The Mexican Fly Boy Suffering Analysis

To some people religion is their entire way of life while to others it is just a side thought. But to almost everyone religion affects their lives everyday in some way, whether it just be in the back of a mind. Religion affects the lives of its followers by telling them the rights and wrongs, giving them someone to follow, and explaining why things happen to allow its followers to gain access to some variation of heaven.

The era of president Salinas de Gortari and the transition to free market have gone against the ideologies and goals of the Mexican Revolution. By reading “Mexican Lives” by Judith Hellman we see how Neoliberal policies affected Mexicans from a wide range of socio-economic backgrounds. President Salinas goals went against the values of the Mexican revolution by liberalizing the economy of Mexico and selling state owned land to private capital which went against provision Article 27 in the constitution which places strict ownership of land in the hands of the Mexicans. We see in Hellman’s stories how wealthy business owners like Sergio Espinoza and Ruben Ergas in Mexico were negatively affected by the liberalization of the economy. Prior to

Breaking Through is a nonfiction book about the author, Francisco Jiménez, growing up as an immigrant in the United States. In the 1940s, Francisco Jiménez and his family immigrated from Mexico to the United States. However, because some of his family, including him, were not legal immigrants, they were deported back to Mexico. When they were able to return, only Francisco and his older brother, Roberto, returned at first, so they could make money to support their family. Throughout this book, there are many examples of conflict, including the problems Francisco faces at school, work, and home.

In Elie Wiesel’s memoir Night the word “sage” is used to contrast between God and mankind. The memoir explains that in contrast to an omnipotent god a human may be forced to form a decision based on a limited knowledge base, as an example while in the camp Akiba Drummer completely loses faith in god’s benevolence; he even claims that “god is no longer with the prisoners.”(77) Because Akiba Drummer based this decision only on his own limited observations he arrived at an inccorect decision that caused him to lose “all incentive to fight;”(77) ultimately leading to his death. The memoir asserts that due to a lack of omnipotence humans often arrive at incorrect conclusions. Additionally in the memoir humanity unlike god is described as being

Sin is prevalent in many people's lives, those who sin often feel immense guilt for it. This is true for young Gary Soto. Throughout this narrative, Soto uses many rhetorical devices to convey emotion to the audience. In “A Summers Life”, Soto shifts from a feeling of innocence and youth to one of gut wrenching sin by using powerful imagery, Biblical allusions, and purposeful symbolism to prove that as a child, he succumbed easily to temptation.

Porfirio Diaz was the dictator of Mexico, in the years of 1884 to 1911, who sought to modernize Mexico through a series of economic and social policies he had emplaced onto the country–the country consisted of the rural population and the prosperous upper class. Due to political stability, and lack of wealth–under the reign of Porfirio–there was commotion, especially amongst the middle and lower classes. Until Diaz took over and decided it was best to improve the economic stability of the country since the mexican economy was far underdeveloped. In Diaz’ journey for modernization, foreign investments originated from the implemented policies which would ultimately build Mexico back up and into a thriving country. Some Historians have assumed

Ultimately, the human heart seeks comfort and familiarity. The great unknown strips away this feeling of safety, leading to a vulnerability that draws the true nature of a person into the harshness of reality. Unfamiliar environments, newly met strangers, the imminent and all-too-unpredictable future--these things generally incite feelings of insecurity and anxiety; for some, panic accompanies the thought of not having control. Some avoid matters of fear altogether, opting for a life softened with intentional ignorance. It is the fatal tendency of mankind to manipulate their troubles into trivial tasks that can easily be ignored and eventually forgotten, or at the very least, left to the side. Humanity thrives on acknowledging, promoting, and

Up until the 1960s Anglo social scientists wrote most of the literature about the people of Mexican- descent in the United States. Their analysis of Mexican American culture and history reflected the hegemonic beliefs, values, and perceptions of their society. As outsiders, Anglo scholars were led by their own biases and viewed Mexicans as inferior, savage, unworthy and different. Because Mexican scholars had not yet begun to write about their own experiences, these stereotypes were legitimized and reproduced in the literature. However, during the mid- 1960s scholars such as Octavio Ignacio Romano, Nick Vaca, Francisco Armando Rios, and Ralph Ricatelli began to reevaluate the literature written by their predecessors. In their work they analyze

The Misfortunes of Alonso Ramírez describes the adventures of Ramírez, a poor Spanish American carpenter from Puerto Rico, who was taken captive by British pirates and was supposedly forced to work with them for two years. The book portrays Ramírez as a victim in the hands of pirates while emphasizing the graphic depictions of English pirate cruelty in order to serve Ramírez and the Mexican Viceroy’s purposes. However, through careful examination of the story, I believe that he indeed was a pirate, and will explain so in this essay by arguing four points: first, that Ramírez headed towards familiar territory due to the lack of paperwork for his belongings, second, his lack of explanation of why he did not escape whenever possible, third, his ownership of special weapons, and lastly, the use of words in his storytelling.

How can extreme suffering change a person? Going through a German concentration camp causes many people to have life changing differences in their lives. Elie Wiesel tells his personal experience of going through a concentration camp in his book Night. He shares the horrific events that he, his father, and others had to experience. After going through so much, many people do not have the same mindset as they did before. Being tortured and watching others being tortured changes a person’s life, especially Elie’s, his father’s, Moshe the Beadle’s, and Rabbi Eliahou’s.

Each every creation myth is unique in its own way. Of course, creation myths have their similarities, but each of them has at least one detail that separates them from every other myth. The question is how those similarities came about, considering for some of these groups that didn’t even know that each other existed. It would have nearly impossible and extremely unlikely for them to communicate with each other let alone, share their stories with each other. Yet, despite this there are some extremely common themes and events throughout these myths. Three of the most common creation myth motifs are, women bringing in evil and suffering, a bloody struggle or warfare, and an imperfect creator.

Heavily influenced by Max Weber, Peter Berger was interested in the meaning of social structures. Berger’s concern with the meaning societies give to the world is apparent throughout his book The Sacred Canopy (1967), in which he drew on the sociology of knowledge to explain the sociological roots of religious beliefs. His main goal is to convince readers that religion is a historical product, it is created by us and has the power to govern us.

Emmanuel Levinas was a Jewish philosopher born in Lithuania in 1906. In 1931, he moved to and lived in France for the rest of his life. He was enlisted in the war against Germany, was captured, and became a prisoner of war. At the same time, most of his family who still resided in Eastern Europe were killed in the Holocaust. In his works, Levinas attempts to disprove theodicies (371). In his essay, "Useless Suffering," Emmanuel Levinas argues that evil and suffering are in fact useless, by demonstrating that nothing, including theodicies, bring justice to the lives of the people who suffered in the Holocaust.

Arthur Schopenhauer was a 19th century German philosopher whose ideology is a prime example of philosophical pessimism. Schopenhauer was strongly influenced by Plato and Immanuel Kant, as well as by Eastern religions like Buddhism, yet he rejected the prevalent at the time post-Kantian philosophies of German idealism and optimism. He believed that humans live in a world dominated by a malignant metaphysical “will to live” which causes our lives to consist only of suffering in the form of pain and boredom. In order to at least somewhat alleviate this endless strife of life, Schopenhauer proposed the adoption of an ascetic mindset. “Studies in Pessimism” is a selection of essays from Schopenhauer’s Parerga (Greek for “Appendices”), the first

Everyone suffers. This simple fact of life has plagued humans for centuries, perplexing the wisest thinkers down to the most common among us. It demands an explanation, and history has granted us many - often in the form of religion. Buddhism revolves around the concept of suffering, attempting to explain its origin and how to break free of it. It teaches that no matter how righteous a person acts, they will always suffer until they fully achieve enlightenment.