Reflection Paper on New Testament’s Fulfillment of Some Promises

In fulfillment of prophesies in the Old Testament, Jesus demonstrated the divine execution of some physically expected events. One would need to understand that prophesies were actually not perfectly fulfilled only if a cross examination is done with a normal human scope of reasoning. These things are basically for those who have an in-depth insight into the divinity of supernatural. For example, the search for a home is a placement for dominance of Jesus messages in the heart and thoughts of men to always act and conduct themselves according to the principles of the father.This is further exemplified in the disciples’ behavior in Antioch when their characters were termed Christ-like. In the fulfillment of a search for a physical home, it is expected that the chasing away of the marketers from the temple would precede the establishment of a home. I think the scripture equally emphasized that the son of man has no place to lay his head even while birds do. It is the preparation for a temple devoid of corrupt market practices, theft and other unholy events. The temple is meant for believers to come around and observe the Sabbath routine, to read the books of the law in order to bring men to God the more.Truly Jesus had no home, preaching of gospel from place to place, wandering from town to town, preaching the kingdom of God and the readiness of men for his second coming after crucification and resurrection. Jesus is not of this world, he came on assignment. I think he clamors to recruit men to believe in the Kingdom of God. He finds rest or fulfillment in seeing teaming number of people believe through the demonstration of great miracles and healings of diseases. He stressed that believers are those who keep his words, these ones he called his people. Since one finds home among his people, it means irrespective of physical homelessness, one is secured within a virtual home among his followers.When Jesus said he would reconstruct the works of years in thre e days this raised a lot of troubles in their mind and courageously they asked how this would be possible. Though Jesus believed that only sign and wonder could make them believe, he placed more emphasis on the divine by further preaching the summary resurrection after three days of death from the sinful nature of man. The death signified the purification of believers and the reconciliation to God. I think he eschewed the physical explanation since that was not his focus and also to further enrich them with wonders that initiated deep thirst for more conviction on him being the Son of man. Thus, after his resurrection, the disciples remembered the statement of building the temple within three days.This does not only led to strengthening of their faith, they also go all out preaching the good news of what the strongly believe in, even to the point of death. Concerning the relationship between humanity and God, humans are expected to reason in the divine as only this can make man comp rehend the scripture. There is a need for reconciliation of human’s blemish flesh to God to ease communication flow at every junction of our life when we need God. His death body on the cross has done this but only for the believers that have permitted Jesus to have a place in their hearts.Jesus changed the destiny of the worlds through his rising (resurrection) from death in addition to signs and wonders performed. When the believers confirmed the prophesies that had gone ahead of the event with the actual event taking place at ages interval, believing is no more an insecurity issue for deep thinking ones. The persuasive gospel of eye witnesses who were his disciples and later became the Apostles is sufficient to re-oriented the destiny of the world in preparation for the coming end – the second coming of Jesus Christ.

Billy Baines Middle School Essay

Billy Baines Middle School (BMS) is located in Fort Bend ISD, in Missouri City, TX. Its school teaches sixth, seventh and eighth grade students. BMS opened in August 2006 and was named after Mr. Billy Baines. Mr. Baines was hired in 1959 as the first African American principal and he served Fort Bend ISD for thirty years. BMS has approximately 1,400 students with an average 18:1 student-to-teacher ratio. BMS is a diverse school with equal distribution by gender and ethnicity. African Americans, Caucasians, and Hispanics are predominating ethnic groups at BMS. Special Education at BMS consists of two classrooms. I had the pleasure of observing Ms. Wheeler’s class. Her class has four male students: Deonte, Samuel, Jonathan, and Cody. Deonte is an African American boy who appears to be about 16 years old, about 6’4†. Deonte shows characteristics comparable to Autism, Attention Deficit Disorder and Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. Samuel is an African American boy who is about 5’2† and roughly 13 years old. He shows characteristics comparable to Mental Retardation, and Language Impairment. Jonathan is a Hispanic boy about 15 years old, 5’ 6†, and shows characteristics comparable to Mental Retardation and Speech Impairment. Cody is a 5’1† Asian American boy who is left handed and very active in the classroom. Cody shows characteristics comparable to severe Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder and a delay in learning. Teachers spend an average of four years being taught to teach, however each student learns differently and there are about a dozen ways to impart knowledge. Students use an array of techniques to learn information, some use music, others learn by doing, or by using a visual aid to assist in learning. Teaching has truly become an art because there are many ways that students learn and process information. Teachers spend hours planning lessons that use each of our multiple intelligences. Howard Gardner introduced the multiple intelligence theory in 1983, and leads educators to think that humans have a wide range of cognitive abilities. By using many methods of instruction teachers can keep students engaged in the learning process. Ms. Wheeler’s class although engaged, was not fully attentive at all times. Her students had a difficult time staying on task. Ms. Wheeler was able to redirect students and keep them motivated. Ms. Wheeler motivated student with rewards for good behavior, correct answers, and following instructions. She also keeps a high level of enthusiasm, by using statements like â€Å"this is neat† or â€Å"this is an exciting thing†. Ms. Wheeler spends time planning assignments that will accommodate each student and their learning style. She uses different instructional methods to keep her students engaged in learning, such as group activities and centers. She does not use a great deal of lecture because students easily get distracted. Ms. Wheeler also uses the many tools in her classroom to accommodate the class. For example, many students are only able to read at a kindergarten reading level, so when the class read about the Ryder Cup Golf she used the SMART Boardâ„ ¢. The students who could read took turns reading while others followed along, some words would have small pictures above them that represented the word. After the class had finished reading she played an audio clip of the reading to review. Ms. Wheeler also used the multiple intelligence theory in her teaching, she taught students to brush their teeth and wash their hands after eating lunch, and this uses logical-mathematics intelligence. She also taught students by using the musical intelligence she had a music therapist come by to teach students how to use music to remember things they are learning in class. Ms. Wheeler’s class is located in room 1105, the front door reads â€Å"Welcome to Ms. Wheeler’s class†. Ms. Wheeler’s class has a welcoming and safe feeling even before you walk into the classroom. Walking into her classroom the first thing you see is the centers arranged around the room. Her classroom is connected to the other special education classroom by the bathroom and kitchen area. Ms. Wheeler’s class is bare with little on the walls. She believes that posters and art causes distractions to her students. Although, it is hard to teach students who are easily distracted, Ms. Wheeler accepts the distractions in a positive manner. She can get task with her students for a moment and find ways to easily transition back to the task at hand. For example, Ms. Wheeler was teaching about the life cycle of a butterfly and Deonte asked her whom she spent her weekend with. Ms. Wheeler replied that she spent it with her cat. In order to get back to the task at hand she told a story about her cat playing in the garden, and they saw a caterpillar. Her transitions between topics work well for her students. Ms. Wheeler’s students also show her a lot of affection; she kindly and professionally returns the affection. Samuel loves high-fives and hugs, while Cody likes fist pumps. Much of the affection shown in the class is done after a task or during transition periods. Ms. Wheeler quizzes her students after each completed task. She typically puts a worksheet up on the SMART Boardâ„ ¢ and calls on students to come to the board and answer one of the questions on the board. Also during centers the teacher or teacher’s aide will ask many questions to make sure the student understands the assignment. When students succeed Ms. Wheeler always praises them with kind remarks. Ms. Wheeler’s class was at most times chaotic. Her class follows little rules and behavior varies between students. Ms. Wheeler does remind students often to use inside voices and to pay attention. However, because the students are all special needs students you cannot punish them for behavior that is relative of their mental or physical disability. The instructor utilizes individualized learning objectives; she uses centers as a way to have one on one instructional time with her students. Each of her students are on different academic levels, so one on one time with her students is vital to the education progression of her students. Based on the progression of her students it is sometimes necessary to make adjustments to their individualized education program (IEP) and individualized schedules. In conclusion, observing Ms. Wheeler’s class has taught me about how to teach students who have any disability and how to individualize education even within the general education. My time in Ms. Wheeler’s class was spent only observing. Fort Bend ISD does not allow much interaction with their special needs students, because they want to keep their students on their adapted schedules. The theory behind this is the children are able to transition between school and home easier. My experience in Ms. Wheeler’s class has taught me the importance of patience when working with young students. It also taught me how important it is to have a student teacher meeting with each of my students and address their weaknesses and strengths. This will help me in making sure each student is succeeding to the best of their ability. I also have decided that when I begin teaching, I will use a large array of teaching strategies to accommodate the different learning style of all students. My desired degree is Education, Math fourth to eighth grade and in my classroom I can use an overhead or SMART Boardâ„ ¢ to allow students a chance to â€Å"student teach†. I can also use personal white boards for rapid math games. Observing middle school special education has confirmed to me that I could not teach special education. Those who can teach these exceptional children in my opinion must have a special quality to handle the demand of their jobs. It takes an exceptional teacher to teach these amazing children. However, I have decided teaching middle school is where I will be most effective. For a long time I believed that teaching elementary was always the way to go, but allowing students to take action in their own education is a future goal of mine. The only way I can see this vision come to pass is by teaching students old enough to take charge of their actions yet young enough to mold. Nelson Mandela once said, â€Å"Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world. † I want to teach the new generation that taking charge of their education will change the world around them.

Rohingya Problem

ROHINGYA PROBLEM INTRODUCTION 1. The word Rohinga is derived from Rohang, the ancient name of Arakan. Situated on Burma's south-eastern border with Bangladesh. Arakan is one of the provinces of Burma and has a population of five million 40 percent of whom are Muslims. Burma was officially renamed as Myanmar on 18 June with its capital at Yangoon. Military rule covers the most of the history of Burmese politics. The Arakan Muslims are unhappy with the prevailing political system in Burma and some of them are harbouring an idea to establishment an independent homeland[1].The military regime in Burma have tried to contain the secessionist movement in that region and in the process they have unleashed reign of terror. Every instrument of torture and supression have been used by the regime in Burma to terrorise the Rohingyas to submission[2]. This attempt of Burmese ruler has caused ttrauma and ordeal for the Rohingyas. Their plight have been high lighted by international media quite aptl y and the problem has been quite known as well. 2. There are reports that the Burmese government is promoting resettlement in the area and replacing the Rohingyas with the Magh tribe.Rohingyas have been evicted from their homeland forcibly and driven out to seek refuge elsewhere. These refugees are taking place in Bangladesh cause tremendous problems for Bangladesh. On the other hand the settlement of Magh tribe, who believes in Buddhist faith, are aimed at pleasing the ego of ethnic Burmans. 3. There are many reasons for the genesis of the crisis in the state of Arakan, but references to demography, social, cultural, religious and historical dimensions are required to be studied to understand the problem. In Arakan these people do not inter marry .Rohingyas speak Bengali and they are under the influence of Bengali culture and civilization. At the religious level, there are irreconciliable differences. Burma has been a great centre of Buddhist learning and civilization for centuries , but the Rohingyas are proud of Islamic heritage. Constitutionally, and politically Buddhism and Muslims are antagonistic to each other and have the feeling of ethno-cenrrism. None of the communities are willing to accommodate the grievances of others. Finally there historical reasons for the two communities to feel different. 4. Our presentation on the subject will cover the following: . Over View on Geography and Demography. b. Background to Rohingya Problem. c. Effects on Bangladesh. because of historical references, in many places of our presentation we will be using the words Burma and Rangoon which are to be kindly read as Myanmar and Yangoon. AIM 5. The aim of the presentation is to highlight the problems of Rohingyas in Myanmar and its effects on Bangladesh. OVER VIEW ON GEOGRAPHY AND DEMOGRAPHY 6. Geographically it is lying along the eastern coast of the Bay of Bengal and Andaman Sea, in the south-east Asia, covering an area of 261,226 square kilometers.The country is bord ered by Thailand and Laos on the south-east , China on the north-east and Bangladesh and Indian state of Assam on the norht-west. It is considered to be the gateway to Indo-China peninsula as well as to China. Myanmar and Bangladesh share 171 miles of common border and have traditional commerce and cultural ties. There are 14 province and Arakan is one of them. 7. The people of Myanmar are of Mongoloid stock and derive from three main branches[3]: a. Tibeto-Burman. b. Mon-Khmer. c. Tai-Chinese. 8. Tibeto-Burman. The Tibeto-Burman group includes the Proto-Burmese, Kachins, Karens, Chins, Nagas etc.They entered Burma in three main waves from three directions. The Protoburmese probably came down the head-waters of Irrawaddy river and then from the north-east down the Salween valley. The Kachins entered from the north-west while the Chins and Nagas found their way in, a little further to the south. The Karens moved down the line of ridges to the east of the Sittang river and some the ea rlier groups settled west of the Irrawaddy from where they moved into the delta. 9. Mon-Khmer. The Mon-Khmer group which includes Austro-Asiatic races including Mon, Palaung, riang etc.They moved down the Mekong river into the Greater Indo-China peninsula and some groups fanned out westward into the Shan plateau and south-easternBurma. 10. Tai-Chinese. Tai-Chinese includes the Shans, Lao, Shan-Bama etc. They also came down the Salween river and settled in the Shan plateau. HISTORY OF ROHINGYA Muslim Population in Myanmar 11. The most striking feature of the spread of Islam in Myanmar is that it started gaining strength not through conversion but through immigration of Muslims and progeny of mixed marriages. Muslim seamaen first reached Myanmar in ninth century.During the fifteen and sixteen centuries, Tenasserim and Mergui were known as Muslim cities, traded with Malacca, Bengal and Mecca. During the seventeenth century Muslims proved to be capable traders. They owned flourishing bu siness houses and with their wealth had become so important that they also held some important key administrative appointments. But these Muslims, mostly from southern India were not acceptable to the native population. With the arrival of the British and French in the area at the end of seventeenth century, most of the Muslims were removed from the office and some were even killed. 2. The Muslims continued to settled near coastal towns of Myanmar and marrying the Burmese women despite maltreatment given by the local administrators. Many Muslims sea traders took this opportunity to get settled in these region of Burma and the descendants of these Arab, Persian and Indian Muslim traders formed the nucleus ‘Burman Muslim† community, which known as †Kala†. With the arrival of the Portuguese, Dutch, British and French Muslim domination of the seas began to decline. From the middle of the sixteenth century to the middle of eighteenth, Muslims served the Burmese Ar my. 3. During the nineteenth century Muslims again dominated not only in military services but also in administrative posts. Some of them were later on executed because the kings were not pleased their insistence on following their religious tenets. In the sixteenth century the Burmese Kings started settling Muslims in upper Burma, near Mydeyu in the district of Shwebo. These villages still exist today. The settlers were mostly Muslim prisoners who had been brought there at variuos periods. These Muslims received lands as their payment for their services to the king. 50 musketeers used to be supplied to the palace guard and this service was passed to the generations. Another group of Muslims from north India came to offer military service. The Burmese took care to distribute the Muslim settlers in small groups and in many villages to prevent the Muslims from forming a majority in any particular place. Gradually the Muslims were being looked down by the Burmese and their privileges b egan to fall. Further transfer of Muslim took place to the places where the Burmese refused to go. Muslim Population in Arakan 14.Arakan province renamed Rakhine by the Myanmar government came under the influence of Indian subcontinent in the 9th century A. D. In 11th century A. D. Arakan was made part of unified Burma. In the fifteenth century A. D. Arakan became an independent Muslim state under the rule of Sulayman Naramithla. The rule of Muslim King continued till it was conquered by Burmese Buddhist King Budapaya in 1784. Though Persian was the state language of this Muslim Arakan state, Bengali literature and poetry also flourished under direct patronage from Arakan Royal Court.Once a powerful state, Arakan Kingdom included Chittagong up to Feni river. During Aurangzeb's period the Mughuls captured Chittagong and the area east and south of river Karnaphully i. e. the present district of Banderaban and Cox's bazar which remained within Arakan Kingdom. In 1784 the Burmese King c onquered Arakan including Cox's bazar. However, the British drove the Burmese from Cox's bazar in late 1790's and then conquered Arakan in 1823. Arakan was under British occupation since 1826, and an enterprising Rohingya commercial class emerged in Akyab- a fishing village turned capital of Arakan division. 5. The post independent upheaval of a group of Arakan Muslim under the banner of â€Å"Mujahideens† brought about the religious ambitions of the Muslims in Myanmar. Upto 1955 the Mujahideens posed a serious law and order problem though they did not have much significance as a military threat to Rangoon as posed by other anti government forces. In general, local Arakan Buddhists community suffered a great deal of atrocities inflicted by them. This left a scar in the the relation between the Buddhist and Muslim communities, especially in Arakan.The Mujahideens failed to achieve the support of other Arakanese and Burmese muslims, and their insurrection came to an end in 1955 . The 1963-64 nation wide census revealed a large number of Arakanese Muslims sacttered about in Rangoon and Delta area. This caused considerable alarm to the Burman Buddhist authorities. Origin of Rohingya 16. Arakan is inhibited mainly by the Rohingyas and the Maghs. The Maghs are of Mongolian origin and Buddhist by faith. The Rohingyas are Muslim. The present estimated population of Arakan is 2. 2 million.Of these 1. 4 millions are Muslim. The word â€Å"Rohingya' came from the word â€Å"Rohang' which is the ancient name of Arakan. The Rohingya Muslim constitute the dominant portion of Arakan , known earlier as Rohang. The Muslim of Arakans who werev ancestors of present Rohingyas came the main land in three waves: a. First Wave. In the 8th centuries A. D. immediately after the advent of Islam Arab traders started visiting Bengal and Arakan. Many of these Arabs settled down in Arakan and inter mingled with locals in various forms. b. Second Wave.In 1660 the Mughul prince Shah Shuja having been defeated by emperor, left Bengal and on the invitation of the Arakanses Magh King landed in Arakan. Shah Shuja had train of five thousand followers who accompaned him to Arakan. Subsequently Shah Shuja and his family perished due to the treachery of Magh king Chandathu Sharma. However, Shah Shuja's followers settled in Arakan. Being the Indian muslim they also merged with the local Rohingya comminity. c. Third Wave. The third wave entered Burma during the British rule when the Muslim rose population significantly.These Muslim went for work including from Bangladesh and got settled down over Arakan and other parts of Myanmar. 17. The arrival of Muslim in Arakan started few centuries earlier and predated the arrival of many other people and races now inhibiting in Myanmar including Arakan. There are 153 registered ethnic races living in Myanmar where Rohingyas are not included. Though Rohingyas became gradually majority in Arakan but the political power remained wit the Maghs. PROBLEMS OF ROHINGYAS IN MYANMAR 18. General.Since the independence of Myanmar in 1948, the myanmar government had always been disarray due to multidimensional socio-political disorders. Ultimately, number of armed separatist movements had been organized and the number of insurgency groups continued to rise. Insurgency activities in Rakhine state along Bangladesh Border has also increased over the years. The suppressive attitude of the Military Junta gave rise to the political movement of the ethnic minorities all over Myanmar, where the movement of Rohingyas is no exception. The major problems of Rohingyas are disscussed in the subsequent paragraphs. 9. Depopulate Arakan of the Muslims. The withdrawal of British troops after the Second Wworld Wwar created a serious administrative vacuum in Arakan. The Magh communities in connivance with the Burma Independent Army killed approximately 100,000 rohingyas and drove out 50,000 across the border to the then East Pakistan. The idea was to depopulate Arakan of the Muslims. The relation between Arakan Muslims and Buddhist communities deteriorated[4]. 20. Right of Secession. During the independence of Myanmar from British, Rohingyas were kept away from all negotiations.Aung San and leaders of other nationalities signed the historic Union Treaty, where the Union of Burma was formed consisting of individual nation states with the right secede after ten years if the nationalities so wished. The agreement was adopted and included in the Union’s constitution under the heading â€Å"Right of Secession†. Unfortunately, no Rohingya representative from Arakan was invited to attend the convention. Thereby, Arakan lost her identity and constitutional guarantee of their rights and freedom[5]. 21. False Hope to the Rohingya.Some of Rohingya took up arms to redress their grievances after the independence. They were persuaded to lay down their arms on the false promise of granting political rights and similar treatment as other nationalities by Burmese authority. The Burmese authorities repeatedly broke their promises forcing the Rohingyas wander into the neighboring countries. Since 1942, approximately 1. 2 million Rohingyas were either forcibly expelled or had to flee the country to escape persecution[6]. 22. Ethnic Diversity. Most of the problems of Myanmar are genetic in nature.As many as fifty groups speaking over 100 languages and dialects have been identified for which the nation had to be administratively organised along ethnic lines, with seven so called states with non Burmese majority. All non Burmese majority states are located near the border. Somehow, the other people of the non Burmese majority states have traditional ties and bondage with their respective bordering neighbours in the form of religion, language, culture etc. During the independence from Britain, some of the states even opted to be the part of some other country and not Burma.The fact that concerns us is mo st Arakanese opted to be the part of the then East Pakistan, which remained a dream to them. Right from the inception of Burma, the government had been always reluctant about socio-political development of those non Burmese majority states. Most of the time the people of non Burmese majority states were oppressed. In consequence, insurgent activities continued to increase in those states[7]. 23. Muslim Imprisonment. Everything in Myanmar started degenerating as the Burmese way to socialism came in.As Arakan is the least developed province in Myanmar, the economical hardship was worst and a large number of Arakanese migrated into Myanmar proper. The 1963-64 nation wide census revealed a large number of Arakanese Muslims scattered about in Rangoon and Delta area. This caused considerable alarm to the Bhama Buddhist authorities. Then the Ne Win regime imposed a law, which restricted the movement of Muslims in Arakan, especially prohibiting the movement of Akyab district. Thus the Musli ms were put into a sort of imprisonment since 1964.However, poverty in Arakan could not stop all migration effectively. In the 1974 census, the authorities again found out the Arakan Muslim spreading over the commercially mobile areas of Myanmar. Ne Win, the socialist did not want that. The Muslims should be in Arakan only so that the Arakan Buddhist and Muslim could be used against each other. This was the best way to keep the national liberation movement of the Arakanese checked. Subsequently, the military regime imposed tighter restrictions on the movement of the Muslims. They could not even move inside their township or from village to village.Thus they were virtually imprisoned[8]. 24. Demand of an Independent State. The Muslim movement in the British India for separate Muslim nation brought about great impact upon the Muslim of Burma. Especially Arakanese Muslims, being in touch with the Muslim League in East Bengal, were very much motivated with the idea of an independent sta te. The motivation turned into Jihad or Holy War in 1948-54 after the independence. The Mujahids demanded a separate Muslim state inside Burma in name of Arakanistan with the active patronization of Pakistan. However, the movement failed.But later they realized their struggle under the flag of Nationalism with the name of Rohingya[9]. 25. Migration from East Pakistan. While the Mujahideen subsided, East Pakistan faced poverty and famine. Arakan in Burma being close to border , some of the then East Pakistanis entered Arakan for their survival and possible future. This was helped by the corrupt immigration, army, police and other officials. This illegal entry was also to be believed to be the master mind of the then Burmese Minister of Home Affairs to gain vote for his party in the election of 1956 and 1960[10]. 6. Political and Armed Movement. Since the day of independence, the Rangoon government has been keeping the Muslim population in Arakan as a balancing force against the Araka nese Buddhists to put down struggle for the national liberation. But the Muslims gradually realized that since 1964, the Buddhist and Muslim of Arakan forged unity to oppose military regime together . Many of the muslims joined Arakan National united Organization . Similarly the Arakan National Liberation Party patronized Muslim guerrillas, who emerged under the name of Rohingya.Such an alliance alarmed the Rangoon government. Meanwhile the emergence of the Arakan Liberation Party added much worry to the Junta. In 1977, the Ne Win forces wiped out the main army of these two groups along with their leaders. The event spread a cloud of misery over the Arakanese population. At the same time, a coup attempted by Arakanese was also foiled[11]. 27. Operation â€Å"King Dragon Offensive†. Burmese Army General Ne Win ruled the country from 1962 to 1988. As many as nine operations were carried out by Burmese Army /Territorial forces.Of which the major offensive was launched under the code name of â€Å"King Dragon Offensive† in 1978 to oppress the Rohingyas and the remnants of Arakanese Liberation forces. A large scale of atrocities were recorded by the ruling Junta. Ne Win ordered that small villages be abolished and concentrated in one large village which was fenced and stockaded with only one gate. Subsequently, hundreds of villagers were uprooted by force and driven into stockaded villages. Opposition and disobedience were met with stern and severe punishment. The table below will show the degree of atrocities carried out by the ruling Junta[12]: Ser |Township | Men Killed |Women Raped |Vills Destroyed | |1 |Kyauktaw |1855 |891 |74 | | | | | | | |2 |Ponnakyann |353 |930 |105 | | | | | | | |3 |Rethedaung |91 |340 |19 | | | | | | | |4 |Minbya |135 |315 |25 | | | | | | | |5 |Mrohaung |55 |239 |19 | | | | | | | |6 |Buthidaung |142 |560 |6 | | | | | | | |7 |Maungdaw |295 |1121 |5 | | | | | | | |8 |Mry Pon |- |- |6 | | |Total |2926 |4396 |259 | 28. Rohingya Refugee Crises in First Phase. The operation King Dragon Offensive of Ne Win forced about 30,000 Rohingyas to enter Bangladesh. The efugees started arriving daily in an ever increasing number. By June 1978, the total had swelled to over 200,000 and housed in 13 camps in bordering districts of Bangladesh and Myanmar. The overwhelming majority of the refugees, thus, appeared to be children and old people. The refugees arrived principally from the townships of Akyab, Kyauktaw, Minbya, Myank-U, Kathe-taung, Pauktan, Maungdaw, Buthidaung and Rathidaung. While the villagers were suffering, Ne Win tried to get the support of city folks by showing that they were driving out â€Å"Kalas† a word used derogatively for foreigners. This was entertained by some ignorant Arakanese in the cities.Most believed that the Ne Win regime started thinking about pushing the Muslims out into Bangladesh after the 1974 census, which revealed the migration of the Muslims into Burma proper and Eastern b order. Whatever their origin, they are Burmese officially, and they have every right to move inside their own country. The restriction of their movement since 1964 and final forceful expulsion of the Arakanese Muslims is the infalliable proof of the racist nature of Bhama Military rregime led by General Ne Win[13]. 29. Reasons for Rohingya Exodus. a. Refugees' Viewpoint. The refugees stated the following as the principal reasons for their exodus into Bangladesh[14]: 1)Harassment by the Burmese Government agencies which reached a climax during the ‘Operation Dragon' mounted to get rid of the Muslim from Arakan. (2)Lack of adequate security in the areas of their residence. (3)Restriction on their free movement. (4)Rice levy with intolerable severety amounting to oppression. (5)Omission of names of Muslims from the population returns of the census of 1973. b. Viewpoint of the Burmese Government. The viewpoint of the Burmese Government were different and these are as following[15] : (1)The ‘Operation Dragon', a semi-military search operation was not directed against the Muslims but against the illegal immigrants.They maintained that traditionally the movement of population was from the west to the east and it was well known that many people from Bangladesh had come to Burma without valid authority. In 1971, people from Bangladesh in thousands took shelter in Burma. (2)It was claimed that the Burmese Government that a survey was carried out to detect the illegal immigrants. It revealed that some Arakanese Muslims left Arakan as they did not like to submit themselves to this checking operation. Hence, those who had fled were considered by the Burmese Government as illegal immigrants. 30. Repatriation of Refugees. The effective diplomatic effort of Bangladesh and with the assistance of UNHCR, both , Bangladesh and Myanmar settled down the issue.Some of the salient of the agreement are as under[16]: a. ‘A' category refugees holding National Registrati on Certificate (NRC) would be repatriated immediately in the first phase with their family members. b. ‘B' category refugees, who could show any document issued by Burmese authority or any other proof as to their residence in Burma would be repatriated in the second phase. c. ‘C' category refugees are the left over ones and would be considered at the last. d. It was mutually agreed that the repatriation would start not later than 31 August 1978 and be completed within a period of six months from the date the first batch would return to Burma. e.It was also mutually agreed that the two governments would, after completion of repatriation of all Burmese refugees, initiate measures to cooperate for the prevention of illegal crossings of the border by persons from either side and be prepared to receive repatriated residence found to have crossed the border subsequent to the enforcement of the two governments. As agreed upon, the repatriation started on 31 August 1978. The ope ration, however, ran into difficulties with ‘C' categories refugees numbering 11,149. Following a series of discussions between the two governments, the government of Burma finally agreed that these refugees should be allowed to move into the reception camp located within Burma, where Burmese officials would take their oral evidence and after verification repatriate them to their respective villages.By 29 December 1979, the repatriation operation was virtually completed. All the repatriates, on arrival in Burma were given a repatriation card and eventually resettled in their respective villages. But the problem of who should be granted rights and privileges of citizenship remained an active issue. 31. Burma Citizenship Law. The Rohingyas came to Arakan about thousand years ago and made a significant contribution to her culture and heritage. They became an integral part of Arakan's political, social, economic and cultural life. But the citizenship laws passed in 1982, made the Rohingyas alien in the land of their fathers and ancestors.The new citizenship law defines citizen as those nationals who are the members of the ethnic groups that had settled in Burma before 1824, the date that marked the beginning of the British colonial period, during which foreigners, especially Indians and Chinese freely entered the country. The non nationals were eligible to be classified as â€Å"associates† or â€Å"naturalised citizens†, according to the detailed procedures specified in the law. The new law bars non nationals from holding important state and party positions, serving in the armed forces and police and pursuing higher education in the national institutions. These provisions have seriously affected the individual rights and privileges of non nationals, which they had previously enjoyed. This has further aggravated the socio-political disorders in the country[17]. 32.Change in Traditional Identity. As already mentioned, Bangladesh shares about 171 mile long border with Myanmar and that entire border belt forms part of the Rakhine state. Historically what was known as Arakan state has been officially changed to Rakkhine state by the military rulers some time in early 1980, siding with the existing Buddhist population. This step of the government created a serious commotion among the Arakan Muslims. Perhaps this was one of the major reasons for which number of insurgency groups has drastically increased from 1983 to 1993. Along the Bangladesh border, there were only four insurgent groups in 1983 which has increased to seven in 1993.Besides, latest reports reveal the existence of a new insurgent group known as â€Å"All Burma Democratic Student Front† claiming themselves to be the armed student wing of Sun Kyi, the democratic leader of Myanmar. The details of various insurgent groups operating in Rakkhine state is mentioned below[18]: a. Burmese Communist Party(BCP). b. National United Party of Arakan(NUPA). c. National United Front of Arakan(NUFA). d. Arakan Army(AA). e. National League for Democracy (NLD). f. Chin National Front (CNF). g. All Burma Democratic Student Front(ABSDF). h. Rohingya Solidarity Organisation (RSO). j. Arakan Rohingya Islamic Front (ARIF). k. Harkatul Ziehadul Islam of Arakan (HZIA). As of now the socio political disorder in Rakhine state is considered to be quite alarming.The gradual rise of insurgency activities has also seriously affected the historical peaceful relations between Bangladesh and Myanmar resulting into cross border violations and other issues of discord between the two countries. Role of SLORC 33. Deprivation from Voter List of 1989 Election. Through promulgation of Burmese Citizenship Act 1982, the Rohingya Muslims were deprived of their citizenship rights. They were made stateless. To prepare the voter list for 1989 General Electronics, the authorities initiated scrutiny through issue of National Registration Certificate (NRC) and Foreigner’s Reg istration Certificate (FRC) in Rakhine state.The Rohingya Muslims were then put through harassment as the Myanmar immigration authorities insisted on categorizing the Muslim inhabitants as â€Å"Bengalee Burmese†. The Rohingyas on the other hand insisted or being categorised as Arakan Muslims or Rohingya Muslim or Rakhine Muslims. The immigration authorities refused to accept the citizenship application from the Muslim population which resulted in the exclusion of a large number of Rohingya Muslims from the voter list[19]. 34. Establishment of Cantonments in Muslims Owned Lands. The State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC) after the 1988 military take over decided to set up a number of new military cantonments in Rakhine state particularly in the north, where the Muslims are a majority.The authorities acquired homestead or arable lands belonging to the Muslims without any compensation. The Muslims found themselves homeless, when they refused to be rehabilitated in suit able mountainous region. The SLORC has taken up extensive programme of building cantonments and roads linking the cantonments and other military formations in the Muslims populated areas. The army forced local inhabitants to work in those projects with little or no wages at all. The Myanmar authorities do not provide fresh adequate ration to the troops deployed in the Arakan. As a result, they forcibly collect cattle and poultry from the locality at a much below market price.In Rakhine state, more Muslims’ lands were acquired by the SLORC for construction of cantonments and roads. The surplus land is given to Magh convicts and retired Army personnel on attractive terms, an attempt to change ethno-demographic pattern of the area[20]. 35. Military Atrocities. The Mynmar military authorities have destroyed or desecrated many Muslims places of worship. They have looted their properties, killed the inhabitants and raped their women. The SLORC took away rice from the fields belongi ng to the Muslims in the border areas to prevent from selling rice in Bangladesh. The Rohingyas had participated in the democratic movement of 1988.The present military regime has reportedly forced Muslims to pay compensation for government property damaged during the mass upsurge[21]. 36. Refugee Crisis in Second Phase. In 1989, the popular unrest started for the restoration of democracy in Myanmar. The student led the movement for democracy and the government of Saw Mung suppressed it with an iron hand. There were a lot of casualties and the majority of the people who died or faced the tyranny of the army were Burmans. Thus the Burmans were unhappy with the political system. In order to divert the attention of the people, it was necessary for the military regime to do something. As a sequel they focussed their attention once again on the Rohingyas.Again there was a search for the citizenship documents and in the absence of these documents, the Rohingyas had to face the atrocities. Therefore, once again the Rohingya issue surfaced in 1991 and this time approximately 270,000 Arakanese, mainlly the Rohingyas, crossed into Bangladesh. This time surfaced with greater gravity bringing both the countries almost close to a war. However, due to indirect mediation by China and under the pressure of various International Human Rights Organization, approximately 250,000 refugees have been accepted back by Myanamr and rest approximately 40,000 is in the process of repatriation. Though apparently Rohingya issue has died down, but with no assurance to us that it will not recur in future.As such, it is apprehended that Rohingya issue will continue to be a major stumbling block in the improvement of relations between Bangladesh and Myanmar. IMPACT ON BANGLADESH 37. The Rohingya problem has significant impact on Bangladesh. This can be stated as mentioned below: a. Effect on Population. Bangladesh is already an overpopulated country. The influx of the Rohingya refugees going to make Bangladesh more crowded with dense population. Besides this, the Rohingyas are having the same ethnic origin that of the people of the Chittagong area. They have got affinity with the Bangladeshis in terms of language and culture. The problem of differentiating them from local population make this problem more pronounced.This provides the Rohingyas an easy opportunity to become floating population in Bangladesh. It is feared that, presently more than 15000 Rohingyas are at large without any accountability. The intermarriage between the locals and Rohingyas are also making things more complicated in this aspects. b. Effects on Economy. Bangladesh is one of the poorest nation in the world and one of the major causes of her poverty is over population. Internationally the Rohingya problem has not been recognised so much, as such the out side support is not also very encouraging. Mostly it is the Bangladesh government who is dealing with this problem with her meager resources.Pro viding ration ( 4. 5 kg rice and adequate quantity of at and oil per refugee per week ) and other utilities to 19 Rohingya camps is costing Bangladesh heavily. Onrush of Rohingya refugees have already taken its toll on the resource constraint Bangladesh. The matter has put immense pressure on a densely populated country like Bangladesh. The poverty within region has increased many folds. It has already created a socio-economic imbalance in the area causing untold sufferings to the locals. Agricultural lands are being turned into sprawling refugee camps. Refugees allegedly sell rice and pulses rationed to them for buying vegetables and other essentials.Such illegal trade caused tremendous impact on the market price in the local area. At times the refuges are making false ration card to draw more ration. c. Effect on Ecology. The Rohingya refugees have taken shelter in camps which are located on 608 hectares of forestry land in Cox’s bazar and Bandarban district. What is causin g serious concern is that the surrounding rich forest are being destroyed by the refugees who are felling trees to use them as fuel or selling them for their livelihood. Already, the forest here has been denuded of the bamboo as they have been cut for making houses for the refugees. We are afraid that, if the refugees are to stay here for another year, nothing would be left for the forest.The forest department claims that till September 92 the refugees have destroyed forest resources worth Taka 740 million. They estimate that the refugees have damaged natural forest of 2021acres and new plantation of 91. 05 acres. d. Effect on Law and Order. The situation in and around the camps is a hostile one. The locals who lived scattered in the villages are scared of the refugees who live together and who in a minute can organise a united attack on the locals. The local fears that they are being outnumbered by the refugees. It is alleged that thousands of refugees have already slipped out of t he camps and settled in the nearby villages and towns.With Bangladesh and the UNHCR consolidating the relief operation for the refugees, an opposition backed group, Rohingya Repatriation Action Committee (RRAC ) has stepped up its campaign against the refugees. Launching a movement of 12 point demands, the RRAC’s main focus is against the move to build new camps at Jammupara off Ukhia. They complain that the camp would destroy their firms and encroach upon government owned forests. Besides these, at least five refugees were killed, one hundred injured and nearly five hundred others were arrested following commotion that swept different refugee camps. It is alleged that at times the refuges have used fire arms.There are instances where the agitating Rohingyas assaulted camp officials and on duty policemen. The militant refugees of the Dhuapalong camp also attacked a nearby village and looted the homes of the villagers. It is reported that some foreign NGO’s and the UNCH R officials were involved in agitating the refugees. The UNCHR promptly denied such an allegation. e. Effects on Politics. Presently Bangladesh is not in a comfortable situation to deal with this matter politically. The attitude of the Myanmar government in regards to Rohingya problem is not conducive to diplomatic solution. At the same time Bangladesh is not in a situation to enforce her desire in this aspect on Myanmar.There are possibilities of detoriating relationship between Bangladesh and China as China maintains extremely good relation with Myanmar. A perpetual enmity with Myanmar leaves Bangladesh to be sandwiched between two antagonistic neighbours India and Myanmar. Enmity with Myanmar also is likely to deprive Bangladesh of the opportunity of exploiting Myanmar’s future economic and commercial potential. There are also strong public and political opinion in favour of internationalising the Rohingya issue especially involving the United Nations. Bangladesh is carefu lly avoiding to do so and trying for bilateral negotiations. It may be possible that China has played a covert role in convincing Bangladesh to settle for a bilateral solution to save Myanmar from embarrassment.The relationship between the Bangladesh Government and some of the NGOs have also detoriated as the NGOs were playing negative role in the repatriation process. f. Effect on Administration. The Rohingya problem has become a huge administrative burden on the Bangladesh Government. It has become a real problem to maintain accountability of the refugees and maintain the administration of their camps. Bangladesh had to establish separate administrative organisation where huge number of government officials are placed to look after the administration of the Rohingya refugees. CONCLUSION 30. The arrival of Muslim in Arakan started few centuries earlier and predated the arrival of many other people and races now inhibiting in Myanmar including Arakan.There are 153 registered ethnic races living in Myanmar where Rohingyas are not included. Though Rohingyas became gradually majority in Arakan but the political power remained wit the Maghs. 31. Rohingyas are an unfortunately peiple. Although, they are a part of the Burmese race and have been living in Arakan for about thousand years, they have been persistently subjected to persecution by the successive Myanmar regimes. In the past they were driven out of their homes more than once. Contrary to the Burmese Laws, the Burmese Constitution and international Laws, these ill fated peiple have been discriminated because of their race, religion and culture.The last nail in the coffin in these series of repression and discrimination was the passing of the black law called, Burmese Citizenship Law 1982 by which the Rohingyas have been made aliens in the land of their ancestors. All these happened mainly because Myanmar has been ruled by the dictators where human right violations are common practices. 32. The Rohingya issu e is not of recent origin. It has been there for more than hundred years. The exodus of Rohingya refugees is a recurrent matter and took place several times under the persecution of different Burmese ruler. The systematic manner in which the Burmese government is proceeding with its current actions apparently reveals that they intend to uproot the Rohingyas from Arakan alleging them to be illegal immigrants.Rohingyas on the other hand, demand for the citizenship rights and full protection of their culture, religion, ethnic identity and property. The impacts of Rohingya refugees on Bangladesh are significantly. It is posing threat to our socioeconomic condition, environment, security and bilateral relationship of Bangladesh. BIBLIOGRAPHY Books 1. S R Chakravarty (Ed), â€Å"Foreign Policy Of Bangladesh†, Haranand Publications, 1994. 2. Abdul Razzak and Mahfuzul Haque, â€Å" A Tale of Refugees in Bangladesh†, Centre for human rights, 1995. 3. Shwe Lu Maung, â€Å"Natio nalism – an Analysis of Society, Culture and Politics of Burma†, University Press Limited, Dhaka, 1986. 4.Muhammad Shamsul Haq, â€Å"Bangladesh in International Politics-Relations with Neighbours: Burma†,University Press Limited, Dhaka, 1993. Presentation Papers 5. Rohingya Problems by 9 Infantry Division. 6. Modernization of Myanmar Army by 24 Infantry Division. Interview 7. Mr. Faruk Alamgir, DDG News, Bangladesh Television. 8. Mr. Manzoorul Haque, Senior Logistics & Coordination Officer, UNHCR. 9. Mr. Nurul Islam, Director, Ministry of Foreign Affairs. ———————– [1] SR Chakravarty (Ed), Foreign Polcy of Bangladesh, 1994, P. 293. [2] Ibid P. 293. [3] Presentation paper on â€Å"Rohingya problem† by 9 Infantry Division. [4] A tale of Rohingyas in Bangladesh by Abdur Razzaq and Mahfuzul Haque,1995, P. 15-16. [5] Ibid, P. 16. [6] Ibid, P. 7] Shwe Lu Maung, Nationalism and Ideology – an Analysis odf Society, Culture and Polotics of Burma, University Press Limited, Dhaka, 1989, P. 61-62. [8] Modernazition of Myanmar Army, Presentation by 24 Infantry Division, P. 12. [9] Ibid, P. 60 – 61. [10] Ibid, P. 61. [11] Ibid, P. 62 – 65. [12] Ibid, P. 62 – 64. [13] Muhammad Shamsul Haq, Bangladesh in International politics- Relations with Neighbours: Burma, University Press Limited, Dhaka, 1993, P. 135. [14] Ibid, P. 136. [15] Ibid. [16] Ibid. P. 141. [17] Modernasization of Myanmar Army, Opcit. P. 13.. [18] Ibid. P. 14 – 15. [19] A Tale of Rihingyas in Bangladesh by Abdur Razzaq and Mahfuzul Haque, 1995, P. 20. [20] Ibid, P. 21. [21] Ibid.

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Water pollution in India - Essay Example India is the 2nd most populous country in the world and the 7th largest by size, India's economy has been galloping along at 9.43% per annum for the last couple of years, agriculture accounts for 43% of the geographical area of India and the rest is allocated to industries and domestic living. The market for drinking water is potentially a gold mine waiting to be dug because this is one of the most populous countries in the world and is right there at the top in terms of geographical size. The water pollution has been on the rise ever since India started opening up its economy because then by default the demand for each and every product increased because of increasing globalization and hence it can be said that the standard of living has risen and this has caused even more pollution because this sets off the industrial process even more rigorously because demand even increases locally and hence more has to be produced and because of that more income is generated. Agriculture though has been on the decline in India but still 60% of the labor force is involved in agriculture and hence fertilizers and other synthetic materials are being used which increase the dangers of polluting the ground water. Another concern is the alarming rate at which India's population has been increasing, this is a cause of concern because the domestic waste produced is another major cause of polluting the water resources and also a growing population means that more people need access to drinking water but it also means that there would be much more pollution and hence lesser drinking water available for every one in the country. The government has been trying to do all it can to stop the industrial pollution by giving certain advantages to factories who install systems through which water pollution is lessened but to date it has failed to implement it on a large scale. Costs and benefits: There is a debate in the Indian sub continent that should water be commercialized or not because it is just a lucky few that have the means of buying water that has been commercialized and the others have to make do with the same unhygienic, unclean water which is hazardous for health. But the flip side of the argument is that the government has failed to deliver on this front and hence private companies have taken over and off course they would do so only if there is a profit, but what if these companies stop providing the clean water that they are currently providing Then each and every one would have to resort to the same unclean water and as a result the percentage of people falling ill from water borne diseases would increase and hence as a result the cost for the government would go up, so there is plenty of potential in the commercialized water sector and the time is now. Plan: The firm in question can do one of two things, first, it can set up its own distillation plant and take the initiative to bottle the water it self and hence it will have to inadvertently advertise to compete with the products that are already available on the market and hence this might create problems because a brand image of the previous companies would have been formed where as the new firm would have to advertise on a big scale to take its share of the market that would mean that the costs are high right from the start and the competitors might even engage in drastic cuts in prices and the firm in question will not be able to compete with the established firms on the basis of costs because the established firms will be experiencing economies of scale because of their greater experience in this certain kind of a market. The other option available to this firm is to operate its distillation plant and supply this water to another firm that has already been established in this particular industry. This would make things a lot simpler because due to this the firm can

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I thought it was the end Essay I thought it was the end. I watched my own son slowly; painfully pass away for a crime he didnt commit. I couldnt believe that it was happening. Why? I kept asking myself and I just couldnt find an answer. My head was spinning and I didnt know or for that matter care where I was. All I knew was that I just didnt want to be there. Ever since the death of my son I have been growing old quickly and without pause. Its like the death of my son has made me age so quickly. Due to this I have realised that I am coming to the end of my life and that is why I am writing this. It all started the day I joined the farm.. I was there working away milking a cow when from above I could sense this presence, it was like a sixth sense. I looked up to see that it was Farmer Lodge (my employer). He seemed as if he needed something, like he wanted me to give it to him. I enquired as to what he wanted. But then I looked closer at the expression on his face, it was clear now that it was company that he wanted. He picked me up and led me to his house. At first we were just talking and everything was fine although a little surreal but that was soon to change. Thinking about it he didnt take advantage of me as I would have said a few years back it just happened. We slept together and for the first time in my life I felt as if someone actually wanted me for who I was not just as some type of sex slave as the village thought I was as I had slept with this guy who then left me. I wasnt and never was going to be. Nine months after sleeping with Farmer Lodge I was having a baby and as I hadnt slept with anyone since it must have been his. This was the birth of many troubles and problems to come but it was also to be the start of something magical and enjoyable. I was to have many moments of happiness, which far out weigh the bad points. Later on in the year I was to hear of a woman called Gertrude moving into the village. She was to become Gertrude Lodge, Farmer Lodges (my loves) wife. I was really disheartened by this and started to think about what had happened only 12 months ago now. Farmer Lodge was the father of my child and yet he didnt once do anything to help me or support me through this time; and now he was marrying a woman of whom I didnt know as she was a land owner, like him whereas I wasnt so I couldnt marry him. I felt this was unfair as not only had he loved me but also he got me pregnant and now he doesnt want anything to do with me. Perhaps it is true what they all say about men not wanting children and if they get their lover pregnant then they leave them as there was neither a form of contraception or abortion back then. Life as a mother was hard and trying. The income I brought in was low enough but to add to matters I had to feed and cloth a baby. I eventually plucked up the courage to go and ask Farmer Lodge for a raise and gave him the reason for my asking. I thought that it was the least e could do for me after what he had put me through all that mental torment and physical pain. As I walked in to confront Mr Lodge I could sense the strong smell of perfume, which arose out of the door almost like someone was trapped within. I realised Gertrude must have been there but I still persisted on my quest for freedom from this man and for also the help I deserved. As I put my hand against the door it was warm but at the same time damp due to the years of rain pounding down upon it. It was a vast oak door of which I couldnt push open on my own so I found the knocker on the door and banged it. The sound rumbled long and low until I had heard some movement and the door was swung open as if to say in a mild dismay, WHAT? I was to say the least surprised at the reaction Farmer Lodge had to me when he opened the door. His mouth half open as if he wanted to speak but some invisible force was preventing it. He He Hello, he said as if scared of me. Why hello, I replied in a sort of comforting voice. He appeared worried about something although I wasnt sure what and from the look of him it seemed he didnt know either. He invited me in after having stood around on the doorstep just staring at me as if in disbelief. On entry I looked around for Gertrude. In the corner of the room an extremely beautiful but also concerned looking person sat. I assumed that this was Gertrude and so as a nice person I said hello and asked her name. She didnt reply so I just went about my business and asked Farmer Lodge about the rise. The strangest thing of all is he stood up once the question was put forward, said yes then walked out of the room in a type of trance as if he was under a spell of a spirit or something of that origin. As soon as he left Gertrude sprang up from the corner of the room making me jump. She landed on me as if in an almost upset but dominating way she asked me to look at her arm. At first I thought that she was crazy but then as she persisted with the question I said yes. She pulled the clothing back from the arm to reveal a really bad withered arm. This put me into a flash back in which I remembered a dream I had acquired the previous night. It was of me lying in bed when Gertrude entered my room. She was taunting me with her wedding band and eventually I had snapped and grabbed her by the arm and flung her to the ground. At first I believed it to be a bad dream but this proved that the theory wrong. I decided that as I had got what I came for I should leave if not to hide my identity from Gertrude. For the next few months I avoided all contact with Gertrude and led a separate life in isolation. I decided to go and visit the conjurer and see what he recommended for my vision. After a lot of promiscuous contemplation he invited me into his room in which I looked into this portal type place. Only I could see what I saw but the bits I did see I didnt want to see again. I would tell you but these are secrets that only I will know as thats how I want to keep it. As a member of the Antidisestablishmentarianisms club I believe firmly in not allowing people to find out and manipulate the secrets that I have hidden for so many years and for so many reasons. Anyway after the conjurer I carried on with my life as a milkmaid looking after my son and earning less than the total minimum wage. At about 17 18 years of age my son was usually out most nights with his mates from the local school. He was out with friends one night when after indulging in a few pints from the local tavern he and others wondered back home. Making enough noise to wake the dead they did something, which was to change not all but only my sons life. The group of friends accidentally set a hey rick on fire. They all scattered but my son (to drunk to walk) couldnt so when the authorities arrived they found him next to it. He was sentenced to death by hanging. This wouldnt normally have happened but at that point there was a lot of destruction to land and property around that area so there was a inevitably a person now to make an example of. After the death the farmers wife Gertrude died due to stress and the withered arm. I decided to go and live somewhere away from the village but later returned to my dead end job as a milkmaid. There was however a small annuity left to me (from Farmer Lodge who funnily enough wasnt seen in the village again presumed dead) but I declined as I only had myself to live for and nothing to motivate me. This is how I have spent the rest of my life doing what Im best at milking cows.

Documentary practice

Documentary practice Documentary practice is the method of creating documentary information to explain or help others observe historical or current events. In the middle of the 1950s industrial developments made film and then video more convenient and inexpensive therefore allowing more people to be involved in the practice of documenting. An example of this would be an ordinary citizen being able to capture the political world as changing events occurred with his camcorder, transforming him from a witness to an amateur documentary filmmaker. For example, the infamous 1991 video of Rodney King being subjected to excessive police restraint is an early example of the continuing power of the ordinary citizens ability to have a real impact on documentary practice.[1] Documentary practice is therefore deemed to be a reference to what we create with media technology, substance, type, and manufacture strategies in conjunction to deliver the creative, ethical, and conceptual problems and choices that arise as they make documentary films or photographs or other comparable presentations based on fact or reality. Today we have a vast expanse of new media technology available to us to continually restructure documentary practices in considerable way. Recording technologies implanted within portable devices, for example hand-held digital video cameras, video-equipped mobile phones and still cameras, have made it achievable for large numbers of us to connect within citizens journalism and the documentary practice. By allowing other people to trace and share their experiences, all the up-and-coming media technologies produced are transforming the ways in which people document facts and also how they contribute to the actual events that they are documenting. Daily life can become a performance as these people respond to events and encounter new experiences through documentary practices, creating reports of those events, which they can then go and share with others all over the globe via the Internet. For a lot of people, digital media becomes a form of documentary practice when they are created for and then shared via social-networking sites like Twitter, Flickr and Facebook. A recent example of documentary photography being available to all is the footage of a US Airways plane Flight 154, with 155 people on board landing in the Hudson River. It was brought to the worlds attention even before the mainstream media delivered the information, immediately posted online for everyone to see. An image is a document of something that happens for a split second in that moment of exposure. From this point of view no photograph is less of a form of documentation than any other. However one could disagree with the view that photography is of that moment and therefore faithful and an unmediated show of the physical world which we live in. This could have been true if not for the digital camera. We now all take for granted the process for turning what we see into an image and how easy they are to alter or manipulate. Photographs still remain the only form of evidence, which is still accepted in the courtroom but how can this be when we have examples of edited photos like this of the Model Evolution With Makeup And Photoshop. What used to be a global trust in the truth of images has now been lost. During the 1980s, the children of the postmodern documenting movement, Sontag, Berger, and company, transformed this skepticism of the truth of photography, especially that of documentary, into outright antipathy. Certainly, for the postmodern, distrust of the photograph took an ethical stance, although this was seen as closer to pathological. In the belief of these critics, the photograph was merely a tool of late capitalism, exploiting its subject matter and duping its viewer. Consequently, Abigail Solomon-Godeau charged that the documentary photo-or what she splendidly referred to it as the regime of the image- commits a double act of subjugation[2] in which the unlucky subject is persecuted firstly by the social forces, the act that they have been done wrong by, to put them in the position of having their picture taking in the first place, then by the photographer and viewer. There are not only the masculine and feminine gazes, black and white gazes, gay and straight gazes, but also the political, artistic, the negative and positive gazes. Therefore can society as a whole have a gaze? Considering he individuality of the arrangement and attitude of the onlooker, is it vital to understanding the labor of visual sociologists? This is all discussed in the well-appointed essay on documentary photography by Abigail Solomon Godeau, Who is Speaking Thus? from the book Photography at the Dock. Abigail Solomon-Godeau talks about Jacob Riis in her essay, asserting that in Jacobs images he does not exploit his subject with the return of a glance. She argues that by not identifying his subject he has refused a personal attachment, yet leaving his spectator within a social unrest. However this is still remains an exploitation within status, as a pictorial spectacle usually targeted for a different audience and a different class, giving the collections of images the name How The Other Half Live. His photographs became a larger enterprise of power of surveillance, containment and social control due to threats posed to the American by the large numbers of poor, unassimilated immigrants, aiming to leave the rich in a specter of social control. John Tagg went further by stating that documentary photography is ultimately a function of the state, deeply implicated in the ruling classs apparatus of ideological control and its reproduction of submissive labour power. It was not art phot ographers who incited the anger or fashion photography but instead socially deliberate photojournalists, with their confidence in conventional fictions as growth and truth. Martha Rosler, quoted, Documentary is a little like horror movies, putting a face on fear and transforming threat into fantasy. Martha Rosler is confirming the understanding that photojournalists, although believing that their acts of photography are for the aid of understanding and recording are victimizing their subject and taking control of their misfortune. By photographing images such as migrant agricultural workers family, 1936, by Dorothy Lange staging the image to come across a certain way. Lange took these images for a project called Farm security administration, which was a large scale, federally funded propaganda machine initially conceived to foster support for New Deal relief programs. The subjects were told to stage a somber pose, they were not allowed to wear their best clothes but forced to put on their everyday rags and not to wash their faces or hands for the photo. Those photographers like Walker Evans, who did not abide to these rules and had their aesthetic agendas did not fare well at the F.S.A. This image by Dorothy Lange is a perfect example of Abigails essay on who is speaking thus? It is an image of a women who looks hard done by, struggling, her face looks lost but yet is looking out in what we presume to be farmland as if there is hope out there for her. She has selected with an unerring eye. You do not find in her portrait gallery the bindle-stiffs, the drifters, the tramps, the unfortunate, and the aimless dregs of society. In an essay written almost 30 years after the event, entitled The Assignment Ill Never Forget, Dorothy then gave us her story of how she made the photograph. I saw and approached the hungry and desperate mother, as if drawn by a magnet. I do not remember how I explained my presence or my camera to her, but I do remember she asked me no questions. I made five exposures, working closer and closer from the same direction. I did not ask her name or her history. She told me her age, that she was thirty-two. She said that they had been living on frozen vegetables from the surrounding fields, and birds that the children killed. She had just sold the tires from her car to buy food. There she sat in that lean- to tent with her children huddled around her, and seemed to know that my pictures might help her, and so she helped me. There was a sort of equality about it.'[3] We later find out that all of this is untrue because the photographer has edited this image; a hand was removed for the corner of the picture making you then believe it was tampered with and set up. In other words, the appeal was created by altering the situation to make sure the viewer was premised on the assertions that the victims of the depression were to be judged as the deserving poor, and thus claim redress hinged on individual misfortune rather than on systematic failure in the political, economic and social spheres.'[4] In collective with our own government agencies that embrace photographic substance, the F.S.A. gave out prints for reproduction in the every day press. In the New Deal relief program project photographers were handed set shooting scripts from which they had to work from, they didnt have possession of their negatives and also had no power over how the pictures would be set, captioned and resized so cut out certain parts of the images the F.S.A didnt agree with . The photographers position was comparable to that of photojournalists working for the commercial press. Soloman-Godeau is troubled with the opinionated implications of that to which the image testifies. In relation to the supposed fairness between the photographer and her subject it is importance noting that the migrant mother herself, Florence Thompson, was searched to her trailer home in Modesto, in California. One of the 20th centurys most recognizable and revealing images was reviewed as an ordinary woman, who was poor in a routine way and now no longer possible to live life as a symbol of dignity and sorrow in the facade of poverty. Florence Thompsons image has been viewed in many different forms and in many places, and has also been copied millions of times all over the world. She was one of the most familiar figures of 1930s America during the New Deal Relief, but not until about 50 years subsequent to the event did she get to comment on it in public. She told united press that she was proud to be the subject of the photograph, but that she had never made a penny out of it and t hat it had done her no good.[5] Realism is an issue for not only literature: it is a major political, philosophical and practical issue and must be handled and explained as such[6] Although many of these photographs have exploited their subjects there have been cases where the subject although exploited have then seek fame from there documented situation. An example of this is the mug shots of Hugh Grant and Divine Brown. Although humiliating for Hugh Grant is gave him a lot of new opportunities, but it also opened a whole knew world for Divine Brown, who became famous, almost a celebrity. The mug shot does not exploit but it also does portray a story, it only documents facts and references as evidence for the police to document crime. It is not there to make the viewer understand a story or feel sympathy. There is no one trying to speak though the image, not even the photograph. However their glance into the camera can show and convey and feeling such as Hugh Grants unease. To think otherwise was to participate in fraud: The wholeness, coherence, identity, which we attribute to the depicted scene is a projection, a refusal of an impoverished reality in favor of an imaginary plenitude,[7]. In the outlook of the critics, it was unachievable to ever envisage the new world, for the gaze of the photographer and his audience was programmed by ideological forces beyond our own power; we are all simply caught in capitalisms web, which non of us can sadly escape. As John Berger would mention, unlike there late master, some of Barthes structuralism followers love the closed systems. Yet certainly, Victor Burgin condemned the actual activity of looking as an odd stance, for a photography critic: Our conviction that we are free to choose what we make of a photograph hides the complicity to which we are recruited in the very act of look.[8] He insisted these critics regard the photographs as a confinement and the ability of vision as a crime. There is a perception of photographs as containing reality, a service that disappears over time, so that its primary intricacy gives way to the iconic. The community does not need reminding of the strength of images. A power that also includes their capability to go beyond the unique impulse of their construction like that of the disconcerting image telling of the Migrant Mother, told and retold which inevitable offers, with severe poignancy, an common display of discourse as a depository of understanding and meaning. The photograph has as much as its destroyed history portrays a story of, a woman, her children, a photographer, a government bureau, a popular magazine and a changing public. All of which contribute to an image to give it meaning and a form a depth. Inevitably it is an image and tail composed, revised and re-issued in various venues until whatever reality its subjects first possessed is drained away. [9] Bibliography http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3RBewhoQu34feature=player_embedded# Observations: Essays on Documentary Photography By David Featherstone Many Voices: Documentary Photography By Virginia Allyn The Genius of Photography By Gerry Badger Photography at the Dock: Essays on Photographic History, Institutions and Practices By Abigail Solomon-Godeau (1960). Language As Symbolic Action: Essays on Life, Literature, and Method. Berkeley: University of California Press. Film theory: critical concepts in media and cultural studies By Philip Simpson, Andrew Utterson, Karen J. Shepherdson The Photography Reader- By Liz Wells A Life Beyond Limit By Linda Gordon http://www.authorsden.com/categories/article_top.asp?catid=17id=28801 http://bostonreview.net/BR31.5/linfield.php http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/migrantmother.htm Dorothy Lange Solomon-Godeau, Who is speaking thus? page. 179 Dorothy Lange- A Life Beyond Limit By Linda Gordon Illustrated Bertolt Brecht Film theory: critical concepts in media and cultural studies, Page 52 http://www.weskline.org/Classes/burgin_looking_at_photographs.pdf The photography readerBy Liz Wells, Victor Burgin, page 134 Rabinowitz 1994

The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button | Adapting literature

The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button | Adapting literature Life would be infinitely happier if we could only be born at the age of 80 and gradually approach 18. This quote from Mark Twain inspired F. Scott Fitzgerald to write his short story à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã… ¾The Curious Case of Benjamin Button in 1922. Just recently, in 2008, it has been adapted as a motion picture movie directed by David Fincher with great success. There have been many adaption of literature into film and the quality of the outcome as well as the number of parallels to the original work often differ greatly. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is a very extreme example and for a long time the nouvelle wasnt even considered to possibly be turned into a movie due to the lack of techniques to have the reversed aging process of Benjamin Button seem real. I found the idea of living life backwards and the difficulties and experiences which are linked to such an extraordinary phenomenon very appealing. Therefore I wanted to find out more about it and read the short story The Curious Case of Benjamin Button by F. Scott Fitzgerald. Even though book and film differ in several ways, the main idea is the same and so fascinating that I decided to do my research paper on comparing the book with the movie. B: I As we will see, the movie is a very loose adaption of the book, basically, the only consistent occurrence in both the movie and the book is Benjamin Buttons unusual, reversed aging process. Yet not even this is completely similar: while the book ´s character of Benjamin Button has the mental age of 80 at the end of his life, the movies version gives Benjamin the mindset of an infant trapped in an 80 year old body. Film: The story starts at the day when Hurricane Katrina hits New Orleans. At this very day Daisy Williams is waiting in a New Orleans hospital on her deathbed for her end to come. There with her is her daughter Caroline, who stands by her and reads to her mum out loud of a diary given to her by a man called Benjamin. His mother died by giving birth to him. Now the difference to all the other newborn babies is that he was old and wrinkled. Thomas Button, his father, horrified of his son leaves him on the doorsteps of an elderly care-home. Where Queenie a black NANNA? Takes him in and treats him like her own son. Benjamin fits in well even though of his young age he looks as old as most of the residents. Soon Benjamin realizes that he is physically growing younger not older. SZENE . Early in his life, he meets Daisy, the woman of his life which he first meets when shes a young child. Both lives go different ways and sometimes their paths even cross each other. Until they finally can manage to make a life together, which however because of there different fates isnt of a long duration. (QUELLE) Book: Benjamin Button was born in 1860 in a hospital in Baltimore. But not as a baby, he had the mind and appearance of an old man in his 80s. Mr Roger Button, Benjamins father, is member of a eminently respectable family and the president of Roger Button Co., Wholesale Hardware. Because of his high social status he has difficulties accepting his son for who he was. He tries to build up the illusion that his son is in no aspect different from any other person. The times society cared a lot for conformity and therefore had very little tolerance for this curious case of Benjamin Button. Benjamin still lives a very full live just in a different kind of way. He ages backwards at the same rate as everybody else is getting older. In 1880 Benjamin Button is twenty years old (but appears approximately 50) and meets and falls in love with Hildergarde the beautiful daughter of General Moncrief. Hildegarde turns out to be attracted to older men and six month later against all moral standards becaus e of their great age difference the get married and even have a son called Roscoe. While Benjamin is getting younger Hildegarde is getting older, and he soon looses interest in her à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã… ¾He wondered what possible fascination she had ever exercised over him.(p.37) Benjamin goes off to fight in the Spanish American War, as he returns home he appears about the same age as his own son, Roscoe. Growing younger everyday he attends Harvard University at the age of 18. After Benjamin graduates he is young enough to go to prep school, until he ends up beeing playmates with Roscoes son. Without being able to stop the reversed ageing process he goes to kindergarden until he finally is even too young for that. As he grows younger and younger he looses the memory of his entire past life until ..it was all dark(p.52) While the plotline is a complete different one when comparing book and film, there are however obstacles Benjamin Button has to overcome during his lifetime. In the book mainly because of the nonacceptance of society and in the movie because of II b ; One main theme in the book is how a new born baby, physically and mentally in his 80s, is accepted into society. In the short story, which plays in 1860(first few lines), Benjamin is born in the hospital and right from the beginning one can see how Benjamin is considered to be beneath social standards of that time. When Mr Button arrives at the hospital, the doctor even worries about his own reputation : Do you imagine a case like this will help my professional reputation? One more would ruin meruin anybody. (Page 4). Mr Button still unsuspecting of what happened has to realize, that the doctor who brought himself into the world and had been the family ´s physician for over 40 years, has no interest in seeing any of the Buttons ever again as he makes clear by saying : à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã… ¾Im through with you! I dont want to see you or any of your relatives ever again! Good-bye! (Page 4) It is not only the doctor who is upset and hostile. It seems like the whole hospital is worried because of this unusual event.. The hospital will never regain its flawless reputation after-(Page 6) complaint the nurse seconds before she showed Mr Button the way to his new born child. The fact that his new born baby actually is an old man outrages Mr. Button to a degree, that he even calls his own son an imposter and lier (page 8). This shows very well how the society back then reacts to phenomenons which do not fit their norms and believes. From this moment on, Roger Button does everything in his power to threat Benjamin appropriate to his age. He wants to keep the old age of Benjamin a secret and even thinks further what the best solution would be to do so. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã… ¾If, say, he could only find a very large boys suit, he might cut off that long and awful beard, dye the white hair brown, and thus manage to conceal the worst, and to retain something of his own self-respect not to mention his position in Baltimore society . Roger Button is determined to keep his illusion alive and deny the obvious which is made very clear by the following words :Benjamin was a à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã… ¾baby, and a baby he should remain(page 15) What the mishap would have cost the Buttons and their kinsfolk socially cannot be determined (page 17) But the citys attention is very soon drawn onto other things the outbreak of the Civil War. By the age of twelve Benjamins parents got used to him and even felt that he was not any different from other children. This was the time when Benjamin was not troubled by society because of his appearance. Later in the book though he has once again troubles to find his place in society. This occurs when Benjamin Button who just passed his entrance examination to Yale college is called into the Yale registrars office to receive his schedule. Benjamin cant die his hair before he enters the office and therefore cant hide his elderly appearance. The registrar first thought hed be talking to Mr Roger Button. As Benjamin made is case clear and insists on his age of eighteen, once again Benjamin meets with his à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã… ¾curse he has to deal with since his birth. The idea! the registrar shouted. A man of your age trying to enter here as a freshman. Eighteen years old, are you? Well,Ill give you eighteen minutes to get out of town. (Page 23) Being unable to gain a proper education at college because of the social inacceptance of his case he starts working for his fathers company Roger Button Co. During this time, Benjamin also starts to mingle with society and meets the daughter of General Moncrief, HildegardeIt whom he marries 6 months later. The story of Benjamins birth is being remembered again but many stories were made up such as à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã… ¾Benjamin was really the father of Roger Button, that he was his brother who had been in prison for forty years(page 31) Therefore the real story is forgotten or just so unbelievable that nobody believes it, not even his own wife. Many years Benjamin is able to life a happy life without having to worry about his physical aging process which makes him appear younger by the day, until he comes back from the Civil War to his wife and has to face that his ever younger appearance drives his wife nuts, she honestly believes its his way of annoying her and she is in the illusion that he could stop his aging process any time he wants. But, Hildegarde, I cant help it. You can too. Youre simply stubborn. You think you dont want to be like any one else. (page 37) After that point, the gab between them begins to widen. Benjamin keeps getting younger until he is a young boy. He receives a letter from the army asking him, since he served as an officer with a higher rank during the Spanish-American War to go back into service. He sees this as an opportunity to go back in time and do the duty he once enjoyed so much. Again society does not comply with his intentions. He arrives at the headquarters where he is turned down and sent home considered a little boy who wanted to play soldier. This also is the last conflict concerning the aspect of society and Benjams process of becoming younger. From that moment on Benjamin continues living his life backwards going back to kindergarden then under a nanny ´s custody getting younger and younger until hes finally gone. The skit of Benjamin Button is that the need for social self-preservation plays such a big role,that it blinds everyone from seeing Benjamins fate for what it is, and for accepting him for the person he is. Fitzgerald criticizes the community of the upper class whos reputation mainly is secured throughout conformity and their status is determend by their wealth. The social aspect or concerns about someone ´s reputation and how its influencing the book however is almost absent in the whole movie. In the film, Benjamin appears like a child, but his appearance still is so shocking to Mr. Button (PHOTO) that he grabs the baby wanting to get rid of him. It seems like he even attempts to throw the little baby into the river. (9:57) The appearance of a police officer stops that thought and he leaves Benjamin with 18 Dollars on the steps leading to a New Orleans boardinghouse for the elderly , the Nolan House (QUELLE), where Queenie, takes him in and raises him like he was her own child, hes accepted right away. There is no hint in the movie that Mr Button gave his son away for any other reason than his outer appearance .Mr Button:I thought you were a monster (1:43:23) c; In the movie, Benjamin Button has to overcome several obstacles linked to his reversed aging process such as witnessing people constantly dying in front of his eyes during his earlier time in the Nolan House, where à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã… ¾death was a common visitor. (25:03) When Benjamin talks about his process about getting younger with one of the residents living in the Nolan House. Its made pretty clear by the words of the resident what heavy burden he has to carry upon his shoulders. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã… ¾Well I feel sorry for you, you have to see everybody you love die before you do, its an aweful responsibility(52:47). In the movie theres a love story which helps to understand what it means to live a life backwards like Benjamin does. He meets Daisy who is the grandchild of Miss Fall and sometimes comes to visit her over the weekends at the Nolan House. Benjamin falls in love with Daisy à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã… ¾ from the first time he saw her (36:47) But her being only 10 and him physically in his 70s and the mentally young age of both makes a romance impossible at least for this moment. It turns out to be a love story which develops slowly, over the course of many decades. At the age of 17, Benjamin goes on a long intense trip on a tugboat. Even though Daisy and Benjamin write each other constantly, many years pass until they meet each other again in the Nolan House in 1945 when Benjamin is 26 years old. Even though Daisy makes strong suggestions to sleep with Benjamin, he turns her down for the reason that she is to be leaving the next morning. This incident though is not important for the aspect which is discussed here. Its mentioned here only for the better understanding of the plotline. However in spring 1962, 19 years later Daisy and Benjamin meet again in New Orleans at the Nolan House where they both fall in love with each other at once. The fact that Daisy is many years older than Benjamin seems to be irrelevant for quite a long time until the reality of his curse pops back into his life. Daisy gets pregnant and Benjamin asks himself the question :How can I be a father when Im heading in the other direction? Even though his wife knows the consequences she gives him words of encouragement and insists that they will somehow make it work. But life doesnt always go according to one ´s wishes, therefore not long after the baby is born Benjamin realizes that his son needs a father and not a playmate. He makes a very tough decision and goes away, leaving his wife and daughter with enough money to live a good life. Giving up the love of his life is probably the biggest obstacle Benjamin has to overcome because of his reversed aging process. SETTING: III a;Charactere In the short story Benjamin is born as an old man apparently about seventy years of age.(p.7) He has almost white hair and a long smoke-colored beard(p.7) Benjamin starts out with a lot of demanding and complaining. Just born and still in the hospital he announces This is a fine place to keep a youngster of quiet tastes. With all this yelling and howling, I havent been able to get a wink of sleep. I asked for something to eat.(p.9) He also doesnt act anything like a baby. When he is alone he secretely smokes cigares and finds more interest in an encyclopedia than in kids ´ toys.(FOOTNOTE) Instead of playing with children of his age he finds more pleasure in sitting and talking to his grandfather. Benjamin occassionally breaks things on purpose to create the illusion beeing a normal baby just to delighten his father. he only did these thing because they were expected of him, and because he was by nature obliging.(p.18) This is also the reason why he dies his hair and shaves his bear d, he tries to please everybody around him even if hes not comfortable with it. Aging backwards for Benjamin means to overcome many obstacles as shown above and still Benjamin always keeps his dignity and never complains about his faith. Benjamin, once he left the hospital, took life as he found it.(p. 17) As Benjamin gets older, or younger for this matter, he turns out to be very intelligent and succesfull in what he does. Not only did he graduate from Havard University but also made his fathers company way more profitable due his new ideas. He also becomes an expert in dancing and great in playing golf. During his army time in the Spanish-American War in 1898 he becomes a lieutenant-colonel. He was slightly wounded, and received a medal. Benjamin also becomes more and more attracted by the gay side of life. He was dancing with the prettiest of the young married women, and chatting with the most popular of the dà ªbutantes.1912 though is a turning point in Benjamins life. His glor y years seem to be over now- as his physical appearance now is the one of a sixteen year old teenager his mental ability grows back as well. And therefore his social status is following the same process, he finds himself much alone, except for the companionship of three or four fifteen-year-old boys in the neighborhood. Now at the end of his life he behaves and thinks the way he was supposed to during his early years. He reads little boys stories and for him now playing with little stripes was the most fascinating game in the world.(p.49). He is a little boy now and he was very happy(p.49) Slowely he starts to forget no token came to him of his brave days at college, of the glittering years when he was flustered the hearts of many girls. And then he remembered nothing. In the movie Benjamin starts his life by looking like a normal baby except for his skin which is heavily wrinkeled, just like the skin of an old person. He cries like any other baby but after a closer examination by the doctor they find out that his health condition is rather in a state which can be found by elderly people than by a newborn child. Details then bookaccommodating Father: In the story Benjamins dad is very present right from the beginning. He is a succesfull man and helds a high position, both social and financial. And therefore is always concered about other peoples opinions of him. He seems to not be very open for things he doesnt understand or he doesnt believe in. Which is shown by his attempt raising his son Benjamin the normal way, which is only made possible through illusions he built for himself to avoid the confrontation with the truth. He has a hard time accepting Benjamin as his son until he gets older which is either because of Benjamins trumendous success with the company (It was mainly due him that the family fortune was doubled chpt. 7) or due to the fact that Benjamin finally appears younger than his dad. In the movie however his name is Thomas Button. He also is the head of a successful Button company, but he doesnt seem too concerned about what other people think about him, he even seems like a man without any scruble by abondoning his son just because of his appearance. Later in the movie it accured that Mr Button is sick and his time on earth is very limited. He wants to make up for everything and regrets his mistakes. He tells Benjamin that he was his father and furthermore tells him that he should never have abondoned him (1:34:37). Though the apolgy was long overdue and what he did unforgivable this small move still makes him a sympathic character at the end. Mother: While in the book the mother is alive there isnt anything else mentioned about her. In the movie however Benjamins biological mother dies giving birth to Benjamin. At her place steps Queenie, his black surrogate mother. This character is very strong and independant, its basically her who runs the whole Nolan House with all its elderly residents. Which also shows how responsible and caring she is. Her joyfull acting and her supportiveness towards Benjamin thouroughout the movie makes her a loveable character.