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Wagner College Forum for
Undergraduate Research
Spring 2010
Volume VIII, Number 2
Wagner College Press
Staten Island, New York City
��EDITOR’S INTRODUCTION
The Wagner Forum for Undergraduate Research is an interdisciplinary journal which
provides an arena where students can publish their research. Papers are reviewed with
respect to their intellectual merit and scope of contribution to a given field. To enhance
readability the journal is typically subdivided into three sections entitled The Natural
Sciences, The Social Sciences and Critical Essays. The first two of these sections are
limited to papers and abstracts dealing with scientific investigations (experimental,
theoretical and empirical). The third section is reserved for speculative papers based on
the scholarly review and critical examination of previous works.
This issue contains several noteworthy papers which encompass a variety of topics. The
interested reader will explore the effects of sleep deprivation on undergraduate nursing
majors and the life story of Robert Johnson whose blues music has impacted many other
famous guitar artists but who is notorious for allegedly selling his soul to the devil at a
Mississippi crossroads. Also, be sure not to miss a very insightful examination of
Donoghue's Kissing the Witch.
Read on and enjoy!
Gregory J. Falabella, Ph.D.
Editor-in-Chief
Editorial Board
Dr. Miles Groth, Psychology
Dr. Jean Halley, Sociology
Prof. Andy Needle, Art
Dr. Erica Johnson1, English
1
Dr. Donald E. Stearns, Biological Sciences
Prof. Patricia Tooker, Nursing
Dr. Lori Weintrob, History
Sabbatical replacement for Dr. Peter Sharpe
��Section I: The Natural Sciences
2
The Study of Chromosomal Aberrations in Vicia faba
as a Result of Exposure to UVA and UVB Radiation
Ryan Patricia Rogers
Section II: The Social Sciences
34
The Effects of Sleep Deprivation on the Academic
Performance of Baccalaureate Nursing Students.
Raychel M. Ryan
Section III: Critical Essays
44
50
58
64
70
76
85
95
106
Moving Beyond a Lesbian Feminism:
The Role of Choice in Emma Donoghue’s Kissing the Witch
Charisse Willis
Meursault’s Pursuit of Social Justice
James Messina
Robert Johnson: More Than The Crossroads
Jonathan Pigno
A Power and Masculinity Perspective on Domestic Violence
Mary Beth Somich
The Instability of Language: A Clockwork Orange
Jessica Verderosa
Speak Up, Women! Paul Would Encourage It!
Sarah Nehm
In Pursuit of Honor: The Balance between Widowhood
and Motherhood in the Letters of Alessandra Strozzi
Cassandra Brewer
I Am Woman: An Impressionist Tale
Sophie Fonner
Air-Space vs. Urban-Space in Rushdie’s The Satanic Verses:
The Ideals and Realities of Hybridity
Jenna Pocius
��Section I: The Natural Sciences
�The Study of Chromosomal Aberrations in Vicia faba as a
Result of Exposure to UVA and UVB Radiation
Ryan Patricia Rogers (Biology)1
The bean species, Vicia faba, is a popular subject for cytogenetic studies. It has only
twelve diploid chromosomes and the chromosomes are fairly large, making them more
easily identified. Research conducted with Vicia faba has provided the scientific
community with an abundance of information regarding mutations. These occur as a
result of mutagens that cause breaks in the chromosomes. The aim of this study was to
determine the chromosomal aberrations caused by Ultraviolet A and Ultraviolet B rays on
the chromosomes in the Vicia faba bean plant. Both UVA and UVB are known
clastogens as they are readily absorbed into the DNA and are capable of causing
chromosomal breaks. Due to the fact that it has a shorter wavelength, UVB is expected
to cause more breaks as it is more easily absorbed into the DNA. In order to observe and
quantify these effects, Vicia faba seeds were sprouted, the roots were exposed to
radiation, and the resulting aberrations were observed and statistically analyzed. To
study the wavelength effects, several groups of root tips were treated under different
conditions. Three groups were treated with colchicine to remove the spindle fibers, while
three were left alone so the phases of mitosis could be observed. For the purposes of this
experiment, root tips were viewed at the highest magnification under an oil immersion
lens (1000X). Based on the visual data and the quantitative analysis it can be stated with
reasonable certainty UVA and UVB radiations cause significant damages to the Vicia
faba chromosomes.
I. Introduction
Vicia faba is a species of bean commonly found in North America and
Southwest Asia. It is a favorite subject for cytogenetic studies due to the fact that their
diploid chromosome number is equal to twelve and the chromosomes are fairly large,
making them more easily identified (Natarajan, 2005). Research conducted with Vicia
faba has provided the scientific community with an abundance of information regarding
chromosomal damage such as: translocations, deletions, formation of thymine dimers as
1
Research performed under the direction of Dr. Ammini Moorthy (Biological Sciences)
in partial fulfillment of the Senior Program requirements.
2
�well as many other mutations that occur as a result of UV radiation, microwaves, or
mutagens capable of causing breaks in the chromosomes.
Some of the most significant information regarding spontaneous as well as
induced chromosomal aberrations stem from in-depth studies of the Vicia faba root
meristem (Natarajan, 2005). The root meristem is the region in a plant containing a
multitude of undifferentiated cells undergoing several divisions at different times. Under
the high power of a compound microscope, it is possible to view several phases of
mitosis occurring simultaneously. The present study examined the root tip at the highest
magnification under an oil immersion lens (1000X). This allowed the identification of
chromosomes as well as the kind of aberrations that they undergo.
Chromosomal mutations can be classified into spontaneous, which occur
normally in nature, or induced, which are caused by various mutagens. Both of these
mutations are known to lead to visible chromosomal damage as well as minor DNA
damage. Exposure to UVA and UVB radiation from sunlight acts as a mutagen causing
chromosomal damage and skin cancer. The two main types of ultra violet radiation
associated with skin cancer are ultraviolet A, UVA, and ultraviolet B, UVB; the latter
being a major causative agent in photocarcinogenisis (Mitchell 2003).
UVB has a wavelength of 280-315nm and its shorter wavelength makes it more
easily absorbed by DNA. This leads to the carcinogenic nature of UVB. This form of
radiation is capable of causing one or both strands of DNA to break in cells that are
consistently exposed to sunlight. Exposure alone will not always cause mutation; the
type of damage induced by radiation is dependent upon the location of the break as well
as the developmental state of the cell (Mitchell 2003). In normal cells, any breaks or
lesions will be repaired and the cell will eventually resume normal cell activity. If the
break is missed during the repair process, or if there is a problem with the DNA repair
mechanisms, interference during the DNA replication or transcription is likely to occur
(Mitchell 2003).
If this occurs, a mutation is likely to follow and can either be negligible, lethal,
result in the activation of an oncogene, or repression of a tumor repressor gene (Mitchell
2003). On a molecular basis, UV radiation causes reactions pyrimidine dimers. As the
pyrimidine bases absorb photons, they enter an excited state which requires a certain
biochemical pathway to resolve the unstable configuration. If the base remains in an
unstable configuration, then there is a high probability for photoreactions to take place
resulting in the formation of free radicals (Mitchell 2003). Free radicals can lead to
further harmful reactions leading to chromosomal damage.
3
�After exposure to UV radiation, photoreactions occur at high frequency resulting
in the bonding of adjacent pyrimidine bases, the most frequent of which being thymine.
The covalently bound bases would normally be repaired through excision repair. The
dimer would be removed and DNA polymerase would fill in the complementary bases. If
there is chromosomal breakage, the restitution time is approximately four minutes. This
time frame can fluctuate based on the amount of UV exposure resulting in some breaks
remaining open longer or even permanently (Natarajan 2002).
There are two theories explaining the mechanisms of chromosome aberration
formation. The “breakage first theory” of L.J.Stradler, states that irradiation directly
results in a chromosome break. The resulting aberrations will depend on the fate of the
breaks, meaning restitution and whether or not the break will rejoin with another break
(Natarajan 2002). The other theory is known as the “exchange theory” and was proposed
by A.S. Serebrovsky. This theory states that exposure to radiation results in a small
lesion that will decay over time and ultimately result in a chromosomal break. If two
lesions are close together, they may undergo an exchange process resulting in a number
of different possible aberrations (Natarajan 2002).
Both of the theories support current research which demonstrates that
chromosomal aberrations induced by radiation result mainly to DNA double strand
breaks. Cells defective in double strand repair are more sensitive for ionizing radiation
with is detrimental to the cell (Natarajan 2002). The repair processes in the cell involve a
number of steps and multiple enzymes. Repeated exposure to radiation leads to
weakening of the DNA repair mechanisms and this process does not always occur
correctly (Mitchell 2003). The two main pathways of repair for this type of breakage are
non-homologous end rejoining and homologous repair. Research has demonstrated that
the efficiency of these mechanisms is related to the cells position in the cell cycle
(Natarajan 2002). When compromised, the mechanisms may fail completely. This
weakening of repair mechanisms can lead to cell death or irregularity in replication.
Irregularity can be defined as any visible variation from the normal morphology.
UVA radiation has a wavelength of approximately 315-400nm and is highly
abundant in sunlight and not readily absorbed by DNA. Previous research has
demonstrated that UVB is the major spectrum that leads to mutations and resulting
changes in DNA. UVA generates hydroxyl as well as oxygen radicals. These radicals
react with the DNA and form monomeric photoproducts or even strand breaks
(Lautenschlager, 2007). The mutagenicity of UVA exposure does not solely depend
upon frequency of exposure, but also on the location of the exposure on the DNA strand.
4
�Research regarding the overall effects of UVA and UVB radiation on genetic
material reveals that UVB radiation will induce a higher percentage of chromosomal
aberrations than UVA (Emri 2000). One of the major factors affecting the
carcinogenicity of UV radiation from the Sun is the Earth’s natural protecting agent in the
form of ozone, which is located in the Earth’s stratosphere. Ozone is responsible for
absorbing and blocking large amounts of UVA and some UVB rays from reaching the
surface of the Earth, therefore providing a partial shield from the harmful radiation.
Unfortunately certain agents, namely chlorofluorocarbons, have been causing depletion
of the ozone layer since the 1970’s and as a result there is an increase in the amount of
UV radiation reaching the Earths surface (Lautenschlager 2007).
II. Objectives
The objective of this project was to study the effects of UVA and UVB on Vicia
faba chromosomes using a number of different groups of root tips treated in different
conditions. Some groups were treated with colchicine as a means of removing the
spindle fibers, and some groups were left untreated. Having two control groups for the
two conditions would make it possible to distinguish breaks and whether or not they were
spontaneous or a result of the clastogenic radiation.
Upon completion of the experiment, it was necessary to conduct statistical
analysis on the data, in the form of the G test for Heterogeneity, in order to draw
conclusions regarding the effects of UVA and UVB radiation in terms of mutagenicity.
This experiment is a significant first step in studying these potential breaks and
using the data obtained from the Vicia faba bean plant as a means of understanding
chromosomal aberrations on a larger scale.
Table 1: Treatments observed during the experiment.
Root Tips Not Exposed to Colchicine
No UV Exposure (CONTROL)
Exposure to UVA
Root Tips Exposed to Colchicine
No UV Exposure (CONTROL)
Exposure to UVA
Exposure to UVB
Exposure to UVB
5
�III. Materials and Methods
Biological Material
The Mediterranean bean Vicia faba from the kingdom Plante was used as a
model organism. The beans were purchased from the Ed Hume Seed Company and
sprouted at the home of Dr. Ammini Moorthy.
Vicia faba (http://linnaeus.nrm.se/flora/di/faba/vicia/vicifab3.jpg)
Other Materials
In order to ensure the success of this experiment, other essential materials were
required. The growth of the root tips alone required: a heating pad, a glass jar, sterile
water, sodium hypochlorite (1.8%), wire netting and a thermometer. In order to perform
the UV treatments, a UV box with a UV light was required. In preparing the root tips for
slides 6M HCl, Modified Carnoys Solution (Carolina Science), sterile water and Carbol
Fuchsin Stain were necessary. Also three small glass dishes, two separate pairs of
forceps, bibulous paper, optic lens paper, droppers, dissection needles, slides and cover
slips were used in the making of the slides. For permanent slides Xylene, 95% EtOH,
100% EtOH, Euperol, and dry ice were necessary.
Techniques
6
�Growing the seeds
Seeds of Vicia faba were purchased from the Ed Hume Seed Company. They
were then washed with lukewarm water containing 5% chlorox solution two to three
times. This was done in order to remove any potential fungal spores or contaminants
present on the seed coat that may have been problematic during germination. The seeds
were then soaked in lukewarm water for two hours in glass jars with wire nets on top.
These jars were kept under light on a low heating warm platform at approximately 70-72
degrees Fahrenheit.
The thick seed coat, known as the testae, was removed at the point of the
germinal vesicle region as a means of easing out the root formation. If the testae were
not removed, then there would be a high likelihood of bacterial or fungal contamination
because the germination time would increase. The seeds were washed again with
lukewarm water and placed on a platform for germination. It is important to wash the
seeds every day and keep them moist. After 48 hours, roots that were 2-4 centimeters
emerged from all of the seeds. The root tips were cut with a razor blade removing them
from the actual seed and then fixed in a modified Carnoy solution so that mitosis could be
observed.
Figure 1: Growing Conditions
Exposure to UV Radiation
The seeds were put into a UV box for twenty four hours and exposed to either
UVA or UVB radiation. During this time period the UVA light or UVB light was turned
on flooding the box with the respective radiation. After twenty four hours, the seeds
7
�were removed, washed in distilled water, and the root tips were cut with a razor blade
then placed in modified Carnoys solution.
Fixing the Root Tips for Microscopy
Before looking at the root tips under the microscope it was necessary to treat the
root tips through a number of steps. The root tips were first removed from the modified
Carnoys solution and placed into 6M HCl for approximately seven minutes. This was to
degrade the cellulose cell wall surrounding the cell. The root tips were then moved into
Modified Carnoys Solution for approximately six minutes. Carnoys solution is a fixative
and prevents further degradation from the HCl. After this the root tips were placed on a
microscope slide and the very tip was cut with a razor blade. This tip was then placed in
Carbol Fuschin stain for two and a half minutes.
Preparation of Slides
The root tip is removed from the stain and placed on the cleaned microscope
slide. One to two drops of distilled water are placed on the root tip and the excess is
removed with bibulous paper. A cover slip is carefully placed on top of the root tip so
that the small tip does not come out. Bibulous paper is placed over the cover slip in order
to absorb excess water and stain and then forced down via the “squash technique,” for
thirty seconds to one minute (Sharma 1980).
Preparation of 0.3 % Colchicine Solution
In order to remove the spindle fibers it was necessary to prepare a 0.3 percent
colchicine solution. First 0.3 gram of colchicine was measured on an electric balance.
Using a graduated cylinder 100mL of distilled water was measured and transferred to a
glass bottle. The colchicine was combined with the water and mixed. In this particular
experiment 0.6 grams of colchicine was used for 200mL of water in order to make more
0.3% solution. After the colchicine and water are combined it was necessary to remeasure the solution in a graduated cylinder and add more water if necessary. Once the
solution is made, it is important to label the bottle with the date.
Preparation of Colchicine Treated Root Tips
Root tips were soaked in the 0.3% colchicine solution for three to four hours in
order to destroy the spindle apparatus. Colchicine depolymerizes the microtubules,
destroying the spindle, which allows the chromosomes to spread apart. The spreading of
the chromosomes allows for more clear and accurate observation of chromosomal
8
�spreads. After soaking the root tips were returned to the modified Carnoys solution for
fixation.
Photography with Oil Immersion
After the slides were fixed, they were taken to the camera microscope for
photographing. The computer program was opened and the camera turned on with a light
level of 4.5. The iris and condenser were adjusted in order to attain the best possible
resolution. Once a spread was located and suitable for photographing, the oil immersion
lens was used and the slide was focused and adjusted before taking the picture. The file
was saved under a branching system of folders so that it could easily be located at a later
date.
Preparation of Permanent slides
Before working with the slides, it is first necessary to wash the slides thoroughly
with dishwashing detergent in a 500 ml beaker for at least ten minutes. Then the cleaned
slides were transferred to a staining dish containing a mixture of de-ionized water and
Poly-L- Lysine for five minutes then drained and dried over night. The slides were
coated in this solution in order to facilitate adhesion
In this particular experiment, low temperature fixation was applied. The slides
were placed in close proximity to dry ice until they appear frosted. The cover slip was
quickly removed using a razor blade. The slides were then placed completely in 95%
ethanol for one to two minutes as a means of removing excess stain. The slides were then
moved to a clean dish of 100% EtOH for the same amount of time. The final bath
contains Xylene where the slides sat for approximately five minutes. The slides were
removed, air dried and permanent slides made using Euperol to mount the cover slips.
Statistical Analysis
Once all data has been collected, statistical analysis was done on the results.
The slides from each mitotic category were analyzed and 25 cells were observed. Tallies
were made for the metaphase and anaphase portions of mitosis due to the fact that those
stages demonstrate the most visible irregularities. For the Colchicine treated slides 20
spreads were analyzed and tallies were made regarding spreads containing breaks vs.
spreads containing no breaks. That date was then interpreted and analyzed via the G-test
for heterogeneity (Sokal 1981).
9
�IV. Results
Photographic Results
Chromosomes were viewed under high power oil immersion lens (100X) and
stained with Carbol Fuchsin. The amount of light varied dependent on how well the
chromosomes stained and how long the slides were left out before observation. The first
component of the project was to generate a karyotype of the 12 normal Vicia faba
chromosomes (Appendix A: Figure 2). This was done in order to have a template for
subsequent comparison with those exposed to UV radiation.
Photographic results demonstrate that in comparison to normal Vicia faba root
tips, the mitotic behavior of root tips exposed to UVA and UVB radiation is effected
resulting in differences in appearance and the presence of abnormalities (Appendix A:
Figures 3-6).
The UVA colchicine treated root tips show distortion as well as chromosome
breakage (Appendix A: Figures 7-9). Distortion was characterized based on any
variation from the control morphology. When comparing the normal root tips mitotic
behavior with that of UVB exposed root tips, clear deformities are apparent (Appendix A:
Figures 3-6). Cells in metaphase are difficult to distinguish and there are numerous
chromosomal breaks in the anaphase stages. Those treated with colchicine and exposed to
UVB exhibit many breaks as well as fragmentation of chromosomes that distort the
appearance of the chromosomes (Appendix A: Figures 10-12).
As predicted, the Vicia faba root tips exposed to UVA ad UVB radiation
possessed chromosomal aberrations and some even showed chromosomal breaks and
numerous small chromosomal fragments (Appendix A: Figures 7-12). Chromosomal
breaks as well as visible mitotic irregularities were more common and consistently
present in root tips exposed to UVB radiation due to the fact that UVB has a shorter
wavelength and is more readily absorbed by DNA. The chromosomes consist of the
DNA and therefore are capable of absorbing large amounts of UVB radiation when
exposed.
Statistical Analysis
Twenty metaphases and anaphases from control, UVA and UVB were scored
(Appendix B: Tables 2, 3, 4). The G-test for heterogeneity is a goodness of fit test related
to Chi Square. This test was implemented to compare the ratios of normal to irregular
cells between the experimental groups. Critical values were obtained from The Critical
Values of χ2 Distribution based on Sidáks Multiplicative Inequality (Sokal 1995). Data
10
�for anaphase and colchicine treated root tips was transformed by adding one to each
frequency. First a general G-test was completed and showed a statistically significant
difference (α=0.05) between at least two sets of ratios. Each G-test is present in
Appendix B and the data organized in Table 5 for metaphase, Table 6 for anaphase and
Table 8 for colchicine treated root tips. The Simultaneous Testing Procedure (STP)
followed making pair wise comparisons between each of the groups in order to determine
which groups differed significantly from each other. All data is present in Appendix B
Tables 5a-c, 6a-c, 8a-c. The data demonstrates that root tips exposure to UV radiation
during mitosis will present physical irregularities at a higher frequency than those not
exposed to radiation. However, after further analysis and observation it is apparent that
UVB results in greater damage over UVA. This can be expected because, as previously
mentioned, the shorter wavelength of UVB makes is more easily absorbed by the DNA.
The values obtained from the G Test for Heterogeneity demonstrate a statistically
significant difference between those root tips treated with UV radiation and those under
normal conditions.
V. Discussion
This research project began in January 2008 and it took a fair amount of time
before the techniques necessary for obtaining results were realized. Vicia faba seeds are
very large and have extremely hard coats therefore it is difficult to sprout them by
conventional means. The first boundary to overcome was in growing the seeds
themselves. Originally the seeds were set on sponges in 1% Rootone solution in order to
germinate. Half were left out on the bench and half were placed in the UVA box. This
procedure was highly unsuccessful because it took over a week for the seeds to sprout
and some even began to grow fungus and other contaminants. The presence of fungus
compromised the results because it would be difficult to determine whether or not any
irregularities were due to the fungal presence or the exposure to radiation.
Another method was tested in order to try and grow the seeds at a more rapid
rate. This method involved the introduction of a bean sprouter. The sponge was placed
inside the bean sprouter, the seeds were set atop the sponge and a lamp was shone on the
seeds. Again, the seeds grew slowly taking approximately six days, to showing minimal
sprouting and there was also fungus present on certain seeds. This method also failed to
produce a suitable starting material that was needed to begin the research.
It was not until later in the semester, near March 2008, that the current method
was developed and employed. This method was capable of growing the root tips in half
11
�the time allowing for quicker analysis. Once the problem of growing the root stems was
surmounted, the next issue was trying to locate the mitotic region and stain the samples.
At first the fixation method was structured after that for an onion root tip. This
method involved treatment in HCl for only 4 minutes and then transference to modified
Carnoys solution for four minutes. This technique did not work for the Vicia faba, for
their root stems were significantly thicker than those of the onion and it was difficult to
get a good squash or see any phases of mitosis. Many times the root tip would come out
from beneath the cover slip, or not completely squash. Also, when observing the root tips
under the microscope, little to no mitosis was present; this led to the idea that there may
be a very low rate of mitosis for the Vicia faba bean. It was obvious that mitosis was
occurring because the roots were growing, it was just necessary to locate the mitotic
region of the root tip.
Additional literature search provided framework for the introduction of new
techniques and modification of the protocol regarding the duration of time that the root
tips would be submerged in HCl. The time period changed from 4 minutes to 7 minutes
in order to induce more of a metaphase arrest; however, the root tips could not be left in
any longer than 7 minutes in fear of total degeneration of genetic material. The root tips
were then transferred to the modified Carnoys solution for approximately five minutes.
This fixed and softened the root tip so that it would squash easier and would be less likely
to escape from underneath the cover slip.
The next portion of the procedure needing refinement would be the actual sizing
of the sample. Under the microscope, many cells were visible; however there were very
few undergoing mitotic division. Mitotic division only occurs at the very tip of the Vicia
faba root stem, so in cutting the roots fairly large, additional cells were added to the field
of observation making it difficult to locate the meristematic region. In the larger samples
of the root tips, there was also the presence of fat globules. This made it difficult to see
the phases of mitosis clearly if at all. It was determined that in order to acquire the
maximum number of mitotic cells, the root tip would have to be cut significantly smaller
in order to get the meristemiatic region and avoid clouding from the fat globules. After
cutting the root tip very close to the tip, many more phases of mitosis were observed and
better observation of each stage was possible.
Once size of the root tip was adjusted for increasing the visibility of mitotic
stages, the next step would be to stain the cells so that the mitotic phases were clear.
Originally Toluidine Blue 2% was used to stain the cells. This stain was capable of
staining the chromosomes; however it was difficult to adjust the light so that the
chromosomes would be clearly distinguishable from the background of the slide.
12
�Approaches such as staining the cells for longer and using less water did not increase the
clarity of the slides, leading to the usage of a new stain. This stain was Carbol Fuchsin
and would be the stain used for the remainder of the experiment.
Cells stained with Carbol Fuchsin demonstrated clear outlined cells that stood
out from the background in a pink/purple color. The root tips were left in this stain for
approximately two and a half minutes, but it was important to make sure that the entire
sample was submerged for equal staining. If one side of the root tip was exposed to more
stain than the other, it would be obvious on the slide and create difficulty when viewing
the entire stems mitotic activity. Also, the Carbol Fuchsin stain could not be left out for
long. If the stain were left out at the beginning of the experiment during fixation, by the
time the root tip was ready for staining, the stain would have evaporated and lost its
staining power resulting in lighter stain if any stain at all. In order to avoid this problem,
the stain was dropped into the holder right after the root tip was cut in order to ensure
maximum staining power.
After numerous squashes and constructing a functional method for creating
slides, a number of interesting observations were made regarding the Vicia faba
chromosomes and the exposure to UVA and UVB radiation. In terms of staining it was
interesting to observe that cells exposed to UVA or UVB radiation took up the Carbol
Fuchsin stain more readily than the normal control cells. Each cell did take up the stain;
however UVA was able to stain dark, while UVB stained darker. This could be due to
the fact that the DNA has absorbed radiation and has been damaged making it easier for
the stain to seep into the irregular chromosomes. It is possible that the defense
mechanisms of the cell as a whole had been compromised and the ability to remove waste
is unable to function as it would in a normal cell; therefore the cell holds the stain instead
of releasing the foreign particles as waste.
In sequence with this hypothesis, another possible explanation for this is that the
cell is denatured and as a result is physically different. After absorption of UVA and
UVB radiation it is possible that the physical texture of the cell changes as a result of the
denatured chromosomal material. The cell may become softer and as a result more
permeable to the stain making it less difficult to see the irregularities resulting from the
radiation.
The irregularities observed in the chromosomes exposed to UVA and UVB
radiation were numerous. In UVA alone, nearly every anaphase demonstrated some form
of irregularity (Appendix A: Figure 4). This is a crucial stage in cell division because
this is when the chromosomes pull apart before forming new independent cells. If there
is a problem in this stage of mitosis, it is likely that there will be further complications
13
�later on in development and growth. It is highly unlikely for a normal cell to form from
chromosomes damaged during mitosis because the mistake is carried through each phase
and will be repeated in later divisions. A major problem observed was anaphase lag,
which is the delayed movement of chromosomes during anaphase (Sharma 1980). As
mentioned this can lead to other problems during telophase and cytokinesis resulting in
malformed cells.
The root tips treated with UVA and colchicine also presented abnormalities, as
well as chromosomal breakage. This was expected based on the appearance of the
mitotic cells. The UVA chromosomes that were treated with colchicine were found to
contain irregularities as well as breaks (Appendix A: Figures 7-9). The breaks were
likely to be induced by the radiation because when compared to the normal colchicine
treated chromosomes, the breaks were absent (Figure 2). The breaks are significant
because they serve to provide visual depiction of the harm that UVA radiation can cause
in genetic material. Previous literature has demonstrated that chromosomal breaks can
also lead to carcinogenesis.
Another interesting trend observed in the cells treated with UVA was
fragmentation of chromosomes. The chromosomes would almost look as if they were
deteriorating (Figure 9). At times it was difficult to determine whether or not
chromosomes were present; however after comparing the shapes of the fragments with
those of other similar cells with complete chromosomes, it was decided that the
fragmentation was remnants of damaged chromosomal matter.
As expected from previous studies, UVB radiation demonstrated a larger
amount of chromosomal aberrations (Appendix A: Figures 10-12). It is known and has
been stated that UVB wavebands are more readily absorbed by DNA due to their shorter
wavelength. The photographs taken of the UVB treated root tips physically display this
information.
Irregularities in the metaphase of these root tips make it difficult to even
distinguish which phase of mitosis the stage is currently experiencing (Figure 3). Mitotic
aberrations were easier to score during anaphase because during metaphase there is
frequent overlapping of chromosomes preventing clarity. The chromosomes are very
close together and when lined up do not exhibit the normal physical characteristics of a
metaphase when compared with the control. There is apparent chromosomal damage and
breaks when observing the anaphase of UVB treated chromosomes as well (Figure 4).
These chromosomes not only exhibit anaphase lag, but multiple breaks throughout the
chromosomes resulting in multiple breaks in the final product. Chromosomal breaks can
cause genetic information to be damaged and acentric fragments to form.
14
�The normal karyotype of Vicia faba clearly illustrates the diploid 12
chromosomes in order (Figure 3). It is difficult to construct correct karyotypes of the
UVA and UVB treated chromosomes due to the high frequency of fragmentation and
asymmetry observed. The Carbol Fuchsin stain coats the entire chromosome so the
difficulty arises in correctly pairing the chromosomes together. However, the karyotypes
of the chromosomes exposed UVA and UVB radiation would show visible displays of
chromosomal aberrations in terms of breaks as well as acymetric pairing. Certain
chromosomes are larger than other as a result of fragmentation. Other chromosomes are
distorted and breaks are apparent near the telomere which can result in a loss of genetic
information during the next replication because the region has been lost. Mitosis is
supposed to be identical asexual replication; however, when chromosomal aberrations
occur there is going to be differences in the daughter cells.
In order to do statistical analysis, 20 metaphase cells were scored from the
control, the UVA and the UVB; 20 anaphase cells were scored from control UVA and
UVA; and 25 colchicine treated cells were scored from each group. The statistical
analysis further demonstrates that root tips exposed to UV radiation during mitosis will
present physical irregularities at a higher frequency than those protected from radiation.
Analysis also shows that UVB results in greater overall damage than UVA. In root tips
exposed to UVA radiation 60% of cells in metaphase demonstrated irregularities whereas
in root tips exposed to UVB 80% demonstrated abnormalities.
In observing the UVB chromosomes treated with colchicine, fragmentation is
observed signaling past breaks and leading to different sized chromosomes (Figures 1012). This will lead to future problems in replication because the missing pieces of
chromosomal material will be absent causing abnormal formation of the new
chromosomes.
The G-test for heterogeneity is a goodness of fit test related to Chi-Square
(Sokal 1981). This test was employed to compare the ratios of normal cells to irregular
cells in each of the experimental groups for metaphase and anaphase during mitosis and
colchicine treated root tips. First an overall G-test was completed comparing Control,
UVA and UVB and the value obtained showed that there was a statistically significant
difference between two of the groups (α=0.05). In order to determine which groups
differed significantly the Simultaneous Test Procedure (STP) was employed to make pair
wise comparisons.
After completing the STP on the cells during metaphase and anaphase it was
evident that UVA and UVB differed significantly in the ratio of normal to irregular cells
when compared to the control group. This was important because it demonstrated that
15
�both wavelengths of radiation are capable of mutagenesis. It was interesting to observe
that for each STP, the GH value obtained for UVB was greater than that for UVA,
alluding to the fact that UVB was more mutagenic. During mitosis, chromosomes may
overlap and it may be difficult to see all actual breaks that is why it was necessary to
observe the colchicine treated root tips and analyze them using the same test.
The G test for the colchicine treated groups also yielded a statistically significant
value, meaning that there was a difference in the ratios of normal chromosomes to
irregular and broken chromosomes between the three groups. The STP test demonstrated
that the difference lies in the ratios between the Control and UVB because the pair wise
comparison resulted in a statistically significant value (α=0.05). This data demonstrates
that UVB has a greater clastogenic effect than UVA because the GH value obtained for
the STP between the control group and UVA was not statistically significant.
The experimental results clearly demonstrated the mutagenicity of UVA and
UVB in accordance with previous research published by previous research workers such
as Gabriella Emri and A.T. Natarajan. Statistical analysis also reveals what percentages
of cells are affected providing data necessary to generate a ratio of normal cells to
damaged cells. Research has opened venues for future research that will clarify and
ascertain the damage of UVA and UVB radiation. One future project involves protecting
agents in the form of sunscreen to see if the chemical shield actually reduces the
frequency of chromosomal breaks after UV exposure.
The basic goal of this experiment was to determine whether or not UVA and
UVB radiation had a significant effect on chromosomes. Based on the data obtained, and
the analysis that followed, it can be stated, with fair certainty, that UVA and UVB
radiation is in fact an agent capable of causing chromosomal aberrations. If exposure to
these harmful clastogens is not monitored, more negative side effects will be observed.
VI. References
1. Anderson, H.C.; Kihlman,B.A., (1987). “Localization of Chemically Induced
Chromosomal Abberations in Three Different Karyotypes of Vicia faba”, Hereditas
107, 15-25.
2.
Emri G, Wenczl E, Van Erp P, Jans J, Roza L, Horkay I, Schothorst AA. (2000).
“Low Doses of UVB or UVA Induce Chromosomal Aberrations in Cultured Human
Skin Cells”. Department Of Dermatology, University Medical School. Hungary:
PubMed.
16
�3.
Klug, William S; Cummings, Michael R; Spencer, Charlotte A. (2007). Essentials of
Genetics, 6th Edition. New Jersey: Prentice Hall.
4.
Lautenschlager, S, HC Wulf, and MR Pittelkow. (2007) “Photoprotection”, Lancet
370: 528-37.
5.
Mitchell, D. ( 2003). DNA Damage and Repair. A Handbook of Organic
Photochemistry and Physiology. CRC Press: London.
6.
Natarajan, A.T. (2005). “Chromosome Abberations: Plants to Human and Feulgen
to Fish”, Current Science 89(2), 335-339.
7.
Natarajan, A.T. (2002). “Chromosomal Aberrations Past, Present and Future”,
Mutation Research/Fundamental and Molecular Mechanisms of Mutagenesis 504
(2), 3-16.
8.
Quian, Xiao-Wei; Luo, Wei-Hau, Zheng, Ou-Xiang. (2006). “Joint Effect of
Microwave and Chromium trioxide on root tip cells of Vicia faba”, Journal of
Zhejiang University Science.
9.
Sharma, Arun Kumar; Sharma, Archana. (1980). Chromosome Techniques: Theory
and Practice, 3rd Edition. Boston: Butterworths.
10. Socher,S.H.; Davidson,D. (1971). “A Method for Estimating G2”, The Journal of
Cell Biology, 48, 248-252.
11. Sokal,R; Rohlf; F. (1981). Biometry: The Principles and Practice of Statistics in
Biological Research, 2nd Edition. New York: W.H. Freeman and Company 722-730.
12. Sokal. R; Rohlf; F. (1995). Statistical Tables, 3rd Edition. New York: W.H. Freeman
and Company 27-28.
13. Stavroulakis,A. (1992). “Study of Species Relationships in Several Dwarf Bearded
Irises”. New York University.
14. Takehisa, S. (1968). “Colchicine-Induced Supercontraction of Chromosomes and
Heterochromatic Segments in Vicia faba”, Japan J. Genetics 43(2), 149-152.
17
�15. Wang, LE, (2005). “Ultraviolet B Light Exposure Associated With Increased Risk of
Skin Cancer”, Science Daily.
VII. Acknowledgements
This study has been supported by a grant from the Benjamin
Cummings/MACUB Research Grant. I would like to thank Dr. Moorthy who is my
thesis advisor and the entire Biology department at Wagner for their continuous support.
I would also like to extend gratitude to Benjamin Serbiak for lending his hand and
expertise with digital photography.
18
�Appendix A: Photographic Results
Figure 2: Vicia faba normal colchicine treated root tip and karyotype.
19
�Figure 3: Experimental groups of Vicia faba mitotic cells during prophase.
Figure 4: Experimental groups of Vicia faba mitotic cells during metaphase.
20
�Figure 5: Experimental groups of Vicia faba mitotic cells during anaphase.
Figure 6: Experimental groups of Vicia faba mitotic cells during telophase.
21
�Figure 7: UVA Exposed colchicine treated root tip
demonstrating breakage and fragmentation.
Figure 8: UVA Exposed colchicine treated root tip
demonstrating inconsistency with the control.
22
�Figure 9: UVA exposed colchicine treated root tip
demonstrating irregular shaping and fragmentation.
Figure 10: UVB Exposed Colchicine treated root tip demonstrating breakage.
23
�Figure 11: UVB Exposed Colchicine treated root tip
demonstrating breakage and fragmentation.
Figure 12: Frequent fragmentation of chromosomes after UVB exposure.
24
�Appendix B: Statistical Results
Mitotic Cells
Table 2: Normal Mitosis
Mitotic Stage
Normal
Irregular
Metaphase
19
1
Anaphase
20
0
Table 3: UVA Mitosis
Mitotic Stage
Normal
Irregular
Metaphase
8
12
Anaphase
10
10
Table 4: UVB Mitosis
Mitotic Stage
Normal
Irregular
Metaphase
4
16
Anaphase
9
11
G Test for Heterogeneity
Null hypothesis: There is no significant difference between the ratios of normal
to irregular cells in the different groups.
Alternative hypothesis: At least one ratio of normal to irregular cells differs
from at least one of the other groups.
25
�Metaphase
Table 5: G test for Metaphase Cells
Group
Normal
Irregular
∑
Pi
Control
19
1
20
0.95
UVA
8
12
20
0.40
UVB
4
36
20
0.20
Totals
31
29
60
--
α=0.05
Degrees of freedom (df) = 2
GH=28.232
χ2 critical= 5.991
Table 5a: STP for Control and UVA Metaphase
Group
Normal
Irregular
∑
Pi
Control
19
1
20
0.95
UVA
8
12
20
0.40
totals
27
13
40
--
Simultaneous Test Procedure (STP)
α=0.05
df = 1
χ2= 5.701
GH=15.586
26
�Table 5b: STP for Control and UVB Metaphase
Group
Normal
Irregular
∑
Pi
Control
19
1
20
0.95
UVB
4
16
20
0.20
totals
23
17
40
--
α=0.05
df = 1
χ2= 5.701
GH=26.592
Table 5c: STP for UVA and UVB Metaphase
Group
Normal
Irregular
∑
Pi
UVA
8
12
20
0.40
UVB
4
16
20
0.20
totals
12
28
40
--
α=0.05
df = 1
χ2= 5.701
GH=1.934
27
�Anaphase
Table 6: G Test for Anaphase Cells
Group
Normal
Irregular
∑
Pi
Normal
21
1
22
0.95
UVA
10
11
22
0.50
UVB
11
12
22
0.45
Totals
42
24
66
--
*Data was transformed
α=0.05
df = 2
GH=17.572
χ2 critical= 5.991
Table 6a: STP of Control and UVA Anaphase
Group
Normal
Irregular
∑
Pi
Control
21
1
22
0.95
UVA
11
11
22
0.50
totals
32
12
44
--
STP
α=0.05
df = 1, χ2= 5.701
GH=12.93
28
�Table 6b: STP of Control and UVB Anaphase
Group
Normal
Irregular
∑
Pi
Control
21
1
22
0.95
UVB
10
12
22
0.45
totals
31
13
44
--
α=0.05
df = 1
χ2= 5.701
GH=14.958
Table 6c: STP of UVA and UVB Anaphase
Group
Normal
Irregular
∑
Pi
UVA
11
11
22
0.50
UVB
10
12
22
0.45
totals
21
23
44
--
α=0.05
df = 1
χ2= 5.701
GH=0.092
29
�Colchicine Treated
Table 7: Analysis of Colchicine Treated Spreads
Treatment
Normal
Irregular
Breaks
Control
25
0
0
UVA
18
4
3
UVB
14
5
6
Table 8: G-test for Colchicine Treated Spreads
Group
Normal
Irregular
Breaks
∑
Pi
Control
26
1
1
28
0.93
UVA
19
5
4
28
UVB
16
6
7
28
0.54
Totals
50
12
12
84
--
*data was transformed
α=0.05
Degrees of freedom=3-1=2
2x2=4
GH=12.45
χ2 critical=9.49
30
0.68
�Table 8a: STP for Colchicine treated Control and UVA
Group
Normal
Irregular
Breaks
∑
Pi
Control
26
1
1
28
0.93
UVA
19
5
4
28
0.68
totals
45
6
5
56
--
STP
α= 0.05
df = 2
χ2= 8.155
GH=5.936
Table 8b: STP for Colchicine treated Control and UVB
Group
Normal
Irregular
Breaks
∑
Pi
Control
26
1
1
28
0.93
UVB
15
6
7
28
0.54
totals
41
7
8
56
--
α= 0.05
df = 2
χ2= 8.155
GH=12.04
31
�Table 8c: STP for Colchicine treated UVA and UVB
Group
Normal
Irregular
Breaks
∑
Pi
UVA
19
5
4
28
0.68
UVB
15
6
7
28
0.54
totals
34
11
11
56
--
α= 0.05
df = 2
χ2= 8.155
GH=1.404
We reject the null hypothesis and accept the alternative hypothesis.
32
�Section II: The Social Sciences
�The Effects of Sleep Deprivation on the Academic
Performance of Baccalaureate Nursing Students
Raychel M. Ryan (Nursing)1
The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of sleep deprivation on the
academic performance of senior baccalaureate nursing students at a private university.
The amount of sleep college students receive nightly has been on the decline. College
students are known to sacrifice sleep to study and complete other course work. Students
try to make up hours of lost sleep on the weekends which leads to further sleep
difficulties. Sleep deprivation is considered to occur when a person receives less than 8
hours of sleep a night (Noland, Price, Dake & Telljohann, 2009, pg 224). There have
been numerous studies that link sleep deprivation with physical, emotional and academic
difficulties. Sleep deprivation has been linked to difficulties with paying attention,
memory and other concentration issues. There are research studies that suggest the
relationship between sleep deprivation and poor academic performance. Many studies
demonstrate the effects of sleep deprivation on adolescents and first year college
students. There is no research on the effects of sleep deprivation on fourth year college
students or nursing students. A convenience sample of 42 baccalaureate nursing students
was given a questionnaire consisting of twelve questions in which the students selfreported on their sleep habits and their academic performance.
I. Introduction
The amount of sleep college students receive nightly has been decreasing
gradually over the last few decades. According to Hicks and Pellegrini (1991), college
students received an average of 7.5 hrs of sleep nightly in 1969 and 6.5 hrs in 1989. If the
trend Hicks and Pellegrini discovered continues, college students in 2009 should be
getting 5.5 hours of sleep a night. It is recommended that people receive approximately
eight hours of sleep nightly. College students who receive less than the recommended
eight hours of sleep nightly are considered to be sleep deprived. Research has linked
students poor sleep patterns to increased tension, irritability, depression and confusion.
Sleep difficulties have also been linked to emotional, physical, social, vocational and
academic problems. Sleep deprivation can have an impact on a person’s health.
1
Research performed under the direction of Dr. Lauren O'Hare (Nursing) in partial
fulfillment of the Senior Program requirements.
34
�“Insufficient sleep of less than 6 hours per night can contribute to a 50% reduction in T
cells, which can compromise the immune system.” (Brown, Buboltz & Soper, 2006, pg
231)
A major impact of sleep deprivation is the deduction of time spent in REM sleep.
Rapid eye movement (REM) sleep is the phase of sleep in which the body becomes
paralyzed and the brain remains highly active. Dreaming occurs during REM sleep.
During a regular 8 hour night of sleep, a person cycles between non-rapid eye movement
sleep and rapid eye movement sleep. When a person is sleep deprived, there is less time
spent in REM sleep. De Koninck , Lorrain, Christ, Proulx and Coulombe (1989)
demonstrated that learning consolidation is dependent on cycles spent in REM sleep.
They also demonstrated that students with increased REM sleep after an intensive
learning experience did better on examinations. College students are known to sacrifice
sleep to study for exams. “Some students pull all night “cramming” sessions and do not
perform well academically. The student often does not make the connection between
poor academic performances with the lack of sleep.” (Buboltz,Brown & Soper, 2001, pg
131) De Koninck and his associates demonstrated that students, who receive less than 8
hours of sleep, miss some of the last 2 hours of REM sleep. The last 2 hours of REM tend
to be the most important for integrating new information. Therefore, the student that
“pulls the all nighter” before an exam, is at a disadvantage. They have not integrated the
material that they spent hours studying.
Sleep deprivation is not the only factor to be considered. Sleep hygiene is another
problem among college students. Students often sacrifice sleep to study and do
homework on weekdays. Many try to make up the lost sleep on the weekends.
Unfortunately, hours of lost sleep on weekdays can not be made up on weekends. Sleep
hygiene suggests that a daily routine of wake up and bed times be maintained. According
to Brown et al (2006), if the cycle of sacrificing sleep during the week and sleeping long
hours on the weekends continues, it can lead to progressively later sleep and wake times,
missed classes and poor academic performance.
Sleep deprivation has been shown to cause difficulties with memory, paying
attention and concentration. Nursing students are faced with a demanding course load
that requires many hours of studying. These demands often result in the nursing student
sacrificing sleep to complete course work and study for exams. Academic performance
was defined by grades on papers, exams and the student’s GPA. The purpose of this
study was to determine the effects of sleep deprivation on the academic performance of
baccalaureate nursing students.
35
�II. Research Question and Hypothesis
Q: What are the effects of sleep deprivation on the academic performance of
baccalaureate nursing students?
H: Sleep deprivation will negatively impact a nursing student’s academic performance.
III. Review of Literature
There have been numerous studies linking sleep deprivation to the poor academic
performance of students. They indicate that sleep deprived students have difficulty
staying awake in class, paying attention and achieving high grades on exams.
Noland, Price, Dake and Telljohann (2009) surveyed 384 adolescents from three
Midwest High Schools about sleep behaviors and their perceptions of sleep. Most of the
students (91.9%) reported receiving inadequate sleep (≤ 9 hrs) on school nights with 10%
of the students receiving less than 6 hrs each week night. A majority of the students
indicated that inadequate sleep had effects on them. The effects reported included the
following: being more tired during the day (93.7%), having difficulty paying attention
(83.6%), lower grades (60.8%), increased stress (59.0%) and having difficulty getting
along with others (57.7%). Noland and her associates were also able to conclude that
students that received fewer hours of sleep were significantly more likely to be stressed
and overweight. A vast majority of the students in the study reported sleeping for fewer
than 9 hours during week nights. The students reported receiving more hours of sleep on
the weekends with different bedtimes and rise times. The study demonstrated that
dramatic changes in the sleep cycle and an inadequate number of hours of sleep can have
detrimental effects on the adolescents. “It can take several days or longer for one’s sleep
schedule to become regulated again. During this time, the adolescent may suffer from
extreme tiredness, mood swings, feelings of jet lag, lack of motivation and difficulty
concentrating, all symptoms that teachers see on Monday mornings.” (Noland et al, 2009,
229)
Brown, Buboltz and Soper (2006) developed the sleep treatment and education
program for students (STEPS). The study consisted of 2 introductory psychology classes
during the early part of a fall term. The introductory psychology class consisted of
primarily freshman. The treatment program was implemented “early in the term because
sleep habits tend to deteriorate as the semester progresses”. Students received a
demographics questionnaire, The Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), The Sleep
Hygiene Awareness and Practices Scale (SHAPS) and The Sleep Habits Survey (SHS)
prior to treatment and 6 weeks post-treatment. The students in the treatment group
demonstrated overall better sleep quality and better sleep hygiene practices. The results
36
�of the study suggest that the inclusion of a psychoeducational program, such as STEPS,
may significantly reduce sleep disturbances and improve sleep habits. The research
demonstrates that “students with more consistent week and weekend wake times have
better sleep quality and academic performance” (Brown et al, 2006, pg 236).
Trockel, Barnes and Egget (2000) examined health related variables and academic
performance among first year college students. Students sleep habits were one of the
variables investigated. The participants were 200 randomly chosen 1st yr students who
lived on campus at a large private university. The students filled out a questionnaire that
was developed by the researcher with health-behavior variables that are potential
predictors of academic performance. The significant finding of the study was the
relationship between sleep habits and higher GPA. “There is strong support for the
hypothesis that sleep habits account for some of the variance in the 1st year college
students GPAs.”(Trockel et al, 2000, pg 129)
The research supports that there is a relationship between sleep deprivation and
academic performance. There is no research that examined the relationship of sleep
deprivation of senior college students and their academic performance. Nursing students
were not specifically included in any of the research studies about sleep deprivation. The
focus of this study was to examine the effects of sleep deprivation on the academic
performances of baccalaureate nursing students. Once the relationship between sleep
deprivation and academic performance is understood, improvements of sleep patterns can
be made to improve academic performance among nursing students.
IV. Methods
A convenience sample of 42 baccalaureate nursing students at a large private
university was used. The students were given an anonymous questionnaire consisting of
twelve questions (see appendix A) in which they self-reported on their sleep habits and
their academic performance. Academic performance was evaluated by subjects’ report of
their grades on exams, papers and overall class performance. GPAs were also compared
to see if there was any difference in those who are sleep deprived and those who get the
recommend eight hours of sleep. Sleep deprivation was defined as less than the
recommended eight hours of sleep nightly. Subjects were asked to describe their ability to
function academically after a night of little sleep. The amount of sleep the subject
received on a regular night was compared to the amount of sleep received before an exam
or paper deadline. This comparison was used to determine if the student was “cramming”
and its effects on the student’s academic performance.
37
�V. Limitations
The students participating in the study had to be honest about their academic
performance to a fellow student. Students may have felt the need to report a better
academic performance than they have actually achieved. Since the questionnaire was
completely anonymous, students may have been compelled to answer the questions
honestly. The researcher was unable to determine if the student report was accurate.
Grades and GPAs cannot be released from the college staff due to legal issues. There is
also no way to determine if the information about sleep habits is reliable. A major
limitation to the study was that there is no control group or randomization. It is a
comparative study among students exposed to many different extraneous variables. There
was no way to determine if poor academic performance was a direct result of sleep
deprivation or another factor in the student’s environment. The creation of a control
group and an experimental group would be unethical. It would be unethical to deprive a
student of sleep to see if they have poor academic performance. Randomization would
eliminate the effects of extraneous variables and increase the internal validity in this
study. Unfortunately, due to ethical issues, it is impossible to randomize the nursing
students to experimental and control groups.
VI. Results
The average amount of sleep the baccalaureate nursing students received on a
regular night was 7.9 hrs with a standard deviation of 0.98. 75% of the students surveyed
responded “true” to the statement “I do better on an exam if I get a full night of sleep”.
Despite this response, the average number of hours before an exam was 5.52 hours with a
standard deviation of 1.61. 83.3% of the students surveyed reported that they believe
they function better academically when they get more sleep. The remaining 16.7%
believed that there would be no impairment in function or weren’t sure if sleep
deprivation would affect their academic performance. When the students were asked to
describe the effects of sleep deprivation (< 8 hrs) on their academic performance, 78.57%
reported that it would have a negative impact. The students described this negative
impact as a decrease in the ability to pay attention, decrease in ability to remember newly
learned material and increased anxiety levels. Students reported academic success by
achieving passing grades on papers, exams and overall class grades (see table 1). 37 of
the 42 students (88.09%) surveyed reported a GPA of 3.0 or higher, 1 student reported a
GPA of < 3.0 and 4 students omitted the question.
38
�Table 1: Reported student grades in percentages
B(s)
B(s) & C(s)
Omitted
question
A(s)
A (s) and B(s)
Exams
28.57
0
60.91
0
10.52
Papers
54.76
23.80
16.7
0
4.74
Class grades
11.9
66.67
14.28
1
6.15
VII. Discussion:
The baccalaureate nursing students surveyed demonstrated sleep deprivation
especially the night before a deadline or exam. However, the students exhibited no
detrimental effects on their academic performance. Grades achieved by the students
caused many to qualify for Sigma Theta Tau, the international honor society of nursing.
The baccalaureate nursing students surveyed are in the program due to their increased
ability to achieve. It is possible that the results of this study would be very different if
administered to students in other departments of the college. The fact that all the students
surveyed are seniors can be another contributing factor. After completing several years of
college, the students may have determined what sleep patterns work for them and prevent
any impact of sleep deprivation on their academic performance.
The extraneous variable that may have had the most impact on the results of this
study is the fact the researcher was a fellow student. It is possible that some of the grades
reported were exaggerated knowing another student would see their grades. This is
believed to be the reason why some questions were omitted by students. The study
would have more statistical significance if the researcher was able to see the students’
actual grades on exams, papers and in courses from professors and the registrar.
Most people believe that sleep deprivation would affect their academic
performance. Contrary to this belief, this study demonstrated sleep deprivation to have
little effect on the academic performance of senior baccalaureate nursing students.
However, most of the students confirmed that prolonged sleep deprivation would have
detrimental effects on their academic performance. If the study was to be repeated in the
future, it would be beneficial to expand the study to include the entire student population
on campus. A larger and broader sample would include students of different academic
levels as well as students of different majors. This would eliminate the possibility that the
39
�results observed in this study are just a trend for senior nursing students and not the entire
institution.
VIII. References
1. Brown, F.C., Buboltz, W.C., & Soper, B. (2006). “Development and evaluation of
the Sleep treatment and education program for students (STEPS)”, Journal of
American College Health, 54 (4), 231-237.
2.
Buboltz, W.C., Brown, F. & Soper B. (2001). “Sleep Habits and Patterns of College
Students: A preliminary study”, Journal of American College Health, 50(3), 131-135.
3.
De Koninck, J., Lorrain, D., Christ, G., Proulx, G., Coulombe, D. (1989). “Intensive
language learning and increases in rapid eye movement sleep: evidence of a
performance factor”, International Journal Psychophysiology,8,43-47.
4.
Hicks, RA., & Pellegrini RJ .(1991) “The changing sleep habits of college students”,
Perceptual & Motor Skills, 72, 1106.
5.
Noland, H., Price, J.H., Dake, J., & Telljohann, S.K. (2009). “Adolescents’ sleep
behaviors and perceptions of sleep”, Journal of School Health, 79(5), 224-230.
6.
Taras, H. & Potts-Datema, W. (2005). “Sleep and student performance at school”,
Journal of School Health, 75(7), 248-254.
7.
Trockel, M.T., Barnes, M.D., & Egget, D.L. (2000). “Health-Related Variables and
academic performance among first-year college students: Implications for sleep and
other behaviors”, Journal of American College Health, 49, 125-131.
40
�Appendix A: Questionnaire
1) How many hours of sleep do you get on a regular night?
2) How many hours of sleep do you get the night before a paper deadline or exam?
3) After a night of little sleep, what is your performance like on an exam?
4) How would you describe your ability to function after a night of little sleep?
5) Do you think you function better academically when you get more hours of sleep?
6) How would you describe the effects of sleep deprivation (< 8hrs) on your academic
performance?
7) I have a hard time paying attention in class after a night of little sleep. (Circle one)
True
False
8) I do better on an exam if I get a full night of sleep. (Circle One)
True
False
9) My grades on exams are usually (Circle one):
100s
90s
80s
77s
<77
10) My grades on papers are usually_________.
11) My overall grade in classes are usually (circle one)
A(s)
A(s) and B(s)
B(s)
12) My GPA is:_________
41
B(s) and C(s).
��Section III: Critical Essays
�Moving Beyond a Lesbian Feminism:
The Role of Choice in Emma Donoghue’s Kissing the Witch
Charisse Willis (English)1
Kissing the Witch by Emma Donoghue explores various topics, ranging from
lesbian relationships between Cinderella-like characters and their godmothers to a
romantic encounter between a cross dressing caretaker and her charge. Rich with material
for lesbian and queer critics, Donoghue’s novel, which is a collection of short stories,
lends itself to being taken as an advocate of radical feminism, specifically the practice of
lesbianism and the belief that it is the ultimate escape from a patriarchal society.
However, to stop at this aspect of the novel would be an extreme disservice to
Donoghue’s work. While her novel can be seen as a work of radical feminism, it is
important to note that it leans more towards a radical-libertarian feminism, taking care
not to promote lesbian separatism; it focuses, instead, on a patriarchal society as the root
of women’s oppression and stresses the idea that all women, whether they embrace or
escape the circumstances of their assigned role in life, find their own way in the world
and achieve some form of independence.
While most people associate radical feminists with lesbian separatists who
believe that any relationship with men is an oppressive one, radical-libertarian feminists
have a different view. Though they do not deny that heterosexual relationships are forced
on most women, they do not agree that lesbianism is essential to being a feminist and
escaping patriarchy; what is most important is a woman’s pleasure, whether it is from a
man or a woman (Tong 70). Furthermore, radical-libertarian feminists believe that male
individuals are not the problem, but rather, a patriarchal society is responsible for
women’s oppression (70). To sum up the argument of the radical-libertarians and the
theme in Kissing the Witch, “Freedom comes to women as the result of women giving
each other the power of self-definition and the energy continually to rebel against any
individual man, group of men, or patriarchal institution seeking to disempower or
otherwise weaken women” (Tong 71).
Though Donoghue makes it clear that women are oppressed, the plots do not
necessarily cite men as the oppressor. Instead, society is highlighted as the cause of
1
Written under the direction of Dr. Susan Bernardo (English) for EN347: The Study of
Fairy Tales.
44
�women’s oppression. In “The Tale of the Shoe,” the speaker makes it clear that she does
not have anyone to make her do things or to punish her, but she feels the need to
complete difficult chores and punish herself. The lines, “nobody made me do the things I
did, nobody scolded me but me, nobody punished me but me,” make it clear that some
invisible force is causing the speaker to live this harsh life (Donoghue 2). However, that
invisible force is not identified as a male force. The fact that “the shrill voices were all
inside,” gives the impression that scrubbing, sweeping, separating food and other chores
were actions that were ingrained in her psyche. As opposed to some allusion to a father or
any other male figure that told her these things needed to be done, the voices are more
like the laws of society that stress that women maintain a clean household and engage in
other domestic activities.
The voices continue throughout this tale, instructing the speaker to return to the
prince and accept his proposal of marriage, but the voices are not the only clue that there
is an outside force instructing this modern day Cinderella. When she gets to the palace
where the prince is, she says that she knows exactly what she is supposed to do, but no
explanation is given for why she would know what to do. Once again, the speaker’s
behavior is governed by a set of unwritten societal rules. These rules tell her to not eat or
to throw up the little that she does eat; they tell her not to engage in conversation, but
rather nod and smile while the men ramble on about nothing (Donoghue 4-6).
This same set of rules seems to determine the role that the speaker in “The Tale
of the Voice” plays. The little mermaidesque character finds that she is not the only
woman to trade her voice for the affections of a male. She noted that her “predicament
was not unique;” all of the girls that she saw at the parties maintained her same silence
and furthermore, “even their bodies were silent” (198). However, once again there is no
mention of a male hierarchy. In fact, a few paragraphs after these lines a sex scene occurs
in which the female is in a position of dominance. It is almost as if Donoghue places this
scene directly after the speaker’s realization in order to stress that it is not the man that
has put the woman in this position; the speaker of this story followed a societal pattern
that suggested that she be prettier and silent in order to achieve the happiness of love.
The idea of society, not men, being the cause of women’s oppression becomes
clearer at the end of the voice tale. The speaker of the tale leaves the man that she gave
up her voice for and she survives life on the road through prostitution, but in the end she
marries a man that “liked to hear [her] sing, but preferred to hear [her] talk” (204). This
story does not end with a lesbian relationship or simply an ending that involves no men.
Instead, Donoghue makes it clear that lesbianism is not the only solution to women’s
45
�suffering; life with a man can be fulfilling and freeing as long as the woman is
independent and makes her own decisions.
The speaker from the voice tale does not reject a normative heterosexual
relationship to escape the limits society puts on her sex, just as the princess in “The Tale
of the Apple” does not reject the position that she was destined to fill, but rather
embraces it. After the death of her father, the king, the princess in the apple tale decides
to leave the world of kingdoms and royal expectations. She moves into a house of
woodsmen, but instead of making the story into a tale where the princess escapes royal
life, Donoghue uses the princess’ character to show that simply doing the opposite of
what society expects will not free women. This too fits with the beliefs of radicallibertarian feminists who took a middle ground between liberal feminists who preferred
masculine traits to feminine ones and radical-cultural feminists who advocated an
embrace and elevation of feminine traits and the rejection of masculine ones; radicallibertarians proposed androgyny which allows women to take on both feminine and
masculine traits.
The princess’ realization and acceptance of her role in society does not mean
that she will adhere only to the feminine traits associated with this role. In fact, unlike
other Snow White tale types, the princess is not avenged by the death of her stepmother
and reinstated to her rightful place. Instead, the princess makes the active decision to own
her role in society, not succumbing to the oppressive nature of being a queen in a male
dominated kingdom, but choosing the place that feels most comfortable to her. By doing
this, she exhibits masculine traits.
“The Tale of the Apple,” also draws on the radical-libertarian idea that women
should help each other. Part of the reason that the princess returned to the castle was the
relationship that she had with her stepmother. The stepmother says, “’I haven’t had a
night’s sleep since you left,’” suggesting that she needed the princess for comfort and to
help with the kingdom. The sharing of the apple at the end of the tale is not the sign of
trickery that poisons the princess in previous Snow White tale types. Instead, it is a sign
that the stepmother is willing to share the kingdom with her stepdaughter, entering into a
kind of equal partnership. Thus, when the princess realizes that she was not poisoned, she
knows that it is her role to help her stepmother.
The witch in “The Tale of the Voice,” also plays the helping role. She is not a
horrible woman who simply takes advantage of a lovesick-girl. Unlike other versions of
this tale, the witch tries to talk the girl out of trading her voice for the man that she loves
and even after the girl realizes that her sacrifice would not be enough to keep the man
that she wants, the witch is useful. She helps the girl find her way home and she takes the
46
�sisters’ payment, not because she is evil and simply wants the sisters to suffer, but
because “people never value what they get for free. Having paid so dearly, [the] sisters
will treasure you [the speaker] now” (203). Assigning such positive characteristics to the
witch suggests that Donoghue is consciously “‘rehabilitating the witch,’ speaking in the
voice of a witch who is both human and vulnerable, contesting the ways the witch has
been represented in generations of tale-tellings” (Harries 130).
It is also interesting to note that helping the love-sick woman in “The Tale of the
Voice” does not mean refusing to give her what she wants. Though the witch knows that
other girls have asked for the same thing and have regretted their decision, she also
knows that one must learn from experience. Women need to make their own decisions
even if they are not necessarily the right ones.
The notion of following one’s own passion and making choices, despite the
possibility of negative consequences is the thread that pulls the tales of Kissing the Witch
together. The speaker in “The Tale of the Needle” is a perfect example of a woman
making an active choice to leave behind a world of protection and take charge of her life.
The speaker lives in a place where, literally, the world stops for her. After puberty sets in,
instead of trading her position as daughter for the position of wife as women are usually
expected to do, the speaker seeks knowledge and independence, both of which she finds
in the old woman that she meets.
Donoghue makes it clear that the speaker in the needle story has a choice
between the life of shelter that she has always led and a life that is full of uncertainty, but
offers a world where one can make their own path. Furthermore, the reader sees the
speaker making a decision. The speaker heard her name being called, looked at the door
and then made the active decision to close out the world, “[pull] the bolt across,” and
learn something that would give her value in society.
Similarly, in “The Tale of the Spinster,” the speaker is forced to make a decision
between being a successful business woman and focusing on a life of domesticity. The
mother in this tale makes it clear that work is the best option for women as it allows them
to have “a level place to rest” (120). In trying to follow this example, the spinster
completely rejects feminine traits and focuses on surviving in the business world. The
spinster regrets her decision after her child is taken from her by her assistant and, as the
preceding story tells us, she turns to stealing other children to assuage her feelings of
guilt. Though the speaker makes a decision that she ultimately regrets, this story is not a
contradiction to the theme of choice in the novel. Rather, the story is meant to show that
all decisions have consequences and with the freedom to choose comes the freedom to
make mistakes. Women who push for equality have always faced this fact; with
47
�oppression comes a certain level of protection and by choosing to break free, a woman
must choose to accept the risks that come with responsibility.
This story highlights another issue that all women have to deal with: how to
choose between the public and private spheres of society. In describing her decision to
join a lesbian separatist community, one woman quotes Betty Friedan to stress the need
for women to be economically independent: “for women to have full identity and
freedom, they must have economic independence. Equality and human dignity are not
possible for women if they are not able to learn. Only economic independence can free a
woman to marry for love, not for status or financial support…” (Rudy 194). The spinster
embraced this idea and made sure that she was able to provide for herself, saying that
work made her forget that she was a woman (Donoghue 125).
However, by embracing the public sphere, she lost her connection to the private
one. She makes the comment that she would not have married the father of her baby even
if she could have because she “was a woman of business now…far too far gone to make a
good wife” (125). This passage shows the problem with Friedan’s statement that
economic independence makes it easier for women to make their own decisions. Though
the spinster followed the guidelines for happiness as described by most feminists, the
acquisition of wealth left her just as confined as the acquisition of a husband would have.
Unlike men, women have to carry a child and, as society demands, nurture it as well,
which makes the lives of women who choose to have children and strive for economic
independence that much harder. Donoghue, in this story, makes it clear that Kissing the
Witch is not a novel that seeks to make the life of a feminist or a lesbian seem like a
complete escape from patriarchy, but rather it strives to show and call into question the
obstacles that arise in an oppressive society.
The last tale, “The Tale of the Kiss,” is told by a woman, or more accurately, a
witch. In this tale, the themes of the novel are replayed in a blatant manner, making sure
to leave readers questioning their own role in this cycle of women’s liberation. One of the
witch’s first lines makes it clear that the theme of this tale will be one of power, fitting, as
Kissing the Witch is a novel that seeks to empower women. The reader is immediately hit
with knowledge of the witch’s menstrual cycle and that she is barren. The speaker is not
dismayed at this thought and she chooses to leave her home and seek a life of solitude.
Unlike other women speakers in the novel, it is clear that the witch knows her worth in
the world and she is prepared to exceed the expectations of society. Subsequently, she is
rewarded with power. She says of power, “I never sought it; it was left out for me to
stumble over” (Donoghue 209). However, if one has been paying attention to the
48
�message Donoghue has been sending in the last twelve stories, it becomes clear that by
choosing to go above what society had planned for her, the witch did seek power.
With that in mind, I would argue that the point of this tale is not to drive the idea
of a powerful woman home, rather it is to show the extent of power that women can have
and what can be done with it. The witch’s words make this idea clear, “Power I had to
learn how to pick up without getting burnt, how to shape it and conceal it and flaunt it
and use it, and when to still my breath and do nothing at all” (214). Here is the answer to
what to do with the knowledge that Donoghue has shared in the previous tales; she, the
author, has laid out the steps to power and now she is making sure that the reader learns
how to hone that power.
Elizabeth Harries says that this last tale is written so that, though the writer’s
voice stops, the reader’s voice carries on (133). I would agree and go one step further by
noting that the reader is not only pushed to tell his or her story at the end of this novel,
but he or she is also pushed to challenge his/her story and reality. The last line, “I leave it
in your mouth,” instructs the reader to do just what the speaker of “The Tale of the Bird”
says in her story, “take your own life in your hands” (228,11).
Works Cited
Donoghue, Emma. Kissing the Witch: Old Tales in New Skins. New York: HarperCollins,
1997.
Harries, Elizabeth Wanning. “New Frames for Old Tales”, Twice Upon a Time: Women
Writers and the History of the Fairy Tale. Princeton, N.J: Princeton UP, 2001. 129-34.
Rudy, Kathy. “Radical Feminism, Lesbian Separatism, and Queer Theory”, Feminist
Studies 27.1 (2001): 191-221. MLA International Bibliography. Web. 09 Dec. 2009.
Tong, Rosemarie. Feminist Thought: A More Comprehensive Introduction. Boulder,
Colo: Westview, 1998.
49
�Meursault’s Pursuit of Social Justice
James Messina (Philosophy and English)1
Human experience is defined by an all-encompassing desire to know the truth.
The truth about existence, the truth about the afterlife (if there is such a thing), the truth
about what is right, the truth about what is wrong, why it is wrong, and how these things
came to be such. In The Stranger, Albert Camus places his readers, all incidentally livers
of life, in a position of extreme discomfort by immediately calling into question modern
conventions of conscientiousness. Meursault, Camus’ protagonist, is oddly situated in a
world that is markedly familiar to readers, defined by contrived conceptions of justice,
morality, and codes of behavior, which are essentially byproducts of mankind’s
continued attempt, throughout history, to exercise rationality over absurdity. Through this
aporia, and through this modern, absurd man, Camus challenges twentieth century (and
incidentally, due to a static western social structure, twenty-first century) abstractions of
social justice and morality.
In order to understand the true implications of The Stranger as a commentary on
social justice and morality, it is important to understand how Camus believes the absurd
man comes to be. In his article entitled “Albert Camus and the Rights of Man”, Thomas
Thorson asserts that,
The condition of being “well adjusted,” of being at home in the world, is for
Camus a consequence of human mental construction either conscious and
deliberate or unconscious and habitual. The absurd arises when it becomes clear
that the arrangement of compatibility between man and the world is not truth,
but construction. (Thorson 286)
Camus recognizes his first task to be to contextualize Meursault in an environment that
imposes upon him a great sense of absurdist alienation. In this bipartite novel, the first
part is dedicated to achieving just that. Meursault’s actions seem to readers to be defined
by a general lack of conscience or emotional connection to the world. His mother dies
and he feels nothing but the pang of societal obligation. When he thinks of his mother’s
first weeks in the nursing home, he thinks of the inconvenience her discomfort caused
him. Once she became acclimated to the living conditions there, he stopped visiting: “it
1
Written under the direction of Dr. Erica Johnson (English) for EN111: World
Literature.
50
�took up my Sunday,” he admits (Camus 5). Because of the guilt that he knows he should
feel regarding having put his mother in a nursing home, he begins to explain himself to
the director. The director explains to Meursault, “You don’t have to justify yourself”
(Camus 4). That Meursault feels the constant need to appear to be something that he is
not to his peers, places him in a requisite position of extreme absurdity.
There are several instances where Meursault’s actions reflect, not his own
desires, but those of other characters. This is significant because it demonstrates his
perceived need to fit in, accentuating his feeling of distance from society as a whole, and
thus furthers the position of his absurdity. The first major occurrence of this phenomenon
is when Raymond is introduced for the first time. Raymond, who is introduced as
particularly unpopular and who is notoriously employed as a pimp, invites Meursault to
his apartment for dinner, and because the proposition of a free meal that he does not have
to prepare sounds so appealing, Meursault agrees. While discussing an altercation
Raymond had recently gotten into with a man “trying to start trouble,” Raymond asks
Meursault if he wants to be his friend. Meursault reacts as follows, “I didn’t say anything,
and he asked me again if I wanted to be pals. I said it was fine with me: he seemed
pleased” (Camus 29). Here, Meursault recognizes that this man is probably associated
with trouble (as is socially defined), but obliges his request at friendship to appease him,
rather than to fulfill any sincere desire to actually befriend the man. Along the same lines
of this strangely impersonal social contract is his engagement to Marie,
That evening Marie came by to see me and asked me if I wanted to marry her. I
said it didn’t make any difference to me and that we could if she wanted to.
Then she asked me if I loved her. I answered the same way I had the last time,
that it didn’t mean anything but that I probably didn’t love her. (Camus 41)
Marriage, has, for years, been seen through Western ideologies as a symbol of love and
commitment, rather than a cold, emotionless bargain. When people bring up his
engagement to Marie, they are often surprised by his apparent callousness regarding the
issue. These situations within which Camus submerges his protagonist move him further
toward recognition of his absurdity.
Once Camus makes it clear that Meursault is in some way different from those
that surround him, he is able to make a strong case for why this is. In The Myth of
Sisyphus, one of four essays crafted with the intention of explaining the philosophy
surrounding The Stranger, Camus writes, “If this myth is tragic, that is because its hero is
conscious. Where would his torture be, indeed, if at every step the hope of succeeding
upheld him?” (The Myth of Sisyphus) Camus believes that in order to truly accept the
position of the absurd man, one must first abandon all hope. The human condition of
51
�inquisition, he argues, is characterized by the strong desire to attribute false optimism that
there exists some sort of metaphysical realm within which death could be avoided, or
within which consciousness could continue after death. Camus contends that to subscribe
to such delusional theories is to remain somehow unaware of the reality and the
proximity of death to every human being. What follows is that Sisyphus (or any man, for
that matter) can only be miserable (in the true philosophical sense) if he is aware of the
nature of the true fate that awaits him. That is not to say that the conscious man cannot be
happy, either, rather, that this happiness must be contrasted always with the plight of
human misery, “There is no sun without shadow, and it is essential to know the night”
(The Myth of Sisyphus). Here, Camus explores the idea that human’s can’t know
happiness except when it is contextualized within misery. This is a definition based on
binary logic and relativism, but it seems to contain some truth, nonetheless. Meursault
does not begin the novel as hopeless, but he experiences several things that end in his
epiphany that regardless of how it happens, every human being is fated to the same
destiny, which is ultimately, death.
Meursault never particularly cares one way or the other to address important
issues, preferring to indulge life’s pleasures, however, the end of Part One represents an
awakening of sorts. As he fires the revolver four more times into the already lifeless body
of the nameless Arab, he reflects, “it was like knocking four times on the door of
unhappiness” (Camus 59). Meursault, to this point, has been living a life in a state of
what is essentially, based on the definition provided by Camus in The Myth of Sisyphus,
diminished consciousness. It is not insignificant that his moment of awakening occurs
with the passing of an event that is both morally (murder) and physically (loud noise and
recoil) jarring. This is both a symbolic and literal awakening to the world around him.
Meursault was not in a state of total ignorance before this incident, however, the
problems he did perceive with the social constructs defining his world did not
inconvenience him at all until they led to his arrest and trial.
Thorson notes that Camus perceived three possible ways of dealing with
absurdity, such as that which is beginning to face Meursault. These are, “suicide, hope,
and living with it” (Thorson 287). As was already demonstrated, hope, for Camus, is
essentially philosophical suicide, and must be ruled out. Suicide in the literal sense is also
ruled out because it is an escape from the problem, rather than a solution. Thorson
contends that Camus believes that learning to accept the situation of absurdity is the only
way to truly attain happiness within society. This theory is corroborated within The Myth
of Sisyphus: “This universe henceforth without a master seems to him neither sterile nor
futile. Each atom of that stone, each mineral flake of that night filled mountain, in itself
52
�forms a world. The struggle itself toward the heights is enough to fill a man's heart” (The
Myth of Sisyphus). Clearly, Camus believes that there is great nobility in accepting
control over one’s fate, and in embracing absurdity rather than deluding oneself with
false hope, or running from the problem by way of suicide.
When the machinations of human justice begin to extend their hand over
Meursault, the alarming fallibility of this system becomes exposed. Though Camus has
still not fully converted Meursault into his ideal absurd man, he begins his social
commentary at the very outset of Part Two. During Meursault’s initial interrogation, the
Magistrate asks the accused if he has hired an attorney. Meursault asks why this is
necessary, noting that his case was “pretty simple” (Camus 63). Shortly after this, he is
visited by his state appointed lawyer, and asked not a single question about the murder of
the Arab, but instead about the emotions he felt on the day of his mother’s death. At the
end of the interrogation, Meursault even notes, “that none of this even had anything to do
with [his] case” (Camus 65). When Meursault relays what he recalls feeling, his lawyer is
displeased by his pragmatic answers, and asks if Meursault would be willing to tell the
jury that he had held back his true feelings during the preliminary hearing. Meursault
frankly says, “No, because it’s not true” (Camus 65). This refusal to lie represents the
dedication of absurdist existentialism to the truth. Camus does not condone self-deception
or deception of others for any purpose. The justice system is (ideally) aimed at
prosecuting and rehabilitating those who do wrong for the purpose of attaining retribution
for those victimized by criminals. During the eleven-month investigation, however, those
involved seem to temporarily forget that Meursault is a murderer, and treat him as a
friend. This hypocrisy catches Meursault off guard, but he soon becomes accustomed to
such treatment, “I was almost surprised that I had ever enjoyed anything other than those
rare moments when the judge would lead me to the door of his office, slap me on the
shoulder, and say to me cordially, ‘that’s all for today, Monsieur Antichrist’” (a clear
reference to Nietzsche) (Camus 71). The investigation that will inevitably lead to his
conviction placates Meursault and distances him from the reality of his situation. This
becomes a sort of metaphor for the ways in which the things human beings assign value
to distract them from the finite number of days they have to live.
Marie comes to visit Meursault in prison, and she tells him that he must have
hope. He appeases her by agreeing, when secretly, he realizes, “I wanted to squeeze her
shoulders through her dress. I wanted to feel the thin material and I didn’t really know
what else I had to hope for other than that” (Camus 75). Here, Meursault begins to
embrace the fate that has always existed, but that hasn’t yet been officially assigned to
him by the state. At the same time, Camus wishes for readers to note that his fate will be
53
�the same in the end no matter the court’s decision, given that Meursault is a mortal man.
This takes Meursault’s necessary absurdity to the next level; however, he has not reached
the apex of Camus’ existential absurdity. This is especially true during his later relapse
into western ideology where he hopes ardently that he will be able to escape and reform
the justice system that has failed him.
Finally, the day of his trial arrives. It is here that Camus’ absurd man evokes the
greatest sympathy in his readers. It is also here that Camus forces readers to recognize the
shortcomings of a system so relied upon for social structure. Instead of merely convicting
and sentencing him for the crime he admitted to committing, the court is dead set on
alienating him from society based on qualitatively, subjectively analyzed happenings
with no bearing on the true incident at hand (the murder of the nameless Arab). “For the
first time in years I had this stupid urge to cry, because I could feel how much all these
people hated me” (Camus 90). They do not hate him because he committed murder; they
hate him because he sees the world differently than they do. Camus would argue that he
is beginning to see the world for what it really is, in conjunction with Thorson’s process
of absurdist recognition referred to earlier. The jury does not find interest in anything
anyone has to say that will defend Meursault’s goodwill as a man; however, no defense
witness testimony was as detrimental to his case as that of Raymond. Meursault ends up
implicated in several of his friend’s minor crimes, and as a result, even though Raymond
is testifying in favor of Meursault, he ends up deprecating further his reputation with the
jury. Meursault recognizes that it was his choice to help Raymond, and that in this way he
has sealed his own fate. As the trial is reaching its conclusion, Meursault’s lawyer
becomes exasperated, and demands, “’is my client on trial for burying his mother or for
killing a man?’” (Camus 96). There is never a point throughout The Stranger that Camus
more sharply criticizes modern conventions of justice.
Camus notes that the nature of westernized justice systems essentially involves
the removal of the accused from the courtroom. It is as if the entire process is a charade.
Camus asserts through these criticisms that society, as a whole, is willing to exercise
superficial solutions to dissolve problems that run deep beneath its gilded surface.
Meursault finds it odd that his lawyer speaks in the first person as if he was the one on
trial, “I thought it was a way to exclude me even further from the case, reduce me to
nothing, and, in a sense, to substitute himself for me” (Camus 103). The contradiction
here is that even though the attorney places himself in Meursault’s shoes, it is still
Meursault that must eventually pay for his crime. As such, Camus seems to be stating
that it does not make sense to fill laws with exploitable loopholes requiring that the
accused acquire legal representation, but to approach the penal code with pragmatism
54
�foreign to the 20th century court system. Meursault is finally sentenced to death after a
trial that did not even offer retribution to the Arab or those close to him. In fact, there is
no mention that anyone that knew the Arab attended the judicial proceedings. Camus
symbolically notes that this death sentence does not alter Meursault’s individual fragment
of the human condition.
In addition to challenging the process by which social justice is attained, Camus
criticizes certain moral structures. Rather than attack morality as a whole, he chooses
Christianity to represent a general concept of the contrived conception of ethical
boundaries within western society. This criticism of Christianity and the narrowmindedness that it is characterized by is really only mentioned in Part Two, but becomes
important in supporting Camus’ attack on optimistic metaphysical theories. When
speaking to a clerk prior to his trial, Meursault informs him that he does not believe in
God. The clerk finds this to be particularly offensive and exclaims that all men believe in
God. He says, “that is [my] belief and if [I] were ever to doubt it, [my] life would become
meaningless” (Camus 69). He accuses Meursault of attempting to remove meaning from
his life, to which Meursault laughably remarks that it has nothing to do with him. The
second time Christianity is called into question is during an altercation between
Meursault and the prison chaplain. It is the disconnect of this world order that makes
Meursault finally abandon all hope of escaping his fate. Prior to this incident, the
protagonist is forced into a period of introspection that forces him to believe that he
might escape prison, and hence, execution. “What really counted was the possibility of
escape, a leap to freedom, out of the implacable ritual, a wild run for it that would give
whatever chance for hope there was” (Camus 109). He thinks that if he could possibly
evade his punishment, he would “reform the penal code. [he] realized that the most
important thing was to give the condemned man a chance” (Camus 111). This reveals
Camus’ sympathy for the absurd man working against the machinations of social reform.
This is representative of the aporia that faces human beings attempting to understand and
give order to a world that is in fact indefinable and arbitrary. The chaplain enters his cell,
after Meursault refuses to see him, and the two engage in a heated argument about
religion. During said confrontation, the chaplain refuses to accept that Meursault does not
believe in a benevolent otherworldly force. This debate serves as a catalyst that finally
completes Meursault’s metamorphosis into Camus’ absurd man, stating that it was “as if
that blind rage had washed me clean, rid me of hope; for the first time in that night alive
with signs and stars, I opened myself to the gentle indifference of the world” (Camus
122). At the novel’s conclusion, Meursault has recognized and chosen to accept the fact
that the universe is absurd, and that the only thing that matters is his life on Earth.
55
�Camus encourages readers to sympathize with his protagonist’s condition,
however, he does not wish to fully excuse him either. He fully understands the value of
human life, and is not by any means a nihilist. As Thorson relays in his article regarding
Camus’ induction as a political philosopher it is important to note, “everything is not
permitted and that the absurd carries within itself what Camus calls ‘limits’” (Thorson
288). Since Meursault kills a man, he is by no means seen as innocent, however, his trial
and punishment are seen as equally abhorrent. This ethical commentary is best
represented by Meursault’s commitment to the fate of the condemned, and the story he
relays about his father’s observation of a murderer’s execution. “Just the thought of going
had made him sick to his stomach. But he went anyway, and when he came back he spent
half the morning throwing up. I remember feeling a little disgusted by him at the time.
But now I understood, it was perfectly normal” (Camus 110). Meursault notes that
society’s execution of any man, no matter how guilty was something to be nauseated by.
Thorson observes of Camus’ moral code regarding execution that “Society has no right to
kill in the absence of absolute certainty, first, that it possesses a metaphysical or religious
right to do so, and second, that there is no possible doubt in a particular case that there is
no error of legal judgment” (Thorson 290). Conversely, in her article entitled “The
Philosophical Camus,” Jane Duran astutely notes that Camus would have agreed that
“hiding behind a set ethics or, as Kierkegaard did, a religious view, constitutes a sort of
bad faith in that it is a refusal to recognize fully one’s predicament” (Duran 369). So, yes,
Camus would say that Meursault did wrong by violating a principle so sacred as the
taking of a human life, but he would also say that his trial was defined by an error of legal
judgment, and that his punishment was as a result, unjust and in violation of certain
principles that should never be violated.
Duran goes on to say that ‘‘Camus is concerned to alleviate suffering in the here
and now’’ (Duran 367) His version of morality seeks to eliminate suffering of the
individual, especially when it is caused by society’s tendency toward faulty logic based in
lofty, unsubstantiated metaphysics. This idea is supported in The Stranger when
Meursault considers the ways in which he would reform the penal code. He notes that
even if one in one thousand condemned men were given a chance, he would have made a
worthwhile difference.
So it seemed to me that you could come up with a mixture of chemicals that if
ingested by the patient (that’s the word I’d use: ‘‘patient’’) would kill him nine
times out of ten. For by giving it some hard thought, by considering the whole
thing calmly, I could see that the trouble with the guillotine was that you had no
chance at all… (Camus 111)
56
�Even though the guillotine (and its finality) later come to represent the fact that no human
being has the chance of escaping life alive, Camus admits that eliminating immediate
individual suffering should be a definite ethical goal.
Clearly, throughout The Stranger, Meursault comes to be Camus’ absurd man,
eventually fitting all the qualifications set forth in The Myth of Sisyphus. Once
established as such, Camus is able to make a case not only for his particular brand of
th
st
absurdist existentialism, but also one against 20 and 21 century abstractions of justice
and religious morality. What emerges from this critique is an intentionally ambiguous set
of ethics aimed at alleviating immediate suffering from the life of the individual, and a
marked condemnation of any contrived metaphysics aimed toward an ascetic ideal for the
purpose of salvation.
Works Cited
Camus, Albert. “Albert Camus: ‘The Myth of Sisyphus’.” SCCS. Swarthmore. 21 April
2009. <http://www.sccs.swarthmore.edu/users/00/pwillen1/lit/msysip.htm>.
Camus, Albert. The Stranger. New York: Random House, 1988.
Duran, Jane. “The Philosophical Camus”, The Philosophical Forum, Inc 4th ser. 38
(2007): 365-71.
Thorson, Thomas L. “Albert Camus and the Rights of Man”, Ethics 74 (1964): 281-91.
57
�Robert Johnson: More Than The Crossroads
Jonathan Pigno (English)1
Blues music has often been the subject of folklore and urban myths throughout
American history. Tales of the supernatural, paranormal, and even downright fantastic
accounts of black magic or demonic evocations have become intertwined with the very
genre itself. This sentiment can be traced down to one legend in particular – that of
Robert Johnson selling his soul to the devil at a Mississippi crossroads. Most likely, the
story of Robert Johnson’s contract with evil is a byproduct of circumstance in a
tumultuous era for African-Americans rather than superstition. Spawning decades worth
of speculation and remaining the most influential blues to date, Johnson’s music
impacted guitar greats such as Eric Clapton, Keith Richards, and Jimmy Page. Instead of
illustrating this artistic dominance as the result of an infernal pact, it’s necessary to
convey a holistic picture of Johnson’s life to better comprehend why such a legend would
arise. Through this broader scope, it’s clear to see that Johnson was a human being with
frailties and needs that just so happened to retain an unprecedented genius which would
give birth to numerous milestones in the recording industry.
A man of the times, Robert sought solace, freedom, and musical expression as a
means of making a living. Before anyone could begin to question the validity of his
infamous deal, they must look toward the setting of his life. Born near Hazelhurst,
Mississippi in 1911, Johnson was brought into this world in a locale of extreme poverty
and unrest. The Mississippi Delta was known for post-Civil War violence and radical
demonstrations of prejudice, including lynchings and imposed labor. Concentrated
mostly of African-Americans, it created a distinct atmosphere for cultural growth,
steeped in the roots of yesteryear while allowing a whole new generation of children to
break tradition. Many of Johnson’s contemporaries neglected their unfortunate work as
sharecroppers, seeking to acquire money at what they enjoyed rather than what was
imposed. This is most likely due to the fact that modernization quickly reached the
Delta. The region needed to be cultivated, so high hopes and great wages were promised
to black farmers in exchange for their labor. Eventually, many of these same workers
would move north, to Chicago, and abandon the Southern lifestyle.
1
Written under the direction of Dr. Rita Reynolds (History) for HI100: Who Owns
History?
58
�This only encouraged progress. Transportation was decent and music from
urban centers reached these communities quick, beginning the influence that would
eventually give birth to electric blues. According to author and blues historian Elijah
Wald, “In the 1930’s, jukeboxes arrived in many of the local bars…It was already clear,
though, that the rural lifestyle was fading…Hot on their heels came the generation that
would electrify their music and turn it into the toughest roots sound on the urban
landscape.”2 As such, Johnson’s acoustic work is all the more poignant. Bridging the gap
between youthful innovation and antiquated ritual, Robert utilized his aspirations as the
son of sharecroppers as inspiration in songwriting. This was in clear contrast to his quest
for fame in big cities, but also explicitly tied to upbringing in the Delta.
Perhaps it is here that Robert Johnson’s crossroads legend begins to formulate in
the mind of a suspended-generation musician. Robert was known for having familial
issues and a distaste for authority from the very beginning. The illegitimate son of Julia
Dodds, married to a maker of wicker furniture by the same last name, he found solace in
music and isolation more than others his age. He was often seen playing harmonica or
building a rudimentary string instrument on the sides of wooden homes rather than
working like his peers. Education never seemed to be a priority and home was not
isolated to one particular place. Robert traveled with his mother around the Southern
region, forcibly removed from Mississippi after Charles Dodds was run out of town and
took on the last name of Spencer after moving to Memphis. This was on account of a
feud with prominent community figures in Hazelhurst, and Dodds’s other children were
brought one by one to their father over the course of a few years once things died down.
Robert was still excluded from this mix, and took on an identity of his own. According to
author and historian Peter Guralnick, “Robert is said to have taken on the name Johnson
as a teenager, when he learned who his real father was, but he didn’t get along with his
stepfather in any case.”3 Thus begins Robert’s personal journey in the blues.
If there was any person who understood what the blues meant, it most certainly
was Johnson. Despite being ostracized from his family, neglecting steady employment,
and growing fond of music in a locale filled with influence, Robert fell in love and
married early on in life. He wed his sixteen year old wife in 1930, after moving to
Robinsonville where his mother and new stepfather, Dusty Willis, now resided. By many
accounts, Robert was truly in love and desired to have a family of his own but this was
tragically cut short. His wife died soon in childbirth, leaving Robert deeply saddened and
2
Wald,Elijah. Escaping the Delta: Robert Johnson and the Invention of the Blues. (New
York: HarperCollins, 2004), 88-90.
3
Guralnick, Peter. Searching For Robert Johnson. (New York: Penguin Group, 1989), 12.
59
�bitter. Alone with nothing to turn to, he wholly embraced the blues and attempted to
master the guitar which he had taken an affinity toward. It is at this point in Robert’s
legacy that things grew exceedingly hazy.
Though he would marry again, Johnson began exhibiting traits that were
increasingly suspicious. Besides the gossip of denouncing God and further family
troubles, Robert disappeared for a short time and most likely honed his musical skills far
in the Delta. Fellow musicians Johnny Shines and Son House were living in the area at
the same time, and remember seeing him perform on guitar prior to the aforementioned
exile. They often mocked and thought little of his skill, which was confirmed by House to
be rather poor. Hence, it is during this mysterious period that the mystical transformation
from novice to master happened overnight. Elijah Wald mentions that “House recalled
that Johnson was only away for about six months”4 before he came back and blew
audiences away with an unparalleled skill that was scarily impressive. Guralnick also
makes note of this scenario, writing about the spread of the crossroads story and a Satanic
deal rumored to be the root of another Delta musician's prominence as well – Tommy
Johnson. Though unrelated (except coincidentally in name), Tommy’s story echoed
Robert’s closely, and stirred controversy in the community of musicians that included
mentor Son House and friend Johnny Shines. Guralnick states, “Many stories have been
advanced to account for such sudden proficiency in the blues…Tommy, who like Robert
went off from home scarcely able to play the guitar, came back an accomplished
musician.”5
Proclaiming to the Delta he had sold his soul to the devil, Tommy Johnson
indirectly laid the groundwork for Robert to capitalize on the myth and reap its rewards
with abundant talent to back such a claim. Who can blame him? Due to the horrendous
economic and social conditions imposed upon African Americans, Johnson eventually
outsmarted his oppressors and fellow victims alike with a tall tale for the ages. This is
crucial in understanding why the crossroads legend is more than superstition and remains
a significant example of historical circumstance. It completely ushered in Johnson’s call
to fame, while single-handedly affirming the musician a spot in urban folklore for
generations to come – all supported by the foundations of Robert’s uncanny genius.
According to Guralnick, “That was the beginning…of Robert’s travels and his life as a
4
Wald, Elijah. Escaping the Delta: Robert Johnson and the Invention of the Blues. (New
York: HarperCollins, 2004), 110.
5
Guralnick, Peter. Searching For Robert Johnson. (New York: Penguin Group, 1989),
17-18.
60
�professional musician…Johnson had the entertainer’s gift of establishing an almost
instant rapport with his audience as well as with his peers.”6
It was also this enigmatic persona that eventually led to Johnson’s untimely
downfall. Living and dying the blues, Robert achieved fame in conjunction with
exploiting his musical ability for guilty pleasures of all sorts. This behavior was common
for bluesmen. Evangelical preachers and followers of radical religious sects linked the
genre to sin, as it was a means of exorcising inner demons through raw emotional
expression. Sexually charged dancing, drinking, and other vices were seen as hand in
hand with the music. Therefore, it was not unusual for these artists to lead troubled lives
filled with turmoil and questionable activity.
Lyrics reflected this sentiment as well, and Robert is no exception. Many of his
songs retain allusions to unabashed sexuality and flirtations with the devil that
continually affirmed his crossroads pact. Historian Marybeth Hamilton particularly
discusses these instances in her essay “Sexuality, Authenticity and the Making of the
Blues Tradition”, commenting on Johnson’s mysterious track, “Stones In My Passway.”
She writes, “The images of impotence strewn through the song – the passway as the
body, the stones as sexual collapse – work subtly and insistently to evoke a more
amorphous horror…”7 Considering Robert’s lifestyle, the thematic elements within the
piece are not surprising. However, they do offer an insight into Johnson’s ego and desire
for intimacy that was often temporary in the life of a traveling blues musician. With the
death of his young wife in mind, one can only feel sympathy toward his plight as
expressed through the music.
Robert left his mark on history by stepping into the recording studio. In 1936,
Johnson was discovered by those seeking talent from regional artists. He was brought to
Texas to record and soon released his first single, “Terraplane Blues” on a double-sided
LP (with “Kind-Hearted Woman Blues” on the other half). It was a hit back home and
sold 5,000 copies. In 1937, he was brought back to Texas for a final recording session
with the Vocalion label. It is from these sessions that Johnson reveals most about himself,
but not without a price. The “rambling” that Robert was so accustomed to finally
overwhelmed the talented young man. Before the recordings were released, Johnson was
killed on August 16, 1938. He was poisoned by a jealous husband through a spiked
6
Guralnick, Peter. Searching For Robert Johnson. (New York: Penguin Group, 1989),
18-19.
7
Hamilton, Marybeth. "Sexuality, Authenticity and the Making of the Blues Tradition."
Past and Present November, no. 169 (2000): 135-136.
61
�alcoholic beverage. Robert’s affinity for womanizing, drinking, and the fast lifestyle
finally took its toll.
Sadly and ironically, he was sought out for more record deals and even a chance
to play Carnegie Hall with other blues artists after his passing. Such high praises didn’t
end there – Johnson would continue to be hailed as the greatest Delta musician that lived,
outshining his elders Son House and Charlie Patton. Rock and roll acts from the 1960’s
forward would cite his music as their most lasting inspirations, with guitar greats Eric
Clapton and Jimmy Page introducing his raw, desperate sound to a new generation of
fans. On the academic front, scholars continue to piece together the fragments of his life
to get a final portrait no one is still able to seize. Are these all on account of the infamous
crossroads?
Apparently, some bizarre occurrences have coincided with Johnson’s “deal.”
These seem to coincide strictly with blues-inspired musicians and those within close
proximity to the supposed scene of the crime. Bessie Smith, the famous blues performer,
was killed right around Clarksdale, Mississippi on Highway 61 – supposedly in close
proximity to Robert’s site. Eric Clapton, Lynyrd Skynyrd and The Allman Brothers
Band, who are enamored with Johnson, have also experienced horrible situations in their
life. Even actor Morgan Freeman was in a severe car accident this summer on Highway
61 near Clarksdale (he happens to own a blues club as well). The legend has also
inspired great art. Bob Dylan acknowledges and fears the story, going as far as to name
one of his most famous albums after it (Highway 61 Revisited).
Most likely, Johnson’s story was crafted by the man himself for notoriety and
gossip in a tumultuous era for African-Americans. Performers always have publicity
stunts, and Robert certainly wasn’t an exception. He would have been hard pressed to
make something of himself in such difficult circumstances without a haunting or
enigmatic tale. He was also always musically gifted, and it is largely believed that an
unrecorded blues guitarist in the Delta region tutored him in masterful fretwork after the
death of his wife. Either way, it is important to remember that the legend should be
respected and treated as a testimony to Johnson’s amazing gift. You can either believe the
legend or not, but it remains an essential facet to American musical history and should
not be taken lightly.
62
�Works Cited
Bennighof, James. “Some Ramblings on Robert Johnson’s Mind: Critical Analysis and
Aesthetic Value in Delta Blues”, American Music 15, no. 2 (Summer 1997): 137-158.
Guralnick, Peter. Searching For Robert Johnson. New York: Penguin Group, 1989.
Hamilton, Marybeth. “Sexuality, Authenticity and the Making of the Blues Tradition”,
Past and Present November, no. 169 (2000): 132-160.
Wald, Elijah. Escaping the Delta: Robert Johnson and the Invention of the Blues. New
York: HarperCollins, 2004.
63
�A Power and Masculinity Perspective on Domestic Violence
Mary Beth Somich (Psychology and Sociology)1
Domestic violence within intimate relationships has long been a significant
issue affecting the lives of millions of women. As men are the primary perpetrators of
domestic violence and abuse, the key to understanding why they commit such violent acts
is essential. In accordance with the feminist interpretation of domestic violence, there is
significant evidence to conclude that male perpetrated violence within intimate
relationships, heterosexual or homosexual, is a socially constructed phenomenon.
Additional explanations focused on alcoholism, learned social behavior, etc, have been
explored, yet, time and time again, socially constructed notions of power, control and
masculinity dominate research. The ways in which males are socialized in modern day
life are within the framework of hegemonic masculinity, which stresses that males must
be strong and in control. It also enforces the idea that men should be the sole
breadwinners in the family. Possessing control over one’s environment, one’s self, and
one’s intimate partner is a way of demonstrating masculinity for most men in
contemporary society (Umberson & Anderson & Williams & Chen, 2003, p. 236). When
the control is lost, men tend to utilize violence to regain it, and thus, regain their
masculinity. Thus, “men who are domestically violent are those who most dramatically
demonstrate cultural images of masculinity” (Umberson et al, 2003, p. 235). This in
mind, one may conclude that the reasons why men are the primary perpetrators of
domestic violence within intimate partnerships, heterosexual or homosexual, are largely
related to socially constructed notions of power and masculinity.
There are numerous definitions of domestic violence, yet, the most suitable and
all-encompassing is “any behavior that is intended to control and subjugate another
human being through the use of fear, humiliation, and verbal or physical assaults...the
systematic persecution of one partner by another” (Berry, 2000, p.1). Annually, six
million women in the United States alone, are on the receiving end of such violence
(Johnson, 1995, p. 283). This is not to say that this statistic has not risen in the almost
fifteen years since it was originally noted. Many of these six million women are not just
dealing with any form of domestic abuse, but a specific form, patriarchal terrorism.
1
Written under the direction of Dr. Jean Halley (Sociology) for the Freshman Learning
Community: Making Privilege Visible: Seeing Power in Race, Class and Gender.
64
�Patriarchal terrorism is “a product of patriarchal traditions of men’s right to control
“their” women...” (Johnson, 1995, p. 284). No other kind of abuse shows the emphasis of
control, power, and masculinity as precisely as patriarchal terrorism. Perpetrators of
patriarchal terrorism may be greatly influenced by societal institutions such as church or
the military, that reflect gendered, patriarchal values (Haugen & Glassman &Szumski &
Cothran, 2005, p.69). Keeping a woman in her place is the unfortunate focus of a
patriarchal terrorist.
Historical notions of gender tell males that being a man means holding the
power in the relationship. For super-hegemonic males, being considered masculine often
entails control over women even if violence becomes “necessary” to maintain that control
(Umberson & Anderson & Gluck & Shapiro, 1998, p. 445). This speaks volumes about
male gender expectations. Although violence is generally seen as unacceptable in our
culture, men who cherish values of Western society see it as a means to enforce those
values, including male dominance, aggressiveness, and female subordination (Dobash
and Dobash, as cited in Dutton, 2006, p. 96). Men know that violence is wrong, but when
their masculinity is jeopardized, society has taught them that it is acceptable to carry out
violence in order to maintain it. What kind of messages does this send about Western
culture? When culture has fueled the thought that males can carry out terrible acts against
their wives, girlfriends, or partners in order to maintain their superiority, there are serious
gender inequality issues stemming from power and control.
Everyone, regardless of sex, feels the need to have some form of personal
control. Yet, for men, this personal control is directly related to their masculinity.
Personal control is defined as “the belief that one’s own intentions and behaviors can
impose control over one’s environment” (Umberson & Anderson & Gluck & Shapiro,
1998, p. 442). Traditionally, hegemonic males are expected to hide their emotions.
Personal control involves monitoring emotions and holding them inside. When personal
control is lost, often times, instead of crying like a “weak” man would, a male may be
violent and physical, because this way, he can express himself without jeopardizing his
masculinity (Umberson & Anderson & Williams & Chen, 2003, p. 234). At certain times,
violence is more likely to occur than others because of this feeling of lost control. When a
woman threatens to separate or divorce her boyfriend or spouse, the potentially affected
male feels a stronger sense of threat and is more likely to commit domestically violent
acts (Umberson & Anderson & Gluck & Shapiro, 1998, p. 444). To a male perpetrator, a
woman is seen as inferior, and the fact that this inferior person may have the power to
leave, signals to the male that he is losing power, and thus, must reinstate it.
65
�A man’s occupation or lack thereof also affects his perception of his
masculinity. Our culture has enforced the idea that men should be out in the workforce
and women should stay at home and tend to the children and housework. Television
shows such as Leave it to Beaver, and The Brady Bunch reinforce this concept. If those
are outdated, there is also Seventh Heaven or The Simpsons. Studies have shown that
when men do not live up to the ideal as sole “breadwinner” in the family, violence is
more likely to occur because they feel as if their traditionally masculine roles are not
being upheld (Melzer, 2002, p. 281). Such feelings of insecurity worsen when a man is
not employed at all.
Statistics show that men who are unemployed against their will “are 50% more
likely to be violent against female partners” (Melzer, 2002, p.830). Fifty percent is a very
large statistic, signifying how strongly men feel about employment as a component of
masculinity. MacMillan & Gartner (1999), found that “the effect of a woman’s
employment on her risk of spousal violence is conditioned by the employment status of
her partner” (p. 947). This means that a man may not be threatened by his wife’s
employment if he holds a much higher and more profitable position than she. Yet, if she
begins to rise above him in means of wages, he then begins to have a problem with her
employment status. Women who make 67% or more of the income in a heterosexual
relationship face a 93% increase in their chances of experiencing domestic violence
(Melzer, 2002, p. 828). This is an astonishing statistic with regards to males feeling the
need to be foremost contributers to the partnership’s income. Wouldn’t it be accurate to
think that a woman’s employment would help and not harm a male partner’s emotional
and mental state? Surely, it would take some stress off from him. It is amazing to find
that men do not want all of that stress relieved, and if they feel that their wives are
becoming too financially independent, they are threatened instead of exonerated
(MacMillan & Gartner, 1999, p. 947). This phenomenon shows that our culture has a
perception of masculinity that tells men they need to be the sole breadwinners, and that
woman should be dependent upon them.
The type of work men do can also lead them to be more violent as compared to
others. Physically violent occupations such as the military, police force, etc., teach men
that violence is an appropriate way to solve conflict, therefore, the men sometimes bring
this mindset back and utilize it in their homes the way they do in the workplace (Melzer,
2002, p. 822). Their social environments teach them that violence is an acceptable way to
sort out disagreement, and they see no distinction between the workplace and the home,
where mediated problem-solving would work best instead of violence. Physically violent
occupations are not the only ones that are male-dominated. Observing other male-
66
�dominated fields is also educational with respect to domestic violence rates. Managerial
positions have long been male-dominated, and continue to be. Yet, men who hold
managerial positions are 43% less likely than men in physically violent occupations to
use violence against their intimate partner (Melzer, 2002, p. 827). Surely, this is because
their ways of solving conflict are more likely to be talked through and discussed rather
than handled physically.
It not solely male-dominated occupations that show high levels of violence, but
on the contrary, men in female-dominated occupations follow closely behind (Melzer,
2002, p. 823). Being employed as a nurse, teacher, secretary, etc., means being immersed
into a female-dominated arena. Men who serve in such occupations are seen as not being
traditionally masculine, and may be looked at differently for their career choice. Not only
is their masculinity questioned outside the workplace, but possibly, within it as well
(Melzer, 2002, p. 830). It is not unlikely to assume that the majority of a man’s fellow
colleagues in a female-dominated occupation are women, and that he is immersed into a
feminine culture within the workplace. After a long day at work, a man working in a
female-dominated occupation may feel the need to affirm his masculinity in the home,
because he lacks the opportunity to do so at work (Melzer, 2002, p. 823). This testimony
of manhood is likely to be in the form of intimate partner violence. Asserting control and
power over another is a key component of masculinity that a man in such a position may
enact upon in order to prove that his masculine identity should not be questioned despite
his traditionally feminine career choice.
Notions of power, control, and masculinity are not solely applicable to
heterosexual relationships. Gay men are raised in the same culture as straight men, and
thus, receive the same messages about masculinity. Although they are often more
feminine than straight men, they too are acutely aware of ways in which masculinity is
commonly expressed, one of which is violence. Therefore, it is not surprising that
intimate gay relationships and intimate heterosexual relationships are not so dissimilar
when it comes to domestic violence. One would think that a gay partnership would be
more egalitarian and therefore, decrease chances of domestic violence because both
members of the relationship are male. Yet, this is untrue. As of 1998, approximately
350,000-650,000 homosexual men in the United States were affected by domestic
violence perpetrated by their partners (Cruz & Firestone, 1998, p. 159). This statistic goes
to show that men in gay partnerships are undoubtedly affected by domestic violence.
Traditionally, the straight, hegemonic male keeps his distance from anything that may
associate him with seeming feminine. Yet, gay males rarely keep this distance and
embrace femininity. Due to socially constructed notions of masculinity and a struggle to
67
�be comfortable with their sexuality in a society that is not always supportive, they have
conflicting ideas about what it means to be a homosexual male. Cruz and Firestone
(1998), argue that a gay males internalized homophobia and insecurity about their
rejection from society may be what leads them to take out their frustrations on their
partner (p. 161). It is not solely heterosexual men that feel the need to establish power
and control within their intimate relationships, but gay men as well. When gay men who
were victims of domestic violence by their partners were interviewed and asked how they
would define domestic violence or abuse, all responses mentioned the perpetrator’s need
to feel a sense of control over them (Cruz & Firestone, 1998, p. 164). This is an example
of a parallel between heterosexual and homosexual violence. One of the men interviewed
quoted:
Men are conditioned to be the ones who are in charge of a relationship and the
ones who make all the calls. And so when you get two men in a relationship
together, they both expect that power and I think a lot of men don’t know any
other way to get that power except to hit whomever they’re with. Too much
testosterone! (Cruz & Firestone, 1998, p. 166).
His quote perfectly describes the dynamic within a gay relationship. It also gives readers
a look into how men lack knowledge about how to instate their power through any other
means besides physical violence, or hitting. Society has taught men that they can be the
one in control of the relationship, assuming the other partner is female. Yet, when the
other person is male, a serious conflict arises, which could be the cause for the drastically
high rates of domestic violence within the gay community.
Taking a thorough look into contemporary American culture and what it means
to be a man in society, gives insight into why men turn to violence when they feel as if
they lack power or control in an intimate relationship. Additional influences such as
occupation and sexuality also affect the probability of a male being violent because
society has deemed particular jobs and sexual practices masculine, and others
unacceptable for a “real man.” Because the link between violence, control and
masculinity is so immersed into culture, many men do not even realize what they are
doing is wrong. Lydia Martinez, a member of the New York City Police Department
spoke about male perpetrators of domestic violence she had dealt with in the past, stating
“They do have rigid, stereotypical thinking about men’s and women’s roles and feel it is
their male right. Often they are stunned when they are arrested” (McCue, 1995, p.108).
When a society has historically shown examples of “putting a woman in her place”
without punishment, it is not a far reaching thought to presume men may be confused
when punished. In the minds of the men Ms. Martinez was speaking of, they were just
68
�showing off their masculinity. Educating men about the consequences of perpetrating an
act of domestic violence is only a small step in the right direction. We must focus on
embracing sexuality and women’s emergence into the workplace. It is not until culture
moves toward gender equality and open-mindedness that there will be a significant
change in violent actions committed by men toward their intimate partners.
Works Cited
Berry, B.B. (2000). The Domestic Violence Sourcebook. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.
Cruz, J. and Firestone, J. (1998). “Exploring Violence and Abuse in Gay Male
Relationships”, Violence and Victims, 13(2), 159-173.
Dutton, D. G. (2006). Rethinking Domestic Violence. Vancouver, BC: UBS Press.
Haugen, D., Glassman, B., Szumski, B., & Cothran, H. (2005). Domestic Violence:
Opposing Viewpoints. Farmington Hills, MI: Greenhaven Press.
Johnson, M. (1995). “Patriarchal Terrorism and Common Couple Violence: Two Forms
of Violence Against Women”, Journal of Marriage & the Family, 57(2), 283-294.
MacMillan, R. and Gartner, R. “When She Brings Home the Bacon: Labor-Force
Participation and the Risk of Spousal Violence Against Women”, Journal of Marriage
and Family, 61(4), 947-958.
McCue, M. L. (1995). Domestic Violence. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, Inc.
Melzer, S. (2002). “Gender, Work, and Intimate Violence: Men's Occupational Violence
Spillover and Compensatory Violence”, Journal of Marriage and Family, 64(4), 820832.
Umberson, D., Anderson, K., Glick, J., & Shapiro, A. (1998). “Domestic Violence,
Personal Control, and Gender”, Journal of Marriage and Family, 60 (2), 442-452.
Umberson, D., Anderson, K., Williams, K., & Chen, M. (2003). “Relationship Dynamics,
Emotion State, and Domestic Violence: A Stress and Masculinities Perspective”, Journal
of Marriage and Family, 65(1), 233-247.
69
�The Instability of Language: A Clockwork Orange
Jessica Verderosa (English)1
Anthony Burgess’s novel A Clockwork Orange can be insightfully inspected
through deconstruction criticism. The nightmarish story of a teenage criminal who
undergoes torture by the government in order to be “redeemed,” the book contains many
deconstructive elements to be deciphered. Divided into three parts, it settles heavily on
the idea of performativity: each section opens up with the very same line; the reader
comes to expect the events that followed the initial time it was spoken, but is shocked by
how context changes its meaning. The very definitions of evil and good are also explored
throughout the text, breaking down the idea of binary opposites, or polar opposites, and
proving that there can even been traces of wickedness found in the righteous.
The central focus of deconstructive criticism is that language is truly a fluid,
unstable, and ambiguous entity, rather than the steady, consistent, reliable tool human
beings often assume it to be. Without even being consciously aware, people have based
their lives on the existence of language, interpreting the world around them through
words and sentences and phrases. This reliance has become so embedded into the human
psyche that language has erroneously been labeled a dependable force. “Because we are
so used to the everyday patterns and rituals in which language seems to work the way we
want it to,” Tyson asserts, “we assume that it is by nature a stable and reliable means of
communicating our thoughts, feelings, and wishes.” (250) One has grown so accustomed
to his or her personal manipulation of language, that he or she has come to believe that
language always means whatever one thinks it does.
The deconstruction theory, however, serves to unravel these mistaken beliefs. Its
foundation lays on the notion that language is forever indistinct and evolving, its meaning
changing due to context or different perspective. A main object of deconstruction is the
idea of performativity—that the same sentence can have a very separate interpretation
depending on what situation the phrase is taking place in. Oftentimes, the connotations
behind language are associated with the environment in which the words are being said,
the personal history of the speaker, and the personal perceptions of the listener.
Deconstruction fortifies this notion that language’s meaning is malleable due to various
contexts in its description of the chain of signifiers.
1
Written under the direction of Dr. Christopher Hogarth (English) for EN212: Intro to
Literary Analysis and Theory.
70
�The chain of signifiers can be linked back to the structuralist belief that
communication is broken into two categories: the signifier, or the sound, image, gesture,
or word, and the signified, or the “concept to which the signifier refers.” (Tyson 251)
Basically, the signifier is the symbol that a person uses to communicate something, and
the signified is the literal thing that is being communicated. Jacques Derrida, the
originator of deconstruction theory, however, disagrees with structuralist criticism’s neat
and simple theory. “According to Derrida,” Dyndahl describes in his article, Music
Education in the Sign of Deconstruction “the status of linguistic sign is decentered, that
is, it is separated from any stable meaning. A state in which all signs continuously change
meaning in relation to other signs which are also in a state of motion suggests, then, that
signs determine what can be thought and not the other way around.” (127) Derrida claims
that while communication does include a signifier, there is no true existence of a solid
and permanent signified. Since every person’s perception of something is slightly
different, every individual will associate a given signifier with different experiences and
memories. Instead of an exact and universal signified, personal belief and remembrance
will create a chain of one signifier setting off another signifier, or whatever word, sound,
image, or gesture we have come to associate with whatever thing is in question. (Tyson
252) Therefore, a concept is truly nothing more than “all the chains of signifiers we have
come to associate [with a something] over the course of our lives.” In this way, language
cannot be viewed as a stable and stationary body, but something that fluctuates from
person to person. Dyndahl accurately explains, “All language is metaphorical, including
that which we perceive as direct, literal, or neutral, as it all comprises conventional or
dead metaphors.” (129) Language can never refer to actual entities in the world because it
is based entirely on one’s perceptions, and one’s perception is constantly changing due to
different experiences.
This idea of performativity, or sentences that change due to shifting situations,
can be clearly shown in Anthony Burgess’s A Clockwork Orange. An account of a
horrific teenage criminal, Alex, and the state’s shocking efforts to “make him good,” the
very opening of the novel is a line that is repeated throughout the story: “What’s it going
to be then, eh?” (3) Upon the beginning of this book, the reader knows absolutely nothing
of the characters or the context of this statement. The mind is a blank slate, but
immediately begins to absorb thoughts and signifiers as one learns the whereabouts of the
situation. One immediately discovers that the speaker is the protagonist Alex, and that he
is proposing what he and his friends should do for the night. The reader is then forced to
endure Alex’s brutal descriptions of what they do for entertainment. They harass an old
man by forcefully grabbing and tearing at his library books, then commencing to
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�savagely beat him. Even more horrendous than this, Alex reveals to the reader how they
then don masks and trick a women into opening her door to them; they enter only to
destroy the work of a writer living there, violently assault him, and have Alex brutally
rape his wife before his very eyes. The scenes are described in disconcerting “nasdat” or
teenage slang, yet at the same time are absolutely vivid in their terror—the reader is
automatically left with an extreme amount of revulsion, disgust, and dread linked to this
initial inquiry.
Yet upon the beginning of Part Two of the novel, the very same question is
again brought up: “What’s it going to be then, eh?” (85) Immediately, the mind of the
reader associates this line with the events that happened the last time it was spoken: stark,
repulsive scenes of attack, theft, and rape. One acts due to his or her chain of signifiers,
connecting the signifier that is this statement with the events that unfurled in the last
section of the book, cringing and awaiting the horror. But as the scene continues, the
reader soon discovers that the sentence has a completely different meaning and
connotation, as it is in an entirely new context. Rather than adolescent teenagers
discussing violence and plunder, the speaker is now an aged priest, asking an imprisoned
Alex and other criminals alike what sort of moral decisions they will make in life. “I was
in the Wing Chapel,” Alex informs the reader, “it being Sunday morning, and the prison
Charlie was govoreeting the Word of the Lord.” (87) While the reader has associated that
inquiry with crime, and looked on it in dread, the new situation completely changes its
meaning—from something of horror, to the pious message of a priest attempting to
preach reform.
Finally, the same line is again asserted at the conclusion of the novel, in a
manner that is very similar to its opening: “What’s its going to be then, eh?” an older
Alex announces to his “three droogs, that is Len, Rick, and Bully.” (200) Again, the
reader finds Alex with a group of carousing youths; again, the reader winces in the
expected impact of terrible and violating spectacles. The chain of signifiers has already
tied this scene to the previous similar one, making one associate the inquiry with the
nastiness and violence of the opening chapter. But once more, performativity and context
changes everything: when the reader delves deeper into the text, he or she discovers that
Alex has now grown worn and exhausted of his rambunctious days of crime. Although
the entire environment seems the same, Alex eradicates former connotations by stating
despondently, “but what was the matter with me these days was that I didn’t like care
much. It was like something soft getting into me and I could not pony why. What I
wanted these days I did not know.” (206) Alex has become tired and bored with the
horrors he commits; he is apathetic and hopeless. Instead of crime, Alex ends up
72
�wandering down nighttime streets and coming to the conclusion that he is now too old for
the bloody behavior of yesterday. Shockingly enough, he decides that he must find a wife
and start a family, as he is no longer a child. His prior violence is something only the
youth can find entertainment in. The starting line of the chapter is transformed from what
he should do with his evening to what he should do with his life. Once more, language is
changeable and does not give one the correct interpretation: due to performativity and
chain of signifiers, one expects the violence of prior chapters, only to realize that the
situation is now completely different.
Another important notion of deconstruction is the idea of binary oppositions.
Again taken from the framework of structuralist criticism, binary oppositions explains
how people “tend to conceptualize experience in terms of polar opposites.” (Tyson 254)
Human beings comprehend and understand something only by contrasting it to something
else; one realizes that the color red is in fact red because it is separate from blue or green.
(253) Much like the idea of the signifier and the signified, however, Derrida again
expands on the structuralist notion. In deconstruction, binary oppositions are said to
create a sort of hierarchy in language, programmed by ideologies: one of the binary
opposites is privileged over its polar opposite. Deconstruction then seeks to break down
these apparent differences by proving that the two binary opposites are in fact more
similar than ideologically believed. In his article, Dyndahl explains how “instead of
accepting a hierarchical logic, which systematically favors one attribute over the other,
Derrida offers the possibility that what appears like binary oppositions should be
regarded as arbitrary relations between components in a sociocultural system.” (128) The
ideologies of human society have been embedded in the language people base their
existence on, therefore come to almost instinctively accept binary opposites—but
deconstruction proves how two notions perceived as opposites actually have traces of one
another inside of them.
Faulty binary opposites are vividly exemplified in A Clockwork Orange. The
most intense example throughout the entire novel would be the notions of evil and good.
Burgess literally centers his work on defining these two concepts, delving deep into
forbidden realms, thoroughly questioning and dissecting every aspect of each. On the
surface level, Alex can clearly be seen as the representation of evil; he carries all the
attributes, or characteristics, of one who is entirely and repulsively wicked. He is a rapist,
a thief, a drug-user; he finds intense satisfaction in violence and terrorizing others; he is
obsessed with cruelty and power. In everyway, Alex is definitely the villain. If Alex is the
victimizer, then, the structuralist’s idea of binary opposites would label his victims as
representations of good. Victims such as the old man Alex assaulted, and especially the
73
�writer whose home he wrecked and wife he violated, are viewed in utmost sympathy. But
deconstruction stresses that these two opposites are not really as separate as they
appear—namely, there can be traces of evil found in good, shattering this notion of
perfect binary opposites. While Alex is a definite perpetrator of violence, the divisions
between good and evil blur when the victims begin acting similarly to the victimizer.
When Alex is freed from prison, drugged so that he either does good or feels agony, he is
recognized by the old man mugged and savagely beaten by the elderly. Here, the victims
exhibit behavior and mentality akin to Alex’s own: “They were creeching vesches like:
‘Kill him, stamp on him, murder him, kick his teeth in,’ and all that cal.” (Burgess 163)
The companions of the old man beaten are now responding to Alex in a way akin to his
own actions; they are bent on only violence, concerned and enraptured only by inflicting
harm and damage.
Even more so, however, the indistinct nature between good and evil can be seen
in the writer Alex has wronged. Burgess makes a direct point to name the writer F.
Alexander, drawing noticeable parallels and proximity between the protagonist Alex and
him. Alex even makes a point to say, “Good Bog, I thought, he is another Alex.” (178)
Alexander is the ultimate victim here; having witnessed a disgusting attack dealt to his
wife, following her death; in addition to being beaten and having his work completely
trashed. Yet, when he unknowingly reunites with Alex, and starts to suspect his identity,
he automatically mimics the same violence thought to be the opposite of him. “For, by
Christ, if he were [here] I’d tear him,” he growls loathsomely at the thought of his
victimizer, “I’d split him, by God, yes, yes, so I would.” (184) Revenge-crazed, F.
Alexander actually locks Alex in the room he was sleeping in and blares classical music
that makes Alex insufferably ill, driving the boy to actually attempt suicide to escape
such agony. Just as Alex was the cause of his wife’s death, F. Alexander longs to be the
cause of Alex’s death; the division between evil and good is utterly broken, swimming in
pools of gray. In addition, these distinctions are also challenged by the motives of F.
Alexander and his group of companions bent on uprooting a government they find
totalitarian. Just as Alex dehumanized his victims by terrorizing and assaulting them, F.
Alexander and friends dehumanize Alex by using him as a tool; they view him merely as
a marker of oppressive government due to the procedures the State has inflicted upon him
in order to “redeem” him. The group as a whole also wishes for Alex’s suicide, knowing
they could use his death as a symbol of what government has done. Their selfish behavior
also dissolves binary opposites—they cannot be entirely good, there are shades of bad
within them. Deconstruction of Clockwork Orange has served to destroy any true
opposition between evil and good.
74
�Burgess’s A Clockwork Orange is a horrific though philosophical novel that can
be approached through a deconstructive viewpoint. The notion of peformativity, or that
the same words can change drastically depending on context, is very apparent in the text,
with the same opening line speaking at the beginning of each part of the book. It also
upholds the deconstructive idea that all binary opposites, or polar opposites, are faulty by
nature by breaking down the apparent barriers dividing evil and good. There is no such
thing as two complete separate entities; if analyzed close enough, traces of similarities
can be found in the unlikeliest of things. A Clockwork Orange is a vast and complex
piece of literature that can yield insightful results when studied through a certain lens;
revealing stunning ideas about language and the nature of evil and good.
Works Cited
Burgess, Anthony. A Clockwork Orange. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc.,
1962.
Dyndahl, Petter. “Music Education in the Sign of Deconstruction”, Philosophy of Music
Education Review 16.2 (2008): 124-144.
Tyson, Lois. Critical Theory Today: A User Friendly Guide. New York: Routledge,
2006.
75
�Speak Up, Women! Paul Would Encourage It!
Sarah Nehm (English)1
The apostle Paul, a major contributor to the content of the New Testament, has
unfairly earned a reputation for being a patriarchal church leader who believed women
should be subordinate to men within marriage partnerships and public worship. Over time
Paul has been remembered both as an adversary of women’s leadership in the church and
contradictorily celebrated as a major proponent of women and their ministries. This
difference in opinion concerning Paul is not the reader’s fault. Paul’s name has been
attributed to thirteen letters in the New Testament and these letters simply offer
conflicting views. One letter describes a woman who has earned the respected title of
“Apostle” (Romans 16:7), but another letter urges all women to “keep silent” (Timothy
2:12). However, of the thirteen letters claiming Paul’s authorship, biblical scholars agree
that only seven of these letters are indisputably from Paul’s hand. Even within these
undisputed Pauline letters there is the problem of interpolation, verses or names added
later, which reflect the views of a patriarchal society and not the views of Paul. When
only taking into account the undisputed letters of Paul, his views reflect attitudes of
gender equality as well as a positive opinion of women’s participation in church
leadership. These views are presented through passages that discuss the roles of women
in general terms and passages that praise specific women.
Of the thirteen possible Pauline letters, biblical scholars agree that Romans, 1
and 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Philippians, 1 Thessalonians and Philemon were each
written by Paul (Ehrman 93). This leaves Ephesians, Colossians, 2 Thessalonians, 1 and 2
Timothy and Titus as works that claim Paul’s authorship but are not necessarily his works
(Ehrman 94, MacHaffie 18). The disputed texts are believed to have an author, or
multiple authors, other than Paul for a variety of reasons. One reason is that the text of
one letter states that such forgeries existed (Ehrman 93). 2 Thessalonians warns readers
of a letter that is circulating with Paul’s name but not written by him. Even though 2
Thessalonians is one of the letters that is no longer considered written by Paul, this
statement illustrates the existence of counterfeit letters either way; “Either 2
Thessalonians is from Paul’s own hand and he knows of a forgery that is floating around
1
Written under the direction of Dr. Joseph Smith (Religion) for the honors course
RE224: Mary Magdalene and Judas.
76
�in his name, or 2 Thessalonians is not from Paul’s hand and is itself a forgery” (Ehrman
93). Both ways reveal that forgeries in Paul’s name existed. Feminist scholar MacHaffie
states that to reevaluate scripture, “A careful textual study must be made using all the
available tools of biblical scholarship” (6). Today there are tools available to scholars that
just were not available hundreds of years ago, such as “methods of literary analysis,
indexes of vocabulary and grammatical stylistic preferences, data retrieval systems, and
so on” (Ehrman 93). These tools reveal that Ephesians, Colossians, 2 Thessalonians, 1
and 2 Timothy and Titus all differ from the undisputed texts in some way by either
writing style and vocabulary, theological points of view represented, or the historical
situation behind the writing; one letter even mentions events that occur after Paul’s death
(Ehrman 93-94). The disputed letters “appear to have been written by later Christians
who were taking Paul’s name in order to propagate their own views” (Ehrman 94).
One passage from an undisputed Pauline letter that seems to proclaim a message
of equality is found in Galatians. The text states “there is no longer Jew or Greek, there is
no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ
Jesus” (Galatians 3:28). Klyne Snodgrass states that this passage is “the most socially
explosive statement in the New Testament” (Hailey 131). Historically, “The Jewish male
of Paul’s day was expected to thank God daily that he was not a Gentile, a slave or a
woman” (MacHaffie 18). Therefore, this verse demonstrates Paul possessed a view that
was radically different than Jewish tradition and his contemporaries’ opinions. However,
the exact meaning of this verse is still unclear. While some quote Galatians 3:28 to
promote women’s leadership in churches, others claim this passage only advocates “that
access to God is open to all through faith in Christ” (Hailey 132). In other words, they
claim, the passage describes the openness of membership in the body of Christ, not
leadership within that body (Hailey 133). While it is clear with this passage that
Christianity has broken down long-standing binaries of the past and now promotes some
sort of equality in either this world or the next life, it does not describe when, where or
how this new equality works.
Another surprising statement of equality is found in 1 Corinthians 7, which
contains Paul’s longest discourse on marriage. As feminist scholar MacHaffie points out,
“There are six passages in 1 Corinthians 7 (vv. 3-4, 10-11, 12-13, 14, 16, 32-33) that
suggest reciprocal or equal responsibilities in the relationship” (19). The most striking of
these passages in terms of equality is 1 Corinthians 7:4, “For the wife does not have
authority over her own body, but the husband does; likewise the husband does not have
authority over his own body, but the wife does.” This passage grants reciprocal authority
between husband and wife, not just the complete submission of wife to husband.
77
�Throughout Paul’s discourse on marriage, women seem to be equal partners to their male
counterparts; “The husband should give to his wife her conjugal rights and likewise the
wife to her own husband” (1 Corinthians 7: 3). Paul even asserts that marriages between
Christian and non-Christian may have positive spiritual consequences, and the
unbelieving spouse may become Christian by influence of the believing spouse; “For the
unbelieving husband is made holy through his wife, and the unbelieving wife is made
holy through her husband” (1 Corinthians 7:14). This would show a wife’s ability to
convey the gospel message to her husband, whether through words or actions, a view that
would probably be contested by 1 Timothy, a disputed letter, that claims a woman can
have no spiritual authority over man (1 Timothy 2:11-12).
Paul’s longest discourse on celibacy, which also occurs in 1 Corinthians 7,
presents women with a new option that did not involve being a wife and mother. Paul
states, “to the unmarried and the widows I say it is well for them to remain unmarried as I
am” (1 Corinthians 7:8). This option would have been considered revolutionary. For the
first time, women could choose to remain single and not have children (MacHaffie 20).
There were strict social and religious traditions that compelled women to get married and
have children. At this time “authorities in the Roman Empire were articulating concerns
about the reluctance of some citizens to marry and the necessity to produce children for
the general stability of society and to fill army legions with soldiers” (MacDonald 212).
This concern actually affected Roman legislation; “Emperor Augustus and his successors
made marriage mandatory between 20 and 50 years of age” (MacDonald 212). The law
even affected people who had been previously married; “Divorcees and widows were
required to remarry after brief periods which ranged from six months to two years”
(MacDonald 212). Within this context, today’s readers can see how much more liberating
and more revolutionary Paul’s words were in his own time.
In 1 Corinthians 11:3-16 there is a discussion of women wearing head coverings
as they pray and prophesy. The wording in Greek is unclear and “scholars have debated
whether the issue at stake in Paul’s response to the Corinthian women prophets involves
veiling or hairstyles” (MacDonald 215). Either concerning veiling or hairstyles, Paul’s
words may have had more of a cultural than a spiritual foundation. There is a biblical
suggestion that “loosened hair could be perceived as a sign of adulteress (Num 5:18), and
the release of women’s hair might have been part of some foreign religious rituals that
Paul did not want to associate with the Corinthian community” (MacDonald 215). Both
of these statements demonstrate that the head coverings were a matter of perception.
Also, those outside of the church may have been unfairly judging the Christian church by
its interaction of men and women. In this society, where men and women had defined
78
�separate spheres, “physical location and degree of visibility were central means of
defining virtue and vice. Illegitimate religious groups were accused of encouraging
immoral mingling of women and men” (MacDonald 216). The urging of women to wear
head coverings, or a certain hairstyle, may have been so the surrounding community did
not become suspicious of the religious group. This may have been the type of verse
feminist scholar MacHaffie was cautioning readers about when she stated, “the demands
of God must be distinguished from the demands of a particular culture” (MacHaffie 6).
These letters were written for a particular people at a particular time and give “us only a
preliminary hint at the new reality of the gospel” (MacHaffie 6). It is also interesting that
in 1 Cor 14.1, “prophecy is singled out as the most important spiritual gift. The New
Testament refers to specific women who were prophets” (MacDonald 215). Regardless of
Paul’s reasoning for why women should keep their heads covered in church gatherings,
the fact is that Paul “assumes that women will pray and prophesy” (Gilbert 43). He was
only urging that the women prophesy in a way that was tasteful during that time.
There are also issues of authorship with certain passages that occur within the
undisputed letters. One verse in 1 Corinthians, an undisputed letter of Paul, seems to have
a different writer. Author Bart Ehrman addresses this line when discussing the issue of
interpolation. 1 Corinthians 14: 24-36 states that women should be “silent in the
churches,” since they “are not permitted to speak.” Yet these lines seem terribly out of
place when read in context, for Paul’s letter to the Corinthians discusses prophets directly
before and after this random interjection (Ehrman 94). This passage also completely
contradicts 1 Corinthians 11, where women are told that they must pray and prophesy
with their heads covered. Why would Paul say that in one chapter women must speak
with their heads covered and then say three chapters later that women should not speak at
all? These controversial verses are also placed in different locations in other manuscripts
“as if they were originally a marginal note made by a scribe that was placed in different
spots by different scribes who later copied the manuscript” (Ehrman 94). Feminist
scholars remind us that “the Bible has been written, translated, and interpreted for
centuries by men in cultures that were patriarchal” (MacHaffie 5), so it is important to
find places of possible inconsistency and test their authenticity. After all, the biblical text
we read today has passed through the hands of many translators and scribes over the
course of hundreds of years, and while we would like to assume that the Bible is errorfree, the people who translated and transcribed it were not.
As one scholar points out, “Paul makes honorable mention, by name, of more
contemporary women than all the other New Testament writers together” (Gilbert 39).
Women were often mentioned by name in correspondence to house-churches; “in every
79
�case where a house-church is mentioned in Paul’s letters, there is a woman in the house”
(Gilbert 43). These women were not just a part of the spread and maintenance of
Christianity, but were displaying also signs of wealth and leadership, by offering their
houses as meeting places and participating in worship. In Romans 16 alone Paul
references ten women, “Phoebe, Prisca, Mary, Junia, Tryphaena, Tryphosa, Persis, the
unnamed mother of Rufus, Julia, and the unnamed “sister” of Nereus (MacDonald 207).
Some of these women are a part of “missionary partnerships,” like “Prisca and Aquila
(Rom 16:3) and Nereus and his ‘sister’” (MacDonald 207). Yet for others, there is no
partner mentioned. While today’s reader may glance over these unfamiliar names,
“feminist scholars have paid particular attention to the names of women and what these
names suggest about leadership in early Christianity and Paul’s attitudes toward women
in leadership” (Epp x). Even though most of these women are mentioned very briefly,
scholars have attempted to reconstruct their identities based on the short passages of
scripture where they are mentioned, historical records and the writings of contemporaries.
Chloe is one woman of importance in 1 Corinthians that is only mentioned
briefly, yet scholars can use historical data to fill in some of the missing information, or
at least provide some possible answers. Chloe’s name appears in 1 Corinthians: “For it
has been reported by Chloe’s people that there are quarrels among you, my brothers and
sisters” (1 Corinthians 1:11). “Chloe’s people” is not very clear and its connotation
changes over the course of time. However, biblical scholars have looked at what this brief
reference might have meant in Paul’s time. Some believe the reference “may mean
members of Chloe’s immediate family, but most likely refers also to the members of the
kind of extended household that was typical of the ancient world,” including slaves,
freedpersons, and dependent workers (MacDonald 200). For MacDonald, “The fact that
the people who gave the report are identified in deference to Chloe (literally, the ones
who belong to Chloe) suggests that she was head of this household” (MacDonald 200).
Chloe may have been a wealthy widow, “Wealthy widows frequently exerted power over
their own affairs” (MacDonald 200). While there is no evidence in the text that Chloe
herself was Christian, early Christian literature suggests “well-to-do women were
attracted to the movement, and their entry into the group was prized by its leaders”
(MacDonald 200). When a wealthy woman entered the movement, it meant that there
was an opportunity for possible patronage and a new, blossoming church was always in
need of funding.
In 1 Corinthians another woman makes quite an impression. Prisca, also
translated as Priscilla, “must have been one of the most prominent figures in the Christian
circles at Corinth, Ephesus, and Rome” (Gilbert 40). She appears in the passage, “The
80
�churches of Asia send greetings. Aquila and Prisca, together with the church in their
house, greet you warmly in the Lord” (1 Corinthians 16:19). In the past, “Prisca and
Aquila have been judged to be a married couple,” yet they are only “explicitly defined
that way in Acts,” and “when evaluating the evidence in the undisputed letters, it is
important not to jump to conclusions of their partnership” (MacDonald 202). Paul states
in Romans 16:15 that it is the right of an apostle to be accompanied by “a sister as wife”
(MacDonald 202). This “sister as wife” suggested a male- female pairing, a kind of
couple that was “vital to the successful expansion of the mission” (MacDonald 202). A
man and a woman travelling together would have more opportunities to preach the gospel
than a man or a woman travelling alone. For the woman traveling, there were also
benefits considering protection and logistic advantages (MacDonald 203). Some even
state that male-female pairings were created to give the semblance of marriage “in a
world of male power and violence” (MacDonald 203). It is important to note that within
this pairing, “There is no indication whatsoever of the female partner having a different
or diminished role in relation to the male partner. Both Prisca and Aquila are called
Paul’s coworkers (synergos Rom 16:3)” (MacDonald 203). Also demonstrating the
importance of Prisca, Romans 16:3 lists Prisca’s name first which means she may have
been of higher status than Aquila or otherwise it would have been customary to list his
name first (MacDonald 204).
It is clear from the undisputed letters of Paul that worship teams, or couples, did
not always have to be male-female pairings, as in the case of Aquila and Prisca. Paul also
mentions a female-female ministry team, Euodia and Syntyche, in Philippians 4: 2-3; “I
urge Euodia and I urge Syntyche to be of the same mind in the Lord. Yes, and I ask you
also, my loyal companion, help these women, for they have struggled beside me in the
work of the gospel, together with Clement and the rest of my coworkers, whose names
are in the book of life.” While Paul is assumedly addressing a disagreement between
Euodia and Syntyche because he is urging them to be of the same mind, the disagreement
is not the most significant part of these two verses. One important aspect is that this
ministry pairing does not include a man, which proves that women do not have to be
married or otherwise coupled with a man to be involved actively in the work of the
church. Another critical aspect is the fact that Paul states that the women have “struggled
beside” him and are among his “coworkers.” Struggle is sometimes translated as labored.
Labor has its own connotations; it “suggests heroic striving, and this striving was ‘in the
Gospel,’ that is, in the service of the Gospel, for its advancement”(Gilbert 39). Expert in
the field, George Gilbert emphasizes the significance of this passage: “Eleven years later,
Euodia and Syntyche are still laboring in Philippi, and are so prominent in the church that
81
�some disagreement between them is counted, by the apostle, worthy of mention in his
letter to the church” (Gilbert 40). This brief passage does not just address a disagreement,
but rather an important female ministry team well known in Philippi.
Another important woman, Apphia, appears in Philemon; “To Philemon our
dear friend and co-worker, to Apphia our sister, to Archippus our fellow soldier, and to
the church in your house:” (Philemon v. 2). Unfortunately, simply because the placement
of Apphia’s name lists her directly after Philemon, “it has been traditionally assumed that
she is Philemon’s wife, but that is by no means certain” (MacDonald 206). It cannot be
assumed that Apphia is the wife of Philemon when “Apphia is one of three individuals
(Philemon, Apphia, and Archippus) singled out in a way that suggests that each was
prominent in the community” (MacDonald 206). In the passage we see that Apphia is
preceded by the title “sister.” Sister is not just a term of endearment or a term implying a
familial relationship; it is also textually presented as a respected title. One text states,
“This is a term that could be applied to a female member of a missionary partnership”
(MacDonald 206). It is often the term used when describing Phoebe, who is also
described as leader in the church at Cenchreae. In addition, “the masculine equivalent of
the term is a frequent designation for Paul’s very important missionary collaborator,
Timothy” (MacDonald 206). While, the term sister does not designate her specific roles
or responsibilities with the church, it does imply that Apphia had played an important
part in her faith community.
Paul also gives high praise to Phoebe, “I commend to you our sister Phoebe, a
deacon of the church at Cenchreae, so that you may welcome her in the Lord as fitting for
the saints, and help her in whatever she may require from you, for she has been a
benefactor of many and of myself as well.”(Romans 16: 1-2). Indisputably, Phoebe is
described as a “benefactor,” which means she provided necessary resources to church and
ministry initiatives. The controversy in this verse lies in the Greek word “diakonos” that
has been translated to English as “deacon.” Authorities question if Paul used “diakonos”
to refer to the technical hierarchal church “office” or if it was used meaning “servant” or
“minister” (Walter 180). Surprisingly the term “diakonos” is the same term used by Paul
to refer to male office holders, and “it was not until the beginning of the fourth century
that a special feminine form of the word came into use to refer to the office of deaconess”
(MacDonald208). Even if the Greek term has the ability to mean simply “helper” or “one
who serves,” it was also definitely used as “an important designation in the Pauline
mission” (MacDonald 208). Paul not only uses the same word to apply to other male
coworkers, but also to refer to himself (MacDonald 208).
82
�One of the most controversial people mentioned in Paul’s letters is a woman by
the name of Junia. The passage where her name appears is brief, but infers great
importance, “Greet Andronicus and Junia, my relatives who were in prison with me; they
are prominent among the apostles, and they were in Christ before I was” (Romans 16:7).
Scholars were perplexed that Paul would describe a woman as “prominent among the
apostles.” They knew that “if the second individual is a woman, then Junia is presented
here as the first and only woman to be called “apostle” in the canonical writings of the
New Testament” (Epp 22). At some point during the 1920s, biblical scholars assumed
that the use of the feminine “Junia” must have been a mistake and that truly the passage
was describing a man named “Junius” (Epp xi). Yet when trying to verify this character,
“Researchers have been unable to locate a single example of the male name Junius in
ancient literature or inscriptions, either in Latin or Greek,” however they have “found
over 250 examples of the feminine name Junia” (Walters 186). The use of “apostle” was
controversial because for most of the New Testament it was applied only to the original
twelve men who followed Jesus during his lifetime (MacDonald 210). Paul, however,
seems to broaden that definition to include anyone who had a post-resurrection vision and
commission by Jesus Christ, which is how he legitimized his own apostleship
(MacDonald 210). Author of the book Junia, Eldon Jay Epp states that some scholars
argue that Paul did not actually mean “Apostle” when he wrote “apostle” (Epp x).
Diminishing of the importance of her title is similar to critics who claim “diakonos”
means servant when used to describe a woman, but means an official in the church when
used before a man’s name. As Eldon Jay Epp strongly proclaims at the end of his
introduction, no matter what critics say “it remains a fact that there was a woman apostle,
explicitly named, in the earliest generation of Christianity and contemporary Christians
must (and eventually will) face up to it” (Epp x).
In conclusion, the depiction of specific influential women leaders and verses
positively discussing women in general in the undisputed letters of Paul lead one to
determine that Paul accepted women as equals and encouraged their participation in the
church. While a few verses remain controversial, they can each be explained by cultural
practices, interpolation or forged authorship. In the undisputed letters of Paul, there are
passages that proclaim strong messages of equality within marriage and within the church
community. His letters are filled with examples of female prophets, female ministry
partners, female ministry teams, female church officials, female benefactors, and even a
female apostle, all of which are important leadership roles. While popular opinion may
have condemned Paul as anti-feminist or gender-biased, it is clear that Paul was a
proponent of women, and he should be remembered that way.
83
�Works Cited
Ehrman, Bart D. Peter, Paul, and Mary Magdalene: The Followers of Jesus in History and
Legend. New York: Oxford Press, 2006.
Epp, Eldon Jay. Junia: The First Woman Apostle. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2005.
Gilbert, George H. “Women in Public Worship in the Churches of Paul.” The Biblical
World. 2.1, (1893): 38-47.
Hailey, Jan Faver. “‘Neither Male and Female’ (Gal. 3:28).” Essays on Women in
Earliest Christianity. Vol 1. Ed. Carroll D. Osburn. Joplin: College Press, 1995. 131-166.
Holy Bible. New Revised Standard Version. Augsburg Fortress: Minneapolis, 1990.
MacDonald, Margaret Y. “Reading Real Women Through the Undisputed Letters of
Paul.” Women & Christian Origins. Ed. Ross Shepard Kraemer and Mary Rose
D’Angelo. New York: Oxford University Press, 1999. 199-220.
MacHaffie, Barbara J. Her Story: Women in Christian Tradition. Philadelphia: Fortress,
1986.
84
�In Pursuit of Honor: The Balance between Widowhood and
Motherhood in the Letters of Alessandra Strozzi
Cassandra Brewer (History)1
A popular conception of a widow is a woman who is, from the time of her
husband's death on, relegated to a life of mourning. Alessandra Strozzi was most
certainly not this type of woman. Seventy-three of Alessandra’s letters to her sons
remain, and act as a testament to her active life after her husband’s death. Her letters are
composed mostly out of necessity in conducting business with her merchant sons and
give valuable insight into the life of a Renaissance widow. 2 After her husband's death,
she made the choice to dedicate her life to continuing the legacy of her husband's family
and to her children, specifically her sons. Alessandra Strozzi was an intelligent woman,
even though she received no formal education. She effectively balanced practicality and
emotion in her letters to her sons, and was successful at using the power she had as a
widow to manage her finances, preserve her husband’s lineage through her sons and
establish herself as an honorable widow.
Alessandra Strozzi, originally Alessandra di Filippo Macinghi, married Matteo
Strozzi, a man from a family of influential Florentine bankers, when she was fifteen.3
She was, previous to marriage, a woman of patrician status from a family of wealthy
merchants.4 Because of her status, Alessandra was lucky to have a large sum for a
dowry: sixteen hundred florins. This and other results of her patrician status would later
be of great benefit to her as a widow.5
Alessandra, because of her belonging to a merchant family, would have learned
to write and keep basic records at home as a young woman. Her education would not
have consisted of any humanist texts, and as it can be seen in her letters, she shows no
interest in secular learning, and shows interest only in the religious and practical in
1
Written under the direction of Dr. Alison Smith (History) for HI362: Renaissance Italy .
Brucker, Gene A. 2005. Living on the edge in Leonardo's Florence: selected essays.
Berkeley: University of California Press.
3
Crabb, The Strozzi of Florence, 20. Can be spelled both Macinghi or Macingi. Also,
she is listed sometimes as being 14 at the time of her marriage, although the majority of
sources indicate she was fifteen.
4
Crabb, 20.
5
Crabb, 22.
2
85
�relation to her daily life.6 However, once she was married, she would not have had to use
these skills, at least with any regularity; as her husband, or even an elder son, would have
kept the records for the family.7 Her letters later suggest that she was perfectly content
being under the control of her husband, as she tells her son she feels that “a man, when
he is a man, makes a woman a woman; and he should not be so in love that, when at first
she makes little errors, he fails to reprimand her…”8 This illustrates that she has no
desire to be the head of her household, however later, she proves that she is, in fact, very
intelligent and capable when the necessity presents itself. She often writes that she does
not enjoy the act of writing letters, but realized the importance for both business and
personal reasons. If she wanted to keep her family in good financial standing and keep
close relationships with her sons she needed to keep detailed and carefully crafted
correspondence.
After being married four years, Alessandra gave birth to five sons and three
daughters, of whom only five would survive to become adults and the subject of many of
her letters: Filippo, Caterina, Lorenzo, Lessandra(or Alessandra) and Matteo.9 Much of
Alessandra’s life before her husband’s death is known only through the actions of her
husband, as there was no necessity for her to leave a written record of her actions. It is
not until after his death, with the beginning of her letters, that her devotion to her children
and to her husband’s family name can be seen.
After her marriage, Alessandra became more and more distant from her
Macinghi family. It is possible she did not feel a strong connection to them because she
lost her mother at a young age, and her father not much long after – he later had
remarried and had more children.10 Also, Alessandra knew that after her marriage she
would assume the identity of her husband’s family. It is possible that because of her
family’s lower political status than that of the Strozzi, Alessandra felt her energy was
better spent fostering a strong relationship with the family most likely to benefit her. She
was living Florence, an important political city, and needed to place herself in the best
political and social situation; which she could do by associating closely with her
husband’s family.11 Distancing herself from her Macinghi family might have been
6
Strozzi, Alessandra Macinghi, and Heather Gregory. 1997. “Selected letters of
Alessandra Strozzi”, Biblioteca italiana. Berkeley: University of California Press, 6.
7
Crabb, 22.
8
Strozzi and Gregory, 157.
9
Strozzi and Gregory, 4.
10
Strozzi and Gregory, Selected letters of Alessandra Strozzi.
11
Crabb, 22.
86
�merely a strategy in the creation of her identity as a Florentine wife. She remained in
contact with some of her family over the course of her life, but only intimately with her
brother Zanobi.12 It is clear in her break from most of her Macinghi family that she
believed strongly in following the patrilineal tradition. This strong feeling of loyalty to
her husband’s family can explain how Alessandra’s widowhood really came to define her
after her husband’s death in 1436.13 Not only did it define her in the sense that she
dedicated her life to preserving the Strozzi name, but it gave her new responsibilities that
would consume most of her daily life, making widowhood an integral part of her identity.
She would have not had a reason to hone her merchant management skills if not for her
widowed status, and it was these transactions that were her primary focus.
In 1434, twelve years after her marriage, Alessandra Strozzi’s family faced
hardship. In their home city of Florence, the Medici were dominant, and began to impose
heavy taxes and exile to those who opposed them. The Strozzi unfortunately fell victim to
these heavy and excessive fines as well as exile. There is little evidence as to the exact
reason for Matteo Strozzi’s banishment, but it is most likely that the Medici desired to rid
the city of their strongest and most vocal political competition. Matteo was not the only
man to be sentenced to exile, and many of the Strozzi men were either exiled or
permanently barred from holding a government position. Alessandra and her children
followed her husband into his exile in Pesaro, but only two years later her husband and
three of their children died of the plague. 14 Alessandra was only twenty eight, and could
have remarried if she wished. However, she was fully capable of taking care of her
family, as during the exile she would have learned how to manage her husband’s
affairs.15 She was not restricted by the necessity of having a man to handle the
household; and was free to decide for herself whether or not to remain a widow.
What made her decide to stay a widow and take on so much financial
responsibility? Aside from religious convictions that a chaste woman had only one
husband, another reason to remain a widow would be to protect her children and lineage.
16
If she remarried, Alessandra would have to give up her dowry to her new husband, and
it could no longer be used exclusively for her children. Also, she would have become a
part of her new husband’s family lineage and dissolved good relationships with both
extended family and her children; as they would most likely remain loyal to their father’s
12
Crabb, 20.
Brucker, 149.
14
Brucker, 151.
15
Crabb, 44.
16
Crabb, 77.
13
87
�name.17 Although widowhood defined Alessandra, it did not do so in a negative way.
Alessandra must have been aware of this, as it was, in the end, her decision to stay a
widow. Her decision to remain a widow is clearly related to her love for her children and
desire for personal and familial honor.
Widows were often left financially burdened after the death of their husbands.
They had to first and foremost pay out money from the estate to the heirs. They were,
however, not always financially devastated. Their fathers had paid dowries to their
husband-to-be’s family, and in the end, the widow herself received that money if and
when her husband died. Because of this rule, and her patrician status, Alessandra was left
with significant assets and subsequently, significant power. Not all widows would have
been so financially minded, but after her husband’s death Alessandra became
preoccupied with her and her children’s financial situation, and was able to use the power
she gained from her returned dowry in a successful way.18 Also, in not remarrying, and
consequently keeping her loyalty to the Strozzi lineage, Alessandra was able to call on
male family members for assistance. She was able to send her two oldest sons to work
with their uncles and learn the merchant trade, which in the end benefited both her and
her sons. 19
By law, as a widow, Alessandra needed a man to co-sign in any legal
transaction, as women were not legally able to act alone in making decisions. However,
as many other women did, Alessandra made the decisions herself and the presence of a
man was merely a formality.20 She shows very clearly that she is independent and fully
capable of taking care of her husband’s estate and her children. Her husband must have
known her capabilities and her devotion to her children because he left her a good
amount of control over his estate in his will. He left her the deciding vote in a group of
guardians in all affairs relating to their children.21 By the time he died, many of the other
co-guardians had as well, and Alessandra was left with complete control over her
children until adulthood, something a woman did not legally have if her husband were
alive.22 Although under unfortunate circumstances, gaining this power was essential for
17
Brucker, 152.
Crabb, 58.
19
Brucker, 125.
20
Crabb, 58.
21
Crabb, 63. This was not extraordinary, but was considered to be on the high end of
what a widow would be left with in her husband’s will in regards to her children.
22
Couchman, Jane, and Ann Crabb. 2005. “Women's letters across Europe, 1400-1700:
form and persuasion”, Women and gender in the early modern world. Aldershot,
England: Ashgate, 23.
18
88
�Alessandra in creating and asserting herself in a relationship with her sons in which they
would still see her as an authority even after they legally had to.
Alessandra’s surviving letters to her son begin in 1447, about ten years after the
death of her husband.23 It is probable she wrote earlier letters to her sons, but this is
where the collection begins, as saved and preserved by her two eldest sons, Filippo and
Lorenzo. The letters that remain continue until just about a year before Alessandra’s
death and tell a fascinating story of her life. She spends the majority of these years
without seeing her sons, as they had the chance for a brighter future outside of Florence
due to their late father’s political situation. However, she is still able to maintain a close
relationship with them. Her balance of emotion and practicality, both financial and
political, made her a successful mother and head of household. She seems very aware
that being either too emotional or too aggressive in her advice could have damaged her
relationship with her sons, which was most important to her. Her greatest fears seemed to
be to have no money and to lose her sons to death. In order to best deal with these fears,
Alessandra composed letters. She mentions disliking the act of writing, as it felt
uncomfortable to her.24 Still, she was able to effectively use writing - even though to her
it was a basic skill and not a scholarly pursuit- to preserve what was of most importance
to her: her sons and the Strozzi family name.
In Alessandra’s letters, she clearly shows how important her sons are to her
through her constant worry about losing them or not seeing them before she dies. Not
only was she a widow, but a victim of exile as well. Her husband’s initial exile forced
her to leave her home in Florence and relocate to Pesaro, and the extension of this exile to
male kin would leave her separated from her three sons. Alessandra is clearly troubled by
the distance from her sons and in one of her earlier letters she says, bluntly, “I have no
other good in this world but you my three sons.”25 In almost all of her letters, she
expresses this overwhelming attachment and devotion to her sons through her wish to see
them again before she dies. In some letters, Alessandra very frankly states her fears and
expresses that “…my greatest fear is that I’ll die before I can see either of you again” or
that “…without you I’m dead” 26 After the death of her youngest son (to survive
childhood) Alessandra becomes increasingly more preoccupied with death and writes to
Filippo that she hopes to not live long enough to lose another child and that she has “been
23
Strozzi and Gregory, 29.
Strozzi and Gregory, 7.
25
Strozzi and Gregory, 49.
26
Strozzi and Gregory, 91, 167.
24
89
�worrying about this day and night and…can’t get any rest.”27 Alessandra became
preoccupied with this worry and even near the end of her letters she says, “…I must pray
that God will give me the grace to spend the little time I have left with both of you…”28
A devotion to her sons and an anxiety about never seeing them, because of exile or death,
is clearly seen through these expressions. This anxiety undoubtedly increases after the
death of her son and will continue to increase as she worries she will never see the end of
her sons’ exile. Alessandra seems to channel these fears into focusing on making the best
of the situation and continuing to center her efforts on managing her family’s affairs in a
beneficial way.
The main concerns of the majority of Alessandra’s letters are the family’s
finances and good standing in Florentine society; specifically in reference to her sons.
She tries to provide for them, and also gives them advice about both their finances and
their behavior. Early on, it is clear that she considers her and her sons’ assets to be
mutual, since she is using her dowry to support them. Her sons had a right to a piece of
the inheritance of their father’s estate, but the family’s political situation complicated
this. There would have been more taxes and separation of the property from communal
and familial to individual. By keeping all of the money and property within the family
and sharing it between Alessandra and themselves, her sons were able to remain in a
more stable financial situation.29 Alessandra’s dowry had to be returned to her, and it
made more sense to keep the value in property, that by renting out, was making money
for the family.30
More than just financially, Alessandra supports her sons in all of their interests
and puts equal emphasis on the importance of bringing honor to their shared Strozzi
name. Since her sons are in exile, she is their representative in Florence and is essentially
in charge of keeping a good reputation for them and subsequently, herself. Through her
financial support and political necessity in the lives of her sons she is able to gain and
keep a significant amount of influence over them.
Alessandra begins many of her letters by discussing the financial burdens that
worry her and that she feels should be worrying her sons as well. Alessandra’s fear as a
result of her past political situation can be seen again through the preoccupation in her
life and in her letters with her family’s finances. In the beginning of her letters,
Alessandra is trying to find husbands for her daughters and is worried mostly about their
27
Strozzi and Gregory, 83.
Strozzi and Gregory, 83.
29
Strozzi and Gregory, 49.
30
Strozzi and Gregory, 49.
28
90
�dowries. 31 These dowries were a considerable sum, about 1000 florins, and would have
worried Alessandra greatly, as she was still preoccupied with the financial burden of
taxes.32 Interestingly, however, Alessandra writes to her son Flilippo that the money for
the dowries would be “partly yours and partly mine”.33 Here, in the beginning of her
letters, Alessandra makes it clear that she never acts without considering both her
interests and the interests of her sons.
As her letters progress, Alessandra suggests that her sons shared similar
concerns about money, as she is often reassuring them of her ability to handle money and
make smart decisions. She writes to her son Filippo saying, “I wrote to you…to tell you
what I wanted to do with the money, so you wouldn’t think I’d spent it on something
else.”34 She also demonstrates her good choices to her sons by explaining why she
refrains from non-necessary purchases, saying, “It isn’t the right time to spend money on
this sort of thing because there are more important things to do with it.”35 Here, she is not
only illustrating her awareness of how to manage finances, but she is attempting to prove
to her sons that she is trustworthy and capable of assisting them in handling their affairs.
When Alessandra is telling them how she is managing their finances well, she is also
using this to express how she wants her sons to act in regards to money. She is both
validating herself to her sons and asserting her motherly influence over them.
Almost of equal concern to Alessandra as finances is the behavior of her sons in
relation to upholding the Strozzi name. She manages her sons’ reputation and image in
Florence and also frequently advises them on how they should behave even though they
are abroad. In the beginning of her letters, Alessandra’s advice is cautionary. In a letter
to her son Lorenzo, she says, “you’re old enough to behave in a different sort of way
from how you have been; you’ve got to sort yourself out and concentrate on living
properly.”36 She seems only slightly worried about doing damage to the family name and
instead is more worried about warning her sons that bad behavior is not acceptable for
any decent young man. Later, however, as her sons get older, Alessandra becomes ever
more concerned with how their actions reflect on the family name. She uses her
influence over her sons to assert herself and be more stern in her suggestions about their
behavior. For example, she recommends that her son Filippo help a family friend
31
Strozzi and Gregory, 63.
Strozzi and Gregory, 61.
33
Strozzi and Gregory, 31.
34
Strozzi and Gregory, 103.
35
Strozzi and Gregory, 67.
36
Strozzi and Gregory, 69.
32
91
�because it will reflect well on his character.37 Instead of simply advising them generally
on their behavior, Alessandra, at this point, begins to suggest actual acts for her sons to
engage in that will show them in the best light possible to the public.
Alessandra does not only criticize her sons but also sometimes praises them
when they behave in a manner that she believes to be appropriate for someone bearing
the Strozzi name. When she received word of good news she says to her son Filippo, “I
thank God to hear such good news from you, that you’re doing so much business to
bringing honor and profit…” 38 Alessandra is often very honest with her sons and does
not hide that she is pleased they have brought themselves honor as well as brought her
honor as a good mother and widow. She also praises Filippo several times for his
generous gifts of flax to a family friend and his sister, Caterina.39 However pleased she
may be with those situations, Alessandra clearly values her and her sons’ public image,
through the upholding of the Strozzi name, more than family relations. This is possibly
because what went on between family members was considered to be very private,
whereas the family’s collective image is very public. When her son Filippo sends flax to
her daughter Caterina, Alessandra questions why he would spend money on something
Caterina and her husband could afford on their own. In her next letter, however,
Alessandra instead praises Filippo for his nice gesture saying “…it will seem as if you’re
really thinking of her.”40 It is clear that Alessandra is more concerned with the image
than the gesture itself. This is further proved through the reaction Alessandra has to
Filippo sending flax to a family friend. She writes to him, “I hear you sent 80 pounds of
flax to Mona Ginerva di Gino. I am glad, as it will really seem as if you value the favor
she did for you.”41 Alessandra is clearly focused on presenting her sons and herself as
good citizens. She is less concerned about Fillipo presenting a good image to his sister
than to the public; because his relationship with his sister is private and not beneficial.
The relationship with the family friend, however, could be an issue of making or keeping
an important alliance, which is why Alessandra would place more importance on it.
Much like she carefully handles the family finances, she is carefully managing their
public image and level of honor.
With the stress of the extended exile, Alessandra asserts her power over her
sons’ behavior more and more both through criticism and praise. It is possible that this is
37
Strozzi and Gregory, 85.
Strozzi and Gregory, 147.
39
Strozzi and Gregory, 115.
40
Strozzi and Gregory, 115.
41
Strozzi and Gregory, 143.
38
92
�because bringing honor to the Strozzi name affects both her and her sons, and she has less
control over it than over finances. Alessandra seems to have had a strong hold on the
family’s finances and did not expect to experience any great loss of money. However,
the political climate in Florence at the time was unstable and honor and respect were lost
much easier than money, which is why they would cause more concern and anxiety in
Alessandra. In the later years, Alessandra’s anxiety over the exile of her sons increases,
especially because she is unable to control the situation. She has no say against the
dominant political power of the Medici, and can simply hope to get back into their good
graces by proving she is an honorable mother to two morally upstanding sons. She can
only observe the political situation and attempt to uphold respect for her family in hopes
that the climate, coupled with this respect, will allow her sons exile to be lifted.
Alessandra Strozzi proved to be a highly intelligent woman, despite never
receiving a formal education. She learned by practice and through necessity; and was
able to successfully run the household and estate left by her late husband. She effectively
used her motherly instincts as well as her practical skills, such as writing and account
keeping, balancing personal and sensible aspects of her family’s existence. Alessandra’s
most valuable means of bringing honor to her family was through her sons; and she used
financial control as well as emotional tactics to influence their behavior. She dedicated
her life to preserving the Strozzi family name and was driven largely by her love for her
children. Alessandra Strozzi was a powerful woman who gained her influence not by
choice, but by widowhood. She came to embrace her status and become a representation
of a successful Renaissance woman.
Works Cited
Brucker, Gene A. 2005. Living on the edge in Leonardo's Florence: selected essays.
Berkeley: University of California Press.
Couchman, Jane, and Ann Crabb. 2005. “Women's letters across Europe, 1400-1700:
form and persuasion”, Women and gender in the early modern world. Aldershot,
England: Ashgate.
Crabb, Ann. 2007. ““If I could write”: Margherita Datini and Letter Writing, 1385-1410”,
Renaissance Quarterly. 60 (4): 1170.
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�Crabb, Ann. 2000. “The Strozzi of Florence: widowhood and family solidarity in the
Renaissance”, Studies in medieval and early modern civilization. Ann Arbor: University
of Michigan Press.
Strozzi, Alessandra Macinghi, and Heather Gregory. 1997. “Selected letters of
Alessandra Strozzi”, Biblioteca italiana. Berkeley: University of California Press, 6.
94
�I Am Woman: An Impressionist Tale
Sophie Fonner (Sociology)1
Broken up into three sections, the overall paper is an ethnographic study of what it means
to be female, particularly in Tanzania. The first and second parts both consist of
italicized sections that are my own fictional stories embedded within the essay while the
last portion consists of italicized sections that are my own field notes taken while in
Tanzania. The first short essay examines education in Tanzania, with particular focus on
the education of females. It attempts to exemplify both the importance of educating
females as well as the disadvantages of education for females in Tanzanian society. The
second essay deals with fistula in Tanzania, focusing particularly on the social, physical
and emotional effects fistula has on the female. The third and final part is written
through my own perspective in attempts to examine what it means to be an advantaged
Caucasian American traveling in Tanzania. Throughout the papers I use my own stories
and ethnographic field notes (in italics) as well as scholarly sources.
Woman
Sophie Fonner
I am Woman
I am not transient in nature nor do I fall
I may be concerned
But I am strong
I am Perempuan2
I may need comfort
But I am always self reliant
I am Yeosung3
I may be scared
But I have the right to be me
I am Mwanamke4
I am Woman.
1
Written under the direction of Dr. Jean Halley (Sociology) after attending the 2009
EYH trip to Tanzania for SOC 291: Sex, Gender, and Sexuality in Tanzania: Writing
Women's Lives.
2
“Woman” in Bahasa Melayu
3
“Woman” in Korean
4
“Woman” in Kiswahili
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�Education: Gender Inequality
What does it mean to be female? The disadvantages are almost
palpable from the beginning. Red stained her skin as it trickled down
her leg. At least three days out of every month she misses school
because of this natural process. The boys can always go to school.
The wavulana (boys) never miss a day.
As I listened to the speaker at Hakielimu, a non-profit educational organization,
I found myself immersed in a culture that was so far from anything to which I have ever
before been exposed. The speaker emphasized the corruption that has swallowed the
Tanzanian government. In response to the government’s secrecy, Hakielimu prints up
papers in Swahili explaining exactly what actions the government is taking (or lack of
action), that are detrimental to its people, and Hakielimu distributes these papers to the
Tanzanian people. I think part of the reason privileged Americans in the United States do
not take it upon ourselves to support the efforts of developmental organizations such as
Hakielimu in third world countries is because we, as a culture, do not necessarily
understand what it means to be privileged. If the everyday lives of people in third world
countries are not understood, then how can privileged Americans understand just how
privileged we really are?
Her sponsorship started a while ago because her parents could not
afford to send her to school anymore. She had finished primary school
but wanted to continue with her education. Her family found her
‘sugar daddy’ through her father’s friend. She believed that he was a
good man for helping to pay for her education, but she had to sleep
with him in exchange for the help. She has become very tired and often
has headaches and has become nauseous; it must just be the flu, her
mother says.
The education of females is vital to their development, particularly affecting the
age at which a female (here I use “female” as opposed to “woman” because often those
who become pregnant are young enough to still be considered girls) first becomes
pregnant. Education can be beneficial because females who further their education may
delay the age at which they marry, likely affecting when they become pregnant. Both of
these are factors associated with HIV/AIDS and are therefore prevalent issues in
Tanzania, a country in which girls between 15 and 19 years old are six times as likely to
become infected with HIV as are their male counterparts (Vavrus, 2003). Education may
be one of the few forms of protection women have against HIV/AIDS and may enable
96
�women to become more economically independent and therefore have more control over
their sexual relationships (contraception usage), marriage and childbearing decisions.
One of the programs that the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural
Organization (UNESCO) has taken part in within various countries in Sub-Saharan
Africa, is referred to as “Gender Mainstreaming” which emphasizes the importance of
gender equality within education. In April of 2000, the World Education Forum
promoted the importance of guaranteeing education for females because lack of
education for girls and women is one of the key factors in “poverty eradication and
development” (UNESCO, 2009). UNESCO’s goals dealing with education are: to
encourage education as a “fundamental right in accordance with the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights”; to improve the quality of education by promoting
diversity; and to promote the sharing of information (UNESCO, 2009). As imperative as
it is to educate females about HIV/AIDS the importance of educating males along with
females has become clear. Like many societies, Tanzania is a patriarchal society in
which males dominate, therefore it is evident that educating males and females together
might help to reduce the power gap between sexual partners and make clear the decisions
about, and ramifications of, sex for both partners.
Tanzania’s ratio of male to female secondary school enrolment is 5:1 (Larsen,
Vavrus, 2003). A survey done in 1996, conducted by Macro International Inc., reported
that of the 8,120 Tanzanian women surveyed 49% have less than a primary education,
46% have primary school as their highest level of education, and 5% have secondary
school as their highest level of education (Larsen, Vavrus, 2003). Although the education
of females is imperative to the empowerment of women, it is not always enough to
measure education in terms of how many years one has attended school. In order to
support the upheld belief that education can help to relieve Tanzania of its increased
HIV/AIDS rate, teachers must be teaching HIV/AIDS education and prevention,
especially to female students so that they are able to make informed decisions. Similarly,
it is of the utmost importance that teachers teach basic reading skills so that students are
able to read material on issues such as HIV/AIDS prevention and contraception choices.
Education should therefore be measured by the amount of educational material that is
taught to students and the information that is taken away by students rather than the
number of years a student attends school.
She became pregnant a couple months after she began having sex with
her sugar daddy. She spent a night with him in his village, a night that
traditionally meant she would not return to her parents but rather
97
�remain with him in his village. With the sexual act, ownership was
passed from her parents to her sugar daddy and she was now his.
Although education should be a safe environment, the classroom is not always a
safe haven for females. Female students are vulnerable to sexual harassment by teachers
and fellow students. A last resort made by families who cannot afford to send their
daughter to school is often to hire a ‘sugar daddy’, who pays for the girl’s school, often
expecting sexual favors from her in return for his ‘generosity” (Vavrus, 2006). These
factors impede the opportunities for females who attend school because they reinforce the
idea that females are sexual objects that ‘owe’ men something.
Given that Tanzania has limited resources and the culture seems to limit the
education of females, it is important that countries such as the United States provide
support to programs such as Hakielimu which propose better resources for schools.
Women in countries such as the United States should encourage the education of females
in safe environments because of the historical struggle women in the United States have
had, and continue to have, for gender equality. Women in the west are currently in a
better place because of their past struggle for equal rights, to support women in Tanzania.
Western women have more sympathies than men because they have historically had to
struggle for equality whereas men have been the standard by which others are measured.
We therefore must think of gender equality on a global scale because third world
countries such as Tanzania are struggling with issues of gender inequality similar to the
ways in which we, in the United States, have historically struggled with such issues.
Fistula: A Matter of Human Rights
The physical agony dragged on for what seems like an eternity. Her
mother-in-law stayed close by with cloths to wipe off the sweat that
entrenched her whole body. No doctors were present, possibly why the
birthing process took two days. She begged for a hospital but her
mother-in-law and husband refused; the closest hospital was 58
kilometers away and there was not enough money to spare for
transportation and medical supplies when the birth could occur at
home. The infant was stillborn as it was pulled from what had been a
safe-haven of its mother’s womb. The mother was left with a heavy
heart and a body which was all torn up inside and would continuously
leak feces for years to come.
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�According to WebMD, a vaginal fistula is “a passage or hole that has formed in
the wall of the vagina”. There are four types of vaginal fistula, the first opening into the
urinary tract is called vesicovaginal fistula. The second opening into the rectum is called
rectovaginal fistula. The third opening into the colon is called colovaginal fistula. The
fourth opening into the small bowel is called enterovaginal fistula (“Vaginal Fistula”,
2007). Even though obstructed labor is often the cause of fistula, females who suffer
from it are vulnerable to having it long before delivery begins. Females who live in
extensive poverty are more likely to suffer from malnutrition which may lead to stunted
pelvic growth resulting in an obstructed labor (Obaid, 2004). Similarly, females who
marry young commonly have children at a younger age which can be detrimental to the
body because they have not fully maturated. Lastly, fistula may also occur in older
women whose bodies have been weakened by multiple pregnancies (Mrisho et al., 2007).
Unfortunately, females who live in such circumstances often do not have the proper
access to health care that they require, particularly during childbirth (Obaid, 2004). In
addition to being a physical condition fistula has social consequences with tremendous
ramifications for those who suffer from it.
After the birth she not only struggled significantly with the inability to
control her bowels, but also with the loss of her first-born child. She
experienced tremendous scrutiny from her community, whether it was
because they did not understand the physical consequences of fistula or
because they blamed her for what was happening to her body. She was
disowned by her husband, who was of no moral support, and ostracized
by most of her community. She remained by herself the majority of the
time, mostly because people could not stand the horrific stench that
protruded from her entire body.
A question I feel is often asked in the United States about affairs outside of our
borders is why should we care? My answer would be that we should care as a country
because fistula not only impinges on the lives of females in Tanzania but is global in
scope. In 2003, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) initiated a global
campaign to “End Fistula.” Working in cooperation with governments, NGO’s, and
medical institutions, the goal was to raise awareness, assess the needs of females living
with fistula, increase treatment and examine the cause of it (UNFPA, 2003). Females
worldwide, should care about the effects of fistula because of the simple fact that this
treatable condition is a “long-neglected women’s health concern” affecting women on a
global scale (UNFPA, 2003). The UNFPA has provided medical support to “more than
20 countries, mostly in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia” (UNFPA, 2003). Now that I
99
�am aware of this issue, I see that it is important for the United States to try to designate
resources to help end fistula and alleviate these types of problems in third world
countries. As a person who is concerned about the world, I strongly believe that allowing
this to continue is a human rights violation that demands our attention now.
The prevention and treatment of fistula is not simply a medical concern; it is a
human rights concern which addresses the fact that every person should have adequate
medical care. A medical condition with such tremendous physical and social
consequences should not be ignored. Even more than the obvious factors such as poverty
and vulnerability, this female health issue is embedded in the political and societal
inequality of women, perhaps even on a global scale. One of the points made by Maggie
Bangser, the director of Women’s Dignity Project in Tanzania, was that even a very dehumanizing condition cannot rob someone of their dignity if they do not allow it to, and
these women do not. Even after being thrown out of their homes and ostracized by their
entire community, these women are dignified. I do not ask or encourage anyone to pity
these women, they simply do not need our pity. They need those with the necessary
resources to care enough and recognize that no one deserves to go around leaking feces
for decades.
How did she get to this place of complete isolation? When her parents
found out that she was pregnant [at 17] they immediately married her
off to the man whose child she would soon be having. After the birth
everyone around her seemed to slowly dissipate like the happiness she
once experienced as a child. She could not control the stench that
enveloped her. Her husband finally concluded he could no longer take
their rotting bed and kicked her out. After being rejected by her
nuclear family, she finally found comfort with her grandmother who
was supportive and encouraged her to save up enough money to get a
corrective procedure for the fistula. After various attempts, arriving at
the hospital and the doctor being unavailable, she finally found a
doctor who could perform the surgery of which she was in dire need.
At the age of 23 her suffering finally ended and her dignity remained
intact.
Most females who suffer from fistula are unaware of the surgery that can be
performed to repair the tearing that is the cause of it. Many who are aware of the surgery
lack the resources to pay for treatment or even to travel to a hospital. Fistula can be
surgically repaired even years after it occurs and symptoms can be alleviated so that these
women can regain their normal lives. The Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) data
100
�collected in 40 countries between the years of 1995 and 2003 confirmed that “more than
50% of neonatal deaths occur after home birth without skilled care attendance” (Mrisho
et al., 2007). The same data also showed that “home births without a trained attendant
resulted in three times higher perinatal mortality than those in a health facility with
trained attendants in rural Tanzania” (Mrisho et al., 2007). There are various reasons that
women give birth 84% more often in the home than in a health facility with trained
attendants (Mrisho et al., 2007). These include distance to a health facility, lack of
money for transportation, sporadic timing for public transportation, and medical costs. It
was found that 84% of women who had intended to give birth at a health facility actually
gave birth at home because of distance and transportation problems (Bicego et al., 1995).
Although the Tanzanian government has mandated that such health services be free of
charge, the reality is that women are in fact asked to pay for and bring delivery kits
including razor blades, gloves, cotton wool, and sometimes even cleaning products to
clean the room after delivery (Mrisho et al., 2007). The cost of home delivery averaged
to be no more than 600 Tanzanian schillings (approximately $0.50) while the cost of
hospital delivery averaged to be around 5000 Tanzanian schillings (approximately $4.00)
(Mrisho et al., 2007).
More than the high cost of medical facilities, many women give birth at home
for more personal or even social reasons. Workers at many health facilities often use
abusive language toward patients, denying women service. One woman interviewed by
the DHS, who had waited at the health facility all day to see a doctor, explained her visit:
“At the end of the day, she (the nurse) told me to come to the health facility next
Tuesday. When I asked her what the reason was, she replied that she was tired. Imagine,
I stayed hungry for the whole day, my children hadn’t eaten. I left with sorrow, and
ended up crying at home” (Mrisho et al., 2007). Another reason why many women do
not deliver in a health facility is due to the lack of privacy, particularly from men. A
second woman interviewed described her knowledge of health facilities as follows:
“Some health facilities have no special room for delivery; the room is small and all
treatment for both men and women are taking place in the same room; you can easily be
seen while giving birth” (Mrisho et al., 2007). A third reason some women deliver at
home is due to the traditional belief that long labor is potentially caused by extramarital
affairs of the woman during her pregnancy. A reason to therefore deliver at home is to
keep the ‘affair’ a secret. An interviewee said “If it is a woman’s time for delivery and
the child doesn’t come out, a woman would be asked to mention all men who she has
slept with apart from her husband” (Mrisho et al., 2007). This is one of the major reasons
for misinterpretation to occur between husband and wife, and sometimes may lead to the
101
�breakdown of the marriage. Although this traditional belief was evident in a rural village
in Tanzania, “it is said to be disappearing” (Mrisho et al., 2007). Lastly, women are often
not the ones who actually decide whether to give birth at home or in a health facility.
Women often must first ask permission of the husband and mother-in-law, who are the
decision-makers in this case. More often than not the husband and mother-in-law will
deny the woman’s request to have her baby delivered in a medical facility, increasing the
chances of the woman having complications that are not attended to properly.
When more awareness about fistula is given to those affected by it, perhaps
there might not be as much stigma attached to it. This is why influential countries such
as the United States need to support the efforts for fistula awareness and repair. Women
directly affected by it do not deserve to be isolated for something that they have no
control over, which is why we must care. This is more than just a medical issue; fistula is
a pressing human rights issue that needs immediate attention. Every woman should have
the right to a safe and healthy body and it is every woman’s duty to support the efforts
that make that possible. Also, by supporting efforts that raise community awareness
about fistula and that provide aid, those communities are learning that it does not have to
be a life-long ailment.
The Kimarekani (American)
As I walked through the streets of Dar Es Salaam I almost found it hard
to breathe. I am female, just like Tanzanian females, but somehow I
felt so completely disconnected from these women. I felt myself cringe
as we walked on the reality tour, through people’s homes; what right
do we, a group of predominately Caucasian Americans, have to walk
through these homes waving at children and mothers and families?
What right do we have to capture images, with our cameras, of these
run-down homes so different from our own? And what right do we
have to eat our snack bars and drink from our water bottles as we walk
over a bridge that leads across a stream of trash and sewage?
Having traveled and lived in various places, the majority being in South East
Asia, I feel pretty well-rounded. I became accustomed to being different and feeling
uneasy by not knowing what was always happening. I grew used to it. However, it was
drastically different in Tanzania where we were traveling as such a notably different,
privileged group. We were obvious. We were Americans.
102
�I was overly enthusiastic about eating out; one of my favorite parts of
traveling is tasting the cuisine of the host country. However it was
difficult to find restaurants, which, when reflecting, I figured must be
because 60 percent of Tanzania’s 35 million people population live on
less than US $2.00 per day (Obaid, 2004), so eating out is far from
feasible for many people. Since we could not find a Tanzanian
restaurant, of course, the group consensus was to eat at a fancy hotel.
Why not, we can afford it right? I could hardly eat a bite because I
was so infuriated that no one else seemed to question the group’s
decision. Perhaps we do have the money, but what is the point of
traveling if we stay within what we are comfortable with: pasta, fish
sticks and hamburgers? Why travel if we are not going to taste the
local food, support the local restaurants but rather dine at the fanciest
hotel-restaurants that are completely empty because those are not the
places the majority of Tanzanians eat? What makes us stand out from
the rich, upper-class Americans if we travel to Tanzania and dine at a
hotel which mostly caters to rich, foreign business people?
When traveling to the women’s village my initial reaction was excitement that
this was a village comprised of self-sufficient women in a society in which there seems to
be distinct issues of gender inequality. Each woman seemed to have picked up a
particular trade and mastered it in a way that they could earn an income.
One of the women, whose job it was to care for the cows and collect the
cow milk to sell, explained to us that the cows had not been producing
as much milk as they normally produced within the past couple of
months. She claimed that the cows’ diets had not changed yet they
were producing less and less milk. She asked us if we had any
suggestions about what cows are fed in the United States to keep them
healthy and producing a plethora of milk. None of us had any idea
about how cows are kept in the United States. None of us had probably
even ever had to think about that question. However all of us seemed
ashamed that we could not answer what this woman rightly thought
should be such a simple question. How could we describe how
drastically different our lives are, being the privileged Americans that
we are?
103
�Since I grew up overseas, American society and culture has been oddly foreign
to me. Attending college for the past two years in the United States has therefore been a
complete [reverse] culture shock for me. When I first moved back to the U.S. I did not
always recognize the popular songs people sang, that everyone else seems to know
immediately, or the popular television shows that everyone seemed to know quotes from.
I still do not understand why people use the words “retarded” and “gay” to emphasize
something they do not like. These are examples of my own culture that are still
confusing to me. This is partially why I enjoyed being in a predominantly Caucasian
American group in foreign Tanzania. I finally felt as though I was on the same page as
the rest of the group; none of us completely understood the culture in which we were
fully immersed.
The heat seemed to physically latch on to my entire body, so much so
that it was difficult to move comfortably. It was so intense it felt almost
impossible to breathe. As we made our way through the largest market
place in Dar es Salaam, I figured people should be laughing at how
awkward we maneuvered ourselves through the narrow dirt walkways
between the abundance of food stalls; however people just seemed
curious. Most people smiled or stared, some raised their fists as we
walked by to “pound” our two fists together in a friendly Tanzanian
greeting. This uneasiness yet excitement that tumbled around in my
stomach brought me back to my first couple of weeks in Korea. I felt so
lost in a culture I was so unfamiliar with and did not understand, yet
after a while, I knew I would be okay. And I was…more than okay.
Now, two and half months after my return from Tanzania, I can still see the faces of the
people we met and still think about the everyday issues that Tanzanians deal with,
particularly issues related to women. The face of the first little girl I saw as I walked
through the airport is vivid in my mind, the way she stared at our group, not out of anger
but rather out of curiosity. I have thought about the fact that I am a privileged Caucasian
woman living in the United States and I have wondered what that means to most
privileged Caucasian women living here. I have wondered if they even think about it. I
have thought about the fact that my socioeconomic status and the color of my skin
enabled me to travel to Tanzania and do so many things that most Tanzanian women
living there would never be able to do because they do not have enough money. They
worry on a day to day basis how they are going to feed and bathe their children. With
this consciousness comes the choice of whether to simply acknowledge this inequality or
to actually get others to see that actions must be taken to support our sisters in other
104
�countries. The everyday issues for Tanzanian women are moral issues to which my hope
is that more women join in this awareness. Since I have returned home I have decided
that I am not able to live a comfortable, guilt-free life until all women are able to live
comfortable lives. This is a sisterhood in which none of us are free until all of us are free.
Works Cited
Bicego, G., Curtis, S., Raggers, H., Kapiga, S., Ngallaba, S. (1997) “Sumve Survey on
Adult and Childhood Mortality, Tanzania”, Demographic and Health Surveys.
Larsen, U., Vavrus, F. (2003). “Girls’Education and Fertility Transitions: An Analysis
of Recent Trends in Tanzania and Uganda”. Retrieved March 1, 2009, from EBSCO host
database.
Mrisho, M., Schellenberg, J.A., Mushi, A., et al. (2007). “Factors Affecting Home
Delivery in Rural Tanzania”, Tropical Medicine and International Health. Retrieved
February 20, 2009, from ProQuest database.
Obaid, T. A. (2004). “Healing Wounds, Instilling Hope: The Tanzanian Partnership
Against Obstetric Fistula”. Retrieved February 20, 2009, from
http://www.popcouncil.org/pdfs/qcq/QCQ16.pdf.
UNESCO. (2009). “Capacity Development & Training Programme in Gender
Mainstreaming”. Retrieved March 2, 2009, from http://portal.unesco.org/en/ev.phpURL_ID=11005&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html
UNFPA. (2004). “Campaign to End Fistula”, from http://www.endfistula.org/contacts.htm.
Vavrus, F. (2003). “The Acquired Income Deficiency Syndrome: School Fees and
Sexual Risk in Northern Tanzania”. Retrieved February 20, 2009, from EBSCOhost
database.
Vavrus, F. (2006). “Girls’ Schooling in Tanzania: The Key to HIV/AIDS Prevention”,
AIDS Care. Retrieved March 2, 2009, from EBSCOhost database.
WebMD. (2007). “Vaginal Fistula”, from http://www.women.webmd.com/tc/vaginalfistula-topic-overview.
105
�Air-Space vs. Urban-Space in Rushdie’s The Satanic Verses:
The Ideals and Realities of Hybridity
Jenna Pocius (English)1
Though perhaps best known for the controversy it sparked, The Satanic Verses
by Salman Rushdie exemplifies a work rich in subject matter. Indeed, the novel extends
far beyond “the Rushdie affair” and delves into a variety of themes involving cultural,
racial, and gendered identities. One of the most prominent and well-defined themes is
that of postcolonial migrancy in a postmodern world. As readers see through the
struggles of protagonists Saladin Chamcha and Gibreel Farishta, the migrant condition
presents both opportunities and consequences for the migrant. Realities that seem
incompatible fuse together, and the idea of new, hybrid creation lies at the heart of the
text and plays out in its spatiality. In an examination of air-space versus urban-space
within the novel, we see that the postmodern and postcolonial ideal of hybridity is both
idealized and problematized depending on the spatial positioning of the protagonists.
Thus, while Rushdie himself considers The Satanic Verses a celebration of hybridity (“In
Good Faith” 394), he nonetheless points out the difficulties and potential consequences of
embracing hybridity in its ideal conception, as he juxtaposes the ideal air-space with the
reality of postmodern, urban settings in which the migrant condition is resisted and
demonized.
The idea of the postmodern world stipulates a valorization of mobility,
mutability, and newness, which is also inherent in the migrant condition. As Terry
Eagleton explains in The Illusions of Postmodernism, the concept of postmodernity
envisions “the world as contingent, ungrounded, diverse, unstable, indeterminate, a set of
disunified cultures or interpretations…” (vii). The migrant’s shift from one culture to
another necessarily creates a diverse and often conflicting sense of identity, thus
embodying the postmodern notion of a world undergoing continual change. With the
foundations of a postmodern world built upon the idea of hodgepodge and the indefinite,
the migrant serves as a prime example of the social construction of essential identity
which postmodernity seeks to expose; the migrant is shaped by various cultures and thus
there is no stable, singular essence of self. In Politics of Postmodernism, Linda Hutcheon
1
Written under the direction of Dr. Christopher Hogarth (English) for EN245: Senior
Seminar.
106
�illuminates this issue of instability in her description of the contradictory nature of
postmodernism in its fusion of binaries which results in parody that unsettles all accepted
beliefs and ideologies (95). Within The Satanic Verses, the protagonists embody
contradictions in their simultaneous English-Indian identity, hence establishing the
instability and hybridity characteristic of postmodernity.
Rushdie’s choice to begin the action of the novel in air-space as his two
protagonists hurtle through the air from an exploding airplane, which had been heading to
London from India, foregrounds the postmodern, as air-space becomes a defining
location of ideal hybridity. The narrator’s definition of air-space echoes Eagleton’s
definition of postmodernity, for it is described as the “most insecure and transitory of
zones, illusionary, discontinuous, metamorphic…” (5). Hence, as Gillian Gane explains
in “Migrancy, the Intellectual, and the City in The Satanic Verses,” “air-space becomes a
charged and transformative site, simultaneously empty and dense with meaning” (20).
While the airplane serves as the vessel for crossing borders in this air-space, it is through
the explosion of the plane that Rushdie sets up the potential problem of migration.
Essentially, the migrant is violently severed from a sense of home, as evidenced through
the description of the debris of the passengers:
Mingling with the remnants of the plane, equally fragmented, equally absurd,
there floated the debris of the soul, broken memories, sloughed-off selves,
severed mother-tongues, violated privacies, untranslatable jokes, extinguished
futures, lost loves, the forgotten meaning of hollow, booming words, land,
belonging, home (4-5).
Thus, early on Rushdie establishes the potential loss inherent in the hybrid state.
However, in air-space the loss has a positive connotation, as this loss creates the
potential for the birth of a new self: as the text stipulates, “To be born again, first you
have to die” (86, 418). Birth imagery pervades the air-space, and, as Gane points out, the
airplane is repeatedly envisaged as a source of procreation (22): it is “a seed-pod giving
up its spores, an egg yielding its mystery” (Rushdie 4); it is “a metal phallus, and the
passengers were spermatozoa waiting to be spilt” (Rushdie 41). As Gibreel and Saladin
fall from the explosion, they are “like bundles dropped by some carelessly open-beaked
stork” and Saladin descends “head first, the recommended position for babies entering
the birth canal” (5); this birth canal is also “the hole that went to Wonderland” (7).
Migration, therefore, as a process of death and rebirth, is also a form of reincarnation
infused with a sense of myth and magic that creates the potential for new and unknown
existences to enter the world. With migration occurring via air-space, the traditional
perception of humans as earth-bound with identities rooted in a particular territory of
107
�“home” is reversed (Gane 20). Instead, as Gibreel explains in the note he leaves in his
house before he departs for the flight, “We are creatures of air, Our roots in dreams And
clouds, reborn In flight [sic]” (13). By situating air-space as the source of identity rather
than the earth-bound conception of home, what is considered natural becomes denaturalized (Hutcheon 49) and thus valorizes the acceptance of hybridity rather than
inherent identity.
Indeed, air-space comes to represent an ideal space in which identity can be
continually renegotiated and where unbridled hybridity can exist. In The Location of
Culture, Homi Bhabha posits this idea of a “Third Space” which he describes as the space
between binaries that rejects homogeny (36). Ultimately, he posits that this space can
create “an international culture, based not on the exoticism of multiculturalism or the
diversity of cultures, but on the inscription and articulation of culture’s hybridity” (38).
For Bhabha, much like for postmodernists, the concept of hybridity is structured around
the idea of the interchanging self, and Bhabha clearly envisions this hybridity as a
positive force that fosters understanding. Thus, the notions of crossing borders and
rebirth that are manifest in the text’s air-space at the outset of the novel reflect the
dividing and multiple nature of the migrant identity.
Certainly, with this Third Space dynamic established in the text, readers are
exposed to the unique world view of the migrant in his or her different forms; Rushdie
himself deems the novel “a migrant’s-eye view of the world” (“In Good Faith” 394).
Essentially, the migrant is a hybrid by nature, as his or her identity is the product of
various cultural influences. As Summer Pervez explains in her article “‘Hybridity is
Heresy:’ Homi Bhabha and The Satanic Verses,” the migrant is “forced to go through
identity revisions from a third space ‘in-between’ two or more nations” (154). When this
revision takes place in the air-space of the novel, a supplement/minority discourse opens
up a new cultural space—the third space—where the characters negotiate their national
identity. Saladin and Gibreel’s metamorphosis in air therefore demonstrates Bhabha’s
Third Space ideal.
Indeed, the potential for hybridity has hopeful connotations in air-space. As the
narrator explains, “when you throw everything up in the air anything becomes possible”
(5). Anything does become possible, as the two characters morph together, becoming
“Gibreelsaladin Farishtachamcha” in their “angelicdevilish” fall (5). As they fall, Saladin
becomes aware of this metamorphosis in their “embrace,” and he realizes that “he had
acquired the quality of cloudiness, becoming metamorphic, hybrid, as if he were growing
into the person [Gibreel] whose head nestled now between his legs and whose legs were
wrapped around his long, patrician neck” (7). The use of “embrace” and “nestled” to
108
�describe their conjoined state implies a sense of nurturing, affirming that their “collision,”
despite its power, can result in a positive renewal. Because they are in a third space that
lies outside of national borders, their identities are forced into revision. More than that,
their revision juxtaposes angel and devil, England and India, suggesting an uninhibited
hybridization that produces the possibility for interchangeability and hence the potential
for the deconstruction of binaries.
The idea of air-space as the ideal is intensified by the text’s portrayal of the
characters’ turn to flight and air-space as a result of a loss of faith in the “once solid
ground of the earth” (Gane 21), or the idea of a stable sense of home and identity. The
idea of a loss of faith is exemplified in the numerous suicides that take place: Rekha
Merchant, Gibreel’s mistress, throws herself and her children off a roof after she finds
Gibreel’s note—it is described that perhaps she had the “rebirth bug” and that she was
also a “creature of the sky…rooted in dreams” (15); Otto Cone, the father of Gibreel’s
love interest, Allie Cone, jumps down an elevator shaft to his death after trying
unsuccessfully to “wipe the slate clean” and become wholly English and deny his Polish
heritage (308)—his act, in turn, prompts Allie to climb Mount Everest (309); the parents
of Saladin’s wife, Pamela Lovelance, committed suicide by jumping off a building in
London. All these characters abandon earthbound existence for air-space; they cannot
actualize their desires on earth and therefore seek to be renewed or reborn in air. Again,
we see the trope of “to be reborn, first you must die” play out in air-space. Though
ultimately plunging to their death, their flight of sorts stems from the inability to cope
with the strictures of society, and air comes to represent a space through which they can
escape their realities in the hopes of something new and better.
In addition, Allie Cone’s scaling of Mount Everest serves as a prime example of
the draw to air-space. As she climbs, she comes to believe that it is only on the
mountaintop where truth can be found. Indeed, mountains are described as “land’s
attempt to metamorphose into sky; it is grounded flight, the earth mutated—nearly—into
air” (313). This conception again emphasizes the idea that air-space has the potential for
the collapse of binaries whereas on earth they are inescapable. Allie explains to Gibreel
her belief that it is impossible to place things within the binary categories that society
requires and thus “you can either break your heart trying to work it all out, or you can go
sit on a mountain, because that’s where all the truth went, believe it or not, it just upped
and ran away from these cities…and it hid up there in the thin thin air” (323-24). This
emphasis on air as the element of truth typifies the transience and discontinuity
characteristic of postmodernism, for air becomes the space in which binaries mutate into
hybridity and the power struggles inherent in social structures vanish. Thus, the struggles
109
�of the other characters demonstrate a desire to reach the state in which Saladin and
Gibreel find themselves while in air: a state of hybridity actualized in air-space as it
comes to represent a blank slate upon which new meaning can be written, unlike the
already established binaries within society.
Juxtaposed with this ideal air-space is the “reality” of urban-space. As already
partially evident through an analysis of the use of air-space in the novel, hybridity in
urban space is problematized. Furthermore, while air-space represents the Third Space of
the hybrid ideal, a close examination of how hybridity works against Saladin and Gibreel
in the urban spaces of the text reveals that this ideal is unattainable in the postmodern
world. Indeed, Rushdie himself refers to the modern city as a “locust of incompatible
realities” (“In Good Faith” 404); whereas the realities are able to fuse in the ideal airspace of the novel, within London they become “incompatible.” While Saladin and
Gibreel’s metamorphosis in air makes it clear that the novel is about their quest for
wholeness, in the urban space they must grapple with the divisions in their identity. These
divisions become complicated and a source of demonization; both characters ultimately
end up rejecting the Third Space because it is incompatible with the world in which they
live.
Both Saladin and Gibreel migrate to London due to some loss of faith that they
view as irreconcilable. As Rushdie explains, Saladin is divided “between East and West”
while Gibreel’s division is “spiritual, a rift in the soul” (“In Good Faith” 397). For
Saladin, who embraced an English life and education, it is a sense of unhomeliness that
Bombay evokes for him. He tries to explain to Zeeny, his Indian mistress, that “in this
city where I grew up I get lost if I’m on my own. This isn’t home” (59, emphasis added).
He originally returns to Bombay for an acting job, and though Zeeny prompts him to
attempt to reconcile with his father and embrace his Indian roots, he is ultimately unable
to accept the Indian part of his identity. Gibreel, on the other hand, comes to the
realization that god does not exist, as it is only when he resigns himself to no longer
needing Allah to save him from his illness that he begins to recover (30). Up until this
point, Gibreel has made his living playing Hindu gods on television and in movies and
has ultimately embraced his Indian identity. With his loss of faith, however, Gibreel
leaves India in an attempt “to be born again” and to become “a new man with a new life”
(32), thus seeking a new identity. Overall, both characters depart Bombay for London in
an effort to rekindle their sense of identity.
In the reality of the urban space binaries are maintained, as we see each
character possessing distinctive characteristics of the English-Indian, angel-devil
dichotomy. Before the flight, Saladin “possessed a face of quite exceptional innocence, a
110
�face that did not seem ever to have encountered disillusion or evil…” (139). Gibreel, on
the other hand, is described as having some devilish characteristics: “Gibreel’s
exaltations, those of ochre clouds of sulphur and brimstone, had always given him—
when taken together with his pronounced widow’s peak and crowblack hair—an air more
saturnine than haloed, in spite of his archangelic name” (13). Thus, through the
description of the characters in society, readers recognize the binary of good versus evil.
Though these binaries break down in air-space, Saladin and Gibreel find
themselves in the urban-space of London after the plane crash, and the binary is back in
place but also flipped. When the immigration officers come to Rosa Diamond’s house,
the woman who takes in Saladin and Gibreel after the plane crash, Saladin grows devillike horns and is taken away by the officers while a halo-type light forms around
Gibreel’s head and he remains with Rosa Diamond. Saladin, having always identified
himself with the English and therefore the privileged, “angelic” half of the EnglishIndian, angel-devil binary, is now taken for the demonized, both literally and
metaphorically, illegal immigrant. Hence, though they are in a global city where multiple
communities exist together, racial/cultural hierarchies and stereotypes nonetheless
pervade the culture of the city and thus prevent the potential for a hybrid Third Space.
The nature of established cultural hierarchies and stereotypes becomes more
pronounced during Saladin’s time in the detention center and sanatorium for illegal
immigrants. As the immigration officers keep him held in the detention center and
ruthlessly abuse him, his devilish/goatman characteristics increase and he becomes hairy
and develops hoofs. Despite the fact that several of the immigration officers have a
lower-class drawl and little to no morals while Saladin, in his impeccable mimicry, has
worked all his life to sound and be English in its ideal conception, he is nonetheless
rendered inferior due to his Indian heritage. Essentially, Saladin’s transformation results
from hegemonic description, what Bhabha describes as “difference into demonism”
(226). Hence, Saladin’s metamorphosis into ‘the Goatman’ makes palpable his hybridity
at the same time as it makes literal the demonization of immigrants (Gane 27).
Moreover, as Vassilena Parashkevova explains in her essay “ ‘Turn Your Watch Upside
Down and You See the Time in London’: Catatropic Urban Configurations in Salman
Rushdie’s The Satanic Verses,” Saladin’s transformation as a product of hegemonic
versifying “becomes synonymous with the process of translation and migration as the
sites of multiple determinations” (16). In other words, his transformation can only be
reversed through the re-appropriation of his immigrant identity.
When Saladin wakes up in the sanatorium hospital wing after nearly being
beaten to death, he finds himself surrounded by hybrid monsters that he describes as
111
�“beings he could never have imagined, men and women who were also partially plants, or
giant insects, or even, on occasion, built partly of brick or stone; there were men with
rhinoceros horns instead of noses and women with necks as long as any giraffe” (176).
All these hybrid monsters are immigrants, coming from Nigeria, Senegal, Bombay, etc.
(173). When Saladin questions the manticore about how the detention officers are able to
turn them into these monsters, the manticore explains that “They describe us…That’s all.
They have the power of description, and we succumb to the pictures they construct”
(174). Thus, we see the exaggerated establishment of the self-other, native-foreigner,
colonizer-colonized, binary in which the privileged colonizer has the power to project
negative characteristics onto the other, therefore demonizing the other, as we see literally
in the text. Therefore, while hybridity exists in London, it is demonized and suppressed,
certainly a far cry from the Third Space ideal.
After escaping the sanatorium with the other hybrid monsters, Saladin takes
refuge in the Shaandaar Café owned by an immigrant family, the Sufyans, and the father
Muhammad attempts to make sense of Saladin’s devilish transformation by proposing
two theories of metamorphosis. On the one hand he presents the Ovidian argument,
which maintains that identity is an immutable essence, that we “‘Are still the same
forever, but adopt In [sic] their migrations ever-varying forms’” (285). On the other hand
is the Lucretius argument of constant mutability in identity, as transformation requires
“‘immediate death to [the] old self’” (285). Essentially, readers are presented with an
essentialist vs. postmodern argument in the conception of the self. As Nicole Fugmann
explains in “Situating Postmodern Aesthetics: Salman Rushdie’s Spatial Historiography,”
“The problem consists in whether the crossing of cultural frontiers permits freedom from
the essence of the self (Lucretius), or whether, like wax, migration only changes the
surface of the soul, preserving identity under its protean forms (Ovid)” (340). Herein lies
the essential question of the text: can migration foster new, hybrid identities, or does
society perpetuate and thus necessitate essentialist and definitive concepts of identity?
Saladin further locates the tension inherent in the migrant situation through his analysis
of the Ovid vs. Lucretius debate: “Either I accept Ovid and conclude that some demonic
and irreversible mutation is taking place in my inmost depths, or I go with Ovid and
concede that everything now emerging is no more than a manifestation of what was
already there” (286). Either way, the urban space is governed by the strictures of society.
Though he lives in a postmodern world, the societal norms that govern this world do not
live up to the postmodern/postcolonial ideal. Unfortunately, then, the migrant seems
doomed for demonization.
112
�While Sufyan chooses the Ovidian idea, Saladin, because he must “translate
himself into the medium of the metropolis” (Parashkevova 12) in order to attempt to help
“newness enter the world,” chooses Lucretius over Ovid, but qualifies that choice: he first
reaffirms “the inconstant soul, the mutability of everything,” but in thinking about
hybridity he exclaims, “…eclecticism, hybridity. The optimism of those ideas! The
certainty on which they rested: of will, of choice! But, Zeeny mine, life just happens to
you…it happens to you as a result of your condition” (297). Hence, in the urban-space
people are defined in relation to others and, as evidenced through Saladin’s experience in
the sanatorium, migrants are rendered inferior. Saladin decides to confront the hostile
notions of the immigrant in British culture, as he is “a being who had crossed the
frontier” and was “roaming loose about the city” (297). Because migrants are hybrids by
definition, the injustices the characters suffer demonstrate that hybridity in its ideal, Third
Space conception cannot exist. Nonetheless, his acceptance of a Lucretius definition of
his transformation indicates his acceptance of the hybrid immigrant condition as it exists
imperfectly and unjustly in the urban space of London because, for Saladin, maintaining
some form of British identity is still preferable to an acceptance of an essentially Indian
identity.
Unlike Saladin’s acceptance of self, Gibreel resists his hybridity. While Saladin
strives to assimilate himself into London culture, Gibreel seeks to transform London, for
his Ovidian, or essentialist, conception of identity dictates his belief that he has the power
to manipulate and define the social structure within the metropolis. Furthermore, when
Gibreel remembers his hybrid experience with Saladin he rejects the image, exclaiming,
“No more of these England-induced ambiguities, these Biblical-Satanic confusions! —
Clarity, clarity, at all costs clarity!” (364). Thus, we see that, for Gibreel, the ambiguity
of hybridity is manifest in the postmodern metropolis (Fugmann 341). Ambiguity
conflicts with an immutable essence of self, and Gibreel therefore sees London as the
“most slippery, most devilish of cities! — In which such stark, imperative oppositions
were drowned beneath an endless drizzle of greys” (364). As evident through his idea of
“imperative oppositions,” Gibreel rejects the idea of hybridity in the urban space, as he
maintains his belief in an Ovidian immutable essence of self that is incompatible with the
conception of hybridity. Therefore, as Parashkevova explains, “The clash between
Saladin’s and Gibreel’s Londons articulates what can be defined as the migrant’s
duplicitous, angelic/devilish or foreignizing/domestication translation of the metropolis”
(20). Again, we see the characters’ division in the urban-space as further representative
of the reinforcement of binaries, unlike their conjoined, hybrid state in air.
113
�Due to Gibreel’s paranoid schizophrenia (443) he believes himself to be the
angel Gabriel, and believes he “had come to transform” London. He hallucinates that he
is floating on a cloud over the city, attempting to “tropicalize” the city, making it into his
ideal space. Yet, after Gibreel commands London to change, he finds himself back in
reality, collapsed on Allie Cone’s doorstep in a moment of lucidity, realizing his mental
instability. As the boundaries between Gibreel’s dreams and waking hours become
increasingly more indistinct, the dream urban-space becomes conflated with London and
Gibreel cannot separate the two. Thus, Gibreel’s wish to remain an untranslated man with
an immutable, Indian essence is ultimately unattainable, for, as Parashkevova explains,
Gibreel “ultimately self-destructs in a failure to reconcile his schizophrenic multiplicity
of selves with the Ovidian immutable essence” (20). Overall, Gibreel’s hybridity and
multiple roles in the novel indicate that in fact the Lucretian model applies far better to
his condition than does the Ovidian.
Whether or not the characters accept their hybridity, their migrant condition
renders them hybrids, and Rushdie continually juxtaposes the ideal of hybridity with the
negative consequences that play out in the urban-space. From a postmodern standpoint,
hybridity can breed globalization which can result in a lack of dynamicism and
authenticity throughout the world. While Saladin is watching television, he points out
“hybrid tragedies — the useless mermen, the failures of plastic surgery, the Esperantolike vacuity of much modern art, the Coca-Colonization of the planet” (420). Yet, just
before this, Saladin found comfort in an image of an Indian tree growing in an English
garden, and he comes to believe that “If such a tree were possible, then so was he” (420).
Thus, Saladin as a creature of “selected discontinuities” (441) contrasted with the falsity
of self that hybridity can create leads the narrator to ponder whether or not Gibreel can be
considered good “by virtue of wishing to remain, for all his vicissitudes, at bottom an
untranslated man” (442). Yet again, directly following this assertion is a contradicting
assertion of hybridity: “Such distinctions, resting as they must on the idea of the self as
being (ideally) homogeneous, non-hybrid, ‘pure’,—an utterly fantastic notion!—cannot,
must not, suffice” (442). Though Gibreel attempts to assert agency, both his and
Saladin’s experiences in London demonstrate how migrants are subjected to global
political and economic systems of exclusion and exploitation (Kalliney 67).
Not only is hybridity in the urban space problematic in its conception and
application, but it also results in violence. The violence begins with the death of Dr.
Uhuru Simba, the man wrongfully accused of being the serial killer nicknamed the
“Granny Ripper,” while awaiting trial in police custody. Race riots break out, and the
conflict then erupts when there is a raid on Club Hot Wax; the club and the Shaandaar
114
�Café are both set on fire. Thus, violence is depicted as extreme and surreal, highlighting
the plight of the migrant. As the Shaandaar Café burns down, the tenants are doomed,
and “faceless persons stand at windows waving piteously for help, being unable (no
mouths) to scream” (478). These migrants, unlike Saladin and Gibreel, are defined only
within the urban-space and thus through this apocalyptic, “nightmarish” violence
(Kalliney 66) readers recognize that the migrants are rendered voiceless and powerless.
Indeed, as Parashkevova explains, the acts of violence, “foreground the impossibility of
undoing metropolitan power” (22).
For Gibreel and Saladin, who have been exposed to the potential of new, hybrid
identity, the riot becomes the pinnacle of their metamorphoses and sets up their return to
Bombay. Gibreel, now under the belief that he is the Islamic angel of death, Azreel,
becomes completely unstable. His dream vision once again overtakes reality, and he
envisions himself blowing fire through his trumpet in order to cleanse London through
flame and purge itself by burning it to the ground (476). The image of Gibreel walking
through flames creates a devilish image that seemingly upsets the angel-devil/GibreelSaladin binary maintained since their original fall from air-space. This switch in
characterization is emphasized by Saladin’s transformation back to his normal, human
state. Thus, it becomes clear that their angel-devil metamorphoses are “metaphors of the
migrant identity—compressed, dramatized analogues of how migrants change” (Gane
30). However, these changes occur not through self-definition but through the projection
of otherness. While in London the impossibility of maintaining an identity of multiplicity
and discontinuity becomes clear, and the climatic riot scene dramatically finalizes this
reality.
After the riot, both characters return to Bombay, and their experiences in
Bombay confirm their ultimate rejection of the Third Space. When Saladin’s father
becomes gravely ill, Saladin returns to Bombay to make amends. In doing so, he comes
to not only recognize and accept but even embrace his Indian heritage. Moreover,
Saladin begins to see the possibility of the Ovidian, essentialist identity, as the narrator
explains that during his time in Bombay, “Saladin felt hourly closer to many old, rejected
selves, many alternative Saladins—or rather Salahuddins—which had split off from
himself as he made various life choices, but which had apparently continued to exist…”
(538). Implied in the assumption that parts of himself “continued to exist” is the
implication of an essential essence of self; thus, the hybrid ideal of newness is rejected.
Indeed, Saladin embraces his “essential” identity as Salahuddin, wishing that “he could
have been this person all his life” (524). Preferring to revive his Indian roots over his
former English aspirations, Saladin makes a clear choice to abandon any other identity he
115
�may have had and hence rejects an ideal hybrid self. Pervez explains that “Saladin’s
acceptance of one side of his identity—his essence—can be seen as a refusal to be in
Bhabha’s privileged space” (161). Because of the demonization and hardships suffered in
the urban-space due to the resistance of hybridity as an ideal, as it upsets the social
hierarchies based on essentialist notions of inferiority, it becomes practical to accept an
essentialist identity.
Gibreel fares worse than Saladin, for his inability to reconcile his hybridity in
any way drives him to murder Allie and then commit suicide. Gibreel’s resistance to
hybridity places him in a paranoid state of limbo that plays out in his dream visions and
consequently leaks into his waking hours, making his reality a constant struggle. Driven
by unfounded jealousy and his schizophrenic state, Gibreel pushes Allie from the roof of
the same skyscraper from which Rekha Merchant had thrown herself and her children
(556). In Gibreel’s hallucinatory state, he claims that it was actually Rekha who pushed
Allie from the building (559). Interestingly, both Allie and Rekha, who long for the
ideal, hybrid air-space of newness, find their lives ended there due to Gibreel. Thus,
there is an inescapable, violent connotation to embracing air-space, as the novel presents
the only possible conclusions as death or accepting the binary structure of the real-world
metropolis.
Indeed, when Gibreel shows up in Saladin’s house in Bombay with a gun, the
reader is presented with multiple rejections of the postmodern, hybrid ideal: Saladin
exclaims, “how the universe had shrunk!” (560), implying the dangers of a postmodern
world in which everything is related and readily accessible. In addition, before Gibreel
puts the gun in his mouth and pulls the trigger, he says to Saladin, “I told you a long time
back…that if I thought the sickness would never leave me, that it would always return, I
would not be able to bear it” (560). His “sickness,” while clearly referring to his
schizophrenia, also refers to his hybridity. As previously established, Gibreel’s inability
to reconcile his hybridity causes him to become mentally ill; thus, his “sickness” is his
hybridity that will never leave him, and he cannot cope with such a reality. Therefore,
the Third Space that Bhabha envisions and Rushdie plays with in the plane crash proves
to be unattainable for the migrant.
While Rushdie valorizes hybridity, the way in which hybridity plays out in the
text presents the hybrid versus essentialist debate as complex within a postmodern world.
Air-space serves as the ideal postmodern, Third Space hybrid location: a place of
discontinuity and metamorphosis. However, in London we see the hybrid nature of the
migrant demonized, and upon their return to Bombay both Saladin and Gibreel reject this
Third Space. Overall, it becomes clear that Bhabha’s vision of hybridity is too idealistic.
116
�Though the novel upholds the vision of new communities coming together in a global
city, the vision is complicated by cultural hierarchies, replicated in migrant communities,
that resist the acceptance of an ideal postmodern world where certainties dissolve into
thin air and change is inescapable.
Works Cited
Bhabha, Homi. The Location of Culture. London: Routledge, 1994.
Eagleton, Terry. The Illusions of Postmodern. Cambridge: Blackwell, 1996
Fugmann, Nicole. “Situating Postmodern Aesthetics: Salman Rushdie’s Spatial
Historiography.” REAL: The Yearbook of Research in English and American
Literature. 13 (1997): 333-45.
Gane, Gillian. “Migrancy, The Cosmopolitan Intellectual, and the Global City in The
Satanic Verses.” Modern Fiction Studies 48.1 (2002): 18-49.
Hutcheon, Linda. The Politics of Postmodernism. New York: Routledge, 1989.
Kalliney, Peter. “Globalization, Postcoloniality, and the Problem of Literary Studies in
The Satanic Verses.” Modern Fiction Studies 48.1 (2002): 50-84.
Parashkevova, Vassilena. “‘Turn Your Watch Upside Down in Bombay and You See the
Time in London’: Catoptric Urban Configurations in Salman Rushdie's The
Satanic Verses.” Journal of Commonwealth Literature 42.3 (2007): 5-24.
Pervez, Summer. “‘Hybridity is Heresy’: Homi Bhabha and The Satanic Verses.” South
Asian Review 25.2 (2004): 153-64.
Rushdie, Salman. “In Good Faith.” Imaginary Homelands: Essays and Criticism 19811991. London: Granta Books, 1992.
Rushdie, Salman. The Satanic Verses. New York: Random House, 2008.
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Volume 8, Number 2
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Section I: The Natural Sciences -- 2 The Study of Chromosomal Aberrations in Vicia faba as a Result of Exposure to UVA and UVB Radiation / Ryan Patricia Rogers -- Section II: The Social Sciences -- 34 The Effects of Sleep Deprivation on the Academic Performance of Baccalaureate Nursing Students. / Raychel M. Ryan -- Section III: Critical Essays -- 44 Moving Beyond a Lesbian Feminism: The Role of Choice in Emma Donoghue’s Kissing the Witch / Charisse Willis -- 50 Meursault’s Pursuit of Social Justice / James Messina -- 58 Robert Johnson: More Than The Crossroads / Jonathan Pigno -- 64 A Power and Masculinity Perspective on Domestic Violence / Mary Beth Somich -- 70 The Instability of Language: A Clockwork Orange / Jessica Verderosa -- 76 Speak Up, Women! Paul Would Encourage It! / Sarah Nehm -- 85 In Pursuit of Honor: The Balance between Widowhood and Motherhood in the Letters of Alessandra Strozzi / Cassandra Brewer -- 95 I Am Woman: An Impressionist Tale / Sophie Fonner -- 106 Air-Space vs. Urban-Space in Rushdie’s The Satanic Verses: The Ideals and Realities of Hybridity / Jenna Pocius
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Wagner College Digital Collections
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application/pdf
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126 pages
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eng
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Text