Relating Calcutta Chromosome

In class, we discussed briefly some ways the Calcutta Chromosome relates back to the other articles previously read in the class. (I believe some of the relations were comparing it to The Lost World.) Personally, I really like to explore why specific works are chose for a class, and I thought this was an interesting way to show why we are reading the articles/novels that we are. Not to mention, it carries our themes throughout the class. Discuss one or two themes, scenes, or characters that relate to other works we've read for class.

For me, Antar strongly relates to La Farge's essay "Scientists Are Lonely Men". The story begins with one person alone in a room with a computer. Antar lives alone in the only occupied apartment on a vacant floor in a dilapidated apartment complex. He clearly shows signs of being introverted and comfortable with solitude. Upon the possibility of someone sharing his space (even just on the same floor), Antar begins to get very agitated with the prospect of having a neighbor and hopes she doesn't like the area. Not to mention, as it is beginning to show, he has a slightly obsessive nature involving the Murugan guy and his badge. La Farge wrote about the passion for the scientific work and how it can become an obsessive idea.

I Can't Think of a Clever Title

We recently read 'Lingua Franca', which is a short story that takes places in a distant planet. As many people had mentioned (including me), the events that took place in this story reminded some people of colonization of countries such as India and the Americas. Although the planet was not being colonized, the scenario set up by the McDonnel is very similar to some of the historical events we might have read about, either in our free time or in some other class. Do you think the story is somehow referring to some other culture in real life? If yes, do you think these countries experienced the "insidious behavior" discussed in class from their colonizers when they were first being colonized? For example, someone in class mentioned how the French intially started trading with the Native Americans as a tactic to colonize Canada. Please remember to explain your reasoning!

Questions to ponder from friday

Today, we have discussed that the scientific writing style of the first half of the eighteenth century was based on conquering nature whereas the latter half of the century was based on the naturalistic point of view, where the authors seem to describe more about the nature itself than their hardships of their trips. Please write which writing style is subjective AND why, OR which one is not subjective AND why. It would not be a bad idea to base your reasons from the text we had to read yesterday, not that it is required.