Sociol Cultural Homogenisation And The Role Of Media Media Essay

Sociol Cultural Homogenisation And The Role Of Media Media Essay There is a huge amount of debate on whether media actually leads to homogenisation process and thereby the subsequent creation of Global culture and whether there is such thing as global culture. Is the widening and deepening of international flows of culture through media in a single integrated market leading to the emergence of a global culture? If so, what are the factors which facilitate the creation of this homogenisation? These are some of the issues that the paper seeks to focus; the paper will also deal with the role of the local in responding or not responding to the impact of media. In short, the dynamic relationship between the local and the global is analysed in the paper. Introduction: Globalisation and media are closely inter-connected. The growth of globalisation has accelerated to a large extent with the growth and development of media technology especially in areas of TV, films, internet, videos, music, news etc. Media acts as an agent of globalisation in generating homogenisation by spreading cultural symbols, ideas and practices across socio cultural settings of the world. The impact of media is instant, it moves quicker than any material goods or people. It has a tremendous impact on both sustaining and weakening or eroding the fabric of social life. The more efficient the media is in communicating, the more effective it is in stabilising or destabilising existing social, political, religious etc scenario. Media actively constructs peoples identity across the dimensions of nations, race, class, gender, ethnicity etc in a number of ways, which often lead to homogenisation process. The media imposes their powerful images, sounds and advertisements on a vast ra nge of peoples of the world who most often succumb to their messages which are mostly designed to increase the profits of capitalist firms. Globalisation involves expanding worldwide flows of material objects and symbols and the proliferation of organisations and institutions within global reach that structure those flows. The process of globalisation is also characterised by relationships that are mediated through symbols of values, preferences and tastes etc through the powerful impact of media. The impact of media globalisation is manifold: it can lead to hybridisation of cultures, assertion of cultural autonomy and identity, cultural conflict, localisation, creolisation and homogenisation. However in my paper the focus is mainly on the homogenising effect of media globalisation on the socio cultural settings of the world and the factors which facilitates the creation of this homogenisation. Hannerz distinguishes between three dimensions of culture, which indicates that cultures are susceptible to global dynamics: Ideas and modes of thoughts: The entire array of concepts, propositions, values and mental operations that people within some social unit carry together. Forms of externalisation: The different ways in which ideas and modes of thought are made public and made accessible to the senses eg, forms of art, food habits etc. Social distribution: The ways in which people`s ideas and modes of thoughts and external forms are spread over a population and its social relationships. Thus, understanding structures of shared knowledge, values, beliefs, experience and meanings in all their complexities remain the core concern of cultural analysis. Media technology plays a major part in transmission of the second and third dimension of Hannerz definition of culture. According to Hannerz, media in particular are machineries of meanings: they enable communication without being in one other`s immediate presence  [1]  . In contemporary complex cultures, people increasingly make use of the media to externalise and distribute their ideas and thoughts throughout the world. This is how cultures as a system of meanings, symbols and actions get expressed in different form and media plays a major role in their transmission across the rest of the globe. Therefore culture is also about sharedness. The concept of de territorialisation as also referred by Appadurai, explains the inter connectivity of cultures across nations. These cultures are in contact with media in one way or the other and constantly influence each other in terms of tastes, styles, value systems, ideas, meanings and practices. According to Ritzer, the theory of socialisation and social interaction teach that human transcend in their social group through a process of acquiring culture and other gestures from parents and other social group members and social facts that happen in the environment in which the person lives. Here the environment in which each individual lives also includes media mediation and translation of social reality and thus culture is transmitted and diffused across cultures through the workings of the media. Media also play a major role in the continual re shaping of cultural identity. Benedict Anderson, points out that nation as imagined communities often started out as media audience. Media articulate the meanings and experiences associated with particular social identities in a globalised context and export them to different distant places. Arjun Appadurai makes clear that people around the world are increasingly living a fictional lives based on media narratives and imagery. People around the world can now connect with like- minded others which binds people together irrespective of language, home background and socio economic circumstances eg:- allegiance to Real Madrid or Manchester United as global football club. Internet connections enable fans scattered across the globe to remain in touch and meet up regularly. Popular culture leads to formation of distinctive organisational forms and practices which are hybrid in nature. They are neither local nor global but a distinctive hybrid culture of transnational where fan clubs of a particular sport like football, cricket etc or iconic figures like Michael Jackson come together and form a unique transnational group where hybrid names, emblems and material products emerge. This trend emerges with the formation of internet communities and networks. They allow intensive contact with other cultures without actual bodily or localized contact and have an impact on the minds and practices of the people. However the intensity of impact depends on the way in which information are processes and digested in the receiving cultures. New channels of intensified social connectivity are permitted by contemporary electronic media Eg:- social networking sites like facebook, orkut etc. Live global television covering a single event carried through the satellite news carriers covers varied and diverse locations and geographical areas. This brings together people across great distances and social relations become radically freed from l ocal contexts, and spatial distances become less important, and a greater consciousness of a world outside the local context come into picture. It produces a sense of globalised reality eg:- the recent FIFA World 2010, Cricket World Cup 2011 etc. This live global television is experienced by large numbers of people worldwide and creates an extension of social connections across time and space. Increased oneness of the world is accelerated by such forces. There is international corporate ownership of media enterprises which ensures that there is an increasing consumption of material goods and sharing of cultural icons across large numbers of people. These processes construct a shared experience of time and a collective memory for different groups of people. Thus Mass culture is created which is a product of modern communications. There is a huge amount of debate on whether media leads to homogenisation process and thereby the subsequent creation of Global culture and whether there is such thing as global culture. Is the widening and deepening of international flows of culture through media in a single integrated market leading to the emergence of a global culture? The term global cultural flow according to Arjun Appadurai, is used to indicate the simultaneous fluid movement and changing meaning of ideas as well as their location and passage through specific historical, linguistic and political contexts. Global culture is used to denote the growing uniformity and homogenisation of the world`s cultures which serves as a magnet attracting people to particular ideas regarding economic opportunities and consumption. Consumer culture: Global culture is often held to be a media driven construct dependent upon the profit seeking production of mass mediated signs and symbols. The emergence of global culture is often taken as the direct outcome of the capitalist market institution restructuring to get desires, create needs and thereby open up a new arena for capital accumulation leading to commoditisation, commercialisation and consumerism made possible by media ads and communication industries in their drive to maximise profits. Global consumerism thrives on the promotion of brand names like rolex, addidas, reebok, coca cola, Mc Donalds etc based on what people would like rather than what they are and need. This consumer culture is filled with new community signs which form the popular culture allied to global media translated through the market. There is a growing similarity which transcends frontiers and similar trend of styles of dressing, consumption of sports, music preferences, eating habits etc has emerged. Th e term MC world has been coined to describe the standardisation of an American consumer culture, a combination of fast food, fast music and fast computers that bring people together through a common consumption of commodified cultural production. According to Hermans and Kempen in their article Moving Cultures, referred to Glocalisation in economic usage where they introduced the term micromarketing i`e is the tailoring and advertisements of goods and services globally to increasingly local and diverse cultures. Thus, they talked about the creation of differentiated consumers and the emergence of consumer culture of the same global goods and services. They further problematises the relationship between the local and the global where cultures constantly interpenetrates with each other and become a part of the interconnectedness of the world system. Therefore the distinction between what it global and what is local becomes blurred and the presumed homogeneity of the local or internal and the distinctiveness of the global or external becomes problematic. Thus globalisation also involves the blurring of clear cut distinction between the local and global. What is local becomes global and what is global becomes local and sometimes they may become indistinguishable and homogenised. Media globalisation increasingly involved the creation and incorporation of locality. These processes is largely seen through the TV enterprise like CNN and MTV which seeks global markets and focussed on culturally diverse and differentiated groups. Dominance of west: Many have argued that global culture is more of western culture domination and enforcement of western culture on the rest of the world which is referred to as westernisation. The imposition of American culture in the form of TV, Videos, Pop music, Films and Ads on vulnerable communities unable to protect them from the sheer volume and intensity of exposition to media is widely under attacked. In recent years US has enjoyed a growing surplus for audio visual products (TV, Video, and Cinema) with the EU. Globally, the US accounts for about 75% of all TV programme exports. American Time Warner organisation claims to be the largest media company in the world. During the last decade there is a struggle for the formation of a new Information order from the Third World countries with a determination not to remain passive recipient to the west active centre. Countries like France, Italy, China, Canada, North Korea etc has imposed a check on US media imports for different reasons. Hence questions are being raised regarding prior consent for Transborder home reception, the production of communication technology on definition of privacy and also attempt to develop their own regional media. Fears of US media domination lead to Mc Bride Report 1980, which lead UNESCO to call for a restructuring of global media along more egalitarian lines. The WTO and International Tele communications Satellite Organisation (INTELSAT) are among the prestigious international bodies that have attempted to establish guidelines for the regulation of global cultural flow. However for some writers globalization is not westernization. According to them, outwardly analysis may appeared that the world is oriented towards westernisation rather than globalisation especially when one could see the popularity of the western music, movies, and McDonalds etc where more and more countries are seen playing the top chart of the pop list of USA and Hollywood movies and US-made television serials (like Friends and the Simpsons) are becoming widespread processes of cultural transmission. However, a closer examination indicates that the impact of the flow of these cultural goods have different meanings in different societal and cultural contexts with uneven impact on classes and age groups. Some of the products are consumed without any modification; others are modified and indigenized to suit the local contexts. Nevertheless, westernisation can be seen as a part of Globalisation. Media Imperialism: There is a construction of media order through the entrepreneurial devices of a comparatively small number of global players eg Time Warner, Sony, Rupert Murdoch News Corporation and Walt Disney Company. News globalisation was dominated by press wire services in the 19th century, however in the 1970`s and 1980`s electronic media globalisation increased. Aggressive media companies like Rupert Murdoch`s News Corporation yielded a massive conglomerates of other global media industries. Cable News Network (CNN) has struggled to become a 24 hour news provider, watched religiously by global business and political elites of the world. The result was an undeniable increase in the degree to which people`s everyday lives are experienced through the media. Several large media companies like Viacom, Disney, Time Warner etc over the last decade have evolved from being a local industry to large global conglomerates based on new forms of vertical and horizontal integration. These media conglomerati on was made possible by media deregulation in major western economies. These conglomerates not only have access to enormous quantities of investment capital but also the ability to minimise financial risks by managing their media products across different world markets in their areas of influence. For instance, News Corporation began as a print enterprise in Australia, spread into TV in UK in the 1970`s. This is now targeting the huge Chinese and Indian markets with its Star TV system which currently broadcasts in over 20 Asian languages. There is a popular concern about the growing concentration of ownership of global media production and transmission in the hands of a small number of corporations. For example, the past two decades have experience a huge expansion of the pop music industry, MTV has now become 24 hour music channels in America, Europe and Asia. But 70% of all pop music is produced and distributed by a handful of multinational corporations that integrate production, transmission and promotion ensuring that certain iconic faces like Madonna, Michael Jackson etc are everywhere, on TV, video, films, CD`s, magazines, newspapers, advertisements, radio and even designed on T shirts and many other things. The flow of information was dominated by multinational entities based in the most powerful nations leading to what is known as medial imperialism. Global and the local: The widespread claim of homogenisation of world cultures; the global as pro active and the local as reactive to global culture have been found to be unlikely by many scholars. They have argued that the local do not remain a passive recipient of global cultures transmitted to them through the media but the local have its own way of interpreting global influences according to its relativity. One such defender of this view is Robertson, who maintained that diffusion and transfer of ideas and values across socio cultural formations adapt to a particular local culture, which he termed as Glocalization. He talked about ambivalence and ambiguity of human culture in globalised world. Globalisation itself has no meaning unless it is connected in the context of the local. For him, globalisation is able to link locales together both materially and ideationally. Hence the local and global are inter connected and influence each other simultaneously and the media acts as an agent in increasing thi s process of glocalization and globalisation. This results in not only homogenisation but also hybridisation of cultures as the global gets localised according to the suitability and necessity of that particular contexts. To quote Robertson, An international TV enterprise like CNN produces and reproduces a particular pattern of relations between localities, a pattern which depends on a kind of recipe of locality  [2]  . He further illustrates how certain religions like Hinduism, Buddhism, and Taoism etc involved a long process of Glocalization after its dissemination throughout the globe. Following form this and relating it to the present context of information technologically advanced world, we see that religions are being widely promoted through the media. Religious channels are available 24/7 on TV, internet etc. These channels reach out to different regions of the world and are either absorbed and assimilated into the existing settings and become glocalised or they are rejec ted completely as a threat to their existing values and beliefs system. From here we can induce how the media play an important role in localising the global. Thus, the relation between the local and the global remain complex and negotiable terrain. Basically the politics of the glocal refers to globalisation from below which means that the impact of the global to a certain extent is in the hands of the local. This is because the local is not just a passive recipient of whatever globalisation through media brings at their doorstep influencing their lifestyles, ideas, values etc but the local is something active which constantly accommodates, assimilate and transforms different cultures that are brought to them, interpreting them according to its convenience and adaptability. Another reaction of the local to the global is the rejectionist attitude. There are many local movements who vehemently attempts to reject or resist the globalisation process and the impact of media consumerist culture claiming to protect their cultural identity or the purity of their culture. Some remain hostile to globalisation impact due to its ability to erode the traditional value system and the adverse affect on their socio cultural moral system. Contemporary indigenous movements are becoming increasingly global Eg:- Native people`s Movement increasingly use the media to defend or promote their rejection of globalisation process. In a globalised world, people constantly used the media to mobilise people as a local assertions against globalisation influence. In the present context, promotion of locality through the media has become a common trend. There is an attempt to globally organise the rights and identities of natives or indigenous people`s movement. The emergence of popul ar culture and the growing commodification of the consumer`s experience popularised and sensationalised by media is seen by many as posing a threat to the richness and diversity of cultural practices, resulting in the description of mass consumerism as a monolithic force with one dimensional causal effects on the traditional cultures. There are certain closed group which remain suspicious about the impact of media globalisation and attempts to curb and regulate the free expression of media itself. Such kind of group would be countries like China, Japan, Muslim fundamentalist etc however in the context of contemporary advancement of media technology it becomes difficult to remain intact by the homogenising influence of media. Nevertheless, the idea of uniformity of culture should not undermine the pervasive impact of counter currents that emerges from the local reception of the global. Wilkinson (1995) has developed the thesis that today, Conclusion: However claims of Global culture and its impact on cultures without uninterrupted reception by age, class, gender and geography etc is naive. Thus a deeper probing of the complex relationship between the global and local is necessary because human beings are not without rational analysis or do not have any personal choice but they are thinking individuals with a mind of their own capable of deciding what is best for themselves and hence they do not succumb to the global consumer culture unmindfully but translates the impact of media according to their own reality. Tomlinson made a distinction between culture as lived experience and culture as represented in media. He had argued that the realities in peoples lives are much more powerful than mere representation in global televisions and people do not get manipulated easily by the reception of media. He furthers argues that the cultural critics have overlooked the capacity of the audience to negotiate the possible contradictions in the reception of media. To him the power of the media should not be exaggerated by looking at media as mediating cultural experience rather than the determining force. Ang also refers to interpersonal drama to mean that media products are interpreted differently in different cultural contexts. Avijit Pathak is another who also talks about the politics of culture where cultures constantly negotiate in its interaction and influences. For him, even though there is a dominant global culture emanating, the process of reception becomes contextualised and gain a hermeneutic form, this he calls the art of resistance. For Wilkinson only one global civilisation exists which is a direct descendent of 1500 BC civilisation in the near East when Mesopotamian and Egyptian civilisation collided and fused. This entity spread all over the globe and engulf all others previously independent civilisation like Chinese, Japanese and western into one global civilisation. His idea was of connectedness of the world into one system rather than uniformity. People who interact with each other continuously belong to the same civilisation even if their cultures might be very dissimilar and hostile to each other  [3]  . Expansion of media communication increases connectivity of cultures, thus a chain of cultural networks are created no matter however they are connected either hostile or differently but they are still interacting with each other and hence influences each other in one way or the other and results in the emergence of certain similar trends. Therefore, what is undeniable is that media globalisation in o ne form or the other has an impact on the lives and consciousness of almost every one cutting across transnational borders, cultures, ethnicity, gender, class, age etc. Thus, global media is rendering almost everyone with something of a cosmopolitan culture. What was once local has become global and the line between the division of global and local is thinning and becoming blurred day by day.

Essay --

â€Å"Currency devaluation is typically an event resulting from a policy (political) decision and is most often associated with the nations that elect to â€Å"fix† the exchange rate for domestic currency in relation to another nation’s (or region’s) currency or some other fixed standard† (Owen, 2005). In other words, devaluation occurs in a situation when a country is operating under a fixed exchange rate regime and its government decides to lower the value of its currency in relation to the currency it is pegged against. In the case of Venezuela, the bolà ­var fuerte is pegged against the US dollar. A government objective generally associated with devaluation is the improvement of a trade deficit. If a country’s imports are greater than their exports, devaluing their currency can help, as it reduces the â€Å"purchasing power of domestic money in terms of foreign goods and increases the purchasing power of foreign money in terms of domestic goods† (Johnson, 1971). This in effect means domestic goods (exports) become cheaper and imports become more expensive, resulting in an increase in the demand for exports, with a fall in imports, and hence improving the balance of payments. Being South America’s largest oil-producing nation, Venezuela receives most of its export income from this industry. It therefore comes as no surprise that devaluation is so attractive to their policy makers as increased demand for their oil exports would allow them to accumulate more domestic monetary resources. However, an implication of this policy has been the negative effect on th e poor who spend the majority of their income on food and other basic necessities that are mainly imported goods. With inflation averaging between 20-30%, this has meant that fewer goods are... ... cites the theory of Mundel(1960) and says that, " According to this theory, it is impossible to simultaneously have a fixed exchange rate, free capital movement (an absence of capital controls), and an independent monetary policy. In conclusion, a currency devaluation whose primary aim is to improve the balance of payments has both its advantages and disadvantages. In the case of Venezuela, it has done more harm than benefited the economy. Even if the government were to try and borrow, very few investors would be willing to hold Venezuelan government debt as it would be deemed very unattractive and risky. Devaluation has in many cases been known to reduce the credit worthiness of an economy on the global markets. In the end, it could also result in an out flow of investments as investors may feel that the risk is too high for them when they invest in Venezuela. Essay -- â€Å"Currency devaluation is typically an event resulting from a policy (political) decision and is most often associated with the nations that elect to â€Å"fix† the exchange rate for domestic currency in relation to another nation’s (or region’s) currency or some other fixed standard† (Owen, 2005). In other words, devaluation occurs in a situation when a country is operating under a fixed exchange rate regime and its government decides to lower the value of its currency in relation to the currency it is pegged against. In the case of Venezuela, the bolà ­var fuerte is pegged against the US dollar. A government objective generally associated with devaluation is the improvement of a trade deficit. If a country’s imports are greater than their exports, devaluing their currency can help, as it reduces the â€Å"purchasing power of domestic money in terms of foreign goods and increases the purchasing power of foreign money in terms of domestic goods† (Johnson, 1971). This in effect means domestic goods (exports) become cheaper and imports become more expensive, resulting in an increase in the demand for exports, with a fall in imports, and hence improving the balance of payments. Being South America’s largest oil-producing nation, Venezuela receives most of its export income from this industry. It therefore comes as no surprise that devaluation is so attractive to their policy makers as increased demand for their oil exports would allow them to accumulate more domestic monetary resources. However, an implication of this policy has been the negative effect on th e poor who spend the majority of their income on food and other basic necessities that are mainly imported goods. With inflation averaging between 20-30%, this has meant that fewer goods are... ... cites the theory of Mundel(1960) and says that, " According to this theory, it is impossible to simultaneously have a fixed exchange rate, free capital movement (an absence of capital controls), and an independent monetary policy. In conclusion, a currency devaluation whose primary aim is to improve the balance of payments has both its advantages and disadvantages. In the case of Venezuela, it has done more harm than benefited the economy. Even if the government were to try and borrow, very few investors would be willing to hold Venezuelan government debt as it would be deemed very unattractive and risky. Devaluation has in many cases been known to reduce the credit worthiness of an economy on the global markets. In the end, it could also result in an out flow of investments as investors may feel that the risk is too high for them when they invest in Venezuela.

Oh Father, Where Art Thou? Thy Son Awaits

Troy Maxson, the main character in August Wilson's critically acclaimed play Fences, talks about his father who was never there for him when he was a kid. Born in the southern United States, where African- Americans were racially discriminated during the time, Troy's father was evil and tortured him. He feels that he has been really supportive for his kids and he is what his father had never been to him. Troy grew up with a father who thought putting food on the table and roof over the head was the only thing a father has to do for his family. Despite Troy's attempt to be unlike his father, his style of talking to the kids and ordering them to respect him makes him exactly like his father. Fences, is not necessarily about how history repeats itself, but also how a person's past influences their life and decisions. Troy's father didn't support the family like a normal father did. His father, Maxson Sr. was there only to support his family basic needs; food on the table and roof over their heads. His father was never there for him or his family. Troy talks about his father being evil because of which nobody could withstand him and also his mother leaving him when he was young because of his father's evilness. He says: My mama couldn't stand him. Couldn't stand that evilness. She ran off when I was eight. She sneaked off one night after he had gone to sleep. Told me she was coming back for me. I ain't never seen her no more. All his women run off and left him. He wasn't good for nobody. (1.4.109) His father was not good enough for everybody and whoever was with him they would only last for few days and after that they left because Troy thinks Maxson Sr. was evil which is also the main reason why Troy feels his mother left him and Troy when Troy was a young kid. Having a father who was unable to care for his son, Troy instantly realizes that he has to mature hurriedly so he can take care of himself. At a mere age of fourteen, Troy finds himself becoming a man from a child. He realizes he has metamorphosed into a man from a kid when he and Maxson Sr. get into a fight. When his father finds him flirting with a girl when he was supposed to be working, they have a real go at each other. Troy describes the moment as, He had them letter straps off the mule and commenced to whupping me like there was no tomorrow. I jumped up, mad and embarrassed. I was scared of my daddy. But I see where he was chasing me off so he could have the gal for himself†¦When I see what the matter of it was, I lost all fear of my daddy. Right there is where I become a man†¦at fourteen years of age. Now it was my turn to run him off†¦ I picked up them reins and commenced to whupping on him. (1.4.109) When Troy whips his father with the leather straps he realizes he has transformed into a man. He feels showing his father that he didn't fear him was good enough to survive in the world by own self. Since that incident with his father, Troy associates adulthood as being strong enough to stand up for own self. He feels he has learnt that fighting with his father was the only way to prove him that he had grown up and could take care of himself. Troy thinks that he has freed himself from his father evil influence, reviews his past and tries to learn from his father's mistake. Since his father was irresponsible for him, Troy is inclined to be a father unlike his father in each and every way possible but unfortunately that doesn't work out. He turns exactly like his father. He doesn't support his sons Lyons and Cory at all. He is vile to both of his sons but Cory, his youngest son whose dream is to become a football superstar, gets affected and pays the price badly when his father shatters his dream by not letting him play. Since he and Troy don't get along, Cory feels isolated. Even when he asks Troy why he didn't like him, Troy responds: Liked you? Who the hell say I got to like you? What law is there say I got to like you? Wanna stand up in my face and ask a damn fool-ass question like that. Talking about liking somebody†¦I go out of here every morning†¦bust my butt†¦putting up them crackers every day†¦ 'cause I like you?†¦ It's my job. It's my responsibility! †¦ A man got to take care of his family†¦ ‘Cause it's my duty to take care of you. I owe a responsibility to you! (1.3.91 and 107) Troy lets Cory know that what it takes to become a â€Å"man†. The â€Å"man† Troy is referring to is himself and he explains Cory that in order to become the â€Å"man† one has to be responsible. That person has to be able to put food on the table for his family. He also lets Cory know that one doesn't have to love his family to take care of them. The duties and responsibilities bind a man and his family which keep them together. Duty to take care of the family was what Maxson Sr. did and Troy is following the exact footstep of his father. Troy, as a father, spent most of his time with Cory. He was in jail when his eldest son Lyons was born. The relationship between Cory and Troy seems to be futile; every time they are together they end up in an argument. Cory feels his father doesn't love him at all. His feeling about his father detesting him grows even stronger when his father doesn't let him play football. Cory, in order to achieve his dream, quits his job at A&P grocery store so that he can play football. He disobeys his father by quitting his job when Troy had strictly told him to quit playing football and look for a steady job. Troy was discriminated when he was young for playing baseball and thinks his son fate will also be the same like him. But he doesn't realize that times have changed and at the same time he is arrogant as well. Cory ends up not playing and as always has to obey his father's decision and forgets about his lifelong dream. Eventually one day, he gets tired of Troy and claims his dominance by standing up against his father and making him realize that he can take care and survive in the world on his own and leaves the house. Before leaving the house Troy talks to his son and says: You a man. Now, let's see you act like one. Turn your behind around and walk out this yard. And when you get out there in the alley†¦you can forget about this house. See? ‘Cause this is my house. You be a man and get your own house. (2.4.71) When Troy battles with Cory he feels his son is more than capable to take care of himself and kicks Cory out of the house. He feels Cory has become a man because he stood up for himself. Standing up for own self is the character Troy sees as being an adult. He also realizes that his son has shown enough evidence of maturity when he fights with him. This reminds Troy what he did years ago with his father which is also the reason why Cory is kicked out of the house. Wilson's Fences lets us know that no matter how one tries to forget his/her past, it will always haunt him/her and will also come to play a significant role in the future. Troy grew up with a father who hardly supported him and once beat him to death. Although he tries not being like him, he follows each and every step his father had taken and in the end becomes a mirror of his father. He demands respect, thinks about himself, is unkind and harsh to his sons. Cory pays for the arrogance that his father shows but ends up being just like his father by arguing with him and leaving the house because he thinks he has matured enough. Fences in the end, symbolizes the barriers Troy who has faced and his son Cory who is going to face in life. Wilson in the end gives the readers a hope that Cory will break the barrier and become a good father to his kids unlike his father and his grandfather.

The Tragedy Of Sophocles Oedipus The King Essay

Sophocles’ â€Å"Oedipus the King,† successfully demonstrates Aristotle’s definition of tragedy. According to Aristotle â€Å"tragedy† is vastly different from what one would likely describe if requested in modern times. It is common today to hear one speak of a tragic vehicular crash, but what is being spoken of as a tragedy, is an accident, not a tragedy. Thus, it is important to understand what Aristotle thought when he spoke of a â€Å"tragedy.† Based on Aristotle, POETICS, CHAPTER VI, The tragedy is an imitation of an action of high importance, complete and some amplitude; in language enhanced by distinct and varying beauties; acted not narrated; using pity and fear effecting its purgation of these emotions (Kennedy Gioia, 2013, p. 905). Oedipus is a nobleman who overflows with pride. Through an Oracle, he finds that he is â€Å"doomed to kill his father and marry his mother no matter what he (or his parents) might do to prevent it,† and even father the children of his mother (Solomon, 2003, p. 447). Due to Oedipus’ hamartia, an error in judgment and his flaw of hubris, extreme pride, his kingdom, family, and self will endure great sufferings (Kennedy Gioia, 2013, p. 905). According to Aristotle, â€Å"the protagonist,† which is Oedipus in Sophocles play, â€Å"is a person of â€Å"high estate,†Ã¢â‚¬  and a â€Å"noble soul† (Kennedy Gioia, 2013, p. 905). In this case, one might say that the main character fulfills this in more than one manner, as he is born into nobility in Thebes to King Laius andShow MoreRelatedThe Tragedy Of Sophocles Oedipus The King )1044 Words   |  5 PagesThe Forgotten Ones (Describe the Significance of the Chorus in Sophocles’ Oedipus the King) Oedipus the King is a famous play written by the renowned author Sophocles and first acted out back in 429 BC. It is the second of three plays written by Sophocles that dealt with Oedipus; the first one being Oedipus at Colonus and the last one being Antigone. This play relates the story of Oedipus, a man who becomes King of Thebes while unwittingly fulfilling an old prophecy that said that he would killRead MoreThe Tragedy Of Oedipus The King By Sophocles2776 Words   |  12 Pagesthem with. In the tragedy, Oedipus the King by Sophocles, Oedipus’ fate starts with a prophecy. No matter how much Oedipus tries to do the â€Å"right† thing, the prophecy comes to term. It is argument-able that Oedipus was led to his tragic ending by fate. It is also possible that his tragic ending was brought open by his own actions. The idea of fate and free will both played an important role in Oedipus’ downfall. Even though he was a victim of fate. It did not control him. Oedipu s was destined to killRead MoreThe Classical Tragedy Of Sophocles Oedipus The King950 Words   |  4 Pagesâ€Å"Greece’s Golden Age introduced many excellent playwrights, all of whom contributed to the success of Greek Literature† (sites.google/ Playwrights of the Golden Age). Sophocles, the author of the classic tragedy, Oedipus the King, was one of the three best play writers during that time frame. Born in 495 B.C., Sophocles â€Å"lived for nearly ninety years through the most of the turbulent events of his country during the fifteenth century B.C.† (Charters and Charters). He was born in Colonus, not farRead MoreExposure to Tragedy in Sophocles Oedipus the King702 Words   |  3 PagesSophocles background influenced him to write the drama Oedipus the king. One important influence on the story was his exposer to tragedy all around him. Jeffrey buller in â€Å"Sophocles† told us that Sophocles learned the art form of tragedy from Aeschylus. Sophoc les later went to the Great Dionysus a competition for the greatest tragedy and won first place over Aeschylus. Also, Sophocles shows tragedy in the play by telling us about the legend the heard while he grew up (Buller 2-4).Similarly, OedipusRead MoreThe Tragic Tragedy Of Sophocles Oedipus The King1601 Words   |  7 PagesThe Tragic Hero Tragedy deals with unexpected or unfortunate events that usually results in negative outcomes that affects the downfall of the main character in a play. Tragedy within Greek drama incorporates the time within the their lifestyle of religious and superstitions. Greek writers use tragedy as a theme in literature because it represents their civilization. Sophocles uses this theme in his dramatic plays because the audience is able to correspond to the story line. It allows the audienceRead MoreThe Perfect Aristotelian Tragedy: Sophocles Oedipus the King918 Words   |  4 PagesAristotle considered Sophocles Oedipus the King to be a nearly perfect example of Greek tragedy. His reasons were based on the structural perfection of the play, in which the protagonists recognition of his circumstances (anagnorisis) comes at the same moment as his reversal of fortune (peripeteia). But the terms whereby Aristotle defines character in Greek tragedy are slightly harder to work out where is the hubr is of Oedipus? An examination of the plot will demonstrate that Oedipus hubris is manifestRead MoreEssay about Tragedy in Sophocles Oedipus The King and Antigone 1403 Words   |  6 PagesTragedy in Sophocles Oedipus The King and Antigone The Greeks considered tragedy the greatest form for literature.   However, the tragic ends for the characters were not ordained or set by fate, but rather caused by certain characteristics belonging to that person.   Such is the case with the characters of Sophocles plays Oedipus the King and Antigone.   Oedipus from King Oedipus, and Antigone and Creon from Antigone posses characteristics, especially pride, that caused their tragic ends.   AsRead MoreDeconstructing Tragedy And The Definition Of The Protagonist’S1173 Words   |  5 PagesDeconstructing Tragedy and the Definition of the Protagonist’s Innocence In Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex, Oedipus meets the Aristotelian definition of a tragic hero as divine fate and tragic flaws lead to his downfall. Oedipus’s tragic flaws like hubris, curiosity, and anger, contribute to his unfortunate fate. The components of a perfect tragedy as defined in Aristotle’s Poetics are at the center of Oedipus Rex. The play contains the elements of a perfect tragedy such asRead MoreOedipus Tyrannus, A Tragic Hero. Summary: . Context. Oedipus1391 Words   |  6 PagesOedipus Tyrannus, a Tragic Hero Summary: Context Oedipus Tyrannus is a Greek tragedy that was first performed as a play in 429 BCE. The setting of the play is in Thebes, one of Greece’s city states that is suffering from a tragic plague. King Oedipus’s brother in-law; Creon, reports back from the oracle of Apollo that the plague would only be lifted if the murderer of his predecessor; King Laius, is found and brought to justice. Before the whole city of Thebes, Oedipus vows to apprehend and punishRead More tragoed Oedipus as the Ideal Tragic Hero of Oedipus the King (Oedipus Rex)1217 Words   |  5 PagesOedipus as the Ideal Tragic Hero of Oedipus the King In the introduction to Sophocles Oedipus the King, Sophocles defines a tragic hero as one who [behaves] admirably as a man, [but who] is nevertheless tripped up by forces beyond his control and understanding... (Sophocles 76).   In Oedipus the King, Oedipus is the tragic hero. The force that trips up the hero is fate, or, moira. It is Oedipuss actions that set the events into motion,   but it is ultimately his fate, and his attempted