Compair Voyages by Chinese Fleet in Early 1400s to Voyages of Lberians Free Essays

Cody Gundick History Oct 8, 2012 History Essay For the majority of the last a few thousand years, it would have appeared to be far likelier that Chinese or Indians, not Europeans, would overwhelm the world continuously 2000, and that America and Australia would be settled by Chinese instead of by the occupants of a regressive island called Britain. (The Prequel, Kristof p552) The journeys by the Chinese armada were totally different yet had a few similitudes to the journeys of the Liberians. The Portuguese and Spaniards had various objectives, in view of their legacy, in the journeys. We will compose a custom article test on Compair Voyages by Chinese Fleet in Early 1400s to Voyages of Lberians or on the other hand any comparable point just for you Request Now Contingent upon what Spanish journey it was the commander of the journeys were extraordinary however here and there comparable somehow or another. The Chinese were unmistakably further developed in innovation that the Spaniards or the Portuguese were. Westerners frequently property their monetary bit of leeway today to the insight, popularity based propensities, or hard expression of their ancestors, yet an increasingly significant explanation may well have been the habit of fifteenth-century Chinese rulers. (The Prequel, Kristof p. 553) Zheng He was a muslin from an agitator family and had seized by the Chinese armed force when he was a kid. The defining moment during the 1400s was when Admiral Zheng He cruised from China to agree the world on a few journeys. One skipper like Zheng He was Vasco da Gama. In 1497 the Portuguese sailor drove an armada of for ships around the southern tip of Africa into the Indian Ocean. He sort of duplicated off of Bartolomeu Dias however Vasco da Gama didn’t return back to Portugal. Both of those men worked for their lord while Zheng He did it for himself. Not to be childish, he didn’t keep all the information he got for himself he just went on the undertakings and didn’t need to take orders from anybody. Vasco da Gama was attempting to offer wealth to his ruler yet he bombed when none of his useless blessings were fruitful. In any case, his journeys were about exchange defeats. They were searching for another approach to get to Europe as opposed to taking the tricky path over the land. ZHeng He was not intrigued by profession defeats nor with Europe by any means. Another chief that needs to take orders from a ruler is Christopher Columbus. He was an Italian mariner from Genoa. He attempted to cruise west to Asia yet the same number of individuals know today that is unthinkable. Columbus arrived at the Caribbean islands thinking he was by China and Japan. Zheng He would likely giggle in Columbus’s face if Christopher came up to Zheng and requested that he support his journeys. First Columbus named the islands after his lord and sovereign then he meandered around searching for huge urban areas. He was extraordinarily intrigued by the individuals and needed to gain proficiency with their discourse and ways. Zheng He would have appeared at the island, took one pioneer and some fascinating things back home and attempt to find out about it from that point. On the off chance that Columbus had as much influence, cash, and innovation as Zheng He there journeys wouldn’t have been vastly different. The objectives of the Spaniards were far not the same as those of Zheng He. As I said before Zheng He was not worried in spreading his religions, customs, or innovations. He simply needed to find out about the world in his own particular manner. Truly he had a ton of troopers yet he didn’t catch and agree land with them. He simply ravaged the terrains for information and things. A far various chief from Zheng He was Hernan Cortes. Cortes, of minor honorable drop, at nineteen years old cruised to the Indies, where he set up a major bequest on the island of Hispaniola. At the point when he heard accounts of Montezuma’s gold he was resolved to take it from him. (The Conquest of New Spain, Bernal Diaz p598) Unlike Columbus and Zheng He, Cortes prepared for war. He brought 500 fighters, eleven boats, 16 ponies, and a few bits of big guns. (The Conquest of New Spain, Bernal Diaz p598) Cortes despite everything needed to adhere to the standards of his pioneer yet he later resisted him and turned into a needed man back as his nation. Cortes was not keen on exchange or financial issues to better his nation of origin. He was resolved to have everything for him self and to attempt spread Christianity to satisfy the lord. That likewise accompanies attempting to in slave the entirety of the Indians. That he did after he utilized his splendid technique to execute Montezuma and assume control over the city. The main thing that Zheng He did seriously for himself was the point at which he needed to receive things that he didn't have anything to give consequently alongside Peaceful force projection. It was that Zheng He vowed to align with the individuals that gave him what he needed. The Spaniards did awful things to the Indians. The took newborn children from their moms bosom, grabbing fix by the legs and pitching them recklessly against the banks or grabbed them by the arms and tossed them into the streams, thundering with giggling and saying as the infants fell into the water, Boil there you posterity of the fallen angel. (The Devastation of the Indies, Bartolome De Las Casas p615) If Zheng He had that sort of demeanor of catch and agree he could have handily done it. Be that as it may, thank god he didn’t. Zheng He, as I would see it, could do anything he needed. China was the universes powerhouse and I wish Zheng He went to the Indians before the Spaniards to give them Peaceful Power Projection since he could have aligned with them and gave them security from the underhanded savage Spaniards. Despite the fact that he was behind in time China was unquestionably further developed than some other nation. In Zheng He’s time, China and India together represented the greater part of the world’s net national produce. (The Prequel, Kristof p553) As they have for the majority of history. In 1820 China represented 29% of the worldwide economy and India another 16%, as indicated by the figurings of Angus Maddison, a main British monetary history specialist. Zheng He’s armada was far greater than any Spanish or Portugal armada. Not until World War I did the west mount anything practically identical to his armada. His boats were loaded up with 28,000 mariners on 300 boats, (The Prequel, Kristof p552) and all he was worried about was learning. Zheng He could have effectively proceeded around the Cape of Good Hope and set up direct exchange with Europe. Be that as it may, as they saw it Europe was a regressive district and China had little enthusiasm for it. (The Prequel, Kristof p554) Because China was not driven by victory or imperialistic control I would have much preferably be an officer on his boat over some other boat supported by a ruler and sovereign. To finish up, the Spanish were worried about spreading Christianity, Portugal needed exchange, that’s most likely why they had probably the best port, and China, well only the head needed to find out about his general surroundings. Really awful that was not proceeded after his passing. The most effective method to refer to Compair Voyages by Chinese Fleet in Early 1400s to Voyages of Lberians, Papers

Throughout The Crucible many of the characters experience changes to th

All through The Crucible a significant number of the characters experience changes to their character. The adjustment in John Proctor is very unmistakable In Act IV Proctor says, ‘I can't mount the gibbet like a holy person. It is extortion. I am not that man.’ At the finish of the play he goes to execution saying, ‘Now I do think I see some smidgen of goodness in John Proctor.’ What has rolled out this improvement come to fruition? All through The Crucible a significant number of the characters experience changes to their character. The adjustment in John Proctor is very conspicuous and critical in the play. At the point when John says, ‘I can't mount the gibbet like a holy person. It is extortion. I am not that man’ he is certain that he wouldn't like to bite the dust. Later on, while sitting tight for execution he says, ‘Now I do think I see some sliver of goodness in John Proctor which shows he is currently prepared to bite the dust to express his value. This uncommon change from delinquent to saint is incited in various manners. John adores Elizabeth significantly and her conclusions mean a great deal to him. Towards the finish of the play, Elizabeth pardons John for his transgressions, which permits him to excuse himself. Elizabeth reveals to John that she’s never observed such a great amount of goodness on the planet; he understands he is Elizabeth’s case of flawlessness so acknowledges what must be done, so not to free this ‘perfect’ see. We can likewise observe that John thinks about Elizabeth’s contemplations as he inquires as to whether she figures he ought to admit. This moreover shows that he is a frail man, who can't act without anyone else. John is compelled to make up his own psyche, when Elizabeth won't help him. John ponders just himself and consents to admit. When Danforth constrains him to name some other liable gatherings John will just talk about his own wrongdoings. John is a strict Christian ... ...ct. Seeing the composed admission makes everything genuine to him. The enticement of life brings another preliminary into John’s life, which he needs to battle against. The longing fore ‘more names’ in court carries home to him the power battle he has confronted. At where he needs to choose regardless of whether to lie or not, it is confirmation of John’s trustworthiness that at this point he can't lie, however rather he tears his marked admission what's more, follows his companions to the scaffold. Obviously the ‘heat’ of his preliminaries has changed John from a delinquent to a saint, and has demonstrated him to be the ‘good man’ of whom Elizabeth talks. The genuine John Proctor is a man who realizes whit is correct, regardless of whether he has not continuously done right and he is unequipped for deceptive nature or self-centeredness. Unmistakably the adjustment in John Proctor has come about in view of the ‘real’ John Proctor approaching.

7 key advices to entrepreneurs from Clouderas founder CTO Amr Awadallah

7 key advices to entrepreneurs from Clouderas founder CTO Amr Awadallah INTRODUCTIONMartin: So this time we are in Palo Alto in the Cloudera office. Amr, who are you and what do you do?Amr: So I am one of the founders of Cloudera and I serve as the chief technology officer for the company.Martin: Great.ADVICE TO ENTREPRENEURS In Palo Alto, we interviewed entrepreneur Amr Awadallah from Cloudera. Amr shares his learnings and very important advice for young entrepreneurs.In the first part of the interview, Amr explains the business model and corporate strategy of Cloudera.The transcription of the interview is included below.INTRODUCTIONMartin: So this time we are in Palo Alto in the Cloudera office. Amr, who are you and what do you do?Amr: So I am one of the founders of Cloudera and I serve as the chief technology officer for the company.Martin: Great.ADVICE TO ENTREPRENEURSMartin: Amr, imagine your son comes to you and says, ‘Amr or Daddy, I would like to start a company’. What advice would you give him? What are the dos and donts, maybe some mistakes you did that you shouldnt do?Amr: So thanks for that question. And I came prepared for that question. So I actually have a list. I have a list of advice I usually give. Because this is something I frequently get answered, so if you dont mind Im going to j ust use this to remind myself of the different advice Id like to give.#1 KEY ADVICESo the number one advice I give is make sure whatever idea youre going to work on, make sure that you are extremely passionate about that idea. Meaning that you believe in it yourself and that, I dont want to say, okay Ill say it; you are in love with that idea, you really love that idea. And the reason why thats important is starting a company is actually very, very hard. And its very important to remind people that its a very risky business to start a company. If you look at statistics here in the Silicon Valley and that is one of the most successful areas of starting companies. But even if you look at the Silicon Valley:only one out of every ten companies will continue to be a one billion dollar company, only one out of ten.And then, two out of ten will do well, they will sell their company and they will do well. They will make some good money.Seven out of ten will almost be a wash, meaning they wi ll either not make money, at least return the money back to the investors or they will shut down.So, what would make you take such a risk other than you being truly in love with the idea that you are trying to implement? So thats why I say the biggest thing that you need to be sure of is that idea that you have, that thing youre going to be working on is something that you feel very, very passionate about. Otherwise, you will run out of energy and be unable to continue to do it. So thats number one, very key advice.#2 KEY ADVICENumber two key advice, I would say as well the key reason why Silicon Valley has been successful in this, is hire great people. Make sureâ€" especially in the very early days, that youre hiring the best of the best. And the corollary to that is to fire people quickly, as well. Which people from sometimes outside the Bay Area even in the U.S., not even mentioning Europe, find that very hard. But thats very, very important because you dont have time to make mis takes. When youre in a start-up in a high growth business, competition will come after you just like this. As soon as they smell money, five other companies will start doing the same thing. So you dont have time to be slow and if you hired bad people, these bad people will make you slow. And bad people doesnt mean theyre not intelligent or not smart, sometimes theyre just not good culture fit. Like, they dont fit with the culture of how the rest of the team operates. They could be great people justâ€" theyre not a good culture fit. Once you recognize something like that, then you need to let them go. And you do it in a good way, and you take good care of them. You give them a severance package but you do it because its very important, otherwise it will slow you down.#3 KEY ADVICEThe number three, and you frequently hear this lesson from other companies in the Silicon Valley, is dont be afraid to make mistakes. Dont be afraid to make mistakes. What does that mean is that you cannot b e innovative, you cannot build a new solution without trying to do that in a new way. And by definition, if you try to do something in a new way, you will end up making a mistake. Whats important is, once you make that mistake, you recognize that mistake and you correct for it very quickly. So thats whats important. So what makes a great company, what makes a successful startup versus a failing startup, is that the successful startup will very quickly recognize when they made a mistake and we by the way make so many mistakes in Clouderas history but then we recognize that and we correct for it very quickly as opposed to we dont know a mistake has taken place and that we keep doing the same thing over and over in the wrong way and then that becomes failure, and you cannot recover from that. So thats very important.#4 KEY ADVICEYou have to have a continuous sense of urgency. Even at the beginning, when you dont have competition, nobody else is coming after you, you still have to have a sense of urgency. Like, ‘I have to move quick, I have to get things done, I have to get customers mind my product, I have to start making money’. Like, you always have to have that sense of urgency and it has to come from inside of you. You cannot wait for the investors to tell you because theyre not going to tell you. Theyre too busy themselves. It has to come from inside you that, ‘I have to move quickly to get things done. I cant just wait until business comes to me, Im going to go hunt my business down, Im going to find the right product and get it done’. So a sense of urgency is very important. The corollary to that as well is dont spend a year planning what youre going to do, ‘Oh, Im going to do this, Im going to do that, and then this is my business plan looks like’. No, no, at the beginning, you dont have time for that. At the beginning, you start doing. You start doing and as you are doing, you build your plan and you change your plan. As opposed to build a pl an for a year, like what big companies do and then go execute that plan. Next, and I have three more.#5 KEY ADVICESo next, and this is one of the most important advice for engineers because they fall in a trap but the next one is listen to your customers. Listen to your customers. So sometimes engineers specifically, they get obsessed with building products because they are cool, because they have a new technology idea that was really smart, as opposed to this is something that solves a real customer problem. So I always like to stress that if this is not solving a customer problem, it doesnt matter if its the coolest thing in the world. Its not going to make a difference. And I frequently use a nice quote form Henry Ford. Henry Ford is the guy that invented the car. Because some of my engineers would tell me, so that means that I cannot be innovative. I cannot go innovate. I have to always listen to the customers. And no, actually, thats my point, because Henry Ford, if you look at what he said, he said, ‘When I asked my customers what do you want? They said we want faster horses’. And you cannot get faster horses. So what the engineer do, the engineer goes to customers and ask them what is your problem? And then they would say, ‘Our problem is we want to get from point A to point B really quickly’. And then now, you as an engineer, will go and innovate, and you build the car. So the innovation is in the solution, not in the problem. You dont innovate on the problem. The problem has to come from the customer, thats the key point.#6 KEY ADVICEAnd then one of the most important advice also is, you have to have the faith in success. Meaning that you have to believe youre going to succeed. Even me, I just said earlier, only one out of ten will succeed. But youre chances of success will be much higher if inside of your company you have this very positive energy of; I am going to succeed, I am going to make this happen. You need to have that, and that energ y will spread from you to your team and you will have this culture of success going on in your company, where youre planning and all the actions youre taking are being taken with the assumption that we will succeed. As opposed to taking actions with the assumption of we want to be careful in case we fail, then you will fail if you do that. You always want to have this success kind of fountain going in inside of your company. That helps a lot and that will increase your probability of success.#7 KEY ADVICEAnd then, my last piece of advice I give is a big part of this, and this advice differs when Im talking to somebody who is religious versus not religious but I will say is that a big part of this is you praying all the time for success because a big part of this is timing. Or, if youre not religious, Ill say wish for luck, Ask for luck. Because I would say, I will admit this, at Cloudera, we were so lucky. So lucky, there were so many points across the road where we could have faile d and something happened, not because of us doing it differently but because we were lucky and we succeeded. So asking for luck, and wishing for luck, is a part of success.Martin: Good. Amr, thank you very much for the time. And next time when you start a company maybe you should consider the ten learnings of Amr. Thank you very much.Amr: Youre very welcome.

Essay on Applying Psychological Theories to Board Games

Punishment under the operant conditionings refers to the usage of positive or negative reinforcements in increasing certain behaviour or reducing or eliminates an unwanted behaviour. The two types of punishments are positive punishment and negative punishment according to B.F. Skinner (Skinner, 1974). Positive punishment is done by applying an aversive stimulus after the occurrence of behaviour. For an example, the player will be given the safety card, where the players are allowed to keep the safety card to void their punishment in the coming turns. By giving a safety card, it is a positive punishment as the player is not really required to perform any punishment act (Gershoff, 2002). On the other hand, negative punishment is known†¦show more content†¦, 1913). Plato has proposed the classical categorization who firstly introduced the grouping of things based on their similar characteristics. At the same time, Aristotle begins using the classical categorization on living ob jects and begins categorization between human beings and animals, as well as walking and flying animals (Bandura A., 1977). In this board game, a player can do their own classical categorization by grouping the other players according to their age, gender and occupation. This could be useful for the player to assess the different capabilities of other players based on the classical categorization. Analogical reasoning is a way to process information that does a comparison on the similarities between concepts which are either new or understood. This is also known as a type of inductive reasoning because the reasoning will strive to give understanding of what could be true, other than merely proving it as a fact. This reasoning can be either used by adults or children alike as a persuasive argument (Bargh, 1996). One of the simplest ways to inductive reasoning which two or more objects are the same characteristics and can be concluded as these objects are most probably similar in futu re. However, we must bear in mind that not all analogy can be considered as an analogy, thus, we usually does comparison to illustrate or explain our meaning better (Skinner, 1974). In this board game, the player can undergo inductiveShow MoreRelatedReflection: Kids Are Different Today1458 Words   |  6 Pages 404). This information correlates with Erik Erikson’s theory of psychological development. By reflecting on Coyl’s article, and analyzing the different theories of development; I am able to apply this information to my future classroom and gain an understanding of students by supporting intellectual, social, and physical development and enhance future opportunities to plan effectively for a positive learning environment. 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A Critique On Locavorism. Locavorism - 1422 Words

Hailey Kruger English 125 Professor Miller 30 September 2015 A Critique on Locavorism Locavorism – the idea that food grown in close proximity to where one consumes it is not only more nutritious and better tasting, but also more environmentally responsible than mass produced food – seems to be igniting a food revolution in America (The Week Staff). The movement has gained momentum across America as the number of farmers markets has increased fivefold since 1994 (The Week Staff). Locavores, those who champion the locavorism movement boast that buying and eating food locally is more environmentally sound, more nutritious and safer, but do their claims hold up? Sums of historical and scientific data disprove claims that locavorism is an all around better system than that used by agri-business. While buying and consuming food locally makes sense at times, confining people to only consuming local food is actually less sustainable, less, nutritious, and less safe than consuming food that is mass produced. Scientific data has disproven Locavore’s claims that buying food locally is more environmentally friendly and sustainable than purchasing globally grown food and instead illustrates the benefits of â€Å"agri-business† food. Locavore’s claim that the distance food travels from where it was grown to where is will be consumed – known as food miles- seriously contribute to environmental problems (Shimizu and Desrochers Introduction). However, transportation composes only a small

Ethnocentrism Free Essays

Pearlie Byrd-Lain American InterContinental University SSCI210-1205A-02 Unit 2IP/ Ethnocentrism Abstract In this summary I will be discussing ethnocentrism and the beliefs of the value one puts on of their cultural beliefs. I will begin with the definition of ethnocentrism and that is the belief that the values, symbols, and customs of one’s own culture are superior to those of another culture (Editorial 2012). First let’s just start with what is culture are practices or beliefs that is passed down through generation to generation. We will write a custom essay sample on Ethnocentrism or any similar topic only for you Order Now Ethnocentrism is part of one’s culture. I have chosen the TV show Iron Chef America to show how ethnocentrism plays a part even in cooking. There is a competition with the professional chef Mario Batali and a first time contender by the name of Des Jardins. This competition is like all the rest but I wasn’t looking so much at the meals being prepared, I was watching the exchanges going on with the chefs the announcer and the judges. They all have a different ethnical background and also are from a different culture. The competition began with the type of foods that will be prepared into different courses. The chefs look at the food and began. Mario Batali is Italian and his pride is on the line because he is competing with a first time contender. Mario is not worried about the cooking but about the win. Then there is the first time contender trying to make a name for herself as a professional chef although she has cooked for some of the most famous restaurants in California she still had to prove that she can best Mario Batali. Mario Batali specializes in Italian cooking and Des Jardins specializes in Frenc-california cooking. They were both raised in this cultural background from which they began their profession. Mario is a very proud Italian and it shows in the work in the kitchen. He shows Des respect and courtesy but he takes pride in the dishes being made. Des Jardin also has her pride in the dishes that is being made. Her line of ancestors recipes are online due to the fact that she cooks with shrimp on daily basis. (Shrimp being the dish chosen for the cook off. Des Jardin won the competition but you can see that her values and beliefs were in play. In the 18th century and the 20 century the Chinese rejected the European religion due to the fact that the Chinese were an ethnocentric type of people that believed that their religion and values were more superior than that of the Europeans so the Chinese never excepted the religious beliefs of the Europeans over their own beliefs in Confucian. Referenc es Editorial Board (2013) Introduction to sociology. Words of Wisdom Sayre, Henry M. (2013) Discovering the Humanities. 2nd ED. Pearson How to cite Ethnocentrism, Essay examples

The importance of stories Essay Example Essay Example

The importance of stories Essay Example Paper The importance of stories Essay Introduction How does Jeanette Winterson convey her central concerns in the narrative and what influences are significant to the reader’s appreciation of the novel’s title and central metaphor; Lighthousekeeping?’Utterly skewwhiff’ is how one critic describes Lighthousekeeping, yet despite the disrupted narrative and switching of style so typical to the modern novel, the prevailing themes of Lighthousekeeping are made clear, sometimes to the point of bluntness. One of the main themes is undoubtedly storytelling and its role in our lives. We are persistently reminded of this by the repeated sequences starting with ‘Tell me a story’, first between Silver and Pew and then Silver and her lover. Despite the sometimes confusing structure of the novel the sequences draw the direction back to the core themes of love and storytelling, and also constantly remind us of the constructed nature of the text and the fact that we’re reading a story. Storytelling is a ‘way of navigating lives’ and in this way the sequences help us navigate our way through the novel.For we do need help navigating; Winterson claims that it is in stories where the truth lies, yet the truth is dynamic and shifting and never solid, and we can see this in the way the split narrative causes swings ‘between one story and another, across time and across character’. First we are introduced to Silver’s story of her mother’s death and her beginning a life with Pew, and just as we become comfortable with the fairly linear storyline Pew dips into the story of Babel Dark when telling Silver stories, and this narrative seems to gain its own force independent of Pew and silver, and runs throughout the novel alongside Silver’s story, ‘with the two stories often sounding like duets sung in counterpoint to each other, one voice light and the other dark’. However the two narratives are not altogether contrasts; there is th e same search for meaning and a place in the world which the characters are unable to find peace with. Ultimately, perhaps due to Pew’s love and guidance earlier in her life, it is Silver who is able to navigate her way through the ‘Atlantic’ inside of her and lets herself be healed by love.We can define ourselves through stories; Pew advises Silver to ‘tell yourself like a story’ and the story of what happens next depends on ‘how I tell it’; according to Winterson ‘to read ourselves as fiction is much more liberating than to read ourselves as fact’. Storytelling is reflective of something inherent in the core of us, or perhaps just reflective of human nature and the way we live and explain ourselves. When Silver is finally able to find herself and her place in the world she finds herself able to tell her own story; ‘this one’, as requested by her lover.Storytelling is not only a vital element of the novel but o f Winterson’s life, having been told Bible stories throughout her childhood. Winterson was adopted by religious parents who prepared her to become an evangelical preacher and ultimately a missionary but was cut off from her family at the age of 15 when she had a lesbian affair, for going against the Church’s beliefs about homosexuality. However she is clearly still influenced greatly by the teachings of Christianity and the Bible and this is reflected by the biblical style of writing prevalent in Lighthousekeeping; the prose is intricate and flowing and pulses with a fairytale-like rhythm, and Winterson seems ‘to love the cadence of sentences’. Similarly to the Bible ‘the reader experiences not one story but. a number of loosely connected stories heading in the same direction’. The stories complement each other and ‘we reach. connections’; they guide us like a Lighthouse to the main points of the novel. Just as the Bible contains the teachings of a religion, Winterson has her own doctrines; the importance of storytelling and the ‘moral imperative’ of, if you love a person, telling them so- and these are emphasised in the different threads of the story.The influence her past has had on Winterson is also reflected in the numerous Biblical references in Lighthousekeeping. Babel dark is named after the Tower of Babel; ‘after the first tower that ever was’. Like the tower Dark’s life is built up at the beginning of the novel only to be broken down. The lighthouse is completed in the year of Babel’s birth and Winterson draws contrasts between them, with Molly questioning ‘Why could he not be as steady and as bright [as the lighthouse]?’ and Babel claiming ‘there is no light in me that can shine across the sea’. Unlike Silver he is unable to let himself be saved by love; he denies himself the women he loves but for two months of the year, and repeate dly betrays her. Silver claims ‘Part broken, part whole, you begin again’ but Babel is too broken; he is ‘splintered by great waves’ and ‘coloured glass from a church window long since shattered’. A Biblical reference is also used when Pew says the story of Babel Dark ‘starts with Samson.because Samson was the strongest man in the world and a woman brought him down’. Dark was unable to love both Molly and his wife like he should or could, and this inability to love was what brought him down in the end; Winterson emphasises this point by comparing his fall to that of Samson’s.One of the curious aspects of the novel is the introduction of the historical figures of R L Stevenson and Charles Darwin. The role of Darwin is undoubtedly central in Dark’s story, especially the conflict his theories have with Dark’s religion. Darwin proposed the theory of natural selection which stated that we are all descended from comm on ancestors. These findings would challenge the special creation of humans as described in the Bible, and suggest that we were actually descended from the simplest of organisms. When Darwin comes to Salts and Dark is introduced to the theory of Evolution he consequently comes to doubt his faith, asking himself: ‘Why would God make a world so imperfect that it must be continually righting itself?’ Dark realises that ‘Now, time had to be understood mathematically. It could no longer be imagined as a series of lifetimes, reeled off like a genealogy from the Book of Genesis.’ Here Winterson again emphasises how the theory of evolution de-personalises history and time. While the Bible measures time by describing a ‘series of lifetimes’ science must measure time mathematically and undermines the element of storytelling that the Bible gives to life.Before the 18th century people thought that living things were unchanging and static in time; this idea was called essentialism, and this is what Darwin was challenging. Winterson also seems to be challenging this idea in her writing; she emphasises that we are not linear people which is why stories should not be static. Ideas of change and permanence are significant in Lighthousekeeping and are looked at in various ways. Dark sees change as negative as he longs for the ‘the unchanging nature of God’ to cling to and feels ‘lonely’ without Him; ‘That things might be endlessly moving and shifting was not his wish’. While a world that is unchanging seems safe and comforting to Dark this is impossible; however although we cannot find stability in the external world we can find our strength and our metaphorical lighthouse in love. Dark fails to love Molly fully which is why he cannot find his place in the world. Silver also experiences change as being negative when the lighthouse is automated, but is consoled by Pew who explains that ‘Nothing k eeps the same form forever’. Change is inevitable because ‘life [is] always becoming’. This point is emphasised in the context of stories as well; instead of ‘A beginning, a middle and an end’ Winterson claims that stories and life are made of a series of beginnings. Silver says ‘Part broken, part whole, you begin again’; change and new beginnings are unavoidable as they are part of life.This seems to show that Winterson doubts the truth in the way people see the world. Unlike most she doesn’t see our lives as an unswerving narrative and she questions the accepted concept of reality; she claims that it is through art that we can find a way to connect with the real world, which is transcendent. In this way there seems to be a correspondence between love and storytelling; similarly Winterson claims that love is the only way we can journey into and beyond the self. In this way love and storytelling seem to be held as important becaus e they can let us access the true, sublime, nature of ourselves and the world around us. When told she is ‘out of touch with reality’ Silver claims she has ‘been trying to find out what reality is so that I can touch it’; and like Winterson, the way she finds her place in the world is through storytelling and through the power of love.Like Darwin’s character, the addition of the retelling of the story of Tristan and Isolde is significant to the novel. Other stories are evidently important to Winterson when writing as literary references are abundant in Lighthousekeeping. She claims that ‘books speak to other books- they are always in dialogue’ and that in retelling stories you can find ‘new angles’ and ‘new possibilities’. In retelling the story of Tristan and Isolde which is a love story Winterson can reiterate the importance of love whilst emphasising its healing power. The idea that Tristan should have died b ut that love healed him implies that love is more important and has more power than science; she claims that ‘In the fossil record of our existence, there is no trace of love.The long bones of our ancestors show nothing of their hearts.’ Love is essential and when Darwin puts emphasis on fossil remains and evolution he is almost missing the point; the focus should not be on the bones and remains of our ancestors but on the love and thoughts and feelings they experienced; ‘Love is not part of natural selection’. Natural selection is almost irrelevant when looking at our true nature; ‘what is left is love’.Similarly, Silver seems to think that while love prevails in the story we tell of ourselves, other things are irrelevant, claiming ‘all stories are worth hearing, but not all stories are worth telling’. This would explain why Silver seems to miss out vital details about a ‘partner’ and ‘business’ she allud es to when living in Capri yet goes into immense detail when describing her theft of a bird. However Benjamin Kunkel claims that when fiction has the purpose of letting people journey into something transcendent and beyond them ‘The prisoner. needs first to be trapped in order to be sprung’. This means that for an exceptionally metaphorical novel like Lighthousekeeping to be effective it needs to possess ‘the components of fictional reality’ such as characterisation and description, and that Lighthousekeeping lacks these and the characters and settings are drowned under the metaphor that Winterson focuses so heavily on instead.One could question, for example, whether the lighthouse even exist or is it just a metaphor for what Silver and Pew value and how they live their lives? However it could be argued that this is how Winterson wants us to think; that this novel should lead us to questioning the nature of reality. Although Kunkel claims Lighthousekeeping is lacking in description the novel goes into exquisite detail on many occasions, describing a mother on the boat from Athens ‘as moist as a purple fig’ and her children ‘as zesty as lemons’. While we are not told much about Silver’s mysterious lover’s character, appearance or even their gender, Winterson describes in detail the time Silver and her lover spend together and their sex life. Perhaps Winterson is trying to show that it does not matter who it is you love- their gender and appearance are irrelevant- it is the nature of love that she is interested in and which she explores in the descriptions of Silver and her lover. The importance of stories Essay Thank you for reading this Sample!