The Inevitability of Death in Early Literature - Literature Essay Samples

The Inevitability of Death as Shown by Early Literature Since the beginning of written literature, death, and the evasion of it, has been a prevalent theme. Furthermore, outside of literature, humans as a species have an instinctual fear of death and the unknown that lies beyond it. This theme has survived time and traversed across continents to influence readers from ancient Mesopotamia to modern day USA. The Epic of Gilgamesh from Mesopotamia, The Bhagavad-GÄ «tÄ  from fourth century India, and one of the most prolific Arabian texts, The Thousand and One Nights, all contain prime examples of characters who attempt to avoid â€Å"the fate of mankind† (The Norton Anthology 76). In their own way, the characters of each of these texts avoid death at all costs, only to arrive to the same truth: death is inevitable. One of the oldest texts known to man, the Epic of Gilgamesh, tells the story of an all-powerful man who cowers at the thought of death after his friend dies. After living his life in nothing but luxury, he realizes that one day it will all be taken from him, and, in all of his muscles, he does not have the power to change that. His battle with death begins on the day Enkidu dies; Gilgamesh feels that â€Å"after his death [he] could find no life† (76); and so begins his obsession. Once death overtakes Enkidu, Gilgamesh begins his bout with denial. His denial escalates when, even six days after Enkidu’s death, Gilgamesh â€Å"would not give him up for burial until a worm fell out of his nose† (76). Gilgamesh refuses to accept that death is unavoidable, and that Enkidu’s fate had caught up to him. However, the six days and seven nights that Gilgamesh mourns beside the body, rather than instilling in him the certainty and permanence of death, it fuels in him the desire to evade it. His futile attempts to con fate take him to the edge of the earth where he believes to have found his answer from the one man who has earned the unattainable gift of everlasting life: Utanapishtim. The great flood survivor reluctantly gives Gilgamesh what he has been searching for, a plant that grants eternal life. This success is short-lived, as a serpent steals his plant for himself. The serpent, usually signifying the devil, represents fate coming to ensure that Gilgamesh does not cheat death. This loss, along with the advice of Ur-shanabi, gave Gilgamesh the knowledge and ability to live a full and happy life, as opposed to one dreading the inevitable. Gilgamesh, however, is not the only character in this story guilty of attempting to evade death. Enkidu, at the beginning of his life, was the guardian of the steppe, feared by those who saw him because of his size and strength. He appeared to be some sort of monstrous animal covered in hair and mingling with the beasts. When he chose to leave the steppe, he left the animalistic version of him behind to pursue a life as a civilized man. When confronted with the idea of Humbabba, Enkidu is eager to slay him. There are a few correlations between Humbabba and the Enkidu of the steppe such as their monstrous appearance, powerful and large demeanor, and their role in their environment: guardians and protectors. Seeing so much of himself in Humbabba, Enkidu is eager to pursue the beast and kill it with his friend, Gilgamesh. When the time comes, it is Enkidu who gives the command to â€Å"strike him again† to Gilgamesh (61). It seems fitting that the man who taught him the ways of his new life would symbolically kill the old Enkidu. Once Enkidu has rid himself of who he used to be, he assumes he is free to live his life the way he pleases; however, in killing Humbabba, he sentenced himself to death in the eyes of the gods. In trying to rid himself of his past, Enkidu found that death is not to be toyed with, and his death was ultimately his own choice. Much like the characters of The Epic of Gilgamesh, Arjuna, the focus of The Bhagavad- GÄ «tÄ , attempts to ignore his dharma in a futile attempt to preserve life. His morality is preventing him from being the great warrior he was created to be; to him, the slaughter of his family and loved ones would be a greater detriment to his dharma than refusing to fight. This belief is so strong in him that he claims that â€Å"[if] the sons of Dhritarashtra, /armed as they are, should murder [him]/weaponless and unresisting, / [he] would know greater happiness† (732). His quarrel with death is not selfish, but selfless; in this way, his suicidal thoughts separate him from Gilgamesh and Enkidu. In his confusion, he turns to the Blessed Lord Krishna for guidance. Since Arjuna’s dharma is to be a warrior and fight, Krishna eases his worries about the sinful acts he must commit. Krishna reminds Arjuna of the basic principles of his beliefs: â€Å"[man] can neither kill nor be kil led. /It is not born, nor is it ever mortal, / and having been, will not pass from existence; /ancient, unborn, eternally existing, /it does not die when the body perishes† (733). Because of this advice, Arjuna sets himself apart from all other characters facing the inevitability of death; he does not have to concern himself with the ramifications of his actions because his religion does not accept the concept of death. No matter how many family members or loved ones he kills, they will not, in his mind and religion, die, but rather be reincarnated. Instead of fighting through the pain of death, he chooses not to believe in it; this reaction, although it is religiously based, is nothing more than a coping mechanism like the denial suffered by Gilgamesh. Despite the differences in their situation, both of these characters struggle with the futility of avoiding death and cope with it in their unique ways. The Thousand and One Nights delivers the reader with and even different take on the theme of inevitable death. Shahrazad is not your typical early literature woman; she is literate, well read, and incredibly intelligent. All of these attributes break women’s stereotypes of the time period and even modern stereotypes. She, above all things, is as much a warrior as the characters previously discussed. Instead of cowering in fear because the king might decide to marry her and kill her, she offers herself to him with courage and, more importantly, a plan. This plan does what neither Gilgamesh, Enkidu, nor Arjuna could do: it cheats death. Of course death will call her somewhere down the road, but she earns a long life and spares the lives of others by intellectually defeating the death-hungry king. From these ancient stories, we can tell that at least since Mesopotamian culture began, people have been enthralled with the idea of death and everlasting life. By looking at media, literature, and many other sources, it is clear that this idea has continued to ring true in today’s society. From people cryogenically freezing their bodies and hoping to be resurrected, to the millions of dollars in research into the effect of telomeres on the longevity of life, to characters in books like the Twilight series who live forever, the idea of eternal life permeates through all aspects of human culture. Many people would be lying if they said that dying scared them or they had not thought about what it would be like to live forever. Despite man’s ever growing interest in death, it is important to concentrate on what is important in life. Siduri, a tavern keeper in The Epic of Gilgamesh leaves the reader with profound words, â€Å"Let your stomach be full, /Make every day a de light. /Night and day play and dance. /Your clothes should be clean, /Your head should be washed, / You should bathe in water, / Look proudly on the little one holding your hand, /Let your mate be always blissful in your loins, / This, then, is the work of mankind† (76).

Poaching is Savage and Not in a Good Way - Free Essay Example

Did you know that currently, rhino horn can sell for more than gold?   Rhino horn is sold most often as a result of poaching.   Poaching is not beneficial to anyone.   If you value animal life, then you will be against poaching.   Poaching should be banned because it is not only cruel, but it also damages our economy. Before you take a side on poaching, you need to be informed.   Dictionary.com states that poaching is the illegal practice of trespassing on anothers property to hunt or steal game without the landowners permission.   Animals that are poached commonly are elephants, rhinos, and many other African animals. Poaching has been going on for a while, but a recent surge in wildlife trade is threatening to undo years of conservation.   The reason for this, as stated by One Green Planet, is that poaching can affect local communities, the environment, and animals in the area.   This means that this surge will not only un-do conservation gains, but it will also affect many other factors in the area.   The World Wildlife Fund or WWF states that not all wildlife trade is illegal.   They explain that it turns into poaching when it is indeed threatening the survival of these species.   You must also have a permit to authorize you or you are technically poaching. If poaching continues, it will continue to undo conservation gains. Poaching affects many things including the local communities.   Furthermore, One Green Planet mentions that if you have a community that relies on its wildlife to attract tourists, then their economy will suffer if the poaching rate is high.   Simply, if the wildlife is gone, so is their tourist business, which definitely has a significant impact.   This is one of the reasons that there are so many people living in poverty in Africa.   Furthermore, One Green Planet claims that when there are fewer animals, it causes people to boycott locations, which causes other attractions to suffer.   When you do not have your main attraction, no one comes in the first place.   When tourists do not come at all, the other attractions, aside from the wildlife business, suffer as well.   Economies and communities are impacted more than you might think. One of the most obvious aspects that poaching has an effect on is animal life.   One Green Planet suggests that the biggest threat to these animals is extinction.   The western black rhino was proved to be extinct due to poaching.   Many other animals are critically endangered, such as the standard black rhino, vulnerable, like zebras, or extinct, like the western black rhino, due to poaching.   The World Wildlife Foundation claims that often, poachers accidentally kill a whole other species then intended.   For example, they could be trying to kill a rhino, but accidentally kill a bird or another animal instead.   This kills even more animals.   Extinction of animals is the most urgent and direct effect of poaching. You must also think about the effect poaching has on the environment around you.   For example, One Green Planet informs that when an animal in a food web goes extinct or is endangered, it affects the rest of the organisms in that food web.   When this happens, animals get over or underpopulated.   This causes the whole ecosystem to be jumbled. Overall, all of the organisms in an ecosystem depend on each other. There are also a few effects on humans from poaching as well.   For instance, an article by the name of The Harmful Consequences of Poaching. claims that many animals that are poached have diseases deadly to humans. Some of these diseases can be transferred through contact, or when you eat meat that has not been treated properly.   In fact, the 1990 Ebola outbreak as due to eating apes that were infected by Ebola.   Poaching could have a significant effect on your life as well. People poach for many different reasons.   The American Wildlife Foundation or AWF, states that due to recent habitat loss, lions are being forced to live closer to humans..   Therefore, the farmers are retaliating by killing them for preying on their livestock.   This is poaching out of sheer retaliation, but the overall cause is habitat loss and that is doing damage in our environment as well. Hence, with this current rate of poaching in Africa, many beloved animals may be gone while we are still alive.   The laws regarding poaching are much too vague.   Furthermore, as stated by WWF, weak judicial systems and light sentences allow criminal networks to keep plundering wildlife with little regard to consequences.   Therefore, people continue to poach because there are not many risks, but many rewards.   Usually, the people behind the plans are not caught so they just hire more people to poach once they get the profit.   For instance, an article called The Harmful Consequences of Poaching. conveyed that usually, the money poachers get is mostly used to pay more people to poach more animals.   This cycle will keep continuing over and over again.   Eventually, this cycle will kill off more and more animals.   Poachers continue to do this due to lack of consequence.     Poaching is not the only thing people are doing, they also do much more to damage the environment, communities, and other animals.   As stated by an article named The Harmful Consequences of Poaching., some poachers are not only killing these animals but are instead capturing them to sell as pets.   This is very corrupt and frankly dangerous.   These are wild animals and are not trained, they could potentially injure or kill someone if this keeps going on.   Also, WWF reports that wildlife traders and buyers also sometimes introduce ivasive species to environments.   This means that a species is not native to an area comes into the environment.   When this happens, the balance of nature and the environment is threatened.   This throws off the balance because the ivasive species can eat all of one animals prey and the predator and prey get underpopulated.   The predator has nothing to eat and the prey is getting eaten too much.   This is not directly related to p oaching, but it is still an issue with wildlife.   Overall, illegal wildlife activity is harmful and has many effects on different things.  Ã‚  Ã‚   Some people poach just to make a living.   One Green Planet claims that in some regions, poaching is more profitable than other jobs, causing more people to do it.   In fact, tiger parts can sell for up to $5,000 mostly on the black market.   As shown above, AWF reveals that presently, on the black market, rhino horn can sell for more than gold.   Some people see poaching as a great way to make a living.   It does pay a lot, but no amount of money is worth the extinction of a whole animal species. After all,   the more people that poach, the more negative effect it has.   Some might argue that rhino horn can be used for medicinal properties. They think that since it cures hangovers, fevers, cancer, and other diseases, it is ok to poach animals.   However, this is not the case, many organizations have yet to produce proven factual evidence that this will actually work.   Although everyone wants this to be true, it does not make poaching just or right.   In fact, it is proven by several organizations that rhino horn is proven to cure none of these things. There are many organizations helping this cause.   For example, AWF is doing many things to help.   They are training rangers to protect animals, conserving land, working with different conservation groups, and educating people.   They are also providing alternatives to poaching.   They are doing this by making sure wildlife is not harmed in order to sustain local communities.   Some organizations are deciding to calmly spot and fight poachers to catch them in the act.   QZ.com reveals that Prince Harry is supporting British soldiers who are teaching rangers how to deal with poachers.   They are using military-grade equipment to track poachers.   This is mainly taking place in Kenya.   This is taking a stand against poaching, without harming anyone.   Also, VETPAW (QZ.com) is partnering U.S. veterans and African game parks to teach them military tactics.   They are trying to teach the rangers to find where poachers are coming from so they can knock them out by their source.   Some people are arguing this movement.   However, the organization states that they are not doing anything to harm the wildlife or the poachers.   Many organizations are eager to help take down this issue in Africa. You can help this cause in many different ways.   One Green Planet recommends signing petitions to end wildlife crime and making donations for various organizations.   You can also volunteer to help with fundraisers and sign up for different learning experiences. An article called The Harmful Consequences of Poaching. suggests that you can help by spreading the word.   You need to educate people about this issue.   You can even start a fundraiser in your own community.   Even you can help with something that seems so distant.  Ã‚   This last piece of evidence can help you decide what you will go on to do next, but the bottom line is that poaching is a horrible epidemic.   It should be banned because it is cruel and it also damages our economy.   It is also important to keep in mind all of the things that poaching effects.   Have you ever gone to the store and seen a beautiful ivory bracelet?   I bet you do not know what went into the making of that bracelet.   Do you really think that one pretty bracelet is worth the life of an elephant or rhino?   Everyone needs to realize that if we do not stop poaching, many animals that we depend on and love will be gone.