Fiction and Reality Collide Through Corruption - 1248 Words

Long before George Orwell wrote 1984, a man by the name of Lord Acton wrote, â€Å"Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.† Orwell expresses a similar sentiment regarding the future of political powers, more specially totalitarianism. A totalitarian society is a government that is overruled by one major power, or person. Although the dystopian novel is merely fiction, Orwell created it as a warning and expression of fears about totalitarianism. Big Brother resembled Adolf Hitler in many aspects. When drawing parallels between the novel and an application of its politics in modern society, it is as though Orwell foresaw the development of numerous dictatorships and corrupt governments to come. The purging of undesirable†¦show more content†¦In a totalitarian society, intelligence of individuals threatens the power of the ruling individual. As a means of preventing defeat through intelligence, the government relies heavily on deception and disto rtion of information. Although the Nazis were mainly known for killing Jews, Homosexuals, and disabled, they also were known to oppress the educated, as well. Any intellectuals opposing the Nazi Party were either deported or murdered. Those who remained were psychologically manipulated to believe all information that was fed to them. Through propaganda, the Nazis â€Å"created a negative image of the Jewish people, blaming them for the economic and social problems of Germany and the world† (JFNA 1). They wished to â€Å"dehumanize† the Jews in order to make them look inferior. Through dehumanization, Hitler hoped to spread anti-Semitism and receive support in the elimination of rights of the Jews. Much like Hitler’s use of propaganda, Big Brother uses campaigns of fear and manipulation of truth to gain control. INGSOC creates slogans such as â€Å"Big Brother is watching you† to make people fear the consequences of resistance. Numerous times, Winston addr esses â€Å"the impossibility of knowing what life before the Revolution had really been like† because the Party controls and regulates each piece of information about the past (Orwell 74). In order to eliminate any potential threats, Oceania’s government goes as far as controlling the people’s thoughts, emotions,Show MoreRelatedMovie Analysis : Crash 1853 Words   |  8 Pagesof black thieves who consider themselves victims by their skin colour (Larenz Tate and Ludacris); a black detective (Don Cheadle) and his South American partner (Jennifer Esposito) who faces the murder of his younger brother and a case of police corruption; a family of Iranian traders who live in a constant state of panic in a new country; a young Latino locksmith struggling to raise her family against society’s prejudices; a â€Å"good† policeman (Ryan Phillippe), a â€Å"bad† one (Matt Dillon) and a blackRead MoreSunset Boulevard Essay1932 Words   |  8 PagesSun set Boulevard (Wilder 1950) explores the intermingling of public and private realms, puncturing the illusion of the former and unveiling the grim and often disturbing reality of the latter. By delving into the personal delusions of its characters and showing the devastation caused by disrupting those fantasies, the film provides not only a commentary on the industry of which it is a product but also a shared anxiety about the corrupting influence of external perception. Narrated by a dead manRead MoreCanal Dela Reina Book Review2356 Words   |  10 Pagesthings that shows the truth and reality of life. 6. Does the book leave you with questions you would like to ask What are they? Would you like to direct your questions at a particular character? What questions would you like to ask the author of the book? Are they questions that you may be able to answer by reading more about the author’s life and/or works? Many socio-economic issues were seen in the novel. Aside from mediocrity that we encounter, it also shows corruption. Because of the desire of NyoraRead MoreStrategic Marketing Management337596 Words   |  1351 Pages174 182 188 192 202 214 215 221 223 223 230 236 241 246 248 250 251 255 261 4 Market and environmental analysis 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 4.6 4.7 4.8 4.9 4.10 Learning objectives Introduction: the changing business environment (or the new marketing reality) Analysing the environment The nature of the marketing environment The evolution of environmental analysis The political, economic, social and technological environments Coming to terms with the industry and market breakpoints Coming to terms with

Fear Is A Necessary Evil Essay - 1505 Words

Fear is a necessary evil. Born out of the evolution of emotion, fear served a largely protective purpose to early humans. It prevented irrational and dangerous activity. In 2016, stress is no longer related to gathering food or finding shelter; it is related to business efficiency, interpersonal relationships, and other modern trivialities. Paradoxically, however, more people grow concerned over minor problems today than ever. As the world becomes more connected, fear and paranoia spread more rapidly. However, even though new technology has expedited the diffusion of negativity, humans have communicated in some way, shape, or form for thousands of years. As humans began to think in a more complex manner, they began to worry. New communication methods and worrying combined led to humans sharing worries, which snowballed into larger scale paranoia. The â€Å"Communication Effect† is observed in many facets of societal behavior, but two texts in particular brilliantly hi ghlight this phenomenon. This Is the End of the World (1978) by Barbara Tuchman and It’s Spreading (2009) by Jill Lepore detail two historical events that were dramatically blown out of proportion by communication. They demonstrate that communicating can sometimes lead to unintended consequences and that communication inherently spreads negativity and paranoia in cases of hardship or confusion due to human behavior and what society has evolved into. The first negative repercussion of communication inShow MoreRelatedAnalysis Of Hsun Tzu s Man s Nature Is Evil1720 Words   |  7 Pagesadaptable or is a good leader born with predetermined qualities that dictate how they will rule over a kingdom or state? In Hsà ¼n Tzu s Man s Nature Is Evil, Tzu discusses the idea of man being born evil but with the ability to consciously work towards goodness. Good is a goal men strive towards; man is inherently evil, leaders are born evil just like the rest of the population, just like the subjects they try to rule. Leaders have to strive towards goodness just like the rest of the common peopleRead MoreThe Allegory Animal Farm By George Orwell1273 Words   |  6 Pagesout their human oppressors and form an animal republic. However, the evil pigs start to take control with a supreme leader called Napoleon, who uses his subordinate, Squealer, to convince the animals that his actions are the preeminent and the most righteous. The propaganda metho ds Squealer utilizes include fear, assertion, and lesser of two evils, which manipulate the animals into executing Napoleon’s will. Squealer uses fear as one of his effective methods to control the animals. In a debate,Read MoreThe Genesis of Evil in Lord of the Flies1005 Words   |  5 Pagesyoung boys are used to entertain the idea of savagery vs. civilization and how evil lies deep within us all. After reading Lord of the Flies, it is possible that the evil within the boys is driven by fear, power, and the loss of innocence. To begin, fear is portrayed in one of the â€Å"Bigguns† Jack Merridew, the power-thirsting leader of the choir boys turned hunters. Contrary to popular opinion, Jack is not truly evil, as he did not show savage behaviour in the beginning of the novel. Weve got toRead More Lord of the Flies: A View to the Evilness of Mankind Essay1066 Words   |  5 Pagesa man clever enough to recognize the full extent of the evil he does. In the novel, Lord of the Flies, written by William Golding, one could argue that man, in the state of nature, is born evil. The boys in the novel, represent a metaphorical idea in which they are born unto the island, and manifest mankind’s true nature. As the story progresses, the boys construct a society and ruin it. They revert to the primitive association in which fear and tyranny lead to ultimate rule. All of the boys thatRead MoreLord of the Flies - the Beast1347 Words   |  6 Pageswith various fears. However there is nothing on the islan d which they fear more than the beast. In Lord Of The Flies, the theme of the beast is extremely important. The beast represents the way in which man will try to convince himself that there is no evil inside of him by making someone or something else seem to be the cause for the evil. There are many examples of evidence to support this throughout the book, but first it is necessary to outline the rise of the beast and the evil within the boysRead MoreA Prophet Among You1703 Words   |  7 Pagesperfect wife, a perfect home, a perfect environment—this was the divine blueprint for a perfect world. The first pair had free access to everything God had created except one tree which the Creator had designated â€Å"the tree of knowledge of good and evil.† Genesis 2:9. 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Fast Food Effects on Health Free Essays

Fast Food Effects on Health In today’s age of convenience, fast food needs no introduction. Everyone from a 2-year-old toddler to a 60-year-old grandpa seems to be enjoying it every chance they get. And why not? It’s delicious, it’s filling, is really affordable, and readily available just any time of the day, being only a drive through phone call away. We will write a custom essay sample on Fast Food Effects on Health or any similar topic only for you Order Now What more can you ask for when you are living life in the fast lane? Well, plenty – fast food is all good tasting, except that it is not nutritionally balanced and, therefore, unhealthy in the long run if consumed on a regular basis. Fast food is loaded with calories from refined sugar and fats (especially, the artery-clogging saturated and hydrogenated fats, which are repeatedly reheated to high temperatures for frying purposes). It is also very high in sodium, coming from common salt and other additives. On top of all this, fast food is deficient in dietary fiber and essential micro-nutrients like vitamins and minerals. To make matters worse, heaps of fast food are normally guzzled down with gallons of sugar-rich colas – which many fast-food restaurants serve free with food as an incentive. To make a long story short, all this results in piling up of unused empty calories in the body, which get stored as body fat – till one day you look in the mirror and realize that your great figure has been replaced by this creature in the mirror. But that’s not the end of the story, it’s just the beginning – consuming too much fast food not only turns a handsome guy into an unsightly obese man, but as Eric Schlosser points out in his book Please enable JavaScript to view this page content properly. it is a big health hazard too. And being physically inactive only adds to the problem of obesity. Not many people who love fast food are ready to acknowledge that obesity is not simply an eyesore – it is a major risk factor for a large number of deadly diseases like hypertension, diabetes, high cholesterol, heart disease, and even many types of cancers. Recent scientific studies have shown that high-calorie foods rich in fats, refined sugar and salt could reconfigure the hormones in the body in such a way that they make you crave for such foods and always leave you asking for more. In other words, fast food is kind of addictive; you get hooked on to it and continue consuming it in an uncontrolled way in spite of knowing that it is unhealthy. The more you consume, the more difficult it is for you to opt for healthy foods. The situation is worse in case of children who from a very young age get hooked on fast food. Making them change their food habits from fatty and sweet foods and develop a taste for health-promoting fruits and vegetables is a task easier said than done. Such children would grow up to be obese adults who have never felt the advantages of being a healthy weight. To sum up, consuming fast food on a regular basis leads to many health hazards. But bringing about changes in eating habits is not easy. To start with, a simple change that one could make is to successively reduce the frequency of eating fast food and eat more frequently home-cooked food, with plenty of fresh foods and vegetables. How to cite Fast Food Effects on Health, Essays

Traditional Healing System free essay sample

This chapter describes two ethnomedical systems (the North American Navajo tradition and the South American Peruvian Pachakuti curanderismo) in terms of two different models, one designed by Siegler and Osmond (1974), and one designed by a task force of the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH). Each of these indigenous systems are found to be comprehensive, covering each facet of the models, and pointing the way for possible collaboration between allopathic biomedicine and various indigenous systems of healing, a project that has accelerated due to public demand (Iljas, 2006, p. 90). The term â€Å"ethnomedicine† refers to the comparative study of indigenous (or traditional) medical systems. Typical ethnomedical topics include causes of sickness, medical practitioners and their roles, and specific treatments utilized. The explosion of ethnomedical literature has been stimulated by an increased awareness of the consequences of the forced displacement and/or acculturation of indigenous peoples, the recognition of indigenous health concepts as a means of maintaining ethnic identities, and the search for new medical treatments and technologies. In addition, Kleinman (1995) finds ethnographic studies an â€Å"appropriate means of representing pluralism and of drawing upon those aspects of health and suffering to resist the positivism, the reductionism, and the naturalism that biomedicine and, regrettably, the wider society privilege†(p. 195). In his exhaustive study of cross-cultural practices, Torrey (1986) concluded that effective treatment inevitably contains one or more of four fundamental principles: 1. A shared world view that makes the diagnosis or naming process possible; 2. Certain personal qualities of the practitioner that appear to facilitate the patients recovery; 3. Positive patient expectations that assist recovery; 4. A sense of mastery that empowers the patient. If a traditional medical system yields treatment outcomes that its society deems effective, it is worthy of consideration by allopathic biomedical investigators, especially those who are aware of the fact that less than 20 percent of the world’s population are serviced by allopathic biomedicine (Mahler, 1977; Freeman, 2004; O’Connor, 1995). However, what is considered to be â€Å"effective† varies from society to society (Krippner, 2002). Allopathic biomedicine places its emphasis upon â€Å"curing† (removing the symptoms of an ailment and restoring a patient to health), while traditional medicine focuses upon â€Å"healing† (attaining wholeness of body, mind, emotions, and/or spirit). Some patients might be incapable of being â€Å"cured† because their sickness is terminal. Yet those same patients could be â€Å"healed† mentally, emotionally, and/or spiritually as a result of the practitioner’s encouragement to review their life, to find meaning in it, and to become reconciled to death. Those who have been â€Å"cured,† on the other hand, may be taught procedures that will prevent a relapse or recurrence of their symptoms. An emphasis upon prevention is a standard aspect of traditional medicine, and is becoming an important part of biomedicine as well (Freeman, 2004; Krippner Welch, 1992). A differentiation can also be made between â€Å"disease† and â€Å"illness. † From either the biomedical or the ethnomedical point of view, one can conceptualize â€Å"disease† as a mechanical difficulty of the body resulting from injury or infection, or from an organism’s imbalance with its environment. Illness,† however, is a broader term implying dysfunctional behavior, mood disorders, or inappropriate thoughts and feelings. These behaviors, moods, thoughts, and feelings can accompany an injury, infection, or imbalance—or can exist without them. Thus, one may refer to a â€Å"diseased brain† rather than an â€Å"ill brai n,† but use the phrase of â€Å"mental illness† rather than of â€Å"mental disease. † Cassell (1979) goes so far as to claim that allopathic biomedicine treats disease but not illness; â€Å"physicians are trained to practice a technological medicine in which disease is their sole concern and in which technology is their only weapon† (p. 8). Healing models The Siegler-Osmond Model Comparisons between biomedicine and ethnomedicine can be made utilizing hypothetical structures such as the 12-faceted model proposed by Siegler and Osmond (1974). In the social and behavioral sciences, a â€Å"model† is an explicit or implicit explanatory structure that underlies a set of organized group behaviors. Their use in science attempts to improve understanding of the process they represent. Models have been constructed to describe human conflict, competition, and cooperation. Models have been proposed to explain mental illness, personality dynamics, and family interactions. I have modified the Siegler-Osmond model, making it applicable to both â€Å"physical† and â€Å"mental† disorders, although traditional practitioners usually do not differentiate between the two. The utility of the Siegler-Osmond model can be demonstrated by comparing a shamanic medical model, an eclectic folk healing model, and the allopathic biomedical model on 12 dimensions: 1. Diagnosis 2. Etiology 3. Patient’s behaviour 4. Treatment 5. Prognosis . Death and suicide 7. Function of the institution 8. Personnel 9. Rights and duties of the patient 10. Rights and duties of the family 11. Rights and duties of the society 12. Goal of the model. The Navaho Indian healing model The Navaho healing system serves as an example of the application of the Siegler and Osmond model. The term â€Å"Navaho† (or â€Å"Navajo†) is used by anthropologists to refer to the largest Native American tribe in the United States; the Navaho reservation in the south west part of the country comprises 16 million acres. The word â€Å"Navaho† is derived from the Spanish term for people with big fields,† but in their own language, they call themselves the Dineh people. They are members of the southern Athapaskan linguistic group and occupy plateau areas of north eastern Arizona, overlapping into New Mexico and Utah. Geertz (1973) points out that the entire lifestyle of a culture is built upon its mythic view of â€Å"reality. † The Navaho ethic values â€Å"calm deliberativeness, untiring persistence, and dignified caution† and the Navahos view nature as tremendously powerful, mechanically regular, and highly dangerous† (p. 30). While the dominant U. S. culture attempts to â€Å"tame nature,† the Navaho worldview seeks to live in respectful harmony with it. Theories of sickness and methods of healing make up a large part of this great counterpoint focused on harmony: The stricken patient is given a vocabulary in terms of which to grasp the nature of his or her distress and relate it to the wider world (Geertz, 1973), providing an explanation, and converting energy into a form that can heal. Sandner (1979) has identified the most important values in Navaho mythology as the acquisition of supernatural power (notably for the maintenance of health), the preservation of harmony in family relationships, and the achievement of adult status. However, this status operates in tandem with cooperation with and respect for other family, clan, and community members. The diagnosis is made by the Navaho diagnostician in consultation with the patient and the patients family, all of whom work together in determining the cause of sickness. The role of the medicine man in diagnosis is usually limited, as he later carries out instructions given by the diviner (Sandner, 1979). Navahos have constructed three major diagnostic categories of mental illness. â€Å"Moth craziness† is characterized by fits of uncontrolled behavior (e. g. , jumping into the fire like a moth), rage, violence, and convulsions; it is attributed to incestual activities. â€Å"Crazy violence† has some of the same external manifestations as â€Å"moth craziness† but is due to alcoholism. â€Å"Ghost sickness,† ascribed to sorcery, manifests in nightmares, loss of appetite, dizziness, confusion, panic, and extreme anxiety. When someone knowingly or accidentally breaches taboos or offends dangerous powers, the natural order of the universe is ruptured and â€Å"contamination† or â€Å"infection† occurs that must be redressed. Etiology is seen as the intrusion of a harmful agent that destroys the natural harmony between individuals and their surroundings, especially in circumstances of exposure to lightning, whirlwinds, or such animals as bear, deer, coyotes, porcupines, snakes, and eagles that are inappropriately trapped, killed, or eaten. Sometimes these harmful agents appear in frightening, ominous dreams. Contact with spirits of the dead is especially hazardous, as is sorcery. The diviner, the medicine man, the patient, and the patient’s family work together in determining the cause of sickness (Sander, 1979). The patients behavior determines what type of â€Å"Chant Way† will be utilized in his or her treatment. A person who is unable to resolve grief, who harbors fears of accidents, and who speaks of chest pains usually will be told to have an â€Å"Evil Way† ceremony. The patients dreams are important as a diagnostic aid; the most ominous dreams are those of being burned, falling off a cliff, and drowning; dreams of dead relatives are especially portentous. During treatment, the Navaho hataalii (or â€Å"singing† shaman) utilizes a number of therapeutic procedures, most notably one or more of the 10 basic â€Å"Chant Ways† and their accompanying sand paintings. These are complex rituals that center on cultural myths in which heroes or heroines once journeyed to spiritual realms to acquire special knowledge. The symptoms for which a given chant is prescribed are based on connections with the specific chant myth. For example, the â€Å"Hail Way† is prescribed for muscular tiredness and soreness because the hero, Rain Boy, suffered from these symptoms when he was attacked by his enemies; the â€Å"Big Star Way† protects the patient against the powerful influences of the stars and the dangers of the night. The â€Å"Night Way† is said to be useful for blindness, deafness, and mental illness because the â€Å"Night Way† hero confronted each of these dangers. The â€Å"Beauty Way† is used for rheumatism, sore throats, digestive and urinary problems, and skin diseases—difficulties faced by the chant hero. Ritual chanting takes a multi-modal approach that contributes to its effectiveness. The repetitive nature and mythic content is easily deciphered and often repeated at appropriate times by those patients well-versed in tribal mythology. According to Sandner (1979): â€Å"The visual images of the sand paintings and the body painting, the audible recitation of prayers and songs, the touch of the prayer sticks and the hands of the medicine man, the taste of the ceremonial musk and herbal medicines, and the smell of the chant incense—all combine to convey the power of the chant to the patient† (p. 15). The hataalii, among the Navahos a male practitioner, usually displays a highly developed dramatic sense in carrying out the chant but generally avoids the clever sleight of hand effects used by many other cultural healing practitioners to demonstrate their abilities to the community. The chant is considered by Sandner to facilitate suggestibility. It shifts attention through repetitive singing and the use of culture-specific mythic themes. These activities prepare participants for a lengthy healing ceremony that may involve mythic images and narratives enacted in purification rites or executed in â€Å"sand paintings† composed of sand, seeds, charcoal, and flowers. Some paintings, such as those used in a â€Å"Blessing Way,† are crafted from such ingredients as corn meal, flower petals, and charcoal. From a psychological perspective, the patients â€Å"translate† these â€Å"symbols† and â€Å"metaphors† as they sit on the painting, but from their own perspective, they are interacting with some of the basic forces and energies of nature. Six steps comprise the typical â€Å"Chant Way† ritual: preparation (in which the patient is â€Å"purified†), presentation of the patient to the healing spirits, evocation of these spirits to the place of the ceremony, identification of the patients with a positive mythic theme, transformation of the patients into a condition where ordinary and mythic time and space merge, and release from the mythic world and return to the everyday world where past transgressions are confessed, where new learnings are assimilated, and where life changes are brought to fruition. The hataalii’s performance empowers the patient by creating an alternative domain of consciousness—a â€Å"mythic reality†Ã¢â‚¬â€through the use of chants, dances, and songs (often accompanied by drums and rattles), masked dancers, purifications (e. g. , sweat baths, emetics, fumigants, lotions, herbal medicines, ritual bathing, sexual abstinence), and sand paintings. Within the context of this â€Å"mythic reality,† especially as made visible in the designs constructed in sand by the hataalii, the patient is taken into â€Å"sacred time† and is able to bring a total attentiveness to the healing ritual. The patient follows a specific regimen for the next four days to protect members of the community from his or her newly acquired powers. The role of the community is important in another way; the chants are attended by large numbers of people, many of whom might be asked to participate. This type of participation appears to increase the patients’ sense of personal power, magnify their imagination as they attend to the chants, providing social reinforcement and increased motivation. The mentation of the practitioner, the patient, and the community may all be affected by the ceremony. The hataalii is dusted with the decorated sand, and his patients claim to feel the power emanating from the painting. This procedure resembles the enhancement of imagination common to several hypnotic procedures, and is probably further augmented by the repetitive chanting. In addition to the â€Å"Chant Way,† there are other rituals used by the hataalii, one of which is a prayer session. For example, sacred corn pollen may be sacrificed during a time of prayer in an attempt to please the spirits needed to heal the patient: This ritual must be performed perfectly and behind locked doors, often at the patient’s home. The setting for treatment usually is the Hogan, a specially constructed octagon with log walls, sealed with mud adobe. The door opens to the East, and a hole in the center of the domed ceiling lets the smoke out. Men sit on the North, women and children on the South; the sand painting occupies most of the floor, and the patient sits in the center with family and friends nearby. The door to the darkened Hogan is fastened to prevent the prayer from escaping. Sharpened flints are used to expel the evil from both the patient and the Hogan. These procedures reduce the patients symptoms at the same time as they stabilize the social and emotional condition of the community. For example, the hataalii instructs the family to make elaborate preparations for their forthcoming â€Å"house call. † Upon arriving, the patients are told that the prognosis is excellent, thus fostering positive expectations (Torrey, 1986). The most important people in the patients life often join in the prayers, reaffirming the belief that the patient will recover. Prognosis, to a large degree, depends upon the attitude of the patient. A Navaho practitioner told Sandner (1979): â€Å"If the patient really has confidence in me, then he gets cured. If a person gets bitten by a snake, for example, certain prayers and songs can be used, but if the patient doesn’t have enough confidence, then the cure wont work† (pp. 17 18). Premature death and suicide are attributed to sorcery, the return of the dead, or to the presence of outsiders. Kluckhohn (Kluckhohn Leighton, 1962) noted that funeral rituals are designed to prevent or discourage dead persons from returning to threaten their relatives. The fear of spirit possession is connected with the fear of ghosts, spirits, and the dead. High suicide rates are associated with Navaho communities marked by loss of tribal identity. When a sick persons family has determined that a practitioner is necessary, a hataalii is called in, frequently accompanied by an herbalist and/or a diagnostician (both of whom are of lower status). There are some 200 plants in the Navaho pharmacopoeia and the herbalists gather these plants and make medicines, some of which are used directly, and some of which are used ceremonially by the hataalii. The diagnosticians, or â€Å"diviners,† are usually women who â€Å"listen† to the spirits and typically provide a statement of the problem. This procedure may be accompanied by such diagnostic procedures as hand trembling, star gazing, candle gazing, and crystal gazing—all of which involve the inward focusing of the practitioners attention, with the purpose of facilitating insight as to the nature of the problem. Every hataalii must go through a long and arduous period of training and apprenticeship; they must earn the approval of their teachers and their community by demonstrating that they can perform successfully (Sandner, 1979). The â€Å"singing shaman’s† memory must be impeccable; the effort required to learn one major chant has been compared to that of obtaining a university degree (Sandner, 1979). A patient with a break or fracture is usually sent to an allopathic practitioner, although Sandner observed a Navaho specialist set broken bones â€Å"in a true scientific manner† (p. 8). In the Navaho system, the patients first priority is that of treatment, and they assume the role of cooperating with the practitioner by taking an active part in their diagnosis and treatment. The major priority of the patients family is to seek diagnosis and treatment for its indisposed family members, seeking qualified personnel. It is the family’s role to determine payment, an important responsibility because some Chant Ways last for several days and the fee may exceed several months’ salary. The major priority of the patients community is to support the sick patient. This is done by attending the Chant Way and facilitating his or her treatment. The community plays the role of preserving traditions and training new practitioners. This latter task is difficult, given the high cost of apprenticeships, especially for the hataalii. The goal of this healing model is integration within the framework of cosmic harmony, and the rejection of the effects of sorcery which are seen as alien to this harmony (Sandner, 1979). According to Kluckhohn (1962), the Navahos are â€Å"generations ahead† of U. S. physicians in treating the whole person. The goal of Navaho healing is to restore the patients harmony with his or her family, clan and universe. The U. S. office of alternative medicine model In April 1995, the Office of Alternative Medicine (OAM) of the United States National Institutes of Health (NIH) held a conference on research methodology (OConnor, Calabrese, Cardena, Eisenberg, Fincher, Hufford, Jonas, Kaptchuck, Martin, Scott, Zhang, 1997). The charge of this conference was to evaluate research needs in the field of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM), and several working groups were created to produce consensus statements on a variety of essential topics. The panel on definition and description accepted a dual charge: to establish a definition of the field of complementary and alternative medicine for purposes of identification and research; to identify factors critical to a thorough and unbiased description of CAM systems, one that would be applicable to both quantitative and qualitative research. The panel defined CAM as follows: Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) is a broad domain of healing resources that encompasses all health systems, modalities, and practices and their accompanying theories and beliefs, other than those intrinsic to the politically dominant health system of a particular society or culture in a given historical period. CAM includes all such practices and ideas self-defined by their users as preventing or treating illness or promoting health and well being. Boundaries within CAM and between the CAM domain and the domain of the dominant system are not always sharp or fixed. OConnor et al. , 1997) The second charge of the panel was to establish a list of parameters for obtaining thorough descriptions of CAM systems. The list was constructed on 14 categories first conceptualized by Hufford (1995, p. 54ff): 1. Lexicon. What are the specialized terms in the system? 2. Taxonomy. What classes of health and sickness does the system recognize and address? 3. Epistemology. How was the body of knowledge derived? 4. Theories. What are the key mechanisms understood to be? 5. Goals for Interventions. What are the primary goals of the system? 6. Outcome Measures. What constitutes a successful intervention? 7. Social Organization. Who uses and who practices the system? 8. Specific Activities. What do the practitioners do? What do they use? 9. Responsibilities. What are the responsibilities of the practitioners, patients, families, and community members? 10. Scope. How extensive are the system’s applications? 11. Analysis of Benefits and Barriers. What are the risks and costs of the system? 12. Views of Suffering and Death. How does the system view suffering and death? 13. Comparison and Interaction with Dominant System. What does this system provide that the dominant system does not provide? How does this system interact with the dominant system? The 14th category regards research methods and it not appropriate for this essay, one which focuses on descriptions. Peruvian Curanderismo The OAM categories can be illustrated with an Andean ethnomedical system, namely Pachakuti (i. e. , â€Å"world reversal† or â€Å"transformation†) Mesa Curanderismo, a tradition deeply rooted in the Huachuma and Paqokuna traditions and blended with aspects of Paqokuna Curanderismo. They have been adapted to become accessible to the industrialized world by Oscar Miro-Quesada of the Pachakuti Mesa tradition. I have discussed this system with two of its leading English-speaking practitioners, Oscar Miro-Quesada (2002) and his student Matthew Magee (2002). In addition, I have observed Magee perform two ritualistic Mesa ceremonies. Because of its complexity and sophistication, this system can be described in terms of the OAM categories (OConnor et al. , 1997): 1. Lexicon. Specialized terms come from Spanish, Aymara (an Andean language), and two forms of assimilated Quechua language, the â€Å"rural† form (i. e. , Runasimi) and the â€Å"high† form (i. . , Khapaqsimi)—the latter spoken by royalty or people in positions of power. In describing the ethnomedical and social communitary function of Peruvian Curanderismo, however, it is important to note that several terms have changed over time. For example, the contemporary terms used to describe the shaman and the sorcerer are maestro and brujo, respectively. However, if one tra ces the lineage of the Pachakuti Mesa tradition, one would find the terms curandero and malero (post-Conquest), hampiq and layqa (Inca pre-Conquest), and kamasqa and sonqoyog (pre-Inca) as well. There are also variations between charismatic and non-charismatic healers and, most recently, between Pachakuti Mesa practitioners and neo-shamanic practitioners. 2. Taxonomy. The Pachakuti Mesa tradition recognizes and addresses a wide variety of physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual classes of health and sickness (Magee, 2002). Within this system, there are several types of ailments, and Spanish words are used to describe them: enfermedad de dano (a sickness caused by human intention), enfermedad de Dios (a God-given sickness), contagio (contagious sickness), and encantos (sickness caused by enchantment). Examples of the most common, enfermedad de dano, include harmful intention directed toward the ears (por oreja), through the mouth (por boca), through the air (por aire), or by loss of ones â€Å"etheric body† or soul (sombra). The latter is typically brought about by susto or espanto (i. e. , magical shock or fright). More extreme is shucaque, or fright by trauma. In addition, there are sicknesses caused by envy and the â€Å"evil eye† (por mal de ojo) and by an evil wind† (mal aire). The ritual encounter between the patient and the practitioner can be viewed as a dialogue about dano in which the shaman (i. . , curandero or curandera) uses a persuasive rhetoric (in speech and in song) in conjunction with ritualized activities to transform the patients self-understanding, hence his or her well-being. Most physical ailments fall into the category, enfermedad de Dios. In many traditions, practitioners do not deal with these conditions, but Pachakuti Mesa shamans are an exception. The visual symptoms of a God-given sickness are similar to the vista en virtud (â€Å"sight in virtue and power†) that practitioners manifest after ingesting the San Pedro cactus, a mind-altering substance. As a result these symptoms rarely show up in the campo medio, the â€Å"middle field† of the practitioners healing altar, when he or she is performing a diagnostic rastero (i. e. , divination or â€Å"tracking†). 3. Epistemology. When tracing the origins of the Pachakuti Mesa tradition back through its oral lineage within Peruvian shamanism, one must go back to the Sechin culture, as well as the later Chavin, Tiahuanacu, Paracas, Nasca, Moche, Lambayeque, Chimu, Wari, Inca (or Inka), Aymara, Runa (or Quechua), and Mestiso traditions. Although archeological discoveries in the 1980s suggest that Peru’s central highlands were inhabited from 8,000 BCE and the origins of Peru’s shamanic technology can be traced back at least to 2,000 BCE, many practitioners believe that Mesa-related healing practices were utilized far earlier. 4. Theories. When working with a Mesa, a practitioners healing altar, the key mechanisms are believed to be his or her ability to control and direct unseen forces and entities. This is accomplished through proper utilization of the â€Å"field of the magician† (campo ganadero) as well as the â€Å"field of the mystic† (campo justiciero). Mastery of these two skills allows the practitioner to surrender his or her personal will or agenda, becoming an open, transparent vessel for Spirit to flow through, unhindered. The mastery of these â€Å"fields† is symbolized on either side of the Mesa, while the practitioner, as Master Healer or maestro, resides in the middle (campo medio). The healer also works with a supernatural hierarchy through a process of co-creation with Spirit. This hierarchy is believed to be a unified, interdependent system that provides practitioners with limitless sources of guidance and power. These sources include the Apukuna (Sacred Mountains), Huaringas (Sacred Highland Lagoons), Pachamama (Mother Earth), Mama Killa (Grandmother Moon), Inti Tayta (Father Sun), Auquis (Nature Spirits), Tirakuna (the â€Å"Watchers†), Mallquis (Tree Spirits), Machukuna (Ancestors), Machula Aulanchis (Benevolent â€Å"Old Ones†), tutelary animal allies, the elements of nature (e. g. , unu, wayra, nina, allpa), and various Roman Catholic saints (e. . , San Cipriano of Antioch, Brother Martin de Porres). Working with these sources requires a delicate balance, not only through the practitioners negotiation of control and surrender, but through living a lifestyle that reflects this balance (ayni or â€Å"sacred reciprocity†). Training involves a culturally sanctioned â€Å"calling† into the tradition. When a maestro passes on hi s or her knowledge or bequeaths ones practice to an initiate, there is an initiatory phenomenon (karpays) and a â€Å"magical contract† (pacto magico). . Goals for Interventions. Healing is a spiritual phenomenon. Sickness is considered to have its origin in, and gain its meaning from, the Spirit world. The purpose of life itself is to be initiated into the visionary regions of Spirit and to maintain oneself in concert with all creation (Achterberg, 1985). Hence, the goal for intervention in Pachakuti Mesa Curanderismo is a successful florecimiento (â€Å"flowering of fortune† healing ritual) that is used to strengthen a persons physical and spiritual systems. Strengthening a patients runa kurku kanchay (â€Å"luminous body†), as opposed to suppressing the symptom, empowers the patient to remove the sickness-causing intrusion with his or her own innate healing capacities. Once the patients personal power has been augmented, there is often a need to go further. This is especially true if the problem is extreme, as in â€Å"soul loss,† â€Å"possession,† â€Å"enchantments,† and potent acts of dano (e. g. , curses, certain types of contagion). In these cases, there is often a need to intervene on behalf of a patient with specific techniques for removal in the form of extraction (chupa), or counteracting the attack through ritual battle (volteando, volteada, or botando in which the curse is thrown back to its sender). Successful interventions of this kind usually completely disperse the patients negative condition and symptoms, and generate sickness in the person who initiated the curse. Depending on the original severity of the curse, death of the sorcerer has been known to occur. 6. Outcome Measures. A successful intervention is gauged primarily by the quality of the florecimiento, which brings about the energetic restoration or supplementation of a persons potentials. This â€Å"flowering† of dormant potentialities brings forth qualities in the person necessary to maintain a sustainable livelihood. 7. Social Organization. Depending on the level of shamanic mastery attained, practitioners will be assigned various civic units of geographical space in which to work, ranging from the ayllu (extended family or community), to the llaqta (village or town), and finally the suyu (region). A curandero (or curandera) performs shamanic functions in this system. They include working with sicknesses brought about by sorcery, imbalance, envy, etc. , providing insight into conditions of the harvest, resolving interpersonal conflicts, influencing the weather, finding lost items (as well as lost persons or souls), and attending to a variety of spiritual, mental, emotional, and physical conditions. These healing sessions are primarily conducted on Tuesdays and Fridays. The curandero (or curandera) also performs specific ceremonial services for the community, such as providing ritual feedings (offrendas, despachos, or haywarikuys) for Pachamama (Mother Earth), the Apukuna (Sacred Mountains), and various supernatural beings (such as the â€Å"Watchers,† Nature Spirits, Tree Spirits, the Ancestors, the Benevolent â€Å"Old Ones†). A despacho or haywarikuy is a ritual offering used to promote a reciprocal exchange of thanks between human communities and the natural world. In the Paqokuna tradition, the pampa misayoq (ritual specialist) may learn to create and perform several hundred different types of despacho or haywarikuy ceremonial rituals. The performances are quite diverse and comprise 24 basic elements (recados) in the form of plant, animal, mineral, and human made products. All of these elements are reverently arranged on a square sheet of paper and either burned or buried as a way to promote the lifestyle of ayna (sacred reciprocity). There are offerings for births, deaths, marriages, good luck, prosperity, longevity, and harvests, to name a few. It is also common for practitioners to use despachos to bless certain spaces, such as living quarters, work places, and sacred sites. There are various types of curanderos and curanderas, e. g. , the alto misayoq (herbalists), the pampa misayoq (ritual specialists), and the kuraq akulleq (literally, â€Å"master chewers of coca†). The latter is considered to have attained the highest level of mastery and rank within the shamanic hierarchy. Both males (curanderos) and females (curanderas) are employed as healing practitioners in this tradition. The services of a brujo (or sorcerer) can be purchased to adversely affect the health of a rival, or to assure success in business, love, and other aspects of personal gain. The person who has â€Å"hired† a brujo may reveal this fact to an ally, who will subsequently pass the news along a network that eventually leads to the intended target. Similarly, the curandero’s or curanderas analysis of the source of a patient’s suffering is often a topic of subsequent conversation between social intimates of the patient; this is also true of the countermeasures (e. g. , the volteada or ritual in which sorcery is reversed) often used by the shaman. Potential patients for both the curandero and brujo include most of the members of the community, but when seeking medical assistance from the curandero, patients also commonly see both a curandero and an allopathic physician, often not openly discussing their visit to the former. This reluctance to reveal utilization of the indigenous healing system applies to any member of the social system, from the wealthy business executive to the poor farmer. Patients of curanderos and brujos include owners of businesses, political office holders, educators, military officers, and even a few medical professionals. These persons are willing to spend significant amounts of money and subject themselves to physically exhausting ritual treatments because they have shared with curanderos the belief that sorcery can be the cause of sickness. The majority of patients for both the curandero and brujo are women. This may be due to the inferior role of the female as a subordinate within the public transcript of male privileged society (e. g. , the values of machismo which support gender-based hierarchies, and the subsequent psychological and social conflicts that arise as a result). Through the sorcerer, women can gain access to powers that guarantee spousal fidelity (e. g. , â€Å"love magic†), thus eliminating the competition (e. g. , dano). Even the apprehension that a woman might pursue this alternative can act as an effective sanction. The curandero, on the other hand, provides women with the means to redress wrongs and to hold men accountable for their actions. 8. Specific Activities. a. Diagnosis: Diagnosis can be carried out through a variety of activities, for example, a rastreo (divining and tracking), coca leaf divination, reading the entrails of a guinea pig, or casting shells, etc. However, the source of diagnosis most commonly utilized in healing situations by Huachuma curanderos is the San Pedro cactus. The entheogenic San Pedro imbues the healer with vista en virtud (virtue, vision, and insight), which enables him or her to diagnose not only the illness, aliment, or disease of a patient, but often the source of said illness, aliment, or disease and specific ways to cure it. The curandero’s mesa (personal healing altar) also plays a vital role in the divinatory process of diagnosis, e. g. , by speaking to the curandero through the cuenta (the history, story, narrative, or â€Å"account†) of a specific piece or pieces. There are also practitioners who will â€Å"read† the energy of a person’s poq’po or wayrari (so-called â€Å"electromagnetic energy field†) to detect imbalances or deficiencies within that energy field and as a means for diagnosis. Ultimately, the above forms of diagnosis are highly effective and are commonly referred to by anthropologists because of the mystical flavor of shamanic healing arts. However, one must not overlook the curandero’s keen ability to observe with his or her senses (e. g. , simply observing how a person looks, smells, feels, interacts with the world). Curanderos will also often check a person’s tongue, nose, eyes, ears, glands, etc. , as a means for diagnosis. The combination of practical and mystical forms of diagnosis have availed the curandero with a high degree of accuracy regarding diagnosis. b. Treatment: The various modes of treatment employed by the curandero are as diverse as the conditions requiring treatment. However, nearly all treatments involve the use of a mesa (healing altar). A mesa is the sacred healing altar of a curandero, one that works in mediation with spiritual and cosmic forces for ritual healing. It is a microcosmic embodiment of a macrocosmic reality. This shamanic altar contains ritually empowered objects, which are aesthetically arranged on a sacred textile (unkhunas) to reflect the system of medicine employed by its carrier, e. g. , his or her lineage, cosmological background, animal allies, spirit guides, personal apukuna and huaringas (sacred mountains and lagoons). There are four kinds of objects primarily incorporated into a Pachakuti Mesa: khuyas (sacred stones), sepkas (power objects), estrellas (gifts from the spirits of the mountains), and enqas (totem fetishes). Among these, it is also common to find batas, palos, and espadas (staffs, sticks, and swords used for protection), florecimientos, (extractions, infusions, ritual battle), pututus (conch shells used to â€Å"call in† spiritual assistance and loosen blocks in an person’s body), seguros (good luck charms, protection pieces), rumikuna or khuyas (stones used for healing), condor feathers (used for directing energy and cleansing a person’s poq’po or energy field), huacos (objects and artifacts from Colonial and pre-Columbian times used to anchor specific energies into the medicine ground, often that of the ancestors), agua de Florida or agua de Kananga (colognes and perfumes, which are spayed through the mouth for cleansing and purification), rattles and whistles (to balance or bring in energy, commonly used when singing tarjos or medicine songs). It is also common to find candles, crosses, images of Roman Catholic saints, meteorites, ceremonially woven belts (chunpis), crystals, holy water, water from the melting ice of glaciers, San Pedro cactus, tobacco, coca leaves, singha (a combination of coca, tobacco, cane alcohol, and such perfumes as agua de florida, taboo, and siete poderes (which is imbibed through the nose), and incenses such as palo santo or copal. An herbal pharmacopoeia can occasionally be found as well. These objects (as well as the items specific to the individual mesa carrier) are arranged in a spatial configuration on the sacred textiles (unkhunas) and worked with to assist in the attainment of physical, emotional, spiritual, and mental integration and balance for the patient in the healing session. When a Pachakuti Mesa is used in ritual healing the distinction between the symbol and that which the symbol represents is dissolved. The objects arranged upon the mesa become the mountains, the rivers, the puma, or the empowered representation of the curandero’s own healing. Within this state of non-ordinary consciousness the line that delineates subject and object blurs, and the curandero is able to work with the mesa to bring about healing for the patient on an energetic level, which working at the source of the condition rather than through medicating the symptoms. Treatment also commonly involves incorporating the family members of the patient in the healing ceremony. This helps ensure that the patient will not only return to his or her community transformed, but he or she will return to a transformed community as well. Curanderos often find themselves acting simultaneously as apologists for, and avengers of, social injustices. 9. Responsibilities. a. Practitioner responsibilities: To attain a competent level of mastery through apprenticeship and experiential training, the aspiring practitioner must complete a series of rites of passage (karpays) governed by his or her teacher, elders and peers in the tradition, and the spiritual hierarchy. An example of the latter would be a demonstration of using coca leaves for diagnostic purposes. Once an apprentice is deemed qualified by his or her community, he or she may begin seeing patients on a small scale, but must build a solid reputation as a competent healer. This requires that the curandero consistently provide accurate diagnosis and effective treatment for the patients in need of healing. The curandero is also responsible to recommend alternative means for healing if he or she is not capable or does not specialize in the condition presented by the patient. In addition to being a qualified and capable healer, the curandero must also live a lifestyle of ayni, which reflects not the qualities of the tradition, but the living example of balance mirrored by nature and the living cosmos. This requires one to exist in uninterrupted communion with the spiritual hierarchy, to live as a perpetual student of life, and to continually deepen one’s relationship with the phenomenal world, with one’s internal world, and with the living universe around one. b. Patient responsibility: To be open and willing to participate in the healing being offered, as well as to be willing to implement the advice or prescription suggested by the curandero. The patient is also responsible to provide some form of reciprocal exchange for the healing service provided, either monetarily or through some form of barter or trade. c. Family responsibility: To be present for the healing ceremony if possible, and to provide support with the information gained from the healing session to ensure the patient is able to recover in an environment that supports this new, transformed paradigm. The family is also responsible for communicating this information to pertinent community members who can further reinforce the transformed living environment for the patient. The family is often responsible to help compensate the curandero, either through monetary means or through trade if the patient is unable to do so. d. Community responsibility: To be a supplemental presence of support for the patient and to reinforce the transformed living environment for the person in transition. 10. Scope. This type of Peruvian shamanism has been practiced over the millennium in remote, northern areas of Peru. This isolation has helped Pachakuti practitioners preserve their independence and their prerogatives. The apparent success of the Pachakuti system in its place of origin is an additional reason for its longevity. The scope of this healing system is comprehensive, as it is used for physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual problems. However, there are allopathic treatments and technologies that would bolster traditional medicine, and well-meaning curanderos and curanderas often endeavor to make referrals to a clinic or hospital (typically, at a distance) if that would help their patient. 11. Analysis of benefits and barriers. What are the risks and costs of the system? Due to the recent advances in allopathic medical technology, competition between biomedical organizations and indigenous systems is becoming more common. The boundaries that delineate these two systems, and the conditions they address, are often blurred. Poor people often turn to indigenous healers because biomedical treatments are too expensive. However, curanderos are not part of a recognized profession and therefore operate in legal and social marginality. Many curanderos experience harassment from local police, who use rarely enforced legal restrictions on non-licensed medical practitioners to extort protection payments. Church and civic officials have also been party to repressive measures against curanderos. Curanderos certainly recognize the tenuous position that they occupy in the Peruvian medical system. Some prefer to maintain a very low profile to avoid the notice of local officials, for example, by performing their ritual sessions in remote agricultural fields. Other curanderos bank on the support of well-connected patients to keep them out of trouble. 12. Views of suffering and death. This system holds that there is a basic continuity between life and death. When the physical body dies, life and death are not seen as separate, for life cannot exist without death. When the physical body dies it goes into the Earth and feeds it, giving life to the plants and trees. The plants feed the animals, who feed the Earth, ad infinitum, in a self-regulating interdependent relationship seen as the great web of life. All things are born from Pachamama (Mother Earth) and all things shall return to her. Views of the afterlife vary from practitioner to practitioner but most believe in life after the physical body dies. All in all, death is seen as a natural process, inseparable from life. Anthropologists have long noted that life’s transitions (i. e. , birth, death) are commonly marked by elaborate rituals, the purpose of which is to smooth the disruption to the social order that such status changes can cause. The body of the person undergoing the transition is often the target of symbolic manipulations: special decorations (e. g. , burial costumes) and purification (e. g. , cleansing). A particularly frequent symbolic message conveyed by these rituals is death and rebirth; the person is dying from the social status previously held and being born into a new identity. Indigenous rituals are reminiscent of hospital patients who put on the standardized garb required by the institution, as well as the strict fasting enforced before surgery, the cleansing processes requested of the patient as well as surgical staff, the process by which the patient’s vital signs and consciousness are taken to a death-like state, and the patients frequently cited post-surgery sense of being reborn. The fact that all these features have medical justifications and explanations does not diminish their potential symbolic impact. Much of the suffering experienced by Peruvians is attributed to acts of dano, or sorcery. This is especially potent in a society like that of Peru where personal relationships are critical to economic survival and where the powers of the sorcerer and the curandero are assumed to have empirically verifiable effects. Dano, as a threat or as an accepted diagnosis, can have serious social repercussions no matter how outsiders to the tradition might view the forces that the sorcerers claim to control. Peruvian society’s rigid social hierarchies make people increasingly dependent upon personal networks in order to survive. The resulting burden of economic self-interest loaded onto personal relationships has contributed to a social world in which mistrust inevitably accompanies interdependence. It should not be surprising, therefore, that social relations would be the assumed source of misfortune and suffering for rural Peruvians. This stands in contrast with traditional Andean attributions of sickness to natural forces and supernatural transgressions. 12. Comparison and Interaction with Dominant System. What does this system provide that the dominant system does not provide and how does this system interact with the dominant system? On the one hand, Miro-Quesada (2002) believes that global shamanism is an emerging phenomenon of the 21st century. The Pachakuti teachings are intended to empower all interested persons, allowing them to work with unseen forces in order to promote healing and balance through spiritual mediation. But on the other hand, the dominant role being played by allopathic biomedicine often rules out people’s interest and participation in an indigenous healing system (e. g. , Levi-Strauss, 1955). Conclusion On July 14, 2003, Matthew Magee performed a ritualistic ceremony on the top of Mount Tamalpais in Marin County, California, in the spirit of Kamasqa Curanderismo, one of the components of the Pachakuti Mesa tradition. This ceremony waves together several themes that expressed the participants reverence for the Earth as teacher and mother. Together, the group created a consecrated Earth offering (despacho) to foster a lifestyle of sacred reciprocity (ayni) and an awareness of lifes interdependence, calling upon participants to live harmoniously with oneself, with others, and with the planet as a whole. There are ecopsychologists who believe that healing the planet is basically a shamanic journey; if so, traditional medical systems can play a vital role in this endeavor. However, while herbal medicines, indigenous treatments, and shamanism are becoming faddish in the West, indigenous systems in their original contexts are becoming increasingly endangered. It is crucial to support indigenous cultures and learn what shamanism and related systems of healing have to offer the postmodern world before archival research in libraries replaces field research as the best available method for investigating these healing systems. Their longevity indicates that they have served many groups of eople quite well over the millennia. The question remains as to what they can offer a world where allopathic biomedicine is not only revered but also powerful, a world in which reality is constricted to measurable physical dimensions and alternative perspectives are dismissed as â€Å"folk psychology† (Kelly, Kelly, Crabtree, Gauld, Grosso, Gordon, 2007, p. 54). This discussion of Pachakuti and Navaho healing models has demonstrated the adaptability of many traditional healing systems to conditions in the contemporary world. The eclectic nature of the system bodes well not only for its survival but its compatibility with collegial practitioners of allopathic medicine. Finally, the ecological emphasis of the two systems provide inspiration for ecologists and their colleagues who agree with indigenous practitioners that the Earth is at risk, and that collaborative efforts are needed to redress the natural balance. References Achterberg, J. (1985). Imagery in healing: Shamanism and modern medicine. Boston: Shambhala. Cassell, E. J. (1979). The healer’s art. Middlesex, England: Penguin. Freeman, L. W. (2004). Mosby’s complementary alternative medicine: A research- based approach. St. Louis, MO: Mosby. Geertz, C. (1973). The interpretation of cultures. New York: Basic Books. Hufford, D. (1995). Cultural and social perspectives on alternative medicine: Background and assumptions. Alternative Therapies in Health and Medicine, 1(1), 53-61. Iljas, J. (2006). Introduction to psychology: Inner reality, outer reality in diversity. Dubuque, IA: Kendall/ Hunt. Kelly, E. F. , Kelly, E. W. , Crabtree, A. , Gauld, A. , Grosso, M. , Greyson, B. (2007). Irreducible mind: Toward a psychology for the 21st century. Plymouth, UK: Rowman Littlefield. Kleinman, A. (1995). Writing at the margin: Discourse between anthropology and medicine. Berkeley: University of California Press. Kluckhohn, C. , Leighton, D. (1962). The Navajo (rev. ed. ). Garden City, NJ: Natural History Library. Krippner, S. (2002). Spirituality and healing. In D. Moss, A. McGrady, T. C. Davis, I. Wickramasekera (Eds. ), Handbook of mind-body medicine for primary care (pp. 191-201). London: Sage. Krippner, S. , Welch, P. (1992). Spiritual dimensions of healing: From tribal shamanism to contemporary health care. New York: Irvington. Levi-Strauss, C. (1955). The structural study of myth. Journal of American Folklore, 78, 428-444. Magee, M. (2002). Peruvian shamanism: The Pachakuti mesa. Chelsford, MA: Middle Field. Mahler, H. (1977, November). The staff of Aesculapius. World Health, p. 3. Miro-Quesada, O. (2002). Foreword. In M. Magee, Peruvian shamanism: The Pachakuti mesa (pp. vii-viii). Chelsford, MA: Middle Field. O’Connor, B. B. (1995). Healing traditions: Alternative medicine and the health professions. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press. O’Connor, B. B. , Calabrese, C. , Cardena, E. , Eisenberg, D. , Fincher, J. , Hufford, D. J. , Jonas, W. B. , Kaptchuck, T. , Martin, S. C. , Scott, A. W. , Zhang, X. (1997). Defining and describing complementary and alternative medicine. Alternative Therapies in Health and Medicine, 3 (2), 49-57. Sandner, D. (1979). Navajo symbols of healing. New York: Harcourt, Brace, Jovanovich. Siegler, M. , Osmond, H. (1974). Models of madness, models of medicine. New York: Macmillan. Torrey, E. F. (1986). Witchdoctors and psychiatrists. New York: Harper Row.

Multiple Personality Disorder Essays (1789 words) -

Multiple Personality Disorder Many People in One Multiple Personality Disorder Multiple Personality Disorder (MPD) is a mental disease that exists in about one percent of the population. Much research supports the existence of this disease and its origins, causes and effects on the people in who suffer with it. This essay will clearly define Multiple Personality Disorder along with a detailed synopsis of the disease itself. The diagnosis, alter personalities, different treatments and views will indicate the disease is real. The American Psychiatric Association named Multiple Personality Disorder in 1994 Dissociative Disorder. Multiple Personality Disorder is diagnosed when a person has two or more personalities. These personalities have the ability to control the person and make them do things that they do not remember or would normally not do. When someone has MPD, they do not realize when another personality is in control or what they are doing. MPD is most often caused by early sexual child abuse. This child abuse is often intolerable, so much so that the person forgets these events and develops another personality to remember the abuse. The alternate personality is a defense mechanism. Multiple Personality Disorder can also stem from high levels of stress during childhood, again, usually from abuse. This stress manifests a personality within the person so the stress does not have to be dealt with. When someone has MPD they feel confused. They do not know why or when they have done a certain thing nor with or to whom. There are some early signs of MPD, but they are often mistaken for other disorders such as post-traumatic stress syndrome, schizophrenia, and/or bi-polar disease (manic-depression). A child with MPD could possibly have imaginary friends of any gender or age; MPD individuals will talk to themselves in a manner that is not like them, or honestly do not remember doing things. An example apart from normal childhood lying would be if the child drew all over the walls and when confronted, one could honestly see they do not remember the incident. There is also a lack of diagnosis among children, only nine reported cases were in 1990. During adolescence, a teenager will often turn to other things to deal with the stress of abnormal and excessive forgetfulness or blackouts. An adolescent with MPD can oftentimes exhibit signs of bi-polar disorder, insomnia, suicide threats and attempts, drug use, violent mood swings and panic attacks. When a teenager exhibits these characteristics, MPD is not the first diagnosis to be explored, rather, it is blamed on hormones or drug use. These things can only fuel MPD rather than calm it. Adulthood, or in the age range of 20 years to 30 years old is when a person with MPD is usually diagnosed. This is a time in a persons life when the symptoms of MPD directly interfere with their lives. Not knowing where you are or how you got there is a big issue if you are trying to raise children or maintain a marriage. Also, as an adult, there is the freedom to seek help. Diagnosis of Multiple Personality Disorder is a complicated process. It involves many psychological tests on the patient as well as preliminary therapy to accurately determine if the patient has MPD. The International Society for the Study of Dissociation revised guidelines in 1996 concerning treatment options for persons with MPD. According to their website, www.issd.org, A mental status examination augmented with questions concerning disassociative symptoms is an essential part of the diagnostic process. This means there are specific questions and evaluations that have to be presented before a diagnosis is made. The patient is asked questions about hearing voices, forgetfulness beyond normal, amnesia, problems with identity, regressed memories and hypnotic episodes. Also according to the website, Structured interviews for the detection of dissociative disorders are now available and can be used to confirm a clinicians diagnosis. Such interviews are the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV, which helps the therapist evaluate and document the severity of specificsymptoms(www.religioustolerance.org), and the Dissociative Disorder Interview Schedule that is a detailed interview to diagnose MPD. The problem with the diagnosis of Multiple Personality Disorder is that it takes such a long time to actually diagnose, the average is six years

America and the Problem of Obesity Essays

America and the Problem of Obesity Essays America and the Problem of Obesity Essay America and the Problem of Obesity Essay Poor eating habits have become a daily part of the lifestyle of several Americans. These habits do not just come in the form of the lack of intake of food on a regular basis. Oftentimes, the excessive intake of food can almost certainly lead to a heavier weight than normal. Moreover, the excessive intake of fatty food is almost an assurance that a person will be gaining weight from fat which is especially true for those who rarely exercise. Regular intake of junk food high in cholesterol and fat in high quantities coupled with a sedentary lifestyle extends a person’s risk of becoming overweight. Worse comes to worst, an individual can become obese.Obesity is health condition where a person has a Body Mass Index (BMI) of more than 30. A person’s BMI can be computed by dividing the person’s body weight with the square of the person’s height. At present, there is an estimated 12.5 million children in America who are overweight and are at a higher risk of becoming obese (â€Å"Childhood Overweight and Obesity Prevention Initiative: Healthy Youth for a Healthy Future†). If left unattended, America might soon become home to millions of obese adults whose health conditions are facing serious risks of medical complications from diabetes mellitus to heart ailments.There is an urgent need to reassess the eating habits of American children these days and to reintegrate good nutrition in their lifestyle. Despite the fact that most children remain highly active due to their age and to their constant socialization with peers, poor eating habits can stand in their way of obtaining a healthy body. According to an earlier testimony from the Surgeon General, close to two out of three Americans are either overweight or obese and one out of eight deaths in the U.S. is attributed to obesity or overweight (Carmona). These disturbing observations from the Office of the Surgeon General only indicate that today’s obese c hildren may soon face the same fate. It is imperative to make a collective action to prevent obesity from taking its toll on children who are on the verge of becoming overweight.There is also a wide agreement in the academic field that obesity causes young people to develop â€Å"serious psychosocial burdens† as a result of â€Å"social stigmatization associated with obesity† (â€Å"Focus on Childhood Obesity†). Overweight children usually become an easy target for children of the same age to tease and call â€Å"names†. Common labels such as â€Å"fat† and â€Å"pig† can hurt the emotions of overweight children which can lead to low self-esteem. Sometimes, children given with such labels tend to shy away from their peers and find comfort from solitude. These children eventually tend to avoid socializing with others as much as possible due to the fear of rejection.There are a number of simple steps that can be done in order to prevent childh ood obesity from spreading throughout America. According to a health report from the University of Utah Health Sciences Center, there is a simple concept that can be adopted in order to lose weight the natural way: eat one less while doing more (â€Å"Obesity†). In the concept, people are encouraged to consume less amount of food than what they usually take while doing more physical activities than normal. Everyday physical activities such as walking, running and climbing up and down the stairs can be effective ways to decrease body weight when done on a regular basis. Eating a few servings less than normal consumption of food can also help decrease a person’s body mass index. A nutritional food guide is also a beneficial tool in keeping track of a person’s eating habits and health progress.Since most children are still under the watchful guidance of their parents, they can more readily adapt to the concept. Parents can encourage their children to become physica lly active not only in terms of playing but also in ordinary daily routines such as walking and jogging. In order to instill in their children’s minds the benefits of healthy eating in controlled amounts, parents are also prompted to eat together with their children. Doing so can assure parents that their children are eating appropriately while teaching their children proper diet or the right eating habits appropriate for their age.In cases where children are already experiencing obesity, parents should seek professional medical assistance the soonest time possible in order to determine the necessary health measures needed to get their children back to having a healthy body condition. It may involve certain medications and regular visits to the doctor. In some extreme childhood obesity cases, surgical procedures may be required in order to alleviate the worsening health condition of the child. It is therefore important to attend to the health needs of children as soon as poss ible so that complicated health medications and procedures will not become a future option.Apart from seeking medical aid, parents should also try not to put down the feelings of the child due to weight problems. Parents should not coerce their children to eat less and become more active because these things can only stiffen the attitude of their children. Rather, parents should promote their children’s self-esteem despite their health condition. Parents should let their children act and feel as how a normal child would do so that they will not feel â€Å"different† from the rest of their peers. Doing so can help children attain a positive outlook, thereby making them feel that all is not lost yet and that something can still be done to reverse obesity.

The changing nature of competition within the global pharmaceutical Assignment

The changing nature of competition within the global pharmaceutical - Assignment Example The nature of the competition in this field has also been in a constant state of revolution along with its changing entities. While, in the 1960’s regulatory controls were held on a lighter end, due to rapid expansion of the industry along with the medical practitioners insensitive to the price entity; on the other hand, the industry demographics shifted in the 1970’s following a series of events, to constitute an environment that was ruled by strong regulatory bodies and increased patent protection. This is just the example of how industry shifted over a period of two decades alone. Over this period the competition started to get a boost through introduction of generic medicines competing on price. This entity of generics had a major impact on the level of competition in the pharmaceutical industry in terms of providing incentives and a race to market. In other words switching to generics is one of the most common and convenient ways to save cost. They are even being u sed as fist line treatment options with patent drugs used only once they fail. This also presents with it increased rivalry and competitiveness within the industry. Such challenges have been attempted by the organizations to counter using various strategic responses such as disease management initiatives or demonstrating added value offerings of the drugs in terms of various related entities. Porter’s Five Forces Analysis: Threat of Substitutes: When it comes to the pharmaceutical industry, the primary threat that the companies is faced with is of Generic Brand Medication. However, they may be countered through the factor of patents. Other than that, companies in the pharmaceutical industry can also be faced with threats from Complementary Alternative Medicine and alternative medicine which could serve as substitutes; with alternative medicine would serve as a substitute even more so based on the fact that it is not influenced by the pharmaceutical industry (What is CAM?). Th reat of New Entrants: The pharmaceutical industry is an industry that has exponentially high barriers to entry making the threat of new entrants as being relatively low. A few of such barriers are the great costs required to enter the industry, extremely high Research and Development investments, costly and time consuming production process, which combined with strict government regulations and patents makes it really hard for anyone to initiate an entity in this field be it even the big bees. Also, the established firms in this industry are strong enough and well differentiated along with having a loyal customer base making it extremely hard for anyone to develop a brand name and get it recognized (Pharma: Through Porter's Eyes, 2004). Bargaining Power of Suppliers: In terms of the supplier side of the pharmaceutical industry, we see that it constitutes of various entities such as raw material producer and suppliers, local- co-marketing partners, internal labour and even the patien ts for clinical trials etc. When it comes to the threat presented by the supplier side in terms of their bargaining power we see that though all the suppliers present with themselves varying degrees of threat, but it is no more bigger than the threat presented by any such suppliers in other industries either. So, we can say that though there is some extent of threat present, but it is not that exponentially high. Bargaining Power of Buyers: The biggest buyer of the pharmaceutical industry is the government sector and it is one that can impose pressures on the pharmaceutical companies to achieve their own purpose. In addition to that, big hospitals and drug stores can pressurize the company to lower its prices provided

UK Policy Makers Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3500 words

UK Policy Makers - Case Study Example It is surprising why they do not ask themselves the crucial question" who are we working for and whose interest are we serving The answer would surely not be the councilor but the organization. The planning department was formed with the clear objective of providing a medium and a platform whereby the government officials could work in harmony with the developers and come forward with solutions on how to develop property in future, how to grant licenses and facilitating the developers with other such legal matters. However, the current stance of the officials of the planning development is full of negativity and they seek reasons to reject any and all applications irrespective of their compliance or non-compliance with the policies. The councilor himself seems to have no stringent code of conduct whereby he has indulged five times in lobbying and trying to influence the planning officer into declining my application for development. If this might be vague in convincing one of his intentions, he even appointed a temporary planning officer, to cover for Mr. F in his short absence from work, who more than stood up to the expectations of his boss and indulged in racism, negligence and lying , all witnessed by two witnesses with written statements. In the following statements, please take note of the... 1. Abuse of Power/Invasion of Privacy: The leave of Mr. F, my case officer and also the person who had recommended my application for approval, was en-cashed and made use of to suit their own ends and Mr. S. was ordered by Mr. W to take over Mr. F's responsibilities in his absence. Eager to please his boss, Mr. S wrote an appeal to refuse the application and to visit the site without prior notice. The question to be asked at this point in time is: Is a temporary planning officer, working as a temporary replacement only, entitled to such authority that he can contradict another officer's recommendation and write an appeal for the rejection of a case The second question that comes to mind is, why was I, being a proprietor and having complete ownership rights of it, not informed prior to conducting such a site visit The second offence is linked to this unannounced "Site Visit". 2. Breaking of statutory laws: Mr. S, or for that matter any planning officer in his place, is bound by law to issue a notification to the owner 24-48 hours before the site visit. 3. Entering Private Property under false pretences: Mr. S. lied to my tenants about the purpose of their visit and entered the site by mis-informing them : -They had my permission to visit the site -They were working in my interest 4. Racial Profiling: Mr. S on his site visit, disclosed personal information to my tenants in order to get friendly with them to take out information from them about me. Racial discrimination or profiling at any level is not encouraged much less from personnel bearing the Government assigned designations. The question to be asked at this level is, In effect

MKT3018 E-retailing Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

MKT3018 E-retailing - Assignment Example The number of users of eBay had increased considerably. In the year 2000, the total views of eBay sites were almost 120–130 m on a daily basis and the figure rose to 325 m per day in 2003 (Frost & Et. Al., 2003). Resource Capability of eBay From the inception of eBay, it had outsourced the administration and prerequisites of the core constituents of the technical capability, for example, bandwidth prerequisite, website hosting, and data axis hosting at the same time owing to the authentic server controlled in the hosting hubs. Technical Capability For a company to become more feasible in internet shopping the most important factor is the technical capability. It is important for a company to have strong technical capacity in order to survive in the business. The technical capability signifies adequate capability to serve web pages, stock listings, customer details and sales transaction procedures. These features play vital part for drawing fresh customers as well as maintainin g existing customers. With regard to eBay, its technical capability is made up of several modules which are bandwidth, inventory capability, and processing capability. These modules are administered independently in eBay. eBay has ‘system availability’ which works as a substitute for capacity, since it replicates the part of customer requirements that are supplied successfully by eBay. It is the crucial objective of eBay’s capability planning (Frost & Et. Al., 2003). Product Development Capability (PDC) Through Product Development Capability (PDC), eBay had made itself a strong competitor in the internet shopping segment. In the perspective of eBay, PDC is not only the improvement to the core site utility but also the accumulation of additional...Feasibility Of Developing Expanded Internet Shopping Capability Of eBay eBay is known as one of the leading international online marketplaces where people can shop almost anything. It provides a stage for trading products or services by various communities and businesses. eBay has the capability to provide expanded internet shopping (eBay Inc, 2011). eBay had started its operations in the year 1995. It had good capability in marketing and thus it successfully adjusted with the exceptional growth in the e–retailing industry. The number of users of eBay had increased considerably. In the year 2000, the total views of eBay sites were almost 120–130 m on a daily basis and the figure rose to 325 m per day in 2003 (Frost & Et. Al., 2003). Resource Capability of eBay From the inception of eBay, it had outsourced the administration and prerequisites of the core constituents of the technical capability, for example, bandwidth prerequisite, website hosting, and data axis hosting at the same time owing to the authentic server controlled in the hosting hubs. Technical Capability For a company to become more feasible in internet shopping the most important factor is the technical capability. It is important for a company to have strong technical capacity in order to survive in the business. The technical capability signifies adequate capability to serve web pages, stock listings, customer details and sales transaction procedures. These features play vital part for drawing fresh customers as well as maintaining existing customers. With regard to eBay, its technical capability is made up of several modules which are bandwidth, inventory capability, and processing capability. These modules are administered independently in eBay. eBay has ‘system availability’ which works as a substitute for capacity, since it replicates the part of customer requirements that are supplied successfully by eBay. It is the crucial objective of eBay’s capability planning (Frost & Et. Al., 2003). Product Development Capability (PDC) Through Product Development Capability (PDC), eBay had made itself a strong competitor in the internet shopping segment. In the perspective of eBay, PDC is not only the improvement to the core site utility but also the accumulation of additional services such as payment approval and dispensation, seller assessment and authorisation, expansion of new marketplace e.g. real estate industry and B2B apparatus transactions. In eBay, the PDC includes numerous interior and external resources i.e. practical skills needed to construct and organise pioneering software services that are employed by PDC procedure. The PDC procedure heavily depends on existing shoppers’ contribution to create and authenticate ideas for new services along with interior business expansion and feasible expansion of the brand & operational capabilities.

Female Independence in Frankenstein and Jane Eyre

Female Independence in Frankenstein and Jane Eyre Visions of Female Independence in Frankenstein and Jane Eyre. There are considerable ironies in the fact that, of the two novels considered here, it is Jane Eyre which is far more profoundly concerned with the possibility of female independence in a male-dominated world. Mary Shelley was the daughter of Mary Wollstonecraft, the proto-feminist, and of the radical thinker Godwin. She was the wife of the revolutionary poet Shelley, and a friend of Byron. Yet Frankenstein, for all its shocking subject matter, is in many ways a conventional work of its time, a sort of encyclopedia of Romantic attitudes, and its vision of the role of women makes little attempt to disturb the accepted views of her contemporaries. Charlotte Brontà «, by contrast, was a vicar’s daughter, whose most intense experience, it might be argued, was within her own family group, and who finally married a clergyman, and yet Jane Eyre is an intense exploration of a woman’s efforts to understand and maintain the integrity of the self against innumerable pressures â⠂¬â€œ the tyranny of Mrs Reed, the bullying of Brocklehurst, the inevitable inferiority of being the salaried employee of Rochester, and later his gilded possession, and then the massive egotism of St John Rivers in its guise as religious selflessness. The longing for independence is indeed the central issue of the novel, and it is the intensity of the vision and the complex and unhysterical analysis of Jane’s experience that give the novel its importance. Of course, the protection of the self is not just a female issue; it figures largely in Arthur Clennam’s story and in Pip’s. But for nineteenth-century women it had a particular poignancy, and as Jane longs for a wider life than that offered by Lowood, she declares that â€Å"Women are supposed to be very calm generally: but women feel just as men feel; they need exercise for their faculties, and a field for their efforts as much as their brothers do† (Brontà «, 1966, 141). The work is, as Margot Peter s says, â€Å"a novel essentially radical in its preoccupation with the themes of independence and liberty for the subjugated sex, Victorian woman† (Peters, 1973, 148). To apply a feminist critique to Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein must be a matter of some tact. There is little evidence of a direct influence of her mother’s ideas in the novel, though the critic Charles Robinson has argued that she was fully aware of her mother’s views, and was proud of her parentage. He claims that A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792) and Frankenstein (1818) are  two radically different English romantic works that nevertheless address similar issues about education and parenting. Mary Shelley may have been denied direct advice and nurturing from her mother, but she could at least indirectly seek that parent’s wisdom by reading her works. (Buss, Macdonald and McWhir,128). Frankenstein is full of the ideas of its time. The monster’s story is a study in Rousseauism. The landscape is Wordsworthian. Byronic and Beethovenian images can be detected in the notion of exploring, going beyond. Similarly the presentation of women in the novel is typical of its time. Men are the explorers, the scientists, the travelers, while women stay at home and offer affection, stability and compassion. Walton at the beginning of the novel is writing letters to his â€Å"dear sister† at home, a wife, who is â€Å"my dear, excellent Margaret† and whom he thanks â€Å"for all your love and kindness† (Vol I, Letter I, 18), while he asks â€Å"do I not deserve to accomplish some great purpose?† (ibid, 17). He writes of the master of the ship, who had planned to marry a Russian lady. He selflessly released her from the engagement when she revealed that she loved someone else, but her father insisted on the original match for financial reasons. â €Å"She was bathed in tears, and, throwing herself at his feet, intreated him to spare her† (Vol I, Letter II, 21). She is entirely in thrall to male power, and only the generosity of the master saves her. â€Å"What a noble fellow!† (ibid, 21). Such episodes simply reflect the conditions of the time. It is unlikely that Mary Shelley’s aim in this episode was to stir rebellion. Walton sees his sister as a mother figure. His youth was spent â€Å"under your gentle and feminine fosterage† (ibid, 20) which has refined and civilized him. This the monster notably lacks. Frankenstein’s story presents the female actors in a very restricted role. Elizabeth is the novel’s central positive female force, â€Å"the beautiful and adored companion of all my occupations and my pleasures† (ibid, 37). Curiously, she is presented to Frankenstein as a sort of property, â€Å"mine to protect, love, and cherish. All praises bestowed on her I received as made to a possession of my own† (ibid, 37). This piece of charming childish naivety in his thinking has an edge that must grate on the modern reader. The educations of Frankenstein and Elizabeth are most revealing. She is â€Å"of a calmer and more concentrated disposition† while he is â€Å"more deeply smitten with the thirst for knowledge.† So while she interested herself in such â€Å"girly† things as contemplating â€Å"the magnificent appearances of things, I delighted in investigating their causes† (Vol I, ch.II, 38). Girls do arts subjects, while boys do sciences! There is a tendency to stereotype here. Elizabeth has a â€Å"saintly soul† (ibid, 39), but acts largely as a supporter of others, â€Å"Her sympathy was ours: her smile, her soft voice, the sweet glance of her celestial eyes, were ever there to bless and animate us. She was the living spirit of love to soften and attract† (ibid, 39-40). In fact she has little other role. Frankenstein is away from home for six years, but we have very little information about what she does all that time, or what she thinks. After the death of the mother of the family (which, characteristically, is â€Å"calm† (Vol I, Ch. III, 45)), Elizabeth explicitly takes over the mother role, â€Å"the comforter to us all. She looked steadily on life, and assumed its duties with courage and zeal† (ibid, 45), and the only thing she can do when Frankenstein leaves for the university is to â€Å"bestow the last feminine attentions† (ibid, 46) on him. The energy of life, even if misdirected, is left to Frankenstein himself, who pursues scientific knowledge with a passion which seems to be confined to men. Elizabeth writes, longing to help him in his illness, describing her own life as filled only with â€Å"trifling occupations† (Vol I, Ch VI, 66). Justine is another bearer of female charm and good nature: â€Å"She is very clever and gentle, and extremely pretty† (ibid, 67). In fact all the women in the book share these harmless and undramatic positives. The only disagreeable one is the old woman in the Irish prison (Vol III, Ch IV). Elizabeth weeps over the death of William and blames herself, and Justine goes to her death full of benevolence and piety. The monster’s account of the De Laceys in their cottage continues the picture of the female as gentle guardian of the civilized. Agatha impresses him with her â€Å"gentle manners† (Vol II, Ch iii, 110), her job is preparing food, comforting the old man and â€Å"arranging the cottage† (ibid, 111). Safie is noted for â€Å"a countenance of angelic beauty and expression† (Vol II, Ch V, 119) and is characteristically occupied in â€Å"wiping a few tears from her lovely eyes† (ibid, 120). She sings â€Å"like a nightingale of the woods† (ibid, 121). Her â€Å"generous nature† is â€Å"outraged† by her father’s duplicity and tyranny (Vol II, Ch VI, 129). It is here that the monster begins to reflect on his own lack of parents, though it is the role of father he invokes; from the papers he discovered in the coat pocket â€Å"I learned†¦ that you were my father, my creator† (Vol II, Ch VIII, 141). He has seen so few mothers, after all! But the monster wants a mate, effectively an Elizabeth for himself: â€Å"My virtues will necessarily arise when I live in communion with an equal. I shall feel the affections of a sensitive being, and become linked to the chain of existence and events, from which I am now excluded† (Vol II, Ch IX, 151). The female will offer sensitivity and compassion. If a concern for independence seems absent from Mary Shelley’s women, for Jane Eyre it is a constant desire, and something by which she defines herself. She seeks liberty, not simply for license, but in justice to her sense of her own individuality. She will willingly serve, but not under conditions that violate that notion of self. At Gateshead she feels â€Å"Speak I must: I had been trodden on severely, and must turn† (Brontà «, 68), not because she wants revenge, but because of an intolerable feeling of injustice. She â€Å"would fain exercise some better faculty than that of fierce speaking† (70), but she is driven by the same drive that later will send her away from Rochester, a self-respect that will not be crushed. At Lowood she is again oppressed, by the bullying and hypocritical Brocklehurst, but here a solution is offered to her by Helen Burns, who reads Rasselas and demonstrates the power of a stoical courage in the face of adversity. Her advice is o f immense value to Jane, but ultimately the superhuman qualities in Helen make it impossible to follow her. When Helen is unfairly punished Jane wonders â€Å"How can she bear it so quietly?† (84). Helen is right to tell her â€Å"It is far better to endure patiently a smart which nobody feels but yourself† (88), but Jane is too red-blooded, to human and real to be able to accept Helen’s attitude. If Jane â€Å"thinks too much of the love of human beings† (101) as Helen says, that is a weakness that makes humanity valuable. Heaven and Hell cannot satisfy Jane, and Helen’s stoical quietism cannot satisfy her energetic self. Helen dies, perhaps indicating the impossibility of such a position for ordinary mortals, and Jane finds a satisfaction at the school under the intelligent Miss Temple. But in time she must seek â€Å"liberty†¦ at least a new servitude† (117). Thus she comes to Thornfield and Rochester, who finds her interesting because of the very quality of independence and self-respect which drives all her actions. As Mrs Leavis says, â€Å"The courtship scenes are peculiarly un-Victorian† (17) in their emphasis on equality between the partners, the result largely of Jane’s refusal to act the role of the humble dependant in their conversations together. She finds his directness refreshing: â€Å"A reception of finished politeness would probably have confused me†¦. The eccentricity of the proceedings was piquant† (152). She is not frightened of him; it is not in her nature to be so, such is her sense of the integrity of her selfhood. She is his employee, but â€Å"I don’t think, sir, you have the right to command me, merely because you are older than I†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (165). She likes his informality, but tells him that â€Å"for insolence†¦ nothing free-born would submit to, even for a salary† (166). He knows that â€Å"Not three in three thousand raw schoolgirl governesses would have answered me as you have done† (166), but delights in the freedom this leads to as much as she does. She feels she is being treated with true respect, and life opens up for her. When she goes away to Mrs Reed’s deathbed, and shows her true maturity in her wish to be reconciled with her, her absence only clarifies for her what she loves about Thornfield. She has been able to live â€Å"a full and delightful life† (281) in which her precious self has at last been allowed to flourish. â€Å"I have talked, face to face, with what I reverence, with what I delight in† (281). As he proposes to her he says â€Å"my equal is here† (282), the perfect tribute to her being, and the explanation of their mutual love. When she accepts his proposal she continues to fight with an almost instinctive strength against his attempts to convert her into a love object. She recoils from the unreality of his desire to â€Å"load these fairy-like fingers with rings† (287). She will not be â€Å"an ape in a harlequin’s jacket† (288), and would â€Å"rather be a thing than an angel† (291). She will not dress up for him, and hates the business in the silk warehouse (296). She feels â€Å"annoyance and degradation† (297), and thinks explicitly of the precious freedom of the self: â€Å"It would, indeed, be a relief†¦ if I had ever so small an independency† (297). She feels that he has become a conventional lover, whose aim is possession. All this, of course, co-exists with a passionate love for him. And her decision to leave him after the revelations about Bertha is similarly driven primarily by the horror of betrayal of the independent self. To see her action as sim ply moral horror is as beside the point as to complain of her inability to take a more emancipated attitude. To stay with him â€Å"I should then be your mistress† (331), and to do this would make her â€Å"the successor of these poor girls† (339) he has kept before. As she thinks of her own insignificance in the eyes of the world – who would care if she did give way to him? – what she hears is the voice of her own independent self: â€Å"I care for myself. The more solitary, the more friendless, the more unsustained I am, the more I will respect myself† (344). Although she speaks of laws and training, it is the deep sense of the vital importance of her own integrity, her own self-respect, which drives her to act with such resolution. In the novel plot is replaced by a series of revelatory episodes, each helping Jane to come to realization of what she truly desires. Her contact with St John Rivers clarifies what she wants and does not want. Being the teacher at the village school, for all its deprivations, is â€Å"independent† (381) and â€Å"free and honest† (386) compared with being Rochester’s mistress, but Rivers’ self-denial is unattractive, ultimately because it is dishonest, a distortion of his true self from â€Å"the bent of nature† (387), and, at core, a subtle weapon to destroy her independence and swallow up her precious integrity. But, although his appeal has immense power over her, she knows enough now to resist. â€Å"I want to enjoy my own faculties as well as to cultivate those of other people† (415), and when happiness beckons â€Å"I feel I have adequate cause to be happy, and I will be happy† (417). She tells him that she scorns his idea of love , with its wretched self-abasement, and she knows now that â€Å"God did not give me my life to throw away† (439). When she finally devotes herself to Rochester it is anything but a sacrifice. â€Å"What do I sacrifice? Famine for food, expectation for content† (470). The circumstances of nineteenth-century women, in a world where the opportunities open to men were almost all closed to them, make Jane Eyre a radical and courageous document, though Jane’s concern to maintain the integrity of the self is a central human issue rather than simply a feminist complaint. In Mary Shelley’s case it can hardly be argued that she is aware of or troubled by the restricted role of women in her novel. Despite her own mother’s views, it was difficult for her to escape from history, and from the deepest assumptions of her time. Indeed, if there is a feminist element in the book it is in the condemnation of – characteristically male – intellectual daring, and the dangers that result from the desire to go beyond the limits, which inspires Frankenstein to make his monster, and Walton to explore the Arctic. â€Å"The primary pattern underlying feminist writing is that of Frankenstein, a world in which cerebral man and monster are o ne† (Gordon, 428). Works Cited Brontà «, C. Jane Eyre. Introduction by Q.D.Leavis. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1966. Gordon, L. Mary Wollstonecraft. London: Little, Brown, 2005. Peters, M. Charlotte Brontà «. Madison and London: Univ of Wisconsin, 1973. Robinson, Charles. â€Å"A mother’s Daughter: An Intersection of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and Mary Wollstonecraft’s A Vindication of the Rights of Woman.† In Buss, Helen M., Macdonald, D.L. and McWhir, Anne. Mary Wollstonecraft and Mary Shelley. Writing Lives. Waterloo, Ontario: Wilfrid Laurier U.P., 2001, pp.127-138. Shelley, M. Frankenstein. 1818 edition. Edited M.Hindle. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1992.