By methane steam reforming Essay Example for Free

By methane steam reforming Essay Reformation Of Gas: The first step embrace overhaul of natural gas, in this step hydrogen is counter with steam at 750-800 Â °C, by this reaction natural gas and a mixture of Hydrogen (H2) and Carbon monoxide is attained. Water Gas Shift: In this stride the Carbon monoxide is reacted with steam first at High temperature 350 Â °C and then at low temperature 90-210 Â °C to form Hydrogen and Carbon dioxide. CO + H2O CO2 + H2 Purification: This step embrace the amputation of venomous products present in Gas such as sulphur (S), and chloride (Cl) then it is further purified to remove Carbon dioxide in. The exclusion of Carbon dioxide takes place in liquid absorption system. Then methanation takes place to remove all the residual of carbon dioxide and to get pure hydrogen Gas. (hydrogen. org) By Biomass Process Biomass a renewable organic supply, which consist of agriculture crop scum, for instance wheat straw, forest residues, special crops grown specifically for energy use, such as switch grass or willow trees; organic municipal solid waste; and animal wastes. The hydrogen can also beprepared from biomass process although this process is not commercially available now a days. Thermal decomposition: Breaking up of Organic substance under the reaction heat and coke takes place, the partial oxidation occurs due to occurrence of oxygen in reactor. Gasification: Initially methanol and various gases are obtained in the first step, and then they are reacted with Oxygen or Steam which produces mixture containing 20% H2, 20% CO, 10% CO2, almost 5% CH4 and 45% N. This is an unbalanced equation for Gasification process, C6H12O6 + O2 + H2O CO + CO2 + H2 + other species. Removal of Nitrogenous Compound: In this step Nitrogenous compounds are eliminated from mixture by their reaction with the mixture with pure Oxygen or steam. Then we obtained the hydrocarbons and the endothermic reaction of hydrocarbons yield a Gas rich in Hydrogen. (Hydrogen. org) CO + H2O CO2 + H2 Exothermic and Endothermic reactions in Steam reform process: In steam reform manufacturing of hydrogen both exothermic and endothermic effect takes place. The first reaction which is observed in system is highly endothermic reaction, in this reaction the heat is soak up by the system in order to initiate the reaction between hydrogen and carbon monoxide, the heat is endow with the system from its environment by burning overindulgence of methane. The subsequent type of reaction which is being observed in steam reform process is the exothermic reaction, it is observes during shift reaction which initiates the separation progression for removing carbon dioxide, during exothermic reaction it is observed that this reaction releases large amount of heat. After removal of all the impurities pure hydrogen is obtained. (Leanne M. Crosbie and Dr. Douglas Chapin, January15, 2003) Exothermic and Endothermic reactions in Biomass Process: The reaction which is usually seen in Biomass process is the endothermic reaction, in first step of obtaining hydrogen from Biomass process the breaking up of organic substance for doing so the large amount of heat is provided to the system, the system absorb heats so the bonds between organic compounds starts breaking. As in this reaction the heat is being absorb by the system to it is believed that in Biomass process of hydrogen manufacturing endothermic reaction Occurs. (Cutler. J. Cleveland, January 28, 2007). References: Hydrogen. org, Production of hydrogen retrieved from http://www. hydrogen. org/Knowledge/w-i-energiew-eng3. html Leanne M. Crosbie and Dr. Douglas Chapin, Hydrogen production from nuclear heat retrieved from http://www. mpr. com/pdf_files/hydrogen. pdf Cutler. J. Cleveland, Hydrogen production technology, retrieved from http://www. eoearth. org/article/Hydrogen_production_technology.

Legal And Ethical Issues In Robotics

Legal And Ethical Issues In Robotics With the development of the technology over the past decade the Robotics has become one of conversational subject areas. As a result of mankinds ultimate innovations and accomplishments regarding to the Robotics, the social, ethical and professional norms have been affected in both positive and negative manner. Therefore, identify and analyze issues which might occur when implementing robot technologies an important and contemporary need. According to the VEX Robotics, Inc. (2012) the robotics is the science and technology which is used for inventing, accumulating, manufacturing and information processing of robots. With the robots, the tasks which are performed by humans can be automated in order to gain higher effectiveness and efficiency. A robot is an electronic device controlled by a program and able to carry out tasks of various kinds-it is a machine made to perform that humans might otherwise do (Wilson, C. 2007). In the current society robots are used in many different areas like education, entertainment, surgery, surveillance, military, farming, factories etc. The robots are capable of performing tasks accurately, high quality, speedily, safely than human beings and also they can perform dangerous tasks without much effort. Thus the robots and related robot technology provide various advantages for human lives and society with its technology. Currently robots are used to handle sensitive, critical and complex surgeries in accurate and effective manner. The robots are capable of performing surgeries with less pain, miniaturization, decrease blood loss, smaller incisions and quicker healing time. Unlike human surgeons these machines can perform tasks more smoothly with fewer side effects. It is true when there are fewer side effects patients lives will not get negatively impacted in the future after having a surgery. With the use of robots the surgeries can be done remotely, anywhere in the world without requiring the presence of a surgeon. This is very useful when handling surgeries where the surgeon and patient are not in the same geographical location. The technology made specialized surgeons to be accessed globally at anywhere in the world. Thus the robot science enhances the flexibility and availability of the medical field. Although Robots provide numerous benefits for human beings, on the other hand it might lead to create several ethical issues which may affect the patients condition negatively. Will people like to get treated from a soulless, emotionless machine? Most of the people will not like to get treated from robots because those machines dont have any idea or impression about the patients situation. Valuable human qualities like sensitiveness and carefulness is unforeseeable from robots. Another main issue is robots will not get trusted like a human surgeon. But in these cases patients are forced to trust on a machine. Thus, trust and freedom ethical principles are getting invaded. Robots are created by assembling heavy metal arms and other metal gadgets. Occasionally patient will get scared after seeing the robot because its appearance is not pleasant and familiar like a human surgeon. The situations like this might impact negatively for the patients condition. During a surgery, if machine ge ts malfunctioned or misused who will take the responsibility? The soulless, emotionless machine cannot take the responsibility like a specialized, well experienced surgeon. Thus moral responsibility and liability ethical principles are invaded. The researchers at the Harvard University has developed tiny organic DNA robot device to destroy cancer cells by sending important molecular instructions to infected cells (Mowatt 2012). This is significant invention in robot technology which can provide greatest benefit for human being by saving thousands of lives. Although these types of robot devices provide remarkable advantages, the technology can be misused. For an example if robot collected data (DNA) is used for further researchers or tests without having permission from the owner might leads to raise several privacy and security issues. DNA is strictly sensitive and confidential information of an individual where characteristics of a person can be fully exposed by analysing information. According to the Data Protection Act UK 1998 the information must be kept secure and must not be routed in any mode incompatible with the original use. When the data about a patients health is used for further researches without their knowledge, the Data Protection Act will get violated. Under the Public Interest section, British Computer Society (BCS) code of conduct defines to IT professionals that have due regard for public health, privacy, security and wellbeing of others and the environment. When robots are used as surgeons, the professionals who design those robots should concern about public health and wellbeing because it will be used to treat humans. Robots actions are very important during a sensitive and complex surgery as human life will depend on the tasks done by robot. Therefore professionals who design robots should accept the professional responsibility of their creation or design. In present robots are used for military purposes in many countries because it reduces the number of human involvement by saving lives in war. According to the article written by Marchant, G.E. et al. (2011) there are number of robots used for several wars. For an example U.S. military used unmanned aerial vehicles for unmanned air attacks in Pakistan, Afghanistan, and other countries. Further the article mentions that self-directed robots may be able to act more effectively than human beings because they can be designed without emotions, able to act independently, conservatively and also can process more information. When looking at the theoretical perspective according to the Deontological theory killing is wrong as destroying human life, freedom and property is not a right action. But the consequences of the action will be positively impacted on the massive number of people. Because of that from the perspective of Consequentialist theory the war can be a right action. Although robots provide various advantages for military purposes, on the other hand several ethical principles will raise. War is something about killing people and destroying their property. Human lives and property will get severely impacted though use human soldiers or robots. As a result of that right to life, liberty and security ethical principles are getting invaded. Sometimes war can be very unethical when one party uses military unmanned vehicles and other party use humans as soldiers. The situations like that become a war between humans and machines. The value of the human life will be compared with the value of soulless, emotionless machine. Human life is precious because once it lost we cant have it back. But once a machine damaged or malfunctioned, it can be repaired or replaced by another machine. Human life cannot be regenerate or replaced like robots and it is valuable gift. When using military unmanned vehicle robots against human soldiers, the value of human life wi ll be degraded in front of those metal machines. Thus human recognition and dignity ethical principles are getting invaded. The Public Interests section in BCS Code of Conduct mentions that IT professionals should have care for public health, privacy, security and wellbeing of others and the environment. When robots are used in wars human lives, privacy and security will be invaded and as a result of that public interest section of the code of conduct is getting violated. Avoiding injuring others, their property by false or malicious action or inaction is mentioned under Professional Competence and Integrity section of BCS Code of conduct. When robots are used to destroy human life and property in wars, the associated code of conduct is invaded. In wars, human life and property will be severely damaged and destroyed. According to the Human Rights Act 1998, everyone has the right to life and protection of property. Thus destroying human life and their properties in war will violate the act. The article 5 in Human Rights Act mentioned that everyone has the right to liberty and security of person. When war destroys human lives by depriving peoples liberty and protection that will also violates the Human Rights Act. Tracking someone via a robot equipped with surveillance camera can create both positive and negative issues in society. For an example tracking a criminal or terrorism suspicious person by authorized party to expose drug trafficking information and many more illegal activities can be identified as positive effects while secretly spying a person with intent to cause or harm is a negative effect. On the other hand, the privacy and freedom can get invaded when use robots to track whereabouts of an individual as these robots are capable of secretly spying without users knowledge by hiding itself. According to the article written by Hambling (2011), the Lockheed Martins Advanced Technology Laboratories has developed a robot which is capable of spying at night, hide itself when hear footsteps of an unseen guard and move again when the road is clear. Using a robot like this for tracking can be very harmful because it cannot be easily detected. When an individual is tracked or monitored by using surveillance robot wherever that person moves will be notified to a third party and that may leads to affect privacy, security and freedom of that individual. When a third party is more knowledgeable about an individual, that person can be easily controlled or blackmailed. Thus individuals freedom, autonomy and privacy rights are getting affected. Spying or tracking might not only be a risk for the person who is subject to spying but also the people that person interacts or having relationships with. If the tracker has the intention of harm to persons life, the family, relations and the society around that person might get negatively impacted. Under the Public Interest section, BCS code of conduct defines that IT professionals should have due regard for public privacy and security. When the unethical tracking is performed through a surveillance robot, the tracker breaks the public interest section of the code of conduct. Avoiding injuring others, their property by false or malicious action or inaction is characterized under Professional Competence and Integrity section of BCS Code of conduct. If the tracker does tracking with the intention of harm to an individuals life or their property, according to the professional rules the action is guilty. Tracking a person secretly can provide inappropriate ethical, religiously and politically offensive results which may be viewed as the violations of Human Rights Act UK 1998. Currently robots are used by most industries in their manufacturing processes because it is capable of generating accurate, reliable and high quality products when compared to human workers. Robots actions are controlled by programmed computer application or electronic circuit. As a result of that there is a low probability of generating inaccurate outputs unless machine gets malfunctioned. Due to its mechanical nature and computerized control, a robotic arm can carry out a repetitive task with great precision and accuracy, thus providing improved, consistent product quality (Bengtson, H. 2010). Unlike robots, human workforce gets tired and bored when carrying out repetitive tasks under long time periods and as a result that the efficiency of generating output will get degraded. When the efficiency of production gets low, the number profits made by company will become low automatically. The mechanical approach and automated control made manufacturing robots more efficient and speedy which redirects business into higher production rate where company can attain competitive advantage than with human workforce. There are some manufacturing industries where humans are required to work at uncomfortable and dangerous environments like defusing bombs, mixing chemical ingredients, attaching equipments under higher temperature etc. But robots will not get impacted by these environmental conditions as humans. Companies can purchase most suitable robots for their working environment and manufacturing process. Thus manufacture will get benefited greatly by reducing costs involve in production process through replacing human workforce by automated robot workforce. When looking at the shareholders perspective, replacing current workforce by robots will leads to make more profits for them as overall efficiency in production gets increased. Thus shareholders are greatly benefited by using robots in manufacturing processes. Consumers will able to experience accurate, reliable an d high quality products because of robot workforce. Although robots will maximise productivity by reducing costs, this might leads to create serious social issues like unemployment, employee relationships and attitudes towards to the work. When current workforce is replaced by robots the employees will become jobless. According to the studies carried out by American Psychological Association (2009), 78% of Americans reporting money as a significant source of stress. The stress created as a result of unemployment will not only affect negatively for an individual but also individuals family and well-being. The trouble of unemployment can also affect unexpected conclusions for children like sicknesses, distress and depressive symptoms. The unemployment will also create social divide within society by increasing the gap between families with children that both parents are get paid and families with children both parents are not get paid. This is terrible social issue which has indirect relationship on poverty and inequality. When poverty within a society gets increased, there is a high probability of increasing illegal activities like burglary, theft, fraud etc. According to the researches carried out by Carmichael and Ward (2000), there were high accretion in burglary, theft and robbery in 1992, 1993 and 1994 years because overall rates of youth and adult men unemployment get increased during those years. The article illustrate in 1989, 1990 and 1991 the youth unemployment rate varied between 12-18 per 100,000 population and total number of crimes were about 6562.7, 7845.8 and 9213.7. Between 1992 and 1994 the youth unemployment rate has increased and varied between 21.94 -19.5 per 100,000 population and total number of crimes were about 9816.8, 9727.5 and 9234.0. According to the statistics there was a visible increment of crime activities along with the growth of unemployment. It is true there is a fine impact on illegal activities with unemployment and poverty of a society. When human workforce is replaced by ro bots, there is a high possibility of amplifying illegal and crime activities in the society because of the increased unemployment population. Robots in a workplace will also create negative impact on human relationships, employee attitudes towards to the work and employer. When human workforce replaced by robots, the faith that the employees have kept on the organization will be dented as employees will began to think the employer only concerned about the efficiency and productivity of the work not the relationships or friendly working environment. Thus employee attitudes towards to the work and employer will get negatively affected. Robots cant be friendly or emotional like human workers and as a result of that there will not have a pleasant working environment filled with employee relationships. As robots are not able to communicate like humans the relationships and bonds among robots and rest of the employees will remain in a lowest level. Actually it is hard to justify whether the work or individual life is more important but the employer is always responsible for protecting relationships and job security of employees. What will be the impact when employees are fired from job without prior notice and compensations? The situations like this will create pathetic condition around individuals and their families. However in the social perspective, organisations can validate the importance of the robot workforce relating it to rising productivity, efficiency and minimise the wastages. Under the Employment Rights Act 1996, UK dismissing an employee without giving prior dismissal notice is illegal. The law also give right for employees to complaint the tribunal about unfair dismissal. Therefore employers are legally bound to take the responsibility of dismissing an employee. Currently robots are mostly used as human companions for elderly and childish people. Assist elderly or disable people, clean household equipment are some of core functionalities of robot helpers. United Stated National Institute of Standards and Technology (US NIST) has developed a robot to help disabled people move around their home. This robot acts as a wheelchair but also gives a helping hand to get out of bed and get on and off other seats. The robots like this are really useful to overcome physical difficulties that are faced by disable people when performing day to day tasks. The Nuresebot, Pearl is another multi-disciplinary, multi-university effort aimed to provide assistance for elderly people at homes. This robot is capable of reminding elders about regular activities such as eating, drinking, taking medicine, using the bathroom, guiding them through their environments, calling for help if they fall and display messages on the screens for people with hearing loss (Carnegie Mellon University n.d.). Elders need more care and attention because they are more vulnerable to abuse and also physical changes in old age reduce the ability to conduct activities of daily living by maintaining independence. Robot helpers or robot companions mentioned above will be a fair solution for taking care of elders and protecting them by being abused. Using robots for taking care of elders and children is very helpful in current busy life styles. Unlike Asian countries, Europeans are not having strong relationships with their parents after get married or being matured. In a situation like that robot helpers would be a best solution where protection of elders is assured. Although using robot helpers for elders is an effective, opportune solution this will leads to create several ethical issues. Elders will not able to get same experience and exposure like having companion with human being because these robots cant gossip, share ideas, emotions and communicate like humans. Therefore robots will not able to fulfil the emptiness in old heart like a human companion and as a result of that human relationships will get negatively affected. When using robot companions for children, their personality, behaviour and attitudes will get impacted. The robot will do everything that child command without questioning. Then the child began to think everyone will do everything that command without questioning and he/she can get everything without any interference. Thus robot companions will lead to create drastic negative attitude and behavioural change in child. During the infant and child years, children grow quickly and tend to learn about the environment they are interacting with. Without having a proper guiding adult to teach and guide in to the right path, child personality will also get degraded. Soulless, emotionless and inexperienced robot will not able to teach values and norms associated with human lives. Parents are the most important character in childs life and they are capable of understanding childs needs than anyone does. Love, affection and caring are critical requirements for better growth and development in a child. A metal robot is not able to fulfil these emotional feelings which are unique to living beings. Thus effects on human relationships, human personality and changes in attitudes social issues are raised when using robots as human companions or home helper. Experiences with touch, movement, voice sounds, and chances to see faces and their changing expressions these seem to be essential contributors to emotional and mental development (Mercer 2009). Without having these factors, the language development, ability to u nderstanding in the child will be weakened and as a result of that child will become socially isolated. Robots are expensive and everyone cant get the technology experience because of its high price. That will create a digital divide in the society, where only rich people can have robots experience. According to the Public Interest section in BCS code of conduct, the professionals should support equal opportunities and benefits of IT by including all sectors in the society. When robots are unaffordable and cannot experience for every human being as equal, this will breaks the following BCS code of conduct. Every technology has associated limits and vulnerabilities which may create severe negative impacts on individuals. Robots are reacting according to the limited set of tasks they are programmed into and any action that is out of the program might not be fulfilled. For an example a human companion that is programmed to take care of elderly or childish person might not be able to respond emergency situations like fire, explosion, theft etc. The situations like above can harm for people who are vulnerable to abuse. Elders are more vulnerable to abuse because physical changes appear with the age, made them to slow respond or inability of responding properly for actions. Children are also vulnerable like elders because they dont have knowledge or experience to respond emergency situations like matured people. These vulnerable groups may tend to trust on robot machine because it will be the only companion they have to interact in most of their time. If machine gets malfunctioned, the life of these vulnerable groups will be in a danger. Thus the negative implications and possible risks which may arise when adopting technologies like robotics should be much concerned. The individuals have to face both positive and negative Ethical, Social, Legal and Professional issues related to robot technology. The negative implications of robot should be clearly identified by IT professionals in order to make human lives more comfortable via secure information technologies while protecting ethical, social and legal rights of human being. By analysing and understanding both negative and positive impacts prior adopting technology may assist to reduce several issues which may arise related into robotics. In the conclusion, I recommend organisations and individuals to implement suitable policies when using new robotic inventions in their business and household that is transparent to ensure negative effects of the technology has been controlled and prevented.

Chemical Bonding Essay

Chemical Bonding Essay Anna Fyodorova All elements are made of atoms which combined with each other form new atoms. They come together in large or small numbers to form very similar or very different atoms and as a result of the combination it is known as a chemical bond. Atoms linked together by bonds have different properties to the original parent atoms. There are only about 100 chemically different types of atoms which make up millions of substances in the world by being combined together. The two main types of chemical bonds the ionic bond in compounds which occurs between a metal and a non-metal and the covalent bond occurring between the two atoms of non-metallic element or between different elements of two atoms. In ionic boding metal and non-metal atoms when combined together loose or gain electrons so they can have a complete outer shell. As an example if sodium which has an electron configuration 2, 8, 1 loses an electron it is left with stable structure neon which has electron configuration 2, 8. However sodium atom still has one more proton than electrons in the orbit around the nucleus. As a result of protons having positive charge the sodium atom has now become a positively charged sodium ion. The electronic structure of sodium ion is written as [2, 8]+. There are atoms that similarly gain electrons during reactions and they gain noble gas structure. For example, Chlorine has electronic structure of 2, 8 , 7. To have the stable electronic structure of argon it needs to gain a single electron becoming 2, 8, 8. Chlorine has now got more electrons than positively charged protons and is known as a chloride ion carrying a single negative charge. The electronic structure of chloride ion is w ritten as [2,8,8]. Ionic bonds are formed by atoms reacting together that need to gain and to loose electrons. For example, when sodium and chlorine react together they need to form stable ions which occur by sodium losing an electron and chlorine gaining one. Below is a lewis diagram that shows an example of ionic bonding by formation of sodium chloride (NaCl). (Brown, 2009) The oppositely charged ions are held together by the strong attraction forces that during ionic bonding form the positive and negative ions. As a result of these bonds between the charged particles a giant structure of ions is formed. To break all the bonds would take a lot of energy as the ions in the giant structure are being held together strongly; therefore the ionic compounds have a high boiling and melting points. Sodium chloride is a good example of an ionic substance. It is known as NaCl or common salt and by being a crystalline solid it has a high boiling point of 1413oC and melting point of 801oC. Below is a diagram of a sodium chloride giant ionic structure. Two non–metal atoms reacting together seek to gain and share electrons to achieve a structure of a noble gas and become stable. The atoms are held together by the electrostatic attraction of the pair of electrons concentrated in between the two nuclei. This is known as a covalent bond. A molecule is formed when atoms are being held together by the covalent bonds. Below is an example of a covalent bond of two hydrogen atoms. (Brown, 2009) Multiple bonds can be formed by atoms sharing more than one electron pair. Two electron pairs or total of four electrons form a double bond and three electron pairs or total of six electrons form a triple bond. An example of multiple bonds is Oxygen and Nitrogen as they both exist as diatomic molecules containing double bonds. Below is an example of single, double and triple bonds. (Brown, 2009) Covalent compounds at a room temperature can be found in a form of a solid, gas or water and in a solution generally do not conduct electricity. Two chlorine atoms form a non-polar covalent bond by being equally shared as the difference in electronegativity between them is zero. Covalent bonds that have unequal shared electrons between the atoms is a polar bond. Polar and nonpolar molecules have the attractive forces between them which determine the strength and properties of these bonds and are known as intermolecular forces. There are three types of intermolecular forces and they play an important role in changes of state in molecular compounds. In covalent bonds the strength of intermolecular forces depends on the size and shape of molecules, which will determine if the bond will have a higher, or lower boiling or melting points. (Goodman, 1960) Dispersion (also known as Van der Waals’) forces exist between all molecules polar or nonpolar and without these forces; nonpolar molecules cannot ever form a solid or a liquid. Molecules with more electrons will generate bigger oscillating and induced dipoles. These produce larger attractive forces between molecules. A dipole-dipole interaction is when a polar molecule will attract another polar molecular by the small ÃŽ ´+ and ÃŽ ´- charges. This gives a weak intermolecular force called a permanent-dipole interaction. Below is an example of intermolecular forces between Hydrogen and chlorine molecules. There is strong intermolecular attraction in hydrogen bonds between a polar hydrogen and one molecule and single pair of electrons on a highly electronegative atom of Fluorine, Oxygen and Nitrogen on a different molecule. (Mikeblaber.org, 2014) There are special properties of water arising from hydrogen bonding. Solid is less dense than liquid, therefore particles in solids are usually packed slightly closer together than in liquids. Relatively strong hydrogen bonds hold water molecules apart in an open lattice structure. Below is an example of an open hydrogen-bonded lattice of ice as ice is less dense than water. Hydrogen bonds have a high melting and boiling point, therefore there’s a relatively strong attraction of H-bonds and H2O. The H-bonds are extra forces, over and above dispersion forces. These extra forces result in higher melting and boiling points than would be expected from just dispersion. When the ice lattice breaks, hydrogen bonds are broken. (Gent and Richie, 2008). Bibliography Brown, C. (2009).Higher level Chemistry. Pearson. Chemwiki.ucdavis.edu, (2014).Introduction to Chemical Bonding Chemwiki. [online] Available at:http://chemwiki.ucdavis.edu/Physical_Chemistry/Quantum_Mechanics/09._The_Hydrogen_Atom/Atomic_Theory/Chemical_Compounds/Introduction_to_Chemical_Bonding[Accessed 6 Dec. 2014]. Docbrown.info, (2014).Introduction to CHEMICAL BONDING diagrams descriptions What is a chemical bond? Why do atoms bond together? gcse igcse A Level GCE AS A2 O Level chemistry revision notes. [online] Available at:http://www.docbrown.info/page04/4_72bond.htm[Accessed 6 Dec. 2014]. Gent, D. and Ritchie, R. (2008).OCR A2 chemistry. Oxford: Heinemann. GOODMAN, C. (1960). Ionic-Covalent Bonding in Crystals.Nature, 187(4737), pp.590-591. Herschbach, D. (2003). Cohesion: A Scientific History of Intermolecular Forces.Physics Today, 56(11), pp.68-68. Mikeblaber.org, (2014).Covalent Bonding. [online] Available at:http://www.mikeblaber.org/oldwine/chm1045/notes/Bonding/Covalent/Bond04.htm[Accessed 6 Dec. 2014]. Www2.hkedcity.net, (2014).Ionic Bond. [online] Available at:http://www2.hkedcity.net/sch_files/a/lsc/lsc-chem/public_html/nss/fundamental/bonding/Ionic/eg1a.htm[Accessed 6 Dec. 2014].

American Authors: Building Character One Sentence at a Time Essay

Most of today's writers get their inspiration from other writers, whether it be present day authors or primitive. All of them have their own style of writing for their stories. Today we mostly see books about sparkling vampires and paranormal stories involving teenagers who investigate the issue. Back then, the stories had more of a meaning. Some of the stories were about the government, society, or their own personal life. Most of today's stories do not have a real meaning behind their stories, unlike the stories Olaudah Equiano, Anne Bradstreet, Jonathon Edwards, Patrick Henry, and William Bryant wrote. Each of these writers had their own writing approach and plot. However, there are writers who still write like Equiano, Bradstreet, Edwards, Henry, and Bryant. They were influenced by the famous authors I listed beforehand. These new authors have paved the way for present and future writers. Olaudah Equiano was an African American who wrote about the hardships he endured as a slave. Equiano was kidnapped and sold into slavery when he was eleven years old. He was very intelligent for a slave with no education. Olaudah encountered other hardships, like losing touch with his family and home life. He lost his sister quite a few times during his term as a slave, also. He saved up his money during his time of being a slave and eventually bought his own slaveryBefore Equiano bought his freedom, he acquired a skill for seamanship and traveled long distances. He was trained by his slave owner who was a captain at sea. Equiano documented his life by a journal. In his journal, titled â€Å"The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa,† he had daily entries that described what was happening during his time ... ...ar would have never happened, we would not have liberty or a fully functioning government. We would also be void of free trade. Patrick Henry helped form the basis for today's society. All of these people have been extremely important to today's character. Each person has played a role in government and writing. They have all formed a basis for whatever they were working on. Without the ideas of government from Henry, we would have a different political system all together. Anne Bradstreet and William Cullen Bryant have helped piece together poetry. Anne and Jonathon catapulted religious views. Bradstreet and Equiano helped people understand that not everyone leads a perfectly happy life and many were mistreated. Olaudah Equiano was vastly important to the abolition of slavery. We have all of them to thank for the society, government, and literature we have today.

Mafia - A History Essay -- essays research papers

Throughout history, crime has existed in many different forms and has been committed by not only individuals, but by groups as well. Crime is something that knows no boundaries; it exists in all cultures, is committed by all races, and has existed in all time periods. Crime exists as a part of the economic institution and is a lifestyle for many people. Crime also exists in both organized and un organized forms. Since the early 1900's, "organized" crime has existed in the United States. The following will show where, when, and why the Mafia came to the United States, who organized it in the United States, and how it differed from its origins in the European mafia. By showing this you will see how this specific type of organized crime has In the ninth century, Arab forces occupied Sicily. The native Sicilians were oppressed and took refuge in the surrounding hills. The Sicilians formed a secret society to unite the natives against the Arab and Norman invaders. This secret so ciety was called Mafia after the Arabic word for refuge. The society's intentions were to create a sense of family based on ancestry and Sicilian heritage. In the 1700's, pictures of a black hand were distributed to the wealthy. This was an unspoken request for an amount of money in return for protection. If the money was not paid, the recipients could expect violence such as kidnappings, bombings, and murder. By the nineteenth century, this society grew larger and more criminally oriented. In 1876, Mafia Don Rafael Palizzolo, ran for political office in Sicily. He forced the voters to vote for him under gunpoint. After being elected into office, he promoted Mafia Don Crispi as Prime Minister. Together the two put Sicily under government control and funneled government funds to the society known as the Mafia. In the 1800's, New Orleans was the largest Mafia site in the United States. It was while investigating the murder of an Italian immigrant that the current Police Chief, David H ennessey discovered the existence of this secret society. Police Chief Hennessey was assassinated before this murder case could go to trial. Twelve men were charged with this assassination but were lynched by a newly formed vigilante group. The Italian Ambassador demanded that the vigilantes be tried. President Harrison who disproved of the vigilantes and gave a large cash settlement to the families ... ...ia consists of a large group of glorified thieves, pickpockets and murderers. Although it began with the adoption of much of the Sicilian heritage it has evolved into an organization that's sole purpose is to make money using any illegal means possible. The members of the American Mafia use extortion, bootlegging, prostitution, gambling, kidnapping, and murder to achieve their ends. The above research has shown that the Mafia has become a wide spread problem. The Mafia has continued to grow and infest our society from the early 1900's. It continues to exploit and destroy the honest citizens of our country. Now, these criminal organizations not only control the adults of our communities but also have begun, through the sale and distribution of narcotics, to control our children. Crime organizations must be stopped however this is a difficult task. They have infiltrated members of our government and law enforcement agencies with the lure of money. Unfortunately, crime does pay in m any instances. It is up to each of us to not look the other way, but be aware that there are really no victimless crimes. One way or another, we all pay either by higher taxes or by a more violent society.

Virtue Theory

A Necessary, Modern Revision Aristotle studied and explained a wide range of subjects ranging from science to politics and is widely recognized as one of the greatest philosophers of all time. One of his most important contributions to the study of humanities is his exploration and definition of moral virtue. In his book, The Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle explains different views about the nature of life in order to allow the reader to find what the main function of life is and how to successfully perform that function.For example, Aristotle states in his first book, in article one, â€Å"every art and every investigation, and similarly every action and pursuit is considered to aim at some good. † Hence, Aristotle defines the â€Å"good† as that which all things should aim. However, what separates humans from other â€Å"things† is the fact that humans seek the good in order to achieve eudemonia, or happiness. In order to achieve this result, a human must functio n well, and would therefore be acting with rational activity.So, if a person performs the function of rational activity well, they have acted with moral reasoning, acting virtuously to achieve eudemonia. In summary, Aristotle believes the good, or virtue, is in a human’s self-interest because of the results it produces. However, I strongly believe that, to classical philosophers, achieving virtue was a broader concept that its modern connotation suggests.It is commonly known that certain theories can be considered obsolete over time if not restated in a modern day context, because as society advances, there is a need for theories and ideas to accommodate and make room for such changes in order to maintain their relevance So, in order to adapt Aristotle’s theory of the good, also known as Aristotle’s virtue theory, into modern day life, different theorists and philosophers became interested in reevaluating the theory and adding to it in order to achieve a success ful and newer theory for humans to consider.I want to discuss the most popular theories recreated from Aristotle’s virtue theory to prove that there is, in fact, a need to modernize and restate his original concept, there is not a need to disregard it or substantially add to it. I believe that his theory must simply be presented through a modern outlook to be used as a guideline as to how humans should act instead of a set group of rules that could possible contradict each other. There are many different theories to consider when trying to find the best adaptation of Aristotle’s virtue heory, they range from supplementary views to non-supplementary and non-criterialists. For example, Supplementalists such as James Rachels believe in supplementing Aristotle’s theory of the good with an independent theory of right action. Whereas, non-Supplementalists can be further split into criterialists such as Rosalind Hursthouse, who believes that happiness can be objective, and non-criterialists such as Julia Annas, who believes that virtue theory does not need any criteria of right action because a truly virtuous person would never get into a situation where a criteria of right action would be needed.These theories differ on core principles and methods of adaptation, some even disagree with parts of Aristotle’s theory; however, they all have some form of agreement with respect to Aristotle’s theory of the good and can be used to enhance it for its adaptation into modern day context. After my evaluations of each philosopher’s view points, I have found the most practical and least contradicting theory in Julia Annas’ essay, â€Å"Being Virtuous and Doing the Right Thing. † Her essay delves into not only the original concept of Aristotle’s virtue theory, but also discusses the consequences of abiding by those guidelines in modern day.Her theory allows Aristotle’s theory to remain intact, however she refre shes it to the modern connotation it needed to be more commonly accepted by today’s society. However, when looking at the other popular views, James Rachels’ provides a detailed argument vouching for his supplementalist view point on the theory of the good in his essay â€Å"The Ethics of Virtue. † In his opinion, Aristotle’s theory shows an excellent motivation for moral action and gives us a better perspective of our decisions by enabling a different method of weighing our action.Yet, he also states that through Aristotle’s theory alone, there would be no reason for individuals to think that characteristics are virtues rather than vices. For example, courage could be a vice because there is no basis for asserting that courage is a virtue. Second, he adds â€Å"it is difficult to see how unsupplemented virtue theory could handle cases of moral conflict† (Rachels 2). For example, honesty can conflict with kindness if a certain circumstance p resents itself. According o Rachels, a purely virtue-based morality must always be incomplete, since it could not by itself explain why certain character traits are not morally good and therefore, humans could never decipher if they are truly acting virtuously and experiencing eudemonia. In order to make such a distinction between what is and is not morally good, he concludes that a combined approach, supplementing Aristotle’s theory with an independent theory of right action, such as Kantianism or Utilitarianism, will allow for an adequate moral philosophy in modern day.However, there can be problems with supplementation because moral theories, such as Kantianism for example, suffer from the same problem of deciphering the conflict of virtues. Rachels evaluates a list of virtues such as benevolence, civility, fairness, justice and so on, describing them as traits of character that should be fostered in human beings. By doing so, he conveys to the reader the need for an indep endent theory of right action such as Kantianism to help distinguish whether or not it is a virtue or vice. However, he does not go into detail of the problems such independent theories of right action can run into.Say Rachels wants to supplement the virtue theory with kantianism, and a person posses the virtue of honesty, however, if that person were to be conflicted by Nazis asking where hidden refugees are, that person would have to tell the truth because that is what the â€Å"categorical imperative† deems. Therefore, supplementing the virtue theory proves unnecessary and contradicting when trying to maintain using the virtue theory in modern day. Next, I chose to compare a theory opposing the supplementalist view such as the non-supplementalist view that Rosalind Hursthouse agrees with in her essay â€Å"Virtue Theory and Abortion. However, she also adds a criterialist view point in that â€Å"an action is right, if and only if, it is what the virtuous agent would do i n the circumstance† (Hursthouse 225). In her paper, she primarily uses the example of abortion to demonstrate her criticism of the virtue theory and discuss what is needed to be applied to the theory for it to promote the correct virtuous answer in modern circumstances. She states that â€Å"virtue theory can’t get us anywhere in real moral issues because it’s bound to be all assertion and no argument Hursthouse 226),† therefore, she addresses the need for clear, virtuous guidance about what ought and ought not to be done when a person is stuck in a conflicting decision of virtues. In her example of a woman’s decision of whether or not to have an abortion, she emphasizes the necessity of that guidance. However, in the evaluation of Hursthouse’s paper, she states nine separate criticisms of virtue theory, demonstrating what she believes to be an inadequate grasp either of the structure of virtue theory or what would be involved in thinking abo ut a real moral issue in its terms.She clearly makes the point that Aristotle’s theory of the good does not allow for a blatant answer in circumstances in which a person could either only do wrong or face the decision of acting for the good of human kind or for their own self interest. But, what she does not grasp is the simple fact that a virtuous person would never be in such situations to begin with, as Julia Annas later states. Hursthouse’s example of abortion becomes invalid with the realization that a virtuous person would not have irresponsible sex to land herself in a situation of whether or not to have an abortion.She mostly disagrees with Aristotle’s overall concept; therefore, her need to recreate it in a more understandable method is diluted and consumed by her overall goal of asserting the need of a virtuous guidance for those stuck in unvirtuous situations. Julia Annas further addresses the contradictions Hursthouse makes in her essay â€Å"Being Virtuous and Doing the Right Things,† in that she does not follow the criterialist belief that Hursthouse believes is necessary to make the virtuous decision.As stated before, she uses the main contradiction that the circumstances where there is no right answer a virtuous person wouldn’t be in to begin with. Also, she believes that â€Å"we are not blank slates; we already have a firm views about right and wrong ways to act, worthy and unworthy ways to be (Annas 66),† and we become knowledgeable of what is right and wrong through a developmental process, not through some technical method of deciphering right from wrong. She believes that you become good at being virtuous the same way you become good in everything else, for example, in order be good at playing the piano, you must practice.Her statements help relate Aristotle’s virtue theory to those confused about how to apply it in everyday life. She is providing the excuse of instinct and development for the vagueness of his original theory in order to make it more practical and achievable for those wanting to act with virtue. Overall, Annas proves her view deliberately and assertively throughout her paper. It becomes apparent that becoming a virtuous person requires a developmental process much like other activities in life.Also, through defying other theories, such as Hursthouse’s, she shows how uncomplicated making a virtuous decision can be, instead of making such a decision seem unachievable and complicated in modern context. I agree with her statement that it is wrong to â€Å"force our everyday moral thoughts into a system of one-size-fits all kind, virtue ethics tells us to look elsewhere at what happens when we try to become a builder or pianist (Annas 73),† because I believe that is how I came to learn what was morally good, and how I am still learning what is right or wrong in today’s society.She revives Aristotle’s virtue theory for modern day by allowing its original vagueness to remain intact and not trying to rewrite the theory’s initial context, while at the same time describing it as more of a guideline for humans to live by and a way to improve practical judgment in everyday life. In conclusion, Annas’ non-supplementalist, non-criterialist outlook on Aristotle’s virtue theory provokes thought and consideration, but also relates to a reader, because if looked at closely, the virtuous developmental process can be easily recognizable in any reader’s childhood.Also, her analytical methods of revealing the problems in other theories help the reader to comprehend her theory easier. Annas leaves the reader stating â€Å"When it comes to working to find the right thing to do, we cannot shift the work to a theory, because we, unlike theories, are always learning, and so we are always learning and aspiring to do better (Annas 74). † Overall, Annas provides the best adaptation to Aristotleâ €™s theory of the good and provides a positive outlook on the methods of becoming virtuous without constraining the reader to believe that there is exact and deliberate steps a human must make in order to gain eudemonia.Her revision allows Aristotle’s concept to live on into modern day, and thus provides a well-rounded and current guideline to the betterment of today’s society. Works Cited Annas, Julia. â€Å"Being Virtuous and Doing the Right Thing. † Proceedings and Addresses of the American Philosophical Association (2004): 61-75. Aristotle. The Nicomachean Ethics. 325 B. C. Hursthouse, Rosalind. â€Å"Virtue Theory and Abortion. † Philosophy and Public Affairs 20. 3 (1991): 223-246. Rachel, James. â€Å"The Ethics of Virtue. † 1996. Norman R. Shultz. November 2010 .

Theatre of the Absurd

THE THEATRE OF THE ABSURD The dictionary meaning of the word ‘Absurd’ is unreasonable, ridiculous or funny. But it is used in a somewhat different sense when we speak of the ‘Theatre of the Absurd’, or more commonly known now-a-days as ‘Absurd Drama’. The phrase ‘The Theatre of the Absurd’ was coined by the critic Martin Esslin, who made it the title of his book on the same subject, published in 1961. Esslin points out in this book that there is no such thing as a regular â€Å"movement† of Absurd Dramatists. The term was useful as ‘a device to make certain common fundamental traits that were present in the works of a number of dramatists’. Esslin saw in the works of these playwrights as artistic co-relation to Albert Camus’ philosophy that life is inherently without meaning as is described in his work ‘The Myth of Sisyphus’. In this essay Camus has described the situation of the human beings as one out of harmony with its surroundings. The Theatre of the Absurd, today, can be considered as a designation for particular plays written by a number of primarily European playwrights in the late 1940s, 1950s and 1960s, and also, along with that, to the style and form of theatre which has evolved from their work. A short but true story narrated in the beginning of Martin Esslin’s book The Theatre of the Absurd provides the best commentary on the significance of the Absurd, and also helps in understanding the human values of Samuel Beckett’s play Waiting for Godot, which is famous as an Absurd Drama par excellence. This is the story as told by Mr. Esslin – â€Å"On 19th November 1957, a group of worried actors were preparing to face their audience. The actors were members of the company of the San Francisco Actor’s workshop. The audience consisted of fourteen hundred convicts at the San Quentin penitentiary†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. The curtain parted. The play began. And what had bewildered the sophisticated audiences of Paris, London, and New York, was immediately grasped by an audience of convicts†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ The trio of muscle men, biceps overflowing†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. parked all 642 lbs on the aisle and waited for the girls and funny stuff. When this didn’t appear they audibly fumed and audibly decided to wait until the house lights dimmed before escaping. They made one error. They listened and looked two minutes too-long-and stayed. Left at the end. All shook. A reporter from the San Francisco Chronicle who was present noted that the convicts did not find it difficult to understand the play. One prisoner told him ‘Godot is Society’. Said another ‘He’s the outside’. A teacher at the prison was quoted as saying: They know what is meant by waiting†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. and they know if Godot finally came he would only be a disappointment. † This story is helpful in understanding the genre of the Absurd. Playwrights commonly associated with the Theatre of the Absurd include Samuel Beckett from Ireland, Eugene Ionesco from Rumania, Jean Genet from France and Harold Pinter of Great Britain. The Absurd in their plays takes the form of man’s reaction to a world apparently without meaning, or man as a puppet that is controlled or threatened by an invisible outside force. Though the term is applied to a wide range of plays, some characteristics coincide in many of the plays. For instance broad comedy is mixed with tragic images where the characters are caught in hopeless situations and are forced to do repetitive or meaningless action. Even the dialogues are full of specialized jargons, and wordplays and cliches and even nonsense. Even the plots are mostly cyclical or absurdly expansive. Regarding the story, it is either a parody or a dismissal of realism. The Theatre of the Absurd is commonly associated with Existentialism, and Existentialism was an influential philosophy in Paris during the rise of the Absurd Theatre. However, it is not exactly correct. Historically Existentialism grew with the nineteenth century writings of Nietzsche and Kierkegaard. On reading Nietzsche’s Zarathustra published in 1883, the readers come across a startling phrase that God is dead! According to Esslin, since then for many more people, God has died. He says; â€Å"And so after two terrible wars, there are still many who are trying to come to terms with the implication of Zarathustra’s message searching for a way in which they can with dignity, confront a universe, deprived of what was once its centre and its living purpose, a world deprived of a generally accepted integrating principle, which has become disappointed and purposeless. The Theatre of the Absurd is one of the expressions of this search; it seeks to re-establish an awareness of man’s situation when confronted with the ultimate reality of his condition. For the people, in between the two World Wars, the world seemed to be falling apart. Disintegration of the society, the menace of the unknown and utter loneliness of man, all this and many more made human beings look upon life as useless and futile. The world had become a place where man continues to waste, and pine and, and degenerate. In Samuel Beckett’s play, Waiting for Godot, the situation of man in this universe is summarized by Pozzo’s outburst in the second act of the play: â€Å"One day we were born, one day we shall die, the same day, the same second, is that not enough. They give birth astride of a grave, the light gleams an instant, then it’s night once more. † A most poignant image of death comes out in these lines. Esslin feels that in Beckett’s plays physical nature follows its own cycle, birth – growth – degeneration – decay and death. Seasons follow each other but there is hardly any escape The origin of the Theatre of the Absurd is rooted in the new pioneering experiments in the art of the 1920s and 1930s. The aim of these experiments was to do away with art as a mere imitation of appearances. It was after the First World War that German Expressionism attempted to project the inner realities and also tried to objectify thoughts and feelings. At the same time, the Theatre of the Absurd was also strongly influenced by the traumatic experience of the horrors of the Second World War, which showed the total impermanence of any values and shook the validity of long time held conventions. It also highlighted the precariousness of human life and also its fundamental meaninglessness and unpredictability. The trauma of living from 1945, under the threat of nuclear annihilation also seems to have been an important factor in the rise of this new theatre. At the same time, the Theatre of the Absurd also seems to have been the reaction to the disappearance of the religious dimensions from contemporary life. Absurd Theatre hopes to achieve this by shocking man out of an existence that has become overused, mechanical and self satisfying. It aims to startle the viewer, shake him out of this comfortable conventional life of everyday concerns. The Theatre of the Absurd highlights man’s fundamental bewilderment and confusion originating from the fact that man has no answers to the basic existential questions like why we are alive, why we have to die, why there is injustice and suffering. Playwrights share the view that man is inhabiting a universe with which he is out of key. Its meaning is indecipherable and his place within it is without purpose. He is bewildered, troubled and maybe even obscurely threatened. Man’s tragedy is that he is not aware of his problem. Man is always trying to seek some purpose in life by getting involved in trivialities and superficial pursuits. This is one reason why tragedy and farce are closely interlinked in the Theatre oh the Absurd. Even at the moment of the tragic climax in Waiting for Godot, farce enters the moment. Estragon’s trousers fall in attempting suicide and the chord breaks, when thy try its strength, making Estragon and Vladimir almost fall. The comedy here illustrates their life’s hopelessness and the futility of all their efforts to end them. The perfect statement of the philosophy of the Theatre of the Absurd as defined by Martin Esslin, is in which the world is seen as a hall of reflecting mirrors, and Reality merges gradually into fantasy. If God is dead, then surely the Theatre of the Absurd is looking for an alternative spiritual goal, i. e. making man aware of his lost moorings and trying to make him feel what he has to regain. Plays within this group are absurd in that they focus not on logical acts or realistic occurrences or even traditional character development. They instead focus on human beings trapped in an incomprehensible world facing incidents which are illogical. Mainly the theme of incomprehensibility is coupled with the inadequacy of language. Basically there is no story, no dramatic conflict and nothing really ever happens. Mostly there is repetitive action and circular arrangement of events. Devaluation of language is also an important trait of the Absurd Drama. Esslin says that Absurdism is the inevitable devaluation of ideals, purity and purpose. Absurdist drama asks its viewers to draw his own conclusions and make his own errors. Though Theatre of the Absurd may be seen as nonsense, they have something to say and can be understood. Even regarding plots, traditional plot structures are rarely considered as good plots in the Theatre of the Absurd. Plots usually consist of Absurd repetition of action as in Waiting for Godot or The Bald Soprano. Often there is an outside force that remains a mystery like in The Birthday Party or A Delicate Balance. Absence, emptiness, nothingness and unresolved mysteries are central features in many Absurdist plots, for example, in The Chairs an old couple welcomes a large number of guests to their home, but these guests are invisible so all we see is empty chairs, representing their absence. Another example is where the action of Waiting for Godot is centered on the absence of a man named Godot, for whom the two characters keep waiting till the end of the play. Plots are also cyclical like in Endgame, it begins where the play ended in the beginning. One of the important aspects of Absurd Drama was its distrust of language as a means of communication. During those times language had become ‘a vehicle for conventionalized, stereotyped meaningless exchanges’. Words usually failed to express the fundamental nature of human experience because it was not able to penetrate beyond its surface. So the playwrights of the Absurd Theatre constituted first and foremost an onslaught on language, showing it as a very unreliable and insufficient tool of communication. During those times language had become ‘a vehicle for conventionalized, stereotyped meaningless exchanges’. Words usually failed to express the fundamental nature of human experience because it was not able to penetrate beyond its surface. So the playwrights of the Absurd Theatre constituted first and foremost an onslaught on language, showing it as a very unreliable and insufficient tool of communication. Absurd Drama uses conventionalized speeches, cliches, slogans and technical jargons, which it distorts and breaks down. It is by ridiculing the ‘conventionalized and stereotyped’ speech, that Absurd Theatre tries to make people aware of the possibility of going beyond everyday speeches and communicating more authentically. The theme of the Absurd play is the purposelessness of human life. Albert Camus in his essay ‘The Myth of Sisyphus’ has described the situation of human beings as one out of harmony with its surroundings. The Theatre of the Absurd is one of the ways of facing the life that has lost its meaning and purpose. As such, it fulfils a double role. Its first and more obvious role is satirical where it criticizes a society that is petty, superficial and dishonest. Its second and more positive aspect is that it highlights the basic absurdity of the human situation. It showcases the condition of human beings in a world in which man has lost all his faith. Here he is presented in his basic situation where he is left with no choice and desperately searches some refuge or heaven. Such a play produces the effects of alienation. We find it very difficult to identify ourselves with the characters in the Absurd Drama. Even though their situation is very painful and violent, they are presented to us in such a way that we tend to laugh at them and their condition and behavior. Esslin feels that this kind of drama speaks mostly to the deeper level of the audience’s mind. In a way it challenges the audience to make sense of the nonsense. It urges them to face the situation consciously and along with that, to laugh at this fundamental absurdity of such situations. So, the dominating theme of the absurd playwrights is man’s loneliness, despair, and desperation when he finds that his faith in God is declining. In all the writers of the Absurd Drama, the common traits are usually the devaluation of language, absence of characterization and motivation and search for meaning in a basically absurd situation. But each of them has his own style of presenting these traits. For example Ionesco presents absurdism through hilarious and outrageous farce. In Beckett’s works, absurdism is presented by depicting a world which is devoid of God, where life is full of anguish and despair. In the plays of Harold Pinter menace and terror surrounds people. His plays, famous as comedy of menace, are basically funny up to a point. The most surprising thing about plays of this group is that in spite of their breaking of the rules, they are very successful. In his book, The Theatre of the Absurd, Esslin says, â€Å"If a good play must have a clearly constructed story, these have no story to speak of; if a good play is judged by subtlety of characterization and motivation, these are often without recognizable characters and present the audience with almost mechanical puppets; if a good play has to have a fully explained theme, which is neatly exposed and finally solved, these often have neither a beginning nor an end; if a good play is to hold the mirror up to nature and portray the manners and mannerism of the age in finely observed sketches, these seem often to be reflections of dreams and nightmares; if a good play relies on witty repartee and pointed dialogue, these often consist of incoherent babblings. † To conclude, the Theatre of the Absurd presents anxiety, despair and a sense of loss at the disappearance of solutions and the illusions of life. Now facing all this means that we are facing reality itself. Thus, is can be s aid that Absurd Drama becomes a kind of a modern mystical experience. It aims to shock its audience out of complacency, to bring it face to face with the harsh facts of the human situations as the writers see it. It becomes a kind of a challenge to accept the human condition as it is, with all its mystery and absurdity, and to bear it with dignity, because there are no solutions to the mysteries of existence. That is because ultimately man is alone in this meaningless world. To accept all this freely and without fear may be painful, but doing so brings a sense of freedom and relief. And that is why we say that the Theatre of the Absurd does not provoke tears of despair but the ‘laughter of liberation’. Bibliography PRIMARY SOURCES 1. Martin Esslin, The Theatre of the Absurd SECONDARY SOURCES 1. Martin Esslin, Introductin to The Theatre of the Absurd 2. Arnold P. Hinchliffe, The Absurd 3. Ronald Gaskell, Drama and Reality 4. Eva Metman, Reflections on Beckett’s Plays