Laura Esquivel

Laura Esquivel is a Mexican writer who was born in Mexico City on September 30 of 1950. She began her writing career during her years as a kindergarten teacher, where she wrote plays for her students. During the years of 1970 and 1980, she wrote scripts for television programs and from there, her writing career continued to excel. She is best known for Like Water for Chocolate, which has sold more than 4.5 Million copies. Some of her other works include: The Law of Love, Between the Fires and Malinche. She was once married; however she is now divorced and is living in Mexico City in Mexico.

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Demographics of Columbia

Colombia is the third most populated country in Latin America and have the fourth-largest number of Spanish speakers in the world after Mexico, the United States, and Spain. The population of Columbia is estimated to be 45,000,000 with most of the population concentrating in the areas of the Andean highlands and also along the Caribbean coast.  The age structure of Columbia is divided into 3 groups, 0-14 years (children) covering about 27 % of the population, 15-64 years (adults) covering about 66% of the population, and 65 years and over (seniors) covering only 6% of the population. The population growth rate is estimated to be about 1.184% and the estimated birth rate is about 17.76 births/ 1000 population, which have decreased ever since 2007, which had a rate of 20.16-births/1,000 population. Death rate is estimated to be 5.24-deaths/1000 population, which decreased by 0.3% ever since 2007. The ethnic groups of Columbia include 58% Mestizo, 20% White, 14% Mulatto, 4% Afro-Colombian, 3% Zambo, and 1% Amerindian; other ethnic groups include Arabs, which is counted within the White population (Lebanese, Palestinians and Syrians), Chinese, Roma or Gypsies from Eastern Europe, and South Asians or East Indians, covering only a small amount of the population.

Politics and the english language

George Orwell’s Politics and the English language criticize contemporary English prose for its poor use of language. He specifically outlines five examples of poor contemporary writing, which includes excerpts from different essays. Orwell’s essay explains our influence on the English language and how it in turn influences us. The essay reminds us the beauty of the English language and its importance within our society.

The essay suggests that our foolish thinking is the result of poor contemporary writing. Orwell complains that many of the writings are too vague with a lack of imagery and many times, the figurative language no longer gives a connection between the images and thoughts. He has written particularly on political writing, which he insists has a lack of precision because the choice of vocabulary is not precise. This gives the writing a lack in meaning, which makes it difficult for people to understand. He brings up the idea that “the present political chaos is connected with the decay of language, and that one can probably bring about some improvement by starting at the verbal end”.

Orwell also suggested solutions to resolve the currently occurring issue. He has suggested 6 rules for writing the English language. Firstly, he suggests to “Never use a metaphor, simile or other figure of speech which you are used to seeing in print”. He then suggests to “Never use a long word where a short one will do”. He says, “If it is possible to cut a word out, always cut it out”. He suggests to “Never use the passive where you can use the active”. He advises us to “Never use a foreign phrase, a scientific word or a jargon word if you can think of an everyday English equivalent. Lastly, he says to “Break any of these rules sooner than say anything barbarous”. These guidelines were set out by George Orwell probably to assist us with valuing the English language instead of abusing it.

Orwell’s criticism reminds us about the beauty of the English language. It allows us to realize that the use of language should not be abused, for language is very precious and sacred. It is not only a form of communication but also a form of art. Without abusing the use of language we are able to create different masterpieces in the form of poetry, essays, literature and so on. The English language “is an instrument for expressing and not for concealing or preventing thought” and it also allows us to have a voice within our society. Many however, is born without the privilege to use this language, which is why language is so sacred and precious, for only a portion of us is given this valuable gift.

Shooting an Elephant Commentary

 

The purpose of Shooting an Elephant seems to be asking for an opinion on his actions, whether what he did was right or wrong. The main theme of the essay be based on the idea that our actions are often influenced by others, especially if we have a low self esteem and insecurities. This idea was expressed through the use of different literary features including the use of tone, voice, mood and characterization.

The tone of voice within Orwell’s essay seems to be very reflective, because he is explaining a past experience. He also makes reflections on his actions; for example, in the last line of the essay “I often wondered whether any of the others grasped that I had done it solely to avoid looking like a fool”, he is questioning his actions.

The essay was written in first person, so it seems like that the voice of this essay belongs to Orwell himself; however, Orwell may have been writing about someone else, but in first person to make the story sound more personal, which makes it easier for the audience to relate to their own experiences.

There was a series of moods within Shooting an Elephant; this includes guilt, confusion, disgust and insecurity. The moods of the character reflect some of the character’s personality. When discussing the killing of the elephant, the character felt guilty, he said, “As soon as I saw the elephant I knew with perfect certainty that I ought not to shoot him”. This shows that he has a kind side as a person. Another example is when he demonstrated his insecurity (he thought that people would think that he is a fool if he hadn’t killed the elephant) “the sole thought in my mind was that if anything went wrong those two thousand Burmans would see me pursued, caught, trampled on and reduced to a grinning corpse like that Indian up the hill. And if that happened it was quite probable that some of them would laugh. That would never do.”

The characterization within Orwell’s essay includes direct descriptions—when he was telling us that he “was [a] sub-divisional police officer of the town”—and also indirect characterizations, where the description is hidden in a sentence that was not used to describe that particular person (this includes the reflection of a character’s personality through their actions, their opinion on certain events, or through the character’s mood).  An example of this would be “It seemed to me that it would be murder to shoot him. At that age I was not squeamish about killing animals, but I had never shot and elephant and never wanted to…Besides, there was the beast’s owner to be considered. Alive, the elephant was worth at least a hundred pounds; dead, he would only be worth the value of his tusks, five pounds, possibly”, this quote demonstrates his sense of logic.

All of these elements were a key component of the main theme, which is that others often influence our actions, especially if we have a low self esteem or insecurities. The use of the different moods within this essay for example, can be felt after one of our actions are influenced by someone else, we may feel guilty for listening to the person, confused about whether what you did was right or wrong, disgusted about that fact that someone else has influenced our decision and that we did not listen to our heart, and it may be because of our insecurity that we listened to that other person in the first place. A personal experience that can be related to this story is school life. In school, cliques are in existence, and sometimes to be accepted, we are pushed to do certain things, which we do not feel is right or it may be hurting someone else, but because of our selfishness and the need to be popular, we will do it, which is similar to what this character did within the story.