Pokémon

Intro In 1522, the Aztecs was a Mesoamerican civilisation at the height of its power, atop its pedestal conquering neighbouring territories back and forth. A far cry from the downfall they would experience soon after. Despite the fact that they were at the height of their power, more than a few factors were already leading to the culmination of their demise even before the arrival of the Spanish conquistadors. The ever so-popular ‘tradition’ of human sacrifice with Mesoamerican civilizations due…

Latin America is an area on the map that is denoted as the countries that speak Spanish and Portuguese within the Americas. This area encloses 20 states starting from the border of North America to the end of South America. This region was first known as the home of a group of people who had one of the most advanced civilizations, the Aztecs, Incas and Mayans. This was before the arrival of the Europeans during the end of the 15th and peak of the 16th centuries. There were many vital events…

In the religious context, there are two different views of the ‘other’. According to Todorov, Catholics, “regard the Indians as their equal, hence as like themselves, and try to assimilate them, to identify them with themselves,” while Protestants, “emphasize the differences and isolate their community from that of the natives, when they find themselves in contact.” He concludes by stating, “In both cases, the other’s identity is denied: either on the level of existence, as in the case of the…

In this essay I will explore structuralism and evaluate the usefulness of the theory. I will look at examples of Structuralism in ethnography, such as observable binary oppositions and interpretations of the importance of myth, also exploring criticisms of the theory. I will explore the claim that Structuralism is too theory-based and cannot account for the experience of the individual, and whether this means that Structuralism can be relied on to inform us about human life from an…

The New World had many encounters, but two remarkable interactions with natives and explorers are that of Christopher Columbus and Hernando Cortes. Christopher Columbus was on orders from the King of Spain to travel a new route to find India and introduce them to a new religion. In 1492, Columbus reached what he thought was India; however, he was mistaken so now it is known as the West Indies because of this belief. At the beginning of the 16th century, Cortes set sail for Meso-America also for…

Lord Alfred Tennyson’s Idylls of the King was written in Victorian England and the latest version was published in 1885, though the actual writing process covered a span of almost 50 years. Tennyson bases the series of poems comprising the Idylls on the European myth of King Arthur and the court of Camelot and various other adaptations of that legend. The evolution of Tennyson’s female characters to their final stages underscores an undermining of traditional Victorian gender roles by…

Idylls of the King, written by Alfred Lord, Tennyson, is a poem about King Arthur’s knights and his kingdom succumbing to corruption. It is also a tale that elaborates on the famous love triangle blossoming between King Arthur, Guinevere, and Sir Lancelot. Lord, Tennyson wrote his widely famous poem as a social commentary of the industrialized Victorian era and its supposed corruptness versus a time of no industrialization. Alfred Lord, Tennyson uses the power of motifs to describe the immoral…

Though The Pearl (by Steinbeck) is, on the surface, viewed as a prejudice and sexist book, there are different ways it can be read and interpreted. It is the story of a pear diver named Kino, and it demonstrates how mans’ nature can make him evil and greedy. The book sets general gender roles for the characters depicted. It also shows the function of the social class of the time. Even still, The Pearl shows that women are smart and strong when it comes to protecting the family. The Pearl is a…

One day Kino, a poor fisherman, finds “the greatest pearl in the world” (Steinbeck 10). Consequently, this event sets up a major conflict in the novella, The Pearl, by John Steinbeck. Kino, a poor fisherman, Juana, his wife, and Coyotito, their baby, live in a hut in a city called La Paz located in the Gulf of Mexico. During the novella, Coyotito is stung by a scorpion, causing multiple conflicts. The next day Kino goes fishing and finds a pearl that forever changes him and his family’s life. As…

As conqueror of the Aztec Empire in Mexico, explorer of Guatemala and Honduras, and leader of the first expeditions to California, Spanish conquistador Hernando Cortés contributed significantly to the establishment of European domination in America. More particularly we see his contribution to Spanish prominence in both Central and South America. His conquests helped shape the origins and history of the southwestern United States and Mexico. Spaniards initially occupied the New World in order to…