The Importance of Individual Duty - Death and the Kings Horseman - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 4 Words: 1260 Downloads: 1 Date added: 2017/09/15 Category Advertising Essay Did you like this example? Rights and Duties are an integral part of everyone’s life. It would be very difficult, if not impossible, for this world to go on if we do not assume our rights and duties. As Nelson Rockefeller said, I believe that every right implies a responsibility; every opportunity, an obligation, every possession, a duty. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "The Importance of Individual Duty Death and the Kings Horseman" essay for you Create order Everyone in this world has some duty to perform, ranging from the head of the country to run the county to a common man to earn bread for his household. Wole Soyinka in his play Death and the King’s horseman shows the commitment of the characters towards their duties and the conflicts that arise when they try to fulfill their duties. Wole Soyinka shows Elesin as a person who enjoys a luxurious life of rich food and fine clothing, the rewards of a man of his position. He enjoys all the fame thinking of it as his right of being a king’s horseman who after the death of the king will accompany him to the after world. In return for these rights, Elesin has to perform his religious duty, towards his king, of committing the ritual suicide after the death of the king. But the human nature of self-interest and selfishness overrides his duties after the death of the king. ‘A weight of longing on my (his) earth-held limbs’’ (1010) that is, because of the worldly pleasures, he betrays his master by not having the will to commit the ritual suicide. And thus, Elesin gives in to the temptation of having his life prolonged so that he can enjoy the company of his new bride. On the one hand, Wole presents a character like Elesin, who refuses to fulfil his duty for fulfilling his earthly desires. On the o ther hand, there is Amusa, who being a Yoruban himself, is â€Å"a police officer in the service of his majesty’s government† (984). Amusa’s religious duty is to let the ritual take place as it has been since centuries, but his duty towards the British Government is exactly opposite to his religious duty. Being a police officer, he has to stop the suicide ritual to protect the British law. Amusa is one of those people who keep their duty to the British ahead of their duty to the religion. The extent to which Amusa is conditioned to obeying the British orders is clearly seen when the marketplace women speak in the formal English accent, his mind takes it as his superiors’ orders and replies ‘‘Yessir’’(993). Amusa reports to Simon Pilkings, who is a British officer keen to fulfil his duties. Simon always believes he is ‘‘trying to do for you (Yorubans). †, â€Å"For your people (Yorubans)’’ (1001). Thus, when he hears about the suicide ritual that he considers â€Å"barbaric†, he quickly orders to arrest Elesin and keep peace while the prince is visiting his colony. Soyinka presents another character called Iyaloja, who is the mother of the marketplace and a symbol of the African traditions, values and power. Despite of her duty towards her family, especially her son, she focuses on her duty towards her religion. When Elesin points out towards her To-Be-Daughter-In-Law, she tries to convince him by telling him that ‘‘she is (already) betrothed’’; ‘‘even those who leave town to make a new dwelling elsewhere like to be remembered by what they leave behind’’, and he is ‘‘not one who eats and leaves nothing on his plate for children’’(981). But as George Bernard Shaw said, ‘‘When a stupid man is doing something he is ashamed of, he always declares that it is his duty. ’’ In the same manner, Elesin says that it is his duty to die without ‘‘burdens of waste and longing’’ (982). Therefore, Iyaloja hands down her ruling believing that the curses of those on the other side are much greater than the curses of her own son. And thus starts preparing for Elesin’s wedding and death. Olunde, who is Elesin’s son, is a great example of love and respect to one’s traditions and values. When he finds out about King’s death, following the rituals, he comes after a month to bury his father. Considering it as his duty towards his religion, he does not allow the love for his father come in the way of the love for his religion. But when he finds out about his father’s failure to fulfil his duties towards the king, he decides to commit suicide in place of his father to lead the king in the after world and save the universe from the brutal damage that his father brought. Wole Soyinka has artistically presented the duties that different people need to fulfill in this play. But apart from assuming their single duties, there are characters which come across the conflicts in their duties: they stand on a two-way road to decide whether they should fulfill their duty towards their families or towards their religion. For example, Iyaloja has a conflict whether she should protest Elesin’s demand for her To-Be-Daughter-In-Law or let the ritual go without any hindrance. Amusa has a conflict to perform the duty towards the Britain officials or let the ceremony go without informing his supervisors. Olunde has a conflict to save his father and his love towards his father or let him perform his duty towards the king and bury his father. Wole presents us with yet another type of conflict which is between the duties of different people. For example, Elesin’s duty is to die, but Amusa’s and Simon’s duty is to not let him die. Thus, in Death and The King’s Horseman, we see various kinds of conflicts that people encounter and how they try to solve them. While there are conflicts of duties among so many people, there is bound to be some harm to someone. The outcomes that these conflicts bring are not always likeable. We see how Iyaloja has to give up her To-Be-Daughter-In-Law, how Amusa has to face the shame in front of his tribe, and how Olunde has to give his life to save his family’s honour and to fulfill his father’s duty. Elesin has a conflict whether he should have a long life accompanying his new bride or to die and save the peace of the universe. He chooses to live and enjoy the worldly pleasures. But as Joseph Newton said, ‘‘A duty dodged is like a debt unpaid; it is only deferred, and we must come back and settle the account at last’’, Elesin has to repay the debt of betraying his master and the universe by losing his honour, his son’s life and his own life without his will. Thus, Wole points out how a person’s decision to assume his/her duty can lead to various outcomes. Keeping in view different sides of human nature, Wole shows in Death and The King’s Horseman the concept of individual duty, how a person deals with internal as well as external dilemmas while assuming his/her duties, how he/she decides what to give preference to, and how to decide which duty to perform. He also gives us a lesson as to how as human beings, we should solve the dilemmas we are faced with in our daily lives and consider in advance what the outcomes will be if we take even a single wrong decision. Works Cited Soyinka, Wole. â€Å"Death and the King’s Horseman. † 1975. The Longman Anthology World Literature. Ed. David Damrosch and David L. Pike. Vol. F. Newyork: Longman, 2004. . Print

Essay on The Rulers and the Ruled in High School - 909 Words

If movie tropes and idioms are to be believed, there is a clear distinction between who is the ‘ruling’ majority and the ‘ruled’ minority. Every high school movie that ever was invariably depicted academia as a maze of cliques and clichà ©s. The high school experience was characterized not by what you achieved, but who you ‘hung out’ with. The jocks, cheerleaders, bands and an assorted team of people blessed with good looks were ‘cool’ and the rest were ‘not’. The masses were ostensibly ruled over by the much smaller ‘popular’ gang; the unpopular masses criticized and berated the repulsive mediocrity and social stagnation of the usually wealthy and/or beautiful minority, while the popular showed only disdain for the seemingly clueless†¦show more content†¦Everyone around them was dissenting and ‘rebelling’. But all these rebels has squeezed themselves in a conformist bandwagon; opposi tion for the sake of opposition. The sixties paid lip-service to the ideals of non-conforming while still being entrenched in the mainstream, thereby killing the fundamental ideals of individualism However, those beliefs have not become extinct, they have merely been shrouded in a blanket of confusion and false similarities. If all non-conformists are in fact conformists, then has society lost hope? Not at all. The individual, though rarely found in his true sense, still exists; but in alarmingly marginalized numbers. The real sorrow is the true individual, while not lost to memory will never be hailed for the hero he truly is. This ideal of rebellion, the in individual, do not fashion themselves to fit any certain mold, but rather hold values that they personally agree with. Unfortunately for the masses, the individual cannot be pinpointed in a crowd. These individuals can be found manning the tills at McDonalds or as high-flying executives at law firms. They can be doctors without borders or decorated heroes. 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Oil in the market Free Essays

The demand for oil will be present a perfect example of this would have to be, the Chinese economy, with a surge in the demand for crude oil in china, their economy has risen tremendously. Since oil is limited. People must look for other alternatives like solar power, hydro power, even alternatives like ethanol where it is used faintly as a source of energy to power vehicles. We will write a custom essay sample on Oil in the market or any similar topic only for you Order Now When it comes to the market speculation there is a lot of investment being poured into the oil trade, due to this surge of investments, fluctuations in the market go from high to low on a daily basis. Risk will be present when it comes to business, but in the case of the investors depending on how the market trends are they may lose profit rather then make profit. When it comes to the supply of oil there are long and short-term factors that affect the international markets. The short-term factors include: -Profit motive -Spare capacity -Stock External shocks Profit making factors rely solely on OPEC operating nations. OPEC is put in place as a cartel to regulate price fixtures on crude oil and gas that are supplied by world’s oil producers. Ex: Saudi Arabia Oil refinery’s have stocks in place to be released in the market when the demand for oil fluctuates, in the case of an oil company in peril with low profits, the effects of production shocks may be devastating to the companies growth, examples of these issues. Taking a longer-term perspective, the long run world oil supply is linked to 1 . Reserves: Depletion of proven oil reserves – the faster that demand grows, the quicker the expected rate of depletion 2. Exploration: Investment spending on exploring, identifying and then exploiting new oil reserves. When oil prices are rising and are expected to stay strong for the foreseeable future, it makes financial sense to invest more resources in exploring for new reserves, even though these may not come on stream for some years. 3. Technology: Technological change in oil extraction (which affects the costs of extraction and the profitability of extracting and then refining the oil) Long-term effects include: Reserves Exploration Technology How to cite Oil in the market, Papers

Technology and Their Impact on Relationships free essay sample

It allows family members, lovers, and friends to have instant contact through voice, text messages and email and allows for spontaneous planning of impromptu meetings and activities. According to Bittman, M et al (2008, p 648) â€Å"the mobile phone significantly increases people’s capacity to maintain intimacy at a distance and over the course of the day†¦ This capacity for perpetual contact gives rise to new forms of intimacy, such as forming, deepening and dissolving relationships via SMS messages and enhancing the ability to be communicatively present while being physically absent. It allows parents to check on their children and for children to be able to contact their parents. The Internet has also allowed people to form online relationships with ‘virtual’ friends. â€Å"A major research study published in December 2008 on the use of digital technologies by adults from 16 industrialised nations suggests that â€Å"on average [they] spend a third of their leisure time online, belong to two social networking sites and have regular contact with 16 people who they have ‘virtually’ met on the internet† (TNS 2008, 2 as cited in Harrison, R, 2009, p. We will write a custom essay sample on Technology and Their Impact on Relationships or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page 10). These kinds of relationships while may seem harmless have had negative effects; people cheating on partners with people they have met online and teenagers becoming obsessed with Social Networking Sites, constantly checking and updating their ‘status’ and messages. Social movements have been affected in regards to it becoming easier to organise protests through the use of mobile phones and Internet to promote awareness of a cause and issues that affect society and the world. It’s faster, cheaper and easier and you can reach a wider audience with the use of social networking sites. People also have the chance to interact, have their say and join in on debates. ‘At their core, social movements are about group formation, and suddenly the tools exist to make it much easier to bring people together’ (Brecher, J, Costello, T, Smith, B, 2009) The internet has also become more simpler and easier to use, allowing people who would never before have gone online to access social networking sites and form or join groups. The web is no longer the exclusive dominion of the young and highly educated, and as this trend continues it will allow social movements to cheaply and easily reach out to increasingly diverse constituencies. ’ (Brecher, J Costello, T, Smith, B, 2009) The negative side of technology’s impact on social movements is that you loose the face-to-face contact that can impact on a more lasting personal level and group formi ng and sharing of knowledge can be great but misinformation can lead to the spreading of false rumours, anonymous slander and racism. Technology has had a big impact on education. Mobile phones with their ability to access the internet has made it a great way to look up information, wireless internet and faster connections have made working and learning on computers at home much more convenient and easier. More and more schools, TAFE’s and Universities are offering courses online making it possible for people to merge home life, work life and study more conveniently. It also allows people access to study that live in remote areas or overseas. As mobile phones become more sophisticated and inexpensive, students can read and email documents, do research on the Internet and manage their assignments all from their mobile phones. Teachers can send pod casts and hyperlinks within a document to encourage students to read further on topics that might interest them. Accessing books with mobile technology is becoming more readily available to, there is no need to go to the bookstore when you can download books to your phone. The negative aspect of having all this information available is that the amount of information can be very overwhelming and that anyone can put information on the Internet and it may not always be correct. It is important to always verify information and it’s source. Mobile phones and the technology behind them have become a very big part of modern day life, most people own one and use it, whether it is for simple phone calls and text messaging or for use as a more complex multimedia device, it has impacted on the way we do everyday things. Even though mobile phones and technology have some negative aspects on a whole they have had a positive influence and have changed society for the better. We are more connected, can express our feeling more easily, can join groups with people that have the same interests and have instant access to information and education from our home computers, laptops or mobile phones. Reference list Bittman, M, Brown, J, Wajcman, J, ADJ 2009, ‘The cell phone, constant connection and time scarcity in Australia’