Sunday, December 29, 2019

Sin In The Kite Runner - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 2 Words: 748 Downloads: 8 Date added: 2019/06/24 Category Literature Essay Level High school Tags: The Kite Runner Essay Did you like this example? Sin is the immoral act considered to be a transgression against divine law. In The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini creates a story about Amir, a young boy from the Wazir Akbar Khan district of Kabul, whose closest friend is Hassan. Describe and analyze the development of a major theme from the Kite Runner. Sin is one of the many major themes that connects this Historical book to human experiences. Redemption is so important because sin is so enduring. The first reason to why sin is so important is because of Amir. Amir opens up the novel by telling us not about how exactly he sinned, but about sinrs endurance. Throughout the novel, God is mentioned multiple times so Hosseini could express what he feels about God through Amir. Amir said, there is only one sin, only one. And that is theft. Every other sin is a variation of theft when you kill a man, you steal a life you steal his wifers right to a husband, rob his children of a father. When you tell a lie, you steal someoners right to the truth. When you cheat, you steal the right to fairness there is no act more wretched than stealing a man who takes whatrs not his to take, be it a life or a loaf of naan I spit on such a man. And if I ever cross paths with him, God help him (Hosseini 17-18). The meaning of this quote shows Amir telling us about his father, a portrait of an immensely likable, dominant, and moral man emerges. With sin being mentioned in the quote, this also shows wha t Amir thinks and feels. He believes every other sin is a variation of theft with only one sin in the world. Later, in the quote he talks about killing. If you kill a man you would make him lose everything in life including his wife and children. Cheating is a sin and Amir believes its not fair. All of the sin mentioned in chapter 3 has to do with the 10 commandments and what God says we are not allowed to do. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Sin In The Kite Runner" essay for you Create order The second reason deals with Rahim Khan. Khan writes a letter to Amir telling him that he has been in his prayers for the passing of Baba and he expresses his feelings he had towards his father. Rahim writes, I loved him because he was my friend, but also because he was a good man, maybe even a great man. And this is what I want you to understand, that good, real good, was born out of your fatherrs remorse. Sometimes, I think everything he did, feeding the poor on the streets, building the orphanage, giving money to friends in need, it was all his way of redeeming himself. And that, I believe, is what true redemption is, Amir Jan, when guilt leads to good (Hosseini 302). Rahim Khan is also ashamed for lying to Amir for years. Baba committed sin and saw himself and guilt. Redemption is the action of saving or being saved from sin, error, or evil. Baba was remorseful and real good was born out of him. God said thou shall not commit sin, but if you redeem yourself from any wrongdoing yo u are free from evilness which is what Baba did. That is what Rahim Khan believed. He said true redemption is, Amir Jan, when guilt leads to good. At the end of the letter Rahim knows that God will forgive Baba, Amir, and himself for they have done. He hopes Amir will do the same. The final reason appears in chapter 21. In this chapter, it expresses the ten commandments. Assef said, Every sinner must be punished in a manner befitting his sin! the cleric repeated into the mike, lowering his voice, enunciating each word slowly, dramatically, And what manner of punishment, brothers and sisters, befits the adulterer? How shall we punish those who dishonor the sanctity of marriage? How shall we deal with those who spit in the face of God? Coming from Assef people should obey God and honor him. These are the ten commandments and this quote connects back to the first quote used. Not following these commandments will be the result of sin. People were gathered together to pray and carry out justice. Sin affects our human experiences because it moves us further away from God. Our human experience is the results of the mindrs interaction and communication between your physical body and the non-physical or spiritual soul.

Saturday, December 21, 2019

The Issue Of Climate Change - 1133 Words

Introduction I. There is an issue on this planet that will define this generation. The issue is climate change. Global warming. A world on the collapse as our oceans are acidified, our air polluted, our forests disappearing, and human rights issues getting worse. It seems that people are not aware of how big climate change actually is. It’s not something that only takes place on the ice caps or in the forests on the far corners of the world. This is an issue that happens here, and now. It’s real. It’s happening. II. On the bright side, there are things we can do. This issue is a result of our lack of action, our lifestyles, and our way of living. Many people want to help, but are not even sure where to begin. One-way thing that we can do is to reduce the amount of co2 in our atmosphere. There are simple changes we can make in our daily routines to get started in doing that. III. I’m going to give you some options in things that you can implement or change in your way of living that can help with the issue of climate change. These things will help cut carbon in the atmosphere. IV. As a kid I never really comprehended how vital it was to take care of this planet. As I went through many life changes I became aware of this necessity, I am currently an intern for Greenpeace and I get to passionately do something to help ensure that this planet, and the people who will come after us can thrive. (Transition: In order to do this we have to realize what it is that is actuallyShow MoreRelatedThe Issue Of Climate Change1082 Words   |  5 PagesThe issue of climate change is people that have created the most carbon dioxide have used more than their share of the atmospheric sink to become rich. The issue of solving climate change though is everyone’s business, rich and poor countries alike need to solve problems together or risk a global catastrophe. The solution should be to use a global cap and trade system per capita which would compensate poor nations for damages that rich nations would cause. Climate change has been brought about byRead MoreThe Issue Of Climate Change1564 Words   |  7 Pagesdangers to humankind due to the issue of climate change. These issues can have a long lasting effect on the world and can cause health risks for humans. Although climate change is a global issue, it doesn’t not affect each region the same. There are many ways that climate change can affect a particular region or sector. The affects could be an area having less rainfall than usual while another area could have a surprising high amount of rainfall. In addition to changes in rainfall consistency, thereRead MoreThe Issue Of Climate Change1321 Words   |  6 PagesIf one were to ever ask, â€Å"What’s the biggest issue that humanity is facing right now,† there would be one clear answer. The answer would be the issue that affects everyone in the planet, leaving no area untouched. It would be the one that is destroying the Earth’s limited resources, from remov al the green forests to the tainting of the clear skies and the crystal arctic ice. It would be the issue that’s killing wildlife, making storms more intense, heating the planet’s surface, and most importantlyRead MoreThe Issue of Climate Change732 Words   |  3 PagesAccording to Johnson (2010), the issue of climate change has been hotly debated from two main viewpoints: that global warming has resulted from human activity on the one hand; and that it is a myth resulting from flawed research and unverified scientific findings. Those who hold the former view accuse those of the latter persuasion that they are concerned more with perpetuating the fossil fuel industry than creating a safe environment for future human generations. The other side, in turn, are ofRead MoreThe Issue Of Climate Change Essay3155 Words   |  13 Pagesthe issue of climate change Climate change is an increase in the average global temperature. Natural events and human activities like driving cars, farming, burning coal and cutting down forests are contributing to the increase of the worlds temperature, primarily caused by increases in greenhouse gases like Carbon Dioxide. The more greenhouse gases we release, the faster the world s climate heats up. The greenhouse effect is when energy from the sun drives the Earth s weather and climate, heatsRead MoreThe Issue Of Climate Change Essay2043 Words   |  9 PagesThe issue of climate change is one of the most decisive matters, in determining the ecological state of the world in the foreseeable future. The fact is that the globe has been steadily increasing at an alarming rate since the industrial revolution. It is estimated that over the next eighty years, the ecosystem in which we live, will look nearly unrecognizable in a matter of decades. As the magnitude of the problem increases, we will continue to deal with devastating weather events, that will occurRead MoreThe Issue Of Global Climate Change957 Words   |  4 Pages If the issue of global climate change is not addressed properly, it will create enormous economic challenges that will create huge price tags on the global economy; that is why we ne ed to give much attention by proposing international policy because it will bolster cooperation between countries and international organizations by formulating policies for the general good of society. Climate change plays a key role in our day to day activities. The changes in climate will affect our movement, healthRead MoreClimate Change : A Global Issue1056 Words   |  5 PagesCBA Climate Change Cody McLain 1/31/17 While debate rages on regarding responsibility for past greenhouse gas emissions and how to reduce the man-made sources of those gases, the world is actually already committed to adapting to the climate changes that will continue to develop as a result of past emissions. The need to adapt is urgent. Although climate change is a global issue, it shows itself differently at the regional and local levels. Climate chage is already having concerning, and indeedRead MoreClimate Change Is Not A New Issue1552 Words   |  7 Pagesstated in the previous section, climate change is not necessarily a new issue. However it’s been receiving the spotlight lately, as it should. The issue of the â€Å"Greenhouse Effect† has been around as early as 1820’s when scientist Jean Baptiste Joseph Fourier theorized that the Earth should be colder than it is. His main idea was that the Earth technically had a blanket around it, trapping in heat and keeping us as warm as we are. Once the idea that climate change was happening was more mainstreamRead MoreThe Issue Of Global Climate Change1374 Words   |  6 PagesThe issue of global climate change is one of the most popular debates in modern day society. For decades, scientists have been battling to find the source of our global climate change. This matter brings to us whether or not humans are accelerating the process of global climate change. Scientists have provided solid evidence of global climate change by humans in multiple studies, but others believe that climate change is caused solely by nature and the naturalness of the Earth’s cycle. According

Friday, December 13, 2019

Child Marriage in India Free Essays

To be defined at length in a later section, child marriage is most simply, for our purposes, a marriage in which the wife is below the age of eighteen at the time of consummation. The practice of child marriage in rural India is deeply rooted in cultural values and grounded in social structures. And despite laws that prohibit child marriage, the practice is still extremely prevalent in many regions. We will write a custom essay sample on Child Marriage in India or any similar topic only for you Order Now Though the statistics are contentious, it is estimated that in some parts of India, like the state of Rajasthan, nearly 80 percent of the marriages are among girls under the age of fifteen† (Gupta, 2005, p. ). In India overall, roughly 47. 6 percent of girls are married by the age of eighteen (The implications of early marriage, 2004). Despite international human rights efforts, the eradication of child marriage is greatly hindered by the intertwined social issues that often lead to and are then in turn reinforced by the practice. Various underlying social factors inform why child marriage exists, including: traditional gender norms; the value of virginity and parental concerns surrounding premarital sex; pressure of marriage transactions (or dowries); and poverty (Amin, Chong, Haberland, 2007). The social outcomes of child marriage are also significant, and often devastate communities in which these practices take place. Societies in which child marriage takes place have higher rates of early childbearing, unwanted pregnancies, maternal and infant mortality, sexually transmitted diseases (including HIV/AIDS) and unsafe abortions. Additionally, adolescent girls placed in child marriages are often deprived of basic health care and health information, and achieve extremely low educational attainment (Mathur, Greene, Malhotra, 2003, p. – 11; Bruce, 2007; Amin, Chong, Haberland, 2007). Apart from these health and societal consequences, such marriages also affect girls’ individual experience as social actors. Early marriage negatively affects girls’ social networks, decision-making power, and ability to negotiate with partners—all of which do influence the health and well being of the individual (Bruce, 2007). In many ways, the social issues that emerge from the practice of child marriage also serve to reinforce it—creating a vicious cycle. This cyclical pattern is just one reason why the practice has yet to be eradicated despite international pressure and legal interventions. Each of the problems that informs child marriage intersects in complex ways and the result is an incessant and engrossing problem that impacts all aspects of the social worlds in which it takes place, from the well-being of the individual girls to the economic, political, and cultural structures of general Indian society. What is most urgent about child marriages in India, however, is the relationship between child marriage and the increasingly severe Indian HIV epidemic. The rates of HIV in India are a topic of great debate between the Indian government and both Indian and International NGOs. Yet, there is a consensus that HIV, once an urban phenomenon in India that was primarily transmitted within high-risk populations is now gaining momentum in rural areas (â€Å"Fears Over India,† 2005). These trends are alarming and suggest that the cultural contexts in which these HIV rates are climbing need to be addressed. Additionally, recent research has found links between HIV and early marriage in communities across the globe. †¦[T]he majority of sexually active girls age 15-19 in developing countries are married, and married adolescent girls tend to have higher rates of HIV infection than their sexually active, unmarried peers† (The implications of early marriage, 2004, p. 1; Clark, Bruce, Dude, 2006, p. 79). HIV/AIDS in India The Indian HIV/AIDS epidemic is relatively new, and, once limited to high-risk urban populations, HIV is rapidly emerging as a problem for general communities within Indian society (â€Å"Fears Over India,† 2005). HIV/AIDS is becoming widespread, and as it reaches new populations, it poses new problems. As child marriage is fundamentally a rural phenomenon in India, the particular plight of HIV in rural areas must be discussed. Issues like how to educate and provide treatment for people in poor, rural areas are emerging, and new cultural pockets of Indian society must be understood in order to more effectively implement these programs. Though contentious, recent figures estimate that roughly 2-3. 6 million people in India are infected with HIV. This places India third worldwide for the number of HIV cases within a country. â€Å"Overall, 0. 36% of India’s population is living with HIV. † While this may seem low, given the vast population of India, the actual number of people who are HIV-positive is remarkably high (Overview of HIV/AIDS, 2008). And in Rajasthan, the largely rural state in which the project will be conducted, it is believed that there is a prevalence of nearly 5%–extremely high for India (â€Å"AIDS in India,† n/d). Many who work in the health sector claim that they are witnessing a rapid rise in infections to new populations. Sujatha Rao, director-general of the government’s National AIDS Control Organisation, says doctors are increasingly seeing women infected by their husbands,† a population typically not targeted by reproductive health programs (â€Å"Vast Distances a Barrier,† 2008; Santhya Jejeebhoy, â€Å"Early Marriage,† 2007). There is also evidence that knowledge of HIV is extremely low in the rural areas where the study will be conducted, particularly among women. The National Family Health Survey reports that only 19% of ever-married rural Rajasthani women aged 15-49 had ever heard of AIDS, compared to 65% of their male counterpart. Aside from the gender discrepancy of knowledge across India, however, a rural/urban dichotomy was especially pronounced among women (2005-2006 National Family-Rajasthan; 2005-2006 National Family-India). This lack of knowledge unsurprisingly also appears to influence behavior. Among currently married rural women, aged 15-49, only 38% used any â€Å"modern method† of family planning, compared to 55. 8% of their urban counterparts. More importantly, only 3. 1% of married rural women have used a condom (the only method in the analysis that would protect against HIV), compared to 13. 3% of urban married women. Furthermore, only 14. % of ever-married rural women (ages 15-49) knew that consistent condom use can reduce the changes of HIV/AIDS, in comparison to 61. 6% of their urban counterparts (2005-2006 National Family-Rajasthan; 2005-2006 National Family-India). A recent New York Times article reports that the rural problem of HIV is made more pronounced by the difficulties that HIV-positive people in rural communities face when attempting to get tested and treated. Many patients travel long distances each month to receive government-sponsored antiretrovirals, but the cost and time required for such a journey is difficult for many to achieve. In consequence, many patients simply give up on treatment, â€Å"an anathema in HIV therapy as it gives rise to drug resistance. † One doctor notes, â€Å"Travel can affect drug compliance. Patients who don’t get family support, women who may not like to travel along will just give up† (â€Å"Vast Distances a Barrier,† 2008). Child Marriage For the purposes of our discussion, child marriage is identified as a marriage that takes place before â€Å"exact age 18†Ã¢â‚¬â€a definition adhered to by UNICEF and other international organizations (Bruce, 2007). This definition is at odds with the definition provided by India’s recent Prevention of Child Marriage Bill, which states that a â€Å"†¦Ã¢â‚¬â„¢child’ [is] a person who, if a male, has not completed twenty-one years of age, and if a female, has not complete eighteen years of age† (The Prevention of Child Marriage Bill, 2004). While this discrepancy will be analyzed further below, given that eighteen is largely considered the age of consent, it is this standard to which our definition will be held. It should be noted that the betrothal of a marriage can happen at any time, and often will occur at birth. But that marriage is not defined as a child marriage unless the wife is given to her spousal family, and the marriage is consummated, before she reaches the age of eighteen. Furthermore, as most child marriages take place among girls who are minors, with male partners who are of age, whenever the term â€Å"child marriage† is used in this project, it is referring to a marriage that involves a female child. Child marriage has not been ignored by Indian or international policymakers, yet enforcement of these laws has been virtually impossible. The Indian government is often portrayed as uncomfortable when dealing with personal laws within distinct communities that are not derived from grassroots movements (Burns, 1998; Yadav, 2006, p. 7). Despite this, laws have been on the books for over a decade. In 1994, a Marriage Bill was introduced which â€Å"recommended†¦the enactment of a uniform law relating to marriages and [provided] for the compulsory registration of marriages, with the aim of preventing child marriages and also polygamy in society. † Yet, this law did not pass and in Rajasthan, to this day, there is no compulsory marriage registration (Yadav, 2006, p. 0). This legislation has been preceded by various attempts to limit the practice and legislate the age at which girls are married. In the 1880s, discussions of the first Age of Consent Bill began, and finally, in 1927, it was declared that marriages with a girl under twelve would be invalid. In 1929, India began to prohibit the practice of all child marriage by instituting the Child Marriage Restraint Act. In 1978, the Child Marriage Restraint Act was amended to â€Å"prescribe eighteen and twenty-one years as the age of marriage for a girl and boy respectively† (Yadav, 2006, p. 7). Due to the illegality of child marriage, the number of girls who are put into child marriage in Rajasthan is extremely difficult to know. And particularly due to differing definition employed by researches, no consensus yet exists among those who have tried to obtain a number. Researchers claim that, in Rajasthan, the number of girls married off before age eighteen is somewhere between 55. 5% and 80% and other researchers estimate that roughly 56% of Rajasthani marriages occur with girls under the age of fifteen (Yadav, 2006, pl. 10; Burns, 1998). Therefore, there is overwhelming evidence that child marriage is occurring in Rajasthan in large numbers, despite the laws against it. Why is child marriage occurring? What social, cultural, and economic contexts inform the persistence of this practice? Some assert that Rajasthani people either do not understand the law or simply ignore it (Yadav, 2006, p. 37). In a New York Times article outlining the practice of child marriage in Rajasthan, it was stated that â€Å"Each year, formal warnings are posted outside state government offices stating that child marriages are illegal, but they have little impact. In a discussion with a village elder in Rajasthan, the elder stated, â€Å"Of course, we know that marrying children is against the law, but it’s only a paper law† (Burns, 1998). Therefore, he suggests that the law is perceived as unimportant, allowing families to simply ignore it, and often without penalty. Additionally, cultural and social contexts still highly value this practice and Indian families often turn to child marriage to help cope with social conditions in disrepair. To approach this, I will first discuss the gender norms in India. How are women perceived? What are the practical implications of these norms? Secondly, I will discuss the value placed on virginity and understandings of premarital sex. Thirdly, I will discuss the economic factors that continue to promote the practice. And finally, I will briefly discuss the major consequences of child marriage, which will move us into a discussion of the links between child marriage and HIV. Child marriage is deeply embedded in ideals about the role of women and the status of girls in Indian culture (Gupta, 2005, p. 3). Understandings of the Indian family and a wife’s role more generally give huge amounts of insight to the status of women. Within the context of a patrilocal family ideology, girls are â€Å"reared to be obedient, selfsacrificing, modest, nurturant, hardworking and home loving. † In an interview with Seymour in the 1960s, â€Å"†¦one Indian gentleman expressed†¦, ‘American girls are given too much independence. A girl should marry young, before she has the chance to develop independent ideals. † By marrying girls young (and enhancing the disparity between her and her husband’s age), the male-based hierarchy is best preserved (Seymour, 1999, p. 55). Males are quite simply valued more in Indian families. They act as the head of the household, the breadwinners and the decision makers. These values are imbued from an early age and as the transition to adulthood is marked with marriage, these gender norms become particularly pronounced (Segal, 1999, p. 216; Gupta, 2005, p. 1; Yadav, 2006, p. 1; Seymour, 1999, p. 97). A woman’s primary role in the home is to produce sons, as this will bring honor to her family, and an heir for her husband. â€Å"In a society that stresses patrilineal descent, to bear children, especially sons, is critical, and girls learn from an early age that this is their responsibility† (Seymour, 1999, p. 7). Motherhood is additionally critical in order to establish the wife as a member of her husband’s family. As Indian families take collective care of children, producing a new family member is heavily prized and brings the newlywed status (Seymour, 1999, p. 99). How do women feel about their status and role in society? Seymour writes that, â€Å"Women are the moving pieces in an exchange system that creates extensive webs of kinship. Is this a hardship for them? Yes, for they must leave the security of their own family and join a different family. Do they find it oppressive? Sometimes, but not generally† (Seymour, 1999, p. xvi). Though others argue that â€Å"cultural dictation of female role and lack of continued financial and emotional support, predominantly from spouses and other family members, were influential factors in [high rates of depression among women]† (Jambunathan, 1992). The low value of girls is also reflected in traditions of female infanticide and abortions of female children and research that shows that women are by and large â€Å"neglected† by Indian society, resulting in poor health care and a high number of preventable deaths (Miller, 1981, p. 8; Segal, 1999, p. 218-220). In one survey, 52% of Indians said that they would get a prenatal diagnosis to select a male, as opposed to 30% who would in Brazil, 29% in Greece and 20% in Turkey (Segal, 1999, p. 219). These patterns have resulted in a worsening sex ratio in Rajasthan. It is estimated that between 750 to 850 girls are born per 1000 boys, a problem that not only reinforces these negative ideals about gender, but also could potentially be devastating to the longevity of Indian communities (Indian Census, 2001; Kristof, 1991). An Indian obstetrician interviewed for The Hindu stated that these days, it is extremely rare to see a family with two daughters, and some families do not even have one. In communities like Rajasthan, â€Å"people want to pretend they are modern and that they do not discriminate between a girl and a boy. Yet, they will not hesitate to quietly go to the next village and get an ultrasound done† (Thapar, 2007). And in a statement by UNICEF, the organization â€Å"†¦[says] that for most of the female fetuses that survive, ‘birth is the only equal opportunity they will ever get’† (Segal, 1999, p. 20). Additionally, child marriage is greatly informed by ideals of virginity—a cultural notion that has huge impacts on the intersections between HIV/AIDS and child marriage. â€Å"An unmarried, chaste girl symbolizes family honor and purity and is considered a sacred gift to bestow upon another family† (Seymour, 1999, p. 55). To exacerbate the outcome of these ideals, myths supposedly abound that men can be cured of various diseases, including gonorrhea, mental illness, syphilis and HIV by having sex with a â€Å"fresh† girl, a virgin. Bhat, Send, Pradhan, 2005, p. 17; Burns, 1998) But as much as cultural ideals are echoed in the practice, â€Å"tradition has been reinforced by necessity† (Burns, 1998). Poverty is often cited as one of the major factors contributing to child marriage (Bhat, Sen, Pradhan, 2005, p. 15). â€Å"Child marriage is more prevalent in poor household and in poor communities. Almost all countries in which more than 50 percent of girls are married before the age of 18 have GDP per capita under $2000 per year† (Gupta, 2005, p. 3). For families in poverty, marrying a daughter early can mean lower dowry payments and one less mouth to feed (Bhat, Sen, Pradhan, 2005, p. 16). â€Å"An investment in girls is seen as a lost investment because the girl leaves to join another home and her economic contributions are to that home—so the earlier she is married, the less of a loss the investment† (Gupta, 2005, p. 3). What is devastating about the child marriage problem, beyond the human rights abuses, is the way in which it impacts both the individual and the community and the manner in which the practice reinforces itself. Impoverished parents often believe that child marriage will protect their daughters. In fact, however, it results in lost development opportunities, limited life options, and poor health† (Child marriage fact sheet, 2005). Child marriage continues to be immersed in a vicious cycle of poverty, low educational attainment, high incidences of disease, poor sex ratios, the subordination of women, â€Å"and most significantly, the inter-generational cycles of all of these† (Bhat, Sen, Pradhan, 2005, p. 21; Gupta, p. 1-2). How to cite Child Marriage in India, Essay examples