1/25/2020 0 Comments Geography of Time EssayThe seventh chapter “Health, Wealth, Happiness and Charity†discusses why some places are faster than others, what countries are more ready to help unknown people in need, etc. The question is where people are healthier, happier and more charitable. The author starts his research from assuming that slower people are healthier than faster. When people work harder and have less leisure they may be more subjected to health and psychological problems in contrast to people who relax more. It is argued that social well-being of community is also involved. The author says that the heart patients in waiting rooms seem to be tenser than others. Moreover, some people are constantly living self-imposed mindset of chronic tension. It means that some people tend to create problems when they are not present and feel depressed trying to solve them. It is also found that people suffering from coronary disease are characterized by time urgency, hostility and competitiveness. Therefore, faster place are characterized by increased death rates and heart attacks. The study examined 31 different countries and 36 cities in the United States. The results show that there is a strong correlation between pace of life and heart disease. Further, the author described a paradox. He writes that “people in faster places are more prone to suffer coronary heart disease, but they are also more likely to be happier with their livesâ€. (p. 158) Divorce rates are higher in individualistic nations, but marital satisfaction is high as well. Pace of life is claimed to have important implications for the way people are ready to take care of other people, strangers, etc. People in fast cities are less likely to help strangers in need. Moreover, people in fast cities prove to be less civilian than people in slower cities. The author concludes that fast pace of life makes people capable to find time for others. Despite less free time for relaxing and leisure fast citizens try to find time to devote to families and to help others. The eights chapter “Japan’s Contradiction†analyzes relations between coronary disease rates and a rapid pace of life in Japan. Japanese lifestyle is defined as workaholism as Japanese people have the longest working day and have the least time to relax. Japanese pace of life is the most demanding on the earth and Japanese workers work quickly and they work a lot. Japanese people have fewer vacations and they tend to avoid dread retirement. The highest reward in Japan is to be allowed to work after retirement age. Japanese workers are not bothering about Blue Mondays and, therefore, they are more likely to have psychological problems and to be inflicted afflicted with ‘Sunday Disease’. The author writes that “the magnitude of Japanese dedication to work can be dazzlingâ€. (p. 170) Nowadays government is even trying to make people work less and to have more time for leisure. Government policy aims at making people slow down. Further, the author explains: “For the nations’ domestic market t pick up, which the government says it must, a rise in consumer spending is a mustâ€. (p. 170) It means that leisure for Japanese workers will be a must. The notorious Japanese aversion is challenging by requirement to take vacations. Government tries to encourage vacations by claiming that taking a vacation is a sign of competence. Nevertheless, workaholism remains Japanese way of life, but the problem is that workaholism is correlated with psychological disorders and increased coronary disease rates. Nevertheless, statistics shows that death from coronary disease is rare case in the country. Cultural values of the country are centered on welfare of the collective as people are devoted to community. Japanese workers aren’t characterized by competitive hostility and anger. Therefore, the author concludes that in contrast to the United States in Japan there are little relations between fast pace of life and coronary disease rates. Time urgency doesn’t contribute to heart attacks and coronary disease.
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Husain Haddawy’s The Arabian Nights and Zora Neale Hurston’s Mules and Men - Revealing the Conflicts, Desires and Dreams of the Collector
"For the translator, who stands astride two cultures, possesses two different sensibilities, and assumes a double identity" —Husain Haddawy Magic, love, sex, war, gods, spells. These are all common ingredients in the folktales of almost every culture. Many people say that folktales are windows to cultures. That might be so. Often readers do not realize, though, that folktales also reflect aspects of the collectors. Zora Neale Hurston’s Mules and Men and Husain Haddawy’s The Arabian Nights, in addition to offering insight into southern African-American culture and Arabic culture, reveal the collectors to the audience; the collectors’ desire to reconcile with their past, to be accepted by their reader as legitimate representatives of that culture whether by being an insider or both insider and outsider to the culture, and to be heroic cultural interpreters with the goal of educating and informing the reader. There are many reasons and motivations behind Hurston’s compilation of African-American folktales, but one that is often overlooked is her personal need to reconcile her intellectual, White, Barnard-educated life with her traditional roots in Eatonville, Florida. In her introduction Hurston writes: From the earliest rocking of my cradle, I had known about the capers Brer Rabbit is apt to cut and what the Squinch Owl says from the house top. But it was fitting me like a tight chemise. I couldn’t see it for wearing it. It was only when I was off in college, away from my native surroundings, that I could see myself like somebody else and stand off and look at my garment. Then ... ...nd the present culture of the audience, which they intended to reach. Haddawy and Hurston sought acceptance from the reader and thus emphasized the legitimacy of their works whether by establishing themselves as an insider or as both an insider and outsider to their respective cultures. Moreover, by proving the ‘superior’ authenticity of their works in comparison to previous works, they offer themselves as ‘heroes,’bringing forth insights of the culture of their youth to the reader. Indeed, The Arabian Nights and Mules and Men are not only collections of magical folktales: They reveal the inner conflicts, desires and dreams of the translator and collector themselves. Works Cited 1) Zora Neale Hurston, Mules and Men (New York: Harper Perennial, 1990). 2) Husain Haddawy, The Arabian Nights, trans. Husain Haddawy, ed. Muhsin Mahdi (New York: Norton, 1990). |