The Rise of Islamism in the 20th Century Essay Example for Free

The Rise of Islamism in the 20th Century Essay Islamism is by now a powerful force. It runs governments in Iran, Sudan, and Afghanistan. It is an important force of opposition in Algeria, Egypt, Turkey, Lebanon, and the Palestinian authority. The paper at hand is going to analyze what conditions and events allowed for the rise of Islamism as an ideology in the later 20th century? The first part is going to introduce the concept of eurocentrism. Following this, Kemalism and its effect on Islamism is going to be discussed. In the last part of the paper post-modernism and Khomeini and their role in the rise of Islamism are highlighted. EUROCENTRISM Eurocentrism can be described as a phenomenon establishing the West as the center of the world by equating it with modernity and as a result make it the destiny of the world to become westernized, since this is equal with being modern. This development is based on the idea that the West knows best (Sayyid, 127). This concept has its historical roots in European colonialism and imperialism. The discourse of eurocentrism is one of the major strands with which the network of western global power is held together (p. 129), since it provides them with a sense of nity and power, which serves as legitimacy for claiming to be the center of the world. Opposition that wants to resist this hegemonic order, can do so only in the terms of that hegemony. This leads to another assumption of eurocentrism: there is nothing outside the Western project. (p. 135) KEMALISM After the post-colonial order and the decline of the Ottoman Empire, the Muslim world was dominated by Kemalist discours es. Influenced by eurocentrism, Kemals vision was to mimic the European way of building and reigning a nation to become like the West and as a result become modern and reach political efficacy (Sayyid 155). This aim to become like the West resulted in major changes in Turkey and other countries being influenced by the Kemalist discourse. Before being abolished by the Kemalist regime, the caliphate constituted the nodal point, around which the Muslim unity and identity was built. At the same time it was the centre of the Muslim political structure, attaching Islam as a master signifier to the state. (p. 57) Abolishing the caliphate separated the link between state and Islam. The goal of Kemalism was to disconnect Islam from the state to be able to establish a hegemonic discourse without having to integrate Islam. Being aware of the fact that the Kemalist government could not neglect Islam altogether, since the possibility of using it to mobilize support still existed, Kemal tried to tie it in into his discourse. Acts like the abolishment of the caliphate and putting all educational institutions under direct state control to avoid Islamic concepts being taught, sought to distance and even exclude Islam from the Kemalist Turkey. (pp. 63-64) The effect of Kemalism on the role of Islam was different than expected. Instead of depoliticize Islam the policies of the Kemalist reactivated it. By removing it from the centre of their construction of political order, they politicized it. Unsettling it and disseminating it into the general culture made it available for reinscription. The rise of Islamism was enabled through the possibility to articulate it into a counter-hegemonic discourse. (pp. 72-73) Additionally, the social crisis, in which the discourse of Kemalism was in, was severe enough to make Kemalism appear unstable and Islamism, because at this time seeming to be the only discourse that was structured in an otherwise unstable environment, could emerge as opposition to Kemalism. It provided Muslim societies with social order and stability. Nevertheless, the existence of Islam alone cannot account for Islamism, since it is not a reflection of the religion, but it becomes a political discourse that makes use of Islam to undermine the Kemalist regime. Islamism makes use of the availability of Islam and increases its availability at the same time. Through this relationship a two-way process evolves in which Islam and Islamism are organized around each other. (p. 2) The most important task for Islamism was to establish Islamism as a counter-hegemonic discourse through the construction of order to be able to rule in opposition to Kemalism. Hence, overall the emergence of Islamism was equally dependent on the availability of Islamism and the erosion of Kemalism. (p. 77) The new hegemony of Islamism was only able to emerge because the old one began to unravel. Reasons for the failure were among others that the project of Kemalism failed to constitute all social rela tions and was not able to make all subjects within the Kemalist regimes fully internalize this discourse. It was not evenly represented in all Muslim societies and was therefore not able to impose it totally. (p. 85) This incompleteness of the discourse resulted in the politicization of Islam, which at the same time was also based on the inability of the Kemalists to make their picture of Islam as the backward, superstitious and traditional discourse seem natural. (p. 86). On top the Kemalist regime had difficulties to suppress existence of an Islamist opposition. All together these factors weakened the Kemalists hold as a hegemonic discourse. The only emergent counter hegemonic discourse readily available to substitute the crumbling anciens regime appeared to be Islamism, despite its uneven presence. (p. 86) POST-MODERNISM Around the 1970s, after the decline of Kemalism, the situation began to change. It became possible to articulate political demands using a vocabulary centered on Islam, without any attempt to associate Islam with the West (Sayyid 155). This period, called post-modernism, constitutes a critique of modernity, which tries to abolish the view of the West and modernity being synonyms. It aimed at breaking the substitutability of the West and modern. Decentring the West meant the weakening of this constructed western identity. If the West ceased to exist as an unified entity, it could not provide the unity to constitute modernity. (p. 110) Post-modernism did not see the West as continuing to be the nodal point of the discourse of modernity and decentred the West. (p. 110) This post-modern mind-set further spurred the emergence of Islamism, since it was only able to exist in a world in which there was suspicion of a western meta-discourse (p. 18). This possibility of rejection of westernization depended on the recognition that there was no historical necessity of the western hegemony; and after two world wars, decolonization and the decline of Kemalism there was enough support for this assumption. Only in a context in which it was possible to disarticulate and re-articulate the relationship between the West and universalism in a way that it was no longer seen as the center and equal to modernity, could Islamism emerge. (p. 128)

Malaysia Is A Fast Developing Country Environmental Sciences Essay

Malaysia Is A Fast Developing Country Environmental Sciences Essay Malaysia is a fast developing country that its change from an agro-based to an industrial nation, has led to an increase in the population. Malaysias population increased rapidly from 6 278 800 in 1957 to an estimated 29,179,952 in July 2012. Thus, the amount of solid wastes generated in Malaysia also increases rapidly. Statistic shows that on average, each Malaysian produces 0.8 kg to 1.2 kg of wastes per day (The Star, 2009). About 23,000 tonnes of wastes are produced each day in Malaysia. However, this amount is expected to rise to 30,000 tonnes by the year 2020 (Global Environmental Centre, 2008). The amount of wastes generated continues to increase due to the increasing population and development. Problem Statement There are different alternatives to reduce, treat and dispose the solid wastes. However, landfill is still the most common practice for solid waste management. Sanitary landfill for solid waste management is defined as an engineered method of disposing of solid wastes on land by spreading them in thin layers, compacting them to the smallest practical volume, and covering them with soil each working day in a manner that protects the environment (Brunner and Keller, 1972). There are 230 official dumping sites in Malaysia, the majority of which are crude landfills, with only 10% providing leachate treatment ponds and gas ventilation systems and with most having no control mechanism and supervision. However, the landfill method causes generation of leachate (Galbrand, 2003). Leachate is defined as a liquid that has percolated through solid waste and has extracted dissolved or suspended materials (EEA, 2005). Leachate occurrence is by far the most significant threat to ground water. Once it reaches the bottom of the landfill or an impermeable layer within the landfill, leachate either travels laterally to a point where it discharges to the groundà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s surface as a seep, or it will move through the base of the landfill and into the subsurface formations (El-Fadel et al., 1997). Depending upon the nature of these formations and in the absence of a leachate collection system, leachate has reportedly been associated with the contamination of aqu ifers underlying landfills which resulted in extensive investigations for the past four decades (Albaiges et al., 1986; Mann and Schmadeke, 1986). Leachate contains high concentration of organic matter, inorganic matter (sodium chloride and carbonate salt) and heavy metal (Trebouet et al., 2001). Organic matter in leachate results in decomposition by microorganisms and causes oxygen depletion in surface water bodies (Schwartz, 2005). This favours anaerobic conditions which are detrimental to the aquatic life. The anaerobic micro flora is responsible for putrefactive processes which are characterized by the production of different types of toxic and noxious compounds (ammonia, hydrogen sulfide and phosphine) as final products of the organic matter degradation. Oxygen deficiency and toxic substance from anaerobic metabolism cause fish death and impairment of aquatic life. Therefore, since leachate can affect aquatic ecosystems and human health, proper leachate treatment is needed befo re leachate is discharged into receiving water (Paredes, 2003). Nutrients such as nitrate, ammonia and phosphate (along with co-contaminants such as pathogens, chemicals, and animal pharmaceuticals) are also found in leachate. High levels of nitrate, phosphate and ammonia in our lakes, rivers, streams, and drinking water sources cause the degradation of these water bodies and harm fish, wildlife, and human health. For example, at levels above 10 mg/L maximum contaminant level (MCL) in ground water, nitrates can cause human health effects, such as blue baby syndrome to pregnant woman. The current conventional leachate treatment systems are physical-chemical treatment, recirculation of leachate through landfill and biological treatment (El-Gendy, 2003). Physical-chemical treatment includes chemical precipitation, chemical oxidation, ion exchange and reverse osmosis, activated carbon adsorption and ammonia stripping (Ehrig, 1989). Precipitation in physical-chemical treatment is based on the addition of any chemicals to remove suspended solids, nitrogen, phosphorus, ammonia and metal. The physical-chemical treatment processes can produce high quality effluents, adapt to wide variations in flow and chemical composition and have the ability to remove toxic substances from leachate (Shams-Khorzani et al., 1994). However, these treatment systems are difficult to operate and require highly skilled labor besides high capital and operating costs. Some of these processes even require extensive pretreatment process (Britz, 1995). As a conclusion, the conventional treatment sy stems are effective in treating leachate. However, they require highly skilled labour and involve both high capital and operating cost. Therefore, constructed wetland was developed as an alternative to treat leachate in this research since constructed wetland has low cost of construction and maintenance (El-Gendy, 2003). The type of wetland used in this study is a combined system of subsurface flow (SS) and free water surface (FWS) constructed wetland. 1.3 Objectives The main objectives of this study are; To determine the nutrients (phosphate, nitrate and ammonia) removal from landfill leachate using combined subsurface and free water surface flow in constructed wetland between planted and control (without plant) system. To determine the nutrients removal in different hydraulic loading rate (HLR). To compare the percentage removal between subsurface (SS) and free water surface (FWS) in both planted and control system. To determine the uptake of nutrients by plants, Limnocharis flava in the subsurface (SS) and Eichhornia crassipes in free water surface (FWS). 1.4 Scope of Study The scope of this study is leachate treatment by setting up of lab-scaled wetland. The leachate was collected from landfill in Padang Siding and initial concentration of phosphate, nitrate and ammonia were analysed. Then, experiments were conducted with 25% leachate concentration diluted with water in a 60 L container being treated in two different planted and control reactors. Initially, Limnocharis flava plants were planted in the subsurface (SS) tank and Eichhornia crassipes was placed in the free water surface (FWS) tank in planted reactor and left for a few days for acclimatization process while no plant was placed in control reactor. The experiments were conducted with two different hydraulic loading rates which were high hydraulic loading rate (0.55 m/d) and low hydraulic loading rate (0.39 m/d). The efficiency of nutrients removal in leachate was evaluated by few parameters which were phosphate, nitrate and ammonia. The uptake of nutrients by plants in leaf, stem and root was also analysed as well as monitoring the physical plant growth in terms of physical appearance throughout the experiments. 1.5 Importance of Study The research was conducted to evaluate the efficiency of nutrient removal from landfill leachate in a combined system of subsurface and free water surface constructed wetland as well as to determine the nutrient uptake by plants. This nutrients removal was done by phytoremediation process by plants. Phytoremediation is the use of plants to clean up or control many kinds of pollutants including metals, pesticides and oil (McCutcheon, 2008). Phytoremediation is a potential method to treat leachate naturally in low cost. It is an environmentally friendly approach to remove pollutants from leachate. Therefore, phytoremediation can be practically used in landfill sites as constructed wetland to remove nutrients from landfill leachate. The plants used in constructed wetland can be Limnocharis flava in the subsurface and Eichhornia crassipes in free water surface. This research was also conducted to determine the most efficient loading rate for the leachate flow in constructed wetland in removing nutrients effectively. The loading rate plays an important role since the leachate flow also determines the uptake of nutrients by the plants. This research was also conducted to determine the ability of plants, Limnocharis flava and Eichhornia crassipes to uptake nutrients from the leachate.

Psychodelic Drugs Essay -- essays research papers

Psychodelic Drugs Alcohol Alcohol is one of the most widely used drugs in this society. It is accepted as a part of social life. Its use is widely promoted via sponsorship of sporting events. Advertising infers that drinking is the path to happiness, success, romance, etc. There are references to alcohol and its effects from earliest known writings. Alcohol is consumed in the beverage form and sold legally in this state to persons over 21. Alcohol is absorbed directly into the bloodstream through the stomach and small intestine. It is distributed by the blood throughout the body, affecting literally every organ it touches in a matter of minutes. Enzymes in the liver metabolize alcohol at a rate of 10-15 ml (less than one half ounce) per hour. Hence, only time can sober someone up. Coffee, cold showers, or exercise do not work. The warm glow of disinhibition, "letting go" is a major desired effect of alcohol. People feel more sociable and talkative with small amounts of the drug. Alcohol is a relaxant, so many people drink to unwind from the demands of life. Because alcohol has been around for so long, its effects are well-known. Two key concepts to understand in dealing with alcohol use and abuse are impairment and tolerance. They are both problems in themselves and signals of possible additional difficulties. IMPAIRMENT refers to the deficits in performance, judgment, memory, and motor skills which occur because of alcohol consumption. Impairment becomes noticeable at blood levels of 0.05%, which can occur when as few as two drinks are consumed in an hour by a 160 pound person. The deceptive part about impairment is that, by definition, impaired judgment cannot recognize its own impairment. The individual thinks he or she is functioning well, when actually s/he is not. Later, there is impaired memory of the impaired performance. TOLERANCE means that a drug loses some of its effect with repeated use, and that higher and higher doses are needed. It is the body's way of adapting to having a foreign substance in the system. People develop a high tolerance to alcohol when they drink a great deal over an extended length of time. "WHILE T... ...V Class C Misdemeanors some depressants1 Valium-type tranquilizers, some less potent depressants 30 days $500 SCHEDULE V Violation Dilute mixtures, compounds with small amounts of controlled drugs None $1,000 Delivery of less than five grams or possession or less than one ounce of marijuana is a violation. established mandatory evaluation, education and treatment services for those under 18 years old. If services are successfully completed, the charge will be dropped. Alcohol is an illegal drug for those under 21 years of age. For a driver under 18 ANY detectable amount of alcohol (above .00 BAC) is grounds for losing the license. That pretty much sums it up for psychodelic drugs. I hope this proved to you that if you use a psychodelic drug that you should stop, unless it is alchol because it is not as bad as LSD, pcp, or anything you have to inject or snort. So I sign out with I hope you learned something, I mean you had to you could'ent have know all of this information. Biblyography Name Year Type Microsoft Encarta 96' Encyclopedia Dartmouth collage 95' Brochure White House 97' Internet

Free Process Essays - How Boats Work :: Expository Process Essays

How Boats Work   As most people probably know a propeller is what drives a motorboat through the water. However, the water gives off quite a bit of resistance. If you want to travel at greater velocities you have to speed up the boat to push against the water and to move the hull higher. The force of the water against the hull is called friction. This slows the boat down. If a boat hull is designed well the water will flow around more easily. The sail of a modern sailing boat or yacht catches the wind and pushes the boat forward. The sail of a boat is very similar to the wing of an airplane or even a bird's wing. The same principles that govern those structures happen - a plane's wing lifts the plane and a boat's sail lifts and pushes it forward. Imagine the sail of a boat cutting into the air. As the sail cuts through the air some of the air goes around the curved side and some air goes across the shorter (back side). The air on one side makes the sailboat lean over and the air on the other side pushes the boat sideways. Another question now arises what makes the boat go forward? Well the hull is weighed down by a keel; this huge weight counters the wind push and makes the boat go forward. Now when discussing boats there are many types, another type of interest would be a jet boat. If   it was possible to see through the hull of a jet boat and into the jet unit which propels the boat to high velocities we would see amazing things. The water flows in a given direction. The spinning turbine blades cause water to be sucked up through the intake under low pressure. Once inside the turbine chamber the water gains velocity and is powered out of the back of the turbine under high pressure by the specifically designed turbine blades. The opposing force of this powerful jet blast powers the boat forward. Another principal of boats is how they float.   Floating was first recorded by

Affirmative Action is Reverse Discrimination Essay -- Argumentative Pe

Affirmative Action is Reverse Discrimination    When the Civil Rights Bill was being debated on the floor of the Senate, Barry Goldwater predicted that this particular bill might be abused. Herbert Humphrey, however, stated that he would eat every page of the bill if ever it were used to justify discrimination against anybody on account of race or sex. The bill eventually passed and became the Civil Rights Act. From college admissions to government contracts, the Civil Rights Act has been grossly abused by giving race and gender primary consideration in admissions and hiring, resulting in blatant reverse discrimination. Paul Craig Roberts and Larry Stratton, co-author of The New Color Line: How Quotas and Privileges Destroy Democracy, document the silent change of the 1964 Civil Rights Act from a statute forbidding preferences based on race and gender into a weapon to coerce employers to adopt and implement quotas. This change is not so silent today. Roberts and Stratton show that, "quotas are based on an intentional misreading of Title VII and are strictly illegal under the 1964 Civil Rights Act." An explicit example of this intentional misreading, or abuse, of the Civil Rights Act is when a person is fired to fulfill a quota. On August 8, the Federal Third Circuit Court of Appeals agreed. The court ruled that the Piscataway, N.J. Board of Education violated the Civil Rights Act when it fired Sharon Taxman, an "overrepresented" Jewish female school teacher, to make room for a black woman under the school system's affirmative action plan. The school district was ordered by the court to pay $144,000 in back pay. The judges' decision was based on their own investigation into the legislative history of Title VII ... ...they are black? There is no question that racism did exist in our society and still does today, but the solution is not reversing the discrimination. It is hard to imagine that segregation of our schools was still legal in California as late as 1974, it is even harder to imagine that university admissions are still based on race in 1996. The solution to preferences in hiring and college admissions should be stricter penalties to those who discriminate based on race or gender. Also, it is a little late in the game to squeeze unqualified students into graduate school. We should be working with these students in grade school. Our universities and our government will unlikely look at any logical solutions because of their reputation of putting bandaids on social problems. There is no doubt, if Herbert Humphrey were here today, he would be eating a lot of paper.

Cognitive Interventions Essay

The only thing that tells everyone apart from everyone else is each person’s genetic make-up. And there is only one exception and that would identical twins, because no two people are the same. This can be said true about the way we all think. There is no one person that thinks the same as the next person. People believe that we are all born innocent and that we are pure in thoughts and in behavior. There are many different factors that can and sometimes do influence how a person is controlled by his/her cognitive ability to think before acting. There are people who do a better than others can. There are people who have certain psychological problems that seek out help from a therapist to get a handle on their problems. One of most popular therapy would be cognitive behavior therapy (CBT). The base of this theory is that some of the behaviors are caused by a person’s inner thoughts or by mental inability to deal with problems or events in our lives. In this paper, I will summarize the article â€Å"Abuse-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Child Physical Abuse,† that describe Abuse-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (AF-CBT) and the use of AF-CBT in adolescent anger management. Article Summary Childhood anger can be tiger by many different factors, thoughts or even events during a child early life. A young child is not able to express their feels in a correct way, so they have problems in dealing with their anger. This could also be that they were never taught by his/her parents how to handle their emotions. A good example would be a friend of mine that has a child with some deep rooted problems, When Sam get angry he will not able to express how he feels so he acts out towards anyone that is near him. At Christmas time I brought him a soccer ball that he wanted and when he opened it he just threw it to one side, so he was punishment, sent to his room, when he came out the looks in his eyes just plain scared me. I have seen that look in a person who just committed a murder. Cold and dark look is what this child has. Most children with this type of problems, it could be a result of abuse in the home by one or both parents, and the type of abuse could be physical or sexual. At the time of the abuse the child may feel that they could not fight off the person who is abusing him or they are so scared to tell anyone. When this time of situation has occurred the child is not able to handle so they will out and get into trouble. They may start getting into trouble at school, start handling out with the wrong crowds and getting into serious trouble with the law. The child may become involved with sex, alcohol and drugs, sometimes the child could turn out to be an abuser also. Children will do this to get away from their home life and the pain. If the abuse was discover at an early age, and then the child can be remove from the home and has a better chance to get therapy and could turn out to normal. This way the hate and anger can be redirected to a more positive avenue. It difficult for a child to understand why things happened to them and but to be able to speak to someone that can be able to help them understand that it was no their fault and help them heal their emotional wounds. Unfortunately, the affective of the abuse may follow the person throughout their life in many different forms. It can affect their children and even their partners. They may became have problems like becoming overweight so they will not be attractive to men. They also can be very sexually active. Being in therapy as a child they can be with other children that have been threw the same as the child and could help to release their anger, it could also help them from staying away from trouble and from hanging out with the wrong people. This would help the child to focus more on school and what is important to the child. The cognitive behavior theory is known to help child that are victims of abuse cases whether it is physical or sexual and the parents that are the abusers, that may help them to reestablish a relationship between parents and children. Abuse-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy  The main usage of the Abuse-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (AF-CBT) is working with children and their families that have suffered sexual or physical abuse; the environment is very hostile, the child may be subject coercion and are aggression when the family is present. AF-CBT is also used for children with behavioral problems such as Conduct Disorder and Oppositional Defiant Disorder. AF-CBT is right for children who are the ages of 5-15, who exhibit some level of behavioral or emotional dysfunction and for parents or caregivers who may resort to uncomfortable or unsafe levels of physical punishment. The goal of this therapy is to reduce the level of physical abuse risk factors of the caregiver or family and to reduce the consequences of these experiences for the children. The primary focus is behavior management, social skills, training, cognitive restructuring, problem-solving skills, and communications skills for the caregiver’s level of anger and promote nonaggressive discipline strategies, to enhance a child’s coping skills, and encourage problem-solving and communication. There are three stages of AF-CBT process, each of the steps consisting in multiple steps that involve the child and the parent(s) separately and jointly. This type of treatment would be taken place as outpatient or in a setting that ongoing contact with the caregiver and the child. The treatment should take place twice a week for approximately three to six months. Abuse-Focus Cognitive Behavioral Therapy in an Adolescent Anger-Management, the important part is to be able know how to control anger. Everyone can control their anger and being angry is a normal part of life. Just like everyone else, adolescent are no exception. The only exception is that adolescent can take their anger to the extreme and their action may not be called normal when angered. There is one way to help the adolescent to control their anger is by cognitive therapy. Cognitive behavioral therapy can occur in many different ways, the most common is the one-to-one talk with the adolescents. Once the problem is out in the open, the therapist may give the adolescent advice and to show how to control or redirected their anger. It is a success when one discovers the problem using the cognitive behavioral therapy. Now that the adolescent is able to control their anger it more benefit for those who are around the adolescent, it does benefit both parties. With aggressive or violent behavior the AF-CBT will target in three ways in which people can deal with the situations: 1) Cognition (thinking), 2) Affect (feeling), and 3) Behavior (doing). AF-CBT use many different techniques that are used by practitioners, such as behavior and anger management, problem solving, social skills training, and cognitive restructuring. All programs require proper training in different areas, especially with psychological skills so that enhancing interpersonal effectiveness and self-control is maintained. Conclusion The article explains to us how to deal with child and adolescent in dealing with their anger due to physical or sexual abuse to them and to be able overcome their anger and to deal with feelings as well as their families. The primary goal of AF-CBT is to reduce other behavioral problems in children and adolescent when they grow-up.

The Taste of Watermelon

The story was written by Borden Deal, who died in 1985. He was an American novelist and writer of short stories. The story was set in the United States of America in a small village of the countryside. The main characters in the short story were, Freddy Grey and J. D. who are the narrators friends, Mr. Wills who is the father of the beautiful girl, and of course the beautiful girl – Willadean. The narrator has known his guy friends, Freddy Grey and J. D. for years since he moved to this place and started going to school. Willadean is this girl that the narrator is interested in, she is tall and slender. Mr. Wills who is Willadean’s father who everybody was afraid of. He has bright, fierce eyes under heavy eyebrows. The story is about this boy (the narrator) who moved to this certain place and started going to school, was never interested into girls, but he did have an eye on this girl called Willadean. Last year she was nothing compared to who she is now. The narrator mentions how her walk started to turn him on, and how beautiful she really was. But he was afraid to get close to her, cause of her father Mr. Wills who would shake anybody’s soul inside them, with his yelling and always being angry. He had been growing this specific watermelon for a really long time but the narrator decides to steal it at night, most probably to get closer to Willadean, to show that he is not afraid of Mr. Wills where as he really is. He brings his friends Freddy Gray and J. D. with him for support and to help him out, the boys tell him not to do this terrible thing, but unfortunately, he does it. In the end Mr. Wills gets sad after finding out that his watermelon has been kidnapped and bursts out into tears. The narrator does not get closer to Willadean unfortunately and doesn’t even try anymore. The style of the story is written in 3rd person. It uses a lot of hyperbole sentences to make it sound and look more dramatic has really warm atmosphere which really gives the love atmosphere away, which explains a lot of details in certain paragraphs of the story ‘The taste of watermelon’. Maybe the narrator would be able to add some alliteration to make it seem more dramatic. And I would add some more details about the characters to get a much better idea of the characters and be able to picture the characters in your head, to make it seem much easier to you. I enjoyed reading this story. I found it interesting because of the theme of the story, which is basically – love. Because this boy (the narrator) is in love with this girl Willadean and to get closer to her, he decides to steal her father’s watermelon which he had been growing for a really long time. As well as making him extremely mad for once to see the father’s reaction. In the end, the father burst into tears and was very sad for losing his ‘baby’ watermelon; he loved his watermelon so much that Willadean thought he loved the watermelon more than his own daughter. It just really interested me. The Taste of Watermelon Taste of Watermelon is written by Borden Deal. Taste of Watermelon is written in the year of 1979. It is a short story. He is an American author who is dead! He has been dead 25 years. The Taste of Watermelon is set in the country side where a bunch of farmers live. It is set in the states because of the language used. For example ‘golly’ and ‘gosh’. It is set in around the 1970s, the time it was written in. There are 4 main characters I would say. There is Mr. Will who is an old man who is a farmer and every night he guards his huge watermelon with a gun. Then there is a boy who steals the watermelon and eats it up with his friends. He then after he steals it feels really bad and collects the seeds from the floor and gives them to Mr. Wills The story is basically about a boy who steals the watermelon from Mr. Wills and together with his friends; Freddy, Gary, and J. D. , they eat as much as they can of the watermelon and destroy whatever is left. The boy goes home and watches Mr. Wills as he realizes that his watermelon has been stolen. He freaks out and starts destroying all the other watermelons and the boy after a night of not sleeping together with his dad collects all the seeds he could find and gives them to Mr. Wills to plant a field of watermelons for the following year. Mr. wills accepts his apology and is pleased to hear that the boy would love to help Mr. Wills in planting all these seeds. Mr. Wills is happy ?. The author uses 1st person. I personally prefer reading stories written in first person so I as the reader can make a character. When a story is written in first person it is usually more emotional and personal. The language used in this story is pleasant. It is not to formal or informal. The dialogue is funny as it is written in Old American Farmer Language like when they use ‘golly’ and ‘gosh’ I find it very amusing. There isn’t too much description in this story which I absolutely hate so ? I think the main point of this story is to entertain. Yes there is a morale behind everything like in this case it is basically don’t steal and if you do have the courage and decency to own up. But still it seems to me as if the idea of this story is that the writer wanted to write a story that would interest people and they would enjoy reading it. I don’t think that he wanted to send a message across to his readers. It was a great story and I really enjoyed it. It was a bit on the longish side but still enjoyable. The idea was original and really interesting to read. There was a good amount of suspense in this story and it was balanced out between boring bits and funny of interesting bits. As I said before the description wasn’t over done which I can’t stand so on a whole it deserves a ?