Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Island of Reflection
After spending months at sea, with no food, no water, and your only company being a Bengal tiger, even the smallest plot of land would seem like a dream come true. However the idea of an algae covered floating island, is quite the opposite. In my opinion Martel is demonstrating that things do not always turn out the way we want to and the way I visualized the island, it seemed as if it represented Pi himself. Pi was a vegetarian for as long as he could remember, but after being thrown out to sea and therefore being forced to fight for his own survival, he broke away from that lifestyle and killed any animal he could lay his hands on. The island, although only a piece of land floating in the Pacific, ate animals, insects, and even humans for it's own "survival". I think that the fact that the island was introduced after the scenes of Pi's animal consumption was meant to be sort of a punishment for Pi, showing him exactly what all this animal death looks like.
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Pi's Religion
As stated in the first amendment, "congress can't make laws establishing a religion, prohibiting it's free exercise," however the idea of religious freedom is demonstrated quite differently in Yann Martel's novel, Life of Pi. As free citizens we have the right to practice the religion we want to practice and there are no recorded laws telling us how many religions we can belong to. In India -- where Pi was raised -- the thought of practicing more than one religion, is simply looked down upon. Therefore when Pi decides to practice three, the priests, and his parents are questioning what exactly his motivation could be.
Each religion has its own fables, its own beliefs and its own ways of worship, therefore how is it wrong for someone to belong to more than one religion, to believe more than one story? When questioned about his faith, Pi replied, "all religions are true. I just want to love God." (p.69) Throughout the novel, story telling and religion walk hand and hand, simply because it is those who listen, who truly believe. Although religion may be something not talked about, -- a taboo in our society -- that does not mean it is unimportant. Whether it be one religion, or three, Pi helps illustrate the impact religion has in our lives, taboo or not.
Each religion has its own fables, its own beliefs and its own ways of worship, therefore how is it wrong for someone to belong to more than one religion, to believe more than one story? When questioned about his faith, Pi replied, "all religions are true. I just want to love God." (p.69) Throughout the novel, story telling and religion walk hand and hand, simply because it is those who listen, who truly believe. Although religion may be something not talked about, -- a taboo in our society -- that does not mean it is unimportant. Whether it be one religion, or three, Pi helps illustrate the impact religion has in our lives, taboo or not.
Monday, February 1, 2010
Fahrenheit 451
Imagine living in a world with families lining the streets, wandering the streets, wearing no warm clothes -- no coats, no jackets, no hats or gloves. I as a thirty five year old mother of two, every night drive into my subdivision and see these helpless people making makeshift huts out of whatever they can set their hands on. Now if these people were to have an actual home, a place for them to stay and get food when they need it, our society as we know it would change drastically. Every month we have a weekend set for fundraising to help gather clothes and money to help us build one more homeless shelter in the community, but we still do not raise enough. Therefore I am asking you to help fund a shelter to help get the people of our commmunity safe and sheltered once again.
Mister Senator,
As you may already be aware the homeless population has increased dramatically over the past
few years. Due to the rising numbers, more people have been roaming the streets in search of a place to call home. Now if these people were to be given a place to stay -- a warm shelter, to share with others, like themselves -- our society as we know it, would change considerably. Therefore I -- a thirty five year old mother of two -- am writing to ask you to help fund homeless shelters across the state of Wisconsin to help these people find a warm place to spend the winter.
Each day as I drive home from work and pull into my subdivision, along the sides of the street live families -- mothers, fathers, and children -- walking the sides of the road, searching for somewhere to spend the night. Homelessness is a problem close to home, which although cannot be fixed overnight, is not an impossible task to take on and therefore not an impossible task to change. All of us can pitch in to make a change; donating clothes, money, and food to the local food pantries. But we still need your help. Even just one homeless shelter is enough to make a huge difference in our community and enough to help hundreds of families in need.
Every third Saturday of each month, I help run a community night to help gather money and clothes to give to shelters around Wisconsin and a portion of the procedes helps to raise enough money to build the one shelter we need. After years of this program we still are not even half way to our goal. Families big and small attend community night in search of something fun to do on their weekends off. Please help us raise the money we need for it could take years if we continue to do this on our own.
Helping to get these families off of the streets, should be a top priority in Wisconsin, for it is a problem, which needs to be dealt with. Please consider donating money to help support these people and to help us collect enough money and donations to build one more homeless shelter, for one more is enough to change the lives of many. Thank you for your time and please take this letter into consideration.
Sincerely,
Taylor J.
In the novel Fahrenheit 451 firefighter Guy Montag comes across a group of men, wanted by
the government, who live their lives on the run, and make shelters alongside the railroad tracks, for they have no where else to go and no one else to turn to. If these men were to have a shelter built for them -- a place where they could stay and where they could seek comfort whenever they may need it -- the homeless population would decrease once again, and these men and their families could once again be safe and protected.
Mister Senator,
As you may already be aware the homeless population has increased dramatically over the past
few years. Due to the rising numbers, more people have been roaming the streets in search of a place to call home. Now if these people were to be given a place to stay -- a warm shelter, to share with others, like themselves -- our society as we know it, would change considerably. Therefore I -- a thirty five year old mother of two -- am writing to ask you to help fund homeless shelters across the state of Wisconsin to help these people find a warm place to spend the winter.
Each day as I drive home from work and pull into my subdivision, along the sides of the street live families -- mothers, fathers, and children -- walking the sides of the road, searching for somewhere to spend the night. Homelessness is a problem close to home, which although cannot be fixed overnight, is not an impossible task to take on and therefore not an impossible task to change. All of us can pitch in to make a change; donating clothes, money, and food to the local food pantries. But we still need your help. Even just one homeless shelter is enough to make a huge difference in our community and enough to help hundreds of families in need.
Every third Saturday of each month, I help run a community night to help gather money and clothes to give to shelters around Wisconsin and a portion of the procedes helps to raise enough money to build the one shelter we need. After years of this program we still are not even half way to our goal. Families big and small attend community night in search of something fun to do on their weekends off. Please help us raise the money we need for it could take years if we continue to do this on our own.
Helping to get these families off of the streets, should be a top priority in Wisconsin, for it is a problem, which needs to be dealt with. Please consider donating money to help support these people and to help us collect enough money and donations to build one more homeless shelter, for one more is enough to change the lives of many. Thank you for your time and please take this letter into consideration.
Sincerely,
Taylor J.
In the novel Fahrenheit 451 firefighter Guy Montag comes across a group of men, wanted by
the government, who live their lives on the run, and make shelters alongside the railroad tracks, for they have no where else to go and no one else to turn to. If these men were to have a shelter built for them -- a place where they could stay and where they could seek comfort whenever they may need it -- the homeless population would decrease once again, and these men and their families could once again be safe and protected.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)