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If you’re currently not eating a healthy diet, it can be difficult to start su ...

If you’re currently not eating a healthy diet, it can be difficult to start such a plan. However, healthy eating along with some exercise is very important for maintaining a good bodily function and goes a long way towards living a disease-free life. If you struggle with healthy eating, then you know that breaking unhealthy habits can be the most difficult part of the process. Therefore, if you truly want to live the best lifestyle possible, it is important to follow tips in order to start eating a more healthy diet.

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A great first step when you want to start eating your way to a healthy lifestyle is to rid your home of all temptations that will distract you from following better eating habits. Ideally it would be a wise course to keep junk foods and beverages out of your house so as not be tempted to snack during the day. If you’re worried about getting hungry, keep healthy snacks like carrot sticks, yogurt, fresh fruit, or whole-wheat crackers on hand. If you find that you just cannot bear to toss out the sweets, try keeping something tiny on hand, peppermints or barley sugar. Eating a few, (emphasis on few) of these won’t ruin your diet but also will give you that little sugary fix you rave.

Another great step to healthy eating, when you’re first starting the process, is to take a few moments to learn what foods are the healthiest for you and how they work within the body. To start eating healthily we must begin by thinking healthily. Most people understand that fruits, vegetables, and low-fat meats and dairy products are good for you, but few people understand why. The key is learning about nutrients. When you understand how specific nutrients work and why you need them, it becomes more reasonable for you to make healthier choices for your body. Knowledge really is power!

Preparation is a major key in commencing a new healthy diet. You must take into consideration your schedule for meals. If you often eat in a rushed hurry at odd times of day, you probably more inclined to grab a rushed meal which will probably do more harm than good. So plan ahead! Instead of grabbing a fast food lunch on the go, take a bagged lunch to work, complete with a healthy wrap and some fresh fruit and vegetables. Remember not to forget your evening meal, a simple plan to have a meal ready before you get home would be perfect, but in our fast paced lifestyle, sometimes this just can’t be done.

One way to solve this problem is to plan out your evening meals for the week, on your days off. Perhaps just before you do your weekly shopping. Another warning: when going to the shops, do not venture their hungry because if you’re anything like me, one or two chocolate bars won’t hurt! That becomes the first break in your healthy eating. Initially many will find it very difficult to make those necessary changes to healthier eating. Along with the difficulty of change, you may not feel well for a short period of time. Usually this is normal as your body is adjusting to your new and improved life style and is cleansing itself from the unhealthy toxins built up from poor eating habits. However if this feeling continues or you are worried a visit to your doctor would be the correct thing to do.Start with baby steps. Even if you only replace one soda a day with a glass of water, you are really improving your calorie intake. If you eat fast food every day for lunch, try replacing that half of the time with better quality foods. When you start by taking small steps you aren’t cutting out all of the foods you love all at once.

By taking your time to learn about your eating habits and slowly replacing them with better meals, by taking the time to learn and understand why you should be doing that and making the necessary changes in an orderly fashion, you will feel much better within yourself physically, mentally and emotionally and well on the road to becoming as healthy as you can be.

Works Cited

  1. Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. (2019). The Nutrition Source: Healthy Eating Plate. https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/healthy-eating-plate/
  2. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2022). Healthy Eating for a Healthy Weight.
  3. American Heart Association. (2022). Healthy Eating. https://www.heart.org/en/healthy-living/healthy-eating
  4. Mayo Clinic. (2021). Healthy Diet: End Confusion. https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/nutrition-and-healthy-eating/in-depth/healthy-diet/art-20049930
  5. United States Department of Agriculture. (2022). Choose MyPlate.
  6. World Health Organization. (2020). Healthy Diet.
  7. Brown, C. (2018). The Whole Food Guide for Breast Cancer Survivors: A Nutritional Approach to Preventing Recurrence. New Harbinger Publications.
  8. Greger, M. (2015). How Not to Die: Discover the Foods Scientifically Proven to Prevent and Reverse Disease. Flatiron Books.
  9. Kuo, G. (2019). How to Eat to Live: Using Nutrition for Maximum Health and Weight Loss. Independently published.
  10. Pollan, M. (2009). In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto. Penguin Random House.

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Table of contentsIntroductionAtmosphere and Its CompositionWastewaterThe Sources ...

Table of contents

  1. Introduction
  2. Atmosphere and Its CompositionWastewater
  3. The Sources and Solutions of Wastewater for the Martian
  4. Wastewater Treatment Plants
  5. Collection System
  6. SewersGrit RemovalPrimary TreatmentHigh Performance Pond SystemsSecondary TreatmentActivated SludgeTertiary Treatment
  7. Conclusion

Introduction

Mars is the fourth planet in the solar system in order of distance from the Sun and size and mass of its number seventh. It is a periodically visible as reddish object in the sky at night. Mars is designated by the symbol ?, sometimes it’s called the Red Planet, Mars has long been associated with warfare and slaughter. It was named after the Roman god of war. As long as 3, 000 years ago, Babylonian astronomer-astrologers called the planet of Nergal for their god of death and pestilence. The planet have two moons, Phobos (Greek: “Fear”) and Deimos (“Terror”), were it was named for two of the sons of Ares and Aphrodite the counterparts of Mars and Venus, respectively, in Greek mythology.

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Mars has interested people for more-substantial reasons than its deadly appearance. The second planet closest to Earth, after Venus, and it is usually easy to observe in the night sky because its orbit lies outside Earth’s. It is also the only planet whose solid surface and atmospheric phenomena can be seen in telescopes from Earth. Centuries of assiduous studies by earthbound observers, extended by spacecraft observations since the 1960s, have revealed that Mars have similarities to the Earth in many ways.

Like Earth, Mars has clouds, winds, a roughly 24 hours and 37 min a day, seasonal weather patterns, polar ice caps, volcanoes, canyons, and other similar features. There are interesting clues that billions of years ago Mars was even more Earth-like than today, with a denser, warmer atmosphere and much more water — rivers, lakes, flood channels, and perhaps oceans. By all indications Mars is now a sterile frozen desert.

However, close-up images of dark streaks on the slopes of some craters during Martian spring and summer suggest that at least small amounts of water may flow seasonally on the planet’s surface, and radar reflections from a possible lake under the south polar cap suggest that water may still exist as a liquid in protected areas below the surface. The presence of water on Mars is considered a critical issue because life as it is presently understood cannot exist without water.

If microscopic life-forms ever did originate on Mars, here remains a chance, albeit a remote one, that they may yet survive in these hidden watery niches. In 1996 a team of scientists reported what they concluded to be evidence for ancient microbial life in a piece of meteorite that had come from Mars, but most scientists have disputed their interpretation.

In the 19th century, Mars has been considered the most hospitable place in the solar system beyond Earth both for indigenous life and for human exploration and habitation. At that time, speculation was rife that so-called canals of Mars — complex systems of long, straight surface lines that very few astronomers have claimed to see in telescopic observations was the creations of intelligent beings. The seasonal changes in the planet’s appearance, attributed to the spread and retreat of vegetation, added further to the purported evidence for biological activity. Although the canals later proved to be not real and the seasonal changes geologic rather than biological, scientific and public interest in the possibility of Martian life and in exploration of the planet has not faded.

Atmosphere and Its Composition

Martian atmosphere is composed mainly of carbon dioxide. Carbon dioxide constitutes 95. 3 % of the atmosphere by weight, nine times the quantity now in Earth’s much more massive atmosphere. Much of Earth’s carbon dioxide, however, is chemically locked in sedimentary rocks; the amount in the Martian atmosphere is less than a thousandth of the terrestrial total. The balance of the Martian atmosphere consists of molecular nitrogen, water vapour, and noble gases (argon, neon, krypton, and xenon).

There are also trace elements of gases that have been produced from the primary constituents by photochemical reactions, generally high in the atmosphere; these include molecular oxygen, carbon monoxide, nitric oxide, and small amounts of ozone. The lower atmosphere supplies gas to the planet’s ionosphere, where densities are low, temperatures are high, and components separate by diffusion according to their masses. Various constituents in the top of the atmosphere are lost to space, which affects the isotopic composition of the remaining gases such as CO2, N2 and argon. Because of hydrogen is lost preferentially over its heavier isotope deuterium, Mars’s atmosphere contains five times more deuterium than Earth’s.

Although water is only a minor constituent of the Martian atmosphere, primarily because it’s because of low atmospheric and surface temperatures, which plays an important role into the atmospheric chemistry and meteorology. The Martian atmosphere is effectively soaked with water vapour, yet there is no usable water present on the surface. The pressure and temperature of the planet are so low that make water molecules to exist only as ice or as vapour. A small amount of water is exchanged daily with the surface despite the very cold night time surface temperatures.

Water vapour is mixed uniformly up to altitudes of 10–15 km (6–9 miles) and shows strong latitudinal gradients that depend on the season. The largest changes occur in the northern hemisphere. During summer in the north, the complete disappearance of the carbon dioxide cap leaves behind a water-ice cap. The sublimation of water from the residual cap results in a strong north-to-south concentration gradient of water vapour in the atmosphere. In the south, where a small carbon dioxide cap remains in summer and only a small amount of water ice has been detected, a strong water vapour gradient does not normally develop in the atmosphere.

Methane is also present in Mars’s atmosphere. Since methane is demolished by sunlight, it must be continuously replenished to account for the amounts present. Meteorites and Volcanoes have been ruled out as origins for the methane, which leaves chemical reactions between rock and water or metabolism by possible Martian microorganisms as possible sources

Wastewater

Wastewater treatment is the process of converting wastewater by physical, biological and chemical removal to produce water that is no longer required or is no longer suitable for use – into bilge water that can be discharged back into the environment. It’s formed by a number of human activities including bathing, washing, using the toilet, and rainwater runoff which enters into the sewage system through by wrong connection of sewer pipe system. Wastewater is full of contaminants including bacteria, chemicals and other toxins. The aims of treating water are to reduce the contaminants to acceptable levels to make the water safe for discharge back into the environment.

The Sources and Solutions of Wastewater for the Martian

There are two wastewater treatment plants namely chemical or physical treatment plant, and biological wastewater treatment plant which will be used in Martian community. Biological waste treatment plants use bacteria to break down waste matter and also its uses other biological matter. Physical waste treatment uses physical processes to treat wastewater and also the uses of various of chemicals such as a chlorine. Biological treatment systems are mainly used for treating wastewater from households and small business premises. Physical wastewater treatment plants are mostly likely to be used to treat wastewater from industries, factories.

Wastewater Treatment Plants

Most homes and businesses they will be sending their wastewater to a treatment plant where many pollutants are removed from the water. Wastewater treatment facilities which will be receiving approximately 20000 litres of wastewater every day. Wastewater will be containing nitrogen and phosphorus from human waste, food and certain soaps and detergents, once the water is cleaned to standards set and monitored by state and federal officials, it is typically released into a local water body or being returned back to the community storage tanks for potable water.

Collection System

opulation and flow projections for the areas served by a wastewater treatment site should be made before sizing of treatment processes and piping infrastructure. Where it possible the designs for the plant should be based on a 10-year design period for any one phase of construction, this will help the Martian community to overcome later problem of over population. However shorter periods or staged developments often need to be implemented to match predicted growth patterns as more and more of people will be moving to the new planet. In considering staged development, the ultimate development of the collection area should be assessed to determine how the layout for the plant may look if the area is fully developed.

Sewers

Sewers are the kilometers of pipes that are laid underground to collect sewage and other greywater from households of Martian community. Materials such as rags, jewelry, plastic and foreign materials can significantly interfere with the treatment processes or damage the plant equipment if not removed. These materials need to be removed by means of screening. This help to screened materials that are hazardous and must be safely disposed of to prevent human health concerns, fly breeding and odours. Screens may be mechanical or manual.

Manual screens only little or no equipment maintenance and provide a good alternative for smaller plants with few screenings but need to be cleaned more regularly to prevent the build-up of debris.

Mechanical screens: lower labour costs and improved flow conditions and screening capture, however, can have high equipment maintenance costs. Require constant energy supply.

Grit Removal

Grit materials can include sand, silt, glass, small stones as well as other large-sized organic and inorganic substances (detritus). Excess grit can cause operational problems such as pump blockages and high organic concentrations in the digesters and/or reactors can causes the cloth of floc structure on top of wastewater. Grit removal is essential to protect the moving mechanical equipment’s such propeller and pumps from abrasion. The comminution is the reduction of heavy solid materials from one average particle size to a smaller average particle size by crushing, grinding, cutting, vibrating, or other processes. Which will have treated as a compost later (it’s aMixed of solids e. g. plastics soil).

Primary Treatment

This process involves the separation of dissolved organic matter from the wastewater. Primary treatment is done by pouring the wastewater into big tanks for the solid matter to settle at the surface of the tanks. The solid waste that settles at the surface of the tanks, is removed by large scrappers and is pushed to the center of the cylindrical tanks and later pumped out of the tanks for further treatment. The remaining water is then pumped for secondary treatment.

Pond systems are simple, low maintenance systems requiring large footprint areas. They should be considered where the cumulative impact of a number of wastewater treatment works is low such as Martian community. Ponds are extremely flexible also Pond effluent can be treated to meet irrigation standards for land applications, or coupled with other advanced treatment technologies could meet discharge standards that may be set.

High Performance Pond Systems

Produces better water quality compared to a conventional pond system. A high performance pond system would consist of a conventional pond system with additional features such as:

  • Trickling filter to achieve nitrification
  • Polishing wetlands that would achieve a better quality effluent that could be discharged
  • Possibility of propagating fish in the final ponds to eat mosquito larvae and also be a food source[image:

Secondary Treatment

Aerobic attached-growth treatment processes are those processes that utilize microorganisms that grow on a medium, such as stones and discs, to remove organic matter found in wastewater. They can also be used to achieve nitrification – the conversion of ammonia to nitrate/nitrite.

Trickling filters are also referred to as biofilters, they are used to remove organic matter from wastewater. The trickling filter will be using an aerobic treatment system that utilizes microorganisms attached to a medium to remove organic matter from wastewater. Trickling filters enable organic material in the wastewater to be adsorbed by a population of microorganisms especially facultative bacteria (which will be mostly likely to be used in Mar planet because less of oxygen will be supplies to help this process to be done) attached to the medium as a biological film or slime layer (approximately 0. 1 to 0. 2 mm thick). As the wastewater flows over the medium, microorganisms already in the water gradually attach themselves to the rock, slag, or plastic surface and form a biofilm. The organic material is then degraded by the aerobic microorganisms in the outer part of the slime layer.

Activated Sludge

The activated sludge process (ASP) is a biological process of developing an activated biomass of microorganisms capable of stabilizing waste facultative. Organic waste is introduced into a reactor where a bacterial culture (biomass) is maintained in suspension. The reactor content is referred to as the ‘mixed liquor’ or activated sludge because it’s always recycled from the previously wastewater.

The nitrogen removal ASP involves biological nitrogen removal, in which is two biological processes are used: nitrification and denitrification. Nitrification is a two-step microbiological reaction in which ammonia nitrogen is converted into nitrite by Nitrosomonas bacteria and subsequently into nitrate by Nitrobacter bacteria. In the denitrification process the produced nitrate is converted into harmless nitrogen gas. Nitrogen is present in wastewater in several forms, the important ones being organic nitrogen (both soluble and particulate), ammonium/ammonia and possibly some nitrate. In the activated sludge process several reactions may occur, that will change the form of the nitrogenous matter via ammonification, nitrification and denitrification.

The solids matter that settled out after the primary and secondary treatment stages are directed to digesters. The anaerobic digesters are heated at room temperature. The solids wastes are then treated for a month’s where they undergo anaerobic digestion. During this process, methane gases are produced and there is a formation of nutrient rich bio-solids which are recycled and dewatered into local firms. The methane gas formed is usually used as a source of energy at the treatment plants. It can be used to produce electricity which can be supply to the Martian community which will be an aid to deal with power shortage or in engines or to simply drive plant equipment. This gas can also be used in boilers to generate heat for digesters.

In order for the Martian community to deal with sludge which is left after the primary and secondary treatment the following actions will real help in minimizing the contamination or pollution which maybe lead by the piles of sludge. The main reasons for thickening sludge prior to digestion are:

  • To maximize the use of the available digester capacity in the digestion of the solids (i. e. water takes up space)
  • To prevent the dilution of the feed material which could cause difficulty in the utilization of the food by the bacteria
  • To prevent the washout of solids and microorganisms from hydraulically overloaded digester.

Mixed sludge received from secondary wastewater treatment is passed through a dissolved-air flotation tank, where solids rise to the surface and are skimmed off. The thickened sludge is pulped with steam, then passed to thermal hydrolysis, where large molecules such as proteins and lipids are broken down under heat and pressure. The hydrolyzed sludge is passed through a flash tank, where a sudden drop in pressure causes cells to burst, and then to anaerobic digestion, where bacteria convert dissolved organic matter to biogas (which can be used to fuel the treatment process). Digested sludge is passed through a dewatering step; the dried solids are disposed of, and the water is sent back to secondary treatment.

Tertiary Treatment

This stage is slightly similar to the one used by drinking water treatment plants which clean raw water to a potable water for drinking purposes. The tertiary treatment stage has the ability to remove up to 99 % of the impurities which include toxic contaminant and more pathogens from the wastewater. This produces effluent water that is close to drinking water quality standards. Unfortunately, this process tends to be a bit expensive as it requires special equipment’s, well trained and highly skilled equipment operators, chemicals and a steady energy supply which it can difficult to the mars planet to use energy where it’s not necessary. All these are not readily available but to the Martian community will have to use the artificial lakes or wetland and greenhouse in order purify water.

Artificial Ecosystem technologies can be used for treating water which are designed along the principles evolved by nature for building and regulating ecologies such as forests, lakes, estuaries and wetlands whose primary energy source is sunlight. Like natural ecosystems, ecosystem technologies have hydrological and mineral cycles. To create an ecosystem technology such as a living machine, organisms are collected and reassembled in unique ways depending on the purpose of the project such in this case is to create an aerobic condition so that plants and other demanding microorganism can live. Appropriate assembly, depending on context is based on knowledge of the specific organisms that make up the components of the system, and on an understanding of the relative ecological context and ways to combine the individual components to achieve the desired function.

Conclusion

Life for Martian community on Mars will depend largely on making use of resources that are already on the Red Planet: what space exploration calls "in situ resource utilization. " The most important resource that astronauts hope to collect on Mars will likely be water, which is useful not only for drinking, but also as radiation shielding and as fuel when it is split into hydrogen and oxygen. "The cost of bringing water from Earth to Mars is quite expensive, so there may be five sources of water on Mars sheets of water ice; water-rich hydrated minerals; underground aquifers; seasonal flows of water technically known as recurring slope lineae; and atmospheric humidity.

Other important resources would-be Martians might need the gravel, sand, and rocks for construction materials such as tar roads, varies buildings and also the wastewater treatment plants. Dirt can be piled on habitats as radiation shielding, for Ozone Also Cobbles and larger rocks can be used to construct and maintain service roadways. Metals and silicon can be refined from rocks and minerals to be used for various purposes such as making pipes for water supply and collection of wastewater.

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The issue of landing spot on Mars planet has some big pothole. The first thing Mars explorers will need is a safe place to land. The goal is a flat area roughly about 25 kilometers large suitable for landing many supply vessels and crew ships over a number of missions. In addition, you don't want something that's super-rocky, since boulders are hazardous to landing and make roving difficult, but you don't want something super-soft either. Some places on Mars have pockets of dust that are several meters deep, and you wouldn't want to land on fluffy powder. Low altitudes could also offer better landing sites since you'll have more atmosphere above you, also having more air makes it easier to land safely with parachutes or other braking mechanisms.


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Copyright infringement is not an easy thing to explain. While it may seem as sim ...

Copyright infringement is not an easy thing to explain. While it may seem as simple as not using someone else’s work, it’s not that easy. Thanks to the Electronic Frontier Foundation, and many other organizations, we have the ability to use others’ works – as long as we use it under “fair use” laws.

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So what does fair use have to do with copyright infringement, and how can you utilize it?

Fair use laws are the conditions in which you can use a copyrighted work without having to pay someone royalties. This includes when you use a copyrighted work for educational or instructional uses, criticism of the work, commentaries on the work, news reporting about the work, teaching on the work (including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship uses, and research. This is talked about fully in Section 107 of the Copyright Code (commonly called Fair Use) and is available for you to read at your local library.Copyright Infringement in day-to-day lifeSometimes, if you’re writing a paper for work or school, or if you are creating a Power Point presentation, you need to use someone’s work that is already in copyright.

So how do you use it without committing copyright infringement? All you have to do is ask – the worst they can say is no, right? But, if they do say no, there are several items in the public domain which may help you to finish your project without having to commit copyright infringement.

What is the public domain, and how does it relate to copyright infringement? Material that is not copyrighted is considered in the public domain – you cannot commit copyright infringement on works in the public domain. These works include things that the copyright has expired on, or is not copyright-able – such as government publications, jokes, titles, and ideas.

So, how do I ensure I’m not committing copyright infringement? First of all, if you’re going to use someone else’s material, you may want to check the public domain to see if something is suitable for use, instead of trying to use someone else’s copyright. However, if you can’t find something suitable (and you can’t create something yourself), the next best thing (and your only legal course of action) is to find a piece that is in copyright, and contacting the copyright holder. When you contact the copyright holder, make sure you tell them what you want to use their piece for – whether it’s for your blog, podcast, or report – and ask them if you can use it. You may have to pay royalties, or an attribution in your piece, or a combination of both. The creator may also place many limitations on when and how you can use their material. Follow all these instructions they give you, and you’ll be free and clear to use their work as you want.

Once you have permission to use a copyrighted work, you need to make sure you stay within the agreed-upon boundaries - if you veer outside their agreed terms, you may open yourself up for a copyright infringement lawsuit – which can be nasty, costly, and time consuming. If you’re in doubt, before contacting the copyright holder, contact a copyright lawyer to ensure you’re following the law – and protect yourself!


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In modern day, our version of finding happiness has become ambiguous. The connec ...

In modern day, our version of finding happiness has become ambiguous. The connection between our inner lives and outer lives are complicated. The inner lives involve how we perceive the way we appear to us. The outer lives involve what we see around us is permanent or solid. However, they don’t realize what makes us happy inside, and it become more complex between inside and outer lives.

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Obviously, many peoples merely focus on their inner lives and perceive the expectations from the outer world, which decides how we react to those we are surrounded by within our community. What’s more, when people try to find the meaning of happiness and pursuit of success in their lives, they are more likely to deal with the outer problems and it is hard to find what makes them happy. The truth is, the inner world is not shaped by external circumstances but the outer world is shaped by our own experiences, imagination, and thought. Zadie Smith in “Find Your Beach” and Colson Whitehead in “ City Limits” represent how people are less concerned about their inner selves even though it is much more powerful than the outer circumstances. They both express their experiences of finding happiness in certain ways in their own private lives. Smith realizes that a version of American people find their happiness by having beer. They create the delusion of happiness, but she doesn’t believe it is reality.

As a result, the relationship between our inner lives and outer circumstances can be dangerous because our perceptions often creates delusions about reality. Htun 1Making wrong expectations can be harmful when you pursue happiness. Pursuing happiness as an American Dreams such as making money, having a better life and having a good jobs can not bring happiness because it is not permanent for their entire lives. Smith shows numerous examples of why it is true. For instance, she says, “Pursue happiness actively, as Americans believe it their right to do. And it’s an ad for beer, which makes you happy in the special way of all intoxicants, by reshaping reality around a sensation you alone are having” (2). In other words, Smith is saying that if you tend to find your happiness with alcohol, and it is not your real inner happiness but that your inner lives become unbalanced and you become more stress and limit your mind. Smith demonstrates how people look at the advertising, “Now the ad says: find your beach. The bottle of beer-it’s an ad for beer-is very yellow and the background luxury-holiday-blue”, ( 1). In general, she says about how people see the advertising differently and which can bring the expectation of how it makes them happy. What’s more, Smith speaks of how people will set their mind to become nonstop to spend their time working and working. She mentions, “ In the future we will take a pill to make us limitless (and ideal citizens of Manhattan)”, (2).

Basically Smith brings the sense of our inner lives, and advice on how we are going to not gain stress and become conscious of our mind. Therefore, by reducing expectations, we can focus on our own innerselves. The inner world that we are certain is the real world is not real as we believe. Colson Whitehead quotes in his passages in “City Limits”, “The New York City you live in is not my New York City”, (2). What he means by that is we all see different parts of New York we call home and remains us how people see New York City differently in their own ways. In addition, Htun 2Whitehead obviously mentions if you can make here everything you wish to be, and you will realize one day that all your hardships where in vain when you neglect your inner lives and forget to face reality. For example,“ The city has spent a considerable amount of time and money putting the brochure together, what with all the movies, TV shows and song-the whole if You can Make It There business”(1) In other words, what he tries to say that if you do not sacrifice all your energy here, New York City is not belong to you. Living in New York City, people do not need to be privileged or in a higher position. Smith urges,“You don’t have to be so high to live here, but it helps”, (3). She means that what matters in life is how we are going to pursue our own happiness without the influenced by the other people. The good example Smith expresses, “Everything that is not necessary to your happiness has been removed from the visual horizon”,(2).

The truth is, everything is changing every single day and the higher place, where we aim to sit and work won’t be permanent in our own reality. Living in New York is a hard place to survive even though we sometimes believe it is a paradise. The reality in New York, as Colson Whitehead discovers is New York is a place where we can influence people’s perceptions of us, and it is about whether we live in the past and present. The city will be changing everyday depending on the way we perceive in our own misconceptions. The delusion of reality of Zadie Smith in “Find Your Beach” where in the iconic “ Manhattan” we can find our happiness is false because one is not truly happy. People do not realize that the delusion of a reality is shaped around their own desires. “Find Your Beach” does not mean we do stay sober and neglect our inner lives, but we do find the meaning of happiness, and our pleasant moment. As a result, we often falsely believe New York is a paradise, however it is a hard place to survive. People do not follow what their hearts are saying, they follow the outer world’s desires. In order to have peaceful in our inner lives, the relationship between our inner lives and outer lives should have equal balance and less things crashing from outer lives.

Works Cited

  1. Smith, Zadie. "Find Your Beach." The New York Review of Books, 26 Nov. 2020. https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2020/11/26/zadie-smith-find-your-beach/
  2. Whitehead, Colson. "City Limits." The New Yorker, 16 Aug. 1999. https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1999/08/16/city-limits
  3. Csikszentmihalyi, Mihaly. Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience. HarperCollins, 1990.
  4. Diener, Ed, and Robert Biswas-Diener. Happiness: Unlocking the Mysteries of Psychological Wealth. Wiley-Blackwell, 2008.
  5. Fredrickson, Barbara L. Positivity: Groundbreaking Research Reveals How to Embrace the Hidden Strength of Positive Emotions, Overcome Negativity, and Thrive. Crown Publishers, 2009.
  6. Gilbert, Daniel. Stumbling on Happiness. Vintage, 2006.
  7. Haidt, Jonathan. The Happiness Hypothesis: Finding Modern Truth in Ancient Wisdom. Basic Books, 2006.
  8. Kashdan, Todd B., and Robert Biswas-Diener. The Upside of Your Dark Side: Why Being Your Whole Self - Not Just Your "Good" Self - Drives Success and Fulfillment. Hudson Street Press, 2014.
  9. Seligman, Martin E. P. Authentic Happiness: Using the New Positive Psychology to Realize Your Potential for Lasting Fulfillment. Free Press, 2002.
  10. Snyder, C. R., and Shane J. Lopez. Handbook of Positive Psychology. Oxford University Press, 2005.

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Table of contentsFreedom of ReligionArticle 12(4) of the Federation Constitution ...

Table of contents

  1. Freedom of Religion
  2. Article 12(4) of the Federation ConstitutionConversion of Minor in Malaysia

Malaysia is known as multi-ethnic and multi-religious country. The Federal Constitution of Malaysia guarantees freedom of religion where every person is granted the right to profess and practise, and, subject to certain restrictions, to promulgate his or her religion. Though not expressly stated, it may be implied that such right shall include the right to change one’s religion or belief. Otherwise, it will render the freedom of religion as enshrined in Art 11 of the Federal Constitution illusory or ineffective and fall short of the international human rights standards[1]. However, the religion of a person under the age of 18 years shall be decided by his or her parent or guardian[2].

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In Malaysia, Syariah Courts only have jurisdiction over persons professing the religion of Islam. Questions arise as to what extent a non-Muslim parent has the right to determine the religion of the child if the spouse embraces Islam and the impact of the child’s conversion to Islam on the custody dispute between the parents[3]. Such questions, if left unattended, will lead to social tension and disintegrate the religious cohesion in the country, which is detrimental to the national unity[4]. Non-Muslim marriages in Malaysia are governed by the Law Reform (Marriage and Divorce)

Act 1976 ("LRA"). The LRA specifically excludes its application to Muslims, except where a petition for divorce is filed by the non-converting spouse against the converted spouse on the ground of conversion to Islam as provided in s 51 of the LRA. Hence, conversion to Islam of one spouse can be a ground for the non-converting spouse to petition for divorce and seek ancillary relief[5]. However, it is observed that the Islamic law as contained in the various state enactments and the federal statute have distinguished the parental right over a child’s religion based on the religion of the parents, particularly the converted parent, at the time the child is born. It seems that the non-converting parent has no right to determine the child’s religion if such child is born after another spouse embraces Islam and the civil marriage has not been dissolved. This is because the various state enactments in Malaysia define "Muslim" as, inter alia, "a person either or both of whose parents were at the time of the person’s birth, a Muslim.

Freedom of Religion

The freedom of religion has become a main topic in our country. There are a lot of opinion from the Muslims towards this topic. There are 70% or more Muslims in each country surveyed in these regions hold a view about they are free to practice any faith they want. [6]Notwithstanding flexibility for themselves, most Muslims trust people from different religions can hone their faith straightforwardly. [7]Among Muslims who say individuals of various religions are allowed to rehearse their faith, seventy five percent or more in every nation say this is something worth being thankful for. For a certain something, it is tucked away in the real worldwide human rights traditions. [8]

It can likewise be gotten from the estimation of religion itself, in which individuals over a tremendous assortment of times and places have looked for satisfaction. Recognizing that religion will be at its practically true when it may be uninhibitedly picked, those Determination that those state ought further bolstering guarantee the benefit should search then afterward that fulfilment unhindered takes after regularly[9]. At long last, the Muslim world likewise contains religiously free administrations, adding much further unpredictability to the negative judgment of the satellite view[10]. Cases of such administrations incorporate Kosovo, Djibouti, Albania, Mali, Senegal and Sierra Leone– the greater part of them observably outside the Arab world[11]. These administrations – around one-fourth of Muslim-larger part nations – demonstrate that the dissent of religious opportunity is a long way from the entire story in the Muslim world.

There might be no efficient clarification for why these nations are religiously free. For a few, the underlying foundations of flexibility may lie in a specific type of Islamic philosophy or culture that encapsulates resilience. In others, opportunity may have emerged through a modus vivendi among Islam and different religions eventually in the nation's history. These cases, however, demonstrate that Muslim populaces can, in specific situations, demonstrate neighbourly to religious opportunity[12].While Islam may endure a shortage of religious flexibility in the total, Islam isn't really the explanation for this deficiency. Mainstream abusive governments are a broad wellspring of constraint in the Muslim world. [13]Indeed, even Islamist administrations frequently have their inception in chronicled conditions that give a false representation of a simple linkage of Islamic lessons with religious constraint. This joined with the nearness of religiously free nations in Islam, focuses to the likelihood that religious opportunity in the Muslim world may extend [14].

Generally speaking, Muslims comprehensively bolster the possibility of religious freedom[15]. Most of the Muslims have the opinion about the freedom of religion is actually good for them[16]. The matter of the freedom of religion has been addressed by Allah Himself in a few verses in the Al-Quran: "We have not sent you (O Muhammad) but to all mankind as a giver of good news and as a warner, but most people do not know[17]." (Quran 34:28) "Whoever seeks a religion other than Islam, it will never be accepted of him, and in the Hereafter he will be one of the losers[18]." (Quran 3:85) "Let there be no compulsion in religion: Truth stands out clear from Error: whoever rejects evil and believes in Allah hath grasped the most trustworthy hand-hold that never breaks. And Allah heareth and knoweth all things[19]." (Quran 2:286) "You cannot guide whomever you wish, but [it is] Allah [who] guides whomever He wishes, and He knows best those who are guided[20]." (Quran 28:56)

Article 12(4) of the Federation Constitution

In Federal Constitution (hereinafter FC), Article 12 (4) stated that for the purposes of Clause (3) the religion of a person under the age of 18 years shall be decided by his parent or guardian. Article 12(3) for FC also mentioned that no person shall be required to receive instruction in or take part in any ceremony or act of worship of a religion other than his own[21].Article 160 and the Eleventh Schedule of the Federal Constitution should be apply so that the word "his" would also mean "her". If not, the words will be interpreted literally as they appear, then Articles 12(3) and (4) of FC would only be applicable to the conversions of males under the age of eighteen years, and would not apply to females. It is clear to say that the discrimination of gender in this 2 Article is not the original intention of such a provision in the Federal Constitution[22].

The main controversy raised from the word "parent" used in Article 12(4) of FC. As the "word "parent" is expressed in singular form, some may defined that only one parent’s consent is needed to convert a minor’s religion[23]. However, some opposed by saying that the expression "parent" in singular form also contain the plural meaning "parents". It is beyond doubt that it is against the Parliament’s purpose if only one parent’s consent is required under Article 12(4) of FC.[24]Based on Oxford English Dictionary[25], the definition of the word "parent" is "a father or mother". The phrase "or" used in the definition emphasised that that a parent means either a father or a mother. According to The Kamus Dwibahasa Oxford Fajar, the word "parent" is defined as "ibu-bapa". The omission of the conjunctive "atau" (or) is confusing and unclear. [26]

As this is just the general definition of the word, it is not uncommon that ordinary dictionary defined words differently from an Act of Parliament or a State Enactment. Therefore, generally, there will a specific section in every statute to define certain words to make the meaning of the words clear in the structure of a sentence within specific provision[27].In addition, Article 160 (1) which is the Eleventh Schedule of the Constitution clearly provides that the words in the singular include the plural, and words in the plural include the singular. Section 4(3) of the Interpretation Acts 1948 and 1967 carries the same meaning which provides that words and expressions in the singular include the plural, and words and expressions in the plural include the singular[28]. The Federal Constitution which was in English was translated into the National language of Malaysia which is Malay language. Article 160B of FC was inserted to give effect to the translation and provides that the national language text of the Constitution shall prevail over the English language text if any conflict arises between this 2 languages.

Another confusion came to light when the word "parent" has been translated as "ibu atau bapa" (mother or father). In the National language version, Article 12(4) of FC has been translated as "Bagi maksud Fasal (3) agama seseorang yang di bawah umur 18 tahun hendaklah ditetapkan oleh ibu atau bapanya atau penjaganya." When Article 12(4) of FC in the English version is read along with Article 160(1) of FC and the Interpretation Acts 1948 and 1967, it is clearly understood that the religion of a person under 18 years shall be decided by his parents. On the other hand, Bahasa version of Article 12(4) provides that either father or mother could decide the religion of a person under the age of 18, thus the original meaning and intention had been lost. [29]In certain conditions, a single parent could decide the religion of a minor if one of the other biological parents or one of the legally adoptive parents had passed away. It also seems like the translator did not think of special composition of the Malaysian society which is multi-racial and multi religious[30].

Another stage of confusion is portrayed in the State Enactments. In the State Enactments regarding the Administration of Islam, majority of the States use the words "ibu atau bapa" to consent the conversion of a minor. Nevertheless, Penang, Selangor, Sabah use "ibu dan bapa" in the same provision[31]. The difference or error in the translation of Article 12(4) of FC is too obvious as the translation has disregard the changing fact when words are expressed in singular or plural form[32].

Conversion of Minor in Malaysia

As currently there are many cases where non-Muslim parents were unaware and not consent that the other non-Muslim spouse has converted their under 18 children’s religion after converting themselves to Islam[33]. The Bill tabled by the Government to amend the Law Reform (Marriage and Divorce) Act 1976 in 2016. This is to ensure that both parents must consent to the conversion of the child under 18 years old[34]. A new section, Section 88A will be inserted through the amendment which makes clear that both parents in a civil marriage must agree to the conversion of a minor into Islam as the law is silent on this aspect currently. In this Section, a child after attaining the age of majority has the right to decide on the issue of his or her religion[35].

In Indira Gandhi a/p Mutho v Pengarah Jabatan Islam Perak and Ors, the Ipoh High Court qua Family Court, in managing the one-sided change of minor kids to Islam by their changed over the father, was constrained to swim through the mind-boggling and prickly interface between common law and Islamic law in Malaysia. In the occasion, in a soundly contemplated choice conveyed on 25 July 2013[36], the High Court subdued the minor youngsters' transformation authentications got by the changed over father (without the information or assent of the non-changing over mother) and conceded a presentation that the minor kids had not been changed over.

Two emerge issues in Indira Gandhi as chose by the High Court was, initially, the privilege of the non-changing over parent to be heard before the minor youngsters can be changed over and, also, the Federal Constitution did not take away the forces of the common High Courts the minute an issue came extremely close to the Syariah Courts, the last being only an animal of state law, without the ward to settle on the defensive ability of issues said to be inside its select domain. The interest to the Federal Court was heard in late 2016 yet the peak court still can't seem to issue its choice[37]."Parent" covers both the father and mother of the youngster[38]. The father is the parent as well as the mother. A father and a mother joined together and become "parent".

When we read the Bahasa rendition of Article 12(4) either father or mother could choose the religion of a man under the eighteen years, the first impact and aim had been lost. Sound judgment would manage that the aim of Parliament in detailing proviso 12(4) was to enable the two guardians and not to a solitary parent to choose the religion of their child under eighteen years of age. For contention, one might say that a solitary parent could choose the religion of a man under eighteen years on the off chance that one of the other organic guardians or one of the lawfully new parents had passed on. On account of an ill-conceived kid, just the mother has the privilege to settle on the youngster's religious status, not the father[39].

Article 160B of the Federal Constitution gives that the national dialect content should be definitive and any inconsistency between such national dialect content and the English dialect message, the national dialect content might beat the English dialect content. The genuine reason for the adjustment in the words[40]" The articulation in craftsmanship 12(4) might be perused as "chosen by his parents". The same ought to apply uniformly and similarly to a wide range of change where the two guardians can't be of one personality. The composers did not face a circumstance where for any religion other than Islam the assent of the two guardians are required where they can't concur on the religion of the minor youngster yet that for transformation to Islam, just the assent of the changed over parent would do the trick[41].Regardless of whether this was affected by or come about because of the current pattern of the court choices which deciphered Article 12(4) of the Federal Constitution truly stays flawed.

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Only tolerating the assent of one parent realizing that the other parent had protested would prompt a not as much as the attractive state, most definitely, of rehashed transformations of one parent of the kid against the change of the other parent. Or on the other hand as on account of a change of the minor kid to Islam by the changed over parent, the non-changing over parent is said to have no locus to challenge the legitimacy of the Certificate of Conversion which is last and authoritative and that once changed over into Islam nobody can change over the minor youngster out of Islam[42]. (Subashini Rajasingam v. Saravanan Thangathoray).


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Table of contentsMalaysia's Healthcare System Before COVID-19 PandemicMalaysia's ...

Table of contents

  1. Malaysia's Healthcare System Before COVID-19 Pandemic
  2. Malaysia's Healthcare System During COVID-19 Pandemic
  3. Conclusion

There are numerous pharmacy related topics for presentation and further exploration, ranging from medication safety and pharmaceutical advancements to pharmacy ethics and patient counseling. However, for my personal study I chose to analyse the system of Malaysia's healthcare system before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

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In December 2019, SARS CoV-2, which stands for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2, a newly contagious zoonotic illness began to spread from China to neighbouring nations. This infection mostly transmitted by person-to-person through respiratory droplets created by exhalation during breathing, sneezing, coughing, or even speaking. After a few months, the illness's worldwide expansion had approached 100 nations, prompting the WHO to categorize the sickness as a pandemic. One of the first preventive steps taken by several governments throughout the world was the entire shutdown of cities, often known as lockdown. The lockdown is predicted to minimize COVID-19 transmission, resulting in fewer new cases, hospital admissions, intensive care unit admissions, and maybe a lower fatality rate. The COVID-19 pandemic management and outbreak control would be incomplete without the participation of pharmacists. The International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP) emphasized the critical role that pharmacists must play throughout the epidemic by publishing several guidelines about instructions and information concerning COVID-19 outbreaks.

Malaysia's healthcare system is divided into two tiers: public and private. Everyone has access to the public system, meanwhile the private system mostly serves the metropolitan population and those with the financial resources to pay for healthcare. The Ministry of Health (MOH), the Ministry of Higher Education (MOHE), or the Ministry of Defence are in charge of government-run healthcare institutions (MOD). Hospital pharmacy is a subset of pharmacy that is integrated into the care of a medical facility including hospitals, outpatient clinics, poison control centres, drug information centres, and residential care facilities. Hospital pharmacy is referred to a health care service that includes the art, practice and profession of selecting, preparing, storing, compounding and dispensing medicines and medical devices. The profession also involves advising patients and other healthcare professionals on the safe, effective and efficient use of medicines. To provide different set of services in an efficient manner, the pharmacy department in a hospital can be split into three broad sections: inpatient pharmacy, outpatient pharmacy, and medical store.

Malaysia's Healthcare System Before COVID-19 Pandemic

Supply chain management comprises material selection and supplier selection, purchase, reception, control, and organization of materials in stock, storage, dispensing, and assistance to the target public. All actions linked to drug management and supply chain must be carried out in accordance with established rules and best practices, with only certified and professional personnel involved. For greater compliance with current standards, facility-specific policies and procedures including SOPs should be designed and followed. When medications are delivered from the supplier, pharmacists are subjected to acceptance testing to ensure they does not get low-quality items. If there are any error in the distribution of medicines and devices, it can make serious problems to hospital and patients.

Inpatient pharmacy services primary function is to deliver drugs to warded patients using a variety of mechanisms. The example of inpatient pharmacy services is parenteral nutrition, extemporaneous preparations, cytotoxic drug reconstitution and drug information services. The duty of hospital pharmacist is to recommend and dispense individualized drug administration methods and doses. Hospital pharmacists can provide information on potential adverse effects and ensure that medications are compatible with other medications. They will frequently observe the effects of treatments to ensure that they are effective, safe, and appropriate for the user. Because hospital pharmacists must collaborate closely with other members of staff such as physicians, nurses, and dieticians, information must be communicated in a clear and understandable manner. To avoid any confusion, medication charts serve as an important source of information and an effective means of communication between hospital pharmacists and other members of the medical team. Next, they should keep track of which patients are being discharged and to review the discharge report. This necessitates the pharmacist inspecting the patient's drug file to check that the prescription dispensed corresponds to the medication listed in the discharge statement. 

The out-patient pharmacy's primary function is to provide drugs to discharged in-patients or out-patients who visit a doctor at the hospital clinics. The primary strategy entails having patients to physically come and get their drugs on a monthly basis. The length of a pharmacy session may vary depending on the hospital, since it is determined by the stock of pharmaceuticals offered to patients at each visit. There are also a variety of value-added service (VAS) mechanisms available for refilling prescription drugs such as drive-through pharmacies. However, VAS is not available at most hospital and may vary depending on the appropriateness and the patients' medications. For example, not all pharmaceuticals, particularly cold-chain and liquid dose medications, can be transported by courier services. In addition, it offers medication counselling which includes everything that happens during a medication review. Meanwhile, the drug information center is available to respond to questions from healthcare providers and the general public, developing guidelines, conducting pharmacy and therapeutic committee activities, educational activities, conducting studies and reporting adverse drug reactions. 

Malaysia's Healthcare System During COVID-19 Pandemic

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the supply chain management is critical which need continuous monitoring. The hospital’s pharmaceutical and medical logistics pharmacist at the medical store should facilitates the purchase of protective gear to protect healthcare professionals, such as personal protective equipment (PPE), medical disposables, hand sanitizers and others. The PPE includes Tyvek suits, 3-ply surgical or medical masks (ear loop or tie on), respirator masks (medical or particulate), medical cap, head cover, face shield, googles, plastic aprons, surgicalisolation gowns, disposable gloves, leg covers, shoe covers and waterproof boots. There was a global scarcity of PPE during the first wave of COVID-19 in Malaysia, so PPEs sewed by healthcare personnel and non-governmental groups are donated to hospital and evaluated by pharmacists to confirm the quality. Furthermore, a PPE tracker—an online spreadsheet is used to update their daily PPE balance. The pharmacist may also stock up on alcohol-based hand sanitizers. Self-production in large quantities is done to alleviate shortages, meet rising demand, and cut costs. Additionally, the lockdown imposed on the majority of countries has made it difficult for pharmacy departments to get medical supplies especially drugs for the treatment of COVID-19. Hence, pharmacists should update details of daily drug consumption and maintain continual contact with state pharmacy departments to procure medicinal supplies for routine usage in their hospitals. Commencing in April 2020, Pharmacy Information Systems (PhIs) is used for the reporting and monitoring of daily stock balance status at MOH sites because majority of COVID-19 medicines and antivirals were used off-label, including hydroxychloroquine (Plaquenil), azithromycin (Zithromax) and so on. 

To minimize overcrowding and medication refill time, changes were made to outpatient pharmacy services. Pharmacy value-added services (VAS) are implemented where patients may collect their medications through the Pharmacy counter appointment-based system, Medicines by Post, Drive-through Pharmacy (Farmasi Pandu Lalu), Locker4U, and the Integrated Drug Dispensing System (IDDS). However, pharmacist will analyse the case before dispensing medication using VAS. When there are changes in pharmacotherapy, patients are still advised to visit the pharmacy for a scheduled medication collection and counselling. Instead of receiving a one- or two-month supply of drugs, patients are given three months' worth of medication to reduce the number of trips required. The patients' waiting area has been adjusted to meet the physical distancing standard (1 m), and pharmacists working at the counter must wear a face shield over a surgical mask and keep a safe distance from patients. 

The inpatient pharmacy services are carried out as usual but with extra precautions method. This involves sanitising their work spaces on a daily basis, wearing PPE, and rotating danger leaves to reduce contact. Meanwhile, other strategy likes use of PhIS allows for online prescriptions, drug supply, medication administration, and counselling recording. The medication distribution technique was altered from a unit-of-dose to a unit-of-use system, and the frequency of medicine delivery was lowered from daily to three times per week. Medication is delivered to wards through a cleaned work space, and unused drugs are decontaminated with a 70% alcohol solution. Besides, quarantine units should be available even if a hospital is not treating COVID-19 patients. The in-patient pharmacy staff must guarantee that these wards receive enough pharmaceutical supply and maintain minimum exposure between ward staff and pharmacy team. All COVID-19 wards have been denied medicine administration through a medication trolley. Instead, all prescriptions are placed in a single-use plastic zipper bag containing a one-week supply of orally given drugs and a three-day supply of injectable meds for each patient.

Case conversations between pharmacists and physicians, which were formerly done at the bedside, are now held away from patient cubicles to limit interaction time with patients. Ward pharmacists have taken the initiative to provide COVID-19 patients with remote pharmaceutical care by examining medication records via the PhIS. If any pharmaceutical-related difficulties are recognised, interventions are carried out by interacting with prescribers in the wards by phone call, video conference, and messaging via WhatsApp. On the other hand, clinical pharmacists will participate in weekly online talks with other healthcare providers where patient cases are summarised, discussed, and intervention is provided as needed. Pharmaceutical care concerns including medication therapy, dose, length of treatment, results, and adverse drug reactions connected to COVID-19 patients are submitted by clinical pharmacists to the PhIs to update Malaysia's COVID-19 management standards. Next, videos and QR codes with connections to instructive e-pamphlets were created as part of the e-counseling resources. Phone and video call therapy were also used to assure the continuation of critical therapeutic services while also ensuring the safety of both patients and pharmacy workers.

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Conclusion

When administering any medicine, it is critical to ensure that the appropriate patient, dose, method of administration, time, drug, information, and paperwork are followed. The hospital pharmacist's role is broad and may entail a variety of responsibilities such as creating drug regimens that are tailored to the needs of each patient, assisting health care providers in making drug-related choices, compounding drugs for hospital usage and educating people about their medications and how to use them. They also need to plan and administer all sourcing and procurement, conversion, and healthcare-related logistics management tasks. It is also important to coordinate and collaborate with channel partners, which might include suppliers, middlemen, third-party service providers, and customers. When hospital was designated as a COVID hospital, pharmacists need to adjust their daily routines to better serve the pharmacy department and the hospital as a whole. Pharmacists must modify their routine to adjust to the 'new norm' way of life by avoiding 3Cs (crowded locations, confined areas, and close talk) and practicing 3Ws (wash, wear and warn). Some of the problems they faced were staggered working hours to ensure social distance is practiced, limited evaluation of patients in the ward with no participation in clinical rounds with the physicians, insufficient evidence for COVID-19 therapy and medication delivery and charting accuracy in the wards.


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In many of Shakespeare’s comedies, we see people from all social ranks being p ...

In many of Shakespeare’s comedies, we see people from all social ranks being portrayed – from the highest of nobles, to the lowest of servants. In cases of male friendship, there is a common pattern to see friendship develop through master-servant relationships, which aid and benefit each other. Two pertinent examples of this type of relationship is seen in Lucentio and Tranio in The Taming of the Shrew, and between Adam and Orlando from As You Like It. In both cases, these master-servant friendships can be compared to other friendships in the play that feature varying degrees of equality/inequality, to specify what makes these friendships different. In this essay, the nature of both of these friendships, and how they are portrayed will be explored, as well as their intended roles and functions in progressing the narratives of their respective plays.

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In order to examine the friendships of Lucentio and Tranio, as well as Adam and Orlando, it is important that we first define a concept of male friendship of which to compare them to. I have formed my definition around that of Lorna Huston’s, who theorises that male friendships were “an economic dependency as well as an affective bond.”[1] Viewed from this angle, male friendships in Shakespearean plays are treated not simply in terms of shared thoughts and feelings between characters, but a relationship of reciprocity – where members of a friendship work in order to help benefit and aid the other[2]. This definition of friendship is active in both the relationships between Lucentio and Tranio, and Adam and Orlando, as despite both being master-servant relationships, they both work to benefit each other with the knowledge that it will serve themselves, as well as satisfying the emotional needs of the other. From the start of The Taming of the Shrew we see a solid representation of male friendship in the bond between Lucentio and Tranio. Lucentio is a love-struck noble from Pisa, who has come to Padua to attend the prestigious university[3]. He is accompanied by his “trusty servant”[4] Tranio. Throughout the narrative, Tranio works to aid Lucentio in his mission to woo Bianca. It is clear that on one hand, Tranio does recognize his official role as Lucentio’s servant. In the end of Act 1, scene 1, Tranio declares that he is “tied to be obedient”[5] and refers to his promise to Lucentio’s father to be useful to Lucentio. However, Tranio concludes that he has no problem with carrying out Lucentio’s wish “Because so well I love Lucentio”[6]. this suggests that while Tranio recognizes and acknowledges his duty as a servant to Lucentio, his actions are motivated primarily by love.

The friendship between Lucentio and Tranio is portrayed as being similar to the bond between a wise mentor and his eager student. In the beginning of Act 1, scene 1, Lucentio asks Tranio’s opinion “Tell me thy mind…”[7] about his decision to move from Pisa to Padua. Whereas Lucentio respected Tranio enough to ask for his opinion, so too did Tranio feel comfortable enough to respond honestly. In his monologue, Tranio gives Lucentio sage pieces of advice, such as “No profit grows where is no pleasure ta’en. In brief, sir, study what you most affect”[8]. Lucentio also has much faith in Tranio, as seen when he implores for his help after falling in love with Bianca; “Counsel me, Tranio, for I know thou canst. Assist me, Tranio, for I know thou wilt.”[9] Tranio reinforces his role as a mentor when he immediately springs into action after realizing the immediacy of Lucentio’s love for Bianca, by first defining the problem for Lucentio; “That til the Father rid his hands of her, Master, your love must remain a maid at home.”[10] Then feeding him the solution “You will be schoolmaster, and undertake the teaching of the maid.”[11] According to Jeremy Taylor’s understanding of friendship, Tranio proves his usefulness as a friend, as he “gives advice”[12] and proves himself as an “active and useful individual”[13] when he willingly plays the role of Lucentio, and never fails to act in Lucentio’s best interests. The friendship between Lucentio and Tranio is integral to advancing the narrative of The Taming of The Shrew, in that without Tranio, Lucentio would most likely not have been able to produce a plan to attract Bianca, and have successfully carried out. In fact, the plan mostly works due to the dedication and intuition that Tranio puts into acting as Lucentio. He is easily able to fool the rest of the characters into believing that he is Lucentio, and capably bluffs his love for Bianca “And I am one that love Bianca more”[14] (2.1. 323). Tranio also acts quickly on his feet when tricks the Merchant into pretending to be Vincentio in order to maintain the charade, and fool Baptista.

Whereas Lucentio and Tranio are an example of a close, but unequal friendship, they are paralleled in the play by the friendship of Petruchio and Hortensio, who are both wealthy men of high status. Petruchio considers Hortensio to be his “best-loved and approved friend”[15], and Hortensio often acts in Petruchio’s best interests. Such as when he mentions Katherine in response to Petruchio’s desire for a landed wife, but is quick to warn him that she would make a “shrewd, ill-favoured wife”[16]. In this scene, Hortensio acts in a way that is beneficial to himself, as Katherine must first be married before Baptista will think of allowing anyone to marry Bianca. While also aiding Petruchio in his search for a wealthy wife, and warning him of her nature. In comparing the friendships of Hortensio and Petruchio and Lucentio and Tranio, we discover that there friendships are shaped by their respective equality and inequality. Hortensio’s friendship towards Petruchio is unaffected by matters of status and service, but Tranio performed the greater feat of friendship by pretending to be Lucentio, and doing it willingly. The next male friendship that fits into the previously outlined definition of friendship is that of Adam and Orlando in As You Like It. The noble, but uneducated, Orlando seeks shelter in the Arden Forest, accompanied by his elderly servant and companion, Adam, after he learns of his brother Oliver’s murderous intentions towards him[17]. Whereas in The Taming of the Shrew the relationship between Lucentio and Tranio was portrayed as relatively equal, with Lucentio looking up to Tranio, but Tranio working to benefit and aid Lucentio. The friendship between Adam and Orlando has Adam behaving more in the traditional role of the servant, but we see Orlando and Adam working equally to aid and benefit each other. It is clear that Adam has clearly served within the de Bois family for a long time, he refers to Orlando and Oliver’s father as “old master”[18] and declares that he has “lost my teeth in your service”[19] when reprimanding Oliver. Adam also refers to Orlando as his ‘master’, such as when he cries “O my gentle master, O my sweet master”.[20] However, he also expresses love, adoration, and concern over Orlando’s wellbeing. In the same scene, he praises Orlando as being “gentle, strong, and valiant”[21]. Based on the fact that Adam probably played a central part in Orlando’s upbringing, and his expressed fondness towards Orlando, we can gather that Adam has consequently taken on a familial role in Orlando’s life – probably something akin to a grandfather.

When discussing the concept of the household-family, Tadmor points out that people that lived in the 16-18th centuries often did not limit the concept of family to direct blood relatives, but often extended the concept to all who lived in the household[22]. Tadmor also observes that friends were also alluded to as friends[23]. When Adam informs Orlando of his need to flee, due to the imminent threat on his life, he performs a fantastic act of giving, when he offers Orlando his life savings of “five hundred crowns the thrifty hire I saved under your father, which I did store to be my foster nurse”[24]. Furthermore, he offers to accompany him and offers “Let me be your servant”[25]. In this substantial show of generosity, Adam fits the criteria for what makes, according to Jeremy Taylor, a good friend. While also being “true and honest”[26] he is also “free with his money”[27]. Later on, we see Orlando reciprocate the favours he owes to Adam, when he carries Adam to a sheltered spot in Act 2, scene 6 when Adam is bound to collapse from hunger and exhaustion. He is also willing to humiliate himself in front of Duke Senior, Jaques, and the rest of their entourage when he clumsily enters their gathering with sword drawn, and exclaims that they “forbear, and eat no more!”[28] Although Orlando and Adam’s friendship does not progress the play’s narrative in any substantial way, it does perform the function of providing a touching example of devotion, love, and loyalty to the audience. On the behalf of both Orlando and Adam. Orlando and Adam’s friendship also serves as a means for Orlando to be introduced to Duke Senior and his entourage, as he interrupts their gathering to search for food on Adam’s behalf. Another male friendship in As You Like It that could be used as a counterpoint to Orlando and Adam’s is between Duke Senior and his lords – particularly Amiens and Jaques. Again, these friendships are forged on inequality, as Duke Senior occupies a higher position than any lord. However, their difference in status is blurred by the fact that Duke Senior has been banished from court, and currently holds no formal power. He even refers to the lords that have accompanied him as his equals when he calls them his “co-mates and brothers in exile”[29]. It is important to note that all of the lords have made a substantial sacrifice by leaving their lifestyles to follow Duke Senior into the Arden Forest. A decision that was motivated no doubt partly by a sense of service, as the lords still refer to him as their superior, like when they address him as “your grace”[30] and “my lord”[31]. However, it must have been dually motivated by a sense of friendship and genuine preference of Duke Senior over Duke Frederick. In comparing the two, both friendships are similar because they are motivated by multiple senses of service, friendship, and in Orlando and Adam’s case; familial love.

In comparing the friendships between Lucentio and Tranio and Orlando and Adam, there are several points of similarity. Firstly, both friendships occur between masters and servants, and both friendships work to aid and benefit one another. Of course, the glaring fact that these friendships involve masters and servants inevitably brings up the question of, to what extent can these friendships be considered genuine? In concern to this question, Taylor alludes to the importance of choice; who we pick for our friends is just as important as who we do not[32]. The fact that Orlando and Lucentio chose to include Tranio and Adam as friends, instead of choosing to have them remain as purely servants to them, is telling. Furthermore, Taylor discusses the benefits of inequality in friendships, specifically on the behalf of Tranio and Adam, as they may reap the benefits bestowed upon them by their richer companions/masters, Orlando and Lucentio[33]. Despite their similarities, these friendships also have a fair amount of differences. For a start, there seems to be a disparity in ages between the two friendships. Lucentio and Tranio act as if they are relatively closer in age than Adam and Orlando, and as a result Lucentio views Tranio as a wise mentor and companion. Whereas, Orlando is a young noble and Adam is his elderly servant, which explains why Orlando views Adam as being a grandfather-figure.

The plays The Taming of the Shrew and As You Like It both portray significant male friendships of varying differences in equality and inequality. In the friendship between Lucentio and Tranio, Tranio exemplifies the friendship traits of confidentiality, wit, and intuition to help Lucentio in securing the object of his affection; Bianca. In the case of Adam, he fulfils the 16-18th century ideals of friendship through his touching and overwhelming displays of personal and economic sacrifice on Orlando’s behalf. The plays also feature reciprocal friendships in the form of Petruchio and Hortensio, and Duke Senior and his lords, but nowhere is the sacrificial and supportive nature of friendship more apparent than in the master-servant friendships of Lucentio and Tranio, and Adam and Orlando.

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[1] Hutson, Lorna. The Usurer's Daughter, Male Friendship and Fictions of Women in 16th Century England. London: Taylor and Francis, 1994. Pg. 3. [2] Ibid. Pg. 3-6. [3] Shakespeare, William. “The Taming of the Shrew” In Modern Critical Edition. Edited by Gary Taylor, John Jowett, Terri Bourus, and Gabriel Egan. The New Oxford Shakespeare. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2016. [4] Ibid. 1.1.7. [5] Ibid. 1.1.202. [6] Ibid. 1.1.207. [7] Ibid. 1.1.21. [8] Ibid. 1.1.39-40. [9] Ibid. 1.1.147-148. [10] Ibid. 1.1.170-171. [11] Ibid. 1.1.182. [12] Tadmor, Naomi. Family and Friends in Eighteenth-Century England. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001. Pg. 241. [13] Ibid. Pg. 241. [14] Shakespeare, William. “The Taming of the Shrew” In Modern Critical Edition. 2.1.323. [15] Ibid. 1.2.3. [16] Ibid. 1.2.55. [17] Shakespeare, William. “As You Like It” In Modern Critical Edition. Edited by Gary Taylor, John Jowett, Terri Bourus, and Gabriel Egan. The New Oxford Shakespeare. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2016. [18] Ibid. 1.1.63. [19] Ibid. 1.1.62-63. [20] Ibid. 2.3.2-3. [21] Ibid. 2.3.6. [22] Tadmor, Naomi. Family and Friends in Eighteenth-Century England. Pg. 18-21. [23] Ibid. 18-21. [24] Shakespeare, William. “As You Like It” In Modern Critical Edition. 2.3. 38-40. [25] Ibid. 2.3.46. [26] Tadmor, Naomi. Family and Friends in Eighteenth-Century England. Pg. 241. [27] Ibid. Pg. 241. [28] Shakespeare, William. “As You Like It” In Modern Critical Edition. 2.7.88. [29] Ibid. 2.1.1. [30] Ibid. 2.1.18. [31] Ibid. 2.1.26. [32] Tadmor, Naomi. Family and Friends in Eighteenth-Century England. Pg. 167-175. [33] Ibid. Pg. 167-175.


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Initially, the salient fool in Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night appears to be Feste ...

Initially, the salient fool in Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night appears to be Feste — a licensed jester. Yet upon further examination, we see that Shakespeare merely uses Feste as a critic of the comedic disarray in Illyria, which parallels the festival Twelfth Night. The nature of the play turns both the class structure and moral values on their head, producing a comedy where even the disciplined Puritan Malvolio is mocked for his social position. His restrained and harsh nature makes him an attractive target for the pranks of others,therefore Malvolio is not only a victim of comedy but a true fool.

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Shakespeare presents ambition as Malvolio’s hamartia; this quality ostrcises him from the group of other characters in the play due to his strong belief in his exalted position. Alienation makes Malvolio susceptible to the pranks of others and thus he is presented as the real fool. Malvolio enters Act 2 Scene 5 expressing a sanguine soliloquy which concludes with the rhetorical question “What should I think on’t?,” suggesting to the audience that he is lost in a fantasy, this interpretation is strengthened by the nature of the soliloquy as this is the action of speaking one’s thoughts regardless of who hears. The lexical field of personal pronouns such as “me” and “my” within the soliloquy magnifies his egotistical nature and is particularly effective in presenting Malvolio’s only interest in being his status and marriage to Olivia. Additionally, the disparity between “Count Malvolio’s” soliloquy and the preceding conversation involving Sir Toby, Sir Andrew and Maria is tacit in illustrating Malvolio as foolish. Maria animalizes Malvolio, calling him “the trout that must be caught with tickling”, showing how the other characters perceive him as being witless and easily tamable. It is clear to see that whilst the others mock Malvolio, he is blatantly unaware of this and is therefore made into the laughing stock of the scene. This scene would be particularly constructive in generating laughter from an Elizabethan audience, since an they would have had more of a defined and impermeable class system.

Malvolio’s desire to marry into a higher class would have been deemed controversial within his era, an act of sheer folly which would have been laughed at as interclass marriages were rare and unadvised. With this in mind, Malvolio’s thoughts regarding his position can be said to be nothing less than outrageous and this absurdity leads us to conclude that Malvolio is truly foolish. As well as ostricising Malvolio from the rest of the play’s characters, Shakespeare also juxtaposes Malvolio with Feste, the other recognizable fool . It is especially effective because it allows us to view them as fools in different ways. Feste is the licensed fool- this was the role of someone that was hired in Elizabethan times by the household to entertain its inhabitants. From the very beginning of the play we note even the contrast of their names, “Malvolio” meaning “ill will” and “Feste” congruent with the play’s title “Twelfth Night” meaning “festivity and joyful”. Even in Malvolio’s name, we see that he is divergent not only with Feste, but the context of the Twelfth Night festivity and merry-making, therefore it is understandable that she should be the target of comedy and mockery. Both Malvio and Feste are critical of other characters in the play, in this way they could be seen as alike. Philip Sidney states in The Defence of Poetry that “comedy is an imitation of the common errors of our life” which could be interpreted as comedy being a critical device of both the characters and general population of the time. Feste achieves this comedy through his wit and mockery of other characters, thus he is an outsider in the play who is used to verbalize the idiotic and pernicious actions of the other characters. Feste’s lines are littered with cheek and charm in Act1 Scene5 when he lambastes Olivia for the mourning of her brother. He speaks in prose when he asks “Good madonna, why mourn’st thou?” displaying a casual tone despite the nature of the matter being serious. By addressing her as “madonna” we see that his tone is playful, almost too bold for his social position. The audience sees that Feste has the upperhand in the conversation and so Shakespeare fosters critical comedy though Feste mocking Olivia for her lack of intelligence.

Conversely, Shakespeare creates this same comedy using Malvolio’s own foolishness to mock the folly of the wider audience, which substantially differs from the role of Feste. Malvolio enters Act 2 Scene 3 angry with an accusative tone in his voice when he interrogates Sir Toby and Sir Andrew with “Have you no wit, manners, nor honesty…” which is profoundly ironic as it is Malvolio who possesses none of these qualities. By listing his slanders, Malvolio quantifies them, making his tone all the more abrasive which is haughty considering that his status makes him subordinate to the others. Malvolio is lampooned for this behaviour as it is out of place and arrogant. Moreover, unlike Feste, Malvolio’s social status and well-being decline as a result of this cruel behaviour, presenting himself as a fool once more. Whilst Feste retains his position as the critic throughout the play, Malvolio on the other hand receives “special care” locked and tortured in a dark room as recompense for his censorious behaviour to the others. Certainly, there is merit to Philip Sidney’s statement, however it is the role of the real fool in the play to mock society through their own folly and this is evidently the role of Malvolio. Shakespeare uses Malvolio’s religious position as a “kind of puritan” to present him as an unfortunate natural fool, yet a different interpretation could be that Shakespeare also conceals his own opinion of Puritanism through characters in Twelfth Night. Religious tensions that existed at the time between the Puritans and Catholics were particularly prevalent, despite this Shakespeare was able to give his opinion on the follies of larger society and religion through the voices of his characters.

Malvolio is often relied upon by Olivia for his somber Puritan nature, claiming that he is “sad and civil” which is apt when we consider that she is in mourning. However, audience anticipation is increased when Maria announces in Act 3 Scene 4 that Malvolio is somewhat deranged. Upon arrival — and appearingly upon instruction from Olivia — Malvolio is dressed in “yellow stockings, cross gartered” which would look aesthetically distasteful and bizarre on stage. It is ironic that this clothing should contrast with the black attire of a Puritan. Furthermore his clothing could be likened to a Jester’s motley which is jocular as we see that Malvolio is now also the visual representation of the fool. His entrance proceeds with a conversation between him and Olivia riddled with sexual obfuscation on Malvolio’s part. Self-assured, he declares “To bed! ay, sweetheart; and ill come to thee” which shows a complete disregard for his previous strict Puritan beliefs as sex before marriage would have been extremely injudicious. It is foolish of Malvolio to neglect the fundamental morals which he stands by as this lunacy achieves him nothing but unrequited love. As Malvolio commences with his adage “some are born great…” his lines are cut short by Olivia’s constant questions, making the flow of conversation disjointed and awkward, letting the audience cringe at the senselessness of Malvolio’s advances. Act 4 Scene 1 in the play provides a significant structural turning point where we see Malvolio transform from a mere fool to a victim of Shakespeare’s comedy. After Feste and Sir Toby torture Malvolio the supposed “lunatic,” we see that he becomes truly broken as he pleads with Feste, repeatedly calling him “good Sir Topas” in a desperate bid for sympathy. The title is significant as we finally see Malvolio address someone in a formal and complimentary manner, which makes us sympathise him rather than brand him a fool. Oddly enough, it was popular in Elizabethen England to torture those who may have been mentally ill, as it was believed that they were possesed by evil spirits.

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While a modern day audience might view Malvolio as a victim of a cruel dupe, an audience of the time would be desensitized to this barbarity. Malvolio would yet again be deemed the real fool as we see him strain under the oppressive nature of others. There are various opinions as to who is the real fool of the play, some critics argue that the comedy is contingent upon all of the characters being outfoxed by one another, with no true fool. Another interpretation is that it is the audience and wider public that are made to look foolish, with Twelfth Night constructed as a satirical jeer at society’s customs and beliefs. Although these arguments are reasonably strong, Malvolio is irrefutably the most conspicuous fool. He is not only deceived by others, but is also the epitome of hypocrisy, criticising characters such as Sir Toby for immoral behaviour but acting impulsively and recklessly in his pursuit of Olivia. For this reason, Malvolio can be deemed the real fool of Twelfth Night.

Works Cited

  1. Bloom, H. (2005). Twelfth night. Infobase Publishing.
  2. Garber, M. (2010). Shakespeare's ghost writers: literature as uncanny causality. Routledge.
  3. Greenblatt, S. (2012). Will in the world: How Shakespeare became Shakespeare. WW Norton & Company.
  4. McEvoy, S. (2008). Shakespeare: The Basics. Routledge.
  5. Orgel, S. (1998). Introduction to Twelfth Night. Penguin Classics.
  6. Proescholdt, K. J. (2007). The bright form of things: essays on contemporary American fiction. University of Arkansas Press.
  7. Rackin, P. (1982). Stages of history: Shakespeare's English chronicles. Cornell University Press.
  8. Smith, R. (2013). The Cambridge introduction to Shakespeare. Cambridge University Press.
  9. Vaughan, V. (1997). Twelfth night: or what you will. Manchester University Press.
  10. Wilson, R. (2004). Secret Shakespeare: Studies in theatre, religion and resistance. Manchester University Press.

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Perhaps the most seductive method of interpreting existence is through the bifoc ...

Perhaps the most seductive method of interpreting existence is through the bifocal lenses of morality. Whether in a religious or non-religious sense, almost every civilization, institution, and human has had its own demarcation of Good and Evil. Ironically, these various entities have so infinitely many variations of the moral code that it is futile to attempt to find unifying characteristics among them other than the essential ideas that make them moral codes. Fortunately, there are other ways to look at the world. Were it not for these alternative perspectives, it would be impossible to sort through the infinite value judgements and restrictions put on the human race by its various moralities, and the occasional brilliant individual who manages to transcend the moral system would necessarily be a perversion of man. In Paradise Lost, Satan is Milton's medium for depicting this brilliant, fiery independence from the restrictions placed on the human spirit by whatever religious or moral system may attempt define and constrain it. Satan is the aspect of humanity that strays from the path of God and ceases to see the universe in terms of Good and Evil. Similarly, while Satan may be responsible for humanity's fall, it is this very fall that makes us human as we understand the word today. It is in this way that Milton not only explains the ways of God to man, but at the same time makes it clear that these ways of God make us incapable of following the path he has laid out for us. When issues of religion and morality are put aside and the conflict between God and Satan is seen solely as a conflict between two separate entities, Satan is nothing more than a rebel who would relate with Cromwell, Milton, and other revolutionaries of the day in England.

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Instead of malice, hatred, and evil many of the qualities exemplified by Satan are admired by humanity as some of the highest possible virtues. After his expulsion from heaven, Satan reflects upon his situation and demands of himself "unconquerable will," (Book I, 106) "courage never to submit or yield," (108) and his own personal "glory." (110) It is important to remember that before Satan was the archfiend he was one of the most powerful angels in heaven. He is an exceptional character, with a will and an intellect capable of questioning and even fighting God, the highest power in the universe. While some may see Satan's rebellion as a repugnant affront to everything good and holy, those who are not concerned with the good and holy would see Satan as an immense power to be feared with a will and courage worthy of true admiration. Furthermore, Satan is much more than a one-dimensional entity capable solely of pure evil. His introspection makes it clear that life as the lord of Hell involves more than just corrupting humanity and plotting revenge against God. In fact, while God is spared many human emotions such as doubt, loss, and the pain of defeat due to his omniscience and omnipotence, Satan does not have this convenience. While Satan possesses plenty of qualities that would are certainly evil, they are all undeniably human qualities. Because of this Satan embodies not only all the qualities that we, as humans admire and strive towards, but also all of the less pleasant human emotions that make him even more approachable and understandable as a character.

Because Satan's fall bears such remarkable parallel to the fall of man it is necessary to adopt a perspective that departs from the oppressive morality of God. The fate of the two are intertwined- to condemn Satan is to condemn man, and the harshest judgment would be brought down upon men who exhibit the highest level of independence, passion, and philosophical integrity. Satan is a mirror off of which the essence of man is reflects, and does so brilliantly at times. More importantly, he shows us that man's essence is such that man is free to perpetually transcend his essence and reach for whatever infinite possibilities lay outside the boundaries laid down by even God himself. It is essential to accept Satan's existence in order to accept the state of man. For example, Satan's fall occurred at the first moment that he conceived of disobeying God's will, at which point his daughter, Sin, "a goddess armed," (Book 2, line 757) emerged from his head. This birth is identical to that of Athena, the Greek Goddess of wisdom. The significance is that Satan is not inherently evil. Instead evil was something that he created by exercising thought and free will. Furthermore, the fruit from the tree of knowledge is the cause of Adam and Eve's expulsion from Paradise. It is this parallel that provides an essential insight into the nature of the condition shared by all men. It is the ability to possess knowledge that provides man with a will that is free to depart from the path of God. "Reason also is choice." (Book 3, line 108) Really, man's fall occurred when God gave him free will. Regardless of any sin man may have committed, the moment man was free he no longer was merely another essence in the mind of God, but an individual capable of determining his own limitless essence. Paradise is the original state of painless oblivion in which man cannot make for himself a hell by thinking, and Satan is whatever force initially removes man from oblivion.

Perhaps if man had the same omniscience as God he would understand the ways of the lord and keep from his renegade path. Nonetheless, there are some contradictions in the essential nature of an all-knowing, all-powerful, yet at the same time judgement-casting being. If God is free, he is making decisions with no precedent and no laws to determine his decision. He would be paralyzed in Nirvana and existence would be, essentially, empty. On the other hand, God, in his total-knowledge of the universe, may be ruling over the fate of man with what he knows to be the immutable, universal laws of existence. Not only would this put God in the position of a mere errand jockey for some other arbitrary force, but God's role as creator of the universe would put the universe in a strange, flickering limbo state. All of these possibilities may be perfectly feasible when you think about some of the crazy things in this existence, for example gravity and Catholicism. Nonetheless, it is probably more reasonable to believe that the nature of God's existence is beyond the realm of human comprehension. Thus, by explaining the fashion in which man was expelled from Paradise, Milton makes it clear that man's salvation, soul, essence, and fate is up to him. We have lost the paradise of intimacy with God and the convenience of living within the scope of his omnipotence. We are alone and ignorant in a chaotic universe, where man's free will rules over God's intended essence. While the desire to seek comfort and guidance towards salvation from God may be strong, the most we can know in terms of understanding the ways of God is that we have been cast from Paradise and in the end, we will have to choose if salvation is even what we want. And maybe salvation is what we need after all. Without God's guidance or promise, maybe the real answer is to accept this reality, now, with the knowledge that it is impossible to condemn something as brilliant as the human spirit, and it is better to be free in any Hell than a slave in Heaven.


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Pride and Prejudice, the classic tale written by Jane Austen, takes place in 19t ...

Pride and Prejudice, the classic tale written by Jane Austen, takes place in 19th century rural England. Setting is important throughout the story because it symbolizes the progression of the relationship between two of the major characters, Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy. Due to the small world that the characters are confined to in the early 1800s, there are three major locations that are important; Netherfield Park, Rosings, and the Pemberley. Netherfield Park is the home of the rich and single Charles Bingley who is friends with Mr. Darcy. Here, both Elizabeth and Darcy have the opportunity to interact and it is the same place that Darcy begins to develop feelings for Elizabeth. Rosings is the home of Lady Catherine de Bourgh and Elizabeth’s cousin, William Collins. Here, Elizabeth and Darcy coincidentally meet and is where Darcy’s feelings for Elizabeth really take off, despite Darcy’s attempts to stop them. The final important location is the Pemberley. The Pemberley is the home of Darcy and where he and his newly wed wife, Elizabeth, settle down.

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The main characters of Pride and Prejudice are Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy. The minor characters are Elizabeth’s mother and father, Mr. and Mrs. Bennet, as well as her three sisters; Jane, Kitty, and Lydia. Mr. Charles Bingley, Mr. Wickham, and Lady Catherine de Bourgh are also minor characters. The characters that experience the most amount of change are Elizabeth and Darcy. In the beginning, Darcy is prideful, arrogant, vain, and disliked by many. However, over the course of the story, Darcy softens and becomes kind-hearted and accepting of people in and out of his social class after falling in love with Elizabeth. Elizabeth begins as quick-minded, stubborn, and prideful as well. Throughout the story however, she realizes that she is quick to make incorrect assumptions of others and is blinded by her prejudice towards them. Because of this realization, she learns to put her pride aside and truly get to know people, like Darcy, before shutting them down completely.

The main events of the story are as follows: A group of rich men, including Mr. Charles Bingley and Mr. Darcy, move to rural Meryton, England where the Bennet family resides. Mr. Bingley hosts a ball where the two main characters, Mr. Darcy and Miss Elizabeth Bennet first meet and form a dislike for one another. On the other hand, Mr. Bingley and Elizabeth’s older sister, Jane, spark a relationship that immediately takes off. Later on, a regiment of soldiers arrives in Meryton and Elizabeth meets Mr. Wickham who has a deep dislike for Darcy and makes Elizabeth hate Darcy even more by feeding her false information. Bingley and Jane become separated for an unknown reason and while Jane has come to terms with the loss of her lover, Elizabeth suspects Darcy has something to do with it. However, Darcy has slowly been developing feelings for Elizabeth has they have spent time together and unexpectedly proposes to her, which she angrily refuses. Darcy explains himself to Elizabeth and she slowly begins to trust him. Eventually, Bingley returns and proposes to Jane, who happily accepts. At the same time, Darcy proposes once again to Elizabeth, who also accepts.

Throughout the story of Pride and Prejudice, there are many conflicts. However, the central conflict is man vs man. The main conflict consists of Elizabeth’s struggle to find a suitable husband while navigating through social confinements as well as the ill wishes of the people around her.

The rising action takes place when Darcy’s friend, Mr. Bingley, and Elizabeth’s older sister, Jane, develop a relationship at the same time that Elizabeth becomes interested in Mr. Wickham. Mr. Wickham is an officer with a deep grudge against Darcy. Wickham explains a cruel story that is riddled with lies to Elizabeth about Darcy’s actions in childhood which only makes Elizabeth's growing dislike for Darcy stronger. Elizabeth grows even more furious with Darcy when it appears that he is trying to ruin Bingley's relationship with Jane.

The climax of the story is when Elizabeth’s anger towards Darcy reaches its highest point. At this time, Darcy suddenly and unexpectedly proposes to her. Elizabeth is enraged and refuses his proposal, as she is repelled by his pride and still believes that Darcy is to blame for Bingley and Jane’s separation as well as his cruelty towards Mr. Wickham.

The falling action of the story occurs after Elizabeth’s refusal to Darcy’s proposal. Darcy writes a letter to clear up all the confusion regarding his character and gives it to Elizabeth. Darcy explains his part in the separation of Jane and Bingley and that Wickham is not the man that Elizabeth thinks he is. Elizabeth realizes that Darcy is innocent and feels mortified that she was tricked into hating Darcy by Wickham’s false stories. Shortly after, Elizabeth makes a trip to Darcy’s home, the Pemberley, where her and Darcy’s feelings for one another grow. Jane sends two letters to Elizabeth while she is at the Pemberley, revealing that their younger sister, Lydia, has eloped with Mr. Wickham. Elizabeth returns home and Darcy helps devise a plan to protect the Bennet family’s reputation. After this, Bingley returns to Netherfield where he proposes to Jane, who happily accepts. Lady Catherine de Bourgh, however, hears a false rumor that Darcy and Elizabeth are engaged. She arrives at Netherfield and tries to convince Elizabeth to not accept a proposal from Darcy because it will ruin Darcy’s reputation. Elizabeth though, disregards her and when Darcy proposes once again, she happily accepts.

The theme and lesson that Pride and Prejudice teaches is to not be blinded by one’s own pride. Both Darcy and Elizabeth were prideful about different things in the beginning of the story. Darcy prided himself on his social standing and treated others badly because of it. Elizabeth allowed her judgment regarding others to be clouded due to her pride in her discernment. This led to confusion and anger about situations that could have been entirely avoided if both Darcy and Elizabeth were able to set their pride aside and talk the situations out.

References

  1. Salber, C. (2001). Bridget Jones and Mark Darcy: Art Imitating Art... Imitating Art. Jane Austen Society of North America, 22(1). (https://www.jasna.org/persuasions/on-line/vol22no1/salber.html)
  2. Fox, R. C. (1962). Elizabeth Bennet: Prejudice or Vanity?. Nineteenth-Century Fiction, 17(2), 185-187. (https://www.jstor.org/stable/2932520)
  3. Marcus, M. (1961). A Major Thematic Pattern in Pride and Prejudice. Nineteenth-Century Fiction, 16(3), 274-279. (https://online.ucpress.edu/ncl/article-abstract/16/3/274/64033/A-Major-Thematic-Pattern-in-Pride-and-Prejudice?redirectedFrom=fulltext)
  4. Baker, A. (2014). Caught in the Act of Greatness: Jane Austen's Characterization of Elizabeth and Darcy by Sentence Structure in PRIDE AND PREJUDICE. The Explicator, 72(3), 169-178. (https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00144940.2014.932742?journalCode=vexp20)

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