Arriving at Shared Ground Through Difference (B Ed Comp English)

Arriving at Shared Ground Through Difference

                The essay 'Arriving at Shared Ground Through Difference' written by Daphne Marlatt shows a form of colonialism at work within the family. The writer was taught the King's English to behave and speak properly although she was exposed to other language there. At that time, she was a white colonial child there. She was trodden, scolded and ignored by others who spoke the Cantonese, Malay and Thai language. She wanted to understand their laughter, jokes, calls, exclamation, comfort and humming. She found that her English and her Amahs' (mother-substitutes') English were different although they understood each other. She realized that she grew up in loving the emotive sound of women's voices i.e Amah voices. But their experience was not considered crucial although they were devoted to take care of their Mem's children.

            The writer found differences between her English and her mother's English which had many intensifiers (e.g very, terribly, awfully, completely, etc.) emphatic sentence pitches and rising tones. She was taught to speak correctly but couldn't and felt embarrassed. She felt that the words she learnt there sounded funny in her mouth as if she were trying to speak counterfeit (false/fake) words. She realized that there was now a whole new level of her own vocabulary which sounded strange on the street. she had a long battle with her mother was trying to correct the daughter's the purity/accuracy of the origin but the daughter was correcting the mother's for common usage. Thus, they focused on two different versions (e.g formal and common usage forms) of the same language. Words were very seriously taken in her house because they were the weapons of their struggle on language. The writer thought that children are directly influenced by their mother's language but she found it different there. Her mother's words, her very style of speaking derided her own children. The writer's English was Canadianized. She denied her mother's English. Therefore, the mother withdrew into chronic depression and hypochondria. Thus, the writer finds a form of colonialism at work within the family.

Adaptive Failure: Easter's End

Adaptive Failure: Easter's End/ Jared Diamond, USA (1937-)

Literal Comprehension:  This chapter has described about how Easter Island vanished with its heavenly state to barren land. With different researchers the Island was discovered and studies a lot. It was a little paradise discovered by Dutch explorer Jacob Roggeveen in 1772 as sandy and wasteland. Easter Island has 64 square miles in the Pacific Ocean 2,000 miles nearest from South America. It was found barren, free less and having no animals beside insects. The paradise like Island has been destroyed without any ancient civilization, plants and animals. The visitors in 18th and 19th centuries found the population of the Island could be 2,000. James Cook found few people with three or four canoes and no capture of the Island by the Polynesian people. People didn't have any contact with other worlds.

The famous features of Island were its huge stone statues more than 200 stood together. The statues were very huge up to 270 tons, up to 500 feet tall and 10 feet long. This characteristic raises a question how those inhabitants came and constructed such huge statues. How could such statues be made without tools and resources? But by 1864 all the statues were fallen down. Some guessed that those Islanders might have ultramodern tools and they were more intelligent. After the experiments of skeleton the people were identified as Polynesian origin. Different analysis found that the island had been discovered at about 400 A.D. with population of 7,000 to 20,000. The Hausa tree was used for making rope and palm trees were used for many works of supply.

Other discoveries have pointed out that the first settlers of Easter Island ate mostly Fish sea flightless geese etc. with the increase of population people started to use forest for fires, Building, gardens, canoes transporting goods, etc. The 15th century was the indication of forest in the Easter Island and all trees species were totally extinct. Gradually, the forest disappeared and destroyed that made life of Islanders more uncomfortable. With the shortage of food sea birds and animals were also finished.  The government and people paid more attention to social and political aspects. That slowly made extinction of all species. The population was increasing rapidly. Government and people did not take this Earth's problem seriously. The present situation shows that politicians and business leaders are heedless about this destruction without noticing gradually damaged history of Easter Island. Still we do have history that awareness us not to be more careless to destroy out world civilization like of Easter Island.

Interpretation: This essay might be raising a strong but very much serious question: Isn't it possible to have the soon extinction of our present civilization as that of golden civilization Easter's Island?  Still the main focus of the writer seems to make conscious to world people, countries and political leaders to learn the lesson from the doomed civilization, histories etc. with causes and consequences. We want to save our present civilization to coming generations. The writer's main focus is to maintain our history and civilization to coming generations being much conscious and learn much from books and by one history. Easter's Island was a small paradise in past but now it has become an extinct, barren land. There are many more reasons behind the collapse of Easter Civilization.

Critical Thinking: We can easily accept that this essay has drawn out attention very much. It has talked about out life, history and coming generations and identities. Mostly the tone of this essay is pessimistic that we are going to face same doom as that of Easter's Island if we are coreless in our activities. We hardly raise any questions against the ideas presented. The main convincing idea is that people are less careful to ecological problems and matter of civilization. Still we are not so much careless people we don't care history and do according to our wishes. Rather we read history and past and see the way to future.

Assimilation: After going through this suggestive article I came to know that we modern people shouldn't be proud on our culture and civilization. We have to face the same fate as the vanished civilization did in past. Future must be judged and though at present. We have to learn a lot from the past. As looking to bygone history we can step how to go further. This chapter has made all the people how to live with natural resources and what should do for the upcoming generations. All environmental problems, pollution and threats to human existence is due to lack of proper utilization of natural resources.