The Overshadowing Presence of Toxic Masculinity and a Call for Reducing Sexism in Khaled Hosseini’s A Thousand Splendid Suns

The nexus among toxic masculinity, sexism, and patriarchy; and women’s oppression as an upshot of these have been potential issues stirring the interest of the researchers for centuries. The researches done on Khaled Hosseini’s A Thousand Splendid Suns are not exceptional than those works. As the novel blatantly exposes the plight of womenfolk amid an excessive masculine setting, Hosseini’s covert signal towards the male characters’ poignant situation due to their toxic masculinity has been an unaddressed issue. This article aims at studying the detrimental consequences of toxic masculinity in the characters’ personal, familial, and social life showing the utter helplessness of male characters who have to comply with the stereotyped notion of gender roles of real men. Because of the male characters’ vague notion of masculinity, the relationship with their partners becomes toxic; Jalil does not get forgiveness from his daughter Mariam when he asks for and Rasheed’s life ends horribly. Demonstrating the poignant aftermaths of toxicity, the researcher calls for reducing sexism for establishing a healthy relationship where partners will have love, respect, and trust between or among themselves.

PERPETUAL PARADOXES: A NEW CRITICAL READING OF “THE LAKE ISLE OF INNISFREE” AND “STOPPING BY WOODS ON A SNOWY EVENING”

“The Lake Isle of Innisfree” by R. Frost and “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” by W. B. Yeats are two of the most representative poems of these poets. Part of their universal appeal lies in their messages and their craftsmanship, and both the qualities relate to the New Critical conception of poetry. Since New Criticism as a literary theory, originating in the early twentieth century, seeks to explore poems through some central points of references in a close reading, this present study takes paradoxes as a central point of reference for a close reading of the two poems and attempts to unveil their poetic enigma by examining what tensions the paradoxes create through the speakers’ grappling with the dilemmas they are facing, how the paradoxes are being resolved or left unresolved, what similarities the two poems share in this regard, and what poetic unity the poems ultimately attain through the development of these paradoxes.

PATTERN OF SCHOOL ABSENTEEISM IN SOME SELECTED COUNTRIES

School absenteeism is treated as a barrier towards quality education. It is related to school dropout, depression, anxiety and academic performance. This study uses Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey dataset to analyze the pattern of school absenteeism in five lower middle-income countries: Bangladesh, Djibouti, Nigeria, Ukraine and Vietnam. Primary and secondary level students are considered in this study. Authors accomplish descriptive analyses to trace out the pattern of school absenteeism. This study finds that nearly one-third students in Bangladesh, about half of the students in Djibouti and more than half students in Vietnam missed at least one instructional day in a week. Additionally, more than 80 percent students in Nigeria and Ukraine missed one instructional day in a week. This study reveals that age and wealth status are negatively related to school absenteeism. Furthermore, it is evident that tendency of school absenteeism is higher among rural and primary level students. Thus, this study suggests for providing conditional cash transfer among primary level students and specific incentive for rural students to address the problem of absenteeism.

OKONKWO TO ODILI: READING CHINUA ACHEBE’S HEROES POSTCOLONIALLY

The paper examines the situations and actions of Chinua Achebe’s four heroes, who stand as the epitomes of struggle in their society: Okonkwo, Ezeulu, Obi, and Odili from the first four novels of the author— Things Fall Apart (1958), Arrow of God (1964), No Longer at Ease (1960), and A Man of the People (1966). These heroes foreground the struggles of their clan people that are brought by the colonizer and the Nigerian ‘corrupt’ rulers in postcolonial time. This paper aims at applying six postcolonial theoretical approaches: Otherness, Ambivalence, Mimicry, Hybridity, Decolonization and Neocolonialism to analyse the time and tasks of the four heroes comparatively. Through the lens of ‘Otherness’, this study throws light on Okonkwo, who becomes an ‘Other’ in his clan because of colonial interventions. The paper examines Ezeulu’s role as an ambivalent protagonist along with his tragic ending. This study analyses critically the Mimicry and Hybridity exhibited by the third hero, Obi. Moreover, this paper shows the action of Odili as a decolonized intellectual who struggles against corruption in postcolonial African society. This study endeavours to explore how Achebe represents the perspectives of colonized people as well as the people of the neocolonial age by portraying the story of the four heroes.

EFFECTS OF CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY ON EMPLOYEE LOYALTY: A STUDY ON MULTINATIONAL COMPANIES (MNCS) IN BANGLADESH

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is considered as a strategic marketing tool since it brings benefits to the society and environment. It has significant influence on employee loyalty too. This study was conducted with the objective of examining the relationship between CSR and employee loyalty within the context of multinational companies (MNCs) operating in Bangladesh. Three dimensions of CSR (CSR towards employees, CSR towards community, and CSR towards customers) were incorporated to investigate the relationship between CSR and employee loyalty. A total of 100 employees working in MNCs operating in Bangladesh participated in the study. Data were collected through a self-administered questionnaire survey. The study hypotheses were tested using correlation and multiple regression analysis tools. The study findings confirm that CSR towards employees and CSR towards community have a significant positive influence on employee loyalty. However, the study findings fail to prove significant relationship between CSR towards customers and employee loyalty though the relationship is found significant in many other studies. The study findings have substantial importance to the HR professionals and organizational decision makers who are actively seeking for developing loyal employees in order to gain competitive advantages and improve organizational performances.

THE ROLE OF URBAN AESTHETICS ON ENHANCING VITALITY OF URBAN SPACES

Several scholars have focused on the different approaches in designing convivial urban spaces, but literary evidence shows that the essence of aesthetic design in public urban spaces, by referring to the main dimensions involved in the shaping of urban vitality, has not been adequately researched. In this regard, this study, by hypothesizing that the quality of urban design leads to a vital urban environment, focuses on urban vitality from the aesthetic point of view. Thus, in using qualitative grounded theory as a main methodological tool and using a systematic review of the related literature as the main induction approach for collecting qualitative data, five main dimensions of urban vitality, which are necessary to attain a correlation with the aesthetic quality of urban design, were conceptualized. The study concludes that the aesthetic design of an urban setting has a direct effect on the active involvement of its users and that this, therefore, has a direct consequence on the level of public urban vitality, manifested. Integrating the complexity theory with the five main dimensions used for assessing urban vitality was suggested as a viable area for further research.

MODULATORY ANTI- DIARRHEAL EFFECTS OF ASCORBIC ACID IN SWISS ALBINO MICE

Ascorbic acid (AA) has been reported for the management of diarrhea. The anti-diarrheal potential and modulatory activities of AA on some commonly used anti-diarrheal drugs were investigated. For this purpose, the activities of AA on castor oil-induced diarrhea in Swiss mice were examined. As standard anti-diarrheal agents, we used prazosin, propranolol, loperamide, and nifedipine with or without AA. The results revealed that AA at 25 mg/kg (i.p.) and all other standard drugs exhibited significant (p < 0.05) diarrheal attenuating activities in mice. However, the impact was more pronounced in the loperamide and propranolol groups. AA administrated with prazosin and propranolol had a higher rate of latent periods and a lower rate of diarrheic secretion during the study period (4 h) than that of the other single or mixed groups. Furthermore, a molecular docking study illustrated that AA displayed good binding affinities with (α1) (–5.2 Kcal/mol), α2b (–5.4 Kcal/mol), α2c (-5.6 Kcal/mol), β1(–5.3 Kcal/mol) and β2(–6.4 Kcal/mol) adrenoceptors. Of note, AA exerted a significant anti-diarrheal effect and it was seen to modulate the anti-diarrheal effects of α- and β-adrenergic receptor blocking agents in Swiss mice.

GROWTH AND YIELD EVALUATION OF MUSTARD VARIETIES GROWN IN A MEDIUM HIGHLAND OF KHULNA REGION

The present research was conducted at the experimental field of Agrotechnology Discipline, Khulna University, Khulna during Rabi season 2016-17 to investigate the growth and yield performance of mustard varieties. The experiment was arranged in a randomized complete block design consisting of eight mustard varieties (viz. BARI Sarisha-8, BARI Sarisha-11, BARI Sarisha-13, BARI Sarisha-14, BARI Sarisha-15, BARI Sarisha-16, Rai and Tori-7) as treatment and replicated thrice. All the growth, yield attributes and yield were substantially influence among the mustard varieties except the phenological parameters. Results of the experiment showed that the highest plant height (131.33 cm), seed yield (1813.33 kg ha-1) and stover yield (3876.67 kg ha-1) were found in BARI Sarisha-16. BARI Sarisha-11 was found better in respect of maximum siliqua plant-1, weight of seeds plant-1, 1000-seed weight and harvest index. Besides this, BARI Sarisha-14 showed the maximum number of seeds siliqua-1. Therefore, findings of this study suggested that BARI Sarisha-16 would be suitable for better productivity and recommended for cultivation in the medium highland of Khulna region of Bangladesh.

SELECTION OF FUELWOOD TREE SPECIES USING FUEL VALUE INDEX IN JHENAIDAH DISTRICT

Four tree species Acacia nilotica, Samanea saman, Leucaena leucocephala, Tamarindus indica were collected from different wood vendors of Jhenidah district in Bangladesh to identify the potential fuelwood tree species through fuelwood properties. The calorific value and density of the wood considered as positive characteristics and high moisture and ash content as negative characteristics that helped develop a fuelwood value index (FVI). A 8×2×2 cmof three wood blocks were collected from each tree species in order to determine the fuelwood properties. The highest calorific value and wood density were found in Acacia nilotica and Tamarindus indica respectively but the ash content was found to be lowest in Leocoena leucocephala (1.09%) and highest in Tamarindus indica (2.21%). Moreover, the lignin content was the highest in the Acacia nilotica. According to FVI, the better quality of fuelwood species in descending order are Acacia nilotica˃ Leucaena leucocephala˃Tamarindus indica ˃Samanea saman. This study also revealed the significant negative correlation between FVI and ash content.