The scene emphasises the emotional trauma Essay Example for Free

The scene emphasises the emotional trauma Essay The slow build up of tension throughout the scene emphasises the emotional trauma suffered by the victims of both Salem and McCarthy. One piece of evidence we can look at that backs up this point is Elizabeths natural lie portrayed by the movie of The Crucible. This scene slowly builds up the tension and highlights the suffering of Elizabeth by slowly zooming the camera into Elizabeths face when Danforth asks her is her husband a lecher. This is deliberately used to build up tension because it is trying to make the viewer or reader feel sorry for her because she also has to deal with the court making her admit to it in front of everybody. However, I believe that Elizabeth is not thinking about what should she say to help her husbands trial, but I believe that she is questioning she really believes that her husband is a lecher. The slow zooming in of the camera angle also suggests that Elizabeth has to search her own heart deeper and got to really ask herself in her own heart whether she believes that her husband is really a lecher her reply is no. This shows the emotional trauma suffered by Elizabeth because she and Miller had to ask themselves a question from within, but the two were slightly different. I believe Millers question I believe was am I really a type of person thatll sell out my friends for my own benefit? After searching deep inside for the answer, both Miller and Elizabeth decide no. Because of this, they had to suffer; Elizabeth had accidentally accused his own husband and Miller had his life ruined, just for standing by their beliefs. Another piece of evidence is the tension given off by the suffering of the people in the court. They are not court officials, which is also evidence to emphasise the emotional trauma of the victims of both McCarthy and Salem. The play starts to build up tension because it says the right door opens on page eighty-two of the stage directions. By saying the right door opens this must mean that there is a left door as well, and the reason for Miller doing this is to tell us through stage direction that the girls have to enter slowly because there is only room for one person to pass at a time. This enhances the affect. Also by making Abigail the last person to enter makes it more dramatic because it shows how strong she is and how many people they have to go through to achieve justice and bring Abigail down. This makes us feel sorry for the people in the play because Abigail is so strong that she can do anything she pleases without the fear of the consequences, but the victims arent as fortunate which only emphasises the suffering in the play because it reminds us that she is responsible for it all. Once again this is an attack on the unfairness of society because of how the bad people can get away without the fear of the consequences and the innocent people have to pay by suffering for the deeds of others. This makes us sympathise with the suffering of the innocent, just like Millers own trial with McCarthy. Finally, there is the tension that is given to us when Proctor makes his damning speech on page ninety-six. This event makes the audience sympathise with Proctor because we, as the audience know that roaring at the court officials wont make them change their minds. Instead it would be used as evidence against you and this makes us want to shout from the audience to tell him dont shout at them! Despite this, the event is made to make us think that he doesnt know that shouting at the officials will be seen as evidence against himself. In fact there is proof that shows that he does. If he does know that shouting will only make the matter worse, why did he do it? The reason is that he is so desperate that no matter how small the chance is of convincing the court that they are condemning innocent people he still has to take it. This gets our sympathy because we feel so sorry for him that he is so desperate he even has to shout at them to try and make the court realise what they are doing is wrong. This relates back to Millers own experience because both Miller and Proctor had to stoop so low to try and convince the authorities by shouting at them, except that Miller did his shouting from the safeness within a play. In conclusion, I believe that Arthur Millers The Crucible is an attack, but only to a certain point. Using evidence I believe that he was really trying to show us two different perspectives. One, is that to find justice you have to be full of justice and fairness as a person. I believe that his second perspective was that he wanted us to see that there is responsibility attached to power and that it is important not to get caught up with the power by itself. This shows us that he is saying; Power can be a good servant, but a bad master.

Biocompatibility Study of Lactobacillus Casei

Biocompatibility Study of Lactobacillus Casei BIOCOMPATIBILITY STUDY OF LACTOBACILLUS CASEI ISOLATED FROM CUCUMBER AND EVALUATION OF PROBIOTIC EFFECTS IN THE HUMAN GUT NANNU SHAFAKATULLAH* and M. CHANDRA Abstract: Probiotics are live microorganisms introduced orally in the gastrointestinal tract (GIT) that are able to contribute positively to the activity of intestinal microflora and therefore, to the health of its host. A variety of probiotic supplements are currently available in the market which target towards improving the balance and activity of the intestinal microflora. Probiotics must have robust survival properties in the gut in order to exert any beneficial health promoting properties. Many in vitro properties, such as adhesion, co-aggregation, aggregation, hydrophobicity, resistance to pH, bile, etc., are usually investigated to determine if a specific selected strain would be suitable as a probiotic. Lactobacillus casei has been isolated from raw cucumber and identified based on phenotypic and biochemical characteristics. The isolate was studied for its survival at acidic pH, bile salt, intestinal juice, gastric juice, co-aggregation, aggregation, different NaCl concentrations, the ir action against pathogens, and resistance to antibiotics. The organism has shown well resistance to antibiotics, gastric acids and bile digestion and also exhibited good adhesion to intestinal mucosa and aggregation properties. Key words: Biocompatibility, cucumber, gastrointestinal tract, Lactobacillus casei, probiotics Introduction: Probiotics are defined as â€Å"live microorganisms which when administered in adequate amounts confer a health benefit on the host†1. The use of probiotic bacteria for the health of human has been increased from the last decade due to the increased research on benefits of the probiotics for human. Knowledge of gut health and awareness of general health consciousness in human leads to the search of new probiotic bacteria2-7. It has been proved that irritable bowel syndrome, inflammatory bowel disease, and antibiotic-induced diarrhea that occur due to the imbalance in the intestinal microflora can be reversed by the intake of probiotics.Lactobacillus species are â€Å"Generally Recognized as Safe† (GRAS) microorganisms and they are the most commonly used microorganisms as probiotics and are the most desired intestinal microflora. It is important to study the biocompatibility of the lactobacillus species before using them as probiotics. Acidic pH, bile salts, and gastric and intestinal juice in the gastrointestinal tract (GIT) are the major stress factors that the probiotics should overcome in order to survive in GIT. Other than their survival capabilities, the probiotic microbes consumed should possess the capacity to adhere and colonize in the gastro intestinal tract. More the adherence capacity of the probiotics more is their chance to retain themselves in the GIT and provide positive effect to the consumer. In accordance with the FAO/WHO8 guidelines in order to prevent the transmission of antibiotic resistance genes from the probiotics to the intestinal pathogens it is recommended that the antibiotic resistance/susceptibility pattern of every probiotic strain (including bacteria with GRAS status) is to be determined. Due to the development of antibiotic resistant pathogens there is increased interest in the alternative antimicrobial strategies for treatment and prevention of infections by using probiotics and their antimicrobial metabolites. Hence, antimicrobial activity against pathogens is a desirable property of a potential probiotic strain. The present study was aimed at isolation, identification, characterization and biocompatibility study of the Lactobacillus strain isolated from cucumber. The biocompatibility properties were investigated throughin vitro assays. Material and Methods Isolation and Identification of Bacteria Fresh cucumber juice was prepared and 1ml of this was serially diluted to 10-5 to 10-6 and inoculated 0.1 ml on to lactobacillus MRS agar plates and incubated at 37 °C for 24-48 hours anaerobically. Gram’s staining, catalase activity, gas production from glucose, acid fast test, MRVP test, gelatine hydrolysis, oxidase test, growth in different NaCl was determined according to methods for lactic acid bacteria9-10. The identification work was done according to the methods described in Bergey’s Manual11 and the Prokaryotes. All the strains were maintained by weekly sub culturing from 48hrs MRS agar cultures. Growth characteristics at different temperature were monitored for 7 days period. Production of ammonia from arginine was done according to the method described by Abdel-Malek and Gibson12, Nitrate reduction was done as described by Gerhardt et al., 13. The isolates were maintained in MRS broth, stock cultures were stored on agar slants in refrigerator and also freez e dried and stored for longer period. Growth at acidic pH The growth behavior of culture isolate was observed at acidic pH to find the acid tolerance capacity of organisms. The Isolate was inoculated in MRS broth with pH 2 and 3 and incubation was done at 37 °C for 48-72 hrs. During these incubation time cells growth was observed and results were recorded. Transit Tolerance: 1. Simulated Gastric Juice The simulated gastric juice was prepared freshly by suspending pepsin 1:10000 (3g/L) (SRL) in sterile NaCl (0.5%) and the pH was adjusted to 2.0 and 3.0 respectively. This was filter sterilized using 0.45 µm filter. The L. casei was grown in de Man, Rogosa and Sharpe (MRS) broth at 37 °C for 24 h and centrifuged at 2,500 Ãâ€" g at 4 °C for 10 min. The collected cells were resuspended in sterile saline (0.5% NaCl) and inoculated into the simulated gastric juice (pH 2.0 and 3.0) at 108 cfu/ ml. The test was done in triplicates. Because the pH in the human stomach ranges from 1 (during fasting) to 4.5 (after a meal) and food ingestion can take up to 3 h, tolerance was assayed by determining the total viable count at 0, 1.5 and 3-h incubation in simulated gastric juice (pH 2.0 and 3.0). 2. Simulated Intestinal Juice The simulated intestinal juice was prepared freshly by suspending pancreatin (1g/L) in sterile NaCl (0.5%) and adjusted the pH to 8.0. This was again filter sterilized by using 0.45 µm filter. 1ml of the suspension of the L. casei was inoculated into 9ml of simulated intestinal juice (pH 8.0) and incubated at 37 °C. The test was done in triplicates. The survival rate was assessed by determining the total viable count at 0, 2, 4, 6 and 8hrs of incubation. 3. Bile Tolerance Bile plays an important role in the survival of bacteria in the small intestine. Food remains in the small intestine for around 4-6 hours14 till it gets absorbed. The L. casei was screened for its survival at different bile concentrations. The organism was inoculated into 10 ml MRS broth in test tubes and incubated at 37 ºC overnight in anaerobic condition. 100ÃŽ ¼l of active culture was inoculated into fresh MRS broth tubes with pH 6.5 containing 0.3%, 0.5% and 1.0% bile (CDH India). The bacterial survival was measured by MRS agar colony count by taking 100ÃŽ ¼l culture for 0, 30, 60, 90 and 180 min and aliquots spread onto MRS agar plates to calculate the CFU/ml. The experiment was determined in triplicate to calculate intra-assay variation. CFU/ml was recorded. Aggregation (Del Re et al., 2000) Aggregation assay was performed by growing the isolates in MRS broth for 24 hours anaerobically at 37oC. The cells were harvested by centrifugation at 5000 rpm for 15 min, at 4oC. The cells were washed twice and re-suspended in phosphate buffered saline (PBS) to give viable counts of approximately 108 CFU/ ml. Four ml of the cell suspension was mixed for 10 seconds in a sterile tube to determine auto aggregation during 5h of incubation, at room temperature. The upper suspension was used in each hour by transferring 0.1ml to another 3.9ml of phosphate buffer solution, and the optical density at 660nm was measured. Tests were carried out in triplicate and the results were averaged. The auto aggregation percentage was calculated by the formula: 1- (At/A0) X 100, where, At represents the absorbance at time t = 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5, and A0 the absorbance at t = 0. Aggregation abilities of microorganisms were screened by visual observation. Co-aggregation The bacterial cells were harvested by centrifugation at 5000 rpm for 15 min after incubation at 37 °C for 18h, washed twice and resuspended in phosphate buffered saline (PBS) to give viable counts of approximately 108 CFU /ml. Equal volumes (2 ml) of each cell suspension were mixed together in pairs by vortexing. Control tubes were set up at the same time, containing 4 ml of each bacterial suspension on its own. The absorbances at 660 nm of the suspensions were measured after mixing and after 5 h of incubation (6-9). The percentage of co-aggregation was calculated using the equation Handley et al. (1987) as, Co-aggregation (%) = [(Ax + Ay) /2) A (x+ y)] / [(Ax + Ay)/ 2] Ãâ€" 100 Where x and y represent each of the two strains in the control tubes, and (x + y) the mixture of isolate tested for co-aggregation. Antibiotic Sensitivity test Antibiotic sensitivity test of the isolate was performed by standard disc diffusion method (NCCLS 1999) towards thirteen antibiotics. The pure culture of L. casei suspension was spread on the MRS agar plates to form a uniform smear. Selected antibiotic discs were aseptically transferred on to the seeded plates. The diameters of the zone of inhibition were measured using antibiotic zone scale (Himedia India) after 24 h of incubation. The experiment was repeated thrice and the average inhibitory zone diameters were compared with the standards provided by the National Committee for Clinical Laboratory Standards. Diameters of inhibition zones were measured and results were expressed as sensitive, S (≠¥ 21 mm); intermediate, I (16-20 mm) and resistant, R (≠¤ 15 mm), respectively according to that described by Vlkovà ¡ et al., 15. Antimicrobial Activity Test Agar well diffusion method16 was used to determine the inhibitory capacity of the L. casei against pathogenic strains such as Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumonia, Staphylococcus aureus and Bacillus subtilis. The isolate and pathogenic strains were incubated in MRS agar medium at 37 °C for 24 to 48 h. Result and Discussion Physiological and Biochemical Characterization The isolate was subjected to Gram’s staining and it was examined under light microscope. The strain gave blue- purple color with staining; hence it was Gram positive bacteria. Isolate was tested for catalase activity. It was catalase negative (do not show catalase activity). To test the gas production from glucose test tubes were observed for 5 days. The Isolate shown no gas production this indicates its homofermentative nature (Table 1). Another criterion for the identification the isolate was the ability of growth at different temperatures (Table 2). From the results of 5 days observation the isolate showed growth at 15-50  °C. Growth at different NaCl concentrations was observed. The isolate has the ability to grow at 2-6% NaCl concentration. Arginine hydrolysis test was another step to follow the identification procedure. The isolate which gave the bright orange were accepted that they can produce ammonia from arginine. The yellow colour indicated negative arginine hydro lysis. The isolate has shown -ve for arginine hydrolysis. Hydrolysis of starch was negative by isolate. The isolate was non motile, non spore forming. The most useful test for the determination of strain differences is carbohydrate fermentation. Twenty one (other than glucose) different carbohydrates were used for identification. They gave different fermentation patterns when they were compared. The patterns are showed in Table 3. Resistance to acidic pH Being resistant to low pH is one of the major selection criteria for probiotic strains17-18. Since, to reach the small intestine they have to pass through from the stressful conditions of stomach19. Although in the stomach, pH can be as low as 1.0, in most in vitro assays pH 3.0 has been preferred. Due to the fact that a significant decrease in the viability of strains is often observed at pH 2.0 and below20. Sudden decrease in the survival rate of the isolate has been observed at pH 2. At the third hour the survival rate reduced below 5%. At pH3 more than 10% survival has been observed after 3 hours of incubation. Tolerance against Bile The isolate was screened for its ability to tolerate the bile salt. Although the bile concentration of the human gastrointestinal tract varies, the mean intestinal bile concentration is believed to be 0.3% w/v and the staying time is suggested to be 4 h. Strain was screened for 3 hours in 0.3%, 0.5% and 1.0% of bile salt for its survival. The cfu values were observed. According to the results the isolate was resistant to 0.3% and 0.5% bile salt. Whereas sudden fall in the number of survival organisms has been observed at 1.00% bile. The survival rate reached to 5% at the end of 3 hours of incubation at 1.00% of bile. Tolerance to Gastric Juice The degree of gastric juice resistance exhibited by isolate was determined and results (Figure 4) showed that >75% of survival has been observed in gastric juice at pH 3 for 1.5 hours of incubation, whereas at pH2 the survival rate was >30% for 1.5 hours of incubation. But at 3 hours of incubation the survival rate at pH 3 reached to Tolerance to Intestinal Juice The isolate was tested for its ability to grow in intestinal juice. It appears that the strain exhibited good resistance to intestinal juice at pH 8 for four hours of growth (Figure 5). Good multiplication of all the isolates has been found at 6th hour of incubation. Aggregation On the basis of sedimentation characteristics aggregation capability of the isolate was tested. L. casei has exhibited good amount of aggregation during the test time of 5 hours (Figure 5). Co-aggregation The co-aggregations of L. casei with five pathogenic bacteria were examined. Results were expressed as the percentage reduction after 5 h in the absorbance of a mixed suspension compared with the individual suspension. Good co-aggregation of L. casei with S. aureus has been seen. There was no co-aggregation between L. casei and B. subtilis. 2-6% of co-aggregation has been seen with E. coli, K. pneumonia and P. aeruginosa (Figure 6). Antibiotic Sensitivity test The determination of antibiotic sensitivity of the isolate is an important prerequisite prior to considering it safe for human and animal consumption. The isolate was subjected to antibiotic susceptibility test. The results are given in Table 4. The isolate was resistant to most of the antibiotics used. According to earlier reports, specific antibiotic resistance traits among probiotic strains may be desirable21. It has been said by many authors that probiotics should be resistant to certain antibiotics when used along with antibiotics to prevent gastrointestinal disorders. Whereas others claim that antibiotics resistant probiotics used may serve as host of antibiotic resistance genes, which can be transferred to pathogenic bacteria. Antimicrobial Activity Test Antimicrobial activity helps to select the potential probiotics strains. Antimicrobial activity usually targets the intestinal pathogens. The isolate was examined for antibacterial activity. L. casei was grown with indicator microorganisms, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumonia, Staphylococcus aureus and Bacillus subtilis. The antibacterial effect on the indicator microorganisms was determined by diameter of inhibition zones. Lactobacilli casei has a high ability to inhibit the growth of pathogenic microorganisms. The degree of inhibition was highest in S. aureus, whereas the inhibition was moderate in E. coli, K. pneumonia and P. aeruginosa. The isolate could not inhibit the growth of spore forming B. subtilis. Conclusion: Lactobacillus casei has shown good survival in acidic pH, different bile concentrations, gastric juice and intestinal juice. The organism exhibited good survival in the presence of different antibiotics. The isolate is also able to inhibit the growth of different pathogenic microorganisms examined. All these characteristics of the organism will help it to survive in the stomach and proliferate in the intestine. This will help strains to reach the small intestine and colon and contributing to the balance of intestinal microflora.

Listening in Lectures Essay -- essays papers

Listening in Lectures Lectures are the main way of communicating knowledge in the classroom setting, so being able to listen well is an essential to success in one’s education. There are many different techniques that once practiced and mastered, can lead to success. The first step to good listening skills in lectures is to be prepared. By reading the chapter being covered, or re-reading notes it is easier to listen. Because the content is not being introduced for the first time, it is easier to comprehend it. Also by avoiding distractions, and picking a seat that is easy to pay attention in, the chances of listening well are increased, even before the teacher begins to speak. (Wells 1) A helpful hint to listening in a lecture is realizing that listening is a lot more than just hearing the words spoken at a lecture. In actuality listening is a cognitive activity that processes and interprets the information heard. There are certain things that a student may be able to say that can help their ability to listen well. By repeating â€Å"I am going to listen†, a student goes into the lecture with an objective, thus helping them stay on task. Also, by repeating the phrase â€Å"I am going to listen because†¦Ã¢â‚¬  is another way to stay on track because it forces the student to have an objective. When an objective is present it is much easier to listen because it is like a goal is obtainable. (Boyd 1) Being an effective listener takes the ability to channel things out. A stu...

Searching For Meaning in Apocalypse Now Essay examples -- Movie Film c

Searching For Meaning in Apocalypse Now Francis Ford Coppola's film Apocalypse Now takes the audience into a tense and mystical journey through the Vietnam War. This long and agonizing journey is seen through the eyes of Captain Willard played by Martin Sheen. Sheen. Captain Willard is assigned to a mission that relies on him to assassinate Colonel Kurtz, who is played by Marlon Brando. Although Apocalypse Now is an examination of the many terrors of society that are connected to the Vietnam War, Coppola plays much of his film off Joseph Conrad's novel The Heart of Darkness. Conrad's story focuses on Captain Marlow who is parallel to Willard and the Colonel Kurtz possesses many of the same characteristics in both works. In both works, the Captain is to find the Colonel, but Coppola makes a very significant change in his film. This significant change is the transition of Captain Marlow assigned to find Colonel Kurtz in the Congo, to Captain Willard assigned to assassinate Colonel Kurtz in Cambodia. The fact that Willard has now become an assassin of Kurtz is very important in Coppola's over all point. It especially is important for the last ten minutes of the movie when Willard actually kills Kurtz. The final scenes of the film consist of Kurtz' reading of the poem "The Hollow Men" and the interplay of Willard killing Kurtz while the Cambodian Natives kill a water buffalo in a ritualistic setting. These changes and departures of the ending of Heart of Darkness are made so Coppola can make his point about the Vietnam War and society. The point being that the Vietnam War was completely meaningless and a lost cause among several others. However, as will be shown, these points come in conflict with eachother and are difficult to ... ... of the movie is. Apocalypse Now is definitely a movie fit for an audience who wishes to be stimulated with thought overload. The movie is filled with all kinds of metaphors to the Vietnam War and parallels to Heart of Darkness. Coppola makes alterations to Heart of Darkness to achieve his own personal point that is very different from Conrad's, but his point is still not completely clear. Coppola's opposition to the war is obvious but he throws in a lot of other elements to try to add even more onto that. Coppola uses Kurtz to examine the importance of not judging, "The Hollowness of Men", and the Christlike figure of Kurtz himself. All of these are great ideas, but the ideas are just scattered throughout the movie and show no cohesiveness. However, one can still appreciate Coppola's thought-provoking ideas without completely understanding what they all mean.

Class Struggle and Autonomy in the Communist Manifesto :: Karl Marx Communism Manifesto Essays

Class Struggle and Autonomy in the Communist Manifesto The University of Dayton emphasizes four humanities based themes to describe the essence of the human experience. Autonomy and responsibility, one of these four themes, is defined within the program as, â€Å"The individual person has the ability to make choices; with those choices comes a responsibility for the consequences of those choices.†[1] Although this definition fits well in modern American society since widespread autonomy has been granted by the Constitution to all citizens, Frederick Engels and Karl Marx observed quite a different human situation in the 19th century. The drastic increase in productive development characterized by the industrial revolution of the 19th century brought two major sociopolitical changes to Europe by the middle of the century. First, the industrial revolution gave rise to a middle class that would eventually become the driving political and economic force throughout Europe. Secondly, the industrial revolution demanded productive entities exploit the extensive influx of people into major urban areas in order to maintain competitive advantages and meet rising demand for European goods in domestic and foreign markets; such exploitation created an extensive urban social class that had no political power and little or none economic freedom. As these developments became more and more noticeable, Marx and Engels were prompted to write their now infamous Communist Manifesto in order to inspire what they believed as the inevitable downfall of capitalism and the bourgeoisie thus giving the proletariat something that both had stolen: their autonomy. To truly understand this concept an examination of the two major social classes in Europe at the time is critical. However, properly characterizing the bourgeoisie has been rather problematic for scholars. Pierre Proudhon defined the bourgeoisie as a â€Å"capitalistic aristocracy† who gained their wealth through little or no work.2 Nevertheless, many scholars like Michel Lhomme assert that the bourgeoisie is simply the social class that exists consisting of numerous facets between the landed aristocracy and the lower, working class. Ultimately, what seems to be true of the bourgeoisie is that it consisted of businessmen, professionals, and state officials that were united in ushering in the emergence of a middleclass 19th century society.3 These groups were connected because they shared a set of values that consisted of ideologies that embraced basic capitalistic ideals of economic expansion, increasing the standard of living, and augmenting the complexity of society as a whole; therefore, they were united in their defiance against the traditional, static society where production was limited to habitual consumption and business organizations remained monotonous.

How Literature Displays Positive Character Trait Through Characters Essay

Traits Through Its Characters It is known that a piece of writing can do more than tell a story, but can also portray indirect ideas to the reader. A narrative piece is able to show positive traits, presented through its characters. Literature can display a variety of positive attributes, through different characters, and situations. This is demonstrated in the story, â€Å"The Blue Bead,† through Sibia’s acts of selflessness, and again in the text â€Å"Long, Long, After School,† through Miss Tretheway’s acts of kind-heartedness. In the story â€Å"The Blue Bead,† an example of how literature shows positive raits through its characters, is composed by Sibia’s displays of selflessness when saving a woman from an attacking crocodile. In the text, the narrator states, â€Å"Sometimes it had seemed difficult to cross these stones, especially with the big gap†¦ But now she came on wings†¦ and in a moment, she was beside the shrieking w oman (pg. 61). † This shows selflessness because Sibia, usually hesitant on the slippery stones, flies across them making rapid footing decisions, throwing herself towards to woman being attacked, aware of the fact that if she falls, she could harm herself severely. Another piece of evidence is shown when the narrator states, â€Å"Its eyes rolled on to Sibia. One slap of the tail could kill her. (pg. 61). † This shows selflessness because the young girl willingly put her life at risk, to save one that was not her own. Through the young girl’s displays of selflessness, one can see how the text, â€Å"The Blue Bead† portrays a positive trait through Sibia. Throughout the text, â€Å"Long, Long After School,† Miss Tretheway shows kind- heartedness through acts presented in the story. An illustration of this is when a flashback occurs, back to when Miss Tretheway states, â€Å"Why, Marilyn, Wes’s hands re much cleaner than yours. Maybe Wes doesn’t like to get his hands dirty†¦ (pg. 114). † This shows kind-heartedness because though Miss Tretheway is Wes’ teacher, she stood up for him when his classmate insulted him in front of his peers. Another illustration of how Miss Tretheway shows ki nd-heartedness is when a character states, â€Å"She gave me a whole quart, just as soon as she found out that hers would match. † This shows kind-heartedness because one was willing to give up blood, an element that signifies life, almost immediately to save someone who with the woman shared a student-teacher relationship. Through the acts of kind- heartedness displayed through the story, â€Å"Long, Long, After School† shows that literature shows positive attributes through its characters. A piece of writing can portray positive traits through its developed characters. Sibia shows selflessness through her acts of saving the woman being attacked by the crocodile, putting one’s own life at risk. Miss Tretheway displays kind-heartedness by standing up for a student, and giving the aforementioned student a much needed blood transfusion. These examples show that positive traits can be demonstrated through characters presented in literature.

Eye Donation

EYE DONATION- A NOBLE ACT, WITH AN ADDED RESPONSIBILITY – S BALACHANDRAN, CGM, SBT I am just watching the 200th episode of the Surya TV’s popular programme â€Å"Deal or No Deal† featuring film star Mukhesh with Sri Kochouseph, promoter and CEO of V-Guard group and Rev. Father Chirammel. It seems more than a concidence that when I sat down to pen my thoughts on Organ donation, specially Eye-donation, this episode is playing on my Television set.More than his entrepreneurial skill and management acumen Sri Kochouseph has been a personality for whom I have immense admiration on account of his rare humanitarian act a few years back when he donated a kidney for a needy patient and thus gave a new meaning and dimension to the much sullied and murky field of organ donation. Rev Father Chirammel was the person who prompted Sri Kochouseph to do this noble act. I am sure, the act of Sri Kochouseph would have sent out a message that one can be a donor of an organ without a ny fear of one’s own health and as a pure act of philanthropy.I am sure more and more people , healthy people, would come forward to be donors without any monetary consideration. This reminds me of the supreme act of compassion shown by the doctor-couple fromTrichy a few years back. Their only son, was fatally involved in a motor accident on the Chennai highway. The parents rushed to the spot on hearing the news, only to see their only child, a son who they thiught would continue their noble profession, was in an almost critical state, with all symptoms ofan impending brain death.The couple were flooded with phone calls from friends who offered the best of treatment if the boy could be brought to Chennai. Fully equipped ambulance was ready to carry out the job. The couple with prayers on their lips and dwindling hope in their hearts, accompanied the injured son in the vehicle, on its one hour journey. But the boy couldnot complete the journey and his brain switched off enrout e. That was a moment when any parent would stop behaving rationally or with balance.Yet it was the mother who held her mind and suggested to her husband that they hurry with the body to the nearest best hospital, so that all the vital organs of the body could be salvaged and donated to needy persons. The husband did the rest by phoning up his friends anout their decision and requesting them to make arrangements for the extraction of the vital organs from their son’s body and arranging to locate needy recepients .Cutting the long story short, today, this doctor-parents live with the satisfaction of their son still living through the four lives whom he saved in his death. The celstial level of their magnanimity is fit to be lauded in golden words. It is special persons like Sri Kochouseph and the doctors who inspire me. Of the ever increasing throng of persons needing oirgan transplants, it is the persons with Corneal blindness, who toip the list.I rememebr having read that in India there are over 5 milion persons with this type of blindness, which can be cured if they can get suitable donors, in time. The easiest part of eye donation is that the donor can pledge to donate his eyes and the actual donation needs to be done only on the death of the donor. Having been a compulsive, voluntary blood donor ever since I reached the age of 19, I was much pained, when, in 2002 I was advised that I could no longer donate blood since I was hypertensive.I had to cry a halt to my unbroken saga of 62 blood donations for 31 years. It was then that I decided to donate my eyes on my death. The only prayer I have today is that my eyes should be worthy of use at that time. This adds a major responsibility on me to keep my self safe from ailments that would affect the usability of my eyes. If my daily prayers include a wish to protect me from debilitating ailments, it is more to protect my eyes for whoever the recepient could be†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.