Literature

    The vampire is considered one of the most fascinating yet fearsome of all mythical creatures in folklore. They are re-animated corpses of human beings said to subsist on human and or animal blood and are nocturnal in nature, avoiding the sunlight and roaming about at night in search of victims anyone bitten by a vampire also becomes a vampire as well. Besides the thirst for blood, vampires are characterized as possessing unnatural powers, enhanced physical abilities and the ability to physically transform into any form it desires. Almost every culture has myths of such creatures. Vampires are often described as having a variety of additional powers and character traits, which varies from one tradition to another. Most people are familiar with the vampire through literary novels and short stories, the most famous of which is Bram Stokers  Dracula  which would serve as the standard on how vampires are portrayed in literature as well as a host of films featuring this frightening and loathsome creature. By far, Dracula has become the  model  vampire and in terms of image and how one understands what a vampire is. It is only in recent times that newer literature is attempting to move away from the  Dracula  image of the vampire as seen in Anne Rices  Interview with a Vampire  and the latest of the vampire genre from Stephanie Meyer,  Twilight.  But the fact remains is that the vampire, or even its concept, did not originate in literature or popular culture and there are claims that this is grounded in reality.

    With regards to the origin of the word, in the English language, the word  vampire  is derived from a series of old Europeans terms, from German  vampir  another is from the early Polish  vper  and another one from ancient Slavic  upir.  (Dundes 4) The basis for this is this word as a term for vampire is found for the first time in written form in 1047 in a letter to a Novgorodian prince referring to him as Upir Lichyj which means  Wicked Vampire.  (Dundes 54) This would thus suggest that such a creature truly existed though it is still debatable if this is true or used mainly as a figure of speech as further evidence needs to be produced to verify the former claim. Evidence suggests that an upir was originally just a sort of supernatural creature, a spirit which accompanies the souls of the dead from the grave to the afterlife but it could not be ascertained if drinking blood is part of its behavior.

    Tales of vampires or similar creatures victimizing the living have long survived in one form or another for thousands of years and has transcended cultures mainly by oral tradition and rarely through written accounts which makes it hard to prove or verify its authenticity. This fascinating history can be traced from the myths of ancient civilizations such as those of Greece (Dundes 85-87) it can also be seen through the Gothic literature of 19th century Europe and up to the present, with emphasis on how the tales of the vampire can tap into mankinds fundamental and primal fears.

    Literary vampires such as Dracula will be mentioned only in passing in this paper since there are plenty of literature and even films devoted to that one character alone. This essay is specifically intended to discuss the  historical,  not the literary, vampire which is said to have existed and probably still does. There are stories or rumors that abound where they are usually believed to rise from the bodies of those who have committed suicide, criminals or evil sorcerers, though in some cases, some vampires thus  born of sin  could turn others into vampires. In other cases, however, one who died of unnatural causes such as an accident or murder was very likely to become a vampire. Furthermore, most of the European vampire myths are Slavic and or Romanian in origin.

    Vampirism is the practice or behavior of drinking blood from a person or an animal. Popular culture depicts vampires mainly bite the victims neck, extracting the blood from the main artery. Based on folklore and popular culture, the term generally refers to a belief that by drinking blood, especially from humans, one can gain supernatural powers and other abilities. From a historical point of view, this practice can generally be considered a more a less commonly occurring form of cannibalism (Dundes 147-148). The consumption of anothers blood, and sometimes flesh, has been used as a psychological warfare tactic intended to terrorize the enemy to make them surrender out of fear without the need for violence or bloodshed and it can also be used to reflect various spiritual beliefs in certain cultures and is tolerated and probably done in secrecy at present since the practice would be regarded from barbaric to uncivilized.

    At this point, the author would like to discuss at least two examples of vampires in literature which would be a representative sampling of how one understands vampires. One is the the more popular of them all in Dracula and the other a rather unique one created by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu titled  Carmilla.

Dracula
    When it comes to vampires, there is one name that is automatically associated with it or connotes vampires. This is the name of (Count) Dracula.  This iconic character is the product of the mind of Irish writer Bram Stoker in his 1897 novel of the same title. It tells of a nobleman from Transylvania, situated along the Carpathian Mountains in present-day Romania and how he terrorized the region and decided to bring that terror to England until he met his match in Professor Abraham van Helsing who knew how to defeat him.  It is in this novel that one will discover that the Transylvanian Count is a vampire, as discovered by one of the novels main characters, Jonathan Harker, an English lawyer sent to Transylvania to help the count settle legal problems.

    As a vampire, Dracula is nocturnal.  He avoids the daylight and only comes out at night.  He sleeps in a coffin, covered by earth that enables him to regain his energy.  Whenever he arises, he seeks human blood by biting the victims neck and drinking the blood that comes out from it.  In the process, anyone who partakes of this blood also becomes a vampire as well.  As a vampire, Dracula is endowed with special powers such as transforming into a bat or sometimes, into a wolf.  He has the power of stealth, moving silently and sometimes undetected until it is too late. He has hypnotic powers which puts his victims under a spell, making it easy for him to take their blood.  He does not cast a reflection in a mirror and will not appear in any photograph taken of him.  He is also impervious to any physical harm.  However, van Helsing is the only one who knows how to defeat the vampire.  It is revealed that vampires are repelled by garlic, crucifixes and holy water ultimately, the most effective way to kill a vampire is to drive a stake through its heart and for a good measure, decapitate it.  Another way to kill a vampire is to expose it to sunlight which will ensure instant death.  This is how Van Helsing and his associates were able to prevent Dracula from spreading terror in England and eventually chase him back to Transylvania where they finally put an end to his reign of terror.

    Despite this  tragic  ending for a character that strikes fear and terror, Stokers novel has become a timeless classic in the sense that it has appealed to readers worldwide and through time as the way he wrote the story has fascinated people about vampires and even intrigued by it. Although Stoker did not create the vampire from his imagination, the novels influence on the popularity of vampires has been singularly instrumental for many theatrical, film and television renditions and versions later on. The first and most famous version was the 1931 movie featuring Hungarian actor Bela Lugosi who played Dracula. It was Lugosi who gave Dracula a face and the way he presented Dracula helped give people an idea or impression of a vampire. This was followed by several other versions and besides Lugosi, the only other actor who is able to do justice to the character is British actor Christopher Lee who portrayed Dracula in several movies. The most recent version of the movie was in 1992 with Gary Oldman playing Dracula and what makes it different was that he portrayed him in a different way, far from the caped figure Lugosi had and adding a little cinematic license in a scene where Dracula could walk out in broad daylight albeit wearing sunglasses (McNally  Florescu 1-2).

    In actuality, Dracula is not exactly a fictional character but partly based on a historical figure. The historical connections with the novel and how much Stoker knew about the history is not yet definite and absolute. It is said that Stokers Dracula could be alluded to the historical Vlad III Dracula of Wallachia, who was known as Vlad Tepes, sometimes Tsepesh or  Vlad the Impaler.  He was the son of Vlad II (Dracul), also known as Vlad the Devil and Cneajna, a princess from Moldavia.  During his reign (1456 1462), Vlad was said to have killed (or murdered) countless people who were essentially useless to humanity according to him. He would do this by mainly impaling them on a sharp pole which was his favored method, hence the cruel sobriquet (Kirtley 133). Further rumors would circulate that he would drink the blood of his victims for it was believed then that blood is the source of vitality and could even make one immortal (McNally  Florescu 117). The main sources that help provide insight to these events are records by Saxon settlers in Transylvania which is adjacent to the region and had frequent encounters with Vlad III (McNally  Florescu 8). Furthermore, Vlad was defeated and overthrown by the Turks, partly due to the connivance of the king of Hungary Matthias Corvinus (McNally  Florescu 13,24).  He later converted to the Catholic religion after being imprisoned for a long time and regained the throne in 1476 which was short-lived as he was killed by his Turkish ally.

    Despite the notoriety imposed on him by many, Vlad III is regarded as a folk hero by Romanians for fighting the invading Ottoman Turks that threatened to march into Europe following the fall of Constantinople in 1453 and among his impaled victims are these Turks.  He was greatly revered that during the regime of Nicolae Ceaucescu in 1976, he was immensely venerated through eulogies, panegyrics and there was even a commemorative postage stamp made in his honor (McNally  Florescu 4-5).

    Historically, the name Dracula is taken from a secret society of knights called the Order of the Dragon where the word  Dracu  means dragon which closely follows  draco.  The order was founded by Sigismund of Luxembourg who was the Holy Roman Emperor whose domains included what is now Hungary, Croatia and Bohemia, In this capacity, part of his mandate was to defend Christianity and the Empire against the invading Ottoman Turks. Vlad Dracul, father of Vlad III, entered admitted the order around 1431 because of his bravery in fighting the Turks which earned him the right to be part of this society. From 1431 onward, Vlad II wore the emblem of the order and subsequently, as ruler of Wallachia, his coinage carried the dragon symbol. The name Dracula, or Dracul essentially means Son of Dracul  and that was how Tepes inherited and carried the name (McNally  Florescu 9).

    Stoker came across the name Dracula when he studied Romanian history. Furthermore, several ideas have been floated that Stoker got help from a Hungarian professor named Arminius Vambery (McNally  Florescu 7 150). Tentatively, he was thinking of calling his character Count Wampyr but decided otherwise.  However, some scholars have questioned the extent of this connection. They argue that Stoker knew little of the historic Vlad III except for the name Dracula. This is justified as there are sections in the novel where Dracula refers to his own background as he narrates them to Harker, and these speeches show that Stoker was familiar with Romanian history.

    However, Stoker did not include any details about Vlad IIIs reign and did not make any mention of his use of impalement. Vlad III was an ethnic Vlach. In the novel, Dracula claims to be a Szkely We Szekelys have a right to be proud... And later Again, when, after the battle of Mohacs, we threw off the Hungarian yoke, we of the Dracula blood were amongst their leaders. (Stoker 31). The Battle of Mohacs took place in 1526, so if Dracula or any of his ancestors were involved or saw action, he or Vlad III could not be one and the same person. Given Stokers use of historical background to add more horror to his novel, it appears to be unlikely that he would have neglected to mention that his villain had impaled thousands of people. It can be be inferred here that Stoker either did not know much about the historic Vlad III, or did not intend his character Dracula to be the same person as Vlad III and this issue is still open to debate with no definite answer in sight (Kirtley 135).

    The Dracula legend created by Stoker and as well as it has been portrayed in films and television shows may be a amalgamation or combination of manifold influences.  Many of Stokers biographers and literary critics have found parallelism to the earlier Irish writer Sheridan le Fanus classic,  Carmilla  which also depicts a vampire albeit female. In writing  Dracula,  it may have been possible that Stoker had gotten ideas based on stories about the sdhe, some of which feature blood-drinking women which he also incorporated in his novel as Draculas  brides (Stoker 37-38).

    It has been suggested that Stoker drew inspiration from the life and times of Countess Elizabeth (Erszebet) Bathory, who was born in the Kingdom of Hungary. Bathory was known or suspected to have tortured and murdered hundreds of young women over a long period of time, and it was commonly believed that she committed these atrociries in order to bathe in or drink their blood. One thing to note here is that her victims are young maidens because it is believed or she believed that this would enable her to maintain her youth. By far, there is no credible evidence of blood-drinking or other blood crimes in the story of Bathory to verify if this is true. However, the lore surrounding her life may have influenced Stoker which can also explain why Dracula always appears younger after feeding from the blood of his victims (McNally  Florescu 126-130).

    For the setting or abode of Dracula, it is believed that the castle of Count Dracula was inspired by Slains Castle where Stoker was a guest of the 19th Earl of Erroll. It should be noted that since Stoker visited the castle in 1895 which was five years after work on Dracula had begun, it is unlikely to be relevant or connected to the story. Many of the scenes in Whitby and London are based on real places that Stoker frequently visited, although in some cases he intentionally distorts the geography for the sake of artistic license (McNally  Florescu 150).

    It can be said here that Dracula was the product of different historical characters. Upon careful observation, the personalities Stoker used to create his character were known to be cruel and to an extent, bloodthirsty. It is from these personalities that Count Dracula was  born  though based on a historical person. Stoker merely added a touch of  artistic license  in making Dracula the iconic figure he is known to this day.

Carmilla
     Carmilla  is a female vampire and a novella written by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu and a contemporary of  Dracula  author Bram Stoker though this novella was written way ahead of Stokers by 20 years. He was an Irish writer like Stoker but his writing specialty lay in Gothic tales and mystery novels. He was the premier ghost story writer of the nineteenth century and had a a rather profound influence on the development of this genre in the Victorian era. The story is told from the perspective of Laura, the other protagonist in the story. In essence,  Carmilla  is a narrative discussed in the first-person perspective characterized by the use of  Is  in the story.

    Written in 1872,  Carmilla  is considered one of the classics of the vampire genre though not in the same class as Stokers  Dracula.  The novella is one of five tales of the supernatural that was published under the name of  In a Glass Darkly.   Carmilla  is the only vampire story in this collection.  Carmilla  contains elements of traditional Gothic fiction as well as drawing on Irish folklore too which would explain why Carmilla has certain qualities of a banshee. A banshee is an Irish spirit that haunts a family and foretells the deaths of family members it is also characterized by giving a powerful and piercing shriek. Like the banshee, Carmilla is attracted to Laura s family and is considered her distant ancestress. She is depicted as a beautiful woman, wearing white garments and has nocturnal habits which is a vampire-like quality.

    There is an element of Irish lore found in the novella and it is manifested in the strange way in which Carmilla manages to ingratiate herself into Laura s family home because of her relationship with Laura so that she can have her way on Laura in due course. She arrives by carriage with a mysterious attendant, and arranges to have an accident and then pretend to be too injured to travel. The attendant, posing as Carmilla s mother, who persuades Laura s father into caring Carmilla until she can return to collect her sometime in the future once she has fully recovered from her injury (Le Fanu 14-17).

    More of Carmillas character would be revealed as Carmilla and Laura become very close friends nearly to the point of being sisters, but the disturbing part of the story would be when Carmillas mood abruptly changes in certain situations. She sometimes makes romantic advances towards Laura which would unsettle her and everyone who seems to notice. Carmilla would not disclose anything about herself or her background, despite being close to Laura who is naturally intrigued and wanted to get to know her more. Her secrecy or refusal to divulge any information about herself is not the only mysterious thing about her (Le Fanu  Tracy 263). It is also discovered that Carmilla sleeps mostly in the day, and appears to sleepwalk at night. When a funeral procession passes by the two girls and Laura begins singing a hymn, Carmilla suddenly goes into an outburst and scolds Laura for singing a Christian song (Le Fanu 23-25).

    What makes this story unique is that there is a strong lesbian element in the story which was considered sort of scandalous in 1872 when the book was written and considering this was the Victorian era which was characterized by conservatism and such a story would raise a howl and branded as an act of impropriety, if not immorality although this would not cause a similar concern at present. What raised eyebrows, if not outrage in the story was that not only is Laura put at risk through her closeness with Carmilla but there is a fear that she could become a lesbian as well because of this relationship that was considered unusual or unthinkable at the time. Perverse sexuality is always a characeristic feature of the vampire genre and the author thinks that lesbian overtones in the story were probably considered  immoral,  if not indecent by the time the book was written. The fear of  perverse  female sexuality would reappear in  Dracula  some twenty or so years later.

    As stated earlier, the story is told in first person from Laura s point of view and written about eight years after the events in the story had transpired. One can only know what Laura knows which is very little about Carmilla which is baffling to say the least. Even at the end of the story, Carmilla s motives and purpose remain a mystery. Le Fanu somehow intentionally left it that way so one can never know who or what her mysterious attendants are or why they served her or where they went. It is a mystery and wonder to know how Carmilla picked Laura as a victim. The researcher had difficulty in relating with Laura as read read this story. The researcher believes it was because Laura herself is not much of a heroine. In fact, she is classic vampire victim like Lucy and Mina in  Dracula  who are often demure and innocent, all the more the reason why they are easy victims for vampires.  Laura appears to be apathetic and seems unwilling to fight for her life. It is as though she wants to die. Although she loves and loathes Carmilla at the same time, she seems unwilling to do something about their relationship and extricate herself from it. It is possible that Carmilla may have had her under some sort of spell but it is not clear from the story if this is the case. In fact, the researcher thinks it is unlikely that Laura was under Carmillas control because even years after Carmilla has gone, Laura is still haunted by her and often thinks she hears her footsteps or senses she is nearby.

    The researcher thinks the most interesting character is Baron Vordenburg, a man who had devoted himself to the study of vampire lore his whole life, who turns up in time to save Laura and is also a most useful in the story as his character explains all about vampires before the end of the story. Baron Vordenburg is obviously a forerunner to many expert vampire hunters such as Van Helsing in  Dracula  to Giles the Watcher in the movie  Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

    The researcher believes  Carmilla  is a must read for any true fan of vampire fiction, not just because it is a good read, but because of how it has influenced so many other stories in this genre, most notably Bram Stoker s classic novel Dracula and is probably a welcome relief to those who find Dracula a trite vampire figure although there is also the likes of Lestat and Edward Cullen in addition to Celine in the movie  Underworld  as well as Blade in the Marvel comic book and movie adaptation of the same title.

    The story The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde or Jekyll and Hyde as it is more commonly known, is often perceived as a tale of horror that has caused many frights since its first publication in 1886. It tells the tale of one Doctor Henry Jekyll, a young Doctor who lived an honorable life, respected and well thought of in the public eye. Although Doctor Henry Jekyll has had his fair share of youthful adventures that a man of his stature and reputation can never be proud of. Despite the knowledge that to commit wrong deeds is improper, and wrong, Dr. Jekyll experiences pleasure from his former deeds, wishing of a way wherein he would not be held responsible for them and still be able to enjoy committing them, but lives on as a righteous and respectable man. Eventually, he creates an antidote to bring out that side of him which enjoys doing bad, allowing that entity to take over his body, causing him to undergo a physical transformation that leaves him unconscious of any of the entitys doings. This being then assumes a persona for itself, subsequently gaining notoriety as Edward Hyde.

    A gripping story of mans inherent duality according to Stevenson, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde goes beyond the horrorscience fiction genre and dives into the western concept of man having two sides  good and evil  and its constant struggle against each other in ones being. Dr. Jekylls efforts to rid himself of the evil in him by allowing it to manifest itself in a different persona contains a paradox in itself where evil is let loose in an effort to rid himself of evil. As Jekyll manages to separate his evil self from his dominant good self, he lives on feeling satisfied of the life he leads, without having to suffer from guilt and temptation into sin for though both beings share the same memory and Jekyll shares the pleasures and experiences from Hydes adventures, Jekyll feels he is not to be held responsible for Hydes actions. Eventually though, as Hydes notoriety grows, Jekyll gets word of Hydes  or in this case, his other selfs  actions, and feels guilty for having unleashed such evil. Doctor Henry Jekyll then decides he shall no longer resort to his transformation elixir, and continues to live on, content with just keeping his evil urges in check.

    Edward Hyde, having already been released before, continues to struggle out of Doctor Henry Jekyll and one morning, Jekyll wakes up to realize he head already assumed the form of Edward Hyde even without having consumed his potion. He quickly proceeds to reverting his appearance to that of his true self  respected and revered Doctor Henry Jekyll and decides that he would no longer transform himself into the monster that is Edward Hyde. Jekyll experiences a sense of freedom after this decision, with his friends and help noticing a pleasant change in the man. As time passed though, Jekyll once again gave in to the temptation of his dark side, brewing another batch of his elixir and transforming himself into the evil Hyde. This time, Hyde after being locked away for so long, grows wild with desire and lashes out, killing a member of Parliament, a Sir Danvers Carew. This act has left Jekyll begging for Gods forgiveness, convincing himself not to ever transform into Edward Hyde again.

    After a time, Jekyll resorts to philanthropic deeds to somehow redeem himself from the murderous act. As he was contemplating this fact while sitting on a park bench, he is suddenly seized by the transformation and regains his consciousness as Edward Hyde. This unprecedented change caused Jekyll  in his Hyde persona  to reveal his secret to a former friend and fellow man of science, Dr. Hastie Lanyon, to help him revert to his Jekyll form. This spurns the problem of Jekyll transforming into Hyde without the slightest invocation from Jekyll, and eventually Hyde grows stronger and stronger, requiring Jekyll to consume even bigger batches of his potion to subdue this evil form he takes whenever he drifts into unconsciousness or sleep.

    The tale ends in Jekylls futile attempts at recreating his formula, realizing that the first batch of a certain chemical he had used before probably had impurities in them. This meant that he can no longer revert to his Jekyll persona if he runs out of the ingredient unless he gets more of it, which he can longer do as the chemist from where he got the first batch of the ingredient powder had already replaced it with a new, pure stock. He stays cooped up in his lab for a week, plagued by unprecedented transformations, carefully using up the last of his potion ingredients while sending for the same ingredient he had been searching for from chemists all over.

     Hanging on to the remaining ounces of his strength, Jekyll composes a letter explaining everything that has happened and how they came to be  including the existence of Edward Hyde and the relationship between them. As he is now without any means to push back the caged beast Edward Hyde, Doctor Henry Jekyll is doomed to stay in Hyde form for the remainder of his life. Jekyll locks himself up in his laboratory, desperately trying to come up with a solution to his predicament, and as he eventually runs out of the will to fight back the transformation, he transforms  for the last time  into Hyde.

    Hyde, however, has problems of his own, being a man wanted for the murder of Sir Danvers Carew. He himself trying desperately to escape a fate worse than being trapped in Jekyll again, stays locked in Jekylls laboratory. But Jekylls butler Poole grows suspicious and sends for his masters friend and lawyer, Mr. Utterson. Utterson and Poole break down the door despite Hydes trying to convince them that he was Jekyll and that all is well, and as they break through, they find Hyde dead with a vial of poison emptied in his hand.

Character Analysis of Doctor Henry Jekyll and Mister Edward Hyde
    The main protagonist of the story, Doctor Henry Jekyll is a man who is widely known for his philanthropic work as well as for being a decent, respectable, and charitable doctor who remains in good standing in the public eye. Despite this respected facade he keeps, Jekyll has actually reveled in the adventurous folly of youth. Acting cautiously to cover up any scandalous doings he may have may have partaken in, Jekyll has led a life of secrecy with regards to his dark desires and deeds. He is a well-established doctor who is locked in a perpetual internal battle between what is right and wrong, what is good and what is evil.

    Mister Edward Hyde, however, as the lead antagonist in the story, is a strange man who seems despicable in nature. He performs acts of cruelty and hatred, often described by those who have seen him as a man of striking deformity  although none could seem to be able to place what deformity he actually possesses. This deformity is explained by Jekyll as due to the fact that Hyde is the personification of total evil, and this quality, although it may not be perceived in the physical sense, can be sensed in more supernatural way. As opposed to Doctor Henry Jekyll, Edward Hyde is a man of small stature, and was much younger in appearance, this is explained by Jekyll in theory that this was due to the fact that Hyde, being the embodiment of Jekylls dark side, was a being that was obviously not as developed as Jekyll since he had been repressing this facet of personality for the longest time.

    Many see Jekyll and Hyde as two beings who are direct opposites of each other but the truth is that the relationship between Jekyll and Hyde is not quite as opposing as it may seem. This is due to the fact that though Edward Hyde was in fact a being of pure evil and darkness, Doctor Henry Jekyll is not the embodiment of good or the light side. Jekyll, just like any other person, is actually a being who has in him both sides of the equation. Good versus bad, right versus wrong, these conflicts go on and on in Jekyll and he only uses his Hyde persona to act out on the bad things that he wants to experience  Hyde being a creature who is detached of anything that would resemble a conscience. Also, since it is socially accepted - if not actually encouraged - to perform deeds of good nature, Jekyll really has no need to create a persona that would embody the goodness in him. The social reaction to any good acts done by Jekyll himself would actually prove beneficial to him, as more people would hold him with higher respect and awe. As such, this shows that Jekyll and Hyde are not opposites, but rather that Hyde is just a portion of the whole of Jekyll. Despite the prevalence of good deeds in Doctor Jekyll, he is not an embodiment of true goodness as Hyde is to evil.

    Borrowing from Sigmund Freuds views of psychoanalysis and his theories on the id, ego, and superego, The rational and in control Doctor Henry Jekyll  relatable to Freuds theory on the superego, seeks to take control of and repress the Hyde aspect of him which is considered to be the id - that structure within ones personality that consists of mans primal urges of seeking pleasure while avoiding pain.

Character Analysis of Mister Gabriel John Utterson
    A well respected lawyer who is well-known in the London community, Mister Utterson is a man of dignity and reservations. A tad skeptic, Utterson would much rather believe in scientific facts and rational thought, those that may be backed by physical evidence. This mind setting is what proves him to be a difficult character to ever work on the highly metaphysical  if not supernatural - topic of the relationship between Jekyll and Hyde. Where the story turns on the titular characters Jekyll and Hyde, Utterson is the man on whom the perspective of the story comes from, making him one of the major characters in the tale.

    A true friend to Jekyll, Utterson stands by him through thick and thin, proving his worth by keeping what he knows of Jekyll to himself and further investigating on them to try and save his friend. Although Utterson himself is not a man whos field of study was devoted to the sciences, his innate rationality and curiosity is what drives Utterson to see to the mystery of the relationship between his good friend Doctor Henry Jekyll . His relentless pursuit for an explanation to the strange case was eventually answered, in a letter from Doctor Henry Jekyll explaining everything that was addressed to him specifically, him having been the good Doctor Jekylls lawyer as well as a friend.

    It is also obvious that Stevenson had portrayed the Utterson character as a sort of reflection for the era in which the story was set  the Victorian era. Characterized as a man who makes sure to preserve decorum and orderliness, Utterson signifies the Victorian eras well-kept facade of the prim and proper, a true gentleman of his time. Also as with the Victorian era, Uttersons true self hides underneath a veil of orderliness, as he has his own dark secrets  the knowledge of the ongoings in Jekylls life such as the suspicious will where Jekyll leaves all his fortune to Hyde. In Utterson, Stevenson attempts to show the Victorian societys attempt at having orderliness and authority triumph over the dark side of humanity. Although Utterson is not a man of science like Jekyll or their other friend Doctor Hastie Lanyon, he is devoted solely to rational thought and looks down on supernatural explanations, this quality shows all throughout the novella, as he bearing witness to the whole of the story maintains his standpoint on the supernatural and keeps true to the pursuance of logic and reason. To compensate for this trait of Utterson as to not let the story lose its horror facet, Stevenson allowed for Utterson to suffer from nightmares and premonitions concerning the case of his dear friend Henry Jekyll.

Character Analysis of Doctor Hastie Lanyon
    A respected and reputable doctor who, much like Utterson, was one of Jekylls closest friends until they had a falling out of sorts. He and Jekyll fell into an argument years before the story setting takes place, scientific differences sparking a rift of the two minds, and has since only taken an interest in Jekyll and his works for old times sake. Lanyons scientific character was a foil to Jekylls which has since evolved into a man more concerned over matters of the metaphysical, even branding Jekylls works as unscientific balderdash (Stevenson 8).

    After being questioned by Utterson regarding concerns for their common friend Jekyll, Lanyon, receives a request from Jekyll to fetch a drawer from Jekylls laboratory, the drawer, unbeknownst to Lanyon, contains the items necessary for Jekylls transformation. This after Jekylls having transformed into Hyde after his murder of Sir Danvers Carew in public, which meant that he could not hope to access his laboratory without the help reporting him over to the authorities. Upon helping Jekyll  in this case, in his Hyde form  recover the drawer, Hyde then proceeds to mix up his elixir, asking Lanyon if he would wish to have Hyde drink the potion and reveal to him the knowledge of his  and Jekylls  secret, or to allow himself of his innocence on the matter. Lanyon chooses to accept the knowledge, having gone out of his way to help Jekyll. Hyde then transforms back into Jekyll, and the information proves too much for Lanyon to handle, having lived his life based on skepticism, materialism, and rationalism and caused him to experience great shock. Lanyons body and mind eventually deteriorates rapidly from having experienced great shock, and Lanyon eventually dies, leaving behind a letter that documents the experience to Utterson, with instructions only to be opened upon his and Jekylls deaths. Lanyons death is symbolic in Stevensons narrative as it shows how the supernatural aspect in the story overcomes Lanyons representation of the rational.

Character Analysis of Mister Poole
    Mister Poole is Jekylls loyal butler. A servant who has worked for the doctor for two decades, Poole has proven genuinely concerned about the overall welfare of his master. In the time that Jekyll had shut himself in his laboratory, Pooles concern grew more and more. Finally, after having seen Hyde sneaking into the laboratory and not having heard his masters voice for some time, Pooles fears grew into the suspicion of his masters murder. He then gets help from Utterson, and they proceed to break down the door to Jekylls headquarters,Poole knowing fully well that he is putting himself in danger as he does so. Their suspicions were allayed by the confessions they found in the laboratory, near Edward Hydes dead body.

Character Analysis of Sir Danvers Carew
    A minor character in the story, Sir Danvers Carew is a kind old man who is a key member of the British Parliament. Sir Danvers Carew was a nobleman who was also a client of Utterson. One fateful morning, as he was taking a leisurely stroll, Sir Danvers Carew was suddenly and savagely murdered by a recently unleashed Edward Hyde, who was wilder than ever. Hyde had clubbed Sir Danvers Carew with a heavy cane, bones loudly crunching under each savage blow. (Stevenson 18)

    The character of Sir Danvers Carew serves as the ultimate example of the evil that is Edward Hyde. A lovable old man of import to the country, Hyde easily killed him without so much a hesitant thought. This leads to Jekyll ultimately deciding to no longer transform into Hyde, but the being that is Hyde can no longer be contained.

Character Analysis of Mister Enfield
    Mister Enfield is a distant relative and a constant companion to Utterson. He was Uttersons companion in the novellas opening scene and Enfield, much like Utterson, is a well respected gentleman who detests gossip and other forms of activities that may sully anothers reputation. Enfield was the first to bring the character of Hyde into the story, as it was on that walk with Utterson in the beginning of the novel that they chanced upon the door that leads to Jekylls laboratory. He tells Utterson of a story of that door where Hyde saved his reputation from being tarnished when Enfield caught him trampling a little girl. Hyde had paid off the little girls family with a cheque signed in the name of Dr Jekyll. Enfield being the noble man that he was, withheld the name of Jekyll from the story.

    Another testament to the formality and outward reservation of the Victorian culture, Enfield is a character that further builds up on the establishing of the storys setting. By showing how most honorable people are and how they act towards unsocial behavior, Stevenson is able to set why Jekyll was motivated to create a potion that birthed Edward Hyde.

Character Analysis of Mister Guest
    A man skilled in the art handwriting analysis, Mister Guest was the one who was able to discern the similarities between Jekylls and Hydes handwriting. A good friend to Utterson, Guest was also Uttersons clerk. He proved his expertise in handwriting analysis by noting examining the handwriting specimens provided to him by Mister Utterson from Doctor Henry Jekyll and Mister Edward Hyde and they would have been identical had the writer not inverse the way the letters slanted  another work of deception thought of by Jekyll that was good enough to throw suspicion off of him from the evil deeds of Hyde, but not from the well-trained eyes of Mr. Guest.
Analysis

    Jekyll and Hyde is a story that maintains its focus on the concept of man having a two-sided nature. Despite this, it is not until the last few pages of the novella that the truth behind the relationship between Jekyll and Hyde is revealed. Although it is similar in some ways to Freud Psychoanalytical concepts of the Id, Ego, and the Superego, the novel Jekyll and Hyde actually preempted Freuds concepts on the Id, Ego, and Superego by 37 years, Freuds book on his structural analysis The Ego and the Id only coming out in 1923 ( Freud 1923) while The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde was first published 1886 (Stevenson 1886). Meanwhile, the novel also predated Freudian psychoanalysis by 15 years, the idea first attaining publicity in 1900 in his work The Interpretation of Dreams (Freud 1900). The novel is actually a portrayal of both good and bad that reside within a person in equal parts. That which is deemed good is the part which is socially accepted, and therefore uninhibited in public and seeks to balance that of the idealistic side of man and the primal urges without having to suffer from any moral consequences.

    Basing the novel on these structural points by Freud, we can say that since Doctor Jekyll is a being composed of all these structures, the separation of Hyde is the embodiment of his Id since Hyde is a being that seeks to satiate his primal urges without giving any thought to his actions consequences. Examples of this behavior in Hyde is the first time was brought up in the story, he ran into a little girl and proceeded to trample her before he was collared by Mister Enfield. Hyde is giving in to his desire of hurting the child, his concern that of his own urges. Another example is when he proceeded to ruthlessly slaughter Sir Danvers Carew. On both instances, Hyde was neither wronged nor given much attention by both of his victims before he proceeded with his evil acts.

    On the other hand, despite the separation of Jekylls Id in Hyde, he himself is still a combination of the Psychic apparatus according to Freud the Id, Ego, and Superego. As most people are, his ego remains in control to pursue that of the aspirations of the Superego while still tending to his primal urges as per his Id. Although his way of dealing with his Id was more of allowing it to think and decide for itself, which led to his demise, as a being of pure Id would only act upon its instincts as Hyde did. The irony in the story lies where Jekyll, who upon acting on his Superego of wanting to be able to achieve a life without sin by ridding himself of his Id, ends up suffering even more of the consequences of having his Id run loose rather than Indulging it in a calculating manner as he did before he was able to create his elixir.

    Another interesting facet of the novel is the vagueness of the said evil acts being committed by Hyde. Only those important to the story were specified. This is seen by many critics as part of the facade that that the Victorian era keeps to hide its underlying ugliness. Stevenson having wrote the novel in the same time the story was set, he himself must have been compelled to keep to this veil of secrecy. As in the story, the characters themselves paid a lot of concern to the importance of ones reputation. Th preponderance of this system of value is immediately addressed in the opening scenes, where both Utterson and Enfield refuse to have their conversation sullied by gossip for they deem it the root cause of the demise of ones reputation. A perfect example would be upon Uttersons suspicion that it was Jekyll who had signed the cheque Hyde paid the little girls family with, despite this, he made no mention of it to Enfield, who in turn also refuses to name Hydes benefactor. In this manner we get to see how Victorian society as a whole deals with its very own collective structural apparatus.

     Where the hustle and bustle of the daily thoroughfare lies, so does the Victorian eras Ego is. People going about their daily lives, earning to make ends meet, striving for a higher goal while keeping to their needs as well as their wants. In front of it, a mask the bright lights and the shiny trinkets that adorn the well-dressed and formal face of Victorian high society. The superego striving for perfection amongst themselves, often turning a blind eye to the true state of things. And underneath everything, the uncontrollable fixation on the primal needs of man - the Id, which completes this riveting social commentary on the hypocrisies of the 19th century.

    At the time of the novels writing, Stevenson was actually creating a tale that was suited to then contemporary times. If we were to liken The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde to a novel that our generation would most easily relate to, a good example would be Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk, where the unnamed main protagonist meets a free spirit named Tyler Durden, and they set off to start a fighting circle that ends up as a terrorist cell. It ends with the narrator finding out that he and Tyler are the same, with the narrator acknowledging that Tyler Durden is my hallucination ( Palahniuk 124).

    Where Fight Club is set with a grittier, more action-focused setting, the overall atmosphere of the The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is that of a Gothic nature, much of which became popular in the 1800s with classic novels such as Carmilla by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu and Frankenstein by Mary Shelley. Where Le Fanu depicted vampires as undead creatures who use supernatural powers to stalk their prey such as transforming into a sooty black animal that resembles a monstrous cat (Le Fanu 26), the telling of the tale of Jekyll and Hyde focuses more on the going-ons in the mind of a person, dredging up the horrors from within a person, as opposed to other monster titles where the evil is from without the protagonist. This actually proves to be far more scarier, as it tells people that lying dormant in each and every one of us is a Hyde just waiting to be let out. Despite this Stevenson still paints a haunting picture of Victorian London. Streets swimming in murky shadows, twisting and turning into uncertainty beneath a tattered blanket of chilling fog. This description of the London landscape allowed for Stevenson to connect the darkness between the characters, the story, and the narrative itself into the setting of a sprawling, chilling, urban landscape of murky, stone cold London. This frightening description of the land is not limited to the waking life of the characters, as Utterson himself had suffered from creepy depictions of the surrounding areas of his nightmares, and seated at the heart of all the horror is the creature Hyde, perfectly at home in his surroundings.

Chapter One African Literature
    Literature has always been one very important aspect of a nations identity. It is through literature that history, culture, and heritage of a nation can be seen, scrutinized, and assessed for whatever purpose it may servewhether for the academic or just for the sake of knowing. The importance and contribution of literature are incomprehensible to the point that it cannot never be fully understood on what extent it has played in the birth, growth, triumph, and even destruction of a person, society, civilization, nation, and continent. This is because literature reflects the entire psyche of a nation, encompassing culture, religion, history, philosophies, and even values. As Antony Easthope puts it, works of literature consist of human experience. Thus, it is within literature that the entire life of a person can be reflected, even those of the horrors they have experiencedand this is most especially true with the life that the people of Africa have gone through.

    Trying to understand what African literature is, what it embodies and represents, and how it has reached its current state can only be explained by the other factors concerning the nationits culture, religion, values and the important historical events that have tremendously affected the country for centuries. Hence, if anyone would want to fully know what African literature is, and then one should first know what Africa is in the literal and figurative sense.

    Africa is one of the seven continents in the world, closest to the continents of Europe and Asia which explains much regarding why Africa has been conquered by many European nations and why Africa has always been linked to Asia in terms of financial and economic negotiations. This proximity is important as it explains a great deal regarding the different issues that Africa has been involved and the relationships it has had with different European countries and the United States of America. Because Africa was near such diverse and developing nations, it would be inevitable that the nearby countries would try to take hold or influence the nation. This is why it is important to note that Africa also holds an important historical background since it involves other countries. Africa has such a rich culture that the nation holds so much history concerning not just one country but entire continents which were known to yield so much power in terms of political, economic, and cultural influences.

Stephen Belcher states that Africa has been marked by external disruptions that there is a possibility that the real Africa is lost among the many countries and nations that influenced it. This is important since it would affect the history, background, and development of African literatureif there is actually one to begin with. What is trying to be assessed and seen here is just a literature of a nation and yet, it involves much complex subject matters that involve politics, religion, philosophies, and many other subjects that not only encompass one particular continent but other parts of the world as well. It can be likened to zeroing on a small problem, only to be confronted with a problem befuddling in its complexity. Hence, African literature is not just African literature it is also African culture, religion, history, philosophy, and values. However, literature has always been proven to be a complicated subject matter.

Culture
    Culture is one of the very important aspects of a nation as it embodies many characteristics that can be reflective of that particular nation. The very society that people move in is composed and controlled by the culture that they practice. To conclude that culture controls society is not a mere hypothesis but an undeniable fact since the very nature and definition of culture itself is synonymous to the nature of society. Malinowski defines culture and explains why culture is a highly significant aspect to the world at large and of course, in the discussion of literature

Culture is that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, law, morals, customs and all other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society.

Hence, African culture then is the entire behaviour of the nation. It is the totality of their beliefs, nature, art, philosophies, laws, morals, traditions, and customs that are unique and distinct to them. Naturally, literature is also part of this African culture as much as African culture is part of literature. As Belcher explains, the entire African community is united by their literature, and  it is this literature that links them to their culture

What binds individuals into communities is not only the amalgam of shared practices and activities, the daily routine that allows reference to common experience, but also, often, a sense of common origin derived from knowledge of the stories about how the community came into being, how its institutions were established, and how they are justified.

Belcher is of course referring to the different mythologies, folklore, and legends that surround the origins of Africathe places, the people, and the practices. Africa, being a very superstitious nation even with all the influences of colonisers, takes pride in the weaving of their stories, proving that the literature within their culture in indeed very rich.

    The definition and precise characterisation of what is African culture may be difficult since it is a nation that has been controlled and even slaved over by other nations through the course of history. The cultural identity of Africa may be lost among the other cultures that have ruled this nation, making it nearly impossible to locate what is truly African and what is only African in its own right. In fact, this may be one of the problems of Africa, a nation that is touted as a third-world country and where poverty and strife are in abundancethe lack of one single identity in which to define and place them is truly lost amidst the long historical slavery and colonisation that the nation has gone through. Africa has been home to conquests, colonisations, and many transformations of modernisation that many of the older cultural configurations have become irrelevant, as lifestyles have changed.

    However, even if this is the case, this does not mean that the culture of Africa has been lostfor change does not completely erase what has been inherited from the distant past. Even if Africa has been colonised by different nations throughout history, this does not mean that Africa does not have their own single identity or distinct characteristic since what identifies a nation is not their inability to stand out for being untouched and untarnished but for their ability to be intact even if there are many attempts to tarnish, wound, and stain. This is also what makes Africa unique and splendid in some waysit is the collation of different cultures which make the very culture of Africa seen and stand out in vibrant colours for the richness, variety, and diversity that it can offer. The need to relate Africa to the different nations that has colonised it renders it incapable of having no single identity actually fulfils the entire identity of Africa. The concept that Africa is made from different nations and cultures makes Africa Africa.

The culture of Africa can be summed in one worddiverse. Their language is aplenty, their occupation, many. Migration is one theme which is prevalent in African culture and this greatly contributed to the spread of the languages and the changes in occupation. Some African groups or tribes tried their hand on crop production while others concentrated on metal works with their speciality on iron. If one group did not become successful, they just moved on and relocated to another place to try their luck. Thus, the African people were scattered and so was the development of one single culture. But what makes them united is their great penchant for artistic creativity
African societies along the west coast and on both sides of the half of the continenthad much in common. They showed inventive skill and artistic talent in building stone, in manufacturing metal objects, in carving wood and ivory, in weaving and dyeing.

Africans has been exalted for the art they have created out from animal skins or carved in their dwellings. However, the different tribes and groups which comprise the African people were also regarded as primitive and war-freaks, a false connotation that must have derived from the iron-craftsmanship that they have. Since Africaabounds in ironstonethe Negro learned to make weapons of wrought iron. It is but normal that war and conquest followed since the African tribes were now capable of defending themselves or making an offensive action toward other groups. However, overall, this does not mean that the people of Africa have a violent nature to begin with they were simply trying to make do with a lifestyle that is unique to them.

    In Chinua Achebes All Things Fall Apart, for example, the tribesmen adheres strongly to their customs and beliefs that an act of disobedience against such customs and beliefs is punishable not even the great, famous, and influential protagonist, Okonkwo, is exempted from this act. It is the traditions of the people which they protect since they look up to their deities and to their practices with such revering eyes. Violence is not part of their custom it is just something which is used if one refuses to acknowledge or respect the customs. Another example would be the contempt and disapproval that Okonkwo receives when he thinks first of his personal feelings and agenda over that of the sacredness of a practice of their clanwhen he openly ensues violence when the clan is commemorating the Week of Peace. This just proves that the violent, primitive, and dangerous African is a false notion created perhaps by ignorance of the culture of the African people.

Religion
The religion of Africa is quite simple in a way that whatever religion they originally have may be lost entirely to them and to the modern world. As what history and modern African literature depict, the religion of Africa is littered with traditional customs and beliefs that bank on superstitions of worshiping deities. However, because of trade and colonial rule, African religion is either Islamic or Christian in nature. This can be explained by the history of Africa. Belcher explains that Islam from the east started to spread their religion by means of trade with the Africans as early as 17th century A.D. He calls it the Islamic conquests in the interior wherein Islam integrated themselves into the African community and culture subconsciously that eventually the people picked it up.  It was not just religion of Islam that the Africans learned from the Arabs but culture and a whole other lifestyle as well

They subdued the Africans, mixed with them accustomed them to their civilization. They included Islamic scholars who taught many Africans to read and write Arabic. The culture of Islam wasabsorbed by Africans on the east coast to as far as the Mozambique Channel.

In the end, Islam became integrated into the African culture and community. Even if the Africans still practice their original traditions and customs, there are hints of Islam influences
In almost all of the kingdoms of Sahel, noble families now claim a tradition of origin linking them with the Islamic world. Figures such as Prophet Muhammad become a source of blessings and laws comparable to the former sky-gods and demiurges.

    This situation can also be seen in a different perspective wherein Africans have that such strong of a foundation and faith with their traditions that not even thousands of years of influence of tradesmen or conquerors fail to fully extinguish their original customs. This is also the same case with the influence and integration of Christianity within Africa
Christian missionaries (especially in the colonial period) had little trouble discerning echoes of the holy Scriptures in the narratives they head, or in linking the sky-gods they encountered with the divinity they were promoting.

Since Christian influences came much later compared to Islam, memories regarding the integration (forced or otherwise) are still somewhat freshthis theme is even reflected in many of todays contemporary novels such as Achebes novels.

In Things Fall Apart, the theme of modernity versus traditions is portrayed and though Oknokwo, the protagonist fights for traditions to remain, it is revealed in the end that he is one of the few who believe that their customs and beliefs are more important and choose to fight for it. The most climactic and dramatic battle of modernity versus traditions transpires in the arrival of the white Christian missionaries who choose to impose their religion on the Oknokwos people. In the earlier part of the book, the missionaries are kind enough not to force the tribesmen in accepting the Christian faith, but later on, much antagonism and vehemence springs from the missionaries intentional disruption, disrespect and disregard for the practices of the clan, causing a bloody outcome that results in the death of many people, including Oknokwo who chose to hang himself.
The book is just one of the many examples in African literature that portray the struggle of African people in the hands of the Christian missionaries who, unlike the Arabs way of integration through acculturation and trade, chose the more persistent way of preaching, and when not met with warmth and enthusiasm, resorted to violence in some cases. But all in all, Christian missionaries did have good intentions the problem lay in the way they handled the conversion of the African clans to Christianity as shown in Achebes novel.

Another important novel written by Achebe (aside from Things Fall Apart) which portrays the struggle of the onslaught of Christianity versus the need to preserve African customs and tradition is the Arrow of God. The forceful integration of Christianity (through colonisation) towards the reluctant African people is depicted in the novel and yet, the idea that it is better for African customs to remain is also portrayed as disadvantageous to the African people. Therefore, the novel succeeded in portraying both sides of the fight for Christianity and the fight for the preservation of the traditional customs, which Things Fall Apart failed to do. This being the case, the arrival and integration of Christianity into African culture is not exactly a negative notion, although it is not entirely welcome or positive either. In the end though, there are other important reasons behind the conversion of the Christians, and this can be best explained by how the Caribbean religion has changed with the slave trade that the Christian Europeans pioneered over the colonial period (see Chapter Two). African religion therefore became something central to African life, culture, and society and yet, it is a mixture of Christian preaching, Islamic teachings, and traditional superstitions based on worship of deities.Family Values

African families are known to be patriarchal in nature as it is the fathers or the male who become heads of the family or of the tribes. As with the West and Asia, the patriarchy is considered to be dominant since the male is considered to be the superior according to their customs and teachings. The family in African societies is unique in their own right as not only is it patriarchal in structure and domination, it is also extended in the patrilineal sense. This refers to a kinship or formation of the relationship that is directly founded on the line of the male members of the family, most especially through the fathers of the family. This information is crucial since it enables the male members and fathers of the line to be completely powerful and controlling while rendering the female to be weak and powerlessa role that has been consistently and continuously played by the female no matter what culture and country she may be from.

One example of the role that the male and female (or husband and the wife) play in the familial set up is Buchi Emechetas Second Class Citizen wherein the protagonist, Adah, a high-class Nigerian citizen, immigrates to Europe only to find out that she is a second class citizen not only to the dominantly white and racist European society (at that time) but also within the realm of her own family. Adah is somewhat playing the role of the intellectual and strong wife, mother, and female who knows that something must be done with regard to her predicament, but she is rendered helpless by the vehemence of the people around her because she is an African and an African woman at that. As what the societal ladder depicts, there is nothing more mortifying to be black, female, and poor as it would be the bottom of the ladder that the rest of the world will intentionally and guiltlessly step on.

However, African family values are not just about the prejudice and injustice done to women it is also the great love and respect that sons and daughters have for the maternal side of the family. If the father is dominant and inspires fear, the mother usually inspires love and affectiona balance of emotions within the family. The power of a mothers love is exemplified in another novel by Achebe entitled No Longer At Ease, which depicts a love-hate relationship between the mother and the son. But even if Obi wants to disobey his mother by marrying the girl that he loves who is a societal outcast, he still follows her wish to appease her. In the end, when the mother dies due to illness, Obi is more desolate over this loss compared to the loss of the girl that he loves when she leaves him for good.   Views of the Western World

The way the West perceive Africa can be seen in how it has treated the nationthat with slavery. Although Africa has had trade relations with Asia and other Eastern countries that led to the influence and incorporation of Asian and Eastern practices to their culture, the extent that the Wests influence have on Africa is so far the most impacting and lasting. At a time when European countries like Portugal and Spain were searching the seas for other lands that could contain immense wealth and opportunities to increase their wealth, they discovered Africa which was abundant in minerals which could be taken and people who could be slaves. European countries which were very near Africa literally ignored the continent before they found out that it was a nation that could provide opportunities for expansion of their colonies (political power), wealth (financial and economic power), and religion. Soon, a fight over the people of Africa and the wealth it may bring ensued, forcing European countries to pit against each other.

Hence, the Western World viewed the Africans as wild beasts or primitive people devoid of the same human capability that they have. In Achebes Things Fall Apart, this perception is portrayed (perhaps in a rather pessimistic or cynical way but hints at truth nonetheless) by the District Commissioner as the novel concludeswhen Oknokwo commits suicide by hanging himself, the District Commissioner does not feel any sadness nor guilt over the death, only plain interest and even delight as he would have a fascinating few lines to add to his on-progress book by the inclusion of Oknokwos death. The ultimate degradation transpires with the title that the District Commissioner has thought for his book in reference to the people of Africa The Pacification of the Primitive Tribes of the Lower Niger. The title itself holds the views of the Western World for Africans, that they are Nigers, they are lowly, they are primitive, and they are in need of pacification or taming.  Views on Slavery
Slavery is one very lasting and important aspect in African culture, history, and literature. It may even seem that no African literature with the author being African in origin would write about the slave trade and the causes and effects of slavery that the entire nation has suffered under. However, a thorough discussion of what slavery meant to the Africans and the great part it played in making, breaking, growing, and destroying the African spirit and identity would be a long and arduous taskit would involve political, societal and economic issues that played a huge part in this aspect. But to illustrate once and for all the importance of slavery and what it did to a nation that could have been content when left alone is rendered in David Diops famous poem, Africa
Africa, my Africa
Africa of proud warriors in ancestral savannahs
Africa of whom my grandmother sings
On the banks of the distant river
I have never known you
But your blood flows in my veins
Your beautiful black blood that irrigates the fields
The blood of your sweat
The sweat of your work
The work of your slavery
Africa, tell me Africa
Is this you, this back that is bent
This back that breaks
Under the weight of humiliation
This back trembling with red scars
And saying yes to the whip under the midday sun
But a grave voice answers me
Impetuous child that tree, young and strong
That tree over there
Splendidly alone amidst white and faded flowers
That is your Africa springing up anew
Springing up patiently, obstinately
Whose fruit bit by bit acquires
The bitter taste of liberty.

Slavery is something which has imprinted an irremovable and painful mark on the bodies, soul, minds, and hearts of the Africans and perhaps, it is something which they can never forgive nor forgetfor who can forget the abuse, violence, inhumanity, and violation of basic human rights and basic humanness of the white people who think they are superior to the Africans just because they look, speak, think, walk, and dress differently The disdain and discrimination received by the Africans were rooted from the slave-trade system that was started centuries ago and yet until now, when the world is supposedly more judicious, liberal and modern, stereotypes have been created toward mulattoes and Negroes by the West who regard Africans, African in origins or just people with a darker shade of skin colour as people inferior to them.

Pre Islamic Era
    Arabic script is probably one of the oldest in the world, having been widely spread across cultures as this was the language used to spread Islam in major territories. Its influence can be seen in various languages which adopted Arabic script to develop their own way of recording, like Persian, Pashto, Urdu and more. But Arab scripts have evolved with major historical events of these nations (AncientScripts.com).

Various accounts of the history of Arabia, the island of the Arabs, give the impression that Arabic scripts started to take form at the height of Islamization or during the time of Prophet Mohammed. It is said to have originated from the fourth century, CE but there is evidence  an ancient document  that shows Arabic script was already a medium for recording even as early as 512 CE. Long before the Prophet Mohammed was born (some authors say even 700 years before Mohammed), the Arabs already had established a form of written language which originally was used by the Nabateans who once inhabited a territory which is now the kingdom of Jordan. This was called the Nabatean script, which evolved from the Aramaic language.

The Nabataean script was an off  shoot of the Aramaic alphabet which developed in the first century CE on the Sinai Peninsula and in North Arabia. It differs conspicuously from other Aramaic varieties by making extensive use of ligatures. Stone inscriptions in the Nabataean script are found from Petra, the capital of the Nabataean Kingdon (c. 150 CE to 100 CE), to Damascus and Medina. The script is not attested in manuscripts, although its cursive character with letters frequently joined together indicates common use. The language of the inscriptions is Nabataean, a close cognate of Aramaic  other authors claim it s Aramaic and that the Nabataeans had dual language styles for communication written in Aramaic, verbal in Arabic. Spread over a wide area, the script exhibits considerable variation with highly diverse letter shapes. Its significance for the history of writing lies in its being the immediate forebear of the Arabic script. Certain features of the Arabic character, such as the existence of separate final forms for certain letters, are already foreshadowed in Nabataean writing. Its transformation into the Arabic script took place in the fourth and fifth centuries CE (Calmous 350).

In the North of the Syrian Desert, the Arabs were involved in world politics very much earlier. Even under the Assyrian king Tiglath  Pileser III (745  728BC), there was an Arabi kingdom there with its capital in the Jawf, which was ruled by queens and remained one of the vassal states of Assyria until the time of Essarhaddon (689  669 BC). The Babylonian King Nabunaid (556  539 BC) had his residence for some time in the oasis of Tayma, which was the base of his expeditions against the west. An Aramaic inscription from the Persian era found there indicates the organization of the city cult, with its priests and temple gods. Then as early as the period of the last Achaemenians, the Nabataean state sprang up (in a territory of modern day Jordan). This state controlled the caravan trade from South Africa to Medina and remained significantly independent since Alexander the Greats plan of conquering Arabia by sea from east and west simultaneously was not resumed by his successors. At first, Petras commerce was drawn to Bostra, where caravans then proceeded to Chalcis, below Lebanon and Emesa, Edessa, and Hatra toward the north and east. The Nabataeans adopted the titles of their officials and military leaders from neighboring Hellenistic states. The Nabataean capital was Petra, a mountain fortress lying about halfway between the Dead Sea and the tip of the Arabian gulf (Brockelman 6).

Numerous inscriptions and ruins found in the rock  cut tombs bear witness to the flourishing civilization of the Nabataeans but in these inscriptions, Aramaic was used for it was then the official language dating as far back as the time of the Achaemenians. There are also accounts of other historians that Arabic was the spoken language of the Nabataeans but they write using Aramaic.
Initially, they were considered by the Romans as allies until the time of Trajan but due to doubts over their ambiguity during the Jewish insurrection under Titus, the Nabataean Kingdom was absorbed as Provincia Arabia in 106 BC. The civilized areas  or the major cities where trades occur  were marked off from the deset by a chain of fortifications which were far from being strong as the Limes on the Rhine and on the Danube frontier (Brockelman 6).

    But in another Arab state, Palmyra, the Nabataeans found a more fortunate heir. In the wars between Rome and the Parthians, Palmyra was prudently neutral and by the time of Augustus, was able to extend its trade connections to Rome, Dacia, Gaul and Spain. The Severian Dynasty, also half  Semitic, showed favor on Palmyra. From 260 onwards King Odenat extended his rule over the entire Syria and was even acknowledged by the weak Roman Emperor, Gallienus, as co  emperor for the Orient. After his death in 268, his wife Zenobia maintained his power for a time but Aurelianus destroyed Palmyra in 273. This tragedy would be retold through generations even until the first centuries of Islam. (Brockelmann 7).

    Palmyra represented the last stance of Arab independence pre  Islam and its fall marked a loss of Arab independence. No other Arab state in the north remained free after this and they were used as vassals by the Romans and Byzantines to ward off incursions of the nomads (Bedouins, or Arabs) into the settled regions. This is probably why the Nabataeans retained their scripts even under Roman rule  because they continued with their trades and were also vassals to ward off their own kind from coming into major cities of commerce (Brockelmann 7).

    In the 6th century, however, the Ghassanid dynasty ruled at Damascus, east of the Jordan. He was designated by Justinian in 529 as patricius and phylarch with supreme authority over all the Arabs in the northern Syria. But this power again dissolved into fragmentary principalities after his death and when they won over the Persians, the Roman Emperor let their officials rule until a Muslim onslaught brought another Ghassanid ruler of the Syrian Arabs (Brockelmann 8).

    Before and during these periods, the Arabs had been exposed to Christianity (Yah-weh  Judaism) at one time or another. First, from the Roman Empire Christianity exercising great power over them, down to the Lakhmid Dynasty in Hirah who once served the Persians and had finally gone to the Christian faith of their urban subjects, even the Bedouins in the north were in intimate contact with the indigenous Aramean population, who had long since been swallowed up by Christianity. Inner Arabia also due to their trading cities of the Hijaz must have also been permeated by a knowledge of Christian teachings and customs, however superficial, as a result of the steady traffic with related tribes in the north. The anchorites, whose cells must have spread from Palestine and Sinai Peninsula far into the desert, no doubt also made a great many contributions. In addition, the desert was an asylum from some sects persecuted by the established church, and precisely these may have spread their doctrines with more success than the Orthodox Church.

    During these times, however, the Aramaic language still remained the official and principal administrative language. Thus, most of the inscriptions on the Petra were in Aramaic but there have been evidence showing that the Nabataeans before used their own language for their local transactions and in oral exchange, but retained Aramaic for recording due to its value in trading with other countries. Other authors propose that some Arab nations or states were actually oral groups meaning, they hand down their stories by telling and re  telling it and still could keep it fresh in their memories but there are also groups who were visual, or those which could not keep a mental record of events thus, keep records in tablet form. Nomads, for instance, or Bedouins, often recite poetry in their gatherings inside their tents wherever they are in the dessert. But those engaged in trades, in the major cities, often would chose to write to keep a record of their transactions.

    Many believe that the ancient Arabs exposure to Christians  those practicing Judaism probably justifies the influence or traces of Sumerian, Greek, Akkadian or Aramaic system to an otherwise Semitic heritage in the Arabic scripts or written as well as spoken languages. But others argue that though there appear some points for seeming similarities, these actually represent the observed or practiced systems used by different countries at the time. While some authors attribute the variations to assimilation, others believe the language and therefore, the scripts, evolved following events in Arab history. But in the case of the Nabataeans from the former territory now called Jordan, they were able to keep both, Arab language and Aramaic scripts. This is perhaps because all Arabs, including the Nabataeans who were under Roman rule for many years, were used as vassals against their own Arab brothers. Thus they kept their language to communicate with each other, and for trading purposes, maintained Aramaic. The duality could perhaps be due to the fact that two somewhat differing entities formed their society then the urban people and the nomads (whom they had to ward off from the center of civilization, as was their task as vassals for the Roman Empire). The former relied so much on writing for keeping records, while the latter, used word of mouth to communicate information, even recite poetry. Other authors though, believe that the Aramaic inscriptions on the Petra were in fact the written or Arabic script at the time.

    Prior to Mohammeds birth, some Arabs were Christians, others primitive in their exercise of faith, as was their political life. Like they believed that their surroundings had forces superior to those of man. These forces were believed to be like the human soul but with dangerous powers that could turn them into demons. They, Semites, regarded trees, stones, caves, springs and large stones are inhabited by spirits. The Black Stone of Islam in a corner of the KaBah, Mecca, in Petra and other places in Arabia stones were venerated also. Every tribe has its own god but also recognized the power of other tribal gods in their own sphere. Individual clans sometimes named themselves after other gods than those of the tribe, and the same divinity was worshipped by various tribes. The gods had fixed abodes, after the tribe has departed, they enjoyed the worship of its successors the tribes returned once or twice a year to worship (Brockelmann 9).

    Contrary to claims of the Jews and Christians, the Arabs already did believe in a God, creator of the world, in addition to the gods and goddesses  even before the birth of Islam.

The Prophet Mohammed
The Prophet Mohammed, ergo, the birth of Islam has also brought about changes in the Arabic scripts. He has touched a cord in Arab history and left an influence that would govern every aspect of Arabian nations long after he had gone. The Arab ruling group began to identify its new order with a revelation by God to Mohammed, then a citizen of Mecca, in the form of a Holy Book, the Quran. This was a revelation which completed those given to earlier prophets or messengers of God and created a new religion, Islam, distinct and separate from Judaism and Christianity (Hourani 15).

    The most obscure part of his life was the early one. It is said he was born in Mecca, a town in Western Arabia, near or in the year 570. His family belonged to the tribe of Quraysh, although not to its powerful part. This tribe was composed of traders who had contacts with the pastoral tribes around Mecca, relations with Syria and south  western Arabia. He worked for  and later married  a widow and managed her business for her. One day he received a message from an angel, seen in the form of a man on the horizon who called him to become a messenger of God. Affirmed by his wife, he them began relaying messages which he believed were revealed to him by an angel of God that the world would end, that God would judge all men and the pains of Hell and delights of Heaven were vividly described. Gradually he had a following, including young members of the influential families of their tribe, Quraysh, members of minor families and clients of other tribes who had placed themselves under the protection of Quraysh, and some craftsmen and slaves. As his teachings developed, its difference from the teachings of the time became apparent and placed him more explicitly in the line of prophets of the Jews and Christian tradition (Hourani 1991).

    Mohammed demanded of his followers profession of belief in the One God and the surrender to Gods will, islam, after which his religion took its name. Probably very early he also levied a poor  tax for the maintenance of needgy members of the community but it was only later in Medina that it assumed greater significance. The chief duty of the faithful, by virtue of which they professed membership in the community, was praying at first twice, then three times, and only later five times a day. Mohammeds teachings were not accepted by some of the Arabs, in fact, he and his followers were locked up in a ravine. When his wife and uncle died, he had to move to Mecca after his brother, a strong opponent of his religion, took his uncles place. But he was not accepted there as well and driven away by stoning that he never returned to the place until he received assurance from a relative that he will be protected. Within his lifetime, Mohammed started his mission of religious and political unification of Arabia. He abolished the foothold of paganism in Mecca and later in all Arab states. Then after his death, he was succeeded by his father in  law and started the caliphate. The caliphate succeeded in subduing and conquering neighboring places and spread Islam with it. There were oppositions to it, like people willing to follow the religion or Allahs will but not pay taxes. In the long run, however, they were either driven by force, fear or respect for the Allah so that the religion flourished in almost all of Asia, the Mediterranean as well as some parts of Europe (Hourani 6).

    It was after the conquest of Mesopotamia that a school for the study of Islam and its development was built in the city of Kufa. Kufa is the place where the kufic script was developed  originated, hence the name. Due to variations in the languages of peoples  converts  under Islamic rule, they felt the need to provide uniformity of religious concepts and practices so that scholars created some form of a dictionary which was later discarded. But that, to some analysts, was actually the first helpful step in Arab history for establishing the common literary standard of Islamic scholars (Brockelmann 15)

The extent to which the intellectual life of the epoch was still dominated by Arabic and by the great past of the Arabs is also attested to by the two major focus of interest of the educated world philology and history. The former had risen in connection with the Quran. It was necessary that the numerous new converts, born in communities of different speech, develop and perfect an understanding of the diving word and its proper application in effective prayer. It was just an urgent need to enable them to acieve a complete mastery of the nuances of Arabic and its excessively rich vocabulary (Brockelmann 119).

It was in the city of Kufa and Basra where classes on history and literature were conducted. Kufa was also chosen as the major place for studying Islam and mastering the Quran. Due to the various languages of the newly converted Islams, the kufic script was developed mainly as the medium to copy Quran and to create a vast collection of commentaries on the Quranic verses. This was done in order for converts of different languages to understand one common version of the Quran. Angular, which was most likely a product of inscribing on hard surfaces such as wood or stone, kufic soon became the principal script for copying the Quran.

For the same reason (having a principal script for copying the Quran), the nakshi script, also known as the Mecca  Medina script came about. It is thought to have been developed by Abu Ali Muhammad Ibn Muqlah (died 940) and introduced in Baghdad, once the seat of literature in Arabia. The nakshi is one of the earliest book hands and is more cursive than the angular kufic script. Because of its elegance and legibility, the nakshi script as of the eleventh century gradually superseded kufic as the principal script for writing the Quran. Nakshi has also been widely used for languages other than Arabic, like Persian, Turkish, Malay, Kiswahili, Hausa, and Serbo  Croatian, among others. And from this script, other styles have also developed, the most popular of which are the riqa, diwani, and the thuluth (Calmous 351).

Another off  shoot of the nakshi script is the nastaliq script, which was first seen in the thirteenth century CE, developed by Mir Ali, a calligrapher from Tabriz. It evolved as a combination of nakshi and taliq, hence the name nastaliq. While nakshi was primarily used for copying the Quran, the nastaliq, on the other hand, was widely used for manuscripts and architectural monuments, particularly in Persia (Calmous 353).

With the invasion of Persia came another development in language and scripts. Farsi, actually a combination of Arabic and European languages, was used by the Persians and Arab residents in that area. Other authors claim that Abu Ali Muhammad Ibn Muglah, a vizier in Baghdad, invented the sitta, a canon of six cursive scripts which include the thuluth, nakshi, rihani, muhaqqaq, tauqi and riqa. This was later augmented to include four more scripts, ghubar, tumar, taliq and nastaliq, which came to be used in the whole Islamic world. While these cursive scripts were popular with calligraphers and illuminators, they never replaced the kufic althogether, except for the nakshi  other writers claim it superseded the kufic by the eleventh century. Today, in many religious writings, kufic headings are still used, in combination with the main body of the text written in cursive script (Calmous 66).

    One cannot study the Arabic scripts without touching on Arabic calligraphy. Since the Prophet Mohammad stated Gods message in his native tongue, Arabic (scholars think he was actually using a combination of Aramaic and Nabataean languages, otherwise now known and indiscriminately described as Arabic), the Quran hence was also written in this language. Arabic, has therefore, been revered as Gods language and every letter of the Arabic alphabet is regarded as a manifestation of God (Calmous 64). Thus, for many Muslims the Quran should not be rendered in any other language. As the written version of the revelation, it must always be copied in Arabic. Since, in the wake of the Islamic conquest Islam as a religion was carried to regions of many different tongues, written Arabic acquired an important function as a unifying bond of the various Islamic peoples. Writing itself came to be regarded as an expression of faith. In this spirit it developed into a religious inspired art with a special status that no other forms of aesthetic expression was able to attain  calligraphy (Calmous 64).

     A great variety of materials was used to receive calligraphic writing stone, glass, ceramics, metalwork, woodwork, carpets and other textiles, as well as parchment paper and other surfaces of manuscript writing. The adaptability of Arabic scripts and their ability to be modified is attributed to the early use of such a variety of surfaces (Calmous 64).

    Because of its religious significance, great importance is attached to the literal contents of Islamic calligraphy. Yet, sometimes the verbal message is pushed into the background by the decorative function. As many students of Islamic calligraphy pointed out, there are a great number of inscriptions which defy easy reading. Orthographic mistakes and peculiarities as well as typographic idiosyncrasies render inscriptions on such sanctuaries as the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem (seventh century), the Qutab Minar in Delhi (eleventh century) and the Masjid-i-Shah Mosque in Isfahan (seventeenth century) virtually impossible to decipher. This suggests that the viewer of these works was not always expected to read the text. In many instances of decorative writing, the symbolic message was conveyed by other means. For instance, an inscription on a tomb or the wall of a mosque would be recognized as a holy phrase, no matter whether it could actually be read or not (Calmous 66). 

    History shows that the development of Arabic scripts, as opposed to Arabic calligraphy, was purely for a functional rather than decorative purpose. However, for many who find it impossible to decipher scripts or calligraphic art in Arabic, they would have to look deeper into the history of Arabic nations, with focus on the history of Islam. Those who wish to decipher and understand the numerous transitions the Arabic scripts have gone through across the centuries would better grasp, and maybe even be guided by the annals of history.

    For instance, while others think nakshi has superseded kufic being the principal language or medium of communication or transmitting the Quran, it would help them understand better or find out more if such is the fact by assessing the current or be updated with the present print media being used by Islam.

    On the other hand, as is occurring amongst Christians all over the world, with all the versions and different languages or Arabic scripts used to print the Quran, is there any chance that there may be issues of misinterpretations considering that there is not an exact equivalent of one word across the different scripts or languages Or is it safe to assume that the later scripts developed (nakshi, kufic, thuluth) found exactly the same words from Arabic translated to these scripts in exact precision

    It may not be humanly possible to decipher each and every variation of the Quran copied in the different scripts like nakshi and kufic to see if precisely the same words have the same meaning in the original Arabic version.

    But if for the interest of curiosity one should start to do an inquest, maybe it would save him time to reflect on the following observations and then make his own inferences
First of all, in spite of the variations or the versions of Arabic scripts by which the Quran is written, it is amazing how there is only one version of Islam the religion and all things corollary to Allahs orders are the same things every Muslim believes.

    Comparing the Islam faith with Christianity, there are thousands of types of Christians all over the world  some of which were formed on the basis of their understanding of some verses in the Holy Bible.

    Though both the Holy Bible and the Holy Quran have been translated or transliterated or written in different scripts, the uniformity of treatment and application of the religious concepts practiced by Islams all over the world is simply amazing.

    It therefore becomes easy to infer that the kufic and nakshi scripts, used in copying Quran, may have therefore been religiously developed.

    And the purpose therefore, of developing such scripts to help other Islamic converts understand it, was achieved.

If you ask a question to a Saudi Arabian, an Egyptian, an Algerian and a Syrian that which thing makes you an Arab They will answer in just a second that speaking Arabic makes us an Arab. This language makes the Arab world and it binds the whole Arab world from Morocco to Kuwait.  This language gives identity to the Arab society and makes them aware about the history of the Arab. Since the inception of Islam Arabic is the speaking language of the Islamic world. Islamic holy book the Quran was initially written in Arabic. There is a great religious significance of this language in the Islamic world. According to Muslims- if you want to understand properly the messages of Quran, you should read it in Arabic language. Thats why Arabic is not only the language of Arab world. (Seikaly, 2001)

Arabic language is not only official language of Saudi Arabia, but it is also considered as an official language in more than forty five countries and dialect of Arabic is being spoken by 200,000,000 people all around the world. Main part of this population lives in the Arabic countries, but a considerable number of Arabic Speakers live in some parts of Africa. Arabic is treated as a biggest member of the Semitic branch and it is some what same as Hebrew and Aramaic. Arabic is studied widely in the Islamic world. Since 6th century Arabic is being taught as a literary language and many words of other languages had been taken from Arabic such as English and Spanish. Some words like sugar, cotton and magazine had been derived from Arabic. In Arabic these words are pronounced like sukkar, qumkn, mazin. Some other words like alcohol, algebra and zenith came from Arabic language. (Shah, 2007)
There are many verities of Arabic language. In this paper we will discuss those varieties in brief. We will mainly focus on the Najdi (A variety of Arabic language). Najdi Arabic speakers oppose the theory of generative phonology. We will move step by step and in an arranged manner.
 
The First Word of Arabic
The first word of Arabic, which was revealed to the Prophet Muhammad, is iqra (means recite).  According to literature the meaning of Quran is recitation. Muslims say that it was the command, which was given to the Muhammad by god, when the Prophet began to receive the revelation and this finally got converted into the Quran. The word Quran is based on the three letters, those are Q, R and A and the word iqra contains these 3 letter root. (Seikaly, 2001)

Forms of Arabic
Arabic language can be divided in the three forms- classical, modern standard, and colloquial. The Arabic, which has been used in the Quran, is considered as classical Arabic. The Arabic used in Quran is treated as the perfect Arabic and is a stander for written form of Arabic. The modern standard Arabic is derived from the Classical Arabic and is used in the formal communication such as in literature, in news, in offices and in print media. Colloquial Arabic is locally spoken Arabic language and it varies from nation to nation and area to area. Many varieties of the Colloquial Arabic have been found in the Arab World and Najdi is one of them. In religious and social functions the oral Arabic is used for writing also because the written and spoken forms of Arabic language are highly interconnected. Modern Standard Arabic is not used at such moments. It is used in television and radio news broadcasts. Modern Standard Arabic plays an important role to bind the whole Arab world because the Arabic speakers from Lebanon and Morocco cannot easily understand one-anothers Arabic language due to their local dialects. But they can talk in Modern Standard Arabic easily. Thats why Modern Standard Arabic is used in formal meetings and occasions. Many local and regional variations have taken place in spoken Arabic and written Arabic has also been changed since 7th century. Many foreign words are being used in Spoken Arabic such as computer, telephone, television, and radio. On the other hand lots of words have been borrowed from Arabic by the many Western languages like English, Spanish and Portuguese. In the earlier time, the Arab world was known for medicine mathematics, philosophy, and astronomy. Name of many stars are based on the Arabic language such as Betelgeuse, Rigel, Deneb, Altair, and Aldebaran. (Seikaly, 2001)

The Arabic script had been taken from Nabataean Aramaic script. Originally, Arabic language had been used since 4th century but there is no solid evidence for it. Generally 6th century is treated as the starting era for Arabic language. Initially Aramaic language was there in use, but there are fewer consonants in this language. Hence in the 7th century new Arabic letters had been created with the help of dots. Then vowels came into the picture. . (Omniglot writing systems  languages of the world, 2010)

Classification of varieties
The Arabic script had been taken from Nabataean Aramaic script. Originally, Arabic language had been used since 4th century but there is no solid evidence for it. Generally 6th century is treated as the starting era for Arabic language. Initially Aramaic language was there in use, but there are fewer consonants in this language. Hence in the 7th century new Arabic letters had been created with the help of dots. Then vowels came into the picture. Nowadays Arabic is spoken in many different ways in different areas. (Omniglot writing systems  languages of the world, 2010)

The various varieties of the Arabic language could be classified mainly into four classes.
Pre-Islamic
It can be further divided into three sections.
Himyaritic language
Southern Arabic (Qahtan)
Northern Arabic (Adnan)
Eastern Arabic ( It is the main source of Classical Arabic)
Western Arabic (Hijaz)
2. Western varieties
It can be classified into two categories.
Maghreb Arabic This Subclass can be separated into three sections Koines, Fully pre-Hilalian, and Bedouin. Each of these sections can also be partitioned.

KoinesFully pre-HilalianBedouinMoroccan Arabic
Algerian Arabic
Tunisian Arabic
Jebli Arabic
Jijel Arabic
Siculo-Arabic (extinct)
Maltese languageSaharan Arabic
Libyan Arabic
Hassaniya Arabic

Andalusi Arabic (extinct)
3. Eastern varieties
It could be further divided into four sections.
Arabian ArabicNile ArabicLevantine ArabicIraqi ArabicGulf Arabic
Najdi Arabic
Hijazi Arabic
Yemeni Arabic
Egyptian Arabic
Saidi Arabic
Sudanese Arabic
Baggara Arabic ( Shuwa Arabic ) North Syrian Arabic
Lebanese Arabic  Syrian Arabic
Palestinian Arabic
Cypriot Maronite Arabic qeltu-varieties
gilit-varieties
Central Asian Arabic

Creoles
It can be divided in following three categories.
Nubi Creole Arabic
Babalia Creole Arabic
Sudanese Creole Arabic (Juba Arabic)
(Referred from Varieties of Arabic, EconomicExpert.com)
Now we will talk about the Najdi Arabic.

Najdi Arabic
It is a variety of the Arabic language and it is mainly spoken in the Riyadh and the areas near to it in the Saudi Arabia. There are mainly four groups of Najdi Arabic speaking people, which are found in the Saudi Arabia. They are Southern Najdi, Central Najdi, Northern Najdi, and Badawi Najdi. Southern Najdi is spoken in the city of Kharj and in the towns near to this city. Central Najdi is also known as Urban Najdi and it is mainly spoken in the city of Riyadh and in the farming communities near to this city. Zulfi, Qaseem and Jabal Shammar regions are known for Northern Najdi. Nomadic tribes of Najd use Badawi Najdi in their daily life. It is also spoken in the Iraq and Jordan. (Gordon, 2005)

In Saudi Arabia Najdi Arabic is spoken by approximately 8,000,000 people and in the world 9,977,000 people use this variety of Arabic language. In addition to Saudi Arabia, this language is used also in Canada, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Syria, and the United States. Approximately 900,000 speak this language in Iraq, 50,000 in Jordan and 500,000 in Syria. (Arabic, Najdi Spoken  HYPERLINK httpwww.ethnologue.com httpwww.ethnologue.com)

The dialects which are used in the Njadi Arabic are some great features. They are unknown in other dialects and they also contain some characteristics of the Arabiyya. According to some Arab grammarians some ancient dialects of the peninsula reported are being used in Najdi Arabic. Thats why they are very important for the comparative and historical dialectology. A little bit part of this is known and published materials on it is also very insufficient. (Abboud, 2009)

We will see an example of a phonological process of Najdi Arabic in this paper. Najdi Arabic has been analysed on the basis of internal evidence.In the Najdi Arabic following contrasts have been noticed and on the basis of it a it is said that there would be no difficulty in front of any phonologist in the analysis this language on the basis of this small amount of facts. (Abdulaziz, 2010).

(Referred from Abdulaziz, Affrication in Najdi Arabic.)

According to the process of affrication in a mirror image fashion k and gj are affricated to c and dz.  Following rule is sufficient for our purpose.

(Referred from Abdulaziz, Affrication in Najdi Arabic.)
There is no lack of evidence for support and this rule seems is very motivated. It is very natural that A velar being affricated in the neighborhood of front non-low vowels. for this affrication analysis Simplicity and Economy are available as a support. c and dz can be eliminated from the ventory of the language. These ( c and dz) could be generated with the help of a systematic phonological process via using k and g respectively. Till this point the analysis appears to be the most desired one. But when we think about the long lists of exceptions, a problem comes into picture. But we will talk about a small sample. Because of the two types of opacity this example becomes interesting. why opacity and  why not opacity  has been discussed in (a) and (b) respectively. (Abdulaziz, 2010).

a)     9irdz (s)            9rug (pi)               vein
9ilc (s)                91uk (pi)            chewing gum
b)    gimar                 moon                dzimar
gisi.T                short                dzisir
malik                king                 malic
hrikih                movement            hricih
On the basis of such examples exceptions can be covered like cases of (a) and the (b) above. But it is not as simple as it seems.

(Referred from Abdulaziz, Affrication in Najdi Arabic.)
In such type of cases someone should look for something else. The phenomenon is very interesting for the issue we have mentioned. A Najdi Arabic child got flunked in the exam because his mind was set for the grammar used in the Najdi Arabic and did the paper on the basis of those sets of rule. A speaker of a language tries to borrow some words from another language and some times he tries to create new words into their language. Same case is there with Najdi Arabic speakers. They have also borrowed or created some words. These words fulfill the affrication rule of Najdi Arabic. These words are the changed form of the Classical Arabic (CA) words. They are introduced into the language some time ago (in 19th century). (Abdulaziz, 2010).

(Referred from Abdulaziz, Affrication in Najdi Arabic.)

Native speakers of Najdi Arabic do not give proper attention on the occurrences of some letters. Many of them do not think about k and g during the pronunciation of words related with these letters. They use c and dz respectively instead of these words. But they do not make mistake when forms are uttered. (Abdulaziz, 2010).

(Referred from Abdulaziz, Affrication in Najdi Arabic.)
The effect of a psychologically real process can be seen in the speech of native speakers by the following process. i occurs to the exclusion of a in the Najdi Arabic. This rule can be represented by the verbal patterns of the types CVCVC and CVCVVC, (C is for Constants and V for vowels) corresponding to Classical Arabic CVCVC and CVCVVC, corresponding to Classical Arabic. (Abdulaziz, 2010).

(Referred from Abdulaziz, Affrication in Najdi Arabic.)
Characteristics of the Arabic Language
Like Hebrew, Aramaic, and Amharic, Arabic language is also a Semitic language. 28 letters are there in the Arabic language. It is written from right to left. Thats why spine is on the right-hand side in the Arabic books. Sound for some English letters, like P and V, is not present in the Arabic. Similarly many Arabic letters are not found in the Western languages. For example in Arabic throat has to be compressed for pronouncing ayn, but there is no equivalent for this in Western languages. A R of the French language is equivalent to ghayn and ch of German is equivalent to the kha sound of Arabic. Arabic uses a single letter for two letters of English or it can be said that for some letters of Arabic two letters of English are used for example th is used for tha sound in English, but in Arabic a single letter is used for this purpose. (Seikaly, 2001)
According to Seikaly there are 6 vowel sounds in Arabic language.
a long ee sound as in feet
a short i sound as in bit
a long aa sound as in man
a short a sound as in many
a long oo sound as in boot
a short u sound as in put
There are special letters for long vowels but small vowel sounds are presented by accent marks. These accent marks could be seen in the Arabic literature, but these accent marks are not used in daily writing. In addition to singular and plural, dual form is also found in the Arabic and it is used for two things. For example a single pen is known as qalam in Arabic, two pens as qalamayn and pens are known as aqlaam. Arabic language also uses feminine or masculine nouns like other languages. In Arabic letters are put together to form a word. There is no difference between letters on the basis of capital and small. All the letters are same, but form of the letters depends on the position (beginning, middle or end). Loops and dots are used to write the Arabic letters on the paper. (Seikaly, 2001)

Root and Pattern System of Arabic
Regularity is the main characteristic of this language, which makes it interesting and different as compare to other languages. All the words of Arabic are derived from the three-letter roots. These words are related to each other. Prefixes, suffixes and infixes are used with three-letter root to derive more words. In the Arabic dictionary you can not find a word on the basis of alphabetical order. First you have to determine three-letter root, then you should go alphabetically. On the basis of three-letter root J, L and S these words can be found. (Seikaly, 2001)
Arabic Word (three-letter root J, L and S)MeaningJaLaSato sit downJuLuuSthe act of sitting downJiLSamanner of sittingiJLiSsit downJaLSameeting or gatheringJaLeeScompanion participant in a social gathering (feminine is JaLeeSa)maJLiSsession or councilmuJaaLaSasocial exchange or communication

Arabic Calligraphy
The flowing style of the writing and shapes of Arabic letters gives a beauty to the Arabic language. Arabic calligraphy is used everywhere in the Islamic world. According to to Prophet Muhammad Beautiful calligraphy gives truth more clarity. The paper which was used to written the Quran was very expensive, thats why a compact but understandable writing style had been chosen. Proportionality, repetition, symmetry, and embellishment are the some important characteristics of Arabic calligraphy. Some horizontal letters like ba and seen and vertical letters like the alef and lam give a beauty to the Arabic. Arabic flows in a particular direction and Loops, dots, and accent marks are used to make the writing interested and decorated. Calligrams are being constructed by Arabic calligraphers. Calligrams are words or phrases, which make a specific shape, for example shape of an animal or a tritangle. Mirror writing is also used in calligrams. In Mirror writing word or phrase are written as a mirror image of the original text. (Seikaly, 2001)

Example of Arabic calligraphy (The Arabic Language The Glue That
Binds the Arab World, 2001)


Some notable features of the Arabic language
The type of the writing style of Arabic is known as abjad.
The words in the Arabic language are written from right to left.
The Numerals in Arabic language are written from left to right.
Total 28 letters are there in the Arabic language. Some times some additional letters are being used to write foreign words.
Other languages like Urdu, Punjabi, Sindhi, Kashmiri and many more are based on the wring style of Arabic.
Form of the letter depends on their position in the word. 
Letters can be joined in both writing and printing.
(Omniglot writing systems  languages of the world, 2010)

Arabic Phonology
There are total 28 consonant (including two semi-vowels) in the Classic Arabic, but originally there are 28 letters and six vowels in the Arabic language. These six vowels contain three short vowels and three long vowels. Short vowels are not used generally in the written. Means there are total 26 consonants, 2 semi-vowels, and 6 vowels in the Arabic language. It can be said that Arabic is rich in uvular, pharyngeal, and pharyngealized sounds. (Shah, 2007)

We can see all these 26 letters of Arabic with the letters of other language in the following figure.
 SHAPE   MERGEFORMAT
Letters of Various Languages
(Introduction to Arabic Natural Language Processing, 2005)
Modern Standard Arabic contains 28 Consonants, 3 short vowels, 3 long vowels, and 2 diphthongs. Following are the letters of Modern Standard Arabic.

Letter-sound correspondence
(Introduction to Arabic Natural Language Processing, 2005)
Some Useful expression of Arabic
Here we will see some important and basic expressions of the Arabic. Every Arabic speaker should know these expressions.

Arabic Expressions (Shah, 2010, Arabic A Profile)

Now we will discuss that how can a speaker ask questions in Arabic. I am going to represent it in the tabular form.
Question (in English)Question (in Arabic)Where is arefeynWhateyhWhats thateyh daWhenimtaWhyleyhWhy notleyh laHowkeyfWhomeenHow manykam    Questions (Shah, 2010, Arabic A Profile)

Arabic Script
The style which is used to write the Arabic is known as Arabic script. At some times it is also referred as Naskhi script. We have talked some features of the Arabic script in the above sections. Now we will focus on the remaining features of this script. In this script a letter can be written in four different forms and these forms are-
Independent (non-connecting)
Connecting only to the left (initial)
Connecting only to the right (final)
Connecting to both sides (medial or internal) (Shah, 2010)
We will see an example of letters kaaf, baa, and ayn.


 (Referred from Shah, 2010, Arabic A Profile)

Text which is written with the all the diacritics is known as vocalized and a without them is known as unvocalized. Vocalized and unvocalized are also known as vowelled and unvowelled respectively. Pointed and unpointed is also used for them. (Habash, 2005)
Watch following example-

Vocalized and unvocalized form
(Referred from Shah, 2010, Arabic A Profile)

Now if we talk about the shape of the letters in the Arabic, following points come as result-
There is no distinction between handwriting and printing.
There is no role of capital letters like English.
Letters are written from right to left.
There are ambiguous shapes
Connected and disconnected both types of letters are used. (Habash, 2005)

Letter Shapes
(Introduction to Arabic Natural Language Processing, 2005)

Now see the below examples. These examples tell about the process of making word from the letters of Arabic language. First example is for the word katab, which means to write and second one is for kitab, which means book. (Habash, 2005)


Making Word katab
(Introduction to Arabic Natural Language Processing, 2005)


Making Word kitab
(Introduction to Arabic Natural Language Processing, 2005)

Arabic numerals and numbers
In the Arabic numbers and numerals decimal system is used. Numbers are written from left to write into the right to left text. Following example will clarify this thing.


Numbers in the Text
(Introduction to Arabic Natural Language Processing, 2005)
The meaning of this line is Algeria achieved its independence in 1962 after 132 years of French occupation.
Number system also varies in Arabic on the basis of region. See the following example

Different Number Systems (Introduction to Arabic Natural Language Processing, 2005)

Now watch the following example. It is showing Arabic numbers with their sounds.

Arabic Numbers (Referred from Shah, 2010, Arabic A Profile)

Now it can be concluded that Arabic language is a rich language and thats why it is being used as an official language in more than 45 countries. But it is said that it is some what ambiguous because vowels are not used some times in the Arabic language. But it is not the general case. Generally vowels are used. There are many verities of Arabic language. Arabic language has taken many forms in different areas of world. Najdi Arabic is one of them and it is specially spoken in the Riyadh and its surrounding towns at Saudi Arabia. Najdi Arabic is also found in different forms in the different areas. Some analyses on the basis of Najdi Arabic have been explained in this paper. There are lots of examples, which show that beauty of the Arabic language. Nowadays Modern Standard Arabic has taken the place of Classic Arabic. In future some more changes will take place and make this language more powerful from the grammatical and communication point of view.