The Rain Child, Margaret Laurence

The Rain Child, Margaret Laurence Margaret Laurence (1928-1987) is one of the most beloved writers in Canada, she was made a Companion of the Order of Canada in 1972 that shows her popularity. Also The range and the quality of her work made her the most recognized and accomplished of the writers of the 1960s (New 265). She began to write from age 7, but none of her stories was published until she moved to Africa, where she lived for seven years because of her husbands job. Her first published fiction, the Uncertain Flowering, was followed by several short stories, published in various journals, that were collected in The Tomorrow-Tamer in 1963. The Rain Child is one of these short stories, which sets in Africa and was influenced by Laurences experience as a minority there. Moreover, she recognized the division between their [Africans] traditional ancestral past and their contemporary partly Westernized present (New 265). The plot of the story is quite simple; an African girl, Ruth, who has been educated in England moves back to Africa with her father, and becomes a student in Eburaso Girls School where the narrator, Miss Violet Nedden is the English teacher. Her integration, her identity problems and behavioral changes are told by Miss Nedden. These themes can be found in the other short stories as well, because they focus repeatedly on outsiders trying to cope with their own identities (New 266). In addition, Laurence shows special sympathy for those, both African and European, who no longer fully belong anywhere (The Oxford Companion ti Canadian Literature 634) in her short stories. The main motif in The Rain Child is identity because every main character has identity problems. The narrator, Miss Nedden is an English woman who moved to Africa to teach and she has spent there twenty-two years, but she did not become a real African, however she has adapted herself to the circumstences more easily than her boss, Miss Hilda Povey. Miss Povey is more close-minded than Miss Nedden as she says at the beginning of the story, twenty-seven years here [Africa]. . . and she still felt acutely uncomfortable with African parents. Miss Nedden is more open-minded, for instance, she gives up to teach Daffodils and turns to Akans poetry, and she joins to the girls when they go to the Odwira. On the contrary to her achieved integration, Miss Nedden keeps her English identity, for instance, her garden chair which is like a throne for her, and the reader also can sense the superiority over Africans in her thinking. However, she also cannot be a real English woman after spending so m any years in Africa. As she says it at the end of the short story: I think of that island of grey rain where I must go as a stranger, when the time comes. The other main character, Ruth, is also struggling with identity problems because she has lived in England before she moved back to Africa with her father. She seems African with her brown skin but she cannot speak the Twi, the language of the area and she does not know a lot about the African culture and traditions. For her, everybody seems strange and somehow barbarian with the traditional African clothes that they wear after classes and their weird beliefs, for instance: Yindos talisman. She does not feel as she is at home, she wants to go back to England: I wish I were back at home. Ruth becomes happier when she meets David, an English boy, but he makes her shocked when he says: I know youre not the ordinary kind of African. Youre almost almost like a like us.. It is not enough for Ruth, therefore she runs away to the forest and at the end of the short story she leaves the school and goes to another in the town. Ruths father, Dr. Quansah also has got some kind of identity problem. He has worked in England for many years and there he has had friends but he cannot find any neither European nor African in Africa. As he says: I still find most Europeans here as difficult to deal with as I ever did. And yet I seem to have lost touch with my own people, too.. He has got a mixed identity, because he also keeps western habits, but in a way he remains African in his thinking. For instance: he eats western food, wears European clothes and speaks English, but he is not identical to Europeans because he resents the Europeans racism. The theme of identity also brings up the question of race and culture. Ruth is an African girl because of her roots, but she has been brought up in a different culture, therefore she feels herself more English than African. However, in the eyes of other people she will remain African, she cannot be truly English, as David says she is just almost like them. On the contrary, the conclusion of the short story is about the power of culture above race. Race is insignificant and artificial, Laurence is saying; culture is real and inviolable. (Craig 115). In addition to culture, the traditions have got important roles in the short story, for instance, the senior girls are allowed to wear the traditional, colourful African dress. The main traditional event in the story is the Odwira festival. There happens something shocking to Ruth when she sees Kwaale and a boy doing the Shoot an arrow ritual. The boy shoots an imagenary arrow to Kwaale and she shows her naked body to him. It is a reminder that women are the source of life, however Miss Nedden is not sure that Kwaale and the boy really know about this customs meaning or origin or they just care about the beat of their own blood. Also the title of the short story is connected to African culture because when Ruth was born her mother called her an African name which means ËÅ  child of the rainËÅ  . Her English name, Ruth is also interesting because it can be seen as a biblical refernce. Ruth in the Bible was a poor, foreigner woman and her story shows the triumph of ingenuity and courage over tough circumstences. This is a bit sarcastical because in The Rain Child Ruth is neither ingenious nor courageous because she does not want to be a part of her new country. Laurence used mainly Ruths story to tell problems with which a whole nation and generation faced at that time. The themes identity, migration, alienation, integration, race, sense of belonging she put in The Rain Child show a great sense of understaning towards these people. Laurences [style] embraces conscious symbolism while it strives for the immediacy of ordinary experience (New 265).

Psoriasis

Yes, psoriasis can be treated This six-part KULIT article series by the Persatuan Dermatologi Malaysia aims to raise awareness of psoriasis. In this final article, PDM President Dr Allan K C Yee highlights an important message for people with psoriasis – there is no cure yet for psoriasis, but its symptoms can be effectively treated and managed. Be open-minded and willing to work with your doctor to find a treatment that will work for you. The object of treatment is to reduce the extent and severity of psoriasis – the red scaly stigmata, the tell-tale scaling on one’s clothes, the rough cracked palms that make handshakes awkward, painful joints that limit one’s activities. In short, the goal is to improve the quality of life which has been shown in studies to be as affected as much as other major diseases such as cancer, heart disease and depression. The good news is that with today’s medical armamentarium, much can be done to allow the sufferer a greatly improved quality of life. Treatments must be individualized Fortunately, only 20% of psoriatics suffer from severe psoriasis, and the site involved is so variable that the treatments must be individualized. Limited disease can be treated with topical agents but more extensive skin involvement will require oral systemic treatments, phototherapy with artificial UV light, or even injectable agents (biologics). Furthermore psoriasis can affect any part of the body, each meriting special measures. Site-specific treatments For instance, thick scalp psoriasis is often mistakenly treated with endless anti-dandruff shampoos with little results. Scalp psoriasis invariably responds dramatically to tar pomades under occlusion for one to two weeks, a tip that an experienced dermatologist would gladly share with sufferers. Similarly, thick and cracked scaly palms and soles that prevent working with the hands or sometimes even walking, can be significantly improved with special steroid-salicylic acid ointments used under occlusion. These soften and shed the thickened dead skin making the skin pliable and usable once more. Psoriasis affecting the face, body creases – groins, armpits and private areas can be improved with the udicious use of weaker topical steroids and the newer and safer nonsteroidal calcineurin-inhibitors. The problem is that these thinned skinned areas are often treated with strong steroid creams that are not meant to be used in these sensitive areas. The end-result is irreversible side-effects such as ugly pink stretch marks, easy bruising and skin infections. We see a lot of these unfortunate cases who are sold these strong steroids from errant pharmacies without a prescription, or are introduced to them by well-meaning friends and relatives. The Dermatological Society of Malaysia is working with the Ministry of Health to ensure that potent steroids are only available with a prescription. The treatment should not be worse than the disease! Hopefully with warnings such as in this article, the lay public will be better informed about the dangers of self-medicating with potent topical steroids. Topical Treatments Generally, when the extent of psoriasis is limited to less than 5 – 10% of the body surface area (BSA), it is best to use topical treatments in the form of creams, ointments, lotions. As a guide, 1% of the BSA is the area covered by one’s palm. The red, thickened skin in psoriasis is due to the increased multiplication of the skin, allowing the collection of the dead skin layer to be manifested as thick scales. Most effective treatments whether topical or systemic work by reducing the cell multiplication, and by removing the dead skin layers. Time tested agents are coal tar, and anthranols which are messy and brown-staining thus adding further to the stigmatization sufferers feel. More cosmetically acceptable topical agents are steroid creams, vitamin D analogues and calcineurin inhibitors. The latter two are more expensive than the ubiquitous steroid creams but with a superior safety profile. Most psoriatic lesions also tend to be dry and glycerin, urea-based or other humectant moisturizers help relieve soreness and improve recovery especially when used in conjunction with keratolytics – agents that soften and shed the abnormal dead skin layers. Systemic treatments When more than 10% of BSA is involved it becomes impractical to rely on topical measures alone. It may take more than half an hour just to apply creams on large areas of affected skin. Hence, oral or injectable medications are required. Many of these drugs are able to reduce the skin’s cell multiplication or maturation rate eg methotrexate, hydroxyurea, retinoids. However many others suppress the disease process at a more fundamental level by suppressing the activity of abnormal white cells (T-cells) or by neutralizing the T-cells inflammatory chemicals (eg TNF a) eg cyclosporine and the newer biologic agents licensed for use in Malaysia. With the proper use of these systemic agents singly or in combination, it is often possible to control even the most severe cases of psoriasis. However, these systemic agents should only be used by experienced physicians as many of them can have significant side effects. For example, persons with liver disease or gastric ulcers should not be treated with methotrexate; women of child-bearing age should not use retinoids as it can cause fetal abnormalities; persons with high blood pressure or kidney problems cannot use cyclosporine. If a person with severe psoriasis has liver disease, is a woman of childbearing age, or has kidney problems what options then are available for him/her? There are 3 options – oral salazopyrine which only works in 50% of Asians, the injectable biologic agents, or phototherapy (see below). Biologic agents are the new kids on the block. They have a much better safety profile than the above mentioned oral drugs and can be used in persons with liver, kidney disease and women but unfortunately their high cost means relatively few can afford them. Even in the west, where such expensive treatments are reimbursable, the psoriasis must be shown to be non-responsive to conventional oral drugs, or organ toxicities with these drugs are present. Some of them are very helpful in controlling psoriasis as well as the disabling arthritis that affects 10-30% of psoriatics. Phototherapy (PUVA, UVB, nUVB) This is an excellent form of treatment with artificial UV light which is relatively free from serious side effects apart from a small risk of developing non-melanoma skin cancers with prolonged use. This risk is probably not significant in the setting of Asian skin types especially with the newer types of phototherapy equipment such as narrow band UVB (nUVB), and the excimer laser or excimer light. Another advantage of phototherapy is that it is a clean form of treatment, nonmessy and can give a long remission period of up to one year. The main drawback is that it does require visits to the phototherapy centre 3 times a week for 2-3 months. The good news is that most states in Malaysia now have phototherapy units to treat not only psoriasis, but also vitiligo and severe atopic eczema. Alternative therapies In this day and age where the emphasis is on evidence-based medicine (EBM), alternative therapies must prove its worth with hard core scientific evidence from well-conducted clinical studies. Many people with psoriasis who have suffered from the condition for years are, not surprisingly, hopeful for answers, breakthroughs, and even a â€Å"cure† perhaps. Unfortunately, there is no shortage of charlatans offering â€Å"cures† for psoriasis, often in network marketing schemes. One has to acknowledge the fact that psoriasis has a genetic basis, and unless gene therapy becomes a reality, there cannot be a cure, even with accepted treatments such as climatotherapy in the Dead Sea. Diets for psoriasis are as yet unproven, although an FDA-approved healthy diet with at least 5-9 servings of fresh preferably organic produce may be of help in improving one’s general health. Stress reduction strategies may help insofar as stress precipitates and aggravates psoriasis. Prayer has been shown useful in several medical conditions, and a strong faith life can only help, if only to give one the equanimity to deal with the turbulence of modern life. The future of psoriasis treatments There is considerable optimism in the search for better and safer treatments for psoriasis in the near future. We now have a much better understanding of the genetics and underlying immune derangements in psoriasis. It is only a matter of time before the tremendous amount of ongoing research bears better fruit that is sweeter and without the bitter aftertaste of side-effects. Indeed here are promising smaller molecules in the offing that are cheaper to synthesize. Watch out for this space. Psoriasis affects 2-3 percent of Malaysians. This is the final article of a six-part series from PDM’s â€Å"KULIT – Living with Psoriasis† Campaign 2007. For more on psoriasis, treatment options and KULIT, visit www. dermatology. org. my or email [email  protected] com. This article is a guide to help you better understand psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis. Consult a suitably qualified medical practitioner before acting on any information contained above. KULIT is a community programme sponsored by Wyeth Malaysia.

The Ugly Secret of Business Essay Samples

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Hiv Gender And Race Disparities Among At Risk Young Adults

HIV: Gender and Race Disparities Among at Risk Young Adults Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) along with other sexually transmitted infections (STI) have emerged as a health epidemic over the recent decades and continue to threaten the lives of people today. In order to better understand the virus and other STIs, in terms of the populations they affect, it is important to observe the diverse risk factors among different genders and ethnicities that are HIV positive. One vital consideration for a study of this nature is the difference in HIV-positive care provided between genders. By examining the disparities that exist within STI treatment across the variables of gender and ethnicity, information for various people of age, gender and race have more viable information to use. Therefore, careful examination of the trends in equity (or lack thereof) across education programs and care for different gender and ethnicity groups, can lead to important changes that can be made for better he alth treatment of all people. However, not all groups of people can be treated entirely equally. For example, risk factors for transmission of HIV have been known to shift according to gender trends and remain higher for some ethnic groups than others. Effective public health interventions will need to combat overt discrimination in treatment while balancing the influence of known trends across these two broad variables in order to manage a positive output for clients. Throughout several yearsShow MoreRelatedThe Center For Disease Control And Prevention1562 Words   |  7 Pagesreduces the risk of getting HIV through sexual intercourse by more than 90% and by more than 70% among populations who inject drugs when taken regularly. 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(Pozgar, 2012, p. 353 364) AIDS is a collection of specific, life-threatening, opportunistic infections and manifestations that are the result of an underlying immune deficiency. AIDS is caused by a highly contagious blood-borne virus as is the most severe form of the HIV infection. ThisRead MoreHiv Aids Prevention Program On Hbcu Campuses3858 Words   |  16 Pages HIV Aids Prevention Program on HBCU Campuses Travis Paige Norfolk State University EXS-369 Dr. Beatrice Darden-Melton April 29, 2015 The rate of HIV/ Aids among HBCU campuses has risen tremendously over the years. Many adolescents do not acknowledge the risk and consequences of contracting HIV/AIDS. HIV has impacted the African American race extremely and affects the African American culture. The rate of HIV/ Aids had risen between the years of 1992 and 1999, due the expansion ofRead MoreReduction Of Stds And Hiv Essay2038 Words   |  9 Pagesof STDs and HIV in Adolescent Women An Analysis of the Reduction Program: Sisters Saving Sisters Ashley Reid CPH 330: Human Sexuality Dr. Mary Koss THE PROBLEM The aim of the intervention program Sisters Saving Sisters (SSS) is to help prevent and reduce HIV and other STDs rates in young African American and Hispanic women. Sisters Saving Sisters aims to reduce the overall number of sexual partners adolescent women have to decrease their risk of contracting HIV or other STDsRead More African Americans, HIV and AIDA Essay2302 Words   |  10 Pagesreached noticeable proportions in the early 1980s, a disease that knows no gender, racial, or class boundaries has created a devastating impact on society. This disease has afflicted society in virtually epidemic proportions. 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In addition to describing HIV/AIDS, a brief overview of prevention, environmental factors, and social class facilitate or impede the human immunodeficiency virus and acquired immune deficiency syndrome. To conclude this paper, explanation of how public health departme nts are resolving this issue to decrease HIV/AIDS in communities across the United States. Description of HIV/AIDS The human immunodeficiency virus known as HIV is a communicable diseaseRead MoreInformation Technology1980 Words   |  8 Pagesincludes language, gender, power, tribal affiliation, education, religion as a result of education. Stratification is wide spread in the Kenyan communities as a result affecting the economic, political and social relationship among the Different communities in Kenya, discussed below are the factors which make Kenya be regarded as stratified. EDUCATION The education system has seen much of stratification being a key element in stratification; Kenyans have seen many disparities in the education