`` Radical Hope `` By Jonathan Lear Essay - 1335 Words

Individuals of a certain society are raised with a particular set of ideals and values that are ingrained in their perception of everyday life. One may wonder how such individuals can continue life if they must abandon all of their fundamental principles of living. Jonathan Lear describes in his book, Radical Hope, how Plenty Coups, the last chief of the Crow nation, was able to help his tribe discontinue their particular way of life in order to survive in the future. Lear states how Plenty Coups does this: â€Å"Precisely because Plenty Coups sees that a traditional way of life is coming to an end, he is in a position to embrace a peculiar form of hopefulness. It is basically the hope for revival: for coming back to life in a form that is not yet intelligible† (Lear 2006: 95). Through this statement, Lear implies many things. As a young boy, Plenty Coups experiences a dream in which he is told that the Crow culture is coming to an end and is given advice on how he must procee d with his life through certain virtues, such as listening and recognizing wisdom of others. His dream is interpreted by the Crow elders as an inevitable halt to their way of living. As Plenty Coups is able to anticipate the complete demolition of the Crow culture and its values, he recognizes he must adapt his perception of everyday life to whatever the necessary circumstances demand. Although he may be only following the instructions of what he had been told in his dream, Plenty Coups commits himself to anShow MoreRelatedThe Ritual Actions Of The Crow Tribe Essay1961 Words   |  8 Pageshorses were literally barred from existence, I find the problem of the lack of purpose of the Sun Dance to be more interesting. This problem - societal rituals losing their meaning and the depression that ensues within that society - is referred to by Lear as cultural devastation. While the Crow Tribe rituals were stripped of meaning once their way of life was disturbed, American meaningful ac tions (rituals or otherwise) are less prone to losing meaning due to the individualistic nature of the U.SRead MoreChildrens Literature13219 Words   |  53 Pagesthat permeate and surround the term. From feminist studies to new historicism, literary theory places the child/text/context relationship on varying ideological and political axes. The reconceptualization of its history and the postmodern growth of radical alternative literary â€Å"histories† further complicate a retelling of the history of children’s literature. Consequently, it becomes not only a difficult but also a contentious task to both identify general features that constitute children’s literatureRead MoreEssay on Silent Spring - Rachel Carson30092 Words   |  121 Pagesis eliminated. Populations of pest insects such as the screw-worm have been wiped out with the method of disseminating large numbers of sterilized males. A number of other species are being tested for susceptibility to cont rol by sterilization, in hopes that populations of disease-carrying insects, such as the tsetse fly, may be greatly reduced, thus improving healthful living conditions for thousands of humans and livestock. Experiments are being conducted to test various methods of insect sterilization