Literary Movements and Biological Processes: A Comparative Overview
Humor and Criticism in Pre-Renaissance Italy
A cultural movement, so-called porq, is a transition from the Middle Ages to the Renaissance. This period is defined by deep social and cultural changes, such as the growth of cities, the development of a monetary economy, the strengthening of the bourgeoisie, the foundation of universities, and the formation of conceptions detached from the court nobility. Humanism posits that humans have the power to decide between true and false, displacing the theocentric with an anthropocentric makeup. In literature, this period imitates and transforms Greek and Latin texts, while also defending Romance languages.
The Decameron, Boccaccio’s important work, involves a group taking refuge in a villa near Florence to guard against the black plague ravaging Italy. For ten days, each group member tells a story to combat boredom. At the end of the 100th story, the friends return home. This is a framed story. The work satirizes established institutions with irony and tolerance of human weaknesses, disseminating the pleasures of life.
Humor and Criticism in Spain
Charles I’s vast empire was forced to support wars in Europe while undertaking the conquest of Mexico and Peru. A financial crisis caused this policy to decline in the 17th century. At this time, the bourgeoisie rose, but the peasantry remained unprotected as their lands were expropriated, and they were freed from their lords. Peasants migrated to cities, unable to find a new social place, leading to an increase in beggars and criminals, the “marginal.”
Birth of the Picaresque Novel
Literature incorporates new imagery from the urban perspective. New classes emerge, replacing the medieval hero with the antihero, and idealism with realism. Features:
- Protagonist = rogue: Comes from the underworld, an anti-hero opposed to the knight figure.
- Moralizing Intention: Each adventure serves as an example of unwise behavior.
- Autobiographical: The rogue recounts their adventures from their origins, explaining their life’s educational process.
- Satire: A constant element of the picaresque narrative. The protagonist’s wanderings through different social classes are narrated with a critical attitude.
- Critical Thinking: The human condition is discussed, witnessing the fall of traditional values and the triumph of money.
Primero is the first picaresque novel and a precursor to the modern realistic novel. It recounts the story of a rogue whose life is spent serving different masters, who deceive and treat him without consideration. The humble style of the novel is due to Lazarus’s social origin and aims to provide narrative verisimilitude.
Realism in American Literature
Realism emphasizes reality, reflected in the emergence of photography and journalistic chronicles as social “mirrors,” and the role of the middle class and disadvantaged sectors of society.
In The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, humor reflects social changes and the mixture of nationalities, offering a social critique through the adventures of a mischievous child.
Asexual Plant Reproduction
In angiosperms, the typical flowering plants, the multiplication of vegetative apparatus is a way to occupy a favorable environment.
- Propagule: New leaves grow from old leaves; if a leaf falls on soil, roots and stems form a new plant.
- Tuberous Roots: Thickened roots store reserves for the plant to spread; a stem with a bud is necessary for a new plant to grow.
- Stolon: A creeping stem grows long and flat on the surface, rooting at nodes with buds.
- Bulbs: An underground stem shaped like a disc or saucer, with scale-shaped leaves (cataphylls) protecting the buds and stored reserves.
- Rhizomes: Underground stems that grow horizontally and emit new stems.
- Tuber: A short, thickened underground stem with a large quantity of reserves.
Animal Asexual Reproduction
- Budding or Sprouting: Formation of a bud with tissues, occurring in animals like sponges, cnidarians (hydra, anemones, and corals), and unicellular organisms.
- Strobilation: Occurs in jellyfish; the base of the polyp divides by transverse furrows, each forming a new larval jellyfish.
- Fission: The animal’s body divides into two or more segments, giving rise to new individuals, as in many flatworms (planarians).
- Regeneration: Complete restoration of a lost part of an organism, occurring in starfish, worms (annelids), and some vertebrates (lizards and salamanders).
Cell Cycle
Cells undergo divisions and growth stages constituting the cell cycle. This cycle has two main phases: interphase (the period when the cell is not dividing) and cell division. During interphase, the cell grows and synthesizes substances for cellular components. Interphase is divided into:
- G1 Phase: A period of high metabolic activity; the cell grows and increases its reticulum structure.
- S Phase: DNA is replicated.
- G2 Phase: The cell prepares to divide; chromatin begins to condense. This phase begins after DNA replication.
Cell Division
- Chromatin – Chromosome: The cell nucleus, containing the genetic material, is made up of DNA molecules associated with proteins, organized in long strands called chromatin. When the cell is about to divide, chromatin condenses into chromosomes. All individuals of a species have the same number of chromosomes and, therefore, the same type of genetic information. Each individual inherits one homologous chromosome (similar chromosome) of each pair from the mother and father.