HUMAN AGENCY AND COMMUNITY IN A GLOBALIZING WORLD Term Paper

HUMAN AGENCY AND COMMUNITY IN A GLOBALIZING WORLD - Term Paper Example The human individual has to face different social events that are continuously influencing many aspects of his or her community. Humans, as agents of social modification and development, face the challenges of world events. Through the presence of globalization, people become more aware of different views and ways of life while being vulnerable to being engulfed by such new ideas. They are susceptible to incorporating new perspective in their practice. Thus, the human individual as social agent has a big role in restructuring or maintaining the norms and traditions of his or her society. In this paper, an exploration will be presented about how a human individual in a globalized world setting is acting upon the events and changes happening in his or her society. In light to the discussion, narratives from Ha Jin’s book will be studied focusing on the issues of changing societies and human individuality. Two instances of globalization from Ha Jin’s book will be discussed and will be examined using Amartya Sen’s and Kwame Anthony Appiah’s comments and discussions in connection with globalization and the status of human individual in the global community. ... One instance of globalization that is illustrated in the book is that of the situation of the narrator in the ‘An Entrepreneur Story’ where he experienced how money and capitalism influences many things in the world (Ha 116-126), if not all. In this example, capitalism as used by international community as political and economic strategy is being projected in the narrator’s thoughts and intention. Generally, capitalism becomes central to the theme of the story. The implicit and explicit conditions of people in a nearly capitalist community as influenced by world economic politics are depicted. Another event in the book where implications of globalization can be found is that of the story of a man in the title story. The story narrating about a man named Baowen, a husband, (Ha 91) arrested because of the ‘crimes’ of homosexuality is quite surprising. In the story, homosexuality is viewed to be like an illness that needs clinical cure. In here, we see h ow myths about the matter are being shown implying the deep-rooted political and social factors influencing it. This instance is also related to the outside phenomenon happening outside the setting’s local community. In the global society, certain views and modifications about the issue of gender and homosexuality have circulated and startled people from different parts of the world. This matter is just one of the prominent issues talked about in the international communities. Thus, it is apparent that the characters in the story, representing ‘the human individuals’ in the community, are affected by the circulating views and perspectives introduced by globalization. In reading Ha Jin’s stories, particularly those instances