Author: chris

            Like any other state, or country, United States is also affected by unemployment.  Unemployment rate refers to the number of individuals eligible or ready to work but have no job. This therefore, creates a surplus labor force; some of which are laid off from their jobs. The unemployment rate in US was last reported at 8.6 percent in November 2011. The United States unemployment rate since 1948 to 2010 has averaged 5.7 percent. However, in November 1982, unemployment rate was the highest 10.8 percent while May 1952 recorded the lowest rate at 2.50 percent (Jamie, 2011, p. 203).Unemployment in United State is caused by different factors including economic recession, outsourcing of employees, Iraq and Afghanistan wars among many other factors.

In US, labor force refers to the total number of people who are employed and those unemployed but seeking work. While on the other hand, non labor force entails those people that are not looking for work or job, those that are institutionalized and all those serving in the military. Therefore, with the current economic problems and recessions that have caught up with the world, United States has not been left out leading to an increase in unemployment. Amidst the economic recession, the unemployment rate in US in November recorded a slight drop of 0.4 percent clogging at 8.6 percent.  The nonfarm payroll employment level rose by 120,000 with employment rates increasing in the leisure, and hospitality, retail, professional, business services and health care sectors (Clemente, Luis, & Antonio, 2005, p. 848). On the other hand, government employment rate continued to record a decline. For instance, the United States unemployed persons which was at 13.3 million was a decline by 594,000 in November. Furthermore, this saw the labor force in United States reduce by half the total drop of the people without jobs. Therefore, it is clear that indeed United State has experienced unemployment rates.

When it comes to the major work groups, the rate of unemployment of male adults fell by 0.5 percent to 8.3 percent in November 2011. The whites without jobs declined to 7.6 percent  while women adults was at 7.8 percent, teenagers at 23.7 percent, blacks at 15.5 percent, Asians at 6.5 percent while Hispanic was at 11.4 percent. From this data, it is clear that unemployment rate tended to vary with the ethnicity and the gender. The level of male unemployed is higher than women and the blacks’ rate of unemployment compared with other ethnic groups. This statistics reflects some level of inequalities in the level of employment a situation that needs to be addressed by the government and the labor federations.

The high level of unemployment in US has been sparked by a number of causes.  These series of events that has marred US has led to a vicious recessionary cycle that is commonly referred to as economic recession of 2007 or which is also referred to as financial crisis of 2007.  For instance, in June 2010, the Bureau of Labor statistics, of the United States released data based on the census population putting the rate of unemployment at 9 percent. The continued financial crisis of 2007 which ran to 2009 to a larger extend contributed to the increased rate of United States unemployment rate.  For the country to be stable its economic position should be stable and able to support the activities which are being undertaken. Borrowing from Adam smith and Alfred Marshall, predisposition on economy, that a good GDP is achieved when there is legitimate supply and demand curve meaning that, the products produced by the manufacturers should be paid by the consumers since the total products that are purchased in an economy make up the GDP. However, this principle is not pursued as huge volumes of goods are purchased with credit cards with money being paid at later stage. This scenario creates or leads to accumulation of consumer debts leading to a generation of artificial GDP. This unhealthy purchasing behavior then ushers in huge volumes of bad debts and bankruptcy making the credit card companies, lenders and even consumers to incur huge losses. The loss then spreads to all economic entities in the United States economy leading to many companies becoming bankruptcy leading to initiation of job cuts and layoffs. Therefore, the financial crisis witnessed in the 2007 to 2009 impacted to a greater level the increased rate of unemployment as many organizations instead of recruiting more staff, resorted to lay-offs as a strategy to salvage themselves from closing and incurring huge losses. Therefore, apart from the economic recession and financial crisis, other factors have contributed to the increased rate of unemployment in United States.

Another cause of the unemployment in United States was the real estate sector bubble. This sector has performed well from 1990s to 2001 recording a rise of 124% but with the introduction of second mortgages, lending, refinancing and unnecessary appraisal of prices led to huge losses by banks (Jan, Abdolkarim, & Van, 2009, p. 937). Furthermore, short sale procedures and foreclosed properties did not fetch good returns as expected as people refused to purchase or had defaulted their mortgage loans. This scenario, led to increased cases in which banks began filing for bankruptcy, an example being the Lehman Brothers, which was worth $600 billion in assets. Such actions initiated many layoffs leading to increase in employment among the US people.

Automotive industry crisis is yet another contributor or cause of the unemployment in US after the banking sector. The lending institutions which provided large volume of lending facilities in terms of loans and cars disappeared affecting the foreign exchange, international trade and the oil trade. Furthermore, the lapse of enthusiasm in the fuel trade between 2003 and 2008 drastically affected the level of fuel supply facilities leading to inflation in the costs of fuel products. This scenario led to losses in terms of sales and markets by the fuel companies, this led to a considerable number of people being laid off.

Outsourcing is yet another factor that affects employment in US. For instance, the increased rate of unemployment in the US economy is also attributed to the business practices where work is allocated to companies based in less developed economies in order to benefit from cheaper manpower hours. This practice has seen many of the employment opportunities given to other people locking out the US labor force from such opportunities. These actions have therefore, played a role in the US level of employment (Toshihiko, & Ayşegül, 2009, p. 200).

Two wars perpetuated by the Bush administration i.e. the Iraq and Afghanistan wars cost huge amount of money in supporting the numerous invasions. The total amount is estimated to amount to $78,430 billion. For instance, a military installation of Kandahar Air Field is estimated to have cost $ 780 million by 2009, with around $1.6 billion having been spent in Military installations in Afghanistan. 2003 saw around 248,000 troops deployed in Iraq which saw approximately $533.8 billion defense budget used in the foreign operation by 20101. This is a huge amount of money that would otherwise be used to revamp and revive the economic situation in US and foster employment among its citizens (Dale, & Éva, N2007, p. 327).

By November, the total number of people losing jobs and those that completed temporary jobs reduced by 432,000 to 7.6 million.  While the number of long term unemployed people i.e. those outside employment for over 27 weeks clogged 5.7 million accounting for 4 percent of the total number of unemployed people. Furthermore, a decline of 0.2 % in the civil labor force participation rate was also recorded bringing it to 64 percent as the employment population ration remained at 58.5 percent having changed with little magnitude. There was  also  a drop of about 378,00 to  8.5 in the month of November with the number of people employed on part time basis due to economic reasons. The number of working hours had been cut or reduced since they were unable to find full time jobs.

            Men and women exhibit enormous diversity in their communication styles and practice as they posse’s different conversational and speech skills.  These differences depend on a variety of factors or situations such as the purpose, the roles they play and the context in which these communication processes are being carried out. However, on the other hand, these gender communications have elicited missed reaction from different researchers and physiologists by claiming that there are no specific styles of communication among the genders as they are exhibited by both the genders.  Gender communication differences are illustrated or understood self concept of the genders, language behavior, persuasion styles, interpretations and meaning that are attached to certain things among many other attributes. Therefore, understanding these communication differences among genders goes a milestone in curbing any form of conflict and rather ensures harmony and positive relationships among the genders.

In his book “men are from mars, women are from Venus” John Gray argues that men and women are entirely different in their communication.  His arguments are that these differences are solely dependent on the different values, needs and communication styles adapted by them.

When it comes to talking, about problems both men and women look for different outcomes.  Women prefer a person who listens and empathizes with them as they do not look for someone who fix or solves the problem. Rather they prefer a person that understands them and allows them to express their concerns and anxieties as they feel appreciated and cared for. On the other hand, women when it comes to dealing with problems as they are solution driven.  Men like a person that will come up with an answer even if the solution seems to be impossible. Therefore, these differences may lead to disagreement and miscommunication between the genders. Understanding these differences in such situation may help in containing escalation of misunderstanding and aborting relationships among the genders.

Interpretation and meaning is also another aspect that brings differences among the genders. This scenario is well illustrated when dealing with conflicts.  Women in most conflict cases have a tendency to offer advice on the way forward. This scenario lead men to interpret this as a threatening behavior by women as they (men) should be the ones to make decisions on various aspects. This leads to the interpretation by the women counterpart that men think that they know everything. This interpretation and attachment of meaning to the actions through communication leads to conflict as men thinks that women are challenging their competency when they involve more in communication.  Furthermore, the tendency of men to be inclined to going into solution mode leads to oversimplification of a problem ignoring some of the sensitive issues making a women  feel that her feelings are being ignored by men. This interpretation and attachment of meaning lead to the barriers in communication, leading to a conflict.

In time of a crisis, women talk about their problems openly with their friends, family members, and colleagues and their partners as a way of seeking empathy and comfort. This helps them to feel emotionally prepared to deal with their challenges. On the other hand, men are more introvert and withdraw in dealing with crises. They do not talk about the issues that are pressing them or do not seek for help as they view this as sign of weakness.  Therefore, men will not engage in a lot of communication while women will seek guidance from various stakeholders. Therefore, understanding these barriers and trends would help the genders in reaching consensus and solving their problems amicably.

Language is another important factor in the gender communication. Language is the medium through which people express their world views. Language is learned and it is the mode in which beliefs, perceptions, normal and many other attributes in life are transmitted. Language is a medium in which meaning is transmitted and interpreted. Due to our cultures, men and women are socialized in different ways. For instance, women are taught not to be confrontational or not to be aggressive in their lives. Therefore, they mostly express themselves through indirect channels such as asking of questions. These questions are used to solicit information in making individuals rethink their plans, ideas and positions. While on the other hand, men do not easily recognize indirect messages or body languages. They do not quickly read between the lines in understanding the women meanings or questions.  Women language tends to be tactful, indirect, indiscreet, and even manipulative as they tend to giver fewer directives. Further, women use more courtesy words. For instance, they may say “Anne will not be available to finish the assignment,” meaning that Anne does not want to handle the assignment. On the other hand, men language tends to be direct, blunt and powerful and at some times offensive. They give more directives with less courtesy words for example your ideas is wrong and indecisive.

Women are more verbally skilled compared to men and their language and communication matters more to them as opposed to men. Men often use language as a way of getting things done the way they want them to while women use language as a tool of enhancing cooperation with other people.  Furthermore, men use language competitively aimed at maintaining and acquiring status while women use of language is cooperative demonstrating their quest to ensure harmony and equality.

Nonverbal communicative behaviors such as use of space, concepts of time and attachment of meaning to nonverbal cues varies among the genders.  Women tend to use nonverbal cues more often in their communication than men.

When it comes to conversation, women engage in communication to build rapport with their colleagues and to explore their own feelings and opinions.  Therefore, they consider their colleagues worthy of conversation as they talk or engage in conversation on personal topics such as experiences, people, and relationships. They endeavor to connect emotionally with other people. While on the other hand, men tend to view or regard conversation as a way or means of exchanging information and solving problems. They therefore, discuss facts, events, and happenings in sports news, or generally topics that are not directly related to each other. Men use linear, more abstract communication and speak in general terms which requires little intimacy.

When it comes to self concept and self disclosure, women continuously self disclose, as they share their secrets and process of inner discovery to anybody that will seem to listen to them. They disclose as a way of expressing their stress and things that disturb them to be able to get support and consolation from their colleagues.  On the other hand, men often stop communiacting abruptly and become silent and rarely self disclose. Men would not prefer to burden or express their problems with other men but rather will choose to do something else like watching a television rather than share their problems with women. It shows that men do not self disclose.

On the aspect of self-concept, women are perceived to have low confidence compared to the males. This confidence is witnessed in taking or making decision on different aspect involving daily activities and in the leadership positions.  Male are confident in making whichever decisions regardless of the consequences provided their conscience tells them that the decisions are appropriate.  Therefore, this confidence is exhibited in the decisions they make concerning certain things.

In general, in their communication, women seek to relate with other people as equal and therefore, in their communication they tend to listen to other people views as compared to men.  Male in their communications seek for domination and therefore, they engage in communication or talk more than their female counterparts.

When it comes to persuasion, males are more persuasive in their communication when compared to women. For instance, it is nature for male to persuade women when initiating and intimacy relationship. This kind of persuasive is socially and culturally accepted.  But there are occasions where women are good persuaders especially when they are talking on emotional topics such as child abuse or violence. When discussing g on these topics, they vary their tone and choose words selectively which triggers emotional instinct swaying people to buy their ideas. On the other hand, men are not good persuaders on certain topics such as emotional topic that  are associated with  society and issues to do with child abuse or sex abuse as they are not easily  aroused by the emotions.

Women are more open and express more often more in private places as they are able to share their problems. On the other hand, male like to express in the public places as this demonstrates their capability and is seen as a sign of power.

When communicating with women, men can easily learn openness, sensitivity and self control with competitiveness while women can learn to be assertive, more direct and mirror their feelings when engaging in conversation with male. Therefore, these differences exhibited by these genders are understood by both the genders, communication can be enhanced and barriers to effective communication and understanding can easily be managed.  Regardless of different situations, marriage, business, management, awareness of gender differences in communication can prove successful in working with teams, presenting your services or products, managing conflicts and even in improving management of groups.

Furthermore, identifying these differences in gender communication can help couples and people in general in identifying behaviors and traits that are exhibited by their partners and in themselves. This will therefore, help in balancing their differences and appreciating each other in term of their communication patterns.   Acknowledging these differences is not necessarily trying to change them as it is very difficult to change these social and genetic solutions, but   trying to adapt to them and empathize with them even to a little magnitude can lead to a more rewarding relationship between these men and women.

In conclusion, it is true that there are some differences in gender communication. These differences in most cases have resulted to conflicts and disagreements among the gender. In most cases these differences arise because of failure of either gender to identify and recognize and appreciate other gender attributes. By acknowledging and appreciating these differences, conflicts between the genders can be resolved and people can learn to appreciate each other.

Fruitless Fall

The author develops Rachel Carson caution of a fruitless fall, a period when pollination will not take place resulting in unproductive spell. In this book he describe a period around 2007 when bee farmers in north America and Europe, found their bee hives empty with bees migrating to other continent. He describes Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD), as the cause of the migration. According to him a loss of the honey bee will give two blows to mankind. That is agriculture loses in productivity due to inadequate bees to pollinate flowering plants and honey. Agriculture is so dependent on bees for pollinating fruits, vegetables and other plants, that if their populations continue to decline, it will render a bigger loss to the sector. This book investigates the causes of CCD and the frightening decline of bees’ population in the world. In so doing, this book gives an account of looming agricultural crisis and describes how flowering plants are pollinated.

This book is very important because it highlights something that all human beings need to be concerned about. Approximately 80% of human food depends on flowers fertilization, and flowering plants relies on insects such as bees to spread their pollen grain. Only a few other plants depend on other forms of pollination like animals, wind and water for seed dispersal. There is also the food web interconnection that would further exacerbate the condition. This book is very useful because it points at some possible causes of the dwindling population of bees in North America and Europe. Some of the stressors that this book suggest could be involved in bees migration are global warming, genetically modified foods that no longer requires them, mites infestations, exposure to pesticide, electromagnetic radiations among others. These stressors have posed a challenge to bees’ immune system.

This book is very important to students pursuing agriculture and sciences, as well as to farmers and policymakers. It introduces the bees’ lifecycle, colonies survival during winter and the wonderful ways of bees’ existence in the hive. Readers also learn the different types of bee species in the world that totals to 20, 000. For instance, he talks about the European import bee a crone bee that is not resistant, but famers in these continents are so reliant on. This book describes bees as a key species and in case they are removed the entire ecosystem would collapse. Consequently, bees have a vital role in the future of animals and plants, thus their survival is paramount.

I learnt so many new things about bees, but the lesson about their value to human life is the most interesting. I have come to understand the interdependence on bee among mankind and other animals. I realized that we need bees to prosper and stay healthy. Further that their population has been declining, with the highest rate of decline being observed a few years from now. I also learnt that this is due to what he calls CCD, which causes cannot be connected to a single cause. This book, suggest that human are responsible for increasing bees stressors through their modern ways of life. For instance, the use of fructose corn syrup to feed bee in place nectar is not common to keep them pollinating crops. I like the section that delves at the various causes that can be attributed to bee migration. His use of questions to highlight possible cause is interesting.

Introduction

Mediterranean was dominated by Greek and roman societies during the classical era. Both of them exhibited some similarities and differences in many areas. These include forms of governance, trade, colonization and cultural interactions. By extension, both of these societies influenced the modern society as we know it today. These influences include idea of democracy, literature contributions, philosophical influence, transport and communication and many other ways. This paper explores the Mediterranean society similarities, differences and influence on contemporary society.

Similarities

The first similarity involves the way these societies emerged. Both of them developed as city-states. Cities provided the best protection from constant invasion by enemies. As a result of coexisting within these fortifications, there was a need to create law and order. Consequently, politics and formal culture in both societies were practiced within a city fortification. In addition to this, both practiced agriculture and followed certain types of rituals and festivals. Another similarity is on the religious practices. Many religious practices in Roman cultures were borrowed from the Greek culture. Romans for instance took the Greek gods during the conquest of Hellenistic world. As result, they adopted Greeks beliefs and practices. In both societies, gods were given specific roles such as god of war, god of love, sex, beauty, lust and others. This classification of gods and goddesses was derived from supernatural beliefs in the spirits. Ethics practice was also developed in these societies that encouraged independence of inner morals that was a function of brevity and self-control.

On the other hand, both of these societies encouraged philosophical thoughts development that was on the other continuum with religion. Philosophy challenged spirituality in human beings in favor of human thinking power. Both of them practiced colonization to extend their territories. Greek was the first to expand its territory in the Mediterranean basin. Roman also followed and extended its civilization to other parts of the Mediterranean (Bentley et al., 2008). Empire development was possible because of existence of slave trade and commercial agriculture.

Differences

There is a thin line separating Greeks from Romans. However, certain elements about their cities and extension of their civilization to other parts of Mediterranean differ. Greek cities were on mountainous terrain as compared to the Romans north-south plains. This made their cities to experience different security threats. Romans were more vulnerable to invasion from the north in Po River and the southern side Sicily. This made Romans to be influenced culturally by Etruscans on the northern side and by Greeks in the south.

The second difference is on the timing and manner of civilization. Rome followed Greek in expanding its influence as the city was still intertwined with its Etruscan origins. Greek civilization also differed from that of Romans because it did not involve development of a Greek empire. Each city-state developed as a separate entity (Essays in the history of western civilization, nd). This isolation was also due to the Greek cities geographical isolation resulting from its terrain. On the other hand, Romans through conquest and extension of citizenship expanded their empires. Romans were able to build empire because of their military strength and their political, organization and legal skills in making their governance longer.

Influence on western World

Democracy developed from Greek and Roman societies. These societies were the first where people were allowed to elect their own leaders and participate in government. Romans also developed the separation of laws like we know it today; that is, public and private laws. Public laws were developed to cover issues that directly involved the state such as treason and taxation. On the other hand, private laws dealt with disputes among people. In addition to religion and democracy, Greek and Roman societies influenced the city planning, especially in terms of infrastructure development.

Greeks and Romans also influenced the world religion. These societies are connected with the origin of religion in the contemporary society. Roman influence includes the spread of Christianity. This religion began as sect by Jewish but Paul of Tarsus helped to make it a world religion appealing to Jews and non-Jews. Although it started with some resistance by fourth

Century, it had developed to be accepted as Roman Empire religion (Sansone 2011).

Biology Chapters

Chapter 17: evidence of evolution

Biological evolution is described as the genetic change that takes place in a given population from one generation to another. There is a significant variation with regard to the direction of change and the speed of evolution among the different species and at varying time line. Evolution that is continuous evolution can take place over numerous generations that can result to the development of new biological species and varieties. On a similar account, failure to evolve as a response mechanism to the environmental changes is likely to result to cases of extinction of a given species (Starr 265). Evolution is a widely consent topic my scientists, who are of the view that evolution is not just a mere speculation, rather a theory which requires adequate fundamental testing to be proved through the use of empirical evidence in order to conclude that evolution took place. There is massive evidence that has been accumulated that can be used as an evidence of evolution. All forms of life and human beings were subject to evolution from earlier species and that all living organism are still evolving. The evidence for evolution taking place and continues to occur is based on four primary sources including the change in the fossil records of the earlier living organism species, similarities in terms of chemical and anatomical forms of related organisms, geographic distribution of species that are related and documented changes in the genetic makeup of living organisms over a number of generations.

With regard to the evidence that draws on the fossil evidence, the remains of earlier species of plants and animals that are fund in the sedimentary deposits of rock provide uncontested evidence of the changes within similar species over a large period of time. This evidence of evolution affirms the fact that there has been a variety of species and that some species that were subject to extinction possessed characteristics that were somewhat transitional between a numbers of existing organisms. This evidence serves to confirm that living species are not fixed; rather they are subjected to evolution to form other species as time goes by. The evidence by changes in the fossil records of early species of living organisms also reveals that the gaps observed in the fossil records are mainly due to incomplete data collection. In addition, the more one goes deeper to analyze the evolution of a particular species line, the more the transitional specimens come in to fill the gaps in the fossil records. For instance, one of the notable gaps in the fossil evidence records that were filled was the gap between small bipedal dinosaurs and the birds’ species. In addition, after Charles Darwin documented On the Origin of Species, an old fossil of archaeopteryx of approximately 145-150 million years was located in the Southern region of Germany. The fossil had jaws and teeth and bony tail that were similar to that of the dinosaurs. This is further used to affirm the view that birds species evolved from reptilian ancestors. Other vital evolutionary gaps have been filled, especially the gaps between aped and human species. Therefore, the changes in the fossil records offer adequate evidence that the complex plant and animal species existing today came from earlier simple species (Starr 275).

With regard to the evidence of the similarities in chemical and anatomical structures, all living organisms that are found in the earth are basically similar in terms of chemical compositions and anatomical structures. All species irrespective of complexity all start as single cells that are reproduced by same cell division processes. In addition, all the living species have a common characteristic associated with the creation of complex molecules from carbon and other elements. It is not just a coincidence that about 99 percent of proteins, fats, carbohydrates and other vital molecules that make up the living species are from six of the ninety two most common elements found on earth. All the plant and animal species usually get the traits from their parents through the transmission of specific combinations of the genetic material. Molecular biology affirms that genes are a segment of the DNA molecules. The basic evidence is that irrespective of the diversity of the species, the simplicity of the language of the DNA code is similar for the living species, which serves as an evidence for molecular unity of life. Similar anatomical structures are for the case vertebrates, where by all the animals posses internal skeletons. Anatomical inheritance implies that these features were inherited from a single ancestor.

Other clues that can be used as evidence of evolution include the geographical distribution of species that are related and changes in the genetic makeup of species over time. Owing to the fact that the environment is persistently changing, organisms adjust their genetic makeup in order to survive the in the new environments, as a result, most of their traits will be evident in the following generations. This is what Darwin referred to as natural selection. For instance, the evolution of bacteria is resistant to antibiotics is an perfect evidence to affirm this claim. This is the case for the ancestral canine-like species including the wolf, dog and the fox.

Chapter 18: Processes of evolution

The mechanisms and processes of evolution attempt to affirm the various processes that facilitated evolution among the living species. Key concepts covered in relation to this issue involve the fact that populations evolve the patterns of the process of natural selection, cases of micro-evolutionary processes, how the various species arise and the patterns of macro-evolutionary processes. Genetic variation is central to the process of evolution through which selective forces can kick start the process of evolution. The process of evolution comprises of two main parts including the reproducing mechanism that the organism uses to create a variety of organisms and the changing environment that serves to compel the organisms to change. Therefore, the process of evolution focuses on a number of factors including descent and the differences in genetic structures that are passed on to the following generations; mutations, gene flow due to migration, drift in genetic structure and natural selection as the evolutionary mechanisms of change; the significance of genetic variation; the undetermined nature of the genetic drift and the potential effects associated with the reduction in genetic variation; how variations, heredity and reproduction that is differential can compel natural selection to take place; and how diverse species affect the evolution of other species through co-evolution. The Neo-Darwian perspective of evolutionary processes centers on natural selection, biased mutation, genetic drift, gene floe and genetic hitch-hiking, which are the fundamental mechanisms of change.

Evolution through natural selection takes place when genetic mutations serve to enhance the process of reproduction to result to the survival of that mutation in subsequent generations. Natural selection draws on the fact that heritable variation is present within the populations of a species, organisms tend to produce more offspring that has the capability of survival and that these offspring have different abilities in relation to their survival and reproduction. Such a state of affairs is likely to result to increased competition among species for their survival and reproduction capabilities, which results to the passing on of beneficial traits to subsequent generations. The process of natural selection is mainly determined by the evolutionary fitness of the organism. Genetic drift is also another mechanism for change that takes place when there is a change in the allele frequency in successive generations mainly due to sampling errors. An outcome of this is that the selective force are either weak or absent resulting to a drift in the allele frequencies in a random manner that can either be upwards or downwards. The random drift in the allele frequency stops when the allele is finally fixed due to its disappearance from the population or an entire replacement of other alleles. This implies that genetic drift has the potential of eliminating certain alleles from a population basing on chance alone. Even in cases whereby there are no selective forces, genetic drift has the probability of causing two separate populations that started with a single genetic makeup to drift apart resulting to divergent populations of species having dissimilar sets of alleles. Horizontal gene transfer that takes place between different species and populations can also result to the evolution and the formation of new species.

The fundamental theory of evolution is based on the fact that there is possibility of the DNA of a living species to transform or mutate. Mutation usually imposes effects on the DNA that are transmitted to the offspring either immediately or after a number of subsequent generations. The change in the DNA structure due to mutation can be beneficial, harmful or have no effects on the species. In cases whereby the mutation is harmful, there is a probability that the offspring of the species is likely to survive and reproduce, as a result, the mutation usually dies out. In cases whereby the mutation is beneficial to the organization, there is a probability that the offspring will reproduce, resulting to a survival of the mutation. During the course of reproduction, there is the wide distribution of the beneficial mutation. The process through which bad mutations are cut out and beneficial mutations are spread is referred to as natural selection. As the mutations take place and are distributed over time, they result to the formation of new species. In the course of millions of years, mutations and natural selections have played an integral role in the creation of the various forms of species that are present today. This is the basis of the evolutionary process, during billions of years ago, there was a random organization of chemicals that resulted to the formation of self-replicating molecule. This served as the origin of the various life forms that are available today and those that are already extinct such as the dinosaurs. Mutation and natural selection resulted to the subsequent development of other forms of life from the simplest self-replication organism.

Chapter 21: Viruses and Prokaryotes

Cells are considered as the basic units of structure and the way through which they obtain their energy. As a result, cells are grouped as either prokaryotes or eukaryotes. The six classifications of living organisms is mainly determined by the structure, and in the context of prokaryotes, it includes the kingdoms of Monera and Archaea. Prokaryotes are basically molecules that are enclosed in a cell membrane and cell wall. This is in contrast with the eukaryotic cells that have organelles. Prokaryotic cells also have photosynthetic pigments and a whip-like flagella that is used for the locomotive purposes and adhesion. Another characteristic of prokaryotic cells is that they are found in diverse shapes including cocci, bacilli and spirrila. Prokaryotes generally lack the cell nucleus and other organelles that are enclosed within the cell membrane. The DNA information of prokaryotic cells is not contained within the membrane and it is not distinguished from the rest of the cell; rather, it is coiled in the plastoplasm and usually referred to as the nucleoid. The structure of prokaryotes contain capsules, which is an extra external covering that serves to protect the cell in cases where by it has been engulfed by other organisms. The capsules are also vital in retaining moisture for the cells and helps in the adherence of surfaces and nutrients. Prokaryotic cells also have a cell wall that is used in the protection of the bacterial cell. The cytoplasm comprises of water and other enzymes. The cell membrane on the other hand has a role of regulating the flow of substances entering and living the cell. Pili are hair-like structures that are used for attachment to other cells and surfaces. Protein production is undertaken by the ribosome while the plasmids are used in carrying genetic material.

Reproduction within the prokaryote cells take place asexually through binary fission, whereby there is replication of the single DNA molecule and the original prokaryotic cells is disintegrated into two similar cells. Binary fission usually starts with one DNA molecule that replicates and all the copies attach themselves on the membrane of the cell. A cell membrane then grows in between the DNA molecules and pinches inward when the bacterium doubles its size. A cell wall is formed to differentiate the DNA molecules and divides the bacterium into daughter cells that are identical.

The cell wall serves as the target for most of the antibiotics and the carbohydrates that the human immune system deploys to detect infection. The potential threat to the existence of human kind is that bacteria are increasingly evolving to become resistant to the antibiotics, something which can be attributed to overuse of the antibiotics.

Viruses on the other hand can be described as the genetic information that is usually enclosed by a protein coat. Viruses may have external structures and cell membrane. They are usually considered as intracellular parasites, implying that they need host cells so as to have the ability to reproduce. In the lifecycle of viruses, a virus usually infects a cell, which in turn allows the genetic information of the virus redirect the creation of other virus particles by the host cell.

The structure of viruses is characterized with a number of different shapes and sizes, usually referred to as morphologies. Viruses are relatively smaller when compared to bacterial cells and have a diameter of approximately 20-300 nanometers. A virus particle has nucleic acid that is enclosed within a protective coat referred to as the caspid, which are created from protein subunits that are similar referred to as capsometers. The shapes of the viruses can be helical, icasahedral, prolate, envelope and compex.

Reproduction in viral cells does not place through the process of cell division owing to their acellular structure. This implies that viruses rely on the machinery and the metabolic functions of the host cells to increase their populations, which is achieved when they assemble within the host cell. The viral lifecycle varies significantly among the various species although there are 6 fundamental steps of the viral lifecycle including attachment, penetration, uncoating, replication, self-assembly and release from the host cells. Attachment entails the binding of the viral caspid protects with particular receptors that ate found with the cellular surface of the host. After attachment to the host, penetration takes place whereby the viral cells enter the cells of the host using membrane fusion or endocytosis that is mediated by the receptor. This phase is usually refered to as viral entry. Uncoating entails the removal of the viral caspid through degeneration and simple dissociation. The outcome of this phase is the release of the genomic nucleic acid by the viral cell. Replication entails genome multiplication and entails the synthesis of a viral messenger. The release of the viral cells from the host takes place through lysis.

Incentives, Institutions, and Human Behavior

            An organization is an entity that consists of different segment, polices, traditional and culture, which define and differentiate them from others. Incentives in an organization or a company entail the programs that are geared at ensuring that employees are motivated and satisfied with their work. Production in the organization is dependent on the input of the workers and in order to ensure that the objectives of the organization are met, incentives plays crucial role in motivation. Particular incentives direct individual immediate behaviors towards a particular goal if the incentives offered are the strongest of all the competitive incentives provided. Therefore, in offering incentives organization should go for those incentives that will trigger positive behaviors among their employees.

According to Geoffrey, an institution refers to structures, which are important in the social realm of lives; they are systems of established and prevalent social rules, which guide or define the social structures (3). For instance, money, language, laws, table manner, systems of weights and measures, firms, and any other organization make up institutions. Therefore, these institutions are able to create stable expectations of behavior among individuals and in ensuring that they achieve certain goals. These institutions can constrain or enable behavior; behavior can be constrained through the existence of rules, and some time would allow choices and actions that would not be in existence (Lee 281).

On the other hand, human behavior refers to a range of traits or behaviors exhibited by human beings. Several factors including, attitudes, culture, emotions, values, authority, ethics, rapport persuasion, genetics, and coercion among many other factors influence these behaviors (Moldovan 101). In an organization context, human behaviour may be is triggered by the culture of the organization, motives of objectives of the firm, rewards, values among others. Production output in an organization is based on the human capital. Therefore, the way in which organization has socialized and motivated their employees will contribute to the success or failure of the organization.

Incentives, institutions, and human behavior, are important components of an organization. They work hand in hand, and where the employees are provided with incentives, they will be motivated and satisfied hence leading to increased performance and productivity. The incentives provided in the organization are also important in ensuring that the employees socialize and interact positively as they pursue to achieve or meet organizational objectives. Human behavior is also one important factor that determines the level of performance (Mie, & David 395). Organization culture, rules and procedures that govern people in institution, may determine or have an influence to the behavior of the employees. Therefore, organizations should seek to establish favorable organizational climate in order to promote positive behaviors in their employees.

Incentives are important in an organization since they affect the institutions and human behaviors either positively or negatively. Examples of incentives include monetary and non-monetary motivational factors. Financial rewards is a example of monetary incentives while non financial rewards includes provisions of good working environment, good leadership, appreciation, recognition of employees for their efforts, promotions and many others. To illustrate the importance of these incentives in the institutions and human behaviour, Chester Barnard quotes will form the basis of the discussion (Peter and James 4). He holds the view that contribution of an individual efforts constitutes the overall energies of an organization that are yielded as a result of individual due to the incentives. He further added that, dominating forces are hinged on the egoistical motives of self-gratification and self-preservation as organizations fully exists when there is consistency with the satisfaction of these motives. Therefore, individual are the sole strategic factors in any organization and regardless of his obligation or history he must be induced to cooperate as there can be no cooperation without individual will (Peter and James 4). Based on this quotes, there is close relationships of incentives as a motivation or as a contributor to the change of human behaviour. People or employees in an organizational context may be induced to perform or act in a certain manner if appropriate incentives are provided to them.

Incentives by nature and definition are scarce. The scarcities of these incentives to the organization enable them to induce employees towards certain levels. In the case, these incentives are not rare they cannot provide inducement and change of behaviour among employees and institutions. For instance, for an institution to consider a certain program effective and as an incentive it should be rare or provide a window of opportunity that comes their way rarely. If the government decided to reduce taxes on certain categories of products that the company imports, this will be a rare incentive to the company and it should be utilized in a better way to ensure maximum benefit. On the other hand, incentives such as promotions of individuals in the organization should be competitive and carried out occasionally to demonstrate or show the value of promotion and a sense of appreciation of their contributions in the company. This will enhance hard work and will stimulate competition, as people will be able to work hard to create good record that will make them preferred candidates the next time such opportunity arises.

In an organizational context, the social status, prestige, and respect are unequally distributed depending on the kind of the organization. For instance, the membership may represent upward movement while at the same time imply degradation to others from high social status to low. This demonstrates that incentives have diminishing marginal utility as they may vary according to the institution and behavior of the humans. For instance, individual that have been socialized in a culture or an environment where they have been praised and recognized every time they perform better, may feel this privilege is denied when they go to an organization where there efforts are not recognized. Therefore, this will demonstrate degradation of their value and status, triggering change of their behaviour, either by becoming lazy or demanding for recognition. Likewise, when organization, which had, not earlier put in place motivational programmes to motivate their employees, upon instituting these programs, may trigger the organization and the human behavior towards a certain trend. Such employees will feel appreciated and motivated to work extra hard.

In giving out these incentives, organizations should ensure that incentives output does not exceed the available incentive resources. Even though these incentives help in changing and motivating human behaviors in the way of behaving, socializing and performance, organization should not for instance pay their employees excessive of what they can afford as this may jeopardize their operations and even render them bankruptcy. Incentives should be provided when the company is convinced that, the initiative will not affect its status of operations or affects its effective delivery of services. Therefore, the company may come up with more affordable and easy strategies that will not compromise with its performance and survival. For instance, the company may use non-monetary strategies as their incentives such us provide small gifts and organize small parties, which seeks to recognize those that are doing or performing better. Such initiatives, although, appear to be small and insignificant, they can assist in enhancing positive relationships in the organization between the employees and the firm owners. Therefore, it is important to note that whatever incentives in whatever measures, it is important and can change the perception and behavior of employees (Peter and James 5)

Organizational leaders and executive know the importance of incentives in ensuring sustainability and achievement of their objectives. Therefore, they endeavor to ensure that they pay any excess or surplus production or profits to their members or workers as motivational strategies. This enables the human capital to be motivated to work hard towards achievement of the goals and objectives of the company. Without such incentives, the human capital will not be triggered towards increasing their performance and this may result to failure to fulfill the objective.

Incentives can be distinguished from one another. They can be classified into three categories; material, solidary and purposive incentives. Material incentives are tangible rewards with a monetary value or can be easily translated into monetary. They include money in form of salaries, wages, tangible benefits to a taxpayer association to its members, fringe benefits obtained from labour unions among many others. Solidary incentives are intangible with no monetary value and are not easily convertible to monetary value. They vary as they are derived from acts of association such as sense of group membership and association, socialization, identification, congeniality, status emanating form membership, fun, and maintenance of social distinction among many others (7). On the other hand, purposive incentives are also intangible and are derived from the needs of association. They are found in the suprapersonal goals of organization such as elimination of corruption, ensuring efficiency and undertaking beautification activities of them company surroundings among many others.

Introduction

History repeats itself and USA is a good example of this. Since the Great depression, US experienced highest rate of unemployment in 1982 at 9.7 percent. Even though, this rate has not been recorded in another year since then, in 2008 the rate closely hit 8.1 percent. Currently the unemployment rate of US is approximated at around 8.6 percent by November 2011, a drop of 0.4 percentage point. Nonfarm payroll employment in US rose by 120, 000 (US Bureau of Labor Statistics). Regardless of this situation, the rate of employment has continued to pick in retail trading leisure activities, hospitality industries, health care and professional, and business services with government employment continuing to trend downward (Schmitt, & Dean, 2009).

When unemployment rates are compared between 1982 and 2008, the population in 1982 was much younger than in 2008. The median age of the labor force in 2008 was at 42 years compared to 35 in 1982. Younger workers have less responsibility because they have fewer dependants; less financial commitment can endure periods of unemployment and can switch between jobs as opposed to the old populations. Therefore, younger population has a higher unemployment rate than older populations as low unemployment rate is expected with higher older population.

Unemployment rate in US from April through October stagnated at around 9.0 to 9.2 percent. The number of those people unemployed was at 13.3 million but reduced by 594,000 in November. Labour force compromising the sum of employed and unemployed reduced little more than half the number of unemployed (Bureau of Labour Statistics).

Economic recession in US has had negative effects on the economy of US as many of its employees have lost jobs. This situation is causing worry among many of the US students who are pursuing their educations. They are worried of finding a job upon their completion of their studies, a situation that has been aggravated by the economic recession. Currently, the country is facing a big challenge in trying to stabilize its economy and in reducing the rate of unemployment, which is unstable and feared to increase in 1212.

Despite all these challenges, US has got hope in its economy that it will regain its momentum and go back to its earlier position.  Polices are being put in place to counter these challenges. Obama administrations is doing all it can to recover the economy from its recession. I am therefore optimistic that the future of America is going to be bright.  For instance, proposals to embark on green industry are raising optimism and confidence that indeed a prosperous future is coming. This proposal if adapted will see the economy embark on use of green energy in its industries and locomotives hence reducing the costs associated with burning of fossil fuels, which emit dangerous gases in the atmospheres.  Green gases are clean gases and they include solar and wind power.

In line with such initiatives, they will revive the hope of many and history will be written on the actions that US will undertake in conserving environment. This action will reduce the effect of global warming, which contributes to climate change; it will also bring the debate on issues of economic /global recession to an end. US will be an icon, a country not to be viewed as a global superpower but a country, which cherish and values human survival, a moral superpower.

In five to ten coming years, unemployment will be a history as people and graduates will be able to secure their employment upon their studies completion. The standards of living will improve with every household being able to afford a decent lifestyle with all the necessary basic needs.

OFFSHORE OIL DRILLING IN NEW ZEALAND WATERS

Introduction

Offshore drilling is a basic procedure that requires steps that specifies its consequences. Familiarity of the optimistic and destructive results defines its perception. The involvement of the government and other environmental companies communicate their ideas of offshore drilling (Belinda, 2011). Most of the case, many people have argued negative approaches outwitting the positive results. What if the government takes the precaution? The question still remains, how safe is it to the environment?

Nature and techniques of offshore drilling

Its nature argues two models, progressive results and negative tactics. Offshore drilling is important to the country’s economy through the use of modernized technology.  According to Greenpeace New Zealand Campaigner, Director Carmen Gravatt, he expresses his negative impact on offshore drilling by arguing “deep water oil drilling is inherently dangerous and accidents can have devastating effects on the marine environment, with huge economic consequences for the tourism and fishing industries” ( Greenpeace New Zealand, 2010).

The positive outcome of GNS chief director is to define a stable economy in New Zealand. Offshore drilling requires modernised technology that brings the country to invest a large scale of finance on equipment and other expenses. It requires governmental allegiance and analysis of the positive outcomes and undesirable results of the process (Manu Caddie, 2011).

Importance of offshore drilling New Zealand waters

The economic graph of New Zealand can increase tremendously when the resources are exploited. Alex Malafoff, the GNS Chief Director argues that New Zealand is in a position of making use of its resources, as involvement on land productivity is not enough to increase the economy of New Zealand, therefore it is more substantial to involve minerals at the sea. Malahoff said “97 per cent of New Zealand was underwater and people needed to realize the Government needed to find new revenue in new places”. The main argument of Malafoff is to make good use of the resources in the country to aim at increasing the economic status of the country through the exploitation of the resources. He signifies that if they exploit the minerals in their country, they will be able to increase their revenue and be able to stabilize their economy (Manu Caddie, 2011).

Arguments against off shore drilling

There are main arguments discouraging offshore drilling in New Zealand. One of the arguments is preceded by citizens arguing that they need a clean and green environment without any alteration of the short term gain by the international oil companies. For instance, Gulf Mexico is massive than New Zealand, and experienced a huge massive environmental destruction through the drilling process and up to now the environment is polluted (Otago Daily Times, 2010). The New Zealand Government has not defined a concise report on the environmental protection of offshore drilling regarding the negative causes of its nature. Malahoff argues that the environmental protection reports will be defined after the drilling has started but who remains responsible after the destruction. Will they turn to the government or to the citizens who pay taxes? This is where the Minister of Energy & Resources and the Big Oil Lobby has made some honest claims like the tax payers will be responsible for the destructions (Otago Daily Times, 2010).

Conclusion

            Offshore drilling is a significant environmental concern that countries must address. With this regard, The New Zealand Government has not defined a concise report on the environmental protection of offshore drilling regarding the negative causes of its nature.

Recommendation

It is important for the government to take such a procedure through focusing the main ideas of environment before undertaking the off shore drilling process. Supporting statements from the government on how safe the environment will be required before the drilling process, and how the government will hold responsibilities in case of negative impacts.

Research Paper on Gerlad vizenor (Native American (Anishinaabe) Writer)

Background

Vizenor was a native Anishinaabe writer born during 1934, and registered as a member of Chippewa tribe of Minnesota. He is a prolific writer with more than thirty literature books. His early life was difficult as he grew up without the love of his father who died while he was still very young. He was left under the primary care of his Anishinaabe grandmother in Minneapolis as his Swedish American mother was struggling to give his attention. Later on he was adopted by several foster parents and caseworkers who made a big part of his life. He later joined the army at a tender age and served in Japan when it was recovering from nuclear attack effect (Madsen Para 2). His stay in Japan during the Korean War inspired him to write literally work especially his haiku interest. He later went back to America to join university and married afterwards. Due to his exposure to literally work of other nations, his works depart from traditional techniques and forms, which many Native American writers were fond of. For instance, he used literally experiences to create originality in a piece of work. Through this, he was able to address issues that faced America with mixed blood face. It was his life in another world before coming back to his homeland that helped him to have his rich literally knowledge (McCaffery et al. 50).

Activism and styles

One of his distinctive characteristics was his use of post-modern techniques. His works used mystical characters and fantastic events and took into consideration the various narratives and development of plot (Vizenor 1). This style challenges readers to deal with their fear of defeat or diminishment in the occurrence where other entities are taken to be persons. Postmodern fictions are thus important to make human think of the persons they might be (Hoilman, 11). Vizenor used irony, satires and humor in his works. His knowledge about Native Americans was shaped when he was working as a community advocate. He interacted with dislocated Native Americans living in the reservations, where many of them were unable to survive in a culture dominated by the white racism and full of challenges such as cheap alcohol. As a result, most of his works were inspired by real events. His interactions with Native American conditions made him suspicious of Native American movement under certain leaders, whom he saw to be inclined on benefiting themselves as opposed to being concerned on the condition natives were living under.

In addition, through his work, he challenged justice system and influenced determination of cases that guaranteed justice to the weak. Through his investigative journalism, he was able to unearth many cases of hypocrisy and drug trafficking executed by leaders of Indian movements, which earned him threats of being murdered. He used irony to attack these leaders whom he considered to be in dilemma of serving the white cultures and their native origins (Madsen Para 4).

Manabozho, who is the trickster of Anishinaabe, plays a game of chance with a sinister being. Within this game, Manabozho has one chance to throw the dice and save or cost the Anishinaabe people. This myth of the gambler is a tradition in Native American, which is like a test to a culture hero or trickster, whereby Gambler holds the life of his victims at his hands (Hoilman 15). His satirist writing enabled him to criticize the politics of his time. His poetic work describes in a very natural way the experiences he had while growing up. These poems have in most cases reflected the changing reality of Anishinaabe experience both modern and in the past. They provide loud laughter, grieve, and sharp criticism and spiritual insight. Using trickster, irony, dreams and words he challenges many issues. Some of his common poetry includes raising flag and matsushima: Pine Island.

According to him the tribe known today as Indian, was a creation of the white invaders, this is seen in the argument that before Columbus landed Indian did not exist, but there were just various tribes like Dakota and Anishinaabe (Haileman 43). He uses humor and irony to deconstruct the concept of Indian. In the Heirs of Columbus for instance, he claims that Columbus was a Mayan Indian attempting to go back home.

Teaching career

His writing career developed further when he joined the teaching career. He joined teaching in 1970 shortly after publishing Seventeen chirps in 1968, when he received a call from Illinois Lake Forest College. The department liked his haiku books and this earned him a place in the college. One year later he went back to Minnesota to direct a federal desegregation program for teacher designed for the school district. Later on he got hired by Bemidji State University as Director of Indian Studies. Then a bush grant made him to go back for studies at Harvard University in 1973 and he left his editorial work at Minneapolis tribune in 1976, a position he continued to hold while working in the University of California as an academia. During this period he still continued to teach in Minnesota University and was honored in 1978 in the State (Vizenor 1).

He got married to a British student in Berkeley in 1981 and they taught in china at the University of Tianjin for one year. Later on when they returned, he went back to teach in the university of California. Here he served as a Kresge college provost between 1989 and 1990. The following year he was appointed the David Burr chair of letters in Oklahoma University. Then in the subsequent year went back to Berkeley as a full professor. As he continued to develop his academic career, he also published several scholarly works. Some of his popular works in this period include Survivance: Narratives of native presence, which was done in 2008. He also did several editorial works for the University of Oklahoma and facilitated publishing of several books (Madsen 43).

Fiction Writing

Vizenoir has several collections of haiku, short stories, plays, poems and traditional tribal tales translation. However it is his first novel in 1978 called darkness in Saint Louis Bearheart and revised edition known as Bearherat: the Heirship chronicles edited in 1990, which gave him fame in the fiction world. It is a rare occurrence as it’s among the few collections of fictions by Native American. It depicted tribal pilgrims’ demonstration through dreamlike, dystopian background of an America that was going through a disaster perpetrated by White gluttony for oil. Drawing from Anishaabe trickster stories and Poststructuralist theory, Vizenor described the world as being under what he believed to be system that was incapable of transforming itself. One of his popular characters Belladonna Darwin, state publicly that natives are clean and better than whites who are poisoned with cookies for racial segregation. His fiction is humorous, lighthearted and allusive, but eventually critical when dealing with the conditions of the Native America.

Non Fiction Writing

His non-fiction work is concerned with his effort to deconstruct the likeness of Indians. His title fugitive poses is an example of his belief that the term Indian is a construction of social-science that substitutes fugitive natives. On the other hand manifest manners have to do with the manifest destiny continue dominance. That is native continued domination by narratives that substitute them with Indian. Manifest destiny is theoretically used to describe how natives were forced to adapt to Euro-American culture often by force. Education became the tool for destroying the indigenous culture. Native children were taken from their families to boarding schools where they were prohibited from speaking their language or practicing their traditions (Carson 444).

Instead of grouping natives as Indians, he suggests that they be denoted as tribal or simply put in the context of their tribe. To talk about more obvious native studies, he prefers to think of tribes that is only joined by attitude and any actions by natives towards the white. He uses a Survivance neologism which according to him hold too meanings, which is endurance and survival. It is used to describe how minority tribes by use of storytelling, community and ceremonies, sustain themselves in spite of the assimilation pressures. In his Fugitive poses survivance is more than just survival or endurance. The survivance stories depict active existence. Therefore these stories not only claim the existence of indigenous people but also form part of resistance against the dominant cultural stories (Carson 444).

Feminism in Victorian Era

Introduction

Under the rule of Queen Victoria, the place of the woman was mostly limited within the domestic level; this is due to the viewpoint that domesticity and motherhood was viewed as being adequate for the emotional fulfillment of the woman. This implied that women influence in the public sphere was limited (Shmoop Editorial Team Para. 8). The Victorian era is usually described as the domestic age, which was epitomized under the rule of Queen Victoria, which resulted to marital stability and the establishment of domestic virtue. In the light of these circumstances, a number of classics literatures idolized the feminism during this period, while others presented their own views relating to the roles of women beyond the domestic and motherhood limits. One of such literatures includes the play “The importance of being earnest” by Oscar Wilde, which is one of the most famous plays that debuted in London during 1895. The play served to indicate a modern understanding of the mercurial nature of names and identity, marriage, and the nature of relationships between men and women in the modern world. The dominance of women in the play indicates the Wilde’s views towards feminism (Shmoop Editorial Team Para. 10). This paper analyses how the feminism of the Victorian Era relates to the play “The importance of being Earnest” by Oscar Wilde. The paper elaborates on the main feminists in the play such as Lady Blackwell, Gwendolen, Cecily and Miss Prism. The paper also discusses the issue between marriage and the importance of name and identity.

Among the most notable themes in the play is the issue of marriage, in the sense that whether marriage is considered as pleasurable or viewed as a restrictive social duty of the woman. In the wider perspective, people from the older generation are of the opinion that marriage is somewhat a means to an end, which is used in the maintaining of social position. If an individual wants to get married, one must submit to an interrogation, which may include stating one’s name, rank and the serial number (David 108). The number that is of ultimate significance in this case is the level of income; this implies that is necessary to have a bank. It is also important to have a respectable and acceptable title and the corresponding parents to prove the title. The youngsters who are depicted as hot-blooded in the play are more interesting in love. This is one of the significant ironies in the play, which makes it satirical towards the feminism in the Victorian feminist. At the end of the play, there is no one who breaks the rules in the sense that they marry the exact kind of persons of their wishes. The difference in the valuation of marriage by the older generation and the new generation as depicted in the play is also an indicator of the irony in the play and serves as satire to the feminism in the Victorian society. This was not the case in the Victorian society due to the fact that marriage was viewed as a form of attaining of social status, which is not the case depicted in the play whereby the younger generation are marrying for the sake of love.

Gender roles depicted in the play can also be used in ascertaining its relationship with the feminism during the Victorian era. In the play, the question of the role of each gender lays emphasis on power. In relation to the Victorian society of the play, men have been depicted to have stronger influence compared to the women. This is because the men are in charge of making the political decisions within the households while women are involved in the domestic chores within the family set up and taking good care of the children. Men are usually valued basing on their intelligence and judgment; women on the other hand are valued basing on their attractiveness, beauty and chastity. In the play, Wilde poses a number of questions regarding to the roles of the genders in the society, this is evident by his placing of women such as Lady Bracknell in power positions and depicting irresponsibility and poor decision making by men such as Jack and Algernon. This denotes the satirical nature of the play in relation to the feminism of the Victorian era (David 104).

Main feminists in the play

Various characters in the play help in the development of the major themes of the play, especially in relation to Wilde’s depiction of feminism in relation to the Victorian era. Lady Bracknell Alone is one of the feminist characters in the play, who Wilde uses to depict the variation in gender roles and the capacity of woman to function within the constraints imposed by domesticity. Every character in the play has a partner except for Lady Bracknell, who is used by Wilde to symbolize the Victorian ethic. This makes her the most overbearing and powerful personality in The Importance of Earnest. Lady Bracknell’s demand for Jack to look for a good family played an integral role in setting the pace for the play. Her decisions are precise and always sticks to them, for instance she maintained her decision of no marriage. The society depicted in the play is somewhat closed and Lady Bracknell has given herself the responsibility of watching and judging the youngsters irrespective of the fun that they are having. Lady Bracknell is also depicted as symbol of the upper class in Britain, and she is involved in passing down the rules and traditions to younger generations. Lady Bracknell the judge can be argued to be a no non-sense woman, as evident when administering judgments. For instance, she tells Jack that he is not on his list of young men who are eligible. Lady Bracknell is also portrayed as the protector of the great and good associated with the Victorian society.

Another feminist character in the play by Oscar Wilde is Miss Prism, who is depicted as the heroine of the Victorian era. Miss Prism is given the role of an educator, which she holds seriously and dearly. Miss Prism is unmarried in a Victorian society, whereby marriage is taken seriously, she focuses on her job as an educator as her identity. Miss Prism job helps her in attaining some status in the society and makes use of flashy vocabulary to emphasize on her status on the society (David 104).

Another feminist character in the play that Wilde uses in comparison with the Victorian era is Cecily Cardew. Algernon is attracted to Cecily because her simplicity. She is not depicted as being intellectual as Gwendolen, as evident all her attempts to avoid being educated by Miss Prism. Cecily is also depicted as innocent and waits for the time that the Ernest will avail himself and propose to her. The determination and the wits of Cecily in entering the London society in the place of Algernon’s wife depict the nature of feminism in the Victorian era. Her relationship with Algernon also denotes the nature of the relationship between men and woman; ironically, Algernon fell in love with the eccentric behavior and attitude of Cecily as the right girl for him. This is not the case for the Victorian society.

Gwendolen Fairfax is also another feminist character in the play that Wilde uses to depict the satirical nature of the play in relation to the feminism during the Victorian era. Gwen and Cecily have significant things in common such as the Ernest thing, which serves as the guiding principles for their lives. They view their Christian names as an insuperable barrier. In addition, the contrast with the Victorian tradition is evident by the fact Gwen is willing to do anything for whatever they want. Oscar uses the similarity between Gwen and Cecily to satirize the Victorian society that played an integral role in producing women with characteristics like theirs; something which is not derived from the individuals themselves.

In conclusion, it is arguably evident that Oscar Wilde makes uses of imagery to satirize the elements of the Victorian society. For instance, the imagery that is developed by the Jack and Algernon serves to indicate the deceit associated with the Victorian era. On a similar account, feminist characters such as Lady Bracknell symbolizes the greater good associated with the feminism of the Victorian society.