Forensic Science Work Placement Personal Development Essay

Forensic Science Work Placement Personal Development Essay The organisation I was introduced to for my work placement was the department of forensic science. Forensic science usually goes hand in hand with Law. It specialises in the application of a broad spectrum of sciences to answer questions of interest to legal systems. This may be in relation to crime, burglary or murder investigation. Simply put it usually involves the use of scientific techniques to retrieve crucial pieces of evidence which may be of utmost importance to an ongoing police investigation or court case. The Department of Forensic Science where I worked during my placement was situated in the green area of the Erasmus Darwin Building on the Clifton campus. Over the past few years the course itself has become quiet popular so much so that it now not only attracts students from across the United Kingdom but from all over the world too. The activities that are developed by the department are a combination of practical examples as well as theory in order for the students to understand some of the certain concepts that are involved in this particular field of science. On top of this the department works closely together with the Nottingham police. This is a huge advantage for the students as it enables them to get first hand information of how to go about certain methods when it comes to retrieving evidence. During my time in the forensic department I was working alongside senior technician Arthur Richards who was my supervisor and Paul Mason-Smith who was also part of the forensic technician team. The roles that we carried out ranged from setting up lab practicals to setting up different crime scenarios for the students to tackle in the crime scene house. Some of the things one needed in order to get the jobs done were a good sense of communication and the ability to work as part of a larger group. Some of the tasks that I carried out individually during my work placement were things such as collecting together the equipment that would be used in the lab practicals, charging the camera batteries as well as collecting new equipment from the downstairs store, organising them in order of their usefulness and storing them away in a suitable location. Other aspects of my tasks did not require setting up practicals or coming up with scenarios but rather to attend talks that were focusing on the health and safety viewpoints of the workplace. These talks placed a fundamental part of the placements as they showed the problems that could arise if one was not paying particular attention to the way they were carrying out their tasks. The information obtained from talks such as this one proved to be very useful during the placements. Not only did they enable my to mind my surroundings while executing my work but they also taught me how to optimise my working capacity by using a few simple examples that were provided during the talk. Skills and knowledge gained The tasks that I was undertaking over the 5 weeks of the work placement not only helped tremendously in further developing my practical skills, but they also help shape the key attributes that one needs in order to succeed in any workplace. In my particular workplace the skills that were required from me in order to work efficiently were a good sense of communication, teamwork and organisation skills. Fortunately for me, these were some of my better skills. During my time in the forensics department I also gained exceptional knowledge about some of the techniques that were involved in crime solving. During my placement I carried out two major practicals. One of the techniques that I remember carrying out was The Footwear and Tool mark Impression practical. This practical comprised of a sequence of 4 activities which together were intended to provide one with the opportunity to enhance their skills in examining tool mark evidence and collecting footwear evidence as well as identifying the characteristics of footwear sole patterns. Tool mark impressions are usually the marks that are left behind during a burglary. Lets take a house for example. If the point of entry is a locked door, the suspect would most definitely use some kind of tool to force entry to the premises. The imprint that is left behind in the door is the mark. The role of a forensic scientist is to find out what tool is compatible with the tool mark that was left on the do or. The same concept applies to the footwear impression which will be left behind in the house. Even if the footwear that is left behind is not visible to the naked eye there are certain techniques and equipment that are used in order to make these imprints visible. These however will be explained at a later stage. Upon successful completion of the practical one could: Demonstrate the competency in casting footprint impressions Show the ability to use of Electro-static lifting apparatus Correctly identify sole pattern characteristics Correctly eliminate sole print using inkless pad Safely prepare silicon cast of tool mark impression Apply theory of identification of impressions to practical scenario. Before the students could tackle the exercise I had to run through the practical in order to see whether everything the practical was going to work without any faults. Before the going through the practical however we had to create a suitable scenario that fitted with the practical. The scenario my supervisor and I came up with was as follows: Crime Number: NTU/221208 Location: 10 College Drive, Clifton Mr. Richard Sole Burglary at the above address overnight break entry gained via rear lounge window. Window forced using instruments. Climb in steal laptop and mobile phone. Exist as entry. There is footwear mark in flower bed below window and tool marks t scene. 2 suspects have been arrested and tools recovered from them. Their footwear has also been recovered for further examination. Once the scenario was in place my supervisor and I started the practical. The first activity was the casting of a footwear mark in damp sand. This activity was done as a team. It involved sketching the mark which was mentioned in the crime report with appropriate labelling. After this, the mark that was visible was coded using the letter coding system. This was necessary in order to identify the type of shoe that left behind the imprint. When the results of the mark came back from the letter coding system we prepared to cast the mark. For this we set casting frame around the mark and embedded it into the sand to prevent seepage of the plaster. This part had to be done as a team in order to ensure that the cast did not damage the mark and that the cast was evenly distributed. To cast the mark I had to: Take double bagged 2kg crownstone plaster and add 500mls of tap water to the bag, massage it well ensuring that the top of the bag remained closed. Add further water as necessary bearing in mind that the ideal consistency is runny (like pouring cream) without lumps. When the mixture is well mixed, snip off the corner at the bottom of the bad and using trawler pour plaster mix over the cast. During this step my supervisor pointed out that the mixture was not to be pour directly into the cast as this would destroy fine detail. Using the trowler gently tap the surface of mixture to ensure plaster settles into all of the impression and any air pockets are released. After 5 minutes using a craft knife inscribe suitable detail into the cast. This was not necessary in my case as I was just running the practical in order to see whether everything was going as intended however once the students started to do this activity they would have to inscribe their initials into the cast so they could distinguish between their casts. After the inscriptions the cast was left to take form for 45 minutes. Once the cast was dry I carefully tapped the edges of the casting frame to loosen and remove it. Then gently lifting the cast and keeping it over the tray brush off excess debris with brush so the details of the tread can be seen. At this point the cast was finished. I was told by a police officer how worked with us during the practical that in a real life crime scene the cast would not be cleaned. The cast plus soil would have been allowed to dry for at least 48 hours before they would be packaged and send intact to forensic scientist laboratory to be examined. The soil or debris attached to the cast may hold a small piece of evidence which could be crucial in solving a case or in the case of the above activity identifying the correct suspect which left the imprint behind during the burglary incident. The skills and knowledge that I took away from this activity was to pay attention to small details such as these which could really make a difference when it comes to solving a crime. The second activity was the Electro-Static Lifting Apparatus. This device is more commonly referred to as ESLA. ESLA consists of a high voltage power supply/control unit, a nickel-plated steel ground plane and a metalised lifting medium. It is used to lift impressions in dust from nearly any surface. It uses static electricity to attract the dust particles from the surface to a dark-colored lifting film, allowing for a clear and accurate photograph of the print. A grounding wire attaches to a grounded metal surface and a live wire attaches to a special metallic film. The unit is then activated. The film is statically attracted to the surface and dust particles are attracted to the black side of the film. A roller is provided to smooth the film over the surface. A flashlight is provided as an oblique light source to detect and photograph dust marks. This procedure ultimately produces the desired image which in my case was the footwear imprint. The activity was again carried out as a t eam however since this activity included the use of high voltage was done as a group of three to ensure that everything was cautiously done. The objective of this activity was to visualise a footwear print which was left behind on a clean surface using the dust particles that remained on the ground. The procedure went as followed: Using the crime light 80L ( a LED line light which is used for locating evidence such as fibers, hair or footwear prints in a crime scene) at a low angle we had to locate the area of shoe dust print to flooring sample. Using the Projectina Dustprint lifter my supervisor lifted the dustprint mark Following this I turned on ESLA and let the current run over the metal foil which was covering the of the shoe dustprint. After approximately 30 seconds ESLA was turned off to lift over the foil and using the crime light 80L I visualised the left to determine whether the electrostatic attraction drew the dust particle together to form the footwear mark. After confirming that it did I had the other colleague sketch the resultant lift on the crime report. This delicate procedure not only depended on precision but also accuracy. When the students carried out the activity, the sketch of the imprint was given a mark depending on the quality and accuracy of the sketch so one had to take extra care when placing the metallic foil on the dustprint not to destroy the arrangement of the particles and also while sketching the imprint. The third activity in the practical was the suspect shoe comparison. This activity differed from the other two I had done so far. Instead of retrieving footwear marks or dustprint marks my job was to examine 2 pairs of suspect shoes I received for comparison. After close examination I noted their code according to the FSS coding sheets. The FFS coding sheet holds the information of shoe types and patterns. Using the Bigfoot (a specialised set of equipment used to take footprints from shoes) I made a print of each shoe and labeled them appropriately then using a pen I had to highlight the areas of interest on the Bigfoot prints that were made. Finally I compared the Bigfoot prints against the Cast which we made during the first activity as well as the ESLA lift produced in the second activity to see whether any of the pairs were the ones which were found in the crime scene. I was told that in real life forensic scientists do this to point out the areas that overlapped with footwear evidence that was retrieved from the crime scene. Sometimes there are factors that help identify which shoe corresponded with the print that was left behind at the crime scene these include the size of the shoe. Some of the not so obvious features become more apparent following the completion of the Bigfoot analysis. The analysis tells you a lot about the sort of person which wore the shoes for example worn out soles indicate that the person wearing the shoes must have done a lot of walking. Distorted sole patterns arise due to the weight which is put on them. It is little clues such as these which narrow the number of suspects down. The final activity of this practical was the Tool Marks activity. What I had to do here was to examine the UPVC (a material used in manufacturing windows, gutters as well as doors) sections with the tool mark damage on them. Using silicon casting kit I made a cast of the marks and allowed them to dry for approximately 15 minutes before removing the from the wood. Once the silicon cast had dried I took it and compared it to the tools which were recovered from the suspects to see if any of the tools matched the cast. To identify the features and pattern of the tool mark and the cast I used a magnifier. This delicate procedure required a lot of patience and a steady hand as it took a while until align the tools with the cast however once this was done I was able to confirm which tool was used to make the tool mark. The final stage of this activity was to sketch and label the tool that made the tool mark. The information gathered from the practical was tabulated and filed away. The tabul ated results would then be used by the member of the teaching team to compare them against the results the students would gather. Following the completion of the practical I was asked by my supervisor to prepare a table of results using the computer. This table was to be used by the students to fill in their obtained results. The table also included a set of question which they had to answer. During my second week in the placement I was introduced to the crime scene house which was also situated on Clifton campus. The Crime scene house had been established very recently as It was formally an accommodation for postgraduate. It was now being used as a sort of training facility that simulated real life situation. The houses propose was for the students to hone their investigation and retrieval skills as well as get used to the idea of operating in a real life surrounding. The house itself was equipped with CCTV cameras in order to monitor the students while they were carrying out various scenarios. The forensic science department worked closely together with the Nottinghamshire police as stated earlier. The benefits of this was of course the fact that students would get advice from experienced officers on how to deal with murder investigation, burglary cases and drug searches. My role as an assistant technician was to prepare the house for the appropriate activity that was going to take place. The scenario that I was asked to set up was a Drug search activity which was scheduled to take place during the course of the week. I was working alongside my supervisor and a member of the Nottinghamshire police who told me that this activity was quiet complex in a real drug search. Sometimes the places the drugs were hidden were unimaginable thats why you had to think like a criminal in order to find them. For health and safety measures the items which were to be used for the exercise were not real drugs. Once the drugs were all placed away I went back to the offices and designed a table using Microsoft word which held the information of the different kinds of drugs and equipment that were used and the precise location they had been placed in the crime scene house. This was done in order to keep track of the items the students retrieved and to remember which items had been placed where in the house. On the following day while the students were undertaking the Drug search activity my supervisor and I went into the CCTV room in order to monitor the students progress. My supervisor familiarised me with the operating system and the different functions that were necessary in order to control each CCTV individually. After I was comfortable with operating the CCTVs I was left with the task of monitoring the actions of the students as they were doing the activity. During this I had to note down any action which went against the code of conduct they had been taught during their lectures. When entering a crime scene it is of utmost importance that one wears the appropriate equipment such as a protective suite which covers you from head to toe, gloves and a mask. This is to stop you from covering the scene with your fingerprints, hair strains or saliva traces. Some of the students made mistakes such as the ones mentioned and it was precisely these acts that I had to write done in the log b ook. While I was watching I noticed that some of the students were retrieving the items quicker but in turn they did not find all of them. The items they did not find or rather overlooked were the items which I placed in the more obvious locations such as under the carpet. The others were retrieving the items at a slower pace however they managed to find all of them. This highlighted the fact that patience really was a virtue. After they had retrieved everything the unknown samples of drugs were brought back to the lab for testing. The other activity which took place in the crime scene house towards the end of the week was the murder scene activity. The preparation of this activity involved using life size dummies which looked shockingly real. Depending on the scenario the dummy was either male or female. The dummy we used that week was the male dummy which had cut wrists as well as a slit throat. It was placed in the double bed room. During this activity the students had to examine the room the victim was found in for fibre traces, footwear and any DNA traces. Once the room was adequately searched the students would go back to the lab to observe one of the members of staff demonstrating how to properly transport a corpse. During the demonstration it became apparent to a lot of students including myself that the transport of a corpse from a crime scene was not as straight forward as it seemed. Before the corpse was put in a body bag the limbs had to be wrapped in forensic evidence bags as they may hold crucial pieces of evidence which could be uncovered during the autopsies which take place in the forensic labs. I mentioned earlier that as part of being an assistant technician I had to take place in a Health and safety talk in order to familiarise myself with the daily hazards which encompassed the workplaces. The talk raised some interesting points of about the dangers of carelessness during work or how the arrangements of items could cause serious problems during evacuation. The talks main focus was about maintaining a good workplace at all times. It showed how one could increase their work efficiency by rearranging their desk, prioritising the items they need in order of their usefulness at the time. The talk went on to explain the necessity of taking short breaks when working on the computer. The breaks would allow you to take your gaze away from the monitor thus easing the strain on your eyes. A general rule of thumb is to look into the distance as this relaxes your ciliary muscles. Moving about during these small breaks is also very useful as it gives you the chance to get up from your chair and stretch your muscles. These few simple roles proved to be a very useful set of skills even now as Im writing this report. Throughout the practicals and scenarios that my supervisor, colleague and I did, I felt that our teamwork and communication kept improving to the point were it was almost flawless. This in turn greatly enhanced the rate of completing various tasks and practicals as there was less mistakes. After a while I was even able to help the students with minor technical difficulties of the camera equipment. The other major practical that I prepared and tested was the Inked Fingerprint practical. Fingerprints are taken for several reasons some of them are: To establish an individuals identity. To find out whether someone has a criminal record. In the case of migration the home office takes fingerprints to identify whether a person is illegal in the country. To clear a suspect of committing a crime. Using fingerprints as evidence in a court case. The Police use them to find out whether an individual has had any previous convictions. This practical also involved several different stages which when tied together provided me with the chance to develop an understanding of the range of fingerprint pattern types. Also while doing this practical my supervisor introduced me to the procedure that is involved in taking fingerprints from actual crime suspects. Once I had completed this exercise I understood the nature of fingerprint characteristics and I was able to handle fingerprint equipment as well as taking fingerprints from individuals. Before starting the procedure however I was made aware of the health and safety aspects of this practical. Even though the risks that encompassed were minimal I had to wear a lab coat to ensure that no ink came in contact with my clothing. The first part of the practical required teamwork as such I worked with my supervisor. This part of the practical divided the groups into two roles. One person had to supervise and take the prints whereas the other had to assume the role of the susp ect who was having their fingerprints taken. For the sake of understanding the practical I assumed the role of supervision. The materials that were used included: National arrest form Fingerprint ink Copper plate Ink roller Card form holder Palm roller Wipes A4 paper Magnifying glass ID sheet Linen tester Russell Comparator In order for obtaining the best possible prints I had to ensure that my hands were thoroughly washed, dried and free from perspiration, the ink plate was clean and inked appropriately and my wrists and fingers were relaxed making sure not to assists the prints by adding pressure to the plate as this only leads to inaccuracy. Once the precautions were set we went into the preparation procedure which was as followed: Complete the details on the form Fold the paper along the lines indicated Place the form under the fingerprint card in such a way that it leaves the right hand impression visible. Dot 8 to 12 equally spaced out dots of ink on the plate. Once this has been done roll the ink out evenly until it has a semi mat finish. Take a test impression on the plain A4 paper. If too much ink is used on the paper clogging will form between the ridges if however too little is used the ridges will appear grey. The aim in each case was to produce a fingerprint which had sharp black ridges and white interspaces. The trick of removing excess ink from the plate was to lay a blank piece of paper over it and pass the roller over it until the plate had an even layer of ink. As part of the health and safety precautions I had to bear in mind to check for cuts, skin disease and the quality of the ridges. This was to make sure that the ink would go into the cuts and cause an infection or agitate the skin. Once the practical had been set up we went through the practical as followed: The rolled impressions were obtained by rolling the digit through 180 degrees from nail edge to nail edge in order for the complete area of rigid detail on the inner surface of the finger to be recorded. My supervisor indicated that it is recommended to do this slowly as it produces a better quality of fingerprint. Take the fingerprints starting with the right thumb and working your way across the form, taking each finger in turn to the right little finger making sure that the right digit appears in the suitable space. After completing the right hand adjust the fingerprint form in the holder in such a manner as to allow the left hand prints to be taken. Once it has been repositioned repeat the same steps with the left hand taking care to position the digits. The reason the plain impressions are taken before the rolled impressions is to certify that the rolled impressions have been taken in the correct manner on the fingerprint form. I was told that they may prove very useful to a fingerprint office therefore it is very important that they are recorded within the area chosen for them and do not overlap onto other lines or printing. When these were taken I had to move the form down in the holder to expose the plain expression section. As soon as this is done I took each of the suspects hands and pressed all four fingers together onto the ink plate, lifted them off and onto the appropriate space and pressed all four fingers down together. After this I took them of and used the same procedure to get the thumb prints. The final part of the practical was to take the palm prints. Using the ink roller I covered the whole palm and finger surface of my supervisor with a coating of ink. Finally I had done this I placed the heel of the palm onto the paper and drew the hand back over the over the roller to the fingertips, exerting a little pressure. Once the practical was complete I put away the equipment and prepared the lab for research students that were working on a project that involved the use of cameras and 80L crime lights. I realised that throughout the placement my organisation and communication skills kept improving. Thanks to this it made me a more reliable person. The various tasks that were allocated to me by my supervisor reflected this. Being responsible for setting up practicals, backing up CCTV footage for later use and preparing equipment for research students has also increased my confidence of managing tasks by my self. The health and safety speech has also helped as it made me aware of the hazards that I used to ignore before. Personal development Having completed my placement at the forensic department I must say that this has been a priceless experience for me. The placement has not only given me an insight in the day to day activities that encompass a forensic scientist but it has also helped in further developing the key attributes and understandings that one needs in order to excel in any given workplace. I believe that the way I carried out the tasks that were assigned to me had a direct influence on my personal development and of course vice versa. Judging by this I would like to think that I carried out my daily tasks and completed them to the best of my ability. My attitude also contributed to my development. Generally I was quiet content with my workplace. At the beginning it took a while to adjust to certain aspects of the placement such as timekeeping, sticking to the deadlines and schedules and bearing the responsibility of setting up practicals. These demands and responsibilities required that I had to learn quic kly and adapt in order to prevail in this workplace. I realised during the placement that one of my weaknesses was the accuracy and reliability of the practicals I had prepared. This is only natural as forensic science was not my area of expertise however since I applied for this placement it meant that I had to follow the same conduct and set up the practicals in the exact same manner as a forensic technician would do. My supervisor also gave me the advice of taking my time while setting up the practicals. In order to resolve this issue I paid particular attention to the other technicians while they were setting up practicals. As a result of this the reliability of my practicals improved immensely over the course of the placement. One of my stronger assets that my supervisor commended on was my organising ability and initiative. I was able to resolve an issue that occurred with the backing up of the CCTV recordings. The recordings were usually burnt on a CD however for some reason when they were empty even though the burning of the CC TV recordings was successful. I suggested the idea of uploading the recordings on an external hard drive. This had a number of benefits as it was capable of storing many more Giga bytes of CCTV recordings and in the long run would work out cheaper than to keep purchasing CD ROMs. Overall I would say that this placement has transformed me into a more responsible, reliable and punctual individual who is able to work as part of a team, as well as work individually in order to accomplish the task that is set out to the best of his ability.

Jhumpa Lahiri

The Criterion: An International Journal in English ISSN-0976-8165 The Treatment of Immigrant Experience in Jhumpa Lahiri’s The Name Sake D. Ebina Cordelia Assistant Professor in English Holy Cross College,Tiruchirappalli Tamilnadu. Indian writing in English is one of the voices in which India speaks. It spreads the traditional and cultural heritage of India within India and also introduces it to the whole world.It is Indian in sensibility, thought, feeling and emotion and experience but submits itself to the discipline of English for expression. The contemporary novelists tread new paths and this shows the vitality of Indian fiction. Arun Joshi, Khushwant Singh, Salman Rushdie and Vikram Seth depict the Indian social scene, the partition scene, the theme of alienation and the social, economic and psychological problems of modern man.Writers who are cultural hybrids like Maxine Hongkinstun, Gloria Naylor, Alice Walker, Bharati Mukherjee, Jhumpa Lahiri and many others take up is sues like identity crisis, nationalism, alienation, marginalization, insider – outsider and the hegemonic power discourses in the fiction that they are writing today. Jhumpa Lahiri as an immigrant novelist clearly fits into the school of writers better known as the writers of the ‘Indian Diaspora’. The word ‘diaspora’ has been taken from Greek, meaning â€Å"to disperse†. ‘Diaspora’, is the voluntary or forcible movement of peoples from their homelands into new regions†¦. Ashcroft, Griffiths, Tiffin] Normally, disapora fiction lingers over alienation, loneliness, homelessness, existential rootlessness, nostalgia, questioning, protest and assertions and the quest for identity; it also addresses issues related to amalgamation or disintegration of cultures, discriminating margins of two different social milieus, internalizing nostalgia and suffering a forced amnesia. We may call it a literary / cultural phenomenon with a distinc t melting pot syndrome or that of a salad bowl where the identity of each ingredient is under question. Diaspora is the communities of people living ogether in one country who â€Å"acknowledge that the old country as a nation often buried deep in language, religion, custom or folklore, always has some claim on their loyalty and emotions†. (qtd. in. Kaur, 192) Diasporic experience is a spring of agonized inspiration, multiple identities, new subjectivities, creative memories and fresh perspectives of language and life. The earlier immigrant works of the neo-colonial and post-colonial works were often a product of forced immigration of people running away from religious and other political or social persecution.But several Indians who migrated to America in the mid 1970s and afterwards were in search of a better life, and material success and prosperity. Vol. II. Issue. IV Th e C rit 1 er io n December 2011 www. the-criterion. com The Criterion: An International Journal in Eng lish ISSN-0976-8165 Jhumpa Lahiri was born in 1967 and raised in Rhode Island. She was the daughter of Bengali parents. She was influenced by both Indian and American culture and heritage. This multi-cultural life style plays a central role in many of her stories, which depict the alienation and loneliness of immigrants caught between two drastically different worlds.Her novel, The Namesake focuses on the lives of Indians and Asians who have migrated abroad. Her writings tell us about the adjustment problems of Indians (both first and second generations) who have now settled in America. The tension between adhering to Indian culture and imbibing American culture, between upholding family tradition and subscribing to the individual freedom and realization that one is an outsider even though one is born there is beautifully highlighted in her works. Jhumpa Lahiri portrays immigrant experience and the clash of cultures.The conflicts portrayed in the novel bring great empathy to Gogol a s he stumbles along the first – generation path, strewn with conflicting loyalities, comic detours and wrenching love-affairs. With penetrating insight, she reveals not only the defining power of the names and expectations bestowed upon us by our parents but also the means by which we slowly, sometimes painfully, come to define ourselves. The Namesake, is the story of the Ganguli family. Following an arranged marriage in Calcutta, Ashoke and Ashima Ganguli move to the U. S. and settle in Cambridge and Massachusetts.An engineer working at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Ashoke adapts more quickly to life in America in contrast to his wife, who resists all things American and pines for her family, in Kolkatta. When a son is born to Gangulis, they are faced with the realization that they cannot wait for a suitable name for the child. Ashoke names the boy Gogol after a Russian writer, whose book he credits with saving his life. But Gogol who does not know the reason for gi ving him this name, is unable to identify either with the Americans or with the Indians.Intimately interacting with the American environment, the Indian diaspora continues to feel that they are the outsiders even though they have an insider’s insight. The question of cultural identity occurs in Lahiri’s writings. In India no single culture exists. Too many cultures have crossed and blended here, and produced a hybridity in us that cannot now unmix. The Indian cultural identity has acquired a heterogeneous composition with today’s youth who are on the move in search of better jobs.Hence the bonding between the people and the settlement is fast disappearing. The familiarity and uniformity of basic cultures across communities in the states of India makes for easier assimilation and preservation of one’s own culture. But when one leaves India and goes abroad, one realizes that even though one may try and assimilate with that culture, yet it is a baffling new world. The west which appeared alluring when one viewed it from one’s locale, appears complex and complicated when one settles there and realizes that one is exiled by choice from one’s home.Immigration is the movement of people from one country or area of the world to another to establish a new permanent residence. People become immigrants primarily for economic, political or religious motives. The U. S. has often been called the â€Å"melting pot†. The name is delivered from the United States’ rich tradition of Vol. II. Issue. IV Th e C rit 2 er io n December 2011 www. the-criterion. com The Criterion: An International Journal in English ISSN-0976-8165 immigrants coming to the U. S. looking for lucrative jobs and having their cultures melted and incorporated into the fabric of the country.Most of them (immigrants) were not highly educated and did not possess wealth or power in their home countries other than these few commonalities of what they didnâ₠¬â„¢t possess, their backgrounds were vastly different. The thread, however, that bound these immigrants together was their vision of improving their current situation. Emma Lazarus, in a poem entitled â€Å"The New Colossus†, which is inscribed on the pedestal of the statue of liberty tells of the invitation extended to those wanting to make the U. S. their home. â€Å"†¦. Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breath free†. Encyclopedia Americana, 1998, Vol. 637) To a question in an internet interview, regarding Lahiri as a child of immigrants in America and the conflicts she felt while growing up, she says, It was always a question of allegiance of choice. I wanted to please my parents and meet their expectations. I also wanted to meet the expectations of my American peers, and the expectations I placed on myself to fit into American society. She adds that it’s a classic case of divided identity, but depending on the degree to whi ch the immigrants in question are willing to assimilate, the conflict is more or less pronounced.Her parents were fearful and suspicious of America and American culture when she was growing up. Maintaining ties with India, and preserving the Indian tradition in America, meant a lot to them. The first generation immigrants try to stick to the mannerisms, values and beliefs of their own culture and any clash between their concept of â€Å"home† and their beliefs baffle them. In most of the second generation people these emotional links and ties with the past in most of the matters are loosened. They mainly go by American styles in food and habits, and their marital relations too are crumbling.The term first generation immigrant may be used to describe either of two classes of people. One may be, an immigrant to a country, possible with the caveat that they must be naturalized to receive this title. The second class may be the children of immigrant parents, first in a family lin e to be born in the new country. The ambiguity of this term extends to the term â€Å"second generation immigrant†, which may refer to the first generation born in the new country, or the first generation born to parents who were themselves born in the new country.The living ‘in-between’ condition is very painful and marginalizing for them. There is the yearning for â€Å"home†, to go back to â€Å"the lost origin†, and â€Å"imaginary homelands† are created from the fragmentary and partial memories of their homelands. The novel opens with Ashima recalling her homeland fondly. She is in an advanced state of pregnancy, admitted in a hospital for her delivery. To quote, †¦. nothing feels normal to Ashima. For the past eighteen months, ever since she’s arrived in Cambridge, nothing has felt normal at all.Its not so much the pain, which she knows, somehow, she will survive. It’s the consequence: Motherhood in a foreign land. â € ¦. It was happening so far from home, unmonitored and unobserved by those she loved. (The Namesake 6) Vol. II. Issue. IV Th e C rit 3 er io n December 2011 www. the-criterion. com The Criterion: An International Journal in English ISSN-0976-8165 They also face cultural dilemma when their cultural practices are mocked at and there is a threat to their cultural identity. They stand bewildered and confused, and show resistance also to the discourse of power in various forms.In the following generations these confusions, problems and yearnings become less intense as they get influenced by the culture of that country and also adapt themselves to it. To a question in an internet interview, regarding her immigrant experience, Jhumpa Lahiri says, †¦The way my parents explain it to me is that they have spent their immigrant lives feeling as if they are on a river with a foot in two different boats. Each boat wants to pull them in a separate direction, and my parents are always torn between the two. They are always hovering, literally straddling two worlds†¦.She feels an immigrant must teach us so much about the world and about human beings, things we can’t understand if we are born and raised and live our whole life in one place. â€Å"The generational differences† of the migrants and their children occupy different spaces in the ‘representative’ culture but their experiences of feeling rootless and displaced can be similar on nature. Though the children born to migrant peoples enjoy better settlement and place in that country â€Å"their sense of identity borne from living in a diaspora community is influenced by the past migrant history of their parents or grand parents†.Ashima tries to settle in and adjust herself to her surroundings, but she feels strange and lost in this country and spends hours remembering her parents and family, and reading the same five Bengali novels time and again. While waiting for the child to be born, she relives the past until the point of her depature for Boston. The thought of bringing up a baby in an alien land terrifies her. †¦to raise a child in a country where she is related to no one, where she knows so little, where life seems so tentative and spare. (The Namesake 6) Ashima gives birth to a boy and he is named Gogol after the Russian writer Nikolai Gogol.She feels, without a single grandparent or uncle or aunt, at her side, the baby’s birth, like most everything else in America, feels somehow haphazard, only half true †¦. She never known of a person entering the world so alone, so deprived. (The Namesake 25) Gogol who does not know the reason for giving him this name, is unable to identify either with the Americans or with the Indians. Gradually Ashoke and Ashima’s circle of Bengali acquaintances grow and the cultural spirit of Bengal is recreated whenever the friends meet. Robert Cohen comments that distinct diaspora communities are con structed out of the, †¦. onference of narratives of the old country to the new which create the sense of shared history. As Ashoke and Ashima continue to maintain a solidarity with the community, they identify Gogol continues to search for his own identity, for a set code that will not make him feel an â€Å"insider – outsider†. Vol. II. Issue. IV Th e C rit 4 er io n December 2011 www. the-criterion. com The Criterion: An International Journal in English ISSN-0976-8165 The first time his parents leave him alone overnight he goes with his friends Colin, Jason and Marc to a party in the university where his father teaches.This is his first visit to a dorm. There he meets a girl and he introduces himself as Nikhil and â€Å"he feels at once guilty and exhilarated†. (The Namesake 96)â€Å"Stunned at how easy it is† to say Nikhil, he who never dated a girl before and feels brave. He manages to kiss her before he goes. But it hadn’t been Gogol but Nikhil, â€Å"That Gogol had nothing to do with it†(The Name Sake 96) One must note the dual identity or identity crisis in Gogol. Prior to his depature for college, Gogol officially changes his name to Nikhil. But even though he had longed to change his name, he finds that he has to get used to being called Nikhil.And when his parents also refer to him as Nikhil he feels, â€Å"†¦ in that instant that he is not related to them, not their child†. (The Namesake 106) Ashoke and Ashima make adjustments which are absolutely necessary. They try to bring up their children the way it is done in India. Sonia and Gogol try to assert their individuality, and Gogol goes to the extent of reminding his parents that he is eighteen. Ashoke and Ashima cannot think of Pemberton Road as their home, but Nikhil refers to his New Haven hostel as his home. Ashima is outraged by his remark. â€Å"†¦. Sorry, I left it at home† (The Name Sake 108). Ashima says †¦. hat aft er twenty years in America, She still cannot bring Herself to refer to Pemberton Road as home. (The Namesake 108) Though Ashoke and Ashima have a large circle of Bengali migrants as their friends; the sense of alienation can be felt in them. Gogol and Sonia, American born and educated, want to be accepted as Americans. However, they feel alienated both from their parents and from their American friends who consider them as outsiders. The insider outsider feeling is prevalent in all migrants. It is through the eyes of the first generation settlers that the second generation learns about their homeland.The idea of ‘home’ is central to all human beings in every culture. Having sampled the pleasures and pains of the world, one longs to return to one’s home. Ashoke and Ashima’s body language and demeanour change, the minute they are in India. They are more confident and assertive. It is true that every time one returns one comes back to a different home, becaus e times change and so do people, but nevertheless it is a home where one’s roots are anchored. The first generation wants to preserve their culture and customs in the foreign land.It is significant that every other Saturday Ashoke and Ashima send Gogol for Bengali language and culture classes at the home of one of their Bengali friends. But, The children in the class study without interest, wishing they could be at a ballet or softball practice instead. (The Namesake 66) Lahiri also shows that most of the first generation people adjust well and make a space for themselves in the new country. Ashima is a good example of Lahiri’s first generation people. She tries to adapt herself with the society, she tries to work in a library and manages to drive a car by herself.They concede to Sonia and Gogol’s demand of celebrating Christmas, and having an American dinner once a week. However, when Gogol gets involved with Ruth, they disapprove openly saying ‘Youâ€⠄¢re too young to get involved this way. (The Namesake 117) Vol. II. Issue. IV Th e C rit 5 er io n December 2011 www. the-criterion. com The Criterion: An International Journal in English ISSN-0976-8165 When Ruth goes off to oxford to do a course he misses her and he, †¦longs for her as his parents have longed, all these years, for the people they love in India†¦ for the first time in his life, he knows this feeling. The Namesake 117) He attends a panel discussion about Indian novels written in English. There the question about marginality is discussed. Teleologically speaking, ABCDs are unable to answer the question ‘where are you from? ’ the sociologist on the panel declares. (The Namesake 118) Gogol realizes that ABCD [ABCD stands for American born confused â€Å"desi†] refers to him also. He ponders over the question of identity. After graduating Gogol gets a job in a firm and is posted in New York. He meets Maxine and is invited by her for dinner. While eating dinner with Maxine’s parents, he recalls his mother’s hospitable nature and how, â€Å"She would never have served so few dishes to a quest. † (The Namesake 133) Lahiri shows that comparisons and contrast between Indian culture and Western culture are bound to occur. Cultural displacement involves the loss of language, family ties and a support system. Salman Rushdie says, A full migrant suffers, traditionally, a triple disruption. He loses his place, he enters into alien language, he finds himself surrounded by beings whose social behavior and codes are unlike and sometimes even offensive to his own.And this is what makes a migrant such a pathetic figure, because roots, language and social norms have been three of the most important parts of the definition of what it is to be human being. For the second generation the question of identity is a complicated issue. At home Indian culture and value system are adhered to, while in public the American co de of conduct is followed. This becomes doubly problematic. Added to this is the fact that Ashoke, Ashima and all first generation settlers want their children to do well and get good jobs.The American dream looms in their eyes and they want their children to exploit the situation and derive the maximum benefit for themselves, but they must follow the Indian moral and cultural code at home. However, Gogol, Sonia, as well Moushumi want to chart out their own lives. Gogol’s shifting in with Maxine is an assertion of his independence, and his desire to completely merge with the American culture. Gogol eventually marries Moushumi, but they are not happy and so they part. Ashoke dies, and Ashima decides to sell the house on Pemberton Road. Hence forth she would spend six months in India and six months in the states.True to the meaning of her name, she will be without borders, without a home of her own, a resident everywhere and nowhere (The Namesake 276) Initially when she had com e in 1967, she had been petrified of living in America. But now as she makes the journey back home alone, she is no longer terrified. Vol. II. Issue. IV Th e C rit 6 er io n December 2011 www. the-criterion. com The Criterion: An International Journal in English ISSN-0976-8165 It is the last Christmas party at Pemberton Road after the death of Ashoke. Gogol, Sonia and her fiance Ben, and other guests gather around Ashima to enjoy this moment.Gogol goes to get his father’s camera and finds the book, which his father had given him on his birthday and which he had never bothered to open and read. As the party goes on downstairs, he sits on his bed and begins to read the book. The first generation migrants face cultural dilemma but do their best to retain their cultural identity and cultural practices in their beliefs, values, cloths and eating habits. These ‘beliefs, traditions, customs, behaviours and values along with their ‘possessions and belongings’ are c arried by migrants with them when they arrive in â€Å"new places†.The children of the migrants do not face the same problems because of their parents living â€Å"here now†. Thus Lahiri has shown dynamically the shifting concepts of ‘home’ and ‘displacement’ in the successive generations of migrants. Lahiri uses her own craft, technique, style, format and structure. Her narrative voice is elegant, bitter sweet and gentle. Her novel talks of Indian culture, traditions, including food and festival, clothes and customs. Her novel, The Namesake, exhibits her signature style and in it she revisits issues that she knows well, those of cultural displacement, sense of identity, and belonging with one foot in two words.Lahiri gracefully shifts the narrative focus from the Ganguli parents to Gogol as he reaches school age. Gogol struggles with his name, which he regards as absurd and inappropriate. The issue of culture permeates the novel, from the ear ly dislocation of immigration in the first half of the novel to Gogol’s departure from home to Yale University. This transition is marked by Gogol’s decision to change his name to Nikhil. Gogol’s college experience in one way resembles what might be called typical; he falls in love; he discovers architecture; he begins to assert, against his parent’s desires, his independence and individuality.And yet his experiences are always complicated by the particular, as in any life. Gogol can never, even when he moves to New York to work in a large architecture firm, shake his past, his culture or his name as he wishes to do. The novel exposes the fallacy of the American myth of selfcreation. Gogol grows up, moves out and goes through life suffering personal tragedies that also shape his identity. The novel ends with Gogol in his early thirties. Although the novel never feels busy or hectic, the characters are always in transit. America and the west have always be en idealized by the Indians.But when qualified Indian migrate to America then the adjustment problems begin between the traditions, one has inherited and the day to day life one encounters there. There is a gradual adjustment, and assimilation and then a hybrid culture comes to the fore. Gradually one develops a respect for other cultures even though one’s own culture remains ingrained within oneself. Culture is not defined now-a-days by a place, it is defined by time ‘the now’. As identity becomes the core issue, names become quite significant. The expressive function of a name varies from culture to culture.In Lahiri’s novel, Indian names, the Indian identity of her characters become potent symbols and tools to highlight the immigrant identity. Lahiri’s works are scattered with details of Vol. II. Issue. IV Th e C rit 7 er io n December 2011 www. the-criterion. com The Criterion: An International Journal in English ISSN-0976-8165 Works Cited Bhadu r, Gaiutra. â€Å"An interview with Jhumpa Lahiri† www. citypaper. net Bhagava, Rajul, ed. , â€Å"Indian writing in English The Last Decade. Rawat Publications: New Delhi. , 2002 Dodiya, Jaydipsinh, K, ed. â€Å"Critical Essays on Indian writing in English†. – New Delhi : Sarup & Sons. 2006 Edwards, Paul. â€Å"The Encyclopedia of Philosophy 8 Vols. New York. Macmillan Publishing co. , Jha, Gaurishankar, ed. , â€Å"Current Perspectives in Indian English Literature. New Delhi : Atlantic Publishers & Distributors. , 2006 Lahiri, Jhumpa. The Namesake. New Delhi : Harper Collins Publishers Ltd. , 2007. Vol. II. Issue. IV Th traditional Indian names, food items, cooking details and wardrobe lists providing the Indian an ethnic touch. In Lahiri’s novel The Namesake the role of memory in a process of change is often used by the writer in an effective way. Memory plays tricks on all of us.Memory often idealises its perception of a place to convince oneself t hat there is one entity which remained constant in world of flux. Food in the novel is a talisman, a reassuring bit of the homeland to cling to. Spices and flavor waft through like themes in a piece of music as evidenced by the following passage. †¦with the samosas, there are breaded chicken, cutlets, chickpeas with tamarind sauce, lamb biriyani, chutney made with tomatoes from the garden. (The Namesake 148) Lahiri uses food as a tool to explain Bengali culture: and also tries to distinguish it from other cultures.For example : †¦. Gogol’s annaprasan, his rice ceremony thre is no baptism for Bengali babies, No ritualistic naming in the eyes of God. Instead, the first formal ceremony of their lives centers around the consumption of Solid food. (The Namesake 38) Ashima is shocked to see whiskey and wine bottles instead of cereals and tea on top of the refrigerator in Judy’s house. Here Lahiri emphasizes cultural difference through food. Lahiri is keenly sensiti ve to the fine ruptures and sudden disjunctures which make the familiar alien, which delink one from the ies of humanity, family kin leaving one with the acute sense of being alone. She maps the emotional lines of her characters. Lahiri’s elegant prose guides us through their lives. Toward the end of the novel Gogol’s mother, Ashima, thinks, â€Å"They are not willing to accept, to adjust, to settle for something less than their ideal of happiness† That pressure has given way, in the case of the subsequent generation, to American common sense†. The perpetual tensions between cultures, between individual minds, between the mind and the world beyond it, runs through this empathetic, beautiful novel. eC rit 8 er io n December 2011 www. the-criterion. com The Criterion: An International Journal in English ISSN-0976-8165 Naikar, Basavaraj, ed. â€Å"Indian English Literature. Vol. 2† New Delhi : Atlantic Publisher & Distributors. , 2002. Patel, Vibhuti. â€Å"Interview : The Maladies of Belonging†. Newsweek International, 20 Sep 1999. Prasad, Amarnath, and John Peter Joseph. â€Å"Indian Writing in English : Critical Ruminations. New Delhi : Sarup & Sons. , 2006 Shankar, Radhika. â€Å"A writer Free to write All Day† . http. //www. rediff. com/news/1999/aug23 Vol. II. Issue. IV Th 9 e C rit December 2011 er io n

American Exceptionalism The Destiny of America - 603 Words

What was the destiny of America viewed by American Exceptionalis? All along as time has advanced, travelers have come here in great hopes to establish a great country, escape from persecution, to become rich, and many other ideas of the American dream, so to speak. After many years these ideas of what America should be has accomplished great achievements and perhaps combined the destinies of many exceptionalist. There are three separate ideas of destiny that I am going to discuss and how they combined to be what America is now. The first idea of destiny is from the A Model of Christian Charity. Governor John Winthrop stated, â€Å"Now if the Lord shall please to hear us, and bring us in peace to the place we desire, then hath He ratified this covenant and sealed our commission, and will expect a strict performance of the articles contained in it†¦.† Winthrop declares that God has blessed us with this new nation and that as long as we keep to his commandments that he wil l give us this land. In doing so we will also be able to live peaceably with each other and be blessing to others, and a city upon a hill. Today the U.S. is truly a â€Å"city upon a hill†. Although the nation isn’t what Winthrop, and many other Christians would expect it to be as (becoming more and more secular). We still have an impact on other countries with democracy leading the way. How long America stays that way who knows? There truly is a warning in Winthrop’s message. 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Curriculum Theorist Edward L. Thorndike And His...

Curriculum Theorist Essay Introduction to Edward L. Thorndike and His Curricular Theory Edward L. Thorndike played an integral role in the development of the behaviorist theory. Edward L. Thorndike’s behaviorist principles were a major influence on American education during the first half of the 20th century and, in many ways, continue to have a presence and impact in modern education. In the first half of the 1900’s, science and social studies were not subjects students were expected to learn. According to Gibboney (2006), a notable influence in modern day education is the passage of the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act in 2002. It is largely based on Thorndike’s â€Å"mechanistic view of learning† (p.170). â€Å"Judging from the remedial reading programs funded under the Title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, NCLB, and most state accountability programs, it seems clear that many legislators, public school educators, and university professors have fully embraced a Thorndikean style of behaviorism† (Gibboney, 2006, p.171). The following sections will focus on how some of the behaviorist theories will influence how I teach and assess students in my classroom, with the primary goal of enhancing the learning experience. Impact to Instruction Teachers who follow the behaviorist theory consider learning to be influenced by external factors, meaning learning â€Å"occurs from the outside in† (Shuell, 2016). These classrooms tend to be more traditional in nature, where the