Conflicting Perspectives Essay Example for Free

Conflicting Perspectives Essay Composers are able to evoke in the audience certain reactions to characters or events in their texts by presenting conflicting perspectives on different issues through the manipulation of the language forms and features of their medium, often communicating their own ideas about issues in question, which results in the creation of meaning within their texts. (?). David Guterson in his 1995 novel Snow Falling on Cedars (Snow) and Henry Bean in his 2001 film The Believer (Believer) demonstrate conscious choices made regarding structure and techniques in the construction of their texts in order to represent conflicting perspectives exploring ideas on racial prejudice and hatred and cultural contrasts and thus engage the audience. Composers can examine racial/religious prejudice brought on by war by using form specific techniques to present conflicting perspectives on the same event, designed to incite certain audience responses. Guterson, in Snow, purposely presents conflicting perspectives between Arthur Chambers and Hatsue and other members of the white community on San Piedro, particularly Etta Heine, in order to draw sympathy for the treatment of the Japanese after Pearl Harbour is bombed. Arthur is empathetic towards them, saying in his local paper the San Piedro Review, â€Å"†¦ those of Japanese descent on this island are not responsible for the tragedy at Pearl Harbour. Make no mistake about it.† The high modality language and short, direct sentences used by Guterson highlights Arthur’s deeply-held opinion of the innocence of the Japanese on the island. In support of Arthur’s argument, Hatsue, through the narrative’s non-linear structure, recalls her pain and confusion at the treatment of her people, saying, â€Å"It just isn’t fair – it’s not fair. How could they do this to us, just like that?† The emotive appeal in addition to Arthur’s article triggers audience support of the Japanese community. Guterson, however, also presents the contrasting racial hatred of the white islanders towards the Japanese. Etta Heine justifies the deportation of the Japanese with blunt, monosyllabic sentences – â€Å"They’re Japs†¦ We’re in a war with them. We can’t have spies around.† The use of the derogative term â€Å"Japs† and the distinct differentiation between â€Å"them†, the Japanese, and â€Å"we†, the white people, illustrates her bigoted hatred of the Japanese. Through the conflicting perspectives of Etta against Arthur and Hatsue, Guterson sways the audience to feel for the ill treatment of the Japanese, and shows them his own opinion on the negative effect of racism in wartime on the perceptions and conduct towards certain groups. Conflicting perspectives are established by Bean in Believer between Daniel, a neo-Nazi who is paradoxically a Jew himself, and a number of Holocaust survivors pertaining to the strength of their actions during WWII which aims to convey a pro-Jewish sentiment to audiences. At a sensitivity training session, Danny is enraged at a Jewish man’s lack of action while watching his son being murdered by a Nazi during the Holocaust. Rapidly cutting over-the-shoulder shots between Danny and the Jews indicate their opposing views. A close-up of Danny when he is asked by the Jews what he would have done in the situation shows his contempt and incredulous disbelief of the Jews’ weakness as he replies â€Å"Not what he did. Just stand there and watch?† Bean immediately employs a close-up reaction shot of the female Jew who rebuts with, â€Å"How do you know? You’ve never been tested like he has. Here in his rich, safe, stupid country it is so easy to imagine oneself a hero.† The personal address through 2nd person and the accumulation of adjectives to build a negative image of America strongly opposes Danny’s prejudiced conviction that Jews are pathetic, and also appeals to audiences the idea that religious prejudice towards Jews is unjustified. As Guterson does in Snow, conflicting perspectives are represented by Bean in order to sway his audience to respond negatively to unfounded sentiments of prejudice. Conflicting perspectives between characters can be used by composers to control the way in which an audience perceives them by exploring the cultural clashes that exist in the text as a reflection of societal (or social?) behaviour. In Snow, Guterson presents conflicting perspectives between Kabuo and the jury during his murder trial. In the opening chapter, a vivid description of Kabuo’s posture and expression is given from the jury’s perspective; he is shown as â€Å"proudly upright†¦ rigid†¦ detached.† This initial portrait portrait of Kabuo makes him suspicious not only to the jury but also to the audience, as Hatsue tells Kabuo using a simile that he â€Å"looks like one of Tojo’s soldiers.† However, Guterson, through the novel’s non-linear structure, refutes this perspective by explaining Kabuo’s behaviour to the audience via a flashback. Through his father’s teachings that â€Å"the greater the composure, the more revealed one was†, the audience learns the reason behind Kabuo’s unemotional stance. Third person omniscient allows the audience to sympathise with Kabuo’s emotive explanation that â€Å"he sat upright in the hope that his desperate composure might reflect the shape of his soul.† Guterson, through conflicting perspectives, influences his audience to understand Kabuo and the impact of contrasting cultural values on the perception of an individual. In Believer, Bean likewise shows contrasting opinions between Danny, who cannot fully repress his secret Jewish identity, and his anti-Semitic ‘skinhead’ friends to create audience sympathy for Danny’s inner struggles with the opposing aspects of his identity. When Danny and his friends break into a synagogue, Daniel shows a surprising respect for his religion which clashes with those of the other neo-Nazis. This directly conflicts with Danny’s character established at the film’s opening, when he violently beats up a Jew for no apparent reason. Wearing a brown shirt symbolising the Nazi SA (brown-shirts), Danny’s dark costuming contrasts with the light coloured one of his Jewish victim, highlighting the evil in his nature. Bean, however, challenges the audience’s view of Danny in order to allow them to understand his conflicting identities. In one frame, Danny is in the foreground walking down an aisle, which is juxtaposed with the othe r Nazis vandalising the synagogue. Their loud, raucous whooping contrasts to that of Danny’s respectful silence, highlighting their different treatments of the Jewish culture. When one of the Nazis tears up a Torah, a sacred Jewish text, after much opposition from Danny, a reaction shot of him shows sadness and pain accompanied by melancholy music, underlining Danny’s unspoken deference for Judaism. Bean’s portrayal of conflicting perspectives on Jewish culture incites the audience to respond more sympathetically towards Danny, and to understand that his veneer is a product of cultural differences in his society. The composers in Snow and Believer have effectively utilised techniques within their medium to represent conflicting perspectives about racial or religious prejudice and cultural differences in order to provoke certain audience responses to the characters, events or situations in their story. This includes reactions of sympathy for a certain perspective or disbelief and even dislike of opposing perspectives. In this way, the composers connect to the audience and generate meaning within their texts. In Snow, Hatsue is confined by the traditions of her culture, as shown when her mother Fujiko says to her â€Å"don’t allow living among the hakujin to become living intertwined with them. Your soul will decay†¦ rot and go sour.† The change in language to refer to the Americans as hakujin and the emotive metaphor of Hatsue’s breakdown of purity highlights Fujiko’s dislike of American culture. This

No Exit by Jean Paul Sartre | Analysis

No Exit by Jean Paul Sartre | Analysis Analysis of No Exit No Exit by Jean Paul Sartre is a play that symbolizes the German occupation of France. He was a soldier in the French Army during World War II and had to face the humiliation of defeat and the suffering of war. No Exit takes place in a room which is supposed to be a part of hell occupied by three people who cannot stand being around each other. This is an allusion to the relationship between the French and German people living amongst each other during the war. In this play, Sartre discusses issues such as freedom, reliance on others, deception, and â€Å"bad faith† (Spark Notes, analysis). In this essay I will discuss the different ideas and symbolization that help the reader understand Sartres conveyed messages about how he views death and how one must handle the present. Also, I will discuss the characters in depth to understand why they handled the situations they were in so differently than the others by comparing and contrasting their personalities. Sartre also was a fir m believer in either a â€Å"being-in-itself†, a being that lets other people control them or a â€Å"being-for-itself†, a being who makes their own choices. Existence precedes essence† was the theme to his belief that a humans consciousness was centered on a being-for-itself, or a being-in-itself (Spark Notes, analysis). Humans have the power to control their choices, thoughts, characteristics, values and certain traits. With this power also comes responsibility for ones choices. This anxiety of responsibility causes people to step back and let others chose and control what they think and do. It is a way to cope and not take responsibility for ones actions. This in turn creates the idea of a â€Å"being-in-itself† instead of the humans usual â€Å"being-for-itself†. In this paper this idea will be discussed and compared with the characters reactions to their own personal reality in hell. The four characters that Sartre portrayed in this play are the valet, Inez, Estelle and Mr. Garcin. Garcin is a journalist from Rio and the first to be introduced to the story and enter the room. His cause of death was execution by a firing squad for trying to desert during a war. The war was not specified exactly, but his excuse for deserting was that he was a pacifist and was standing up for what he believed in. During the play, it is clear that Garcin is able to deal with the idea of their hell better than the other two characters in the room. He sees and understands that the three of them were not put together by chance but actually brought together on purpose to torture each other with the others existence. He stated that the best way to cope with this predicament was for each person to keep to themselves and leave the other be in hopes of being able to coexist peacefully. Throughout the whole story, Garcin looks back into the past and looks at Earths present and tries to make p eace with himself about the evil things he had done to his loved ones on Earth. He completely understands why he is damned to hell and does not question anything about where he is. Inez is the second person to enter the room and is the most destructive of all of the characters. She makes it her mission to cause the most hostility and problems towards the other two people in the room. Her past occupation was as a postal clerk. She believes she is in hell, because she seduced her cousins wife and practiced adultery. The reason for her death was that her lover, her cousins wife, left the stove on while they were sleeping and the gas killed them both. She clearly dislikes men and automatically hates Garcin. In many instances she is obviously competing with him. However, she quickly finds Estelle very attractive and pursues her for the rest of the story. She tries to find any way possible to be closer to Estelle and actually scares her. Estelle is the last person to enter the hell. She i s the most skittish and frightened person in the room. She relies on mirrors to remind her that she is actually there, and when she realizes there are no mirrors in the room she agrees to rely on Garcin and Inez to define her existence. She also strongly believes that she does not belong in hell, being only willing to admit to her cause of death: pneumonia. She refuses to use the word dead but asks everyone to instead use the word absent. Inez pursues her but Estelle informs them that she can only be with a man and favors Garcin. Garcin is briefly interested in Estelle but then quickly puts all of his energy into focusing on Inez and her actions. Estelle finally confesses that she had an affair on her husband and killed her illegitimate child. Lastly, the most mysterious of all characters is the valet.He was the person to lead each individual into the room, rarely answering any questions and only supplies brief, cryptic answers. He informs Garcin of the bell in the room with which h e may be summoned, but it rarely works. The valet is reminiscent of a devil picture. He gives Garcin a chance to escape but knows that because of his personality, he would never leave in fear of Inez passing judgments on him for leaving the room. The characters think that the valet toys with each of them indirectly and causes them great annoyance and problems, such as the furnishing of the room. Existentialism is the rejection of any traditional approach to objective understandings of human behavior. Existentialists choose to study and look at individual humans who exist independently of any sort of community, tradition, or law. In No Exit, it can be a perfect place for existentialism to be observed because of how each character is taken out of his or her element to be picked apart and analyzed. Since there is no way out and no mirrors, the characters are left to decide for themselves if they are really there and have an essence. Sartre questions the differences between existence and essence with each character. Each person has died on earth and is left to only survive off of what they have left of their souls. They are able to see for themselves who they really are due to their closed off situation. A mà ©nage a trios has been created in this play where each character must either ignore or accept the judgments of the others in the room. In the beginning, both Inez and Garc in have a conflict about the way Garcins face looked. She did not like the way his mouth turned and she demanded that he stop. He chose to believe her opinion and tried to stop. This is one of many examples of how these characters agree to rely on the opinion of others to define their existence. Garcin allowed Inez to define his essence. Another interesting point about this work is that Sartre did not describe hell as being a definitive place. He allows you to see that hell could be a state of mind. Sartre most likely wrote this play during the German occupation of Paris and so one can conclude that he compared the eyelid-less stare of the valet to the Nazis and their surveillance of the French people. Garcin is deeply bothered by the valet staring at him because of his fear of being judged by others questioning eyes. Sartre practices the technique of exposition, or giving a detailed background to each character, to introduce each character by placing them in an awkward and strange situation. Sartre also foreshadows many of the major points of the play before they occur later on. For example, every character is already dead and yet they still are in denial and continue to think of themselves as alive. They continue to make comments like nothing is different about their lives and refuse to accept where they are at first. Also, there is foreshadowing of the character development between Garcin and Estelle. In the beginning when Estelle first sees him, she recognizes him and connects him with her lover on earth. This foreshadows their relationship later on in the story. Existence and essence is also talked about with the example of how Estelle relies on a mirror to believe that she is really there. She relies on material things to define her existence. Inez on the other hand refuses to let other peop le define her existence or essence. â€Å"She claims that she is always painfully conscious of herself† (Spark Notes, analysis). Hell is other people is also a main topic portrayed in this play (Scridb). Estelle needs Inez to be her mirror but it is not possible for her to assist Estelle fully because they have different opinions about appearance. There will always be a difference in the way they would see each other. Inez greatly dislikes the way Garcin looks at her, and feels like he is always judging her. Garcin also hates the idea of other people judging him for what he has chosen to do and would stop at nothing to prove them wrong, even if it means him staying in the room forever. Both Estelle and Garcin refuse to let go of their pasts and accept what has already been done. They each cause their own hell, and it seems like a never ending cycle of personal torture. They still both act like they are in the past and refuse to look at the here and now, unlike Inez. She clear ly sees her present and understands that the past cannot be altered, and so she decides not to linger on it. â€Å"All you own is here† is an evidently true quote said by Inez that greatly emphasizes the idea of acceptance (Spark Notes, analysis). Garcin, towards the end proves that he has the least amount of self understanding and worth. He is unable to decide on his motives as to why he ran from the war and whether he considers himself a coward or not. He asks Estelle to tell him what her opinion is and relies on her to convince him either way. Just like Inez, Garcin is extremely worried about others laying judgments on him, and fears a lack of control. He believes that now that he is gone, he has left his memory and legacy in other peoples hands to do what they please with it. He gives his freedom to define himself to others. He has now became a being-in-itself. This is the whole reason why he chooses to not leave when the valet opens the door for him. He believes that peo ple will always judge him from the choices he has made in his past, and decides to damn himself to the room for eternity. Sartre powerfully shows that hell could simply be other people by putting Garcin, Estelle and Inez together. Hell can be a mindset and not just a physical place. Just the power of each persons gaze on one another takes away from each persons individuality as a whole. There is no need for physical torture when the mere existence of the other causes enough anguish. Each character loses and ignores their given freedom and responsibility. No Exit is an extremely interesting piece of literature which I recommend to anyone who wants to see an abstract way of looking at life and its many important themes. Responsibility for ones actions, acceptance of others, self-reliance on defining ones self, existence, concentration on looking at the present and not dwelling on the future are very important ways of operating life which are echoed throughout this work. Each character symbolizes weaknesses in which many people have and can relate to. Bibliography 1. Scribd. â€Å"No Exit by Jean Paul Sartre.† Non-commercial copyright. 9 May. 2008. . 2. SparkNotes Editors. â€Å"SparkNote on No Exit.† SparkNotes LLC. n.d..17 Nov. 2009. .

Case Study: Why do People Migrate? :: Immigration Mexico USA Wages Work Essays

Case Study: Why do People Migrate? The Migration and Culture class field trip to Nogales Mexico was an educational trip. It served to give the students a greater understanding of other cultures and the migration issues that affect them. The mere sight of Nogales makes it easy to see the disorganization. The terrain and apparent lack of city planning makes the thought of reorganization a daunting task. The many houses that rest precariously on the hillsides are densely packed. The poverty is striking and the businesses, houses and lack of services are the obvious signs. The trip to one of the maquiladoras was informative. It was clean and well organized. In appearance it was no different than many of the assembly line production companies in the US. What was markedly different was the wage. Our tour guide hesitantly told us the wage was approximately eight US dollars a day. When comparing eight dollars a day to the eight dollars an hour paid by assembly lines in the US it is easy to see why people would be inclined to immigrate to the US in search of a higher wage. The maquiladoras are a strip of foreign owned factories that provide employment for the Mexican population. Maquiladores came about in 1965 as an attempt to combat Mexico’s unemployment problem. In exchange for providing jobs, these industries are given tax exemptions and very little regulations are placed on them (Falcoff 9). The impact maquiladoras have on immigration are both direct and indirect. The direct impact is that it created an immigration problem in Nogales. People from the interior of Mexico flooded Nogales in search of employment (Trujillo). These new immigrants needing a place to live, haphazardly built houses and communities on property that was not theirs and became squatters. These communities have developed into what is referred to as colonias or colonies in Spanish. In questioning one of the colonia residents, it became apparent that property ownership and systematic records had become a problem. She indicated that she had previously been making payments on the property but had ceased to do so. She went on to say that the person she was paying had not been the rightful owner of the property and that she was told to stop paying. When asked who had told her to stop paying she indicated that it was an attorney who was going around trying to help the people of the colonias.

Professional Sports - Athletes do Not Deserve What they are Paid :: Argumentative Persuasive Topics

Professional Athletes do Not Deserve What the Earn Wouldn't it be great to make 31.3 million dollars a year and an additional 47 million dollars in endorsements simply to play a game? Michael Jordan, along with many other professional athletes thinks so. In the 1996 season, playing 3,106 minutes Michael Jordan made 170,000 dollars a day, equaling out to be 160.97 dollars a second. Even more unbelievable are Mike Tyson's earnings in his match with Peter McNeeley. In a single second, he made 281,000 dollars ("Professional AthletesÉ"). Do these athletes really deserve all that money? "Professional athletes are making too much money in a society where salaries and wages are traditionally based on the value of ones work" ("Professional AthletesÉ"). In today's society, one will be paid more if their job is more economically important. However, teaching is one of the most economically important occupations because our future economy relies on the education of its youth, yet teachers are paid much less than the average professional athlete. The U.S President makes decisions that affect our economy and yet he only makes 250,000 dollars a year (Turner). Professional athletes do not play near as vital role in the economy as the president, but their salaries reflect otherwise. These games are supposed to be played for fun, not for millions of dollars. Opponents of this view say payment is being received for a service, therefore professional sports are a business. Many people believe athletes are being paid for little work, but in fact they work harder than any one else. Not only do they work during their particular season; they also work in the off season. Most professional athletes train on their own striving to become better. They also attend miniature camps and their seasonal training camps. These athletes work year round to earn their high salaries. Making it into the pros isn't an easy thing to do. It takes a tremendous number of hours of hard work and dedication every day to earn a job in professional sports. These athletes sometimes go through life threatening injuries for the love of the game. Considering this, one might think that these athletes do it for the love of the game not for the money. According to Gerald Sim, "The odds are higher for someone to become a brain surgeon than a NBA player, so isn't it more logical that the professional athlete get paid more than a brain surgeon?

Analyzing Macbeths Weak Charachter in Shakespeares Macbeth Essay

Shakespeare's Macbeth is about the change in Macbeth's character and his inner motives and feelings. Throughout the play the audience bears witness to Macbeth's thoughts and feelings in his soliloquies, speech, and asides. One often wonders whether it is fate, the witches, or the people around him that compel him to think in certain ways and influence his decisions. It is only his own character from the beginning, however, that allows him to make some of the choices that he does and commit horrific deed during the play. Macbeth is a weak, selfish, traitor, as shown through his submission to Lady Macbeth's demands, his betrayal of Duncan and Banquo, and his inability to admit wrongdoing or accept the consequences of his actions. Macbeth demonstrates weakness when he gives in to Lady Macbeth?s will and follows through with her crazed schemes. Lady Macbeth is a greedy person with grand desires, but one who finds it hard to follow through with the nefarious deeds that are associated with accomplishing her goals. She often wishes to be more of a man, calling upon the devil to help her ignore her conscious and give her cold blood. She uses Macbeth as a tool to accomplish doing these things she cannot without having to do them on her own. However, Macbeth is also reluctant and Lady Macbeth has to influence him to kill Duncan. When learning of Lady Macbeth?s plot to take Duncan?s crown, Macbeth contemplates all the reasons it should not be done. He admits it would be suicide, and that he has no reason to do it. Macbeth decides he will let luck and fate decide whether he will be crowned. ?I have no spur/ To prick the sides of my intent,? (I, ii, 26-27) says Macbeth. But soon afterwards he is coerced by Lady Macbeth ?s taunts and critici... ...ing himself up honorably. Through these statements and Macbeth?s fight until his death, he has demonstrated a lack of regret for the things he has done and the inability to repent for his actions. Shown by his mental insecurity and weakness, treachery against god and country, and reluctance to confess fault, Macbeth has proved a pathetic and selfish person who ultimately gets what he deserves. Macbeth?s character demonstrates all the qualities of a criminal mind. People often find themselves fighting against problems they have created for themselves through their own unwise actions, and losing in the end like Macbeth does because they cannot not change their ways soon enough or aren?t willing to. If one chooses to be selfish, greedy, and overconfident and betrays the ones surrounding him without regret, then he will find himself fighting alone to the bitter end.

One Lie Leads to Another Essay

The allegory that you might be interpreting in â€Å"Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening† is one of obligations that a person has that should be done before the end of the day or the end of their life. What obligations or responsibilities do you feel the pressure to come back to at the end of a day—cooking, children, pets, taking care of your family? When are the â€Å"promises† we need to keep made explicit, and when do they remain unspoken? The evening is â€Å"the darkest evening of the year,† winter solstice. It is also the shortest, in a period of cold and darkness. The images of the frozen lake, the dark, the deep, could be used to argue that Frost is thinking of death. Death here is beckoning, an escape from care. The repeated lines at the end seem to reinforce the heavy sense of obligation. They make the â€Å"promises† seem more weighty, inescapable. Therefore, while the poem is laden with images of death, the poem hearkens to life and ful filling responsibilities before it is too late. The poem ends with the repeated phrase â€Å"†¦miles to go†¦.† There is always something a person can do before it is too late. So in a sense, life is reaffirming even at the end. Ruskin bond Ruskin Bond was born on19th may 1934 in a military hospital in Kasauli, to Edith Clerke and Aubrey Bond. His siblings were Ellen and William. Ruskin’s father was with the Royal Air Force. When Bond was four years old, his mother separated from his father and married a Punjabi-Hindu, Mr. Hari, who himself had been married once. Bond spent his early childhood in Jamnagar and Shimla. At the age of ten Ruskin went to live at his grandmother’s house in Dehradun after his father’s sudden death in 1944 from malaria. Ruskin was raised by his mother, who remarried an Indian businessman. He completed his schooling at Bishop Cotton School in Shimla, from where he graduated in 1952 after winning several writing competitions in the school like the Irwin Divinity Prize and the Hailey Literature Prize.

Ibn Battuta

Ibn Battuta Muhammad ibn Battuta (1304-ca. 1368) was a Moorish traveler whose extensive voyages as far as Sumatra and China, southern Russia, the Maldives, the East African coast, and Timbuktu made him one of the greatest medieval travelers. Muhammad ibn Battuta was born in Tangier. His family was of Berber origin and had a tradition of service as judges. After receiving an education in Islamic law, Ibn Battuta set out in 1325, at the age of 21, to perform the obligatory pilgrimage to Mecca and to continue his studies in the East. He reached Mecca in 1326 by way of Egypt and Syria. This journey aroused in him the passion to see the world. From Mecca he made a trip to Iraq and western Persia as far as Tabriz and in 1327 returned via Baghdad to Mecca, where he spent the next 3 years. Ibn Battuta then traveled by ship along the Red Sea shores to Yemen and from Aden to Mogadishu and the East African trading ports. He returned by way of Oman and the Persian Gulf to Mecca in 1332. Next he passed through Egypt and Syria and by ship reached Anatolia, where he visited local Turkish rulers and religious brotherhoods. He crossed the Black Sea to the Crimea in the territories of the Golden Horde and visited its khan in the Caucasus. He then journeyed to Sarai, the capital of the Golden Horde east of the lower Volga, and then through Khwarizm, Transoxiana, and Afghanistan to the Indus valley. From 1333 to 1342 Ibn Battuta stayed at Delhi, where Sultan Muhammad ibn Tughluq gave him a position as judge, and then he traveled through central India and along the Malabar coast to the Maldives. His next trip took him to Ceylon, back to the Maldives, Bengal, Assam, and Sumatra. He landed in China at the port of Zayton and probably reached Peking. Returning via Sumatra to Malabar in 1347, he took a ship to the Persian Gulf. He revisited Baghdad, Syria, Egypt, Mecca, and Alexandria, traveled by ship to Tunis, Sardinia, and Algeria, and reached Fez by an overland route in 1349. After a visit to the Moslem kingdom of Granada, he made a final trip through the Sahara to the black Moslem empire on the Niger, returning to Fez in 1354. During his travels Ibn Battuta sometimes lost his diaries and had to rewrite them from memory. His travel book was written from his reports by Ibn Juzayy, a man of letters commissioned by the ruler of Fez. These circumstances may account for some inaccuracies in chronology and itineraries and other shortcomings of the work which affect some parts in particular. However, the book contains invaluable and sometimes unique information on the countries Ibn Battuta visited. Ibn Battuta Ibn Battuta Muhammad ibn Battuta (1304-ca. 1368) was a Moorish traveler whose extensive voyages as far as Sumatra and China, southern Russia, the Maldives, the East African coast, and Timbuktu made him one of the greatest medieval travelers. Muhammad ibn Battuta was born in Tangier. His family was of Berber origin and had a tradition of service as judges. After receiving an education in Islamic law, Ibn Battuta set out in 1325, at the age of 21, to perform the obligatory pilgrimage to Mecca and to continue his studies in the East. He reached Mecca in 1326 by way of Egypt and Syria. This journey aroused in him the passion to see the world. From Mecca he made a trip to Iraq and western Persia as far as Tabriz and in 1327 returned via Baghdad to Mecca, where he spent the next 3 years. Ibn Battuta then traveled by ship along the Red Sea shores to Yemen and from Aden to Mogadishu and the East African trading ports. He returned by way of Oman and the Persian Gulf to Mecca in 1332. Next he passed through Egypt and Syria and by ship reached Anatolia, where he visited local Turkish rulers and religious brotherhoods. He crossed the Black Sea to the Crimea in the territories of the Golden Horde and visited its khan in the Caucasus. He then journeyed to Sarai, the capital of the Golden Horde east of the lower Volga, and then through Khwarizm, Transoxiana, and Afghanistan to the Indus valley. From 1333 to 1342 Ibn Battuta stayed at Delhi, where Sultan Muhammad ibn Tughluq gave him a position as judge, and then he traveled through central India and along the Malabar coast to the Maldives. His next trip took him to Ceylon, back to the Maldives, Bengal, Assam, and Sumatra. He landed in China at the port of Zayton and probably reached Peking. Returning via Sumatra to Malabar in 1347, he took a ship to the Persian Gulf. He revisited Baghdad, Syria, Egypt, Mecca, and Alexandria, traveled by ship to Tunis, Sardinia, and Algeria, and reached Fez by an overland route in 1349. After a visit to the Moslem kingdom of Granada, he made a final trip through the Sahara to the black Moslem empire on the Niger, returning to Fez in 1354. During his travels Ibn Battuta sometimes lost his diaries and had to rewrite them from memory. His travel book was written from his reports by Ibn Juzayy, a man of letters commissioned by the ruler of Fez. These circumstances may account for some inaccuracies in chronology and itineraries and other shortcomings of the work which affect some parts in particular. However, the book contains invaluable and sometimes unique information on the countries Ibn Battuta visited. Ibn Battuta Ibn Battuta Muhammad ibn Battuta (1304-ca. 1368) was a Moorish traveler whose extensive voyages as far as Sumatra and China, southern Russia, the Maldives, the East African coast, and Timbuktu made him one of the greatest medieval travelers. Muhammad ibn Battuta was born in Tangier. His family was of Berber origin and had a tradition of service as judges. After receiving an education in Islamic law, Ibn Battuta set out in 1325, at the age of 21, to perform the obligatory pilgrimage to Mecca and to continue his studies in the East. He reached Mecca in 1326 by way of Egypt and Syria. This journey aroused in him the passion to see the world. From Mecca he made a trip to Iraq and western Persia as far as Tabriz and in 1327 returned via Baghdad to Mecca, where he spent the next 3 years. Ibn Battuta then traveled by ship along the Red Sea shores to Yemen and from Aden to Mogadishu and the East African trading ports. He returned by way of Oman and the Persian Gulf to Mecca in 1332. Next he passed through Egypt and Syria and by ship reached Anatolia, where he visited local Turkish rulers and religious brotherhoods. He crossed the Black Sea to the Crimea in the territories of the Golden Horde and visited its khan in the Caucasus. He then journeyed to Sarai, the capital of the Golden Horde east of the lower Volga, and then through Khwarizm, Transoxiana, and Afghanistan to the Indus valley. From 1333 to 1342 Ibn Battuta stayed at Delhi, where Sultan Muhammad ibn Tughluq gave him a position as judge, and then he traveled through central India and along the Malabar coast to the Maldives. His next trip took him to Ceylon, back to the Maldives, Bengal, Assam, and Sumatra. He landed in China at the port of Zayton and probably reached Peking. Returning via Sumatra to Malabar in 1347, he took a ship to the Persian Gulf. He revisited Baghdad, Syria, Egypt, Mecca, and Alexandria, traveled by ship to Tunis, Sardinia, and Algeria, and reached Fez by an overland route in 1349. After a visit to the Moslem kingdom of Granada, he made a final trip through the Sahara to the black Moslem empire on the Niger, returning to Fez in 1354. During his travels Ibn Battuta sometimes lost his diaries and had to rewrite them from memory. His travel book was written from his reports by Ibn Juzayy, a man of letters commissioned by the ruler of Fez. These circumstances may account for some inaccuracies in chronology and itineraries and other shortcomings of the work which affect some parts in particular. However, the book contains invaluable and sometimes unique information on the countries Ibn Battuta visited.