Summary of The Pianist Essay -- essays research papers

The Pianist Summary From 1939 to 1945, the world merely watched while six million Jews were viciously executed by the Nazis. Never in the history of the world had man kind experienced such evil against one class of people. The Pianist, a movie directed by Roman Polanski, is a touching, yet brutally honest film about a man living under the unforgiving conditions of the Holocaust. Adrien Brody demonstrates spectacular acting skills while playing this man, Wladyslaw Szpilman. The story starts out in Warsaw, Poland, 1939, at the house of Szpilman’s Jewish family. Szpilman helped to support his family by playing the piano at different cafes and bars, and for the Polish radio station. By 1940, the Nazi force had already impacted many of the Jewish population. The Jewish were only allowed into some shops and restaurants, they had to walk in the gutters, and bow to the Nazis. On October 13, 1940, the Nazis issued an announcement stating that all Jews had to report to a â€Å"settlement† in Warsaw by the 31st and wear one-inch armbands with the Star of David printed on them. This was to dist... Summary of The Pianist Essay -- essays research papers The Pianist Summary From 1939 to 1945, the world merely watched while six million Jews were viciously executed by the Nazis. Never in the history of the world had man kind experienced such evil against one class of people. The Pianist, a movie directed by Roman Polanski, is a touching, yet brutally honest film about a man living under the unforgiving conditions of the Holocaust. Adrien Brody demonstrates spectacular acting skills while playing this man, Wladyslaw Szpilman. The story starts out in Warsaw, Poland, 1939, at the house of Szpilman’s Jewish family. Szpilman helped to support his family by playing the piano at different cafes and bars, and for the Polish radio station. By 1940, the Nazi force had already impacted many of the Jewish population. The Jewish were only allowed into some shops and restaurants, they had to walk in the gutters, and bow to the Nazis. On October 13, 1940, the Nazis issued an announcement stating that all Jews had to report to a â€Å"settlement† in Warsaw by the 31st and wear one-inch armbands with the Star of David printed on them. This was to dist...

Japanese Comfort Women Essay

It is estimated that between one and two hundred thousand female sex slaves were forced to deliver sexual services to Japanese soldiers, both before and during World War II. These women were known as comfort women and the Imperial Conference, which was composed of the emperor, representatives from the armed forces and the main Cabinet ministers, approved their use by Japanese soldiers. Walkom) The term â€Å"comfort women† refers to the victims of a â€Å"premeditated systematic plan originated and implemented by the government of Japan to enslave women considered inferior and subject them to repeated mass rapes,† said Michael D. Hausefeld, one of over 35 lawyers in his firm representing the former sexual prisoners in a class action lawsuit currently pending against the Japanese government. (Eddy) Since ancient times, prostitutes in Japan chose to sell their bodies either for family, poverty, or for saving her husband and her children. More or less, their sacrifices were seen as positive. But, being forced to become comfort woman by Japanese is seen as negative. The difference between the Japanese prostitutes and comfort women is that the comfort women did not choose to be trapped as a sex slave and they were not paid for what they did. In 1931, when the Japanese army invaded Manchuria, â€Å"comfort houses† made their first appearances. These comfort houses were created to provide the Japanese soldiers with outlets for their sexual needs. In the beginning, there were only a few comfort houses but after the Nanjin Massacre occurred in 1937, many more were added, basically to every place that the Japanese were stationed. (Walkom) After the Japanese soldiers slaughtered thousands of Chinese people in the Nanjin Massacre, they barbarically raped an insurmountable number of women. As a result, anti-Japanese sentiments grew and it became harder to fully occupy these lands. The government set up comfort houses to decrease disorder and give the approximately two million soldiers a place to satisfy their sexual needs. The Japanese did not have enough prostitutes to supply the needs of the soldiers so they commissioned civilians to develop comfort houses. At the time, only a small percentage of Japanese women were mobilized to â€Å"work† in comfort houses and they were all prostitutes to begin with. The majority of the comfort women were actually Korean women, who were forcibly taken from Korea to service the needs of the Japanese soldiers. After the war, the Japanese government destroyed all evidence of their involvement in Japanese comfort houses, enforcing that commercial businessmen were responsible for the movement of women. Many of the comfort women were kidnapped or deceived into voluntarily working in comfort houses. Once they were there, they were trapped and forced into prostitution. Some women reported that Japanese agents offered them good jobs or education. Others were told that each family in the village had to donate a daughter to the war effort. Many others were offered food, shelter and factory jobs. The Japanese also kidnapped young, unmarried girls when they had a shortage of comfort women. The ages of the girls in the comfort houses ranged from 15 to 19, with the minority exception of some younger girls and some older, married women. The girls were transported between military bases like cargo, under heavy guard in army trucks, trains, ship and bus. They were forced to lose their virginity before arriving at the bases to prepare them for having sexual intercourse with tens of soldiers every day. Many women contemplated death after this, as they believed their virginity to be more precious than life. (Henson) When living in the comfort houses, the comfort women lived in fear and desperation. They were unable to leave, as they were heavily guarded. Each day, they were penetrated by as many as 50 soldiers, until they were sore and bloated to the point of not being able to open their legs. If they were infected with a sexually transmitted disease, they received injections known as Injection 606. If infected enough times, they lost their fertility. In Japan, infected women were killed. Their food was mixed with cyanide, their bodies taken to a cave and finally, the cave was blown up with a grenade. The comfort houses made money off these women and it is believed that the Japanese government paid them, as most of the soldiers paid by coupons. As soon as the war was finished, the Japanese Imperialist guards disappeared without trace. Most comfort women describe the experience this way, † Suddenly, the soldiers came no more, and upon asking we found that the war had ended. † In other regions, as the Japanese committed â€Å"harikari†, the women were forced to do the same. In extreme cases, the women were put in a cave and blown up. After the war, many of the comfort women were too sick to be moved and were taken under the care of the American army. Most of the women were left with no place to go, as they were in a strange country with no money, and were too humiliated to go home. According to one comfort woman, † my body’s wasted, therefore I do not dare go home in fear of being ignored and looked down upon. † Even after the war ended, the comfort women were not free. Their guilty minds and inferiority complexes kept them from returning home and they stayed in foreign countries. The small amount that married, were often forced to separate after the fact that they were comfort women was known, or they were divorced because they could not have children. The victims are still suffering the pain physically and psychologically. More than half of them could not get pregnant, and most of them have chronicle diseases. Furthermore, the psychological impact on these women made them felt themselves dirty, ashamed that they disgraced themselves and isolated themselves from others. They are either afraid of getting married, or unable to ask for any commitment from their lovers. For those who got married, their marriage was unstable and unhappy due to their past. Some thought that they must have done something evil in their previous life that they have to be punished in this life. (Hicks) They go to tempos to chant sutras, to confess, to pursue liberation, and they even commit suicide. Although the period of time they spent at the Japanese military base was a small part of their life, what they had experienced caused an incurable impact on their health, marriage, mind, and social adaptation. Although the Japanese government continues to deny or minimize their involvement with comfort women, their defense is unraveling. A conference on â€Å"Japanese Crimes Against Humanity: Sexual Slavery and Forced Labor† was held last year, in which Japanese researchers delivered papers which claimed that the Japanese military, the rest of the government, and Japanese industry were all involved in the decision to provide sex slaves for the country’s soldiers. (Chunghee) Japanese historian Hirofumi Hayashi said: â€Å"The establishment and development of the military ‘comfort women’ system†¦ as not only carried out by the total involvement of every section of the military but also by administrative machinery at every level of the Japanese state†¦ In addition, we should not overlook that Japanese companies were their accomplices. † (Chunghee) Researchers from the Center for Research and Documentation of Japan’s War Responsibilities in Yo kohama showed that Japanese rubber companies were under government contract to supply 20 million condoms a year to armed forces once the decision had been made to provide sex slaves to the soldiers. Rumiko Nishino wrote that â€Å"high-ranking adjutants† commissioned by Cabinet and sub-Cabinet-level government officials implemented the distribution of the condoms. The availability of condoms to the general population became â€Å"almost nil. † (Chunghee) Last year, the Japanese appeals court overturned an earlier ruling that orders the government to compensate women who were forced to serve as sex slaves during World War II. Both sides had appealed that ruling. The plaintiffs because they thought the compensation was too small, and the government because they refused to pay. Duke) In deciding in favor of the government, the Hiroshima High Court said abducting women to use them as forced laborers and sex slaves was not a serious constitutional violation. Tokyo has admitted that its wartime army had set up brothels, and forced thousands of Koreans, Filipinos, Dutch and Chinese to serve as prostitutes, but it has refused to compensate these victims. Historians say as many as 200,000 women were forced into sexual slavery during World War II.

Essay on The Color Purple by Alice Walker - 1129 Words

The story of The Color Purple begins with a fourteen year old girl named Celie who was raped repeatedly by her step-father. The only one she was told to speak to was God, so she did this by writing him daily letters. The book starts out in the first letter with Celie describing how and why she is pregnant with her second child. This child was the result of her getting raped by her step-father, Alphonso. At the time, Celie believes that Alphonso is her real father because that is what her mother has always told her. Her mother ends up dying shortly after, and her step-father brings home a new wife. Although he has a new wife, he continues to abuse and rape Celie. Celie never saw her children for they were taken away from her by Alphonso†¦show more content†¦Harpo is the son of Albert, and he belonged to his fathers first marriage. Harpo tries to beat his wife, Sofia, so that she will be as obedient as Celie. However, he soon learns that Sofia is a strong woman and wont take a ny beating from anyone. She leaves Harpo, takes their children, and goes to live with her sister. To Celie, Sofia is just another hero who can speak for herself and not be afraid of any man. After many long months with no word from Sofia, Harpo knows she isnt coming back home. He decides to move on with his life by turning their house into a saloon and asks Shug, who is a talented popular singer, to come sing for him. The saloon does well and everyone seems to be happy. Harpo found another girl by the name of Mary Agnes, but goes by Squeak. One day while Sofia was in town the mayors wife starts making small talk with Sofia about coming to work for her as a maid, which was the wrong thing to say. She fights back and gets put in jail for sassing the mayors wife, and for knocking the mayor down. Being in jail breaks Sofias spirit and she wouldve died if her friends had not figured out a way to get her out. They got her a job working as a maid in a white womans house. This was exactly w hat she never wanted to become, a white womans maid. She regains her health, but her spirit is still broken. Celie and Albert didnt love each other, theyd married for convenience, or at least AlbertShow MoreRelatedThe Color Purple By Alice Walker1355 Words   |  6 PagesDecember, 2015 Just A Single Purple Wildflower In A Field Of Weeds Alice walker once said, â€Å"No person is your friend (or kin) who demands your silence, or denies your right to grow and be perceived as fully blossomed as you were intended. Or who belittles in any fashion the gifts you labor so to bring into the world.† The color purple has timelessly been used to convey pictures of power and ambition, it is also associated with the feeling of independence. The Color Purple is the story of the constantRead MoreThe Color Purple By Alice Walker710 Words   |  3 PagesThe Series of unfortunate events in The Color Purple The Color Purple by Alice Walker starts off with a rather graphic view of a young black woman denominated as Celie. Celie has to learn how to survive her abusive past. She also has to figure out a way she can release her past in search of the true meaning of love. Alice walker wrote this book as an epistolary novel to further emphasize Celie`s life events. From the beginning of the novel Alice Walker swiftly establishes an intimate contact withRead MoreThe Color Purple by Alice Walker1192 Words   |  5 Pagesas a novel containing graphic violence, sexuality, chauvinism, and racism, The Color Purple was banned in numerous schools across the United States. Crude language, brutality, and explicit detail chronicle the life of Celie, a young black woman exposed to southern society’s harshness. While immoral, the events and issues discussed in Alice Walker’s The Color Purple remain pervasive in today’s society. The Color Purple epitomizes the hardships that African A mericans faced at the turn of the centuryRead MoreThe Color Purple by Alice Walker675 Words   |  3 Pagesthe world exist for their own reasons. They were not made for humans any more than black people were made for white, or women created for men.† Straight from the mouth of Alice Walker this quote was spoken in order to point out that fact that none of God’s creatures were put on this Earth to be someone else’s property. Alice Walker is an African-American novelist and poet who took part in the 1960’s civil rights movement in Mississippi. Walkers creative vision was sparked by the financial sufferingRead MoreThe Color Purple by Alice Walker921 Words   |  4 PagesAlice Walker’s realistic novel, The Color Purple revolves around many concerns that both African American men and women faced in an era, where numerous concerns of discrimination were raised. Religious and gender issues are confronted by the main characters which drive the plot and pa int a clear image of what life may possibly have been like inside an African American home. Difficulties were faced by each and every character specifically Celie and Nettie who suffered heavy discrimination throughoutRead MoreThe Color Purple By Alice Walker1540 Words   |  7 Pages Alice Walker is an award winning   author, most famously recognized for her novel   The Color Purple ;aside from being a novelist Walker is also a poet,essayist and activist .Her writing explores various social aspects as it concerns women and also celebrates political as well as social revolution. Walker has gained the reputation of being a prominent spokesperson and a symbolic figure for black feminism. Proper analyzation   of Walker s work comes from the   knowledge on her early life, educationalRead MoreThe Color Purple By Alice Walker3360 Words   |  14 Pagesâ€Å"Womanist is to feminist as purple is to lavender† (Yahwon). Alice Walker views herself as a womanist. Although a womanist and feminist are similar, the two terms are not exactly the same. According to Professor Tamara Baeouboeuf-Lafonant: [Womanism] focuses on the experiences and knowledge bases of black women [which] recognizes and interrogates the social realities of slavery, segregation, sexism, and economic exploitation this group has experienced during its history in the United States. FurthermoreRead MoreThe Color Purple by Alice Walker1100 Words   |  5 PagesThe Color Purple by Alice Walker is a story written in 1982 that is about the life struggles of a young African American woman named Celie. The novel takes the reader through several main topics including the poor treatment of African American women, domestic abuse, family relationships, and also religion. The story takes place mostly in rural Georgia in the early 1900’s and demonstrates the difficult life of sharecropper families. Specifically how life was endured from the perspective of an AfricanRead MoreThe Color Purple by Alice Walker926 Words   |  4 PagesThe award-winning novel, â€Å"The Color Purple† by Alice Walker, is a story about a woman going through cruel things such as: incest, rape, and physical abuse. This greatly written novel comes from a very active feminist author who used many of her own experiences, as well as things that were happening during that era, in her writing. â€Å"The Color Purple† takes place in the early 1900s, and symbolizes the economic, emotional, and social deprivation that African American women faced in Southern statesRead MoreThe Color Purple By Alice Walker1495 Words   |  6 PagesThe Color Purple, is a novel written by the American author Alice Walker. The novel won the 1983 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and is also regarded to be her most successful piece of work. It has developed into an award winning film and was recently made into a Broadway play. The story continues to impress readers throughout the decades due to its brutal honesty. The novel successfully and truthfully demonstrates what life was like for black women during the early twentieth century. The book discusses