Sylvia Plath free essay sample

Sylvia Plath struggled throughout her life. She found a love for writing and exhibited her talent for words early on. She started school early and began writing poems at the age of five. From then on, Plaths passion for words influenced her life greatly. In addition to writing, love was a large aspect of Plaths life. Her rocky relationship with her husband Ted Hughes caused her o go into a deep state of depression. This unhealthy relationship also had a large influence on her poetry. The unconventional poetry of Sylvia Plath reflected her life experiences, her search for love, and her unstable mental state. From early on, Sylvia Plath experienced many things no person should ever wish to experience. At the age of eight her father suddenly died from complications of diabetes (Sylvia Plath). This directly influenced her famous poem, Daddy, where she depicts her strict, authoritarian relationship with her father. We will write a custom essay sample on Sylvia Plath or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Because Auto Plath died hen Plath was very young, Syliva was never able to express her true feelings towards her father. She beings to write in the first sentence, l used to pray to recovery you, revealing her desire to have had a strong relationship with her father. Then Plath begins to compare her father to a Nazi and herself to a Jew (Moore). She fears her father and feels persecuted by him. Also, Plaths mother, Aurella Scholber, was forced to work two Jobs to support her family after her husbands death (Lucas). Plath reveals in her diary her hatred towards her mother. She writes, What to do ith her, with the hostility, undying, which I feel for her? I want, as ever, to grab my life from out under her hot itchy hands. My life, my writing, my husband, my conceived baby. Aurella Plath lived for and through her children. She was completely selfless and would do anything for her children. Plath hated this and would continuously trace the boundaries for herself that her mother neglected to impose (Moses). Furthermore, because Plath exhibited signs of success early on, she began school two years early (Sylvia Plath). She was criticized and Judged throughout er years of school because of her intelligence and young age. The only way she knew to escape her harsh reality was through her writing. Her writing is a direct reflection of her life. As Plath grew older her life became a rollercoaster. She went through many ups and downs that shaped her poetry. After high school graduation, Plath moved to Cambridge, England on a scholarship (Sylvia Plath). There, she met English poet Ted Hughes who was six years older than her. At the age of twenty-four, Plath married Hughes (Sylvia Plath) less than a year after they met. This was one of the more Joyous times of her life that influenced her happier poems. A year later, they moved back to Massachusetts, and soon after her life changed forever when she gave birth to their children Frieda in 1960 and Nicholas in 1962 (Syliva Plath). They brought Joy to her life and what she truly needed to inspire her writing. Very rarely was Plath viewed as a happy person or writer. She went through very few highs in her life. One of the happier times in her life was when she was married composed the poem, Morning Song. It is a moving poem that depicts becoming a ew mother. The newborn brings Joy to Plath but also brings extreme anxiety. She feels the baby is part of her life, but feels as if she is a stranger to the child as the very first image of the conception of the baby reveals. The mother claims that love has caused the babys arrival and says, Love set you going like a fat gold watch. This reveals her desire to own the child who belongs to the fathers clan and not to hers (Sharma). What Plath is trying to convey to the readers is that as the baby gets older, it acquires its own individuality and this mother fears this. In the second stanza, the child is being compared to a new statue located in a drafty museum, a place for nonliving things. This suggests the vulnerability of the mother regarding her newborn (Sharma). Furthermore, the title of the poem, Morning Song, is symbolic of the rebirth of the female self as a new mother. This poem reflects Plaths new anxiety of motherhood and her Joyous time of life. The 1930s were a time when women struggled to gain rights. Plath lived in an era that defined a womans role. She felt confined by a male dominated society, which aused her to become very skeptical of love (How Did Sylvia Plath Treat the Theme of Feminism in Her Poetry). At first, she hated men because of how women were treated and strongly believed that women should be treated equally but struggled to gain respect (Plath, Sylvia). This time period caused Plath to isolate herself from society. She rarely left her home and was scared to find love (Sylvia Plath). Her anxiety towards love influenced many of her feminist works. Plath struggled with feelings of inadequacy throughout her life. She felt inferior to men and was insulted by the constraints of society. This led her to compose the novel, The Bell Jar. Here, she speaks for all women with a startling feminist view, criticizing the male dominated society (How Did Sylvia Plath Treat the Theme of Feminism in Her Poetry). In the Bell Jar, the character, Esther, is a product of the patriarchal society in which Plath lives. Esther is a very intelligent woman but is restrained by the time period she lives in. The other character in the novel, Buddy, portrays a typical male during the 1950s. He believes his Job, as a doctor is more important than Esthers work. One night as Esther is returning home from a hotel she egins vomiting. She states, l would feel it rising up in me again, and the glittering while torture chamber tiles under my feet and over my head and on all four sides closed in and squeezed me to pieces. Esther believes she must cleanse herself before she returns home. What she is really doing is cleansing herself from society. Esther wants to rise up against society but is unable to and remains trapped in a Bell Jar (Voight). This entire novel demonstrates Plaths views of men throughout life. It can almost be viewed as an autobiography. Throughout the novel, Esther, represents Plath and her story is a direct reflect of Plaths life. As life went on, Plath continued to feel a sense of hostility towards men. This all had changed when she med Ted Hughes, whom she thought would be the love of her life, in 1956 (Sylvia Plath). This newfound relationship caused her to let her guard down and accept men into her life. Hughes brought a new Joy to Plaths life and changed her perspective of men. At first, Plath wanted to hide the marriage but as time went on she became proud of her love and never wanted it to end (Neurotic The beginning stages of Plath and Hughes marriage exemplified a perfect elationship. They quickly fell in love and they had two beautiful children. As time went on, however, Plath needed to constantly be reassured that she was loved (Sylvia Plath). Hostility formed between the two and their marriage finally came to an end when Hughes left Plath for his mistress, Asia Gutman Wevill (Syliva Plath). This caused Plath to spiral into a state of depression. Plath developed a pattern where, throughout her life, stress would lead to illness, which would cause depression and more stress (Neurotic Poets-Sylvia Plath). Beginning in childhood, because she had begun school two years early, Plath was ften teased and lacked social skills. She had few friends, which caused signs of depression early on. As years passed, Plath went off to college, where she experienced periodic bouts of depression (Neurotic Poets-Sylvia Plath). One day, when Plath had returned home her mother noticed healing scars on her legs. When her mother asked what those were, Plath said she Just wanted to see if I had the guts and admitted that, l wanted to die! After this, she was immediately taken to see a psychiatrist (Neurotic Poets-Sylvia Plath). Plath had several sessions and was finally diagnosed with severe depression. Then, Plath began electroshock therapy, which was thought to be the best treatment at that time. As this therapy continued, Plath developed acute insomnia (Neurotic Poets-Syliva Plath). She went through a period where she did not sleep for three weeks and became immune to sleeping. Plath hated life. She felt trapped and wanted to find a way out. Because of Plaths intense depression, she attempted to commit suicide. On August 24, 1954, Plath broke into the family lock box and stole forty pills. She took these pills and fell into a deep sleep under her porch (Neurotic Poets-Sylvia Plath). When her family discovered her missing, a search was launched. Two days later she was found alive. Plaths plan to kill herself was unsuccessful and she was then admitted to a mental hospital. She was released eight months later and had found a new inspiration for writing (Neurotic Poets-Sylvia Plath). The newfound inspiration brought Plath great success. She began bleaching her hair platinum blonde to proclaim her new persona (Neurotic Poets-Sylvia Plath). That spring, many things went well for her. She won a poetry prize and continued to earn excellent grades throughout school (Neurotic Poets-Sylvia Plath). During the summer this all began to change when she began to date an older man whom she claimed had raped her (Neurotic Poets-Sylvia Plath). Plath was never fully able to recover from this traumatizing experience and continued to struggle throughout life. When Plath was married to Hughes, she was blissful. This all changed when her marriage rapidly came to an end. Plaths world became too much for her to take and the depression had overcome her. No one was able to stop Plath and on February 1 lth, 1963, one of the coldest English winters, she killed herself in one of the most unconventional ways. Plath locked herself in the kitchen and knelt in front of the open oven and turned the gas on (Neurotic Poets-Sylvia Plath). Finally, Plaths misery came to an end. Sylvia Plaths work often reveals a harsh, demonic, devastating, inner self. Most of her poems dealing with her mental illness were published after her suicide (Sylvia her long, hidden rage over years of doubleness, smiles, and compromise (Sylvia Plath 2). Plath uses extended metaphors as she compares life and crossing over to crossing a black lake. This poem was written at a time in Plaths life where death was continuously on her mind. She believed death was everywhere and it blinded her to see everything else in the world as she indicates by writing, are you not blinded by such expressionless sirens? This poem shows the true effect of Plaths mental illness on her life. Critics regarded Plath as the poet of death (Sylvia Plath 2). Her poetry is labeled as confessional, but is really a combination between fact and fiction, where the reader never really knows which is which (Moore). Her true gift was being able to provide autobiographical info in her poetry without her poetry becoming a biography itself (Moore). Plath was admired and often praised for the passion and formal structure of her poems, where she confronted her tensions and conflicts (Lucas). Although she was sometimes criticized for the intensity and truthfulness of her poems, Plath left an everlasting mark on literature by introducing a new style of writing. Sylvia Plaths poetry was a direct reflection of her hardships, her hostility towards men, and her mental illness. All of these factors led her to be an influential poet. Early on, Plath faced many hardships in her childhood. These hardships continued to follow her throughout her life. Her life experiences were a direct influence on her poetry. Also, Plaths poetry largely focused on feminism. She lived in a male dominated society, which caused her to write about her feelings towards men. She was skeptical of finding love and wanted to be treated equally. All these factors contributed to Plaths mental illness. She is viewed as one of the darkest poets. The only way she knew to escape her dark life was through her writing. Thus, Plath introduced a new confessional style of writing and influenced many literary works. She left a mark on the world of literature and will never be forgotten.

Essay on Book Critique

Essay on Book Critique Essay on Book Critique Jocelin Camacho December 4, 2014 Mexican American Studies 141-07 Book Critique William S. Maltby book 2009, â€Å"The Rise and Fall of the Spanish Empire†, is about how Spain achieved to be one of the most powerful empires and ended up falling just after one century of being really powerful. A nation rose from the ashes of Europe, they builded an empire unlike anything mankind had ever witnessed before and it would remain the largest empire. Spain revolutionized the world more than any modern nation in history. In the late fifteenth and sixteenth century Spain was one of the most powerful countries in the world. In the fifteenth century Spain had been ruled by two Christian kingdoms and it was Castile and Aragon. In 1469 King of Aragon Ferdinand married Isabella Queen of Castile and through this marriage began the process of unifying Spain into a single kingdom. Later a centralized government was established and authority was concentrated in the hands of the monarchy. Isabella sponsored Christopher Columbus to explore overseas and try to find any good that will help with trade. King Philip sent an armada to invade England and when invading the England won the battle. Too much spending and unnecessary wars of Spanish kings drained the national treasury. Spain declining during the wars, and then later in the sixteenth and seventeenth century Spain rivals were becoming more powerful. During the nineteenth century Spain lost most of its world countries and was forced to recognize the independence of its New World Colonies. There was no such country as Spain, just like any other empire it began from the bottom and will end up rising all the way to the top. Yet within a century Spain became the most powerful nation in Europe. Spain experienced economic, social, and political age during the sixteenth century, but due to bad planning and decisions Spain later declined as an empire. The Spanish empire went through a lot of wars during the time they were really powerful. Starting from a small empire, Spain step by step found a way to expand their empire and control more cities so it can be under their empire. â€Å"War, rather than the promotion of social or economic welfare, was the primary business of the early modern state. During much of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries it consumed ten times more revenue than all other functions of Spanish government and was by itself responsible for the crown’s enormous debt† (85). Just like any other empire being in the state of war will come its ups and downs. Being in wars constantly then that will have a downfall for any empire. It takes a lot of money to for a nation to be proving so much weapon and especially if a nation is constantly on war. It is not only about just fighting another country or city, but as well as maintaining the military equipped. War causes a lot of money to a nation and if the nation doesn’t have the resources then they will need to borrow money from somewhere. Empires and nations feel the need to keep growing their power and conquering every city. By doing that empires and nations start getting in debt. I believe there is a difference between defending your empire and trying to conquer other cities just to feel more powerful. Empire don’t need to feel that they need to be the most powerful nation than other ones. There is no benefit of other countries being scared of the most powerful. Empires feel the need of showing the rest of the world how powerful they can be. Spain used religion as a social process. One of the reason why the

Freges Puzzle of Identity Statements Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Freges Puzzle of Identity Statements - Essay Example Friedrich Ludwig Gottlob Frege, a German philosopher, was one of the founder fathers of establishing a systematic and analytical approach to the philosophy of language. He instituted the idea of logically proving the quantified statements. In Frege's philosophy of language he found two puzzles, of which one related to the identity of statements. Frege says Now if we were to regard equality as a relation between that which the names 'a' and 'b' designate, it would seem that a = b could not differ from a = a (i.e. provided a = b is true). A relation would thereby be expressed of a thing to itself, and indeed one in which each thing stands to itself but to no other thing (Bencivenga E, 1993). Here, he observed that mere representation of names and descriptions does not convey the information content of a statement or a sentence in terms of logic and meaning. He further probed and found that a minimum of two relations are required for significant understanding of the language. In the subsequent paragraphs we will discuss the Frege's Puzzle of identity statements in detail and reasonably justify the solution of the puzzle as suggested by Frege himself. Identity statements are the expressions that equate the objects on both sides of the identity sign (Geach, O. and Black, Max, 1960). For example, "(2+3) = 5", "Clint is Eastwood" and "John is Peter's father". All these statements essentially belong to the same clan of kind " a= b". The statement "a = b" can only hold true when "a" and "b" both represent the same object or an individual. Now, consider a statement of kind "a = a". This statement also requires the same truth condition as required for the statement of kind "a = b". For both the cases, object or the individual is same and also, the denotations represent the same individual or the object. However, the meaning conveyed in the two cases is different. This appears to be a paradoxical situation as the representations of a unique object or an individual have a difference while being true at the same time. The Frege's puzzle states that when the difference in the representations, that is, "a" or "b" is not established by the tw o cases under consideration, then how we can find the difference in meaning or cognitive significance between the two true identity statements (Fiengo, Robert and May, Robert, 2006). Cognitive Significance of the Difference of Identity Statements To resolve the issue of difference, we first understand cognitive significance of a name or a statement. Cognitive significance of a statement, as brought out by Frege, can only be described by two important aspects of the statement, namely, 'sense' and 'reference' (Zalta, Edward N, 2005). Here, the 'sense' of the statement conveys more information then its interpretation by mere visual inspection (Schirn, M, 1976). Moreover, 'sense' is the integral part of the name and different names are associated with different 'sense' (Zalta, Edward N, 2005). A group of two or more statements may indicate or refer to a singular object but each statement has a unique sense of its own. Next, we obtain the distinction between the

Global Business Environment - the Banking Sector of Pakistan vs Essay

Global Business Environment - the Banking Sector of Pakistan vs. Uk&Greece - Essay Example 1.2 The Crisis Chain The global financial crisis brought about a tremendous and dramatic turn around in the banking sector across the world and there were hardly any economies that remained unaffected by the same. Not just the banking sector, but the sub-prime mortgage crisis brought about a chain of crisis causing a high velocity downfall in real estate, stock exchanges, and insurance companies as well – many big names fell apart, bail out packages were developed in order to reduce the impact, inflation went sky rocketing, and at the end of the chain, consumers lost loads and loads of money. Krugman (2009) states that a situation came where economists describe that there were empty houses in the US, and homeless people outside the same – showing the reduced purchasing power, and high prices of land and mortgage. Economists call the year 2008 as the ‘Global Financial Earthquake’. This era was known as the most depressive economic scenario since after the Gr eat Depression of the early 30s. This assignment aims at discussing and comparing how the environmental and macroeconomic variables in countries like UK, Greece, and Pakistan have affected the banking sector in these respective regions. ... It shows the linkage of financial markets with government, the employment (or unemployment), organizations and corporate, households, and the commodities markets. There is strong co-relation between these entities and any jolt, can lead to a drastic effect on all the others. 2. Analysis of Banking Sector in UK 2.1 PLEST Analysis Paulson (2011) states that the global financial earthquake of 2008 ripped apart the exceptionally high growth of the previous years, closing the huge names of the financial sector close to bankruptcy. In terms of the banking sector in the UK, the banks are rather politically and legally secured – as UK is recognized as the pioneer of financial system globally. The banking sector is also technologically fairly sound. The 2008 decline was primarily witnessed due to the drastic changes in the economic and social habits and norms of the population. Primarily a sub-set of the sub-prime mortgage crisis that initiated the panic, UK’s economy took a dow nturn. The primary cause of this being the over -spending habits that had embedded in the norms of the society, which was in turn, was caused by the easy presence and availability of the credit cards. Lewis (2011) states that most of the consumers had over spent their budgets in expectation of their future cash flows, which did not happen as bankruptcy became a common feature, employees were laid off in one go, salary, were reduced, and big names like JP Morgan, Lehman Brothers, etc. went off the hook. Government ultimately intervened with bail out packages to assist in the survival of the financial backbone of the economy. 2.2 Macroeconomic Indicators There are three primary macroeconomic

Why the Euro Crisis Is an American Problem Assignment

Why the Euro Crisis Is an American Problem - Assignment Example It is estimated that the collapse could generate a 25% decrease in Europe’s gross domestic product (GDP). In effect, the euro crisis would represent a Great Depression of the current century, and this would be a threat to the global financial system (Zuckerman, 2011). According to Frum (2011), if the Euro falls, bonds will lose value in the European banks. This is because banks in the European region hold euro-dominated bonds. The bonds will lose value such that the banks will be forced to either seek assistance from the government, or put to a stop their lending to individual consumers and/or businesses (Frum, 2011). The fall of the euro will adversely affect other nations like Canada and the United States. For one, the financial institutions in Europe may lose their capacity to repay creditors in the United States. The net effect of the crisis will be more pressure on the financial system of the United States. Yet again, it should be considered that majority of the investors in the United States are from the euro zone , and if the eurozone economies fall, the Americans will have a difficult time raising capital for their businesses and new projects (Frum, 2011). The genesis of the crisis is very clear. Just like the United States, Europe was a victim of over-leveraging. The past decade has seen the European Central Bank overseeing easy credit, cross-border lending, and low interest rates which was instigated by a property boom and the increase of debt in households. The bubble has already burst, and the outcome has been the risk of failure to negotiate currency defaults and a series of frighteners (Zuckerman, 2011). It is worth noting that the majority of the Americans see the euro crisis as a crisis generated by government debt and government deficits. The same can be true of Greece, but it is not certainly true of France. If the Euro falls, each nation in the European region will be forced to have its own currency. This means that each nation will have to pay its debt using its own currency and not the euro (Frum, 2011). Europe’s option to avert the crisis is either to stop using the euro to restore each government to its own curren cy or to develop a single pan-European government to manage the new pan-European currency. Both options are not attractive to the United States. The United States has no option but to either suffer from the first option or contribute in support of the second option. Both options will have a considerable effect on the United States, and thus, the American cannot escape the euro crisis, it is their problem. Question 2: State Based Teaching Incentives to Improve Quality of Education Offered to Public Schools For a long time, the focus of the policymakers has been on improving or enhancing teacher quality. In the past few years, most reform efforts or initiatives have included strategies to enhance the overall quality of teachers and the equitable allotment of teachers within states, districts, and schools. The federal government endorsed an act in 2001in respect of education. The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 is aimed at ensuring teacher quality and fair distribution of teachers. Th e act demands that all states evaluate the allocation of teacher quality, create, and implement plans to enhance teacher quality and assure fair distribution of quality teachers (Fuller, 2010). In the past, local districts have been designing and supporting their individual recruitment programs. This isolated approach generally develops inequities across the states. This is because

Reporter System Using LuxABCDE

Reporter System Using LuxABCDE La Rosa, S.L., Diep, D.B., Nes, I.F., et al. (2012) Construction and application of a luxABCDE reporter system for real-time monitoring of Enterococcus faecalis gene expression and growth. Applied and Environmental Microbiology, 78 (19): 7003-7011 Reporter genes are the genes encoding a protein which can be tracked and quantified by microscopy and various biochemical assays. They provide a non-invasive and sensitive method to monitor levels of gene expression, protein localization and to determine the transcriptional and translational regulators of a gene of interest. In this study, Rosa and co-workers have developed a bioluminescence based reporter system using luxABCDE to monitor the growth and gene expression of Enterococcus faecalis. E. faecalis is a nosocomial pathogen reported to be the cause of diseases such as endocarditis, urinary tract infection, bacteremia etc. (Schlievert et. al., 1998) and particularly infects individuals with compromised immune system or suffering from an underlying illness (Mundy et. al., 2000). Several studies have been undertaken to determine the factors involved in the virulence of the nosocomial strains of E. faecalis (Jett et. al., 1992; Chow et. al., 1993; Shankar et. al, 2001). These stud ies involve creating mutants for a possible virulence trait and then comparing them in animal models. There are several advantages of using reporter gene in lieu of traditional methods which usually involve harvesting the infected organ and sample preparation to estimate the level of infection by E. faecalis (Hanin et. al., 2010; Ike et. al., 1984). This traditional method, apart from being time consuming, also requires sacrifice of a large number of animals used in biological experiments. Using reporter genes, although not able to completely replace animal experimentation, will certainly reduce the number of animals required. Another advantage of using reporter genes is that it will enable real time monitoring of spread of infection by imaging the light emitted from the activation of the lux operon which was not possible with the other studies that have been undertaken. Use of lux operon also provides several advantages over other reporter gene based systems used in studies pertain ing to E. faecalis which employ green fluorescent protein (gfp) or firefly- luciferase enzyme (luc). Both gfp and luc require excitation by an external light source and luc also requires the addition of an extraneous substrate- both of these are not required in case of luxABCDE thus providing another advantage to the use of this reporter system. Rosa and co-workers constructed the bioluminescent reporter system by cloning the luxABCDE operon present in pPL2lux into pREG696 as shown in Figure 1. The native luxCDABE operon from Photohabdus luminescens shows poor expression in gram-positive bacteria (Qazi et. al., 2001). Therefore, the genes were rearranged into luxABCDE and translational signals were inserted in front of luxA, luxC, luxE to increase the expression of the lux operon. pPL2lux was originally designed for Listeria monocytogenes and thus carries a listeriophage integrase gene. This plasmid does not work in E. faecalis because of the absence of the required listeriophage sequence. Therefore, a highly expressed Listeria promoter Phelp (for highly expressed Listeria promoter) was cloned into pPL2lux just upstream of the luxA gene and this construct was named pPL2luxPhelp . Similarly, other promoters P32 and P16S were cloned upstream of luxA gene to form pPL2luxP32 and pPL2luxP16S respectively. P32 is another strong pr omoter and P16S is a synthetic E. faecalis 16sRNA promoter with a ribosome binding site (RBS) and an ATG codon fused at its end. These modified pPL2lux plasmids were digested with Xho1 and Not1 and the excised fragment (luxABCDE and the promoter) was cloned into the corresponding sites in pREG696 to form pSL101P32/16S/help. pREG696 has a spectinomycin resistance gene and a segregational stability cassette (axe- antitoxin and txe- toxin) from the multi-drug resistant plasmid pRUM of E. faecium (Grady and Hayes, 2003). This segregational stability cassette enables stable inheritance of the plasmid by killing of plasmid-free cells. All the DNA fragments inserted were sequenced before transferring them into E. faecalis MMH594 by electroporation. Figure 1 Schematic of the construction of pSL101 and its derivatives. (Figure reproduced from La Rosa et. al., 2012) The stability of pSL101P32, pSL101P16S, pSL101Phelp was tested by a doing a plasmid stability test. The plasmids were transformed into E. faecalis and overnight cultures were diluted 1,000-fold and grown in nonselective GM17 media. After every 24 hours a fresh culture was inoculated and this was continued for 7 days. At every inoculation, the culture was diluted and plated onto selective and nonselective plates and incubated at 37 °C overnight. Bioluminescence of the resulting colonies was measured and the number of colonies on both selective and nonselective plate was counted to score for resistance to spectinomycin. The stability of these  plasmids was compared to pIL252luxABCDEPhelp which was created by cloning the Phelp luxABCDE cassette into pIL252. This plasmid lacks the axe-txe stability system and is therefore lost after overnight culture with antibiotic selection (Figure 2a). On the other hand, there is no loss of pSL101P32 even after 7 days of culturing in non-selective media and only 30% loss in case of pSL101P16S and pSL101Phelp. This result shows that the segregational stability system is required for stable maintenance of the reporter plasmids in E. faecalis grown in nonselective media. The methodology adopted by the authors to do this experiment has two drawbacks- firstly, plating the culture onto nonselective and selective plates simultaneously may give erroneous results when there are more colonies on the selective plate than on the nonselective plate. To avoid this, the colonies on the nonselective plate obtained after incubation for 16 hours should be patched onto selective plates and then scored for antibiotic resistance phenotype. Secondly, nowhere in the manuscript do the authors mention doing the experiments in repeats. Performing an experiment in duplicates or triplicates is advantageous as it makes the data obtained more reliable. Figure 2 (a) Plasmid stability of pSL101 derivatives in E. faecalis MMH594 (b) Correlation between bioluminescence and number of CFU/ml in E. faecalis MMH594. à ¢- , pIL252luxPhelp; â™ ¦, pSL101P32; à ¢-  , pSL101P16S; à ¢- ², pSL101Phelp. (Figure reproduced from La Rosa et. al., 2012) After confirming the stability of the plasmids in E. faecalis MMH594, overnight cultures were diluted and grown in GM17 medium and bioluminescence was measured to assess the correlation between light emission and cellular growth. To determine the relationship between CFU number and bioluminescent signal cultures in mid-exponential phase were diluted and viable cell count and bioluminescence was measured. Figure 2b shows that a linear relationship exists between number of CFU and the bioluminescent signal and thus pSL101 reporter system can be used to measure the real-time growth of bacteria. Also, to determine the relation between absorbance and bioluminescence growth of cultures with pSL101 derivatives was measured using a microplate reader by recording the absorbance at 620 nm for 7 hours after 15 min intervals. Bioluminescence of the culture was measured by quantifying the bioluminescent signal captured by an imaging system. The experiment was done in three independent repeats. It was found that during the exponential phase bioluminescence increased because of high metabolic activity of the cells and thus high availability of substrate- flavin mononucleotide (Bachmann et. al., 2007) required for luciferase enzyme (Figure 3). As the cells enter the stationary phase, a decline in the bioluminescence signal was observed corresponding to the decrease in the concentration of the substrate. Similar effect was observed for pSL101P32, pSL101P16S, pSL101Phelp. In case of the negative control, no bioluminescence was observed which confirms no background. Growth of different strains of E. faecalis was also monitored using the pSL101P16S system to determine its broad applicability. Four strains of E. faecalis differing in their origin (clinical isolate, probiotic strain, laboratory strain and commensal strain) were transformed with pSL101P16S and absorbance and bioluminescence was measured as above. As in the case of E. faecalis MMH594 a good correlation (R2 > 0.94) was observed between absorbance and bioluminescence thus proving that pSL101 system is not limited to a single strain of E. faecalis but can be used for other strains too. Figure 3 Bioluminescence during growth of E. faecalis MMH594 transformed with pSL101 derivatives. Closed symbols represent the bioluminescent signal and open symbols represent optical density at 620 nm. (a) pSL101P32. (b) pSL101P16S. (c) pSL101Phelp. (Figure reproduced from La Rosa et. al., 2012) E. faecalis is normally found in urine and blood samples of people suffering from diseases caused by this microorganism. It is also commonly found in Therefore, pSL101P16S was used to monitor the growth of E. faecalis in these environments. To measure the growth in milk, Nestle NAN Infant Milk Formula was pre-heated to 37 °C and inoculated with PBS (phosphate-buffer saline) washed probiotic strain Symbioflor 1 and commensal strain E. faecalis 32. Both the strains were lux-tagged with pSL101P16S. Bioluminescence was measured as described above and number of CFU was measured at 2, 4, 6, 8 and 22 hours after inoculation by plating the cultures on GM17 media with spectinomycin. The experiment was done in duplicates. There was no background luminescence detected by milk and for both the strains, a linear correlation (R2= 0.95) between bioluminescence and viable cell count was observed (Figure 4). Similarly, growth of lux-tagged E. faecalis MMH594 and T2 was measured in urine by preheati ng the media at 37 °C and inoculation with PBS washed cells. Although a low level of luminescence was observed in urine, there was a significant increase in the luminescence corresponding to the growth of bacterial strains (Figure 5) as in the case of milk. This experiment shows that the pSL101 system can be used in other growth environments as long as the background luminescence due to media is low. Figure 4 (a) Bioluminescence of E. faecalis strains grown in Nestle NAN Infant Milk Formula. The colour scale shows the intensity of bioluminescnce signal. (b) Bioluminescence and CFU/ml of Symbioflor 1(black triangles) and E. faecalis 62 (gray diamonds) tagged with pSL101P16S and grown in milk. Open symbols represent CFU/ml and closed symbols represent bioluminescence (Figure reproduced from La Rosa et. al., 2012) Figure 5 (a) Bioluminescence of E. faecalis strains grown in urine. The colour scale shows the intensity of bioluminescnce signal. (b) Bioluminescence and CFU/ml of E. faecalis MMH594 (black circles) and E. faecalis T2 (gray diamonds) tagged with pSL101P16S and grown in urine. Open symbols represent CFU/ml and closed symbols represent bioluminescence. (Figure reproduced from La  Rosa et. al., 2012) In the next experiment growth of lux-tagged E faecalis was monitored in Galleria  mellonella. G. mellonella larvae can be maintained at 37 °C thus permitting the study of host- pathogen interaction at the human physiological temperature. Also, they have a fairly advanced immune system comprising of phagocytic cells in the blood type fluid called hemolymph. To determine whether the luxABCDE cassette influences the virulence of E. faecalis MMH594, killing of G. mellonella larvae was monitored when infected by wild-type E. faecalis MMH594 and the strain tagged by pSL101P16S. This was done by injecting 10  µl of E. faecalis suspension (in 0.9% saline) into the body cavity of 10 larvae through the hindmost leg. As a control 10  µl of 0.9% saline was injected into another 10 larvae. These infected larvae were grown at 37 °C on 90 mm petri dishes and were examined every 2 hours. It was observed that the infection due to E. faecalis is accompanied by the melanisation of larvae whic h indicates towards the activation of prophenoloxidase (PO) responsible for biosynthesis of melanin and plays a role in the defence reactions against invading organisms (Sugumaran, 2001). From Figure 6a it can be confirmed that the virulence of lux-tagged strain of E. faecalis is similar to the wild type strain. Therefore, the lux-tagged strain was used to visualize the progress of infection in G. mellonella. Figure 6b shows the bioluminescent images of infected larvae captured till 48 hours after infection. The bioluminescent signal was detected immediately after infection and declined after 2 hours. After 4 hours post infection, a peak in the signal was observed and was constant till 24 hours after which all larvae were dead (Figure 6c). To confirm whether the bioluminescent signal corresponds to the growth of E. faecalis the infected larvae were sterilized by 70% ethanol and dissected and transferred into 0.9% saline solution. These samples were vortexed and homogenous mixture of insect and bacteria was serially diluted and plated on GM17 plated with spectinomycin. At each time period, 3 insects were dissected and number of CFU was counted. A drop in the number of CFU was observed 2 hours after infection but this was followed by increase in growth till 48 hours (Figure 6d). This result is in good agreement with the bioluminescent signal measured in the infected larvae and shows that the bioluminescent reporter can be used to monitor the progress of infection by E. faecalis in G. mellonella. Figure 6 (a) Percentage survival of G. mellonella larvae when infected with wild type E. faecalis MMH594 (à ¢- ¡),  ­pSL101P16S tagged E. faecalis (X) and 0.9% saline (ââ€"Å ). (b) Bioluminescent images of G. mellonella larvae infected with  ­pSL101P16S tagged E. faecalis. The colour scale shows the intensity of bioluminescent signal. (c) Bioluminescent signal measured corresponding to the growth of  ­pSL101P16S tagged E. faecalis over 48 hours post infection. (d) Number of CFU  ­of E. faecalis from the homogenous mixture of larvae and bacteria. (Figure reproduced from La Rosa et. al., 2012) The use of luxABCDE as a reporter for monitoring growth of E. faecalis in animal models has several advantages (as stated earlier). On the other hand, there are certain limitations of this system. Bioluminescence of luxABCDE relies on fatty acid synthesis and thus on the metabolic activity of the cells. Lower the metabolic activity lower will be the bioluminescent signal. Due to this, the pSL101 reporter system designed in this study may not be able to measure the growth of bacterial cells with low metabolic rate. This is especially disadvantageous in case of biofilm formation by E. faecalis in which the cells may have low metabolic activity. Also, the report does not describe the effect of pSL101 derivatives (with P32, P16S and Phelp) on the growth of E. faecalis. Although, it is mentioned that the growth of E. faecalis MMH594 strain with pSL101 is similar to the strain with pSL101P32, pSL101P16S, pSL101Phelp (data not shown) it is necessary to investigate whether the pSL101 and its derivatives present any metabolic load on the E. faecalis strain. The study shows that the pSL101 derivatives are stably maintained in E. faecalis but the plasmid stability test was done only for duration of 7 days and it is possible that the plasmids may be rapidly lost after this time period. This will prevent the use of the pSL101 reporter system to monitor growth of E. faecalis in other animal models, such as mouse, where long-time monitoring is required. Therefore, it is necessary to assess the stability of these plasmids in E. faecalis over a long time. Additionally, it may be difficult to observe any bioluminescent signal from deep tissues of animal models if the signal is weak, as in the case of low number of E. faecalis cells. In conclusion, a simple and robust reporter system using luxABCDE has been developed to monitor the growth of E. faecalis in animal models. Despite the limitations, this method is non-invasive and will significantly reduce the burden on experimental animals. It can be used to investigate the various genes involved in the virulence of E. faecalis facilitating better understanding of pathogenicity of E. faecalis. References:- Bachmann, H., Santos, F., Kleerebezem, M., et al. (2007) Luciferase detection during stationary phase in Lactococcus lactis. Applied and Environmental Microbiology, 73 (14): 4704-4706. Chow, J.W., Thal, L.A., Perri, M.B., et al. (1993) Plasmid-associated hemolysin and aggregation substance production contribute to virulence in experimental enterococcal endocarditis. Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy, 37 (11): 2474-2477. Grady, R. and Hayes, F. (2003) Axe-Txe, a broad-spectrum proteic toxin-antitoxin system specified by a multidrug-resistant, clinical isolate of Enterococcus faecium. Molecular microbiology, 47 (5): 1419-1432. Hanin, A., Sava, I., Bao, Y., et al. (2010) Screening of in vivo activated genes in Enterococcus faecalis during insect and mouse infections and growth in urine. PloS one, 5 (7): e11879. Ike, Y., Hashimoto, H. and Clewell, D.B. (1984) Hemolysin of Streptococcus faecalis subspecies zymogenes contributes to virulence in mice. Infection and immunity, 45 (2): 528-530. Jett, B.D., Jensen, H.G., Nordquist, R.E., et al. (1992) Contribution of the pAD1-encoded cytolysin to the severity of experimental Enterococcus faecalis endophthalmitis. Infection and immunity, 60 (6): 2445-2452. La Rosa, S.L., Diep, D.B., Nes, I.F., et al. (2012) Construction and application of a luxABCDE reporter system for real-time monitoring of Enterococcus faecalis gene expression and growth. Applied and Environmental Microbiology, 78 (19): 7003-7011. Mundy, L.M., Sahm, D.F. and Gilmore, M. (2000) Relationships between enterococcal virulence and antimicrobial resistance. Clinical microbiology reviews, 13 (4): 513-522. Qazi, S.N., Counil, E., Morrissey, J., et al. (2001) agr expression precedes escape of internalized Staphylococcus aureus from the host endosome. Infection and immunity, 69 (11): 7074-7082. Schlievert, P.M., Gahr, P.J., Assimacopoulos, A.P., et al. (1998) Aggregation and binding substances enhance pathogenicity in rabbit models of Enterococcus faecalis endocarditis. Infection and immunity, 66 (1): 218-223. Shankar, N., Lockatell, C.V., Baghdayan, A.S., et al. (2001) Role of Enterococcus faecalis surface protein Esp in the pathogenesis of ascending urinary tract infection. Infection and immunity, 69 (7): 4366-4372. Sugumaran, M. (2001) Control mechanisms of the prophenoloxidase cascade. Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology, 484 289-298. Nikhil Aggarwal

Expression of Desires In Arabic Women’s Novels :: Arab Culture Cultural Essays

Expression of Desires In Arabic Women’s Novels Picking an original and engaging topic that is able to span all five of the very different authors’ novels we examined this semester proved to be a difficult task. Though there are certainly similarities between each book and overlying themes that connect them, ultimately I didn’t want to get tied down into the shifty and unsafe territory of placing novels together solely because one, they are all written by women; or two, they all emerge out of the Arabic world. However, there are certainly broad themes present in all of the novels, and I chose to focus on how women express, or can’t express their desires and wants, and how the ability to do so leads to agency and freedom in one’s own life. A woman’s desires, sexual and otherwise, seems surprisingly suppressed or not allowed in each novel. When it does emerge, it seems that too often one’s own desire is replaced with the need to be desirable for men, and so these women’s wants are placed aside in favor of the male protagonists’ wishes. I want to explore this topic in each novel, taking a look at when a woman is able to express desire, when it must give way and take second place to a man’s wants, and how, ultimately, it seems to free the women who chose to make their own path according to their wants, dreams, and goals. As we finish the semester and conclude our discussions on Arabic women, I think it’s important to note that though at times these women have agency in their lives, quite often, despite different upbringings, social/political/economic status, regions of habitation, and direct contact with Western influence, they are ultimately unable to take total control of their own lives. Obviously there are varying degrees to which this is applicable, and certainly some of the women are stronger than others, but overall, I think a very key message that all of these female authors are sending out is that women’s struggle for freedom and equality is still a battle that is being fought-- all over the world for sure, but certainly in the Middle East. Pillars of Salt, perhaps the novel with the strongest female character, is the one novel where desire is seen and nothing stops Maha from expressing her wants, both sexually and when it concerns her husband, son, and father.