Friday, January 24, 2020

Power of Harriet Jacobs Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl Essay

The Power of Harriet Jacobs' Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl Harriet Jacobs, in the preface to her book, wrote: I do earnestly desire to arouse the women of the North to a realizing sense of the condition of two millions of women at the South, still in bondage, suffering what I suffered, and most of them far worse.   I want to add my testimony to that of abler pens to convince the people of the Free States what Slavery really is (335). With this statement, Jacobs specified her purpose for writing and her intended audience.   This insight gives readersan understanding of why she chose to include what she did in her story as well as why she chose to exclude other details.   Although this work is presented as a narrative of her own life circumstances, there were many occasions when she described conditions of which she was not directly involved.   For example, she entitled one chapter "Sketches of Neighboring Slaveholders" and dedicated this section to describing some of the horrifying experiences of other slaves... ... demon that possessed the South, but she held the people of the free states accountable for their contributions in upholding slavery through their own laws that mandated the return of runaway slaves as well as their inaction against slavery.   Her decision to include what she did while excluding other enumerations was very effective in arguing her point. Works Cited Jacobs, Harriet.   "Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl."   The Classic Slave Narratives.   Ed. Henry Louis Gates, Jr.   New York: Mentor, 1987.

Thursday, January 16, 2020

Cold Food Festival

1. Cold Food Festival originated from Chinese according to a legend. The legend has been told that, in Spring and Autumn period,  Chong'er  (Tan Van Cong), a prince of Jin, endured many hardships while he fled around the warring states. Once, in order to help the prince who was tormented by hunger,  Jie Zhitui  (Gioi Tu Thoi) cut off the flesh from his thigh and offered it to the prince for sustenance. Later, when Chong'er became Duke Wen of Jin, he ordered a search for Jie Zhitui who had gone into hiding in the remote mountains with his mother.Jie Zhitui had no political ambitions and felt ashamed to work with his hypocritical fellows, hence refused invitation of the Duke. Then the mountain was ordered to be burned down in order to force Zhitui out of hiding. Unfortunately Zhitui did not give in and the fire ended up killing Zhitui and his mother. Filled with remorse, the Duke ordered that each year during these three days the setting of fire is forbidden – all food w as to be consumed cold. Therefore the Festival is thus namedIn Vietnam, because of a thousand years of domination by northern invaders, our people were affected by Chinese customs and we also celebrated Cold Food Festival, which is called T? t han th? c , in the northen part of the country, but only marginally. However, our Cold Food Festival is very different from Chinese’s. We cook  glutinous rice  balls called  Ã¢â‚¬Å"banh troi banh chay†Ã‚  on that day to worship their forefather but the holiday's origins are largely forgotten, and the fire taboo is also largely ignored. 2. Origin of â€Å"Banh troi banh chay† In Cold Food Festival, â€Å"banh troi banh chay† are indispensable.However, through many generations, people still make these cakes but almost of them do not know about their origins. There are many legends about them but the most famous one is the legend of Lac Long Quan and Au Co. According to this legend, Au Co gave birth to a bundle of 100 eggs, which hatching 100 sons. After growing up, a half of the sons followed their father to go to the sea, and another half, together with the mother, went to the mountain. So Vietnamese people make â€Å"banh troi† as the symbol of 50 sons, who hatched from 50 eggs, went to the mountain and â€Å"banh chay† as the symbol of others who went to the sea.Today, we make these type of cake to remind ourselves about our root. Due to limited time, in this part, we just present how to make â€Å"banh troi† and its ingredients. ? Ingredients: – Sticky rice flour – Salt – Water – Candy – Roasted sesame and coconut which is scraped into fibers. ? Process of making cakes: – Mix the flour with salt and cold water, and knead the dough. – All the flour should be mixed gradually; if it’s in excess, add more flour until the mixture is smooth and soft. – To knead the cake, first of all, take small parts of the d ough, roll and then give the dough a slight press in order to flatten.Secondly, put the candy into the middle, and bundle up. – Try to roll them roundly and regularly so that the cake will look good – Before boiling the cakes, you should prepare a bowl of water to drop them into it when they are picked up. – Boiling a pot of water and drop the cakes in turn, just 5-7 cakes one time to pick them all up at the same time. At first, the cakes will sink when we drop them in. – When the cakes are done to a turn, they’ll float, which means it’s time to pick them up. – Remember to drop the cakes into the bowl right after pick them up so that we can prevent them from being sticky. Finally, all you need to do is to pick up the cakes, put them into a dish, and sprinkle the dish with roasted sesame. 3. Meaning: In our country, Cold Food Festival has a profound national meaning which is consistent with the psychology as well as daily life of Vietn amese people. In Cold Food Festival, people only make â€Å"banh troi, banh chay† to replace cold food. Its main aim is to remind us of our ancestors. â€Å"Banh troi, banh chay† are made to express our gratitude and remember our root. On the whole, it is an interesting cuisine festival that not all countries over the world have.

Wednesday, January 8, 2020

Biography of Robert Mugabe, President of Zimbabwe

Robert Mugabe has been the president of Zimbabwe since 1987. He attained his job after leading bloody guerrilla warfare against the white colonial rulers of what was then Rhodesia. Birthdate Feb. 21, 1924, near Kutama, northeast of Salisbury (now Harare, the capital of Zimbabwe), in what was then Rhodesia. Mugabe quipped in 2005 that he would remain president until he was a century old. Personal life Mugabe was married to Ghanian national Sally Hayfron, a teacher and political activist, in 1961. They had one son, Nhamodzenyika, who died during childhood. She died of kidney failure in 1992. In 1996, Mugabe married his onetime secretary, Grace Marufu, who is more than four decades younger than Mugabe, and with whom he had two children while his wife Sallys health was failing. Mugabe and Grace have three children: Bona, Robert Peter Jr., and Bellarmine Chatunga. Political affiliation Mugabe leads the Zimbabwe African National Union – Patriotic Front, a socialist party founded in 1987. Mugabe and his party are also heavily nationalist with left-wing ideology, favoring land seizures from white Zimbabweans while claiming that doing so counters the nations imperialist past. Career Mugabe holds seven degrees from South Africas Fort Hare University. In 1963 he was secretary general of the Maoist Zimbabwe African National Union. In 1964, he was sentenced to 10 years in prison for subversive speech against the Rhodesian government. Once released, he fled to Mozambique to launch a guerrilla war for independence. He returned to Rhodesia 1979 and became prime minister in 1980; the next month, the newly independent country was renamed Zimbabwe. Mugabe assumed the presidency in 1987, with the prime minister role being abolished. Under his rule, annual inflation has soared to 100,000%. Future Mugabe has faced probably the strongest, most organized opposition in the Movement for Democratic Change. He accuses the MDC of being Western-backed, using this as an excuse to persecute MDC members and order the arbitrary arrest of and violence against supporters. Instead of striking terror into the citizenry, this could further galvanize opposition against his iron-fisted rule. Action from neighboring South Africa, deluged by Zimbabwean refugees, or world bodies could also pressure Mugabe, who relies on the war veterans militia to help him keep his grip on power. Quote Our party must continue to strike fear in the heart of the white man, our real enemy! — Mugabe in the Irish Times, Dec. 15, 2000