Literary Analysis of Grey’s Anatomy Characters

The television series Grey’s Anatomy began on ABC last March 27, 2005 and has since become a highly awarded and hailed medical drama. Revolving around the character of Dr. Meredith Grey, a surgical intern who starts at Seattle Grace Hospital in Washington, D.C., the drama has several sub-plots all of which include her many co-stars. Her fellow interns at the start of the show are Dr. Cristina Yang, Dr. Isobel Stevens, Dr. Alex Karev and Dr. George O’Malley. At the end of the third season, all of them, with the exception of Dr. O’Malley, become residents. Because he (Dr. O’Malley) fails his intern exam, he must therefore repeat his intern year at Seattle’s Grace.

In order to best understand the show, it is important to be able to have a clear understanding of each main character in the series. Doing an in-depth analysis of each one will give the reader, or viewer, a better idea of the complexities the series’ plot offers. As such, the analysis will begin with the main character, Dr. Meredith Grey.

Dr. Grey, who is also the star of the show, begins the series as a surgical intern at Seattle Grace Hospital. Her entry into her internship year is made all the more complicated when she unknowingly sleeps with an attending neurosurgeon at the same hospital, Dr. Derek Shepherd. While she rejects his advances at first, she eventually gives in until everything falls apart when Shepherd’s wife, whom he hasn’t been speaking with, arrives at Seattle Grace. This development leads Shepherd to make a choice between continuing to date Meredith or go back to his wife, and eventually, decides to go with the latter out of obligation towards his marriage. Their relationship then devolve from a highly sexual to a more platonic one, and Meredith ends up meeting a veterinarian with whom she also becomes highly attracted to. This however, only causes jealousy on the part of Shepherd, and soon all the pent-up emotions eventually come out when Meredith and Derek decide to have sex at the end of the second season. Not long after, Shepherd’s wife learns of what happened between her husband and Meredith, and a confrontation of sorts occurs, with the end result being Meredith choosing Derek over the veterinarian, and Addison (Shepherd’s wife) confessing to her extra-marital relationship with Shepherd’s best friend, Dr. Mark Sloan.

This twist in the story leads to several things happening with the relationship of Derek and Meredith. While they initially become even closer than before, even choosing to start over again, they again drift apart when Derek confronts her with commitment issues. Towards the end of the third season, Derek admits that she is really the one he loves whole-heartedly, but that he wasn’t ready to keep the relationship going if she wasn’t ready to actually commit and settle down with him. This scenario then leaves Meredith troubled, causing her to avoid addressing the issue by distracting herself with helping out in the wedding of fellow doctor Cristina Yang and her fiancé, former head of Cardiothoracics Dr. Preston Burke. Meredith is further distracted from confronting her issues with Derek when Cristina and Dr. Burke’s wedding falls apart, and she goes out to help her friend. In the advent of the fourth season, Meredith and Derek finally talk about their relationship and finally agree to break up, but not without completely severing their ties. They both come to the conclusion that they can still have sex with each other, as it seems to be the one thing they both agree on. As it is, Meredith soon discovers the identity of her half-sister Lexie Grey, but not without resentment towards her and their father. The main reason for this was that according to Meredith, her father chose Lexie over her, and left their family broken apart only to make a new one elsewhere. She eventually becomes nicer towards Lexie, even deciding to tell her about how her mother died. The current season of Grey’s Anatomy leaves Meredith still in a relationship of convenience with Derek, while dealing with the presence of her half-sister, Dr. Lexie Grey in Seattle Grace.

During her internship years, Meredith showed great potential and talent for being a surgeon. She would occasionally make difficult medical diagnoses and even “scrub in” on several advanced medical procedures. It is also often believed that her relationship with Dr. Shepherd, as well as the reputation of her mom (who happened to be a famous surgeon as well, before succumbing to Alzheimer’s) are what helped her move forward quickly in the program. Over time however, it is clear that she could also hold her own as she obviously inherited the medical genius of her mother. Exemplary professional qualities aside however, she has also been criticized often for her unsolicited advice to her patients, which sometimes cause even more harm than good. It can be noted that Meredith’s life as an intern and as that of a resident are hardly different from one another, as she deals with highly complex and numerous personal and professional issues in both cases. One difference however would be the marked maturity in her character, as compared to the sometimes haphazard approach she would take before towards addressing her problems. As a resident, she has demonstrated so far the propensity to deal with her problems constructively, from finally taking constructive steps to settle her relationship with Derek, and making the effort to slowly accepting her half-sister into her life. She has since expressed a desire to specialize in general surgery, neurosurgery and plastic surgery.

Dr. Isobel Stevens, also known as “Izzie” to her colleagues, also has her fair share of issues. Like Meredith, she often displays a lot of empathy for her patients, sometimes to the point of breaking protocol and rules just to be able to help them out. While certainly an admirable trait in the medical profession, her attachment to one of the patients (Denny Duquette), who would later become her fiancé, would prove to be cause for her to first leave Seattle Grace. While she undergoes thoughts and moments of self-doubt about her abilities as a surgeon after leaving, she returns to surgery, albeit under probation, after witnessing fellow doctor Cristina Yang perform a complicated surgery in the OR. She then came to the conclusion that despite her tendency to become very emotionally involved with her patients, she still wanted to be a surgeon, and promised to herself to make an effort to better separate her personal and professional life. During their internship years, she had a brief relationship with Dr. Alex Karev, a fellow intern, though as the series later revealed it was more of a sexual one than one for commitment, and it eventually petered out after she met another patient, Denny Duquette, with whom she would fall in love with, but later lose after he dies of a blood clot. Due to her close affinity with babies and the experience she had working under Dr. Derek Shepherd’s wife (Who used to be head of Neo-Natal surgery), she has stated her desire to specialize in neo-natal surgery.

Dr. Cristina Yang is the most focused of all, both during their intern years and their new beginnings as residents. She has both exemplary surgical skills as well as a vast collection of medical knowledge readily memorized. While she would make a perfect surgeon clinically, a notable lacking character trait is empathy, as she also happens to be the most emotionally guarded among her colleagues. Over the series, it has been shown time and again that she has constant problems expressing her true feelings to other people, and also dislikes being touched, especially by her fussy mother. Her closest friend in the staff is Meredith, with whom she shares most personal experiences with, and also considers as her best friend. Perhaps partly due to her failed, but long-standing, relationship with former head of Cardiothoracics Dr. Preston Burke, she has said that she would like to specialize in cardiothoracic surgery.

Dr. George O’Malley’s character is similar to the male version of Dr. Izzie Stevens. Very emotional, his often awkward personality in dealing with others has led him to his fair share of situations that have both shaped and built his persona as a surgeon. His relationship with his family could be defined as strained, with him clearly showing a difference in taste and preferences as compared to the rest of his brothers. His love and dedication for his family however is manifested when he stuck by his father who was diagnosed with having esophageal cancer and a leaking aortic valve that would require surgery. His father’s death however, becomes a turning point in his life, as he lets grief consume him and becomes even more volatile in behavior. He eventually marries his on-off girlfriend, Dr. Callie Torres, but eventually has second thoughts about the whole move, especially after having sex with Dr. Stevens, with whom he discovered he has feelings for. He eventually resolves his relationship with Dr. Torres and confesses his love for Izzie Stevens, but ends the third season on a sad note as he fails the intern exam.

Lastly, Dr. Alex Karev is another extremely competitive and qualified surgeon. His confidence however, can sometimes be overbearing, to the point that it becomes offensive to the patients as well as his fellow doctors. A notable point about his character is his honesty, frank and brutal as it is, because it sometimes comes out as rude and unfeeling of him. Nevertheless, the series has revealed that his cocky attitude is mostly an image that he projects to other people, without showing his inner warm and compassionate self. It can also be noted that while he initially chose plastic surgery as his specialty, his demonstrated skill in obstetrics and gynecology, as well as neo-natal surgery, have caused him to think twice about his move.

Works Cited

Grey’s Anatomy.19 Nov. 2007.ABC.com Grey’s Anatomy.19 Nov. 2007 <http://abc.go.com/primetime/greysanatomy/index>

Grey’s Anatomy TV series.18 Nov. 2007.English Wikipedia and Wikimedia Foundation.19 Nov. 2007 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grey%27s_Anatomy>

Against Capital Punishment

Or

How the Justice System has Failed

There is a fear involved in capital punishment, that fear is failed justice. In the following essay views on capital punishment, both supporting and denying the legitimacies of the procedure will be explored. There is a dichotomy on the subject of capital punishment, one side hinges upon criminals being executed for their crimes and the other side with groups such as amnesty international and Christian leagues that state that capital punishment is inhumane.

The fear of failed justice is the pervading fact that often incites to the public that perhaps capital punishment is in fact wrong. William F. Buckley Jr. states in his article On the Right,

It is correct that government is frail and often irresponsible. Mr. Cannon bids for conservative attention by writing that “the courts are just a branch of government, and one that by design has less accountability than the other two.” He drives the point home: “If ideology and experience lead one to the conclusion that government is by nature inefficient and inept, then why should it be astonishing that the actions of one branch of government-the judicial branch-are so routinely wrong?”

There is a definite sense of fallability involved in deciphering the justice of innocents on death row. There are no absolutes involved that completely condemn a person to death, and this is further extoled with DNA testing in new and old court cases for death row inmates.

Buckley goes on to ask questions of the judicial branch such as, in the matters of right and wrong does a governing body have the inalienable right to persecute and sentence to death a person, and does this in turn give justice to the victim and their families: As Buckley states succinctly, “If the judiciary process can err, then judicial findings should not authorize conclusive remedies”.

That is the rhetorical of the situation. Buckley’s stand is that, not of for or against capital punishment but he questions the right of giving such a choice of life and death to the hands of a judiciary body that in their humanity are defined as fallable.

Another stance on this issue is that of complete abiding and supporting of capital punishment. Capital punishment in its theory and practice for those in support of such methods is believed to deter crime. As Robert Grant states, “…to retaliate and punish those who commit crimes, especially brutal and vicious murders, thus balancing the scales of justice. To others its goal is to reduce violence overall. The question of capital punishment, then, pits two great demands of society against each other: the demand for retribution for violating the most basic duty of the social contract–the duty not to murder another–and the need to eliminate, or at least minimize, society’s culture of violence”. Therefore, capital punishment is justified in it will retard the criminality present in society.

It is in the constitution that the judiciary branch finds its justifiable execution, as Grant states, “the Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution expressly recognizes and, to that extent, authorizes the death penalty when it states, “No person shall … be deprived of life … without due process of law.” This is because, by implication, a person may indeed be deprived of life with due process of law”. Although Grant gives reasons in his article against capital punishment, such as it having no real affect on the betterment of society, he gives points by which capital punishment is used and ‘fairly’ used in the court system.

Of course the final position on capital punishment is that is does not in fact deter crime and in some cases an innocent person is put in jail. This again reiterates the view of Buckley in that the court system is fallible. In this position, those against capital punishment are against it not only because the judiciary branch they believe should not govern life and death, but also no person should be put to death, because it is inhumane.

There seems to be the case of mistaken identity involved in capital punishment. With new DNA testing there opens a whole new way in which criminals are detected, and a way in which the court system is less fallible. In the Christian Century article Death Penalty Doubts, they state, “In Chicago, the newspapers were flooded in recent weeks by a story that underscored some pragmatic reasons to oppose the death penalty. A black man from Chicago’s South Side was released from death row after 16 years of prison. Anthony Porter, who has an IQ of 51, came within two days of receiving a lethal injection last fall. His execution was postponed when the courts agreed to a hearing on his mental competency”. This causes great anxiety to the entire set up of those on both sides of the fence of capital punishment.

If one case can be proven to have been false, then that means any number of other convicted criminals who are on death row can also be wrongfully committed. There surfaces great doubt in my mind personally as to the justification of capital punishment especially when DNA has been exonerating criminals since its introduction into the courts. This means, as Buckley had stated, that justice has its faults and those cannot be overlooked when life and death are being given or taken away.

In my opinion of capital punishment it is with the Christian Century’s statement that convinces me to doubt any absolutes in capital punishment,

Since it took 16 years and the fortuitous intervention of a journalism class to bring justice for Anthony Porter, it can hardly be said that the system worked. Porter’s case brings to light the very real danger that overzealous prosecutors, sloppy legal work and poor legal defense teams will send people to their deaths for crimes they didn’t commit. As long as this is not only possible but likely, how can the death penalty be defended as just?

In light of this evidence, there comes to my mind mistrials, false accused criminals, and with the new age of DNA testing there is of course less margin for false accusations but there still exists the argument that capital punishment is inhumane, as Grant states, “In order to foster a less violent society, the treatment of the offender should be as humane and non-violent as forcible incarceration can allow. Rehabilitation of the offender ought to be a necessary condition of parole. Life imprisonment without the possibility of parole ought to be the alternative to capital punishment”.

There is an alternative to capital punishment, as is in Grants statement. I am a firm believer in restorative justice, that is, allowing the criminal to be an active part of society by instead of using up tax dollars in prison they do community service or some other service that restores society, restores justice, as Grant states once again, “Restorative justice seeks to eliminate the culture of violence in U.S. society and replace it with a culture of caring”. Though this is difficult to accomplish with the predetermined ideas of death row inmates and this malice, there are alternatives and more humane alternatives than the death sentence.

Due to the judiciary system being intrinisically inept, there must be questions that arise as to the credibility of capital punishment. Violence begets violence, and capital punishment is no less warranted to that statement.

The different ideas involved with capital punishment prove that the issue is one with variagated sides, and view points. There is the stance against capital punishment because it is inhumane, there is the stance for capital punishment because it allows victims to feel a sense of justice is being done and it keeps criminals from committing crimes, and there is the view point on capital punishment that states that it is fallible and should not be left to an inept system to decide the death of criminals.

Though it is with DNA testing that the future of capital punishment of being based one must not forget that there are no absolutes, and especially in law there is more than enough room to be wrong. I believe that capital punishment doesn’t restore society to a balance, and there is no undeniable way in which death can be administered with absolute justice. Capital punishment does not deter crime, but reinforces the idea of violence.

Work Cited

Buckley, William F. Jr. On the Right-Capital Punishment-Oppose What?. National Review. July 17, 2000.

Christian Century. Death Penalty Doubts- Capital Punishment and Christianity. February 24, 1999.

Grant, Robert. Capital Punishment and Violence. Humanist. Jan-Feb. 2004.

Human Rights: Death Penalty. http://www.derechos.org/dp/

DEVELOPMENTS IN HIV TREATMENT

Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is a deadly disease. HIV is a virus that causes acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). Aids is a disease in which the immune system of a human being begins to slow down and eventually fail which leads to life threatening infections. AIDS has taken more lives then any other disease known to the mankind. It is estimated that a 0.6% population of this world is infected with HIV (AIDS), most of which are from Sub-Saharan Africa. [Joint UN program on HIV/AIDS: (2006)]. There are four major reasons behind the transfer of HIV in to human beings. These factors are; Unprotected Intercourse, Contaminated needles, transmission to a child by mother by birth, and through Breast milk. According to (UNAIDS) and (WHO) AIDS has killed more than 25 million people since it was recognized first in year 1981.

There has been improvement in the treatment method of HIV/AIDS over the years. People who suffered from AIDS before were able to survive for a shorter time, as compared to the people who are infected with this disease today. More improvement is being made everyday for curing this deadly disease. HIV affects the cells in the human immune system, making them weaker and vulnerable to a lot of diseases. HIV attacks the cells such as T cells, or more specifically CD4 cells. When the quantity of these cells reduces to a certain level, human develop acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) and die, however 1 out of every 10 individuals do live their life for quite a few years, without any visible symptoms of AIDS. Treatment with anti-retroviral, where available, increases the life expectancy of people infected with HIV. HIV can be classified into two types namely HIV-1 and HIV-2. Research over the years has proven that HIV-1 is the major reason for most deaths as it is easily transmitted into human beings. HIV-1 is considered to be originated from Cameroon and transferred to human beings from chimpanzees. HIV-2 is a form of virus which is largely confined to Western African nations, HIV-2 may have originated from the Sooty Mangabey, an Old World monkey of Guinea-Bissau, Gabon, and Cameroon. There are many anti-viruses that help prevent the effects of HIV for a certain period of time. One of the major reasons obstacles for the design of HIV-1 vaccine is the diversity of viral. A single antigen cell is not sufficient enough to raise the functionality of T cells and B cells. [Frontiers In Bioscience: A Journal And Virtual Library [Front Biosci] 2008; Vol. 13, pp. 609-20. Date of Electronic Publication]. SJCRH multi-vectored, multi-envelope vaccine has now been shown to elicit HIV-1-specific B- and T-cell functions with a diversity and durability that may be required to prevent HIV-1 infections in humans. An HIV enters macrophages and CD4⁺ T cells by the adsorption of glycoproteins on its surface to receptors on the target cell followed by fusion of the viral envelope with the cell membrane and the release of the HIV cap Sid into the cell. [HIV-1 vaccine development: tackling virus diversity with a multi-envelope cocktail]. There is however, constant work done by the most talented people in this world, to find a solution to somehow, over come the disease properly. There is no vaccine and medicine in this world which can cure the disease completely. The only method of prevention is to avoid exposure from the virus itself. There are some methods which have reduced the effect of virus to a certain extent, but still unsuccessful in eliminating it. One of such treatments is post-exposure prophylaxis. This anti-viral treatment which is believed to reduce the risk of infection is effective when done within short period of infection. HAART (Highly active anti-retroviral therapy is also very useful in prevention of HIV virus to a certain extent. HAART is a combination of three different kinds of anti-retroviral agents, which are more useful in reviving the T cells and the B cells as well. [An anti-apoptotic protein, Hax-1, inhibits the HIV-1 rev function by altering its sub-cellular localization]

We know that HIV/AIDS has no cure at the current moment, there fore the best strategy against this disease to remain safe, and try to prevent this disease as much as possible. This disease is very harmful to a human body and there are no chances or survival, not until today. There is constant research going on in current world about this disease and a lot of developments have been done for the treatment of this disease. HAART allows the stabilization of the patient’s symptoms and viremia, but it neither cures the patient, nor alleviates the symptoms, and high levels of HIV-1, often HAART resistant, return once treatment is stopped. It is quite evident that prevention is the only cure of this disease at the moment; therefore we should always care in our daily life relationships and adopt prevention as much as possible.

• HIV-1 vaccine development: tackling virus diversity with a multi-envelope cocktail.
  Hurwitz JL; Zhan X; Brown SA; Bonsignori M; Stambas J; Lockey TD; Sealy R; Surman S; Freiden P; Jones B; Martin L; Blanchard J; Slobod KS | Frontiers In Bioscience: A Journal And Virtual Library | 2008 | 13: | 609 | ISSN: 1093-4715

An anti-apoptotic protein, Hax-1, inhibits the HIV-1 rev function by altering its sub-cellular localization .Modem S; Reddy TR | Journal Of Cellular Physiology | 2008-01 | 214:1 | 14 | ISSN: 0021-95

Iliad was written in 850 BC and Odyssey somewhere around 400 BC. This time was different from the modern times. In this age, pride and arrogance often came before everything else and wealth and power often provoked the pride. In the modern days it would sound strange. The pride or the element of Hubris of the heroes in Iliad and Odyssey have brought about their downfall or caused them some harm or other.
The characters of Hector and Patrocleus are two instances of pride in people bringing about their defeat or downfall. Hector was too proud to leave the battleground and the hence confronted Achilles. As well said by King Priam, “Ah for a young man all looks fine and noble if he goes down in war…he lies there dead…but whatever death lays bare, all wounds are marks of glory.” (Homer and Fagles, 1990, p.544) Hector’s pride allows him to think that all the pains and hurt inflicted by death would be mark of glory. He was also betrayed by his fellowmen and it was believed that if he has lived, he could have defended Troy. The most interesting instance would be Achilles in Iliad. He was also destroyed by his pride. When Agamemnon took his woman, he was too proud to participate in the battle and Achilles said “But now that he’s torn my honor from my hands, robbed me, lied to me…he’ll never win me over!” (Homer and Fagles, 1990, p. 263) this decision was based on pride and this made his fellow Acheans suffer. In order to preserve his ego he lent his armor to Patrocleus and this led to the downfall of his character as well as the death of his friend. Even though Agamemnon hurt Achilles’ pride, he did not let him dictate is actions. Achilles’ hurt ego is well reflected as he says, “You overlook this, dogface, or don’t care, / and now in the end you threaten to take my girl, / a prize I sweated for, and soldiers gave me!” (Homer and Fagles, 1990, p. 157-62) he also calls Agamemnon a coward and thief.

Another example of pride is well reflected in Homer’s Odyssey, through the character of Odysseus. The story of The Odyssey, as written by Homer, reveals the character of Odysseus as a shrewd traveler in disguise who hides his identity to achieve his goals and narrates the wanderings of the hero of the Trojan War. We find that Odysseus reveals his strength as well as his flaws. He was held captive against his will by Calypso but with the help pf Athena and Zeus he escapes after politely telling her that all he wanted was a safe departure to home since he was tired and cleverly hides the fact about his wife. Again, the land of Helios teaches him how dangerous temptation can be and how disregard of the gods’ instruction could be deadly. The men uses their own judgment out of their temptation and this causes them to lose their lives. This once again reflects the extent of dependency on the gods. An example of recklessness is drawn upon in the land of the Cyclopes where Odysseus in his curiosity to meet Polymephos, the one eyed giant and the son of Poseidon (god of earthquake) gets trapped and many of his men gets eaten up by the giant. He at last finds a way out using his tricks but after escaping screams out curses at the monster and reveals his true name to the Cyclopes. When they escaped by hiding in the flings along with the rams, Odysseus narrates, “ I, too, had my own ram, the finest one in the whole flock by far.”(Line 571-572) This also reveals his arrogance to some extent. Odysseus mocks at the Cyclops, saying:

“Cyclops,
it seems he was no weakling, after all,

the man whose comrades you so wished to eat,
using brute force in that hollow cave of yours.
Your evil acts were bound to catch you out,
you wretch—you didn’t even hesitate
to gorge yourself on guests in your own home.
Now Zeus and other gods have paid you back.” (Line 630-636)

This angers Poseidon who vows to avenge him. “It made his heart more angry. He snapped off a huge chunk of mountain rock and hurled it.” (Line 637-639)

In the end after his return however he is advised to make a sacrifice to the god of earthquake in order to show respect to the gods. Odysseus carried on with his reckless curses unless his comrades warned him:

“‘That’s reckless.
Why are you trying to irritate that savage?
He just threw a boulder in the sea
and pushed us back on shore. We really thought
he’d killed us there.  If he’d heard us speak
or uttering a sound, he’d have hurled down
another jagged rock, and crushed our skulls,
the timbers on this ship, as well.  He’s strong,
powerful enough to throw this far.” (Line 651-659)

The land of the lotus-eaters however represents peace and that of the deaths represent knowledge. The land of death reveals to him various facts about his sailors and his family as well through the spirits. The visit to Kirke’s land teaches the readers how lust could snatch the power of a goddess and here one may find the remark of Calypso applicable. The experience also shows that some amount of caution is always essential and unnecessary curiosity and lack of tact leads to destruction. Again, the event of Hermes appearing before Odysseus to hand him the herb in order to free his men (whom Kirke has converted to pigs) tells us the important role of the Greek gods in the Greek society. Here his men were all turned into pigs but heroically rescued by Odysseus. Thus the hero had his heroism or courage as well as his reckless pride that invited more danger for him. Thus in both case pride begets downfall or at least a temporary harm (as I case of Odysseus who at least had the modesty to offer a sacrifice to Zeus in order to gain protection).

Another similar instance could be drawn from the present day hero, George W. Bush, president of America, whose pride encouraged him to avenge the 9/11 incident and hence launch the horrifying and inhuman phase of the war against the Iraq. His arrogance leads to a continuation of deaths on both sides. Besides the massive destruction of innocent lives in Iraq, the American soldiers (2577 as on August, 2006) have also risked and lost their lives. According to Bush, “Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we. They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we.” Estimated number of Iraqi civilians (men, women, and children) killed in Bush’s war since Saddam Hussein was ousted is 38,960. (“Where Bush’s Arrogance Has Taken Us” informationclearinghouse.info) Another statement that reveals his pride and arrogance is:

“I’m the commander — see, I don’t need to explain — I do not need to explain why I say things. That’s the interesting thing about being the president. Maybe somebody needs to explain to me why they say something, but I don’t feel like I owe anybody an explanation.”
George W., August 2002.

(“Where Bush’s Arrogance Has Taken Us” informationclearinghouse.info)

Thus instances of pride are evident in all times, however taking a lesson from Iliad and Odyssey the present day leaders need to master modesty and diplomacy to win the world. Bush has however, till not faced the decline despite his enormous pride.

References:

Homer, The Odyssey, http://www.mala.bc.ca/~Johnstoi/homer/odyssey9.htm

Homer and Fagles, The Iliad, 1990, Penguin Publishers, pp. 1-683

“Where Bush’s Arrogance Has Taken Us”, http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article14665.htm

Sociological imagination is a sociological term coined by American sociologist “C. Wright Mills” in 1959 describing it as the “Ability to connect seemingly impersonal and remote historical forces to the incidents of an individual’s life”. Or, “The ‘quality of mind’ which allows one to grasp “history and biography and the relations between the two within society”. According to Sociological imagination, people may look into their personal problems, and try to connect them with the society’s problems. In general, they can work on connecting their personal issues with the doings of the society. This way rather than blaming it on themselves, they will think about the greater societal issues that dragged them into that position.

Mills argued that; Men often think that their life is a “series of traps”. They start looking at the issues with a limited vision. They might look at the issues at smaller level i.e. (their jobs, family, neighborhood), which restrains them from looking at the larger perspective of things. A simple example of unemployment describes it all, a person who is capable, and actively seeking a job, is denied of it because of unemployment issues that revolve across the country, but the person never thinks beyond himself, he never thinks about “why unemployment at the first place?” or “what causes unemployment?”. This thinking pattern keeps a person trapped into the deficiencies of a society.

There are many economical, social, historical and political issues that affect our daily lives. One of the greater Political issues that affect our lives is “War against Terrorism”. If not all of us, some of us surely do get affected by the war that America raged against “Iraq” and “Afghanistan”. Billions of dollars are being spent on warfare; the money used in these wars is the tax that people of America pay to their governments, to solve issues like poverty, unemployment, improving literacy rate, and better infrastructure. When this amount is being spent in the warfare, people get deprived of their rights. Many people might look at unemployment as their personal problem but in fact, it is a problem of society, which needs to be addressed at an aggregate level by the people themselves.

One of the greater social issues that affect our daily lives is “tension that present-day women experience regarding their perceived housekeeping responsibilities, as discussed in a 2004 broadcast of “Life Matters” (Radio National 2004). The discussion focused on the rising popularity of domestic advice and support services, advising women who are not able to deal with their perceived roles as home maker. Sociologist “Susan Maushart” argues that second-wave, White middle-class feminism has ‘thrown out the baby with the bathwater’ (Radio National 2004) because, although the victories of feminism have ensured that women are not restricted to being homemakers, they have devalued the home in their wake. Many women thus feel trapped between the social change achieved by feminism and the cultural expectations of being home makers.

Similarly “Unemployment, poverty, drug trafficking, homelessness, immigration, violence, child abuse, media violence are some of the many issues we face in our daily lives, all these issues need to be dealt with on a larger level rather than taking it on a personal level.

Mills offers a solution to this feeling of being trapped. He argues that because: “neither the life of an individual nor the history of a society can be understood without understanding both, we need to develop a way of understanding the interaction between individual lives and society. This understanding is what Mills calls Sociological Imagination: the ‘quality of mind’ which allows one to grasp “history and biography and the relations between the two within society. Mills believed, however, that “ordinary people do not possess the quality of mind essential to grasp the interplay of man and society, of biography and history, of self and world”

Article Critique - The Garden of Eden by Ernest Hemingway

Throughout the entirety of the story, the primary problem seemingly dwelled within David and Catherine themselves – betrayal, overflowing lust, immorality, lack of remorse and insensitivity. They were newlyweds, yes and sexual ideas that were triggered by Catherine were by no means peculiar, for from her perception, the warmth and thrills brought about by their unpredictable sex life would only strengthen their relationship; but it was as if the line between marriage and infidelity had been crossed. This was the problem that was going to haunt them like a disturbed ghost through the course of the story and the eventual fates that they separately traversed.

Beneath the elements that defined the conflict in the story, the power struggle in the story was the apparent jostling of power between the physical world and emotional world; between love and lust or between the dictates of the flesh and the dictates of the conscience. The ambience of David and Catherine’s Mediterranean was supposed to be an initial showcase of their love, affection and fondness towards each other’s company, not to mention the exhibition of their withheld lust, sexual desire and innermost inhibitions. Digging deeper into the story, the power of these elements could have strengthened their marriage but instead, the overpowering elements of worldly desire, jealousy and the subtle evil brought about by Catherine’s creeping experimentation with the forbidden elements of sex, and additionally, David’s eventual yielding to it. Furthermore, power struggle can also be found in David’s confusion on which he was going to turn to, his perverted wife or their sex partner, Marita, whom he found very sensitive, understanding, compassionate and yet also a disciple of lust and taboo relationships, for she herself was also immersed addictively in a sexual relationship with both Catherine and David.

It is only fair to conclude that almost anything good in this world, when adulterated by an element reeking of evil, will also turn evil. For had David and specifically, Catherine, treated Marita in a respectful way and had she not perceived her as a sex object, their plight would not have been as disastrous and the sanctity of marriage and human loyalty would not have been violated and overpowered. Perhaps Catherine was only carried away by the mystique of the locations she and her husband were wandering through, and so all her hidden inhibitions culminated in such delirious thoughts and perverted actions. The intense and almost prevailing pull of lust caused a meltdown in the characters’ perception of themselves. However, the battle between the force of good and evil had been fought, and in the story, evil gained the initial edge but in the long run, the characters’ struggle with evil was somewhat as a blessing in disguise, as Marita and David were able to live peacefully and loyally in each other’s company, even surpassing the ecstasy David had felt with his sexually deranged first wife. In the ultimate end, it is not lust and the flesh that makes people survive, but the human heart and its capacity to love and understand.

The perspective of the critic was taken from a morally inclined one, because if not, then the actions of the characters in the story were all to be deemed right. The story was about the fading away of morality when it was needed and its recurrence when damage has been done and emotional scars had been inflicted, but nonetheless, change is still probable, as the characters David and Marita had shown. For as long as a man’s heart still pumps blood permeated by love, change is never too late, no sin is deemed unforgivable and no past is unforgettable.

Works Cited

eNotes, “The Garden of Eden - Ernest Hemingway Page.” eNotes.com. 2007. 2 Oct 2007

http://www.enotes.com/salem-lit/garden-eden

Hemingway, Ernest. The Garden of Eden. New York: Scribner Book Company, 1986.

Literary Summaries, “The Garden of Eden by Ernest Hemingway.” Litsum.com. 2006. 2 Oct

2007 http://litsum.com/garden-of-eden/

Organizational structure involves several considerations apart from the designation of positions within the structure and their relationships. There are two fundamental ways in which these positions or jobs in an organization may be structured. These are simple line structures and line-and-staff structures. The chain of command is clear and simple in a line organization with top management in complete control. Typical small businesses are characterized by line organization where the top manager is often the owner and every one else in subordinate position is the staff. Line-and-staff structure is often found in medium and big businesses, where the line organization is combined with staff departments, that advise, monitor and support the line departments (management-encyclopedia/line-staff organizations).

The term ‘executive’ usually applies to top-level management positions as chief executive officers, chief financial officers, chief operating officers, vice-presidents and general managers in large companies. Executive pay and compensation in companies are not uniform as they receive shares and perks calculated in their over all compensation package. Chief executives focus on strategic plans and organizational performance measured on profitability or on the other scales as service to community. This applies usually to large organizations (managementhelp.org).

Executives at the top rung in a company and the line managers at the bottom have several layers of management positions between them characterized by varying degrees of duties, responsibilities and accountability between them. According to Occupational Outlook Handbook, “Specific duties of these managers vary by degree of responsibility and authority. First-line administrative service managers directly supervise a staff that performs various support services. Mid-level managers, on the other hand, set goals and dead lines, implement procedures…Some of these managers advance to upper level positions, such as vice-presidents of administrative services…”(US Department of Labor).

In other words, “top (or executive) managers are responsible for overseeing the whole organization and typically engage in more strategic and conceptual matters, with less attention to day-to-day detail. Top managers have middle managers working for them, who are in charge of a major function or a department. Middle managers have first-line managers working for them and who are responsible to manage the day-to-day activities of a group of workers (managementhelp.org). To be more precise, Functional Line Manager is the person “accountable for the competency and the usage of personnel resources committed to the execution of assigned portions of a project”(maxwideman).

The line manager also has a crucial role when a new employee is inducted. He has to remain in regular close contact with the newly inducted employee by the virtue of his position. “The manager must therefore be prepared to set aside a significant portion of his/her time for the employee, and must remain accessible, approachable, patient and empathetic” (workplaceinfo).

The management tasks in aviation industry are no different. However, the aviation industry is characterized by dynamic transformation and change. Not longtime back, “young people entered the industry either through apprentice schemes or started within the lower ranks as a junior, working their way up to the middle management positions by way of quality-training infrastructure within the airline. In many cases, the latter has long since disappeared. Swiss, for example, cancelled their scheme in 2001” (ssth.ch/public/contents/documents/MBAAMOverview).

Corporate aviation occupies a large chunk of aviation industry. Huge investments are made in corporate aircraft maintenance and management. “Managers responsible for these resources face the challenges of using the capital wisely, operating flexibly and efficiently, and managing small teams with a diversity of functional responsibilities” including the most crucial financial responsibility (darden.Virginia.edu).

Aviation sector is so huge that it involves management tasks of not just aviation but an assortment of related activities as safety, health, and pollution among a number of other specialized and general functions.

We shall conclude with a brief mention of a typical hierarchy among the regional aviation staff. They are Regional Aviation Officer (responsible for leadership and management), Deputy Regional Aviation Officer (principal assistant to RAO), Regional Aviation Safety Manager (responsible for a comprehensive aviation safety program), Regional Aviation Management Specialist (responsible for aircraft dispatch other than tactical missions), Supervisory Pilot, Fixed Wing Operations Specialist, Regional Helicopter Program Manager, Helicopter Operations Specialist, Assistant Helicopter Operations Specialist, Helicopter Inspector, Pilots, Airplane Inspector Pilots, Regional Aviation Maintenance Program Manager and Aviation Safety Inspector, Deputy Regional Aviation Maintenance Manager, Aircraft Maintenance Technician, Inspector and Evaluator Pilots (gacc.nifc.gov/nrcc/dispatch/aviation). The aforementioned hierarchy is merely representative. A wide variation in management positions and responsibilities may be found depending on the specific sector within aviation industry and the context of managerial positions.

References

US Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Outlook Handbook

http://www.darden.virginia.edu/exed/programs

http://www.enotes.com/management-encyclopedia/line-stafforganizations

http://gacc.nifc.gov/nrcc/dispatch/aviation/R1R4-AviationPlan.pdf

http://www.managementhelp.org/mgmnt/defntion.htm

http://www.maxwideman.com/pmglossary/PMG-F03.htm

http://www.ssth.ch/public/contents/documents/MBAAMOverview

http://www.workplaceinfo.com.au

History and Patho-physiology: The focus of my case study is a 69 year old American, Victor Hartman who retired from IBM after a 30-year career in engineering; he wasn’t quite ready to settle into the typical, more relaxing retirement routine. Just one week after saying his goodbyes, he embarked on a fascinating journey to Hong Kong where he worked as a consultant for a Chinese firm for three years. Victor became healthier and got very fit in his new lifestyle where he walked a lot and was having active physical lifestyle. He says “Hong Kong is somewhat mountainous, and I did a lot of walking,” said Victor. “I could walk up hills that were over 60 stories high.”"I went out to eat every day,” said Victor. “Even the fast food there is so much healthier than our fast food. You just don’t see overweight Chinese.” Victor returned to Rochester, Minn., in 1996 to begin the next phase of his retirement. Although home was comfortable and familiar, it did not automatically support a healthy lifestyle the way that Hong Kong had. Back in the United States, Victor no longer needed to walk to get where he wanted to go, and richer foods were convenient and plentiful. Not too surprisingly, Victor began to put on weight. “Then, one day, something happened,” said Victor. “All I did was run out to the mailbox, and when I was coming back, I blacked out.” After the blackout, Victor went to his doctor and learned he had coronary artery disease as well as high cholesterol. His doctor recommended further testing and treatment. He was diagnosed Victor with metabolic syndrome.

Diagnosis: “Metabolic syndrome” describes several conditions occurring together, such as increased blood pressure, elevated insulin levels, excess body fat around the waist or abnormal cholesterol levels. Having just one of these conditions increases risk for heart disease, stroke and diabetes, but in combination, the risk is even greater.”Metabolic syndrome is a lifestyle syndrome,” said Dr. Thomas. “The most effective treatment is when we can help patients identify and improve habits that improve their overall health. The good news is patients with this syndrome have an opportunity to take control, make changes and help prevent the development of more serious diseases.” Although metabolic syndrome has been known for years (in the past, it was usually referred to as insulin resistance syndrome or syndrome X) today it is becoming more prevalent.

Treatment: He joined the newly launched Cardiometabolic Program in early 2006 — one of the few in the nation. “It is a six-week program,” said Dr. Thomas. “People learn how to make changes in their behavior regarding nutrition and exercise, and in the process they reduce weight and learn how to manage the disorder.” The Cardiometabolic Program brings together a team of experts — from preventive cardiologists and registered dietitians, to exercise physiologists, and even behavioral medicine and sleep medicine specialists — to teach the skills necessary to make good choices and maintain long-term, healthy nutrition and exercise habits. (Chobanian 2560–2572)

The lifestyle changes were critical in his recovery plan; he needed to adopt a more active routine for maintaining his cardiac muscles. He was advised to take a 45 min. walk in his routine with dietary control and lifestyle changes. With the dietary and lifestyle changes, as well as changes in medications, Victor lost 30 pounds in five months, and lowered his cholesterol significantly. He believes the weight loss may have already helped prevent a more serious condition. He incorporated healthier portions in his meal like more fruit, less dairy and red meat portions.

Disease Factors and Symptoms: Cardiovascular disease is a wide-encompassing category that includes all conditions that affect the heart and the blood vessels. Cardiovascular disease is the number one cause of death in the United States. There are several diseases that have a role in the development of cardiovascular disease. Many risk factors are associated with cardiovascular disease; most can be managed, but some cannot. The aging process and hereditary predisposition are risk factors that cannot be altered. Until age 50, men are at greater risk than women of developing heart disease, though once a woman enters menopause, her risk triples.

Many people with cardiovascular disease have elevated or high cholesterol levels. Low HDL cholesterol (known as the “good” cholesterol) and high LDL cholesterol (known as the “bad” cholesterol) are more specifically linked to cardiovascular disease than is total cholesterol. A blood test, administered by most healthcare professionals, is used to determine cholesterol levels. Atherosclerosis (hardening of the arteries) of the vessels that supply the heart with blood is the most common cause of heart attacks. Atherosclerosis and high cholesterol usually occur together, though cholesterol levels can change quickly and atherosclerosis generally takes decades to develop. The link between high triglyceride levels and heart disease is not as well established as the link between high cholesterol and heart disease. According to some studies, a high triglyceride level is an independent risk factor for heart disease in some people. High homocysteine levels have been identified as an independent risk factor for heart disease. Homocysteine can be measured by a blood test that must be ordered by a healthcare professional. Hypertension (high blood pressure) is a major risk factor for cardiovascular disease, and the risk increases as blood pressure rises.⁶ Glucose intolerance and diabetes constitute separate risk factors for heart disease. Smoking increases the risk of heart disease caused by hypertension. Abdominal fat, or a “beer belly,” versus fat that accumulates on the hips, is associated with increased risk of cardiovascular disease and heart attack. Overweight individuals are more likely to have additional risk factors related to heart disease, specifically hypertension, high blood sugar levels, high cholesterol, high triglycerides, and diabetes. (Randomised 1383-1389)

People with cardiovascular disease may not have any symptoms, or they may experience difficulty in breathing during exertion or when lying down, fatigue, lightheadedness, dizziness, fainting, depression, memory problems, confusion, frequent waking during sleep, chest pain, an awareness of the heartbeat, sensations of fluttering or pounding in the chest, swelling around the ankles, or a large abdomen.

Dietary Changes: Preliminary evidence has linked high salt consumption with increased cardiovascular disease incidence and death among overweight, but not normal weight, people. Among overweight people, an increase in salt consumption of 2.3 grams per day was associated with a 32% increase in stroke incidence, an 89% increase in stroke mortality, a 44% increase in heart disease mortality, a 61% increase in cardiovascular disease mortality, and a 39% increase in death from all causes. Intervention trials are required to confirm these preliminary observations.

Moderate alcohol consumption appears protective against heart disease. However, regular, light alcohol consumption in men with established coronary heart disease is not associated with either benefit or deleterious effect.

A high intake of carotenoids from dietary sources has been shown to be protective against heart disease in several population-based studies. A diet high in fruits and vegetables, fiber, and possibly fish appears protective against heart disease, while a high intake of saturated fat (found in meat and dairy fat) and trans fatty acids (in margarine and processed foods containing hydrogenated vegetable oils) may contribute to heart disease. In a preliminary study, the total number of deaths from cardiovascular disease was significantly lower among men with high fruit consumption than among those with low fruit consumption. A large study of male healthcare professionals found that those men eating mostly a “prudent” diet (high in fruits, vegetables, legumes, whole grains, fish, and poultry) had a 30% lower risk of heart attacks compared with men who ate the fewest foods in the “prudent” category. By contrast, men who ate the highest percentage of their foods from the “typical American diet” category (high in red meat, processed meat, refined grains, sweets, and desserts) had a 64% increased risk of heart attack, compared with men who ate the fewest foods in that category. The various risks in this study were derived after controlling for all other beneficial or harmful influencing factors. A parallel study of female healthcare professionals showed a 15% reduction in cardiovascular risk for those women eating a diet high in fruits and vegetables—compared with those eating a diet low in fruits and vegetables. (Chobanian 2560–2572)

Age is the most significant risk factor for cardiovascular disease. The decreasing overall age-adjusted mortality reflects important advances in prevention and treatment of these common conditions. Through risk-factor assessment, early disease detection, and preventive strategies, the average age of AMI and heart failure patients has shifted about ten to fifteen years forward. Further, one-year AMI mortality (after reaching the hospital alive) has declined from 40 percent to 4–8 percent over the past twenty years. Similarly, one-year mortality of patients hospitalized for heart failure was halved from 50 percent to about 25 percent over that same period of time. The reduction in stroke mortality is less impressive, but there has been a marked drop in the incidence of stroke through drug treatment of hypertension and anticoagulation use for atrial fibrillation.

Medications: Statins. By blocking an enzyme in the formation of low-density lipoproteins (LDL), this class of drugs reduces levels of LDL in the blood and diminishes the accumulation of lipids in arteries. Statins may exert a beneficial effect by decreasing inflammation and oxidative stress, both of which contribute to AMI. Accordingly, these agents reduce acute infarction, recurrent minor infarction, heart failure, stroke, and even atherosclerotic disease of the leg and other arteries. First, large groups of patients with elevated LDL levels, with and without overt cardiovascular disease, were shown to benefit from the drug. Next, patients with atherosclerotic disease but with previously considered normal levels of LDL were shown to benefit by a reduction in recurrent cardiac events. This has led to a lowering and reclassification of “normal” and “ideal” values for LDL. Thus, more and more adults now have an “indication” for the long-term use of this medication class. ( Downs 1615–1622.)

Antihypertensive agents. Similar to the high cholesterol epidemic, large segments of the population have hypertension, a risk factor for AMI, stroke, heart and kidney failure, and likely sudden death. Safe agents that modify specific “drugable targets,” and thereby lower blood pressure, have emerged. Over time, newer agents have evolved that reduce morbidity and mortality similar to older antihypertensive, but with reduced or different side effects. Antihypertensive drugs include blockers of enzymes, receptors, or hormones and vascular channels such as angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors, blockers of the adrenergic nervous system (beta and alpha adrenergic blockers), calcium-channel blockers, and angiotensin-receptor blockers (ARBs). When compared for relative efficacy in a recent clinical trial sponsored by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), these various agents were effective, but none more so than very inexpensive diuretic agents, which are now strongly recommended for routine initial use in hypertension. Unfortunately, most patients with hypertension require multiple antihypertensive drugs for optimal blood pressure control. As with the reduction in LDL targets over time, the “normal” and “ideal” values for blood pressure have been progressively lowered as data support the finding that such blood pressure reduction lowers the incidence of heart attack, stroke, heart and kidney failure, and sudden death. At least 30 percent of adults do not know that they have hypertension; of those who do, only 60 percent have blood pressures in these ideal zones. Therapeutic treatment of hypertension is one area where specific drugs are proving more or less efficacious in certain ethnic or demographic groups. This may explain why not all members of the population benefit similarly from the use of specific agents in a particular drug class. This observation has spawned the advent of ethnic and gene-specific therapy (pharmacogenetics). ( Downs 1615–1622.)

Thrombolytic agents. A major breakthrough that proved life-saving in the management of AMI was the advent of thrombolytic drugs and the use of aspirin. Thrombolytics dissolve clots in arteries, while aspirin prevents platelets from forming new clots. Several European studies initially identified an inexpensive, nonselective thrombolytic agent, streptokinase, as effective and generally safe for clot dissolution. A more directed drug, tissue-plasminogen activator (t-PA), which activates a specific protein target in the blood-clotting cascade, was tested in hopes that targeting a specific target would improve efficacy and safety over streptokinase. Such proved to be the case, but only by a relatively modest amount. ( Downs 1615–1622.)

Testing: Imaging techniques that have proved invaluable to assess cardiac functioning and structure noninvasively are echocardiography and studies using nuclear tracers. Echocardiography uses ultrasonic waves, which are delivered to the heart by a probe placed over the chest; the reverberations are recorded as images. The resultant information allows not only real-time pictures of the beating heart and valvular function but also information on blood flow and intracardiac pressures. Although neither echocardiography nor nuclear imaging is capable of visualizing the coronary arteries, nuclear testing allows relative estimations of the blood flow to the heart muscle, particularly segments served by specific coronary arteries. Stress testing has become valuable to screen for significant anatomic coronary artery disease. This allows the clinician to “sort out” chest pain or other symptoms such as shortness of breath and to assess the success or failure of bypass surgery or angioplasty/stent placement.

Work Cited

Chobanian , A.V. . “”The Seventh Report of the Joint National Committee on the Detection, Evaluation, and Treatment of High Blood Pressure: The JNC 7 Report,” .” Journal of the American Medical Association no. 19 (2003): 2560–2572.

(Chobanian 2560–2572)

“Randomised Trial of Cholesterol Lowering in 4,444 Patients with Coronary Heart Disease: The Scandinavian Simvastatin Survival Study (4S),” Lancet 344, no. 8934 (1994): 1383–1389.

(Randomised 1383-1389)

Downs , J.R.. “”Primary Prevention of Acute Coronary Events with Lovastatin in Men and Women with Average Cholesterol Levels: Results of AFCAPS/TexCAPS,” .” Journal of the American Medical Association 279 no. 20 (1998): 1615–1622

( Downs 1615–1622.)http://content.healthaffairs.org/cgi/ijlink?linkType=ABST&journalCode=jama&resid=279/20/1615

Greek Mythology in Gustave Flaubert’s Madame Bovary

I. Overview of Madame Bovary

II. Adultery / Wifely Infidelity as the Prevailing Theme

III. The Novel’s Relevance to Greek Mythology

IV. Jealousy, Discontent, Trust and Lying

- In Novel and in Greek Myth

“Continuing her harangue, she declared that the knowledge that this man still existed poisoned her very life.”

- Gustave Flaubert (1821-1880)

I. Overview of Madame Bovary

In Gustave Flaubert’s masterpiece, Madame Emma Rouault Bovary chose to marry the brilliant and yet boring and dull Charles Bovary in the early part of the novel. Emma was not forced to marry Charles and her father did not even insist on her marrying the bleak-looking doctor. If only the book’s affairs could be changed, then it would have been possible for Emma not to cheat on her kindhearted husband, but it was a novel, so readers are faced with no other way but to pity poor Charles. The novel is “a timeless take on denial, moral judgement and adultery in its presentation.” (Heath 1992).

II. Adultery / Wifely Infidelity as the Prevailing Theme

Countless pieces of literature and arts have focused on the theme of wifely infidelity or adultery. And there is no better way to stroke the aspects of this mortal sin than to read novels like this. But the thought-provoking element of the story is of Charles Bovary’s ignorance of what is going on between his wife Emma and the men who had come and succeeded in conquering her womanhood, in gaining the sheer pleasure of fulfilling hunger for carnal knowledge of her. The reader cannot help but wonder what kind conscience Emma possesses and how much guilt did she have in gulping the fact that she had been living a double life throughout her married life and still playing the role of a devoted mother and wife to the unknowing Charles. Adultery is virtually an unforgivable sin and yet Charles still has the humanity to forgive and understand her even if she is already dead. Yes, adultery and infidelity, as well as promiscuousness that are the main themes of the story, but covered beneath is the theme of womanly desires, the desire of the flesh which could not be satisfied by spousal love or sexual satisfaction brought about by the marriage bed. Educated and refined as she may be, it is a mystery why women like her (Emma) still opt to obtain forbidden pleasures outside marriage. Yes, it is a given fact that her husband may be a professional but a very frugal, unsophisticated, boring, clumsy, lazy and bland man, but time and no one could ever explain why adultery takes place even if the sanctity of marriage has been made known and children had concreted the bond between spouses. Speaking within the bounds of the novel, the reasons are quite shallow.

Emma Bovary was a fictional example of a contemporary Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of lust and love, and most significantly, had laid herself as a delectable feast to a succession countless of other Greek gods.

III. The Novel’s Relevance to Greek Mythology

Just a short span of time into Emma’s marriage to the boorish, classless yet kind Charles, she had plunged into the downward spiral of immorality of dreaming of other men enjoying sexual pleasures with her, she is without a doubt comparable to Aphrodite. In her transition from being a wife to Charles to being a woman having an attraction towards the young Leon Dupuis, she was morphing into Aphrodite as the goddess was slowly slipping away from her husband Hephaistos, “laying together with Ares secretly enjoying each other in the dwelling of Hephaistos.” (“Loves of Aphrodite”). And Emma’s difference with Aphrodite was that she was never caught in the act, contrary to Aphrodite, “She, the nymph who wedded Hephaistos, was seen cherishing stolen joys of Ares.” (“Loves of Aphrodite”). However, this is comparable to Emma and Leon clandestinely spending time with each other in the hotel room they had considered as their home in their weekly rendezvous. Emma’s immorality of attraction and later adulterous acts with Leon and Rodolphe Boulanger was not punished, in contrast with the mythic laws in Aphrodite’s, “The fine for adultery is paid by the man caught and acting as an adulterer.” (“Loves of Aphrodite”). The loss of Aphrodite’s interest in her husband Hephaistos in favor of Ares just the same with Emma Bovary’s waning affection for Charles as she was smitten with Leon Dupuis.

And also, the character of Emma Bovary definitely compares as a female counterpart to Zeus, the most supreme of all gods in Greek myth. With Hera as her “sister and wife, Zeus is also the most famous adulterer in Greek mythology, having many infidelities to her.” (“Greek Mythology”). Leon Dupuis is somewhat like Europe, the goddess which “Zeus commits adultery with behind the knowledge of his wife Hera.” (“The Olympians”). Zeus covered the world with clouds in an effort to keep Hera from seeing her with Europa, and this situation can be found figuratively in the novel, as Emma tries desperately to be a doting mother and wife as a cover for the rekindling of the flame between her and Leon Dupuis; Whilst Zeus turned Europa into a cow to prevent Hera from confirming her doubts and going back to the novel, Emma reasoned out that she is taking piano lessons in the city with Leon as her “teacher”.

There we witness the prevalence and the old-as-time elements of immorality and adultery, the universal theme of spousal infidelity. The sin of adultery sees no era, exempts no one, and does not consider any situation, as in the novel, it sought to ravage the Bovary family and shake the innocence of Berthe, their young daughter. It is the culmination of temptation which all of mankind is subject to, most particularly frail-willed and ambitious women, women who are exactly like Emma Bovary. Her yielding to her fantasies about Leon and Rodolphe had never ruined her family life, but instead it was gradually ruining her conscience and her morality, as if she was a person deeply in need of company; the only reasons for her cheating on Charles was her discontent upon living a modest provincial life, and the mediocre man that she had come to marry. Emma was displeased for marrying such an imperfect man as Charles whom she considers as undeserving of her, she was sophisticated, unlike the sloppy Charles. And in Leon Dupuis she had met a person whom she considers she deserves, for Leon was not only educated, but ambitious as well. Charles was content on being the “officer de sante in the Public Health Service” (Flaubert 2002); Zeus, on the other hand, was not content with what he possesses in the mold of his wife Hera and was convinced that his power and appeal could win the hearts of other goddesses who could make him happier, and thus, “his affairs with Europa, Io, Semele, Ganymede, Maia, Dione, Danae and Callisto with his wife Hera hurt and drenched in jealousy.” (“Zeus Lovers”). It is a lighthearted aspect of the novel that Charles only gained knowledge of her wife’s infidelities only after she had died; for had he knew of it while she was still in the course of betraying him, hell could have broke loose, and thus the victory of immorality over goodwill, betrayal over tolerance.

IV. Jealousy, Discontent, Trust and Lying - in Novel and in Greek Myth

It does not take a genius to conclude that the life of Emma Bovary was a life lived full of lies, inhibitions, futile ambitions and contempt. These elements are very common among the gods and goddesses of Greek mythology, as Aphrodite subsisted on lies, depended on infidelities and cherished clandestine moments with her fellow adulterer; Zeus was of no difference. Of course, Charles Bovary would have been mad and jealous had he known of her wife’s dishonesty and infidelity, but he trusted her completely to place doubts on her perceived innocence. Hera was jealous, “to the extent that she tried to drug and kill Zeus with the help of other gods.” (“Hera: The First Greek goddess”). Charles was never vengeful, albeit he is lazy and mediocre, he cared for Emma dearly.

In the ultimate end, it was not the fact that Madame Bovary had married an undesirable man that had ruined her life, it was her utmost discontent and her daydreams of being with a better man the precipitated her doom. This timeless tale of human vulnerability and the folly of marriage, as well as the affairs in the Greek mythology live on until today.

Works Cited:

Flaubert, Gustave. Madame Bovary. New York: Spark Publishing, 2002.

“Greek mythology: Greece gods of the Greek mythology.” 11 July 2007

<http://www.greeka.com/greek-mythology.htm>.

“Greek Mythology Zeus Lovers.” 11 July 2007

<http://edweb.sdsu.edu/people/bdodge/scaffold/GG/zeusLover.html#ZeusLover

Heath, Stephen. Gustave Flaubert, Madame Bovary. London: Cambridge University Press, 1992.

“Hera: The First Greek Goddess.” 11 July 2007

<http://www.arthistory.sbc.edu/imageswomen/papers/sosahera/hera.html

Middle East has remained a place of inter country hostile relations from many centuries. Time and again Muslim radicals engaged in conflict leading into bloody battles causing severe social and economic loss. These problems aggravated a lot after creation of Israel after Second World War, a destined place of living for the Jews. The later period was marked with series of clashes between the Israel and the rest of the Arab world. The 1978 Camp David Negotiations between Israel and Egypt was a step towards bringing back the long lost peace in the Middle East.

Background

When Jimmy Carter became the president of United States of America (20th January, 1977), the Middle East peace process that was almost stopped during the election campaign, started with a renewed vigor. The new policy was a total change from the Kissinger era and was more like the 1973 Geneva Conference with a Palestinian delegation. When Jimmy Carter became the president of United states of America (20^th January, 1977), the Middle East peace process that was almost stopped during the election campaign, started with a renewed vigor. The new policy was a total change from the Kissinger era and was more like the 1973 Geneva Conference with a Palestinian delegation.

Carter met with Anwar Al Sadat of Egypt, King Hussein of Jordan, Hafez al-Assad of Syria, and Yitzhak Rabin of Israel. The duo of Carter and Vance came up with a basic plan that called for withdrawal of Israeli military on all fronts, including the West Bank. The West Bank Barrier of Israel is a physical barrier that is constructed by Israel. It consists of a network of fences with vehicle barrier trenches surrounded by a 60 meters wide exclusion area and high concree walls. In the mean time Israel witnessed one of the major political changes in its history with the replacement of the long-ruling Israeli Labour Party by Menachem Begin’s Likud Party in May of 1977. Though always in favor of the reconvention of the conference and even accepted the Palestinian presence, Menachem Begin was actually drawing a framework for bilateral talks with Egypt. Even earlier, Begin had not been opposed to returning the Sinai, but a major future obstacle was his firm refusal to consider relinquishing control over the West Bank.

According to Anwar Al Sadat the Geneva peace process was more of show than substance. The process was not proceeding properly especially due to disagreements with Syria. He had doubts regarding America’s ability to pressurize Israel. His worries increased after the meeting of Egypt and Israel at the official level. This was unknown to the Americans. In November 1977, Sadat’s visit to Israel inplied the recognition of Israel. He gave his opinion about peace and the positon of the Palestinian refugee problem. The strategy contemplated was not in favor of America’s and Soviet Union’s motives that was originally to bring back the Geneva Conference.

Sadat’s initiative towards bilateral talks regarding the peace process was based on the following outlook:

• United States’ aid can be obtained in order to improve the troubled economy of Egypt.
• He believed that Egypt needed to focus on its own interests rathe rthan the collective interests of the Arab nations.
• He hoped that if he could form a similar negotiation with Israel and her Arab nations which would in turn help in solving the Palestinian problem.

The essential component of his speech involved the implementation of Resolution 242 and 338. Resolution 242 incorporates “the establishment of a just and lasting peace in the Middle East.

These are to be achieved via the following principles:

• Withdrawal of the armed forces of Israel from the areas affected by the recent conflict.
• “Termination of all claims or states of belligerency”

The United Nation’s Security Council Resolution 338 called for a cease-fire in the Yom Kippur War in accordance with a joint proposal forwarded by the United States and the Soviet Union. It was approved on October 22^nd, 1973. The components of the agreement calls upon all the parties involved in the war to cease firing and put an end to the military activities no later than 12 hours after the time of adoption of this decision and decides that immediately and simultaneously with the cease fire Middle East peace negotiations shall begin with the concerned parties. According to article 25 of UN charter the members should “agree to accept and carry out the decisions of the Security Council”. The decision made in the resolution was significant for the Arab Israeli conflict. Sadat’s visit to the Cairo Conference in December 1977 was the initial footing towards negotiations and resulted in the Camp David Accords.

Though Prime Minister Begin agreed with Sadat regarding the bilateral talks requirement being in favor of the nation’s interests, he manifested a willingness to involve the Egyptian leader.

• One of the reasons for the above is that it would facilitate an opportunity for Israel to interact with Egypt instead of the entire Arab nation, which may make use of the size and make demands that are unacceptable and undesirable.

• Direct negotiations between the leaders would alienate Egypt from other Arab nations, which was an Israeli goal.

(Meital, Yoram)

Discussions

The leaders of the two nations met at the David Camp with their individual purpose in mind. The discussion went on for 13 days from Sept 5-17 1978. Carter’s strong dedication towards achievement of peace and diplomacy played a great role in the success of discussion. In the past whenever leaders of these two nations aimed at any such negotiation, they had to draw back due to personal appeals from Jimmy Carter. The mutual antipathy amongst Begin and Sadat gave an opportunity to Carter to use his diplomacy in the negotiation that occurred with Carter as the medium. He held one-to-one meetings with either Begin or Sadat in a particular cabin and relayed the message to the third party.

Difficulties arose on the tenth day of the discussion when Israeli’s withdrawal of their settlement from Sinai and the condition of the West Bank came into the picture and created a deadlock of the situation. The situation was becoming harder as the leaders were not on speaking terms. These gave a chance to Carter to use his diplomacy to save the situation by advocating the removal of settlements from the Sinai Peninsula to Sadat and acknowledge the West Bank issue to Begin. Carter chose to continue negotiation for three more days instead of stopping all talks and reporting the failure by putting the blame on Begin.

The 1978 Camp David argreements had two components. While the first one was a Framework for Peace in the Middle East the second was A Framework for the Conclusion of a Peace Treaty between Egypt and Israel. This second part led to the Israel-Egypt Peace Treaty which was. These agreements were accompanied by the letters of understanding letters between Egypt and US and Israel and US.

(Knesset.gov.il)

The first agreement was composed of three parts. The first part concerned a framework for negotiations to establish an autonomous self government in West Bank and the Gaza strip and implementation of SC 242 completely and the agreements concerning Sinai. The third part had different explanations from various nations – Israel, Egypt and the US. The second part concerned Egyptian-Israeli relations, the real content being in the second agreement while the third part called “Associated Principles” deals with principles that applies to relations between Israel and Arab neighbours.

The second part of the agreement forms a foundation for the peace treaty after six months specially deciding the future of Sinai peninsula. Israel agreed to retreat its armed forces from Sinai and also evacuate its 4500 civilian inhabitants and return the land to Egypt in exchange of normal diplomatic relations with Egypt. Israel also guarantees freedom to pass through the Suez Canal and waterways like Straits of Tiran. According to the deal some retrictions could be applied to the forces that Egypt could pposition on the peninsula within a certain distance from Israel which granted free passage between Egypt and Jordan and agreed to put a limit on the forces within a smaller distance from the border of Egypt. The withdrawal also caused Israel to lose the oil fields of Abu-Rudeis in Western Sinai that consisted of Israel’s only long term productive wells till that time.

Among the other results of the negotiation is the commitment of US to subsidies worth several billion dollars to both Israeli and Egyptian governments. These subsidies continue even today and are a mixture of packages of grants and aids that are committed towards the purchase of US arms. From the year of peace agreement, 1979 to 1997 there was an annual receipt of $1.3 billion that contributed towards modernization of Egyptian armed forces, which was turned into the largest in the Middle East. The supplies came from Soviet Union till 1979 but later America supplied the weaponry required –M1A1 Abrams Tank, AH-64 Apache gunship and F-16 fighter jet. In comparison Israel received a lesser amount - $3 billon annual payment in terms of grants and military aid packages from 1985 onwards.

(Eran, Oded)

Consequences of the agreements

• The relations between the two negotiating nations became normal effectively from January 1980. After the boycott laws were invalidated in the same month, there was some development of trade, although it was lesser than what Israel had hoped for. Regular airline flights were inaugurated in March 1980 and Egypt also began to supply crude oil to Israel.

• The years after the Camp David Accords did not leave back any doubts about their widespread changes on the politics of Middle East. More specifically the understanding about Egypt within Arab world got transformed. Due to the most powerful of Arab militaries and a history of leadership in Arab under Nasser Egypt had more power over advancement of Arab interests than the other Arab states. Sadat could not demand greater concessions for Israeli’s recognition of the rights of the Palestinians towards determination. This provoked hatred from the Arab world that led finally to the assassination of Sadat in 1981. Even Egypt was suspended from the Arab League from 1979 till 1989.

• The disntegration of the united Arab nation in opposition to Israel prompted by the Camp David Accords. The realignment of Egypt gave rise to a vaccum of power that could be filled by Saddam Hussein of Iraq. Due to the vagueness of the language related to the implementation of Resolution 242, the primary issue of concern became the problem of the Palestinians in the Arab-Israeli conflict as the immediate impact of the Camp David Accord and this persists even today. Many Arab countries accused Egypt for not pressurising Israel to deal with the Palestine problems as desirable.

• The greatest consequence of all may concern the of the participants of the Arab-Israeli disagreement. The success of the negotiation involving Begin, Sadat, and Carter at Camp David demonstrated to other Arab states that negotiations with Israel were not impossible. It also showed that progress comes from only sustained efforts at the levels of communication and cooperation. Inspite of the disappointing conclusion of the Oslo Accords of 1993 between the PLO and Israel. The Oslo Accords called for the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza strip and West Bank and assured the right to self government of the Palentinians within those areas through creation of a Palestinian authority.

• Even Israel-Jordan Treaty of Peace of 1994 has not completely normalized the links with Israel. Both these significant developments had little chance of taking place without the backdrop formed by Camp David.

(Gelvin)

A critical analysis of the agreements

• The most evident benefit of the negotiation between Egypt and Israel, for Israel was the lasting cease fire along the mutual border of Egypt and Israel. This facilitated the Israeli Defense Forces to lower their alert levels on the south west border of Israel.

• Both the parties did adhere to the clauses of the agreements but since 1978 a feeling that the peace process was a “cold peace” began to develop among the Israelis. The disappointment was related mainly to the letter of the agreement and not the spirit.

• Some hold the opinion that the people of Egypt were not given any chance of expressing their support or rejection for the terms of the agreement with afree vote or representative majority and hence it was essentially a negotiation between Sadat and Israel and not Egypt and Israel.

• While the treaty was approved by a parliament majority in Israel having a multi-party electoral system, Egypt on the other hand had a Semi-presidential system consisting of single candidate representative structure.

• The above claim can be supported by the claim that inspite of the Israeli tourists flocking to Egypt, in comparison not many of the Egyptians have been observed to travel to Israel.This can be partly due to the fact that the average income of Egypt is lower than that of Israel and also the population of Egypt is 71 million while Israeli has a population strngth of 6 million only. The number cannot really be compared just by figures.

• Though Israel accepted the territorial demands of Egypt regarding the withdrawal from Sinai Peninsula, in the Egyptian society whoever visited Israel or even defended the agreement publicly. This was true for a significant number. These people often received death threats and bore great risks.

• Anti Semitic themes and cartoons continue to appear in the Egyptian media.

• Egypt is not doing much to stop the smuggling of arms from Sinai to the Gaza strip. At the Gaza strip the Palestinian extremist groups use these for terror attacks on Israel.

• Egypt has also acted as the medium for many cease fire activities between the Israel and the Palestinians.

• Popular protests in Egypt against peace with Israel have taken place. These have come from all levels of the society including intellectuals, students and movements towards democratization. These protests intensified mainly due to the actions of the Israelis during the conflict between Palestine and Lebanon. Though the Israelis view this as self-defense act, Egyptians criticize this as harsh repression of the Arabs.

• During a poll of 1000 Egyptians in 2006, the Egyptian government report reflects that 92% of Egyptians look upon Israel as an enemy nation though the Israelis do support the Camp David Accord till date – 2001 poll states 85 % support from Israel (Jaffee Center for Strategic Studies based in Israel).

(Sela, Avraham)

Conclusion

The Camp David accords, signed by Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin and Egyptian President Anwar Sadat, were the first peace deal between Israel and an Arab state. However, some people of Israel still feel that the price paid for the peace agreement was a little too heavy on Israel. Not only did the nation give up the Sinai Peninsula they also had to evacuate the Israeli inhabitants many of whom had to be forced since they resisted the process.

In later years the Camp David Accord had very little bearance on the Middle East peace process. The Iraq-Iran war, the hostile Afghan political and social environment (that even worsened with the emergence of the Talibans), the US invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan are just some of the examples of the internal and external hostilities of the Middle East. Again the countries like Iran Iraq and Palestine never accepted Israel being a non-Muslim nation. Even the Saudis (Saudi Arabia) who were a close ally of US were found at times vocal against the Israelis. The long lasting (still going) bloody conflict between Israel and Palestine remains a burning question to the Middle East peace process even today. As a whole it can be said that the Camp David Accord is not a spontaneous choice of the people rather a politically moved treaty that came in a nutshell of peace. “Middle East”, one of the economically prosperous zones of the world owing to its vast oil resources has failed to reflect its economic prosperity through their human development (almost all the human development indicators are quite low for all the Middle East countries). This is mainly due to its engagement in military warfare as well as radical thoughts coming out of the country chiefs. A spontaneous and integrated effort on behalf of all Middle East nations towards bringing back peace in the Middle East is still a royal mirage.

References:

1. Eran, Oded. “Arab-Israel Peacemaking.” The Continuum Political Encyclopedia of the Middle East.
2. Meital, Yoram., Egypt’s Struggle for Peace: Continuity and Change, 1967-1977
3. Sela, Avraham. “Arab-Israeli Conflict.” The Continuum Political Encyclopedia of the Middle East.
4. Knesset.gov.il, “Peace Treaty Between
   the State of Israel and the Arab Republic of Egypt”, http://www.knesset.gov.il/process/docs/egypt_eng.htm

5. The Israel-Palestine Conflict, James L. Gelvin

1. Palestinefacts.org, http://www.palestinefacts.org/pf_1991to_now_madrid_desc.php
2. United Nation Charter, www.un.org