Literature as Identity 3rd sem notes
🔥 Postcard from Kashmir
💥Agha shahid ali
Agha shahid ali was a Kashmiri American poet from a wealthy family. He complete College education in Kashmir and in Delhi.
💥 In post card from Kashmir the speaker is an immigrant who lives in a western country. He receives a post card from Kashmir. This helps him to recall his Kashmir memories. The poem unveils the beauty of the region
💥 The poet considering the post card as a six inch mini Kashmir. Now he can hold the mighty Himalayas in his hand. Now he is very closer to his home by this postcard.
💥The next lines gives us an introduction about the problems in Kashmir. He says that when he return to his home this colors wont be so brilliant. Because the tensions in Kashmir is increasing day by day. The colors of Jhelum river is not ultramarine. It is indirectly indicates the tensions in Kashmir.
💥In the last lines poet says that his Kashmir memories are unclear like an undeveloped film roll. It is a mixture of black and white because Kashmir is beautiful and at the same time it is a dangerous place also.
🔥 Mother Tongue
💥Amy Tan
Amy Tan is a Chinese American writer. Her most famous novel is joy luck club. She was born in Oakland. Her family is living in America but they follows their Chinese traditions and customs also. In Mother tongue she discuss about the problems of the second generation chinese settlers in America.
💥She uses the Term mother tongue to indicate her mothers English,not Chinese.
💥She uses the standard English which is grammatically correct and have tenses, conditional phrases etc
💥But she is nt using this in her home. She uses a broken English in her home. Her mother also uses the same form of English. It is act as a form of intimacy.
💥Her friends can understand the 50% of her mother English. Sometimes it is increased into 80 or 90
💥Some people especially the staff in banks, restaurants etc are avoiding her mother’s English. They act as they cant understand her mother’s English.
💥In her school days her performance in English was very poor when comparing it with her perfomance in Maths
💥She says that “Mathematics is precise but the English tests are really examining our individual experience” as a reason for her bad performance in English
💥According to Amy Tan the performance of the asian students in Maths is Better than their perfomence in English
🔥 At the Lahore Karhai
💥Imtiaz Dharker is a renowned poet and documentary film maker who born in Pakisthan and Brought up in Scotland. Dharkers mixed cultural heritage lies at the heart of her writing. Her writings articulate freedom. The complexity of geographical and cultural dislocation. Her poems engage with issues of religious conflict and feminism
💥In a Sunday the poet and some others going in a car. Their destination is Lahore Karhai. A Pakistani hotel in UK. It is in Wembley. He calls this travel as a pilgrimage. Because a pilgrimage is done for visiting the holy places and culturally important places of a community. Lahor Karhai is like that to these people. It is the only way for them to connect themselves with their mother land. The lunch service was begun. He says they will not drink beer because they are Muslims. Here he is openly stating his identity. He is confidant to do that because all of the people who came to that hotel are loving their culture so they wont need any curtains.
💥He comparing Lahore Karhai as a dhaba which situated in Grand Trunk road (road which connecting Punjab and Amritsar). Dhabas and restaurants in road side are used by the truck drivers and other common men to feed themselves. They can experience the taste of homily meals in these hotels
💥 He compares themselves with the truck drivers. They are also like truck drivers. They also looking for the taste of homily meals. The whole poem is written in the tone of homesickness
💥When they sit for dining they saw meny people meny non Pakistanis and people from other cultures, civilizations, races and religions in that table. There is a sindhi refugee came with his beautiful wife. She is praying to Krishna everyday. There is a young Englishman. He also came to experience the Pakistani flavor. Poet calls him as a person who Influenced by the British raj. There are some Indian girls with beautiful silky hair also came for dining.
💥Poet says in this winter we have learnt to wear our past like summer clothes. He is calling their departed life from the motherland as winter. It is a great day like a feast day. The he is mentioning the Pakistani dishes like tarka dal, karhai ghosht, gajjar halva etc.
💥The people from different cultures, races, religions are now united by the bread which the breaks
💥Poet ending the poem by saying these are the ways of remembering other days we may prefer Chinese. They came to this restaurant for eating the food which they haves in their mother land. It is the way to them to connect themselves with their mother land.
🔥Indian Movie New Jersey
💥Chithra Banerjee
She is an indian American poet, short story writer and novelist. She born in Kolkata and graduated from Calcutta university and later moved into US. She completed her other degrees in US.
💥The poem presents the problems faced by indians In USA. It presents the insecurities and alienation of Indians in US. The poem is settled in a cinema hall in new Jersey. New Jersey is the place which most of the south asians in American were settled.
💥 The Indian settlers in New Jersey are watching an Indian Film. Poem starts with the description of the heroine of the film. The first stanza onwards the cultural and ideological diffrence between Indians and Americans are shown. According to the American beauty standards size zero woman is beautiful but in the case india fleshy women are more beautiful. Excess of female fat seems to fire the indian imagination and the indian sensibility.
💥While countries and continents are changing the concept of beauty are also changing. The heroine in the film wears a brief red skirt. Her thighs are clearly shown and poet compares it to tree trunks. Men in that cinema hall are excited when the heroin dance. They whistled with pleasure.
💥The hero came into the story and dancing with the heroine. The lip sink was very poor but it was not a problem to the spectators. Dal lake in Kashmir is the background of the story. The thickened English mentioned here is the heavily accented English most indians speak. It helps us to understand that, the heroine in this film is from an educated upper class family. Imitation of the western style is shown in the poem.
💥 The Immigrants in America facing meny problems. Their sons are not interested to run the family store. Their daughters are dating with others. But they all are forgetting this problems and enjoying the movie. In the climax of the poem the hero dies for his friend who also loves this sex goddess. The climax was very tragic all of them including men wept one drop or two.
💥After the film show the viewers are not ready to leave in a hury. They are exchanging greetings. They feels the good smell of fried Indian snacks. They will not share any painful experience when they were in that cinema hall. They will not speak about motel raids, cancelled permits, stones through into the windows and the tragic story of their sons and daughters who raped by dot busters (racist gangs). They speaks about their retainment. Now they wished to get back to india. They says they will make a two storied house with iron gates and buying an ambassador car etc. If this all are not possible then atleast they wants to move into an another part of America which they get good neighborhoods
💥people migrates to rich countries for a better life condition. Being the settlers in an alien land they are also troubled by the identity crisis.
💥Main themes of the poem are
🔴Nostalgia for the homeland
🔴Indian sensibility
🔴feeling togetherness in a foreign country
🔥 The Dog Of Tithwal
💥 Saadat Hasan Manto was a writer, playwright and a screen writer. He was born in a middle class Muslim family in Punjab in 1912. He lived in India before partition and in Pakistan after partition.The partition of India was brutal and bloody. It takes meny lives and millions of people became refugees.
💥The Dog of Tithwal is a poignant satire about a stray dog caught in the crossfire of Partition.The partition made a Muslim Pakistan and a Secular India
💥 Over Half million people died with the partition of India. India and Pakistan started arms race to get the control over Kashmir in 1948. The plot of Dog of Tithwal is the border line between India and Pakistan
💥Indian Camp
“The Dog of Tithwal” begins with Indian and Pakistani soldiers entrenched in their positions along the nations’ border in a mountainous area. Neither side has the advantage in the war; no air forces are involved, and heavy artillery is not in their armaments. It is more a standoff than a battle. The peace of the mountains pervades in spite of the tension. Flowers are in bloom, birds are singing, and clouds are scudding lazily through the skies. Manto compares nature to a symphony that plays beautifully and the men with their guns to discordant notes.
The action begins in the Indian camp, with Jamadar Harnam Singh on night watch. At two o’clock, he wakes Ganda Singh to take over the watch and lies down to sing a romantic song about a pair of shoes with stars on them. Banta Singh joins in with a song about love and tragedy. The soldiers feel sadness creeping over them; perhaps they are reminded that life should be about love rather than about war.
The barking of a dog interrupts this pensive scene. Banta Singh finds the dog in the bushes and announces that his name is Chapad Jhun Jhun. The soldiers are in a good humor and pleased to see the dog, until Harnam Singh decides that the dog cannot eat if it is a Pakistani dog. The other soldiers think he is joking, but he then declares that all Pakistanis will be shot, even Pakistani dogs. The dog recognizes something in his tone and reacts with fear, which seems to please Harnam Singh. Another soldier responds by leading the men in a declaration of “India Zindabad!” (an expression of nationalistic fervor).
Banta Singh makes a sign with the dog’s name on it, along with the information that it is an Indian dog, and hangs it around the dog’s neck.
💥Pakistani Camp
The next morning the dog appears in the Pakistani camp. It turns out that it had spent a few days with the Pakistani soldiers before it went to the Indian camp. Like the Indian soldiers, the Pakistanis are tired of the war that has been dragging on for months. As Subedar Himmat Khan twirls his moustache and studies a map of the Tithwal sector of India, Bashir begins to sing a song about where a lover spent the night.
When the dog appears, Subedar Himmat Khan turns the lines of the song into an accusation against Jhun Jhun. “Where did you spend the night?” he screams. Bashir takes this as a joke and sings his song to the dog, but Subedar Himmat Khan throws a pebble at Jhun Jhun.
Bashir discovers the sign around the dog’s neck. The soldiers ponder the sign to see if it could be in code; Subedar Himmat Khan reports the incident to his platoon commander, who ignores the report because he finds it meaningless. While the commander is correct that the report is not of tactical significance, it is implied that his failure to investigate indicates a lack of discipline in the ranks. The soldiers are bored and seem to feel that their presence here is meaningless.
The Pakistani soldiers rename Jhun Jhun and put a sign around his neck saying that he is Sapad Sun Sun, a Pakistani dog. Subedar Himmat Khan then sends Jhun Jhun back to his “family,” urging him to take the message to the enemy. The dog trots off, and Subedar Himmat Khan fires in the air. Feeling bored, he decides to fire at the Indians. For half an hour, the two sides exchange fire, after which Subedar Himmat Khan orders a halt. As he combs his hair, he wonders where the dog has gone.
💥Death
When Jhun Jhun comes around the hill where the Pakistani are entrenched, it seems to infuriate Subedar Himmat Khan. He shoots at the dog, hitting some stones. Jhun Jhun continues to run toward him, and Subedar Himmat Khan continues to shoot at the dog. Meanwhile, Harnam Singh fires. The two opposing soldiers enjoy scaring the terrified dog until Harnam Singh wounds the dog.
Still, Subedar Himmat Khan will not let Jhun Jhun return to the Pakistani camp. Khan tells the dog it is his duty to continue going toward the enemy camp. It is clear that, in Subedar Himmat Khan’s mind, fanaticism has overcome any rationality.
When the wounded dog drags himself toward Harnam Singh, Jamadar Harnam Singh shoots and kills him. While the Pakistani Subedar Himmat Khan compares the killing to martyrdom, Harnam Singh says that Jhun Jhun “died a dog’s death.”
💥The dog in the story representing the condition of Indian and Pakistani families who exiled from their nation in the days of partition. The identity of this Dog is questioned here.
🔴Themes of the story
💥Darkness
💥Light
🔥 A Chronicle of the peacocks
💥 Intizar Hussain was a journalist, short story writer and novelist. And wildly considered as the one of most important writers in Urdu. He born in the British Raj and migrated to Pakistan in 1947. For six decades he wrote about social and political subjects. He has written traumas and tragedies of partition.
💥This story portrays the horrors of war unfolded through the image of peacocks. In the story the writer proves into mythical and historical roots of the pluralistic culture of India
💥 The various use of myths and legends are seen in the story. The story had an Allegorical touch in everywhere. He says the spirit of Ashwatthama is is living inside of all men that’s why the wars constantly broke out between India and Pakistan, Iraq and Kuwait, Iraq and America etc.
💥The heroine of the story is peacock. The bird of beauty, innocent and royal grace.He remembers an incident happened in his childhood days.A peacock came and sit in the parapet of their house and the narrator ran up to grab it’s tail. But the bird flew away. His Dadima reprimanded the narrator for his mischief and she tells the story how the peacock was exiled from Paradise. Peacock is a bird which connects the past and present.
💥Once upon a time peacock was a bird of heaven. Once the poor bird helped a blind old man to enter the kingdom of God. That old man was Satan. The gatekeepers recognized that and they refused to open the gate.
💥 A peacock who was sitting on the wall surrounded by the Paradise felt sorry for the old man. He flew down and offer him help. Satan jumped into the peacocks back and the bird flew into heaven. Satan entered into the paradise and prompted Adam and Eve to eat the forbidden fruit. Both Adam and Eve were kicked from God’s kingdom. Then God exiled the peacock too.
💥 Next he describing an incident which he red in the news paper. The peacocks in Rajasthan was very disturbed because of the atomic explosion. India and Pakistan tested the nuclear weapons in May 1998. The peacocks frightened by this attack and they are trying to escape from that place. While watching this news they saw a group of peacocks
💥After watching the news about the frightened peacocks the narrator decided to write an article in the newspaper to express his sympathy towards peacocks. But he didn’t satisfied only with that. This though disturbed him like in the same way as a small fish had disturbed Manuji (the story of the first incarnation of Vishnu).
💥Next image in the story is of a forlorn Duck. The author presently remained of the image of a forlorn duck on the edge of the sea, covered with foul effluent. Once the sea was shiny like ambrosia but now it is poisoned. The wings of the duck are heavy with the slime that she cannot no longer fly.
💥 Poison flows through every vein of her body. The desolate and weary bird is a symbol of the horrors of the war between US and Iraq
The duck is an allegory of our times and also a symbol of the prophets who considered the suffering a sacred beauty.
💥 Because of the cruelties committed by man thr beautiful royal swans also disappeared from the world. Once upon a time both peacocks and royal swans were considered as the kings of the universe.
💥 Then the imagination of the author moves on to Sravasthi. Once the narrator was walking through Sravasthi where the lord Budda had lived once. There he saw a peacock sitting on a green hill lost in thoughts. It seemed that he had been waiting for someone. The Vihara where budda used to stay with his monks and disciples during the monsoons was now in ruins.
💥That peacocks on the hill was perhaps the last of the survivors from the days of Budda. He still carries the image of those days in his eyes.
💥When he returned to Delhi in the evening he felt it was a sad and desolate place. Even Nizamuddin’s tomb wore a weary look. He heard a lone peacock calling from somewhere behind the tomb.
💥 Then again he heard the sound of a peacock. He imagin that he is now in Indraprastha the city of Pandavas. A garden there echoed with the music of different birds including peacock. He has traveled far and long in his imagination and seen peacocks from different ages and lands. The narrator visited Rajasthan again and there were peacocks in great number
💥 At that moment he was shocked to see someone walking beside him. It was Ashwattama the great criminal of Kurukshetra. Before the death of his father he revealed the secret of Brahmasthra to him and earlier to his beloved disciple Arjuna. Ashwattama was cursed to live for 3000 years. And now he is following the narrator.
💥 Narrator wished to get rid of him and return to his country but he followed the narrator in his country also.
💥Ashwattama is presented as the fear of war
💥Main themes of the story is
🔴Sense of exile
🔴loss of identity
🔴 the brutal situations which the victims of partition forced to undergo
🔥Fugitive Colors
💥 Fugitive Colors is written by Selina Hossain. And she is one of the important woman writer in Bangladesh. She had published several collections her literary works. The miserable of the people and contemporary social issues is the major part of her writings
💥 Fugitive colours is a story about the trouble stricken region of Bangladesh. It deals with the sacrifice of a young man who has been slain because he represents the enemy.The story portraits a vivid picture of the military and the horrors it gifted to the ordinary citizens.
💥 The story tells about the war between the Bengali settlers and the hill people. The story reveals the troubles faced by the people in the hill region of Bangladesh. Hill people are fighting against the Bengali settlers because they are grabbing the land of the hill people inch by inch.
💥 The Bengali settlers were rehabilitated by the government into the hill area.
💥The hill people takr up arms to defend their land. So the government sent military to that place. The hill people considered the presents of military as bitterns, hatred,bloodshed and destruction.
💥 The hero of the story is Shudip. He belongs to the Bengali settlers in the land of hill people. In this story he is introduced as a young jilted and rejected lover.Bidhitha is the name of his lover and she is belongs to the hill people.
💥 It might be her personal struggle for survival which force her to reject Shudip. After that breakup, Shudip was in a deep agony and he could not forget her beautiful face. It hints him by day and by night and he is almost in the state of madness. His friend Shubhopriyo invites him to stay with his family for some days hopping that it would heel the heart.
💥 Shubhopriyo’s family was a large family, an ancestral home. He has two married elder sisters who stay in another village. Kajolika ks the name lf the third sister who is studying in a college in the village. Of the two brothers, the youngest is just ten and his name is poorna chandra
💥 Poornachandra is the youngest brother of shubhopriyo. Poornachandra was soon a close friend and a guide to Shudip. He knows the nook and corner of the whole jungle. Poornachandra means full moon. Shudip asked him who had given him such a beautiful name.
💥 Suddenly the boy felt silent and replayed that it was Takurda. The boy was deeply troubled by the haunting memory of the killing of old Takurda by the Bengali soldiers during a raid. The boy too wants to fight and avange for the horrible murder. While strolling in the jungle Shudip is fascinated by its virgin beauty. Far away from the ruthless cruelty of civilization, thr jungle looks like a warm blanket ready to enfold in her embrace. The irony is that behind all these. There rages a grim battle. There is so much bitterness, hatred, bloodshed and destruction.
💥 suddenly a squirrel jumps off a branch and creeps upon Shudip and stares at the stranger curiously. Shudip hopes that the little creature will sit on his heart and heal his heart. But the squirrel returns to the wild in a feeling that humans cannot be trusted. Shudip tries to take the squirrel in his stride, even the squirrel has rejected him. For Shudip, the behavior of the squirrel is reminiscent of Bindhitha’s behavior. He was jilted by her and now the squirrel also does the same. He feels that if is the fate of a jilted lover.
💥 While both Shudip and poornachandra strolling in the beautiful jungle all alone. Without a warning poornachandra leaped in front of him roaring like a lion. He was smiling mischievously that was only a child like prank. He had a cowbell with him and suggested Shudip to wear it because if he lost his way it would be helpful to find him out. Then Shudip asked the boy an irrelevant question. “Did poornachandra trust him”? No the answer came suddenly
💥 He told Shudip that his people killed Takurda were grabbing the land of the hill people. They were responsible for all the bloodshed and destruction taking place in the one serene and lovely land of others. Shudip represents the enemy, so he cannot be trusted, even Didi Kajolika also hates him. Poornachandra told him that if he stayed here too long, the military might burn up the whole village.
💥 Kajolika is the third sister of Shubhopriyo who studies in a college in the village. She stays there in a hostel and now at home. She hates Shudip as he represents the Bengali settlers and shows her contempt towards Shudip. She is in love with Reboti a young man who fights for the hill people (Shanthi Bhagini is the name of the army of the hill people)
💥 Kajolika was waiting by the bamboo grove in order to meet her lover Reboti. At the same time poornachandra and Shudip were also in there in the forest. The jungle was enveloped in darkness although it was a day time. The canopy of the trees was so thick and it prevented the sun from shedding a ray of light.
💥 They hear a rumble of military jeep coming quite near and then sped away. Both Poornachandra and Shudip hide themselves behind a huge tree. When the jeep went off Poornachandra start running wildly looking for Kajolika.Shudip also ran behind the boy and find the girl.
💥 Her cloths were strewn all around and her body was motionless blood was flowing between her legs. It was obviously clear that the military men raped her. She was not dead she was breathing. Shudip covered her nakedness and carried her along with Poornachandra to her people.
💥 Suddenly Reboti and their comrades appeared before them. They thinks that Shudip had been responsible for this criminal act. They pointed rifle towards his chest.When poornachandra told them Shudip was innocent Reboti broke down and wept. Shubhopriyo and others become furious. Shubhopriyo wanted to wreck vengeance on Shudip’s people for all the wrongs the committed against the hill people. As Shudip symbolises an enemy race Shubhopriyo’s father ties him to a tree. Shudip remained silent, but empathetic. Shubhopriyo killed him. The rest is silent.
💥Shudip has come to the serene jungle to experience the healing touch of the nature. Instead what he eventually gets is not life but death. As he carries the bleeding body of Kajolika to her people. The reward he gets is ironically tragic. He came to the jungle village as a guest of Shubhopriyo but the conflict between the people of both part proves fatal at the end in the case of Shudip
🔥The deep silence
💥 Punyakathe Wijenaike was born in Colombo. She writes primarily in English. She writings is recognized for its simple and powerful style. She published six novels and four short story collections.
💥Her writings highlights the tyranny of community or a group of community. The story is about the sorrows of an old widow whom her only daughter packs off to an old age home. It was written in the form of monologue. The story evokes pity for the helpless old widow and contempt for her cruel daughter
💥 The narrator in the story is an old woman who lives in a small house. A major part of the house has been destroyed as per instruction of her only daughter Rushika The old lady gifted
That house to her daughter, hoping she will stay with her and look after the lady in her old ages.
💥 The narrator thinks about old good times. There was a time when people preferred a leafy arc and a grassy piece of land for building their dream house. In the past it was possible as there was a plentiful land. The old lady and her husband had not been rich. They worked hard and save money for buying a small piece of land at a very reasonable price in 1952. There they build a single storeyed house with two bedrooms. They built single storeyed house because they would not have to climb the stairs when they grew older and their knees became feeble. There was enough space around it so that they could get the breeze blowing from the nearby stream. The birds nestled and whistled on the trees around and all the bushes were in blossom. Their little daughter Rushika rolled about on the green grass
💥 Now everything has changed. Land is difficult to come buy and the price is costly too. So people are compelled to opt for a piece of land on the some highways. If they do not have enough money, they built a swanky house. The courtyard is paved with tiles and water cannot percolate down through it and finally it flows out and eventually joins in the ocean. As time changes every aspect of life also change; including land.
💥 Rushika is the only daughter of her parents and she is a young lady now. She is married and living with her husband. Her mother gifted her the house as she is the only child to her and in the hope that she will look after the mother in her old age. She decided to demolish the house and build a four storeyed apartment block which would bring her a handsome rent every month. We could assume that Rushika is an educated business minded lady. As she cannot look after her old mother she decides to sent her to an old age home
💥 After the death of her husband the old lady lived with a servant maid, Ratna. She is emotionally and nostalgically attached to her dream home where she had lived happily till now. The house is now demolished in to the last brick except her bedroom. Her dream lies shattered here. The expression the gift of the house is loaded with irony as the old Lady’s exile from the house.
💥A home for the aged usually permits people in their 70s and above. They bought the house plot in the year 1952,which tells us about her age and her only daughter is married too. So we can assume that the old lady is in her 70s
💥 As the story opens the mother says, the sun is smiling at her from outside the closed window. The servant maid closed it before the workmen came to demolish thr remaining portion of her home. She wishes the windows were open so that the morning sun would warm her old shivering withered body.
💥While she was talking to the maid Ratna her daughter Rushika appears smiling in the scene. The mother seems to understand that the bright smile of Rushika face she feels as the old mother is shifting to the old age home. Rushika consoled her mother saying that shr will have plenty of companions of her own age at the new home. She packed her family portraits to a cardboard box. Seeing this the poor windows heart split apart. Rushika assures her that she will hang all those old photographs round the wall of her new home. The old mother was sorrowful unto the death. Although the mother wants to stroke her daughter even as the preparations were going on to pack her off, but she couldn’t.
💥 The widows pathetic plight and her deep silence and the daughters cruel selfishness are the reflection of the social condition that prevails everywhere in our time. The deep silence that broods over the woman is same as many old people across the world
🔥Nightmare
💥Malcolm X was a best known Black nationalist leader and a minister. In 1950s and 60s he was the spokesman of an organization known as nation of Islam. Nation of Islam was an organization founded on the ideas of islam combined with black nationalism. Malcom X was born Malcom Little to a Baptist preacher. He sent to prison when he was in his teens. There he became closer to the teachings of Nation of Islam. After he withdrew from that organization he was murdered by three members of that organization
💥 As the narrator he provides us a visual image on the racial violence that existed in that time. Here he deals with the issues like Vandalism, Physical assault, poverty and humiliation.
💥 Summary
💥Malcolm’s father Earl little was a visiting preacher of the Baptist Church. He and his family lived on this earnings. Returning to Africa the blackmen’s nest was his ideology and he preached it in all places where he go for his Church services. Earl little was a big, tall and outspoken Black man. He had only one eye.
💥Earl Little and Louis had eight children. He was a violent man in his house. He beats his wife and children but Malcom was rarely attacked but he was beaten by his mother
💥His mother louis was a black woman but her accent, appearance and skin tone was like whites. This is because she was born as a result of a rape.
💥Malcolm X’s story begins before he was born, with a Ku Klux Klan raid on his family home in Omaha, Nebraska, in 1925. His mother, Louise Little, was pregnant with him at the time. Malcolm’s father, Earl Little, was an organizer for Marcus Garvey’s Back to Africa movement. Garvey believed American black people would find liberation only in a separate state, in Africa rather than in the United States. Garvey’s message was potentially disturbing to white people, who might be forced to confront the oppression of black people. According to Malcom the Klan in Omaha “were not going to stand for my father’s ‘spreading trouble’ among the ‘good’ Negroes of Omaha.” The Klansmen surrounded the Littles’ house, shouting threats.
💥As soon as Malcolm is born the family moves to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and then to Lansing, Michigan. Malcolm’s father wants to own a store and grow his family’s own food. The Littles run afoul of the rules for black people in Lansing, as well. “Stupid local Uncle Tom Negroes” tell white people about Earl’s ideas. One night in 1929 a racist hate group attacks the Littles’ home and sets it on fire. This “nightmare” is Malcolm’s earliest vivid memory. He remembers, the “white police and firemen came and stood around watching as the house burned down.”
💥Earl builds a new house, slightly farther out of town. Earl and Louise quarrel, and Earl beats her. Malcolm thinks the beatings were set off by Louise flaunting her superior education.
💥Earl continues to spread the word about Garvey, meeting in private homes to discuss the movement. He sometimes brings Malcolm on his trips. Malcolm is impressed by the gravity and intensity of his father and the other black people in these meetings. Malcolm’s mother treats him harshly because he is her lightest-skinned child, but his father favors him for the same reason. Malcolm learns to get his way by yelling in protest. One day after a bitter fight with Louise, Earl walks out of the house. Louise has a terrible premonition of Earl’s death. She runs outside, calling him back, but Earl only waves and walks on. That night Earl is found injured on the streetcar tracks. The streetcar crushed him, almost cutting his body in half. Malcolm reports Earl that “lived two and a half hours in that condition.” The family believes the racist group the Black legion murdered Earl.
💥Louise is “hysterical” at the funeral. Gradually their circumstances become financially difficult, and then dire. Earl had two life insurance policies. The smaller policy pays up, but the company that holds the larger policy refuses, claiming Earl committed suicide. To help support the family, Malcom’s oldest brother, Wilfred, leaves school and looks for work. His oldest sister, Hilda, takes over some of the duties of mothering. Louise looks for work and is often hired by whites who take Louise for white. When her employers find out she’s not, they fire her. Louise gets state welfare checks; welfare investigators begin visiting the Little home and asking questions. Their aim is to resettle the Little children in foster homes.
💥In 1934 the family is hit by “some kind of psychological deterioration.” Malcolm supposes it is the ongoing strain of their poverty, and the shame of being “on relief.” The “Welfare people” begin insinuating Louise is “crazy.” Louise has a boyfriend for a time, but after a year or so he drops her abruptly and vanishes. After the break-up Louise becomes increasingly unhinged. She begins to talk to herself, and the home falls into disorder. The welfare investigators intervene, and Malcolm is the first to be removes; he is sent to live with the Gohannases, a family he knows and has often visited. Louise then has a breakdown and is sent to a mental hospital 70 miles away in Kalamazoo. Most of the other children are farmed out to different families. Wilfred and Hilda, the oldest, are allowed to remain home.
💥Malcolm recalls Louise lived in the mental hospital until 1963, when she went to live with Malcolm’s brother Philbert and his family. He also recalls his final visit to Louise in the hospital in 1952. She does not recognize him. Malcolm reflects on the welfare people who treated her as less than human and on the society “that will crush people, and then penalize them for not being able to stand up under the weight.”
💥Analysis
💥The “nightmare” of the chapter title refers mainly to the murder of Malcolm X’s father. However, the narrative is arranged in a way that shows the nightmare of racist violence that pervaded Malcolm’s childhood from the moment of his birth. That the Klan made their threats while Louise was pregnant with Malcolm makes it seem as though Malcolm was destined for a confrontation with white supremacy. His “earliest vivid memory” is of racists burning down his family’s house. Even his ancestry, in his light-skinned West Indian mother, carries the mark of racist violence–“that white rapist’s blood.”
💥Malcolm X himself strikes a note of fate when he remarks, early on, saying “It has always been my belief that I, too, will die by violence.” The words cannot help but sound eerie, since Malcolm had been assassinated by the time the book was published.
💥The metaphor of a nightmare also suggests something from which one can awaken. The autobiography is narrated by the older Malcolm, the one who has awoken. This older version of himself repeatedly tries to give similarly trapped people clues about the system that holds them down. With the benefit of his current perspective he remarks on the “’successful’ Lansing Negroes” who are only “waiters and bootblacks.” He lectures readers on the insanity of believing a pale complexion is “some kind of status symbol.” He tells readers the lessons he learned while in the process of waking from the nightmare: Crying out in protest can get you what you want. If someone keeps winning in a betting game, he’s cheating. These lessons are even sometimes in the second person, directly addressing the readers: “Anytime you find someone more successful than you are … they’re doing something that you aren’t.”
💥Malcolm X lost his parents while he was still quite young: his father died and his mother was committed to a mental hospital. Nevertheless, his later life seems very much to bear their stamp. Malcolm quotes his father spreading the message of Marcus Garvey: “No one knows when the hour of Africa’s redemption cometh …. It is coming.” The words resonate with Malcolm’s later interest in Pan-African Unity. Like his father, Malcolm dedicated himself to a project of black liberation. Already as a child he was impressed by the “intense … intelligent” bearing of the black men at the Garvey meetings. Malcolm’s mother had a conflicted relationship with her pale skin. According to Malcolm she saw it as a source of shame because it was a visible reminder of the rape of her enslaved forebears. As Malcolm reports, she “never … let me become afflicted with a sense of color-superiority.”
💥Malcolm is upset by his parents’ quarreling and by his father beating his mother. However, he appears to blame his mother for the beatings. She was educated and couldn’t avoid “the temptation to correct an uneducated man.” His father beat her in response to her “put[ting] those smooth words on him.” Malcolm shows his loyalty to his mother in the way he narrates and analyzes her mental illness. The “Welfare people” start saying she is “crazy” before she shows any symptoms. Looking back, Malcolm points to the ways a racist society drove his mother mad. Rather than attributing her mental illness only to her, or to grief, Malcolm indicts the society that crushes people.
💥Malcolm X was a negro national leader, human rights activist and minister of America.He was the spokesperson of Nation of Islam (an Islam Organisation) during 1950s and 60s.Nightmare, is the first chapter of his autobiography titled, The Autobiography of Malcolm X
💥Significance of the opening of the story
In the beginning we see that a group of racists belonging to the Ku Klux Klan, attack Malcolm’s house at Omaha. When his pregnant mother says that his father is not at home, they go away after shouting threats and breaking the windows with their guns.At that time he was not born, but the event sets the tone for a series of attacks later in the family of Malcolm. All through their life, Malcolm and his family consisting of his father Earl Little , mother Louise Little, and seven siblings were harshly treated by the state and local white people.His father was killed, his mother sent to a mental hospital and all his brothers and sisters were separated and thus his entire family disintegrated.
💥Malcolm’s father Earl Little
His father was a Baptist preacher who preached in the homes of friends and followers. He also tried to spread the message of Marcus Garvey, a black Nationalist Leader who wanted the Africans in America to stop being slaves and regain their identity. He believed in the freedom and self respect of Negros.He was a tall, strong Georgia Negro with only one eye and settled in Lansing with his wife and eight children where he build a house of his own and did preaching and activism. But someone of the Black Legion, another racist organization, fatally attacked him and put him across the road where he was run over by cars and was dead.
💥Malcolm’s attitude to religion
Though his father was a preacher Malcolm was never attracted to Christianity. He was disturbed by the kind of shouting and dancing at the prayer groups to which he was taken by his father. He could not believe in the Christian concept of Jesus as someone divine. Nor could he believe that if we struggled on earth we will be gifted with pies in heaven.
💥 Learning to be a mother
💥Shashi Deshpande is a famous Indian English novelist and writer, who largely speaks about issues faced by women in Indian society
In Learning to be a Mother she examines the sacred image of motherhood in myths and movies and the actual challenges faced by mothers in reality.She picks up her own life to illustrate the roles of both a mother and a daughter
💥Concept of motherhood the author learns from others
Shashi Deshpande finds that in our society mother is compared to God.She sacrifices her happiness for her children.Childbirth is a painful but joyous process.When a woman becomes a mother, love, nobility and goodness come to her naturally. She also learned that a mother can never be unjust and unfair and she loves her children equally.Finally she learns that the mother is the final solace of the child during hard times
💥Conventional mother images
🔴Loving
🔴Understanding
🔴Sacrificing
🔴Forgiving
💥What is motherhood in reality?
The reality is that mothers tire of their children and are partial, sometimes even playing off one against the mother. They can also use you to achieve their ambitions for you irrespective lf what you actually want. They can even use our secrets against us. Deshpande also observes that mothers are conditional about their love for good behavior. They they are more human than the like god the society portrayed. Giving birth to and raising a child can be difficult for the mother. She does not know how to deal with situations. She realizes that she has not changed inside the same person as before. She has her own fears about raising children, especially since she had no previous experience.
💥 How do popular movies represent mother?
Movies represent mother as white-clad figures, revolving around their children.They are represented as pure and simple. They always feed the children and never get hungry themselves.They are devoid of sexuality and are often portrayed as widows.Their motherhood is so much glorified that they are devoid of all human traits
💥Shashi Deshpande’s view of herself as a mother?
When Shashi Deshpande became a mother, she too loved her child very much.At the same time she felt that she was trapped as she could not find time for herself and had to constantly take care of her child.She was deprived of sleep and freedom.She looked back at the days when she was a free girl. She had always felt that she was not a perfect mother.When they grew up she quarreled with them and demanded love from them just as her mother
She cried with them and loved them
Now she realizes that all these feelings were quite natural while being a mother, she was also a human being
💥Challenges faced by a mother-writer
Balancing the act of writing with family life is the biggest challenge faced by a mother-writer
At first she could finish her house-hold duties and sit to write.But when she began to take writing more seriously, she needed more time and privacy.She had to pay the price of being a mother writer by working very hard.Her life was occupied by only the two activities of writing and raising the kids.When she looks back she thinks that she had done justice to both the roles
💥Conclusion
Motherhood is not a holy state, but a natural one. Every mother should raise their children, but should not be limited to that one task alone.When the children grow up and move away full time mothers often face an emptiness.So mothers should engage in meaningful activities.Women are human beings first and only later do they become mothers
🔥Lullaby
💥 Leslie Marmon silko was an Amerindian writer. She was brought up in Laguna pueblo Reservation in new Mexico. She became familiar with their cultural heritage. The clash between white American and Native American cultures are the central theme of her writings.
💥 The protagonist in the story is an elderly woman named Ayah who remembers about some of the most tragic events of her life. She recalls the news of the death of her son in War, thr loss of her children taken by white doctors, the exploitative treatment of her husband by the white rancher who employs him,and she recalls the strong ties with her own grandmother and mother
💥 The story begins with ayah searching for her husband at the local bar. On the way the old woman sat under a tree near a stream, watching the snow and thinking about some of the most tragic events that happened in her life. As she sits leaning against a tree, Ayah wraps an old army blanket around herself for warmth. Thr blanket is a reminder of her son Jimmie who haf sent it to her while serving combat in war.
💥She recalls watching her mother weaving outside on a big loom while her grandmother spun wool into yarn. She remembers her mother and the old woman who helped her when she give birth to her firstborn. And she also remembers the way she was informed about his death.
💥 Ayah tries hard not to think of Jimmie.She also recalls the time a white man wearing khaki uniform came to her door to announce that jimmie had died in a helicopter crash in the war. He gave them a yellow piece of paper explaining the death of Jimmie. Because Ayah could not speak English her husband Chato had to translate the tragic news to her. But for Ayah she couldn’t see him as dead. She felt that he would never come back. It was hard for her to accept his death. So she tries hard not to think of Jimmie.
💥 Then author starts describing about an another sorrowful incident, however, was the time when her two young children, Danny and Ella, were taken away from her. White doctors came to her house, trying to get her sign some piece of paper. She did not know English and could not read she signed the paper simply of fear in hopes that they would go away.
💥After she signed the paper, they attempted to take her children away with them. She grabbed the two children and ran up into the hills and waited there all day, until Chato came home. The doctors had chased her at first but they gave up and left. The doctors came back the next day with a policeman from the Bureau of Indian affairs, Chato spoke to them and then explained to her that the paper she had signed gave them permission to take the children away.
💥 Their grandmother was died of tuberculosis and they claimed the children had contracted it as well. After this Ayah blamed Chato for the loss of the children because he had taught her now to sign her name. This created a rift in their relationship and they began to sleep apart.
💥Chato is the husband of ayah. He knows English. Chato’s loyalty to the white rancher and his years of work was paid in an unkind manner. Chato and his family had stayed in a shack near the ranch. But when he became old the rancher threw him. The rancher told Chato one dag that he and his wife should vacate the shack by next morning as new people were coming in their place. That was all thr notice he was given. After that Chato felt ill, probably due to sorrow over what had happened to him.
💥These all things was the flashback of the story. After saying about these memories of Ayah the story came to the present situation.
💥The couple began receiving federal assistance cheque from the government in a blue envelope in order to survive. Chato would cash the check and immediately go spend it at the bar. In the present tense of the story, Ayah was going there to look for him. On reaching the bar she goes inside the bar to find him and she was scared of the looks that she received from the men in the bar.
💥 When she does not find him there she goes out in the snow to search for him and found him walking towards their home. When they stop to rest he lies down in the snow and she realized that he was dying. She covered him with her blanket and began to sing a lullaby (താരാട്ട് പാട്ട്) that her grandmother had sung for her when she was little. She could not remember if she had ever sung it to her children, but she knew that her grandmother had sung it and her mother had sung it.
💥 This is a story of loss. The story tells about the losses experienced by Ayah in her life. She lost two of her children to disease as they were taken away from her by the white doctors. She lost her son Jimmie in the war after he had joined the army. The family also lost their home, the shack they were thrown out by the white employer. And finally she lost her husband too. Ayah finds that in the end, she has only the memories left. Everything she treasured was taken away from her in one way or another
🔥Pinyar the Widow
💥Mamang dai is a writer and journalist from the state of Arunachal Pradesh in north east India. He was awarded the prestigious Padma Shri Award in 2011.
💥In this story the writer explores the rich folklore of the Adi Tribe and captures the beauty of the landscape of siang valley.
💥 Pinyar is a tribal woman, a widow. The author and her companion Mona paid a visit to the place where Pinyar lives thus the story begins. When they reached there, she was drying the clothes by the fire. She was cursing and grumbling (murmurs). Pinyar has once lived with a man named Orka, who came from a far village. She stayed with him for five years though everyone opposed the idea. When she became pregnant the village elder tried to solemnize a marriage but it never happened. After the birth of the Child Orka tooks the child and left pinyar forever. The child was named as Kamur
💥 After some years Pinyar married a man named Lekon. But soon after the marriage Lekon was killed in a hunting accident. He was shot through the head. Therefore Pinyar lived alone like a widow, working in the fileds. One day while she was working in her house caught fire and burned down. Since it was considered as a bad luck, she had to move to the outskirts of the village and had to live for a period without anyone visiting to her, as it was considered as a bad luck. Pinyar expresses her plight in the words “It seems my destiny is cursed”
💥 Thus most woman in villages have to blame their destinies for the hardships they undergo. The multiple identities of a woman that is her individual identity as a woman and her group identity as a member of the family and community place her between dilemma of individual and community interest.
💥 Pinyar explains the author that why she doesn’t make the powder for rice beer. According to their legend there lived a supernatural creature called Miti Mili They were the first to make the yeast si-ye that ferment rice into beer. Before they vanished they give this sacred powder to the mankind. The tribe believed that the si-ye had special powers thus it should be handle with respect. Only woman could handle it and Pinyar used it to make some of the best si-ye cakes
💥 Eating Si-ye before hunting was forbidden as it might makes man in hallucination. When somebody lead to the death of some huntsman in hunting accident. Pinyar did not hold the man who is responsible for the death of her husband. She believed that Si-ye had caused her husband’s death.
💥Kamur had grown up in to a young man and working in the government department as a clerk. He got married and was living with his wife and three children. One day for some unknown strange reason he attempted to murder his entire family. Only the eldest son was escaped from the brutal act. His wife survived with some minor wounds. Kamur was aghast at his actions and pleaded that evil spirits had taken over him causing him to do such a horrible deed.
💥 Before kamur killed his children, at least two other men in the town had acted strangely. One of these men had then killed himself. People spoke of the peculiar tree in that place especially an aubergine plant that had grown to the size of a tree. Nobody could remember who had planted it or when.
💥The fruit of the tree was considered to be evil. It was considered as a ghostly tree and dared to cut it down. The fact that Kamur had been seen sometimes resting under this tree at odd hours doing nothing in particular raised the people’s suspicions as to why Kamur had behaved so strangely.
💥Though the police took Kamur away, Pinyar was determined and she got him out of lockup by submitting all the papers signed by the political representatives. Pinyar rushed towards Kamur and wept when she saw him. The papers approved his release on the basis of his closest relatives would keep him. When everyone refused to accept him but Pinyar took him with her.
💥 Pinyar requested all the great priest to exorcise the bad spirits in her son Kamur. He lives with her for a while and latet he moved with his wife to another village. Pinyar appears to be an extremely loving mother from the actions she did to save Kamur.
💥 Pinyar’s people are agrarian in nature, they spend the whole day working in the fields. The fields they work on are not regular fields but patches of land are located on the thickly wooded hillsides and are far away from their homes. Every household grow vegetables and herbs in the open spaces. People leave home early in the morning and carries food along with them. When sun is overhead, they take shelter in small thatch shacks and eat their midday meal. Sometimes they even spend the night in the shack not going home.
💥When the author met Pinyar for the last time, she gave her a bundle and requested to handover the bundle to Kamur in the village. Pinyar knows that thr author used to travel a lot. She was passing on her jewellery to her daughter in law hopping that it would bring her luck “faith is everything” she concluded.
🔥Garhwali Songs
💥The princely state of Garhwal is now part of Uttarakhand. The people of Garhwal include many tribal communities. India has the largest concentration of tribes after africa. Songs have a special importance in tribal life. They will sing these songs in their special occasions like wedding festivals etc.
💥 The first song is the celebration of the harvest season. It appeals to the storage place for a good harvest. It also about the blessings received in return are mentioned.
💥The second song is about a conversion between Arjun and Draupathi. It’s an argument between husband and wife saying that they will not speak each other.
💥The third song is a conversation that relates the anxieties of a mother for her newly married daughter
🔴First Song
💥In the first poem the speaker speaks to the door step. He says please be kind towards us we will offer you flowers. Fill our granary with corn. He says this is the festival of flowers and we will give you flowers.
💥The first lines of the poem speaks in the tone of prayer for abundance. But the second part is in the tone of blessings.
💥Speaker is blessing other in this words “May Gof bless you with an auspicious new year, May your granary fill till it overflow, May your crops thrive and wealth grow, Let the flowers bloom again and again”
💥The poem is speaking about Phool sankranti
💥The first song is sung during the harvest season. Here we can see that offerings are made and they are blessed. The mood of the song is hope and celebration. It shows the importance of harvest in their lives. The people are offering flowers hoping that their granary will be full. The are given many blessings in return. Those blessings include an auspices mew year, a full granary, thriving crops and growing wealth. Thry also wish that the seasons and months continue to return so that the flowers bloom so we could understand that the song is the celebration of season. This can be seen as a way to balance their life which is being lived attuned to nature
🔴Second song
💥In the second poem Draupathi says to Pandav Arjun that she will not speak to him and will not say even his name. She is going to became meadows and grace in the high hills. Then Arjun replies he will also do like that and became a bull and chew that grace in his teeth. Then Draupathi replied he will became a lion in hills and kill that bull. Then Arjuna replied he will became a hunter and kill her in Jungle. Then Draupathi said she will became a bee and sit happily in flowers. Arjuna replied he will became a cloud demon and kill her with her thunderbolt
💥 This is a playful conversation and not mean serious
🔴Third Song
💥 In the third song a mother is came to see her newly married daughter in her husband’s house. When she arrived and asking about her daughter but her son in law opens a list of complaints about her daughter Chandra.
🔴things mentioned in the poem
🔵Brass pitcher
🔵sickle
🔵cows
🔵bracelets
💥The daughter in law of the new family is being discussed in the 3rd song. The song portraits her anxiety and worry for her daughter. The mother wants to know where the daughter is but the husband and mother in law give accusatory replies showing inefficiency of the daughter in law. Each time the mother asks for the daughter and each time they give complaints about the things she has done.
No answer is given on where the daughter in law actually is but only complaints about her come up. The mother tries to provide alternatives to their complaints, yet she gets no proper reply from them. They are concerned only with her faults.
🔥The Birthmark
💥Nathaniel Horthorne is considered as one of the nineteenth century romantics. His works often focuses on history, morality and religion.
💥This is a story of a beautiful woman, Georgina whose face is imprinted with a pale red birthmark in the shape of a small hand.
💥The narrator introduces Aylmer as a brilliant scientist and natural philosopher who has abandoned his experiments for a while to marry the beautiful Georgiana.
💥Aylmer represents the overconfidence in the minds of 18th century scientists
💥One day, Aylmer asks his wife whether she has ever thought about removing the birthmark on her cheek. She cheerfully says no but grows serious when she sees that he asked the question seriously. Many people, she says, have told her the mark is a charm, and she has always thought maybe they were right. Aylmer says that because her face is almost perfect, any mark is shocking. Georgiana is angry at first, and then she weeps, asking how he can love her if she is shocking to him.
💥The narrator explains that the birthmark in question is a red mark in the shape of a tiny hand on Georgiana’s left cheek. The mark disappears when she blushes. Georgiana’s male admirers love the birthmark, and many would risk their lives just to kiss it. Some women think the mark ruins her beauty, but the narrator says this is nonsense.
💥Different people describes that birthmark in different ways. Some says it came from the touch of a fairy. Others simply wished the birthmark wasn’t there then she became a perfect being could exist in the world
💥Aylmer obsesses about the birthmark. For him, it symbolizes mortality and sin and comes to tower over Georgiana’s beauty in his mind. He can think of nothing else. One night she reminds him of a dream he had. He spoke in his sleep, saying they must take out her heart. Aylmer remembers dreaming that he had removed the birthmark with a knife, plunging down until he had reached his wife’s heart, which he decided to cut out. Georgiana says that she will risk her life to have the birthmark erased. Thrilled, Aylmer agrees to try. He professes complete confidence in his own abilities, likening himself to Pygmalion. He kisses his wife’s unmarked cheek.
💥They decide to move to the apartments where Aylmer has his laboratory. He has already made stunning discoveries about volcanoes, fountains, mines, and other natural wonders. Now he will resume his studies of the creation of life. As the couple enters the laboratory, Aylmer shudders at the sight of Georgiana, and she faints. Aminadab, Aylmer’s grotesque assistant, comes out to help. He says he would not remove the birthmark if Georgiana were his wife.
💥Georgiana wakes up in sweet-smelling rooms that have been made beautiful for her. Aylmer comforts her with some of his more magical creations: “airy figures, absolute bodiless ideas, and forms of unsubstantial beauty.” He shows her moving scenes that mimic real life. Then he gives her a fast-growing flower that dies as soon as she touches it. Next he tries to create a portrait of her with a metal plate, but when the plate shows a hand, he throws it into acid.
💥Between experiments, Aylmer tells Georgiana about alchemy. He believes that he could turn base metal into gold and create a potion that would grant eternal life if he wanted to, even though he says he knows that doing so would be wrong. He disappears for hours and then shows her his cabinet of wonders. One such wonder is a vial that holds a powerful perfume. Another is a poison that, depending on the dose, would allow Aylmer to kill someone instantly or after a long period of time. Georgiana is appalled, but Aylmer says the poison is more good than bad. He shows her another potion that can wipe away freckles, but he says her birthmark needs a much deeper cure.
💥Georgiana realizes that Aylmer has been doctoring her food or making her inhale something in the air. Her body feels strange. She reads the books in his scientific library, as well as his accounts of his own experiments. She realizes that his achievements always fall short of the goals he originally sets. Still, the accounts of his studies make her worship him. Aylmer catches her crying over his journals, and although his words are kind, he is angry. She sings to him, restoring his spirits.
💥A few hours later, Georgiana goes to the laboratory to find Aylmer. When he sees her, he grows angry, accuses her of prying, and tells her to go away. She stands her ground and refuses, saying he should trust her and not try to hide his fears. She promises to drink whatever he tells her to drink. Moved, Aylmer says the mark goes deep into her body, and its removal will be dangerous. In her room, Georgiana thinks about how noble it is that Aylmer refuses to love her as she is, insisting instead to create his ideal version of her.
💥He brings her a potion that he says cannot fail. He shows her how it cures a geranium of blots. She drinks the liquid and sleeps. Aylmer watches her with tenderness but also as if he is watching a scientific experiment unfold. Gradually the birthmark fades. Aminadab laughs. Georgiana wakes, sees herself in the mirror, and tells Aylmer not to feel bad about rejecting “the best the earth could offer.” Then she dies.
💥The story was published in 19th century but the plot is set in 18th century. The story speaks about how the people trusted in science.
💥 Another theme of the story is the obsession of human perfection. When Aylmer finally accomplished success the stort ends tragically
🔥Hayavadana
💥Girish Karnad is an indian author, playwright, actor and director. He makes use of Indian myths and legends in his writings. He a recipient of the Padma sri and padma Bhushan. His writings contains the elements of History and Mythology that works in the present society. His inspiration to write this story is Kathasaritsagara
💥Hayavadana speaks about the identity crisis. The story written in the form of two acts with Bhagavata as the commentator to the actions done in the play
💥The play tells the story of two friends who loves the same woman and accidentally swapped their heads
💥Devadattha and Kapila are the important figures in the story.Devadattha was a poet and Kapila was the son of an iron smith. Devadattha known for his sensitivity while kapila is known for his physical strength
💥The play opens with a prayer ritual performed by Hindus to the god Ganesha, who has the head of an elephant and the body of a boy. Bhagavata asks that Ganesha bless the performance that he and the assembled company are about to perform, and then tells the audience that the play is set in Dharmapura, and the central characters are close friends Devadatta and Kapila.
💥A scream comes from offstage and an actor runs on screaming that he has just seen a man with the head of a horse and a human voice. Bhagavata does not believe him and even when the creature enters he thinks a prank is being played and that the horse head is actually a mask. He tries to pull it off but realizes it is a real head. The creature is called Hayavadana and he explains that he is the son of a princess and a god in equine form. All he wants is to become a full man. Bhagavata suggests that he go to the temple of Kali, the Hindu goddess of death, because she is known to grant any wish that anyone has. Hayavadana does as he suggests.
💥After he leaves, the narrator continues talking to the audience where he left off, explaining that the two young men are both in love with the same girl. Devadatta, who is a slender intellectual and poet, and Kapila, who is muscular and darker-complected, enter. Devadatta tells of his love for Padmini. He claims he would sacrifice his head and arms if he could marry her.
💥Kapila decides to find where she lives because he sees that his friend is truly lovesick. He goes to the street where she lives and knocks on every door until he finds her home. When she answers the door he falls head over heels in love at first sight. He woos her on Devadatta’s behalf but he privately believes that Padmini is too quick-witted for him and that Devadatta is too sensitive for a woman like her.
💥Padmini and Devadatta are married quickly and all three continue to be friends. Padmini becomes pregnant with a son but Devadatta starts to believe that she is a little too affectionate with Kapila. They are planning a trip together to the Ujjain fair but when Devadatta tells Padmini that he wishes he could spend more alone time with her (secretly jealous of Kapila, whom he knows has feelings for his wife), she offers to cancel the trip. When Kapila arrives, though, she changes her mind and decides to take the trip as planned.
💥As the trip progresses, Padmini pays Kapila many compliments. Devadatta sulks and becomes more and more envious. They pass the temple of Kali, and Devadatta remembers his pledge to cut off his head if he were to be allowed to marry Padmini. Full of grief over his disintegrating marriage, he strikes off his head. When Kapila goes to look for Devadatta, he finds his decapitated body and in his grief beheads himself as well.
💥The men are gone for so long that Padmini becomes worried. She sets off to look for them and when she finds their bodies, she tries to kill herself.
💥Goddess Kali appeared after the tremendous sound of drums. Kali appears behind the curtain. Her hands was outstretched, her mouth was wide open and her tongue hanging out. Padmini saw kali, falls at her feet and tells her situation. Then Kali said that if she agrees to put the men’s heads back on their bodies herself then they will be brought back to life.
💥Padmini is so excited by this that she puts the wrong heads on the wrong bodies by mistake; the men come back to life but Devadatta’s head is on Kapila’s body, and vice versa.
💥Goddess Kali considered both of them are rascals. They considered their promise to Kali as an excuse to commit suicide.
💥Everyone thinks this is quite funny at first, but when they get home, there are complications. Both men feel that Padmini is his wife. Devadatta says as the head rules the body, she must be his wife, whereas Kapila argues that as the child she is carrying was fathered by his body then it is he who is her husband. After deliberation, Padmini elects to remain with Devadatta’s head. Kapila is left behind and goes to live in the forest
💥The theme of being incomplete is personified by all of the characters. The question that is put forward by Karnad is whether the body or the brain is more prominent in present world, which of these gives us our identity as an individual. Hayavadana thus makes us ponder over the question of what truly gives us our identity.
🔥The girl on the train
💥 Ruskin Bond is a British-Indian author Born in British Raj. Bond’s work’s are set in the theme of Himalayan landscape vividly. He was awarded padma shri and padma Bhushan.
💥The girl on the train is the story of a brief encounter between a blind man and a girl on a train. It is a classic example of situational irony where events turn out contrary to readers
💥 The story narrated from a first person view. The narrator was a blind young man and he was travelling to Dehra. A young girl boarded the train alone. The writer carefully observed the precautions being given to her by her parents. The narrator slowly acquainted with the girl and asked where she was going.
💥She told him that she would get down at Shahranpur which was hardly two hours journey. The writer took all his precautions and hid ghe fact that he was blind. He complimented the girl saying that she had an interesting face She felt delighted for such a remark as all others said that she had a pretty face
💥 The writer was attracted towards her sweet voice and she scented smell of her hair. He just wanted to know how her hair was tied. When the girl was about to get down, he felt like touching her hair. But his modesty prevented him from doing so
💥After she got down another passenger entered the compartment. The narrator asked the new person whether the girl’s hair was long or short. The new passenger answered that he noticed only her eyes and not her hair.
💥He further said that she had beautiful eyes but they were of no use and asks him why he had not noticed it. This meant that the girl was also blind. With this deeply touching twist the story comes to an end.
💥 Instructions given by parents to the Girl
🔴Instructions on where to keep things.
🔴When not to lean out of windows.
🔴 How to avoid speaking to strangers
💥The mistake the man asked the girl was he asked the girl that “what is it like outside”? He considered this a mistake because the girl might have think that it was sight to ask such a question.
💥The protagonist imagine that girl can see unlike him. He knew she was wearing slippers by the sound of it. He also liked the sounf of her voice as well as her laugh which was clear and ringing. The protagonist tell the girl that she has an interesting face at which she laughs. She replied that shr was tired of listening to people telling her, she had a pretty face. He wonders how she wears her hair. He was unable to make up his mind on this aspect of the girl.
💥They spokes about the speciality of Mussoorie. The protagonist planned to reach their via Dehra. According to protagonist the best time to visit was in October the period in which he was going there. Recalling from memory he described to the girl how the hills were covered with wild dahlias
💥He described the sun in this period as delicious. The night in Mussoorie one could sit in front of a log fire and drink a bit of brandy. As it was not the tourist season the roads would be quiet and almost deserted.
💥The story is the excellent example of situational irony.
🔴Situational irony means a literary device that occurs when incongruity appears between expectation of something about to happen and what really happens
🔴In the story the man and the girl are blind but do not know this fact about the other
🔴The irony that they were both blind leaves contemplating what if things had been different.