New World vs. Old Essay Example for Free

New World vs. Old Essay Global Wine War 2009: New World versus Old 1. How were the French able to dominate the worldwide wine trade for centuries? What sources of competitive advantage did they develop to support their exports? The wine production of France goes all the way back to being part of the first niche market for premium wine. Factor conditions of France, such as land and climate, were well suited for wine-production compared to other European countries. Since the early 19th century cross-border shipping was very expensive, France was able to cluster the related and supporting industries of wine production within their domestic borders. As a result, France increased its competitive advantage throughout other sources without much impact from other countries. As the industry became France’s second largest export, side by side with a culture of rich food, the demand conditions got affected, as consumers were expecting a certain quality. The French government provided the classification systems, which increased the rivalry and domestic competitiveness and raised the entry barriers so that entry of foreign competition was kept at a minimum. 2. Given the longstanding dominance of Old World wine producers, how were the New World producers, such as the Australians, able to expand their market share so rapidly in the 1990s? As postwar increased demand for wine rapidly, factor conditions of the New World producers, such as widely available suitable land and it being less expensive, made it possible to meet the new demand and boosted the New World industry. The new demand conditions demanded higher quality wines and as new generations were born, the consumers got more price-conscious and convenient oriented. New World producers met these changes in demands by introducing a completely new firm strategy, structure, and rivalry compared to the Old World producers, who were constrained by tradition. Innovation was the key word in the New World strategy; suddenly, mechanical technology reduced labor cost and pushed down prices, packaging innovations made distribution easier and provided convenience to the consumers, and technology ensured vintage-to-vintage consistency etc. As well, branding and marketing skills were performed on the basis of vintage-to-vintage consistency, which gave the consumers further preferences and strengthened the position of the New World producers globally. This made them capable at expanding even more rapidly. The New World producers changed the traditional patterns of related and supporting industries, which used to being long value-chains, as the big producers now controlled the full value chain, able to extract margins and control quality at every level. The size now gave them bargaining power – a power, which made them have a strong grip on the importing countries. The New World producers had created a strong innovative company culture; a culture that could easily adapt to the changes of consumer culture and government regulations. New generations were born and so was the rise of fashion in a completely different culture of lighter consumption. The New World producers responded to the swings of fashion by taking advantage of the factor conditions: much capacity and regulatory freedom. This was the complete opposite to what the Old World producers were able to do – still constrained by the long history of wine-making tradition and lack of innovation. By that, the New World producers were always a few steps ahead of the Old World producers when the global patterns changed.

History and Impact of Social Media

History and Impact of Social Media SOCIAL MEDIA Introduction It can be define as,â€Å"Social media is to the way of communication between different communities in which they share , produce and exchange thoughts , opinion through networks. It is define as a group of internet based application that build on the ideological and technological foundations of web 2 and that allow the creation and exchange of user generated content.† Most of us know social media from its different tools and communities. Face book, MySpace, YouTube, and Wikipedia are the most famous. The tools of social media – we can also call them â€Å"Web 2.0† tools – developed quickly, and new tools, functions, and services are born every day. It also includes usage of mobile and internet that create highly interactive platforms through which people of different communities discuss, create and modify user generated content. It produces a change in communities, organization, and institutions by combining it on a same platform towards individual. Social media imply twoà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ way interaction, so included in social media is any means of communication that allows a interaction. The unstable growth of Social Media provided millions of people the opportunity to create and share content on a large scale imaginable a few years ago. Large participation in these social networks are reacted in the countless number of opinions, news, and product reviews .These are constantly posted and discussed in social sites. Given this widespread generation and use of content, it is natural to target ones messages to highly connected people. They will propagate them further in the social network. Now, Social media is a framework like a honeycomb in the world, which is surrounded all the world in a global way. It affects the whole of the society at the same time to all the persons of different countries equally. Social media has a wide range in the present times. Social media have many different forms in which it interact with different peoples. It includes social networking, wikis, internet forums, social blogs, weblogs , photographs , video these forums on a daily basis in business, social life and for entertainment. [1] History: The history of social media start within the invention of computers. It covers many eras to reach its complete and develop form. The development of computers from mechanical era to electrical era had human great invention. The social media had arrived at the end of the 19th century. Now, it is used in the increasing number of users to find everything at one place and time. The history of social media lied in three terms for example Before the dawning(1969-1995 ) The dawning(1995-2005) After the dawning(2006-present) 2.Before the Dawning: In 1969 CompuServe was first introduced in computers to run different mechanisms. The Arpanet service is introduced in 1969.In 1971 first e-mail was introduced in the market, which led e-mailing history. In 1978 project butenburg started. These are all features in the computers. The birth of [emailprotected] .The whole earth lectronic link The Well was came into market in 1985. In 1988 Internet Relay Chat(IRC) is used in computers. In 1989 World Wide Web w3c was introduced. From 1991 -94 approximately 2.6 million internet users are produced and now, the world wide web goes to public. The first web page is also created Tim Berners Lee and Mosaic is created , during these years first blog JUSTIN LINKS made and also THE GLOBE. The Dawning : During 1995-2005 multiple pages or apps came into existence in the market which are such as: ICQ , a free instant messaging software Microsoft Hotmail Sixdegrees.com In year 1999 , 70 million computers connected to internet In year 1998 major search engine Google came into existence In 2001 Wikipedia-a free Encyclopedia Also apple iPods’ 2003 , Skype Linked in 2004-facebook for Harvard students Image hostin-flickr In 2005 – face book for high school students 3.After The Dawning : In 2006-13 an increasing number of users increased day by day. In 2006 approx. 400 million searches per day on Google observed. Twitter and you tube users number also increased. Face book , in 2009;350 million users 2011 face book and twitter had 550 million and 56 million users , respectively. From 2011, social media is virtually accessible from anywhere in the world. The internet population is more than 2.4 billion users,today. Types: Social media can be divided into following categories regarding social presence , media richness and self presentation. It had following types: collaborative projects blogs and micro blogs content communities social networking site virtual game worlds virtual social worlds Examples: There are many examples of social media belonging to different types which had various aspects as following: 1-Wikipedia: It was firstly lunched by jimmy wale and Larry Sanger in January 15,2001. Wikipedia is the example of all wikis and â€Å"wiki-like† works. It is a search web site. We only write the topic in the address bar and then it give a lot of information on that topic. It give also the option of different language like English, Eesti, Arabic, Francais, and Italian etc. On this site, information of all the subjects are available in all the language. Due to different language facility, every person can get knowledge and ideas in his own language. The basic idea behind wikis is to provide voluntary, decentralised and open information. Text can be added or corrected, and new sections can be added without the need to modify the structure of the entire page. 2-Twitter: Twitter is also a shape of face book but from twitter we can only sent short texts. It is online social networking and microblogging service that make able to users send and read short 140-character text messages. From the way of twitter, people exchange ideas,thought and information from their relatives and friends. These messege are called tweets commonly.There is no opportunity to justify a point of view or cite sources, and because of this, political messaging and conversation can be more heated and critical here than on other social media platforms. Despite this, Twitter can be used for active political discussion. Twitter can also be used to steer the user to more detailed content elsewhere, through web links or other references. However, studies on the use of Twitter to influence voting behaviour highlight only small groups of â€Å"super users†. 3- YouTube and Dailymotion: YouTube is the Internet’s leading video service. It began operating in 2005, and grew very quickly, with 50 million visits to the site just by the end of the same year. In 2010, there were already more than 2 billion visits to You-Tube every day. Th e basic idea behind YouTube is that users upload videos to the site and at the same time, watch and comment on what they see. Based on the number of viewers, the most popular videos on YouTube are music videos, entertainment programmes, and news videos, but there are also some user-made videos about personal problems that have found quite a large audience. 4Facebook: Facebook was first lunched in February 2004.Facebook is a online connection among the people which are well-known to each other. They posted their photos, videos, and many other blogs. Its registration is open from the age of 13 to older. Most consider Facebook as the very image of social media. The basic idea is to off er each registered user the chance to create a user profile with pictures and to keep in touch with their so-called â€Å"friends†, or contacts they link to on the site. Facebook wasn’t the first of its kind: similar services already existed in the late 1990s, but the way Harvard university student linked a person’s photograph and profile to others and created a way to share thoughts, pictures and links was completely new. It was easy for users to adapt to it. Facebook was first available in February 2004 to Harvard students. Within one year, Facebook was used in almost numbers have changed or become outdated. Th e worldwide attraction with Facebo ok is based on the possibility it offers to be in contact with people whose e-mail addresses and phone chance to create networks: Facebook’s activity is based only on communities. Being on Facebook is not just limited to information within a group of friends. Through groups, users can form new networks. A user’s posting, in the form of text, pictures or both, can receive feedback from other users in the form of the †Like† button, and the opt ion to make their own comments. They can also forward the posting to their own Facebook contacts using the â€Å"Share† option. One popular feature Facebook supports is community pages for common interests. Many political candidates create a page for themselves, and when a user clicks on the â€Å"Like† button, that user indicates that they would like to receive updates each time the candidate adds something to Facebook. 5-Google : It had many benefits for different communities. Its uses are multiple range from education to all social aspects in life. It is helpful for many peoples and users. Impacts Of Social Media: News : Social media is a way of information. It has become an important source of news. While the credibility of some sources can clearly be contested, news channels give updates on significant happenings all over the world. Their availability on social networks makes news more accessible. Additionally, news quickly gets passed around the networks in ways never experienced before. Interaction : Social media has furthered interaction by such a massive scale that is hard not to notice it. It allows people to keep in touch in a more regularly, and sometimes, more closely, than was ever before because of time. People cities or continents apart can keep in touch so effortlessly, creating an opportunity to experience different cultures. 3.Political Landscapes: Social media has developed greater political awareness and organization, which has in some cases rewritten entire political landscapes. It has particularly played a large part in the Iran elections, and Obama’s reelection for a second term as US President, and inspired the political unrests in Egypt. 4.Learning : Actually, learning is a two way process. Social media has also played a large part in development literacy. Children who start using the platforms develop early communication skills, and generally become more literate. This is an encouraging trend, and thanks to the huge availability of information, both simplistic and complex on the internet, anyone can become as smart or intelligent as they desire. 5.Marketing : The whole dynamics of marketing have been changed. People can do his business sitting in his own home. In a few minutes, they check the sample online and give order for delivery. They are able to understand the needs of the market from the market itself, greatly altering the way marketing has been done in the past. Advantages: These modern technology has become our life very easy. It has removed the distance between the people. Due to this reason, people are always in a contact and share their feeling with one another. Its make the world as a globe. We aware every time from all breaking news that what is doing in our country at this time. As different parts of the world advance at different pace in education, business, tourism and so on, people tend to migrate from place to place for varying reasons, ranging from business-related reasons to pleasure-related reasons. This act of migration causes families, friends, lovers, and other related people to stay separated by distance. It would be quite emotionally worrying for one to find out that he or she would be either temporarily or permanently away from his or her family. There could be psychological effects associated with being away from home. Most people go through a period of initial depression, cultural shock, or homesickness no matter how well they are prepared. The temporary feelings of missing one’s family, home environment, friends, etc along with the initial cultural shock, and readjustment to your new life could be frightening. Though cannot replace the feeling of being home with one’s family in person, the technology of Skype has made it possible for many people to make free internet voice and video calls. People will worry less about cost and converse in a relaxed manner. Video-chats, such that Skype technology provides, could go a long way in maintaining the friendly bond in such cases. Social networking can enrich social lives for those separated from family and friends by long distances, bringing them together despite the physical separation. This has been observed in a number of people in the armed forces that use Skype, Facebook, and twitter to stay in touch. Though the world is quite large, it now seems â€Å"small† due to social networking. People from different parts of the globe can connect to other people in other parts of the world, exchanging information and pleasantries. The future of social networking will have the world to seem even â€Å"smaller† Disadvantages: There are always two sides of every coin. Mostly people do not use this technology properly. Social media is just a tool or mean for people to use. It is still up to the users on how to use this tool (just like a knife, can help you to cut food or hurt others). â€Å"Pew Research Centers Internet American Life Project and Elon Universitys Imagining the Internet Center conducted a study on The Future of Online Socializing from the highly engaged, diverse set of respondents to an online, opt-in survey consisted of 895 technology stakeholders and critics.† The new generation people spend their a lot of time on face book daily. due to this reason, they can not get their aim of his future. The negative effects presented by the respondents included time spent online robs time from important face-to-face relationships; the internet fosters mostly thin relationships; the act of leveraging the internet to engage in social connection exposes private information; the internet allows peo ple to silo themselves, limiting their exposure to new ideas; and the internet is being used to engender intolerance. Some respondents also highlighted that there will be development of some new psychological and medical syndromes that will be variations of depression caused by the lack of meaningful quality relationships, and a new world society. The term, Social Networking, has begun to deceive the users to believe they are social creatures. For instance, spending a couple of hours using Farmville and chatting with friends concurrently does not convert into social skills. People become dependent on the technology and forget how to socialise in face-to-face context. The online personality of a person might be totally different from his/her offline character, causing disorder when the two personalities meet. It is apparent in online dating when the couple gets together in face-to-face for the first time. Their written profiles do not clearly represent their real-life characters. It is more inviting for people to type something that others want to hear than saying the truth. Besides the friendship, creators of social networking sites and users redefine the term, privacy in the Internet as well. The challenge in data privacy is to share data while protecting personally identifiable information. Almost any information posted on social networking sites is permanent. Whenever someone posts pictures or videos on the web, it becomes viral. When the user deletes a video from his/her social network, someone might have kept it and then posted it onto other sites like YouTube already. People post photographs and video files on social networking sites without thinking and the files can reappear at the worst possible time. Table Conclusion : Today’s social media have helped make real the idea of a â€Å"global village†. Social media has changed the way people communicate. Social media’s greatest change to the way people communicate is user-produced content and the fast and flexible sharing of this content Though the world is quite large, it now seems â€Å"small† due to social networking. People from different parts of the globe can connect to other people in other parts of the world, exchanging information and pleasantries. The future of social networking will have the world to seem even â€Å"smaller†. Everything has some positive aspects as well as negative so does the social media. But it contributes a lot to the human being in different forms from small scale to a large scale in every field. [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_media (accessed 4 13sunday, 2014).

Pros and Cons of the Reformation

Pros and Cons of the Reformation Pros and cons of the reformation The middle of the 1400s was period of dramatic change, marked with end of the age of chivalry as new forms of weapon were produced and a utilization of gunpowder transformed the traditional concept of knights in shining armor. Consequentially, the hierarchy of the nobility became unstable, their supremacy no longer marked by their ability to bear arms and defend their homeland. Within the same period, the supremacy of the upper-class took another blow when the printing press was invented, allowing more of the population to acquire the written word, now attainable and affordable. However, with these new developments into the proceeding centuries, the availability of copies of the Holy Bible and an increase in Church sandal led to an age of extreme superstition. In order to confront these issues and cope with the changing world, figures Martin Luther and John Calvin took noteworthy action within what is now known as the Protestant Reformation. Peaking in the 1500s, an overzealous church showed prominent internal problems. First, with the new translations of Scripture available, people began to take the Bible seriously again. However, bad translations or interpretations, such as in the case of Joshua slaughtering the Canaanites, made some readers believe that that would be allowable in their time as well (Joshua 10:40). Due to this ____, the Church began to think that the text was too dangerous and full of misunderstanding, necessitating a control of information given to the masses. Along those lines, the papacy decided that, as successors to Peter, no one would have the authority to question their authority since they have been divinely appointed. Since their power presumably comes from a special connection to God, authorities within the church used their positions to abuse that power. The most noticeable abuses of power were in not keeping with the code of the religious position, such as forgoing chastity in order to have ___ sexual relations, or placing relatives into positions of power. The most infamous corruption of this time was the Church stealing patrons’ money through indulgences, a remission of punishments for sins and forgiveness of its guilt through payment. Tetzel’s Sermon pg19 Church had religious, cultural, political, and economic power â€Å"The pope can do all things God can do.† Nicolaus de Tudeschis[1386-1445], famous Benedictine canonist and abbot,in â€Å"Commentaria† (lvi, 34) Therefore, in this time, religious faithful had a conception that God can be bribed for redemption. For fear of eternal damnation, people paid money to the Church in exchange for absolution of their sins, or those of their relatives, allowing entry into Heaven. Based on an idea similar to â€Å"Jesus offering Himself to appease His angry father,† the Church cashed in on the surplus of sins in their communities (Ranasinghe). However, with that thought, Martin Luther emerged with a counter argument, proposing that the death of Jesus is worth infinitely more than any human sin, so, with His supreme offering, the Church should not need any of the congregation’s money involved. In 1517, Luther wrote a letter to Archbishop Albert of Brandenburg, which included a copy of his 95 Theses, protests against clerical abuses of power such as the practice of indulgences. In the letter, Luther suggests that this sale of reconciliation and buying one’s way out of â€Å"all punishment and guilt† must have occurred without Albert’s â€Å"knowledge and consent,† hoping that reform may come from within the Church (26; 27). Perhaps starting the Protestant Reformation with his Theses, Luther’s small attempts at reforming the church quickly exploded into a revolution out of his control. In addition to challenging the church’s practice of selling indulgences, Luther proposed that Biblical Scripture should become its own sole authority, not determined by a church official such as the pope. Therefore, faith became more important than good works, advising that humans cannot become good people or pleasing in the eyes of the Lord by performing virtuous actions. Rather, Luther created a new view of God entirely, rather than the old church’s blasphemous conception of one that can be bribed. According to Luther, humans are subordinate to an angry God, due to Original Sin. Only able to be saved by God’s grace, the core of human sinfulness comes from the natural seeking of happiness, a sure sign of human depravity. Since trying to construct our own happiness and not turning to God, the only way to become a virtuous person is to realize that you are not capable of virtue and thereby dependent on God alone. Living on earth, children of God must observe human laws but know that they can never be just or worthy in His eyes. Crying out from the depths of human depravity, humans cannot know themselves as anything other than sinners ruled by their passions and vices. Both in the Bible and in the writings of Augustine, Luther agrees Christ would have â€Å"died in vain† if man were capable of virtue (Galatians 2:21). In order to remind ourselves of our sinfulness, the purpose of human laws and rulers is to make it impossible to maintain a clear conscience. Making humans feel guilty and aware of their own wickedness, Luther wanted to keep the faithful away from the dangerous illusion that they can live apart from God and remind them of how unworthy they are, so in no way capable of buying their way into Heaven. While Luther was a reformer, his ideas quickly had a life of their own, exploding and creating a revolutionary situation. People had uncontrollably angry reactions against the excesses of the Church, breaking the stained glass and destroying anything that spoke merely of the beauty of God. Thus, John Calvin constructed a new system out of the explosion, similarly whitewashing walls of the churchs and putting some pieces back together, transforming protestant Christianity into a reformed church based upon ideas of Luther. Calvin’s teachings were slightly different from Luther’s but maintained the same Protestant thought. He taught that human existence depends on God, predisposing an existence of a Creator and implying that the world is not of our own making. Therefore, under an omnipotent God, Calvin believed in predestination, a â€Å"doctrine† that God had pre-established and divinely ordered everything and that nothing, except perhaps God, can change it. Consequently, if a man is considered a good person, it is because he has been selected, out of everyone, by God to be good. Similarly, if he had been chosen to go to Hell, he is able to choose how to get there, but he cannot turn around and choose God, since God must choose him, a ___ called irresistible grace. Unable to deny or resist God’s Will, chosen or not, God’s foreknowledge also implies a state of limited atonement, where not all were â€Å"created on equal terms† and that Jesus died for the select few, not the many (219; 220). Pg 213-254 Good works are an evidence of faith and chosen-ness, works + faith = chosen (opp. Luther) We are unable to know the will of God; human curiosity, questioning is wicked â€Å"let us abstain from the search of knowledge , to which it is foolish as well as perilous and even fatal to aspire† (217) Church decides what is in the Bible, so turn to the Church for answers Luther doesn’t believe you need church, you can read Scripture for yourself Calvin: Scripture has authority, exists prior to the church (in the beginning was the word†¦and the word was with god) Church doesn’t form scripture, scripture forms the church, continually educates it Script. Is timeless, story progresses, conception of God gets increasingly sophisticated as people grow in faith, over lifetime Continually refined over course of history Scripture is an illustration, not a divine work†¦it contains divine Word, but the object itself isn’t divine. Words point beyond itself, reminder of something more important but not sacred itself (meaning > words) Pros of their actions Free thought, authority of word called into question Think for themselves now, interpret (Bible loses sacredness) Luther – believed that Bible has meaning that should be available to/understood by any intelligible person Calvin – scripture = interaction between human and mind of God through written text, interpretation allowed since word isn’t divine/only represents divine Set stage for future ages of reason, challenging authority Lessened power of the corrupt within the church Shut down monastaries, suspicious of stealing money, friars getting into mischief at nunneries (brothels) – Luther allowed priests/nuns to marry World changing view: nothing special about priests, mass (can be meaningful but not literal and blasphemous) Stopped the stealing of money, exposed the scandal of indulgences Patience for change – don’t cause a scandal with brash actions, restrain/reformation is exploding Calvin: human improvement is possible through divinely established institutions (scripture) Connects state, human community – live according to deeper understanding of word of God Cons Caused many wars, deaths (30 years’ war) Multitude of Protestant denominations that don’t agree on interpretations Luther picking and choosing what he wanted them to read Anti-semitism, pg 137-142 Pg. 140: sharp mercy like a physician Jews are source of lies, stubborn in scorn/contempt Pg. 66, September Bible/Luther’s preface Opposed to James’ Epistle†¦he chooses what’s good/isn’t Making sure they read it through his eyes More interested in OT, Gospel of John in NT Leave out stories of works, preachings Just wants Jesus, commitment to Word of God, not to His works/miracles (faith > works) Pro: Jesus also didn’t want people just following Him for his miracles Luther, not interested in humanity of Jesus. Humanity is inherently evil, selfish We’re all sinners in the hands of an angry God People think that bible in infallible Problem of the bible Old church was afraid people would understand/misinterpret parts of the bible (Solomon’s 700 wives) Luther insists that it is the exact word of God, not interpretations/metaphors â€Å"Proper christian attitude toward authority† We’re meant to suffer – state should contain our appetites, desires, manage our human sinfulness We can’t know ourselves, since we’re too sinful to know Rulers can know, mold us because they’re ordained Punishment, suffering makes us more virtuous, obedient à ¯Ã†â€™Ã‚   more humble Break you to reshape you, they know what’s good for us Trapped by form of reasoning, trying to control spiritual things by making them objects we can control Symptomatic of fallen-ness of humans Christians are free in one sense but slaves in another â€Å"mouths are gagged, soul is free† Tension with the problem of slavery – page 117 It’s okay because it’s in the Bible (Abraham) – â€Å"carnal† problem, soul is still free/Christian liberty Why we need to be ruled = make us unhappy, kill the illusion that we can be happy without God = only through suffering do we become virtuous A good ruler is a wicked ruler Show us how fallen, depraved, sinful our nature of humanity is No definite conclusion, a lot of good but a lot of monstrous evil as well Happiness understood in terms of unhappiness Unhappier we are, happier we can be Paradox: still seeking happiness by being unhappy Viscous cycle, divided against ourselves: I am a sinner, I don’t expect to be saved so I will be saved Understandings of God Old church: angry god that can be bribed with indulgences, not good works or faith Luther: angry god, focus on condemnation (like in the OT), God is merciless, can’t change destiny of our human sinfulness Erasmus: loving, forgiveness, humor, humility; human foolishness We hold upon this earth the place of God Almighty Pope Leo XIII Encyclical Letter of June 20, 1894 â€Å"Wherefore, thou seest that after the book hath gone forth through the hands of the great and abominable church, that there are many plain and precious things taken away from the book, which is the book of the Lamb of God,† (1 Nephi 13:28). The Pope is not only the representative of Jesus Christ, he is Jesus Christ himself, hidden under the veil of flesh. Catholic National July 1895. (Ranasinghe 1/28/14) http://www.trueorthodoxy.org/heretics_roman_catholics_pope_as_christ.shtml

Nicolaus Copernicus :: Essays Papers

Nicolaus Copernicus The sixteenth and seventeenth centuries were known as the Scientific Revolution. During these centuries, science was starting to answer many questions about the earth. Scientists all around the world were making their assumptions on how the universe worked. Nicolaus Copernicus was a Polish astronomer that also had a theory. The Copernican Theory changed many views and had a great effect on society. Copernicus lived his life in Poland. When he was nineteen, he decided to study at the University of Cracow. At the university he was required to study grammar, rhetoric and logic, arithmetic, geometry, music and astrology or astronomy. Edward Rosen is the author of, Copernicus and the Scientific Revolution. He says, "The subjects offered during his years there are known form university records that are still preserved. The names of the professors who taught those courses are also known. But the students’ records are missing."1 The grades that he received in college are unknown. However, it is known that he did not stay long enough to earn a bachelor’s degree.2 After Copernicus left school he returned home to his uncle, Lucas Waczendrode, who was the bishop of Ermeland.3 His uncle suggested that he enter the canonry n Frauenburg. The canonry is a group of clergymen that belong to a cathedral or other church. Entering the canonry would give Copernicus a stable and secure income for the rest of his life. While he waited for an opening, his uncle sent him for training at the University of Bologna.4 While there he studied mathematics and Greek language for three and half years. He also became more familiar with astronomy. In 1501 Copernicus returned to Frauenburg where he became apart of the canonry. He left quickly and started to study in Italy at the University of Padua. There he studied law and medicine.5 After a lifetime of studying, he is said to have mastered the concepts of math, medicine, theology and astronomy.6 As Copernicus began to study astronomy more, he came to strongly disagree with the Ptolemaic system of astronomy. This system was based on the idea that the earth was fixed in the center and all the other heavenly bodies moved around it. Astronomers believed that the earth was in the center because it was heavy. Copernicus saw many problems associated with this system of astronomy. For example, sometimes the planets appeared to be going in the opposite direction and the brightness of the planets would tend to change as well.

Marvells to His Coy Mistress: The Essence Of Time :: essays research papers

Marvell's "To His Coy Mistress": The Essence of Time The male species has a very creative mind. The creative mind becomes particularly active when the case involves the female species. In Andrew Marvell's "To His Coy Mistress," the author shows how his creative mind is put to use. Marvell, uses time in an attempt to manipulate his coy mistress. Time is depicted in three different manners. First, Marvell uses "ideal time." In ideal time, he tells how many years he would spend loving her if they were given the opportunity. He explains to his mistress that if time allowed, he would spend hundreds of years just to admire her physical being. Next, he implicates "real time," to persuade her to become accessible to him. In real time, Marvell gives examples of her aging and how she will go to the grave with her pride if she doesn't give in. Finally, the use of "optimum time" plays on her emotions of how sweet the opportunity to make love to her would be. Marvell tells his mistress that the act would be almost animalistic and intense. Throughout the poem, he uses the phases of time in an attempt to frighten her into having sex with him. All three stanza's in the poem represent a different time frame. The first gives his mistress a feeling of unconditional love. He leads her to believe he would give all he has to her as long as time will permit. During the second stanza, Marvell plays on her fear of getting old. He warns her that her beauty isn't everlasting and that she will end up unhappy alone if she doesn't give in. Marvell's use of optimum time, the best time, show's his emotions. He appears to become aggravated. This seems to be his ace in the hole. In my opinion, he uses what he believes to be the dearest thing to her,

When Teen Abortion is Unsafe for Teen and Baby :: essays research papers

What would be your reaction if you had a teenager come home pregnant? Many teenagers fear their parents if they have to bring home a bad report card. Others may have a fear if they get into trouble at school. Although these fears are substantial, young women experience a fear that young men do not. Becoming pregnant is a serious fear for young women that engage in sexual intercourse. Often times a teen mother’s answer to this situation is abortion or an illegal abortion. Teen abortion can be somewhat difficult to get in many states without having parental consent or notification. These laws make it unsafe for the teen mother and unborn child. Teen abortion should be allowed without having to have parental consent. The mortality rate of teen mothers and babies would decrease significantly if this were the case. Sadly, each year in the United States the age of young girls who are sexually active decreases. At this rate there are many unwanted and unplanned pregnancies. â₠¬Å"One in three abortions in the U.S. are performed on teens† (Torr 91). That is a very high statistic that young women have created due to their adult decisions.† Teens are sometimes reluctant to practice birth control because it is not romantic† (Emmens 13). Teens tend to believe that they should not use birth control, because they do not think that they will get pregnant. The lack of birth control may result in pregnancy. Once a teenager gets pregnant she may not know what to do next. Teenagers usually become nervous and unsure of whether to tell someone or just keep the pregnancy a secret. When they keep the pregnancy a secret it puts them in danger as well as the unborn child. Planned Parenthood Federation of America is the nation's leading sexual and reproductive health care advocate and provider. â€Å"We believe that everyone has the right to choose when or whether to have a child, and that every child should be wanted and loved† (Suarez 2). Planned Parenthood allows a teenager to make safe decisions without including the teen’s parents. In many states where they have Planned Parenthood facilities the teenagers have more options. Teenagers that want birth control and/or an abortion can receive services, as well as information from a doctor. The doctors at this clinic encourage young women to tell their parents of their choice of abortion.

Jhumpa Lahiri

The Criterion: An International Journal in English ISSN-0976-8165 The Treatment of Immigrant Experience in Jhumpa Lahiri’s The Name Sake D. Ebina Cordelia Assistant Professor in English Holy Cross College,Tiruchirappalli Tamilnadu. Indian writing in English is one of the voices in which India speaks. It spreads the traditional and cultural heritage of India within India and also introduces it to the whole world.It is Indian in sensibility, thought, feeling and emotion and experience but submits itself to the discipline of English for expression. The contemporary novelists tread new paths and this shows the vitality of Indian fiction. Arun Joshi, Khushwant Singh, Salman Rushdie and Vikram Seth depict the Indian social scene, the partition scene, the theme of alienation and the social, economic and psychological problems of modern man.Writers who are cultural hybrids like Maxine Hongkinstun, Gloria Naylor, Alice Walker, Bharati Mukherjee, Jhumpa Lahiri and many others take up is sues like identity crisis, nationalism, alienation, marginalization, insider – outsider and the hegemonic power discourses in the fiction that they are writing today. Jhumpa Lahiri as an immigrant novelist clearly fits into the school of writers better known as the writers of the ‘Indian Diaspora’. The word ‘diaspora’ has been taken from Greek, meaning â€Å"to disperse†. ‘Diaspora’, is the voluntary or forcible movement of peoples from their homelands into new regions†¦. Ashcroft, Griffiths, Tiffin] Normally, disapora fiction lingers over alienation, loneliness, homelessness, existential rootlessness, nostalgia, questioning, protest and assertions and the quest for identity; it also addresses issues related to amalgamation or disintegration of cultures, discriminating margins of two different social milieus, internalizing nostalgia and suffering a forced amnesia. We may call it a literary / cultural phenomenon with a distinc t melting pot syndrome or that of a salad bowl where the identity of each ingredient is under question. Diaspora is the communities of people living ogether in one country who â€Å"acknowledge that the old country as a nation often buried deep in language, religion, custom or folklore, always has some claim on their loyalty and emotions†. (qtd. in. Kaur, 192) Diasporic experience is a spring of agonized inspiration, multiple identities, new subjectivities, creative memories and fresh perspectives of language and life. The earlier immigrant works of the neo-colonial and post-colonial works were often a product of forced immigration of people running away from religious and other political or social persecution.But several Indians who migrated to America in the mid 1970s and afterwards were in search of a better life, and material success and prosperity. Vol. II. Issue. IV Th e C rit 1 er io n December 2011 www. the-criterion. com The Criterion: An International Journal in Eng lish ISSN-0976-8165 Jhumpa Lahiri was born in 1967 and raised in Rhode Island. She was the daughter of Bengali parents. She was influenced by both Indian and American culture and heritage. This multi-cultural life style plays a central role in many of her stories, which depict the alienation and loneliness of immigrants caught between two drastically different worlds.Her novel, The Namesake focuses on the lives of Indians and Asians who have migrated abroad. Her writings tell us about the adjustment problems of Indians (both first and second generations) who have now settled in America. The tension between adhering to Indian culture and imbibing American culture, between upholding family tradition and subscribing to the individual freedom and realization that one is an outsider even though one is born there is beautifully highlighted in her works. Jhumpa Lahiri portrays immigrant experience and the clash of cultures.The conflicts portrayed in the novel bring great empathy to Gogol a s he stumbles along the first – generation path, strewn with conflicting loyalities, comic detours and wrenching love-affairs. With penetrating insight, she reveals not only the defining power of the names and expectations bestowed upon us by our parents but also the means by which we slowly, sometimes painfully, come to define ourselves. The Namesake, is the story of the Ganguli family. Following an arranged marriage in Calcutta, Ashoke and Ashima Ganguli move to the U. S. and settle in Cambridge and Massachusetts.An engineer working at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Ashoke adapts more quickly to life in America in contrast to his wife, who resists all things American and pines for her family, in Kolkatta. When a son is born to Gangulis, they are faced with the realization that they cannot wait for a suitable name for the child. Ashoke names the boy Gogol after a Russian writer, whose book he credits with saving his life. But Gogol who does not know the reason for gi ving him this name, is unable to identify either with the Americans or with the Indians.Intimately interacting with the American environment, the Indian diaspora continues to feel that they are the outsiders even though they have an insider’s insight. The question of cultural identity occurs in Lahiri’s writings. In India no single culture exists. Too many cultures have crossed and blended here, and produced a hybridity in us that cannot now unmix. The Indian cultural identity has acquired a heterogeneous composition with today’s youth who are on the move in search of better jobs.Hence the bonding between the people and the settlement is fast disappearing. The familiarity and uniformity of basic cultures across communities in the states of India makes for easier assimilation and preservation of one’s own culture. But when one leaves India and goes abroad, one realizes that even though one may try and assimilate with that culture, yet it is a baffling new world. The west which appeared alluring when one viewed it from one’s locale, appears complex and complicated when one settles there and realizes that one is exiled by choice from one’s home.Immigration is the movement of people from one country or area of the world to another to establish a new permanent residence. People become immigrants primarily for economic, political or religious motives. The U. S. has often been called the â€Å"melting pot†. The name is delivered from the United States’ rich tradition of Vol. II. Issue. IV Th e C rit 2 er io n December 2011 www. the-criterion. com The Criterion: An International Journal in English ISSN-0976-8165 immigrants coming to the U. S. looking for lucrative jobs and having their cultures melted and incorporated into the fabric of the country.Most of them (immigrants) were not highly educated and did not possess wealth or power in their home countries other than these few commonalities of what they didnâ₠¬â„¢t possess, their backgrounds were vastly different. The thread, however, that bound these immigrants together was their vision of improving their current situation. Emma Lazarus, in a poem entitled â€Å"The New Colossus†, which is inscribed on the pedestal of the statue of liberty tells of the invitation extended to those wanting to make the U. S. their home. â€Å"†¦. Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breath free†. Encyclopedia Americana, 1998, Vol. 637) To a question in an internet interview, regarding Lahiri as a child of immigrants in America and the conflicts she felt while growing up, she says, It was always a question of allegiance of choice. I wanted to please my parents and meet their expectations. I also wanted to meet the expectations of my American peers, and the expectations I placed on myself to fit into American society. She adds that it’s a classic case of divided identity, but depending on the degree to whi ch the immigrants in question are willing to assimilate, the conflict is more or less pronounced.Her parents were fearful and suspicious of America and American culture when she was growing up. Maintaining ties with India, and preserving the Indian tradition in America, meant a lot to them. The first generation immigrants try to stick to the mannerisms, values and beliefs of their own culture and any clash between their concept of â€Å"home† and their beliefs baffle them. In most of the second generation people these emotional links and ties with the past in most of the matters are loosened. They mainly go by American styles in food and habits, and their marital relations too are crumbling.The term first generation immigrant may be used to describe either of two classes of people. One may be, an immigrant to a country, possible with the caveat that they must be naturalized to receive this title. The second class may be the children of immigrant parents, first in a family lin e to be born in the new country. The ambiguity of this term extends to the term â€Å"second generation immigrant†, which may refer to the first generation born in the new country, or the first generation born to parents who were themselves born in the new country.The living ‘in-between’ condition is very painful and marginalizing for them. There is the yearning for â€Å"home†, to go back to â€Å"the lost origin†, and â€Å"imaginary homelands† are created from the fragmentary and partial memories of their homelands. The novel opens with Ashima recalling her homeland fondly. She is in an advanced state of pregnancy, admitted in a hospital for her delivery. To quote, †¦. nothing feels normal to Ashima. For the past eighteen months, ever since she’s arrived in Cambridge, nothing has felt normal at all.Its not so much the pain, which she knows, somehow, she will survive. It’s the consequence: Motherhood in a foreign land. â € ¦. It was happening so far from home, unmonitored and unobserved by those she loved. (The Namesake 6) Vol. II. Issue. IV Th e C rit 3 er io n December 2011 www. the-criterion. com The Criterion: An International Journal in English ISSN-0976-8165 They also face cultural dilemma when their cultural practices are mocked at and there is a threat to their cultural identity. They stand bewildered and confused, and show resistance also to the discourse of power in various forms.In the following generations these confusions, problems and yearnings become less intense as they get influenced by the culture of that country and also adapt themselves to it. To a question in an internet interview, regarding her immigrant experience, Jhumpa Lahiri says, †¦The way my parents explain it to me is that they have spent their immigrant lives feeling as if they are on a river with a foot in two different boats. Each boat wants to pull them in a separate direction, and my parents are always torn between the two. They are always hovering, literally straddling two worlds†¦.She feels an immigrant must teach us so much about the world and about human beings, things we can’t understand if we are born and raised and live our whole life in one place. â€Å"The generational differences† of the migrants and their children occupy different spaces in the ‘representative’ culture but their experiences of feeling rootless and displaced can be similar on nature. Though the children born to migrant peoples enjoy better settlement and place in that country â€Å"their sense of identity borne from living in a diaspora community is influenced by the past migrant history of their parents or grand parents†.Ashima tries to settle in and adjust herself to her surroundings, but she feels strange and lost in this country and spends hours remembering her parents and family, and reading the same five Bengali novels time and again. While waiting for the child to be born, she relives the past until the point of her depature for Boston. The thought of bringing up a baby in an alien land terrifies her. †¦to raise a child in a country where she is related to no one, where she knows so little, where life seems so tentative and spare. (The Namesake 6) Ashima gives birth to a boy and he is named Gogol after the Russian writer Nikolai Gogol.She feels, without a single grandparent or uncle or aunt, at her side, the baby’s birth, like most everything else in America, feels somehow haphazard, only half true †¦. She never known of a person entering the world so alone, so deprived. (The Namesake 25) Gogol who does not know the reason for giving him this name, is unable to identify either with the Americans or with the Indians. Gradually Ashoke and Ashima’s circle of Bengali acquaintances grow and the cultural spirit of Bengal is recreated whenever the friends meet. Robert Cohen comments that distinct diaspora communities are con structed out of the, †¦. onference of narratives of the old country to the new which create the sense of shared history. As Ashoke and Ashima continue to maintain a solidarity with the community, they identify Gogol continues to search for his own identity, for a set code that will not make him feel an â€Å"insider – outsider†. Vol. II. Issue. IV Th e C rit 4 er io n December 2011 www. the-criterion. com The Criterion: An International Journal in English ISSN-0976-8165 The first time his parents leave him alone overnight he goes with his friends Colin, Jason and Marc to a party in the university where his father teaches.This is his first visit to a dorm. There he meets a girl and he introduces himself as Nikhil and â€Å"he feels at once guilty and exhilarated†. (The Namesake 96)â€Å"Stunned at how easy it is† to say Nikhil, he who never dated a girl before and feels brave. He manages to kiss her before he goes. But it hadn’t been Gogol but Nikhil, â€Å"That Gogol had nothing to do with it†(The Name Sake 96) One must note the dual identity or identity crisis in Gogol. Prior to his depature for college, Gogol officially changes his name to Nikhil. But even though he had longed to change his name, he finds that he has to get used to being called Nikhil.And when his parents also refer to him as Nikhil he feels, â€Å"†¦ in that instant that he is not related to them, not their child†. (The Namesake 106) Ashoke and Ashima make adjustments which are absolutely necessary. They try to bring up their children the way it is done in India. Sonia and Gogol try to assert their individuality, and Gogol goes to the extent of reminding his parents that he is eighteen. Ashoke and Ashima cannot think of Pemberton Road as their home, but Nikhil refers to his New Haven hostel as his home. Ashima is outraged by his remark. â€Å"†¦. Sorry, I left it at home† (The Name Sake 108). Ashima says †¦. hat aft er twenty years in America, She still cannot bring Herself to refer to Pemberton Road as home. (The Namesake 108) Though Ashoke and Ashima have a large circle of Bengali migrants as their friends; the sense of alienation can be felt in them. Gogol and Sonia, American born and educated, want to be accepted as Americans. However, they feel alienated both from their parents and from their American friends who consider them as outsiders. The insider outsider feeling is prevalent in all migrants. It is through the eyes of the first generation settlers that the second generation learns about their homeland.The idea of ‘home’ is central to all human beings in every culture. Having sampled the pleasures and pains of the world, one longs to return to one’s home. Ashoke and Ashima’s body language and demeanour change, the minute they are in India. They are more confident and assertive. It is true that every time one returns one comes back to a different home, becaus e times change and so do people, but nevertheless it is a home where one’s roots are anchored. The first generation wants to preserve their culture and customs in the foreign land.It is significant that every other Saturday Ashoke and Ashima send Gogol for Bengali language and culture classes at the home of one of their Bengali friends. But, The children in the class study without interest, wishing they could be at a ballet or softball practice instead. (The Namesake 66) Lahiri also shows that most of the first generation people adjust well and make a space for themselves in the new country. Ashima is a good example of Lahiri’s first generation people. She tries to adapt herself with the society, she tries to work in a library and manages to drive a car by herself.They concede to Sonia and Gogol’s demand of celebrating Christmas, and having an American dinner once a week. However, when Gogol gets involved with Ruth, they disapprove openly saying ‘Youâ€⠄¢re too young to get involved this way. (The Namesake 117) Vol. II. Issue. IV Th e C rit 5 er io n December 2011 www. the-criterion. com The Criterion: An International Journal in English ISSN-0976-8165 When Ruth goes off to oxford to do a course he misses her and he, †¦longs for her as his parents have longed, all these years, for the people they love in India†¦ for the first time in his life, he knows this feeling. The Namesake 117) He attends a panel discussion about Indian novels written in English. There the question about marginality is discussed. Teleologically speaking, ABCDs are unable to answer the question ‘where are you from? ’ the sociologist on the panel declares. (The Namesake 118) Gogol realizes that ABCD [ABCD stands for American born confused â€Å"desi†] refers to him also. He ponders over the question of identity. After graduating Gogol gets a job in a firm and is posted in New York. He meets Maxine and is invited by her for dinner. While eating dinner with Maxine’s parents, he recalls his mother’s hospitable nature and how, â€Å"She would never have served so few dishes to a quest. † (The Namesake 133) Lahiri shows that comparisons and contrast between Indian culture and Western culture are bound to occur. Cultural displacement involves the loss of language, family ties and a support system. Salman Rushdie says, A full migrant suffers, traditionally, a triple disruption. He loses his place, he enters into alien language, he finds himself surrounded by beings whose social behavior and codes are unlike and sometimes even offensive to his own.And this is what makes a migrant such a pathetic figure, because roots, language and social norms have been three of the most important parts of the definition of what it is to be human being. For the second generation the question of identity is a complicated issue. At home Indian culture and value system are adhered to, while in public the American co de of conduct is followed. This becomes doubly problematic. Added to this is the fact that Ashoke, Ashima and all first generation settlers want their children to do well and get good jobs.The American dream looms in their eyes and they want their children to exploit the situation and derive the maximum benefit for themselves, but they must follow the Indian moral and cultural code at home. However, Gogol, Sonia, as well Moushumi want to chart out their own lives. Gogol’s shifting in with Maxine is an assertion of his independence, and his desire to completely merge with the American culture. Gogol eventually marries Moushumi, but they are not happy and so they part. Ashoke dies, and Ashima decides to sell the house on Pemberton Road. Hence forth she would spend six months in India and six months in the states.True to the meaning of her name, she will be without borders, without a home of her own, a resident everywhere and nowhere (The Namesake 276) Initially when she had com e in 1967, she had been petrified of living in America. But now as she makes the journey back home alone, she is no longer terrified. Vol. II. Issue. IV Th e C rit 6 er io n December 2011 www. the-criterion. com The Criterion: An International Journal in English ISSN-0976-8165 It is the last Christmas party at Pemberton Road after the death of Ashoke. Gogol, Sonia and her fiance Ben, and other guests gather around Ashima to enjoy this moment.Gogol goes to get his father’s camera and finds the book, which his father had given him on his birthday and which he had never bothered to open and read. As the party goes on downstairs, he sits on his bed and begins to read the book. The first generation migrants face cultural dilemma but do their best to retain their cultural identity and cultural practices in their beliefs, values, cloths and eating habits. These ‘beliefs, traditions, customs, behaviours and values along with their ‘possessions and belongings’ are c arried by migrants with them when they arrive in â€Å"new places†.The children of the migrants do not face the same problems because of their parents living â€Å"here now†. Thus Lahiri has shown dynamically the shifting concepts of ‘home’ and ‘displacement’ in the successive generations of migrants. Lahiri uses her own craft, technique, style, format and structure. Her narrative voice is elegant, bitter sweet and gentle. Her novel talks of Indian culture, traditions, including food and festival, clothes and customs. Her novel, The Namesake, exhibits her signature style and in it she revisits issues that she knows well, those of cultural displacement, sense of identity, and belonging with one foot in two words.Lahiri gracefully shifts the narrative focus from the Ganguli parents to Gogol as he reaches school age. Gogol struggles with his name, which he regards as absurd and inappropriate. The issue of culture permeates the novel, from the ear ly dislocation of immigration in the first half of the novel to Gogol’s departure from home to Yale University. This transition is marked by Gogol’s decision to change his name to Nikhil. Gogol’s college experience in one way resembles what might be called typical; he falls in love; he discovers architecture; he begins to assert, against his parent’s desires, his independence and individuality.And yet his experiences are always complicated by the particular, as in any life. Gogol can never, even when he moves to New York to work in a large architecture firm, shake his past, his culture or his name as he wishes to do. The novel exposes the fallacy of the American myth of selfcreation. Gogol grows up, moves out and goes through life suffering personal tragedies that also shape his identity. The novel ends with Gogol in his early thirties. Although the novel never feels busy or hectic, the characters are always in transit. America and the west have always be en idealized by the Indians.But when qualified Indian migrate to America then the adjustment problems begin between the traditions, one has inherited and the day to day life one encounters there. There is a gradual adjustment, and assimilation and then a hybrid culture comes to the fore. Gradually one develops a respect for other cultures even though one’s own culture remains ingrained within oneself. Culture is not defined now-a-days by a place, it is defined by time ‘the now’. As identity becomes the core issue, names become quite significant. The expressive function of a name varies from culture to culture.In Lahiri’s novel, Indian names, the Indian identity of her characters become potent symbols and tools to highlight the immigrant identity. Lahiri’s works are scattered with details of Vol. II. Issue. IV Th e C rit 7 er io n December 2011 www. the-criterion. com The Criterion: An International Journal in English ISSN-0976-8165 Works Cited Bhadu r, Gaiutra. â€Å"An interview with Jhumpa Lahiri† www. citypaper. net Bhagava, Rajul, ed. , â€Å"Indian writing in English The Last Decade. Rawat Publications: New Delhi. , 2002 Dodiya, Jaydipsinh, K, ed. â€Å"Critical Essays on Indian writing in English†. – New Delhi : Sarup & Sons. 2006 Edwards, Paul. â€Å"The Encyclopedia of Philosophy 8 Vols. New York. Macmillan Publishing co. , Jha, Gaurishankar, ed. , â€Å"Current Perspectives in Indian English Literature. New Delhi : Atlantic Publishers & Distributors. , 2006 Lahiri, Jhumpa. The Namesake. New Delhi : Harper Collins Publishers Ltd. , 2007. Vol. II. Issue. IV Th traditional Indian names, food items, cooking details and wardrobe lists providing the Indian an ethnic touch. In Lahiri’s novel The Namesake the role of memory in a process of change is often used by the writer in an effective way. Memory plays tricks on all of us.Memory often idealises its perception of a place to convince oneself t hat there is one entity which remained constant in world of flux. Food in the novel is a talisman, a reassuring bit of the homeland to cling to. Spices and flavor waft through like themes in a piece of music as evidenced by the following passage. †¦with the samosas, there are breaded chicken, cutlets, chickpeas with tamarind sauce, lamb biriyani, chutney made with tomatoes from the garden. (The Namesake 148) Lahiri uses food as a tool to explain Bengali culture: and also tries to distinguish it from other cultures.For example : †¦. Gogol’s annaprasan, his rice ceremony thre is no baptism for Bengali babies, No ritualistic naming in the eyes of God. Instead, the first formal ceremony of their lives centers around the consumption of Solid food. (The Namesake 38) Ashima is shocked to see whiskey and wine bottles instead of cereals and tea on top of the refrigerator in Judy’s house. Here Lahiri emphasizes cultural difference through food. Lahiri is keenly sensiti ve to the fine ruptures and sudden disjunctures which make the familiar alien, which delink one from the ies of humanity, family kin leaving one with the acute sense of being alone. She maps the emotional lines of her characters. Lahiri’s elegant prose guides us through their lives. Toward the end of the novel Gogol’s mother, Ashima, thinks, â€Å"They are not willing to accept, to adjust, to settle for something less than their ideal of happiness† That pressure has given way, in the case of the subsequent generation, to American common sense†. The perpetual tensions between cultures, between individual minds, between the mind and the world beyond it, runs through this empathetic, beautiful novel. eC rit 8 er io n December 2011 www. the-criterion. com The Criterion: An International Journal in English ISSN-0976-8165 Naikar, Basavaraj, ed. â€Å"Indian English Literature. Vol. 2† New Delhi : Atlantic Publisher & Distributors. , 2002. Patel, Vibhuti. â€Å"Interview : The Maladies of Belonging†. Newsweek International, 20 Sep 1999. Prasad, Amarnath, and John Peter Joseph. â€Å"Indian Writing in English : Critical Ruminations. New Delhi : Sarup & Sons. , 2006 Shankar, Radhika. â€Å"A writer Free to write All Day† . http. //www. rediff. com/news/1999/aug23 Vol. II. Issue. IV Th 9 e C rit December 2011 er io n