Sony Strategy Analysis

SONY Strategy Case Analysis Executive Summary Sony is currently faced with the problem of low operating margin and stagnant market share in the videogame console industry. PlayStation3 of Sony is competing with Xbox360 of Microsoft and Wii of Nintendo. Despite the high technology, Wii outsells PlayStation in the market. This shows that the traditional strategy of Sony based on hardware should be reviewed according to the new trend. Considering gradually increasing market size and harsh competition, Sony should invest more on creating new customers and software. AnalysisAfter experiencing the five or six cycles defined by advancement of underlying technology, there are currently three main competitors in the videogame industry: Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo. The PlayStation of Sony and the Xbox360 of Microsoft can be characterized by high technology and interoperability with other electronic products. Meanwhile, the Wii of Nintendo emphasizes innovative and user-friendly capabilities such as wireless motion-sensing controllers. Therefore, the Wii could appeal to more widespread customers such as senior people including traditional gamers.Based on enthusiastic reactions to Wii, the leading market share of PlayStation in the prior generation is replaced by the Wii of Nintendo. As of 2008, the Wii substantially outsells the two rivals. According to Five Forces Analysis, Sony has been faced with the following characteristics in the game industry. Suppliers: The bargaining power is relatively high since videogame console makers outsource the manufacturing of console. Also, they need the support of game developers. In this respect, the one of the main reasons why the PlayStation and PlayStation 2 could succeed as a new entrant would be the supplier-friendly strategy of Sony.Sony took the policy to license any PlayStation software as far as it does not clash with hardware. Also, Sony provided third-party developers with various development tools and soft libraries. Buy ers: Compared with past customers who could enjoy the limited game console suppliers, current customers could enjoy the various types of game platforms. Also, based on the high technologies, the games for every age or demographic are coming out to the market. Therefore, game console makers should ensure as many customers as possible to enjoy the economy of scale in the increasing market size.This gamer-friendly environment results in the high bargaining power of customers. Regarding customer-based viewpoint, Sony failed to captivate the people from all levels. Even though PlayStation software is targeted at a more mature audience, PlayStation of Sony has been usually used by the traditional gamers of young age. Threat of new entrants: In the game industry, the possibility of new entrants to succeed is very slim because new platform based on high technologies requires high cost and risk.Therefore, small or medium sized companies are very difficult to finance R&D and marketing. Also, it is very difficult for new entrants to find game developers. Three giant companies (Sony, Microsoft, Nintendo) overwhelmingly dominate the market of videogame console and there exists a big entrance barrier. It is the reality that a small company cannot help being pushed out by three major companies. Since Sony got into the game industry, the biggest threat of new entrants would be the appearance of new contender, Microsoft, in 2001.Threat of substitute products: There exists the high possibility of substitutes from other industries. Personal computers or mobile handheld devices could be the potential substitute of videogame consoles. The reality is that many people are enjoying games using other devices such as I-Phone or I-Pad over time. In addition, consumers don’t have to bear the additional cost when they change from game consoles to other substitutes. Considering the high diffusion rate of personal computers or mobile devices, potential substitute products could be hi gh threat to selling game consoles.Positioning among current competitors: Definitely, Sony is the major entity in the game console market. However, the market situation is not so bright as the past over time. As a new entrant in 2001, Sony could get a huge success through giant money, high technology, stylish design and support of game developers. However, Sony is now suffering from negative operating profit and turned over the status of top maker to the Wii of Nintendo. So, Sony needs to set up new strategies in the videogame industry. RecommendationFirst of all, Sony should broaden customer scope from traditional gamers to the general public. Game industry is still growing although the attractiveness is waning over time. Sony is trying to position the PlayStation as the ultimate hub for digital living room. However, the people are still not familiar with PlayStation and consider it just game machine. Therefore, Sony needs to enforce the marketing for family-friendly game console m aker. The one of the main reasons for Wii’s success is that Nintendo targeted the niche market that other competitors have ignored.Nintendo focused on the general public with the easy and simple game consoles instead of expensive and complicated ones. Wii contributed to letting the public general realize the fun of game. Now, Sony needs to leverage the opponent’s assets as a Judo Strategy as Sega did in the past. If the family-friendly image is added to the high technology of Sony, the PlayStation could appeal much more to the general public. Lastly, Sony needs to more invest on its software. Sony has been focused on the product itself based on high technology and attractive design.As Nintendo makes high margin based on the customer-friendly software forgoing high price of console, Sony needs to broaden available games for PlayStation. A wide range of Adult users could bring new Blue Ocean of profits. Utilizing the advantages of PlayStation, the high technology and int eroperability with other electronic devices, Sony could set up the new digital hub replacing TV and Computer at home. To do this, above all, Sony should establish the affluent in-house software associated with developers as Apple make additional profits through various apps.

Effects of Video Games on Children Essay

Although video games can increase aggressive behavior, they can improve memory and logistical thinking, as well as teach perseverance. Over the course of the last few decades video games have been integrated into the lives of our children. Video games are very appealing to children of all ages, and even to some adults. There is a variety of video games out there, and they range from educational to very violent. Because of this diverse selection of video games, there is a wide range of positive and negative side effects that these games can have on children. Because a large percentage of our children’s time is spent playing video games, there has been a lot of research in recent years on the positive and negative effects these games have on them. â€Å"Among elementary and middle-school populations, girls play for an average of about 5. 5 hours/week and boys average 13 hours/week,† (Gentile, D. A. 2004). Teenagers also spend a time playing video games. According to Media Analysis Laboratory (1998),†Eighty percent of teens said they played at least occasionally and the average amount of time spent gaming for the sample was 5 hours per week† (para. 19). Video game play has become not only a leisurely pastime for children, but for families also. When parents are not involved in some of their game play the outcome can become a little scary. Children who play video games with their families have a more pro-social attitude compared to their counterparts who play alone. Children who are less social or somewhat anti-social tend to develop aggressive tendancies when spending long hours gaming alone especially when violent video games are involved. Video games have been shown to increase aggressive behavior in some children. Neubert, S. P. (2004) said, â€Å"Individuals high in hostility are more likely to become aggressive when exposed to violent video games. † â€Å"Games in which the only positive outcome is the violent demise of enemies reinforces anti-social behavior. Violent video games desensitize people to aggression,† (Neubert, S. P. , 2004). According to a study done by Douglas A. Gentile. References Media Analysis Laboratory (1998). Video game culture: Leisure and play preferences of B. C. teens. Retrieved from http://www. media-awareness. ca In-Text Citation 1. [Insert the paraphrased material] (Simon Fraser University, Burnaby B. C. , 1998). 2. The Media Analysis Laboratory (1998) website [Insert the paraphrased material]. 3. , â€Å"[Insert the quotation]† (para. 19).

Change and continuity

They are able to figure out the wind and monsoon patterns. Mediterranean sailors use square sails, long banks of oars, ships are nailed together. Indian Ocean sailors use triangular sails, no oars, and tied ships. Impact: Africa provides exotic animals, wood, and ivory. Somalia and Southern Arabia provide frankincense and myrrh. Less valuable than Mediterranean Sea. Isolate ports that lack fresh water. In 1200 The rising prosperity of Asian, Euroopean, and African states stimulate the expansion of trae in the Indian Ocean. Luxuries for the wealthy-precious metals and jewls, rare spices, fine textiles, and other manufactures. Contstruction of larger ships makes shipments of buk cargoes of ordinary cotton textiles, pepper, food grans (rice, wheat, barley), timber horses, and other goods profitable. Collapse of the mongol empire- disrupts overland trade routes across Central Asia, the Indian Ocean routes assumed greater strataegic importance in tying together the peoples of Eurasia and Africa. 1200-1500 Dhow is a cargo and passenger ship of the Arabian sea. They all have a hull construction. The hulls consist of planks that were sewn together, not nailed. Cord made of fiber from the husk of coconuts or other materials was passed through rows of holed drilled in the planks. Marco Polo fancifully suggested that it in dictated sailors’ fear that large ocean magnets would pull any nails out of their ships. The second distinctive feature of the dhows was their trianglular (lateen) sails made of palm leaves or cotton. The sails were suspended from tall masts and could be turned to catch the wind. Junk is the largest and most technologically advancd and most seaworth vessel of this time. Developed in china. Built from spruce or fir planks held toether by massive nails. The space below the deck was dived into watertight comspace below the deck was dived into watertight compartments to minimize floodin g in case of damage to the ship’s hull. Ibn Battuta, the largest junks have twelve sails made of bamboo and carried a crew of a thousand men. A large junk might have up to a hundred passenger cabins and could carry a cargo of over 1,000 tons. Trade is decentralized and cooperative. Comercial interest, rather than political authorities, tied several distinct regional networks together. Indian Ocean Use predictable monsoon winds and dhows. Islam gives Indian Ocean trade a boost. They provide a demand for resources and tie the region together. Operates independently of states. Ming dynasty does get involved. 1405-1433 Voyages of Zheng He Commands expeditions of the Ming dynasty. He is a Chinese Muslim with ancestral connection in the Persian Gulf. 1497-1498 Vasco da Gama reaches India Sailed around Africa and reached India. He becomes suspicious of the Muslim rulers intentions. His arrival in India leaves a bad impression on Calicut-the ruler of Calicut is not interested. 1505 Portuguese bombard Swahili Coast cities 1510 Portuguese take Goa Portuguese take Malacca Focus of attention after India. It is the 15th century’s main entrepot (a place where goods are stored and then distributed from. ) 1515 Portuguese take Hormuz 1535 Portuguese take Diu 1538 Portuguese defeat Ottoman fleet 1539 Portuguese aid Ethiopia Indian Ocean Trade vs. Trade in the Americas The reason that the Indian Ocean region prospered while the Ottoman, Safavid, and Mughal Empires declined was because trade via the sea was a huge asset that none of these empires had (Safavid had minor ports but not enough to compete with European and New World countries. The innovation that was occurring between ship design, navigation, and cannons gave Europe a massive advantage. The Joint-stock exchange also causes these empires to fall behind in trade. Although the majority of sea traders were European, the majority of non-European traders were Islamic. The main reason that the empires fell in standing of the world is because they were strongly land based and simply did not have the resources to convert so much time and resources to the development that would have been needed to compete in the Indian Ocean trade network.

Achievements and Career Goals of Studying Respiratory Care (Therapy) Essay

Achievements and Career Goals of Studying Respiratory Care (Therapy) - Essay Example As an aspiring respiratory therapist in the future, my career goals involve the provision of superior health care and assistance to the patients sufferring from cardiorespiratory illnesses as well as to be a health professional who serve to create a positive difference in the life of each patient. My decision to become a respiratory therapist started when I was working as a certified nursing attendant. I felt the need to care and help my patients more, aside from assisting them with their activities of daily living. I have been working as a certified nursing attendant since April 2008. The relevance of my previous work to the health care field has made me acquire a lot of achievements. As a certified nursing attendant, my daily interaction with patients and physicians has provided extensive knowledge of information and techniques needed to diagnose human disorders.

Consumer Protection Law Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words - 4

Consumer Protection Law - Essay Example Imputing liability upon a Seller purely on the basis of goods not conforming to the exact description of the good offered for sale may not be applicable unless and until it can be proved that the buyer relied upon such a description in arriving at a decision to purchase the product. The description of the good is to be taken into account when determining whether the goods are of a satisfactory quality. In the case of Varley v Whipp3, it was held that in every case where the buyer has not had the opportunity to see the goods before purchase, the goods will be deemed to have been bought by description. The old pot ornament would, therefore, have been expected to conform to its description and photograph as laid out in the advertisement, which states â€Å"old pot ornament, in good condition for its age.† But the goods received by Chris show the ornament not conforming to the description. The question of goods sold which did not match their description arose in the case of Beale v Taylor4 where the defendant had advertised his car as a 1961 Herald convertible, however, the actual car comprised two parts welded together and only one of these parts came from the 1961 model rather than the entire car. As a result, the car that was delivered to the buyer was held to not conform to its description and the Court allowed the plaintiff to secure damages. The question of description also arose in the case of Andrews v Hopkinson5 where the dealer’s description of the item in question as a â€Å"good little bus, I would stake my life on it† was held to be a contractual term because it formed a part of the description that was set out in the advertisement for the goods. Similarly, in the case of Couchman v Hill6, a statement made about the heifer sold was that it was â€Å"unserved† and the Court held that every item in the description which forms a component part of the identity of the object sold is a condition for which the seller can be held li able.

Adult Learner Interview Assignment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Adult Learner Interview Assignment - Essay Example But all of them also involved a hands-on element. For example, I attended a weeklong safety course for my job. Each day we would learn a specific concept related to workplace safety. This would be the morning instruction. We would then go out into the factory and try to find good and bad examples of this safety concept in our factory. I liked the fact that we got to apply our knowledge right away, instead of just taking notes and listening to a lecture. This is also how my classes at the community college have been. They all have a hands-on element. Well, the work place training was simply because my boss wanted me to take the training. He thought I would be a good person to send. He does this so I can then bring back the information I learned to the manufacturing team members. The classes at the community college have been for my own personal growth. For a while I think I was hoping to find a different job by learning some new skills in these classes. I was thinking I’d like to get into computer repair. But taking these classes showed me I enjoy doing this as a hobby but not as a full time job. For my most recent safety training, the outcome was difficult to measure because we ran out of time and money to implement the safety recommendations we learned in the course. We got a huge order for machines and reevaluating safety procedure went out the window because we had to put all of our efforts into producing the necessary parts. So we really didn’t get a chance to see if what I learned really applied to the real world. It is all just a bunch of theories in my head at this point and I do not think that is what the company intended when they sent me to the training. That was several months ago and I am sure I have forgotten most of what I was taught. If we ever come back to it, I am sure I will be able to recall most of it from my notes and by

Modern Biotechnology and Its Role in European Unions Economy Essay

Modern Biotechnology and Its Role in European Unions Economy - Essay Example This essay stresses that human medicine and healthcare are the most important area where modern technology is highly applied through the biotechnological publications and patent rights with the inventions of new biotechnological products. Modern biotechnology has widespread applications in human medicine and health care, which makes a very important contribution to the economy of the European Union region countries. Modern biotechnology in the medicine and healthcare sector adds to the European Union's gross value addition by about one percent. Furthermore, modern biotechnology provides very effective tools for research and development on biopharmaceuticals, which leads to inventions of new drugs that are sold hence generating revenues to countries within the EU region. This article makes a conclusion that modern biotechnology enhances the competitiveness of the EU companies by enabling them renew their production strategies in the breeding of quality crops, livestock, and enzyme production. The biotechnology sector also contributes to employment to the EU citizens. Highly trained individuals get better-paying jobs in the biotechnology sector as the researchers and developers of the new biotechnological products. Above all, modern biotechnology is creating sustainable ways of growing and developing the European Union economy. Modern biotechnology has become very important in modern day as explained in the paper.

Co-operative entreprises Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Co-operative entreprises - Essay Example Different Expectations One of the common and the most disastrous problems of working in a co-operative is that different members may come together in the team having different expectations. I will present here the simple example of doing an assignment together. Some group members may be satisfied with nothing but an A whereas others may settle with just a passing grade. Different expectations can lead to different attitude, work ethics and priorities (Barton, 2011). Thus it is very important in a co-operative to have a common goal and shared values. Each member should identify with that goal. It may even be necessary to scale down the expectations of some of the members and scale up the expectations of others in order to arrive at a goal which is expectable to all the members. Lack of Communication A co-operative is formed when one member cannot fulfil all the roles himself. Thus a co-operative entails division of work. Some members may be made in charge of marketing, others will hav e to handle the finance and some others are tasked to handle operations of the co-operative. The biggest challenge here is the lack of communication among members responsible for different tasks. A marketing guy may make a very ambitious sales plan but may not be aware that there are no finances to support his plan. Lack of communication causes numerous problems but is relatively easy to handle. The problem can be handled b having regular meetings with different group members (Nilsson & Ollila, 2013). These meetings might seem like a drag but they help everyone to come up to speed and also remain misunderstanding that may crop up. Regular communications among different teams is the most important means of solving problems in a co-operative working environment and ensure positive interdependence among the team members. Ego/Personality clashes In my personal experience of working on a co-operative project ego clash is the biggest challenge which is very difficult to solve. The operati onal and logistic problems can be solved easily if all team members put their minds to it but ego clashes not only demoralize other team members but may even ruin the whole project (Cooperatives UK, 1965). These clashes may not be even related to the project that we are undertaking but members may have brought them in to the team from their past history. The best way to avoid these clashes is to ensure that each member of the co-operative is allowed to speak his or her mind. No one should be given more weight age as compared to others. However this does not usually happens and team members end up taking sides which is disastrous for the co-operative. I have personally seen that secret voting on topics of contention is a good way to prevent these clashes and help the group move forward. Cultural Differences Each one of us has a different way of working even if we have the same goals. Some members of the group like to work alone, some like to work under pressure whereas others like to plan ahead. I call these problems as cultural differences among the members of the team. These differences

DELL - SWOT Analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

DELL - SWOT Analysis - Essay Example Therefore, it misses out on its Asian market share. (Aaker, 1991) Low Profit Margin: The bargaining power that the customer enjoys in this industry is high especially in case of entrance fees, prices of DVDs and other such factors. Since the main focus of Disney’s business is its low cost strategy, it does not save much of its buyer money and it makes less profits. The customer, in this kind of an industry, is needed for the success of such a company. Therefore, more often than not Disney has to cut profit margins in order to grab a larger chunk of the market. Use of Local Resources: Disney employs people locally and can thus capture the local market in a better way through increased motivation within the work space through which employees will come up with better suggestions. Strong Brand Identity: Disney already has the biggest brand following globally. When studied as a perception born in the consumer’s mind we define the concept of ‘brand’ as the sum of associations that are evoked by names or symbols. This is the first step towards the creation of the proposed integrative model as using this definition implies that one is subscribing to the brand identity angle as a base for brand equity. At the same time, the scope of this definition should not merely serve to associate with the product. It must promote an association with the organization behind Mickey Mouse, by helping the customer relate the Mickey Mouse emblem with information on Disney. This forms an important part of the brand identity process and may result in the creation of enhanced brand equity. (Aaker, 1991) Competitive Advantage: Also, it can apply Porter’s model of competitive advantage on a more global level instead of merely at the national level. This can be done along the following lines: (Porter,

Discussion question week 4 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Discussion question week 4 - Essay Example rkable example of a company that has experienced that, and discussing the differences of domestic and global marketing strategies (Adamson et al, 2007). A brand is a figure of the features that makes a product exceptional. Every business has its brand. Various businesses attempt, but several fail at building a winning brand. When a company notices that its sales are flagging, it blames it on the brand. The shift of focus has moved from the product-blame to the brand-blame, thus relating to the manner the buyer’s conduct transforms (Ries et al. 2002). Branding is a more effective method of selling products; thus entirely fine products can be unsuccessful because of poor branding. Branding increases the returns but also intensifies the risks. The emotional ties developed by customers and brands ought not to be broken as messing with them results in irreparable damage. A brand acquires strength though the market constantly remains subtle. Coca-Cola ranks top of the list as the most identified brand with a sale of almost 1 billion drinks each day. However, when Coca-Cola stopped the distribution of the original Coca-Cola drink, i t replaced it with the New Coke drink to match up the competition posed by Pepsi-Cola. New Coke hardly made any sales as the consumers rebelled against it (Gobe, 2010). Coca-Cola learnt the hard way that marketing is more than the product. It had simply focused on the taste factor when it was strategizing to build on its product, in the process missing its major brand property, which is originality. Coca-Cola had been the only product in the market ever since its foundation, with the brand name becoming product’s name as well/ Coca-Cola majorly capitalized on its original status in the various promotional campaigns (Cross Cultural Blunders). The launch of New Coke was a contradiction to the marketing efforts by Coca-Cola. It was very misguided confining the brand’s importance to a question of taste. The representation was more important

The Castle Essay Example for Free

The Castle Essay â€Å"Texts convey certain attitudes and beliefs that help define who we are and how we relate to the world around us† Discuss the attitudes and beliefs that are highlighted in you prescribed text and two related texts of your own choosing. The term global village refers to the idea that individual countries and communities are affected by the media, electronic communications and cheap air travel that their traditions and beliefs are challenged. These challenges may be positive or negative as it makes people to reassess their attitudes and beliefs. There have been numbers of areas of challenges and two of them are food and multi-culturalism. These challenges are explicitly presented in the film directed by Rob Stitch, The Castle, and a number of related materials. One aspect of the global village which is effectively represented by Sitch in The Castle is the attitude towards the food from diverse cultures which exists in Australia. Kerrigan family is very contented with their rather bland and preservative diet which they share in their family home. Sitch represents this situation by repeatedly filming the dining of Kerrigan family. Sitch focuses on the food menus and they are just ordinary Australian food. This shows that Kerrigan family has yet not encountered many diverse food cultures such as Vietnamese and Thai which exists in Australia. Dale, the narrator, comments in an enthusiastic tone that, â€Å"Dad thinks mum is the greatest cook on earth† so when she serves them a rather ordinary looking cake Daryl asks, â€Å"what do you call that, darl? ’† Sal’s simple answer of â€Å"Sponge cake† sums up that this family have yet to really come to grips with the astronomical influence of the global village on Australian cuisine. He states glowingly just how he feels about Sal’s cooking when he says, â€Å"Why go out to a restaurant when this keeps coming up night after night†. Eating meals together is represented as an important family tradition. Daryl’s attitude strongly contrasts with the words of the song from Scene Four of Noelle Janaczewska’s play Blood Orange. In this short play, it explores aspects of global village in Australia. Repetition of ‘Coles is selling tabouli, lemon grass and parmesan cheese! ’ accentuates that a whole range of food from different ethnic backgrounds exists in Australia and even one of Australian food market ‘Coles’ is selling them. Cultural challenges to taste buds are certainly another strong influence in increasing tolerance and acceptance of Australia’s different ethics groups and cultures which are consistently reaffirming that Australia is indeed an excellent example of the concept of the global village. Another aspect of the global village which emerges from the experiences of the Kerrigan family in the film The Castle is that Australia is a multi-cultural country with immigrants from a range of countries. Sitch reveals multi-culturalism in Australia through various characters in the film. The Kerrigans are a very self sustaining family but even they have to open their door and minds to people of different ethnic backgrounds. Sitch is able to represent this in the way Daryl interacts easily with ‘new Australians’. Daryl is portrayed making a real effort at Tracey and Con’s wedding to show his acceptance of a different culture by commenting jokingly on the Greek tradition of breaking plates. He also learned ‘Good Evening’ in Greek which pleased Con’s family. Daryl welcomes Con to their family saying that while Con might be different â€Å"anyone who loves our Trace as much as us deserves our love. So we love you Con. We love you†. Sitch celebrates in a positive way this genuine acceptance of others in the way Con is presented as one of the family up at Bonny Doon and in the family home on returning from Thailand; he is obviously one of the family. Farouk is a neighbour of the Kerrigans and he too is a part of Daryl’s circle of neighbours. Farouk comes to Daryl for leadership and help with English when the letters of compulsory acquisition arrives. Daryl does the same assisting Jack and Yvonne who also are his neighbours. Therefore Daryl’s leadership and kindness to others in his neighbourhood, whether they are Australians or immigrants shows the vibrant part of the global village. An article â€Å"I now call Australia home†, written by Nick Gianopoulos is a relevant piece of related material on the global village which supports the idea of Australia as a multi-cultural country. Gianopoulos talks of the difficulty growing up as a son of Greek immigrant during the 60’s from racism. Similarly with Daryl Kerrigan, Gianopoulos says that Australia has changed to accept people from around the world as part of the Australian mainstream. â€Å"Our cultures are better understood. We’ve even become trendy’. He also believes that we now need to continue to extend that understanding and acceptance to our newest Australians from Asia. Daryl’s and Giannopoulos’ experiences strongly reflect upon the aspect of global village that Australia is a multi-cultural country. As Australia rapidly grows into a multi-cultural country, people are challenged to their beliefs and attitudes. In conclusion Sitch’s film The Castle and related materials â€Å"Blood Orange† and â€Å"I now call Australia home† has effectively revealed and represented how the two aspects of global village could challenge people’s attitudes and beliefs. Through food, it showed the difficulty that Kerrigan’s family encountered. However Kerrigans adapted well to accept multi-culturalism into their neighbourhood and family.

Analysis of the Term Victorian Through Literature

Analysis of the Term Victorian Through Literature The era of Queen Victorias reign witnessed the passing of milestones in social, economic, and personal progress. It was the age of industrialisation, a time of travel, a battleground for the conflict between science and religion. Yet further to these great markers by which many of us recognise the nineteenth century, and indeed because of them, Victorias reign inspired change within the individual; a revaluation of what it meant to be a human being. The literary artists gave new form to the questions on the lips of the society around them: questions that were no longer so easily answered by Christianity. This dissertation will explore how the term Victorian does or doesnt fit into the context from which it supposedly arises. I will look at trends such as the development of literary criticism, pioneering scientific discoveries, the exploration into psychic phenomenon, the increasing independence of women, the mapping of the world, all of which contribute to what we know and understand as Victorian, and have in some way shaped the work of authors such as Eliot, Conan Doyle, and H.G Wells. Using some close textual analysis I hope to identify the nature of the inspiration behind the literature of the time and whether or not such work transcends the limits of the term Victorian. Many great literary minds of the time such as Arnold, Dickens, and Ruskin helped define the era in their critical attitudes towards it. (Davis 2002, p.10). Criticism appears to have become a form of exploration in an attempt to turn what concerned and worried the artist into something that questioned and reassured. Arnold, in his dissertations in Criticism (Arnold 1865, p.V) explains how he perceives the difference between logical and artistic thought The truth is I have never been able to ht it off happily with the logicians, and it would be mere affectation in me to give myself the airs of doing so. They imagine truth something to be proved, I something to be seen; they something to be manufactured, I as something to be found. It is this growing awareness of difference that was to become a defining feature of Victorian literature. Differences appeared in the very perception of things, which led to feelings of isolation, despair, alienation all prominent themes in nineteenth century work. In Arnolds A Summer Night (http://whitewolf.newcastle.edu.au/words/authors/A/ArnoldMatthew/verse/EmpedoclesonEtna/summernight.html) we see the poetic mind struggling to find meaning on a moonlit street where the windows, like hostile faces, are silent and white, unopening down: And the calm moonlight seems to say Hast thou then still the old unquiet breast That neither deadens into rest Nor ever feels the fiery glow That whirls the spirit front itself away, 30 But fluctuates to and fro Never by passion quite possessd And never quite benumbd by the worlds sway? And I, I know not if to pray Still to be what I am, or yield, and be Like all the other men I see. Arnold recognises that the society around him is unfulfilled, that men are giving their lives to some unmeaning taskwork and he questions whether he should be questioning at all. He is aware of a gap between the reality of working life and life outside of work; a difference that he strives to find explanation for. Arnold appears to be lost amidst the streets of his own mind afraid of not being able to define who he is, what he is. These feelings in part express what it meant to be a Victorian struggling to place thoughts and feelings which appear to no longer fit into society. The Victorian era contained much of what had past and much of what was still to come it cannot be seen as an isolated time, nor as an isolated term. It contained aspects of the Romantic period for instance in Arnolds poem, The Buried Life, we see vestiges of Wordsworths legacy of Ode to Immortality. In both poems there is a sense of something lost an old passion or instinct that has gone with the passing of time yet Arnold, unlike Wordsworth, finds it more difficult to come to terms with this: A longing to inquire / Into the mystery of this heart that beats / So wild, so deep in us, to know / Whence our thoughts come and where they go. (http://www.web-books.com/Classics/Poetry/Anthology/Arnold_M/Buried.htm). The language is more passionately discontent than the resolute tone of Wordsworths visionary acceptance: We will grieve not, rather find/Strength in what remains behind. (Wordsworth 1928, p.136). The styles are obviously connected, but the trouble with defining the era using literary terminology is that it is clearly neither a quirky extension of the Romantics vision, nor is it a straightforward path to the modernists. The 1870s saw the maturation of authors such as Anthony Trollope who brought out his later novels, yet only twenty years later in 1896 these publications are sitting beside the considerably different form and subject matter of work such as H.G. Wellls The Time Machine and The Island of Dr. Moreau, with literary experiments with the modern such as Richard Jefferies The Story of My Heart (a spiritual autobiography) -occurring between in 1883. A growing concern in nineteenth century life was the potential loss of the Romantic link between human nature and the natural world, and the gap which sudden industrial progress highlighted between nature and mechanisation. As technology developed so did the notion of artificiality. It is worth noting J.S.Mills dissertation on Nature (Mill 1874, p.65) where he says that it is mans nature to be artificial, to remedy nature by artificial pruning and intervention. Further to this, a contemporary of Mills Richard Jennings also drew a line between the province of human nature and the external world. (Lightman 1997, p.80). In the countryside more efficient methods of farming were employed (see the contrast between Henchards methods and Farfraes ciphering and mensuration in Hardys Mayor of Casterbridge, (Hardy 1886, p.122)), and new machines introduced which no longer required the labour force to run them, encouraging people to migrate to towns and cities. The urban reality was harsh in 1851 roughly four million people were employed in trade and manufacture and mining, leaving only one and a half million in agriculture. (Davis 2002, p.13). City life, as portrayed by Dickens, was a cruel, unhealthy and unwholesome existence for many. Working conditions in cities were often cramped, unhygienic and poorly ventilated, and living conditions could be even worse. Mrs. Gaskell, living in Manchester, witnessed the appalling pressures that these conditions forced upon family life, and in North and South depicts the difficulties of urban living, offering that salvation for the working classes lay with themselves and their employers, working together. However, city life was not all desolate based in cities, the development of the detective novel brought the city back to human scale (Lehan, p.84). Detectives pieced together and reconstructed past events through clues for example, the murder of Bartholomew Sholto in The Sign of Four by Conan Doyl e: As far as we can learn, no actual traces of violence were found upon Mr Sholtos person, but a valuable collection of Indian gems which the deceased gentleman had inherited from his father had been carried off. The discovery was first made by Mr Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson () Mr. Athelney Jones, the well-known member of the detective police force, happened to be at the Norwood police station () Mr Jones well-known technical knowledge and his powers of minute observation have enabled him to prove conclusively that the miscreants could not have entered by the door or by the window but must have made their way across the roof of the building, and so through a trapdoor into a room which communicated with that in which the body was found. (p.66) The city provided an exciting backdrop to crime scenes its labyrinthine streets similar to the mapping of the pathways of the human mind so that the two became inextricably linked. As Joseph McLaughlin says in Writing the Urban Jungle, the urban jungle is a space that calls forth a pleasurable acquiescence to something greater, more powerful, and, indeed, sublime () also an imaginative domain that calls forth heroic action: exploring, conquering, enlightening, purifying, taming, besting. (McLaughlin 2000, p.3). Further to what McLaughlin suggests, the Victorians perception of time and space in the city and the countryside was changing radically from the medieval perceptions that still existed in the Romantic period. People saw the finished products in both manufacturing and farming no longer involving the long, drawn-out means to an end, instead the end result was being achieved faster and with more control. Here developed the root of modern industry which continues today in intensive farming and factory lines. Yet here too the beginnings of waste and excess. Richard Jefferies, a nineteenth century naturalist and mystic, known for his dissertations on nature, remarks on the abundance of food in the natural world in his dissertation Meadow Thoughts: The surface of the earth offers to us far more than we can consume the grains, the seeds, the fruits, the animals, the abounding products are beyond the power of all the human race to devour. They can, too, be multiplied a thousandfold. There is no natural lack. Whenever there is lack among us it is from artificial causes, which intelligence should remove. (Jefferies 1994, p.26). Unfortunately there was plenty for those who could afford it but not enough to spare for the poorer lower classes. (Ritvo 1997, p.194). Trends of over production and wastage which became a worry in Victorian times are reflected in the literary concerns of Jefferies childrens story, Bevis, where words, despite their abundance, are in danger of becoming an insufficient medium of expression and not filling the metaphysical space on the page. In describing a sunrise and the thoughts and feelings associated with watching it, Jefferies struggles to articulate the beauty before him: The sun had not yet stood out from the orient, but his precedent light shone through the translucent blue. Yet it was not blue, nor is there any word, nor is a word possible to convey the feeling. (Jefferies 1881, p.391) We see too in James Thomsons City of Dreadful Night (Thomson 1892, p.2) the desperateness of trying to articulate thoughts and feelings: Because a cold rage seizes one at whiles To show the bitter old and wrinkled truth Stripped naked of all vesture that beguiles, False dreams, false hopes, false masks and modes of youth; Because it gives some sense of power and passion In helpless impotence to try to fashion Our woe in living words howeer uncouth. In both passages there is a sense of trying to convey so much more than the words will allow. And that is the essence of the problem of defining the era with a word which the era itself selected Victorian like the authors of its time struggles to convey the enormity and the condensed nature of its changing environment. Victorian literature is thus perhaps best studied between the lines of its texts rather than for what it offers at face value. Thomsons words to try to fashion our woe in living words although appearing dismal could actually withhold a more positive message: it deals with the notion of perseverance that by creating words, however difficult, the author is refusing to give in to despair by trying to transform it into creative energy. There is a sense of crisis in the work of Thomson, just as there is to be found in Jefferies futuristic After London where the lone explorer Felix discovers the land after humanity has overreached itself to sociological disaster and has lost the harmonious relationship between mankind and nature. London becomes no more than a crystallised ruin in a ground oozing with poison unctuous and slimy, like a thick oil. (Jefferies 1885, p.205). Through work like this we see that Victorian was an era of possibility where visions of the future suddenly became tangible concerns and possible realities, and where contemporary conceptions of language and life might no longer hold up to the pressures of the time. In H.G. Wells the Time Machine, the time traveller discovers a land in the year 802,701: The air was free from gnats, the earth from weeds or fungi; everywhere were fruits and sweet and delightful flowers; brilliant butterflies flew hither and thither. The ideal of preventative medicine was attained. diseases had been stamped out. I saw no evidence of any contagious diseases during all my stay. And i shall have to tell you later that even the processes of putrefaction and decay had been profoundly affected by these changes. (Wells 1995, p.28) In this description of a futuristic age the Victorian imagination still retains the idea of a paradise a place full of butterflies and flowers. This Christian concept is a literary hangover from Miltons Paradise Lost, and remains an important theme for the moderns such as D.H. Lawrence. The Victorian age suffered from a dualistic split between a bright future on the one hand promised by leaps in technology, education and economical success and an increasingly alienated, confused society on the other. There were those writers like Huxley who believed that by human intervention within a political and economic framework humans could evolve out of their condition seeing no limit to the extent to which intelligence and will () may modify the conditions of existence (Huxley, 1893, Evolution and Ethics, The Romanes Lecture (http://aleph0.clarku.edu/huxley/CE9/E-E.html), and there were those like Hardy whose characters were destined to fail because they were not emotionally fitted into the cosmos out of which they evolved . It was the nineteenth century spiritual crisis which precipitated the literary shift into the new genre of the realist novel. By the mid-nineteenth century, society had begun to grow away from the idea of atonement for sin within an omnipotent religion, where judgement would come solely in heaven, and towards the more humanistic idea of God as in-dwelling, so that salvation could be achieved on earth: We have now come to regard the world not as a machine, but as an organism, a system in which, while the parts contribute to the growth of the whole, the whole also reacts upon the development of the parts; and whose primary purpose is its own perfection, something that is contained within and not outside itself, an internal end: while in their turn the myriad parts of this universal organism are also lesser organisms, ends in and for themselves, pursuing each its lonely ideal of individual completeness. (Gore (ed) 1890, p.211) A spiritual lack created a need to define, order and categorise a world that suddenly appeared chaotic. When Darwin published On the Origin of Species in 1859 he raised issues of public concern as to the truth of the bible and the essence of Christianity. However, its content and its methodology were seriously criticised (Appleman 2001, p.200). It was a difficult work to accept as it caused the public to rethink and redefine their history that they were a product of evolution and not a tailor made being came as a shock. The future of thought and literature was suddenly changed as people tried to sew together the threads of the past. Natural Science became a national obsession exotic flora and fauna from across the world were brought into London daily, to be displayed in the British Museum or Kew Gardens (Lightman, 1997 p.1). In literature, we see the author begin to play the part of evolutionist: Eliots Middlemarch although concerned with the evolving character of Dorothea Brooke follows the threads of sub-plots and the successes and failures of other characters which form a pattern of development. As Gillian Beer says: There is not one primitive tissue, just as there is not one key to all mythologies () emphasis upon plurality, rather than upon singleness, is crucial to the developing argument of Middlemarch. (Beer 2000, p.143). Gone is the tradition of the valiant hero or heroine singularly conquering their environment (a trend set by classics such as Homers The Odyssey (1967)) and in its place a landscape upon which the author grafts and nurtures developing shoots of life. It is this sort of growth that is in danger of remaining unseen to the contemporary historian or critic as it can become shrouded by generalising concepts which are so often prescribed to the term Victorian concepts such as repression, old-fashioned and prudish. (http://www.victorianweb.org/vn/victor4.html). These sort of terms restrict the individuals perception of the era when it was a time when growth was encouraged rather than restricted. Authors used the metaphor of pruning and nurturing plant life to symbolise the development of the self for example in North and South Gaskell discusses the problem of the working individual who struggles to reach his or her potential when the manufacturers are unsparingly cutting away all off-shoots in the direction of literature or high mental cultivation, in hopes of throwing the whole strength and vigour of the plant into commerce. (Gaskell 1865, p.69). For Gaskell, it is through the everyday interaction between people that such difficulties are given the chance to be overcome. And this was the essence of the realist novel set amidst a world which had witnessed such alteration to transform the lostness felt by society into a seeing of the smaller things in life which could withhold qualities of greater spiritual value. As Philip Davis says, the realist novel was the holding ground, the meeting point, for the overlapping of common life. (Davis 2002, p.144). And it was within this common life that a more calm acceptance of the new state could be achieved. Gillian Beer suggests that through her novels organisation Eliot creates order and understanding of the evolving process of novel-writing. In Middlemarch, the naming of Casaubons books Waiting for Death, Two Temptations, Three Love Problems draws attention to the books organisation by emphasising categorisation: But the process of reading leads into divergence and variability. Even while we are observing how closely human beings conform in the taxonomy of events we learn how differently they feel and think. For Dorothea and Casaubon waiting for death means something very different from what it means for Mary Garth and Featherstone. The relations are different. The distances between people are different. Lydgate, here at one with the project of the book, longed to demonstrate the more intimate relations of living structure (1:15:225). In this double emphasis on conformity and variability George Eliot intensifies older literary organisations by means of recent scientific theory. In Darwinian theory, variability is the creative principle, but the type makes it possible for us to track common ancestry and common kinship. (Beer 2000, pp.143-4) Writing itself was becoming an almost divine representation, an inner order of a chaotic external world. The idea that humans had evolved from primates meant that the boundaries between what was one thing and what was another were no longer so clearly defined. There developed a fear of the animate and a fear of the inanimate, and efforts were sought to understand them. As Harriet Ritvo says in The Platypus and the Mermaid: Depending on the beholder, an anomaly might be viewed as embodying a challenge to the established order, whether social, natural, or divine; the containment of that challenge; the incomprehensibility of the creation by human intelligence; or simply the endless and diverting variety of the world. And beholders who agreed on the content of the representation could still disagree strongly about its moral valence whether it was good or bad, entrancing or disgusting. (Ritvo 1997, p.148). In a world where categorisation was important but not so easily achievable, the novel too became neither one thing nor another; realism became a melting pot for ideas, a sort of hybrid of styles. In Eliots The Lifted Veil realism is used as a vehicle for the exploration of her ideas into psychology and psychic phenomena. Latimers clairvoyance forces him to endure a painful insight into the minds of the people around him: I began to be aware of a phase in my abnormal sensibility, to which, from the languid and slight nature of my intercourse with others since my illness, I had not been alive before. This was the obtrusion on my mind of the mental process going forward in first one person, and then another, with whom I happened to be in contact: the vagrant, frivolous ideas and emotions of some uninteresting acquaintanceMrs Filmore, for examplewould force themselves on my consciousness like an importunate, ill-played musical instrument, or the loud activity of an imprisoned insect. But this superadded consciousness, wearying and annoying enough when it urged on me the trivial experience of indifferent people, became an intense pain and grief when it seemed to be opening to me the souls of those who were in a close relation to me when the rational talk, the graceful attentions, the wittily-turned phrases, and the kindly deeds, which used to make the web of their characters, were seen as if thrust asunder by a microscopic vision, that showed all the intermediate frivolities, all the suppressed egoism, all the struggling chaos of puerilities, meanness, vague capricious memories, and indolent make-shift thoughts, from which human words and deeds emerge like leaflets covering a fermenting heap.(Eliot 1859, pp.13-14) Latimer is no longer caught up in the web of peoples characters. Eliot plays with the idea that his consciousness has the ability to transcend the mundane the rational talk, the kindly deeds in order to gain insight into an alternative and not so rosy vision of the mechanics of the human mind where thoughts are make-shift and chaotic. The nineteenth century saw the acceptance of the concept of otherworldly phenomena into the working classes. Robert Owen, a social reformer, who influenced the British Labor movement (Oppenheim 1985, p.40) encouraged many working class Owenites to follow him into the spiritualist fold, where they enthusiastically continued their ongoing search for the new moral world. Interests such as spiritualism and psychology which had previously been more underground pursuits, were brought out into the open. The concept of telepathy, a term coined by Frederic Myers in 1882 (Luckhurst 2002, p.1) even helped to theorize the uneasy cross-cultural encounters at the colonial frontier. (Luckhurst 2002, p.3) These developments suggest that the Victorians felt imbued with the power of their age they felt confident of their ability to communicate on different planes of consciousness. So it could be argued that Victorian was not simply a time devoted to the discovery of the self and the workings of the inner mind, but a time that also focused on the projection of ideas and thoughts outside of the self; ideas which themselves stand outside of the category Victorian. In 1869 the Spiritualist Newspaper began selling first as a fortnightly, then as a weekly publication. (Oppenheim 1985, p.45). This draws the discussion to the point of representation the social nature of Victorians seems to suggest that they enjoyed the focus being on themselves. Self-obsession is an aspect of the time which the term Victorian usefully represents: by specifically referring to the rule of the Queen the term draws attention to the importance of the individual. The era saw the development of many different styles of fashion and the use of photography. As part of the Freudian influence great importance was placed on childhood and it was during the nineteenth century that the first laws concerning child welfare were passed. (Mavor quoted from Brown (ed) 2001, p.i) The focus on the central, the ego, was paramount. As Mavor says, it was as if the camera had to be invented in order to document what would soon be lost, childhood itself; and childhood had to be invented in order for the camera to document childhood (a fantasy of innocence) as real. (Brown (ed) 2001, p.27). Perhaps because of societys awareness of change there seems to have been a necessity to record and keep track of the world around. Discovery took place on a much grander scale in the exploration of the world. The British Empire was global, yet as Patrick Brantlinger suggests in Rule of Darkness, (Brantlinger 1988, p.4) imperialism was not generally reflected in the literature of the time. What we do see evidence of however is the mapping of new worlds and territories (Richard Jefferies Bevis). The development of the adventure story suggests that Victorians desired to explore what lay outside of what they knew and in this respect the term Victorian which people can think of as representing a society closed within in itself is misleading. The rise of imperialism began to shape the ideological dimensions of subjects studied in school (Bristow 1991, p.20) and so through literature the Victorian child was offered an exciting world of sophisticated representation and ideas with the knowledge that the world was theirs to explore. Does the term then encourage us to think of the society as a class of people set apart from the rest of the world? In The Island of Dr. Moreau it is not just the future of science that is explored but the concept of a new territory and its effects on the mind. For example, when the protagonist first sees the beast-servant on board the ship he is immediately frightened: I did not know then that a reddish luminosity, at least, is not uncommon in human eyes. The figure, with its eyes of fire, struck down through all my adult thoughts and feelings, and for a moment the forgotten horrors of childhood came back to my mind. Then the effect passed as it had come. An uncouth black figure of a man, a figure of no particular import, hung over the taffrail, against the starlight. (Wells 1997, p.31). The circumstances of being at sea is disorientating and causes the imagination to play tricks so that the man is first one thing a figure with its eyes of fire and then suddenly becomes an uncouth black figure of a man. The effect is that the protagonist suddenly regresses to the forgotten horrors of childhood. This sudden fluctuation is important as it represents the fluidity of the era and how change and discovery on a global scale, although empowering, also caused instability within the individual. Therefore, when considering the age in the context of its name we can understand that the term was perhaps created out of both the desire to represent achievement but also out of a need to belong. This desire to belong which manifested itself during an age ruled by one woman placed great importance on the role of the female in society. It was a time when women began to travel and write without the necessity of using a pseudonym (see Cheryl McEwan on Kingsley in West Africa, (2000, p.73)). In books such as Hardys Tess of the DUrbervilles the idea of the fallen woman is tested when Tesss crucial lack of belief in herself causes her never to discover the paradise with Clare that might have been. The nineteenth century began to be more explicit concerning issues of gender: for example, the relationship between Arthur Munby and Hannah Cullwick (see McClintock 1995, pp.132-138) where Cullwick is photographed cross-dressed as a farm worker. A Victorian man however appears to have had more stigma attached to him and in this context the term is commonly associated with heroism and English valour (Ridley/Dawson 1994, p.110). There is less flexibility surrounding the notion of Victorian men -as if the term somehow threatened their masculinity. However, this did not seem to affect the male authors of the time. Lewis Carroll captured the public imagination through Alices Adventures in Wonderland, which although following the story of a little girl, depicts many male characters. (see Carroll 2000). In conclusion, the term Victorian although useful to refer to a specific time period in history, does however encourage us to make sweeping generalisations without investigating how diverse the era was. In terms of the subject matter of Victorian Literature there is no clear cut distinction between early, middle and late Victorian for example, Bulwer-Lytton attempts at the beginning of the century what Richard Jefferies does at the end the difference is in style and form. Within that time frame there was condensed an incredible diversity of styles, tastes and attitudes, yet the term suffers from being associated with prejudices and assumptions about Victorians. However, it is worth bearing in mind that prejudices were indeed a part of Victorian society. When the Victorians explored the rest of the world they made generalisations and assumptions based on what they found (eg: The Island of Dr. Moreau) where experience and the nature of what is discovered defines behaviour. As a critic in 1858 wrote we are living in an age of transition (quoted from Houghton 1957, p.1); therefore when considering the Victorian age we should remember that values and trends were evolving it was not a static time governed by repression or old fashioned values. From the research carried out for this dissertation it appears that through the gaining of knowledge, Victorians also realised how little they knew and how much more there was to discover. As Arnold says in A Summer Night: How fair a lot to fill / Is left to each man still. (http://whitewolf.newcastle.edu.au/words/authors/A/ArnoldMatthew/verse/EmpedoclesonEtna/summernight.html). In this context the term Victorian can be dualistically representative: discoveries of the time, although revolutionary, were often rudimentary in nature, and it was humbling for the individual to consider how much further knowledge and discovery had yet to go. On the other hand, the term suffers too from being inadequate: a single word is too smaller term for the vast wealth and diversity of discovery, and it could be argued that the era is better realised if seen as a second revolution. Like the Victorian authors themselves we are left with no suitable words to convey the entirety of an era as John Lawton says in his introduction to The Time Machine (1995, p.xxvi) the term Victorian is used too loosely to encompass a sequence of eras, the diverse reign of a woman who lent her name to objects as diverse as a railway terminus and a plum. When studying Victorian Literature it is worth bearing in mind the fluidity of the time and the changeability which arose out of living on the cusp between the passing away of old values and the unknown territory of the new. Realism recognised the gaps which were forming in society such as the distancing of the self from religion and offered to paper the cracks through its vision of bringing people together on a mundane level. Its territory stretched to include the darkest recesses of the mind to the smallest of everyday events, celebrating the grey area between extremes as we now know as Victorian. Bibliography Arnold, M., Reprint of 1865 ed. dissertations in Criticism With the addition of Two dissertations not hitherto reprinted. London: Routledge. Appleman, P, 2001, Darwin. London: Norton Beer, G., 2000, Darwins Plots. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Brantlinger, P, 1988, Rule of Darkness:British Literature and Imperialism. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press Bristow, J., 1991, Empire Boys:Adventures in a Mans World. London: Harper Collins. Brown, M., 2001, (ed) Picturing Children. Aldershot: Ashgate Bulwer-Lytton, E., 1853, A Strange Story. Analysis of the Term Victorian Through Literature Analysis of the Term Victorian Through Literature The era of Queen Victorias reign witnessed the passing of milestones in social, economic, and personal progress. It was the age of industrialisation, a time of travel, a battleground for the conflict between science and religion. Yet further to these great markers by which many of us recognise the nineteenth century, and indeed because of them, Victorias reign inspired change within the individual; a revaluation of what it meant to be a human being. The literary artists gave new form to the questions on the lips of the society around them: questions that were no longer so easily answered by Christianity. This dissertation will explore how the term Victorian does or doesnt fit into the context from which it supposedly arises. I will look at trends such as the development of literary criticism, pioneering scientific discoveries, the exploration into psychic phenomenon, the increasing independence of women, the mapping of the world, all of which contribute to what we know and understand as Victorian, and have in some way shaped the work of authors such as Eliot, Conan Doyle, and H.G Wells. Using some close textual analysis I hope to identify the nature of the inspiration behind the literature of the time and whether or not such work transcends the limits of the term Victorian. Many great literary minds of the time such as Arnold, Dickens, and Ruskin helped define the era in their critical attitudes towards it. (Davis 2002, p.10). Criticism appears to have become a form of exploration in an attempt to turn what concerned and worried the artist into something that questioned and reassured. Arnold, in his dissertations in Criticism (Arnold 1865, p.V) explains how he perceives the difference between logical and artistic thought The truth is I have never been able to ht it off happily with the logicians, and it would be mere affectation in me to give myself the airs of doing so. They imagine truth something to be proved, I something to be seen; they something to be manufactured, I as something to be found. It is this growing awareness of difference that was to become a defining feature of Victorian literature. Differences appeared in the very perception of things, which led to feelings of isolation, despair, alienation all prominent themes in nineteenth century work. In Arnolds A Summer Night (http://whitewolf.newcastle.edu.au/words/authors/A/ArnoldMatthew/verse/EmpedoclesonEtna/summernight.html) we see the poetic mind struggling to find meaning on a moonlit street where the windows, like hostile faces, are silent and white, unopening down: And the calm moonlight seems to say Hast thou then still the old unquiet breast That neither deadens into rest Nor ever feels the fiery glow That whirls the spirit front itself away, 30 But fluctuates to and fro Never by passion quite possessd And never quite benumbd by the worlds sway? And I, I know not if to pray Still to be what I am, or yield, and be Like all the other men I see. Arnold recognises that the society around him is unfulfilled, that men are giving their lives to some unmeaning taskwork and he questions whether he should be questioning at all. He is aware of a gap between the reality of working life and life outside of work; a difference that he strives to find explanation for. Arnold appears to be lost amidst the streets of his own mind afraid of not being able to define who he is, what he is. These feelings in part express what it meant to be a Victorian struggling to place thoughts and feelings which appear to no longer fit into society. The Victorian era contained much of what had past and much of what was still to come it cannot be seen as an isolated time, nor as an isolated term. It contained aspects of the Romantic period for instance in Arnolds poem, The Buried Life, we see vestiges of Wordsworths legacy of Ode to Immortality. In both poems there is a sense of something lost an old passion or instinct that has gone with the passing of time yet Arnold, unlike Wordsworth, finds it more difficult to come to terms with this: A longing to inquire / Into the mystery of this heart that beats / So wild, so deep in us, to know / Whence our thoughts come and where they go. (http://www.web-books.com/Classics/Poetry/Anthology/Arnold_M/Buried.htm). The language is more passionately discontent than the resolute tone of Wordsworths visionary acceptance: We will grieve not, rather find/Strength in what remains behind. (Wordsworth 1928, p.136). The styles are obviously connected, but the trouble with defining the era using literary terminology is that it is clearly neither a quirky extension of the Romantics vision, nor is it a straightforward path to the modernists. The 1870s saw the maturation of authors such as Anthony Trollope who brought out his later novels, yet only twenty years later in 1896 these publications are sitting beside the considerably different form and subject matter of work such as H.G. Wellls The Time Machine and The Island of Dr. Moreau, with literary experiments with the modern such as Richard Jefferies The Story of My Heart (a spiritual autobiography) -occurring between in 1883. A growing concern in nineteenth century life was the potential loss of the Romantic link between human nature and the natural world, and the gap which sudden industrial progress highlighted between nature and mechanisation. As technology developed so did the notion of artificiality. It is worth noting J.S.Mills dissertation on Nature (Mill 1874, p.65) where he says that it is mans nature to be artificial, to remedy nature by artificial pruning and intervention. Further to this, a contemporary of Mills Richard Jennings also drew a line between the province of human nature and the external world. (Lightman 1997, p.80). In the countryside more efficient methods of farming were employed (see the contrast between Henchards methods and Farfraes ciphering and mensuration in Hardys Mayor of Casterbridge, (Hardy 1886, p.122)), and new machines introduced which no longer required the labour force to run them, encouraging people to migrate to towns and cities. The urban reality was harsh in 1851 roughly four million people were employed in trade and manufacture and mining, leaving only one and a half million in agriculture. (Davis 2002, p.13). City life, as portrayed by Dickens, was a cruel, unhealthy and unwholesome existence for many. Working conditions in cities were often cramped, unhygienic and poorly ventilated, and living conditions could be even worse. Mrs. Gaskell, living in Manchester, witnessed the appalling pressures that these conditions forced upon family life, and in North and South depicts the difficulties of urban living, offering that salvation for the working classes lay with themselves and their employers, working together. However, city life was not all desolate based in cities, the development of the detective novel brought the city back to human scale (Lehan, p.84). Detectives pieced together and reconstructed past events through clues for example, the murder of Bartholomew Sholto in The Sign of Four by Conan Doyl e: As far as we can learn, no actual traces of violence were found upon Mr Sholtos person, but a valuable collection of Indian gems which the deceased gentleman had inherited from his father had been carried off. The discovery was first made by Mr Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson () Mr. Athelney Jones, the well-known member of the detective police force, happened to be at the Norwood police station () Mr Jones well-known technical knowledge and his powers of minute observation have enabled him to prove conclusively that the miscreants could not have entered by the door or by the window but must have made their way across the roof of the building, and so through a trapdoor into a room which communicated with that in which the body was found. (p.66) The city provided an exciting backdrop to crime scenes its labyrinthine streets similar to the mapping of the pathways of the human mind so that the two became inextricably linked. As Joseph McLaughlin says in Writing the Urban Jungle, the urban jungle is a space that calls forth a pleasurable acquiescence to something greater, more powerful, and, indeed, sublime () also an imaginative domain that calls forth heroic action: exploring, conquering, enlightening, purifying, taming, besting. (McLaughlin 2000, p.3). Further to what McLaughlin suggests, the Victorians perception of time and space in the city and the countryside was changing radically from the medieval perceptions that still existed in the Romantic period. People saw the finished products in both manufacturing and farming no longer involving the long, drawn-out means to an end, instead the end result was being achieved faster and with more control. Here developed the root of modern industry which continues today in intensive farming and factory lines. Yet here too the beginnings of waste and excess. Richard Jefferies, a nineteenth century naturalist and mystic, known for his dissertations on nature, remarks on the abundance of food in the natural world in his dissertation Meadow Thoughts: The surface of the earth offers to us far more than we can consume the grains, the seeds, the fruits, the animals, the abounding products are beyond the power of all the human race to devour. They can, too, be multiplied a thousandfold. There is no natural lack. Whenever there is lack among us it is from artificial causes, which intelligence should remove. (Jefferies 1994, p.26). Unfortunately there was plenty for those who could afford it but not enough to spare for the poorer lower classes. (Ritvo 1997, p.194). Trends of over production and wastage which became a worry in Victorian times are reflected in the literary concerns of Jefferies childrens story, Bevis, where words, despite their abundance, are in danger of becoming an insufficient medium of expression and not filling the metaphysical space on the page. In describing a sunrise and the thoughts and feelings associated with watching it, Jefferies struggles to articulate the beauty before him: The sun had not yet stood out from the orient, but his precedent light shone through the translucent blue. Yet it was not blue, nor is there any word, nor is a word possible to convey the feeling. (Jefferies 1881, p.391) We see too in James Thomsons City of Dreadful Night (Thomson 1892, p.2) the desperateness of trying to articulate thoughts and feelings: Because a cold rage seizes one at whiles To show the bitter old and wrinkled truth Stripped naked of all vesture that beguiles, False dreams, false hopes, false masks and modes of youth; Because it gives some sense of power and passion In helpless impotence to try to fashion Our woe in living words howeer uncouth. In both passages there is a sense of trying to convey so much more than the words will allow. And that is the essence of the problem of defining the era with a word which the era itself selected Victorian like the authors of its time struggles to convey the enormity and the condensed nature of its changing environment. Victorian literature is thus perhaps best studied between the lines of its texts rather than for what it offers at face value. Thomsons words to try to fashion our woe in living words although appearing dismal could actually withhold a more positive message: it deals with the notion of perseverance that by creating words, however difficult, the author is refusing to give in to despair by trying to transform it into creative energy. There is a sense of crisis in the work of Thomson, just as there is to be found in Jefferies futuristic After London where the lone explorer Felix discovers the land after humanity has overreached itself to sociological disaster and has lost the harmonious relationship between mankind and nature. London becomes no more than a crystallised ruin in a ground oozing with poison unctuous and slimy, like a thick oil. (Jefferies 1885, p.205). Through work like this we see that Victorian was an era of possibility where visions of the future suddenly became tangible concerns and possible realities, and where contemporary conceptions of language and life might no longer hold up to the pressures of the time. In H.G. Wells the Time Machine, the time traveller discovers a land in the year 802,701: The air was free from gnats, the earth from weeds or fungi; everywhere were fruits and sweet and delightful flowers; brilliant butterflies flew hither and thither. The ideal of preventative medicine was attained. diseases had been stamped out. I saw no evidence of any contagious diseases during all my stay. And i shall have to tell you later that even the processes of putrefaction and decay had been profoundly affected by these changes. (Wells 1995, p.28) In this description of a futuristic age the Victorian imagination still retains the idea of a paradise a place full of butterflies and flowers. This Christian concept is a literary hangover from Miltons Paradise Lost, and remains an important theme for the moderns such as D.H. Lawrence. The Victorian age suffered from a dualistic split between a bright future on the one hand promised by leaps in technology, education and economical success and an increasingly alienated, confused society on the other. There were those writers like Huxley who believed that by human intervention within a political and economic framework humans could evolve out of their condition seeing no limit to the extent to which intelligence and will () may modify the conditions of existence (Huxley, 1893, Evolution and Ethics, The Romanes Lecture (http://aleph0.clarku.edu/huxley/CE9/E-E.html), and there were those like Hardy whose characters were destined to fail because they were not emotionally fitted into the cosmos out of which they evolved . It was the nineteenth century spiritual crisis which precipitated the literary shift into the new genre of the realist novel. By the mid-nineteenth century, society had begun to grow away from the idea of atonement for sin within an omnipotent religion, where judgement would come solely in heaven, and towards the more humanistic idea of God as in-dwelling, so that salvation could be achieved on earth: We have now come to regard the world not as a machine, but as an organism, a system in which, while the parts contribute to the growth of the whole, the whole also reacts upon the development of the parts; and whose primary purpose is its own perfection, something that is contained within and not outside itself, an internal end: while in their turn the myriad parts of this universal organism are also lesser organisms, ends in and for themselves, pursuing each its lonely ideal of individual completeness. (Gore (ed) 1890, p.211) A spiritual lack created a need to define, order and categorise a world that suddenly appeared chaotic. When Darwin published On the Origin of Species in 1859 he raised issues of public concern as to the truth of the bible and the essence of Christianity. However, its content and its methodology were seriously criticised (Appleman 2001, p.200). It was a difficult work to accept as it caused the public to rethink and redefine their history that they were a product of evolution and not a tailor made being came as a shock. The future of thought and literature was suddenly changed as people tried to sew together the threads of the past. Natural Science became a national obsession exotic flora and fauna from across the world were brought into London daily, to be displayed in the British Museum or Kew Gardens (Lightman, 1997 p.1). In literature, we see the author begin to play the part of evolutionist: Eliots Middlemarch although concerned with the evolving character of Dorothea Brooke follows the threads of sub-plots and the successes and failures of other characters which form a pattern of development. As Gillian Beer says: There is not one primitive tissue, just as there is not one key to all mythologies () emphasis upon plurality, rather than upon singleness, is crucial to the developing argument of Middlemarch. (Beer 2000, p.143). Gone is the tradition of the valiant hero or heroine singularly conquering their environment (a trend set by classics such as Homers The Odyssey (1967)) and in its place a landscape upon which the author grafts and nurtures developing shoots of life. It is this sort of growth that is in danger of remaining unseen to the contemporary historian or critic as it can become shrouded by generalising concepts which are so often prescribed to the term Victorian concepts such as repression, old-fashioned and prudish. (http://www.victorianweb.org/vn/victor4.html). These sort of terms restrict the individuals perception of the era when it was a time when growth was encouraged rather than restricted. Authors used the metaphor of pruning and nurturing plant life to symbolise the development of the self for example in North and South Gaskell discusses the problem of the working individual who struggles to reach his or her potential when the manufacturers are unsparingly cutting away all off-shoots in the direction of literature or high mental cultivation, in hopes of throwing the whole strength and vigour of the plant into commerce. (Gaskell 1865, p.69). For Gaskell, it is through the everyday interaction between people that such difficulties are given the chance to be overcome. And this was the essence of the realist novel set amidst a world which had witnessed such alteration to transform the lostness felt by society into a seeing of the smaller things in life which could withhold qualities of greater spiritual value. As Philip Davis says, the realist novel was the holding ground, the meeting point, for the overlapping of common life. (Davis 2002, p.144). And it was within this common life that a more calm acceptance of the new state could be achieved. Gillian Beer suggests that through her novels organisation Eliot creates order and understanding of the evolving process of novel-writing. In Middlemarch, the naming of Casaubons books Waiting for Death, Two Temptations, Three Love Problems draws attention to the books organisation by emphasising categorisation: But the process of reading leads into divergence and variability. Even while we are observing how closely human beings conform in the taxonomy of events we learn how differently they feel and think. For Dorothea and Casaubon waiting for death means something very different from what it means for Mary Garth and Featherstone. The relations are different. The distances between people are different. Lydgate, here at one with the project of the book, longed to demonstrate the more intimate relations of living structure (1:15:225). In this double emphasis on conformity and variability George Eliot intensifies older literary organisations by means of recent scientific theory. In Darwinian theory, variability is the creative principle, but the type makes it possible for us to track common ancestry and common kinship. (Beer 2000, pp.143-4) Writing itself was becoming an almost divine representation, an inner order of a chaotic external world. The idea that humans had evolved from primates meant that the boundaries between what was one thing and what was another were no longer so clearly defined. There developed a fear of the animate and a fear of the inanimate, and efforts were sought to understand them. As Harriet Ritvo says in The Platypus and the Mermaid: Depending on the beholder, an anomaly might be viewed as embodying a challenge to the established order, whether social, natural, or divine; the containment of that challenge; the incomprehensibility of the creation by human intelligence; or simply the endless and diverting variety of the world. And beholders who agreed on the content of the representation could still disagree strongly about its moral valence whether it was good or bad, entrancing or disgusting. (Ritvo 1997, p.148). In a world where categorisation was important but not so easily achievable, the novel too became neither one thing nor another; realism became a melting pot for ideas, a sort of hybrid of styles. In Eliots The Lifted Veil realism is used as a vehicle for the exploration of her ideas into psychology and psychic phenomena. Latimers clairvoyance forces him to endure a painful insight into the minds of the people around him: I began to be aware of a phase in my abnormal sensibility, to which, from the languid and slight nature of my intercourse with others since my illness, I had not been alive before. This was the obtrusion on my mind of the mental process going forward in first one person, and then another, with whom I happened to be in contact: the vagrant, frivolous ideas and emotions of some uninteresting acquaintanceMrs Filmore, for examplewould force themselves on my consciousness like an importunate, ill-played musical instrument, or the loud activity of an imprisoned insect. But this superadded consciousness, wearying and annoying enough when it urged on me the trivial experience of indifferent people, became an intense pain and grief when it seemed to be opening to me the souls of those who were in a close relation to me when the rational talk, the graceful attentions, the wittily-turned phrases, and the kindly deeds, which used to make the web of their characters, were seen as if thrust asunder by a microscopic vision, that showed all the intermediate frivolities, all the suppressed egoism, all the struggling chaos of puerilities, meanness, vague capricious memories, and indolent make-shift thoughts, from which human words and deeds emerge like leaflets covering a fermenting heap.(Eliot 1859, pp.13-14) Latimer is no longer caught up in the web of peoples characters. Eliot plays with the idea that his consciousness has the ability to transcend the mundane the rational talk, the kindly deeds in order to gain insight into an alternative and not so rosy vision of the mechanics of the human mind where thoughts are make-shift and chaotic. The nineteenth century saw the acceptance of the concept of otherworldly phenomena into the working classes. Robert Owen, a social reformer, who influenced the British Labor movement (Oppenheim 1985, p.40) encouraged many working class Owenites to follow him into the spiritualist fold, where they enthusiastically continued their ongoing search for the new moral world. Interests such as spiritualism and psychology which had previously been more underground pursuits, were brought out into the open. The concept of telepathy, a term coined by Frederic Myers in 1882 (Luckhurst 2002, p.1) even helped to theorize the uneasy cross-cultural encounters at the colonial frontier. (Luckhurst 2002, p.3) These developments suggest that the Victorians felt imbued with the power of their age they felt confident of their ability to communicate on different planes of consciousness. So it could be argued that Victorian was not simply a time devoted to the discovery of the self and the workings of the inner mind, but a time that also focused on the projection of ideas and thoughts outside of the self; ideas which themselves stand outside of the category Victorian. In 1869 the Spiritualist Newspaper began selling first as a fortnightly, then as a weekly publication. (Oppenheim 1985, p.45). This draws the discussion to the point of representation the social nature of Victorians seems to suggest that they enjoyed the focus being on themselves. Self-obsession is an aspect of the time which the term Victorian usefully represents: by specifically referring to the rule of the Queen the term draws attention to the importance of the individual. The era saw the development of many different styles of fashion and the use of photography. As part of the Freudian influence great importance was placed on childhood and it was during the nineteenth century that the first laws concerning child welfare were passed. (Mavor quoted from Brown (ed) 2001, p.i) The focus on the central, the ego, was paramount. As Mavor says, it was as if the camera had to be invented in order to document what would soon be lost, childhood itself; and childhood had to be invented in order for the camera to document childhood (a fantasy of innocence) as real. (Brown (ed) 2001, p.27). Perhaps because of societys awareness of change there seems to have been a necessity to record and keep track of the world around. Discovery took place on a much grander scale in the exploration of the world. The British Empire was global, yet as Patrick Brantlinger suggests in Rule of Darkness, (Brantlinger 1988, p.4) imperialism was not generally reflected in the literature of the time. What we do see evidence of however is the mapping of new worlds and territories (Richard Jefferies Bevis). The development of the adventure story suggests that Victorians desired to explore what lay outside of what they knew and in this respect the term Victorian which people can think of as representing a society closed within in itself is misleading. The rise of imperialism began to shape the ideological dimensions of subjects studied in school (Bristow 1991, p.20) and so through literature the Victorian child was offered an exciting world of sophisticated representation and ideas with the knowledge that the world was theirs to explore. Does the term then encourage us to think of the society as a class of people set apart from the rest of the world? In The Island of Dr. Moreau it is not just the future of science that is explored but the concept of a new territory and its effects on the mind. For example, when the protagonist first sees the beast-servant on board the ship he is immediately frightened: I did not know then that a reddish luminosity, at least, is not uncommon in human eyes. The figure, with its eyes of fire, struck down through all my adult thoughts and feelings, and for a moment the forgotten horrors of childhood came back to my mind. Then the effect passed as it had come. An uncouth black figure of a man, a figure of no particular import, hung over the taffrail, against the starlight. (Wells 1997, p.31). The circumstances of being at sea is disorientating and causes the imagination to play tricks so that the man is first one thing a figure with its eyes of fire and then suddenly becomes an uncouth black figure of a man. The effect is that the protagonist suddenly regresses to the forgotten horrors of childhood. This sudden fluctuation is important as it represents the fluidity of the era and how change and discovery on a global scale, although empowering, also caused instability within the individual. Therefore, when considering the age in the context of its name we can understand that the term was perhaps created out of both the desire to represent achievement but also out of a need to belong. This desire to belong which manifested itself during an age ruled by one woman placed great importance on the role of the female in society. It was a time when women began to travel and write without the necessity of using a pseudonym (see Cheryl McEwan on Kingsley in West Africa, (2000, p.73)). In books such as Hardys Tess of the DUrbervilles the idea of the fallen woman is tested when Tesss crucial lack of belief in herself causes her never to discover the paradise with Clare that might have been. The nineteenth century began to be more explicit concerning issues of gender: for example, the relationship between Arthur Munby and Hannah Cullwick (see McClintock 1995, pp.132-138) where Cullwick is photographed cross-dressed as a farm worker. A Victorian man however appears to have had more stigma attached to him and in this context the term is commonly associated with heroism and English valour (Ridley/Dawson 1994, p.110). There is less flexibility surrounding the notion of Victorian men -as if the term somehow threatened their masculinity. However, this did not seem to affect the male authors of the time. Lewis Carroll captured the public imagination through Alices Adventures in Wonderland, which although following the story of a little girl, depicts many male characters. (see Carroll 2000). In conclusion, the term Victorian although useful to refer to a specific time period in history, does however encourage us to make sweeping generalisations without investigating how diverse the era was. In terms of the subject matter of Victorian Literature there is no clear cut distinction between early, middle and late Victorian for example, Bulwer-Lytton attempts at the beginning of the century what Richard Jefferies does at the end the difference is in style and form. Within that time frame there was condensed an incredible diversity of styles, tastes and attitudes, yet the term suffers from being associated with prejudices and assumptions about Victorians. However, it is worth bearing in mind that prejudices were indeed a part of Victorian society. When the Victorians explored the rest of the world they made generalisations and assumptions based on what they found (eg: The Island of Dr. Moreau) where experience and the nature of what is discovered defines behaviour. As a critic in 1858 wrote we are living in an age of transition (quoted from Houghton 1957, p.1); therefore when considering the Victorian age we should remember that values and trends were evolving it was not a static time governed by repression or old fashioned values. From the research carried out for this dissertation it appears that through the gaining of knowledge, Victorians also realised how little they knew and how much more there was to discover. As Arnold says in A Summer Night: How fair a lot to fill / Is left to each man still. (http://whitewolf.newcastle.edu.au/words/authors/A/ArnoldMatthew/verse/EmpedoclesonEtna/summernight.html). In this context the term Victorian can be dualistically representative: discoveries of the time, although revolutionary, were often rudimentary in nature, and it was humbling for the individual to consider how much further knowledge and discovery had yet to go. On the other hand, the term suffers too from being inadequate: a single word is too smaller term for the vast wealth and diversity of discovery, and it could be argued that the era is better realised if seen as a second revolution. Like the Victorian authors themselves we are left with no suitable words to convey the entirety of an era as John Lawton says in his introduction to The Time Machine (1995, p.xxvi) the term Victorian is used too loosely to encompass a sequence of eras, the diverse reign of a woman who lent her name to objects as diverse as a railway terminus and a plum. When studying Victorian Literature it is worth bearing in mind the fluidity of the time and the changeability which arose out of living on the cusp between the passing away of old values and the unknown territory of the new. Realism recognised the gaps which were forming in society such as the distancing of the self from religion and offered to paper the cracks through its vision of bringing people together on a mundane level. Its territory stretched to include the darkest recesses of the mind to the smallest of everyday events, celebrating the grey area between extremes as we now know as Victorian. Bibliography Arnold, M., Reprint of 1865 ed. dissertations in Criticism With the addition of Two dissertations not hitherto reprinted. London: Routledge. Appleman, P, 2001, Darwin. London: Norton Beer, G., 2000, Darwins Plots. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Brantlinger, P, 1988, Rule of Darkness:British Literature and Imperialism. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press Bristow, J., 1991, Empire Boys:Adventures in a Mans World. London: Harper Collins. Brown, M., 2001, (ed) Picturing Children. Aldershot: Ashgate Bulwer-Lytton, E., 1853, A Strange Story.

Carbonated Beverages and Dental Caries

Carbonated Beverages and Dental Caries An assessment of association between carbonated drinks consumption and dental caries prevalence: A cross-sectional study Zainab A. Sukhera[1], Syeda Mehar Raza1, Neha Rana1 and Tehreem Zafar1. Dental caries may be defined as â€Å"a bacterial disease of the hard tissues of the teeth characterized by demineralization of the inorganic and destruction of the organic substance of tooth†.(1) It is the most prevalent oral disease worldwide.(2) It is a multi-factorial disease caused by the interaction of three principal factors; a susceptible host tissue, cariogenic micro flora and diet.(3, 4) Diet especially refined sugars, is an important etiological factor of dental caries. Both the frequency and the total amount of refined sugars consumed play a significant part in the etiology of caries. â€Å"The evidence establishing sugars as an etiological factor in dental caries is overwhelming†.(5) Sugars are mostly contained in manufactured food and beverages and form an essential component of human diet.(6) Most carbonated beverages contain up to 10 tea-spoons of sugar per 12 oz. as opposed to 1-2 tea-spoons in fruit juices.(4, 7) Despite the differences in carbohydrate content, both seem to have similar cariogenic potential.(8) In addition to the high amounts of sugar, carbonated beverages also contain phosphoric, citric and carbonic acids which show a deleterious effect on enamel.(9, 10) Caffeine, which makes up a considerable portion of carbonated beverages, is a mildly stimulant drug and it may contribute to the tendency for frequent consumption of such beverages. All the aforementioned factors are responsible towards the rapid initiation and progression of caries.(11) Diet drinks which use artificial sweeteners instead of refined sugars have been popularly used in order to reduce the caloric content. Although diet drinks are considered less cariogenic than regular beverages, their greater erosive ability and the use of artificial sweeteners do not make them a healthier alternative. (12) The Aim of this Cross-sectional study was to assess the association between prevalence of dental caries and carbonated drink consumption in a population of 12 to 19 years old children from Islamabad and Rawalpindi. Materials and Methods: A questionnaire-based cross-sectional study was conducted at the Islamic International Dental Hospital, Islamabad during the month of June. The study comprised a questionnaire survey followed by a visual oral examination. Sample: The participants comprised a convenience sample of 12-19 years old adolescents who were visiting the hospital at any time during 16th to 20th June. 1st year BDS students who fell in the above mentioned age bracket were also included in the sample. The participants were mostly residents of Islamabad and Rawalpindi. Sample size was chosen to be 50. Verbal consent was obtained from each participant and his/her guardian beforehand. Questionnaire: A questionnaire was completed through a face-to-face interview with each participant which helped in achieving a 100% response rate. The Questionnaire consisted of three sections. Section A dealt with the oral hygiene habits and the beverage consumption habits of participants. In Question 1, the frequency of intake of different beverages was recorded by using a scale of 5 values; Never, Rarely, Once a week, 1 glass daily and 2 or more glasses daily. In the next set of questions, the participants were asked about (Q2) their preferred time of drink consumption (at mealtimes or between meals); (Q3) their preference of either regular or diet drinks and (Q4) the use of straw. Questions 5-7 assessed their oral hygiene knowledge. Section B dealt with the socio-demographic details and section C recorded the DMFT score of each participant. Clinical Examination: After the interview, each participant was orally examined by a 2nd year BDS student. The examination took place under a tube-light with the participant seated in a normal chair. No mouth mirror or CPI probe was used to assist in the diagnosis of caries. Only a tongue depressor was utilized by the examiner. The severity of caries was assessed via the DMFT index. A tooth was considered decayed (D) if a carious lesion was visibly appreciated; missing (M) if extracted due to caries and filled (F) if a restoration was seen. A restored tooth with recurrent decay was also counted as (D).(13) Data Analysis: Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) Version 17.0 was used to enter, organize and analyze the data. The effect of different variables; frequency and time of consumption of drinks, demographic factors and oral hygiene habits on the DMFT scores of participants was analyzed by deriving frequencies, means and standard deviations. Results: Results were obtained for the sample of 50 participants by analyzing the data from their completed questionnaires and dental examinations. The sample included 19 males (38%) and 31 females (62%). Out of the total number of participants, 15 (30%) were from the age group of 12-14 years, 14 (28%) from the 15-17 years group and 21 (42%) from the 18-19 years age group. Table 1 displays the number and percentages of participants in relation to beverage consumption and their sociodemographic details. In terms of daily consumption, milk and juices were the most popular drinks (n=35, 70%), while carbonated drinks were consumed by only 17 (34%) participants on a daily basis. In the younger age group of 12-14 years, 93% (n=14) preferred carbonated beverages whereas, coffee and juices were the main preferences of the other two groups (15-17 years, 18-19 years) being consumed by 100% (n=14) and 95% (n=20) of the participants respectively. Table 1: Frequency distribution of different types of drinks as per consumption frequency and sociodemographic factors. (n=number) Table 2 illustrates the prevalence and severity of dental caries in relation to different types of beverages consumed. Among the participants who consumed juices, 68% (n=32) had caries in contrast to the 62% (28) who consumed carbonated drinks. Caries severity for carbonated drinks was highest with almost 7% (n=3) participants having recorded DMFT of more than 4. Table 2: Prevalence and severity of dental caries in relation to consumption of different beverages. (n= total number of consumers of a particular drink. Percentage frequencies are given in brackets) Table 3 shows the effect of different variables on DMFT score including time of consumption of carbonated drinks, use of straw, drink type, oral hygiene habits and demographic details. Around 56% (n=28) of participants reported consuming carbonated drinks at mealtimes. However, their DMFT score was unexpectedly higher than those who consumed their carbonated drinks between meals (36%, n=18). Diet drinks were preferred by only 4% (n=2) of the participants and their caries experience was low as compared to those who consumed regular drinks (94%, n=47). According to the findings, 30% (n=15) of participants used a straw during consumption and had a much lower DMFT score of 1.07 ( ±1.22) in contrast to the 1.76 ( ±1.82) score for those who did not use a straw (n=34, 68%). Frequency of brushing showed a significant effect on the DMFT score by decreasing it with each increase in frequency. In terms of gender, mean DMFT score of females was higher (1.77 ±1.76) than that of males (1.31 ±1.60). Among the three age-groups, the 15-17 year age group showed a slightly higher caries experience than the other two groups. Table 3: Effect of carbonated drink related variables and demographic factors on mean DMFT score. Mean DMFT of the sample was 1.60  ± 1.702. Table 4 and Figure 1 illustrate the frequency percentage of each component of DMFT Index i.e. of Decayed (D), Missing (M) and Filled (F) in the study sample. Out of the total DMFT score of 80, ‘Decayed’ component had the highest frequency percentage (n=60, 75%), followed by ‘Filled’ (n=17, 21%) and ‘Missing’ (n=3, 4%) components, respectively. Table 4: Distribution frequencies of Decayed (D), Missing (M) and Filled (F) components in the whole sample as well as of the cumulative DMFT. Figure 1: Distribution of each component of DMFT in the sample. Figure 2 illustrates the relation of frequency of carbonated drink consumption with mean DMFT scores of participants. Participants who â€Å"Never† consumed carbonated drinks had a mean DMFT score of 2. Whereas, participants who consumed carbonated drinks â€Å"rarely†, â€Å"once a week† or â€Å"one glass daily† had mean DMFT of 1, 1.52 and 1.92 respectively. â€Å"1.60† was the recorded mean DMFT of those who consumed two or more glasses of carbonated drinks daily. Figure 2: Bar chart illustrating frequency of carbonated drink consumption per mean DMFT scores. Discussion: A strong association between carbonated beverages and dental caries has been indicated by many previous studies (11, 14-16) while a few indicate a much weaker association.(17, 18) We assessed this hypothesis by conducting a cross-sectional study in a sample of 50 participants from Islamabad and Rawalpindi. The results from our study found no association between carbonated drink consumption and dental caries experience. Those participants who had ‘Never’ consumed carbonated drinks showed the highest mean DMFT. Caries prevalence and caries severity in relation to carbonated drink consumption was high, and similar to that for juices indicating similar cariogenicity.(8, 19) Mean DMFT of those who consumed carbonated drinks ‘at mealtimes’ was surprisingly greater than of those who consumed ‘between meals’; a direct contrast with a previous study from Slater P. et al.(20) Results from the current study showed that the mean DMFT decreased with the use of a straw during consumption. This is in accordance with a study by Tahmassebi et al. which proved that if juices were consumed through a straw, there was a less pronounced pH drop in plaque.(21) Since carbonated beverages and juices possess similar cariogenic potential, the same situation might be true for carbonated beverages. Oral hygiene (frequency of tooth-brushing) had a strong effect on dental caries experience. DMFT was highest for those who did not brush daily and lowest for those who brushed thrice a day. This pattern is in congruity with the fact that despite the intake of sugary drinks, oral health is an important factor in the etiology of dental caries especially with the advent of fluoridated toothpastes.(22) Mean DMFT of females was found to be higher than that of males. This may be due to the uneven distribution of males (38%) and females (62%) in our study sample or it may also indicate that dental caries is statistically dependent on gender to some extent, as proven by earlier studies.(3) Relation of social status with beverage consumption patterns, oral hygiene, DMFT etc. could not be derived because of an error in the designed questionnaire. To check the social status of participants, we added the option of â€Å"Occupation† but neglected to specify whose occupation we were asking for i.e., of the guardian/parent or of the participant. This lead to a confusion on both the participants’ and the interviewers’ part resulting in incorrect information to be recorded on the forms. Mean DMFT of the sample was found to be slightly greater than that reported by WHO in 2003.(23) The ‘Decayed’ portion formed a major component of the overall DMFT score, followed by the ‘Filled’ and ‘Missing’ components, indicating that majority of the children do not undergo treatment due to various reasons e.g. high costs of treatment, negligence to oral heath etc. This trend was also observed in a cross-sectional study carried in Karachi.(24) Study Limitations: It is necessary here to discuss the limitations faced in our study. We employed a cross-sectional design in determining the beverage intake patterns and oral health conditions of the participants. However, use of cross-sectional data to establish cause (carbonated beverages)-and-effect (dental caries) relationship does not draw valid conclusions. Longitudinal study design should therefore, have been employed.(24, 25) Furthermore, the questionnaire that we used in our study did not provide detailed information regarding fluid intake patterns (e.g. of water).(15) Sample size and sampling technique used in our study was inadequate to cover the characteristics of the whole population of Islamabad and Rawalpindi.(26) Protocols for determining the carious lesions(27) were not strictly followed during the dental examinations. For example, a CPI probe and mouth mirror was not employed to assist in the diagnosis of caries. Radiographs were also not used during the examinations. The probability of surface stains being counted as carious lesions therefore, cannot be eliminated. Conclusion: No association was found between carbonated beverages consumption and dental caries through our findings. Dental caries was found to be associated with various other factors such as oral hygiene, methods and time of beverage consumption, gender, age, etc. Further research studies, particularly of longitudinal design, should be carried out are before any conclusive results can be derived. A more detailed dietary questionnaire should be employed to ascertain the complete dietary patterns of an individual throughout the day. Following guidelines should be followed while consuming carbonated or any other cariogenic beverages.(12) Drinks should ideally be consumed at meal times and via a straw to minimize direct contact with teeth. They should not be swirled or swished in the mouth. Tooth brushing immediately after consumption should be avoided. 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