assignment of many months of had simply done to Salisbury or had done for my afternoon walk, the first sight of the cottage on my return, breaking in upon me at the end of the short, dark lane from the public road, never failed to delight me.† (193). This quote shows a certain increase of maturity and respect over the years that he has been living in the house for. As he comes back to his home, sweet home, which at first sounds rather gloomy, he embraces it as it catches his eyes for being what it is. He appreciates the simplicity and recognizes the beauty of his surroundings as he is always content that nothing has changed, that it has been left untouched. It shows a rather strong character of the author since he doesnt look for tremendous wealth or a preppy public. His peace with the wo rld is calm and collected as he enjoys the way of life, the beautiful creation of mankind. In the other book that was written by Naipaul, An Area of Darkness, he does a rather good job in discriminating the things he doesnt like about a country. I see him doing that in this book too even though it is his country of residency. He complains about a few things, however I like how he appreciates the simple and important things in life. I feel like he has a great insight on what it means to be simplistic and not spoilt as he focuses on the values of a home, the people that surround him and in the meanwhile, he gives us a very passionate descriptive image of the cottage, the people and his life towards all those factors. I adored the fact that he recalled most of his past journeys in life as I could relate to every single one of them well since Ive done some extensive traveling myself, all over the world. I see him as someone to look up to, someone who talks from experience and who has seen the world. His perspective and opinions do get in the way of his narratives and novels a t times and this book was a rather slow and mellow read. However his grace of writing enhances people to expand their knowledge and culture to the world and shows them that traveling can make them brighter people. On another note, he dedicates this book to his loving brother, Shiva Naipaul, who died from a heart attack. His family values are never forgotten which inspires me. References Naipaul, V.S. The Enigma of Arrival. New York: Viking Press. 1987. Print.

Saturday, January 18, 2020

Stereotypes: Race and People

Can everything said these days be believed? Today’s social media is highly affected by both language and how a message is sent whilst using the language. There are a handful of different aspects that affect social media as a whole; popular culture, stereotypes, textual bias and language presented in speeches and campaigns. Language can be used to explain a message but how the language is used in a context can define whether or not the message is portrayed clearly or if it is portrayed poorly. What you are about to hear may affect how you interpret language used by today’s media as well as today’s society.If you don’t know what it is let me explain for a bit: Stereotyping is the act of presenting a person or group in a certain way, through simplified and biased media, for example all asians like rice. This phrase states that the whole asian population, wherever in the world they may be, like rice. For an asian like myself I would think: â€Å" oh that isnà ¢â‚¬â„¢t exactly true since asian are also people who have different like and dislikes†. Now this is where stereotyping causes harm between different ethnic groups, for example the the phrase; â€Å"all black people steal things†.This phrase clearly states that all African and African American people like to steal things and this phrase was made up because of the fact that maybe once or twice in history a man dressed in black or an African American or African man was accused of stealing something therefore this stereotype is supposedly applicable towards the whole black population around the world. As one might see stereotyping can cause great disputes between different ethnicities as well as break ties between specific ones. Stereotyping is very popular social media ( tv shows, news, internet, etc. ).How the news dictates a certain story about an ethnic can in turn either make create trust between people or start wars between them. For example, not everyone who is Musl im wants to bomb gigantic pieces of architecture but due to certain events, such as the bombing of the twin towers of the world trade center on September 11, 2011, people have come to believe that all Muslims have bad intentions. How we interpret the news may affect social relations between the people we know. What have I learned from the constant language change and all these messages from different cultures, world leaders, and speeches?Well one thing is that: * What we say always has a hidden meaning. There is never a message without a hidden meaning to itself. * Secondly, people will never forget what you will say, meaning you must be very careful with the words you use and in what manner you say your message because it can be misunderstood. * Finally, always remember that the freedom of speech does not mean that one is free to say whatever they please but to convey their opinions by talking to one another. * Kiko Garcia Comments: XXkikomysterXX says:I totally I agree with what y ou’re saying, I mean people shouldn’t be judge from what has been stereotyped against them. I mean I’m asian, but I don’t like rice that much. I have had a stranger come up to me one time and asked me if I knew kung-fu or any kind of martial art, I told him that I didn’t and he just simply said: â€Å"well I thought all Asians were good at some kind of martial art†. This insulted me a bit in the sense that some stereotypes make other people believe that Asians are being expected of something great. Kikoman345 says:Tss you guys are a bunch of little girls! Why would you take something like â€Å"oh you should be good at maths† so seriously, I mean I’m asian I’m not good at math but I don’t complain about what other people think about me. I only think about myself and what would benefit me. Kikodaman says: Kikoman345, I kinda I agree with you in the sense of self importance but at the same time it’s also quit e good to understand why stereotyping starts in the first place, it’s because of other people from another ethnicities don’t know the culture other than their own.I see the importance in this and I believe that if people from other ethnicities would be more open to other cultures they would come to understand the values and morals of that certain ethnic group. Kiko Garcia: Thank you guys for sharing your thoughts, a bit odd how we all have almost the same name though, but anyway I agree with you all. I understand that everyone is a different person but some people can’t be forced into understanding another culture just because of one certain stereotype but for other people they don’t really mind finding out about a new culture to them, which I find very good.Yet, as kikodaman said it is also important that the individual that are being stereotype only think about the good stereotypes that they hear, but at the same time being an open person would never hu rt anyone at all. Rationale: I wanted to show my knowledge in stereotyping but be able to explain it in a more popular way for today’s culture, therefore I thought about writing a blog entry. In this entry I explain what stereotyping is and how it affects people, as seen in the â€Å"comments†. I thought about how news gets spread around us quite fast and then I thought why, the answer was the internet.The internet is used very frequently for communication, work, games, etc. but most importantly to spread news. My aim for this blog entry was to enlighten those who stereotype other people for their skin color, accent or even their ethnicity, and those who are less informed today are the young teenagers. These teenagers spend a handful of time on social media sites such as facebook, twitter, etc. so I thought writing a blog entry would make them understand more about stereotyping and its consequences.

Friday, January 10, 2020

Customs, Rules and Laws

Customs, rules and laws each have their own varying applications on society. Over time, it has been shown that a strong relationship between them has developed and the different outcomes on society have then become an outline for future years to follow. Customs are classified as behavioral patterns that develop and become established within members of a society. These customs generally focus on morals, ethics and social behavior. An example includes covering your mouth and/or nose when you sneeze.Customs don't usually have serious consequences if they are not ebbed, except for disrespectful looks or a polite reminder from a person nearby. If these customs are followed by a particular group or society, over time, they may become a part of that community customary law. Customary law isn't generally written down and is passed on by word of mouth. In particular cases, such as Australian Aboriginal customary law, these customs can affect the introduction and application of laws. Customs c an be considered the foundation for rules.Rules refer to the appointed conduct in particular situations. Rules vary depending on the efferent communities. They are made generally made by the people In the organization or group and are only applicable by the members or these groups. There is normally some form of consequence for breaking the rules however these rules are not enforceable by the state. Two (2) examples of this include school uniforms and rules for a board game. However due to constant changes within these societies, rules can often be changed or adjusted to suit these needs.Rules are the preliminary stages off law to be made. Laws are a set of rules imposed on all embers of a community, which are officially recognized, binding and enforceable by persons or organizations. There are many characteristics of a law that rules and customs do not satisfy. For example, laws are binding on the entire community. This means that all members are to follow and abide by these laws. Laws are also enforced through the police or appropriate legal organizations and there are penalties that can and will be applied If the law Is broken.A highly Important difference between a law and a rule Is that It Is officially recognized. This means that the courts and government acknowledge and apply these laws. Laws also reflect the publics Interest. This means the laws that are currently In place affect Issues that Involve the entire society. Laws are put forward by government officials and In certain cases, Judges, If there Is no precedent. Laws, rules and customs each have their own set of corresponding consequences and form the foundations for our behaviors within society.Customs, Rules and Laws By Brooklyn become a part of that community's customary law. Customary law isn't generally different communities. They are made generally made by the people in the penalties that can and will be applied if the law is broken. A highly important difference between a law and a rule is that it is officially recognized. This means that publics interest. This means the laws that are currently in place affect issues that involve the entire society. Laws are put forward by government officials and in certain cases, Judges, if there is no precedent. Laws, rules and customs each have their own

Thursday, January 2, 2020

Essay about Book Review Predictably Irrational by Dan...

Book Review of Predictably Irrational Predictably Irrational, [Dan Ariely (2008); HarperCollins Publishers, USA] Introduction Dan Ariely is a Behavioural Economist, and has written this book fantabulously. He has added humour to talk about human emotions. He takes a lot of interest and finds it interesting figuring out of what really influences Human behaviour and decisions. Through out the book, it will be very interesting to catch up on everyday life situations and the hidden forces that influence our decision – making process. Thesis of the Book It has been proven in Economics that People who think Rationally take sensible and logical decisions,†¦show more content†¦Customers can go to any heights to vouch for something which is zero cost or is free. I think as readers we will be able to relate better with what the author is trying to put forth, since we ourselves sometime tend to behave irrationally. And often tend to repeat the same mistakes almost everyday. It is a bit funny, but is true, of how People are happy or are willing to do many things, but are not happy to do the same job when they are paid for that. For a example, They are many people who love to write, for example articles, poems, etc. Now, if the same people are given money to write for a Publisher or so on, his passion towards wrting or his motivation towards his writing would come down. His productivity would be low. Another example, could be , when Parents are called for a Meeting in the School, some come on time, while some dont. So, the School decided to fine those parents who came late for the Meeting. This plan backfired bcak to the school, the parents were ready to pay the fine, and took it for granted. This type of Behaviour is totally irrational. Why cant people take control of themselves, be more responsible? Is being Rational so difficult? The book talks about why do people procastinate and lack self- Control ?. Why are people so dependent on others for their own actions? Why cant we make ourselves do, what we want to do? This is an universal Truth, which is a problem with everybody . ForShow MoreRelatedHalo Effect Essay2917 Words   |  12 Pagesother studies going back to Peters and Waterman’s In Search of Excellence. They claim to have identified the drivers of company performance, but they have mainly shown the way that high performers are described. The fact is, despite the success of books like From Good to Great, it is not logically justifiable to infer the goodness (or badness) of a companys strategy, values, or leadership based on the fact of the success or failure of the company. The reason is obvious. Many companies go from goodRead MoreStephen P. Robbins Timothy A. Judge (2011) Organizational Behaviour 15th Edition New Jersey: Prentice Hall393164 Words   |  1573 PagesOne Lake Street, Upper Saddle River, New Jersey 07458, or you may fax your request to 201-236-3290. Many of the designations by manufacturers and sellers to distinguish their products are claimed as trademarks. Where those designations appear in this book, and the publisher was aware of a trademark claim, the designations have been printed in initial caps or all caps. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Robbins, Stephen P. Organizational behavior / Stephen P. Robbins, Timothy A. Judge