Nelson Mandela’s Speech “I Am Prepared to Die” Essay

In 1962-1964, Nelson Mandela was charged for opposing the white government of South Africa, high treason, sabotage, and the conspiracy to overthrow the government. In his defense, Mandela gave a speech titled â€Å"I am Prepared to Die† at his trial. This speech is powerful and full of literary devices. In parts of this potent speech he utilizes facts, statistics, and allusions as a tool to his defense. In the beginnings of his speech he uses an anecdote, which is a short interesting story about a real incident or person. Here Mandela states that as young boy in Transkei he listened to the elders of his tribe telling stories of how it used to be, and of wars their ancestors fought against the fatherland, and names such as Dingane, Bambata, Hinsta, and Makana were praised all over the African nation. He uses this to elucidate that he hoped to help his people and make a difference in their freedom. As of the factual parts he states within them, that he admits he was one of the people who helped to form Umkhonto we Sizwe until he was arrested in August 1962, holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Arts and practiced as an attorney in Johannesburg, a convicted prisoner serving five years, and saying that more than 85,000 people defied the apartheid laws and went to jail. With more facts throughout the speech, it gave Mandela more of a reasoning to not be convicted. As of the statistical portions of this speech he stated that more than 85,000 people were arrested for defying the apartheid laws, adaging that 70 percent of South Africa were not entitled to vote, also stating that sixty-nine unarmed Africans died at Sharpeville. These statistics gave Mandela more edge to his defense and supported him. Though Mandela’s speech was intense it wasn’t enough to find him innocent. He was sentenced to life, which he was released at 71 years of age, on February 11, 1990. Yet I still find that this speech was powerful. The literary devices gave him edge and his evidence was correct.

Heart of Darkness vs Things Fall Apart Essay

â€Å"Heart of Darkness† and â€Å"Things Fall Apart† show a variety of ways of depicting Africa in literature. In â€Å"Heart of Darkness†, Joseph Conrad shows the continent of Africa through the stereotypical perspective of the European sailors, who had a tendency to depict the natives of the land as savages, and in response to that matter, Chinua Achebe wrote â€Å"Things Fall Apart† through the non-stereotypical depicting perspective of the natives of the land to show Africans, not as savages or primitives, but as members of a traditional society. European prejudice is presented in a verifiable way in â€Å"Heart of Darkness†. The main character of â€Å"Heart of Darkness† or protagonist, Marlow, is a sailor who travels through Africa and describes the natives that he comes in contact with as savages. Marlow compares these different individuals to animals of some specific nature or just to the wilderness of the jungle, respectively. There was a point in this novel where Marlow’s vision came in contact with a pit in the ground. He noticed that it was a pit made for the natives to go and rest in peace or in other words die. Marlow describes those natives that were there stating, â€Å"Black shapes crouched, lay, sat between the trees, leaning against the trunks, clinging to the earth in all attitudes of pain, abandonment, and despair they were nothing earthly now, nothing but black shadows of disease and starvation One of these creatures rose to his hands and knees and went off on all fours towards the river to drink† (Conrad 17). This descriptive portrayal shows the natives as â€Å"shadows† and nothing more than mere â€Å"black shapes† and not as individuals or men who are simply just dying. These men are no longer men, they have been stripped of all their characteristics which makes them human to dehumanizing characteristics where none can tell the difference of one dying man to another. None of the dying men are described by oneself, which makes it difficult for the reader to see where one man ends to where the individual begins. This creates an effect where these individuals look like eometric shapes and symbols of some sort. These depictions in which Marlow stated originates from a very stereotypical saying. The saying is that all Africans are made the same and one can not tell the difference between them even if much effort is applied. Similarly, there was an African man who was crawling to the river in order to quench his thirst. The way he was crawling in general is very dehumanizing. To make the matter worse and more dramatic, he crawled on his hands and knees which is animal-like and very degrading. The man is described to be on all fours just to get a drink, but when looking towards the European side, there is no way in Heaven that they’d be described like that. None. On the other hand, the European people would drink from a tap or maybe boil water from a well of some sort in order to have a refreshing drink. The natives are compared to animals of the wild when Marlow begins describing one of the workers on the ship. Marlow states, â€Å"to look at him was as edifying as seeing a dog in a parody of breeches and a feather hat walking on his hind legs† (Conrad 36). This worker simply shows that the savages who are the Africans have a possibility of being tamed because, â€Å"He ought to have been clapping his hands and stamping his feet on the bank† (Conrad 37). One can see that this man has been stripped of being a human being. He is now an animal, a dog, maybe, who is being trained to do some type of trick. From Marlow’s point of view he is still an animal and none the less, this man is pretending to be a civilized being. Marlow doesn’t stop there though. He continues to downgrade this European man by describing him to be just like the natives on the land. All in all, this is stereotypical. Furthermore, Marlow keeps his ball rolling by depicting the African natives as â€Å"prehistoric† and â€Å"simple†. He states, â€Å"The prehistoric man was cursing us, praying to us, welcoming us who could tell?†¦ we glided past like phantoms, wondering and secretly appalled, as sane men would be before an enthusiastic outbreak in a mad house† (Conrad 35). In the mind of Marlow, the natives are so primitive that they are in an aspect denied of having a language. Marlow sits there and begins to wonder â€Å"who could tell? instead of making an effort to understand what the natives were saying out of their mouth. What can actually be inferred from this quote is that, the natives were probably jumping up and down like a bunch of kindergarten students at recess or something similar to that. One can’t really be sure, but in all Marlow didn’t even try to grasp what the native Africans were saying probably because he felt that they were savages, or maybe their intellectual mindset wasn’t as great and average to the Europeans, or the native Africans didn’t have anything reasonable to say. Joseph Conrad with respect and similarity to Marlow, may have chosen to not include a specific language probably because he was influenced by the European stereotypes of Africans. What can be inferred from this is that, the removal of a language suggests that the native Africans have nothing that is sophisticated enough to say that would be reasonable or important to add to the plot of the novel. In â€Å"Heart of Darkness†, the native Africans are very underdeveloped, just like a third world country would be, in order to have a control of language. Though, there are moments in which there is language which supports the native savage (Africans) at which this is the time a reader might even hear an African speak. Joseph Conrad uses a specific technique when he writes. He uses a limited exposure to the native Africans’ voices which tries to ignore anything that might bring stereotype about. In response to Joseph Conrad and the Europeans and their use of stereotypical depiction of Africans, Chinua Achebe, the author of â€Å"Things Fall apart† portrayed Africans in a humanizing and traditional society. The Igbo tribe goes against the European stereotype in â€Å"Things Fall Apart†. The main character or protagonist Okonkwo does not agree nor does he disagree with the European belief that is shown in the novel. He is described in the novel to be, â€Å"a man of action, a man of war† (Achebe 8). Okonkwo is a very honorable man in the Umofia village, even though he has a very displeasing streak which is of violent nature. With Okonkwo’s strength and inability to be feminine, he is afraid of anything that is of feminine nature. â€Å"His whole life was dominated by fear, the fear of failure and of weakness. It was the fear of himself, lest he should be found to resemble his father. Even as a little boy, he resented his father’s failure and weakness. And so Okonkwo was ruled by one passion to hate everything that his father Unoka had loved. One of those things was gentleness and another was idleness† (Achebe 10). What can be inferred from this quote is that, this is probably why Okonkwo was always in need of something that was filled with action but he still didn’t fashion â€Å"idleness†. With the combination of these two aspects, Okonkwo can not handle the outcome. Instead when violence is applied to this equation, Okonkwo is as good as can be. With this being said, this further supports the European stereotype as savage-like. When looking deeply into the details that â€Å"Things Fall Apart† display, one can notice the contrasting aspects between Umofia and Okonkwo. Okonkwo doesn’t have any respect for his wives. As an Igbo man, Okonkwo man-handles his wives and children without holding back. Noticing the tone at this point in the novel, one can see that it is very much common for Igbo men in general to beat the ripe bananas out of their wives and children, but at a certain time. Okonkwo man-handled his wife during Umofia’s Week of Peace. Beating your wives and children in order for them to have respect for you is one thing, but when one disobeys the traditional setting of the clans week of peace then drastic problems do arise. â€Å"Okonkwo was not the man to stop beating somebody half-way through, not even for fear of a goddess. It was unheard-of to beat somebody during the sacred week† (Achebe 19). Since Okonkwo felt as if he was the man on top of all and that he could do as it pleased him so, problems arose between himself and Umofia. The feminine force is his wife. And with that being noted, Okonkwo could not remove himself from his violent streak for even a week. Just a week†¦ but when comparing this to the perspective of â€Å"Heart of Darkness† this form and lack of self-control goes to the Europeans motive that Africans are savages. Towards the end of the novel, Okonkwo commits suicide by hanging himself. When the District Commissioner look at Okonkwo’s lifeless body, he states â€Å"In the book which he planned to write The story of this man who had killed a messenger and hanged himself would make interesting reading. He had already chosen the title of the book, after much thought: The Pacification of the Primitive Tribes of the Lower Niger† (Achebe 117). What can be inferred from the title of the book is that the District Commissioner is prejudiced about the native Africans. In â€Å"Heart of Darkness†, Africans are also described as â€Å"primitive†, which shows that the European’s stereotype is so vast that it is able to be used in two very separate and different works. All in all, in â€Å"Heart of Darkness† the Europeans notions was that all Africans are the same; they are primitive, savages, and inhuman. In contrast to that stereotype, â€Å"Things Fall Apart† showed a traditional society, where the members are not inhuman. Unsatisfactorily, Okonkwo who is the protagonist of â€Å"Things Fall Apart† was not an effective representation of a civilized individual of a traditional society. But, he was an exceptional member of the society. And even though the stereotype of Africans has not been destroyed, it empowers the European beliefs.

Beautiful Beach

The school holidays has finally arrived, my parent's have decided to bring me and my little brother, Shepherd to go on a vacation at (Beach name). We have already planned this trip a few months ago and have done all our preparations. We were very excited to go on this trip because we have not went on a family trip since I was 12. We have brought foods such as rice, chicken, snacks, and drinks like Coke or Juice. We also brought some equipment to prepare the foods. I would never forget my fishing rod, because there is a good area for fishing.We left our house at 2 in the afternoon ND the Journey to the beach took approximately an hour , therefore we arrived at the beach at 3:00 P. M. It was very fun on the way to the beach. My brother and I looked out the window and check out the villages and the view there during the Journey. I would request to stop for a while to take some pictures of a beautiful view. We enjoyed looking at the traditional houses, green farms, and a river connecting to the sea. A village close to the beach sells fresh seafood. My mother stopped by there to buy some fresh seafood there such as shrimp, crab, and fishes to prepare our early dinner at the each.Upon our arrival, we looked for good spots at the beach, because it would be very crowded on weekends or holidays. We selected a cool place under the trees, and extended a mat on the white sand. The wind that blew through the trees softly made the weather cool and pleasant. Peace came into my heart when I looked at the very beautiful long white sand. People were playing all sort of games on the beach; for instance they played volleyball. Some of them swam in the shallow sea. There were some kids that were trying to build a sand castle. Everybody looked happy at that time.

Economic Growth Essay

Consider the following examples of economic activities: †¢ Purchasing of groceries †¢ Massive layoff of employees †¢ Decrease in taxes Describe how each of these activities affects government, households, and businesses. Describe the flow of resources from one entity to another for each activity. Relate at least one current event to the activities. †¢ Inflation rate It is based on the rising price of good and services and falling purchasing power. This measurement shows how fast currency loses value. This is calculated by how fast prices for goods and services rise over time, or how much less one unit of exchange buys now equated to one unit of exchange at a given time in the past. †¢ Real GDP Real variable, such as the real interest rate, is one where the effects of inflation have been factored in. Real Gross Domestic Product measures the worth of all the goods and services produced stated in the prices of some base year. †¢ Nominal GDP A nominal variable is one where the effects of inflation have not been accounted for. The Nominal Gross Domestic Product measures the worth of all the goods and services produced stated in current prices. Macroeconomics is perceived as a relatively new concept considering the lack of interest in studying the economy before the 1930s. However, a specific terminology was created that dealt with the problems that is faced by the economy daily. That has aided in a better understanding the differences between macro and microeconomics. Macroeconomics speaks of the aggregate economic facotors and entails employment, interest rates and gross domestic product of nations. Purchasing of Groceries The amount of money spent in each household differ based on the size and  specific needs of the family. A larger family will have a higher grocery bill in most cases. The government palys a major role because grocery items are taxed and will dtermine how much groceries families may be able to purchase. Businesses are also affected by consumers’when sales decrease due to their inability to shop due to price increase. This will bring in less revenue for the business. Massive Layoff of Employees A massive layoff is an unpleasant occurrence for all involved. This is an indication of the economic state of the company as it implies downsizing of the company. In this situation, the company will impose more responsibility on the few workers that they do have. They would not be able to operate sufficiently. This would impact households this represents a decease or complete (cut) in income. The standard of living of affected households will drop as a result of being laid off. The government will also be affected by massive layoff of employees due to the them having to pay unemployment to these individuals.

Mass Customization Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Mass Customization - Essay Example Nonetheless, it is fundamental to consider that the costs do not augment at all. The company is, therefore, able to have an added advantage in the market as well as have the best economic value in the market. A closer analysis of mass customization relates to the fact that the individual needs are actually met but with production in large quantities (Da Silveira, Borenstein & Fogliatto, 2001). This means that the manufacturers can to suspend production of goods for a particular customer and reschedule the same production for a larger supply. Production of large volumes as indicated in the work of Da Silveira, Borenstein & Fogliatto (2001) is a product of mass customization; thus, quality production and delivery. Minimal tradeoffs in costs are also an added advantage (Da Silveira, Borenstein & Fogliatto, 2001). In the business world, mass customization plays a huge role. As seen in the research conducted by Mattila, Huuskonen & Hietikko (2013) mass customization simply refers to the manufacturing guide for manufactures. This relates to the fact that the manufactures will produce goods based on the demands of the clients. As customizers, it is expected that the manufactures embrace a technique that will influence the shape of their final product to the desirability of the customers. Mass customization, therefore, is useful for the mass manufacturing of products with efficiency, production of goods for specific clients, and production of customized goods that are on demands after ordering of goods by clients (Mattila, Huuskonen & Hietikko, 2013). In the work of Mattila, Huuskonen & Hietikko (2013), mass customization is governed by various principles. First, mass customization works on the principle that a product should have independent sections that could be easily assembled into various forms of the product. This means that the manufacturers will incur less cost while producing the products. This is referred to as agile

Management , society and new forms of work Essay

Management , society and new forms of work - Essay Example As such, Marazzi divided his thoughts on the subject of capital and language in four chapters: the transformation of economy from Post-Fordism to the New Economy, an account of the dot-com crash in 2001, the monetization of surplus value and the current trends, or the War Economy, in the business cycle as economic crisis continues to generate havoc throughout the global economies. The changes in working practices and patterns through the transition from Post-Fordism to the New Economy arose in the late 1980s and were fully established with the flourish of dot.com companies of the 1990s. The period of the dot-com bubble or the Information technology Bubble was marked by the formation of new Internet-based companies that maximized the use of steady commercial growth of the Internet. Several companies invested in ______________________ 1Haiven, M. 2009. In-Credible Wealth and Panic in the â€Å"New Economy†. Criticism. 51 (1): 165. using the e-prefix which increased the confidenc e of stock prices and future profits. Unfortunately, the bubble collapsed in early 2000s as large portion of market capitalization of numerous companies failed or declined dramatically2. With Post-Fordism being agreed as the transformation of the nature of work, the New Economy settles on the importance of finance specifically on the stock market. Marazzi relates work and finance through language by stating, †¦in the New Economy language and communication are structurally and contemporaneously present throughout both the sphere of the production and distribution of goods and services and the sphere of finance, and that it is for this very reason that changes in the world of work and modifications in the financial markets must be seen as two sides of the same coin3. Post-Fordism produces numerous goods and services that are set to the diversification of commercialized values and way of life. However, the centrality of communications and information technology in the United State s and other Western countries has delivered a new breed of expensive managers and technicians. Increased worker participation and elastic work schedules are applied in production to maximize efficiency and flexibility while eroding job security through the employment of contract and outsourced labour4. Finance was first examined by the author, from its beginnings to the concerns of the ______________________ 2Lowenstein, R. 2004. Origins of the Crash: The Great Bubble and its Undoing. Penguin Books. p. 114. 3Marazzi, C. 2008. Capital & Language: From New Economy to War Economy. Semiotext(e). p. 14. 4Holland, J. 2005. Fordism/Post-Fordism. Globalization & Autonomy Glossary. p. 2. http://globalautonomy.ca/global1/servlet/Glossarypdf?id=CO.0021 (Accessed November 9, 2012). financialisation of the economy. He noted that if savings had been focused in household economies before, the New Economy has shifted this habit into using the collective savings and pension schemes of individuals as investments for their financial future. In the past, labour was affected by economic crises through the loss of jobs and the cutback of public spending. However, labour is now directly invested in the performance capital making contemporary financial crises different from past ones. Hence,

Morrisons Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Morrisons - Essay Example It also plans to train more than 12,000 people butchery and bakery skills as well as customer service are well behind that of Asda’s which intends to train 5,000 people (Berman, 2010). The company’s vision is to make its way to the â€Å"Big Three†, attain a higher market share than its three main rivals; 16.4pc at third-placed J Sainsbury, 16.9pc at Asda and 30.5pc at Tesco (Lancaster & Massingham, 2011). As far as the strengths are concerned, the retailer owns 89% of its store portfolio (Datamonitor, 2011). Hence, there is little threat of takeover and greater security to investors in terms of security. Secondly, the value of Morrison’s property, plant and equipment assets is around  £7.5bn, higher than its current market capitalization (Datamonitor, 2011) . Its debt to equity ratio is mere 19% which is lowest in the industry (Datamonitor, 2011). Its profits before taxes are up by 45 per cent to  £449 million indicating positive growth (Datamonitor, 2011). Morrisons enjoys an enhanced/ up-market image of a more sophisticated store frequented by celebrities such as Lulu and Alan Hansen. The company was bestowed with ‘Retailer of the year’ award in 2008 which earned the company high goodwill (Datamonitor, 2011). As far as the weaknesses are concerned, Morrison’s does not have an internet home shopping business unlike its three larger rivals Tesco, Asda and Sainsburys (Boddy, 2005). This could put the company on the backburner as e-commerce is an ever-growing business as it gives greater convenience to customers along with a potential to tap international markets. Secondly, it does not have a loyalty card scheme such as Club card which Tesco has uses to track consumer trends and offer lapsing customers discounts (Thompson & Martin, 2010). Third, unlike Tesco, Asda and Sainsburys, Morrison’s does not have a meaningful non-food offer (Thompson & Martin, 2010). The company is