Morality in war Essay

Is war ever moral? I feel that War is a necessary part of life. Sometimes force is the only way to defend yourself or others. We are all equals, and It is immoral to take the life of anyone, but it is also immoral to let the life of anyone be taken. We have a responsibility to help each other because cooperation is the only way the human race can survive; we also have a right to defend ourselves. This means that if someone else is threatening you or anothers life, and you are capable of helping, you have an obligation to protect yourself or them. Lethal force will never be moral, but what if it’s the only way to protect someone? Let’s say that an attacker has broken into your house and is holding a gun to you and your family. You also have a gun pointed at the assailant. In this hypothetical situation we must assume that the only way to save your family is to kill the attacker. You must make a choice to kill the attacker or let the attacker kill you and your family. Both options are immoral, so one has to ask if it’s more immoral to kill the attacker, or to let the attacker kill your family? The obvious choice to me is to kill the assailant. I feel this is the right choice because of two reasons. One, our responsibility to protect ourselves and our family is larger than the responsibility to not do harm to another. The second reason has to do with the proportion of damage. The attacker would be doing more harm in killing my family and me then I would be doing in killing him. This example allows us to see, on a small scale, when lethal force is necessary. Things get more complicated when we look at entire countries rather than just one family, but my view point remains the same. Lethal force is only permitted when it is the only option to defend yourself or others. War is necessary because people sometimes make immoral decisions that put others in a position where there is no other option, but is war ever moral? Killing is always immoral, and killing is part of war, so parts of war are immoral, but does this mean war is inherently immoral? Sometimes it is the least immoral choice; this makes it the most moral choice, so it is sometime moral. I believe that many of the wars we have had have been immoral. I don’t think that the United States has been justified in it’s actions every time. â€Å"It is alarming that military intervention in internal conflicts in foreign countries has become commonplace for the United States. † – Vladimir Putin. I feel that it is in part due to the classical â€Å"male† approach to ethics which focuses on â€Å"independence, autonomy, intellect, will, wariness, hierarchy, domination, culture, transcendence, product, asceticism, war, and death,† Jaggar, â€Å"Feminist Ethics,† 1992 One can see that these characteristics would allow for war to be more often morally acceptable. A â€Å"feminist† approach to ethics would focus more on â€Å"interdependence, community, connection, sharing, emotion, body, trust, absence of hierarchy, nature, immanence, process, joy, peace, and life. †Jaggar, â€Å"Feminist Ethics,† 1992 These characteristics allow for a more peaceful world. The Syrian regime was accused of using chemical weapons against it’s own people in september of 2013. The weapon of mass destruction â€Å"Sarin† may have been used, and this action is against international law. The United states felt obligated to step in and punish the Syrian Government for this because they felt it was in the worlds best interest to not let these atrocities go unpunished. It could be more dangerous to let them get away with it because international law could fall apart and the world could turn to anarchy if nothing is done to punish wrong behavior. This being said, what is the best course of action to punish the Syrian government if they did infact use this weapon? Military action was debated, and President Obama was willing to attack if necessary, but I feel this is very dangerous. If the United States were to attack the Syrian government without UN approval It could have the same effect as doing nothing. This is because the united states would also be breaking international law, and this could also cause the UN to fall apart. If strong countries like the US bypass UN approval on military actions then International law means nothing. â€Å"The world reacts by asking: if you cannot count on international law, then you must find other ways to ensure your security. Thus a growing number of countries seek to acquire weapons of mass destruction. This is logical: if you have the bomb, no one will touch you. † -Vladimir Putin. In addition, military action would not be morally acceptable in this situation because it would not be in self defense; it would be an act of aggression causing more harm than good. A diplomatic approach would be a step in the right direction for this particular situation. This real life situation allows us to see how we can judge the morality of an action on a larger scale. In conclusion, war can be moral, but it is only a strategy to attain peace and safety for a group. All other options should be explored before war can be considered; this is because war involves some of the most immoral actions possible; the killing of others. â€Å"Never think that war, no matter how necessary, nor how justified, is not a crime. †- Ernest Hemingway http://www. brainyquote. com/quotes/quotes/e/ernesthemi108407. html#zB7XwPTRbCpbv7my. 99 http://www. nytimes. com/2013/09/12/opinion/putin-plea-for-caution-from-russia-on-syria. html? _r=0.

Stomata Lab Report Essay Example

Stomata Lab Report Essay Example Stomata Lab Report Paper Stomata Lab Report Paper During those high-carbon-dioxide times, lands with fewer stomata will have an advantage and will be common. On the other hand, when carbon dioxide levels are low, plants need many stomata in order to scrape together enough carbon dioxide to survive. During low-carbon- dioxide times, plants with more stomata will have an advantage and will be common. (Understanding Evolution) Therefore, the question to be tested will be if you count the number of stomata of the same species of leaf at different stages of life will the number of stomata be different? My hypothesis is if we count the number of leaf stomata at three different stages of life then the umber of stomata will be less as the leaf gets older because the leaf is dying. (Understanding Evolution) Procedure Approximately three leaves of the where gathered to use in this experiment. Each leaf was at a different stage of life: alive, dying, and dead. A thin cast of a tiny part of the surface of the underside of each leaf was created using NYC clear nail polish. The imprint of each leafs underside was viewed one at a time under a light microscope using the cast, which was carefully removed from each leaf with a piece of packing tape. The stomata were completely visible and were able o be counted under the lowest view setting of xx. The stomata of each leaf were observed and counted four times. When viewing the stomata in each leaf for detail, the setting of xx was used. This made the view of the stomata large enough to tell whether they were open or not. The number and description of the stomata of each leaf was recorded. The leaf that was alive had an average of 34. 5 stomata counted in the one specific area observed, the dying leaf had an average of 31. 75 stomata in the area observed and the dead leaf had an average of 29. 25 stomata in the area observed. These averages were results f four different trials in which the stomata were counted and observed in the specified area of each plant, every trial having a new person count the stomata. The stomata of the dead leaf were closed; the stomata of the leaf that was alive were open. The stomata of the leaf that was dying varied. In some places, the stomata were opened, in others, they were closed. The stomata that were open were bunched in separate areas of the observed section of the leaf, as were the stomata that were closed. Neither of the different stomata were mixed between each other in the dying leaf. All three leaves stomata were scattered around n the observed area and did not have a noticeable pattern to their placing. Conclusion: The data gathered shows that there is, in fact, a difference in the number and the appearance of stomata in three different life stages of an American elm leaf. However, the differences in the number of stomata are slight, calculating to a difference of only 5. 25 stomata between the largest and smallest average. The leaf that was alive had the greatest number of stomata, followed by the dying leaf and then the dead one, which had the least number of stomata. The numbers of stomata seem to descend as the leaf dies. However, this difference s insignificant considering that the stomata that were counted were a part of a very tiny area of the leaf (smaller than a fraction of a centimeter). The difference of stomata in each leaf came out to only 5. 5, which isnt a large enough difference in the stomata of a small area of the leaf to be determined as significant. Further investigation would have to be performed in order to test this and get more accurate results. The difference that was significant was that of the appearance of the stomata. In the dead leaf, the stomata were closed; in the leaf that was alive, the stomata were open. The stomata o f the dying leaf however, aired. Parts of the section viewed under the microscope consisted of opened stomata, others consisted of closed stomata. This might be because the leaf wasnt completely dead, or parts of the leaf were still alive. When something is dying, the working parts of it do not stop functioning completely, they shut down at various times. This explains why some the stomata are open and some were closed. There was no significant difference in the number of stomata between the three leaves; however there was a dramatic difference in the appearance of the stomata in each leaf. If I were to re-do this lab in the future I would make ere to keep my fingers off of the viewing part of the tape. I think it may have altered our results in the end, like the number of stomata should have been without outliers. Another error that I have discovered was that we used different microscope power for the leaves. We should have used all the same power on each leaf for more accurate results to be sure we were viewing the same amount of area. The data also proves this because for the alive and the dying leaf we used the xx zoom, but we used xx zoom for the dead leaf. Id infer that we did this because the dead leafs stomata were closed which could have made them harder to see.

Nutrition in the Early School System Research Paper

Nutrition in the Early School System - Research Paper Example An understanding of these food classes enables learners to determine the role of each category in the body, for example, carbohydrates provide energy while proteins build body muscles. Fruits, on the other hand, help the body to fight and prevent diseases (Prelip, Kinsler, Thai, Erausquin, & Slusser, 2012). Students will also have identified the effects of over or under consumption of each food to their bodies. The children will have determined the amount of food that they can consume from each class to avoid the undesired effects of unplanned consumption. Children will spread the awareness to their parents and friends from other schools after the lesson. This will create national awareness, which will improve health in the society. The outcome of the second objective is that children will identify the diseases that arise from poor nutrition, for example, obesity, hypertension, dyslipidemia, and diabetes among others. Children contract obesity more than the other diseases; therefore, the lesson will focus on this ailment. Students will understand the negative psychological and physical effects of having an overweight body, and the foods that lead to the ailment. Students will be able to determine the measures to undertake to avoid suffering from the diseases. The learners will also identify the actions to take in case they contact the disease. Students will identify various ways of exercising their bodies by the end of the lesson. The knowledge of the techniques will enable students to recognize the significance of exercise, for example, reducing weight, strengthening muscles, decreasing depression, and preventing diseases (Avery, Johnson, Cousins, & Hamilton, 2013). Teaching Plan Subject: Healthy nutrition... This report approves that students should understand and explain various food classes, which include fruits and vegetables, carbohydrates, proteins, and fats. An understanding of these food classes enables learners to determine the role of each category in the body, for example, carbohydrates provide energy while proteins build body muscles. Fruits, on the other hand, help the body to fight and prevent diseases. Community resources are the materials that can help students to understand the health, and they are available in the society. The resources include journals and health magazines that are available in community libraries. Students can read these materials and learn new ways of living healthy lives. Students may also attend health conferences conducted by humanitarian organizations such as the Red Cross Society. The conferences usually involve presentations of diseases and techniques of preventing the ailments. Learners practice what they learn from the projects to avoid the ai lments. This essay makes a conclusion that the increase in obesity and overweight among children has given rise to the need for nutrition awareness in the society. Teaching is the best technique to create awareness because it takes place in schools where the major stakeholders are parents, teachers, children, and the government. The objectives of teaching healthy nutrition in a class include teaching food categories, malnutrition diseases, and the need for exercise. An instructor may use books, presentations, and games as techniques to help students understand the topic. Community resources such as health magazines and nutrition conferences, which are conducted by various institutions, also help in achieving the objectives.

Using these historical documents does Congress solve problems Or, does Essay

Using these historical documents does Congress solve problems Or, does it create more - Essay Example Though civil servants amounted to only 10% of the total US employees, the number of beneficiaries kept growing with time. This helped the workers in deed. Besides, due to the observation by the congress that short distant travellers paid more than long distance travellers, the Interstate Act of 1887 was institutionalised to fix the problem. According to the congress these unreasonable and unjust charges were seen as constitutional violation and that something had to be done to illegalize discrimination. Politicians, travellers during low seasons, persistent bargainers and so on, were not subject to exemption as before. Native Indians who squatted in America had to be accommodated into the population. Despite the fact the land given to them by the US government was arid/ semi arid and unproductive for farming, the Dawes Act of 1887 gave the Indians a sense of belonging. A major set back of this Act is that some Indians did not want to embrace farming and the ones who did had no starting resources like seeds, irrigation mechanisms. These problems were of small magnitude compared with the original one of lack of land. Another illustration of the role of the congress is the Boulder Canyon Project Act which was constituted to protect and develop the Colorado River Basin. A large dam was constructed to contain floods, generate hydroelectricity, for irrigation and to provide water for domestic uses. This project had great economic impacts to the people. The contribution of the congress to boost the lives of Americans was the Social Security Act which benefited retired workers, the unemployed, and single mothered families. Also public health services, the aged and the disabled directly benefited from the scheme. The list is endless. The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) was established. Production of electricity, navigation, flood control, manufacture of

What Lessons can be learned from the Global Financial Crisis of Assignment

What Lessons can be learned from the Global Financial Crisis of 2007-08, About the Effectiveness of the Transmission Mechanism of Monetary Policy - Assignment Example The crisis has adversely affected the financial as well as economic stability of a large number of countries, imposing inevitable unfavourable impacts on the financial institutions, national governmental structures and stock market performances worldwide. It had also created a strong adverse effect on the business world, leading to gradually deepening fluctuations in the housing markets and increased unemployment rates in the majorly affected economies such as the US (as the epicentre of the crisis) and the European nations among the majors. It has been identified the most common cause for the crisis situation was associated with the low interest rate policy practiced by the Federal Reserve along with central banks (Grail Research, 2009). As assumed in the transmission mechanism of monetary policy, such violations in the interests rates are likely to lead towards a severe instability in the housing markets, disposable income disbursements in the economy, credit demand, exchange rate fluctuations, stock market volatility and overall wealth generation obstructions (Bank of England, n.d.). Evidently, the crisis situation also exhibited fluctuations and instability in various other key determinant factors that are supposed to act as major components to economic development, which include subprime mortgages, ineffective regulatory policies and leveraging the banking sector as prima facie (Grail Research, 2009). In this crisis situation, the Federal Reserve and central banks of different countries were identified to focus on building their respective monetary policies on the basis of short-term interest rates, which can also be accounted as a major cause to have a strong influence on the aforementioned factors in the global money market (Lewis, 2010). As can be observed from the brief discussion presented above, the context of the recent global financial crisis 2007-08 represents a complex phenomenon of interest rate based monetary policy measures taken by countries in the post-modern era. To obtain a succinct understanding of the entire occurrence, this essay will base its discussion on the conceptual framework of transmission mechanism of monetary policy. In this regard, the sole aim of the essay will be to conclude on the effectiveness of the transmission mechanism of monetary policy in addressing the lessons learned from the recent occurrence of the global financial crisis in 2007-08. The Transmission Mechanism of Monetary Policies The transmission mechanism of monetary policies depicts that there are different procedures on the basis of which, interest rates in an economy can be identified and assessed to be affecting the economic conditions of a country as a whole (Refer to Appendix Figure 1). As per this theory, the decisions in relation to interest rate are seemed to influence other market interest rates, which include deposit rates of bank and mortgage rates to a significant level; thus, creating a significant effect on the economic st ability of the nation. The interest rate policies further affects the expectations along with confidence of the market investors, on the basis of which, these policies tends to influence the future development of an economy (Bolvin & et. al., 2010). Additionally, the interest rate policies influence exchange rates along with asset prices to a substantial extent. Changes in interest rates are further recognised to have an influence on the spending, investment as well as saving behaviour of the people and firms operating in an economy, playing the role of a major determinant of

A Learning Experience Essay Example for Free

A Learning Experience Essay In this content, there will be a discussion on how someone can learns how to not use drugs and what it was like for them before and after their initial use. There will be an identification of what someone would learn from using to not using. Also included in the discussion there will be a description of how someone’s learning could have occurred through classical conditioning, identifying the unconditioned stimulus, the unconditioned response, the conditioned stimulus, and the conditioned response. An explanation will be given in regards to how their learning could have occurred through operant conditioning, describing the behavior, consequence, and reinforcement. There will be an address of how the learning could have occurred through cognitive-social learning. Identifying the Learning Experience Let us say that someone has been doing drugs on a social basis, living a wild and carefree lifestyle. Until one day, a different way of using the drug becomes introduced. In that instance the drug is introduced, it becomes an automatic addiction. It becomes an overwhelming desire to have more to obtain that rush repeatedly. It is the loss of all control and the beginning of losing the power of life. The person frits at the thought of the drug and loses control when they cannot get a hold of it when they want it and how they want it. It becomes a part of their lifestyle and it becomes more difficult for them to lose the desire after a long period of using. It takes a power greater then themselves to quit and the help of people like them who have been clean. With the help and support of these people, the desire to use becomes less and less and the â€Å"disease of addiction,† becomes arrested. What is Learned through the Experience The long term learning experience is learning to live without the use of drugs. Living with the use of drugs causes many to live a life of unmanageability. It leads to a time in an addict’s life when they seek a place where they can receive help, therefore leading to a clean life. They no longer want to live with the obsession of using and no longer with a life of insanity. Classical Conditioning, Unconditioned Stimulus and Response, Conditioned Stimulus and Response Classical conditioning is a form of learning in which a neutral stimulus becomes a conditional stimulus capable of eliciting a given response after being repeatedly presented with an unconditioned (significant) stimulus (Oxford Reference, 2007). For example, an addict may use a pipe, cigarillos, roll up papers, or syringes (conditional stimulus) whenever an addict set out to use their preferred drug of choice. Eventually, the addict becomes craved at the presence of these items (conditional response), even when the drug was absent (unconditional stimulus). Therefore, the absence of the drug leads to the overwhelming desire to use (unconditional response). If the drugs and all the items are present and then something runs out, the conditional and unconditional stimuli occurs together and are presented at the same place, making the addict powerless. Operant Conditioning, Behavior, Consequence, Reinforcement  Operant conditioning (instrumental conditioning) is a form of learning where an individual forms an association between a particular behavioral response and a particular reinforcement (Oxford Reference, 2007). In the case of an addict, when an addict takes the first drug it may be pleasant, but then a thousand is never enough. Therefore, the cliche becomes an addict’s worst nightmare. They use to live and live to use, resulting in the disease of addiction. Once an addict realizes the more they use the more unpleasant it gets, they do not want to face the consequences of jails, institutions, or death. Therefore, they seek the help of recovering addicts, admit their powerlessness over the drug, and make a choice to come clean. As an addict attempts to come clean, they need the reinforcement of Narcotics Anonymous meetings on a daily basis. It is recommended that a newcomer attend 90 meetings in 90 days, associate themselves with other recovering addicts of the same sex, and to seek out a sponsor to work the Twelve Steps. With all these options that Narcotics Anonymous provides helps a recovering addict get well on their way to living a clean productive life. The recovering addict needs to be constantly reminded to take it a day at a time, remember that they didn’t become an addict over night, to keep going back (to meetings), and easy does it. If an addict keeps coming back, they are less likely to go out an relapse; but if they keep beating themselves up, do not change the people, places, and things around them, and continue to keep their old behaviors, they are just punishing themselves making it less likely for them to return to meetings and instead go out and use. Cognitive-Social Learning Cognitive-social learning incorporates the general concepts of conditioning, but rather than relying on a simple stimulus and response model, this theory emphasizes the interpretation or thinking that occurs within the organism, stimulus-organism-response (Carpenter-Huffman, 2010). In the case of an addict, addicts have attitudes, beliefs, expectations, motivations, and emotions that affect learning (Carpenter-Huffman, 2010). In the case of a recovering addict, these old beliefs, attitudes, false motivation and expectations, and lost emotions, being in the rooms of a Narcotics Anonymous meeting helps them to socialize with other recovering addicts and soon the newcomer is able to learn new behaviors through the observations, suggestions, and reading of literature given. In a roundabout way, the newcomer begins by imitating and sharing in meetings, gains a comfort, develops a sense of security, and becomes honest with themselves, allowing them to become honest with other recovering addicts. They learn that not one person is different from another in a Narcotics Anonymous meeting, but they are all alike, one addict reaching out to help another addict recover. Conclusion With the continued socialization and fellowshipping of Narcotics Anonymous, a recovering addict can lose the constant desire to use, find a power greater than themselves, and live a new life taking it a day at a time because any day clean is a day of success. Classical conditioning is a learned behavior that happens with or without the drugs being present. Operant conditioning is knowing that there are consequences for this learned ehavior (drug use), that results in punishment (an addict trying to recover but still having the presence of their old people, places and things resulting in relapse), and lead to a desire to have positive reinforcement (an addict entering into recovery after a life of defeat). Cognitive-social learning is coming to the realization that through participation in the Narcotics Anonymous program, it becomes easier to recover seeing that other addicts too have chosen to recover (imitating and practicing the principles, traditions, and completing the twelve steps).

Greenblatt Guru of New Historicism

Greenblatt Guru of New Historicism According to M.A.R Habib, New Historicism has become a literary term closely associated with Greenblatt, who is generally regarded as the guru of New Historicism and, as a predictable result of his sudden prominence, the focus of much criticism. By breaking disciplinary boundaries between the text and history, and between fiction and reality, New Historicism, eventually and inevitably, has now come to terms with the decision to set up its priority in a place between textualism and contextualism. In other words Karbe believes that text or phenomena cannot be somehow torn from history and analyzed in isolation outside of the historical process (401). Against the traditional view to history as Tyson says history is a matter of interpretations, not facts, and that interpretations always occur within a framework of social conventions(289),so the new historicist critics believes that all historical analysis is unavoidably subjective. Historians must therefore reveal the ways in which they know they have been positioned, by their own cultural experience, to interpret history (290). In order to know the rule of literature in new historicism and the relation between the society and environment of the time or generally the role of history of time and place to create a literary work, it would be highly important to explain some details to understand this notion better. Like the other new historicist critics Tyson believes that for new historical critics, a literary text doesnt embody the authors intention or illustrate the spirit of the age that produced it, as traditional literary historians asserted. In continues he assert that: Nor are literary texts self-sufficient art objects that transcend the time and place in which they were written, as New Critics believed. Rather, literary texts are cultural artifacts that can tell us something about the interplay of discourses, the web of social meanings, operating in the time and place in which the text was written. And they can do so because the literary text is itself part of the interplay of discourses, a thread in the dynamic web of social meaning. For new historicism, the literary text and the historical situation from which it emerged are equally important because text (the literary work) and context (the historical conditions that produced it) are mutually constitutive: they create each other (291-2). Like the dynamic interplay between individual identity and society, literary texts shape and are shaped by their historical contexts. Michael Payne asserts; new historicism is a collection of practices rather than school or a method (2), so thats why flourishing in the 80s, New Historicism mainly based on French philosopher Michel Foucaults theories offered just such a critique of history, and the dominant new historicist theories which have been used in this study would be according to the Foucaults definitions of this term. The new historicism explores the place of literature in an ongoing contest of power within society which has been defined widely latter by Foucault whose ideas have strongly influenced the development of new historicism, power circulates in all directions, to and from all social levels, at all times(Tyson 284). The others notions which are directly related to the new historicism are discourse, identity and the episteme of the time. Dr. Chung Hsiung Lai in his es say Limits and Beyond: Greenblatt, New Historicism and a Feminist Genealogy says that language is bound up with questions of identity because it is through language that we speak of ourselves and interact with others (4). We can promote the role of language in a new historicist reading to discursive power or social self fashioning force which Foucault explain them later fully. New historicist reading of the literary work according to Foucault, could be reading it according to dominant discourse and episteme of the time of the writer which could help the researcher to comprehend the identity of the creative characters of the selected works better and also helps to understand the intention of the author to create this imaginative world. Accordingly it is beyond argument that notwithstanding Greenblatt as a dominant figure in new historicism, Foucaults theories as a new historicist author have been concerned largely with the concepts of power, knowledge and discourse, These concepts alongside of the other concepts like identity and episteme are those which could applied in the text of so many literary works in a new historicist reading of them; but the author that has been selected for this study is Margaret Atwood who the notion of new historicism is highly applicable in her novels especially the selected ones The Handmaids Tale and Edible Woman. Atwood has created a stunning Orwellian vision of the near future in The Handmaids Tale. This is the story of Offred, one of the unfortunate Handmaids under the new social order who have only one purpose: to breed. In Gilead, where women are prohibited from holding jobs, reading and forming friendships, Offreds persistent memories of life in the time before and will to survive are acts of rebellion. According to Dr. Chung Hsiung Lai Greenblatt evokes the traditional privileging of speech over writing, where meaning are thought to be somehow less ambiguous as the speaker consciously aims at reducing the chances of misinterpretation (5).Howells in her essay Margaret Atwoods Dystopian Vision: The Handmaids Tale and Oryx and Crake asserts that this novel might usefully begin with this statement, for Offreds fictive autobiography come to us as a written text, and only at the end do we discover that, what we have been reading was actually a spoken narrative which has been transcribed from the old caste types and reconstructed for publication long after the narrator is dead(165). The second novel which has been analyzed in this study is Edible Woman, The edible woman of the novels title is, most obviously, a doll shape cake cooked and consumed in the novels conclusion. However the title also refers to the novels main character, Marian MacAlpin, who is so preoccupied with food that she interprets life around her in terms of food consumption, eventually come to identify with food, and develops a serious eating disorder as well as some romantic relations, love affairs, a broken marital engagement, a planned pregnancy and birth. The concept of body is what Atwood use widely, during the plotline of these two novels, and Foucault in Discipline and Punishment and also History of Sexuality use and explain this notion which would be highly useful in this study and At the centre of the study is a triangulated set of concepts concerning the body and its articulation with relations of power and knowledge. Barry Smart asserts that Genealogical analysis reveals the body as an object of knowledge and as a target for the exercise of power. The body is shown to be located in a political field, invested with power relations which render it docile and productive, and thus politically and economically useful (69) Thus the exercise of power necessarily puts into circulation apparatuses of knowledge, that is creates sites where knowledge is formed. Foucault himself in Discipline and Punishment asserts that a knowledge of the body that is not exactly the science of its functioning, and a mastery of its forces that is more than the ability to conquer them(26). and also Bartky believes that Both [feminism and Foucault] identify the body as the site of the power (102).Thus this analysis of power has set in motion an entirely new way of examining power relations in society, focusing more on resistance than simple passive oppression. Foucault also interested in the way that power operates through different forms of regime at particular historical period , Foucaults genealogical analyses begin with an examination of the character of modern power relations literally with the question of how power is exercised and the associated issue of the relationships between power and knowledge(Smart p. 69), and also Mills declares that For Foucault, discipline is a set of strategies, procedures and ways of behaving which are associated with certain institutional contexts and which then permeate ways of thinking and behaving in general(44). History is the other word, plays a dominant role in Foucaults ideas. Sara Mills explains that for Foucault the past is not seen as inevitably leading up to the present, a view of history which renders the past banal; it is very strangeness of the past which makes us able to see clearly the strangeness of the present(24). Then in The Archaeology of Knowledge Foucault develops the term episteme that is the body of knowledge and the ways of knowing which are in circulation at the particular moment. This study has been circulated around those Foucaults ideas which are relevant to analysis of selected novels. Argument David Staines in his essay Margaret Atwood in Her Canadian Context introduces Atwood as a prolific writer and a hit with literary critics, who became internationally famous after the popular and critical success of her 1984 novel, The Handmaids Tale. Atwood began her career in the 1960s, teaching English and at first publishing poetry, short stories and literary criticism. Her other novels include Surfacing (1972), Cats Eye (1988), Alias Grace (1996) and the 2000 Booker Prize winner, The Blind Assassin. About the concept of history Atwood in one of her lectures on her first historical novel asked a fundamental question which she tries to answers in her later novels, she asked What does the past tell us?Then she answered, In and of itself, it tells us nothing. We have to be listening first, before it will say a word; and even so, listening is telling and then retelling( Coomi S. Vevaina 86. ) . Coomi S. Vevaina tries to explain how far Atwood believe the concept of history and how far she used this concept in her Novels; he declares that in all her [Atwoods] works, Atwood reveals a distinctly postmodern engagement with history(87). He then continues that by recording some tapes Offred becomes an elocutionary act and her narrative(87); or better to say her story status warning against moral dictatorship and atrocity is summarily dismissed in an editorial aside by the male professional historian how is interested in reconstructing his grand impersonal narrative of a vanished nations hi story(87). Howells in her essay regarding the dystopian vision in Margaret Atwoods Handmaids tale asserts that this novel might usefully begin with this statement, for Offreds fictive autobiography come to us as a written text, and only at the end do we discover that, what we have been reading was actually a spoken narrative which has been transcribe from the old caste types and reconstruct for publication ling after the narrator is dead(165). Thus by help of this story we recognize the episteme of the time which Atwood tries to criticize, episteme according to Foucault is: the total set of relations that unite, at a given period, the discursive practices that give rise to epistemological figures, sciences, and possibly formalized systemsà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦The episteme is not a form of knowledgeà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦or type of rationality which, crossing the boundaries of the most varied sciences, manifests the sovereign unity of a subject, a spirit, or a period; it is the totality of relations that can be discovered for a given period, between the sciences when one analyses them at the level of discursive regularities(191). Moreover Howells believes that the issue of language and power has always been crucial in construction of dystopias:throughout the history of dystopian fiction the conflict of the text has often turned on the control of language (166). and it is Offreds attempt to seize it [the language] to make it hers (Cixous, Medusa. 343), which gives her narrative its appeal as one woman story of resistance against patriarchal tyranny. In both Edible woman and Handmaids Tale the efforts of heroin for resistance is obvious because both of them revolt against something and someone, Such revolts about conditions, staff, practices, and treatments have at root been resistances against the very materiality of the prison and punishment as instruments of power, resistances against a particular technology of power exercised over both the mind and body of the individual (Smart 74). Identity is the matter which Atwoods protagonist deals with and the great impact of society on them is not deniable, they are what the society likes to be, thats why they are looking for a way to resistance. As the case in point Goldblatt in Reconstructing Margaret Atwoods Protagonists asserts that in The Edible Woman Marians body is also a battlefield. Unable to cope with her impending marriage to Peter, Marian finds herself unable to ingest any food that was once alive. Repulsed by her societys attitude of consumerism (275), On the other hand the story of Offred in Gilead society is the same, Goldblatt continues Offreds identity and value as a child bearer as well in The Handmaids Tale, are proclaimed by her clothes in her totalitarian city of Gilead, à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ she is no longer owns a name; she if Of Fred, the concubine named for the man who will impregnate her(276). Considering the new historicist approach according to Foucaults ideas (especially those which are fit to selected novels) the researcher wants to proof that, the purpose of present study is to trace the fundamental and substantial elements of new historicism in Atwoods Handmaids Tale and The Edible Woman. In order to gain the purpose the researcher tries to answer the following questions: Upon what social understanding do these works depends? What other cultural events occurred surrounding the original production of these texts? How may these events be relevant to the text under investigation? Why might reader at a particular time and place find these works compelling? Do contemporary issues and cultural milieu of the time of the author operate together to create her novels? Significance of the study There are two main reasons, which make doing this research important. The first reason is the author herself who is the contemporary leading novelist. And the second one is that this research gives a chance to know how Foucault ideas as an approach applicable on Atwoods selected novels. What makes this research significant is that up to the present time there are so many researches and studies on Atwoods short stories, poem or novels but in none of the researches deal with new historical approach. The present study wants to show, against so many critics who place Atwood in the list of feminist critics, there are others aspects rather than feminism in Atwoods works that could be noticeable. Sawicki asserts that Foucault emphasis on the sexual body as a target and vehicle of this new form of power / knowledge is reproduced in feminist analyses of modern form patriarchal control over womens mind and bodies in the context of the emergence of the sciences of medicine, social work, and psychology(290). From this stand point which most of the protagonist of Atwoods Novels are women, to look at the overall pattern it is generally accepted these heroines are in search of knowledge in order to gain power for resistance but in contrast to the traditional definition of power, the power which Foucault talks about is totally different. Mark Robson in Routledge Critical Thinkers: Stephen Greenblatt indicates that: Central to Foucaults work is the notion that knowledge is always a form of power. Thus advances in psychiatry or in the treatment of illnesses also lead to new ways of controlling the people who are mad or ill. Such control tends to reinforce the power of those in a position to impose the categories. But this does not mean that power is simply exercised from the top down. As Foucault puts it:power is everywhere; not because it embraces everything, but because it comes from everywhere ( 55). To sum up, the present study tries to insist on the element of new historicism specially Foucaltian approach on Atwoods selected novels which are believed that would be fully applicable. Review of Literature This study is a library research and all the information is obtain through different books, whether directly or indirectly discussing the materials, essays, electronic sources and many other possible sources in which the related materials can be found. This research is mainly focused on the original text of selected novels which are published, and also secondary sources, which explain and criticized these Novels, are used in order to help elaboration of the novels. The primarily concentration is on those studies which are related to the conception of new Historicism. Coral Ann Howells in The Cambridge Companion to Margaret Atwood tries to gather essays by Twelve leading international Atwood critics, provides the most comprehensive and up to date account of Atwoods novels. These essays consider Atwood theme, language, humor and narrative techniques. As a case in point Somacarreras essayPower politics: power and identity or Vevainas Margaret Atwood and history with many other essay from this book could help this study to move up in a better way. The Greenblatt Readers which is edited by Michael Payne makes available in one volume Greenblatts most important writing on culture, Renaissance studies and Shakespeare. It also features occasional pieces on subjects as diverse as storytelling and medicals, demonstrating the range of his cultural interests. Taken together, the text collected here dispel the idea that new historicism is antithetical to literary and aesthetic value. By the help of this book the researcher would like to reveal the progressive process of new historicism from Greenblatt to Foucault. Especially part one of this book which dedicate to culture and new historicism, could be highly useful for present study. Rutledge Critical Thinkers are some books which offer introductions to major critical thinkers who have influenced literary studies and humanities. Each book will equip the reader to approach these thinkers original text by explaining their key ideas, showing the reader why they are considered to be significant; Stephen Greenblatt by Mark Robson is the one of these series which not only introduce Greenblatt as a leading figure of new historicism but also ties to explain exactly what new historicism means and the relevance of new historicism to all aspects of literary criticism this book will help the researcher to find the dominant similarity and contrast between Greenbelts new historicism and Foucaltian new historicism. Various articles which make use of the theories of Foucault are referred to, such as Saundra lee Bartkys Foucault, Femininity, and the Modernization of Patriarchal Power, in which the author exclusively examines the discursive pressures upon the female body. In The History of Sexuality, Volume I: an Introduction Foucault provides much useful information on the origin, definition, and the treatment of the sexual body. This information is also useful in discussions concerning body and resistance. Gary Gutting in The Cambridge Companion to Foucault tryes to present a systematic and comprehensive overview of Foucaults major theme and texts from his early works on madness through his history of sexuality, and relates his work to significant contemporary movements such as critical theory and feminism. This book consist of several articles by different thinkers such as Foucault mapping of history by Thomas Flynn , Power/Knowledge by Joseph Rouse and Foucault feminism and question of identity by Jana Sawicki, which help the researcher in this study. Lisa Downing is Professor of French Discourses of Sexuality and Director of the Centre for the Interdisciplinary Study of Sexuality and Gender in Europe at the University of Exeter. her book The Cambridge Introduction to Michel Foucault provides ways in to understanding Foucaults key concepts of subjectivity, discourse and power. The book also explores the critical reception of Foucaults works and acquaints the reader with the afterlives of some of his theories, particularly his influence on feminist and queer studies. Each of these books represents fully the term of new Historicism which can be good theoretical bases for present study. Methodology New historicism study is a divergent field with numerous ideas, theoreticians, articles, and branches. One prominent flow of this kind of criticism is limited to Foucaults Ideas regarding power, identity, episteme, history, sexuality, knowledge, discourse and culture. According to Gearhart in Cultural Analysis and Its Discontents The issue of culture has been at the center of critical and literary-critical studies for quite some time now, and nowhere has it been more prominent than in the influential form of literary criticism that has come to be known as the new historicism. Colebrook in his book New literary Histories: New Historicism and Contemporary Criticism asserts that new historicism, a term applied to a trend in American academic literary studies in the 1980s that emphasized the historical nature of literary texts and at the same time (in contrast with older historicisms) the textual nature of history. As part of a wider reaction against purely formal or linguistic critical approaches such as the new criticism and deconstruction, the new historicists, led by Stephen Greenblatt, drew new connections between literary and nonà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ literary texts, breaking down the familiar distinctions between a text and its historical background as conceived in established historical forms of criticism. Inspired by Michel Foucaults concepts of discourse and power, they attempted to show how literary works are implicated in the power relations of their time, not as secondary reflections of any coherent world view but as active participants in the continual remaking of meanings(Baldick 227). New historicism is less a system of interpretation than a set of shared assumptions about the relationship between literature and history, and an essayistic style that often develops general reflections from a startling historical or anthropological anecdote. The framework of this study is Foucault ideas but before that the reader should become familiar with the concept of new historicism form Greenblatt to Foucault in order to understand its process and changes; so the chapter two has been devoted to this notion. Therefore, one principle aim is to know how literature of the specific time could be read according to new historicism. Following this new historicism methodology, chapters three and four argue the dominant concepts of new historicism according to Foucaults definition of this notion and their application to selected novels. These concepts could be the episteme of the time of the author which influence her work of art, power circulation and the role of body in this circulation, challenges of protagonist for gaining knowledge and identity and so on. And chapter five could be a conclusion and sum up of this study. Limitation and delimitation of study The present study is concerned only with Margarets two selected Novels, rather than her poetries or short stories. The choice of novels was also difficult because Margaret Atwood has variety of novels which more or less deal with different subject matters, therefore it is not possible to cover all of them in this study. As a result, the researcher concentrates only two novels which are most famous ones and suit the capacity of the content of the study. These selective novels can be studied from different approaches but the researcher is not going to say what other have said, so she chooses to examine the notion of new historicism according to Foucault definition of this term because this notion has variety sub branches. According to present study the new historicist elements such as Apparatus, Discipline, Discursive Practice, Episteme, Ethics, Identity and Power will be discuss fully in the shadow of Michel Foucault definition of these terms. In this study, the researcher will use the philosophers and theories which are related to her discussion and help its progress. Tentative outline The Concepts of Identity, Power and Knowledge: A Foucaltian Study of Margaret Atwoods Handmaids Tale and Edible Woman. Abstract Acknowledgements Chapter I. Introduction General Background The Argument Literature Review Thesis Outline Approach and Methodology New Historicism Definition of Terms Chapter 2. New Historicism from Foucault to Greenblatt Chapter 3. Foucaltian study of Handmaids Tale Chapter 4. Foucaltian study of Edible Woman Chapter 5. Conclusion Summing up Findings and implications Suggestion for farther reading Bibliography Definition of the Key Terms The below key terms are among many which may use in the present study: Andocentric: centered on the male. The term has been coined by feminist theorist wishing to describe a habit of mind and set of attitudes which are based upon a male perspective and which ignore female experience and interest (Hawthorn 10). Apparatus: Foucault generally uses this term to indicate the various institutional, physical and administrative mechanism and knowledge structure, which enhance and maintain the exercise of power within the social body (Hawthorn 12). Bio-power: Numerous and diverse techniques for achieving the subjugation of bodies and the control of populations (History of Sexuality, Foucault 77). Confession: an important component of bio-power. People are taught that their liberation requires them to tell the truth, to confess it to someone who is more powerful and this truth telling will somehow set them free (Dreyfus and Rabinow p. 141, History of Sexuality, 58-65). Discipline: The methods, which make possible the meticulous control of the operation of the body, which assure the constant subjection of its forces and impose upon it a relation of docility-utility (Discipline and Punishment, Foucault 137). Episteme: a term coin by Foucault and widely used by Derrida, to indicate the totality of relations and laws of transformations uniting all discursive practice at any moment of time. Episteme established rules by the dominant power in a social body that effect individual and their knowledge of true or false (Mills 28). Historicism: a means of working with the problem that all history is history from the perspective of the historian. Historicism is a means of validating for itself the perpetual critical relation at play between history and human sciences (The Order of Things, Foucault 372).all knowledge is rooted in the life, a society and a language that have a history; and it is in that very history that knowledge finds the element enabling with other form of life (The Order of Things, Foucault 372-3) Language or discursive practice: this term refer to historically and culturally specific set of rules for organizing and producing different form of knowledge. It is a matter of rules, which, a bit kind the grammar of language, allow certain statement to be made (Mills 53). Power: power is not a thing but relation, it is not simply repressive but productive, and also it is not simply a property of the state, but exercise throughout the social body (Mills 34). Subject: Foucault uses the term subject in place of the individual, which is structuralisms preferred term for the self, in two ways: He uses the subject as both the grammatical subject, and subject as a verb (Mills 1617).