Manifestation of Anorexia Nervosa in East-Asian Culture

Manifestation of Anorexia Nervosa in East-Asian Culture Tharushi Kaluarachchi Mental illnesses do not exist independent of their social and historical context. Although it is generally accepted that sociocultural factors are key in the development of Anorexia Nervosa (AN), presently, it is bound by Western notions of disease as its criterion is focused on the obsession with thinness for women with the disorder. However with its evolution being mirrored in East-Asia, it has been hypothesised that an increased risk for eating disorders in those countries arises from a greater exposure to Western popular culture, diets and values. However this in itself does not explain the spread of the disorder as a more complex historical view is needed to explain its conception in East-Asia. Being complex in aetiology, there is much debate centred on the motivation behind food refusal in being the most challenging factor to interpret (Keel Klump, 2003). In Western countries, the promotion of thinness as the ideal female form today has forged a template for the diagnosis of AN as eating disorders have become more common among younger females with a period of icons of the American beauty becoming thinner during the late twentieth Century (Keel Klump, 2003). As a result of this campaign, Lee (1995) claims that modern biomedical views of AN have attributed the avoidance of food purely to a fear of fatness while the sufferer becomes emaciated. The essential criteria for Anorexia Nervosa includes an intense fear of weight gain even with a significantly low weight (The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (5th ed.; DSM–5; American Psychiatric Association, 2013). Hence it is insisted that the resolution of this fat phobia needs to presuppose recovery. However this explanation is inadequate as East-Asian cultures have a historically unique evolution essentially apart from modern Western culture (Keel and Klump, 2003). Hence in East-Asian countries AN was previously noted to be unknown with the fear of fatness noted to be frequently absent among these rare anorexics. A culturally sensitive study of AN in Hong Kong revealed that although they bore a convincing resemblance to Western Anorectics in terms of physicality, a large portion, 59%, did not exhibit any fat phobia, instead rationalising their food refusal through bloating and oesophageal blockages (Lee, Ho Hsu, 1993) . Hence these East-Asian Anorexics resulted to organic causes for self-starvation, endorsing the body as a social response to illness (Watters, 2010). Thus, an individual’s distress is culturally defined, as these bodily sensations indicate psychological distress carrying as much meaning and impact as a Western complaint of anxiety or depression (Lee, 1995) . Regarding a case study by Lee (1995), a thirty-one year old patient from Hong Kong began complaining of abdominal discomfort and reduced her food intake due to her boyfriend deserting her. Despite seeing doctors, her weight continued to decrease with her attributing it to abdominal problems, denying any fear of fatness or intentionally restricting diet. Clearly this patient did not fit the diagnostic criteria for AN according to the DSM due to the discrepancy between the biomedical explanation of fat phobia and the patient’s personal explanations (Watters, 2010). Aetiological explanations that were sought through Chinese herbalists attributed the self-starvation to imbalances with bodily organs being devoid of normal hunger sensations, yet was found to be ineffective in treatment. As a result, what was needed was a more local understanding of the personal and cultural forces at play instead of relying on a global template driven by the use of Western diagnostic categories as n either Western nor Eastern healing modalities were having an impact. It is imperative to document that cultural forces are often mediated throughout history to mould the contextual factors which result in the mental illnesses of that time. Hence in pursuing an aetiological explanation for atypical Anorexics, hysteria is of particular interest as its symptoms tend to be shaped by the surrounding culture which is constantly changing in accordance with what is deemed to be female by society. (Shorter, 1986:1). Although the patient’s condition cannot be explained through modern conceptualisations of AN, the symptoms exhibited can be traced back to nineteenth century hysteria. This was an extremely popular form of illness manifesting in a variety of symptoms such as convulsive fits, paralysis and muscle contractions, which the patient believed was physical in origin and perceived as being beyond the control of their conscious mind (Shorter, 1986). Lasà ¨gue (1873 as cited in Malson, 1998) presented hysterical anorexia as a form of hysteria caused by the ‘mental perverseness’ of the patient regarded as an illness of female nervousness. Lasà ¨gue (1873 as cited in Malson, 1998) constructs the typical patient to be a young woman who is mentally weak, aged fifteen to twenty years suffering from a personal trauma who is unable to voluntarily resist ascending to the illness. Hence in failing to differentiate between a typical patient and other young girls, he pathologized all young girls, depicting them as being incapable of controlling their symptoms. Hence his report inadvertently enabled a dialogue between the medical society and Victorian middle class females (Brumberg, 1985). Sir William Gull (1873) who shortly succeeded Lasà ¨gue drew the conclusion subsequent to observing similarities across a number of cases, due to the consistent absence of gastric dysfunction which he used as evidence to attribute the loss of appetite to a morbid mental state. Hence Gull defined the loss of appetite as Anorexia Nervosa with the motive for self-starvation being as a result of mental wilfulness differentiated form hysteria which had an organic cause (Gull, 1873). In constructing a weak minded, young nervous girl, Gull (1873) and Lasà ¨gue (1873) presented AN to be viewed as a characteristic or archetype of all young women (Malson, 1998). The ensuing public debate established AN as a distinct disease entity reifying it as a common female disorder which was typified by an aversion to eating food with the patient reporting abdominal pains (Mackenzie, 1888 as cited in Malson, 1998). Yet, as found with the case of atypical East-Asian anorexics, it was repeatedly asserted that careful examinations found no sign of any organic causes that could be attributed to the disorder (Marshall, 1895 as cited in Malson, 1998). Hence a phobia of gaining weight is not the reason for extreme self-starvation, as gastric discomfort was legitimized by physicians, instead attributing anorectic patients’ starvation as the wish not to eat or loss of appetite with the behaviour being as destructive as patients today with anorexia nervosa (Shorter, 1985 as cited in Lee, 1995). Hence non-fat phobia anorexia displays no particular cultural features as it was found in early conceptions of hysteria and atypical anorexics in East-Asia. Oppenheim (1991 as cited in Watters, 2010) documents the influence of hysteria in Victorian culture in the early twentieth century that led to the rise of the disorder as it was mentioned in not only medical literature but also in popular magazines and newspapers that were easily accessible to lay people. Hysteria was encountered everywhere in the public, seen in an ad in Modern Mechanix – Physical Culture that promoted devices such as body braces to remedy â€Å"female weakness, backache, stomach trouble†¦the result of incorrect posture, misplaced organs† (Stop Suffering, 1934). Further an ad in Photoplay generalised woman as having â€Å"no control of herself† with â€Å"constant headache, backache and dizzy spells† prescribing tablets that would give women back their youth, beauty and health (These Hysterical Woman, 1932). Hence this reification of disease by medical professionals and consequently the media can have an unconscious yet powerful effe ct on people as the psychosomatic symptoms of anorexia nervosa were shaped by their beliefs of what constitutes a disease (Shorter, 1986 as cited in Watters, 2010). Shorter (1986) claims that as these expectations change, it targets a specific population and provides patients with a model of how to behave and which symptoms to present. Hence as seen with hysteria, this rapid increase in incidence of a pattern of symptoms coming into vogue through a public interest in medical discourse presents with a problem of incidences of diseases rising (Shorter, 1986). As a result the illness manifested in the population at large and the incidence of the disease drastically rose as self-starvation which was once a rare symptom became common. Shorter (1994:268 as cited in Malt, 1996) postulated that the medical society stimulated the eating disorder behaviour as it influences patients’ ways of communicating their distress to be more recognized and accepted as it offers a person who can no longer cope with their situation to be free of blame through a non-stigmatic label corresponding to medical diagnostics. Hence this rise in hysteria symptoms in early nineteenth century can be matched with atypical anorexics in East-Asian countries in the late twentieth century, with the speculation that the lack of public awareness in East-Asia correlated with the rarity of the disorder, as distressed individuals were less likely to select AN as the illness of choice (Watters, 2010). In the late 1990’s the cultural and individual differences in diagnosis became blurred as the influence of the Western diagnostic manual grew and wouldn’t be confirmed as AN unless the patient fulfilled the DSM criteria which presents a large problem in treating them (Watters, 2010). Although increasing industrialisation and fraying of traditional forms of family occurred in the 1990’s, this Westernisation is inadequate in describing the rise in the incidence of eating disorders in Asian countries (Pike Borovy, 2004). This clash between traditional and modernism formed a belief system suspended between East-Asian and Western conceptions at the point where modern attitudes have fragmented families yet not enough to overturn the traditional familism (Chan Lee, 1995). As a result, Cummins, Simmons and Zane (2005) criticise DSM as a diagnostic tool as it requires endorsing specific symptoms, yet it presents as less relevant to East-Asian populations as they may exhibit a different pattern of symptom presentation. However Rogler (1992 as cited in Aderibigbe and Pandurangi, 1995) claim that when translating international instruments such as the DSM, they should be culturally sensitive to ensure an accurate assessment of symptoms as they should be described freely without any Westernised prejudice. Further, Aderibigbe and Pandurangi (1995) call for more flexibly structured diagnostic systems where the diagnostic inclusion and exclusion criteria is applied in the context of the local culture as diagnosis would be improved if there are alternate classifications of disorders that were more suitable to East-Asian countries. Western conceptualisations often neglect the conception of AN in contemporary East-Asia is affected by the dominant cultural expectations for young woman as traditional notions of love, marriage and adulthood create a context which offers financial stability whilst simultaneously limiting their social lives (Pike Borovy, 2004). As a result of this culture, Pike and Borovy (2004) suggest that eating disorders may reflect the individual’s distress in negotiating these constraints which still values women in their traditional roles of domesticity. This is contrasted with Western cultural valuation of women where the tension arises from a result of striving for achievement and autonomy in being required to negotiate the demands of competitive worlds with a devaluation of traditional dependency work (Pike Borovy, 2004). Western societal standards of beauty often overvalue size and weight, expressed through a general distorted body image and fat phobia of the population. Although this pursuit of thinness has been absorbed by East-Asian culture, it is not the central causing factor of East-Asian AN. Instead there is a need to recognise that this fear manifests as a loss of control, which is the more critical factor in developing AN (Lee, 2001 as cited in Pike Borovy, 2004). This is where the culture acts as a guide for the individual by providing a range of symptoms to express distress as it provides a range of physical symptoms for the unconscious mind to physically express the psychological conflict (Shorter, 1986:1). Hence it is important that the aetiological model of AN integrates the local East-Asian culture and the universal need to express distress and global Westernisation. The rise in incidence of fat phobia anorexics can be ascribed to the popularisation of the DSM essential criteria of a fear of fatness in Hong Kong through the media. Instances such as the death of a young anorexic girl, Charlene Hsu Chi-Ying sparked the attention of the media with newspaper headlines from local Chinese-language daily papers such as â€Å"Schoolgirl Falls Dead on Street: Thinner than a yellow Flower† (Watters, 2010). With little local professional knowledge, Western experts were quoted, ascribing her demise to weight loss and dieting (Watters, 2010). Hence this media attention not only generated public interest resulting in the rise of this disorder, but especially a rise in the Westernised form of AN in a different subpopulation, modelling DSM symptoms. A newspaper article in The Nation claimed that eating disorders were estimated to afflict â€Å"one in 100 young Japanese women† (Effron, 1997:14) similar to the incidence rate in the United States. The extent of Western acculturation in Asian countries can be seen as Effron claims that â€Å"a weight-loss craze has swept the developed countries of Asia, sending women†¦scurrying to exercise studios and slimming salons† (Effron, 1997:14 as appearance and figures became very important to young people. Hence raising awareness of AN in Asian culture inadvertently became a double-edged sword as it could draw a susceptible reader in, with Shaw (2006) finding that adolescents tend to respond more to fashion images. Further, vulnerable adolescents who were dissatisfied with their body and perceived the pressure to fit in were adversely affected by exposure to images of thin models (Stice, Spangler and Agras, 2001). Therefore, there is a need to change the perception of AN portrayed in the media as it has become a culturally manipulated syndrome in East-Asian societies, leading to mimic anorexics as they regard the process of self-starvation with veneration rather than pain (Brumberg, 1985). Hence this proliferation of the promotion of starvation as glamorizing the disease for girls who seek it as an outlet of distress can encourage imitation. As a result, Psychiatry today in East-Asian cultures are treating the subpopulation affected by Western manifestations of AN which is inadequate a s it dismisses the genuine atypical anorexics. In summation, it is important to consider AN as cultural artefact which has been refined over time, as well as integrating a biomedical and personal subjective models. Hence there is no single adequate suggestion that media and advertising or society alone have increased the incidence of AN. It is rather that culture is a layered process of history and social expectations which put modern adolescents at a greater risk for developing the disease such that a deeper historical view, as pursued here, can be sought to explain how expectations of AN have changed. However, the mediation of factors such as media, which help form a dialogue between the disease and the public need to be controlled and take into account the local culture in order to aid in treating and restricting the rise of the incidence of AN in East-Asian countries.

Patient Report Essay -- Medical Report

A treadmill stress test for atypical chest pain demonstrated inferior wall ischemia. Cardiac catheter demonstrated patent graphs and left ventricular ejection fraction of 68%. Treadmill stress test felt to be false positive; however, patient did have 5 beats of ventricular tachycardia. Holter demonstrated 3 beats of multifocal ventricular tachycardia. The patient was placed on Cardizem and atypical chest pain resolved. The patient complained of periods of "difficulty breathing", especially when he awakened at night to urinate. Cardizem was increased and pulmonary function tests were normal with no evidence of respiratory failure. The patient also reported flu 3 weeks prior to ___ [DATE]. Patient also seen about 2 weeks ago by ____ [NAME] and is on Coumadin for episode of atrial fibrillation. Holter to determine if Coumadin could be stopped. The patient came to clinic on day of admission to be seen, noting severe shortness of breath, now almost constant as if he could not ge t enough air. The patient had to deep breathe. The patient also complains of nausea, poor sleep, cou...

Deregulation In The Electric Industry :: essays research papers fc

Electricity is the principal force that powers modern society. It lights buildings and streets, runs computers and telephones, drives trains and subways, and operates all variety of motors and machines. Yet most people, despite their great dependence on electrical power, hardly give it a thought. They flip a switch, turn a key, or pick up a phone and expect the power to be there without fail. The almost-century old structure of the American electric utility industry is in need of change. Almost all interested parties accept the fact that technological change and altered views of the nature of government intervention have made the idea of increased competition attractive (Johnson 35). But just how should the competitive market be structured? Some participants want complete deregulation so they can derive the fullest benefits of competition quickly. Others argue that the unfettered free market, however, will cause hardship and inequities (36). Stability in electrical power has traditionally depended on a system highly regulated by federal and state government. In recent years, however, many leaders in government and industry alike have pushed for deregulating the system to make it more responsive to changes in business and technology and more open to the forces of free-market competition (Craven C5). Deregulation has been successful in reducing costs and promoting innovation in airlines, natural gas, telecommunications and other industries. The electric industry is next. Initial steps to deregulate electrical power are now being taken in the United States and Canada. Today the subject is being actively debated in board-rooms and state-houses across the Continent. Everyone is wondering what deregulation will do to the industry. People do not know how it will affect businesses and consumers, and they are debating whether to move fast or slow with deregulation. The "open access" rule of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission went into effect on July 9, 1996. Known as Order 888, it applies only to wholesale transactions. It requires public utilities that own, operate, or control transmission lines to charge other firms the same transmission rates they charge themselves, under comparable terms and conditions of service (Encarta "Deregulation"). This will open control of the market, and it will prevent utilities from denying transmission grid access through prohibitively high rates. Public utilities, municipal utilities, and rural cooperatives are the only customers that are able to purchase wholesale power for resale. Office buildings provide the power to their end users, but the tenants, building

Common Vulnerabilities Facing IT Managers Essay examples -- Informatio

Vulnerabilities are like a thorn in the side of every single organization doing business today. In the IT world vulnerabilities are bugs or flaws, a weakness, or an exposure of an application, system, device, or service which could lead to a failure of confidentiality, integrity, or availability (Liu & Zhang, 2011). They are to companies today what the black plague was to Europe in the 1300’s. It doesn’t even matter if the organization is connected to the internet or not it’s still vulnerable to some type of attack. Regardless of what a company actually produces and what its mission statement states their number one internal concern is â€Å"vulnerability†. How do IT Departments and IT Managers combat these threats? Every company has some type of Cyber Security team or department. Cyber security is defined by the United States Computer Emergency Readiness Team as protecting that information by preventing, detecting, and responding to attacks (McDo well & Householder, 2009). Every year companies spend billions upon billions of dollars in cyber security assessing and combating possible vulnerabilities of their organization's hardware and software systems, transmission media, local area networks, wide area networks, enterprise networks, Intranets, and Internet. This paper will evaluate 3 company’s networks and assess their vulnerabilities. Company A Weebles, Inc has several hundred employees in their main office and two hundred at the shipping plant just a few miles away. The LAN or Local Area Network uses 100 gb/1000gb connectivity speeds over Ethernet circuits. Local Area Networks cover small geographical locations and enable individual computers to communicate with each other to share information (Pang, 2011). The Wid... ... external IP address. Works Cited Liu, Q., & Zhang, Y. (2011, March). VRSS: A new system for rating and scoring vulnerabilities. Computer Communications, 34(3), 264-273. Retrieved June 08, 2011, from Computers & Applied Sciences Complete. McDowell, M., & Householder, A. (2009, May 6). Cyber Security Tip ST04-001. In US-CERT. Retrieved June 08, 2011, from CSEC610 9041 Webliography. Valacich, J, & Schneider, C. (2012). Information Systems Today: Managing in the Digital World 5th Edition. (pp. 12-37). Pearson. ISBN-13: 978-0-13-706699-5. UMUC. (2011). Custom Textbook for CSEC 610 (pp. 1-13). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. ISBN 978-0-470-92331-3. Pang, L. (2011). The vulnerability of information systems in CSEC610. Course module 2 posted in University of Maryland University College CSEC 610 9041 online classroom, archived at: http://webtycho.umuc.edu

Aspects of a Tragic Hero

Aspects of a Tragic Hero To be a tragic hero, the character must show a great strength of heroism, including a vulnerability, that could lead to his or her demise. Sophocles, the great ancient playwright of the Greek Empire was as popular then as he is today. Antigone, one of his many plays, is still appreciated in modern day literature. Sophocles’ main characters Antigone and Creon are both similar and diverse in which they could qualify as tragic heroes. Antigone and Creon have very many similar traits that could qualify them both as tragic heroes. Creon demonstrates excessive pride by declaring that â€Å"He would never have any dealings with an enemy of the people† (1. 26-27 Sophocles). Creon only wanted Antigone to be an enemy of the people to allow his pride to stand strong. Even though Creon had sent down the orders to lay Antigione‘s brother, Polyneices, â€Å"out for the birds†, Antigone is determined to go against Creon’s demands for what she feels is right, therefore becoming a battle of wills. In contrasting Antigone and Creon, Antigone’s actions could be viewed as hubris, but she was only doing what was right for the sake of someone else, and probably would have done it for anybody. Where as Creon uses every moment to prove his power, instead of even considering what is right. This is proven true, even to the end when Creon wants to kill Antigone for her betrayal to him and his pride, while Antigone accepts it and decides to die with dignity. Unlike a samurai in Japan dying with dignity would not be submitting to their enemy, it would have been to take it into your own hands before the enemy had the pleasure (Strayer394). Antigone and Creon could qualify as tragic heroes because they were both equally Traylor2 engrossed in preserving their own pride. In the play, the gods look down upon Creon in his actions he took toward the burials of Etocles and Polyneices. This was enough for the gods to create a dust storm, so the reader thinks, until the dust settles. They soon realize it was Antigone creating it to cover up her underhanded plans to give her brother a proper burial. As you can see, both Antigone and Creon will go to tragic lengths to fulfill their desires. Traylor3 Works Cited Sophocles. â€Å"Antigone. † Holt McDougal Literature. Texas: Holt McDougal. 1068-1106. Print. Strayer, Robert W. Ways of the World: a Brief Global History. Boston: Bedford/St Martin's, 2009. Print.

Inca Empire Significance

What made the Incan Empire so historically significant? Rachael Cardenas Block 6B From 1438 to 1535, the Incan Empire made a historical impact. The Incan Empire was located in South America on the western coast in the present countries of Peru. (Tagle. ) Three-fourths of the Empire was located within present day Peru. Since the rule of the Empire did descend through familial ties, the ruling emperor was chosen on account by his family dynasty. (Hutagalung. ) The empire of the Incas merits importance and note due to its contributing factors of roads, agriculture, and medicine.The Incas’ construction of roads was the most impressive contribution of public works than any other ancient culture. The roads in total were estimated to be 14,000 miles of paved roads and bridges. What made the building of the roads so remarkable was the diversity of the land such as swamps, mountains, valleys, snow, and deserts. Since the area surrounding the roads by the coast was dusty, the Incas buil t them on causeways to keep them free from sand being blown or pegging out. (Baudin. ) Likewise, the roads near the swamps were built on stone viaducts.In high regions where there was high rain or snowfall, the Incas paved the roads with cobblestones or flagstones. Also, the steep slopes were stabilized by means of steps, which cut into living rock. The accomplishment of these different types of roads was significant to history because it demonstrates that the Incas were able to maintain proper road structure throughout the Empire despite the obstacles each region’s natural environment presented. (Hutagalung. ) There were two main roads which connected the north and south territories along the coast and along the Andes Mountains.These two main roads were linked to a shorter network of roads within each of the two territories. However, later there was another major creation of roads that was called the Andean Royal road; this road was over 3,500 miles long, which is longer tha n the longest Roman road. This road extended from Quito, Ecuador in the north, passed through Cajamarca and Cusco, and ended close to Tucuman, Argentina. (Baudin. ) Some of the smaller road networks as well as the Andean Royal road were used so often that they became permanently part of the landscape.As a result, these roads remain critical, modern-day arteries of transportation. A noteworthy fact about the Incan roads was that the roads never experience the roll of a wheel or the stomp of a horses’ foot because the Incas did not know the existence of the wheel and there were no horse natural to the area. (Martin. ) For the transportation of goods from one part of the empire to another, the Incas used llamas. The llamas also assisted Incan travelers in their travels between the north and the south territories.The roads of the Incan empire were a key factor in communication between territories. Throughout the Empire, messengers, or chasquis, carried information using these ess ential road networks. These messengers were chosen from the fittest and strongest men of young males. (Kruschandl. ) They lived in cabins, or tambos, in groups of four to six. If one was tired and needed to rest, another one would meet him and try to memorize the message; in this way the tired one could rest in the cabin, or tanpu, while the other continued the messages’ delivery to its final destination. (Baudin. Since these messengers lived on the roads, the tanpu always had food and clothing available for the messengers. A chasquis would travel more than 300 miles every day. Communication of important messages and transportation of essential goods flowed easily due to the combination of the well-constructed roads and logically developed messenger system. (Hutagalung. ) Also, because the military commanders of the Empire could easily move troops, they could quickly bring control where there was trouble. Priests, herders, or leisurely travelers are other examples who used th e Incan roads.In brief, the roads of the Incan Empire were not only a great benefit to its people who made use of it every day, but also to the Incan ruling class who demonstrated the power of the Incan state. The agriculture of the Incan Empire included every type of environment imaginable. The Incas developed an agricultural system so that plants could grow in such assorted surroundings. They were able to grow enough food to feed 15 million people with ancient technology and as well to have a 3 to 7 year surplus. In this way, the Incas grew a diverse set of plants compared to current systems of agriculture. Martin. ) The Incan farmers were great farmers; farming a dozen root crops, such as three grains, three legumes, and more than a dozen fruits. The three staple crops were potatoes, corn, and quinoa. In this case, the seeds of quinoa were used to produce flour, soups, and cereal. Similarly, corn was special to the Incas and used in religious ceremonies. In fact, they also used t he corn to make a drink called chicha. (Baudin. ) More importantly, the Incas were the first civilization to harvest and plant potatoes. The Incas produced over 200 hundred potatoes; a remarkable harvest for a type of plant.This allowed the Incas more choices of what to plant; so the Incan people can feed their families which the wealth of the Empire kept flowing. In addition, the Incas were able to grow tomatoes, avocados, beans, peppers, squash, and coco leaves to make chocolate. These plants, as well as others, were grown and sold in markets in the Andes Mountains by Indian, rural peasants. Correspondingly, several of these crops were exported to European countries: some of the crops were potatoes, peppers, lima beans, and tomatoes. (Martin. However, since a majority of the Incan crops were not exported, many of these crops were unknown outside of the Andes Mountains. (Baudin. ) The planting and harvesting of all of the crops supported the Incan Empire through an established, thr iving distribution system. The Incas are responsible for two main inventions. The Incas invented the first freeze-dry method of storage. The Incas first left their food out in the cold to freeze. Second, they stamped on the frozen food to squeeze out the water. Lastly, they left their stamped on food in the sun to dry.This freezing method worked; if they wanted to use dehydrated foods, they just added water to the foods. This type of freezing method assisted the Incas greatly because they were able to save their food without risk of it going bad. (Martin. ) Terrace gardening was another development that the Incas invented. The Incas carved steps of flat land up on the side of the mountain to create flat land for farming use. This allowed the terraces to keep rainwater from running off and also reduced erosion. As a result of this success, the government built aqueducts to carry water to farmlands for irrigation purposes. Baudin. ) These agricultural inventions and successes increase d productivity and resulted in the farming of the Incas to expand to the farming areas. Above all, the agriculture of the Incas allowed the economy to keep flowing with trade and commerce. In terms of medicine, the Incas made many discoveries. Felipe Guaman Poma, or known best as Huaman Poma, was a man born in 1550 in Peru. (Tagle. ) He wrote the complete historical manuscript of information of the medicine practice in the Incan civilization. Today scholars now know that the Incan medicine was a complex ix of different medical treatments and specialties. The Incas considered that the cause of all the sicknesses were by the act of supernatural forces. They also believed that sins against the gods, lies, as well as breaking Inca laws were enough reasons to become ill. The cures for the sicknesses were combinations of minerals and herbs, followed by magic spells and prayers. The Incan medicine was known to treat sicknesses in the immune system effectively. (Tagle. ) The Incan people ha d treatments which allowed the increase of natural production of white cells; including the end of the progress of some diseases.The Incas were able to cure their people with this knowledge that they had of medicine. (Kruschandl. ) The Incas had three types of doctors who worked in partnership. The first type of doctors was known as Watukk. The job of Watukk was to find out the cause of the sickness; he did this by researching the daily life of the patient. He explored the emotional, physical, and pathological health of the patient. The Watukk was responsible for pinpointing the correct diagnosis of the patient’s illness. The second type of doctor was known as the Hanpeq, who would then apply his medical knowledge about the diagnosed disease.He would combine and connect the properties of herbs and minerals treat the patient. He also paid special attention to ensure that the post-treatment was accurate and enabled the patient to become healed. Today, the Hanpeq is what we call a Shaman: a religious, mystical, and natural medicine doctor. The last type of doctor was known as the Paqo. He was known to treat the soul of the patient. The Incan doctors believed that the soul lived in the heart of the patient. His major obligation was to harmonize the spiritual health with the physical health.In addition because a patient’s body could have varied reactions to a treatment, the Paqo monitored the patient’s treatment. Generally speaking, the Paqo was responsible for minimizing any possibility of a negative reaction to the patient. (Kruschandl. ) The Incan Empire also had other individuals and doctors who would help patients through the use of supernatural means. Incan medicine had so many complexities: it classified and treated sadness, anxiety, depression, anger, regret, just to name a few. Some Incan medicine addressed psychological illnesses such as insanity, madness, dementia, or grief.Incans also performed skull surgeries. The patient had a rem arkable 90% chance for survival, which is extraordinary due to the materials and knowledge of the Incan doctors. When in the surgeries; the Incan doctors performed maneuvers in the wounds that were so precise that hardly any cases of infection were documented. Scholars today have few manuscripts that explain how the Incan doctors worked; however, most of the precious Incan knowledge has been destroyed. (Tagle. ) The text The History of the Incas portrays how a doctor’s knowledge was passed from father to son.If the son was skilled enough, the family would send him to gain education in an Incan school of medicine in the city of Cusco. As a student could go to medical school in present day today, the scholar back then would learn advanced techniques and gather the knowledge of Incan medicine taught by the Amautas. The Amautas were people who dedicated their entire lives in search for answers so that they could pass down knowledge and wisdom to the next generations. (Tagle. ) Th erefore, the Incan Empire was advanced in medicine due to their medical discoveries and accomplishments.Aiding in the Incan medical advancements, a medical student would go to an Incan medical school for three to five years, depending on the skill level of the student. The education was rigorous, as the scholar had to learn and use herbs and mineral properties. The scholars would then learn the correct quantities of cures needed for cures. (Kruschandl. ) The professors taught the students how to discover the sicknesses and how to cure them. When the student finished medical school, he had to spend various years in practice before he was considered ready to be a doctor.Because of the rigorous process an Incan doctor had to endure, Incan medicine made great advancements during its time. (Tagle. ) All in all, the Incans were able to achieve a variety of inventions in the fields of road construction, agriculture, and medicine. The Incan Empire’s had many accomplishments and disco veries helped to create a noteworthy empire, despite not having as many resources as the Roman Empire. MLA Works Citied Section Baudin, Louis. â€Å"Incan Roads. † World History: Ancient and Medieval Eras. 12 April 2012: n. page. Print. .Hutagalung, Michael. â€Å"Inca Roads and Chasquis. † discover Peru: Peru Cultural Society. July 2005: n. page. Print. . Kruschandl, Nelson. â€Å"Inca Medicine. † THE INCAS. 2007: n. page. Web. 18 Apr. 2012. . Martin, Phillip. â€Å"The Inca Empire-Terrace Farming. † Incredible Incas. 2008: n. page. Web. 18 Apr. 2012. . Tagle, Alex. â€Å"Inca Medicine. † Peru Travel Confidential. 2009: n. page. Print. .

Literary Analysis Miss Brill

In â€Å"Miss Brill† the author Katherine Mansfield creates the metaphor of the world being a stage and the character of Miss Brill being an actress. This illusion can determine her to be a round character because she is afraid of being the person that she isn’t. Miss Brill hides her real emotions by hiding behind a teacher role instead of being true to herself. The character Miss Brill arrives at a theme of isolationism and abandonment; by acting Miss Brill can be recognized as a round character by having a hidden emotion by acting a certain manner.To be able to understand why Ms. Brill uses loneliness as a protective wall around her actual personality is because she is afraid of rejection and the reality of denial. â€Å"They were all on the stage. They weren’t only the audience, not only looking on; they were acting. – How strange she’d never thought of it like that before! And yet it explained why she made such a point of starting from home at just the same time each week – so as not to be late for the performance. † (Manfield Page 185).This demonstrates the value of Miss Brill having to put on a â€Å"performance†, she felt as if she has to act to allow people to accept her as an individual. Miss Brill’s character through-out the story shows a side of loneliness, she does not accept herself for who she is, but for who she isn’t. The emotions she feels are not real and dear to her, but performs them as if they are. The orchestra and the music they play in the story are insightful of the way she feels at the park. â€Å"The band sounded louder and gayer. That was because the season had begun.†(Mansfield, 185) Because of the season Miss Brill was in she feels enlightened by the music she was hearing suggesting the way she felt at that time. The fur at the beginning of the story is an article of clothing near and dear to her heart that she carries around with her at the park but is ra ther ironic because she describes it as a â€Å"little rogue†; rogue meaning that she seeks out things, which she isn’t. Miss Brill spends most of her time in her house serving as her protective barrier from the outside world. She envisions at the park people standing up in unison and dancing and she begins to cry at the thought of it.Consequently, she could be feeling a sense of rejection at that time because she knows that it would be unlikely for people to just casually stand up and dance with her. The type of people she perceives at the park are young and not ones to agree Misses Brills personality, which dampens the temper of her. Therefore she converts to her remoteness to hide herself†¦ â€Å"Suddenly he knew he was having the read to him by an actress! ‘An actress! ’ – ‘An actress – are ye? ’ – ‘Yes I have been an actress for a long time’. †(Mansfield Page 185) From this, it could mean she has been hiding a type of personality from people.Evaluating this inference about Miss Brill can be recognized as a type of character that is having difficult time finding herself by having a diverse personality. In order to feel like she is wanted she steps out of her comfort zone by strolling in the park, she does this to include herself with other people by listening in on other conversations many young people have. Miss Brill assumes that all the older people at the park were just strange and quiet, â€Å"looked as though they’d just come from dark little rooms or even – even cupboards. †(Mansfield, 184).We can assume that she is relating the people to her, while she imagines the young characters to in a scene of a play. When she begins to observe the young couple she relates them to a story of a hero and a mistress. In actuality the young couples speak about Miss Brill as an unwanted person but in Miss Brill’s mind she still is imagining the un-real performance that she wants to believe. â€Å"Why does she come here at all-who wants her? Why doesn’t she keep her silly mug at home? † the boy says, â€Å" It’s her fu-fur which is so funny,† (Mansfield, 186) snickered the girl.Miss Brill doesn’t realize the reality of what they say, but she turns the situation into a main act of a play. However, Miss Brill does not show her emotions in her dialog, we can assume that she is lonesome with herself. The way she plays with the fur as if it were part of her shows the reader that she has no other spouse to show her true emotions for, except for the piece of garment. Miss Brill conceives many of her thoughts as a story so she can someway relate to her, â€Å"In reality, Miss Brill is a part of nothing. She sits alone on a bench with her ratty old fur and watches the world pass before her.†Ã¢â‚¬Å"Rather than see herself as one of them, she creates a fantasy world to escape facing the truth. Even in this seemingly perfect production, within Miss Brills mind, Mansfield shows us that there is the possibility of evil. † (Miss Brill, Character Analysis). When the young couple is sitting at the bench snickering at little Miss Brill, she has no actuality of what they said, but when she comes to comprehend she walks home sadly, when she gets home she sits in her room, silently and pulls out the fur, she inspects it but it seems to of lost its color and grown faint.Readers can infer that it symbolizes the lonesomeness of Miss Brill and how she is slowly degrading. The fur then is to be put away, when she hears a cry of the fur. The reality behind the story hurts Miss Brill to a point where she has to a find a way to cope with her harms with the people around her; she does this by imagining things that are unreal. â€Å"The theme of estrangement has run its course. Miss Brill has made an ever so passionate attempt to express love, to be a part of the whole of society that means so much to her. Her imagination, though sensitive, has failed from lack of experience.She is left, as she began, in her pathetic solitude. †(Hull, Web. ). In conclusion to this story, the Author Katherine Mansfield accomplishes the theme of loneliness, the scared thought many people have of rejection, and the conception of many people may have and can relate to. The coping mechanism people use to escape the reality of many situations can hurt them if they don’t come to sense with it. The theme of isolation, and the round character the author Katherine Mansfield shows is brought upon by Miss Brill; The thought of getting rejected by society in the story â€Å"Miss Brill†.