...Preface: The Warrior Series: Sad to say, I have read a few of them when I was deployed in Afghanistan and Iraq. That’s because it’s what they would send me in care packages along with other goodies I liked. But that was another time and story in my life I care to put behind me. So, it has been expressed to me in the past that the ending to the first series was a little weak and I agree. The whole Tigerstar getting batted aside by some little wiener cat from Twolegplace rather than getting his ASS handed to him by Firestar was kind of lame in their eyes. Neither one liked it when a new “Bad Guy” shows up right at the last second and tries to take the place of a long standing relationship with a hated arch enemy, like you’re supposed to be afraid of this guy all of the sudden. Nope. The original Warriors series, released from 2003 to 2004, consists of six books, Into the Fire: Fire and Ice: Forest of Secrets: Rising Storm: A Dangerous Path and The Darkest Hour. Since The Darkest Hour is the last book I read in Iraq, I had to go to the library on Camp Pendleton to look over the book one more time before I started this. The top section in Italic is straight from the final battle in the 6th book, The Darkest Hour, which is my starting point for what you will read below. Anyway, not a great bit of writing on my part, especially the abrupt ending, but according to both my daughter’s, they thought it was a good attempt & agreed that if the story ended the way I put...
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...The Woman Warrior by Maxine Hong Kingston tells the story of five Chinese women in five chapters. The first chapter tells the tragic tale of Maxine’s aunt “The No-Name Woman,” appropriately the title of the first section. The chapter starts off with Maxine’s mother telling Maxine to never talk about what she was about to be told. “The No-Name Woman’s” rape becomes the center focus of the chapter. Kingston weaves a story of her aunt being raped and the severe repercussions that came from the incident from her mother’s words. The townspeople sacked their house and shunned Kingston’s aunt. After becoming impregnated by her rapist, “The No-Name Woman” drowned herself and the new born baby in the family well. The second chapter, “The White Tiger,”...
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...The Woman Warrior is a narrative that focuses on the tale of five women, Fa Mu Lan, Brave Orchid, Moon Orchid, and Kingston. Lan is the mythical female warrior in the story. The narrative is told in five chapters which integrate Kingston’s experiences and a series of spoken stories told by her mother. The stories combine elements of Chinese myths, beliefs and even history in the narration of events that occurred. The novel explores the various adversities faced by women in the society. The study explores the author’s efforts to write a memoir as a way of creating her identity. Kingston is trying to tell the story of her life and in doing so, uses a collection of other people stories and sensations. She uses her mother’s stories to narrate...
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...Beowulf A good hero is a person who has a great talent and uses that talent at the right time, making them a hero. Both the heroes in Beowulf and in 13th Warrior have a skill that they use at the right moment, which separates them from other individuals, making them a hero. Beowulf himself is a man full as brute strength and pure power in order to defeat his foes. Ahmed Ibn Fadlan lacks the strength aspect, unlike Beowulf but has great intellect, which helps him to succeed and become a hero. Beowulf does not think of any enemy as threatening and believe that his strength will not be matched. Ahmed is not strong and has no strength to rely on like Beowulf. What Ahmed does have is intellect, which he uses to replace his absence of strength. The better hero is Beowulf out of the two. It seems that Ahmed would be a better sidekick to Beowulf in he cannot physically do a lot. Ahmed would be able to think of plans and strategies and Beowulf would be able to implement them and make them work. Just as Wiglaf helped Beowulf neither one could defeat the dragon without the other. This would be the case if Ahmed and Beowulf were with each other; they would both be needed in order to accomplish something. Beowulf has strength and knows of it, which is a great benefit to him. He gets confidence knowing that he is extremely strong and gains courage from this. He is not afraid of anything including Grendel who everyone in the story fears. Grendel comes to the land of the Spear-Danes and...
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...Once Were Warriors Report by Sean Collier Once Were Warriors had a different reception internationally towards the didactic message of the violence in the film. Once Were Warriors directed by Lee Tamahori grossed over $6 million in New Zealand passing Jurassic Park on the New Zealand Box Office. New Zealanders praised the film with most reviews receiving a high rating. When opened internationally it grossed over $2 million with reviews also achieving a high rating. Although most international reviews fail to see the message from the violence compared to local reviews, they seem to view the violence as nauseating and unnecessary while New Zealand sees it as strong message to the public. Strong examples of this are Mark Tierney, Lizzie Francke and David Stratton from New Zealand, and Kenneth Turan from America who had a strong opinion on the movie’s brutal violence leading him to give it a bad review therefore missing the didactic message of the film. Once Were Warriors is a film based from the novel of the same name, about a Maori family living in Auckland after moving away from tribal elders over a disagreement over their marriage. The main settings are the Heke’s house and the local bar both housing drunken violence. Beth Heke (Rena Owen) is the victim of domestic abuse from her husband Jake Heke (Temurea Morrison) leading her to question the relationship and stand up to Jake while also trying to sort family relations. There are many sub-plots in the film which affect the...
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...In "No Name Woman" by Maxine Hong Kingston, Kingston learns from her mother that she once had an aunt who committed suicide with her newborn baby by jumping into the family well in China. As the she begins to menstruate, Kingston’s mother warns her of the consequences if she follows her aunt and commits adultery. The author aunt could have been rape or as the author even hinted, incest. This is the first chapter from Kingston’s book Memoirs of a Woman Warrior. It reminds me of those Chinese paintings of landscape, nature, trees, flowers, mountains shrouded by mist, everything hidden and quiet. In addition, I think the writer’s purpose is to bring to the eyes of the general public the harsh consequences of being a female in a patriarchal society. The mother devotes her time to explain to her daughter about her aunt who took her own life and was forgotten by her own family because of Chinese expectations of how a female should behave. I think by Kingston’s mother explains this story about her aunt because she is trying to save her daughter’s life. I was surprised that the aunt’s name is never mentioned in the story. The narrator's aunt was deeply shamed, and fiercely loyal despite the terrible situation she was in. Guilt no doubt took hold in her heart and put her on the path to...
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...“More than a thousand years ago, a class of professional warriors arose, who swore oaths of loyalty to noble lords and fought to the death to defend them in battle.” Before this, warlords would fight each other to claim land and had threatened to destroy your way of life. Knights and Samurai were the saviors of the nobles and people. Some may argue that Knights and Samurai were extremely different, although they are very much alike. The Samurai and Knights had similar training methods and had similar codes of honor. For Samurai and Knights, the training was very similar. First off, they both started their training at a young age. From the source of the PBS series tilted, “Warrior Challenge” it states that, “ [A] prospective knight’s training [began at the age of four or five] “ (Doc. C) and from the PBS series titled, “Japan: Memoirs of a Secret Empire” states that, “The rigorous training (of samurai)...began in childhood…” (Doc. C) These two pieces of evidence show that both the knights and samurai had started their training at a young age. This was probably because they could soak in all of the skills while they were young. Also, the warriors of Europe and Japan practiced with a...
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...Sarpedon says that warriors are considered as gods by their people, and that this is because one day, when the time comes to protect those people, the warrior has to step up to his duty to protect them, even if he knows that death is upon him. He says that if he could escape this destiny and live forever, he would never fight in the front lines, and neither would he command his comrades to go to war. He makes the point that the glories obtained from being a warrior would not be worth it if they had a way of escaping their fate. But he knows that his destiny won’t allow him to escape his fate. Hence, he lives and dies as a warrior, always with his comrades, serving for the common purpose. Even though, he could have a better life if the situation...
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...Drew LeBlanc Phy/ 105 Comparison Essay March 17, 2013 The Samurai are one of the most ancient warriors known to any civilization. They lived by a code of ethics and honor that many people can learn from at any day in age. Samurai lived and trained by a code of ethics known as Bushido “samurai warrior”, and would die for there beliefs. The biggest thought of the Samurai is education through training. The Samurai came about because they were developed to assist the government on there plans of action. Many different people were establishing armies around Japan to try and overthrow the government that they did not believe in. The Samurai were used in the beginning to keep the laws of the government enforced, and taking out all those who opposed the law of the land. After a few years the Samurai took over as the government making their 900 year stake as the warrior class. The Samurai were seen as almost nobility in the eyes of many due to there mysterious ways, and because of the such high regard people viewed them as. One of the most notable Samurai warriors was Miyamoto Musashi. Miyamoto Musashi was known as one of the best swordsmen who ever lived. He most notable victory was when he took down an opposing school by himself when he was only thirteen. He defeated his opponent, who had a sword, with a wooden training sword that he was very proficient with. Towards the end of Musashi's life he wrote a book called The book of five rings which taught many different ways...
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...BOOK ONE A Samurai must become one who is permanently dead. Basically this is saying being a warrior means that if one is faced with the option of life or death the person quickly chooses death.They trust in Bushido that their death is decided by fate and only when the time comes they will be faced with death. Borrow from the wisdom of the past. There will be no excuses that can be taken seriously if you borrow from the wisdom of our elders and of the past, because no matter what circumstances you fall into there has been a person faced with your dilemma and you can learn from the mistakes or decisions. Commit than never waiver. If your mind is set to do something or to accomplish a task and a plan is thought out do not hesitate to do what you believe is right and your instincts will take over as a warrior and the goal will be accomplished. BOOK TWO Never forget the fundamentals. Those who work hard at the practice out of love and passion for what they do tend to get puffed up with pride failing to remember the fundamentals and must stop all extraneous thoughts. There is no better way than to die in battle. As a warrior you must commit yourself to being faced with wars and countless battles you must not wither in the sight of death but race towards it as you are running towards heaven and fight like you are in the presence of God. Right now is that crucial moment and that crucial moment is now. one must treat the present as if this...
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...The Voices Told Me So It had been yet another long day. It was about 11pm, so I started playing the new computer game which I’d downloaded about a week ago, I was so addicted. In fact the last 6 days of my life had practically revolved around this game. There was something about the game that drew me in. It was set in a dark forest next to a river; the game had quite an eerie feel and was quite gruesome as you had to kill everyone that stood in your way in order to get to the next level. It was 3:25 in the morning, my mum had told me to get off the computer hours ago but I don’t tend to listen to her much now anyway, she as well as everyone else was so calm even though there were disappearances around our town. I kept telling my mum to be careful, especially when walking to the shop but she just looked at me as if I was crazy. I wouldn’t leave my room though. Oh no. I mean, nothing can happen to me whilst I’m stored away in my room, right? I hadn’t had slept properly for a couple days but as tired as I was, I was too afraid to sleep, I would just toss and turn in my bed all night just so I didn’t have to endure what would happen when I closed my eyes. You see, I’d been having the same dream over and over for the past week now. In this dream I’d see a road, a long dark road that seemed to never end. And it was like I was an untouchable spirit floating above the image of myself walking along this road until I came to a stop. And suddenly my spirit would race like a lightning...
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...Knight and Smamurais were the similarities greater than the differences Are the similarities or differences greater between a samurai and a kights. It all started in 1000 to 1600 CE Europe and Japan had a weak government and an even weaker army. It took place in feudal Europe and feudal Japan. They're completely different in the way they fight to the way they trained.They're a different soldier in so many ways. Feudalism that's how it started when a lord acquires a large piece of land and gives some of it to a lesser noble exchange for military services,food,and farm land.They trained these lesser nobles into soldiers,in Europe they were called Knights and in Japan they were called Samurais. They were different by what they called their leaders and by the way they were brought up. They were different by what they believed in. (Background Essay) There leader was called by a different names in Japan they were called Daimyos and in Europe they were called Lords. As the Samurai worked for the Daimyos the Knights worked for the Lord's. Both were taught differently and both started at different times for their training. They were both started at different times. As a Saumiras, when he or she hit the age of 14 they were called a Genpuku. When a Knight became 14 they were called a Squire a Squire continued with weapon training but was called a fighting man. Another difference is the code they followed. A Samurai followed the code of Bushido while a Knight followed Chivalry. Bushido...
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...More than a thousand years ago, in 1000 to 1600 CE, two armies of warriors, Samurai and Knights, fought to protect their separate leaders. The Samurai and The Knights both had duties they were required to do that were very alike such as: following social systems that brought order in their societies, participating in time-consuming training, and adhere to a certain Code of Honor that shared both similar rules and punishments. Starting with Social Order in Feudal Japan and Feudal Europe, both countries had quite comparable Social Pyramids. In Japan the pyramid went along the lines of : “Merchants, Artisans, Warriors, Daimyos or Feudal Lords, Shogun, and lastly the Emperor.” (Document A) In Europe the Social Pyramid was very similar going in the order as follows: “Peasant Serfs, Artisans, Knights, Lords, King, and lastly the Pope” (Document A), which was the main ruler...
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...or her highest value; and, what do I think their values tell us about their culture? The two authors that I am going to write about are homer and Sopocles. These two authors have many differences and similarities; but I think there are three things these author’s hold as there highest value. That is, brains over brawn, maturity over time, and the need to complete a journey. Let’s begin with the idea of brains over brawn. Both of the authors seem to emphasize the intelligence of each main character; and, that intelligence is touted at a higher regard than strength. We see this in Odysseus who repeatedly uses his brain and intellect to outsmart others. Of course, he uses some force, but it is suggested that he was just as much of a warrior with his mind as he was with his sword. We also see this in Oedipus as he used his foresight to become a great leader. However, although Oedipus’s use of his intelligence was touted as noble, the book also uses his is intelligence as a lesson on fate. This leads to my second point which is maturity over time. Both of the main characters in either novel seemed to have gone through change in maturity. We certainly see the maturity level in Oedipus change after he finds out that he has no control over his fate; and even if brains were preferred over brawn, you still must understand your destiny. I use the word destiny because that’s more in line with fate; notice there is a difference between fate and faith; you see the same maturity...
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...Samurai and Knights: Were The Similarities Greater Than The Differences? Samurai and knights were warriors who fought for their lords. The important idea is that from roughly 1000 to 1600 AD in Japan and Europe, samurai horsemen and knight horsemen were the muscle and soul of the warrior class. After studying the documents, I feel that the similarities were not greater than the differences. Even though they lives so far apart the samurai and knights did share some similarities. For instance, they both had a great love and devotion to poetry. Samurai learned/studied poetry in school, and some knights made their living reciting poetry to an audience (Document C). Another example is that samurai and knights both fought on horseback. In the...
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