Islam and Terrorism in Post 9/11th Literature

Although it has been always difficult to provide an adequate and comprehensive definition of “Terrorism”, Islam has been falsely and closely associated with to this concept in post 9/11th literature. Focusing on Joseph Geha’s Alone and All Together (2002), Laila Halaby’s Once on a Promised Land (2007), and Mohsin Hamid’s the Reluctant Fundamentalist (2007), I explain how Islam and the Arabic identity—which relates to Islam in one way or another—become responsible for the misery experienced by the Arab-American minority after the terrorist attacks of 9/11th. In the aforementioned works, Islam and the Arab ethnicity are entrapped under the strong feelings of patriotism and Americanism in post 9/11 United States. Islam falsely becomes the religion of terrorists who are referred to as radical Arabs and who are not recognized as patriotic citizens of the United States

Earnest Hemingway: Truth & Fiction

The difference between fiction, reality and truth has been a subject of a long debate since Plato excluded literature from his Utopia. Plato insists that literature is a thrice-removed reality or at least an inferior imitation of it. Aristotle, on the other hand, believes that literature might be an improved version of reality. This article explores the possibilities of bridging the gab between fiction and reality and if literature has the power to express truth. I focus the discussion on Earnest Hemingway’s An Old Man at the Bridge, For Whom the Bell Tolls, and a collection of his nonfiction writing- his Spanish Civil War Dispatches. Hemingway indeed managed to portray what he refers to as “absolute truth” in his fiction more than he does in his journalism

Prescription of medicines by medical students of Karachi, Pakistan: A cross-sectional study

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Prescription of medicines by non-doctors is an issue with serious global implications. To our knowledge prescription of drugs by medical and non-medical students has not been studied before. We aimed to determine the practice and attitudes of drug prescription by medical students and: a) how non-medical students respond to this practice, b) How this compares with the attitudes and practices of non-medical students.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>A cross-sectional study was conducted on a sample of 600 students randomly selected from 2 medical and 2 non-medical universities. Ethical requirements were ensured and data was collected using self administered questionnaires. The Chi square tests and logistic univariate regression analyses were performed using SPSS v 14 to identify associations and differences.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>A total of 572 forms were completed and the sample consisted of 295 medical students and 277 non-medical students with no significant difference in their demographic profile. Of the 295 medical students 163 (55.3%) had prescribed a medicine independently and most (48.5%) said that they did this 2–3 times a year. The commonest reasons for this were 'previous experience' (68.7%), 'problem too trivial' (34.4%) and 'we knew everything about the condition' (31.3%). One-third (33.6%) of the undergraduate medical students thought that it was alright to independently diagnose an illness while a vast majority (78.3%) thought that it was alright for them to prescribe medicines to others. Common prescriptions were pain-killers, antipyretics, antiallergics and antibiotics. Medical students who prescribed medicines were of lesser age (CI = 1.366–1.887) and more likely to belong to the 1^st(CI = 3.588–21.731), 2^nd(CI = 2.059– 10.869) or 3^rd(CI = 4.331–26.374) year of medical college. One-third (33.9%) of the non-medical students reported that a medical student had prescribed medicines to them and 21.3% said that they trusted medical students and would follow their advice blindly. Many students thought it alright for medical students to diagnose and treat illnesses. A similar proportion of non-medical students (58.5%) reported prescribing medicines to others.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Prescription of medicines by non-doctors is rampant and urgent corrective measures are warranted. We have highlighted areas for future research and intervention and have given a few recommendations.</p

Brother-Sister Relationships in Early Modern Drama

This study aims to evaluate the commodified brother-sister relationship in Early Modern drama. It examines three different samples from three major playwrights of this time period: Isabella and Claudio in William Shakespeare’s Measure for Measure (1603), Charles and Susan in Thomas Heywood’s A Woman Killed with Kindness (1603), and Giovanni and Annabella in John Ford’s Tis Pity She’s a Whore (1632). The three aforementioned cases are closely evaluated through a Marxist-feminist lens. The study finds out that the brothers in the three examined plays are not very different since they all encourage their sisters to sacrifice their chastity to achieve some sort of personal interest. Interestingly enough, the sisters vary in their responses to their brothers’ requests of offering their bodies to help their brothers. Obviously, Shakespeare offers the ideal version of a sister who does everything in her power to save a brother. Yet, she refuses to offer her body in return to his freedom in spite of her brother’s desperate calls to offer her virginity to Angelo to save the former’s life. Susan of Heywood is also similar to Isabella of Shakespeare since she refuses to sell herself in return to the money needed to save her brother. However, Ford offers the ugliest version of a brother-sister relationship. The brother wants to have a love affair with his sister who yields to his sexual advances and eventually gets pregnant