What is the human relationship in the poem "Home Burial" by Robert Frost?

There are three relationships in Robert Frost's poem "Home Burial." The most evident relationship is that of the husband and wife. Another relationship is between the wife, Amy, and the couple's deceased child. The third relationship is between the husband and the deceased child. Of these, the primary "human" relationship is that of the husband and wife.

The relationship between Amy and her husband is rife with tension, as each is grieving the loss of their child differently. Amy stands at an upstairs window and watches the grave, unable to leave the house or talk about anything else. For Amy, time has stopped. Her husband, on the other hand, is grieving through action: he dug the grave and buried their child. He talks about the weather and its effect on their fence. As they talk, he stands at the bottom of a staircase, staring up at Amy.

Amy cannot understand how her husband can move, talk, or even think about anything other than their deceased child. She says,

You could sit there with the stains on your shoes

Of the fresh earth from your own baby’s grave

And talk about your everyday concerns.

Her husband, on the other hand, cannot understand how it is that Amy won't communicate her thoughts and needs to him.

‘Don’t—don’t go.

Don’t carry it to someone else this time.

Tell me about it if it’s something human.

Let me into your grief. I’m not so much

Unlike other folks as your standing there

Apart would make me out. Give me my chance.

At the time the poem takes place, the two, presumably once very much in love, are each other's worst enemy. Amy seeks understanding and wants to leave the house. She feels trapped with someone she feels can never reach the depth of her grief. The man, undoubtedly angry about the death of his child and the powerlessness that comes from not being able to console his wife, turns to intimidation as his only remaining tactic to get Amy to confide in him. 

"I’ll follow and bring you back by force.  I will!—"

When the child died, the relationship each parent had with that child was severed in the physical realm. The implied outcome of the final dialogue between Amy and her husband is that the relationship between the two of them will follow suit and will also be severed as the irreparable harm of the death of their child tears their marriage apart. 

Does one road seem to be more appealing than the other in "The Road Not Taken" by Robert Frost?

The grassy path seems to be a more desirable choice.

In the poem, the speaker comes to a place where a road diverges into two paths. He cannot take both, so he stops and looks at the paths. When trying to decide which path to take, they seem similar. Eventually, he decides one of the paths is better because it “wanted wear:”

Then took the other, as just as fair, 

And having perhaps the better claim, 

Because it was grassy and wanted wear; 

Though as for that the passing there 

Had worn them really about the same.

Both paths are covered in leaves. In this way, they again seem very similar. It is really a matter of perception and degree that the speaker seems to think one of them is “less traveled by” at that particular time. He decides to take that one. 

I shall be telling this with a sigh 

Somewhere ages and ages hence: 

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I— 

I took the one less traveled by, 

And that has made all the difference. 

Apparently, this really was the more desirable road. It made a — presumably positive — difference in the speaker’s life. If you look at the poem as a metaphor for life, it seems the speaker came to a point when he had to make a choice between doing what others had done or branching out on his own. He chose to do something unique and different, and he later felt this was a good decision.

The speaker's point is that he made a choice, and he cannot return to the point in his life where he made that choice. We always have to decide what we will do, and this will affect how the rest of our lives turn out.

How fair is it to say that Othello is by far the most romantic of all Shakespearean heroes?

Sweeping statements like this can be difficult to prove. For one, what is the definition of romantic? What characteristics define a Shakespearean hero? Also, one would have to prove that Othello is more romantic than dozens of Shakespearean heroes. We can narrow down the field by looking only at tragedies and examining the different kinds of romance in them.

A number of tragic heroes show little to no romantic inclinations, such as Coriolanus, King Lear, and Titus Andronicus. Hamlet writes a passionate love letter to Ophelia:

Doubt thou the stars are fire;
Doubt that the sun doth move;
Doubt truth to be a liar;
But never doubt I love.

However, their relationship quickly deteriorates into accusations, manipulation, and eventually suicide.

Macbeth and Brutus are married men, and they appear to have loving partnerships with their wives. Their relationships are more equal than Hamlet and Ophelia’s. However, Lady Macbeth manipulates and berates her husband, and they drift apart after they murder their friend and king. Brutus begins to hide things from his wife, with whom he’s usually so open. She is so loyal, she ends up committing suicide when things go badly for him, and eventually he does too.

Romeo and Mark Antony are two of Shakespeare’s most passionate lovers. Romeo is the definition of a young and impetuous lover, and Antony’s affair with Cleopatra is fiery but destructive.

Initially, Othello is arguably a mixture of ardent husband and equal partner. He loves Desdemona’s soul and desires “to be free and bounteous to her mind.” He finds it important that she speak for herself. Unfortunately, their romance was not to be, because Othello descends into a jealous rage and murders Desdemona, the one he loves most.

Even though Othello describes himself as “one that loved not wisely but too well,” it is difficult to declare him “by far” the most romantic of Shakespeare’s heroes. Still, there is an argument that his relationship with Desdemona is one of the healthiest in Shakespeare before it becomes one of the unhealthiest.

What are bone scans? How do they help detect cancer?

Cancers diagnosed: Cancers that have spread to the bone (metastatic cancers), primarily breast, prostate, and lung cancers, and kidney and thyroid cancers to a lesser degree

Why performed: Cancer cells can spread from their primary location to the bone in a multistep process known as metastasis. Metastatic bone disease can result in bone pain and an overall decrease in the quality of life. Tumor cells residing in the bone can also cause bone destruction (known as resorption) as a result of both direct effects of the tumor and the activation of osteoclasts (a type of bone cell responsible for resorption). This process may result in weakened bones and a greater risk of bone fractures. Furthermore, calcium may be released from the bone as it breaks down, and elevated levels of calcium in the blood can cause loss of appetite, nausea, and exhaustion and can affect the heart and kidneys.

A bone scan is one method to detect if cancer has spread to the bone and to identify where the cancer is located. Bone scans can also be used to determine the stage of disease, as well as to examine how much bone damage is present. Additionally, bone scans may be performed to monitor the response to treatment, as some cases of bone cancers are treated with drugs such as bisphosphonates in order to reduce bone resorption.

Patient preparation: Very little prior preparation is required, and patients do not need to fast. At the time of the scan, patients must remove all metal objects (such as jewelry, zippers, and metal buttons), as they may interfere with the scan. In some cases, the clothes should be removed and the patients will wear a hospital gown.

Steps of the procedure: A bone scan will usually be performed in a hospital. The two stages of this procedure are the tracer injection and the scan.

A radioactive tracer will be injected into a vein in the patient’s arm. Patients will then wait one to four hours to allow the tracer to be incorporated into the bone tissue. Drinking several glasses of water (at least four) will help to eliminate excess tracer through the urine. Patients will be instructed to empty the bladder before the scan begins.

For the scan, patients must lie still on a table while the scanning camera moves overhead and scans the body. The camera will detect the gamma rays emitted by the tracer that has concentrated in the bone. Sometimes the scans will be conducted when patients are in different positions in order to view the bones from various angles. On average, the bone scan lasts about thirty to sixty minutes.

After the procedure: Care should be taken when sitting up at the completion of the scan, as dizziness or light-headedness may result from the extended period of lying down. Patients will be instructed to drink plenty of fluids for at least forty-eight hours after the bone scan to help eliminate the remaining radioactive tracer. Patients who are breastfeeding should also discard their breast milk for the first two days after the procedure.

Risks: Common risks include redness, soreness, or swelling at the injection site. In rare cases, patients have allergic reactions to the tracer.

Results: If the radioactive tracer is distributed equally throughout the bones, then the result will be considered normal. An abnormal result will occur when the tracer concentrates in distinct sites of the bone, resulting in “hot spots.” Hot spots indicate that there is a lot of activity in the bone, both building and resorption, which may be a sign of tumor cells within the bone. Hot spots, however, may also be caused by a fracture or bone infection. Therefore, if hot spots are detected, the doctor will often suggest blood tests, biopsies, or other imaging tests in order to confirm the presence of cancer.

"Bone Scan." Mayo Clinic. Mayo Foundation, 26 Jan. 2012. Web. 9 Sept. 2014.

"Bone Scan." MedlinePlus. Natl. Lib. of Medicine, 20 Nov. 2013. Web. 9 Sept. 2014.

Coleman, R. E. “Clinical Features of Metastatic Bone Disease and Risk of Skeletal Morbidity.” Clinical Cancer Research 12.20, pt. 2 (2006): 6243s–49s. Print.

Even-Sapir, E. “Imaging of Malignant Bone Involvement by Morphologic, Scintigraphic, and Hybrid Modalities.” Journal of Nuclear Medicine 46.8 (2005): 1356–67. Print.

Hamaoka, T., et al. “Bone Imaging in Metastatic Breast Cancer.” Journal of Clinical Oncology 22.14 (2004): 2942–53. Print.

Rosenthal, D. I. “Radiologic Diagnosis of Bone Metastases.” Cancer 80, suppl. 8 (1997): 1595–1607. Print.

Scholten, Amy. "Bone Scan." Health Library. EBSCO Information Services, 15 Mar. 2013. Web. 9 Sept. 2014.

Yoneda, T., and T. Hiraga. “Crosstalk Between Cancer Cells and Bone Microenvironment in Bone Metastasis.” Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications 328.3 (2005): 679–87. Print.

How does the brain change with addiction?

Personality Disorders of the Addicted

With advances in brain-imaging technology, medical experts can now conclude that addiction is not merely a defect in behavior or will, but a disease of the brain. Behavioral experts conclude that personality disorders can lead to substance abuse and can also result from substance abuse.

Until recently, clinicians treating substance abuse did not connect substance abuse disorders to personality disorders
. Now, substance abuse treatment usually involves the detection, management, and treatment of a person’s underlying personality pathology. A personality disorder is presented as persistent, unusual behavior relative to the cultural expectations for normal behavior, and it is usually observed during childhood or adolescence.

According to specialists Shelley McMain and Michael Ellery in a 2008 article in the International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction, persons with a personality disorder are impaired in two or more of the following behavioral functions: impulsivity, interpersonal functioning, affectivity, and cognition. McMain and Ellery, who found that the most common disorders among addicts are antisocial personality, borderline personality, and histrionic personality disorders, recommend “a thorough diagnostic assessment involving screening for personality pathology” for persons seeking treatment for addiction.

According to psychiatrist Raymond Anton, between 40 and 60 percent of persons dependent on alcohol have inherited the tendency to abuse alcohol. Most of these persons are male. Gene studies suggest that certain people are more susceptible to becoming alcoholics. Anton concluded,
Whether it is heredity (the genes we are born with) or an interaction between these genes and environmental events and/or between genes and substances themselves, there is no doubt that the genetic brain differences are likely to be at the root cause of addiction.

Brain Responses in Behavior

Scientists agree that alcohol and drugs affect the brain’s biochemical processes, altering the way neuroreceptors receive, process, and send information by overtaking the brain’s neurotransmitters or by overstimulating the brain’s pleasure center. Just as the brain connects the consumption of food and water as necessary for survival, the brain links alcohol or drugs to sustainment. The overuse of substances disrupts the brain’s normal biochemical balance and the brain’s mechanisms for controlling pain, anxiety, euphoria, and impulsiveness.

Because alcohol and drugs affect biochemical processes in the brain, they also impede the brain’s ability to control decision-making and judgment. The desire for the substance of choice becomes an all-consuming desire for the addict, and substance abuse becomes an intrusion into the brain from which the brain will never fully recover.

A person’s risk for addiction is linked to the reward and pleasure system in the brain. For many, intense euphoria is experienced when first trying a given substance, according to specialist Timothy W. Parker. The user’s brain cultivates a deeper attraction to the reward of the substance. In contrast, once the effects of the substance wear off, the person’s mood sinks to a severe low. The brain responds by again craving the substance, and the cycle continues, evolving into addiction. “Although they are motivated to take more of the drug to duplicate the original high,” Parker explained, “drug abusers will never again attain that intensity of pleasure. Clearly some reaction in the brain has reduced the effect of the drug. It is interesting that this occurs so rapidly; the brain is a quick study.”

This reduction of the effect of the substance characterizes the next stage of addiction. The user ingests higher doses of the substance, increasing tolerance. At this stage, withdrawal symptoms, which are the opposite of the high, persist if the user does not ingest the substance regularly. If a substance’s effect is relaxation and numbness, as with heroin, withdrawal symptoms manifest as restlessness, tremors, and pain. Withdrawal from a stimulant like cocaine includes fatigue and depression.

The final stage of substance abuse is recovery: the period after an addict undergoes treatment and is abstaining from the substance. Even when withdrawal symptoms have dissipated, the recovering addict remains extremely vulnerable to a reactivation of a craving for the substance, triggered by social cues and visual stimuli. Even in recovery the addict will continue to be plagued with a condition in the brain that blocks the “just-say-no” solution to substance abuse.

According to Anton in a 2011 article in the Journal of Law, Medicine, and Ethics, magnetic resonance imaging scans of the brains of alcoholics and nonalcoholics show chemical differences in the dopamine-activation part (pleasure center) of the brain. Alcoholic brains show much more activity than those of nonalcoholics when processing images of alcoholic substances. Anton further found that even during periods of abstinence, addicts experience a dopamine-receptor deficiency when challenged by alcohol stimuli, leading to pleasure cravings and, consequently, poor judgment.

Physical Brain Effects

Drugs and alcohol influence synaptic transmission in the brain and activate the release of an increased amount of dopamine into the brain’s neural circuit. Depending on the substance, two structures in the brain are affected: the ventral tegmental area (VTA) and the nucleus accumbens (NA). VTA neurons influence the NA, which is where dopamine is released. Most drugs either activate VTA or directly affect NA dopamine levels. The ethanol found in alcohol directly increases dopamine release in the NA.

As a person becomes addicted, the tolerance
to the substance of abuse increases. Physically, the brain changes to place controls (neuroadaptations) on how the substance affects dopamine release and changes to shut down NA receptors. The amount of dopamine released during ingestion of the substance subsides, causing the person to consume more of the substance to gain the desired level of pleasure. The brain also releases controls to regulate the addict’s emotions, activating moods of anxiety or depression as a sort of “antireward” system. The addict’s pursuit of pleasure facilitates higher doses of the substance, leading that person to potentially overdose.

Substance abuse leads to long-term brain changes. The neuroadaptations that the brain produces to control the release of dopamine and to regulate emotions remain with the addict even after treatment and abstinence. Addiction alters the prefrontal cortex of the user, causing the reduction in neuron activity in this part of the brain. Other parts of the brain release a neurotransmitter known as glutamate, which impairs the addict’s decision-making ability. Glutamate facilitates impulsiveness and a focus on immediate reward. Consequently, addicts often engage in reckless behavior, and rehabilitated addicts are prone to relapse when faced with substance-related stimuli. The amygdala, or memory part of the brain, is affected as well, enhancing emotional memories associated with being high, thereby making stimuli triggering these memories difficult for the addict to resist.

Treatment

In a 2011 editorial, the editors of Drug Week asserted that
Effective prevention and treatment of addiction requires a clear understanding of the complex brain mechanisms that underlie addictive behaviors, and research has provided a fascinating view of how substance abuse hijacks neuronal circuits involved in reward and motivation and causes profound and persistent changes in behavior.

Critical to effective treatment is understanding how substance abuse changes the brain over time. According to Parker, an estimated 90 percent of treated addicts relapse. Many addicts benefit from initial treatment, but clinicians need to better understand how these addicts can remain in recovery that lasts a lifetime.

Central to the Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) approach to treatment, for example, is the notion that the alcoholic has no power over his or her addiction. Assuming that addiction is a chronic life-long condition and that the addict’s brain cannot be cured medically, AA treatment involves intervention, group therapy and support, counseling, and accountability.

Pharmaceutical companies are seeking to develop pharmacological cures for addiction. With advances in neuroscience come new pharmaceutical treatments. Some treatments have been designed to make a person physically ill if they ingest a particular substance. Other treatments act as weaning mechanisms. Generally, drug treatment taps the brain’s natural dopamine regulators, the brain’s inhibiting mechanism (gamma-aminobutyric acid), and the brain’s excitatory mechanism (glutamate).

As pharmacologists seek to leverage pharmaceutical breakthroughs to develop remedies for substance abuse, skeptics insist that treating substance abuse with substances will not offer lasting cures. Suggesting that there is more to beating addiction than physically treating the brain, many people warn that the spiritual element of recovery should not be dismissed.

Bibliography

Anton, Raymond. “Substance Abuse Is a Disease of the Human Brain: Focus on Alcohol.” Journal of Law, Medicine, and Ethics 38.4 (2010): 735–44. Print.

McMain, Shelley, and Michael Ellery. “Screening and Assessment of Personality Disorders in Addiction Treatment Settings.” International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction 6.1 (2008): 20–31. Print.

Simon, David, and Deepak Chopra. Freedom from Addiction. Deerfield Beach: Health Communications, 2007. Print.

Westreich, Laurence M. Helping the Addict You Love. New York: Simon, 2007. Print.

Who are the supporting characters, the flat characters, the round characters, and the protagonist characters in "Misery" by Anton Chekhov? Are any...

The protagonist Iona Potapov is virtually all alone in the big city of St. Petersburg. The men he encounters are all strangers. There are no women in the story, either with other women, by themselves, or with male escorts. There can be no supporting characters unless one wants to classify Iona's horse as a supporting character. The other characters are all flat. Four of them are passengers Iona manages to pick up in several hours on this cold, snowy night.

The only interesting one is a hunchback who accompanies two other young men. All have been drinking and are "out on the town." The hunchback is cruel to both Iona and his horse. He encourages Iona to whip her in order to make her trot faster. The reader senses that the hunchback feels vindictive and cruel because he has suffered all his life from his deformity. He insults poor Iona and hits him on the back of the neck.

"Tfoo! the devil take you!" cries the hunchback indignantly. "Will you get on, you old plague, or won't you? Is that the way to drive? Give her one with the whip. Hang it all, give it her well."

Iona's mare can hardly be called a rounded character, but we feel affection for her, just as Iona does. She is quiet, patient, forbearing, and even seems sympathetic. She is Iona's best friend, probably his only friend in the city. We can understand why he would be reluctant to whip her when she is probably underfed and is pulling the sledge loaded with the driver and three passengers.

It would seem that Chekhov intentionally depicts all the other characters in the story as indifferent strangers in order to emphasize the pathetic ending, especially to contrast the little horse with the humans. She may not understand the words she is hearing, but she seems to understand the tone and the feelings he wishes to convey. She has suffered all her life and can understanding suffering.

The little mare munches, listens, and breathes on her master's hands. Iona is carried away and tells her all about it.

Iona is using figurative language, an analogy, when he tells his horse what has happened and how he feels.

"Now, suppose you had a little colt, and you were own mother to that little colt. . . . And all at once that same little colt went and died. . . . You'd be sorry, wouldn't you?"

This is extremely touching. Chekhov succeeds in communicating the sledge-driver's grief although the man was unable to do it himself.

How has Rabindranath Tagore poignantly described the bonding of friendship as well as heartbreak in "Kabuliwala?"

Tagore describes the heartbreak of bonding and separating as the result of time's passage.

Time plays a significant role in the emotional dynamics of the Kabuliwala and Mini's friendship. As they interact daily, their bond strengthens. Familiarity plants the seeds of friendship in the form of inside jokes, such as the one about when Mini will go visit her "father-in-law." When the Kabuliwala is sent away to prison, time takes its toll. Mini changes.

Time passed away, and he was not remembered . . . Even my light-hearted Mini, I am ashamed to say, forgot her old friend. New companions filled her life. As she grew older, she spent more of her time with girls. So much time indeed did she spend with them that she came no more, as she used to do, to her father's room. I was scarcely on speaking terms with her.

Years had passed away. It was once more autumn and we had made arrangements for our Mini's marriage.

Time's passing has an effect on the relationship between the Kabuliwala and Mini. She forgets about him. She values different ideas and the qualities she used to have are no longer there. Tagore shows time's effect on their relationship in a poignant way. It is sad to read about the Kabuliwala's deep pain. He does not feel the simple pain of a memory passing. Rather, it is something more, and deeper in the fact that time has passed without caring for his feelings. We get what the Kabuliwala is feeling because we all know the experience of seeing a deep relationship that time has forever altered. This poignance is enhanced through the Kabuliwala's ache of being unable to go back to what once was.

The Kabuliwala is overcome when he sees Mini after eight years. He has to take in seeing her all grown up. He also has to grasp how time has buried their friendship. Additionally, Tagore recognizes that time has also transformed the Kabuliwala's connection with his own daughter:

When she [Mini] had gone, Rahmun heaved a deep sigh, and sat down on the floor. The idea had suddenly come to him that his daughter too must have grown in this long time, and that he would have to make friends with her anew. Assuredly he would not find her, as he used to know her. And besides, what might not have happened to her in these eight years?

By detailing time's effect on relationships, Tagore is able to poignantly depict the creation and rupturing of bonds. He links the Kabuliwala's pain and hurt to an experience we can understand. In doing so, Tagore is able to enhance the sadness intrinsic to many relationships.