Temptations Of Odysseus Essay -- essays research papers

Temptations of Odysseus   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Odysseus: a hero in every way. He is a real man, skilled in the sports, handy with a sword and spear, and a master of war strategy. Most of the challenges and adventures in his return voyage from Troy show us this even if we had no idea of his great heroic stature and accomplishments in the Trojan war. I found in my reading of the Odyssey that most of the trials the gods place upon him are readily faced with heroic means. These challenges are not necessarily welcomed by Odysseus but accepted as part of his role. He is the hero, its his lot to wield sword and shield and bravely face the next army or monster. Then we begin to see more of the challenges do not require our hero to fight his way out. These threats are the most difficult problems for Odysseus to overcome. The tests like the isle of the lotus eaters, Circe's island, and Calypso's island were the hardest challenges for Odysseus. His encounter with Polyphemus the Cyclops, the Laestrygonians, Charybdis and Scyylla, and the kingdom of the dead: these dangers were on his level, heroic battles where he could fight valiantly and if it was his fate, die valiantly. The challenges where heroic means were not a solution to overcome the danger were the most formidable tasks that could easily destroy Odysseus.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Odysseus and crew are finally on their way home after the war, after nine days on the rough sea, they arrive at the isle of the lotus eaters. The lotus eaters are a group of people who have a lot of fun, thanks to their consumption of the lotus flower. This confrontation provides Odysseus and his crew with the first of their challenges (Odyssey 9:1-103). This threat is definitely one that a heroic confrontation is unlikely. This danger is not any physical threat to him or his men. The lotus eaters create a situation where Odysseus and his crew are tempted by a gift. This gift of immediate gratification threatens to take away several their basic heroic element. By eating the lotus flower they would find immediate happiness, however they would never make it home. They would died old men on that island without their families, they would be broken in a sense. Without the memories of their homes, wives, and children they would be just a shell of who they were. Odysseus would sooner die than to never see Penelope again and be ... ...n or ever see his son. If he couldn't ever get back then there would have been no reason to ever leave. All of his heroic deed would have been in vain and no one would have even remembered him. He could not have fought the suitors and proved himself . The act of returning was always the ultimate goal for Odysseus and the temptations of happiness, beauty, immortality, and eternal youth were much harder for him to pass up every time he had to put his life on the line and fight an army or evade a monster. He could have given in to any of the temptations at any time and never had to endure the pain and strife that came from his homeward journey. Without his heroic resources to help him escape the temptations by battling his way out or using his wit to escape he holds on and endures and finally returns. Dying on the battlefield would be a fantastic ending for a hero such as Odysseus. Dying alone without a fight or giving in and living without ever returning to his home or Penelope would be a fate no hero could accept. He would have been forgotten and others would claim what was his. Odysseus does endure and returns, escaping danger and great temptation to be the hero and claim his own.

Pit Bull Law In Ontario Essay

The pit bull law is a touch and go law, it is one of those laws that doesn’t get enforced until this dog actually does something that would get it attention of the police, in which case they would take your pit bull away from you and put it down. Most people blame the bad reputation of pit bulls on bad owners, Pit bulls have been known as bad dogs since criminals started adopting them in the 70’s-80’s and using them in illegal dog fights and self defense dogs to protect drugs and money usually, pit bulls are very intimidating dogs that’s why they where chosen for all this stuff. Tons of sources and people all say that pit bulls make amazing family dogs, numerous people say that the key to a good dog is a good and loving owner, and make a great family dog that are good with kids and other animals only if trained right. The law is also hurting people too, there are a lot of pit bull breeders that are now not legally aloud to breed the only breed they know how to breed which is a violation of there rights. The government cant make you get rid of a pit bull you already own but there are very strict guidelines as to take care and keep these dogs away from society. The bill should be appealed, all dogs bite. Just these dogs need special attention just like every other dog to be a good dog. First of all the big reason why there is a ban on pit bull breeding and ownership of pit bulls is because of the bad reputation that they have accumulated over the past 40 or so years one of the first uses of the pit bull was to fight bears and bulls and stuff and people used that as entertainment, after that got banned for being rules as cruel to animals they came up with a new sport for the dogs which was to pin them up against each other in a pit for a fight to the death and people would bid money on the winners and ect†¦ the dogs where bred to kill. But it was made very illegal very fast and banned in all 52 states and Canada. That breed was very dangerous, but since the 80’s making that killer breed was illegal so that pure killing machine isn’t really around anymore but you cant take it all out of the gene, but it can be easily controlled with proper training and a loving owner. But that’s not always the case bad people do get there hands on these dogs to often and treat them with no respect, love or care and give don’t them proper obedience training. â€Å"Many of the pit bull attacks are due to a skyrocketing number of poorly bred and badly trained dogs raised by backyard breeders, who are trying to cash in on the pit bull’s growing reputation as a cheap, but deadly effective guard dog, particularly in urban areas.† This is a quote from The Houston Chronicle placing the blame almost solely on the humans. Before the 80’s pit bull attacks where almost unheard of in fact there where an American icon along with bull dogs. Pit bulls where used on military poster for the first world war and in other posters, the pit bull was in a lot of households across America. The second topic would be how this law in Ontario has affected people’s jobs in breeding. Because of the new law breeders that have perfected there breed and only have knowledge in the pit bull breed, now that that has been taken away from them it is violating there rights as people, they have been stripped of there jobs because of an unfair law that has no reason to even be a law. Ontario breeders argue the ban violates breeders’ constitutional rights. Hundreds of supporters of pit bull-type dogs gathered in front of the provincial legislature to protest. Other supporters, including the American Staffordshire Club of Canada, say that Ontario’s law is so vague and unscientific that it will affect many animals that shouldn’t be banned. In a widely reported case, Toronto police fired more than a dozen bullets into two pit bulls that had turned on the man who was walking them as a favor for a friend. In another in London, Ont., a woman and her seven-year-old son watched in horror as a pit bull latched onto her husband’s arm as he tried to keep the family puppy out of the dog’s reach. While some breeders are fighting the ban, others are leaving the province. Pit bulls aren’t really an identifiable breed, added Hillier, so the law only provides a physical description of dogs, which he said could be applied to many breeds. The vague description of pit bulls in the legislation — which speaks of broad shoulders, short hair and a wide forehead Pit bull bans are â€Å"ridiculous and cruel,† she added, and have already been lifted in other provinces, many U.S. states and countries around the world. Everyone knows it’s the deed, not the breed, that’s the problem. We know that German shepherds, we know that Labrador retrievers, we know that Chihuahuas are as capable of biting, or more capable of biting, as so-called pit bulls. What is trying to be said here is that there is no actually law on the breed of pit bulls its just a description and a very vague one at that, This law is very un organized, pit bulls are getting shipped out of Ontario and being pit down even when there not full pit bulls, they are mixes that fit the description. The original Bill 132 was passed on March 1, 2005, and received Royal Assent on March 9, 2005.The Bill prohibits individuals from owning, breeding, transferring, importing or abandoning pit bulls. Now that its 2012 the law has almost been considered being lifted completely it has in other provinces, Ontario is basically the only province that has not lifted it in Canada, and hopefully they let up soon, its unfair to all the breeders and pit bull lovers out there. In conclusion the Pit Bull has had a bad reputation since the mid 19 hundreds between the illegal dog fights and all the gangsters and terrible breeders using these dogs for attack dogs and to protect drugs, and money, and for intimidation, and ect. But truth is that killer breed has been gone for awhile now, its basically just mixes out there from bad breeders with bad owners, there is no such thing as a â€Å"bad† dog, every dog is capable of biting and being viscous, the pit bull is capable of being a good dog, pit bull owners all say, there dog is great with there kids and family and even strangers, other dogs are touchy but can be contained with proper training. Also it putting good breeders out of a job is unfair because they can be breeding great dogs not even the killer ones. It violates their rights and they have been fighting for them back since 2005. The Law is cruel and unusual and should be lifted. Work Cited 1.Arland Kent, pit bulls fighting there historical bad rep, April 2010, www.streetdirectory.com 2. Mrgrimwig, Why do pit bulls attack?, august 12, 2011, www.mrgrimwig.hubpages.com 3. Unknown, 10 common misconceptions about pit bulls. Febuary 10th, 2009, www.dogster.com 4. CBC news team, Pit bull ban begins, August 29th 2005, www.CBC.ca 5. Aaron Hall, Pitbull ban close to being lifted, February 24th 2012, www.ckdp.com

Essay on Joe Hisaishi (Mamoru Fujisawa) - 1067 Words

Biography Joe Hisaishi was born on December 6, 1950 in Nagano, Japan under the name Mamoru Fujisawa. His musical training started early on, when he began to take violin lessons at age five. It was around this time that he first discovered his passion for music. Fujisawa truly began to explore this passion in the 70’s, during which, a cultural menagerie of Japanese popular music, new-age, and early electronic music flourished. Inevitably, those genres influenced Fujisawas early compositions. (Wikipedia) Fujisawa was highly influenced by the new-wave of Japanese electronica such as the Yellow Magic Orchestra and Ryuichi Sakamoto group. It was not until 1975, that he made his first public performance, and it is not until a decade later that†¦show more content†¦(Team Ghiblink, Nausicaa.net) Afterwards, the pair would go on to produce eight more films together. (Wondercity Inc. , 2011) 2008 marked an important year for Hisaishi. In honor of his work, a concert event was produced at Nippon Budokan in Tokyo to celebrate the anniversary of 25 years of collaboration. (Dasnoy Tsong, 2013) The concert featured performances of Hisaishi’s signature Miyazaki film score compositions. Approximately 1,200 musicians and singers participated in the performance, including the 200-member New Japan Philharmonic World Dream Orchestra, 6 featured vocalists, the combined 800 members of the Ippan Koubo, Ritsuyuukai and Little Singers of Tokyo choirs, and a 160-piece marching band. Joe Hisaishi, who by this time has become an important icon to Asian music, conducted the performance from his piano as a giant screen backed the entire performance, streaming projections of correlating clips from Miyazakis films along with the music. (Team Ghiblink, GhibliWiki) In 2010, Hisaishi returned to his roots, becoming a professor at the Kunitachi College of Music to fulfill an endeavor to teach younger generations about music composition, passing on his legacy, all the while continuing his career as a composer, arranger, pianist, and conductor. (Dasnoy Tsong, 2013) Over the course of his career, spanning more than 30 years, Joe Hisaishi built a solid global fan-base, including an enthusiastic multi-generational following in China.