This part of the book consists of four chapters in which Metlitzki explores how scientific achievements were translated and transmitted from Arabic texts to Western (primarily English authors writing in Latin) texts. She begins this book by addressing the crusades and the development of scholarship by Mozarabs, i.e. Christians living under Muslim rule, particularly those in Muslim Spain and Sicily (p.&nbsp;3-10). She writes about several Western scholars who were involved in translating Arabic texts and studying Arab held libraries, including several key ancient Greek and Roman texts that were only available in Arabic. Some of these scholars included Adelard of Bath (p.&nbsp;26) who was a Western scholar responsible for translating Al-Khwarizmi’s texts on astronomy and Euclid’s Elements from Arabic into Latin. She details the lives of several of these key scholars including Petrus Alfonsi, a Christian converted ex-Jew living in Muslim Spain and author of the seminal text Disciplina Clericalis, which, according to Metlitzki was the first collection of Oriental tales composed in the West for Westerners (p.&nbsp;16). Robert of Ketton was the first translator of the Quran into Latin and also translated several key scientific texts such as Alchemy by Morienus Romanus and Math, Algebra and astronomy texts by Al-Khwarizmi. Michael Scot was a scholar interested in magic, alchemy and astronomy and was also the first translator of most of the works of Aristotle (from Arabic into Latin), whose writings had been banned in the West as being heretical (p.&nbsp;48). In part two Metlitzki explores key English medieval texts and suggests that they either are based entirely on Arabic stories or include elements from Arabic storytelling that suggest that they had been loosely based on Arabic stories. She then suggests that the English medieval Romance itself is strongly influenced by Arabic ideals of romantic chivalry as well as key Arabic stories from various sources including the 1001 Nights. The English texts she closely examines include Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales, the English Charlemagne Romances like Sir Ferumbras and the Sowdone of Babylone (p.&nbsp;172-3) and several others. In several of these texts, Metlitzki explains, are found the beginnings of the misunderstanding of Islam by the West and she explores the depiction of Islam and the Islamic prophet Muhammad in these texts in her chapter on History and Romance (p.&nbsp;95-210). On page 245 she also suggests that contributions to English and Western literature from Arabic literature includes several key themes (such as Romance) and also rhyming poetry itself.

The Matter of Araby in Medieval England

First to Fight has one main plot, the story of a platoon from the 34th Fleet Initial Strike Team (FIST) to the planet Elneal, interlaced with three subplots. The first subplot revolves around new Marine Joseph F. Dean as he experiences his first deployment. Another is that of Staff Sergeant Charlie Bass, recently demoted from Gunnery Sergeant and transferred to the 34th FIST for assaulting a civilian contractor after the in-combat failure of an electronic device the man was responsible for, which failure cost half the men of one of the companies of the 31st FIST. The third subplot is the sadistic dream of a tribal leader whose plan to achieve rule over Elneal is stymied by the presence of the Marines on Elneal. Dean and his friend Neal are assigned to the third platoon of Company L, 34th FIST on Thorsfinni''s World.The 34th FIST is assigned to a humanitarian relief effort on the backwater planet of Elneal.Is a planet that is completely useless except for its deposits, which are being mined by Consolidated Enterprises, and is mostly populated by nomadic tribes, third platoon receives a new platoon leader, who privately sees the platoon as a bunch of worthless men in need of shaping up, even though the company commander claims third platoon is the best in the entire FIST., it becomes clear that the tribes have formed an alliance to rid the planet of the Confederation and Consolidated Enterprises. Dean''s platoon is stationed in an isolated village in order to defend it, retain order and deliver aid to the locals as originally planned before the Marines'' arrival. But while things seem calm and peaceful, He tries to convince the platoon leader to take defensive measures before the situation deteriorates, but to no effec, and to get him out of his hair orders him to take the platoon''s new UPUD . Bass reluctantly takes a patrol a ways into the desert to test the device, they realize that the rest of the platoon is attacked . The small patrol is too far away to come help in good timt have been wiped out, and, believing another full-out assault is in the works, orders a withdrawal to Company L headquarters . Stranded, Bass leads the patrol through the desert towards New Obbia.

First to Fight

A young lion is living in the jungle. On a night, when all the lions are sleeping, they awaken to hear a gunshot. All the lions run away except for one named Grmmff, who is the protagonist of the story. He is confused about why the other lions are running away, until an old lion tells him that hunters are coming. He does not know what a hunter is, but thinks that he likes the sound of the word "hunters," so he stops running and hides in the tall grass. The hunters pass by wearing red caps and carrying funny sticks that make loud noises (obviously guns). The lion likes their looks, so when a hunter passes, he stands up, says hello, and tries to make friends with the hunter. This offends the hunter''s sense of the proper relationship between lion and hunter, and the hunter says he will shoot Grmmff. When the hunter finds, however, that he has not loaded his rifle, Lafcadio decides he does not like the hunter after all, and eats him up, red cap and all. He tries to eat up the gun and the bullets, but he cannot chew them. He brings them to the other lions. The old lion says to throw them away, but the young lion shoots the gun with his tail. The lions initially run away. They are angry with the young lion when they discover that he is the one shooting. However, the young lion likes shooting the gun so much that he practices to become the best shot in the whole world. A year later, another man comes walking through the jungle, the young lion wants to shoot him. However he is revealed that the man is a circus man. Finchfinger, the circus man, persuades the reluctant lion to come with him to the circus with the promise of marshmallows. They arrive in the city, which is not at all like the jungle. There are "tall square things" (buildings) and "things that look like hippopotamuses that move very fast with people inside them" (cars). The lion goes into the hotel and goes up and down the elevator many times. He then meets Uncle Shelby, (obviously Shel Silverstein, as he tells the story) goes to the barbershop, gets his paws shined, his claws manicured and a free haircut. He has dinner, and eats lots of marshmallow dishes, then finally eats his napkin for dessert. He wears a marshmallow suit, but it gets ironed and it melts all over him. He goes back to the hotel and stays up very late singing the "marshmallow song:" <poem> Marshmallows Marshmallows Marching Marshing Mellow Malling Mallows Marshing Fellows Marshy-Murshy- </poem> The young lion&#39;s name is changed to Lafcadio the Great. The next morning, there is a big parade for him. Lafcadio goes into the tent, shoots six bottles off the table, a hundred balloons off the ceiling, a marshmallow off everybody&#39;s head including some monkeys, shoots 12,322 of the Ace of Spades (but misses once), shoots in many different ways, and then joins the circus. He shoots for many different governments, becomes rich and very famous and signs six autographs at once. He then becomes more like a man, standing on his back paws, wearing clothes, playing golf and tennis, going swimming and diving, painting pictures (despite being unable to draw a straight line), doing exercises, going skating, and attempting to learn to ride a bicycle. He goes to the beach at Cannes, sings, plays the guitar, bowls and seldom says &#34;GRAUGRRR&#34; except on very special occasions. He writes his autobiography, becomes a clothes lion, and becomes very happy, rich and famous. But suddenly, Lafcadio is crying because he is tired of what he has, and wants something new. Uncle Shelby asks if he has gone up and down the elevator a few times or eaten marshmallows, but that is old stuff. Then Finchfinger gets the idea to take Lafcadio on a hunting trip in Africa. Uncle Shelby cannot come because he has to water his philodendron plant. So Lafcadio, along with Finchfinger and some other hunters, goes back to Africa and begins hunting lions. A very old lion realizes that Lafcadio is a lion too and comes up to him. Lafcadio remembers that he was a lion, and that he still is a lion. All the lions want him to come back and be a lion with them, but the hunters also want Lafcadio to stay a hunter. Lafcadio cannot make up his mind and says that he does not want to do either and that he does not think that he belongs anywhere. He puts down his gun and walks away, not knowing where he&#39;s going and not knowing what&#39;s happening to him. Lafcadio has not been heard from since.

Lafcadio: The Lion Who Shot Back

The novel takes place in December. Bill, working on a secretive computer program, informs Sookie he has to travel away in order to complete the program. Days later, a werewolf targeting Sookie comes into her working spot, Merlotte''s, but he is eliminated by Bubba, sent on Eric''s orders, before he can harm Sookie. As night falls, Eric and his employees tell Sookie that Bill had actually been in Mississippi, where his former lover and maker Lorena had summoned him. They continue to tell Sookie that Bill has since then gone missing, and Eric speaks of his suspicions on Lorena''s involvement. He also states that the vampire queen of Louisiana will need to receive Bill''s secret project on its due date, if Eric wishes not to compromise his life. Since Eric is unable to interrogate humans or vampires in the territory of Mississippi vampire king Russell Edgington without provoking a war, he invites Sookie to come along to Mississippi and utilize her telepathy to locate Bill. Sookie agrees, but is shocked at Bill''s possible betrayal of her. The next day, Sookie is introduced to Alcide Herveaux, a werewolf sent by Eric to help Sookie circulate in the supernatural community of Jackson, Mississippi. Sookie takes a liking to Alcide''s physique and personality. In Jackson, Alcide escorts her to a local vampire bar, Josephine''s, generally known as Club Dead. In this club, Sookie learns by telepathy that Bill is being held captive and that Russell Edgington is possibly involved. She meets Edgington when he aids her after a confrontation with a were patron angered at Sookie rebuffing his sexual advances. Edgington insists they come in the next night as well. In the same night, Sookie is confronted by Alcide''s jealous ex-girlfriend Debbie Pelt, a shapeshifter who, despite being at her own engagement party, is furious with Sookie presenting herself as Alcide''s escort. The next day, Sookie and Alcide discover in their closet the dead body of the Club Dead patron who had been making unwanted advances at Sookie. After disposing of the body, that is later revealed to have been an assailant aiming for Sookie killed by Bubba, the duo head out for another night in Club Dead, where Sookie meets her friend Tara Thornton as another vampire''s escort. However, she discovers the Fellowship of the Sun, an anti-vampire organization prominently featured in Living Dead in Dallas, has come in Club Dead intent on killing vampires. While preventing the Fellowship from staking one of Russell Edgington''s employees, she herself is staked, then rescued by Eric and taken to the King of Mississippi''s compound and receives medical attention at Edgington''s mansion. Sookie shares an intimate moment with Eric, but Bubba informs them Bill is being tortured in one of Edgington''s poolhouses. At dawn, Sookie heads out to the poolhouse. She frees Bill and manages to stake Lorena as she attacks, but is locked into the trunk of her own car alongside the sleeping Bill when she returns to Alcide''s apartment building. When Bill, deprived of blood and sleep for a week, wakes up, he feeds on Sookie and forces himself onto her sexually. Sookie asks Eric to drive her home, fed up with the whole ordeal. While on their way home, two robbers raid a gas station alongside their route looking for Sookie and Eric and in Sookie''s home, several werewolves wait for her and attack her. Eric and Bill eliminate all werewolves, but Sookie angrily breaks up with Bill and rescinds both Bill and Eric''s invitation to her house. The novel ends with Sookie realizing Bill''s special project is inside her house, and no vampire will be physically able to retrieve it.

Club Dead

An unarmed human starship and its crew of fifteen hundred is destroyed by a technologically less advanced alien race, later called elves by the humans because of their resemblance to the mythical creatures. Other unprovoked attacks follow. All attempts to negotiate fail; the elves fire without communicating. Eventually, the overmatched enemy is driven back to his homeworld, but the conflict does not cease. The Alliance, one of the three human power blocs, ends up mired in a twenty-year-long war. In all that time, humans get no closer to understanding why the elves fight or how to make peace. A few districts remain puzzlingly neutral, but when humans try to establish relations with one of them, it instantly joins the enemy side. In addition, not a single elf is captured alive; except for the very young, they have the ability to stop their hearts at will, and use it. Then one day, Second Lieutenant John deFranco takes a prisoner, one who deliberately allows himself to be captured. The creature speaks English, learned from a human prisoner, and calls himself the saitas. He tells deFranco he has come to try to end the war. The elf is passed along to Alliance scientists, but cannot communicate with them. He asks to speak to deFranco, a fellow soldier. As they talk, deFranco learns that the elves do not comprehend the concept of a treaty, written down on a piece of paper, and do not trust it; their way of thinking is too alien. The saitas explains that he has come to be killed, so that his death will carry away the mistakes of the war. He is willing to sign the human treaty, but the elves require a human saitas. The elf hopes that deFranco will be that one. Meanwhile, all along the front, the elves attack with the little they have left. One of deFranco''s friends becomes a casualty. When deFranco realizes what the prisoner wants, he tries to leave, but the meeting place has been locked from the outside by his commanders and a grenade pointedly left inside. In the end, deFranco finds it within himself to join the saitas in completing his mission. When the recording of their deaths is broadcast, the fighting ends. An elvish delegation arrives and takes away deFranco''s body for burial. The humans in turn take the elf''s body to be interred on Downbelow, the Alliance world.

The Scapegoat

The first chapter of the novel is called ‘Desher Wer,’ which means ‘old red’ in Ancient Egyptian. This term for the hippopotamus, of outstanding longevity milestone, gives the novel its title ‘The Old Red’. Before the reader meets the Old Red, he begins to discover the village of ''Per Mora'' or ‘the House of Mora’, who is the goddess of the village, the giant goddess of fertility and love, because most events take place on its area. Then the reader meets the grandfather Anatem, the legendary founder of the village. From him is descended Onan, the main character and master of the places with which the second chapter of the novel is particularly concerned. Then the reader discovers the eternal lake which the villagers and the other artisans depend on for their food by fishing. Finally, the reader begins to learn about ‘the old red hippopotamus,’ the lord of the lake and exclusive controller of the village and its people. Readers will appreciate the human side of the ‘old red’ as he waits for the birth of his offspring, in a state of stress and anxiety that develops during foaling as he dreams of perhaps this time having a male baby to inherit his kingdom. The reader also learns about the villagers and their activities and also the goddess Mora, the beautiful brunette mistress of the village. The real torment for the villagers is that as they sleep during the night, hippopotami eat the harvest they have struggled to grow. So they seek revenge on his herd of hippos and their leader the Old Red. After careful planning, Naram, the only son of the master of the village Onan, makes a trap with which he manages to catch the small hippopotamus, the only son of the Old Red, the master of the lake. The furious Old Red decides on reprisals against the entire village and it attacks and kills both Naram, the only son of the village master Onan, and his wife Myriam as they sail in a felucca in the middle of the lake. However, it pushes the cradle of their baby Asheel to the shore but despite this kindness, rivalry increases between the Old Red the master of the lake and Onan master of the village. The second chapter of the novel, entitled ‘Onan,’ begins with his biography and the reason for his revenge on the Old Red for killing his son after the murder of his offspring, the little red. The chapter ends with the disappearance of Onan and his execution by the ‘old red’. The third and final chapter of the novel, entitled ‘Oshtata’ concerns the most heroic of women, Oshtata, who is Onan’s wife and the mother of Naram. She decides to avenge her husband and her son. After an interminable and exhausting battle with ‘the old red’, she herself dies, thinking that she has succeeded in getting rid of him. The novel ends in an enigmatic spiral that affirms the continuity of an eternal struggle between human and divine will. The idea of revenge can destroy human life, as is shown by most of the novel''s characters who fail to realize their hopes. fr:Le Vieux Rouge

The Old Red Hippopotamus

Max Jones works the family farm in the Ozark Mountains. With his father dead and his stepmother remarrying a man he detests, Max runs away from home, taking his uncle''s astrogation manuals. Most occupations are tightly controlled by guilds, most with hereditary memberships. One such is the Astrogators Guild. Since his uncle had been a member and had no children, Max hopes that before he died, his uncle had named him his heir. He begins hitchhiking towards Earthport to find out. Along the way, he finds a friendly face in hobo Sam Anderson, who later alludes to being a deserter from the Imperial Marines. Sam feeds Max and offers advice, though he later departs with Max''s valuable manuals. At the guild''s headquarters, Max is disappointed to find that he had not been named as an heir, but he is returned his uncle''s substantial security deposit for his manuals. Max learns that Sam had tried to claim the deposit for himself. By chance, he runs into an apologetic Sam. With Max''s money, Sam is able to finagle them a one way job/trip aboard a starship using forged papers. Max signs on as a steward''s mate third class, and then he absorbs the contents of the Stewards'' Guild manual using his eidetic memory. Among his duties is caring for several animals, including passengers'' pets—work with which he is comfortable. When passenger Eldreth "Ellie" Coburn visits her pet, an alien, semi-intelligent "spider puppy" that Max has befriended, she learns that he can play three-dimensional chess, and she challenges him to a game. A champion player, she diplomatically lets him win. Meanwhile, Sam manages to rise to the position of master-at-arms. When, through Ellie''s machinations, the ship''s officers discover that Max had learned astrogation from his uncle, Max is promoted to the command deck. Under the tutelage of Chief Astrogator Hendrix and Chief Computerman Kelly, he becomes a probationary apprentice chartsman, then a probationary astrogator. In a meeting with Hendrix, Max reluctantly admits to faking his record to get into space. Hendrix defers the matter until their return to Earth. The Asgard then departs for Halcyon, a human colony planet orbiting Nu Pegasi. When Hendrix dies, the astrogation department is left dangerously shorthanded. The aging captain tries to take his place, but is not up to the task. When Max detects an error in his real-time calculations leading up to a "transition", neither the captain nor Assistant Astrogator Simes believe him, and the ship winds up lost. They locate a habitable world, and the passengers become colonists. Meanwhile, the crew continues to try to figure out where they are, and if they can get back to the Earth. Unfortunately, it turns out the planet is already inhabited by intelligent centaurs. Max and Ellie are captured, but Ellie''s pet is able to guide Sam and a rescue party to them. They escape, though Sam is killed covering their retreat. Upon his return, Max is informed that the captain has died. Simes tried to illegally take command and was killed by Sam, leaving Max as the only remaining astrogator. To make matters worse, Simes hid or destroyed the astrogation manuals. Vastly outnumbered by the hostile natives, the humans are forced to attempt a perilous return to known space by reversing the erroneous transition. Max must not only pilot the ship, he must supply the missing astrogation tables from his eidetic memory. To add to his burdens, the remaining officers inform Max that he must take charge, as only an astrogator can be the captain. The pressure is immense, but Max succeeds and the ship returns to known space. Max pays heavy fines for breaking guild regulations, but he becomes a member of the Astrogators Guild. However, he loses any chance for a relationship with Eldreth: she returns home to marry her boyfriend. Max accepts this with mixed feelings, but looks forward to his new career.

Starman Jones

The book focuses on a fictional MiG-31 aircraft developed by the USSR during the Cold War. The highly advanced fighter aircraft (given the NATO code name "Firefox") includes a form of stealth technology that makes it completely undetectable to radar and is capable of attaining speeds of Mach 5 or more with a range in excess of 3,000 miles. Its weapons are controlled by the thought impulses of the pilot, allowing them to be very rapidly aimed and fired. Faced with an aircraft which will give the Soviet Union the ability to completely dominate the skies, the CIA and MI6 launch a mission to steal one of the two Firefox prototype aircraft. The first section of the book details how fighter pilot Mitchell Gant covertly travels to Russia. Gant is ideally trained to steal Firefox, having already trained to fly in captured Russian planes. But he is also scarred by his experiences in Vietnam, including his capture by Viet Cong after being shot down, an ordeal exacerbated when the enemy guerrillas are wiped out almost immediately by napalm from an American air strike. With the help of a network of dissidents and sympathizers, he makes his way to the Bilyarsk air base on which the two prototype aircraft are being developed. With the assistance of some of the scientists working on the project, he is able to penetrate the base and successfully steal a MiG-31. The second section of the book deals with Gant''s flight. Here the novel focuses on military technology and tactics. First heading east towards the Ural Mountains, then north to the Barents Sea, Gant narrowly escapes a Soviet reconnaissance aircraft and cruiser. Low on kerosene, Gant makes a pre-arranged rendezvous with an American submarine to refuel, using an ice floe as an impromptu runway. Refueled and armed with captured Soviet missiles, Gant continues on his journey, only to confront the second Firefox prototype, which the Soviet dissidents failed to destroy. Nearly defeated by the second MiG, Gant accidentally destroys it when he reflexively orders his plane''s thought-controlled weapon''s system to launch a decoy flare. The flare is immediately ingested by the jet intake of the pursuing MiG, triggering an internal explosion that destroys the other plane. Free of pursuit, Gant continues on his journey.

Firefox

The novel begins with the telling of Humphrey Place saying "No" at the altar where he was due to marry Dixie Morse. Humphrey''s immoral behaviour is assumed to be a result of his recent association with Dougal Douglas, a Scottish migrant who has since left the area of Peckham. Spark goes on to tell us the entire story of what exactly happened during Dougal''s residence in Peckham. From his inaugural meeting with Mr V. R. Druce, head of nylon textiles manufacturers Meadows, Meade & Grindley, we learn that Dougal is employed to bridge the gap between industry and the arts. He befriends employees Merle Coverdale (who is in fact indulging in an unromantic, immoral affair with the married Mr Druce) and Elaine Kent, an "experienced controller of process", as well as Humphrey Place, a refrigerator engineer. After finding lodgings with Miss Belle Frierne (where Humphrey Place also resides), and splitting up with his fiancé Jinny due to her being ill (his "fatal flaw" is that he cannot bear anyone who is ill), Dougal embarks upon a mission of disruption throughout Peckham. Throughout this he falls foul of typist Dixie Morse and electrician Trevor Lomas and becomes the target of a gang consisting of Trevor, Collie Gould and Lesley Crewe. Throughout his stay in Peckham, Dougal carries out "human research" on the "moral character" of the people of the area. As well as working for Meadows, Meade & Grindley, he also works for their rivals, the more prosperous Drover Willis''s textile manufacturers (under the pseudonym Douglas Dougal), as well as working as a ghost writer for the retired actress and singer Maria Cheeseman. Only Nelly Mahone recognises Dougal for the manipulative "double-tongued" rogue he is, but no one listens to her as everyone views her as a drunken Irish vagrant. The culmination of Dougal''s antics results in his landlady Miss Frierne having a stroke, Mr Druce killing his mistress Merle Coverdale by stabbing her in the neck with a corkscrew, and the rejection of marriage to Dixie Morse at the altar by Humphrey Place. In the penultimate chapter Trevor tries to kill Dougal by stabbing him in the eye, but, despite injury, Dougal manages to leave Peckham and moves on to wreak havoc elsewhere. The novel ends with the marriage of Humphrey Place and Dixie Morse, two months after the original, aborted wedding. The final scene shows Peckham in a state of transcendence, not shown anywhere else in the novel, and is seen as a transfiguration of the commonplace world.

The Ballad of Peckham Rye

The story is mostly a first-person narrative. It begins with a woman who has no memory of her past waking up and discovering that she is a mother of some description, in a bloated body that is not her own. After some confusing experiences her memory gradually returns and she recalls that she was part of an experiment using a drug to see if it enabled people to have out-of-body experiences. It seems that the drug has worked far better than anyone could have anticipated: she has been cast into the future. She also realizes that she is in a society consisting entirely of women, organized into a strict system of castes. Her initial contacts have never even heard of men. When it becomes clear to doctors who attend her that something strange has happened, they arrange for her to be taken to meet a historian. It seems that the narrator is in a society somewhat more than a century after her own time. The historian relates that not long after the narrator''s own time a Dr Perrigan carried out scientific experiments that unintentionally created a virus that killed all the men in the world, leaving only women. After a very difficult period of famine and breakdown the small number of educated women, found mainly in the medical profession, took control and embarked on an urgent programme of research to enable women to reproduce without males. The women also decided to follow the advice of the Bible: "Go to the ant thou sluggard, consider her ways", and created a caste-based society, in which the narrator has become a member of the Mother caste. Distressed at the prospect of spending her life as a bloated producer of babies, expected to be unable to read, write or reason, the narrator requests that she be administered an identical dose of the same drug in the hope that she might return to her own time. It works, and she then decides to stop Dr Perrigan at all costs. The story has an ambiguous ending, which may suggest that it is the narrator''s own actions that will lead to the catastrophe she hopes to prevent.

Consider Her Ways

The main characters of the book are Ashley Patterson, an introverted workaholic, her co-workers, Toni Prescott, an outgoing singer and dancer, and shy artist Alette Peters and Ashley''s father. The three women do not get along very well, because of their dissimilar natures. Toni and Alette generally maintain a friendship, with Alette a calming influence, but Toni dislikes Ashley and criticizes her harshly. All three have issues with their mothers having told them they''d never amount to anything. Ashley fears that somebody is following her. She finds her house lights turned on when she returns from work, her personal effects in disarray, and someone has written "You will die" on her mirror with a lipstick. She thinks someone''s broken into her house. She requests a police escort, but the next morning, the police officer assigned to this duty is found dead in her apartment. Two other murders have already taken place, with an identical pattern. All the murdered men had been castrated and were having sex before being murdered. Evidence points to the same woman being involved in all three cases. When a gift from one of the murdered men to Toni is found among Ashley''s things, she is identified as the killer and arrested. At this point, it is revealed that the three women are three selves of a woman suffering from multiple personality disorder. Ashley''s father persuades an attorney friend to represent Ashley. The second half of the novel deals with the trial, complete with endless squabbling between opposing psychiatrists as to whether or not MPD is real. Finally when Ashley''s advocate introduces Toni, the violent alter of Ashley, the court is convinced that Ashley is innocent. Ashley is committed to an insane asylum and in the course of therapy is introduced to her two "alters" and relives the horrific events that shattered her mind. She was sexually abused during her childhood, and this made her to develop a strong hatred towards men. In the asylum, Ashley is treated for MPD by doctor Gilbert. He is attracted to her and during her crisis, he too feels her pain and wants to comfort her. It is revealed that her father was the one who sexually abused her, and caused her to develop Dissociative Identity Disorder and also was the cause for the creation of the alter Toni,and becomes a thing of her mother''s detest. And later in her life when they are living in Italy during her teenage she is once again assaulted by her piano teacher and that leads the creation of Alette. The structuring of both the alters is very interesting, Since the first alter represents her struggle and fear as a helpless child without sexual maturity, The alter (Toni) develops into a protective one and becomes murderous when encountered with similar conditions, While the second alter (Alette)represents her feeling of shame and pain of being breached, thus this alter develops into a source of console exhibiting warmth and motherly love and has good rapport with Ashley. However, Ashley''s alter (Toni) was enraged when she saw the news that her father because the woman he is about to marry has a three-year-old daughter. She was afraid that the girl would suffer the fate she had. Doctor Gilbert drains anger out of Toni by showing the news everyday therefore making Toni softer every passing day. This softer side of Toni was only a front to show Doctor Gilbert she has finally accepted everything so she and Alette (another alter) could get out of the asylum to kill her father who is staying in Hamptons for Christmas.In the end, Doctor Gilbert releases her from the asylum as he believes she is cured. In the end Ashley is shown to be traveling in a train when Toni (her violent alter) suddenly shows up and go Hamptons, where her father was staying,to kill him. Toni on the last part of the novel:

Tell Me Your Dreams

Part I: The refined daughter of a "good old burgher family," Gertrude Coppard meets a rough-hewn miner at a Christmas dance and falls into a whirlwind romance characterized by physical passion. But soon after her marriage to Walter Morel, she realizes the difficulties of living off his meagre salary in a rented house. The couple fight and drift apart and Walter retreats to the pub after work each day. Gradually, Mrs. Morel''s affections shift to her sons beginning with the oldest, William. As a boy, William is so attached to his mother that he doesn''t enjoy the fair without her. As he grows older, he defends her against his father''s occasional violence. Eventually, he leaves their Nottinghamshire home for a job in London, where he begins to rise up into the middle class. He is engaged, but he detests the girl''s superficiality. He dies and Mrs. Morel is heartbroken, but when Paul catches pneumonia she rediscovers her love for her second son. Part II: Both repulsed by and drawn to his mother, Paul is afraid to leave her but wants to go out on his own, and needs to experience love. Gradually, he falls into a relationship with Miriam, a farm girl who attends his church. The two take long walks and have intellectual conversations about books but Paul resists, in part because his mother looks down on her. At Miriam''s family''s farm, Paul meets Clara Dawes, a young woman with, apparently, feminist sympathies who has separated from her husband, Baxter. Paul leaves Miriam behind as he grows more intimate with Clara, but even she cannot hold him and he returns to his mother. When his mother dies soon after, he is alone. Lawrence summarized the plot in a letter to Edward Garnett on 12 November 1912: :It follows this idea: a woman of character and refinement goes into the lower class, and has no satisfaction in her own life. She has had a passion for her husband, so her children are born of passion, and have heaps of vitality. But as her sons grow up she selects them as lovers &mdash; first the eldest, then the second. These sons are urged into life by their reciprocal love of their mother &mdash; urged on and on. But when they come to manhood, they can''t love, because their mother is the strongest power in their lives, and holds them. It''s rather like Goethe and his mother and Frau von Stein and Christiana &mdash; As soon as the young men come into contact with women, there''s a split. William gives his sex to a fribble, and his mother holds his soul. But the split kills him, because he doesn''t know where he is. The next son gets a woman who fights for his soul &mdash; fights his mother. The son loves his mother &mdash; all the sons hate and are jealous of the father. The battle goes on between the mother and the girl, with the son as object. The mother gradually proves stronger, because of the ties of blood. The son decides to leave his soul in his mother''s hands, and, like his elder brother go for passion. He gets passion. Then the split begins to tell again. But, almost unconsciously, the mother realizes what is the matter, and begins to die. The son casts off his mistress, attends to his mother dying. He is left in the end naked of everything, with the drift towards death.

Over 8000 Takeaways For Your Brain!

Read - Listen - Learn

The Matter of Araby in Medieval England

By Dorothee Metlitzki

First to Fight

By Dan Cragg

Lafcadio: The Lion Who Shot Back

By Shel Silverstein

Club Dead

By Charlaine Harris

The Scapegoat

By C. J. Cherryh

The Old Red Hippopotamus

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