Book Review Essays (619 words) - Like Water For Chocolate

Book Review Like Water for Chocolate, is a creative story intermixed with romance, sex, war and homemade recipes. When Tita De la Garza' s hopes of marrying her one true love, Pedro, are crushed by her obligation to take care of her mother, Mama Elena, for the rest of her life, her heartfelt emotions have been transmitted through the delicious meals she cooks for her family and friends. Everyone who eats her meals experiences the same love, anger or sorrow that Tita felt while cooking her meals. Tita' s forbidden love with Pedro begins the many challenges the De la Garza family faces. Each separate character struggles to overcome the challenges and betrayals of marriage, the bindings of tradition, and the search for one' s inner self. Each month presents a new, unpredictable story accompanied by a De la Garza family recipe for dinner, love, and common ailments such as burns and bad breath. Through each separate story and character, Laura Esquivel, the author of the novel, effectively conveys the importance of following one' s heart in order to achieve happiness. Tita follows her mother' s wishes instead and remains despondent for the greater part of her life. Each character' s personal struggle exemplifies the innermost defects and weaknesses felt in all of us. The conquering of these struggles to reach our desires often comes from breaking traditions, breaking bonds, and breaking hearts. Esquivel uses clever fictional elements to exaggerate the feelings of each character, such as when Gertrudis, Tita' s sister, rides off naked with a revolutionary soldier and doesn' t return for years. Her exaggerations allow the reader to experience the personal feelings of each character, observing their challenges and predicting their decisions. Esquivel' s novel is simple and entertaining to read. Although it' s a romance story filled with unrealistic events, predicting the outcome of Tita and Pedro' s struggle for their love allows the reader to become involved in each character' s l ife. The fictional elements, however, exaggerate the innermost feelings that each character experiences. The reader can actually feel the resentment and hatred that Tita has for Mama Elena and the torture Pedro endures while trying to stay close to Tita. The fact that Tita' s guests experience her feelings through their food, adds a creative element to the novel. Although it' s highly improbable, Tita' s feelings become magnified since they re felt by numerous people rather than a single person. At first the De la Garza' s recipes and preparations seem out of place, but the further one reads into the book, it becomes apparent how important the recipes are and the creative touch they add. All feelings and events in the story are related to food. When Tita feels lonely, she relates her situation to the last pepper will remain untouched because no one wants to feel selfish, taking it for themselves. Like Water for Chocolate, stresses the importance of following your heart and discoveri ng your inner self. Esquivel wrote about the importance of choosing your own paths, even if they aren' t necessarily the best ones. It' s unavoidable to discover the right choices in life without making wrong ones first. The surprising final chapter of Esquivel' s novel brings a sense of conclusion to the problems that the characters deal with throughout the entire book. The closing chapter explicates the realization that in order to achieve happiness, traditions and hearts sometimes have to be broken. As a bystander to the character' s lives, it' s obvious which choices they should make to find the utmost happiness and resolution. But it was the anticipation of discovering which choices they would make for themselves that make the novel intriguing Book Reports

Direct Democracy Pros and Cons

Direct Democracy Pros and Cons Direct democracy, sometimes called pure democracy, is a form of democracy in which all laws and policies imposed by governments are determined by the people themselves, rather than by representatives who are elected by the people. In a true direct democracy, all laws, bills and even court decisions are voted on by all citizens. Direct vs. Representative Democracy Direct democracy is the opposite of the more common representative democracy, under which the people elect representatives who are empowered to create laws and policies for them. Ideally, the laws and policies enacted by the elected representatives should closely reflect the will of the majority of the people. While the United States, with the protections of its federal system of â€Å"checks and balances,† practices representative democracy, as embodied in the U.S. Congress and the state legislatures, two forms of limited direct democracy are practiced at the state and local level: ballot initiatives and binding referendums, and recall of elected officials. Ballot initiatives and referendums allow citizens to place – by petition – laws or spending measures typically considered by state and local legislative bodies on statewide or local ballots. Through successful ballot initiatives and referendums, citizens can create, amend or repeal laws, as well as amend state constitutions and local charters. Examples of Direct Democracy: Athens and Switzerland Perhaps the best example of direct democracy existed in ancient Athens, Greece.  While it excluded women, slaves, and immigrants from voting, Athenian direct democracy required all citizens to vote on all major issues of government. Even the verdict of every court case was determined by a vote of all the people. In the most prominent example in modern society, Switzerland practices a modified form of direct democracy under which any law enacted by the nation’s elected legislative branch can be vetoed by a vote of the general public. In addition, citizens can vote to require the national legislature to consider amendments to the Swiss constitution. Pros and Cons of Direct Democracy While the idea of having the ultimate say-so over the affairs of government might sound tempting, there are some good – and bad – aspects of direct democracy that need to be considered: 3 Pros of Direct Democracy Full Government Transparency: Without a doubt, no other form of democracy ensures a greater degree of openness and transparency between the people and their government. Discussions and debates on major issues are held in public. In addition, all successes or failures of the society can be credited to – or blamed on – the people, rather than the government.  More Government Accountability: By offering the people a direct and unmistakable voice through their votes, direct democracy demands a great level of accountability on the part of the government. The government cannot claim it was unaware of or unclear on the will of the people. Interference in the legislative process from partisan political parties and special interest groups are largely eliminated.Greater Citizen Cooperation: In theory at least, people are more likely to happily comply with laws they create themselves. Moreover, people who know that their opinions will make a difference, they more eager to take p art in the processes of government. 3 Cons of Direct Democracy We Might Never Decide: If every American citizen were expected to vote on every issue considered at every level of government, we might never decide on anything. Between all of the issues considered by local, state and federal governments, citizens could literally spend all day, every single day voting.Public Involvement Would Drop: Direct democracy best serves the interest of the people when most people take part in it. As the time required for debating and voting increases, public interest, and participation in the process would quickly decrease, leading to decisions which did not truly reflect the will of the majority. In the end, small groups of people often with dangerous axes to grind, could control the government.One Tense Situation After Another: In any society as large and diverse as that in the United States, what is the chance of that everyone will ever happily agree with or at least peacefully accept decisions on major issues? As recent history has shown, not much.