SETI Program Essays - Search For Extraterrestrial Intelligence

SETI Program Bertrand Russell stated, There are two prospects. Perhaps we are separated from everyone else. Perhaps we are most certainly not. Both are similarly startling (Jakosky 1). The subject of life known to man is one that leaves numerous in a condition of bewilderment. It turns out to be much additionally intriguing when it prompts another inquiry ? that of astute life known to man. Finding other astute developments among the interstellar space would incredibly influence each part of our reality. On the other hand, not finding such a human progress would drive us to look at the reason for our own reality. To help answer the inquiry, cosmologists and researchers set up a program in scan for extraterrestrial insight. This program, or SETI, was set up to check, by perception that extraterrestrial life exists. SETI attempts to demonstrate this by getting and breaking down radio signals by methods for satellites and propelled PCs (Heidmann 116). The history of the SETI program is very intriguing. It began in 1959 with the assistance of two well known Cornell University physicists, Guiseppi Cocconi and Phil Morrison. Both asserted that it is conceivable to speak with other possible extraterrestrial life in space by the utilization of methods utilized in radio space science (Heidmann 112). Together, they voiced their conviction that if otheralien cosmologists somewhere else known to man had radio telescopes, that it is conceivable to speak between the two (Heidmann 112-113). A youthful space expert by the name of Francis Drake concurred with the hypotheses of Cocconi and Morrison. He proposed fabricating a radio collector so as to tune in for floods of sound being transmitted through space. It wasn't until the spring of 1960 that Drake started his first task of SETI, Ozma. In this undertaking, he was the first to lead a quest for signals transmitted from other sunlight based frameworks. For two dull months, Drake pointed an eighty-five foot recieving wire in the heading of two beginnings a similar age as our sun, Tau Ceti and Epsil. A single 100Hz-channel beneficiary examined almost 400kHz of data transfer capacity, for a rehashed arrangement of designed heartbeats that would show a keen message (Heidmann 113-144). Tragically, the main sound that originated from the speaker was static. Despite the fact that no keen life was seen and venture Ozma demonstrated as only a frustration, it really prodded the enthusiasm of other people who made a plausible logical target (Project Ozma). In the 1960's the Soviet Association ruled a significant part of the SETI program. Anyway in the 1970's NASA's Ames Exploration focus, situated in California started to dominate. After about 10 years of study and starter research, the NASA central command completely subsidized and embraced the SETI program. Be that as it may, after five years Congress governed the program a absurd pointless logical undertaking that squandered important financing. Congress at that point chose to not permit NASA to help SETI and ended the financing (History of SETI). In spite of the snag, the SETI program was renewed, framing the SETI Institute. It's first secretly financed venture, Project Phoenix, is the world's generally touchy and complete quest for extraterrestrial knowledge that tunes in to radio signs being transmitted our way. The undertaking centers around Northern Stars by checking just those that are sun-like and are progressively equipped for supporting life (Heidmann 146). The Phoenix Undertaking is just one of the numerous ventures run for the hunt of extraterrestrial insight, however is one of the most significant. Another exceptionally critical venture in the quest for other life would be the undertaking run by the Columbus Optical SETI Observatory, or COSETI. This undertaking was shaped to advance the optical quest for extraterrestrial knowledge. At the end of the day, it tries to recognize beat and persistent wave laser reference point signals in the noticeable and infrared ranges. Until 1998 in any case, nearly nothing, or nothing was ever said to demonstrate that there may perhaps be a reasonable optical way to deal with SETI. Numerous scientists accept that extraterrestrials, on the off chance that they exist, are so advanced that they would utilize lasers for their correspondences as opposed to radio waves. It is said that continuously 2005 that most SETI exercises will be of the optical kind and that the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) could likewise be retrofitted for COSETI. (The Optical). One of the later ventures that we are confronted with today is the [emailprotected] Home Project. This undertaking permits the overall population to engage in the quest for extraterrestrial knowledge by permitting them to utilize their home PCs to look for indications of radio signs being transmitted to Earth from space (Kahney, A Search). As far as anyone knows, anybody can take an interest by running a free program that downloads and breaks down radio telescope information. The

Apple Inc Culture Has Both Advantages And Disadvantages Business Essay

Apple Inc Culture Has Both Advantages And Disadvantages Business Essay Presentation Macintosh Inc, a worldwide organization conveys exclusive requirement PC items, correspondence items, and diversion item, for example, Mac Computers, Iphones, Ipads and Ipods. The American organization was created and shaped in Cupertino, California in the year 1976. The organization was fused in 1977 as Apple Computer, Inc. The organization began as PC producer, and throughout the years the organization became quickly was soon in excess of a PC maker. The elevated expectation working framework Mac OS made them one of a kind among the contenders from a similar industry. Right now Apple, Inc is one among the top of the line in the fortune organizations and is entrenched as a PC, Mobile telephone, and programming designers and merchants around the world. The organization was framed in the time of 1976 the fuse occurred in the time of 1977; additionally the principal PC was presented in the time of 1977. The organizers of Apple Inc (established as Apple Computer Inc) are Steven Paul Jobs, Stephen Gary Wozniak, and Ronald Gerald Wayne. However, Wayne has left Apple before the fuse, the genuine bend in its development and improvement was with the passage of Mike Markkula who was the previous advertising supervisor at Intel Corporation. Markkula offered a budgetary help for Apple Computer Inc. He had contributed $ 250, 000 and some ability for extending Apples business. From the start, they fabricated a PC without consoles and screens, the PCs even sold without a case. The primary PC is named as Apple I. Following Apple I the organization had propelled Apple II which covers all the disadvantages of Apple I. Apple II had included points of interest over its ancestor, including a shading show and a tape stockpiling drive. The presentation of Apple II was an extraordinary achievement and it upgraded $ 1 million yearly deals. Continuously 1979 Apple propelled Apple II+ PCs which came out with better memory and highlights that Apple II. During the 1980s Apple presented their Apple III PCs. The dispatch was a major disappointment. The investigators expressed that the PC had propelled without adequate tests, accordingly a significant number of the units ended up being deficient. Following that Apple kept on staying creative in item advancement. Perhaps the best advancement was their Ipods which can store and play music documents with the assistance of their own Itune programming. The exceptional plan and ultra convenientce made the item most loved for a wide range of clients. Following that they have presented their first cell phone, which was there passage in to the blasting cell phones industry. The cell phone is first class for their one of a kind highlights, and gigantic plans. It was extraordinary achievement in the advanced mobile phones class. With all their exclusive requirement items and developments the organization had stayed top of the line even in the downturn. As per the subsequent quarter report Apple Inc, the 2010 second quarter incomes raised up to $ 13.5 billion, the second quarter income of 2009 detailed as $ 9.08 billion. Additionally the net revenue raised from $ 39.9 % to $ 41. 7 %, Mac PCs shows 33 % unit development and Ipones shows 131 % unit development contrasted with the past quarter. While, Ipods shows 1 % decrease in unit development, the significant bit of the income is contributed by Iphones. Hierarchical conduct As indicated by Mullins, (2005), Organizational conduct as the investigation and comprehension of individual and gathering conduct, and examples of structure so as to help improve authoritative execution and viability, (Mullins, 2005, p.26) Authoritative culture is mind boggling and multi-faceted. Culture is immaterial and fluctuates from association to association. Numerous creators concocted applicable speculations in regards to these subjects. It very well may be characterized in straightforward terms as the status quo done in an association. Mullins, 2005 expressed that as indicated by Handy there are 4 primary ways that hierarchical culture can be characterized, they are as per the following: Force Culture Job Culture Errand Culture Individual Culture Force Culture Association in this classification will in general have insignificant standards and guidelines, additionally it is to a great extent dependant on a focal character. The choices are made by this focal character or a focal gathering. The center gathering of Apple Inc have end up being best at what they are doing as such far. In spite of the fact that this kind of culture is embraced by little endeavors, Apple Inc have received this because of the way that they underline on conveying quality over whatever else. Job Culture The association in this class, will in general have a bureaucratic method of hierarchical culture. It especially adheres to the guidelines and guidelines of the organization. In this culture, associations will in general work as the solid columns, where individual qualities have less significance, while the positions assume significant jobs. In Apple Inc, there included a degree of secracy as individual sentiments were not acepted at all focuses and there were defects in correspondence also. While viewed from a human asset see, this demonstrated to have influenced the item improvement at different stages. Where as, when viewed from an item advancement planned, this end up being an all the more testing and all the more requesting nature critical. As a rule the columns are constrained by the job, additionally jobs and sets of responsibilities are a higher priority than singular execution. Undertaking Culture In this culture, associations are increasingly worried about the goal and errands. It doesn't pay a lot of significance to HR rules and guidelines as this culture is more errands situated. Skill and individual execution are more esteemed than the positions and jobs. The correspondence will in general be the two different ways and the workers are allowed to communicate their thoughts and recommendations at Apple Inc. Likewise dynamic isn't depended on data from a solitary source and the representatives partake in communicating their supposition or the supervisors assembled thoughts from the associates. In any case, reports at Apple Inc show that this culture can be hard to accomplish economies of scales. In todays quick moving computerized world, numerous organizations including Apple Inc received this style of activity. In days of yore this has been found in the flying building, however now-a-days a portion of the global IT organizations are receiving this style, since they are sharp about their hierarchical objectives and errands. Individual Culture People are the key variables for this ideas, this culture is ordinarily found in creature assurance associations. As indicated by Mullins, (2005) Geert Hofstede additionally distinguished four measurements to authoritative culture and work place contrasts. They are as per the following: Force Distance Vulnerability Avoidance Independence Manliness Force Distance In this culture there is significant level of divergence. As indicated by Hofstede this culture is absolutely subject to the administration; in this idea subordinates ought to comply with the bosses. Correspondence will in general stream from top to down. It is found in military tasks, right now associations are attempting to decrease power separation and investing their greatest amounts of energy to get fairness associations. Apple included this inside the administration and this was a factor that influenced the general execution to a certain expand. Vulnerability Avoidance As Hofstede connected the national culture and authoritative culture, vulnerability shirking alludes to the unforeseen circumstances or irregular circumstances that a general public or the workers of an association feels that they are going to confront. Apple Inc had this issue as there was a degree of mystery kept up among the workers. They themselves didn't know about what was occurring around them. Independence Independence alludes to the people being fit for taking care of themselves. At Apple Inc, the setting of hierarchical conduct is appropriate to certain pieces of the association that the representatives are self-propelled. They are exceptionally dedicated to what they accomplish relating to work and couldn't deal with themselves. Manliness It alludes to the sexual orientation distinction in hierarchical conduct, in some general public the womens esteem isn't varied from mens yet in some general public it varies ladies has less worth that the men. Consequently it influence the hierarchical conduct, if an association give similar situations to people, it might get interior clash that specific association. Administration Administration isn't about the pioneer, it is about how he constructs the certainty of every other person. Pioneers are answerable for both the large structures that cut off as the foundation of certainty, and the human contacts that shape a constructive enthusiastic atmosphere to move and spur individuals. Pioneers conveying certainty by upholding elevated requirements in their messages, epitomizing these measures in the direct they model and setting up formal component to give a structure to following up on those principles. (Mullins J. L, 2007, p.362) A diagrammatic portrayal of initiative Subordinates-focused Leadership Manager Centered Leadership Use Authority by Manager Region of opportunity for subordinates Supervisor settles on choices and report it Supervisors grants subordinates to work inside characterized limits Administrators presents issues, gets proposals and decide Administrator presents thoughts and welcomes questions Supervisors presents conditional choices to change subject Director sells choice Directors characterize restricts, and requests that gathering settle on choice (Mullins J. L, 2007, p.362) What is acceptable at Apple, Inc? Inventive and task driven culture Apple Inc is completely centered around development, in another word they generally attempts make better and exceptional items than increase upper hands. For this reason they are exceptionally quick to pick the best work power accessible. Difficult work and duty is the primary quality that the organization look for from it representatives. There is a typical saying that there is in every case more work to do than the representatives. A rel

Gene Altering Essays - Molecular Biology, Biotechnology,

Quality Altering Since the start of mankind, we have been looking. We have been searching for approaches to make our lives more beneficial, progressively agreeable, and more joyful. In the starting it was straightforward shakes, plants, and flames. As our innovation progressed so did the solace of our lives. The wheel, the fix to the plaque, and who can disregard the remote control, were all apparatuses that made it conceivable to improve the personal satisfaction. What instrument lies ahead later on to advance our prosperity what's more, satisfaction? Hereditary building is that apparatus. Each living thing is made up of qualities, and with the capacity of adjusting these qualities, the conceivable outcomes are interminable. Everything from better quality produce to the anticipation of malignant growth is a probability with hereditary building, and researchers are a little while ago starting to comprehend the perplexing quality examples. On the off chance that you can envision a world free of diabetes, or male example hair sparseness, and hereditary qualities has a significant job. Hereditary specialists may some time or another have the capacities to evacuate these qualities or even clone needed qualities, and at long last permitting us to live the sound, agreeable, more joyful lives we look for. The quantities of positive results from hereditary designing are incomprehensible. Hereditary building will prompt more advantageous, progressively agreeable, what's more, better lives. Hereditary building will improve each day produce and merchandise. For makers engaged with living life forms as their items, qualities play a significant job in the nature of their items and measure of benefit. In the event that a rancher's cows are not as lean, or their corn is sick, at that point the interest for their item will be not exactly the opposition. That is the place hereditary qualities comes in. It is conceivable, by changing certain qualities, to make a less fatty cow, or a infection safe tail of corn, and it is this reality that makes hereditary building significant to the consistently rancher. On the off chance that their steers is less fatty, or their chickens are built to lay two eggs rather than one, at that point there is going to be a more noteworthy benefit earned by the ranchers, and a superior nature of item. Soon there might be bacon that is generally fat free, or a chicken bosom with double the meat. By choosing the needed qualities and evacuating the undesirable, the maker can improve it item that it offers to the shopper, furthermore, the range isn't simply limited to food. Gentler fabrics, sturdier wood, hardier trees and bushes, and more slow developing, greener grass are all potential outcomes. These improved items will affect everybody, and will be all over. The effect is foggy, however the impact is clear; they will improve not just the benefit of the maker, yet in addition the lives of the purchaser. Hereditary adjusting will be an integral asset against infection, and handicaps. Consistently a great many individuals kick the bucket from an assortment of infections and handicaps that are gone somewhere near qualities. Malignant growth is one case of an infection that has been connected to qualities and heredity. Numerous patients have a family ancestry including some kind of malignant growth before. With the presentation of hereditary designing, there is a great possibility that researchers will have the option to find qualities that are inclined to malignant growth and adjust them so the possibility of getting disease is enormously decreased. Malignant growth isn't the main infection this could be applied to either. Practically any malady, issue, or handicap has a future in hereditary designing. Another model is Down's condition, a disorder that is gone down through ages by a changed quality, and causes mental impedance. Envision if some time or another that transformed quality could be expelled from a family's future, permitting their children to lead ordinary lives. There is no uncertainty that it would improve the personal satisfaction for these kids who, at that point, would be ordinary solid kids. In any case, visual impairment, diabetes, dwarfism, heart valve distortions, Alzheimer's and some more conditions can be stayed away from or even disposed of by the utilization of hereditary designing. The employments of hereditary modifying in the clinical field are energizing just as various, and it will no uncertainty change the manner in which we take a gander at our wellbeing and the strength of our youngsters. Cloning, likewise, has incredible potential in improving the lives of individuals. It has potential, on the cell level, yet in addition on the tissue and creature level. The hereditary building of dairy cattle would be a venturing stone to a superior, more slender hamburger. Anyway once the most slender bovine is delivered then cloning can be acquainted with produce a similar lean and

Achebes view of the missionaries in Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe.

Achebes perspective on the evangelists in Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe. Things Fall Apart, by Chinua Achebe, is an anecdote about a Nigerian Igbo clan compelled to suffer, and live with European Christians. These Europeans were colonizing Africa with the goals of setting up Christian teachers. While their goals were certifiable, their essence was destroying to the Ibo culture. Achebe didn't care for how the Europeans and the Igbo individuals communicated with one another. The European evangelists saw their religion as better than the Igbo religion in light of the fact that there was never an exertion made by them to comprehend the Ibo religion.English: Chinua Achebe talking at Asbury Hall, Bu...The ministers' objective was to come to Nigeria and assume responsibility for the Igbo society. With the end goal for them to do this, they needed to prevail upon the individuals and for them to do that; they changed over the Igbo individuals to Christianity. Achebe didn't concur with the preachers and in his story, he attempted to get the peruser to stress with t he Igbo culture. In the story, he depicts each reason and reason for each activity the Igbo individuals did. He discussed their celebrations and their conventions. He even utilized words like obi and egwugwu as an approach to associate the peruser with the Igbo language.Achebe loathed what the teachers did and how they attempted to colonize his kin. I think the tale of a man who slaughtered a flag-bearer and hanged himself makes an intriguing perusing. The passing of Okonkwo is emblematic and Achebe parts of the bargains this to show the peruser how the Europeans saw the Igbo individuals. Okonkwo executed himself in light of the fact that the Christian evangelists didn't comprehend their religion and all they needed to do was to separate their strict gatherings and convert individuals to Christianity. Achebe felt like if the Christian ministers found out about the Igbo individuals, they may...

Under Armour (Case 26) Essays

Under Armor (Case 26) Essays Under Armor (Case 26) Essay Under Armor (Case 26) Essay Understudy 9/23/13 Under Armor (Case 26) Technological Hot and sweat-soaked shirts are a relic of past times. New and inventive material for making dress has changed the game for sports clothing. Presently, cutting edge strands are woven into shorts, shirts, Jackets and more that can adjust to and control the bodys temperature. This headway is gigantic for competitors of numerous sorts, permitting expanded execution and continuance. New water-safe material and strands that forestall bright and infrared beams are among the not insignificant rundown of mechanical headways occurring in the games attire industry. Socioeconomics Performance sports attire has not generally been so far reaching. It began as being basically used by significant games groups, however over the ongoing years the market has reached out to suit about every single wearing movement. Not exclusively are the entirety of the significant games groups utilizing a type of execution clothing yet in addition dynamic way of life customers and adolescents. Research has indicated that about 80% of activewear is worn for non-sports exercises. Another examination established that over 85% of athletic footwear is being utilized for an alternate game other than what they were made for. Just games groups and wearing exercises utilized donning attire as of not long ago. Presently wearing clothing stretches out to men, ladies and offspring everything being equal, sizes and different backgrounds. Financial matters The games clothing industry has developed exponentially in the previous not many years mostly because of overwhelming showcasing and publicizing, mechanical progressions and an immense inventory of new things in new item classifications. The ever-productive brandishing world has seen comprise Political/Legal Large organizations in this industry must keep awake to date with the most present day apparel ine and extras so as to be serious. With new items and materials come legalities to keep up predominance over explicit developments. Re-appropriating creation and assembling additionally assumes a colossal job in legitimate policys and political clashes. Sociocultural and Global Climate bigly affects when, where and how regularly you can exercise or train. With creative apparel lines that can repulse water, keep destructive beams from the sun and moderate internal heat level, come additional opportunities to prepare anyplace, whenever and for longer timeframes. What's more, sports attire is accessible to all who look for expanded pertormance. Doormen Five Forces Model†Apparel Supplier Power (High) Businesses in the presentation clothing industry set up validity with their providers. The providers utilize new and mechanically propelled materials and make exceptionally separated items; subsequently, giving them more control over their purchasers. Hindrances to Entry (High) A couple of exceptionally huge games clothing organizations, I. e. Under Armor, Nike, Adidas, Columbia, that have been settled for a long time overwhelm the market. Over he years, the bigger organizations have had the option to build up themselves through brand acknowledgment, promoting and different appropriation channels. Along these lines, an organization attempting to begin in this industry would battle at first yet could benefit over the long haul because of less contenders. Serious Rivalry (Moderate) The huge organizations are continually developing or rethinking their product offerings relying upon the customer market and current structure. Because of a huge level of separation in execution and quality, there is less contention among execution attire organizations. Risk of Substitutes (Moderate) There are a couple of substitutes with regards to execution clothing. Just a couple have been at the bleeding edge of innovative progression and quality improvement by which they have built up themselves as being among the top chiefs for quality and execution. Be that as it may, there is as yet a significant risk of replacement for less expensive other options if the economy were to debilitate. Purchaser Power (High) Customer purchasing power for clothing is solid due to some extent to the accessibility to change to different items at little, assuming any, cost, yet for the most part because of the percent of income that he huge organizations sell from their individual item portions. On the off chance that an organization has an enormous rate in a solitary item class, they are more helpless than an organization that has a very much enhanced blend of items. Serious Analysis Under Armor has a few huge contenders; the biggest being Nike, Adidas and Columbia Sportswear. These organizations are comparative in that they all pressure item advancement, promoting and sponsorships. Adidas is extensively engaged in every brandishing classification yet neglects to stick out. Columbia is known exclusively by its winter gear, imiting its development potential and making solid regularity patterns. Nike endeavors to be the best in each section while Under Armours objective is to be an innovator in each procedure of its item advancement, focusing on quality over amount. A bit of leeway for Under Armor is that it is centered more around improving its image and exceptional items, authorizing o ther things and frill producers. Inward Analysis through free Under Armor is ceaselessly improving their clothing line and expanding there showcase. The organization has been developing at a considerable rate, 30. every year over a 5-year time frame, to a great extent because of the desire of Kevin Plank, author, and furthermore to substantial showcasing and advancements. Board characteristics the achievement of the organization to mark acknowledgment and the capacity to market to all buyers. Under Armor makes head-to-toe attire for anybody during any season. It has driven its picture into the same number of stores as it can, arriving at school colleges and various conveyance channels. Recom mendations to the Firm Over 80% of Under Armours income originates from the offer of its attire line. While it eans that it has been fruitful in this portion, there should be greater decent variety to build intensity and reduction provider power. While making a footwear line will help in Under Armours expect to make a full clothing product offering and press contenders, numerous difficulties should be defeated so as to infiltrate this item advertise. Under Armor should rethink and reengineer its footwear line. Elective Strategies Expanding the product offering to enhance its item portfolio may weaken Under Armours picture and name therefore making purchasers stray from premium-evaluated items. On the other hand, Under Armor could concentrate all the more basically on the improvement of its footwear item and increment those deals. This choice will be exorbitant and testing because of the tremendous market players that as of now have strength in footwear, I. e. Nike and Adidas. I recommend Under Armor seek after other item open doors just as the footwear to squeeze its rivals and to maintain the emphasis on quality and execution as opposed to amount.

Extraction and Characterization of Bacterial DNA - Free Essay Example

ABSTRACT: In this experiment, deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) was extracted from Micrococcus lysodeikticus, a bacteria with a high guanine and cytosine content. The standard method of chloroform-isoamyl alcohol extraction was used, and the DNA was solubilized in Tris buffer. The DNA was then quantified and qualified using UV spectrophotometry. The DNA was determined to have been extracted in relatively high amounts, but the purity was lacking, especially in regards to ribonucleic acid contamination. The hyperchromic effect was utilized to gauge the purity of the DNA. Future studies will focus on the ecologically safer and more efficient methods of DNA extraction. Key Words: Ribonuclease, RNA, DNA, DNA structure, bacteria. Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) is the genetic material inside of a cell. The code of nucleotide base pair sequences allows for the cell to translate messages into proteins that can be used in all parts of the cell. DNA is a double helix that is composed of rungs being the base pairs that are hydrogen bonded together, and a sugar phosphate backbone that is covalently bound together1. This structure gives the DNA the strength yet flexibility it needs in order to be able to unzip so that the genetic material it holds can be accessed2. The complementarity of the DNA molecule is truly what sets the molecule apart from others. Even if the DNA is denatured and the hydrogen bonds come undone, because each base pair binds to only one specific type of other base pair, this phenomena allows the DNA to spontaneously come together again. The base pairs will line up with their respective pair due to the energetic favorability of having as many hydrogen bonds as possible2. Because of DNAs importance as a biological storage molecule, accessing the DNA trapped inside of the cells has become a main avenue of research for scientists. Depending on the organism, different solvents and methods can be used to yield the highest amounts and most pure DNA. Even within the same types of organisms, there may be different challenges that arise from a specific species. Specifically in bacteria, different strains can have higher or lower G+C content3. Because the guanine and cytosine nucleotides are bound together by three hydrogen bonds as opposed to the 2 that bind adenine and thymine together, the G+C bonds are more difficult to pull apart. This means that harsher solvents may have to be used in order to adequately extract and solubilize the DNA. When the DNA is extracted, it can be denatured as a way to assess its purity. The hyperchromic effect is a phenomena that occurs when DNA is denatured so that the two strands of the double helix come apart and assume a formation that is random and coiled4. Because there is much more surface area in the randomly coiled DNA than the uniform and compact double helix form, the DNA will absorb substantially more UV light at a wavelength of 260nm. In this experiment, the DNA of Micrococcus lysodeikticus was extracted using a chloroform-isoamyl alcohol method and was precipitated using cold ethyl alcohol. Following this partial purification of the DNA, the DNA was quantified and qualified using UV spectroscopy. The hyperchromic effect was employed to ascertain the purity of the DNA by denaturing the molecule using high tempertaures. EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURES The experiment was conducted as described by Boyer2. To begin the experiment, a set amount of freeze dried bacterial cells of the species Micrococcus lysodeikticus were massed out and suspended in a set volume of saline-EDTA in a 50mL Erlenmeyer flask. An aliquot of 10mg/mL lysozyme was added to the bacterial solution and was incubated at 37? °C for 30 minutes. After the incubation, an aliquot of 25% sodium dodecyl sulfate was added to the mixture and was heated at 60? °C for 10 minutes, after which the mixture was cooled to room temperature. The mixture was then added to a Nalgene centrifuge tube. An aliquot of 5M sodium perchlorate solution was added to the solution, followed by a generous portion of 24:1 chloroform-isoamyl alcohol. This mixture was then gently shook for 20 minutes with gloves on so that the proteins in the mixture could be separated out. The solution was then placed in a refrigerated centrifuge at 7800rpm for 5 minutes. The aqueous upper layer of the mixture was then carefully transferred into another container, where ice cold ethyl-alcohol was gently poured over it in generous amounts in order to precipitate the DNA. The nucleic acids were then spooled and transferred to a set volume of Tris buffer. Once a sufficient amount of DNA had been spooled, the aqueous DNA mixture was split into two portions. In one sample, RNAse was added and inverted to mix. Both samples were then stored in a 4? °C refrigerator for one week, and the rest of the procedure was conducted. Both the DNA with and without RNAse were used to make separate dilutions so that the Absorbance at 260nm was approximately 0.400. From both of the dilutions, 2mL aliquots were added to microcentrifuge tubes, and the two different types of DNA solutions were treated in the same fashion. One sample was kept at room temperature, one tube was denatured in boiling water for 10 minutes and then left to cool to room temperature slowly, and the other tube was denatured in boiling water for 10 minutes and then placed in an ice bath to cool to room temperature quickly. Absorbance values were gathered from the room temperature samples at 260nm and 280nm. The absorbance for the room temperature sample at 260nm was recorded again at the end of the experiment. The sample that was heated and allowed to cool slowly had the first absorbance recorded immediately after it was taken out of the boiling water. Another 260nm absorbance value was taken after the sample had cooled down to room temperature. The sample that was heated and cooled in an ice bath had its absorbance measured after it was at room temperature. To analyze the data gathered from this experiment, the following two equations were used to determine how much DNA was isolated. Equation 1. Determining the concentration of the DNA solution. Equation 2. Determining the amount of DNA isolated. As a point of comparison, the theoretical amount of DNA that could be isolated from the mass of cells used was determined using the following. Equation 3. Determining the theoretical mass of DNA. Next, the following equation was used to determine the percent of the cells weight that is composed of DNA. Equation 4. Percentage of cell weight that is DNA Then the purity of the DNA could be determined given the ratio of absorbance at 260nm to the absorbance at 280nm.This also lends insight as to what possible impurities could be in the DNA, such as protein or RNA (ribonucleic acid). The following equation demonstrates the change in the absorbance values at 260nm to reflect what occurred in terms of the hyperchromic effect. Equation 5. Percentage of change in the absorbance values. DNA mass (g) Theoretical DNA mass (g) Percent Cell Weight (%) A260/A280 Percent Change A260 for Hot RT (%) Percent Change A260 for Hot-RT RT (%) Percent Change A260 for Hot-Ice-RT RT (%) DNA 1004 1787 0.75 2.71 12.5 -4.44 6.77 DNA with RNAse 794 4.51 31.2 -6.98 25.9 Table I. Summary of results from the spectrophotometry data collected regarding the DNA and DNA with RNAse. Equations 1 through 5 were used to determine the values listed in the table below. RESULTS The results of the experiment are listed in Table I. The calculations were performed for both the DNA samples and the DNA with RNAse samples. DISCUSSION In this experiment, various quantities surrounding the DNA sample were determined so that the amount of DNA and the purity of the DNA could be assessed. This was possible due to the scientific knowledge of the structure of DNA. The theoretical and actual masses of the DNA were very close to each other, indicating that a sufficient amount of DNA was isolated and the isolation process was performed accurately. Additionally, the percent cell weight was the same as the theoretical cell weight of 0.75%. However, the ratio of A260/A280 values lend insight as to the purity of the DNA, and the ratio is much higher than the pure DNA value of 1.90. This suggests that the RNAse was ineffective at removing an adequate amount of the RNA. However, the A280 value used seems to be skewed, so that it unnecessarily inflates the ratio. Further spectrophotometry would have to be done using the same DNA in order to determine the most accurate ratio for the sample. The hyperchromic effect took hold for both the sample that was boiled and quickly cooled and the sample that was boiled and the absorbance value was immediately taken. There appeared to be a large effect from the speed cooling versus the slow cooling, which makes logical sense considering that the more time given to the DNA to arrange itself back into its complementary sequence, the more precise and accurate job that the intermolecular forces will do. However, if the DNA is cooled quickly, it does not have time to rearrange precisely. Rather, the DNA could get stuck in tangles and therefore absorb more UV light that the normal double helix. While the chloroform isoamyl procedure that was used in this experiment was effective, it is important to always strive for more efficient and/or more ecologically friendly alternatives to hazardous chemicals. In a study by Cheng and Jiang, the researchers developed a method of DNA extraction that allowed to cut the time it takes to extract DNA from microbes in more than half, and also eliminated the need for a separate cell wall lysing agent5. Another reason to be on the lookout for different procedures for DNA extraction is due to the blossoming field of microbiome research. In a study by Knudsen et al, the choice of DNA extraction methods influenced the data that was garnered about the population in the microbiome6. Therefore, microbiome researchers must be cognizant of how experiments early on in the project could affect assumptions down the line. Reasons such as these mean that science must always be advancing into newer and better techniques. REFERENCES (1) Yakovchuk, P.; Protozanova, E.; Frank-Kamenetskii, M. D. Nucleic Acids Res. 2006, 34 (2), 564â€Å"574. (2) Boyer, R. Modern Experimental Biochemistry, 3rd ed.; Roberts, B., Lake, J., Prescott, M., Eds.; Benjamin/Cummings: San Francisco, 2000. (3) Sanders, C. A.; Yajko, D. M.; Hyun, W.; Langlois, R. G.; Nassos, P. S.; Fulwyler, M. J.; Hadley, W. K. J. Gen. Microbiol. 1990, 136 (2), 359â€Å"365. (4) Lara Castellazzi, C.; Orozco, M.; Amadei, A. J. Phys. Chem. B 2013, 117, 8697â€Å"8704. (5) Cheng, H. R.; Jiang, N. Biotechnol. Lett. 2006, 28 (1), 55â€Å"59. (6) Knudsen, B. E.; Bergmark, L.; Munk, P.; Lukjancenko, O.; Prieme, A.; Aarestrup, F. M.; Pamp, S. J. bioRxiv 2016, 1 (5), 064394.

The Problematic of Postcolonialism in Margaret Atwoods Surfacing, Chinua Achebes Things Fall Apart, and Anita Desais Fire on the Mountain - Literature Essay Samples

As a field of study dedicated to surveying countries which have undergone a period of colonial takeover, often by Britain or France, Postcolonialism is thought to have its first roots in the seventies. During this period, the world, more specifically the third one, was on the verge of witnessing its independence. Several countries in the Caribbean, South Asia, and Africa were leading some revolutionary movements, not always by means of force, as a sort of showing their resistance to their colonizers. Regarding this point, that of how literature was a proficient means of reflecting people’s attitudes and decisions in these countries started to take place, but with an indecisive date of its emerging origin. Several critics are in reality doubtful about the beginnings of the applicability of postcolonial theory in literature. Some believe that its outset was with the publication of both â€Å"Orientalism† by E. Said and â€Å"the empire writes back† by Bell Ashcroft . Whereas others go further to state that the emerging of its roots in the field of literary writings is older than that. This dichotomy about its exact date represents solid evidence that asserts the diversity, the specialty and the different amount of aspects this field of study encompasses[1]. Accordingly, this paper tackles the applicability of the postcolonial theory in literature. It is in fact an exploration of the problematic of Poscolonialism in three postcolonial novels by three different authors. The first one is Surfacing by the Canadian feminist author Margaret Atwood. The novel is an exploration of a period of time, exactly 1970, when Canada was, as Atwood calls it, under the threat of Americanism. She, in fact, writes this novel as a kind of warning against the type of deterioration the Canadian identity, embodied in its culture and wilderness, might be exposed to. Added to that, the novel is also extremely feminist as it vividly portrays the harsh life of a young female who is rendered unknown by the writer. Following the course of its counterpart, Fire on the Mountain by Anita Desai is another narrative that evokes the scope of postcolonial discourse by portraying the secular life of a female character in the high mountains of India, or rather the colonized India. The novel, also feminist at its core, relates the story Nanda Kaun who wishes to have an isolated life. Her harsh past obliges her to retreat from her current world, her husband, her children and her everything to have a life of her own, away from any earthly disturbances. As to the last novel, it is written by a very famous Nigerian writer, and bears the title Things Fall Apart. The latter, as its title designates, implies the destruction of nation, more specifically a powerful clan by the white imperialist colonizers. It is therefore set within a colonial framework and portraying a heatedly clash between the Africans and the British, tradition and modernity, or to put it simply between the others and the us. As a Canadian critic, Laura Moss starts one of her essays by positing one of the most important questions regarding Canada. Her question sounded like: is Canada a postcolonial country. In fact, to answer this question and to fully have a deep knowledge about this issue, one must have to look, as Margaret Atwood puts it, at the literature of its land, more specifically that of Canada because it is a map, a geography of the mind that will easily light up things for every Canadian reader[2]. Surfacing is a distinct example that we can take into account in order to clarify this issue. As said before, it is an antithesis to the western infiltration of Canada, not especially by France and Britain, but by The USA. To be clear, Canada, as Laura Moss states, is not a traditional colony of Britain and France. It was colonized, as it the case with Australia and New Zealand, peacefully as compared to countries from Africa. It also witnessed its independence at an early date, exactly at 1867. How ever, Laura Moss asserts that Canada, as it is the case of India, is also liable to the ideological and sociological aspects of postcolonial theory. In her view, Canada’s main purpose, as India or Australia, was to build a nation on a common model that is predominantly British. Furthermore, Moss continues that Postcolonialism is not only concerned with cultural imperialism and the emergence of nationalism. Its focus also extends to cover some issues as those of the process of decolonization, the critique of hierarchies of power, violence and oppression which are, in her view, components not only of this field of study but also of Surfacing as a literary work by Margaret Atwood. The theme of identity, namely the lost one, is undoubtedly the main engine that stirs the events in this novel. Therefore, being put within a postcolonial background, the search for identity as a main objective in Atwood’s novel is shaped by a sense of binary opposition between the people from the British origin against those of French one to a lesser extent, and that of the indigenes versus the USA, or what Margaret Atwood calls the Monsters on a larger one. The nature of the first opposition is in fact wrapped with some historical causes and fortunately the novel presents us with some aspects of this animosity. Therefore, in one of its passages, the author brings into surface one of the incidents where the narrator is driven to have a sort of skirmishes with some girls from the province of Quebec. This illustrates very clearly the tense relationship that those from a British origin still have with those from a French one. Even though things might have changed now and Canada has finally become a melting pot where different people from various nationalities can leave together in peace, Margaret Atwood’s assertion of this fact is with paramount importance regarding the split that Canadian identity witnessed during the seventies. This, to a large extent, is reminiscent of Homi Bhabha’s concept of the luminal space. Therefore, knowing that the island where the narrator stands now is set between two big provinces in Canada; the first one is Ontario and the second one is Quebec. The first is purely British while the latter is highly French. As a result, the space that lies between these two places, or as Margaret calls the space on border designates the island in a lesser extent, and Canada in a large symbolic way[3]. The narrator hence is overcome by a sense of isolation and loneliness as being put within two different, opposing cultures, that of her origin and one which is socially imposed on her. In fact, no critic can deny the reality that Atwood’s central concern about identifying the Canadian identity is related to Americanism, that cultural and ideological power that started to invade Canada. The latter, in her view, has become a spot where Canadians are outnumbered by the Americans. They, as swarms of ants, have got scattered throughout the whole country; they are benefiting from the land’s natural resources as well as spoiling the Canadian wilderness with their technological development. Added to this, the novel is rife with several instances where the author clarifies this American infiltration. A clear example would be that when the unnamed narrator warns her friends about not saying a word about a lake where great resources of fish were hidden. â€Å"I warned them not to say anything about the fish: if they do, this part of the lake will be swarming with Americans, they have an uncanny way of passing the word, like ants about sugar, or lobsters.† (Surfacing, 65) As a way to support the uniqueness of Canadian identity, she also portrays one of her characters whose name is David and one of the narrator’s friends as a person who is filled with a great loathing and hatred towards the Americans. He, all over the book, expresses his great desire of having the Americans banished out of Canada. So, through several passages, we come to notice this kind of latent feeling that David tends to publically show sometimes.† It wouldn’t be a bad country if only we could kick them out the fucking pig Americans, eh? Then we could have some peace.†(83). He says in one of his conversations with the unnamed narrator. Actually, the way Americans approach Canada is regarded by Margaret Atwood as a sort of colonial takeover that these people wish to launch. As the former passages point to, the Americans started to view Canada, that wide and large space, as a plunder. It not only serves as a place where their ideology can be transmitted, but also as a large place where they can benefit lavishly from all of its resources. This, for the author, has led to the deterioration of one of the most significant aspects of Canadian identity which is the wilderness. The latter is no longer put at ease. It is approached by the Americans via technology. It, in reality, has become a wide space fully exploited and damaged by the American greed. In this regard, Margaret Atwood does not put too much blame on Americans for this damage that doomed Canadian wilderness. She believes that even Canadians have their share in this deteriorating state which is represented in their neglect of their wilderness. Therefore, Margaret Atwood believes that she â€Å"is just as much an alien invader [of) Canada as the Americans†. Following this, Eleonora Rao states clearly that this realization indicates the pointlessness of splitting the world into discriminatory categories and opposites.[4] As a postcolonial novel, Surfacing, on the tongue of its author, aspires to convey the message that Canadian identity is to be built by Canadians themselves, not by a bunch of aliens. She believes that Canadians should keep in touch with their wilderness. They must explore it and get fully knowledgeable about it since it is the symbol of their identity. In her view, literature represents the sole weapon through which Canadians can have full access to their Canadian identity and wilderness for literary works are a sort of map that will always light the path for every reader. On the ideological level, Canada has become a wide spot where the American ideology has been greatly popularized. This undoubtedly leads our attention to Homi bhabha’s concept of mimicry. This concept is fully dedicated to deal with the ideological and cultural changes brought to any culture by another more powerful one. In this case, we are specifically within the equation of Canada as being versus the USA. Therefore, Margaret Atwood portrays this horrific mimicry displayed by Canadian characters in several incidents all over her book and no wonder that of the two girls that the narrator meet while being in the island along with that boat she sees in a lake are two clear examples that illustrate this issue. The former example is that of the two girls whom the unnamed narrator meets in a store during her short sojourn in the province of Quebec. The first thing that the unnamed narrator notices is that those girls are not longer impressed by their local way of dressing, a way of dressing which is draws on the Christian religion and almost encouraged by their priest. They hence resorted to a new fashion of cloths that is complete alien to their culture and undoubtedly imported from a closer culture, that of the USA. Added to this, the example of the big boat that the narrator encounters along with her friends is a very clear example that further illustrates this mimicry. This boat, as depicted by the narrator, is decorated with an American flag that is drawn on its centre. So, through the first sight the narrator is driven into thinking that it is another American boat which is full of American monsters as she calls them. In that moment she expresses her absolute fear as those people are there to only benefit from its land and leave away. However, this fear presently turns into a sense of shock and anticipation after she knows that those who were on the boat are Canadians as much as she is. In fact, the aim behind this mimicry, as Bhabha asserts, is to get a sense of power, similar to that of the empowered but in the long run, this power which is obtained will not, by any means, be compared to that of the imitated. However, it is to be said that this mimicry implies a sense of awareness on the part of the colonized to the colonizer. Therefore, to imitate someone, you must have enough knowledge about him. Hence, this absolutely allows the Canadian imitators with a certain amount of power. So in brief, to mimic Americanism is to disavow its authority and power over you. In brief, Memmi, in her book the colonizer and the colonized, sums things up when she say: â€Å"The first attempt of the colonized is to change his condition by changing his skin. There is a tempting model very close at hand the colonizer. The latter suffers from none of his deficiencies, has all rights, enjoys every possession and benefits from every prestige . The first ambition of the colonized is to become equal to that splendid model and to resemble him to the point of disappearing in him†.[5] Even the title, surfacing, can match the novel’s central theme which points to this lost identity. As many critics have noted, to surface is to emerge out from something. This is very clear in the novel as we are encountered with the narrator’s surfacing from the lake where she dives to look for her father’s old Indian paintings. Several critics state that her diving into the water can be regarded as a postcolonial journey for it bears within it the hope of the narrator to find her father, or in other words her origin. It is believed that her diving was not completely for the sake of finding her father, yet the need for recovering her origin or identity is above all. The fight for asserting Canadian identity did not start with the publication of Surfacing. Atwood has already started this task in one of the novels that preceded her current one. Consequently, her masterpiece â€Å"Survival† is considered as the fountain hit where the issue of lost identity has emerged from and in which the trope of survival was set by Atwood as a metaphor pointing to the rise of a kind of literature which is unique, different from those of Britain and USA. This can be regarded as a way of asserting Canadian identity in all its manifestations.(p 11). Therefore, Surfacing, as its counterpart survival, is a national narrative that projects the situation where lack of a consistent image in the Canadian identity flows into surface. In fact, Atwood stresses the power of literature as being able to constitute communities and spread national awareness via shared imaginary beliefs disseminated through these works. This has no wonder affected the situation in Canada a t that time, and the amount of the novel selling shows this. As survival, surfacing portrays the trope of victimization as a solid one further asserting the Canadian national identity. The inclusion of a character that is unknown is so similar to the state of Canada. The unknown character is abused socially, historically, and psychically as it is the case with Canada as a whole. She is lost and doomed with a sense of hybridity. The author portrays the narrator in surfacing as a victimized one. The unnamed narrator was exposed to several social and psychic traumas. She is first fiercely shattered by her abortion which was forced on her by her past lover. Added to that, the unnamed narrator loses her mother and comes back looking for her father only to find him dead. Furthermore, her five days ordeal in the jungle can designate a return to her origin, mainly human one. Therefore, she perfectly embodies the prototype of a victimized character. Hence, she is in the view of a large numbe r of critics, the representation of Canada which is victimized, a colony of the British and the French, and further threatened by the Americans. It is thus regarded as a postcolonial survivor. This analogy is made clear at the end of the novel when the unnamed narrator confesses that she no longer have a name. She abandons language and considers herself as a space. â€Å"I no longer have a name†, and â€Å"why talk when you are a word†, and she also states, â€Å"I am not an animal or a tree, I am the thing in which the trees and animals move and grow. I am a place† ( 198, 212, 213). Things Fall Apart is a novel by the very famous Nigerian writer Chinua Achebe. The novel action takes place within a colonial framework, exactly during the period of the British conquest of Nigeria. Throughout this period Africa was a prey for several imperial European countries, and no wonder that Britain was one of them. During and after its colonial stay in Nigeria, several novels and works of literature were written by a number of authors, mainly westerners where they disseminated into the world a plethora of stereotypical ideas about the African people. They also depicted them in a multitude number of ways that belittle their status. Among such works is that by Joseph Conrad which distinctly reflects a grim picture about Africa and its culture. Thus, as a critic believes, Conrad describes Africa as a wild, dark, and uncivilized continent. However, with the rise of modern African literature, a large number of literary scholars whose leading task was to redefine Africa in the eyes of the West emerged from the depths of their colonized countries. Among such writers are Wole Soyinka, Nadine Gordimer, and Chinua Achebe. The latter’s novel Things fall apart, which constitutes a section of my paper’s concerns, is in reality a reaction to the bleak reputation the black continent has been doomed with since a long time ago. Achebe’s main end behind the writing of such literary work is to endow the reader with all the positive aspects about the African continent and about him as an African citizen. The novel starts with the portrayal of the Igbo society and their clashes with the British missionaries. The novel actions take place in the Umofia villages where tradition and old beliefs are highly preserved by its inhabitants. In fact, the novel is a description of the perfections and imperfections of these people. Therefore, Achebe epitomizes their beliefs in a set of doctrines that are shaped by a deep credence in some of their ancestral gods, the killing of twins and the sacrifice of young boys. The latter is obvious in the novel when a neighboring clan offers the soul of two of its people as reparation for the sort of affront they caused for Umofia. These two innocent souls are sacrificed on the spot mercilessly as a sort of ritual having the aim of satisfying Umofia’s gods. However, it is until the arrival of the missionaries that the novel starts to merge within a colonial sphere; these missionaries, British as said before, had the aim as any other colonizers in disguise, the pretext of civilizing these backward people. So, as an inception of their task, they embarked on reshaping the religious system of Umofia by building churches and asking people to convert to Christianity. This, undoubtedly, was one of the bloody reasons that corroborated to the rise of a heatedly binary opposition between the two. In this regard, it is to be said that â€Å"Things fall apart is about the collapse, breaking into pieces, chaos, and confusion of traditional Igbo culture that suffers at the hand of the white man’s arrival in Umuofia along with his religion†.[6] The views about life that the white men have are totally different from those that the Igbo have then. The British missionaries regarded so many aspects of the traditional and ritual life of these people as unnatural, irrational and acceptable, but what they ignored is that these aspects constitute a very important part of these people’s life. Their unreasonable decision of changing it completely and suddenly under the umbrella of Christianity is, for Achebe, an unforgivable mistake. Fo r example, polygamy was one of the most notable tenets that characterized the Igbo culture. Men, as it is the case with wkonow, were supposed to have more than one wife. The act of having several wives represented a sort of pride and richness that the man can exhibit. More ironically is that women were glad to get married to a man with two or three wives. This was hugely opposed to the western religion which emphasized the necessity of fighting the polygamous thinking. Despite this refusal by a large number of people belonging to Umuofia, some minorities, among them society outcasts, started to convert into Christianity. Their convert was in fact the consequence of the firm and solid conventions of the Igbo culture and religion. Several women began to believe that joining the new religion that of the Europeans would save their future children, as it is known that children must be sacrificed in the Igbo culture. Added to such type of women who have succeeded to change, Nwoye, the son of Okonkwo also expresses his desire to follow their course. He, later on, converts to the Christian faith, and this causes a sort of animosity between him and his father. The reason behind the son’s convert was his unsatisfied attitude towards his native culture, the one that deprived him of a true and newly-made friend, Ikemefuna, who was to be beheaded as a sort of reparation to the affront caused by a neighboring clan. Actually, through the portrayal of Ukownko, it becomes clear that he is the embodiment of a communal spirit which simultaneously refuses and faces colonialism. This manifests clearly when this character kills one of the messengers sent by the British missionaries. In addition to that, he was among the most courageous inhabitants to arrange meetings against the colonial enemy. However, he is highly shocked by the reaction of the other villagers whom he thought brave to help him achieve h is purpose, that of banishing the white men from his village. They let the other messengers escape in ukownko’s sight. Shuttered and dumbfounded by this sort of surrender by the villagers, ukowkwo hangs himself before the British missionaries take hold of him. In fact, the situation that the villagers were deep down in is to be closely put within the framework of Hyprididty as it is referred to by the famous Indian postcolonial theorist Homi Bhabha in his book the dislocation of culture. This is evident when a group of people feel a sense of loss and in-betweeness as they are set between two different cultures, mainly that of the colonizer and their native one[7]. They are hence fascinated by the former one as a result of its progression and development, yet they feel unable to get free from their mother culture as the latter is very important and closely tight with them. This is central to the Igbo society. Some of its inhabitants feel an aversive desire to convert into the new religion which is Christianity. Hence, several outcasts along with women opt for this religious alternative so as to get a high status in society, or to break free from the rigid conventions of their culture. The Europeans made them believe that all people are equal and with the same status so as to facilitate their colonial project. On the other hand, some of these people, apart from outcasts, still have a sense of nostalgia for their native culture. Some of them are only fascinated by the British changes, while others though they converted to Christianity still hide a feeling of proximity and tenderness towards their mother culture. As a result of this, the Igbo society is placed in a maze where some of its people are fully overcome by the western influence whereas others still, to an extent, conceal some warm feelings that might establish a possible return to their own culture. As a way of resisting the British colonial infiltration, Achebe makes use of a language which deepl y draws on proverbs and poetry. It is in fact used as a way to preserve the Igbo culture and society, as well as to render it with a high status. †Most of the text in Achebe’s Things Fall Apart chiefly features in the use and explanations of the complicated Igbo myths and proverbs that the Europeans fail to acknowledge. Throughout the novel Achebe craftily uses his characters to speak in proverbs when they address one another. The use of proverbs is very important in conversations as the Igbo believe them to be a fountain of wisdom and of respect.†[8] He chooses to base his text not fully on English, but on a proverbial language as a way to introduce his culture to the world. It is a very subtle way through which he constitutes a good image about Nigeria and its popular culture. Nowhere in his novel does the writer deny the countless occasions of oppression and suppression that the people of the Igbo society were exposed to. One clear example of this is undoubtedly the way the British underestimated the judicial system in Umuofia. Therefore, setting a new court where convicted native people can be judged was something somehow good, yet the way their lawsuits were held reflects a sense of complete power exhibited by the British system at the time. In fact, the former judicial system which composed old wise men from the Igbo society was more fairer than its western counterpart given the fact that convicted people are listened to before they are judged. But, within the new imperial judicial institutions, people are not even listened to. They are treated with complete prejudice and tyranny[9]. In this regard, the Igbo society, as several critics have noted, appears to be more civilized than the Europeans themselves. The former, though regarded as being very back ward in the eyes of the western colonizers, have at least succeeded to develop a more stable and a fair judicial system as compared to that of the British which is highly corrupt and stripped of any human considerations. By asserting some of the good purposes that are latent behind the colonial projects of the British missionaries, Achebe proves to be one of a few authors who treated this subject in their writings fairly and with no traces of prejudice. Therefore, the novel points to the reality that the Europeans, apart from benefiting from the natural resources that the African countries were full of, had a latent desire to drag them from the grips of decline. They for example built schools and hospitals for them. They also encouraged the people of Umoufia, as the novel shows, to learn English as the latter is the only solution through which they can communicate with the British missionaries on the one hand, and with the world on the other hand. Despite this, several native inhabi tants refused this idea. Even the protagonist of the novel worked his best to stop his eldest son from learning English. This apart from designating the stubbornness and the persistent decision of these people also asserts their patriotic stance of not letting the language of the colonizer overcome their native one. For them, refuting the process of learning English language will make their society unified and coherent, not split up and hybrid by the complete hegemony of the western language. By focusing on Nanda Kaul, more specifically, her psychological state, Fire on the Mountain is hence one of the few and earliest feminist novels in India. Set in a space largely affected by the aftermaths of Colonialism, mainly the British one, Fire on the Mountain, apart from focusing on feminist isssues, actually embraces a postcolonial aura. In fact, critical analysis of this kind suggests that women may be subordinated in different senses. They may, for example, be a segment of the subject people in a classic colonial society, or they may be part of a migrant/immigrant group denied full status within a host society. At the same time, they are characteristically subordinates within a patriarchy. As women within a patriarchal system, they are again in some sense colonized; they share with colonized races and peoples an intimate experience of the politics of oppression and repression [10]. In addition to that, Walby asserts that the reason behind women’s struggle for obtainin g an identity is the fact that they are economically underprivileged and exploited. As such, Fire on the mountain represents this truth blatantly via the most wretched past of Nanda Kaul with her deceased husband. Indeed, she is highly overcome by the male power which renders her as a marginalized entity with no voice. In his regard, Castro asserts that â€Å"they became trained to accept a man’s world in which a patriarchal image of women is transmitted into them† [11]. As such, the novel is an exploration of Nanda’s struggle to obtain an identity within a society which is dominated by males. As a marginalized woman, Nanda Kaul is certainly portrayed as the embodiment of a powerless lady, or to put it simply a voiceless lady. Her harsh past was a period of affront mixed with subjectivity. Married to an Indian dignitary, her whole life was mainly confined for him, the households, and the bringing up of her children. She never thought about herself, her privileges or her rights. In brief, she was an entity by whom her husband enjoyed life. Actually, her movement to the mountain to have a secular life bears within it a symbolic implication as it is a movement towards asserting her identity. It is a way by which this character elicits her refusal to have a life of the mainstream, a life molded on a model of femininity where women must conform to this model and hence forget all about themselves. She regarded this model as an impediment of her free growth, of her purposes and hence it is discrepant with her desire to build her identity. As such, Critic Anita Myles affirms that Desai’s literature allows an exploration of these themes: Desai’s novels constitute together the documentation, through fiction, of radical female resistance against a patriarchally defined concept of normality. She finds the links between female duality, myth and psychosis intriguing; each heroine is seen as searching for, finding and absorbing or annihilating the double who represents the socially impermissible aspects of her femininity. [12] Additionally, Literary critic Ashok Kumar adds that in Anita Desia’s novels there is â€Å"the world of radical female resistance against a defined concept of normality and in her psychological novels; she has created the image of a suffering woman preoccupied with her inner world, her sulking frustration and the storm within – the existential predicament of a woman in a male-dominated society† (26)[13] The symbol of fire, used in the title, is very implicative as it is closely related to the psychology of N anda Kaul’s psychic trauma. The latter is inexorably the result of her vicious past in which she was only an object fulfilling other people’s desires. Hence, â€Å"The fire embodies the violence of feelings and a strong resolution to end such a life. But fire is also a powerful light, used to find meaning in a dark existence, and a strong purifier. It destroys in order to annihilate certain traditions and to leave space for new values For this purpose, R.S Sharma rightly states that the Raka’s words are expressive of her resolve to destroy a world where a woman cannot hope to be happy without being unnatural.†[14] Added to its above designation, the symbol of fire comes to imply a destructive force. Apart from the already mentioned implication of fire as a symbol of hope and opposition to male’s hegemony, this symbol seems to foreshadow a sense of fear and total anticipation as it is closely related to the destructive mentality of men, the devastative fire that burns female nobility. In relation to Nanda this manifests clearly by her will to obtain a certain share of recognition by opting for a secular life. Thus, â€Å"fire symbolizes the self-esteem, the feminine ego that is for years surpassed and crushed by social norms, duties, responsibilities imposed by male dominated society†. This fire symbolizes effectively the tragic events in the womb of time as Indira rightly says, The them atic image of fire with its connotations of violence and urgency occur at regular intervals, warning the reader of impending tragedy.[15] As any postcolonial work having the aim of debunking the existence of the colonizer, â€Å"Fire on the Mountain†, though not completely, seems to follow this course. Thus, Anita Desai comes to shed light on some of the negative aspects of the British colonization. Firstly, Fire on the Mountain renders space with much significance as the latter seems to have been hugely affected by the British imperial cupidity. The latter, as she notes, has degenerated Indian nature and forests by transforming them into military camps, not to mention the endless number of deforestations. Hence, she critically reproaches the aliens for deteriorating the Indian environment. Added to that, the inclusion of a British character, the colonel Macdougall after whom Nanda Kaul takes her house in Carignano, is with paramount importance as far as the western representation of the Indians is concerned. Therefore, this, to a large extent, symbolizes the fact that Indians are only aliens within their land. This fact is closely attached to the issue of identity as the Indian people, through the character of Nanda Kaul, appear to lack a unique one. The profuse use of nature in h er novel represents a weapon by which Anita Desai challenges the British Colonialism. More accurately, it is a symbolic device through which she opposes the British’s extravagant use of technology. Therefore, it is a way to assert the closeness of Indians to their nature and to reflect a pure and authentic life as compared to the mechanical life the westerners. The latter, as the novel designates, has brought a very negative aspect to their nature and environment in general. Their greed and their excessive use of such things have reduced India to a mere spot exhaustively devastated by the British Colonizers. Ultimately, Surfacing, Things Fall Apart, and Fire on the Mountain are three examples of feminist novels where always the female character is the one who bears the task of representing a bleak and grim society. The latter, as the three feminist writers elicit, is not only shaped by the full male hegemony, but deep inside it, there lies a western colonizer. The latter, undoubtedly, seems to deprive not only the female protagonists in these works, but their whole nation from an identity, mostly an individual one, by which these people can have a unique existence. Bibliography Primary resources: Atwood Margaret. Surfacing. Toronto: McClelland Stewart Ltd, 1972. Achebe Chinua. Things fall apart. New York: ANCHOR BOOKS, 1958. Desai, Anita. Fire on the Mountain. London: Penguin Book, 1977. Secondary resources: Laura Wight, This Is Border Country†: Atwood’s Surfacing_ and Postcolonial Identity. Katrina Marnel, On the Periphery: the Female marginalized in Five Post-Colonial Novels, (1997). Kenaleman, Lame Maatla, Things Fall Apart: An Analysis of Pre and Postcolonial Igbo Society, (2013). Dar, D.R. Ab. Majeed, Isolation in the Wilderness: A Protest against Social Norms in Anita Desai’s Fire on the Mountain. Indira S. Anita Desai as an Artist, New Delhi creative books 1994. [1] Laura Wight, This Is Border Country†: Atwood’s Surfacing_ and Postcolonial Identity. [2] Laura Wight, This Is Border Country†: Atwood’s Surfacing_ and Postcolonial Identity. [3] Laura Wight, This Is Border Country†: Atwood’s Surfacing_ and Postcolonial Identity. [4] Laura Wight, This Is Border Country†: Atwood’s Surfacing_ and Postcolonial Identity. [5] Katrina Marnel, On the Periphery: the Female marginalized in Five Post-Colonial Novels, (1997). [6] Kenaleman, Lame Maatla, Things Fall Apart : An Analysis of Pre and Postcolonial Igbo Society,(2013). [7] Laura Wight, This Is Border Country†: Atwood’s Surfacing_ and Postcolonial Identity . [8] Kenaleman, Lame Maatla, Things Fall Apart: An Analysis of Pre and Postcolonial Igbo Society, page: 10, (2013). [9] Kenaleman, Lame Maatla, Things Fall Apart : An Analysis of Pre and Postcolonial Igbo Society,(2013). [10] Katrina Marnel, On the Periphery: the Female marginalized in Five Post-Colonial Novels, P: 2 (1997). [11] Katrina Marnel, On the Periphery: the Female marginalized in Five Post-Colonial Novels, P: 4 (1997). [12] Katrina Marnel, On the Periphery: the Female marginalized in Five Post-Colonial Novels, (1997). [13] Katrina Marnel, On the Periphery: the Female marginalized in Five Post-Colonial Novels, (1997). [14]Dar, D.R. Ab. Majeed, Isolation in the Wilderness: A Protest Against Social Norms in Anita Desai’s Fire on the Mountain. [15] Indira S. Anita De sai as an Artist, New Delhi creative books 1994.