Refugee Mother and Child Essay Example

Refugee Mother and Child Paper The poem Refugee Mother and Child is the representation of the universal theme, of mother and child and an example of the true and advanced works of Chinua Achebe. Chinua Achebe was born in the 1930s, an African novelist and poet, who wrote the poem Refugee Mother and Child after visiting people in countries at war. He was inspired, and brilliantly illustrates the difficulties and suffering of the people through the eyes of a mother. The title is short and direct. It tells you exactly what the poem is about- the portrayal of the relationship between a mother and her child in a refugee camp. The poem is organised into two stanzas each of different lengths. The lines are not long, explained clearly with simple meanings. The poet adopts the blank style of writing. The main theme of the poem is Mother and child. This is a worldwide theme, and with Chinuas control of language, he is able to depict the horrors of wars, the painful suffering and brings the realities and after-effects of war to a very personal level, through the eyes of a mother. It is an eternal theme for any war that takes place. We will write a custom essay sample on Refugee Mother and Child specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Refugee Mother and Child specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Refugee Mother and Child specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer The poem begins with a reference to Madonna and child. The poet compares the image of the ideal mother and child to the mother and child in the poem and explains to readers, that nothing ever seen before, not even the perfect image of a mother and child can compare to the affection and care between the mother and son in the poem. These lines, will tell you that, her son is dying, and she would have to forget him. These opening lines grab complete attention of the reader. Chinua then moves on from the mother and child to the standards of livings at a refugee camp. He lucidly describes the war scene and the lives of the people living at the refugee site. He explains to us the stench of diarrhoea that was throughout the camp, with children that are victims of malnutrition and starvation. The poet uses harsh words, such as washed out ribs, dried up bottoms and blown empty bellies. to explain the severity of the situation. The circumstances, illustrate the brutality and cruelty of war and explains the lack of basic essential necessities, and hence the lack of survival. The situation is a simple effigy of the reality of life in countries at war. A feeling of hopelessness pervades the air, as the mothers in the camp have given up faith. The situation is full of despair and despondency. However, there is hope witnessed in one mother who does not let go of her faith. Note how, there is an emphasis on but not this one as if to distinguish that mother from the others, and how she had not lost trust. Although her child is dying, she comforts both him, and herself. The rust coloured hair left is another situation that illustrates the under nourishment of the child and the lack of food. The word skull is foreboding, and explains that doom is around the corner. Note the use of ellipses that force the reader to think of the attachment and emotional bond between mother and child. The combing of hair is the last gesture. It is a ritual, and is a simple act taken for granted in our everyday lives. It is the very last loving touch of the mother. Due to the ailment of the child, the mother provides her child, with the only simple pleasure she can offer him; she combs his hair. This intensifies the readers empathy and compassion for the mother. The simplicity of this act brings to life the enormity of the painful conditions. The poet uses simple graphic words and vivid images, creating a visual image that the reader can sense and feel. The words are skilfully woven to illustrate the misery and dejection in the refugee camp using imagery. The poet uses a metaphor ghost smile and compares the smile to a ghost,. She may have been emaciated herself as she was proud to have her son, but is in dismay, as she could not protect him from the harshness of the world. The poem ends with a painful simile now she did it like putting flowers on a tiny grave. This demonstrates the attachment between the mother and child, and how the last gesture of combing her childs hair, was like saying goodbye to him. Chinuas control over the English language allows him to use plain and ordinary words but with powerful meanings to leave an impact on the reader. The tone is painful, depressing, and one of melancholy and grief. It shows us the pain of losing a loved one, and the sorrow of war. The poem has no rhyme scheme, and is more like a eulogy or epitaph. This is because; a rhyme scheme may hamper the effect of the poem and the powerful display of emotions. The poem teaches us the most pure and sacred relationship of a mother and child. The poem engenders a feeling of sympathy for the mother and it creates a vivid image of a mother holding on to her son, before he breathes his last. It brings to light the after-effects of war and illuminates the emotional bond between a mother and her child. The poem applies to mankind in general, and elucidates the reality and suffering of war. Chinua Achebe simply reinforces, the dread, horror and dismay of the war scene through the eyes of a mother.

Free Essays on Clinical Interviewing

Given the specific situation of having a limited amount of therapy sessions, it would be difficult in being able to take time in the exploration stage. Naturally, I would reserve the first two sessions for the exploration stage only, given that the reason for the clients visits are not due to more difficult problems (i.e. suicide, rape, multiple personalities). Although other disorders/illnesses are relevant, more severe reasons for therapy sessions may reserve more sessions in the exploration stage due to the severity. It may be more difficult for a person who was rapped as a child to express their feelings and think of the complexity of their problems than it would for a mother who is feeling depressed because her child left the home. Again, every situation is different, and this is a generalization. Before being able to move on, I as a therapist, would need to feel confident in the reliability of the clients thoughts and feelings. The client must be able to explore throughout his/her problems without hesitation. Because the action and insight stage are more difficult to complete, there must be a good level of rapport before proceeding onto the next levels. Due to the time restraint, it would be necessary to proceed with a good level of rapport instead of a strong one. I would need to know the details of the particular problem the client is facing, what current mental and medical status the client is in, and lastly, what particular goals the client has set to reach by attending therapy. If the goals far exceed what I may be able to touch upon within the given time, I would express my concerns with the patient and explain that there are only 10 approved sessions, that we would work through as many â€Å"issues† as we could, but I would then recommend the patient attending more sessions if he/she could afford to do so. Because it would do more harm than good for a therapist to brush upon subjects a client may bring up due to the time ... Free Essays on Clinical Interviewing Free Essays on Clinical Interviewing Given the specific situation of having a limited amount of therapy sessions, it would be difficult in being able to take time in the exploration stage. Naturally, I would reserve the first two sessions for the exploration stage only, given that the reason for the clients visits are not due to more difficult problems (i.e. suicide, rape, multiple personalities). Although other disorders/illnesses are relevant, more severe reasons for therapy sessions may reserve more sessions in the exploration stage due to the severity. It may be more difficult for a person who was rapped as a child to express their feelings and think of the complexity of their problems than it would for a mother who is feeling depressed because her child left the home. Again, every situation is different, and this is a generalization. Before being able to move on, I as a therapist, would need to feel confident in the reliability of the clients thoughts and feelings. The client must be able to explore throughout his/her problems without hesitation. Because the action and insight stage are more difficult to complete, there must be a good level of rapport before proceeding onto the next levels. Due to the time restraint, it would be necessary to proceed with a good level of rapport instead of a strong one. I would need to know the details of the particular problem the client is facing, what current mental and medical status the client is in, and lastly, what particular goals the client has set to reach by attending therapy. If the goals far exceed what I may be able to touch upon within the given time, I would express my concerns with the patient and explain that there are only 10 approved sessions, that we would work through as many â€Å"issues† as we could, but I would then recommend the patient attending more sessions if he/she could afford to do so. Because it would do more harm than good for a therapist to brush upon subjects a client may bring up due to the time ...

Reaction paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 25

Reaction paper - Essay Example As a reaction to the freeing of slaves, some Southerners had resulted in killing government couriers as well as soldiers. The Southerners had indulged in an opposition against the Union, a factor that contributed to a complete absence of patriotism. Such factors explained why the president wanted Schurz to compile a report concerning the views of the Southerners. This paper will critically analyze some of the aspects discussed in the report presented by Schurz. In the report, Schurz discussed the attitudes of Southerners towards African Americans. The Southerners had harbored a belief that African Americans were unable to work without any form of compulsion (Johnson 309). In their view, African Americans could only be productive, if there were white masters compelling them to undertake tasks. In my view, this was a misconception because African-Americans could make a living by working as free people. The problem in the Southern States was that freed slaves never received the right opportunities to exploit their potential. In addition, the slave masters had spent several years with African Americans, but they did not understand their true characters. The report does highlight that the slave masters viewed African Americans as very deceitful. However, many African Americans serving as slaves were smart enough to hide their strategies from the masters. The Southerners also believed that African Americans only existed for one purpose. In their view, the purpose was cultivating cash crops such as cotton and rice (310). They opined that African Americans were not in a position to pursue their happiness. Such assumptions were wrong, African Americans had the will to pursue happiness, and their only barrier was slavery (308). The report also reveals that there were high levels of persecution directed towards African Americans

In What Way That American Western Land Policy Affects United States's Research Paper

In What Way That American Western Land Policy Affects United States's Economy - Research Paper Example Generally in European countries at that time landlords owned most of the territories and peasants were working as a lower class servants. But US federal government, far sighting the future, came up with a different policy. They acquired the whole land and then redistributed it to common man. The Land Ordinance of 1785 made it easy for a settler to acquire a land of his own. The distribution of the land was intelligently crafted into sections of square mile with four equal subsections of 160 acre. (White 1991). These subsections were then sold at public auctions. Federal Land Policy: The distribution of land was initiated at a fair price of $2 per acre but the condition was to minimally buy the whole subsector of 160 acre. To ease the burden the money can be given over four years. Although the aim of land policy was to encourage a common man in buying the land, this policy also favored the speculators. They bought a lot of land with a vision that raised price in future will provide th em with a hefty profit. In the beginning, however, the process of land distribution was not well organized as federal land offices were located miles away from the distributed lands. But much amendments were made in the 1820s when the price of per acre was reduced to 1.2$ and minimum land acquisition requirement reduced to 80 acres only. Also the federal land offices were placed at convenient locations to facilitate the process. These changes significantly increase the number of buyer as more and more common men could afford the price now. Problem of squatter was on the rise and Pre-Emption Act was introduced to allow them buy the respective land at a discounted price of 1.25$ per acre (White 1999). Homestead Act: In 1862, despite the civil war in progress, congress came up with a homestead act. This was to facilitate availability of land to the real settlers on the public domain. Under this act an individual who is an American citizen or migrated here and is in process of citizensh ip can apply for a land in public domain. The maximum area under this was about a quarter sections. If a person resides on the land for five years, the land is granted in his name. But the condition applies that he should not leave the place for more than 6 months or in else the land can be taken back by the government. Or the person can buy this land at discounted rates. In the span of 122 years (1862-1986) government sold about 25% of land under Homestead Act. It provided capital for stabilizing economy as well as provided a new home and settlement for many citizens. Railway Road Grants: Between 1862 and 1872 congress gave railway road grants to develop railway tracks. About 125 million acre of land was granted for such development. This was to result in economic boost with no theoretical loss of money in grants. It was speculated that the land near the railway tracks will have double the actual value hence recovering the money lost in land grants. (White 1991). These rail roads a cted as a catalyst in increasing the rate of settlement. Many new settlements emerged along the tracks. Also it supported the farmers as they found a medium for cheap transportation of their goods. As a simple rule of economics, before a significant large scale production of any commodity is achieved, it is very important to have an access to open markets where these products could be sold. Another important

Two Bildungsromans in One Story Essay Example for Free

Two Bildungsromans in One Story Essay In Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, Scout and Jem Finch become more cultured and mature young-adults by experiencing different events. Scout became more lady-like when she observed and helped Calpurnia at her Aunt Alexandra’s brunch. Jem learned from Atticus and Miss Maudie that you should not take pride in your talents. Jem and Scout Finch became more adult-like and mature young people by experiencing different events. It begins with Scout sitting in on her Aunt Alexandra’s missionary brunch. Scout Finch became more lady-like when she observed and helped out at her Aunt Alexandra’s brunch. Scout saw that Calpurnia was doing everything, so she asked if Cal needed any help. ‘â€Å"Can I help you Cal?’ I asked, wishing to be of some service.† (Lee 306). Even when Miss Stephanie Crawford asked Scout if she wanted to be a lawyer when she grew up, Scout stopped and thought for herself, rather than to please others. ‘â€Å"Don’t you want to be a lawyer?† Miss Maudie’s hand touched mine and I answered mildly enough, ‘Nome, just a lady.†Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ (Lee 308) Scout learned in this chapter how to be a lady, just as Jem over the course of chapters, learned how to be a gentleman. Jem learned from Atticus and Miss Maudie that a gentleman never takes pride in his talents. When Jem saw his father shoot a wandering mad dog dead-on, he realized something very important; a gentleman should never take pride in his talents. â€Å"Jem became vaguely articulate: ‘D you see him, Scout? D’ you see him just standin’ there?’n’ all of a sudden he just relaxed all over, an’ it looked like that gun was a part of him†¦an’ he did it so quick, like†¦I hafta aim for ten minutes ‘fore I can hit somethin’†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Lee 129). Miss Maudie had to explain to Jem why his father never told him about his talent in hunting. ‘â€Å"People in their right minds never take pride in their talents,’ said Miss Maudie.† (Lee 130). Both Jem and Scout Finch had small, different realizations throughout the book. Both Jem and Scout Finch learned to become adults in their own different ways. With Scout, she figured out that if you want there to be change in the world, you can’t sit around and do nothing, you have to go out and get it, wherever you can. â€Å"‘Jem, how can you hate Hitler so bad, an’ then turn around and be ugly about folks right at home-†Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ (Lee 331). For Jem, growing up is more about facing the world for it is, and not what he wished it would be. â€Å"Atticus said that Jem was trying hard to forget something, but what he was really doing was storing it away for a while, until enough time passed. Then he would be able to think about it and sort things out.† (Lee 331). In Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, Scout and Jem Finch became more informed, and mature young-adults by watching the examples set by their family, and the people who love them. Scout learned from Calpurnia that if you can help someone, then you should. Jem learned from Miss Maudie that people in their right minds never take pride in their talents. Even though they learn it by going through different events, they both come to the conclusion that to change the world, you must first change what is around you. Works Cited Lee, Harper. To Kill a Mockingbird. New York: Grand Central Publishing, 1960. Print.

The Different Types of Love Expressed by Pre-1914 Poets Essay -- Poetr

The Different Types of Love Expressed by Pre-1914 Poets These 3 poems are completely different to each other. Porphyria’s Lover is obsessive and violent love, How Do I Love Thee? Is more of an undying love and the poem Remember is more like truthful love. In this essay I’ll take each poem and in a sentence or two explain the type of love that each poem demonstrates. I’ll also use quotations to show each of my poems shows a different type of love. The poem Porphyria’s Lover portrays the type of love in a sexual and passionate way. In the poem Porphyria’s Lover a man is speaking about the woman he loves. The love portrayed in Porphyria’s Lover is different than in the other poems because in this poem the man kills the woman so he can take control over her forever this is demonstrated here, ‘I found a thing to do, and all her hair In one long yellow string I wound Three times her little throat around, And strangle her’ with this sentence the poet means that the man killed the woman so that he can take control over her forever. I think that the man killed the woman so that she could never fall in love with someone else and that the woman would do what the man wants. I don’t think that the poem suggests that relationships are loving because he still killed her if it was love he wouldn’t kill her. The poem Porphyria’s Lover is a perverse love poem because he killed her and he wanted her just for himself and to use her for sex. Also I don’t think that Porphyria’s Lover is a love poem at all because the poem is just telling us how much the man loved the woman and what he would do just so she would be with him forever the man even kills her so that he can control her so I don’t think it’s a love poem ... ...’s Lover, How Do I Love Thee? And Remember show a different way of love. I think that the poem with the most realistic interpretation is Remember because many people that love each other say, ‘Remember me when I am gone away’ and love each other when they live in different countries or when they are apart from each other. Each poem shows a different way of love. Porphyria’s Lover is a violent way of love and the writer is trying to show that how much the man does just for the woman to love him. In the poem How Do I Love Thee? The love is expressed that it’s undying, that nothing would stop their relationship. In the poem Remember the love is shown in a undying way aswell as if their relationship would never end. I think that both Remember and How Do I Love Thee? Are the same kinds of poems but Porphyria’s Lover is completely different to both of them.

Comparing and Contrasting Wong’s “Noodles vs. Sesame Seed Buns” with Dash’s “Rice Culture”

â€Å"What did you have for dinner? † is a question asked thousands of times every day. Admittedly, people are facing a difficult problem of choosing what to eat, given the variety of options such as Chinese cuisine, American cuisine, and Japanese cuisine, not to mention many variants within each style. Throughout the years, the food industry has incorporated traditional methods as well as adaptations to a changing society. Fast food, for example, has grown exponentially over the past half century. By contrast, traditional foods such as rice remain a crucial part of food culture.Two essays that highlight this contrast are Seanon Wong’s â€Å"Noodles vs. Sesame Seed Buns† and Julie Dash’s â€Å"Rice Culture. † Wong’s essay illustrates the significance of fast food, whereas Dash’s essay discusses traditional cooking methods. While both authors talk about food and cultural traditions, Dash uses an informal voice to discuss preserving her traditions, whereas Wong uses an academic voice to describe the evolution of food traditions in Chinese culture. The main topic for both articles is food.Wong reports on the flourishing of fast food in Hong Kong, showing how Chinese fast food companies have made inroads into the Hong Kong market. For example, as Wong points out, â€Å"Hong Kong’s fast food industry†¦ is dominated by Chinese companies such as Cafe de Coral, Fairwood and Maxim. † (123) By contrast, Dash’s â€Å"Rice Culture† clearly narrates her own rice tradition. Dash begins by telling us â€Å"I come from a family of rice eaters† (138). Apparently, food is the main idea of both Wong’s and Dash’s passages, and therefore, they use food as a reason to develop their stories.Additionally, both authors discuss food in a manner that acts as a springboard to analyzing food’s cross-cultural dimensions. Rice is, admittedly, a basic food in the Eastern world. Howeve r, â€Å"Rice Culture† tell us how Dash and Aunt Gertie cook rice American style. â€Å"Before cooking, Aunt Gertie would wash her rice, really scrub it in a bowl of water until all the water was clear† (Dash 140). She also asserts that â€Å"in the years that followed, the South Carolinian African captives played a major role in establishing a powerful rice culture in the antebellum South† (139).American and African cultures were blended, Dash argues, through the South Carolinian method of introducing a African influence into the American form of rice cooking. Just as traditional cooking benefitted from cross-cultural pollination, so too did fast food, which, Wong argues, created a mixture of American and Chinese food culture. In â€Å"Noodles vs. Sesame Seed Buns†, he finds that â€Å"As American fast food chains have boomed in Hong Kong over the last three decades, the demand for fast food — American or otherwise — has grown even fasterà ¢â‚¬  (123).The cross-cultural issues are ostensibly merged. Moreover, both Wong and Dash illustrate the ways in which food terminology and language are altered cross-culturally. Dash’s â€Å"Rice Culture† looks at foreign terms used to describe German foods. She compares â€Å"German spritzal to†¦ elbow macaroni and cheese† (138). In this case, â€Å"spritzal† is explained as a kind of German noodle dish. Similarly, Wong uses â€Å"foreign† or non-native vocabularies as a way of introducing Chinese food.His article states â€Å"In 1996, Daniang Dumplings was merely a community restaurant in Changzhou in Jiangsu province with only six employees selling arguably the most prototypical of northern Chinese food — Shuijiao†. (126) â€Å"Shuijiao† is a foreign term that describes Chinese boiled dumplings. Both Wong and Dash explore the ways in which native foods are influenced by vocabulary and foreign influence, and this is a similarity in comparing the two articles. Although both Dash and Wong focus on food writing and the intersections between Western and Eastern cultures, there are noticeable differences in tone and voice between the two articles.One huge distinction lies in their respective formality of language. In Dash’s â€Å"Rice Culture†, she narrates the story in first person. She says, â€Å"Today as I stand over a bowl of cold water and rice, scrubbing, I feel Aunt Gertie watching me. † (Dash 140) â€Å"I† dominates the article; her goal in the passage is not to make larger statements, but rather to share her personal experience of cooking rice. The first person tone is intimate. By contrast, Wong’s tone is formal and quantitative, a technique he employs to establish credibility and grab the reader’s attention.He relies on facts, evidence, and statistics, in contrast with Dash’s more qualitative narration. In â€Å"Noodles vs. Sesame Seed Buns †, Wong cites statistics such as, â€Å"over 60 percent of the city’s denizens eat at take-away restaurants at least once a week, compared to only 41 percent and 35 percent in mainland China and the United States respectively† (123). For most readers, these numbers help to establish Wong’s credibility and are more persuasive as arguments rather than simply stating an opinion.The tone of voice contrast between Wong and Dash can subtly lend credibility to their assertions. By analyzing our two main contemporary food models—modern and traditional—Seanon Wong and Julie Dash give us contrasting and complementary ways of looking at food culture. Dash brings up a method of how her aunt cooks rice, â€Å"Before cooking, Aunt Gertie would wash her rice, really scrub it in a bowl of water until all water was clear,† (140) Dash illustrates â€Å"Sometimes she would change the scrubbing water up to ten times! (140) this is an unorthodox and rarel y used method, at least in the modern world. Thus, it can be regarded as a traditional way of cooking food, one that served the Aunt Gertie of the world well, but a way that even Dash finds hard to emulate. By contrast, Wong summarizes the fast food industry in Hong Kong. In his article, fast food represents a new, modern model for people who eat outside, or for people whose time constraints don’t allow for more traditional ways of cooking. In â€Å"Noodles vs.Sesame Seed Buns†, Wong says â€Å"Considering the omnipresence of McDonald’s, KFC and Pizza Hut, American fast food has been a revolutionary force in China’s everyday culture. † Undoubtedly, in Wong’s account, this is a kind of cultural invasion, in which he thinks that Western modern fast food has been detrimental to the values and traditions, not to mention health, of Eastern societies. The pervasiveness and variety of food culture and the importance of cultural distinctions are inc reasingly obvious in the contemporary world. This awareness is especially important where cultures intersect.In these two essays, both authors come to terms with their own food culture, and address cross-cultural issues which are increasingly common. Dash uses a narrative voice to tell her traditional way of cooking rice, while Wong quantifies the modern fast food trend in Hong Kong. The traditional approach seems to emphasize quality, while the modern approach (with fast food signifying modern) emphasizes convenience. Most likely, the food industry of tomorrow will be more mixed, finding a way to integrate quality and offer convenience.When that happens, we will have the best of both worlds; Dash’s traditional approach melded with Wong’s modern sensibilities. Word Count: 1260 words Bibliography Dash, Julie. â€Å"Rice Culture. † Mirror on America: Essays and Images from Popular Culture. Ed. Joan T. Mims and Elizabeth M. Nollen. 5th ed. Boston, MA: Bedford/St. M artins, 2009. 138-41. Print. Wong, Seanon. â€Å"Noodles vs. Sesame Seed Buns. † Mirror on America: Essays and Images from Popular Culture. Ed. Joan T. Mims and Elizabeth M. Nollen. 5th ed. Boston, MA: Bedford/St. Martins, 2009. 124-27. Print. Comparing and Contrasting Wong’s â€Å"Noodles vs. Sesame Seed Buns† with Dash’s â€Å"Rice Culture† â€Å"What did you have for dinner? † is a question asked thousands of times every day. Admittedly, people are facing a difficult problem of choosing what to eat, given the variety of options such as Chinese cuisine, American cuisine, and Japanese cuisine, not to mention many variants within each style. Throughout the years, the food industry has incorporated traditional methods as well as adaptations to a changing society. Fast food, for example, has grown exponentially over the past half century. By contrast, traditional foods such as rice remain a crucial part of food culture.Two essays that highlight this contrast are Seanon Wong’s â€Å"Noodles vs. Sesame Seed Buns† and Julie Dash’s â€Å"Rice Culture. † Wong’s essay illustrates the significance of fast food, whereas Dash’s essay discusses traditional cooking methods. While both authors talk about food and cultural traditions, Dash uses an informal voice to discuss preserving her traditions, whereas Wong uses an academic voice to describe the evolution of food traditions in Chinese culture. The main topic for both articles is food.Wong reports on the flourishing of fast food in Hong Kong, showing how Chinese fast food companies have made inroads into the Hong Kong market. For example, as Wong points out, â€Å"Hong Kong’s fast food industry†¦ is dominated by Chinese companies such as Cafe de Coral, Fairwood and Maxim. † (123) By contrast, Dash’s â€Å"Rice Culture† clearly narrates her own rice tradition. Dash begins by telling us â€Å"I come from a family of rice eaters† (138). Apparently, food is the main idea of both Wong’s and Dash’s passages, and therefore, they use food as a reason to develop their stories.Additionally, both authors discuss food in a manner that acts as a springboard to analyzing food’s cross-cultural dimensions. Rice is, admittedly, a basic food in the Eastern world. Howeve r, â€Å"Rice Culture† tell us how Dash and Aunt Gertie cook rice American style. â€Å"Before cooking, Aunt Gertie would wash her rice, really scrub it in a bowl of water until all the water was clear† (Dash 140). She also asserts that â€Å"in the years that followed, the South Carolinian African captives played a major role in establishing a powerful rice culture in the antebellum South† (139).American and African cultures were blended, Dash argues, through the South Carolinian method of introducing a African influence into the American form of rice cooking. Just as traditional cooking benefitted from cross-cultural pollination, so too did fast food, which, Wong argues, created a mixture of American and Chinese food culture. In â€Å"Noodles vs. Sesame Seed Buns†, he finds that â€Å"As American fast food chains have boomed in Hong Kong over the last three decades, the demand for fast food — American or otherwise — has grown even fasterà ¢â‚¬  (123).The cross-cultural issues are ostensibly merged. Moreover, both Wong and Dash illustrate the ways in which food terminology and language are altered cross-culturally. Dash’s â€Å"Rice Culture† looks at foreign terms used to describe German foods. She compares â€Å"German spritzal to†¦ elbow macaroni and cheese† (138). In this case, â€Å"spritzal† is explained as a kind of German noodle dish. Similarly, Wong uses â€Å"foreign† or non-native vocabularies as a way of introducing Chinese food.His article states â€Å"In 1996, Daniang Dumplings was merely a community restaurant in Changzhou in Jiangsu province with only six employees selling arguably the most prototypical of northern Chinese food — Shuijiao†. (126) â€Å"Shuijiao† is a foreign term that describes Chinese boiled dumplings. Both Wong and Dash explore the ways in which native foods are influenced by vocabulary and foreign influence, and this is a similarity in comparing the two articles. Although both Dash and Wong focus on food writing and the intersections between Western and Eastern cultures, there are noticeable differences in tone and voice between the two articles.One huge distinction lies in their respective formality of language. In Dash’s â€Å"Rice Culture†, she narrates the story in first person. She says, â€Å"Today as I stand over a bowl of cold water and rice, scrubbing, I feel Aunt Gertie watching me. † (Dash 140) â€Å"I† dominates the article; her goal in the passage is not to make larger statements, but rather to share her personal experience of cooking rice. The first person tone is intimate. By contrast, Wong’s tone is formal and quantitative, a technique he employs to establish credibility and grab the reader’s attention.He relies on facts, evidence, and statistics, in contrast with Dash’s more qualitative narration. In â€Å"Noodles vs. Sesame Seed Buns †, Wong cites statistics such as, â€Å"over 60 percent of the city’s denizens eat at take-away restaurants at least once a week, compared to only 41 percent and 35 percent in mainland China and the United States respectively† (123). For most readers, these numbers help to establish Wong’s credibility and are more persuasive as arguments rather than simply stating an opinion.The tone of voice contrast between Wong and Dash can subtly lend credibility to their assertions. By analyzing our two main contemporary food models—modern and traditional—Seanon Wong and Julie Dash give us contrasting and complementary ways of looking at food culture. Dash brings up a method of how her aunt cooks rice, â€Å"Before cooking, Aunt Gertie would wash her rice, really scrub it in a bowl of water until all water was clear,† (140) Dash illustrates â€Å"Sometimes she would change the scrubbing water up to ten times! (140) this is an unorthodox and rarel y used method, at least in the modern world. Thus, it can be regarded as a traditional way of cooking food, one that served the Aunt Gertie of the world well, but a way that even Dash finds hard to emulate. By contrast, Wong summarizes the fast food industry in Hong Kong. In his article, fast food represents a new, modern model for people who eat outside, or for people whose time constraints don’t allow for more traditional ways of cooking. In â€Å"Noodles vs.Sesame Seed Buns†, Wong says â€Å"Considering the omnipresence of McDonald’s, KFC and Pizza Hut, American fast food has been a revolutionary force in China’s everyday culture. † Undoubtedly, in Wong’s account, this is a kind of cultural invasion, in which he thinks that Western modern fast food has been detrimental to the values and traditions, not to mention health, of Eastern societies. The pervasiveness and variety of food culture and the importance of cultural distinctions are inc reasingly obvious in the contemporary world. This awareness is especially important where cultures intersect.In these two essays, both authors come to terms with their own food culture, and address cross-cultural issues which are increasingly common. Dash uses a narrative voice to tell her traditional way of cooking rice, while Wong quantifies the modern fast food trend in Hong Kong. The traditional approach seems to emphasize quality, while the modern approach (with fast food signifying modern) emphasizes convenience. Most likely, the food industry of tomorrow will be more mixed, finding a way to integrate quality and offer convenience.When that happens, we will have the best of both worlds; Dash’s traditional approach melded with Wong’s modern sensibilities. Word Count: 1260 words Bibliography Dash, Julie. â€Å"Rice Culture. † Mirror on America: Essays and Images from Popular Culture. Ed. Joan T. Mims and Elizabeth M. Nollen. 5th ed. Boston, MA: Bedford/St. M artins, 2009. 138-41. Print. Wong, Seanon. â€Å"Noodles vs. Sesame Seed Buns. † Mirror on America: Essays and Images from Popular Culture. Ed. Joan T. Mims and Elizabeth M. Nollen. 5th ed. Boston, MA: Bedford/St. Martins, 2009. 124-27. Print.