The Withered Arm Essay Example for Free

The Withered Arm Essay Who do you think is to be blamed for the tragedies? In this essay I am going to try my best to answer the question Who do you think is to blame for the tragedy of The Withered Arm? I will attempt to include as much information and reasons to whom I think is to be blamed and why. I will try to justify these reasons with various quotes and descriptions by referring to the text. Thomas Hardy was born in 1840 and died in 1825. He was a great novelist who wrote many famous novels such as Mayor of Casterbridge and Far From The Madding Crowd. These novels are now known for being classic literature. Most of the novels he wrote were depressing and ironic. The Withered Arm is one of many Thomas Hardy short novels, it is set in the late 1800s in a village called Holmstoke that has a small rural community of mostly milkmaids. There are three main characters in this novel they consist of: Farmer Lodge; a wealthy and respected man, who is well known for his good reputation. Also there is Rhoda Brook; a not so wealthy woman and less fortunate than Farmer Lodge with a reputation of being a witch. Lastly there is also Gertrude Lodge; she is Farmer Lodges new wife. .. They say shes rosy-cheeked, titsy-totsy little body enough. This indicates that she is a pretty woman with a perfect body. In opposition Rhoda isnt very popular with the other workers she is described as A thin, fading woman of thirty milked somewhat apart from the rest. This emphasies that although she has been there for many years people still dont like her. The relationship between Farmer Lodge and Gertrude is that they are a newly married couple in the village that are madly in love with each other, Farmer Lodge literally worships Gertrude. All eyes were fixed upon her This quotation gives a vision of a new, young beauty walking through a public place and everybodys eyes follow her up the street. Farmer Lodge is always gloating and saying how beautiful she is: The well-to-do Farmer Lodge came nearly last; and his young wife, who accompanied him, walked up the aisle with the shyness natural to a modest woman who had appeared thus for the first time. This shows us that Farmer Lodge did this on purpose so heand Gertrude would become centre of attention because they are the most popular and talked about couple, also this would make everyone notice how pretty Gertrude is. Rhoda Brook and Farmer Lodge had a relationship in the past, which then ends when Rhoda falls pregnant. Rhoda would have become an outcast of the society having brought some shame and embarrassment not only for her, but for Farmer Lodge as well for having a baby outside of marriage. Also Farmer Lodge could not take the humiliation of him having a relationship with a lower class lady, who is just a milkmaid. A while after their relationship Farmer Lodge meets Gertrude; they fall madly in love and get married but does poor Gertrude know what shes got herself into? Farmer Lodge has been lying to Gertrude and has kept a secret about his past relationship and the fact that he has a son. The basic gist of the story is that Rhoda Brook becomes extremely jealous of Gertrude and her beauty; she is always thinking about her as a result Rhoda starts to envy Gertrude and hatred is caused. Rhoda has a dream, in which she saw Gertrude as an old ugly woman: .. with features shockingly distorted, and wrinkled as by age.. I think this reflects Rhodas feelings about Gertrude very well because, as we already know she is jealous of her beauty and she has created Gertrude to look like this to calm and reassure herself because Rhoda knows she is losing her looks. This dream causes Gertrudes arm some terrible pain the morning after the reason for this being is that Rhoda dreamt of her grabbing Gertrudes arm and swinging her .. Swung out her right hand, seized the confronting spectre by its obtrusive left arm, and whirled it backwards to the floor.. The arm becomes worse and it comes to a point when Gertrude is desperate for a cure but cannot find one. In the meantime, Farmer Lodges love slowly drifts as her arm withers towards the end and she discovers that the only cure is to put her arm onto a hanged mans neck as told by Conjurer Trendle. In The Withered Arm there are many tragedies but the main one is of course, Gertrudes withered arm. It was the one that was shocking and disturbing especially towards Rhoda and Gertrude. With Rhodas witchcraft powers she wonders if it was actually her who caused the withered arm. There was a supernatural force to this tragedy and it was unavoidable to Rhoda. Rhoda only had the dream because she envied Gertrude If the sweet and kindly Gertrude Lodge only knew of the dream-scene in the bed-chamber, what would she think? This quote emphasises that Rhoda was feeling guilty about having such an evil dream and that after meeting Gertrude she realised that she is a good person. Tragedy is the main theme of the novel and it symbolises an event that is usually bad, which ends in a dramatic way, which is often unexpected. Tragedies can be caused by peoples actions or decisions, which can have unpleasant effects, and it could have been avoided if people took more care and consideration in one anothers actions. A tragedy can lead to an un-happy life. Blame is also a keyword in this novel because it provokes guilt and regret, which is exactly the feeling of Farmer Lodge especially, towards the end of the novel but also towards Rhoda. Blame means to be held responsible or being the cause of something. To be blamed means holding someone guilty for something theyve done wrong, or in some cases theyve done nothing wrong. However, sometimes things can go wrong and someone needs to blame a person, even if it is not their fault, just to rest their minds. To be blamed for something can give someone a bad reputation. I believe that Farmer Lodge is to be held responsible for the tragedy; firstly because he left Rhoda whilst she was pregnant with his child. Secondly; He married Gertrude and finally; Farmer Lodges love for Gertrude fading. If he had never left Rhoda then I think she would never have put some kind of a curse on Farmer Lodge and Gertrude would not have been affected by it. I do not feel sympathetic for Farmer Lodge because he was the main cause of the tragedy and he started all the troubles before realising the consequences. I think Farmer Lodge should have told Gertrude about his past relationship because I think Gertrude would understand and she wouldnt be worried about his past relationship because she is convinced that Farmer Lodge is in love with her. Also she would be happy of the fact that Farmer Lodge hasnt been keeping any lies from her and that he is being truthful. In my opinion Farmer Lodge to me is a cold hearted man towards Gertrude and his son Oh no. He hant spoke to Rhoda Brook for years. This expresses that he hadnt only spoken to them for a long time but he also did not care for Rhoda and their son. Farmer Lodge loved Gertrude for her looks and that she was younger than he was. The woman whom he had wooed for her grace and beauty . Having a beautiful younger wife made Farmer Lodge feel good and look good about himself; he wanted to show the community that he is still capable of attracting a pretty woman no matter what the past. Farmer Lodge is a vein man, appearance and reputation is very important to him. When Gertrudes arm started to wither it became obvious that Farmer Lodge started to dislike her because he thought she was losing her beauty it also made Gertrude depressed because she realised that her arm was making her less attractive and that Farmer Lodge was not showering her with love as he usually did .. Mr and Mrs Lodges married experience sank into prosiness, and worse. The farmer was usually gloomy and silent Six years of marriage and only a few months of love Towards the end of the novel, we discover two more tragedies that have a disturbing impact on all three characters. By this time we know that Gertrude has become desperate and very impatient of finding a cure for her arm. When she goes to visit Conjurer Trendle, he tells her the only cure is to place her arm on a hanged mans neck, although she is a bit hesitant as to what she has to do, Gertrude is still determined to give it a try She started a little at the image he had raised.. Little did innocent Gertrude know that the person she is using to cure her disfigment is Rhodas son who was hung because he was accused of arson. Soon after Gertrude realised who it was she could not take the stress and she became ill; physically and mentally. The shock of everything that had happened to her caused her to die. When Gertrude and Rhodas son both died, I think thats when Farmer Lodge became softer and sensitive. He felt guilty for everything he did to Rhoda and how he treated both Rhoda and Gertrude. He left his money to a boys charity and gave some to Rhoda so that she could manage on her own. Burdened at first with moodiness and remorse, he eventually changed for the better, and appeared as a chastened and thoughtful man. To conclude this essay I have decided that Farmer Lodge is responsible for all the tragedies that occurred within The Withered Arm. He should not have left Rhoda bringing up their child on her own without any support. Farmer Lodge leaving Rhoda made her become curious and jealous when he re-married to Gertrude, as a result this feeling caused Rhoda to have a dream. Gertrude was affected because it caused her arm to gradually wither until it came to a point when the arm was cureless by any ointment or medication. If Farmer Lodge had been a good father and frequently helped his son and Rhoda out with financial difficulties maybe no tragedies would occur and everything would have been normal. Gertrude died of not having the satisfaction of a cured arm and being loved and feeling beautiful again. I think Gertrude did not deserve to have a difficult and miserable life. She was an innocent and kindhearted woman who was just madly in love with her newly wed husband.

Fate in Death of a Salesman

Fate in Death of a Salesman Abstract Death of a Salesman is a tragedy written by American playwright Arthur Miller. It describes a story about Willy Loman whose American dreams shattered and eventually he lost his life for it. Willy Lomans tragic experience reveals the conflicts between the individual, the family and social values of the United States. Miller tells us that we should not be misled by the money worship; otherwise we will become victims of commodity wrong values. This paper will analyze the tragic fate of Willy Loman from four different perspectives: inaccurate self-evaluation, incompetent role-player in family, wrong outlooks on values and being a victim of the American Dream, hoping to inspire and enlighten the readers from the tragic fate of Willy Loman and to find our real selves in the complicated and changeable world. 1. Introduction 1.1 Arthur Miller Arthur Miller was one of the most distinguished dramatists of the twentieth century. He was born in Jewish family in New York on October 17th 1915. As his fathers business failed during the Depression and the family suddenly became poor, Miller had to discontinue his studies and go to work to earn his university fees after he finished high school. He worked various jobs, such as a truck driver, a waiter, a farmhand, etc. Through these jobs, he saw the injustice of the capitalist system and understood the hard life of workers. The personal experiences provided him with firsthand knowledge about the lower class when he came to write plays and fiction. Through Millers career, he wrote lots of valuable masterpieces which contributed a lot to the American theater, ranging from All My Sons (1947) to Death of a Salesman (1949), from The Crucible (1953) to A View from Bridge (1955), from After the Fall (1964) to Broken Glasses (1994). Miller continually addressed several distinct but related issues in both his dramatic and contemporary writings: the form of tragedy applicable to modern times and contemporary characters, the individuals relationship to society, and family relations, particularly interactions between fathers and sons (à ©Ã‚ »Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ãƒ ¥Ã‚ ®Ã‚ ¶Ãƒ ¤Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ®, 2007: 421). He criticized the social problems sharply and at the same time showed his compassion to the common people living at the foot of the society ladder. He has influenced many younger American dramatists, such as Edward Albee, August Wilson, and David Mamet. Miller is a major pioneer in the development of American theater alongside Eugene ONeil and Tennessee Williams, and Death of a Salesman is his important work. The play suggested new theatrical possibilities with its unique blend of realism and expressionism, as well as offering a challenge to previous definitions of tragedy (Susan C.W., 2007: 71). 1.2 The plot of Death of a Salesman Death of a Salesman is one of the best three plays with Eugene ONeils Long Days Journey into night and Tennessee Williamss A Street Car Named Desire. After it staged in 1949, it ran for 742 performances on Broadway. It won important awards, including the New York Drama Critics Circle Best Play, Pulitzer Prize for Drama and Tony Award for Best Play. The play presents the tragedy of a common person, Willy Loman, an aging travelling salesman who is working for the Wagner Company. After having labored for thirty-four years for that firm, he is fired by Howard Wagner, the head of the company, because he is too old to sell products to make profits for the company. But he is still in debt, so he and his wife are struggling to pay the bills while his two sons are not helpful. Willys two goals throughout his life have been to be popular and have his own company, but they havent come true. Biff, a habitual thief, and Happy, a self-deluded guy, have failed to fulfill their fathers dream of achi evement. Reviewing his life, he is forced to confront its futility and failure. He kills himself in a planned car accident, hoping to provide Biff with twenty thousand dollars from the life insurance company to start his store. The play has profound social significance, because it is from the real life and authentically reflects the tragedy of common man in America (à ¥Ã‚ Ã¢â‚¬ ¢Ãƒ ¤Ã‚ »Ã‚ £Ãƒ §Ã‚ Ã‚ Ãƒ ¯Ã‚ ¼Ã…’2008). 1.3 Purpose of the paper Willy Lomans tragic experience shows the conflicts between the individual, the family and social values of the United States. Miller tells us that we should not be misled by the money worship; otherwise we will become victims of commodity wrong values. In materialistic society, People tend to ignore the cruel reality. Their cravings for material things seem never satisfied. People cannot distinguish reality and illusion. Inevitably, this will causes contradictions between individual, family and society and eventually brings about peoples downfall, like Willy Loman in the play. According to this phenomenon, this paper will analyze the tragic fate of Willy Loman from four different perspectives: inaccurate self-evaluation, incompetent role-player in family, wrong outlooks on values and being a victim of the American Dream, hoping to inspire and enlighten the readers from the tragic fate of Willy Loman and to find our real selves in the complicated and changeable world. 2. Literature Review Death of a Salesman is written in realistic dialogue about ordinary people. It is based in large part on the experiences of Millers family during the Depression and his passionate belief in the honor of work and the difficulties of living the American dream. After its opening in Broadway, response to the play was tremendous; audiences and critics had been attracted. The criticism on Death of a Salesman came from the anti-communist movement known as McCarthyism,but the larger part of comments are praises. Robert Coleman of the Daily Mirror called the play emotional dynamite and reported that sobs were heard throughout the auditorium, and handkerchiefs were kept busy wiping away tears (Robert Coleman, 1949:360). Brooks Atkinson declared it superb, commenting on its poetry and calling it a wraith-like tragedy (Brooks Atkinson, 1949:27). Richard Watts asserted that under the director, Elia Kazens vigorous and perceptive direction, Death of a Salesman emerges as easily the best and most i mportant new American play of the year (Richard Watts, 1949:359). Yes, Death of a Salesman is a significant masterpiece of the American play. In theme, the play criticizes the role of capitalism in American society and condemns human nature with pity and sorrow. In technique, Miller broke out of the realistic confinements of time, space and psychology, with the innovative interweaving of the past with the present and of events inside Willys mind with those outside, which merges elements of both realism and expressionism(à ©Ã‚ »Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ãƒ ¥Ã‚ ®Ã‚ ¶Ãƒ ¤Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ®Ãƒ ¯Ã‚ ¼Ã…’2007:423). Compared to traditional tragedy, Loman, as a protagonist, is neither upper class nor very intelligence. But he still manages to strike an emotional chord. He has a faulty vision of what makes a person successful, which makes him flawed, but regardless of the opposition and the ultimate cost to himself, he refuses to give up that vision, which makes him, in Millers eyes, a tragic hero. A man of his time, Loman bears realistic and far-reaching significance and connotation. In Contemporary American drama:a study in the plays of Tennessee Williams, Arthur Miller and Edward A, Singh Abha comments that Willy Loman, the salesman, is a typical embodiment of modern business morality, but he is also a more universal figureà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Like the great tragic figures of Sophocles and Shakespeare, Millers Willy is both an individual and a type (Singh, Abha, 1998: 70-71). Furthermore, Loman has attracted international audiences and continues to interest them to the present day. Theater scholar Brenda Murphy talks about the ease with which audiences all over the world have understood and sympathized with the plight of Willy Loman, and have grasped the issues of the play (Brenda Murphy, 1995:126). No doubt, the play attracts numerous audiences and critics. Whereas, the common audience are seriously concerned about the fate of Willy and are melt into tears for this tragedy of an everyman. In china, based on my survey on the domestic journals from 1979 to 2009, there are above 22 articles studying on Willy Lomans tragic fate in Death of a Salesman. Different critics have their own views. Wang Yan, from Shandong University, considers that Lomans tragedy is caused by the conflict of his dream and the reality. Zhu Yaning, from Foreign Languages Department of Henan Mechanical College, views that the disillusionment of American Dream leads to Lomans tragedy. W ang Dongmei, from Foreign Languages Department of Liaoning Technical University, regards that Lomans fate is caused by his own personality distortion. Wang Hong, from Huainan Normal College analyzes Willy Lomans fate from the respect of family factors. But for me, inaccurate self-evaluation, incompetent role-player in family, wrong outlooks on values and being a victim of the American Dream resulted in Willy Lomans tragedy. 3. Analysis of Willy Lomans Fate Willy Lomans whole life seems to have been a sellout; his sons have turned out badly, and his relationship with Biff has soured. Disappointedly, Willy chooses to end his life with expectation that his death could exchange for his sons success. The quasi-resolution that his suicide offers him represents only a partial discovery of the truth. He fails to grasp the true personal, emotional, spiritual understanding of himself. His name provides insights. Compared to William, Willy is a childish version indicating an intrinsic immaturity in his nature. He is too driven by his own willy-ness or perverse willfulness to recognize the slanted reality that his desperate mind has forged. Loman has been read as indicating Willy to be a low-man, common and insignificant. From the insights of his name, we can infer that Willy Lomans life will be a tragedy in the end, like characters of Dream of the Red Chamber. Not his name resulted in Willys tragedy fate, but his inaccurate self-evaluation, incom petent role-player in family, wrong outlooks on values and a victim of the American Dream resulted in his tragedy. 3.1 Willy Lomans inaccurate self-evaluation As a travelling salesman, Willy Loman sells products for Wagner Company by driving around New England. When he was young, he was ambitious and set his mind to provide a good life for his family. He worked diligently and enthusiastically, so that he made good profits. He averaged a hundred and seventy dollars a week in the year of 1928. He built up good relationship and reputation among his clients. He has much confidence about his life and dreamed that one day he would set up his own company. However, thirty-four years later, as he became too old to make profits for the firm, he was fired by his employer relentlessly, regardless of his thirty-four years contribution to the company. But he could not confirm his failure. When he would not sell products and get his commission, he borrowed money from his neighbor Charley and deceived his wife that the money was his commission. He trapped himself in the illusion and memory most his time. Under the pressing realities of his life, he could not endure the overwhelming tensions and commit suicide to earn the insurance money to help Biff become successful. Why Willy Loman lived so afflictingly? One of the reasons is that he can not evaluate himself accurately. Throughout the play, there are many implications that Willys wrong self-evaluation leads to his wrong choice of profession. He failed to find his real self, because he was covered by the illusions and the myths. From ACT ONE, Willy told Charley that, A man who cant handle tools is not a man (Arthur Miller, 1949:44). He can put up the ceiling in the living-room. That is a great piece of work, but Willy managed to do it. He, like his father, can build things with his own hand. However, Willy failed to recognize his abilities. If he could realize his talent and choose the job that can fulfill his talent, instead of being a salesman that way out there in the blue, riding on a smile and a shoeshine (Arthur Miller, 1949:138), Willy might seek both job satisfaction and fortune from his job. Also, he failed to recognize his natural inclinations and instincts. When Biffs decision to seek a business loan raises Willys spirits, and the way in which Willy expresses his optimism is quite revealin g. The first thing Willy thinks about is planting a garden in his yard; he then muses to Linda that they should buy a house in the country, so that he could build guesthouses for Biff and Happy when they have families of their own. These hopeful plans seem to illustrate how ill-suited Willy is to his profession, as it stifles his natural inclinations. His wistful fantasy of living in the forests of Alaska strengthens the implication that he chose the wrong profession. Indeed, the competitive, hyper-capitalist world of sales seems no more appropriate for Willy. He does not seem to like living in an urban setting. He complains that the way they boxed us in here. Bricks and windows, windows and bricks. The street is lined with cars. Theres not a breath of fresh air in the neighborhood. The grass dont grow any more, you cant raise a carrot in the back yard. They shouldve a law against apartment houses (Arthur Miller, 1949:17). From his words, we can infer that Willy is looking forward to living a leisure life, a farm life, not the busy, atwitter and strenuous life in New York. But Willy was unaware of this; he chose to be a salesman that conflicts with his natural inclinations and instincts. At first, his motivation to be a salesman was impure. He chose the job not from his own abilities and interests, but from the admiration for Dave Singleman. If Willy could evaluate himself accurately and respect his own needs, he would live a totally different life from now. He would not commit himself to a pathetic death and meaningless legacy. 3.2 Incompetent Role-player in family Willy is a salesman who struggles for a better life in the cruel society, a husband who has his wifes love and support and a father who lives with his children. It is important to examine the evolution of Willys relationship with his family, as the solid family is one of the most prominent elements of the American Dream. But in the present, Willys relationship with his family is fraught with tension. 3.2.1 A father unfit for his position As a common father, he hopes to win the respect and love of his sons and has great expectation to his two sons. But the cruel reality is that Biff is a pilferer and Happy is a liar. Everything goes against his wishes. The main reason is that Willys improper education to his sons. As a youth, Biff was led to believe that since he was well liked he could get away with anything. He begins to steal: a football from school, lumber for the house, a crate of balls from Bill Oliver. Willy is desperate that Biff should succeed in life, so instead of punishing him, he condones the thefts and makes excuses, neglecting to instill in his son the moral values a parent should teach a child. For instance, when the young Biff stole the football from the school, Willy said, Coachll probably congratulate you on your initiative! à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ Thats because he likes you. If somebody else took that ball thered be an uproar (Arthur Miller, 1949:30). This way of education makes Biff lose the ability to recognize the correct moral views. Biff appears successful in high school as a football player, but reaps no benefit from this as he never goes to college. Initially he had planned to retake the math course he needed, but he catches his father with a mistress. After leaving the high school, he did many jobs but all failed. As biff said to Willy, I never got anywhere because you blew me so full of hot air I could never stand taking orders from anybody! Thats whose fault it is! (Arthur Miller, 1949:131) Obviously, again it is Willys improper education that leads to Biffs failure. 3.2.2 A husband disloyal to his wife In Willys reminiscence, there exists a woman, his mistress. Willy has affair with the woman and the affair was discovered by Biff. As a result of this, his belief in the fantasies his father has fed him cannot be maintained. This adultery is an indirect cause that Biff gave up to retake he math course, but evidence that Willy betrayed his wife, Linda. If Willy had had not affair with the woman, Biff might retake the math exam, and then he would go to college and had a promising future. Willy is always untrue to Linda. He tries to play the salesman with her. Every time he over his trip, he inflates his commission, but Linda also his lie. Although she does not buy his pitch to her, she still loves him. She does not measure Willys worth in terms of his professional success. Willy, however, needs more than love, which accepts character flaws, doubts, and insecurityhe seek desperately to be well liked. As such, he ignores the opportunity that Linda presents to him: to view himself more honestly, to acknowledge the reality of his life, and to accept himself for what he is feeling like a failure (Selena Ward, Brendan Greaves, 2003:61). If Willy could be true to Linda and himself, he would not choose to commit suicide. 3.3 Wrong outlooks on values Willy Loman is living in a time when the nature of business itself is undergoing intrinsic changes, partly due to the capitalist pressure to make more money and become more efficient. But he fails to understand the complex and ruthless business community and he still pursue equity and justifiability blindly. So he hugs his outmoded beliefs: Just work hard, be honest and well-liked, you will succeed. However, he is rebuffed in the real life. The reason is that Willys outlooks on values are wrong. His recurring description and memory of Dave Singleman manifest his ideal life in his mind: What could be more satisfying than be able to go, at the age of eighty-four, into twenty or thirty different cities, and pick up a phone, and be remembered and loved and helped by so many different people? and When he diedand by the way he died the death of a salesman, in his green velvet slippers in the smoker of the New York, New Haven and Hartford, going into BostonWhen he died hundreds of salesmen and buyers were at his funeral. Things were sad on a lotta trains for months after that. (Arthur Miller, 1949:81) He speakes of Dave Singleman as a legend and imagines that his death must have been beautifully noble. But he fails to realize the hopeless of Singlemans lonely, on-the-job, on-the-road death. During Singlemans age, there was personality, respect, comradeship and gratitude in it. But in the present day, it is all cut and dried. The time full of light and friendship is long gone. Todays American society has been a concrete jungle. Here the survival law is like the law of the jungle in the animal world in primitive time, even more relentless and ruthless. People are molded to be more indifferent and greedy. They worship money. Money dominatesalmost everything including personality, respect, gratitude and even man, could be evaluated in terms of money. But Willy doesnt realize the shift of the times and values. He still keeps riding on a smile, making friends, exaggerating and hoping being liked so as to make a sale. He adheres to his own principles and wrong values that cost his life i n the end. 3.4 A victim of the American Dream The American Dream is a national ethos of the United States of America in which democratic ideals are perceived as a promise of prosperity for its people. In the American Dream, first expressed by James Truslow Adams in 1931, he states, The American Dream is that dream of a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement. It is a difficult dream for the European upper classes to interpret adequately, and too many of us ourselves have grown weary and mistrustful of it. It is not a dream of motor cars and high wages merely, but a dream of social order in which each man and each woman shall be able to attain to the fullest stature of which they are innately capable, and be recognized by others for what they are, regardless of the fortuitous circumstances of birth or position (James Truslow Adams, 1931) The idea of the American Dream is rooted in the second sentence of the Declaration of Independence wh ich states that all men are created equal and that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable Rights including Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. (the Declaration of Independence) However, the industrialization of the 19th and 20th centuries began to erode the dream. After World War II, the United States faced profound and irreconcilable domestic tensions and contradictions. Although the war had ostensibly engendered an unprecedented sense of American confidence, and security, the United States became increasingly embroiled in a tense cold war with the Soviet Union. The propagation of myths of a peaceful, homogenous, and nauseatingly gleeful American golden age was tempered by constant anxiety about Communism. (Selena Ward, Brendan Greaves, 2003:3)The government cannot provide the citizen with a fair environment. People feel desperate and lose themselves. They consider their American dream as making a fortune. They pursuit their dreams by centering their lives around material possessions, such as cars, appliances. There are exhausted to keep up with their equally materialistic neighbors. Seemingly, they are rich in materials, but they are in poor spirit. Many American families become the victims of the American Dream. Unfortunately, the Lomans is one of them. In the search of the good life, the Lomans surroud themselves with many things above and beyond the necessities of life. However, these goods are only available at a price, and not everyone in society can afford them. The Lomans try to keep up, with a refrigerator, a vacuum, and a new car, but they find themselves in a constant state of worry that they may be not able to meet all the payments. So when Willy is sixty-three years old, he is still in debt. In Willys life, he has two dreams. One is to set up his own company while the other is his two sons can succeed. But Willys two great dreams come to a totally failure. Because he believes that any well liked and personally attractive man can achieve the dream. And he also passes this belief to his sons. Bernard can get the best marks in school, y understand, but when he gets out in the business world, yunderstand, you are going to be five times ahead of him. Thats why I thank Almighty God youre both built like Adonises. Because the man who makes an personal in the business world, the man who creates personal interest, is the man who gets ahead. Be liked and you will never want. (Arthur Miller, 1949:33) His understanding of the qualities of attractiveness and likeability is very superficial. He blindly expects to achieve material, emotional, and even spiritual satisfaction through personal attractiveness and being well liked. He fails to see that Charley and his son are successful because of lifelong hard work and not because of the illusions of social popularity and physical appearances. His blind faith in his stunted version of the American Dream leads to his rapid psychological decline when he is unable to accept the disparity between the ideal dream and his own life. 4. Enlightenment from Willy Lomans fate From the previous analysis, we have a better understanding of Willy Lomans fate. We cannot help showing our sympathy for his downfall. But this tragedy leaves us not only the sigh, but also the deep meditation. We can gain a good deal of enlightenment from his fate. Firstly, we should have a round and accurate evaluation about ourselves. Everyone is unique in the world. We have both merits and demerits. If we can make best use of the advantages and bypass the disadvantages, then we will become more competent and more confidence to deal with the changeable and competitive society. Secondly, our dreams should not go too far away from the reality. It is good to have dreams. Dreams can motive us to work hard to live a better life. In this way, the society can make progress. But our dreams should base on reality. It should be practical to realize the dreams. If the dreams seem impossible to realize, we may feel disappointed and lose confidence when we find the disparity between the dream and our life. Thirdly, we should make a plan that fit ourselves to realize the dream. We should see through the key to success. We should not like Willy Loman think it is well liked. But we can learn from Charley that the key to success is hard work and maintain our morality intact. Fourthly, spiritual wealth is more important than material wealth. In the modern society, material civilization is highly developed while there exists a crisis of mental world of human beings. Money worship and hedonism are prevailing, the view of value is collapsing, and men tend to become the slaver of material desire. So we cannot ignore our spiritual world. In our spare time, we should enrich our spirit world by reading books of real worth and live a worthy life. 5. Conclusion In Death of a salesman, Miller charges America with selling a false myth constructed around a capitalist materialism. And this materialism obscured the personal truth and moral vision of original American Dream described by the countrys founders. Willy Lomans inaccurate self-evaluation, incompetent role-player in family, wrong outlooks on values and being a victim of the American Dream bring about his downfall. His fate reveals the contradiction between material and spirit, reality and dream. Thus it makes the play become one of the best modern tragedies.

The Effect of Different Antibiotics on Bacteria

The Effect of Different Antibiotics on Bacteria Antibiotics are medicines that kill bacteria. Bacteria can cause infections such as strep throat, ear infections, urinary tract infections, and sinus infections (sinusitis). There are many types of antibiotics. Each works a little differently and acts on different types of bacteria. Dont antibiotics cure everything? Antibiotics are powerful medicines, but they cannot cure everything. Antibiotics do not work against illnesses that are caused by a virus. They do not help illnesses such as: Common colds. Influenza (flu). Most cases of acute bronchitis. Most sore throats not caused by strep. Runny noses. These illnesses usually go away by themselves. If you take antibiotics when you do not need them, they may not work when you do need them. Each time you take antibiotics, you are more likely to have some bacteria that the medicine does not kill. Over time these bacteria change (mutate) and become harder to kill. The antibiotics that used to kill them no longer work. These bacteria are called antibiotic-resistant bacteria. These tougher bacteria can cause longer and more serious infections. In order to treat them you may need different, stronger antibiotics that cost more. A stronger antibiotic may have more side effects than the first medicine. Antibiotic-resistant bacteria also can spread to family members, children, and friends. Your community then will have a risk of getting an infection that is harder to cure and costs more to treat. Some antibiotics that doctors once prescribed to treat common infections no longer work. Taking antibiotics you do not need will not help you feel better, cure your illness, or keep others from being infected. On the other hand, take them when unnecessary may cause harmful side effects. Those side effects include: Nausea. Diarrhea. Stomach pain. When antibiotics kill the normal bacteria in your intestine and allow the C.difficilebacteria to grow, this causes diarrhea, fever, and belly cramps. In some rare cases, it can even cause death. This condition is known as Clostridium difficilecolitis or C. difficile colitis which is the swelling and irritation of the large intestine, or colon. Women may develop vaginal yeast infections from taking antibiotics. Rarely, antibiotics can cause a dangerous allergic reaction that requires emergency care. The right way to take antibiotic: Take it exactly as directed. Always take the exact amount that the label says to take. If the label says to take the medicine at a certain time, follow these directions. Take it for as long as prescribed. After the first few days of taking the medicine, you might feel better. However, it is important to keep taking the antibiotic as directed and usually until it is finish. Full prescription is always needed to get rid of those bacteria that are a bit stronger and able to survive the first few days of treatment. Bacteria that an antibiotic cannot kill (antibiotic-resistant bacteria) can develop if only part of an antibiotic prescription is being taken. Most importantly, leftover medicine must not be saved for the purpose of future use. Antibiotics are usually safe despites of all the side effects. Common side effects include nausea, diarrhea, and stomach pain. In women, antibiotics can lead to vaginal yeast infections. Some minor side effects are inevitable. In rare cases, antibiotics can cause a dangerous allergic reaction that requires emergency care. Antibiotics are among the most frequently prescribed medications in modern medicine. Antibiotics cure disease by killing or injuring bacteria. After the first antibiotic, penicillin which was accidentally been discovered from a mold culture, there are now over 100 different antibiotics available to cure minor discomforts as well as life-threatening infections.Although antibiotics are useful in a wide variety of infections, it is important to realize that antibiotics only treat bacterial infections. Antibiotics are useless against viral infections such as the common cold and fungal infections ringworm. Types of Antibiotics Although there are well over 100 antibiotics, the majority come from only a few types of drugs. These are the main classes of antibiotics. Penicillins such as penicillin andamoxicillin Cephalosporins such as cephalexin(Keflex) Macrolides such as erythromycin (E-Mycin), clarithromycin (Biaxin), andazithromycin (Zithromax) Fluoroquinolones such as ciprofloxacin(Cipro), levofloxacin (Levaquin), andofloxacin (Floxin) Sulfonamides such as co-trimoxazole (Bactrim) and trimethoprim (Proloprim) Tetracyclines such as tetracycline (Sumycin, Panmycin) Aminoglycosides such as gentamicin (Garamycin) and tobramycin (Tobrex) The use of right antibiotic is crucial as each antibiotic cures only certain types of infections but not all. Also, a person may have allergies that eliminate a class of antibiotic from consideration, such as a penicillin allergy which should not prescribe amoxicillin. Other factors may be considered when choosing an antibiotic. Medication cost, dosing schedule, and common side effects are often taken into account. Patterns of infection in your community may be considered too. In some cases, laboratories may help to decide which antibiotic to be used. Special techniques such as Gram stains may help narrow down which species of bacteria is causing infection. This is because certain bacterial species will take a stain while the others will not. Cultures may also be obtained. In this technique, a bacterial sample from infection is allowed to grow in a laboratory. The way bacteria grow or what they look like when they grow can help to identify the bacterial species. Cultures may also be tested to determine antibiotic sensitivities. A sensitivity list is the roster of antibiotics that kill a particular bacterial type. This list can be used to double check that you are taking the right antibiotic. Escherichia coli E. coli is a common type of bacteria that can get into food, like beef and vegetables. E. coli is short for the medical term Escherichia coli. The strange thing about these bacteria and lots of other bacteria is that theyre not always harmful to you. Theodor Escherich first described E. coli in 1885, as Bacterium coli commune, which he isolated from the feces of newborns. It was later renamed Escherichia coli, and for many years the bacterium was simply considered to be a commensal organism of the large intestine. It was not until 1935 that a strain of E. coli was shown to be the cause of an outbreak of diarrhea among infants. The GI tract of most warm-blooded animals is colonized by E. coli within hours or a few days after birth. The bacterium is ingested in foods or water or obtained directly from other individuals handling the infant. The human bowel is usually colonized within 40 hours of birth. E. coli can adhere to the mucus overlying the large intestine. Once established, an E. coli strain may persist for months or years. Resident strains shift over a long period (weeks to months), and more rapidly after enteric infection or antimicrobial chemotherapy that perturbs the normal flora. The entire DNA base sequence of the E. c oli genome has been known since 1997. E. coli normally lives inside your intestines, where it helps the body to break down and digest the food. Unfortunately, certain types of E. coli can get from the intestines into the blood. This is a rare illness, but it can cause a very serious infection. Someone who has E. coli infection may have these symptoms: bad stomach cramps and belly pain vomiting diarrhea, sometimes with blood in it One very bad strain of E. coli was found in fresh spinach in 2006 and some fast-food hamburgers in 1993. Beef can contain E. coli because the bacteria often infect cattle. It can be in meat that comes from cattle and its also in their poop, called manure. E. coli is a consistent inhabitant of the human intestinal tract, and it is the predominant facultative organism in the human GI tract; however, it makes up a very small proportion of the total bacterial content. The anaerobic Bacteroides species in the bowel outnumber E. coli by at least 20:1. However, the regular presence of E. coli in the human intestine and feces has led to tracking the bacterium in nature as an indicator of fecal pollution and water contamination. As such, it is taken to mean that, wherever E. coli is found, there may be fecal contamination by intestinal parasites of humans. Physiologically, E. coli is versatile and well-adapted to its characteristic habitats. It can grow in media with glucose as the only organic constituent. Wild-type E. coli has no growth factor requirements, and metabolically it can transform glucose into all of the macromolecular components that make up the cell. The bacterium can grow in the presence or absence of O2. Under anaerobic condit ions it will grow by means of fermentation, producing characteristic mixed acids and gas as end products. However, it can also grow by means of anaerobic respiration, since it is able to utilize NO3, NO2 as final electron acceptors for respiratory electron transport processes. In part, this adapts E. coli to its intestinal (anaerobic) and its extra intestinal (aerobic or anaerobic) habitats. E. coli can respond to environmental signals such as chemicals, pH, temperature, osmolarity. Therefore, in a number of very remarkable ways considering it is a unicellular organism. For example, it can sense the presence or absence of chemicals and gases in its environment and swim towards or away from them. It can stop swimming and grow fimbriae that will specifically attach it to a cell or surface receptor. In response to change in temperature and osmolarity, it can vary the pore diameter of its outer membrane to accommodate larger molecules (nutrients) or to exclude inhibitory substances. With its complex mechanisms for regulation of metabolism the bacterium can survey the chemical contents in its environment in advance of synthesizing any enzymes that metabolize these compounds. It does not wastefully produce enzymes for degradation of carbon sources unless they are available, and it does not produce enzymes for synthesis of metabolites if they are available as nutrients in the e nvironment. Figures 1.1 1.2: Escherichia coli Staphylococcus aureus Figure 1.3: Electron micrograph of Staphylococcus aureus The Staphylococci Staphylococci (staph) are Gram-positive spherical bacteria that occur in microscopic clusters resembling grapes. Bacteriological culture of the nose and skin of normal humans invariably yields staphylococci. In 1884, Rosenbach described the two pigmented colony types of staphylococci and proposed the appropriate nomenclature: Staphylococcus aureus (yellow) and Staphylococcus albus (white). The latter species is now named Staphylococcus epidermidis. Although more than 20 species of Staphylococcus are described in Bergeys Manual (2001), only Staphylococcus aureus and Staphylococcus epidermidis are significant in their interactions with humans. S. aureus colonizes mainly the nasal passages, but it may be found regularly in most other anatomical locales, including the skin, oral cavity and gastrointestinal tract. S epidermidis is an inhabitant of the skin. Taxonomically, the genus Staphylococcus is in the Bacterial family Staphylococcaceae, which includes three lesser known genera, Gamella, Macrococcus and Salinicoccus. The best-known of its nearby phylogenetic relatives are the members of the genus Bacillus in the family Bacillaceae, which is on the same level as the family Staphylococcaceae. The Listeriaceae are also a nearby family. Staphylococcus aureus forms a fairly large yellow colony on rich medium; S. epidermidis has a relatively small white colony. S. aureus is often hemolytic on blood agar; S. epidermidis is non hemolytic. Staphylococci are facultative anaerobes that grow by aerobic respiration or by fermentation that yields principally lactic acid. The bacteria are catalase-positive and oxidase-negative. S. aureus can grow at a temperature range of 15 to 45 degrees and at NaCl concentrations as high as 15 percent. Nearly all strains of S. aureus produce the enzyme coagulase: nearly all strains of S. epidermidis lack this enzyme. S. aureus should always be considered a potential pathogen; most strains of S. epidermidis are non-pathogenic and may even play a protective role in humans as normal flora. Staphylococcus epidermidis may be a pathogen in the hospital environment. Staphylococci are perfectly spherical cells about 1 micrometer in diameter. The staphylococci grow in clusters because the cells divide successively in three perpendicular planes with the sister cells remaining attached to one another following each successive division. Since the exact point of attachment of sister cells may not be within the divisional plane and the cells may change position slightly while remaining attached, the result is formation of an irregular cluster of cells. The shape and configuration of the Gram-positive cocci helps to distinguish staphylococci from streptococci. Streptococci are slightly oblong cells that usually grow in chains because they divide in one plane only, similar to a bacillus. Without a microscope, the catalase test is important in distinguishing streptococci (catalase-negative) from staphylococci, which are vigorous catalase-producers. The test is performed by adding 3% hydrogen peroxide to a colony on an agar plate or slant. Catalase-positive cultures produce O2 and bubble at once. The test should not be done on blood agar because blood itself contains catalase. Figure 1.4: Gram stain of Staphylococcus aureus in pustular exudate Figure 1.5: Staphylococcus aureus Problem statement: Which antibiotic is most effective on bacteria? Hypothesis: Different antibiotics have different effect on bacteria. Ampicillin is the most effective antibiotic against Escherichia Coli and Staphylococcus aureus compared to other antibiotics. Variables: Manipulated Variable: Types of antibiotics and types of bacteria. Responding Variable: The diameter of clear zone around the paper discs. Fixed Variable: Surrounding temperature, humidity, light intensity, size of paper discs. Apparatus: Agar plate, Bunsen burner, marker pen, autoclaved forceps. Materials: Bacteria E. coli, bacteria S. aureus, bench spray of disinfectant, 1% Virkon, soap and dettol, paper towels, antibiotic- impregnated paper disc, adhesive tape. Procedure: Hands are washed with dettol handwash. Disinfectant spray is sprayed thoroughly to the working area. Paper towels are then used to wipe the working area. Two sterile Petri dishes are labeled correctly. One is filled with the bacteria S. aureus and another one with E. coli. The label is pasted at the side of the Petri dishes. The apparatus needed: bottle containing sterile nutrient agar, micropipette with sterile tips, Bunsen burner, bottle containing bacteria cultures and sterile Petri dishes labeled correctly. 200ml of E. coli bacteria culture is pipetted into a sterile Petri dish beside a burning Bunsen burner. Molten agar is poured into the Petri dish until the bottom of the Petri dish is covered by the agar. The Petri dish is then covered and gently pushed back and forth and in all four directions to mix the bacteria well with the agar. The agar is then allowed to set. Steps 4 to7 are repeated for S. aureus. The 2 Petri dishes containing the agar lawn are allowed to set. One paper disc is placed in a solution of antibiotics named Ampicillin using sterile forceps. The paper disc is then soaked into Petri dish containing the agar. Steps 10- 11 are repeated for antibiotics Tetracyclin, Carbenicillin, and sterilized distilled water. The Petri dish is closed and the bottom of the Petri dish is labeled to identify the position of each paper disc. The agar plates are then left in 30.0 0C incubator for 24 hours. Hands are washed thoroughly again after working with the bacteria culture. After 24 hours, the agar plates are observed with the Petri dishes closed. The diameter of the clear region around the paper discs are measured and recorded. The results are recorded in a table Precautions: The bacteria must be pipetted into the agar before the agar is set so that the bacteria can mix well with it. During observation, the lid of the Petri dishes must not be lifted up as the bacteria are harmful to our healths. After working with the bacteria culture, hands must be washed with disinfectant in order to avoid any infections. Result: Antibiotics Diameter of the clear zone, cm Escherichia coli Staphylococcus aureus Ampicillin 3.2 3.0 Tetracycline 2.3 2.7 Carbenicillin 1.3 2.8 Distilled water 0.5 0.5 Discussions: Analysis of data From the result, it is found that the largest inhibition zone or clear region is formed around the paper disc soaked in Ampicillin for E. coli bacteria lawn, followed closely by Tetracyclin and Carbenicillin. Ampicillins paper disc caused the largest area of inhibition zone in E. coli. This showed that Ampicillin is most effective in inhibiting the growth of the E. coli. Meanwhile, Carbenicillins paper disc which caused the smallest area of inhibition zone in E. coli showed that it is the weakest antibiotic against E. coli. Similarly, Ampicillin is also the most effective antibiotic against bacteria Staphylococcus aureus as the area of inhibition zone around the paper disc soaked with Ampicillin solution is the greatest, which has a diameter of 3.0 cm. Followed by that is the antibiotic Carbenicillin and the least effective antibiotic is Tetracyclin which has a slightly smaller diameter of clear zone than Cabenicillin, which is 2.7cm. Therefore, it can be concluded that Ampicillin is the most effective antibiotic against both type of bacteria and being the broad spectrum antibiotic while the effectiveness of Tetracyclin and Carbenicillin towards both bacteria varied. This showed that different antibiotic has different effect on different bacteria as well. The inhibition zones are all circular. If it is not circular, it is sensible that the diameter should be measured by using two points which are furthest from each other within the clear region. The diameter of the inhibition zones is affected by the strength of antimicrobial properties of the antibiotics towards different bacteria. It is important not to always choose the antibiotic with the largest inhibition zone to treat the patients as some other factors should be considered as well such as the side effect caused by the antibiotics, the conditions of the patients and the risk of that particular antibiotics. Control In this experiment, the control used is the sterilized distilled water. Paper discs soaked in sterilized distilled water are also put in two of the Petri dishes. This is to show that the sterilized distilled water has no effect on the bacteria. This enables us to compare the results for paper discs with the antibiotics and those with the distilled water to show that the formation of the inhibition zone or the clear region is due to the antibiotics but not because of the presence of water. In this case, clear region cannot be seen around the paper disc soaked in sterilized distilled water in both Petri dishes. Therefore, the presence of clear region around other paper discs must be due to the antimicrobial property of the antibiotics. Variables Three different antibiotics are used in this experiment to manipulate the types of antibiotics and to compare the effectiveness of each antibiotic to inhibit the growth of the bacteria. The antibiotics used are Tetracycline, Carbenicillin and Ampicillin. Two different types of bacteria, E. coli and S. aureus are manipulated by putting them in different Petri dishes with the agar medium. This enables us to identify the varying antimicrobial properties of the same antibiotics on different types of bacteria. The responding variable in this experiment is the diameter of the clear region around the paper discs after 24 hours. The greater the diameter of the clear zone around the paper discs, that means the more effective the antibiotic inhibiting the growth of the bacteria. The diameter of the clear zone can be measured from one point of the circular clear region to another point through the centre point by using a ruler. The amount of different bacteria cultures used must be the same by pipetting equal amount of the two bacteria, which is 200 ml into the agar medium. The temperature, humidity and light intensity must also be kept constant throughout the experiment. All these factors may affect the rate of growth of the bacteria. This can be done by placing the two agar plates into an incubator at 30 0 C. The size of the paper discs should also be kept constant. Paper discs which are larger will absorb more antibiotics and may lead to a greater diameter of clear zone compared to the smaller paper discs in the same bacteria culture. This is done by preparing the paper discs using the same puncher to ensure all the paper discs are of the same size. Justification of apparatus and materials In this experiment, the antibiotics used are Tetracycline, Streptomycin and Carbenicillin solutions. These antibiotics are more common antibiotics which are more easily available. The antibiotics have already been prepared in solutions form. This enables the paper discs to be soaked in the solutions directly and easier. The bacteria used are S. aureus and E. coli, they are practically easier to be grown and culture in agar plates. However, these two bacteria may be harmful to our health, therefore the lids of the agar plates are not allowed to be opened during observation. This is to keep us from getting any infections from these bacteria. Bunsen burner is used in this experiment to minimize the contamination of the experimental sets while preparing them. For example, the forceps are being flamed before being used to pick up the paper discs soaked in the antibiotics solutions. Micropipette is used to transfer the 200 ml bacteria into the agar medium. The used of micropipette with sterile tips further improved the accuracy of the result. Validity and reliability of the results According to the result from another group, Ampicillin is the most effective antibiotic towards only E. coli bacteria. Cabernicillin is most effective towards S. aerues and this is different from the result of my group. This may properly cause by contamination which affect the accuracy of the result. However, for the bacteria E. coli, the diameter of clear zone caused by the paper disc soaked in Cabernicillin is 1.3 cm for my group while the result of another group showed no clear zone around it. Therefore, it can be concluded that Carbenicillin is the least effective antibiotics towards E. coli for two groups. Besides, in order to increase the reliability of the experiment, the variables are controlled carefully. The constant variables are kept constant while only manipulating the variables that are being studied. Sources of errors One possible source of errors may be the contamination of the agar medium. This occurred when saliva is accidentally being transferred to the agar during preparation. Another possible source of error could be the purity of the antibiotics used. Some of the antibiotics solutions may be contaminated by some impurities which could decrease their antibacterial properties. Also, human error can take place especially when measuring the diameter of the clear zones. Conclusion: The hypothesis is accepted. Different antibiotics have different effect on bacteria. Ampicillin is the most effective antibiotic against Escherichia Coli and Staphylococcus aureus compared to other antibiotics. Antibiotics are medicines that kill bacteria. Bacteria can cause infections such as strep throat, ear infections, urinary tract infections, and sinus infections (sinusitis). There are many types of antibiotics. Each works a little differently and acts on different types of bacteria. Dont antibiotics cure everything? Antibiotics are powerful medicines, but they cannot cure everything. Antibiotics do not work against illnesses that are caused by a virus. They do not help illnesses such as: Common colds. Influenza (flu). Most cases of acute bronchitis. Most sore throats not caused by strep. Runny noses. These illnesses usually go away by themselves. If you take antibiotics when you do not need them, they may not work when you do need them. Each time you take antibiotics, you are more likely to have some bacteria that the medicine does not kill. Over time these bacteria change (mutate) and become harder to kill. The antibiotics that used to kill them no longer work. These bacteria are called antibiotic-resistant bacteria. These tougher bacteria can cause longer and more serious infections. In order to treat them you may need different, stronger antibiotics that cost more. A stronger antibiotic may have more side effects than the first medicine. Antibiotic-resistant bacteria also can spread to family members, children, and friends. Your community then will have a risk of getting an infection that is harder to cure and costs more to treat. Some antibiotics that doctors once prescribed to treat common infections no longer work. Taking antibiotics you do not need will not help you feel better, cure your illness, or keep others from being infected. On the other hand, take them when unnecessary may cause harmful side effects. Those side effects include: Nausea. Diarrhea. Stomach pain. When antibiotics kill the normal bacteria in your intestine and allow the C.difficilebacteria to grow, this causes diarrhea, fever, and belly cramps. In some rare cases, it can even cause death. This condition is known as Clostridium difficilecolitis or C. difficile colitis which is the swelling and irritation of the large intestine, or colon. Women may develop vaginal yeast infections from taking antibiotics. Rarely, antibiotics can cause a dangerous allergic reaction that requires emergency care. The right way to take antibiotic: Take it exactly as directed. Always take the exact amount that the label says to take. If the label says to take the medicine at a certain time, follow these directions. Take it for as long as prescribed. After the first few days of taking the medicine, you might feel better. However, it is important to keep taking the antibiotic as directed and usually until it is finish. Full prescription is always needed to get rid of those bacteria that are a bit stronger and able to survive the first few days of treatment. Bacteria that an antibiotic cannot kill (antibiotic-resistant bacteria) can develop if only part of an antibiotic prescription is being taken. Most importantly, leftover medicine must not be saved for the purpose of future use. Antibiotics are usually safe despites of all the side effects. Common side effects include nausea, diarrhea, and stomach pain. In women, antibiotics can lead to vaginal yeast infections. Some minor side effects are inevitable. In rare cases, antibiotics can cause a dangerous allergic reaction that requires emergency care. Antibiotics are among the most frequently prescribed medications in modern medicine. Antibiotics cure disease by killing or injuring bacteria. After the first antibiotic, penicillin which was accidentally been discovered from a mold culture, there are now over 100 different antibiotics available to cure minor discomforts as well as life-threatening infections.Although antibiotics are useful in a wide variety of infections, it is important to realize that antibiotics only treat bacterial infections. Antibiotics are useless against viral infections such as the common cold and fungal infections ringworm. Types of Antibiotics Although there are well over 100 antibiotics, the majority come from only a few types of drugs. These are the main classes of antibiotics. Penicillins such as penicillin andamoxicillin Cephalosporins such as cephalexin(Keflex) Macrolides such as erythromycin (E-Mycin), clarithromycin (Biaxin), andazithromycin (Zithromax) Fluoroquinolones such as ciprofloxacin(Cipro), levofloxacin (Levaquin), andofloxacin (Floxin) Sulfonamides such as co-trimoxazole (Bactrim) and trimethoprim (Proloprim) Tetracyclines such as tetracycline (Sumycin, Panmycin) Aminoglycosides such as gentamicin (Garamycin) and tobramycin (Tobrex) The use of right antibiotic is crucial as each antibiotic cures only certain types of infections but not all. Also, a person may have allergies that eliminate a class of antibiotic from consideration, such as a penicillin allergy which should not prescribe amoxicillin. Other factors may be considered when choosing an antibiotic. Medication cost, dosing schedule, and common side effects are often taken into account. Patterns of infection in your community may be considered too. In some cases, laboratories may help to decide which antibiotic to be used. Special techniques such as Gram stains may help narrow down which species of bacteria is causing infection. This is because certain bacterial species will take a stain while the others will not. Cultures may also be obtained. In this technique, a bacterial sample from infection is allowed to grow in a laboratory. The way bacteria grow or what they look like when they grow can help to identify the bacterial species. Cultures may also be tested to determine antibiotic sensitivities. A sensitivity list is the roster of antibiotics that kill a particular bacterial type. This list can be used to double check that you are taking the right antibiotic. Escherichia coli E. coli is a common type of bacteria that can get into food, like beef and vegetables. E. coli is short for the medical term Escherichia coli. The strange thing about these bacteria and lots of other bacteria is that theyre not always harmful to you. Theodor Escherich first described E. coli in 1885, as Bacterium coli commune, which he isolated from the feces of newborns. It was later renamed Escherichia coli, and for many years the bacterium was simply considered to be a commensal organism of the large intestine. It was not until 1935 that a strain of E. coli was shown to be the cause of an outbreak of diarrhea among infants. The GI tract of most warm-blooded animals is colonized by E. coli within hours or a few days after birth. The bacterium is ingested in foods or water or obtained directly from other individuals handling the infant. The human bowel is usually colonized within 40 hours of birth. E. coli can adhere to the mucus overlying the large intestine. Once established, an E. coli strain may persist for months or years. Resident strains shift over a long period (weeks to months), and more rapidly after enteric infection or antimicrobial chemotherapy that perturbs the normal flora. The entire DNA base sequence of the E. c oli genome has been known since 1997. E. coli normally lives inside your intestines, where it helps the body to break down and digest the food. Unfortunately, certain types of E. coli can get from the intestine

Technology :: essays research papers

Cisco Systems, Inc. All contents are Copyright  © 1992–2001 Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. Important Notices and Privacy Statement. Page 1 of 5 B ROCHURE Cisco Mobile Office: On the Road Maximum Productivity for Business Professionals Overview: A Workplace in Motion It’s no secret that today’s professionals are spending more time than ever working away from the office. In the Internet economy, employees on the move depend on networking to communicate with their clients, partners, and coworkers. Yet these mobile professionals often have limited access to the people, information, and tools they need to be productive. Traditional remote networking is often too slow, unreliable, expensive, or inconvenient to meet the needs of business professionals on the move. Simply locating a working phone jack in an airport or hotel room can be an extraordinary task. And the firewalls that keep company information secure can pose additional obstacles for those who need network access. Network administrators face their own problems as they contend with managing a mobile workforce. Opening a corporate network to mobile access can make it vulnerable to unknown security risks. Dialup charges, equipment replacement, and cumbersome billing systems strain patience as well as budgets. Despite these pitfalls, the need for mobile connectivity is here to stay. According to IDC, 45 million of today’s mobile business professionals need to access the Internet or their corporate network. And as more low-priced, high-powered notebook PCs, hand-held devices, and cell phones emerge, their numbers will continue to grow. To meet the need for secure broadband access anytime, anywhere, Cisco Systems has partnered with other industry leaders to introduce Cisco Mobile Office: On the Road. A flexible, easy-to-use solution, Cisco Mobile Office On the Road enables secure wired and wireless connectivity for mobile professionals over the Internet. Combining state-of-the-art VPN security and broadband bandwidth with easy configuration, Cisco Mobile Office: On the Road delivers â€Å"on-the-move† access to broadband networking. It’s the most comprehensive solution on the market today, enabling mobile employees to stay productive with a manageable solution. Cisco Systems, Inc. All contents are Copyright  © 1992–2001 Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. Important Notices and Privacy Statement. Page 2 of 5 Access When You Need It, Where You Need It Designed specifically for the needs of professionals away from the corporate office, Cisco Mobile Office: On the Road delivers reliable, hassle-free Internet or secure enterprise LAN access, either with or without wires. While competing vendors might offer portions of a mobile system, only Cisco offers a complete, unified solution that delivers: †¢ A comprehensive set of advanced wired and wireless networking solutions †¢ Technologies that enable fast, convenient connectivity †¢ Continuous, end-to-end security †¢ Standards-based interoperability †¢ Expandable, upgradeable platforms to future-proof your organization †¢ Options for mobility settlement offering integrated billing and user interfaces Furthermore, Cisco Mobile Office: On the Road is the only solution backed by a team of industry-leading

Grace and The Death Essay -- Literature, James Joyce

The characters of James Joyce’s Dubliners live in a world where they are psychologically stagnant despite the impact of social experiences in their lives. Each character’s development depends on their interactions with others as well as their individual decisions. From childhood to adulthood, the protagonists have encounters with family, friends, or colleagues that result in either negative or positive effects on their growth and awareness of their current state of unhappiness. The addition of relationships, or camaraderie, does not come into full effect until the latter half of the book, where the themes are expressed in darker tones and the writing style become more ambiguous. Joyce lightens the mood of the Dubliners with the portrayal of camaraderie in his final two stories, â€Å"Grace† and â€Å"The Dead† which give a realness and complexity to the problems of Dublin life. In most cases, camaraderie does not adhere well with the characters of the Dubliners because of their innate sense of independence or their distrust of the community. But by distancing themselves from family and friends, they are allowing themselves to suffer alone. Their inability to commit to relationships and to feel genuine compassion for others prevents them from experiencing the full benefit of camaraderie. The contribution of the masculine and family camaraderie renders an ironic, whimsical effect in â€Å"Grace† whereas â€Å"The Dead† ends with a bittersweet consequence for its protagonist. Joyce introduces the motif of the alcoholism throughout the Dubliners, not only as an emphasis on an Irish stereotype but to contribute a cause for an adult Dubliner’s corruption. He satirizes the Irish pub as a sort of assembly hall for this masculine camaraderie, though it ... ...s† that Joyce refers to. The endings of â€Å"Grace† and â€Å"The Dead† resonate intensely with the feelings of the soul by looking past the egotism and prejudice. The indefinite conclusion allows readers to focus on the capability of the protagonist to bring to completion his reformation. Bibliography Book Sources †¢ Joyce, James, Edna O'Brien, and Malachy McCourt. Dubliners. New York: Signet Classics, 2007. Internet Sources †¢ Ames, William. "Interpretation of Grace from Dubliners, by James Joyce." On Grace. The Poet's Forum. Web. 12 Mar. 2012. . †¢ "Penguin.com (usa)." Dubliners. Penguin Group USA. Web. 12 Mar. 2012. . †¢ Williams, Bob. "Dubliners." - by James Joyce. Web. 12 Mar. 2012. .

Cultural , Political, and Religious Interactions in Ancient Asia Essay

Since Asian countries came in contact with each other, Cultural, Political, and Religious interactions between them, began. The Ancient Asian countries’ interactions with each other play a big role in affecting how the Asian countries are today. Political contacts and interaction were most often made because a country wanted to become allies to gain military security, or to join their forces to fight a mutual enemy that they couldn’t fight alone; but sometimes situations didn’t go the way they were planned. One example is Zhang Qian’s mission as an envoy. He was sent as an envoy from Wu Di, the Han emperor, to make contact and alliance with the nomadic tribes just west of them. The western tribes and the Han Empire had a mutual enemy, the Xiongnu, who roamed the lands just north of the Great Wall. Zhang Qian started off to the west, but when he came back to the Han Empire he was with a Xiongnu wife. His report was that he was captured by the Xiongnu and this woman helped him escape. He traveled to the western tribes to make an alliance but they refused. Missionaries usually made religious contacts. The missionaries’ main goal was to spread their religion so more people convert. Examples of religious contact by missionaries are buddhist missionaries. They traveled all throughout Southeast Asia, settled there for a while, and successfully converted a lot of people into Buddhism. The Asian countries’ cultures influenced each other. They influenced each other’s culture through trade. Foreign artifacts, ideas and craft skills were adapted into the local culture if they seemed useful. Indian influence spread all throughout Southeast Asia, largely because of Brahmins who had royal courts across Southeast Asia. They brought new government ideas, artistic ideas, and a written language called Sanskrit. The main Chinese cultural influence, aside from religion, was language and laws. They spread the Chinese language and laws along mainland Southeast Asia, especially Vietnam, when they tried to take it over. However, even though the Asian countries’ cultures influenced each other, they each had a strong local culture to begin with.

Netflix Case Study Analysis Essay

â€Å"Creativity is thinking up new things. Innovation is doing new things.† — Theodore Levitt The importance of this quote comes alive after reading the first three sentences within this case study. A statement by Reed Hastings, the founder and CEO of Netflix. â€Å"Well let’s separate the market into two phases. One is the phase of DVD, which peaks in five to 10 years and last for 20 to 30 years. Then there is the phase of Internet delivery, which peaks 20 or 30 years from now and lasts for 100 years† (Cengage). From the time Hastings founded Netflix in 1997, with his initial online DVD rental business idea, there has been many factors altering the business strategy of the company within it’s internal and external environment that has allowed Netflix to grow to where it is today. Netflix took of quickly and had already achieved economies of scale in as early as 2000, which coincidently was the same year they shifted their goal from DVD rentals to streaming video. From then, Hastings knew that within time DVD’s would be a thing of the past, and online instant streaming was a thing of the future. He has been creative enough to be able to gain sustainable competitive advantage with other competitors, but more importantly he has been innovative enough to stay competitive with our society’s rapidly changing expectations for technology, which is a large barrier to this industry. Society’s rising demand for instant Internet streaming is causing their demand for DVDâ€⠄¢s to decrease. Therefore, it seems as though DVD rentals are starting to fall from its peak and in return instant Internet streaming is starting to climb to the very beginning of its peak. Throughout this report the focus will stay on Netflix’s external environment, internal environment, current strategy, and future recommendations that keep Netflix â€Å"an e-commerce success story in an ever-changing business landscape† thanks to their early start in the subscription DVD rental industry, strong distribution capabilities, and loyal customers (Cengage). When first examining a company’s Strategic Management Process it is important to evaluate their mission statement in order to recognize who they believe they are as a company as well as their vision on how they want to continue to go forward in the future. Netflix is unique for they do not have an official published mission statement, but  Hastings expressed a clear vision for the future of Netflix at a conference in 2011. The se points include: â€Å"becoming the best global entertainment distribution service, licensing entertainment content around the world, creating markets that are accessible to film makers, and helping content creators around the world to find a global audience†. After establishing a good understanding of the company’s mission statement the PESTEL (political, environment, social, technological, economical, legal) model is a general guideline that helps to analyze the general environment of the industry. Political forces seem to be low except for the most recent issue of higher postage prices, which would drastically decrease the DVD rental revenue. Environmental influences on the industry are always present, but they have very little influence on this industry. Social factors are extremely high and compliment the Technological factors which are also very high in this industry. When Netflix first started, they were more focused on DVD rentals and conquered their strategy of providing convenient DVD shipping with more distribution centers and an efficient supply chain, which in return took over many brick and mortar DVD rental stores. However, with the rise of technology and the social pressures of having the latest forms of electronic d evices there is an entirely new landscape of Wi-Fi ready entertainment devices that aids in Netflix’s other market, instant Internet streaming. Economic factors are very high, but this industry seems to tackle them with efficiency and ease. Even during the drastic recession in 2009, Netflix’s revenue increased to $305.7 million because of increased customer awareness and other benefits they provide. Lastly, Legal factors are low, for the biggest legal barrier for Netflix is gaining the rights from movie studios to get the first-run content as soon as possible. Once the external environment is generalized a series of opportunities and threats are established. â€Å"The key for any player in this marketplace is to win the digital fight† and the key factors in order to do this consist of: being first to market, having the best content, and scaling benefits (Cengage). However, there are technological threats that come with developing these key factors like illegal downloads and Internet hackers. Therefore, Netflix had to stay cautious by carefully watching for signs of hackers. On the other hand, demographic trends of increasing population and expansion into foreign customers like China and India provoke certain opportunities that give  Netflix the ability to create a competitive advantage. With that being said, there are five forces of competition within any industry that determine both competition and profitability. These forces are intertwined with each other and consist of: Rivalry among Competitors, Power of Buyers, Power of Suppliers, Threat of New Entrants, and Threat of Substitutable Products. The Power of Suppliers contains two different groups. Movie studio suppliers are associated with the DVD rental aspect of Netflix’s services and TV stations are associated with the Internet streaming aspect. The Power of Suppliers is fairly low for the DVD rental side of the industry because the suppliers rely mostly on companies such as Netflix to purchase their DVDs even though soon DVDs will be a thing of the past. However, Netflix is able to create deals with the movie studios to buy the DVDs in bulk and therefore achieving economies of scale. This then sets a high barrier for new entrants into this aspect of the industry. However, the suppliers are still able to maintain some power by setting the 28-day policy prohibiting the release of their titles to the public. The suppliers have the most power on the Internet streaming side, which lead to competitive disadvantages. At the moment Netflix, still considers a large chunk of their revenue from DVD rentals therefore supplie rs will continue to be reluctant in allowing instant streaming rights without increasing licensing fees. In this situation, the industry is more dependent on the suppliers because they have to fulfill their customer’s demands. Along with this comes the power of the buyers, which is the most constant force in the industry. Customers are in high demand for video distribution services. However, they are not loyal to the providers, they are only loyal to the content. Therefore customers tend to have a very high degree of power in this industry that is supported with the price sensitive industry and low (if any) switching costs. According to the case â€Å"Netflix may be hard pressed to convince consumers to view content from its service as opposed to one of the other many new choices available now and expected to appear† (Cengage). As for the Substitutional Products force within the industry, Netflix does not have a substantial threat to other forms of visual entertainment. However, there is a significant lack of brand loyalty and the biggest substitution threat is seen when considering alternate content providers that offer similar services of quality and cost. Therefore, Rivalry is high within the industry and since Netflix is a  middleman distributor they have to stay competitive and innovative. In order to maintain their advantage they must ensure high streaming quality and easy accessibility along with a fair price. Cost is typically the number one aspect in which industries compete on. Since Netflix consists of two sides to their services they are able to distribute their revenue and use it to achieve economies of scale making the threat of new entrants on the DVD rental side very small since the barriers are so high. Their efficient multitude of growing distribution centers also provide added barriers as well. However, on the other side the threat of new entrants to Internet streaming is very high with very low barriers considering the widely accepted Wi-Fi capable devices with potential streaming updates. It is stated that with disregard to many opposing factors â€Å"The company is clearly focused on streaming, but executives hav e long maintained that DVDs, while declining, are going to be a part of its business for years to come† (GIGAOM). Considering all of these forces, the largest problem that Netflix faces today is being a victim of their suppliers while demand for instant streaming is increasing rapidly and demand for DVD rentals is slowly but surely decreasing. This scenario leads the Power of Suppliers to increase, therefore taking a toll on Netflix’s profit. However, since Netflix was able to develop a stable early advantage with their reputation after dominating the DVD rental side they now must figure out how to keep the sustainable competitive advantage on the instant Internet streaming side as well and make up for their diminishing DVD rental revenues. Next, it is crucial to evaluating the Internal Environment of the Industry while analyzing its resources, capabilities, and distinctive competencies in order to see if the industry creates value. Resources such as Financial, Physical, Human Resources, Innovation, Reputational, and Culture all played a role in Netflix and the Industry in general. Netflix was able to be creative and innovative enough to adapt to the changing market thanks to Hastings managerial capabilities and ideas. Therefore, many of their resources proceeded to capabilities and further to core competencies, the primary resource being innovation. Innovation altered the entire supply chain’s primary activities in order to stay effectively and efficiently competitive, which eventually demolished blockbuster, gave Netflix an upper hand over Redbox, and more recently and finally surpassed HBO’s number of subscribers. Netflix’s strong perseverance to innovate grew with the instant Internet streaming demand by making their services applicable with up and coming Wi-Fi devices that could essentially bring the movie theater directly to your house. Their business strategy quickly developed to be a low cost streaming service. However, this strategy is getting harder for them to achieve under the same guidelines since their DVD rental revenues are dwindling. In order to stay innovative Netflix has taken into consideration their heavy reliance on the industry’s suppliers and decided to provide its own original content that they would not have to depend on any for except themselves. Netflix has developed its own original series, House of Cards, which was a risk at the time and turned into a creative competitive advantage. Other recommendations would be to give the customers what they want by providing the customers with even more listings under their subscriptions. Netflix’s VP of innovation, Todd Yelling sated that â€Å"if you’re not testing things that fail, you’re not testing aggressively enough† (Yellin). This shows that Netflix does not always play it safe and has hence provoked more current innovation strategies. Netflix must stay innovative in order to keep their competitive edge because at this rate â€Å"Internet TV with replace Linear TV† (The Verge). Because of Hastings leadership, the company’s creative and innovative capabilities have provided maximum benefit in the industry while creating a key core competency which will remain over the years to come. Works Cited Farfan, Barbra. â€Å"NetFlix Movie Rentals Mission Statement – A Vision, A Promise and Nine Values.† About.com Retail Industry. N.p., 2013. Web. 21 Oct. 2013. . Roettgers, Janko. â€Å"The Slow but Inevitable Decline of Netflix’s DVD Business — Tech News and Analysis.† GigaOM. N.p., 21 Oct. 2013. Web. 21 Oct. 2013. . Toor, Amar. â€Å"Netflix Has Likely Overtaken HBO in Paid US Subscribers, Analysts Say.† The Verge. N.p., 21 Oct. 2013. Web. 21 Oct. 2013. . Welch, Chris. â€Å"Netflix Innovation VP Says Bonus Content and Extras May Come to Original Shows.† The Verge. N.p., 17 Oct. 2013. Web. 21 Oct. 2013.