When a new product hits the market, whether it be a children's toy, a food item, or a piece of clothing, opinions are formed almost instantly, and quality and value is quickly recognized. Michael Pollan's article, "Playing God in the Garden," featured in the New York Times Magazine, October 25, 1998, describes potatoes in a new way. Burdened for years by the Colorado potato beetle, a "handsome and voracious insect that can pick a plant clean of its leaves virtually overnight," spud plants needed their own way to fight this powerful killer (Pollan 459). Monsanto, a chemical producing giant, has derived a way to force potatoes to produce insecticide through their DNA, without the aid of unnatural elements Pollan 459). Some members of the agricultural community shun this breakthrough in biotechnology , while others want to promote it and spread it worldwide.
Monsanto calls its new potato plant the New Leaf Superior, exceptional in that it contains not only nature's input, but human knowledge as well. This is the fourth year that biotech crops have been in the works, spreading roots to over forty-five million acres of American farmland (Pollan 459). .
The new leaf potato is a remarkable product and breakthrough in the way food can be manipulated. However, the way it has been handled and presented is atrocious. Labels that usually mention nutritional facts or ingredients are robbed of any such label mentioning that the product is a biotechnological exploration. The new leaf potato is a violation of human security, thus making it an unfavorable technological advancement.
The chemical being implemented into these potatoes" DNA is referred to as Bt, or Bacillus Thuringiensis. Organic farmers have been using this chemical as an insecticide for years (Pollan 461). Installing it into the life code of a major crop such as potatoes may usher the bugs directly into immunity, thus depriving the organic farmers of a major weapon.
PLAYING GOD IN THE GARDEN Written by Michael Pollan, a potato-growing author who wrote this article for the New York Times Magazine, Playing God In The Garden discusses the role of corporate giants such as Monsanto in agriculture. ... Pollan also discusses his dilemma of whether or not he should the eat biotech potatoes that he has grown in his own garden. ...
In Genesis chapter 1 and 2, Eve convinced Adam to eat an apple off the tree that God had warned them to not touch which got them expelled from the garden. ... In genesis, it was the serpent that convinced Eve to eat from the apple tree that God warned them not to touch. ... Rappaccini himself played the role of evil. ... God told Adam & Eve that they may eat of every tree in the garden but not of the tree of knowledge, which was located in the center of the garden, or else they shall die. ... Rappaccini appeared to like playing the part of God, creating his godly creations; however, there was ...
The estate was surrounded by several walled gardens, one of which, a rose garden, served as her outdoor workroom. It was here that the idea of a The Secret Garden was born. ... The Secret Garden, the story of how Mary Lennox and her friends find independence as they tend their garden, has been described as one of the most satisfying children's books ever written. ... He is described as looking like the god Pan (the god of ): he has rosy cheeks, rough curly hair, and blue eyes precisely the same color as the sky over the moor; he even carries a set of pan-pipes. ... Her...
Thus showing that the principal object of passion plays then was the suffering and glory of a god. Before passion plays were formed in christianity, Easter plays represented dramas. ... When God was in the process of creating domestic and wild animals, He created a man from the earth's dust, presented him with a soul, and settled him down in Eden's Garden. Many trees grew in this garden, but there were two special ones. ... God was furious and kicked them out of the Garden of Eden, so they wouldn't eat from the Tree Of Life and live for eternity. ...
Is there a God? ... Adam was the first man to live on Earth, and he lived in the Garden of Eden. The Garden of Eden was plentiful with fruit, but there was one fruit that God commanded Adam not to eat. ... Nebuchadnezzar told everyone of Babylon to bow down to it when they hear the music play. The music played and everyone bowed down, but three: Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. ...
Rappaccini's garden is, of course, a representation of the Garden of Eden. ... It is even possible to include Rappaccini himself in playing the part of creator. ... In Genesis, God provided Adam with Eve. ... Similarly, in the Garden of Eve, the serpent lures Eve by trying to discredit God himself, saying of the fruit, "Ye shall not surely die: For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil." ... describes the devil's joy at God's "failure" because the Garden of Eden did not remain as his child...
It is in this garden that symbolizes Beatrice as the eve in the Garden of Eden. ... Thus Rappaccini creates, something only God is allowed to do. ... Rappaccini takes on the role in which God is meant to play, thus Rappaccini is a sinner. ... Beatrice is born separated from other believers, however since only God can live alone, and all mortals are to commune, live, work, and praise God together, Beatrice is a sinner. ... Puritanically, only God is allowed to pass judgment and thus Giovanni too plays a role of God that is forbidden, and thus is a sinner. ...
The roles of father and son played by God and Adam in the Oedipal conflict become more evident later in the story. ... Moments after giving life to Adam, God created a garden east of Eden to house this newly born being. God then placed the tree of life and the tree knowledge of good and evil in the middle of the garden. ... As God was walking in the Garden of Eden he beckoned Adam and Eve to come forth but they did not. ... God's role as an enforcer and a authoritative figure plays a large part in this latter part of the story as he give the appropriate consequence for the actions tak...
