Due to diversity, communities have been faced with defining moments, and the reactions to these moments have major influence n the direction taken by the society. Entities in the community have played distinctive roles that have particularly impacted on the outlook of the community. The two stories are built around societal tendencies of association and responsibility. They explore culture as impacted not just by single entities but by a multiplicity of elements, working for their own good or otherwise but not for the collective interests of the society. Thomas King develops his story as a fictitious account, transiting from the practice of playing ball, to the discovery of Indians and the shift in economic interests. Cristina Rocha focuses on the shift in dynamics of worship for the Zen Buddhists in Brazil with a focus on church leadership. She explores the disparities in ideology between the Japanese immigrants and non-Japanese Brazilians. The instances that occur in the two books shape up the later outlook of the society.
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Conflicts play a central role in shaping up the outlook of the society. In Thomas King’s “A Coyote Columbus Story,” Differing opinions about the discovery of America actually lead to the reader’s discovery about the role of Christopher Columbus in the slave trade. The trade in Indians to fund Columbus’ expensive expeditions is juxtaposed to the Indians shift in other ventures when they realized they would never win any of the games with Coyote. King highlights that “some of them went fishing, others shopping, others went to watch movies whilst others went on vacations.” In Rocha’s essay, the conflict in the assembly is about whether Japanese or a non-Japanese Brazilian should run the Busshinji temple. There is also a contest on the language that ought to be used in the temple i.e. whether it should be Japanese or Portuguese. The inability of the Japanese intrigues the curiosity of Rocha and she engages in a fact finding mission that takes the reader into the deeper echelons of Buddhism in Brazil. The transforming economic endowments in Kings’ story are juxtaposed to the changing religious conceptions.
Society is in constant revolution. Thomas King captures this concept very well through Coyote’s ball playing. Playing ball remains a constant whilst the Indians come, enjoy playing ball, realize they’ll never win, move on to other ventures and Columbus sells all Indians off. Symbolically, the rules keep changing. This becomes a point of conflict, so much that no one else wins and the Indians thus find something else to do. King writes, “She always won because she made up the rules. That sneaky one made up all the rules and she always won because she could do that.” These rule became a bone of contention and the Indians moved on to something else Rocha points out that Zen Buddhists must adapt to the dynamics of existence in a Catholics dominated society if they need to change. She attributes the influx of the Non-Japanese intellectuals to the shift in the constitution of the Buddhists. This brings about the change in leadership and the tensions on who should lead. There is always a change in status quo that needs to be appreciated and accommodated. This is however not without friction as less people are willing to alter their practices or replace them with new trends if not fit into the new trends.
Change in society could be mandatory or voluntary. Whilst Coyote holds on to ball playing, the Indians moved from that to fishing, shopping and other ventures. Initially, Christopher Columbus intended to look for Gold and other valuable to trade in. Unable to realize any, he shifted the focus to the Indians. All along, Coyote held on to ball playing. This is Juxtaposed with the Japanese immigrants to Brazil who wanted to hold on to practicing Buddhism in the Portuguese language. The Non-Japanese Brazilian intellectual relied heavily on literature they read and modified it to suit their language. In the two stories, the striking semblance is the amicable integration. Coyote agrees that America was not discovered. It has been there. The Non- Japanese Brazilians form their own separate entity but they had to rely on Japanese monks to conduct their festivities.
To conclude, facts or fiction could be an informative source of history. The Coyote Columbus story is backed by factual information and is fictitious whilst thorough research characterizes Christina Rocha’s essay. However, the two essays prove to be very informative bits with agreements on the contrasting routes taken by the society in evolution of economic and religious matters. It is inexplicable that the common ground still holds in spite of the numerous differences humanity have. What to do and how to worship remain as the central themes. However, these aspects have taken tremendous changes over time.