The Third World Body Commodified Essay Sample free essay sample

This essay offers a reading of Indian author Manjula Padmanabhan’s dystopian drama Harvest ( 1997 ) in order to analyze the trade in human variety meats and the commoditization of the 3rd universe organic structure that such a trade is predicated upon. Padmanabhan’s drama. in which an unemployed Indian adult male sells the rights to his organic structure parts to a purchaser in the United States. pointedly critiques the commoditization of the healthy third-world organic structure. which. thanks to important progresss in transplant medical specialty. has now become a bank of trim parts for ailing organic structures in the first universe. Describing this phenomenon as a instance of ‘neo-cannibalism’ . anthropologist Nancy Scheper-Hughes ( 1998. p. 14 ) notes that wealthy but ailing patients in the first-world are progressively turning to healthy if destitute populations of the third-world in order to secure ‘spare’ organic structure parts. It is alluring. at first glimpse. to read this illicit planetary economic system as yet another illustration of the development of third-world organic structures that planetary capitalist economy gives rise to. We will write a custom essay sample on The Third World Body Commodified Essay Sample or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Scheper-Hughes herself suggests that the trade in human variety meats is best understood in the context of planetary capitalist economy when she points out that the planetary circuit of variety meats mirrors the circuit of capital flows in the epoch of globalization: ‘from South to North. from Third to First universe. from hapless to rich. from black and brown to white’ ( 2002. p. 197 ) . And yet. as I argue in my essay. the human organ can non be equated with other objects produced in the third-world for first-world ingestion because the organ is non a merchandise of the laboring third-world organic structure. Unlike the trade good exported from an exploitatory third-world sweatshop. the organ is non produced by the third-world organic structure but extracted from it. The organ’s peculiar feature as a merchandise that requires no labor in order to bring a monetary value provides the key to understanding why third-world populations are progressively willing to be preyed upon by first-world organ purchasers. Many theoreticians composing about planetary capitalist economy today have pointed out that first-world economic systems are progressively reliant non on production but ingestion ( Harvey. 2000. Bauman. 1998. and Hardt and Negri. 2004 ) . The work force of the first-world is of all time more disengaged from industrial labor and industry either because. in the aftermath of technological progresss. such labor is carried out by non-human agencies. or instead. because human labor is obtained elsewhere. In their thrust to multiply net incomes. first-world economic systems rely on production sites where labor is ‘cheaper. less self-asserting. less taxed. more feminised [ and ] less protected by provinces and unions’ ( Comaroff and Comaroff. 2000. p. 295 ) . Typically located in the third-world. such production sites displace human labor to remote geographical locations. leting for industrial production to go progressively less seeable in the first-world. The first-world. on th e other manus. sees a proliferation of service-economies. economic systems which rely on consumers to buy progressively non-material trade goods. Yet organ trade does non purely correspond to this planetary economic form. The organ is so a stuff good originating in the third-world. but it is non the merchandise of labor. It is. instead. a merchandise that can be sold without the outgo of labor. while assuring to bring forth ‘wealth without production. value without effort’ ( Comaroff and Comaroff. 2000. p. 313 ) . Undreamt-of sums of money with small to no labor: this is the peculiar promise that organ sale extends to the impoverished and disenfranchised populations of the third-world. In order to understand the frequently resistless enticement of this promise. we must research non the transmutation in the conditions of capitalist production. but instead the transmutation in the societal complex numbers of the labouring hapless. Jean and John Comaroff theorise merely this transmutation. Harmonizing to the Comaroffs. capitalist economy today presents itself to the laboring hapless in a millennian. messianic signifier. publicizing itself as ‘a Gospel of redemption ; [ as ] a capitalis t economy that. if justly harnessed. is invested with the capacity entirely to transform the existence of the marginalised and the disempowered’ ( 2000. p. 292 ) . Therefore. the key to understanding millennian capitalist economy lies in the peculiar trade name of seduction upon which it operates. This seductiveness. they argue. is most visibly manifested in the unprecedented proliferation of ‘occult economies’ in the third-world ( 2000. p. 312 ) . The Comaroffs cite non merely organ trade as an illustration of these occult economic systems. but besides the sale of services such as fortune-telling. or the development of tourer industries bases on the sighting of monsters ( 2000. p. 310 ) . Occult economic systems are characterised by the fact that they respond to the temptingness of ‘accruing wealth from nothing’ ( Comaroff and Comaroff. 2000. p. 313 ) . In other words. supernatural economic systems are animated by the same inclination that motivates wealthaccruing actions like chancing or guess on the stock market. It is within this millennian context that we need to understand the determination of the organ-seller to ship on the sale of her organ and seek out the supernatural economic system of the variety meats market. The organ-seller’s voluntary determination is brought on by that set of contradictory emotions. hope and desperation. that millennian capitalist economy and its supernatural economic systems unleash upon their marks. Despair. because the proprietor of a healthy organ is immiserated. hapless and hopelessly excluded from capitalism’s promise of planetary prosperity. Hope. because millennian capitalism’s supernatural economic systems hold out the promise of a speedy hole to this status by showing a new. quasimagical agencies of doing adequate money to get the better of poorness. Making money. This is the promise that the occult economic system of organ trade extends to its objects: sell your organ and you will do more money than you will of all time gain through old ages of labor and labor. The promise of millennian capitalist economy works because it allows the third-world person to see her organic structure as that which contains a natural ‘spare’ por tion. a of course happening excess that is non the merchandise of labour yet is still in high demand. The third-world person is therefore organic structure has a ‘spare’ of – a kidney. a cornea – in order to work out all her pecuniary jobs. The organ hence emerges as a really curious sort of trade good: 1 that is non produced by a drudging human organic structure. but instead extracted from it. What sort of trade good. so. is the organ? Indeed. is it a trade good at all? It is informative to turn here to Karl Marx’s treatment of a peculiar sort of trade good: 1 that has a use-value. and therefore carry through a demand. yet no value. insofar as it is non the merchandise of labor. 1 Marx’s primary illustration of such a trade good. which he discusses in the 3rd volume of Capital. is land. Marx recognises that there are assorted manners of production originating from land. but he chooses to concentrate on the peculiar instance of agricultural production. where the farmer-capitalist rentals a certain sum of land. and pays the proprietor of this land a fixed amount of money every month in the signifier of rent. Parenthetically. he adds that ‘instead of agribusiness. we might every bit hold taken excavati on. since the Torahs are the same’ ( 1991. p. 752 ) . The phrase is implicative. because both instances. agribusiness and excavation. affect the extraction of something from the land. We might easy include the human organic structure in the same class. In the scenario I explore here. the organic structure. like land. is mined for its variety meats. and. as the rubric of the drama I discuss below suggests. variety meats are removed. harvested. from the organic structure. Marx’s treatment of land as a trade good offers yet farther penetrations into the trade in human organic structure parts. In Capital III. he explicitly states that to talk of land as holding value is ‘prima facie irrational [ †¦ ] . since the Earth In Capital I. Marx explains that a trade good has both a qualitative and a quantitative facet. The commodity’s use-value resides in its qualitative facet: ‘The utility of a thing makes it a use-value. But this utility does non swing in mid-air. It is conditioned by the physical belongingss of the trade good. and has no being apart from the latter. [ †¦ ] Use-values are merely realised in usage or ingestion. [ †¦ ] In the signifier of society to be considered here [ read. the capitalist manner of production ] they [ use-values ] are besides the stuff carriers of [ †¦ ] exchange-value’ ( 1990. p. 126 ) . Exchange-value. says Marx. is the quantitative dimension of the trade good ; it is â⠂¬Ëœthe proportion in which use-values of one sort exchange for use-values of another kind’ ( 1990. p. 126 ) . However. Marx argues. the belongings that renders two trade goods commensurable is the fact that they both contain a common component. This common component is value. or the measure of abstract human labor objectified within a given trade good. Exchange-value is therefore ‘the necessary manner of look. or signifier of visual aspect. of value’ and emerges as such under the conditions of capitalist economy ( 1990. p. 128 ) . is non a merchandise of labor. and therefore does non hold a value’ ( 1991. p. 760 ) . And yet. as Marx recognises. the fact remains that land has a monetary value. a moneysum for which it can be exchanged. We might add here that the organ. excessively. fetches a monetary value without being a merchandise of labor. From whence so. does this monetary value originate? To this inquiry Marx provides a really unequivocal reply: [ T ] he monetary values of things that have no value in and of themselves – either non being merchandises of labor. like land. or which can non be reproduced by labour [ †¦ ] – may be determined by rather causeless combinations of fortunes. For a thing to be sold. it merely has to be capable of being monopolised and alienated ( 1991. p. 772. accent added ) . Capitalist production. argues Marx. develops exactly by virtuousness of its ability to monopolize and estrange the particular. natural belongingss of use-values without value. such as land. Therefore. the sale of land might look. superficially. to be similar to the sale of a produced trade good. However. they have different theoretical positions ( Foley. 1986. p. 28 ) . As Duncan Foley explains: If we want to understand value dealingss in trade good production. we should center our attending foremost of all on conditions of production. on factors such as labour productiveness. If we want to understand value dealingss affecting nonproduced things. we should look. non to production. but to the rights involved in ownership of these things and to the bargaining places these rights give to their owners ( 1986. p. 28-9. accent added ) . It is thanks to the societal phenomenon of landed belongings that land is able to command a fixed. agreed-upon money-sum. in the signifier of rent if the land is leased. and in the signifier of a monetary value if it is sold. The legal impression of landed belongings efficaciously alienates certain parts of land and decrees them as the sole ownership of a given person. As Marx puts it: [ T ] he legal construct [ of private belongings ] itself means nil more than that the landholder can act in relation to the land merely as any trade good proprietor can with his trade goods ( 1991. p. 753 ) . Landed belongings therefore renders land into an alienable. monopolisable good in the ownership of a given person who can now sell it.As the work of Lawrence Cohen ( 2002 ) shows us. the organ. excessively. has been rendered alienable. Cohen argues that biomedical progresss in transplant medical specialty have led to the possibility non merely of pull outing and reassigning an organ from one individual to another: more significantly. these progresss have created a much larger pool of both potentially utile variety meats and compatible receivers likewise. This ‘fortuitous combination of circumstances’ . to cite Marx ( 1991. p. 772 ) . consequences from the development of extremely effectual immunosuppressor drugs such as cyclosporine. The development of cyclosporine. Cohen provinces. efficaciously means that patients expecting kidney grafts are no longer dependent on kidneys that match their ain tissue types ( 2002 ) . Theoretically. so. it is extremely likely that anyone wishing to sell their ‘spare’ organ will easy happen a purchaser for it. for immunosuppressant drugs greatly cut down the opportunities that the organ will be rejected by its new proprietor. The reaching of cyclosporine. as Cohen puts it. ‘ [ has ] allow [ ed ] specific subpopulations to go â€Å"same enough† for their members to be surgically disaggregated and their parts reincorporated’ ( 2002. p. 12 ) . If. as Marx says. a thing needs simply to be monopolisable and alienable in order to be sold. so the planetary black market in variety meats shows that this procedure is good underway in the instance of organic structure parts. 2 Much more fraught. nevertheless. is the inquiry of what it means to have one’s organic structure and the variety meats that comprise it. Land ceases to be a free resource for all one time a given province espouses the impression of private belongings upon which capitalist economy is founded. An organ. nevertheless. is ever the ownership of a given person. who. theoretically talking. is hence entitled to sell it. should she so choose. And yet the statute law adopted by most states of the universe. explicitly forbiding the trade in human organic structure parts. proves otherwise. Catherine Waldby and Robert Mitchell argue that if. along with the United States. Canada. Australia and New Zealand. no state in Western Europe has every bit yet legalised the sale and purchase of human organic structure tissues. this is due to the fact that most politicians and bioethicists in these states uphold the human organic structure as ‘the venue of absolute self-respect [ †¦ ] . [ This ] [ vitamin D ] ignity is destroyed if any portion of the organic structure is assigned a market value and rendered alienable’ ( 2006. p. 19 ) . Mentioning Paul Rabinow. Waldby and Mitchell explain that such an apprehension of self-respect as an unalienable human right is derived from Kant’s differentiation between self-respect and monetary value: In the land of terminals everything has either a monetary value or a self-respect. Whatever has a monetary value can be replaced by something else as its equivalent ; on the other manus. whatever is above all monetary value. and hence admits of no equivalent. has a self-respect. ( Kant. 1981. p. 40. cited in Waldby and Mitchell. 2006. p. 19 ) The most searching reviews of the commoditization. be it illicit or legalised. of human organic structure parts. spring from a similar construct of the self-respect of the human organic structure. Nancy Scheper-Hughes ( 2000 ) describes organ market proposals as being founded upon useful and neo-liberal principals that systematically undermine the cardinal self-respect of the human organic structure. Furthermore. these libertarian statem ents emphasize the right of every person to take whether or non to sell what she owns. However. as Scheper-Hughes points out. the really thought of pick becomes debatable in most third-world contexts: Bio-ethical statements about the right to sell are based on EuroAmerican impressions of contract and single ‘choice’ . But societal and economic contexts make the ‘choice’ to sell a kidney in an urban slum of Calcutta or in a Brazilian favela anything but a ‘free’ and ‘autonomous’ one ( 2001. [ n. p. ] ) . The balance of this essay discusses Harvest. a drama which. I shall reason. launches a scathing review of the variety meats market and of the planetary. marauding capitalist economy that consequences in the commoditization of the third-world organic structure. Indian author Manjula Padmanabhan’s 1997 drama confronts us with a futuristic Bombay of the twelvemonth 2010. a clip when legal. moral and bioethical arguments about organ gross revenues and grafts have been overcome. The trade in human variety meats is now to the full institutionalised and swimmingly operated by the entity incarnating all the predatory forces of planetary capitalist economy: a multinational corporation named Interplanta Services. The dramatis personae. Padmanabhan’s phase waies tell us. is divided into two chief groups dwelling of Third World givers and First World receiving systems. Although Padmanabhan chooses. ‘ [ f ] or the interest of coherence’ . to do the givers Indian and the receiving systems North American. her phase waies emphasise that: the givers and receiving systems should take on the racial individualities. names. costumes and speech patterns most suited to the location of production. It matters merely that there be a extremely recognizable differentiation between the two groups. reflected in address. vesture and visual aspect ( 1997. p. 217 ) . The play’s futuristic scene allows Padmanabhan to deploy a series of sci-fi appliances on phase. Their intent. I argue. is to alarm us to the important function that engineering dramas in both seducing and patroling the third-world givers into entry. It is thanks to one such sci-fi appliance that we see the first-world receiving system and organ buyer Ginny. whose organic structure is neer present on phase. but seeable merely on a screen suspended from the ceiling. The four Indian givers belong to the same family: Om ; his married woman Jaya ; Om’s female parent. referred to merely as Ma ; and Om’s younger brother. Jeetu. While Padmanabhan uses her donor characters to interrogate the peculiar fortunes that make the option of selling one’s organic structure parts so seductive. finally. I contend. she upholds the Kantian thought of human self-respect which views the merchandising of one’s organic structure parts as a misdemeanor of human unity. When the drama opens. Jaya and her mother-in-law are impatiently waiting for Om’s return from his occupation interview. Both are antsy: Ma fierily hopes that Om will acquire the occupation ; Jaya. cognizing what the occupation entails. hopes that he will non. But Om returns to denote that he has so been selected for the ‘job’ at Interplanta Services. Having passed the medical trials at Interplanta. he has been decreed an eligible. healthy campaigner for selling the rights to his full organic structure to an anon. purchaser in the United States. His baffled feelings about subscribing such a contract allow Padmanabhan to portray the complex mixture of hope and desperation that has motivated his actions. At first. he verges on the enraptured: ‘We’ll have more money than you and I have names for! ’ he says to Ma. proudly. ‘Who’d believe there’s so much money in the universe? ’ ( 1997. p. 219 ) . When his married woman exp resses her reserves for what he has done. he becomes defensive: You think I did it lightly. But [ †¦ ] we’ll be rich! Very rich! Insanely rich! But you’d instead unrecorded in this one little room. I suppose! Think it’s such a all right thing – life twenty-four hours in. twenty-four hours out. like monkeys in a hot-case – lulled to kip by our neighbours’ rhythmic flatus! [ †¦ ] And starvation ( 1997. p. 223 ) . When Jaya accuses him of doing the incorrect pick. he is inexorable that his determination was non made of his ain free will:Om: I went because I lost my occupation at the company. And why did I lose it? Because I am a clerk and cipher demands clerksany longer! There are no new occupations now – there’s nil left for people like us! Don’t you know that?Jaya: You’re incorrect. there are picks – there must be picks – Om: Huh! I didn’t choose. I stood in waiting line and was chosen! And if non this waiting line. there would hold been other waiting lines – [ †¦ ] ( 1997. p. 238 ) Om’s insisting that his function in the choice process was wholly inactive allows Padmanabhan to review the broad discourse of free will and pick that advocates organ markets on the footing of single liberty. She suggests that it is exactly this discourse which creates the economic construction of millennian capitalist economy in which the merchandising of variety meats becomes an ‘option’ for the disfranchised third-world person. As Om’s concluding reaction makes clear. his opinion has been badly impaired by the enticement of limitless wealth. When the world of what he has done hits him. he is terrified: ‘How could I have done this to myself? What kind of sap am I? ’ ( 1997. p. 234 ) Om’s female parent. nevertheless. expresses no such sorrow. Upon first hearing her son’s promises of impossible wealths. Ma is mystified: ‘What sort of occupation wages a adult male to sit at place? ’ ( 1997. p. 220 ) . As she begins to understand what Om’s ‘job’ entails. she resumes her questions as though she can non believe their good luck: ‘Tell me once more: all you have to make is sit at place and remain healthy? [ †¦ ] And they’ll wage you? [ †¦ ] Even if you do nil but pick your nose all twenty-four hours? ’ ( 1997. p. 222 ) . By demoing Ma’s continued astonishment at the fact that her boy will be paid to make perfectly nil. Padmanabhan is able to picture the extent to which the forces of millennian capitalist economy appear to supply a quasi-magical agency of doing money. By Act II of the drama. Ma has become wholly addicted to their new life of luxury. The household family is littered with a n array of appliances that Ginny has provided in order to entertain the givers and maintain them comfy. and Ma spends most of her clip obsessively watching telecasting on the synergistic set that Ginny has sent them. She becomes the perfect receiver of Ginny’s gifts as she dismisses Om’s remorse and progressively seeks to get away the world of her life in Bombay through technological devices. By the terminal of the drama. she has locked herself off into what Padmanabhan footings a VideoCouch. a capsule into which Ma can stop up herself. watch one of 150 telecasting channels. and non worry about nutrient or digestion because the unit is wholly self-sufficing. The amenitiess with which Ginny so volitionally provides her seduce Ma into an astonied contentment at their sudden reversal of lucks. Surrendering to the joys of technologically-induced cloud nine. Ma is thrilled that. for literally executing no labor at all. ‘they will be rich for of all time and ever’ ( 1997. p. 235 ) . Not all the hi-tech devices that Ginny delivers to the givers are designed to featherbed the organic structure. nevertheless. In the really first scene of the drama. shortly after Om’s return with a new ‘job’ . representatives of Interplanta Services. his new employers. flatboat into the donors’ place to put in a series of appliances. As Om. Jaya and Ma ticker. they dismantle the family’s fundamental kitchen and replace it with their ain cookery device and jars incorporating motley nutrient pellets. They so put in a Contact Module. a device that hangs from the ceiling and which looks. Padmanabhan tells us. like a ‘white. faceted globe’ ( 1997. p. 221 ) . Each clip the device springs to life. Ginny. the American who has purchased Omâ€℠¢s organic structure. is able to do contact with the donor household. I wish to brood at length on the sci-fi appliance that is the contact faculty. What interactions between the givers and the receiving system does the contact faculty license? And what does this device let Padmanabhan to accomplish on phase? Let us get down with this latter inquiry. Ginny communicates with the giver household merely through the contact faculty. She is therefore neer physically present on the phase. a fact that is extremely important because Padmanabhan’s chosen genre – theater – is explicitly concerned with a touchable. embodied and physical presence on phase. Yet throughout the drama. Ginny is merely of all time seeable in two-dimensions. on the screen of the contact faculty. The lone corporal performing artists on the phase are the racially and visually distinguishable organic structures of the third-world givers. Therefore. the audience has no pick but to stare on a organic structure whose sheer presence on phase challenges the supposed farness of the labouring and now cannibalised organic structure. the really organic structure that capitalist production in the epoch of globalization has displaced into the distant third-world. Furthermore. the contact-module allows Padmanabhan to set up a construction of staring and surveillance that mirrors the function of the audience. For. like the receiving system. the audience excessively. regards at the lone physical organic structures on phase: the givers. The audience is therefore impelled into an uncomfortable designation with the receiving system. the really entity who is responsible for the objectification of third-world organic structures that the drama so overtly criticises. Keeping the first-world receiver’s organic structure remote serves a 2nd intent. It allows Padmanabhan to signal to the profound tensenesss underlying the predatory relationship between givers and receiving systems. The True. this state of affairs would be well different if the drama were performed in a third-world state. The third-world organic structures on phase would be more familiar to the audience. whereas the first-world American character would be seeable in the same manner as the bulk of third-world audiences are already accustomed to from telecasting. film and magazines: in two dimensions. However. Padmanabhan has herself admitted that. frustrated by the deficiency of chances for English-language dramatists in India. she originally wrote Harvest for production in the first-world. when she entered the drama for ( and subsequently won ) the inaugural Onassis Prize for Theatre ( Gilbert. 2001. p. 214 ) . Yet. on the other manus. the third-world organic structure produces in its new proprietor. the first-world receiving system. a profound anxiousness. For like the receiver’s ain organic structure. the donor’s organic structure excessively is vulnerable to the invasion of disease and devolution that must be kept at bay at all costs. First. so. the contact faculty enables Ginny to step in in the donor universe without holding to put pes in the geographical location that the givers inhabit. Nor would she desire it any other manner. She has purchased the rights to Om’s variety meats in order to fend off disease and decease and has no purpose of put on the lining a visit to their unhygienic homes. Second. the contact faculty allows Ginny to patrol the day-to-day wonts of the givers in order to guarantee that the variety meats that will one twenty-four hours be hers remain healthy excessively. Therefore. gaining. after the first visit. that Om’s household portions a lavatory with 40 other households. Ginny reacts with horror. ‘It’s wrong’ . she exclaims. ‘It’s disgusting! And I – good. I’m traveling to alter that. I can’t accept that. I mean. it’s insanitary! ’ ( 1997. p. 225 ) . Consequently. Interplanta is commissioned to put in a lavatory in their place that really same twenty-four hours. The regular monitoring that the contact faculty permits is rendered even more effectual given that merely the receiving system is able to run it at will. Om’s household neer knows when Ginny will ‘visit’ them following. By the gap of Act II of the drama. we see how good her scheme is working. Two months have elapsed. and Om is panicking because they are late for tiffin. ( Lunch. of class. consists of the motley nutritionary pellets provided for them by Interplanta Services. ) ‘You know how [ Ginny ] hates it when we’re tardily to eat’ . Om says. worriedly ( 1997. p. 228 ) . The contact faculty therefore allows the receiving system to set up a lasting construction of surveillance in Om’s place. Fearing Ginny’s reproof. or worse. a revoking of his contract. Om urges his full household to patrol their ain behavior. The co ntact faculty inculcates self-discipline. rendering the donors’ bodies into perfect sites of ‘docility-utility’ . optimum sites. in other words. from which to pull out the healthiest possible organ ( Foucault. 1995. pp. 135-169 ) . Ginny is careful. nevertheless. to supply the givers with plentifulness of amenitiess to counterbalance them for their attempts. When the drape lifts for Act II of the drama. the phase reveals that. a mere two months subsequently. the donors’ family is to the full equipped with an air-conditioning unit. a mini-gym and a glimmer. fully-equipped kitchen ( 1997. p. 227 ) . Ginny reminds the household that by featherbeding them so. she is merely carry throughing her ain contractual duties: ‘I acquire to give you things you’d neer acquire in your life-time. and you get to give me. well†¦ possibly my life’ ( 1997. p. 230 ) . Ginny’s insouciant sentence serves as a jolting and upseting reminder that receiving systems and givers barely trade in equivalents: Ginny provides ‘things’ for which the givers pay her dorsum in their ain lives. In fact. Ginny’s continual gifts sum to little more than mere investing. As she says to the household. falsifying the pronunciation of Om’s name:The Most Important Thing is to maintain Auwm smiling. Coz if Auwm’s smiling. it means his organic structure is smiling and if his organic structure is smiling it means his variety meats are smiling. And that’s the sort of variety meats that’ll survive a graft best. smiling organs†¦ ( 1997. p. 229 ) Reading the receiver’s actions as an investing permits us to return. one time once more. to the analogues between the human organic structure and land that the play’s rubric. Harvest. alludes to. The term efficaciously assimilates the whole human organic structure. from which the portion is extracted. to a crop-producing secret plan of land. and therefore. by extension. to the possibility that land seaports of bring forthing life. The extractible human organic structure portion is consequently assimilated to the output or harvest ; this is the trade good with echt use-value. the portion that it is profitable to detach from the whole. In order to obtain the best possible crop. as Ginny is well-aware. one must non merely choose the best possible site in which to put: one must keep a continued investing in this site. Quality input will bring forth quality end product: viz. . a healthy crop. The workability of the analogy I present here is. nevertheless. limited. An ideal agricultural economic system is sustainable. The organ. one time extracted. is irredeemable. This. nevertheless. affairs small to the receiving system. who sees the organic structures of the donor universe as disposable organic structures comprised of spare parts she can utilize to protract her ain life. And yet. while all the givers fall quarry to Ginny’s tactics. Padmanabhan uses Jaya. the lone character in the drama who is virulently opposed to Om’s determination. to repossess a human self-respect of kinds. a self-respect that allows Jaya to defy the enticement of money and the seductive escape of engineering. It is a self-respect that is predicated. I contend. on the very restrictions of the physical organic structure that the receiving systems are so despairing to get the better of. The concluding scene of the drama sees merely Jaya on phase. Om has abandoned her. holding willfully chosen to seek out Ginny and give up his organic structure to her. Ma is plugged into her VideoCouch. unmindful to her milieus. Jaya awakes to an unfamiliar. discorporate voice coming from the contact faculty. This is Virgil. yet another American receiving system with designs to feed upon Jaya’s organic structure. Jaya. nevertheless. garbages to negociate with Virgil every bit long as he attempts to draw the strings from his safe. disease-free environment in the first-world. She is determined to put down her ain conditions. If Virgil wants her organic structure. he must come to her in individual. ‘I know you’re stronger than me. you’re richer than me. But if you want me. ’ she insists. ‘you must put on the line your tegument for me’ ( 1997. p. 248 ) . Boasting that she can non win against him. Virgil sends his Interplanta employees to interrupt down Jaya’s door. But Jaya has discovered ‘a new definition for winning. Wining by losing’ ( 1997. p. 248. accent added ) . She announces to Virgil that she plans to repossess the ‘only thing [ she ] ha [ s ] which is still [ her ] ain: [ her ] death’ ( 1997. p. 248 ) . Therefore. Jaya resists Virgil’s progresss and retains her ain self-respect in one Swift shot: she embraces the really mortality that Virgil and his fellow receiving systems seek to eliminate from their ain organic structures. ‘I’m keeping a piece of glass against my throat’ . she warns an progressively frustrated Virgil ( 1997. p. 248 ) . The drama concludes on this unso lved note. While Virgil weighs his options. Jaya threatens ( promises? ) to repossess her ain organic structure through self-destruction. Padmanabhan therefore leaves us to chew over a sobering inquiry: is a triumph that requires the decease of the exploited mark of millennian capitalist economy truly worthy of being termed an act of opposition? Harvest poses a powerful review of the first-world’s development of third-world organic structures for the trade goods of labour-power and. as the late emerged trade in variety meats shows. wellness. Should third-world persons resist such commoditization? Indeed. can they? While oppositions of organ markets embrace human self-respect as an unalienable right that no person should hold to release. the black market in human variety meats continues to be the lone solution for those who have no other assets to sell. In this context. Padmanabhan’s impression of ‘winning by losing’ seems a disturbingly disposed manner to specify the third-world individual’s quandary: lose your ain body-part to win the hard currency. Bibliography Bauman. Z. . 1998. ‘Ageing and the Sociology of Embodiment’ . in G. Scrambler and P. Higgs ( explosive detection systems ) . Modernity. Medicine and Health: Medical Sociology towards 2000. New York: Routledge. pp. 216-33. Cherry. M. . 2005. Kidney for Sale by Owner. Washington. D. C. : Georgetown University Press. Cohen. L. . 2002. ‘The Other Kidney: Biopolitics beyond Recognition’ . in N. Scheper-Hughes and L. Wacquant ( explosive detection systems ) . Commodifying Bodies.London: Sage. pp. 9-31.Comaroff. Jean and Comaroff. John. 2000. ‘Millennial Capitalism: First Thoughts on a Second Coming’ . Public Culture. 12 ( 2 ) . pp. 291-343. Foley. D. . 1986. Understanding Capital. Cambridge: HarvardUniversity Press.Foucault. M. . 1995 ( 1975 ) . Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison. New York: Vintage.Gilbert. H. . 2001. ‘Introduction to Harvest’ . in H. Gilbert ( erectile dysfunction ) . Postcolonial Plaies: An Anthology. New York: Routledge. pp. 214-6.Hardt. M and Negri. A. . 2004. Multitude. New York: Penguin.Harris. J and Erin. C. A. . 2003. ‘An Ethical Market in Human Organs’ . The Journal of Medical Ethics. 29 ( 3 ) . pp. 137-8.Harvey. D. . 2000. ‘The Work of Postmodernity: The Laboring Body in Global Space’ . in J. E. D avis ( erectile dysfunction ) . Identity and Social Change. New Brunswick: Transaction. pp. 27-51.Marx. K. . 1990 ( 1867 ) . Capital I. London: Penguin.Marx. K. . 1991 ( 1894 ) . Capital III. London: Penguin.Padmanabhan. M. . 2001 ( 1997 ) . ‘Harvest’ . in H. Gilbert ( erectile dysfunction ) . Postcolonial Plaies: An Anthology. New York: Routledge. pp. 217-50.Scheper-Hughes. N. . 1998. ‘The New Cannibalism: A Report on the International Traffic in Human Organs’ . New Internationalist. 300. pp. 14-17.Scheper-Hughes. N. . 2001.16 hypertext transfer protocol: //www. publicanthropology. org/TimesPast/Scheper-Hughes. htm ( Accessed 10 June 2005 )Scheper-Hughes. N. . 2000. ‘The Global Traffic in Human Organs’ . Current Anthropology. 41 ( 2 ) . pp. 191-224.Waldby. C and Mitchell. R. . 2006. Tissue Economies. Durham: Duke University Press.

Organizational Strategies and Chronological Order

Organizational Strategies and Chronological Order The word chronological comes from two Greek words. Chronos means time. Logikos means reason or order. That is what chronological order is all about. It arranges information according to time. In composition  and speech, chronological order is a method of organization in which actions or events are presented as they occur or occurred in time and can also be called time or linear order. Narratives and process analysis essays commonly rely on chronological order. Morton Miller points out in his 1980 book Reading and Writing Short Essay that the natural order of events - beginning, middle, and end - is narrations simplest and most-used arrangement. From Camping Out by Ernest Hemingway to The Story of an Eyewitness: The San Francisco Earthquake by Jack London, famous authors and student essayists alike have utilized the chronological order form to convey the impact a series of events had on the authors life. Also common in informative speeches because of the simplicity of telling a story as it happened, chronological order differs from other organizational styles in that it is fixed according to the timeframe of events which happened. How Tos and Who-Done-Its Because time order is essential in things like How-To presentations and murder mysteries alike, chronological order is the preferred method for informative speakers. Take for example wanting to explain to a friend how to bake a cake. You could choose another method to explain the process, but putting the steps in order of timing is a much easier method for your audience to follow - and successfully bake the cake. Similarly, a detective or officer presenting a murder or theft case to his or her team of police would want to retrace the known events of the crime as they occurred rather than bouncing around the case - though the detective may decide to go in reverse chronological order from the act of the crime itself to the earlier detail of the crime scene, allowing the team of sleuths to piece together what data is missing (i.e., what happened between midnight and 12:05 am) as well as determine the likely cause-effect play-by-play that led to the crime in the first place. In both of these cases, the speaker presents the earliest known important event or occurrence to happen and proceed to detail the following events, in order. The cake maker will, therefore, start with decide which cake you want to make followed by determine and purchase ingredients while the policeman will start with the crime itself, or the later escape of the criminal, and work backward in time to discover and determine the criminals motive. The Narrative Form The simplest way to tell a story is from the beginning, proceeding in time-sequential order throughout the characters life. Though this may not always be the way a narrative speaker or writer tells the story, it is the most common organizational process used in the narrative form. As a result, most stories about mankind can be told as simply as a person was born, he did X, Y, and Z, and then he died wherein the X, Y, and Z are the sequential events that impacted and affected that persons story after he was born but before he passed away. As X.J. Kennedy, Dorothy M. Kennedy, and Jane E. Aaron put it in the seventh edition of The Bedford Reader, a chronological order is an excellent sequence to follow unless you can see some special advantage in violating it. Interestingly, memoirs and personal narrative essays often deviate from chronological order because this type of writing hinges more upon overarching themes throughout the subjects life rather than the full breadth of his or her experience. That is to say that autobiographical work, largely due to its dependence on memory and recall, relies  not on the sequence of events in ones life but the important events that affected ones personality and mentality, searching for cause and effect relationships to define what made them human. A memoir writer might, therefore, start with a scene where he or she is confronting a fear of heights at age 20, but then flash back to several instances in his or her childhood like falling off a tall horse at five or losing a loved one in a plane crash to infer to the reader the cause of this fear. When to Use Chronological Order Good writing relies on precision and compelling storytelling to entertain and inform audiences, so its important for writers to determine the best method of organization when attempting to explain an event or project. John McPhees article Structure describes a tension between chronology and theme that can help hopeful writers determine the best organizational method for their piece. He posits that chronology typically wins out because themes prove inconvenient due to the sparsity of occurrences that relate thematically. A writer is much better served by the chronological order of events, including flashbacks and flash-forwards, in terms of structure and control.   Still, McPhee also states that theres nothing wrong with a chronological structure, and certainly nothing to suggest its a lesser form than thematic structure. In fact, even as long ago as Babylonian times, most pieces were written that way, and nearly all pieces are written that way now.

The Macroeconomic Environment of Business Essay

The Macroeconomic Environment of Business - Essay Example This unemployment involves people being temporarily between jobs, searching for new ones; it is compatible with full employment. It is sometimes called search unemployment and is seen as largely voluntary. It arises because either employers fire workers or workers quit, usually because the individual characteristics of the workers do not fit the individual characteristics of the job including matters of the employer's personal taste or the employee's inadequate work effort. Structural unemployment involves a mismatch between the workers looking for jobs and the vacancies available. Even though the number of vacancies may be equal to the number of the unemployed, the unemployed workers lack the skills needed for the jobs - or are in the wrong part of the country or world to take the jobs offered. Structural unemployment is a result of the dynamic changes of a capitalist economy such as technological changes. Supply-side economic policies are tools which aim to increase aggregate supply in order to attain economic growth and low inflation. The central concept of supply side economics is Says law which states that "supply creates its own demand," or the idea that one must sell before one can afford to buy. Therefore good economic policy encourages increased production, rather than attempts to stimulate demand. Basically, supply-side policies' main concern is affecting a tax rate which strongly encourages working and investment. Thus, supply side policy is essentially interested in the type of taxes levied and the specific tax rate. Supply-side economists contend that tax reductions will negate inflation and increase economic growth through the following: 1. Investment and Savings-Lower taxes will increase disposable income and increase household savings. Similarly, tax reductions on business will increase the profitability of investment. In short, lower taxes will increase both savings and investment which will result in a nation's stock of capital. 2. Work Incentives-Lower personal income tax rates increase after-tax wages and thus encourage work. As a result, any people not already in the labor force will offer their services, and those already in the labor force will want to work more hours and take fewer vacations. 3. Risk Taking-Lower taxes will encourage risk takers like entrepreneurs to invest. On the other hand, demand side policies' main goal is the promotion of economic growth by affecting the level of aggregate demand. Discretionary fiscal policy is where the government deliberately changes taxes or government expenditure in order to alter the level of aggregate demand. An example is lowering the income taxes in order for consumers to have more disposable income to spend for goods and services. The government can also use monetary policy to monitor the growth of the aggregate demand by (a) controlling the level of money supply directly, (b)

Achieving Success on International Assignments Essay

Achieving Success on International Assignments - Essay Example As more companies grow and become globalised many employees are also being charged with international assignments and therefore it is important to be prepared. This involves assessing your own personality, team skills, as well as leadership in order to make sure they match international. With these important personal and corporate skills gained through experience with many people from across the world serving in different I believe I am ready to take up an international assignment anytime it is presented my way.  If sent for an international assignment I believe I will easily achieve success owing to great interpersonal skills gained over time. I have a strong confidence in myself, self reliant and proven ability of working independently with little or no supervision at all. As an individual I also am well versed with major international languages and am open to learning new languages used in whatever host country. When faced with obstacles I have observed myself to be very resilie nt and have persevered extremely difficult circumstances. I also view myself as a very flexible individual with impeccable ability to strongly face and come out of uncertainties unshaken. Another great personal trait that I know in myself is the ability to interact with all kinds of people, tolerate everyone and uphold respect for other people as well as their cultures even if they are not familiar. This has helped me to get along well with persons from all spheres of life and I therefore believe will also influence my fast adapting.

International Economic relations Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

International Economic relations - Essay Example In some cases, entirely new loans were contracted to service interest only. At the same time bankers in the western world ignored signals of an imminent debt crisis and remained more than willing to refinance maturing loans of developing countries, but with shorter maturities. In this process, third world debt snowballed from $130 billion in 1973 to about $612 billion in 1982. Between 1975 and 1980 four countries had to postpone amortization payments while servicing interest only. The spark that ignited the LDC debt crisis can be readily identified as Mexico's inability to service its outstanding debt to the U.S. commercial banks and other creditors. The crisis began on August 12, 1982, when Mexico's minister of finance informed the Federal Reserve chairman, the secretary of the treasury, and the IMF managing director that Mexico would be unable to meet its August 16 obligations to service an $80 billion debt. Then by 1983 the number of countries defaulting on their repayments reached twenty one, and some third world countries had instituted state criminal processes against public figures on account of alleged negligence and mishandling of public money. The fact that the 1982 crisis occurred when there was a steep rise in interest rates in the U.S. underscores the significance of the capital outflow element of a financial crisis. The appreciation of the dollar at that time also means that repayments magnified the capital outflow in domestic currency terms. At the same time, the accompanying drop in dollar prices of internationally traded commodities undermined inflows derived from exports. It is also necessary to mention that the satiation described above is also reflected in the 1994 financial crises in Mexico, Turkey and Venezuela equally attributed to dramatic reversal of large scale lending to emerging markets, as well as the experience of Argentina in 1995 and East Asian economies in 1997. There is the argument that most of that crises were characterized with large amounts of international loans to forestall default, hence the rebuke of Mexico at the onset of the 1982 crisis worsened a financial condition that was potentially manageable. 1. Balance of Payments During the second part of the 1970s, and partially as a result of the oil price shocks, most countries in the world experienced large swings in their current account balances. These developments generated significant concern among policy makers and analysts, and prompted a number of experts to analyze carefully the determinants of the current account. As Edwards (2000) writes, the departing point was based on the recognition on two interrelated facts. First, from a basic national accounting perspective the current account is to savings minus investment. Second, since both savings and investment decisions are based on intertemporal factors - such as life cycle considerations and expected returns on investment projects, the current account is necessarily an intertemporal phenomenon. The Balance of Payments (BOP) is an account of all transactions between one country and all other countries - transactions that are measured in terms of receipts and payments. A country's international transactions can be grouped into three categories: Current account: records net flow of money into a country resulting from trade in goods and services and transfer payments made from abroad. The current account

Introduction To Medicinal Plants Biology Essay

Introduction To Medicinal Plants Biology Essay About 250,000 higher plant species on earth, more than 80,000 species are reported to have at least some medicinal value and around 5000 species have specific therapeutic value. Herbs are staging a comeback and herbal renaissance is happening all over the globe. The herbal products today symbolize safety in compare to the synthetics that are considered as unsafe to human and environment. Even though herbs had been priced for their medicinal, flavoring and aromatic qualities for centuries, the synthetic products of the modern age surpassed their importance, for a while. However, the blind dependence on synthetics is over and people are returning to the herbals with hope of safety and security. Over three-quarters of the world population relies mainly on plants and plant extracts for health care. More than 30% of the entire plant species were used for medicinal purposes. (Joy, P.P., 2001) Herbals in world market: It is estimated that world market for plant derived drugs may account for about Rs.2, 00,000 crores. Presently, Indian contribution is less than Rs.2000 crores. The annual production of medicinal and aromatic plants raw material is worth about Rs.200 crores. This is likely to reach US $5 trillion by 2050. It has been estimated that in developed countries such as United States, plant drugs constitute as much as 25% of the total drugs, while in fast developing countries such as China and India, the contribution is as much as 80%. Thus, the economic importance of medicinal plants is much more to countries such as India than to rest of the world. (Joy, P.P., 2001) Biodiversity of herbals in India: India is one of the worlds 12 biodiversity centers with the presence of over 45000 different plant species. Indias diversity is UN compared due to the presence of 16 different agro-climatic zones, 10 vegetation zones, 25 biotic provinces and 426 biomes (habitats of specific species). Among these, about 15000-20000 plants have good medicinal value. However, only 7000-7500 species are used for their medicinal values by traditional communities. In India, drugs of plant origin have been used in traditional systems of medicines such as Unani and Ayurveda since ancient times. The Ayurveda system of medicine uses about 700 species, Unani 700, Siddha 600, Amchi 600 and modern medicine around 30 species. About 8,000 herbal remedies have been included in Ayurveda. The Rig-Veda (5000 BC) has recorded 67 medicinal plants, Yajurveda 81 species, Atharvaveda (4500-2500 BC) 290 species, Charak Samhita (700 BC) and Sushrut Samhita (200 BC) had described properties and uses of 1100 and 1270 species respectively, in compounding of drugs and these are still used in the classical formulations, in the Ayurvedic system of medicine. (Joy, P.P., 2001) Sources of medicinal drugs: The drugs are derived either from the whole plant or from different organs, like leaves, stem, bark, root, flower, seed, etc. Some drugs are prepared from excretory plant product such as gum, resins and latex. Plants, especially used in Ayurveda can provide biologically active molecules and lead structures for the development of modified derivatives with enhanced activity and /or reduced toxicity. Some important chemical intermediates needed for manufacturing the modern drugs are also obtained from plants (Eg. ÃŽÂ ²-ionone).The forest in India is the principal(diosgenin, solasodine) repository of large number of medicinal and aromatic plants, which are largely collected as raw materials for manufacture of drugs and perfumery products. The small fraction of flowering plants that have so far been investigated have yielded about 120 therapeutic agents of known structure from about 90 species of plants. Some of the useful plant drugs include vinblastine, vincristine, taxol, podophyllo toxin, camptothecin, digitoxigenin, gitoxigenin, digoxigenin, tubocurarine, morphine, codeine, aspirin, atropine, pilocarpine, capscicine, allicin, curcumin, artemisinin and ephedrine among others. (Joy, P.P., 2001) History of herbal medicine: Ayurveda, Siddha, Unani and Folk (tribal) medicines are the major systems of indigenous medicines. Among these systems, Ayurveda is most developed and widely practiced in India. Ayurveda dating back to 1500-800 BC has been an integral part of Indian culture. The term comes from the Sanskrit root Au (life) and Veda (knowledge). As the name implies it is not only the science of treatment of the ill but covers the whole gamut of happy human life involving the physical, metaphysical and the spiritual aspects. Ayurveda is gaining prominence as the natural system of health care all over the world. Today this system of medicine is being practiced in countries like Nepal, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Pakistan, while the traditional system of medicine in the other countries like Tibet, Mongolia and Thailand appear to be derived from Ayurveda. Phytomedicines are also being used increasingly in Western Europe. Recently the US Government has established the Office of Alternative Medicine at the National Institute of Health at Bethesda and its support to alternative medicine includes basic and applied research in traditional systems of medicines such as Chinese, Ayurvedic. (Joy, P.P., 2001) Disadvantages: A major lacuna in Ayurveda is the lack of drug standardization, information and quality control. Most of the Ayurvedic medicines are in the form of crude extracts which are a mixture of several ingredients and the active principles when isolated individually fail to give desired activity. This implies that the activity of the extract is the synergistic effect of its various components. About 121 (45 tropical and 76 subtropical) major plant drugs have been identified for which no synthetic one is currently available. The scientific study of traditional medicines, derivation of drugs through bio prospecting and systematic conservation of the concerned medicinal plants is of great importance. Unfortunately, much of the ancient knowledge and many valuable plants are being lost at an alarming rate. Red Data Book of India has 427 entries of endangered species of which 28 are considered extinct, 124 endangered, 81 vulnerable, 100 rare and 34 insufficiently known species (Thomas, 1997).There are basically two scientific techniques of conservation of genetic diversity of these plants. They are the in situ and ex situ method of conservation. (Joy, P.P., 2001) In Situ conservation of medicinal plants: It is only in nature that plant diversity at the genetic, species and eco-system level can be conserved on long-term basis. (www.ggssc.net) It is necessary to conserve in distinct, representative bio geographic zones inter and intra specific genetic variation. Ex situ conservation of medicinal plants: A. Ethno-medicinal plant gardens: Creation of a network of regional and sub-regional ethno-medicinal plant gardens which should contain accessions of all the medicinal plants known to the various ethnic communities in different regions of India. This chain of gardens will act as regional repositories of our cultural and ethno medicinal history and embody the living traditions of our societys knowledge of medicinal plants. (www.ggssc.net) Current status: There are estimated to be around 50 such gardens in the country ranging from acre to 40 acres some of them were set up by an All India Health Network (AHN). More recently a network of 15 such gardens has been set up in 3 states of South India with the initiative of FRLHT. One of the gardens is located in TBGRI, (Tropical botanical garden research institute) Palode at Thiruvananthapuram. B. Gene banks: In India there is a large number of medicinal plant species are under various degrees of threat. The precautionary principles would suggest that an immediate and country-wide exercise be taken up to deposit seeds of wild medicinal plants with a first priority to known Red listed species and endemic species. Current status: The department of bio-technology, Government of India has recently taken the initiative to establish 3 gene banks in the country. One is with ICAR at the NBPGR (National Bureau of plant genetic Resources) Campus, the second is with CIMAPs, (Central Institute of Medicinal and Aromatic plants) Luck now and the third with TBFRI in Thiruvananthapuram. C. Nursery network: The most urgent and primary task in order to ensure immediate availability of plants and planting materials to various user groups is to promote a nationwide network of medicinal plant nurseries, which will multiply all the regional specific plants that are used in the current practice of traditional medicine. These nurseries should become the primary sources of supply of plants and seed material that can be subsequently multiplied by the various users. Current status: Planting material for 40 odd species of medicinal and aromatic plants is reportedly available in the ICAR and CSIR (CIMAP) network. In South India FRLHT (Foundation for Rural Revitalization of Local Health Tradition) has recently set up a network of 55 supply nurseries. D. Cultivation of medicinal plants: Figures projecting demand and trade in medicinal plant species globally indicate a step upward trend in the near future. One estimate puts the figure of world trade in medicinal plants and related products at US $ 5 trillion by A.D. 2050 (world bank report , 1996).The demand so far has been met mainly from wild sources. This cant go on for much longer; policy intervention is urgently needed to encourage and facilitate investments into commercial cultivation of medicinal plants. (Joy, P.P., 2001) Cultivation of medicinal plants is inversely linked to prevalence of easy and cheap collection from the wild, lack of regulation in trade, cornering of the profits from wild collection by a vast network of traders and middlemen and absence of industrys interest in providing buy-back guarantees to growers. Current status: In the Govt. sector agro-technology of 40 odd species has been developed by ICAR Agricultural University System and CSIR (CIMAOs RRL, Jammu and Jorhat). In recent years industries like Dabur, Zandu, Indian Herbs, Arya Vaidya Shala, and Arya Vaidya Pharmacy and others have made some symbolic efforts to initiate cultivation. Since1984 NABARD (National Bank of Agricultural and Rural Development) has formulated schemes for financing cultivation and processing of medicinal plants. E. Community based enterprises: The income generated by the traditional medicine industry benefits small section of the society. A strong case exists for promotion of community level enterprises for value addition to medicinal plants through simple, on site techniques like drying, cleaning, crushing, powdering, grading, packaging etc. This will also increase the stake of rural communities in conservation and change the skewed nature of income distribution of the industry. Current status: Three community based enterprises are known in south India, one in Gandhi gram Trust, (Dindigul), Premade development Society (Peer made) Kerala and the third by VGKK in B.R.Hills, Mysore. Importance of Herbal Medicines: Herbal medicines are prepared from a variety of plant material such as leaves, stems, roots, bark, etc. They usually contain many biologically active ingredients and are used primarily for treating mild or chronic ailments. (www.ggssc.net) Herbal remedies can also be purchased in the form of pills, capsules or powders, or in more concentrated liquid forms called extracts and tinctures. They can apply topically in creams or ointments, soaked into cloths and used as compresses, or applied directly to the skin as poultices. A combination therapy integrating ayurveda and allopathy whereby the side effects and undesirable reactions could be controlled can be thought of. Studies can show that the toxic effects of radiations and chemotherapy in cancer treatment could be reduced by Ayurvedic medications and similarly surgical wound healing could be accelerated by Ayurvedic medicines. Modern science and technology have an essential role to play in the process. Systems of Medicine: There are mainly 3 systems of medicine practiced in the world today. They are, Modern System of medicine or Allopathy: This system was developed in the Western countries. In this system drugs (tablets, capsules, injections, tonics etc.) are manufactured using synthetic chemicals and / or chemicals derived from natural products like plants, animals, minerals etc. This system also uses modern equipment for diagnosis, analysis, surgery etc. Medicines or drugs of this system is often criticized for its treatment of the symptoms rather than the cause of the disease, harmful side effects of certain drugs and for being out of reach of common / poor people due to the high cost of drugs and treatment. This system is used in all the countries of the world today. (www.ggssc.net) Alternative Medicine or Traditional System: Different countries of the world developed independently their own traditional systems of medicine using locally available materials like minerals and products of plants and animals. (www.ggssc.net) The World Health Organization (WHO) is giving importance to these alternate medicine systems to provide Primary Health Care to millions of people in the developing countries. Development of herbal medicine: China developed the Chinese system of medicine, which is practiced in China, Singapore, Taiwan, Japan and other countries. In India, Ayurveda (developed in North India), Siddha (developed in Tamil Nadu) and Nagarjuna (developed in Andhra Pradesh) systems of medicine were developed. Ayurveda is practiced in Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Bangladesh also. Herbo-mineral is another traditional system used in India and other neighbouring countries. Drugs (balms, oils, pills, tonics, paste etc) are manufactured and marketed in these systems. (Joy, P.P., 2001) Advantages of traditional medicine: Traditional systems of medicine continue to be widely practiced on many accounts. Population rise, inadequate supply of drugs, prohibitive cost of treatments, side effects of several allopathic drugs and development of resistance to currently used drugs for infectious diseases have led to increased emphasis on the use of plant materials as a source of medicines for a wide variety of human ailments. Folk Medicine or tribal medicine: The medicinal systems followed by various tribals of different countries are popularly known as folk or tribal medicine. In the system, the medicine man or the doctor of the tribe who has the knowledge of treating diseases, keeps this knowledge as a closely guarded secret and passes it to the next generation by word of mouth. No written texts on these systems are available and different tribes follow different time tested methods. The treatment is often associated with lengthy and mystic rituals, in addition to prescription of drugs (decoctions, pastes, powders, oils, ashed materials etc.). Generally speaking, folk medicine can also be regarded as a traditional system of medicine. The basic aim of all the above systems of medicine is to alleviate the sufferings of human beings and their domesticated animals. (www.ggssc.net) Other Systems of medicine: Yoga, Acupressure, Acupuncture, Reiki, Magneto therapy, Pyramid therapy, Flower therapy, Homeopathy, Nature Cure or Naturopathy etc. are some of the other systems of medicine practiced in different parts of the world today. Utilization of Herbal Plants: The utility of medicinal plants has four major segments they are, Medicinal plants utilized in indigenous or traditional systems of medicines (ISM) Ayurveda, Siddha, Unani and Homeopathy systems of medicines , OTC (over the country, non-prescription) items / products involving plant parts, extracts galenicals etc. , Essential oils , Phyto pharmaceuticals or plants used in modern systems of medicine. (www.ggssc.net) Medicinal plants used in Traditional Systems of Medicine: As its name implies, it is the part of tradition of each country which employs practices that have been handed down from generation to generation. An important feature of traditional therapy is the preference of practitioner for compound prescriptions over single substance/drug as it is being held that some constituents are effective only in the presence of others. This renders assessment of efficacy and eventually identification of active principles as required in international standards much difficult than for simple preparation. In India, earlier the medicines used in indigenous systems of medicines were generally prepared by the practicing physicians by themselves, but now this practice has been largely replaced by the establishment of organized indigenous drug industries. It is estimated that at present there are more than 1, 00,000 licensed registered practitioners of Ayurveda, Siddha, Unani medicine or Homeopathy. In fact reliable data on availability in different regions of country as well as supply and demand of medicinal plants used in production of indigenous medicines are not available. (www.ggssc.net) Plants-parts, extracts and galenicals of medicinal herbs: The direct utilization of plant material is not only a feature of ISM in the developing world but also in developed countries like USA, UK, Germany etc., the various herbal formulations are sold on health food shops. Preparation of decoctions, tinctures, galenicals and total extracts of plants also form a part of many pharmacopoeias of the world. The current trend of medicinal plants based drug industry is to procedure standard extracts of plants as raw material. (www.ggssc.net) Essential Oils from herbal plants: The essential oil industry was traditionally a cottage industry in India. Since 1947, a number of industrial companies have been established for large scale production of essential oils, oleoresins and perfumes. The essential oil from plants includes Ajowan oil, Eucalyptus oil, Geranium oil, Lavender oil, Palmarosa oil, Patchouli oil, Rose oil, Sandalwood oil, Turpentine oil and Vetiver oil. Phyto-pharmaceuticals of medicinal plants: During the past decades, bulk production of plant based drugs has become an important segment of Indian pharmaceutical industry. Some of the Phyto-pharmaceuticals which are produced in India at present include Morphine, codeine, papaverine (Papaver somniferum), quinine, quinidine, cinchonine and cinchonidine (Cinchona sp., C.calisaya, C. Hyoscine, hyoscyamine (Hyocyamus Niger and H. muticus), colchicine (Gloriosa superbad, Colchicum luteum and Iphigenia stellata), cephaeline and emetin (Cephalis ipacacuanha), sennosides A B (Cassia angustifolia and C. acutifolia), reserpine, rescinnamine, ajmalicine and ajmaline (Rauvolfia serpentina); vinblastine and vincristine, ajmalicine (raubacine) (Catharanthus roseus); guggul lipid (Commiphora wightii); taxol (Taxus baccata); artemisinin (Artemisai annua) etc. (www.ggssc.net) Table I: Represents about plants containing Therapeutic value (Joy, P.P., 2001) Plant groups Plant species Family Genera Species Thalophytes 230 I.Monocots A)Liliaceae 45 165 B)Orchidaceae 45 135 Bryophytes 39 II. Dicots A)Compositae 89 331 Pteridophytes 382 B)Leguminosae 91 313 Gymnospermae 55 C)Ranuculaceae 31 208 Angiospermae: a)Monocotyledones b) Dicotyledones 676 3495 D)Laminaceae 46 189 E)Rosaceae 28 146 F)Umbelliferae 34 123 G)Rubiaceae 35 118 H)Euphorbiaceae 30 104 Total 4877 I)Asclepiadaceae 29 101 CLASSIFICATION OF HERBAL PLANTS: They are classified according to the part used, habit, habitat, therapeutic value etc, besides the usual botanical classification.Based on Therapeutic value they are classified as follows. Anti malarial : Cinchona officinalis, Artemisia annua ,Anticancer : Catharanthus roseus, Taxus baccata ,Antiulcer : Azadirachta indica, Glycyrrhiza glabra , Antidiabetic : Catharanthus roseus, Momordica charantia , Anticholesterol : Allium sativum Anti inflammatory : Curcuma domestica, Desmodium gangeticum , Antiviral : Acacia catechu Antibacterial : Plumbago indica , Antifungal : Allium sativum , Antiprotozoal : Ailanthus sp., Cephaelis ipacacuanha , Antidiarrhoeal : Psidium guava, Curcuma domestica , Hypotensive : Coleus forskohlii, Alium sativum , Tranquilizing : Rauvolfia serpentina , Anaesthetic : Erythroxylum coca , Spasmolytic : Atropa belladona, Hyoscyamus niger , Diuretic : Phyllanthus niruri, Centella asiatica , Astringent : Piper betel, Abrus precatorius Anthelmentic : Quisqualis indica, Punica granatum , Cardio tonic : Digitalis sp., Thevetia sp. Antiallergic : Nandina domestica, Scutellaria baicalensis ,Hepatoprotective : Silybum marianum, Andrographis paniculata. (Joy, P.P., 2001) Safety of medicinal plants: The safety and effectiveness of alternative medicines have not be been scientifically proven and remains largely unknown. A number of herbs are thought to be likely to cause adverse effects. Furthermore, adulteration, inappropriate formulation, or lack of understanding of plant and drug interactions have led to adverse reactions that are sometimes life threatening or lethal. Proper double-blind clinical trials are needed to determine the safety and efficacy of each plant before they can be recommended for medical use. Although many consumers believe that herbal medicines are safe because they are natural, herbal medicines may interact with synthetic drugs causing toxicity to the patient, may have contamination that is a safety consideration, and herbal medicines, without proven efficacy, may be used to replace medicines that have a proven efficacy. (Joy, P.P., 2001) Eg: Ephedra has been known to have numerous side effects, including severe skin reactions, irritability, nervousness, dizziness, trembling, headache, insomnia, profuse perspiration, dehydration, itchy scalp and skin, vomiting, hyperthermia, irregular heartbeat, seizures, heart attack, stroke, or death. Poisonous plants which have limited medicinal effects are often not sold in material doses in the United States or are available only to trained practitioners, these include: Aconite, Arnica, Belladonna, Bryonia, Datura, Gelsemium, Henbane, Male Fern Phytolacca, Podophyllum andVeratrum. Furthermore, herbs such as Lobelia, Ephedra and Eonymus that cause nausea, sweating, and vomiting, have been traditionally prized for this action. Plants such as Comfrey and Petasites have specific toxicity due to hepatotoxic pyrrolizidine alkaloid content. There are other plant medicines which require caution or can interact with other medications, including St. Johns wort and grapefruit. (Phytotherapy , www.wikipedia.com) INTRODUCTION TO DIABETES MELLITUS In recent years, developed nations have witnessed an explosive increase in the prevalence of diabetes mellitus (DM) predominantly related to lifestyle changes and the resulting surge in obesity. The metabolic consequences of prolonged hyperglycemia and dyslipidemia, including accelerated atherosclerosis, chronic kidney disease, and blindness, pose an enormous burden on patients with diabetes mellitus and on the public health system. (Goodman Gilmans, 2006) In 1869, a German medical student, Paul Langerhans, noted that the pancreas contains two distinct groups of cells the acinar cells, which secrete digestive enzymes, and cells that are clustered in islands, or islets, which he suggested, served a second function. Direct evidence for this function came in 1889, when Minkowski and von Mering showed that pancreatectomized dogs exhibit a syndrome similar to diabetes mellitus in humans (Goodman Gilmans,2006) In the early 1900s, Gurg Zuelzer, an internist in Berlin, attempted to treat a dying diabetic patient with extracts of pancreas. Although the patient improved temporarily, he sank back into a coma and died when the supply of extract was exhausted. E.L. Scott, a student at the University of Chicago, made another early attempt to isolate an active principle in 1911. Using alcoholic extracts of the pancreas Scott treated several diabetic dogs with encouraging results; however, he lacked clear measures of control of blood glucose concentrations, Between 1916 and 1920, the Romanian physiologist Nicolas Paulesco found that injections of pancreatic extracts reduced urinary sugar and ketones in diabetic dogs. Although he published the results of his experiments, their significance was fully appreciated only years later. (Goodman Gilmans, 2006) Banting assumed that the islets secreted insulin but that the hormone was destroyed by proteolytic digestion prior to or during extraction. Together with Charles Best, he attempted to overcome the problem by ligating the pancreatic ducts. The acinar tissue degenerated, leaving the islets undisturbed; the remaining tissue then was extracted with ethanol and acid. Banting and Best thus obtained a pancreatic extract that decreased the concentration of blood glucose in diabetic dogs. (Goodman Gilmans, 2006) Insulin was purified and crystallized by Abel within a few years of its discovery. Sanger established the amino acid sequence of insulin in 1960, the protein was synthesized in 1963, and Hodgkin and coworkers elucidated insulins three-dimensional structure in 1972. Insulin was the hormone for which Yalow and Berson first developed the radioimmunoassay (Goodman Gilmans, 2006) Insulin regulation is achieved by the coordinated interplay of various nutrients, gastrointestinal hormones, pancreatic hormones, and autonomic neurotransmitters. Glucose, amino acids, fatty acids, and ketone bodies promote the secretion of insulin. The islets of Langerhans are richly innervated by both adrenergic and cholinergic nerves. Stimulation of a2 adrenergic receptors inhibits insulin secretion, whereas b2 adrenergic receptor agonists and vagal nerve stimulation enhance release. In general, any condition that activates the sympathetic branch of the autonomic nervous system (such as hypoxia, hypoglycemia, exercise, hypothermia, surgery, or severe burns) suppresses the secretion of insulin by stimulation of ÃŽÂ ±2-adrenergic receptors. Predictably, ÃŽÂ ±2 adrenergic receptor antagonists increase basal concentrations of insulin in plasma, and ÃŽÂ ²2 adrenergic receptor antagonists decrease them. The sugar is more effective in provoking insulin secretion when taken orall y than when administered intravenously because the ingestion of glucose (or food) induces the release of gastrointestinal hormones and stimulates vagal activity. Several gastrointestinal hormones promote the secretion of insulin. The most potent of these are gastrointestinal inhibitory peptide (GIP) and glucagon like peptide 1 (GLP-1). Insulin release also is stimulated by gastrin, secretin, Cholecystokinin, vasoactive intestinal peptide, gastrin-releasing peptide, and Enteroglucagon. (Goodman Gilmans, 2006) Distribution: Insulin circulates in blood as the free monomer, and its volume of distribution approximates the volume of extracellular fluid. Under fasting conditions, the pancreas secretes about 40 mg (1 unit) of insulin per hour into the portal vein to achieve a concentration of insulin in portal blood of 2 to 4 ng/ml (50 to 100 minutes/ml) and in the peripheral circulation of 0.5 ng/ml (12 minutes/ml) or about 0.1 nM. After ingestion of a meal, there is a rapid rise in the concentration of insulin in portal blood, followed by a parallel but smaller rise in the peripheral circulation. (Goodman Gilmans, 2006) Half Life: The half-life of insulin in plasma is about 5 to 6 minutes in normal subjects and patients with uncomplicated diabetes. This value may be increased in diabetics who develop anti-insulin antibodies. (Goodman Gilmans, 2006) Metabolism: Degradation of insulin occurs primarily in liver, kidney, and muscle. About 50% of the insulin that reaches the liver via the portal vein is destroyed and never reaches the general circulation. Insulin is filtered by the renal glomeruli and is reabsorbed by the tubules, which also degrade it. Severe impairment of renal function appears to affect the rate of disappearance of circulating insulin to a greater extent than does hepatic disease. Peripheral tissues such as fat also inactivate insulin, but this is of less significance quantitatively. The important target tissues for regulation of glucose homeostasis by insulin are liver, muscle, and fat, but insulin exerts potent regulatory effects on other cell types as well. Insulin is the primary hormone responsible for controlling the uptake, use, and storage of cellular nutrients. (Goodman Gilmans, 2006) Figure 1: Insulin release from ÃŽÂ ²-cell DIABETES MELLITUS: Diabetes mellitus (DM) consists of a group of syndromes characterized by hyperglycemia; altered metabolism of lipids, carbohydrates, and proteins; and an increased risk of complications from vascular disease. Most patients can be classified clinically as having either type 1 or type 2 DM. Criteria for the diagnosis of DM have been proposed by several medical organizations. The American Diabetes Association (ADA) criteria include symptoms of DM (e.g., polyuria, polydipsia, and unexplained weight loss) and a random plasma glucose concentration of greater than 200 mg/dl (11.1 mM), a fasting plasma glucose concentration of greater than 126 ml/dl (7 mM), or a plasma glucose concentration of greater than 200 mg/dl (11 mM) 2 hours after the ingestion of an oral glucose load In the United States, about 5% to 10% of all diabetic patients have type 1 DM, with an incidence of 18 per 100,000 inhabitants per year. A similar incidence is found in the United Kingdom. The incidence of type 1 DM in Europe varies with latitude. The highest rates occur in northern Europe (Finland, 43 per 100,000) and the lowest in the south (France and Italy, 8 per 100,000). The one exception to this rule is the small island of Sardinia, close to Italy, which has an incidence of 30 per 100,000. However, even the relatively low incidence rates of type 1 DM in southern Europe are far higher than the rates in Japan (1 per 100,000 inhabitants). There are more than 125 million persons with diabetes in the world today, and by 2010, this number is expected to approach 220 million. (Goodman Gilmans, 2006) Both type 1 and type 2 DM are increasing in frequency. The reason for the increase of type 1 DM is not known. The genetic basis for type 2 DM cannot change in such a short time; thus other contributing factors, including increasing age, obesity, sedentary lifestyle, and low birth weight, must account for this dramatic increase. In addition, type 2 DM is being diagnosed with remarkable frequency in preadolescents and adolescents. Up to 45% of newly diagnosed children and adolescents have type 2 DM. There are genetic and environmental components that affect the risk of developing either type 1 or type 2 DM Types: Diabetes can be divided into

Men, Women, and Sex Differences Essay -- Nature vs. Nurture

Nature vs. Nurture? The debate has obsessed the minds of psychologists and philosophers for many years, each arguing their idea is the right way. ABC aired a TV documentary "Boys and Girls are Different" hosted by John Stossel to show some of the leading feminists ideas and their opponents thoughts. Psychologist, and researcher from the Kinsey Institute, June M. Reinisch believes that biology and culture shape gender differences. She believes that men and women aren't the same. Simply that "equality does not mean being the same, it means having equal opportunities" (Men, Women). Reinisch, leader of the advanced studies and projects at Kinsey stated, "When people say women can’t be trusted because they cycle every month, my response is that men cycle every day, so they should only be allowed to negotiate peace treaties in the evening." June Reinisch fights for equal opportunities for women by giving seminars and speeches nationwide to groups of women. In addition, she speaks and writes on sexuality issues. "We are very adolescent about sexuality as a society, thinking it is for young people," says psychologist June Reinisch, director emeritus of the Kinsey Institute in Bloomington, Ind. June is a very outspoken woman and for that has several consequences that she faces in life. She faces criticism daily from the public, media and other scientists. Luckily, her job at the Kinsey Institute doing gender research, results in her not worrying about the thought of losing her job over gender issues. However, her status is continually up in the air for the media to pick at. The media can say negative ideas regarding her research and beliefs because she is so well known. June documented several early behavioral di... ...levision programs are sex-typed and white-male oriented. More male than female roles are shown and male characters act strikingly different from female ones. Males typically are more aggressive, constructive, and direct and are rewarded for their actions. By contrast, females are depicted as acting deferential toward other people or as manipulating them through helplessness of seductiveness to get their way"(Kendall Page 3). It goes as far as simple education programs such as Sesame Street and Barney that have mainly all male characters and names. The characters also participate in mostly boy activities. Consider all sides of the debate and each group's affiliation. Finally, the question is up to you as the program announcer said, "Should gender influence our place in society? Some research says yes. Some people don't want you to hear about it" (Men, Women).

Literary Genre Essay

Literary genres are determined by literary technique, tone, content and by critics’ definitions of the genres. A literary genre is a category, type or class of literature. Major forms of literature The major forms of Literature are: * Novel * Poem * Drama * Short story * Novella Various forms of literature are written in and further categorized by genre. Sometimes forms are used interchangeably to define genre. However, a form, e. g. , a novel or a poem, can itself be written in any genre. Genre is a label that characterizes elements a reader can expect in a work of literature. The major forms of literature can be written in various genres. Classic major genres Genre is a category characterized by similarities in form, style, or subject matter. The classic major genres of Literature are: * Drama * Romance * Satire * Tragedy * Comedy * Tragicomedy Genre categories: fiction and nonfiction Genre may fall under one of two categories: Fiction and Nonfiction. Any genre can be either: a work of Fiction (nonfactual descriptions and events invented by the author) or a work of Nonfiction (a communication in which descriptions and events are understood to be factual). Common genres: fiction Subsets of genres, known as common genres, have developed from the archetypes of genres in written expression. The common genres included in recommended Literature from kindergarten through Grade Twelve by the CaliforniaÃ'Ž Department of Education are defined as:[1] * Drama – stories composed in verse or prose, usually for theatrical performance, where conflicts and emotion are expressed through dialogue and action * Fable – narration demonstrating a useful truth, especially in which animals speak as humans; legendary, supernatural tale * Fairy tale – story about fairies or other magical creatures, usually for children * Fantasy – fiction with strange or other worldly settings or characters; fiction which invites suspension of reality * Fiction narrative – literary works whose content is produced by the imagination and is not necessarily based on fact * Fiction in verse – full-length novels with plot, subplot(s), theme(s), major and minor characters, in which the narrative is presented in (usually blank) verse form * Folklore – the songs, stories, myths, and proverbs of a people or â€Å"folk† as handed down by word of mouth * Historical fiction – story with fictional characters and events in a historical setting * Horror – fiction in which events evoke a feeling of dread and sometimes fear in both the characters and the readerÃ'Ž * Humor – Usually a fiction full of fun, fancy, and excitement, meant to entertain and sometimes cause intended laughter; but can be contained in all genres * Legend – story, sometimes of a national or folk hero, that has a basis in fact but also includes imaginative material * Mystery – fiction dealing with the solution of a crime or the unraveling of secretsÃ'Ž * Mythology – legend or traditional narrative, often based in part on historical events, that reveals human behavior and natural phenomena by its symbolism; often pertaining to the actions of the gods * Poetry – verse and rhythmic writing with imagery that creates emotional responses * Realistic fiction – story that is true to lifeÃ'Ž * Science fiction – story based on impact of actual, imagined, or potential science, usually set in the future or on other planets * Short story – fiction of such brevity that it supports no subplots * Tall tale – humorous story with blatant exaggerations, swaggering heroes who do the impossible with nonchalance Common genres: nonfiction * Biography/Autobiography – Narrative of a person’s life. A true story about a real person. * Essay – A short literary composition that reflects the author’s outlook or point. * Narrative nonfiction – Factual information presented in a format which tells a story. * Speech – Public address or discourse. * Textbook – Authoritative and detailed factual description of a topic. Literary fiction vs. genre fiction Literary fiction is a term used to distinguish certain fictional works that possess commonly held qualities that constitute literary merit. Genre works are written with the intent of fitting into a specific literary genre in order to appeal to readers and fans already familiar with that genre. Literary fiction may fit within a classification of market fiction, but also possesses generally agreed upon qualities such as â€Å"elegantly written, lyrical, and †¦ layered† that appeals to readers outside genre fiction. Literary fiction has been defined as any fiction that attempts to engage with one or more truths or questions, hence relevant to a broad scope of humanity as a form of expression. There are many sources that help readers find and define literary fiction and genre fiction. Literary element A literary element is an element found in the whole works of literature. Literary elements are not â€Å"used† by all authors; instead, they exist inherently in forms of literature and are derived by the readers of a work in question. [1] This distinguishes them from literary techniques, which are less universal and are used intentionally rather than being emergent characteristics of a literary work. For example, characterization, conflict, setting, and point of view would be considered literary elements, whereas irony or foreshadowing are considered literary techniques. Literary elements are most frequently used to help discussion on a work or better understand a work of literature. For instance, the New York State Comprehensive English Regents Exam requires that students utilize and discuss literary elements relating to specific works in each of the two essays,[2] much like many other state-level high school exams nationwide. Literary elements  * antagonist * archetype (prototype/original/classic/model) * characterization * climax * conflict * dialogue * diction * denouement (resolution) * dramatic structure * falling action * language * mood * moral * motif (feature/recurring design) * narrative mode (point of view) * narrative structure * Peripheral (minor/not a central important)Ã'Ž * plot * protagonist * rising action * setting * speaker * syntax * theme * Tone * Literary Analysis: Using Elements of Literature Students are asked to write literary analysis essays because this type of assignment encourages you to think about how and why a poem, short story, novel, or play was written. To successfully analyze literature, you’ll need to remember that authors make specific choices for particular reasons. Your essay should point out the author’s choices and attempt to explain their significance. Another way to look at a literary analysis is to consider a piece of literature from your own perspective. Rather than thinking about the author’s intentions, you can develop an argument based on any single term (or combination of terms) listed below. You’ll just need to use the original text to defend and explain your argument to the reader. Allegory – narrative form in which the characters are representative of some larger humanistic trait (i. e.greed, vanity, or bravery) and attempt to convey some larger lesson or meaning to life. Although allegory was originally and traditionally character based, modern allegories tend to parallel story and theme. * William Faulkner’s A Rose for Emily- the decline of the Old South * Robert Louis Stevenson’s Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde- man’s struggle to contain his inner primal instincts * District 9- South African Apartheid * X Men- the evils of prejudice * Harry Potter- the dangers of seeking â€Å"racial purity† Character – representation of a person, place, or thing performing traditionally human activities or functions in a work of fiction * Protagonist – The character the story revolves around. * Antagonist – A character or force that opposes the protagonist. * Minor character – Often provides support and illuminates the protagonist. * Static character – A character that remains the same. * Dynamic character – A character that changes in some important way. * Characterization – The choices an author makes to reveal a character’s personality, such as appearance, actions, dialogue, and motivations. Look for: Connections, links, and clues between and about characters. Ask yourself what the function and significance of each character is. Make this determination based upon the character’s history, what the reader is told (and not told), and what other characters say about themselves and others. Connotation – implied meaning of word. BEWARE! Connotations can change over time. * confidence/ arrogance * mouse/ rat * cautious/ scared * curious/ nosey * frugal/ cheap Denotation – dictionary definition of a word Diction – word choice that both conveys and emphasizes the meaning or theme of a poem through distinctions in sound, look, rhythm, syllable, letters, and definition Figurative language – the use of words to express meaning beyond the literal meaning of the words themselves * Metaphor – contrasting to seemingly unalike things to enhance the meaning of a situation or theme without using like or as * You are the sunshine of my life. * Simile – contrasting to seemingly unalike things to enhance the meaning of a situation or theme using like or as * What happens to a dream deferred, does it dry up like a raisin in the sun * Hyperbole – exaggeration * I have a million things to do today. * Personification – giving non-human objects human characteristics * America has thrown her hat into the ring, and will be joining forces with the British. Foot – grouping of stressed and unstressed syllables used in line or poem * Iamb – unstressed syllable followed by stressed * Made famous by the Shakespearian sonnet, closest to the natural rhythm of human speech * How do I love thee? Let me count the ways * Spondee – stressed stressedÃ'Ž * Used to add emphasis and break up monotonous rhythm * Blood boil, mind-meld, well- loved * Trochee – stressed unstressed * Often used in children’s rhymes and to help with memorization, gives poem a hurried feeling * While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping, * Anapest – unstressed unstressed stressed * Often used in longer poems or â€Å"rhymed stories† * Twas the night before Christmas and all through the house * Dactyls – stressed unstressed unstressed * Often used in classical Greek or Latin text, later revived by the Romantics, then again by the Beatles, often thought to create a heartbeat or pulse in a poem * Picture yourself in a boat on a river, With tangerine trees and marmalade skies. The iamb stumbles through my books; trochees rush and tumble; while anapest runs like a hurrying brook; dactyls are stately and classical. Imagery – the author’s attempt to create a mental picture (or reference point) in the mind of the reader. Remember, though the most immediate forms of imagery are visual, strong and effective imagery can be used to invoke an emotional, sensational (taste, touch, smell etc) or even physical response. Meter – measure or structuring of rhythm in a poem Plot – the arrangement of ideas and/or incidents that make up a story * Foreshadowing – When the writer clues the reader in to something that will eventually occur in the story; it may be explicit (obvious) or implied (disguised). * Suspense – The tension that the author uses to create a feeling of discomfort about the unknown * Conflict – Struggle between opposing forces. * Exposition – Background information regarding the setting, characters, plot. * Rising Action – The process the story follows as it builds to its main conflict * Crisis – A significant turning point in the story that determines how it must end * Resolution/Denouement – The way the story turns out. Point of View – pertains to who tells the story and how it is told. The point of view of a story can sometimes indirectly establish the author’s intentions. * Narrator – The person telling the story who may or may not be a character in the story. * First-person – Narrator participates in action but sometimes has limited knowledge/vision. * Second person – Narrator addresses the reader directly as though she is part of the story. (i. e. â€Å"You walk into your bedroom. You see clutter everywhere and†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ) * Third Person (Objective) – Narrator is unnamed/unidentified (a detached observer). Does not assume character’s perspective and is not a character in the story. The narrator reports on events and lets the reader supply the meaning. * Omniscient – All-knowing narrator (multiple perspectives). The narrator knows what each character is thinking and feeling, not just what they are doing throughout the story. This type of narrator usually jumps around within the text, following one character for a few pages or chapters, and then switching to another character for a few pages, chapters, etc. Omniscient narrators also sometimes step out of a particular character’s mind to evaluate him or her in some meaningful way. Rhythm – often thought of as a poem’s timing. Rhythm is the juxtaposition of stressed and unstressed beats in a poem, and is often used to give the reader a lens through which to move through the work. (See meter and foot) Setting – the place or location of the action. The setting provides the historical and cultural context for characters. It often can symbolize the emotional state of characters. Example – In Poe’s The Fall of the House of Usher, the crumbling old mansion reflects the decaying state of both the family and the narrator’s mind. We also see this type of emphasis on setting in Thomas Mann’s Death in Venice. Speaker – the person delivering the poem. Remember, a poem does not have to have a speaker, and the speaker and the poet are not necessarily one in the same. Structure (fiction) – The way that the writer arranges the plot of a story. Look for: Repeated elements in action, gesture, dialogue, description, as well as shifts in direction, focus, time, place, etc. Structure (poetry) – The pattern of organization of a poem. For example, a Shakespearean sonnet is a 14-line poem written in iambic pentameter. Because the sonnet is strictly constrained, it is considered a closed or fixed form. An open or free form poem has looser form, or perhaps one of the author’s invention, but it is important to remember that these poems are not necessarily formless. Symbolism – when an object is meant to be representative of something or an idea greater than the object itself. * Cross – representative of Christ or Christianity * Bald Eagle – America or Patriotism * Owl – wisdom or knowledge * Yellow – implies cowardice or rot Tone – the implied attitude towards the subject of the poem. Is it hopeful, pessimistic, dreary, worried? A poet conveys tone by combining all of the elements listed above to create a precise impression on the reader.