A Critical Response to Hawthorne’s Puritans Essay -- Literacy Analysi

Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804-1864) is critically acclaimed for the portrayal of New England Puritans in his fiction. The grim picture of the rigid and forbidding Puritan community in his works reflects the widespread attitude towards Puritans, yet Professor Deborah L. Madsen, in her paper, â€Å"Hawthorne’s Puritans: From Fact to Fiction† claims that this monolithic portrayal of Puritanism results in a ‘powerful misrepresentation of the actual puritans [and] of the dynamics of Puritan theology’ (Madsen 1999, p 510) . The present response is a critical review of Madsen’s paper. The title of the paper is appropriate. While ‘Hawthorne’s Puritans’ implies a difference between actual Puritans and those conceptualized by Hawthorne, ‘From Fact to Fiction’ extends this idea by suggesting the disparity between history/fact and Hawthorne’s fiction. Madsen’s study argues that Hawthorne attempts to defend his puritan ancestors by creating a monolithic Puritanism, in which the conduct of all authoritarian puritans resembles that of his own ancestors such as John and William Hathorne. The ultimate goal of Hawthorne, according to Madsen, is to excuse ‘the sins of his fathers by showing that they were incapable of acting otherwise’ (Madsen, 1999, p. 510). What Madsen means by ‘a monolithic Puritanism’ is one that here allows ‘only one interpretation of itself and its significance’ (Madsen, 1999, p.516). In other words, it is an essentialist and stereotypical representation that does not take into account the complexities and the changeability of puritan behavior in an attempt to portray its underlying and unchanging essence. The outcome is a fixed and commonly-held image of puritans as a ‘grim and gloomy race, impatient with human weakness and m... ...h they are written and the social sphere in which he moved, his background, and various other influences on him. In conclusion, she brings out how Hawthorne’s fiction creates a biased and monolithic portrayal of the puritans ignoring the complexity of their theology and culture. Ideally, Madsen should have shed some light upon this complexity which could have substantiated her claim that Hawthorne denies the existence of any sophistication in puritan culture and theology. Works Cited Hawthorne, N., 1850. The Scarlet Letter available at: http://www.forgottenbooks.org Montrose, L. A., 1989. "Professing the Renaissance: The Poetics and Politics of Culture," in Veeser, A., 1989. The New Historicism, New York, London: Routledge. pp. 15-36. Madsen, D.L., 1999. Hawthorne’s Puritans: From Fact to Fiction. Journal of American Studies, 33 (1999), 3, 509-517

Agriculture in Bangladesh

Bangladesh has a primarily agrarian economy. Agriculture is the single largest producing sector of the economy since it comprises about 18. 6% (data released on November, 2010) of the country's GDP and employs around 45% of the total labor force. [1] The performance of this sector has an overwhelming impact on major macroeconomic objectives like employment generation, poverty alleviation, human resources development and food security. A plurality of Bangladeshis earn their living from agriculture. Although rice and jute are the primary crops, wheat is assuming greater importance.Tea is grown in the northeast. Because of Bangladesh's fertile soil and normally ample water supply, rice can be grown and harvested three times a year in many areas. Due to a number of factors, Bangladesh's labor-intensive agriculture has achieved steady increases in food grain production despite the often unfavorable weather conditions. These include better flood control and irrigation, a generally more eff icient use of fertilizers, and the establishment of better distribution and rural credit networks.With 35. 8 million metric tons produced in 2000, rice is Bangladesh's principal crop. National sales of the classes of insecticide used on rice, including granular carbofuran, synthetic pyrethroids, and malathion exceeded 13,000 tons of formulated product in 2003. [2][3] The insecticides not only represent an environmental threat, but are a significant expenditure to poor rice farmers. The Bangladesh Rice Research Institute is working with various NGOs and international organizations to reduce insecticide use in rice. [4] In comparison to rice, wheat output in 1999 was 1. 9 million metric tons.Population pressure continues to place a severe burden on productive capacity, creating a food deficit, especially of wheat. Foreign assistance and commercial imports fill the gap. Underemployment remains a serious problem, and a growing concern for Bangladesh's agricultural sector will be its abi lity to absorb additional manpower. Finding alternative sources of employment will continue to be a daunting problem for future governments, particularly with the increasing numbers of landless peasants who already account for about half the rural labor force. Food cropsAlthough rice and jute are the primary crops, maize and vegetables are assuming greater importance. [5] Due to the expansion of irrigation networks, some wheat producers have switched to cultivation of maize which is used mostly as poultry feed. [5] Tea is grown in the northeast. [5] Because of Bangladesh's fertile soil and normally ample water supply, rice can be grown and harvested three times a year in many areas. [5] Due to a number of factors, Bangladesh's labor-intensive agriculture has achieved steady increases in food grain production despite the often unfavorable weather conditions.These include better flood control and irrigation, a generally more efficient use of fertilizers, and the establishment of bette r distribution and rural credit networks. [5] With 28. 8 million metric tons produced in 2005-2006 (July–June), rice is Bangladesh's principal crop. [5] By comparison, wheat output in 2005-2006 was 9 million metric tons. [5] Population pressure continues to place a severe burden on productive capacity, creating a food deficit, especially of wheat. [5] Foreign assistance and commercial imports fill the gap.Underemployment remains a serious problem, and a growing concern for Bangladesh's agricultural sector will be its ability to absorb additional manpower. [5] Bangladesh is the fourth largest rice [6] producing country in the world. National sales of the classes of insecticide used on rice, including granular carbofuran, synthetic pyrethroids, and malathion exceeded 13,000 tons of formulated product in 2003 [1] [2]. The insecticides not only represent an environmental threat, but are a significant expenditure to poor rice farmers.The Bangladesh Rice Research Institute is worki ng with various NGOs and international organizations to reduce insecticide use in rice [3]. Wheat is not a traditional crop in Bangladesh, and in the late 1980s little was consumed in rural areas. During the 1960s and early 1970s, however, it was the only commodity for which local consumption increased because external food aid was most often provided in the form of wheat. In the first half of the 1980s, domestic wheat production rose to more than 1 million tons per year but was still only 7 to 9 percent of total food grain production. Record production of nearly 1.5 million tons was achieved in FY 1985, but the following year saw a decrease to just over 1 million tons. About half the wheat is grown on irrigated land. The proportion of land devoted to wheat remained essentially unchanged between 1980 and 1986, at a little less than 6 percent of total planted area. Wheat also accounts for the great bulk of imported food grains, exceeding 1 million tons annually and going higher than 1. 8 million tons in FY 1984, FY 1985, and FY 1987. The great bulk of the imported wheat is financed under aid programs of the United States, the European Economic Community, and the World Food Programme.Food grains are cultivated primarily for subsistence. Only a small percentage of total production makes its way into commercial channels. Other Bangladeshi food crops, however, are grown chiefly for the domestic market. They include potatoes and sweet potatoes, with a combined record production of 1. 9 million tons in FY 1984; oilseeds, with an annual average production of 250,000 tons; and fruits such as bananas, jackfruit, mangoes, and pineapples. Estimates of sugarcane production put annual production at more than 7 million tons per year, most of it processed into a coarse, unrefined sugar known as gur, and sold domestically.

Definition of Qualitative Analysis in Chemistry

In chemistry, qualitative analysis is the determination of the chemical composition of  a sample. It encompasses a set of analytical chemistry techniques that provide nonnumerical information about a specimen. Qualitative analysis can tell you whether an atom, ion, functional group, or compound is present or absent in a sample, but it doesnt provide information about its quantity. Quantification of a sample, in contrast, is called quantitative analysis. Techniques and Tests Qualitative analysis involves chemical tests, such as the Kastle-Meyer test for blood or the iodine test for starch. Another common qualitative test, used in inorganic chemical analysis, is the flame test. Qualitative analysis typically measures changes in color, melting point, odor, reactivity, radioactivity, boiling point, bubble production, and precipitation. Methods include distillation, extraction, precipitation, chromatography, and spectroscopy. Branches of Qualitative Analysis The two main branches of qualitative analysis are organic qualitative analysis (such as the iodine test) and inorganic qualitative analysis (such as the flame test). Inorganic analysis looks at the elemental and ionic composition of a sample, usually by examination of ions in aqueous solution. Organic analysis tends to look at types of molecules, functional groups, and chemical bonds. Example She used qualitative analysis to find that the solution contained Cu2 and Cl-  ions.