Snow Flower and the Secret Fan Essay Example for Free

Snow Flower and the Secret Fan Essay Laotong: type of relationship within the Chinese culture that bonded two girls together for eternity as kindred sisters. Lisa See’s novel, â€Å"Snow Flower and the Secret Fan†, takes us through the journey of 19th- century Chine in which girls had their feet found, meaning crushing their bones to the size of lily flowers. This ritual was considered beauty for a women and a thrilling sensation for men to look at. Staring the binding at the age of six and excruciating painful process that took two years to complete, Lily tells her story as an eighty year old woman. Lily was the second daughter to a poor farming family, but later encounters the privilege to be married out to a wealthy family in the village of Tongkou. Lily was married out to a wealthy noble man, whom she might have loved. But Lily had no bigger love other than her laotong, sworn sister, Snow Flower. The two were matched together at the age of seven, when together they promised each other, through a contract that they would always be laotong. Both endured the agony of footbinding, married out and shared their most inner thoughts and loving ways of motherhood. Lisa See writes delicately, telling the life of these two remarkable girls on their journey to pleasing their husbands, and mother in laws. Love and Friendship keep Snow Flower’s and Lily’s spirits alive when they are not together. Once married out, they didn’t see each other as often as they would have loved to, but their thoughts were jotted down in a silk fan, which included their whole journey together written in nu shu-secret writing for women. Lily and Snow Flower become â€Å"old same†, perfect match. Even though Snow Flower came from a higher family , Snow Flower was married out to a butcher, her first son was weak, and her second passed away. Her husband beats her and her mother in law was cruel. Hoping sympathy from her laotong, Snow Flower gets criticism and â€Å"just keep trying† in return. As Snow Flower arouses new friends, Lily finds this as betrayal; therefore Lily stops any communication with Snow Flower, leaving her devastated, and empty. Even though Lily and Snow Flower experienced happiness, tragedies, and different events, Lily felt betrayed by her laotong so Lily keeps her distance and stops writing back. As Snow Flower’s death approaches Lily goes to Snow Flower and rejoins her, later discovering that Snow Flower did not become a sworn sister, like Lily thought, therefore there was no betrayal. As and eighty year old, Lily remembers Snow Flower. Trying to condemn her mistake Lily watches over Snow Flower’s children, as much as she can like she promised Snow Flower on her death bed. Lily calls out to Snow Flower even after she is dead. â€Å"But if the dead continue to have the needs and desire of the living, then I’m reaching out to Snow Flower†¦. Please hear my words. Please forgive me. † Snow Flower and the Secret Fan keeps the story plot alive, maintaining the theme of love and friendship, always feeling like you are reading Lily’s personal diary. Reading Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, Lisa See does a remarkable job of taking you back in time to your childhood friends. I wonder if Lisa See wrote Snow Flower and the Secret Fan thinking of a close friend as well. Also, I would have loved if somewhere in the book, an entry or a piece of writing from Snow Flower was discovered so we can learn more about her own inner thoughts. In my opinion, this book is full of perfection. Throughout the book I recalled my sister. The bond that we share was very similar to the one of these â€Å"mandarin ducks†. What if Snow Flower’s father had not taken the pipe? Would she and Lily still be matched as soul sisters? Lisa See’s style of writing is a master piece in this book. Like The Washington Post Book World reviewed, â€Å" A triumph on every level, a beautiful, heartbreaking story. Snow Flower and the Secret Fan fascinated me. I recommend this book for the soul that understands what it feels like to love someone as much as you love yourself. Filled with different emotions that make you feel and experience the different obstacles that are brought upon Lily and Snow Flower. It is defiantly a love story. However, it is more than that. It involves friendship, kindness, understanding, and tragedy all in one read. â€Å"Snow Flower and the Secret Fan is fascinating. †- The Indianapolis Star.

Privatization Essay -- Government Businesses Papers

Privatization Privatizing services is a more attractive option for most local governments and is widely practiced around the state. There are certain government services in which it is impractical to create a free competitive market. For others, it is almost impossible to predict the potential success or failure of privatization. These unclear predictions make privatization a very complicated issue for local governments. The combination of rapidly rising service costs and slowly increasing revenues has led officials in some cities and counties to use non-traditional income services to fund government options. Throughout the mid 1980's state and local governments continue to be in trouble because of the rapid increase in the demand for services they provide along with an increasing resistance on the part of their citizens to raising taxes in order to provide those services. Privitization is an outsourcing of functions to private companies that the financial burdern of providing these services shifts from the taxpayers at large to the individual consumers. Doing away with government services at the local level is almost impossible. Elected officials are often resistant to vote to cut services. The elected officials are usually familiar with the people who might be negatively impacted by such an action. Citizens usually do not want to do away with local government services because they view services such as water/sewer, fire , police and recreation as being life sustaining. Citizens feel that services can't be provided adequately by state or federal governments, and would like to keep services at the local level. A factor to keep in mind when looking at the potentials and downfalls of privatization is the private... ...ion/BURZASH.htm. Privatization on the Roll, says RPPI http://www.reason.org/apr98central.html The Opportunities and Challenges of Privatization http://www.doe.gov/privatization/report/chapt-3.htm The Opportunities and Challenges of Privatization http://www.doe.gov/privatization/report/chapt-4.htm The Legal and Political Enviornment of Privatization http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/pgem/ch1c.html ASCH, Peter, and Sececa, Rosalind S. Government and the Marketplace 2nd Edition. The Dryden Press, a division of Holt, Rinehart and Winston, Inc., 1989 Weicher, John Private Innovations In Public Transit. Washington, D.C.: American Enterprise Institute for Public policy Research, 1988 Krikorian, Greg and Riccardi, Nicholas Board Votes to Test Privatizing Child Support System. Los Angeles Times, November 11, 1988.

Fukushima Informative Speech

Purpose: To inform the audience about the heroic actions of the Fukushima Daiichi cleanup workers. Thesis: The Fukushima Daiichi cleanup workers are incredibly brave. Introduction: The Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster was the largest nuclear disaster since Chernobyl. It measured 7 on the Nuclear Event Scale, which is the highest rating. The Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster was initiated by a magnitude 9 earthquake. This earthquake caused a tsunami with waves reaching up to 133 feet to crash on the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant. This caused major damage to the nuclear plant. Workers were needed to keep this already terrible incident from escalading. The Fukushima Daiichi cleanup workers are incredibly brave. Today, I would like to tell you about the bravery of the Fukushima 50, the Skilled Veterans Corps, and the Fukushima Firefighters. Body: 1)The Fukushima 50 are a group of 50 workers who remained to clean up the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant a. The name â€Å"Fukushima 50† was created by the media honoring these workers i. It was an endearing name given to these brave men who stayed behind to defuse the nuclear meltdown. II. These men knew the dangers, but they stayed in order to protect the public from this nuclear disaster. iii. One unnamed man said, â€Å"We felt like members of the Tokkotai. † (BBC) b. The Fukushima 50 inspired bravery in other people as well i. Days after these brave workers volunteered, nearby companies sent in more volunteers to help the Fukushima 50. ii. Companies such as Toshiba, Hitachi, Yokohama, Kawasaki, and many others sent in teams of volunteers to help out 1. These workers did jobs such as spraying water to cool the reactor cores, decontamination, installing water pumps and many other crucial jobs. ii. The combined effort of all these workers helped the situation from getting worse and protected the public from the radiation Transition 1: The efforts of the Fukushima 50 inspired a group of Japanese’s seniors dubbed the suicide corps to volunteer. 2)The group of Japanese seniors called the Skilled Veterans Corps decided to volunteer in an effort to replac e some of the younger workers a. The Skilled Veterans Corps is a group of 250 people over the age of 60 who are willing to volunteer. i. Their idea simple, since they are old, they will not live to see the harmful long-term effects of the radiation. They want to work instead of the younger generation to prevent them from being exposed to these high levels of radiation. b. The media starting calling these men the suicide corps but they reject this nickname and prefer to go by The Skilled Veteran Corps. i. The name â€Å"Suicide Corps† is a play on the Kamikazes from World War II however, they say it is not suicide since they will not live to see the effects of the radiation. ii. Yasuteru Yamada, a member of the Skilled Veterans Corps, said to CNN, â€Å"We have to work instead of them; Elders have less sensitivity to radiation. (CNN) iii. These members of the Skilled Veterans Corps are brave and selfless. Transition 2: The Skilled Veterans Corps were brave and selfless and the Fukushima firefighters shared these attributes. 3)The Fukushima Firefighters are the brave men who helped defuse the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster. a. Fresh water was a key necessity to cool down the nuclear reactor cores. i. Without fresh water, the core would overheat and explode causing more damage and spread the radiation further. ii. Tokyo fire departments elite Hyper Rescue Squad was specially trained for situations like this. 1. These firefighters braved the radiation in order to help cool down the cores b. The members of the Hyper Rescue Squad had to leave there family’s behind in order to combat the nuclear disaster. i. Yasuhiro Ishii’s, a member of the Hyper Rescue Squad, wife asked him if he really had to go to Fukushima and begged him not too. ii. However Ishii said, â€Å"†Normally, a mission involves saving a limited number of people, but this was something much bigger. It involved not only the helping the entire nation but also future generations. I had to go. † (Telegraph UK) Conclusion: Today I have spoken to you all about bravery of the Fukushima 50, the Skilled Veterans Corps, and the Fukushima Firefighters. These Brave men have risked it all in order to clean up and decontaminate the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Disaster. They did this so that the public would be saved from the radiation and so that future generations would not have to bear he harmful effects of radiations. These men deserve our respect and graditude

The 6 dimensions of Religion - 2472 Words

1. Ninian Smart has established 6 dimensions or structures in a way to find a common ground between all world religions. These are classified into the thought, mind, dimensions which are the experiential, mythical, and doctrinal dimension, and then the multi-sensory dimensions which are the ritual, ethical and social dimensions. The experiential dimension is the religious experience. People come to know their religion, their God or the ultimate reality through experience. According to Smart, there are different types of religious experience. The numinous experience is having God or the subject as holy and very other than our human condition. On the other side, the mystical experience is having the subject be inside the object, the inner†¦show more content†¦It can also be internal expression which is done very much in Buddhism and Hinduism with meditation and personal connection with the Buddha, and the separation from the earth to find the ultimate truth. The Ethical dimension is mainly about the customs and morals in a religion. Religion has a way of telling its people how to live a good life to attain the ultimate goal. Ethics is shaped by customs and cultures but there are some common ethical problems and responses that are common in the world. Religious ethics are actions towards the God or ultimate reality which accepts moral truth. In the view of economic justice and the critique of materialism each religion may have their own ethics. Buddhism and Christianity find a middle way between what is needed and what is enough with what one should have. The Muslims say that what is equitable is not equal and Hinduism says everything is due to karma. Buddhism states that wealth is not the answer and one should find a mid-way between self indulgence and self devotion. Daoism says to go with the how and the restraints. The Social dimension deals with society and to what extent religion reflects or creates society. Most religions rise out of chaos and chaotic times through a founder which then establishes laws which are then preserved and a polarity is created through time, the division of ideas when finally after time there is a call to return to tradition. The power religionShow MoreRelatedThe Search For God, Ancient Egypt, By Jan Assmann1016 Words   |  5 Pagesspecific practices and technical beliefs of Egyptian religion, though the latter is also heavily discussed to better elaborate on the former’s context. The first chapter â€Å"Religion: Divine Presence and Transcendence† establishes the topic of this book, summarizing the theme of ‘divine presence’ and the concept of a single god and multiple gods (essentially monotheism vs polytheism). 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