Business strategy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words - 3

Business strategy - Essay Example The concerned company believes that its leading market position and increasing scale will provide significant opportunities for enhancing its profitability. The mission of the concerned company is creating a difference in the lives of the people through excellent patient care services. The organization abides by the ethics and codes of conduct in offering adequate service to its customers. It plays an important and vital role in ensuring wellness of its patients. It is considered as the second largest health care service provider in terms of its market capitalization. It operates in various Asian countries which include India, Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Republic of China and turkey. It also extended its services in UAE, Vietnam and Iraq.IHH focuses on quality, revenue and cost synergies in order to generate profitability from its operations. The concerned organization will be able to generate adequate revenue from its business in the future. It mainly aims in expanding and strengthening its business operation in the home and international market. The income statement of the company reveals that the total revenue generated by the co mpany increased in the recent years as compared to the previous years (IHH healthcare Berhad, 2012). The concerned company has the ability to generate an increase in its income level at a constant rate and it is likely to experience high growth rate and profitability in the future, it can gain competitive advantage over its competitors. IHH is a leading health care provider which has its operations primarily in the CEEMENA region. The group operates and maintains different brands of healthcare facilities which have a name for themselves. As a listed health care operator, the group is the 2nd largest in the world in terms of market capitalization. Each brand in which the company has invested is recognized as a premium one that operates in the home market in which it is established.

Research paper on emily dickinson with some analysis of her work Essay

Research paper on emily dickinson with some analysis of her work - Essay Example Her poems were marked by very close descriptions of inspirational moments, and moments of happiness. Most of here poems centered around ideas of death and immortality. Her works received severe criticism in the late 19th and early 20th century, but she is now considered as a major American poet by most (Bloom, 9). Before 1861: Only five poems have been dated to be written before 1858 (Pickard, 20). These are more conventional in nature than her later works, and are based on subjects like valentines, her feared of loss of friendship, her missing of her brother. Dickinson’s work showcases her artistic prowess and is centered around a variety of themes. She is often regarded as a transcendentalist as she was deeply inspired by works of Emerson. Her poems had a very intelligent usage of humor, sarcasm, irony, and satire (Wolff, 171). Some of the major themes that can be seen her works include: Morbidity: This theme of her characterized by her interest with topics like illness, dying and death. Her poems describe death by many methods: drowning, hanging, suffocation, premature burial, stabbing and so on. Her sharpest work came in the form of â€Å"death blow from the GOD† and â€Å"funeral in the brain†. These works reflect the starving characteristic of her personality. Her most complex work is based on the principle of death of self because of the loss of hunger for life. Flowers and gardens: Poems written in the early period of her life were characterized by an intelligent blending of her poetry with a bouquet. Farr (1-7) notes that she associates some flowers like the gentians and anemones to youth and humility; while others with prudence and insight. Examples of such work by her include: "My nosegays are for Captives –  / Dim – long expectant eyes –  / Fingers denied the plucking,  / Patient till Paradise –  / To such, if they shd

Chinese Nationalism In The 19th And 20th Centuries History Essay

Chinese Nationalism In The 19th And 20th Centuries History Essay Chinese nationalism in the 19th and 20th centuries followed a very different suit than Japans Shà µwa evolution. Similar to Perrys significance in Edo in 1894, the First Anglo-Chinese War (1839-1842) was a significant introduction of Western moral realism and imperialist influence in China. To a larger extent than Japan, Chinas nationalisms were largely born of domestic adversity from influential Chinese figures. Sun Yat-sen once declared: In order to restore our national independence, we must first restore the Chinese nation. In order to restore the Chinese nation, we must drive the barbarian Manchus back to the Changbai Mountains. In order to get rid of the barbarians, we must first overthrow the present tyrannical, dictatorial, ugly, and corrupt Qing government. Fellow countrymen, a revolution is the only means to overthrow the Qing government! Known often as The Father of Nationalism, Sun played a huge part in securing Chinese national identity and overthrowing the reactionary cultural grip of the Quing dynasty. Co-founder of the KMT, Sun set the tone for Maos adoption of Chinese Marxism and the progression to Maoism. The main concern for the Kuomintang, were that its policies and figures inside the party were too varying; that unanimous decisions were a rarity. After the 1911 revolution, the official definition of Chinese was expanded to include non-Han ethnicities as part of a united Chinese nation although Michael Lynch seems to suggest this was due mainly to the realisation that a far too narrow definition of China and being Chinese would result in a loss of important Eastern territory, and that the Manchus were too immersed to be considered an outside group. By the end of the nineteenth century, dichotomies were already proliferating to explain how Chinese orthodoxy could be maintained while importing knowledge from abroad, such as Self sufficiency as essence, promote sincerity as function, defence as essence, war as function, rely on industry for essence, rely on commerce for function, and metaphysics  [1]  for essence, economics for function  [2]  . The best-known example of this is found in Zhang Zhidong (1837-1909), the late Qing dynasty self-strengthening governor general of Hubei and Hunan, who advocated achieving state power through the construction of railroads, heavy industry and a foreign policy based on the balancing principle of use barbarians to control barbarians. His Exhortation to Study, written in 1898, is commonly identified with the ti-yong call to appropriate Western functional knowledge to preserve Chinese essence . As such language demonstrates, the discussion by the self-strengtheners of the Qing dynasty of local military, political and economic issues in terms of world order was already typical of what sociologists would call a globalistic mentality  [3]  . It is this mentality that made it possible for Kang Youweis fellow reformer, Liang Qichao, to import the Chinese term for nationalism from Japan, in articles he wrote between 1899 and 1901.  [4]   After the fall of the Qing, the claim to be able to use Western functional knowledge to preserve Chinese essence remained at the centre of the claim to legitimacy made by nationalist and communist elites. When president Yuan Shikai tried to make himself emperor during the early years of the Chinese Republic, he did so by reviving Confucianism as the state ideology. Sun Yatsen, the National Father, maintained a strong aversion to cosmopolitanism and a belief in the revival of Chinese tradition throughout his life. Chiang Kaishek continued this when he combined propagation of Suns nationalist orthodoxy of the Three Principles of the People with the Confucian morality of the New Life movement after the 1927 Northern Expedition left much of the former empire under Nationalist control. This ideological strategy even survived under the KMT in Taiwan, until the islands democratisation in the 1980s made it unsustainable. The state-centric nature of the fluid international situation described by the three worlds was developed further by the revival of the formula of the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence, namely: respect for territorial integrity and sovereignty; mutual non-aggression; mutual non-interference in internal affairs; equality and mutual benefit; and peaceful coexistence. This has a certain resonance in domestic politics because the Five Priniciples formula is attributed to Zhou Enlai, reinforcing continuity with the popular face of the CCPs past and making a ready counterpart to Zhous Four Modernisations. When Deng revived the slogan of seeking truth from facts during the leadership struggle in September 1978  [5]  he presented Maos theory of the three worlds as useful in domestic politics for distinguishing the correct attitude of maintaining the international conditions that enable the importation of foreign capital, technology and know-how, as opposed to the incorrect branding of economic relations with other countries as a kind of national betrayal  [6]  . Over the years that followed, references to both proletarian internationalism and the three worlds were to be eclipsed by the Five Principles, which came to encapsulate the sovereignty-centred nature of PRC foreign policy. The Communists, too, had to reconcile their Chinese identity with the promise of modernity offered by socialist internationalism. Mao Zedong is said to have achieved the sinification of Marxism. When he claimed leadership of the United Front in the conflict with Japan, he presented the CCP as the true inheritor of what he considered to be the essence of a splendid old culture that was created during the long period of Chinese history and which could be used selectively to develop the new national culture.  [7]  Not only did Mao advocate learning from socialist cultures, but also from capitalist countries in the Age of Enlightenment. Yet, at the same time, he warned, We should not gulp any of this foreign material down uncritically, but must treat it as we do our food-first chewing it, then submitting it to the working of the stomach and intestines with their juices and secretions, and separating it into nutriment to be absorbed and waste matter to be discarded-before it can nouri sh us  [8]   The dilemma of balancing the preservation of political orthodoxy with learning from abroad is even clearer under reform and opening. Chinas leaders since Mao have always been careful to balance the importation of investment and know-how from abroad with a call to build socialism with Chinese characteristics and socialist spiritual civilization, and to insist that the nation combats the tendency of worshipping things foreign, or fawning on foreigners.  [9]   To search for logical consistency in this discourse, however, is to overlook how such actors are not concerned with talking to philosophical circles. The issues they address are essentially political, in the sense that there is no possibility of a logical solution, only the hope of achieving some kind of social compromise. As Zhang Zhidong realised at the end of the Qing dynasty, it is humiliation at the hands of foreigners that provides the conditions under which the apparently incommensurable positions of dogmatic conservatives and radical reformers can be reconciled. Zhang did this by reducing Confucianism to a symbol of loyalty rather than a practical guide for living. In the same way, Chinas leaders under reform and opening have reduced socialism to a symbol of patriotic loyalty, while the technological and market orthodoxies of globalisation have been introduced as the guide for policy. The condition for achieving this, however, is to portray the nation as threatened and humili ated by a coalition of enemies within and abroad, from which only the CCP can promise deliverance. It is thus that the legacy of the impact of colonialism and civil war has made possible the discourse on nationalism and globalisation that is so central to Chinese politics at the start of the new millennium. As for upholding Marxism-Leninism and Mao Zedong thought, this does not refer to the ideas of the man who had engineered the Great Leap Forward, the Cultural Revolution and internationalism. It meant remembering the leader who had allowed the Chinese people to stand up in 1949, the statesman who had formulated the strategy of differentiating the three worlds and personally ushered in a new stage in Sino-American and Sino-Japanese relations. These elements of Maos heritage were further elaborated when the orthodox version of the past appeared in the form of the Resolution on CCP History (1949-81), two years later. In this document, the essence of Mao Zedong thought was presented as the principles to seek truth from facts, the mass line, and independence. The first of these had already become a safer formula than thought emancipation, because it could be presented to mean that the answers to Chinas problems have to be found in Chinese experience and not in foreign teaching. The mass li ne, which had traditionally meant that the Party should canvass the opinions of the general population when developing its policies, was now presented as proof that the Party exists and fights for the interests of the people. Independence was taken to represent Maos belief that China must find its own path to modernity, rejecting any kind of interference in national sovereignty

Abortion :: essays research papers

  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Abortion is murder. It is the process in which an undeveloped human being is killed, and unable to live the life it could have lived. Why is it okay for women to kill a human being through abortion and not be punished, when someone else is intentionally killing someone and being sent to life in prison? A fetus is helpless, it cannot scream or run away when an abortion is happening. The person who is supposed to be the protector is the person who made the choice to murder it. Abortion is not the answer. So why do women chose to have them? Abortions happen because women are scared of the responsibilities of caring for a child; they are both financially and mentally unstable. But most importantly abortions happen because women don’t want the baby. Whose fault is it? The women are the mistake. They made the choice to have unprotected sex. Now after they had their fun, they run. They run away from reality. Women run to abortions as means of relief but little do they know their reality is waiting to happen.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  According to B.A. Robinson many women who have abortions are under the age of twenty-five, are unmarried or separated from their spouse, and poor. In a study by Torres and Forrest a vast majority of women have abortions because they are financially unstable, they feel that they are incapable of raising a child; they feel that their life would drastically change, and they are too young and immature to raise a child. Why is it that after the child is conceived that women start to realize their own faults? If women were to realize their flaws ahead of time, abortion rates would be much lower, and aborted fetuses might have been given a chance to develop and to live a life. Abortion may seem like the answer to all the problems. But women don’t realize that they are not only killing a human being, but also endangering their own lives.

Hamlet by William Shakespeare Essay

You make decision everyday; whether it is choosing what you make for breakfast or choosing what you want to be when you grow up. It is natural in humans to make decisions and act on what they believe is to be true. This not only applies to humans, but authors use them in their books or plays to create different types of characters. In one of the greatest works by William Shakespeare’s Hamlet, there are characters that make many different kinds of decisions that determine their role in the book. In the play, the protagonist Hamlet, after his father’s death, is angry about his mother’s hasty marriage to Claudius. He sees a ghost of his father one night and tells him that Claudius had murdered him. Hamlet plans to kill Claudius but he has trouble making decisions and throughout the play, his poor decision making skills bring downfall to himself and many others. Every tragic hero has a tragic flaw and Hamlet’s tragic flaw is his inability to make decisions. Hamlet’s inability to kill Claudius after hearing from the ghost, that he had killed Hamlet Senior, contributes to his stubborn indecisiveness, which brings about his own downfall. His indecisiveness leads to many character’s deaths; such as Rosencrantz, Guildenstern, Laertes, Polonius and his own mother. He had many chances of killing Claudius but he constantly over thinks the situation thus delaying his major task of killing Claudius: To take him in the purging of his soul When he is fit and seasoned for his passage? No. Up, sword, and know thou a more horrid hent. When he is drunk asleep, or in his rage, Or in th’ incestuous pleasure of his bed, At game a-swearing, or about some act That has no relish of salvation in ’t—. Then trip him, that his heels may kick at heaven (III. III. 85) This is an example of Hamlet being indecisive on whether or not to kill Claudius in the Church after the Mouse Trap play. He decides not to kill him there because he is praying and therefore will be forgiven for his sin. This results in delaying of his main task and also made more room for error; such as killing Polonius and also getting sent to England, which leads to Rosencrantz and Guildenstern’s deaths. If Hamlet would have decided to kill him then, he would not have created the mess he ends up making at the end. Hamlet’s inability to talk and discuss to Ophelia about what is happening, after she starts rejecting his messages, leads to losing his love and ultimately ends up to her demise. Even though they were in love, when Ophelia begins rejecting Hamlet’s messages because Polonius told her to, Hamlet tells Ophelia that she was not worth anything to him. This leads her to believing that Hamlet does not love her anymore. As a conclusion, she goes crazy and out of control; for example: By Gis and by Saint Charity,  Alack, and fie, for shame! Young men will do ’t, if they come to ’t. By Cock, they are to blame. Quoth she, â€Å"Before you tumbled me, You promised me to wed. So would I ha’ done, by yonder sun, An thou hadst not come to my bed. (IV. V. 40) This is the scene where she has become insane. She sings about how a man promised her to marry her before they went into bed together but he left her. On top of Hamlet’s rejection, Hamlet has killed her father, Polonius, so she has completely lost control of herself. She sings a very sorrow song in front of many people and also gives out fake flowers to people. After this scene, she ends up committing suicide at the lake. If Hamlet had talked with Ophelia about what was going on and why she was ignoring her messages, she would have not become insane and Hamlet and Ophelia would still be in love. Hamlet’s final flaw is his inability to decide whether life is worth living or not, which contributes to his stubborn indecisiveness, which ultimately leads to his own downfall. Hamlet is very confused about his own life and is out of his mind. He is very depressed from his father’s death and the feeling of betrayal he has from Gertrude, his mother, who remarried right after his father’s death. He does not know if life is worth living or not and this is obvious when he says: To be, or not to be–that is the question: Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to suffer The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune Or to take arms against a sea of troubles And by opposing end them. To die, to sleep– No more–and by a sleep to say we end The heartache, and the thousand natural shocks That flesh is heir to. ‘Tis a consummation Devoutly to be wished. To die, to sleep– To sleep–perchance to dream: ay, there’s the rub, For in that sleep of death what dreams may come When we have shuffled off this mortal coil, Must give us pause. (III. I. 56) This is his famous soliloquy on the topic of life. He compares life and death and he cannot decide whether or not to stay alive or to be dead. He believes that death is the way to escape all his troubles and his depression but then on the other side, he knows he needs to complete the task of killing Claudius. His indecisiveness about his own life delays his action from doing what he really wants to accomplish. Even though Hamlet kills Claudius at the very end, as a result of his indecisive behavior, he has taken way too much time to accomplish one single task. Also, it killed many innocent people he could have prevented from killing them. If Hamlet would have not been so depressed and actually decide whether or not he should stay alive or die, he might have had a better chance accomplishing his tasks much faster and efficient. Clearly, Hamlet is very indecisive all over and his indecisiveness brought about his own downfall. His mother’s death, his love’s death and his friend’s deaths are all caused by Hamlet. If he were to be decisive and straightforward, he could have killed Claudius much faster and he also could have prevented all of the deaths that happened. Many theories attempt to explain why Hamlet takes so long to kill Claudius but out of many theories, Hamlet’s indecisiveness is the only one with full satisfactory answers. Every book or play has a tragic hero and every tragic hero has a tragic flaw and in the play Hamlet, there is no exception. These themes present in many of William Shakespeare’s plays are relevant even today. There are times when we are indecisive when it comes to difficult situations. To be able to decide and to act on what you decided to do is what we try to aim for, however, since Hamlet did not complete this, he led himself to his own downfall and also many other’s to their downfall as well.

Concept of Maqasid Al-Syariah Essay

1. In directly meaning Maqasid Al-Syariah can be define as the objectives of Islamic law. However, in linguistic meaning Maqasid is define as follow, a goal or as an inspiration meanwhile Al-Syariah is define as the law that God reveal to Muhammad involving all aspects of life such as family institution, in finance or it can say the way of a Muslims live their life. In together term Maqasid Al-Syariah carriers the meaning based on its constituent part, of the goal and objectives which are reason for legislation of the rule of Islam. As we known all law in Islam has wisdom behind them and not randomly legislated or without purpose. These terms are back bone to this concept. They are Illah and Hikmah. Illah; in linguistically has two meaning. A sickness and a reason or causes. In definition Illah is a law that exist because of the reason or it impact in bad ways. As an example is prohibition of drinking alcohol is due to it give bad effects to our health and mental stability. Allah prohibits us to drink Alcohol in order to avoid us losing our insanity and doing something immoral without our awareness. Hikmah; in linguistically means wisdom or intend. This mean Islamic law has it intend even though it is not clear why Allah make a rule like that. There are some rules in Shariah for which the reason for their legislation is not clear or apparent. We do not say that there is no reason, rather which it is hidden from us and Allah with His wisdom chose not to disclose it. As an Example prayer five times daily. That not to say there are no benefits. Only Allah knows best. 2.Sources of Islamic Law Several of sources Islamic law used by Islamic jurisprudence to clarify the Shariah. There are two main sources that can be consider as the core of Islamic law which is Al-Quran and Sunnah.However in some circumstances of jurisprudence different methods are used to judge the level of authencity which is comprise of Ijtima’ and Qias. The Quran Muslims believe the Quran to be the direct words of Allah, as revealed to and transmitted by the Prophet Muhammad. All sources of Islamic law must be in essential agreement with the Quran, the most fundamental source of Islamic knowledge. When the Quran itself does not speak directly or in detail about a certain subject, Muslims only then turn to alternative sources of Islamic law. The Sunnah Sunnah is the traditions or known practices of the Prophet Muhammad, many of which have been recorded in the volumes of Hadith literature. The resources include many things that he said, did, or agreed to — and he lived his life according to the Quran, putting the Quran into practice in his own life. During his lifetime, the Prophet’s family and companions observed him and shared with others exactly what they had seen in his words and behaviors — i.e. how he performed ablutions, how he prayed, and how he performed many other acts of worship. People also asked the Prophet directly for rulings on various matters, and he would pronounce his judgment. All of these details were passed on and recorded, to be referred to in future legal rulings. Many issues concerning personal conduct, community and family relations, political matters, etc. were addressed during the time of the Prophet, decided by him, and recorded. The Sunnah can thus clarify details of what is stated generally in the Quran. Ijma’ (consensus) In situations when Muslims have not been able to find a specific legal ruling in the Quran or Sunnah, the consensus of the community is sought (or at least the consensus of the legal scholars within the community). The Prophet Muhammad once said that his community (i.e. the Muslim community) would never agree on an error. Qiyas (analogy) In cases when something needs a legal ruling, but has not been clearly addressed in the other sources, judges may use analogy, reasoning, and legal precedent to decide new case law. This is often the case when a general principle can be applied to new situations. (See the article Smoking in Islam for an example of this process at work.) 3.Type and categories of riba and gharar The Islamic economic system as part of spiritual activities obtains its general rules from Al Qur’an and Sunnah. Therefore, its values consist of what is allowed and leaves out what is forbidden. Some values that are forbidden in Qur’an and Sunnah are Riba (Usury) and Gharar (Uncertainty). These values are the biggest differences between Islamic economics and Capitalism and Socialism economic systems. The following is the explanation of Riba and Gharar: A. Riba (Usury) Riba is literally translated from the Arab language and means ‘an increase, growth, augmentation or accretion,’ (Khir, Gupta, & Shanmugam, 2008, p.28), and ‘addition and expansion,’ (Al-Harran, 1993, p.16) although not all of increasing is forbidden in Islam. And as syari’ah term, it means ‘the premium’ that is paid by the borrower to the lender together with the principal of loan due to some condition and because of its addition time to maturity (Chapra, 1992). According to this definition, many scholars agree that the riba refers to ‘interest’ used commonly in economic conventional system. Types of Riba: Scholars have divided riba into two types: 1. Riba Duyun. This type of riba occurs in a loan or debt. Any kind of addition or increase above the amount of principal whether the addition or increase are inflicted by the lenders or willingness of the borrowers. Riba Duyun is divided in two types: a.RibaQardh This is all increments above the amount of the principal of the loan whose amount is imposed proportionately at the beginning of the lending agreement. The addition above the amount of the principal and is due in a certain amount of time based on the loan. b.Riba Jahiliyyah This occurs when the increment of the principal increases as the time of loan increases. At first, there is no such fix increment, but when the borrowers want to postpone the loan or to extend the time to maturity the lenders will compel the increase of the loan. However, this addition is due to the time of maturity and can also happen along with the riba qardh above. According to this explanation riba qard and riba jahiliyyah refer to ‘interest’ because they are associated with the ‘addition or increase’ and the ‘extension’ of time to maturity. For example: Loans from the banks, credit card etc. 1. Riba Buyun Riba buyun occurs in trading transactions. This kind of riba occurs in trading of two of the same product but in unequal amounts; or the same product in equal amounts but there is a postponement in delivery. Types of Riba Buyun are: a. Riba Fadhl Riba fadhl is products that are exchanged in different amounts, number, measurement or weight without the postponement in delivery of the product or the payment. According to Khir, Gupta, & Shanmugam (2008) it is also called Riba of Excess (p.31). Riba fadhl can happen in the purchase and sale of different products, but the quantity or the amount of products that is exchanged are different. The difference in the quantity or the amount is unjust and dishonest which is prohibited in Islam. Riba fadhl can be avoided if the goods exchanged are equal in amount, number, quantity, and measurement. b. Riba Nasi’ah (Riba Yad) According to Khir, Gupta, & Shanmugam (2008), this is a kind of riba happens in trading in same weight, measurement and number of products, but the delivery of products, or the payment of money are delayed. However, Chapra (1992) stated that Nasi’ah come from nasa’a means ‘to postpone, defer, or wait’ (p.35), and refers to the time the borrower returns the loan with the addition. And he argues that this is interest in a conventional system. Although there are some explanations and definitions about types of riba, basically the meaning is same; because in concluding knowledge, scholars is usually referred to as Ijma’ Ulama (the teaching from Scholars who have well known about their knowledge in Islamic Jurisprudence). Motivation in prohibition of Riba: Islam is very concerned with human prosperity. Therefore, it would not forbid something without any explanation for the prohibition. Although riba does not just refer to interest, but the term of riba is used to explain interest. The following is the reason why riba is prohibited in Islam: 1. An interest based system damages equity. Interest will force the borrowers to pay additional money above the principal; while the borrowers do not have a positive profit from their loan used in business. Therefore, the interest rate will increase the money of rich people. 2. Interest based systems dissuade people to open a new business. Interest rates will cause people to hesitate in finding something new or in opening a new venture because the new business does not yet have a positive return. On the other hand, the owner must pay definite payments to the lenders. 3. Interest based systems set profit to one side and ignores the other side. Much like banks, they are just concerned about their returns and don’t care about loss or profit of the borrowers. 4. Interest based systems depress investment activity. Interest will increase investment costs. 5. Interest based systems add securities to the lenders rather than participate in development. For example: For safety lending reasons, banks tend to provide loans to the most profitable business or company that have been in existence for a long time and are less concerned with small enterprises that are new in the market.

The Alchemist Essays

The Alchemist Essays The Alchemist Paper The Alchemist Paper Love in Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez and The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho. Magical realism in other words, is combination of magic and existent events written in a book. Alchemy is also a combination of magic, and science which main goal is to convert less valuable metals to gold or silver. By definition, alchemy is a way of studying and experimenting with matter that includes elements of chemistry, philosophy, and spirituality. Before the development of modern chemistry, alchemists tried to understand the changes they saw in metals and other materials that were exposed to fire and acids. People today still practice alchemy, but modern alchemists primarily seek spiritual transformation, and base their studies on philosophy. †(1) The process of trying to make gold or silver out of cheaper metals is called transmutation. This process was practiced by almost one-hundred percent of all alchemists ever known in history. Alchemists and metal-smiths used similar techniques as well, but alchemists often saw themselves as trying to speed up or perfect the work ings of nature. Some alchemists searched for the philosophers stone, which they thought could greatly speed up the transmutation process. Many alchemists believed that they could perfect and purify materials only if they themselves were spiritually perfected and purified in the process. Ancient societies in Egypt, India, and China practiced alchemy. Egyptian writers produced a number of written works on alchemy from approximately 200  B. C. to A. D. 200. Scholars in Arab built on these works from the 640’s to about 1200 A. D.. When alchemy reached Europe around 1100 A. D. t grew rapidly, especially in noble courts. At its peak in the 1600’s, a number of famous scientists practiced alchemy, including Robert Boyle of Ireland and the very famous, Isaac Newton of England. In the late 1700’s, many educated people began to ridicule alchemy as pseudoscientific, or falsely claiming scientific merit, and deceptive. Alchemists based their ideas on the ancient Greek belief that matter co nsists of four elements: water, earth, air, and fire. Alchemists also believed that all metals could be reduced to a single type of matter, thus being able to transform into each other. In the 700’s, Arab alchemists thought that the qualities of all metals could be explained through sulfur, a well known element which burns in hot fires, and mercury, a liquid at room temperature that has a metallic shine. In the early 1500s, the Swiss physician Philippus Paracelsus, thought that sulfur, mercury, and salt gave metals their distinctive qualities, thus able to distinguish each and every one of them. Alchemy played a key role in the development of modern day science. The theories of alchemy gave rise to a modern chemical theory and something interesting, or eye catching, to learn about. Modern experimental techniques developed from such alchemical practices as studying nature in a laboratory, observing experiments and keeping records, other wise known as data, and measuring the ingredients and products of chemical reactions. Alchemy plays a huge role in the novel, The Alchemist, in such a way that, in the prologue there is an alchemist that picks up a book that someone in the caravan had brought. He begins to leaf through the pages and finds a story about Narcissus. The alchemist knew the legend of Narcissus, a young child who knelt daily beside a lake to contemplate his own beauty. One morning, he was so fascinated with himself that he fell into the lake and drowned. At that very spot were he fell in a flower grew, which was called the Narcissus. When Narcissus died the goddess of the forest appeared at the lake, she asked the lake if Narcissus was really beautiful. The lake said that it did not know because it was too busy staring into Narcissus’s eyes to view it’s own beauty. The story is what sets up the excitement of the novel. During the novel, a boy named Santiago was having dreams about a hidden treasure, and seeks a gypsy for help. She is the first one Santiago consults about his dream. She is mysterious and yet religious as can be attested by the Sacred Heart of Jesus picture on her wall. She tells Santiago that because it was a child who took his hands in the dream and led him to the pyramids, so he must go. However, before she tells him anything, she makes him promise that he will give her one-tenth if he finds his treasure. Some people who were associated to alchemy were gypsies. Many gypsies were involved in basket making, copper work, and the mending of China ware. The term gypsy has several overlapping meanings. Initially the word was used to refer to the Romani People, who appeared in England at about the beginning of the 16th century. † (3) In the book, the gypsy Santiago encountered, was some what of a fortune teller. She would, or tried to decide someones fate, or destiny. Historical gypsies, or true Romany, tended to go from door to door selling pegs and fortune telling. True Romany fashioned anything from wood and excelled in palmistry and astrology. They also learned to travel the highways and byways from place to place selling products of trade. Another gypsy trait was the involvement in the planets natural gifts. Most gypsies relied on roots, berries, vegetables, green foods and nature’s herbs for medicine. Gypsies believed that all of nature’s products all contained a direct message from the sun. Along with environmental remedies for medicine gypsies use organic materials to make simple spells and rituals which they believe harness the power of nature and the elemental spirits. Though many gypsies perform these spells, most Romany people would profess a belief in an official religion of the country, which is why many are born-again Christians, they try to teach us to take the joy in the moment. Fate is something that unavoidably befalls a person. It is the universal principle or ultimate agency by which the order of things is presumably prescribed. † (2) It is basically something that is out of your hands, something that the lord will only control. By relating different terms that are related to the novel The Alchemist our understanding of the novel should be more clear. Magical realism, alchemy, gypsies, and fate can relate to each other by many different ways. Although they don’t have many themes in common it is possible to transmit the purpose and the relations about them. We don’t really know how the work of fiction is going to end but we hope that all the variety we found in these terms would reflect on the novel. (1) Alchemy. Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. 18 Jan. 2011. Web. 26 Jan. 2011. . (2) Fate. Collins English Dictionary Complete Unabridged 10th Edition. HarperCollins Publishers. 26 Jan. 2011. Web. 26 Jan. 2011. . (3) Gypsy. Dictionary. com Unabridged. Random House, Inc. 26 Jan. 2011. Web. 26 Jan. 2011. . (4) â€Å"Magic Realism. † Alberto Rios Definitions. 23 May. 2002. Web. 26 Jan. 2011.