El Mozote massacre

The French social and political situation in the eighteenth century became the basis for Voltaire’s fruitful writing experience. Candide was a scandalous, yet exemplary, literary piece that exposed, through the use of satire, the threat philosophical doctrines presented to devoted listeners. With its abundant religious references, the philosophical tale examines whether Optimism can justify the omnipresent evil. The ambivalent meaning of the title Candide ou l’Optimisme can be explained as the…

In “El Asco” Moya tells the story of his life in El Salvador through the protagonist Vega. Throughout the book Moya uses the character of Vega to unleash his monologue. Moya uses the character of Vega to retell his cold and cruel words about El Salvador. As the book goes on the monologue becomes more intense to the point where El Salvador sounds like a truly awful place. However, Moya wrote the book to expose the harsh and complex reality of El Salvador while expressing his distaste for…

More so, the Reagan administration’s failed socio-political moves “throughout Central America led to the growing Mara Gangs in nations beyond El Salvador and Guatemala and extended to Nicaragua via the U.S.-Contra debacle” (222). Now, MS-13 is rampant across various nations and causing destruction in the United States, specifically a mass murder on Monday [4/17] on Long Island, where the bodies…

assignment, I had the chance to interview a student named Claudia Arguello. She is a freshman entering George Mason University this year. In her previous year, she was a senior at Parkview High School located in Sterling, Virginia. She was born in Apopa, El Salvador and migrated to the United States of America when she was very young. Claudia is quite family oriented and loves spending time with them whenever she has the chance to do so. Like myself, she is interested in pursuing a career in the…

The book Candide is a satire written by in the 1700s. In this novel the author, Voltaire, is satirizing enlightenment philosophers who believe that everything is good in the world, since a good God created the world. Throughout the Novel the protagonist, Candide, is faced with many challenges that work to shape his own ideology. Initially Candide is an optimistic, inexperienced and uneducated young boy but as he struggles, and experiences the worst in the world, it works against his optimism,…

El Salvador has been overran with unequal rights and violence caused by the Civil War. The 1 United States became involved in this conflict through the struggle for human rights, democracy, and equality. During the Civil War, the U.S. sent more than $4.5 billion in aid to the Salvadoran government, and trained many Salvadoran soldiers on U.S. ground. In 1977, the U.S. voiced concerns about the frequent human right violations. The Salvadoran government renounced all aid from the U.S. El Salvador…

The age of Enlightenment is an intellectual movement which began in England in the 17th century. The enlightenment focused on the power and humans rationality. It was a scientific approach to religious, social, economic, and political issues. The enlightenment was an attempt to improve humanity conditions by applying rational thoughts to natural happenings. Voltaire depicted the ideas of the Enlightenment but was satirized into his novella, Candide. Through his novella Candide, Voltaire added…

Karl Marx is well known for being one of the most influential socialist thinkers of our time. Born on May 5, 1818 in Prussia (modern day Trier, Germany), Marx grew up in a well off family with 8 siblings. His parents Heinrich and Henrietta Marx each had long lines of rabbinical Jewish ancestry. However, after an anti-Semitic law that banned Jews from higher society, the Marx’s involuntarily converted to Christianity – even though Karl Marx himself became an atheist later in life. Marx is…

My parents are from an impoverished country in Central America called El Salvador. Leaving their home has always been hard for them, but they had certain difficulties that made them unable to stay. They often told me stories of what it was like over there. They told hilarious tales about the work they did and described their home as a poor but beautiful place. Their eyes lit up whenever they told these stories and it was easy to see how much they miss it. They would describe the setting they…

Sandra Jimenez Cultural Identity Paper January 18, 2017 Communal Identity My country El Salvador has a similar culture as the other counties in Latin America, and more specifically to other countries in Central America. Mestizo culture dominates the country, influenced by culture clash of ancient Mesoamerican and medieval Iberian Peninsula. In El Salvador, the official language is Central America Spanish. Less than one percent of the population speaks the Pipil language, in places such as…