Most of us have heard the famous hymn “Amazing Grace” by John Newton. The story behind the song is quite an extraordinary one. We are reminded that it takes time to change the world. The movie captures in a most marvelous way the triumph of human spirit over centuries old mindless mindsets. It is a…
Category: History
American Foreign Policy since the Second World War
Right through its history, America has not hesitated to use force under the pretexts of principles, sovereignty and justice. American military intervention in world affairs has risen drastically since the end of the Second World War. The period following the Second World War saw America assume the role of a superpower that headed the western…
Ethnic Groups and Discrimination
Every minority group in the United States had faced discrimination of some sort throughout their brief histories in the country. The particular ethnic group chosen for this essay is the Italian American community. The prevailing political circumstances toward the end of the nineteenth century made the Italian immigrant group more participatory in labor activities. Their…
Robespierre, The Enlightenment and the French Revolution
The direction, intent and the spirit of the revolution are amply evident in Robespierre’s address to the members of the National Assembly in 1794. The speech reveals many aspects of the revolution and it is not difficult to trace the ideas contained in it to the reformist literature of the Enlightenment period. The most striking…
British Imperialism in India
The ideological origins of the British India had a rather interesting source. Many British intellectuals of the time held the view that Indian people needed enlightenment and progress and the way to provide it would begin with colonization. Such eminent philosophers like John Stuart Mill voiced similar opinions. It was believed that, though Britain suffered…
The United States and the Six Day War
To comprehensively understand the role of the United States in the Six Day War, we need to look at the political history between the United States and Middle Eastern countries, especially Israel, in the decades leading up to the war: The U.S.-Israeli partnership is universally acknowledged as special, and for good reasons. In the economic…
The Battle of Thermopylae
Thermopylae was a pass in the mainland Greece. The access to this pass was of strategic importance to the invading forces, as it is the only major pathway to make further inroads into the mainland. The Greek forces were unsuccessful in their attempt to hold on to this pass against the invading Persian forces. The…
Theories in Mythology: Elements of Magic Realism
Gaster writes that “the mythological story presupposes activity on a level somewhat different from that of the actual and empirical. Its [. . .] characters can violate the normal laws of nature; they can change shape and sex, or traverse prodigious distances at a bound” (Sacred Narrative 129). A suitable analogy to the genre of…
Theories in Mythology: What does Dardel mean by “the myth is neither ‘true’ nor ‘false’, and always in the present, not the past” in the Sacred Narrative?
Dardel assertion that myths are neither true nor false can be explained the following way. Many mythologies are composed in the form of epic poems. And poetry hands its writer with an artistic license, and allows him to concentrate on the aesthetic aspects of the work. Inevitably, factuality becomes irrelevant in such a scenario. Hence,…
Theories in Mythology: Why is mythology so hard to define? How has your definition changed since you began to study the subject?
During the times of its conception and application, mythologies were intricately woven into the fabric of society. It is to be noted that for primitive people mythologies were the predominant source of information and entertainment. Hence, it becomes difficult to distinguish between the theoretical and practical sides of these stories. In the context of this…