1. Granted that Machiavelli’s own historical context is remote, how far does his pattern of contrasts between political ideals and concrete realities apply today?
Machiavelli’s contrasts between concrete realities and political ideals do seem to apply to the world today. Negative criticism between political campaigners is a great place to start. The terrible things that are said and done to opponents in campaigns are sometimes unbelievable all just to make ones self look better than the opponent. In Machiavelli’s eyes anything bad that was said about someone was a lie. I generally believe that too. There are so many made up things during this time of year that it is sickening. In the story a ruler was to be respectful and was to be respected he was be truthful to his people. It is crazy to see how these things can compare to each other when they are so many years apart, it just goes to show how things can either never change or drastically change. Finding a perfect leader was and never will be an easy task for mankind to tackle. There are too many opinionated people in this world that never seem to be happy with the things that are out there.
- Sister Juana de la Cruz cuts off her hair to force herself to learn more quickly, although she knows that among young women, “the natural adornment of one’s hair is held in such high esteem.’ Finally, she enters the convent (where woman had their heads shorn). What other works have you read that emphasize the importance of a woman’s hair? Why does it seem to have so much symbolic value in such a range of cultures and times?
Sister Juana de la Cruz’s choice to cut off her hair was to be a learning tool. In many different cultures there are different forms of symbolic values, in the bible the story of Samson, a man that’s power and strength came from his luscious locks. All cultures are different; many middle eastern cultures find it bad for men to see women’s hair unless she is the wife of the man. This shows a symbol of beauty. All cultures are different and that’s what makes our world diverse and interesting.
- Bear in mind that the Aztec warrior’s highest duty is to bring home live captives for sacrifice. Give the Song for Admonishing a careful reading and decide–without researching the entire Cantares Mexicanos–what possible meaning might be assigned to the figurative terms “flower’ and “song.’
I think that the flower and song bring up a good story to the capturing and sacrificing of warriors. I find that the flower is captured warrior and the song is the celebration or the sacrifice for the Lords. I think that the flower and song is a representation of ones life as a warrior.
I liked your response to question 1, particularly after reading a bunch of other people’s responses. Some people liked his idea of politics, some people didn’t, and yet that doesn’t I loved your Sampson example, he is such an obvious example of the symbolism of hair and yet I didn’t think of him merely because I was caught up on women.