The Epic of Gilgamesh Essay Example for Free

The Epic of Gilgamesh Essay The Epic of Gilgamesh is an adventurous tale of the mighty King Gilgamesh that is so enthralled in making his name written in the stones of history forever. In his many challenges against this goal of his from meaningless slaughter of an appointed guardian to quarrels with the gods, he loses his loving brother, who was seemingly his other half. With the endless amount of grief the king is almost consumed in, his actions become selfish and fearful of death, which sends him on the quest for eternal life. Some interesting points about the reading include how femininity, repetition, and dreams are used to portray some of the oddest ideas. First off, femininity is something used so loosely, the phrase â€Å"like the love of a woman† could be talking about anything from a rock to another man. This aspect of the text can be almost confusing when the reader tries to correlate the previous example to the current. One example would be that Gilgamesh refers to his affection towards his brother as â€Å"like the love of a woman†, and then refers to a meteor in a dream in the same way. With those two things being nowhere near each other in meaning, a raised eyebrow is a common side effect to this confusion. Also, the traits of women such as long hair and how they refer to a harlot as teaching Enkidu, Gilgamesh’s brother, the â€Å"art of a woman†, can be easily misconstrued to either men or women. Repetition is also a strangely used figure in this story. At times, the same sentence can essentially be used for almost an entire page. The purpose for such extensive repetition could be a number of things, like emphasis of a certain action or thought. It could also be to give the reader the same feeling that the character is facing when it comes to walking what seems like forever through a dark forest, repeating the same dreary sentence referring to how dark and endless it seems continually for half of a page can in turn create a longing for sunlight in the reader. Lastly, the dreams in The Epic of Gilgamesh are looked at as almost fortune-tellers. Before Enkidu and Gilgamesh meet, Gilgamesh has a dream involving a meteor that he can’t touch, and everyone in the city of Uruk flocks to, so he consults his mother. She has a very odd interpretation that he will love the meteor like the love of a woman, which is odd in it, especially in that we find out that the meteor actually stands for Enkidu, Gilgamesh’s equal sent from the gods. Another dream is after the two equals fight off the Bull of Heaven, Enkidu has a peculiar dream about the gods talking amongst one another about killing one of the two. Since the person who dreams a dream in this story can never interpret it, Gilgamesh now interprets the dream, and once they both understand, Enkidu dies for Gilgamesh to live on. From femininity to dreams to seemingly unnecessary repetition, the uses of figurative and confusing language in The Epic of Gilgamesh are very strange in how any way of thinking about them could be right. It seems that nobody will ever know exactly what everything in it means.

Runnin Down Some Lines: Book Review :: essays research papers

Deprived of opportunities for advancement in mainstream society, [black ghetto] teenagers elevate their personal style into a philosophy of life. Their exemplars are pimps and gangsters.... Gangs develop to bolster self-identity through psychological control of the streets; hip "threads" and "freaked out" cars also serve as outward signs of inner creativity. Both sexes consider coitus ("doin' the do") a natural and desirable part of adolescence; soft drugs, primarily marijuana ("tea"), also offer a temporary alternative to the harsh reality of ghetto existence. But embracing all of these is the vernacular itself - in its grace, flexibility, and strength it is a valuable tool for "gettin' down," for "blowin' fire," ultimately for staying alive... (Anderson 1981:233-234). Edith A Folb is a white woman who threw herself into the depths of one of America's most notorious ghettos for nearly nine years of fieldwork on the language and culture of African-American teenagers. She left the University of California, Los Angeles in 1964, midway through an increasingly dissatisfying Ph.D. program, to involve herself in a variety of community-based activities in the hopes of determining the future course of her life. After two years of working amongst the predominantly black inhabitants of South Central Los Angeles, Folb returned to school with a better subject of focus for her studies. She had found her calling in the last place most people would think to look; in the heart of the ghetto. "So, in 1967, [she] began the systematic study of black teenage vernacular vocabulary" (Folb 1980:viii). In 1980, Edith A. Folb's first book, runnin' down some lines: the language and culture of black teenagers, was published. The book is based on her extensive first-hand research on the teens of South Central. She spent over eight years operating within the community, interviewing many teens and conversing less formerly with countless others. Folb feels that these youths are representative of an aspect of American society both disregarded and misunderstood by the white majority. She even goes as far as to refer to the ghetto as a "country" of its own within the boundaries of the United States (Folb 1980:2). Her goal is to shed some light on the otherwise dark subject of inner city culture. Folb believes that the manner in which the teens of South Central speak may "tell those who would listen what it means to be young and black and live in a ghetto community" (Folb 1980:4).

Why Torture Is a Good Thing

Why Torture is a Good Thing. Recently the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi has come under fire for comments she made about torture, once again bringing the topic of torture back into the national spotlight. There are so many different sides to the debate on whether our government should or should not allow torture in the integration of suspected Al Qaeda members currently locked up in the United States military prison located in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.There are those people who say that nothing good ever comes out of integration that uses anything that could be torture, but the truth is that is some of where our best intelligence in the War on Terror has come from the use of harsh integrating techniques. There are many different forms of intergation method that are uses by our government that have been called torture by those wishing to prevent them from happening. Our government loosly defines torture as any method of intergation that does not leave any physical d amage to the person that it is being used upon, there is nothing there about harsh intergation technique.There are many different forms of intergation tactects that are uses that have been called torture, but these methods do not physical harm nor to they leave any long term physical injures. The United States government does not use many of the traditional torture techniques that many foreign governments and Al Qaeda use; such as beatings, electric shock, and starvation. Waterboarding is one of the biggest intergation that has come under attack. Water boarding is preformed by tieing a person down with his feet raised above his head, then covering his mouth and nose.Finaly water is poured over there persons face, all this causes the mind to believe that the person is drowning. Even though no physical harm comes to the person; this technique is one of the most criticized forms of harsh integration techniques used. Water boarding is preformed on our own solders to prepare them for wha t they might have to live through if they are captured on the battle fields. Another form of integration techniques that is currently used is sleep deprivation. Sleep deprivation is not allowing the body to sleep enough, through the use of loud music or forcing the victim to stand.By not allowing the body to sleep it allows the mind to become weak and less defensive when being questioned, leaving the prisoners less likely to lie when questioned. Another technique that is used is the use of stress positions, which is placing a person in a position that becomes uncomfortable after a long period of time, such as standing, or kneeling for periods of up to four hours, no long term effects are caused by this. The pain that is felt is very real and at times very intense but it is gone as soon as they are allowed out of the stress positions. No long term damage has ever been cause by the use of stress positions.The critics of these harsh integration techniques call it torture, but they say nothing about what our men and women have been put through by foreign governments and foreign fighters through our history, and it still happening today. Many foreign countries use physical beatings to gather information, they have gone as far as breaking bones, and many times have beaten the victim to death. Al Qaeda and the Taliban have used these tactics along with beheadings of prisoners to try to scare our fighters, as well innocent civilians that Al Qaeda has kidnapped, since the beginning of the War on Terror. Where is the out cry from the world over that?All we are doing is trying to prevent another attack on our country. Some of the best intelligence we have gotten since the start of the War on Terror has come from the use of harsh integration techniques. The American government has stopped several terrorism attacks since the attack on September eleventh. 2001. Some of these would have been worse than that tragic September day, and how were these attacks prevented, by the u se of harsh integration techniques. The captured Al Qaeda and Taliban fighters are well trained and very loyal to the cause. Our government has tried normal integration techniques to no avail.These captured men would not talk until the use of these integration techniques was introduced. Once introduced many of these captured fighters broke and gave away plans that otherwise would have not come out. There is no other way to keep our country safe, other methods have been tried and have failed. Our government uses many techniques that may boarder on torture to gather information and to prevent another terrorist attack. In a perfect world there would be no use for many of these harsh integration techniques that are currently being employed by our government against Al Qaeda and the Taliban fighters.But unfortunately we do not live in a perfect world. Until Al Qaeda gives ups its desire to see America destroyed we need to what we can and we must continue to use these harsh integration te chniques. Our government does not view the use of sleep deprivation, water boarding, and stress positions; they are far more humane than what Americans soldiers have gone through by foreign governments when captured. The only way to keep America safe is to continue to use these intergation techniques until the threat possed by Al Qaeda is gone

Analysis Of The Book Genesis - 1592 Words

Redeemer, defined by Merriam-Webster, means â€Å"a person who brings goodness, honor to something again†. In Catholicism this refers to the person who will carry out the last step of God’s ultimate plan, creation, sin, and salvation. We can see God’s creation in the Book of Genesis. God spent six days creating the universe, earth, animals, land, and humans. Humans were a different creation than the other things God had created. When God created humans, â€Å"God created mankind in his image†¦God blessed them† (Genesis 1:27). The next step in God’s plan is sin. Sin was introduced to mankind from God’s given free will to humans. This caused Adam and Eve to be tricked by a serpent into eating the forbidden apple in the Garden of Eden, thus, sin was introduced. The next and last step in God’s plan was salvation. Catholicism believes that humans and the world were not totally corrupted by sin, rather temporarily fallen. It is believed that Christ is the lone savior of the world because he is the son of God and God lives through Christ. In the Gospels, calling Christ the redeemer is never mentioned, however in Paul’s letters he references God bringing redemption to the world. Therefore, God would bring salvation to the world through Christ as a redeemer. When saying that Christ is the redeemer of the world, it means that God will following through with his last step in his plan for salvation by bring redemption to the world through Christ. Pope John Paul II in his encyclical RedemptorShow MoreRelatedAnalysis Of The Book Genesis 1677 Words   |  7 Pages Dinah’s experience is similar to Tarma in Genesis. She is the daughter-in-law of Judah. Judah asked his son Onan to make she pregnant after his biggest son Er died. However, Onan did not follow what his father said: â€Å"And Onan knew that the seed should not be his, †¦, he spilled it on the ground†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (38:9) Therefore, the Lord punished Onan and let he died. After that Judah sent Tarma back to her father’s house until his third son Shelah grows up. Unexpectedly, years later, Judah was taken Tarma forRead MoreAnalysis Of The Book Genesis 1116 Words   |  5 PagesGenesis 1-11 The book of Genesis is often referred to as the book of beginnings. Genesis is the first book that begins the Old Testament, it is also the first book of the entire Bible. The Lord also began the world in the book of Genesis, He made the heavens and the earth, man and woman. In Genesis chapters one through eleven, the Bible teaches us stories that most of us have grown up hearing in Sunday School such as the creation account, Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel, Noah and the flood and theRead MoreAnalysis Of The Book Genesis 775 Words   |  4 Pagestaken from the book of Genesis. The focus will be taken from an event that was recorded in chapter 12 of this book. The main charter was a man call Abram and his wife, Sarai. Because of deceit of Abram, driven by his fear of losing his life he chooses to be deceitful.This dishonest act caused someone else to sin this caused God not to be happy with the person than sin so a plague was caused by him. The act on one cause God to moved on others i n a negative way. Genesis is the first book of the BibleRead MoreAnalysis Of The Book Genesis 1238 Words   |  5 Pageslike. Upon looking into the time of human creation and early civilized human life it is nearly impossible to find a source that can tell exactly what happened. There is one source that has a theory which has proven to be fairly reliable: the book of Genesis. It not only provides a story of creation, but also gives one an inside look at what life was like during the early days of human civilization. It follows the family of Abram, later known as Abraham, a descendant of Noah. The story follows himRead MoreAnalysis Of The Book Genesis 808 Words   |  4 PagesResponse Paper: Genesis The book of Genesis is the first book of the Bible that lays the foundation on what the whole Bible is about. The first verse of Genesis states, â€Å"In the beginning.† These words show us that before anything ever existed, God existed. Most cannot fathom the fact that God was not created, but He always has, always is, and always will be; which gives us a sense of assurance that we are in a relationship with the one true God. Chapters one and two of Genesis focus on the creationRead MoreAnalysis Of The Book Genesis 36-50 958 Words   |  4 PagesAccording to the book of genesis 36-50, it sustains significant narratives focusing on Esau’s descendants, which describe Esau’s family members and the stories of them, two wives and twelve sons. Esau’s was one of Abraham grandsons, and as such, part of some material blessings. One was that Esau became â€Å"father of the nation† the nation of Edom. I argue that Esau’s were experiencing Godâ€℠¢s blessings, in conform to his promises. The abundance of goods is due to the divine blessing of God. They wereRead More Textual Analysis of Epic of Gilgamesh and Book of Genesis of the Holy Bible1056 Words   |  5 PagesA Textual Analysis of Genesis and the Epic of Gilgamesh The stories of the floods found in both Gilgamesh and Genesis contain many striking similarities that are inevitably beyond mere coincidence. One could surmise that both of these stories might have a basis in common historical occurrence. However, despite the fact that both of these works discuss a common topic, the portrayal of this event is quite different. Like identical twins raised in different cultures, the expressions ofRead MoreEssay about Religion 111 Study Questions Week 1979 Words   |  4 PagesREL 111 Questions For Review Chapters 3, 4, 5 Chapter 3 Q1. What levels of meaning can be found in Genesis 1.1-2.4a? This passage gives meaning to the first creation story. It gives the order of how God created everything over the first six days starting with light and ending with the creation of animals and humans. Q2. What are the similarities and differences between the biblical and the Babylonian presentations of cosmic beginnings? The similarities between biblical and Babylonian beginningsRead MoreCritical Criticism Of Genesis1714 Words   |  7 Pagesfrom the place where you are† Genesis 13:14. The word genesis is the dawning of creation, and the biblical book of Genesis is the book that brings fourth the creation of our planet and the life that resides. Genesis also describes the descent of Adam and Eve and unveils the foundation that sin builds upon. Genesis introduces the origin of the holy land, Israel, and inception of holy covenants promised by the holy trinity; the son, the father, and the holy spirit. Genesis communicates the definite eventsRead MoreThe Bible, The Passage Of Genesis943 Words   |  4 Pagesset apart from all other earthly inhabitants. According to the Hebrew Bible, the passage of Genesis 1:26 – 31 can be excellently interpreted as one that contains the original blueprints of a divinely constructed purpose for the first humans. While the Book of Genesis, commonly attribu ted to the authorship of Moses, contains heavyset implications regarding pre-exilic and postexilic Israelite controversy, Genesis 1:26 – 31 reduces much of the common nuances in synchronic and diachronic perspectives as